WPKN: Politics, Policy, and Planet Podcast

Resistance Roundtable features two interviews:   1. Thomas Brzozowski, the former Counsel for Domestic Terrorism in the Counterterrorism Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, will address the looming threat that the US State Department will designate antifa to the level of a foreign terrorist organization;    2. Stan Heller, admin for Promoting Enduring Peace, and Faisal Falah, executive dire...

Interview with Ann Oliva, the CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness conducted by Melinda Tuhus. Oliva talks about the two approaches to ending homelessness and her organization’s opposition to Trump’s recently announced policy that will  cause 170,000 formerly homeless people to lose their federal funded housing. 

Interview with Greg Mello, executive director of the Los Alamos Study Group, conducted by Scott Harris. Mello discusses his views on Donald Trump’s comment several weeks ago about his intention to resume nuclear weapons testing. He also talks about the danger many see in the expiration and/or violation of long-standing nuclear weapons treaties with Russia, with the remaining New Start treaty expir...

Interview with Greg Palast, investigative journalist, New York Times best-selling author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and filmmaker, conducted by Scott Harris. Palast talks about the recently released emails between Harvard University’s Larry Summers and Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted sex trafficker of minors — emails in which Summers, who is married, seeks advice from the convicted pr...

Interview with Zimyl Adler, senior forest, land and climate finance policy advocate with Friends of the Earth U.S., conducted by Scott Harris. Adler discusses what was and what was not accomplished at the UN COP30 Climate summit in Belem, Brazil, with a focus on FOE’s views on the widening climate crisis, finance and justice gaps blocking real climate progress.

Interview with Dr. Diljeet Singh, president of Physicians for a National Health Program, conducted by Scott Harris. Dr. Singh talks about America’s deepening health care crisis with a focus on the expiring Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies and her work at Physicians for a National Health Program advocating for the adoption in the U.S. of a universal, comprehensive, single-payer nation...

In this edition of the Monthly Labor Report, Michael Zweig discusses his book The Working Class Majority--America's Best Kept Secret and why class consciousness/awareness is important as working people struggle for equity and justice. Prof. Zweig also offers his perspective on the Nov. 4 election and what Zohran Mamdani's victory--under the banner of Democratic Socialism--might portend for the pol...

Interview with Nathaniel Raymond, executive director, Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health, conducted by Melinda Tuhus. Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Raymond about the evolution and current state of Sudan’s war, which included the RSF’s 18-month siege of El Fasher, leading to the highest of five levels of famine for the 500,000 people who were sheltering ther...

Interview with Michael F. Brown, an independent journalist, conducted by Scott Harris. Brown’s work and views have appeared in The International Herald Tribune, The Nation, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Washington Post and elsewhere. Michael Brown discusses his recent article, “Trump Ambassador Pick Vows to Pressure South Africa Over Gaza Genocide Case,” and nominee Brent Bozell’s unwillin...

Interview with Heather Digby Parton, a columnist for Salon.com and winner of the Hillman Prize for opinion journalism, conducted by Scott Harris. Parton talks about the Epstein files legislation and Trump's coverup, and her recent commentary, “Donald Trump’s Enemies List Keeps Growing,” the Epstein files controversy, his increasing number of “pay-to-play” pardons and convicted Jan. 6 insurrectioni...

Interview with Ari Paul, New York City-based journalist and lecturer at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, conducted by Scott Harris.  Paul has reported for the Nation, the Guardian, In These Times, Jacobin and many other outlets. Ari Paul discusses his recent coverage for FAIR.org regarding the ongoing MAGA-connected right-wing media takeover in his articles, “As El...

Interview with Jennifer Loewenstein, former associate director of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, conducted by Scott Harris. Jennifer Loewenstein discusses the situation in Gaza and the West Bank that has been mostly absent from news coverage since the ceasefire was signed on Oct. 9, as well as the important current debate in the UN Security Council over the control...

Excerpt of a talk by William I. Robinson, professor of sociology, global and international studies, Latin American and Iberian studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara at the Nov. 8th Hartford, CT conference, “Our Power: A Working People’s Conference on Civil Liberties and Resistance.” Professor Robinson, the event’s keynote speaker, is an authority on what’s driving the world’s elit...

Interview with Norman Solomon, director of RootsAction and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, conducted by Scott Harris. Norman Solomon talks about his recent commentary, “A Year After Trump Won, Why Won’t Democrats Change Their Playbook?” — a discussion that goes well beyond the mainstream’s superficial analysis of the 2025 off-year election results. Solomon is author of War...

Interview with John Tarleton, editor-in-chief of The Indypendent, New York City's free progressive monthly newspaper, conducted by Scott Harris. John Tarleton reflects on Zohran Mamdani’s election victory, becoming New York City’s first Muslim and immigrant mayor in 50 years, the youngest mayor in a century, as well as the city’s first democratic socialist mayor, the challenges ahead for governing...

Interview with Steve Ellner, an associate managing editor of Latin American Perspective, conducted by Scott Harris. Steve Ellner discusses the situation in Venezuela as the Trump regime appears to be preparing an attack or invasion of the country with the goal of removing President Nicolás Maduro from power. Ellner is a retired professor at the Universidad de Oriente in Venezuela, where he lived f...

Interview with Doug Pagitt, pastor and executive director of the national organization Vote Common Good, conducted by Scott Harris. Doug Pagitt discusses his group’s mission of “mobilizing people of faith to make the common good their voting criteria,” with a focus on how progressive religious activists are now taking action to oppose the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda and frequent...

The Organic Farm Stand features an interview with Emily Oakley, co-owner of Three Springs Farm in eastern Oklahoma. Emily recently presented a proposal for a "stand alone" Real Organic Project label and she describes just what that would entail in this fascinating conversation on today's show. Also featured: Hot Topics with Diane and the honey bee update from Vincent Kaye. Hosts: Richard Hill and...

Interview with Peggy Bailey, executive vice president for Policy and Program Development with the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, conducted by Scott Harris. Peggy Bailey discusses her group’s views on the major issues and possible solutions to end the ongoing government shutdown, i.e.: extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies and addressing the impending cutoff of Supplemental Nut...

Interview with artist and activist Robert Shetterly, creator of the ‘Americans Who Tell the Truth’ project, conducted by Melinda Tuhus. The project, which channels the “power of art to illuminate the ongoing struggle to realize America’s democratic ideals,” offers a variety of ways to engage with his portraits through exhibits and educational programs. Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with S...

Interview with Maria Stephan, co-lead and chief organizer with the Horizons Project and author and editor of five books on authoritarianism and civil resistance, conducted by Scott Harris. Maria Stephan assesses the recent No Kings Day protests, Trump and the Republican Party’s labeling anti-authoritarian protesters as “anti-American and terrorists,” and what new strategies and tactics may be nece...

Interview with Henry Burke, senior researcher with the Revolving Door Project, conducted by Scott Harris. Henry Burke examines Donald Trump’s recent pardon of convicted money launderer Changpeng Zhao, which many observers link to Zhao’s boost of the Trump family’s crypto business and an “example of Trump’s Pay-to-Pardon scheme.” He also shares his views of how Trump, unlike any other U.S. presiden...

Interview with Andra Watkins, a New York Times best-selling author and Project 2025 dissector on her Substack online newsletter, "For Such a Time as This," conducted by Scott Harris. Andra Watkins discusses the current government shutdown, suspension of Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) food and nutrition benefits that relate to her recent, timely discussion and articles, “How Pro...

Interview with Chad Marlow, senior policy counsel with the ACLU, conducted by Scott Harris. Chad Marlow takes a critical look at President Trump’s late September National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM-7) authorizing government-wide investigations into nonprofits, activists, and their donors and funders using vague and overbroad labels of “terrorism” and “conspiracy against rights.” He als...

Interview with Gregg Gonsalves, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, and a founder of the group 'Defend Public Health,' conducted by Melinda Tuhus. Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Gregg Gonsalves, a recipient of a MacArthur fellowship in 2018, who describes Defend Public Health’s work over the past year and what he thinks the future prospects are...