America We Need to Talk podcast

Trump and G.O.P. on verge of creating major food crises in Puerto Rico

The latest on public housing, homelessness, and poverty in New York City

Guests: NYC City Council Member Stephen Levin, Chair, General Welfare Committee; José Calderón President of the Hispanic Federation

Topics: Why progressives should fight hard for their values but also accept compromises that concretely improve the lives of the people for whom they claim to be fighting. Why progressives must reject the facile, false, and self-defeating notion that there is no difference between the Democrats and Republicans,

Music: “Capitol Air” by Allen Ginsburg & the Clash,

“The Drum Also Waltzes” by Max Roach, “Big Eyed Rabbit,” by Samantha Bumgarner & Eva Davis, “Try a Little Tenderness” by Ot

Topics: Wrap up of 2018: Top stories in the news; Top under-reported stories; Our favorite movies, books, music of 2018; our hopes for 2019

Music: “Milono Kola” by Sau Family Orchestra off the (Banat Romanian Gypsy/Roma Music)

“Happy Go Lucky – Night Train” by Oscar Peterson

“Campo” by Los Pleneros de 21” (Puerto Rican bomba music)

“Know Your Rights” by the Clash

Topics: Mattis resignation, stock market collapse, government shut-down, shafting hungry Americans (again), and the U.N.’s Anti-Poverty work

Guest: Dr. Mila Rosenthal, Director of Communications for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Music:

“My Baby’s Gone” by Robert Belfour

“B Funk” by Lester Bowie

“Mario Tambien Come” by Sergio Mendoza

“Al Capone” by Prince Buster

NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer Discusses His Bold Plan for Affordable Housing

Topics: Affordable housing in NYC, Michael Cohen Guilty Plea, Cultural Appropriation and Inferior White Covers of Classic African-American Song

Guest: New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer

Music:

“That’s All Right ” by Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup

“Shake, Rattle, & Roll” by Big Joe Turner

“Hound Dog” by Big Mama Thornton

“Eyesight to the Blind ” by Sonny Boy Williamson

Topic: The Contradictory Legacy of George Herbert Walker Bush: an In-Depth Nuanced, Discussion. Plus Hear Joel Get Berated by Callers Who Believe the Whacky Conspiracy Theory that Bush Killed JFK

Music:

“Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” by Lester Bowie’ Brass Fantasy

“Political Song for Michael Jackson” by the Minutemen

“Motel Blues” by Loudon Wainwright III

“We the Common” by Thao & The Get Down and Stay Down

Topic: How can we ensure that the U.S. Department of Justice stands for the equal rule of law for everyone?

Guest: Bert Brandenburg, a former top U.S. Justice Department Official

Music:

“Spitu pront number 1” by Franc Baldachio and and Karenu Bonnici from Malta

“White Man’s World” by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit”

“Tu Cuerpo en la Arena” by Rikarena

“O Ponos tu Prezakia” (The Anguish of an Addict) by Anestis Delias from Greece

Topic: Discussion of the history of hunger in America, and why NYC and America still have so much of it today

Guest: NYC Social Services Commissioner Steven Banks

Music:– “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra, “Sugar is So Bitter” by Elvis Costello; and “Boul Di Tagale” by Cheikh Lo

Web site: www.hungerfreeamerica.org

Topics: Mid-term election results and the future of the Democratic Party. Plus, if you are given the name “Goddess of Melody and Song" at birth, must you become a singer?

Guests: Tibetan-American singer Yungchen Lhamo and Political Science Professor Dr. Christine Greer

Music: “Isouwa” by lhousseini Anivolla, “Happiness Is” by Yungchen Lhamo, “The Witches” by the Sonics