Veteran Ohio political writer Mary Anne Sharkey discusses the massive graft and abuse we are witnessing in the second Trump term and ponders why it seems so hard to stop it.

Is making a president’s every action in office unpunishable as the Supreme Court has done a good idea?

What do you see as the worst public corruption scandal in the news lately? A. A DOJ slush fund for the president to pay off friends. B. A deal with the IRS that keeps the agency from auditing Trump, his company and his family C. Insider stock trading by high-level officials.

Mary Anne Sharkey has been an Ohio-based newspaper reporter and editor all her adult life, serving in a series of leading roles at the Cleveland Plain Dealer especially. The first woman elected president of the Ohio Legislative Correspondent Association, she is an expert on Ohio politics and government. She also has been a strong proponent of women journalists as a board member of the International Women’s Media Foundation. 

Wall Street banker and public affairs commentator Mark Wittman explains for podcast host Rosemary Armao in layman’s terms how rising prices, disputed interest rates, the price of gold and the strength of the dollar are being affected by war, politics and Donald Trump’s bullying. 

Are you limiting how much driving you are doing because of rising gas prices?

The most potentially damaging economic problem facing Americans now is: A. Rising national debt B. Increasing energy, food, and health care costs C. War-related market volatility threatening retirement benefits D. Threats to privatize Social Security

Mark Wittman is an Investment banker and capital markets specialist with 20-plus years advising executives and boards on global financing, capital structure, and M&A. His career spans Lehman Brothers, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and SunTrust. Coverage focused on consumer products companies. He holds an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business and an undergraduate degree from Trinity University.

Wall Street banker and public affairs commentator Mark Wittman explains for podcast host Rosemary Armao in layman’s terms how rising prices, disputed interest rates, the price of gold and the strength of the dollar are being affected by war, politics and Donald Trump’s bullying. Are you limiting how much driving you are doing because of rising gas prices?The most potentially damaging economic problem facing Americans now is: A. Rising national debt B. Increasing energy, food, and health care costs C. War-related market volatility threatening retirement benefits D. Threats to privatize Social SecurityMark Wittman is an Investment banker and capital markets specialist with 20-plus years advising executives and boards on global financing, capital structure, and M&A. His career spans Lehman Brothers, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and SunTrust. Coverage focused on consumer products companies. He holds an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business and an undergraduate degree from Trinity University.

Writer Phyllis Jordan  who grew up in Virginia and long reported on southern politics  considers the implications and consequences of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in a Louisiana case that essentially guts the Voting Rights Act.

Do you agree with the Supreme Court majority that racism and discrimination in voting is no longer a problem that requires federal oversight? 

What do you foresee the Roberts Court being most remembered for? a. Expanding presidential powers b. Curbing women’s rights and rights of minorities c. Expanding protection of religious freedom d. Protecting and defending Second Amendment rights. 

Phyllis Jordan is an education policy analyst, journalist and communications manager with more than 30 years experience writing, editing and directing coverage of topics such as education, Congress, national politics, transportation, military affairs and health care. She has written extensively about student absenteeism and Covid relief spending. She has worked at Georgetown’s Center for Children and Families, Attendance Works, and the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. Previously she was a senior editor  at the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post.

Veteran investigative reporter Jim Odato knows the history, controversies and problems of New York's Adirondacks region better than almost anyone, and he talks with podcast host Rosemary Armao about preserving the wild North Country while also building world-class Olympic sports facilities and redeveloping closed prisons in the vast and remote area.

James M. Odato is a correspondent and former editor of the Adirondack Explorer. He has spent a long career as an investigative reporter and is recognized as one of New York’s top journalists covering state government, gambling, and waste of public money. He has written thousands of articles, his byline has appeared in numerous national publications and his investigative stories have spurred reforms. As a staff reporter for five daily newspapers, including the Albany Times Union and Buffalo News, Odato has received more than 30 state and national awards.  He has also taught at the University at Albany and authored a book, This Brain Had a Mouth, Lucy Gwin and the Voice of Disability Nation.

Podcast host Rosemary Armao and opinion writer Jay Jaynowitz talk about the sex scandals, misbehaving cabinet members, feuding over who's holier the Pope or the President, and the dark side of the Moon, all of which goes to show how weird and chaotic our world has become.

Algerian newspaper editor Kamel Mansari talks with Podcast Host Rosemary Armao about what he calls America's catastrophic war against Iran. In his view the US has lost power. and influence in the Middle East to China and given up all the good will and respect it earned over decades  in exchange for a foreign policy based on getting oil and other natural resources from weaker nations.

Kamel Mansari is the editor of the French-language newspaper Le Jeune Independant in Algiers, Algeria. He worked previously as editor in chief of Echorouk, an Arabic-language newspaper in Algiers, and as a reporter for Agence France-Presse. and a correspondent for the English-language Iranian channel,  Press TV. In 2008 he graduated from the Media Management Center at Northwestern University in Chicago.

Rodcast host Rosemary Armao and Opinion Writer Jay Jochnowitz worry about intensifying efforts to discourage voting. That includes send in ICE to practice intimidation in airport before possibly using them at polling places and requiring documents many people don't have to prove citizenship.

Also Actor Patrick White also talks about personifying playwright Tennessee Williams in an upcoming one-man show in Schenectady. 

Dr. Don Levy, the director of the Siena Research Institute which puts out the prestigious Siena Poll in conjunction with leading news outlets, schools us on how polls are supposed to work, why they sometimes do not, and how hard it is to get people to talk about how they really feel.

Dr. Don Levy is director of the Siena Research Institute  which  does important and nationally recognized polling on  economic and political issues.  Siena polling is in partnership with leading national and NY State newspapers. He has also conducted studies at Siena on civic engagement, health, charitable giving, leisure time and sports fanship. He holds degrees from Yale and the University of Connecticut.

Opinion writer Jay Jochnowitz and Podcast Host Rosemary Armao reigning over their monthly podcast "The Salon" on public affairs talk about lost peace and lost heroes.