This is a panel discussion.
Topics covered:
- The administration is targeting speech
-The disagreement with Canada is worsening daily, fueled by Trump's accusing Canada for treating the US unfairly.
=People are being kidnapped with no wattants, and being deported, despite the illegality.
-Democratic Party are mostly clueless, and are not taking organized action
-The tole of DOGE continues to grow.
-Powerful law firms are capitulating to Trump, as are powerful universities.
 
Music: From David Rovics, “The Richest Man in the World Says So”, 2025

Featured speakers/guests:
Part 1:
We talk with Joe Jaworski, host of "The Midterms", and former mayor of Galveston, Tx.
We discuss the censorship of speech and thought in Texas. We also discuss the makeup of the Texas legislature, and the likely issues that they will take up. One of them is the school voucher program, which the governor has pushed. We discuss the 'voucher profiteers' now in Texas.
Part 2:
We talk with Bill Curry and Robert Hockett. Curry is a former legislator in Connecticut, white house aide, and two-time candidate for Governor in Connecticut. Robert Hockett is a professor.
We discuss the recent spate of 'disappearances' caused by ICE's abduction of persons who have voiced their opposition to the Trump campaign of random deportations. Masked ICR agents have abducted various people, without warrants, and have transported them to different states and countries. This is in direct contravention to a judge's ruling that this is not legal or warranted. The administration has threatened judge impeachments and withholding funding to the court systems. Those that have been disappeared are labeled as "pre-guilty', in contradiction to the Constitution's guarantees. This assault on persons, the law, and the courts is unprecedented, and reminiscent of Nazi Germany, to many. 

Music: From David Rovics, “The Richest Man in the World Says So”, 2025

Part 1:
We talk with John Nichols, a national affairs correspondent for The Nation. He has written, cowritten, or edited over a dozen books on topics ranging from histories of American socialism and the Democratic Party to analyses of US and global media systems. His latest, cowritten with Senator Bernie Sanders, is the New York Times bestseller, It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism.
We discuss Musk's involvement in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
We also talk about the latest Trump administration scandal: the attack plan against the Houhtis being discussed on Signal, a commercial chat. What will be White House do? Who, if anyone will be fired?
Part 2:
Race Class, with Jonathan Feingold.
Ep. 39 | How Trump is Deploying Anti-Blackness and Antisemitism to Crush America

We recorded about twelve hours after federal officers abducted a Tufts University graduate student. The student's apparent "transgression"? Writing an op-ed in Tufts' student newspaper advocating for Tufts to divest from Israel.

To understand how we've reached this moment, we begin to unpack how President Trump is wielding both anti-Black racism and antisemitism to crush American democracy. The truth is, Trump is a terrific story teller. The story he's telling us, now, to justify his assault on our universities and our students marshals race as a political weapon. Trump is cementing a predictably fascist "us v. them" narrative that defines whiteness by Black inferiority and locates Jews as a scapegoat for his most vicious attacks on civil rights and democratic norms.
 
Music: From David Rovics, “The Richest Man in the World Says So”, 2025

Part 1: 
We talk with Patrik Jonsson, Christian Science Monitor Georgia Bureau Chief.
We discuss the increasing violence in the US. This includes the domestic extremism and police violence against citizens. What is currently endorsed by the government? "Everything everywhere all at once" .
Part 2:
We tak with Ron Abramson, Chair of Shaheen & Gordons Immigration Law Group.Ronald Abramson encabeza el Grupo de Inmigracion en el despacho de Shaheen y Gordon.
We discuss the recent deportations of Venezuelans swept up in raids, some for only having tattoos. Fear is growing among immigrants across the country. This includes the undocumented, green card holders, and naturalized citizens, and, even born citizens. Immigration lawyers are being targeted. People are being abducted and are disappearing. The Democratic Party's response is disappointing.  

Music: From David Rovics, “The Richest Man in the World Says So”, 2025

Part 1:
We talk with Jeet Heer, National Affairs Correspondent, The Nation
We discuss the behavior of the Democratic Party. The are ineffectual, and leadership is lacking, with the exception of Bernie Sanders and AOC. They are following a program of cowardice, as exemplified by Schumer. Large law firms are caving to trumpists. Judges are at risk, with threats being uttered. When will it be 'enough' to make voters react?
Part 2:
We talk with Eamon Whalen, a freelance journalist who writes about the right wing, and about the 'masculinity culture'.
We discuss with Mr. Whalen the 'crisis of masculinity, and its implications. Specifically, he writes about Richard Reeves, who is pushing this concept. Rather than concentrating on which MEN are pushing men, and others down, the theory goes that it is WOMEN who are pushing men, especially young men, down. This masculinity movement scapegoats women. 

Music: From David Rovics, “The Richest Man in the World Says So”, 2025

Stephen Pimpare is Professor of Public Policy at Vermont Law and Graduate School. He is the author of four books, including A People’s History of Poverty and, most recently, Politics for Social Workers: A Practical Guide to Effecting Change

Lincoln Mitchell teaches political science and public policy at Columbia University. He is the author of nine books and his writings have appeared at CNN, Reuters, the New York Times, NBC, the San Francisco Examiner and numerous other media platforms. For more of Lincoln’s work you can subscribe to his Substack “Kibitzing with Lincoln” at /lincolnmitchell.substack.com/.”

Dave Levinthal Based in Washington, D.C., Dave has led Raw Story's newsroom as editor-in-chief and served as deputy editor of Business Insider, where he oversaw the publication’s political investigations and enterprise journalism. Dave has also worked as an editor or reporter at the Center for Public Integrity, Politico, OpenSecrets, the Dallas Morning News and the Eagle-Tribune.His articles have appeared in dozens of publications, including The Atlantic, TIME, Politico Magazine, Rolling Stone, Slate, Salon, Daily Beast and Columbia Journalism Review.

We have a discussion about the various issues of importance today:
-Verbal and threatened physical attacks on judges who disagree with the administration, including threats for future actions.
-The lawlessness of the Trump administration with its tsunami of actions
-Defiance of court orders and rulings
-Wiping historical references to Blacks, women, and others.
-Democratic leadership is absent, with a few exceptions
-The need for massive, very public demonstrations against Trump and Musk
-Appeasement to Trump by large law firms and universities.
The WI Supreme Court race, and Musk's large dollar spend.

Music: From David Rovics, “The Richest Man in the World Says So”, 2025
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Part 1:
We talk with Jeremy Schwartz, investigative reporter for ProPublica.
We discuss the elections to school boards in Texas. We look at the difference between 'at-large' elections and 'within district' elections. We note that in the 'at-large' elections, the school board members who are chosen concentrate less on education than on culture wars. Actual parents have less input. In 'within-district' elections, school board members are more likely to be focused on education. We discuss election funding, and how this will affect education in future.
Part 2:
We talk with Bill Curry and David Atkins. Bill Curry was a Connecticut state senator, comptroller and two time Democratic nominee for governor who served as Counselor to the President in the Clinton White House. He has written for Salon, the Daily Beast, the HuffingtonPost and the HartfordCourant and has provided commentary on National Public Radio, MSNBC and many other news outlets.
David Atkins is aWashington Monthlycontributing writer, activist, and research professional living in Santa Barbara as well as an elected DNC Member from California. He is president of The Pollux Group, a qualitative research firm.
We discuss Chuck Schumer's vote for the Republican budget, in opposition to the Democratic members of Congress who voted against it, and most of the other Democratic members of the Senate. It seems that Schumer believes that it is politics as usual, despite evidence to the contrary.
We also discuss the administration's attacks on universities. It is a part of the culture war against liberalism.  

Music: From David Rovics, “The Richest Man in the World Says So”, 2025

Part 1: We talk with Felipe de la Hoz, contributing editor forThe New Republic.Along with co-writer Gaby Del Valle, he runsBORDER/LINES, a weekly newsletter breaking down the rapid pace of change in federal immigration policy.
We discuss the case of Mahmoud Khalil, who has been taken by federal agents. Although he is a green card holder, he is being treated as a criminal for his speech, apparently, and treated as a threat. We discuss the rationale, and what the various implications are.
Part 2: We talk with Alison Phllips, Professor of Psychology, and with Julia Standefer, Ph.D. student. Both are at Iowa State University.
We discuss the states (all except Vermont), who have introduced anti-trans legislation. We examine the underlying reasons for this, and how this affects our society.  

Music: From David Rovics, “The Richest Man in the World Says So”, 2025

Part 1:
We talk with Katharine Stewart, investigative reporter, and author of two recent books, "The Power Worshipers", and "Money, Lies, and God,"
We discuss the tactics of the US christian right, and how their goal is to crush liberalism and democracy in the US and other countries. How the christian right uses disinformation to to sway people to their view, and confuse people.
Part 2:
We talk with Nathan Meyers, Ph.D. candidate in sociology at U Mass Amherst.
We discuss how Trump uses his power to privatize government functions, to 'prove' how inefficient government is. This is part of his war on the US government, and the labor unions. By portraying the government as too expensive, and not effective, he hopes to eliminate it. 

Music: From David Rovics, “The Richest Man in the World Says So”, 2025

Part 1:
We talk with Aaron Regunberg, the Contributing Editor at The New Republic, and Senior Climate Policy Counsel at Public Citizen.
We discuss the Bernie Sanders tour of the US, and the reception Sanders is getting from many people.
It is important to note that the fastest growing demographic in the US is billionaires. In the last 10 years, the number has increased from 500 to 2500 billionaires.
Part2:
We talk with Richard Peltier, Professor of Environmental Health. U Mass Amherst.
We discuss the likely effects of the dismantling of air quality rules, as is being done by DOGE. The air quality in the US as a result of years of rules has markedly improved. We now can expect to return to the prior state, with the cost borne by the population in the form of increased illness and death.  

Music: From David Rovics, “The Richest Man in the World Says So”, 2025