Synopsis:  Is Authoritarianism Here?: Gessen and Stanley discuss the shift in America's self-understanding, from democratic ideals to a self-identity based on loving the US for its past greatness, and warn that this is not a democratic project, but rather a fascist one, similar to what Putin is doing in Russia.

Stay informed and engaged! Please hit the podcast subscribe button if you've yet to subscribe.

Description: What will it take to reject fascism, before it’s too late? Masha Gessen and Jason Stanley are two leading experts on autocracy, and they’re sounding the alarm. They and their families have escaped totalitarian regimes and oppressive governments; today Gessen and Stanley are pulling back the curtain on the attacks against DEI, trans bodies, civil rights, higher education and more. Is authoritarianism here? Masha Gessen is an acclaimed Russian-American journalist, a Polk Award winning opinion writer for the New York Times and the author of "Surviving Autocracy" and “The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia.” Forced to leave Russia twice, in 2024, a Moscow court convicted them, in absentia to eight years in prison for their reporting on the war in Ukraine. Jason Stanley is a best-selling author and professor whose books include “Erasing History” and "How Fascism Works". He recently left his teaching position at Yale University to relocate to Canada with his family; noting that he is a child of Jewish refugees who fled Nazi Germany. In this historic conversation — the first interview between Gessen and Stanley — the two explore how to be bold in our movements and envision a multi-ethnic democracy. Plus, a commentary from Laura.

“Trump has proposed a revived empire, a return to an imaginary past. The Democrats have proposed the way things are now, which are deeply unsatisfying and horribly anxiety provoking for a very large number of people. So we need a vision of a future that is more appealing than the imaginary past.” - Masha Gessen

“What I see now is this regime shifting the self understanding of America, from having these democratic ideals . . . God knows they've been imperfect, to a self identity as loving the United States because we've had these great men in our past, and we've conquered the West, and we can punch you in the nose. And that's not a democratic project. That's like what Putin is doing in Russia.” - Jason Stanley

• Masha Gessen: Opinion Columnist, The New York Times; Author, Surviving Autocracy; Distinguished Professor, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, CUNY

• Jason Stanley: Author, Erasing History & How Fascism Works; Professor, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto

Music Credit: “America” by Sylvan Paul, courtesy of Wolf+Lamb Records.  "Steppin" by Podington Bear. And original sound production and design by Jeannie Hopper.

RESOURCES:

Watch the special report released on YouTube; PBS World Channel August 17th, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio (check here to see if your station airs the show) & available as a podcast.  The full uncut conversation is available as a podcast in this podcast feed.

RESOURCES:

Watch the broadcast episode cut for time at our YouTube channel and airing on PBS stations across the country 

Full Episode Notes are located HERE.

Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:

•. Special Report- Decades After Bloody Sunday, Is Trump Taking Civil Rights Back to Before Selma in ‘65?:  Watch,  Audio Podcast:  Episode, and Uncut Conversation with Kimberlé Crenshaw, AAPF and Clifford Albright, Black Voters Matter

•. Journalists Maria Hinojosa & Chenjerai Kumanyika: Forced Removals, Foreign Detention, the War on Education & Free Speech: Watch,  Audio Podcast: Episode, and Uncut Conversation

•  The People v. DOGE: Jamie Raskin’s Strategy to Combat the Musk & Trump Power Grab:  Watch,  Audio Podcast:  Episode, and Uncut Conversation

Related Articles and Resources:

• This Is What a Digital Coup Looks Like, by Carole Callwalladr, Ted Talk, April 9, 2025 WATCH

• The Fascism Expert at Yale Who’s Fleeing America, by Keziah Weir, March 31, 2025, Vanity Fair

• The Shape of Power in American Art, a new exhibition explores how the history of race in the United States is entwined with the history of American sculpture, November 8, 2024, Exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

• Celebrate Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Riverside Church in the City of New York, Various , Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom

•  American journalist Masha Gessen convicted in absentia by Russia for criticizing its military, by Anna Chernova, Lauren Kent and Rob Picket, July 16, 2024, CNN

•. Tyrants Use Racism and Patriarchy to Split Civil Society Apart and Dismantle Democracy, Excerpt of speech by Jason Stanley, Jacob Urowsky professor of philosophy at Yale University, recorded & produced by Melinda Tuhus, April 16, 2025, Between the Lines

•  The Hidden Motive Behind Trump’s Attacks on Trans People, by M. Gessen, March 17, 2025, The New York Times

•  The 10 tactics of fascism by Jason Stanley, 2022, Big Think - Watch

•  Welcome to Trump’s Mafia State: “Nice university you got there. Shame if something happened to it.” By M. Gessen, Produce by Vishakha Darbha, April 21, 2025, The New York Times

Laura Flanders and Friends Crew:  Laura Flanders, along with Sabrina Artel, Jeremiah Cothren, Veronica Delgado, Janet Hernandez, Jeannie Hopper, Gina Kim, Sarah Miller, Nat Needham, David Neuman, and Rory O’Conner. 

FOLLOW Laura Flanders and Friends

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ACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel

Sound the Alarm on Rising Fascism: Masha Gessen and Jason Stanley, leading experts on authoritarianism, warn of attacks on DEI, trans bodies, civil rights, and higher education, and discuss the need for a bold vision of a multi-ethnic democracy.

ARE YOU AUDACIOUS? SUPPORT OUR RESISTANCE REPORTING FUND! Help us continue fighting against the rise of authoritarianism in these times. Please support our Resistance Reporting Fund. Our goal is to raise $100K. We're at $35K! Become a sustaining member starting at $5 a month! Or make a one time donation at LauraFlanders.org/Donate

Description: What will it take to reject fascism, before it’s too late? Masha Gessen and Jason Stanley are two leading experts on autocracy, and they’re sounding the alarm. They and their families have escaped totalitarian regimes and oppressive governments; today Gessen and Stanley are pulling back the curtain on the attacks against DEI, trans bodies, civil rights, higher education and more. Is authoritarianism here? Masha Gessen is an acclaimed Russian-American journalist, a Polk Award winning opinion writer for the New York Times and the author of "Surviving Autocracy" and “The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia.” Forced to leave Russia twice, in 2024, a Moscow court convicted them, in absentia to eight years in prison for their reporting on the war in Ukraine. Jason Stanley is a best-selling author and professor whose books include “Erasing History” and "How Fascism Works". He recently left his teaching position at Yale University to relocate to Canada with his family; noting that he is a child of Jewish refugees who fled Nazi Germany. In this historic conversation — the first interview between Gessen and Stanley — the two explore how to be bold in our movements and envision a multi-ethnic democracy. Plus, a commentary from Laura.

“What I see now is this regime shifting the self understanding of America, from having these democratic ideals . . . God knows they've been imperfect, to a self identity as loving the United States because we've had these great men in our past, and we've conquered the West, and we can punch you in the nose. And that's not a democratic project. That's like what Putin is doing in Russia.” - Jason Stanley

Guests:

• Masha Gessen: Opinion Columnist, The New York Times; Author, Surviving Autocracy; Distinguished Professor, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, CUNY

• Jason Stanley: Author, Erasing History & How Fascism Works; Professor, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto

Watch the special report released on YouTube; PBS World Channel August 15th, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio (check here to see if your station airs the show) & available as a podcast.

Full Conversation Release: While our weekly shows are edited to time for broadcast on Public TV and community radio, we offer to our members and podcast subscribers the full uncut conversation. These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters.

RESOURCES:

Watch the broadcast episode cut for time at our YouTube channel and airing on PBS stations across the country 

Full Episode Notes are located HERE.

Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:

•. Special Report- Decades After Bloody Sunday, Is Trump Taking Civil Rights Back to Before Selma in ‘65?:  Watch,  Audio Podcast:  Episode, and Uncut Conversation with Kimberlé Crenshaw, AAPF and Clifford Albright, Black Voters Matter

•. Journalists Maria Hinojosa & Chenjerai Kumanyika: Forced Removals, Foreign Detention, the War on Education & Free Speech: Watch,  Audio Podcast: Episode, and Uncut Conversation

•  The People v. DOGE: Jamie Raskin’s Strategy to Combat the Musk & Trump Power Grab:  Watch,  Audio Podcast:  Episode, and Uncut Conversation

Related Articles and Resources:

• This Is What a Digital Coup Looks Like, by Carole Callwalladr, Ted Talk, April 9, 2025 WATCH

• The Fascism Expert at Yale Who’s Fleeing America, by Keziah Weir, March 31, 2025, Vanity Fair

• The Shape of Power in American Art, a new exhibition explores how the history of race in the United States is entwined with the history of American sculpture, November 8, 2024, Exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

• Celebrate Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Riverside Church in the City of New York, Various , Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom

•  American journalist Masha Gessen convicted in absentia by Russia for criticizing its military, by Anna Chernova, Lauren Kent and Rob Picket, July 16, 2024, CNN

•. Tyrants Use Racism and Patriarchy to Split Civil Society Apart and Dismantle Democracy, Excerpt of speech by Jason Stanley, Jacob Urowsky professor of philosophy at Yale University, recorded & produced by Melinda Tuhus, April 16, 2025, Between the Lines

•  The Hidden Motive Behind Trump’s Attacks on Trans People, by M. Gessen, March 17, 2025, The New York Times

•  The 10 tactics of fascism by Jason Stanley, 2022, Big Think - Watch

•  Welcome to Trump’s Mafia State: “Nice university you got there. Shame if something happened to it.” By M. Gessen, Produce by Vishakha Darbha, April 21, 2025, The New York Times

Laura Flanders and Friends Crew:  Laura Flanders, along with Sabrina Artel, Jeremiah Cothren, Veronica Delgado, Janet Hernandez, Jeannie Hopper, Gina Kim, Sarah Miller, Nat Needham, David Neuman, and Rory O’Conner. 

FOLLOW Laura Flanders and Friends

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ACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel

From "Bloody Sunday" to Modern Activism: Civil Rights Leaders Reflect on Legacy

This show is made possible thanks our members! To become a sustaining member go to https://LauraFlanders.org/donate   Thank you for your continued support!

Description: 60 years ago in Selma, Alabama, state troopers beat peaceful protesters bloody on the Edmund Pettus Bridge as they marched for civil rights. The horror of “Bloody Sunday” and the resilience of the Civil Rights Movement ultimately led to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and many of the landmark achievements that are now directly under attack. As civil rights activists look to history to understand — and prepare for — the present, Laura walks the Bridge and talks with, among others, Sheyann Webb Christburg, who marched at the age of eight, Black Voters Matter co-founders LaTosha Brown and Clifford Albright; law professor and author Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw and Maya Wiley, President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. What does people power look like today? Plus, a commentary from Laura on name calling then and now.

“We're not going to phone bank our way out of this. We're not going to text our way out of this. And in truth, we're not even going to vote our way out of this . . . It's going to take revisiting some of the same strategies that we saw here in Selma, in terms of nonviolent civil disobedience and direct action.” - Clifford Albright

“When we see and hear and think about fascism, we think about anti-democratic movements in Europe. We think about the Holocaust . . . But for Black people, as Langston Hughes said, you don't have to explain to us what fascism is. We experienced it. That is what we were fighting, for the 60, 70 years after Reconstruction was overthrown.” - Kimberlé Crenshaw

Guests:

• Clifford Albright: Co-Founder & Executive Director, Black Voters Matter

• Willard and Kiba Armstead: Veteran & Spouse

• Trayvon Bossa: Sigma Chapter Member, Miles College Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity

• LaTosha Brown: Co-Founder, Black Voters Matter

• Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw: Co-Founder & Executive Director, African American Policy Forum; Host of the Intersectionality Matters! Podcast

• Noelle Damico: Director of Social Justice, The Workers Circle

• Melinda Hicks: Military Family

• Jaribu Hill: Executive Director & Founder, Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights

• Myla Person: Jack and Jill Club, Columbus, Georgia

• Ann Toback: CEO, The Workers Circle

• Sheyann Webb-Christburg: Youngest Participant,1965 Bloody Sunday March

• Maya Wiley: President & CEO, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Watch the broadcast episode cut for time at our YouTube channel and airing on PBS stations across the country 

Subscribe to episode notes via Patreon

Music Credit:  "Tremole" "Jagged" "Thrum of Soil" & "Dawn Summit" by Blue Dot Sessions from the album Empty Outpost.  "Steppin" by Podington Bear. And original sound production and design by Jeannie Hopper.

Podcast Endorsement:  Intersectionality Matters! Podcast

Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:

•  Rep. John Lewis on Making Justice from Selma to the Present, Watch

•  Kimberlé Crenshaw & Soledad O’Brien Call Out the Media on Critical Race Theory, Watch / Listen / Download Podcast

•  Reporting on Policing at the Polls & BIPOC Voter Suppression in 2024, Watch / Listen/Download Podcast:  Full Uncut Conversation and Episode

• Deciding the Fate of Democracy in North Carolina, Watch / Download Podcast 

•  The Georgia Way:  Strategies that Work for Winning Elections, Watch / Listen/Download Podcast:  Full Uncut Conversation and Episode

Related Articles and Resources:

•  Anniversary of ‘Bloody Sunday’ Marks Continued Fight for Voting Rights, by Temi Adeoye, March 24, 2025, ACLU

•  U.S. Civil Rights Trail, Learn More

• United State of Amnesia, The Real History of Critical Race Theory, Hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw Podcast Mini Series

•  Documentary Trailer:  “Love, Joy, and Power: Tools for Liberation” follows Cliff Albright and LaTosha Brown as they reshape American democracy. As founders of Black Voters Matter Fund, they didn't just flip Georgia in 2020 - they sparked a movement that's still growing. April 8, 2025, Watch

Laura Flanders and Friends Crew:  Laura Flanders, along with Sabrina Artel, Jeremiah Cothren, Veronica Delgado, Janet Hernandez, Jeannie Hopper, Gina Kim, Sarah Miller, Nat Needham, David Neuman, and Rory O’Conner. 

FOLLOW Laura Flanders and Friends

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ACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel

“When we see and hear and think about fascism, we think about anti-democratic movements in Europe. We think about the Holocaust . . . But for Black people, as Langston Hughes said, you don't have to explain to us what fascism is. We experienced it. That is what we were fighting, for the 60, 70 years after Reconstruction was overthrown.” - Kimberlé Crenshaw

This show is made possible by you! To become a sustaining member go to https://LauraFlanders.org/donate Thank you for your continued support!

Description [Rewind]:  The following podcast features full uncut conversations with Law Professor Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, an American civil rights advocate and leading scholar of critical race theory.  She’s the Co-Founder of African American Policy Forum and the host of the podcast Intersectionality Matters! that includes the series “United States of Amnesia, the real history of critical race theory.  Also, you’ll hear the uncut conversation with Clifford Albright, the co-founder of Black Voters Matter, one of the most significant organizations working for voters rights in the U.S.. Clips from both interviews are featured in our special report from Selma, Alabama where Americans marked the 60th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches amidst a hail of executive orders by Trump reversing many of the gains of the Civil Rights movement and banning anti-discrimination measures and even the teaching of Civil Rights history. These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters. (originally released spring 2025)

Guests:

• Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw: Co-Founder & Executive Director, African American Policy Forum; Host of the "Intersectionality Matters!" Podcast.

• Clifford Albright: Co-Founder & Executive Director, Black Voters Matter

Full Conversation Release: While our weekly shows are edited to time for broadcast on Public TV and community radio, we offer to our members and podcast subscribers the full uncut conversation. These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters.

RESOURCES:

Watch the broadcast episode cut for time at our YouTube channel and airing on PBS stations across the country 

Full Episode Notes are located HERE.

Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:

•  Rep. John Lewis on Making Justice from Selma to the Present, Watch

•  Kimberlé Crenshaw & Soledad O’Brien Call Out the Media on Critical Race Theory, Watch / Listen / Download Podcast

•  Reporting on Policing at the Polls & BIPOC Voter Suppression in 2024, Watch / Listen/Download Podcast:  Full Uncut Conversation and Episode

• Deciding the Fate of Democracy in North Carolina, Watch / Download Podcast 

•  The Georgia Way:  Strategies that Work for Winning Elections, Watch / Listen/Download Podcast:  Full Uncut Conversation and Episode

Related Articles and Resources:

•  Anniversary of ‘Bloody Sunday’ Marks Continued Fight for Voting Rights, by Temi Adeoye, March 24, 2025, ACLU

•  U.S. Civil Rights Trail, Learn More

Laura Flanders and Friends Crew:  Laura Flanders, along with Sabrina Artel, Jeremiah Cothren, Veronica Delgado, Janet Hernandez, Jeannie Hopper, Gina Kim, Sarah Miller, Nat Needham, David Neuman, and Rory O’Conner. 

FOLLOW Laura Flanders and Friends

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ACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel

Synopsis: Two decades after Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana, the state is now facing a new kind of storm: the rapid expansion of liquified natural gas facilities that are displacing residents and polluting minority communities.

This show is made possible by you! To become a sustaining member go to LauraFlanders.org/donate

Description: Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest hurricanes ever to strike the United States, killing 1,833 people, displacing hundreds of thousands more and causing more than $100 billion in damage. Louisianans wanted change and climate action, but 20 years on, a state ravaged by climate disasters is now ground zero for a whole new kind of storm: liquified natural gas facilities. The Trump administration okayed several new LNG plants on the Gulf this year, but residents are still picking up the pieces after the first LNG plants entered their neighborhood under Democratic administrations. In this episode, Laura speaks to Louisianans whose lives have been turned upside down by the expansion of LNG exports, and an expert who says minority communities benefit little from the jobs in the petrochemical facilities that surround them, yet suffer disproportionate pollution effects. Their message? Climate refugees exist in the U.S., and there will be more: “Wake up, open your eyes!”

“[I’m a] climate refugee, more than once . . . I'm no scientist, but I'm more of an expert than the experts. Living it’s a whole different ball game.” - Travis Dardar

“[Companies] demand big tax incentives to come here . . . We are last in transportation, last in healthcare, last in education . . . We’re almost last in every measurable area because we give tax breaks to the big oil companies and petrochemical companies.” - General Russel L. Honoré

“Donald Trump doesn't live next to an oil refinery and he never will.” - Kimberly Terrell

Guests:

•  Travis Dardar: Commercial Fisherman; Founder, Fishermen Interested In Saving our Heritage (FISH)

•  General Russel L. Honoré: Decorated 37-Year Army Veteran; Commander, Joint Task Force Katrina; Founder, GreenARMY

•  Kimberly Terrell: Visiting Scientist, Center for Applied Environmental Science (CAES); Former Research Scientist & Director, Community Engagement, Tulane Environmental Law Clinic

Additional Crew: for this special report includes Dan T. Peters of Dan T. Peters Media and Calvin Blue Jr..  Special Thanks:  Gina Kim and Anne Rolfes

Music credits: Jagged and Thrum of Soil by Blue Dot Sessions and original sound design by Jeannie Hopper

Watch the episode released on YouTube August 1st, 5pm ET; PBS World Channel August 3rd, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio (check here to see if your station airs the show) & available as a podcast August 6th.

Full Episode Notes are located HERE.

-Related Podcast:  Uncut Conversation with General Russel L. Honoré: Decorated 37-Year Army Veteran; Commander, Joint Task Force Katrina; Founder, GreenARMY

RESOURCES:

Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:

•  Colette Pichon Battle on Climate Justice Reparations- Watch / Listen:  Episode, Full Conversation

•  BIPOC Media Answers the Call: Community Action After Hurricane Helene- Watch / Listen:  Episode, Full Conversation

•  Before the Ground Runs Dry: BIPOC Media on the US Water Crisis: Watch / Listen:  Episode

Related Articles and Resources:

•  Fishfolk are on the frontlines of the gas export boom, Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass 2, or CP2, threatens the way of life on Louisiana’s Gulf Coast, January 25, 2025, Southern Environmental Law Center

•  The Biden Administration’s Next Big Climate Decision.  The liquefied-natural-gas-buildout-and fossil-fuel exports-challenge progress on global warming.  September 22, 2023,  By Bill McKibben, October 31, 2023, The New Yorker

•  Pervasive racial and ethnic disparities in the U.S. petrochemical workforce, by Kimberly Terrell, Gianna St. Julien, Michael Ash, September 2025 Science Direct

Laura Flanders and Friends Crew:  Laura Flanders, along with Sabrina Artel, Jeremiah Cothren, Veronica Delgado, Janet Hernandez, Jeannie Hopper, Gina Kim, Sarah Miller, Nat Needham, David Neuman, and Rory O’Conner. 

FOLLOW Laura Flanders and Friends

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraflandersandfriends/

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ACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel

Stay informed and engaged! Please hit the podcast subscribe button if you've yet to subscribe.

Description: Explore the top headlines of the month — and stories you won’t find in mainstream media — in this timely episode of Meet the BIPOC Press. From New York City, Documented’s Labor Reporter Amir Khafagy returns to fill us in on mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s win in the primary election, and how mainstream media overlooked the immigrant vote. Was this a “political upset” to journalists from those very communities? And reporting from the U.S. South, Capital B Rural Issues Reporter Aallyah Wright discusses new legislation from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that will have devastating impacts on Black farmers. Also in this episode: employers allegedly threatening immigrant workers with ICE and deportation for speaking up about wage theft, the independent media model and holding journalists accountable. As you’ll hear, these reporters are not just covering their communities — they're helping to build the infrastructure for more inclusive, accurate storytelling about race, place, and power.

“In the mainstream media there was this conversation happening around, maybe the gentrifier class and the hipsters were the ones coming out and voting for [Zohran Mamdani]. And that may have been true to some extent, but immigrant communities, especially Asian immigrant communities, were really excited for him . . .  Some of the districts in Queens that even went Trump voted for Zohran. - Amir Khafagy

“I've been seeing a lot of news coverage about the USDA, when we talk about office closures or folks being laid off, or these grants that are being cut . . . But they're not always focused on the realities of what that looks like for Black farmers, given the history of the fraught relationship between Black farmers and the USDA and the historic discrimination.” - Aallyah Wright

Guests:

• Amir Khafagy: Senior Labor Reporter, Documented NY

• Aallyah Wright: Rural Issues Reporter, Capital B

Watch the episode released on YouTube July 25th 5pm ET; PBS World Channel July 27th, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio (check here to see if your station airs the show) & available as a podcast July 30th.

Full Episode Notes are located HERE.

This show is made possible by you! To become a sustaining member go to LauraFlanders.org/donate

RESOURCES:

*Recommended book:

“Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition” by Silky Shah, Get the Book*

(*Bookshop is an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores. The LF Show is an affiliate of bookshop.org and will receive a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.)

Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:

•  BIPOC Media Answers the Call: Community Action After Hurricane Helene: Watch / Listen:  Episode and Full Conversation

•  Los Angeles Wildfires: BIPOC Media Are Telling Stories Other Media Aren’t: Watch / Listen:  Episode and Full Conversation

•  Crime & Migration: An Abolitionist Plan for Immigration Justice: Watch / Listen:  Episode

Related Articles and Resources:

•. In the Mississippi Delta, Black Farmers Are Rebuilding the Legacy of Land Ownership, by Aallyah Wright, July 9, 2025, Capital B

•  Black Farmers Brace for Trump’s Tariffs While Navigating USDA Office Closures, by Aallyah Wright, April 4, 2025, Capital B

•  Advocates Say Leaked Farm Bureau Memo Promotes Racist Science, by Amir Khafagy, July 9, 2025, Documented

•  On Election Day, Immigrant Communities Split on Mamdani and Cuomo, by Clarissa Leon, Meghnad Bose, Amir Khafagy, April XU, Rommel H. Owed, and Paz Radovic, June 24, 2025, Documented

•  The Marines Did Not Sigh U to Police LA:  A veteran and military law expert on “Being used against your neighbor” as a soldier.  By Peter Berger, June 24, 2025, Mother Jones

•  Farmworkers Call for Worker-Led Strikes and Boycotts Amid Recent Raids Targeting Farms at Press Conference Monday, by Eli Young, July 16, 2025, Los Angeles Magazine

•  USDA’s end of diversity efforts in farm programs will mean ‘less food for the community’ by Héctor Alejandro Arzate, July 14, 2025, Harvest Public Media-KCUR, NR Kansas City

Laura Flanders and Friends Crew:  Laura Flanders, along with Sabrina Artel, Jeremiah Cothren, Veronica Delgado, Janet Hernandez, Jeannie Hopper, Gina Kim, Sarah Miller, Nat Needham, David Neuman, and Rory O’Conner. 

FOLLOW Laura Flanders and Friends

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ACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel

Synopsis:  In an unflinching interview from the upcoming “Louisiana Survived Katrina. Will it Survive the Petrochemical Industry?” podcast special, veteran Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré confronts corporate corruption and calls out systemic failures threatening public health in his home state.

This show is made possible by you! To become a sustaining member go to LauraFlanders.org/donate

Full Conversation Release: While our weekly shows are edited to time for broadcast on Public TV and community radio, we offer to our members and podcast subscribers the full uncut conversation. These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters.

Description: While our weekly Laura Flanders & Friends shows are edited to time for broadcast on Public TV and community radio, we offer to our members and podcast subscribers the full uncut conversation. The following is an extended interview from our upcoming podcast special “Louisiana Survived Katrina. Will it Survive the Petrochemical Industry? — that takes a deeper dive into the stories of the frontline communities fighting back.

We speak with General Russel Honoré, the retired Lieutenant General who led the federal response to Katrina and now heads the GreenArmy, a grassroots environmental alliance.

Since the Trump administration returned to office in 2025, a surge of federally approved LNG export plants has swept across Louisiana’s coast. Honoré warns these developments are accelerating land loss, worsening hurricane impacts, and deepening the crisis for communities already facing climate displacement. Many have been forced to move multiple times as storms intensify, floodwaters rise, and petrochemical pollution endangers public health—especially in Black, Indigenous, and working-class areas.

In this urgent and unfiltered interview, General Honoré speaks out about government capture, corporate corruption, and the growing disconnect between environmental policy and public survival. For him, real resilience means challenging the industries and institutions that continue to put profit ahead of people.

GUEST:  General Russel L. Honoré: Decorated 37-Year Army Veteran; Commander, Joint Task Force Katrina; Founder, GreenARMY

Watch the episode released on YouTube August 1st, 5pm ET; PBS World Channel August 3rd, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio (check here to see if your station airs the show) & available as a podcast August 6th.

Full Episode Notes are located HERE.

RESOURCES:

Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:

•  Colette Pichon Battle on Climate Justice Reparations- Watch / Listen:  Episode, Full Conversation

•  BIPOC Media Answers the Call: Community Action After Hurricane Helene- Watch / Listen:  Episode, Full Conversation

•  Before the Ground Runs Dry: BIPOC Media on the US Water Crisis: Watch / Listen:  Episode

Related Articles and Resources:

•  Fishfolk are on the frontlines of the gas export boom, Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass 2, or CP2, threatens the way of life on Louisiana’s Gulf Coast, January 25, 2025, Southern Environmental Law Center

•  The Biden Administration’s Next Big Climate Decision.  The liquefied-natural-gas-buildout-and fossil-fuel exports-challenge progress on global warming.  September 22, 2023,  By Bill McKibben, October 31, 2023, The New Yorker

•  Pervasive racial and ethnic disparities in the U.S. petrochemical workforce, by Kimberly Terrell, Gianna St. Julien, Michael Ash, September 2025 Science Direct

Laura Flanders and Friends Crew:  Laura Flanders, along with Sabrina Artel, Jeremiah Cothren, Veronica Delgado, Janet Hernandez, Jeannie Hopper, Gina Kim, Sarah Miller, Nat Needham, David Neuman, and Rory O’Conner. 

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ACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel

Synopsis, Laura's Commentary:  As billionaires buy up our newsrooms and Congress defunds public media, the stakes for democracy couldn’t be higher. If we don’t reinvent and reinvest in independent media now, it may soon be too late.  

For the transcript of this commentary and more articles by Laura subscribe to Substack.

Watch Laura's interview with Documented NY's Labor Reporter Amir Khafagy and Capital B's Rural Issues Reporter Aallyah Wright on Laura Flanders & Friends on YouTube, or PBS stations and hear their take on commercial coverage of the NYC Mayor's race and anti-Black rule changes at USDA, or listen to past commentaries and full uncut interviews through subscribing to this free podcast. 

 That episode is available on YouTube July 25th 5pm ET; PBS World Channel July 27th, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airs on community radio stations across the country (check here to see if your station airs the show) & available as a podcast July 30th.

Full Episode Notes are located HERE.

This show is made possible by you! To become a sustaining member go to LauraFlanders.org/donate

Laura Flanders and Friends Crew:  Laura Flanders, along with Sabrina Artel, Jeremiah Cothren, Veronica Delgado, Janet Hernandez, Jeannie Hopper, Gina Kim, Sarah Miller, Nat Needham, David Neuman, and Rory O’Conner. 

FOLLOW Laura Flanders and Friends

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ACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel

Snyopsis:  A pair of investigative reporters shine light on underreported stories affecting marginalized groups, including employer intimidation tactics against undocumented workers speaking out about labor exploitation and biased media coverage distorting community narratives.

This show is made possible by you! To become a sustaining member go to LauraFlanders.org/donate

Full Conversation Release: While our weekly shows are edited to time for broadcast on Public TV and community radio, we offer to our members and podcast subscribers the full uncut conversation. These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters.

Description: Explore the top headlines of the month — and stories you won’t find in mainstream media — in this timely episode of Meet the BIPOC Press. From New York City, Documented’s Labor Reporter Amir Khafagy returns to fill us in on mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s win in the primary election, and how mainstream media overlooked the immigrant vote. Was this a “political upset” to journalists from those very communities? And reporting from the U.S. South, Capital B Rural Issues Reporter Aallyah Wright discusses new legislation from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that will have devastating impacts on Black farmers. Also in this episode: employers allegedly threatening immigrant workers with ICE and deportation for speaking up about wage theft, the independent media model and holding journalists accountable. As you’ll hear, these reporters are not just covering their communities — they're helping to build the infrastructure for more inclusive, accurate storytelling about race, place, and power.

“In the mainstream media there was this conversation happening around, maybe the gentrifier class and the hipsters were the ones coming out and voting for [Zohran Mamdani]. And that may have been true to some extent, but immigrant communities, especially Asian immigrant communities, were really excited for him . . .  Some of the districts in Queens that even went Trump voted for Zohran. - Amir Khafagy

“I've been seeing a lot of news coverage about the USDA, when we talk about office closures or folks being laid off, or these grants that are being cut . . . But they're not always focused on the realities of what that looks like for Black farmers, given the history of the fraught relationship between Black farmers and the USDA and the historic discrimination.” - Aallyah Wright

Guests:

• Amir Khafagy: Senior Labor Reporter, Documented NY

• Aallyah Wright: Rural Issues Reporter, Capital B

Watch the episode released on YouTube July 25th 5pm ET; PBS World Channel July 27th, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio (check here to see if your station airs the show) & available as a podcast July 30th.

Full Episode Notes are located HERE.

RESOURCES:

“Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition” by Silky Shah, Get the Book*

(*Bookshop is an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores. The LF Show is an affiliate of bookshop.org and will receive a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.)

•  BIPOC Media Answers the Call: Community Action After Hurricane Helene: Watch / Listen:  Episode and Full Conversation 

•  Los Angeles Wildfires: BIPOC Media Are Telling Stories Other Media Aren’t: Watch / Listen:  Episode and Full Conversation

•  Crime & Migration: An Abolitionist Plan for Immigration Justice: Watch / Listen:  Episode

•. In the Mississippi Delta, Black Farmers Are Rebuilding the Legacy of Land Ownership, by Aallyah Wright, July 9, 2025, Capital B

•  Black Farmers Brace for Trump’s Tariffs While Navigating USDA Office Closures, by Aallyah Wright, April 4, 2025, Capital B

•  Advocates Say Leaked Farm Bureau Memo Promotes Racist Science, by Amir Khafagy, July 9, 2025, Documented

•  On Election Day, Immigrant Communities Split on Mamdani and Cuomo, by Clarissa Leon, Meghnad Bose, Amir Khafagy, April XU, Rommel H. Owed, and Paz Radovic, June 24, 2025, Documented

•  The Marines Did Not Sigh U to Police LA:  A veteran and military law expert on “Being used against your neighbor” as a soldier.  By Peter Berger, June 24, 2025, Mother Jones

•  Farmworkers Call for Worker-Led Strikes and Boycotts Amid Recent Raids Targeting Farms at Press Conference Monday, by Eli Young, July 16, 2025, Los Angeles Magazine

•  USDA’s end of diversity efforts in farm programs will mean ‘less food for the community’ by Héctor Alejandro Arzate, July 14, 2025, Harvest Public Media-KCUR, NR Kansas City

Laura Flanders and Friends Crew:  Laura Flanders, along with Sabrina Artel, Jeremiah Cothren, Veronica Delgado, Janet Hernandez, Jeannie Hopper, Gina Kim, Sarah Miller, Nat Needham, David Neuman, and Rory O’Conner. 

FOLLOW Laura Flanders and Friends

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraflandersandfriends/

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ACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel

Synopsis:  In a call to action, Sara Nelson, President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO, urges workers to move beyond defense and set the agenda for change, declaring "our world is burning" but asserting that collective power can be used to create a better future.

Stay informed and engaged! Don't miss out on our captivating weekly episodes that dive deep into the heart of our economy, culture, and politics from the past to the present. Please hit the podcast subscribe button if you've yet to subscribe.

Description: Sara Nelson knows how to leverage worker power — and so do the 55,000 flight attendants she represents. A union member since 1996, she’s been the International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO since 2014. You may remember her integral role in threatening a strike, which helped pressure the Trump administration to end the 2019 government shutdown. But under the second Trump term, the administration plans to gut many government agencies and has canceled one million contracts for federal workers so far. “We have to understand that if one group is under attack, we're next,” she tells Laura Flanders in this exclusive interview. “So we have to rush to each other's sides.” In this episode, Nelson and Flanders explore labor movement tactics and strategies, wins and losses, and why general strikes and cross-industry worker solidarity are critical in this moment. What is her message and her mission for 2025? All that, plus a commentary from Laura on floods and profits.

“We have to understand that if one group is under attack, we're next. So we have to rush to each other's sides. But we can also turn this around and not just be on defense. . . We are in a crisis. Yeah. Our world is burning. We can actually set the agenda and make things better.”

Guest:  Sara Nelson: International President of the Association of Flight Attendants- (AFA-CWA) (representing 55,000 Flight Attendants at 20 airlines) 

Watch the episode released on YouTube July 18th 5pm ET; PBS World Channel July 20th, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio (check here to see if your station airs the show) & available as a podcast July 23rd.

Full Episode Notes are located HERE.

This show is made possible by you! To become a sustaining member go to LauraFlanders.org/donate

RESOURCES:

“The Work of Living: Working People Talk about Their Lives and the Year the World Broke” by Maximillian Alvarez, Get the Book*

(*Bookshop is an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores. The LF Show is an affiliate of bookshop.org and will receive a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.)

• Labor Safety, Project 2025, & the Far Right’s Plot Against Workers: What You Need to Know:  Watch / Listen:  Episode

• Labor Movement v. Fascism: Worker Organizers & Labor Educators Are Under Attack: Watch / Listen:  Episode

• UAW President Shawn Fain: "Workers are still up against the same billionaires": Watch

• Special Report- Bernie Sanders & AOC:  “Fighting Oligarchy” with People Power Watch / Listen:  Special Report, Uncut Interview- Bernie Sanders

• Watch: Episode, Bernie Sanders’ Speech at the Fight Oligarchy rally, Kenosha, WI

•  Special Report- Labor Movement v. Fascism:  Worker Organizers & Labor Educators Are Under Attack. Watch / Listen  

•  Is America Pissed Off Enough at Trump and Musk for a General Strike?  By Susan Miligan, April 24, 2025, The New Republic

•  In Chicago, a Coalition of Unions, Community Organizers, and Riders Have Forced Uber to Come to the Table, by Will Tanzman and Lori Simmons, July 16, 2025, The Nation

•  US aviation agency reinstating fired employees after court order, union says, by David Shepardson, March 17, 2025, Reuters

•  Unions sue to stop Trump from ending collective bargaining rights for many federal employees, by Tami Luhby, April 4, 2025, CNN

• The Sleeping Giant That could Stop Trump’s Agenda in Its Tracks, by Mary Harris, April 25, 2025, SLATE

• The Call Is Out for Mass, Simultaneous Strikes in 4 Years, by Sarah Lazare, October 14, 2024, The Nation

• How Association of Flight Attendants President Sara Nelson became America’s most powerful voice for labor, by Morgan Clendaniel, September 9, 2024, Fast Company Magazine

•  Sara Nelson:  Let’s Show Bosses They’re Lucky to Have Our Work, by Sara Nelson, February 13, 2024, Jacobin Magazine

Laura Flanders and Friends Crew:  Laura Flanders, along with Sabrina Artel, Jeremiah Cothren, Veronica Delgado, Janet Hernandez, Jeannie Hopper, Gina Kim, Sarah Miller, Nat Needham, David Neuman, and Rory O’Conner. 

FOLLOW Laura Flanders and Friends

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ACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel