What is Democracy Good For? That is the main question for both of my guests.

I met David Orr at the National Conservation Training Center a few years back when we were both addressing young people about climate change, sustainability, government and media.

Shortly after meeting him I got my hands on as much of his writing as I could and I have been a massive fan of his mind and voice ever since

He has been one of the most respected voices in the environmental movement for over a generation and we had a great talk.

I LOVE this collection of his essays

https://www.amazon.com/Hope-Imperative-Essential-David-Orr/dp/1597267007/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=david+orr&qid=1576214875&sr=8-4

Then at about 42 minutes I finally got my old friend John Avlon,who is kicking ass on CNN every morning, on the horn he was as smart and thoughtful as always. 

Give him a follow on twitter @johnavlon and watch him every day on CNN

Get his books too! 

https://johnavlon.com/books/

 support the show on Patreon.com/petedominick

Episode 19 of the SUPD Classroom welcomes Retired Air Force Colonel Morris Davis. Moe as he likes to be called is running for congress in NC where he grew up. He is a really amazing guy who I have gotten to know pretty well over the years. He resigned as the chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay over the issue of torture and is as principled of a man as I have ever met. 

His campaign is the first one I think I have ever donated to and I hope you will consider sending him a few bucks.

He is running against one of Trumps biggest supporters in the house Mark Meadows so he'll need all the help he can get. 

I know you will enjoy our conversation

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/moedavis4nc11

And to support the SUPD Podcast please subscribe here Patreon.com/PeteDominick

On episode 18 I celebrate 200 paid subscribers to the podcast on Patreon.com/petedominick and shared my appearances from the past weekend on CNN and MSNBC then at 15:12 my conversation with Lenore Skenazy begins.

Lenore is the author of Free Range Kids: How to raise safe, self -reliant kids (without going nuts with worry)

She is also the founder of LetGrow.org

Follow her on Twitter @freerangekids

Im @petedominick and patreon.com/petedominick

Hunger and Food insecurity are a national problem. The Trump administration has said it would cut $4.5 billion from the USDA’s budget, and would limit food assistance to those who truly need it. Right before Christmas. I called Rebecca Vallas to break it down for me.

At 19:20 I welcomed Emily Atkin of Heated.info back to the conversation to talk about the latest with the Climate Crisis, her talk with John Kerry and debunk the rumor that Koala's have gone extinct. 

2 awesomely smart humans in one awesomely smart podcast. 

Follow and Support @rebeccavallas Listen to her pod Off Kilter medium.com/@OffKilterShow

Follow and Support Emily Atkin at Heated.world  @emoree  

I'm @petedominick  Patreon.com/PeteDominick

Reuters and everyone else reported Monday the Supreme Court heard arguments in the first major gun dispute to come before them since 2010, with gun control advocates fearful that the court, with its 5-4 conservative majority, could issue a ruling further expanding firearms rights nationwide.

So I called Georgia State University ConLaw Professor Eric Segall who was one of the all time favorite guests on the SIRIUSXM show for years and years. I was so happy to finally get him on the podcast. We talked about Guns, The Supreme Court and the constitution and it was as great as the ol days. Listen and learn from The Legal Eagle Eric Segall

Follow him on twitter @espinsegall

get his books : https://amzn.to/2OLrlqa

I open the show from my parents house with a shitty microphone but a fun video if you subscribe to my patreon.com/petedominick. Then I toss to a shit quality audio clip of my performance from this past Saturday night at the Syracuse Funny Bone where the night before there was a shooting at the mall it's in.

I'm snowed in at my parents at the beginning of December but I had a great talk with one of the most thoughtful and original people I know, comedian Myq Kaplan

Myq has performed on the Tonight Show, Conan, the Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Seth Meyers, the Late Late Show with James Corden, in his own half-hour Comedy Central Presents special, and in his own one-hour special on Netflix and now Amazon, “Small, Dork, and Handsome.” He has been a finalist on Last Comic Standing and recently appeared on America’s Got Talent. His debut album “Vegan Mind Meld” was one of iTunes’ top 10 comedy albums of the year, and his most recent album “No Kidding” is one of the top billion albums of eternity. Thanks for reading all this. You’re very nice.

The Comedians magazine calls him “a comedy machine, in the best possible way. the way that some machines vend soda or prevent other machines from killing future revolutionaries – that’s how Myq Kaplan does comedy: relentlessly, methodically, unblinkingly.”

Lastly I talk about gender fluidity and how the stats around violence. I hope you like it. xoxox Pete

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Peter Coyote is an actor, activist, and a Zen Buddhist Priest who has been meditating for over 45 years. He has appeared in over 160 films and has voiced most of Ken Burns' documentaries. He is also my friend, mentor and teacher. 

I open with some news then get to Michael Cohen and Clint Watts. Not together though that would be cool

Joining me for a conversation today is a really smart fella who I first discovered on Twitter. I loved reading his tweets @speechboy71 so I gave him the strong Pete Dominick follow and did the thing where you click the link to learn more about the person after and found out that he was Boston globe columnist and author Michael Cohen. Sadly that’s a common name. He wrote 2016’s, “American Maelstrom: The 1968 Election and Politics of Division”. His new book he co authored with Micah Zenko is titled, “Clear and Present Safety: The World Has Never Been Better and Why That Matters to Americans”.

I'm also a fan and subscriber of his Boston Globe newsletter “truth and consequences” which Takes a no holds barred look at the absurdities ,Hypocrisy and surrealities of our current political moment.

Michael was a regular on the old show and I have a lot of admiration for him and his work. Because he worked at the State Department during the Clinton Administration I opened the conversation talking about what the hell goes on in that place. Or at least used to.

At 50:00 I catch up with Clint Watts who is a real cool guy. He is really nice and down to earth and great at explaining complex slyer and national security threats. Before becoming a consultant, he served as a U.S. Army infantry officer, a FBI Special Agent on a Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), as the Executive Officer of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point (CTC) and as a consultant to the FBI’s Counter Terrorism Division (CTD) and National Security Branch (NSB). Clint earned a B.S. from the United States Military Academy and an M.A. from Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

He is the editor of the SelectedWisdom.com blog, and you can follow him on Twitter @selectedwisdom

So a pretty good guest I’d say.

Also at 1:07 I give an amazing performance of the "Dont Quit" poem.

Thank you to all of the new subscribers on Patreon.com/PeteDominick !! Episode 11 is with another one of my all time favorite voices Tim Wise

Tim is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and educators in the United States. He has spent the past 25 years speaking to audiences in all 50 states, on over 1000 college and high school campuses, at hundreds of professional and academic conferences, and to community groups across the country.

He is also the host of the new podcast, Speak Out with Tim Wise. 

Maura Quint (@behindyourback) is the best. I LOVE talking to her about anything. She is smart,tough and very funny. Her re-caps of the debates should not be missed. Read it here 

We also talked about the stupidity of black friday and why experiences are better gifts than material things.

At 47:29 I tell a little story about how Rich Louv's books have changed my life in a profound way. Then Rich and I have a conversation about his new book : Our Wild Calling How Connecting with Animals Can Transform Our Lives - And Save Theirs

You have to get all of his books. RichardLouv.com

I end this episode with the story of my daughter's middle school going into lockdown because of a possible person with a gun on the campus. It was just a threat but it did damage for sure. This was my favorite episode so far

Please support us on Patreon.com/petedominick

Be the Change you want to see in the world.