The Zero Hour with RJ Eskow

Executive Director of Progressive Democrats of America

Thom Hartmann is the four-time Project Censored Award-winning, New York Times best-selling author of 25 books currently in print in over a dozen languages on five continents.
Hartmann is also an internationally known speaker on culture and communications, an author, and an innovator in the fields of psychiatry, ecology, and economics. 
His latest is: The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment 

Helaine Olen is a contributor to Post Opinions and the author of "Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry" and co-author of "The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated." Her work has appeared in Slate, the Nation, the New York Times, the Atlantic and many other publications. She serves on the advisory board of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and lives in New York City with her husband, sons and poodle daughter.

Ryan Grim is The Intercept’s D.C. Bureau Chief. He is the author of “We've Got People: From Jesse Jackson to AOC, the End of Big Money and the Rise of a Movement” from Strong Arm Press. Ask your local bookstore about it or check it out on Amazon.

Ryan was previously the Washington bureau chief for HuffPost, where he led a team that was twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and won once. He edited and contributed reporting to groundbreaking investigative project on heroin treatment that not only changed federal and state laws, but shifted the culture of the recovery industry. The story, by Jason Cherkis, was a Pulitzer finalist and won a Polk Award.

Liza Featherstone is a journalist based in New York City and a contributing editor to The Nation, where she also writes the advice column “Asking for a Friend.” Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Ms., and Rolling Stone among many other outlets. She is the co-author of Students against Sweatshops: The Making of a Movement (Verso, 2002) and author of Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers’ Rights at Wal-Mart (Basic, 2004). She is the editor of False Choices: The Faux Feminism of Hillary Clinton (Verso, 2016). Her latest book is “Divining Desire: FOCUS GROUPS AND THE CULTURE OF CONSULTATION”

Originally Aired 4-20-19

Danny Sjursen is a former US Army strategist and former history instructor at West Point. He served tours with reconnaissance units in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has written a memoir and critical analysis of the Iraq War, Ghostriders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge.

Originally Aired: 3-23-19

Keith A. Spencer, a cultural critic, essayist, and editor at Salon.com, where I manage the sci/tech vertical. I’m a generalist as far as editors go, though I have a background in the sciences that has led me to comment extensively on the politics of science and technology, with a focus on the politics of space colonization, the cultural and social ramifications of the tech industry, and the sociology of Burning Man.

My new book, “A People’s History of Silicon Valley: How the Tech Industry Exploits Workers, Erodes Privacy and Undermines Democracy” was released in late 2018 from Squint Books.

Astra Taylor is the author of The People's Platform (winner of the American Book Award) and made three documentary films, Zizek!, Examined Life, and What Is Democracy?. Taylor’s writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, n+1, and The Baffler, where she is a contributing editor. She lives in New York City.

Anya Parampil is a Washington, DC based journalist. She previously hosted a daily progressive afternoon news program called In Question on RT America. She has produced and reported several documentaries, including on the ground reports from the Korean peninsula and Palestine.

Matt Taibbi is a contributing editor for Rolling Stone and winner of the 2008 National Magazine Award for columns and commentary. His most recent book is ‘I Can’t Breathe: A Killing on Bay Street,’ about the infamous killing of Eric Garner by the New York City police. He’s also the author of the New York Times bestsellers 'Insane Clown President,' 'The Divide,' 'Griftopia,' and 'The Great Derangement.' His latest is “Hate Inc” at https://taibbi.substack.com/

Alex Lawson is Executive Director of Social Security Works

Rep. Deb Haaland  is an American attorney and politician serving as the U.S. Representative for New Mexico's 1st congressional district. The district includes almost three-fourths of Albuquerque, along with most of that city's suburbs.
Haaland is a former chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. She and Sharice Davids are the first two Native American women elected to the U.S. Congress.