Monthly Labor Report hosts, Richard Hill and Michael Zweig, interview Leonard Aguilar, secretary-treasurer of the Texas AFL-CIO, about the reach and growth of union organizing in Texas -- with special focus on Latinx participation and projected voting patterns.
Interview by Michael Zweig and Richard Hill, Oct. 1, 2024

 The Resistance Roundtable show interviews Branko Marcetic who discusses his recent Jacobin Magazine articles on Biden's horrific Gaza policy; and the apparent decision by the Harris campaign to keep Tim Walz off the campaign trail.
Interview by Scott Harris, Richard Hill and Ruthanne Baumgartner, Oct. 12, 2024

Jay Young and Cheri Quikmeyer discuss the work Common Cause is doing on election protection, i.e. addressing voter suppression, mass purges of the voting rolls, intimidation of poll workers, GOP election deniers’ threats to delay certification of vote totals and thus sow chaos, and the group’s recruitment of volunteers to be poll watchers.

Wajahat Ali discusses the presidential debate and election campaign, with a focus on Trump’s threat to democracy, his demonization of immigrants and white supremacist rhetoric and action, as well as corporate media’s skewed election coverage.  Ali is also author of “Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American.”

Parker Malloy discusses her critique of corporate media for “sanewashing” Trump’s often unhinged and incoherent speeches and interviews — as well as soft-pedaling or sanitizing Trump and Vance’s advocacy of disturbing policies such as Trump’s ‘violent day’ of policing that will end crime, the lie that Democrats advocate the killing of babies after they’re born, and Trump and Project 2025’s plan for the US military to round up millions of immigrants (both legal and illegal) for mass deportation.

Norman Solomon talks about his latest book, “War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine,” with a just published revised edition that includes a new afterword on the Gaza War. On the one year anniversary of the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel, he’ll examine the Biden administration’s unconditional support for Israel in the conflict, and corporate media’s bias reporting on Israel’s now expanding regional war that has resulted in the slaughter of more than 42,000 Palestinians and thousands more now being killed in Lebanon.

Sarah Kendzior discusses the current state of affairs ahead of the 2024 U.S. Election.

https://sarahkendzior.substack.com/

SARAH KENDZIOR BIO

I am the bestselling author of THE VIEW FROM FLYOVER COUNTRY (2018), HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT (2020), and THEY KNEW (2022). My next book, THE LAST AMERICAN ROAD TRIP, will come out in 2025. From 2018 until 2013, I was the co-host of Gaslit Nation, a weekly podcast which covers corruption in the United States and the rise of authoritarianism around the world. I live in St. Louis, Missouri.

I now write essays regularly at Sarah Kendzior’s Newsletter. It’s free — you should subscribe!

I am well-known for my coverage of the Trump administration and its aftermath and for writing about authoritarianism, kleptocracy, transnational organized crime, racism and xenophobia, media, voting rights, technology, the environment, and corruption, among other topics.

From 2016-2020, I was a regular columnist for the Globe and Mail, and from 2012-2024, I was a columnist for Al Jazeera English. I have written for dozens of other outlets including Fast Company, NBC News, POLITICO, Quartz, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, The Diplomat, Marie Claire, De Correspondent, The Atlantic, Medium, Radio Free Europe, POLITICO Europe, The Chicago Tribune, The Baffler,  Blue Nation Review, Alive Magazine, Ethnography Matters, The Common Reader, The New York Daily News, La Stampa, Slate, World Policy Journal, The Brooklyn Quarterly, Belt Magazine, Centre for International Governance Innovation, Teen Vogue, City AM,  Opinio Juris,  HRDCVR, World Politics Review, Shondaland, and The New York Times.

In addition to working as a journalist, I am a researcher and scholar. I have a PhD in anthropology from Washington University in Saint Louis (2012) and an MA in Central Eurasian Studies from Indiana University (2006). Most of my work focuses on the authoritarian states of the former Soviet Union and how the internet affects political mobilization, self-expression, and trust.

My academic research has been published in American Ethnologist, Problems of Post-Communism, Central Asian Survey, Demokratizatsiya, Nationalities Papers, Social Analysis, and the Journal of Communication.

Dulce Guzmán discusses how the issue of immigration is being debated by the candidates and covered by the news media in the 2024 presidential election, with a focus on Donald Trump’s demonization of immigrants stoking hate and fear, and an assessment of Vice President Kamala Harris’ stated policies on immigration, with a review of her recent trip to the U.S. Mexico border on Sept. 27.

Julie Houk talks about her group’s work in Georgia, including the filing of a lawsuit to bar enforcement of provisions in a new Georgia law that would permit baseless mass challenges to large swaths of eligible voters, and concern about new rules issued by Georgia’s election board requiring a hand count of Election Day ballots that could cause a consequential delay in certifying the state’s presidential election winner, endangering the democratic process.

Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Amy Littlefield, abortion access correspondent with The Nation magazine, who talks about her recent article, “An Abortion Ban Killed Amber Thurman—and Likely Many More,” with a focus on how these deaths may carry political consequences in this year’s presidential and congressional election.

Chris Antal, Staff Chaplain and Dr. Peter Yeomans, Staff Psychologist at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Philadelphia talk about understanding the suffering of moral injury among U.S. combat-deployed Veterans and their facilitation of a 12-week Moral Injury Group and Community Healing Ceremony in which Veterans’ burdens are shared by the community made more more conscious of the realities of warfare. (Broadcast on WPKN, Jan. 11, 2023)

Robert Massoud,  Palestinian founder of the Zatoun organization, speaking to us from Toronto about the twenty years he has spent telling the story of Palestine through its olive oil, without being silenced by politicians and media.(First broadcast on WPKN on September 13, 2023.)

The Brennan Center has reported that in 2023, there were at least 356 voter suppression bills considered by lawmakers in 47 states. No matter what Nancy Pelosi tells me in her emails, chipping in five bucks is not going to increase the health of our democracy. Let's talk about what will and also about how the health of democracy impacts our health as Americans. We'll talk to folks from Fair Count, Healthy Democracy, Healthy People, the ACLU and more. This piece was first broadcasted on 5/5/24 by WPKN Community Radio 89.5 FM

Yumna Patel, Palestine News Director for Mondoweiss, reports from Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank about the significance for Palestinians of last week’s military assault on the Jenin refugee camp. In this reporting, she covers the effect on Palestinian youth of the Palestine Authority’s inability to protect them and what “Gazafication” means for the future of the Palestinian nation (Broadcast on WPKN, July 12, 2023)

Dr. Yara Asi, author and assistant professor at the University of Central Florida, where she studies physical and mental health in conflict-affected and fragile populations. Born in Palestine, Dr. Asi is the author of  How War Kills; The Overlooked Threats to our Healthand a New York Times opinion piece titled Gaza is showing us we need new tools to measure trauma. She will talk to us about the many challenges facing researchers who want to understand trauma in Gaza and translate it into policy. (Broadcast on WPKN May 8, 2024)

Jeff Halper is an Israeli-American anthropologist, author, lecturer, and political activist  has lived in Israel since 1973. He is the Director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and a co-founder of The One Democratic State Campaign. A Jewish Israeli, Jeff speak to us from Jerusalem about Israel’s entrenched use of humiliation to control the Palestinian population and how this has now begun to reveal some surprisingly unforeseen consequences. (Broadcast on WPKN, June 12, 2023)

Steve Wick, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, journalist, formerly of Newsday and more recently editor of the Suffolk Times, talks about his earlier work, two new upcoming books, the importance of local journalism and emphasizes that, “if you want to get the present right, you have to get the past right” which means, he says, uncovering the truth and telling the complete story. (WPKN, September 4, 2024)

Maria Hinojosa is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, founder of Futuro Media, and anchor of Latino USA. She sat down with Isabelle Barbour for this feature interview that first aired on WPKN Community Radio in Bridgeport in August of 2024. The conversation includes reflections on changes to the democratic presidential ticket in the Summer of 2024 as well as an update on Maria's time at a MAGA gym.

Matt Bruenig discusses the important issues examined in his recent article, “Our Verdict on Kamala Harris’s New Plans,” and issues related to economic policies being debated by Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election campaign.

Greg Palast talks about Georgia’s five-member state election board, dominated by MAGA election deniers, which adopted new rules raising alarm about the potential for confusion and interference in the election certification process this November, examined his article, “Prepare for November’s Quiet Coup.”

Palast is also the New York Times best-selling author of “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.”

James Risen will discuss the important issues of race and racism in the 2024 election campaign examined in his recent Intercept article, “Racism Is Why Trump is so Popular,” where he argues: “Trump’s popularity with his base isn’t the result of economic anxiety, as many claimed in 2016. It’s about race and demographics.”

Risen is The Intercept’s senior national security correspondent who waged a seven-year battle, risking jail, after the Bush administration and later the Obama administration sought to force him to testify and reveal his confidential sources in a leak investigation.

Nora Benavidez talks about the coalition led by Free Press calling on corporate media outlets to report on rising authoritarianism and threats to democracy during the 2024 election campaign, covering six practices the media should adhere to during moments of crisis.

Brian Tokar discusses his article “Movements for Climate Action: Toward Utopia or Apocalypse?” which examines the climate crisis and how we can chart a new path to a future that is not only sustainable but better than the way we currently live and interact with technology. Tokar will be addressing this topic at Hamden, Connecticut’s Unitarian Society on Sept. 14.

Mark Green talks about his newest book titled, “The Inflection Election: Democracy or Fascism in 2024,” which warns Americans that this November will be a choice between a Party of Progress and a Party of Dangerous Extremism that may determine the path for American governance for generations.

Interview with Eddie Lejuine, a 62-year-old fisherman from Cameron, Louisiana, conducted by Melinda Tuhus.

Eddie Lejuine traveled with other Gulf residents to Washington, D.C. in September to protest the continued buildout of LNG facilities. The group met with government agency representatives and politicians, and participated in a 'Petrostate Tour' organized by Third Act Actions Lab.  They also visited the offices of powerful fossil fuel industry promoters including the American Petroleum Institute, the American Gas Association and Venture Global, the company behind the construction of two LNG terminals in Cameron. Here Lejuine talks about the decimation of fishing in his community and fisherfolks’ efforts to hold Venture Global accountable.

Interview with Dr. Ira Helfand, member of the International Steering Group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), conducted by Scott Harris.

Dr. Ira Helfand, a steering committee member of the 'Back from the Brink' campaign, discusses the threat nuclear warfare poses to humanity and how the public can help mitigate it. He is calling on the U.S. to implement policies to lead a global effort to prevent nuclear war. Dr. Helfand will be speaking at the Wilton, Connecticut Quaker meeting on Sunday, Oct. 26, from noon-1:30 pm.

Helfand is past president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and co-founder and past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Interview with retired U.S. Army Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell from 2002 to 2005, conducted by Scott Harris.

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson discusses his views on the Gaza ceasefire agreement and Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to cities across the U.S.; the legality and dangers of this policy; and his thoughts on the president’s ultimate goal and its impact on our democracy.

Wilkerson is a senior fellow with the Eisenhower Media Network.

Interview with Elizabeth Jacobs, professor emeritus of epidemiology at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona, conducted by Scott.

Elizabeth Jacobs discusses her alarm at Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s changes to COVID vaccine recommendations for pregnant women and children; as well as removing all 17 sitting members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee and replacing them with new members, many of whom are reported to be critics of mRNA vaccines and public health measures taken during the COVID pandemic.

Interview with Jennifer Loewenstein, former associate director of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, conducted by Scott Harris.

Jennifer Loewenstein assesses the rationale and consequences of Israel’s attack on Iran, Tehran’s retaliation, the Trump regime’s apparent role in the attack, and the threat that this conflict could trigger a wider regional conflict involving the U.S.

Interview with Collin Rees, U.S. program manager with Oil Change International, conducted by Melinda Tuhus.

The Trump administration is cutting every subsidy and tax rebate for clean energy under the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden in 2022. The Trump administration and the Republican Congress is also eliminating any other laws that promote the transition to clean energy that created hundreds of thousands of green jobs, many in red states.

Interview with Charles Haynes, of Citizens Against Tyranny in America, conducted by Scott Harris

Charles Haynes talks about Trump’s deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles amid protests against ICE deportation raids, and his recent column, “Trump Protestors: You Have No Idea What Is to Come,” with a focus on Israel’s seizure of ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza violates international law.

Interview with Brandon Wolf, Human Rights Campaign national press secretary, conducted by Scott Harris.

Brandon Wolf provides an overview of Donald Trump’s many attacks on the LGBTQ+ community over the first five months of his administration and in the first few days of June Pride Month. He also discusses how HRC and a national coalition of allied groups are pushing back in the courts and on the street.

Interview with Tamika Middleton, managing director of Women's March, conducted by Scott Harris.

Tamika Middleton discusses a broad coalition’s plans for the June 14th national No Kings and Kick Out the Clowns protests, which are being organized in more than 1,800 locations across the U.S. in response to President Trump and the Republican party’s attack on democracy and the rule of law.

Interview with Craig Mokhiber, former director of the New York Office of the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, conducted by Scott Harris.

Craig Mokhiber discusses his urging the UN to convene under Uniting for Peace to mandate a protection force be deployed in Gaza, a call for a complete military embargo of Israel, robust sanctions against the regime, demand for a ceasefire, and action be taken to hold all perpetrators accountable.

Mokhiber is an international human rights lawyer who resigned in protest from his post as director of the New York Office of the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2023, due to the unfolding Gaza genocide and the UN’s failures.

The June Labor Report features Jeremy Brecher, co-founder of the Labor Network for Sustainability, and author of the iconic labor history book, Strike!, joined by economist and labor historian Michael Zweig, to discuss the latest alarming developments in the Trump regime's authoritarian putsch, and what shape and strategies an effective resistance must take to counter a free-fall into fascism.
Host: Richard Hill

 Interview with Umme Hoque, an organizer with Defend and Recruit, conducted by Melinda Tuhus.

Avelo Airlines is the only known commercial carrier that is operating deportation flights from the U.S. under contract with Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security. One of its commercial passenger hubs is in New Haven, Connecticut, where it has grown from a few flights to as many as 14 per day, mostly to the Southeast and Puerto Rico.

• The Coalition to Stop Avelo
• Defend and Recruit
• Immigrant Rights Advocacy Group: Siembra NC
• "Activists Are Fighting Tax Subsidies for Airline Running ICE Deportation Flights By Umme Hoque," Truthout, May 15, 2025

Interview with Juan Fonseca of Danbury, the campaign manager of the Trust Act NOW! coalition, conducted by Scott Harris.

Juan Fonseca discusses the CT Senate’s recent passage of amendments to the state’s TRUST Act, assessing what was, and was not accomplished by groups working to strengthen protections for the state’s immigrant community.

Nicholas S. Davies discusses his Common Dreams article: Beware Trump’s Ceasefire Deal Absent Meaningful UN Action to Halt Israel’s Genocide.
And Carol Rizzolo, co-lead for CT Shoreline Indivisible talks about plans for the Oct. 18 No Kings 2 rallies which could be the largest single-day mass protest in US history.
Panel: Ruthanne Baumgartner, Scott Harris and Richard Hill

Interview with Seth Donnelly, one of the founders of Taxpayers Against Genocide, a grassroots movement spreading across the U.S., conducted by Scott Harris.

Seth Donnelly talks about his group, Taxpayers Against Genocide, and the National Lawyers Guild International Committee’s legal complaint filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights against the U.S. government for complicity in genocide in Gaza. The lawsuit includes notarized affidavits by Palestinian-American plaintiffs who have lost loved ones to the U.S.-funded slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Interview with Andra Watkins, a New York Times best-selling author and Project 2025 dissector on the Substack online newsletter, "For Such a Time as This, conducted by Scott Harris.

Andra Watkins discusses her recent column, “Project Esther: Where Dissent = Terrorism,” with a focus on the Trump regime’s targeting of individuals and groups protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza and in support of independence and self-determination for Palestine. Watkins says Project Esther’s larger goal is the suppression of all dissent, which they label as terrorism.

Interview with Alan Minsky, executive director of Progressive Democrats of America, conducted by Scott Harris.

Alan Minsky discusses a petition circulated by several progressive groups calling for the Democratic National Committee to “convene an emergency meeting of all its members—fully open to the public—as soon as possible,” to strategize in confronting “the predatory, extreme and dictatorial actions of the Trump administration.” He’ll also review what happened in the May 30th meeting of the DNC’s executive committee.

Interview with Leslie Blatteau, president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers.

Leslie Blatteau talks about the CT chapter of the American Federation of Teachers union’s recent civil disobedience protest resulting in the arrest of 10 members and students in front of Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s office at the State Capitol. The protest was part of a campaign to “secure more robust and equitable investments in the state’s neighborhood and magnet schools.”

Interview with Russell Brown, Vietnam veteran, conducted by Scott Harris.

Russell Brown talks about his participation in the 40-day “Veterans & Allies Fast for Gaza,” where dozens of U.S. war veterans and religious activists have gathered at United Nations headquarters in New York City to raise awareness of the famine looming over Gaza. Participants plan to consume less than 250 calories daily, mirroring the average daily nutrient intake of residents in Gaza. The fasters are demanding full humanitarian aid to Gaza under UN authority and no more U.S. weapons to Israel.

Interview with Ron Jacobs, a contributor to Counterpunch.org and author of Nowhere Land: Journeys Through a Broken Nation, conducted by Scott Harris.

Ron Jacobs talks about his commentary, “Culture, Christianity, and the Afrikaner Blues,” in the context of the blatantly false claims made by Donald Trump during South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent meeting at the White House.

Interview with Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, conducted by Scott Harris.

Alex Lawson discusses his group’s strategy to defeat Trump’s grotesque budget bill in the U.S. Senate that mandates the largest cuts in U.S. history — totaling $1.5 trillion from Medicaid and Medicare as well as the the SNAP food assistance program — while disproportionately giving the wealthiest Americans and profitable corporations a tax break that will cost $4 trillion over the next decade. All this while increasing the federal deficit by $3.8 trillion.

Interview with Lia Holland, campaigns and communications director with Fight for the Future, conducted by Scott Harris.

Lia Holland talks about her group’s opposition to a provision included in this year’s Republican reconciliation bill, similar to last year’s H.R. 9495, which would allow the Trump regime to remove the tax-exempt status of nonprofits that it says support terrorism, with no requirements for providing evidence to prove such a charge, as a way to punish charities that advocate for issues that don’t align with Trump’s MAGA agenda.

Interview with Sim Kern, a former teacher, journalist, novelist, and best-selling author of The Free People’s Village, conducted by Scott Harris, conducted by Scott Harris.

Sim Kern talks about his new book, Genocide Bad: Notes on Palestine, Jewish History, and Collective Liberation, a part-activist memoir, part-crash course in Jewish and Palestinian history. Genocide Bad dismantles Zionist propaganda in 10 unapologetic essays, drawing connections between Biblical promises and exploding pagers, medieval dress codes and modern-day apartheid.

Interview with Analilia Mejia, co-executive director of Popular Democracy in Action, conducted by Scott Harris.

Analilia Mejia discusses her group’s opposition to the Trump/GOP budget proposal that will cut a combined $1 trillion from Medicaid and the SNAP food stamp program, which will result in 10.3 million people losing Medicaid coverage over the next decade to pay for major tax cuts primarily benefiting the nation’s wealthiest families.

Carol Rizzolo, co-lead for  CT Shoreline Indivisible and co-founder of Safe Vote CT, discusses the plans for No Kings rallies planned in nearly 50 towns in Connecticut. Carol shares her thoughts on the national emergency we are contending with in the face of the Trump regime's openly authoritarian actions and dictats.
Interview by Richard Hill

 Interview with Raed Jarrar, advocacy director with the Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), conducted by Scott Harris.

Raed Jarrar, advocacy director with the Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), discusses the group’s views on President Trump’s recent visits to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the U.A.E., the deals announced, gifts received, and major issues discussed, including the ongoing slaughter and starvation of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

DAWN is an American non-profit organization founded in September 2020 by Saudi U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi before his assassination ordered by the Saudi monarchy.