Listen to story:

Download: mp3 (Duration: 27:53)

FEATURING PROFESSOR JOE TROTTER - In his new book Building the Black City: The Transformation of American Life, academic Joe Trotter Jr., explores the role of Black Americans in creating, sustaining, and expanding American cities all over the nation. 

Professor Trotter delves into how African Americans launched cities from the ground up, often having to rebuild them after white mobs and capitalist forces destroyed them, how majority Black cities have existed within white-dominated cities, and how Black communities influenced the arts, economy, and politics of urban centers.

And, he chronicles 20 cities across 18 states, from the colonial period to the Great Migration through to today. It is a story of history, racial capitalism, and reparations owed. 

Listen to story:

Download: mp3 (Duration: 17:23)

FEATURING JENNA RUDDOCK - The U.S. House of Representatives in late November 2024 passed a dangerous piece of legislation that many are calling the “nonprofit killer” bill. In Spring 2024, when the bill was discussed as a means to silence pro-Palestinian activism, dozens of House Democrats supported it. 

But, after Donald Trump’s White House win, some Democrats initially blocked HR 9495 on a technicality amid fears that the incoming president would use it as a tool to bludgeon his perceived enemies. It was then reintroduced, voted on with significantly less Democratic support,  but passed. 

Many contend it should never have been introduced to begin with, no matter the political winds of the time, and that what’s needed to preserve the health of U.S. democracy is the PRESS Act.

Listen to story:

Download: mp3 (Duration: 18:01)

FEATURING DORTELL WILLIAMS - ‘Tis the season and while many of us might be putting up trees and decorations, planning family dinners and holiday parties, and buying gifts for loved ones, there’s one population in the U.S. for whom the holidays may not be filled with joy: The millions of people impacted by family separation because their loved ones are incarcerated. 

Listen to story:

Download: mp3 (Duration: 17:49)

FEATURING DR. PAUL SONG - Police have arrested the alleged shooter of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson after a days-long manhunt. Thompson was shot in the back on his way to his company’s annual investor conference in Manhattan. He died instantly. 

In a bizarre turn of events, the shooting unleashed a torrent of online vitriol at the health insurance industry and sparked discussions about how for-profit companies have been using artificial intelligence to deny claims. 

One report in Wired.com explained it this way: “Following the shooting death of Brian Thompson, a fandom emerged around his suspected killer that seemed unifying in a way few others have been. He became an avatar that anyone who’d ever struggled with a hospital bill could understand.”

The suspect, Luigi Mangione, is an Ivy-league educated man from a wealthy Baltimore family, who had struggled with debilitating back pain. Speculation abounds as to his motivations and political ideology and the pro-industry backlash to his fandom has already begun.

Listen to story:

Download: mp3 (Duration: 23:41)

FEATURING JOHN FEFFER - Two major political earthquakes took place in early December 2024 in different parts of the world. First, South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law on December 3 and sent armed security to the National Assembly. Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the opposition party, led masses of people to counter Mr. Yoon, giving the legislative body time to vote down the martial law declaration. Mr. Yoon survived the first impeachment attempt against him but is expected to not remain in power for much longer.

Less than a week later, Syria’s formidable and seemingly invulnerable dictator Bashar Al Assad, fled his war-torn nation to seek exile in Russia. A new offensive by Syrian rebel groups that was not expected to succeed, ended his despotic rule in just two weeks. Now, as various rebel factions regroup, will Syria devolve into more war as a result of infighting, or find a way to achieve peace, stability, and perhaps even democracy? 

Listen to story:

Download: mp3 (Duration: 17:27)

FEATURING REBECCA JOHN - Big Oil is having its moment. Fresh off an election where its favored candidate Donald Trump won the U.S. presidency, and where the latest United Nations climate conference, COP29, became a venue to seal oil deals, the question arises: how to hold an industry accountable for leading us into collective doom? 

An in-depth investigation by Rebecca John reveals the extent to which oil companies have usurped the democratic process for decades via deceptive front-groups parading as grassroots organizations opposed to oil taxes and curbs on carbon emissions.

Listen to story:

Download: mp3 (Duration: 20:21)

FEATURING RAMZY BAROUD - The International Criminal Court on November 21 issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant “for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024.”

Meanwhile, another of Israel’s former Defense Ministers, Moshe Ya’lon said in a candid interview recently that Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza and concealing them from the public. He criticized Netanyahu and added that, “The road we are being led down is conquest, annexation and ethnic cleansing.”

U.S. President Joe Biden issued a 3-sentence statement denouncing the arrest warrants as “outrageous,” and  just approved a $680 million sale of weapons to Israel—this, in spite of the fact that he no longer needs to appease the pro-Israel lobby in the post-election period. 

Listen to story:

Download: mp3 (Duration: 18:01)

FEATURING JOHN NICHOLS - Bruised and beaten in the 2024 election, Democrats are contending with the loss of the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives, and with the fact that millions of Democratic voters simply didn’t vote. A Supreme Court dominated by conservatives completes the Republican stranglehold over a nation that media pundits claim is deeply polarized. 

The party could tack right to try to win over Republican voters—a standard response to its losses in recent years—or it could tack left given how poorly the standard response has worked. 

Internal party elections for the chair of the Democratic National Committee are a bellwether for which direction the supposedly liberal party veers. If progressive Democrats have their way, they’d like to see Wisconsin’s DNC chair Ben Wikler work his organizing magic nationally. 

Listen to story:

Download: mp3 (Duration: 18:42)

FEATURING EVETTE DIONNE - The Winter 2024 issue of YES! Magazine has hit newsstands and landed in mail boxes around the country. It’s the last issue of the year and the last issue before Donald Trump’s second term begins. The theme is “Renaissance,” and YES! Executive Editor Evette Dionne explains that “rather than feeding pervasive pessimism, our ‘Renaissance’ issue aims to elevate the people, experiences, and moments that signal where we’re moving.”

Listen to story:

Download: mp3 (Duration: 23:31)

FEATURING MAYA SCHENWAR - Many great books have been written about abolition–the move to divest from prisons and policing and invest in the structures, institutions and movements that actually keep us safe. But few, if any, have linked abolition to parenting. Maya Schewar has changed that with a new book she has co-edited with Kim Wilson called We Grow the World Together: Parenting Toward Abolition. 

Listen to story:

Download: mp3 (Duration: 17:29)

FEATURING DR. ROBERT BULLARD - In 2018 Alabama’s Department of Transportation expanded and elevated a highway near the Black community of Shiloh in Elba, which, residents say, now causes regular flooding during rain events. The Biden administration launched a federal civil rights investigation to examine charges of environmental racism. Now, as Donald Trump gets ready to take office, one of Elba’s own, who has been sounding the alarm for proper compensation of Shiloh’s families, is calling on Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to take action before it’s too late.