Listen HERE
The Democrats’ chances in the midterms depend on turnout, on door-to-door, face-to-face organizing—and “Democracy Summer” is their plan to join with allies in organizing that kind of effort in the swing states. Harold Meyerson explains.
Also: the disgraceful policy of America toward refugees from Ukraine – historian David Nasaw comments.
And the wonderful writer Margo Jefferson talks about her new memoir about growing up in a middle-class Black family in Chicago – it’s called “Constructing a Nervous System.”  5-5-2022

Listen HERE
Progressive Democrats will be challenging incumbent moderate Democrats across America this spring and summer—starting in Ohio as Nina Turner has a rematch with Shontel Brown for Ohio’s 11th District on May 3rd, 2022—Alan Minsky comments.
Next: The Amazon workers on Staten Island have won a historic victory—but now they must prepare to strike, and to win support for their strike from the community power structure. The Nation’s Strikes Correspondent, Jane McAlevey explains why, and how.
Plus: Why are Danes so much happier than Americans? Joshua Holland says there’s more to it than that; we revisit an interview about his short film about Denmark from 2017.  4-28-2022

Listen HERE
What the Democrats have done wrong, and what they’ve done right: Michael Kazin on the party’s history, and its future. His new book is “What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party.”
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson won’t be seated on the Supreme Court until late June, but we’re still thinking about the significance of her confirmation as America’s first Black female supreme court justice and of that horrible confirmation hearing she endured. We have UC Irvine Law professor and Nation contributor, Michele Goodwin, on the show to reflect.
Also: Many proposals to reform the police were made after the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, the largest protest movement in American history. But the problem, Erwin Chemerinsky argues, is not just the police; the Supreme Court has empowered the police and subverted civil rights. Erwin is Dean of the law school at UC Berkeley, and author of many books— most recently “Presumed Guilty.”  4-21-2022

Listen HERE
Inflation is a world-wide phenomenon right now- what can Biden do about prices in America? Harold Meyerson comments. Also: the French elections.
Plus: The sheriff of LA County: he’s got 10,000 deputies, in America’s biggest county, with 10 million people – and he’s become LA’s biggest political problem as he faces reelection. LA Times columnist Gustavo Arellano comments.
Also: How could the war in Ukraine end? Anatol Lieven says Russia could gain control of the entire Donbass region and then declare a cease-fire—but if we want Russia to withdraw, we’ve got to give it incentives to do so.  4-14-2022

Listen HERE
It’s been a week since workers at the Amazon fulfillment center on Staten Island voted to form a union – what’s the next step for the first union ever at the second biggest employer in America, and for the rest of the labor movement? Harold Meyerson has our analysis.
Also: What if everybody voted? What if voting was a duty, not just a right; an obligation, something like jury duty? E.J. Dionne and Miles Rapoport will explain; their new book is “100% Democracy: The Case for Universal Voting.”
Also: KPFK Sports! It’s opening day for Major League Baseball, and Peter Dreier will talk about baseball oligarchs and baseball rebels–and about Bernie Sanders’ blistering attack on the owners. Peter has two new books out: “Baseball Rebels” and “Major League Rebels.”  4-7-2022