EP 854 Nation’s Report Card Shows America is Failing Its Next Generation

EP 854 Nation’s Report Card Shows America is Failing Its Next Generation

 If you read the latest edition of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as “The Nation’s Report Card”, things are not going well in our nation’s public schools.  Clearly, the long tail effects of the COVID pandemic are at play here. One respected educational researcher, Dan Goldhaber, did not want to sugarcoat the …

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EP 853 Can Racism Be Scientifically Proven?

EP 853 Can Racism Be Scientifically Proven?

While there are many in America who believe that racism is a thing of the past and no longer an issue, those beliefs are not grounded in science with empirical proof to back them up.  You might say is this provable objectively?  Keon West, PhD., a social psychologist at the University of London, sets out …

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EP 852 We Have Survived Presidents with Autocratic Ambitions Before

EP 852 We Have Survived Presidents with Autocratic Ambitions Before

 Imagine an American president who imprisoned critics, spread a culture of white supremacy, and tried to upend the rule of law so that he could commit crimes with impunity.  You may think this narrative speaks only to the present, but in fact history shows that American presidents have often pushed the boundaries established for them …

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EP 851 Will Social Security Survive Its Fiscal and Political Challenges?

EP 851 Will Social Security Survive Its Fiscal and Political Challenges?

 Social Security and its future have been in the news recently as the DOGE guys have been looking at its innards. Yet, it’s not called the third rail of American politics for nothing.  Over 70 million Americans rely on it for much, if not all, of their retirement income. Like Medicare, Social Security can be …

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EP 850 Black Literacy in the South a Powerful Tool for Progress and Repression

EP 850 Black Literacy in the South a Powerful Tool for Progress and Repression

The pen is mightier than the sword and the ability to read opens up an entirely new world to someone who lacked that ability before.  That’s why the issue of Black literacy in the South has such an important history.  For Black citizens, it was a weapon of empowerment and rebellion, while for whites, it …

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EP 848 Not Again! U.S. Veterans Exposed to Toxins Having to Fight for Just Compensation

EP 848 Not Again! U.S. Veterans Exposed to Toxins Having to Fight for Just Compensation

  Whether it was Agent Orange in the Vietnam era, burn pits in Iraq, contaminated water at many bases across the country or 9-11 first responders, why do we, as a nation, make it so hard for these heroes to collect just compensation when we have subjected veterans and first responders to risks unimaginable to …

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EP 847 The Red Scare to This Moment in U.S. History

EP 847 The Red Scare to This Moment in U.S. History

The Red Scare, after World War II, gave birth to the New Right in America and what we see today in the second Administration of Donald Trump.  That, according to historian and New York Times editor, Clay Risen, the author of “Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism and the Making of Modern America.”  In his account of …

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EP 846 Policing in America: Is the Treatment of White Supremacists Equal to the Threat?

EP 846 Policing in America: Is the Treatment of White Supremacists Equal to the Threat?

Back in 2021, then FBI Director, Christopher Wray, a Trump appointee, said that white supremacy is a “persistent, evolving threat” and the “biggest chunk” of racially motivated violent extremism in the U.S. To Mike German who served sixteen years as an FBI special agent  and the author of “Policing White Supremacy: The Enemy Within”, that’s …

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EP 845 We Live in the Age of Choice

EP 845 We Live in the Age of Choice

Choice dominates every sphere of modern life, almost to a point where it becomes overwhelming.  Which type of jelly should I buy?  Which insurance policy is right?  What should I watch on my 5 streaming services?  And yet in the political realm often we have two choices and our understanding of what they offer may …

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