Political theorist Anna Terwiel @amc-etc.bsky.social discusses her @uminnpress.bsky.social book “Prison Abolition for Realists": kpfa.org/episode/agai...

One of conservation’s greatest achievements happened mostly by accident. When settlers established cities in the U.S., they decimated the existing ecosystems. But, as Peter Alagona illustrates, there's been a remarkable return of wildlife to urban areas across the country. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

How did conservatives come to dominate so much of the media in the U.S.? A.J. Bauer discusses how the right borrowed from the left to sharpen its criticism of the media — ultimately giving rise to a rightwing media ecosystem. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

How did our world come to be seen as an imaginary casino, with every decision to be stripped down to costs and benefits? Benjamin Recht traces the development of mathematical optimization, game theory, statistical testing, and machine learning. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

The backlash against trans people, which has swept the world, is not as new as it seems. Jules Gill-Peterson traces the emergence of trans misogynistic violence over the last two centuries, which she links to the establishment of colonialism, capitalism, and neoliberalism. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

The rise and fall of unemployment, our dependence on the market for our livelihoods -- such things are taken as a given. But economist Clara Mattei suggests we recognize them as being fundamentally political phenomena, not the product of natural laws outside of our control. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

It’s been called a new gold rush -- not of our external environment, but of our minds and psyches. Historian of science D. Graham Burnett, one of the Friends of Attention, lays out what’s at stake and how they’re organizing a movement to reclaim our attention. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

The Texas GOP evolved from a corporate libertarian institution to one where free market capitalism and evangelical Christianity are united in authoritarianism. Clyde Barrow warns that Texas Christofascism serves as the rightwing blueprint for the rest of the United States. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

@mishmoshk.bsky.social reflects on the Anti-Defamation League’s history of targeting the left in the United States and abroad. She describes the ADL’s involvement in the Red Scare, surveillance of left organizations, and in branding as antisemitic those who criticize Israel. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

The Trump administration has exposed the enormous power, as well as astounding wealth, of the billionaire class. @ironicprofessor.bsky.social discusses the 1%, AI and the massive build out of data centers, and the decline of press freedom in the U.S. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

EFF’s Cindy Cohn joined @kpfa.org’s @radioagainst.bsky.social to discuss her battles against government spying from the internet's rise through today. kpfa.org/episode/aga...

Widespread surveillance by the NSA brought to light how the government has amassed power – and such dangers have only multiplied. EFF's Cindy Cohn discusses her numerous groundbreaking legal battles with the U.S. government over surveillance and privacy. tinyurl.com/5n85wdd7

In the 1980s, yuppies quickly put their stamp on cities around the country, displacing working class people and remaking the Democratic Party. Historian @dygottlieb.bsky.social examines whether they were drivers of financialization or crucial cogs in the machine. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

Are women as strong as men? According to @starrevartan.bsky.social, in some cases they're stronger. She argues that research shows that culture shapes strength as much as hormones — and that much of what we presume about sex, strength, and athleticism harms all of us. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

Ideas about labor management have often failed on the shop floor, but served a broader purpose. Henry Snow interrogates theories of discipline and management — from the Bentham brothers’ panopticon to Frederick Winslow Taylor’s labor optimization to GE’s propaganda campaign. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

The Republican Party has traditionally been the party of business. @pmheideman.bsky.social discusses the GOP's descent into internal strife and ideological chaos — and how in the last presidential election, the business class overwhelmingly supported Harris over Trump. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

We inhabit a world where the visual has supplanted the auditory. Julian Treasure reflects on the importance of sound in our lives -- between ourselves, other living things, and in the surroundings of our built environment. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

@scottkurashige.bsky.social reflects on more than 175 years of anti-Asian violence and its connection to U.S. empire abroad and a divided working class at home. tinyurl.com/atu7y5mf

Sugar was remade by capitalism and turned into a homogenized commodity. As historian of science David Singerman illustrates, scientific techniques were utilized to standardize sugar, while attempting to replace the knowledge of the enslaved workers who labored in refineries. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

Fiction that imagines alternate futures is often associated with the left. But, as @jordanscarroll.bsky.social illustrates, far right authors and aficionados have populated the ranks of speculative fiction since its inception. tinyurl.com/5bjmjx2j

Jews and the left have been closely associated with each other for well over a century. @blbalthaser.bsky.social argues that the recent florescence of Jewish anti-Zionism is a return to a much longer tradition. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

The power the police wield on the streets of this country is plain to see. Less visible, but no less formidable, is the immense political influence that the police exercise. @stschrader1.bsky.social describes how police unions amassed enormous power over the last fifty years. tinyurl.com/3ndrun32

The left has long predicted the decline of US capitalism and empire, along with the dollar. Is Trump is a symptom of that decline — a strongman chosen by capital to set things right? Stephen Maher counters that U.S. capitalism is robust — to the detriment of most of us. tinyurl.com/4ybxkfsa

Primatologist Agustín Fuentes pulls apart the case that we're hardwired for war. And the late David Graeber discusses the active cultivation of pessimism about our ability to organize society in a more egalitarian way. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

It’s tax day. Quick question: If the richest 1% hold $50 trillion… and the estate tax is 40%… why did it raise just $30 billion? Ray Madoff breaks it down. Listen now @ kpfa.org btw, it's our birthday today! #TaxDay #kpfa #pacificaradio @radioagainst.bsky.social @bostoncollege.bsky.social

Ray Madoff delineates how progressive taxation and the estate tax — designed to tax the inherited wealth of the rich — have been eviscerated. And she also argues that philanthropy, perversely, has increased the wealth of the 1%. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

Historian Golnar Nikpour discusses the human costs of the war on Iran. She reflects on the Iranian state and prison system since the early 20th century, and places recent mass protests — the largest in history — in the context of cycles of protest and repression in modern Iran. tinyurl.com/bd34s4e2

What if change comes from forcing the moment, not waiting for it? Paul Fleming on Herbert Marcuse, protest, and why activism matters, plus how the far right has reworked these ideas into a broader cultural fight. Against the Grain. Full interview at kpfa.org @radioagainst.bsky.social #kpfa

Economist Nancy Folbre discusses the early push for the recognition of unpaid care work as real work, while the economics profession has mainly ignored unpaid work, despite its crucial importance for capitalism. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

Capitalism has generated vast amounts of wealth by spreading around the world. But as Timothy Mitchell argues, profits are made not just across space but also time, by stealing from future generations, including through military spending. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

What has the far right learned from the Frankfurt School? And what can we learn from Frankfurt School thinkers like Theodor Adorno to understand the appeal of the right? Paul Fleming sheds light on the fixation of conservatives like Christopher Rufo with cultural Marxism. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

The powers of the president have grown since the Cold War, expanding under both Republicans and Democrats. As @andrewmcockburn.bsky.social explains, many of these presidential powers – laid out in the presidential emergency action documents — are unknown to the public. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

Revelations that the much-lionized United Farm Workers leader Cesar Chavez raped women and young girls has rightly horrified many. Former farm worker Frank Bardacke discusses the two souls of the UFW, between the union staff and the militant rank and file. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

The US attack on Iran has been a harsh reminder of the centrality of oil to the global economy. Adam Hanieh reflects on the rise of crude oil in the 20th century. He argues the blockage in the Gulf threatens to set off a more serious global crisis than seen in the 1970s. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

As global warming accelerates, what would it take to reclaim our future? Malcolm Harris describes the obstacles to moving beyond fossil fuels — not just from elites, but also from below. He lays out three interlocking paths out of the climate crisis. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

Thomas Zeitzoff reflects on the administration’s widespread attempts to quash opposition, from targeting fundraising by liberal nonprofits, knocking on the doors of former activists, or charging people with conspiracy for communicating on Signal about protests. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

@profferguson.bsky.social describes how sensor-driven digital technology tracks our daily lives — whether we’re seeking an abortion or protesting our government — and are only, at best, a warrant away from being used against us. @nyupress.bsky.social kpfa.org/episode/agai...

Wim Carton contends that there is no substitute for slashing carbon emissions and shutting down the fossil fuel industry. He discusses the perils of emitting carbon dioxide to be captured later. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

David Graham reflects on Project 2025 and whether its goals have been achieved so far in Trump's 2nd term –- on the environment and economy, attacking trans rights and diversity policies, and projecting military might abroad. He also discusses what may come next. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

While food is a necessity for our survival, it’s also a vast, sprawling industry spanning the globe, generating enormous profits. Marion Nestle sheds light on the choices we all must navigate when we enter the grocery store. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

Our modern world was born from destruction — and no more so than in North America, which historian Clifton Crais describes as the most violent place on the planet in the 18th and 19th centuries. He describes what he calls the Mortecene against humans and the rest of nature. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

Do politicians like Modi, Bolsonaro, Orban, and Trump represent an extreme form of right-wing populism? Or are they fascists, as some claim? Historian Federico Finchelstein argues that we’re seeing something that blurs the lines between populism and fascism. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

Joel Wainwright argues that Darwin significantly shaped Marx’s understanding of historical change — with implications for how we meet the ecological crisis today. And he reflects on the potential role of strikes and boycotts in moving beyond capitalism. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

Patricio Del Real discusses two differing political visions of modernism and modern architecture: one on the left, associated with figures such as Communist muralist Diego Rivera, and the other on the right, represented by architect and fascist sympathizer Philip Johnson. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

Medical anthropologist Emily Mendenhall considers how the medical establishment has frequently ignored chronic but often invisible illnesses like long Covid and long flu, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Lyme disease. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

Historian Jeremy Varon reflects on how the anti-war movement grew into the millions in the face of jingoism and media complicity with the US state. kpfa.org/episode/agai...

Ben Freeman discusses the intersection of interests that drive America’s military spending, including the private contractors who receive half of the US military budget and the universities, Hollywood movies, and media funded by the Pentagon or its arms manufacturers. kpfa.org/episode/agai...