KPFA - Letters and Politics

The Legal Challenges to the Election & The Electoral College and Slavery

Part 1: The Legal Challenges to the Election Guest: Eliza Sweren-Becker serves as counsel in the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, where she focuses on voting rights and elections.   Part 2: The Electoral College & Slavery (Rebroadcast)  Guest: Akhil Reed Amar is Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, where he teaches constitutional law in both Yale College and Yale Law School. The post The Legal Challenges to the Election & The Electoral Colleg...

In Conversation with Vijay Prashad

Guest: Vijay Prashad is the director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and the author of “Washington Bullets: A History of the CIA, Coups, and Assassinations” (Monthly Review Press, 2020).   The post In Conversation with Vijay Prashad appeared first on KPFA.

What History Tells Us About the Election

Guest: Max Elbaum has been involved a peace and anti-racist movements since joining Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in Madison, Wisconsin in the 1960s. Through the 1970s and 1980s he participated in campaigns defending affirmative action and opposing U.S. military interventions in the Third World while writing extensively for the radical press and taking part in then-widespread efforts to construct a new U.S. revolutionary political party. Currently he is one of the editors of Organiz...

Letters and Politics – November 9, 2020

What History Tell Us About the Election

A Historian & Journalist on the Election

Part 1: The Journalist Guest: Sasha Abramsky, contributor to the Nation and author of Little Wonder: The Fabulous Story of Lotttie Dod, The World’s First Female Sports Super Stars.    Part 2: The Historian Guest: Geoffrey Kabaservice, historian and director of political studies at the Niskanen Center. He is the author of several books including Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, from Eisenhower to the Tea Party. The post A Historian & Journa...

Letters and Politics – November 5, 2020

Analyzing the Election

Part I: The Election Map and Potential Challenges Guest: Steven Rosenfeld is the Editor and Chief Correspondent for Voting Booth, a project of the Independent Media Institute. Part II:  Analyzing the Known Results Guest: Arun Gupta, contributor to The Intercept, Daily Beast, The Nation, Jacobin, and the author of the forthcoming book Bacon as a Weapon of Mass Destruction. Guest: Cat Brooks, organizer with the Anti-Police Terror Project and host of KPFA’s Upfront. PHOTO: Element5 Digital   The...

Letters and Politics – November 4, 2020

Surprise, Surprise: The1948 Election & The Social Movements Behind It

Surprise, Surprise: The 1948 Election & The Social Movements Behind It

Guest: A.J. Baime, journalist, contributor to the Wall Street Journal and author of the book Dewey Defeats Truman: The 1948 Election and the Battle for America’s Soul. The post Surprise, Surprise: The 1948 Election & The Social Movements Behind It appeared first on KPFA.

A History of Election Crises

Guest: Alan Hirsch, Constitutional scholar and instructor in the Humanities and Chair of the Justice and Law Studies program at Williams College. He is the author of A Short History of Presidential Election Crises: (And How to Prevent the Next One). PHOTO: Markus Winkler   The post A History of Election Crises appeared first on KPFA.

Letters and Politics – November 2, 2020

The Warren Court: The Transformation of Rights

The Warren Court & The Transformation of Rights

Guest: Geoffrey R. Stone is the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago.  He is the co-author of the book Democracy and Equality: The Enduring Constitutional Vision of the Warren Court. The post The Warren Court & The Transformation of Rights appeared first on KPFA.

Letters and Politics – October 29, 2020

Talking to a Political Scientist Before the Election

Guest:  Matt Grossmann, Director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research and Professor of Political Science at Michigan State University. He is also Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center where he hosts the podcast The Science of Politics The post Talking to a Political Scientist Before the Election appeared first on KPFA.

Letters and Politics – October 28, 2020

2020’s Record Level of Campaign Finance Dollars & Donald Trump v. The US

Part 1 – Money in Politics Guest: Sheila Krumholz is the Executive Director at the Center for Responsive Politics. The Center for Responsive Politics is an independent nonprofit research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy, The Center runs the website OpenSecrets.org, which is a comprehensive resource for federal campaign contributions, lobbying data and analysis available to the public.   Part 2 – Donald Trump V The United States Guest: Michael...

Letters and Politics – October 27, 2020

The General Election and What’s Next

The 2020 General Election and What Comes Next Next

Guest: John Nichols is the Washington Correspondent for the Nation Magazine.  He is the author of several books including his latest, “The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party: The Enduring Legacy of Henry Wallace’s Anti-Fascist, Anti-Racist Politics”.  His latest piece in the Nation is The Election Isn’t Over Until Trump’s Gone: A decisive early win for Joe Biden would help prevent a “red mirage,” but Election Day is just a way station on the circuitous route to choosing the next presi...

The Origins of Originalism & Its Corruption

Guest: Eric J. Segall is the Ashe Family Chair Professor of Law at Georgia State University College of Law.  He is the author of Supreme Myths: Why the Supreme Court is Not a Court and its Justices are Not Judges, and his latest, Originalism as Faith.   The post The Origins of Originalism & Its Corruption appeared first on KPFA.

Letters and Politics – October 22, 2020

The Electoral College: How It Works, Its History & Possible Outcomes

Guest: Robert M. Alexander is a professor of political science and founding director of the Institute for Civics and Public Policy at Ohio Northern University.  He is the author of Representation and the Electoral College. The post The Electoral College: How It Works, Its History & Possible Outcomes appeared first on KPFA.

Letters and Politics – October 21, 2020

The State of the Economy & The Bolivian Elections

Part 1. The economy, the Stimulus package, and unemployment Guest: Sylvia Allegretto is a labor economist and co-chair of the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics at the University of California, Berkeley (CWED). CWED is a research center housed at the Institute for Researcher on Labor and Employment.   Part 2. The latest elections in Bolivia Guest: Alexander Main is at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC.   Photo: Evo Morales two years by Joel Alvarez (Joels86) on...

Letters and Politics – October 20, 2020

Alienation in an Ancient Christian World

Guest: Edward J. Watts, the Alkiviadis Vassiliadis Endowed Chair and Professor of History at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of The Final Pagan Generation: Rome’s Unexpected Path to Christianity. PHOTO: Arturo Rey The post Alienation in an Ancient Christian World appeared first on KPFA.

Letters and Politics – October 8, 2020

A Chronology of the Republican Party

Guest: Rick Perlstein is a historian and the author of Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus, Nixoland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America, The Invisible Bridge, and his latest Reaganland: America’s Right Turn 1976-1980. The post A Chronology of the Republican Party appeared first on KPFA.

Letters and Politics – October 7, 2020

Pandemic: Tracking Contagion

Guest: Sonia Shah is a science journalist and contributor to the Nation Magazine.  She  is the author of PANDEMIC: Tracking Contagion from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond, and most recently, The Next Great Migration: The Beauty and Terror of Life on the Move. Her latest article in the Nation is First Came the Hurricane, Then Came the Campaign of Terror. Photo by Edwin Hooper on Unsplash   The post Pandemic: Tracking Contagion appeared first on KPFA.

Constitutional Fault Lines in Uncertain Times

Guest: Sanford Levinson, professor at the University of Texas Law School and the University of Texas at Austin Department of Government. The author of many books on the U.S. Constitution and co-author of Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Graphic Novel The post Constitutional Fault Lines in Uncertain Times appeared first on KPFA.

Letters and Politics – October 6, 2020

The Election of 1876

Guest: Richard Kreitner is a contributing writer to the Nation magazine. He is the author of the new book Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America’s Imperfect Union.  The post The Election of 1876 appeared first on KPFA.

The Lessons of the Controversial Election of 1876

Voting Controversies: What Could Go Right, What Could Go Wrong

Guest: Steven Rosenfeld is the Editor and Chief Correspondent for Voting Booth, a project of the Independent Media Institute.   Photo by Elliott Stallion on Unsplash The post Voting Controversies: What Could Go Right, What Could Go Wrong appeared first on KPFA.

David Cay Johnston on Trump’s Taxes and the Debate

Guest: David Cay Johnston is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and editor-in-chief of DC Report and author o the book The Making of Donald Trump. The post David Cay Johnston on Trump’s Taxes and the Debate appeared first on KPFA.

Peter Irons on the History of the Supreme Court

Guest: Peter Irons is a political scientist, constitutional historian, civil rights attorney, and former prisoner of conscious, as well as professor emeritus of political science at the University of California, San Diego.  He is the author of several books including A People’s History of the Supreme Court: The Men and Women Whose Case and Decisions Have Shaped Our Constitution.   The post Peter Irons on the History of the Supreme Court appeared first on KPFA.

Long and Short Term Implications of an Amy Coney Barrett Confirmation

Part 1: What the Senate confirmation process looks like and the parliamentary tactics available to democrats to try to delay the confirmation until after elections. Guest: Caren Morrison is Associate Professor of Law, Georgia State University. She wrote the piece Can Trump and McConnell get through the 4 steps to seat a Supreme Court justice in just 6 weeks? for the Conversation.com Part 2: What the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett could mean for the judicial branch of government. Guest: Nei...

Structural Racism: Breonna and the Grand Jury

Guest: John Burris is a Civil Rights attorney specialized in police misconduct and excessive force cases. He represents families of victims of police brutality in the San Francisco Bay Area. The post Structural Racism: Breonna and the Grand Jury appeared first on KPFA.

Letters and Politics – September 24, 2020

Structural Racism: The Case of Breonna Taylor

In Conversation with Kali Akuno: Organizing in Extreme Times

Guest: Kali Akuno, co-founder and co-director of Cooperation Jackson.  He is also one of the initiators of the People’s Strike and co-editor the book Jackson Rising. The post In Conversation with Kali Akuno: Organizing in Extreme Times appeared first on KPFA.

Letters and Politics – September 23, 2020

The Origins of Fascism

Guest: Robert O. Paxton, the Mellon Professor Emeritus of Social Science at Columbia University and author of The Anatomy of Fascism. The post The Origins of Fascism appeared first on KPFA.

The Historic Significance of RBG and The Fight Ahead

Host Mitch Jeserich compares the legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the legacy of Thurgood Marshall and outlines the political battles ahead.   Photo source: Wikimedia Commons. Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States, Photographer: Steve Petteway The post The Historic Significance of RBG and The Fight Ahead appeared first on KPFA.

The Past, Present and Future of Migration: From Plants to Animals and Humans

Guest: Sonia Shah, science journalist and author of The Next Great Migration: The Beauty and Terror of Life on the Move. The post The Past, Present and Future of Migration: From Plants to Animals and Humans appeared first on KPFA.

Senator Sherrod Brown & Brian Stelter

Part I: Senator Sherrod Brown on Congress and Financial Aid. Guest: Sherrod Brown is Ohio’s senior U.S. senator and a leading progressive voice in Congress.  Myths of Free Trade: Why American Trade Policy Has Failed, and his latest, Desk 88: Eight Progressive Senators Who Changed America Part II: An exploration of the relationship between Trump and Fox News Guest: Brian Stelter is the chief media correspondent for CNN Worldwide and anchor of Reliable Sources. He is the author of the new book ...