It takes the average Latina, 12 extra months to earn what the average White, non-Hispanic man earns. That is because Latinas are only paid .55 cents to the dollar of […]

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As the Justice Department releases new documents from the Epstein files, more and more high-profile and powerful men are being exposed as having ties to the financier, child sex offender, serial rapist, and sex trafficker. There are also serious concerns about how the files are being released and what information is or isn’t being redacted for the safety of the survivors. Today, host Ali Muldrow tackles this challenging topic with two guests, Prenicia Clifton, a Madison-based child advocate and founder of Seein’ is Believin’, and Grace Panetta, a journalist with The 19th.

Panetta joins us from Capitol Hill where Attorney General Pam Bondi is testifying about the Justice Department’s release of the Epstein files and where survivors are gathering to demand accountability. Panetta says that Democratic lawmakers are pressing Bondi about why survivors’ information wasn’t properly redacted and why some perpetrators’ names were.

Clifton describes several problems with how the Epstein files are being handled. First, is the adultification and therefore re-victimization of the survivors when officials and the press fail to treat them as children, as minors, who cannot consent to their abuse. Another problem is that white supremacy and wealth underpin our justice system such that when Epstein was first convicted in 2009, he received a short sentence and after that his powerful allies maintained their ties.

Abuse happens when people have access, privacy, and control of others, says Clifton. She advises parents to have conversations with their children about consent and to know who their kids spend time with, including online.

They also discuss the “tough on crime” rhetoric of the Trump administration in comparison to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwells’ crimes, the power dynamics between adults and children, and prioritizing abuse prevention in our communities by observing, interrupting, and creating policies to hold people accountable.

Prenicia Clifton is the founder of Seein’ is Believin’ where she works to address the needs of youth, including mental health, life readiness, and suicide prevention. Her goal is to make a difference in the lives of 1 million kids through culturally infused programming, policy creation, and community advocacy. She is a certified Praesidium Youth Protection Guardian and a certified Youth Mental Health First Aid trainer.

Grace Panetta is a Washington, DC-based politics reporter at The 19th, a nonprofit independent newsroom covering the intersection of gender, politics and policy.

Featured image of Jeffrey Epstein’s private island via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).

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Earlier this week, the Atlanta City Council approved an addition $31 million dollars for the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. This was after more than 16 hours […]

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On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes is in conversation with Chris Purdy, the Founder and CEO of the Chamberlain Network, an organization dedicated to mobilizing veterans to protect democratic values and institutions. They discuss the changing civilian-military relations in the second Trump presidency, the tradition of the military as an apolitical institution, and the militarization of ICE.

Purdy is himself a veteran and says his story is an American one: his family migrated to the US due to violence in Belfast and he joined the army to serve his country. He’s noticed that after their service ends, veterans often “don’t feel comfortable in their veteran-ness.” So he founded his organization with the goal of creating a non-partisan but political space for veterans to work for their communities. Purdy is concerned about the misuse of active duty forces through the Insurrection Act and he breaks down what the law says about when the military can be used for law enforcement.

He says that because veterans are often credible members of their communities, they can be champions of democracy. Contrary to the way the Trump administration is “laundering military credibility for their agenda” The Chamberlain Network is organizing retired veterans, business and church leaders, and others to help their communities feel safe to vote during elections.

They also discuss Trump’s restructuring of military leadership, Purdy’s article about the misuse of the National Guard, how ICE is acting recklessly by enforcing a political agenda, and the longstanding practice of ICE and other law enforcement recruiting from the military and the “warrior class.” Purdy insists that active duty service members and veterans aren’t ICE, DHS, or other federal law enforcement agencies.

Chris Purdy is the Founder and CEO of The Chamberlain Network, an organization dedicated to mobilizing veterans to protect democratic values and institutions. A former Combat Engineer in the Army National Guard and an Iraq War veteran, Chris also has extensive experience supporting immigrant communities, having previously led veterans’ initiatives at an international human rights organization. He also has a background in education, serving as a Special Education teacher and school administrator.

Featured image: photo of Chris Purdy courtesy of The Chamberlain Network.

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“The Philippines is under a new administration, but still the government’s case against de Lima hobbles along, a symbol of the country’s degradation from the Duterte years of violent populism […]

The post Timothy McLaughlin on Leila de Lima and the cost of criticism in The P... appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today’s show, host Esty Dinur is joined by friend of the program, Norman Solomon, to discuss the status of the Democratic Party. His new book is The Blue Road to Trump Hell: How Corporate Democrats Paved the Way for Autocracy and it is available for free online.

Solomon says we need a stronger Democratic Party–a progressive Democratic Party–to stop fascism and prevent a Vance presidency. It’s not feasible to stop xenophobia and misogyny with neoliberal centrism, as with Biden and Harris’s campaigns, says Solomon. At the top, the Democratic Party is pro-military, pro-corporations. Too often, centrist Democrats work against progressives, as with NAFTA and the Crime Bill that accelerated mass incarceration. Though Biden did some good work while in office, he ultimately folded when it came to the Build Back Better Act. Instead, we need strong Democratic leadership “that fights like hell for working people, children, the elderly, and the infirm.”

They also discuss how corporate paywalls keep information inaccessible to regular people, how RFK is “viciously anti-Palestinian” and anti-democratic, Bernie Sander’s success in calling out plutocracy and corporate greed, Mamdani’s success in New York City, and the status of the DHS budget.

Norman Solomon is a journalist, media critic, author and activist. He’s the National Director of RootsAction and the Executive Director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His book War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine was published in 2023. In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews called the book “a powerful, necessary indictment of efforts to disguise the human toll of American foreign policy.” Norman’s dozen other books include War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.

Featured image of the cover of Norman Solomon’s most recent book, The Blue Road to Trump Hell: How Corporate Democrats Paved the Way for Autocracy.

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Sold in headshops and on the grey market, “spice” or K2 is a way to get high while avoiding showing up on a drug test. Whether or not they’re legal […]

The post Synthetic Cannabinoids, the Analogue Act, and an Unprecedented Prosecu... appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today’s show, host Allen Ruff is joined by friend of the program, John Nichols, who is on the ground reporting from Minneapolis. He says that ICE is sowing a great deal of chaos; restaurants are empty and the atmosphere is tense. However, thousands are showing up to daily demonstrations creating a remarkable moment of dissent.

They discuss Nichol’s latest article, co-written with Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel, “The ‘Donroe’ Doctrine: Trump Unleashes the Dogs of War.” Nichols says that our contemporary struggles have deep roots in earlier moments of US imperialism. He calls the US’s aggression in Venezuela an act of war, not simply a police action as it has been described. The fact that Congress has not been given a say in these actions, effectively makes Trump a king. Unlike Trump’s first term in office, this time around he’s very focused on international affairs, from kidnapping foreign leaders to threatening to bomb nations and more, says Nichols.

From Venezuela to Minneapolis, we’re seeing invasion abroad and at home, says Nichols. He sees hope in the number of folks, especially young people, who are talking about and engaging in general strikes. More and more people are dissatisfied with the Democratic Party and are looking for ways to counter a political system that is infused with money. They also discuss war tax resistance, mutual aid groups, and the role of religious leaders in political movements.

John Nichols is the executive editor of The Nation, and previously the magazine’s long-time national affairs correspondent. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of more than a dozen books on media, democracy, and American political history. His latest, cowritten with Senator Bernie Sanders, is the New York Times bestseller It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism.

Featured image of an anti-ICE protest sign from a January 2026 protest in Minneapolis via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

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