COUNTERPOINT RADIO, hosted by Scott Harris, is heard every Monday night on WPKN 89.5 FM, Bridgeport, CT between 8:00 – 9:30 pm ET. Webstreaming and audio archive at http://wpkn.org

Some segments featured on Counterpoint are edited for re-broadcast on the syndicated Between The Lines radio news magazine. Visit their web site at http://www.btlonline.org for free subscriptions to mp3 - podcast audio files, program summaries and interview transcripts. An archive of current and past Counterpoint interviews are accessible for free at our Counterpoint Radio web site: http://counterpointradio.org The full 1.5 hour unedited program can be accessed for a 2 week period after the show, at the WPKN Radio archives: http://archives.wpkn.org/bookmarks/search/counterpoint

1) David Daley, former editor in chief of Salon, is the author of the national bestseller, "Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right's 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections," and Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn't Count," which helped spark the drive to reform gerrymandering. Daley, whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, the New York Times, the Atlantic, and the Guardian, discusses his recent Nation article, "How the GOP Hopes to Gerrymander Its Way to a Midterms Victory," in view of what Trump and Republicans are doing to carve out 5 new GOP-leaning districts in Texas, and what democracy defenders could and should be doing now to prevent the further erosion of our democratic system and ensure the integrity of elections in both the short and long term.

2) Candice Fortin, US Campaign Manager with the climate group 350.org will provide an overview of the Trump regime's multi-pronged attack on all federal climate regulations, the short and long term impact on the environment, what if anything states can do to implement their own climate regulations -- and how climate/environmental activist groups like 350.org can challenge these policies both in court and in the streets.

3) Media Matters for America Senior Fellow Matt Gertz will assess how corporate and MAGA media are covering public demand for release of the Epstein files, with some cooperating with the Trump White House by amplifying clearly bogus distraction stories designed to tamp down the controversy. He'll also comment on Paramount corporation's decision to cancel The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and concerns that Pres. Trump's lawsuits and many other attempts to intimidate media outlets, constitutes a very real threat to free speech, freedom of the press, and democracy itself.

4) Kellie Snider, a contemporary American artist discusses the nation's history of white supremacy and racism-- before, during and after slavery. She'll also talk about her work as an artist, and the intersection of art and politics during our current crisis where the Trump regime is launching attacks on virtually all democratic institutions.

COUNTERPOINT RADIO, hosted by Scott Harris, is heard every Monday night on WPKN 89.5 FM, Bridgeport, CT between 8:00 – 9:30 pm ET. Webstreaming and audio archive at http://wpkn.org

Some segments featured on Counterpoint are edited for re-broadcast on the syndicated Between The Lines radio news magazine. Visit their web site at http://www.btlonline.org for free subscriptions to mp3 - podcast audio files, program summaries and interview transcripts. An archive of current and past Counterpoint interviews are accessible for free at our Counterpoint Radio web site: http://counterpointradio.org The full 1.5 hour unedited program can be accessed for a 2 week period after the show, at the WPKN Radio archives: http://archives.wpkn.org/bookmarks/search/counterpoint

1) Jennifer Loewenstein, former associate director of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, examines the current famine crisis in Gaza, the Trump regime's incoherent and dishonest policies toward Gaza and Palestinians; France, U.K, & Canada's plan to recognize a Palestinian state -- and what if any difference that policy shift could make.

2) Richard W. Behan a contributor to Counterpunch the progressive news and commentary website, talks about his recent article, "The Peril of Spectacle, Especially Jeffrey Epstein’s" and where the deepening bipartisan suspicion and anger about Donald Trump's expanding scandal may take the country -- and serve as a distraction from the central, existential fight to defend democracy against Trump-Republican Party fascism.

3) Rebecca Gordon is a retired professor of philosophy at the University of San Francisco, longtime political and faculty union activist, who writes regularly for TomDispatch.com. Author of several books, including "Mainstreaming Torture" and "American Nuremberg," Professor Gordon, discusses her important coverage of how the Trump regime is expanding the surveillance state targeting perceived enemies to extend and consolidate authoritarian power, described in her recent article, “The United Surveillance States of America.”

4) Ayesha R. Clarke, Executive Director of the Connecticut based group Health Equity Solutions, examines how the federal slashing of social safety net programs in Trump's recently passed budget bill will impact Connecticut, and what Governor Lamont and the state legislature can do to prepare and offset the pain and disruption to essential services serving the state's most vulnerable residents.

COUNTERPOINT RADIO, hosted by Scott Harris, is heard every Monday night on WPKN 89.5 FM, Bridgeport, CT between 8:00 – 9:30 pm ET. Webstreaming and audio archive at http://wpkn.org

Some segments featured on Counterpoint are edited for re-broadcast on the syndicated Between The Lines radio news magazine. Visit their web site at http://www.btlonline.org for free subscriptions to mp3 - podcast audio files, program summaries and interview transcripts. An archive of current and past Counterpoint interviews are accessible for free at our Counterpoint Radio web site: http://counterpointradio.org The full 1.5 hour unedited program can be accessed for a 2 week period after the show, at the WPKN Radio archives: http://archives.wpkn.org/bookmarks/search/counterpoint

1) Melvin Goodman, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, professor of government at Johns Hopkins University, a former CIA analyst and author, talks about his recent Counterpunch commentary, "The Waste and Futility of the Golden Dome National Defense System," estimated to cost between $161 and $542 billion over two decades, and the larger danger of expiring U.S.-Russia nuclear arms control treaties.

2) Sharif Abdel Kouddous is the Middle East and North Africa editor with Drop Site News, who received a George Polk Award for his investigation into the killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. He'll discuss his coverage of Israel's starvation campaign against Gaza's 2.3 million Palestinian civilians -- and the Trump regime's role in this war crime via the U.S. backed "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation" -- as reported in his recent article, "Palestinians Are Collapsing in Gaza's Streets From Israeli-Imposed Starvation Campaign."

3) Robert Greenwald is founder and president of Brave New Films, a nonprofit production company that creates and distributes investigative political and social justice documentaries. He'll talk about his new documentary, titled, "Gaza: Journalists Under Fire," which exposes Israel’s crimes against journalism and humanity, where more than 200 Gaza-based journalists have been killed since the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel -- through the lives and deaths of Palestinian journalists Belal Jadallah, Heba Al-Abadla, and Ismail al-Ghoul.

4) Mother Jones' magazine DC bureau reporter, Hannah Levintova, talks about her investigation featured in the Public Radio series, Reveal, titled, "The Landlord Gutting America's Hospitals," which examines how a real estate company buys up hospitals and then leases them back to health care systems, causing dozens of its hospitals to go bankrupt, close or be sold because profits were sucked out of them - resulting in the deterioration of patient care.

COUNTERPOINT RADIO, hosted by Scott Harris, is heard every Monday night on WPKN 89.5 FM, Bridgeport, CT between 8:00 – 9:30 pm ET. Webstreaming and audio archive at http://wpkn.org

Some segments featured on Counterpoint are edited for re-broadcast on the syndicated Between The Lines radio news magazine. Visit their web site at http://www.btlonline.org for free subscriptions to mp3 - podcast audio files, program summaries and interview transcripts. An archive of current and past Counterpoint interviews are accessible for free at our Counterpoint Radio web site: http://counterpointradio.org The full 1.5 hour unedited program can be accessed for a 2 week period after the show, at the WPKN Radio archives: http://archives.wpkn.org/bookmarks/search/counterpoint

1) Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma, and critical care surgeon – and Dr. Ayaz Pathan an ER physician, discuss their experiences working as physicians in Gaza, the ongoing slaughter and starvation of Palestinian civilians there, their understanding of the mission of the Israeli-US backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in distributing food that has resulted in hundreds of lives lost, and the U.S. role in Israel's 21 month-long Gaza war.

2) John Tarleton, Editor-in-chief of The Indypendent, New York City's free progressive monthly newspaper, discusses his coverage of Zohran Mamdani's surprise victory in the New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, the obstacles ahead for his progressive campaign in the November election where he'll face both Mayor Eric Adams, and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. He’ll also consider whatMamdani's rise could mean for progressive candidates in the Democratic Party and across the U.S.

3) Filmmaker and journalist Greg Palast, author of several New York Times bestsellers including “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy” talks about his recent investigations into the Trump-Republican Party plan to win the 2026 midterm elections in 2025 by employing massive voter purges in purple states, racial gerrymandering and voter suppression tactics.

4) Joan Cavanagh, a founding member of Progressives Against Medical Assisted Suicide (PAMAS,) talks about the new documentary film titled, "Thoughts on Medical Assisted Suicide,” which will be available for viewing online from July 23rd through Wednesday July 30th, in honor of the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was signed into law on July 26, 1990.

COUNTERPOINT RADIO, hosted by Scott Harris, is heard every Monday night on WPKN 89.5 FM, Bridgeport, CT between 8:00 – 9:30 pm ET. Webstreaming and audio archive at http://wpkn.org

Some segments featured on Counterpoint are edited for re-broadcast on the syndicated Between The Lines radio news magazine. Visit their web site at http://www.btlonline.org for free subscriptions to mp3 - podcast audio files, program summaries and interview transcripts. An archive of current and past Counterpoint interviews are accessible for free at our Counterpoint Radio web site: http://counterpointradio.org The full 1.5 hour unedited program can be accessed for a 2 week period after the show, at the WPKN Radio archives: http://archives.wpkn.org/bookmarks/search/counterpoint

1) Victor Pickard is Professor of Media Policy and Political Economy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, where he co-directs the Media, Inequality & Change Center. Professor Pickard discusses the important issues examined in his recent Nation magazine article, "The Media’s Profits Trump Democracy, Once Again: Paramount’s settlement with Trump is a symptom of deep structural rot in our corporate media system." In his analysis Professor Pickard goes beyond the predictable commentary on "bad media companies" surrendering to Trump, but discusses the urgent need to envision a community-based media system that prioritizes journalism, democracy and equality over profit.

2) Kali Holloway is a columnist for The Nation and the former director of the Make It Right Project, a national campaign to take down Confederate monuments and tell the truth about history. She'll discuss her recent article, "The Real Reason Those White South Africans Are Here," with a focus on the multiple ways the Trump regime is carrying out an explicitly racist, white supremacist agenda. She'll also address corporate media's failure to call out Trump's racism, while normalizing his actions driven by hate and bigotry.

3) Interviews with participants in the pro-democracy, anti-Trump ‘No Kings Day’ June 14, 2025 protests in Trumbull and Newtown CT. The ‘No Kings Day’ protests involved 2,100 protest sites across the U.S. and attracted the participation of an estimated 5 million protesters.

4) Debra, an organizer with the group Indivisible Amity, CT -- and Tom of the Indivisible chapter in Orange CT, discuss plans for the Thursday, July 17th "Good Trouble Lives On Rally" — with speakers and music on the New Haven Green in downtown New Haven, CT from 6:00 to 7:00 pm. This event, part of day of some 1,000 +protests nationwide, is being organized in response to the attacks on our civil and human rights by the Trump administration -- and in defense of voting rights, democracy, and civil liberties, is inspired by the legacy of the late Congressman John Lewis who died 5 years ago and his lifelong call to get into “good trouble.”

COUNTERPOINT RADIO, hosted by Scott Harris, is heard every Monday night on WPKN 89.5 FM, Bridgeport, CT between 8:00 – 9:30 pm ET. Webstreaming and audio archive at http://wpkn.org

Some segments featured on Counterpoint are edited for re-broadcast on the syndicated Between The Lines radio news magazine. Visit their web site at http://www.btlonline.org for free subscriptions to mp3 - podcast audio files, program summaries and interview transcripts. An archive of current and past Counterpoint interviews are accessible for free at our Counterpoint Radio web site: http://counterpointradio.org The full 1.5 hour unedited program can be accessed for a 2 week period after the show, at the WPKN Radio archives: http://archives.wpkn.org/bookmarks/search/counterpoint

1) Adam W Gaffney, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Bruce Lesley, President of the group First Focus on Children discuss the expected overall healthcare impact of the Trump/GOP federal budget bill just passed by Congress that cuts $1 trillion from Medicaid and Medicare, will take away millions of poor families's access to food and nutrition programs, and close hundreds of community hospitals. Both will also address viable alternatives to America's current failed for-profit healthcare system.

2) Chris Lehmann, the DC Bureau chief for The Nation magazine and a contributing editor at The Baffler, discusses the important and timely issues examined in his recent Nation article, "Trump's Big Bill is Building a Big Police State," "explaining that with more than $150 billion in outlays to expand the horrific surveillance, detention, and rendition regime created under the Laken Riley Act, the measure will carry out Trump’s pledge to make the terror wreaked by masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, alongside federal and National Guard troops, in Los Angeles the standard operating procedure for immigrant roundups going forward."

3) Teddy Wilson, a journalist and researcher with more than a decade of experience covering the U.S. Radical Right who publishes the Radical Reports newsletter, talks about indicted January 6th insurrectionist, Jared L. Wise's appointment as a counselor to Ed Martin, Director of the so-called Dept. of Justice 'Weaponization Working Group,' and also discusses investigations he's conducted in his "Pardon Tracker" series re: the alarming activities of insurrectionists and other convicted criminals after they were pardoned by Donald Trump.

4) Maggie Mitchell Salem, Executive Director of the CT based group IRIS, Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services, discusses the impact of the Trump administration's new immigration policies on IRIS services, as well as federal funds revoked or withdrawn from IRIS' budget. She'll also talk about her group's new 'Know Your Rights' campaign that was launched on the July 4th weekend, and other projects and services local listeners can support or volunteer for.

COUNTERPOINT RADIO, hosted by Scott Harris, is heard every Monday night on WPKN 89.5 FM, Bridgeport, CT between 8:00 – 9:30 pm ET. Webstreaming and audio archive at http://wpkn.org

Some segments featured on Counterpoint are edited for re-broadcast on the syndicated Between The Lines radio news magazine. Visit their web site at http://www.btlonline.org for free subscriptions to mp3 - podcast audio files, program summaries and interview transcripts. An archive of current and past Counterpoint interviews are accessible for free at our Counterpoint Radio web site: http://counterpointradio.org The full 1.5 hour unedited program can be accessed for a 2 week period after the show, at the WPKN Radio archives: http://archives.wpkn.org/bookmarks/search/counterpoint

1) Sarah Kendzior, author of four bestselling books including, “They Knew: How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America Complacent,” and her latest, "The Last American Road Trip," talks about the Trump - GOP mafia state's aggressive attack on the U.S. constitution, rule of law and dissent, as the regime deploys National Guard troops and the Marines to U.S. cities and instigates war (with Israel) against Iran.

2) Amanda Marcotte, a senior politics writer at Salon.com and author of "Troll Nation: How The Right Became Trump-Worshipping Monsters Set On Rat-F*cking Liberals, America, and Truth Itself," talks about her recent commentary, "Evangelicals push Trump into conflict with Iran," making the case that the Christian right remains Trump's most important constituency.

3) India Walton, senior strategist with RootsAction.org, won the Democratic primary for mayor of Buffalo, N.Y. in 2021, but lost the general election after establishment Democrats, Republicans and the city's business sector pulled out all the stops to defeat her. She'll discuss Zohran Mamdani's apparent and historic victory in the New York City primary election, and the attacks and obstacles he'll likely face in the general election campaign as the Democratic Party establishment, their corporate allies and Wall Street attempt to smear Zohran as a "dangerous Muslim socialist."

4) Dulce Guzman, Executive Director of Alianza Americas discusses her group's response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that limits the power of federal judges to issue nationwide injunctions, without addressing the constitutionality of Trump’s executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship. She'll also talk about the next steps in defending the U.S. Constitution from Trump regime authoritarian rule.

COUNTERPOINT RADIO, hosted by Scott Harris, is heard every Monday night on WPKN 89.5 FM, Bridgeport, CT between 8:00 – 9:30 pm ET. Webstreaming and audio archive at http://wpkn.org

Some segments featured on Counterpoint are edited for re-broadcast on the syndicated Between The Lines radio news magazine. Visit their web site at http://www.btlonline.org for free subscriptions to mp3 - podcast audio files, program summaries and interview transcripts. An archive of current and past Counterpoint interviews are accessible for free at our Counterpoint Radio web site: http://counterpointradio.org The full 1.5 hour unedited program can be accessed for a 2 week period after the show, at the WPKN Radio archives: http://archives.wpkn.org/bookmarks/search/counterpoint

1) Trump's Bombing of Iran an Echo of Disastrous Iraq War

Phyllis Bennis, director of the Institute for Policy Studies’ New Internationalism Project, talks about President Trump's decision to launch of air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities, the ongoing Israel-Iran air battle, and the danger that Trump's entry into the conflict could ignite a dangerous regional war.

2) Trump & MAGA's Embrace of Political Violence Kills

David Schultz, Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Political Science, Environmental Studies, and Legal Studies at Hamline University, discusses his recent Counterpunch article, "The Tragedy of Political Violence: It Works," recounting how violence has played a critical role in shaping history across the world and here in the U.S. He’ll examine Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s embrace and normalization of political violence, such as the January 6th Capitol insurrection and the more recent deployment of U.S. military forces to suppress anti-Trump/ICE protests in Los Angeles, and how Trump’s MAGA movement could employ political violence to extinguish U.S. democracy.

3) Democrats Must Adopt Progressive Economic Agenda to Defeat Trump and Protect Democracy

Norman Solomon, co-founder of RootsAction.org, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy and author talks about the recent massive June 14th nationwide anti-Trump protests, and his recent commentary, "No Kings Day' was historic: Now we need a powerful — and independent — movement against Trump," discussing the strategies and tactics necessary to stop the Trump-GOP march toward fascism.

4) Danbury CT Immigration Activists Organize the Community to Counter ICE Deportation Raids

Carolina Bortolleto, co-founder and Co-Executive Director with Connecticut Students for a Dream, and immigrant rights activist Juliana Soares discuss recent ICE deportation raids in Danbury and elsewhere in Connecticut, the Danbury community's response, and demands issued by Danbury Unites for Immigrants, a collective of local immigrant community leaders.