Author Archives: Maria

Prof. Michael Osterholm – Corona Virus Update

Can We All Return to Normal Now?  Dr. Michael Osterholm had told USA Today earlier this year: ‘We’re just in the second inning of a nine-inning game’ That’s why members of the Midway Chamber of Commerce in Minnesota met with him on line on June 12, 2020. He gave an update and they asked him questions.
Dr. Osterholm holds many titles and functions at the University of Minnesota, among them Regents Professor in Public Health, and he is director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP). They work to prevent illness and death from infectious disease. CIDRAP translates scientific information into real-world, practical applications, policies, and solutions.
Osterholm is the author of the 2017 book, Deadliest Enemy – [ . . . ]

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Dr. John Campbell on Covid 19 and Air Pollution

When in the last days of May 2020 several respected institutions such as the Harvard School of Public Health, and the All Party Group on Air Pollution in the UK, came up with strong emerging evidence that air pollution is a major contributing factor to the spread of Covid 19, Dr. John Campbell took a closer look. Outdoor air pollution already kills 4.2 million people per year in the world.
Dr. John Campbell is a retired Nurse Teacher in England who has gone through rigorous scientific training. Since the beginning of the pandemic he has walked into his study – once or even twice a day – and turned the camera on for his welcome and given updates on Covid 19. [ . . . ]

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)

Anand Giridharadas in Conversation: On Wealth VS Democracy – Part TWO of TWO

Even though his book: Winners Take All, The Elite Charade of Changing the World, was published back in 2018 Anand Giridharadas is still in demand as speaker and writer on that topic. The inequality of wealth and power has grown and Giridharadas’ reach now is international.
This is the conclusion of a one hour conversation. Towards the end of Part ONE John Dankosky and Anand Giridharadas had gotten into a heated argument over the efficiency of government with Dankosky making the case for those who claim that many government functions should be transferred to private companies.
Giridharadas made the counter-argument for the efficiency of the federal court system and restated his support for social security and universal healthcare. He also answered the [ . . . ]

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:59 — 19.9MB)

Anand Giridharadas in Conversation: On Wealth VS Democracy – Part ONE of TWO

There are very few writers who went on a book tour – expecting to be done in 3 months – and 2 years later are still in high demand by TV and radio talk shows, universities, high level think tanks, and festivals. Even the Cornona Virus did not slow him down and on May 19, 2020, Anand Giridharadas was interviewed, from his home, for the International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven, Connecticut.
In his book, Giridharadas asked hard questions about corporate philanthropy: Why, for example, should our gravest problems be solved by the unelected upper crust instead of the public institutions that the rich erode by lobbying and dodging taxes?
Elizabeth Nearing is the curator of ideas for the [ . . . ]

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)

Chris Hedges and Richard Wolff on the 2020 Election, Part TWO of TWO

Biden vs. Trump and Bernie Sanders – In this part TWO you will hear the conclusion of Chris Hedges’ talk. Hedges puts out a reminder of how Sanders was betrayed by the Democratic party leadership in 2016 – and now again in 2020 – even though Sanders had become a loyal follower of democratic party politics in the intervening four years.
Then we present an excerpt of an extraordinary interview of Professor Richard Wolff – also done by ActTVism Munich. Wolff analyzes why Bernie Sanders endorsed Joe Biden and the recurrent phenomenon of Voting for the Lesser of two Evils.
Richard Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is currently teaching at New School University, New York City. [ . . . ]

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:01 — 19.9MB)

Chris Hedges on Biden vs. Trump, and Bernie Sanders – One of Two

In this interview on acTVism, Munich, Chris Hedges also comments on Noam Chomsky’s endorsement of Biden, the mistakes of the Sanders campaign, corporate media, Julian Assange, the power of the US arms industry, the rise of fascism and the bi-partisan efforts to expand global trade that impoverish working people.
Chris Hedges is a columnist, award winning journalist and war reporter, a New York Times best-selling author, a professor in the college degree program offered to New Jersey state prisoners by Rutgers University, and an ordained Presbyterian minister.
acTVism Munich is a non-profit & independent online media portal in both German and English languages. Zain Raza founded acTVism in 2013 and is the senior editor.
Credit: Zain Raza, acTVism Munich
Date: 2020/05/05

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:58 — 19.9MB)

Helen Caldicott and Michael Madsen: Into Eternity ONE of TWO

This adds to the Nuclear Power debate inspired by the Michael Moore film “Planet of the Humans” From the TUC Radio Archives: 
This is a conversation between Helen Caldicott and Michael Madsen whose film, Into Eternity, premiered in the US in February 2011. Into Eternity is a documentary about the building of the world’s first permanent repository for nuclear waste in Finland. It shows not only the construction under way that will take 140 years, but introduces the people involved, the scientists, regulators and corporate executives who oversee this project. None of them will be alive when Onkalo, as the repository is called, will be finished in 2120; and they must expect this repository to remain intact and untouched by future [ . . . ]

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)