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) Robert Weiner, Director of the Voting Rights Project at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, discusses the critical issues being decided in the Louisiana v. Callais case now before the US Supreme Court, the expected ruling in this case will impose racial gerrymandered Congressional district maps eliminating the voices of Black and Latino legislators, and the battle ahead to restore and strengthen civil rights law, democracy, and equal access to the ballot box in the months and years ahead.

2) Connecticut Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas discusses the importance of local elections, highlighting typical low turnout and the need for more civic engagement. She'll also talk about steps her office is taking to ensure elections in Bridgeport are secure and open to all eligible voters, questions about early voting and absentee voting -- as well as concerns that the Trump regime is now laying the groundwork to manipulate the results or cancel the 2026 midterm election.

3) Hardy Merriman, former president of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, whose research and training focuses on support for nonviolent civil resistance movements fighting for rights, freedom, and justice, and how communities can organize to counter political violence. He'll discuss his views on the direction and strength of the US anti-authoritarian resistance movement, i.e. the recent No Kings Day mobilization -- and what new strategies and tactics may be necessary to rapidly adopt in the face of Donald Trump's deployment of heavily armed ICE agents and the US military to cities across the country.

4) David Paul, a member of the Task Force on the Americas, and Democratic Socialists of America, assesses the Trump regime's escalating military threats against Venezuela, Columbia, Latin America, the bombing of small boats and murder of 40+ alleged drug smugglers or fishermen in international waters, open discussion by the White of a regime change war targeting Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, as well as a summary of recent US-Venezuela relations.

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) Retired Army Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff to Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell from 2002 to 2005, who is now a senior fellow with the Eisenhower Media Network, discusses his views on the Gaza ceasefire agreement and Donald Trump's deployment of National Guard troops to cities across the U.S., the legality and dangers of this policy, and his thoughts on the president's ultimate goal and its impact on our democracy.

2) Wendell Potter, a former vice president for corporate communications at Cigna, is the president of the Center for Health and Democracy who writes the newsletter, “Health Care Un-Covered,” and author of "Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans," discuss his views on the current federal government shutdown triggered due to Congress' failure to renew ACA subsidies that will cause millions of policy holders' premiums to skyrocket. He'll also talk about the many failures of the U.S. healthcare system, and the reforms he advocates to reduce costs and achieve universal coverage. Potter will be speaking in Hartford, CT on 10/15/25.

3) John Feffer, Director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, who discusses the four recent deadly strikes that the US military has carried out on boats in international waters off the coast of Venezuela, Donald Trump's designation of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro as a ‘narco-terrorist,’ and growing concern that the U.S. may be moving toward initiating action to overthrow Maduro's government.

4) Robert Jereski, a lawyer and activist who serves as coordinator of Codepink Women for Peace World Court Campaign, who discusses the release of 20 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, and some 2,000 Israeli held Palestinian prisoners under phase #1 of President Trump's 20-point Gaza Ceasefire plan, with the goal of ending Israel's war in Gaza that's killed more than 67,000 Palestinian civilians.

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) The U.S. Labor Movement Must Organize its Members to Fight the Trump-MAGA Fascist Threat

Bill Fletcher Jr., former president of TransAfrica Forum, a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, and the author of “They’re Bankrupting Us!”: And 20 Other Myths about Unions” -- his latest novel is titled, "The Man Who Changed Colors." He'll discuss the critical issues examined in his recent In These Times magazine article, "The Labor Movement Is in a Fight for Its Existence Against a Neofascist Threat." A repeat broadcast from September 1, 2025.

2) Trump Expands Military Occupation of US Cities to Fight the "Enemy Within"

Mel Goodman, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, a professor of government at Johns Hopkins University and a former CIA analyst. Goodman, author of “American Carnage: The Wars of Donald Trump” and national security columnist for counterpunch.org, discusses his recent column "Setting the Stage for the Insurrection Act," which examines the possibility that the Trump regime could invoke the Insurrection Act and declare Marshall Law in certain cities or nationally, escalating the president's attack on American's civil liberties, the Constitution, rule of law and free speech.

3) Confronting and Reversing Rising US Economic Inequality

Chuck Collins, is a senior scholar and director of the Institute for Policy Studies' Program on Inequality and the Common Good, where he coedits the Inequality.org newsletter. Author of a dozen books on economics, inequality, and social change, Collins talks about his latest, titled, "Burned by Billionaires," where he chronicles how the actions of the top .01% have severe consequences for the rest of us, exposing how the rich rig the game in their favor, resulting in a concentration of wealth in the hands of a tiny class of billionaires—leading to both intense income and political polarization.

4) Portland: Trump's Next Target for National Guard Deployment

David Rovics, an internationally known songwriter, musician, writer, podcaster and Portland,Oregon based activist, talks about Trump's targeting of Portland with a National Guard troop deployment -- which he wrote about in a recent commentary, "Portland, Oregon: Myths and Realities in 2025," covering what is, and is not going down on the ground in that city -- while providing context for understanding Portland's unique activist history over recent decades. David will be touring northeast states in October, including a concert in New Haven on October 16th, that he'll talk more about during the interview.

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