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 Iran War is a Catastrophe, HIs Sec. of War a Dangerous Failure

Retired U.S. Army Colonel Lawrence B. Wilkerson, who served a 31-year career in the U.S. military, was chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell from 2002 to 2005, and is now a Senior Fellow at the Eisenhower Media Network discusses his views on growing public concern about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's unprecedented purge of top military leadership, political interference in officer promotions, as well as charges of mismanagement and incompetence in the U.S. war on Iran.

2) U.S.-Venezuela 100 Year "Oil Agreement" Made at the Point of Trump's Gun

Steve Ellner is associate managing editor of Latin American Perspectives, a retired professor of Venezuela's Universidad de Oriente where he lived for over 40 years, and is author of more than a dozen books. Professor Ellner will discuss his views on the recently announced oil deal between the Trump administration and Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez -- focusing on the local response to the agreement by the people of Venezuela, political activists on the right and left -- and an examination of who will benefit from the oil agreement.

3) As ICE Mass Deportation Raids Terrorize Danbury, CT Community Resists

Tabitha Sookdeo, Executive Director of the youth-led organization, Connecticut Students for a Dream, talks about the recent ICE raids in Danbury, CT over the past week where at least 62 individuals were abducted by ICE agents, which led to a major protest march and rally as well as community organizing to resist the Trump regime's violent and cruel mass deportation campaign.

4) Decades of War Triggered by Nation's Fight to Control Oil and Pipelines

Charlotte Dennett, author of “Follow the Pipelines Uncovering the Mystery of a Lost Spy and the Deadly Politics of the Great Game for Oil,” discusses what’s really behind Trump’s six months of war in Iran, and the role of Big Oil in fomenting endless wars in the Middle East -- and U.S. designs on oil and other natural resources in Venezuela, Ukraine, Greenland and Canada.

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) Rising Number of U.S. Troops Seek Exit Over Trump’s Wars, Concern Over International Law Violations

Steve Woolford, a Resource Counselor with Quaker House in Fayetteville, North Carolina and the GI Rights Hotline, where he provides free and confidential support to military service members, talks about assisting service members who are seeking advice on how to apply for conscientious objector status, and the troubling issues these men and women are confronting in their deployment in the U.S. war on Iran.

2) Trump's 19 Schemes to Subvert the Midterm Election

Justin Glawe, an independent journalist and editor of the American Doom newsletter, discusses his recent columns for Zeteo in their ‘Start The Steal’ series, covering the many actions Trump and his regime have launched to interfere with and manipulate the outcome of this November's midterm election.

3) ICE Raids Detain 60+ in Danbury CT, Sparking Anger and Protests

Carolina Bortolleto, a spokesperson for the group Danbury Unites for Immigrants talks about the recent ICE raids in Danbury over the past week where at least 62 individuals were abducted by ICE agents, and a march and rally being organized in response, that will take place in Danbury this Weds. Sept. 2nd 5:00 pm at the city’s Library Plaza.

4) Nuclear Power is a Destructive, False Solution to the Climate Crisis

Linda Pentz Gunter, founder and executive director of Beyond Nuclear, editor of the news site Beyond Nuclear International, and author of "No To Nuclear: Why Nuclear Power Destroys Lives, Derails Climate Progress and Provokes War.” She'll discuss her work advocating for a phase-out of nuclear power, and to educate the public about the links between nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons. Ms. Gunter will be speaking about her book at the Unitarian Church in Hamden, CT on Friday, Sept. 11th.

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) Veteran Lawmakers Warn That America is the Middle of Trump's “Rolling Coup”

Sasha Abramsky is a journalist and author of books, including "The American Way of Poverty," "Chaos Comes Calling: The Battle Against the Far-Right Takeover of Small-Town America," and "American Carnage: How Trump, Musk, and DOGE Butchered the US Government." He'll discuss his recent columns in The Nation covering the Trump regime's open planning for a coup to manipulate the outcome of this November's midterm Congressional election, that most polls say Republicans will likely decisively lose.

2) Trump Regime Spies on Anti-ICE Activists in Echo of Cold War Era Attack on Free Speech

Gerry Condon, a Vietnam-era veteran and war resister, former president and current national board member of Veterans For Peace discusses VFP's condemnation of the Trump regime's spying on anti-ICE activists in Minneapolis/St. Paul against the backdrop of President Trump's criminal prosecution of his perceived political enemies and labeling Americans who oppose his agenda as 'domestic terrorists.'

3) To Fix our Broken Political System Advocates Push for Proportional Representation in U.S. House

Dustin Wahl, executive director of Fix Our House, who talks about his group's "education and advocacy campaign promoting proportional representation as an urgently-needed reform to pull politics out of its doom loop of polarization and dysfunction, sideline the anti-democratic forces threatening our democracy, and offer America’s diverse electorate full and fair representation in the House of Representatives."

4) Supreme Court Gives Trump an Interim Win in his Scheme to Restrict Mail-In Voting
Greg Palast, who’s been reporting on voter suppression for over 20 years, is an award-winning investigative journalist, best-selling author of "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy," whose investigations were featured in the documentary film, “Vigilante: Georgia’s Vote Suppression Hitman." He'll talk about the U.S. Supreme Court's interim ruling in a case involving Donald Trump's effort to have the federal government take control of mail-in voting in a scheme to manipulate the outcome of the midterm election that will determine which party controls Congress.

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) Is the U.S. Sleep Walking into Donald Trump's Planned 2026 Midterm Coup?

Michael Sozan, a senior fellow at American Progress, talks about his recent article written with Ben Olinsky, their critically important and comprehensive report: "The Trump Administration Is Interfering in the 2026 Midterm Elections To Entrench the Imperial Presidency," that lays out the existential threat posed to democracy this November, that isn't getting the attention it so desperately deserves right now.

2) Trump's Latest Anti-Science Executive Order on Childhood Vaccines Endangers the Nation's Children and Families.

Dr. Jake Scott, a clinical associate professor of infectious diseases at Stanford University School of Medicine, and a coauthor of "Updated evidence for COVID-19, RSV, and Influenza Vaccines for 2025-2026" in the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Scott discusses his 8/11/26 commentary, "What the vaccine executive order gets wrong, and what it will cost us," which examines the consequences of President Trump's August 10th executive order that decreases the number of universally recommended vaccines for children, calls for splitting up the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) shot, maintaining that each vaccination should occur at a separate medical visit.

3) Broad (AI) Anti-Data Center Movement Surges Coast-to-Coast

Thomas Meyer, Deputy Political Director of Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Action, discusses his group's important work opposing the construction of data centers nationwide, where public opposition is on the rise to the rapid construction of artificial intelligence and cloud computing data centers, driven by bipartisan concerns over massive energy consumption, strained local water supplies, noise pollution, and rising residential utility bills.

4) Unions Fight Trump Regime's McCarthyite Targeting of Pro-Palestinian Academics

Sam Carliner, a freelance journalist covering U.S. foreign policy, immigration policy, and social movements, talks about his recent article, "Pro-Palestine Academics Have Been Fighting the New McCarthyism," which recounts how in recent years hundreds of academics have been fired, censored, threatened, or otherwise punished for their research and advocacy. The movement for Palestine has been one of the Trump administration’s main targets, and provides an important example of how those facing repression are fighting back.

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 Flounders as Iran Takes Initiative in his Reckless and Destabilizing War

Jennifer Loewenstein, former associate director of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, discusses her views on the current status of Trump's war on Iran, how the conflict has spread dangerously throughout the region, and the future of the Strait of Hormuz where Iran and Oman are engaged in talks to manage the disputed waterway.

2) Progressive Democrats on Primary Election Winning Streak as Party's Corporate Establishment Fears for Their Future

Branko Marcetic, a Jacobin staff writer and the author of "Yesterday’s Man: The Case Against Joe Biden," assesses recent Democratic Party primary victories by progressive candidates and members of the Democratic Socialists of America, the millions of dollars spent by AIPAC and centrist Democrats to defeat them, and efforts to unify the party before the November Midterm election.

3) CT Governor Ned Lamont & Challenger Rep. Josh Elliott Discuss Voter's Priority Issues on Eve of State's August 11th Primary

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont and State Rep. Josh Elliott are interviewed about their candidacies on the eve of the Tuesday, August 11 Democratic Party Primary election for Governor. They discuss their positions on voter's top issues including, skyrocketing health care costs, taxing the rich, the high cost of electricity and the urgent need to build affordable housing.

4) South Carolina Coalition Protests Israeli Arms Maker, Local Activists Oppose Genocide and Costly State Tax Breaks

Autumn Waddell an activist with the Elbit Out of South Carolina coalition, discusses the recent arrests of three protesters picketing outside the Elbit Systems of America factory in Ladson, South Carolina -- and issues related to Israel's genocide in Gaza, violations of free speech surrounding dissenting views on the U.S. relationship with Israel, and the international campaign against Elbit Systems, which in Britain, under the name Palestine Action, has been banned under the Terrorism Act, designating it as a proscribed "terrorist" organization.

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) Yale University Pres. Surrenders to Trump Admin. Demands, Nation Must Prepare for Trump's Effort to Overturn Midterm Election

Jason Stanley professor of philosophy and chairman of American studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, and author "How Fascism Works," and "Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future." Professor Stanley discusses Trump's very open escalation of threats against the November midterm election, rising violence from masked ICE agents, the building of concentration camps nationwide -- as the regime criminalizes and targets voting rights groups, journalists, progressive dissidents, universities and perceived enemies.

2) Trump, Rubio Accuse Cuba of being the Epicenter of a Decades-Long Communist Subversion Plot Against America

Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who was a New York Times foreign correspondent and bureau chief in the Middle East and the Balkans for fifteen years, and author. His book, "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning," was a National Book Critics Circle finalist. His recent titles include, "A Genocide Foretold: Reporting on Survival and Resistance in Occupied Palestine." Chris will discuss his recent commentary titled, "Trump’s Phantom Enemies," that asserts the Trump regime in linking Cuba with domestic, communist subversion is laying the groundwork for McCarthyite blacklisting and criminalizing of all left-wing, progressive, anti-war and anti-imperialist dissent.

3) With Trump Threat to Interfere, Manipulate Midterm Election, Effective Defense Runs through Local Organizing

J. Patrick Coolican, Editor-in-Chief of Minnesota Reformer, discusses his recent article, "The Blueprint for fighting Trump's attempt to sabotage the election, drawn up in Minnesota," about Doran Schrantz 's 14-page internal memo titled, “Act Free to Be Free." Addressing both the worry and complacency among many Democrats re: what Trump is clearly planning to intervene and attempt to manipulate thre outcome of the November midterm election.

4) Global Campaign Demands Release of Ailing Dr. Abu Safiya, Held in an Israeli Prison Since December 2024 (18 Months)

Stanley Heller, administrator of the New Haven CT based group Promoting Enduring Peace and host of the TV newsmagazine “The Struggle," talks about the global campaign to release Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the prominent Palestinian pediatrician and director of North Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital, who has been imprisoned by Israel without charge or trial since December 27, 2024. Reports indicate Dr Safiya is suffering deteriorating health without adequate medical attention, where eyewitnesses say his condition is life threatening, unless freed very soon.

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) Lies, Exaggeration Justify Massive $1.5 Trillion Trump Pentagon Budget
Melvin Goodman is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, a professor of government at Johns Hopkins University and a former CIA analyst. Goodman, whose latest book is titled, “American Carnage: The Wars of Donald Trump,” talks about his recent Counterpunch.org commentary, "The Sordid Politics of Defense Spending," re: Trump's requested increase of $1.5 trillion in defense spending justified by a massive exaggeration of national security challenges.

2) With No Rationale Strategy Iran War Continues without End in Sight
Matthew Hoh, a Iraq War combat veteran and Afghanistan State Department officer who resigned in protest over U.S. war policy in 2009, who now serves as a senior fellow with the Eisenhower Media Network. He'll discuss his views on the now reignited U.S. war on Iran, assessing the recent round of attacks resulting in the recent deaths of 4 more U.S. service members, Trump and Pete Hegseth's leadership of this failed war and rising public opposition. Hoh will also consider Trump's muddled handling of a nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia with no restrictions on the Kingdom to develop a nuclear bomb, setting off fears of a new Middle East nuclear arms race.

3) Color of Change Mobilizes to stop Congressional Funding for Trump's Plan to Subvert Midterm Election
Amanda Hollowell, chief of campaigns with Color of Change, discusses her group's campaign opposing congressional approval for $10 billion to implement key sections of President Trump's "Save America Act," designed to make it harder for millions of Americans to vote, primarily targeting communities of color. Although the House approved the $10 billion which is part of a $95 billion reconciliation package, to be implemented the measure must first be approved by the U.S. Senate.

4) New IPS Progressive Blueprint: 'Forging a Democracy that Works for All'
Khury Petersen-Smith, the Michael Ratner Middle East Fellow and the Co-Director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, talks about the new IPS report, "Forging a Democracy that Works for All: Countering the Power of Billionaires, Corporations, and the Pentagon," which proposes a detailed progressive blueprint to expand democracy by targeting the outsized influence of billionaires, corporations, and the military.

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) Two More ICE Shooting Deaths in Texas and Maine Trigger Anger and Protests

Juan Proaño, Chief Executive Officer of League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) discusses the ongoing violence by ICE agents across the U.S. that's most recently resulted in two fatal ICE shootings in Houston, Texas, and Biddeford, Maine - where his group LULAC, is demanding immediate transparency, independent investigations, and an end to the Trump administration enabling federal law enforcement officers "hunting for Latinos."

2) Trump Escalates his Scheme to Subvert Midterm Election

Robert Weiner, Director of the Voting Rights Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, discusses President Trump's termination of two members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, and forced the resignation of the remaining Republican commissioner. He'll examine how this latest action fits in with President Trump's recent televised speech repeating conspiracy theories about foreign interference in U.S. elections, issuing voter suppression executive orders, demanding states turn over sensitive voting data, launching DOJ investigations, and proposed “SAVE America Act” legislation that together threaten the integrity of the November 2026 midterm election, in what many believe reveals the president's intention to interfere with, and/or manipulate the outcome of the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.

3) Faculty, Students and Alumni Oppose Trump-Yale University Extortion Deal

Daniel HoSang, Professor of American Studies and Political Science at Yale University and President of the Yale chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP.) Professor HoSang, who's most recent book is titled, "A Wider Type of Freedom: How Struggles for Racial Justice Liberate Everyone,” discusses his work with the group "Stand Up For Yale," which has circulated petitions on campus, and urged Yale President Maurie McInnis and the Board of Trustees to reject a pending settlement between Yale University and the Trump administration -- as the dean of the Yale Law School, students and other faculty members are working to stop the deal.

4) CT Billboards Educate Public on the Many Dangers of Animal Factory Farming

Doug Moss, the founder of Earth Action Network, Inc, which for many years published the award-winning E – The Environmental Magazine, and the nationally-syndicated Q&A environmental column, EarthTalk. Doug will discussing his new goplant-based.org billboard project, which will be launched on July 20th to educate the public about the evils of animal factory farming, which is linked to climate change, pollution, and is an important obstacle in the way of addressing world hunger and global water shortages.