Sister Helen Prejean, longtime Catholic nun and death penalty abolitionist, has urged Governor Gavin Newsom to commute the sentences of all death row prisoners in the state. The appeal comes six years after Newsom issued a moratorium on executions and nearly twenty years since California last carried one out. The appeal also comes on the … Continued
Hurricane Katrina taught us that coastal restoration is not just an environmental issue but a matter of public safety, equity, and resilience. The storm revealed how decades of wetland loss, oil and gas canal dredging, and weakened levee systems left communitie — especially poor and Black neighborhoods — dangerously exposed. Since then, restoration efforts in … Continued
The tragic story of Michelle McCullum, a young mother who killed herself and her two children a decade after Hurricane Katrina, illustrates the deep and lasting toll the storm took on New Orleans’ Black communities. McCullum, who grew up in the Treme neighborhood, faced cascading challenges in a city reshaped by demographic shifts, job losses, … Continued
Donald Trump is once again leaning into strongman tactics, sharing a social media meme over the weekend that threatened to “wage war” on Chicago. The post, part of his broader crackdown rhetoric on Democratic-led cities, is mobilizing communities to fight back. In this episode, we speak with Chairman Fred Hampton, Jr., a Chicago-based community organizer, … Continued
On this episode of Palestine Post, we speak with Lulu Hammad, a Palestinian American lawyer, human rights activist, and community organizer. She is the co-founder of Yalla Indivisible, a grassroots organization that centers Palestinian voices and promotes civic engagement and empowerment of BIPOC communities. She is also the co-founder of SoCal Uprising, a grassroots intersectional … Continued
On today’s Palestine Post, we speak with Tariq Habash, co-founder of A New Policy. He resigned from the U.S. Department of Education in January, 2024 due to the Biden Administration’s policy on Gaza and its unrestricted support for Israel’s aggression against Palestinians. He recently contributed an article for Newsweek – The Blueprint for ICE’s Future … Continued
KPFA Theatre Critic Richard Wolinsky reviews “Eureka Day” at Marin Theatre, in partnership with Aurora Theatre, through September 28, 2025.
Discussed in this episode: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got grilled by the Senate Health Committee on Thursday over (among other things) firing the CDC director he’d helped get confirmed earlier this year, and presiding over an FDA decision that may make it much harder to get COVID vaccines. To send us a question … Continued
Robert Jay Lifton, who died on September 4, 2025 at the age of 99., was a psychiatrist and author who studied the psychological causes and effects of wars and political violence. In this interview recorded in 1999, he talks about cults, in partricular Aum Shinrikyo, the group that loosed sarin gas into the Tokyo subway system, snd about the nature of war and trauma. He was interviewed by Richard A. Lupoff and Richard Wolinsky. This interview was digitized, remastered and edited in September 2025 by Richard Wolinsky and is heard in its entirety for the first time. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky.
To send us a question in advance of next week’s show, write to: [email protected] Tune in live Monday mornings at 7:30am Pacific at kpfa.org. Podcast music credit: Now Son by Podington Bear, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.
