In this episode we talk about developments in Venezuela. On January 23, 2019, the anniversary of a 1958 uprising that overthrew military dictatorship, Venezuela’s National Assembly President Juan Guaido gave a speech to a crowd during a mass opposition rally against recently re-elected president Nicolas Maduro in which he declared himself the country’s “acting president” […]

In this special episode of the Sensible Socialist, Kevin talks to someone very dear, his wife Alka Mysore. Alka is originally from India and moved to the US about ten years ago where she studied Management information systems at Iowa State University. She is an organizer and member of Socialist Alternative in Washington DC where […]

With suicide, depression, mental health, and the opioid epidemic, its clear that something is wrong with our society. But what is it? While most often you will hear that this shows the need for more, or better, drugs or for more access to therapy and other kinds of cognitive behavioral help. However, what is not […]

With me this week is my friend and comrade, Sarko. Sarko and I are both in the DC Branch of Socialist Alternative. We have had many wide-ranging discussions, but I’ve had the feeling, and I think she would agree, that we haven’t really seen totally eye to eye on some pretty important issues – namely […]

In this episode I speak with Ginger Jentzen an activist and organizer with Socialist Alternative. Ginger was a candidate for Minneapolis city council in 2017, the executive director of 15 Now, along with previous working including Occupy homes in the Minneapolis area. The strategy of electoral politics has long been debated within the Socialist community. […]

Usually I am loathed to talk about Trump and the Russia investigation. The Russiagate Episode should give one reason enough to see why. But yesterday both Michael Cohen – Trumps former lawyer – and Paul Manafort – his former campaign manager were found or plead guilty to a number of serious crimes. While not in […]

This week I speak with Eljeer Hawkins about Socialist organizing and identity politics. Eljeer  is a community, labor and antiwar activist, and has been a member of Socialist Alternative/Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) for 23 years and writes regularly on race, the criminal legal system, Black Lives Matter and the historic Black freedom movement […]

On the most recent episode of the Waking Up Podcast, Sam Harris spoke with Andrew Yang, excuse me, Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang, where they discussed Yang’s proposal for his version of a universal basic income (UBI). He calls it the “Freedom Dividend.” At a $1000 a month, Yang asserts that this (along with other more […]

Socialism doesn’t work, just look at Russia, or China or Cuba. Communism killed millions of people! Communism inevitably leads to dictatorship and violence. How should socialist think about these criticisms. In a nutshell, this is my version of the “not real communism” argument. Download: .mp3 Closing Song – Two Tone Runts – You’re Not Alone

In law school they teach soon-to-be lawyers a lot of things – civil procedure, constitutional law, torts, probate, contracts – but what they really teach is how to think like a lawyer. In one sense this means judicially reviewing facts for specific issues, and being able to determine what is relevant information and what isn’t, […]

The Communist Manifesto is usually the first stop for many who want to know about what socialism and communism is all about. It is important, though, to put it in historical context and explain a little bit about what was going on when it is written. Closing Music: Operation Death Squad – Iconoclast Episode 3a […]

We usually only talk about issues when the effect the wealthy. The suicidies of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdian this week has opened discussion of suicide in America. But while when it happens to the rich we take note, its a deeper and more nefarious force among the vast majority of Americans. Indeed, the Center for […]

In this episode we discuss some important definitions of words that are often misused and will be used (hopefully correctly) in future episodes. I tried to be succinct and clear, If you disagree with these definitions, let me know. Frederick Engles – Socialism, Scientific And Utopian 

Today is Monday, May 28, 2018. It is Memorial Day. And since its memorial day, I thought it may be interesting to talk a bit about the origins of the day. While, setting aside time to commemorate the dead of great battles goes back to time imemorium, in the US what we now know of […]

Episode 1: Introductions Welcome to the Sensible Socialist podcast! This is our first episode of the podcast so it seemed appropriate to begin by way of introduction to give you a sense of who I am, what the podcast is about, why do the podcast and what do I hope to achieve with it. So […]