Specifically for Seniors - A New Direction

I don’t usually invite a sponsor on to a podcast, but today I’m going to do just that because I think it's important for you to hear what my guest has to say about his product.

Regular listeners to Specifically for Seniors realize that I have accepted a sponsor for the podcast and, hopefully, it will help keep us on the air. I’ve held off because I wanted to make sure that any product or service that we recommended was validated by ...

With  the appointment of Robert F Kennedy, Jr.  as Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Trump administration has systematically targeted the next generation of scientists and public health leaders. He has cut science funding to its lowest level in decades. More than 20,000 jobs were eliminated, billions of dollars in scientific research has been threatened or paused, and a budget draft proposes a major restructuring of Healt...

We’re going to take a break from politics and the voices of older adults on today’s podcast and talk with the younger generation that keeps us inspired.I was recently introduced to a compelling new voice in filmmaking, a bold young screenwriter and director whose creative vision and storytelling instincts mark him as one to watch.

At this year’s NYC Short Film Showcase at New Plaza Cinema, audiences were treated to a standout debu...

A Fact Sheet at whitehouse.gov is entitled President Donald J. Trump Keeps Promises to Our Veterans and Establishes New Center for Homeless Veterans.

Fact Sheet

Linkhttps://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/05/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-keeps-promises-to-our-veterans-and-establishes-new-center-for-homeless-veterans/

On this page is the statement “President Trump strongly believes that every veteran deserves our gratitude, ...

A FACT CHECK at the White House website proclaims “President Trump will always a protect Social Security and Medicare.” It goes on to quote Elon Musk saying “The waste and fraud in entitlement spending — which is most of the federal spending is entitlements — so, that’s, like, the big one to eliminate. That’s the, sort of half-trillion, maybe $6-700 billion a year.”

After a list of “facts” about fraud, improper payments to deceased...

A recent space tourism flight on the Blue Origin capsule featuring an all-female crew including Katy Perry and Gayle King sparked some controversy over whether it was a publicity stunt to promote Jeff Bezos’ space tourism business or whether it had some scientific purpose. We were curious about humans’ venture into space, so we called on the go-to-expert on all things space flight Dr. Jonathan McDowell. Dr. McDowell is an astrophys...

A Free ranging discussion of freedom of the press.Dictators hate a free press. Victor Orbán in Hungary built his own media universe while simultaneously dismantling the free press. The Nazis smashed printing presses of opposition newspapers. One of Trump’s first actions was to dictate who would cover him in the White House and on Air Force One and refuse to allow the Associated Press admittance to press briefings. Social media and ...

A recent article in the Washington Post described the current administration's attempts to cancel leases for many National Park Service buildings saying that it could save taxpayers millions of dollars. This move came after the firing of about 1000 probationary workers.I wanted to learn more about the National Park Service and how funding cuts will affect visitors this summer, but more than that - about the cultural and historical ...

I was 6 years old when Voice of America first broadcast during World War II. It was established in 1941 initially focused on countering Nazi and Japanese propaganda during World War II and later played a significant role during the Cold War broadcasting to communist countries.

Very recently, however, the White House moved to close down Voice of America to "ensure taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda. "

To get a...

The news that the Trump administration plans to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency's offices and the future implications of Trump's energy policies on the environment and climate led to my concern about how it will affect my children and grandchildren and yours. Because I didn't understand what all the implications could be and what we could do about it, I invited David Cain from the Citizens' Climate Lob...

One cannot turn on the news on TV or read a newspaper without hearing the words - Constitutional crisis. There's so much confusion about whether we are in a Constitutional Crisis or not, Professor Alexandra Keyssar rejoined the podcast to help us understand what a Constitutional crisis is and whether we are in one.Alexander Keyssar is the Matthew W. Stirling Jr. Professor of History and Social Policy. An historian by training, he h...

WE AT SPECIFICALLY FOR SENIORS WILL CONTINUE TO JOIN AS MANY GROUPS AS POSSIBLE, MONITOR THEIR APPEALS TO THE PUBLIC. AND BRING THEM TO YOU IN WHAT WE LIKE TO CALL SPECIFICALLY FOR SENIORS ACTION CASTS. WE WILL PRESENT THEIR VIDEOS, SUMMARIZE THEIR THOUGHTS AND PROVIDE IDEAS FROM THESE GROUPS AS TO HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE. WHEN POSSIBLE WE WILL PROVIDE LINKS TO WAYS YOU CAN EASILY PARTICIPATE IN THE SHOW NOTES SO BE SURE TO CHECK T...

From Indivisible.org

"The House and Senate are heading home for recess from March 15-23 -- and they are desperate to avoid you.Why? Because during the last recess, the few Republicans who dared to hold town halls got absolutely wrecked by their own constituents. People showed up. They demanded answers. They called out their Members of Congress for gutting Medicaid, slashing Social Security, and letting President Musk seize ...

There's an old Joke:

What's the difference between ignorance and apathy?

The answer: I don't know and I don't care.

That pretty much sums up the way many of us feel right now.

This podcast was recorded in mid- February, 2025 about a month after the inauguration of Donald Trump. In the few short weeks of his second term as president, he has fundamentally changed most of which we older adults have long considered the basis of our democra...

To be honest I should have titled this podcast -Surviving the Podcast Guests.Tune in and you'll understand why I said this. Joel and Karmela Waldman are mother and son co-hosts of their True Crime podcast called Surviving the Survivor. Joel worked most recently as a Washington, D.C.-based correspondent for Fox News, covering national politics from Capitol Hill. He has also worked as an investigative reporter for Fox 5 in New Yor...

We've just been through an historic election and so we asked Bob Levey, a prize winning journalist who has covered the Washington scene since the Johnson administration to talk with us about it.

We talked about Bob's early years at The Washington Post and his currect column on the Senior Beacon Newspapers. Bob and I discussed the recent election, the job that both print and media did in covering the days up to the election, Bezos'...

This podcast was recorded during the part of the year in which the holiest of Jewish holidays takes place. It seemed appropriate to take some time to remember those of us who were lost during the Holocaust, but a part of the Holocaust many of us know little about,

This podcast contains a film by John Pollick:

(From the film's web page - https://www,beyondbabiyarmovie.com)

"Babi Yar, or Babyn Yar, is a ravine in Kyiv, Ukraine. On Se...

According to Senator Bob Casey, the ranking member of the special committee on aging , "The right to vote is one of the fundamental pilars of our democracy, but that right is under attack for millions of older Americans across the nation. Attempts to limit voting locations, the length of early voting periods, inaccessible voting locations, and new, strict voter identification laws threaten the hard won voting rights of older Americ...

We all get them - those momentary lapses when we can't recall someone's name, why we came into a room or where we left the car keys. We call them senior moments, but are these moments inevitable or limited to seniors? We'll learn more about these senior moments and how to work through them with our guest this week on Specifically for Seniors, Dr Stan Goldberg. Dr. Stan Goldberg is an expert in the areas of aging, human...