The Signal

Mike German is a fellow with the Liberty and National Security program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School. He has worked at the ACLU and served sixteen years as an FBI special agent, 12 of which he was tasked with combating domestic terrorism, sometimes going undercover and infiltrating white supremacist groups and militias.

German is the author of Thinking Like a Terrorist as well as Disrupt, Discredit, and Divid...

David Noll is a professor of law at Rutgers University. An academic fellow of the National Institute for Civil Justice, his writing has appeared in The New York Times, Slate, the New York Law Journal, and many others. He clerked for Judges Pierre N. Leval and Raymond J. Lohier Jr. on the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Judge Richard J. Holwell on the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

He joins u...

Rotimi Adeoye is a writer and Opinion Columnist at The Daily Beast, covering topics such as American history, voting rights, and constitutional law. He has appeared on MSNBC and various podcasts, and his writing and advocacy have been featured in Teen Vogue, MSNBC, The New Republic, The American Prospect, and Axios. With a background as a speechwriter for the American Civil Liberties Union and on Capitol Hill for Congressman Kildee...

Anne Nelson is an award-winning author and journalist who has published a wide range of works dealing with human rights and freedom of expression. Her most recent book is Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right, which describes the alliance of billionaires and Christian Nationalists who helped bring Trump to power. 

Today Anne joins us to talk about her book Shadow Network and the new documentary which...

On this week’s episode of the Signal we welcome back Bucks County’s Steve Nolan. Steve spent 30 years in the military and 25 years as a mental health professional. He is the author of the 2020 book American Carnage, An Officer’s Duty to Warn, and today Steve is here to warn us again about why Trump, who checks the boxes for Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Antisocial Personality Disorder, is mentally unfit for the presidency, ...

Alan Jenkins is a writer, Harvard law professor, and human rights advocate. He and co-author Gan Golan, along with illustrator Will Rosado, led the creation of the graphic novel series 1/6, which asks the question: What if the Jan.6 insurrectionist attack on the US capitol had been successful? In the tradition of speculative fiction from George Orwell’s 1984 to Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale, it explores themes of autocracy, sca...

Sean Kitchen is the Keystone Newsroom’s political correspondent. 

The Keystone is a Pennsylvania-based newsroom of local editors and reporters with a modern take on sharing information and telling stories that impact our communities.

The Keystone is owned and operated by COURIER, a pro-democracy news network that is building a more informed, engaged, and representative America by reaching audiences where they are online with factua...

Kristin Kobes Du Mez is Professor of History and Gender Studies at Calvin University. She holds a PhD from the University of Notre Dame and her research focuses on the intersection of gender, religion, and politics. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Religion News Service, and Christianity Today and has been interviewed on NPR, CBS, and the BBC, among other outlets. Her most recent book is Jesus ...

Anne Kim is a writer, lawyer, and public policy expert with a long career in Washington, DC-based think tanks working in and around Capitol Hill. She is a contributing editor at Washington Monthly, where she was a senior writer. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, Governing, TheAtlantic.com, the Wall Street Journal, Democracy, and numerous other publications. Today Anne joins us to talk about her new book Poverty for Prof...

Darren Laustsen has lived in Bucks County for over 35 years. He became involved in local politics after witnessing right wing extremism consume his daughters’ school district. Darren is an outspoken voice in support of public education and against Moms For Liberty. He testified in Harrisburg in support of anti-book banning legislation and took the Pennridge School District to court uncovering a secret book banning operation initiat...

Jennifer Berkshire writes about the intersection of education and politics for the Nation, the New Republic, the New York Times, The Baffler, and other publications. 

Jack Schneider is the Dwight W. Allen Distinguished Professor at the UMass Amherst, where he leads the Beyond Test Scores Project. He is an award-winning scholar, and his work broadly explores the influence of history, culture, and rhetoric in education policy. 

Both ...

JoAnn Loulan has been a political activist since college, demonstrating during the Vietnam War and fighting for civil rights, and then after college for lesbian visibility and political rights. She's written 3 books about that issue (Lesbian Sex, Lesbian Passion, and Lesbian Erotic Dance) and was on many talk shows back when there was little lesbian visibility. In addition, she has been on book tours talking with thousands of peopl...

Mike Wendling is U.S. National Digital Reporter for the BBC, based in Chicago. In 2020, he co-founded the BBC News disinformation unit and was editor and presenter of Trending, the BBC World Service show that covers the world of social media. He has decades of experience covering extremism, the American far right, social media and disinformation. Today he joins us to talk about his new book, out May 20, called Day of Reckoning: The...

Before running for Attorney General, Joe Khan served as the Solicitor for Bucks County, where he was credited with “redefining the role of County Solicitor.” In addition to overseeing all litigation for the County, Joe built partnerships with other public entities to protect consumers and the environment through innovative litigation, including the first lawsuit of its kind against social media companies for fueling a youth mental ...

On this special episode of The Signal we welcome Connor O’Hanlon onto the Show. Connor is Chair of the Democratic Party in Doylestown, PA, and has spent his young adulthood serving his community on multiple non-profit and governmental boards. Connor's passion for progressive change led him to run for office at the age of 23 and shortly thereafter he became Chairman of the local party.

In his role as Director of Candidate Developmen...

Natalie Venezia is Executive Director of the 365 Foundation,  which promotes women's empowerment through art, advocacy, and community service. As a local, key figure in the feminist movement, Natalie is at the forefront of the Foundation's efforts to empower women and promote gender equality. Through strategic partnerships with local organizations and a steadfast commitment to advocating for women's rights, 365 Foundation is leavin...

Dawn Marie Paley is an investigative journalist and author of Drug War Capitalism and Guerra Neoliberal. She is the editor of Ojalá (https://www.ojala.mx/en/ojala-home/), a feminist digital weekly providing reporting and analysis from Latin America. She is also a member of NACLA’s Editorial Committee.

Host Cyril Mychalejko’s 5 Book Recommendations to Further Shine a Light on the Issue 

1. Set Fear on F...

Ralph Young is a history professor at Temple University. He is the winner of several major teaching awards, including the College of Liberal Arts Distinguished Teaching Award, the Provost’s Award for Innovative Teaching in General Education, Honors Professor of the Year, the Lindback Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence, and Temple’s highest honor, the Great Teacher Award.

Young has taught at Temple’s Rome campus for the fall 2...

Black History is a history of resistance and liberation. This may explain why, in part, we’ve seen such a whitelash and a war against Black studies – and Black history in general – being waged by right-wing reactionary groups like Moms for Liberty, and Republican lawmakers. 

Today I am joined by Rann Miller. Rann is an author, educator, and advocate for the education of Black children in the Delaware Valley Region. His experience a...