War Stories By Phil Cohen

Part II – Driving Upside Down

I was always on high alert when walking to the subway several hours past midnight. The majority of muggers initiate contact with victims by asking a polite question requiring an answer, leading to a discussion and building trust while casually approaching. A typical scenario goes like this:

By Bob Hennelly

The Trump/Musk junta is doubling down on its assaults on Main Street and MLK Boulevard with plans to ZERO out Head Start, an educational lifeline for 800,000. Since President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty, a succession of Republican and Democratic Party administrations have supported the program that helped 30 million children at the most pivotal time in their educational development.

By Joe Maniscalco

We saw a lot homemade signs at this past weekend’s mass anti-Trump rally in New York City all reflecting the working class anger and disgust many have about the current administration’s existential threat to the United States.

By Bob Hennelly

Pope Francis has died at 88 years old. Francis, a tireless champion of social justice, was the first pontiff from the Americas and the first Jesuit to be elevated to the Papacy. In the final months of his life he blasted the Trump/Musk junta plan for mass deportations. 

War Stories By Phil Cohen

Editor’s Note: This is Part I of Phil’s three-part saga returning to his wild days driving a cab on the streets of NYC in the early 1970s.

The truth is that life is hard and dangerous…. joy is only for him who does not fear to be alone; life is only for the one who is not afraid to die - Joyce Cary

During the fall of 1973, I was paying the rent by writing stories for second-string magazines and handing out flyers for an abortion clinic on 42nd Street.

By Joe Maniscalco

New York City municipal retirees looking for a trusted ally in City Hall after current Mayor Eric Adams became hellbent on the Medicare Advantage push exited this past week’s mayoral forum at the CUNY Graduate Center generally feeling enthusiastic about the mixed field of candidates vying for their votes.

By Bob Hennelly

On Thursday, April 18, the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees held their much-anticipated Mayoral debate at the CUNY Graduate Center in Manhattan. 

By Steve Wishnia

Joined by El Salvador’s self-styled dictator Nayib Bukele, the Trump regime on Apr. 14 escalated its defiance of multiple court orders to “facilitate” the return of Salvadoran immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The 29-year-old Maryland construction worker has been in CECOT—El Salvador’s black-hole Terrorism Confinement Center prison for a month—along with 260 other immigrants who were seized and flown there March 15.

By Bob Hennelly

On this episode of “We Decide: America at the Crossroads with Jenna Flanagan we’re looking at the Trump/ Musk Junta Reign of Error; the latest on Mahmoud Khalil’s fight for freedom; the Non-Violent Medicaid army on the March; and more radio dispatches from April 5.

By Bob Hennelly

On this episode of the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour, we speak with James Henry, a Yale University Global Justice Fellow and economist about the week that was and the week that lies ahead—including a noontime rally outside Mercedes-Benz Manhattan where workers will push back against union-busting bosses. 

By Steve Wishnia

With the Trump regime’s minions defying court orders to turn over information about deported Salvadoran immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s whereabouts, labor unions are calling on the government to “bring him home.”

By Bob Hennelly

On Friday, China responded to President Donald Trump's 34 percent tariff with a 34 percent tariff of their own on the US. 

Over the weekend, financial markets in Asia continued the slide Wall Street experienced last week when investors lost $4 trillion in two days. The more than ten percent drop experienced by the Standards & Poor 500 Index at the end of last week was the biggest drop since the COVID pandemic hit in 2020. 

By Steve Wishnia

To the Trump regime, 29-year-old Salvadoran immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia is an “enemy alien.” In a brief filed with the Supreme Court April 7, Solicitor General D. John Sauer called him “a member of a designated foreign terrorist organization,” to wit, “a ranking member of the MS-13 gang.”

By Bob Hennelly

This past Saturday, millions of Americans turned out at one of the events planned to protest President Trump's policies that include mass firings of essential federal workers, ending collective bargaining, shuttering of federal agencies created by Congress, as well as deporting people without any due process. 

By Joe Maniscalco

Elderly retail worker Thea Kindos stood out from the tens of  thousands of other protesters who marched down 5th Avenue in New York City on Saturday afternoon to denounce the Trump administration and what many fear is his all-out assault on whatever might be left of American democracy.

By Bob Hennelly

From noon until 3 p.m. today [Sat. April 5] WBAI's producers and public affairs team will bring you LIVE rolling coverage of the labor and social justice protests scheduled for New York City and Washington D.C. against the Trump/Musk junta's assault on workers' rights and the U.S. Constitution. 

Break Time By Ryn Gargulinski

Let’s say you find a new home that’s perfect for you. The right price, the right size, and a beautiful interior sporting your favorite color paint. You’ll take it, right?

So you put down your deposit and wait for the move-in date, only to find “advancements” and “exciting updates” have been made to your once-perfect abode.

By Bob Hennelly

On Friday, lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil—the Columbia University peace activist and Green Card holder who was arrested by ICE and sent to Louisiana—were in federal court in Newark, New Jersey without any charges being filed. Khalil’s wife, Noor Abdallah, who is due to give birth next month, was also in court. Outside, several hundred protestors turned out to support the Khalil family. 

We share our reporter's notebook. We also talk with Amy Arundell about her bid to grab the UFT leadership away from current President Michael Mulgrew.

By Steve Wishnia

Chanting “No more backroom deals,” about 100 people, mostly current and retired city workers, protested March 27 against a state-budget proposal that would delay fully funding pensions for almost 600,000 people until 2045.

By Joe Maniscalco

District Council 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido continues to scare the bejesus out of the New York City Council.

In 2023, the head of the largest public sector union in town threatened to “withdraw support…money…endorsements—everything” from any New York City Council member blocking his attempts to help Mayor Eric Adams push the city’s 250,000 municipal retirees into a profit-driven Medicare Advantage health insurance plan.

And he hasn’t let up since.