The Laura Flanders Show

We are witnessing an unprecedented wave of terror at the muzzle of a gun. But all mass shootings are not covered in the same way. What is the media getting wrong — or right — on gun violence reporting? In this episode, Laura Flanders welcomes back Mitra Kalita and Sara Lomax-Reese of URL Media, a network of independently owned and operated Black and Brown media outlets.

After the school shooting at Uvalde, and in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd, residents of many US cities are asking questions about budget allocation effectiveness. Cities are turning to a tool called participatory budgeting that gives residents and taxpayers real decision-making power over their cities’ budgets. Could this model bring power to people where they live?

Local governments are experimenting with investing public resources locally in community-held businesses, and public health. They’re calling this approach Community Wealth Building, and it’s gaining traction around the world. Explore the spreading of Community Wealth Building and its impact on the well-being of individuals and communities so far.

2022 will go down in history for the number of anti-trans bills introduced into legislature. Bills banning books, medical treatment and access to the bathroom have been introduced and the Supreme Court seems poised to overturn Roe vs. Wade, allowing states to ban abortion. As extremists crank up the volume on hate - trans people, especially trans women of color, face an onslaught of violence.

Can you remember the last time when the challenges that inner city public school teachers face were the subject of a popular TV series? Abbott Elementary does just that. The Philadelphia school on TV is fictional, but the challenges it faces are all too real. Can a TV show help stem the tide, shift the culture and change policy? Is quality education for all, a dream?

Decades of discrimination have left millions of African Americans shut out of the housing market and at risk of being targeted by predatory lenders and exploitative loans. Capital collectives pool resources and reduce individual risk and can be a way for low-income Americans to buy into a home. Can cooperation and shared stewardship be a route to realizing the “American Dream?”

The January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, intended to stop the certification of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States of America, “was as close to fascism as I ever want to see our country come,” says Jamie Raskin, Democratic Congressman from Maryland. Raskin talks with Laura about the strengths and weaknesses in US democracy and how best to address them now.

The American Right is embracing a dangerous extremism, challenging elections, packing courts and aligning with Hungarian prime minister and Putin-ally Victor Orbán. In the midst of a climate catastrophe, with the Supreme Court poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, and the House preparing to hear from the select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, what is at stake and how did we get here?

Can education be the driver of local economic and social development in one of the poorest places in the US? What if the best anti-poverty program is investing in teachers and children? Take a look at Reconnecting McDowell and speak to some of the beneficiaries. Could this partnership between local drive and national commitment provide a model for the future?

The fight over what can be taught in schools is a controversial issue. White voters are being mobilized to ban books, censor honest discussions of US history and current day racism, and organize against a fake spectre of “critical race theory” being taught. Laura and co-hosts Sara Lomax-Reese and Mitra Kalita interview Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, a vocal proponent of anti-racist education.

In this special feature for Earth Day, we focus on Greenpeace, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The climate crisis is more urgent than ever and the most vulnerable are paying the heaviest price. We spend time with the leadership of Greenpeace, including co-executive Directors, Annie Leonard and Ebony Twilley Martin, the first African American woman to head a "Big Green" group.

Red, Republican, anti-abortion, anti-trans — Texas has certainly been a testing ground for backlash policies and politicians, and that could be what’s happening now, but could it also be a bellwether of a different sort? Our guests today say that their state could be a predictor of how 21st-century change happens when people organize differently.

The latest peace talks in the Russia-Ukraine war may lead to an eventual ceasefire but not before displacing millions and damaging the air, water and land of what was known as the bread basket for the world. We’ve assembled a roundtable of human rights advocates from Ukraine, Russia & the United States to discuss the ongoing conflict and who highlight models of local resistance and support.