A Public Affair Douglas Haynes, Ali Muldrow, Carousel Bayrd, Allen Ruff, & Esty Dinur

On June 4th and 6th, the U.S. Air Force and Space Force conducted tests of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The weapons were launched from the Vandenberg base in California and were pointed toward the Marshall Islands.





In a piece for Jacobin, Emma Claire Foley writes that the ICBMs “are not only strategically impractical but a threat to the lives of millions.” Foley is a specialist on nuclear-weapons policy issues with RootsAction.org. RootAction is a member of Defuse Nuclear War, a coalition dedicated to reducing the risk of nuclear war. Defuse Nuclear War has condemned ICMBs, and called the tests a “wasteful, dangerous step backward for peace.”



Foley joins A Public Affair host Allen Ruff to discuss the tests, the global state of nuclear weapons, and the pushback against nuclear war.











Emma Claire Foley is a writer and filmmaker based in New York. Her writing and commentary has appeared in Newsweek, NBC, the Guardian, and elsewhere.

Image by The Nation Museum in the Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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William Freeman was a 15-year-old in the the early nineteenth century who was convicted of a crime he insisted he didn’t commit. He was sentenced to five years of hard labor in Auburn prison in New York State. He, and the rest of the prisoners, worked without pay, and when Freeman challenged the system, it had violent repercussions.

In her latest book Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder that Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit, Robin Bernstein uses Freeman’s story to lay out the twisted history of anti-Black racism in the prison for profit industry. Robin joins host Ali Muldrow to talk about the book and the way the North invented profit-driven prison labor.



Dr. Robin Bernstein is the Dillon Professor of American History and Professor of African and African American Studies and Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Harvard University. She is the author of Racial Innocence: Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights, which won five awards. Her latest book is Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit (University of Chicago Press, May 2024).

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Today, we kick off the first of our candidate interviews for Dane County Executive. The seat that longtime Executive Joe Parisi recently retired from in the middle of his term. Four candidates will face off in the August primary, and Dana Pellebon’s name will be the first on the ballot. Pellebon joins WORT News Director Chali Pittman to discuss her priorities for the county and highlight some of the biggest issues facing Dane County–including housing access, criminal justice reform, and county funding.

Dana Pellebon is the executive director of the Rape Crisis Center and formerly headed up housing and operations at Porchlight. Until this spring, she served as a Dane County Board Supervisor, representing much of Fitchburg for District 33. A theater professional for decades, Pellebon has directed, acted and produced many works and participated in theater groups across Madison. 

Photo by Chali Pittman for WORT

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With the 2024 Madison Jazz Fest is in full swing, A Public Affair host welcomes some Madison locals to talk about two jazz legends with Wisconsin ties. First we talk with Dean Robbins about his new children’s book The Fastest Drummer: Clap Your Hands for Viola Smith! The book, which is illustrated by Susanna Chapman, offers a fun and bright biography of Smith, who started her nearly 100-year-long career at the age of 13 and is recognized as one of the few female professional drummers of the early twentieth century.

Then, Douglas is joined in studio by two folks behind the new documentary film String Theory: The Richard Davis Method. Artistic Director of the Richard Davis Foundation for Youth Bassists (RDYB) Peter Dominguez and RDYB Executive Director Catherine Harris join the program to talk about Richard Davis’s work, legacy, and impact on their own lives. The film is showing at Madison Museum of Contemporary Art on Thursday June 13th, 2024 at 7pm for free as part of the Jazz Fest.

Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash

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On today’s special pledge drive show, Esty Dinur talks with historian Lauren Benton on her new book They Called It Peace: Worlds of Imperial Violence. The book is a historical account of how imperialism has redefined war and peace. She joins Esty to talk about the ongoing impact of imperial violence on indigenous peoples worldwide and the unequal nature of truces and ceasefires.



Lauren Benton is the Barton M. Biggs Professor of History at Yale University and recipient of the Toynbee Prize for significant contributions to global history. Her books include A Search for Sovereignty: Law and Geography in European Empires, 1400–1900 and (with Lisa Ford) Rage for Order: The British Empire and the Origins of International Law, 1800–1850.

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On today’s pledge drive special, host Allen Ruff welcomes back listener-favorite Mouin Rabbani to help us understand the current state of the war in Israel-Palestine. They discuss the International Criminal Court’s warrant for arrest against Netanyahu, question Israel’s willingness to end the war, and highlight US involvement.



Mouin Rabbani is a researcher, analyst, and commentator specializing in Palestinian affairs, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the contemporary Middle East. He is the Co-Editor of Jadaliyya.

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