Episodes
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Chapter 15 Beyond the Brink and Fighting Back by Voting
Long-time Ohio politics observer Mary Anne Sharkey weighs the candidates, issues, and threats likely to shape this week’s midterm election results.
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Beyond the Brink and Fighting Back by Turning News Headlines into Art
Three of the women acting in an upcoming production of Emily Feldman's play 'The Best We Could' describe how art is imitating life on questions of sexual offenses and male dominance.
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Chapter 13 Dealing with Personal and Political Losses While Over the Brink and Fighting Back
Political strategist Corinne Carey of Troy, NY, led legislative efforts to pass New York's medical aid in dying law at the same time she faced the illness and death of her own mother. She and podcast host Rosemary Armao, who lost her mother a year ago, talk about public and private grief and...
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Chapter 12 Public Broadcasting star Joe Donahue talks about Fighting Back From Beyond The Brink through Authentic Conversation
In a decades-long career on public radio WAMC Albany’s Joe Donahue has interviewed at least 25,000 authors, politicians, celebrities and regular people. His questions and deep listening skills are models for how Americans bitterly opposed to each other’s politics these days might get through to...
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Chapter 11 Beyond the Brink and Fighting Back Against Leadership that Doesn't Measure Up
Communications expert John Oliver has made himself an expert on George Washington. He says the current president could not be more different from the first in terms of character and style the two men share similarities such as great personal wealth, thin skin about criticism, and populist appeal....
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Beyond the Brink and Fighting Back Against Global and Planetary Disaster with Jay Jochnowitz
Trump may be getting all the headlines, but opinion journalists Rosemary Armao and Jay Jochnowitz manage to find more looming disasters we should be worried about including fascism returning to Germany and planetary meltdown. Also, the new look of world maps. Are you less worried about global...
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Beyond the Brink and Fighting Back Against Vote Rigging
Opinion journalists Rosemary Armao and Jay Jochnowitz talk with a live audience about how much Trump would have to pay them for their vote and other insidious ways aside from bribery the 2026 midterms might be undermined. What is your plan for Election Day this November? a. Not voting! b. Voting…
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Beyond the Brink and Fighting Back against Rape
The discussion got heated when opinion journalists Rosemary Armao and Jay Jochnowitz starting talking about the E. Jean Carroll Case and wound up debating whether women bear any responsibility for preventing rape and if No really always means No. .. Do you think the Epstein survivors are remiss…
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Beyond the Brink and Fighting Back against Opponents Who Won't See Reason
Opinion journalists Rosemary Armao and Jay Jochnowitz talk with a salon audience about the value of trying to talk with friends and relatives with different political ideas even when it's maddening and everyone knows there's no real chance of anyone changing their minds. Have you lost any friends...
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Beyond the Brink and Fighting Back with Memories of How Hard Our Forebears Had It
Food historian and costume designer Professor Brittney Belz of Union College talks with host Rosemary Armao about the travails of 18th Century housewives who had no appliances, no refrigeration, no supermarkets, no expectation of help from the men, not even measuring cups, timers or whisks, and…
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Beyond the Brink and Fighting Back Dead or Alive Pt. 2
Dead or alive: Lindsey Graham? Mitch McConnell Hope for fair and free midterms? In a wide-ranging salon discussion with a lively audience journalists Rosemary Armao and Jay Jochnowitz talk about a variety of troubling news items and age restrictions on Politicians.
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Beyond the Brink and Fighting Back Dead or Alive
Dead or alive: Brave journalists? Hope for fair and free midterms? Odysseus? In a wide-ranging salon discussion with a lively audience journalists Rosemary Armao and Jay Jochnowitz talk about a variety of troubling news items -- plus a controversial movie.
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Beyond the Brink and Fighting Back against Trump Regime Propaganda
When journalist/professors Leslie-Jean Thornton submitted an academic paper about the effect of Trump administration attacks on the media on journalists and broadcasters, it was rejected. “Just a flash in the pan,” the scholarly reviewer told her. Well, they published that paper belatedly this...
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Beyond the Brink and Fighting Back against Government Subpoenas and Economic Fears
Is the government really wrong to go after reporters who revealed weaknesses in the defensive mechanisms on the new Air Force One? Host Rosemary Armao and guest Mark Wittman disagree about the Trump administration's latest attacks on news-gathering by the New York Times. Do you think the...
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Beyond the Brink and Fighting Back with Memories of How it Used to Be
Native Greg Hamilton remembers growing up on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, long an isolated fishing and farming region on the edge of Virginia but now a focal point of racial inequality, environmental deterioration, and economic decline. Is the future hopeless for coastal areas like the Eastern...
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Chapter 1 of a new season On the Brink and Fighting Back by Remembering the Past
Revolutionary War re-enactor Carle Kopecky says 18th century soldiers were fighting for the same thing today’s protestors are: no kings lording it over them. Americans are noticeably less excited by the country’s 250th birthday than they were during the Bicentennial 60 years ago. Is this because…
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Beyond Brink and Fighting Back from Bridges and Overpasses around the Country
New York Capital District activists Christine Primomo and Darlene Stott talk about the logistical, artistic and political challenges of fighting MAGA with messages plastered on bridges and overpasses. The Visibility Brigade organizers say non-violent protest works and combat the right-wing…
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Beyond the Brink and Fighting Back Against Data Centers
Historian and feminist Ellie Burhans of Albany has recently taken on a new role demonstrating against and decrying energy and water hogging data centers. One has been proposed for an old convent property in Albany and it is one of nearly 30 such centers proposed in the state of New York despite...
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Beyond the Brink and Fighting Back on the Ebola Crisis
Journalist Rosemary Armao checked back in with Albany native and long-time foreign service officer Michelle Dworkin about that rare Ebola virus rolling through central Africa. Dworkin lost her job with the US Agency for International Development last year when the Trump administration shut it…
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Beyond The Brink and Fighting Back from Public Corruption with Mary Anne Sharkey 5/20
Veteran Ohio political writer Mary Anne Sharkey discusses the massive graft and abuse we are witnessing in the second Trump term and ponders why it seems so hard to stop it. Is making a president’s every action in office unpunishable as the Supreme Court has done a good idea? What do you see as…
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Beyond The Brink and Fighting Back from Inflation, Debt, a Fed in Flux, and other Economic Worries
Wall Street banker and public affairs commentator Mark Wittman explains for podcast host Rosemary Armao in layman’s terms how rising prices, disputed interest rates, the price of gold and the strength of the dollar are being affected by war, politics and Donald Trump’s bullying. Are you limiting...
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Over the Brink and Fighting Back from a Regressive Supreme Court Ruling
Writer Phyllis Jordan who grew up in Virginia and long reported on southern politics considers the implications and consequences of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in a Louisiana case that essentially guts the Voting Rights Act. Do you agree with the Supreme Court majority that racism and...
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Beyond the Brink (And Fighting Back) to keep the Adirondacks Forever Wild with Jim Odato
Veteran investigative reporter Jim Odato knows the history, controversies and problems of New York's Adirondacks region better than almost anyone, and he talks with podcast host Rosemary Armao about preserving the wild North Country while also building world-class Olympic sports facilities and...
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Beyond the Brink (And Fighting Back) from Weirdness and Chaos
Podcast host Rosemary Armao and opinion writer Jay Jaynowitz talk about the sex scandals, misbehaving cabinet members, feuding over who's holier the Pope or the President, and the dark side of the Moon, all of which goes to show how weird and chaotic our world has become.
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Beyond The Brink (And Fighting Back) Against American catastrophe in the Middle East
Algerian newspaper editor Kamel Mansari talks with Podcast Host Rosemary Armao about what he calls America's catastrophic war against Iran. In his view the US has lost power. and influence in the Middle East to China and given up all the good will and respect it earned over decades in exchange…
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Beyond the Brink (and Fighting Back) against Voter Suppression and Praising American Genius
Rodcast host Rosemary Armao and Opinion Writer Jay Jochnowitz worry about intensifying efforts to discourage voting. That includes send in ICE to practice intimidation in airport before possibly using them at polling places and requiring documents many people don't have to prove citizenship. Also...
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Beyond the Brink (and Fighting Back) with Polling of Public Information
Dr. Don Levy, the director of the Siena Research Institute which puts out the prestigious Siena Poll in conjunction with leading news outlets, schools us on how polls are supposed to work, why they sometimes do not, and how hard it is to get people to talk about how they really feel. Dr. Don Levy...
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On the Brink (And Fighting Back) from Disillusionment
Opinion writer Jay Jochnowitz and Podcast Host Rosemary Armao reigning over their monthly podcast "The Salon" on public affairs talk about lost peace and lost heroes.
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Behind the Brink (And Fighting Back) from a Broken Constitution
Skidmore College pundit Beau Breslin says that while we may not yet be in a Constitutional Crisis, the Constitution is clearly broken, and we are watching Supreme Court rulings dismantle many of the programs and institutions built up over the past 60 years.Beau Breslin is the Joseph C.…
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Beyond the Brink (And Fighting Back) Against Attacks on Minority Journalists and Women Soldiers
You won't be hearing from any women soldiers iin this week's chapter and host Rosemary Armao explains why. Instead she and Jay Jochnowitz marvel at how Trump administration attacks have turned a mediocre broadcaster into a First Amendment martyr.
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Beyond the Brink (And Fighting Back) by Going Out in the World
Media communications expert Stella Roque left behind conventional work and family obligations a year. ago at age 40 to instead roam through Asia, solo, meeting new people, exploring, and immersing herself in new cultures. and spirituality. She talks with host Rosemary Armao about what she has...
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Behind the Brink (And Fighting Back) from Afar
Since the 2024 election, search queries for moving abroad are uup 2,000 percent. Debra Gordon of Virginia talking with podcast host Rosemary Armao is one of the few Americans who to permanently emigrate because of politics. Debra Gordon is a health care communications professional who had...
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Beyond the Brink (And Fighting Back) at the Ballot Box
In a public discussion on all things politics, opinion writer Jay Jochnowitz and and host Rosemary Armao talk about how seriously (very) we should be taking talk of changing how to vote and who can vote in America.
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Beyond the Brink (And Fighting Back) by Starting all Over
After a long career as a journalist and feature writer and 10 years of retirement spent traveling, hiking, knitting and playing the ukulele, Californian Susan Rife started back to law school five weeks ago. Her story is an illustration that new beginnings can come at any point while you’re still...
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Beyond the Brink (And Fighting Back) with Bullhorn in Hand
Podcast host Rosemary Armao talks with another stand-out activist who’ve gone into action against the Trump administration — Marianna Achlaoug of Albany Indivisible. A state worker, the 28-year-old began resisting authority as a teen with her mother fighting fracking in Schoharie County. She is...
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Beyond the Brink (And Fighting Back) with an Online Salon
Podcast Host Rosemary Armao and newspaper opinion writer Jay Jochnowitz conduct their rambling monthly salon online instead of in person in a chapter that manages to cover ICE in all its forms, amending the Constitution to fix Democracy, Davos, revenge, attacks on the press, and more.
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Beyond the Brink (And Fighting Back) from Economic Chaos in the Land
Podcast host Rosemary Armao gets Wall Street banker and analyst Mark Wittman to break down in terms a 5th grader can grasp the potential consequences of all things happening economically from inflation and tariffs to the end of the penny and the sale of new weight loss drugs.
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Beyond the Brink (And Fighting Back) from a Changing Media Environment
Investigative Reporter and Media Scholar Mark Lee Hunter talks with podcast host Rosemary Armao about what journalists must do to reverse economic, political, and social forces that have damaged legacy media and led to distrust of journalists. He also tells the harrowing story of his wife’s death...
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Beyond the Brink and Fighting Back from the Fresh Point of View of the Next Generation.
UAlbany sophomores Jason Shullenberger and Noon Nori talk with podcast host Rosemary Armao about sex, war, AI, and facing an uncertain future...Jordan Shullenberger from Waterbury, Vt. is studying business (with a journalism minor) at UAlbany. The 20-year-old also plays soccer for his school.…
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Beyond the Brink (And Fighting Back) Against turning the US Military into a Palace Guard
Military reporter Mike Fabey recently visited Greenland, the Arctic Island President Trump has suggested the US buy or take over to find out why and how hard that might be. He also has thoughts about the changes and new directions in which Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is taking the US...
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Beyond the Brink (And Fighting Back) with Optimism
Environmentalist and author Anita Sanchez gives lessons in her weekly Substack The Optimistic Activist on how to effectively resist corrupt and incompetent political leadership. She spars with podcast host Rosemary Armao, who sees only doom ahead about why she is hopeful and how optimism is a...
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Beyond the Brink (And Fighting Back) for the Release of the Epstein Files
Podcast host Rosemary Armao and Times Union Editorial Writer Jay Jochnowitz are abuzz about the latest Epstein File news, including the sketchy ethical behavior of writer Michael Wolff, the outlandish remarks about what is pedophilia by Megyn Kelly, and whether American voters will ever really…
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Beyond the Brink (And Fighting Back) as Badass Women Priests
It’s hard to see what the Roman Catholic Church finds so threatening about women leaders when Denise Hackert-Stoner of Albany describes her Upper Room Inclusive Catholic Community. She’s been excommunicated from the traditional Church since her ordination and sees little prospect of it dropping…
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Beyond the Brink (And Fighting Back) from Nope, No More American Foreign Aid For you, World
Albany area native Michelle Dworkin back home after the Trump administration shut down USAID this year ending her foreign service career talks about people dying globally, disasters like Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica unanswered, taxpayer dollars wasted and national security endangered by the...
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Beyond the Brink (And Fighting Back) BTB (And Fighting Back) from Condolences, expressing grief about Nazi's Republicans, & starving kids
In another selection from a recent in-person salon with opinion writer Jay Jochnowitz and an audience in Vermont we mourn the continued razing of Gaza, young Republicans reveling in their love of Nazis, disrespect of the military by the Trump regime and contempt for the US Constitution. We are…
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Beyond the Brink (And Fighting Back) Condolences
Host Rosemary Armao and Times Union opinion writer Jay Jochnowitz talk at their public salon about loved ones dying, grief, and find the way to remember that life goes on.
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Beyond the Brink (And Fighting Back) Trying to Understand Our Cruel Anti-Immigrant Policies
Host Rosemary Armao talks with retired teacher and. researcher Laura Bellinger about books, documentaries and other resources that explain America's historically schizoid view on immigrants: We like them to come do our dirty, hard, low-paying jobs but not to actually settle and live here.... Do…
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Beyond the Brink (And Fighting Back) Against Hitlerian Speech Controls - Part II
As we hit the two-year anniversary of the terroristic Hamas raid on Israel, the horrific war of Israel on Gaza has been labeled GENOCIDE by the United Nations. Rosemary Armao, host of the podcast Beyond the Brink and Fighting Back pairs with opinion writer Jay Jochnowitz at a community public...
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Beyond the Brink (And Fighting Back) Against Hitlerian Speech Controls
Host Rosemary Armao and Opinion writer Jay Jochnowitz talk with each other and guests at their monthly public affairs salon about the implications of the Charlie Kirk assassination, Trump's many media lawsuits, and the suspension of comedians Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert on our American right...
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Beyond the Brink (And Fighting Back) in Defense of Rights to Speak, Publish and Protest
In the newest episode of An Armao Beyond the Brink, Rosemary speaks with renowned media lawyer and professor Lucy Dalglish. Dalglish cannot recall a time in American history when threats to a free and independent press were so numerous or potent. She doesn’t even like thinking about the future of...