COUNTERPOINT RADIO, hosted by Scott Harris, is heard every Monday night on WPKN 89.5 FM, Bridgeport, CT between 8:00 – 9:30 pm ET. Webstreaming and audio archive at http://wpkn.org

1) Phyllis Bennis, Director of the Institute for Policy Studies’ New Internationalism Project, shares her views on the Gaza ceasefire agreement and its many shortcomings, including the lack of specificity on a number of key issues such as: who will govern Gaza, when will Israeli forces fully withdraw, how reconstruction can begin -- with no details on enforcement mechanisms, clear timelines or international guarantees.

2) Steve Phillips, a national political leader, columnist and author of the national bestselling book, "How We Win the Civil War: Securing a Multiracial Democracy and Ending White Supremacy for Good." Phillips, host of the podcast “Democracy in Color," and founder of the political media organization Democracy in Color, discusses his views on the important issues being decided in the Louisiana v. Callais case now before the US Supreme Court, that could eliminate remaining protections in the Voting Rights Act -- and the battle ahead to restore and strengthen civil rights law, democracy, and equal access to the ballot box in the months and years ahead.

3) Steven A. Cash Executive Director of "The Steady State," whose members are former senior national security officials, drawn from across the intelligence, diplomatic, homeland security and defense communities. Cash, who formerly served as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence & Analysis, will talk about his group's "Assessment of U.S. Democracy," that warns that the Trump administration's consolidation of executive power, weakening of institutional checks and balances, politicization of justice and intelligence, and deliberate erosion of civil-service neutrality, that’s labeled competitive authoritarianism, constitutes an existential threat to U.S. democracy.

4) Dr Ira Helfand, MD is a member of the International Steering Group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the recipient of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize, past President of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and co-Founder and Past President of Physicians for Social Responsibility. Dr. Helfand, a steering committee member of the Back from the Brink campaign, discusses the threat nuclear warfare poses to humanity, how the public can help mitigate it, and calling on the U.S. to implement policies to lead a global effort to prevent nuclear war. Dr. Helfand will be speaking at the Wilton, CT Quaker Meeting on Sunday, October 26th, 2025 from noon-1:30 pm.

Some segments featured on Counterpoint are edited for re-broadcast on the syndicated Between The Lines radio news magazine. Visit their web site at http://www.btlonline.org for free subscriptions to mp3 - podcast audio files, program summaries and interview transcripts. An archive of current and past Counterpoint interviews are accessible for free at our Counterpoint Radio web site: http://counterpointradio.org The full 1.5 hour unedited program can be accessed for a 2 week period after the show, at the WPKN Radio archives: http://archives.wpkn.org/bookmarks/search/counterpoint