In this uplifting chat, John Marks joins us again to tell how Search for Common Ground created innovative radio and TV programs from Africa to Asia - designed to help bring former enemies together. His case studies from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo show how Search’s broadcasts helped soothe conflicts between warring groups, and reduced the scourge of rape by rampaging soldiers. The programs obviously are no panacea, but as John says, they are “keeping hope alive.”

Trump has already shown that when he moves back to the White House, he's likely to use the strategies of dictators he admires, such as Viktor Orbán of Hungary: pack courts and agencies with ideological cronies, intimidate and harass the press, and continue to denigrate opponents as “evil,” “low IQ,” "vermin" and “enemies from within.” Harvard professor Steven Levitsky, co-author of How Democracies Die and Tyranny of the Minority, tells us why it could take years to rescue America’s democracy. Even if you heard this episode when we first posted it, we think you’ll want to listen again now that Trump is returning to the Oval Office.

John Marks says yes - and he and the organization he founded, Search for Common Ground, have made it happen. He tells us surprising stories about how they get people to listen to each other, across hard lines of hatred and suspicion: Russian and American intelligence officers, Iranians and Americans, Israelis and Arabs, Hutus and Tutsis in Africa - and more. John's memoir, From Vision to Action: Remaking the World Through Social Entrepreneurship, is like a how-to guide - filled with candid accounts of his successes and failures.

Scientist Michelle Fournet and her colleagues from the University of New Hampshire hang out with humpback whales in Alaska, recording their daily communications - and then sending whale recordings back to the giant animals to see if and how they respond. Some of her latest findings could break new ground: she can identify individual whales by their sounds. Michelle tells us the moving story of how she morphed from broke actor to internationally-respected whale researcher - and how she hopes research on humpbacks' "language" can help humans protect them.

Four more have been murdered by a teen with an assault-style rifle - many more were injured - at Apalachee High School in Winder, GA. Still, this episode gives us a glimmer of hope: specialists in “behavioral threat assessment” have been quietly trying to spot potential killers for decades, in places from schools and companies to government agencies - and the latest carnage could probably have been avoided if authorities had followed their manual. Our guests, practitioners Monique Boudreaux and Matt Talbot, say everybody in America needs to help them instead of looking the other way.

Lee Bollinger, who was president of Columbia University and the University of Michigan, predicts that the number of black students at many colleges will plummet to low levels they haven't seen since the 60s and 70s. He says Chief Justice John Roberts and the other Republican extremists on the Court misinterpret the Constitution. And as for the belief that under affirmative action, college officials generally admitted blacks who weren't qualified? Lee says: Not true.

Trump, the Republican party and Project 2025 are echoing Orbán's autocratic playbook - along with strategies of other leaders who got elected democratically and then turned their nations into autocracies. Key steps: pack courts and agencies with their cronies, slander and intimidate the media, and denigrate their opponents as "evil" and "vermin." Harvard professor Steven Levitsky, co-author of How Democracies Die and Tyranny of the Minority, tells us why it could take years to rescue America's democracy - even if Trump loses the upcoming election.

Sesame Street changed TV by using music to help kids learn how to spell and how to share. Singer-songwriter Anya Rose and the group Ants on a Log write social action songs to help children in primary school learn edgier lessons, about problems from environmental pollution to racist and sexist behavior - inspired in part by 60s satirist Tom Lehrer. After hearing these tunes, the 9-year-olds in your family might feel inspired to research a problem in your own neighborhood - and then write your members of Congress about it!