Ellie 2.0 - Am950 The Progressive Voice Of Minnesota

We begin this week’s show with two idealists of opposite minds—former Illinois congressman Joe Walsh and gun safety advocate (and father of his murdered daughter, Jaime) Fred Guttenberg. Both hated each other for years until they began to talk human-to-human. Now they are on a speaking tour titled “2 Dads Defending Democracy,” and we air…

Wow, we’ve hit the 350-episodes mark! For this show, the featured idealist is the recently deceased Kris Kristofferson, who as a teenager, and way before he was famous, wrote about the wrongs of racism. The Big Interview is with Sarah Curtiss and Ed Heisler, leaders at a Duluth-based nonprofit, Men As Peacemakers. In the C-Block,…

We’ve got an Ellie’s Talking Head show this week, starting with highlighting idealistic NewGround, an LA-based group that seeks to help Jews and Muslims form friendships and have respectful conversations about their differing views on Palestine. I also share two wonderful stories of compassion—one about a UPS driver who helped a stranger with a life-threatening…

This week’s featured idealist is Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia, the outdoor clothing and adventure store. Early on, Yvon made his mark as an idealist by devoting one percent of Patagonia’s revenue to protecting the environment and fighting climate change. In 2022, Yvon, by then a billionaire, donated his entire company’s stock to a…

We start with our historical featured idealist, the founder of St. Mary’s Academy in New Orleans: Mother Josephine Charles battled racism and misogyny in the mid-19th century to create a religious school for girls of color. Nearly 160 years later, St. Mary’s had 100% graduation and college admission rates—unheard of in education! The Big Interview…

With the DNC convention over, our featured idealist is Adam Kinzinger,   the former Illinois congressman who denounced Trump way back in 2016, and later served on the bipartisan January 6th Committee. Kinzinger isn’t afraid to speak truth to power and was a speaker at the convention, exhorting Republicans to understand that “Democrats also love our…

This week is an Ellie talking head show. We highlight our featured idealist, Lawrence O’Donnell from MSNBC. Plus we talk about legislation around birth certificates for transgender people, JK Rowling’s anti-trans social media posts, how charitable giving in America might change and more.

This week’s featured idealist is retired federal circuit judge J. Michael Luttig, who began as a conservative but found his way to idealism in combatting Donald Trump’s attempts to subvert democracy. It was Luttig and a conservative scholar, Jon Yoo, who told VP Mike Pence that the Constitution didn’t permit him to decertify electors. Thankfully,…

It’s another Ellie’s Talking Head show! Our featured idealist is the comedian, Trevor Noah, who set up the Trevor Noah Foundation to promote literacy a in his native South Africa. From there, I talk about Jessica Norton, a Broward County FL school district employee who was disciplined for letting her 16-year-old transgender daughter participate on…

My, how the political landscape changed from the last show! That means this week’s featured idealist is none other than President Joe Biden for deciding to relinquish his presidential bid in favor of the country’s greater good. I’m positive that President Joe will go down as one of the greatest presidents of all time! The…

It’s an Ellie’s Talking Head show, and we start with the actor, George Clooney, who is also an activist working against genocide and atrocities across the world and who is involved in awarding the Aurora Prize that recognizes individuals for their humanitarian work. Clooney is also a huge supporter of the Democratic party and recently…

With the 80th anniversary of D-Day this week, I thought it fitting to have the acclaimed actor and “late historian” Tom Hanks of Saving Private Ryan as our featured idealist of the week. Some of his movies, particularly Philadelphia, are incredibly idealistic. The Big Interview is with Gloria Perez, the President and Chief Executive Officer…

Another Ellie’s Talking Head show where we begin with this week’s featured idealist, documentarian and filmmaker Ken Burns—you won’t want to miss the clip I share from his recent commencement speech at Brandeis University. I also talk about MN banning gay and transgender “panic defenses” for criminal defendants accused of murdering or assaulting trans or…

On this week’s show Ellie was joined by High School student, idealist and founder of Sanya’s Hope for Children, Sanya Pirani. Plus Ellie shares updates on her work on the Eastern Carver County School Board and backlash against DEI programs.

It’s an Ellie’s Talking Head show! In honor of World Press Freedom Day (May 3), this week’s featured idealist is Edward R. Murrow, who famously reported on the London blitz and later took on Senator Joe McCarthy. I also discuss the most recent oppression of transgender people by the state of Utah, which recently launched…

We start with our featured idealist Ella Baker, who was a “doer” in the civil rights movement of the 1930’s to 1960’s, and who worked behind the scenes to strengthen the NAACP and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (which orchestrated lunch counter protests). Ella is one of the unsung heroes who made things happen! The…