Equal Time With Martha Burk

Have you been seeing purple ribbons lately around your area on lamp posts, fences, and other public places?  They're aimed at one group you've probably never thought about.

Coffee fan alert:  Big new announcement  from Starbucks. They’re upwards of 100 stores, and at least 59  just happen to be unionized. Coincidence? You decide.

It's Hispanic Heritage Month, so let's recognize their leaders, and raise a glass to the founder of the United Farm Workers. If you’re thinking Cesar Chavez, you’re a little less than half right.

The U.S. Census Bureau released the new wage data earlier this month.  Big surprise? Nope -- same old, same old. 

What with lousy politics, floods, guns everywhere you look, and fools on the Hill, there’s not much to feel good about in the news.  So let’s take a break and mark this week with some celebrations you probably don’t know about.

Last June Secretary of the Navy Pete Hegseth announced the renaming of eight U.S. naval ships. The decree came during Pride month, when Hegseth gleefully celebrated the renaming of the USS Harvey Milk, which had honored the prominent gay civil rights activist. So it’s no surprise that the seven ships remaining on Hegseth’s current  hit list all honor women and minorities. 

This week we celebrate Labor Day, honoring American workers.  It’s been celebrated every year since 1894, when President President Grover Cleveland signed the law making the first Monday in September a national holiday.  Bur how are our workers really doing?

Will students heading back to college this month be packing heat along with the books and booze?   The campus vigilante group Students for Concealed Carry claims to have 350 chapters on college campuses – to keep the students safe of course. 

August 26th marks a momentous day in U.S. History, but many Americans don’t know about it, a few celebrate or mark it in any way. What is it?  Listen up and find out.

I thought I knew about most of US History, at least in passing. Boy, was I an ignoramus. You may be too. Here's the skinny.

The Dog Days of Summer aren't actually about dogs -- but the stars and ancient peoples. Still, here are a few humandogs to think about.

President Lyndon Johnson made history on July 30, 1965, when he signed two laws that would greatly improve the lives of Americans. Both have worked well, and are now under siege.  

It’s come around again- one of the most enduring mysteries of modern times. In July 1937, Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared in an attempt to fly around the world.  

If you've been thinking things couldn’t get any worse in the good 'ol USA, think again. Trump’s watchful government has guarded our virtue by banning a slew of words.

After a visit to his Alligator Alcatraz migrant detention facility in Florida -- which by the way will cost $450 million dollars a year and has already flooded -- Trump is celebrating the July third passage of his so-called greatest bill, saying “There’s something for everyone."  He’s got that right.  Here’s a list.

When the Declaration of Independence was written, the "fathers of our country" looked in the mirror, and guess what they saw?

For decades U.S. storms and hurricanes had exclusively female names. Male forecasters had snickers and snide remarks about the female storms' "temperament" and "instability."  No more.

Juneteenth, marking June 19th, 1865 is a federal holiday celebrated each year to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. Most people think that was the day President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves. Wrong. 

Trump's throwing a "big beautiful" birthday parade, masquerading as a tribute to the troops.  At a cost of $40 million and counting, what could Americans have instead?

Most people think June weddings are the follow-on to High School or college graduations, but the tradition actually goes back to antiquity.