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Louis Ferrante (born May 13, 1969) is a former high stakes heist expert and Gambino crime family mob associate. He spent eight and a half years in prison for stick ups, heists and hijackings. He successfully appealed his conviction and became a bestselling true crime, business, and science writer. He has previously hosted his own show, which aired on the Discovery Channel and was nominated for a Grierson Trust Award, which is considered the most prestigious documentary award in the UK. On September 15, 2011, Ferrante spoke at The Economist's Ideas Economy: Human Potential Summit in New York City. On October 21, 2014, Ferrante spoke at the CEO Global Leaders Forum in New York City, hosted by billionaire businessman Leonard Lauder. Early life Ferrante was born on May 13, 1969, in Queens, New York, where he was raised. As a teenager, he made his reputation as a gang leader. Ferrante and his gang hijacked delivery trucks[4] all over New York and he soon gained the attention of the Gambino crime family.[5] By his early twenties, Ferrante headed a crew of older armed robbers within the family.[6] Newspaper articles from the 1990s referred to Ferrante as "John Gotti's pal". Another article referred to Ferrante as a "crony of John A. Gotti."[7] On one occasion, Ferrante and his crew flew from New York to California to hold up an armored car. His plans were foiled by the FBI, although there was insufficient evidence to charge Ferrante and his crew with a crime.[8][9] Around this time, he was suspected of masterminding some of the largest heists in U.S. history. Arrests FBI Surveillance Photo of Louis Ferrante in California, on His Way to a Meeting with His Crew FBI Surveillance Photo of Louis Ferrante and His Crew in California Planning an Armored Truck Heist (Ferrante's Back is to the Camera) Ferrante was targeted by many investigations. He was eventually indicted by the FBI, the United States Secret Service, and the Nassau County Organized Crime Task Force.[10] The main witness against Ferrante entered the Witness Protection program. Another informant against Ferrante was William Degel, now the host of Restaurant Stakeout on Food Network.[7] By 1994, and facing a life sentence in prison, Ferrante wrote and distributed a rap song defending crime boss John Gotti. Ferrante hired controversial civil rights attorney William Kunstler to defend him. Ferrante has appeared in at least one biography based on the life of William Kunstler.[11] During the trial, Kunstler claimed that Ferrante's song aggravated law enforcement agencies who had convicted Gotti and that the massive resources used to indict Ferrante multiple times were part of a government vendetta.[12] Ferrante's defense was defeated in court by prosecutors and Ferrante was convicted. In Ferrante's second case, he chose to plead guilty to a thirteen-year sentence, with his third case running concurrent with the first two cases. Ferrante refused to cooperate with the government and did not inform on former associates of the Gambino family.[13] He was sent to the maximum security prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, to begin his sentence.
INSIDE THE GANGSTERS CODE Louis Ferrante (born May 13, 1969) is a former high stakes heist expert and Gambino crime family mob associate. He spent eight and a half years in prison for stick ups, heists and hijackings. He successfully appealed his conviction and became a bestselling true crime, business, and science writer. He has previously hosted his own show, which aired on the Discovery Channel and was nominated for a Grierson Trust Award, which is considered the most prestigious documentary award in the UK. On September 15, 2011, Ferrante spoke at The Economist's Ideas Economy: Human Potential Summit in New York City. On October 21, 2014, Ferrante spoke at the CEO Global Leaders Forum in New York City, hosted by billionaire businessman Leonard Lauder. Early life Ferrante was born on May 13, 1969, in Queens, New York, where he was raised. As a teenager, he made his reputation as a gang leader. Ferrante and his gang hijacked delivery trucks[4] all over New York and he soon gained the attention of the Gambino crime family.[5] By his early twenties, Ferrante headed a crew of older armed robbers within the family.[6] Newspaper articles from the 1990s referred to Ferrante as "John Gotti's pal". Another article referred to Ferrante as a "crony of John A. Gotti."[7] On one occasion, Ferrante and his crew flew from New York to California to hold up an armored car. His plans were foiled by the FBI, although there was insufficient evidence to charge Ferrante and his crew with a crime.[8][9] Around this time, he was suspected of masterminding some of the largest heists in U.S. history. Arrests FBI Surveillance Photo of Louis Ferrante in California, on His Way to a Meeting with His Crew FBI Surveillance Photo of Louis Ferrante and His Crew in California Planning an Armored Truck Heist (Ferrante's Back is to the Camera) Ferrante was targeted by many investigations. He was eventually indicted by the FBI, the United States Secret Service, and the Nassau County Organized Crime Task Force.[10] The main witness against Ferrante entered the Witness Protection program. Another informant against Ferrante was William Degel, now the host of Restaurant Stakeout on Food Network.[7] By 1994, and facing a life sentence in prison, Ferrante wrote and distributed a rap song defending crime boss John Gotti. Ferrante hired controversial civil rights attorney William Kunstler to defend him. Ferrante has appeared in at least one biography based on the life of William Kunstler.[11] During the trial, Kunstler claimed that Ferrante's song aggravated law enforcement agencies who had convicted Gotti and that the massive resources used to indict Ferrante multiple times were part of a government vendetta.[12] Ferrante's defense was defeated in court by prosecutors and Ferrante was convicted. In Ferrante's second case, he chose to plead guilty to a thirteen-year sentence, with his third case running concurrent with the first two cases. Ferrante refused to cooperate with the government and did not inform on former associates of the Gambino family.[13] He was sent to the maximum security prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, to begin his sentence.
What can we reasonably expect from the New Year given the facts and reality of our situation in the United States? Can we force ourselves to have a “good year” with happy thoughts and positive vibes? During our Brownells Bullet Points, we consider the state of the ammo industry and the new “Buy Now” stock price for ammunition. We also will discuss a new shotgun that the professor picked up. Are you prepared to defend yourself? We have one more example of how the state has no interest in protecting you during our weekly SOTG Homeroom from CrossBreed Holsters. Thanks for being a part of SOTG! We hope you find value in the message we share. If you've got any questions, here are some options to contact us: Send an Email Send a Text Call Us Enjoy the show! And remember… You're a Beginner Once, a Student For Life! TOPICS COVERED THIS EPISODE Huge thanks to our Partners: Brownells | Crossbreed Holsters | FrogLube | Hi-Point Firearms [0:07:06] FrogLube Pro Tip of the Week - FrogLube.com TOPIC: FrogLube and Shotguns, MAC 1014 [0:13:02] Brownells Bullet Points - Brownells.com TOPIC: New “Buy Now” ammo prices: 9mm brass 25¢ and .223/5.56 50¢ a round [0:32:36] SOTG Homeroom - CrossbreedHolsters.com TOPIC: Outgoing Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards pardons 56 inmates, 40 of whom were convicted of murder www.theblaze.com [0:49:23] What do insurance companies know or see for the future? www.cigna.com www.instagram.com/reel/C1ijEjXRFmy/ [1:02:53] Kunstler's Look at the year ahead Do You Dare Even Look? - Forecast 2024 kunstler.com Plane Crashes into power lines in Oregon cnn.com/2023/ FEATURING: CNN, Kunstler, Cigna, The Blaze, Madison Rising, Jarrad Markel, Paul Markel, SOTG University PARTNERS: Brownells Inc, Crossbreed Holsters, FrogLube, Hi-Point Firearms FIND US ON: iTunes, Stitcher, AppleTV, Roku, Amazon, GooglePlay, YouTube, Threads, Instagram, Facebook, X
While most social media platforms spy on us, manipulate our emotions with hidden algorithms, feed our data to governments on request and censor with no notice or transparency, can there be an alternative that's friendly for everyone to use? We talk with John Kiriakou and Sean O'Brien about Pancake, a new messaging technology being built to address that question. We also discuss the important news from November 3rd that a New York judge has declared that oral arguments in the case Kunstler v. CIA will be open to the public. The suit alleges that the Central Intelligence Agency conspired with UC Global to illegally spy on Julian Assange and his visitors - including lawyers - at the Ecuadorian Embassy.Finally, we bring you a selection of voices from the November 4th March on Washington for Palestine. To see the entire rally, visit BreakThrough News on YouTube.About our guests:John Kiriakou is a journalist, former CIA counterterrorism officer, former senior investigator for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and former counterterrorism consultant for ABC News. In 2007, Kiriakou blew the whistle on the CIA's torture program, that torture was official U.S. government policy, and approved by then-President George W. Bush. He became the sixth whistleblower indicted by the Obama administration under the Espionage Act — a law designed to punish spies. He served 23 months in prison as a result of the revelation.In 2012 the Ralph Nader family honored Kiriakou with the Joe A. Callaway Award for Civic Courage, he won the PEN Center USA's prestigious First Amendment Award in 2015, the first Blueprint International Whistleblowing Prize for Bravery and Integrity in the Public Interest in 2016, and in the same year the Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence, given by retired CIA, FBI, and NSA officers. Sean O'Brien is a Visiting Lecturer at Yale Law School, where he teaches Cybersecurity and founded the Privacy Lab initiative. He is Chief Technology Officer at Panquake, recently launching the Panquake Me link cleaning, shortening, and archiving service. Sean developed a Web3 and Blockchain class at Yale as well as Hacking and Cybersecurity at the Lawfare Institute and was founding Head Tutor at Oxford University Cyber Security for Business Leaders. Sean's expertise has appeared in The New York Times, Forbes, Bloomberg, Popular Science, AP News, NBC News, The Financial Times, Wired, The New Yorker, and more. Support the show
In this episode of ON CITIES, host Carie Penabad speaks with renowned writer and social critic, James Kunstler. Kunstler's global recognition is grounded in his unapologetic scrutiny of modern American society, particularly within the realms of urban planning, architecture, energy and sustainability. A steadfast critic of suburban sprawl and unchecked urban expansion, Kunstler presents an alternative vision for the future- one that hinges on a return to local communities through the revitalization of small towns and cities. He underlines the urgency of confronting critical issues like peak oil and climate change, urging society to brace itself for a post-fossil fuel era. Tune in Friday, October 13, 2023 at 11:00 AM EST, 8:00 AM PST on the Voice America Variety Channel. This episode promises to be a thought-provoking exploration on the structure of contemporary society and the future of our cities.
In this episode of ON CITIES, host Carie Penabad speaks with renowned writer and social critic, James Kunstler. Kunstler's global recognition is grounded in his unapologetic scrutiny of modern American society, particularly within the realms of urban planning, architecture, energy and sustainability. A steadfast critic of suburban sprawl and unchecked urban expansion, Kunstler presents an alternative vision for the future- one that hinges on a return to local communities through the revitalization of small towns and cities. He underlines the urgency of confronting critical issues like peak oil and climate change, urging society to brace itself for a post-fossil fuel era. Tune in Friday, October 13, 2023 at 11:00 AM EST, 8:00 AM PST on the Voice America Variety Channel. This episode promises to be a thought-provoking exploration on the structure of contemporary society and the future of our cities.
Le 20 janvier 1997, les pompiers de Saint-Quentin sont appelés pour un incendie au Grand Hôtel, un établissement réputé dans la région. Ils découvrent trois corps vraisemblablement tués à l'arme blanche : le directeur de l'hôtel, Léo Roupioz, sa compagne, Gisèle Kunstler et la réceptionniste. Ils découvrent également le groom enfermé dans le sous-sol. Il affirme que le tueur est Jean-Baptiste Hennequin, le veilleur de nuit.
As the holiest days of the year approach us, we decided to do something very different and help your understand the meaning behind the words of davening and the inspiration for some of the most popular niggunim. No Internet? No smartphone? No problem! Our free call-in-to listen feature is here: USA: (712) 432-3489 UK: 0333-366-0154 ISRAEL: 079-579-5088 Follow us for more content: TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@livinglchaim Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/livinglchaim/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/livinglchaim LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/living-lchaim Submit your questions to hi@LivingLchaim.com Have a specific question? Email us hi@livinglchaim.com WhatsApp us feedback and get first access to episodes: 914-222-5513 Lchaim.
Scott and Karl delve into James Howard Kunstler's 2008 end-of-days novel, World Made by Hand. James Howard Kunstler is an American author, social critic, public speaker, and blogger, perhaps best known for his 2005 novel, The Long Emergency. He has an active podcast, KunstlerCast, where you can find more of his honest urban commentary. World Made by Hand is from your typical post-apocalyptic novel. Scott says, "It's not an unpleasant world that he pictures for us after the simplification." Karl believes that Kunstler is even optimistic despite the novel being set in a post-oil American future. Scott points out, "This is a world where everything feels big. They grieve more, there's more death and it's closer, but they care more about the people that they do have, too." Tune in to hear the duo's discussion of this dystopian science-fiction novel. Brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.
We caught up with Julie Kunstler, chief analyst for Omdia's broadband access intelligence service, one of this week's #CableNextGen speakers at OFC earlier this month. During our podcast, Kunstler gave us a preview of Omdia's PON forecast and some perspective from meeting with technology vendors who are making strides in energy efficiency and bandwidth increases allow the way down to the chip level.The unedited audio transcript is available in the media player of this episode page. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Famous for defending the Chicago Seven and his involvement at Attica and Wounded Knee, attorney William Kunstler had an outsize personality and a tremendous appetite for life. In the play “Kunstler,” tensions flare when he arrives on a college campus to give a seminar. The brilliant young law student assigned to introduce him objects to his appearance and is determined to confront him. “Kunstler” will run at Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs, New York February 3-5.
Penina is hairstylist who took her passion & created a following on Instagram. In this episode, Rivki & Penina discuss the business skills needed to be an influencer, creating boundaries with your community, and the husbands join for a special couples segment. CHAPTER MARKERS (1:17) - Guest Intro (5:51) - When To Know To Take A Step Back (9:10) - Creating Boundaries With A Community (22:24) - Business Skills Needed For Content Creation (26:09) - Unexpected Truths About Being An Influencer (29:37) - Responsibility Of The Creator To Please Their Followers (39:23) - Rivki & Penina's Husbands Join For Marriage Talk Find Penina: Penina's Instagram. Find Rivki: Rivki's Instagram, Rivki's Blog.
Je dagelijkse portie muzikale verwondering. Welkom in mijn wonderkamer, vol muziek, verhalen en voorwerpen. Een muzikale reis door eeuwen, windstreken en genres. ‘De Westerbork Revue' Over Kurt Gerron, Willy Rosen, Max Ehrlig en Johnny & Jones Meer zien? Klik hier! (https://www.nporadio4.nl/klassiek/podcasts/0ebc667e-981b-4aed-8a55-a8723c74e644/dit-hoor-je-deze-week-in-franks-klassieke-wonderkamer-week-43-24-t-m-28-oktober) Westerbork Serenade Johnny & Jones (Album: Maak het donker in het donker) Kurt Weill Die Dreigroschenoper (opname 1931) (Album: Die Dreigroschenoper) Abschied & Zuhalterballade Kurt Gerron & Lotte Lenya Lewis Ruth Band Lieber Leierkastenmann (album: Berlin Hamburg Munchen: populare judische Kunstler 1903-1933) Max Ehrlich (zang) Willy Rosen Wenn Ich Den Text Nicht Weiter Kann (album: Vorbei, Beyond Recall: Dokumentation judischen Musiklebens in Berlin, 1933-1938)) Willy Rosen (zang) Willy Roossen potpouri Johnny & Jones (Album: Maak het donker in het donker) Franks Klassieke Wonderkamer is straks niet meer via de Bach van de Dag feed te beluisteren. Niks missen? Abonneer je dan op de podcast Franks Klassieke Wonderkamer.
Senator Joe Manchin has been Congress's largest recipient of money from natural gas pipeline companies. He just reciprocated by gaining Senate support for the Mountain Valley pipeline in West Virginia and expedited approval for pipelines nationwide. Senator Krysten Sinema is among Congress's largest recipients of money from the private-equity industry. She just reciprocated by preserving private-equity's tax loophole in the Inflation Reduction Act. We almost take for granted big corporate money in American politics. But it started with the Powell memo. In 1971, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce asked Lewis Powell, then an attorney in Richmond, Virginia (and future Supreme Court justice) to report on the political activities of the Left. Richard Nixon was still president, but the Chamber (along with some prominent Republicans like Powell) worried about the Left's effects on “free enterprise.” Powell's memo — distributed widely to Chamber members — argued that the American economic system was “under broad attack” from consumer, labor, and environmental groups. In reality, these groups were doing nothing more than enforcing the implicit social contract that had emerged at the end of World War II — ensuring that corporations were responsive to all their stakeholders, not just their shareholders but also their workers, their consumers, and the environment on which everyone depends. But Powell and the Chamber saw it differently. Powell urged businesses to mobilize for political combat.Business must learn the lesson . . . that political power is necessary; that such power must be assiduously cultivated; and that when necessary, it must be used aggressively and with determination—without embarrassment and without the reluctance which has been so characteristic of American business.He stressed that the critical ingredients for success were organization and funding. Strength lies in … the scale of financing available only through joint effort, and in the political power available only through united action and national organizations.On August 23, 1971, the Chamber distributed Powell's memo to leading CEOs, large businesses, and trade associations. It had exactly the impact the Chamber sought — galvanizing corporate American into action and releasing a tidal wave of corporate money into American politics. An entire corporate-political industry was born — including tens of thousands of corporate lobbyists, lawyers, political operatives, and public relations flaks. Within a few decades, big corporations would become the largest political force in Washington and most state capitals. Washington went from being a rather sleepy if not seedy town to the glittering center of corporate America — replete with elegant office buildings, fancy restaurants, pricy bistros, five-star hotels, conference centers, beautiful townhouses, and a booming real estate market that pushed Washington's poor out to the margins of the district and made two of Washington's surrounding counties among the wealthiest in the nation. I saw it and lived it. In 1976, I began working at the Federal Trade Commission. Jimmy Carter had appointed consumer advocates to some regulatory positions (several of them influenced by Ralph Nader). My boss at the FTC was Michael Pertschuk, an energetic and charismatic chairman. Joan Claybrook chaired the National Highway Traffic Safety Commission. Other Naderites were spread throughout the Carter administration. All were ready to battle big corporations that for years had been deluding or injuring consumers. Yet almost everything we initiated at the FTC, and just about everything undertaken by these activists elsewhere in the administration, was met by unexpectedly fierce political resistance from Congress. At one point, when the FTC began examining advertising directed at children, Congress stopped funding the FTC altogether, shutting it down for weeks. I was dumbfounded. What had happened? In two words, the Powell memo. The number of corporations with public affairs offices in Washington had ballooned from one hundred in 1968 to over five hundred by the time I joined the FTC in 1976. In 1971, only 175 firms had registered lobbyists in the nation's capital. By 1982, nearly 2,500 had them. The number of corporate Political Action Committees mushroomed from under three hundred in 1976 to over 1,200 by 1980. Between 1974 and 1980, the Chamber of Commerce doubled its membership. (And remember, this was still thirty years before the Supreme Court's infamous Citizen's United decision.) It didn't matter whether a Democrat or Republican occupied the White House. Even after George H.W. Bush became president, the corporate-political industry continued to balloon. By the 1990s, when I was secretary of labor, corporations employed some 61,000 people to lobby for them, including registered lobbyists and lawyers. That came to more than 100 lobbyists for each member of Congress. Corporate money also supported platoons of lawyers who represented corporations and the very rich in court, often outgunning the Justice Department and state attorneys general. Most importantly, corporations began inundating politicians with money for their campaigns. Between the late 1970s and the late 1980s, corporate Political Action Committees increased their expenditures on congressional races nearly fivefold. Labor union PAC spending rose only about half as fast. By the 2106 campaign cycle, corporations and Wall Street contributed $34 for every $1 donated by labor unions and all public interest organizations combined. Wealthy individuals also accounted for a growing share. In 1980, the richest one-hundredth of 1 percent of Americans provided 10 percent of contributions to federal elections. By 2012, they provided 40 percent. Although Republicans mostly benefited from a few large donors and Democrats from a much larger number of small donors (more on this to come), both political parties transformed themselves from state and local organizations that channeled the views of members upward into giant fundraising machines that sucked in money from the top. Never in the history of American politics has one document — the Powell memo — had such nefarious consequences. *****For those of you who'd like to read it — and I recommend doing so, to get a full sense of its scope — I've included it here in its entirety:**CONFIDENTIAL MEMORANDUMAttack on American Free Enterprise SystemDATE: August 23, 1971TO: Mr. Eugene B. Sydnor, Jr., Chairman, Education Committee, U.S. Chamber of CommerceFROM: Lewis F. Powell, Jr.This memorandum is submitted at your request as a basis for the discussion on August 24 with Mr. Booth (executive vice president) and others at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The purpose is to identify the problem, and suggest possible avenues of action for further consideration.Dimensions of the AttackNo thoughtful person can question that the American economic system is under broad attack. This varies in scope, intensity, in the techniques employed, and in the level of visibility.There always have been some who opposed the American system, and preferred socialism or some form of statism (communism or fascism). Also, there always have been critics of the system, whose criticism has been wholesome and constructive so long as the objective was to improve rather than to subvert or destroy.But what now concerns us is quite new in the history of America. We are not dealing with sporadic or isolated attacks from a relatively few extremists or even from the minority socialist cadre. Rather, the assault on the enterprise system is broadly based and consistently pursued. It is gaining momentum and converts.Sources of the AttackThe sources are varied and diffused. They include, not unexpectedly, the Communists, New Leftists and other revolutionaries who would destroy the entire system, both political and economic. These extremists of the left are far more numerous, better financed, and increasingly are more welcomed and encouraged by other elements of society, than ever before in our history. But they remain a small minority, and are not yet the principal cause for concern.The most disquieting voices joining the chorus of criticism come from perfectly respectable elements of society: from the college campus, the pulpit, the media, the intellectual and literary journals, the arts and sciences, and from politicians. In most of these groups the movement against the system is participated in only by minorities. Yet, these often are the most articulate, the most vocal, the most prolific in their writing and speaking.Moreover, much of the media — for varying motives and in varying degrees — either voluntarily accords unique publicity to these “attackers,” or at least allows them to exploit the media for their purposes. This is especially true of television, which now plays such a predominant role in shaping the thinking, attitudes and emotions of our people.One of the bewildering paradoxes of our time is the extent to which the enterprise system tolerates, if not participates in, its own destruction.The campuses from which much of the criticism emanates are supported by (i) tax funds generated largely from American business, and (ii) contributions from capital funds controlled or generated by American business. The boards of trustees of our universities overwhelmingly are composed of men and women who are leaders in the system.Most of the media, including the national TV systems, are owned and theoretically controlled by corporations which depend upon profits, and the enterprise system to survive.Tone of the AttackThis memorandum is not the place to document in detail the tone, character, or intensity of the attack. The following quotations will suffice to give one a general idea:William Kunstler, warmly welcomed on campuses and listed in a recent student poll as the “American lawyer most admired,” incites audiences as follows:“You must learn to fight in the streets, to revolt, to shoot guns. We will learn to do all of the things that property owners fear.” The New Leftists who heed Kunstler's advice increasingly are beginning to act — not just against military recruiting offices and manufacturers of munitions, but against a variety of businesses: “Since February, 1970, branches (of Bank of America) have been attacked 39 times, 22 times with explosive devices and 17 times with fire bombs or by arsonists.” Although New Leftist spokesmen are succeeding in radicalizing thousands of the young, the greater cause for concern is the hostility of respectable liberals and social reformers. It is the sum total of their views and influence which could indeed fatally weaken or destroy the system.A chilling description of what is being taught on many of our campuses was written by Stewart Alsop:“Yale, like every other major college, is graduating scores of bright young men who are practitioners of ‘the politics of despair.' These young men despise the American political and economic system . . . (their) minds seem to be wholly closed. They live, not by rational discussion, but by mindless slogans.” A recent poll of students on 12 representative campuses reported that: “Almost half the students favored socialization of basic U.S. industries.”A visiting professor from England at Rockford College gave a series of lectures entitled “The Ideological War Against Western Society,” in which he documents the extent to which members of the intellectual community are waging ideological warfare against the enterprise system and the values of western society. In a foreword to these lectures, famed Dr. Milton Friedman of Chicago warned: “It (is) crystal clear that the foundations of our free society are under wide-ranging and powerful attack — not by Communist or any other conspiracy but by misguided individuals parroting one another and unwittingly serving ends they would never intentionally promote.”Perhaps the single most effective antagonist of American business is Ralph Nader, who — thanks largely to the media — has become a legend in his own time and an idol of millions of Americans. A recent article in Fortune speaks of Nader as follows:“The passion that rules in him — and he is a passionate man — is aimed at smashing utterly the target of his hatred, which is corporate power. He thinks, and says quite bluntly, that a great many corporate executives belong in prison — for defrauding the consumer with shoddy merchandise, poisoning the food supply with chemical additives, and willfully manufacturing unsafe products that will maim or kill the buyer. He emphasizes that he is not talking just about ‘fly-by-night hucksters' but the top management of blue chip business.”A frontal assault was made on our government, our system of justice, and the free enterprise system by Yale Professor Charles Reich in his widely publicized book: “The Greening of America,” published last winter.The foregoing references illustrate the broad, shotgun attack on the system itself. There are countless examples of rifle shots which undermine confidence and confuse the public. Favorite current targets are proposals for tax incentives through changes in depreciation rates and investment credits. These are usually described in the media as “tax breaks,” “loop holes” or “tax benefits” for the benefit of business. * As viewed by a columnist in the Post, such tax measures would benefit “only the rich, the owners of big companies.”It is dismaying that many politicians make the same argument that tax measures of this kind benefit only “business,” without benefit to “the poor.” The fact that this is either political demagoguery or economic illiteracy is of slight comfort. This setting of the “rich” against the “poor,” of business against the people, is the cheapest and most dangerous kind of politics.The Apathy and Default of BusinessWhat has been the response of business to this massive assault upon its fundamental economics, upon its philosophy, upon its right to continue to manage its own affairs, and indeed upon its integrity?The painfully sad truth is that business, including the boards of directors' and the top executives of corporations great and small and business organizations at all levels, often have responded — if at all — by appeasement, ineptitude and ignoring the problem. There are, of course, many exceptions to this sweeping generalization. But the net effect of such response as has been made is scarcely visible.In all fairness, it must be recognized that businessmen have not been trained or equipped to conduct guerrilla warfare with those who propagandize against the system, seeking insidiously and constantly to sabotage it. The traditional role of business executives has been to manage, to produce, to sell, to create jobs, to make profits, to improve the standard of living, to be community leaders, to serve on charitable and educational boards, and generally to be good citizens. They have performed these tasks very well indeed.But they have shown little stomach for hard-nose contest with their critics, and little skill in effective intellectual and philosophical debate.A column recently carried by the Wall Street Journal was entitled: “Memo to GM: Why Not Fight Back?” Although addressed to GM by name, the article was a warning to all American business. Columnist St. John said:“General Motors, like American business in general, is ‘plainly in trouble' because intellectual bromides have been substituted for a sound intellectual exposition of its point of view.” Mr. St. John then commented on the tendency of business leaders to compromise with and appease critics. He cited the concessions which Nader wins from management, and spoke of “the fallacious view many businessmen take toward their critics.” He drew a parallel to the mistaken tactics of many college administrators: “College administrators learned too late that such appeasement serves to destroy free speech, academic freedom and genuine scholarship. One campus radical demand was conceded by university heads only to be followed by a fresh crop which soon escalated to what amounted to a demand for outright surrender.”One need not agree entirely with Mr. St. John's analysis. But most observers of the American scene will agree that the essence of his message is sound. American business “plainly in trouble”; the response to the wide range of critics has been ineffective, and has included appeasement; the time has come — indeed, it is long overdue — for the wisdom, ingenuity and resources of American business to be marshaled against those who would destroy it.Responsibility of Business ExecutivesWhat specifically should be done? The first essential — a prerequisite to any effective action — is for businessmen to confront this problem as a primary responsibility of corporate management.The overriding first need is for businessmen to recognize that the ultimate issue may be survival — survival of what we call the free enterprise system, and all that this means for the strength and prosperity of America and the freedom of our people.The day is long past when the chief executive officer of a major corporation discharges his responsibility by maintaining a satisfactory growth of profits, with due regard to the corporation's public and social responsibilities. If our system is to survive, top management must be equally concerned with protecting and preserving the system itself. This involves far more than an increased emphasis on “public relations” or “governmental affairs” — two areas in which corporations long have invested substantial sums.A significant first step by individual corporations could well be the designation of an executive vice president (ranking with other executive VP's) whose responsibility is to counter-on the broadest front-the attack on the enterprise system. The public relations department could be one of the foundations assigned to this executive, but his responsibilities should encompass some of the types of activities referred to subsequently in this memorandum. His budget and staff should be adequate to the task.Possible Role of the Chamber of CommerceBut independent and uncoordinated activity by individual corporations, as important as this is, will not be sufficient. Strength lies in organization, in careful long-range planning and implementation, in consistency of action over an indefinite period of years, in the scale of financing available only through joint effort, and in the political power available only through united action and national organizations.Moreover, there is the quite understandable reluctance on the part of any one corporation to get too far out in front and to make itself too visible a target.The role of the National Chamber of Commerce is therefore vital. Other national organizations (especially those of various industrial and commercial groups) should join in the effort, but no other organizations appear to be as well situated as the Chamber. It enjoys a strategic position, with a fine reputation and a broad base of support. Also — and this is of immeasurable merit — there are hundreds of local Chambers of Commerce which can play a vital supportive role.It hardly need be said that before embarking upon any program, the Chamber should study and analyze possible courses of action and activities, weighing risks against probable effectiveness and feasibility of each. Considerations of cost, the assurance of financial and other support from members, adequacy of staffing and similar problems will all require the most thoughtful consideration.The CampusThe assault on the enterprise system was not mounted in a few months. It has gradually evolved over the past two decades, barely perceptible in its origins and benefiting (sic) from a gradualism that provoked little awareness much less any real reaction.Although origins, sources and causes are complex and interrelated, and obviously difficult to identify without careful qualification, there is reason to believe that the campus is the single most dynamic source. The social science faculties usually include members who are unsympathetic to the enterprise system. They may range from a Herbert Marcuse, Marxist faculty member at the University of California at San Diego, and convinced socialists, to the ambivalent liberal critic who finds more to condemn than to commend. Such faculty members need not be in a majority. They are often personally attractive and magnetic; they are stimulating teachers, and their controversy attracts student following; they are prolific writers and lecturers; they author many of the textbooks, and they exert enormous influence — far out of proportion to their numbers — on their colleagues and in the academic world.Social science faculties (the political scientist, economist, sociologist and many of the historians) tend to be liberally oriented, even when leftists are not present. This is not a criticism per se, as the need for liberal thought is essential to a balanced viewpoint. The difficulty is that “balance” is conspicuous by its absence on many campuses, with relatively few members being of conservatives or moderate persuasion and even the relatively few often being less articulate and aggressive than their crusading colleagues.This situation extending back many years and with the imbalance gradually worsening, has had an enormous impact on millions of young American students. In an article in Barron's Weekly, seeking an answer to why so many young people are disaffected even to the point of being revolutionaries, it was said: “Because they were taught that way.” Or, as noted by columnist Stewart Alsop, writing about his alma mater: “Yale, like every other major college, is graduating scores' of bright young men … who despise the American political and economic system.”As these “bright young men,” from campuses across the country, seek opportunities to change a system which they have been taught to distrust — if not, indeed “despise” — they seek employment in the centers of the real power and influence in our country, namely: (i) with the news media, especially television; (ii) in government, as “staffers” and consultants at various levels; (iii) in elective politics; (iv) as lecturers and writers, and (v) on the faculties at various levels of education.Many do enter the enterprise system — in business and the professions — and for the most part they quickly discover the fallacies of what they have been taught. But those who eschew the mainstream of the system often remain in key positions of influence where they mold public opinion and often shape governmental action. In many instances, these “intellectuals” end up in regulatory agencies or governmental departments with large authority over the business system they do not believe in.If the foregoing analysis is approximately sound, a priority task of business — and organizations such as the Chamber — is to address the campus origin of this hostility. Few things are more sanctified in American life than academic freedom. It would be fatal to attack this as a principle. But if academic freedom is to retain the qualities of “openness,” “fairness” and “balance” — which are essential to its intellectual significance — there is a great opportunity for constructive action. The thrust of such action must be to restore the qualities just mentioned to the academic communities.What Can Be Done About the CampusThe ultimate responsibility for intellectual integrity on the campus must remain on the administrations and faculties of our colleges and universities. But organizations such as the Chamber can assist and activate constructive change in many ways, including the following:Staff of ScholarsThe Chamber should consider establishing a staff of highly qualified scholars in the social sciences who do believe in the system. It should include several of national reputation whose authorship would be widely respected — even when disagreed with.Staff of SpeakersThere also should be a staff of speakers of the highest competency. These might include the scholars, and certainly those who speak for the Chamber would have to articulate the product of the scholars.Speaker's BureauIn addition to full-time staff personnel, the Chamber should have a Speaker's Bureau which should include the ablest and most effective advocates from the top echelons of American business.Evaluation of TextbooksThe staff of scholars (or preferably a panel of independent scholars) should evaluate social science textbooks, especially in economics, political science and sociology. This should be a continuing program.The objective of such evaluation should be oriented toward restoring the balance essential to genuine academic freedom. This would include assurance of fair and factual treatment of our system of government and our enterprise system, its accomplishments, its basic relationship to individual rights and freedoms, and comparisons with the systems of socialism, fascism and communism. Most of the existing textbooks have some sort of comparisons, but many are superficial, biased and unfair.We have seen the civil rights movement insist on re-writing many of the textbooks in our universities and schools. The labor unions likewise insist that textbooks be fair to the viewpoints of organized labor. Other interested citizens groups have not hesitated to review, analyze and criticize textbooks and teaching materials. In a democratic society, this can be a constructive process and should be regarded as an aid to genuine academic freedom and not as an intrusion upon it.If the authors, publishers and users of textbooks know that they will be subjected — honestly, fairly and thoroughly — to review and critique by eminent scholars who believe in the American system, a return to a more rational balance can be expected.Equal Time on the CampusThe Chamber should insist upon equal time on the college speaking circuit. The FBI publishes each year a list of speeches made on college campuses by avowed Communists. The number in 1970 exceeded 100. There were, of course, many hundreds of appearances by leftists and ultra liberals who urge the types of viewpoints indicated earlier in this memorandum. There was no corresponding representation of American business, or indeed by individuals or organizations who appeared in support of the American system of government and business.Every campus has its formal and informal groups which invite speakers. Each law school does the same thing. Many universities and colleges officially sponsor lecture and speaking programs. We all know the inadequacy of the representation of business in the programs.It will be said that few invitations would be extended to Chamber speakers. This undoubtedly would be true unless the Chamber aggressively insisted upon the right to be heard — in effect, insisted upon “equal time.” University administrators and the great majority of student groups and committees would not welcome being put in the position publicly of refusing a forum to diverse views, indeed, this is the classic excuse for allowing Communists to speak.The two essential ingredients are (i) to have attractive, articulate and well-informed speakers; and (ii) to exert whatever degree of pressure — publicly and privately — may be necessary to assure opportunities to speak. The objective always must be to inform and enlighten, and not merely to propagandize.Balancing of FacultiesPerhaps the most fundamental problem is the imbalance of many faculties. Correcting this is indeed a long-range and difficult project. Yet, it should be undertaken as a part of an overall program. This would mean the urging of the need for faculty balance upon university administrators and boards of trustees.The methods to be employed require careful thought, and the obvious pitfalls must be avoided. Improper pressure would be counterproductive. But the basic concepts of balance, fairness and truth are difficult to resist, if properly presented to boards of trustees, by writing and speaking, and by appeals to alumni associations and groups.This is a long road and not one for the fainthearted. But if pursued with integrity and conviction it could lead to a strengthening of both academic freedom on the campus and of the values which have made America the most productive of all societies.Graduate Schools of BusinessThe Chamber should enjoy a particular rapport with the increasingly influential graduate schools of business. Much that has been suggested above applies to such schools.Should not the Chamber also request specific courses in such schools dealing with the entire scope of the problem addressed by this memorandum? This is now essential training for the executives of the future.Secondary EducationWhile the first priority should be at the college level, the trends mentioned above are increasingly evidenced in the high schools. Action programs, tailored to the high schools and similar to those mentioned, should be considered. The implementation thereof could become a major program for local chambers of commerce, although the control and direction — especially the quality control — should be retained by the National Chamber.What Can Be Done About the Public?Reaching the campus and the secondary schools is vital for the long-term. Reaching the public generally may be more important for the shorter term. The first essential is to establish the staffs of eminent scholars, writers and speakers, who will do the thinking, the analysis, the writing and the speaking. It will also be essential to have staff personnel who are thoroughly familiar with the media, and how most effectively to communicate with the public. Among the more obvious means are the following:TelevisionThe national television networks should be monitored in the same way that textbooks should be kept under constant surveillance. This applies not merely to so-called educational programs (such as “Selling of the Pentagon”), but to the daily “news analysis” which so often includes the most insidious type of criticism of the enterprise system. Whether this criticism results from hostility or economic ignorance, the result is the gradual erosion of confidence in “business” and free enterprise.This monitoring, to be effective, would require constant examination of the texts of adequate samples of programs. Complaints — to the media and to the Federal Communications Commission — should be made promptly and strongly when programs are unfair or inaccurate.Equal time should be demanded when appropriate. Effort should be made to see that the forum-type programs (the Today Show, Meet the Press, etc.) afford at least as much opportunity for supporters of the American system to participate as these programs do for those who attack it.Other MediaRadio and the press are also important, and every available means should be employed to challenge and refute unfair attacks, as well as to present the affirmative case through these media.The Scholarly JournalsIt is especially important for the Chamber's “faculty of scholars” to publish. One of the keys to the success of the liberal and leftist faculty members has been their passion for “publication” and “lecturing.” A similar passion must exist among the Chamber's scholars.Incentives might be devised to induce more “publishing” by independent scholars who do believe in the system.There should be a fairly steady flow of scholarly articles presented to a broad spectrum of magazines and periodicals — ranging from the popular magazines (Life, Look, Reader's Digest, etc.) to the more intellectual ones (Atlantic, Harper's, Saturday Review, New York, etc.) and to the various professional journals.Books, Paperbacks and PamphletsThe news stands — at airports, drugstores, and elsewhere — are filled with paperbacks and pamphlets advocating everything from revolution to erotic free love. One finds almost no attractive, well-written paperbacks or pamphlets on “our side.” It will be difficult to compete with an Eldridge Cleaver or even a Charles Reich for reader attention, but unless the effort is made — on a large enough scale and with appropriate imagination to assure some success — this opportunity for educating the public will be irretrievably lost.Paid AdvertisementsBusiness pays hundreds of millions of dollars to the media for advertisements. Most of this supports specific products; much of it supports institutional image making; and some fraction of it does support the system. But the latter has been more or less tangential, and rarely part of a sustained, major effort to inform and enlighten the American people.If American business devoted only 10% of its total annual advertising budget to this overall purpose, it would be a statesman-like expenditure.The Neglected Political ArenaIn the final analysis, the payoff — short-of revolution — is what government does. Business has been the favorite whipping-boy of many politicians for many years. But the measure of how far this has gone is perhaps best found in the anti-business views now being expressed by several leading candidates for President of the United States.It is still Marxist doctrine that the “capitalist” countries are controlled by big business. This doctrine, consistently a part of leftist propaganda all over the world, has a wide public following among Americans.Yet, as every business executive knows, few elements of American society today have as little influence in government as the American businessman, the corporation, or even the millions of corporate stockholders. If one doubts this, let him undertake the role of “lobbyist” for the business point of view before Congressional committees. The same situation obtains in the legislative halls of most states and major cities. One does not exaggerate to say that, in terms of political influence with respect to the course of legislation and government action, the American business executive is truly the “forgotten man.”Current examples of the impotency of business, and of the near-contempt with which businessmen's views are held, are the stampedes by politicians to support almost any legislation related to “consumerism” or to the “environment.”Politicians reflect what they believe to be majority views of their constituents. It is thus evident that most politicians are making the judgment that the public has little sympathy for the businessman or his viewpoint.The educational programs suggested above would be designed to enlighten public thinking — not so much about the businessman and his individual role as about the system which he administers, and which provides the goods, services and jobs on which our country depends.But one should not postpone more direct political action, while awaiting the gradual change in public opinion to be effected through education and information. Business must learn the lesson, long ago learned by labor and other self-interest groups. This is the lesson that political power is necessary; that such power must be assidously (sic) cultivated; and that when necessary, it must be used aggressively and with determination — without embarrassment and without the reluctance which has been so characteristic of American business.As unwelcome as it may be to the Chamber, it should consider assuming a broader and more vigorous role in the political arena.Neglected Opportunity in the CourtsAmerican business and the enterprise system have been affected as much by the courts as by the executive and legislative branches of government. Under our constitutional system, especially with an activist-minded Supreme Court, the judiciary may be the most important instrument for social, economic and political change.Other organizations and groups, recognizing this, have been far more astute in exploiting judicial action than American business. Perhaps the most active exploiters of the judicial system have been groups ranging in political orientation from “liberal” to the far left.The American Civil Liberties Union is one example. It initiates or intervenes in scores of cases each year, and it files briefs amicus curiae in the Supreme Court in a number of cases during each term of that court. Labor unions, civil rights groups and now the public interest law firms are extremely active in the judicial arena. Their success, often at business' expense, has not been inconsequential.This is a vast area of opportunity for the Chamber, if it is willing to undertake the role of spokesman for American business and if, in turn, business is willing to provide the funds.As with respect to scholars and speakers, the Chamber would need a highly competent staff of lawyers. In special situations it should be authorized to engage, to appear as counsel amicus in the Supreme Court, lawyers of national standing and reputation. The greatest care should be exercised in selecting the cases in which to participate, or the suits to institute. But the opportunity merits the necessary effort.Neglected Stockholder PowerThe average member of the public thinks of “business” as an impersonal corporate entity, owned by the very rich and managed by over-paid executives. There is an almost total failure to appreciate that “business” actually embraces — in one way or another — most Americans. Those for whom business provides jobs, constitute a fairly obvious class. But the 20 million stockholders — most of whom are of modest means — are the real owners, the real entrepreneurs, the real capitalists under our system. They provide the capital which fuels the economic system which has produced the highest standard of living in all history. Yet, stockholders have been as ineffectual as business executives in promoting a genuine understanding of our system or in exercising political influence.The question which merits the most thorough examination is how can the weight and influence of stockholders — 20 million voters — be mobilized to support (i) an educational program and (ii) a political action program.Individual corporations are now required to make numerous reports to shareholders. Many corporations also have expensive “news” magazines which go to employees and stockholders. These opportunities to communicate can be used far more effectively as educational media.The corporation itself must exercise restraint in undertaking political action and must, of course, comply with applicable laws. But is it not feasible — through an affiliate of the Chamber or otherwise — to establish a national organization of American stockholders and give it enough muscle to be influential?A More Aggressive AttitudeBusiness interests — especially big business and their national trade organizations — have tried to maintain low profiles, especially with respect to political action.As suggested in the Wall Street Journal article, it has been fairly characteristic of the average business executive to be tolerant — at least in public — of those who attack his corporation and the system. Very few businessmen or business organizations respond in kind. There has been a disposition to appease; to regard the opposition as willing to compromise, or as likely to fade away in due time.Business has shunted confrontation politics. Business, quite understandably, has been repelled by the multiplicity of non-negotiable “demands” made constantly by self-interest groups of all kinds.While neither responsible business interests, nor the United States Chamber of Commerce, would engage in the irresponsible tactics of some pressure groups, it is essential that spokesmen for the enterprise system — at all levels and at every opportunity — be far more aggressive than in the past.There should be no hesitation to attack the Naders, the Marcuses and others who openly seek destruction of the system. There should not be the slightest hesitation to press vigorously in all political arenas for support of the enterprise system. Nor should there be reluctance to penalize politically those who oppose it.Lessons can be learned from organized labor in this respect. The head of the AFL-CIO may not appeal to businessmen as the most endearing or public-minded of citizens. Yet, over many years the heads of national labor organizations have done what they were paid to do very effectively. They may not have been beloved, but they have been respected — where it counts the most — by politicians, on the campus, and among the media.It is time for American business — which has demonstrated the greatest capacity in all history to produce and to influence consumer decisions — to apply their great talents vigorously to the preservation of the system itself.The CostThe type of program described above (which includes a broadly based combination of education and political action), if undertaken long term and adequately staffed, would require far more generous financial support from American corporations than the Chamber has ever received in the past. High level management participation in Chamber affairs also would be required.The staff of the Chamber would have to be significantly increased, with the highest quality established and maintained. Salaries would have to be at levels fully comparable to those paid key business executives and the most prestigious faculty members. Professionals of the great skill in advertising and in working with the media, speakers, lawyers and other specialists would have to be recruited.It is possible that the organization of the Chamber itself would benefit from restructuring. For example, as suggested by union experience, the office of President of the Chamber might well be a full-time career position. To assure maximum effectiveness and continuity, the chief executive officer of the Chamber should not be changed each year. The functions now largely performed by the President could be transferred to a Chairman of the Board, annually elected by the membership. The Board, of course, would continue to exercise policy control.Quality Control is EssentialEssential ingredients of the entire program must be responsibility and “quality control.” The publications, the articles, the speeches, the media programs, the advertising, the briefs filed in courts, and the appearances before legislative committees — all must meet the most exacting standards of accuracy and professional excellence. They must merit respect for their level of public responsibility and scholarship, whether one agrees with the viewpoints expressed or not.Relationship to FreedomThe threat to the enterprise system is not merely a matter of economics. It also is a threat to individual freedom.It is this great truth — now so submerged by the rhetoric of the New Left and of many liberals — that must be re-affirmed if this program is to be meaningful.There seems to be little awareness that the only alternatives to free enterprise are varying degrees of bureaucratic regulation of individual freedom — ranging from that under moderate socialism to the iron heel of the leftist or rightist dictatorship.We in America already have moved very far indeed toward some aspects of state socialism, as the needs and complexities of a vast urban society require types of regulation and control that were quite unnecessary in earlier times. In some areas, such regulation and control already have seriously impaired the freedom of both business and labor, and indeed of the public generally. But most of the essential freedoms remain: private ownership, private profit, labor unions, collective bargaining, consumer choice, and a market economy in which competition largely determines price, quality and variety of the goods and services provided the consumer.In addition to the ideological attack on the system itself (discussed in this memorandum), its essentials also are threatened by inequitable taxation, and — more recently — by an inflation which has seemed uncontrollable. But whatever the causes of diminishing economic freedom may be, the truth is that freedom as a concept is indivisible. As the experience of the socialist and totalitarian states demonstrates, the contraction and denial of economic freedom is followed inevitably by governmental restrictions on other cherished rights. It is this message, above all others, that must be carried home to the American people.ConclusionIt hardly need be said that the views expressed above are tentative and suggestive. The first step should be a thorough study. But this would be an exercise in futility unless the Board of Directors of the Chamber accepts the fundamental premise of this paper, namely, that business and the enterprise system are in deep trouble, and the hour is late. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe
James Howard Kunstler says he wrote The Geography of Nowhere, “Because I believe a lot of people share my feelings about the tragic landscape of highway strips, parking lots, housing tracts, mega-malls, junked cities, and ravaged countryside that makes up the everyday environment where most Americans live and work.”Home From Nowhere was a continuation of that discussion with an emphasis on the remedies. A portion of it appeared as the cover story in the September 1996 Atlantic Monthly.His next book in the series, The City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition, published by Simon & Schuster / Free Press, is a look a wide-ranging look at cities here and abroad, an inquiry into what makes them great (or miserable), and in particular what America is going to do with it's mutilated cities.This was followed by The Long Emergency, published by the Atlantic Monthly Press in 2005, is about the challenges posed by the coming permanent global oil crisis, climate change, and other “converging catastrophes of the 21st Century.” This was followed in 2012 by Too Much Magic: Wishful Thinking, Technology, and the Fate of the Nation which detailed the misplaced expectations that technological rescue remedies would fix the problems detailed in The Long Emergency.His 2008 novel, World Made By Hand, was a fictional depiction of the post-oil American future. It eventually became a four part series that included The Witch of Hebron, A History of the Future, and (forthcoming in June 2016), The Harrows of Spring.Mr. Kunstler is also the author of eight other novels including The Halloween Ball, An Embarrassment of Richesand Maggie Darling, a Modern Romance. He has been a regular contributor to the New York Times Sunday Magazine and Op-Ed page, where he has written on environmental and economic issues.Mr. Kunstler was born in New York City in 1948. He moved to the Long Island suburbs in 1954 and returned to the city in 1957 where he spent most of his childhood. He graduated from the State University of New York, Brockport campus, worked as a reporter and feature writer for a number of newspapers, and finally as a staff writer forRolling Stone Magazine. In 1975, he dropped out to write books on a full-time basis. He has no formal training in architecture or the related design fields.He has lectured at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Dartmouth, Cornell, MIT, RPI, the University of Virginia and many other colleges, and he has appeared before many professional organizations such as the AIA , the APA., and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.He lives in Washington County, upstate New York. Support the show
Author and raconteur James Howard Kunstler joins me for a wide-ranging talk about all things Bond Villain in this week's episode. Jim's unique perspective on the world is a welcome one as we try to piece together just how cartoonishly evil these Davos types are.You can find Jim at his website: www.Kunstler.comBlog : http:www.tomluongo.meTwitter @TFL1728
Tom welcomes a new guest to the show James Kunstler. James is a Podcaster, Painter, Author, and writer of the Blog "The Clusterfuck Nation." His book "Living in the Long Emergency" discusses the increasing complexity and fragility of our tech-based society. We seem to be closer to the end than the beginning of this stage of society. The customs and convenience we are accustomed to may go away for a time. We are reaching a point of diminishing returns as systems we depend on fail. The great recession of 2008-2009 and the bailouts were significant but paltry in comparison to the debt added in recent years. The West appears to have vastly underestimated the effects of sanctions. This is because Russia's economy is largely based on real goods and commodities that the West wants. The United States' chief export is the dollar and inflation. Therefore Russia is in a much better bargaining position. The U.S. has managed to blow up global trade arrangements that were deeply complex. The worlds manufacturing processes require fossil fuels and green energy is far from sufficient. Our leaders are operating with a lot of wishful thinking that is failing. We're not going to run suburbia and the interstate highway system on green energy. It's difficult to reach an overall consensus on what is happening and as a result, a plan to fix it is difficult to construct. We should focus on solving issues at a local level. Family-owned businesses are needed that will employ their neighbors. Driving hundreds of miles for goods is not going to be practical. Gold has been money for thousands of years and will remain so. When fiat currencies fail metals reassert their importance. We're seeing the importance of gold in Russia right now. You can either pay them in Rubles or gold and they will sell you Rubles if you have gold. The European countries aren't going to have much choice in the matter. The WEF has created a coordinated system in many Western nations. We see that in the lockstep response to the pandemic. We're experiencing some sort of 'mass formation psychosis' that goes contrary to rationality and reason. China has somewhat stayed on the sidelines through the latest crisis. James believes that the Chinese government and economy may not be that stable. A coming lack of capital investment due to our failing financial system won't help fix the energy deficits. A lot of people who are now rich will discover they aren't that wealthy. Time Stamp References:0:00 - Introduction0:58 - The Long Emergency6:33 - 2008 and Today10:16 - Debt, Russia, & Putin14:26 - Peak Stupidity?18:10 - Green Energy Issues23:50 - Grid Issues & Solutions26:00 - Weather and Farming29:26 - Now What?31:39 - Finding Local Solutions34:22 - Gold, Rubles, and Risk38:00 - Biden, WEF, & Schwab39:38 - Coordinated Crazy?43:07 - U.S. Weakness & China48:34 - Capital & Energy Solutions52:36 - Panic out of dollars?54:47 - Wrap Up Talking Points From This Episode Why our society is becoming increasingly fragile in the age of technology.Massive debts and the actual impact of the sanctions on Russia.Coming energy deficits and the need to return to a more localized economy. Guest Links:Twitter: https://twitter.com/JhkunstlerWebsite: https://kunstler.com James Howard Kunstler says he wrote The Geography of Nowhere, “Because I believe a lot of people share my feelings about the tragic landscape of highway strips, parking lots, housing tracts, mega-malls, junked cities, and ravaged countryside that makes up the everyday environment where most Americans live and work.” Home From Nowhere was a continuation of that discussion with an emphasis on the remedies. A portion of it appeared as the cover story in the September 1996 Atlantic Monthly. His next book in the series, The City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition, published by Simon & Schuster / Free Press, is a look a wide-ranging look at cities here and abroad,
Song: Pesach in the Ghetto Composer: Avi Kunstler Singer: Dani Kunstler At this time of year, when the Jewish people prepare themselves for Pesach, there's an obligation upon each one of us to tap into the lesson of these days. Throughout our history we have shown fight and resolve in the face of persecution. Yet the fight in us never quit and we are still here, growing stronger than ever. We should all merit to grow and become better people from the lessons learned from Pesach. Wishing you all a Chag Kosher v'Sameach. More content here: https://www.livinglchaim.com/ Follow us on social media for more behind the scenes looks: TikTok- https://www.tiktok.com/@livinglchaim Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/livinglchaim/ Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/livinglchaim LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/company/living-lchaim/ WhatsApp us feedback and get first access to episodes: 914-222-5513 Want to share the show with someone who doesn't have access to the internet or smartphones? Our brand new and free call-in-to listen feature is here:
This week, we finally get to the bottom of Tucker's architectural views and the potential implications therein. Then, we take a surprising detour with Tucker's views on the Unabomber, and meet James Howard Kunstler--a man who, according to Tucker, "should be read by everyone." Articles on right-wing architectural Twitter:https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/2018/08/how-architecture-themed-twitter-accounts-became-magnet-whitehttps://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/alt-right-architecture-notre-dame-racism-anti-muslimupport Ukranian media reporting on the war:The Kiev Independent Lesser-Known Ukrainian OutletsUkrainian Refugee AidThe Association for Legal Intervention If you know of other good ways to support Ukrainians, please email the show or tweet at us and we will update the list.Check out Our Website: www.tuckeredoutpod.comEmail the Show: tuckeredoutpod@gmail.comFind us on Twitter: @tuckeredoutpodJoin the Facebook Group: Woke-A-RistasSupport us on PatreonSupport us on Paypal: https://paypal.me/tuckeredoutpod?country.x=US&locale.x=en_US
When whistleblowers have been tried under the Espionage Act, the US government has successfully barred them telling the jury about what it is they are on trial for exposing. It's clear the US government is afraid of juries hearing about the realities of drone strikes, mass surveillance, torture, and other abuses of power. When war crimes are exposed, the government puts the truth teller in jail. The Belmarsh Tribunal, named for the notorious British prison where Julian Assange is being held, puts the real criminals on the docket. On February 25, 2022, the latest session of the Belmarsh Tribunal was held in New York City and featured Primary Sources host & DRAD policy director, Chip Gibbons, as well as Margaret Kunstler, Srecko Horvat, Jeffrey Sterling, Deborah Hrbek, Nancy Hollander & Mohamed Ould Slahi as speakers, among others. The event was sponsored by Defending Rights & Dissent, Progressive International, the Courage Foundation, The Intercept, and other organizations.In this bonus episode of the Primary Sources Podcast, hear the powerful voices of the Belmarsh Tribunal. To learn more about the Belmarsh Tribunal, visit https://progressive.internationalSupport the show (https://rightsanddissent.salsalabs.org/donate0)
James Kunstler, author of many enticing books, continues his conversation about the deteriorating urban condition -- will America survive this trend toward an unraveling society? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
James Kunstler, author of "The Geography of Nowhere," focuses on the deteriorating urban condition brought about in part by the "tragic landscape of highways and mega-malls." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this interview, Jeffery, Emily and Sarah talk about bringing more light to the aspects of history in America that don't get talked about as much, such as the Tulsa Massacre and the history of Francis Scott Key. There are also personal accounts from Jeffery, in dealing with racism as a child and the profound effect it had on him - in particular the time a basketball coach and Catholic school priest stood up for his rights, though he did not know until 30 years later. It's both a saddening and heartwarming look at the many facets of racial history in America, things that need to be widely discussed and examined but all too often are not. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/nancygandcorryg/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nancygandcorryg/support
There are those moments when you watch something, or learn something, that changes how you see not only yourself, but our history, along with the future, completely differently. That's how we felt about Who We Are, a new documentary featuring Jeffrey Robinson, produced by Robinson and our two guests: Emily and Sarah Kunstler. I feel fortunate to have first met both of these amazing women when Sarah and I were in law school together and have only this to say about the film: everyone should see it. Everyone. In this episode, we talk to Emily and Sarah about the impetus for this amazing documentary, why this conversation is so important, and additionally why it's imperative that EVERYONE understand our country's foundational struggles, as we move forward collectively. This isn't just a film about Black history. This is a film about our American history. We can't wait for you to hear more in their own words. What to listen for: The inspiration for Who We Are, stemming from Jeffrey Robinson's long-standing presentation - and what it was like for two White women to partner with a Black man to share his story and work Thoughts on cancel culture as it stands in society today How you can watch this eye-opening, accessible introduction to the true history of the United States About our guests: Emily Kunstler (Producer/Director/Editor) and Sarah Kunstler (Producer/Director) are the founders of Off Center Media, a documentary production company dedicated to racial justice and social change. Their film, William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe (Sundance '09, POV/PBS), was shortlisted for the Best Documentary Academy Award. The film is an examination of their father's life and choices, tracing his career as a civil rights lawyer and fighter for racial justice, as well his representation of society's most despised. Other Off Center Media films have contributed to campaigns to stay executions, convince decision makers to reopen cases, and exonerate the wrongfully convicted. For more on their work, please visit www.off-center.com.
It's Black History Month and one of the most memorable documentaries that we saw at last years South by South West (SXSW) is finally making it to the big screen in the Bay Area and beyond. Who We Are: The Chronicle of Racism in America should be required viewing and your girls at Bitch Talk have learned so much from it that we refer to it's teachings often. We revere this documentary so much and have the utmost respect for the work that Jeffery Robinson is doing that we said yes to a second interview with directors Sarah and Emily Kunstler and subject/writer Jeffery Robinson. Listen in as we discuss how Who We Are is changing the minds and thoughts of the people that have been watching it, how, in just under a year, the political landscape has made this films message that much more important, and the non-profit that rose from this project. If you'd like to hear our previous interview, click this link. And please, please go see this film wherever you can find it and bring some family and friends. It's a super important documentary filled with so many things to think and talk about. Support black makers. Follow the Who We Are Project on Instagram & Twitter Follow Jeffery Robinson on TwitterFollow director Emily Kunstler on TwitterFollow director Sarah Kunstler on Twitter--Thanks for listening and for your support! We couldn't have reached 600 episodes without your help! --Be well, stay safe, Black Lives Matter, AAPI Lives Matter, and thank you for being vaxxed and masked!--SUPPORT US HERE!Subscribe to our channel on YouTube for behind the scenes footage!Rate and review us wherever you listen to podcasts!Visit our website! www.bitchtalkpodcast.comFollow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.Listen every other Thursday 9:30 - 10 am on BFF.FMPOWERED BY GO-TO Productions
Le 20 janvier 1997, les pompiers de Saint-Quentin sont appelés pour un incendie au Grand Hôtel, un établissement réputé dans la région. Ils découvrent trois corps vraisemblablement tués à l'arme blanche : le directeur de l'hôtel, Léo Roupioz, sa compagne, Gisèle Kunstler et la réceptionniste. Ils découvrent également le groom enfermé dans le sous-sol. Il affirme que le tueur est Jean-Baptiste Hennequin, le veilleur de nuit. Ecoutez L'heure du Crime avec Jean-Alphonse Richard du 19 janvier 2022
Le 20 janvier 1997, au matin, deux employés du Grand Hôtel de Saint-Quentin, n'arrivent pas à rentrer dans le bâtiment. Ils utilisent un passe pour ouvrir la porte de l'hôtel. Ils montent à l'étage où le propriétaire Léo Roupioz dispose d'une suite, pénètrent dans la chambre et découvre le corps de Léo Roupioz, 72 ans, dans une mare de sang. A ses côtés, le corps de Gisèle Kunstler, 66 ans. Le commissariat de Saint-Quentin est aussitôt prévenu et des gardiens de la paix bouclent aussitôt l'hôtel. Dans la réserve, ils trouvent le groom enfermé dans la réserve. Le jeune homme choqué désigne immédiatement Jean-Baptiste Hennequin, le veilleur de nuit, comme étant le tueur. Ecoutez L'heure du Crime avec Jean-Alphonse Richard du 19 janvier 2022
Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America - Co-directors Emily and Sarah Kunstler - Writer and Subject Jeffery Robinson Interweaving lecture, personal anecdotes, interviews, and shocking revelations, in Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America, criminal defense/civil rights lawyer Jeffery Robinson draws a stark timeline of anti-Black racism in the United States, from slavery to the modern myth of a post-racial America. In Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America, Robinson faces his largest audience, asking all of us to examine who we are, where we come from, and who we want to be. Anchored by Robinson's Town Hall performance, the film interweaves historical and present-day archival footage, Robinson's personal story, and vérité and interview footage capturing Robinson's meetings with Black change-makers and eyewitnesses to history. From a hanging tree in Charleston, South Carolina, to a walking tour of the origins of slavery in colonial New York, to the site of a 1947 lynching in rural Alabama, the film brings history to life, exploring the enduring legacy of white supremacy and our collective responsibility to overcome it. Co-directors Emily and Sarah Kunstler and Producer / Subject Jeffery Robinson join us for a conversation on the why and how American social, political and economic “progress” is inextricably entangled with the 400 year long suppression of black people and the systemic racism supported by many of America's institutions. For in theatre and virtual go to: sonyclassics.com/film/whoweare For news and updates go to: thewhoweareproject.org More from the filmmakers at: off-center.com/who-we-are
The New York Times once labeled William Kunstler "America's most controversial lawyer." What earned him that distinction was his defense of the so-called "Chicago Seven," a group of young radicals who tried to disrupt the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. But the Chicago Seven were hardly Kunstler's most controversial clients. He also represented clients ranging from Jack Ruby to U.S. Marine and Russian spy Clayton Lonetree, to the man known as The Blind Sheikh, the man behind the World Trade Center bombing in 1993. I met William Kunstler in 1994, when he wrote his autobiography, a book titled My Life As a Radical Lawyer.
James tells Steven about the two non-cannon endings of Battle Angel Alita, draws comparisons between the James Cameron / Robert Rodriguez movie adaptation and the anime, as well as bring up how much the mangaka suffered from burnout. Over all, this was an amazing cyberpunk treat and it's fair to say both dudes have a crush on Alita. Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com 074: Battle Angel Alita vol. 9 Chapters 48 to 51 “No Brainer” and “Epitaph” By Yukito Kishiro Translation by Stephen Paul Lettering by Scott Brown Topics: Casting of the Alita: Battle Angel movie Indiskovar (indi 2.0) No Brainer (MIB, death of Bigot, Lou Collins fate) Ouroboros II (Nova, “Gentle Alita” or “Gally”) Last Blade (Koyomi, The photographer, Den) Epitaph (Things we forgot to mention, the ending, the author) The different endings to Battle Angel Alita. As the majority of readers will know by now, Battle Angel Alita ends on a type of tragic cliff hanger, this was confirmed as canon when the new series ‘Battle Angel Alita: Last Order' followed from the events of this chapter 51. For a long time, the canonical ending was deemed to be the one in the Playstation videogame ‘Gunnm: Martian Memory (a.k.a. Memories of Mars)'. The following is a brief summary on the two endings, we'll refer to the original as the Shueisha ending and the other as the Playstation ending. Note that both endings count as non-canonical but start off similar since they take place after chapter 51. The two are similar in that Alita is revived by Nova and wakes up to find herself in the city of Zalem, she recalls some memory of her past life, we discover that prior to meeting Ido she crash landed on earth as she was making an attack on Jeru. The attack was pre-empted by Gerude, who Alita narrowly escapes from. On Jeru, Alita makes it her goal to save Lou from the MIB and liberate both Zalem and Jeru from the control of Melchizedek, with Melchizedek being responsible for cutting off Earth from its space elevator and creating the brain to biochip initiation. It becomes clear that Melchizedek is an AI infected by some sort of virus. Shueisha ending: Melchizedek is suicidal and decides to collapse the space elevator, to save the scrapyard and Zalem from the cataclysm Alita uses the Imaginos body that Nova gave her and fuses herself to the main bolt. Effectively Alita sacrifices her life. A few years later, searching for answers to Alita's demise is an 18-year-old Koyomi, now a photojournalist. Koyomi travels to Jeru where she finds a much older looking and jaded Figure Four, the two come across a dishevelled and decrepit Nova who leads them to Alita's grave, now known as the ‘the tree of life' or the ‘Nanomachine tree'. Which was created when Alita transmuted into the space elevator. Both Koyomi and Figure break the seed of the tree and set free a flesh and blood Alita. She retains all her memories and is happy to be in the arms of Figure again. Playstation ending: Alita leaves Nova to find out what infected Melchizedek. Meanwhile she takes part in the tenth “Zenith of Things” tournament, which involves the strongest fighters in the solar system all competing with each other. It's during this time that Alita meets Gerude, and although Alita loses a fight to Gerude she is spared because he sees that Alita's Panzer Kunst is different. And he can see that Alita has now become a defender of Earth and its people. Gerude is eventually killed by another “Kunstler”, the main antagonist of the space arc, known as Zuoh, who calls his martial art “Panzer Faust” a newly developed form of Panzer Kunst. Zuoh intends to terrorise Earth and continue the terraformation war in spite of Melchizedek. Eventually with the help of a spy called Limeira, Zuoh is arrested by Martian authorities, putting an end to Mars' involvement in the terraformation war. During these events Alita revives a space ship for the sake of frontier exploration. And it's in this conclusion where Alita is about to set off with her friends and allies on the space ship, known as Leviathan 1, that she finds that due to the absence of Melchizedek, Jeru has been transformed to resemble the likeness of Desty Nova's face. Alita chooses to stay behind on earth. Making sure that Nova does not make earth a personal playground for his experiments. More Movie related topics: Tilly Lockey (So to sponsor the Alita movie, the designers at 20th century fox made designs for Open Bionics, as a representative of Open Bionics, Tilly wore the bionic arms on the red carpet, her previous arms were based on the Deus Ex: Human Revolution Videogame) Comparisons between the Original Video Anime and the Live Action Hollywood movie: Similarities Chiren is an original character from the '93 anime, played by Jennifer Connelly in the 2019 movie. She is a love interest for Ido and a sort of anti-villain. She plays a pivotal role in saving Yugo's life. Grewishka is a composite mix of the characters Kinuba and Makaku. He works for Vector and is played by Jackie Earl Hayley in the 2019 movie. Fang the Dog is killed by Grewishka, When Alita fights Grewishka she wears the dog's blood as war paint. There is no baby Koyomi involved in the fight. Megil (the werewolf) is absent from both stories. Differences Desty Nova manages to possess and control Grewishka and Vector. Making it clear that those who work for Nova are puppets to his will. Yugo first meets Alita whilst he is working on the wind turbine, whereas in the 2019 movie Yugo pushes her out of oncoming traffic. Clive Lee's role in the 2019 movie is reduced to a cameo, for all intents and purposes, Zapan functions as a composite role in place of Clive Lee. The 2019 movie includes Nyssiana who seems like an original character but is actually based on the Mutant Woman who appears in the manga. In the 2019 movie she accompanies Grewishka and Romo. Alita is given a Berserker body by Ido, in the 2019 movie she finds the Berseker body in the ruins of a Martian spacecraft. Zapan frames Yugo for murder. Koyomi does not appear in the '93 anime but appears as a teenager in the 2019 movie. She becomes a friend of Alita's through Yugo. Alita does not fight the hunter warriors in the Kansas bar, unlike the manga and the 2019 movie. In the 2019 movie, Murdock the dog master, appears during the underground Grewishka fight. He uses his cyborg dogs to aid Alita. The fact that Grewishka kills Fang is enough motivation for him. In the 2019 movie Zariki is a Motorball champion who gets his Grind cutters stolen from Yugo and Tanji. Eventually they are given to Grewishka. Unlike the '93 anime, Zariki is not a hired goon for Vector. It is Grewishka who serves that function, thus Grewishka survives the underground fight to die in Vector's office. The presence of Motorball is the largest difference between the anime and the live action Hollywood movie. In the 2019 movie Yugo teaches Alita how to play Motorball on the streets of Scrap Iron City. And in her first appearance on a legitimate Motorball track she faces a conspiracy to kill her. We also see a brief cameo of Jasugun. As with the original manga, Zapan loses his face when he crosses Alita for Yugo's bounty. This is absent in the '93 anime. Alita experiences flashbacks of her mission that involves the invasion of Zalem and her target being the villainous Desty Nova. Major differences from the Manga: By the end of the story Chiren's organs is packaged and ready to be transported to Zalem. Including her brain. Facebook - facebook.com/weappreciatemanga/ Instagram – weappreciatemanga.co.uk Twitter - @RealJamesFitton Website – Weappreciatemanga.com Email – Weappreciatemanga@gmail.com
Geopolitics & Empire · James Kunstler: There Will Be Revolt Against the Neo-Jacobin Program, We'll See the End of This #230 James Kunstler returns to Geopolitics & Empire for an update on the “long emergency” and how the neo-Jacobin program is faring. He believes we are in the midst of a mass hysteria with the […]
James Howard Kunstler is a writer and a critic of culture. I first saw him in the documentary The End of Suburbia which came out in 2004. You can find it on-line but what you find is an edited version. The longer version is the version I recommend. I learned from that documentary something called Peak Oil. James Howard Kunstler wrote several books along that topic including The Long Emergency in 2005, and a series of novels set in a post-oil future including A World Made By Hand, Witch of Hebron, A History of the Future, and The Harrows of Spring. In March 2020, he published. Living in the Long Emergency: Global Crisis, the Failure of the Futurists, and the Early Adapters Who Are Showing Us the Way.Mr. Kunstler was on my radio show in 2012. At that time we discussed his book Too Much Magic: Wishful Thinking, Technology, and the Fate of the Nation. Nine years ago we discussed Peak Oil, "Happy Motoring," and the coming collapse of an unsustainable experiment in living. Now here we are in 2021. Is what James Howard Kunstler wrote about then manifesting itself now? In other words, to be more direct, is the Covid pandemic, outside of the virus itself, but the lockdowns, the closure of businesses, the economic contraction connected at all with Peak Oil, and perhaps other peaks? That is why I invited James Howard Kunstler to be on Freedom Loves Company.
JH Kunstler talks architecture, collapse, Jews and art with Passer. Find Jim's Clusterfuck Nation effortposts on his website: https://kunstler.com/writings/clusterfuck-nation/ You can find many of his books on Amazon. See list here: https://kunstler.com/writings/books/
In this episode of Keiser Report, Max and Stacy look at the report released by the UK Public Accounts Committee which said No 10's response to the Covid-19 crisis has exposed UK taxpayers to “significant financial risks,” according to the BBC. In the second half, Max and Stacy continue their conversation with James Howard Kunstler of Kunstler.com about fifty years of fiat.
In this episode of Keiser Report, Max and Stacy look at the data showing ‘no resistance' to price increases, as money-printing and stimulus checks encourage Americans to pay whatever the price is without negotiation. In the second half, Max and Stacy chat to author James Howard Kunstler, of Kunstler.com, about his time as a news reporter on the day that Nixon shut the gold window in 1971.
On this fifth episode of Keiser Report's Summer Solutions 2021 series, Max and Stacy chat to James Howard Kunstler of Kunstler.com about the Fourth Turning of a rotting empire facing a Thucydides Trap. They look at the reversal of growth leading to a situation where there is not enough surplus wealth to service the debt, leaving a system in which debts are never expected to be repaid. The withering and reorganizing of international trade is underway as a consequence, hindering the ability of the US to project economic domination. And, finally, they examine the woke hysteria leading America down the path of idiocracy.
Konichiwa and guten tag readers / listeners and what I call my friends this particular episode is a cliffhanger however the topics discussed are very. 0:00 intro 2:00 eat this fucking soup motherfuker. 3:10 Chelsea gets recognized for her karaoke at Kunstler bar. 7:00 you can't judge art. 13:18 it was you that got me started 20:00 water your own grass.29:49 albums 35:15 vegan trap house/ endhttp://www.redbubble.com/people/amlozano9 https://society6.com/adrianlozano --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/adrian-lozano/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/adrian-lozano/support
This week I sit down with author and columnist James Howard Kunstler to break down the strange activity of the Davos Crowd and their Bond-villian-like plans to remake the world and make it safe of commies and eugenics.From bitcoin to the dairy farmers in upstate New York, James and I discuss the deurbanization trend that's occurring as a result of this idiocy and the mistakes a lot of folks are making moving to the suburbs.Show Notes:www.kunstler.com
Is America on the path to experiencing a small-town revival? A recent article by James Kunstler posits that, especially in the wake of COVID-19, we have entered into "an era of stark economic contraction that will change the terms of daily life in America." One major such change would be that our living arrangements will shift from focusing around big cities and suburbs back to small towns. We live in a society where the tendency is to scale up more and more; we’re going from the Walmart economy to the Amazon economy, which is likely a larger scale than we ever envisioned, and this would seem to be the total opposite of Kunstler’s thesis. How would his suggested “scaling down” happen, and would it be a rapid change or something that will follow the Amazon age—or is it perhaps something that will happen as a part of the Amazon age? This week on Upzoned, host Abby Kinney is joined by Strong Towns president Chuck Marohn as they "upzone" these questions—i.e., they look at them through the Strong Towns lens. They dive into the reasons why Kunstler suggests we might be facing an economic collapse (not quite as an apocalyptic event as the word “collapse” might imply), and they discuss the allure of small towns, especially in regards to quality of life. Then in the downzone, Chuck shares some exciting extraterrestrial news, and Abby is starting a thriving seed collection.
Our guest on this week’s podcast joins us from San Jose, California – Julie Kunstler, Senior Principal Analyst at Omdia. Julie is responsible for Omdia’s coverage of the broadband access industry, which we learn more about throughout the episode. We cover a wide range of topics, including Julie’s previous experience working with startups, her travels in Japan, the importance of broadband connectivity for all and which conferences she hopes to attend later this year.
Mike: I assure you there are fascists in the US. [Theme song] Nazi SS UFOs Lizards wearing human clothes Hinduism's secret codes These are nazi lies Race and IQ are in genes Warfare keeps the nation clean Whiteness is an AIDS vaccine These are nazi lies Hollow earth, white genocide Muslim's rampant femicide Shooting suspects named Sam Hyde Hiter lived and no Jews died Army, navy, and the cops Secret service, special ops They protect us, not sweatshops These are nazi lies Mike: One of the more pernicious lies I hear about US fascism is that it doesn't exist, particularly in the present day. So I'm here today with journalist and sociologist Dr. Spencer Sunshine, PhD from CUNY's Grad School. Spencer has written for Colorlines, Truthout, and The Daily Beast and has an organizing guide out through PopMob called 40 Ways to Fight Fascists: Street-Legal Tactics for Community Activists. Thanks for coming on the pod. Spencer Sunshine: Thanks for having me on the show, Mike. Mike: Of course! So Spencer's here to talk about the American Nazi Party; its successor, the National Socialist White People's Party; and its remnants today. So let's start with a brief history of US fascism before the American Nazi Party. Spencer: Sure, so fascism as an actual political current is about 100 years old in the United States. The first Nazi group, or Nazi cell, in the United States formed in 1922 by German expats in the Bronx. And there were probably earlier groups that were Italian Fascist groups. Like many radical political traditions that started in Europe, in the United States these were first brought to the country by immigrants from Europe. If we look further than that, if we use fascism as a broader term involving any organized white supremacist groups, of course we'd easily go back to the 1860s and the Ku Klux Klan and similarly styled far right groups go back in the United States well before that. So fascism is a longstanding political tradition in our country. It's a century old. The fact that people can't acknowledge this shows something interesting about the psyche of the United States where people just can't admit that there are radical political movements here, or that such a noxious political movement such as fascism could take fairly, what looks like permanent roots in our country. Mike: Okay, so let's talk about the American Nazi Party itself. How was it founded? What did it do? Spencer: So before the war there were two groups that were pro-Nazi. There was the German American Bund, who were tied to the Nazi Party in various ways; and an American group called the Silver Shirts. As you may imagine, during the war, nazism became taboo in the country. A lot of the leaders were arrested. After the war it took quite a while for, what then became neo-nazism, neo-nazi groups to establish themselves. There was a group called the National States Rights Party who mostly recruited from Klan members and were the core organizers for nazis, but they did not say on the– On the outside of the package it did not say that; although on the inside it was. So the American Nazi Party was sort of special because it was the first group to openly declare itself a nazi group and to, the phrase they used was, “raise the swastika,” to actually appear in public. You know, at the time they used the old stormtrooper uniforms, these brown uniforms with a swastika armband. You rarely see it these days, but this was pretty common through the early 90s for nazi groups to do this. So the American Nazi Party was founded in 1959. There was a precursor group in 1958 by George Lincoln Rockwell. He had done advertising; was very good. And came from a vaudeville family. This is a really crazy story, but Bob Hope was actually at his christening. He used these advertising techniques to form this group. It was designed to get media attention, and the idea was for him that conservatives could never become radical enough and could never really attract the people they needed. So by using this imagery, he could attract the kinds of people that he wanted, and he could use the presence of nazis– He used to say, “No one can ignore nazis marching in the streets.” –use this public image to gain media attention which he could then use as a recruiting tool. The party was never very big. It continued through the 60s. They did a lot of– It was almost an agitprop kind of project. The kind of murders that we associate with the nazi movement these days– They had punch ups at rallies and stuff. But the kind of violence and murders that we associate with neo-nazism these days did not come until later, which is an interesting thing. He was assassinated by a fellow party member in 1967. Right before then he had changed his organizing strategy. He had a very successful rally in Marquette Park, Chicago, which was actually against Martin Luther King's plan to desegregate. It was some of his late marches doing housing desegregation in Chicago. It was in an Eastern European neighborhood, a lot of Eastern European immigrants who were resisting Black Chicagoans from moving into their neighborhood. Thousands of people came to this rally. He then changed his tack a bit. He renamed the party the National Socialist White People's Party which is a mouthful, and we'll call it the NSWPP from now on. And he renamed the party newspaper to White Power which is the slogan we know today that he coined. So it was a move from being an antisemitic nazi party to kind of being an aggressive white nationalist party because it was the first time that he had drawn a lot of grassroots support. He was assassinated. He was replaced by his subordinate Matt Koehl. At first it was three people. It was Robert Lloyd, Koehl, and William Pierce (Who's important. He later formed his own party called the National Alliance. Mike: We'll talk about them in a bit. Spencer: And he wrote a very influential book called The Turner Diaries. These three that ran the party for a while, and then, what's a nazi party without a führer? Or tin pot führer at least? Kicks the other two out. And runs the party until his death a few years ago. In 1983 the party became called New Order and actually degenerated into a Hitler-worshipping, almost private Hitler-worshipping cult. It still exists. Koehl died a few years ago and was replaced by his subordinate Martin Kerr. Mike: So before we talk about the remnants today, I want to talk about some of the splinter groups that formed in the 70s. I'm thinking the second NSLF, the National Alliance that you mentioned, the NSPA, the NSWWP. Spencer: A mouthful of alphabet soup. Mike: Yes. Spencer: So the importance of Koehl taking control is that Rockwell was a very charismatic guy. A lot of his followers really adored him. They ended up fetishizing him almost as a god-like figure. The way they had– Some of them, you know, praised him the way they had Adolf Hitler before him. In the post-war period, people had started almost worshipping and sometimes literally worshipping Hitler and made altars to him and treated him as a kind of demigod. So Koehl did not have charisma and acted in ways that alienated most of his party membership. Over the years, especially between 1973 and 1974, a lot of the party members left; the active units, they called them units the chapters, left and formed their own groups. And this became very important because this is what laid the groundwork for there to be a decentralized neo-nazi movement in the United States, the kind of which we see today. So it laid the epistemological foundation for it because before there had been a single party, a single organization with chapters. Now there were all these separate groups that had different relationships with them and that could pursue different strategies. And they did pursue different strategies. So the first big split was in 1970 when William Pierce is kicked out. This takes a little while for the real splintering to happen. So the first group I'll talk about is the National Socialist Liberation Front because their influence can be felt today on the alt-right, on the terrorist wing of the neo-nazis today. It was originally the name was used in the late 60s as a college student group that William Pierce actually ran that was associated with the party. They were trying to take off the energy of the New Left. You know, there were a lot of liberation fronts was a popular name for armed new left groups. This was an attempt to recruit college students. It only got one good organizer which we can talk about later which was David Duke. It was never an independent entity. The name was revived in 1974 when, probably the best organizer in the United States, Joseph Tommasi, who was based in Los Angeles, was suspended by the party, and he founded his own group. They used the NSLF name. Mike: Can you talk about why he was suspended? Spencer: He was– There's a lot of discussion about this. Accusations that he was– Some of it was cultural clashes within the nazis. He was pulling off the counterculture. He had long hair. They didn't like to dress in uniform. They wore like fatigues and stuff. He was accused of bringing his girlfriends over to the party headquarters. Koehl was making all of the party members (They had bought their own headquarters. This was a time they still had physical headquarters was an emphasis.) sell their headquarters. They made all the chapters sell their headquarters buildings and give the proceeds to Koehl which angered a lot of people and caused a lot of these splits because the people themselves had bought them, and they just thought he was trying to enrich himself which he probably was. He was basically shutting the party down and making a cult around himself and taking all the money. But there was a very interesting– What probably really prompted it is– It's attached to the Watergate scandal. Someone in the C.R.E.E.P. (The group, the Nixon support group that got involved in Watergate, it was an acronym for them.) hired Tommasi's nazis to help get another far right, a little more moderate, party on the ballot in California to pull votes away from Republicans. This was the American Independent Party. It has a funny history. It comes out of the George Wallace campaigns earlier. Then later, I think Cliven Bundy from the Bundy ranch actually joined. Remnants of the party exist today and have attracted people from the militia movement. [Spencer's correction to this story: https://twitter.com/transform6789/status/1388206831630180362?s=19] Anyway, these nazis were hired by Republicans to get another far right party on the ballot to pull votes away in a certain election. I forget the details now. I'm sorry. The party– Koehl was angry that he had made this deal. This made the newspapers. It made the New York Times and stuff. This angered the party that he had done this without their permission. And they took money from it. So that may have been– A lot of more serious people think that was the actual reason for the initial suspension. And then there was a break when Tommasi formed his own group. The NSLF was important because they openly advocated armed resistance and bombings and such and did do a few of these, although rather moderate in Los Angeles. This was a break from the parent party which always stressed legality. While there had been violent currents in it, they were really kept kind of under the rug, and it was just a sort of wing of the party of certain people including William Pierce. And then Tommasi didn't last long, though. He was killed in a scuffle with members of the former party at his former headquarters. He accosted one and the guy had this kid, an 18-year-old, and he shot him. Tommasi again, another charismatic organizer, founded this group, but didn't last long. That group however did continue it had four different leaders and continued until 1986. James Mason, who we'll talk about later, joined that group after Tommasi's passing. Mike: Okay so that's the NSLF. What about the National Alliance? Spencer: The National Alliance is a group founded by William Pierce after he got kicked out of the NSWPP. He was flirting with Willis Carto, another major nazi leader who became, amongst other things, the main popularizer of Holocaust denial in America. They had a falling out. Carto had a falling out with everyone. Pierce founded– The group was originally the National Youth Alliance, then became the National Alliance. It was a membership based group. They tried to recruit professionals. Pierce had been an engineering professor out in Oregon before he joined the party. He was very articulate. He did not have the sort of crass approach, you know. He produced more sophisticated propaganda as well as sort of more interesting theoretical documents. So they continued. The remnants of the group exists today. They had up to a thousand members. They ended up having a huge group property out in West Virginia. It was the headquarters building. He lived there. He wrote a book in the 70s called The Turner Diaries which is a really badly written book. It's a fantasy novel about how some white supremacists will form a terrorist movement, and they will help promote a race war, through terrorism will promote a race war in America. And you know this will end up in the Day of the Rope where the white supremacists kill people of color and Jews and create a white ethnostate. It's a tremendously popular book around the world. It's sold up to a half a million copies. You can still get it today. It still inspires people today. So Pierce's group, they didn't do a lot of public actions especially till later in life. Although, their probably biggest rally was in 2002. It was a supposedly pro-Palestine rally in Washington, D.C., that blamed Israel for 9/11, and hundreds of people came to it. They tended to shy away from this stuff. But it was the biggest group, and the most serious group, in the United States for many years. After Pierce died, of course they tried to continue the group and everyone broke up into squabbling. One of the main organizers who's come out of it who's still active today is Billy Roper who's part of the Shield Wall project in Arkansas. I think there's one chapter left. The headquarters of the party still exists. There's been a bunch of legal fights with everyone engaged in lawsuits and various other physical conflicts with each other, and the group has sort of degenerated. So that's the second one, that's the National Alliance. Mike: Okay, so let's talk about–you actually mentioned this on Twitter kind of the other day–the NSPA. Spencer: The NSPA actually was another one of the early splinters that left in 1970. Led by a fellow named Michael Collin. [The name is actually Frank Collin -Mike] They were based in Chicago. They had seen or taken part in Rockwell's popular organizing in Marquette Park in the 60s, and they didn't understand why the party wouldn't follow up with that. And that's what they wanted to do. Again, there was a fighting over the headquarters building. They split off formed their own group. A very small group until they started having rallies in Marquette Park that were still resisting desegregation and attracted community support. Basically, no one wanted to side with this white community that did not want Black people to move in, and they became their champions. And part of the– The thing here is that people in the neighborhood, there were a lot of like Ukrainian immigrants, people who had been from countries that were occupied by the Nazis, who were pro-Nazi. A lot of the areas the Nazis occupied people, you know what I mean, supported them. There were a lot of people, basically, with collaborationist backgrounds, and they didn't have a problem with this. And the nazis championed their cause. And they would hold large rallies in Marquette Park. Some of them attracted thousands of people. They became most famous for the Skokie incident which apparently is being forgotten today by younger people. but was known to everybody in the United States of a certain age. The Chicago city tried to stop them from having their Marquette rallies by putting a bunch of legal barriers. They had to have a huge insurance– Had to take insurance out to do it that was unaffordable. So to get around this they threatened a march in Skokie, Illinois, which was a largely Jewish suburb, wealthy suburb. A lot of Holocaust survivors lived there. Skokie resisted them through legal means. Eventually the case went to the Supreme Court. It was in the national news for like a year or so. It started in 1977. Went to the Supreme Court. The ACLU championed it. The ACLU had been defending nazis before this but this became what they're famous for. Their most famous case. The Supreme Court upheld that local cities could not put unreasonable blocks such as insurance requirements on political groups from marching including nazis. They couldn't stop them from using particular symbols or something. They attempted to ban that. So everyone knew there were neo-nazis in America. It also made the NSPA briefly the most important nazi group, neo-nazi group in America, because at this point there was all these splinter factions from the NSWPP and were all vying to be the most important group or to set up, or attract other groups to them, or to lead coalitions of them. There were different formulations of this. They all had, you know, weird relationships with each other as they were doing this. So the NSPA, because of this lawsuit and the attention it got, became the most popular of these groups, and certainly the most well known of these groups briefly. It eclipsed even the parent party for a while. So that was probably the high point of attention of neo-nazism in America in the 70s. Although, throughout the decade, nazis would consistently make the newspapers. They were a very small movement; had maybe a thousand people in the movement in the US. It became, unlike in the 60s, newspapers, the media started to really love them. So there's tons of coverage of various nazi splinter groups in the various cities for all of their actions. There's a documentary film called California Reich. You can watch it on YouTube. We'll talk about it in a minute. It's about a group in California and such. There was lots of stuff like that. These two things weren't outliers. Mike: Okay, so– Spencer: So Collin– Oh there's a funny ending to it. Collin and his people, they started running for alderman and like city council in Chicago. Some of them did quite well, got like 16% of the vote. But quickly the party started to wane in popularity. Collin's subordinates wanted to get rid of him, so they rifled through his desk and found child porn of him with young teenage boys. They turn him in to the police. He was arrested for child molestation. It also came out his father was a Jewish man who had been in a concentration camp. So there was some real deep stuff going on here. Even though he was a successful organizer, right, against the odds. He went to jail. He was replaced by Harold Covington. We can talk about Covington if we want. He's important in the Greensboro Massacre and then died only a few years ago. Remained an organizer. And then Covington was replaced by someone else and the party frittered away. But yeah, there was a real plot twist in that one after Skokie. Mike: Okay, do you want to talk about the NSWWP? Spencer: Sure, so this was a group– This was the California leader Allen Vincent. He, like everyone else, broke off of the parent party. Founded– He was important cause he was– He wasn't a charismatic organizer, but he could attract followers, and he really liked to get in street fights just as a person. He was a good, stable organizer unlike a lot of these people. Did a lot of crazy rallies in San Francisco. So of course there were fights at his events. At one point he opened a bookstore I believe in the Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco on the same block as a synagogue that a bunch of survivors went to. His bookstore was quickly burned down. He worked with James Mason. Worked with him for a while between 1978 and 1980. Was the editor of his paper The Stormer. Briefly, after the NSPA star faded, his group became a national group. This lasted a few years and it faded away like many of these other groups. So he was well known for the documentary California Reich was filmed about his group while it was still a chapter of the NSWPP before he broke away and became the NSWWP, just to totally confuse anybody about these acronyms. Mike: The National Socialist White– Spencer: White Workers Party. The original group is the National Socialist White People's Party. His group is the National Socialist White Workers Party. Although you might think they're more of an anticapitalist group from the parent party that wasn't true. He lived quite a while through the late 90s. He popped back up in the late 90s, met Jeff Shoep who at the time was running the National Socialist Movement, and became his mentor for a brief period of time. Then he passed away. Mike: Now let's talk about the groups that exist today or the various remnants of it today. So I was going to start with Don Black and Stormfront. Spencer: So Don Black was originally in the National Socialist Youth Movement. It was sort of part of the parent party for people who were under eighteen. There were all these names of these other groups, so people didn't– Their membership card didn't say American Nazi Party or NSWPP. You know he left like many other people. Many neo-nazis, almost all neo-nazis from the 70s were in the party at least at first. That was everybody's entre into this world. So he had been involved in the Dominica debacle. This was in 1981. A group of white supremacists were hired to invade the Caribbean island of Dominica and overthrow the government. They'd made a deal with the– The leader had been deposed and they were going to allow the white supremacists to keep a base there. They were turned in, of course, by somebody, and they all went to jail including Don Black. Later however, he founded Stormfront. It was an early– It wasn't the first at all, but it became the first very popular neo-nazi website. The important thing, it had all these forums where people could have discussions. And it was publicly available, so it was easy for reporters, especially, to go look at the discussions and be able to quote from them which became very important for its visibility. And this was the biggest neo-nazi or white nationalist website really until The Daily Stormer I believe in 2016-2017. So now it's a bit– If you look at it, it's clearly a web 1.0 website and looks a little old school. But it's still the main popular site throughout the 90s and the 00s. And it's still I think for people who are probably gen X and older who are white supremacists, it's still the place that they hang out at. So it had a very important place in the– You know, nazis and other white nationalists have always had a hard time because they were locked out–especially before social media in the last few years even–they were locked out of mainstream platforms. And they need to have alternative platforms. Nazis are actually early adopters to the bbs. The first Nazi or white supremacist bbs opened in 1983. It was actually founded by a former member of Hitler Youth that moved to the United States. And so they were very early adapters to this technology because it was a way for them to get around the media block out. I mean even if they printed newspapers, they couldn't sell them at newsstands. You know even these weird tankie communist sects could sell their newspapers at least some newsstands. Mike: Right. Okay so next up, I guess his story intersects with Don Black's story. We'll talk about occasional political candidate, former Klan leader, former NSLF member David Duke. Spencer: So Duke was a member of the original college student NSLF. He essentially took it over. He was at a party conference in the early 70s, and at this conference, they said NSLF will be– The group itself is changing its name to the White Student Alliance and Duke will be the leader. And this is interesting because it shows Duke's evolution from an outright neo-nazi– He went to school in Louisiana and would go do these free speech– There was a free speech zone, and he would go sell the NSLF newspaper and give neo-nazi speeches. It was a big– You know, he was very well known on campus for this and attracted a lot of attention. There's pictures of him in a Nazi uniform demonstrating against one of the lefty Jewish lawyers Kunstler who had gone to speak at his school. He had a sign that said “Gas the Chicago Seven” who was this left leaning, it was this left leaning political trial in the late 60s. So he took over this new group, and the group kept evolving. So it's originally the National Socialist Liberation Front; then it's the White Student Alliance; then it's the White Youth Alliance; and then it's the Nationalist Party. And then he forms a Ku Klux Klan group or joins one, it's a little vague, the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. And this is important because it shows his evolution from a nazi to a kind of white nationalist youth organizer– to a white nationalist student organizer to a white nationalist youth organizer to just a white nationalist organizer. So each time the pool is rippling out, and he's trying to find the right formula that attracts the most people, from very niche to much broader. He becomes– So he forms this newfangled Klan group that doesn't wear hoods, and he's very good with media. This was sort of a new thing to have somebody appear in media who was dressed nice and could talk well, wasn't trying to– You know, Rockwell had waved swastikas in people's faces and was trying to infuriate them, and Duke was doing exactly the opposite. Became very successful. Was very young. He was still in his twenties. He was running one of the more successful Klan groups. One of the things he's remembered for today, he started a Klan Border Watch on the California border to attempt to patrol for illegal immigrants. There he was working with Tom Metzger who later became popular for other things as well as Louis Beam. These were two white supremacist leaders in the 80's who promoted armed struggle. Were the most militant leaders. Started out in Duke's Klan. And as well as Don Black. And I believe Duke married Black's ex-wife. They were all entangled in these ways. So after the Klan stuff he starts running for office in Louisiana and does quite well. And at one point is elected state representative in Louisiana in 1989. This is sort of the high point of the wave of conservatism that goes along with Reagan's reign of power from 1980 to 88, which continues with Bush I to 92. There becomes a revival of popular mainstream American racism. And sort of white flight that had started is very ensconced. There's all these racial conflicts in the late 80s and early 90s like Howard Beach and the Hasidic Jewish and Black riots in Crown Heights. So there's an incredible amount of violent racial tension in the country at the time, and so he's sort of taking advantage of this. He runs for other offices, does quite well, but can't get elected again. And then he's mostly well known for this, and it's the slow burn for the next few decades. He was at Charlottesville which was an interesting moment. To me, this was a sort of handing of the torch from from him to Richard Spencer as the mainstream white nationalist leader. That's how I saw what went on. Although, you know, they didn't actually rally at Charlottesville. The rally itself was dispersed by the police before it began. There was no speeches or ceremony which he could do this, although there was some speeches in a park later. Mike: Let's talk about the National Socialist Movement. Spencer: Yes. The NSM was yet another splinter party. It was formed in 1975 by people who again had come out of the NSWPP. Robert Brannan was its leader. They were sort of going in different directions at the same time. Some of the elements, which included James Mason as well as a guy named Greg Hurls, wanted a more pro-armed struggle line. They were very close to the NSLF. Brannan wanted a more sort of traditional thing, what was called the “uniform and demonstrate” which meant that they would get people in nazi uniforms and hold a rally in public and attract a lot of media attention. People would come and protest and that would just spur that. One of the things they did–they were based in Ohio, southern Ohio–they used to hold a “Free Rudolph Hess” rally I think for over a dozen years in Cincinnati. He was a Nazi leader. He had parachuted to Britain with the intent of creating a peace deal with the British in the early 40s I believe, and then remained imprisoned until his death. I think he committed suicide in the– I think he died in the late 80s early 90s. He lived a long time in Spandau Prison. So this group had some popularity in the early-mid 70s. There was of course splintering of this as Mason left it and went to work with Allen Vincent's group. And it remained a tiny group with one or two units until the 90s when the then-leader, second leader Clifford Harrington, recruited a teenager named Jeff Shoep. Harrington wasn't a great organizer, but he did, unlike some people, understood there was a revival in neo-nazism in the 80s and 90s through the skinhead thing and wanted to recruit nazi skinheads. Got Shoep to take the party over for him, and then Shoep grew it into the leading neo-nazi party in the United States. It had dozens of chapters in the 00s in particular. I think around 2006 was its height which is a very unusual time for it to be successful. Partly they were pulling from the rest of the movement. The National Alliance collapsed, and other groups in the movement collapsed and they were able to sort of steal their local units and absorb them. But that group still exists today. They were at Charlottesville. They make the news. They just were in the news. There was a rally in Arizona. They're the main group, if you want a nazi group that's going to go and march in uniforms or use nazi symbols–instead of the old brownshirt uniforms, they use black uniforms–and put swastikas on a flag to get attention, that's the group that will do that. So they are on their fourth leader now, Burt Colucci I believe, who like many of them just got arrested. A number of the members have murdered people over the years. A lot of people who– They're sort of the least together group. Yeah they're the kind of group that if you have some sort of countercultural affiliation, if you're not interested in being a professional organizer that you might want to join, if you're a biker, if you're like a skinhead, and if its important for you to have a card saying you belong to a nazi party and you want to yell at people in public that you're a nazi and beat your chest about that and talk about how much you love Adolf Hitler, this is the group for you. It's not a sophisticated organizing project. Mike: Alright, so you have a book in the works about this next one. Let's talk about James Mason, Universal Order, and Siege. Spencer: So I've been working on this book for a while. One day it will be done. James Mason was a teenage member of the American Nazi Party in the 1960s although he never met Rockwell. His mentor in the party was William Pierce. So he met Pierce when he was I believe sixteen years old. Pierce let Mason, who was having a hard time at home, run away from home and stay with him at the party headquarters. Taught him how to– Or got him to learn how to use a printing press which was important before computers. A lot of groups would physically produce their own newspapers themselves with their own printing presses. This helped him out since it was very difficult for nazis to find a printer that would print their publications. So he was in the American Nazi Party. He was in it as it became the NSWPP. He hung around for a while and didn't leave until later. But then he ended up starting to join these other splinter groups while staying in the party. He left in 76. By that time he had already helped form the NSM, and he had also joined secretly the NSLF. This was after Tommasi died, so under the second leader. And he was a supporter of the National Alliance. So at one point, he's a super insider who's like a member of four different neo-nazi parties. And he's always wrangling in the mid 70s as the different groups try to create– try to become the lead group or create an alliance of different groups to overtake the NSWPP. What unites them is that they all hate Koehl who's that leader. They can't do it, as I said before. The NSPA become the leader for a moment because of the Skokie incident. Mason fought with everyone. He did this thing you see from some activists who are sort of sectarian, is they get more and more theoretically specific and crankier and crankier; they fall out with more and more people until they run a project that's really just them and whoever is helping them directly. So he has a falling out with the NSM, and he joins Allen Vincent's group. Runs his newspaper, but he doesn't really like Vincent because he's not radical enough. Mason is deciding more and more that it's hopeless to do public organizing. He comes up with some very strange ideas, not just that nazis should engage in guerilla warfare, but at the time there starts to be these nazi serial killers. Nazis start doing these multiple murders, like Joseph Paul Franklin are serial killers. He killed up to 22 people. He was another former NSWPP member. Roved around he country as a sniper killing mixed race and other couples– Mixed race couples and others, Black people, Jews. And other people just start butchering people, either just doing these random murders or doing workplace massacres. One of the first of them was in New Rochelle by Fred Cowan in New Rochelle, New York. It's just north of New York City in 1977. And there's a lot of serial killers at this time. It's the height for serial killers in America. And so Mason comes up with this theory that not just is guerilla warfare good but these racially based murders are good by nazis and by others. And that the nazis can use them as an attempt to destabilize the system–he starts calling it the system–because nazis can never work through legal means to build a party that will be able to take over the system. He's like every time we try to do this, we get shut down. We either get shut down in the streets, or the courts shut us down, or just shut out of the media. That had been Rockwell's strategy was to attract media attention and build an organization. He's like, “We can't do any of that. We really don't need organization. We need mass chaos to disrupt the system, and only after the system is disrupted will nazis have a chance to take power. He eventually later on starts to praise armed radical left and Black nationalist groups who are coming into conflict with the system, which he doesn't in the 70s but he starts doing it in the 80s. So he has a falling out with Vincent. The NSLF, this is revived under its third leader in 1980, becomes public again. It had actually been absorbed into Allen Vincent's group and then it comes back out as a separate group. He restarts Siege. It's originally the NSLF newspaper. It's sort of their theoretical paper. But it's just him running it, and he's developing these ideas about how murder can be used to forward the nazi cause. Then he comes into contact with Charles Manson. Starts to promote that Manson should be the new nazi guru, just like George Lincoln Rockwell had been, just like Adolf Hitler had been. Portrays him as this spiritual racist figure. Manson had carved a swastika in his head in prison and was sympathetic. He mentions– A lot of people don't know he was extremely racist and antisemitic. This creates yet another tiff between James Mason and the people he's working with. The leader of the party at that point, the fourth leader Karl Hand, who by the way is a big fan of yours. Can I tell a story on your podcast? Mike: Yeah. Spencer: So do you know about the interest of Karl Hand in you? Mike: No. Spencer: Oh you don't? So I actually wrote– As part of this book, I'm writing people who were involved in this movement. And Karl Hand lives upstate, runs a party called the Racial Nationalist Party of America, and he was based for a long time in upstate New York. He is obsessed with you, Mike. After your appearance on Tucker Carlson, he wanted to have a fight with you. Like some sort of, go into a boxing ring, and have a fight. He's an older man now, he's in his 70s. And so I wrote him, and he sent back a whole packet of literature and it included a flier about you with a description of his attempts to contact you and arrange a fist fight with you. Mike: Huh… Spencer: So you have a fan. You have a fan. I think he said he wrote to the school you were teaching at. Anyways you have a fan in this generation of neo-nazis. And so, anyway, Hand and Mason had a falling out. In what must have been unique in the anals of– the annals? I don't know. You can see I read a lot and don't know how to say certain words. In the history of American neo-nazism, they had an amicable split. Hand actually gave Mason some money to continue Siege. So after 1982 until 1986 Siege is just run by James Mason. It's a very small. It's like a newsletter. He printed it himself. It was six pages long. There was almost no graphics in it. It had a sort of red– It doesn't– Although Mason was a talented graphic designer, I think, it was very plain. It was mostly text. It had a red banner that was it. He ran it off on his own mimeograph machine. Made like 75 copies of it. So this small newsletter that was running 75 copies will become quite influential in retrospect. He ran this till 1986. After the split with the NSLF in 1982, Mason started saying it was published by the Universal Order which directly said that Charles Manson was their spiritual leader. Although, he didn't talk about Manson that much. He never describes what Manson's supposed to do other than, they're not just a neo-nazi group. It's neo-nazism and more. It was a kind of really spiritual national socialism. Although, he's never specific about what that means. But he clearly has been enchanted by Charles Manson and essentially become a follower of him. So this sort of peters out. He becomes more and more cynical. He even gives up that these random murders are going to do anything. He doesn't think that the system will be able to be destabilized, but he does advocate–and this is what's influential today– He says, “Either you can drop out and wait through the apocalypse,” you know that's coming. He becomes convinced that the whole system is going to crumble. And this sort of pessimism is very popular in the 80s across the political spectrum. Partly driven by the Cold War and the survivalist movement. But he says, “You can hide out and wait for the end to come, and then live through it, and we'll have our chance. Or if you're going to go be a terrorist, do it with style. Do it in a way– Don't just kill somebody and be killed. Do it in a way that has panache, and that will inspire people, and that's done well. Plan it well. Don't just freak out and shoot somebody and be killed by the police.” And this philosophy is what becomes popular with Atomwaffen remnants and others today. Like these are your two options. I think it was called “Total attack or total drop out.” By 1986, he's pretty burned out, and that's the end of it. Basically in short order, his book becomes– His newsletters become found by people in the industrial music scene, by Boyd Rice, who's this industrial musician, who's still alive today, and that denies all of this stuff that happened. He recruits several other people. He's in contact with Adam Parfrey, who founded Feral House Press which is still around today; [Michael] Moynihan, who was an industrial and then neo-folk musician; and Nicholas Schreck, a Satanist who's married to Anton LaVey's daughter Zeena. They all work to promote James Mason. They start publishing him in various things. Moynihan takes the newsletters and turns them into a book.which he publishes. It's an anthology of the newsletters. He publishes them himself called Siege in 1993. It becomes a cult classic. It's promoted by this network of people. Basically it's part of the punk rock and assorted underground music and cultural scene, there was a real right wing edge to it, part of which is a predecessor to the alt-right. People like Jim Goad who was the direct inspiration for people like Gavin McInnes of the Proud Boys. There's a lot of nazi imagery circulating, so actual nazis can function in the scene, and it's never clear who's using nazi imagery ironically, or with some interest in nazism but they're not an actual nazi, and who's an actual nazi. It's very unclear, and in this confusion, they can hide, circulate their things, and get some attention. And they do get attention with this book. It gets– There are interviews and it's covered in the alternative weekly newspapers, which were very popular at the time since the internet wasn't what it is now, many which had circulation in tens of thousands in different cities. So they were able to use this network to popularize James Mason's ideas. The book goes out of print. Gets reprinted in 2003 by a fellow in Montana. And he keeps it in circulation, and then it gets picked up with the alt-right, with the Iron March platform which is a discussion board that all these contemporary terrorists, alt-right terrorist groups, neo-nazi terrorist groups come out of, Atomwaffen and others come out of. And they reprint the book yet again. It continues to be circulated as a pro-terrorism cult classic. Mike: So do you think there are any other individuals or groups worth mentioning? Spencer: There are like scattered ones. There's a guy named Rocky Suhayda, I believe is his name who runs a group called the American Nazi Party. It used to get a lot of attention because he was good at using social media and various internet media. So people could always quote him and say the American Nazi Party says X or Y. Although, he was just a random NSWPP member. Art Jones came out of the party while he was in Chicago, and he's a sort of perennial candidate there. But in 2016, the Republicans failed to run someone against him in the primary. It was in a heavily Democratic district. And so in lieu of that he became the Republican candidate for– I forget what it was, US rep or something. And he's a nazi, a Holocaust denier. And so this was all in the news, you know “How is a Holocaust denier the Republican candidate?” This had been– This was a strategy that Nazis developed in the 70s. They would run for offices. Until the late 70s, it was a much more kind of benign movement in a way, not ideologically, but in their tactics, they had not moved into this murderous terrorism phase until a little later on. And so he continues that kind of– It's actually a toolbox of tactics that go back into the 60s: doing things that are kind of publicity stunts to get attention, one of which is running for office. So briefly Jones got in the press. He was in the press again. He tried to run again in 2020, but the Republicans finally like, they put somebody up. I mean, this is the problem, parties have limited resources. If you're putting someone up just to defeat somebody else in the primary even though you know you won't win in the general, that's a waste of your resources. It shows how nazis and other white supremacists can sort of drain resources from the mainstream in an attempt to just not let them get a foothold in the various places that they're trying to– In the various little cracks they're trying to stick their fingers in. Mike: And you mentioned Harold Covington. Do you want to talk about him too? Spencer: Sure. Covington died a couple years ago but had some influence even on the alt-right. He was again a member of the NSWPP. He had taken over the NSPA from Collin after he'd gotten Collin arrested for being a child molester and exposed him as of Jewish descent. Ran that party for a bit. He was also– Some members of his party–he was in North Carolina–took part in the Greensboro massacre in 1979 where a joint group of nazis and Klansmen had killed communists who unwisely held a “Death to the Klan” march but were not prepared for what they had prodded. He ran for attorney general around the same time in North Carolina, state attorney general, and got 40% of the vote. There are a few other instances like this where neo-nazis were able to get a huge amount of votes around this time period. This is around the period where Duke's– Well Duke's elected later, I guess. So he goes to this– He does all this crazy stuff. He goes to Africa to fight in Rhodesia. He was this contentious fellow. Had falling outs with everyone. Moves to the Pacific Northwest, and becomes the last of this old guard of people who are advocating the states in the Pacific Northwest, which are overwhelmingly white, break off from the rest of the country and form a white ethnostate. His last group was called the Northwest Front which I believe still exists today. And they would both advocate this idea, try to get involved in the various– There's a regionalist/independence movement called Cascadia that wants to break some of that area off, but it wants a kind of lefty leaning, ecological state or regionalist entity, and so he tried to give that a specifically racist cast. So this created, again, a lot of these groups in the Cascadian movement, whatever you think about it (There's a lot of kooks.) they had to move and take their resources just to fight the white nationalists within their ranks, to make sure the white na– Because it was popular. You go to Portland; you see people with Cascadian flags on their porches and stuff. There's a sort of intuitive popularity for it there. So they then had to redirect resources to fight against these people, to show that they weren't racist. It might have been good in a way because it forces groups to commit to an anti-racist stance. The presence of white nationalists sometimes does shape up these majority groups to affirm anti-racism. So maybe there is a silver lining to that. Mike: Dr. Sunshine, thank you again for coming on The Nazi Lies Podcast. You can keep up to date with Dr. Sunshine's writings through his newsletter the Sonnenschein Update which you can find on his website. And you can donate to his Patreon. It's also on his website, spencersunshine.com. This has been real fun. Hope we can have you back again for a book release. Spencer: Yeah, it was great chatting with you as always, Mike. [Theme song]
Veteran civil rights attorneys Margaret Ratner Kunstler discuss the extreme importance in the case of Julian Assange, why Attica matters 50 years after the rebellion and their long association and work with the legendary National Lawyers Guild, both of whom are past recipients of NLG's prestigious award.
Selbst Vincent van Gogh war sich nicht sicher, ob seine Kunst wirklich wert ist, was sie kostet! Lass uns gemeinsam tiefer in dieses Thema eintauchen und über folgende spannende Fragen sprechen: Wie wählen Kunstvermittler:innen (Galeristen:innen) Kunst aus, was sind die eigentlichen Kosten für die Kunstler:innen und welche Wertschätzung bringen wir als Gesellschaft der Kunst entgegen?Instagram: @wegederkunstMail: info@wegederkunst.comWebsite: www.wegederkunst.com Mehr zu uns: Instagram: @theothercaraMail: info@theothercara.comWebsite: www.theothercara.com Instagram: @smart_collectorsMail: info@smart-collectors.comWebsite: www.smart-collectors.com
Celebrating two tremendous documentaries on this episode: the first is Emily and Sarah Kunstler's new film "Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America" which just won the Audience Award at SxSW; and Harry Mavromichalis returns to discuss his documentary "Olympia" about the iconic actor Olympia Dukakis. That is available to stream on most platforms.
If you thought you knew about our country's troubling past, think again. Thankfully, Jeffrey Robinson has come to our rescue, to fill in the major gaps (we're talking Grand Canyon sized gaps) in America's history of racism. The SXSW documentary Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America, is probably the most important film that we, as Americans, can watch in this moment. And this conversation with co-directors Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler, and the film's subject/writer, Jeffrey Robinson, has left us with a lot to reflect on, and a lot of work to do. So have a listen, support this film, and visit the Who We Are Project for more information.You can follow the Who We Are Project on Instagram & TwitterYou can follow Jeffrey Robinson on TwitterYou can follow director Emily Kunstler on TwitterYou can follow director Sarah Kunstler on Twitter--Be well, stay safe, Black Lives Matter, AAPI Lives Matter, and thank you for wearing a mask. --Buy us a cup of coffee!Subscribe to our channel on YouTube for behind the scenes footage!Rate and review us wherever you listen to podcasts!Visit our website! www.bitchtalkpodcast.comFollow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.Listen every other Thursday 9:30 - 10 am on BFF.FMPOWERED BY GO-TO Productions
In today's episode, we're joined by author and Renaissance Man, James Howard Kunstler. James has long anticipated the current societal disorder which he calls “The Long Emergency”. Do yourself a favor and sign up for his free newsletter: https://kunstler.com/ Kunstler's Books discussed in this episode: World Made by Hand: https://www.amazon.com/World-Made-Jam... Living in the Long Emergency: https://www.amazon.com/World-Made-Jam... Join our telegram group and submit your question there. https://t.me/dougcasey Doug Casey Phyles: Opportunities to Meet Up in Real Life: https://meetu.ps/c/4LzC8/FWRHs/a Email list: https://smith.substack.com/p/doug-cas... 00:00 Intro to James 4:41 society is fragile 8:30 Foxfire 10:21 Transportation & food supply chains 13:44 Destruction of middle class 18:15 Extinction 23:13 Renaissance man - painting 27:31 Momentum 30:09 Criminals 37:14 Great Reset 45:35 The people around you 50:01 racial strife 54:40 vacuum for new leadership 1:01:40 business opportunities 1:03:30 skills
In this episode, Sara Joy interviews Eric about the book Home From Nowhere by James Howard Kunstler. Published in 1996, this book remains incredibly relevant for the place where we find ourselves today as we confront a rising decline of shared, civic life. In fact, Eric has referred to Kunstler as a "lawless prophet." This prophetic voice of Kunstler rings clear as we consider the ways our cities have fostered our disconnection from time and place, leaving us "home from nowhere."Kunstler, an artist in several respects, makes a case for retaining value judgements when it comes to creating places of beauty and civic art. He argues that there are patterns innately pleasing to human beings and we do well to recognize this truth and build places accordingly. To do so, honors who we are and our connection to the past and the future as participants in a larger story. He also asserts that we live in the tension of desiring beauty, yet being constantly faced with the reality that beauty fades. Continuing to produce beautiful, civic art and civic spaces, however, is an avenue for developing the connective tissue that provides for civil society. Kunstler believes we need to rebuild our cities to make them worth caring about, which means valuing public space.He unpacks this call more through his discussions of charm, shame, freedom, and responsibility, throwing some new ideas and curve balls around what he thinks these words truly mean and how they relate to our civic life and how we ought to design our cities. Kunstler provides some provocative, and sometimes salty, assertions about where we have gone wrong in our cultural understandings of the human condition and seems to be calling for repentance. Since brazen and bold statements are his modus operandi, we recognize that some of what he writes can be edgy and should be taken with a grain of salt. In spite of this, he adds some keen insights to the conversation around cities, design, civic life, and the human condition. Access more Show Notes with pictures and resources related to this episode.More information about this podcast and helpful church and urbanism resources can be found on The Embedded Church website.Related ResourcesThe Geography of Nowhere by James Howard KunstlerHome from Nowhere by James Howard KunstlerThe City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition by James Howard KunstlerThe Ghastly Tragedy of the Suburbs, TED talk by James Howard KunstlerLawless Prophet: James Howard Kunstler and the New Urbanist Critique of American Sprawl by Eric O. JacobsenRomans 7:15-19 "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing."John 12:3-8 "Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me."Find these Key Terms on The Embedded Church website:- Charm- Chronological Connectivity- City Beautiful Movement- Civic Art- Traditional Neighborhood DevelopmentShow CreditsHosted and Produced by Eric O. Jacobsen and Sara Joy ProppeEdited by Adam Higgins | Odd Dad Out Voice ProductionsTheme Music by Jacob ShafferArtwork by Lance Kagey | Rotator Creative
Today's Flash Back Friday comes from Episode 186, originally published in November 2013. James Howard Kuntsler is the author of "The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century" and "Too Much Magic: Wishful Thinking, Technology and the Fate of a Nation" among many other books. James is best known for his books The Geography of Nowhere (1994) and The Long Emergency (2005). In The Long Emergency he argues that declining oil production is likely to result in the end of industrialized society as we know it and force Americans to live in smaller-scale, localized, agrarian (or semi-agrarian) communities. Starting with World Made by Hand in 2008, Kunstler has written a series of science fiction novels conjecturing such a culture in the future. Kunstler so gives lectures on topics related to suburbia, urban development, and the challenges of what he calls "the global oil predicament" and a resultant change in the “American Way of Life.” He has lectured the TED Conference, the American Institute of Architects, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the International Council of Shopping Centers, the National Association of Science and Technology as well as at numerous colleges and universities, including Yale, MIT, Harvard, Cornell, University of Illinois, DePaul, Texas A & M, West Point, and Rutgers University. Also a seasoned journalist, Kunstler continues to write for The Atlantic Monthly, Slate.com, RollingStone, The New York Times Sunday Magazine and the Op-Ed page where he often covers environmental and economic issues. Kunstler is also a leading supporter of the movement known as "New Urbanism." To learn more about James, you can visit http://kunstler.com
Chloe Kunstler with Tiny Buddha shares a reason to feel less anxious during times of transition. Episode 1029: A Reason to Feel Less Anxious During Times of Transition by Chloe Kunstler with Tiny Buddha (Anxiety & Optimism) Lori Deschene is the founder of Tiny Buddha and Recreate Your Life Story, an online course that helps you let go of the past and live a life you love. Her latest book: Tiny Buddha's Gratitude Journal, which includes 15 coloring pages, is now available for purchase. For daily wisdom, follow Tiny Buddha on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram. The original post is located here: https://tinybuddha.com/blog/a-reason-to-feel-less-anxious-during-times-of-transition/ Visit Me Online at OLDPodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chloe Kunstler with Tiny Buddha shares a reason to feel less anxious during times of transition. Episode 1029: A Reason to Feel Less Anxious During Times of Transition by Chloe Kunstler with Tiny Buddha (Anxiety & Optimism) Lori Deschene is the founder of Tiny Buddha and Recreate Your Life Story, an online course that helps you let go of the past and live a life you love. Her latest book: Tiny Buddha's Gratitude Journal, which includes 15 coloring pages, is now available for purchase. For daily wisdom, follow Tiny Buddha on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram. The original post is located here: https://tinybuddha.com/blog/a-reason-to-feel-less-anxious-during-times-of-transition/ Visit Me Online at OLDPodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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