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4 episodes with mccarthyite
2 episodes with mccarthyite
2 episodes with mccarthyite
2 episodes with mccarthyite
2 episodes with mccarthyite
2 episodes with mccarthyite
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comBatya is a journalist and author. She's a columnist for The Free Press, a co-host of The Group Chat on 2Way, and the author of two books: Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy, and Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America's Working Men and Women. Her forthcoming book is about, as she puts it, “why Jews are Democrats and why the left turned on the Jews.”For two clips of our convo — on Trump's class warfare, and deporting non-citizens over speech — head to our YouTube page.Other topics: raised in an Orthodox family; debating issues with her parents and five siblings during Shabbat; spending high school in Israel; same-sex education; the mikveh; how sexual desire is better with limitations; becoming secular for a decade; getting a PhD in English literature; her “accidental” entry into journalism during Hurricane Sandy; the Great Awokening in media; Trump's despicable character; his fickle tariffs; his tax cuts; Congress ceding power to Trump; Biden's tariffs; his investment in factories and infrastructure; his disastrous immigration policy; Batya's evolving views on Trump; marriage equality; Bostock; trans activist ideology; Trump's EO on trans servicemembers; Scott Bessent; the overreach of neoliberalism; Adam Smith; the tax cuts in the BBB; crypto; defunding science at Harvard; gutting USAID; the State Dept's AI surveillance; the 1952 McCarthyite law; Öztürk and Khalil; UNRWA and Gaza; Israel striking Iran; and the possibility of regime change.There were eight clashes over facts in the episode. Chris ran them through Grok, which one presumes would not be too biased against Trump. You can read the eight back-and-forths on the web version of the episode. You should listen and, with these independent sources in mind, decide for yourself on the facts. I think I missed the mark a little a couple of times, but was specifically wrong in assuming that Batya was all in on the war against Iran and always had been. I apologize for that — and for getting a bit too amped up. I should try not to do that when I'm a host and I hope Batya will forgive me. But a vast amount of the chat was nonetheless delightful — and this is a stressful time. Coming up on the Dishcast: Paul Elie on crypto-religion in ‘80s pop culture, Walter Isaacson on Ben Franklin, Tara Zahra on the revolt against globalization after WWI, Thomas Mallon on the AIDS crisis, and Johann Hari turning the tables to interview me. (NS Lyons has indefinitely postponed a pod appearance — and his own substack — because he just accepted an appointment at the State Department; and the Arthur Brooks pod is postponed because of calendar conflicts.) Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.
After raging at Harvard earlier this month, President Donald Trump is now revoking the university's right to receive foreign students. The administration sent an unhinged letter to Harvard making the announcement while demanding extensive information about international students, a grotesque abuse of power. The White House statement justifying this seethed with angry, McCarthyite nonsense. We think this is already backfiring: Harvard is reportedly very likely to take legal action, and the university will probably be able to stop the move. We talked to Jonathan Friedman of PEN America, who explains why Trump's assault on Harvard is already getting universities to band together, how it's leading to renewed public support for the university system, and why Harvard's potential success beating this back will only stiffen institutional resistance to Trump. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
After raging at Harvard earlier this month, President Donald Trump is now revoking the university's right to receive foreign students. The administration sent an unhinged letter to Harvard making the announcement while demanding extensive information about international students, a grotesque abuse of power. The White House statement justifying this seethed with angry, McCarthyite nonsense. We think this is already backfiring: Legal experts quickly dismissed the move as lawless, Harvard is already leaking word that it will take legal action, and the university will probably be able to stop the move. We talked to Jonathan Friedman of PEN America, who explains why Trump's assault on Harvard is already getting universities to band together, how it's leading to renewed public support for the university system, and why Harvard's potential success beating this back will only stiffen institutional resistance to Trump. Listen to this episode here. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
After raging at Harvard earlier this month, President Donald Trump is now revoking the university's right to receive foreign students. The administration sent an unhinged letter to Harvard making the announcement while demanding extensive information about international students, a grotesque abuse of power. The White House statement justifying this seethed with angry, McCarthyite nonsense. We think this is already backfiring: Harvard is reportedly very likely to take legal action, and the university will probably be able to stop the move. We talked to Jonathan Friedman of PEN America, who explains why Trump's assault on Harvard is already getting universities to band together, how it's leading to renewed public support for the university system, and why Harvard's potential success beating this back will only stiffen institutional resistance to Trump. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
First, Ralph welcomes Washington Post tech journalist Faiz Siddiqui to discuss his new book "Hubris Maximus: The Shattering of Elon Musk." Then, our resident legal expert Bruce Fein stops by to explain how Elon Musk and DOGE are breaking the law. Finally, David picks up our interview with Ralph about Ralph's new book "Civic Self-Respect."Faiz Siddiqui is a technology journalist who writes for the Washington Post and has covered companies such as Tesla, Uber, and Twitter (now X) for the Business Desk. His reporting has focused on transportation, social media and government transformation, among other issues. He is the author of Hubris Maximus: The Shattering of Elon Musk (excerpted here).Over and over throughout this book, there's this recurring theme of victimhood, or at least Elon feeling like his back is against the wall. And why? For what? He and his fans felt they were doing the right things, and yet they were being scrutinized and punished for it.Faiz SiddiquiIn the wake of many Facebook scandals, many Uber scandals, Tesla was the company to work for. Elon was the person to work for. There was no figure as magnetic, who inspired people in the way that Elon did. So recruiting was a strong suit of that company. And the pitch was: come here and change the world.Faiz SiddiquiI think what this book brings is a healthy dose of reality and skepticism… that so far has been lacking from the overall conversation around Musk. And what I you'll find is (I hope you'll find) that you can identify with some of the folks in the book who were lured in by the promises (or just enamored by the guy and what he might be able to bring to society if his goals were ultimately realized) but then ended up feeling disappointed or feeling like—hey, this guy was not all he was cracked up to be. Even if the goals were noble, even if the ambitions were the right ones, the ends might not have justified the means. And so I want people to find, ideally, that their understanding of one of the most powerful people in society today is enriched.Faiz SiddiquiBruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law. Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy, and American Empire: Before the Fall.[Elon Musk is] just a walking violation of the federal code.Bruce FeinThere's nowhere to go but up in terms of being a smart consumer. Unfortunately, our Elementary and high schools don't teach consumer skills (they prefer to teach computer skills) and consumer skills result in what is, in effect, a pay raise.Ralph NaderAdam Smith once said many centuries ago that the purpose of production is consumption. And if consumption is informed and feeds back, it can lead to a high-quality economy. It can lead to more integrity to your consumer dollar and to your health and safety. It can lead to less environmental damage. It could lead to stronger regulation of product defects and services that are harmful. It's sort of a bottom-up economic democracy.Ralph NaderComplexity is a tool of power. Complex tax regulations are often blamed on the federal bureaucracy. No, it's the corporate tax lawyers.Ralph NaderNews 4/25/251. On Monday, April 21st, Vatican News announced the death of Pope Francis. This came just one day after Easter Sunday, when Francis met with Vice-President JD Vance. The day prior, Francis had snubbed the VP, sending in his place Cardinal Pietro Parolintoto to “deliver a lecture on compassion,” per the Daily Beast. Pope Francis led the Catholic Church since 2013 and during his tenure sought to move the church in a vastly more progressive direction – preaching against capitalism's destruction of the environment, advocating for abolition of the death penalty and greater acceptance for LGBTQ Catholics within the church, and expanding the reach of the church into non-traditional areas such as Mongolia among many other initiatives. This won him the admiration of many around the world, but also drew the ire of the conservative clergy, particularly in the United States. Francis was the first Jesuit Pope and the first Pope to hail from the New World. Senior churchmen will now assemble to elect a new pope. This conclave is expected to be contentious, with progressives seeking to consolidate Francis' reforms, while the conservatives see an opening to take back the formal organs of the church.2. Instead of death, our next story concerns birth. Noor Abdalla – wife of Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian Columbia University student currently being held by ICE in Louisiana – gave birth to their son on Monday. According to a statement by Abdalla, reported by Arya Sundaram of WNYC, ICE denied a request for Khalil to be temporarily released to meet their son, a “purposeful decision by ICE to make [her], Mahmoud, and our son suffer.” Later in this statement, Abdalla writes, “I will continue to fight every day for Mahmoud to come home to us. I know when Mahmoud is freed, he will show our son how to be brave, thoughtful, and compassionate just like his dad.” Khalil's case continues to wind its way through the courts; the result of this case will have significant ramifications for the Trump administration's ability to remove individuals with legal status on the basis of political speech.3. In an encouraging sign, more and more congressional Democrats are getting personally involved in cases of Trump administration overreach on immigration. In addition to Senator Chris Van Hollen's highly-publicized visit to El Salvador, TruthOut reports that Senator Peter Welch met with Mohsen Mahdawi, the Columbia University student entrapped with a false citizenship test, in Vermont. Meanwhile Cape Cod Times reports that on April 22nd, Senator Ed Markey and Representatives Ayanna Pressley and Jim McGovern of Massachusetts – along with Democratic members of the House Troy Carter and Bennie Thompson – traveled to a Louisiana detention facility to demand the release of Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts University grad student who was abducted off the street last month by masked ICE agents. This delegation met with Öztürk herself, as well as Mahmoud Khalil. And CBS reports Representatives Robert Garcia, Maxwell Frost, Yassamin Ansari and Maxine Dexter traveled to El Salvador as well, keeping pressure up regarding the Kilmar Garcia case. Still, hundreds of immigrants of varying status have been deported to the ominous and shadowy CECOT prison camp in El Salvador without due process since Trump began this mass deportation campaign.4. In more troubling Congressional news, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa wrote a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel on April 16th calling for investigations into the progressive activist group CodePink as well as the New York City cultural center known as the People's Forum. This letter is almost textbook McCarthyite red-baiting, claiming CodePink and the People's Forum are nothing more than mouthpieces for the Chinese Communist Party, thereby violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Beyond the fact that these groups are engaging in nothing more than constitutionally protected political speech, it is clear from the citations within the letter that they are targeting these groups because of their pro-Palestine positions. This is just another escalation in the Orwellian suppression of free-speech critical of the Israel's illegal occupation. Unfortunately, just as with McCarthyism itself, we cannot count on congressional Democrats to go to bat for the free speech rights of the Left.5. In a win for consumers, Bloomberg reports Airbnb announced it will now display the total price of stays – including all fees – to comply with a Federal Trade Commission rule set to go into effect next month. Many worried that the FTC would rescind this rule with the changing of the administration, but for now at least, the Trump FTC seems poised to keep it. This new rule is expected to “nudge hosts to lower their cleaning fees to make rentals more affordable, as the sometimes-exorbitant fees have become a key reason why some customers preferred hotels over Airbnb.”6. Another positive move is that the Trump Department of Justice has proceeded with an anti-trust case against Google's advertising technology, or “adtech.” On April 17th, a judge found Google liable for “willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power,” in two markets for online advertising technology, per Reuters. This follows a similar judgment against Google regarding a monopoly on search, which is only amplified by its adoption of AI. Another trial will determine the remedy for this monopoly, which could include Google being forced to sell off aspects of its business. According to this report, “Google has previously explored selling its ad exchange to appease European antitrust regulators.” Senator Amy Klobuchar, former chair of the antitrust subcommittee, called the ruling “a big win for consumers, small businesses, and content creators that will open digital markets to more innovation and lower prices.”7. On the other hand, Public Citizen's Rick Claypool reports, “58 corporations facing federal investigations & enforcement lawsuits collectively gave $50 million to Trump's inaugural fund. Cases against 11 of these corporations have already been dismissed or withdrawn, and 6 have been halted.” More granular information about each of these enforcement actions is available through Public Citizen's Corporate Enforcement Tracker database, but the big picture is clear: If a corporation wants the government off its back, all they have to do is make a handsome contribution. The Trump administration is pay-to-play and open for business.8. In another instance of the administration tying the hands of key federal regulators, the Food and Drug Administration will “End its Routine Food Safety Inspections,” according to the National Public Health Information Coalition. The FDA plans to “shift most…food safety inspections to state and local agencies.” While some food inspections are conducted at the state and local level, public health advocates are raising concerns about “oversight and consistency.” According to CBS, these plans have not been finalized.9. Turning to the very worst part of this administration, NOTUS reports “The DOGE website, the only public accounting of Elon Musk and President Donald Trump's attempts to reduce federal government spending…[has posted]…revisions that suggest DOGE was previously overstating its savings by hundreds of millions of dollars.” These stunning, if not altogether surprising, overestimations are staggering in scale. “On Tuesday [April 15th] alone, DOGE removed around $962 million in previously claimed cuts and altered hundreds of others to boost individual items' purported ‘savings' values.” The incompetence of DOGE has led Musk to reduce the target goal of spending cuts, down from $1 trillion to just $150 billion – a drop in the bucket when it comes to federal spending and certainly not worth the evisceration of Social Security and other programs these cuts have entailed.10. Finally, in more bad news for Elon Musk, Reuters reports the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is tightening electric vehicle battery safety standards, specifically to “ensure…batteries won't catch fire or explode.” This is quite a humble regulatory goal. However, this new regulation could spell disaster for Tesla. According to Tesla-fire.com, there have been 232 confirmed cases of Tesla fires and “83 Fatalities Involving a Tesla Car Fire.” If I were a Chinese EV regulator, I would be wary of allowing Tesla vehicles on the roads. But that's just me.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe
Clay Risen, author of Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America, joins to discuss the era when suspicion was a political tool and civil liberties were sidelined. Today we have echoes—and outright repetitions—of McCarthyite tactics, from loyalty oaths to immigration crackdowns. Also- there may be three plastic spoons' worth of microplastic in the average human brain—according to science, which Mike neither trusts nor understands, on account of his 0.5% spoon brain. Produced by Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ Subscribe to The Gist Youtube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4_bh0wHgk2YfpKf4rg40_g Subscribe to The Gist Instagram Page: GIST INSTAGRAM Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Watch the full conversation with Asad AbuKhalil here on Syria, meeting Nasralla and more: https://www.patreon.com/posts/omali-yeshitela-117262666 Lebanese-American Political science professor Asad AbuKhalil talks about Israel's U.S.-backed genocidal war on the people of Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. He also shares memories of interviewing the slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. AbuKhalil also reflects on the elections and the difference (or lack thereof) between Joe Biden and Donald Trump when it comes to foreign policy. But first Omali Yeshitela, the founder of the African People's Socialist Party (APSP) and Uhuru Movement discusses why he and two other members of Uhuru have been convicted of conspiring to act as unregistered Russian agents, in an outrageous miscarriage of justice and a McCarthyite attack on free speech. Given that Joe Biden has pardoned his own son, something he promised not to do, he might as well pardon people who actually deserve it, like Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu Jamal, Julian Assange, and the Uhuru Movement members, including Omali Yeshitela. He should of course also pardon anyone serving jail for the crimes committed by Hunter. Born in Tyre, Lebanon, Asad AbuKhalil received his BA and MA in political science from the American University of Beirut, and his PhD in comparative politics from Georgetown University. He is the author of Historical Dictionary of Lebanon, Bin Laden, and The Battle for Saudi Arabia, among other titles, and his articles on Middle Eastern politics and culture have appeared in publications throughout the world. AbuKhalil lives in California, where he is a professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. Omali Yeshitela is the founder of the African People's Socialist Party (APSP) and Uhuru Movement. In 1968 Chairman Yeshitela founded The Burning Spear newspaper which is still published today. He has authored numerous articles, pamphlets and books. Chairman Omali made “reparations a household word” with the International Tribunal on Reparations for African People which was held in Brooklyn, New York in 1982, finding that African people are owed 4.1 trillion dollars for stolen labor in the U.S. alone. The Chairman founded the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement in 1991 as a revolutionary mass organization to defend the democratic rights of the African working class. Today, Chairman Omali Yeshitela, as the leader of the African Socialist International, speaks to his growing base around the world and leads the worldwide movement for the liberation of Africa and African people everywhere. Help Support Omail here: www.handsoffuhuru.org **Please support The Katie Halper Show ** For bonus content, exclusive interviews, to support independent media & to help make this program possible, please join us on Patreon - https://patreon.com/thekatiehalpershow Get your Katie Halper Show Merch here! https://katiehalper.myspreadshop.com/all Follow Katie on Twitter: @kthalps
You're Listening to Parallax Views https://parallaxviews.podbean.com/ Support the Show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/parallaxviews Chip Gibbons Interview Recorded 11/25; Anatol Lieven Interview Recorded 11/26 On this edition of Parallax Views, in the first half of the program, Chip Gibbons, Policy Director of Defending Rights and Dissent, joins the program to discuss H.R. 9495 or the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act and its passage in the Congress' U.S. House of Representatives. The bill has been criticized on the grounds that it will trample on free speech, specifically in regard to pro-Palestinian protests. According to Defending Rights and Dissent, "This bill allows the Secretary of the Treasury to unilaterally strip tax-exempt status from nonprofits deemed 'terrorist supporting' without meaningful due process." Find out more about the bill and why Defending Rights and Dissent argues the bill is neo-McCarthyite in this segment of the program and the press release below: "Defending Rights & Dissent Condemns Passage of H.R. 9495 - Defending Rights & Dissent" In the second portion of the program, Anatol Lieven of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft returns to discuss U.S. foreign policy and the future of Europe, with a particular focus on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. With a second Trump Presidency now inevitable, it seems increasingly likely that negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will happen sooner rather than later, especially if Trump decides that the U.S. will not continue arming Ukraine. What would these negotiations look like? Will parts of Ukraine be annexed? Will the two countries' maximalist demands be whittled down during negotiations? What is the future of Europe and should Europe re-arm? All of these questions, as well as the issue of climate change as a national security threat will be covered. Additionally, Anatol and I will delve into the scare concerning Russia ICBMs from last week and what it says about the conflict and where it is at right now. EDIT: In the interlude before the Lieven interview I mention annexation of Gaza and the West Bank. I'm not arguing an official annexation has happened, although many would argue that de facto annexation has been happening. There are elements of Israel openly calling for annexation.
_________________________________________________SUPPORT MY WORK:SUBSTACK: https://dersh.substack.com/ The Dershow staring Alan Dershowitz APPLE PODCAST: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dershow/id1531775772SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/7Cx3Okc9mMNWtQyKJZoqVO?si=1164392dd4144a99_________________________________________________________FOLLOW ME:TWITTER: https://twitter.com/AlanDershRUMBLE: https://rumble.com/user/Sav_saysLOCALS: https://dershow.locals.com/YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheDershowWithAlanDershowitz________
Medaya Ocher and Eric Newman speak with author Patrick Nathan about his latest novel, and this month's LARB Book Club pick, The Future Was Color. The novel chronicles the life of Hungarian immigrant writer George Curtis. When we meet George, he's writing the hacky sort of monster movies that are today's cult classics, trying to find sex and love amid the closeted ambiance of life between the wars and in the midst of the McCarthyite purges of communists and homosexuals that plagued the mid-century film industry. As George demurs writing the studio's next big hit to create something of greater substance about Hungary and the war from his exile perspective, he follows a passionate affair with his coworker in the writers' room. But when he departs the studio office for a residency of sorts with a Malibu actress and her gay husband, a dramatic chain reaction brings new motivations and possibilities to light. A novel about a moment in time that is also in so many ways timeless, The Future Was Color is an exploration of the line between the personal and political, between safety and risk, the art we create and the art that creates us. Also, Claire Messud, author of This Strange Eventful History, returns to recommend Susie Boyt's novel, Loved and Missed.
Medaya Ocher and Eric Newman speak with author Patrick Nathan about his latest novel, and this month's LARB Book Club pick, The Future Was Color. The novel chronicles the life of Hungarian immigrant writer George Curtis. When we meet George, he's writing the hacky sort of monster movies that are today's cult classics, trying to find sex and love amid the closeted ambiance of life between the wars and in the midst of the McCarthyite purges of communists and homosexuals that plagued the mid-century film industry. As George demurs writing the studio's next big hit to create something of greater substance about Hungary and the war from his exile perspective, he follows a passionate affair with his coworker in the writers' room. But when he departs the studio office for a residency of sorts with a Malibu actress and her gay husband, a dramatic chain reaction brings new motivations and possibilities to light. A novel about a moment in time that is also in so many ways timeless, The Future Was Color is an exploration of the line between the personal and political, between safety and risk, the art we create and the art that creates us. Also, Claire Messud, author of This Strange Eventful History, returns to recommend Susie Boyt's novel, Loved and Missed.
Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate discuss the US role in Israel's blood soaked rescue of 4 hostages in Gaza, which killed close to 300, and its subsequent denials. They will also cover the Washington Post's McCarthyite smear of The Grayzone, The Hill's firing of Brianna Joy Gray, and more. Watch on YouTube Read TheGrayzone.com Instagram Twitter Telegram
On this edition of Parallax Views, Rutgers University's Director of the Center for Security, Race, and Rights, Sahar Aziz, returns to the program to discuss the recent House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearings on antisemitism and why they resemble something more akin to the McCarthyite witch hunts of the House on American Activities during the Cold War than an honest effort to combat antisemitism. These hearings, she argues, are more about shutting down political criticism of Israel than fighting antisemitism. We'll also delve into some of the key points covered in Sahar's book The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom and discuss the Islamophobia-industrial complex that's especially been prevalent in America since 9/11 and the Global War on Terror. Moreover, Prof. Aziz will offer her thoughts on the Anti-Defamation League, which has received harsh criticism in recent years with Jonathan Greenblatt at its head, and its activities against pro-Palestinian and Arab American political activists. Most importantly, however we focus on how the House Commitee on Education and the Workforce investigations into antisemitism, which involves figures like Rep. Elise Stefanik and Rep. Virginia Fox, have attacked the Center for Security, Race, and Right as well as academics like Noura Erakat and Juan Cole. Sahar will address some of the allegations made by the House Commitee against CSRR and delve into how this is connected to broader Republican Party efforts to tamper down academic freedom and discourse (ie: how it connects to GOP attacks on DEI and CRT, right-wing promotion of book-banning, etc.).
Since when did we all become Nazis?
Sean KB welcomes to the show two teachers (Carolyn Hietter and Ian Seda) from the John Jay College Department of Economics (Marxist) to discuss their program and the goings-on at the City University of New York since the beginning of the atrocities in Gaza: the McCarthyite administration's war on free speech, the massive shifts within the bourgeois university over preceding decades which led to it, and how John Jay's Econ department is pushing in another direction.We ask the essential question: What might a working class education by and for the working class might look like? Find out for yourself and apply to the CUNY if you are looking for a radical education.For Discord access and all our bonus content support the Antifada at http://patreon.com/theantifadaAttend the CUNY JJ econ rock show: People's Garden in Bushwick, June 8th 2pmContact Ian Seda, Graduate Program Director iseda@jjay.cuny.eduInformation about Masters Program: https://johnjayeconomics.org/how-to-apply/Rick Wolff and Ian Seda on heterodox economics at John Jay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyLY-ftZnF0Ludy Thenor and Geert Dhondt on heterodox economics at John Jay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU8dT6jWHHI&t=32sMusic: Phony ppl - John Jay
Solidarity 710, 29 May 2024. Articles: Vote Labour and organise! Why we say vote Labour everywhere Let Gaza live! Two states! Equal rights! Solidarity with workers in China! Defend Sabreen Msarwi! Ukraine is hard-pressed but defiant After defeating Rwanda plan, win free movement The pachyderm in the room The Zinoviev Letter after 100 years Keep abortion rights on the agenda! Georgia resists ban on “foreign influence” Yes to 22 June, but turn to workers Behind the blood scandal: profit, hierarchy, prejudice Open up debate in student camps! Student camps are still on Yakoob, Galloway, and the “independents” The working class as basis for socialism Trump as a rebel The road to Bolshevism: Ulyanov and Russian Marxists' “second generation” Left gains at PCS conference Review, bulletins, and boycotts Aslef backs Standing Together Kino Eye: The worst “McCarthyite film” ever? Tata: delay is dangerous Reinstate Nigerian students in Teesside! UCU will debate Ukraine and Gaza More online: https://workersliberty.org/publications/solidarity/solidarity-710-29-may-2024
Episode 7 - 1199 and the UFW If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. In the years following the McCarthyite purges of the early 1950s, the pace of progress in the labor movement cooled from its heady heights of the CIO and the 1946 strike wave. But new struggles still emerged all over the country, and women workers continued to break barriers. The fight by Local 1199 to organize the majority Black and Puerto Rican women hospital workers of New York City became an epic struggle part of the broader national civil rights movement. On the other side of the country, a movement to organize agricultural workers made its mark with the intervention of organizers like Dolores Huerta. The fight for basic human rights for farm workers led to a nationwide boycott and a titanic struggle that lasted nearly 5 years. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee
-Senators call on Biden to enforce the law, restrict weapons to Israel -House committee launches McCarthyite attack on UAW local -Boeing body count climbs after whistleblower found dead -Pentagon somehow finds $300 million to send to Ukraine
Find me and the show on social media @DrWilmerLeon on X (Twitter), Instagram, and YouTube Facebook page is www.facebook.com/Drwilmerleonctd This week our guest is Vijay Prashad. TRANSCRIPT Announcer (00:06): Connecting the dots with Dr. Wilmer Leon, where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge. Dr Wilmer Leon (00:14): Welcome to the Connecting the Dots podcast with Dr. Wilmer Leon, and I'm Wilmer Leon. Here's the point. We have a tendency to view current events as though they occur in a vacuum, failing to understand the broader historical context in which most events take place. During each episode, my guests and I, we have probing, provocative, and in-depth discussions that connect the dots between the current events and the broader historical context in which they occur. This will enable you to better understand and analyze the impact on the global village in which we live on today's episode. The question is, is the West's hegemonic control over the rest of the world on the decline? If so, is it salvageable for insight into this and other issues? Let's turn to my guest. He's an Indian historian, editor and journalist. He's a writer and fellow and chief correspondent at Globetrotter. He is an editor of Left Word Books and the director of Tri Continental, the Institute for Social Research. He's a senior non-resident fellow at Sean Yang Institute for Financial Studies at the Remnant University of China. He's written more than 20 books, including the darker nations and the Poor Nations, and he's the author of the article, hyper Imperialism. He's Vijay Prade. Vijay, welcome to the show. Vijay Prashad (01:45): It's great to be with you. Yeah, truly. Dr Wilmer Leon (01:48): Thank you so much for giving me time in your peace. Hyper in imperialism. Well, in fact, let me start this way. Lemme start this way back in 2016 at the Democratic Convention, then Vice President Biden said, we do not scare easily. We never bow. We never bend. We never break when confronted with crisis. No, we endure, we overcome, and we always, always, always move forward. We are America second to none, and we own the finish line. Don't forget it, Vijay. The undefeatable indispensable America are terms that are often used, well worn tropes, the realities that are existing all around us. Make these statements trite and meaningless to me. Your thoughts? Vijay Prashad (02:47): Well, it's interesting Wilmer, because Mr. Biden made those comments, as you said in 2016. In 2023, the United States forgot to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Munro Doctrine. Now, for those who don't know the Munro doctrine, it was enunciated by James Munro. The idea was pretty simple. Ro was saying for this new country, 1776 Revolution, 1923, Monroe Doctrine, I mean in the 18th century, a decade was a very long time. I understand that, not like now where you're sometimes just goes by so quickly. Time seems to have speed it up, but nonetheless, a young country in 1823, Mr. Monroe says at the time that, look, we just told the British Empire to go out of our shores. Not exactly because Britain still had Canada as a colony, but nonetheless Britain out of a part of North America. The United States hadn't yet ejected the French from all of North America, and there was also pockets of other Europeans involved in North America, let alone South America. (04:13) So nonetheless, quite audaciously, Mr. Monroe said, with the backing of the whole political class. Don't forget, Jefferson had already foreshadowed some of this stuff in his speeches, but Monroe said, look, Europeans, this hemisphere, the Americas from the tip right down to TGA del Fuego is not yours. The Americans will determine the destiny of this hemisphere. Now, of course, he then said something else which is, well, we in the United States have a manifest destiny, very delightful term from Christian eschatology about the city on the hill, the church at the town square and so on. We have a manifest destiny. We are Europeans. We are Europeans who have gone beyond the Europeans in Europe, and we want to make it clear not only as Europeans, because there are Europeans in South America as well, but we want to make it clear that it's America for the Americans, except when we say Americans, we mean those from the United States of America. (05:23) So that in fact the Monroe Doctrine, noble words as well, the MRO doctrine basically says the whole Americas is the domain of the United States. The United States therefore can intervene anywhere in the Americas when it feels that its interests or the interests of an enlightened civilization are threatened. And therefore we had a range of interventions, military interventions, most of Central America, much of the Caribbean, Haiti, colonized recolonized United States goes into Dominican Republic, the assault on Cuba after 1959. And so all done on the basis of Thero doctrine of 1823. Now, it's interesting because Wilma, I could make an argument what the United States did subsequent to the So-called Spanish-American War where the US seizes, the Philippines seizes, Puerto Rico seizes Cuba. You see, it's a very good example of Thero doctrine being, well, it's America for the Americans, but really Americans means the United States of America. After the Spanish American War, 1898, the United States starts to globalize the Monroe Doctrine. (06:44) And in fact, that's what happens in the aftermath of World War ii because by the aftermath of World War ii, the United States did have the technology therefore could actually have a global MRO doctrine, military bases having ships that could cross the Pacific Ocean pretty rapidly, oil fired ships could get through the Panama Canal, could go out to the Suez Canal. You had an amazing global military footprint bases all over the world and so on. That was the global MRO doctrine. Well, what's happened is that as a consequence of a number of different factors, including in the United States, the government no longer wanting to regulate the rich and therefore harvest taxes from them for a host of reasons. That's one, the lack of any kind of consensus among the elites in the United States, deep partisanship and so on. And then the trauma of this third grade depression, all these factors came together to basically signal a decline of US global power. (07:57) That is, you still have the rhetoric of the Monroe Doctrine, Mr. Biden's speech in 2016, but you don't have the realities of the Monroe Doctrine. You can bomb any country around the world, but you really can't have legitimacy over them. If a country, for instance, on the African continent needs to have a bridge built, they turn to China now to get money for that bridge to build the bridge. The United States very good at bombing the bridge, not so good at building the bridge. And I think that itself, the bridge story is a way to encapsulate the nature of the decline. In other words, US still has immense military power, spends with its allies, three quarters of world military spending, but just doesn't have the resources to do the kind of development aid it used to build the legitimacy that it once did. You said shop won cliches, tired language and so on, reporting to Mr. Biden. Yes. And the reason for that is not because Mr. Biden is out there flogging old clothes. It's that no us politician in fact can flog anything but tired. Shop one rhetoric and belligerence, they can do that legitimately, but they can't go out there and say for instance, to the people in the Sahel, Hey, listen, don't do all these cos we'll come in, we'll build a factory. We'll build a bridge for unbelievably to even once hear them say, we'll build a school, we'll build a hospital. Not going to happen Wilma, not in our lifetime. Dr Wilmer Leon (09:43): You just mentioned that the United States has extraordinary military supremacy, but the irony in that reality is the United States for all intents and purposes, hasn't won a conflict since World War ii, unless you want to throw Grenada into the conversation. United States had its hin parts whooped in Vietnam. The United States had its hin parts whooped in Afghanistan, 20 years in Afghanistan, what two and a half trillion dollars wasted, and we wound up turning the country back over to the same folks that we were fighting to take it from. We lost in Iraq, we lost in Libya. Now we've been outmaneuvered in Ukraine and of all people, Ansar Allah in the Red Sea is having traumatic impact on international trade. So yes, the United States has military superiority, but it seems as though the nature of warfare has gone almost asymmetrical and the United States hasn't been able to keep up. Vijay Prashad (11:05): Well, one of the issues is the difference Dr Wilmer Leon (11:08): Is that assessment accurate? Vijay Prashad (11:10): Very accurate. I mean, look, let's just take one of your examples. Let's take the example of Afghanistan. You said over $2 trillion spent by the United States doing what? And that's a key thing. Doing what? I want to come back, Wilma to that distinction between blowing up the bridge and building the Dr Wilmer Leon (11:30): Bridge and building the bridge. Vijay Prashad (11:31): You see, because the United States can win battles, it can win a military confrontation. You can win a battle. I mean, I was there and saw the destruction of Iraq after 2003. You can destroy power plants, take out bridges, just level the government buildings to all those things win. But war have never, never been won merely by battles. Now, there could be lots of examples in the ancient world when an army was in fact defeated and another army came in and occupied and conquered and oppressed people. But in a way that's still not a victory in the war because unless you are able to do something for the people you've occupied, unless you are able to create legitimacy for yourself as a new government, a new king, a new ruler or whatever it is, there's no way to win the war. War just merely by force. (12:31) So in the case of Afghanistan, it is absolutely true. When the US went in there in October of 2001, the bombing was ferocious. The Taliban fled from Kabul, from Jalalabad. The Taliban remnants of them that had been sitting near the Pakistan border just ran across the border to Pakistan. They fed. I mean, you remember the battle of Torah, Bora when apparently Osama bin Laden was holed up in a cave there, the United States was ping those mountains. The Taliban was fleeing. They don't want to fight a direct battle. Nobody wants to stand Wilma in a plane and be taken out by a drone. Okay? The United States can do that. Incredible technology as a young person sitting in Nevada in Las Vegas with a toggle stick in a red button can kill somebody in the of Afghanistan, in Pakistan. Extraordinary technology having chased out the Taliban, having bombarded the infrastructure. (13:34) What happens next? Here, let's go to Iraq where it's clear, clearer. Lots of journalists looked at this closely. I mean, pram Chatterjee wrote a great book called Iraq Inc. In other words, Iraq Incorporated. What did he mean by that? What he meant was it was open season, Wilma, there's a Hollywood film about this. A bunch of, let me just speak pretty straight with you here. A bunch of jackasses from God knows where Republican party people showed up in Iraq, got contracts from the US government, from the people who were the vice councils of the United States in Iraq. They didn't build anything. Let's go back to Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, they began to count Wilma, and this is horrifying. They began to count educated. When they say so many hundreds of thousands of children are in school in Kabul, okay, how do you know that so many hundreds of thousands of children are in school in the area around ka? (14:43) How do you know that all across the country? How do you know that? Well, we know that because somebody invoiced the government for chairs. So if I invoice for a hundred thousand chairs, the US government and the Afghan government stunningly and scandalously said, we have a hundred thousand people in classroom. Meanwhile, a hundred thousand chairs were not even delivered. I just invoiced you. I took the money and ran. You never saw me again. I mean, you look at the audits done by the US government of the spending in Afghanistan, scandalous spending. So you can win the battle. You can't win the war. You're not building schools, you don't have kids in classrooms. Then families say, what's the point of throwing out the Taliban and bringing you guys in because you are just corrupt. Those people, they may have their problems and indeed, my God, they have their problems. (15:42) They want gender segregation. No girls in schools and so on, but at least they're not corrupt. That's what people started to say again about the United States government in Iraq, the same thing. People go, why is there this attitude? Let's make a quick buck. Why? Because people have been learning this since at least the Reagan administration in the United States. This cannibalization of society is not something that only happens abroad. You are familiar with that Within the United States, there's so many. There are even terms where it boondoggles. The US military forgets hundreds of millions of dollars. They can't find where that money went. I mean, this is annually. There are reports that come out on this money forgotten, this boondoggle culture among the elites. It makes them mediocre. They don't want to work to be an elite. They want to inherit elite status. Everything is about an inheritance. (16:46) They don't want to work hard. They don't want to do anything. It's interesting because in Afghanistan, the British, for all their flaws, they said, well, we have experience of three to 400 years of colonialism. The British were saying, you people don't have the staying power. Well, actually, Rory Stewart and others who were saying things like that, they were not right. It's not a question of staying power. It's a question of did you want to win the war or did you just want to win battles and then come in there and quickly make a buck and flee, go off somewhere else? As I said, a Hollywood film was made about this. It's in the culture, this conversation. I'm not making this stuff up. It's real. So yes, United States very big military capable of blowing up bridges just to repeat that, but not so committed to building them. (17:39) And that's how you lose your legitimacy. If you no longer give people something that they want or they need, you don't address their problems, you're not going to be credible. Look, during the pandemic, the Chinese announced that they've ended absolute poverty in China, so enormous fe, the United Nations celebrated it and so on as we speak, Wilma, I was reading a story that there's a bill sitting in the US Congress about tax credits to be given to families so that millions of children in the United States can for the period of just this calendar year, be outside poverty. I mean, how does a story like that look around the world here at the Chinese saying, we've eradicated absolute poverty and here's the United States Congress debating whether or not to eradicate poverty, mind you, whether to pass tax credit so that for one year so many tens of millions of children in the United States can be above the poverty line. (18:43) I mean, what's going on, Wilma? This is something for people in the United States to reflect on very seriously. Is this the country that looks credible to the world? When you have somebody saying, we own the finish line. I mean, what a revealing statement that is. Joe, Joe Biden. I mean Joe, nobody owns the finish line, Joe. That's why it's a finish line. If you own the finish line, Joe, there's no race. You rigged the race, and that's exactly the attitude that people in the United States need to confront. You can't live in a society that's rigged against you. You have to fight to build a society where people feel like something is there for them, and that attitude then will create new speeches. People will realize we're not a city on the hill. We don't have a manifest destiny. There is Noro doctrine. We're just people. (19:38) We live on the planet. We've got to collaborate with others, whether it's the people in Yemen or other people in Libya or indeed the people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I want a cell phone. I want to use their cobalt. I want to use their cold tan, but they have a right to live decent lives. I need to pay them. The corporations need to pay the people in the Congo that are digging that stuff up with their fingernails, and that's the scandal, and that's the discussion around that scandal that needs to happen in a place like the United States. Dr Wilmer Leon (20:14): And to Joe Biden's point and to your response about owning the finish line, if you claim to own the finish line, then that means that you control the finish line, and that also means that you can move the finish line. And that takes me to Tony Blinken term. Well, George HW Bush talked about the new world order, and then Tony Blinken comes in with not international law, but what's the term that Tony Blinken always loves to use about the controlling order? I can't remember the term that Tony Blinken loves to use, but it's where basically what he's saying is we have the rules, we set the laws. You all just follow what we say. Vijay Prashad (21:09): Yeah, this is his phrase, the rules based information, Dr Wilmer Leon (21:11): Order based order. Exactly. Exactly Vijay Prashad (21:14): Why you forgot it, Wilma. This is a because Dr Wilmer Leon (21:17): It has no definition. Vijay Prashad (21:18): No, it means nothing. And also it's one of the things that was there when Mr. Blinken was nominated for this job. You remember this very well. They praised him saying He's fluent in French. I thought, and I'm sorry to be so blunt, and I know that a lot of your listeners are serious people and they don't like this kind of talk, but I felt that Mr. Blinken, if he doesn't make sense in English, can't be making sense in French. So there's that rules based international order. What other kind of international order could there be? Tony? That's the question to ask him are they're all rules based. The question is who makes the rules and does everybody abide by the rules? Okay, we actually have rules that are based on Dr Wilmer Leon (22:13): Do we even know what the rules are, Tony? Yes. Vijay Prashad (22:17): In fact, that's the interesting part, Wilma, because okay, the question to ask them is what's the basis for your rules? In fact, the most consensus treaty document we have in the modern world since 1945, the document with the greatest consensus is the United Nations charter. There is no other document which has almost all countries signed onto it, okay? It's the greatest consensus document that we have in human history till now. Maybe there'll be another one, but the UN charter is paramount, and in fact, I would say that most people around the world want to live in a rules-based order, which is grounded in the rules, which we've all accepted by treaty, which is the UN charter, not the rules being something invented by the United States government at its whim by let's say the group of seven countries by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, by the 14 Eyes Intelligence Network. (23:22) They don't get to make the rules and impose them on us. I mean, what's really, really interesting in this period is that for the first time in my mind, since the 1970s, for the first time, we see heads of governments who are not necessarily leading political forces that are anti, whether it's the president and prime minister of Namibia, their political formation isn't anti systemic. Even in fact, Ali Pando and Il Rama, South Africa, these political forces are effectively telling the United States, now, we don't like your rules. We don't think your rules are good. Why? Because we think they are capricious and we think you don't follow them. What's the point of having rules if you don't follow them? So for instance, when international courts, the International Court of Justice demanded a ceasefire in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. In fact, just a month into that conflict, they called for a ceasefire. (24:29) A thousand people had died at that point. By the way, now, 25,000 Palestinians and counting dead, the ICJ didn't exactly call for a ceasefire. They said that we see that it's plausible genocides, an enormous admission by the ICJ, and then they said, you must do everything to end the genocide. Well, that means a cease file. They don't use that language. They don't say secession of hostilities. Nonetheless, what's interesting is people around the world, whether it's again in Namibia or it's Indonesia or it's in Bolivia, people, ordinary people not talking about governments, ordinary people are saying to their newspapers and so on. When I meet them, as I travel around the world, people say this to me, what they are saying is, look, when it's an African leader indicted in the international criminal court, the west goes all in. They demonize the person, and in some cases these people deserve to be in front of the ICC. (25:27) They've done bad things, but the level of demonization, the music is cranked up really high. These people are bad. They're committing crimes against humanity and so on here, 17 judges, 15 sitting judges of the international criminal court, the judge from Israel, the judge from South Africa, 17 judges basically to a account of most of the time, 16 to two, in some cases, 17 to one. The Ugandan judge was the outlier, and in fact, even the government of Uganda disassociated itself from her saying she doesn't speak for our government. In fact, very interesting and we can talk about that if you'd like, but most cases 1716 to two was the count, which means that the international criminal court, the court of the United Nations has basically said Israel's actions are plausible genocide. What does the United States, Canada, almost the entirety of the west do within our, they defund the United Nations Agency for the Palestinians Honora, within hours of this coming out, this order that the Algerians wanted carried immediately to the Security Council United States, I mean around the world, people are saying, you people are not credible, Mr. (26:49) Biden, you are not credible, and anyway, you are a one term president because you've lost left liberals in your own country. They're not going to vote for you after this and you've lost the election. I mean, Mr. Trump is going to come back, whatever that means, maybe catastrophic, but he's coming back. That's probably a foregone conclusion without legitimacy, Mr. Biden, Mr. Macrow, Mr. Trudeau, Mr. Soak, Mr. Schultz, I mean, you're so bent out of shape about Ukrainians because as people at the time were saying that these are white babies with blue eyes and blonde hair, but Palestinians, brown skin, black hair and so on, some of them have by the way, blonde hair, but nonetheless, not white, irrelevant. We're not even talking about the war in the Sudan. We're not talking about the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We're not even talking about the ceaseless destruction of Yemen. (27:49) The reason the US and Britain are nuts, they think a couple of missiles will scare the Yemenis. Forget it. They've taken much more and more than that from the Saudis for a decade. They're not scared of anything and they've been hardened. What has hardened them? Not Islam, not some inherent accusation that they're terrorists. What has hardened them is your bombing. It's British and US ammunition used by the Saudis bombing them relentlessly for 10 years. People look at all this and say, you never complained about any of that. One Russian tank crosses the border. One Ukrainian is killed and suddenly you are outraged and you say, open the doors, all Ukrainian refugees allowed, but Syrians, you still remain in the camps in Greece or in Turkey, wherever Palestinians, we don't apply. And so on. The stock hypocrisy, racism, a lack of concern for human life, what I consider to be an international division of humanity. (28:57) That's what's really been drawn. There's an international division of humanity and the other side of that division, the prime minister of Namibia, the president of Indonesia, even the Indian foreign minister, right-wing government, they are now speaking from the other side of the international division of Vanity saying no more. I mean, Mia Amor Motley, the prime minister of Barbados last year convened a group for an emancipation conference. A former president of Nigeria was there, the former Prime Minister Addison from Jamaica, and they basically said, we're going to have reparations from the west. This is Barbados tiny country just thrown off the monarchy. And what happened this year recently, the African union's 55 countries, the 20 countries of the Caribbean community gathered together and said, reparations now of putting it on the agenda. This is not a radical demand, by the way. It's a pretty milk to demand, but it's actually showing this new mood. They're saying, we're fed up with your hypocrisy. We're fed up with your intervening, your attempting to foist the international monetary fund on us sending your warships to scare us. It doesn't work anymore. People, you politicians are too mediocre. You don't scare us, and Trump is that dog that western civilization is going to let loose against the world bark all night Wilmer, he'll bark all night, but he won't have the guts to bite anybody or to enter the house. Dr Wilmer Leon (30:34): You mentioned about Ansara la in Yemen and the fact that United States can't scare them, that takes me back to President Putin's statement. When Joe Biden first sent the USS Gerald Ford Aircraft carrier group into the Mediterranean, and Putin said, why are you doing that? Who do you think you're going to scare? These people don't scare. And in fact, Al Hhi in Yemen said, we want to fight you. They are saying, and who would think that this small country called Yemen where most people couldn't find it on a map of Yemen is saying, we want to fight you. Please. That's an amazing, amazing reality, and you also mentioned about not following that we have this rules-based order and we don't even follow the rules. Well, Joe Biden has just signed an executive order where he now says the US may sanction Israeli settlers who attack Palestinians. Now that's an interesting contrast or conflict or just total confusion. When the United States is sending weapons, sending money, logistical support, targeting support to the IDF to attack Gaza, but now seemingly for political reasons, he wants to issue this executive order and oh, by the way, Joe Biden's administration approved the sale of the very weapons that the settlers are using to murder Palestinians, but now he wants to try to sanction them for using the weapons that he sent Vijay. It's insanity. Vijay Prashad (32:45): You put it very, very well. I mean you put the point very plainly, but let's again look at this executive order. I think they named four people in this, and one of them in fact has already made a public statement saying, listen, I don't have any bank accounts in the United States. I'm not affected by this not planning to travel. There don't have any assets there. This is just symbolic. One of the people named has already said that this is bogus, not a critic of this, but what Biden doesn't do here and doesn't have the guts to do is there are thousands of US citizens in these illegal settlements. This executive order doesn't touch a US citizen in an illegal settlement who goes and shoots a Palestinian. It doesn't touch that person. This is just directed at those who are Israeli citizens, but not US citizens. Many of the US citizens are also Israeli citizens. They have joint citizenship, but this is not, he is immunized US citizens in this. That's one point. Secondly, he doesn't really sanction anybody. I mean, you want to give a real sanction, sanction Israeli politicians who are inflaming the settlers. What about putting them on the list? I mean Dr Wilmer Leon (34:08): Smoke trick for example. Vijay Prashad (34:10): Exactly. Why should they not? Why should universal jurisdiction not cover them? You look back at the international criminal court warrant against Mr. Potent and his minister of children, they were accused and maybe there is an accusation to be made there. They were accused of removing children from a war zone in Ukraine. They were accused of removing children from the war zone. Now, fourth Geneva Convention does say that population transfer is illegal, but let's have a discussion about that removing children from a war zone, is this appropriate? Should they have been removed to Russia? Did they go with the consent of their parents? There could have been a range of discussion and debate. I don't remember any debate. I just remember being told that this is a war crime and the ICC indicted him. Now, the Israelis have already killed over 11,000 children. They didn't remove children from a war zone in the way that the Russians did. (35:13) They did remove children from a war zone, but by killing them, 11,000 of them in body bags, 11,000 of them and no ICC warrant and no statement from the United States government instead this ridiculous executive order that's supposed to modify his base. You see what's been happening is I watched these videos, Mr. Biden traveling around the country, the United States trying to drum up support for his failing election campaign and at every single stop, it seems to me, or at least that's what circulates, I know this is not exactly a scientific assessment what you see circulating, but at many campaigns stops. He starts speaking, he's talking about a woman's right to choose whatever he's talking about. People yell, genocide, Joe, they yell, seize fire. Now they yell, stop supporting Israel and he is a dear in headlights as any of us would be a caught between a really bad policy that you can't defend and a base that is angry with you because let's not forget that this is a base that might not be scared into voting. Again for the Democrats, this is a base that might say, really, Trump is so bad and you were so great, you authorized a genocide against the Palestinians. I don't think this base is coming back. Dr Wilmer Leon (36:37): Lemme quickly say to that point. That's a great point and I've been saying for a while that in 2020, Joe Biden was talking about how horrific Donald Trump was and he was making a lot of promises about what he would do. He had no track record as a president. Now in 24 he has a track record as a president and he's now starting to make some of the very same promises in 24 that he made in 20, and folks are comparing his promises and his rhetoric to his record and they're saying You didn't do it then why are you going do it now? Vijay Prashad (37:21): In fact, worse than that, the people who are out there at these rallies saying genocide, Joe sees pie. Now these are people with a modicum of interest in what's happening outside the United States. They're not people who are going to focus on quite correct issues like for instance, a woman's right to choose. There is some difference between the candidates and so on. Not that the Democrats have done much to defend the woman's right to choose or on the question of immigration. I mean the Democrats haven't done much better than the Republicans in some cases, maybe even worse Dr Wilmer Leon (37:54): Because it's more important to them as an issue, as a political wedge issue than it is for them as a solution. Vijay Prashad (38:04): Correct? Exactly. So what you have is you have people genocide, Joe Ana. These are people who are saying, I'm not a single issue voter. I'm not going to be wedged by you back into the fold. You can't wedge me and you can't wedge me because I'm looking at these other things. And there are lots of young people in that cohort and one of the areas where they're looking at is Cuba. This July norm Chansky and I are going to release a book called On Cuba, which is where the reason I know all this stuff about the MRO doctorate, and I mean I'm not a scholar of all this, but we had to study this to understand US foreign policy against Cuba. We did a deep study. It was a pleasure to work with. No on this book, it's not an interview book. We wrote this together. (38:51) We discussed and talked and went through it and so on Cuba, there's a section in the book toward the end where Mr. Biden says, during the campaign says that I am going to reverse Trump's unfortunate strangulation of the people of Cuba. We are going to remove Cuba from the state sponsored on terrorism list. We are going to roll back the 243 extra sanctions, no more talk as John Bolton did of axis of whatever it is of tyranny and so on. Bolton speech, none of that. Biden said all that there, this video of him saying all that. It's not like some private interview, which he then denied. He said this in front of the cameras. Well, then he came into office, he won the election, came into office. Jen Psaki at the time, spokesperson was asked, what about the reversal? He can by executive water get rid of some of these sanctions. (39:52) You can start the process to remove Cuba from the state sponsor of terrorism list and so on. Because Cuba, after all is a state sponsor of healthcare for the world, not terrorism, a bad idea Trump, and now Biden Biden didn't do anything and Jen Psaki said, it's not on our agenda. Now what you just said ferociously, I'm going to reverse Trump's. It's not on our agenda now. Then there was some small protests in a small town, a few hours outside Havana, which the anti Cuban people in Miami blew up and said, it's a big protest in July and so on, he is going to overthrow the government. Then Biden entered and said, we are going to tighten our grip on the island because we have to support the people fighting. So not only did he not do what he said because it was not on the agenda when he started to do something about Cuba, it was in fact Trump plus. (40:52) So in that case, what the heck, man? I mean, where are you genocide, Joe? That's what people are calling him more and more. That is not a good look for a president or for a person running for president of the United States on the Democratic ticket because I admit to you, I know a lot of the people on the left and so on, but don't underestimate the power of that small section of left liberals because they are the activists. They are the ones that go door to door In South Carolina for instance. There is no such thing as a democratic party. There are only motivated activists who are the people. It's mostly middle-aged women and young college students who go door to door distributing things, talking up candidates, going into churches, talking to their friends and so on. If that crucial section is started to call him genocide Joe and say, ceases fire now, and to ask questions like, why are you trying to suffocate the people of Cuba? (41:58) Why can't you pass a proper infrastructure bill? Why are you arresting and deporting people at the border? Activists say that you lost the election because there's no body else to substitute for them. You can have as much astroturfing as you want. You can get all the high rollers around the United States to give your campaign money. You can hire people to go with clipboards, but they don't have the passion to stand on the door, stop to stand at the front door, knock on the door, say, listen, you got to vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. They're just going to stand there with a clipboard. Say, I have been told to say, please vote for Mr. Biden, it's chat GPT, man, you don't win elections with chat GPT, you win elections with passion. It's not going to be there for them, and I think they have made a huge, huge error trying to believe that these little executive orders will claw back that section. (42:56) The only thing that's going to claw back that section is something that neither of the political parties can do. Mr. Trump can't do it either. None of them can break with the Israeli ruling elite, none of them. None of them will offer a robust criticism of Israel. That's a serious problem for the American elite. The American public on the other hand, has already broken that consensus. You've already seen the polls, Wilma, a majority maybe up to something like two thirds of the United States. Public no longer wants the US to support Ukraine with money. Correct? Two thirds of the US public, correct. A majority of Republicans don't want the United States to support Israel in this war. A majority of Republicans, that's interesting. 40 some percent of Democrats have turned against this war. That's compelling evidence to my mind once more of the great disjuncture in US politics between the people's mood and their opinions and what the governments want to do. (43:56) Nancy Pelosi was confronted by some protestors from Port and what did she say? She said, oh, you are all doing the work of Russia. Russia. I mean for God's sake to use this kind of language against US citizens who have a First Amendment right to protest the FBI, my God, I can't believe I'm going to say this. I just got word this evening before we spoke. The FBI has made a public statement Wilmer saying that we will not investigate people who are conducting nonviolent protests on behalf of the Palestinians because those people doing the protests have a First Amendment right. The FBI has said that Dr Wilmer Leon (44:38): Mean because Nancy Pelosi called upon the FBI to investigate those protestors saying that they were operatives of Russia and here was her rationale. Putin has a message saying that there's genocide in Gaza and these protestors are saying that there's genocide in Gaza. So because the protestors have the same message as Putin, ergo or Ipso facto, they must now be operatives of Russia when everybody on the planet should be opposed to genocide. Even Nancy Pelosi should be opposed to anybody in their right mind should be so even if Putin is the autocrat, is the dictator, is the madman, is whatever is the evil villain is a swamp monster and an evil villain. A broken clock is right twice a day. So the issue on Gaza, he's right on that issue. Vijay Prashad (45:59): Well, I'm actually personally invested in this particular part of the conversation because some months ago, the New York Times basically accused me of being an agent of the Chinese government. It was a ridiculous article. I mean, I was embarrassed to read it, not embarrassed for myself, embarrassed for the New York Times. I was like, man, you guys wrote some pretty shoddy articles with the name Judith Miller attached to them that basically made the case for the United States to go to war illegally against the Iraqi people. You got some pretty bad journalism under your hat, the gray lady all these years, but this particular article was really bad because it essentially took certain quite trivial facts like I run a research institute, I also work for a media house. I have people who donate to these things. I can't travel to the SA region on money. I borrow from my friends. I need donors for this because when I publish things, I can't get enough newspapers to pay me enough to actually travel to places. You got to forward fund a lot of these projects. I'm not embarrassed to say that I don't come from money. I'm not independently wealthy. I don't have that kind of trust fund that would enable me to live the kind of Dr Wilmer Leon (47:26): George Soros won't back you, so Vijay Prashad (47:28): Yeah, he's not going to back me. I've got to find people, and by the way, the Chinese government gives me zero money. In fact, my post at the Chang Yang Institute of Financial Studies is non remu. I don't make any money at all. They don't pay me for anything. The reason I took that position is I was keen to interact with Chinese scholars. I wanted to have a place where I could sit down and listen to what Chinese scholars are thinking and saying, almost no place in the world that allows that unless you get involved somehow with a Chinese institution because they don't trust. You can't just show up in Beijing and say, Hey guys, I want to talk to you so I don't have any Chinese. They know that. By the way, the New York Times know that they knew the provenance of the funds. (48:09) They knew everything they had all the material, the questions that the journalists asked me. I'm going to give this to you just because it's so funny. David, far andhold the journalist, senior journalist New York Times wrote big questions like, for instance, are you paid by the Chinese government? Do you take orders from the Chinese government? I mean, I felt that this is not journalism's McCarthyite hearing. It's the kind of question you'd expect some off the wall, right-Wing congressman to ask you, Lindsey Graham, that kind of thing, going from McCarthy to Lindsey Graham and to somebody as mediocre as Marco Rubio who read that article and the next day asked the Department of Justice to investigate all the projects named in it. Fortunately, either the Department of Justice is doing an ongoing investigation that I don't know about or they decided not to take Mr. Rubio seriously, which I think is probably what happened. (49:10) But the point reason I'm raising this is that it's really interesting in the United States unable to have the argument. Why can't Nancy Pelosi have the argument about Gaza unable to have the argument about Russia, let's say, or unable or unwilling to have the argument about China? They simply want to repress you. They want to say anybody who doesn't follow the line saying China is evil, Russia is evil. The Palestinians are terrorists. Anybody who moves even one millimeter from that general line, they just want to repress you. They want to delegitimize you. They want to basically put you in jail. They don't want to have the argument with you, and that I think is depressing for the whole situation of the culture in the United States, the political culture, the conversations, I mean for God's sake. I watched a couple of the Republican primary debates before the Iowa caucuses. (50:14) I watched a few of them. The level of conversation was abysmal. It was juvenile. Juvenile. There are real problems in the world. I mean real problems that guy Ram, he actually did a favor for us culture because we Ramas proved once and for all that all South Asians aren't at the caliber of doctors and whatever. There's no model minority. I mean there's mediocrity even amongst South Asian Americans, mediocre. He's out there as an attack dog of somebody just sort yelling at people. I felt bad at moments even for DeSantis, for God's sake, let the man try his best to put an argument on the table. Don't keep interrupting him and saying, Ron, you is Ron, you're that. And then DeSantis piling on Nikki Haley, I thought, God, you are just a bunch of people that if I saw you in the bar, I would get out of there, get into my car, drive across town. (51:16) I would prefer to buy a bottle at a liquor store and sit in my car, not car. I would prefer to sit in the anti room of my house and drink it by myself. I don't even want to be within sight of you when I'm having a drink, let alone let's say in front of a congressional committee. Really mediocre level of discussion if that's the standard of discussion, no wonder that if they are challenged, let's talk about Gaza. They'll just say, you are a Russian agent. Get out of the room. I don't want to talk about, I just heard Megan Kelly who had Trump on her show for an hour. She has a YouTube type show. Anyway, Megan Kelly was on a podcast I was listening to a very, very interesting, she was talking a little bit about this, about the fact that the deterioration of the ability to actually have a discussion about ideas, the big ideas, you want to have a discussion about immigration, let's have a discussion about immigration. Let's not demonize all sides and not talk to each other about how to understand these issues. (52:29) There is no space for that and therefore Nancy Pelosi turns around and says, FBI investigate them. They're criminals. And fortunately somebody at the FBI had managed to read the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and decided, Hey, listen, they have a constitutionally protected right to speech as long as they are nonviolent. Now, I found that an interesting part of their statement because in fact, I'm not even sure that's necessarily true because for instance, this goes back to Dr. Martin Luther King's letter from Birmingham jail. Does nonviolence include, for instance, resisting chaining yourself to a wall, blocking a street and so on there? I think we could have an interesting discussion with the lawyers at the FBI that What do you mean by nonviolent? I mean, if I go and lock myself into the office of a congressman, are you still going to say I a right to that speech? Because after all, you can't lionize the civil rights movement and then criminalize its tactics today, which is exactly what they seem to be doing. Nancy Pelosi will stand up there and say, the great Dr. Martin Luther King, when I marched with him across Selma, as you know, every living American politician marched across Selma with Dr. Martin Luther King. I marched across, but then if you try to march across the Brooklyn Bridge, you are an agent of Russia. Dr Wilmer Leon (54:00): You were mentioning the United States is better at blowing up bridges than building bridges, and the Washington Post has a very interesting article. China sets sites on Taiwan's three remaining tiny Pacific Islands, and here's an interesting element of this as China. This is from the Washington Post as China Vs. With the US for power and influence in the Pacific. It has tirelessly tried to pry allies away from Taiwan. By many means, chief among them money, it has offered much needed funds to struggling island nations like Nru and allegedly doled out envelopes of cash to officials and accusation. Beijing denies China has approached Pacific politicians as they travel overseas, inviting some to lunch and surveilling others what they're slaying out. I mean, that sounds like lobbying to me. And what they don't say in the peace is, well, China's not assassinating rulers in these islands. China isn't involved in their elections. China isn't overthrowing their governments. China isn't involved in China, is engaged in building relationships with countries, and they're doing it by determining what the country needs, seeing what China can provide and how there can be a win-win. And that's not rhetoric. That's, as you know, that's an actual policy strategy of the Chinese government win-win, and somehow the Washington Post makes it out to be nefarious, and there's something spooky going on here because China's actually building relationships with these people not coming in, building air bases, army barracks and shooting people. Vijay Prashad (56:12): Well, there's something in this Taiwan China story that the Washington Post also won't cover. There's something really interesting. Well, firstly, it is settled treaty position of the United States that Taiwan is basically a part of China that was established when the United States agreed to remove the Republic of China from its permanent seat at the UN Security Council and replace it with the People's Republic of China. This was right there in the 1970s, part of the Nixon Mao negotiations and so on. Okay, so why is the United States so desperate to hold on to Taiwan? Lemme give people a little glimpse into things that don't get talked about. Taiwan is the home to a company called TSMC. TSMC is one of the world's largest chip manufacturers. In fact, 90% of the advanced chips used in cell phones and other electronic gadgets made by TSMC. The United States worried about eight, nine years ago that if China was able to incorporate Taiwan, not necessarily by political incorporation, but even just economically, what was John Adam's statement? (57:29) That by the natural force of gravity, Cuba will fall into the US lap. They were salivating about that, by the way, because it was about the Mississippi River and the slavery complex. They wanted Cuba part of that big slavery kind of economy down the Mississippi River all the way to Cuba, like the force of gravity. Cuba will fall in. Well, United States worried by the force of gravity. Taiwan is going to fall into the lap of China, economic links, everything that post. So United States government then started talking to TSMC saying, look, you have to set up a factory in the us and indeed United States opened the door in Arizona. They built a big factory. Washington Post ran a story about it. It was a huge thing. Lots of engineers came from Taiwan. The factory went nowhere. Why the Taiwanese engineers said, we can't work in these conditions. People just don't. They don't work. I mean, whatever they said, I'm not even judging anybody, but they turned home. That's what they said. That's what they said. I mean, I don't know. I wasn't there. Dr Wilmer Leon (58:33): They couldn't find the workforce that they needed to perform the tasks that needed to be performed. That's what they said. Vijay Prashad (58:41): That's what they said. And then they went back home. So TSMC still in Taiwan and actually also on the Chinese mainland produces a lot of these advanced chips. Now, United States tried to squeeze China's ability to buy these chips, but what they're really worried about is that TSMC will come to the realization that they cannot, absolutely cannot accept the US sanctions on China that prevent TSMC from selling chips to China, because China is one of the biggest markets for those advanced chips. There's also a Dutch company that produces very advanced electronic equipment for Chinese. They cannot afford to stop selling to China, and because of that, the United States will buy to anything to maintain Taiwan. But there's a real worry that they can't control it because in Taiwan, people are saying, sanctioning China is bad for us, bad for our economy. That's the natural cause of gravity. John Adam's statement didn't work for Cuba. It might work for Taiwan. Dr Wilmer Leon (59:51): And as we get out, what did Joe Biden, or what did members of the administration say when Nancy Pelosi was getting ready to go over there and there was all this concern that China might shoot her plane out the sky and all this other kind of stuff. The Biden administration said, if conflict breaks out between China and Taiwan, the United States will blow up TSMC. The United Vijay Prashad (01:00:21): Imagine that Dr Wilmer Leon (01:00:22): Threatened to blow up the TSMC factory on the mainland of Taiwan on the island of Taiwan. If conflict broke out, that to add additional validity to your statement, that's how and what that also did, as they say, necessity is the mother of invention that forced Huawei to develop. Just speaking on the cell phone side of things that motivated Huawei to expedite their chip development, their phone development, and they now have developed this, I can't remember the name of the phone, but their latest cell phone also now has satellite capability. Vijay Prashad (01:01:14): Imagine that. (01:01:16) Look at what I would be able to do with a phone like that, Wilma. I mean, the fact of the matter is just to underline all these points and give you the bottom line. The fact of the matter is it's very clear that we are at a fork in the road. The legitimacy of the old colonial countries of the global North has declined precipitously ever since the war in Ukraine and this war in Gaza. And at the same time, the kind of confidence in the global south, the new mood in the global south has really altered the confidence levels has risen. That's where we are. You asked at the beginning of the show, can this be turned around? I don't think so. I think what people in the United States must try to do is to recognize that everybody who lives on this planet earth is equal, and the people in the United States are not more gifted or more entitled or anything very good people in the United States, but nothing special compared to other people in the world. We got to live as a planet. We have to collaborate. We can't talk about finished lines and races. That's not where we're going. This is a human family and we have to treat each other in a better way than we do our own families Dr Wilmer Leon (01:02:40): And the solution to the conflicts are not military. One of the things that I have been saying about the conflict in Gaza is that Israel has bombed the world into reality, and people now see the horrors that have been ongoing for the last 75 years. It's playing itself out on their cell phones. It's playing itself out all through social media, and people are now finally looking at this, and they are, it's similar to, I believe it's similar to what Dr. King's strategy was with the children in the protests and the nonviolent protests. Do not respond to the brutality. Let the world see the brutality for what it really is and people will be aghast. And now the response in Gaza has bombed the world into reality and people all over the world, with the exception of Joe Biden and Tony Blinken and Samantha Power, who by the way wrote a book about genocide and now people on her staff are resigning their positions, asking her, well, wait a minute. I thought you wrote a book about your side. How can you back this play? The responses to the solutions to these problems are not through sanctions, and they're not through militarism and violence. They are through negotiation and accommodation, and the sooner the United States understands what Brix understands and what the Chinese cooperative and so what all of them understand, the better off we're going to be. Vijay Prashad (01:04:32): I mean, I agree with you fundamentally got to hope and believe that these changes, this new confidence arising in the world is going to provide a path out of the madness. We are at a fork in the road. Let's not choose madness. Dr Wilmer Leon (01:04:49): Let's not choose madness for no one wins in that debate. Vijay Prade, thank you so much for joining me today. Folks, I want to thank you all for listening to the Connecting the Dots podcast with me, Dr. Wimer Leon. Stay tuned for new episodes every week. Also, please follow, leave a review, share my show with those and love, follow us on social media. You can find all the links below in the show description. I'm Dr. Wilmer Leon. Remember, this is where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge talk without analysis is just chatter, and we don't chatter on connecting the dots. Peace. I'm out
Black Friday means we've got a retail and service work news packed episode this week. First we start on a sad note discussing the end of the Medieval Times strike in California. Next we discuss the McCarthyite retaliation being faced by unionized public defenders in New York City for taking a stand in favor of Palestinian human rights. A recent piece in The Guardian exposes the way service workers from other countries are exploited by the J-1 work visa program. 20,000 cleaning workers in NYC are gearing up for a major contract fight as bosses try and force concessions. Macy's workers in Washington State struck on Black Friday against incredibly low wages and constant understaffing. Wells Fargo workers in New Mexico and Alaska have filed to join the CWA, trying to break into the nearly entirely non union financial sector. Finally, we discuss the formation of a new democratic reform caucus in IATSE. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee
It's an EmMajority Report Thursday! She speaks with Alex Kane, senior staff reporter at Jewish Currents, to discuss his recent piece entitled "A “McCarthyite Backlash” Against Pro-Palestine Speech." Then, she speaks with Shah Meer Baloch, reporter covering Pakistan for The Guardian, to discuss his recent reporting on the mass deportations of undocumented Afghans in the country. Then, she speaks with Shah Meer Baloch, reporter covering Pakistan for The Guardian, to discuss his recent reporting on the mass deportations of undocumented Afghans in the country. First, Emma runs through updates on Blinken's presumptive plan for Gaza, the climbing death toll, continuing pushback to the support for the apartheid regime of Israel, SAG-AFTRA's strike, and Trump's fraud case, before parsing through the moving testimony of Rashida Tlaib on the House Floor. Alex Kane then joins, jumping right into what the term “McCarthyite” actually means, and why this genuine “cancel culture” that centers the active stigmatization and silencing of counter-hegemonic ideology makes for such an apt comparison to the ongoing reaction to the pro-Palestine movement. Kane walks through the recent examples of the amplified doxxing of college students involved in Pro-Palestine organizing, the rescinding of job offers from major law firms over similar activities, and the active silencing of college students by our own educational and political institutions, before looking at the hyper-racialized (and particularly Islamophobic) nature of this organized suppression. Kane and Emma wrap up by tackling the growing violence of this McCarthyite backlash, and how state support bolsters that threat. Shah Meer Baloch then quickly establishes a quick background on Pakistan's ongoing eviction of Afghan refugees amid tensions between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban, centering on the constant threat of terror attacks in Pakistan. After tackling the details of Pakistan's deadline for Afghan refugees, Meer Baloch and Emma conclude the interview with an assessment of the Taliban's role in forcing these refugees out of Afghanistan, and what the actual logistics of the plan are. And in the Fun Half: Emma is joined by Matt Binder as they discuss the spineless coverage of the censuring of Rashida Tlaib, the genuine exterminationist goals of Zionism, and why the entire conflict has actually been about Meghan McCain, actually. Brian from Chicago parses through the interpersonal difficulties that have come from this conflict, Ben explores his personal conflicts around voting rhetoric, and Nikki Haley eviscerates Vivek Ramaswamy. Alex from Florida shares his perspective on Jewish-American reactions to the ongoing conflict, and the MR Crew reflects on the long history of bad-faith negotiations with Israel, plus, your calls and IMs! Check out Alex's piece here: https://jewishcurrents.org/a-mccarthyite-backlash-against-pro-palestine-speech Check out Shah's reporting in The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/shah-meer-baloch Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the ESVN YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/esvnshow Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: http://majority.fm/app Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattLech @BradKAlsop Check out Matt's show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Check out Matt Binder's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Subscribe to Brandon's show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Check out Ava Raiza's music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com/ The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/
The Rack (1956), directed by Arnold Laven and written by Rod Serling (originally for television) tells the story of a decorated war hero Captain Edward W. Hall, Jr. (played by Paul Newman), who returns home after being captured and held prisoner in the Korean War. While a POW, Hall was subjected to mental torture and collaborated with his captors. Hall is court-martialed; his attorney (Lt Col. Frank Wasnick, played by Edmond O'Brien) tries to justify his conduct by showing the pressure he was under. Hall, however, is found guilty because he concedes could have resisted more, as soldiers who experienced physical torture did. The Manchurian Candidate (1962), was directed and produced by John Frankenheimer from a screenplay by George Axelrod, based on Richard Condon's 1959 novel. The film centers on a decorated soldier, Sergeant Raymond Shaw (played by Laurence Harvey) who was captured during the Korean War. During captivity, Shaw and other members of his army platoon, including Maj. Bennett Marco (played by Frank Sinatra) were psychologically manipulated or “brainwashed” by their Chinese Communist captors. Shaw was programmed to serve as a sleeper agent and a pawn in a communist plot to take over the U.S. and impose martial law by exploiting a wave of anti-communist hysteria. The twist is that his handler in the U.S. is none other than his mother, Eleanor Shaw (played by Angela Lansbury), who schemes to have her alcoholic and McCarthyite husband, Sen. John Iselin (played by James Gregory) become Vice President and then President, courtesy of a well-timed assassination by Raymond (acting under her spell). Our guest is Lisa Hajjar, Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction5:12 Two films about the Korean War7:23 Psychological manipulation of POWs10:59 Mental torture and the new duress15:36 A soldier's breaking point21:41 The U.S. Army's distorted view of torture as limited to physical pain25:35 The SERE and MK-Ultra programs28:24 The mind as a Cold War battlefield36:38 A satire of America's Cold War fears of communist domination39:01 Hyper-patriotism is the perfect foil for treason44:17 The remake of The Manchurian Candidate47:10 Conspiracy theories48:40 Psychological torture resurfaces after 9/11Further reading:Dougherty, Sara Harrison, “Early Cold War Combat Films and the Religion of Empire.” (PhD dissertation, Dep' of History, Univ. of Rochester, 2012)Hafetz, Ben, “The Glitz and Glam of Ideology: How the CIA and Department of Defense Use Hollywood Blockbusters as a Way of Propagating the Ideology of the American War Machine,” (B.A. thesis 2019)Hajjar, Lisa, “From The Manchurian Candidate to Zero Dark Thirty: Reading the CIA's History of Torture through Hollywood Thrillers,” Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal, v. 47, no. 2 (Winter 2017), 41-54 Seed, David, Brainwashing: The Fictions of Mind Control: A Study of Novels and Film (Kent State Univ. Press 2004)Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/faculty/full-time/jonathan-hafetz.cfmYou can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.comYou can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm
EPISODE 1813: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Greg Lukianoff, co-author of THE CANCELING OF THE AMERICAN MIND, about why today's cancel culture might be as much of a threat to American free speech as the McCarthyite Red Scare of the 1950sGreg Lukianoff is an attorney, New York Times best-selling author, and the President and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). He is the author of Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate, Freedom From Speech, and FIRE's Guide to Free Speech on Campus. Most recently, he co-authored The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure with Jonathan Haidt. This New York Times best-seller expands on their September 2015 Atlantic cover story of the same name. Greg is also an Executive Producer of Can We Take a Joke? (2015), a feature-length documentary that explores the collision between comedy, censorship, and outrage culture, both on and off campus, and of Mighty Ira: A Civil Liberties Story (2020), an award-winning feature-length film about the life and career of former ACLU Executive Director Ira Glasser.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.
It was a scientific discovery that changed the world forever. The nuclear bomb was largely a brainchild of left wing scientists who were determined Nazi Germany would not win the race to build this terrible weapon. The recent Hollywood biopic focuses on the role of Robert Oppenheimer in this fascinating period in history, the man who led the team working under the direction of the American government in this top secret project, who would become a prominent victim of the McCarthyite purges in the 1950s. In this podcast, Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams talk to LSE professor and Another Europe Is Possible member, Mary Kaldor, about this fascinating history. While she never met Oppenheimer himself, Kaldor met a number of other figures in the film and others that didn't make it into the script, particularly at the Pugwash conferences on disarmament that created a unique space for dialogue between scientists on either side of the Cold War divide.
Citing a recent McCarthyite smear piece by The New York Times, Senator Marco Rubio published a letter on Wednesday that he'd sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland calling for the investigation of American leftist antiwar groups, claiming they are "tied to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and operating with impunity in the United States." Reading by Tim Foley.
To hear the rest of the discussion, please join us on Patreon at - https://www.patreon.com/posts/patreon-eugene-87518516 Journalist and author Eugene Puryear destroys The NY Times “pernicious, disgusting, McCarthyite and racist” smearing of anti-war activists and exposes the true motives behind the attack on organizations like CODEPINK, The People's Forum, and Tricontinental Institute. Eugene Puryear is a journalist at Breakthrough News and the author of "Shackled and Chained: Mass Incarceration in Capitalist America." Say no to this dangerous McCarthyism by signing the petition here: https://thetricontinental.org/mccarthyism-is-back-together-we-can-stop-it/ ***Please support The Katie Halper Show *** For bonus content, exclusive interviews, to support independent media & to help make this program possible, please join us on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/thekatiehalpershow Follow Katie on Twitter: @kthalps Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/rkEk75Emhy
On this edition of Parallax Views, Mel Gurtov, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Portland State University, Editor-in-Chief of Asian Perspective, blogger at In the Human Interest, and author of Engaging China: Rebuilding Sino-American, joins us to discuss the 2023 Chinese Spy Balloon Incident aka #Balloongate that has further inflamed tensions between the U.S. and China. The incident caused an uproar on Capitol Hill and led to Secretary of State Antony Blinken cancelling a diplomatic trip to China. Initially China claimed it was merely a weather balloon that veered off course. The U.S. has said otherwise. The reporting has been that it was indeed a surveillance balloon. The ballon was first believed to enter U.S. airspace near Alaska on January 28th before moving over Canada. On February 1st the ballon was spotted over Montana before being shot down by a U.S. fighter jet on February 4th. We discuss the importance of this story, the response by the U.S. and China, how the situation could've been handled differently/better, the growing tensions between the U.S. and China, and the future of Sino-American relations. Among the topics covered: - The Biden administration vs. the Trump administration on China - The bipartisan consensus in Washington, D.C. and it's hostility to China; tariffs, trade wars, and Trump's China policy; China as a strategic threat from the Biden administration's point-of-view - Why Blinken's diplomatic visit to China being cancelled could be seen as a missed opportunity - Republican pressure for a hawkish, hardline response to China in regards to the spy balloon incident - The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, AUKUS, Japan, the Philippines, Guam, and security treaty partnerships - The U.S. role in Taiwan, strategic ambiguity vs. strategic clarity positions on Taiwan, China, and foreign policy - The issue of human right abuses in China; the Uyghur Muslims in China; Hong Kong - China's response to the spy balloon incident; U.S. surveillance in China; satellite technology and spying; was the balloon an immediate threat? - President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping, the People's Liberation Army, the nature of bureaucracy as it relates to Balloongate, China's Foreign Ministry and the U.S. State Department, and the spy balloon - The potential consequences/blowback of the Chinese Spy Balloon Incident; the hawkish element in China and its press is being fed by the U.S. response; paranoia begets paranoia; the blame game is being played by the U.S. and China and is making diplomatic engagement more difficult - International security, the U.S., and China; can the U.S. and China find common ground on pandemic response research, climate change, and nuclear weapons? - Are we in a New Cold War? - The U.S., China, and the global economy - Lessons to be learned from the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union - Comparing the Chinese spy balloon incident to other tense U.S.-China moments such as the shooting down of a Chinese jet over Hainan in 2001 - What has happened to diplomacy and use of the diplomatic toolbox in U.S. foreign policy?; the national security apparatus, the Cold War mindset, ossifying institutions, and opposition to diplomatic engagement with adversaries - Former World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick's Washington Post op-ed "Opinion Engage, don't cancel, China over the balloon" - Anti-Chinese violence and racism; the Justice Department, the China Initiative, and the McCarthyite crackdown against visiting Chinese scientists that's been called racial profiling - The pandemic, U.S. vs China's response to the pandemic, Zero COVID policy and protests against Xi, anti-China conspiracy theories about the pandemic, China's handling of the pandemic, and Donald Trump use of the term the "China" virus - Misperceptions about China; China is not a monolithic Borg entity; the limited understanding many American have of China even at a professional (even government level); looking at the world through Chinese eyes; China, cultural differences, and the pros and cons of U.S. individualism - Stereotyping and demonization of the Chinese; China as a diverse country - And more!
Prevent, a statutory duty of all public officials, look to find what the government calls signs of radicalisation. Often, these indicators are conflated with Islamic practice or subject to the prejudices of teachers and other officials that have been whipped up in a McCarthyite-style frenzy. Dr Layla Aitlhadj is the Director of PreventWatch, she Is an academic and activist who has been following the trail of mayhem caused by Prevent and has for years held the government to account. Thanks to the team: Riaz Hasan, Musab Muhammad, Reem Walid, Adeel Alam, Yusra Zainuddin, Ahaz Atif and Umar Abdul Salam. Join our Telegram group here: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim You can donate to the show here: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/contribute Follow us on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/jalalayn and https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim Website Archive: thinkingmuslim.com -
In this episode I interview prominent former Corbyn supporter and Labour MP Chris Williamson. We discuss his new book entitled "10 Years Hard Labour" and his experiences of being witch hunted out of the Labour Party, the failings of the Labour left, the McCarthyite expulsions of anti-imperialists and the capitulation of Corbyn. Be sure to follow Chris on twitter @derbychrisw
Mainstream media are whipping up a frenzy against leftists who oppose US imperialism and NATO, smearing them as “Russian agents” for trying to analyze this conflict and its causes with nuance rather than emotion or jingoism.With Western media exclusively focused on Ukraine, simply reminding people that Afghanistan is being starved due to U.S. policies, that Yemen is still being bombed and besiged, and that Syria, Cuba, Iran and Venezuela are still being sanctioned leads to accusations of “whataboutism.” And daring to point out the NATO and US role in setting the stage for Russia's intervention in Ukraine gets one labeled a “Russian apologist.” To discuss these challenges, Rania Khalek was joined by Justin Podur,a Professor in Environmental and Urban Change at York U in Toronto, author of “Siegebreakers,” and host of The Anti-Empire Project podcast. TIME CODES0:00 Intro2:25 “Whataboutism” & ignoring Afghanistan & sanctions15:16 Correcting the record on Soviet “defeat” in Afghanistan34:30 Splits on the left in war time 45:02 Network of anti-left smear merchants50:04 How to deal with pressure of censorship1:04:20 Russia, anti-imperialism & nuance1:15:45 Shifting global order1:23:02 What is the “international community”1:27:26 How Justin became a leftist
The View's Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Ana Navarro and Sunny Hostin dedicated a full segment to calling Ukraine war critics Tulsi Gabbard and Tucker Carlson as traitors who should be investigated and possibly arrested for questioning the dominant media and government narrative about the conflict. Plus a segment on mainstream journalists' efforts to smear actor, comedian and podcaster Russell Brand for allegedly spreading conspiracies and misinformation on his way to becoming "The next Joe Rogan." Also featuring Stef Zamorano, Max Blumenthal, Kurt Metzger and Mike MacRae! And phone calls from Al Pacino and Bernie Sanders!
James Lindsay is very very worried about communists. He sees "communists," "wokeists," "woke Marxists" and "CRT neo-Marxists" under every bed and stashed in every cupboard and he wants the government to pass laws to stamp out the threat although he also sort of thinks they control the government. (Confusing!) So Ben Burgis and the GTAA crew brought on an actual communist (Sean KB of Antifada) to tell us what's wrong with the dude. We're also joined by (ahem) "world-level James Lindsay expert" (we'll explain that one in the episode) Sam Hoadley-Brill. In the philosophy segment, Ben and his wife Professor Jennifer Burgis do a deep dive on how confused Ayn Rand was about utilitarianism. Nando Vila joins us to hang out in the postgame.Order Ben's new book on Hitchens:https://redemmas.org/titles/36536-christopher-hitchens--what-he-got-right--how-he-went-wrong--and-why-he-still-mattersTake the Speakeasy class on G.A. Cohen vs. Jason Brennan starting next Sunday:https://www.speakeasy.com/e/g-cohenTake the Renegade University class on Marx in January:https://renegadeuniversity.com/product/marx/Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want! Support Give Them An Argument on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benburgis. Patrons get a bonus episode every Thursday, access to the Discord server, a “Sopranos” Recap Bonus Episode every month with Mike Recine, Nando Vila, and Wosny Lambre, a monthly Discord Movie Night, and "Discord Office Hours" (regularly scheduled group voice chats).Follow Ben on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BenBurgisLike, subscribe, and get notifications on Ben's channel: https://www.youtube.com/BenBurgisGTAAVisit benburgis.com
My guest on the pod is Michael Smallwood (@mikeluvsgushers), an actor, director, podcaster, and screenwriter from Charleston. He recently appeared in the biggest movie role of his career as the character Marcus in Halloween Kills, the latest installment of the Michael Myers saga. If you've seen it, you'll recognize him as the guy in the doctor costume from the first 20 or so minutes of the movie. He was great. I screamed when I saw him.Michael and I have crossed paths a few times over the years here in South Carolina, but we'd never gotten to sit down and talk at length. As cool as it was to see him in a big Hollywood production, I was even more excited to talk to him about his original short film What a Beautiful Wedding, which deals with the underlying current of horror in weddings that take place on former slave plantations. We'll get into that in the second half of the show.If you want to see Halloween Kills, I don't need to tell you how to find it; it's the No. 1 movie in America. If you want to see What a Beautiful Wedding, it's currently only available to stream via the Octopunk Media Patreon page at patreon.com/octopunkmedia. Worth it.Over on the newsletter at brutalsouth.substack.com, my latest piece is about the state of the death penalty in Missouri, Alabama, and Oklahoma. Coming soon, I've got some juicy details on former UN Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley's weird, bespoke, neo-McCarthyite think tank and how it's blowing millions of dollars on Facebook ads.If you’d like to support my work and get access to some exclusive content, subscriptions are $5/month at brutalsouth.substack.com/subscribe.Exciting stuff on the way, y'all. Have a lovely spooky season. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at brutalsouth.substack.com/subscribe
In our Fox 1937 episode this time around we cover a couple of oddities that nevertheless provide a good snapshot of the studio's latter 30s. Charlie Chan at the Olympics, starring Shakespearean-trained Swedish-American Warner Oland in his final year as Honolulu's Chinese Sherlock Holmes, flaunts racially integrated American Olympic teams at the Summer Olympics in Berlin, while failing completely to acknowledge the distressing existence of Nazism (not to mention the slight problem of a white man portraying the title character). Meanwhile the musical Wake Up and Live, featuring notorious gossip columnist Walter Winchell as himself, bursts with character actors and radio in-jokes. From touring with Nazimova to translating Strindberg to embodying a beloved aphorism-spouting B-movie detective, from New Deal leftist to McCarthyite paranoiac and finally pariah, from the Klondike to the seminary to Broadway to Hollywood character actor, and from Frank Fay's comic foil to Tallulah Bankhead's "personal assistant" to the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical: no one needs to tell these Fox players to wake up and live! Time Codes: 0h 01m 00s: CHARLIE CHAN AT THE OLYMPICS (dir. H. Bruce Humberstone) 0h 31m 22ss: WAKE UP AND LIVE (dir. Sidney Lanfield) Studio Film Capsules provided by The Films of Twentieth Century Fox by Tony Thomas & Aubrey Solomon Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive) * Read Elise's latest film piece on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating. * Check out Dave's new Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist's 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project!
You know what would've been a lot worse than a vile McCarthyite smear against an important antiwar journalist igniting an ugly war in online left media circles? A vile McCarthyite smear against an important antiwar journalist being tolerated by online left media circles. Reading by Tim Foley. Article with links and sources: https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/tyt-jimmy-dore-and-other-notes-from
Max Blumenthal tells the shocking story of a recent lawsuit filed against the Grayzone by heiress Sulome Anderson, who alleged that she was slandered as a hack journalist by Blumenthal's outlet. Blumenthal readily admits that they have criticized Anderson's work, but insists that every criticism was legitimate—Anderson has a long track record of shoddy journalism, from accidental errors to outright fabrications. And the judge in this case agreed that there was nothing slanderous about what was said of her. That hasn't stopped Anderson from continuing to make wild claims of victimhood on the internet, and it hasn't stopped people like Jake Tapper from publicly championing Anderson's case. The real motive behind all this, says Blumenthal, is to destroy the Grayzone because it tells the truth about the American empire. Discussed on the show: "Judge tosses frivolous lawsuit by heiress Sulome Anderson seeking to destroy The Grayzone" (The Grayzone) Director and writer of “Killing Gaza,” Max Blumenthal is a senior editor of the Grayzone Project and the author Goliath, Republican Gomorrah and The 51 Day War. Follow him on Twitter @MaxBlumenthal. This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods' Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; Zippix Toothpicks; and Listen and Think Audio. Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjYu5tZiG. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2SewHOAmhU
Max Blumenthal tells the shocking story of a recent lawsuit filed against the Grayzone by heiress Sulome Anderson, who alleged that she was slandered as a hack journalist by Blumenthal's outlet. Blumenthal readily admits that they have criticized Anderson's work, but insists that every criticism was legitimate—Anderson has a long track record of shoddy journalism, from accidental errors to outright fabrications. And the judge in this case agreed that there was nothing slanderous about what was said of her. That hasn't stopped Anderson from continuing to make wild claims of victimhood on the internet, and it hasn't stopped people like Jake Tapper from publicly championing Anderson's case. The real motive behind all this, says Blumenthal, is to destroy the Grayzone because it tells the truth about the American empire. Discussed on the show: "Judge tosses frivolous lawsuit by heiress Sulome Anderson seeking to destroy The Grayzone" (The Grayzone) Director and writer of “Killing Gaza,” Max Blumenthal is a senior editor of the Grayzone Project and the author Goliath, Republican Gomorrah and The 51 Day War. Follow him on Twitter @MaxBlumenthal. This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods' Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; Zippix Toothpicks; and Listen and Think Audio. Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjYu5tZiG. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2SewHOAmhU
There were some fireworks in today's crossword (especially in the top-left and bottom-right corners), with tricky clues like 3D, Strengthen, as an embankment, REVET (!), and 6D, Verdi opera set during the fifth century, ATTILA (!!). Jean labored mightily in this corner, while meanwhile, in the bottom right, Mike was inventing answers out of whole cloth, such as 52A, Metal oxide in dental crowns, ZIRCONIA (not ZINCONIA), and 48A, McCarthyite called out in Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire", ROYCOHN (not MARILYN). A tough Saturday, we give it a 4.5 squares on the JAMCR scale.
We recount the insane story of how a pampered heiress and journalistic wannabe, enriched by millions of dollars seized from Iran by the US government, sued us for exposing her bogus Hezbollah sources, and hired an influential pro-Israel lawyer to try to bankrupt The Grayzone. After 2.5 years of silence, Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak out about the McCarthyite legal assault. We expose Sulome Anderson and the powerful neoconservative forces supporting her lawfare campaign against us. VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=6vCnQKPznzM Read about the case here: thegrayzone.com/2021/06/29/lawsuit-sulome-anderson-hezbollah
I was just about to write ‘the business I joined 30 years ago is unrecognisable today'. But then it occurred to me; that's bullshit. Take today, either side of writing this I'm working on a global brief. The brand has an existing line that needs to be given new meaning, its felt to be a little too heavy, and possibly a bit esoteric in certain markets. We need to make it lighter, more upbeat and positive. Also, it'd be handy if we could use some kind of visual link to the product, as it's going to run in a wide range of countries. Overall, they just need to feel cooler and more relevant to a younger audience. That was happening thirty years ago. Sure, the thoughts may end up in some new locations and appear in slightly different shapes and sizes, but the process isn't that different. There is one big difference though, the creative bods were way more cynical back then, for example, every element of a brief would be challenged: ‘Is that REALLY true?' ‘It may be true but people won't believe it!'. ‘Why should anyone believe that?' ‘Is there really nothing better to say?' ‘That's two messages, pick one'. ‘Why would that make me buy it?' ‘Posters are the wrong place for that message' ‘That's way to complicated for TV!' ‘Who would be arsed to read about that?' ‘They haven't got much money, let's spend it all on tv… or posters?' Then digital turned up. It was a challenge for the creatives of my generation, not understanding the channels or tech but understanding why you weren't allowed to question it. Why weren't we allowed to take that same cynical approach that we'd taken to all information we'd be given, whether propositions or posters, creatives adopted the stance of super cynical member of the public. We couldn't do that with digital, if you took that position with anything that involved a single pixel you risked being seen as a ‘dinosaur'. So people adapted, they avoided appearing cynical by using phrases like ‘there's never been a better time to be in the business' or ‘I've never felt more alive than when I'm being briefed on social media' or ‘You want to brief me on a digital banner? I feel like I've died and gone to heaven'. Questions started being replaced by buzz words, the aim was to get as many into a conversation before it collapsed due to their volume. It created a kind of McCarthyite environment where most were too afraid to call it as they saw it. We had a great chat, hope you enjoy it. Dx
Anti communism became a defining aspect of American politics during the 1940s and 1950s, not just for the right wing of the Republican Party, but also for the Democrats and the liberal intelligentsia and journalists the traditionally supported the party. They shifted to the right throughout the period, and whilst some decried McCarthy's methods, others began to lend them tacit and then vocal support. Liberals saw communism as antithetical to their beliefs and believed it could and should be resisted, particularly in the emerging battlegrounds of South East Asia. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Did Pratap Bhanu Mehta jump from Ashoka University? Or was he pushed? This seems to be the Hamlet-esque “to-be-or-not-to-be” question of the day in the Indian media. The simple answer is that it is very good if he was pushed. And it’s even better if he jumped.That of course needs an explanation. The push option is if the Government of India made an offer to the trustees of Ashoka that they couldn’t refuse: get rid of the fellow, or else! That, of course, would be Godfather-esque, and it would mark a welcome change from the pusillanimity that India has traditionally exhibited. Soft States don’t work, which should have been abundantly clear to us all along.If it wasn’t clear, the antics of Xi Jinping’s minions in Alaska just a few days ago should have been enough to convince the most obtuse among us. They calculate that Biden is soft (we can speculate as to why they are so confident about that), so they humiliated the US side as is their wolf-warrior habit. Xi is broadcasting loudly that Biden’s US is a Soft State and that he pwns Biden. Whether this is true remains to be seen, but it is a good opening gambit.India has been the ultimate Soft State, mouthing meaningless platitudes and cringe-inducing homilies while spectators roll their eyes and silently pray: “Just kill me now!”. Hark back to V K Krishna Menon delivering marathon lectures at the UN General Assembly or J Nehru turning down the offer of the Security Council Seat “because China deserves it more”. (By the way, I can quote chapter and verse: no, it is not an urban myth).So if there is — finally — a change of heart, and India does stand up for its interests, then it would be welcome news. Doing tejovadham to undesirables is part of what governments are supposed to do. This was visible in the case of yesterday’s cause celebre as well, the mop-haired Disha Ravi. The fact that she was arrested is important. She herself is unimportant, but it sends a message to other wannabe Urban Naxals: “Your ass is on the line, kid!”, pardon the French.For a long time, secessionists have labored under the illusion that they were immune to the power of the State. They have seen overground and underground purveyors of sedition treated with kid gloves, and they got used to thinking that this is the natural order of things. Not quite. They should look up Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Julian Assange, and Edward Snowden. The human rights of outlaws or insurgents or their middle-class supporters are not — and they cannot be — greater than those of the average, law-abiding citizen. That is an axiom, and all the billions of the Open Society Foundation and #DeepState are not going to change that very easily. The alternative in Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s case, the jump option, is even better because it means he had no option but to fall on the sword. In other words, the Government didn’t do anything, but out of enlightened self-interest, the trustees of Ashoka informed him that he should resign, or else they would have to fire him: Because he was causing real damage to the Ashoka brand. Of course, Mehta has friends, powerful and shadowy friends. Within 24 hours, there was a letter written by 150 professors from “Harvard, MIT, Yale, Columbia, Oxford, Cambridge” and so on, in his support. Commendably swift. The Ecosystem has its act together to protect its own. The letter also means… exactly nothing. It is precisely like the letter signed by 22 (or was it 35?) Nobel laureates supporting a Naxalite doctor some years ago. I would wager that none of these worthies could even spell that man’s name, or pick him out in a police lineup of suspects. They just blindly signed a piece of paper somebody put in front of their noses. There was also the petition signed by 47.5 “ancient India scholars” some years ago regarding the Aryan Invasion Mythology and related stories in the California Textbook Case. I wrote an unpublished piece then where I pointed out that these alleged “scholars” included people who can’t read Sanskrit or Tamil, urban planners, astrophysicists, economists, sociologists, linguists in unrelated languages, deconstructionists, etc. The one person who had the requisite background in both ancient history and languages retracted her support.In other words, these letters are part of a “toolkit”, a term immortalized by Disha Ravi in her 15 minutes of fame. The same worthies crying about Mehta’s “freedom of expression” or whatever chose to ignore the fact that a young, brown, foreign, racial/religious minority Hindu woman, Rashmi Samant, was cyber-bullied, trolled, terrorized, and forced to resign from her post as elected president of the Oxford Student Union, just days ago. Why? That was a rhetorical question. We know the answer. The same worthies have also ignored a vile campaign by a foul-mouthed assistant professor at Rutgers University to demonize a small racial and religious minority, Hindus, mostly Asian Americans. Tulsi Gabbard, a Hindu though not Asian (she’s a Pacific Islander), has been attacked directly for her faith. Although the hate campaign against her was utterly horrifying, not a single academic bothered to condemn it. Here is an actual campaign poster against Gabbard. (Hat tip to Sheenie Ambardar for this).No, none of this bothers the 150 letter writers. That means they have no moral leg to stand on: they are hypocrites. But they make it sound like Mehta was subjected to something akin to what Hypatia, the foremost woman scholar of her time, and a philosopher and mathematician of repute, experienced in Rome around 300CE. They dragged her out of her chariot and into a church, stripped her naked, gouged out her eyeballs while she was still alive, slashed her to pieces with broken tiles, then cut her body up, dragged the pieces through the streets, and burned them: all because newly-ascendant Christians hated pagans. In fact, it was Rashmi Sawant who was treated a bit like Hypatia, not Pratap Bhanu Mehta; and explicitly for the same reason: she is a Hindu. Abrahamics have a serious problem with Hindus and others of the Old Religions. As described in the fascinating book The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World, majoritarian rule by Christians meant the total destruction of the old Roman religion around 400-500 CE.Majoritarian rule by Abrahamics almost inevitably means religious minorities are oppressed, and frequently they are wiped out, exterminated. So there is good reason to fear majoritarian Abrahamic rule, as freedoms will be curtailed.However, by sleight of hand, this Abrahamic technique is ascribed to Hindus, and the likes of Mehta talk up a storm about ‘fascistic’, ‘majoritarian Hindu nationalist’ rule! This sells well to the Deep State and Christian fundamentalists and regime-change enthusiasts in the West, but is entirely without basis. It is a gigantic fraud that ordinary Indians have also been gaslighted into. Hindu rule is demonstrably benign and liberal. Look at the classical Chanakya niti: he advocates sama, dana, bheda and only when other avenues are explored and fruitless, danda. The Pandavas give the Kauravas innumerable opportunities to negotiate a settlement without bloodshed, even willing to accept merely five villages for themselves, while the empire went to the Kauravas.Then there’s the Sisupala story, where Lord Krishna forgives 99 transgressions before slaying him. And look at India today. It may have a large numerical majority of Hindus, but it is a Minoritarian State, as interpreted by the Executive and Judiciary and enshrined in the Constitution. Religious minorities get all sorts of privileges not available to Hindus, most distressingly the fact that Hindu temples are captured by the State. Just two days ago, government bureaucrats were selling off 35,000 acres of land belonging to the Lord Jagannath temple. The vast holdings of churches (the #2 land-owner in the country, after the government), much of it expired 99-year-leases that they squat on illegally as though they were land grants, are never touched. Waqf properties, that is Muslim community properties, are also left alone.There are special provisions for all sorts of things for minorities. Kerala’s government has posted employment advertisements that are reserved for converts to Christianity! There are schemes to pay Muslim priests salaries and Christian priests pensions and to greatly subsidize Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca and Christian pilgrimage to Jerusalem, while Hindus have to pay for their pilgrimages out of their own pockets. And the Modi government, accused of ‘majoritarianism’ has itself rolled out goodies like scholarship schemes, even entire universities and schemes for women, explicitly for non-Hindus! In other words, extreme liberalism is being painted as fascism! How very predictable! How very Orwellian!All the breast-beating by Mehta and friends about ‘majoritarianism’ boils down to a concern that Hindus will get equality. That’s right: any attempt by Hindus to merely demand equality under the law is treated as ‘fascism’. This is the kind of extreme rhetoric that the malcontents in India espouse.For instance, they made a godawful fuss about the badly-named Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which merely provides non-Muslim minorities being genocided in Pakistan and Afghanistan fast-track access to Indian citizenship. This was portrayed as a grave offense: why? Because the Pak and Afghan Muslims doing the genocide would not gain Indian citizenship! That is utterly absurd!The genocide is not theoretical, either. Just two days ago, there was news of Ajay Lalwani, a Hindu journalist in Pakistan, being shot dead by a gunman. His crime: he had reported on how underage Hindu girls in Pakistan suffer regular kidnap, rape, conversion to Islam, and forced marriage to Muslims. This happens on average to three teenage girls a day, every day. That is explicit Abrahamic majoritarianism. And that is precisely why CAA is an utterly liberal law, protecting the victims of religious apartheid and genocide. Nevertheless, here is Pratap Bhanu Mehta fulminating against the CAA, passed into law by the elected Indian parliament, and suggesting in so many words that the way to challenge it was not to use the Judiciary, but to riot in the streets. But we should recognise that this direction is not going to be set through the nice formalisms of law, or the contrived conventions we can adhere to in normal times. The direction is going to be set by the mob, by brute power, by mobilisation.This is outrageous. Some might call it seditious. If there were McCarthyites in India, they would nail Mehta. There aren’t, so he gets cushy sinecures, while spearheading a reverse-McCarthyite movement to blackball anybody who is not part of his cohort’s Big Brother thought control!What explains this strange power Mehta has to keep an entire country in thrall to his views? It couldn’t possibly be his regular op-eds in the Indian Express. I have been surprised by the drivel he churns out. It is verbose and prolix, full of the turgid and impenetrable vocabulary of the cultural Marxist. He writes 3,000-word essays that say… exactly nothing. That is, of course, when he’s not inciting people to riot, as above. On second thoughts, maybe it is better that he not use many verbs, unlike this famous Doonesbury strip from 1980 lampooning Ted Kennedy.Pratap Bhanu Mehta remains an enigma; nay, a mystery wrapped in a conundrum. What is the source of his influence? How does he regularly end up in prestigious positions for which he may or may not be qualified or competent? Is he an outstanding scholar who has produced great work? Why is he the darling of the Ecosystem? The blurb on Mehta says this:His areas of research include political theory, constitutional law, society and politics in India, governance and political economy, and international affairs.Not being in that business, I have no idea what his contribution is. I used to think he must be a globally-renowned scholar. But so far as I can tell, he has not done any path-breaking, seminal work. The only awards on his blurb are from India. So why is there such a fuss about him from Anglosphere friends? Mehta sounds rather like Yogendra Yadav, who is famous only for being famous. It would also be interesting to see if any of those worthies from Columbia, Yale, Harvard, MIT, Oxford, etc. actually invites Mehta to a position in their home institutions. Somehow I doubt that, because they have their own bailiwicks to protect, and anyway he’s probably more useful to them if he is in India. But it is not unknown for washed-up Ecosystem journalists (I can name at least two) to be given cushy slots in the Deep State newspapers of the West. There was also a journalist who said she was an Associate Professor at Harvard, until it crashed and burned and she made (hard to believe) excuses about mail fraud. So I for one would not be surprised if Mehta were to turn up at some university that is friendly to the Deep State and Atlanticism. Don’t cry for Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Argentina. Or Lutyens, or Khan Market. I am pretty sure he’ll pop up somewhere, being hailed as the new Solzhenitsyn. The real Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, poor guy, will turn over in his grave. POSTSCRIPT: Gurcharan Das confirms that Mehta jumped, and was not pushed. Somehow that is a little disappointing. So we are still a Soft State? Sigh. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-edit-page/a-tale-of-two-heroes-tragedy-at-ashoka-university-shows-the-difficulty-of-doing-good-in-todays-world/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com
Alexei Sayle is an iconic comedian, actor, author, TV presenter, among so many other things. We talk about the rise of his career under Thatcherism, the general lockdown nightmare, the state of left-wing politics and the Labour party, the assault on the left, and we discuss antisemitism.Help us take on the right-wing media here: https://patreon.com/owenjones84Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-owen-jones-podcast. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
From Moscow with love! Joined this week by guest Left Bitch Katie Halper, podcast host and... nefarious Russian bot? How a film about the existential threat posed by corporate greenwashing led to McCarthyite smears. Is everyone you disagree with a Putin puppet? Speaking of, who is this Navalny guy, really? And what governments are the Bitches actually afraid to criticize? Also AOC's revelations of past sexual trauma after the Capitol riots and how they made us feel some type of way. Plus, masturbation! How many hands do you use? The Left Bitches are Anissa Naouai, Erica Marable, Rania Khalek, and Amanda Getty. Produced by Gregory Haddock with music by Jonathan Hurley. Visit patreon.com/leftbitches for same-day release, bonus episodes, and more. Get more Katie Halper at https://www.youtube.com/thekatiehalpershow
In the first Book Club podcast of the year, we’re marking the moment that George Orwell comes out of copyright. I’m joined by two distinguished Orwellians — D. J. Taylor and Dorian Lynskey — to talk about how the left’s favourite Old Etonian speaks to us now, and how his reputation has weathered. Was he secretly a conservative? Was he a McCarthyite snitch? How would he be remembered had he died before writing Nineteen Eighty-Four? And does 'Orwellian' mean anything much at all?
In the first Book Club podcast of the year, we’re marking the moment that George Orwell comes out of copyright. I’m joined by two distinguished Orwellians — D. J. Taylor and Dorian Lynskey — to talk about how the left’s favourite Old Etonian speaks to us now, and how his reputation has weathered. Was he secretly a conservative? Was he a McCarthyite snitch? How would he be remembered had he died before writing Nineteen Eighty-Four? And does 'Orwellian' mean anything much at all?
Trump's speech attacking the New York Times 1619 Project is an attempt to rally his base, create a McCarthyite campaign against the left, and create conditions for hanging on even if he loses the election. Gerald Horne joins Paul Jay on theanalysis.news podcast.
Joe Biden has chosen Kamala Harris as his VP. On Chip Chat, we explore the McCarthyite smears that may have ruined the chances of another potential VP pick: Rep. Karen Bass. Subscribe at Patreon.com/DistrictSentinel
The Encampment for Citizenship, founded in 1946 by Ethical Culture Leader Algernon D. Black and Alice (“Nanny”) Pollitzer, a prominent civic leader, offered an opportunity for “young adults of many religious, racial, social and national backgrounds” to learn “the principles and techniques of citizenship… through lived experience.” Black believed that young people could be a positive force in their communities if they developed critical thinking skills, youth activism, leadership qualities, and the courage to break free from stereotypes. Eleanor Roosevelt, long-time chair of The Encampment board of sponsors, often hosted students for discussions, workshops and barbeques at her Hyde Park estate. When the program was attacked by McCarthyite forces in the early 1950s, she defended it vigorously. “The reason I think these Encampments are so important,” she wrote, “is that they are attended by citizens of different races and groups. They prepare people for thinking in terms of all people and not in terms of a selected few. Not only we in the U.S., but people all over the world, need young people trained to be good citizens with an ability to think with an open mind.” While COVID-19 has forced this summer’s program to meet online, Encampers are still engaged in building meaningful community together. Bio: Anne Klaeysen is Leader Emerita of the New York Society for Ethical Culture. She also served as Leader of the Ethical Humanist Society of Long Island for six years and is currently Humanist Chaplain at New York University (NYU) and Ethical Humanist Religious Life Adviser at Columbia University. Anne holds a Doctor of Ministry degree in pastoral counseling and care from Hebrew Union College. She serves on the boards of the Ethical Culture Fieldston Schools and The Encampment for Citizenship.
On this episode of Going Underground, we firstly speak to the co-creator of ‘Yes Minister’ and ‘Yes Prime Minister,’ Jonathan Lynn. He discusses Sir Mark Sedwill’s intention to quit as the head of the civil service and cabinet secretary, how politicians view civil servants and vice versa, the similarities between ‘Yes Minister’ and ‘Yes Prime Minister’ characters, the similarities between the character Dorothy Wainwright and Dominic Cummings, the domination of Oxbridge- and Eton-educated elites among politicians and civil servants, his shows airing in the Soviet Union, why he believes Western democracy is the best system of governance, how politicians use the civil service as an excuse for their failures, Brexit, coronavirus and more! Finally, we speak to Prof. Richard Sakwa, author of ‘The Putin Paradox.’ He discusses Vladimir Putin’s constitutional plebiscite, in which his reforms were approved by a majority of Russians. He discusses the results of the vote being impressive for Putin, dangerous elements of the reforms, McCarthyite coverage of Russia and Putin over the allegations of Russia offering bounties for American soldiers to the Taliban in Afghanistan, Trump’s victory in 2016, the journalistic bubble among Western commentators regarding Russia, the growing threat of nuclear conflict with Russia, Joe Biden threatening economic warfare if he wins, and more!
What happens when you combine Chessman's love for aeronautic nerderie with boilerplate consciousness-expansion bullshit? You get whatever this setting is--where super intelligent moths menace a Cold War-level society by bombarding us with mind altering compounds. Our only defense: hyper-aware, psychically trained fighter pilots (and McCarthyite secret police). Prompt words: Glory. Curse. Hippies. Reach out to the Lore Lads on twitter @lorelads or at thirtyminuteworlds@gmail.com.Our amazing artist is Chelle Torre--follow her on twitter @jovialparadox
Who Are The Real McCarthyites? Seth goes through a recent article attacking conservatives for being McCarthyite. As Seth shows, the shoe should be on the other foot, the left’s foot. We're joined by John Dombroski, founder and president of Grand Canyon Planning. The extremely low risk to children posed by the Chinese Coronavirus. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of "By Any Means Necessary" hosts Jacquie Luqman and Sean Blackmon are joined by Coleen Rowley, a former FBI agent who in 2002 was named Time Magazine person of the year, to talk about Bernie Sander's victory in New Hampshire, why the Democratic Party continues to hand Donald Trump political ammunition, the likelihood that "Republican-lites" Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg may have originally entered the race with more of an eye toward a vice-presidential nod, and why the epidemic of "Trump Derangement Syndrome" is leading many Democratic voters to vote directly against their own interests. In the second segment, Jacquie and Sean continue to be joined by Coleen Rowley to explain why the media's preferred Democratic candidates act more like Republicans, why Joe Biden's campaign is failing so miserably, whether Mike Bloomberg stands a real chance of securing the nomination after a video in which he justifies of racist stop-and-frisk policing went viral, the McCarthyite attacks on Tulsi Gabbard, why the accusations against Roger Stone expose a huge double standard in discretionary prosecutions, the reasons Stone received such an excessive sentence, and why his punishment for supposedly leaking information is so disproportionate to those given other leakers.In the third segment, Jacquie Luqman and Sean Blackmon are joined by Molly Wickham, spokesperson of the Gidimt'en Camp of the Wet'suwet'en Nation, to talk about the Canadian government's decision to enforce an injunction by Coastal GasLink to raid a Wet'suwet'en resistance camp and allow construction of a gas pipeline through ancestral territory, how misleading headlines gloss over the reality that land defenders still face an eviction order, why a corporate PR campaign employing a handful of indigenous voices is complicating the media narrative, what this moment reveals about the power of indigenous and working-class people as they #ShutDownCanada from coast-to-coast, how native traditions and perspectives impact the strategy of the resistance movement, and what supporters can do to stand with the land defenders in the protracted fight against corporate extraction.Later in the show, Jacquie and Sean are joined by Bob Schlehuber, co-host of Political Misfits on Radio Sputnik, to talk about his new radio show, why Bernie Sanders is portrayed as a political radical despite espousing fairly centrist political views, what it says about Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser that she's stumping for Mike Bloomberg, why the supposedly progressive wing of the Democratic Party consistently fails to clearly repudiate US imperialism, how so many US citizens have been conditioned into believing that it's wishful thinking to try to demand concessions from the ruling class, why wealth and whiteness have come to define Pete Buttigieg's base, how Buttigieg's appearance with radio DJ Charlemagne tha God resulted in yet another demonstration of his discomfort around black people, and why certain segments of colonized populations sometimes align with those who ultimately oppress them.
Excerpt from LaRouche PAC Fireside Chat, January 2, 2020. MICHAEL BILLINGTON: I want address the hysteria about China in this country, the lies, the lies which are possibly even more disastrous than the lies about the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The lies about the evil of what’s going on in China, the Hong Kong “freedom fighters” who are nothing but radical terrorists burning down the city. And even more substantial, this Xinjiang Uighur issue, which I’m sure you’ve all seen. The propaganda is that millions of Muslims have been locked up, forbidden to study their religion; locked up and the key thrown away if they even have a passage of the Quran in their cellphone. Millions and millions of Uighurs. Wild, wild lies. I hope you’ve all seen our pamphlet, which says that the McCarthyite witch hunt against China and against the Chinese-Americans is equally an attack on Donald Trump, who is committed to breaking this neo-con, British imperial divide of the world; ending the colonial wars in the Middle East and elsewhere, and bringing about friendship between the United States and Russia and China.
On this edition of Parallax Views, Frank Capra is generally one of the most beloved filmmaker in Hollywood history. Best known for movies like the Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and the holiday classic It's a Wonderful Life, Capra is often seen as being a forerunner to the auteur (thanks to his motto "one man, one film) and whose cinematic efforts championed the working class. Noted film historian Joseph McBride, whose storied career has included working with the legendary Orson Welles as well as writing biographies of Welles, Steven Spielberg, and John Ford, however, found that the popular image of the man was a myth in writing the biography Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success. For one thing, McBride found that Capra, contrary to the myth, was not as big a fan of the masses and everyday man as his films would lead many to believe. In fact, in interviewing Capra and others, as well as engaging in extensive research, he found that Capra had a certain fear for the masses, was a lifelong Republican who disliked FDR, and, despite being an immigrant himself, a xenophobe with anti-Semitic tendencies. Most damning of all perhaps was McBride's discovery of a file in Capra's archives which revealed that Capra snitched on his fellow Hollywood colleagues during the era of McCarthyism and the Red Scare. McBride set about telling the true story of this legendary filmmaker, not to destroy his legacy but instead to reveal a complex man that considered himself an ardent patriot who felt betrayed by his country when he was accused of being a subversive. As a result of this betrayal, McBride argues, Capra lost his way and went against the very values espoused in his beloved filmography by feeding the McCarthyite menace. The story, however, did not end with the publication of Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success in 1992. In his new book, Frankly: Unmasking Frank Capra, McBride relates the Kafka-esque tale of his struggle to complete and see published Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success. The experience found McBride, after having the project initially greenlit by his publisher, Capra's archivist, and Capra himself, being stonewalled. As such Frankly: Unmasking Frank Capra serves not only as the follow-up to Frank Capra: The Catastrophe but also as a story about the monumental struggles journalists and biographers often face in attempting to, as reporter Walter Lippman once said, "Tell the truth and shame the devil." On this edition of the program Joseph McBride himself joins us to share this fascinating story.
Today, Alex, Grace, and Matt talk about Arthur Miller's 1953 play 'The Crucible' and its Salem Witch Trial and McCarthyite contexts. Miller in 1992 on why the market is failing theater and why the state needs to sponsor it. Arthur Miller, fellow-travelling and the House Un-American Activities Committee. Early witch culture that likely influenced the girls' performances/delusions. Samuel Parris fails at life, squanders fathers' plantation fortune. Tituba was more indigenous than black, and didn't introduce witchcraft to the community. The Putnam family and the rural/urban, agricultural/commercial divide. Abigail and Marilyn Monroe. How his relationship with Marilyn Monroe made Miller a target for HUAC. Hale and the limits of ideology. Proctor and the propaganda value of a name. @Alecks_Guns, @GraceJackson, @MattLech @LitHangover Act One of The Crucible here: https://youtu.be/Dtr9RGeHnPM References: An Unofficial Cultural Ambassador - Arthur Miller and the Cultural Cold War. Abrams, N. D., Romijn, P. (ed.), Scott-Smith, G. (ed.) & Segal, J. (ed.), 1 Jan 2012, Divided Dreamworlds? : The Cultural Cold War in East and West. 2012 ed. Amsterdam University Press, p. 13-32 American Masters: None Without Sin documentary (2003) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cf9r94ZIyg Baker, Emerson W. 2016. Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience. New York: Oxford Univ Press. Boyer, Paul S., and Stephen Nissenbaum. 1974. Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft. Hill, Frances. 2002. A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials. Cambrigde, MA.: Da Capo Press. Arthur Miller with Charlie Rose in 1992 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coWRDfpqa6A
This week's episode of #MoveLeftIdiots is live! We talk Bernie's massive rally in NYC with AOC, AOC destroying Mark Zuckerberg during his congressional testimony, Biden's insane Russia ad, & Hillary's disgusting McCarthyite smear of Tulsi
Episode 153: I'm in a politics mood today, having nothing to do with impeachment or the bizarre spectacle of a previous Democratic presidential candidate going seriously off the rails and accusing with no evidence, in McCarthyite fashion, another Democrat of being some sort of asset of Russia…I mean, crazy shit fills up my news dump every day. So as an antidote, I figured I'd bring to you two more progressive women candidates running for Congress against two corporate male Democrats: Eva Putzova in Arizona's 1st Congressional District and Rebecca Parson in Washington State's 6th Congressional District. -- Jonathan Tasini Follow me on Twitter @jonathantasini Sign up for The Working Life Podcast at: www.workinglife.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jonathan.tasini.3
Episode 153:I'm in a politics mood today, having nothing to do with impeachment or the bizarre spectacle of a previous Democratic presidential candidate going seriously off the rails and accusing with no evidence, in McCarthyite fashion, another Democrat of being some sort of asset of Russia…I mean, crazy shit fills up my news dump every day. So as an antidote, I figured I'd bring to you two more progressive women candidates running for Congress against two corporate male Democrats: Eva Putzova in Arizona's 1st Congressional District and Rebecca Parson in Washington State's 6th Congressional District.-- Jonathan TasiniFollow me on Twitter @jonathantasiniSign up for The Working Life Podcast at: www.workinglife.orgFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/jonathan.tasini.3
Episode 153: EI’m in a politics mood today, having nothing to do with impeachment or the bizarre spectacle of a previous Democratic presidential candidate going seriously off the rails and accusing with no evidence, in McCarthyite fashion, another Democrat of being some sort of asset of Russia…I mean, crazy shit fills up my news dump every day. Support the podcast here: www.patreon.com/WorkingLifePodcast So as an antidote, I figured I’d bring to you two more progressive women candidates running for Congress against two corporate male Democrats: Eva Putzova in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District and Rebecca Parson in Washington State’s 6th Congressional District. Support the podcast here: www.patreon.com/WorkingLifePodcast
05/19/2019 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/statuscoup/support
Harley Schlanger, LaRouchePAC.com, IMPERIAL GEO-POLITICIANS ENGAGE IN FUTILE, BUT DANGEROUS EFFORTS TO BLOCK BRI, Belt and Road for All Nations, World Trade or World War, Defense of Earth, Future Tech and Solutions for Mankind as We Leap Off Earth to Moon Mars and Milky Way Worlds, collapsing London-directed Trans-Atlantic system,Dr Bill Deagle MD AAEM ACAM A4M, NutriMedical Report Show, www.NutriMedical.com, www.ClayandIRON.com, www.Deagle-Network.com,NutriMedical Report Show,https://harley.larouchepac.com/imperial_geo_politicians_engage_in_futile_but_dangerous_efforts_to_block_briIMPERIAL GEO-POLITICIANS ENGAGE IN FUTILE, BUT DANGEROUS EFFORTS TO BLOCK BRIBy Harley Schlanger26April 2019As the second Belt and Road Forum opened in Beijing on April 25, the defenders of the collapsing London-directed Trans-Atlantic system have stepped up their rhetorical assault and financial/military activities against the New Paradigm, which is emerging around President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). While engaging in endless repetition of bogus charges, such as that of an “aggressive and escalating Chinese military threat”, “state-sponsored spying”, “imperial ambitions” and “currency manipulation”, these war party operatives display the same lack of regard for truth that characterized their use of discredited charges of “Russian hacking” and “Trump collusion” to target President Donald Trump’s outreach to Russia and President Putin. And just as their continuing assault against Trump and Putin has been revealed to be a regime change coup organized by top elements of the British Empire—including their operatives in the Obama intelligence community and their Bush League neocon allies—there is no evidence to back the claims they now are making against China’s President Xi Jinping and his BRI.But these attack dogs are not concerned with truth, nor evidence. Instead, they wish to create a hostile environment against improved U.S.-Chinese relations, to prevent Trump from succeeding in bringing the U.S. into a coordinated relationship with the BRI, based on his often-expressed friendship with Xi. This friendship has provided a basis for productive U.S.-Chinese cooperation in addressing the North Korean nuclear threat, and has survived a rough patch of trade talks, in which the U.S. has imposed tariffs aimed at addressing the continued existence of a large trade deficit with China. The resolve of both leaders to succeed in these talks has resulted in progress, as a new round of trade negotiations begins April 30 in Beijing, with both sides saying they are nearing an agreement, which Trump has repeatedly tweeted will be “historic”.For their part, the Chinese have continued to express a desire for the U.S. to be partners in the BRI process. On the eve of the event, China’s Ambassador to the U.S., Cui Tiankai, appealed to the U.S., to accept this challenge.“Imagine the potential of China and the United States,” he said, “the world’s two largest, most vibrant economies, collaborating on the most ambitious development project in history. The scenario is no fantasy: China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which kicked off almost six years ago, will eventually connect a vast swath of the world, creating huge yields in economic activity, and wiring the world together as never before. However, the United States remains on the sidelines, and this has implications not only in terms of missed opportunities for growth in the U.S., but for the cause of global development which needs the ingenuity and the industry of the U.S.”END OF GEOPOLITICSThe unwillingness of the anti-China mob in the U.S. to respond positively to this challenge has nothing to do with fears that the Chinese are about to establish a new global empire, to threaten U.S. hegemony. Instead, it is an explicit rejection of an earlier offer made in August 2018 by President Xi, in discussing the goal of the BRI.“The Belt and Road,” he stated, “is an initiative for economic cooperation, instead of a geopolitical alliance or military league, and it is an open and inclusive process rather than an exclusive or ‘China club.'”In language which directly echoes the Schiller Institute’s Helga Zepp LaRouche, who has defined the New Paradigm as one in which “geopolitics” has been eliminated, Xi is clear that he sees the threats against achieving peaceful cooperation as coming from the geopolitical doctrines developed at the end of the 19th century by British imperial strategist Halford Mackinder. A staunch defender of the British Empire, Mackinder argued that the greatest threat to continued British world domination would be the development of new trade routes over land, utilizing rail, which would diminish greatly the dominant position in world trade, based on British sea power.Mackinder’s doctrine defined the emergence of rail connections, such as the Trans-Siberian railroad, or the Berlin-Baghdad line, as existential threats to the Empire. The precedent of Lincoln’s Transcontinental railroad in the U.S., connecting the east and west coasts of the U.S. by land, which was seen as a danger by Britain’s imperial predators, was viewed as a positive precedent by leaders in Europe. To prevent this, the British orchestrated regional wars—such as the Russo-Japanese war, and the 1912-13 Balkan Wars—and employed divide-and-rule tactics, to undermine the strategic cooperation between nations required to achieve peaceful commercial and cultural ties. The geopolitical intervention by the Empire was directly responsible for both World Wars of the twentieth century. Their heirs in today’s anti-Russia, anti-China policy gaggle are pushing a course leading toward a possible World War III, a horrific potential result, but one which does not at all deter them from provocative actions.WILL RUSSIAGATE BECOME CHINAGATE?What is not surprising is that many of those spouting nonsense about China are the same as those who previously—and still are—using Russiagate to control, or remove President Trump. A leading anti-Trump figure in the U.S. Senate, Republican Marco Rubio, is a point man against China, using his Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship to spread lies about China. This committee just released a report, “Made in China 2025 and the Future of American Industry”. In introducing the report, Rubio accuses China of “blatant industrial espionage and coercion”, adding that China intends to “steal and cheat their way to world dominance.” In an op ed he wrote on April 25, he accused the U.S. of being “stunningly naive” in pursuit of a trade partnership, a direct attack on Trump’s effort to negotiate with China. He branded the BRI as part of “an unprecedented effort to supplant America’s role as the leading economic and military power,” and warned nations not to fall into China’s “debt trap.” Note that Rubio led the Republican attack on Trump’s negotiations with Russia’s Putin at Helsinki, and has defended the FBI from charges of engaging in a coup against Trump: I have seen “no evidence” that the FBI spied on the Trump campaign, he said on multiple occasions.Rubio’s effort has bipartisan support, with Democratic Party presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren chiming in that China “has weaponized its economy” in its effort to overtake the U.S. This line, which is heard from many Democrats with ties to Hillary Clinton, is coherent with the G.W. Bush era geopolitical dogma of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), which held that, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the U.S. must remain the unilateral power in the world. It is also reflected in the reconstitution of the Cold War Committee on the Present Danger (CPD), this time focusing on China rather than Russia. CPD-China, as it is known, held an event in Washington on April 9, featuring Sen. Ted Cruz, a former Trump opponent, Newt Gingrich, an occasional spokesman for Trump, and Steve Bannon, who worked for the Trump campaign and presidency as a “strategist”, but was later fired. Cruz said that China is “the greatest long term geopolitical risk that the U.S. faces”, while Gingrich accused the U.S. of “sleepwalking” while China asserts its new-found power. Bannon has a long history of anti-China posturing, claiming that we are in “an economic war with China”, one which “China foisted on us.”The CPD-C was set up to “inform America about the existential threat” of China. While its personnel are mostly recycled neocons from the Bush era, such as Frank Gaffney, its vice-chair, more concerning is the chorus of voices from within the Trump administration attacking China. These include Vice President Pence, who has accused China of “economic aggression”, having an “unparalleled surveillance state”, and using “‘debt diplomacy’ to expand its influence”; and Secretary of State Pompeo, whose mid-April tour of four nations of Latin America included harsh rhetoric and threats against those wishing to collaborate with China. While in Chile, Pompeo claimed that China deploys its companies abroad to “enter the house, set traps, ignore the rules and propagate disorder.” Pence, Pompeo and special Venezuela envoy Eliot Abrams have taken the point in threatening both Russia and China over what they say are unwelcome intrusions into “our hemisphere”, with their support of the Maduro government in Venezuela, which the British faction has targeted for regime change.Will such absurdly provocative allegations and threats stop China from succeeding with their “win-win” economic and strategic diplomacy? As Mrs. LaRouche has emphasized, China’s efforts are “unstoppable,” except by war, as they address needs in many nations, for infrastructure and development aid, which is not available elsewhere. This was evident in an April 20 article in “Foreign Policy” magazine, “Catching China by the Belt (and Road)”, which wrote about the newly-established U.S. government agency, the International Development Finance Corp. (IDFC), as a plan to counter the BRI. The IFDC was created, the authors posit, to prevent the developing world from falling “under China’s sway,” to “help Washington push back against Beijing’s sweeping BRI.”However, they admit that the IFDC has offered a paltry $60 billion in capital, compared to the more than $1 trillion already pledged by China. Further, the aid comes with the requirement that the IMF and World Bank be involved in overseeing the fund disbursement. Saying this is necessary to prove that China is violating “well-established norms with its lending policies”, and to “draw attention to the corruption of the BRI”, it is well known that one of the reasons so many nations have welcomed the BRI is their rejection of IMF/World Bank conditionalities, which have prevented real development from occurring, while maintaining the colonial lending practices favorable to the financial institutions controlled by the British empire.As Russiagate has crumbled, brought down by its blatant lies and increasingly transparent evidence that it was nothing but a coup, run by a foreign power—Britain—to overturn the result of the 2016 election, “Chinagate” will ultimately fail. The potential benefits of peaceful cooperation between the U.S. and China, recognized by both Presidents Trump and Xi, in light of the great success of the BRI, are a preferred outcome to trade war and military confrontation. The media may hide from the American people the dynamic story of China’s BRI, but, if the truth becomes known, it is likely that Americans would reject the McCarthyite scare mongers, as they have in the past, and embrace the possibilities in a “win-win” relationship with China. For information regarding your data privacy, visit Acast.com/privacy See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In their quest to destroy the president, the left has made heroes out of rogue FBI agents, blackmailing strippers and McCarthyite pols. Now it's Michael Cohen's turn. Date: 2-27-2019
Jess and Jamal discuss the State of Texas, McCarthyite loyalty oath requiring contractors not to boycott Israel. Pursuant to Section 2270.001 of Texas Government Code, contractors are barred from "refusing to deal with, terminating business activities with, or otherwise taking any action that is intended to penalize, inflict economic harm on, or limit commercial relations specifically with Israel." The law is a violation of the First Amendment and is being challenged by Bahia Amawi, a Texas speech pathologist, who lost her job due to this law.
Opening Monologue. Creepy Psycho Smirking testimony from FBI Peter Strzok, quintessence of Deep State Physiognomy. In the aftermath, Goose Egg Mueller offers another nothingburger distraction indictment of Ghost Russians. Notes on President Trump's "solid gold" trip to Europe. Applies appropriate pressure on Germany regarding Merkel's natural gas "Putin Pipeline." Tells NATO it needs to pay up -- free ride is over. Then piles on British PM Theresa May for her "soft Brexit" miscalculation. Meanwhile, Air Force One lands today in Finland. Trump readies for Helsinki summit with Vladimir Putin. MSM vents McCarthyite outrage. We review Sen. Rand Paul's stance against NATO's push towards the borders of Russia. For fun, we listen to some Finnish music and review the work of Finnish film director Aki Kaurismaki. Also, our SCOTUS update on the prospects of nominee Brett Kavanaugh. So far so good, with the hostile Sen. Chuck Schumer failing to gain traction. Plus, our commentary on the FIFA World Cup, as France defeats Croatia. We contrast Soccer Hysterics with Baseball Stoicism. And yes, we're glad England lost again. With Listener Calls & Music via Blur, Nicky Jam, Era Istrefi, Eric Church, Garbage, Esa Pulliainen and Matti Johannes Koivuu. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Moderate Rebels episode 19 - Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton conclude our Syria series with Rania Khalek. Ben details how his misguided views matured. And we name and shame the regime change gang, including the radlib college students from Jaish al-Grad School occupying Brooklyn, and the pro-imperialist Cliffite Trotskyites in the International Socialist Organization (ISO). We also debunk the absurd "red-brown" smears used by McCarthyite pro-imperialist "leftists." This is part 3 of our 3-part interview with Rania Khalek.
Digging deeper on Russia's purported involvement in the U.S. election. Does the Washington Post profit from its demonstrably false propaganda? Journalist Glenn Greenwald thinks so, as he throws cold water on the McCarthyite tactics of the Establishment. Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, says the "Obama administration" is attempting to undermine Trump with politicized intelligence. So, not a smooth transition after all? Meanwhile, we review widespread media anxiety over Trump's Twitter account. Why do they want him to give it up? Has their rigged filtration apparatus been displaced? Also, we conclude with a modest discourse on Compassion, Decadence and the inevitabilities of Political Combat. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Robb Kall, founder of the progressive website OpEd News, and host Dave Lindorff, both smeared by the Washington Post and the obscure website PropOrNot.com that it relied upon in an article claiming 200 news sites to be working in league with Russian propaganda organs to undermine US democracy, talk about this return to McCarthyite red-baiting by the once great newspaper that brought us the expose of the Watergate Scandal.
Edition #469 McCarthyism Redux Donate tweets to Best of the Left! DonateYourAccount.com/BestOfTheLeft Act 1: Mistaken for Muslim - 1700% Project Song 1: Look what you've done - JET Act 2: Anti-muslim bill in TN banning practice of Islam - Young Turks Song 2: Dare you to move - Vitamin String Quartet Act 3: Beck STILL thinks 10% of Muslims are terrorists - Media Matters Act 4: Al Qaeda populating US with peaceful "decoy Muslims" - The Onion Song 4: This is why we fight - The Decemberists Act 5: Peter King understands violent radicalism - Colbert Report Song 5: Like a prayer - Vitamin String Quartet Act 6: Beck: Reform Judaism "almost like" radicalized Islam - Media Matters Act 7: Reza Aslan on Peter King's Radicalized Muslims hearing - Colbert Report Song 7: More than a feeling - Boston Act 8: Pet Peter King's terrorist ties - Young Turks Song 8: Unforgiven - Apocalyptica Act 9: Glenn Beck apologizes - Media Matters Act 10: Radical Muslim hearing and IRA terrorism with John Oliver - Daily Show Song 10: Zombie (Techno version) - The Cranberries Act 11: Reporting on McCarthyite hearings - Counterspin Song 11: Radioactive - Vitamin String Quartet Act 12: Fox cheerleads Muslim witch-hunt hearings - Media Matters Act 13: Rep. Keith Ellison Cries During Testimony at Muslim Radicalization Hearing - C-Span Song 13: All these things that I've done - The Killers Act 14: Keith Ellison on radicalization of American Muslims - Bill Maher Song 14: Don't stop believing - Vitamin String Quartet Act 15: Fox Gives 3x more airtime to Peter King supporers - Media Matters Act 16: Actual case on terrorism by non-Muslim - Counterspin Song 16: Welcome to the black parade - My Chemical Romance Act 17: Radical Muslim hearings - Daily Show Voicemails: Using religion for liberal good - Jeffrey from Longbeach, CA Request for animal cruelty and diet episodes, plus supporting Mumia - Brenden the contractor from Portland Freedom box foundation call to action - Jamie Cobb from Santa Fe, NM Response to education system episode - Liz from South Dakota Sick and tired of all these wars! - John From Portland, OR Response to date rape story caller - Anonymous Voicemail Music: Loud Pipes - Ratatat Final comments on the launch of the new pseudo-video version of BotL Bonus iPhone/iPod Touch App Content: Allah in the Family - Daily Show Produced by: Jay! Tomlinson Thanks for listening! Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Check out the BotL iOS/Android App in the App Stores! Follow at Twitter.com/BestOfTheLeft Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com Review the show on iTunes!
Become a Useful Idiot for extended interviews and bonus content at http://usefulidiots.substack.com There's a whole lot of terrible stuff going on which means Glenn Greenwald has a whole lot to say: •Biden's failure at the Summit of the Americas: Latin American leaders are boycotting Biden's summit because he refused to invite the dictatorships of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Meanwhile, Biden's packing for his big trip to the dictatorship of Saudi Arabia… •Jan 6 in Prime Time: “I don't think dramatizing this three-hour protest from 18 months ago will do very much at all other than underscore the fact that this is the only strategy the Democrats have.” •More Russiagate developments: “When I heard that first ad where Hillary Clinton had that sinister music playing and said, ‘What is this relationship between Donald Trump and the Russians?' to me it just immediately sounded like the kind of McCarthyite toxicity I had spent many decades abhorring.” Subscribe to hear the full interview with Glenn where we deep dive on January 6, play Trump vs Bernie vs Chomsky, and hear about Glenn's animal shelter run by unhoused people in Rio. It's all this, and more, on this week's episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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