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We hear from citizen activist, Diana Kastenbaum, who organized a town meeting in her congressional district in Western New York State filled with both Democrats and Republicans airing their concerns. How did the district's representative respond? We'll hear the whole story. Then, Ralph welcomes back Washington Post tech reporter, Geoffrey Fowler, to discuss his latest report about how Meta promised parents it would automatically shield teens from harmful content. Find out what happened when Mr. Fowler and a group of Gen Z users put that promise to the test. Plus, we hear from RootsAction.org director Norman Solomon about the petition his group and Progressive Democrats of America sent to the DNC for an emergency meeting challenging how the party elites are responding to the authoritarian creep of the Trump Administration. Finally, Ralph calls for listeners to flood the White House switchboard to exhort the Administration to end the indiscriminate slaughter in Gaza.Diana Kastenbaum lives in Batavia, New York, where she has been an owner in her family business, Pinnacle Manufacturing Company, Inc. for over 45 years. In 2014, she became the CEO of the company making her one of only a handful of women CEOs in the manufacturing field of tool and die casting in all of North America. In addition, she owned her own tech consulting company for 25 years. She has devoted herself to numerous national political endeavors and in 2016 ran for Congress in NY-27.It wasn't until January 20th when those executive orders started to come out, I started to get really, really nervous. And it woke me up from my hibernation here in Western New York. So I actually had many sleepless nights, and I reached out to some friends. They weren't sleeping too. They were worried. And so we decided to do something about it.Diana Kastenbaum on her summoning her congressperson for a town meetingIt (the town meeting) was just for people to ask their questions and tell their stories. And I think that's sort of where we are now in town halls is trying to get our friends and our neighbors and our local communities to hear what will happen, what is happening to the people in their communities. There were Republicans there, and they didn't yell or shout or anything like that. There was no disruption, but everybody stayed until the last moment, and everybody listened to these people share their stories.Diana KastenbaumGeoffrey Fowler is The Washington Post's technology columnist. Before joining the Post he spent sixteen years with the Wall Street Journal writing about consumer technology, Silicon Valley, national affairs and China.I performed an experiment on Instagram where I set up one of those accounts for a teenager that Instagram had promised us would be given special protections. And frankly, it took as little as ten minutes for me to swipe through and see what kinds of stuff Instagram was going to show this kid. And, oh boy, it really went off the rails quickly.Geoffrey FowlerIt's like there's a dark commercial villain inside this company (Meta) that does whatever makes the most money for them.Geoffrey FowlerNorman Solomon is co-founder of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. He is the author of War Made Easy, Made Love, Got War, and his newest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine.So we're hearing some mea culpas now about, "Oh, we should have told Biden not to run for re-election." But in point of fact, the same mentality, the same risk culture is still in place. And that's where I think the only change is going to come from the bottom up. It's going to come from us folks at the grassroots.Norman SolomonThe Israelis bombed a home where they killed nine children out of ten children of parents who were both physicians with one American-made missile. That's just one of the tragedies that occurs every day, weaponized by the U.S. government – now Donald Trump – and funded by the U.S. taxpayers who are never asked their opinion on such foreign relation policies.Ralph NaderWhite House Switchboard : 202-456-1414"Fast for Gaza" organized by Veterans for Peace Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe
Journalist Norman Soloman discusses the coverup about Biden's mental health, popularity and viability; his careerism and the failures of the Democratic Party. Plus how the media sells war and how liberal Zionism is a myth. Then Ken McCarthy and Aaron Good discuss JFK, who killed him, the JFK files and his fight with Israel. They also talk about the politics of RFK Jr. Norman Solomon is co-founder of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His books include "War Made Easy," "Made Love, Got War," and "War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of its Military Machine." Ken McCarthy is the author of "JFK and RFK's Secret Battle Against Zionist Extremism: The Documentary Evidence," and :John F. Kennedy Anti-Imperialist: His Character and Intentions Revealed in Five Speeches and One Telegram." Aaron Good is a political scientist and historian, the host of American Exception Podcast and the author of 'American Exception: Empire and the Deep State.'
This Journalist, Norman Solomon, exposes how establishment Democrats are blowing the fight against a fascist Trump. House Dems fighting against Medicaid evisceration. Colonial powers are attempting to overthrow Burkina Faso's President.Subscribe to our Newsletter:https://politicsdoneright.com/newsletterPurchase our Books: As I See It: https://amzn.to/3XpvW5o How To Make AmericaUtopia: https://amzn.to/3VKVFnG It's Worth It: https://amzn.to/3VFByXP Lose Weight And BeFit Now: https://amzn.to/3xiQK3K Tribulations of anAfro-Latino Caribbean man: https://amzn.to/4c09rbE
This Journalist, Norman Solomon, exposes how establishment Democrats are blowing the fight against a fascist Trump. House Dems fighting against Medicaid evisceration. Colonial powers are attempting to overthrow Burkina Faso's President.Subscribe to our Newsletter:https://politicsdoneright.com/newsletterPurchase our Books: As I See It: https://amzn.to/3XpvW5o How To Make AmericaUtopia: https://amzn.to/3VKVFnG It's Worth It: https://amzn.to/3VFByXP Lose Weight And BeFit Now: https://amzn.to/3xiQK3K Tribulations of anAfro-Latino Caribbean man: https://amzn.to/4c09rbE
Norman Solomon is an author, journalist, media critic and activist. He is co-founder of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. Solomon's books include War Made Easy, and Made Love, Got War. His new book is War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine. In this wide-ranging conversation, Norman Solomon reflects on the first 100 days of Trump's return to power. He counsels that the struggle to defend, restore, and then improve America's democracy and a humane society will take many years -- if not much longer. Why? Because Trumpism is a symptom and not the cause of an American empire that is rotting from within. Norman Solomon warns that the enemies of multiracial democracy and a true We the People pluralistic democracy are working expertly to return the United States to the 1950s and the evils of Jim and Jane Crow if not before. He also warns that the corporate Democrats and the mainstream liberals have no real answers for Trump's great talent (and appeal for his MAGA people) as a propagandist, dark therapist, and political strongman in an era of extreme social inequality and rage at the corrupt elites. And Norman Solomon shares his hard-earned wisdom and advice on balancing pessimism and optimism and how to build one's own internal Noah's Ark to survive this worsening disaster here in America and around the world. WHERE CAN YOU FIND ME? On Twitter: https://twitter.com/chaunceydevega On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chauncey.devega My email: chaunceydevega@gmail.com HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE CHAUNCEY DEVEGA SHOW? Via Paypal at ChaunceyDeVega.com: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thechaunceydevegashow https://www.patreon.com/TheTruthReportPodcast
Today on the Show: Manufacturing Anti-Semitism and the destruction of the American University. We'll speak with Richard Silverstein of Tikun Olam. Also the devastating impacts of shuttering the Department of Education. And Robert McChesney—prominent media scholar, Free Press co-founder, dogged defender of democracy and free speech, dies at the age of 72: Norman Solomon helps us remember The post The Many Impacts of Shutting Down The Department of Education appeared first on KPFA.
On today's show, host Allen Ruff speaks with journalist, media critic, author, and activist Norman Solomon about his article, “How the Warfare State Paved the Way for a Trumpist Autocracy.” The post The Warfare State with Norman Solomon appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.
National Director RootsAction.org Norman Solomon, Labor Rally Die-In on Wall Street
Ralph welcomes Constitutional law expert Bruce Fein to analyze Congress' abdication of power in the face of President Trump and Elon Musk's actions to dismantle the federal government, and whether any of it is legal. Then, Ralph is joined by Norman Solomon from RootsAction to discuss the new Chair of the Democratic National Committee, Ken Martin, and whether we should be optimistic about his agenda for the Democrats.Bruce 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.What I think shows the clear (what I would call malignant) intent, is even though he has Republican majorities in the House and the Senate, he's never contemplated going back to Congress and saying, "Hey, I want you to do X. I want you to do Y. We need to do this in the proper way."Bruce Fein[Trump's] boogeyman is DEI. So he claims that a crash between a helicopter and airplane in Washington, D.C. is a DEI problem. Of course, it's amazing that somebody who has such contempt for meritocracy with his own cabinet appointments suddenly blames, “Oh, well, DEI, it's watering down standards.” Well, he doesn't have any standards himself, so it's kind of ironic there.Bruce FeinImpeachment is not a criminal prosecution. Impeachment is what Benjamin Franklin at the Constitutional Convention said— it's the civilized substitute for tyrannicide…And if you're impeached, it's because you have undertaken attempts to subvert the Constitution so the people no longer view you as a trustworthy steward of our liberties and the rule of law. That's what it is. You don't go to Siberia, you don't go to the guillotine, that's it. And there have been, of course, many federal judges (probably as many as a dozen) who've been impeached, removed from office. And you know what? They still survive. There's not a graveyard of them…So this idea that impeachment is somehow some enormous volcanic eruption on the landscape is totally misleading and wrong.Bruce FeinThere are two informal checkpoints I want to run by you. [Trump] is afraid of the stock market collapsing—and it could well collapse because chaos is the thing that really gets investors and big institutional investors scared. And the second thing he's afraid of is a plunge in the polls, including among Trump voters who represent families that have the same necessities for their children and their neighborhood as liberal families.Ralph NaderNorman Solomon is co-founder of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. He is the author of War Made Easy, Made Love, Got War, and his newest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine.Especially when there's not a Democrat in the White House, the leader of the Democratic Party de facto is often the chair of the Democratic National Committee. And we now, of course, have the Democrats in minority in the House and the Senate. Biden's out of there in the White House. And so, really, it falls to the chair of the DNC to ostensibly at least give direction to the Democratic Party. And we've suffered for the last four years under Jamie Harrison as chair of the DNC, who basically did whatever Biden told him to do, and Biden told him to just praise President Biden. And we saw the result, the enabling process from the DNC was just a disaster for the Democratic Party and the country.Norman SolomonLiterally and figuratively in a sense, there needs to be a tearing down of the walls that have been surrounding the Democratic National Committee headquarters. Activists (thousands of us, really, in recent years) have discovered and rediscovered that the DNC is like a fortress. They have the moat, the drawbridge is locked, and we can't even get inside to have a word in edgewise compared to the lobbyists and those who are running the DNC. This is really just remarkable, how difficult it has been for strong Democratic Party activists, if they're not on the DNC (and even if they are, quite often) to get a word in edgewise for the corporate-oriented so-called leadership of the DNC. That might change now.Norman SolomonAlfred Bridi is a U.S. immigration attorney associated with the law firm Scale LLP who specializes in employment- and family-based immigration law. Prior to joining Scale LLP, he practiced law at major international law firms and also worked with leading international organizations on global migration and transparency issues.These executive orders and these executive actions have really created a tension in terms of enforcement officials trying to understand what these mean; in terms of the judiciary and and legal activists contesting a lot of the foundations and the arguments made; in terms of our legal system and our constitutional rights; and I think more than anything, they have had a signaling effect to ordinary Americans and immigrant populations that, “You're not welcome here, and we are going to come after you.” And I think the difference that we've seen is a broadening of the enforcement net and a removal of any sort of refinement or targeting. We've seen American citizens and military veterans being arrested and detained. We've seen Indigenous people being detained. And it's created a sense of terror and panic across the country that I feel is absolutely deliberate, and in line with the campaign promises of this new administration.Alfred BridiNews 2/5/251. The New York Times reports President Trump has ousted Rohit Chopra, the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau who was “known for his aggressive enforcement and expansion of consumer protection laws.” During his tenure, Chopra cracked down on junk fees, particularly bank overdraft fees, and sought to remove medical debt from individuals' credit histories. As the Times notes, Chopra “improbably hung on for nearly two weeks [after Trump took office, and]…used that time to impose a $2 million fine on a money transmitter and release reports on auto lending costs, specialty credit reporting companies and rent payment data.” In his letter of resignation, Chopra wrote “With so much power concentrated in the hands of a few, agencies like the C.F.P.B. have never been more critical,” and “I hope that the CFPB will continue to be a pillar of restoring and advancing economic liberty in America.”2. In more Trump administration staffing news, AP reports the Senate Finance Committee voted 13-14 along party lines Tuesday to advance the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician by trade and member of the committee who expressed grave concern over Kennedy's stances on vaccines and other health-related matters, said during the hearings “Your past, undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments, concerns me.” Ultimately however, Cassidy voted “aye.” Kennedy's nomination will now advance to the full Senate, where the GOP holds a comfortable majority thus almost ensuring his confirmation.3. Speaking of Trump and health, CBS is out with an update on the 2023 East Palestine, Ohio railroad disaster. According to this report, Vice President JD Vance visited the crash site on February 3rd and vowed that the administration would hold Norfolk Southern accountable for “unfilled promises of settlement money and training centers.” That same day, residents of East Palestine filed a lawsuit alleging that Norfolk Southern's actions resulted in the wrongful death of seven people, including a one-week-old baby.4. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has successfully negotiated a month-long delay of Trump's proposed 25% tariffs. According to CNN, the deal reached between the two North American heads of state includes Mexico deploying 10,000 National Guard troops to its northern border to help stem the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., while Trump has reportedly agreed to help end the deluge of American guns moving South. In her regular Monday morning press conference, Sheinbaum said “For humanitarian reasons, we must help the United States address its fentanyl consumption crisis, which is leading to overdose deaths.” Sheinbaum has been roundly praised for her ability to both stand up to and placate Trump. Reuters quoted Jorge Guajardo, a former Mexican ambassador to China and member of the opposition Partido Acción Nacional or PAN party, who had to admit “President Sheinbaum played it…Masterfully.”5. Democracy Now! reports a group of Quaker congregations have filed a lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement in response to the Trump administration's order “allowing federal agents to raid…schools, hospitals, shelters and places of worship.” This lawsuit alleges that “The very threat of [such raids] deters congregants from attending services, especially members of immigrant communities,” and that therefore this order infringes upon the Constitutional “guarantee of religious liberty.” The Quakers have historically been among the most progressive Christian sects, having been leaders in the fight to abolish slavery and to oppose war.6. Reese Gorman of NOTUS reports that so far approximately 24,000 federal employees have accepted Elon Musk's proposed “buyout,” meaning they will leave their jobs and should receive eight months of severance pay. This purge of the federal workforce has been among the most prominent initiatives of Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Less prominently touted however is what the administration plans to do once these employees have been purged. Recent comments from Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Bloomberg however are enlightening. Rubio, commenting on the “potential reorganization” of the Agency for International Development or USAID, indicated that the reduction in the size of the workforce would be paired with greater use of private contractors. Most likely this means farming out government services to Trump lackeys, cronies, and assorted grifters – all on the taxpayers' dime.7. Front and center in combatting Musk's quiet coup is Public Citizen. On Monday, the public interest watchdog announced they are suing the Treasury Department for its “unlawful disclosure of personal & financial information to Elon Musk's DOGE.” Their legal complaint, filed alongside the Alliance for Retired Americans, the Association of Federal Government Employees and the SEIU, reads, in part, “The scale of the intrusion into individuals' privacy is massive and unprecedented. Millions of people cannot avoid engaging in financial transactionswith the federal government and, therefore, cannot avoid having their sensitivepersonal and financial information maintained in government records. SecretaryBessent's action granting DOGE-affiliated individuals full, continuous, and ongoingaccess to that information for an unspecified period of time means that retirees,taxpayers, federal employees, companies, and other individuals from all walks of life have no assurance that their information will receive the protection that federal law affords.”8. Turning to the Middle East, Drop Site News reports “Over 100 journalists…sent a letter to Egyptian authorities on Sunday requesting access to Gaza through the Rafah border crossing.” CNN, NBC, NPR, CBS, ABC, AP, Reuters, BBC, Sky News, the Financial Times, the Washington Post, the LA Times France 24, Le Monde, El Pais, and others, including Drop Site itself, are signatories on this letter. The letter states “We understand that the situation is fluid regarding the border crossing, but we ask that permission for journalists to cross the Rafah border be at the forefront of the…No international journalists have been able to access Gaza without an Israeli military escort since the war began in October 2023. We request that permission be granted on an expedited basis while Phase 1 of the ceasefire is still in effect.” As Drop Site notes, “Egypt has not allowed journalists to cross Rafah into Gaza since 2013, when Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took power in Egypt in a military coup.” This has meant all journalistic access to Gaza must go through Israel.9. Our last two stories have to do with the Democrats. On February 1st, Ken Martin was elected the new chair of the Democratic National Committee. Martin previously led the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and the Association of State Democratic Parties, per POLITICO. WPR reports Martin's victory was decisive at 246.5 out of 428 votes; the second-place finisher, Ben Wikler, chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, won only 134.5 votes despite endorsements from House and Senate Minority Leaders Jeffries and Schumer, among many other high-profile elected Democrats, per the Hill. Other candidates included Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and Bernie Sanders' 2020 campaign manager Faiz Shakir, though he entered late and without substantial backing. Martin's reputation is mixed, with one DNC member telling POLITICO, “he's a knife-fighter.” Perhaps that is what the party needs to turn things around.10. Finally, Variety reports former President Biden has signed with the Creative Arts Agency, or CAA, one of the premier talent agencies in Hollywood. CAA also represents Barack and Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, per the BBC. With the White House once again occupied by a creature of showbusiness, the symbiotic relationship between politics, media and entertainment has never been clearer. In the words of George Carlin, “It's a big club, and you ain't in it.”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
First up, Ralph welcomes back constitutional law expert Bruce Fein to talk about his reaction to Donald Trump's inaugural address. Then Ralph is joined by Public Citizen Co-President Robert Weissman to discuss Public Citizen's lawsuit against Trump regarding Elon Musk's D.O.G.E task force. Finally, Ralph speaks with Public Citizen's Government Affairs lobbyist Craig Holman about the flood of donations from corporations and billionaires to Trump's inaugural fund.Bruce 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.Sitting on that platform at the inauguration was probably trillions of dollars held by individuals—not by companies, just individuals—fabulous wealth. And you have to ask, if these are business people, why are you at the political event? Why aren't you building a better mousetrap? Why aren't you like Thomas Edison, looking to find new ways of doing business? It's because all of their profits come from manipulating government in their favor. It's the opposite of so-called capitalism.Bruce FeinRemember that this lust for power transcends all reason, and that we're endowed with that lust.Bruce FeinRobert Weissman is a staunch public interest advocate and activist, as well as an expert on a wide variety of issues ranging from corporate accountability and government transparency, to trade and globalization, to economic and regulatory policy. As the President of Public Citizen, he has spearheaded the effort to loosen the chokehold corporations and the wealthy have over our democracy.The alleged purpose [of D.O.G.E.] is to advance efficiency of the government. But what it's really about is rolling back regulations—the things that give us clean air, clean water, safe food, fair workplace, economic justice, protections against discrimination, and more—to benefit corporate bottom lines, on the one hand, and on the other, to pursue a right-wing libertarian extremist agenda with slashing government spending, especially to protect the most poor and vulnerable.Robert WeissmanMusk said at first he wanted to try to cut $2 trillion from the budget every year. That's an impossibility, since the entire budget of discretionary spending is less than $2 trillion. Apparently, if you're the richest person in the history of the world, you don't actually have to know anything that you're talking about to be taken seriously.Robert WeissmanCraig Holman serves as Public Citizen's Capitol Hill lobbyist on ethics, lobbying, and campaign finance rules. He is also working with European nongovernmental organizations and members of the European Commission and Parliament in developing a lobbyist registration system for the European Union. Previously, he was senior policy analyst at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, and he has assisted in drafting campaign finance reform legislation (including pay-to-play legislation), and has conducted numerous research projects on the initiative process and the impact of money in politics. What's interesting is that some previous inaugural committees…didn't want to make it look like their administration's on the auction block by taking million-dollar donations from special interests and corporations. And so Bush had limited contributions to $100,000, Obama limited to $50,000 as well—they just didn't want it to look like they're putting their whole administration on the auction block. Trump doesn't seem to care about that.Craig HolmanNews 1/22/25* On January 20th, Joe Biden handed over the presidency to Donald Trump. In one of his last acts before leaving office, former President Biden commuted the sentence of Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, NPR reports. Peltier has been imprisoned for nearly 50 years following his conviction for the murder of two FBI agents at the Pine Ridge reservation; he has never wavered in maintaining his innocence. Despite Peltier being 80 years old and in increasingly poor health, NPR reports FBI Director Christopher Wray urged Biden not to “pardon Leonard Peltier or cut his sentence short.” Biden ultimately did not pardon Peltier, instead merely allowing him to complete his sentence under house arrest. In a statement, Peltier himself said “It's finally over — I'm going home…I want to show the world I'm a good person with a good heart.” Friend of the show Tom Morello, a longtime advocate for Peltier's release, wrote “Leonard has become a friend over the years and I am so glad…he will be able to spend his remaining years with family and friends.” Peltier's daughter Kathy, shocked by Biden's last-minute commutation after decades of being rebuffed by successive presidents of both parties, said “I'm just thankful that he had the balls and the guts to do it.”* Donald Trump was inaugurated on Monday, making him the first president in the modern era to serve non-consecutive terms. Immediately following his formal assumption of power, he issued a flurry of executive orders, including an exhaustive list of “rescissions” of Biden's executive actions. Among these, POLITICO reports that Trump immediately put Cuba back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, signifying a return to the bad old days of hostility towards our island neighbor. This is only expected to worsen with American foreign policy being directed by Marco Rubio. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel called Trump's reversal “an act of arrogance and disregard for truth,” adding “the legitimate and noble cause of our people will prevail and we will once again succeed.”* Another Trump executive order issued Monday formally created the Department of Government Efficiency, aka DOGE. However, it seems that instead of creating a new agency, this action mainly just renamed the U.S. Digital Service – an existing executive branch office – the U.S. DOGE service. Moreover, this newly redubbed USDS does not appear to have a mandate to cut the federal workforce. Instead, it seems to be primarily concerned with updating federal information technology systems. Reading between the lines, it seems likely that Trump is putting Elon Musk in charge of this federal IT agency as a means to dole out public money to the tech oligarch and his cronies, rather than streamline the functions of the federal government.* In more Big Tech news, CBS reports President Trump is “set to announce billions of dollars in private sector investment to build artificial intelligence infrastructure in the United States.” According to this report, OpenAI, Softbank and Oracle are planning a joint venture called “Stargate,” to begin with a massive data center in Texas. These corporations are planning to pour $500 billion into this project over the next four years. This will almost certainly be augmented by public funds provided by the Trump administration.* Turning to Gaza, Democracy Now! reported Saturday that both Biden and Trump gave Israel the “green light” to resume the assault on Gaza if Netanyahu felt it necessary. This piece quotes Netanyahu, saying that both presidents “gave full backing to Israel's right to return to fighting if Israel reaches the conclusion that negotiations of the second stage is fruitless.” As this piece notes, Israel killed approximately 200 Palestinians after the ceasefire was agreed upon last Wednesday. We can only hope the ceasefire holds and that President Trump sticks to his commitment to enforce the deal.* At the same time, friend of the show Norman Solomon is out with a piece in the Hill on the class action lawsuit filed by 800 Northern California residents, including Solomon himself, against their Democratic representatives in Congress, alleging that they are “illegally helping to provide weapons to Israel for use in committing genocide in Gaza.” As Solomon admits, the suit, directed against Congressmen Jared Huffman and Mike Thompson is unlikely to get far. However, he does believe both that the funding of the genocidal war is illegal under the humanitarian Leahy Laws and that these lawsuits can apply much needed scrutiny to these members and force them to register the opposition of their constituents to their positions – something with which many Democrats have refused to reckon. Solomon hopes to make Gaza a defining issue in the 2026 California Democratic Congressional primaries.* Two weeks ago, we discussed the American Historical Association's vote to condemn the “scholasticide” occurring in Gaza. Since then however, the AHA has tried to backpedal and delegitimize that vote. On January 17th, the AHA Council released a statement in which they write that while they deplore “any intentional destruction of Palestinian educational institutions, libraries, universities, and archives in Gaza,” the council considers the scholasticide resolution “outside the scope of the Association's mission and purpose.” The AHA Council therefore decided to disregard the vote of its membership and unilaterally veto the resolution. This cowardly and disgraceful decision to nullify the voice of America's historians will ironically be a stain on the history of the organization itself.* In more foreign affairs news, the crisis in South Korea continues to deepen. Last week, President Yoon was formally incarcerated pending his trial before the country's Constitutional Court after he attempted to seize power in a coup. Upon his detention, South Korean political newsletter Blue Roof reported that “Pro-Yoon supporters are rioting… storming the courthouse and attacking the marshals.” Security forces however were able to subdue the rioters, per Reuters. The Constitutional Court will now decide whether or not to remove Yoon from the presidency. Yoon could also face a trial on insurrection charges which would carry penalties up to and including life in prison and even capital punishment.* Turning back to domestic news, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, representing the cops of Philadelphia, is currently engaging in contract negotiations with the city – and making outrageous new demands. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that beyond pay raises and better vacation policy, “the police union is seeking to roll back transparency and accountability measures that predate the COVID-19 pandemic and civil unrest of 2020.” Indeed, the FOP is seeking to terminate the department's decade-long policy of releasing the names of most officers involved in shootings, prevent the Citizens Police Oversight Commission from investigating police misconduct, and “restrict outside access to currently available records ― such as those detailing how fired officers return to the force through the once-secretive grievance arbitration process.” Beyond these measures to make the police more secretive and less accountable to the public, the FOP is also demanding outrageous new perks for police officers, including interest free home loans and provisions allowing cops to live outside the state. We can only hope the city remains firm in these negotiations and preserves the public's right to know* Finally, CNN is out with a new poll showing the Democratic Party registering its worst ratings in decades. According to this poll, “a 58% majority of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say that the…Party needs major changes, or to be completely reformed, up from just 34% who said the same after…2022.” This comes on the heels of a January 15th YouGov poll showing that a plurality of Biden 2020 voters who didn't vote for Kamala Harris in 2024 said “ending Israel's violence in Gaza was the top issue affecting their vote choice.” The CNN poll also showed that “Only 49% of Democratic-aligned adults say they expect their party's congressional representatives to be even somewhat effective at resisting GOP policies.” Yet, perhaps the starkest number from this poll is “just 33% of all Americans express a favorable view of the Democratic Party, an all-time low in CNN's polling dating back to 1992.” These abysmal results should be a wakeup call to the moribund leadership of the party as the country drives of a cliff. If history is any indication though, the Democrats will remain asleep at the wheel.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
Today on the Show: We'll feature a Frontline report back from the occupied West Bank, with international Solidarity activist and Novelist Kate Raphael. Also, Norman Solomon joins us to talk about a new class action law suit, regarding the Illegal US funding of the Israeli genocide in Gaza. And Christmas time for the homeless, as massive regional evictions and abuse against the Homeless and un-housesed continues a pace. The post A Frontline Report From The Occupied West Bank appeared first on KPFA.
In times of war the corporate media play a salient role in shaping public opinion. There are worthy and unworthy victims. Muslims, Arabs, and Iranians generally fall into that latter category whereas Washington and its allies are worthy victims that we support and empathize with. The current phase of the Gaza war did not begin on October 7 as the media repeat ad nauseum. But to dig into the underlying causes and provide context and history rarely occurs because it would undermine the dominant propaganda. Thus the Norah O'Donnells, Wolf Blitzers, Lester Holts and other corporate news anchors don't question the embedded assumptions and simply mimic, with few exceptions, the dominant official line. Interviewed by David Barsamian.
Ralph and the team invite cofounder of RootsAction, Norman Solomon, to autopsy the carcass of the Democratic Party after Donald Trump's decisive defeat of Kamala Harris in the presidential election. They dissect what happened on November 5th and report what needs to be done about it. Norman Solomon is co-founder of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. He is the author of War Made Easy, Made Love, Got War, and his newest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine.The Democrats couldn't even get their base vote out that they got out in 2020. And what are they looking at? Are they looking at themselves in the mirror for introspection? Are they cleaning house? Do they have any plan whatsoever— other than collect more and more money from corporate PACS? This is a spectacular decline.Ralph NaderWe kept being told that party loyalty über alles, we had to stay in line with Biden. And…that lost precious months, even a year or a year and a half, when there could have been a sorting out in vigorous primaries. We were told that, "Oh, it would be terrible to have an inside-the-party primary system." Well, in 2020, there were 17 candidates, so there wasn't space on one stage on one night to hold them all—the debates would have to be in half. Well, it didn't really debilitate the party. Debate is a good thing. But what happened was this party loyalty, this obsequious kissing-the-presidential-feet dynamic allowed Biden to amble along until it became incontrovertible that he wasn't capable.Norman SolomonA lot of people on that committee—and of course, running the DNC—they and their pals had this pass-through of literally millions of dollars of consultant fees. Win, lose, or draw. It's like General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman, they never lose a war. And so, these corporate donors, they never lose a presidential race. They didn't lose what happened with Harris and Trump. They cashed in, they made out like the corporate bandits that they are.Norman SolomonOne reality as an activist that I've come to the conclusion on in the last couple of decades is that progressives tend to be way too nice to Democrats in Congress, especially those that they consider to be allies. Because they like what some of the Democrats do…and so they give too many benefits of the doubt. It's like grading them on a curve. We can't afford to grade them on a curve.Norman SolomonIn Case You Haven't Heard with Francesco DeSantisNews 11/6/241. As of now, Donald Trump is projected to win the 2024 presidential election by a greater margin than 2016. In addition to winning back Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia and Arizona, Trump also appears to have flipped Nevada – which went for both Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton. Most shocking of all, Trump has won the national popular vote, something he failed to do in 2016 and 2020 and which no Republican has done in 20 years. Democrats also faced a bloodbath in the Senate elections, with Republicans on track to win a 54 seat majority in the upper chamber.2. Bucking tremendous party pressure, Representative Rashida Tlaib declined to endorse Kamala Harris at a United Autoworkers rally in Michigan just days before the election, POLITICO reports. Tlaib urged attendees to turn out but “kept her speech focused on down-ballot races.” Tlaib is the only member of “the Squad” to withhold her support for Harris and the only Palestinian member of Congress. She has been a staunch critic of the Biden Administration's blind support for Israel's campaign of genocide in Palestine and voted Uncommitted in the Michigan Democratic primary.3. Along similar lines, the Uncommitted Movement issued a fiery statement on the eve of the election. According to the group, “Middle East Eye ran a story…[which] contains unfounded and absurd claims, suggesting that Uncommitted made a secret agreement with the Democratic Party to not endorse a third-party candidate.” The statement goes on to say that “this baseless story…is misguided at best and a dishonest malicious attack at worst.” Uncommitted maintains that “leaders and delegates are voting in different ways, yet remain untied in their mission to stop the endless flow of American weapons fueling Israel's militarism.” In September, Uncommitted publicly stated that they would not endorse Kamala Harris, citing her continued support for the Biden Administration policy toward Israel, but urged supporters to vote against Donald Trump.4. Progressive International reports that over 50 sovereign nations have called for an immediate arms embargo on Israel, calling it “a legal, humanitarian and moral imperative to put an end to grave human suffering.” This letter cites the “staggering toll of civilian casualties, the majority of them children and women, due to ongoing breaches of international law by Israel, the occupying Power,” and warns of “regional destabilization that risks the outbreak of an all-out war in the region.” Signatories on this letter include Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Norway, Mexico, South Africa, Brazil, Cuba, Bolivia, and China among many others.5. Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush have sent a letter to President Biden accusing him of illegally involving the American armed forces in Israel's war without proper Congressional authorization. Per the accompanying statement, “The Biden administration has deepened U.S. involvement in the Israeli government's devastating regional war through comprehensive intelligence sharing and operational coordination, and now even the direct deployment of U.S. servicemembers to Israel. Not only do these actions encourage further escalation and violence, but they are unauthorized by Congress, in violation of Article I of the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution of 1973.” The letter concludes “The Executive Branch cannot continue to ignore the law…In the absence of an immediate ceasefire and end of hostilities, Congress retains the right and ability to exercise its Constitutional authority to direct the removal of any and all unauthorized Armed Forces from the region pursuant to Section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution.” This letter was endorsed by an array of groups ranging from the Quincy Institute to Jewish Voice for Peace to the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches, and signed by other pro-Palestine members of Congress including Ilhan Omar, Summer Lee, and André Carson – though notably not AOC.6. In a story that touches on both the election and labor issues, the New York Times Tech Guild voted to go on strike Monday morning. The Times Tech Guild, which represents “workers like software developers and data analysts,” at the Times negotiated until late Sunday night, particularly regarding “whether the workers could get a ‘just cause' provision in their contract…pay increases and pay equity; and return-to-office policies,” per the New York Times. The Guardian reports “The Tech Guild's roughly 600 members are in charge of operating the back-end systems that power the paper's…[coverage of] the presidential election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump – but also the hundreds of House and dozens of Senate races across the US that will determine who will secure control of Washington in 2025.” Kathy Zhang, the guild's unit chair, said in a statement “[The Times] have left us no choice but to demonstrate the power of our labor on the picket line…we stand ready to bargain and get this contract across the finish line.”7. In more labor news, AP reports the striking Boeing machinists have “voted to accept a contract offer and end their strike after more than seven weeks, clearing the way for the aerospace giant to resume production.” The deal reportedly includes “a 38% wage increase over four years, [as well as] ratification and productivity bonuses.” That said, Boeing apparently “refused to meet strikers' demand to restore a company pension plan that was frozen nearly a decade ago.” According to a Bank of America analysis, Boeing was losing approximately $50 million per day during the strike, a startling number by any measure. The union's District 751 President Jon Holden told members “You stood strong and you stood tall and you won,” yet calibration specialist Eep Bolaño said the outcome was “most certainly not a victory…We were threatened by a company that was crippled, dying, bleeding on the ground, and us as one of the biggest unions in the country couldn't even extract two-thirds of our demands from them. This is humiliating.”8. Huffington Post Labor Reporter Dave Jamieson reports “The [National Labor Relations Board] has filed a complaint against Grindr alleging the dating app used a new return-to-office policy to fire dozens of workers who were organizing.” He further reports that NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo is seeking a “Cemex order” which would “force the company to bargain with the [Communications Workers of America].” In a statement, CWA wrote “We hope this NLRB filing sends a clear message to Grindr that…we are committed to negotiating fair working conditions in good faith. As we continue to build and expand worker power at Grindr, this win…is a positive step toward ensuring that Grindr remains a safe, inclusive, and thriving place for users and workers alike.”9. In further positive news from federal regulators, NBC's Today reports “On Oct. 25, the United States Copyright Office granted a copyright exemption that gives restaurants like McDonald's the “right to repair” broken machines by circumventing digital locks that prevent them from being fixed by anyone other than its manufacturer.” As this piece explains, all of McDonald's ice cream machines – which have become a punchline for how frequently they are out of service – are owned and operated by the Taylor Company since 1956. Moreover “The…company holds a copyright on its machines…[meaning] if one broke, only [Taylor Company] repair people were legally allowed to fix it…due to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act…a 1998 law that criminalizes making or using technology, devices or services that circumvent the control access of copyrighted works.” This move from the Copyright Office reflects a larger pattern of regulators recognizing the issues with giving companies like Taylor monopolistic free reign over sectors of the economy and blocking consumers – in this case fast food franchisees – from repairing machines themselves. With backing from public interest groups like U.S. PIRG, the Right to Repair movement continues to pick up steam. We hope Congress will realize that this is a political slam dunk.10. Finally, in an astounding story of vindication, Michael and Robert Meeropol – sons of Ethel Rosenberg, who was convicted of and executed for passing secrets to the Soviet Union – claim that long-sought records have definitively cleared their mother's name. Per Bloomberg, “A few months ago, the National Security Agency sent the Meeropols a box of records the spy agency declassified…Inside was a seven-page handwritten memo…The relevant passage…is just eight words: ‘she did not engage in the work herself.'” Put simply, Rosenberg was wrongfully convicted and put to death for a crime she did not commit. The article paints the picture of the men uncovering this key piece of evidence. “After he read it, Robert said his eyes welled up. “Michael and I looked at it and our reaction was, ‘We did it.'”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
Episode 308 of RevolutionZ has as guest Norman Solomon to talk about election 2024. Does who is in the White House matter in general, and in this election? Is there contradiction or synergy between personal conscience and the broader ethical responsibilities of electoral decisions? Is voting for Harris in swing states not only how to beat Trump but also how to advance progressive post-election prospects in coming months and years and thus compatible with conscience for organizers--or is the better choice third party voting or abstention? What are the diverse motivations and thoughts of Trump supporters? How might organizers relate effectively with Trump's half of the voting population, and, for that matter, with Harris's half. Support the show
War is a daily fixture of American life—the US military occupies at least 750 overseas bases, and it has executed military operations in nations around the globe over the past 20 years. But most Americans have remained unaware of this, thanks to a coordinated effort by politicians, corporate media, and the military-industrial complex to make the realities of American militarism invisible to the public. As author Norman Solomon writes in his new book War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of the Military Machine, "America has been conditioned to accept ongoing wars without ever really knowing what they're doing to people we'll never see." TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks withSolomon about his book, the political crisis that decades of invisible war have generated in US domestic politics, and how images of the ongoing carnage in Gaza have exposed the horrors of war that the US worked to make invisible in the post-9/11 era. Normon Solomon is the cofounder of RootsAction.org, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, and the author of numerous books, including War Made Easy: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death and War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of the Military Machine.Studio Production: David HebdenPost-Production: Adam ColeyHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast
* US Media Sanitizes US Role in Israel's Savage War in Gaza and Lebanon; Norman Solomon, co-founder of RootsAction.org; Producer: Scott Harris. * Corporate Media is 'Sanewashing' Trump's Obvious Cognitive Decline; Parker Malloy, publisher of the Present Age newsletter, fmr editor-at-large w Media Matters 4 America; Producer: Scott Harris. * As Hurricanes Ravage the Southeast US, Fossil Fuel's Destructive Infrastructure Impacts Rural Communities; Sydney Collins, climate activist, speaking at a Stop Project Maple rally in Hartford, in CT late Sept; Producer: Melinda Tuhus.
Guest: Norman Solomon is co-founder of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. He is the author of War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine. His latest article “Escalation dominance” and the new nuclear threat: We face more than 1,000 Holocausts can be found on Salon.com The post Norman Solomon on “Escalation Dominance” and the New Nuclear Threat appeared first on KPFA.
It's been one year since October 7, 2023 and the start of Israel's brutal assault on Gaza. On today's show, we hear from journalist Rami Almeghari and other Palestinians about their experiences living through the war. Then, we dive into a conversation with author Norman Solomon about what mainstream coverage of the war is leaving out. GUESTS: Rami Almeghari: Palestinian journalist in Gaza Norman Solomon: activist and author of War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of its Military Machine Tarneem, Ahmad, and Hamza Jaber: Palestinian siblings from Gaza The post Gaza, one year later appeared first on KPFA.
Jordanian-Palestinian Journalist Sam Husseini talks about Israel, Palestine, Iran, Lebanon, Syria and confronting French foreign minister about his country's failure to properly implement the ICJ's orders in the genocide case against Israel. Writer Norman Solomon talks about the ignored threat of nuclear war, the presidential elections and media bias and his book War Made Invisible. Sam Husseini is an independent journalist currently writing at husseini.substack.com. Husseini has also written for a variety of publications, including CounterPunch, The Nation, The Washington Post, USA Today and Salon. He has written extensively about Palestine and international law. Last year he repeatedly wrote about the possibility of a country invoking the Genocide Convention against Israel at the International Court of Justice. Husseini regularly attends State Department briefings, asking tough questions. Husseini is founder of VotePact.org, which encourages left-right cooperation to undermine the establishment duopoly. He is also a visual artist. Norman Solomon is executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy and national director of RootsAction.org. His latest book is War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine. In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews called the book “a powerful, necessary indictment of efforts to disguise the human toll of American foreign policy.” The paperback edition of War Made Invisible was published this fall with a 30-page afterword about the Gaza war. Photo of Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei https://farsi.khamenei.ir/photo-album?id=54416 ***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 Get your Katie Halper Show Merch here! https://katiehalper.myspreadshop.com/all Follow Katie on Twitter: @kthalps
It's been one year since October 7th, 2023 and the start of Israel's brutal assault on Gaza. On today's show, we hear from journalist Rami Almeghari and other Palestinians about their experiences living through the war. Then, we dive into a conversation with Norman Solomon, author of War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of its Military Machine, about what mainstream coverage of the war is leaving out. Featuring: Rami Almeghari, Palestinian journalist in Gaza Norman Solomon, activist and author of War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of its Military Machine Tarneem, Ahmad and Hamza Jaber, Palestinian siblings from Gaza Special thanks to Mohammed Naeem Imad, for reporting and fact-checking support Audio excerpts featuring Tarneem, Ahmad and Hamza Jaber are from the series Great Love: The Gaza Monologues from ASHTAR Theatre Revisited on The Heart podcast, created and hosted by Kaitlin Prest Making Contact Staff: Episode Host: Lucy Kang Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Editor: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong Engineer: Jeff Emtman Digital Marketing Manager: Lissa Deonarain Music credits: "Documentary Piano Ambient" by Bohdan Kuzmin (BoDleasons) via [Pixabay](https://pixabay.com/users/28047609/) Learn More: The Jaber siblings featured in this episode are fundraising for their living costs and to continue their education in Cairo. You can find their campaign here: Journalist Rami Almeghari is currently in Gaza, and he is fundraising to support his family during this time. You can find his campaign here: ASHTAR Theatre, which created The Gaza Monologues: [Great Love: The Gaza Monologues from ASHTAR Theatre Revisited](https://play.prx.org/listen?ge=prx_25_025f9e65-6631-4120-a9e0-a20b80edc5aa&uf=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.theheartradio.org%2FTheHeartRadio) _on _The Heart_ podcast Making Contact is a 29-minute weekly program contextualizing the narratives that shape our culture. On the web at www.focmedia.org.
On this special fund-drive episode, Mickey's first guest is journalist Jeff Cohen, who discusses the career and legacy of the late Phil Donahue. Donahue was an innovative television talk-show host, who was fired by MSNBC when he continued interviewing pro-peace guests during the buildup to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. Then Mickey interviews author Norman Solomon about the bias in corporate-media coverage of Israel's assault on Gaza (which obscures the essential U.S. connection) and in overall coverage of war and the U.S. military. Jeff Cohen is a co-founder of the media-watch group FAIR (www.fair.org), and the author of Cable News Confidential. He was senior producer of Phil Donahue's MSNBC show in 2003, when it was canceled. Norman Solomon is an author and media critic. A new edition of his book War Made Invisible, contains an afterword about the Israeli attack on Gaza. More information can be found at www.warmadeinvisible.org. The post Phil Donahue's Legacy / War Made Invisible appeared first on KPFA.
This week on Talk World Radio we're talking with Norman Solomon about his book, newly out in paperback: WAR MADE INVISIBLE: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine -- with a new afterword on the Gaza War.
On this special fund-drive episode, Mickey's first guest is journalist Jeff Cohen, who discusses the career and legacy of the late Phil Donahue. Donahue was an innovative television talk-show host, who was fired by MSNBC when he continued interviewing pro-peace guests during the buildup to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. Then Mickey interviews author Norman Solomon about the bias in corporate-media coverage of Israel's assault on Gaza (which obscures the essential U.S. connection) and in overall coverage of war and the U.S. military. Jeff Cohen is a co-founder of the media-watch group FAIR (www.fair.org), and the author of Cable News Confidential. He was senior producer of Phil Donahue's MSNBC show in 2003, when it was canceled. Norman Solomon is an author and media critic. A new edition of his book War Made Invisible, contains an afterword about the Israeli attack on Gaza. More information can be found at www.warmadeinvisible.org. The post Phil Donahue's legacy / War Made Invisible appeared first on KPFA.
In the first half of this episode, Marcy Winograd shares a CODEPINK Congress program featuring John Kiriakou, former CIA torture whistleblower, and Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations-San Francisco/Bay Area Chapter. During the second half of the program, Marcy speaks with Norman Solomon, author of War Made Invisible; How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, a book published before October 7th. Solomon has updated the paperback edition to include Afterward: The Gaza War, a beat-by-beat account of how a negligent corporate media enabled President Biden's complicity in Israel's genocide in Gaza. Learn more: "The Slide into Authoritarianism" by John Kiriakou. Consortium News.8/27/24https://consortiumnews.com/2024/08/27/john-kiriakou-the-slide-into-authoritarianism/CODEPINK Congress: "Authoritarianism at Home and Abroad." Host Marcy Winograd. Guests John Kiriakou and Zahra Billoo. 9/3/24https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwVYn2WJy3kUS universities spent the summer strategizing to suppress student activism. Here is their plan by Carrie Zaremba. Mondoweiss. 9/2/2https://mondoweiss.net/2024/09/u-s-universities-spent-the-summer-strategizing-to-suppress-student-activism-here-is-their-plan/War Made Invisible; How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine by Norman Solomon, with Afterward: The Gaza War (paperback edition)https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/war-made-invisible-norman-solomon/1141772212;jsessionid=6A49181CF105503620265F1CA4BA4B9D.prodny_store02-atgap12?ean=9781620979167"Holding the Press and White House Accountable. Solomon's Afterward on the Gaza War." Marcy Winograd's review.CODEPINK's blog: Pink Tank. Sept. 4, 2024https://www.codepink.org/solomonbookreview
Today on the show: The destruction of the West Bank continues unabated by Israeli occupation forces; Norman Solomon reminds in a new peace for Common Dreams the Knowledge is Power and Gaza War Supporters don/t want students to have either. And Antinuclear expert Karl Grossman takes us on a tour of the possible triggers to a nuclear war, and what that might look like The post Flashpoints – September 5, 2024 appeared first on KPFA.
There is a palpable movement under Kamala Harris; so why is party leadership still so out of touch with working people as they were in 2016? Our returning guest, veteran party insider Norman Solomon, says the DNC is still top-down The post Dems Need the Middle Class: Why is the DNC Still So Corporatized? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Today we discuss last evening's presidential debates and the fall out with Norman Solomon of RootsAction.org. Next up, we cover today's decision by the US Supreme Court in the Johnson v. Grants pass case that makes it far easier for states and municipalities to punish the unhoused and homelessness in the United States Then, as we have all this week, we take you back to Standing Rock North Dakota and the Global Conference of the International Indian Treaty Council with Senior Producer Miguel Gavilan Molina with his crew and their outstanding on the ground reporting. The post RootsAction's Norman Solomon on Last Night's Presidential Debate appeared first on KPFA.
Norman Solomon could not have been clearer as he exposed the inhumanity of the Israel/Hamas conflict and America's complicity. Washington continues its Medicare privatization complicity. #PDRI --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/politicsdoneright/message
MIMI GERMAN'S GORGEOUS POETRY; PAUL BURKE ON ELECTION PROTECTION; NORMAN SOLOMON ON PEACE Our GREEP zoom gathering #173 begins with the magnificent MIMI GERMAN, our much-loved Poet Laureate. Mimi reads us her fabulous poem about the time she almost got shot at the CGS nuke on the Hanford nuclear wasteland. Plus she tells of our great adventure on the legendary peace boat GOLDEN RULE and the time we were rammed (true!!!) by a police boat while protesting Portland's militaristic “fleet week.” The great DENNIS BERNSTEIN joins us with tales of his activism as we celebrate the massive impact of his nationally syndicated FLASHPOINTS SHOW on KPFA/Pacifica. PAUL NEWMAN chips in with a great comment on nuclear casualties. RON LEONARD reminds us of the realities of the insane continued operations at Diablo Canyon...and of the new Friends of the Earth lawsuit against the handout to keep Diablo headed toward an uninsured Armageddon. The connection between nuclear power and nuclear weapons is underscored by ALFRED MEYER. WENDI LEDERMAN the introduces the amazing PAUL BURKE of VOTEWELL.NET, who fills us in on many of the crucial the realities of election theft. DONALD SMITH and PAUL STOKES raiseadditional key issues on election protection, At the top of the second hour, we're joined by the legendary NORMAN SOLOMON. Norman's uniquely brilliant career as a journalist includes his work as a non-violent pioneer for peace. As a co-author of KILLING OUR OWN, Norman reminds us of the horrible death toll among downwinders from the lethal Nevada Bomb tests of the 1950s and ‘60s. Norman also urges our participation in DAN ELLSBERG WEEK, upcoming June 10-16. TATANKA BRICCA reminds us of Ellsberg's true greatness and of the many adventures they shared. RUTH STRAUSS then reminds us that peace activism can be a dangerous business….and that the voting machines bought with millions of taxpayer dollars for Los Angeles are seriously problematic. MARION EDEY, legendary founder of the League of Conservation Voters and co-founder of the Threshold Foundatlon talks to us about election protection and more. We then hear MYLA RESON bemoaning the illusion among some young people that nuclear power can help fight global warming; she also raises the issue of depleted uranium being mis-used in US warfare. MIKE HERSH reminds us of the great accomplishments of the Clamshell Alliance and Norman's very effective activism in Oregon on shutting the Trojan reactor. Norman ends with a plea for the revival of diplomacy as a tool of foreign policy rather than building ever-more weapons for increasingly insane wars. With such a mindset, Norman warns, DR. STRANGELOVE remains a documentary….NO NUKES!!!
In the first half of this episode, CODEPINK Congress co-hosts Marcy Winograd and Medea Benjamin speak with Norman Solomon, author of the book: War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of its Military Machine. Solomon offers suggestions on cultivating relationships with editors, writing OpEds and framing persuasive arguments to break through the propaganda that manufactures consent for endless war. On the second half of the program, Marcy interviews Brian Mier, Telesur English correspondent in Brazil, on the threat of fascism in Brazil and beyond as social media exacerbates global polarization. Also featured is Naledi Pandor, South Africa's Minister of International Relations, on a visit to the US to stave off congressional attacks in the wake of South Africa's World Court case against Israel's genocide in Gaza. Links: War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of its Military Machine by Norman Solomonhttps://thenewpress.com/books/war-made-invisibleThe Hybrid War Against Lula by Brian Mier (COUNTERPUNCH. 3/20/24)https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/03/20/the-hybrid-war-against-lula/
Referencias: - Qué era el diezmo para los judíos en el tiempo del templo: Norman Solomon, Historical Dictionary of Judaism, p. 459: https://annas-archive.org/md5/883df683258a0dd39c16168cd830ef2f - Diezmo en el manual de Lorenzo Snow: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-of-presidents-of-the-church-lorenzo-snow/chapter-12-tithing-a-law-for-our-protection-and-advancement?lang=spa - Definición de diezmo en el sitio de la Iglesia: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/tithing?lang=spa#
“The US is making possible, quite literally, the slaughter, the mass murder going on in Gaza. And if you look at the proportions of the killing–every killing was wrong–if you […] The post Shattering the Silence with Norman Solomon appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.
Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and political and media analyst Norman Solomon as they discuss Solomon's important new book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine. Listen in as Solomon and Sachs explore the intricate interplay between the mainstream media and powerful political forces that promote America's disastrous “wars of choice” – including the US-led wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and currently the US-Russia proxy war in Ukraine and the US backing of Israel's war in Gaza. Solomon's book explores how American foreign policy has become one of perpetual war, and how the media systematically hide the tragic human and political consequences of these wars, thereby enabling the US Government to perpetuate these conflicts.Footnotes:Ukraine War2023 Israel-Hamas WarVietnam WarMLK - madness of militarismPseudo-democracyPropagandaOrwellianPolitical Geology of 1984Rules-based Order NATOMilitary-industrial ComplexEthnic CleansingNATO Bombing of YugoslaviaGenocideRashida TlaibSouth Africa's Genocide Case Against Israel at the ICJCommon DreamsWar in YemenPentagon PapersWar ProfiteeringInformation Warfare - CensorshipPentagon Woos Silicon Valley to Join Ranks of Arms Makers⭐️ Thank you for listening!➡️ Sign up for the newsletter: https://bit.ly/subscribeBCJS➡️ Website: bookclubwithjeffreysachs.org
Norman Solomon fears Biden is handing the 2024 election over to Donald Trump, the likely Republican Party nominee, who has promised a second term even more authoritarian than his first.
Many are familiar with Eisenhower's 1961 warning of “the military industrial complex.” Veteran CIA analyst Ray McGovern has expanded on Ike's phrase. He coined the term MICIMATT, the Military-Industrial-Congressional-Inteligence-Media-Academia-Think Tank complex. How does it work? The notorious revolving door syndrome links the Pentagon to the arms manufacturers to Congress. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is a perfect example. Before being appointed by Biden he was on the board of Raytheon, a giant weapons corporation. Corporations bankroll politicians of both parties who then OK arms purchases. There's tons of money to be made in cost overruns and repairing defective equipment. Just look at Zumwalt destroyers or the F-35. What boondoggles! Military madness continues apace.
Journalist and activist Norman Solomon visited us to detail the lack of morality displayed by Israel and America's complicity in the genocide occurring in Gaza. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/politicsdoneright/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/politicsdoneright/support
Journalist Norman Solomon visits to discuss Israel's immorality and the US complicity in the Gaza genocide. Israeli spokesman Mark Regev shows his lack of empathy and deceptive nature as he dismissed an indiscriminate bombing. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/politicsdoneright/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/politicsdoneright/support
We hope you all enjoy this week's episode of Economic Update featuring updates on Tesla vs the Swedish Unions, a teachers strike in Portland, Oregon, "food insecurity" in the U.S. today, how the King of Britain has been secretly profiting from assets of the dead and a Michigan "entrepreneur" failed in effort to buy electoral defeat of Rachid Tlaib. In the second half of this week's episode, Prof. Wolff interviews Norman Solomon on his latest book, "War Made invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of its Military Machine". If you haven't already, please subscribe to our channel, follow us on social media and of course be sure to sign up on our website: www.democracyatwork.info And as always, we thank for your attention, support and solidarity. The d@w Team **************************************************************************** [EU S13 E44] The U.S. Military Machine & What It Costs **************************************************************************** Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so. You can support our work by joining our Patreon community: https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand key economic events happening around the world they can't get anywhere else. We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week. We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info
Norman Solomon says 9/11 and the invasion of Afghanistan set into motion a perpetual state of war that is almost entirely invisible to the American public.
Norman Solomon says that if Hamas is a terrorist organization, then, “the same description fits the Israeli government.” Why is language so important when discussing this war?
Since 9/11, US wars have become widespread, everyday affairs that most Americans know next to nothing about. The largest wars like Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya have a limited place in public consciousness, but the dozens of secret operations taking place across the planet are alien to most of us. How does the war machine work today, and how do government, the media, and new technologies help to obscure war from the public? Norman Solomon tackles these questions on The Marc Steiner Show in a discussion around his new book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine.Studio Production: David HebdenPost-Production: David HebdenHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews
The U.S. has been at constant war for the past two decades. Yet the public rarely sees the results of U.S. violence, or the bodies of Americans coming home. Norman Solomon, a journalist and antiwar activist, says that this is by design. This week on Deconstructed, Solomon joins Intercept writer and guest host Jon Schwarz. Solomon breaks down how American politicians, alongside mainstream media, spin lies and hide the true cost of American wars. Solomon is the author of “War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine.”If you'd like to support our work, go to theintercept.com/give, where your donation, no matter what the amount, makes a real difference.And if you haven't already, please subscribe to the show so you can hear it every week. And please go and leave us a rating or a review — it helps people find the show. If you want to give us additional feedback, email us at Podcasts@theintercept.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
At the end of World War Two, the victorious Allies decided to try top Nazi officials as war criminals. A tribunal was convened in Nuremberg. Some of them were hanged. Others were given jail sentences. Today, Nuremberg is largely forgotten. The clear evidence of that was the March 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, an unambiguous war crime committed by war criminals, not just George W. Bush but Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rice, et al. Those responsible for the Iraq War have never answered for the chaos, massive bloodshed and dislocation that followed not just in Iraq, but in neighboring Syria as well. The rise of ISIS, the massacre of Yazidis and sectarian violence can be directly traced to what Bush and his cohorts did. Will he and the others involved be held to account? Hardly; the former president has taken up painting in his retirement.
Norman Solomon talks about how America hides the human toll of its military machine. Norman Solomon is co-founder of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His books include "War Made Easy," "Made Love, Got War," and "War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of its Military Machine." ***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
Ralph spends the entire hour with co-founder of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, Norman Solomon, to discuss his latest book, “War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine,” which examines how our “military-industrial-media-intelligence complex” conspires to suppress the truth about war.Norman Solomon is co-founder of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. He is the author of War Made Easy, Made Love, Got War, and his newest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine.The tacit motto of huge media outlets like the New York Times is: Being pro-war means never having to say you're sorry. If a journalist or a media outlet is in favor of the US engaging in war, that is couched as “objective.” If a journalist (such as Phil Donahue on MSNBC) in the leadup to the war even raises questions, serious questions critical of an impending invasion or ongoing US war then that's considered “biased.”Norman SolomonThese wars are treated as though they aren't wars. That they don't exist. That “there's nothing to see here, folks!” Because we say so. We have our own criteria. And part of that is the jingoism and the nationalism and the racism that says if the people at the other end of US firepower don't look like us, are not in a country aligned with us, then we don't think there's really a reason to consider it a major problem. It's only a problem when Americans are dying.Norman SolomonThis was a real sociocide—thousands and thousands of bombs and missiles dropped on Iraq. And here's the New York Times, being fed by one of their reporters Judith Miller total lies about Saddam importing uranium from Niger and Africa and other falsehoods that made page one in the New York Times. What is clearly probably its darkest journalistic chapter… There doesn't seem to be anything learned today. They could just as well do it today against another country.Ralph NaderIn Case You Haven't Heard1. On Wednesday, The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Amazon, alleging that the online retailer “tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions [for Amazon Prime] without their consent, not only frustrating users but also costing them significant money,” according to FTC Chair Lina Khan. Khan added “These manipulative tactics harm consumers and law-abiding businesses alike.” According to internal documents “Amazon named [the cancellation] process ‘Iliad,'…refer[ing] to Homer's epic about the long, arduous Trojan War.” More about this lawsuit is available at the Washington Post.2. As the Teamsters continue to negotiate for a better deal with UPS, the membership has voted overwhelmingly to approve a strike. This vote – which passed with 97 percent support – gives the union “maximum leverage to win demands at the bargaining table,” according to the union's statement. The statement goes on to note that the Teamsters represent more than 340,000 UPS package delivery drivers and warehouse logistics workers nationwide. Teamsters president Sean O'Brien added “The strongest leverage our members have is their labor and they are prepared to withhold it to ensure UPS acts accordingly.”3. For the fist time since 2019, the Democratic-controlled Senate Banking committee will hold a “mark-up” session on a bill – a key step toward enacting any legislation. This bill – sponsored by Senators Sherrod Brown, who chairs the committee, and Tim Scott of South Carolina – seeks to claw back excessive compensation from executives at failed banks and penalize them for misconduct. This legislation was almost certainly drafted in response to the failure of Silicon Valley Bank. The draft text of this bill is available at Punchbowl News.4. The American Prospect reports that, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association, Tesla's “Full Self Driving” or FSD has led to at least 736 crashes – causing 17 fatalities – since 2021. Mile for mile, Tesla's FSD system is “likely…ten times more dangerous at driving than humans.”5. Leaving aside self-driving, a CBS News report sheds light on new dangers associated with electric vehicles. “Their batteries make the vehicles heavier, offering better protection to the passengers inside, but that extra weight — hundreds to even thousands of pounds — has traffic safety advocates concerned about the potential risk to other drivers.” To give some perspective on how heavy these vehicles are, “GMC's Hummer EV weighs more than 9,000 pounds…more than 3,000 pounds heavier than the GMC's full-size pickup. The Hummer EV's battery alone weighs about the same as a Toyota Corolla.”6. The Washington Post reports that the strike at Insider magazine, the “longest ever [strike] in digital media,” has ended. The new deal raises the minimum salary for Insider staff and prevents any further layoffs this year, along with an immediate 3.5 percent raise upon ratification of the contract. The strikers got a boost in public support when the editor-in-chief was filmed “tearing down fliers bearing his face with the phrase, “Have you seen this millionaire?”' Insider, formerly Business Insider, was acquired by German media conglomerate Axel-Springer in 2015; Axel-Springer's later acquisition of POLITICO was covered in the first edition of the Capitol Hill Citizen.7. Yahoo Finance reports that, in a major reversal, Shell plans to “[pivot] back to oil to win over investors.” The company will forego its goal to reduce oil outputs by 1-2% each year, and its CEO Wael Sawan emphasized that “shift[ing] to low-carbon businesses cannot come at the expense of profits.” No word yet on whether life on planet Earth can come at the expense of corporate profits.8. This month, American troops will begin arriving in Peru, where they will be stationed until the end of the year. These troops, invited by the wildly unpopular Peruvian Congress and unelected president Dina Boluarte, are charged with “preparing Peru's intelligence command for “joint special operations.” The timing of this arrival is notable; while protests against the antidemocratic Peruvian government peaked in February, resulting in 70 deaths, a new rash of protests are planned for July. This from CounterPunch.9. The Catholic News Agency reports that a restaurant in Sacramento, California “had an individual impersonate a priest to encourage employees to confess their “sins” against their employer,” – the catch? He wasn't a priest at all. The Department of Labor called this “among the most shameless” of employee intimidation methods they'd ever seen. In addition to the priest fiasco, investigators said the restaurant “denied overtime pay to employees and illegally paid managers from the employee tip pool….[and] threatened employees with retaliation and immigration-related consequences for cooperating with investigators.” The employer has agreed to pay $70,000 in back wages and $70,000 in damages to 35 employees, as well as $5,000 in civil penalties to the Department of Labor.10. Daniel Ellsberg, the legendary whistleblower who exposed the lies being fed to the American people regarding the Vietnam War via the Pentagon Papers, has passed away. He was 92. Ellsberg, who had been in hospice following a diagnosis of inoperable pancreatic cancer, wrote a final note in March. This note mostly focused on the nuclear peril posed by the war in Ukraine, but the last few lines should be repeated here:“I'm happy to know that millions of people–including all those friends and comrades to whom I address this message!–have the wisdom, the dedication and the moral courage to carry on with these causes, and to work unceasingly for the survival of our planet and its creatures.I'm enormously grateful to have had the privilege of knowing and working with such people, past and present. That's among the most treasured aspects of my very privileged and very lucky life. I want to thank you all for the love and support you have given me in so many ways. Your dedication, courage, and determination to act have inspired and sustained my own efforts.My wish for you is that at the end of your days you will feel as much joy and gratitude as I do now.Love, Dan” Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe
Air Date 3/31/2023 Today, we take a look at the history and legacy of the invasion of Iraq by the United States under George W. Bush and his administration with the support of the vast majority of Americans who had been systematically mislead by falsified evidence used to make the case for war. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991 or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com Transcript BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Get AD FREE Shows and Bonus Content) Join our Discord community! Check out The Laura Flanders Show! OUR AFFILIATE LINKS: ExpressVPN.com/BestOfTheLeft GET INTERNET PRIVACY WITH EXPRESS VPN! SHOW NOTES Ch. 1: Catastrophic Iraqi Writers Sinan Antoon & Feurat Alani Reflect on U.S. Invasion 20 Years Later Part 1 - Democracy Now! - Air Date 3-20-23 We spend today's show with two Iraqis looking back at how the unprovoked U.S. invasion devastated Iraq and helped destabilize much of the Middle East. Ch. 2: How To Start A War And Get Away With It Part 1 - AJ+ - Air Date 3-16-23 Twenty years ago the U.S. began its invasion of Iraq. What came next is a story well tread— a bloody, brutal and senseless war— but what lead up to the invasion deserves just as much scrutiny Ch. 3: 20 years on, should George W. Bush be on trial for Iraq Part 1 - The Mehdi Hasan Show - Air Date 3-16-23 20 years after the launch of the disastrous invasion of Iraq, Mehdi is asking: Isn't it finally time to hold George W. Bush accountable for the brutal war and the lies he told us about it? Ch. 4: How To Start A War And Get Away With It Part 2 - AJ+ - Air Date 3-16-23 Ch. 5: Norman Solomon on the Iraq Invasion, 20 Years Later - CounterSpin - Air Date 3-24-23 We'll talk about it with author, critic and longtime friend of FAIR Norman Solomon. What passes for debate about why we must remain at some kind of war—cold, hot, corporate, stealth, acknowledged, denied has roots worth studying in 2003. Ch. 6: 20 years on, should George W. Bush be on trial for Iraq Part 2 - The Mehdi Hasan Show - Air Date 3-16-23 Ch. 7: “To Start a War” by Robert Draper - PBS - Air Date 8-7-20 On the Washington Week Extra, New York Times Magazine writer at large and National Geographic contributing writer Robert Draper discusses his latest book, "To Start a War: How the Bush Administration Took America into Iraq.” Ch. 8: Death, Destruction & Resilience Nadje Al-Ali on the 20th Anniversary of U.S. Invasion of Iraq - Democracy Now! - Air Date 3-16-23 “The story of the past 20 years is a story of destruction, devastation, corruption, incompetence, but also a story of resilience,” says Nadje Al-Ali, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at Brown University Ch. 9: Catastrophic Iraqi Writers Sinan Antoon & Feurat Alani Reflect on U.S. Invasion 20 Years Later Part 2 - Democracy Now! - Air Date 3-20-23 Ch. 10: 20 years on, should George W. Bush be on trial for Iraq Part 3 - The Mehdi Hasan Show - Air Date 3-16-23 MEMBERS-ONLY BONUS CLIP(S) Ch. 11: Lessons America Refuses To Learn From The Iraq Disaster w/ Spencer Ackerman - The Majority Report - Air Date 3-21-23 Sam hosts Spencer Ackerman, columnist for The Nation and author of the Forever Wars newsletter on Ghost, to discuss his recent piece “The Unlearned Lessons From the War in Iraq”. VOICEMAILS Ch. 12: Leftists are now war mongers - Ronald Bruce Meyer Ch. 13: Senseless war - VoicedMailer Marg Comment on your recent Ukraine podcast - VoicedMailer Trevor FINAL COMMENTS Ch. 14: Final comments on the moral responsibility of inaction in Ukraine MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions) Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com