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Every Thursday at 7:00pmAbout the Show
Thursday Night Special
Thursday nights are special!
First Thursday: Jasmine Jones hosts Next Step Forward, a spotlight on millennials of Kansas City who are within a marginalized group, but are using their talents, business, activism etc. to help bring positivity within their communities. This program exists to be a place that is inclusive, safe, fun, inspirational and educational not only for the listeners but for the guest as well.
Second Thursday: Shots in the Night radio theatre; hosted and produced by various members of Shots In The Night. In 2023 SITN has received seven awards for podcast productions in the 9th Annual Hear Now Audio Fiction and Arts Festival produced by the National Audio Theatre Festivals, Inc.
Third Thursday: People Power Hour, brought to you by KC Tenants, hosts a rotation of speakers featuring members and leaders from KC Tenants and other tenant unions across the country to analyze, inform, and inspire listeners about the power of tenant unions in America. Every episode will showcase a different lesson about tenant unions and America's problematic history with housing by providing in-depth historical analysis, testimonials and stories from leaders who organized in their communities, and collectively brainstorming a vision for a better world where housing is treated as a human right.
Fourth Thursday: Sirisha Naidu and Taki Manolakos host Economics For the People, a journey to explore the transformative power of economics when it is harnessed for the working classes, to advance social justice, and to create an inclusive and equitable society. It is an open invitation to participate in collectively shaping and reimagining an economy that prioritizes the needs and aspirations of the working classes, marginalized communities, and individuals of different gender expressions, sexualities, and abilities. The show features diverse voices, experiences and perspectives that often remain unheard in mainstream conversations about economics, markets and numbers.
Fifth Thursday: The provocative "From Ark to Microchip", produced by Dwight Frizzell, mixes commentary, dramatic re-enactment, original music, historic voices, audio art and sound effects in a pan-historical, pan-cultural milieu. Programs in the program series have received several awards.
Note: These programs may be preempted by special presentations.
On tonight’s Thursday Night Special, we air a very special edition of Truthdig Radio, which will examine both the IRS and AP scandals plaguing the Obama administration, as well as the controversial subject of drones, and the media reaction to Jason Collins’ coming out as the first openly gay pro-athlete. Here’s just a sampling of what’s to come:
“We are now in the last moments of an effort to, in essence, effectively extinguish press freedom,” Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges told “Democracy Now!” in a conversation Wednesday about revelations of the Justice Department’s seizure of work, home and cellphone records of up to 100 reporters and editors at The Associated Press.
Knowing that the United States and the world are on a course toward instability and chaos ensured by irreversible climate change and economic deterioration, the Obama administration and those who expect to inherit its role and powers “want the mechanisms by which they can criminalize any form of dissent,” Hedges continued. The attack on the press, which the AP phone records scandal exposes, is “an excuse to ferret out and destroy legitimate movements that challenge centers of power” by scaring potential whistle-blowers and dissidents into silence.
Hedges has devoted the last few years of his career to championing people who become enemies of the state for opposing its abuse of power. Those people include the accused WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, whom he recently interviewed in Assange’s de facto prison in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, and Mumia Abu-Jamal, the former Black Panther who was convicted of killing a Philadelphia police officer under fishy legal proceedings and is currently serving a life term in prison. In the persecution endured by those figures, Hedges sees the future of anyone who effectively opposes government and corporate power.
Also, a veteran Air Force drone pilot has opened up about his unsettling experiences killing alleged militants and probable civilians from an air-conditioned trailer in the American West.
Brandon Bryant, 27, operated drones for several years. He now lives in Montana where he sleeps on the couches of friends and acquaintances while attending college. He has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
In an interview aired Friday on NPR, Bryant described what happened after he was ordered to strike a group of insurgents who had not attacked American soldiers.
“We fired the missile, and 1.2 seconds after the missile fires, it sonic booms,” Bryant said. “And so the sonic boom gets there before the missile does. And the guy in the rear hears this, and he runs forward to the two guys in the front, and then the missile hits. And after the smoke clears, there’s a crater there. You can see body parts of the people.
“But the guy who was running from rear to the front, his left leg had been taken off above the knee, and I watched him bleed out,” Bryant continued. “The blood rapidly cooled to become the same color as the ground, because we were watching this in infrared. Then I eventually watched the guy become the same color as the ground that he died on.”
“I’m a 34-year old NBA center. I’m Black. And I’m Gay.” With those courageous words, longtime NBA player Jason Collins made history Monday by coming out as the first openly gay athlete in major professional sports.
Featured Guests:
Nancy Watzman, John Villasenor, Tony Jovenitti, Chris Hedges, Julian Assange
Producer: Joshua Scheer
Host: Peter Scheer
Production Assistant/Editor: Brittany Knotts
Engineer: Stan Misraje
