National • News & Public Affairs
A weekly one-hour public affairs radio program that provides analyses and views that are ignored or distorted in most media. Guests include Dar Jamail, Michael Pollan, Noam Chomsky, Antonia Jusef, Naomi Klein, Vandana Shiva, Jeff Cohen, David Zirin, Bill Moyers and Howard Zinn.
A weekly one-hour public affairs radio program that provides analyses and views that are ignored or distorted in most media.Guests include Dar Jamail, Michael Pollan, Noam Chomsky, Antonia Jusef, Naomi Klein, Vandana Shiva, Jeff Cohen, David Zirin, Bill Moyers and Howard Zinn.
March 29, 2023 National, News & Public Affairs
Wars of Hegemonic Competition
Hegemony is from the Greek meaning authority, rule, and political supremacy. Since 1945 the United States has been the global hegemon. That is changing now. The U.S. recently issued its Annual Threat Assessment. It makes for interesting reading. It lists the various threats Washington faces. It repeats the embedded line that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was “unprovoked.” But the report’s focus is on China. It says, “China has the capability to directly attempt to alter the rules-based global order in every realm and across multiple regions, as a near-peer competitor that is increasingly pushing to change global norms.” The phrase “rules-based global order” is vintage Orwell. Translated it means that Washington rules the world and you’d better follow its diktats or else. But China has emerged as the major challenge to U.S. hegemony thus the danger of conflict is increasing.
ListenMarch 22, 2023 National, News & Public Affairs
Break Up the Media Monopolies
Concentration of any industry is dangerous but media concentration is particularly dangerous because of the vast influence media exert in shaping public opinion. Years ago, legendary journalist and media critic Ben Bagdikian warned of the dangers posed by media monopolies. Those warnings have been borne out. A handful of mega corporations from Comcast to Disney dominate the media. As Bagdikian predicted, corporate business interests would trump journalism, particularly investigative journalism which is costly thus cutting into profits. Lack of competition allows the conglomerates to raise prices. Have you looked at your cable bill lately? Furthermore, a vibrant democracy is ill-served by a corporate media that is heavily connected to and reliant on official sources. An informed citizenry is essential for the communications needs of a democratic society. Media monopolies should be broken up.
ListenMarch 15, 2023 National, News & Public Affairs
The United States of Denial
States can’t easily accept unpleasant realities like their power is waning. America is no different. In geopolitics, China is an ascending power and challenging U.S. hegemony. Unlike in the past, China can’t be easily pushed around. Its top diplomat says Washington “is in no position to make demands of China.” Economically, China’s GDP is projected to pass the U.S. in the next decade. The U.S., riven by internal contradictions, ever-growing inequality and factionalism, is losing ground to China. But in one area it remains dominant: the military. It is building new bases in the Philippines completing an arc of U.S. forces around China. How would Washington respond if China surrounded the U.S. with bases? “Denial is never a good idea,” says economist Richard Wolff. “We have to face what’s going on. Otherwise, we are going to get ourselves into one mess after another.”
Read MoreMarch 8, 2023 National, News & Public Affairs
The Selling of the Ukraine War
February 24 marks the first-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Moscow’s action is a clear violation of international law. But it was not unprovoked. The NATO military alliance has expanded its bases right up to Russia’s borders. The U.S. and its NATO allies are sending more and more arms to Ukraine. Last week it was Patriot missiles. This week it’s tanks. What will it be next week? Fighter jets? The steady escalation of weaponry is music to the ears of the military-industrial complex. The longer the war goes on the more their cash registers go ka-ching. The continuation of the war is getting a hard sell from the armchair pundits and retired generals and their corporate media enablers. What will it take to stop the war?
Read MoreMarch 1, 2023 National, News & Public Affairs
By Any Means Necessary: Malcolm X
The singular voice of Malcolm X speaks today to more people than ever before. He endures as a powerful and inspirational figure. It’s not hard to understand why. With his mesmerizing oratorical style and cadence, it was Malcolm who redefined the discourse on race. He moved the discussion from notions of “prejudice” and “discrimination” to racism. It was Malcolm who articulated concepts like “community control” and “white power structure” and “the field Negro and the house Negro.” It was Malcolm who made it clear that Blacks were the victims of a system of domination and exploitation that was not regional but national, not superficial but structural, not episodic but ongoing and intentional. His uncompromising critical analysis gave Malcolm his moral authority. He was assassinated on February 21, 1965, but as new generations discover him, his ideas live on.
Read MoreFebruary 22, 2023 National, News & Public Affairs
The Young Lords
Puerto Rico. The U.S. seized the Caribbean island from Spain in 1898. Officially it is “a locally self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States.” Since 1917 those born in Puerto Rico have U.S. citizenship but they can’t vote in federal elections. Today, more Puerto Ricans live in the U.S. than on the island. The Young Lords was a U.S.-based Puerto Rican political organization advocating for justice and equality for Puerto Ricans. As one scholar wrote, “The Young Lords emerged to call out and confront the root causes of inequality and discrimination with incredible bravado. Effectively, they staged occupations and takeovers drawing attention to social injustice through savvy media coverage, and more.” By the mid-70s the Young Lords disbanded but their radical grassroots campaigns had long-lasting impacts.
Read MoreFebruary 15, 2023 National, News & Public Affairs
The Selling of the Ukraine War
February 24 marks the first-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Moscow’s action is a clear violation of international law. But it was not unprovoked. The NATO military alliance has expanded its bases right up to Russia’s borders. The U.S. and its NATO allies are sending more and more arms to Ukraine. Last week it was Patriot missiles. This week it’s tanks. What will it be next week? Fighter jets? The steady escalation of weaponry is music to the ears of the military-industrial complex. The longer the war goes on the more their cash registers go ka-ching. The continuation of the war is getting a hard sell from the armchair pundits and retired generals and their corporate media enablers. What will it take to stop the war?
Read MoreFebruary 1, 2023 National, News & Public Affairs
Beginnings: Movements of Possibility
In times of crisis one can simultaneously see danger and opportunity. Today there is nostalgia for an imagined past and a desire to recreate it. It’s a seductive tale. Things were better then. The country was unchallenged in the world. Jobs were plentiful. Minorities, women, gays, and immigrants knew their place. There was order in the land. But over many decades, as a result of struggle and movements, society evolved and changed. We are at a perilous moment. Do we want to go back or continue to move forward building on hard-fought gains? During another perilous time, Martin Luther King, Jr. declared, “We’ve got to massively confront the power structure.” We are at a crossroads: the beginning of a brighter or darker future. The choice is ours.
Read MoreJanuary 25, 2023 National, News & Public Affairs
Deinstitutionalization
At eleven years old, Lois Curtis became an out-patient at Georgia Regional Hospital for her cognitive and developmental disabilities. She wound up being confined and sedated in mental institutions until she was 27 when Atlanta’s Legal Aid Society sued Georgia’s Human Services Commissioner George Olmstead. The case of Olmstead vs L.C. went all the way to the Supreme Court and Lois Curtis won in a 6 to 3 decision in 1999. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg wrote, “Confinement in an institution severely diminishes the everyday life activities of individuals, including family relations, social contacts, work options, economic independence, educational advancement and cultural enrichment.” The case has been called the “Brown vs Board of Education” for disability rights.
Read MoreJanuary 11, 2023 National, News & Public Affairs
Martin Luther King Jr & the FBI
The FBI, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was once called by American Indian movement activist John Trudell, as the Federal Bureau of Intimidation. The FBI has a long history of persecuting people for thought crimes, having the wrong political ideas.
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