Trump Watch

Our Politics of Fear: KPFK 4/24

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Our politics of fear:  Last week’s bombing in Boston feels like the most important event in the universe, but  Americans are safe and secure  by any rational standard.  Except maybe for West, Texas, where last week’s fertilizer factory explosion left fourteen dead, eleven of whom were first responders, and 200 injured.  Why wasn’t that bigger news?  JOHN NICHOLS of The Nation comments.

Also: A big immigrant rights victory: immigrants held for possible deportation must be given a hearing within six months to determine whether they should be released, a federal appeals court decided Tuesday, ruling on a class action suit brought by the ACLU of Southern California.  ACLU attorney MICHAEL KAUFMAN will explain.

“Nothing stops a bullet like a job”: that’s what FATHER GREG BOYLE says – he’s the legendary founder of Homeboy Industries, the project that gets kids away from gang life.  Now he’s featured in a new documentary “G-DOG” – what the homies call the priest.  We’ll speak with Father Greg and also the film’s director FREIDA MOCK.  The SoCal theatrical debut of “G-Dog” is tomrrow, Thurs 4/25, 7:30pm, Laemmle Monica 4-Plex, 1332 2nd St., Santa Monica—Q&A with Father G and Freida follows.  Other screenings: http://www.laemmle.com/search.php.

The Boston Marathon Bombing–Lessons from the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing: KPFK 4/17

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The Boston Marathon Bombing: ANDREW GUMBEL, the author and journalist, says the pressure on investigators to find the guilty can easily lead to mistakes, overhasty conclusions, and turf fights between agencies over credit for key breaks in the case.  His book OKLAHOMA CITY: What the Investigation Missed–and Why It Still Matters is out now in paperback.

Also: Mr. Dyanamite, the amazing Mr. Please Please himself: James Brown — RJ SMITH talks about the life and music of the godfather of soul. His book THE ONE is out now in paperback – it’s been nominated for the LA Times Book Award in Biography.  He will be speaking at the Book Festival at USC  Saturday at 12:30.  PLAYLIST: “Please please please”: “intro” to “Live at the Apollo”; “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag”; “Say It Loud”; “Sex Machine.”

Plus: VICTOR NAVASKY on the strange power of political cartoons.   Cartoonists have been censored, threatened, jailed, and even murdered for their art–why is that?   David Levine’s “Kissinger Screwing the World” (left) is the only thing to provoke a staff uprising at The Nation during the 25 years Navasky was editor.  Why was that?  Navasky’s new book is THE ART OF CONTROVERSY: Political Cartoons and Their Enduring Power.  He will be speaking at the LA Times Festival of Books at USC Saturday in Hoffman Hall at 3pm.

The Afghan End Game: KPFK 4/10

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The Afghan End Game: the amazing ANN JONES is back from Kabul with a report. For a decade she’s been working in Afghanistan on human rights and women’s issues, and writing for The Nation, Tom Dispatch, and others.  Her books include Kabul in Winter.  What will happen to the women when the US pulls out?  “Afghan women have already been abandoned,” she says.

Also: A spiritual journey into the Himalayas: PICO IYER talks about Peter Mattheson’s exploration of suffering, impermanence, and beauty in his classic book The Snow Leopard — it’s out now in paperback.

Plus: Obama released his budget today, and it includes those cuts in Social Security.  JOHN NICHOLS of The Nation says “the Democrats will break with Obama” on this one.

. . . and Your Minnesota Moment:  Macalester College in St Paul is a target of the new “Kick Wells Fargo of Campus” campaign of United Students Against Sweatshops.

The Legendary Hero of Late-Night Radio: KPFK 4/3

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The legendary hero of late-night radio in New York: BOB FASS has mixed music, politics, comedy and reports from the street on his midnight show on WBAI for 50 years.  Now he’s the subject of an award-winning documentary: “RADIO UNNAMEABLE”–opening Friday at the Arena Cinema in Hollywood, next to the Egyptian.  WATCH the trailer HERE.

Plus: Tripping in Topanga: OLIVER SACKS, the legendary neuroscientist and New Yorker writer, talks about his youthful experiences with hallucinogenic drugs — his new book is Hallucinations.

Also: The Pacific from Captain Cook to the Gold Rush: a world of whalers and merchants, epidemics and plagues, captives and hostages, and the rise of the American empire.  Historian DAVID IGLER explains; his new book is THE GREAT OCEAN: Pacific Worlds from Captain Cook to the Gold Rush.  “Engaging, richly detailed, and full of compelling stories that change our understanding of life in and around the world’s greatest ocean.”–Matt. K. Matsuda, Rutgers U.

Gay Marriage & the Supremes: KPFK 3/27

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Gay Marriage: The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the constitutionality of California’s Prop 8 yesterday and today – JON DAVIDSON was in the court and will comment on the proceedings.  Jon is Legal Director of Lambda Legal, the oldest and largest national legal organization working for the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people.

Also: The mystery of disobedience: sometimes ordinary people fight injustice. EYAL PRESS looks at unlikely resisters demonstrating different kinds of moral courage.  His book is BEAUTIFUL SOULS: Saying No, Breaking Ranks, and Heeding the Voice of Conscience in Dark Times. It’s out now in paperback.

Plus: Ike & Dick: Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage.  Author JEFFREY FRANK says Ike was a mean and nasty guy who liked to play golf with corporate execs and didn’t like Nixon.
Dick spent 20 years trying to win Ike’s approval—and then his Ike’s grandson David asked Nixon’s daughter Julie to marry him.

Iraq and Us, 10 Years Later: Tom Hayden on KPFK 3/20

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TOM HAYDEN on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War, a war “designed to avoid provoking the public”—and yet, a peace movement arose and “drove a stake through neo-conservative dreams of domination.”  Tom wrote about Iraq for The Nation.

Also: MARK LeVINE answers the question, “Why is Obama going to Israel today?”; Mark teaches the history of the modern Middle East at UCI and writes a column for AlJazeera English.

And, when the Senate votes on gun control, will they give up on banning high capacity magazines?   TOM FRANK will comment – his column in the March Harper’s is about “our weapon-saturated world.”

John Powers on Rachel Maddow: KPFK 3/13

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RACHEL MADDOW: JOHN POWERS considers the sunny and smart MSNBC host and her excellent book DRIFT: The Unmooring of American Military Power–it’s out now in paperback, and Rachel is speaking Thursday at 8pm for Vroman’s at the Wilshire Ebell.  John wrote about Rachel for The American Prospect; he’s critic-at-large for NPR’s “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross, heard by 4.5 million people on 450 stations. (originally broadcast 4/11/12)

Also:  JOHN NICHOLS of The Nation with our political update: the “new” Paul Ryan budget.  John of course blogs at TheNation.com, HERE.

Plus: CLAYBORNE CARSON’s first demonstration was the March on Washington–he was a 19-year-old working-class black kid from New Mexico who hitched a ride to Washington DC to hear Martin Luther King speak.  Decades later, Coretta Scott King selected Clay—now a history professor at Stanford University–to edit the papers of her late husband.  In his new memoir, Martin’s Dream: My Journey and the Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., traces his evolution from political activist to activist scholar.

Gabby Giffords on Guns: KPFK 2/27

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Who better to mobilize a lobby for gun control than former congresswoman and shooting survivor Gabrielle Giffords?  JOHN POWERS talked with her at home in Tucson recently, two years after she was shot in the head in a Tucson parking lot by a deranged misfit—an attack that killed six—as she and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, announced the creation of Americans for Responsible Solutions.  John is critic at large for “Fresh Air with Terry Gross,” film critic for Vogue, and writes about culture and politics for The American Prospect.  WATCH Gabby Giffords’s first TV ad HERE.

Plus: The rarely seen film “King: A Filmed Record” traces MLK’s struggle from Montgomery to Memphis. In a Black History Month special, we air excerpts of a rarely seen Oscar-nominated documentary.  It was made from original newsreel footage and other original video footage shot of marches, rallies and church services. “King” was originally screened for one night only in 1970 in more than 600 theaters across the United States, but has rarely been seen since.  It’s our featured premium this hour of the KPFK Fund Drive – please call and pledge 818-985-5735 during the show.