Trump Watch

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The constitutional challenge to Prop. 8, Calfiornia’s initiative banning gay marriage, went to trial on Monday in San Francisco.   STEPHEN ROHDE will comment, he’s a constitutional lawyer, lecturer, writer and political activist. and Chair the ACLU Foundation of Southern California.

Also: FDR provides the model of a liberal activist president against which Obama is being measured – historian ALAN BRINKLEY will talk about what FDR did—about the banks, unemployment, social security, and racial justice–and how he did it.  His new book is Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Plus: Palestinian life in Gaza – now, and in 1956, when Israelis killed 275 people in two forgotten massacres. JOE SACCO, the pioneering comics journalist, will tell that story—and explain why it matters now.  His new book is Footnotes in Gaza. He will be reading and signing next Tues., Jan. 19, 730pm, at Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Av.
READ Patrick Cockburn’s review  in the New York Times HERE
SEE Joe Sacco’s drawings from Footnotes in Gaza HERE.

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In Afghanistan, a “chain of catastrophes”over the last two weeks is “raising significant questions about the viability of the Obama-McChrystal plan for the country,” JUAN COLE says – he teaches history at the U. of Michigan and writes the indispensable blog “Informed Comment.” WATCH Afghan video from Al Jazeera/English HERE.

Plus: It’s Elvis’s 75^th birthday on Friday!  PETER GURALNICK will take up the question of Elvis and cultural theft: did the king rip off black people’s music?  Peter wrote the definitive 2-volume biography, Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love. (originally broadcast 8/15/07)
PLAYLIST: Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, “That’s All Right, Mama” (1946);  Elvis, “That’s All Right” (1954);  Little Junior Parker, “Mystery Train” (1953);  Elvis, “Mystery Train” (1955).

Also: GREIL MARCUS’s “secret history of the twentieth century”: it starts with the Sex Pistols and goes back to Dada and the Situationists.  The 20^th anniversary edition of his Lipstick Traces is out now.  “Today those old voices sound as touching and scary as they ever did, ” Greil writes — “partly because there is an irreducible quality in their demands–and partly because they are suspended in time.”
PLAYLIST:  Sex Pistols, “Anarchy in the UK” (1976); Elvis Costello, “Radio Radio” (1978).

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HAROLD MEYERSON on Obama in 2009: what happened to “Hope”? Escalation in Afghanistan, the bailout of Wall Street, and giving up on the public option, for a start.  And why isn’t he doing more to create jobs?  Harold writes for the Washington Post op-ed page and The American Prospect. READ Harold’s “Decade of Dread” column HERE

Also: RICKY JAY,  master of what he calls “deceptive practices,” does amazing things with a deck of cards.  He also appeared in the David Mamet film “The Spanish Prisoner” as well as “Magnolia” and “Boogie Nights.”  He’s the author of  “Jay’s Journal of Anomalies.”
Now he has a new live show, “A Rogue’s Gallery” — it’s running at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood through Jan. 10.
WATCH Ricky Jay’s amazing card trick on YouTube  HERE.
(originally aired 9/26/2001)

Plus: “The Dark Side” – that’s where Dick Cheney said we would have to go to “achieve our objectives” in the White House’s war on terror. JANE MAYER of The New Yorker has been investigating what “the dark side” really means.  I spoke with her before a live audience at the LA Public Library ALOUD series recently; we have the tape.  Her book is out now in paperback.
(originally aired 7/29/09)

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Our war on Xmas: BOB DYLAN has released a Christmas album! Is this a joke — or a tragedy? SEAN WILENTZ explains — he’s official historian at the official Bob Dylan website (he also teaches history at Princeton.)  READ Sean Wilentz on Dylan’s Xmas album HERE. LISTEN TO SAMPLES HERE. PLAYLIST: “Here Comes Santa Claus”; “I’ll Be Home for Xmas”; “Must Be Santa,” “Winter Wonderland”; “O Little Town of Bethlehem”  (originally broadcast 11/11/09)

Plus: Obama’s year-in-review: JOHN NICHOLS of The Nation comments – and reviews the pros and cons of the health care bill, scheduled to pass the Senate Dec. 24 at 8am.

Also: KATHA POLLITT is best known for her political columns in The Nation and her personal essays in The New Yorker, but she’s also an award-winning poet – her poems are published in The New Yorker, Paris Review, The Atlantic, and many other places.  Now she has a new book of poetry out – The Mind-Body Problem. We’ll talk about poetry and politics, and she will read some of my favorites.  (originally broadcast 7/29/09)

For the record: today at 4 on KPFK the fund drive will feature a guest host.

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Obama’s jobs program: is the effort he announced yesterday big enough?  Is it good enough?  Does anyone feel good about the American economy right now–with the 2010 elections not so far away?  Also, the Senate Dems’ failure on the health care public option.   JOHN NICHOLS comments  — he writes “The Beat” blog at TheNation.com.

Also: DICK CHENEY won’t go away – he keeps giving interviews attacking Obama. BART GELLMAN comments – his award-winning book Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency is out now in paperback.  (originally broadcast 5/6/09)

Plus: LIES — AND TRUTH – ABOUT 9/11: JOHN FARMER says the official version of what happened that day is “almost entirely . . . untrue.” But he’s no conspiracy theorist; he says Bush and Cheney turned out to be “irrelevant” that day.  Farmer is dean of the Rutgers Law School and was senior counsel to the 9/11 commission.  His new book is THE GROUND TRUTH: The Untold Story of America Under Attack on 9/11.

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Obama and Afghanistan: the speech he should have given, starting “We have no partner in Afghanistan,” and ending “our troops will be brought home.”  TOM ENGELHARDT explains — he edits the indispensable blog TomDispatch.

Also – the rise, and fall, of democracy – SUSAN GRIFFIN will comment. Her book Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy: On Being an American Citizen is out now in paperback.   Susan will be in conversation with Louise Steinman at the LA Public Library ALOUD series Thurs at 700pm: reservations HERE.

Plus: KPFK Sports! Soviet sports, that is: BOB EDELMAN talks about soccer under Stalin and how it provided “a small way of saying no.” Bob teaches history at UCSD; his new book is Spartak Moscow: A History of the People’s Team in the Worker’s State.
WATCH Spartak playing in 1954 on rare video HERE

And: The great ELMORE LEONARD presents his rules for writing dialogue. He’ll be honored by PEN, the writers’ organization, tonight. (originally broadcast 2-5-2003).

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“A serious critique of Glenn Beck is almost a waste of time,” TOM FRANK says. “After all, the man has referred to himself as a ‘rodeo clown’ and a ‘recovering scumbag.’”  And yet Beck today has become the most influential man on the right.  Tom Frank explain; he wrote about Glenn Beck for Playboy.
WATCH GLENN BECK “LOSE HIS MIND” on YouTube HERE

Also: GREIL MARCUS talks about the New Literary History of America:  his new co-edited thousand-page compendium, where “nothing remains of the boundaries that traditionally separated literature, history and popular culture” — from the Puritans to “Lolita” and Jackson Pollack – and of course Greil’s Moby Dick:  “Ahab is always out there.”

Plus: Americans in Cuba on the eve of Castro’s revolution: that’s the setting for RACHEL KUSHNER’s novel TELEX FROM CUBA. For the Americans, plantation society in Oriente was a paradise – until the rebels came down from the hills.  Rachel’s book is out now in paperback.  (first aired 8/27/08)

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New York Times op-ed columnist GAIL COLLINS traces women’s progress from the fifties to the present, from “My Little Margie” to Hillary for President — and Sarah Palin for Vice President.  Gail Collins was the first woman editor of the New York Times editorial page;  Her new book is When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present.

Also:  With Obama’s trip to Shanghai this week, HAROLD MEYERSON asks: who created that dysfunctional relationship with China?  The answer; not the Chinese, but rather American businesses and finance, above all WalMart and Wall Street.  Harold is an op-ed columnist for the Washington Post.

Plus: RICK HERTZBERG remembers the Obama campaign — and talks about Obama one year later.  Rick writes about politics for The New Yorker; once upon a time he was a speechwriter for Jimmy Carter.  His new book is Obamanos! The Birth of a New Political Era.
Rick will be in conversation with Marty Kaplan of USC Thursday at 7:3opm at WRITER’S BLOC at the ICM Theater, 10250 Constellation Blvd (MGM building) in Century City.  Tickets are $20.

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BOB DYLAN has released a Christmas album! Is this a joke — or a tragedy? SEAN WILENTZ explains — he’s official historian at the official Bob Dylan website (he also teaches American history at Princeton.) READ Sean Wilentz on Dylan’s Xmas album HERE. LISTEN TO SAMPLES HERE. PLAYLIST: “Here Comes Santa Claus”; “I’ll Be Home for Xmas”; “Must Be Santa,” “Winter Wonderland”; “O Little Town of Bethlehem”

Plus: “Guyland” is the world of twenty-something men whose passions are limited to watching sports, getting drunk, and getting laid. MICHAEL KIMMEL will explain; his book Guyland is out now in paperback.  (originally broadcaast 11/26/08)

Also: BARBARA EHRENREICH talks about Americans’  “unwholesome love affair with Positive Thinking.”   She says losing your job, or your home, is not “an opportunity.”  Her new book is BRIGHT SIDED: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking has Undermined America.
Barbara will be speaking Sunday  Nov 15 at 2pm at CalTech in Baxter Hall.  More info HERE.
Read the Journal of Happiness Studies HERE.