Living in the USA

The ACLU is suing the Obama administration over its surveillance of domestic phone calls, arguing that the the once-secret NSA program is illegal, should be stopped, and its  records purged.  PETER BIBRING will explain; he’s Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU of Southern California.  SEE the NSA “PRISM” slideshow HERE.
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Plus: It’s the 50th anniversary of the New York Review of Books, which started publication during the NYC newspaper strike of 1963.  ROBERT SILVERS is founder and still editor–he’ll talk about how the mag started , how it’s stayed alive–and how it’s never lost money.

also: A secret army, a war without end–and a journalist determined to uncover the truth: That’s the story of the film “Dirty Wars” and it’s playing now in LA at the Landmark on Pico and nationwide – it’s about Jeremy Scahill, national security correspondent for The Nation magazine.
He’ll be doing a live Q&A in LA tonight at the Landmark on Pico in West LA after the 7:40 screening.  WATCH the “Dirty Wars” trailer HERE.

The FBI  spent two years investigating the song, “Louie, Louie,” searching its lyrics for obscene messages.  The problem: some junior high school boys in Sarasota, Florida said it was a dirty song — and their parents complained to J. Edgar Hoover.
“Air Talk” segment on KPCC with Patt Morrison: HERE.

“When it comes to selecting a commencement speaker, the nation’s top 100 universities lean decidedly left,” Fox News argues.  My debate with Kevin Hassett, Director of Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, on KPCC’s “Air Talk” with Larry Mantle.
http://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/2013/05/30/32034/few-colleges-invite-conservatives-to-be-keynote-sp/

For the record: oday’s show on KPFK was pre-empted by special fund drive programming.

LISTEN online HERE— iTunes podcast HERE
On June 4 Bradley Manning goes on trial, charged with espionage and “aiding the enemy,” for releasing to Wikileaks, and the New York Times and The Guardian, hundreds of thousands of classified files documenting widespread civilian casualties, torture, and corruption in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.  Now an amazing new film explores the David and Goliath story of one man with a computer against the world’s most powerful nation: “We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks.”
We’ll speak with filmmaker ALEX GIBNEY—his other films include “Enron: Smartest Guys in the Room,” and  “Taxi to the Dark Side,” which won the Oscar for best feature documentary.
“We Steal Secrets” opens in LA and New York Friday May 24.  WATCH the trailer HERE.
Bradley Manning Support Network, with Daniel Ellsberg, Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky: HERE.

Live music from RY COODER: his new song protesting the Koch Bros. attempted take-over of the LA Times: broadcast from KPFK Wednesday.   He sang it for the first time at the protest against the Koch Bros, downtown LA on Tuesday.
Streaming audio now at http://archive.kpfk.org/m3u.php?mp3fil=15177
“we don’t want your millions mister
we don’t want your watch and chain
All we want is our news-paper
give us back the Times again.”

LISTEN online HERE— SUBSCRIBE to iTunes podcast HERE
Back from Baghdad: MARK LeVINE reports on Iraq ten years after the US invasion.  Mark teaches the history of the modern Middle East at UC Irvine and writes for Al Jazeera English.

 Also: “No Koch brothers hate in LA” – That was the slogan of a demonstration yesterday by labor unions, environmentalists and public interest advocates who rallied against the proposed takeover of the LA Times by David and Charles Koch.
Featured at the rally – a new song by our own RY COODER about the Koch Brothers and the LA Times. we will feature Ry’s brand new recording of the song.

Plus: A new book about Gore Vidal: I TOLD YOU SO: GORE VIDAL TALKS POLITICS—Interviews with Jon Wiener.  It’s our featured thank-you gift in the KPFK fund drive this hour—please call and pledge during the show, 818-985-5735.

And we’ll also have Your Minnesota Moment: yesterday governor Mark Dayton signed a bill legalizing gay marriage.

LISTEN online HERE— SUBSCRIBE to iTunes podcast HERE
From the Center for the Study of Dirty Wars: our guest is JEREMY SCAHILL – he’s National Security correspondent for The Nation, and he wrote the bestseller Blackwater: Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army.  And he’s appeared regularly on the Rachel Maddow show, Real Time with Bill Maher and Democracy Now!   His new book is DIRTY WARS: The World is a Battlefield.. It enters the New York Times bestseller list at #5 this Sunday.

Also: our Washington political update with HAROLD MEYERSON – he writes a column for the Washington Post op-ed page, and he’s editor-at-large of The American Prospect.

Plus: The US is only the most recent power to invade Afghanistan—and fail.  Of course the Soviets tried it from 1979 to 1989, and before that, the British tried – from 1839 to 1842.  Is there a lesson here?
WILLIAM DALRYMPLE thinks so—he’s written a terrific new book about the British effort, and its striking parallels to our own: RETURN OF A KING: the Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42.

LISTEN online HERE— SUBSCRIBE to iTunes podcast HERE
Today is May Day, international workers day, and we will celebrate with a special show: the biggest working class in the world is found in China – JEFF WASSERSTROM will review the situation there—he edited a special section of the new issue of Dissent on “China’s 99 Per Cent”, and his book China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know is coming out in a new edition.

–and American radicals have a new voice, a magazine and website called JACOBIN –  editor and publisher BHASKAR SUNKARA will explain.  He also writes for In These Times, the Guardian, and other mags.

Also: a new biography of Karl Marx focuses on his work as a political activist and his life as a journalist and as a political exile in England.  We’ll speak with the author JONATHAN SPERBER  — he teaches history at the University of Missouri.
He talked about his book Karl Marx: A 19th Century Life on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: watch HERE.

LISTEN online HERE— SUBSCRIBE to iTunes podcast HERE
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.