Jeremy Scahill’s “Dirty Wars” DVD: KPFK 12/11

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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 out now on DVD– it’s about JEREMY SCAHILL, he’s National Security correspondent for The Nation magazine. Now the film is shortlisted for an Oscar nomination for best documentary.  We’ll feature interviews with director RICHARD ROWLEY, and with Jeremy Scahill-– he wrote the bestseller Blackwater, and has reported from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen and elsewhere.  “Dirty Wars” is our featured thank-you gift in the KPFK fund drive–please pledge during the show: 818-985-5735.

Plus: There’s a new Jimi Hendrix book that’s just been published, one nobody thought was possible – Starting at Zero: His own story,  “a posthumous memoir,” assembled from Jimi’s writings and diaries by ALAN DOUGLAS and colleagues.  We’ll speak with Alan –he’s best known for producing many of the posthumous Jimi Hendrix releases – and he was also a close friend of Jimi’s.

America’s War Wounded: KPFK 12/3

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The untold story of America’s war wounded:
ANN JONES reports on the horrors of war in Iraq and Afghanstan– she’s author of eight books, including the unforgettable Kabul in Winter.  Her new book is They Were Soldiers: How the Wounded Return from America’s Wars.   READ Ann Jones at TomDispatch HERE.

Plus: Obama’s deportation regime: a record number of deportations, and people spending years in immigration detention—but the ACLU is fighting to win rights for those detainees.  AHILAN ARULANANTHAM, Deputy Legal Director of the ACLU of Southern California, will explain.

Also: In the Coen Brothers’ new film, Inside Llewyn Davis, a not-very-good folksinger tries to make it in Greenwich Village in 1961, just before Bob Dylan arrives.  We’ll have comment from historian SEAN WILENTZauthor of Bob Dylan in America.  The film opens in LA and NYC on Friday.   PLAYLIST: “Hang me, oh hang me,” Oscar Isaac; “Please Mr. Kennedy,” Justin Timberlake; “Green Green Rocky Road,” Dave Van Ronk; “Farewell,” Bob Dylan.  WATCH the trailer for Inside Llewyn Davis HERE.

Near-Misses with Nukes: Eric Schlosser on KPFK 11/26

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A riveting story about nuclear risk
, examining problems with the command and control systems set up during the Cold War, and with the men who ran them.  ERIC SCHLOSSER talks about some terrifying accidents and incredibly lucky near-misses.  Eric wrote the best-seller Fast Food Nation; his new book is Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety .
JOIN a WalMart protest on Friday: South LA, Panorama City, and Torrance: info HERE.

 Plus: HAROLD MEYERSON on the class divide among Democrats—and on the new Calif. Initiative to raise the minimum wage to $12, sponsored by Republican millionaire Ron Unz.  Harold writes a column for the Washington Post op-ed page and is editor-at-large of The American Prospect .  Great interactive graphic “The 40 Year Slump” HERE
JOIN a Wal-Mart protest
this Friday: South LA, Panorama City and Torrance: info HERE.

Also: The unforgettable sound of Memphis soul music in the sixties, coming from Stax records: ROBERT GORDON tells that story.  His new book is Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion.
Playlist: “Walkin the Dog” (Rufus Thomas, 1963); “Knock on Wood” (Eddie Floyd. 1966); “I Thank You” (Sam and Dave, 1968); “Respect” (Otis Redding, 1965).
LISTEN to newly discovered tracks “The Ghost of Stax PastHERE

John Nichols on Politics: KPFK 11/20

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We need a progressive candidate in 2016–and Elizabeth Warren says she is not running.  JOHN NICHOLS says “Bernie Sanders might just have to run.”  Sanders says there must be a progressive alternative to the conservative Republican politics of cruelty and cuts and the centrist Democratic politics of compromise with the conservatives.  John is Washington correspondent for The Nation and blogs at TheNation.com.

Elliot Mintz John LennonAlso: ELLIOT MINTZ was a legendary late-night host on KPFK in the 1960s and 1970s–today he returns to our airwaves to talk about the heroic days of alternative radio.  Elliot was also a best friend of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, especially during Lennon’s “Lost Weekend” in L.A. in 1973, and after 1980 he hosted the weekly syndicated radio series, The Lost Lennon Tapes for almost four years.
This hour will be part of the national broadcast of the Pacifica Archives annual holiday fundraiser.  The Pacifica Archives are our history!  Please call and pledge during the hour: 800-935-0230.

Chile’s Elections, 40 years after the Coup: KPFK 11/13

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40 years after the military coup that overthrew Salvador Allende
, the two leading candidates for president of Chile are daughters of air force generals were were on opposite sides in 1973.  Conservative candidate Evelyn Matthei’s father was promoted by Pinochet to run the air force.  Socialist challenger Michelle Bachelet’s father opposed the coup, was tortured and died in prison.  The election will be Sunday Nov 17.  UCI historian  HEIDI TINSMAN will explain; her new book, Buying into the Regime: Grapes and Consumption in Cold War Chile and the United States, will be published in February.

 Also: Girls in prison need health care – and LESLIE ACOCA has been working on ending the incarceration of girls  through access to health care. Thanks to the Girls Health Screen, LA is now the first county in the United States to provide health care in locked settings just for girls.

The end of WWII is usually remembered in terms of Auschwitz and Hiroshima, genocide and nucear holocaust; but it was also a beginning—for Algerians and Vietnamese and Indonesians seeking independence from colonialism.  IAN BURUMA tells that story in his amazing new book 1945: YEAR ZERO.  He has written more than a dozen books and is a frequent contributor to the New York Review.

 

Life & Loathing in Israel: KPFK 11/6

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A fearless report on Israel from award-winning journalist MAX BLUMENTHAL, who shows how the occupation is destroying democracy and civil liberties for Israelis as well as Palestinians.  His work has been published in the New York Times, the Guardian, and The Nation. He wrote the bestseller Republican Gomorrah.  His new book is GOLIATH: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel.
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Also: a memoir of Polish-Jewish reconciliation: LOUISE STEINMAN found light on a dark journey, visiting Holocaust sites, learning about 800 years of Polish-Jewish history, and then finding Poles seeking the truth about the not-so-distant past.  Her new book is THE CROOKED MIRROR
She will be in conversation with Jack Miles at the ALOUD series at the downtown LA Public Library Thurs 7:15pm: info HERE.  READ the Crooked Mirror blog HERE.

Plus: JOHNNY CASH: the unvarnished truth about “the man in black,” a musical genius who was humbled by addicition.  ROBERT HILBURN has written the definitive biography; the music critic for the LA Times knew Cash well and was the only music journalist at the legendary Folsom Prison concert in 1968.  His new book is Johnny Cash: The Life. Playlist: “Folsom Prison Blues” live;  “I Walk the Line” “Hurt.”  Watch the “HURT” video HERE.

Visiting Glenn Greenwald in Rio: KPFK 10-30

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GLENN GREENWALD
is the American journalist and former columnist for the Guardian who has been the main source for Edward Snowden’s revelations about NSA spying and surveillance.  Greenwald lives in Rio de Janiero,and NATASHA VARGAS COOPER just got back from spending five days with him.

Plus: TOM FRANK went to Raleigh, North Carolina, for the strike by fast food workers —we’ll have his report.  Tom writes a column for Harper’s.

Also: OLIVER STONE’s Untold History of the US, the 10-hour documentary, is out now on Blu-Ray – we’ll speak with him about why he moved from feature films about the American past to a TV documentary series.
WATCH the trailer for “Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the US”  HERE.

 

Bill Ayers’ Weatherman Memoir: LA Review of Books 10/29

It’s not hard to understand what Bill Ayers and his friends in the Weather Underground were thinking in the early 1970s, when they made plans to bomb the Capitol and other sites. The Vietnam War was raging, Nixon was president. The American people were so distracted by the media, or blinded by ideology, or bought off by consumerism that they would never wake up; except, that is, for Bill Ayers and his friends. They saw what was going on. . . . ”
Review of Bill Ayers’ “Public Enemy”: continued at the LA Review of Books HERE