Harry Shearer’s Nixon, today–and 40 years ago: KPFK 11/19

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HARRY SHEARER on Nixon and Watergate: now, and in 1974. The voice of many characters on “The Simpsons,” Harry has released a six-part TV series where he recreates key moments in the Nixon era–all dialogue verbatim from the White House tapes. The series, produced for British TV, is playing now at YouTube HERE.

And the first time Harry ever did Nixon on the radio was on KPFK in 1974, when the transcripts of Nixon’s White House tapes were first released and KPFK broadcast a reading of key scenes—with Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, and Harry as Nixon (a decade later they teamed up to do “Spinal Tap”) — and featuring special guest Mama Cass Elliot as Haldeman. We’ve found the tapes of that historic broadcast, and will play excerpts during this hour.

How better to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Watergate than with Harry Shearer, whose “Nixon” has thrilled listeners for decades? And what better cause than the Pacifica Radio Archives, where our history is available not only to historians, but also to a new generation of listeners and activists?  Please call and pledge during the show: (800) 735-0230

Reporter James Risen, Threatened with Jail by the Obama Admin: KPFK 11/12

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The Obama Justice Department is threatening to jail reporter James Risen for refusing to reveal his source for a New York Times story about a botched CIA operation. “My answer,” he says, “is to keep writing.” His new book is Pay Any Price: Greed, Power, and Endless War­.
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Plus: we’re still thinking about the crushing defeat the Democrats suffered at the ballot box last Tuesday – HAROLD MEYERSON has an analysis. Harold is editor at large of The American Prospect and columnist for the Washington Post.

Also: CHARLES M. BLOW is a columnist for the New York Times op-ed page, where he writes about politics and social issues. Now he’s written a memoir of growing up poor and black in rural Louisiana: it’s called Fire Shut up in my Bones. LISTEN to Charles’s “Writing Soundtrack” HERE.

Your Minnesota Moment: protests against the “Redskins” at the Vikings Game in Minneapolis last Sunday: story HERE

Election Post-mortem: Lessons for the Left–KFPK 11/5

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JOHN NICHOLS on the elections: Republicans won a lot last night—while California remains overwhelmingly Democratic. The night’s lessons for the left, from the Washington correspondent for The Nation.

plus HARRY SHEARER on Nixon: the host of Le Show, star of Spinal Tap and voice of many characters on “The Simpsons” now has a six-part series where he recreates key moments in the Nixon White House–all dialgoue verbatim from the White House tapes. The series, produced for British TV, is playing now at YouTube HERE.

also KATHA POLLITT on abortion: How pro-choicers can take back the high moral ground. Abortion, she says, is a family value. Katha is a polemicist, poet and feminist – she writes a column for The Nation, and her new book is Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights.

Laura Poitras on Edward Snowden: KPFK 10/29

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LAURA POITRAS: her terrific new film Citizenfour documents the week she and Glenn Greenwald met Edward Snowden in Hong Kong and he revealed the existence of mass NSA surveillance. The film is playing now in LA and other cities. WATCH the trailer HERE

Plus: our political update with JOHN NICHOLS of The Nation.

Also: Demon Dog radio!  JAMES ELLROY has written an an amazing new novel, Perfidia. It’s set in LA and begins the day before Pearl Harbor. Ellroy is the author of the L.A. Quartet: The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, and White Jazz.  Both  L.A. Confidential and The Black Dahlia were made into memorable Hollywood films.

“Drop the Pen!”: Laura Poitras Q&A:
LA Review of Books 10/23

Laura Poitras’s documentary about Edward Snowden, “Citizenfour,” opens 10/24: “One Homeland Security agent says, ‘Drop the pen! If you don’t stop taking notes, we’re going to handcuff you.’  Why? They say my pen potentially was a weapon. I am facing two Homeland Security agents with guns, and they are shouting, ‘Drop the pen! Drop the pen!'”
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Charles Blow Q&A: The Nation 10/17

At Grambling “I joined a fraternity, a tremendous exercise in violence. The hazing of pledges is masculinity run off the rails. It’s an obscenity. It takes advantage of young men wanting to prove themselves physically—by submitting to abuse and enduring it—and then keeping it secret.”  continued HERE

Naomi Klein: “This Changes Everything” -KPFK 10/1

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Our hero NAOMI KLEIN has written the political book of the year: THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING: Capitalism vs the Climate.  The problem of climate change, she says, is not carbon – it’s capitalism.   Naomi talks about how the climate crisis gives us the opportunity to transform our failed economic system and build something radically better.
WATCH the amazing trailer for This Changes Everything HERE.
READ Naomi in The Nation HERE.
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Plus: TOM FRANK on the wild world of Kansas politics—where the Democrats have pulled out of the Senate race–but an independent, Greg Orman, seems to be ahead of the incumbent Republican Pat Roberts.  Tom writes about politics for Salon.com – he is the author of the classic What’s the Matter with Kansas?