LA & NYC: Left Politics in 2 Cities: KPFK 2/5

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LA and NYC: two new progressive mayors; two cities with a shrinking middle class and a vast low-wage service sector, and with an effective labor-liberal political alliance. So why are the agendas of the two cities’ mayors, Bill de Blasio and Eric Garcetti, shaping up so differently?  Analysis from HAROLD MEYERSON – he writes a column for the Washington Post op-ed page; he’s editor-at-large of The American Prospect, and he wrote about LA and NYC for the LA Times op-ed page.

Also: We’re still thinking about PETE SEEGER, who died last week.  We’ll talk about Pete with PETER DREIER – he says (in The Nation), “Every day, every minute, someone in the world is singing a Pete Seeger song.”  Peter’s new book is The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century—of course Pete is one of them.

We’ll listen to my 1981 interview with Pete Seeger about the day he led half a million people singing “Give Peace a Chance” at the Vietnam Moratorium in 1969–Plus: “The Ballad of Pete Seeger”–the 2-hour Pacifica special, featuring Tim Robbins with Pete.  We’ll speak with the writer/producer MARK TORRES.  “The Ballad of Pete Seeger” is our featured thank-you gift in the KPFK fund drive: please call and pledge during the show: 818-985-5735.

Rachel Kushner on “The Flamethrowers”: KPFK 1/29

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Art, revolution, and motorcycles—and a girl called “Reno”: they’re all in RACHEL KUSHNER’s glorious novel The Flamethrowers.  It was a finalist for the National Book Award and a New York Times bestseller, and it’s out now in paperback.

Plus: Edward Snowden: hero, or traitor?  DAVID COLE says “Consider what we have learned from Snowden’s leaks and the further government disclosures that they prompted.”  David wrote about Edward Snowden—and Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange – for the New York Review.

Also: JOHN NICHOLS on Obama’s State of the Union—right on wages, wrong on trade—and on our hero Pete Seeger, who died Monday.  John is Washington Correspondent for The Nation.

Pete Seeger’s Biggest Day: The Nation, 1/28

November 15, 1969—“Vietnam Moratorium Day”—nearly half a million people gathered on the mall in Washington DC, to protest the war, and Pete Seeger was on the stage. “I guess I faced the biggest audience I’ve ever faced in my life,” he told me in an 1981 interview. “Hundreds of thousands, how many I don’t know. They stretched as far as the eye could see up the hillside and over the hill.”  The song he sang was “Give Peace a Chance” . . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com, HERE.

When Nixon asked Haldeman about Philip Roth. . . . L.A. Review of Books 1/25

RICHARD NIXON didn’t talk much about American writers. On the White House tapes, which recorded his conversations from February 1971 to July 1973, there’s no mention of Norman Mailer, John Updike, or Gore Vidal. There’s no mention of best-selling authors of the era like William Peter Blatty of The Exorcist or Frederick Forsyth of The Day of the Jackal. But Nixon did talk about Philip Roth.
NIXON: What if anything do you know about the Roth book?
HALDEMAN: Oh, a fair amount.
. . . continued at LA Review of Books, HERE.

Gary Shteyngart Q&A: The Nation 1/23

JW: You spent your first seven years in the Soviet Union—what was your 7-year-old understanding of communism, of Lenin himself?

GS: Let’s start with Lenin. One of the biggest statues of Lenin was in Leningrad right outside our window. I loved Lenin so much that I would wake up every morning and hug his pedestal. When I was 5, I wrote a book called Lenin and His Magical Goose, in which Lenin and a talking goose conquer Finland and make it a socialist country. I very much wanted to become a soldier in the Red Army, or a cosmonaut. I wanted to try to launch an attack against the United States and make it safe for socialism.
– – – continued at The Nation, HERE.

NSA “Reform,” from Nixon to Obama: Rick Perlstein KPFK 1/22

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President Obama has proposed “reforms” of the NSA, suggesting we need a plan to come up with a plan about bulk metadata gathering on civilians.  RICK PERLSTEIN compares Obama’s proposals with the Church Committee’s final report from 1976 on spying on Americans.  Short version: the Nixon administration was better.

Also: the My Lai massacre was not an isolated incident; millions of innocent Vietnamese civilians were killed and wounded by American forces—“a My Lai a month” is what award-winning reporter NICK TURSE calls it.  His decade of research in secret Pentagon archives and interviews with vets and Vietnamese are the basis of his important book, KILL ANYTHING THAT MOVES: The Real American War in  Vietnam–it’s out now in paperback.

Plus: Slavery, freedom, and Islamophobia: GREG GRANDIN uncovered the true story of a rebellion on a slave ship in 1805–by African Muslims– that inspired Herman Melville to rethink slavery and freedom 50 years later.  It’s a story with  echoes in our own time as Tea Party activists charge that Obama is a secret Muslim from Africa.   Greg teaches history at NYU; his magnificent new book is The Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World.  It is featured on the cover of The Nation this week.

Gary Shteyngart: Little Failure. KPFK 1/15

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GARY SHTEYNGART left Russia for the US in 1979, when he was 7 years old—part of the deal where Jimmy Carter gave the Russians American grain and Brezhnev gave the Americans Soviet Jews—win-win!  Shteyngart’s story, told in his new memoir LITTLE FAILURE, is self-mocking, sarcastic, tender, and hilarious.  Watch the trailer HERE.  Gary will be reading Little Failure at the Skirball on Thurs Jan 16 at 8pm. Tickets $10 HERE.

Plus: The Los Angeles labor movement and its allies are campaigning for the highest minimum wage in the country: $15/hour.  Even more amazing, we are likely to win.  NANCY COHEN will explain; she wrote about it for The New Republic.  #RaiseLA

Also: Breaking in to the FBI office in Media, PA: In 1971, unknown activists stole files from an FBI office outside of Philadelphia, and proceeded to expose Bureau abuse of power and illegal surveillance.  Now the burglars have surfaced and told their story in the book The Burglary by Betty Medsger.  SETH ROSENFELD will explain—he’s author of the award-winning SUBVERSIVES and spent two decades suing the FBI for their files on the Free Speech Movement. (Left: two of the burglars today, John and Bonnie Raines.)  WATCH the video HERE.

Katha Pollitt: A rough year for women–KPFK 1/8

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Women’s rights,  last year, and this year: KATHA POLLITT on where we stand now.  It’s been rough—but isn’t it always?  Katha—poet, essayist and columnist–wrote recently for The Nation about “The Year in Feminism.”   Support the National Network of Abortion Funds HERE.

Plus: Beatles versus Stones: which side were you on?  JOHN McMILLIAN constrasts media myths with musical styles and political and cultural realities.  John teaches history at Georgia Tech; his new book is Beatles v. Stones.  PLAYLIST: Beatles’, Stones’ versions of “I Wanna Be Your Man”; “Revolution” vs. “Street Fighting Man.”

Also: the most effective political operation the American left has seen in decades: the  Working Families Party of New York. HAROLD MEYERSON explains – he wrote about it for The American Prospect and also writes a column for the Washington Post op-ed page.

Dick Cheney in Nixonland: TheNation 12/19

Dick Cheney came to the Nixon Library this week to talk about his new book, Heart.  When our most hated vice president visits the library of our most disgraced president, you look forward to a good night. So my friend Howard and I went to Yorba Linda, expecting a festive evening of Obama-bashing and a twisted trip back through the glories of the Bush years. . . . .  continued at TheNation.com, HERE.

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.