Obama’s Afghan Pullout Plan: KPFK Wed. 6-22

LISTEN ONLINE TO THIS SHOW – SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST
 President Obama will announce his decision on the speed and size of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in a speech tonight at 5:00pm – our JOHN NICHOLS will provide a preview.  He’s Washington correspondent for The Nation and he writes “The Beat” blog at TheNation.com.

Also: Wal-Mart–Too Big to Sue:  NELSON LICHTENSTEIN reviews the Supreme Court’s ruling Monday that women workers at Wal-Mart can’t file a class action suit. Nelson teaches labor history at UC Santa Barbara and is the author of The Retail Revolution, a history of Wal-Mart.  READ Nelson’s NYTimes op-ed HERE.

Plus: Dodgers for Sale?  DAVE ZIRIN is the author of Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games we Love (Scribner) – and explains the latest news about how owner Frank McCourt is ruining the Dodgers. Dave writes for The Nation and blogs at Edge of Sports ; his new doc is “Not Just a Game.”
READ Dave on “This Day in History: When Muhammad Ali Took the Weight” HERE

Ai Weiwei at the Venice Bienalle: ChinaBeat 6/15

At the world’s biggest art event this summer, the Venice Biennale, the world’s most famous imprisoned artist, Ai Weiwei, was not exactly neglected—but his case received virtually no official acknowledgment. . . . an unofficial contribution, “Bye Bye Ai Weiwei,” written in six-foot tall white neon letters along the Giudecca canal, was visible to all the passing vapporetti.
. . . Continued at TheChinaBeat.org, HERE.

Anti-War: WWI, and Now: KPFK Wed 6/1

LISTEN ONLINE TO THIS SHOW – SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST
 The anti-war movement in WWI in Britain took a heroic stand against senseless slaughter: ADAM HOCHSCHILD tells that story in his magnificent new book To End All Wars — it was featured on page 1 of the New York Times Book Review. I’ll be in conversation with Adam at the downtown LA public library ALOUD series on Thurs June 2 at 7pm – free but reservations suggested, HERE.

Plus: The Korean War — BRUCE CUMINGS reveals the historical background that explains why it happened, and the extraordinarily vicious methods by which the U.S. fought it.  His new book is The Korean War: A History.

Also: Nixon and Watergate, then and now: historian STANLEY KUTLER sued the feds to force the release of the Nixon White House tapes — and won.  (He also writes for the Huffington Post.)  Now the full story is told for the first time at the Nixon Library in their new Watergate exhibit.  Stan will be speaking at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda Wed. 6/1 at 7pm on “Liberating the Watergate Tapes.”  Reservations recommended: Email nixon@nara.gov or call 714-983-9120.

Bob Dylan’s Birthday: KPFK Tues 5/14, 11am-1pm

LISTEN ONLINE TO THIS SHOW – SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST
 It’s Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday!  I’ll be co-hosting a two-hour special, at a special time: Tues 11am-1pm, featuring Sean Wilentz, author of Dylan in America; Bob Dylan rarities — interviews on WBAI in NYC from the early sixties; highlights of ten years of my interviews about Dylan on KPFK with Greil Marcus, Sean Wilentz, and others;  highlights from “No Direction Home”, Martin Scorsese’s documentary on Dylan from his arrival in New York in 1961 to his “retirement” following his motorcycle accident in 1966.

It’s the KPFK Fund Drive, and our featured premium is the 2 DVD set of “No Direction Home” for a pledge of $100.00. Other premiums: Dylan Live at Brandeis 1963 CD $50.00; eight of my own interviews about Dylan on KPFK, 2001-2011, including: Greil Marcus on “Love and Theft” (2001), Greil on “Like a Rolling Stone” (2009), Sean Wilentz on Dylan’s Xmas album (2001), Sean on Dylan in China (2011), and lots more.  Available for a $50 pledge, or a free add-on to any pledge $100 or more.  Call and pledge during the show, 818-985-5735, or online at www.kpfk.org. Co-hosted by Alan Minsky and Maggie LePique.

John Nichols: The ‘S’ Word–KPFK Wed. 5/18

A short history of an American tradition: Socialism.  JOHN NICHOLS, the Wisconsin hero who writes “The Beat” blog at TheNation.com, offers an unapologetic retort to the return of red-baiting in American political life in his new book “The ‘S’ Word.”
It is our featured thank-you gift in the KPFK fund drive for the 4 O’Clock Report on Wednesday.  Please call during the show and pledge: 818-985-5735 — or pledge online at www.kpfk.org.

Vicent Bugliosi: Agnosticism vs. Atheism – L.A.Times Festival of Books 5/1

Best-selling true crime writer and former prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi says believers and atheists are both wrong about “the God Question”: the only reasonable position, he argues, is “I don’t know, and neither do you.” I’ll be talking with Bugliosi about his new book Divinity of Doubt: The God Question at the L.A. Times Festival of Books at USC on Sunday May 1 at 10:30 in the Campus Center Ballroom.

BookFest Preview: KPFK Wed. 4/27

LISTEN ONLINE TO THIS SHOW – SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST
 The L.A. Times Festival of Books is at USC this weekend.  Our BookFest Preview show features  RUSSELL JACOBY on the roots of violence:  his book Bloodlust argues that the greatest violence is typically not aimed at “The Other” but rather occurs in Civil Wars.  his panel is Sat. at 2pm in the Davidson Conference Center.  Watch Russell HERE.

TOM LUTZ talks about the brand new L.A. Review of Books — he’s editor, and also chair of the writing program at UC Riverside.  His panel, “The New Shape of the Book,” will be Sun. at 3:30 in Seeley Mudd 124.

NAOMI ORESKES explains how a handful of scientists obscured the truth on issues from tobacco smoke to global warming. Her co-authored book  Merchants of Doubt is out now in paperback.  Her panel is Sat. at 11am in Taper 101. WATCH Naomi HERE.

REBECCA SOLNIT: her book Infinite City does wonderful things with maps.  Her panel is Sat. at 3pm in the Andrus Gerontology Center.