Progressive Commentary Hour

Chris Hedges is one of our nation’s most insightful cultural critics, social and political activists and investigative journalists. For almost 20 years he was a foreign correspondent in war zones and conflicts in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans, having reported for The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor and other news outlets.  While at the Times, Chris received the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for reporting on global terrorism. That same year he received Amnesty International’s Global Award for Human Rights Journalism.   Chris has authored many bestselling books. His most recent  is “Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt”, a philosophical, historical and timely clarion call for a new revolution against a repressive political and corporate hegemony.  Chris’ weekly column can be read every Monday at Truthdig.com and his TV program “Days of Revolt” is aired every Monday at 11 pm Eastern on Telesur TV Prof. Norman Pollack is a professor emeritus of history at Michigan State University in East Lansing Michigan. He has a long history of engaging civil rights and anti-war activities over the decades, beginning when he was 15 and campaigning for Henry Wallace and his Progressive Party in 1948.  Later he campaigned for Adlai Stevenson in the 50s and supported Martin Luther King. A two time Guggenheim fellow, Prof. Pollack was a major intellectual voice during the late 60s in giving an knowledgeable boost to the New Left and writing on American populism, which became an popular documentary "The Populist Mind".  After receiving his doctorate in American Civilization from Harvard, he taught at Yale and Wayne State before going to Michigan. In his later years he has focused on the history of civil disobedience, socio-political alienation, and the sociology of fascism. Prof. Pollack currently writes for Counterpunch.org, and investigates America's descent into a new form of neoliberal fascism.

Gary discusses politics and plays videos and other news from around the world.

Gary discusses Israeli and Palestine and the current situation. Also Prof. Norman Pollack joins Gary for the 2nd hour as well.Prof. Norman Pollack is a professor emeritus of history at Michigan State University in East Lansing Michigan. He has a long history of engaging civil rights and anti-war activities over the decades, beginning when he was 15 and campaigning for Henry Wallace and his Progressive Party in 1948.  Later he campaigned for Adlai Stevenson in the 50s and supported Martin Luther King. A two time Guggenheim fellow, Prof. Pollack was a major intellectual voice during the late 60s in giving an knowledgeable boost to the New Left and writing on American populism, which became an popular documentary "The Populist Mind".  After receiving his doctorate in American Civilization from Harvard, he taught at Yale and Wayne State before going to Michigan. In his later years he has focused on the history of civil disobedience, socio-political alienation, and the sociology of fascism. Prof. Pollack currently writes for Counterpunch.org, and investigates America's descent into a new form of neoliberal fascism.

Prof. Norman Pollack is a professor emeritus of history at Michigan State University in East Lansing Michigan. He has a long history of engaging civil rights and anti-war activities over the decades, beginning when he was 15 and campaigning for Henry Wallace and his Progressive Party in 1948.  Later he campaigned for Adlai Stevenson in the 50s and supported Martin Luther King. A two time Guggenheim fellow, Prof. Pollack was a major intellectual voice during the late 60s in giving an knowledgeable boost to the New Left and writing on American populism, which became an popular documentary "The Populist Mind".  After receiving his doctorate in American Civilization from Harvard, he taught at Yale and Wayne State before going to Michigan. In his later years he has focused on the history of civil disobedience, socio-political alienation, and the sociology of fascism. Prof. Pollack currently writes for Counterpunch.org, and investigates America's descent into a new form of neoliberal fascism.

Ned Sublette is a musical composer, musician, record producer and musicologist best known for his mastery of Spanish and Cuban music.  He is also a historian and investigative researcher of Americana and regarded as the leading scholar on Cuban music.  Musically, Ned has worked with John Cage, LeMonte Young and other modern contemporary composers and Willie Nelson.   He has degrees from the University of New Mexico and studied at University of California at San Diego. In addition to his books on the history of slavery and the musical culture of Cuba and New Orleans, Ned is co-author with his wife Constance, of the recent “The American Slave Coast: A History of the Slave Breeding Industry,” an epic size history of the US through the eyes of American slavery with enormous relevancy today in our cheap-labor economy with workers serving as commodities for the elite.  American Slave Coast took 5 years to research through a residency with Washington Colleges Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience.

Larry Hancock is regarded as one of the foremost independent investigative researchers in the areas of US intelligence and the national security state.  He has written on the history of CIA political assassinations, religious extremism and terrorism, and the murder of Martin Luther King.  Larry’s research has been endorsed by the former House Select Committee of Investigation staff and the former historian for the State Department and CIA.  His most recent release explores the long history of America’s intelligence crises and failures in preventing enemy and terrorist attacks – “Surprise Attack: From Pearl Harbor to 911 to Benghazi.”  His website is Larry-Hancock.com

Gary gives you an extra hour and plays a great video discussing The Clintons. Here is some info on the video and a link to finish the video if you like.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Clinton Chronicles: An Investigation into the Alleged Criminal Activities of Bill Clinton is a 1994 film that accused Bill Clinton of a range of crimes. The video, directed by conservative activist Patrick Matrisciana, was characterized by The Washington Post as a "bizarre and unsubstantiated documentary."The New York Times reported that it was a poorly documented "hodgepodge of sometimes-crazed charges." It helped perpetuate a conspiracy theory known as the "Clinton Body Count" about a list of associates Clinton was purported to have had killed. The deaths listed in the film have largely been discredited due to deliberate bias, weak circumstantial evidence, and coincidence.The film was produced by Citizens for Honest Government, a project of a Westminster, California organization named Creative Ministries Inc., partially funded by Larry Nichols, a long-time Clinton opponent, and distributed with help from the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who also appears in the film. Over 300,000 copies of the film were put into circulation.To promote the film, Falwell aired an interview with Matrisciana, who was silhouetted to conceal his identity as he pretended to be a journalist who was afraid for his life. Matrisciana later acknowledged that he was not in any danger, but that the interview was staged for dramatic effect at Falwell's suggestionHere is the link:  

Guest #1 - Roger Stone is a renowned political consultant, lobbyist, GOP campaign strategist and author who has worked intimately as a senior staffer on eight national election campaigns including Presidents Nixon, Reagan and George Bush Senior.  In the past he has been regarded as the Republicans’ primary “hitman”. He was the keeper of the Nixon’s flame during Nixon’s post presidential years, serving as Nixon’s man in Washington. He has worked on many election campaigns and was instrumental in the bringing down of Elliott Spitzer’s governership.  Roger has since left the GOP and is  aligned with the Libertarian Party.  Roger  writes articles for the Huffington Post, the Daily Caller, his site StoneZone.com and has been profiled in numerous television programs, newspapers and magazines.  He has written on JFK assassination implicating President Lyndon Johnson and his most recent book is “The Clintons’ War on Women”  which thoroughly presents the evidence behind why Clintons should be behind bars and not public servantsGuest #2 - Robert Fantina is an historian, author an activist for peace and international human rights.  An American citizen, he moved to Canada following the 2004 presidential election.  He has authored several books including a history of desertion in the US military “Desertion and the American Soldier 1776-2006” and more recently “Empire, Racism and Genocide: A History of US Foreign Policy.”  He is a regular contributor articles on foreign policy, the military, the Israel-Palestine conflict and the US intervention in the Middle East and more recently on Hillary Clinton for Counterpunch, Mint Press, and other alternative and progressive news and commentary sites. Robert’s website is RobertFantina.com

Dr. Bruce Lipton is an international authority on the new emerging biology into cellular activity and on the interface between science and spirituality. From 1987 to 1992 he was a researcher at Stanford University School of Medicine. Among his discoveries was identifying a mechanism in cells that function like a brain and the founding of a field of cellular biology known as epigenetics. Dr. Lipton is now recognized as one of the leading voices in the New Biology and Mind-Body Medicine.  A decade ago, Bruce’s book “The Biology of Belief” became a landmark work uniting mind-body and cellular science with spirituality and introduced his and others’ latest discoveries in molecular biology, quantum physics and the emerging field of epigenetics.  Bruce’s other books include “Spontaneous Evolution” and “The Honeymoon Effect: The Science of Creating Heaven on Earth.” You can learn more about Bruce and his appearances at his website: BruceLipton.com

Prof.  Laurence Shoup is a historian who has been researching the background and agendas of the Council on Foreign Relations for 40 years. He has taught history, social science and international relations at the University of Illinois, San Francisco State University and other institutions. For five decades Dr. Shoup has been active in human rights struggles, protesting the Vietnam War, marching with Martin Luther King and participating in the union movement. He holds degrees from California State University and a doctorate from Northwestern.  He ran as a Green Party candidate in the city of Oakland and California state and consulted for many nonprofit organizations.  Laurence has written five books, his most recent being “Wall Street’s Think Tank: The Council on Foreign Relations and the Empire of Neoliberal Geopolitics 1976-2014”  His website is www.LaurenceShoup.com

Dr. Gareth Porter is an award-winning historian, an independent investigative journalist and policy analyst who specializes in US geopolitics and national security issues.  During the Vietnam war, he was Dispatch News Services Bureau Chief in Saigon and later a co-director for the Indochina Resource Center.  In addition to being a specialist in Vietnamese and Cambodian affairs, he has been reporting on the Middle East, including the chemical gas attacks reported in Syria, for the past decade. His numerous articles can found in Foreign Affairs, Al-Jazeera, Huffington, Counterpunch, Truthout, The Nation and others. For the past 9 years he has been investigating US and Israeli tensions with Iran and US intelligence operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Gareth has an MA in international relations from the University of Chicago and a doctorate in Southeast Asian Studies from Cornell University.  He has published five major books dealing with Vietnam and Cambodia. His most recent is “Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare” published last year, which debunks the myths regarding Iran as a nuclear threat.Prof.  Stephen Zunes (Zoo-ness) is a Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, where he chairs the program in Middle Eastern Studies. He is recognized as one the country’s leading scholars of U.S. Middle East policy and of strategic nonviolent action, Professor Zunes received his PhD. from Cornell University and previously served on the faculty of Ithaca College, the University of Puget Sound, and Whitman College. He serves as a senior policy analyst for the Foreign Policy in Focus project of the Institute for Policy Studies, an associate editor of Peace Review, a contributing editor of Tikkun, and chair of the academic advisory committee for the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.Among his publications, the most recent is “Western Sahara: War, Nationalism and Conflict Irresolution”  and earlier “Tinderbox: US Foreign Policy and the Roots of Terrorism” co-written with Richard Falk.  His website is StephenZunes.org which has over 400 of his articles.

Annie Jacobsen is an independent journalist and author who writes about war, weapons, U.S. national security, government secrecy and military history. She is a former contributing editor for the Los Angeles Times Magazine and received her education at Princeton University. Her first major book was “Area 51,” an extensive history of the US’s secret military base in the Nevada desert which became a national best seller, was translated into five languages and was scripted into a TV series. This was followed up with “Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America,” voted as one of the best books of 2014 by the Boston Globe. It is perhaps the most thorough study on the subject in print with new information  from Annie’s Freedom of Information requests.  Her most recent book, just released is “The Pentagon’s Brain: The Uncensored History of DARPA, America’s Top Secret Military Research Agency.”  Her website is AnnieJacobson.com

Dr Gary G. Kohls is a retired family practitioner, who specialized in holistic (non-drug) and preventive mental health care for the last decade of his career. He has expertise in the areas of traumatic stress disorders, brain malnutrition, non-pharmaceutical approaches to mental ill health, neurotransmitter disorders and the neurotoxicities from psychotropic drugs, vaccines, environmental toxins and food additives. Since his retirement, he has written a weekly column for the Duluth Reader, an alternative newsweekly magazine published in Duluth, Minnesota, USA. Dr Kohls worked with previously psychologically traumatized, usually malnourished, sometimes seriously neglected (in childhood), and over-drugged patients who had then suffered the ignominy of being falsely labeled “mentally ill He is a past member of the International Center for the Study of Psychology and Psychiatry, Mind Freedom International and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. His weekly Duty to Warn columns appear on my national and international websites and are archived at  DuluthReader.com/articles/categories/200_Duty_to_Warn.

Part 3 of the great interview series discussing the demise of Pacifica Radio. Today's special guest is Legendary NYC broadcaster Mike Feder. This is an internet exclusive that can only be heard online. Enjoy the great discussion between two great broadcasters.

Part 2:Gary discusses Pacifica and all the issues they face this week again. On the show with Gary is Summer Reese, Utrice Leid and Tracey Rosenberg.