60 years ago this month, in October 1962, Americans anxiously heard news for almost two weeks straight about the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba, less than 100 miles away from the U.S. Nuclear War was possible, to some imminent.
In this episode we offer a brief history of the Cuban Missile Crisis and, more importantly, a remembrance and reconsideration of the events of October and JFK actions throughout the crisis.
Listen in: https://bit.ly/3fjZRbi
JFK has been praised for his firm resolve, courage, and strength in handling the crisis but the reality is that he was provocative and almost caused a war against Russia. In this episode we’ll start by giving a background on JFK’s aggression toward Cuba, then we’ll offer a brief narrative of the crisis, and finally we’ll discuss how Kennedy continued his subversion against Castro’s government after the Missile Crisis.
In an amazing new interview, we talk with Prof. Andrew Hunt (@aehunt) about Cold War culture during the Reagan years.
Listen in: apple.co/3FcFTd2
We talk about the array of protest movements in the 1980s that took up issues such as the nuclear arms race, U.S. intervention in Central America, and American investments in South Africa. And we discuss the “cultural resistance” of the time– film, television, music– that critiqued Washington’s Cold War policies and posed a challenge to the Cold War’s excesses of the Reagan era.
The past 50 years have seen a dramatic shift to the far-right in American politics. On the heels of the 1972 McGovern debacle, the Democrats all but abandoned their New Deal heritage and moved swiftly to a stronger pro-business position and embraced Neo-Liberalism. They abandoned class politics and giving priority to workers and the poor and instead have embraced ID politics and wokeness. As the Republicans stole elections and Supreme Court seats, gerrymandered congressional districts, packed the courts, and ran scorched-earth campaigns at every level, the Democrats have offered a timid resistance at best.
LISTEN IN: https://bit.ly/3YSMEuq
In this fantastic interview, Noam Chomsky gives us a history and analysis of the evolution of the Democrats from the party of FDR to a party that’s Republican-Lite. We discussed the Carter campaign, the Trilateral Commission, the DLC and the Clintons, Obama, Democratic hawkishness, and other factors in the Democratic retreat from progressive ideas, all while the GOP waged an open and ruthless war on workers, non-whites, women, and others.
Don’t miss this important interview with the world’s greatest living intellectual.
Bob had a great talk (Scott’s on assignment) with Professor Brandon Wolfe-Hunnicutt of Cal State-Stanislaus, author of “The Paranoid Style in American Diplomacy: Oil and Arab Nationalism in Iraq” about Iraqi history from the Ottoman Empire to the present, with an emphasis on the period from 1958 to the 1970s.
Listen in: https://apple.co/3dmOwpu
Before Iraq became the target of a massive U.S. intervention, it was a British colony, and then a kingdom, which achieved sovereignty in a 1958 revolution led by Karim Kasim. However, the U.S., especially President John Kennedy, began to oppose the Kasim regime and helped engineer a 1963 coup against him and then sending support to the new regime to isolate and kill Kasim backers and others, especially communists.
From the 1980s through the 2000s, there was a period of growth in militant environmental and animal rights movements. This movement had a radical anti-capitalist politic that went after corporations waging war on the earth, people and animals. It’s escalating tactics included property destruction and arson. In response, industry, government and the FBI worked to crack down on these radical movements.
Listen in: https://apple.co/3BCEs5X
This movement needed voices. Leslie James Pickering (@lesliejamespick) was one of a few that worked with the Earth Liberation Front Press (ELF) Office to communicate the message of the anonymous actors engaged in these strategies and tactics to the larger world.
Woody Guthrie is the most influential political singer and songwriter of the 20th Century. July 14th is Woody’s 110th birthday, so we had a fantastic discussion with Mark Alan Jackson, a scholar on popular culture and music. He’s author of “Prophet Singer: The Voice and Vision of Woody Guthrie” and editor of “The Honky Tonk on the Left: Progressive Thought in Country Music.”
Check it out: https://apple.co/3PpCni2
We discussed Woody’s political music and activism, especially on socialism, labor, civil rights, his songs about war and peace, and his larger meaning and legacy.
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