Infectious Myth – Medea Benjamin on Peace and the Cycle of Violence – 12.01.15

In Episode 81 David talks with Medea Benjamin, founder of Code Pink, and a well-known peace and anti-war activist, about the violence that infects the world today. Starting with the recent spate of violent incidents in Paris, Beirut, Mali, Colorado Springs and elsewhere, David and Medea discuss the financial motivations for war, the blowback and unintended consequences that occur, how destruction of governments, as in Iraq and Libya, helps produce organizations like ISIS. They discuss the fear of many Americans about the possibility that a jihadist could be hiding amongst refugees, while tolerating 30,000 gun deaths a year. How fear is manipulated to get taxpayers to support more funding for more wars, avoiding the discussion of how wars created the incidents that produced the fear in the first place. How fear is used to justify more widespread communications monitoring and censorship, and bigger budgets for intelligence agencies that continue to be unable to stop these attacks (often claiming insufficient budge). The jihadists benefit from our fear, and from attacks on Islamic countries that kill civilians, such as the recent Russian bombing of a busy market, bombings of wedding parties, and the recent US and Saudi bombings of hospitals.
For more reading on this subject, and some of the sources David used, see http://theinfectiousmyth.com/PRN-TIM/81.html
You can find out more about Medea Benjamin’s work with Code Pink at: http://www.codepink.org

Project Censored – 12.01.15

With the 52nd anniversary of the JFK assassination recently past, Peter and Mickey present a rebroadcast of a November 2013 interview with Mark Lane, part of the observance of the 50th anniversary of the assassination.

Mark Lane is an author, attorney and independent researcher into the killing of JFK. He was one of the first to dispute the conclusions of the Warren Commission, and his written extensively about the assassination. His most recent book is “Last Word: My Indictment of the CIA in the Murder of JFK.”

Leid Stories – 12.01.15

Prosecuting Egregious Police Crimes: When the Law Is Out of Order
(Part 2: The Laquan McDonald Case)
Indicted last week on first-degree murder charges more than a year after he fired 16 bullets into Laquan McDonald, 17, Chicago Policer Jason Van Dyke sprang himself from a Cook County jail yesterday after posting bail.
Following yesterday’s discussion of the legal complexities of the Freddie Gray case currently being litigated in Baltimore, “Attorney at War” Alton H. Maddox Jr. looks at major legal challenges in prosecuting the police killing of McDonald.

Ask Beatty – 11.30.15

Beatty talked about Mayor De Blasio and his wife, First Lady McCray’s New York
City mental health initiative, ThriveNYC.
Their plan sets forth 6 principles for achieving long-term mental health changes. Tune in and listen to the programs that have the potential to save millions of lives!
Her guest today was actress Margot Steinberg, who talked about Straight Talking, an equity stage reading about a families reaction to discovering that their son is gay. The readings are on December 7th and 8th at 7 p.m. at 151 West 46th St. In NYC. Admission is FREE.

Leid Stories – 11.30.15

Laquan McDonald Killing: Protest, Yes, But Political Punishment Is Needed
Prosecuting Egregious Police Crimes: When the Law Is Out of Order
The indictment last week of Chicago Policer Jason Van Dyke on first-degree-murder charges for shooting to death 17-year-old Laquan McDonald on Oct. 20 last year has ignited a renewed groundswell of grassroots protest against police brutality and the double standard of justice that favors rogue cops when prosecuting such cases. Leid Stories in a commentary explains why vigorous protest not only is appropriate, it should include organized political punishment—of the Democratic Party in particular.
Jury selection begins today in Baltimore City Circuit Court in the trial of Officer William Porter, the first of six officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, 26, who died on April 19, a week after suffering traumatic injuries while being transported to a stationhouse in a police van. “Attorney at War” Alton H. Maddox Jr., who has litigated several precedent-setting police-brutality cases in New York, discusses key issues with the prosecution of Porter and Gray’s other alleged killers.