Progressive Commentary Hour – 10.24.17

The localization movement to shift global and corporate power back to people and communities Charles Eisenstein is an independent scholar, speaker and author writing on themes about human culture and identity, economics, the evolution of human cultures, and the spiritual challenges of coping with a society and world in chaos.  In the past he has taught at Goddard College, Penn …

Meditations and Molotovs – 03.27.17

On today’s program, Vince speaks with Andrew J. Bacevich about his most recent book, “America’s War for the Greater Middle East.” Bacevich is Professor of International Relations and History at Boston University. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, he received his PhD in American Diplomatic History from Princeton University. Before joining the faculty of Boston University, he taught at West Point and Johns Hopkins.
Bacevich is the author of Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War (2010). His previous books include The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism (2008); The Long War: A New History of US National Security Policy since World War II (2007) (editor); The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War (2005); and American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U. S. Diplomacy (2002).

Attacks on Planned Parenthood Are Devastating Women’s Choice, New Study Confirms

A new study confirms that politically-motivated attacks on Planned Parenthood are hurting low-income women, who are losing out on access to birth control as clinics are increasingly forced to reduce their shutter their doors. Texas, where the conservative legislature has led a campaign to defund the public health organization, has seen “adverse changes in the provision of contraception” in the …

Rebecca Onion – America’s Other Original Sin

Here are three scenes from the history of slavery in North America. In 1637, a group of Pequot Indians, men and boys, having risen up against English colonists in Connecticut and been defeated, were sold to plantations in the West Indies in exchange for African slaves, allowing the colonists to remove a resistant element from their midst. (The tribe’s women …

“Future Economic Historians” Will Probably Call the Period That Began In 2007 “the LONGEST DEPRESSION”

Sure, last year was the first pre-election year stock market loss since the Great Depression.  And admittedly, this week was the worst opening week of any year … EVER. But that’s not the big news. The big news is that a prominent economist – University of California economics prof Brad DeLong – wrote today: Economist Joe Stiglitz warned back in …

Resistance Radio – Michael Robinson – 01.03.16

Michael Robinson’s work focuses on the protection and recovery of top predators like Mexican gray wolves and jaguars. He has been associated with the Center for Biological Diversity since its founding and joined the staff in 1997. Michael holds a master’s degree in literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a bachelors from the University of Texas at Austin; he is also the author of a well-reviewed book on the history of wolves in the United States called Predatory Bureaucracy: The Extermination of Wolves and the Transformation of the West(University Press of Colorado, 2005).

Carey Wedler – 75% Of High School Seniors On Heroin Started With Prescription Painkillers

A preliminary analysis has concluded that over 75 percent of high school students who use heroin previously used prescription painkillers. The study’s authors implicated not only pharmaceutical opioids, but the nature of drug education in the United States, suggesting students do not trust institutional calls to refrain from drug use. Though the findings come with limitations, they further highlight the nation’s persistent, …

TTIP: A Corporate Lobbying Paradise – Which Businesses Are Pushing Most for EU-US Trade Deal? By Corporate Europe Obsevatory

Which businesses are pushing most for the proposed EU-US trade deal TTIP? Who’s influencing EU negotiators? Corporate Europe Observatory’s eight new info-graphics reveal the corporate lobby behind the TTIP talks. When preparing the mandate for the negotiations on TTIP, and in the first important months of the talks themselves (January 2012 to February 2014), the European Commission’s trade department (DG …

Princeton Study: U.S. No Longer An Actual Democracy – BRENDAN JAMES

A new study from Princeton spells bad news for American democracy—namely, that it no longer exists. Asking “[w]ho really rules?” researchers Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page argue that over the past few decades America’s political system has slowly transformed from a democracy into an oligarchy, where wealthy elites wield most power. Using data drawn from over 1,800 different policy initiatives from …

Obama’s Secrecy Obsession

If President Barack Obama is ever to take control of his foreign policy – and move the United States into a more peaceful and pragmatic direction – he will need to shake his obsession with secrecy and bring the American people into his confidence by sharing with them information about key events that have shaped recent crises. Right now, the …