Black Agenda Radio – 02.22.16

Welcome, to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective with Glen Ford and his co-host, Nellie Bailey.

– Dr. Gerald Horne, the prolific author and professor of political science at the University of Houston, has another book out. It’s titled, “Paul Robeson: The Artist as Revolutionary.” Paul Robeson was an NFL-class athlete, spoke 12 languages, a movie star who was one of the biggest draws in the American musical theater, and was probably the best-known American in the world at the height of his popularity, in the early 1940s. Yet, no more than 20 years later, the crusading artist and social activists’ name had been all but erased from public discourse in the United States. How could that happen? We asked Dr. Horne.

– An analysis of employment statistics shows the Black jobless rate in Virginia, the state with the lowest Black unemployment rate in the nation, is the same as the white jobless rate in West Virginia, the state with the highest white unemployment rate, at 6.7 percent. What does this tell us about the so-called economic recovery? We spoke with Dr. Valerie Wilson, of the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute.

– Turkey is threatening to invade neighboring Syria, creating a direct confrontation with Russian military forces. Political analyst Eric Draitser, founder of StopImperialism.com, appeared recently on Russia Today’s “Cross Talk” program. Draitser says Turkish President Erdogan is playing with fire.

– Hillary Clinton is one step closer to becoming Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces, with her victory in Nevada. That’s a scary thought, as far as Dr. Stephen Zunes, is concerned. Zunes is Professor of Politics and International Studies, at San Francisco University. He says Hillary Clinton stoked the flames of war while Secretary of State.

– Ticket sales are soaring for Beyonce’s world tour. The Superstar seems to have profited from the controversy over her Black Panther-flavored performance at the Superbowl. Black Agenda Report editor Ajama Baraka, a co-founder of the U.S. Human Rights Network, says there’s nothing oppositional, much less revolutionary, about Beyonce’s “Formation” album. He also maintains that neither Bernie Sanders nor Ta-Nehisi Coates represents a challenge to the U.S. imperial order.

– Public television last week showed the acclaimed Stanley Nelson film, “The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution,” which previously had been playing in selected theaters. Former Black Panther Kathleen Cleaver was honored at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, in Detroit. Cleaver recounted how she became involved with the Black Panther Party.

– The nation’s best-known political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal, is also a renowned author. Abu Jamal gives a boost to a former political prisoner’s latest book.

– Khalil Bennet is also imprisoned in Pennsylvania. Bennet is what inmates call “a child-lifer” – a person given a life sentence for a crime committed while he was a juvenile. The Supreme Court recently ruled that such sentences are cruel and unusual, setting the stage for the release of thousands of prisoners. Khalil Bennet says, when these former child-lifers are let loose, they can become the cadre of a new movement.

Les Leopold – How America’s Superrich Are Draining the Poor of a Longer Life Span

The American people have a deep sense of fairness. We are angry about the growing pay gap between the top 100 CEOs and the average worker — a gap that has widened from $45 to $1 in 1970, to a staggering $844 to $1 today. (See Runaway Inequality [3]) A new study shows [4] that runaway inequality also is creating a more deadly gap — …

Most Oppressive Forced Vaccination Bill Introduced in any State Moving Fast in Virginia

“If the state can tag, track down and force individuals to be injected with biologicals of known and unknown toxicity today, then there will be no limit on which individual freedoms the state can take away in the name of the greater good tomorrow.” – Barbara Loe Fisher Breaking News: A public hearing on this bill (HB1342) has been just …

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 …

Valerie Strauss – A primer on the damaging movement to privatize public schools

When, about 30 years ago, corporate interests began their highly organized, well-funded effort to privatize public education, you wouldn’t have read or heard about it. They didn’t want to trigger the debate that such a radical change in an important institution warranted. If, like most pundits and politicians, you’ve supported that campaign, it’s likely you’ve been snookered. Here’s a quick …

Mike Shedlock – Obama’s Brilliant Bullshit!

On Tuesday evening I watched president Obama’s state of the union address. It was brilliant. Obama rang all the bells, dotted all the i’s, and attacked all the ghosts. At times, he even made sense. All in all, it was a brilliant effort, possibly his best speech ever, even though his speech was essentially bullshit. In case you missed that …

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown – Too Big to Exist – 10.14.15

Nature limits all systems — nothing grows forever. Economic systems built around growth, like ours, are no different. Ellen revisits that topic with bio-mimicist Jamie Brown-Hansen about what scientific inquiry into natural systems teaches regarding sustainable economic systems that last for eras rather than just decades. The theme is picked up by Bernie Sanders as he reflects on the precarious nature of our national economy while Matt Stannard considers what’s not being addressed on the topic by the presidential candidates. And co-host Walt McRee talks with New Hampshire State Representative Valerie Fraser about the movement underway there to create a public State bank.

Robert Parry – The Second Amendment’s Fake History

False history continues to kill Americans, as we saw once again last week at Umpqua Community College in Oregon where a disturbed young man whose mother had loaded the house with loaded handguns and rifles executed nine people and then committed suicide – one more mind-numbing slaughter made possible, in part, by an erroneous understanding of the Second Amendment. A …

LOA Today – 10.08.15

We jump into the Wayback Machine to December 2012 when I interviewed Bob Burg, author of The Go Giver. We talked about all the different ways in life that the giving mentality helps people succeed in their lives in a myriad number of ways. For those who want to apply the Law of Attraction to their lives and careers in a way that they also financially benefit, this interview is perfect.