Host Francesca Amiker sits down with directors Joe and Anthony Russo, producer Angela Russo-Otstot, stars Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt, and more to uncover how family was the key to building the emotional core of The Electric State . From the Russos’ own experiences growing up in a large Italian family to the film’s central relationship between Michelle and her robot brother Kid Cosmo, family relationships both on and off of the set were the key to bringing The Electric State to life. Listen to more from Netflix Podcasts . State Secrets: Inside the Making of The Electric State is produced by Netflix and Treefort Media.…
Ralph Nader welcomes journalist Chris Hedges to talk about his new book, A Genocide Foretold: Reporting on Survival and Resistance in Occupied Palestine . Then, Ralph speaks to David Swanson of World BEYOND War about what his organization is doing to resist this country’s casual acceptance of being constantly at war. Finally, Ralph checks in with our resident constitutional scholar Bruce Fein . GUESTS: Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, who spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He is the host of The Chris Hedges Report, and he is a prolific author. David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, radio host and Nobel Peace Prize nominee. He is executive director of World BEYOND War and campaign coordinator for RootsAction. His books include War Is A Lie and When the World Outlawed War . Bruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law. Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy and American Empire: Before the Fall . The post Chris Hedges on A Genocide Foretold / David Swanson of World BEYOND War appeared first on KPFA .…
Ralph Nader welcomes New York Times journalist David Enrich , author of Murder the Truth , an in-depth exposé of the attack on freedom of the press as protected by the landmark Supreme Court decision Sullivan v. The New York Times . Also, Professor Michael Graetz , a leading authority on tax politics and policy, joins to discuss his book The Power to Destroy: How the Antitax Movement Hijacked America . Plus, our resident constitutional scholar, Bruce Fein , updates us on his latest efforts to push for the impeachment of Donald Trump. GUESTS: David Enrich is the business investigations editor for The New York Times. He writes about the intersection of law and business, including the power wielded by giant corporate law firms and the changing contours of the First Amendment and libel law. His latest book is titled Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful , an in-depth exposé of the broad campaign — orchestrated by elite Americans — to overturn sixty years of Supreme Court precedent, weaponize our speech laws, and silence dissent. Michael Graetz is professor emeritus at Columbia Law School and Yale Law School and a leading authority on tax politics and policy. He served in the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Tax Policy and is the author and coauthor of many books, including Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Fight over Taxing Inherited Wealth and The Burger Court and the Rise of the Judicial Right . The post Murder the Truth: The Power to Destroy appeared first on KPFA .…
Ralph Nader welcomes Peter Beinart , to discuss his book Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza . An observant Jew, Beinart argues, “We are not history’s permanent virtuous victims. We are not hardwired to forever endure evil but never commit it.” Plus, premier global trade expert Lori Wallach , joins to help sort out the on again, off again tariffs Donald Trump is assessing U.S. trade partners. What kind of a tool is a tariff? When should it be used? Who should it be used against? And are the current tariff threats on Canada really about stopping fentanyl? Peter Beinart is Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the Newmark School of Journalism at the City University of New York. He is also Editor-at-Large of Jewish Currents, an MSNBC political commentator, a frequent contributor to The New York Times, and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. His recent op-ed in the New York Times is “States Don’t Have a Right To Exist. People Do.” Lori Wallach is a 30-year veteran of international and U.S. congressional trade battles starting with the 1990s fights over NAFTA and WTO, where she founded the Global Trade Watch group at Public Citizen. She is now the director of the Rethink Trade program at American Economic Liberties Project and is also Senior Advisor to the Citizens Trade Campaign, the U.S. national trade justice coalition of unions and environmental, consumer, faith, family farm, and other groups. The post Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza appeared first on KPFA .…
First up, Ralph welcomes former FBI agent Mike German to discuss his new book (co-written with Beth Zasloff), Policing White Supremacy: The Enemy Within . Then, Ralph speaks to Dr. Bandy Lee about her psychological analysis of the second Trump presidency. Finally, Ralph talks about Trump’s latest Congressional address. GUESTS: Mike German is a fellow with the Liberty and National Security program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School. He has worked at the ACLU and served sixteen years as an FBI special agent. He left the FBI in 2004 after reporting continuing deficiencies in the bureau’s counterterrorism operations to Congress. He is also the author of Thinking Like a Terrorist, Disrupt, Discredit, and Divide: How the New FBI Damages Our Democracy . Dr. Bandy Lee is a medical doctor, a forensic psychiatrist, and a world expert on violence who taught at Yale School of Medicine and Yale Law School for 17 years before joining the Harvard Program in Psychiatry and the Law. She is currently president of the World Mental Health Coalition, an educational organization that assembles mental health experts to collaborate with other disciplines for the betterment of public mental health and public safety. She is the editor of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President and Profile of a Nation: Trump’s Mind, America’s Soul . The post Policing White Supremacy appeared first on KPFA .…
Ralph welcomes acclaimed investigative report, Jeremy Scahill of Drop Site News to give us his report on the state of the ceasefire in Gaza, why both sides tend to undercount the deaths and casualties, the nature of the October 7th assault, and the threat of a wider war with Iran. Plus, Ralph responds to a DOGE supporter, who called him a hypocrite on social media. Jeremy Scahill is an investigative reporter, war correspondent, and author of the books Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield and Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army . He was one of the founding editors of The Intercept and he is co-founder (with Ryan Grim) of Drop Site News, a non-aligned, investigative news organization dedicated to exposing the crimes of the powerful — particularly in overt and secret conflicts where the U.S. government is playing a key role. The post Special Winter Fund Drive Episode: Why The Palestinians Will Never Give Up appeared first on KPFA .…
First, Ralph welcomes economist James Henry to discuss the Trump administration’s latest attempts to disable our corporate watchdogs and dismantle the IRS. Then, Ralph is joined by America’s Number One Populist Jim Hightower to get his take on what’s been happening in our government, and how to fight back. GUESTS: James Henry is an economist, attorney, and investigative journalist who has written numerous articles and several books about international private banking, offshore havens, debt, capital flight, and development. He is a Global Justice Fellow at Yale, and a Senior Fellow at Columbia University’s Center for Sustainable Investment. And he is a Senior Advisor to the Tax Justice Network, an international NGO that has led the fight to dismantle tax havens. He has also been an active pro bono environmental and constitutional lawyer in New York. Jim Hightower is a syndicated columnist, national radio commentator, and America’s Number One populist. He is a board member of Public Citizen, and he is a founding member of Our Revolution, an organization inspired by the issues brought up in the Bernie Sanders campaign. He has written several books including Swim Against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow, and his newsletter The Hightower Lowdown publishes twice a week on Substack. The post Special Winter Fund Drive Episode: D.C. Gutted, Grassroots Galvanized appeared first on KPFA .…
Ralph welcomes back Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson to share his view of Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense and to get his take on the military and political situation in the Middle East. Then, from Tel Aviv we are joined by Alon-Lee Green, co-director of the Israeli peace organization “Standing Together” a progressive grassroots movement based in Israel that organizes Jewish and Palestinian citizens against the occupation and the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Col. Larry Wilkerson: Pentagon Plans for Climate Change Despite White House Lawrence Wilkerson is a retired U.S. Army colonel. Over his 31 years of service, Colonel Wilkerson served as Secretary of State Colin Powell’s Chief of Staff from 2002 to 2005, and Special Assistant to General Powell when he was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993. Colonel Wilkerson also served as Deputy Director and Director of the U.S. Marine Corps War College at Quantico, Virginia, and for fifteen years he was the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Government and Public Policy at the College of William and Mary. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Eisenhower Media Network, senior advisor to the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, and co-founder of the All-Volunteer Force Forum. The post Israelis and Palestinians Standing Together appeared first on KPFA .…
Ralph welcomes Constitutional law expert Bruce Fein to analyze Congress’ abdication of power in the face of President Trump and Elon Musk’s actions to dismantle the federal government, and whether any of it is legal. Then, Ralph is joined by Norman Solomon from RootsAction to discuss the new Chair of the Democratic National Committee, Ken Martin, and whether we should be optimistic about his agenda for the Democrats. GUESTS: Bruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law. Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy and American Empire: Before the Fall . Norman Solomon is co-founder of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. He is the author of War Made Easy ; Made Love, Got War ; and his newest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine . The post Demolition in DC / Developments in the DNC appeared first on KPFA .…
Ralph welcomes Deepa Padmanabha , senior legal advisor to Greenpeace USA, to discuss that organization’s looming trial against Energy Transfer Partners (builder of the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock), that threatens the constitutionally protected First Amendment right of citizens and citizen groups to protest. Also, Josh Paul , former State Department employee, who resigned in protest over the Biden Administration’s policy of sending weapons to support Israel’s genocide in Gaza, returns to tell us about an organization he co-founded called “A New Policy,” which as the name suggests envisions an American policy toward the Middle East more in line with the “foundational principles of liberty, equality, democracy, and human rights; advancing American interests abroad; and protecting American freedoms at home.” GUESTS: Deepa Padmanabha is Senior Legal Advisor at Greenpeace USA, where she works closely with environmental activists seeking to exercise their First Amendment rights to promote systemic change. In September 2022, she testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Greenpeace USA’s experience with legal attacks from extractive industries and the importance of federal anti-SLAPP legislation. Her work has focused on defending Greenpeace entities in the U.S. against two SLAPP lawsuits attempting to silence the organization’s advocacy work. Josh Paul is co-founder (with Tariq Habash) of A New Policy, which seeks to transform U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. He resigned from the State Department in October 2023 due to his disagreement with the Biden Administration’s decision to rush lethal military assistance to Israel in the context of its war on Gaza. He had previously spent over 11 years working as a Director in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, which is responsible for U.S. defense diplomacy, security assistance, and arms transfers. He previously worked on security sector reform in both Iraq and the West Bank, with additional roles in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, U.S. Army Staff, and as a Military Legislative Assistant for a Member of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee. The post SLAPPing Down Protest appeared first on KPFA .…
First up, Ralph welcomes back constitutional law expert Bruce Fein to talk about his reaction to Donald Trump’s inaugural address. Then Ralph is joined by Public Citizen Co-President Robert Weissman to discuss Public Citizen’s lawsuit against Trump regarding Elon Musk’s D.O.G.E task force. Finally, Ralph speaks with Public Citizen’s Government Affairs lobbyist Craig Holman about the flood of donations from corporations and billionaires to Trump’s inaugural fund. GUESTS: Bruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law. Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy, and American Empire: Before the Fall. Robert Weissman is a staunch public interest advocate and activist, as well as an expert on a wide variety of issues ranging from corporate accountability and government transparency, to trade and globalization, to economic and regulatory policy. As the President of Public Citizen, he has spearheaded the effort to loosen the chokehold corporations and the wealthy have over our democracy. Craig Holman serves as Public Citizen’s Capitol Hill lobbyist on ethics, lobbying, and campaign finance rules. He is also working with European nongovernmental organizations and members of the European Commission and Parliament in developing a lobbyist registration system for the European Union. Previously, he was senior policy analyst at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, and he has assisted in drafting campaign finance reform legislation (including pay-to-play legislation), and has conducted numerous research projects on the initiative process and the impact of money in politics. The post Inauguration Day appeared first on KPFA .…
In the immediate aftermath of the mammoth fires in Los Angeles, Ralph welcomes Douglas Heller , Director of Insurance at Consumer Federation of America, to fill us in on what to expect from the industry and how to get the most out of your fire insurance claims. Then, our resident constitutional scholar, Bruce Fein , returns to present a list of constitutional crises to expect upon the second coming of Donald Trump. The post Douglas Heller on Fire Insurance / Bruce Fein on Likely Constitutional Crises appeared first on KPFA .…
Ralph welcomes historian Douglas Brinkley (author of The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter’s Journey Beyond the White House ), as well as journalist and former Carter speechwriter James Fallows to reflect on the life and legacy of the late, great President Jimmy Carter. GUESTS: Douglas Brinkley is the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History at Rice University, presidential historian for the New-York Historical Society, trustee of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. He has authored, co-authored, and edited more than three dozen books on American history, including Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the Great Environmental Awakening ; Rosa Parks: A Life ; and The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter’s Journey Beyond the White House . James Fallows is a contributing writer at the Atlantic and author of the newsletter Breaking the News . He began writing for the magazine in the mid-1970s, reporting from China, Japan, Southeast Asia, Europe, and across the United States and has written hundreds of articles for the publication since then. He’s also worked as a public radio commentator, a news magazine editor, and for two years he was President Jimmy Carter’s chief speechwriter. He is the author of twelve books, including Who Runs Congress (with Mark Green and David Zwick), The Water Lords , Breaking the News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy , and Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey Into the Heart of America (with Deborah Fallows). The post The Legacy of Jimmy Carter appeared first on KPFA .…
Steve, David, Hannah, Jimmy, and Francesco give Ralph a well-deserved break and highlight some of the clips they want to revisit from this challenging, inspiring, fascinating, infuriating, and galvanizing year. FEATURED CLIPS: Dr. Feroze Sidhwa — Boobytraps, Bombs & Blowback (September 28, 2024) Craig Mokhiber — Israel’s Wall of Impunity (December 7, 2024) Ryan Grim — Cabinet of Curiosities (November 16, 2024) Mark Dimondstein — Delivering the Election (November 2, 2024) Hamilton Nolan — The Hammer (May 11, 2024) Jonathan Kozol — Apartheid Education/Gas Station Heroin (March 23, 2024) Mumia Abu-Jamal — Mumia Abu-Jamal: Criminal Injustice (April 20, 2024) Marc Rotenberg — AI: Can Frankenstein Be Tamed? (November 30, 2024) Vani Hari — Food Babe/Democrats Laboring (November 23, 2024) The post 2024 Highlights appeared first on KPFA .…
First up on today’s wide-ranging show, Ralph speaks to political scientist Adolph Reed about how American politics has started taking its cues from professional wrestling and how the left can rebuild itself. Then, we welcome Steve Silberstein from National Popular Vote to update us on their interstate compact’s progress. Finally, we’re joined by three interns from the American Museum of Tort Law — Dylan Bird , Gabriel Duffany , and Rachel Donovan — who discuss a rather unique summer assignment. GUESTS: Adolph Reed is Professor Emeritus of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, an organizer with the Debs-Jones-Douglass Institute’s Medicare-for-All, South Carolina initiative, and co-host of Class Matters Podcast. His most recent books are The South: Jim Crow and Its Afterlives and (with Walter Benn Michaels) No Politics but Class Politics . Steve Silberstein founded and served as the first president of Innovative Interfaces Inc., a leading supplier of computer software for the automation of college and city libraries. Mr. Silberstein sold his interest in the company in 2001 and now devotes his time to philanthropic and civic matters, one of which is sitting on the Board of Directors of National Popular Vote. The post Hollow Constituencies / National Popular Vote / Tort Museum Interns Read the Dictionary appeared first on KPFA .…
Ralph and his team spend the entire hour with Israeli reporter, Gideon Levy, a singular voice in an otherwise compliant domestic press. They discuss his book The Killing of Gaza: Reports on a Catastrophe, a series of columns written before and after the October 7, 2023 attacks that put this ongoing tragedy in historical context. Gideon Levy is a Haaretz columnist and a member of the newspaper’s editorial board. He is the author of the weekly “Twilight Zone” feature, which covers the Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza over the last 25 years, as well as the writer of political editorials for the newspaper. His earlier book is The Punishment of Gaza . The post “Reports on a Catastrophe”: Gideon Levy on Gaza appeared first on KPFA .…