News and Politics from the Left Coast
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From the Archive: Joe Hickman Blew the Whistle on Burn Pits 5 Years Ago
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After 5 years of inaction, and a cruel last-minute rejection by Senate Republicans, the PACT Act to treat veterans sickened by exposure to toxic burn pits in war zones has passed.Joe Hickman, retired from the Army and Marines, is a courageous whistleblower. Having served at Guantanamo, he first blew the whistle in 2015, exposing the coverup of 3 in…
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From the Archive: Here’s the Greg Palast Interview That YouTube Just Removed
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At the end of May, YouTube sent me a notice that it had removed an interview from my collection on their channel. I appealed, and they denied my appeal.This arbitrary act of censorship was discussed on the David Feldman podcast on June 6, 2022. YouTube alleges, with no citations or evidence that a human actually listened to the podcast, that the in…
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From the Archive: Tom Hayden Talks About His Cuban Comrade, Ricardo Alarcon
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Ricardo Alarcon, former leader of Cuba’s National Assembly, UN Ambassador, and confidante of the Castro brothers, died in Havana on May 1, 2022. Alarcon and the late Tom Hayden–leader of the anti-war movement who became a California state senator–were both inspired by C. Wright Mills.In this 2015 interview, Hayden recounts his connection to Alarcon…
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From the Archive: How the Chernobyl Disaster Caused Implosion of Soviet Union
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought Chernobyl back into the news. Reliable reports indicate that the Russian takeover presents some risks, but the reactors and spent fuel are already cold, so a nuclear incident is unlikely. Harvard History Prof. Serhii Plokhy offers fascinating comments on the full impact of the 1986 meltdown, a major factor i…
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From the Archive: Scott Ritter on Mike Flynn’s Ejection from the Trump Administration
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On a recent David Feldman podcast, your mostly-retired host recapped Aaron Maté’s recent critical review of false reporting about Russiagate, including articles that won Pulitzers. Feldman pushed back with skepticism regarding the Mike Flynn imbroglio; PBC shared that view before this show with Scott Ritter.Here’s the text from the original posting…
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From the Archive: Joe Hickman Blew the Whistle on Burn Pits Over 5 Years Ago
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On Veterans Day 2021, Joe Biden acknowledged that thousands of Iraq veterans were exposed to toxic burn pits; but he’s not doing much to force the VA to recognize the serious illnesses of at least 60,000 troops. To his credit, Biden admits there’s a problem, and has publicly said his son Beau’s fatal brain cancer may have been caused by exposure to…
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From the Archive: Co-authors Kiriakou and Hickman Detail the Case of Abu Zubaydeh
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On October 6, 2021 the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments about the government’s assertion of “state secrets privilege” to prevent the disclosure of key facts about the torture of Abu Zubaydeh that are not remotely secret.In this interview from the archive, former CIA counter-terrorism chief in Pakistan John Kiriakou and his co-author, courageou…
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Post-Retirement Special: 20 Years On, 9/11 Coverup Is Holding Firm, Protected By Gatekeepers in Government, Media and Academia
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Despite the evident failures of foreign and domestic policy triggered by the events of 9/11, disprovable myths of the official narrative are treated as gospel, as obvious contradictions are dismissed as “debunked conspiracy theories”. Corporate media machinery rolled into high gear in observance of the 20-year mark of September 11, 2001. Before it …
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From the Archive: Accused RFK Assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, Wins Provisional Parole After 55 Years
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At the end of August, 2021, Sirhan Sirhan–convicted for the muder of Bobby Kennedy–was granted parole, subject to review by California’s governor. While Sirhan took responsibility for the crime, it appears he didn’t actually kill RFK.In this 2016 interview with the now-deceased former Los Angeles newspaper reporter Fernando Fauro, we learn that Sir…
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From the Archive: The Real Story of the ‘American Taliban’ John Walker Lindh
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As Americans make a messy exit from Afghanistan after 20 years, our messy entry in 2001 has been largely erased. The distorted official narrative and media coverage of the case of John Lindh has never been corrected, and most Americans falsely believe that Lindh was a traitor who killed a CIA agent. This important 2013 interview with John Lindh’s f…
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From the Archive: Trevor Aaronson Exposes Concocted FBI Sting Operations
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Buzzfeed News recently published a detailed investigation of the Wolverine Watchmen, a pro-Trump armed militia group in Michigan busted by the FBI in October 2020 for an alleged plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The report reveals another concocted sting operation by the FBI.The detailed report from Buzzfeed is called Watching the Watchmen. A l…
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From the Archive: Rob Shetterly Makes Portraits of Truth Tellers
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For years, painter Rob Shetterly has been creating portraits of people he sees as truth tellers. His latest is of Daniel Hale, who exposed America’s drone warfare program.Shetterly wrote a moving column about Hale recently, prompting the re-post of this interview from 2018. Update: on July 27, the judge showed some consideration in sentencing Hale …
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On the occasion of PBC’s induction into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame, we take you back to 1993 when the late, legendary Mal Sharpe stood with Collins under a KSFO billboard and interviewed passersby. Tech note: There’s about 20 seconds of silence at the start of this MP3. Be patient, or use fast forward. Mal Sharpe was a colorful veteran of Bay …
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[Re-post, audio fixed] From the Archive: Israeli Dissident Miko Peled, Palestinian Activist Iyad Burnat
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As Benjamin Netanyahu is ousted as Israeli prime minister and replaced by a potentially more extreme Naftali Bennett, here are two important perspectives from the PBC archive.This post was spurred by a recent column by Miko Peled at MintPress News, which updates us on the Burnat family of Palestinians on the West Bank. As in my 2013 interview with …
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From the Archive: Israeli Dissident Miko Peled, Palestinian Activist Iyad Burnat
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As Benjamin Netanyahu is ousted as Israeli prime minister and replaced by a potentially more extreme Naftali Bennett, here are two important perspectives from the PBC archive.This post was spurred by a recent column by Miko Peled at MintPress News, which updates us on the Burnat family of Palestinians on the West Bank. As in my 2013 interview with …
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From the Archive: NSA Whistleblower Russell Tice Details NSA Wiretapping of Sen. Feinstein and Other Top Officials
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As news breaks of Trump-era surveillance of reporters and elected officials, we remind you that similar skulduggery occurred under Bush and Obama.On June 10, reports are surfacing about leak investigations conducted by the Trump attorneys general, J. Beauregard Sessions and Bill Barr, who secretly collected phone and email metadata on reporters and…
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From the Archive: Conversation With Chinese Artist/Activist/Filmmaker Ai Wei Wei
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After inviting Ai Wei Wei to be a major figure in “The Great Big Art Exhibition”, UK organizers refused to include his contribution, which focused on Julian Assange and political prisoners.Many longtime listeners know of my deep respect and admiration for Ai Wei Wei and his work. And one, Faith Peeples in Pittsburg, shared this new commentary by th…
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From the Archive: Dr. Justin Frank Explains Trump’s Narcissism
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There’s a new documentary about our deranged former president, Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump, which prominently features our friend, Washington psychiatrist Justin A. Frank. Here’s one of ten podcasts with our favorite shrink.We first met Dr. Frank when he published Bush On the Couch way back in the oughts, continued when he wrote Obama On …
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From the Archive: Gitmo Coverage, Prompted by ‘The Mauritanian’
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Watch the feature film The Mauritanian for a true story about a Guantanamo prisoner who spent 14 years in US custody and was tortured many times. Here are some important podcast interviews about injustice that continues today. Your humble host strongly recommends this new movie, which stars Jody Foster as dogged attorney Nancy Hollander, who took o…
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From the Archive: Prof. Nancy MacLean on the Koch Network and GOP Election Rigging
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Following Nancy MacLean’s recent appearance on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, we repost her interview from 2017.Maher never gives his guests proper introductions, so viewers of the April 30, 2021 episode had little idea of her important work on the long history of GOP election rigging, identifying the Republicans correctly as a minority party tha…
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From the Archive: Author Thomas Frank Delivers Candid Criticism of Democrats
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Following Tom Frank’s appearance of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, here’s the most recent of more than 15 interviews we did in recent years.From November, 2020, this interview reflects our post-election views of the incoming Biden administration, which reflected low expectations. On April 30, 2021, Frank was a panelist on Maher’s show, and expres…
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From the Archive: Investigative Reporter A. C. Thompson Exposes Atomwaffen, Armed White Nationalist Group
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The January 6 Capitol riot has forced the FBI and Justice Department to focus on armed white extremist groups. But we have no indication they’ve gone beyond the Trump loyalists who are being investigated and charged. Back in 2018, investigative report A.C. Thompson of ProPublica–who has more recently reported for PBS Frontline–shared his reporting …
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From the Archive: Whistleblowers Kiriakou and Hickman Finger Serial Informant Matthew Cole of The Intercept
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In reaction to a new column by James Risen that includes a mini-mea-culpa about the role of The Intercept in exposing Reality Winner and Daniel Hale, here’s a 2017 interview with courageous whistleblowers John Kiriakou and Joe Hickman.Risen himself showed some balls in refusing to testify against CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling, and in this refl…
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From the Archive: Columbia Prof. Carl Hart Fights to End the War on Some Drugs
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Back in 2013, PBC interviewed Columbia Prof. Carl Hart, an outspoken opponent of drug prohibition. With a new book, Drug Use for Grownups, he argues that some people are more addiction-prone than drugs are addictive.On April 5, 2021 Hart appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and confirmed recent comments about his own use of heroin and other …
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From the Archive: Journalist Reese Erlich on Sonic Weapons in Cuba and the War in Syria
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Author and foreign correspondent Reese Erlich has just revealed he is dying of cancer, in a candid and somewhat amusing last column. Here’s a 2018 interview where we talked about the alleged sonic weapons aimed at US diplomats and spies in Cuba, and his reporting on the war in Syria. Reese died on April 6, 2021.Learn more about Reese Erlich’s body …
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From the Archive: Lawyer Jeffrey Haas on the Assassination of Fred Hampton
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The new film, Judas and the Black Messiah has brought renewed interest to the 1969 FBI/police murder of Chicago Black Panther leader Fred Hampton. As a young radio host in Chicago, PBC covered the 10-year legal battle waged by the People’s Law Office on behalf of Hampton’s family. This 2010 interview with one of the lead attorneys recaps the assass…
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PBC Post-Retirement Special: Assessing the Damage Caused by Rush Limbaugh
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Two days after the announcement of the death of conservative shock radio host Rush Limbaugh, PBC offers unscripted comments on Limbaugh’s impact on media and the minds of his “dittohead” listeners.Hosting a daily liberal talk show that followed radical conservative Rush Limbaugh every day on San Francisco’s KNBR, your humble host offers unique insi…
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