Warning: Explicit Content | As the Twin Towers lay in rubble after Sept. 11, former U.S. president George W. Bush's administration leveraged the influence of Hollywood celebrities to sway the public to rally around the flag. *This episode originally aired on May 25, 2020.

Prof. Norman Etherington (U. Western Australia) on empire in Africa, missions, and Southern African history. The interview focuses on themes of his distinguished career and influential works, such as The Great Treks, and his latest books Indigenous Evangelists & Questions of Authority in the British Empire 1750-1940 and Imperium of the Soul.

How did two great thinkers - William Wordsworth the Romantic poet and Adam Smith the Enlightenment economist - respond to the Industrial Revolution? Jenny Uglow finds out

Democracy Now! 2020-05-25 Monday

• Noam Chomsky on Trump's Disastrous Coronavirus Response, WHO, China, Gaza and Global Capitalism

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Bettany Hughes illuminates the neglected culture of the Caspian Sea and its hinterland

Bettany Hughes travels to Azerbaijan to investigate the cultural history of the Caspian

Warning: Explicit Content | America's losing the Vietnam War shattered the 'heroic myth' that Hollywood had spent decades creating, according to historians and researchers. What followed was an era of films attempting to recapture past glories. *This episode originally aired on May 18, 2020.

The U.S. military had some little-known help in spinning public perception about it over the last seventy years: Hollywood. This series shows how movies functioned as the unofficial — but massively influential — propaganda arm of America's war efforts. *This episode originally aired on May 11, 2020.

Rhythm is of course a fundamental part of music. But neuroscience is revealing that it’s also a fundamental part of our innermost selves: how we learn to walk, talk, read and even bond with others. From heartbeats heard in the womb, to the underlying rhythmic patterns of thought, rhythm — as one researcher puts it — is life.

Bread is a simple food and a staple item across the world. Bread is life. But for some, it represents a wrong turn in our species' evolution. Through conversation with bakers, religious leaders, historians and bread aficionados, producer Veronica Simmonds asks whether bread has led us to salvation or damnation.

Bestselling Dutch historian Rutger Bregman discusses his new book, Humankind: A Hopeful History, which ranges through the past to argue that humanity is inherently good. Historyextra.com/podcast

 

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Jimmy Dore joins the show to deliver blistering remarks on Bernie Sanders, the CARES Act and More, Plus a Discussion of Dems and Civil Liberties.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 

Time for a Yiddish lesson: Shanda, meaning a shame or disgrace; a scandal.

Right-wing voices throughout the media thought they found one with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s tweet (4/28/20) about a Hasidic funeral that violated Covid-19 social-distancing rules. But their shoddy coverage was the real shanda.

The background is this: Some Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn, members of a strictly Orthodox religious movement, went forward with a public funeral for a rabbi that ended up not observing proper social-distancing rules. The mayor tweeted a defense of police actions that broke up the event, aiming it at “the Jewish community,” rather than just the specific sect who caused the trouble. It was terribly worded, and, out of context, it could be construed as insensitive to all Jews.

The media went wild. Bari Weiss of the New York Times (5/1/20) called his comments inexcusable, and linked them to his supposed far-leftism. The Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post (4/29/20) covered the anger in response to the tweet. Two writers at the Wall Street Journal (4/30/20) summed up the mayor’s tweet as “by definition antisemitic.” John Podhoretz in the New York Post (4/29/20) called it a “new low” for the mayor.

These themes flared up in the conservative media, too. In one particularly sanctimonious piece, Kathryn Jean Lopez at the National Review (4/29/20) said the tweet forced her to recall her visit to Auschwitz. Breitbart ran several articles on the matter.

Let’s be clear: de Blasio’s tweet was boneheaded. And Jews were right to be worried. In a time of anti-government conspiracies, and when Asian Americans are already subjected to racist attacks because of the coronavirus’ Chinese origins, any blame aimed at “the Jewish community” for the crisis could further rile up tensions. The backlash de Blasio got from Jewish advocates wasn’t unwarranted, but there’s no evidence that this was a part of some abiding antipathy City Hall has toward New York City’s Jewish population.

De Blasio is from Brooklyn, formerly representing Park Slope in the City Council. Because Hasidic and other hard-core religious Jewish constituencies tend to vote in blocs, winning the favor of prominent rabbis and other community leaders is appealing for any New York City politician who eyes citywide office, and is especially critical for politicians from Brooklyn. (Brooklyn’s Williamsburg, Crown Heights and Borough Park are home to large religious Jewish communities.)

De Blasio’s dealings with Hasidic communities, thus, stem from political motivations that have helped secure him two terms at City Hall. If anything, de Blasio has been too cozy with these leaders, including on issues of public health, rather than dismissive or offensive. And his record shows this.

The New York Post (5/9/20) just recently uncovered that the mayor

was personally involved in a deal with Orthodox Jewish leaders to delay a long-awaited report on shoddy yeshivas in exchange for an extension of mayoral control of city schools.

The New York Times (4/15/19) had already documented last year how critics saw politics behind de Blasio’s slow response to a measles outbreak among Hasidic Jews. The paper’s editorial board  (12/25/19) also criticized de Blasio’s mishandling of the yeshiva issue, saying at the time that city investigators “couldn’t determine whether Mayor de Blasio had personally authorized the delay,” but “concluded that the administration had interfered with the Education Department’s investigation into the yeshivas.”

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (5/4/20), outlining de Blasio’s long connection to religious Jewish communities, reported:

While campaigning for mayor in 2013, de Blasio said he would look into easing regulations around metzitzah b’peh, a circumcision practice in which blood is sucked from a baby boy’s genitals that was linked to several cases of herpes in the newborns. The Bloomberg administration had required parents to sign a consent form notifying them of the risks involved in the practice, but de Blasio viewed that as onerous. The move earned him an endorsement from a faction of the Satmar Hasidic community.

And Jack Rosen, president of the American Jewish Congress, hardly a left-wing organization, noted in the New York Daily News (5/4/20) that while de Blasio could have had better messaging in his response to Hasidic Jews, there was some important context here:

While a few in the Orthodox Jewish community continue to flaunt social distancing orders — even Israeli Defense Forces have had to crack down on Orthodox gatherings — the order to stay at home and practice social distancing applies to all, no exceptions. De Blasio should have known it is better to broaden his appeals to New Yorkers than lump all Jews together. Anyone violating the social distancing edict should be called to account.

For right-wing voices in the press, de Blasio’s institution of universal pre-K, his relatively progressive campaign for mayor in 2013 and his support for Bernie Sanders’ presidential bid make him a high-level symbol of the Democrats’ progressive flank. In this case, right-wing agitators in corporate media used de Blasio’s poorly worded tweet to advance the theory that, alongside the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter and constant antisemitic hate from the Trumpian right, a liberal like de Blasio was similarly an enemy of the Jews. It was a ham-handed move to link liberalism with antisemitism. In the process, these journalists revealed that they knew little about the political relationships religious Jewish communities in New York City have with city government, which is city beat reporting 101.

But explaining the real political context would get in the way of drawing a false equivalency between an awkward tweet and the weaponized antisemitism of the far right.

 

They’re weird. They break the rules. They’re kinda bad. They are cult movies. Dive into the stories of films from ‘Troll 2’ to ‘The Last Dragon’ to the ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ to learn what drives people to watch these oddball films again and again. Producer Matthew Lazin-Ryder looks at the history, future, and function of cult movies. *Originally aired on May 19, 2020.

Democracy Now! 2020-05-18 Monday

• Headlines for May 18, 2020
• How Will COVID-19 Change the World? Historian Frank Snowden on Epidemics from the Black Death to Now

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As the Covid-19 U.S. death toll climbs toward 100,000 and unemployment is nearing 20 percent, House Democrats have offered up a bill that is intended to offer a sharp contrast to the corporatist Republican agenda. HuffPost senior reporter Zach Carter analyzes how Nancy Pelosi quashed progressive calls for action within her own party and delivered a bill filled with corporate gifts, means-tested crumbs for many, along with some good proposals. Carter also discusses his new book "The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes" and the influence the famed economist maintains to this day. As Trump claims the meat industry is back on track, meat plant workers are getting sick in droves. Even before the coronavirus pandemic, the industry consistently maintains the highest workplace injury rate among manufacturing and private industry. Journalist Ted Genoways, author of “The Chain: Farm, Factory, and the Fate of Our Food,” discusses the lives and deaths of meat workers and looks back at Upton Sinclair’s novel “The Jungle” and its parallels to the modern meat industry. Other podcasts make money from advertising and corporate sponsors. We don’t have ads — Intercepted is powered by its members. When you support Intercepted, you become a part of the journalism that holds the powerful to account. Become a member — together we can make a difference. This is a community effort. Your donation, no matter the amount, makes a difference. Generous support of listeners like you is what makes our fierce and independent reporting possible. Do what you can. Become a member at theintercept.com/join. All donations are welcome. You can make a one-time gift or become a sustaining member.

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Biden vs. Trump and Bernie Sanders – In this part TWO you will hear the conclusion of Chris Hedges’ talk. Hedges puts out a reminder of how Sanders was betrayed by the Democratic party leadership in 2016 – and now again in 2020 – even though Sanders had become a loyal follower of democratic party politics in the intervening four years. Then we present an excerpt of an extraordinary interview of Professor Richard Wolff – also done by ActTVism Munich. Wolff analyzes why Bernie Sanders endorsed Joe Biden and the recurrent phenomenon of Voting for the Lesser of two Evils. Richard Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is currently teaching at New School University, New York City. [ . . . ]

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Behind the News, 5/14/20 - guests: Thea Riofrancos on the Green New Deal; Alexander Zaitchik on how drug industry profits block the search for a vaccine - Doug Henwood

Historian Catherine Fletcher, author of the new book The Beauty and the Terror: An Alternative History of the Italian Renaissance, offers a fresh view on this transformative period in Italy – and Europe’s – past. Historyextra.com/podcast

 

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It's enough already with the meat tenderizing says Graham Chittenden and comedian Tim Nutt humbly requests a little more training before he is taken into a war zone.Recorded at The Cottage Country Comedy Festival and The Winnipeg Comedy Festival.Happy May 24!

'New York Times' health and science reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr. points to China as a model of how to stop a fast moving pandemic in its tracks. "We're reluctant to follow China, but they did it," he says. McNeil talks about the challenges facing the U.S. as states move to reopen. "We're nowhere near getting on top of this virus," he says.

Also, John Powers reviews Hulu's TV adaptation of Sally Rooney's novel 'Normal People.'

'Time' correspondent Molly Ball says the key to the speaker's success is her mastery of the inside game in politics — building relationships, counting votes, plotting strategy and working around the clock. Ball's book is 'Pelosi.'

Also, jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews the album 'Liberty' from the Dayna Stephens Trio.

Assuming the pandemic has not ended by Election Day, will you be able to vote by mail? And if not, are you willing to risk your health? We talk with journalist Emily Bazelon about her new 'NYT Magazine' article titled, "Will Americans Lose the Right to Vote in the Pandemic?" She focuses on the financial and political obstacles that are likely to prevent many Americans from voting by mail. Bazelon writes, "The U.S. prides itself on its democracy in theory, but this year, not necessarily in practice."

As small businesses and individuals struggle to obtain federal aid, the wealthiest are poised to reap tens of billions of dollars in tax savings. That's what 'New York Times' investigative business reporter Jesse Drucker says. Drucker explains how the economic rescue package is benefiting the rich.

French guitarist Stephane Wrembel talks about jazz great Django Reinhardt and plays songs from his new album, 'Django L'Impressionniste.' He spoke with producer Sam Briger.

Historian Valerie Hansen, author of a new history of the year 1000 AD, surveys the state of the world a millennium ago and argues that this was a crucial moment in the story of globalization, comparable to 1492. Historyextra.com/podcast

 

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In a programme first broadcast in 2017, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Northamptonshire poet John Clare who, according to one of Melvyn's guests Jonathan Bate, was 'the greatest labouring-class poet that England has ever produced'. Clare worked in a tavern, as a gardener and as a farm labourer in the early 19th century and achieved his first literary success with Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery. He was praised for his descriptions of rural England and his childhood there, and his reaction to the changes he saw in the Agricultural Revolution with its enclosures, displacement and altered, disrupted landscape. Despite poor mental health and, from middle age onwards, many years in asylums, John Clare continued to write and he is now seen as one of the great poets of his age. With Sir Jonathan Bate Provost of Worcester College, University of Oxford Mina Gorji Senior Lecturer in the English Faculty and fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge and Simon Kövesi Professor of English Literature at Oxford Brookes University Producer: Simon Tillotson.