Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

On this edition of Parallax Views, we return to the issue of the struggles faced by people living in the Gaza Strip. Specifically, we are honing in on the mental health crisis in Gaza, especially in regards to children. Joining us is Dr. Yasser Abu Jamei, a Palestinian clinical neuro-psychiatrist and the Director General of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme. This is a sobering conversation in which Dr. Jamei details how trauma, fear, and poverty have coalesced in Gaza to create mental health for its inhabitants. We'll be discussing the effects of the Israeli occupation, air-strikes, difficult socio-economic conditions, and the biopsychosocial model as they relate to these matters. Additionally, Dr. Jamei will discuss the issue of education and universities in Gaza, the differences in challenges face by men and women/boys and girls in Gaza, Gaza and human rights (and framing the issues around human rights rather than religious conflict), the discourse around Gaza in Western media, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, a previously unpublished interview with journalist Dave Lindorff of This Can't Be Happening on the fascinating story of the Theodore Alvin Hall, the American physicist who became an atomic spy by sharing nuclear secrets with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. But this is not just the story of Ted Hall. It's also the story of his brother Edward Hall, who, despite his skepticism towards the Soviet Union, protected his brother against J. Edgar Hoover's FBI. Moreover, it's a case that asks the question, "Why did Ted Hall share these secrets with the Soviet Union?" As it turns out, the answer to that question may be more noble, if we consider Hall's perspective, than one would imagine. We dive into the world of atomic bombs, Hiroshima and Nagaski, the Manhattan Project, spying, the romance between Ted Hall and his wife Joan Hall, the trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the "What If" scenario of the U.S. having a monopoly on nuclear weapons after WWII, the physicist and atomic spy Klaus Fuchs, Ted Hall's motivation for becoming an atomic spy, the incredible life of Ted's brother Edward (including a connection to Operation Paperclip and working on a top secret missile program at Wright Patterson Air Force Base), the interrogation of Ted Hall, the FBI file on Edward Hall, Ted Halls' Harvard roommate (and spy) Savile Sax, and much, much more! For more information on Ted's story please read Dave's article at The Nation entitled "One Brother Gave the Soviets the A-Bomb. The Other Got a Medal".

On this edition of Parallax Views, Kathy Reichs, author of the best-selling Bones series of murder mystery/thriller novels, joins us to discuss the 21st entry in the series, Cold, Cold Bones. The Bones books follows Temperance Brennan as she helps solve crimes with her expertise in forensic anthropology. Reichs' novels became so popular that they eventually spawned a hit TV series that lasted 12 seasons. In Cold, Cold Bones Tempe is made to revisit her old cases after she and her daughter discover a mysterious package at her place. Said package contains a human eyeball that leads her to a Benedictine Monastery and what eventually comes to pass is that a copycat killer familiar with Tempe's earlier cases is on the loose. Will Tempe solve the murders in time? In this conversation Reichs and I discuss the enduring nature of the Bones series, speculation that Tempe is on the autism spectrum, the ways in which readers relate to Tempe, thoughts on the hit TV series based on Reichs' books, working at Ground Zero after 9/11, Reichs' anthropological work in Guatamala (which inspired her novel Grave Secrets), the appearance of humor in her murder mystery stories, an overview of Cold, Cold Bones, the snowstorm setting of Cold, Cold Bones, misconceptions about forensic anthropology, DNA and the evolution of forensic anthropology, how newspaper headlines and stories influence Kathy's stories, how CRISPR tech influenced a Temperance Brennan murder mystery, how Kathy went from bio-archaeology to helping police on cases as a forensic anthropologist, and more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, the Institute for Research: Middle East Policy's Grant F. Smith returns to discuss his new podcast documentary series How Israel Made AIPAC. Grant takes through the history of AIPAC, often simply referred to as the Israel lobby, from its earliest days vis-a-vis the figure of lobbyist Isaiah L. Kenen. Grant gives an overview about the origins of AIPAC and issues related to Israel in the 20th century including the Transfer Agreement and the Third Reich, Haganah arms smuggling, NUMEC and how Israel acquired nuclear weapons, the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), the U.S. State Department, Ze'ev "Vladimir" Jabotinsky and the Likud Party, and more. We'll also discuss the importance of this documentary series to current events and U.S. foreign policy today as well as the ways in which previous Presidents like the Pendergast Machine-affiliated Harry Truman could be compromised by private or foreign interests. Then, in a brief bonus segment, Dave DeCamp of Antiwar.Com joins us to discuss how a recent CBS documentary on U.S./NATO arming of Ukraine was pulled after Volodymyr Zelensky's government complained about it. One of the issues raised by the documentary was the question of how many of the arms being sent to Ukraine are actually making it into the hands of the military. Ukraine's foreign defense minister has called for CBS to launch an internal investigation to see who "enabled" the documentary.

On this edition of Parallax Views, we delve into the intellectual life and thought of Michael Harrington, a key figure of the American New Left who helped found the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America). The author of the influential The Other America: Poverty in the United States, Harrington was a proponent of what he called "the left wing of the possible" and thus believed that socialists must push for a re-alignment of the Democratic Party. Joining us to offer a critique Harrington's thought is Doug Greene, author of the zer0 books title A Failure of Vision: Michael Harrington and the Limits of Democratic Socialism. Among the topics covered in this conversation: - The early intellectual development of Michael Harrington and his interest in bohemianism - Harrington's anti-communism, his belief in a popular front sans Stalinists, and his relationship to New Left in the 60s - Harrington's "left wing of the possible" strategy and the Democratic Party - The influence of theorist Max Schachtman on Harrington's thinking; Harrington's concept of "Democratic Marxism" - Liberalism, Capitalism, Michael Harrington, and the reformist vs. revolutionary divide - Michael Harrington, the DSA, and the Israel/Palestine conflict - Michael Harrington, the Vietnam War, and imperialism - Harrington's value beyond the criticisms Greene has of him - Harrington's The Other America, FDR the New Deal coalition, and LBJ's Great Society - Harrington's debates with or critiques of right-wing figures like William F. Buckley and Milton Friedman - And much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, longtime activist and populist historian Harvey "Sluggo" Wasserman joined the show to discuss his life of radical activism and his new book The People's Spiral of U.S. History: From Jigonsaseh to Solartopia. This conversation is a wild ride as Harvey gives us an overview of his long life including stories of Democratic National Convention riots in 1968, writing a pro-marijuana article in his youth that caused him to appear on multiple TV shows, dropping acid in the 1960s, living in a hippie farming community, discovering the life and times of socialist leader Eugene V. Debs, the COINTELPRO-era FBI's attempts to infiltrate and destroy a radical news service Harvey was involved with called Liberation News Service, and helping to kickstart the anti-nukes/"No Nukes" movement as well as his encounters with Howard Zinn, Martin Luther King, Jr., Timothy Leary, Abbie Hoffman, and many, many others. Additionally, Harvey and I also manage to discuss: - California Governor Gavin Newsom, Diablo Canyon nuclear reactors, and the problems with nuclear power - The People's Spiral of U.S. History as dealing with a cyclical interpretation of U.S. history influenced by William Appleman Williams that details a dialectical struggle between the indigenous and puritanical elements in America's cultural DNA that Wasserman traces back to America's earliest origins - Harvey's "Law of Unintended Consequences" in history, J. Edgar Hoover, and helping to pioneer organic farming - LSD, mushrooms, Gordon Wasson, ergot poisoning and the Salem Witch Trials, the CIA's involvement in spreading acid, whether Timothy Leary was working for the U.S. intelligence community and MKULTRA, and Terence McKenna's "Stoned Ape" theory - Organizing protests that shutdown a nuclear power plant and why that campaign succeeded - Nuclear energy, Fukushima, and Chernobyl; Putin, nuclear reactors, and the war in Ukraine; nuclear reactors built on earthquake faults - Nuclear power vs. solar and wind power - Republican Election stealing and Harvey's work with political scientist and Columbus Free Press journalist Bob Fitrakis on unusual activity in Ohio related to the 2004 Presidential election that pitted George W. Bush against John Kerry - And much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, James C. Zimring, M.D., Ph.D., Thomas W. Tillack Professor of Experimental Pathology at the University of Virginia, joins us to discuss his new book Partial Truths: How Fractions Distort Our Thinking. Zimring is also the author of What Science Is and How It Really Works. This conversation was recorded on 6/21/22. In this conversation Zimring explains what his book is about and how it deals with the ways in which fractional thinking shapes the way we think about the world. When we talk about fractions and fractional thinking in this conversation, however, we are not talking about solving math problems in an classroom or academic setting. Instead, as Zimring explains, we discussing our everyday usage of fractional thinking that we often take for granted. This fractional thinking is necessary, as we learn in this conversation, but also can distort our perception about a number of phenomena and issues. Among the topics covered in this conversation are: - Fractional thinking and the moral panic around Dungeons and Dragons in the 1980s - Fractional thinking and the blunder of the Iraq War during the Presidency of George W. Bush - Fractional thinking and the strange story of a McDonald's burger - New Age beliefs, spirituality, religion, and an on-air cold reading experiment - Heuristics, the availability heuristic, and inductive reasoning - A recent study by the Heritage Institute on Israel and China and the fault reasoning used in the study - Big data and racism - Information, p-hacking, selective reporting, and faulty academic studies - The problems of science reporting - And much, much more!

On this short but sweet edition of Parallax Views, we delve into the world of female MMA. Thanks to fighters like Ronda Rousey and Cris Cyborg the female side of mixed martial arts has gained greater traction amongst combat sports fans and the general public in recent years. One need look no farther than the fact that Hollywood produced a major motion picture with Halle Berry, Bruised, based on subject to see how female MMA has become part of popular culture. Heading the charge for women's MMA is the promotion Invicta FC. For over 10 years now Invicta FC has provided a platform for top female athletes to compete in combat sports. Joining us ahead of Invicta FC 48, which will be available on AXS TV as well as the Invicta FC Youtube and Facebook pages, is Invicta FC's CEO/President Shannon Knapp. Among the topics discussed: - The birth of Invicta FC and the obstacles and hurdles it faced as an all-women's MMA promotion - Invicta FC's card including the Bantamweight championship bout between Taneisha Tennant (c) vs. Olga Rubin and pro boxer Melissa Odessa Parker vs. GLORY kickboxer Isis Verbeek - Invicta FC's adoption of the open scoring system for fights - Shannon as an advocate for female athletes in the combat sports world and why she calls them athletes rather than fighters - Thoughts on the old criticism that MMA is "human cockfighting" - The challenge of finding female athletes in an often male-dominated sport - Leveling the playing field for female MMA athletes and the importance of Invicta FC to the broader world of combat sports - Shannon Knapp's thoughts on the success of Ronda Rousey and what it has meant for female MMA - And much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Dutch sociologist M.B. Schuilenburg joins us to discuss his books Hysteria: Crime, Media, and Politics and The Algorithmic Society: Technology, Power, and Knowledge. In this conversation we discuss the history of the idea of hysteria from it's origins in a clinical setting used, often times, against women to its usage by philosophers like Hobbes and Foucault and the concept of mass hysteria around hot topics like immigration. In addition to all of this we discuss the empirical research Schuilenburg did for the book, the Rotterdam race riots, anti-immigrant rhetoric and the Dutch politician Geert Wilders, the concept of security in Western society and its different connotations, Zygmunt Bauman's idea of "Liquid Modernity", neoliberalism and globalization, hysteria and the collective sense of a loss of control, positive security/hysteria vs. negative security/hysteria, the phenomena of moral panic, algorithms and social media as they relate to mass hysteria, big data and discrimination, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, a previously unreleased conversation from April 2022 with Kali Tribune's Branko Malic, who specializes in writing about metaphysics from a Catholic and traditionalist bent, about the Russian philosopher that's been called "Putin's Rasputin", Alexander Dugin. Aleksandr Dugin has been a figure that's gotten media coverage ever since the election of Donald Trump. He's one of the most ardent supporters of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. But who is Alexander Dugin? What are his beliefs? Is he a Gnostic? A follower of the Traditionalist School of metaphysics in the vein of Rene Guenon or Julius Evola? An occultist who practices a chaos magick? A mere Russian imperialist who promotes his worldview through what he calls the "Fourth Political Theory" and Eurasianism? A madman? A Satanist? A Russian Orthodox Catholic? Or simply a man who wants to "immanentize the eschaton" (aka the apocalypse)? Branko and I will tackle all of this and much more in the conversation.

On this edition of Parallax Views, July 4th is just around the corner. What better way to celebrate than hitting the beach! Of course, if you're not careful in that water you could get munched up by a shark like in JAWS. Or worse... PIRANHA WOMEN! Piranha Women is the latest effort of Charles Band's long-running horror/fantasy/sci-fi factory Full Moon Features. It's also a return to said genre for it's director, the legendary independent filmmaker Fred Olen Ray. For a number of years now Fred has been working on TV, including making Hallmark Christmas movies with Chevy Chase and Lifetime thrillers. For him filmmaking is not merely some hobby, but a profession. Simply put, he's a working class filmmaker. Prior too much of his television work, Fred directed a great number of horror, sci-fi, action, and fantasy pictures during the VHS boom in the 1980s and a number of erotic thrillers during that genre's popularity in the 1990s. Among some of the cult classics Fred has directed are Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, The Tomb, Biohazard, Cyclone, Evil Toons, Inner Sanctum (one of the most successful video rentals of the 99s), Beverly Hills Vamp, Witch Academy, Alienator, Deep Space, Star Slammer, Bad Girls from Mars, Mind Twister, Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfolds, Inferno, Possessed by the Night, and countless others. Through it all he's worked with such well-known actors as Ice-T, Don "The Dragon" Wilson, David Carradine, Sybil Danning, Martin Landau, Nightmare on Elm Street's Heather Langenkamp, Eric Roberts, Gunna Hansen (Leatherface in the original 1974 Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Morgan Fairchild, comedy movie legend Eddie Deezen, Bond girl Britt Ekland, Twin Peaks' Russ Tamblyn, Sid Haig, and many, many others. A monster kid that grew up on drive-in horror movies, Piranha Women marks Fred Olen Ray's returns to the type of fun genre fare that's made him a cult figure amongst cinema buffs. And it stars such beauties as Carrie Overgaard and Keep Chambers as the deadly titular fish women. In this conversation Fred and I discuss a number of topics including: - The secrets of indie filmmaking from matching shots to filming big name actors on a schedule - Working with classic actors like John Carradine, Aldo Ray, and Cameron Mitchell - The tricks he used to film the animated monster in the ambitious low-budget live-action horror Evil Toons - Working with Full Moon and thoughts on the promotional wizardy of Charles Band - Filming nude scenes with actresses - How to make films on low-budgets and tight-schedules - The craft of filmmaking - Orson Welles' cinematographer Gary Graves and his sabotaged film Moon in Scorpio - How he began working on Hallmark and Lifetime movies; what TV networks expect out of him as a director and why he gets the job - Filmmaking as a job rather than a hobby - The killer ta-tas gag in Piranha Women - The rise and fall of the "Scream Queen" cycle of films in the 1980s directed by Fred, Jim Wyrnoski, and David DeCoteau starring actresses like Linne Quigley, Michelle Bauer, Brinke Stevens, and Kelli Maroney - Advice to young filmmakers and what Fred looks for in young filmmakers (including discussion of Fred's producer credits for Steve Latshaw's Jack-O, which was recently re-released on Blu-Ray by Fred's Retromedia company, and Henrique Couto's Bigfoot web-series Boggy Creek) - And much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, former Bloomberg News reporter and investigative journalist David de Jong joins Parallax Views to discuss his new book The Dark History of Germany's Wealthiest Dynasties. There has been much academic research and debate over the years on the topic of big business and the rise of the Adolf Hitler's Third Reich, specifically in the form of Henry Ashby Turner's 1985 book Big Business and the Rise of Hitler. A little bit of digging will lead anyone interested in the subject to a secret meeting between Hitler and German industrialists that occurred on February 20th, 1933. De Jong picks up the story from those early days of the Third Reich and examines the wealthy families that prospered under Hitler's reign including the Quandt Family, the Porsche–Piëch family, the Von Finck family, the Flick family, the Oetker family, and Reimann family. These families have become associated with such familiar auto companies as Porsche, BMV, and Volkswagen over the years. Additionally, some of these families even have ties to brands like Dr. Pepper, Panera Bread, and Krispy Kreme donuts. Although Germany society has went to great length to reckon with the Holocaust over the decades since WWII, de Jong argues that these wealthy dynasties have not done the same or at least not done enough to grapple with the actions of their patriarchs and ancestors. We discuss all of this as well as other issues such as: - The seizure of Jewish businesses by the Third Reich and the ways in which wealthy German families benefitted from this - The career of August von Finck, Sr., founder of the German insurance company Allianz and the private bank Merck Finck & Co., and his son August von Funck, Jr.'s alleged involvement with the German far-right political party AfD in the 21st century - BMW heirs Stefan Quandt and Susanne Klatten - The persecution of Porsche's Jewish co-founder Adolf Rosenberger - Were these families driven by opportunism or ideology? - The American connection to the post-WWII fates of these families; how Cold War politics played into that connection; Telford Taylor: Chief prosecutor of the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, and his attempts to make German big business reckon with Nazi collusion; the role of John J. McCloy, U.S. high commissioner for occupied Germany, in this story - American investigator Josif Marcu and the man he called "the modern self-made German Robber Baron", Friedrich Flick; Friedrich Flick's comments about his trial - War crimes, slave labor, and German industry - Herbert Quandt, the AfD, and the whitewashing of history - Aryanization, big business, and the Third Reich - And much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, journalist Kathyrn Miles joins the show to discuss her new true crime book Trailed: One Woman's Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders. In the spring of May 1996, Julianne “Julie” Williams and Laura “Lollie” Winans went into Shenandoah National Park, part of the Appalachian trail. They were two bright young women in college with a future ahead of them. That future, however, was stolen as both Lollie and Julie were murdered in the woods of Shenandoah Nation Park. Their murder became nationwide news. So much so in fact that when George W. Bush became President of the United States, the Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales of announced that they had found a suspect and that the murder was a hate crime. You see, Lollie and Julie had been in a romantic relationship. As such, their murder could've been a hate crime. The culprit? A man by the name of Darrell David Rice. However, not all is as it seems. Kathyrn Miles takes us through her investigation of the Shenandoah murders explaining the missteps and even, in some cases, malfeasance by the FBI, National Park Service, and the Department of Justice. In doing show she cast doubt on Rice as the perpetrator (note: Rice has not been convicted, even to this day) and offers another suspect. But this isn't just the story of the investigation of the murders. It's also an exploration of what it's like to be a woman, LGBTQ+, or other marginalized identity exploring the frontier of the Appalachian trail and the ways in which that trail is experienced differently by men and women. We discuss all that and more on this edition of Parallax Views.

On this edition of Parallax Views, a previously unpublished conversation from April 2022 with Brandan P. Buck, a Ph.D. candidate in history and Digital History Fellow at George Mason University. Brandan has been researching the topic of a early-mid 20th century conservative formation known as the "Old Right". Epitomized by figures such as Senator Robert A. Taft and journalists like John T. Flynn and Garet Garrett, the Old Right was a force that opposed President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Some of this was in opposition to FDR's New Deal, but the Old Right was also known for its antiwar stance often leading to it being accused of isolationism or antisemitic, fascist/Nazi sympathies. Brandan and I discuss all of this as well as the history of the Old Right and specifically its connection to antiwar thought. This conversation came about after reading Brandan's piece at Responsible Statecraft entitled "No ‘Putin apologia’ and certainly not new: the Old American Right on war". Said piece details the history of the Old Right including the figure of Republican politician Eugen Siler's 1968 Senate run as an explicitly antiwar candidate during the Vietnam War. Prior to his Senate run Siler was a Congressman where he was the sole member of the House of Representatives to oppose the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (a resolution that led to greater U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War). Among the topics discussed in this conversation: - The connection between the Old Right's opposition to FDR-era progressive economic policies and the Old Right's non-interventionism and opposition to mass conscription - Understanding the Old Right and its origins within the GOP - Anti-interventionist and antiwar sentiments in the aftermath of WWI and the U.S. soldiers who were casualties of that war. - The question of antisemitism; the America First Committee; Charles Lindbergh's September 11th, 1941 speech - The book Merchants of Death about war-profiteering in WWI and left/right anti-war coalition - The Cold War, the Ronald Reagan era, Pat Buchanan, William F. Buckley and the National Review, and the decline of the Old Right - The differences between the antiwar left and the antiwar right - The Old Right's view that war and militarism were destructive to either individual liberty and/or family units - The influence of both Jeffersonianism and particularism on the Old Right - And much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Stuart Smith, author of Otto Skorzeny: The Devil's Disciple, joins the program to discuss the life, myths, and controversies of Nazi SS commando Otto Skorzeny. Skorzeny is perhaps best known for his involvement in a 1943 rescue mission operation to save Benito Mussolini in what has become known as the Gran Sasso raid. In this conversation we discuss: - The Luftwaffe and the controversies around the credit Skorzeny gets for the Gran Sasso raid - The connection between Otto Skorzeny and Ian Fleming's James Bond 007 novel Moonraker - Skorzeny, Operation Greif, and the Battle of the Bulge; efforts of the Axis forces to deceptively dress as Allied soldiers to cause havoc during the Battle of the Bulge - The myth-making of Otto Skorzeny and the media; discussing how Skorzeny's superficial qualities, such as the distinctive scar that got him nicknamed "Scarface", and his self-aggrandizing memoirs (My Commando Operations: The Memoirs of Hitler's Most Dangerous Commando) made him appealing to media - The trial of Otto Skorzeny in 1948 and how he skirted justice - The Operation Long Jump assassinations plot; Operation Knight's Move (the airborne raid against Yugoslavia's Marshal Tito); War crimes and the death squad-style Operation Peter aimed at taking out the resistance in Denmark - Otto Skorzeny and post-war intelligence; the CIA; Reinhard Gehlen and the Gehlen Organization; the Mossad; Skorzeny's brother Alfred and the Soviet Union; French intelligence; was Skorzeny a post-war spy?; surveillance of Skorzeny after WWII - Skorzeny's lack of organizational skill and his penchant for having big ideas that weren't focused on the fine details - The question of the post-war fascist international, Nazi ratlines in South America, and Skorzeny's involvement in those matters; Die Spinne (The Spider) and Skorzeny in Latin America - Otto Skorzeny's wealth in his final years and his involvement in private mercenary contracting (the Paladin Group) and arms dealing - Skorzeny and antisemitism - Skorzeny's attempts to paint himself as merely patriotic German rather than a killer - Otto Skorzeny in Egypt; Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser -

On this edition of Parallax Views, Project Censored's Mickey Huff and Nolan Higdon return to the program to discuss their new book, available now from Routledge, Let’s Agree to Disagree A Critical Thinking Guide to Communication, Conflict Management, and Critical Media Literacy. This was recorded around the time that Mia Janowicz and the Department of Homeland Security's Disinformation Governance Board was in the news so we also delve into issues related to censorship and corporate media bias. In the course of our conversation we also touch upon critical theory and Frankfurt School thinkers like Herbert Marcuse, the abortion debate, and much, much more! In the second segment of the show, a previously unpublished conversation from early 2022 in which J.G. spoke with friend of the show and returning guest John Duffy (co-author with Ray Nowosielski of The Watchdogs Didn't Bark: The CIA, NSA, and the Crimes of the War on Terror and the investigative documentary podcast After The Uprising: The Death Of Danyé Dion Jones) to discuss Duffy's latest docu-podcast Origins: Birth of a Pandemic, which investigates the issue of COVID and the lab leak hypothesis. In the conversation we discuss a number of topics including biolabs and biodefense, Anthony Fauci, Peter Daszak and the EcoHealth Alliance, biosafety, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, sociologist William I. Robinson returns to the program to discuss his new book Global Civil War: Capitalism Post-Pandemic. Picking up where his last book, Global Police State, left off, Global Civil War explores the growing global discontent in the age of transnational capitalism and the 21st century's emergent, high-tech surveillance society in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic. Among the topics discussed on this edition of the show. - The digital revolution, the biopolitical regime, and the transformation of global capitalism - The transnational capitalist class and the Davos-based World Economic Forum - Social control, surveillance, and the disciplining of the global working class - The digital revolution and the exacerbation of global inequality and the rapid expansion of the ultra-wealthy's fortunes since the pandemic - The new, dramatic crisis of global capitalism and the history of crises within the capitalist system - The emergence of a biopolitical regime - The political crisis of state legitimacy and the global revolt - The 1800s and the explosion of imperialism and colonialism in response to crisis - Fordism-Keynesianism, redistributive capitalism, and welfare states in the 20th century - The crisis of 1970s, the neoliberal counterrevolution, the redisciplining of the global working class by the global ruling class or transnational elite - Divisions within the transnational capitalist class over how to resolve the current crisis and the right-wing authoritarian turn amongst major sectors of global capital - The massive new round of restructuring of global capitalism based on digitalization - The lack of national solution to the global crisis - The role of artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, the internet of things, nanotechnology, 5G, facial-recognition technology, 3D printing, and other technologies in the current global transformation and social control - Big tech and the biomedical-industrial complex, global financial conglomerates, and the military-industrial complex - On-demand and remote work, automation, robotization, the threat of displacement and degradation of labor, precarious employment, and "surplus humanity" - The automation and robotization of agriculture - China's 996 work regime, Taylorism, and scientific management - The restructuring of time and place to exercise greater control over the global working class - New technologies and the fragmentation of labor - The need for a digital proletariat to organize in new ways and examples of global revolt occurring and the transnational capitalist class responding to it - Emergency mobilization after the pandemic, states of exception, and the history war game-style pandemic response scenarios such as the "Lockstep Scenario" - The problem with right-wing conspiracy theories about the transnational capitalist class, the pandemic, and other issues - The problem of disinformation - And much, much more!

This is a preview for the latest Failed State Update, a podcast I co-host with Joseph Flatley. LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE AT: https://roundtable.io/failed-state-update/podcasts/operation-northwoods-false-flags-in-the-pentagon-transcript SYNOPSIS BELOW: Douglas Horne on the JFK assassination and the planned invasion of Cuba This is what happened when I Googled 'Bay of Pigs' Douglas P. Horne is a former staffer for the Assassination Records Review Board and the author of several books, including Inside the Assassination Records Review Board. In this episode of Failed State Update, J.G. Michael and Horne discuss Operation Northwoods, the Pentagon's (very real) plan to down aircraft, blow up ships, or possibly kill American civilians as a pretext for an invasion of Cuba. President Kennedy, wisely, thought the whole thing was nuts and prevented it from happening. Northwoods is a bit of a history lesson, but it's an important one. It exemplifies the lengths that the military may go in order to get its way. And as conspiracies go, it's as bizarre as anything Alex Jones has cooked up. And it's all real.

On this edition of Parallax Views, the SRB Podcast's Sean Guillory returns to discuss his new documentary podcast series Teddy Goes to the USSR. This new series chronicles American tourism to the USSR during the Cold War through the story of Teddy Roe's visit to the Soviet Union. In doing so the series offers a window into how people from different cultures view each other in light of Otherizing and getting a better understanding of the lived experiences of everyday people in the USSR. Among the topics we cover in this conversation: - Who Teddy Roe is, how he ended up visiting the USSR in 1968, and his connection to U.S. politics and Congress - Racism and the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. during the Cold War and the Soviet response to it; Soviet anti-racist ideology - Consumerism in the Soviet Union and the misunderstandings about it based on American metrics; the Soviet Dream and the American Dream - KGB surveillance of American tourists - Why American wanted to visit the Soviet Union during the Cold War and why Soviets welcomed tourism; American soft power and U.S. tourists in the USSR - How different were everyday people in both the U.S. and the Soviet Union from each other (or how similar were they to each other)? - Soviet humor, comedy, and satire - The burden of the Cold War and the shadow it casts over the U.S. and Russia today - How the Teddy Goes to the USSR series came about; how Sean ended up finding out about Roe's story and contacting him - The taboo allure of the Soviet Union to Americans during the Cold War - And much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Nick Marx returns to the program to discuss his new book, co-authored with Matt Sienkiewicz, entitled That's Not Funny: How the Right Makes Comedy Work for Them about what could be called the emerging right-wing comedy complex. Marx and Sienkiewicz argue that a niche has emerged for right-wing comedy that's proving useful for the pursuing the political agenda of the American right. In this conversation we discuss: - The "paleo-comedy" of figures like Tim Allen and his sitcom Last Man Standing, the reboot Rosanne, the shades of paleo-conservatism within "paleo-comedy", and how it targets a "boomer" demographic - The rise of Greg Gutfeld from the ostensibly surrealist, even countercultural Red Eye to his latest Fox News show Gutfeld!; how Gutfeld's show is less about policy than "owning the libs" with a carnival-esque aesthetic - Steven Crowder of Louder With Crowder and right-wing comedy as a niche market that can also be used recruit young people to the American right-wing - The far-right of the right-wing comedy complex: Sam Hyde, Million Dollar Extreme, and Bronze Age Pervert; trolling in right-wing comedy - Is Joe Rogan and the Joe Rogan Experience part of the right-wing comedy complex? - Thoughts on Dave Chappelle - Right-wing comedy branding itself as countercultural, edgy, and "cool" - How the book is not an endorsement of the humor of the right-wing comedy complex, but rather addressing how the complex works politically; the punching up vs. punching down humor debate - Right-wing comedy and manufactured outrage - The era of liberal/left-wing comedy with Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart and how the right-wing comedy complex became a niche - And much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, journalist Jefferson Morley returns to the show to discuss his new book Scorpion's Dance: The President, the Spymaster, and Watergate, which details the dual lives and "clandestine collaborative relationship" between CIA director Richard Helms and President Richard Nixon culminating in the Watergate break-in. Among the topics discussed: - The contrasting backgrounds of Richard Nixon, a man from a humble background who hated the Eastern Establishment, and Richard Helms, an Ivy League-educated man who came to head the CIA during the Cold War - The role of secrecy and power in the lives of Nixon and Helms - Cuba, AMLASH, covert assassination programs, organized crime, the military dictatorship of General Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar, Fidel Castro, the Bay of Pigs, and America's Cold War ideology - Examples of the Central Intelligence agency finding ways to set policy and go over the head of President John F. Kennedy and President Lyndon Baines Johnson - The CIA and the press - Nixon's national security policy, the Vietnam War, the antiwar movement, and CIA spying on antiwar activists - CIA officer and infamous Watergate burglar E. Howard Hunt, his relationship with Helms, and Hunt's James Bond-like pulp spy fiction - Watergate, Daniel Ellsberg, and dirty tricks like blackmail operations - Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's All the President's Men - National security legislation and Presidential abuse of unchecked power - The cultural revolution of the 60s/70s and Watergate as a crisis of the national security state - The assassination of JFK, the CIA, pre-assassination knowledge of Lee Harvey Oswald, Richard Helms and the Warren Commission, and James Jesus Angleton - President Harry Truman's "abolish the CIA" op ed -

On this edition of Parallax Views, Ira Shapiro, former Ambassador and author of such books as The Last Great Senate: Courage and Statesmanship in Times of Crisis and Broken: Can the Senate Save Itself and the Country?, joins the show to discuss his book The Betrayal: How Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans Abandoned America. We begin by discussing Newt Gingrinch and his "politics of destruction", the declining faith in the Senate as an instituinon, and the polarization of the United States of America. We then turn our attention to Mitch McConnell and how he went from a "moderate Republican" to moving, alongside the GOP, further to the Right. McConnell, Shapiro argues, has broke from his responsibility to serve the national interest in favor of partisanship that serves the interest of the GOP. In this regard we delve into McConnell's "Bitter Harvest" in the Obama years and the broken politics and government dysfunction that plagued America even before the Presidency of Donald J. Trump. From there we move onto the relationship between Donald Trump and McConnell; the Supreme Court, tax cuts for the rich, and anti-Affordable Care Act priorities of McConnell; McConnell and the donor base of the Republican Party; the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court; beating the Democratic Party at all costs; the 2020 Presidential Election and the Jan. 6th Insurrection; Under Secretary of State George Ball's quote from the Vietnam War era "He who rides the tiger cannot chose where he dismounts"; the Senate going forward; thoughts on diplomacy; and much, much more! In the second segment of the show, true crime author Lis Wiehl, whose previous books include Hunting the Unabomber and The Hunting Charles Manson, joins the show for a conversation about her new book A Spy in Plain Sight: The Inside Story of the FBI and Robert Hanssen—America's Most Damaging Russian Spy. Rober Hanssen is perhaps one of the most notorious spies in modern American history. While working for the FBI he decided to start working with the Soviet Union and the Russians. After all was said and done, he became the most damaging spy in American history whose actions had massive ramifications for national security. We discuss who Hanssen was; Hanssen's association with the conservative Catholic organization known as Opus Dei; Hanssen as a disgruntled employee of the FBI; his nickname at the FBI: "The Mortician"; Hanssen's anti-communism; how Robert's wife Bonnie Hanssen and a priest found out about Hanssen spying for the Russians; Hanssen's psychiatrist David Charney and Hanssen's penchant for compartmentalization and warped thinking; how the intelligence community became aware of a spy in their midst and the wrongful finger pointed at CIA agent Brian Kelley being the spy; the Webster Commission Report and why it took so long for suspicion to fall on Hanssen; the contradictions of Robert Hanssen; intel figures' belief that there will be another Robert Hanssen and that there's likely already one today; cybersecurity today; Wiehl's thoughts on the dangers of politicization of intelligence; and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, freelance journalist Albert Lanier makes his long-awaited return to Parallax Views to discuss a scandal known as the Inslaw Affair involving the Department of Justice, a software known as PROMIS, a conspiracy dubbed "The Octopus by the late journalist Danny Casolaro, spying and espionage, and media mogul Robert Maxwell (yes, the father of Jeffrey Epstein's partner-in-crime Ghislaine Maxwell). It takes us into the world of the "Catacombs", as Lanier refers to it, where politics meets sub rosa activities. Among the topics discussed: - What the PROMIS software was, Bill Hamilton Vs. the Department of Justice, claims of the PROMIS software's modification, and the potential use of the software for spycraft - The strange, sketchy characters around the Inslaw/PROMIS scandal such as Michael Riconsciuto and alleged Israeli spy/arms dealer Ari Ben-Menashe - "The Octopus", the death of journalist Danny Casolaro, and the triple murders related to the Cabazon Indian Reservation - Robert Maxwell's alleged ties to Israeli intelligence like Mossad - And much, much more A NOTE FROM BILL HAMILTON: I had never even heard of Albert Lanier prior to his recent reporting on the INSLAW Affair. He never contacted me prior to publishing his report which incorrectly states that I had worked on developing PROMIS while an NSA employee. I worked at NSA HQ as an intelligence analyst and Vietnamese linguist for seven years in the 1960s after graduating from the University of Notre Dame as an English Major. I left NSA because I had become interested in working on urban problems and joined the management consulting component of Peat Marwick & Mitchell, a major public accounting firm. While there, I responded to a Request for Proposals to develop a case management software system for the local street crime prosecution component of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, won the competitive procurement, and served as the project manager on what I named PROMIS.

On this edition of Parallax Views, longtime community and union organizer Daisy Pitkin, who is now playing a role Starbucks Union wave as part an offshoot of the union UNITE, joins the program to discuss her new memoir On the Line: A Story of Class, Solidarity, and Two Women's Epic Fight to Build a Union. She tells the story of her attempts to help organize for workers at industrial laundry factories with dangerous working conditions in Phoenix, Arizona. In doing so she shows that labor organizing requires not only righteous anger but solidarity between workers and touches upon the ways in which labor organizing must democratize knowledge of organizing. Organizers, in other words, must share their knowledge with workers themselves so that the workers can organize themselves. We cover these topics as well as the role of metaphorical role of moths in her memoir, getting to know workers on a personal, the rise of a youth that is calling itself "Generation U" o "Generation Union", the history of labor law in the U.S. and how workers face an uphill battle legally, how the the labor struggle cannot simply be one through hoping for legislation but creating an organic movement that will apply external pressure to those in power, and much, much more! Then, in the latter half of the program, women's liberation movement organizer Jenny Brown joins the program to discuss the issue of abortion rights and Roe V. Wade with a focus on how these matters relate to class struggle. In particular, Jenny explains how the ruling class has thought about abortion from the past to the present and addresses the powerful, monied forces that are in favor of restricting abortions and overturning Roe V. Wade. All that and more in this fascinating discussion that touches upon a number of of seemingly disparate but related topics such as economic growth in capitalism, immigration, labor, the overpopulation theory popularized in the late 1960s by Paul Erlich's The Population Bomb, declining birthrates, and more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Dan Christensen of the Florida Bulldog returns to the show to discuss the latest on the recently declassified FBI report on Saudi Arabia and the support networks for the perpetators of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. Dan has been covering this issue alongside Anthony Summers and Robynn Swan, authors of The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11 and Osama Bin Laden, for a number of years now and his latest Florida Bulldog piece on the subject is entitled "A ‘state secret’ no more: New FBI report says Saudi government officials provided support network for 9/11 hijackers". Among the subjects discussed in relation to the report are: Saudi charities; Prince Bandar Bin Salman (nicknamed Bandar Bush for his association with George W. Bush); the Muslim World League; Operation Encore; the figures of Fahad al Thumairy , Omar al Bayoumi, and the now unredacted Musaed al Jarrah; 9/11 hijackers al Hazmi and al Mihdhar; and much, much more! In the second segment of the show, Mitchell Plitnick of ReThinking Foreign Policy joins me to discuss his Responsible Statecraft piece "Biden’s trip to Israel is getting trickier by the day". In June, President Joe Biden will visit Israel. The death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin, the police attacks during her funeral, and the upcoming Jerusalem Day "Flag March" of Israeli far-right nationalists which will go through Damascus Gate and the Old City's Muslim Quarter has already put tensions at an all time high. Meanwhile, the Biden administration is seeking to pivot U.S. foreign policy out of the Middle East to focus on Russia and China. Mitchell explains how he believes this has led to a circumstance where the Biden administration is not addressing issues like Abu Akleh's death or the large expansion of settlements in the West Bank. In addition to this we discuss Israel's current Prime Minister Naftali Bennet, the figure of Knesset member and far-right provocateur Itamar Ben-Gvir, Secretary of State Antony Blinken's encounter with a pro-Palestinian activist, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, returning guest and occassional Mondoweiss contributor Yossi Gurvitz joins us from Israel to discuss the latest events around Israel/Palestine with a focus on events in East Jerusalem and the West Bank (particularly the Jenin refugee camp), the death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and the violence that erupted at her funeral, and the news that Hamas has announced it will retaliated if the Israeli nationalist far-right holds it's "Flag March" in East Jerusalem on Jerusalem Day (May 28-29th). Additionally we discuss the prominence of Itamar Ben-Gvir (a "follower" of Rabbi Meier Kahane who made some rather interesting remarks in the lead-up to the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzshak Rabin) in Israeli political, the Israeli left's impotence, the fragility of the Israeli coalition government, the upcoming "Flag March" as a provocation, the gamification of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), the IDF's announcement that it will not investigate the death of Shireen Abu Akleh, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, former President Donald Trump has had an image, sometimes leaned into by the man himself, as being akin to a mob boss. The image of Trump-as-mob-boss is even evoked, arguably, in the way that Trump is sometimes referred to as "The Donald". But beyond the image of pop culture image of Trump-as-mobster lies a portal to understanding white-collar crime and the corruption of democracy, argues Gregg Barak, author of Chronicles of a Radical Criminologist: Working the Margins of Law, Power, and Justice and Criminology on Trump. Barak joins us on this edition of the program to discuss not just Trump but rather the bigger picture of how America faces democracy deficits due to white collar criminals and crooks racketeering and using shell companies to enrich themselves. In this conversation we discuss: - The politics of antagonism as enjoyment and how Trump played the media - Trump as both outlaw and a product of profound wealth and privilege - Comparing mob figures like John Gotti and Bugsey Siegel with Donald Trump - The Trump family; Trump's father Fred Trump; the Trump children; Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner - Trump and social Darwinism - The Trump Presidency and pay-to-play pardons - Trump, Deutsche Bank, and money laundering - The Trump Presidency and the dismantling and/or impeding of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Health and Human Services, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; anti-science, anti-regulation, and anti-environmentalist interests and the Trump Presidency - Shell companies and the corruption of democracy - Structural concerns that are bigger than Donald Trump; Trump as not opening a Pandora's Box but rather exploiting structural inefficiencies - Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller, and Jared Kushner as the three most significant players around Trump - Addressing corporate crime; why we use RICO more when it comes to tackling corporate crime; corporate personhood; Citizens United; the electoral system - And much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Dulcie Everitt joins us to discuss her new book BrexLit: The Problem of Englishness in Pre- and Post-Brexit Referendum Literature (Zer0 Books; 2022). Dulcie's book delves into the idea of the sub-nationalist English identity (as opposed to British identity; English identity would be different from Welsh, Scottish, or Irish identity) in literature before and after the Brexit referendum that saw the UK leave the EU. It is important to note in this regard that England had a greater "Leave" vote than either "Scotland" or "Ireland", both of which voted "Remain", on the referendum. In this conversation we delve into the issue of what English identity is and how it is amorphous, slippery, or difficult to easily define. We delve into Englishness as an identity as it relates to both empire and post-Empire Britain. This, of course, brings us to the topic of Brexit, what it was, how it was spearheaded by figures like the Tory Party's Boris Johnson and UKIP's Nigel Farage, the formation of English nationalism as a retaliation to insurgent sub-nationalisms, the role of nostalgia in the Leave campaign and Boris Johnson's famous "Take Back Control!" line, the history of Euroscepticism on both the Right and the Left, why a second referendum is unfeasible now, xenophobia and racism in relation to Brexit, Ian McEwan's Kafka inspired take on Brexit in the form of the novel The Cockroach, as well as the more hope Autumn by Scottish author Ali Smith, Jonathan Coe's The Rotters' Club and its Brexit-influenced sequel Middle England, the dystopian Perfidious Albion by Sam Byers, the question of cosmopolitanism, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche famously declared "God is Dead". In doing so Nietzsche not necessarily celebrating the triumph of atheism, but rather raising the question of what comes next for society once religion is replaced by secularism. How do we make sense of things and find meaning in a secular world? In his new book The Universe Is On Our Side: Restoring Faith in American Public Life, Bruce Ledewitz, Professor of Law at Duquesne University Law School, attempts to tackle that question. He joins us on the first segment of the show to discuss the decline in trust of public institutions; the process theology of Alfred North Whitehead (and process theology popularizer Dr. David Ray Griffin); Jesuit theologian Bernard Lonergan's question "Is the universe on our side?"; the British philosopher John Gray and the idea that "no, the universe is not on our side", postmodernism; science as a social activity; the secularism of American Christianity; New Atheism and the failings of it; Nietzsche and the death of God as a catastrophe (even if it is true); the incompatibility of a wonder-working God in a secular world; making clear that Bruce's book is not an attack on those who have religious faith; the post-truth age; a lack of belief in the future; Martin Luther King's "the arc of the universe bends towards justice" quote; the Enlightenment and the mechanistic, materialistic worldview; David Hume and the idea that we can only gain knowledge through the senses; Carl Sagan and the Pale Blue Dot; and much, much more! In the second segment of the show, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft's Ben Freeman & Nick Cleveland-Stout join us to discuss their recent piece at The Intercept entitled "Until Ukraine, Russia Lobbyists Successfully Blunted Sanctions After Foreign Adventurism". We also discuss their upcoming report on Ukraine lobbying in Washington, D.C., the Foreign Agent Registration Act, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the public relations firm known as Ketchum, the need for transparency when it comes to foreign lobbying efforts, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Michael Swanson of Wall Street Window returns to the program for a segment covering the bear market (declining market), the crypto currency crash, and inflation. We also tackle the RobinHood app, cult-like hucksters in the stock market world, crazy speculation and risky behavior in the stock market, the impact on both regular people engaging in small-trading and professional investors, the potentially explosive violent social phenomena that can arise from crashes, the dot com bubble of the 90s, Facebook's rebranding as Meta after getting negative publicity, bitcoin maximalism, and much, much more. In the second segment of the show, sociologist Eric A. Cech joins us to discuss her thoughtful, provocative book The Trouble With Passion: How Searching for Fulfillment at Work Fosters Inequality. We are often told to "follow our passions" when it comes to seeking out a career. Cech, however, argues that the "Passion Principle" has a dark side in which people are willing to suffer injustices and inequities as a price for following their passion. We discuss the reproduction of inequality and how it reproduces in ways we may not often consider at first, the Meritocratic ideology, Erin's story of being a former "passion evangelist" and how she came to question her beliefs, defining ourselves based on our work rather than any other areas of life, her interviews with college students for the book, Erin's analysis of career-advice books, self-expression in the language of the "Passion Principle"; the growth of precarity in the white-collar work force; neoliberalism; Choicewashing and how the "Passion Principle" structures the way we think about the world by explaining social phenomena not structurally but through the lens of individual choice and personal responsibility; meaning-making and how the "Passion Principle" shapes our sense of identity; Anthony Giddens and the Self-Reflexive Project; what asking children the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?" says about our society; blaming individuals in the labor force at the expense of examining inequities in labor, gender, and race; the pernicious expectation of performative passion in jobs like the barista Starbucks; emotional labor; how class inequality is reproduced by the "Passion Principle"; and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, we dive back into the realm of foreign policy and international relations. This time historian Matthew Specter joins us to discuss his new book The Atlantic Realists: Empire and International Political Thought Between Germany and the United States w/ Matthew Specter and offers a critique of the realist school of thought in international relations. In this conversation we discuss the realist thinker Hans Morgenthau, the German legalist theorist Carl Schmitt, realism as the shadow self of liberalism, and much, much more. In the second segment of the show, "The French Connection" Marlon Ettinger joins us to discuss the aftermath of the French Presidential election and a little bit about his new book Zemmour and Gaullism. We discuss Éric Zemmour, Marine Le Pen, Emmanuel Macron, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the French Left, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Jonathan Marshal, author of Dark Quadrant: Organized Crime, Big Business, and the Corruption of American Democracy and (with Peter Dale Scott) Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America, joins me to discuss his Lobster Magazine piece "Wall Street, the Supermob, and the CIA" examining the strange web of connections between organize crime, tax-exempt foundations, Hollywood, and U.S. intelligence in the 20th century. Among the topics discussed: - New York stockbroker David G. Baird, the Russian Orthodox Church, Serge Semenenko of First National Bank of Boston, the investigation of Baird's tax-exempt foundations for illegal activities, and the Central Intelligence Agency - The "Supermob", a name taken from the Gus Russo book of the same name, that represents figures who were involved both heavily in organized crime as well as the aboveground white-collar business world - The Chicago Outfit, Sam Giancana, and the Hollywood mob-affiliated lawyer and "fixer" Sidney Korshak - Meyer Lansky vs. the Las Vegas-based gangster Morris "Moe" Dalitz and gangsters that become successful as businessmen beyond the criminal underworld - Organized crime, anti-communism, the "foreign entity within our midst" narrative, and the myth of American purity - The entertainment industry, the hotel industry, and organized crime - The development of American capitalism and American organized crime - And much, much more!

Gabriel (left) and a GCCA church service This is a preview of the latest episode of the show I co-host, Failed State Update. Listen to the full episode here In Tumacácori, Arizona, a stone’s throw from the U.S. border with Mexico, roughly 85 “destiny reservists” await their fate. They are the followers of Gabriel of Urantia. Born Anthony J. Delevin in Pittsburgh in 1946, Gabriel’s life work is a community known as the Global Community Communications Alliance (GCCA). They live in a compound in the desert where they raise animals, harvest hemp, and study their prophet’s teachings. This is all in preparation for the end of this world, and the coming of the next. And the apocalypse, according to Gabriel, is closer now than it’s ever been. Last week, Paladin — the channeled trans-dimensional space being who speaks through Gabriel — called the cult’s radio station KVAN-FM last week to address the people of Tucson on the air. On today’s Failed State Update, former GCCA member Joshua Lilly listens to Gabriel's latest broadcast with us and helps us understand both the message and cult psychology in general.

On this edition of Parallax Views, William Hogeland of Hogeland's Bad History on Substack (and author of such rip-snorting histories as The Autumn of the Black Snake and The Whiskey Rebellion) joins me to discuss the Supreme Court draft opinion that seeks to overturn the Roe Vs. Wade decision on abortion. Hogeland wrote about this matter in a Substack entry entitled "'Deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition' The Bad History in Alito’s Draft Overturning Roe v. Wade". What does the leaked draft say about the trends we're headed towards and what to make of the argument made in the draft and what is driving it? Hogeland argues that the draft has national-mythopoetic language in it that animates nationalist sentiments seeking to overturn progressive gains in the past half century. In the second segment of the show, Sanna'a, Yemen-based journalist Nasser Arraybyee joins us to discuss the ceasefire between Houthi forces and Saudi Arabia in the 7-year long Yemen war that's turned into one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. The ceasefire has been in effect since Ramadan and is, according to Nasser, optimistically looking like it will hold. Nasser explains why this ceasefire is different; Saudi Arabia's changing relationships with Iran, Turkey, and Qatar; the United Arab Emirates; the role of al Qaeda and ISIS in Yemen; the effect of Saudi-led blockades on the Yemeni population; and much more. In the third and final segment of today's program, Yumna Patel, Palestine New Director for Mondoweiss, joins me to discuss her new documentary Inside Israeli Apartheid. Yumna discusses the unequal treatment of Palestinians in both the Occupied Territories AND within Israel proper as well as some of the specific issues covered in her hard-hitting documentary that follows on the heels of human rights organizations like B'Tselem, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International discussing the question of apartheid in relation to Israel. Please be sure to watch the documentary at Mondoweiss!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Carl Rhodes, Dean of UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney, joins us to discuss his new book Woke Capitalism: How Corporate Morality is Sabotaging Democracy. Unlike most criticisms of "woke capitalism" emanating from the right-wing and "post-left", Rhodes criticisms of "woke capitalism", for lack of a better term, come firmly from a progressive, even left-wing perspective. In this conversation we'll discuss what Rhodes sees as the limits of "woke capitalism" in combating inequity. We discuss a number of issues in relation to this as well as talking about stakeholder capitalism, the World Economic Forum and Klaus Schwab, getting woke to woke capitalism, the origins of the term woke, and much, much more. In the second segment of the show, friend of the show Nolan Higdon joins us to discuss his new book, co-authored with Nicholas L. Baham III, The Podcasters' Dilemma: Decolonizing Podcasters in the Age of Surveillance Capitalism. Full disclosure: Parallax Views is discussed in this new academic book! We discuss a number of topics in this conversation including the explosion of independent podcasting, niche podcasting dealing with issues like the relationship between food and imperialism, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, former black metal journalist turned labor reporter "Grim" Kim Kelly joined me to discuss her new book Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor. We discuss the book, the role of women in the labor struggle from the beginning, how Kim got involved in labor organizing and unions, the neglected voices of labor history, and much, much more (including Kim's favorite black metal band). Then, in the second half, "The Rogue Scholar" Steve Grumbine, founder of Real Progressives and host of the Macro N Cheese podcast, joins me for a conversation about how he went from Reaganite boot-strap believer to believing in labor struggle after the Global Financial Crisis, explaining MMT, his thoughts on Chris Smalls and the Amazon Union Labor victory, and resisting the "doom pill". From the "About the Book" section for Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor on Simon & Schuster: A revelatory and inclusive history of the American labor movement, from independent journalist and Teen Vogue labor columnist Kim Kelly. Freed Black women organizing for protection in the Reconstruction-era South. Jewish immigrant garment workers braving deadly conditions for a sliver of independence. Asian American fieldworkers rejecting government-sanctioned indentured servitude across the Pacific. Incarcerated workers advocating for basic human rights and fair wages. The queer Black labor leader who helped orchestrate America’s civil rights movement. These are only some of the working-class heroes who propelled American labor’s relentless push for fairness and equal protection under the law. The names and faces of countless silenced, misrepresented, or forgotten leaders have been erased by time as a privileged few decide which stories get cut from the final copy: those of women, people of color, LGBTQIA people, disabled people, sex workers, prisoners, and the poor. In this assiduously researched work of journalism, Teen Vogue columnist and independent labor reporter Kim Kelly excavates that history and shows how the rights the American worker has today—the forty-hour workweek, workplace-safety standards, restrictions on child labor, protection from harassment and discrimination on the job—were earned with literal blood, sweat, and tears. Fight Like Hell comes at a time of economic reckoning in America. From Amazon’s warehouses to Starbucks cafes, Appalachian coal mines to the sex workers of Portland’s Stripper Strike, interest in organized labor is at a fever pitch not seen since the early 1960s. Inspirational, intersectional, and full of crucial lessons from the past, Fight Like Hell shows what is possible when the working class demands the dignity it has always deserved.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Suzanne Schneider of the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research joins us to discuss her new book The Apocalypse and the End of History: Modern Jihad and the Crisis Liberalism. We discuss how Suzanne is using liberalism in its technical broad context outside of the common colloquial usage of the term to refer to Democrats. Rather we discuss liberalism in regard to the Enlightenment, its values, and modernity. This leads us into a discussion of how contemporary jihadi violence by groups like ISIS and al Qaeda may, as other commentators and public intellectuals like John Gray have argued, be more modern than we are often willing to consider. This bring us to discuss the contradictions of liberalism today and the crisis point it can and seemingly has led to it. Additionally we deal with issues related to neoliberalism and its consequences, Francis Fukuyama's The End of History, German legal theorist Carl Schmitt's concept of the Sovereign, the rise of extremist movements in the West, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, US-Palestinian journalist Ramzy Baroud and Israeli historian Dr. Ilan Pappé join us to discuss the movement for Palestinian liberation and the new book they've co-edited related to it Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders & Intellectuals Speak Out. A synopsis of Our Vision for Palestine from the publisher, Clarity Press, sums up the book and its aims better than Parallax Views can: Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders & Intellectuals Speak Out aims to challenge several strata of the current Palestine discourse that have led to the present dead end: the American pro-Israel political discourse, the Israeli colonial discourse, the Arab discourse of purported normalization, and the defunct discourse of the Palestinian factions. None promote justice, none have brought resolution; none bode well for any of the parties involved. Here, engaged Palestinian leaders and intellectuals, those who have been actively involved in generating an ongoing Palestinian discourse on liberation, take into account the parameters of their struggle as it now stands. Drawing on their own personal experiences as educators, community leaders, spiritual leaders, artists, historians, human rights activists, political prisoners, and the like, they address what now, what next, is to be done, in a manner that reflects not only Palestinian aspirations, but their view of what is possible. In this conversation Dr. Pappé and Baroud discuss a number of different topics including the historical distortions, myths, and language that has often blurred the discourse around Israel/Palestine. Dr. Pappé goes over the myths that he covered in his previous book Ten Myths About Israel and Baroud discusses why such myths persist. Additionally, Dr. Pappé gives a historical overview of what is known among Palestinians as the Nakba, or the Catastrophe, that led to the expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland. Baroud critiques the ways in which Palestinian liberation have been framed over the years and argues that liberation will, as Che Guevera put it in one quote, come not from ordained liberators but rather the people themselves. In this regard, Ramzy Baroud criticizes the ways in which the Palestinian struggle is framed by Westerners, including the Western Left, and the need to make Palestinians the core of Liberation movement. In addition to all of this, Dr. Pappé and Baroud discuss the voices of Palestine and how their individual struggles inform collective struggles; the Palestinian voices that exist beyond the realms of diplomatic and armed struggle; pessimism and hope; settler-colonialism, occupation, and ethnic cleansing; the Nakba and its trauma as ongoing; the failure of the peace process and U.S. policy on Palestine; Palestinians in Gaza and their hope; Palestinian perseverance and creative ways of survival; decolonization; and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Ari Rabin-Havt, deputy campaign manager for Bernie Sanders's 2020 presidential campaign, joins me for a brief 20 minute about his new campaign memoir The Fighting Soul: On the Road With Bernie Sanders. Rabin-Havt provides not only a behind-the-scenes look at the Sanders campaign but also a rare glimpse into the passionate Vermont Senator himself that gets beyond what one saw from him in televised appearances, town halls, and Presidential debates. Most of this conversation focuses on how Bernie developed a greater confidence in his foreign policy views and detailing his fight to pass the Yemen War Powers Act/Resolution alongside seemingly unlikely allies Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT). We also discuss Bernie's 2018 lunch with then Iranian foreign minister Javad Zaraf, an anecdote about Bernie Sanders and America's most prominent Israel lobby AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), Bernie's love of mo-town, an exchange between Barack Obama and Bernie that illustrates Bernie's principles, and an amusing story involving Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus. Be sure to pick of The Fighting Soul: On the Road With Bernie Sanders as this only covers a small slice of a book that is a fast-paced, rollicking read throughout. In the second segment of the show, former Senior Federal Reserve official Thomas M. Hoenig joins me to discuss the aftermath of the global financial crisis and his opposition to Quantitative Easing, "Too Big To Fail Banks", and support for a new, modernized Glass-Steagall Act to break up mega-banks. As listeners of Parallax Views may recall, Hoenig was recently featured as the main protagonist of recent guest Christopher Leonard's The Lords of Easy Money: How the Federal Broke the American Economy. In the second segment of the show, former Senior Federal Reserve official Thomas M. Hoenig joins me to discuss the aftermath of the global financial crisis and his opposition to Quantitative Easing, "Too Big To Fail Banks", and support for a new, modernized Glass-Steagall Act to break up mega-banks. As listeners of Parallax Views may recall, Hoenig was recently featured as the main protagonist of recent guest Christopher Leonard's The Lords of Easy Money: How the Federal Broke the American Economy. In Leonard's book, which covers the Federal Reserve's policies in the years following the 2008 financial crisis, Hoenig is the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City who consistently (and in opposition to other Federal Reserve officials) votes "No" on proposed policies. Although painted as being merely an "anti-inflation hawk", Leonard says this is a misrepresentation and that Hoenig saw how Quantitative Easing was hurting rather than helping the ordinary citizens of Main Street America. In this conversation, Hoenig explains exactly how he saw policies like Quantitative Easing and the belief in "Too Big To Fail Banks" as having negative consequences for ordinary America. Hoenig is unfiltered in the course of our discussion and expresses his pro-market views, small "c" conservative views while also noting the ways in which some of his views have overlapped with liberal and left-wing figures like Bernie Sanders and Sherrod Brown. This conversation doesn't get into a debate about politics, but rather allows Hoenig to express his views. All in all it is hope by Parallax Views that this is seen as a fascinating discussion with a former major figure from the Federal Reserve who now serves as a Distinguished Fellow for the Mercatus Center.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Richard Silverstein of Tikun Olum (also occasional contributor to Jacobin) joins Parallax Views to discuss the Al-Aqsa Mosque uprising and his views on the history of Israel/Palestine. The conversation covers a great number of topics including the death of liberal and socialist Zionism, Rabbi Meier Kahane and Kahanism in Israel, Israel as a national security state, Hamas, Naftali Bennett, the language used in the discourse on Israe/Palestine, the role of religion in Israel, U.S. policy towards Israel and what Silverstein sees as its toothlessness, the defilement of Al-Aqsa Mosque (Islam's third holiest site), debates over the merits of armed Palestinian resistance, Richard's views on J Street, "both sides-ism" and the problem of it, the Temple Mount, occupied territory or disputed territory and the narratives about Israel/Palestine, the one democratic state solution, terror attacks, unequal power and casualties, the secularism of the original Labor Zionists, the significance of 1967, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Cooke, Israel's reaction to Muslims at al-Aqsa, the mortally wounded Palestinian at Al-Aqsa hit bit rubber bullets, how the al-Aqsa situation could escalate into full-scale war, Gaza and the West Bank, Israeli border police at al-Aqsa Mosque, AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), the two state solution, Kahane's desire for the return of Judea and total expulsion of Palestinians, religious end times-style extremism and the vision of a messianic era, the Israeli national security state, pushing back against criticisms of Israel just being antisemitism, Silverstein's vision of Judaism and its basis in ideas and ethical values as opposed to land and property, exploitation of religion for political aims, dealing with fact rather than conspiracy theories, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, the independent genre film factory that is Charles Band's long running Full Moon Features has a quirky new sci-fi/fantasy adventure on the horizon that's of, shall we say, epic proportions. Although Full Moon's known for serving up pint-sized mayhem with such franchises as Puppet Master and Demonic Toys, they're going BIG this time around with Attack of the 50 Ft. Camgirl! A riff on the immortal 1958 B-movie classic Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman, the film that may have created a million giantess fetishists w/ it's buxom star Allison Hayes, puts an Instagram influencer twist on the often-told science fiction tale of the gargantuan beauty run amuck and even features a showdown between not one but two glamorous Godzilla-sized gals. Joining me to discuss Full Moon's latest sci-fi/fantasy romp, are director Jim Wynorski and star Ivy Smith, making her acting debut as the titular 50 ft camgirl! First up is Ivy Smith, who talks a little bit about the film, the story of it, how she got into modeling, how she ended up as the 50 ft camgirl, the anxiety that comes with doing a nude scene, destroying miniatures in the climatic showdown of the giantesses, getting rude messages from men asking her to step on them (if you want to do that send money!) and working with director Jim Wynorski, producer Charles Band, and actresses Christine Nyugen and Lisa London among other things! Then, Jim Wynorksi comes on the program and chastisize me a bit for asking questions that aren't stupid enough. We talk about how Attack of the 50 ft Camgirl came to be, what he learned from maverick exploitation producer Roger Corman, why men are into the giantess fetish, his friendship with Traci Lords (who made her non-adult debut in Jim's 1988 remake of Not of This Earth), the legendary character of Orville Ketchum in Jim's cult classics Sorority House Massacre II and its sequel Hard to Die (as well as the interesting details on how those films got made!), Jim's sense of humor, how my original questions bored him to tears, his upcoming feature Bigfoot or Bust, working with Stormy Daniels and why he didn't like that experience, and more! All in all this is one of the sillier and weirder episodes of Parallax Views I've done to date! Many thanks to Chris Alexander and Full Moon Features for making it happen! And if any of my listeners are in Dallas, be sure to stop by Texas Frightmare Weekend where you can see the premiere of Attack of the 50ft Camgirl and meet both Full Moon head honcho Charles Bad and the beautiful, talented Ivy Smith (Friday only for Ivy!)! And be sure to check out Ivy Smith's Facebook page

On this edition of Parallax Views, Doug Bandow, former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan and regular contributor to Antiwar.Com, The American Conservative, and Responsible Statecraft, joins me to discuss his trip to the Doha Forum in Qatar and the vibe there as well as President Joe Biden's "New World Order" speech. This leads us to a conversation about the potential slow decline and erosion of Pax Americana, the waning of U.S. dollar hegemony, and what it means for the average American citizen. Doug also speaks to the issue of the ceasfire in Yemen, the need for the U.S. to relearn diplomacy, not getting trapped in defending figures like Putin while opposing the U.S. foreign policy blob, rating Biden's response to the Ukraine crisis, and much, much more! In the second half of the program, we present a previously lost interview with Casey Chalk, who served in the military, joins me to discuss his The American Conservative article "The Somme And The Global War On Terror"about what we can learn from the German WWI soldier Ernst Junger through his recollectionsof the brutality of warfare in Storm of Steel. Junger has been accused of romanticizing war and was of a conservative, reactionary-bent politically, although he was critical of Nazis and the Third Reich. This conversation, which sees a left-leaning individual in dialogue with a conservative Catholic, attempts to deal with the human cost of war without getting bogged down in current issues like the American culture wars. It is a conversation I am proud of even if I find aspects of Junger problematic. I'm grateful it was saved from oblivion and offer my sincerest apologies to Casey Chalk for the extreme lateness of its publication (it was recorded in the aftermath of the Afghanistan withdrawal). I hope Casey will accept my apology.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Santa Claus is running for Congress! Hailing from North Pole, Alaska, where he's served as the President of the Chamber of Commerce and two terms in the City Council, the ordained monk who legally changed his name to Santa Claus and became a local legend for his work helping children in need is throwing himself into a carnival-esque Congressional race in Alaska that includes over 40 candidates including Sarah Palin. This real-life St. Nicholas isn't some joke candidate either. He's gone viral and is gaining grassroots support. Moreover he's a Santa Claus of the people who describes himself as a Democratic Socialist, supporter of Bernie Sanders, and proponent of Medicare4All. In a past life he was a member of the Screen Actors Guild and did work on counter-terrorism. Through his life he's come to see what he calls the love vs. fear dynamic that holds us apart. With his run for congress he wants to inspire children across the world much like he did visiting them in orphanages, making videos for them during the COVID crisis, and more. In this conversation you'll learn the funny story about how President Obama got him to run for taxes as well as his stances on human rights, housing, medical marijuana, indigenous peoples, the wealth tax, and much, much more as well as the importance of making a difference to children in these polarizing times. It's a heartwarming, thoughtful episode of Parallax Views that you won't want to miss!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Candice Wuehle joins us to discuss her mind-bending novel Monarch, which combines mind control conspiracies, America's morbid fascination with dead girls and true crime, Norwegian folklore, and child beauty pageants to explore themes of identity formation, the violence of consumer society, patriarchy, memory, and trauma. Description of MONARCH: A Novel from Soft Skull Press: The cryptic worlds of Hanna and Stranger Things mingle with the dark humor of Dare Me in this debut novel about a teen beauty queen who discovers she’s been a sleeper agent in a deep state government program After waking up with a strange taste in her mouth and mysterious bruises, former child pageant star Jessica Clink unwittingly begins an investigation into a nefarious deep state underworld. Equipped with the eccentric education of her father, Dr. Clink (a professor of Boredom Studies and the founder of an elite study group known as the Devil’s Workshop), Jessica uncovers a disquieting connection between her former life as a beauty queen and an offshoot of Project MKUltra known as MONARCH. As Jessica moves closer to the truth, she begins to suspect the involvement of everyone around her, including her own mother, Grethe (a Norwegian pageant queen turned occult American wellness guru for suburban housewives). With the help of Christine (her black-lipsticked riot grrrl babysitter and confidante), Jessica sets out to take down Project MONARCH. More importantly, she must discover if her first love, fellow teen queen Veronica Marshall, was genuine or yet another deep state plant. Merging iconic true crime stories of the ’90s (Lorena Bobbitt, Nicole Brown Simpson, and JonBenét Ramsey) with theories of human consciousness, folklore, and a perennial cultural fixation with dead girls, MONARCH questions the shadow sides of self-concept: Who are you if you don’t know yourself? In this conversation we delve into a number of different aspects and themes from the book including the Project Monarch conspiracy theory and Cathy O'Brien's Trance Formation of America (and how Candice viewed it metaphorically rather than a factual account), cultural programming, the limits of feminism in the 1990s, heroin chic, the Barbie doll face on the cover of the novel, the pop culture image of a person vs. who they truly are, the occult, what freedom means in the context of the novel and why Candice believes freedom is harder to achieve than ever before, explaining the book's dedication "I wrote this book for women who survived and women who didn’t, but mostly I wrote it for those still somewhere in between", the role of "circles" and "spirals" in the main characters narration, what people don't understand about trauma, sex and liberation, the violence patriarchy commits against men as well as women, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Ken Silva of the Epoch Times joined me to discuss his reporting on the FBI's PATCON (Patriot Conspiracy) operation, which attempted to infiltrate the far-right "Patriot"/militia movement in the early 1990s, and the questions that remain about the federal handling of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building aka the Oklahoma City Bombing on April 19th, 1995. Although Silva works for the admittedly very conservative Epoch Times he believes the story of PATCON should be of concern to everyone given the history of FBI operations like COINTELPRO. We discuss how the FBI set up front groups like the Veterans Aryan Movements to target militia/"Patriot" movement targets such as Tom Posey, a veteran who became radicalized after being thrown under the bus by the Reagan administration in the aftermath of Iran/Contra. We also delve into how the story of PATCON was first reported by extremism researcher J.M. Berger, then covered by a whistleblower in a heavily redacted Newsweek piece, and, rather critically, by Wend S. Painting in her book Aberration in the Heatland of the Real about Timothy McVeigh. Ken and I discuss how PATCON may have created blowback and even, potentially, contributed to aiding far-right wing activities in the lead up to the OKC bombing (PATCON was shuttered in 1993; two years before the bombing). We also dissect the rather complex story of the OKC bombing including the neo-nazi terrorist bank robbers known as the Aryan Republican Army, the private white nationalist city Elohim City and its mysterious head of security Andreas Strassmeir, the ongoing high-stakes case of Jesse Trentadue (whose brother Kenneth Michael Trentadue was founding hanging in a cell during the OKC bombing investigation) and how it relates to the case, a whistleblower who claims feds were involved in the incitement of extremist groups, Aryan Republican Army Donna Langan (formerly Peter Langan), the Wolverine Watchmen case and the Gov. Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot, the possibility that the OKC bombing was the result of a failed sting operation (as opposed to other, more sensational theories claiming it was an "inside job" or had Iraqi connections), Ken's recent interview with Bob Ricks (FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge during the 1993 Waco Siege and FBI Special Agent in Charge during the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing investigation), ATF informant and white supremacist Carol Howe (who claims that she informed federal authorities of plans emanating from Elohim City to attack federal buildings in the lead up to the OKC bombing), United States Attorney General Merrick Garland, PATCON as a failure at best and having led to incitement at worst, the origins of the Patriot movement, domestic spying, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, outgoing United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories occupied since 1967 S. Michael Lynk joins us to discuss his latest report on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Dr. Lynk, who is also an associate professor at the University of Ottawa, describes how he wrote the report and the difficulties of writing due to roadblocks from both the pandemic and Israeli officials. We then begin to delve into the findings of the report with a focus on the shocking stories of settler violence detailed within, the unequal practice of law and policy in the OPT in regard to its Israeli and Palestinian citizens, housing demolition and the issue of collective punishment, "permanent occupation" as a legal paradox, international law, institutionalized systems of racial oppression and domination, the differences between what took place in apartheid South Africa and what is happening now in the Occupied Territories, and much, much more. Additionally, we do raise the issue of the "A" word, or apartheid, in the OPT. What does it mean? What does it entail? And why does Lynk's report employ the term. This specific UN report raises the issue of apartheid alongside a growing number of others in the past few years including B'tselem, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International. What does it all mean and what are Lynk's recommendations going forward? Also, what does the report mean when it calls for the United Nations to re-establish the Special Committee Against Apartheid and what are the broader ramifications of what is currently occurring in the OPT according to Lynk's report? All that and more on this edition of Parallax Views!

On this edition of Parallax Views, famed Egyptologist (or as she puts it "recovering Egyptologist") Dr. Kara Cooney of UCLA joins us to explore her fascinating book The Good Kings: Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World. Dr. Cooney describes herself as a recovering Egyptologist in order to consider the ways in which the cultural phenomena of Egyptomania may have a dark side that romanticizes and uncritically celebrates power. We discuss this as well as the parallels between King Ramsey II and Donald Trump, Orientalism, universalism vs. particularism, the problem of the Ancient Aliens narrative about the Pyramids (and why the Pharaohs would like that view), ancient Egypt's superiority complex and exceptionalism, the Pyramids as a weapon of the mind utilized by the kings, power and images, the Confederate Statues debate and how we can relate it to The Good Kings, the lamentations of the dead that take place in upper Egypt, who were the ancient people of Egypt beyond the Pharaohs (for example those who actually built the pyramids), the concept of Ma'at (related to truth and order) in ancient Egypt and its personification as a goddess, David Graeber and The Dawn of Everything, Pharaohs and authoritarianism (and autocracy), the Supreme Court and religion, and much, much more! Dr. Kara Cooney in front of one of the Pyramids in Egypt In the second segment of the show, Dr. Amineh Hoti, executive director of the Centre for Dialogue and the co-founder of the first Action and Centre for the Study of Muslim-Jewish Relation at the University of Cambridge, joins us to discuss her fascinating new book Gems and Jewels: The Religions of Pakistan. Like her father, previous Parallax Views guest Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, Dr. Hoti has sought to bridge the gap of understanding between the East and West by fostering interfaith dialogue and understanding between different cultures and their religions. In this conversation we discuss such issues as Islamophobia and its impact; Jains, Buddhists, Zoroastrianism (and the Parsi faith), Hindus, and other non-Muslim religious communities in Pakistan; Dr. Hoti's experiences teaching students who began as intolerant towards faith different than their own; Dr. Hoti's overcoming of cultural misogyny, chauvinism, and sexism and how Islam is for education of both women and men; the Sufi saint and poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai; how interfaith dialogue strengthens faith rather than degrading it; the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the effect it had on both the Muslim community and humanity as a whole; misunderstandings about Pakistan and the stereotypes of "the Other"; Sufism; the Orientalist romanticization of Sufism in the West; Ahuru Mazda, Zoroastrianism, and the misperception of the Parsi community as "fire worshippers" in Pakistan; Taxila and the deep roots of Buddhism in Pakistan; the Sikh community in Pakistan, the importance of Pakistan to Sikhism, and the story of Baba Guru Nanak; the temples; the temples of the Sindh province of Pakistan; Katas Raj Temples and the body of emerald green water beside it; meeting the Christians of Pakistan in Karachi at the St. Patrick's Cathedral on Christmas Day; the Sufi saints of Pakistan and writings like the Kashf Al-Mahjub; the love stories of Sufism; how the media presents religious communities to each other and how it leads to monolithic views of those religious communities; the Abrahamic God in Islam; Muslim-Hindu unity; the United Nations and the concept of soft speech vs. hate speech; and much, much more! The Katas Raj Temples and the body of emerald, green water beside it

On this edition of Parallax Views, independent scholar Wahid Azal joins Parallax Views to discuss the ideology of Russia's Aleksandr Dugin, which he describes as steeped in imperialism and occultism. Dugin has become known in the West as "Putin's Brain", but lost his academic job at Moscow State University in 2014 after essentially calling for genocide against Ukrainians. He is known for advocating what he calls the "Fourth Political Theory" and for writing the book The Foundations of Geopolitics, which had influence in the Russian military. Wahid makes the case that while Dugin is marginal in Russia and Ukraine, his ideology has been boosted throughout Europe through oligarch funding and in the U.S. thanks to a number of factors including Dugin's Rasputin-esque image being perfectly fitted for sensational, attention-grabbing headlines and features. In this conversation we discuss the underpinnings of Dugin's thought including the idea of Atlantacism, the role of the apocalypse in Dugin's worldview, the influence of Heidegger on Dugin, Dugin's connection to Traditionalism and how the influence of Heidegger on him is not in line with Traditionalism (we also discuss what Tradtionalism is from Rene Guenon to Julius Evola and how Dugin's thinking could be described as Counter-Traditionalism), Dugin's current interest in the Russian Orthodox Church and his previous interest in chaos magick, the neo-nazi Satanist group The Order of Nine Angles, the death of Azal's wife and how he believes Duginists may have been involved in it, explaining the meaning of Dugin's quote "We will cure you with poison" and its connection to alchemy, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, April 10th, 2022 would've marked the 43rd birthday of American peace activist Rachel Corrie. In 2003 she went to the Palestinian city of Rafa in Gaza alongside other activists in the International Solidarity Movement. On March 16th of that year she stood in front of a Palestinian home that was to be demolished by an Israeli Defense Forces armored bulldozer. Corrie was crushed to death by said bulldozer. Her death led to an international uproar and her parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie, sought justice and a full investigation. It has been 19 years since Rachel's passing. In order to remember her, tell her story, and explain what she was fighting for in her support for the plight of Palestinians in the occupied territories we're joined by her parents Cindy and Craig Corrie. Cindy and Craig relate Rachel's story and the events of March 16th, 2003.

On this edition of Parallax Views, investigative journalist Karim Zidan, whose work has been featured in Foreign Policy, The Guardian, and the MMA-news website Bloody Elbow, joins us to discuss the intersection between politics and Mixed Martial Arts from Chechnya's Ramzan Kadyrov's Akmat Fight Club to Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White's appearances on Fox News. We'll discuss how figures from Ted Cruz to Vladimir Putin are interested in MMA and how they attempt to use it politically. We also delve into such topics as sportswashing and propaganda, Abuzayed Vismuradov (the powerful Chechnya associated with Ramzan Kadyrov and the Akmat Fight Club who is known simply as "Patriot" and is considered one of Chechnya's most dangerous men), "The Last Emperor" Fedor Emelianenko (and the shady history of his brother), self-described anarcho-communist fighter "The Snowman" Jeff Monson and his relationship with Russia and Vladimir Putin, Conor MacGregor, Saudi Arabia and the WWE, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and much, access journalism in MMA reporting, unionization efforts and the UFC, and much, much more! In the second segment of the show, progressive sports journalist David Zirin joins the show to discuss the intersection of sports and politics more broadly and his latest book The Kaepernick Effect: Taking a Knee, Changing the World. We discuss how David began his now almost 20-year run of writing about politics and sports before delving into such issues as leftist aversion to sports, sports and nationalism (and militarism), cheerleaders who supported Black Lives Matter, the Kaepernick Effect as about the Effect even more so than Colin Kaepernick himself, the film National Champions and efforts of NCAA college football to receive fair compensation, exploitation of athletes by owners, and more!