Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

On this edition of Parallax Views, we continue our coverage of the horrific events unfolding in Israel/Palestine, the comparisons being made between 9/11 and October 7th (and the comparisons to the events that aren't being discussed), the theory of blowback and the thesis of the Adam Curtis documentary THE POWER OF NIGHTMARES as it relates to the unfolding events, Netanyahu's propping up of Hamas in the years leading up to the attack in an effort to divide Palestinians, the siege of Gaza, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Union University's Christopher W. Jones joins me to discuss the potential calculus of Hamas in their brutal attack over the weekend. Christopher brings his knowledge as specialist in ancient history and ISIS/ISIL aka Islamic State (which he has written about) to this conversation. In the later portion of the discussion we discuss what Christopher calls the "Strategy of Atrocities" as used in warfare as well as the comparisons being made between the tactics of Islamic State and Hamas. In the earlier part of the conversation we discuss calculus of Hamas, normalization of relationships between Arab states and Israel and the role that may have played in motivating the attack, Hezbollah, the Second Intifada, the trained professional military of Hamas, Turkey, Qatar, demographics and the role it could play in this war, and much, much more.

Parallax Views continues coverage of the Hamas attack, Israel's retaliation in Gaza, and events unfolding in the Middle East. This time Mitchell Plitnick of ReThinking Foreign Policy joins the program.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Jewish-American journalist Abe Silberstein joins the show to offer his commentary on the events unfolding in the Middle East. This is part of an ongoing series with different guests and was recorded on Monday.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Prof Stephen Zunes, noted Middle East scholar and politics professor at the University of San Francisco, returns to discuss the latest events unfolding in Israel/Palestine with a focus on the Hamas attack and the Israeli response. Prof. Zunes will also offer a history lesson about how Hamas originally gained power and political prominence in the Middle East. This will include an examination of U.S. foreign policy under George W. Bush. We'll also be discussing a number of other issues such as Iran, the ideology of Hamas, the Israeli far-right, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Prof. James M. Dorsey of the Turbulent World of MidEast Soccer blog returns to discuss the latest news on Israel/Palestine, specifically the deadly attack on Hamas and what it pertains for the future of Middle East geopolitics. The attack has been described as "Israel's 9/11" and incurred civilian causalities. Among the issues tackled in this conversation: - Hamas' motivations for the attack - Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morrocco, Egypt, and what this means for Middle East relations and the shattering of many notions about geopolitics in the Middle East - Israel cutting off access to water, electricity, and food - Hezbollah in Lebanon - Netanyahu's government focus on the West Bank; failure to prevent attack and intelligence and operational failure - Possibility of escalation into a conflict with Iran - U.S. decision to send an aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean - Israeli far-right ultranationalist movements led by figures like Religious Zionist Party's Bezalel Smotrich and Otzma Yehudit's Itamar Ben-Gvir - Netanyahu's coalition government and the polarization of the Jewish community over the current Israeli government - Effect of Hamas attack: hardening of anti-Palestinian sentiments in Israel while also calling into question the efficacy of Israeli security forces in the public sentiment - Relationship between Hamas and Iran; it hasn't always been a comfortable relationship re: Syria - Hamas was preparing in the open for a moment like this; the explosion between Hamas and Israel should not be surprising, but breaking through the fence into Israel should be; Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri's comments about "total war" over the summer - Question of Saudi recognition of Israel and whether these unfolding events will kill that - Erdogan's Turkey and whether it will try to take a role/position as mediators - Arab social media backlash against Hamas' way of conducting the attack; Turkish support of Israel on social media and the reasons for it - Palestine Authority's Mahmoud Abbas and potential succession struggle - Possible future negotiation between Hamas and Israel? - Difference between Hamas and Fatah - Hamas' miscalculation on two fronts - U.S.-Israel relationship rift prior to the attacks; Biden administration - Israeli blockade of Gaza and occupation of the West Bank - Occupation cannot be sustained indefinitely - Biggest risk going forward for Palestinians and Israelis - The strange points-of-commonality between Hamas and Israeli ultranationalists - Netanyahu's warning telling Gazans to leave areas that Israel is targeting; misconceptions about that warning; density of Gaza's population and importance of that fact - Israeli and Palestinian trauma - What will it take to end the conflict? - Question of failure of the international community in regards to Israel/Palestine - How will China react to this? - WWIII? - James article on the subject of this episode: "The Middle East may never be the same"

On this edition of Parallax Views, Jonathan Marshall, author of the book Dark Quadrant: Organized Crime, Big Business, and the Corruption of American Democracy, returns to discuss his recent Lobster Magazine piece "The Watergate break-ins and the Howard Hughes connection" as well as, briefly in the latter portion of the program, his scholarly article in the Journal of Cold War Studies entitled "U.S. Cold War Policy and the Italian Far-Right: The Nixon Administration, Republican Party Operatives, and the Borghese Coup Plot of 1970". Over the years many have pondered the question of "Why" when it comes to the Watergate break-in. What was the motivation, the end goal of breaking into the Democratic National Committee? It's no doubt an important question to ask. What brought down the Nixon administration, however, was the cover-up rather than the crime. So, in many ways, the question has remained unanswered or only speculated. Jonathan Marshall offers his assessment in this conversation in which we delve into what could be called the "Secret History" of Watergate. For Marshall, the motivations for Watergate, can be tied into issues related to money-in-politics, blackmail, and, believe it or not, the figure of the notoriously reclusive 20th century business tycoon Howard Hughes. Marshall takes us through the history of the Howard Hughes empire's attempt to gain political favor, including with regards to his relationship with Richard Nixon over the years. Additionally, Hughes had ties to Larry O'Brien, the then chair of the Democratic National Commitee. It's a story that will lead us down rabbit holes of political subterfuge involving publishers, reporters, political organizers, and other social power players as well as the CIA, Watergate plumber G. Gordon Liddy, and many other. It also, Jonathan argues, has relevance to today. All that and more on this edition of Parallax Views!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Matt McManus, a Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of Michigan and the author of The Rise of Post-Modern Conservatism, joins the show to discuss his new book The Political Right and Equality: Turning Back the Tide of Egalitarian Modernity. Matt gives a sweeping history of the political right that tries to grapple, from a left social democratic perspective, with conservative thought since the French Revolution. In doing so Matt gets beyond the talking heads on FOX News or flamboyant characters like Alex Jones and Jordan Peterson, instead focusing on the most serious intellectual elements of the political right and how the left should/can respond to those elements. Moreover, Matt discusses the most reactionary segments of the political right in this conversation and their beliefs. Among the topics discussed in this conversation: - Aristotle and the Aristotelian universe in the political right; order and hierarchy in the thinking of the political right; modernity and the radical break from antiquity - Conservatism's relationship with liberals; conservative discomfort with liberalism - English conservative philosopher Roger Scruton's unpacking of liberalism; Roger Scruton and "The Unthinking Man"; agency and critical thinking as an entitlement of the higher orders of society (within the thought of the political right); - Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, the sublime quality of the "Sun King", and monarchy - The thought of uber-reactionary Joseph de Maistre and his response to the events of the French Revolution - F.A. Hegel as conservative? and right-wing Hegelianism - Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky and his turn from Christian socialism to conservatism, his critique of socialism and liberalism in books like Demons, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky Contra Leo Tolstoy - Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment and Dostoyevsky's critique of scientifically-oriented material ontologies and utilitarianism; psychological reactions to ontological materialism - Utopianism vs. Anti-utopianism, hierarchy and social order/organization, and strawman arguments - The political right in the 20th century and particularly after WWII - The far-right and the transition to fascism from its antecedents on the right; anti-democratic thought amongst elements of the political right; blood and soil ideology - Nietzsche and the political right - Edifying myths, charismatic cults of personality, and fascism; brief discussion about Mussolini - Right-wing anti-capitalism; right-wing rejections of economistic worldviews - Noblesse oblige and the political right; an exploration of the emergent postliberal right - The New American Right of the 1950s; the three-legged stool of American conservatism: muscular anti-New Deal free market capitalism, anticommunist foreign policy hawks, and social conservatives (specifically white evangelical Christian social conservatives); American right-wing opposition to Civil Rights; the breaking down of the three-legged stool after the end of the Cold War and fall of the Soviet Union - The new formation of the American political right: National Conservatism, Postliberalism, and the Eugenicons or Nietzschean Right - The Peter Thiel/Curtis Yarvin segment of the 21st century American Right and Richard Hanania; Hayek's anti-conservatism, the political right, and neoliberalism; Ayn Rand - Ideological diversity of the 21st century right-wing - Patrick Deneen, Sohrab Ahmari, Michael Lind, and postliberal oppositions to figures like Bronze Age Pervert and white nationalist/eugenicist segments of the right - The possibility of a multiracial political right? - The thought of Russian philosopher/geopolitical thinker Aleksandr Dugin and the far-right

On this edition of Parallax Views, Alfred de Zayas, a law professor at the Geneva School of Diplomacy and the UN Independent Expert on International Order from 2012-18, returns to the program to discuss the current worrying situation of Nagorno-Karabakh from an international law and human rights perspective. In the course of this conversation de Zayas offers sweeping history of why Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh fear aggression by Azerbaijan enough to flee. We delve into the history of Turkish and Azeri persecution of Armenians going back to the 1915 genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire as well as the Istanbul Pogrom of September 6-7 1955. Additionally, Alfred de Zayas talk about Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine and what he argues is the hypocrisy of the international community on the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Mark Movsesian, Director of the Center for Law and Religion at St. John's University, joins us to discuss his Compact Magazine article "The Second Armenian Genocide". The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has come to a close with Azerbaijan taking control, thus leaving many Armenians to flee the region in what many are calling an ethnic cleansing. Mark argues that these events unfolded due to 21st century Great Power competition and that Armenians are the ones that are paying for it. In relation to this we discuss Russia, Turkey, Israel, and the U.S. in relation to Nagorno-Karabakh. We also delve into why U.S. foreign policy has had so little interest in the plight of Armenians despite claiming to being in favor of human rights and R2P (Responsibility to Protect Doctrine), how this incident and the U.S. response reveals American foreign policy hypocrisy, the belief that Armenia is a puppet of Russia, Russia's issues with Armenia and the end of their peacekeeping efforts in the region, the Armenian genocide of 1915, Azeri lobbying efforts guiding the narrative about Nagorno-Karabakh in the West, the response (or lack of response) to Nagorno-Karabakh by American Christians and secular Leftists, Armenia as the oldest Christian civilizations in the world and the role religion plays in the conflict, Turkey's Erdogan, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Mike Rothschild, a journalist specializing in the topic of right-wing conspiracy culture, joins us to discuss his new book Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories. A follow-up of sorts to his previous book The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything, Jewish Space Lasers delves into the history of virulently antisemitic conspiracy theories concerning the wealthy Rothschild banking family and the popularity of those theories within the American right-wing and it's media ecosystem. How did the Rothschilds become public enemy No. 1 of the fringe right in America? How does the Rothschild conspiracy theory feed into conspiracy theories about George Soros and Black Rock's Larry Fink? And how has the Rothchild conspiracy theory crept from the dark corners of the fringe right into, in many ways, the mainstream of U.S. conservatism? Hopefully this conversation will help answer all of those questions and more! And no, Mike is not related to the famed financial family. In the course of our conversation we'll discuss the history of Rothschild conspiracy theories going back to the era of Napolean and Waterloo, the lucrative grift of antisemitic conspiracy theory peddling, the John Birch Society and Gary Allen's None Dare Call It Conspiracy, the modernist poet Ezra Pound and how his protege Eustace Mullins created an antisemitic narrative around the formation of the Federal Reserve (and how well-known figures like Glenn Beck have picked up on this particular conspiracy theory), the Mormon conspiracy theorist Cleon Skousen and his influence on the American right-wing, David Icke's reptilian conspiracy theories and the New Age/Wellness connection to antisemitic conspiracism, Marjorie Taylor Green's conspiracy theory about the Rothschilds and weather modification, Bill Cooper's UFO conspiracy tome Behold a Pale Horse and the strange hoax known as Quiet Weapons for Silent Wars: An Introductory Programming Manual which claimed to be a top secret document, the Rothschilds and Zionism, Cold War anti-communism and antisemitism, the 1930s movie House of Rothschild starring horror icon Boris Karloff and Hollywood's WWII-era reluctance to alienate Nazi Germany, Nazi propaganda films like The Eternal Jew and Die Rothschilds (aka The Rothschilds' Shares in Waterloo), how antisemitic conspiracy theories distract from truly addressing issues like wealth inequality, the role American evangelist and 700 Club host Pat Robertson had in promulgating Rothschild conspiracy theories, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Noah Kulwin joins us to discuss the fourth season of his and Brendan James's highly lauded podcast series Blowback. In previous seasons Noah and Brendan have covered the Iraq War, the Cuban Revolution, and the Korean War. For season four they're tackling the mammoth topic of Afghanistan from the era of the Cold War to the U.S.'s invasion of the country after the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks and eventual withdrawal 20 years later. In the course of our conversation will discuss the covert intelligence network known as the Safari Club and the scandalous Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), Afghan warlords, the mujahedeen and D.C. foreign policy heavyweight Zbigniew Brezinski, Rambo III, the metaphor of the ouroboros (snake eats its own tail) in Blowback Season 4, the influence of Hideo Kojima's acclaimed video game series Metal Gear Solid on Blowback season 4, Clinton/Bush-era Counterterrorism Czard Richard Clarke's curious comments about 9/11, Peter Dale Scott's The Road to 9/11, conspiracy theories and parapolitics, Steve Coll's Ghost Wars, sources used for Blowback season 4, the deep state, torture programs, al Qaeda, jihadism and intel agencies, Seymour Hersh, the double agent Ali Mohammad, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Samuel Moyn, Chancellor Kent Professor of Law and History at Yale University, joins the show to discuss his new book Liberalism Against Itself: Cold War Intellectuals and the Making of Our Times. Samuel examines and dissects the beliefs of Cold War intellectuals like Karl Popper, Judith Shklar, Gertrude Himmelfarb, Lionel Trilling, Isaiah Berlin, and Hannah Arendt to argue that liberals of the Cold War in many ways ended up undermining the progressive and Enlightenment principles of the liberal tradition in their attempts to combat communism. In doing so, he makes the case, they helped paved the way not only for modern equivalents/heirs of the Cold War liberalism like Anne Applebaum, Timothy Garton Ash, Paul Berman, Michael Ignatieff, Tony Judt, and Leon Wieseltierm, but also the reigning power of the current neoliberal order and the withering of the welfare state. A note that this conversation is talking about liberals and liberalism in a very academic sense rather than it's colloquial usage. Among the topics discussed are Judith Shklar's After Utopia (and why Shklar is a guiding force throughout Liberalism Against Itself), Sigmun Freud and the politics of self-regulations, decolonization and paternalisitic racism in the Cold War era, Jonathan Chait's scathing review of Liberalism Against Itself and Samuel's response to it (excluive, thus far, to this show), Patrick Deneen's Why Liberalism Failed and Samuel's critique of the burgeoning postliberal right, thoughts on Sohrab Ahmari's Tyranny Inc., Karl Popper of The Open Society and Its Enemies fame and the problem his critique of historicism, the Mont Pelerin Society and neoliberalism, F.A. Hayek, Gertrude Himmelfarb and the Christian thinker Lord Acton, the Cold War liberals' critique of romanticism and Samuel's response to it, the Soviet Union and the idea of Progress and who lays claim to it, the concept of emancipation and the French Revolution, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, longtime antiwar movement voice and peace activist Norman Solomon joins Parallax Views to discuss his book War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of It's Military Machine. We also debate/conversate about Ukraine and where things should go from here in regards to the Russian invasion, Ukraine's continued resistance, the question of diplomacy, and how the U.S. should be responding to it as well as how weapons manufacturers on both sides are the biggest victors of the invasion in terms of the weapons sales bonanza it has been for them. Most of the conversation thought is devoted to the nature of the U.S. warfare state and how media has often been complicit in manufacturing consent for U.S. war and military adventurism abroad. Norman also talks about his background, the problem with embedded journalism and how it ends up turning journalists into mouthpieces for the U.S. war machine, the myths of broadcast media ending the war in Vietnam, the nature of propaganda and the use of language in selling and normalizing war and militarism, the War on Terror, Iraq, Afghanistan, drone warfare and the technologies of war, the connection between racism and military adventurism, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Hanna Homestead, a policy analyst for the Center for International Policy, joins me to discuss the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024 in relation to climate change, carbon emissions, and emission reductions efforts. We delve into the Congressional efforts to block Department of Defense emission reduction endeavors and the reasons for that. We also delve into the paradoxical nature of U.S. militarized foreign policy "national interests" doctrine, the Biden administration, third party contractors and the DoD, the need for accountability and transparency measures, 9/11 and the War on Terror in relation to the NDAA, the 2001 and 2003 AUMFs (Authorization for Use of Military Force), Congressional pork barreling, and more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, we just passed the anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. As such this episode is devoted to the subject of 9/11 and the guest is Ray McGinnis, author of Unanswered Questions: What the September Eleventh Families Asked and the 9/11 Commission Ignored. Ray tells the story of the 9/11 Family Steering Committee and the Jersey Girls, a group of widows whose husbands perished in the 9/11 attacks, and their pressure campaigns that led to the formation of the 9/11 Commission. These families, traumatized by the attacks and the loss of their loved ones, sought to have hard questions answered about the 9/11 attacks. Was there a Saudi connection to the events of that day? Why was the United States government unable to prevent the attacks? What led to the failure of response? Who dropped the ball? Simply put, they wanted accountability. McGinnis skillfully tells the story in their book, offering a tale of grassroot citizens activism. In the course of our conversation we'll discuss a number of topics related to these issues including a possible UAE tie to the events of 9/11, Counterterrorism Czar Richard A. Clarke, Henry Kissinger's resignation from the 9/11 Commision and the role the 9/11 families played in that resignation, and much, much more!

After a break due to Hurricane Idalia, Parallax Views is back! Earlier this year I spoke with Matt Clement, editor of the recent zer0 books anthology No Justice, No Police?: The Politic of Protest and Social Change. Matt and I discussed the radical movements seeking to reform or even abolition policing in the U.S. and U.K. since the advent of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement took off. We'll discuss where these efforts are today and the different perspectives on policing, police brutality, police killing, and related topics in this conversation

On this edition of Parallax Views, Sohrab Ahmari of the online magazine Compact joins the show to discuss his intriguing new book Tyranny Inc.: How Private Power Crushed American Liberty--and What to Do About It. Sohrab is a self-described "man of the Right". As such one may expect that Tyranny Inc. is another addition to the growing cottage industry conservative diatribes about "woke capitalism". That's what makes the book so interesting though. Rather than offering an extended invective against "woke capital", Ahmari opts instead to offer a surprisingly materialist-based critical analysis of neoliberal capitalism and the darkest consequences of it. One could easily mistake it for having been written by a left-wing thinker. Ahmari even cites such figures associated with broadly leftist tendencies such as Marxist economic geographer David Harvey and economist J.K. Galbraith. In this conversation we discuss the key points of his book, his hopes for regulation of the corporate power in America going forward (which could be spearheaded by the political odd couple of Elizabeth Warren and JD Vance), capitalism and atomization, regional capital (small business owners) as the power base of the GOP that prevents Republicans from being a truly working class-friendly party, and, in the latter portion of the conversation, Ahmari's laudable, Catholic-driven opposition to the emergent trend of a racist, social darwinist, and eugenicist segment of the right that he calls the "Nietzschean Right".

On this edition of Parallax Views, long-time Hawaii-based journalist Albert Lanier makes his return to Parallax Views to discuss the Maui wildfires that have ravaged Lahaina. The death toll is currently at 114 with 800 or more unaccounted for at the time of this episode's release. And that doesn't even get into the financial damages to Maui. Homes have been destroyed and lives displaced. This raises the question: Could this tragedy have been, if not prevented, handled better? Could lives have been saved? Was the response to the Maui wildfires by the Maui Emergency Management and its then chief (now resigned) Herman Andaya profoundly mismanaged? Why were sirens not put into effect? Why were residents left to looking out there windows to realize the fire was happening and run to the harbor? What to make of the Biden administration's and FEMA's response? Or the frankly bizarre conspiracy theories that have already started trying to claim the natural disaster was actually a DEW (Directed Energy Weapons) attack? All this and much more will be addressed on this edition of Parallax Views.

On this edition of Parallax Views, historian Luke A. Nichter, author of such books as The Nixon Tapes (w/ Douglas Brinkley), The Last Brahmin: Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and the Making of the Cold War, and Lyndon B. Johnson: Pursuit of Populism, Paradox of Power, joins the show to discuss his new book The Year That Broke Politics: Collusion and Chaos in the Presidential Election of 1968. Although many think of the 1960s as the "summer of love", it was in truth an era of great turbulence and tumult beyond all the imagery of flower-pop and free love as depicted in pop culture explorations of the era. 1968, in particular, was particularly chaotic year both domestically within the U.S. and internationally. The Vietnam war was raging. It was a time of protests. The assassinations of Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy. Lyndon Johnson announced that he would not be seeking another term in office. Riots broke out outside the Democratic National Convention. And an election was in our midst that would see Republican Richard Nixon, Democrat Hubert Humphrey, and pro-segregation third-party candidate George Wallace. Luke will take us through what that year meant political, delve into how LBJ may have dropped out of the race but not out of making political maneuverings, evangelist Billy Graham's only recently discovered role in the election year and the campaigns, what motivated the voters with their decision at the ballot box in 1968, Luke's questioning of the narrative that Nixon's "Southern Strategy" played an outside role in the election outcome, the meaning of 1968 in the age of Trump and in lieu of the 2024 election, Nixon's centrism?, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, progressive radio host Thom Hartmann joins the show in the first half for a 30-minute conversation about his latest book The Hidden History of American Democracy. Hartmann argues that if American citizens look back deep into the history of the United States, going back to the Founding Fathers, they will find that "democracy is in our veins" despite the country's many faults over its history. We'll delve into some of the key points of the book, the Constitution, slavery in America, the work of historians Charles and Mary Beard and Thom's criticism of it, and much, much more. In the second segment of the show, Ret. LTC. William J. Astore of the Eisenhower Media Network to discuss the British Medical Journal editorial "Reducing the risks of nuclear war". William and I will discuss the risks of nuclear war in the 21st century, Oppenheimer, William's reflection on his time spent at Alamogordo and Los Alamos, thought on the recently passed away Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, freelancer writer Bertrand Russell joins me to discuss the issue of black poverty, which he grew up in, and his article for The Atlantic entitled "The Failure of Affirmative Action". This article has led to Bertrand appearing on media outlets like MSNBC and Slate. It doesn't argue that Affirmative Action didn't help black Americans, but rather that Affirmative Action didn't adequately address the plight of the black poor in America. In this discussion we'll discuss how black America isn't a monolith, specifically socioeconomically. This'll lead us to talking about the black poor, black middle, and black upper class. We'll also talk about "class reductionism" and "race reductionism", Bertrand's criticism of black intellectual thought leaders like Ta-Nehisi Coates and Ibram X. Kendi, class interests in the black community, the Netflix show Beef and how it deals with the class in relationship to the Asian-American experience, the racial wealth gap and the work of scholar William "Sandy" Darity, the ADOS (American Descendants of Slavery) movement, Ibram X. Kendi's recent piece "'Working Class' Does Not Equal 'White'", acknowledging the human elements when discussing class as well race, the "Ambassador" model of having someone from the upper echelons of a marginalized group represent the rest of that marginalized, class tensions in the black community, lack of representation of the black poor in media and academia, Bertrand's personal experience in University as someone who came from a background of poverty, cultural appropriation of the black poor and their experiences, "authenticity" as a social currency and the potential problems with it, and much, much more! Sources: Gen X incarceration rates by race, gender, and parental income https://opportunityinsights.org/paper/race/ Pew Research (2007) surveying value differences among black folks https://pewresearch.org/social-trends/2007/11/13/blacks-see-growing-values-gap-between-poor-and-middle-class/ Pew Research on black intra-group commonality

On this edition of Parallax Views, on May 6, 2023 a mass shooting occurred at Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, Texas. Nine people, including the shooter, perished in that incident with others being injured. The perpetrator was a man by the name of Mauricio Garcia. Despite his Latino background, Garcia identified as a neo-nazi. How, some thought, could a Latino man hold the views of neo-nazi, fascist, white supremacists? Antifascist researcher and antifascist skinhead Isaac join me to discuss this incident and, more broadly, their article "Nazis of Color" for the grassroots Unicorn Riot website. As it turns out, Nazis come in many different forms and can be found in Latin America, the Asia and Pacific Islands, and elsewhere. There are even, believe it or not, black Nazi skinheads. What is behind this startling phenomena? We'll discuss all that as well as much more in this conversation including the recent revelations about right-wing commentator Richard Hanania's association with the alt right, how skinhead culture was appropriated by neo-nazis and the history of the "Rock Against Communism" skinhead music movement,

On this edition of Parallax Views, Peter Grinspoon, MD joins the show to discuss his new book Seeing Through the Smoke: A Cannabis Specialist Untangles the Truth About Marijuana. Peter is the son of Lester Grinspoon, who was one of the top researchers into cannabis and psychedelics at Harvard. Peter's approach to marijuana is a bit different and unique as he takes aims at the myths perpetuated by reefer pessimists (those who think marijuana is the devil's plant) and cannatopians (those who consider marijuana a no-downsides miracle plant). We'll discuss the effects of marijuana on youths, the question of marijuana and disorders like schizophrenia, the medical benefits of marijuana, a story about Peter hanging out with science popularizer Carl Sagan (Sagan was a friend of the Grinspoon family and a marijuana advocate), thoughts on psychedelic research (and the question of whether Timothy Leary's effect on said research was positive or negative), and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Neil Howe, coiner of the term "Millennial", joins us to discuss his new book The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us About How and When This Crisis Will End. Howe, alongside his late colleague William Struass, came up with a generational view of history that emphasized history being cyclical rather than linear. This came about when Howe began to wonder about the differences between Baby Boomers and the GI Generation. Strauss and Howe's work has influenced a diverse range of figures including former Vice President Al Gore, progressive radio host Thom Hartmann, and, most infamously, former Trump advisor Steve Bannon (who made a documentary, Generation Zero, that was heavily influenced by the Fourth Turning theory). Neil and I will discuss the ins-and-outs of the Fourth Turning, generational archetypes, community vs. atomization, the decline of academia and academic disciplines, and much, misunderstanding about the Fourth Turning, whether the Howe-Strauss generational theory of history ignores material and identity (like gender) related issues, culture, and much more in this wide-ranging conversation.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Grant M. Gallagher of the upcoming history podcast New Disorder: a History of the 21st Century returns to discuss his June 5th, 2023 Newsweek op-ed "Why AI Panic is Not About Safety". We delve into how Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI and a signatory of the Center for AI Safety's recent statement about the potential dangers of AI, has been at the forefront of calling for safety regulations in lieu of current concerns about the rapid development of artificial intelligence technologies. But is all of this simply about AI safety, or ensuring regulations that are on the terms of and to the benefit of figures like Altman and their companies? Gallagher makes this argument in the op-ed and we delve into it more in this conversation about the AI Panic. This is not to say that there aren't legitimate concerns about AI, but rather that the way concerns about AI is currently being discussed conceal business interests and motivations. We also discuss ChatGPT and its potential biases, the Writer's Guild of America (WGA) strike in Hollywood (which is being driven by fears about AI), Henry Kissinger and the American political establishment, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, the Angel Studios movie Sound of Freedom, starring The Passion of the Christ's Jim Caviezel and Academy Award-winner Mira Sorvino, has become the sleeper indie hit of the summer. It purports to be based on the true life exploits of Tim Ballard, a former Department of Home Security official, and his fight to save children from the scourge of human trafficking in Colombia. The movie has been described as akin to the First Blood/Rambo movie or the Liam Neeson-starring Taken franchise, but based on a true story. Journalists Damion Moore and Lynn Packer of American Crime Journal, however, have been on the beat with regards to Tim Ballard the organization he co-founded Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.; Ballard has since resigned or, depending on your interpretation, been forced out of the organization) for a number of years now. Their reporting tells a very different story and paints a less flattering picture of Mr. Ballard. Damion Moore joins us on this edition of Parallax Views to unravel the true story of Sound of Freedom and Tim Ballard. We'll be covering the arrest of Earl Buchanan (the basis of the Tim Ballard/Sound of Freedom story), Mormonism, right-wing broadcaster Glenn Beck and his connection to Tim Ballard through the Nazarene Fund, the holes in Ballard's narrative and twisting of the truth, the "Rambo raid" story of Sound of Freedom vs. the reality, Sound of Freedom producer Eduardo Verástegui, how Sound of Freedom could harm/hurt efforts to fight human trafficking, the Jeffrey Epstein case, QAnon, the Wayfair child trafficking conspiracy theory, the Tim Ballard "White Board meeting" and profiteering/money-making, human/child trafficking cases (Elizabeth Frasier and Coco Berthmann), Utah attorney General Sean Reyes and his connections to Tim Ballard, Tim Ballard's during his days in the Department of Homeland Security and President Obama's record of immigrant deportation, American Crime Journal's coverage of the Eliza Bleu case, Tim Ballard's connections to Donald Trump, Tim Ballard and right-wing's "groomer" allegations against trans and LGBTQ+ activists, the problem with sensationalistic and tabloid true crime media and podcasts, and much, much more in this nearly 2 and a half hour conversation! Photo of the Tim Ballard "White Board" referenced in this episode. Thank you Damion Moore.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Richard Silverstein of the Tikun Olam blog returns to discuss the latest news in Israel/Palestine. We beging with a breakdown of the latest Israeli raid on Jenin and it's significance, the U.S. response, the resiliency of Palestinians, and related issues. From there we move onto the troubling story of an autistic Palestinian man who was killed by an Israeli police officer. Charges against said police officer were recently dropped and Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir mocked the dead man's mother calling her a "terrorist". We then wrap up the show with a discussion about Israeli-Russian national and academic Elizabeth Tsukov, who has done pro-Palestinian and human rights work, and her kidnapping by an Iraqi Shia militia. All that and more on this addition of Parallax Views!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Sam Fraser, researcher and senior communications associate at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, joins us to discuss the Biden administration's nomination of Elliott Abrams to the bipartisan United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. A few years ago Abrams, who was at that time appointed as the U.S. special envoy to Venezuela by the Trump administration, was in the news when Rep. Ilhan Omar confronted Abrams on his involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal and human rights abuses in Latin America. Why is a figure like Abrams, who was convicted for his involvement with Iran/Contra, still involved in international relations and U.S. foreign policy? And how do figures like Abrams sticking around effect U.S. relations with Latin American countries? These are just a few of the questions posed in this conversation and Sam's recent article "Biden’s disgraceful nomination of Elliott Abrams". This conversation will also delve into the history of the Ronald Reagan Presidency and U.S. foreign policy in that era. We'll discuss Iran-Contra for those who need a refresher, atrocities in El Salvador and Guatemala, dirty wars, death squads in Latin America in the 1980s, the Cold War, Abrams' praise for a dictator that's been convicted of genocide, how left-wing movements gain traction in Latin America and how they are suppressed by the right-wing, the military dictatorship of Gen. Fulgencio Batista and the rise of Fidel Castro, Juan Guaido and the failed coup against Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, Brazilian President Lula Da Silva and Operation Car Wash, Hugo Chavez and failed coup attempts against him in the George W. Bush years, Israel/Palestine, the 2007 Gaza War between Fatah and Hamas, the history of the neocons (neoconservatives) and their role in U.S. foreign policy (also: are they still relevant?), lack of accountability in the U.S. foreign policy blob/establishment, Elliot Abrams and the Council on Foreign Relations, the democracy vs. autocracy debate and its contradictions, American exceptionalism and U.S. hegemony, and more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, geneticist Adam Rutherford joins us to discuss his new, timely book Control: The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics. British philosopher John Gray, author of Stray Dogs, praised Control saying, "[Rutherford's] scientific demolition of the eugenic project is brilliantly illuminating and compelling. His book will be indispensable for anyone who wants to assess the wild claims and counter-claims surrounding new genetic technologies." Believe it or not, the idea, or pseudoscientific mindset as Rutherford refers to it, of eugenics did not die with WWII and the atrocities of the Nazi Third Reich. In fact, elements of it still linger in the culture today. This is why Rutherford wrote Control, a book that attempts to explore the history of eugenics, the opposition to it, and the scientific problems with it from the perspective of an accomplished geneticist. In this conversation we discuss not only the history of eugenics, but also the opposition to it from Christian like G.K. Chesterton, eugenics and H.G. Wells' The Time Machine, tackling modern eugenicist thinkers like Richard Lynn who offer an intellectual, pseudo-academic sheen to eugenics and the ways in which Rutherford believes we should pushback on their claims, and a even a brief discursion into Adam's work with filmmaker Alex Garland on the Natalie Portman-starring sci-fi movie Annihilation. All that and more on this edition of Parallax Views!

On this edition of Parallax Views, 2023 marks the 40th anniversary of the release of V: The Original Miniseries. A two-part sci-fi television event that brought in around 33 million homes, V was ostensibly the story of reptilian alien invading earth to steal it's resources and turn the human population into a food source. However, beneath the surface it acted as a parable about how fascism and authoritarianism can take hold in a country. In fact, it was inspired by Sinclair Lewis' classic novel It Can't Happen Here and was initially not about malevolent extraterrestrial invaders at all. In this conversation we discuss how V came to be, the conspiracy theorists who take the miniseries and it's reptilian invasion literally and Kenny's response to them, V as a parable about fascism, Kenny's work with Vincent Price on An Evening With Edgar Allen Poe, what Kenny thinks of being compared to The Twilight Zone's Rod Serling due to his interest in sci-fi that deals with social issues, the TV how Alien Nation, the cast of V (which included such names as Marc Singer of The Beastmaster franchise, Robert Englund of Freddy Krueger fame, Jane Badler, Andrew Prine, and many others), the Holocaust and how it tied into the story of V, racism and diversity and the way those topics figured into V, Kenny's sequel novel to V entitled V: The Second Generation, the possibility of a big screen movie remake of the miniseries, looking back on V in the era of Trump (and anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theories), V's dealing with the topic of anti-science sentiments and how they can be damaging to society, the way in which V is about two powerful women (the heroine Juliet and the villainous reptilian alien Diana), the cinematic quality of V and its European theatrical release, the studio's lack of faith in V and belief that it's dealing with social issues of the time would be too intellectual for American audiences, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, we dive into the wild world of pro wrestling, the parallels it has with politics, and even a diversion into Freemasonry with former pro wrestling manager turned political podcast extraordinaire Kenny "Starmaker" Bolin. Kenny Bolin worked as a heel (bad guy) manager in Ohio Valley Wrestling, the one-time developmental promotion for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) that produced such stars as John Cena, Dave Bautista, Rico Constantino, and Rene Dupree among others. In fact, Bolin was OVW top heel that irked the fans into buying tickets because they hoped to see him get his comeuppance after insulting the audience. Kenny's lived a fascinating life growing up on pro wrestling, becoming a talent in OVW, and making friends like billionaire investor Mark Cuban and former Trump appointed White House Director of Communications Anthony Scaramucci along the way. We begin the conversation by diving into the world of pro wrestling, how tickets are sold, the Memphis territory ran by the late Jerry Jarrett, the infamous feud that took place between comedian Andy Kaufman and wrestling legend Jerry "The King" Lawler in the squared circle, and much, much more. From there we delve into the world of politics, what politics has learned from pro wrestling, and Kenny explains his immense dislike of Donald Trump. Near the end we delve into Kenny background, his experience with Freemasons and racist family members (including a biological father that was a key member of the KKK), thoughts on evangelical Christianity and televangelists, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Charles Henry, President of the Council on Library and Information Resources, joins us to discuss the importance of preserving cultural memory and history in the digital age. Massive amount of information, if not properly maintained in this new digital era, could be lost to the sands of time. This incredible loss of knowledge, like the burning of the Library of Alexandria, would be catastrophic.. Simply put, it would amount to a digital dark age. In this conversation we discuss this issue in-depth as well as how climate change and it's consequences pose an immense threat, even arguably the number one threat, to retaining human knowledge and cultural memory. We also touch upon issues such as film/cinema preservation, the disinformation/misinformation problem, the pros and cons of massive information proliferation in the digital age, the digital age's amplification of marginalized voices, the digital memory hole and the problem with the "once it's on the internet it'll be around forever" mentality, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Marcus Ryder, a media a UK-based representation/diversity expert and Head of External Consultancies for the Sir Lenny Henry Centre, recently gained a bit of notoriety or his critique of Disney's live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. In a tweet and blog Ryder critiqued the movie for taking place in the 18th century Carribean, but ignoring the existence of slavery in that period. At the same time he said that he found the film's normalization of black beauty standards, vis-a-vis it's star Halle Berry as the titular character Ariel, and praised the film in other regards. Despite the positive sentiments Ryder expressed in addition to his criticism, the tweet/blog was met with backlash from both people who thought that in critiquing the movie he was downplaying it's importance in regards media representation as well as a multitude of "anti-SJW" voices on social media who saw Ryder's tweet/blog as another chance to push their culture war viewpoints. I'm editorializing a bit here, but I felt that the backlash obscured what Ryder's actual thoughts were and the nature of his criticism. As such I invited him on my show to discuss this as well as his work on media representation, what media representation/media diversity is about, his thoughts about the attacks on media diversity/representation work by some political elements, and more. Much of the conversation centers around what Ryder's work entails and what we mean by media representation/diversity actually means. However, another issue we discuss in great depth is the issue of AI, with a focus on ChatGPT, and how it can actually reproduce or amplify dominant cultural biases and perspectives at the expense of perspectives and way of thinking. The final portion of the conversation deals largely with The Little Mermaid. We also touch upon how class and socioeconomic status should, in Ryder's view, be part of media representation/diversity and how media representation/diversity should aim to be inclusive for all (ie: one type of diversity/representation doesn't have to trump another; taking a holistic approach).

On this edition of Parallax Views, Dr. Anatol Lieven, the director of the Eurasia Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, returns to discuss his observations from a recent visit he took to Ukraine. Additionally, Anatol and I delve into Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of the Russian private military company Wagner Group, and his recent attacks of Russian military elites. Is Prigozhin's attacks indicative of a Russian succession struggle brewing for when Putin is no longer in power? Anatol and I also discuss his views on where the war is headed, how the war has been a failure for Russia, Russian-ethnic Ukrainian support for Ukraine, ethnic tensions in Ukraine caused by the invasion, U.S. foreign policy, the D.C. Blob, Anatol's criticism of pro-Russian opponents of the D.C. foreign policy establishment, and more All that and much more on this edition of Parallax Views.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Dr. James M. Dorsey of the Turbulent World w/ James Dorsey blog returns with a discussion that begins with Iran's saying it's forming a naval alliance with Gulf States (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates) as well as Pakistan, India, and Iraq. This, however, leads into a larger discussion about the geopolitics of the Middle East and the political battle for the soul of Islam, the shaping of a 21st Century World Order that is emerging before our very eyes, and the conflict between nation state vs. civilizational state modes of thought across the global political chessboard. This is a wide-ranging discussion that covers a massive amount of topics in just under an hour. Dorsey and I manage to discuss all of the above in relation to U.S. foreign policy, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the war that's resulted from it, the Gulf States' relationship with Türkiye and Erdogan, Iran's nuclear capabilities, political reformism and political repression in the Middle East, Indonesia and the battle for the soul of Islam, culture wars in the Arab world, China, U.S. failings in the Middle East, Middle East power rivalries and de-escalation, Israel in a bind, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Taylor Giorno, an OpenSecrets reporters specializing in money-in-politics issues such as campaign finance, lobbying, and foreign influence operations, returns to discuss the Campaign Legal Center's allegations that Ron DeSantis, who recently made his bid for the Republican Party candidate in the 2024 Presidential Election, has engaged in a "soft money" campaign finance violation. The Campaign Legal Center has gone so far as to file a complaint with the Federal Election Committee. Taylor explains the ins-and-outs of this story, the complexities of it, and money-in-politics more generally as well as the deregulation of campaign finance oversight. Taylor and I also discuss some of her other areas of interest, specifically development in the NSO Group/Pegasus spyware story, dark money, and foreign influence lobbying. We even manage to discuss the top 10 foreign influence lobbying operations in the U.S. as documented at OpenSecrets. Other topics covered include: - DeSantis accused of transferring money from an old Florida state PAC into the pro-DeSantis Super PAC Never Back Down; the Campaign Legal Center argues this is an illegal violation of campaign finance rules; some discussion of Trump and DeSantis in relation to campaign finance; are the accusations against DeSantis unprecedented?; campaign finance violations is not a partisan affair (it happens within both parties) - The dark money group One Nation and its funneling of millions of dollars into elections - Dark Money and the Koch Brothers; how dark money has evolved past the Koch Brothers and there are new and different dark money players - Sam Banman-Fried, the collapse of FTX, the crypto-currency industry and its lobbying, and money-in-politics - The explosion of money-in-politics since 2010; the Supreme Court, Citizens United, and corporate personhood - The Israeli cyber-intelligence firm NSO Group and the Pegasus spyware scandal; NSO Group spending millions of dollars in lobbying efforts - The case of Ben Swann, a former local FOX and CBS-affiliates TV news anchor who peddled Pizzagate stories and has since become a libertarian media personality; In FARA filings it has been discovered that Swann was the recipient of millions of dollars in money from Russia - The defense contractor/defense sector money being funneled to Congress since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia; the defense industry's line on inflation; defense industry lobbying - OpenSecrets's Foreign Lobby Watch; Top ten countries involved in foreign lobbying include China, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Israel, Russia, and others; Drone manufacturer Barzan Holdings and arms exports to Qatar; pro-Israel lobbying - And much, much more

On this edition of Parallax Views, filmmaker Fred Olen Ray returns to discuss his latest work Deep Red, a novel whose origins date back to the 1970s with an unfinished collaboration between Fred and Plan 9 from Outer Space's Edward D. Wood, Jr. In 1978, shortly before his death, Wood was writing the screenplay for Fred's Beach Blanket Bloodbath, a sci-fi horror tale that would've involved a half man-half fish monster! But that's not all. Fred also some great tales from his filmmaking career including stories from 80s Hollywood and the world of low-budget filmmaking. There's also a great deal of advice here for people may want to get involved in filmmaking or the entertainment industry as Fred discusses working with actors, writing for television, and much, much more. There's also a fair bit of background provided in this conversation about the movies Zombie Death House and Bloody Movie, two obscurities produced by mob-connected film lover Nick Marino that provide a behind-the-scenes look at the world of 80s low-budget genre filmmaking during the VHS boom. Fred and I also talk about his work on Lifetime movies and how they're made, the fanzine culture of yesteryear, 70s/80s cult actress and sex icon Sybil Danning, marketing movies, Fred's Retromedia company and its release of movies, Fred's wacky comedy Bad Girls from Mars and why it's never seen an uncut release (hint: studios not abiding by their contract; we get into the ways some film studios do filmmakers dirty), the killer pumpkin-man movie Jack-O and Fred's wild audio commentary with the director, and more! All that and much more on this edition of Parallax Views!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Aaron J. Leonard joins us to discuss the new revised and updated edition of his and Conor A. Gallagher book Heavy Radicals: The FBI's Secret War on America's Maoists: The Revolutionary Union/Revolutionary Communist Part 1968-1980. We delve into the radical left-wing politics of the late 1960s into the 1970s and the influence of Mao Tse-Tung's variant on communist thought on American radicals as well as how revolutionary groups in the U.S. applied theory and praxis in their operations at the time. This leads us into discussions of figures like H. Bruce Franklin as well as the infamous Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (RCP). It is well-known that the post-WWII era saw the intelligence community become very concerned about radical left-wing politics, specifically the activities of communist groups, in the U.S. during the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Much has been made of J. Edgar Hoover, the House on Un-American Activities Committee, and COINTELPRO in this regard. But Aaron specifically focuses on the FBI's counterintelligence operations against Maoist groups. We discuss the "dirty tricks" that were used against these groups by the FBI at this time. We discuss FBI informant recruiting in the time as well as the specific players involved in activities against U.S.-based Maoist groups. Aaron names names and gives insight into FBI actions against left-wing radical groups in the United States post-Hoover. Additionally Aaron and I discuss the Black Panthers, the media vs. radical activities, the labor movement, conspiracy theories vs. systemic analysis, the evangelical couple that sought to help the FBI by infiltrating the Revolutionary Union, W. Mark Felt (the man who confessed to being "Deep Throat" in the Nixon-era Watergate saga in 2005), the FBI report that referred to the RCP as a "threat of the first magnitude" to the U.S., the concept of the deep state and why Aaron believes there is just the State rather than deep state, the JFK Records Act and how the files released from that has value beyond the questions surrounding the Kennedy assassination itself (ie: files on Fred Hampton, Bob Dylan, etc.), how do you read and evaluate FBI files?, the Fair Play for Cuba Committe, the CIA and Richard Gibson (Codename: Sugar), Donald Wright, why is Maoism neglected when looking at the history of the New Left?, COINTELPRO and the Ad Hoc Commitee, the FBI's war against radical folk musicians and Aaron's latest books Whole World in an Uproar: Music, Rebellion and Repression – 1955-1972 and The Folk Singers and the Bureau: The FBI, the Folk Artists and the Suppression of the Communist Party, USA-1939-1956, Pete Seeger and the radical nature of much 20th century folk music, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and what Aaron refers to as the "soft revocation" of FOIA, and more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, rabble-rousing, gadfly academic Norman Finkelstein joins us to discuss his new book I'll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It! Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom. Norman is probably most well-know for his work on Israel/Palestine, but in his latest work takes on the question of what's alternately been called "cancel culture", "woke culture", or "identity politics" while also addressing his own cancellation as an academic over his work on Israel/Palestine and asking whether or not it was justified. In this conversation Norman and I discuss a number of topics including the issues of gender and sex, the identity politics of White Fragility author Robin DiAngelo, Ibram X. Kendi and Kendi's fascination with Black Panther turned Republican Reaganite Eldridge Cleaver, the ruling class and identity politics, the cult of personality around President Barack Obama, the weaponization of identity politics on both the left and the right, bourgeois democratic values, Democracy Now's Amy Goodman, Obama's white speechwriters and the presentation of Obama to the public, the brushing aside of class issues in media, and more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Clayton J. Butler joins us to discuss his book True Blue: White Unionists in the Deep South During the Civil War and Reconstruction. Butler explains how certain contingent of Southerners, for a variety of reasons, chose to remain loyal to the North during the Civil War and Reconstruction period. The reasons for this, however, may surprise modern audiences. It was not necessarily that these Southerners were against slavery. In fact, some supported the North because they believed that the war would bring about the end of slavery as an institution in the South. Meanwhile, others were "True Blue" due to an understandable resentment for the plantation aristocracy which sought to exert oligarchic control in the South. In our conversation we delve into all of these issues as well as why the topic, particularly when it comes to Unionists in the Deep South, is often underdiscussed or left relatively unexamined amongst many historians. We also discuss the "Lost Cause" narrative/myth in the South as well as the importance of discussing the Reconstruction period, which saw many gains for black freed men who'd formerly been enslaved by Southern plantation owners, after the Civil War and how it ended. Clayton's book deals with the Unionists of the First Louisiana Cavalry, First Alabama Cavalry, and Thirteenth Tennessee Union Cavalry and examines why these men chose to ally themselves with the North and African Americans during the war. All that and much more on this edition of Parallax Views!

On this edition of Parallax Views, legendary journalist James Bamford, known for his books The Puzzle Palace and Body of Secrets that lifted the veil of secrecy around the National Security Agency (NSA) as well as his critical exploration of the Bush-era Iraq War/War on Terror A Pretext for War, joins us to discuss his latest book Spyfail: Foreign Spies, Moles, Saboteurs, and the Collapse of America's Counterintelligence. For those interested in the subject of spycraft and it's implications/consequences this is a wide-ranging and comprehensive conversation that is worth a listen. James and I delve into such subjects as the leak of U.S. cyberweapons by an entity known as The Shadow Brokers (TSB) and how it nearly had apocalyptic consequences, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israeli spying operations in the United States, the stealing of massive amounts of classified materials by former Booz Allen Hamilton contractor Hal Martin, Hollywood movie producer Arnon Milchan and Israeli nuclear smuggling, Russiagate and the Maria Butina affair, and, perhaps most explosively, the portions of Bamford's book dealing with alleged collusion between Israel's Netanyahu government and the Trump campaign during the 2016 election (read more about this specifically in Bamford's The Nation article "The Trump Campaign's Collusion With Israel").

On this edition of Parallax Views, historian and sociologist Prof. Harvey J. Kaye returns to discuss the new edition of his 1984 book The British Marxist Historians. In said book, Prof. Kaye delved into how E.P. Thompson, Maurice Dobb, Christopher Hill, Eric Hobsbawn, and Rodney Hilton offered material analyses on a variety of historical matters that challenged conventional notions held by many other historians. In doing so they also took a heterodox approach to Marxism. In this conversation we explore the contributions of the British Marxist Historians and the ways in which they offered an innovative "history from the bottom up" approach to understanding the past. Harvey and I discuss: - Eric Hobsbawn's defense of the Luddites, the radical machine breakers who jobs were lost in the industrial age - The value of the English Marxist historians today and addressing criticisms that Marxism's usefulness as a form of analysis has dried up - Kaye's thoughts on and criticism of the work of The People's History of the United States historian Howard Zinn - The role Anthony Giddens, a founder of the "Third Way" political position, in the publication of The British Marxist Historians - Neoliberalism, class struggle, the working class, the ruling class, the base/superstructures discourse, and Marxist analysis of history - And much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, filmmaker Jack Riccobono joins us to discuss his new MGM+ documentary miniseries Amityville: An Origin Story. Given the glut of Amityville movies, books, and documentaries that have come out through the years one could be forgiven for assuming Amityville: An Origin Story would be just another retread of the same old territory. After all, the Amityville name has now inspired such direct-to-video/streaming flicks as Amityville Cop, Amityville Moon, Amityville in Space, and, believe it or not, Amityville Vibrator. In that way many have come to view anything with the Amityville moniker to be a joke. Amityville: An Origin Story, however, manages to defy expectations and offer a fresh, even thought-provoking perspective on the infamous house on 112 Ocean Avenue by exploring how The Amityville Horror, from the brutal DeFeo family murders to the alleged haunting of the Lutz family and all the books and movies that followed, became a pop culture phenomena that's seared into the collective consciousness of America. Jack and I discuss many different facets of the docuseries including: - The culture of the 70s: rise of interest in occultism, mass institutional distrust due to the Vietnam War and Watergate, the popularity of horror movies like The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, and The Omen; how this all created the perfect storm for The Amityville Horror to make an impact on the zeitgeist - The brutal family annihilation murder of the DeFeo Family and its perpetrator Ronald DeFeo, Jr.; family dysfunction and family disintegration in the stories of both the DeFeo and the Lutz families; the lingering questions about possible organized crime/mob ties to the DeFeo Murders; the rare archival interviews of Ronald DeFeo, Jr. contained in Amityville: An Origin Story; discussion of Amityville II: The Possession, the cult horror movie based on the DeFeo murders; Amityville: An Origin Story's interview with Diane Franklin, who played Ronald DeFeo, Jr.'s sister Dawn DeFeo in Amityville II: The Possession; Amityville: An Origin Story's exclusive interview with Tommy Maher, a personal friend of Ronnie DeFeo, Jr. - The alleged haunting of the Lutz Family; paranormal investigator and famed ghost hunter Hans Holzer's thoughts on the Amityville House; Christopher Quaratino, son of Kathy Lutz, and the secrets of his stepfather George Lutz; why the documentary goes beyond asking the old question of whether the Amityville Haunting was "real" or a "hoax"; The Amityville Horror and the birth of the "Based on a True Story" marketing; demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren, now famous for being the basis of the hit The Conjuring movie franchise, and their investigation of the Amityville House; Amityville: An Origin Story's interview with Lutz family friend Carol Soviero - The role famed filmmaker John Carpenter, director of the suspenseful horror classic Halloween (1978), plays in Amityville: An Origin Story - The Amityville House as a character in an of itself; Amityville: An Origin Story's exploration of the idea of home, real estate, and the warping of the American dream through the funhouse mirror of the Amityville story; the difficulty of living in the Amityville house today due to tourists and the general cultural baggage the house carries; the movie's tagline "For God's Sake, Get Out!" and the infamous Eddie Murphy about The Amityville Horror - The role of greed and profiteering in the perpetuation of Amityville saga in popular culture - The Amityville Horror and the ancient Indian burial ground trope in horror as it relates to both settler-colonial guilt and bigotry against Native Americans - The Amityville Horror in relation to conversations about the concept of a "post-truth" era; parallels between the 70s and today and the continued cultural resonance that the Amityville saga carries even now - The Amityville saga as a microcosm of the idea that there's "no new stories to be told" - Amityville: An Origin Story as part true crime documentary, part paranormal documentary recounting the Lutz Family's 28 days in the 112 Ocean Avenue house, part investigative journalism, and part cultural history documentary exploring The Amityville Horror's significance to cinema - And much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Fintan O'Toole, long-time journalist of The Irish Times, joins us to discuss his acclaimed new book We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland. Although the book is not exactly a memoir, it is a sweeping journey through the decades of Ireland's evolution from the late 1950s through to today from the perspective of Fintan himself. As someone who lived through the turbulence of the Troubles, the bombings carried out by the Irish Republican Army (IRA), and the Good Friday Agreement, Fintan is uniquely able to tell the story of Ireland in from the mid-20th century to the present. In addition to all of this, Fintan and I will also delve into the issue of Brexit, the possibility of Irish reunification, and the rise of English nationalism and the Little England mentality. Fintan will also comment on the differences between English nationalism and Irish nationalism, give details on the Northern Ireland conflict ( aka The Troubles) and its complexity (we'll discuss not only the IRA but also North Irish Unionists like Ian Paisley), what it means to be Irish, national identity and Catholic identity in Ireland, the theme of "Unknown Knowns" and "Doubleness" in Fintan's personal history of Ireland, Catholic Church child sex abuse scandals in Ireland, conservatism and social control, Us Vs. Them mentalities, Irish economist and diplomat T.K. Whitaker and the Irish gambit, Irish composer Seán Ó Riada and traditional Irish music, the European Union and national identities, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Peter Bahlwanian, producer of Mariam Avetisyan's documentary The Desire to Live, to discuss the secret ethnic cleansing of Armenians by Azerbaijan. In this conversation we'll discuss a territorial and ethnic dispute that has become known as the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as well as the history of Armenian persecution dating back to the Armenian genocide of 1915 (which has often been called the first genocide of the 20th century). We'll also delve into how Turkey and its President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, plays a key role in the Azeri persecution of Armenians. In this regard we'll discuss Erdoğan's geopolitical aspirations and his consolidation of power in Turkey. Also covered is Turkey's relationship to the United Nations (UN), NATO, the United States, UNESCO, and Russia. Moreover, Peter and I delve into oligarchy, the attempted coup d'état against Erdoğan in 2016. Additionally, Peter and I will also discuss: - The Khojaly massacre of 1992 and claims of Armenian atrocities against Azeris - Parallels between Israeli treatment of Palestinians and the Azeri treatment of Armenians in the Republic of Artsakh - The Nagorno-Karabakh War of 2020 - The Turkish Lobby and the Azeri Lobby's influence in Western politics - Why did it take 100 years to recognize for the U.S. to recognize the Armenian genocide of 1915? - Is the conflict between Azeris and Azerbaijan a conflict between Muslims and Christians? - Pro-Armenian activism by celebrities like Kim Kardashian and the rock band System of a Down - Human rights and U.S. credibility/loss of credibility on a global scale; democracy vs. autocracy - Why has the U.S. often been silent on the issue of the Azeri persecution of Armenians?; assessing President Joe Biden's record on this issue - The Israel Lobby and U.S. silence on Armenian persecution - The role money plays in buying off politicians, media, and institutions from speaking about the persecution of Armenians - Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and anti-Armenian sentiments in Azerbaijan's culture - The strength and perseverance of Armenians and the people of the Republic of Artsakh; the Armenian diaspora; hope in times of war and despair; the power of the human spirit - Azeri fears that Armenians will seek revenge against them if a reconciliation is attempted; the attempted erasure of Armenian identity - And more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Dr. Katherine "Kitty" Harvey, who is adjunct assistant professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University and holds a doctorate from King’s College London, joins us to discuss her book A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The Saudi Struggle for Iraq. Dr. Harvey delves into the complex relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and how it has affected the region's politics and international relations. She also provides a unique perspective on the topic and discusses how the Saudi struggle for power in the region has been a self-fulfilling prophecy. The episode hopefully offers a thought-provoking analysis of the dynamics between these two countries and should be a must-listen for anyone interested in Middle Eastern politics. Among the topics discussed on during the conversation: - The story of how Kitty became interested in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, and the Iraq War; studying the Arabic language and how that contributed to her journey leading to her examination of Saudi policy on Iraq after the U.S. invasion of said country in 2003 - Saudi Arabia's opposition the George W. Bush administration's invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein - Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Saudi fears about Iraqi Shia and Iranian sympathies in Iran - The Constructivist view of International Relations and its application in Kitty's book - The Realist view of International Relations and its application in Kitty's book; The Origins of Alliances author Stephen Walt - Questions of Saudi interference in Iraqi elections after the U.S. invasion - Iraqi Shia identity vs. Iranian Shia identity - Did Saudi Arabia push Iraq closer to Iran after the invasion? - And more!

On this edition of Parallax View, Christopher J. Coyne, Professor of Economics at George Mason University, joins us to discuss his book In Search of Monsters to Destroy: The Folly of American Empire and the Paths to Peace (Independent Institute; 2022). As we approach the 20th anniversary of the Iraq War, Christopher and I discuss the dangers and pitfalls of military adventurism as well as why we should not forget the lessons of the War on Terror when we discuss U.S. foreign policy and international relations today. Among the topics covered in this conversation: - American Empire and the National Security State - The concept of the "Deep State" beyond it's most sensational, conspiratorial usages - Drone warfare as "mechanized terror" or terrorism in the eyes of the countries effected by U.S. drone attacks - The connection between the War on Drugs, the failed Afghanistan War, and U.S. foreign policy - How war abroad created restrictions on liberty at domestically - Antiwar arguments for the Right and the Left - Republicans calling for war on Mexico and right-wing China hawks - Libya and the overthrow of Gaddafi - U.S. foreign policy, immigration, and Latin America; a libertarian argument for why the U.S. shouldn't overthrow socialist countries - And more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, journalist Yumna Patel of Mondoweiss joins us to discuss her new documentary On the Brink: Jenin's Rising Resistance, an examination of the Jenin refugee camp's growing armed resistance movement against the Israeli occupation in Palestinian West Bank. On January 26th, 2023 an Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp left nine Palestinians dead. The tensions between within Israel/Palestine has increased, especially in light of the new government of Benjamin Netanyahu and the rise of far-right figures like Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, and whispers of a Third Intifada, a violent Palestinian uprising, or a Second Nakba, a brutal expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and lands, are becoming more common. With events like the Nablus Massacre and the Israeli settler attack in Huwara, the Israel/Palestine situation seems to be at an exceedingly dangerous juncture right now. Yumna joins J.G. and special guest co-host Karl Barx, host of the West Bank Robbery podcast, to delve into these issues and to help us understand why many young many are joining an armed resistance in the West Bank's Jenin refugee camp. Among the topics covered in this conversation: - The uniquely deadly Israeli army raid on the Jorat al-Dhahab neighborhood of the Jenin refugee camp - The Western discourse over Palestinian armed resistance; the context from which armed resistance to an occupation is born; the use of terms like "nuance" and "complexity" when discussing the Israel/Palestine conflict in the U.S. - The disconnect in how we think about armed resistance in Palestine vs. armed resistance in Ukraine; the Western tendency to demand that Palestinians be "perfect victims" that do not engage in violent resistance - Why are Palestinian youths, particularly young men, turning to taking up arms in the Jenin refugee camp and why do they feel that the horizon for a political solution has been slammed shut at this time? - The Jenin Brigade, the Islamic Jihad Movement, the cross-factional model of the Jenin Brigade and the various political factions that have engaged in Palestinian Unity, the militant armed Palestinian resistance group known as the Lion's Den, the emergence of new political formations amongst Palestinians, the failure of the Palestinian Authority and negotiations between Israel and Palestine (especially the Oslo Accords) and Yumna's interviews with armed resistance fighters - The May 2021 uprisings of Palestinians that has been called the Unity Intifada - The argument that armed resistance plays into the hands of far-right wing Israeli politicians like Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich's desire to justify further clampdowns against and oppression of Palestinians - Did the Nakba, or the mass expulsion of Palestinians in 1948 that is otherwise known as the Catastrophe or the Cataclysm, ever really end?; Israeli settlers and the displacement of Palestinians from their homes and land - Yumna's background; her parents grew up in apartheid South Africa; the apartheid regime oppressed Yumna's Indian parents; how this ties into her work on Palestine - The Palestinian struggle and changing views on Israel/Palestine in the U.S. and the Western World; Israeli ultranationalism and the Jerusalem Day Marches that saw Israeli far-right wingers march through the Muslim corridor shouting "Death to Arabs"; the normalization of anti-Palestinian violence, hatred, and sentiments and the U.S. and international community's lack of a sufficient response to it - Hope vs. despair when discussing Israel/Palestine; the desperation of the Israeli far-right and the unraveling of Israeli society - Yumna's interview with a paramedic based in Jenin; the paramedic claimed that Israeli forces violently prevented medics from entering the camp to treat the wounded during the Jan 26th raid - And more!

This classic episode is offered as a replay in memory of Yossi Gurvitz, who passed away in February. Yossi was an invaluable resource to the show and his passing is deeply felt here at Parallax Views. On this edition of Parallax Views, the first in what will be a series of programs on the Israel/Palestine conflict in light of recent events. Israeli journalist/blogger Yossi Gurvitz of Mondoweiss joins us on this addition of the program to discuss what has been happening with the conflict since the tensions heated up over the Sheikh Jarrah district of East Jerusalem, the burning of the al Aqsa Mosque, Hamas firing rockets into Israel, and Israel's launching of airstrikes on Gaza in response. Additionally, Yossi and I discuss the legacy of the radical Orthodox Jewish ultranationalist Rabbi Meier Kahane. Kahane formed the Kach Party in Israel and advocated for expulsing Palestinians from Israel as evidenced by one of his catchphrases "Arabs Get Out!". Although Kahane was assassinated in New York City in 1990 and the Kach Party was banned in Israel in 1994, followers of Kahane and Kahanism live on. Specifically Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power Party) leader Itamar Ben-Gvir, a follower of Kahane, won a seat in the Knesset this past March and was involved in the recent tensions related to the Sheikh Jarrah district of East Jerusalem. Yossi argues that the right-wing ultranationalism of Kahanism has gone mainstream in Israel. Also discussed: the recent Human Rights Watch and B'Selem report, the experience of sheltering in a bunker during this latest round of violent conflict, and much, much more.