WZBC 90.3 FM Newton

Max Blumenthal: Fear of Russian ‘Fake News’, Provokes Facebook Censorship of Legitimate Left and Right Political Websites; Elise Gerhart: Grandmother Jailed for ‘Interfering’ with Construction of Pennsylvania’s Mariner East Gas Pipeline; Ed Mead: Nationwide Strike to End Prison Slavery Challenges Inmate Exploitation; Bob Nixon: This Week’s Under-reported News Summary.

Corporate media "cover" electoral politics a lot. Yet the questions that guide that coverage don’t seem to change much: Who’s leading in polls (before anyone’s learned much about the candidates’ ideas), who said what awful thing about their opponent, who’s raised more money from rich people? Also: mixed-up federal "leaders" are skewing school "safety" policies against black, brown, and gay kids.

Shireen Al-Adeimi, an assistant professor of education at Michigan State University, is originally from Yemen. She co-authored a recent article at In These Times titled “Trump Quietly Overrides What Little Civilian Protections Remain in Yemen War.” She comes back on TNR to discuss current efforts to end U.S. involvement in that war.

There is growing evidence of the connection between Arctic melting and weather events in the Northern Hemisphere, droughts, colds, heat-waves as well as flooding. Professor Francis explains in astounding detail the workings of this connection. How many knew that the prevailing winds are actually the result of air flowing thermally "downhill" in combination with the precession associated with the earth's rotation? She spoke at the New England Aquarium on October 19, 2017.

Professor Finkelstein reviews the dismal history of the world's recognized human rights organizations' cowardice and timidity as regards Israel's continuing war crimes against Gaza. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International bow to Isreal, avoiding terms like "war crimes" or "crimes against humanity." When expressing sympathy, it's for "both sides" even when the ratio of aggression is 1500 to 1. The crowning heartbreak was when Richard Goldstone abruptly recanted his well documented damning report to the UN. Quoting Richard Falk: "You can't report truthfully on Israel without facing its wrath."

From Dowst's description: Zinn explores the American mindset that supports wars and imperialism -- for example, "American Exceptionalism"; denial of our imperialism; and false definitions of "national security," "terrorism," and "patriotism."

From Dowst's description: [Zinn] draws on both his study of history and his own combat eperiences in World War Two. (He was a bombardier in the Air Corps.) He then discusses the need to learn real history ... how "disobedience is essential to democracy" ... and how "the people" have the power to change their world by joining together in social movements. Selections from the Q&A finish out the program.

Republican political operative Samuel Patten’s agreement to plead guilty Friday to charges that he acted as an unregistered lobbyist for a Ukrainian political party included his admission that he lied to the Senate Intelligence Committee in an interview early this year. In a step that is common in plea deals, while Patten pleaded guilty to one charge, he also acknowledged committing other crimes. He said he had arranged for a straw purchaser to buy four tickets to President Donald Trump’s inauguration on behalf of a Ukrainian oligarch, sidestepping a ban on foreign donations to political committees. Patten also fessed up to lying to the Senate Intelligence Committee by withholding information about the inaugural tickets, providing misleading testimony about his foreign lobbying activity, and later deleting information about that lobbying work. ...

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called it “a Friday night document massacre.” Schumer said the decision to withhold the documents “has all the makings of a cover-up. ... What are they trying so desperately to hide?”