Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

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.