KPFA - Letters and Politics

Guest: Frank Smyth (@SmythFrank) is an independent, award-winning investigative journalist specializing in armed conflicts, organized crime and human rights overseas, and on the gun movement and its influence at home. He is a former arms trafficking investigator for Human Rights Watch breaking the role of France in arming Rwanda before its genocide and has testified to Congress and member states of several multilateral organizations.  He is founder and CEO of the leading U.S.-based hostile environments training firm GJS and the author of the book The NRA: The Unauthorized History. The post The History of the NRA appeared first on KPFA.

  Part 1. Stephen Hawking and his Theory on the Origin of Time Guest: Thomas Hertog is an internationally renowned cosmologist who was for many years a close collaborator of the late Stephen Hawking. He is  professor of theoretical physics at the University of Leuven, where he studies the quantum nature of the big bang. He is the author of On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking’s Final Theory.         Part 2. Raj Patel on The Ants & the Grasshopper Film Guest: Raj Patel Raj Patel is an award-winning author, filmmaker and academic. He is a research professor in the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin.  He is the author of Stuffed and Starved, co-author of Inflamed, and co-director of The Ants & The Grasshopper now streaming online.   The post Stephen Hawking’s Final Theory. Then, Raj Patel on The Ants & the Grasshopper Film appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Kelly Lytle Hernández is the Thomas E. Lifka Endowed Chair in History and the director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA.  She is a 2019 MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient and the author of the award-winning books Migra!, City of Inmates, and her latest, Bad Mexicans Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands winner of the 2023 Bancroft Prize in American History. The post The Mexican Revolution and The Migrants Who Sparked it appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Naomi Oreskes is professor of the history of science at Harvard University.  Her books include, The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View from the Future, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming, and her latest with historian of science and technology Erik Conway, The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market. The post The Century Long PR Campaign Linking Capitalism to Democracy appeared first on KPFA.

Part I. Trump Indictment: Legal Aspects Guest:  Hadar Aviram is a Professor of Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, where she co-directs the Hastings Institute for Criminal Justice and publishes the California Correctional Crisis blog. Her latest book is Yesterday’s Monsters: The Manson Family Cases and the Illusion of Parole. Part II. American Catholic Bishops and The Far Right Guest:  Mary Jo McConahay is a prominent journalist that covers the Catholic church.  She is the author of several books including, The Tango War: The Struggle for the Hearts, Minds and Riches of Latin America During World War II, Maya Roads, One Woman’s Journey Among the People of the Rainforest, and her latest, Playing God: American Catholic Bishops and The Far Right.   The post Trump Indictment: Legal Aspects. Then, The American Catholic Bishops and The Far Right appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Daniela Cammack is Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley.  Her research and teaching focus on the history of democracy and constitutionalism.  She is currently working on a book on ancient Greek democracy. Photo (c): Nineteenth-century painting by Philipp Foltz depicting the Athenian politician Pericles delivering his famous funeral oration in front of the Assembly. The post Democracy Came From Class Struggle: A Story of Classical Athens appeared first on KPFA.

Guests: Geoffrey Kabaservice (@RuleandRuin) is a historian of the Republican Party and the Director of Political Studies at the Niskanen Center and the author of a number of books, including Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, from Eisenhower to the Tea Party. Jeet Heer (@heerjeet) is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation and host of the weekly Nation podcast, The Time of Monsters. He also writes the monthly column Morbid Symptoms. He is the author of In Love with Art: Francoise Mouly’s Adventures in Comics with Art Spiegelman and Sweet Lechery: Reviews, Essays and Profiles.  His latest piece in the Nation is Trump’s Indictment Will Dominate the 2024 Election: The GOP’s defense of the former president means the election will be a referendum on the rule of law.    The post Trump Indictment: Potential Political Consequences appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Kevin Gosztola is cofounder and managing editor of Shadowproof, an independent news outlet focused on systemic abuses of power in business and government, and the curator of The Dissenter newsletter. Kevin Gosztola also produces and co-hosts the weekly podcast, “Unauthorized Disclosure.”  He is the author of Guilty of Journalism: The Political Case Against Julian Assange. The post The Case of Julian Assange appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Jeff Sharlet has been covering the conservative religious movement for over 2 decades. He is the author of The Family that has been adapted into a Netflix documentary. His latest book is called The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War. The post A Slow Moving Civil War with Jeff Sharlet appeared first on KPFA.

Part I. Pegasus: A Spyware that Threatens Privacy and Democracy.  Guest: Sandrine Rigaud is a French investigative journalist. She is an editor of Forbidden Stories. She is the co-author of Pegasus: How a Spy in Your Pocket Threatens the End of Privacy, Dignity, and Democracy. Part 2. The Implications of Indicting a Former President or a Presidential Candidate Guest: Karen Greenberg is director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law School. She is an expert on national security and the author of The Least Worst Place: Guantanamo’s First 100 Days and, most recently, Rogue Justice: The Making of the Security State. The post Pegasus: A Spyware that Threatens Privacy and Democracy. Then, The Implications of Indicting a Former President appeared first on KPFA.