We discuss the virtue of defending lofty free speech ideals in the Trump era with our guest George Ciccariello.

In Episode 06 we explore how the media both consciously and subconsciously works to smear black victims, protect the police, and works overtime to ameliorate the sensibilities of white media consumers with our guest Dr. Jared A. Ball.  The white supremacist regime at work in the media can be broken down into three main narrative devices: 1) The use of language to downplay state violence and assert false parity 2) The uncritical dissemination of exaggerated or made up threats to police to turn the aggressor into the victim 3) The posthumous smearing of black victims to rationalize their killing after the fact. In this episode we examine the mechanisms of these narrative devices, how they influence public perception, and why they create the media environment that makes more Mike Browns all but certain. Show notes: https://medium.com/@CitationsPodcst/episode-06-the-medias-default-setting-of-white-supremacy-ff138e201978

Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson recap today's North Korea escalation. 

On Episode 5, we explore the history of the media erasing socialists of color from the history books and present day discourse––a tactic that serves to both commodity and water-down black radicalism and pawn off leftwing politics as a uniquely white or middle class enterprise. Our guests: Robert Greene II and Roqayah Chamseddine. Show notes: goo.gl/QPYT7C

On Episode 04 we talk about a recent New York Times article — and the broader media habit of painting the US as benevolent democracy-seeker and Iran and other Official Enemies as cynical imperialists. In this episode we dissect the true history of what caused chaos in Iraq, who’s to blame and what the real motives were behind the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations designs for the country. All this in the context of a battle for control over remaining ISIS territory in Syria and Washington, Riyadh, and Tel Aviv’s desire to stop the dreaded “Shia crescent”. Show notes: goo.gl/zcGHvd

Episode 03: The Rise of Superpredator 2.  Episode 3 is about the media narrative surrounding the rise of so-called “gang raids” that have exploded over the past three years. These high-stakes, headline-grabbing spectacles target, almost exclusively, black and brown people and are carried out by hundreds of local, state, and federal officials with little scrutiny from the media.  Our guest: Josmar Trujillo, a Harlem-based organizer, writer, trainer, and agitator. See show notes here: https://medium.com/@CitationsPodcst/episode-03-the-rise-of-superpredator-2-0-4339020ea9a2

In the second episode of Citations Needed, Nima and Adam breakdown the history and present "crisis" on the Korean peninsula.

The first episode of Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson's podcast, Citations Needed, tackles the media hype surrounding the privatization of education. Show notes can be found here: 2010 tax form for Participant Foundation used to fund Waiting for Superman (note: four donors-- Waltons, Eli Broad, Donald Fisher, Dave Einhorn): 990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_ar…06_990PF.pdf Gates $2 million contribution to film web.archive.org/web/2010101600404…C-OPP1019819.aspx Guest Jennifer Berkshire’s blog:  haveyouheardblog.com/ Guest Jennifer berkshire’s articles:  www.huffingtonpost.com/author/tips-391  www.salon.com/writer/jennifer_berkshire/ Books mentioned by Berkshire: The One Percent Solution www.amazon.com/One-Percent-Solut…ing/dp/1501703064 New Orleans graduation rate stats article from 2014 by Adam citationsneeded.com/2014/05/24/char…na-memory-hole/ Harlem Children Zone original board:  pbs.twimg.com/media/Cq8wM7cWgAAUfHN.jpg Further reading: www.nydailynews.com/opinion/turnove…ticle-1.3272954 newrepublic.com/article/140319/ch…ad-black-students www.nybooks.com/articles/2010/11/…-charter-schools/ www.commondreams.org/views/2016/11/…harter-schools www.counterpunch.org/2009/08/25/the…-it-s-managed/ www.counterpunch.org/2009/08/26/the…arter-schools/ www.alternet.org/education/how-ch…public-education www.counterpunch.org/2010/03/10/i-w…chool-teacher/ www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdPACwRgw04