Category Archives: Culture

Thom Hartmann The Hidden History of American Democracy & Robert Pape ‘The Dangers to Democracy’

This edition of Forthright Radio is in in two parts. In our first segment, radio& TV host/journalist and author, Thom Hartmann, returned with the latest in his Hidden History series, THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY: REDISCOVERING HUMANITY’S ANCIENT WAY OF LIVING, published by B-K, Barrett-Kohler Publishers. This is the 8th book in the series and the 32nd of the books he has written. He has hosted his nationally syndicated show, The Thom Hartmann Program, since 2003. We spoke with Thom via Skype on July 24, 2023.

In our second segment, we spoke with University of Chicago Political Science Professor, Robert Pape, about the Project on Security and Threats (CPOST). You may recall their initial study published a few months after the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, analyzing those who had been arrested & the surprising details they discovered. They have published a follow-up study and report from their most recent of 7 surveys since then, from this June, 2023, titled “The Dangers to Democracy.”

Robert Pape has been studying and writing about the causes and solutions to political violence since 1992 during the Bosnian War; and the 1999 War in Kosovo. In the 2000s, he studied suicide terrorism, as well as humanitarian intervention centering on appropriate international responses to political violence related to the Arab Spring in Libya and Syria. Professor Pape has testified before Congress, briefed the National Security Council and the UN Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate. In 2020, he published the results of his analysis of the impact of the deployment of Homeland Security agents on political violence in Portland, OR, during the George Floyd demonstrations. In 2021, he published the first systematic study of the demographic profile and political geography of individuals arrested for assaulting the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The Project on Security and Threats, has continued the surveys, and recently released the report on their 7th survey, titled The Dangers to Democracy. We spoke with Professor Pape on July 26, 2023 via Skype.

What the Glorification of Luigi Mangione Reveals About America https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/12/opinion/luigi-mangione-united-healthcare-ceo-shooting.html

You can see THE DANGERS TO DEMOCRACY report here: https://d3qi0qp55mx5f5.cloudfront.net/cpost/i/docs/2023-04_CPOST-NORC_Survey_Report.pdf?mtime=1690380798

Articles pertinent to these interviews:

‘Anger and radicalization’: rising number of Americans say political violence is justified https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/25/us-political-crisis-radicalizing-republicans-democrats-alike

Understanding American Domestic Terrorism https://cpost.uchicago.edu/publications/understanding_american_domestic_terrorism_mobilization_potential_and_risk_factors_of_a_new_threat_trajectory/

How Trump’s Plan for the Military Could Topple America https://hartmannreport.com/p/how-trumps-plan-for-the-department-b10

Trump and Allies Forge Plans to Increase Presidential Power in 2025 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/us/politics/trump-plans-2025.html

How Democracy Dies the First Month of the Next Trump or GOP Presidency https://hartmannreport.com/p/how-democracy-dies-the-first-month-6a3

Trump’s plans for 2025 sound like a vengeful disaster https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-presidential-power-second-term-2024-autocracy-rcna95098?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

How Long Will Politicians Be Able to Ignore the Planet Becoming Unlivable? https://hartmannreport.com/p/how-long-will-politicians-be-able-ed4

DeSantis’s Apartheid Pedagogy in the Age of Fascist Politics https://www.laprogressive.com/election-reform-campaigns/apartheid-pedagogy

The Redneck Army Refuses to Stay Buried https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/21/opinion/culture/west-virginia-strike-coal-miner-history.html

Everything They Owned Burned, and They Still Can’t Get Restitution 102 Years Later https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/28/opinion/tulsa-race-massacre-reparations.html

“Anonymous” Miles Taylor: Trump Second Term Would Focus Solely on Revenge | Amanpour and Company https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Eqm5wuSN9s

David Neiwert THE AGE OF INSURRECTION: The Radical Right’s Assault on American Democracy

This interview was originally broadcast on July 14, 2023, Bastille Day, when the French celebrate the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. It was a day of insurrection, so it was fitting that we shared our interview with award winning journalist and author, David Neiwert, that day discussing his latest book, THE AGE OF INSURRECTION: THE RADICAL RIGHT’S ASSAULT ON AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, published by Melville House.

For over four decades he has worked in newspapers, television, the blogosphere, as well as having been the Pacific Northwest correspondent for the Southern Poverty Law Center. Among his nine books are RED PILL, BLUE PILL: HOW TO COUNTERACT THE CONSPIRACY THEORIES THAT ARE KILLING US; ALT-AMERICA: THE RISE OF THE RADICAL RIGHT IN THE AGE OF TRUMP; and OF ORCAS AND MEN: WHAT KILLER WHALES CAN TEACH US. We spoke with David Neiwert on July 9, 2023 via Skype.

© 2023 Clay Bennett / Chattanooga Times Free Press / dist. by Counterpoint Media. Used with Permission

Articles pertinent to this interview:

More of Clay Bennett’s editorial cartoons here: https://www.gocomics.com/claybennett/2023/07/11

Fourteenth Amendment song by Don Caron https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJcW-BEpgGk

Rise of the Freemen https://www.montanapbs.org/programs/rise-of-the-freemen/

US white supremacists found guilty of gay pride riot plot https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66271505

Republican women learn the hard way: Complicity will not protect you https://www.salon.com/2023/07/11/women-learn-the-hard-way-complicity-will-not-protect-you/

The Age of Insurrection review: how the far right rose – and found Trump https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jul/05/the-age-of-insurrection-review-far-right-trump-david-neiwert

As Trump is arraigned, Republicans honor the insurrectionists https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/06/16/house-gop-trump-indictment-reaction-jan-6

Republicans reignite the red scare in service of Trump https://www.salon.com/2023/06/28/reignite-the-red-scare-in-of/

“Trump thinks he has this big army out there still”: A MAGA movement betrayed has now morphed https://www.salon.com/2023/06/27/trump-thinks-he-has-this-big-army-out-there-still-a-maga-movement-betrayed-has-now-morphed/

Family of activist killed in alleged ‘spray of bullets’ by US police files lawsuit https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/13/michael-reinoehl-activist-killed-police-family-lawsuit

“Unfriending” America: The Christian right is coming for the enemies of God — like you and me. Rising far-right Christian movement linked to GOP calls for “kingdom revolution” led by an “army of believers” https://www.salon.com/2023/06/17/unfriending-america-the-christian-right-is-coming-for-the-enemies-of-god–like-you-and-me/

How Europe’s far right is marching steadily into the mainstream https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/30/far-right-on-the-march-europe-growing-taste-for-control-and-order

Trump Denies Inciting The Capitol Attack, But 174 Jan. 6 Defendants Blame Him For It https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-jan-6-incitement_n_64a717a1e4b0e5efaada8926

Moms for Liberty is part of a long history of rightwing mothers’ activism in the US https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/06/moms-for-liberty-long-history-rightwing-activism

A Jan. 6 “Moms” Group Funded by Big Lie Donors Is Stoking Voter Suppression https://truthout.org/articles/a-jan-6-moms-group-funded-by-big-lie-donors-is-stoking-voter-suppression/?utm_source=Truthout&utm_campaign=fb7a46e5e2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_3_20_2023_13_41_COPY_05&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bbb541a1db-fb7a46e5e2-651106009&mc_cid=fb7a46e5e2&mc_eid=f9703b4752

Major ”Grassroots” Parents’ Rights Group Rakes in Big Right-Wing Money https://www.importantcontext.news/p/major-grassroots-parents-rights-group

School boards get death threats amid rage over race, gender, mask policies https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-education-threats/

Moms for Liberty Uses Hitler Quote To ‘Scare’ Parents https://www.vice.com/en/article/ak3kz5/moms-for-liberty-hitler-quote

Inside Moms for Liberty’s Close Relationship With the Proud Boys https://www.vice.com/en/article/5d93qd/moms-for-liberty-proud-boys

Held v State of Montana Day 7 Closing Arguments

This special edition of Ecotones is the final daily audio digest of the historic Held v State of Montana trial.

On the final day of this trial, one day before the summer solstice, on June 20, 2023, closing arguments were given before Judge Kathy Seeley, presiding judge of the Lewis and Clark District Court in Helena, MT.

Our Children’s Trust Senior Staff Attorney, Nate Bellinger, delivered the plaintiffs’ closing arguments, followed by Montana Assistant Attorney General, Michael Russell, delivering closing arguments for the State.

Judge Kathy Seeley presides as plaintiffs’ attorney, Nate Bellinger, delivers closing arguments.

Before these remarks, plaintiffs’ attorney Philip Gregory, offered further information attacking the credibility of the State’s lone outside expert witness, economist Dr. Terry Anderson, submitting a report documenting errors of his sources and information, and asking the court to take judicial notice, which the court granted. The audio of this portion of the proceedings, which came before the closing arguments was problematic, and our best efforts only made marginal improvements, so we have put this portion at the end of this recording after the closing arguments.

Held v State of Montana – Day 5 Daily Digest Dr. Lise Van Susteren & Lander Busse

We have been recording and producing daily audio digests of the historic Held v State of Montana trial, brought by 16 youth plaintiffs asserting that their constitutional rights are being violated by the State of Montana, which began on June 12, 2023, in the Lewis and Clarke County District Court in Helena, MT, Judge Cathy Seeley presiding.

We share the testimony of the final two witnesses for the plaintiffs, Dr. Lise Van Susteren, an internationally recognized psychiatrist and expert on how climate change affects the physical and mental health of youth differently and more drastically than adults. http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-lise-van-susteren-testimony-6-16-23/

We end with the final words of the plaintiffs’ case given by youth plaintiff, Lander Busse, after which the Plaintiffs rested their case. http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-lise-van-susteren-testimony-6-16-23/

We will continue to record and produce these daily audio digests of the Held v State of Montana trial as it continues on July 19, 2023 as the Defense presents their case with witnesses Terry Anderson, Christopher Dorrington and Sonja Nowakowski.

Dramatic week in Montana climate trial as youngsters tell of toll on lives https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/17/montana-climate-trial-helena

Climate change is harming my mental health https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-65633082

Held v State of Montana – Day 4 Daily Audio Digest

Welcome to this special edition of Ecotones. We continue our coverage on this fourth day of the historic Held v State of Montana proceedings, sharing this audio daily digest from June 15, 2023. In this edition, we feature three witnesses, but not in the order in which they actually testified on Thursday June 15th. Testifying first was youth plaintiff, Kian Tanner, followed by Montana Environmental Information Center Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs, Anne Hedges, and then youth plaintiff, Claire Vlases.

Claire Vlases testifies on 6-15-23, while Judge Kathy Seeley listens intently

Our digest begins instead with Bozeman youth plaintiff, Claire Vlases. We include the link to our October, 2018 interview with Claire when she was a Bozeman High School sophomore. http://kgvm.org/show/claire-vlases-solar-makes-sense/ http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-claire-vlases-testimony-6-15-23/

Next is testimony from Anne Hedges, who is the Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs at the Montana Environmental Information Center, including cross examination by Defense Attorney for the State of Montana, Bain Johnson (apology if his name is misspelled). http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-anne-hedges-testimony-6-15-23/

Youth plaintiff, Kian Tanner is the final witness we feature in this digest. http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-kian-tanner-testimony-6-15-23/

Due to radio broadcast time restraints, we were not able to include the testimony of the final witness on June 15, 2023, Peter Erickson, a climate change policy researcher for the Stockholm Environment Institute in Seattle, Washington. He provided expert testimony on Montana’s contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions – via fossil fuel consumption, extraction, and infrastructure that the state of Montana permits – and how these emissions are both nationally and globally significant. “We are at a decision point about taking action on climate change,” Mr. Erickson said. “The world community has decided we must. Montana continues to issue fossil fuel permits.” http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-peter-erickson-testimony-6-15-23/

We will include audio of his testimony, as well as those of others we could not previously share, in later programs.

Meet the kids behind the historic Montana climate trial https://www.eenews.net/articles/meet-the-kids-behind-the-historic-montana-climate-trial/

Experts in Youth Climate Trial Say Montana’s Legislative and Executive Branches Favor Fossil Fuel Industry https://flatheadbeacon.com/2023/06/16/experts-in-youth-climate-trial-say-montanas-legislative-and-executive-branches-favor-fossil-fuel-industry/

Indigenous experiences headline third day of Held v. Montana trial https://montanafreepress.org/2023/06/15/indigenous-experiences-headline-third-day-of-held-v-montana-trial/

Young People in Historic Climate Trial Rest Their Case https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/young-people-in-historic-climate-trial-rest-their-case/

Held v State of Montana – Day 3 Daily Digest

We continue our coverage of the historic Held v State of Montana proceedings with this audio daily digest of the hearing from June 14, 2023. Dr. Lori Byron continued her testimony from June 13th, discussing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and human generated catastrophic climate change. http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-dr-lori-byron-testimony-6-13-23/

After cross examination of Dr. Byron by Defense Attorney for the State of Montana, Mark Stermitz, attorneys for the plaintiffs called Dr. Shane Doyle to the witness stand, testifying on behalf of his daughters, two of the youth plaintiffs, Ruby and Lillian Doyle. http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-shane-doyle-testimony-6-14-23/

They then called Michael Durglo, Jr., head of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ Tribal Historic Department. http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-michael-durglo-jr/

Our Children’s Lungs Are Uniquely Vulnerable to All This Wildfire Smoke https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/02/opinion/wildfire-smoke-air-quality-kids-children-health.html

Chai Vasarhelyi WILD LIFE

From Oscar-winning filmmakers Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, WILD LIFE follows conservationist Kris Tompkins on an epic, decades-spanning love story as wild as the landscapes she dedicated her life to protecting. After falling in love in mid-life, Kris and the outdoorsman and entrepreneur, Doug Tompkins, left behind the world of the massively successful outdoor brands they’d helped pioneer like Patagonia, The North Face, and Esprit, and turned their attention to a visionary effort to create National Parks throughout Chile and Argentina. WILD LIFE chronicles the highs and lows of their journey to effect the largest private land donation in history.

WILD LIFE will screen at the Mendocino Film Festival on Friday, June 2nd at 10:00 a.m. in the Festival Tent, as well as Sunday, June 4th at 10:20 a.m. at Coast Cinemas.

Screen shot from **WILD LIFE** showing five national parks created by Kris and Doug Tompkins in Chile and Argentina.

‘It’s like a plague’: land buying by outsiders threatens Patagonia’s peace https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/oct/27/its-like-a-plague-land-buying-by-outsiders-threatens-patagonias-peace

Ian Garrett GROUNDWORKS

GROUNDWORKS travels from traditional acorn gathering spots to the studios where the “Groundworks” performance was rehearsed before being shared at sunrise on Alcatraz—nearly 50 years after the Indians of All Tribes occupied the island and brought attention to Native American rights. Originally initiated by contemporary dance company Dancing Earth Creations, the “Groundworks” project was designed to amplify the oft-forgotten Native presence everywhere in the Americas.

Groundworks weaves together four artists’ stories and their contemporary ways of sharing traditional Indigenous knowledge. By exploring their creative practices, it highlights these Native artists’ contemporary relationships to the Pomo, Ohlone, Tongva, and Wappo/Onastatis territories, languages and traditions. Their efforts to “re-story” the land through creative reclamation are important facets of the Land Back movement.

Bernadette Smith is a Pomo singer, musician, and playwright from the Point Arena Manchester Band of Pomo Indians. She is an activist leader involved with Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and brought her whole family to Standing Rock to protect water rights. She is currently working on reclaiming land traditionally used by her tribe for their acorn harvest, and on protecting the source of those acorns—the tan oak—from hack-and-squirt clearing to make way for managed redwoods.

Profiled in the documentary are Ras K’dee, Pomo, a musician with ties to multiple bands in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties; Bernadette Smith, singer and dancer from the Manchester-Point Arena Band of Pomo Indians; Kanyon Sayers-Roods, a multidisciplinary Ohlone artist from Indian Canyon, a sovereign Indian Nation outside of Hollister, California; and L. Frank, a Tongva-Acjachemen artist, tribal scholar, canoe builder, and language advocate.

We spoke with director, producer, writer and cinematographer, Ian Garrett, about his film, GROUNDWORKS, via Skype on May 16, 2023.

GROUNDWORKS will be screening at the Mendocino FilmFestival on June 4 at 3pm in the Festival Tent. A special program with Coastal Pomo dancers will open the program and a panel discussion will follow.

The Pirate Radio Broadcaster Who Occupied Alcatraz and Terrified the FBI https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-pirate-radio-broadcaster-who-occupied-alcatraz-and-terrified-the-fbi?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Red Natural History https://socialtextjournal.org/periscope_topic/red_natural_history/?link_id=3&can_id=26389c9ba4e6ef1db60b08fdce8085f1&source=email-duplicate-me-4-section-template-2&email_referrer=email_1839282&email_subject=red-natural-history-a-growing-movement-of-scientists-and-scholars

Maria Niro – THE ART OF UN-WAR: KRZYSZTOF WODICZKO

Maria Niro is a New York City-based artist and award-winning filmmaker whose work has been broadcasted on television and screened in theatres, festivals, and museums worldwide. She is a member of New Day Films, a filmmaker-run distribution company providing social issue documentaries to educators founded by American Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, activist, and feminist Julia Reichert in 1971.

She serves on the advisory board of More Art, a nonprofit organization that supports collaborations between professional artists and communities to create public art and educational programs that inspire social justice.

As the National Gallery of Art put it for the East Coast Premiere of The Art of Un-War:

“Internationally renowned artist Krzysztof Wodiczko has dedicated his work and life to denouncing militarization and war. Maria Niro’s recent documentary The Art of Un-War follows Wodiczko’s trajectory from his birth in Warsaw during World War II, to his expulsion from Poland by the communist regime, to today. Combining sculptural elements and technology, Wodiczko’s projects often function as interventions in public spaces, disrupting the valorization of state-sanctioned aggression. Since the 1980s, his deft, site-specific projections of images onto the facades of office and government buildings have grown to incorporate recordings of personal stories told by war veterans, refugees, and immigrants, projected directly onto war memorials, often animating the busts of revered historic leaders. Niro documents many of his major works, including The Homeless Vehicle Project (1988–1989), created in collaboration with homeless communities in Montreal, Philadelphia, and New York City; The Hiroshima Projection (1999), projected onto the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, Japan; and the as-yet-unrealized project of transforming Paris’ monument to war, the Arc de Triomphe, into a temporary site for peace activism.”