In May of 2015, I did a series of interviews with Daniel Ellsberg, a man Henry Kissinger called, "the Most Dangerous Man in America" when Dan released 7000 pages of top secret documents called the Pentagon Papers in 1969. 

The Pentagon Papers revealed how Presidents from FDR to Nixon lied about how and why we were in Vietnam. Dan was forty and could have been sentenced to jail for 115 years, but instead his case was dismissed when the judge learned that Nixon knew and approved of the break in to his psychiatrist office and to have him “roughed” up by C.I.A. operatives. This was Nixon’s unraveling which lead to ending the Vietnam War and saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Over 2 million lives where lost in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos during that time and Dan knew that Nixon was threatening to use nuclear weapons.

Our conversations are called “Lied to Death: How U.S. Leaders Keep Taking Us Into War” and is raising money for national security whistleblowers. The oral history is mixture of historical, political science and Dan’s sixty-year scholarly analysis as a former nuclear planner for Rand Corporation. He’s best line to me is when he says, “Arn, no one knows of these things because even I didn’t until the Freedom of Information Act released it.”

So what makes this important is how we are being lied to and how to understand how to use this same applied principles to today’s wars and national security state. 

A year ago and 5 days ago, I would have shook my head and moved on, but I’ve come to understand in the hundreds of hours of stories I’ve listen to and studied that there is too much empirical evidence on how our government works covertly for special interests of the military, oil, finance and other corporate powers. It’s the story of every Empire from the Iraqi Sumerian Empire in 4000 B.C. to ours, expand and control.

Lied To Death: The Unabridged Interviews with Daniel Ellsberg

In May of 2015, I did a series of interviews with Daniel Ellsberg, a man Henry Kissinger called, "the Most Dangerous Man in America" when Dan released 7000 pages of top secret documents called the Pentagon Papers in 1969. 

The Pentagon Papers revealed how Presidents from FDR to Nixon lied about how and why we were in Vietnam. Dan was forty and could have been sentenced to jail for 115 years, but instead his case was dismissed when the judge learned that Nixon knew and approved of the break in to his psychiatrist office and to have him “roughed” up by C.I.A. operatives. This was Nixon’s unraveling which lead to ending the Vietnam War and saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Over 2 million lives where lost in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos during that time and Dan knew that Nixon was threatening to use nuclear weapons.

Our conversations are called “Lied to Death: How U.S. Leaders Keep Taking Us Into War” and is raising money for national security whistleblowers. The oral history is mixture of historical, political science and Dan’s sixty-year scholarly analysis as a former nuclear planner for Rand Corporation. He’s best line to me is when he says, “Arn, no one knows of these things because even I didn’t until the Freedom of Information Act released it.”

So what makes this important is how we are being lied to and how to understand how to use this same applied principles to today’s wars and national security state. 

A year ago and 5 days ago, I would have shook my head and moved on, but I’ve come to understand in the hundreds of hours of stories I’ve listen to and studied that there is too much empirical evidence on how our government works covertly for special interests of the military, oil, finance and other corporate powers. It’s the story of every Empire from the Iraqi Sumerian Empire in 4000 B.C. to ours, expand and control.

Artwork by © Scott Meskill 2015

Lied To Death: Conversations With Daniel Ellsberg On Why We Go To War

Lied To Death: Daniel Ellsberg Part 1

Lied To Death: Daniel Ellsberg Part 4

Lied To Death: Daniel Ellsberg Part 5

Lied To Death: Conversations with Daniel Ellsberg Chapter 1 Intro This Is The Human Condition

Lied To Death: Conversations with Daniel Ellsberg Chapter 1

Lied To Death: Conversations with Daniel Ellsberg Chapter 3

Lied To Death: Conversations with Daniel Ellsberg Chapter 2

Lied To Death: Conversations with Daniel Ellsberg Chapter 4

Lied To Death: Conversations with Daniel Ellsberg Chapter 12 Conclusion

I sat down with reporter Elise Thatcher with Aspen Public Radio on my run for U.S. Senator.

My Public Radio Interview

I was interviewed on Feb. 12 by Maeve Conran of Boulder Public Radio KGNU 88.5 FM

Menconi for Senate Boulder Public Radio Interview

Phillis Bennis is the director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive multi-issue think tank in Washington. She's always working as a writer, activist and analyst on Middle East and UN issues. She is also a fellow of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam. In 2001 she helped found and remains active with the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. She works with many anti-war organizations, and writes and speaks widely across the U.S. and around the world as part of the global peace movement. She has served as an informal adviser to several top UN officials on Middle East and UN democratization issues.

Phyllis has written and edited eleven books. Among them are her new Understanding ISIS & the New Global War on Terror: A Primer, the 6th updated edition of her popular Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, as well as Before & After: US Foreign Policy and the War on Terror and Challenging Empire: How People, Governments and the UN Defy U.S. Power.

Here's a link to an article in MintPressNews on more of her thoughts on ISIS. http://www.mintpressnews.com/phyllis-bennis-isis-is-filling-the-holes-left-by-the-us-war-on-terror/209488/

Phyllis Bennis Fellow At Institute for Policy Studies On ISIS & Terrorism

Miriam Pemberton is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. She directs its Peace Economy Transitions Project which focuses on helping to build the foundations of a postwar economy at the federal, state and local levels. She co-chairs the Budget Priorities Working Group, the principal information-sharing collaboration of U.S. NGOs working on reducing Pentagon spending.
In addition to articles and opeds, her publications include two report series. “Military vs. Climate Security” compares federal spending on the two security domains, and argues for a shift of security resources toward mitigating climate change. “A Unified Security Budget for the United States” examined the balance of spending on military forces, homeland security and non-military foreign engagement and argues for a rebalanced security budget.

With William Hartung of the New America Foundation, she is co-editor of the book Lessons from Iraq: Avoiding the Next War (Paradigm Publishers, 2008). Formerly she was editor, researcher and finally director of the National Commission for Economic Conversion and Disarmament. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.

Find her publications here http://www.ips-dc.org/authors/miriam-pemberton/

Miriam Pemberton Fellow at Institute for Policy Studies on Defense Spending

For more information go to www.arnmenconi.com 

Arn Menconi for U.S. Senate 30 sec ad

I was interviewed by labor to see if they would give their endorsement of my bid for U.S. Senator.



AFL CIO Candidate Interview

David Lawrence is a Scientist III in NCAR's Earth System Laboratory. His research interests center around land surface processes and climate change with a particular emphasis on investigations into Arctic terrestrial climate system feedbacks, especially including the impact of projected permafrost degradation on carbon, water, and energy cycles. He is also interested in land-atmosphere interactions and how land-atmosphere interactions contribute to climate variability and change.

Climate Science interview with Dr. David Lawrence

Mountain Towns 2030 http://mt2030.org
Mountain towns have the power to make a global impact on climate change. That is why the town of Park City pulled together mountain town leaders, NGO's and businesses from around the world to create realistic plans to achive net zero goals by the year 2030.
The MT2030 effort launces at the Net Zero Summit in October, 2019 in Park City, Utah. At this three-day event, attendees learned from inspirational speakers and panelists, share best practices in focused workshops, and create commitments to aggressive goals that will amplify their collective voice to compel national and global leaders to commit to “zero”.

We held a rap up discuss afterwards with Rob Davies, Sarah Wright and Luke Cartin on the big picture of Climate Emergency and what to do.

-Rob Davies
Physicist, Utah State University
As a physicist, Rob’s training has been in atmospheric physics, surface physics, and quantum optics. But his work for more than a decade has been in critical science communication, principally focused on global environmental change and sustainable human systems. Rob is also co-creator, along with USU’s Fry Street Quartet, of The Crossroads Project, a “performance science” project weaving together science lecture, imagery and music on the topic of human sustainability.

Rob has taught on the faculty of three universities; worked as project scientist for Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Laboratory; as technical liaison for NASA’s International Space Station project; as a physicist and climate change communicator with the Utah Climate Center; and served as an officer and meteorologist in the United States Air Force.

His published scientific works are in the fields of spacecraft interactions with the space environment; the fundamental nature of light and information; and Earth’s climate system.

-Sarah Wright
Executive Director, Utah Clean Energy
As founder of Utah Clean Energy, Sarah has a proven record of accomplishment in the promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency within the state of Utah. As Executive Director, she has effectively fostered diverse partnerships with state agencies, municipal governments, industry, agricultural groups and community groups to advance clean energy solutions.

Sarah is an intervener in regulatory proceedings and a witness in legislative hearings testifying in support of energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Sarah brings over fifteen years experience with the Utah industry where she served as an environmental consultant providing occupational health and ambient air quality permitting services. Sarah holds a B.S. in Geology from Bradley University, and an M.S. in Public Health from the University of Utah.

-Luke Cartin
Environmental Sustainability Manager, Park City
Luke oversees Park City’s goals of achieving net-zero carbon and 100% renewable electricity for city operations by 2022, and community-wide 2030. These goals are the most ambitious in North America for any municipality, and one of the most aspiring world-wide. There are many programs underway, including; electrification of city fleet and buses, bringing on large scale renewable investment, quantifying open space as carbon sinks, and pursuing net-zero energy buildings. 

Previous to coming to the city, he worked in ski resort sustainability and land planning for 15 years. His work has been featured in the New York Times, BBC, Outside Magazine, Powder, Newsweek, and other international outlets.

Luke lives with his wife, three kids, and many animals just outside Park City.

Mountain Towns Net 2030 Podcast with Prof. Rob Davies, Sarah Wright & Luke Cartin

Comprehensive Green New Deal Bill explaining with David Freeman

Arn's interview starts at 5 minutes in and runs for 30 minutes. He brings the most up to date analysis of the sciences, politics, economics and movements.

Arn Menconi

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks