The HBO documentary THE SWAMP (2020) follows three "maverick" Republican congressmen who seek to fulfil Donald Trump's promise to "drain the swamp," even if that means alienating their party leaders. But what you really need to know about this documentary is that the main one is Matt Gaetz, and he is a huge doofus. PLUS: thoughts on Canada Day, Alex Gibney's Agents of Chaos, and a look back at the media coverage of the War in Iraq.

Michael and Us

#248 - Enemy at the Gaetz

As the Biden administration continues to seek the extradition of Julian Assange, new details have emerged about the Trump administration's secret war against Assange and his organization, Wikileaks. Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News discusses his team's explosive reporting on the CIA plot to surveil, kidnap, and even kill Assange -- all overseen by Michael Pompeo. 

Isikoff and Aaron Maté also debate Russia's role in the Assange controversy, particularly the allegation that Russia stole Democratic Party emails in 2016 and gave them to Wikileaks.

Guest: Michael Isikoff, chief investigative correspondent for Yahoo News. 

"Kidnapping, assassination and a London shoot-out: Inside the CIA's secret war plans against WikiLeaks."
https://news.yahoo.com/kidnapping-assassination-and-a-london-shoot-out-inside-the-ci-as-secret-war-plans-against-wiki-leaks-090057786.html

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Inside the CIA plot to kidnap, kill Julian Assange

On today's episode Prof. Richard Wolff joins the show to discuss major developments in the labor movement as workers grow increasingly assertive of their rights. Members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees voted almost unanimously to authorize a strike that would shut down Hollywood, Kellogg’s factory workers are on strike, and workers at Nabisco recently wrapped up a successful strike action. Will this trend continue?

Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can check out his work at rdwolff.com.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

Labor Movement Surge: Workers Unite Against Inequality

Abby Martin talks to Alan MacLeod of MintPress News about how the Pentagon has written and edited scripts for hundreds of movies and TV shows over the last 20 years.

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How The Pentagon Runs Hollywood

On today's episode, Brian and Ju-Hyun Park discuss the rising tide of labor activism in South Korea demanding not only economic and social justice for workers, but also an expansion of democracy. Braving violent police repression, half a million workers in South Korea went on strike last week in a major show of force. The unfolding political and social struggles in South Korea will have a far-reaching impact not only for people on the Korean peninsula, but a major impact on regional politics

Ju-Hyun Park is a writer and member of Nodutdol for Korean Community Development. You can check out their latest article titled “Half a Million South Korean Workers Walk Off Jobs in General Strike” on Truthout: https://truthout.org/articles/half-a-million-south-korean-workers-prepare-to-walk-off-jobs-in-general-strike/

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

The Battle for Workers’ Rights and Democracy in South Korea

After a month long vacation, Abby Martin is back to catch up with Robbie. They talk about everything from their sadness over the death of their favorite comedian Norm Macdonald to their disdain towards the recently deceased Colin Powell, the man who became a human symbol for bipartisan militarism and was a vehicle for liberal acceptance of neoconservative foreign policy and endless war in the Clinton, Bush and Obama eras. 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast please subscribe to Media Roots Radio on Patreon // www.patreon.com/mediarootsradio

Patreon subscribers at the $5 tier get access to an exclusive bonus episode and per month as well as access to the Florida 2001 Event Attacks Map by Robbie Martin.

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Colin Powell a Symbol for Bipartisan Militarism, RIP Norm Macdonald

(Patreon-only Rose McGowan interview here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/rose-mcgowan-57953217)
Labor journalists Alex Press (https://twitter.com/alexnpress) & Jonah Furman (https://twitter.com/JonahFurman) discuss the labor movement, strikes, John Deere and what it has to do with Alec Baldwin's deadly shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Alex Press is a writer and editor at Jacobin Magazine, whose latest article is "Halyna Hutchins’s Death on the Set of Rust Was 'Not a Freak Accident'."Jonah Furman is a labor movement organizer and writer for Labor Notes (https://twitter.com/labornotes), the media and organizing project that since 1979 has amplified the voice of workers and labor militants. He is also a frequent contributor to The Intercept.

Alec Baldwin Shooting 'NOT a Freak Accident' With Alex Press & Jonah Furman

On today's "In the News" roundtable, Brian Becker, Esther Iverem, Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss the Glasgow climate summit and  Biden's capitulation to the right wing on his social program budget. The Glasgow summit is underway, and yet again the U.S. government has failed to meet the challenge -- coming up with only the woefully inadequate measures contained in Biden’s social spending “framework” agreement.

The following articles are referenced in this episode:

The Laughing Stock of the World: Why the world pities us and fears us
https://www.michaelmoore.com/p/the-laughing-stock-of-the-world

Warnings of violence before Jan. 6 precipitated the Capitol riot
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/warnings-jan-6-insurrection/

The Demand for Money Behind Many Police Traffic Stops
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/31/us/police-ticket-quotas-money-funding.html

Why Many Police Traffic Stops Turn Deadly
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/31/us/police-traffic-stops-killings.html

Before the Final Frame: When Police Missteps Create Danger
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/10/30/video/police-traffic-stops-danger-video.html

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

Capitalism Fiddles While the Planet Burns

Since 1959, the Cuban Revolution has been a main target of the CIA and the entire U.S. government. Before the Revolution, Cuba was a de facto colony or semi-colony of the United States. Today, efforts to carry out counter-revolution are intensifying. Cuba is in the crosshairs -- what’s at stake? Listen to our inaugural episode as part of BreakThrough News!

Brian is joined by Manolo De Los Santos, Founder & Co-Director of The People’s Forum and a researcher with the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

Cuba in the Crosshairs of Imperialism -- What’s at Stake?

In the suffering of the Global South, the brutality of capitalism lies bare. In a footnote toward the end of Capital, Marx wrote that the colonized subject reveals “what the bourgeois makes of itself and of the labourer, wherever it can, without restraint, model the world after its own image”. The forms of primary accumulation he articulates there were in their most naked form in the colonies. Contrary to liberal and academic misreadings, Marx paid great attention to the relationship between colonialism and capitalism. Marx came to argue that colonialism was the backbone of capitalism, and that anti-colonial movements could even be the key to global capitalism’s overthrow. This is why anti-colonial struggles have long been guided to victory by Marxist theory.

Read the full article here: https://liberationschool.org/09-what-is-imperialism-html/

What is imperialism? An introduction

Watch the video version on BreakThrough News here: https://youtu.be/WUHHe6h8iXk

What could be the final effort to resuscitate the Iran nuclear deal will begin this month with negotiators meeting in Vienna. The United States, having violated and destroyed the deal under Trump, is now pushing for new concessions from Iran. This kind of arrogance is nothing new -- it has been the defining feature of U.S. government policy towards Iran going back to the 1953 CIA-sponsored coup and through the 1979 revolution that overthrew the U.S. puppet monarchy. 

Brian is joined by Mohammad Marandi, an expert on American studies and postcolonial literature who teaches at the University of Tehran.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

U.S. Empire vs. Iran: History and the Present Day

News and views about the world for those who want to change it, with Brian Becker

Capitalism Fiddles While the Planet Burns

The Socialist Program with Brian Becker

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