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Tag Archives: Bernie Sanders

Free Speech Radio Presents Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor at Impact Hub (Oakland), On Two-Party Dictatorship, Socialism, & True Democracy

12 Mon Dec 2016

Posted by ztnh in Anti-Capitalism, Anti-Fascism, Anti-Imperialism, Anti-Totalitarianism, Civic Engagement (Activism), Democracy Deferred, Free Speech, Philosophy, Political Science, Presidential Election 2016, Racism (phenotype), Sociology

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Anita Johnson, Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones (b. 1968), Barry Morris Goldwater (1909–1998), Bernie Sanders, Davey D, Donald John Trump (b. 1946), Dr. Barbara Ransby, Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Dr. Michelle Alexander (b. 1967), Fight for $15, Hard Knock Radio, KPFA, neoliberalism, Norman Solomon, Obama administration, Occupy Wall Street, Pacifica Radio Network, Stephen Kevin "Steve" Bannon (b. 1953), transcript, Two-Party Dictatorship, urban economics, Women's Magazine

LUMPENPROLETARIAT—At a recent presentation in support of Dr. Bill Ayers‘ new book, Demand the Impossible, Dr. Bernardine Dohrn encouraged everyone to attend an upcoming SF Bay Area presentation by radical scholar Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, an associate professor at Princeton University and the author of a new book entitled From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation (2016), “an examination of the history and politics of Black America and the development of the social movement Black Lives Matter in response to police violence in the United States.  [Dr.] Taylor has received the Lannan Foundation’s Cultural Freedom Award for an Especially Notable Book.”  Dr. Cornel West has described her as “the most sophisticated and courageous radical intellectual of her generation.”

For those, who were unable to attend, free speech radio’s Women’s Magazine as well as Davey D, co-host of Hard Knock Radio, broadcast excerpts of the presentation, which was delivered before at Impact Hub in Oakland, California on December 5, 2016 by Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.  This KPFA benefit was hosted by Hard Knock Radio co-host Anita Johnson. [1]  (Working draft transcripts below.)  Listen (and/or download) here [2]; and here [3]; and here [4].

Messina

***

KPFA BENEFIT—[5 DEC 2016]

Monday, December 5, 2016 – 7:30 pm
Impact Hub Oakland, 2323 Broadway (near Grand), Oakland
Advance tickets: $12 : brownpapertickets.com :: T: 800-838- 3006
or Books Inc (Berkeley), Marcus Books, Pegasus (3 sites), Moe’s, Walden Pond Bookstore,Diesel a Bookstore, Mrs. Dalloway’s
$15 door

Winner of the 2016 Lannan Cultural Freedom Award for an Especially Notable Book

The eruption of mass protests in the wake of the police murders of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in New York City have challenged the impunity with which officers of the law carry out violence against Black people and punctured the illusion of a postracial America. The Black Lives Matter movement has awakened a new generation of activists. In this stirring and insightful analysis, activist and scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor surveys the historical and contemporary ravages of racism and persistence of structural inequality such as mass incarceration and Black unemployment. In this context, she argues that this new struggle against police violence holds the potential to reignite a broader push for Black liberation.

“Ultimately, From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation is an essential read for anyone following the movement for Black Lives. The text chronicles a portion of history we rarely ever see, while also bringing together data and deep primary source research in a way that lucidly explains the origins of the current moment.”  —Los Angeles Review of Books

“This brilliant book is the best analysis we have of the #BlackLivesMatter moment of the long struggle for freedom in America. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor has emerged as the most sophisticated and courageous radical intellectual of her generation.”  —Dr. Cornel West

“Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s searching examination of the social, political and economic dimensions of the prevailing racial order offers important context for understanding the necessity of the emerging movement for black liberation.”  —Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s writings on Black politics, social movements, and racial inequality in the United States have been published in Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society, Jacobin, New Politics, the Guardian, In These Times, Black Agenda Report, Ms., International Socialist Review, Al Jazeera America, and other publications.  She is assistant professor in the department of African American Studies at Princeton University.

Anita Johnson began her journalistic career at Youth Radio in 1994.  She was the senior producer for YR’s weekly talk show on WILD 94.9, and served as senior producer for 106.1 KMEL’s Street Knowledge, hosted by Davey D.  By 1997, she was submitting national segments to Marketplace and NPR’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition.  In 2000, Anita co-founded KPFA’s Hard Knock Radio, a public affairs program covering news, views and Hip-Hop.  In 2009, with the assistance of The Association of Independents in Radio, she founded Beyond The Odds, a multimedia arts project created to illuminate the impact of HIV and AIDS on low-income and minority young adults (under 25), through the use of the Web.  In 2010, she co-produced the documentary film CoInTelPro 101.  A well-respected Hip Hop artist as well, she has performed with singer/guitarist Carlos Santana.

KPFA benefit

Learn more at KPFA.

***

WOMEN’S MAGAZINE—[12 DEC 2016]  (synopsis)

““Deeply rooted in Black radical, feminist and socialist traditions, Taylor’s book is an outstanding example of the type of analysis that is needed to build movements for freedom and self-determination in a far more complicated terrain than that confronted by the activists of the 20th century.”  —Michael C. Dawson, author of Blacks In and Out of the Left

Keeanga-Yamahtta is assistant professor in the department of African American Studies at Princeton University.  Her book, From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, won the 2016 Lannan Cultural Freedom Award for an Especially Notable Book.

Taylor spoke on Monday, December 5, at Impact Hub in Oakland. She addressed the current crisis as well as the historical entwining of race and class in American politics, and possible ways forward for a multiracial working class-oriented social justice movement.”

[Women’s Magazine intro audio collage]

KATE RAPHAEL:  “Good afternoon.  Welcome to Women’s Magazine.  I’m Kate Raphael.  Even before the catastrophe of the elections, I was feeling pretty demoralised about the state of politics on the left in this country.  And I felt like I needed to understand more about Black Lives Matter and the movement building around that, and how it relates to movements, that have been bubbling up, like the Fight for $15 and climate justice.

“And one of the books, I picked up to help me understand those movements and the context in which they’re operating, was called From Black Lives Matter to Black Liberation” by Keeanga Yamahtta-Taylor.  I found it to be one of the most nuanced and thoughtful accounts and analyses of the moment we’re in, that I’ve read in a very long time.

“So, I was super excited when I saw that Keeanga Yamahtta-Taylor was gonna be speaking in Oakland last week.  And I was even more excited to realise that this was a KPFA-sponsored event.  And, so, I would be able to bring you her talk as well as offer the chance to get her book or a copy of her talk as a thank-you gift for your pledge to KPFA this holiday season.

“Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is associate professor of African-American Studies at Princeton University.  She received the Lannan Foundation‘s Cultural Freedom Award for an Especially Notable Book for her book From Black Lives Matter to Black Liberation.

“Feminist historian Barbara Ransby calls the book “a must-read for everyone who’s serious about the ongoing praxis of freedom.

“We are going to listen to a good bit of Taylor’s talk on Monday night, which focuses a lot on the election and its aftermath, but also touches on the themes, she explores much more deeply in her book.  Before we get to that, I just want to let you know that you can get a copy of her complete talk on CD for a pledge of $75 dollars to KPFA.  You can get the book, itself, for $80 dollars.  Or you can get, both, the book and the CD for just $130 dollars, which is only about 35 cents a day.  And I really can’t recommend it highly enough.

“I know a lot of people are having potlucks and listening groups, meetings to talk about what’s going on.  This CD would make a great conversation-starter for one of those discussions.  Your book group would definitely love to read this book and discuss it.  You don’t need to wait until the end of the show to call and pledge your support for this radio station and this programme.  Help keep us on the air.  The numbers to call:  510.848-5372 or 1.800.439-5732, 1.800.HEY-KPFA.  Or you can pledge securely online at kpfa.org.  We deeply appreciate whatever support you could give us.

“Here is Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor speaking at Impact Hub in Oakland last Monday night [December 5th] at an event hosted by Hard Knock Radio‘s Anita Johnson.”  (c. 4:33)

DR. KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR:  “I’m gonna talk about some of the themes in my book.  But I’m gonna try to do so within the context, um, of the catastrophe—the election of Donald Trump.  [snip (Women’s Magazine edited the following bit out of this broadcast.)  So, um, so, I’m gonna try to combine both of these things.  And we can talk more specifically about the book in the discussion.  But I feel like, you know, given the issues, that I’ve written about, that actually this—the whole Trump thing, really, is something, that we have to try to engage with and understand.  So, that’s some of the context behind the talk.  Uh, okay.  [Audience Member:  “Yes!”]  Okay. [chuckles] 

“Um,] it’s difficult to comprehend how eight years ago, after the election of Barack Obama, the national conversation was whether or not the U.S. was going to become a post-racial society.  Forbes magazine ran an editorial with the headline, Racism In America Is Over.  Eight years later, any fantasy about the United States being a post-racial society has gone up in flames with the ascendance of Donald Trump to the highest office in the country.

[snip: see Hard Knock Radio transcript below for the full text of this speech excerpt]

“In other words, the lesser evil always cuts the path for the greater evil.  Where Obama used the machinery and logic of deportations to banish 2.5 million people from the United States, it has set the stage for Trump to do this in an even larger way.  Where the Obama administration embraced the values of so-called choice and privatisation and gutting public education, Trump will do it in an even more fantastical way, that finishes the job of attempting to kill public education in this country.  Obama’s failure to deliver any significant reforms for working class and poor people made a mockery of his attempts to tell people to vote for him in order to secure his legacy. (c. 16:40)

“And the insistence of liberals to defend this agenda, the thin gruel of the Obama agenda, with only the most scant whiff of criticism leads to their own paralysis when the right does the same thing, but just on a larger scale.”

KATE RAPHAEL:  “You’re listening to Women’s Magazine here on KPFA, 94.1 FM and online at kpfa.org.  I’m Kate Raphael.

“We’re listening to talk by Keeanga Yamahtta-Taylor, that was at the Impact Hub in Oakland.  Taylor is the author of a wonderful book called From #Black Lives Matter to Black Liberation.  And we’re offering this book to you along with her talk as a thank-you gift for your pledge to KPFA of just $130 dollars, which is just about 35 cents a day. (c. 18:44)  [snip]  ”  (c. 23:34)

DR. KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR:  “But there are other ways to measure discontent beyond polls and election results.  We saw the first wave of discontent with Obama’s role with the emergence of Occupy Movement in 2011, and, then, the eruption of Black Lives Matter in the summer of 2014.  Both were products of the widening gap of inequality in the United States.  That inequality was at the heart of the Occupy Movement and its popularisation of class inequality in the U.S. though the slogan of the 99% versus the 1%.  (c. 22:54)

“But this inequality was also important in how we understand the emergence of Black Lives Matter.  Black Americans, of course, took the brunt of the economic crisis in 2008.  It was, in part, how we understand the deep wells of support, that existed for Obama and his campaign’s ability to tap into the anger with the federal government’s abject disregard for what was happening in black communities.

“We cannot understand, for example, the social catastrophe happening across black Chicago, where it was just announced last week that there will be 700 homicides in that city, the vast majority of which affect young black people.  You cannot understand that social catastrophe in Chicago without understanding the persisting effects of the economic crisis, that never really ended in many black communities.  (c. 23:53)

“Chicago has the third-highest black unemployment rate of any major city in this country.  It has the third-highest poverty rate of a large city in the United States.  Its black middle class is being gutted because of municipal, state, federal budget cuts, that have wiped out public sector jobs in postal work, teaching, and other positions, that have historically been the bedrock of black economic stability.  The breakdown of this civic infrastructure, in combination with the existing crisis of mass incarceration and what Michelle Alexander has called The New Jim Crow, the persistence of unemployment and underemployment and of under-resourced public services and institutions has created the pretext for deepening police presence in black communities and, as a result, is exacerbating all of the conditions, that justify the presence of the police in the first place.  (c. 24:53)

“As living conditions in black communities have become harder, the police have been given license to respond with arrests and brutality.  And, while the emergence of Black Lives Matter has exposed the extent to which violent policing is institutionalised in this country, it nevertheless continues.  The police are on pace to kill 1,200 people this year, more than last year, when newspapers first began to count, and, substantively more than the 928 a year, the FBI had been suggesting as an average two years earlier.

“If you want to understand why the black vote was depressed compared to 2008 and 2012, it can be found in the inability of the American government to aggressively intervene and prevent the murder of black citizens by the state, whether it’s with the policing of black communities or the water crisis in Flint, the expectation that black Americans would be a firewall for Clinton was as offensive, as it was reflective of a kind of liberal contempt for the daily struggles of working class and poor people. (c. 26:09)

“There is just the expectation that, no matter what is happening in your life and how terrible things might be, and no matter how unresponsive the Democratic Party may be, you still have to vote for them.

“And, then, the bitterness directed at people when they don’t respond in such a way is even more contemptuous.  This is true when liberals blame depressed black voter turnout for the election results.  But it is also the case when they blame working class whites for, quote, ‘voting against their interests’, as if, somehow, voting for the neoliberal, yet civil, politics of the Democratic Party are in the interest of the working class.  And, as an aside—[audience finally starts to respond with faint applause; it seems the audience consists of mostly nonplussed registered Democrats.] [5]

“Working class interests are never on the ballot in bourgeois elections. [scant applause and at least one cheer; the biggest audience reaction thus far] 

“But, when it comes to the fate of ordinary white people, who, despite the media and academic fascination with it for the moment, these are people, who are also regularly ignored.  We have heard all sorts of dime-store psychology about the so-called white working class, most of it thinly-veiled elitism.  White workers feel entitled.  They’re only interested in themselves.  They are privileged.  They are racist scum.  They are just bad.  (c. 27:30)

“In total, it reflects the political establishment’s contempt for the struggles of regular people.  If you only read these reports or assessments, you would think there was no inequality experienced by white working class people, or that ordinary white people were just living the high life.

“But, when we consider the experiences of white working class people within the context of the attacks on working class standards, in general, we get a different picture.  And what would happen, if we told the story of black Chicago and other black communities across this country?  It’s part of the same story of what’s happening to ordinary white people.

“For example, there is the continuing crisis of opioid, or narcotic, addiction in this country.  While people are quick to point out how differently it is received compared to the War On Drugs directed at black communities in the 1980s and ’90s, which is undoubtedly true, what does this crisis at this particular moment tell us about the conditions of working class life and working class people?

“There are two million people, addicted to opioids in the U.S.  Half of those people are addicted to heroin.  From 2009 to 2014, almost half a million people have died from opioid overdoses, a fourfold increase from 1999.  Earlier this year, it was reported that their had been a decline in the life expectancy for white women and a plateauing of life expectancy for white men.  In fact, it is unprecedented for life expectancy to reverse in a so-called first world country. (c. 29:20)

“In the United States peer countries, life expectancy is growing.  Why is life expectancy for white women in decline in this country?  Drug overdose, suicide, and alcohol abuse.

On transcending race (phenotype), or identity politics, and confronting class struggle

“So, if we told the stories of the destruction of working class black life alongside the stories of the destruction of working class white life, it could allow us to see that the anxieties, stresses, confusions, and frustrations about life in the world today are not owned by one group, but are shared by many.  It would not tell us that everyone suffers the same oppression or exploitation.  But it would allow us to see that, even if we don’t experience a particular kind of oppression, every working person in this country is going through something.  Everyone is trying to figure out how to survive.  And many are failing.  (c. 30:23)

“If we put these stories together, we would gain more insight into how the white working class and poor have as much stake in the fight for a different kind of society as anyone else.  We wouldn’t so casually dismiss their suffering as privileged because they do not suffer as much as black and brown people in this country.

“The privileges of white skin run very thin in a country where 19 million white people languish in poverty.  Apparently, the wages of whiteness are not so great to stop millions of ordinary white people from, literally, drinking and drugging themselves to death to escape the despair of living in this so-called greatest country on Earth.

“If we put these separate stories together into a single story, we could make better sense of why socialism is rising in popularity.  White people have taken to the streets over the last five years to protest the growing racial and economic inequality in this country.  13 million people voted for an open socialist.  And many believe that if Sanders ran against Trump, he very well could have beaten him.  51% of 18- to 29-year olds say they are against capitalism.  Even if they are not fully convinced of what should replace it, 48% of millennials support health insurance as a, quote, ‘right for all people’.  And 47% agree that basic necessities, such as food and shelter are, quote, ‘a right, that the government should provide to those unable to afford them’. (c. 32:10)

“In the 1970s, 61% of Americans fell into that vague, but stable, category of the middle class.  Today, that number has fallen to 50%.  It is driven by the growing wealth inequality, that exists here.  In the last year alone, the 1% saw their income rise by 7%.  The 0.1% saw their income rise by 9%.  In general, the richest 20% of households in the U.S. owned 84% of the wealth in this country, while the bottom 40% owned less than 1%.  In other words, there are 400 billionaires in this country.  They are the reason why there are 47 million poor people in this country.  You cannot have untold obscene wealth, unless you have untold obscene poverty.  That is the law of the market. (c. 33:06)

“And how does such a tiny percent of the population unjustly hold on to their wealth, even when millions agree that it should be redistributed?  Racism, immigrant-bashing, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, nationalism.  They get us to fight each other, while they horde their wealth.

“Our stories are not all the same.  We do not have the same experiences.  But our hardships often emanate from the same source—a market-based economy, that privileges the wealthy over the welfare and lives of the people who create that wealth.  And they keep our stories separate from each other, so that we never understand the entire story, only our particular part of it.

“But, even with great effort to keep our side divided and confused, millions of people are coming to grips with the harsh reality of an economic system, that guarantees them nothing but a future of hardship and an inability to ever get ahead.  But the knowledge, alone, of the existence of racism, inequality, poverty, and injustice does not necessarily equip our side with the political tools needed to fight the battles of today or to fight for a socialist future. (c. 34:32)

“We need struggle.  We also need politics because we must contend with the political establishment, that wants to lower our expectations to believe that the existing society is the best that we can expect from humanity, that we dare not think beyond the existing parameters of electing a Democrat or Republican to change the world we live in.

“Clinton lost, in part, ‘cos she ran a campaign of low expectations, a campaign cynically pivoted around the notion that ordinary people shouldn’t ask for too much, and that we must be realistic about the possibilities.  Donald Trump promised to change the world.  And Hillary Clinton promised to make the trains run on time.  Bernie Sanders, for all of the excitement, that his campaign generated for rightly demanding more, his commitment to remaining in the Democratic Party has effectively neutered his political revolution.  Expecting the Democratic Party to fight for the democratic redistribution of wealth and resources in this country is like expecting to squeeze orange juice out of an apple.” (c. 35:50)

[host cuts into the playback of the audio recording to appeal for listener sponsorship of free speech radio KPFA]

KATE RAPHAEL:  ” [snip]”  (c. 41:31)

[host returns to the playback of the audio recording of the speech, but fast-forwarding to the Q&A portion of the presentation with Anita Johnson]

ANITA JOHNSON:  “My first question is this.  This past October marked the 50th Anniversary of the Black Panther Party.  And the former chairperson of the Black Panther Party, Elaine Brown had an interesting, interesting perspective about Black Lives Matter in contrast, or in comparison, to the Black Panther Party.  To quote her directly, it says:

I don’t know what Black Lives Matter does, so, I can’t tell you how it compares to what the Black Panther Party was.  I know that the Black Panther Party was.  I know that lives were lost, the struggle we put into place, the efforts we made, the assaults on us by the police and government.  I know all that.  I don’t know what Black Lives matter does.  So, if you can tell me, I can give you my thoughts. 

“End quote.  Um, how would you articulate what Black Lives Matter does and, then, how does it also fit into the history of Black Resistance?” (c. 42:25)

DR. KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR:  “Well, I mean [transcription pending]

[snip]

[PLEASE CHECK BACK LATER.  THIS TRANSCRIPT IS CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION.]

[snip] (c. 59:59)

Learn more at WOMEN’S MAGAZINE.

[This transcript will be expanded as time constraints, and/or demand or resources, allow.  Email us, if you would like to volunteer any transcription labour to the common stock of knowledge for the betterment of society.]

***

[Working draft transcript of actual radio broadcast by Messina for Lumpenproletariat and Hard Knock Radio.]

HARD KNOCK RADIO—[12 DEC 2016]  (synopsis)  “Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1 @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson.”

[Erica Bridgeman(sp?):  “—and 89.3 KPFB in Berkeley; 88.1 KFCF in Fresno; 97.5 K2ABR in Santa Cruz; and online at kpfa.org.  The time is 4pm.  Up next, Hard Knock Radio.”]

[Hard Knock Radio introduction audio collage]

DAVEY D:  “Wutup, everybody?  Welcome to another edition of Hard Knock Radio.  Davey D, hangin’ out with you this afternoon.  On today’s show, we’re gonna hear activist and scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta talking about the police murders, the Donald Trump election, and the challenges, that wait before us.  All that and more, coming up after the afternoon [news] headlines.”

[KPFA News Headlines (read by Max Pringle) omitted by scribe]

DAVEY D:  “Wussup, everybody?  Davey D, hangin’ out wit’ you this afternoon.  You know?  Being in the [SF] Bay Area, we are very fortunate because we have—we’re, we’re a hub.  A lot of people from all walks of life, um, especially of the progressive persuasion, make it a point to roll through here and share their wisdom and insights, as to the happenings of the day.

“And, um, you know, a few days ago, we were blessed to have, um, activist, scholar, assistant professor of African American Studies over at Princeton University, Keeanga-Yamahtta.  (c. 7:39)

“She came through and talked about the new book, From #Black Lives Matter to Black Liberation—a political analysis of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, the history of policing and race in the United States—and, during the conversation, got into Donald Trump and the collapse of the Democratic Party—that’s right, the collapse of the Democratic Party—and, even more insightful, the failings of the Obama administration.  A lot was covered in this incredible conversation, took place last week at the Impact Hub, here, in Oakland. (c. 8:21)

“I wanted to share that with you this afternoon, as we continue on in Week Two of our [free speech radio KPFA] Holiday Fund Drive.  I want you all to pull up a seat.  I want you all to open up your ears and your hearts and your minds and take in some of this information and, really, as you do that, appreciate the fact that in many places we don’t have the opportunity to accommodate the array of voices, that exist out in our community.  You know; if we were on one of the corporate entities, it would be, like: Well, I’ve never heard of this person. But, if it’s Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, then we can hear that.  And that can be good and bad, depending on where you sit.

“But there are so many young, brilliant, minds, that are out there, that are on the rise, that are making moves, um, and have shrewd political analyses of the situations at hand.  And we need to make space for them.  And these airwaves have been able to do just that.  (c. 9:23)

“And, so, without further ado, let’s check out Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta speaking about black liberation, Black Lives Matter, the rise of Donald Trump, the failings of Obama, and the collapse of the Democratic Party, right here, KPFA, Hard Knock Radio, KPFA.  Here we go.”  (c. 9:43)

[Broadcast cut to audio from presentation by Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor at a KPFA benefit at Impact Hub in Oakland, CA, on 5 DEC 2016.]

DR. KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR:  “I’m gonna talk about some of the themes in my book.  But I’m gonna try to do so within the context, um, of the catastrophe—the election of Donald Trump.  So, um, so, I’m gonna try to combine both of these things.  And we can talk more specifically about the book in the discussion.  But I feel like, you know, given the issues, that I’ve written about, that actually this—the whole Trump thing, really, is something, that we have to try to engage with and understand.  So, that’s some of the context behind the talk.  Uh, okay.  [Audience Member:  “Yes!”]  Okay. [chuckles]  (c. 10:36)

“Um, it’s difficult to comprehend how eight years ago, after the election of Barack Obama, the national conversation was whether or not the U.S. was going to become a post-racial society.  Forbes magazine ran an editorial with the headline, ‘Racism In America Is Over’.  Eight years later, any fantasy about the United States being a post-racial society has gone up in flames with the ascendance of Donald Trump to the highest office in the country.  (c. 11:09)

“Trump ran his campaign on a vile mix of fake economic populism with the worst and most naked race-baiting and demonisation of oppressed people seen in a presidential election, probably, since Goldwater—Barry Goldwater—in 1964.  He referred to Mexican immigrants as rapists, drug dealers, and criminals.  He seamlessly conflated Islam with terrorism, at one point, favourably retelling a false story about an American general dipping bullets in pig’s blood before murdering Muslim soldiers, as a worthy strategy in the ongoing and misnamed War On Terror.  He has defended the use of racial profiling and advocated it as a national policing strategy.

371px-steve_bannon_2010-wiki

Steve Bannon, alt-right (i.e., white supremacist) ideologue

“When you take these statements and include, at least some of the people he is nominating to be included in his cabinet, then what we are talking about is a dramatic shift from the optics of the nation’s first black president and a black family living in the White House to an administration, that will be openly hostile to the most basic aspirations of black people.  Trump’s first act, as president-elect, for example, was to hire Steve Bannon, who has bragged about his associations with the so-called alt-right, or as we used to say, white supremacists, as his chief strategist.

“So, we are about as far from post-racial, as you can possibly be in this country.  And it is reasonable to expect that, if, and when, Trump cannot deliver on his promises to bring jobs back to the United States, or when massive tax breaks to the rich don’t equate into a higher standard of living for ordinary people, that he and his cabal of racist rogues and reactionaries will double down on racism as an explanation. (c. 13:07)

It’s not only the alt-right, or white supremacists, but liberals, too

vanjonesberkeley050312-kpfa“And, so, how did this happen, that we have gone from the nation’s first black president to an openly racist billionaire, who is surrounded by bigots?  Many people have described it in a way, that I would describe as simplistic.  The best example of this, I think, is Van Jones, who has described Trump’s victory as a, quote, ‘whitelash against black voters’, almost characterising Trump’s victory as revenge for the election of Obama in 2008. (c. 13:38)

“A related version of this assessment is expressed when people, as an article in Huffington Post did last week, compare the rise of Trump to the end of Reconstruction, the reemergence of Republicans, as a period of redemption, when white supremacy became the actual law of the land and Jim Crow was imposed.  There is a lot of history to unpack there.  But it really is a simple rendering of a more recent history, that conveniently leaves the Democratic Party unscathed, while dramatically overstating the depths of conservatism, racism, and reaction in the country.

“The first problem with this narrative is that it promotes a mistaken story that African-Americans, somehow, have benefited from the presence of Barack Obama in the White House and those benefits have come at the expense of ordinary white people.  (c. 14:34)

“This is a story, that has no basis in reality.  African-Americans continue to experience unemployment at twice the rate of whites.  38% of black children continue to live in poverty.  And a shocking 55% of black workers, mostly black women, make under $15 dollars an hour.

“It was precisely the inability of the Obama administration to improve the conditions of ordinary black people, that gave rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.  This is the thin gruel, working class and poor black Americans have received from two terms of Obama. (c. 15:18)

“The second problem with the whitelash story is that it overstates the depths of white racism and conservatism, while simultaneously underestimating the white opposition to the Trump agenda.  We certainly don’t want to downplay the extent to which racism played a critical role in Trump’s success.  We have seen how Trump’s rise has unleashed violent white supremacists and given them the confidence to organise out in the open.  There have been well over a thousand cases of hate crimes reported since the election, a number higher than even in the aftermath of 9/11.  So, it cannot be underestimated.  But it should not also be overstated.  (c. 16:01)

“For example, there are numbers, that disrupt the narrative of a generalised right-wing sweep across the United States with white people universally lining up behind Trump waiting to receive their marching orders. [audience silence]

“58% of Americans, all Americans, think Obamacare should be replaced with federally-funded health care for all.  Most Americans support raising the minimum wage.  61% support, at least, a $10 dollar minimum wage.  59% support a $12 dollar minimum wage.  And 48% support a $15 dollar minimum wage, which has been demonised by Democrats and Republicans, alike. [audience silence]

“61% of Americans say the rich pay too little in taxes.  This is an increase from 52%, who said that a year ago.  69% of Americans believe that providing affordable housing is important.  63% of Americans say money and wealth distribution is unfair.  53% of white people think the country still has work to do for, quote, ‘blacks to achieve equal rights with whites.’  50% of whites say, quote, ‘blacks are treated less fairly by the police than whites’.  64% of white Democrats support Black Lives Matter; and 29% of them, say they, quote, ‘strongly support the Black Lives Matter movement’.

“Even 20% of Republicans think that the movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, will help achieve racial equality in the United States.  So, how do we square this with the election, itself?

“We must begin with the fact that tens of millions of Americans didn’t vote at all.  There are 238 million eligible voters in the United States.  And, of that number, only 60 million voted for Trump.  Now, on its own, yes, that is 60 million people, who voted for a vile, racist, and sexual predator.  And, even within that number, five percent of people, who voted for Trump—something like 12 million people—said he was unfit to be president.  [faint audience reaction]

“But, in the larger scope of things, it means that only one in four eligible voters chose Trump.  This is hardly representative of what, quote, white people think.  And it’s hardly representative of a right-wing sweep across the country.

On the two-party dictatorship of Democrats and Republicans

“But when your political choices are constrained within the parameters of the existing two-party system, voter discontent can go in one of three places:  your party, the other party, or no party.  American politics is always a dance between the three.

“In this case, the line of reasoning, that blames the loss of the Democratic Party solely on Fox News, FBI letters, race-baiting, bad messaging, um, or the, the evil Russians, means that there is no accounting or reckoning with the political shortcomings of the party.  None of those explanations actually address how the party failed to connect with the basic ideas of fairness and justice, that are at the core of those statistics, that I read off.

“Instead, the Democrats ran on the idea that Trump was just too negative; he wouldn’t be a good role model, when in fact, according to Hillary Clinton, America is already great.  It was a message, that was, and remains, completely out of touch with the reality experienced by millions of Americans. (c. 19:50)

“But when it’s the Democrats, who have been in power for eight years, overseeing the numbing inequity and injustice of the status quo, it made it difficult for them to argue for a radically different political agenda.  Clinton promised to be the third term of Obama, failing to realise that, for millions of voters, two terms was enough.

“Eight years ago, Obama ran on the promise of hope and change.  But, from the beginning, he seemed to be more interested in cultivating an image of bipartisan agreement with, uh, the Republicans.  Instead of using his mandate to push an agenda based around the demands and needs of black and Latino working class voters, all who were responsible for putting him into office.

“For his first full year in office, Obama had a supermajority in Congress and squandered it.  That’s exactly the reason why Democrats lost control of Congress in the first place.  (c. 20:50)

“So, with big expectations and big hope come even bigger disappointment when you fail to deliver.  Embedded inside of every right-wing backlash is the failure of the liberal establishment to deliver an alternative or a better way.  You cannot understand the emergence of Richard Nixon without understanding the failures of the Johnson administration.  From the incompleteness and inadequacy of the War On Poverty and the Great Society to the debacle of the Vietnam War, you cannot understand the rise of Ronald Reagan without understanding the failure of the Carter administration to address rising inflation, cripplingly high interest rates, and the erosion of working class living standards in general. (c. 21:40)

“In other words, the lesser evil always cuts the path for the greater evil.  Where Obama used the machinery and logic of deportations to banish 2.5 million people from the United States, it has set the stage for Trump to do this in an even larger way.  Where the Obama administration embraced the values of so-called choice and privatisation and gutting public education, Trump will do it in an even more fantastical way, that finishes the job of attempting to kill public education in this country.  Obama’s failure to deliver any significant reforms for working class and poor people made a mockery of his attempts to tell people to vote for him in order to secure his legacy.  (c. 22:31)  [Note: The Women’s Magazine broadcast (see above) featured an edit, which cuts to a different part of the speech:  “And the insistence of liberals to defend this agenda, the thin gruel of the Obama agenda, with only the most scant whiff of criticism, leads to their own paralysis when the right does the same thing, just on a larger scale.”]

“But there are other ways to measure discontent beyond polls and election results.  We saw the first wave of discontent with Obama’s role with the emergence of Occupy Movement in 2011, and, then, the eruption of Black Lives Matter in the summer of 2014.  Both were products of the widening gap of inequality in the United States.  That inequality was at the heart of the Occupy Movement and its popularisation of class inequality in the U.S. through the slogan of the 99% versus the 1%.

“But this inequality was also important in how we understand the emergence of Black Lives Matter.  Black Americans, of course, took the brunt of the economic crisis in 2007 and 2008.  It was, in part, how we understand the deep wells of support, that existed for Obama and his campaign’s ability to tap into the anger with the federal government’s abject disregard for what was happening in black communities. [6]

“We cannot understand, for example, the social catastrophe happening across black Chicago, where it was just announced last week that there will be 700 homicides in that city, the vast majority of which affect young black people.  You cannot understand that social catastrophe in Chicago without understanding the persisting effects of the economic crisis, that never really ended in many black communities. (c. 24:03)

“Chicago has the third-highest black unemployment rate of any major city in this country.  It has the third-highest poverty rate of a large city in the United States.  Its black middle class is being gutted because of municipal, state, federal budget cuts, that have wiped out public sector jobs in postal work, teaching, and other positions, that have historically been the bedrock of black economic stability.  The breakdown of this civic infrastructure, in combination with the existing crisis of mass incarceration and what Michelle Alexander has called The New Jim Crow, the persistence of unemployment and underemployment and of under-resourced public services and institutions has created the pretext for deepening police presence in black communities and, as a result, is exacerbating all the conditions, that justify the presence of the police in the first place. (c. 25:02)

“As living conditions in black communities have become harder, the police have been given license to respond with arrests and brutality.  And, while the emergence of Black Lives Matter has exposed the extent to which violent policing is institutionalised in this country, it nevertheless continues.  The police are on pace to kill 1,200 people this year, more than last year, when newspapers first began to count, and, substantively more than the 928 a year, the FBI had been suggesting as an average two years earlier.

“If you want to understand why the black vote was depressed compared to 2008 and 2012, it can be found in the inability of the American government to aggressively intervene and prevent the murder of black citizens by the state, whether it’s with the policing of black communities or the water crisis in Flint, the expectation that black Americans would be a firewall for Clinton was as offensive, as it was reflective of a kind of liberal contempt for the daily struggles of working class and poor people. [Davey D cut into the speech to appeal for listener sponsorship of free speech radio; the Women’s Magazine broadcast an extended portion of this particular speech excerpt.  (See above.)]” (c. 26:15)

DAVEY D:  “Wow.  Wow!  And bravo!  Bravo!  Bravo!  Bravo!  That is the voice of Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta, assistant professor of African American Studies at Princeton Univeristy, speaking at the Impact Hub last week, talking about her new book, From Black Lives Matter to Black Liberation and addressing the election of Donald Trump and his rise, the collapse of the Democratic Party, and the failings of the Obama administration.

“I have said similar things over and over again.  It’s hard for people to wrap their heads around it.  But, so help me gawd, the folks from Ferguson were just in town last week.  They were in town last week.  And they had long said, they had long said, there was deep, deep dissatisfaction with what was going on in the White House.  And they were saying this back before Mike Brown.  And, when you went to those places, when you went to the Midwest and you went down south, you heard it over and over again.  But it was something, that many people said:  What choice do they have?  Who else they gonna go for?  It can’t be true.  It’s an exaggeration.  Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

“Now, the facts are comin’ out.  The numbers are being shown.  The analysis is being put forth.  And those voices, that have often been suppressed, usually, by corporate media, who had a punditry and consultant class, speaking on behalf of people, whose real thoughts and real sentiments were never being reflected.  How could it, when you’re making a hundred thousand dollars a year sitting on MSNBC speaking to folks?  You’re not really in the cuts with people day in and day out to really pick up where they’re comin’ from.  (c. 28:23)

“But anybody who’s listening right now, who’s livin’ paycheck to paycheck, anybody out here, who is living on the margins, understands pretty clearly that it wasn’t all joy in Mudville.  And I’m glad Dr. Yamahtta is really breaking this down. (c. 28:43)

[Davey D continues with his remarks, focusing on appeals for listener sponsorship of free speech radio KPFA, the world’s original listener-sponsored free speech radio station, which PBS and NPR later copied, but in a non-free speech manner with corporate underwriting.]  (c. 29:21)

“We also have Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s entire speech, included in a robust package, KPFA Prayer and Protest Pack, which includes Ralph Nader, Chris Hedges, Bill Ayers, Eve Ensler, Ayesha Curry—that’s right, the wife of, uh, Steph Curry—and the sister, who you’re hearin’ now, Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.  We’re asking for a $180 pledge for that.  All this you can break up into easy installment monthly payments.  Let me give out the phone number, folks.  1.800.439-5732.  1.800.439-5732.  1.800.HEY-KPFA.  Or donate online at kpfa.org.  Again, 1.800.439-5732.  1.800.HEY-KPFA.  Or donate online at kpfa.org. (c. 30:35)

“And, before we go right back into the, um, another excerpt from this incredible speech, I wanna give a shout out to William in Fresno, who put up $600 dollars and said if we can get people to pledge and it comes up to a total of $600 dollars, collectively speaking, we get to keep his money from Fresno.  And we wanna do that.  In other words, we can double our efforts.  1.800.439-5732.  1.800.HEY-KPFA.  Or pledge online at kpfa.org.  A $75 dollar pledge gets you the [complete] speech, that you are listening to [excerpts of] right now.  You can get this speech in a package, which includes Ralph Nader, Chris Hedges, Bill Ayers, Eve Ensler, Ayesha Curry, and many others for a $180 pledge.

[snip]  (c. 31:39)

“Let’s go back and listen to another excerpt from Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, speaking at the Impact Hub about Black Lives Matter, black liberation, the rise of Trump, the collapse of the Democratic Party and the failures of Barack Hussein Obama.  We’ll be right back.”  (c. 32:00)

DR. KEEANGA YAMAHTTA-TAYLOR:  “There is just the expectation that, no matter what is happening in your life and how terrible things might be, and no matter how unresponsive the Democratic Party may be, you still have to vote for them.

“And, then, the bitterness directed at people when they don’t respond in such a way is even more contemptuous.  This is true when liberals blame depressed black voter turnout for the election results.  But it is also the case when they blame working class whites for, quote, ‘voting against their interests’, as if, somehow, voting for the neoliberal, yet civil, politics of the Democratic Party are in the interest of the working class.  And, as an aside—[audience finally starts to respond with faint applause; it seems the audience is mostly nonplussed registered Democrats.] [4]

“Working class interests are never on the ballot in bourgeois elections. [scant applause and at least one cheer; the biggest audience reaction thus far] 

“But, when it comes to the fate of ordinary white people, who, despite the media and academic fascination with them for the moment, these are people, who are also regularly ignored.  We have heard all sorts of dime-store psychology about the so-called white working class, most of it thinly-veiled elitism.  White workers feel entitled.  They’re only interested in themselves.  They are privileged.  They are racist scum.  They are just bad. (c. 33:26)

“In total, it reflects the political establishment’s contempt for the struggles of regular people.  If you only read these reports or assessments, you would think there was no inequality experienced by white working class people, or that ordinary white people were just living the high life.

“But, when we consider the experiences of white working class people within the context of the attacks on working class standards, in general, we get a different picture.  And what would happen, if we told the story of black Chicago and other black communities across this country?  It’s part of the same story of what is happening to ordinary white people.

“For example, there is the continuing crisis of opioid, or narcotic, addiction in this country.  While people are quick to point out how differently it is received compared to the War On Drugs directed at black communities in the 1980s and ’90s, which is undoubtedly true, what does this crisis at this particular moment tell us about the conditions of working class life and working class people? (c. 34:37)

“There are two million people, addicted to opioids in the U.S.  Half of those people are addicted to heroin.  From 2009 to 2014, almost half a million people have died from opioid overdoses, a fourfold increase since 1999.  Earlier this year, it was reported that their had been a decline in the life expectancy for white women and a plateauing of life expectancy for white men.  In fact, it is unprecedented for life expectancy to reverse in a so-called first world country.

“In the United States peer countries, life expectancy is growing.  Why is life expectancy for white women in decline in this country?  Drug overdose, suicide, and alcohol abuse.

On transcending race (phenotype), or identity politics, and confronting class struggle

“So, if we told the stories of the destruction of working class black life alongside the stories of the destruction of working class white life, it could allow us to see that the anxieties, stresses, confusions, and frustrations about life in the world today are not owned by one group, but are shared by many.  It would not tell us that everyone suffers the same oppression or exploitation.  But it would allow us to see that, even if we don’t experience a particular kind of oppression, every working person in this country is going through something.  Everyone is trying to figure out how to survive.  And many are failing. (c. 36:18)

“If we put these stories together, we would gain more insight into how the white working class and poor have as much stake in the fight for a different kind of society as anyone else.  We wouldn’t so casually dismiss their suffering as privileged because they do not suffer as much as black and brown people in this country.

“The privileges of white skin run very thin in a country where 19 million white people languish in poverty.  Apparently, the wages of whiteness are not so great to stop millions of ordinary white people from, literally, drinking and drugging themselves to death to escape the despair of living in this so-called greatest country on Earth.

“If we put these separate stories together into a single story, we could make better sense of why socialism is rising in popularity.  White people have taken to the streets over the last five years to protest the growing racial and economic inequality in this country.  13 million people voted for an open socialist.  And many believe that if Sanders ran against Trump, he very well could have beaten him.  51% of 18- to 29-year olds say they are against capitalism, even if they are not fully convinced of what should replace it, 48% of millennials support health insurance as a, quote, ‘right for all people’.  And 47% agree that basic necessities, such as food and shelter are, quote, ‘a right, that the government should provide to those unable to afford them’. (c. 38:03)

“In the 1970s, 61% of Americans fell into that vague, but stable, category of middle class.  Today, that number has fallen to 50%.  It is driven by the growing wealth inequality, that exists here.  In the last year alone, the 1% saw their income rise by 7%.  The 0.1% saw their income rise by 9%.  In general, the richest 20% of households in the U.S. own 84% of the wealth in this country, while the bottom 40% own less than 1%.  In other words, there are 400 billionaires in this country.  They are the reason why there are 47 million poor people.  You cannot have untold obscene wealth, unless you have untold obscene poverty.  That is the law of the market. (c. 39:01)

“And how does such a tiny percent of the population unjustly hold on to their wealth[, even when millions agree that it should be redistributed]?  Racism, immigrant-bashing, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, nationalism.  They get us to fight each other, while they horde their wealth.” (c. 39:21)

DAVEY D:  “Phew!  I just want those words to simmer with folks for a minute.  It’s 94.1 KPFA, Hard Knock Radio.  That’s some raw truth this afternoon.  Dr. Keeanga Yamahtta-Taylor bringing heat, sobering heat, reflecting an anger, that so many people have right now, speaking and giving voice to folks, who have seen their voices, uh, ridiculed, marginalised, and not allowed to see the light of day because of a punditry class; there’s a consultancy class.  There are stormtroopers for a 1%, that have blocked any sort of dissent from seeing the light of day.

“And I’m glad that she was able to come to the City of Oakland, to speak at the Impact Hub to a packed house and speak this truth.  And we have these [free speech radio] airwaves to put it out there so folks can understand that they’re not alone in what they were feeling.  (c. 40:35)

“A lot of people were made to feel bad, as they said:  You know, I’m not really feelin’ what’s goin’ on with the choices.  And how many of you all were browbeaten to death?  Oh, what are you gon’ do?  You have no choice.  You’re an idiot.  How many people heard that?  Raise your hand, if people said that to you and looked down their nose and made you feel like was a piece of crap ‘cos you had a political analysis, that didn’t see the light of day, but, nevertheless, was something, that was true.  And it was true for millions of people out there.  The key to it: many people just stayed the hell on home.  (c. 41:13)

“And it’s important that we understand that truth.  It’s important that we start to listen to some of those voices and make the change, make the necessary adjustments.

“We’re just gettin’ started with the speech, folks.  You ain’t heard nothin’ yet.  It goes better.  It gets deeper.  It gets heated—it gets hotter.  We have it for you.  (c. 41:39)

[Davey D continued with his remarks, focusing on appeals for listener sponsorship of free speech radio KPFA, the world’s original listener-sponsored free speech radio station, which PBS and NPR later copied, but in a non-free speech manner with corporate underwriting.]  (c. 41:50)

“Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, assistant professor over at Princeton University, putting out a new book called Black Lives Matter to Black Liberation.  The key to her speech, here, this afternoon is talking about the rise of the Occupy Movement, the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement were reflections of people not having their interests addressed and this widening gap of inequality.  (c. 42:20)

“No, it wasn’t just a bunch of hippies wanting to, uh, pitch tents in the middle of your city.  That wouldn’t have been allowed because in many of those places you had a homeless population and a marginalised population, that would have ran them out, if that was the case, if it wasn’t really resonating with the folks, that were in existence there.

“What you think Occupy Oakland was able to have a foothold in downtown Oakland, which is crime-ridden, had it not been for the population there?  That was:  Man, I feel what you sayin’.  But that was something that we were gonna ignore—that mass inequality.  (c. 43:03)

“And I’m glad this sister’s connecting the dots.  I saw this when I was in the midwest.  Folks are living in poverty. [7]  We saw that in the crack era.  People, that really studied the crack era, knew that there was a whole lotta folks across the board, that was addicted to crack.  But they painted it as a black thing only and ignored that there was a lot of places, like in Cheyenne, Wyoming and, uh—what is that city up there in Idaho? I’m gonna remember the city, that’s right there, um—Boise, Idaho.  It’s a lot of folks smokin’ that dope there.

“20 years later, you have people hooked up on heroin and opiates and all that.  She’s breakin’ it down this afternoon.  I want us to sit with that raw truth.  And we have the opportunity to present it to you on these airwaves. (c. 43:53)

[Davey D continued with his remarks, focusing on appeals for listener sponsorship of free speech radio KPFA, the world’s original listener-sponsored free speech radio station, which PBS and NPR later copied, but in a non-free speech manner with corporate underwriting.]  (c. 45:27)

“We’re gonna have to do that.  We’re at this crossroads now.  We can’t go down this same path anymore.  There’s a lot of people, that want us to stay exactly where we’re at.  I think the time has changed.  The time has come for this change [of progressives and others finally rejecting the anti-working class Democratic Party and the two-party dictatorship].

“And, so, one of the things, that we’re committed to doing here is providing those critical voices, providing that space for these conversations, making sure that these issues see the light of day.  So, 1.800.439-5732.  1.800.HEY-KPFA.  Or donate online at kpfa.org, as we—this is holiday season.  All this is tax-deductible.  You want your money going into the coffers of the military-industrial complex?  Or maybe into an entity, that will speak out against it?  I would encourage you to follow the latter.  (c. 46:22)

“Let’s listen to a little bit more from Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.  And I’ll come back and talk to you some more.”  (c. 46:29)

DR. KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR:  “[Our stories are not all the same.  We do not have the same experiences.  But our hardships often emanate from the same source—a market-based economy, that privileges the wealthy over the welfare and lives of the people who create that wealth.  And they keep our stories separate from each other, so that we never understand the entire story, only our particular part of it.]

“But, even with great effort to keep our side divided and confused, millions of people are coming to grips with the harsh reality of an economic system, that guarantees them nothing but a future of hardship and an inability to ever get ahead.  But the knowledge, alone, of the existence of racism, inequality, poverty, and injustice does not necessarily equip our side with the political tools needed to fight the battles of today or to fight for a socialist future.

“We need struggle.  We also need politics because we must contend with the political establishment, that wants to lower our expectations to believe that the existing society is the best that we can expect from humanity, that we dare not think beyond the existing parameters of electing a Democrat or Republican to change the world we live in. (c. 47:29)

“Clinton lost, in part because she ran a campaign of low expectations, a campaign cynically pivoted around the notion that ordinary people shouldn’t ask for too much, and that we must be realistic about the possibilities.  Donald Trump promised to change the world.  And Hillary Clinton promised to make the trains run on time.  Bernie Sanders, for all of the excitement, that his campaign generated for rightly demanding more, his commitment to remaining in the Democratic Party has effectively neutered his political revolution.  Expecting the Democratic Party to fight for the democratic redistribution of wealth and resources in this country is like expecting to squeeze orange juice out of an apple.  (c. 48:23)

“No, we must build independent organisations and political parties, that are not connected to the Democratic Party, that don’t rise and fall with the electoral cycle.  We have to build organisations, that are democratic, multiracial, and militant with a foundation in solidarity—solidarity, meaning that, even if you don’t experience a particular oppression, it doesn’t matter because you understand that, as ordinary people, our fates are connected and that one group’s liberation is dependent on the liberation of all of the oppressed and exploited.

“And there are so many good examples of this happening now.  And that’s important because an emboldened right, when we look at the intense political polarisation, that exists, we can see what an emboldened right can do.  It becomes a source of attraction for people, who are frustrated about the conditions, that they face and the uncertainty, that exists in the world.  But it also produces a certain response from the left.  It is not an overstatement to say that in the last month tens of thousands of ordinary people took to the streets—black people, Muslims, Latinos, Arabs, Asians, Native people, and white people—to reject the [2016 presidential] election, to reject Trump, and to reject racism. (c. 49:45)

“At high schools and college campuses across the country, students walked out of classes and began to organise to declare their campuses sanctuaries for undocumented students and others, that Trump has threatened to use the power of the state to abuse.”  (c. 50:04)

DAVEY D:  “She’s still just getting started.  Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, speaking at the Impact Hub.  We have less than ten minutes in this show.

[Davey D continued with his remarks, focusing on appeals for listener sponsorship of free speech radio KPFA, the world’s original listener-sponsored free speech radio station, which PBS and NPR later copied, but in a non-free speech manner with corporate underwriting.]  (c. 51:02)

“It is so important that we have these types of conversations ‘cos it is what this show is about.  It is what this station is about, ultimately and ideally—to give voice to the voiceless [i.e., the silenced and the censored].  To allow this space and allow these words to resonate with so many folks, that are listening.  And some of these people, that are calling right now—thank you.  (c. 51:30)

[Davey D continued with his remarks, focusing on appeals for listener sponsorship of free speech radio KPFA]  (c. 51:50)

“We have to talk about the collapse and the failures of those we entrusted to do our bidding, who didn’t do our bidding, but used us and, then, pivoted, and then danced with the devil, literally, danced with Wall Street, danced with developers, danced with big pharma, danced with big agribusiness, danced with everybody but us.  Now, culturally, they can communicate to us.  I like that Obama, for example, might have rappers in the White House.  That’s a cool thing.  But it ain’t cool, if the policies, that the communities, which those rappers come from aren’t really being reflected in what gets pushed out.  And you can’t give the excuse that he was being blocked by Congress ‘cos he didn’t do it when he had a supermajority the first two years.  He didn’t do it.  Remember, police brutality was on the docket then.  Have we forgotten Oscar Grant was shot [by police] before [Obama] even got into office?  And there was a robust movement.  And that Andreas Grimes [sic] was shot in, in New Orleans?  And there was a movement down there.  And Robert Taylor, um—I’m gonna forget his name, Taylor—Tolan, Robbie Tolan was shot in Houston in front of his mom when the police thought that Robbie’s car was stolen.  All those movements were kinda squelched down, in terms of how the pundits talk about what we know in those communities.  They were out there.  And people were demanding redress.  This is when there was a [Democratic] supermajority in Congress and the Senate.

“Did we see any movement on that?  No, we did not.  (c. 53:30)

“And this is what the sister is talking about.  This was simmering for a lot of people.  But people went along, tried to figure it out.  They even bought into the argument that chess, not checkers, was being played.  And here we are.  It looks like the chess game wasn’t in our favour, huh?  (c. 53:48)

[Davey D continued with his remarks, focusing on appeals for listener sponsorship of free speech radio KPFA]  (c. 54:00)

“We have to have these conversations.  We should arm ourselves with the information, that will spark this.  Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is giving us the language, is giving us a framework in which we can broach these conversations.  It’s so important.  (c. 54:17)

[Davey D continued with his remarks, focusing on appeals for listener sponsorship of free speech radio KPFA]  (c. 55:01)

“[Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s] book is the winner of the 2016 Lannan Cultural Freedom Award.  Her book is praised by everybody, from Cornel West on down.  Michelle Alexander sees it as, like, this is what we need.  In fact, I would say it’s like a continuation of where Michelle jumps off, in terms of just giving us framework.

“But we have to invest.  So, it’s not just pledging to the station, but making an investment, so we can have these airwaves.  In the upcoming months, it’s gonna be important for all of us.  It’s going to be important for all of us to have access to some sort of media apparatus where we can speak truth to power.

“Do you know Donald Trump has talked about putting two new people in the FCC?  And he wants to overturn net nuetrality protections, meaning that when we go online we’re not gonna have a free and clear internet.  The thing, that people, that we were fighting against for five years is gonna be gone.  These airwaves is going to be real important.  The voices of folks, who have these political analyses—and more importantly, as in the case with Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.  She’s giving you solutions.  She’s talking about:  Look, you gots to look at the poor folks, that live in Appalachia. You got to look at those poor folks, that live in the Pinoles, in the Sacramentos, rider’s[sp?] side, around that area. You gotta look at the folks in those poor, rural communities. And you have to marry the stories of inequality, that exists in the inner cities. Then, find out that you have the same string, or purse-holder, making life miserable for everybody.

“You can call them 1%.  You can call them oligarchs.  You can call them tyrants.  But we’re gonna have to deal with that.  There’s no getting around that. (c. 57:00)

“So, 1.800.439-5732.  1.800.HEY-KPFA.  Thank you, Lily from Pittsburg.  Thank you, Ellen from Alameda.  Thank you, Margaret out of Bolinas.  Thank you Judas from Lambertville, New Jersey.  A lot of people are calling in.  There’s too many names to read off.  (c. 57:20)

[Davey D continued with his remarks, focusing on appeals for listener sponsorship of free speech radio KPFA]  (c. 58:59)

“And I want to thank everybody from the bottom of my heart for calling this afternoon.  You understand the importance of having the voiceless be given voice.  These airwaves will do that.  And we promise to do that forever and ever and ever and ever, to quote Outkast.  Mike [Biggs], Big Mike is smiling.

“1.800.439-5732.  1.800.HEY-KPFA.  Pledge online at kpfa.org.  I’ll say the words one last time.  1.800.439-5732.  1.800.HEY-KPFA.  Pledge online at kpfa.org.  I wanna thank everybody calling in.  Thank you, Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor for your speech.  Thank you, Impact Hub.  Thank you for everybody listening.  Flashpoints, you take it away.”  (c. 59:48)

Learn more at HARD KNOCK RADIO.

***

[1]  Impact Hub, 2323 Broadway (near Grand), Oakland, California.

[2]  Terrestrial radio transmission, 94.1 FM (KPFA, Berkeley, CA) with online simulcast and digital archiving:  Women’s Magazine, this one-hour broadcast hosted by co-host Kate Raphael, Monday, 12 DEC 2016, 13:00 PST.

[3]  Terrestrial radio transmission, 94.1 FM (KPFA, Berkeley, CA) with online simulcast and digital archiving:  Hard Knock Radio, this one-hour broadcast hosted by co-host Davey D, Monday, 12 DEC 2016, 16:00 PST.  [N.B.:  For some unfortunate reason, Hard Knock Radio usually removes their audio archives from public access two weeks after the initial broadcast date.]

[4]  Terrestrial radio transmission, 94.1 FM (KPFA, Berkeley, CA) with online simulcast and digital archiving:  Special Programming,  this one-hour broadcast hosted by co-host Kate Raphael, Wednesday, 14 DEC 2016, 15:00 PST.  [From listening to bits of the live broadcast, (c. 37:00) this sounded identical to the Women’s Magazine broadcast from 12 DEC 2016.]

[5]   This is a KPFA benefit, which was likely attended by the usual aging Berkeley Baby Boomer demographic of gentle silver-haired souls, who lived through the 1960s and remain true to the spirit of social justice.  But, being KPFA listeners, most accept the status quo two-party system.  This particular audience demographic is typically much more enthusiastic when the speakers are far less (or non-) critical of their Democratic Party apologism.

Since at least 1999, the KPFA News Department has been dominated by a faction, which is aligned with the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club.  So, their reform-the-Democratic-Party-from-within ideology has resulted in KPFA and Pacifica’s News Departments filtering the news through a Democratic Party apologist lens, discouraging many free speech radio listeners from thinking of alternatives to the two-party dictatorship or the unresponsive Democratic Party.

Political commentators have correctly observed that Trump, actually, succeeded in usurping the language of working class populism, which Bernie Sanders had championed during the 2016 presidential primary elections.  Obviously, it’s incorrect to say this is why Hillary Clinton lost the election, as she did receive millions more votes from American voters than Trump.  Clinton lost the election because of the electoral college system, which can reject the national will of the American people, or rather they redefine the will of the people through the antidemocratic scheme of the electoral college.

But, certainly, Clinton’s failure to even pay lip service to working class populism further narrowed the already narrow two-party presidential contest, such that Trump was able to win the electoral college election, despite losing the popular vote (i.e., the real vote).

And, of course, Obama talked a good game during the 2008 election cycle.  But, as many of us anticipated, he immediately turned his back on his constituency.  Once in office, the Obama administration turned his energetic movement for hope and change into a private political action committee (PAC) with an email list, which never met again.  Many liberals and Democratic Party apologists, such as Norman Solomon and Robert Reich, argued that the movement slacked off, that the people no longer pushed Obama in the right direction once he was in office.  But that argument falls apart when we recall that by 2011, there was mass discontent with the status quo, even under the ostensibly progressive Obama administration, which coordinated a brutal nationwide crackdown against the Occupy Movement, which by late 2011 was going global.  When Obama came into office in 2009, he did everything he could to cover for Wall Street.  Not one white collar criminal went to prison, unlike during the 1980s with the Savings & Loan crisis under Reagan.  But the Occupy Movement was never able to pierce the veil of the two-party dictatorship.  They struggled with defining any political objectives and shunned the notion of allowing any spokespersons to emerge with a focused agenda.  They were attacked, beaten, and their encampments obliterated by the Obama administration.  Then, some weeks later, most of those same people, either, acquiesced in (or voted for) another four years of Obama and his antidemocratic, anti-working class Democratic Party.  They were unable to imagine alternatives, or to call for opening up the presidential debates, or for ranked-choice voting, or proportional representation in Congress.  In short, the Occupy Movement squandered its political power.  It was important for many reasons.  But this was an object lesson, which few activists or scholars (outside of the Green Party and other alternative political parties, such as the Peace and Freedom Party) have pointed out publicly until now by Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.

[6]  Indeed, as a student of heterodox economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, I lived on the Troost line, Waldo Heights Apartments nearby the Presidential Gardens housing complex.  And the poverty along Troost Avenue and to the east of the Troost line, the historically-dividing line of racial residential segregation was extreme.  Many homes to the east of Troost were boarded up and abandoned.  And many families living in the impoverished apartment buildings, multiple generations with their parents and grandparents all mired in intergenerational poverty and with the younger generations being given much opportunity to break out.

My spouse is an educator; and she worked in the Kansas City schools for a period of time, which showed her the most stressed classrooms with strained teachers barely able to contain the neediest children, even in early childhood education with extreme behavioural problems and needs.  She doubted that, if she continued to work in that environment, she would be able to avoid changing and becoming as callous toward the kids as the overextended teachers with whom she was working had become.  I don’t think all the teachers were like that.  I also saw some of the warmest and loving teachers at my son’s elementary school, which was just west of the Troost line.  But, as Davey D points out, there is extreme poverty in the midwest, which we too often ignore.  The Democratic Party does not care about this poverty.  Democrat politicians never even use the word poverty or poor in their speeches.  Instead, they make vague references to the middle class.

***

[Steve Bannon image by Don Irvine, used via fair use and creative commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).]

[13 DEC 2016]

[Last modified at 12:18 PST on 22 DEC 2016]

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Flashpoints Presents 2016 U.S. Presidential Election Post Mortem with John Pilger

09 Wed Nov 2016

Posted by ztnh in Anti-Fascism, Anti-Imperialism, Democracy Deferred, Free Speech, Political Science, Presidential Election 2016

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Bernie Sanders, Dennis Bernstein, Donald John Trump (b. 1946), Dr. Jill Stein, Dr. Stephen F. Cohen (b. 1938), Flashpoints, Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Pilger (b. 1939), KPFA, NATO, neoliberalism, Obama administration, Pacifica Radio Network, Senator Bernie Sanders, transcript

423px-john_pilger_in_august_2011LUMPENPROLETARIAT  Admittedly, we were all stunned by the electoral defeat of neoliberal Hillary Rodham Clinton last night, even those of us who didn’t vote for her.  Of course, we must have a complete ballot audit and confirm the ballot counts.  And with this, another presidential election in which the loser is the candidate with the most votes from the people, we must ask ourselves: When will we finally do away with the antiquated Electoral College?

In any event, we must open up our political discourse beyond the neoliberal status quo, which is hoisted upon us by the antidemocratic collusion between the Democratic and Republican parties, which preserves the corporate domination of government and the war profiteering military-industrial complex, which has possessed our military.  To help us do this, veteran award-winning journalist John Pilger has joined Flashpoints host Dennis Bernstein on free speech radio for a much-needed post mortem on this glorious occasion of the splendid defeat.  Listen (and/or download) here. [1]

Messina

***

[Working draft transcript of actual radio broadcast by Messina for Lumpenproletariat and Flashpoints.]

FlashpointsLOGO19-300x225FLASHPOINTS—[9 NOV 2016]  “Today on Flashpoints, a special post election edition with legendary award-winning filmmaker, columnist, author John Pilger.  Call it a view from Europe.  I’m Dennis Bernstein.  All this, straight ahead on Flashpoints.  Stay tuned.  [theme music continues]

DENNIS BERNSTEIN:  “In Berkeley, I’m Dennis Bernstein.  You’re listening to Flashpoints on Pacifica Radio.

“Well, Donald J. Trump [laughs] will be the next president of the United States, despite his long history of stiffing workers and project partners, a host of bankruptcies, evidence that he’s a serial abuser of women, and amidst revelations that the alleged billionaire didn’t pay income taxes for some 18 years.  Indeed, a whole bunch of liberal and Democratic folks are scratching their heads as to how it could be that Trump beat back the Clinton machine, that out-fundraised Trump by many times.

“Joining us to talk about this on this special edition of Flashpoints is a good friend of this programme, a filmmaker, columnist, writer, government critic, critic of all governments, John Pilger.  He was born in Sydney.  And he is now based in London.  Pilger has reported from all over the world, covering numerous wars, notably Vietnam.  When he was in his 20s, he became the youngest journalist to receive Britain’s highest award for journalism; that’s the Journalist of the Year.  He got that twice.  He’s won an Emmy.  He’s done a lot of other work.  His most recent book is Hidden Agendas and the New Rules of the World.  And he has a piece, that’s going around now:  ‘Inside the Invisible Government: War, Propaganda, Clinton, and Trump’.

“John Pilger, welcome back to Flashpoints.”  (c. 2:32)

john-pilger-vintage-photo-flashpoints-9-nov-2016-kpfa-org

John Richard Pilger (born 9 October 1939), journalist

JOHN PILGER:  “Thank you, Dennis.  It’s very good to be back.”

DENNIS BERNSTEIN:  “Well, it’s good to have you with us.  And I’m gonna ask you later on about the new film, which I’m very excited about.”

JOHN PILGER:  “M-hm.”

DENNIS BERNSTEIN:  “But let’s begin with last night’s victory over Clinton by Trump.  Were you surprised?  What do you think was at the core of the Trump victory?” (c. 2:50)

JOHN PILGER:  “Do you know I wasn’t surprised?  Brexit, undoubtedly, helped this.  I wasn’t surprised.  I think I’m quite surprised by how decisive his victory is.  But I must say I felt rather angry.  And I think we probably expended enough anger on Trump.  He’ll, no doubt, provide us with plenty of material coming up.

“But I think it’s time for people, so-called liberal people, to look in the mirror.  Who created Trump?  Who created this disastrous election, so-called campaign.  In my opinion, the enablers of all this was the liberal class in the United States.

“The liberal class has refused to acknowledge, in its arrogance, the huge disaffection and discontent among ordinary people, and painting them in such broad strokes, as being—what did Clinton call them? Deplorables?  And irredeemable?”

DENNIS BERNSTEIN:  “Yes.”

JOHN PILGER:  “It’s really disgraceful.”

DENNIS BERNSTEIN:  “That’s my father.”

JOHN PILGER:  “And—

DENNIS BERNSTEIN:  “That’s my father.”

JOHN PILGER:  “—you know, Clinton was an extremely dangerous prospect, dangerous because she represented a war-making, rapacious status quo.  The status quo would have, actually, altered slightly under her.  It’s my understanding—in fact, I believe—that she might have provoked a very major war over Syria and with Russia.

“We don’t know what Trump will do.  We have to, now—putting aside all the parodies and the abuse—we have to, now, be thinking in terms of the practicalities.  He’s running the show?  What will he do?

“But I think before we do that, again, we have to reflect on all the myths.  I heard a Harvard professor on the BBC, on the very night before the count began, talk about the hard left in the Democratic Party and how she would have to embrace the idea of Bernie Sanders and what he stood for.  You know, this kind of drivel and misrepresentation has been everywhere.  The media, personally—and I’m speaking of journalists—produced, probably, the most unfettered propaganda I can remember at any time.  In my career, this has been the worst.

“There was no serious attempt to really analyse and examine either candidate and what they stood for.  Trump was dismissed as a demon, with all the salacious stuff around him—undoubtedly, some of it true and all of that.  But he was a serious candidate.  He was never analysed.  And that’s why there’s a great surprise and a great shock.  And it’s something, that liberal America has to start coming to terms with itself.

“We had Barack Obama presented seriously as a candidate of hope and real change.  He was nothing of the kind.  He was, in fact, a warmonger.  He’s got four wars going at once.  He conducted an international terrorist campaign using drones.  He has prosecuted more whistleblowers than any president in American history.

“And, you know, when you think of Trump’s disgraceful remarks about throwing people out of the country and building a wall, who is the deporter-in-chief?  The liberal Barack Obama.  He has deported more people than any other president.

“So, all of these facts have been lost.  And they represent a real crisis for the opposition in the United States, the broad opposition.  Barack Obama’s great achievement was that he killed off the anti-war movement [and the Occupy Movement] because people, doe-eyed from the beginning, thought that Barack Obama was some kind of genuine inspirational liberal, instead of the warmonger, that he is.

“I think those—there’s a lot of people, who are going to be listening to your programme.  They need to hear this, so that there’s a real opposition to Trump and to what he’s going to do—we don’t know what he’s going to do—but, also, an understanding of his constituency.  The majority of Americans eligible to vote voted for him.  That’s a fact, that has to be come to terms with, we have to come to terms with.”  (c. 8:13)

[snip]  (c. 26:50)

JOHN PILGER:  “I don’t know.  I mean he’s said contradictory things on the Middle East, very contradictory.  He’s been bellicose, in one sense.  But, in another, he’s been a thread, that has run through Trump’s speeches.  And that is that he wants to do a deal with Russia.  He doesn’t want to fight them.  It’s ironic because, as we speak—and I read only the other day—the hundreds of thousands of NATO troops, American, British, and others, in effect, massing on the borders of Russia.  Now, what will happen to them?  What will happen to that provocation?  That’s a very, very dangerous provocation.

“Now, will Trump defuse it?  Will he step back?  I don’t know.  It’s interesting; he has spoken against NATO.  In fact, for the Republican Convention platform, his people were asked to remove one issue.  And that was that NATO would receive renewed shipments of weapons.  And they were quite specific about removing that.  That was pointed out to me by Professor Stephen Cohen, who’s been very interesting on this at New York University and taken a lot of criticism for taking seriously, or at least analysing some of the things, that Trump has said over Russia.

“But, you know, we never know if he meant it.  He’s contradicted himself.  So, now we’re about to find out.”

DENNIS BERNSTEIN:  “[chuckles]  You’re listening to Flashpoints on Pacifica Radio.  I’m laughing a little bit because I think I’m a little bit afraid of the potential, in terms of where this could go.  I’m not sure if I would be more frightened if Hillary was elected.  A lot of people are furious with me for taking this perspective.  But I, as you’ve outlined—Iraq, Libya—given the history—you know—Honduras—Hillary Clinton, her hand are full of blood.”  (c. 29:32)

[snip]

[snip]  (c. 59:59)

Learn more at FLASHPOINTS.

[This transcript will be expanded as time constraints, and/or demand or resources, allow.]

***

“On this glorious occasion of the splendid defeat…”

***

[1]  Terrestrial radio transmission, 94.1 FM (KPFA, Berkeley, CA) with online simulcast and digital archiving:  Flashpoints, this one-hour broadcast hosted by Dennis Bernstein, Wednesday, 9 NOV 2016, 17:00 PST.

***

[Image “John Pilger in August 2011” by SCU Media Students, used via creative commons (CC BY 2.0)]

[10 NOV 2016]

[Last modified at 22:50 PDT on 10 NOV 2016.]

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Election Day, Election Night, & the Aftermath in the United States: November 8, 2016 General Election

08 Tue Nov 2016

Posted by ztnh in Democracy Deferred, Free Speech, Political Science, Presidential Election 2016

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Amy Goodman, Bernie Sanders, Democracy Now!, Dennis Bernstein, Diana Ross, Donald Trump, Dr. Jill Stein, Dr. Michael Parenti, Dr. Richard D. Wolff, Dr. Stephanie Kelton, Eric Zuesse, Flashpoints, Green Party, Greg Palast, Hard Knock Radio, Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Nichols (b. 1959), KPFA, Mark Mericle, neoliberalism, Pacifica Radio Network

Vote_12345LUMPENPROLETARIAT   GONZO:  When many of us woke up this morning, we were quite certain that neoliberal Hillary Clinton would handily win the 2016 U.S. presidential election, whether we liked it or not.  But, now, as the polls close and as states report in favour of Republican Donald Trump, it’s looking like Hillary Clinton is struggling to capture a decisive win.  We underestimated just how much racism and white resentment resides in middle America, not to mention male patriarchy.  There is proving to be just enough to catalyse and propel an openly racist presidential candidate with absolutely no experience in political office into the White House.

In more ethnically diverse states, such as California, we may lull ourselves into thinking the United States has outgrown its white supremacist origins, but only at our own peril.  Evidently, in 2016, police can kill in broad daylight with impunity and a sleazy white man can be a complete bigot, male chauvinist, who boasts of sexually assaulting women, offend every standard of public decency, and still become president of the United States.  White man’s burden, or white man’s privilege?  Such grotesque behavior and rhetoric would have disqualified any woman or person of colour from the presidential candidacy.  But, as long as one saturates broadcast media, one is legitimated by society, no matter how degenerate, juvenile, sexist, or racist one’s attitudes and perspectives.  And, when one is part of the two establishment political parties, and especially when one is pushing the political centre rightward, one can be as toxic to our social discourse as one wants and get a pass because of the sheer establishment power the two-party system wields in its relationships with the corporate media.  It certainly paid off for Trump to have gotten the lion’s share of media exposure, as Edward Bernays or Walter Lippmann (or common sense) would expect.  This is what Dr. Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman called manufacturing consent.  Meanwhile, Dr. Jill Stein, Ajamu Baraka, and the Green Party were virtually ignored by the corporate media jill_and_viggo2016(and even free speech media).  Despite the Green Party’s progressive platform, which best speaks to working class interests, the actuality of mass media propaganda kept voters’ political consciousness confined within a narrow two-party paradigm.  This is symptomatic of a crisis of political imagination.

Beyond the failings of our misguided ideological conclusions, we suffer from a flawed election system, which has already evidenced many examples of electoral fraud or voter suppression, as Greg Palast has documented in his writings, his book, and documentary film, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.  Voter rolls are being rigged 2016corrupted or deleted.  And alternative political parties and candidates, such as the Green Party‘s Dr. Jill Stein, along with their ideas and policy proposals, are kept away from public view.  And, of course, ideas and perspectives are censored, or suppressed, most vigorously by the corporate media when they reflect political perspectives on the left of the political spectrum, which reflect egalitarian or humanitarian principles.

At my polling location, it seemed everybody, mostly Hispanic, Spanish-speaking voters, coming out in force to vote against Trump, had provisional ballots in their hands, for some reason.  We recall Greg Palast‘s reporting on the many problems with provisional ballots not being counted, of being placebo ballots.  So, to see this in a predominantly Hispanic/Latino community, too, raised questions.  I’ve voted at other polling locations, which did not consist predominantly of Hispanic voters, where this was not the case.  It seems people were given provisional ballots just so that they could avoid the long lines.  Voters seemed to walk past the long lines with their provisional ballots already filled out and sealed to hand them over to poll workers.  We need to make sure that we, the people, get a full audit of all of the ballots and such, at the very least.  We know presidential elections in the recent past have been corrupted, or outright stolen. [1]  At best, we seriously need to ask ourselves if there are modifications we can make to our election system, which can make it more democratic.  Of course, if we had adopted a ranked-choice voting system, then voters would have been liberated to vote their conscience and, possibly, elect a real people’s presidential candidate, such as Dr. Jill Stein, in this 2016 election.  Political alternatives could achieve surprise wins when people are allowed to rank their political preferences so as to fully express their political will and to fully vote their conscience, without fear of throwing their vote away.  Ah, but no.

2016 NOVEMBER GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS

Federal Office:

  • Donald Trump:  279 electoral votes
  • Hillary Clinton:  228 electoral votes

[Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, i.e., more people voted for her.  But Donald Trump won the antidemocratic Electoral College.  Is this the most democratic way to elect the president of the United States?]

California Ballot Propositions

  • Proposition 51 (School Bonds, High-Interest Debt-Funding for K-12 and Community College)—PASSED (54% Yes)
  • Proposition 52 (Medical Hospital Fee Program)—PASSED (70% Yes)
  • Proposition 53 (Revenue Bonds, Require Statewide Voter Approval)—FAILED (53% No)
  • Proposition 54 (Legislature, Legislation and Proceedings Initiative, Increase Transparency)—PASSED (64% Yes)
  • Proposition 55 (‘Millionaire’ Tax Extension to Fund Education and Healthcare)—PASSED (62% Yes)
  • Proposition 56 (Cigarette ‘Sin Tax’ to Fund Healthcare, Research, Law Enforcement, etc.)—PASSED (63% Yes)
  • Proposition 57 (Criminal Sentences, Parole Option, Judiciary Discretion for Trying Juveniles as Adults, etc.)—PASSED (64% Yes)
  • Proposition 58 (English Proficiency, Multilingual Education Option)—PASSED (72% Yes)
  • Proposition 59 (Campaign Finance, Repeal Citizens United)—PASSED (52% Yes)
  • Proposition 60 (Pornographic Films, Redundant Condom Requirement)—FAILED (54% No)
  • Proposition 61 (State Prescription Drug Purchases, Competitive Pricing Standards)—FAILED (54% No)
  • Proposition 62 (End the Death Penalty)—FAILED (54% No)
  • Proposition 63 (Firearms, Ammunition Sales Restrictions)—PASSED (63% Yes)
  • Proposition 64 (Cannabis Legalisation for Adults)—PASSED (56% Yes)
  • Proposition 65 (Redirect Funds Collected for Carryout Plastic Bags)—FAILED (55% No)
  • Proposition 66 (Death Penalty Procedures, Speed Up Execution Process)—PASSED (51% Yes)
  • Proposition 67 (Uphold the Ban on Single-Use Plastic Bags)—PASSED (52% Yes)

Messina

***

2016-general-election-ballot-img_20161108_165445

2016-general-election-ballot-2-img_20161108_165633

Model 100 optical scanner voting machine, ceres community center, ceres, california, 8 NOV 2016

***

FREE SPEECH RADIO GENERAL ELECTION COVERAGE, THE AFTERMATH ON WEDNESDAY

kpfa-free-speech-take-it-back-logo-121199TALKIES—[9 NOV 2016]  The Morning After  With Hosts Norman Solomon and Dante Chinni, Director of The American Communities Project.  Hosted by Kris Welch.  Listeners call ins at 1-800-958-9008

[Host Kris Welch chats, from a liberal perspective, with Norman Solomon and Dante Chinni about the general election aftermath.  There is much brooding about the dynamics between the Democratic and Republican parties, but not much discussion nor interest in expanding the narrow two-party system.  None of the guests during this broadcast lamented the antidemocratic disaster of our democratic process, nor lamented the plight of people who work for political alternatives, such as the Green Party and Dr. Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka’s progressive politics.  The great bellyache this morning is that they didn’t wake up to a Hillary Clinton America.  But Hillary Clinton would’ve been a neoliberal warhawk, without question.  So, perhaps, our perceptions are skewed.]

[snip]

[(c. 11:00)  Norman Solomon critique of Democratic Party and confronting class struggle]

[(c. 25:00)  In Norman Solomon’s closing remarks, he lamented the many problems with the corporate nature of the Democratic Party’s leadership.  And he urged that progressives need to clean all of that up to be ready to campaign in two years under the Democratic Party label.  That line of argumentation only makes sense if one is seeking to preserve a narrow two-party system, which blocks and suppresses all political alternatives and political competition to the status quo.  Norman Solomon doesn’t acknowledge the popular will and energy and desire for political alternatives, so-called ‘third parties’.  He can never mention the Green Party or expanding the debates, even though they represent a broad, if disaffected, segment of society, because liberals of his kind are so terminally wedded to the notion of reforming-the-Democratic-Party-from-within that they are forced to oppose any political competition.  In that sense, they diminish our collective political imagination and possibility.]

[(c. 32:00)  Kris Welch asks Norman Solomon about Roots Action.]

[(c. 45:00)  Jill Stein supporter calls in and gets bashed by Norman Solomon’s stock anti-third party rhetoric.]

[(c. 47:00)  Next caller cites a white backlash against the first black president.]

[(c. 50:00)  Next caller, Andrew from Los Angeles calls for unity.]

[(c. 53:00)  Next caller, Sharon in Sacramento supports Dr. Jill Stein and celebrates the fact that Dr. Jill Stein went down to the Dakota Access Pipeline and got arrested.  She challenged Norman Solomon to cite an example of a Democrat doing the same.]

[(c. 55:00)  Next caller, Remy in Newark resisted being “cynical”.]

[(c. 57:00)  Last caller, a Bernie Sanders supporter since the earliest primary until the end decried how Bernie Sanders didn’t contest any of the primaries.  Indeed, it sure looked like he went out very compliantly, as if helping cover up electoral fraud and manipulations.  Norman Solomon responded dismissively, saying that the caller’s complaints were exaggerated and that Bernie Sanders did draw attention to the ‘structural challenges’.]

[snip]

[snip]  (c. 59:59)  [9 NOV 2016]

Learn more at TALKIES.

*

Letters-and-Politics-Logo-No-Background-327x230LETTERS AND POLITICS—[9 NOV 2016]  [Intro by Mitch Jeserich.  On today’s broadcast, a roundtable discussion on Trump’s winning of the U.S. presidency.]

[KPFA News Headlines (read by Aileen Alfandary)]

[Adele Stan (AlterNet)]

[Rick Perlstein]

[(c. 41:00)  On how bad the Democratic primary was…]

[snip]  (c. 59:59)

Learn more at LETTERS AND POLITICS.

*

DN! logo (large)DEMOCRACY NOW!—[9 NOV 2016]

Headlines

Donald Trump Elected 45th President of the United States

Donald J. Trump was elected 45th president of the United States on Tuesday, defeating Hillary Rodham Clinton in a stunning upset that reverberated around the world. Trump carried at least 279 Electoral College votes to Clinton’s 218, although Trump appears to have narrowly lost the popular vote. Around 2:50 a.m., Donald Trump took the stage at a New York City victory party, saying he had received a phone call by Hillary Clinton congratulating him on the win.

President-elect Donald Trump: “To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people. It’s time. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans, and this is so important to me. For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people, I am reaching out to you for your guidance and your help, so that we can work together and unify our great country.”

The contest pitted the two most unpopular candidates in modern presidential history against one another, with a majority of Americans viewing both Trump and Clinton unfavorably. Donald Trump has never held elective office. He opened his campaign in 2015 with a speech calling Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists. Trump has proposed banning all Muslims from entering the United States. He openly mocked his opponents, reporters, Asians, African Americans and the disabled. More than a dozen women have accused Trump of sexual assault, and he was heard in a 2005 videotape boasting about sexually assaulting women. Throughout the campaign, Trump drew the enthusiastic support of white nationalists and hate groups. Former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke, who ran unsuccessfully for a U.S. Senate seat in Louisiana, cheered the outcome of the election. Duke tweeted, “This is one of the most exciting nights of my life -> make no mistake about it, our people have played a HUGE role in electing Trump! #MAGA.”

Hillary Clinton Supporters Shocked by Loss to Donald Trump

News of Trump’s victory left supporters of Hillary Clinton stunned and shaken. A crowd of thousands—a majority of them women—gathered under the glass ceiling of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, where celebration turned to despair as it appeared Clinton was headed to defeat.

Early-Morning Protests Spring Up After Donald Trump Victory

Trump’s victory sparked early-morning protests around the country. At the campus of UCLA in California, about 1,500 people gathered to protest and burn a Trump piñata. Outside the White House, Trump’s opponents shouted at supporters, who responded with chants of “Build that wall!”

Republicans Retain House and Senate Majority

Meanwhile, Republicans captured both the House and Senate, positioning their party to control all three branches of government. Democrats gained a Senate seat but will fall short of the 51 seats needed to overcome Vice President-elect Mike Pence’s tie-breaking power. In the House, Republicans will hold a comfortable majority, with at least 236 of the chamber’s 435 seats.

Republican Sweep Likely to Tilt Supreme Court Balance

The congressional sweep makes it likely that Donald Trump will appoint a conservative to the Supreme Court post left vacant since Antonin Scalia died in February. Republicans have refused to consider Obama’s pick for the high court, Merrick Garland, and will likely ignore his nomination until Trump names his own nominee during the next Congress.

Stock Markets in Turmoil as Donald Trump Stages Upset

Markets in the U.S. and around the world plunged overnight as Trump’s victory became imminent, with the S&P dropping by 5 percent to its “limit down,” the maximum drop allowed before trading curbs kick in. Many stock indices recovered after Trump’s victory speech. The Mexican peso fell 11 percent overnight to an all-time low before recovering some ground.

Long Lines, Voter ID Laws and Fewer Polling Places Suppress Turnout

Tuesday’s election was the first in half a century to take place without the full protection of the Voting Rights Act. The Leadership Conference for Civil Rights says voters had 868 fewer polling locations. In key battleground states, many spent hours in line, while others gave up and left the polls. In Greenbelt, Maryland, voters waited for one ballot scanner for the entire precinct.

Jide Eniola: “I actually asked the lady that’s there, ‘Why do you have one scanner here? I have a friend that lives in Montgomery County, and they have—in one place, they have about six or seven.’ She said that’s what they gave them. Yeah? I asked her, I said, ‘Why do you only have one here?’ The line was about—you have to make a U-turn, like 360, to get up to the first one. And it’s just—three hours is just too long.”

There were hours-long lines in parts of New York City, as well, where Donald Trump was booed as he entered Public School 59 in Midtown Manhattan to cast his ballot. Turnout was down among African-American voters in key battleground states, where federal lawsuits have challenged voter ID laws that civil rights groups say are targeted against communities of color.

House Speaker Paul Ryan Confident He Will Retain Leadership Role

In Wisconsin, Republican Paul Ryan easily reclaimed his House seat Tuesday. Ryan says he is confident he’ll retain his leadership role as speaker of the House.

Speaker Paul Ryan: “I’ve just been sitting there watching the polls. By some accounts, this could be a really good night for America. This could be a good night for us.”

Some Republican congressmembers say they’ll seek to replace Ryan as House speaker, after Ryan repeatedly condemned Donald Trump’s remarks on the campaign trail. Despite the criticisms, Ryan never dropped his endorsement of Trump.

Wisconsin: Russ Feingold Loses to GOP Incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson

Also in Wisconsin, Democrat Russ Feingold narrowly lost his bid to return to the Senate, falling to Republican incumbent Ron Johnson.

Florida: Republican Senator Marco Rubio Re-elected

In Florida, Republican Marco Rubio has retained his Senate seat, after reversing a pledge to retire from politics, and despite a failed bid for the Republican nomination for president. During the campaign, Trump repeatedly mocked Rubio’s appearance, calling him “Little Marco.” At a victory party on Tuesday, Rubio struck a conciliatory tone.

Sen. Marco Rubio: “I hope we will set the example in this great state that while we can disagree on issues, we cannot share a country where people hate each other because of their political affiliations. We cannot move forward as a nation if we cannot have enlightened debates about tough issues. You can disagree with someone without hating them.”

California: Kamala Harris Elected as Second-Ever Black Woman U.S. Senator

In California, state Attorney General Kamala Harris has won the Senate seat vacated by Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, who is retiring. Harris is a Democrat of Indian and Jamaican ancestry. She becomes only the second black woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate.

Gubernatorial Races Split Between Republicans, Democrats

In gubernatorial races, Democrats and Republicans appear to have evenly split the 12 governor’s seats up for election. In North Carolina, Republican Governor Pat McCrory is demanding a recount, after an initial tally showed him trailing Democratic challenger Roy Cooper by fewer than 5,000 votes.

Voters Raise Minimum Wage, Support Death Penalty, Legalize Marijuana

In ballot measures, 69 percent of voters approved an anti-union measure to make Alabama a right-to-work state, while a similar measure was defeated in Virginia. Voters in Colorado, Maine and Arizona all voted to increase the minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020, while in Washington state the minimum wage will increase to $13.50 an hour. In Colorado, voters have rejected a measure to create a single-payer health insurance system. Nebraska has voted to restore the death penalty, while in Oklahoma voters have approved a measure that amends the state constitution to guarantee the right to impose the death penalty. In California, a ballot measure to overturn capital punishment is trailing, while another measure to speed up the pace of executions is winning by a narrow margin. Voters in California, Massachusetts and Nevada voted to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, while North Dakota, Arkansas and Florida approved medical marijuana initiatives.

Minnesota: Ilhan Omar Elected as First-Ever Somali-American Legislator

In Minnesota, Ilhan Omar has been elected as the nation’s first Somali-American legislator, winning a seat in the state House as a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio Loses Bid for Seventh Term, May Be Jailed

In Arizona, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio lost his bid for a seventh term. Arpaio faces the possibility of jail time, after federal prosecutors announced they are charging him with criminal contempt of court over his refusal to end unconstitutional immigration patrols in Arizona.

California: Gunman Fires Near Polling Place, Killing 1 and Injuring 2

In California, two people were left dead and two others wounded after a man high on cocaine and armed with handguns, a rifle and shotgun opened fire near a polling station in the city of Azusa, east of Los Angeles. Police Chief Steve Hunt said the gunman was found dead after a battle with police.

Steve Hunt: “We believe that the suspect was armed with an assault rifle with a rapid-fire capability. Whether it’s fully automatic or semiautomatic, we don’t know at this time.”

The violence halted voting at two polling places and caused a lockdown at a nearby middle school. Police say the gunman fired at least 20 rounds at officers. The shooting came mere hours before California voters approved Proposition 63, which bans possession of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, and provides a process for felons to have guns confiscated.

Orlando, FL Night Club to Become a Memorial to Gun Massacre Victims

In Orlando, Florida, city officials said Tuesday they will purchase the Pulse nightclub and convert it into a memorial for the 49 people killed there on June 12. It was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Shooter Omar Mateen purchased the guns he used in the killing, including an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, legally.

World Meteorological Organization Says Recent Years Hottest on Record

In climate news, the World Meteorological Organization said Tuesday that the five years from 2011 to 2015 were the hottest on record, with hundreds of thousands of deaths likely due to global warming from human activity. The findings were presented in Marrakesh, Morocco, where United Nations climate talks got underway this week. The report found human-induced climate change was directly linked to extreme events, including an East African drought and famine in 2011 that claimed over a quarter-million lives. Elena Manaenkova of the World Meteorological Organization says the Earth’s temperature has already risen by 1 degree Celsius, which is nearing the limit of a 1.5 degree rise set by the Paris Agreement.

Elena Manaenkova: “The conclusions are very clear that that was the warmest five-year period on record. We also confirm that the 2015 was the year when the global surface temperature exceeded 1 degree, and it links to the debate during this climate conference and the Paris Agreement targets.”

Trump Climate Denial Threatens U.N. Climate Change Agreement

Meanwhile, many delegates to the U.N. talks are expressing panic over the election of Donald Trump, saying the outcome threatens the future of any international agreement to slow catastrophic climate change. The Republican president-elect has said he will “cancel the Paris climate agreement and stop all payments of U.S. tax dollars to U.N. global warming programs.” Trump has also promised to promote coal power and fracking, and says he will allow for oil and gas drilling on federal lands. He has also promised to ask TransCanada to renew its permit application for the Keystone XL pipeline.

Indian Supreme Court Orders Action on Toxic Air Pollution Crisis

India’s Supreme Court has ordered the federal government to come up with a plan to combat toxic air pollution so thick that it’s being described as “beyond measurable limits.” The government has 48 hours to respond. A recent UNICEF report found 600,000 children under five die of air pollution every year, with about a third of the world’s at-risk children living in northern India and surrounding countries.

North Dakota: Pipeline Company Says It Will Soon Begin Drilling Despite Lack of Permit

In North Dakota, the company building the Dakota Access pipeline says it is preparing to drill beneath Lake Oahe on the Missouri River within two weeks, even though the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has not granted a permit. The announcement shocked and infuriated opponents of the $3.8 billion pipeline, which has faced months of resistance from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe along with representatives of over 200 other indigenous tribes and non-Native allies. Opponents, who call themselves “water protectors,” say they were promised by an Army Corps of Engineers official that the Dakota Access pipeline would be delayed by at least 30 days, should the Obama administration agree to a permit. But pipeline builder Energy Transfer Partners said Tuesday the Army Corps was mistaken when it said the company had agreed to slow construction. The announcement came one week after President Obama said the Army Corps was looking at a possible “reroute” of the pipeline.

Puerto Rico: Protesters March Against Federal Oversight Board

And in Puerto Rico, activists took to the streets for an Election Day protest against a federally appointed oversight control board with sweeping powers to run Puerto Rico’s economy. Jocelyn Velázquez of the Promises Are Over movement helped organize the protest.

Jocelyn Velázquez: “Today we celebrate the elections in Puerto Rico, and it is a futile exercise, because there is an oversight control board imposed by the United States government that is going to take the transcendental decisions about our future. It was indispensable not only to take this demand to the national level, but take it to the international level, too. In Puerto Rico, there is no democracy and no participation. The electoral exercise is simply a pantomime of what a democracy is.”

On Tuesday, Puerto Ricans elected Ricardo Rosselló of the New Progressive Party as governor. Rosselló is a conservative who strongly favors U.S. statehood for Puerto Rico.

From the First African-American President to One Supported by the Ku Klux Klan: Trump Wins in Upset

Donald J. Trump was elected 45th president of the United States on Tuesday, defeating Hillary Rodham Clinton in a stunning upset that reverberated around the world. Trump carried at least 279 Electoral College votes to Clinton’s 218, although Trump appears to have narrowly lost the popular vote. Donald Trump has never held elective office. He opened his campaign in 2015 with a speech calling Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists. Trump has proposed banning all Muslims from entering the United States. He openly mocked his opponents, reporters, Asians, African Americans and the disabled. More than a dozen women have accused Trump of sexual assault, and he was heard in a 2005 videotape boasting about sexually assaulting women. Throughout the campaign, Trump drew the enthusiastic support of white nationalists and hate groups. Former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke, who ran unsuccessfully for a U.S. Senate seat in Louisiana, cheered the outcome of the election. Duke tweeted, “This is one of the most exciting nights of my life -> make no mistake about it, our people have played a HUGE role in electing Trump! #MakeAmericaGreatAgain.”

AMY GOODMAN: Donald Trump has been elected the 45th president of the United States, defeating Hillary Clinton in a stunning upset that reverberated around the world. Trump carried at least 279 Electoral College votes to Clinton’s 218, although Trump appears to have narrowly lost the popular vote. As recently as yesterday, some pollsters were predicting Clinton had a 99 percent chance of winning the election, but that was before Trump pulled off victories in the key battleground states of Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Ohio.

Donald Trump, who has never held elective office, opened his campaign in 2015 with a speech calling Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists. He has proposed banning all Muslims from entering the United States. He openly mocked his opponents, reporters, Asians, African Americans and the disabled. More than a dozen women have accused Trump of sexual assault, and he can be heard in a 2005 videotape boasting about sexually assaulting women. Throughout the campaign, Donald Trump drew the enthusiastic support of the Ku Klux Klan and other white nationalist and hate groups. Former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke, who ran unsuccessfully for a U.S. Senate seat in Louisiana, cheered the outcome of the election. Duke tweeted, “This is one of the most exciting nights of my life -> make no mistake about it, our people have played a HUGE role in electing Trump! #MAGA [Make America Great Again],” unquote.

Around 2:50 Eastern time this morning, Donald Trump took the stage at the New York Hilton Hotel victory party, saying he had received a phone call from Hillary Clinton congratulating him on the win.

PRESIDENT–ELECT DONALD TRUMP: I have just received a call from Secretary Clinton. She congratulated us—it’s about us—on our victory. And I congratulated her and her family on a very, very hard-fought campaign. I mean, she—she fought very hard. Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country. I mean that very sincerely.

Now it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division, have to get together. To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people. It’s time. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans, and this is so important to me. For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people, I am reaching out to you for your guidance and your help, so that we can work together and unify our great country.

As I’ve said from the beginning, ours was not a campaign, but rather an incredible and great movement made up of millions of hard-working men and women who love their country and want a better, brighter future for themselves and for their family. It’s a movement comprised of Americans from all races, religions, backgrounds and beliefs, who want and expect our government to serve the people.

And serve the people it will. Working together, we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding our nation and renewing the American dream. I’ve spent my entire life in business, looking at the untapped potential in projects and in people all over the world. That is now what I want to do for our country.

AMY GOODMAN: We’ll have more on Donald Trump’s election as 45th president of the United States in a minute.

[snip]  (c. 52:00)

[snip]

[In her closing remarks, Amy Goodman announced that a second hour of coverage will be available at DemocracyNow.org.]  [9 NOV 2016]

Learn more at DEMOCRACY NOW!

*

ELECTION NIGHT COVERAGE, TUESDAY

KPFA NEWS—[8 NOV 2016]  [Three-hour broadcast from 9pm PST to midnight.]

[The end of the Democracy Now! Election Night coverage ended at 9pm PST with a music break and local station identifications, appeals for support, and local announcements.  KPFA Radio has Mark Mericle come on the air announcing Trump is polling stronger than expected.  And stocks are crashing in response to the uncertainty associated with a potential Trump presidency.]

MARK MERICLE:  (c. 0:01)  “Republican Donald Trump has won his point, at least.  He proved he can run a cooperative and a competitive presidential campaign on his own idiosyncratic terms.  He still may win the presidency itself yet tonight.  All the signs are pointing to it.  Hillary Clinton, who has not performed as expected in state after state, must win nearly all the battles, which remain to be decided.  It’s still too close to call.  But it’s a lot closer than almost all the experts predicted.

“And stock analysts are warning investors not to make any hasty decisions to buy or sell.  The Dow futures and Asian markets are crashing.

“Meanwhile, plenty of business still tonight in California:  17 propositions are on the statewide ballot.  ”

[News Headlines are read by Mark Mericle.  Mark Mericle interviews Mitch Perry(sp?) in Tampa, Florida with FloridaPolitics.com.  (21:19 PST)  Mericle continues updating the ‘horse race’.  (21:20 PST) (c. 0:20) Sharon Saboda(sp?) reports from Hillary Clinton camp.  Mark Mericle interview Gavin Newsom.]

[KPFA News Department’s Max Pringle reads KPFA News Headlines]

[(c. 21:35 PST) (c. 35:00)  Next report.]

[(c. 21:45 PST)  Mark Mericle speaks with Tom Campbell, former south bay congressperson.]

[(c. 21:47 PST) (c. 47:00)  Mark Mericle interviews Brit-sounding Matt Cherry, who led the campaign for Proposition 62, to abolish the death penalty in California.  SF Bay Area is trending in favour of Prop. 62, but the rest of California seems to be against Prop. 62.  Matt Cherry cautions premature calls, as the Los Angeles area has still not fully reported election results.  (c. 21:52)  Mark Mericle dismissed Matt Cherry.]

[(c. 21:52 PST)  Mark Mericle gets into local SF Bay Area measures.  Oakland Measure HH, the sugar soda tax seems to be winning.  Unidentified guest interviews Dianne Wolsen(sp?) on the sugar soda tax.]

[snip]

[(c. 22:02 PST)  News Headlines (read by Aileen Alfandary)]

[(c. 22:17 PST)  Mark Mericle dismisses Don Nielsen(sp?) on presidential election commentary.]

[(c. 22:17 PST)  Next guest, Mike Walinski (CA Teachers Association), on statewide ballot propositions.]

[(c. 22:25 PST)  KPFA reporter on local politician Jesse Arreguin poised to be the first Latino mayor of Berkeley, endorsed by Bernie Sanders.  Arreguin speaks with KPFA’s Mark Mericle.  (c. 22:31)  Mark Mericle dismisses Arreguin.]

[(c. 22:32)  Music break]

[(c. 23:23 PST)  Podesta asks the audience to call it a night, as there’s still a few states, which are too close to call tonight.  Podesta asks everyone to go home for the night and tries to pump up the crowd one last time.  But signs of cracks in the veneer are starting to show.]

Podesta announces that Hillary Clinton will not be speaking on Election Night

Trump Speech After 2016 November Election

[(c. 23:46 PST)  New VP Mike Pence gave a victory speech and introduced the new US president Donald Trump.]

[(c. 23:51 PST)  Donald Trump took the stage, announced that Hillary Clinton just telephoned him to concede the election, gave a bloated and vacuous victory speech. (c. 23:59 PST)  Trump acknowledged his campaign team and offered his concluding remarks, including thanks to Rudy Giuliani, Governor Chris Christy, Senator Jeff Sessions, Dr. Ben Carson, Mike Huckabee and family, General Mike Flynn(sp?), General Kellog(sp?), et al.]

[Three-hour broadcast of the KPFA News Department’s Election Night coverage ended at midnight, in terms of the time-blocks in which the radio broadcasts are archived.  But, in reality, Mark Mericle and the KPFA News Department stayed on the air past midnight with their coverage of the U.S. presidential election.  The regularly scheduled programme, No Other Radio Network, was preempted for a few minutes, as Trump’s victory speech carried on.]

[(c. 00:03 PST)  Donald Trump continued after somebody, apparently his campaign manager, announced him as the ‘next president of the United States’.  Trump acknowledged the Secret Service and “law enforcement”.  Trump promised to “do a great job”.]

PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP:  “And law enforcement in New York City, they’re here tonight.  [audience cheers and applauds]  These are spectacular people, sometimes underappreciated, unfortunately, but we appreciate them.  We know what they go through.  So, it’s been what they call a historic event.  But, to be really historic, we have to do a great job.  [Audience member: Yeah!]  And, I promise you, that I will not let you down.  We will do a great job.  We will do a great job.  I look very much forward to being your president.  And, hopefully, at the end of two years or three years or four years or, maybe, even eight years—[audience cheers]—you will say—so many worked so hard for us, but—you will say that that was something that you were really were very proud to do.  And I can only—[responding to voice in the crowd] thank you—that, while the campaign is over, our work on this movement is, now, really, just beginning. [audience cheers]  We’re going to—”  [(c. 00:04 PST) (c. 04:27)  Mark Mericle cut into the broadcast, as it seemed Donald Trump had no intention of wrapping up his victory speech anytime soon.  In fact, it went on about four more minutes.  (See video above for extended audio of Trump’s remarks.)  On free speech radio, KPFA News Department boss Mark Mericle read credits of KPFA News Department’s coverage of the 2016 November General Election coverage.]

MARK MERICLE:  “And that’s it, folks.  We do have a winner.  His name is Donald Trump.  That’s a wrap.  But this is not a movie.  That will conclude KPFA’s Election Night coverage.  Donald Trump has been elected the next president of the United States.  Hillary Clinton conceded to him in a telephone call tonight without speaking to the nation at all.

“Thanks for joining us tonight, and thanks to the team, that produced this coverage.  Aileen Alfandary was our executive producer and newscaster.  Christina Aanestad was our producer.  Assistant producer: Corrine Smith.  Janeen Edder(sp?) was our engineer.  Max Pringle: our newscaster.  Christopher Martinez and Mike Cohn(sp?) provided statewide returns.  Megan Sussman provided returns from San Francisco.  Sadia Malik(sp?) handled the returns in Alameda County.  Tia Monroe(sp?) covered the Berkeley mayor’s race.  Justin Gold covered Proposition 64, the legalise marijuana measure, which easily passed.  Sharon Sabodo(sp?) was with the Democratic Party in San Francisco.  Taylor Romine(sp?) with Scott Weiner For State Senate.  Simon Peltier was our sound editor.  China Armstrong covered the Richmond Progressive Alliance and the Richmond Rent Control measure.  Amber Miles was with the Jane Kim For State Senate race in San Francisco.  Ruben Sapphire was with the Green County in the East Bay.  Vic Bedoyin(sp?) covered the central valley races from Fresno.  Glen Reader(sp?) was on the Oakland Measure HH, the soda tax measure.  Karen Argood(sp?) produced the voices of voters.  And our technical producer tonight was Dev Ross.

“If you appreciated this coverage, here, on KPFA, and our coverage of the election season throughout the last 18 months and can help us continue this work, please go to kpfa.org and make whatever contribution you can.  I’m Mark Mericle.  Good night.  [theme music funk instrumental]  (c. 6:43)  [(c. 7:25)  Hosts of No Other Radio Network take over the radio trransmission with its abstract audio collages, reflecting a particularly jilted sense of American pride amongst the liberals and progressives in the wake of Trump’s demagogic electoral victory.  Abolish the Electoral College.]

(c. 2:59:59)

Learn more at KPFA NEWS.

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Vote_12345PACIFICA RADIO—[8 NOV 2016]  [Four-hour broadcast from 5pm to 9pm PST, produced by Democracy Now!]

[Four-hour special broadcast is scheduled for Election Day, Tuesday, November 8, 2016, starting at 5pm (when the first time zone of election polls close on the east coast at 8pm eastern time zone).]

[(c. 62:00)  Second hour begins.  Florida overwhelmingly passes medical cannabis legalisation.]

[(c. 74:00)  Thomas Frank critiques Hillary Clinton’s type of “liberalism”.  But he, nevertheless, admits that he voted for Hillary Clinton.  And, saliently, he carefully avoids the word neoliberalism]

[(c. 76:00)  Dr. Malveaux tepidly enunciates the explosive word “neoliberalism”.  But she does so dismissively.]

[(c. 77:00)  Amy Goodman moves on to voter suppression issues, including a lawsuit invoking the Ku Klux Klan Act and its legacy.]

[Guest argues that a moral hunger exists among liberals to reclaim the moral centre.]

[(c. 95:00)  Dr. Malveaux, the indefatigable Hillary Clinton apologist, says she’s not voting against Donald Trump but for Hillary Clinton.]

[(c. 96:00)  Reverend Barber:  There wouldn’t be a Donald Trump without a backlash against Obama.  On the race question:  People have suffered for rights, “died and bled”.]

[(c. 92:00)  Next guests…Mitch Perry(sp?)]

[(c. 97:00)  AG gives Thomas Frank an opportunity to respond, as she ‘knows he must leave the broadcast soon.]

[(c. 1:13:00)  Greg Grandin…]

[(19:04 PST) (c. 2:04:00)  Eddie Glaude:  There are no surprises.]  [This sounds like a repeat of what was said, or broadcast, earlier at 17:00 PDT, or earlier in the day, during the regular Democracy Now! broadcast.]

[Dr. Malveaux chimes in, largely agreeing and perpetuating this subtle Democratic Party apologia.]

[(19:08 PST) (c. 2:08:00)  AG updates the two-party dictatorship ‘horse race’.]

[snip]

[(20:06 PST)  Allan Nairn alleges the FBI may be swinging the vote in favour of Trump.]

[(20:08 PST)  CBS News has just reported that Trump has won North Carolina.]

[(20:13 PST)  (c. 3:13:00) Sheriff Joe Arpaio(sp?) has lost his election.]

[(20:13 PST)  (c. 3:13:00)  Next guest:  ]

[(20:23 PST)  Dr. Malveaux cites Dr. Ralph Nader]

[(20:23 PST)  John Nichols cuts in.]

[(20:25 PST)  Alan Nairn cuts in.]

[(20:26 PST)  Amy Goodman cuts in, brings up other issues, including 84-year old Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is facing criminal charges and facing possible jail time.]

[(20:27 PST)  Alan Nairn applauds justice being served against Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who once called for prisoners caloric intake to be reduced, so that they wouldn’t have the energy to resist prison injustices.]

[c. 20:28 PST]  Female pundit joins in.

[(20:40 PST)  John Nichols retorts.]

[Professor Eddie Glaude, Hillary Rodham Clinton supporter, chimes in.]

[(20:43 PST)  The other male guest chimes in.]

[(20:43 PST)  Dr. Malveaux chimes in.]

[Back and forth chatter within a narrow two-party paradigm continues.]

[(20:44 PST)  Dr. Malveaux invokes Russia fearmongering:  ‘Maybe Trump has dealings with Russia.’]

[Back and forth chatter within a narrow two-party paradigm continues.  No mention of the erosion of democracy, which only Dr. Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka’s Green Party campaign are countering.]

[(20:25 PST)  Amy Goodman cuts in to the horse race banter to introduce Wayne Barrett(sp?).  AG reports the corporate media has now reported Iowa coming in favour of Trump.  Barett invokes Bruce Springsteen, a ‘man of the people’, who was ‘never asked’ to campaign for Hillary Clinton.  Deluded liberals are reeling as Trump appears to be winning county after county and state after state on election day.]

[(20:48 PST)  Amy Goodman cuts in to report that ‘Donald Trump has just won the battleground state of Georgia’.]

[(20:54 PST)  Amy Goodman asks about Trump’s relationship with the FBI, including James Comey (b. 1960).]

[Democracy Now’s neoliberal rhetoric continues until the KPFA News Department cuts in, giving no word that the broadcast will not be returning to Democracy Now’s ‘expert’ panel.]

[(21:00 PST)  Democracy Now! team silently ends their broadcast transmission.]

[snip]

[snip]  (c. 3:59:59)

Learn more at PACIFICA RADIO.

*

FLASHPOINTS—[8 NOV 2016]   [Broadcast summary from kpfa.org broadcast archive page:  “Today on Flashpoints: Greg Palast joins us for an election daypost mortem on voter-intimidation. Also The Pipeline: How Marin and San Francisco Financial Firms Fuel the Fracking Boom. And we’ll see if we can get in a few listener phone calls.”]

[snip]

Learn more at FLASHPOINTS.

*

HARD KNOCK RADIO—[8 NOV 2016]  [During the first half hour, Davey D spoke with a centrist liberal, whose remarks largely bolstered a Democrat apologist line of argumentation in the context of the 2016 November general election.]

[snip]

[snip]  (c. 59:59)

Learn more at HARD KNOCK RADIO.

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LETTERS AND POLITICS—[8 NOV 2016]  [“Election Commentary with Richard Wolff” broadcast preview summary (accessed at 10:21 PDT on 8 NOV 2016):  “with Dr. Richard Wolff, a renowned American Marxist economist, and Professor of Economics Emeritus, about the elections, the state of politics in the US and his ideas for rewriting the economic script in the country.  His latest book is Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism.”] 

[transcript pending]

[Messina called in during the call-in section and raised a bunch of issues, particularly the economic fact that we can end involuntary unemployment as we know it through an MMT-based job guarantee programme.  MMT stands for modern money theory, which, as taught at heterodox economics departments throughout the United States, such as at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, shows us how we have monetary sovereignty, which allows us to use modern money for public purpose.  Your author’s former professor, Dr. Stephanie Kelton, for example, shows us that all money exists as an IOU.  This means, technically, taxes don’t pay for federal spending.  They pay for state spending, but not federal spending.  Dr. Richard Wolff agreed that everything was “correct”.  But he didn’t really delve into, or engage with, the issue of the MMT-based job guarantee programme because it seems to clash with his particular variety of Marxian ideology.]

[snip]  (c. 59:59)

Learn more at LETTERS AND POLITICS.

*

DEMOCRACY NOW!—[8 NOV 2016]  [Listen to this radio broadcast here; or view the TV version here.]

[Democracy Now! featured coverage of the many local ballot measures throughout the nation, apparently the most in any general election in recent history.  Many of the local ballot measures involve minimum wage laws, local revenue needs, medicinal (and so-called non-medicinal) cannabis sales, sin taxes, and other health care initiatives.]

[(c. 27:00)  Inequality.org]

[(c. 30:00)  Graham Nash music break/local station identifications and announcements]

[Rolling Stone’s Greg Palast (author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy) reported from the ‘battleground’ state of Ohio.  Greg Palast has also reported for free speech KPFA Radio’s Flashpoints for its Election Protection series during the 2016 presidential election.]

[On charges of ‘double-voting’ found through ‘cross-checking’ of ballots with similar names as a pretense for purging voters of colour from voter rolls.  At least one million voters are being deleted from the voter rolls; their ballots are being invalidated.  Audit functions are being turned off in Ohio.]

[(c. 45:00)  Amy Goodman dismisses Greg Palast]

[(c. 45:30)  music break/local station identifications and announcements/on KPFA, Christina Aanestad appeals for listener donations]

[On upgrading our democratic process:  abolishing the electoral college; National Popular Vote Interstate Compact; ranked-choice voting (or instant run-off voting); proportional representation.]  (c. 51:00)

[Guest from Fair Vote.]

[(c. 55:00)  Archive clip from Amy Goodman’s ambush interview of Bill Clinton on the political bankruptcy of the two-party system]

[snip]  (c. 59:59)

Learn more at DEMOCRACY NOW!.

***

ENDNOTES

[1]  For example, see the following articles:

  • “The Stolen Presidential Elections” by Michael Parenti, MichaelParenti.org, May 2007 (updated version)
  • “How the 2004 Presidential ‘Election’ Was Stolen by George W. Bush” by Eric Zuesse, 25 OCT 2016.

***

[‘ranked-choice ballot’ image by source, used via fair use. ]

[‘Model 100 voting machine’ by Messina]

[8 NOV 2016]

[Last modified 17:37 PST  10 NOV 2016]

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