Progressive Commentary Hour

Progressive Commentary Hour - 10.24.18

Enrollment Plummets at Evergreen College Over Anti-White Policies

Social justice policies appear to be backfiring at Evergreen State College as the faculty continues supporting an openly anti-white agenda, but, as One America’s Pearson Sharp explains, students aren’t happy with the school’s apparently racist policies — leading to a massive drop in enrollment.

 

Progressive Commentary Hour - 10.17.18

Alison Weir is a journalist, author, civil rights and peace activist, and the president of the Council for the National Interest, which was founded by several former Congressmen. She is also the founder of the organization If Americans Knew, which analyses and reports on US media coverage of Israel-Palestine.  She has presented briefings before Congress on the US and the Israeli-Palestinian crisis,  and has lectured widely at numerous universities including Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, Yale, Berkeley and to academies and institutions overseas. She has received a variety of awards  including the Phi Alpha Literary Society for Courageous Journalism on behalf of human rights.  Alison’s articles frequently appear on Counterpunch and AntiWar.com, Project Censored, Global Research, and the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Her book “Against Our Better Judgment: How the US was Used to Create Israel” is a thorough, meticulously sourced document bringing forth a story barely known about the history of US-Israel relations and the origins of the state of Israel. Her website is IfAmericansKnew.org

Progressive Commentary Hour - 10.10.18

Update on conditions in Syria -- on the ground witnessing

Vanessa Beeley is a British investigative journalist focusing on the conflicts in the middle east – particularly in Syria, Gaza and Yemen. She is an associate editor of 21^st Century Wire and was a member of a peace finding mission to Syria organized by the US Peace Council.  She is a contributing writer for the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine, the Dissident Voice and manages the website The Wall Will Fall where she blogs about her travels and reports from the Middle East. Vanessa recently returned from another fact-finding mission in Syria this past weekend, and will be providing a birds-eye analysis of what is currently happening in the war-torn nation. She was a finalist for the prestigious Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, which has previously been awarded to Robert Parry, Patrick Cockburn, Robert Fisk and others. Her website is TheWallWillFall.org    

Progressive Commentary Hour - 10.03.18

CONVERSATIONS WITH REMARKABLE MINDS

Skepticism and scientism's attack on body, brain, health and spirit

Dr. Rupert Sheldrake is a British biochemist and plant physiologist who has experimented with innovative field theory in plants and animals, including humans, to account for the causative formation of the deeper structures of biological development and collective consciousness.  His research has included efforts to reach a greater understanding of memory, perception, cognition and the debate over consciousness.  Over the past several decades Rupert developed his theory of morphic resonance and morphogenic fields.  Dr. Sheldrake has written extensively on morphogenic theory since the publication “A New Science in Life “in 1981.  His book “Science Set Free” is a thorough critique of the flaws in the dominant mechanistic scientific model. And his most recent book is "Science and Spiritual Practice: Transformative Experiences and Their Effects on Our Bodies, Brains and Health."  His website is Sheldrake.org

 

Progressive Commentary Hour - 09.25.18

Gwynne Dyer -- Geopolitics in a Hotter World

Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Dyer has worked as a freelance journalist, columnist, broadcaster and lecturer on international affairs for more than 20 years, but he was originally trained as an historian. He received degrees from Canadian, American and British universities, finishing with a Ph.D. in Military and Middle Eastern History from the University of London .

 

 

Progressive Commentary Hour - 09.18.18

Chris Hedges is one of our nation’s most insightful cultural critics, social and political activists and authors. For almost 20 years he was a foreign correspondent in war zones and conflicts in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans, having reported for The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor and other news outlets.  While at the Times, Chris received the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for reporting on global terrorism. The same year he received Amnesty International’s Global Award for Human Rights Journalism.  Over the years he has taught at Columbia, Princeton, NYU and the University of Toronto.

Among Chris’ many noteworthy books are “American Fascists” (about the fundamental Christian Right), “Empire of Illusion”, and “Death of the Liber. His latest is “Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt”  – a  compelling hard look at the most impoverished regions in the US that have become what Chris calls “sacrifice zones” for the benefit of the  powerful and wealthy.

Andrew Harvey is an internationally renowned religious scholar, teacher, and author of over thirty books.  He is the founder of the Institute of Sacred Activism, an international organization dedicated to inspiring people to become more active and vital in challenging our global crises and to commit themselves to peace and sustainability.

Andrew was born in India, studied at Oxford University where he was a fellow at All Soul’s College. Over the years he has taught at Oxford, Cornell, the California Institute for Integral Studies and other institutions.  He is perhaps best known for having explored all the different religions in depth, particularly Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sufism, and interpreting them in a passionate manner while also preserving their essential meaning and significance for our own time.

Andrew has received many awards for his writings including the Benjamin Franklin Award. His most recent book is “Radical Passion: Sacred Love and Wisdom in Action” and before that “The Hope: A Guide To Sacred Activism” which won the Nautilus Silver Award for Social Change.

Progressive Commentary Hour - 09.11.18

Investigation into the rise of US aggression in Syria

Ken Stone is a veteran Canadian anti-war, social justice and environmental activist. He is the treasurer of the Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War, and serves on the steering committees for the Syrian Solidarity Movement and the Canadian Peace Alliance. In 2016 he was a participant in the second International Tour for Peace in Syria. Ken covers the Syrian crisis for the Hamilton Spectator news and for Global Research.  He is the author of "Defiant Syria" which recounts his observations and analysis while in Syria.  The Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War's website is HCSW.ca

Rick Sterling is a retired aerospace engineer and investigative journalist who writes primarily on international relations.  who has been involved in the struggles against imperialism and supporting justice in the Middle East, Latin America and US-Russia relations.  Rick is currently the president of the board of Mount Diablo Peace and Justice Center and a co-founder and steering committee member of the Syria Solidarity Movement.  He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and can be reached atrsterling1@gmail.com  His organization's website is SyriaSolidarityMovement.org 

Progressive Commentary Hour - 09.04.18

Corruption and Illegal activities targeting minorities in the NYPD

 

Steve Maing is an Emmy-nominated documentary film director and visual journalist in New York City. hie first film, "High Tech, Low Life" chronicled two of China's first dissident citizen journalists reporting on censored news throughout mainland China and was part of PBS' award winning series P.O.V. Steve has directed films for the New York Times, Times Magazine, The Nation, and others. He is a fellow of the Sundance institute's Documentary Film Program and an adjunct teacher at Massachusetts College of Art.  His most recent feature -- "Crime And Punishment," now showing at the IFC Theater, at 6th Avenue and 3rd Street through Thursday, tells the gripping story of a landmark class action lawsuit spearheaded by a brave group of Black and Latino cops turned whistle blower to expose an NYPD's illegal quota practices and targeting of minorities. The film's website is CrimeAndPunishmentDoc.com

 

Sgt Edwin Raymond has been with NYPD-12 for ten years and a Sargent for two. He is a lead plaintiff in class action lawsuit featured in the documentary.

 

Pedro Serrano is a police officer with NYPD-12 and another lead plaintiff in the case. 

 

Sgt. Cyress Smith spent 19 years in New York City's Performance Monitoring Unit, the department responsible for overseeing individual police departments', such as NYPD-12, comply with departmental regulations as well as ticketing quotas. Sgt Smith was a lead whistleblower for exposing how corruption was instituted at the NYPD's higher levels. 

 

 

Film:  "Crime And Punishment," now screening at the IFC Theater, at 6th Avenue and 3rd Street through Thursday, and will be showing in select theaters around the country.  It is available on HuLu

 

WEBSITE:   CrimeAndPunishmentDoc.com

Progressive Commentary Hour - 08.29.18

Ralph Nader is without a second one of the most influential Americans during the past several decades.  He is directly responsible for many of our most important bills that have provided protection to consumers against the onslaughts of corporate short-term profits and the Friedmanite free market, unregulated capitalism. landmark acts for Freedom of Information, Clean Water, Clean Air, Whistleblower Protection, Wholesome Food, and others that have been enacted by Congress.  A graduate of Princeton and Harvard universities, Ralph has been a presidential candidate for five elections, building his platform on consumer rights, humanitarian and civil rights efforts, environmental sanity, and democratic government.  Ralph’s most recent book just released this month is  “To the Ramparts: How Bush and Obama Paved the Way for the Trump Presidency and Why It Isnt too Late to Reverse Course” that outlines the key flaws in the former White House administrations, and both parties, have brought us to the edge we find ourselves today as a nation.  His website is Nader.org and CSRL.org

Joseph (Joe) Stillman has been a film director, producer, and writer for over 46 years. He has received one Emmy and several films were in in the running for Academy Awards. For the past 20 years, Joe has put his attention on independent films that focus on issues of the ethics of anti-war, human rights and correcting injustices.  His most recent film that premiered on July 27th in Los Angeles is "Citizen Clark: A Life of Principle" about the life and long legacy of Ramsey Clark, former attorney general under President Johnson and Assistant Attorney General under John F Kennedy, who exemplifies the kind of fearlessness and courage to stand up for truth against the enormous powers of government and influence. The film features Ramsey, Ralph Nader, Alice Walker, Noam Chomsky, Frank Serpico and others.  The film's website is ALifeofPrinciple.com and has just been made available on Amazon. 

 

Frank Serpico is a former New York City Police Department officer who was the first officer in the department's history to whistleblow and testify about the widespread system corruption and payoffs in the NYPD that amounted to millions of dollars.  Al Pacino played Frank's roll in the 1973 film Serpico which was nominated for numerous awards including two Academy Award nominations.  For the past 20 plus years since moving back to the US from Europe, Frank continues to speak out against police brutality and corruption and civil rights injustices. He currently resides in upstate New York.

 

Mimi Clark Gronlund is the sister of former Attorney General Ramsey Clark. She is also the author of a biography of their father, Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark: A Life of Service, who was Attorney General under Harry Truman and later a Supreme Court Justice until 1967

Progressive Commentary Hour - 08.21.18

Gary and Producer Richard Gale speak on the latest current events in the world