On Coming From Left Field, Leopold walks through the economic history behind that argument, from deindustrialization and NAFTA to Wall Street’s “financial strip mining” of communities through mass layoffs and stock buybacks. He highlights places like Mingo County, West Virginia—once a New Deal Democratic and union stronghold—where coal jobs collapsed, no serious public reconstruction ever arrived, and the opioid industry filled the vacuum as the only growth sector. In county after county across the Rust Belt and Appalachia, he and his co‑researchers found that rising mass layoffs map onto falling Democratic vote share; voters blame the party that was supposed to fight for them, not because of “wokeness,” but because Democrats abandoned New Deal‑style job guarantees and embraced a corporate‑first politics.

The heart of Leopold’s case, though, is that ordinary people are far readier for a bold working‑class program than the political class believes. In a 3,000‑person survey in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, he tested a fictional “Independent Workers Political Association” with a radical platform: a right to a job at a living wage (with the public sector stepping in if the private sector fails), a ban on compulsory layoffs at firms receiving government money, a genuinely livable minimum wage, and strong action against price‑gouging by pharmaceutical and food corporations. He expected fringe support; instead, 57% of voters backed the idea, only 18% opposed it, support was consistent across all four states, 40% of Trump voters said yes, and 70% of voters under 30 were on board. The same survey showed the Democratic label itself has become a liability: for identical populist platforms, “independent” candidates started about eight points ahead of “Democrats,” and in Ohio, the penalty for the Democratic label rose to roughly sixteen points.

For Leopold, the implication is clear: you cannot build a serious working‑class politics by trying to be “better Democrats” everywhere. Instead, his book calls for building a new “party of our own” from the ground up in deep‑red areas where Democrats barely exist—running independent working‑class candidates, pushing ballot initiatives like banning forced layoffs at firms on the public dime, and using labor‑rooted political education to turn widespread anger and insecurity into a coherent, independent working‑class movement.

About Les Leopold

Les Leopold is a longtime labor educator, author, and co‑founder of the Labor Institute, which has been training workers and union activists on economic and environmental issues since the 1970s. Raised in a working‑class family of war refugees, he studied at Oberlin College and earned a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton before working closely with visionary labor leader Tony Mazzocchi, a pioneer of the occupational safety movement and an early advocate of a Labor Party. Leopold is the author of several books, including “Runaway Inequality,” “How to Make a Million Dollars an Hour,” “Wall Street’s War on Workers,” and a biography of Mazzocchi, “The Man Who Hated Work and Loved Labor.” His work combines data‑driven political economy with on‑the‑ground organizing, aimed at helping working people.

Order the book: https://www.amazon.com/Billionaires-Have-Parties-Need-Party/dp/B0GX77LK8B/

Website: The Labor Institute

Substack: https://lesleopold.substack.com/p/the-billionaires-have-two-parties-f10

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/ 

#LesLeopold#TheBillionairesHaveTwoParties#partyofourown#workingclasspolitics#laborpolitics#thirdpartymovement#independentworkingclassparty#deindustrialization#RustBeltworkers#MingoCountyWestVirginia#financialstripmining#stockbuybacks#guaranteedjobs#livingwagejobs#nocompulsorylayoffs#TonyMazzocchi#LaborPartyhistory#politicalrealignment#rightwingpopulism#economicinequality#workingclassvoters#newworkersparty#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

Susser traces the long build‑up to the gilets jaunes: decades of neoliberal “reform” that closed rural schools and clinics, cut public transport, and hollowed out social services while telling working‑class people to drive farther and pay more. She explains who the Yellow Vests really were—truckers, nurses, cashiers, civil servants, small farmers, grandparents, and first‑time protesters—and how roundabouts and self‑built roadside cabins became spaces of debate, solidarity, and political awakening. We also talk about the brutal police response and the emergence of les mutilés (protesters maimed by so‑called “non‑lethal” weapons), and how that violence pushed many Yellow Vests toward alliances with anti‑racist and Black Lives Matter movements.

From there, the conversation widens out: What can we learn from the Yellow Vests about spontaneous uprisings versus organized parties and unions? Why did the movement seem to “fizzle,” and in what ways did it quietly reshape French politics—strengthening mass pension protests, undermining Macron’s legitimacy, and helping set the stage for a new Popular Front that pushed back against Marine Le Pen’s far right? Susser uses Gramsci’s ideas of hegemony, civil society, and “war of position” to argue that these messy, grassroots experiments in “commoning” are slowly building a new democratic culture from below.

If you’re interested in French politics, social movements, or the parallels between rural France and the U.S. rust belt, this is a rich, hopeful, and sobering conversation.

Author Biography:

Ida Susser is an American anthropologist best known for her work on urban inequality, social movements, and the politics of health and welfare. She is a Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center, and has also held roles as adjunct professor of socio‑medical sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and leadership positions in major anthropological associations.

Born in South Africa to epidemiologists and anti‑apartheid activists Zena Stein and Mervyn Susser, she grew up in politically engaged circles, moved with her family to Manchester in 1956, and then to New York City in 1965. She earned her BA at Barnard College (1970), MA at the University of Chicago (1974), and PhD at Columbia University (1980), all in anthropology.

 Ida Susser’s book (free PDF): https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mono/10.4324/9781003534518/yellow-vests-battle-democracy-ida-susser

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/ 

#IdaSusser#YellowVests#giletsjaunes#France#Frenchpolitics#EmmanuelMacron#neoliberalism#welfarestate#socialmovements#grassrootsprotest#workingclass#democracy#authoritarianism#policeviolence#BlackLivesMatter#anthropology#urbaninequality#rustbelt#deindustrialization#leftpolitics#politicaleconomy#labor#pensions#austerity#populism#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast #zzblog#mltoday

Our conversation links Dr. Roth’s Holocaust scholarship to America's ideals. Key topics include the Dream's roots in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, its subversion by individualism and exceptionalism, and intersections with Nazi history as a warning.

Dr. Roth shares personal stories: his Fulbright lectures in Austria, Elie Wiesel's influence, and founding Claremont McKenna's human rights center. They critique politicization—from Trump-era rhetoric to Supreme Court decisions eroding voting rights—and debate global contexts like WWII atrocities.

About the Book

“Saving the American Dream” offers 10 meditations to combat poverty, corruption, and inequality: diminish poverty, grow jobs, empower education, promote pluralism, and more. Roth urges Gen Z resistance, echoing MLK and Marx: understand the world, then change

Author Biography

Dr. John K. Roth is Edward J. Sexton Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Claremont McKenna College, where he taught from 1966 to 2006 and founded the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights (now Mgrublian Center).

A Yale Ph.D. graduate (B.A. Pomona College), Roth has authored/edited over 60 books on Holocaust studies, ethics, and American philosophy. His work spans Fulbright lectures, visiting professorships in Japan and Israel, and awards like U.S. National Professor of the Year.

Purchase the book: https://kingsbookstore.com/book/9798385249206

Link to The Mgrublian Center for Human Rights: https://youtu.be/-UuX1xuaiiE

Link to The Avett Brothers - We Americans (Official Music Video): https://youtu.be/0MKm9TB9b6s?si=g3kshHngBHPQd480

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/

#savingtheamericandream#johnkroth#meditationsfordarktimes#americandreampodcast#americandemocracy#holocauststudies#genocidestudies#humanrights#martinlutherkingjr#trumperapolitics#authoritarianisminamerica#genzactivism#progressivepolitics#politicalphilosophy#ushistory#heathercoxrichardson#claremontmckennacollege#israelgazadiscussion#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

About Heather Ann Thompson

Heather Ann Thompson is a historian, activist, and professor best known for “Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy,” which won the Pulitzer Prize in History. Raised in Detroit and trained in African American studies at the University of Michigan and Princeton, she has spent her career documenting how prisons, policing, and economic policy shape the lives of marginalized communities and the broader contours of American democracy. Her latest book, “Fear and Fury,” continues this project by uncovering how one violent moment on a New York subway helped ignite a national politics of white rage whose consequences we are still living with today.

Resources:

Order the book: https://kingsbookstore.com/book/9780593702093

Webpage: https://www.heatherannthompson.com/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/

#fearandfury#heatherannthompson#berniegoetz#bernhardgoetz#subwayvigilante#1984newyorkcitysubwayshooting#reaganeighties#reaganera#whiterage#comingfromleftfieldpodcast#massincarceration#atticauprising#bloodinthewater#waroncrime#warondrugs#ronaldreagan#rightwingmedia#rupertmurdoch#foxnews#brokenwindowspolicing#racialpolitics#racialresentment#newyorkpost#southbronx#vigilantejustice#nra#lawandorderpolitics#trumpera#politicalhistory#americanracism#ushistory#truecrimehistory#urbancrisis#austeritypolitics#PatCummings #PatrickCummings #GregGodels #ZZBlog #ComingFromLeftField #Podcast #zzblog #mltoday

We talk about Che Guevara’s assassination and the battle over his intellectual legacy, the role of the CIA and major foundations in promoting a safe, anti‑communist “Western Marxism,” and how obscure academic language can function to mystify reality rather than clarify it. Rockhill explains why some prominent left academics have reacted so fiercely to his work, and why he believes their careers are bound up with an intellectual franchise that avoids real opposition to imperialism.

The episode also looks forward: how to reconnect with an internationalist, anti‑imperialist Marxist tradition, how to reach a US working class saturated in anti‑communist propaganda, and why building a broad anti‑war, pro‑peace movement is a crucial step toward any serious socialist project today.

About Gabriel Rockhill

Gabriel Rockhill is a philosopher, cultural critic, and political theorist whose work sits at the intersection of critical theory, intellectual history, and radical politics. He is Professor of Philosophy at Villanova University and the Founding Director of the Critical Theory Workshop, an international research and education project that brings together scholars and militants to examine the relationship between theory and practice.

Resources:

Order the book: https://kingsbookstore.com/book/9781685901349

Webpage: https://gabrielrockhill.com/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/

#GabrielRockhill#WhoPaidThePiper#WesternMarxism#Marxism#AntiImperialism#CIA#ColdWarCulture#CriticalTheory#FrankfurtSchool#LeftTheory#Socialism#CheGuevara#AcademicLeft#Postmodernism#USEmpire#GlobalSouth#AntiWar#WorkingClass#PatCummings #PatrickCummings #GregGodels #ZZBlog #ComingFromLeftField #Podcast #zzblog #mltoday

She talks about the “pyramid of oppression” as a core concept: capitalism maintains power by dividing workers—by race, gender, nationality, citizenship status, and other “bricks in the wall”—so people fight each other instead of the capital–labor relationship that actually determines their conditions. Mann emphasizes that this strategy appears across history, from feudalism through the Gilded Age’s violent strike-breaking (including private armies like the Pinkertons, who at one point employed more armed men than the U.S. Army) to current right-wing media’s focus on scapegoats like welfare recipients and trans youth.

The conversation walks through major episodes from the book—indentured servitude, the first Gilded Age, the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, the Palmer Raids and Red Scare, the destruction of the IWW, the New Deal and CIO era, wars and the rise of the military-industrial complex, and into today’s gig economy and AI—always stressing that labor history is “working-class history” and should be understood inside the broader political and economic context, not as isolated heroic tales. Mann criticizes how children’s literature usually presents labor as decontextualized, hero-centered vignettes (often returning to “safe” events like Triangle where adults can pretend the problem was solved) while largely erasing radical moments such as Haymarket and the deeper role of communists and left organizers.

She also recounts the book’s fraught publication: HarperCollins (owned by Rupert Murdoch) bought the manuscript, then, after legal review, fired her union-editor Stephanie Gordon and tried to kill the book, only relenting after contract pressure—one in-house lawyer reportedly said, “It’s labor. It’ll bury itself.” Mann argues that this reaction, and the near-total failure of contemporary unions to use books like hers as organizing tools for youth, underscores how threatening serious labor education remains to capital, and how essential it is for any future movement that hopes to confront gig work, privatization, and growing inequality

J. Albert Mann is an award winning author of fiction and nonfiction for children and young adults, with a focus on working class history, disability, and social justice. She has written six children’s books and has published short stories and poems in Highlights for Children, where she has received both the Highlights Fiction Award and the Highlights Editor’s Choice Award. Mann holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Her work is shaped by her own experience with disability and by years of disability rights activism, including involvement in the “We Need Diverse Books” movement pushing for disabled protagonists and histories in youth publishing.

Resources:

Order the book: https://kingsbookstore.com/book/9780063273481

Webpage: https://jalbertmann.com/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/

#laborhistory# ShiftHappens# J.AlbertMann#unions# workingclass# classstruggle# pyramidofoppression# capitalism# GildedAge# Pinkertons# Haymarket# TriangleShirtwaistfire# RedScare# CIO# PhilipFoner# Labor’sUntoldStory# youthorganizing# laboreducation# gigeconomy# AIandwork# RupertMurdoch# HarperCollins# publishingpolitics# leftpolitics# socialism# solidarity# strikehistory# U.S.history#PatCummings #PatrickCummings #GregGodels #ZZBlog #ComingFromLeftField #Podcast #zzblog #mltoday

The conversation ranges from the company town politics of Ruston and Kellogg, Idaho, to bankruptcy scams that left taxpayers with Superfund bills, to gendered effects of lead on male and female brains, and the cultural fascination with serial killers. Along the way, Fraser and the hosts connect Murderland to earlier work like Prairie Fires, to Frank Herbert’s Dune as an industrial-ecological parable rooted in Tacoma, and to today’s fights over toxic redevelopment and AI-era data centers, which repeat the same jobs-versus-health trade-offs.

Caroline Fraser is an American nonfiction writer and literary critic best known for her Pulitzer Prize–winning biography “Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder.” Born in Seattle to a Christian Science family, she graduated from Mercer Island High School and later earned a Ph.D. in English and American literature from Harvard University, writing her dissertation on the poet James Merrill.

Fraser previously worked on the editorial staff of The New Yorker and has written for publications such as The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The Atlantic Monthly, Outside Magazine, and the London Review of Books. She is the author of several major nonfiction books: “God’s Perfect Child: Living and Dying in the Christian Science Church,” a critical history and memoir about Christian Science; “Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution,” on global conservation; “Prairie Fires,” which won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize and 2017 National Book Critics Circle Award in Biography;

Resources:

Order the book: https://kingsbookstore.com/book/9780593657225

Webpage: https://www.carolinefraser.net/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/

#murderland#CarolineFraser#environmentaljustice#leadpoisoning#serialkillers#arseniccontamination#Asarcosmelter#RustonWashington#TacomaWashington#BunkerHillKelloggIdaho#corporatecrime#latecapitalism#structuralviolence#brainscienceandcrime#frontallobedamage#leadandviolentcrime#Superfundsites#DuneFrankHerbert#LauraIngallsWilder#TedBundy#GaryRidgway#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

Over the course of the conversation, we unpack Derber’s notion of “positive populism”: a politics that names the oligarchy directly, connects everyday economic pain to structural corporate power, and pushes for something closer to Northern European–style social democracy—strong unions, universal healthcare, and a state that actually intervenes on behalf of ordinary people. Derber argues that simply “going back to normal” or reviving centrist neoliberalism is a trap that will only prepare the ground for the next Trump, because it leaves intact a system most people already know is rigged. Instead, he lays out core principles of resistance and democratic renewal designed to build a sustainable, caring U.S. democracy capable of confronting climate breakdown, militarism, and corporate rule.

This is a conversation for anyone wrestling with how to fight the oligarchy without falling for fake anti‑establishment politics—and how to rebuild a politics of solidarity in a society that has been deliberately fragmented. ​

Charles Derber is a professor of sociology at Boston College and a longtime analyst of capitalism, corporate power, and U.S. political regimes. The author of more than thirty books for general and academic audiences, his works include “Sociopathic Society, Corporation Nation, Bonfire: American Sociocide,” and now “Fighting Oligarchy: How Positive Populism Can Reclaim America.” His research and public writing focus on the intertwined crises of global capitalism, militarism, climate change, and the overwhelming power of multinational corporations, as well as the social movements that might transform them. Derber has been described as a leading critical voice on “corpocracy” and the erosion of democracy, and he advocates for broad, bottom‑up movements that can reclaim economic and political life from oligarchic control.

Resources:

Order the book: https://www.amazon.com/Fighting-Oligarchy-Universalizing-Resistance-Charles/dp/1041119976/

Webpage: https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/morrissey/departments/sociology/people/faculty-directory/charles-derber.html

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/

#fightingoligary#howpositivepopulismcanreclaimAmerica#positivepopulism#progressivepopulism#leftpopulism#rightwingpopulism#trumpismexplained#americanoligarchy#usdemocracycrisis#capitalismcritique#corporatepower#workingclasspolitics#americanfascism#bostoncollegesociologist#unionsandlabormovement#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

The genesis of Square Up, as Pecinovsky explains, grew directly from International Publishers' deliberate effort to expand its left-labor catalog and to spark a discussion within the progressive trade union movement about fighting back against the attacks of the second Trump administration.

The conversation addresses the alarming fact that 40% of union members voted for Trump, with Pecinovsky arguing persuasively that these workers are not ideologically committed to MAGA but are seeking community — something the labor movement has largely failed to provide, as union households, factory towns, and civic institutions have collapsed. Townsend points to the failure of union leadership to politically educate members, contrasting the courage of ATU president Larry Hanley, who endorsed Bernie Sanders against the grain, with today's leaders who simply funnel money to the Democratic Party.

The episode also explores private equity's predatory role in mobile home parks and rural communities, the lessons of the 1987 International Paper strike in Jay, Maine, the history of the Communist Party's indispensable role in labor organizing from the 1930s through Trade Unionists for Action and Democracy (TUAD), and the urgent need to frame immigration as a class struggle issue rather than a culture war one.

Lorri Nandrea is a writer, organizer, and author. She has a background in wide-ranging working-class experience — having worked as a waitress, barista, pizza cook, punch-press operator, and gas-station attendant before earning a PhD in English from Northwestern University — and has spent her career connecting academic analysis to grassroots activism. She writes regularly for People's World and the Communist Party USA, covering labor, climate, and racial justice issues.

Tony Pecinovsky is the President of International Publishers, the storied left-labor publishing house with a century-long history of bringing Marxist and labor literature to American readers. He is the author of "Let Them Tremble: Biographical Interventions Marking 100 Years of the Communist Party, USA," co-editor of "Faith in the Masses," and author of "The Cancer of Colonialism: W. Alphaeus Hunton, Black Liberation, and the Daily Worker, 1944–1946." A community activist and prolific writer, he contributes regularly to People's World, Black Perspectives, American Communist History, and the St. Louis Labor Tribune, and speaks frequently on college campuses across the country.

Chris Townsend is a veteran labor organizer with nearly five decades of experience across four unions — UE (United Electrical Workers), the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), the Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). He served as Political Action Director for UE for 25 years before retiring in 2013 and later helped found the Inside Organizer School at ATU, which became the launchpad for the Starbucks Workers United movement — sending the first wave of union salts into Buffalo stores and igniting a campaign that has now organized nearly 700 locations nationwide.

Resources:

Order the book: https://www.intpubnyc.com/browse/square-up-building-labors-power-in-the-second-gilded-age/

International Publishers webpage: https://www.intpubnyc.com/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/

#SquareUp #LaborPower #SecondGildedAge #UnionStrong #LaborMovement #WorkersRights #OrganizeNow #StarbucksWorkersUnited #AmazonWorkers #TonyPecinovsky #InternationalPublishers #CPUSA #LorriNandrea #ChrisTownsend #GrassrootsOrganizing #TradeUnions #AFLCIO #LaborLeft #SaltingUnions #LaborPodcast #ProgressivePolitics #UnionOrganizing#WageInequality #LivingWage #MobileHomePark #PatCummings #PatrickCummings #GregGodels #ZZBlog #ComingFromLeftField #ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast #zzblog #mltoday

The guests revisit the 1965 Moynihan Report on the “Negro Family,” how it got tangled up with Oscar Lewis’s “culture of poverty” thesis, and how both were weaponized in the culture wars. Wolfinger and McKeever stress that Moynihan’s actual policy prescriptions were economic—jobs programs and large-scale public investment in Black communities—not moral lectures, but that critics (and later conservatives) recast his work as an attack on Black family culture. They trace a longer state preoccupation with “the family,” from Civil War–era pensions for Union widows and anxieties over divorce in Teddy Roosevelt’s day to the backlash against desegregation and the way Brown v. Board rerouted structural segregation into school fights rather than housing policy.

The conversation then turns to single motherhood as an economic condition rather than a moral category. The guests emphasize a simple but often ignored fact: one-earner families have fewer resources than two-earner families, and the majority of people in single-parent families are children. They dismantle the “deserving vs. undeserving poor” narrative that paints single mothers as irresponsible, sexually reckless, or “choosing” poverty, arguing instead that policy has systematically stripped support from families at the bottom while rewarding a subset of working poor through mechanisms like the Earned Income Tax Credit. Programs such as the EITC, they note, do get cash to low-income workers, but they also deepen inequality within the population of single mothers by boosting those who can maintain steady employment while leaving the least advantaged further behind.

A recurring theme is the “fundamental attribution error”: the human tendency to attribute hardship to bad character instead of bad circumstances. The hosts use this to frame how conservative pundits like Ann Coulter talk about single mothers—blaming “promiscuity” and “choices” rather than the collapse of secure jobs, stagnant wages, and the cost of housing and childcare. Wolfinger and McKeever acknowledge that culture, neighborhood effects, and even heritable personality traits can play some role in intergenerational disadvantages, but they insist that the levers governments can actually pull are economic: wages, unions, transfers, and public goods like childcare and schooling.

Nicholas H. Wolfinger is a professor of sociology at the University of Utah, specializing in family demography, marriage and divorce, and social inequality.

Matthew McKeever is Professor of Sociology and Department Chair at Haverford. Prior to that, he was at Mount Holyoke College, Rice University, University of Houston, University of Kentucky, and Yale University. 

Resources:

Order the book: https://www.amazon.com/Thanks-Nothing-Economics-Single-Motherhood/dp/0199324328

Dr. Wolfinger webpage: http://www.nicholaswolfinger.com/

Dr. McKeever’s webpage: https://www.haverford.edu/users/mmckeever

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/

#NicholasWolfinger#MatthewMcKeever#ThanksforNothing#singlemotherhood#economicsofsinglemotherhood#singlemothersandpoverty#childpoverty#familypolicy#MoynihanReport#cultureofpoverty#welfarereform#EarnedIncomeTaxCredit#childallowance#basicincome#neoliberalism#Reaganomics#BillClintonwelfarereform#unionsandwages#labormovement#genderandwork# #raceandclass#singleparentfamilies#singlemoms#publicpolicy#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Dr. Manning traces how popular music doesn’t float above politics but is shaped by – and responds to – capitalism, class struggle, race, empire, and changing economic regimes from Fordism/New Deal social democracy to neoliberalism and austerity.

Rather than a narrow history of “protest songs,” he reads big-selling hits and major genres (rock and roll, Motown, soul, reggae, punk, post-punk, hip-hop, grunge, electronic dance music, contemporary pop) as expressions of dominant ideology, resistance, and contradiction inside a profit-driven culture industry. Drawing on Marxist concepts such as alienation, ideology, and dialectics, he shows how music both reflects the world and helps people imagine alternatives.

Toby Manning is a British writer, journalist, critic, and educator based in London. He describes himself as a “professional music geek.” Dr. Manning was born and grew up in North Wales and lived in various parts of the UK before settling in London. He holds a PhD in English and Creative Writing from The Open University, completed in 2015, and much of his later work has developed from his doctoral research. He has written for major UK music and cultural publications such as NME, Q, Mojo, The Word, The Guardian, The Quietus , New Statesman, Red Pepper, and The Big Issue. He has also contributed to journals and essay collections, including work on The Velvet Underground and Talking Heads.

Resources:

Order the book: https://www.amazon.com/Mixing-Pop-Politics-Marxist-History/dp/1913462676 

Twitter/X: @TobyManning

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TobyLManning/

Spotify Playlists:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6SzgjiHOtNowpny0zqkixQ?si=a0f8a7ad38f642a2

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7As7CSf79iXtQ6p8SCNODL?si=e2bebc6ec514442d

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0mki0qN9TeIxiTn8kfZH1Z?si=923e5c9ee6154dc7

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Greg’s Article on Coltrane: https://mltoday.com/coltrane-s-revolutionary-musical-journey/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/

mixingpopandpolitics#marxisthistoryofpopularmusic#tobymanning#popmusicandcapitalism#marxismandmusic#historyofrockandroll#punkandpolitics#hiphopandclass#popularmusicideology#fordismandculture#neoliberalismandmusic#protestmusic#musicandsocialchange#musicandalienation#politicalmusichistory#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

We discuss the enduring legacy of the great intellectual, Michael Parenti, who passed away a month ago. We examine what made Parenti’s work—such as his classic “Blackshirts and Reds”—so powerful: his unwavering class analysis, his clear and principled writing, and his ability to trace society's deepest problems back to capitalism and exploitation. Our conversation highlights how Parenti’s approach cuts through the noise of mainstream media and liberal academia, offering a tool for understanding the world that remains as vital as ever.

The discussion then turns to the state of the left today, contrasting the red-baiting fears of past generations with the more open, progressive attitudes of A.J.’s peers. He shares his unique intellectual journey from dystopian novels to the works of Marx and Lenin and details his current projects in writing and organizing.

This episode is a fascinating look at how foundational ideas are passed on and adapted, celebrating Greg’s political activism and legacy with the US communist party while spotlighting the passion and clarity of a compelling new voice on the left.

A.J. Horn describes himself as a Marxist-Leninist dedicated to helping readers better understand socialism and communism by simplifying complex concepts. He identifies as a writer whose primary goal is to educate and mobilize the public against capitalism, liberalism, fascism, and other reactionary movements.

A.J.’s Resources:

Substack: https://substack.com/@ajhornwrites

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SimplifyingSocialism/shorts

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/simplifyingsocialism.substack.com

Newsletter: https://simplifyingsocialism.beehiiv.com/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/

A.J.Horn#AJHorn#MichaelParenti#BlackShirtsandReds#Politicaltheory#ClassAnalysis#MarxistLeninist#Mediacriticism#Organizing#Substackauthor#1984GeorgeOrwell#Dystopianliterature#Socialism#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

The conversation broadens to examine the precarious state of press freedom, touching on the decline of local newspapers, the threat of AI-powered misinformation, and the chilling effect of widespread surveillance. While acknowledging these serious challenges, the podcast also strikes a note of cautious optimism, celebrating the rise of a robust independent media landscape and the enduring importance of critical media literacy. Dr. Roth makes a compelling case for supporting non-corporate journalism as an essential tool for defending democracy and an informed public.

Andy Lee Roth is the associate director of Project Censored, a nonprofit media watchdog organization. He coordinates the Campus Affiliates Program, a network of students and faculty at colleges and universities across North America who research and identify the top "censored" news stories. He earned a PhD in Sociology from the University of California–Los Angeles and a BA in Sociology and Anthropology from Haverford College.

Resources:

Order the book: https://www.project-censored.org/shop/p/state-of-the-free-press-2026

Project Censored Website: https://www.project-censored.org/

Beyond Fact-Checking: A Teaching Guide to the Power of News Frames:  https://www.projectcensored.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Beyond-Fact-Checking-web.pdf

Movement Media Alliance: https://movement-media.org/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/

AndyLeeRoth#AndyRoth#MickeyHuff#ShealeighVoitl#StateoftheFreePress2026#ProjectCensord#FreePress2026#AI#algorithms#SocialMedia#MediaBias#Censorship#FirstAmendment#ICEsurveillance#socialmediamonitoring##AlgorithmicLiteracy#AlanMacleod#KevinGosztola#RobertMcChesney#Censorshipbyproxy#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Moving beyond critique, the conversation delves into the real-world consequences of this propaganda machine. Karakatsanis reveals how every crisis, even a police killing, is funneled by the media into demands for more system funding—like more training or more officers—instead of prompting deeper questions about the system's purpose. He dismantles the "common sense" idea that more policing means more safety, presenting compelling data that shows investments in healthcare, housing, and education are vastly more effective. Ultimately, this podcast is a powerful call to recognize how we’ve been deceived and to shift the focus from punishment to addressing the root material conditions—like poverty and inequality—that truly determine community safety.

Alex Karakatsanis is a civil rights attorney, founder of the nonprofit Civil Rights Corps, and author of Usual Cruelty and Copaganda. A former public defender, he has dedicated his career to challenging the inhumanity of the American legal system. His work has been featured in major publications, and he is a leading voice in the movement for abolition and transformative justice.

Follow Alex & Civil Rights Corps:

Order the book: https://thenewpress.org/books/9781620978535/

Civil Rights Corps: https://civilrightscorps.org/

Alex on Twitter/X: @equalityAlec

Subscribe to his newsletter: https://equalityalec.substack.com/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/

#copaganda#alexkarakatsanis#criminaljusticereform#policereform#mediabias#massincarceration#prisonindustrialcomplex#defundthepolice#abolition#criminaljusticesystemexplained#UsualCruelty#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZsBlog#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

Kovalik discusses the escalating U.S. military intervention in the Caribbean, analyzing the blockade of Venezuela, deadly strikes on suspected drug boats, and the return of "gunboat diplomacy" under the Trump administration's new "Monroe Doctrine."

The conversation broadens to include the political struggle across Latin America, speculating why the progressive "Pink Tide" has receded and how right-wing forces have become ascendant. From the coups in Bolivia to the resilience of Cuba and Nicaragua, Kovalik draws crucial lessons for the left. Finally, the hosts confront the parallel erosion of democratic norms at home, the weaponization of the law, the dismantling of the administrative state, and the silent crisis in due process. This is a sobering yet essential analysis of modern imperialism and the urgent fight to inform and mobilize public resistance.

Dan Kovalik has taught International Human Rights at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where he has shared his experience with students and broader audiences on labor struggles, Colombia, and international law. He has lectured internationally on human rights and U.S. foreign policy and has been active in public forums, media appearances, and conferences, including talks on Venezuela and other conflict zones.

He is the author of several books, including:

• • The Plot to Scapegoat Russia (2017), on efforts in U.S. politics to vilify Russia.
  • The Plot to Attack Iran and The Plot to Control the World, extending his critique of U.S. foreign policy and election interference abroad.
  • The Plot to Overthrow Venezuela: How the US Is Orchestrating a Coup for Oil, with a foreword by filmmaker Oliver Stone.
  • No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using “Humanitarian” Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interests (co-authored, 2020).
  • The Case for Palestine: Why It Matters and Why You Should Care (2024), with a foreword by George Galloway.

Dan Kovalik’s Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Kovalik  

Dan Kovalik’s Books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Dan-Kovalik/author/B06XZ9ZRSD   

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/

DanKovalik#Venezuelablockade#USinterventionVenezuela#MonroeDoctrine#extrajudicialkillings#Colombiafishermanlawsuit#Inter-AmericanCommissionHumanRights#regimechange#gunboatdiplomacy#LatinAmericapolitics#PinkTide#USLatinAmericapolicy#Trumpforeignpolicy#oilwars#politicalassassination#dueprocess#humanrightslaw#NicaraguaCuba#socialisminLatinAmerica#USimperialism##PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZsBlog#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

Journey back to the early 1970s, when Chile became the global epicenter for progressive hope, attracting thousands of idealistic foreigners, including young Americans, to witness Salvador Allende's democratic "revolution with red wine and empanadas." Dinges, who was there, sets the scene of this vibrant, politically charged moment.

The heart of the conversation is Dinges's decades-long investigation into the fates of two such Americans—Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi—who were killed after Pinochet's brutal 1973 coup. We tackle difficult truths and enduring myths, including the 1982 Academy Award-winning film, “Missing.” Dinges reveals his startling conclusion: while the U.S. government did not directly order their deaths, it was utterly complicit in the regime's terror and the ensuing cover-up.

We also explore Operation Condor, the sinister international assassination network Dinges helped expose, detailing the intimate and damning role of U.S. intelligence. This is a masterclass in investigative journalism, as Dinges explains why following the evidence—even when it contradicts your beliefs—is paramount.

John Dinges is an American investigative journalist, author, and longtime chronicler of U.S. involvement in Latin America, especially during the era of military dictatorships. He began his career at the Des Moines Register & Tribune and later worked as a freelance correspondent in Latin America, serving as a special correspondent for Time, The Washington Post, and ABC Radio. Dinges worked on the foreign desk of The Washington Post and then at NPR, where he became managing editor and helped shape the network’s foreign coverage.

Get the Book: https://www.ucpress.edu/books/chile-in-their-hearts/paper

John Dinges’s Homepage: https://johndinges.com/   

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/

JohnDinges#Chile#ChileInTheirHearts#1973#Chilemilitarycoup#SalvadorAllende#Pinochetdictatorship#OperationCondor#CharlesHorman#FrankTeruggi#Missingmovie1982#USinterventionChile#CIALatinAmerica#HenryKissingerChile#Investigativejournalism#LatinAmericanhistory#ColdWarChile#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZsBlog#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

Jessica "Decca" Mitford was an aristocratic British rebel who became a formidable American left-wing activist and muckraking journalist. Born into the famously eccentric Mitford family—where her sisters included a Nazi sympathizer and a fascist—Decca rejected her life of privilege to join the Communist Party in the United States. As the author explains, Decca was a "biographer's gift": fiercely principled, incredibly hard-working, and gifted with a brilliant sense of humor that she used as a powerful tool for activism. Her training in the Communist Party, particularly on the West Coast, taught her to listen to marginalized communities, shaping her into a highly effective and empathetic ally in the civil rights movement.

Dr. Carla Kaplan is a distinguished scholar in American literature, women’s writing, African American literature, and feminist theory. She holds the Davis Distinguished Professorship in American Literature at Northeastern University and founded the Humanities Center to encourage diversity and interdisciplinary dialogue. Her academic career includes roles at Yale University, the University of Southern California, Wellesley College, and the University of Illinois. Dr. Kaplan also teaches writing through various arts councils and writers’ centers.  She earned a Ph.D. in English from Northwestern University.

Get the Book: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/troublemaker-carla-kaplan

Dr. Kaplan’s Homepage: https://carlakaplan.com/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

JessicaMitford#Troublemakerbiography#CarlaKaplaninterview#Mitfordsisters#DeccaMitford#AmericanWayofDeath#CommunistPartyUSA#muckrakingjournalism#leftwingactivism#biographypodcast#Britisharistocracy#fascistMitfordsisters#DianaMitford#UnityMitford#civilrightsmovement#investigativejournalism#funeralindustryexpose#famouswritersschool#historicalbiography#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

However, Dr. Schuhrke also highlights a persistent tradition of grassroots solidarity, a movement galvanized by the ongoing genocide in Gaza, which has created significant cracks in the official position and serves as a critical litmus test for a labor movement at a crossroads, forcing it to choose between entrenched power and principled internationalism.

This book, “No Neutrals There,” was released three weeks ago, and we were honored to be one of his first interviews. Other publications to feature his work which focus on the intersections of labor, foreign policy, and political organizing, with a particular emphasis on current events and historical trajectories within the US labor movement include Democracy Now!, Jacobin, In These Times, Common Dreams, Jewish Currents, and Workday Magazine.

Dr. Jeff Schuhrke is a labor historian, journalist, union activist, and assistant professor at the Harry Van Arsdale Jr. School of Labor Studies, SUNY Empire State University in New York City. He has a Ph.D. in History from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Master's in Labor Studies from UMass Amherst.

Get the Book: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2608-no-neutrals-there

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

JeffSchuhrke#NoNeutralsThere# USLaborZionismandtheStruggleforPalestine#AFL#CIO#AFLCIO#CIA#AFCIO#Zionism#Palestine#LaborHistory#Imperialism#AntiCommunism#Genocide#Gaza#RankandFileOrganizing#GeorgeMeany#LaneKirkland#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Forget the simple tale of colonists vs. the British crown. Dr. Bell reveals the Revolution as a world war, a chaotic and contingent struggle whose outcome was never certain. We dive into the fascinating, often overlooked connections to China, India, and the Caribbean, and uncover the critical roles played by Native Americans, enslaved Africans, and European powers. 

Dr. Richard Bell is a historian and professor specializing in early American history, currently serving as a Professor of History at the University of Maryland.

Dr. Bell received his BA from the University of Cambridge and his PhD from Harvard University. He joined the University of Maryland in 2006, earned tenure in 2012, and was promoted to full professor in 2020. His teaching and research focus on American history between 1750 and 1877, with a particular emphasis on social history, slavery, and revolutionary transformation.

Get the Book: https://kingsbookstore.com/book/9780593719510  

Richard Bell’s Website: https://www.richard-bell.com

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

RichardBell#TheAmericanRevolutionandtheFateoftheWorld#AmericanRevolution#RevolutionaryWar#USHistory#WorldHistory#GlobalHistory#FoundingFathers#EarlyAmerica#MythvsHistory#Loyalists#250thAnniversary#Washington#KenBurns#ThomasJefferson#KingGeorgeIII#MollyBrant#HarryWashington#Hessians#MarquisdeLafayette#BenedictArnold#PeggyShippen#BaronvonSteuben#PatCummings#GregGodels#CFLF#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

Williams delivers a powerful diagnosis of the political rift dividing America, arguing that the Democratic Party has become dominated by a cosmopolitan elite and has alienated the "middle 50%" of Americans through economic neglect and cultural condescension. She describes how alienation is a primary reason for Trump’s appeal.

The conversation offers a roadmap for how the left can reconnect by acknowledging a rigged economy, ditching neoliberal policies, and finally showing respect for the communities it has left behind. The New York Times Magazine described Joan Williams as having “something approaching rock star status” in a 2007 profile highlighting her influence as a leading voice on gender equality and workplace reform. She is currently Distinguished Professor of Law (emerita) at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, and previously at American University. As Founding Director of WorkLife Law (WLL), Williams has played a leading role in documenting workplace bias against mothers. In 2012, Williams was honored with the American Bar Foundation's Outstanding Scholar Award.

Get the Book: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250368980/outclassed/

Mentioned in the podcast- Class Bubble Quiz: https://www.classbubblequiz.com/ 

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

#JoanWilliams#Outclassed#WorkingClass#DemocraticParty#TrumpVoters#PoliticalDivide#ClassDynamics#DEI#CulturalElites#EconomicInequality#Wages#GigEconomy#Neoliberalism#Populism#Classism#Cosmopolitanisvs.Rootedness#WhiteWorkingClass#EconomicAnxiety#PoliticalRealignment#UnionDecline#StoptheSteal#BrahminLeft#CulturalCondescension#HillaryClintonDeplorables#DonaldTrump#JDVance#JohnFetterman#RubenGallego#RachelMaddow#TeaParty#JenniferSherman#NewDealCoalition#PatCummings#GregGodels#CFLF#ComingFromLeft Field#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

Dr. Eland's analysis extends to re-evaluating America's most "righteous" wars, suggesting that even the Civil War and World War II were more complex and less morally clear-cut than traditional histories claim. A central theme of his work is the powerful role of the "military-industrial-congressional complex," an iron triangle of defense bureaucracy, weapons manufacturers, and Congress that perpetuates interventionist policies for economic gain. The book ultimately serves as a cautionary tale, urging greater public skepticism toward the justifications for war and highlighting the recurring and often ill effects that these conflicts have had on American society and civil liberties.

Dr. Eland has worked for more than four decades in the fields of foreign policy, national security, energy, and presidential studies, including 16 years working for the U.S. Congress. He is currently the Director of the Center on Peace and Liberty at the Independent Institute. Dr. Eland has written and published eight other books, written many pieces in prominent newspapers and journals, appeared on hundreds of major TV and radio interviews, and testified before congressional committees. He has a PhD in defense policy, an MBA in business economics, and a BA in Poli Sci/International Relations. Dr. Eland is the author of many books, including the forthcoming US Role in a New Multipolar World: Less Military Intervention Brings More Security with Fewer Costs. Some of his eight previously published books have won publishing awards. He is a contributor to numerous other books and the author of forty-five in-depth studies on national security issues.

Get the Book: https://www.claritypress.com/product/domestic-causes-of-american-wars-economic-political-triggers/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

#DomesticCausesofWar#EconomicTriggers#PoliticalTriggers#MilitaryIndustrialCongressionalComplex#IronTriangle#Warof1812#MexicanAmericanWar#SpanishAmericanWar#CivilWar#WorldWarI#WorldWarII#VietnamWar#WarinAfghanistan#IraqWar#WaronTerror#IndependentInstitute#Libertarianism#GeopoliticalConcepts#TerritorialExpansion#CommerceProtection#Isolationismvs.Interventionism#Sanctions#IsraelGazaConflict#PatCummings#GregGodels#CFLF#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

We discuss the connection between music and the human brain, exploring how abstract sounds are transformed into intense emotional experiences and profound pleasure. Dr. Zatorre shares the fascinating science behind musical "chills," why we have emotional epiphanies with new music, and how our brains are physically rewired by the music we love.

Moving from the laboratory to daily life, the conversation delves into the vital role music plays in our social and emotional well-being. We discover why musical taste is formed during adolescence, how music functions as a powerful tool for mood regulation across all cultures, and the critical importance of music education. Dr. Zatorre also addresses the puzzling question of why some people don't enjoy music at all, a condition known as "musical hedonia." If you've ever wondered why a particular song can evoke such a profound emotional response, our discussion offers an accessible look at the neuroscience behind one of life's greatest joys.

Robert Zatorre, PhD, is a distinguished cognitive neuroscientist renowned for pioneering work in the science of music and auditory cognition. He is a professor at the Montreal Neurological Institute of McGill University in Canada, where he holds a Canada Research Chair in Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience. In his lab, he studies how the brain processes complex auditory abilities, especially speech and music. He has published over 300 scientific papers spanning topics such as pitch perception, auditory imagery, music production, absolute pitch, and the role of brain reward circuitry in musical pleasure.

Get the Book: https://www.amazon.com/Perception-Pleasure-Neuroscience-Music-Love/dp/0197558283/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

#FromPerceptiontoPleasure#TheNeuroscienceofMusicandWhyWeLoveIt#neuroscienceofmusic#RobertZatorre#neuroscience#musicpsychology#brainscience#whywelovemusic#musicandthebrain#cognitivescience#dopamine#auditorycortex#neuroplasticityandmusic#musicalhedonia#musicchills#fromperceptiontopleasure#McGillUniversityneuroscience#PatCummings#GregGodels#CFLF#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

The interview traces his unconventional path to becoming a writer, sustained by his wife's support and his own determination to prioritize art over career, and evolves into a broader philosophical reflection on memory, aging, and finding perspective in the face of political and personal turmoil, all punctuated by readings of his evocative and powerful poems.

Ehrhart is a Marine Corps veteran who served in the Vietnam War and was involved with Vietnam Veterans Against the War. He has authored numerous books of prose and poetry, such as "Vietnam-Perkasie: a Combat Marine Memoir" and "Thank You for Your Service: Collected Poems." He is a prominent interview subject in the 2017 PBS documentary by Ken Burns, “The Vietnam War.” Ehrhart earned a PhD from the University of Wales at Swansea and worked for many years as a Master Teacher of English and History at the Haverford School for Boys, retiring in 2019.

0:00 - Introduction to Bill Ehrhart 16:17 - Poem: "Eating Oysters in Easton" 24:24 - Poem: "Things My Mother Gave Me" 30:54 - Poem: "Night Stalkers" 38:11 - Poem: "On Smedley Butler's Grave" 44:46 - Poem: "Cycling at Vésinet" 48:28 - Discussion on Politics & Poem: "Soup Can Blues" 53:38 - Poem: "MAGA Voter's Lament" 55:30 - Philosophical Discussion on History & Democracy

Get the Book: https://moonstone-arts-center.square.site/product/ehrhart-w-d-smart-fish-don-t-bite/YD2QGAXXBUFHBNEM4K6HS6AF

Mentioned:  Hollywood Progressive article "Cycling at Vesinet" https://hollywoodprogressive.com/art/cycling-at-vesinet

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

#BillEhrhart#WDEhrhart#SmartFishDon'tBite#PoetryReading#VietnamVeteran#PoetInterview#WarPoetry#KenBurnsVietnam#SmedleyButler#HaverfordSchool#VeteranStories#AntiWarPoetry#GregGodels#PatCummings#CFLF#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

In this podcast, we discuss his new book, “Homeland: The War on Terror in American Life,” a groundbreaking history of how the decades-long war on terror changed virtually every aspect of American life.

Key Themes Discussed:

1. Impunity Culture: A major shift was the open defense of previously clandestine or denied practices (like torture) by officials from both parties (Bush and Obama administrations). This created a precedent where powerful figures face no consequences for their actions.
2. Media & Propaganda: The press became "stenographers" for power, exemplified by Judith Miller's reporting in the New York Times, which helped propagandize the case for war.
3. Political Culture: A climate of intense nationalism and suppression of dissent was created (e.g., the backlash against the Dixie Chicks).
4. Pop Culture as a Reflection: Superhero movies (e.g., Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, Iron Man) are analyzed as cultural products that processed the anxieties of the War on Terror, glorifying special forces-type heroes and wrestling with themes of torture, surveillance, and extra-legal violence.
5. New Atheism: The movement (Hitchens, Harris, Dawkins, etc.) is criticized for devolving into a racist, Islamophobic project that framed the conflict as a "clash of civilizations," similar to the Bush administration's rhetoric.
6. The Economic Purpose ("The Missing Why"): A significant portion of the discussion focuses on the book's third section, which argues that the War on Terror had a deeper economic logic.
7. The Illusion of Democracy: The hosts and Beck reference a study suggesting that U.S. government policy has no statistical relationship to public opinion, arguing that the undemocratic trends exacerbated by the War on Terror were long underway.

Get the Book: https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9780593240229

Mentioned:  https://www.nplusonemag.com/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

RichardBeck#Homeland:TheWaonTerrorandAmericanLife#WeBelievetheChildren#WaronTerror#9/11#AmericanPolitics#HomelandSecurity#ImpunityCulture#PoliticalEconomy#DonaldTrump#GeorgeW.Bush#BarackObama#n+1Magazine#SuperheroMovies#NewAtheism#Islamophobia#Trumpism#Authoritarianism#DemocraticErosion#U.S.Hegemony#Torture#Surveillance#MilitaryIndustrialComplex#GregGodels,PatCummings,CFLF,ComingFromLeftField,Podcast,zzblog,mltoday

Was the founding of the United States a "great leap forward for humanity" or a project deeply rooted in slavery and settler colonialism?

In this episode, we sit down with renowned historian Dr. Gerald Horne to discuss his new book, “The Capital of Slavery: Washington, D.C. 1800-1865.”

We dismantle the myth of Washington, D.C. as a pure symbol of democracy and reveal its brutal reality as the nerve center of American slavery. We discuss how enslaved people were sold in the shadow of the Capitol and how their resistance—including joining the British to burn the White House in 1814—shaped the nation's politics.

We explore:

• How the "unpaid sector of the working class" built the capital and constantly challenged their oppression.
• The direct link between the American Colonization Society (which created Liberia) and the backlash against Black resistance.
• The parallels between the Fugitive Slave Act and modern ICE raids, and the historical roots of family separation.
• Why this suppressed history is so threatening that it sparks modern-day battles over "woke" museums and critical race theory.

Dr. Horne places this history in an urgent contemporary context, arguing that understanding this past is essential to comprehending the rise of neo-fascism and the political struggles of today. This is a conversation about America’s hidden past and the fight for its future.

Horne received his undergraduate education at Princeton, received his Ph.D. from Columbia University, and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston.

Get the Book: https://www.intpubnyc.com/browse/capital-of-slavery/  

Mentioned:  https://www.kpfk.org/on-air/freedom-now/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

GeraldHorne#AmericanHistory#Slavery#WashingtonDCCapital Slavery# 1619Project#AmericanRevolution#SettlerColonialism#BlackHistory#Historiography#Trump#Fascism#Smithsonian#Reparations#IndigenousHistory#BookInterview#CriticalRaceTheory#NatTurner#GregGodels#PatCummings#CFLF#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

The discussion touches on Marxist critiques, parallels between the dot-com bubble and today’s AI hype, and La Berge’s humorous project Marx for Cats, which uses feline behavior to explain economic theory.

Blending memoir, satire, and political analysis, the episode challenges listeners to rethink the meaning of work while offering sharp insights into alienation, class dynamics, and the possibility of systemic change.

Get the Book: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2534-fake-work

Mentioned: http://marxforcats.com

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

#LeighClaireLaBerge#FakeWork#HowIBegantoSuspectCapitalismisaJoke#Capitalism#Marxism#BullshitJobs#Y2K#CorporateCulture#MarxforCats#DavidGraeber#LateStageCapitalism#GregGodels#PatCummings#CFLF#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

Janice’s work blends nostalgia with sharp wit, tackling themes like childhood, military trauma, aging, and social justice. Her poems move seamlessly between emotional depth and snarky humor, offering a raw and authentic look at life’s complexities.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

• Why Janice turned to poetry after a career in social work and government
• How her father’s PTSD from WWII and Korea shaped her writing
• The challenge of editing poetry—killing your "darlings" for clarity
• Feminist themes in poems like "Sleeper Cell" and "Decorum"
• Satirical takes on privilege in "First World Musing"
• The haunting reality of gun violence in "Uvalde Lament"

Why You’ll Love This Episode:

• Poetry for skeptics: Even if you’re not a poetry fan, Janice’s earthy, relatable style might change your mind.
• Personal & political: From family secrets to social critique, her work bridges the intimate and the universal.
• Raw readings: Hear Janice perform excerpts, including Pat reading the poignant "Morning Glory” and Greg reading darkly funny "Bad Art."

Get the Book: JaniceO’Mahony.com (https://JaniceOMahony.com )

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

#JaniceOmahony#JaniceCummingsOmahony#O’Mahony#RaiseYourHandIfYouHearMyVoice#Poetry #PoetryPodcast #PoetryCommunity #PoetryLovers #SpokenWord #AuthorInterview #PoetInterview #BookLaunch #NewBook #PoetryBook#MemoryPoetry #FamilyPoetry #LovePoems #GriefAndHealing #Resilience #MilitaryPTSD #VeteranStories #WhidbeyIsland#FeministPoetry #SocialJustice #AgingAndTime#GregGodels#PatCummings#CFLF#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast #zzblog #mltoday

We discuss:

• Why does U.S. history begin with the Mayflower—and not the Spanish conquest?
• How did Latin America pioneer social rights (healthcare, education) decades before the U.S. or Europe?
• The dark legacy of U.S. intervention: From Cold War coups to the rise of Trumpist politics in Latin America today.
• Myth-busting the frontier, the Catholic Church’s dual legacy, and the untold stories of Indigenous resistance.

We also debate FDR’s New Deal, the failures of neoliberalism, and why Latin America’s leftist "Pink Tide" (Chávez, Lula, Morales) faced backlash—leading to today’s right-wing surge (Bolsonaro, Milei, Bukele).

This is a must-listen for history buffs, political junkies, and anyone questioning the standard U.S. origin story!

Order the book: https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9780593831250

Greg Grandin Website: https://greggrandin.com/

Follow Greg Grandin on Twitter: @GregGrandin

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

#GregGrandin #USHistory #America, América # The Origins of Hemispheric and Global Hegemony #LatinAmerica #AmericanRevolution # Pulitzer Prize-winning historian #ColdWar #PinkTide #SocialRights #Trumpism #PoliticalHistory #American Revolution #Spanish Conquest #Colonialism #New Deal #Cold War in Latin America # Indigenous Resistance #GregGodels# PatCummings#CFLF#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast #zzblog #mltoday

Pam attended Wilson High School, Concordia Lutheran College, and Reed College. She received her Ph.D. in English (dissertation on William Blake and Enlightenment philosophy) from SUNY Buffalo, which provides a perfect background to run a community radio station.

Radio Tacoma is part of the rise of low-power FM (LPFM) community radio stations, focusing on local content that includes progressive politics, labor rights, climate activism, indigenous rights, and the homegrown music and poetry scene.

Coming From Left Field has been added to the content broadcast on Radio Tacoma, making this a reciprocal interview that blends media critique, local activism, and radical philosophy, with a common “left field” ethos shared by the podcast and station.

Radio Tacoma (KTAH 101.9): https://radiotacoma.org

Also streamed on TuneIn: http://tun.in/sfyVw

Radio Tacoma Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RadioTacoma101.9

Find your LPFM station: https://lpfmdatabase.weebly.com/

Good resource for LPFMs: https://recnet.com

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ 

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

#PamBeal #CommunityRadio #LowPowerFM #LeftistPodcast #MediaJustice #Tacoma #Activism #CommunityRadio #LowPowerFM #IndependentMedia #GrassrootsJournalism #MediaReform #Political & Philosophical #LeftistPodcast #Marxism #Socialist #ProgressiveTalk #AntiCapitalism #ChristianSocialism #LiberationTheology #Tacoma #GritCity #LocalPolitics #ActivistRadio #ClimateJustice #IndigenousRights #PublicBanking #RadioTacoma #SarahAugustine #PoliceReform #NoamChomsky #GregGodels# PatCummings#CFLF#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast #zzblog #mltoday

Core Themes Include:

• Politics & History: Critique of mainstream narratives, discussions on democracy, imperialism, and historical events (e.g., Greensboro massacre).
• Economics & Labor: Focus on neoliberalism, wealth inequality, and labor movements.
• Education & Media: Analysis of education policy, media bias, and press freedom (e.g., Julian Assange coverage).
• Social Justice: Indigenous rights, civil rights, and critiques of policing.
• Philosophy & Marxism: Deep dives into Marxist theory, socialism, and ideological debates.
• Health & Culture: Intersections of politics and health, mental health, and occasional cultural topics (poetry, music).

Final Thought:

I hope you will conclude that our podcast exemplifies how niche, persistent media can deepen public engagement with specific ideologies and counter-narratives, filling gaps left by traditional news cycles.

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ 

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

Leftist podcast#Political analysis#Socialist podcast#Marxist theory#Progressive media#Critical politics#American imperialism#Labor movement history#Neoliberalism critique# Media bias explained# Education reform debate# Capitalism vs socialism# Academic discussions# Book review podcast#Investigative journalism#Greg Godels# Pat Cummings#CFLF#Coming From Left FieldPodcast,zzblog,mltoday

Order the book: https://tinyurl.com/5t3ye96s

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ 

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

#Sociocide# Trumpism# Neoliberalism# Political polarization# Social capital# Decline of democracy# Economic inequality# Authoritarianism# Charlie Derber# Leftist podcast# Breakdown of society# Civic deserts# Loneliness epidemic# Working-class alienation# Democratic Party failure# Silicon Valley billionaires# Fascism in America# Social media isolation# Resistance movements# Fight oligarchy# Political sociology# American crisis# Democracy podcast# Pat Cummings#Greg Godels#ZZ Blog#Coming From Left Field#CFLF#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

Our discussion pivots to solutions, from policy reforms (like Biden’s stalled staffing mandates) to grassroots activism. Judy’s book serves as a rallying cry, comparing the crisis to Silent Spring—a wake-up call to demand dignity for the elderly. While the system feels rigged, the episode ends on a note of defiance: by sharing stories, organizing, and pressuring lawmakers, change is possible. This is a raw, urgent look at a crisis affecting us all—because, as Judy warns, “Every one of us will need or provide this care someday.”

Order the book: https://diselderlyconduct.com/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ 

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

#private equity healthcare#elder care crisis#assisted living problems#nursing home abuse# private equity healthcare#elder care costs#aging in America# hospice c#are flaws#Judy Karofsky interview#Diselderly#Conduct book#senior living scams#Medicare assisted living#elder care reform#caregiver burnout#elder rights advocacy#aging parents care#elder care horror stories#VA vs private elder care#Pat Cummings#Greg Godels#ZZ Blog#Coming From Left Field#CFLF#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

A few topics we cover in our conversation include:

• Why wealth inequality is worse than income inequality—and how it strangles democracy.
• The death of the middle class: From thriving factory towns to hollowed-out economies.
• Cold War secrets: How post-WWII prosperity was a fluke (and why it collapsed).
• Why both Democrats & Republicans serve the ultra-rich (hint: lobbyists, gerrymandering, and media control).

• Possible answer: Replacing capitalism with socialism is presented as a viable solution.

Article in MLToday: https://mltoday.com/obscene-wealth/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ 

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

#Obscene Wealth #Wealth Inequality #Billionaires #Late Stage Capitalism #Robber Barons #1Percent #Oligarchy #Marxist Analysis #Rust Belt #Working Class #Leftist Podcast #Economic Justice #Jeff Bezos #Elon Musk #Dark Money#Rust Belt #Democracy In Decline#Leftist Podcast##Pat Cummings#Greg Godels#ZZ Blog#Coming From Left Field#CFLF#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

Gramsci, an Italian Marxist philosopher, theorized that ruling classes maintain power through cultural hegemony—controlling institutions like media, education, and religion to shape societal norms. Surprisingly, today’s far-right (e.g., Steve Bannon, Christopher Rufo, Marine Le Pen) has weaponized Gramsci’s ideas, using his playbook to dominate politics by attacking "wokeness," reshaping schools, and leveraging media.

Meanwhile, the left has fragmented into identity politics, failing to unite around class struggle or build a counter-hegemonic movement. Gramsci’s lesson is clear: to challenge authoritarianism, progressives must reclaim cultural institutions and prioritize collective working-class solidarity over divisive individualism. The right understands this; the left must relearn it.

Article in MLToday: https://mltoday.com/antonio-gramsci-theirs-and-ours/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ 

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

MLToday#Theirs and Ours#Antonio Gramsci#Steve Bannon#Christopher Rufo#Marine Le Pen#Javier Milei#Giorgia Meloni#Mussolini#Lenin#Karl Marx#Eric Hobsbawm#Cultural Hegemony#Marxism-Leninism#Class Struggle#Identity Politics#Manufacturing Consent (Chomsky)#Intersectionality#Critical Race Theory (CRT)#Far-Right Populism#MAGA Movement#Project 2025#Neofascism#Wokeness#Media Propaganda#Left’s Fragmentation#Right’s Cultural Offensive#Liberalism’s Failures#Academic Elitism#Transgender Rights Debate#)#Pat Cummings#Greg Godels#ZZ Blog#Coming FromLeftField#Coming From Left Field#zzblog#mltoday

Gowans authored The Killer's Henchman: Capitalism and the Covid-19 Disaster (2022), Israel, A Beachhead in the Middle East (2019), Patriots, Traitors and Empires (2018), and Washington's Long War on Syria (2017).

His blog, “What’s Left,” critiques Western dominance, corporate media, and capitalism from an anti-imperialist and class struggle perspective.

This discussion examines U.S. foreign policy, media influence, and the challenges faced by the left in addressing capitalism. Gowans suggests a focus on Marxist-Leninist principles centered on working-class efforts rather than performative activism.

What’s Left Blog: https://gowans.blog/

Follow Stephen on twitter: @GowansStephen

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ 

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

Stephen Gowans#What's Left#Whats Left#Canada#Trump Tarriff#Anti-imperialism#Anti-capitalism#Marxism-Leninism#Socialism#Neoliberalism#Economic sanctions#Class struggle#Cuba blockade#Venezuela sanctions#Korean War#Media manipulation#Project Esther#Corporate media bias#Heritage Foundation#Noam Chomsky#Bolsheviks3Pandemic & capitalism (COVID-19)#Pat Cummings#Greg Godels#ZZ Blog#Podcast#Coming FromLeftField#Coming From Left Field#zzblog#mltoday#Killers Henchman# Israel A Beachhead in the Middle East# Patriots Traitors and Empires

This exposé reveals the manifold dangers of developing AI applications for military purposes and how the public has been kept in the dark about these efforts, which present potentially disastrous consequences for the world, while promising a financial bonanza to wealthy investors. Byrne has spent the last two years conducting in-depth research for this series and is at work on a database of selected AI weapons companies and their investors. This collaboration between Project Censored and Peter Byrne provides much-needed attention to an issue that has a profound public impact and has been under-reported for too long.

Follow Military AI Watch on Project Censored: https://www.projectcensored.org/military-ai-watch/

Peter Byrnes Website: https://www.peterbyrne.info/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ 

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

Peter Byrnes#Military AI Watch#Project Censored#Andy Lee Roth#Mickey Huff#One Ring to Rule Them All#Stargate Fiasco#Data Centers#Gold Award#ChatGPT#CoPilot#DeepSeek#Wheres Daddy#Lavender#Artificial Intelligence#Predictive Policing#Military Industrial Complex#Peter Andreas#Peter Thiel#Palantir#Boeing#Lockhead Martin#Rathion#Northrop Grumman#Artificial Intelligence#SandboxAQ#Elon Musk#SpaceX#JADC2#OpenAI#Anduril#Iran Dress Codes#Pat Cummings#Greg Godels#ZZ Blog#Podcast#Coming FromLeftField#Coming From Left Field#zzblog#mltoday

Climate crisis demands rapid action and Harris rejects defeatism.  He offers hope that the left must organize across differences and confront the systemic obstacles built into our politics and economic system that support the status quo rather than change. In What's Left, Malcolm Harris cuts through the noise and gets real about our remaining options for saving the world.

Order the book: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/malcolm-harris/whats-left/9780316577434

Website: malcolmharris.substack.com

Twitter: @BigMeanInternet

For those in Philadelphia, a holistic nonsectarian events calendar for the Philly Left. Book events and film screenings, organizing meetings and skill shares: https://philacal.com

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ 

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

Malcolm Harris#Philacal#Kids These Days#Shit is Fucked Up and Bullshit#Santa Cruz#Philidephia#planetary crisis#public power#Verso Books#What's Left#Whats Left#Global Warming#Market Craft#Communism#Greta Thunberg#Pat Cummings#Greg Godels#ZZ Blog#Podcast#Coming FromLeftField#Coming From Left Field#zzblog#mltoday

Order the book: https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9781680535570

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ 

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

#nick Wolfinger#Nicolas Wolfinger#Professors Speak Out#Academic freedom#Campus investigations#Faculty rights#University policies#Higher education controversies#Due process in academia#Title IX investigations#Bias in campus investigations#Faculty grievances#Tenure disputes#Free speech on campus#Legal challenges in academia#Pat Cummings#Greg Godels#ZZ Blog#Podcast#Coming FromLeftField#Coming From Left Field#zzblog#mltoday

Just a few months ago, he began a YouTube channel that explores progressive politics, philosophical insights, and mental health perspectives on politics, economics, and current events.

Dr. Razzaque’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@russrazz/featured

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ 

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

#Dr Russell Razzaque#Razzaque# psychiatrist# London#Trump#Open Dialogue# Authoritarianism in America# Adolescence NetFlix# Christriantiy#MAGA#Trump Enablers#Russell Razzaque YouTube#Mindfulness#Psychiatry#Mental health awareness#Breaking Down is Waking Up book#Toxic Masculinity# #Pat Cummings#Greg Godels#ZZ Blog#Podcast#Coming FromLeftField#Coming From Left Field#zzblog#mltoday

Kendzior has a PhD in anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis, where she studied authoritarian regimes of the former Soviet Union. After getting her PhD in 2012, Kendzior spent a decade writing about the decline of the United States for various publications around the world. She lives with her husband and kids in St. Louis.

Order the Book: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250879882/thelastamericanroadtrip/

Subscribe to Sarah’s Substack Newsletter: https://sarahkendzior.substack.com/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ 

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

#Sarah Kendzior#Last American Road Trip# American road trip#Political corruption#Trump kleptocracy# Authoritarianism in America# Surveillance capitalism# Conspiracy culture. Media disinformation# Midwest flyover country#They Knew# Hiding in plain site#Paywall censorship#Route 66 nostalgia#FBI watchlists#Paywall censorship#ransnational organized crime#Pat Cummings#Greg Godels#ZZ Blog#Podcast#Coming FromLeftField#Coming From Left Field#zzblog#mltoday

Jim was one of the first guests on our podcast four years ago. Then we talked about the state of the media, its evolution, biases, and challenges.

Today, we continued to discuss the media landscape that is controlled by a handful of conglomerates, shrinking independent outlets, staff cuts, dominance of Right-Wing consolidation, and declining revenues.

But there may be a ray of hope with independent journalism, challenging the dominance of traditional newspapers, offering alternative perspectives, and better adapting to the digital age.

We also review Jim’s new book, “Crossroad of Change,” a collection of his photos from his time in the 1980s and 1990s when he chronicled the pivotal decade of growth and development in the Phoenix Southwest Valley.  Jim is a remarkable photographer, not just when he was a newspaper photojournalist, but also today. 

Google Photo Album of some pictures mentioned: https://photos.app.goo.gl/6eNnK3EJrzUY97aK9

Visit Jim Painter’s art: https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/jim-painter

Order the book: https://www.amazon.com/Crossroads-Images-decade-change-Southwest/dp/B0DJJWHRVZ/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ 

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

Jim Painter#Crossroads of Change#Meida#West Valley View newspaper #Alternaive Media#Newspaper decline#Phonenix history#John McCain#Goodyear#Litchfield Heritiage Center#Barry Goldwater#Luke AFB#Charles Keating##Pat Cummings#Greg Godels#ZZ Blog#Podcast#Coming FromLeftField#Coming From Left Field#zzblog#mltoday

Dan Kovalik visited the country in the latter part of January to see for himself what Syria is like under the new regime. He had something to compare this to as he had visited Syria twice back in 2021 when it was still under the leadership of Bashar al-Assad.

Dan Kovalik is a human and labor rights lawyer and peace activist. He graduated from Columbia Law School in 1993 and then began a 26-year career as the in-house counsel of the United Steelworkers AFL-CIO. Kovalik has also frequently commented on and contributed to various media outlets, sharing his perspectives on international affairs, human rights issues, and U.S. foreign policy. He has authored eight books over the last seven years. His most recent book is “The Case for Palestine.”

Greg’s MLToday Article: https://mltoday.com/a-return-to-basics-rasmus-the-neoliberal-turn-and-exploitation/ 

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/ 

DanKovalik#CaseForPalestine#GazaStrip#Isreal#WestBank#Genocide#Syria#alJulani#TripSyria#USSanctions#EthnicCleansing#Holocost#Kakba#Hamas#Zionists#Chomsky#StephenGowans#JefferySachs#AlJazeera#ISIS#CivilRights#MiddleEast#WarCrimes#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Zoltán Grossman is known for his work in Native American and Indigenous Studies within the field of geography. He focuses on the intersections of racial and ethnic nationhood, natural resources, militarism, and settler colonialism. His research emphasizes social movement alliances, environmental justice, and decolonization.

Order the books:

“Unlikely Alliances: Native Nations and White Communities Join to Defend Rural Lands”

https://orcabooks.com/book/9780295741529  

Zoltán Grossman Social Media:

Website: https://sites.evergreen.edu/zoltan

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zoltan.grossman

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/  

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

ZoltánGrossman#ZoltanGrossman#BoldtDecision#BretWeinsien#BenjamanBoyce#EvergreenStateCollege#Evergreen#EnvironmentalAlliances#KeystonXL#fishery#Dinali#GulfofMexico#GulfofAmeria#Greenland#Trump#SalishSea#SettlerColonalism#DoctrineofDiscovery#Crossculturalcooperation#Indigenousrights#BlackLivesMatter#BLM##PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Jesse Hagopian is an award-winning educator and a prominent voice on educational equity, social justice unionism, and the school-to-prison pipeline. He teaches Ethnic Studies at Seattle's Garfield High School and is known for his activism against standardized testing.

Order the books:

“Teach Truth: The Struggle for Antiracist Education” https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9798888902516

Jesse Hagopian Social Media:

Website: https://iamaneducator.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JessedHagopian

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessehagopian

Rethinking School Magazine: https://rethinkingschools.org/magazine/

Black Lives Matter at School: https://www.blacklivesmatteratschool.com/

Teaching for Black Lives: https://rethinkingschools.org/books/teaching-for-black-lives/

Zinn Education Project: https://www.zinnedproject.org/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/  

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

TeachTruth#LindaMcMahon#ChristopherRufo#JesseHagopia#DemocracyNow#AntiracistEducation#RacialJustice#EducationalEquity#CriticalRaceTheory#SocialJustice#BlackLivesMatter#BLM#ZinnProject##EthnicStudies#PublicEducation#Censorship#EducationalActivism#SystemicRacism#TeachingforLiberation#HistoricalAccuracy#DemocracyinEducation#UncritialRaceTheory#howardZinn#MelissaTemple#Rainbowland##BlackHistoryMonth#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Aran Shetterly is a writer, editor, and narrative historian. He received numerous fellowships, including the Virginia Humanities Fellowship and the National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship. He holds a BA in Literature from Harvard College and an MA in American Studies.

Mentioned in the podcast:

Nelson Johnson | Beloved Community Center https://belovedcommunitycenter.squarespace.com/rev-nelson-n-johnson

Video | Greensboro Massacre https://youtu.be/Ia8qiglxscw

Greg’s article on Lorraine Hansberry | MLToday https://mltoday.com/lorraine-hansberry-never-to-be-forgotten-a-life-too-short/

Order the books:

“Morningside: The 1979 Greensboro Massacre and the Struggle for an American City's Soul”

https://www.harpercollins.com/products/morningside-aran-shetterly

"The Americano: Fighting with Castro for Cuba’s Freedom"

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/aran-shetterly/the-americano/9781565128521/

Magazine: Inside Mexico https://www.inside-mexico.com

Aran Shetterly Social Media:

X: @aranshetterly Website: https://www.aranshetterly.com/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

AaronShetterly#Morningside#1979GreensboroMassacre#GreensboroMassacre#MargoLeeShetterly#HiddenFigures#CivilRightsMovement#LaborRights#KuKluxKlan#KKK#SocialJustice#RacialViolence#CommunistWorksParty#NelsonJohnson#BelovedCommunityCenter#AmericanNazis#DeathToTheKlan#LorraineHansberry#RasinInTheSun#NeoNazis#1979#BlackHistoryMonth#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

His most recent books include:

“Bad News from Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting,” which examines how Western media has reported on Venezuela since the election of President Hugo Chavez in 1998 including coverage that is often distorted and contributes to the spread of misinformation and "fake news" in support or the US imperialism and hegemony.

"Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent"  is a collaborative volume that updates Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky's propaganda model for the modern media landscape. The book explores how the original ideas from their 1988 book, "Manufacturing Consent," remain relevant today.

Order the books:

Bad News from Venezuela https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9781032178752

Propaganda in the Information Age https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9781138366404

Alan MacLeods Social Media:

Instagram: @alan.r.macleod

X: @AlanRMacLeod

MintPress News: https://www.mintpressnews.com/author/alan-macleod/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

AlanMacLeod#MintPressNews#BadNewsfromVenezuela#PropagandaInformationAge#Venezuela#FakeNews#Misreporting#MediaBias#HugoChavez#Neoliberalism#WesternMedia#Journalism#PropagandaModel#Chavismo#MediaStudies#LatinAmerican#NoamChomsky#EdwardHerman#Disinformation#Cambridge#Analytica#SyrianCivilWar#Russiagate#MediaFilters#egirls#LunchBagLujan#Jolani#PhillipCross#8200#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Michelle S. Phelps is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on the sociology of punishment, particularly the rise of probation supervision as a criminal justice sanction and its relationship to mass incarceration. She has published extensively in interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journals and co-authored the book "Breaking the Pendulum: The Long Struggle Over Criminal Justice" with Philip Goodman and Joshua Page.

Order the book:

Minneapolis Reckoning- Race, Violence & the Politics of Policing in America by Michelle S. Phelps https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691245980/the-minneapolis-reckoning

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

MichellePhelps#MichelleSPhelps#PoliceReform#BlackLivesMatter#BLM#MPD#PoliceReform#Chauvin#GeorgeFloyd#GunViolence#Powderhorn#OverPolice#CURA#CommunityPolicing#DeeschalationTraining#BodyCamera#PolitcalActivism#ViolencePrevention#CAHOOTS#CUAPB#MinneapolisPolice#ViolenceInteruptionProgram#waronpoverty#KernerReport#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Tariq Ali is a Pakistani-British political activist, writer, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is well-known for his anti-imperialist stance and has been involved in various political movements since his youth. Ali has written or co-authored over 100 fiction and nonfiction books, covering a wide range of topics, including geopolitics and the history of post-colonialism.

Order the book:

You Can't Please All: Memoirs 1980-2024 by Tariq Ali https://www.versobooks.com/products/2937-you-can-t-please-all

Bhupen-Khakhar painting mentioned: https://brooklynrail.org/2017/02/artseen/Bhupen-Khakhar/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

TariqAli#IslamQuintet#EdwardSaid#DerekJarman#ChristopherHitchen#Bhutto#MaryKayWilmers#SusanWatkins#NewLeftReview#StreetFightingYears#StreetFiightingMan#HugoShavez#MickJaeger#JohnLennon#BhupenKhakhar#ChrisHedges#PolitcalActivism#VietnamProtest#AnitImperisalism#Palestine#LeninScenario#OliverStone#postcolonialism#WinstonChurchill#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Andy Lee Roth is the associate director of Project Censored, a nonprofit media watchdog organization. He coordinates the Campus Affiliates Program, a network of students and faculty at colleges and universities across North America who research and identify the top "censored" news stories. He earned a PhD in Sociology from the University of California–Los Angeles and a BA in Sociology and Anthropology from Haverford College.

Order the book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/760692/project-censoreds-state-of-the-free-press-2025-by-mickey-huff/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

AndyLeeRoth#AndyRoth#MickeyHuff#ShealeighVoit#StateoftheFree Press2025#ProjectCensord#FreePress2025##AI#algorithms#SocialMedia#MediaBias#Censorship#FirstAmendment#Journalism#Newsworthiness#AlgorithmicLiteracy#ShadowBanning#HorseRaceReporting#AlanMacleod#KevinGosztola#Gatekeepingmodel#Censorshipbyproxy#qualitativedataanalysis#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Jeff Schuhrke is a labor historian, journalist, union activist, and assistant professor at the Harry Van Arsdale Jr. School of Labor Studies, SUNY Empire State University in New York City.

Order the book: https://www.versobooks.com/products/2979-blue-collar-empire

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

JeffSchuhrke#BlueCollarEmpire#AFL#CIO#AFLCIO#CIA#AFCIO#anticommunism#anticommunist#coldwar#foreignpolicy#FreeTradeUnion#CommunistParty#HarryVanArsdale#USLabor#USImperalism#TradeUnions#RedScare#GoodNeighbors#EndowingDemocracy#MamaMaida#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Charles Derber, Professor of Sociology at Boston College, has written 26 books on politics, democracy, fascism, corporations, capitalism, climate change, war, culture wars, and social change.

Yale Magrass is a Chancellor Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. He is the author/coauthor of nine books, most co-authored with Charles Derber, and eighty articles. His work focuses on how militaristic capitalism distorts everyday life as it promotes inequality, bullying, environmental devastation, and war.

Order the book:

Who Owns Democracy?: The Real Deep State and the Struggle Over Class and Caste in America by Charles Derber and Yale R. Magrass  https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9781032781907 

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

#CharlesDerver#YaleMagrass#YaleRMagress#deepstate#WhoOwnsDemocracy#Americanfascism#capitalistclass#capitalistdeep#caste#ChristianRight#CIA#ColdWar#communist#deepdemocracy#DemocraticParty#elites#fascist#FDR#GildedAge#identitypolitics#JPMorgan#JimCrow#proto#fascism#racism#Reagan#MAGA#RepublicanParty#slavery#socialist#WallStreet#corporatepower#neofascism#Americanmilitarism#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

In this book, Larson delves into the extreme wealth and influence of the ruling class. This includes the problems of wealth distribution, the extravagant lifestyles and moral failings of the ultra-wealthy and their negative impact on societal issues, including environmental destruction and public health crises.

Order the book:

Mastering the Universe: The Obscene Wealth of the Ruling Class, What They Do with Their Money, and Why You Should Hate Them Even More: https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9798888900857

Mentioned in the podcast:

Current Affairs Magazine:  https://www.currentaffairs.org/

World Inequity Database: https://wid.world/

A New Approach to Measuring Income Inequality Over Recent Decades | RAND: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RBA516-1.html

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

#RobLarson#NathanJRobinson#NathanRobinson#BillGates#billionaire#carbon#ElonMusk#ClimateChange#WorldInequityDatabase#CurrentAffairsMagazine#economics#economists#Richistain#masteringtheUniverse#ObsceneWealth#Rand#ClimateCrisis#IncomeInequity#Captial#GuildedAge#ThomasPiketty#UltraWealthy#WealthDistribution#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Noam Chomsky is institute professor emeritus in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and laureate professor in the Agnes Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice at the University of Arizona. His work is widely credited with revolutionizing modern linguistics, and he is equally renowned for his incisive writings on global affairs and U.S. foreign policy. Chomsky is the single most cited and published living author, winner of numerous international awards, and has written over one hundred books,

Nathan J. Robinson is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Current Affairs magazine. He is the author of Why You Should Be a Socialist and Responding to the Right, and his articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New Republic, among others. Robinson holds a JD from Yale Law School and a PhD in sociology and social policy from Harvard University.

Order the book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/

Current Affairs Magazine:  https://www.currentaffairs.org/

Nathan J. Robinson’s Website: https://www.nathanjrobinson.com/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

#NoamChomsky#NathanJRobinson#NathanRobinson#TheMythofAmericanIdealism#CritiqueForeignPolicy#globalinstablity#JakartaMehod#VincentVevins#ArmsControl#Cuba#GlobalSouth#IsraeliPalestanConflict#WorldBank#USInterventions#EcomonicDomination#VijahPrashad#ClimateCrisis#DavidFrum#ClimateDisturciont#MythAmercianIdealism#ManufacturingConsent#IndonesianMassKIllings#MediaControl#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Duty to Warn: May I Tell You What Project 2025 Really Is? https://frankschaeffer.substack.com/p/duty-to-warn-may-i-tell-you-what

Frank Schaeffer’s Substack: https://frankschaeffer.substack.com/

Frank Schaeffer’s Art https://www.frankschaefferart.com

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

#FrankSchaeffer#CrazyforGod#HeritageFoundaton#Project2025#ChristianRight#OpusDei#ReligiousRight#FrancisSchaeffer#EdithSeville#FrankSchaefferArt#JerryFarwell#JamesDobson#BillGraham#ReligiousRight#ElonMusk#PatRobertson#TuckerCarlson#PeterTheil#WhyIAmAnAthiest#MandateForLeadership#DutyToWarn#PowellMemo#ChristoFacism#Patriarchy#Evangelical#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Nolan Higdon is a founding member of the Critical Media Literacy Conference of the Americas, a Project Censored National Judge, an author, and a lecturer at Merrill College and the Education Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, USA.

Allison Butler is a Senior Lecturer and Director of the Media Literacy Certificate Program in the Department of Communication at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA. She is also Co-Director of the Mass Media Literacy non-profit organization, where she develops and runs training programs for teachers covering critical media literacy in K–12 schools, Vice President on the Board of the Media Freedom Foundation, and a spokesperson for Project Censored.

Order the book: https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9781032812274

Nolan Higdon’s Substack: https://nolanhigdon.substack.com

Mentioned in the podcast Project Censored https://www.projectcensored.org/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

#NolanHigdon#AllisonButler#MediaLiteracy#SurveillanceEducaton#Privacy#ProjectCensored#DigitalSurveillance#SurveillanceCaptialism#DataBreach#CritialMediaLiteracy#AnatomyofFakeNews#FakeNews#DigitalCulture#TikTokHarm#ChallengeVideo#Secition230#InternetHarm#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

In her book Marx's Ethical Vision, she presents novel Marxist positions in various philosophical debates and covers a wide range of Karl Marx's writings while giving a holistic account of his views throughout his life.

Order the book: Marx's Ethical Vision by Vanessa Christina Wills https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9780197688144

Spectre Journal https://spectrejournal.com/

Vanessa, the Jazz Singer! From Indiana With Love-Feme (feat. Vanessa Wills) https://youtu.be/4Ssr_K3EbIA

Mentioned by Greg: Rhiannon Giddens new version of Peggy Seeger's classic: https://youtu.be/lmwwqHmwZq8

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

#VanessaWills#VanessaChristinaWills#AnalyticalMarxism#MarxsEthcialVision#CommunistManifesto#MoralObjectivism#Philosophy#Alienation#HistoricalMaterialst#Captalism#Spectre#SpectreJournal#CapitalismCritcism#MoralPhilosphy#GeorgeWashingtonUniveity#EthicsAngelaDavis#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Order the book:  On Cuba: Reflections on 70 Years of Revolution and Struggle by Noam Chomsky and Vijay Prashad: https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9781620978573

Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research: https://thetricontinental.org/

Call to Action:  a Remarkable Open Letter on US Designation of Cuba as Sponsor of Terrorism: https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/09/18/call-to-action-a-remarkable-open-letter-on-us-designation-of-cuba-as-sponsor-of-terrorism/

Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about

#OnCuba#Cuba#CubaHistory#Relectionson70yearsofRevolutionStruggle#VijayPrasad#NoamChomsky#TheWithdrawl#WashingtonBullets#FidelCastro#TriContinentalInstituteforSocialResearch#TriContinentalInstitute#PeaceActivist#Cubahistory#USEmpire#colonialism#SvenLindquvist#ExterminateAlltheBrutes#MonroeDoctrine#economicsanctions#embargo#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Order the book:  Dynamite Nashville: Unmasking the FBI, the KKK, and the Bombers Beyond Their Control https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9798986614571

Greg’s Blog (subscribe!): http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

#BestyPhillips#DynamiteNashville#FBI#KKK#JBStoner#ZAlexanderLooby#FreddieOConnel#HattieCotton#HattieCottonBombing#JewishCommunityCenter#1950sSynagoguebombings#TheConfederateUnderground#ConferateUnderground#LoobyBombing#Segregation#BrownVBoard#BrownBoardOrEdcuaton#MLKing#UnsolvedBombing#segregationists#HistoricNashville#CivilRights#JohnLewis#DianeNash#JamesEarlRay#assasinationMLK#NeoNazis#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Order the book: https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9781785356780

Greg’s Blog (subscribe!): http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

#DavidDetmer#DaveDetmer#Zinnophovia#HowardZinn#NoamChomsky#APeoplesHistory#APeoplesHistoryoftheUnitedStates#Renaissance#NorthernLights#MitchDaniels#BookBann#ZinnEducationProject#MaryGrabar#SamWineburg#DavidGreenberg#WarProtest#BostonUniversity#SpellmanCollege#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

In his new book, “I Hate It Here, Please Vote For Me: Essays on Rural Political Decay,” Ferrence chronicles his election defeat to explore how the American political narratives refuse to recognize the existence and value of rural progressive voters and how his election defeat offers insight into the politics of our nation.

In essays focused on living in the countryside, the political power of poetry, and his landslide election loss, Ferrence offers a counter-narrative to stereotypes of rural American voters and emphasizes the misunderstanding of our Red-Blue divide.

Order the book: https://wvupressonline.com/I-Hate-It-Here-Please-Vote-For-Me

Greg’s Blog (subscribe!): http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

#MattTerrence#MatthewTerrence#IHateItHere#PleaseVoteForMe#Campaigns#Electons#RuralPoltics#RedBlueDivide#PolticalScience#PolticalDecay#AlleghenyCollege#Meadville#BradleyRose#Poetry#PoetryBan#PennsylvaniaHouseofRepresentatives#ElectionReform#GreenParty#ToxicModeration#RuralRage#TheWisconsinIdea#AppalacihiaNorth#WendellBerry#Fetterman#FlyOverCountry#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Today, we discussed his new book, “Armed Struggle? Panthers and Communists; Black Nationalists and Liberals in Southern California through the Sixties and Seventies.” This book examines the complex dynamics and interactions of the Black Panther Party, including their communist influences, community social programs, FBI sabotage, and lasting influences.

Order the book: https://www.intpubnyc.com/browse/armed-struggle/

Follow Dr. Horne on KPFK 90.7 FM, Freedom Now, Saturday 11 AM -12 PM:  https://www.kpfk.org/on-air/freedom-now/

Greg’s Blog (subscribe!): http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

ERATTA at 46:41, the author of the book mentioned on DemocracyNow, "Dynamite Nashville," is Betsy Phillips, not Detinio Wilson.

#GeraldHorne#ArmedStruggle#ArmedStruggle?#BlackPantherParty#BP#Communist#Communistparty#CP#GerogeJackson#RedScare#BlackNationalist#Scottsboronine#HeuyNewton#EldridgeCleaverBenDavis#AngelaDavis#SlaveRebellions#Cointerpro#JEdgarHoover#MathewJohnson#PoiiceBrutality#KPFK#FreedomNow#AfricanAmericanStudies#RebeccaMooresChair#MooresProfessor#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

His first book, The Jakarta Method, came out in 2020 and was named one of the year's best books by the Financial Times and NPR.  Today, we discuss his book, “If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution.”  From 2010 to 2020, more people participated in protests than at any other point in human history. “If We Burn” investigates why we haven’t seen a significant revolutionary change from these uprisings. This is an important book that scholars and activists should read.

Vincent’s website: https://vincentbevins.com/

Vincent’s substack: https://substack.com/@northsouthnotes 

Order the books

If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution by Vincent Bevins

https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9781541788978

SUB

Greg’s Blog (subscribe!): http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

#VincentBevins#IfWeBurn#MassProtest#JakartaMethod#LondonSchoolEconomics#Chomsky#Lenin#WomensMarch#OccupyWallstreet#UNRWA#EthnicCleansing#Holocost#Kakba#Hamas#Zionists#Chomsky#ManufacturingConsent#ArabeSpring# GeziPark#UkraineEuromaidan#HungerGames#PolitialSciende#Indonesia #PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Dan’s website: https://danielmkovalik.weebly.com/

Order the books

The Case for Palestine: Why It Matters and Why You Should Care By Dan Kovalik, Forward by George Galloway

https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9781510780590

Greg’s Blog (subscribe!): http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

#DanKovalik#CaseForPalestine#GazaStrip#Isreal#WestBank#Genocide#LiveratonTheology#WestBank#Rafah#UNRWA#EthnicCleansing#Holocost#Kakba#Hamas#Zionists#Chomsky#Oct7#GeorgeGalloway#AlJazeera#activist#CivilRights#MiddleEast#WarCrimes#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Jesse’s website: https://iamaneducator.com/ 

Order the books

More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing By Jesse Hagopian (Editor), Diane Ravitch (Preface by), Alfie Kohn (Foreword by)

https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9781608463923

Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice By Jesse Hagopian, Denisha Jones, Opal Tometi (Foreword by)

https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9781642592702

Support the documentary film project by Magnum Opus Films, “Help Us Tell The Story of Discovering Where Our Ancestors Were Enslaved-Where I Got My Name: A Story of Struggle and Self Discovery.”

GoFundMe https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-tell-the-story-of-our-enslaved-ancestors 

Greg’s Blog (subscribe!): http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

#JesseHogopain#MoreThanAScore#GarfieldHighSchool#BLM#BLMatschool#optoute#MAPboycott#TestBoycott#CriticalRaceTheory#CRT#ChristopherRufo#FairTest#DianeRavvitch#TeacherUnion#NEA#GeraldLenoir#EnslavedAncestors#MississippiSlave#HighstakesTesting#activist#SeattleSuit#culturewars#EducationPolicy#StandardizedTesting#MomsForLiberty#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Order the book: They Came for the Schools: One Town's Fight Over Race and Identity, and the New War for America's Classrooms

https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9780063307247

Greg’s Blog (subscribe!): http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

#MikeHixenbaugh#TheyCamefortheSchools#CarrollSchoolBoard#CarrollISD#ChristianNationalizm#Southlake#Texas#CriticalRaceTheory#CRT#ChristopherRufo#Grapevine#LBTQ#PatriotMobile#DeSantis#SouthlakeFamiliesPAC#TuckerCaarlson#viralvideo#Nword#GregAbott#NBCInvestigation#culturewars#EducationPolicy#DEI#MomsForLiberty#SevenMountainIdology#micoragressions#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Order the book: The Bill Gates Problem

https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9781250850096

Greg’s Blog (subscribe!): http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

#Timschwab#billgates#melindagates#melindafrench#billionaires#philantropy#theBillGatesProblem#microsoft#billmelindagatesfoundaton#mythgoodbillionare#neilkrause#jonshelton#commoncore#stackranking#edlabs#seattletimes#JesseHagopian#commoncore#mccarverproject#tacomapublicschools#smallschools#meritpay#tacomahousingauthority#stackranking#gatesfarmland#dianerativich#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Janice has always been creative, but once she retired, she focused on being a “poet.” She has published her works in journals and books and spends much of her time honing her bard craft.

Order the book OUT OF THE BLUE four voices https://store.bookbaby.com/book/out-of-the-blue1

Greg’s Blog (subscribe!): http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Poems                                                       

(12:47) Bad Art   

 (15:20) 26 Letters   

(28:05) 2nd Act    

(30:46) Advanced Directive   

(33:06) Dentist Day   

 (36:10) Dodge Ball Target  

 (44:28) Decorum   

(50:23) Starch 

(52:55) Morning Glories 

(57:25) What I Want to Know 

 (1:00:06) Pickup Sticks  

#Janiceomahony#outoftheblue#whidbeyilsand#poetry#DianneShiner#DallasHuth#FaithWilder#kevinmiller#dereksheffield#etrimbathcreative#bookbaby#creativity#poemsdad#ginodeschruyver#lisatice#militarybrat#ptsd#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Both professors offer a different perspective on our present educational landscape.  Together they merge politics, public policies, history, economics, and labor relations to provide insight to the purpose of education.

Order the book: The Education Myth https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9781501768149

Order the book: The Fantasy Economy https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9781439923719

Greg’s Blog (subscribe!): http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

#NeilKraus#JonShelton#UW#universitywisconsin#educationreform#fantasyeconomy#educationmyth#STEM#neoliberalism#reagan#wisconsin#humancapital#scottalker#wisconsinidea#socialjustice#nationatrisk#workforce2000#charterschools#education#nochildleftbehind#onlinelearning#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

As a longtime labor educator and journalist, Leopold describes how the Democrats have lost the longstanding support of millions of urban and rural workers and how both parties take their marching orders from Wall Street and wealthy donors.

Order the book: Wall Street’s War on Workers (https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9781645022336)

Substack: (https://lesleopold.substack.com/)

Webiste: (https://runawayinequality.org/)  

Greg’s Blog (subscribe!): http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

#LesLeopold#WallStreetsWarOnWorkers#WallStreet#TonyMazzocchi#HedgeFunds#stockbuybacks#LaborInstiture#OberlinCollegy#LayOffs#masslayoffs#MingoCounty#WhiteRuralRage#ThomHartmann#MattTaibbi#ChrisHedges#RuralPoverty#HedgeFunds#PrivateEquity#LeverageBuyouts#NeoLiberal#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

FjHkr0T5PBYmOzjeuv9V

Order the book: https://www.sevenstories.com/books/4493-guilty-of-journalism

House Bill 934: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-resolution/934  

Follow Kevin:

https://substack.com/@kgosztola

https://thedissenter.org/  

https://www.youtube.com/@Kevin_Gosztola

Greg’s Blog (subscribe!): http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

KevinGosztola#JulianAssange#EspionageAct#Belmarsh#AbbyMartin#projectcensored#espionageact#censorship#vault7#pressfreedom#trial#RoyalCourts#RogerWalters#JusticeJeremyJohnson#ChleseaManning#StellaAssange#CIAwaronjourlists#GuiltyofJournalism#whistleblowers#underreported#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Order the book:

She's a Badass: Women in Rock Shaping Feminism

https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9781493072545

Kathrine’s social media:

https://www.facebook.com/katherine.yeske.taylor/

https://www.instagram.com/kyt_in_nyc/

Greg’s Blog (subscribe!): http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Music List:

1. Suzi Quatro Suzi Quatro – “Can The Can” (1973)
2. Ann Wilson Heart - "Barracuda" (1977)
3. Exene Cervenka (X) John Doe and Exene Cervenka (X)- The New World live (1983) 
4. Gina Schock The Go-G0’s – “We Got The Beat” -American Bandstand (1982)
5. Lydia Lunch Sonic Youth & Lydia Lunch-“Death Valley '69” (1985)
6. Suzanne Vega “Luka” (1988)
7. Cherie Currie (the Runaways) The Runaways – “Cherry Bomb”  (2007)
8. Joan Osborne  Joan Osborne – “One Of Us” (1996)
9. Donita Sparks (L7) L7 – “Pretend That We're Dead” (Live At The Download Festival 2018)
10. Amy Ray (Indigo Girls) Indigo Girls – “Closer to Fine” (on David Letterman 1989)
11. Tanya Donelly (Throwing Muses, the Breeders, Belly) Belly - Feed The Tree (1993)
12. Paula Cole Paula Cole – “I Don't Want to Wait” (1996)
13. Tobi Vail (Bikini Kill) Bikini Kill – “Rebel Girl” (1992)
14. Laura Veirs Laura Veirs - "Sun Song" (2013)
15. Catherine Popper Puss n Boots- "Jesus, Etc." (2013)
16. Amanda Palmer Amanda Palmer – “Runs In The Family” (2008)
17. Bonnie Bloomgarden (Death Valley Girls) Death Valley Girls - "Magic Powers" (The Roxy 2022)
18. Orianthi Orianthi - "According To You" (2009)
19. Fefe Dobson Fefe Dobson - "Stuttering" (2010)
20. Sade Sanchez (L.A. Witch) L A Witch - "Fire Starter" (2020)

#womenrock#Shesabadass#KathrineTaylor#KathrineYeskeTaylor#rockcritic#rollingstone#book#feministbook#SuziQuatro#AnnWilson#ExeneCervenka#GinaSchock#SuzanneVega#JoanOsborne#AmyRay#IndigoGirls#AmandaPalmer#Orianthi#alicecooper#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast

Today, we discuss two of her books, the 1992 classic “Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence – from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror,” and her recent book “Truth and Repair: How Trauma Survivors Envision Justice.”

Order the books:

Truth and Repair

Trauma and Recovery

Greg’s Blog (subscribe!): http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

#traumahealing#childhoodtrauma#trauma#healing#traumarecovery#women#intergenerationaltrauma#healingjourney#therapy#psychology#JudithHerman#PTSD#Reagan#Deinstitutionalization#VictimsViolenceProgram#Freud#Hysteria#ConsciousnessRasingGroups#ChristineBlaseyFord#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#mltoday    

Noam Chomsky noted that Kevin’s book is “Essential reading for those who care about freedom of expression and elementary justice” and the late Daniel Ellsberg stated “Kevin Gosztola is a rare journalist who understands the abominable threat that the case against Assange poses to press freedom.”

Order the book: https://www.sevenstories.com/books/4493-guilty-of-journalism

Follow Kevin: https://substack.com/@kgosztola https://thedissenter.org/ https://www.youtube.com/@Kevin_Gosztola

Greg’s Blog (subscribe!): http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

KevinGosztola#JulianAssange#AbbyMartin#projectcensored#espionageact#censorship#vault7#pressfreedom#trial#RoyalCourts#RogerWalters#JusticeJeremyJohnson#ChleseaManning#StellaAssange#CIAwaronjourlists#GuiltyofJournalism#whistleblowers#underreported#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday

Project Censored was founded in 1976 by Dr. Carl Jensen at Sonoma State University to research and publicize news media censorship in the news and to develop students’ critical thinking skills and media literacy. Every year, they publish a book, “State of the Free Press,” that highlights the top 25 censored stories and media analyses that promote independent investigative journalism and education about the crucial role of our free press.

Order the book: https://www.project-censored.org/shop/p/state-of-the-free-press-2024

Website: https://www.projectcensored.org/

Greg’s Blog (subscribe!): http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

andyleeroth#andyroth#mickeyhuff#projectcensored#stateoffreepress#censorship#corporatemedia#freeepress#medialiteracy#journalism#stories#underreported#newsdeserts#russiagate#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#zzblog#mltoday#CarlJensen

Greg’s Blog (subscribe!): http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/   

Marxism-Leninism Today (MLToday): https://mltoday.com/

Timestamps:

(01:45) book discussion “How Democracies Die”

(14:14) Dan Kovalik, “Cancel This Book,” “Pink Tide,” “Trip to Russia & Crimea”

(16:24) book discussion Karl Marx

(20:47) Carlos Garrido, “Last Years of Marx” book discussion

(22:41) Eddie Smith, “Blackshirts and Reds” book discussion

(24:38) Christian Parenti, “First Privilege Walk & Radical Hampton”

(26:22) Janice O’Mahony &  Kevin Miller, “A Couple of Poets”

(27:49) Stephen Gowans, “Israel, A Beachhead in the Middle East”

(30:07) Jim Painter, “Media,” & “The Black March Novel”

(30:49) Hoss Hollwedel, “”Exterminate All the Brute” & “Amazon unions”

(32:21) Toni Gilpin, “The Long Deep Grudge:

(32:47) Roger Keeran, “The Communist Party and the Autoworker's”

(34:06) Tony Monterio, “The lost legacy of Henry Winston”

(37:09) Walter Johnson, “The Broken Heart of America”

(39:09) Tariq Ali, “Winston Churchill”

(39:20) Vijay Prashad, “The Withdrawal”

(39:25) Joanna Moncrieff, “The Serotonin Theory of Depression”

(41:42) Gerald Horne, “Black Liberation / Red Scare”, “Jazz and Justice”

(45:14) Walter Bragman, “Moms for Liberty”

(45:21) Anthony Conwright, “Jan 6, Big Lie”

(45:31) Kathryn Joyce. “War on Public Schools”

(45:42) Andy Campbell, “We Are Proud Boys”

(47:53) Suzanne Gordon, “Wounds of War”

(49:42) Bill Ehrhart, “Thank You for Your Service,” “Smedley Butler,” “Essays”

(51:27) Norman Finkelstein,” I'll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It!”

(54:29) Ruth Ben-Ghiat, “Strongmen”

(57:16) Fredrik deBoer, “Cult of Smart,” ”How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement”

PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast#DanKovalik#KarlMarx#MidwesternMarist#CarlosGarrido#EddieSmith#Blackshirts#MichaelParinti#ChristianParenti#JaniceO’Mahony#KevinMiller#Poets#StephenGowans#JimPainter#ToniGilpin#RogerKeeran#CommunistParty#TonyMonterio#WalterJohnson#TariqAli#VijayPrashad#JoannaMoncrieff#GeraldHorne#JazzandJustice#WalterBragman#AnthonyConwright#KathrynJoyce#Andy#Bill Ehrhart#WDEhrhart#NormanFinkelstein#RuthBen-Ghiat#Strongmen#FredrikdeBoer

In “Inequity Kills Us All” Bezruchka takes a deep dive into the global health data and considers his years of experience as an ER doctor and a public health educator to expose how unjust economics adds up to poor health and higher mortality, and how living in a society with entrenched hierarchies increases the negative effects of illnesses for everyone, and early life lasts a lifetime. 

Order the book https://www.amazon.com/Inequality-Kills-Us-All-COVID-19s/dp/1032278390/

Website: https://stephenbezruchka.com/

InequalityKillsUsAll#StephenBezruchka#TrekkingNepal#TrekkinginNepal#GlobalHealth#SchooolofpublicHealth#HealthData#UniversityofWashington#UW#InequityHealthcare#PublicHealth#RichardWilkinson#lifeexpecancy#AirRageSyndrome#Medicare#StressandHealth#HealthOlypics#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast

Kendzior is known for her reporting on St. Louis, her coverage of the 2016 election, and her academic research on authoritarian states. She was named by Foreign Policy as one of the "100 people you should be following on Twitter to make sense of global events." Her reporting has been featured in many publications, including Politico, Slate, The Atlantic, Fast Company, The Chicago Tribune, TeenVogue, The Globe and Mail, and The New York Times. She lives in St. Louis.

Order the book: https://www.amazon.com/They-Knew-Culture-Conspiracy-Complacent/dp/1250210720

Subscribe to Sarah’s substack: https://substack.com/@sarahkendzior

Website: https://sarahkendzior.com/ 

TheyKnew#HowaCultureofConspiracyKeepsAmericaComplacent#SarahKendzior#conspiracytheory#ViewfromFlyoverCountry#authoritarianism#BakerHotel#NormanBaker#Putin#JeffreyEpstein#LolitaExpress#Pizzagate#QAnnon#GaslitNation#HidingInPlainSite#DonaldTrump#cooruption#oligarchs#St.Louis#StLouis#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast

Today we discuss the book, “Dying for Capitalism: How Big Money Fuels Extinction and What We Can Do About It” by Charles Derber and his co-author,  Suren Moodliar.

Order the book: https://www.amazon.com/Capitalism-Universalizing-Resistance-Charles-Derber/dp/103251258X/

Greg’s article (mentioned) “An Overdue Look at the Environmental Crisis”: https://mltoday.com/an-overdue-look-at-the-environmental-crisis/

#CharlesDerber#CharlieDerber#SurenMoodiar#ClimateCrisis#ClimateChange#Militarism#EnvironmentalDistruction#FredrickDouglass#Abolishonists#triangleofextinction#Chomsky#Marx#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast

 “Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny” is a powerful argument for electoral reform, especially related to third-party and independent candidates. Phil Donahue’s book review stated Amato “takes the biggest swing―not a jab, but a roundhouse punch―at America’s corrupt electoral system.”  

Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny: https://www.amazon.com/Grand-Illusion-Choice-Two-Party-Tyranny/dp/1595583947

Citizen Advocacy Center: https://www.citizenadvocacycenter.org/

Greg’s Blog (subscribe!): http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

TheresaAmato#GrandIllusion#TheMythofVoterChoiceinaTwo-PartyTyranny#RalphNader#CitizenWorks#CitizensAdvocacyCenter#ballotaccess#ThirdParty#ElectoralSystem#PresidentalDebates#RossPerot#PatBuchanan#electonlaws#AlGore#ElectorialReform#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#CultofSmart#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast

Freddie’s Website: https://fredrikdeboer.com/

Order the book: https://www.amazon.com/How-Elites-Social-Justice-Movement/

Freddie’s Substack (subscribe!): https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/

Greg’s Blog (subscribe!): http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

#Freddiedeboer#Fredrikdeboer#HowElitesAteTheSocialJusticeMovement#Substack#GeorgeFloyd#NonProfitIndustrial#IdentiySyntheses#BLM#BlackLivesMatter#DefundPolice#FredHampton#SamHarris#YaschaMounk#NGO#Marx#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#CultofSmart#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast

We also discuss Peter’s play, “My Brother Kissed Mark Zuckerberg” and film, “Footnote” which is a loving tribute to his brother who died of AIDS in the late 1980’s, and his photography.

The David Serko Project: https://davidserko.com Here is a link to the book on Amazon: https://a.co/d/7Fw5KGt

Watch Footnote on VIMEO (38 min): https://vimeo.com/203771933

Peter’s Photography: https://peterserko.com/transformation-art-changes-a-city/

#PeterSerko#HattieWar#Hattie’swar#DavidSerko#ActUp#Footnote#AIDS#HIV#ArtChangesACity#Transformation#DavidSerkoProject#Wintrop#VashonIsland#Vashon#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#Photograpy#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast

References:

The First Privilege Walk -NONSite.org

Radical Hamilton: Economic Lessons from a Misunderstood Founder -Verso Books

#ChristianParenti#PrivelegeWalk#RadicalHampilton#FBI#MannyElis#Nonsite#leftpolitics#COVID#NaomiKlein#CharlesBeard#Grayzone#Trumpderangement#PatCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#Marcuse#DEI#DiAngelo#MichaelParenti#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast

• Website: https://trevoraaronson.com/
• Podcast:  Alphabet Boys Podcast: Trojan Hearse
• Book:   The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI’s Manufactured War On Terrorism 
• TED Talk:  How this FBI strategy is actually creating US-based terrorists by Trevor Aaronson (1,377,952 views):
• Greg's ZZs Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

#TrevorAaronson#InvesitgativeReporter#PoliticsNews#FBI#ChinookCenter#ChurchCommittee#leftpolitics#TuckerCarlson#survalience#PatCummings#GregGodels#alphabet#alphabetboys#alphabetboyspodcast#snitchjacketing#BLM#blacklivesmatter#blm##blackidentity#ComingFromLeftField#ComingFromLeftFieldPodcast

Website:   http://alfreddezayas.com/ Blog:        https://dezayasalfred.wordpress.com/

Greg's ZZs Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

#AlfreddeZayas#DeZayas#UnitedNations#TheHumanRightsIndustry#CounteringMainstreamNarratives#FakeNews#FakeLaw#FakeFreedom#BuildingaJustWorldOrder#rapporteur#humanrights#Ukraine#GregGodels#zzblog#PatCummings#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast

W.D. Ehrhart home page: https://wdehrhart.com/

Buy the book: https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/what-we-can-and-cant-afford/ 

Greg's ZZs Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ 

#BillEhrhart#WDEhahart#Poet#ThankYouForYourService#KenBurns#WhatWeCanandCantAfford#PatriotismAmericanLife#Poet#EssayonVietnam#MomsforLiberty#Veteran#GregGodels#zzblog#PatCummings#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#mcfarlandbooks

Wenhua Zongheng, Quarterly Journal of Chinese Thought

https://dongshengnews.org/en/whzh-vol1-no1/

https://dongshengnews.org/en/whzh-vol1-no2/

The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of U.S. Power  by Noam Chomsky (Author), Vijay Prashad (Author), Angela Y. Davis (Introduction) | (2022)

https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9781620977606

Greg’s Article on MLToday: "Mired in Opportunism"

https://mltoday.com/mired-in-opportunism/

#VijayPrasad#NoamChomsky#Russia#China#Iraq#Libya#Afghanistan#TheWithdrawl#WenhuaZongheng#TriContinentalInstitute#PeaceActivist#zzblog#PatCummings#GregGodels#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast

In this podcast we discuss his recent trip to Russia and Crimea where, as a peace activist, he tries to make sense of the Ukraine conflict and offer context for understanding and resolution.

Photo Album (supplement to podcast) https://comingfromleftfield.com/photos

Dan’s books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Dan-Kovalik/author/B06XZ9ZRSD

Greg's ZZs Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

#DanKovalik#RickSterling#Russia#Crimea#Columbia#Venezuela#Nicaragua#AlexSaab#Putin#Ukraine#PeaceActivist#zzblog#PatCummings#GregGodels#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#

In his new book,” I'll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It! Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom,” he discusses how the Left undermines class politics from within, the misguided legacy of Barack Obama, the censorious culture within US academia and his new book, and the crazy politics of social activists like Kimberlé Crenshaw, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Robin DiAngelo.

Norman Finkelstein website: https://www.normanfinkelstein.com/

Order the book: I'll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It!: https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9798986788425

Greg's ZZs Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Finkelstein#IlBurnThatBridgeWhenIGettoIt#NormanFinkelstein#IlBurnThatBridgeWhenIGettoIt#KimberléCrenshaw#TaNehisiCoates#RobinDiAngelo#AlanDershowitz#BrandyLee#zzblog#PatCummings#GregGodels#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#Chomsky#Identypolitics#WhiteFragility#Dershowitz#wokeness#cancelculture#academicfreedom#academicfreedom#politicalcorrectness#cancelculture#MattKennard#SilentCoup#WEBDubois#PaulRobeson

Links to Walker Bragman’s journalism:

Important Context News: https://www.importantcontext.news/

OptOut News: https://www.optout.news/

Greg's ZZs Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Walkerbragman#momsforliberty#M4L#MFL#parentrights#astroturf#maskmandates#rondesantis#twitter#matttaibbi#schoolboardharrassmen#concerntparents#InformedParentsofWashington#PeninsulaSchoolDistrict#antivax#sexeducastion#bookbanning#CRT#bookbans#SEL#antiunion#teacherunions#zzblog#PatCummings#GregGodels#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast

Book: The Land Is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery  

Website: The Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery

Greg's ZZs Blog:  

SarahAugustine#DoctrineofDiscovery#DoctrineDiscovery#CoaltiontoDismantleDocturineDiscovery#TheLandIsNotEmpty#Tewa#Pueblo#Yakima#BoardingSchools#indigenious#PopeFrancis#zzblog#PatCummings#GregGodels#SIHF#WHO#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast# AnabaptistWitness #NativeAmerican

Book: Working Class Giant by Arthur Zipser https://www.intpubnyc.com/browse/working-class-giant/

Links:

The Undercover Organizers Behind America’s Union Wins-Portside https://portside.org/2023-04-04/undercover-organizers-behind-americas-union-wins

Secret Union Tactic Fuels Unprecedented Labor Wins- Bloomberg News Original- YouTube: https://youtu.be/6xDlvGn0F6A

Greg's ZZs Blog:

http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

ChrisTownsendt#WorkingClassGiant#WillamFoster#WillaimZFoster#Salting#Union#Strabucks#Amazon#zzblog#PatCummings#GregGodels#JazBrisack#HowardSchultz#LaborOrganizing3ComingFromLeftField#WorkingClass #ClassStruggle#LaborHistory

Alissa Quart website:

http://www.alissaquart.com/

Book:

Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream by Alissa Quart

https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9780063028005

Economic Hardship Project

https://economichardship.org/

Podcast:

Going For Broke

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/going-for-broke/id1585501973

Greg's ZZs Blog:

http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

AlissaQuart#EconomicHarship#NickelandDimet#GoingForBroker#Bootstrapping#littlehouseontheprairie#BarbaraEhrenreich#GregGodels#zzblog#PatCummings#ComingFromLeftField

Book: "The Purity Fetish and the Crisis of Western Marxism" by Carlos Garrido https://www.midwesternmarx.com/books.html 

Please subscribe to the Midwestern Marx YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MidwesternMarx 

Greg's ZZs Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

CarlosGarrido#MidwesternMarxism#PurityFetisht#FreddieDeboer#Socialism#SovietUnion#Cubanrevolution#China#CrisisWesternMarxism#Socialism#Socialist#GregGodels#zzblog#PatCummings#ComingFromLeftField

We discuss his new book where he gives a detailed explanation of how conservative arguments work and why we need to resist them, then goes through twenty-five separate talking points, showing precisely why each one fails.

Book: Responding to the Right: Brief Replies to 25 Conservative Arguments by Nathan J. Robinson https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9781250777744

Magazine: Current Affairs: A Magazine of Politics and Culture https://www.currentaffairs.org/ 

Greg's ZZs Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

NathanRobinson#NathanJRobinson#Respondingtotheright#CurrentAffairs#Magazine#Brief Repliesto25ConservativeArguments#NoamChomsky#FreddieDeBoer#Woke#Wokism#Right-Wing#ConservativeArguments#Socialism#Socialist#GregGodels#zzblog#PatCummings#ComingFromLeftField

Butler and Ehrhart are both cut from the same cloth, Marines, opinionated, and on the correct side of politics.

Supplemental pictures and videos:

https://ComingFromLeftField.com/sb  

Books:

War Is A Racket by Smedley D. Butler

Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America's Empire by Jonathan M. Katz

Devil Dog: The Amazing True Story of the Man Who Saved America (Pulp History) by David Talbot (Author), Spain Rodriguez (Illustrator)

Greg's ZZs Blog:

http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

#BillEhrart#WDEhart#WarIsARacket#SmedleyButler#MarineCorps#MetalHonor#Ultra#RachelMaddow#GregGodels#zzblog#PatCummings#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#BuisnessPlot#BonusArmy#OverthroughRoosevelt#Facisim

The book:

Strongmen- Mussolini To The Present

https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9780393868418

Substack:

Ruth Ben-Ghiat Lucid Substack

https://lucid.substack.com/

Greg's ZZs Blog:

http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

#RuthBenGhiat#RuthBen-Ghiat#Strongmen#MussolinitoPresent# authoritarianism #Factism#Facist#propaganda#machismo#Trump#illiberal#Putin#Lucid#GregGodels#zzblog#PatCummings#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast

Tom’s book:

The Footpaths of Justice William O. Douglas: A Legacy of Place

https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9780595330409

Greg's ZZs Blog:

http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

#TomHulst#TomRHulstl# TheFootpathsofJustice#WilliamODouglas#ALegacyofPlace#Originalist#Yakima#Hiking#PacificNW#FreeSpeech#FreeSpeech#Environmentalism#GregGodels#zzblog#PatCummings#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast

Mother Jones:

https://www.motherjones.com/author/anthony-conwright/

The Nation:

https://www.thenation.com/authors/anthony-conwright/

Huffington Post:

https://www.huffpost.com/author/aconwright-628

Greg's ZZs Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

ERRATA 20:13 Michael Brown was the young man killed in Ferguson, MO (2014), not Freddie Gray

#AnthonyConwright#MotherJonesl#TheNation#HuffingtonPost#Jan6#BigLie#Facism#Journalsit#Commitee10#RobertPape#LostCause#AdamHochshild#Fergeson#GregGodels#zzblog#PatCummings#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast

His most recent book is a critical review that exposes Churchill’s leadership in the context of forgotten Imperial crimes.

Book:

“Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes” with Tariq Ali

https://www.versobooks.com/books/3971-winston-churchill

Greg's ZZs Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

#TariqAlil#WinstonChurchill#Empireft#Colonialism#WWII#WarCrimes#ChurchillWarCriminal#TimesHis Crimes#BritishEmpire#BengalFamine#CarolineElkins#BBCGreatestBritons#GregGodels#zzblog#PatCummings#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast

Links: Part 1: National Security State Censoring of Anti-Imperialist Voices the Latest Phase of their Long-Term Strategy to Divide and Control the Left (Jun 23, 2022)

https://tinyurl.com/yjpschj3

Part 2: Behind the Decline of the US Left  (Nov 28, 2022):

https://tinyurl.com/9f63ta9n

Greg's ZZs Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

#StanSmithl#StansfieldSmith#Behindthedeclineoftheusleft#Leftpolitics#ChicagoALBASolidarity#ChicagoCommiteetoFreeCuban5#Cuban5#LatinAmerica#PinkTide#mediacensorship#Anti-imperialism#DivideLeft#compatibleleft#twitterfiles#matttiabbi#GregGodels#zzblog#PatCummings#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast