Episode 92: Forget The Bathtub

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(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement.)

There are lots of reporters and speculators mulling over the surprise result of our last presidential election, aren't there? As I've said before, though, this should have been what to expect, if in the last election, then in the next. As money exerts its muscle in its attempt to get its way, the people's choices will matter less and less. What was it that Grover Nordquist said about how small he wants government to get?

Along with the noise about what could have caused this outcome, though, precious few in the commercial media are focusing on signal and the well-connected, well-funded players like Cambridge Analytica. That's what this Episode 92: Forget The Bathtub, tries to do.

In this episode, I read from: a Buzzfeed article; a bit from Max Barry's novel Lexicon; a New Scientist article; the abstract to Michal Kosinski's research on that topic; a Telegraph article; a Motherboard article you really must check out; a definition from my computer's dictionary; and a New York Times article. I quoted: Paul Ford, from an On The Media interview; and Alexander Nix from his Concordia Summit speech. D. L. Myers read from the Powell Memo itself.

Music-wise, I played: two from et, first "A Song of Sadness," then "Joy & Emptiness"; and Podington Bear's "Intermezzo". I opened with KMFDM backing Henry Giroux, and am celebrating the recent season with the Vince Guaraldi Trio doing "Skating."

I'm releasing this and all my episodes under a Creative Commons 4.0 share-alike, attribution, and non-commercial license.

Episode 91: Refining Mining Into Tragic Magic

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(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement.)

I am constantly amazed at how people bend themselves into cognitive dissonance pretzels rather than admit that there are psychological pressures at work on all of us, so much so that maybe we should make ourselves aware of the pressures that prove most effective on ourselves. You know, to see when we are being snookered.

That's roughly the thrust of this Episode 91: Refining Mining Into Tragic Magic. This is an introduction to the concept that the technology used to determine ad targets and what best moves them may have gone too far, especially when used in political concerns.

In this episode, I read from: Nir Eyal's Hooked; a New York Times Magazine article entitled "How Companies Learn Your Secrets"; a Paste Magazine article, "Hillary Clinton's Super PAC, Taking a Page from Vladimir Putin, Spends $1 Million on Online Trolls"; and a New York Times article called "Fake Russian Facebook Accounts Bought $100,000 in Political Ads".

I play a bit of audio from: the movie Top Secret; President Ronald Reagan, correcting David Brinkley's pronunciation during his last interview as president; Mark Zuckerberg, trying to reassure everyone that he wasn't evil; and an On The Media episode titled "Trust Issues." D. L. Myers, of course, voices the memo itself.

I play two from Jahzzar, first "Twin", and then "Downtown Serenade". KMFDM backs a new intro from Henry Giroux. I close with Mistle Thrush.

I'm releasing this and all my episodes under a Creative Commons 4.0 attribution, share-alike, and non-commercial license.

Episode 90: Triple Threat

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(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement. Sort of.)

Not all of what Lewis Powell suggested has turned into canon by those that follow his memo. Powell was a learned man of his times that eschewed, I suspect, the majority of what the boob tube offers. Therefore, he grossly underestimated what a vast amount of cash could do toward buying the medium that he strongly suggested should be merely watched and criticized. Then again, who could have predicted what that same money, injected directly into the election process, could have done to morph the news medium Powell warned should be watched so closely?

This morphing is the topic of Episode 90: Triple Threat, the rise of the money-media-election complex.

In this episode, I read from Greg Mitchell's book Campaign of the Century, documenting Upton Sinclair's 1934 run for Governor of California; and from Robert McChesney and John Nichols' book Dollarocracy. Audio-wise, I play Senator Al Franken waiting for a potential campaign donor to answer, singing as he does a little ditty he shared with Terri Gross on a Fresh Air interview; and from Counterspin, Jeanine Jackson telling the woeful story of Les Moonves' shocking honesty about what actually motivates national network news. D. L. Myers, of course, read from the memo itself.

I tune up things a bit with Podington Bear's appropriately named song "Dole It Out." I open with KMFDM's "Attak", today backing Henry Giroux, and close with Mistle Thrush's "It's All Like Today."

As with all my episodes, I'm releasing this under a Creative Commons 4.0 attribution, share-alike, and non-commercial license.

Ad Nauseam

Hey, Dear Listerners,

I felt you need some explanation as to the delay putting out Episode 90. Bottom line, I'm not feeling well. I mean I'm not feeling well enough to walk to the bathroom (most of the time) without serious doses of mind-warping medication to get me there without prolonging the bathroom experience into one best not described.

Something has embuggered my inner ear to the point where up is down, right is left, and trying to ignore these signals that conflict so obviously with my eyeballs only results in what lubbers must call sea sickness (though I, a 15-year professional mariner, still doubt such silly notions exist in the physical world).

(Then again, I just realized each half of the word "nausea" can refer to the oceans; "nau-tical" for the first part. Hmmmm.)

Anyhoo, the almost finished episode sits, as producers of such stuff say, In The Can just waiting for me to muster enough internally consistent equilibrium to finish and post it. And I'm sure once the third specialist squeezes me in for a look-see I might even get a diagnosis of what even happened, something I've yet to get at all since this began almost a month ago.

The worst part about all of this?! Look at this post's title. I spent months wracking my brains for a decent, clever, catchy title for the Attack Ads! Podcast, and there is was all along. Duh.

Well, that's about all the screen time I can muster, even with multi-minute breaks avoiding the screen itself (which appears to be extremely nausea inducing). I'll get back to fighting the good fight once I can, I promise. Thanks very much for your patience.

-Jim
You Ad A-{blech!}-er.

Episode 89: Gamers Gonna Game

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Podcasting is not an up-to-date pursuit. Some listeners arrive when the sound files are freshly minted; others years later. For that reason, it's best not to confuse later listeners with DailyExcitement!™ from the past now long forgotten. And since the closing topic for The Powell Movement is now quite a bit in the DailyExcitement!™ infotainment engorgement trough, I thought I would back up a bit, and discuss here in Episode 89: Gamers Gonna Game, a topic crucial to understanding the process by which the Powell Movementeers have gained such prominence.

I quoted nothing, really, only just kinda sorta noted facts presented in the entertaining Mary Pilon book, The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game (Bloomsbury, 2015).

I also cut the closing segment very short. The body of the episode was recorded about a week and a half before the release date of Tuesday, October 17, 2017, simply to give me more time to visit with the out-of-town guests I mention in the show. Half-way through that visit, though, I fell ill with an as-of-yet undiagnosed embuggerance that left me bedridden for days on end, unable even, in one memorable case, to make it to the specialist that maybe had a chance of knowing enough for a diagnosis. (Pro-tip: when you're stuck in a waiting room, vomit loudly. You'll get whisked to more private places in no time!) I am feeling "better", meaning I can leave my bed; but I stumble about rather than walk, and type slowly so as not to anger the Annoyed Festerance making the opposite of eating all too common.

I did play: KMFDM backing Noam Chomsky mentioning the memo (thanks again, Kevin!); D. L. Myers intoning the series title; and Mistle Thrush at the close.

Just like the rest, this episode is being released under a Creative Commons 4.0, attribution, share-alike, and non-commercial license.

Now, if you'll excuse me, time once again for bed.

Episode 88: One of the Most Dangerous Pleasures

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It may be that I've been doing this Powell Movement research too long. No matter what I read, what I hear, I can't help but place it in a Powell Memo frame, isolating those parts of whatever I'm hearing or reading at the moment that fail to pass the basic memo awareness tests. That's my chief gripe in this Episode 88: One of the Most Dangerous Pleasures. I take issue with an author who seems——perhaps deliberately, perhaps not——to ignore the Powell Movementeers in his reading of recent history.

In this episode, I quote: Barry Lynn's article printed in the Washington Post concerning his own firing; another Washington Post article on the topic; Daniel Drezner's book The Ideas Industry; and Jane Mayer's book Dark Money. I play the D. L. Myers stinger for the Powell Movement series, and a quote from President Ronald Reagan.

Music-wise, I play a Jahzzar tune, "sketch sos". I open with KMFDM this time backing Noam Chomsky mentioning the Powell Memo by name. (By the way, finders credit goes to listener Kevin for pointing me toward that Chomsky audio. Thanks again, Kevin!) I once again close the show with Mistle Thrush.

I'm releasing this and all my episodes under a Creative Commons 4.0 attribution, share-alike, and non-commercial license.

Episode 87: ALL Commercial News is Fake!

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(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement.)

We've heard all about this phenomenon, but really, what constitutes that so-called "fake news?" That's the question I raise in this Episode 87: ALL Commercial News Is Fake!, suggesting that the answer can be found simply enough: wherever you find the most likely sources of the money that funds the news, you find as well the most likely source of fakery.

In this Episode I quote: my computer's quickie dictionary; yet again Robert McChesney and John Nichols' book, Death and Life of American Journalism; and a Bloomberg article about Steve Bannon from October 8, 2015, titled "This Man Is the Most Dangerous Political Operative in America." I referenced a This American Life episode which you can find here.

I play absolutely nobody (other than myself) saying the words "fake news." You're welcome.

I did wind up playing: Pietnaska's "Keymonica", and Jahzzar's "Little Chance." I open with D. L. Myers reading from The Memo Itself and KMFDM backing Henry Giroux, and I'm close, once again, with Mistle Thrush.

I'm releasing this and all my episodes under a Creative Commons 4.0, attribution, share-alike and non-commercial license.

Episode 86: Wedgies of Mass Distraction

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(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement.)

There are complexities, techniques, and nuances learned when you split wood for, oh, 40 years. It's not as simple as smashing an ax on some wood and have it cleave cleanly into smaller pieces. All too often, you've got to not only bring out the wedges, but know how to use them effectively.And, it turns out, splitting wood has quite a few traits in common with splitting electorates, with issues used as wedges.

That's the topic of this Episode 86: Wedgies of Mass Distraction. (And yes, that's "wedgies," as in the resulting uncomfortable underwear bunching that comes from someone pulling the undies up another's butt. You expect lofty analogies from someone that coined the term The Powell Movement?)

In this episode, I read from: my computer's dictionary; Kevin Kruse's book One Nation Under God; Dan Baum's Gun Guys; and Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson's Winner Take All Politics.

I play Jill Lepore observations, taken from her interview in the August 3rd, 2017 episode of On The Media, an episode titled "Smashmortion"; First Lady Betty Ford from 1975 giving her opinion on abortion's legalization (the audio taken from the same OTM episode); D. L. Myers reading from the Memo Itself; and Henry Giroux at the opening, backed by KMFDM. The Necronomikon Quartett played "Future 03" in the middle, and I closed the show with Mistle Thrush's "It's All Like Today".

I'm releasing this and all my episodes under a Creative Commons 4.0 attribution, share-alike, and non-commercial license.

(Oh, and one final note: No, I did not take the cookie analogy used in this episode from Season 3, Episode 7, of "The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt." I know, I know, both of us mentioned the comparison between raisins and chocolate chips, and both associated that mention with Seattle. When I saw that episode, this episode of Attack Ads! was already recorded and mostly edited, so much so that including that bit of Kimmy Schmidt would have been a real pain. It's just a happy coincidence, nothing more.)

Episode 85: The Unfairwaves

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(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement.)

It's bad enough that most radio is so chock filled with commercial interruptions that folks, like myself, find it unlistenable. Thanks to a late-80s rule change, however, one has to watch out for more than just paid crap between the featured show sneaking its influence into one's brain case via the hearing holes. That's the theme of today's Episode 85: The Unfairwaves.

In this episode, I read from: Mitchell Stephens' book Beyond News: The Future of Journalism; a Wikipedia article on the Fairness Doctrine; Eric Altermann's book What Liberal Media?: The Truth About Bias and the News; Robert McChesney and John Nichols' book Dollarocracy: How the Money and Media Election Complex is Destroying America; McKay Coppins' book The Wilderness: Deep Inside the Republican Party's Combative, Contentious, Chaotic Quest to Take Back the White House; Politico articles "Who is Dave Brat?", "How Big Money failed Cantor", "Right-wing radio's win", and "The tea party radio network"; the Atlantic Magazine's article "Six Theories for Eric Cantor's Loss"; and the DailyKos article "Who is John Ga-er-David Brat".

Musically, I play three from Jahzarr; "Cavern," "Dip," and (quite appropriately) "Gloom." I open with KMFDM's "Attak" backing Henry Giroux, and close once again with Mistle Thrush.

I'm releasing this and all my episodes under a Creative Commons 4.0 attribution, share-alike, and non-commercial license.

Episode 84: Critical Mass Holes

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(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement.)

Sometimes the conventional wisdom consists of nothing more than reasonable assumptions overlaid atop evidence that, without those assumptions, appears incongruous. Worse, because of those overlaid assumptions, we avoid looking more closely at those incongruities, at otherwise implied but obscured-by-assumption machinations lurking in the evidence.

That's what I do in this Episode 84: Critical Mass Holes. The assumed culprit hobbling the newspaper industry over the last 40 years has long been capitalism and the short-term profit incentive. I suggest otherwise. After all, short-term profits have long been an incentive; why have they only attacked newspaper productivity only recently?

For evidence, today I quoted three books: Robert McChesney and John Nichols' The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution That Will Begin the World Again (First Nation Books, 2010) Robert McChesney's Digital Disconnect (The New Press, 2013);" and Mitchell Stephen's Beyond News: The Future of Journalism (Columbia University Press, 2014).

Audio-wise, I sampled the voices of: David Simon, giving testimony before the Senate; Orson Welles in his role of the Citizen Charles Foster Kane, newspaper mogul; and Tony Randall playing Felix Unger from the television show "The Odd Couple." Since this is a Powell Movement episode, I also play the Memo Reading voice of D. L. Myers.

I kept the musical interludes to a minimum for this show, mostly because of the heat wave turning the Attack Ads studio into a toaster oven; but I had to open the show with the usual KMFDM samples from "Attak," today backed by Henry Giroux; and I'm close the show once again with Mistle Thrush's "It's All Like Today."

I'm releasing this and all my episodes under a Creative Commons 4.0 share-alike, attribution, and non-commercial license.

Bonus Episode: The Wedge Strategy

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There are, I believe, a few select documents that, if known, reveal possible reasons behind actions that might otherwise go unappreciated or even unnoticed. I shared the first in my first podcast Bonus Episode. It is time to share the second. In this Bonus Episode: The Wedge Strategy, I read from the The Wedge Strategy, produced by the Discovery Institute's Center for the Renewal of Science & Culture.

In this episode, I read both from the Wedge Strategy document (PDF) and from the Wikipedia entry concerning it.

I also offer an apology early on to a listener, as of yet unidentified. I probably deleted a message that listener tried to give me. This accident—again, for which I am truly sorry—got me to pondering whether or not an online forum for listeners to connect should be created.

Episode 83: To The Perpentious!

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Perpentious: (adj.) Considerate of the details
necessary to the success of an event or completion of a task.

Our English language is a mish-mashed mush of a stew with ingredients from so many different sources that it becomes a discipline in itself to guess from where that word or this might hail. I thought it necessary to reconstruct one such word, temporarily misplaced, and further thought it would be a neat idea to offer it and my search to you. Hence, the sentiment of my toast to you, Dear Listeners, and the title of Episode 83: To The Perpentious!

In this episode, I read from my Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary, and from my computer dictionary. I also read from a few searched web sites, and played an incorrect definition from some quiz thing that popped up in that search. Oh, and if anyone out there would like to plunk down some credit digits just to take a gander at the old newspapers and either confirm or deny whether the optical character scanner did its job properly, as I suspect it did not, that would be great! Be sure to grab a screen shot of whatever you find! I did!


The Problem with Column Conflation

I play three tunes from Podington Bear, first "Ideas," then "Gathering," and finally "Many Hands." I open the show with KMFDM backing Dmitri Orlov, and close with Julie and Rolf and the campfire gang doing a ukelele version of "Over The Rainbow."

I'm releasing this and all my shows under a Creative Commons 4.0, share-alike, attribution, and non-commercial license.

Episode 82: Rave Review: Lexicon

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Recordings can be persuasive, sometimes in ways that give us goosebumps. Persuasive, sure…. But what if what we hear or see can work on our brains far more effectively than we know?

In this Episode 82: Rave Review: Lexicon, I share a bit of speculation in that direction from Max Barry's excellent book, Lexicon. This sub-category of episode, the Rave Review, was something, as I explain in the episode, that I was going to revisit regularly when I couldn't think of anything else to do. Which, weirdly, almost never happened. From now on, I promise, I'm going to share reviews of more entertaining media which all hold advertising as a key element driving the plot.

I read a bit of detail from a Smithsonian article about recovering antique sound recording; and from Barry's book. From the Smithsonian piece, I play a bit of recovered audio.

Musically, I play Wurlitztraction's "Talk Riddles, Listen In Dreams," and Podington Bear's "Firefly." Bernie Sanders and KMFDM open the show, and I close with Mistle Thrush.

Episode 81: Pulpits, Bully and Otherwise

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(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement.)

We constantly hear that the left—that is, the political left—is in trouble, beset by losses in stature and political support. No wonder, since most of the voices most often heard on the "left" come from operatives and functionaries co-opted by quite un-left forces. These voices prove unwilling to challenge the right with accurate definitions, lest they cede the prestige granted to them by the right itself. This creates in their utterances a hodgepodgey stammer of compromise to the forces of reaction in every attempt to champion progress, leaving befuddled listeners scratching their heads even as they nod in agreement.

I address that phenomenon a bit as a follow-up to my last episode in this Episode 81: Pulpits, Bully and Otherwise. Specifically, I call out New York Times columnist Paul Krugman for failing as a voice on the left in his lap-dogged determination to remain in the good graces of the very forces he should be targeting first and foremost, those operating and obfuscating our international money system. My friend calls me an example of the left's circular firing squad mentality; I counter that, in this case, compromising on the empirically verifiable reality of simple banking regulation does Krugman no favors, putting him in the same camp as climate change deniers and young earth creationists who take their positions in order to curry favor with the oligarchs funding the Foundations of Deceit and the Distortion Factories run thereby.

I read from various Paul Krugman New York Times columns, and from refuting information provided by Steve Keen's blog and book, Debunking Economics. I played audio quotes from: Michael Hudson, with definitional assistance from Walt McCree; Bernie Sanders, speaking at a gathering in Vermont; and Bernard Lietaer, recounting to a crowd of his own both the Fauxbel Prize awards system and an encounter he had with then-schoolmate Paul Krugman. A piece of angry wisdom from the cartoon version of Dilbert spiced things up a bit once again.

(Oh, and at the last minute, long after the end credits had already been recorded, I decided to throw in a bit of audio from a late-'70s cartoon mentioned by Michael Hudson. I apologize that this audio was not recognized in the list of credits.)

Musically, I played two from Jahzzar: first, "Intruder;" then "Undone." KMFDM backs Bernie Sanders in the opening, and I close with Mistle Thrush.

I'm releasing this and all my episodes under a Creative Commons 4.0, attribution, share-alike, and non-commercial license.

Episode 80: Textbook Examples

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(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement.)

I have to keep reminding myself that, when I start a task of reading and dissecting, I should read and dissect ALL of it, not just the parts I think would be most interesting. Why? There's interesting stuff in those boring parts, if only I considered them enough. As it was with college speakers, so too is it the case with textbooks. Hence, Episode 80: Textbook Examples.

In this episode, I play excerpts from former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan giving testimony to Congress from October 23, 2008, and from President Franklin Roosevelt's first inaugural address from March 4, 1933. I read from Steve Keen's excellent book Debunking Economics, and shared a couple of very similar quotes from Nathan Meyer Rothschild and Paul Samuelson. As usual, D. L. Myers opened the show reading from The Memo.

Through the show today I weave a Pietnastka tune appropriately called "School Boy". KMFDM backs Henry Giroux near the start, and I close with Mistle Thrush.

I'm releasing this and all my episodes under a Creative Commons 4.0 attribution, share-alike and non-commercial license. I don't say that every time. I should.

Episode 79: Provocateurs

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(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement.)

Lewis Powell suggested that colleges and universities were too liberal for their own good, and that people, good people who believed in the enterprise system, should be brought to campus to speak. Today, the college speakers we hear about we hear about because of protests sometimes too violent to allow the speakers to speak safely.

In this Episode 79: Provocateurs, I suggest that inciting protests against the wing nut, wackaloon, cray cray, Holy Shit You've Got To Be Fucking Kidding Me, Nazi, Klan, Liberals Baaaaad brand of What the Fuck Was That?! speech might be the real reason speakers are chosen, rather than their simple support of the enterprise system.

I read from a few internet memes, summarize Upton Sinclair's 1923 book The Goose-Step, and quote a bit of David Brock's Blinded By The Right.

D. L. Myers intones Mr. Powell's memo excerpts at the opening, and Henry Giroux gives a few words with KMFDM's able "Attack" backing. I play a bit of the kerfuffle from a Middlebury College student protest over a speaking engagement by Charles Murray. Full Load of King plays "Envelope Infrared Part 3", and I close with Mistle Thrush.

Episode 78: A Quickie After Courting

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(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement.)

Sometimes, reality can bitch-slap us right upside our heads with its patented Clue-By-Four™. Reality did that to me, but this time, it only showed how generous I was to the Powell Movementeers when I described their activities in my last Episode 77: Courting Disaster. This is a follow-up to that episode, wherein I let other voices tell you how bad things have gotten. And since it follows 77, and since it is quick, as in short in length of time, this is Episode 78: A Quickie After Courting.

The music of Ga'an, a five-minute piece called "I Of Infinite Forms Part I," backs the voices I've culled from the intertoobs. We hear (not necessarily in order of appearance): Bob Garfield, from an On The Media podcast extra, "Better Know a Justice" (dated March 25, 2017); Jeffrey Toobin, interviewed by Terry Gross on Fresh Air's episode "How One Man Brought Justices Roberts, Alito And Gorsuch To The Supreme Court" (dated April 12, 2017); David Greene from NPR's Morning Edition interviewing Leonard Leo* ("What Comes Next for Neil Gorsuch," released April 5, 2017); Bob Garfield (again, I know) as heard in On The Media's episode "Highly Irregular"** (podcast dated March 25, 2017); Dan Goldberg, from his Counterspin interview (podcast dated March 25, 2017); NBC News, "Neil Gorsuch Confirmed Supreme Court After Senate Uses Nuclear Option;" a Wall St. Journal video, "Gorsuch Gets Campaign-Like Ad Push" (dated February 21, 2017); a US News video, "Judicial Crisis Network Releases Ad Supporting Neil Gorsuch for Supreme Court" (dated February 3, 2017); and a CNN piece, "Making America Great Neil Gorsuch" (dated April 4, 2017).

(As to the asterisks, I would encourage everyone to listen to the source material so marked, both the David Greene interview with, let's remember, THE key player in this drama, Leonard Leo, the man who vetted and listed Gorsuch and two other Supreme Court justices for Republican presidents. For David Greene to *NOT* acknowledge Leo's prominent role in Gorsuch's selection, and treat him just as an "advisor" to President Trump, is to take away for a good long time any claim he—or NPR—has as a "liberal" position or even liberal leaning. That was hiding the bias to the highest degree possible. And Bob Garfield's interview with director Carrie Severino of the Judicial Crisis Network should be heard to be properly hated. The snark, the smug, the "screw you, poor people" coming from her mug was almost as condescending Leo's supercilious and disingenuous tone.

(Y'know, fuck them both. I planned to put that tone in the quickie mash-up, but felt I would have to back pedal constantly to correct the taint of lies spewing from both their pie holes too much to keep the episode quick. Go. Have a listen for yourself. These bastards are outright bragging about their Destruction of Democracy.)

Episode 77: Courting Disaster

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(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement.)

The wealthy fund the foundations, which publish the gobbledygook and bunkum, which helps support the pressures the foundations then level against the politicians, which defeats some legislation and introduces different ones. But what to do about those laws and regulations still on the books which make it hard to continue that process? Who can remove those unprofitable rules once and for all?

Leave that to the judiciary.

In this Episode 77: Courting Disaster, I touch a bit on judicial activism, or how some have used the courts to better the lives of and improve the industrial profitability of businesses owned by the wealthy.

In this episode, I read from Jane Mayer's Dark Money once again; portions of the Buckley dissent from Justices White and Marshall; and a Wikipedia entry concerning the Federalist Society. You also heard D. L. Myers reading from Lewis Powell's memo.

Musically, KMFDM's Attack backed Justice Stevens reading a portion of his dissent to the Citizens United Not Timid decision; through the middle of the show I worked in a Metastaz tune called "Ghost & Assassin"; and I closed the show with Mistle Thrush doing "It's All Like Today."

Episode 76: The Pros And Their Cons

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(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement.)

So far, I've shared the fortunes amassed into foundations, and the gobbledygook, bunkum and distortions that bought. At what point, though, could we say with some degree of certainty that these investments started to bear fruit? I address that question in this Episode 76: The Pros and Their Cons.

In this episode, I read from a book by Jacob S. Hacker & Paul Pierson, Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer—And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class. I also read briefly from Lewis Powell's Memo, and had further memo reading help from the pitch-perfect voice talent of D. L. Myers.

I returned musically to the soundtrack of one of my favorite video games of all time, Total Annihilation. In order of play, you hear "Desolation," "Stealth," "Brutal Battle," and "Licking Wounds." I close the show with another Total Annihilation tune, "Where Am I?", and I open with KMFDM once again backing Henry Giroux.

Episode 75: Lower Education

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(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement.)

Lewis Powell, Jr. was adamant that his United States and its enterprise system, business culture, capitalism, call it what you will, was under assault. He was most explicit, though, about the primary source of that assault: academia. I explore a portion of what he recommended—and what was done in his name—in this Episode 75: Lower Education.

In this episode, I read a bit from The Memorandum and extensively from Jane Mayer's Dark Money. D. L. Myers also reads from The Memo. I play Ga'an's "Vultures of the Horn," and "Part III" from Jahzzar's album, Moonxine. A new Henry Giroux/KMFDM intro opens the show. Mistle Thrush closes it.

Addendum: In this episode, there is a brief stretch where I pull out the dictionary, it would seem, and run through a bunch of big words like "obfuscatory" and "chicanery." I'd like here to defend myself. I was talking about how the Distortion Factories, well, distort. And one of the best ways to distort is to sound like you are an expert in the topic, and to prove it you use big words like "obfuscatory." I was quite deliberately trying to sound like they sound, these producers of university-bound curricula designed to warp young minds positively in the direction of Big Business.

This is something you can do as well!

One of the words I think everyone should know, and one that I used, was:

Sesquipedalian: long words.

That is a brilliant word from the 17th century, reportedly made up by some college wit long forgotten. Break down the Latin, and it literally means "words a foot-and-a-half long:" Sesqui = "one and a half," like sesquicentential, or the one hundred fiftieth anniversary; pedal, meaning foot. In context, I referred to "sesquipedalian chicanery;" chicanes are curves and obstacles in road race courses. Therefore, the term refers to phrases using big words to obstruct understanding of what is actually being said! It is literal irony, in that the accuser blasts the accused of using big words ... by using big words!

Episode 74: Bunkum

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(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement.)

One bit of claptrap, as I pointed out in my last episode, can be called gobbledygook. The same can be said for one bit of bunk, true; but I'd like to expand the meaning of the word just a bit to refer to the coordinated fraud in its entirety that takes place in perpetrating falsehood for profit in this Episode 74: Bunkum.

In this episode, you'll hear me reading from a Wikipedia article on bunkum; from Upton Sinclair's books The Goose Step and The World's End Vol. 1; and from Joshua Green's October 8, 2015 Bloomberg article called "This Man Is the Most Dangerous Political Operative in America". I excerpted Mr. Green talking about his article from his On The Media interview with BG Brooke; and a bit from a December, 1953 radio episode of Dragnet called "The Big Pick." I once again got voice help from D. L. Myers reading Mr. Powell's Memo.

Musically, I played Jahzzar doing "Trap" and Podington Bear doing "Dark Water." I opened with KMFDM and Henry Giroux, and closed with Mistle Thrush's "It's All Like Today."

I'm releasing this, as well as all of my episodes, under a Creative Commons 4.0 attribution, share-alike and non-commercial license.

Episode 73: Gobbledygook

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(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement.)

Soon-to-be Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell, Jr. was very explicit: "One finds almost no attractive, well-written paperbacks or pamphlets on 'our side.' It will be difficult to compete … for reader attention, but unless the effort is made — on a large enough scale and with appropriate imagination to assure some success — this opportunity for educating the public will be irretrievably lost…." Which explains the abundance of books that support the right of the political spectrum, doesn't it?

In this Episode 73: Gobbledygook, I rehash a book review I wrote years ago for my neighbor's magazine and take a deepish dive into one such book and explore the history behind the word I chose to use to define it and others of that category.

In this episode, you hear D. L. Myers reading from The Memo Itself. I read from the Maverick Family's objection to John McCain's appropriation of their family name as a campaign slogan, and from Governor Mike Huckabee's 2014 book God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy. Yup. Mike. Huckabee.

I play four tunes from Podington Bear: "Bumble," "Dog and Pony Show," "Transmogrify," and "Conveyor Belt." I open the show with KMFDM backing Henry Giroux once again, and close with Mistle Thrush's "It's All Like Today."

Episode 72: The Distortion Factories Part II

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(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement.)

Once a bunch of extremely rich people heard the organizing call from Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr.; once their fortunes established philanthropic foundations professionally staffed with the best money could hire; what happened then? This is the topic I explore in Episode 72: The Distortion Factories Part II.

Here I finish my deep dive into what I think is a good example of such a Distortion Factory, one that suckered me in back in '90 or so: The Breakthrough Institute.

(Cards on the table yet again: I am neither pro- nor anti-nuke: I feel there are a lot of promising technologies one can find that happen to function through nuclear fission; I also recognize that there are a lot of bad designs that should be retired and scrapped as soon as possible. The Breakthrough Institute initially got me interested in its brash rejection of traditional "environmentalism" and, yes, its embrace of nuclear tech. They lost me with their convoluted logic and embrace of *all* things nuke. Once I learned about distributed generation—the very antithesis of centralized nuke plants feeding a hub-shaped power grid—I started to realize how business-centric the Breakthrough Institute really was.)

In this part, you heard me read from the website for Third Way, and from Jane Mayer's Dark Money. I played a bit from Michael Shellenberger's TED talk. Musically, you heard Jahzzar's "Liar" (I cut it into segments, playing the first half twice, and you're hearing the end of it now), and another song called "FO." (Please, oh please, let that stand for Fuck Off!) Once again, D.L. Myers helped out with his voice reading the spooky, spooky Memo Itself. I opened the show with KMFDM backing Henry Giroux.

Episode 71: The Distortion Factories Part I

Play Now!

(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement.)

Once a bunch of extremely rich people heard the organizing call from Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr.; once their fortunes established philanthropic foundations professionally staffed with the best money could hire; what happened then? This is the topic I explore in Episode 71: The Distortion Factories Part I.

I decided to dive deeply into what I think is a good example of such a Distortion Factory, one that suckered me in back in '90 or so: The Breakthrough Institute.

(Cards on the table: I am neither pro- nor anti-nuke: I feel there are a lot of promising technologies one can find that happen to function through nuclear fission; I also recognize that there are a lot of bad designs that should be retired and scrapped as soon as possible. The Breakthrough Institute initially got me interested in its brash rejection of traditional "environmentalism" and, yes, its embrace of nuclear tech. They lost me with their convoluted logic and embrace of *all* things nuke. Once I learned about distributed generation—the very antithesis of centralized nuke plants feeding a hub-shaped power grid—I started to realize how business-centric the Breakthrough Institute really was.)

In this episode, I read from: the Breakthrough Institute's premiere piece, "The Death of Environmentalism;" from the Breakthrough Institute's web site listing their sponsors; and from a couple of web sites run by those supporters and supporting organizations. One supporter, Ross Koningstein, who works for The Searchies, had an interesting paper that I both read from an, with help from a rebutting essay, rebut.

Musically, I played a couple of pieces from Jahzzar's album "Tumbling Dishes Like Old-Man's Wishes"; "The Flowers Are Still Standing," and "No End Ave." I opened the show with KMFDM backing Henry Giroux.

Episode 70: Foundations of Deceit

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(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement.)

Why reinvent the wheel? If it's round, it rolls. And the legal entity chosen by many previously discussed Unusual Suspects, the legal format that has benefited many a billionaire and corporation over the years whether or not they had Powell-y machinations of society in mind, has been the philanthropic foundation. Many not only rolled with foundations… they rocked them.

In this Episode 70: Foundations of Deceit, I take a longish look at how billions of dollars are protected from taxation and other liberal meddling, while simultaneously allowing those billions to warp our society one foundation at a time.

In this episode, I read from Thomas Picketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century, and from Jane Mayer's Dark Money. I also threw out some historical numbers I found on a website run by The Tax Foundation.

And once again, D. L. Myers helped me out by reading from The Memo Itself. He is a poet and reader of weird poetry. Many of his readings, both of his own poetry and the work of others, can be found at his online video channel.

Musically, I threw in three from Podington Bear's album Yearning. In order, you heard "Infant," "Yellow Line," and "Squiggly Line." KMFDM and Henry Giroux opened the show, and Mistle Thrush once again backs the close.

Oh, and Dr. Evil got into the episode somehow. He seemed (Jim extends a pinkie to one corner of his lip as the camera zooms in) appropriate!