Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

On this edition of Parallax Views, we dive into the wild world of pro wrestling, the parallels it has with politics, and even a diversion into Freemasonry with former pro wrestling manager turned political podcast extraordinaire Kenny "Starmaker" Bolin. Kenny Bolin worked as a heel (bad guy) manager in Ohio Valley Wrestling, the one-time developmental promotion for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) that produced such stars as John Cena, Dave Bautista, Rico Constantino, and Rene Dupree among others. In fact, Bolin was OVW top heel that irked the fans into buying tickets because they hoped to see him get his comeuppance after insulting the audience. Kenny's lived a fascinating life growing up on pro wrestling, becoming a talent in OVW, and making friends like billionaire investor Mark Cuban and former Trump appointed White House Director of Communications Anthony Scaramucci along the way. We begin the conversation by diving into the world of pro wrestling, how tickets are sold, the Memphis territory ran by the late Jerry Jarrett, the infamous feud that took place between comedian Andy Kaufman and wrestling legend Jerry "The King" Lawler in the squared circle, and much, much more. From there we delve into the world of politics, what politics has learned from pro wrestling, and Kenny explains his immense dislike of Donald Trump. Near the end we delve into Kenny background, his experience with Freemasons and racist family members (including a biological father that was a key member of the KKK), thoughts on evangelical Christianity and televangelists, and much, much more! 

On this edition of Parallax Views, Charles Henry, President of the Council on Library and Information Resources, joins us to discuss the importance of preserving cultural memory and history in the digital age. Massive amount of information, if not properly maintained in this new digital era, could be lost to the sands of time. This incredible loss of knowledge, like the burning of the Library of Alexandria, would be catastrophic.. Simply put, it would amount to a digital dark age. In this conversation we discuss this issue in-depth as well as how climate change and it's consequences pose an immense threat, even arguably the number one threat, to retaining human knowledge and cultural memory. We also touch upon issues such as film/cinema preservation, the disinformation/misinformation problem, the pros and cons of massive information proliferation in the digital age, the digital age's amplification of marginalized voices, the digital memory hole and the problem with the "once it's on the internet it'll be around forever" mentality, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Marcus Ryder, a media a UK-based representation/diversity expert and Head of External Consultancies for the Sir Lenny Henry Centre, recently gained a bit of notoriety or his critique of Disney's live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. In a tweet and blog Ryder critiqued the movie for taking place in the 18th century Carribean, but ignoring the existence of slavery in that period. At the same time he said that he found the film's normalization of black beauty standards, vis-a-vis it's star Halle Berry as the titular character Ariel, and praised the film in other regards. Despite the positive sentiments Ryder expressed in addition to his criticism, the tweet/blog was met with backlash from both people who thought that in critiquing the movie he was downplaying it's importance in regards media representation as well as a multitude of "anti-SJW" voices on social media who saw Ryder's tweet/blog as another chance to push their culture war viewpoints. I'm editorializing a bit here, but I felt that the backlash obscured what Ryder's actual thoughts were and the nature of his criticism. As such I invited him on my show to discuss this as well as his work on media representation, what media representation/media diversity is about, his thoughts about the attacks on media diversity/representation work by some political elements, and more. Much of the conversation centers around what Ryder's work entails and what we mean by media representation/diversity actually means. However, another issue we discuss in great depth is the issue of AI, with a focus on ChatGPT, and how it can actually reproduce or amplify dominant cultural biases and perspectives at the expense of perspectives and way of thinking. The final portion of the conversation deals largely with The Little Mermaid. We also touch upon how class and socioeconomic status should, in Ryder's view, be part of media representation/diversity and how media representation/diversity should aim to be inclusive for all (ie: one type of diversity/representation doesn't have to trump another; taking a holistic approach).

On this edition of Parallax Views, Dr. Anatol Lieven, the director of the Eurasia Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, returns to discuss his observations from a recent visit he took to Ukraine. Additionally, Anatol and I delve into Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of the Russian private military company Wagner Group, and his recent attacks of Russian military elites. Is Prigozhin's attacks indicative of a Russian succession struggle brewing for when Putin is no longer in power? Anatol and I also discuss his views on where the war is headed, how the war has been a failure for Russia, Russian-ethnic Ukrainian support for Ukraine, ethnic tensions in Ukraine caused by the invasion, U.S. foreign policy, the D.C. Blob, Anatol's criticism of pro-Russian opponents of the D.C. foreign policy establishment, and more All that and much more on this edition of Parallax Views.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Dr. James M. Dorsey of the Turbulent World w/ James Dorsey blog returns with a discussion that begins with Iran's saying it's forming a naval alliance with Gulf States (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates) as well as Pakistan, India, and Iraq. This, however, leads into a larger discussion about the geopolitics of the Middle East and the political battle for the soul of Islam, the shaping of a 21st Century World Order that is emerging before our very eyes, and the conflict between nation state vs. civilizational state modes of thought across the global political chessboard. This is a wide-ranging discussion that covers a massive amount of topics in just under an hour. Dorsey and I manage to discuss all of the above in relation to U.S. foreign policy, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the war that's resulted from it, the Gulf States' relationship with Türkiye and Erdogan, Iran's nuclear capabilities, political reformism and political repression in the Middle East, Indonesia and the battle for the soul of Islam, culture wars in the Arab world, China, U.S. failings in the Middle East, Middle East power rivalries and de-escalation, Israel in a bind, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Taylor Giorno, an OpenSecrets reporters specializing in money-in-politics issues such as campaign finance, lobbying, and foreign influence operations, returns to discuss the Campaign Legal Center's allegations that Ron DeSantis, who recently made his bid for the Republican Party candidate in the 2024 Presidential Election, has engaged in a "soft money" campaign finance violation. The Campaign Legal Center has gone so far as to file a complaint with the Federal Election Committee. Taylor explains the ins-and-outs of this story, the complexities of it, and money-in-politics more generally as well as the deregulation of campaign finance oversight. Taylor and I also discuss some of her other areas of interest, specifically development in the NSO Group/Pegasus spyware story, dark money, and foreign influence lobbying. We even manage to discuss the top 10 foreign influence lobbying operations in the U.S. as documented at OpenSecrets. Other topics covered include: - DeSantis accused of transferring money from an old Florida state PAC into the pro-DeSantis Super PAC Never Back Down; the Campaign Legal Center argues this is an illegal violation of campaign finance rules; some discussion of Trump and DeSantis in relation to campaign finance; are the accusations against DeSantis unprecedented?; campaign finance violations is not a partisan affair (it happens within both parties) - The dark money group One Nation and its funneling of millions of dollars into elections - Dark Money and the Koch Brothers; how dark money has evolved past the Koch Brothers and there are new and different dark money players - Sam Banman-Fried, the collapse of FTX, the crypto-currency industry and its lobbying, and money-in-politics - The explosion of money-in-politics since 2010; the Supreme Court, Citizens United, and corporate personhood - The Israeli cyber-intelligence firm NSO Group and the Pegasus spyware scandal; NSO Group spending millions of dollars in lobbying efforts - The case of Ben Swann, a former local FOX and CBS-affiliates TV news anchor who peddled Pizzagate stories and has since become a libertarian media personality; In FARA filings it has been discovered that Swann was the recipient of millions of dollars in money from Russia - The defense contractor/defense sector money being funneled to Congress since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia; the defense industry's line on inflation; defense industry lobbying - OpenSecrets's Foreign Lobby Watch; Top ten countries involved in foreign lobbying include China, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Israel, Russia, and others; Drone manufacturer Barzan Holdings and arms exports to Qatar; pro-Israel lobbying - And much, much more

On this edition of Parallax Views, filmmaker Fred Olen Ray returns to discuss his latest work Deep Red, a novel whose origins date back to the 1970s with an unfinished collaboration between Fred and Plan 9 from Outer Space's Edward D. Wood, Jr. In 1978, shortly before his death, Wood was writing the screenplay for Fred's Beach Blanket Bloodbath, a sci-fi horror tale that would've involved a half man-half fish monster! But that's not all. Fred also some great tales from his filmmaking career including stories from 80s Hollywood and the world of low-budget filmmaking. There's also a great deal of advice here for people may want to get involved in filmmaking or the entertainment industry as Fred discusses working with actors, writing for television, and much, much more. There's also a fair bit of background provided in this conversation about the movies Zombie Death House and Bloody Movie, two obscurities produced by mob-connected film lover Nick Marino that provide a behind-the-scenes look at the world of 80s low-budget genre filmmaking during the VHS boom. Fred and I also talk about his work on Lifetime movies and how they're made, the fanzine culture of yesteryear, 70s/80s cult actress and sex icon Sybil Danning, marketing movies, Fred's Retromedia company and its release of movies, Fred's wacky comedy Bad Girls from Mars and why it's never seen an uncut release (hint: studios not abiding by their contract; we get into the ways some film studios do filmmakers dirty), the killer pumpkin-man movie Jack-O and Fred's wild audio commentary with the director, and more! All that and much more on this edition of Parallax Views!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Aaron J. Leonard joins us to discuss the new revised and updated edition of his and Conor A. Gallagher book Heavy Radicals: The FBI's Secret War on America's Maoists: The Revolutionary Union/Revolutionary Communist Part 1968-1980. We delve into the radical left-wing politics of the late 1960s into the 1970s and the influence of Mao Tse-Tung's variant on communist thought on American radicals as well as how revolutionary groups in the U.S. applied theory and praxis in their operations at the time. This leads us into discussions of figures like H. Bruce Franklin as well as the infamous Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (RCP). It is well-known that the post-WWII era saw the intelligence community become very concerned about radical left-wing politics, specifically the activities of communist groups, in the U.S. during the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Much has been made of J. Edgar Hoover, the House on Un-American Activities Committee, and COINTELPRO in this regard. But Aaron specifically focuses on the FBI's counterintelligence operations against Maoist groups. We discuss the "dirty tricks" that were used against these groups by the FBI at this time. We discuss FBI informant recruiting in the time as well as the specific players involved in activities against U.S.-based Maoist groups. Aaron names names and gives insight into FBI actions against left-wing radical groups in the United States post-Hoover. Additionally Aaron and I discuss the Black Panthers, the media vs. radical activities, the labor movement, conspiracy theories vs. systemic analysis, the evangelical couple that sought to help the FBI by infiltrating the Revolutionary Union, W. Mark Felt (the man who confessed to being "Deep Throat" in the Nixon-era Watergate saga in 2005), the FBI report that referred to the RCP as a "threat of the first magnitude" to the U.S., the concept of the deep state and why Aaron believes there is just the State rather than deep state, the JFK Records Act and how the files released from that has value beyond the questions surrounding the Kennedy assassination itself (ie: files on Fred Hampton, Bob Dylan, etc.), how do you read and evaluate FBI files?, the Fair Play for Cuba Committe, the CIA and Richard Gibson (Codename: Sugar), Donald Wright, why is Maoism neglected when looking at the history of the New Left?, COINTELPRO and the Ad Hoc Commitee, the FBI's war against radical folk musicians and Aaron's latest books Whole World in an Uproar: Music, Rebellion and Repression – 1955-1972 and The Folk Singers and the Bureau: The FBI, the Folk Artists and the Suppression of the Communist Party, USA-1939-1956, Pete Seeger and the radical nature of much 20th century folk music, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and what Aaron refers to as the "soft revocation" of FOIA, and more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, rabble-rousing, gadfly academic Norman Finkelstein joins us to discuss his new book I'll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It! Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom. Norman is probably most well-know for his work on Israel/Palestine, but in his latest work takes on the question of what's alternately been called "cancel culture", "woke culture", or "identity politics" while also addressing his own cancellation as an academic over his work on Israel/Palestine and asking whether or not it was justified. In this conversation Norman and I discuss a number of topics including the issues of gender and sex, the identity politics of White Fragility author Robin DiAngelo, Ibram X. Kendi and Kendi's fascination with Black Panther turned Republican Reaganite Eldridge Cleaver, the ruling class and identity politics, the cult of personality around President Barack Obama, the weaponization of identity politics on both the left and the right, bourgeois democratic values, Democracy Now's Amy Goodman, Obama's white speechwriters and the presentation of Obama to the public, the brushing aside of class issues in media, and more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Clayton J. Butler joins us to discuss his book True Blue: White Unionists in the Deep South During the Civil War and Reconstruction. Butler explains how certain contingent of Southerners, for a variety of reasons, chose to remain loyal to the North during the Civil War and Reconstruction period. The reasons for this, however, may surprise modern audiences. It was not necessarily that these Southerners were against slavery. In fact, some supported the North because they believed that the war would bring about the end of slavery as an institution in the South. Meanwhile, others were "True Blue" due to an understandable resentment for the plantation aristocracy which sought to exert oligarchic control in the South. In our conversation we delve into all of these issues as well as why the topic, particularly when it comes to Unionists in the Deep South, is often underdiscussed or left relatively unexamined amongst many historians. We also discuss the "Lost Cause" narrative/myth in the South as well as the importance of discussing the Reconstruction period, which saw many gains for black freed men who'd formerly been enslaved by Southern plantation owners, after the Civil War and how it ended. Clayton's book deals with the Unionists of the  First Louisiana Cavalry, First Alabama Cavalry, and Thirteenth Tennessee Union Cavalry and examines why these men chose to ally themselves with the North and African Americans during the war. All that and much more on this edition of Parallax Views!