Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

On this edition of Parallax Views, we have a double feature edition of Parallax Views on the 2022 FIFA World Cup being held in Qatar. First up, filmmaker Miles Coleman joins us to discuss the new Netflix docu-series that's sweeping the internet, FIFA Uncovered. Miles served as a producer for this sports-meets-politics-true-crime exploration of FIFA, international governing body of football/soccer. It's a dive into a world of schemes, bribes, scandals, and corruptions that even led U.S. federal prosecutors to take on FIFA in 2015. In this conversation we'll discuss the controversies surrounding the Qatar World Cup, the Citizen Kane-esque tale of former FIFA President Joseph "Sepp" Blatter, the scandalous downfall of Qatari football administrator Mohammad bin Hamman, how the documentary came together, capitalism/money in sports and the problems it poses, how the real scandal is arguably more about FIFA than Qatar, sportswashing, the argument that cultural exchange will liberalize countries under the rule of authoritarian regimes, the Qatari perspective on the backlash against their hosting of the 2022 World Cup, the ambiguities and murkier elements of the scandalous history explored in FIFA Uncovered, smoking gun evidence of corruption vs. lack of smoking gun evidence for corruption in the world of FIFA, the cross-section between politics and sports, how the ambitious Sepp Blatter's hunger for power was arguably the cause of his undoing, Argentina and the World Cup scandal of 1978, Berlin and the scandal of the 1936 Olympics, South Africa and FIFA, and much, much more! In the second segment of the show, Prof. James M. Dorsey, author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer and it's accompanying blog/podcast, joins us to discuss his take on the controversial Qatar World Cup. Prof. Dorsey argues that Qatar's interest in hosting the World Cup has to do with their soft power approach to foreign policy. Additionally we discuss covert information warfare by Gulf States like the United Arab Emirates (UAE) against Qatar, whether Qatar will follow through on reforms, the human/labor/LGBTQ+ allegations against Qatar, migrant labor and Qatar, the question of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and bribery, Qatar's reaction to the backlash against it's hosting the World Cup, the question Western racism against Qatar, the argument for there being double standards at play in the backlash against Qatar, human rights abuses in the  Gulf States more broadly, regional tensions and the World Cups (ie: Qatar, Israel,, Saudi Arabia, and Iran), understanding the Qatari perspective on the 2022 World Cup controversy, the multipolar world and the rise of China and India, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, we're joined in the first segment of the program by David Marchick, co-author with Alexander Tippett (and A.J. Wilson), of The Peaceful Transfer of Power: An Oral History of America's Presidential Transitions. After the chaos of the Trump-Biden transition and the ugly insurrection on the Capitol that came with it many are more interested in how Presidential transitions work and how smooth, peaceful transitions are accomplished. Additionally, many would like to ensure that future transitions are not as chaotic and uncertain as the one that followed the 2020 election. How can that kind of transition be avoided in the future? In addition to addressing these issues and questions, we will discuss what went wrong with the 2020 transition, the problems with the 2016 transition and the sacking Chris Christie from the Trump transition team, insight Marchick gained from actual participants of Presidential transitions, the smooth transition from Bush to Obama during the 2008 financial crisis, the transition from Gerald Ford to Jimmy Carter, the most turbulent Presidential transitions like the James Buchanan to Abraham Lincoln transition and the Herbert Hoover to Franklin Delano Roosevelt transition (Hoover was not a fan of the New Deal), and much, much more!   In the second segment of the program, legendary progressive radio host and New York Times bestselling author Thom Hartmann returns to discuss his new book The Hidden History of Neoliberalism. Thom and I begin by discussing neoliberalism and its origins. We also discuss the free-market libertarian economists that in some way or another bear a connection, in varying degrees, to the ideology such as Milton Friedman, Ludwig Von Mises, and F.A. Hayek. Thom goes over the early neoliberal experiments in the world outside of the U.S., with a particular focus on Chile and the military dictatorship of General Pinochet that overthrew the government of Salvador Allende. Then we dive into how neoliberalism became dominant in the U.S. from the presidencies of Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton. We also look at the impact of neoliberalism on American workers, the crushing of unions in America, the labor movement, and the middle class? And finally, we talk about neoliberalism under Joe Biden, whether the Democratic Party is turning away from neoliberalism, changing views on unions in America and addressing union corruption from decades past (ie: Jimmy Hoffa), FDR and the New Deal era, the Starbucks union organizing wave and Thom's thoughts on the 2022 midterm elections.

On this edition of Parallax Views just in time for Veteran's day, New York Times best-selling author Bruce Henderson, author of Sons and Soldiers and co-author with Vincent Bugliosi of And the Sea Will Tell, joins us to discuss his latest book Bridge to the Sun: The Secret Role of the Japanese Americans Who Fought in the Pacific in World War II. During WWII the Japanese immigrants and Japanese-Americans languished in internment camps thanks to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066. The belief was that they could not be trusted while the U.S. was engaged in a war where Japan was one of the enemies. It was argued they could engage in sabotage on behalf of Japan against America. And yet, the U.S. army would end up needing nisei - first-generation Americans who were born from Japanese immigrant parents - to help them in the Pacific theater of the war effort. Bridge to the Sun tells the story of the war exploits of Japanese-Americans fighting on behalf of the U.S. in Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and even, with the famous Merrill's Marauders, Burma. For years these men thought they were subject to the secrets act and kept their participation quiet and hidden. Bruce Henderson reveals their story through six of the nisei who worked on behalf of the U.S. army in the Pacific during WWII.

On this edition of Parallax Views, the Tikun Olam blog's Richard Silverstein, who specializes in analysis and commentary related to the Israeli national security state, returns to discuss the Israeli elections and the triumph of the Israeli far-right in said election. In this conversation we'll cover the rise of extreme right-wing politicians and their supporters in Israel with a focus on Otzma Yehudit's Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Religious Zionist Party, returning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his contribution to empower Israel's far-right contingent, and the hardline nationalist activists of Hilltop Youth. Richard highlights why this past election matters and signals a dangerous moment in regards to Israel/Palestine. It is not, he argues, business as usual and could lead to a major conflagration in the Middle East. Additionally we delve into the issues surrounding the Temple Mount, the al-Aqsa Mosque, and the desire of far-right Israelis to rebuild the third temple. Moreover, Richard details the violent activities of the far-right and how they extend far beyond incidents of vandalism like the now well-known price tag attacks or the annual nationalist Jerusalem Day marches in which "Death to Arabs" is reported to be chanted. Richard and I also delve into the overlap between Israel's far-right and the Western far-right noting the points of agreement between the too, particularly in regards to anti-Muslim sentiments (but also anti-LGBTQ beliefs as well) and the desire for an ethno-state. Other topics discussed include: - The disintegration of liberal Zionism and the Israeli left - Will U.S. policy towards Israel change due to the rise of Israel's far-right politicians like Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich? - Why Benjamin Netanyahu needs the Israeli far-right, embodied by parties like Otzma Yehudit and the Religious Zionist Party, in order for his government coalition to succeed and how these parties effect the discourse in Israel (dragging the center farther to the right) - Hilltop Youth, Itamar Ben-Gvir, incitement of terroristic violence, and collusion between the police/military and the Israeli far-right - The issue of fascism - Addressing antisemitism while also being critical of the state of Israel (rather than the Jewish people) - An incident involving Hilltop Youth activists throwing molotov cocktails into a Palestinian home - The Church of Loaves and Fishes arson attack - Parallels between the Israeli far-right and the U.S.-based Trumpist/MAGA movement as exemplified by figures like Marjorie Taylor Greene - The Israeli far-right and religious messianism - Christian evangelism in the U.S. and the Israeli far-right - AIPAC (the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee that is often referred to as the Israel Lobby) - The extremist beliefs of the late Rabbi Meier Kahane And much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Israeli activist and journalist Yossi Gurvitz returns to discuss the 2022 Israeli elections. Benjamin Netanyahu, despite being embroiled in scandal, has resolutely won his bid to once again become Prime Minister. Meanwhile, Israel's most far-right politicians, such as Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, continue to gain ground in the country's politics. What does all of this entail? That's what Yossi Gurvitz will be discussing with us in this conversation. Among the topics covered: - The failure of the Israeli left and the death of the Zionist left - Religious Zionism - The one-state solution, ethnic cleansing, and the death of the two-state solution - Rundowns of the careers and influence of Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir on Israeli political life; the differences between Smotrich and Ben-Gvir and the ways in which they are opposed to each other - The Second Intifada - Why the Israeli left's parties focusing on the dangerous nature of Smotrich failed when it came to the elections - Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Temple Mount, and how issues related to the Temple Mount could lead to a conflagration - The treatment of Palestinians in Israel, human rights, and what the right-wing coalition victory in Israel means - Claims the Itamar Ben-Gvir has distanced himself from his extremist-leaning past - How Israel's politics have caught up with it's culture - The Israeli far-right's view on LGBTQ+ issues - The ways in which the Israeli far-right and elements of the Trumpist/MAGA right in the U.S. influence each other - Itamar Ben-Gvir told Yossi that he would be the "leader of the religious revolution in Israel"; Ben-Gvir's changing tactics/methods over the years; Ben Gvir's tactics for dealing with the media and the law - What are the worst possible outcomes for Israel/Palestine in the coming years? - The question of whether Ben-Gvir will receive a ministerial position in the government; could Ben-Gvir seek to become Prime Minister at some point? - The New York Times and Washington Post's articles that express concern over the far right's gains in the Israeli election (including an op-ed by Thomas Friedman); the Axios article by Barak Ravid indicating the Biden administration won't work with Itamar Ben-Gvir in a ministerial position - How and why Netanyahu pandered to and mainstreamed the Israeli far-right; why Netanyahu can longer control those elements of Israeli political life; the Netanyahu family and issues within the family; what Netanyahu's victory may mean for his corruption trial in court And much, much more!  

On this spooky season edition of Parallax Views, film historian Troy Howarth, author of such books as So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films, Assault on the System: The Nonconformist Cinema of John Carpenter, Splintered Visions: Lucio Fulci and His Films, Murder by Design: The Unsane Cinema of Dario Argento, The Haunted World of Mario Bava, and the new Make Them Die Slowly: The Kinetic Cinema of Umberto Lenzi, joins us for a wide-ranging conversation about horror movies. Among the topics covered: - How Troy got into horror through the Hammer Studios' horor movies of the late 1950s through to the 1970s. These films starred such actors as Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and centered around classic monsters like The Mummy, Frankenstein's Monster, and Count Dracula - Why Troy doesn't like the "cheesy" description when it comes to older movies; especially when said movies are deliberately infused with comical elements - John Carpenter's Halloween and the dark side of suburbia; Carpenter's films in the context of the Vietnam War and Watergate; the rebellious nature of Carpenter's filmography - Similarities between horror and comedy as genres; the art of the jump scare; the label "elevated horror" and the problems with it - Explaining the term "Euro-Horor" and why Troy doesn't like the term "Euro-Trash" to describe such movies; the history of the Italian murder mystery aka giallo and it's relationship to film noir, whodunits, and the German krimis written by Edgar Wallace; psycho-sexual themes in the giallo; the pulp vibe in Italian gialli; the effect of WWII and fascism on Italian filmmakers like Dario Argento; the politics of Italian horror movies (are they left-wing or right-wing?); Dario Argento's latest movie Occhiali Neri (Dark Glasses) and it relevant social themes in the post-COVID era - Violence and women in the Italian giallo; the complex portrayal of women in the Italian gialli; Argento's collaborator Daria Nicolodi and her importance to films like Suspiria; accusations that Lucio Fulci's films are misogynistic; the decadence of the upper class or bourgeoisie in Italian horror movies -The jazz stylings of the controversial Spanish filmmaker Jess Franco and how living under the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco influenced his films; sympathy and perversion in regards to women in Jess Franco's films - Analyzing the political subtext of Dario Argento's Profondo Rosso aka Deep Red starring David Hemmings and (slightly) futuristic Tenebrae - The ecological sentiment of Mario Bava's Twitch of the Death Nerve and Bay of Blood; the importance of Mario Bava's horror films and his giallo Blood and Black Lace; Mario Bava's Boris Karloff-starring Black Sabbath and the difference between the more subversive European cut (with sexual subtext) and the American International Pictures cut of the film; continental horror films of the mid-20th century were aimed at adults whereas many American horror films were aimed at youth and teenagers - Ruggero Deodato, the director of Cannibal Holocaust - Dario Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and the explosion of the giallo on the silver screen And much, much more!

On this spooky season edition of Parallax Views, a previously unpublished and at one point thought-to-be-lost edition of Parallax Views! Sandra Niemi joins the show to discuss her book Glamour Ghoul: The Passions and Pain of the Real Vampire, Maila Nurmi. Sandra Niemi is the niece of Maila Nurmi, better known as the buxom TV horror Vampira! Maila Nurmi is perhaps most known for her iconic character Vampira, the sexy, sultry, and seductive 1950s horror movie host with an impossibly tiny waist. In addition to being a trailblazer amongst TV horror hosts, predating Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, and the hero of the Last Drive-In's Joe Bob Briggs by decades, Nurmi is also known her appearance in the Ed Wood cult classic Plan 9 from Outer Space. The woman behind the character, however, proves just as fascinating as Vampira herself. A lover of the bohemian lifestyle who rebelled against bourgeois values, Nurmi was also involved in the beatnik counterculture. And she rubbed elbows with such well-known Hollywood names as Orson Welles and Marlon Brando. Sandra will give an insight into who her aunt was and the legacy of Vampira. Among the topics covered: - How the character of Vampira came to be and the influences Nurmi drew from in creating the character - How Nurmi achieved the impossibly tiny waist that Vampira is forever known for - How Vampira became a huge hit in Los Angeles; the overt sexuality of the character; Vampira as a strong, empowered, liberated female character; how Vampira differed from the later Cassandra Peterson character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark - The sad story of Nurmi's relationship with Orson Welles - Knock-off Vampira characters that came about due to the success of The Vampira Show. - How she introduced the Vampira character to the LA-based ABC affiliate KABC-TV - The humble beginnings of Maila Nurmi and her childhood And much, much more!

On this spooky season edition of Parallax Views, from Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus to Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre the idea of corpse-eating, monsters and cannibalistic killers have fascinated and terrified people for years. Throughout the world there's variations on this trope: the ghoul, the Wendigo, and the Aswang just to name a few. In this previously unpublished and recently rediscovered conversation, Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr. joins Parallax Views to discuss this macabre subject as explored in his book Eaters of the Dead: Myths and Realities of Cannibal Monsters. Among the topics covered: - The tradition of mortuary cannibalism as a way to honor the dead in some culture; Catholic transubstantiation; survival cannibalism and the Donner Party; Idi Amin and political cannibalism - Why are we fascinated by flesh-eating monsters; the popularity of Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Hannibal the Cannibal) and The Silence of the Lambs; taboos, the allure of the forbidden, and the Thanatos drive - Zombies!!!; how we got from the racist trope of the Haitian voodoo slave zombie to the flesh-eating, reanimated dead; the zombie as a metaphor - How our perception of death has changed in the past 100 years - The rural/urban divide, fear of the primitive and the regressive, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - The Filipino legend of the monster known as the Aswang - The First Nations monster called the Wendigo, which represents "the spirit of hunger and the heart of ice; the Wendigo as an entity that possesses its victim and drive them to madness and cannibalism; weird fiction author Algernon Blackwood' and the Wendigo in H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos; the Wendigo and colonialism - The Ghoul, a pre-Islamic, Arabic dog-like corpse eater and how it became part of Islamic culture; how we perceive the ghoul has changed over the years; the 1980s horror anthology The Monster Club - The Scottish legend of Sawney Bean and his cannibalistic, the inspiration for The Hills Have Eyes; Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street; and the connection between cannibalism and Herman Melville's Moby Dick - Humorous portrayals of cannibalism such as in South Park and the connection between comedy and horror And much, much more!

On this spooky season edition of Parallax Views, film scholar Gary D. Rhodes, one of the foremost authorities on Bela Lugosi and classic horror cinema, and Robert Guffey return to the show to discuss their new edited volume Scripts from the Crypt No. 12: Tod Browning's Revolt of the Dead. Tod Browning is perhaps best known for director 1931's Dracula. Starring Bela Lugosi as the titular vampire count, a role which he'd become inextricably linked to for the rest of his career, Dracula was a massive success for Hollywood's depression era Universal Studios and launched that studios foray into making wildly popular creatures features for the next three decades. Before The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, and The Mummy there was Tod Browning's Dracula. Browning, however, wasn't new to either Hollywood or weaving tales of the macabre for the silver screen. Born on July 12, 1880, Browning ran was fascinated from a young age by carnivals and eventually ran away from home to join a traveling circus. From there he'd transition to acting and, finally, becoming a director. In the silent film era, Browning became known for his collaborations with Lon Chaney, Sr., who became known as "The Man of a Thousand Faces" and whose credits include such classics as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera. Together, Browning and Chaney told macabre tales involving themes like violence and mutilation in films like West of Zanzibar, The Unholy Three, The Unknown, and the infamously lost London After Midnight. Browning would then go on to direct Dracula before making other films such as the controversial Freaks (featuring real-life circus people) his London After Midnight talkie remake Mark of the Vampire. In this conversation Gary, Robert and I discuss: - An introduction to the Scripts from the Crypt series founded by film historian Tom Weaver - Biographical background on Tod Browning, who was often spoken of as the Edgar Allen Poe of filmmakers in his time and his influence on filmmakers and artists including Ray Bradbury, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and Woody Allen - The critical beating Browning has taken over the years and why Gary argues that it's mistaken; the Spanish Dracula vs. Browning's Dracula; Browning's transition from the silent films to talking motion pictures; Browning's collaborations with Lon Chaney Sr. and the horror elements in them - Browning's light-hearted murder mystery Miracles for Sale; Browning's early talkie The Thirteenth Chair starring Bela Lugosi (before Dracula) and its taking on the subject of spiritualist conmen/frauds; Browning's silent films such as West of Zanzibar, The Unknown, and The Unholy Three - Tod Browning's thematic obsessions: trickery, fakery, deception, mutilation, sexual frustration, and more; the different kinds of trickery dealt with in Browning's films; harmless truths vs. dangerous lies and swindling; skepticism towards medium, seances, and the supernatural; women and how they are portrayed in Browning's movies (such as Carol Borland's Luna in Mark of the Vampire); the Scooby Doo-eqsue element of Browning's murder mysteries - Tod Browning's Freaks; a movie that used real-life circus people; the film's subversive quality by way of its making viewers sympathize with the circus people and treating the "normal" people as the villains; the question of Freaks success and its effect on Browning's career; mentioning how the pop punk band The Ramones were influenced by Freaks; the role of vaudeville, circuses, and sideshow life on Browning's work - The Browning script/treatment for the unmade movie Revolt of the Dead; the movie would've predated William Friedkin's The Exorcist and Night of the Living Dead in dealing with now common horror tropes like demonic possession and the zombie apocalypse; Revolt of the Dead would've even included human crucifixions; the story would've also included the phenomena of stigmata, the inexplicable appearance of wounds on the wrists like those of Jesus Christ during the crucifixion; the unique qualities of the script - Tod Browning's Londo After Midnight, the "Holy Grail" of lost films; the rumors, legends, hoaxes around the movie ever since it was destroyed in a fire at the MGM vault; the iconic image of Lon Chaney Sr;. in scar make-up for London After Midnight; other lost films including F.W. Murnau's Der Januskopf (aka The Head Janus; starring Conrad Veidt and Bela Lugosi) and the 1959 Bela Lugosi-headlining chiller Lock Up Your Daughters - Robert' novel Bela Lugosi's Dead, which deals with a man searching for the lost test footage of Lugosi as Frankentein's monster - The Revolt of the Dead in relationship to White Zombie, William Seabrook's Magic Island novel and its success, American military involvement in Haiti, and racist/xenophobic sentiments about Haiti in the early 20th century - Appreciating early 20th century cinema; getting past the "I can't watch Black-and-White movies" mentality; the rewarding aspect of watching classic movies - Tod Browning and the Grand Guignol, the theater tradition in France obsessed with the gruesome and grotesque And much, much more!

On this spooky season edition of Parallax Views, Troy Guinn and Rod Barnett of the Nashcycast joins us to discuss the overlooked cult movie career of Jacinto Molina, better known by his stage name Paul Naschy. For the uninitiated, Naschy has often been referred to as the Spanish Lon Chaney or Lon Chanery Jr. due to his playing such characters as the Mummy, Fu Manchu, Frankenstein's monster, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and, most famously, the cursed werewolf Waldemar Daninsky. Naschy's take on horror and the gothic harkened back to the classic Universal Studios monster but with a 70s twist vis-a-vis the inclusion of sex and violence. However, when one delves deeper into these films it becomes apparent Naschy's films are more than just monster mashes, carrying with them their own distinct style and charms as well as highlighting Naschy's thematic obsessions. Among his more well-know titles are Howl of the Devil, Frankenstein's Bloody Terror, The Werewolf and the Yeti, Horror Rises from the Tomb, Dr. Jekyll and the Wolfman,  The Werewolf and the  Vampire Woman, The Beast and the Magic Sword, Night of the Werewolf, and many others. Over the years Naschy's cult following has grown with such directors as Joe Dante, John Landis, and Guillermo del Torro singing his praises. In this conversation we'll discuss the importance of Naschy, his bitter over the film industry in his latter years, Naschy's growing up under the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco in Spain and the influence of that on his work, censorship and Paul Naschy movies, and much, much more!