Porkins Policy Reviewhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttAHGXn7ZyQ
Tom Secker and I recently sat down to talk with Ed Opperman all about Matt Alford’s new book The Writer With No Hands. The book deals with the bizarre “death” of Hollywood screenwriter Gary Devore and his mysterious links to the CIA. We also talk about the second season of The CIA and Hollywood, and some recent Jeffrey Epstein developments.
Show Notes:
On this penulitamte episode of our Homeland series Tom and I begin by venting about our hatred of Alison. Next we move onto the shows continual use of women as negative characters. WE discuss the similarities between Alison and real life Russian spy Anna Chapman. We look at the parallels between these two characters and the notion that Alison will receive a hero’s welcome if she returns to Russia. Next we explore if the Russian government would actually let an attack happen, as Homeland suggests, in order to galvanize the West to fight ISIS. Tom and I lay out some of our theories as to why the Russian’s don’t talk about the Gladio operations (Boston, 9/11, Paris) that they clearly are aware of. We discuss the emergence of yet another evil female spy this time in the form of a German Foreign Office offical. Later Tom and I discuss one of the major takeaways from this season: that the CIA no longer engages in torture. Through out this season we have seen several distinct plot lines that lead us to believe that the CIA no longer uses this brutal tactic. Tom and I discuss the moral issues surrounding torture and the aspects of torture that are never brought up in the debate. We discuss how the show uses the character of Marwan to illustrate that torture doesn’t work, and how this is most likely a deliberate propaganda move to wipe clean the CIA’s hands. We also note how the show has routinely made the German’s look not only like torturers, but Nazi’s and Stasi as well. Tom and I also touch on Hollywoods false portrayal of strong female characters in movies such as Spy, and how this is really just more of the same. Later we move onto the portrayal of Laura Poitras in the show and how this may reflect the CIA’s various desires to portray her as hero and villain. We round off the conversation by discussing some very interesting listener emails and tweets.
Tom and I briefly talk about our participation in a brand new media project being spearheaded by Sibel Edmonds at the end of the podcast.
Show Notes:
Homeland Season 5 episode 11 Our man in Damascus
Laila Helms could be a character in Homeland
Kathryn Bigelow Prepping Jihadi Recruitment Drama for HBO
First Look Media snags Comedy Central and NBC alum Lisa Leingang
First Look Media wants to make the next “Spotlight”
Music:
From Boiling Frogs Post:
In this episode Tom Secker and I are joined by Professor Matthew Alford for a discussion of the Department of Defense’s’ ever increasing relation with Hollywood cinema. We discuss the history and nature of the DOD’s Hollywood Entertainment Liaison office, how this office has existed since the early 1900’s and has had a tremendous influence on the creation of our cinema and culture, the current head of the DOD Entertainment Liaison Office, Phil Strubb, and how he has gone about expanding the scope and influence of the military’s involvement in Hollywood films.
We later move on to a real bombshell – – a massive document dump that Tom and Matt received from the DOD Entertainment Liaison Office through an FOIA request. Representing the largest ever FOIA release of documents from the Pentagon’s Hollywood office, these documents offer a rare glimpse into a persistent propaganda effort by the military. The three of us would also like to encourage everyone in the BFP community to look through these documents and let us know what you find. Tom, Matt and I each discovered different nuggets of information, so we would love to see what you find yourselves. Be sure to let us know in the comments section!
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In this opening episode of the new series Pearse and Tom look into the CIA’s adaptations of George Orwell’s two most famous novels – Animal Farm and 1984. We focus primarily on Animal Farm, a revolutionary animated film in several senses of the word, produced by Louis De Rochemont – a man who had worked with several other government agencies prior to making Animal Farm with the CIA. The animation was does by British firm Halas and Bachelor, and we also discuss their background. This episode also examines the paper trail, looking in Orwell’s FBI file and the MI5 records on actor Michael Redgrave, who starred in 1984 despite being a suspected Communist. We conclude that the CIA had something of an obsession with Orwell at this time, and were subverting his works quite radically in these films.
Download The CIA and Hollywood ep. 1
Show Notes:
Animal Farm film production documents
The cartoon that came in from the cold
CIA documents on George Orwell’s books
From Spy Culture:
Joining me for this discussion is Guillermo Jimenez along with regular guest Pearse Redmond. We talked about three recent examples of the crossover of popular culture and politics – the film The Interview, the attack on Charlie Hedbo magazine in Paris, and American Sniper. We talked about how the popular dialogue around these events has diluted and degraded the notion of freedom of speech, and outline a more careful and refined version of the same idea.
Show Notes:
On this installment of Porkins Policy Radio I was joined by Aaron Franz and Adam, co-hosts of Themes and Memes, for a discussion of the sci-fi thriller film Snowpiercer. Dealing with the aftermath of a geo-engineering disaster, the surviving population of Earth lives on a highly advanced train that circles the world once a year. While the rich and powerful live in the front in perpetual luxury, the tail section is composed of the poor who plot a revolution to take over control of the train. Aaron, Adam and I break down many of the interesting themes and messages that this movie introduces. We take a look at the inclusion of chemtrails in the beginning of the movie, and at how this is part of an ongoing trend in Hollywood to inject conspiracy-culture elements into mainstream cinema. We move on to the socioeconomic model that Snowpiercer presents, as well as the fascist-corporatist world that the film imagines. We then take a look at the transhumanist aspects of this film, namely the worship of the “eternal engine,” as well as the idea of a “train” in general. Later we consider the core theme in this film: the idea of revolution. The three of us explore how the notion of revolution is popping up more and more in contemporary films, and how Snowpiercer differs in the cookie cutter version Hollywood usually presents. We go into depth about how the revolution in this film has been completely orchestrated by the evil Wilford, who operates the Snowpiercer in order to fulfill his eugenics agenda. We focus on how the film puts the audience in a difficult situation, where it begins to question its own morals and philosophy in the face of the complete destruction of mankind. We end the conversation by discussing the death/re-birth ritual that is the culmination of the movie, and at whom this may be targeted.
Show Notes:
Snowpiercer full movie (This streaming version is in three parts but has English subtitles for the sections with Korean dialogue. Unfortunately the subtitles appear through out the entire film)
Snowpiercer full movie (no subtitles)
Note: I will try and provide a torrent link so that you can download the full DVD version that has subtitles only for the Korean sections
Music:
“Axe Gang” – Snowpiercer Official Soundtrack
“Yona Lights” – Snowpiercer Official Soundtrack
On this week’s episode we spoke with our good friend Tom Secker the host of ClandesTime. Tom and I discussed John Frankenheimer’s 1964 classic, Seven Days in May. Made at the behest of John F. Kennedy, this incredible film follows a Marine Colonel’s efforts to stop a military coup from being implemented by a right-wing cabal led by the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General William Matoon Scott. Set amidst Cold War paranoia, Seven Days in May is in many ways one of the original truther films. Tom and I discuss several themes within the film that mimicked real life events: the fact that this film makes explicit mention of the parallel structure known as “Continuity of Government;” the fact that this movie mentions, in quite specific detail, the Mount Weather FEMA facility nearly fifteen years before its existence would ever be know to the American people. We move onto some of the real life coup d’etats within American history and how they relate to Seven Days in May. We focus on the alleged “Business Plot” against FDR and how it was ultimately foiled by General Smedley Butler. We also speak about the attempted Reagan assassination and how this really represented a coup by militarist neocons such as George Bush and Alexander Haig. We explore the real-life inspiration for the antagonist in Seven Days in May, right-winger General Edwin Walker, and his connection not only with the JFK assassination, but also with his role in supporting the narrative that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman. Tom and I also get into the reality of who Kennedy was, and give our takes on why in fact he was murdered in Dealy Plaza. Later we move onto the numerous bizarre connections between director John Frankenheimer and the Kennedy family. Lastly we focus on Frankenheimer’s relationship with the RFK assassination, as well as Seven Days in May producer Edward Lewis’ foray into conspiracy culture. Let me just add that Seven Days in May is truly a spectacular, one-of-a-kind movie. There is nothing I can think of that really comes close to it in terms of bravery and substance. So please do watch the film before listening to this podcast.
Show notes:
Civil Defense Doomsday Hideaway
Is This Bush’s Secret Bunker
The White House Coup 1933 (BBC)
The Facist Plot to Overthrow FDR
McCormack-Dickstein Committee Hearings on “The Business Plot”
Mae Brussell: “Alexander Haig is angry. Time for a shoot out at the White House” (3/28/1981)
Mae Brussell: “Ronald Regan Assassination Attempt part 1” (4/5/81)
Mae Brussell: “Ronald Regan Assassination Attempt part 2” (4/12/81)
Mae Brussell: “Ronald Regan Assassination Attempt part 3” (4/19/81)
Edwin Walker
US House of Reps. Select Committee on Assassinations: George De Mohrenschildt
John Frankenheimer’s The Manchurian Candidate Plays to a Full House After 26 Years
Music:
Jerry Goldsmith – “Seven Days in May”
Lou Reed – “The Day John Kennedy Died”
This week I am joined once again by Tom Secker and Jon Ryman for a roundtable discussion about white female terrorists. We take a look at how white female terrorists have been portrayed in Hollywood movies and TV shows, and examine how these cartoonish representations mimic real life white female terrorists. We, of course, take a look at one of our favorite white female terrorists, Samantha Lewthwaite, as well as the less known, but equally important, “Jihad Jane.” We discuss the celebrity status of the white female terrorist in Western society, and how this meme really represents the coming together of several different aspects of the war on terror. We also speak more broadly about the ever-evolving synthetic War on Terror and how all these pieces fit together.
Show notes:
Tom Secker’s websites- Spy Culture, Humanarchy, Investigating the Terror
Porkins Policy Radio episode 24 Who is Samantha Lewthwaite?
Music:
Joy Division- “Disorder”
Joy Division- “Transmission” (Peel Sessions)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imLuaWEtQ7Y
I joined our good friend Tom Secker once again on ClandesTime for a very entertaining and in-depth conversation on the documentary Reel Bad Arabs and the Hollywood blockbuster True Lies.
From ClandesTime:
Pearse Redmond of Porkins Policy Radio joined us again to talk about the the portrayal of Arabs in Hollywood. We talk about the documentary Reel Bad Arabs, which details much of the stereotyping of Arabs in popular movies, and also the film True Lies as an example of these trends. We look at some of the limits in the analysis offered by Reel Bad Arabs, the military involvement in making True Lies, and the careers of the actors who played the two main Arab characters in the film – Art Malik, who seems to specialise in playing terrorists, and Grant Heslov who won an Oscar for producing Argo.
Download ClandesTime episode 033
Show notes available here.
Porkins Policy Review 