This month I am cheating a little bit and posting my recent appearance on Aaron’s monthly Patreon bonus podcast as my bonus podcast. Rest assured you will not be disappointed.
Pearse Redmond returns to the bonus podcast. Here, he and Aaron talk about how popular it is to market your independent media to the right wing crowd. The far-right is now indistinguishable from the mainstream right, and so it is that online media is now experiencing a boom as their audience grows. These new rising stars are using the same old tricks that all media manipulators have used, which is mainly to create content that fits into the accepted narrative that their audience craves.
Pearse Redmond returns to the show to help us all take a look around at the strange place we find ourselves in now. QAnon has come a long way since the days that Pearse and Robbie Martin would talk about it on a weekly basis. American foreign policy has taken a political backseat as Trumpism focuses in on all things domestic.
This week friend of the show Kevin Gosztola of Shadowproof.com joined me to discuss the latest developments with Julian Assange. Kevin explained the charges that have been brought against Assange and the spin they have received in the media. He talked about the use of term “hacking” and why that is, in fact, an incorrect definition of what Assange has actually been charged with. Kevin also talked about Chelsea Manning who is still in jail after losing a recent appeal. Kevin also talked about the 2017 FBI affidavit which is the theory for the government’s case against Assange, should he be extradited back to the US. Kevin talked about the language used in the affidavit and its similarity to the Espionage Act. We also talked about the government’s theory that Assange aided the enemy through the publication of the Afghanistan War Logs. We discussed how this could set a dangerous precedent for all journalism. Later Kevin and I explored the larger implications of the US government’s attacks on Assange and journalism in general. We touched on the criminalization of basic journalistic practices like eliciting information from sources and protecting sources. We also talked about how this could be used against foreign and Americans journalists across the world. We closed out the first hour by talking about Ecuadorian president Moreno.
In the second hour, I talked about CIA director Gina Haspel’s recent speech and Q&A at Auburn University. I talked about Haspel as the director of the CIA and how she has differed from recent directors. I also touched on the doublespeak and doublethink used throughout her speech encouraging young people to join the intelligence services. Later I talked about comments made by the moderator Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess regarding Guantanamo Bay.
Pearse Redmond joins Aaron Franz for a conversation about the bizarre political climate we find ourselves in today. This is the first Bonus Podcast episode of Trans Resister Radio.
On this solo show I discuss the Vegas Shooting and Stephen Paddock. I start off by talking about the Vegas Police and their track record as being unprofessional and trigger happy. The allegations that the police didn’t help evacuate the concert, and that the cover up my stem from their failures are explored. I then begin laying out the facts as we know them about the shooting, Paddock and Marilou Danley. I look into the ever changing narrative, including the latest development regarding hotel security guard Jesus Campos. Then I explore Stephen Paddock and try to make sense of who he was. I look at the reports that he was a mean loner type person, as well as an avid gun enthusiast. I pay particular attention to his obsessive gambling habits and the odd life of a compulsive gambler. Later I discuss his girlfriend Marilou Danley and try to make sense of their relationship. The first hour ends with me looking at some of the more interesting points of this investigation including: what happened beginning in October of 2016 and his fathers criminal background.
In the second hour I take a hard look at the media’s role in crafting this story. I explore how both the the mainstream and conspiracy media are working hand in hand in presenting us a confused and contradictory narrative. I talk about how the media is selling us not just the shooting but literally selling us advertisements. I also discuss why the mainstream and conspiracy media enjoy having complete explanations to any event. I finish off by discussing Paddock’s apparent gambling addiction and ponder if this didn’t play a larger role in the shooting. I talk about the lifestyle of gamblers, the problems they face, and how this effects their views on reality. I also touch on the transhumanist aspects of being “one with the machine” that many addicts of video slots embrace. I ask the question if gambling addiction and the casino’s are two big culprits in what transpired on October 1st 2017.
Frequent guest Brian Heiss joins me for an in depth discussion of the current state of the media, and their continued legacy of manipulation and deception. We begin our conversation by dissecting the bogus news story that OJ Simpson is set to make a reality TV show with Casey Anthony. Brian and I discuss now the genesis of this story is a TMZ article that determined that an OJ reality show was actually impossible to make at this current time. Brian describes how this TMZ article became the source for numerous mainstream media articles making the false claim that the reality show indeed happening. We dive into how this fake news became a viral and is now entirely accepted as fact. Brian and I then move onto how the OJ trial built the foundation for this trend in media. We talk about several lies about the trial that have become accepted fact because of peoples emotional desires to believe something that fits their world view. We discuss productions such as The People vs OJ Simpson and OJ: Made in America and how they have continued to exploit lies in order to craft their own version of the truth.
In the second hour we expand out on this topic and look at the ways in which the media manipulates crime both here and abroad to fuel ratings and revenue. Brian and I use the OJ trial and the false allegations by people such as Jill Shivley as an analogy for the current push for war in Syria. We examine how emotions and not evidence drive both the public’s opinions about OJ and Bashar al Assad. Brian and I also look at the increased number of true crime documentaries that knowingly manipulate our emotions with lies and how this is affecting our entire criminal justice system. We speak about this rush to judgment and trial by media circus and it’s relationship to events such as the recent chemical attack in Syria.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I am no longer associated with Sibel Edmond, or BoilingFrogs/Newsbud. I think she is a con-artist and a petty and vindictive individual. If you want to know more about why I broke off all ties with Sibel you can find out more here:
Welcome to our first episode, announcing our new media project- NEWSBUD.COM. In this podcast episode broadcaster Peter B. Collins, investigative journalist Pepe Escobar and I discuss the launching of this exciting media project, and talk about what we mean by a solely people funded and backed media platform with resources to effectively counter the current propaganda and agenda ridden mainstream/pseudo-alternative operators. We talk about how people have been made irrelevant and rendered powerless by today’s well-calculated and designed media landscape, and the urgency in creating the only people-funded media platform to bring we the people back into the equation and render the 0.0001% irrelevant.
As Thomas Jefferson put it simply and eloquently, an informed citizenry is at the heart of a dynamic democracy. A core function of media is to act as the public’s independent watchdog- to keep governments, businesses and other agenda-driven organizations in check. Yet, today, our media is owned and ruled by these very same entities- Mega corporations and billionaires-funded organizations. Isn’t this letting the foxes guard the henhouse?
Are you tired of getting your news from sources funded by mega-corporations and billionaire dynasties? If yes, then come and join us in establishing NEWSBUD—100% people-funded: Where media integrity matters. For everyone who has been dreaming of a major independent media platform that’s free from corporate advertisements, partisan agendas, and a dependency on the ultra-rich, that dream is about to be a reality.
*We are asking those of you who support this one-of-a-kind media project to come and join us. Please add yourself, and your voice, to our group list here. They have rendered we the people irrelevant. Together we are going to make them irrelevant!
Porkins Policy Review 