Above photo: Documentary filmmaker Judith Ehrlich. Anders Krusberg/Peabody Awards. Filmmaker Judith Ehrlich discusses “The Boys Who Said No,” a documentary about the Vietnam War draft resisters. Decades after the end of the Vietnam War, the impact on both Vietnam and the United States is still felt. Yet few Americans are aware that the conflict, which killed several million people, ended in large part thanks to the anti-war movement made up of, among others, 570,000 Americans that refused to be drafted to fight a war that many saw as immoral even then. Among those, 3,250 draft resisters–many of whom considered themselves conscientious […]
Scheer
24 posts
Above photo: Editor, Andrew Cockburn. And the Pentagon Knows It. The journalist and Harper’s editor brilliantly documents the motivations behind the U.S. military’s war lust in his new book, “Spoils of War.” Twenty years since the September 11, 2001 attacks, the human and financial cost of the United States’ failed “War on Terror” is plain to see: as one headline put it, “20 years, $6 trillion, 900,000 lives.” The estimates of lives lost and trillions spent vary throughout media sources, but even the most conservative estimates speak for themselves. Yet, while the Pentagon billed America’s latest imperial endeavors as an imperative […]
Above photo: 2015 DC Rally And March To Protest The 14th Year Of Guantanamo Torture And Indefinite Detention. Stephen Melkisethian/Flickr. Those who invented America’s torture program were promoted and protected by presidents of both parties. Only the whistleblower, John Kiriakou, was prosecuted. This is his story. Once upon a time, a keystone of American exceptionalism was the claim of a moral high ground when it came to how our forces operated abroad, in war or peace, especially when it came to the use of torture, that hallmark of enemies we stamped as evil, primitive and sadistic. The ends were not supposed to […]
Scheer Intelligence: What They Got Wrong In ‘The Trial Of The Chicago 7’ By Robert Scheer, ScheerPost.com. December 11, 2020 Scheer Intelligence: What They Got Wrong In ‘The Trial Of The Chicago 7’2020-12-112020-12-11https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/12/chicago-7-new-e1607711944195.jpg200px200px Above image: By Mr. Fish. The historian, who wrote “Conspiracy in the Streets” on the subject of the Netflix film, sets the record straight on this week’s “Scheer Intelligence.” “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” an Aaron Sorkin film that recently aired on Netflix, brought an important chapter in the history of American activism to screens around the globe. Based on real events, the film dramatizes the 1969 […]
Scheer Intelligence: The California Genocide No One Talks About By Robert Scheer, ScheerPost.com. November 27, 2020 Scheer Intelligence: The California Genocide No One Talks About2020-11-272020-11-27https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/11/rs1.jpg200px200px Above image: Benjamin Madley, left, and Robert Scheer. Alex Pieros. UCLA history professor Benjamin Madley’s book details the killing of tens of thousands of Native Americans as the state was being settled in the 19th century. This edition of the Scheer Intelligence podcast was first broadcast in September, 2016. UCLA history professor Benjamin Madley’s book An American Genocide: The United States and the California Catastrophe 1846-1873 details the killing of tens of thousands of Native Americans as the […]
Scheer Intelligence: Don’t Believe Anything You Were Told About Populism By Robert Scheer, ScheerPost.com. November 20, 2020 Scheer Intelligence: Don’t Believe Anything You Were Told About Populism2020-11-202020-11-20https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/11/thomas-frank-scaled-1-e1605883918675.jpg200px200px Above image: A portrait of Thomas Frank by Mr. Fish. On this week’s episode of “Scheer Intelligence,” the journalist examines the history of American populism, and how it was distorted by Democrats and co-opted by Republicans. The word “populism” gets a bad rap these days as corporate media warns of its alleged dangers and President Barack Obama goes so far as to blame Sarah Palin for its recent rise. But, according to Thomas Frank, the founding […]
Scheer Intelligence: Tracing America’s Brutal Imperialist History By Robert Scheer, Scheer Intelligence. October 30, 2020 Scheer Intelligence: Tracing America’s Brutal Imperialist History2020-10-302020-10-30https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/10/exceptionalism_2-scaled-1-e1604070182625.jpg200px200px Above image: By Mr. Fish. A political anthropologist puts a much needed pin to the balloon of American exceptionalism with an invaluable guide to a country that, long before Orwell came along, said war was peace – and interventionism was the highest form of anti-colonialism. The United States has the largest number of military installations in the world, with about 5,000 bases in total and at least 600 overseas, according to the Pentagon. Although the Department of Defense is […]
Scheer Intelligence: How Big Oil Weaponized The Judicial System By Robert Scheer, ScheerPost.com. October 16, 2020 Scheer Intelligence: How Big Oil Weaponized The Judicial System2020-10-162020-10-16https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/10/monkey-big-business-scaled-1.jpg200px200px Above image: By Mr. Fish. The epic battle by Steve Donziger to get Chevron to pay a $9.5 billion judgment he won in 2011 for its “mass industrial poisoning” of Indigenous Amazonian tribes in Ecuador has left him under house arrest for 13 months, disbarred, with, frozen bank accounts, $32 million in legal fees, a lien on his home, and no way to make a living. The judgment has not yet been paid. Steve Donziger has dedicated […]
Scheer Intelligence: Wrestling Back Privacy From The Jaws Of Big Tech By Robert Scheer, ScheerPost.com. October 13, 2020 Scheer Intelligence: Wrestling Back Privacy From The Jaws Of Big Tech2020-10-132020-10-13https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/10/privacy-scaled-1-e1602620355792.jpg200px200px Above image: By Mr. Fish. The Common Sense Media founder is taking on Mark Zuckerberg and other tech barons. He wants to empower the rest of us to do the same. Over the course of just a few decades, technology has come to play a role in nearly every single aspect of our lives. While there have been undeniable benefits to technological advances, one of the main concerns that has grown alongside […]
Scheer Intelligence: In A Time Of Mortal Crisis By Robert Scheer, ScheerPost.com. October 2, 2020 Scheer Intelligence: In A Time Of Mortal Crisis2020-10-022020-10-02https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/10/rabbi-scaled-e1601663371500.jpg200px200px Above image: Mr. Fish. Rabbi Michael Lerner Prophesies a Caring Society. The lifelong progressive talks about his new book and what he found lacking in Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. There’s no denying there’s been a renewed wave of interest in socialism in the United States, thanks in large part to Bernie Sanders. While the Vermont senator gained support across the country for his rallying cry against inequality and for promoting equitable policies like Medicare for All, Rabbi Michael […]
Scheer Intelligence: Justice Ginsburg’s Life And Legacy By Robert Scheer, ScheerPost.com. September 25, 2020 | Educate!, Featured Campaign Scheer Intelligence: Justice Ginsburg’s Life And Legacy2020-09-252020-09-25https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/09/bobscheer-e1601045966474.jpeg200px200px Above photo: Christopher Ho. The documentary filmmakers discuss their film “RBG” on the life and career of the legendary Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Eds. Note: With the tragic passing of feminist and progressive icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg, we highlight here a May 2018 conversation between Robert Scheer and the filmmakers of the excellent documentary on her life, “RBG.” The documentary filmmakers discuss their film “RBG” on the life and career of Supreme Court Justice Ruth […]
Scheer Intelligence: How Today’s Uprisings Compare To The 1960s Rebellions By Robert Scheer, ScheerPost.com. September 18, 2020 Scheer Intelligence: How Today’s Uprisings Compare To The 1960s Rebellions2020-09-182020-09-18https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/09/losang-e1600445188454.jpg200px200px Above image: “Los Angeles Revolution.” By Mr. Fish. The movements of the sixties, which are captured in detail in “Set the Night on Fire,” are seen as wildly successful. Is it possible Black Lives Matter will be even more so? The 1960s live on in U.S. memory as an era of counterculture rebellions and the civil rights movement that changed the course of the nation’s history. The mass uprisings that took place from coast to […]
Scheer Intelligence: Trump Is The Sweaty Armpit Of Monopoly Capitalism By Robert Scheer, ScheerPost.com. September 11, 2020 Scheer Intelligence: Trump Is The Sweaty Armpit Of Monopoly Capitalism2020-09-112020-09-11https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/09/page-header-1-e1599869565421.jpg200px200px Above image: By Mr. Fish. The journalist examines how the greatest danger to American society doesn’t come from the White House, but from a few obscenely powerful corporations. Over the past several decades, the largest corporations have absorbed and destroyed all opposition–big and small–and slowly come to play a role in every aspect of Americans’ lives. That’s the central argument of journalist David Dayen’s latest book, Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power. On this […]
Scheer Intellience: The 1918 ‘Spanish Flu’ Was A US Export By Robert Scheer, ScheerPost.com. September 4, 2020 | Educate!, Featured Campaign Scheer Intellience: The 1918 ‘Spanish Flu’ Was A US Export2020-09-042020-09-04https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/09/page-header-e1599261339899.jpg200px200px Above image: “Not in Kansas anymore” by Mr. Fish. But Don’t Call It the Kansas Virus. “The Great Influenza” author gave us a warning 16 years ago that is extremely relevant today: It is always fatal to allow politics to trump science. Don’t say we weren’t warned. As President Trump’s subversion of science wreaks havoc with American society, the reappearance on bestseller lists of John Barry’s 2004 classic work, “The Great […]
Scheer Intelligence: The Revolt Of The Black Athlete By Robert Scheer, ScheerPost.com. August 28, 2020 | Educate!, Featured Campaign Scheer Intelligence: The Revolt Of The Black Athlete2020-08-282020-08-28https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/08/page-header-14.jpg200px200px Above photo: Howard Bryant. Brittany Martin. The ESPN writer’s book explores the responsibilities placed upon professional black athletes from Jackie Robinson to LeBron James to be role models for social justice. Editor’s Note: We’re reposting this episode of “Scheer Intelligence,” with full transcript, which originally aired on July 13, 2018, apropos the Black Lives Matter work stoppages shaking up the professional sports world this week. Howard Bryant is a senior writer for ESPN.com and appears regularly on […]
Scheer Intelligence: Something’s Rotten In The Corporate States Of America By Robert Scheer, ScheerPost.com. August 21, 2020 | Educate!, Featured Campaign Scheer Intelligence: Something’s Rotten In The Corporate States Of America2020-08-212020-08-21https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/08/mrfish.jpg200px200px Above image: “Punch the Clock” by Mr. Fish. A new book by Barbara Freese explores eight stories about the unfettered corporate greed that has corrupted modern society and led to an astounding loss of life. Beginning with the slave trade and leading all the way up to the climate crisis, author Barbara Freese’s “Industrial Strength Denial” examines eight of private industries’ most egregious crimes against humanity. On this week’s installment […]
Scheer Intelligence: The Unbearable Violence Of Being American By Robert Scheer, Scheer Intelligence. July 24, 2020 | Educate!, Featured Campaign Scheer Intelligence: The Unbearable Violence Of Being American2020-07-242020-07-24https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/07/f_kcgbxxnq0-scaled-e1595615701782.jpeg200px200px Above image: Drawing by Mr. Fish. Generations of US soldiers have been funnelled through unwinnable wars. Some come home with an urgent new perspective to share. America’s military industrial complex and multiple presidential administrations have funnelled several generations of soldiers through unwinnable wars from Vietnam to Afghanistan and Iraq seemingly without qualms. What has emerged from these tragedies are thousands of traumatized young Americans bringing home wars and leaving behind millions of innocent […]
Scheer Intelligence: The Price Of Ignoring The Ferguson Uprising By Robert Scheer, ScheerPost.com. July 10, 2020 | Educate!, Featured Campaign Scheer Intelligence: The Price Of Ignoring The Ferguson Uprising2020-07-102020-07-10https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/07/olambiwonnu-3-scaled-e1594413254395.jpg200px200px Above image: Filmmaker Mobolaji Olambiwonnu. Mr. Fish. Throughout the uprisings inspired by the killings of Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, Freddie Gray and so many other Black victims, white leaders refused to learn from Black Lives Matter, a group inspired by the police killing of Trayvon Martin, 17, in 2012 and galvanized by the killing of Michael Brown. August 9 will mark six years since 18-year-old Michael Brown was murdered by policeman Darren Wilson in Ferguson, […]
Scheer Intelligence: For Many Young People, Socialism Is As American As Apple Pie June 26, 2020 | Educate!, Featured Campaign Scheer Intelligence: For Many Young People, Socialism Is As American As Apple Pie2020-06-262020-06-26https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/06/bernie-etc-scaled-e1593193423966.jpg200px200px Above image: By Mr. Fish. Bernie Sanders may never make it to the White House, but, just when we need them most, socialists like “Bigger than Bernie” co-author Megan Day have picked up his torch. In the devastating aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, many young Americans who felt betrayed by capitalism were introduced to socialism by Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaigns. Meagan Day, a staff writer for the popular […]
Scheer Intelligence: The Powerful Past, Present And Future Of Black Lives Matter By Robert Scheer, Scheer Post. June 19, 2020 | Educate!, Featured Campaign Scheer Intelligence: The Powerful Past, Present And Future Of Black Lives Matter2020-06-192020-06-19https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/06/melina-abdullah2-scaled-e1592602943312.jpg200px200px Above image: Melina Abdullah, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Movement. Illustration by Mr. Fish. Interview with Melina Abdullah. As BLM protests sweep the globe, the movement’s co-founder talks about its roots and her hopes for the coming years. Black Lives Matter was founded in 2013 after the murder of Trayvon Martin highlighted the dangers Black children, women and men face daily because of the color of […]
Scheer Intelligence: The Cynical Forces Behind America’s Forever Wars By Robert Scheer, Scheer Post. June 12, 2020 | Educate!, Featured Campaign Scheer Intelligence: The Cynical Forces Behind America’s Forever Wars2020-06-122020-06-12https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/06/hopalong-scaled-e1591985972643.jpg200px200px Above image: Mr. Fish. Patrick Cockburn examines the disastrous inevitability of America’s failures in the Middle East as the region continues to reel from decades of U.S.-sponsored turmoil. American interventionism in the Middle East has resulted in two of the longest wars in U.S. history, and led to countless deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as widespread instability in the region. Nearly two decades into the so-called “War on Terror,” concerns […]
Scheer Intelligence: The ‘Mass Murder Program’ Behind America’s Rise To Power By Robert Scheer, Popular Resistance. May 29, 2020 | Educate!, Featured Campaign Scheer Intelligence: The ‘Mass Murder Program’ Behind America’s Rise To Power2020-05-292020-05-29https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/05/mass-murder-program-scaled-e1590770324783.jpg200px200px Above image: Mr. Fish. In a new book, the journalist explores the Cold War massacres in Asia and Latin America that still define global political dynamics today. The Cold War–how it was fought and brutally won by the U.S. on global scale—has defined international politics for more than half a century. That is the central argument of journalist Vincent Bevins’ new book, “The Jakarta Method: Washington’s Anticommunist […]
Scheer Intelligence: Big Banks Got The Sweetest Deal From The Covid-19 Bailouts By Robert Scheer, Popular Resistance. May 15, 2020 | Educate!, Featured Campaign Scheer Intelligence: Big Banks Got The Sweetest Deal From The Covid-19 Bailouts2020-05-152020-05-15https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/05/page-header.jpg200px200px Above image: Mr. Fish. The banking expert explains why Congress’ stimulus bill has been a boon for Wall Street and not the small businesses that need it most. It’s been over a decade since the 2008 banking meltdown, and yet many Americans are still living with the consequences of the financial crisis and the Obama administration’s decision to bailout banks over people with their own tax […]
Scheer Intelligence: Does Medicare For All Await Us At The End Of This Viral Massacre? By Robert Scheer, Popular Resistance. May 8, 2020 | Educate!, Featured Campaign Scheer Intelligence: Does Medicare For All Await Us At The End Of This Viral Massacre?2020-05-082020-05-08https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/05/image0-copy-e1588963308404.jpeg200px200px Above image: By Mr. Fish. The coronavirus pandemic has revealed a number of fatal flaws in the ways the United States operates that all link back to capitalism. Perhaps the most egregious, however, is the country’s inhumane health care system. Given the global spread of Covid-19, it has been possible to witness in real time how other countries have fared […]