Air Date: 6-16-2017
Show Notes
Ch. 1: Opening Theme: A Fond Farewell - From a Basement On the Hill
Ch. 2: Act 1: Manchurian candidate or useful idiot? - Intercepted (@theintercept) - Air Date 3-1-17
Ch. 3: Song 1: Дискотека Авария - Малинки (feat. Ж. Фриске)
Ch. 4: Act 2: A theory on how Trump got involved politically with Russia - The Ezra Klein Show - Air Date 6-6-17
Ch. 5: Song 2: 007 (From "From Russia With Love") - The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra
Ch. 7: Song 3: Blue Girl - A-Set
Ch. 9: Song 4: Nothing Is Good Enough (Instrumental) - Aimee Mann
Ch. 10: Act 5: Why Liberals are Falling for Fake News About Russia - On the Media - Air Date 6-2-17
Ch. 11: Song 5: The Love You Save (May Be Your Own) - Joe Tex
Ch. 12: Act 6: Legitimate concerns about Russia shouldn't lead to mass hysteria - The Zero Hour w: @RJEskow - Air Date 6-3-17
Ch. 13: Song 6: The Bathtub (feat. The Lost Bayou Ramblers) - Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin
Ch. 14: Act 7: Is It a Mistake Focusing So Much Attention on Russia? - @Thom_Hartmann - Air Date 03-05-17
Ch. 15: Song 7: People, Turn Around - Delta Spirit
Ch. 16: Act 8: Masha Gessen on how the left has fallen into a Russia conspiracy sphere - The Ezra Klein Show - Air Date 6-6-17
Ch. 17: Song 8: Hide the Truth - Chronicle
Ch. 18: Act 9: Yes, The Russia Scandal Is Actually A Scandal - @theyoungturks - Air Date 05-13-17
Voicemails
Voicemail Music: Loud Pipes - Classics
Ch. 20: Final comments asking for thoughts on the state of the left
Closing Music: Here We Are - Everyone's in Everyone
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
Thanks for listening!
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The most glaring I feel compelled to point out is this, they quote Glenn: “It’s hard, for instance, to imagine any group that has done more harm, and ushered in more evil, than the Bush-era neocons with whom Democrats are now openly aligning,”
And interpret that quote this way: “His construction that “it’s hard … to imagine” any worse faction than the neocons is especially telling.”
Do you see the problem there? Glenn is clearly describing the ACTIONS of the neocons and the article writers interpretation is to boil that down to the group itself regardless of actions, allowing them to continue with this: “However dangerous or rancid figures like Steve Bannon or Michael Flynn may be, the possibility that they could match the evil of the neocons is literally beyond the capacity of his brain to imagine.”
Again, Glenn was describing the ACTIONS of a group of people who held a massive amount of power for long stretches of time in recent decades whereas the alt-right and the Bannon crowd came to only partial power a handful of months ago. So, no, there is no conflict in saying that the alt-right is completely rancid AND that they have clearly not “done more harm, and ushered in more evil, than the Bush-era neocons”.
And as an aside, it’s also important to note the over-the-top snideness of the “beyond the capacity of his brain to imagine” comment which itself was another misinterpretation of a quote. “Hard… to imagine” ≠ beyond the capacity of one’s brain to imagine. The writer is clearly on a mission to discredit and any cost here.
So, after that wild misrepresentation (amid an article in which the writer castigates Greenwald for misrepresenting the motivations of others), it was unsurprising for the next paragraph to begin with this sentence: “A second source of Greenwald’s sympathy for the nationalists is their populism.”
A which point I said “Oh, fuck you” to the article writer in disgust. As I said, the article makes a handful of worthwhile points but it’s also a flagrant hit job filled with poisonous nonsense that doesn’t deserve to be part of a thoughtful and nuanced conversation.
Next time you send me an article make sure it’s better than that one.