Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Guns/Weapons (Ongoing Archive)

Michael Benton -- Excellent episode analyzing the toxic effect of one of the worst organizations in America and the need to fight for stricter gun control laws.



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Barker, Holly, et al. "The Secret, Silent Poisoning (Nuclear Victims in Peace and War)." Unwelcome Guests #616 (August 11, 2012)

Beckett, Lois. "How to Report on Gun Violence in America." On the Media (September 6, 2019) ["In August, 53 people died in mass shootings in the United States. Following the shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, Washington Post columnist Margaret Sullivan wrote, “When a mass shooting happens, even when it happens twice in a 24-hour period — even when the death toll soars into the dozens — we reflexively spring into action. We describe the horror of what happened, we profile the shooter, we tell about the victims’ lives, we get reaction from public officials. It’s difficult, gut-wrenching work for journalists on the scene. And then there’s the next one. And the next one. If journalism is supposed to be a positive force in society — and we know it can be — this is doing no good.” Lois Beckett is a senior reporter for The Guardian and has covered gun violence for seven years. She says that mainstream coverage of the issue is flawed because it's focused mainly on one type of tragedy. She explains to Brooke how better coverage would mean focusing on the root causes of gun violence."]

Benjamin, Medea and Trevor Timm. "Drone Summit: Killing and Spying by Remote Control." Law and Disorder (July 9, 2012)

Carlin, Dan. "Gunning for Violence." Common Sense #244 (December 28, 2012) [The archived episode costs 99 cents, but definitely worth it "In the wake of another mass shooting, Dan looks at ways to alter a society that glorifies gun violence. He ties together culture, mental health and powerful lobbying groups in a fashion sure to upset everyone.']

Chomsky, Noam. "Nuclear Weapons, Climate Change & the Undermining of Democracy Threaten Future of Planet." Democracy Now (April 12, 2019) ["As President Trump pulls out of key nuclear agreements with Russia and moves to expand the U.S. nuclear arsenal, Noam Chomsky looks at how the threat of nuclear war remains one of the most pressing issues facing mankind. In a speech at the Old South Church in Boston, Chomsky also discusses the threat of climate change and the undermining of democracy across the globe."]

Clark, Ramsey and Harry Murray. ""Hancock 38" Defendants Found Guilty for Bold Army Base Protest Against U.S. Drone Attacks Abroad." Democracy Now (December 2, 2011)

Cobbs, Maurice. Customer Comment on Amazon about the Tailwind child's toy Drone Dialogic (January 28, 2012)

Conroy, Bill. "More Fast and Furious / Did Cele Call it?" The Expert Witness Radio Show (December 14, 2011)

Debusmann, Bernd. "America's Problematic Remote Control Wars." Reuters (July 8, 2011)

Drone Survival Guide [Website: "Our ancestors could spot natural predators from far by their silhouettes. Are we equally aware of the predators in the present-day? Drones are remote-controlled planes that can be used for anything from surveillance and deadly force, to rescue operations and scientific research. Most drones are used today by military powers for remote-controlled surveillance and attack, and their numbers are growing. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) predicted in 2012 that within 20 years there could be as many as 30.000 drones flying over U.S. Soil alone. As robotic birds will become commonplace in the near future, we should be prepared to identify them. This survival guide is an attempt to familiarise ourselves and future generations, with a changing technological environment. This document contains the silhouettes of the most common drone species used today and in the near future. Each indicating nationality and whether they are used for surveillance only or for deadly force. All drones are drawn in scale for size indication. From the smallest consumer drones measuring less than 1 meter, up to the Global Hawk measuring 39,9 meter in length."]

Ellsberg, Daniel. "Daniel Ellsberg Reveals He Was a Nuclear War Planner, Warns of Nuclear Winter & Global Starvation." Democracy Now (December 6, 2017) ["Could tension between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un bring us to the brink of nuclear war? As tensions ramp up, we discuss what nuclear war would look like with a former nuclear war planner and one of the world’s most famous whistleblowers—Daniel Ellsberg. In 1971, Ellsberg was a high-level defense analyst when he leaked a top-secret report on U.S. involvement in Vietnam to The New York Times and other publications, which came to be known as the Pentagon Papers. He played a key role in ending the Vietnam War. Few know Ellsberg was also a Pentagon and White House consultant who drafted plans for nuclear war. His new book, published Tuesday, is titled “The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner.” We speak with Ellsberg about his top-secret nuclear studies, his front row seat to the Cuban missile crisis, whether Trump could start a nuclear war and how contemporary whistleblowers Chelsea Manning and Ed Snowden are his heroes."]

"Emma González at Home, and a Crown Prince Abroad." The New Yorker Radio Hour (April 6, 2018) ["Emma González is a survivor of the Parkland attack, and a leader of the #NeverAgain movement. She talks with David Remnick about the ways her life has changed since the shooting, and why activism comes naturally to the teens spearheading this newest push for gun control."]

Engelhardt, Tom. "Praying at the Church of St. Drone: The President and His Apostles." Tom Dispatch (June 5, 2012)

Frost, Amber. "‘Hours of Racist, Imperialist Fun!’: Toy predator drone + snarky Amazon comments." Dangerous Minds (December 31, 2012)

Greenwald, Glenn and Jeremy Scahill. "Death By Metadata: Jeremy Scahill & Glenn Greenwald Reveal NSA Role in Assassinations Overseas." Democracy Now (February 10, 2014)

Grosscup, Beau. "Cluster Munitions and State Terrorism." Monthly Review 62.11 (April 1, 2011)

Gusterson, Hugh and Elaine Scarry. "Are We Numb to Nukes?" Radio Open Source (April 10, 2014) ["We’re thinking our way through a plausible nuclear emergency with Elaine Scarry who reminds you – we’ve got a weapons monarchy in this democracy. Two decades after the fall of the Berlin wall and a nuclear football still accompanies the president at all times, nuclear missile silos still dot the great plains, and hundreds of nukes remain constantly on alert. How can we call it a democracy, the rule of the people, when there’s one man’s finger on the trigger that could destroy us all?"]

Hennessey, Martha and Carmen Trotta.  "Kings Bay Plowshares: Meet Two of the Seven Activists Who Secretly Entered a Nuclear Submarine Base." Democracy Now (July 24, 2018) ["We look at the resistance against nuclear weapons here in the United States. On April 4, 2018—the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination—seven Catholic Plowshares activists secretly entered Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia, one of the largest nuclear submarine bases in the world. They were armed with just hammers, crime scene tape, baby bottles containing their own blood, and an indictment charging the U.S. government for crimes against peace. Their goal was to symbolically disarm the nuclear weapons at the base, which is home to at least six nuclear ballistic missile submarines. Each submarine carries 20 Trident thermonuclear weapons. The activists said they were following the prophet Isaiah’s command to “beat swords into plowshares.” It was the latest of 100 similar anti-nuclear Plowshares actions around the world beginning in 1980 in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. The first Plowshares action in 1980 was led by the late Daniel Berrigan and Phil Berrigan. Phil’s wife, Liz McAlister, was one of seven arrested at the April 4 action. McAlister and two other activists, Jesuit priest Stephen Kelly and Mark Colville, remain locked up in pretrial confinement in Brunswick, Georgia. Four others—Patrick O’Neill, Carmen Trotta, Martha Hennessy and Clare Grady—are under house arrest. All seven could face years in prison, if convicted. We speak with Martha Hennessy and Carmen Trotta. Hennessy is the granddaughter of Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Worker movement. Carmen Trotta helps run the St. Joseph Catholic Worker House in New York."]

Horwitz, Josh. "Republican Lawmakers Refuse to Adopt Gun Control Despite 200 School Shootings Since Sandy Hook." Democracy Now (February 15, 2018) ["Since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, there have been 200 school shootings. But on Capitol Hill and in many state legislatures, Republican lawmakers have blocked efforts to enact gun control. Wednesday’s shooting in Florida comes just days after President Trump released his budget, which proposes cutting millions of dollars from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. We speak to Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. He is the co-author of “Guns, Democracy, and the Insurrectionist Idea.”"]

Johnson, Nicholas. "Negroes and the Gun." The Volokh Conspiracy (January 27, 2014)

---. "Negroes and the Gun: The Black Tradition of Arms." After Words (January 21, 2014)

Khamvongsa, Channapha, Thoummy Silaphan and Manixia Thor. "40 Years After Secret U.S. War in Laos Ended, Millions of Unexploded Bomblets Keep Killing Laotians." Democracy Now (April 4, 2013)

Kimball, Daryl. "'Counterproductive and Dangerous': : Nuclear Arms Race Feared as U.S. Quits Key Treaty with Russia." Democracy Now (October 22, 2018) ["President Trump has announced plans to pull the United States out of a landmark nuclear arms pact with Russia, in a move that could spark a new arms race. President Ronald Reagan and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 1987. The INF banned all nuclear and non-nuclear missiles with short and medium ranges. The treaty helped to eliminate thousands of land-based missiles. On Saturday, Trump vowed to build new nuclear weapons. We speak with Daryl Kimball, director of the Arms Control Association. He previously led the Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers. He has been advocating for the U.S. and Russia to preserve the INF Treaty."]

"March For Our Lives Special Broadcast." Democracy Now (March 24, 2018) ["Democracy Now! was on the ground broadcasting live from the March For Our Lives in Washington, D.C. on March 24, 2018, a historic event created, inspired and led by students. The four-hour special program featured the voices of students and people of all ages who converged on the capital and over 800 other cities around the world to demand action on gun control."]

Merler, Sylvia. "On the Cost of Gun Ownership." Bruegel (October 11, 2017) ["On 1 October 2017, 59 people were killed and another 489 injured in what is currently the deadliest mass shooting in US modern history. The author reviews recent contributions on the economic cost of gun violence, as well as the impact of regulation."]

Nader, Ralph. "Where are the Lawyers?: Obama at Large." Counterpunch (May 31, 2012)

Nasser, Latif, et al. "Nukes." Radiolab (April 7, 2017) ["President Richard Nixon once boasted that at any moment he could pick up a telephone and - in 20 minutes - kill 60 million people. Such is the power of the US President over the nation’s nuclear arsenal. But what if you were the military officer on the receiving end of that phone call? Could you refuse the order? This episode, we profile one Air Force Major who asked that question back in the 1970s and learn how the very act of asking it was so dangerous it derailed his career. We also pick up the question ourselves and pose it to veterans both high and low on the nuclear chain of command. Their responses reveal once and for all whether there are any legal checks and balances between us and a phone call for Armageddon."]

Nocera, Joe. "Holiday Weekend Gun Report: May 23-26, 2014." The New York Times (May 27, 2014)

Novak, Matt. "U.S. Army Assures Public That Robot Tank System Adheres to AI Murder Policy." Gizmodo (March 6, 2019)

Oliver, Manuel and Patricia Oliver. "Parents of Murdered Parkland Student Joaquin Oliver on Using Art to Demand End to Gun Violence." Democracy Now (August 15, 2018) ["Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, return to class today, amid heavy security, after summer break. It was six months ago Tuesday when a former student, armed with a semiautomatic AR-15, gunned down 17 students, staff and teachers in just three minutes. It was one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. After the horrific attack, many of the students who survived the shooting became leading activists for gun control. 
Among the students killed at Stoneman Douglas High School was Joaquin Oliver. On Tuesday, Democracy Now! spoke to Joaquin’s parents, Manuel and Patricia Oliver, who have started a new nonprofit called Change the Ref to promote the use of urban art and nonviolent creative confrontation to expose the disastrous effects of gun violence."]

"Parkland High School Shooting Survivor Emma Gonzalez’s Powerful Speech Demanding Gun Control." Democracy Now (February 19, 2018) ["In Florida, as funerals continue for the 17 people killed in at the Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County, Florida, survivors of the school shooting have launched an unprecedented youth-led movement to demand gun control. At a rally on Saturday, survivors of the school shooting demanded politicians stop accepting money from the National Rifle Association. For more, we broadcast the full speech of Emma Gonzalez, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School."]

Peck, Adam. "There Has Been an Average of One School Shooting Every Other School Day so far This Year." Moyers and Co. (January 23, 2014)

Perry, Tod. "Last month was the first March in 18 years without a single school shooting in America." Upworthy (April 15, 2020)

Phelan, Stephen. "Watching the End of the World." The Boston Review (June 11, 2019) ["The Doomsday Clock is set to two minutes to midnight—the same position it held in 1953, when the United States and USSR detonated their first hydrogen bombs. So why don't we make movies about nuclear war anymore? "]

Porter, Henry. "American gun use is out of control. Shouldn't the world intervene?" Comment is Free (September 21, 2013)

Scahill, Jeremy. "The World Is a Battlefield: Jeremy Scahill on "Dirty Wars" and Obama’s Expanding Drone Attacks." Democracy Now (April 24, 2013)

Schlosser, Eric. "Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety." Book TV (October 6, 2013) ["Using recently declassified documents, Eric Schlosser details the ease with which an accident can occur when handling nuclear weapons and how little control military leaders and missile designers have over them. He speaks with Lynn Davis, the former U.S. undersecretary for arms control and the director of the RAND corporation's Washington office."]

Scruggs, Ed. "Texans Decry “Extremist” Gun Lobby & Inadequate Background Checks After Mass Shooting Kills 26." Democracy Now (November 6, 2017) ["On Sunday, suspected shooter Devin Patrick Kelley walked into the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, wearing a ballistic vest and carrying a Ruger AR-556 assault-style rifle and opened fire, killing at least 26 people and wounding at least 20 more. Among the victims was a pregnant woman, the 14-year-old daughter of the church’s pastor and other children as young as five years old. In April 2016, Kelley purchased the Ruger AR-556 rifle at an Academy Sports + Outdoors store in San Antonio, Texas, despite having been court-martialed and jailed for a year for assaulting his wife and child. In filling out the background check paperwork, Kelley indicated he did not have a criminal history that disqualified him from purchasing the firearm. For more on gun control and background checks, we speak with Ed Scruggs, vice chair and spokesperson for Texas Gun Sense."]

---. "Texas Weakens Gun Laws One Day After Odessa Massacre Leaves 7 Dead, 22 Injured." Democracy Now (September 3, 2019) ["A gunman killed seven people and injured 22 others on Saturday, including a 17-month-old girl. Police have identified the shooter as 36-year-old Seth Ator. He went on the rampage just hours after being fired from his trucking job. The deadly string of events began when a Midland police officer pulled over Ator for failing to use his signal. Police say Ator then opened fire using an AR-15-style weapon before speeding away. He then began shooting at random residents and motorists. The rampage ended 20 miles away when the gunman died in a shootout with police outside a movie theater in Odessa. Meanwhile, eight new laws easing gun restrictions went into effect in Texas on Sunday. It is now easier to carry guns in Texas churches, schools and apartment buildings. We speak to Ed Scruggs, president of the board of directors and spokesperson for Texas Gun Sense."]

Seibel, Mark. "As U.S. Pushes For Syria Strike, Questions Loom over Obama Claims in Chemical Attack." Democracy Now (September 4, 2013)

Siegel, Jacob. "Send Anarchists, Guns and Money." The Baffler #39 (May 2018)

Shah, Anup. "The Arms Trade is Big Business." Global Issues (January 5, 2013)

Sifton, John. "A Brief History of Drones." The Nation (February 27, 2012)

Singer, P.W. "Wired for War." The Geek's Guide to the Galaxy #3 (July 18, 2011)

"The Surprising History of Gun Control, School Shooting Myths, and More ." On the Media (December 21, 2012)

Taibbi, Matt. "If We Want Kids to Stop Killing, the Adults Have to Stop, Too: America's Rage-Sickness Trickles Down from the Top." Rolling Stone (February 16, 2018)

Thompson, Geraldine. "When Will This Stop? 17 Shot Dead in Florida School Massacre, the 18th School Shooting of Year." Democracy Now (February 15, 2018) ["In Parkland, Florida, 17 people died Wednesday in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. The massacre at the Stoneman Douglas High School was the 18th school shooting this year, according to Everytown for Gun Safety. This means there has been a school shooting on average every 60 hours so far this year. Police have identified the gunman as a 19-year-old former pupil named Nikolas Cruz. He was carrying an AR-15 with multiple magazines of ammunition. In addition to the 17 dead, 15 people were injured. We speak to Geraldine Thompson, a former Florida Democratic state senator. She represented the Orlando district where the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre took ."]

"'The Time to Act Is Now': Florida School Shooting Survivors Confront Trump, Rubio on Gun Control." Democracy Now (February 22, 2018) ["“The time to act is now.” That’s the message of survivors of last week’s school shooting in Florida. On Wednesday, the nation witnessed grieving students, parents and teachers powerfully confront the president and lawmakers over gun control in pointed—and often tense—televised exchanges. The day began with students across the United States—from Minnesota to Colorado to Arizona—walking out of class to demand stricter gun laws. Meanwhile, survivors of the shooting descended on the Florida state Capitol in Tallahassee to demand lawmakers pass legislation addressing gun violence before the legislative session ends. In the afternoon, President Trump—along with Vice President Mike Pence and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos—hosted a listening session with survivors of recent shootings, including students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Wednesday evening, survivors of the massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School sparred with politicians during a town hall hosted by CNN."]

Woods, Chris. "As U.S. Escalates Pakistan Drone Strikes, Expansive "Kill List" Stirs Fears of Worse Civilian Toll." Democracy Now (June 5,2012)

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