Mic Check Radio

Activist Cinema Episode 9 - Collapse (2009) was directed by Chris Smith and is essentially a monologue film.  There haven't been too many of these kinds of film made, but within this small sub-genre of films, Collapse is one of the best.  We choose this film as a nice end cap to the We're So Fucked series of episodes as most of the ideas and sentiments from that series are well represented in this documentary about the late, great Michael C. Ruppert. [Click to Listen]

The fourth and final in episode in our We're So Fucked series  (We're So Fucked - We're So Fucked 2: Bringing Down the System - We're So Fucked 3: Don't Do Anything) ends on a happy note, sort of...We start the discussion with the idea that there are no easy fixes for all of the worlds problems and how personal a choice it is to actually get up everyday, take in air and keep trying to function as a human being on a fucked planet.  What do you spend you time working towards?  Everybody's answer is different, so we attempt to discuss the big picture issue that can apply to everyone...the potential of the human brain and the wonderful, creative, artistic impulses that reside inside of us all.  Especially the youngest human beings among us, kids.  Before their brains are taught all that social baggage we adults carry around in our brains, they are (or can be) free to explore, create, question and express themselves in the most spectacular ways imaginable.  It might not save all of us humans, but it will help create a fantastic generation to keep the human species experiment going after the collapse of civilization as we know it...that's the 'sort of' happy ending we like here at Mic Check Radio.[Click to Listen]

On this episode we discuss the four steps the State has already set up that allow them to kill activists.  Step 1: Redefine and/or blur the lines of definitions (ex. Terrorism, Domestic Terrorism, Eco-Terrorism)[Link].

Step 2: Create a precedent for killing US civilians [Link].

Step 3: Federal authorities are already cool with targeting activists [Link 1] [Link 2].

Step 4: Get pundits on corporate news shows to tell us why this is a great idea.

[Click to Listen]

On May 26th, 2013 we put out an episode called The FBI Creates Terrorists - which was, itself, a follow up to What is Terrorism? - and just about one year later...not a single thing seems to have changed.  On this weeks episode we take a look at a few specific cases.  Farooque Ahmed, Liberty City Seven, James Cromitie, Derrick Shareef and Nicolas Michael Teausant. [Click to Listen]

The wonderful folks over at CrimetInc have posted a superb article about how the current Ukrainian Revolution is/was hijacked by the Fascist and Nationalist of that particular country.  The example used in this article is specific to Ukraine, but the details will sound familiar to anyone who has read a news story in the past three years about similar uprisings in Spain, Turkey, Tunisia, USA, Venezuela, Brazil, Egypt, etc.  If you don't get off the couch and into the street, your ideas will not be heard -  and you never know what ideas will be presented in your absence. [Click to Listen]

It's that time of year again...the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was re-uped for another year.  What devious items were snuck in this year?  In the last two years, indefinite military detention of United States citizens (NDAA 2012) and overturning the 63 year old Smith-Mundt Act which prohibited domestic dissemination of government propaganda (NDAA 2013) were just two of the highlights.  This year, the war rhetoric is amped up to get the Department of Defense ready for the coming (or currently raging) cyber war by not only creating another government database for storing digital information, but laying out the rules for selling and exchanging that information with other governments and individuals all over the world. [Click to Listen]

This episode follows We're So Fucked and We're So Fucked 2: Bringing Down the System.  On today's installment of this sporadic series we look at one of the two options that are laid out before us: Do Something or Don't Do Anything.  The later is the focus for this episode.  Doing nothing has never been easier or more entertaining (assuming you live in a so-called First World Country).  Thousands of TV channels, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Google Play, iTunes, pornography, Soundcloud, YouTube, drugs (both legal and illegal), video games, social media, food and consumer electronics gadgetry that allow for the access of  most of the above at the touch of a finger.  Why the fuck would a First World human being want to do anything more than passively move thru their life, enjoying the entirety of human created entertainment that is available on small computer that fits in a pocket? [Click to Listen]

Activist Cinema Episode 8 - The Square (2013) is an excellent example of a journalistic documentary.  It covers the protests in Egypt's Tahrir Square that started in 2011 and stays with several citizens (protestors, activists and lawyers) over a two year period.  The ups and downs of seeing two presidents removed from power, violent military crackdowns and counter protests in a very short period of time.  It ends with the current (as of fall 2013) 'transitional period' in which the citizens are under

military rule and all their victories are now under threat. [Click to Listen]

As a tangent series to the Activist Cinema episodes we've been doing for awhile now, here is short playlist of fantastic Activist Music - The Punk Rock Edition Vol.1.

Transmission - S.T.U.N.

Punk Rock Song - Bad Religion

Controlled Opposition - Anti Flag

Suburban Home - Descendents

Lady Liberty - Rancid

Jerk of All Trades - Lunachicks

Dwindle - Falling Sickness

Boredom - S.T.U.N.

On this episode we take a closer look at the so called 'Russian Anti-Gay Laws' with the help of a very insightful white paper - Russian Federation Anti Gay Laws: An Analysis and Deconstruction by Brian M. Heiss.  Why are these laws getting so much corporate media coverage?  Is it all just to remind people to tune into the Winter Olympics and by Coke and Nike products?  Is it possibly a distraction story so no one investigates the most expensive and corrupt Winter Olympics in history?  After we discuss these cynical questions, we take a quick look around the Middle East and Africa to see if there are any other countries whose anti-gay laws could stand some scrutiny by our oh-so-concerned corporate media.  And while we're looking into anti-gay laws and anti-gay hate crime statistics, it's always a good idea to check in here at home and see how the United States is faring.  (Hint: it's no better than Russia.  In fact, it's a lot worse in some areas). [Click to Listen]