FEATURING RICHARD CAHAN – Seventy five years after the end of the Civil War, a group of writers hired by the Works Progress Administration set out to document American slavery from the points of view of its survivors. The Slave Narratives as the resulting work came to be called, was based on the words of thousands of men and women enslaved by whites. It became a powerful and well-known book. 

Now, a new book for the first time pairs the photographs of the interviewees of The Slave Narratives, with their interviews. The resulting publication is stunning, haunting, and humanizing. 

For more information about this and other books visit https://www.cityfilespress.com.

Richard Cahan, journalist who writes about photography, art and history. He worked for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1983 to 1999, primarily serving as the paper’s picture editor. He is the author or co-author of more than a dozen books, including Un-American, about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, as well as Aftershock: The Human Toll of War – Haunting World War II Images by America’s Soldier Photographers, and The Revolution in Black and White: Photographs of the Civil Rights Era by Ernest C. Withers. His new book is called River of Blood, American Slavery From the People Who Lived It. Interviews and Photographs of Formerly Enslaved African Americans.

Attorney General William Barr gave an exclusive interview to ABC News on Thursday in response to the growing scandal over President Donald Trump’s seeming intervention to reduce the DOJ’s sentencing recommendation for his friend and convict Roger Stone. Mr. Barr, who faces accusations of doing Trump’s bidding reportedly pulled his own federal prosecutors back, all of who then resigned from the case. But Barr implied during his interview that he was independent of the President’s influence and that in fact Trump’s tweets made it harder for him to do his job. The President immediately doubled down on Twitter and quoted Barr’s interview, “The President has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case.” He then pointedly added, “A.G. Barr  This doesn’t mean that I do not have, as President, the legal right to do so, I do, but I have so far chosen not to!” In declaring he has the legal right to interfere in federal cases Trump is claiming a right no President has ever before asserted.

Top Republican lawmakers affirmed Barr’s assertion of independence with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell saying, “Maybe the president should listen to the attorney general,” but others like Democratic Representative Val Demmings felt the AG and President were “in cahoots” with one another. Demmings said the President’s tweets were, “making it harder for [Barr] to get away with doing the wrong thing.” Meanwhile news broke on Friday morning that the Justice Department would not be charging former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe for authorizing his agency’s investigation of the President. McCabe has been one of Trump’s favorite targets. However, the Justice Department has also now authorized a review of the investigation into Trump’s first National Security Adviser Michael Flynn who was convicted of lying to investigators but has yet to be sentenced. The New York Times called the review of Flynn’s case “highly unusual,” and that it, “could trigger more accusations of political interference by top Justice Department officials into the work of career prosecutors.”

On Thursday Trump met with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo over the federal government’s targeting of that state’s sanctuary immigration policy. Just ahead of the meeting Trump tweeted a message that could widely be interpreted as yet another

FEATURING JENNIFER WICKHAM – Protests are taking place across Canada in solidarity with First Nations protectors against a major pipeline project by multinational corporations. The Wet’suwet’en First Nation hereditary chiefs and land defenders have been opposing a fracked gas pipeline in Northern British Colombia that cuts right through their lands. The land protectors have set up camps that have been routinely attacked by RCMP, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Dozens have been arrested. But the solidarity protests are now spreading across Canada. 

For more information visit https://www.yintahaccess.com or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/UnistotenCamp and https://twitter.com/Gidimten.

Jennifer Wickham, Media Coordinator for the Gidimt’en Camp.

FEATURING DR. MARGARET L. ANDERSEN – When Donald Trump won the Presidency in 2016, it was a political earthquake that shattered friendships, neighborly relationships, and even families. Much of the fissures have been around race given how Trump has based his ideology on white supremacist views. But Trump’s election was just the latest battlefront in the war over race and racism in America – a war that has never been properly reconciled. Our guest has written a powerful new book about the necessity of such a reconciliation needing to happen on a daily basis and in all aspects of our lives. 

Dr. Margaret L. Andersen, the Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor Emerita at the University of Delaware. She is the author of several books, including Race in Society: The Enduring American Dilemma, as well as Thinking about Women. She has co-edited the anthologies, Race, Class and Gender, and Race and Ethnicity in Society: The Changing Landscape. Her new book is Getting Smart About Race: An American Conversation.

President Donald Trump continued with his post-impeachment acquittal vendettas brazenly coming to the defense of his convicted friend Roger Stone. This time he took aim at the US District judge in the case, Amy Berman Jackson. Trump tweeted, “Is this the Judge that put Paul Manafort in SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, something that not even mobster Al Capone had to endure? How did she treat Crooked Hillary Clinton? Just asking!” In fact Judge Jackson did not have control over Manafort’s prison conditions. Trump has also attacked the forewoman on the grand jury involved in Stone’s case saying she had “significant bias.” Trump’s public criticisms came after he targeted four federal prosecutors who had worked on the Special Counsel’s investigation into his campaign and also the case against Roger Stone. All four prosecutors resigned from the case and many current and former prosecutors are now aghast at the President’s highly unethical and inappropriate interference in federal cases involving his friends. Attorney General William Barr appears to be compliantly doing Trump’s bidding. The New York Times on Thursday pointed out that, “In 2001, William P. Barr, describing his first stint as attorney general, under President George Bush, spoke of the department’s protected status in the post-Watergate era. ‘You didn’t mess around with it, didn’t intervene, you didn’t interfere,’ he recalled in an oral history.” 

The American Bar Association on Wednesday released a statement intended to rebuke the President for his interference saying it “steadfastly supports judicial independence and the sound exercise of prosecutorial discretion.” Additionally the ABA said, “Public officials who personally attack judges or prosecutors can create a perception that the system is serving a political or other purpose.” Meanwhile the House Judiciary Committee demanded that Attorney General Barr testify about improper interference in Stone’s sentencing. Mr. Barr has agreed to testify on March 31st. Trump’s supporters have continued defending the President’s flouting of the limits of his power. His former chief of staff Steve Bannon told the Washington Post, “He is mad and he should be mad. … Now he understands how to use the full powers of the presidency. The pearl-clutchers better get used to it.”

The US government’s deficit continues to grow – made worse by Republican tax cuts on businesses and wealthy Americans. But according to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, ballooning deficits will pay for themselves in spite of calculations from the Congressional Budget Office showing otherwise. Mnuchin said, “[W]e believe that the tax cuts will pay for themselves over a 10-year period of time, it’s how we score them.

FEATURING LARRY BENSKY – With Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders having garnered about 27% of the New Hampshire primary vote in a still-crowded field of candidates on Tuesday, he declared decisive victory. South Bend, Indiana Mayor Peter Buttigieg came very close however, and will walk away with 9 delegates – the same number as Sanders. 

Four years ago Sanders beat Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire with almost 60% of the vote. So why didn’t he do as well this time? The primary races have only just begun and much remains up in the air in a critically important election year.

Larry Bensky was the National Affairs Correspondent for Pacifica radio from 1987 to 2007.  He anchored numerous live political events, including national party conventions. He is a long time teacher at California State University in Hayward, where he teaches courses like “The American Presidency.”  Larry won a George Polk Award for his coverage of the Iran-Contra scandal in 1988.

FEATURING RAHUL MAHAJAN – A US-led security force in Northern Syria came under fire from Syrian forces this week in a rare direct interaction between troops of both countries. The Syrian government has been relentlessly bombarding the rebel-held area of Idlib causing nearly three quarters of a million Syrians to flee in what the United Nations has called the single largest exodus of the 9-year long war. 

In spite of peace-talks that were held last fall in Geneva and expectations that the war was wrapping up, Syrian President Bashar Al Assad appears to have been emboldened to continue the attacks on rebel groups along with his allies, the Russian and Iranian governments. Meanwhile tensions with neighboring Turkey have increased after a number of Turkish soldiers were killed by the Syrian government earlier this month. 

Rahul Mahajan is the author of two books on the Iraq war: Full Spectrum Dominance: U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond and The New Crusade: America’s War on Terrorism. He also teaches at University of Wisconsin, River Falls, and the US Foreign Policy and Empire Correspondent for Rising Up With Sonali.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders finished ahead of all other candidates in the Democratic Primary race in New Hampshire on Tuesday. Capturing more than 75,000 votes or almost 26%, Sanders narrowly beat South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg who won about 72,000 votes at 24.4%. Senator Amy Klobuchar improved on her Iowa performance, coming in third at nearly 20%, while Senator Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden had a disappointing showing at 12.4% and 8.4% respectively. Sanders, who also won the popular vote in Iowa but was awarded fewer delegates gave a victory speech after the results came in. The Washington Post’s exit polls in New Hampshire showed Sanders enjoying popularity among young voters aged 18 to 29, and those earning less than $50,000 a year. Many support a single payer healthcare system, and consider income inequality and healthcare as their top issues. Mr. Buttigieg did well among those earning $100,000 or more a year while Klobuchar earned the support of older people and people of faith. 

Senator Warren remained determined to stay in the race saying on Tuesday night, “Our campaign is best positioned to beat Donald Trump in November ― because we can unite our party.” Biden, who had already fled to South Carolina where he hopes to win a bigger slice of votes, said of his New Hampshire result, “It ain’t over, man.” Meanwhile three Democrats dropped out of the race after the New Hampshire primary, most notably Andrew Yang who had energized a small faction of voters with his backing of a universal basic income. Senator Michael Bennett of Colorado and former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick also dropped out. 

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg who had decided to skip the first four primary races, came under fire for an audio clip of a speech he gave at the Aspen Institute in 2015 about his backing of the controversial stop-and-frisk policies racially profiling black and Latino men. The clip was unearthed and made public by a progressive podcaster named Benjamin Dixon and shows Bloomberg justifying the targeting of minority neighborhoods for aggressive policing and arrests. Soon after he gave that speech at the Aspen Institute Bloomberg ordered them not to release the video. Despite the deeply incriminating and racist language in the clip Bloomberg won the endorsement of several members of the Congressional Black Caucus. 

After President Donald Trump intervened on Tuesday in ...

FEATURING GREG PALAST – The 2018 Gubernatorial election in Georgia became ground-zero for Republican-led vote suppression when then Secretary of State Brian Kemp ran against Democrat Stacey Abrams. As State Secretary Kemp had unique access to the state’s voting systems in the same election in which he ran for higher office. 

Now, a lawsuit filed by investigative reporter Greg Palast over voting shenanigans in Georgia has won a victory. A federal judge just declared the case against Kemp and joining me to tell us all about it is Greg Palast himself.

Californians can check their current voter registration status here: https://voterstatus.sos.ca.gov.

Californian voters can change their voter registration from No Party Preference to Democratic here: https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voter-registration/.

Get tickets to the Laura Flanders event on Feb 22nd in the Los Angeles area here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/kpfk-speaker-series-laura-flanders-with-sonali-kolhatkar-tickets-86956022805. 

Greg Palast, filmmaker and investigative reporter, whose news-breaking stories appear on BBC Television, The Guardian and Rolling Stone Magazine. His latest film is The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: A Tale of Billionaires and Ballot Bandits, based on his New York Times bestselling books. 

FEATURING THOM HARTMANN – Millions of eligible American voters don’t vote in elections. Some are too busy to take an hour off work. Some don’t have the correct identification. Some are disenfranchised in nakedly partisan efforts. Some simply feel their vote doesn’t count, so why bother? 

Sadly low voter turnout is actually a feature of American democracy, not a flaw. Writing about it in his latest book is progressive radio journalist and best-selling author Thom Hartmann. His previous two books include The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment and The Hidden History of the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of America. 

Thom Hartmann, renowned progressive radio talk show host, New York Times bestselling author of two dozen books including, his three new books in The Hidden History series. His latest book is called The Hidden History of the War on Voting: Who Stole Your Vote – and How to Get it Back.