David Swanson, activist, journalist, radio host and author of the book "Curing Exceptionalism," talks to us about the F-35 program as a prime example of government waste, how it’s tied to institutional corruption where politicians are unduly influenced by defense contractors, and how these programs are often marketed as jobs programs for constituencies. We also talk about the increase in arms exports in the Middle East in 2020, particularly to Saudi Arabia, with the US still leading the pack as the largest arms exporter in the world.
Jim Goodman, president of the National Family Farm Coalition, joins us to talk about how farmers have been caught in the tensions between the US and China, how the agriculture industry in the country is tightly linked to demand in China, and how this can promote unsustainable monoculture practices. We also talk about provisions in the American Rescue Plan, how they could affect farmers in the U.S., and whether this will have a lasting impact.
Dr. James Kilgore, activist, writer and educator at the University of Illinois, Urbana, joins us in a conversation about how the COVID pandemic has impacted incarceration in the country, how electronic monitoring has affected the lives of parolees and whether these surveillance tools actually serve the cause of rehabilitation. We also talk about the Biden administration and its relationship to the carceral state, and the debate around prison reform versus prison abolition.
Pastor Samuel Sarpiya, community activist, peacebuilder, and pastor for the Rockford Community Church in Rockford, Illinois, joins our Politics of Art section to talk about the art of peacebuilding and how to communicate to build bridges with others, and how we can approach difficult and traumatic periods in our lives, such as the COVID pandemic, to try to imagine and create new communities of peace and justice.
The Misfits also talk about more vaccine diplomacy involving Brazil, Cuomo’s downfall being blamed on the left, and the Sackler family scandal related to the opioid crisis.
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