Bringing Light Into Darkness - News & Analysis

“Make the Economy Scream”: Tools of US Foreign Policy on the 50th Anniversary of US 9/11/1973 Coup of Allende & Chilean Democracy Current president, 36-year-old Gabriel Boric of the left-wing Approve Dignity coalition was sworn in as the youngest President in Chilean history on March 11 2022. Some 14 out of 24 ministers in Boric’s cabinet are women. Seven of the cabinet members are in their 30s, and the average age is 42. Chile is one of the most unequal countries in Latin America. One percent of the country’s population owns about a quarter of its wealth. During his election campaign, Boric promised to introduce radical reforms to the current free-market economic model and bring the citizens’ demands raised during the 2019 social outbreak to the halls of government. During his victory speech in December 2021, Boric once again vowed to bury neoliberalism. “If Chile was the cradle of neoliberalism, it would also be its grave,” he said. He also ratified his commitment to reducing the glaring disparities in the country by increasing spending on public services. “We no longer will permit the poor to keep paying the price of Chile’s inequality,” he added. However, the primary focus of the show tonight is to document how all major sectors of the Chilean political and economic system were penetrated by the CIA under the direction of Henry Kissinger, Everything from the funding monies of influence into the Christian Democratic party and other alternatives to Allende’s Popular Unity Party, monies into the police and military, into radio and print media. Monies that sought to control the labor unions and labor movement, through the AFL CIO and CIA collaboration and the 1972 Trucker’s strike all funded by clandestine US CIA government monies; Documents many of them recently declassified explains how our foreign policy was to make sure it was impossible for Allende to govern and to make the economy scream by any and all means necessary. To understand US intervention and the subversion of autonomous civil and military structures of countries throughout the world is to take a giant step in understanding US foreign policy and its complete disregard for international law and basic ethics to respect the autonomy of other nations. Chile provides the prototypical example that we deconstruct tonight. Siempre fieles, Pgatos 9/17/23 pgatos00@gmail.com If you are not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing. Malcolm X

“Make the Economy Scream”: Tools of US Foreign Policy on the 50th Anniversary of US 9/11/1973 Coup of Allende & Chilean Democracy Current president, 36-year-old Gabriel Boric of the left-wing Approve Dignity coalition was sworn in as the youngest President in Chilean history on March 11 2022. Some 14 out of 24 ministers in Boric’s cabinet are women. Seven of the cabinet members are in their 30s, and the average age is 42. Chile is one of the most unequal countries in Latin America. One percent of the country’s population owns about a quarter of its wealth. During his election campaign, Boric promised to introduce radical reforms to the current free-market economic model and bring the citizens’ demands raised during the 2019 social outbreak to the halls of government. During his victory speech in December 2021, Boric once again vowed to bury neoliberalism. “If Chile was the cradle of neoliberalism, it would also be its grave,” he said. He also ratified his commitment to reducing the glaring disparities in the country by increasing spending on public services. “We no longer will permit the poor to keep paying the price of Chile’s inequality,” he added. However, the primary focus of the show tonight is to document how all major sectors of the Chilean political and economic system were penetrated by the CIA under the direction of Henry Kissinger, Everything from the funding monies of influence into the Christian Democratic party and other alternatives to Allende’s Popular Unity Party, monies into the police and military, into radio and print media. Monies that sought to control the labor unions and labor movement, through the AFL CIO and CIA collaboration and the 1972 Trucker’s strike all funded by clandestine US CIA government monies; Documents many of them recently declassified explains how our foreign policy was to make sure it was impossible for Allende to govern and to make the economy scream by any and all means necessary. To understand US intervention and the subversion of autonomous civil and military structures of countries throughout the world is to take a giant step in understanding US foreign policy and its complete disregard for international law and basic ethics to respect the autonomy of other nations. Chile provides the prototypical example that we deconstruct tonight. Siempre fieles, Pgatos 9/17/23 pgatos00@gmail.com If you are not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing. Malcolm X

A 40 Year Employment History of Assessing, Counseling & Educating DWI Offenders in Travis County: What Should we Teach our Kids? Pt II This is Part II of a series of BLID shows that actually began two weeks ago on 8/14/28 under the title , A Four Decade Employment History of Assessing, Counseling & Educating Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) and other Alcohol and other Drug (AOD) Offenders in Travis County. In Part I we sought first to first provide a behind the scenes focus on how since the mid-1980s, in its effort to protect public safety, the Travis County criminal justice system evolved its rather comprehensive approach to addressing the DWI problem in Travis County. We discussed new DWI legislation that emerged in the 1980s. We discussed how the county developed an extensive assessment process to identify and separate those offenders who did not have serious problems with drinking from those that had very serious problems with drinking as well as what criteria identified those with different variations of alcohol misuse issues in between those two extremes. We also shared a continuum of education, counseling and treatment recommendation options that paralleled what we called our Chemical Use Misuse Continuum (CUMC). And lastly, we reviewed the case management system that monitored compliance or non-compliance with the court ordered counseling recommendations. Last week due a KOOP Radio work commitment instead of producing part II of our series, we replayed an “opiate Crisis” show from the previous month. Tonight, we return to our original theme and focus which includes the educational and motivational approach and educational content conveyed by court mandated education and counseling programming classes I have been teaching since the 1980s. What motivates clients to listen, participate and learn? What makes the human vessel magical? Why do Women have higher blood alcohol concentrations than men who weigh the same and drink the same amount over the same time period? How is alcohol absorbed into the bloodstream, delivered to the brain and then how is it removed from the body system? We explain & crack the egg on all these issues. We do so because we believe this will be pragmatically valuable to community members to know more about human health issues and the impact of alcohol/drug use and misuse on the magical host, our human brain and body. We do so because through this journey, we believe once you get to know more about yourself as a magical host, within which the drugs you may take realize their effects and change your internal human brain and body functionality in the process if abused, that once you become better informed it will lead to better health related decisions about your alcohol and other drug use choices you make for the future. We can promise you this presentation is presented by someone who is intimately familiar with the science behind its content. Please join us and judge the content for yourself! Siempre fieles, Pgatos 8/28/23 pgatos00@gmail.com If you are not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing. Malcolm X

A 40 Year Employment History of Assessing, Counseling & Educating DWI Offenders in Travis County: What Should we Teach our Kids? Pt II This is Part II of a series of BLID shows that actually began two weeks ago on 8/14/28 under the title , A Four Decade Employment History of Assessing, Counseling & Educating Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) and other Alcohol and other Drug (AOD) Offenders in Travis County. In Part I we sought first to first provide a behind the scenes focus on how since the mid-1980s, in its effort to protect public safety, the Travis County criminal justice system evolved its rather comprehensive approach to addressing the DWI problem in Travis County. We discussed new DWI legislation that emerged in the 1980s. We discussed how the county developed an extensive assessment process to identify and separate those offenders who did not have serious problems with drinking from those that had very serious problems with drinking as well as what criteria identified those with different variations of alcohol misuse issues in between those two extremes. We also shared a continuum of education, counseling and treatment recommendation options that paralleled what we called our Chemical Use Misuse Continuum (CUMC). And lastly, we reviewed the case management system that monitored compliance or non-compliance with the court ordered counseling recommendations. Last week due a KOOP Radio work commitment instead of producing part II of our series, we replayed an “opiate Crisis” show from the previous month. Tonight, we return to our original theme and focus which includes the educational and motivational approach and educational content conveyed by court mandated education and counseling programming classes I have been teaching since the 1980s. What motivates clients to listen, participate and learn? What makes the human vessel magical? Why do Women have higher blood alcohol concentrations than men who weigh the same and drink the same amount over the same time period? How is alcohol absorbed into the bloodstream, delivered to the brain and then how is it removed from the body system? We explain & crack the egg on all these issues. We do so because we believe this will be pragmatically valuable to community members to know more about human health issues and the impact of alcohol/drug use and misuse on the magical host, our human brain and body. We do so because through this journey, we believe once you get to know more about yourself as a magical host, within which the drugs you may take realize their effects and change your internal human brain and body functionality in the process if abused, that once you become better informed it will lead to better health related decisions about your alcohol and other drug use choices you make for the future. We can promise you this presentation is presented by someone who is intimately familiar with the science behind its content. Please join us and judge the content for yourself! Siempre fieles, Pgatos 8/28/23 pgatos00@gmail.com If you are not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing. Malcolm X

Extreme Heat Legislation & an Underfunded OSHA: A Broken Federal Worker Safety Regulatory process with Jordan Barab This week we turn our attention to the plight of and the dangers that workers routinely face as a result of profiteering being the driving force behind our economy rather than worker safety. Again, in service to growing wealth inequality, who is left behind? We begin with a review of coal mining disasters since the turn of the century and the lack of basic safeguards there. We also detail pending legislation connected to lack of worker protections for workers dealing with extreme heat working conditions: “The Asunción Valdivia Heat Stress Injury, Illness, and Fatality Prevention Act” would protect workers against occupational exposure to excessive heat… Currently OSHA has no heat protection standards… We explore a health app created by OSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which is like a kind of the research branch of OSHA if you will. Joining us is special guest Jordan Barab who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor at OSHA from 2009 to 2017. Before that he worked for the House Education and Labor Committee, the Chemical Safety Board, the AFL-CIO, OSHA and AFSCME. He currently produces Confined Space, a newsletter of workplace safety and labor issues. OSHA is the Occupational Safety Health Administration, a US federal agency that has the enormous mandate to ensure the safety and health of 158 million workers in more than 10 million workplaces in our country . OSHA funding is so small and underfunded that if it was to inspect every workplace in the country just once it would take 190 years. Our guest discusses overall worker safety in the context of the current heat wave and recent legislation being promoted to protect workers from extreme temperature working conditions. Meanwhile, every year we have 5,000 workers who die in the workplace; plus many more who die from 'occupational illness’. Our guest takes us on a fascinating exploration of how OSHA, an agency with a huge mandate and very few resources to fulfill that mandate has come under fire due to lack of political will around workplace health and safety. As a result, OSHA does not have the budget it needs to advocate for needed change of laws. Instead, worker safety is further compromised by proposals for a 15% cut in the OSHA budget. Siempre fieles, Pgatos 8/7/23 pgatos00@gmail.com

Extreme Heat Legislation & an Underfunded OSHA: A Broken Federal Worker Safety Regulatory process with Jordan Barab This week we turn our attention to the plight of and the dangers that workers routinely face as a result of profiteering being the driving force behind our economy rather than worker safety. Again, in service to growing wealth inequality, who is left behind? We begin with a review of coal mining disasters since the turn of the century and the lack of basic safeguards there. We also detail pending legislation connected to lack of worker protections for workers dealing with extreme heat working conditions: “The Asunción Valdivia Heat Stress Injury, Illness, and Fatality Prevention Act” would protect workers against occupational exposure to excessive heat… Currently OSHA has no heat protection standards… We explore a health app created by OSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which is like a kind of the research branch of OSHA if you will. Joining us is special guest Jordan Barab who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor at OSHA from 2009 to 2017. Before that he worked for the House Education and Labor Committee, the Chemical Safety Board, the AFL-CIO, OSHA and AFSCME. He currently produces Confined Space, a newsletter of workplace safety and labor issues. OSHA is the Occupational Safety Health Administration, a US federal agency that has the enormous mandate to ensure the safety and health of 158 million workers in more than 10 million workplaces in our country . OSHA funding is so small and underfunded that if it was to inspect every workplace in the country just once it would take 190 years. Our guest discusses overall worker safety in the context of the current heat wave and recent legislation being promoted to protect workers from extreme temperature working conditions. Meanwhile, every year we have 5,000 workers who die in the workplace; plus many more who die from 'occupational illness’. Our guest takes us on a fascinating exploration of how OSHA, an agency with a huge mandate and very few resources to fulfill that mandate has come under fire due to lack of political will around workplace health and safety. As a result, OSHA does not have the budget it needs to advocate for needed change of laws. Instead, worker safety is further compromised by proposals for a 15% cut in the OSHA budget. Siempre fieles, Pgatos 8/7/23 pgatos00@gmail.com

Wealth Inequality, Profiteering & Oppression: The Opioid Crisis as a Profiteering Outcome & A Tribute to Sinead O’Connor Tonight, we wanted to talk about the overall arching theme of BLID and that is how wealth inequality is recklessly driving our country and the world to a premature end. Wealth inequality and what we have referred to from time to time, in the service of oppression. But what does oppression mean? For simplification it is just the unfair advantages that some have and have manipulated throughout history to create such unfair wealth accumulation differences. And with such differences comes power that enables it to continue to consolidate and evolve new methods to replicate its advantage, all, while calling it democracy and pursuit of liberty. Yet, It does so in the larger context of prioritizing profiteering over democracy. Whether it is through the promotion if war and conflict as our past two shows focused on, or a broken healthcare system, or as our focus tonight will be, on how our government has enabled pharmaceutical giants to profiteer in such a way that led to the opiate crisis that faces our country today. A crisis we falsely blame on drug cartels. BLID seeks to bring light to the interaction of these two concepts tonight. Wealth inequality and oppression and share yet another dimension of profiteering, that of pharmaceutical giants. Tonight, we start with a well-documented discussion of life expectancy differences among the haves and have-nots if you will. How media and our government have failed to point us to the its real causes and instead blamed it on Covid, the opioid crisis and increased violence of suicide and mental health challenges facing millions. We then circle back to show how unregulated and underregulated Pharma giants paved the way for the opioid crisis that concerns us so much in this moment of our history. We end the show with a dedication to Sinead OConnor because BLID believes she was and is such a beautiful soul… Siempre fieles, Pgatos 7/31/23 pgatos00@gmail.com

Wealth Inequality, Profiteering & Oppression: The Opioid Crisis as a Profiteering Outcome & A Tribute to Sinead O’Connor Tonight, we wanted to talk about the overall arching theme of BLID and that is how wealth inequality is recklessly driving our country and the world to a premature end. Wealth inequality and what we have referred to from time to time, in the service of oppression. But what does oppression mean? For simplification it is just the unfair advantages that some have and have manipulated throughout history to create such unfair wealth accumulation differences. And with such differences comes power that enables it to continue to consolidate and evolve new methods to replicate its advantage, all, while calling it democracy and pursuit of liberty. Yet, It does so in the larger context of prioritizing profiteering over democracy. Whether it is through the promotion if war and conflict as our past two shows focused on, or a broken healthcare system, or as our focus tonight will be, on how our government has enabled pharmaceutical giants to profiteer in such a way that led to the opiate crisis that faces our country today. A crisis we falsely blame on drug cartels. BLID seeks to bring light to the interaction of these two concepts tonight. Wealth inequality and oppression and share yet another dimension of profiteering, that of pharmaceutical giants. Tonight, we start with a well-documented discussion of life expectancy differences among the haves and have-nots if you will. How media and our government have failed to point us to the its real causes and instead blamed it on Covid, the opioid crisis and increased violence of suicide and mental health challenges facing millions. We then circle back to show how unregulated and underregulated Pharma giants paved the way for the opioid crisis that concerns us so much in this moment of our history. We end the show with a dedication to Sinead OConnor because BLID believes she was and is such a beautiful soul… Siempre fieles, Pgatos 7/31/23 pgatos00@gmail.com

The US Foreign Policy is a Bomb: A Joe Biden, Elliot Abrams Bipartisan Foreign Policy Mantra, with Dave DeCamp Sarah Jones in a recent 7/6/23 piece, Why Is the Biden Administration Rewarding Elliott Abrams? Describes Elliot Abrams this way: “In 1981, an American-created military unit in El Salvador raped and murdered its way through several hamlets, including the village of El Mozote. Elliott Abrams, then new to his role as Reagan’s assistant secretary of State for human rights and humanitarian affairs, insisted that news reports had overstated the breadth of the massacre. In remarks to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Abrams dismissed the credibility of the numbers. Guerrillas had twisted the event for their own ends, he argued. We now know this to be false: A U.N. truth commission uncovered evidence of about a thousand murders….” On Monday (7/3/23), CNN reported that the Biden administration had appointed Elliot Abrams to the prestigious United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. The problem here is this guy is not just a war criminal who enabled and defended death squad activity and all sorts of hideous human right s violations under US foreign policy during the 1980s. He is also a convicted perjurer… We share a US foreign policy history most Americans have been insulated from. How could such a monster return again and agin to US government positions of human rights importance? It speaks volumes of our president and our foreign policy. Dave DeCamp a fulltime news editor and writer for Antiwar.com since 2020 joins us to connect the historical dots largely ignored by MSM as we review one of his recent articles on the same.. DeCamp also discusses the overall geopolitical forces at work that are shaping our world and keeping us from making our foreign policy accountable to our democratic aspirations. We end the show with a tribute to Tony Bennett …so please stay tuned… Enjoy Siempre fieles, Pgatos 7/24/23 pgatos00@gmail.com

The US Foreign Policy is a Bomb: A Joe Biden, Elliot Abrams Bipartisan Foreign Policy Mantra, with Dave DeCamp Sarah Jones in a recent 7/6/23 piece, Why Is the Biden Administration Rewarding Elliott Abrams? Describes Elliot Abrams this way: “In 1981, an American-created military unit in El Salvador raped and murdered its way through several hamlets, including the village of El Mozote. Elliott Abrams, then new to his role as Reagan’s assistant secretary of State for human rights and humanitarian affairs, insisted that news reports had overstated the breadth of the massacre. In remarks to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Abrams dismissed the credibility of the numbers. Guerrillas had twisted the event for their own ends, he argued. We now know this to be false: A U.N. truth commission uncovered evidence of about a thousand murders….” On Monday (7/3/23), CNN reported that the Biden administration had appointed Elliot Abrams to the prestigious United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. The problem here is this guy is not just a war criminal who enabled and defended death squad activity and all sorts of hideous human right s violations under US foreign policy during the 1980s. He is also a convicted perjurer… We share a US foreign policy history most Americans have been insulated from. How could such a monster return again and agin to US government positions of human rights importance? It speaks volumes of our president and our foreign policy. Dave DeCamp a fulltime news editor and writer for Antiwar.com since 2020 joins us to connect the historical dots largely ignored by MSM as we review one of his recent articles on the same.. DeCamp also discusses the overall geopolitical forces at work that are shaping our world and keeping us from making our foreign policy accountable to our democratic aspirations. We end the show with a tribute to Tony Bennett …so please stay tuned… Enjoy Siempre fieles, Pgatos 7/24/23 pgatos00@gmail.com

War is a Racket that lines the Pockets of the Rich while Decimating the Life Quality of millions: What if Profiteering from War was Outlawed? With Lindsay Koshgarion Tonight’s show details the endless profiteering that comes from war. Tonight Lindsay Koshgarian from the National Priorities Project returns to BLID to discuss the show focus, surrounding General Smedly Butler’s recognition that War is a Racket (1935) while today the Pentagon budget which is approaching $1T continues to be unaudited and/or improperly audited despite a clear history of corruption documented from Iraq and Afghanistan. The truth behind War, three lessons shared by Major General Smedley Butler are featured. He wrote there are only two things we should go to war and fight for, the defense of the homeland and the Bill of Rights. After retiring from his illustrious military career he suggested three main principles he believed in: (1) being against military involvement abroad and militarism in general ; (2) US military intervention abroad and the profiteering for big business it generated has gone hand in hand; and (3) was his recognition of the separation of US society by wealth disparity between the haves and have nots and it was the haves that started wars while sending the underclass to fight them. They have no skin in the game while being beneficiaries of garnering extreme profiteering from those conflicts. There should be No Profiteering from War Meanwhile, he Biden White House is opposing an audit of where all the Ukraine monies and armaments go ($115B) ostensibly because we already have auditing in place and to save taxpayer’s money. But the very agencies connected to that existing auditing, the State Department and its USAID institution, were the same entities that John Sopko, former Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction wrote had obstructed his past Afghanistan audit. Referring to the State Department and USAID Sopko writes, “Agency officials now appear to have adopted a premeditated position of obstruction”. War continues to be Racket under Democratic & Republican administrations. Meanwhile our guest details unaccountability connected to Pentagon budget (858B) and spending “Not getting adequate oversight” and describes the Pentagon is the only major federal agency that has failed to pass an audit. For the last five years it has failed the audit and before that it could not even do an audit. In their last audit they were only able to account for 39% of their assets. Privatizing in Iraq of War (i.e. Halliburton etc) led to huge fraud of US taxpayer dollars… Auditing in Afghanistan revealed huge fraud in Afghanistan led by auditing by John Sopko , SIGAR Meanwhile, President Biden feigns concern funding to audit the criminal war we are complict in Ukraine is not needed as we sabotage peace options there. Siempre fieles, Pgatos 7/17/23 pgatos00@gmail.com

War is a Racket that lines the Pockets of the Rich while Decimating the Life Quality of millions: What if Profiteering from War was Outlawed? With Lindsay Koshgarion Tonight’s show details the endless profiteering that comes from war. Tonight Lindsay Koshgarian from the National Priorities Project returns to BLID to discuss the show focus, surrounding General Smedly Butler’s recognition that War is a Racket (1935) while today the Pentagon budget which is approaching $1T continues to be unaudited and/or improperly audited despite a clear history of corruption documented from Iraq and Afghanistan. The truth behind War, three lessons shared by Major General Smedley Butler are featured. He wrote there are only two things we should go to war and fight for, the defense of the homeland and the Bill of Rights. After retiring from his illustrious military career he suggested three main principles he believed in: (1) being against military involvement abroad and militarism in general ; (2) US military intervention abroad and the profiteering for big business it generated has gone hand in hand; and (3) was his recognition of the separation of US society by wealth disparity between the haves and have nots and it was the haves that started wars while sending the underclass to fight them. They have no skin in the game while being beneficiaries of garnering extreme profiteering from those conflicts. There should be No Profiteering from War Meanwhile, he Biden White House is opposing an audit of where all the Ukraine monies and armaments go ($115B) ostensibly because we already have auditing in place and to save taxpayer’s money. But the very agencies connected to that existing auditing, the State Department and its USAID institution, were the same entities that John Sopko, former Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction wrote had obstructed his past Afghanistan audit. Referring to the State Department and USAID Sopko writes, “Agency officials now appear to have adopted a premeditated position of obstruction”. War continues to be Racket under Democratic & Republican administrations. Meanwhile our guest details unaccountability connected to Pentagon budget (858B) and spending “Not getting adequate oversight” and describes the Pentagon is the only major federal agency that has failed to pass an audit. For the last five years it has failed the audit and before that it could not even do an audit. In their last audit they were only able to account for 39% of their assets. Privatizing in Iraq of War (i.e. Halliburton etc) led to huge fraud of US taxpayer dollars… Auditing in Afghanistan revealed huge fraud in Afghanistan led by auditing by John Sopko , SIGAR Meanwhile, President Biden feigns concern funding to audit the criminal war we are complict in Ukraine is not needed as we sabotage peace options there. Siempre fieles, Pgatos 7/17/23 pgatos00@gmail.com

Revisiting Russia-US NATO led- Ukraine War through a Geopolitical Lens: with Mike Whitney We are socialized informationally outside our awareness, as six corporations control 90% of the (non-internet) information made available to us. "This meant that 232 media executives were calling the shots for 90% of the informational media made available to us. Information is power and like wealth in our nation and throughout the world, it is grossly and disproportionally owned by an elite few. We are taught and constantly messaged to believe we might not be a perfect nation but we a re the land of the free and primarily seek to bring democracy to other nations of the world. I can remember as an upper middle class kid there was a board game called RISK. And the objective was simple. In order to win you had to wipe everyone else off the map. You had to take over the whole world. In other words, become that unipolar power. RISK is a game of aggression in which if and when I win you lose. I believe a proper reading and understanding of non-revisionist history reveals that the world and the US position in it with its geopolitical motivations since WWII can be seen in the same manner. (5:44) We do not promote democracy rather we promote as imperial powers before us have, empire. However this fact is camouflaged by enormous public relations campaign led by our government leaders and the media that serve them. We replay an excerpt of Amy Goodman interview of General Wesley Clark of March 2007 in which four star general Clark indicates according to his Pentagon sources at the time, the lead up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq: “ So I came back to see him a few weeks later, and by that time we were bombing in Afghanistan. I said, “Are we still going to war with Iraq?” And he said, “Oh, it’s worse than that.” He reached over on his desk. He picked up a piece of paper. And he said, “I just got this down from upstairs” -- meaning the Secretary of Defense’s office -- “today.” And he said, “This is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.” Mike Whitney investigative journalist joins BLID and brings his geopolitical analysis expertise to the world of war and conflict we find ourselves in the middle of today in Ukraine. We examine what led us to this war and that when you look at the world from a geopolitical model of winner take all (RISK) rather than one in which all nations, not just a select few, deserve their sovereign rights to make choices without fear of reprisal through sanctions or armed conflict, there seems to be some internal logic behind US foreign policy. But is it to promote democracy that drives our geopolitical interests or is it to promote the US as a the world’s hegemon as a unipolar unchallenged economic and military force that essentially rules the world.? Siempre fieles, Pgatos 7/10/23 pgatos00@gmail.com

Revisiting Russia-US NATO led- Ukraine War through a Geopolitical Lens: with Mike Whitney We are socialized informationally outside our awareness, as six corporations control 90% of the (non-internet) information made available to us. "This meant that 232 media executives were calling the shots for 90% of the informational media made available to us. Information is power and like wealth in our nation and throughout the world, it is grossly and disproportionally owned by an elite few. We are taught and constantly messaged to believe we might not be a perfect nation but we a re the land of the free and primarily seek to bring democracy to other nations of the world. I can remember as an upper middle class kid there was a board game called RISK. And the objective was simple. In order to win you had to wipe everyone else off the map. You had to take over the whole world. In other words, become that unipolar power. RISK is a game of aggression in which if and when I win you lose. I believe a proper reading and understanding of non-revisionist history reveals that the world and the US position in it with its geopolitical motivations since WWII can be seen in the same manner. (5:44) We do not promote democracy rather we promote as imperial powers before us have, empire. However this fact is camouflaged by enormous public relations campaign led by our government leaders and the media that serve them. We replay an excerpt of Amy Goodman interview of General Wesley Clark of March 2007 in which four star general Clark indicates according to his Pentagon sources at the time, the lead up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq: “ So I came back to see him a few weeks later, and by that time we were bombing in Afghanistan. I said, “Are we still going to war with Iraq?” And he said, “Oh, it’s worse than that.” He reached over on his desk. He picked up a piece of paper. And he said, “I just got this down from upstairs” -- meaning the Secretary of Defense’s office -- “today.” And he said, “This is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.” Mike Whitney investigative journalist joins BLID and brings his geopolitical analysis expertise to the world of war and conflict we find ourselves in the middle of today in Ukraine. We examine what led us to this war and that when you look at the world from a geopolitical model of winner take all (RISK) rather than one in which all nations, not just a select few, deserve their sovereign rights to make choices without fear of reprisal through sanctions or armed conflict, there seems to be some internal logic behind US foreign policy. But is it to promote democracy that drives our geopolitical interests or is it to promote the US as a the world’s hegemon as a unipolar unchallenged economic and military force that essentially rules the world.? Siempre fieles, Pgatos 7/10/23 pgatos00@gmail.com

Important Ukraine Realities Being Hidden from the US Public on the 4th of July: with Scott Ritter Scott Ritter an American author, pundit, former United States Marine Corps intelligence officer, former United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) weapons inspector working as a weapons inspector for the UNSCOM from 1991 to 1998, which was charged with finding and destroying all weapons of mass destruction and WMD-related manufacturing capabilities in Iraq. He was chief inspector in fourteen of the more than thirty inspection missions in which he participated. He was right about Iraq not having WMDs and he has been closely following the Ukraine-US-NATO-Russian conflict since its inception. Ritter provides important information kept out of main stream news on an array of critical subject matters. Tonight, hear him and Pedro Gatos dialogue and address: (1) On or about June 25th in response to a question of why we demonize Russia for its invasion of Ukraine but do not demonize the US for our invasion of Iraq, John Kerry said "No, no, no, we did not know it was a lie at the time; you know the evidence that was produced, people did not know it was a lie; so no I think you are stretching something and not in a constructive way." Scott Ritter briefed John Kerry before the march to war in Iraq. Did Kerry know that the totality of the case made by the CIA to sustain the argument that Iraq posed a threat was a lie? (2) Ritter explains his experience in War Gaming casualty rates and on what basis, what factors are considered, from which his casualty rate numbers are projected from. (3) US involvement in seeking the demise of Russia did not start with our response to the 2/24/22 Russia invasion of Ukraine. Ritter describes how it begins all the way back in 1990-1991 with the collapse of Soviet Union and a strategic decision made by US to never allow Russia to recover to a level that could ever challenge the US economically, militarily, or politically. Our policy was to help keep Russia down. (4) We address the issue of whether significant neo nazi influence in the Ukraine post coup government was a reality or just a “Russian talking point” following 2014 when CIA worked with Ukrainian nationalists (neo nazis) to overthrow the democratically elected President Yanokovych replacing him with a nationalist government that embraced nazi ideology linked to Stephan Bandera, a Ukrainian nationalist that openly collaborated with Nazi Germany back in the 1940s murdering tens of thousands of Jews, hundreds of thousands of Poles and hundreds of thousands of Russians. (5) How can Zelensky seek peace when US and Europe are pushing for war? Ritter lines up powerful historical facts to suggest that this was not an unprovoked war of Russian aggression nor a war Ukraine can win, but this is a war started by US and Europe whom ignored numerous warnings and crossed many red lines leading to the 2/24/22 Russian invasion they define as a Special Military Operation. Siempre fieles, Pgatos 7/3/23 pgatos00@gmail.com

Important Ukraine Realities Being Hidden from the US Public on the 4th of July: with Scott Ritter Scott Ritter an American author, pundit, former United States Marine Corps intelligence officer, former United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) weapons inspector working as a weapons inspector for the UNSCOM from 1991 to 1998, which was charged with finding and destroying all weapons of mass destruction and WMD-related manufacturing capabilities in Iraq. He was chief inspector in fourteen of the more than thirty inspection missions in which he participated. He was right about Iraq not having WMDs and he has been closely following the Ukraine-US-NATO-Russian conflict since its inception. Ritter provides important information kept out of main stream news on an array of critical subject matters. Tonight, hear him and Pedro Gatos dialogue and address: (1) On or about June 25th in response to a question of why we demonize Russia for its invasion of Ukraine but do not demonize the US for our invasion of Iraq, John Kerry said "No, no, no, we did not know it was a lie at the time; you know the evidence that was produced, people did not know it was a lie; so no I think you are stretching something and not in a constructive way." Scott Ritter briefed John Kerry before the march to war in Iraq. Did Kerry know that the totality of the case made by the CIA to sustain the argument that Iraq posed a threat was a lie? (2) Ritter explains his experience in War Gaming casualty rates and on what basis, what factors are considered, from which his casualty rate numbers are projected from. (3) US involvement in seeking the demise of Russia did not start with our response to the 2/24/22 Russia invasion of Ukraine. Ritter describes how it begins all the way back in 1990-1991 with the collapse of Soviet Union and a strategic decision made by US to never allow Russia to recover to a level that could ever challenge the US economically, militarily, or politically. Our policy was to help keep Russia down. (4) We address the issue of whether significant neo nazi influence in the Ukraine post coup government was a reality or just a “Russian talking point” following 2014 when CIA worked with Ukrainian nationalists (neo nazis) to overthrow the democratically elected President Yanokovych replacing him with a nationalist government that embraced nazi ideology linked to Stephan Bandera, a Ukrainian nationalist that openly collaborated with Nazi Germany back in the 1940s murdering tens of thousands of Jews, hundreds of thousands of Poles and hundreds of thousands of Russians. (5) How can Zelensky seek peace when US and Europe are pushing for war? Ritter lines up powerful historical facts to suggest that this was not an unprovoked war of Russian aggression nor a war Ukraine can win, but this is a war started by US and Europe whom ignored numerous warnings and crossed many red lines leading to the 2/24/22 Russian invasion they define as a Special Military Operation. Siempre fieles, Pgatos 7/3/23 pgatos00@gmail.com

Celebrating a Long History of Struggle for LGBTQ Equal Rights: Transforming a Culture that kills to one that Saves, with Bob Dailey Happy Stonewall anniversary and Gay Pride Month! On the 54th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots of June 29 1969 we seek to Bring Light Into Darkness surrounding the history before and after 1969 of LGTBQ rights and their struggle for equal rights and protections under the law. Our special guest is KOOP's own Bob Dailey. Bob provides a truly remarkable history of his journey and our journey as a country through this human rights seeking journey. From the computer science genius and the persecution and prosecution for being gay, of Alan Turing following World War II and his decoding ot the enigma machine through today Bob shares an eloquent hisotry of how far we have come as well as how far we have to go to provide a safe and nurturing environment for all. Along the way Bob shares real life stories as we share disturbing scientific studies revealing alarmingly high suicide rates among our LGBTQ population that make up over 7% of our nation. Researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health found that suicide risk was three to six times greater for lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults than for heterosexual adults across every age group and race/ethnicity category. Meanwhile we share the science that claims that "that health and aging had more to do with how society treats us than how well we take care of ourselves" as well as the collaborating findings of the Trevor Project who concludes that LGBTQ youth are not inherently prone to suicide risk because of their sexual orientation or gender identity but rather placed at higher risk because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in society. We also share the science that suggests growing up in a homophobic culture takes years off your life as it disaffects quality of life in a criminalizing manner. Bob Dailey provides a fascinating and eloquently non-judgmental narrative regarding the challenges and to the question of the impact of growing up gay in a homophobic culture. Please join us as Bob brings light into darkness. Siempre fieles, Pgatos 6/26/23 pgatos00@gmail.com

Celebrating a Long History of Struggle for LGBTQ Equal Rights: Transforming a Culture that kills to one that Saves, with Bob Dailey Happy Stonewall anniversary and Gay Pride Month! On the 54th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots of June 29 1969 we seek to Bring Light Into Darkness surrounding the history before and after 1969 of LGTBQ rights and their struggle for equal rights and protections under the law. Our special guest is KOOP's own Bob Dailey. Bob provides a truly remarkable history of his journey and our journey as a country through this human rights seeking journey. From the computer science genius and the persecution and prosecution for being gay, of Alan Turing following World War II and his decoding ot the enigma machine through today Bob shares an eloquent hisotry of how far we have come as well as how far we have to go to provide a safe and nurturing environment for all. Along the way Bob shares real life stories as we share disturbing scientific studies revealing alarmingly high suicide rates among our LGBTQ population that make up over 7% of our nation. Researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health found that suicide risk was three to six times greater for lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults than for heterosexual adults across every age group and race/ethnicity category. Meanwhile we share the science that claims that "that health and aging had more to do with how society treats us than how well we take care of ourselves" as well as the collaborating findings of the Trevor Project who concludes that LGBTQ youth are not inherently prone to suicide risk because of their sexual orientation or gender identity but rather placed at higher risk because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in society. We also share the science that suggests growing up in a homophobic culture takes years off your life as it disaffects quality of life in a criminalizing manner. Bob Dailey provides a fascinating and eloquently non-judgmental narrative regarding the challenges and to the question of the impact of growing up gay in a homophobic culture. Please join us as Bob brings light into darkness. Siempre fieles, Pgatos 6/26/23 pgatos00@gmail.com

Elevating Juneteenth with Roscoe Overton Happy Juneteenth! Roscoe Overton details the extensive research project he completed and the discovery along the way that the Overtons were among the first black families to have purchased land in Texas as he shares and connects his generational ancestry from Nashville Tennessee to Austin and central Texas. Roscoe’s research and curiosity began some 70 years ago, with a conversation with his Uncle at age 10 years old We feature also the work of another KOOP Community Organization Member as their executive director, Marva Overton joins Bringing Light Into Darkness to describe the work of the Alliance for African American Health in Central Texas, a nonprofit organization that engages community members to address health issues that disproportionately impact African Americans. Marva describes some of the specific health challenges that disproportionately impact the Austin African American community. Penny Jo Pullus, producer and host of KOOP Radio’s Texchromosome show, co hosts the show tonight and shares her experiences learned through a series of lunch dialogues with Roscoe. Penny Jo leads our discussion with Roscoe over the path his research took him regarding Juneteenth. Roscoe describes the slave colonies that existed and that a hundred years ago the Overtons in Bastrop were already celebrating Juneteenth. Roscoe shares the importance of all KOOP’s Celebration Events of culturally and historically events KOOP celebrates throughout the year and his specific participation in the KOOP Celebration of Juneteenth. Roscoe’s research and curiosity began some 70 years ago, with a conversation with his Uncle at age 10 years old Penny Jo concludes the show by questioning Pedro Gatos on the degree of wealth inequality and why it so important to address and queries the significance and to better describe the importance of race as a social construct. We conclude the show with an invite to join in Roscoe led and Community Council supported quest to create a city wide Elevate Juneteenth Celebration Committee to carry forward issues raised during the show tonight. Please join us as Roscoe brings light into darkness.

Elevating Juneteenth with Roscoe Overton Happy Juneteenth! Roscoe Overton details the extensive research project he completed and the discovery along the way that the Overtons were among the first black families to have purchased land in Texas as he shares and connects his generational ancestry from Nashville Tennessee to Austin and central Texas. Roscoe’s research and curiosity began some 70 years ago, with a conversation with his Uncle at age 10 years old We feature also the work of another KOOP Community Organization Member as their executive director, Marva Overton joins Bringing Light Into Darkness to describe the work of the Alliance for African American Health in Central Texas, a nonprofit organization that engages community members to address health issues that disproportionately impact African Americans. Marva describes some of the specific health challenges that disproportionately impact the Austin African American community. Penny Jo Pullus, producer and host of KOOP Radio’s Texchromosome show, co hosts the show tonight and shares her experiences learned through a series of lunch dialogues with Roscoe. Penny Jo leads our discussion with Roscoe over the path his research took him regarding Juneteenth. Roscoe describes the slave colonies that existed and that a hundred years ago the Overtons in Bastrop were already celebrating Juneteenth. Roscoe shares the importance of all KOOP’s Celebration Events of culturally and historically events KOOP celebrates throughout the year and his specific participation in the KOOP Celebration of Juneteenth. Roscoe’s research and curiosity began some 70 years ago, with a conversation with his Uncle at age 10 years old Penny Jo concludes the show by questioning Pedro Gatos on the degree of wealth inequality and why it so important to address and queries the significance and to better describe the importance of race as a social construct. We conclude the show with an invite to join in Roscoe led and Community Council supported quest to create a city wide Elevate Juneteenth Celebration Committee to carry forward issues raised during the show tonight. Please join us as Roscoe brings light into darkness.