American Exception

Episode 28: Minding the Darkness, Minding the Light w/Peter Dale Scott (Part 3) [TRAILER]

This is Part 3 of Minding the Darkness, Minding the Light—our oral history series with the brilliant historian, political theorist, and poet--Professor Peter Dale Scott. Accompanied by Ben Howard and Aaron Good, Peter reflects upon his early years at Berkeley, including his experiences with the Berkeley Free Speech Movement and the antiwar movement. The Reichstag Fire and other matters are discussed as well.
Special thanks to Casey Moore for the episode art and Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!

Episode 27: Minding the Darkness, Minding the Light w/Peter Dale Scott (Part 2) [TRAILER]

This is Part 2 of Minding the Darkness, Minding the Light—our oral history series with the brilliant historian, political theorist, and poet--Professor Peter Dale Scott. Accompanied by Ben Howard and Aaron Good, Peter reflects upon some of the events that led to his arrival at the University of California at Berkeley, as well as his early years there.[UPDATE: We remastered this episode to fix the original files... basically we used technology to disguise the fact that I did too many whippets before and during the recording.]
Special thanks to Casey Moore for the episode art and Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "I Can't Seem to Think" by Mock Orange

Episode 26: Minding the Darkness, Minding the Light w/Peter Dale Scott (Part1) [TRAILER]

This is the first part of Minding the Darkness, Minding the Light—our oral history series with the brilliant historian, political theorist, and poet--Professor Peter Dale Scott. Accompanied by Ben Howard and Aaron Good, Peter reflects upon his early years prior to his arrival at the University of California at Berkeley.Special thanks to Casey Moore for the episode art and Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "Mind Is Not Brain" by Mock Orange

Episode 25: The Black Radical Tradition and US Empire: A Time for Reflection w/Anthony Monteiro

In this episode, Aaron is joined by Anthony Monteiro. They discuss the Black Radical Tradition in the context of US empire and capitalism. They focus especially on the towering figure of W.E.B. Dubois.
After many years as university professor--mostly at Temple University--Monteiro continues to work as a scholar and activist at the Saturday Free School in Philadelphia and at Black Agenda Report.
Check out Abby Martin's Empire Files episode: The Black Radical Tradition with Cornel West, Mumia Abu-Jamal 
Special thanks to Casey Moore for the episode art and Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "East Side Song" by Mock Orange

Episode 24: ”It was God’s Will” (Video link below)

This is Part 2 of our Battleground Indonesia collaboration with TheKultureDotTV. Aaron, Hailey Rounsaville, and Mike Oldfield cover the tumultuous period from the end of World War II and the Sukarno-led victory over the Dutch which established Indonesian independence. They then trace the imperial intrigues which unfolded throughout the  Eisenhower years. Most notably, they discuss how American deep statesman Allen Dulles played the long game to seize control over the Indonesia's vast resource wealth.This is the audio version. The episode was produced as a video which you can watch here.
Special thanks to Casey Moore for the episode art and Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!Music by Subtropics

Episode 23: Amnesty International and Syrian Dirty War Propaganda w/Kit Klarenberg [TRAILER]

Aaron is joined by our man in Belgrade, Kit Klarenberg--an investigative journalist exploring the role of intelligence services in shaping politics and perceptions. We spoke about a number of subjects related to his recent GrayZone piece, "Propagandist for Syria terror proxies compromised Amnesty International, leaked docs show." The article was a follow-up of sorts to a previous article that Klarenberg co-authored with Max Blumenthal, "Leaked files expose Syria psyops veteran astroturfing BreadTube star to counter Covid restriction critics."
Special thanks to Casey Moore for the episode art and Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "Payroll" by Mock Orange

Episode 22: ”A Mountain of Gold on the Moon” (Video link below)

This is Part 1 of our Battleground Indonesia series--a special project produced in collaboration with TheKultureDotTV . In this episode, Aaron delivers the first part of a presentation on the Great Game to seize the staggering resource wealth of Indonesia. He is joined by Hailey Rounsaville and Mike Oldfield.
This is the video version. The audio only version is here.If there is any problem with the Patreon video player, this link should let you download the file: "A Mountain of Gold on the Moon"
This is Part 1 of our Battleground Indonesia series--a special project produced in collaboration with TheKultureDotTV . In this episode, Aaron delivers the first part of a presentation on the Great Game to seize the staggering resource wealth of Indonesia. He is joined by Hailey Rounsaville and Mike Oldfield.
 
Watch the video at our Patreon for free!

Episode 21: Cancelling the PMC w/Catherine Liu and Dan Kovalik

Aaron talks with Catherine Liu and Dan Kovalik about the Professional Managerial Class, "cancel culture," and US empire. Liu is a professor of Film & Media Studies at the University of California at Irvine and the author of Virtue Hoarders: The Case Against the Professional Managerial Class.Daniel Kovalik is the author of Cancel This Book: The Progressive Case Against Cancel Culture. He is also a human rights lawyer, labor rights lawyer and peace activist. He has contributed articles to CounterPunch, The Huffington Post, and TeleSUR. He teaches International Human Rights at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
Follow Catherine Liu on Twitter: @bureaucatliu 
Check out Dan Kovalik's author page at Amazon 
Special thanks to Casey Moore for the episode art and Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!  Music: "Song in D" by Mock Orange

Episode 19: Secrets of the Doomsday Machine: A Tribute to Daniel Ellsberg

This special episode features Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. About a year ago, on Groundhog Day 2021, Ellsberg came my peace studies class. He was prepared to answer questions from students, which he did, but only after being surprised by a number of luminaries who had previously agreed to join us. The surprise guests included James Galbraith, Peter Kuznick, Katharine Gun, and Peter Dale Scott.
The class—Peace Studies of the American Century—is one that I developed in collaboration with American University history professor Peter Kuznick and filmmaker Oliver Stone. 
Daniel Ellsberg is the author of Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers, and The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. His life story is the subject of The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, the Oscar-nominated documentary that Edward Snowden credited for inspiring his own act of whistleblowing.Lastly, we are joined by former CIA officer John Kiriakou, the heroic individual who went to jail for blowing the whistle on CIA torture. He was kind enough to offer his own very memorable tribute to Daniel Ellsberg.
Special thanks to Mickey Huff and Anthony Fest of Project Censored, Casey Moore for the episode art, and Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!  Music: "End of the World" by Mock Orange

Episode 18: Revisiting JFK w/Oliver Stone and Abby Martin

Legendary filmmaker Oliver Stone talks about his new JFK assassination documentary with special guest host Abby Martin.
Stay tuned after the interview for a postscript detailing how the JFK assassination was an Establishment or deep state production that must be placed in the context of the post-World War II US imperial project for global dominance.
Part 9 of our Destiny Betrayed series on the JFK assassination, this episode also features Hailey Rounsaville of TheKultureDotTV.
Special thanks to Casey Moore for the episode art and Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
 
Please check out:Abby Martin at The Empire Files and Media Roots Radio.
James DiEugenio's fantastic website: Kennedys and King
Aaron's book: American Exception: Empire and the Deep State
The American Truth and Reconciliation Committee
Episode Music: "Too Good Your Dreams Don't Come True" by Mock Orange