oh and welcome to redacted tonight v.i.p. today i have one of our biggest guests to date the legendary journalist author and radio host robert scheer his career spans 50 years he started a ramparts magazine interviewed every president from richard nixon all the way through bill clinton as author best selling books spent nearly 30 years producing award winning journalism for the l.a. times and the san francisco chronicle and his various radio shows have been

syndicated around the globe he also founded and headed the award winning site truthdig and later in the show now only mcgill will also show us the hidden history of the pledge of allegiance but 1st here's my talk with legendary journalist robert scheer robert scheer it's an honor to have you on the show great to be here you are truly legendary career as a journalist ramparts magazine in the l.a. times the nation true dig radio shows things have changed a lot over the years in some ways they're actually fewer gate keepers then when you started and you know anyone can post articles online and ostensibly get them seen by the world but on the other hand the mainstream media is now owned by just a handful of massive corporations how do you feel journalism and news media have changed over the course of your career is it better or worse. we should not under our underestimate the worse at least there used to be something about attracting

eyeballs or having readers and so when i was at the l.a. times it wasn't easy to fire me because there were lots of people want to read me so there was a marketplace restraint that is gone now they don't need eyeballs who are targeted advertising with the surveillance that is the norm to the internet they can get all the readers of the new york times without putting an ad in the new york times so the business model is broken and it's just become a playground for the rich or for people who want to influence opinion they can buy the soul trash and newspapers and so that's that's the bad part of it there's absolutely no free market restraint there is nothing of that so on on the other hand as long as we have net neutrality the very instrumental that killed journalism is a model the internet is also quite liberating and that you know i did have true to guy now i have sure posts and i'm able to interview you for example at and the

modern technology gives us a lot of voices out there which is why they want to smash net neutrality and centrist thing everybody talks about contests and m.s.m. b.c. and these i want to ships as if they have no politics but the fact is you know they're the people who don't want the extra net to be free they don't like to comp this united parents their profit model but right now we have a great opportunity to talk to reach people to question. and you know so i guess the best and worst of all times it's the model that the fountains had in mind for a free press which i would remind you when they wrote that into the constitution you don't have to have a lot of money to be oppressed you didn't have to be a white guy probably with some means but you could. any drink there is your wall or your like you know champaign he was

a wild radical right but you know he had an affair with printers right. that's what happened well you know your journalism has stood as a shining star in a lot of big moments you know you were against the iraq war from the start and continue to put forward the crazy idea that there were no weapons of mass destruction there and more recently your previous outlet truthdig was one of the few progressive outlets to stand up against the rush again hysteria and question the the mainstream neil mccarthy s narrative which has now completely collapsed how hard is it to push back against those narratives when you're really the entire national security state and they're still not refers in the corporate media are trumpeting that viewpoint nonstop. well they're going to lose you know we cross it's totally irrational and now it is shifting to china putin doesn't make a good target and so hard to do red baiting without

a read you know and then you buy just was reading the i need to view a lot of people in russia i was there for the l.a. times when gorbachev was there and i reviewed his book on perestroika from moscow news and from the l.a. times and you know that was the end of russian communism and pull came in as a basically whatever his background everybody or russia had something to do with the r.t. but the fact is he came from the leningrad group and he was a reformer 'd and he was the choice i was there at and they he's the one day position and everybody forgets who ran and is the one who defeats the communist party that remains in russia he's an anti-communist is you going to brace the what the doc's religion and so forth so he makes a lousy enemy china. is still a communist country you know and so is vietnam by the way by a communist party but date as opposed to our image of communism as an international conspiracy they're quite nationalistic and as

a result there there's tension between the 2 while now putin has decided not to. you know trump has decided to take on china because russia is not a good enough target in discontinuous is the establishment because we need china as a factory floor for the world and so forth and so it's very confusing and he's seized upon this a pandemic as an excuse for having a new kind of red baiting waynes actually got a red it's got a communist party the trouble with from yunus are better a capital was and then we are and the really shocking thing of this damage is that they have organized more effectively to deal with it and take care of their people and just about everybody in the world has done better than american capitalism in. the liberal health service taking care of the population we have the worst record right now and that's a bank black mark against our system and the idea that we were arguing about

medicare for all and bernie sanders very reasonable health care things now seems absurd when you have at the center of the most advanced medical system in america new york you have the center of this vast tragedy so i think this is a great teaching moment and the folly of the new cold war is it didn't have sense when you didn't have wrestle who is certainly makes no sense when you have these communist capitals in china who are better at doing capitalism then we are yeah and you know unless people forget the pivot towards asia go really against asia started under obama because they were fearing you know china's economic influence and and their gaming their gaming on us $59000.00 americans for just have memorial day die supposedly stopping communism than vietnam and we wasted you know we killed what between 4 and 5000000 indochinese people ok were killed in that war and what

happened we lost and that war the most ignominious defeat and communist china communist vietnam went to war and invaded said now who i am right now when if there is talk about getting apple out of china or dead american companies they want to go to communist vietnam so these labels were exterior back then they're absolutely not so now what he was describing you know and i'll give you one little anecdote when i interviewed when i reviewed gorbachev smoke in moscow from moscow news i quoted from the communist manifesto where karl marx wrote that praising capitalism drag me in the ne a syrah life and building these great cities and so forth and you go yakovlev a great honor to this city to have a so that i said give me your communist manifesto he didn't have one so i had to run around moscow i found one. trench i ran back into the pier jill meagher and the congress manager oh so here it is you know so much of. it. you know you mentioned

the the vietnam war i heard a horrifying statistic the other day that the vietnam memorial wall is you know a few 100 feet long because it's got every every american who died in the vietnam war if it were actually included all the names of the vietnamese who died in the vietnam war in our vietnam war then it would be 4 miles or so long so or 8 miles something like that man is several miles long but instead it's just a few 100 feet because we only include the americans but i want to you know i there's a lot of talk about i don't want to run out of time i want to mention that you have interviewed every president from richard nixon all the way through bill clinton and it seems like every 4 years we end up in these this this crazy lesser of 2 evil debate that just seems endless i mean right now we're literally deciding between a and old rich white man with racist policies and sexual assault allegations against him and donald trump i mean they have

a lot in common trump and biden and i just want your thoughts on this this lesser than 2 evils debate we end up in every 4 years moments goes back to the red baiting that became the big compound for the democratic party the fact is see 1st of all donald trump was a creation of the establishment ok you know i. know the mainstream television everything i didn't go to get invited to his wedding jewelry clinton and bill clinton went to his wedding and you know so he was you know far right back there you know and and what happened was he built up a right wing demagogic position which basically involves racism and they didn't the only people that really worked hard all the time in our country which are the doctor. it workers just ethnic bashing as an excuse to protect dominant capital and the really powerful rich people who created the housing meltdown for example it

was all done to wall street and it was done through the deregulation of bill clinton going along with the republicans ending the new deal restraints on wall street i wrote a book called the great american stickup it's all in there and so what happened is that when hillary ran she couldn't define herself as a populist what you needed which is what you have been very sad those are elizabeth warren and he said she tried to say we have no problems it's just these deplorable is going to trump and will notice a lot of pain in america and affects one people also a lot of them one for trump and also by the way affected brown and black people much more the great victims of bill clinton's deregulation it was very well for example when federal reserve tells us that college educated black people know a 70 percent of their wealth not their annual income you know whoa wealth and brown people lost 60 percent they lost their homes they were sold a sucker mortgages and everything what you hear is boy i'd say you know if you

don't accept me you're not you're not a black person but the real issue was a new thread baby and that's why our early discussion is relevant because senator hillary clinton is saying look i've got to disagree with my husband's fall season even though i was there i've got it was you know even challenge obama's policies because what did obama do he bailed out wall street didn't have a moratorium on foreclosures he didn't help people stay in their own so he took all of that money and gave her a tsunami and what did hillary clinton why was she very angry with julian assange should edward snowden what did you and sometimes reveal he revealed what she said member bernie sanders said you must be given some great speeches for 3 quarters of a 1000000 dollars you know 20 minute speeches each and and we now know thanks to a claim is that julian assange gave us that material. he also wiki leaks who learned sitting there with lloyd blankfein one of the architects of the whole wall street us all she says you guys are so smart you have to come with me to washington

to fix these economic problems and that's what was revealed the message to heart of russia that is it you know what were the big c. rist a big applause had nothing to do with numbers and now the promises and screwing around the internet and had to do with real it reveal not the desk the who was up to his eyeballs in all this stuff was how to attack bernie and undermine him and not reveal the content of hillary clinton's shameless speeches to wall street where she defended and she said you had a smart guy so you'll know how to fix this problem will donald trump was running on the pain of ordinary americans who had lost their houses who we've had no improvement of income equality in since clinton was president in and all of that out time we have a lot of suffering out there for all people why brown black male female what have you hillary clinton was tone deaf she did not address it or said went for the big money from wall street was there darling and as

a result of disinterested noble populist this tohu we just a trunk could pose as a populous used to right wing rhetoric and actually you know do something nobody expected going to actually win you can argue about the electoral vote this thing that the amazing thing is that this guy was able to repopulate and it was because we didn't have a progressive we'll turn it we're going to go 'd a populist progressive alternative and once again they that we united to destroy granny who you know what everybody forgets democratic socialism which they hung around its neck you know that's supposed to be the opposite of the communist model you know most of the people who ran west in europe and brought it to prosperity whether 'd it was willie broads or any of these people were democratic socialists and you know. somehow the democratic party is united around making democratic socialism an ugly term well move to new deal of franklin roosevelt was democratic socialism all the seen and this is. the crux f.d.r.

franklin delano roosevelt was our hero and will never wanted to do was bring back the spirit of franklin delano roosevelt and the democratic stablish we want your word it's hard to go to a short break but check out my award winning up podcast common censored and my new book bullet points and punch lines you can get it at least camp book dot com i'll be right back a lot more. in 2008 there was the global financial crisis and the solution was not to reform the banking system to stop the crisis from repeating again the solution was here's a bigger credit line to the worst banks in america to do the same thing but much worse and we said we predicted within 10 to 12 years there would be

a repeat of the 2008 crisis but much bigger a much bigger scale suffix actually what's happening. we go to work you straight home. welcome back i'm still lead camp without further ado the rest of my interview with journalist and author robert scheer. you wrote an outstanding book titled the pornography of power that really breaks down the military industrial complex and how it turned into the runaway monster that it now is you know the stated budget of

our military is over $730000000000.00 that's the stated budget not even the black budget and that accounts for 40 percent of global military spending one country is 40 percent of the military spending in the world do you see any difference between the 2 parties on that front end and what will it take to slow or stop the gravitational pull of this mass murder machine. ok well listen probably destroy what remains of my career. among them aren't me and i'm going to say a kind word about trunk and i would mix trust me i know it's a trumpet and. 'd i you know i live in california where we are totally dependent upon the best group in our entire population we're just people who come from mexico crystal they deem a cop as laura so her attila sent i didn't cross the border the border crossed me so we are actually living in what should be mexico and thanks we have this

incredibly productive population that does everything raises the kids does the work that it does everything there is no you can't have a day without a mexican american or mexican or of some emigrant clearly on every level but the fact of matter is he played the racist neo-fascist card he's very dangerous i'm not going to minimize that the road the truck is going down is one of religious hatred racism it's a straps people at least some pencil i would mean by neo fascists is an extremely dangerous model why do way it works and i'm not going to do german baiting here is follows from germany because so was mine and it took the most advanced civilized educated population down the path of the greatest barbarism of modern history so we know where fascism goes at it but the problem is you can't defeat it by denying that there are problems that that's the whole issue and when you look at what the

democrats want to get messed with by and if they put another biden type person in the vice president my goodness you know maybe if they did elizabeth warren or bernie you know at least say ok there's some little checks here but the fact in barrier is joe biden has stood for imus gets back to your point about the military budget he's been for the biggest military budget and how do we stop trump has question you know. efficacy of all of his military spending you know so what you need is a big enemy and the real reason for anger with putin is that he did not play that role you know we want an enemy and they're not good at it you know he keeps talking about hans control he thinks it's a loser the chinese are worse as an enemy because they really want that silk road they want trade they believe in capitals dragonfly you know putin does but it's more of a cartel capitalism has not gotten it's a click yet but the chinese model is one that is really threatening to the

apologist for the american empire because they're coming along saying hey we all want to play here you know the pakistanis want to play and people in india want to play and in brazil they want to play and you know you guys don't own it all and so the red baiting now is extremely dangerous and unfortunately biden is at the center of it because its whole attack on trump is not really a response to seize it's red date and you're a pretty pathetic when you try to turn donald trump into some kind of commie you know it was some kind of cool name it's just more work i mean a guy a blow you out of water every single time you know and it's a good one to your question and your brilliant letter way you've been very flattering what you wrote about those missing amounts of money and you will we always get confused between the billions and trillions and everything but the fact of the matter is the only way you can justify that pentagon budget as donald trump

point out there were in the beginning my book just before 911 was you got to have an enemy and they didn't have one the cold war was over and the reason you got all this putin stuff you know and russian red baiting is you want to tell me that is how you justify the military budget and if the russians not to do reasonable things in the mideast and they try to negotiate with other people like trying to keep all of the palestinian. then you don't have a justification for your big military budget so it's not enough counting the old it's a fact finding a move to resist the whole war without a cold war ending you don't have it i'm so thankful you took the time to talk with us your post dot com is the website i hope everyone checks it out and thank you again so much for here. and finally the mind blowing somewhat hidden origin of the pledge of allegiance which i don't know about you but i was forced to say every

morning of every day in public school there's natalie mcgill with that mind blowing old news. if you ask a child today if they still recite the pledge of allegiance before they start school replies. what the school we haven't been there in 3 months which makes it all the more likely they have no clue why they recite the pledge in the 1st place but the origin of the pledge includes all of the things that have come to define america like capitalism genocide slavery nationalism mass hysteria and tiny american flags that were probably made in china the 1st ever pledge recited in schools came from veteran civil war colonel george 1885 who in a salute to the flag grow we give our heads and our hearts to god and our country one country one language one flag nowadays you can find the tail end of that pledge

on a bumper sticker in a state that's reopening to see during a pandemic. and it definitely won't have the right flag on it. but bulges version found competition several years later from a pledge written by francis bellamy a minister turned magazine writer who traded in his pocket for a pen to work in a family magazine called the use companion written during a time when print media from any distance looked like what mr magoo sees when he takes an eye exam in $8092.00 bellamy was part of an elaborate marketing scheme to sell more magazines in which they use companion stuff miniature american flags and the issues for readers who sold subscriptions the idea was to ensure millions of children across the country had those flags on hand this summer break the 400th anniversary of everyone's favorite genocidal colonizer christopher columbus sailing

across the atlantic ocean to the new world where millions of people already lived flags went up bellamy was also asked to create an own for the children to recite at school and after 2 hours of brain farts bellamy came up with i pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all but if you're wondering hey isn't this missing a couple things like the words under god in united states and a protracted yawn of a high schooler who barely now did it 7 am then you're right to be suspicious because the only thing that's gone under more revisions than the pledge is the mascot for guy go insurance. the 1st revisions in 19231924 specified good school children pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and were the result of the scutcheon from national civic and military

groups at the national flag conference a meeting that sounds so boring that it's almost cruel and unusual it was held during prohibition so no one could drink during it yet the finishing touch on the pledge we know to. day occurred during the cold war of 1954 when congress's never ending quest to undermine the perceived threat of godless communism prompted them to write a bill that would add we are one nation under god to the pledge but the shutdown the argument that this language my violate the separation of church and state the bill's language read the phrase under god recognizes only guidance of god in our national affairs whether or not you believe in god i have a feeling no one relies on his guidance to put kids in cages or create massive wealth inequality and i'm certain that politicians like senator lindsey graham never seek his guidance before they do or say anything especially since people

usually say god's name in vain whenever they hear him talk of if george w. bush i want your approach right well the origins of today's pledge and each revision only further stoke the fires of intense nationalism at the expense of indigenous people cultural acceptance and diplomacy and that type of nationalism look stupid when our country hasn't even dispensed the better version of the show love island let alone liberty and justice for all. game. and i want anything for it so as long as covert 19 continues to expose the worst of our country even maybe we can revise the pledge again i don't know maybe switch it up and say one nation under god through lou instead or maybe we can pledge allegiance to each other rather than a flag that represents corporate america. i mean unless that flag waving outside of a popeye's now that something we're putting your hand over your heart for. this is

natalie mcgill for redacted tonight and that's the show thank you for joining us watch out for a brand new episode of redacted tonight tomorrow night and check us out on you tube dot com slash redacted tonight or the. portable t.v. app also you can check out my free stand up comedy special take to live in los angeles and lee camp american dot com good night good fight. he took millions of years of evolution to get be this place of set of electability unknown it's become a mess now but how great is that hamas beat duke and millions of years of work to give you this big brain which functions with this many people believe the most human beings are suffering what is a magnificent machine human being to turn into a busy man affecting machine.

ah no no crowd. no shots no. action belts. strap no 1st. point sure your thirst for action. you know was a clip of shows no use to you. but the way it's always at the k. it was of the. more one of the late. not so much you know. me to have moved i think who put us in the mood at the close build up but i'm sure

. if they look at the kooky look at the. city they. want to. be. about the. very building never great was founded on the rates in the murder. nothing changed so we said in. response to these situations that we're dealing with. people just sad every day she is just people kill each other blood for killing children. how many there was just no way that people are going to just sit back and allow children to be shot down law enforcement. this country doesn't work for us it doesn't function for us. this is can't be happening in

america we call from the streets we've got to deal with why this is the reason i have to run like this is the reason. this is a boom bust the one business show you can't afford to miss i'm terry montevideo fan in washington coming up a memorial for george will is held in minnesota after protests across the globe we'll have the latest from minneapolis and a death in on the many and of qualities the world faces and protests continue and hong kong over continue tensions with mainland china but we may still be a rally for the one thing we have a taco today so let's go and dive right in. a memorial is on.