Bringing Light Into Darkness - News & Analysis

Does NATO Promote Global Stability or Promote War & Conflict (07/15/24) (Part 2/2) by Bringing Light Into Darkness - News & Analysis

Does NATO Promote Global Stability or Promote War & Conflict (07/15/24) (Part 1/2) by 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]