Background Briefing

Joshua Landis / Nader Hashemi / Angela Stent

Trump Lifts Sanctions on Syria Calling Its New Leader, a Former Islamic State Fighter, “a Young Attractive Guy”
A Judge Orders ICE to Release Another Wrongly-Detained Scholar Held for 8 Weeks in Detention in Texas
Will Putin Show Up for Peace Talks? / Tulsi Gabbard Fires Top Intel Officials for Speaking Truth to Power


Today’s episodes of Our World As We See It and Education Today are preempted by special programming for KPFA’s 2025 Spring Fund Drive. C.S. Soong speaks with Norma Wong about her book When No Thing Works: A Zen and Indigenous Perspective on Resilience, Shared Purpose, and Leadership in the Timeplace of Collapse. To support our … Continued


An interview with Clifton Ariwakhete Nicholas and Franklin Lopez about about the film currently in production via Amplifier Films, “A Red Road To The West Bank: An Indigenous journey of resistance and solidarity”, settler-colonialism, indigenous ties between Palestine and Kanehsatà:ke in so-called Canada followed by an interview with organizers of the 2025 Balkan Anarchist Bookfair, happening May 15-18 in Thessaloniki


Law & Disorder

Appropriating Rock n Roll from Legendary Artist Willie ‘Big Mama’ Mae Thornton – Spring Fund Drive Special

We spend today’s show in a deep exploration of the blues. We’ll explore the racialized, gendered, sexualized, and overarchingly monetized, tension of that music, and its relationship to normative socials and economics of whiteness – and we’ll do that through the lens of one of the legendary creators and original influencers of music that became … Continued


Democracy Now!

Democracy Now 6am – May 14, 2025

On today’s show: U.S. and Saudis Sign $142B Arms Deal, as Trump Meets with Syria’s New Leader and Drops Syrian Sanctions While Israel Wanted to Bomb Iran, Trump Pushes Talks; But in Gaza, Israel’s Mass Killings Continue Salvadoran Journalists Exposed President Bukele’s Ties to Gangs; Then They Had to Flee to Avoid Arrest