The Traces Are Kicked Over, It's All-Out Grift Now!
I'm getting this posted after the program has already started again. Oh, I've got to find a better way to do this! More to come, however.
You can now listen to this program on the official WBAI Archive.
The next regular WBAI LSB meeting will be held on Wednesday October 14, 2026, at 7:00 PM. That meeting will be held on ZOOM, even though ZOOM compromises privacy and security.
Some years ago the WBAI LSB voted to hold its regular meetings on the second Wednesday night of every month, subject to change by the LSB, so we have the following schedule:
These meetings are set to begin at 7:00 PM.
WBAI has a program schedule up on its Web site. The site has gotten many of the individual program pages together to provide links and such, so check it out.
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Here is WBAI's current Internet stream. We can no longer tell if the stream is working without testing every possible stream. Good luck.
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WBAI is archiving the programs! WBAI has permanently switched to yet another new archive Web page! This one is more baffling than the previous one. For some time I was unable to post archive blurbs, then I could, and then I couldn't again. Now I can again and there are a whole bunch of archive blurbs up there now.
This is a link to the latest version of the official WBAI archive. The archiving software appears to have been at least partially fixed. To get to the archive of this program you can use the usual method: you'll have to click on the drop-down menu, which says Display,
and find Back of the Book on that menu. We're pretty early in the list, so it shouldn't be too difficult. Once you find the program name click GO
and you'll see only this Back of the Book program. Management has fixed
some problems that we'd been having with the archives.
For programs before March 23, 2019, we're all out of luck. The changes that took place once WBAI Management took control of the WBAI archives seems to have wiped out all access to anything before that date in March. You'll have to click on the same drop-down menu as above, which says Display,
and find Specify Date
, it's the second choice from the top. You are then given a little pop-up calendar and you can choose the date of the program there. Then click GO
and you'll see a list of programs that aired on that date. For those previous programs you can get the audio, but nothing else, since I can't post anything to those pages anymore. Good luck.
Since the former General Manager banned Sidney Smith from WBAI he's not alternating with us on the air. As of November 2020, Back of the Book airs weekly.
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Trump's latest and, maybe most disgusting, grift is being exposed by The New York Times. He's arranging for a business deal where the two main U.S. negotiators for the United States on Putin's war in Ukraine, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and that other real estate guy Steve Witkoff, are going to be able to enrich their friends. Also, an American billionaire named Todd Boehly, who has reportedly donated about $2 Million to President Trump's political schemes, is to get in on the deal along with what The New York Times says are, two Middle Eastern groups that have done business with Mr. Kushner or Mr. Witkoff's family.
Sounds illegal to me, and legal or not, it certainly sounds dirty.
Apparently Russian Dictator Vladimir Putin brought up this proposal when he met with Witkoff and Kushner at the Kremlin on September 5th. So this is what Kushner and Witkoff have been doing while they claimed to be trying to stop Russia's war against the Ukrainian people.
This deal would involve the sale of the international holdings of the Russian oil company named Lukoil. Lukoil owns oil fields, refineries and even gas stations around the world.
The New York Times says that, There is no indication that Mr. Kushner or Mr. Witkoff themselves stand to profit,
but this intermingling of negotiations to end a war and an arrangement for some rich people to get richer really stinks.
The spin from the would-be beneficiaries is that this is a great way to build good will with the Kremlin. Jeez!
If this does end up happening the American governmental approval for the sale would release the assets from American sanctions and that would instantly increase their value for the people getting them.
It turns out that Chevron wants in on this deal too.
Major holders of the equity in this company that would get the Lukoil assets would be two brothers from Qatar. Yeah, the same Qatar that just liked Trump so much that they gave him a replacement for Air Force One that he's supposed to keep for his own!
A guy from the United Arab Emirates would also be involved.
Family members of Kushner, Witkoff and of course Trump would be enriched by this deal, if it goes through. And what happens to the people of Ukraine?
The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, the D.F.C. is saying that this is a great deal for the American taxpayer. Uh Huh.
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There are a lot of issues that are considered hazardous to talk about on the air at WBAI, even though the gag rule was lifted in 2002. However, there is the Internet! There are mailing lists which you can subscribe to and Web based message boards devoted to WBAI and Pacifica issues. Many controversial WBAI/Pacifica issues are discussed on these lists.
One open list that no longer exists was the WBAI-specific Goodlight
Web based message board. It was sometimes referred to on Back of the Book as the bleepin' blue board,
owing to the blue background that was used on its Web pages. This one had many people posting anonymously and there was also an ancillary WBAI people
board that was just totally out of hand.
In June 2012, I ended up having to salvage the bleepin' blue board, and so I was the moderator on it for its last seven years, until it got too expensive.
Sometimes we used to have live interaction with people posting on the Goodlight Board
during the program.
Our very own Uncle Sidney Smith, whose program Saturday Morning With the Radio On used to alternate with us, has a blog these days. You can reach his blog here.
There used to be a number of mailing lists related to Pacifica and WBAI. Unfortunately, they were all located on Yahoo! Groups. When Yahoo! Groups was totally shut down in December 2020, all of those mailing lists ceased to exist. One year earlier their file sections and archives of E-mails, had been excised leaving only the ability to send E-mails back and forth among the members. Now it's all gone. Older Back of the Book program Web pages tell a little more about those lists.
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