October 25, 2021 (San Diego) – East County Magazine tonight received 11 awards in San Diego Press Club’s 48th annual Excellence In Journalism competition. The honors include three first place awards, recognitions for both our online news site and radio show coverage during the past year’s turbulent times. ECM’s awards span a broad range of categories, including three of the four awards presented for breaking news. Since its inception in 2008, ECM has won 137 major journalism prizes. See more…
A Friendly Fire exclusive with Zahid and Melissa Chaudhry. Hear the heartbreaking story of a disabled US Army veteran torn away from his family by ICE. Recently reunited with his wife and two children, this is the first time he’s spoken publicly about his struggle to gain the US citizenship his deserves.
Patricia and her guests have an in-depth and frank conversation about difficulties surrounding divorce and alienation of a parent. Guests share their own stories about how children are affected, manipulation, alienation, the court system and more.
THE ELECTRIC PICNIC, Poetry, Prose, Spoken Word, with Susan Taylor Sat 7pm, Mon 8am, Wed 3pm
With Singer Songwriter MICK SCHAFER
Song Writer, Vocalist, Guitarist and Band Leader Mick Schafer has been singing since childhood. Mick’s voice was made known to him in the 7th grade church choir. At 20 he quit college and ventured to Europe to perform for tips and meals. He spent 1970 and 71 playing music around Europe. He always wanted to perform professionally but when he got back to the states, he was beset with depression and couldn’t manage it.
The Dad chapter was next when Mick adopted his son Chris and got a good day job to support Chris through the 80s and 90s. The guitar was close by.
In the 2000s, with son Chris off to the Navy, Mick got paid gigs fronting Blackberry Jam (later known as Tree Top Tribe) all over Portland, Oregon. The decade culminated with the first full album, Blackberry Jam being published on CD Baby.
The next chapter kicked off in 2017 including shows with an array of stellar local musicians under the moniker of The Mick Schafer Band, in support of the new Americana record, One Silken Scarf.” Also published on CD Baby.
When the pandemic hit and we all went indoors Mick focused on the Blues genre and, with the help of his friends, came out the other end with a record called Back to the Blues.
The new twist is that Mick joined a new blues label Lightning in the Bottle Records. Back to the Blues was released directly through this label:
Replay of Wednesday’s show–Author of Signature Wounds, David talks about the Army’s efforts to combat PTSD, TBI’s and veteran suicide that the troops fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan often experienced on the battlefield and at home.
Is the ‘New World Order’ Really New? with Yanis Varoufakis
As U.S. hegemony continues to dwindle, Donald Trump and his international allies are making preparations to maintain some grip on world power. One of these methods includes the “Board of Peace,” which was ostensibly created to reconstruct Gaza, but has demonstrated yet another attempt by Trump to undermine international law.
Yanis Varoufakis, the Secretary-General of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), the former Finance Minister of Greece and author of Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism joins host Chris Hedges to discuss what the Board of Peace really means and how it relates to Trump’s larger geopolitical goals, including one seeking to curb China’s rising influence on the world stage.
When it comes to the European Union, Varoufakis explains that European nations are “freaking out about the Board of Peace not only replacing the United Nations, but also targeting them. And this is what they get for ignoring the very clear signs that Trump was sending their way, that he’s out to get them, that he’s no longer interested in having vassals that think that they are part of a Western multilateral design… it seems to me that the Donald Trump policy is forcing his allies, so to speak, firstly to accept that the genocide will continue. Secondly, not to dare say anything about it. And third, go into these spasms of quasi-autonomy.”
As for China, Varoufakis says that Trump understands that the U.S. will have to coexist with the East Asian nation but must also to rein in the Europeans while maintaining control of the Western hemisphere, likening the tentacles of the American empire to a bicycle wheel. “The bicycle wheel has a hub in the middle and it’s got spokes… you can break one or two or three spokes and the wheel still works,” Varoufakis says. “As long as you are the hub and you negotiate with each spoke separately, you keep them separate and you don’t allow them to get together and negotiate with you collectively, then you can extend your hegemony and make a lot of money in the process.”
While the context Trump faces with China rising on the world stage has pushed the United States into a new paradigm, Varoufakis casts doubt on the idea that Trump’s colonialism is much different than that conducted within the liberal international world order. “Well, I don’t want to mythologize the world we’re exiting,” he says. “Because you see, this is what liberal centrists do, radical centrists. They say, everything was so good until this man [Trump] came and destroyed it. I’m sorry, it wasn’t good. You know…I grew up in a NATO country that was a fascist dictatorship. So when people say, NATO is democracy. No, I’m sorry. It’s not for me.”
TALK OF THE TOWN with Mike and Arthur Aguirre Sat 11am-Noon LIVE
Call in with your comments and questions 619-790-KNSJ (5675)
Economics Professsor DR. CLARA MATTEI
Photo by Basil Childers
Clara E. Mattei is a professor of economics at The University of Tulsa. She is the Founding President of FREE—the Forum for Real Economic Emancipation—and the author of The Capital Order (University of Chicago Press), which was praised by The Financial Times as one of the ten best economics books of 2022 and has been translated into over a dozen languages.
FRIENDLY FIRE with Don Kimball Wed 7pm and Sat 2pm
A Voice for Veterans
Tune in today to hear DAVID KIREAN, the author of Signature Wounds. David talks about the Army’s efforts to combat PTSD, TBI’s and veteran suicide that the troops fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan often experienced on the battlefield and at home.
LIVE! TALK OF THE TOWN with Mike Aguirre and co-host Arthur Aguirre Sat 11am WOMEN TALK: WOMEN OF HISTORY
Call in with comments and questions at 619-790-KNSJ (5675)
Mike and Arthur are in conversation with Nancy Heins-Glaser and Patricia Watts, filmmaker, producer and writers.
NANCY-HEINS GLASER is an active member and leader in the AAUW (American Association of University Women) Fallbrook, CA branch, known for her work in community activism, filmmaking, and various project chair positions.
She is involved in: Scarecrow Project Chair: She has chaired the Scarecrow Project for the branch, including the “NOTORIOUS RBG” entry (2020-2022). Awards and Recognition: She was recognized as a “Fallbrook’s Finest” for her work as a community activist and filmmaker in 2025. Roles and Contributions: She has contributed to the branch’s “Spotlight” oral history project, taken photos for the newsletter, and assisted with community outreach and event planning. Involvement in Committees: She has been involved with the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) efforts within the Fallbrook branch.
Nancy is frequently mentioned in the “Women with Vision” newsletter for her active participation in branch activities
PATRICIA WATTS worked as a journalist for more than twenty years for newspapers in Texas, Hawaii, and Alaska. Following her news career, she spent ten years investigating discrimination cases for the Alaska Human Rights Commission. She has five published novels: Paper Targets (2022, Atmosphere Press); Ghost Light, co- authored (2020, Bowhead Press); The Big Empty, co-authored (2018, SoHo Press); The Frayer (2017, Golden Antelope Press); and Watchdogs (SheWrites Press, 2013). After thirty years in Alaska, she moved to San Diego where she works as a freelance editor and proofreader. She earned her BA in journalism at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California, and her degree in paralegal studies from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Patricia is currently working on a collection of short stories. WomenTalk: Women of History was her first and only collaboration on a video or movie. She has also adapted a short play from one of her short stories.
When not writing, she loves to walk and hike and enjoy a good happy hour. She is a passionate lover of music and reader of historical fiction and non-fiction alternate history. She is the mother of a son and daughter and has seven grandchildren, ranging from nineteen to three years old.
TALK OF THE TOWN with Mike Aguirre and Co-host Arthur Aguirre Sat 11am-Noon
LIVE–CALL IN WITH QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS: 619-790-KNSJ (5675)
PASTOR TED BURNETT, California Poor People’s Campaign Coordinating
Pastor Ted Burnett statewide historian for California Poor People’s Campaign (PPC): Retired Deputy Director of SEIU Local 1000 State Workers Union. Environmentalist and Social Justice Community Activist!
From Pastor Burnett:
As members of the Poor People’s Campaign (PPC), we are here to talk to you because we live in the wealthiest nation in the world, yet poverty is the 4th leading cause of death in this country. Poverty kills 10 times more people than homicides! This poverty pandemic requires a response at the scale of the problem. It requires our country’s policy-makers to create policies that invest in fixing the problem at the systemic, structural level. And this kind of change requires building a movement to demand policy choices that lift people out of poverty.
This PPC movement to end poverty has a long history. In November 1967, Dr. King announced the Poor People’s Campaign to challenge economic inequality, militarism and poverty. Rev. Dr. King articulated a clear formula for how the poor can claim the power that resides within our communities. He said: “Power for poor people will really mean having the ability, the togetherness, the assertiveness and the aggressiveness to make the power structure of this nation say yes when they may be desirous to say no.”
On December 4, 2017,the 50th anniversary of the announcement of the first Poor People’s Campaign, a diverse leadership came together in Washington, D.C. to launch the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival — a movement co-chaired by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II of Repairers of the Breach and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis of the Kairos Center with the support of many organizations, denominations and individuals, now organizing in 40 states across the country.
The PPC was launched with two primary goals:
Change the narrative by changing the narrator — more focus on who and why people are poor. PPC is committed to amplifying the voices of those most impacted by systemic poverty, systemic racism, ecological devastation, militarism/war economy and the distorted moral narrative of white Christian nationalism.
Build power to change policy through a fusion movement that unites communities and partner organizations.
Our Fundamental Principles guide decisions about what we do and how we do it. Our non-violent, non-partisan but deeply political movement is based on our deepest religious and constitutional values, lifting up the leadership of those most affected by the 5 interlocking injustices identified by the PPC.
In 2019, before the pandemic hit, 140 million people (43% of the US population) who are poor and struggling in the richest country in the world. Poverty, policy violence, kills 250,000 people every year so the Poor People’s Campaign is calling for/building a Third Reconstruction to complete the moral fusion organizing work of extending constitutional guarantees to every person. The work began during earlier periods of US history but is not yet complete.
There are 38 million children who are poor in this country.
And 60% of African Americans are poor.
And 65% of Latinx are poor.
And 40% Asians are poor.
And there are 67 million poor white people in the United States.
In California, the PPC is organizing to close the wealth gap. California’s gross domestic product is the 4th largest in the world after Germany, the US, China and Japan, yet poverty is widespread in our state:
Between 2018-2020, there were almost 19 million poor people (low/no income or wealth) accounting for 47.6% of the population
A household with two adults and two children needs to earn over $30/hour to meet their basic needs. However, the current minimum wage is just $15/hour; at this wage, an individual must work 104 hours/week to afford a modest two bedroom apartment. Clearly, a poverty wage is violence.
You can contact the CA PPC at california@poorpeoplescampaign.org..
