THE ELECTRIC PICNIC with SUSAN TAYLOR
Featuring San Diego Poet OLIVIA MERCEDES
Olivia Mercedes is a perpetually overwhelmed human who relies on creative mediums to process the intense spectrum of her conscious experience. Her poetry has been published, her artwork has been exhibited, her voice has been featured, but her most beloved accolades are the moments of real-life connection in response to her authenticity. She finds hope and gratitude in inspiring someone to feel, to question, to learn, to heal, to express, and ultimately to be more fully human.
Host Susan Taylor is a wife, mother, and six-time grandmother. She loves living in a diverse and friendly neighborhood in San Diego and can be seen walking her dog Duffy to coffee shops and happy hours.. Susan writes poems and short stories, tutors English, and is an avid volunteer with social justice organizations. Susan is the author of The Electric Picnic: Poetry For Nice People And Good Dogs. Her poems can also be found on haikuuniverse.com, thepoetryhighway.com, and in the San Diego Anthology of Poetry, and Verbatim Bookstore. Susan has also been selected for inclusion in A Year in Ink, Volume 17, 2024.
Tune in to Saturday Afternoon’s Lineup Covering News Not Covered on Mainstream Radio and Creative Arts Programming. Then tonight our local DJ’s take over from 8pm-6am (every night) with a Full Round of Eclectic Music Spinning Vinyl, Only on YOUR Local Independent Station KNSJ.
- 2-3pm FRIENDLY FIRE with Don Kimball, a Show for and About Veterans
- 3-4pm CODE PINK
- 4-5pm ALTERNATIVE RADIO
- 5-6pm LAW AND DISORDER
- 6-7pm WRITER’S VOICE
- 7-8pm THE ELECTRIC PICNIC with SUSAN TAYLOR POETRY SPOKEN WORD PROSE
- 8pm-6am MUSIC WITH SAN DIEGO DJs https://music.knsj.org/
Saturday 1-2pm
THE EMPTYING OF GAZA with Guest NORMAN FINKELSTEIN
Norman Finkelstein, Middle East Scholar, and Hedges assess the current state of the genocide in Palestine as well as how the media and the universities have all but abandoned their principles in servitude to the Zionist agenda.
One of the most renowned and courageous Middle East scholars, Norman Finkelstein, has assiduously documented the Palestinian plight for decades.
TALK OF THE TOWN with MIKE AGUIRRE LIVE Sat 11am
CALL IN WITH YOUR QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS 619-790-KNSJ (5675)
TODAY–DEI with GUEST SETCHE KWAMU-NANA
WHY ARE SOME AFRAID OF DEI? WHAT ARE THE FREE SPEECH IMPLICATIONS?
Setche is a dynamic Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (IDE) consultant and trainer. She helps organizations and teams move from IDE rhetoric to impact, and beyond symbolism to transformation. She drives employees to commit to championing IDE, and helps organizations operationalize IDE, making the practice part of their DNA. She has a strong track record of cultural transformation, developing and delivering effective training, building collaborative teams, and championing and implementing innovative tools & strategies.
Setche says: These are the values by which I live and work. Through my workshops and initiatives, I inspire and cultivate a culture of:
AL CHILE Spanish Radio En Vivo Con ARIANA GALLEGOS Sat 9-10am
DO YOU want to be part of the conversation? Call us during the show with your questions and comments at 619-790-KNSJ (5675).
ARIANA GALLEGOS presents AL CHILE Spanish Radio, sponsored by the Employee Rights Center, offering you in-depth discussions and revealing interviews with guests who make a difference in our community. Join us every Saturday at 9 AM!
CUSTOM TAYLORED with Tim Taylor Sun 11am-Noon
Custom Taylored is a chronological journey of the popular music that influenced rock and roll.
Today’s episode is part of a subseries on the music that led to post war urban blues. The show features some acoustic blues, classic jazz and some boogie woogie sides. All of the songs in the episode were first recorded or released in 1939. You’ll hear Jimmy Yancey, Washboard Sam, and Andy Kirk & His Twelve Clouds of Joy, among others.
FRIENDLY FIRE with Don Kimball Sat 2-3pm
A Voice For and With Veterans
EXCLUSVE INTERVIEW WITH CAPTAIN PAUL WATSON, CO-FOUNDER OF GREENPEACE
Don is in convesation with Captain Paul Watson. A world-renowned animal advocate, co-founder of Greenpeace, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the recipient of numerous awards and the star of the Animal Planet series Whale Wars, Captain Watson was held in a Greenland prison for six months last year an Interpol warrant based on merit less charges brought by the Japanese government. Watson currently heads the Paul Watson Foundation, and is preparing to hit the seas again soon to save the worlds oceans from the perils of pollution, illegal whaling and over-fishing. Truly a hero of the high seas, don’t miss this informative and inspiring conversation.
THE CHRIS HEDGES REPORT Sat 1-2pm
Students Question How their Work and Labor Are Used
You can’t just sit there and build drones and not talk about who it’s serving and who does it help, says Richard Solomon, PhD student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and member of the Coalition for Palestine at MIT. On this episode of The Chris Hedges Report, Solomon and fellow MIT PhD student Prahlad Iyengar detail their battle against the historic institutions active participation in the genocide in Gaza. Their story exemplifies the repression students face across the country who dare question how their work and labor are used to advance the illegal and morally reprehensible goals of the Israeli military.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ON KNSJ
TALK OF THE TOWN with Mike Aguirre LIVE Sat 11am-Noon
Call in number 619-790-KNSJ (5675)
CURRENT REPORT ON USAID, THE CRISIS, CONSEQUENCES OF ACTIONS BY THE CURRENT ADMINISTRTION – THE LIVES OF TENS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE NOW IN JEOPARDY
Guest Warren Parker, PhD. Public Health & Communication Specialist
Dr. Parker has worked on the HIV response for more than 30 years with a focus on the sociology of health and related communication. I lived in South Africa through to 2016, before moving to the US.
He led the national Beyond Awareness HIV campaign in South Africa in the 1990s as part of the post-apartheid government. In the 2000s, He established and led a South African non-governmental research organization called the Center for AIDS Development, Research and Evaluation (CADRE) that focused on AIDS response in African countries.
In 2009 Dr. Parker moved on to international consulting. Since 2000, he’s worked in more than 25 countries, mostly in Africa, on health and development. His focus has been on applying participatory research approaches to bring community insights into disease responses, and issues such as maternal health, nutrition, education and gender-based violence prevention (more than 50 research projects). I’ve also supported the work of UNAIDS with a focus on the global AIDS response.
Nearly all of the work describe above (post-2000) involved projects and activities funded by USAID.
Following the foreign aid cuts in March this year, his work contracts came to a halt. This included work for UNAIDS linked to achieving global AIDS targets and goals, and sustaining the HIV response around the world. Work he was involved in for another international organization on pandemic preparedness (funded by USAID) was also ended.
His insights into the current situation include a strong grounding in African perspectives on HIV, health and development.
The paper he recently wrote with his colleague, Alan Whiteside, an internationally recognized health economist, looks at the implications of the US foreign aid cuts on HIV and AIDS. The key points made are:
1. The dismantling of USAID, including most of the projects funded under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR – which was established by President Bush in 2003), is unprecedented and catastrophic.
2. The withdrawal of this aid has placed the lives of tens of millions of people in jeopardy. For example, in 2024, 20 million people living with HIV, mostly in Africa, were supported by PEPFAR through life sustaining medications (enabling them to be healthy and productive). HIV transmission to millions of infants was prevented through PEPFAR support for programs giving medications to pregnant women living with HIV. Millions of new HIV infections were prevented through PEPFAR support for prevention programs.
2.1 Despite claims that life-saving funding, including for HIV, would continue, this was not the case in the vast majority of instances. Dismantling USAID by dismissing nearly all domestic and international staff, effectively disrupted payment systems and removed management systems crucial for keeping funding online.
3. The immediate withdrawal of aid resulted in thousands of PEPFAR-funded health facilities and organizations reducing or ending their services, and well over 300 000 health workers immediately losing their jobs. Without continued access to medication, people living with HIV face deteriorating health and increased likelihood of dying. HIV treatment reduces the likelihood of HIV transmission to sexual partners, so without treatment, new infections are likely to increase.
3.1 Many African countries were highly dependent on funding for their health and HIV funding, and are not in a position to immediately support the gaps created by the US funding withdrawal. There are no funders able to fill these gaps at any sustainable level, and the immediate harms are also going to be long-term harms.
4. It is accepted in the foreign aid system that funding will change from time to time, including being reduced and many countries do so. This is done in a measured way over time, to give countries receiving aid an opportunity to adapt and develop new strategies. The way this was done now, though, exerts the most severe possible harm, and places lives in jeopardy – whereas it could have been done more rationally in a measured way over time. The cost is not only in human lives. The US has breached and lost trust of other countries, and removed the advantage of decades of good will – in short the US is now an unreliable partner.
5. President Trump and Elon Musk refuse to acknowledge that people are dying as a result of these actions, yet the results are worse than war.
6. In other parts of the paper, we highlight the global aids goal of ending AIDS by 2030 – which was set in motion by a political agreement by all countries within the UN – including the US. Achieving this goal depended on sustained funding at current levels over the next 5 years. This goal is now unattainable.
7. They also highlight that the way HIV was funded by PEPFAR, and other funding entities, resulted in HIV being treated in a siloed way – differently from other diseases, often with higher and more exclusive funding. Health responses are more efficient if all diseases are integrated into the health system, and when this is done, health delivery is also more sustainable.
8. They recommend that countries and foreign aid support focuses more on building resilient and sustainable approaches to health to avoid eventualities such as imposed by the current US administration.
9. There are some moves to reorganize and continue US support for health, including HIV, but the focus on a very much reduced number of countries, and largely exclude support for the most vulnerable populations affected by HIV (linked to ideological rationale for not supporting DEI). Whatever shape this reorganization takes, it will be slow to implement.
Fellow: Balsillie School of International Affairs, Waterloo, Canada https://www.balsillieschool.ca/warren-parker/
Honorary Research Fellow: Centre for Communication, Media and Society. School of Applied Human Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban South Africa
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Warren Parker, PhD. Public Health & Communication Specialist
mobile USA: +1 858 776-1202
San Diego, California, USA | Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Fellow: Balsillie School of International Affairs, Waterloo, Canada https://www.balsillieschool.ca/warren-parker/
Honorary Research Fellow: Centre for Communication, Media and Society. School of Applied Human Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban South Africa. E-mail: parkerw@ukzn.ac.za
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/warren-parker-4989495/