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Longtime KPOJ/Portland morning host Carl Wolfson is back, with daily live show; Flint Taylor of the People’s Law Office on his 10-year fight against torture tactics of Chicago PoliceWolfson was taken off the air in November when Clear Channel changed KPOJ from progressive talk to sports talk. He has just launched a daily live streaming show here, supported by listeners and local advertisers.
We talk about the loss of other progressive talk stations recently, and the unfortunate loss of progressive voices like David Sirota in Denver. We discuss the role of Bain Capital in taking Clear Channel private, which resulted in huge corporate debt that has led to layoffs and format changes–including many stations that now air wall-to-wall sports talk that benefits the corporate owners.
And we exchange views on a number of current issues–Wolfson is not afraid to challenge Obama or Oregon’s elected Democrats when he disagrees.
At 37:45, we are joined by G. Flint Taylor, a founder of the Peoples Law Office in Chicago. PBC first met Taylor in the 1970’s when he represented the survivors of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, who was assassinated in a police raid directed by the FBI. Taylor recently wrote this article for The Nation, which details his 10-year fight for people who were wrongly convicted based on false confessions delivered after torture under Chicago Police commander John Burge and his officers.
Four of the victims were on death row, and were pardoned by then-Gov. George Ryan. While Burge is in federal prison, Taylor is still trying to penetrate a massive cover-up; the most recent Mayor named Daley, Richard M., was the prosecutor in these wrongful convictions, and has been named a co-conspirator in a lawsuit brought by the exonerated men.
From that case, we broaden the discussion to include the return of Cointelpro, renamed “War on Terror” and the abuse of our rights by law enforcement–often including the tried-and-true tactic of inserting paid informers as provocateurs. Taylor offers interesting comments about our criminal justice system today.