Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael podcast

Available Episodes

5 of 994

Project Censored's State of the Free Press 2026 w/ Mickey Huff
👉 Pitch in on Patreon and fuel the future of free-thinking conversations. https://www.patreon.com/parallaxviews Also visit our returning sponsor Mike Swanson's Wall Street Window for the best financial and trading newsletter around: https://wallstreetwindow.com/ On this edition of Parallax Views, J.G. Michael is joined by Mickey Huff, director of Project Censored, to discuss Project Censored’s State of the Free Press 2026, a landmark edition marking the 50th anniversary of the long-running media watchdog organization. The annual report offers all the news relevant to the public that the mainstream media ignored. Huff reflects on the origins of Project Censored under Sonoma State University professor Carl Jensen during the Watergate era and explores how its mission to highlight underreported stories and challenge entrenched power structures in the media remains as vital as ever. The conversation also delves into the escalating crisis of corporate news media consolidation, with special attention to concerns surrounding CNN’s potential acquisition by Paramount-Skydance and what such shifts mean for journalistic independence, public trust, and the future of a free press. In the final portion of the episode, Huff discusses his work at the Park Media Center and the Izzy Awards (named in honor of legendary independent journalist I.F. Stone) spotlighting the importance of recognizing investigative journalism that holds power accountable.
--------
36:30
--------
36:30
The AI Hivemind Threat aka The Loop: How AI Is Creating a World Without Choices w/ Jacob Ward
👉 Pitch in on Patreon and fuel the future of free-thinking conversations. https://www.patreon.com/parallaxviews Also visit our returning sponsor Mike Swanson's Wall Street Window for the best financial and trading newsletter around: https://wallstreetwindow.com/ On this episode of Parallax Views, J.G. Michael speaks with acclaimed journalist and author Jacob Ward, former NBC News technology correspondent and author of The Loop: How AI Is Creating a World Without Choices and How to Fight Back. Ward lays out his thesis that commercial AI is quietly reshaping human decision-making—much like GPS rewired our sense of direction—by exploiting the shortcuts and biases built into our brains. We explore Ward’s early research into algorithmic influence, how his work anticipated today’s conversations around “AI psychosis,” and why the public’s psychological relationship with these systems is becoming increasingly unstable. The conversation also dives into the emerging “AI hivemind” problem: the risk that large-scale, widely adopted AI systems may compress human culture and thought into homogenized patterns, narrowing the diversity of choices, perspectives, and creative possibilities. Ward offers concrete insights on what institutions can do to safeguard human autonomy, what individuals can do to resist passive decision-outsourcing, and what the next five years of AI development might bring—both the dangers and the opportunities. A deep, challenging look at the intersection of technology, psychology, and human agency—exactly the kind of perspective you expect from Parallax Views.
--------
1:00:17
--------
1:00:17
Bonfire: American Sociocide, Broken Relations, & the Quest for Democracy w/ Charles Derber
👉 Pitch in on Patreon and fuel the future of free-thinking conversations. https://www.patreon.com/parallaxviews Also visit our returning sponsor Mike Swanson's Wall Street Window for the best financial and trading newsletter around: https://wallstreetwindow.com/ On this episode of Parallax Views, J. G. Michael speaks with sociologist and public intellectual Charles Derber about his urgent new book BONFIRE, a sweeping analysis of whether the United States is now committing sociocide, which Derber defines as a self-inflicted destruction of the social bonds that make collective life and democracy possible. Derber argues that the U.S. has crossed a historic tipping point. According to him, America has shifted from a merely sociopathic society marked by hyper-individualism and neoliberal competition into a sociocidal society where the foundational social bones of community, solidarity, and shared democratic norms are being burned away. From the breakdown of workplace and family ties to the isolating architecture of Big Tech, climate crisis, political violence, and the rise of Trumpist authoritarianism, Derber contends that America is waging a kind of war on itself. This descent threatens to culminate in what he calls policide, or the death of democratic politics altogether. Is America burning down its own social foundations? And if sociocide is societal suicide, what would it mean for the United States to choose life? This conversation confronts both the peril and the possibilities at one of the most dangerous junctures in American history.
--------
1:20:51
--------
1:20:51
The History of Dick Cheney and the Neocons & How They Paved the Road for Trump w/ Jim Lobe
👉 Pitch in on Patreon and fuel the future of free-thinking conversations. https://www.patreon.com/parallaxviews Also visit our returning sponsor Mike Swanson's Wall Street Window for the best financial and trading newsletter around: https://wallstreetwindow.com/ On this edition of Parallax Views, J.G. Michael speaks with Jim Lobe, one of the foremost critical chroniclers of neoconservatism as an intellectual movement and a key analyst of the role neoconservatives played in shaping the post-9/11 era and the Iraq War. In light of the recent passing of former Vice President Dick Cheney, we explore Cheney’s legacy as a Machtpolitik figure who, while not himself a neocon, became the indispensable enabler and amplifier of neoconservative power inside the George W. Bush administration. Lobe walks us through the deeper history: the Cold War roots of the neoconservative worldview; the pivotal “Team B” exercise and its culture of threat inflation; and how those networks and habits of mind brought Cheney and the neocons into alignment. We trace neoconservatism’s evolution from its beginnings among largely Jewish intellectuals, including the early influence of Norman Podhoretz's Commentary magazine and Jewish liberal who became disullisioned with liberals and the Left, and key non-Jewish intellectuals like Jean Kilpatrick figures as well its eventual transformation into a major force inside the Republican foreign-policy establishment. The conversation examines how this ideological project culminated in the Iraq War and how the Cheney and neocon worldviews, from his embrace of the Unitary Executive theory to his anti-elite, anti-intellectual posture, helped pave the path toward today’s right-wing populism and, ultimately, Donald Trump. We discuss continuities and divergences between Trump and the neocons, including their shared skepticism of climate science, hostility to “political correctness” and "wokeness" and belief in a strong executive, as well as the question of whether Trump’s approach on Israel truly represents a break with neocon orthodoxy or if it is more posturing than anything concrete. Jim will also go into details on the key neocon figures in the Bush administration, the formation of the Project for a New American Century, the Paul Wolfowitz Doctrine, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith and the politicization of intelligence leading up the Iraq invasion, the infamous "Securing the Realm"/"Clean Break" document and its significance to understanding neoconservatism, and much, much more. All that and much more in a wide-ranging conversation that places Cheney’s legacy, the neocons, and the currents shaping today’s right in a deeper historical and political context.
--------
1:55:14
--------
1:55:14
The Most American King: King Abdullah of Jordan w/ Aaron Magid
👉 Pitch in on Patreon and fuel the future of free-thinking conversations. https://www.patreon.com/parallaxviews Also visit our returning sponsor Mike Swanson's Wall Street Window for the best financial and trading newsletter around: https://wallstreetwindow.com/ On this edition of Parallax Views, J.G. Michael speaks with journalist and author Aaron Magid about his major new biography The Most American King, an in-depth exploration of King Abdullah II of Jordan and his quarter-century on the throne. Magid draws on more than a decade of reporting and over one hundred interviews with Jordanians, U.S. officials, and regional figures to unpack how Abdullah has maintained his rule through a combination of strategic alignment with Washington, careful political calibration at home, and the enduring stability of Hashemite monarchy amid Middle Eastern turmoil. In this conversation, Magid discusses Abdullah’s unique personal background—including his Americanized upbringing, fluency with U.S. politics and culture, and unusual pop-cultural references—and how these shaped his political style and foreign policy choices. We dive into Jordan’s pivotal role in U.S. Middle East strategy, the kingdom’s complicated position between Israel and the Palestinians, and the often-overlooked internal dynamics of Jordanian society: economic stagnation, youth frustration, corruption, tribal politics, recurring but stunted reform cycles, and the Muslim Brotherhood’s fraught relationship with the state. We also explore Magid’s comparison of Abdullah with his father, King Hussein; the political implications of the 2021 Prince Hamzah affair; the Pandora Papers leaks and corruption in Jordan; King Abdullah approach to Israel/Palestine and the Gaza War; and the carefully managed public rollout of Crown Prince Hussein as the next monarch. Ultimately, the discussion interrogates the core tension of Abdullah’s legacy: a king celebrated abroad for moderation and stability, yet presiding over persistent domestic challenges and an increasingly weary public.
--------
1:13:02
--------
1:13:02