Potpourri 8

New World Notes #628, 28:21 (May 26)
Broadcast quality MP3 (40 MB)
Decent quality MP3 (13 MB)

A new bouquet of this and that, not random but loosely structured. Features a fine talk by Mumia Abu-Jamal, two classic satires by The Firesign Theater, and commentary by KD.
  
The commentary focuses on

• corruption of language as a tool of the powerful 
• the sea of propaganda in which we swim
• the historical uses of potpourri
• the sad similarities of 17th and (U.S.) 21st century responses to pandemics
• the meaning of "Ring Around the Rosie"

And yes, the topics are all related.

Error: In my commentary I say that the bubonic plague struck London in 1655. The correct year is 1665. This error is entirely the fault of Obama, Lying Hillary, a secret laboratory in Wuhan, the Deep State, and the Inspector General. --KD

Mumia's talk, "Rebel Lawyers," was broadcast to a conference at Yale Law School in March 2019. Firesign Theater's sketches are from their LPs Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him (1968) and How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All (1969).