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March madness: McCarthyism at KPFA?
May 13, 2021
by Anthony Fest
History records that the infamous Sen. Joe McCarthy died in 1957, but did his ghost haunt the March meeting of KPFA’s Local Station Board?
McCarthy gained his notoriety in the early 1950s with charges that Communists had infiltrated the State Department and the U.S. Army. At the KPFA LSB meeting, the targets were Greens, not Reds, but a conspiratorial tone was in the air.
The accuser was board member Don Goldmacher, and his targets were two of his fellow board members, James McFadden and Christine Pepin. Those two also serve on the Green Party County Councils in their respective counties – Alameda and Santa Clara.
Pacifica Radio: Letâs talk about the debt
April 17, 2021
by Ann Garrison
In early June, listener subscribers and staff of the Pacifica Radio Networkâs five nonprofit metropolitan stations, KPFA-Berkeley, KPFK-Los Angeles, KPFT-Houston, WBAI-New York City, and WPFW-Washington D.C., will receive ballots to vote on yet another new set of bylaws that would largely do away with its democratic governance structure. The first attempt to do this was resoundingly defeated at the end of March one year ago. This time ballots will go out during the first week of June, and most subscribers and staff will choose to vote online. The network also includes 200 smaller affiliate stations, whose staff and listener subscribers will not be included in this election, but who have two representatives on the Pacifica National Board.Â
On March 29, Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz admitted to
Fox News host Tucker Carlson that he was facing federal charges for underage-dating aka, trafficking a child. But as squeamish as the revelations are, Gaetz critics may be overreaching in their condemnation. While the age of consent in Florida is 18, a 17-year-old is not a child. (Florida actually has a Romeo and Juliette Law that allows 16-year-olds to have sex with someone no older than 23 years. That won t help Gaetz: he s 38.)
The legal age of consent is 16 in most of the US (including Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia.) In the Golden State it’s 18.
Referendum 2021
You will have the opportunity to vote in a referendum for 30 days starting June 7th to replace the Pacifica Foundation’s bylaws with new bylaws proposed by a group of Pacifica members. If adopted, significant modifications will be made to the foundation’s governance structure affecting both the national and local station boards, including how you, as a listener sponsor, are represented and can participate. To assist you in navigating the complex issues, a graphics-based voter guide is under development and can be viewed here – Voter Guide Referendum 2021 alongside the text of the current and proposed bylaws. In order to be eligible to vote, check that your membership is up to date by verifying with your station that you have contributed $25 or performed 3 hours of volunteer work between April 8, 2020 and April 7, 2021.