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Kickass News

Airwave Mediawww.kickassnews.com
Hosted by Hollywood producer and political media strategist Ben Mathis, KickAss News is a twice weekly podcast that features the most interesting personalities and thought leaders in politics, entertainment, tech, business, science, and more. Enjoy the podcast? Then please support the show and help keep us on the air by making a donation to our GoFundMe campaign at www.gofundme.com/kickassnews. Another way you can support the show is to subscribe to the podcast and leave us a review on iTunes to help keep us ranking strong on the top podcasts charts. For more information visit www.kickassnews.com. Thanks for listening!
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Episodes

General Wesley Clark on Vietnam, the Wars in Bosnia & Kosovo, and the Future of U.S. Military

My guest today is General Wesley Clark. In his 38 years of military service, he served in various positions including Director of Strategic Plans and Policy during the War in Bosnia and NATO commander and Supreme Allied Commander in Europe leading Operation Allied Force during the war in Kosovo. Today General Clark will talk about the harrowing experience that earned him a Silver Star in Vietnam and what strategic mistakes were made in that war. He'll talk about leading the allied campaign durin...

May 31, 201645 min

Parag Khanna Explains Why Globalism Is Great for America and the World

My guest today is global strategist, world traveler and best-selling author Dr. Parag Khanna. He's written a new book called Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization. In contrast to the demonization of globalization, trade and immigration that's taking place in the 2016 election, Parag Khanna offers a hopeful vision of the future in which global supply chains matter more than borders, resources are shared most efficiently, and the most connected nations and people will thrive. T...

May 26, 201648 min

Director Jay Roach Goes ALL THE WAY with LBJ

Lyndon Johnson, Politics, Civil Rights, LBJ, President, History, Elections, Campaign, Democrat, Movies, Martin Luther King, Freedom Summer, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 19, 201648 min

Paul Wolfowitz on Fighting Dictators, Encouraging Freedom, & His Problem with the Term "Neoconservative"

My guest is Paul Wolfowitz, former President of the World Bank, Deputy Secretary of Defense, and Ambassador to Indonesia. Today the world’s most famous neoconservative will tell us why he doesn’t like the term neocon. He'll talk about how his hatred of dictators and the teachings of Leo Strauss have shaped his own political philosophy, and how that has led to a lifelong passion for promoting freedom and combatting corruption as the first step to ending global poverty and preventing wars. Ambassa...

May 16, 201645 min

Campaign Advance Man Josh King On White House Stagecraft, Photo-Ops Gone Wrong & The "Hat Rule"

My guest Josh King is a master of political optics. He is the former White House director of production for presidential events under President Bill Clinton. He has a new book called OFF SCRIPT: AN ADVANCE MAN’S GUIDE TO WHITE HOUSE STAGECRAFT, CAMPAIGN SPECTACLE, AND POLITICAL SUICIDE. Today he talks about some of the most infamous political blunders caught on camera including the infamous Dukakis in the tank image and his experience on the ill-fated Dukakis campaign. He’ll discuss how advance ...

May 13, 201644 min

Vicente Fox Unloads on Trump, Trade, & The Wall

In his frankest interview yet, former Mexican President Vicente Fox pulls no punches about the man he calls a “false prophet." It was recorded the same week as his apology to Donald Trump, and President Fox strikes a very different tone, doubling down on his statement "I'm not going to pay for the f-ing wall" and adding "and please don’t take out the f-ing full word." Vicente Fox compares the man he calls the "hated gringo" and "ugly American" to Latin American dictators like Hugo Chavez and Jua...

May 10, 201654 min

Disaster Response w/ Steven McAndrew, Head of Emergency Operations at Red Cross

Today’s guest is Steven McAndrew, Head of Emergency Operations for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. He's been on the front lines of some of the biggest disasters in recent history including earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, super-typhoons, disease outbreaks, and violent conflicts. He'll talk about what it's like to snap into action, coordinate a disaster response, and mobilize his teams every passing hour can be the difference between life and death. He'll talk about his work...

May 08, 201641 min

AOL Co-founder Steve Case on the Third Wave of Tech

Today’s guest is the co-founder & former CEO of AOL Steve Case. In his new book THIRD WAVE: AN ENTREPRENEUR’S VISION OF THE FUTURE, Steve describes the third wave of the internet’s evolution in which the internet is going to be ingrained in every aspect of our lives and he talks about the business sectors that stand to benefit most. He’ll discuss the key factors that will separate the successful startups from the failures and why disruptive industries won’t necessarily spring up in Silicon V...

May 06, 201642 min

Juan Williams of Fox News on the Modern-Day Founding Fathers

Fox News political analyst and co-host of “The Five” Juan Williams talks about the modern day figures who have reshaped and affirmed the founding father’s vision of America. They range from Billy Graham and Ronald Reagan to Martin Luther King and Eleanor Roosevelt. Juan Williams talks about the situations that the framers of our Constitution never dreamt of and how 20th Century leaders applied their founding principles to meet the challenges and changes of modern day America. If you enjoyed toda...

Apr 28, 201649 min

Nominate KICKASS POLITICS for the 2016 Podcast Awards

Go to www.podcastawards.com and nominate KICKASS POLITICS in the categories for PEOPLE'S CHOICE and NEWS & POLITICS. Share your support on Twitter by tagging @podcastawards and @KApolitics & using the hashtag ‪#‎pca16‬. The deadline for nominations is this Sat 4/30 so don't wait and nominate the show now! Thanks for listening! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 27, 20163 min

Arianna Huffington Says Go To Bed!

My guest today is Arianna Huffington, co-founder, president, and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post and author of the new best-seller THE SLEEP REVOLUTION: TRANSFORMING YOUR LIFE ONE NIGHT AT A TIME. She talks about America's dangerous sleep crisis and how our culture of ambition discourages us from getting a proper night's sleep. But she says we've got it all wrong. In fact, sleep is the ultimate performance enhancer. She'll discuss the research that shows how sleep deprivation has a negati...

Apr 25, 201634 min

Comedy Legend Carl Reiner

My guest today is comedy legend Carl Reiner. With a dozen Emmys, he’s behind some of the funniest television shows and movies from his start on Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows” and “The Dick Van Dyke Show” to his collaboration with Mel Brooks on the Grammy-winning “The 2000 Year Old Man” and Steve Martin on films like “The Jerk.” On today’s show, Carl Reiner talks about the early days of television, his start in showbiz on Sid Caesar's “Your Show of Shows,” and how it inspired him to create the...

Apr 18, 201647 min

China's One Child Policy w/ Mei Fong, Pulitzer-winning Reporter for Wall Street Journal

On today’s episode, I talk about China's One Child Policy with Mei Fong, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who served as the China correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. She has a new book called ONE CHILD: THE STORY OF CHINA’S MOST RADICAL EXPERIMENT. We’ll talk about how the One Child policy started as a “quick fix” to China’s overpopulation problem and how it suddenly came to an end 35 years later in October 2015. We’ll talk about the many people who were collateral damage in China’s atte...

Apr 15, 201655 min

Documentary Filmmaker Ken Burns

My guest today is renowned documentary filmmaker Ken Burns. He has made 26 documentary specials for PBS including The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, The War (about World War II), The West, and The Roosevelts: An Intimate Portrait which have earned him 13 Emmy Awards, 2 Oscar nominations, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. He has a new two-part documentary on the life of Jackie Robinson which airs April 11 & 12 at 9PM Eastern on PBS. On today's po...

Apr 10, 201643 min

Cyber War w/ National Security Journalist Fred Kaplan

Fred Kaplan, Pulitzer Prize-winning national security journalist for Slate Magazine, talks about his new book DARK TERRITORY: THE SECRET HISTORY OF CYBER WAR. We discuss why it took Washington decades to take cyber threats seriously, and how a computer pioneer and a Mathew Broderick film led President Ronald Reagan to sign the first presidential directive on cyber security. Fred Kaplan reveals how the 2010 cyber attack that damaged Iranian nuclear facilities may have opened a pandora’s box, we’l...

Apr 07, 201653 min

Jacob Weisberg, Editor-in-Chief of Slate Magazine, On All Things Donald Trump

My guest today is Jacob Weisberg, editor-in-chief of Slate.com. He has a new podcast called Trumpcast, and he's determined to warn voters about Donald Trump until he puts an end to Trump's political ambitions once and for all. We'll talk about how the whole Trump phenomenon happened in the first place, the prospect of a brokered GOP convention, and Trump’s chances in the general election. Jacob will discuss what a psychologist's analysis revealed about Donald Trump, what it is that Trump voters ...

Apr 05, 201636 min

Innovation Expert Alec Ross on The Industries of the Future

Today I’m learning about the innovations that will drive the next industrial revolution with my guest Alec Ross, author of the best-selling book THE INDUSTRIES OF THE FUTURE. Alec served for four years as Senior Advisor for Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, acting as the diplomatic lead on a range of issues including cybersecurity, Internet Freedom, disaster response, and the use of network technologies in conflict zones. Now he’s a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Johns Hopkins ...

Mar 31, 201636 min

War Correspondent Michael Ware On The War In Iraq & The Birth of ISIS

My guest today is Australian journalist Michael Ware. He’s a former Bagdad Bureau chief for Time Magazine and war correspondent for CNN. In 2003 Michael Ware arrived in Baghdad as a novice reporter on a three-week assignment to cover the invasion of Iraq. He left seven years later, having gained unprecedented access to the Iraqi insurgency and American troops and scarred by having seen the unimaginable brutality of the group that eventually became ISIS. Now his story is told in a new documentary...

Mar 28, 201639 min

Part 2: Futurist Dr. Michio Kaku On Amazing Inventions Coming In Our Lifetime

Today in Part 2 of my interview with theoretical physicist and futurist Dr. Michio Kaku, we look as some of the incredible advances in science and technology that will radically transform our lives within our lifetime. In many cases, these inventions are already in the testing phase and may be widely available within the next 5 to 10 years. These include computers that will fit into a contact lens, Iron Man-like super soldiers, modular robots, liquid biopsies that will detect cancer 10 years bef...

Mar 25, 201641 min

Part 1: Dr. Michio Kaku, Theoretical Physicist & Futurist Talks About Einstein, Gravity Waves, & The Future

My guest today is world renowned theoretical physicist, futurist, best-selling author, and popularizer of science Dr. Michio Kaku. He is the co-founder of string field theory and he continues to work on his ambitious mission to complete Albert Einstein's Unified Field Theory a.k.a. Einstein's Theory of Everything. Today he'll talk about his work on the Unified Field Theory, he'll discuss how the recent discovery of Einstein's Gravitation Waves will give scientists "a window into creation," and h...

Mar 22, 201647 min

Steve Forbes, Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Magazine on Reviving America

My guest today is Steve Forbes is chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media. He’s authored or co-authored 4 books including his most recent one titled REVIVING AMERICA: HOW REPEALING OBAMACARE, REPLACING THE TAX CODE, AND REFORMING THE FED WILL RESTORE HOPE AND PROSPERITY. Steve Forbes discusses the tragic irony of a healthcare system caters to the insurance companies, employers and big government while all but ignoring the needs of the end user. He’ll reveal how one of the unintended consequ...

Mar 18, 201644 min

Bill Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard On the GOP Primary

My guest today is Bill Kristol, founder and editor of The Weekly Standard and a political contributor to ABC’S This Week with George Stephanopalis. Just in time for the big GOP primaries in FL & OH, we talk about whether Rubio, Cruz, and Kasich may have missed chance to beat Donald Trump outright. We discuss the possibility of a brokered convention and the prospect of an alternative conservative launching a third party run. Plus we talk about Bill Kristol’s 20 year career as editor of the #1...

Mar 14, 201641 min

Debunking Conspiracy Theories w/ Dr. Michael Shermer, Founder of Skeptic Magazine

On this episode, we tackle that special breed of whacko known as the conspiracy theorist. You've probably encountered them at a cocktail party or on your social media. They're the ones who are always carrying on about the JFK assassination or Obama's birth certificate and they say things like "that's exactly what THEY want you to believe" or "you have to connect the dots." The problem is that in most instances they're connecting "dots" that aren't there and fueling ignorance, irrationality and p...

Mar 10, 20161 hr

General Michael Hayden, Former Head of CIA & NSA

General Michael Hayden is the only person in U.S. history to have served as head of both the CIA and the NSA. General Hayden served as the Director of the National Security Agency from 1999 to 2005 where he implemented a dramatic overhaul and expansion of the agency in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks. He later serves as America's first Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and then as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency under President George W. Bush. General Hayden has...

Mar 08, 201642 min

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Political Cartoonist Michael Ramirez

My guest today is two time Pulitzer Prize-winning conservative political cartoonist Michael Ramirez. His cartoons appear daily in Investor's Business Daily where he serves as co-editor and his work is also syndicated in over 550 newspapers and magazines. He'll will talk about what makes good political satire, what’s fair game and when is "too soon." Plus we’ll discuss the very first political cartoon that he drew in college, how President Obama has been a gift comedy gods, and how one innocent d...

Mar 04, 201649 min

Donald Rumsfeld On Modernizing The Military, Saddam Hussein, Snowflakes, & Churchill Solitaire

My guest is former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. In his remarkable 50 year career, he has served as a U.S. Congressman, Director of the Office Economic Opportunity and U.S. Ambassador to NATO under President Richard Nixon, White House Chief of Staff to President Gerald Ford, Special Middle East Envoy for President Ronald Reagan, and Secretary of Defense...both for Presidents Gerald Ford and George W. Bush. In fact, Donald Rumsfeld has the distinction of being both the youngest and the ol...

Mar 01, 201652 min

Oscar-Nominee Evgeny Afineevsky On His Documentary WINTER ON FIRE

Just in time for Oscar weekend, my guest is Evgeny Afineevsky director/producer of WINTER ON FIRE: UKRAINE'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, which is currently nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. He and his crew spent 93 days risking their lives to film the 2013/2014 Ukrainian revolution from the initial protests in Kiev's Maidan Square through the murderous government crackdown in the streets to the eventual overthrow of corrupt President Viktor Yanukovych. We talk about what separa...

Feb 22, 201648 min

Doug Schoen, Pollster & Fox News Political Analyst, Talks About "The Nixon Effect"

Doug Schoen is Democrat pollster, campaign consultant, author, and Fox News political analyst. He pioneered overnight polling and has worked on the campaigns on Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Evan Bayh, Michael Bloomberg, Tony Blair, Silvio Berlusconi and three Israeli Prime Ministers just to name a few. He’s a regular columnist for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Newsmax. He’s authored eleven books, and today he comes on the podcast to talk about his latest book THE NIXON EFFE...

Feb 19, 201635 min

Iconic Photographer Platon On Shooting World Leaders & Human Rights

Over the years, Iconic photographer Platon has captured every living U.S. President from Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama on film, and he’s photographed well over a hundred world leaders including Tony Blair, Ban Ki Moon, Benjamin Netanyahu, Mahmoud Adhmadenijad, Silvio Berlusconi, Mohamar Qaddafi, Hugo Chavez, and Vladimir Putin for the 2007 Time Man of Year cover. His work has been featured on 20 Time Magazine covers as well as GQ, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Esquire, New York Times Maga...

Feb 16, 201641 min
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