the attitude with arnie arnesen the friday edition noon to 1pm EST Sept12

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Sep 11, 2025, 7:17:38 PM (8 days ago) Sep 11
to AttitudeArnieArnesen
The Attitude with Arnie Arnesen
opening thoughts: 1 on 9-11 poem by Billy Collins
opening thoughts 2: on the murder of Charlie Kirk...Dan Barlow Executive Director at People's Health & Wellness Clinic
producers: Dave Scott and Stephanie Collins
Chloé LaCasse (the best of the attitude)
streaming live at wnhnfm.org noon&7pm EST on the dial-94.7FM Concord NH
podcasts available at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/attitude-with-arnie-arnesen/id1634055179
opening thoughts 1: 
Billy Collins, wrote a poem he called ‘The Names’ about the 2,792 who perished that day. Here are its closing lines:

Names etched on
the head of a pin.

One name spanning
a bridge, another
undergoing a tunnel.

A blue name needled
into the skin.

Names of citizens,
workers, mothers,
and fathers,

The bright-eyed
daughter, the quick son.

Alphabet of names in
a green field.

Names in the small tracks of birds.

Names lifted from a hat

Or balanced on
the tip of the tongue.

Names wheeled
into the dim warehouse
of memory.

So many names, there
is barely room on
the walls of the heart.”

 opening thoughts 2:nh Dan Barlow reacts
I’ve been sitting with the news of Charlie Kirk’s assassination and what it says about how we talk about “political violence” in America. Here are some reflections I wanted to share.
Kirk's assassination is a tragedy, and it deserves to be condemned without qualification. Violence of this kind cannot be normalized in a society that claims to be democratic. Taking a life in the name of politics crosses a moral and civic boundary that must remain firm if there is to be any hope of building a better future.
At the same time, there is a bitter irony worth acknowledging. Kirk built his wealth and notoriety by vilifying vulnerable populations—immigrants, queer people, women, and the marginalized more broadly. He profited from stoking fear and resentment, often punching down at those without access to the kind of platforms and protections that shield figures like him. So while his death is an act of political violence, it forces us to think about how America defines that term, and when it chooses to use it.
The way political violence is discussed in the United States is deeply one-sided. When a powerful figure is attacked, we quickly and universally call it political violence. But when violence flows downward—when the state or its agents inflict it upon marginalized groups—we rarely frame it that way. Instead, we call it “policy,” “law enforcement,” or “budget cuts.” Yet political violence occurs daily in plain sight, and most of the time it originates from institutions of power rather than lone actors.
Consider the act of tearing families apart through mass deportations—200,000 law-abiding, tax-paying immigrants forced from their homes and communities. That is political violence. When lawmakers strip millions of Americans of access to life-saving medications in order to finance tax breaks for the ultra-rich, that is political violence. When law enforcement use skin color or spoken language as shorthand for criminality, targeting people on nothing more than appearance or accent, that is political violence.
The assault on LGBTQ+ rights—laws erasing trans identities from public life, bans on gender-affirming care, attempts to criminalize teachers for acknowledging queer existence—these too are political violence. So are the relentless efforts to eliminate women’s reproductive freedoms, forcing people into dangerous and unwanted pregnancies. And when the president threatens to send the military into democratically governed cities while draping himself in the language of war, that is political violence at its most brazen.
To recognize these acts for what they are does not diminish the horror of Kirk’s assassination. But it does demand consistency. If we are serious about condemning political violence, we cannot only mourn it when it wounds the powerful. We must also see it in the everyday harm inflicted from above, where policies and state actions quietly shatter lives without ever being called what they are.
part one:
Trump Says America’s Oil Industry Is Cleaner Than Other Countries’. New Data Shows Massive Emissions From Texas Wells The oil industry touts Texas as a success story in controlling climate-warming methane emissions. The state’s regulator, however, grants nearly every request to burn or vent gas into the atmosphere.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/03092025/texas-oil-wells-methane-emissions/
reporter: Martha Pskowski covers climate change and the environment in Texas from her base in El Paso. She was previously an environmental reporter at the El Paso Times. She began her career as a freelance journalist in Mexico, reporting for outlets including The Guardian and Yale E360. Martha has a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Hampshire College and a master’s degree in Journalism and Latin American Studies from New York University. She is a former Fulbright research fellow in Mexico

part two:
Bill Curry  was a Connecticut state senator, comptroller and two time Democratic nominee for governor who served as Counselor to the President in the Clinton White House. He has written for Salon, the Daily Beast, the Huffington Post and the Hartford Courant and has provided commentary on National Public Radio, MSNBC and many other news outlets
Harold Meyerson is editor at large of The American Prospect.
topics: 
24 years since 9-11

the assassination of Charlie Kirk
Trump Is Ready for Authoritarianism. Charlie Kirk’s Killing Could Tip Us Over
America searches for a way back to the edgeThe unprecedented level of rage in American politics has seemingly nowhere to go but our neighbor.
The FBI right now could probably use all those experienced senior career professionals with decades of investigative experience that they fired for absolutely no reason. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/10/fbi-fired-leaders-lawsuit-donald-trump-00555825

Epstein card...
Susan Collins and Senate Republicans barely defeat effort by Democrats to force release of Epstein files https://www.bangordailynews.com/2025/09/10/politics/washington/senate-republicans-barely-defeat-effort-by-democrats-to-force-release-of-epstein-files/
climate crisis: A landmark study links the emissions of just 14 oil companies to dozens of deadly heatwaves worldwide. Exxon & Aramco’s emissions alone drove 50+ extreme events once thought impossible. These aren’t accidents, they’re decisions that cost lives and destroy communities.

Trump’s Economy Is Finally Here—and It’s 
Even Worse Than You Imagined Layoffs are spreading and unemployment is rising—and one kind of worker is being hit the hardest. https://slate.com/business/2025/09/trump-unemployment-crisis-job-market-black-americans.html


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KEEPING THE POT STIRRED SO SCUM DOESN'T RISE TO THE TOP -  Anonymous 

D. ARNIE ARNESEN
15 Rumford Street
Concord NH 03301
nha...@gmail.com
(C) 603-321-7654

Host of "The Attitude with Arnie Arnesen"
Award Winning Public Affairs Show (NHAB 2018)
airs noon to 1pm and 7pm EST M-F at 94.7FM (concord nh)
Home Station - wnhnfm.org
Part of the Pacifica Network
go to wnhnfm.org for streaming live 

Arnie on the Air
Boston, MA-WGBH Under the Radar/Sunday Nights
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