Courageous Thought Podcasts by Ray Hanania

Author and writer Naomi Shihab Nye joins Ray Hanania on Talk of the Town radio on WCEV 1450 AM and YahalaVoice.com radio Friday Sept. 5, 2014.

Naomi Shihab Nye who will discuss her books, her father, the late Palestinian Journalist Aziz Shihab, and her childhood growing up in Ferguson, Missouri where police recently shot and killed teenager Michael Brown. Naomi discusses her books including "Habibi," and her latest book, "The Turtle of Oman."

Later, at 4:35 PM we'll talk with writer and journalist Ali Younes about war crimes in the Gaza Strip and whether or not Palestinians can and will file war crimes charges against Israel in the International Criminal Court, anti-Palestinian racist comedian Joan Rivers, and other topics. 

Live in Chicago on WCEV 1450 AM Radio and live online at www.YahalaVoice.com ... all shows are also podcast at www.TheArabDailyNews.com... the show is rebroadcast on Yahala Voice every Monday at 11 am CST.

The show is sponsored by The Arab Daily News www.TheArabDailyNews.com.

Eron Henry of the Baptist World Alliance discusses fundraising efforts to help Christians who are being targeted by religious extremists in Iraq and in Syria. Henry, during an interview with Talk of the Town radio Friday August 29, 2014, said that the group has raised $20,000 so far and is continuing to raise money. Henry said that the BWA not only helps Christians but also Muslims who are in need in the Middle East. He said that the BWA is also raising funds for 300 Christian Families and 1,000 Muslim Families in the Gaza Strip who have been targeted by Israel's brutal military oppression.

Talk of the Town Radio is broadcast every Friday at 4 pm CST on WCEV 1450 AM Radio and simulcast online on the Internet at Yahala Voice Radio at www.YahalaVoice.com. It is rebroadcast online on Monday's at 11 am CST, and is available for download podcast from iTunes.

Andy Shallal talks about Politics on Talk of the Town with Ray Hanania

Andy Shallal who ran for Mayor of Washington DC in April 2014 discusses his candidacy and the political empowerment of American Arabs on Talk of the Town Radio show with host Ray Hanania. WCEV 1450 AM Radio and live on www.YahalaVoice.com. Shallal, who is American Arab of Iraqi heritage, discussions the importance of engaging in the political process, voting and running for office. To read a story about Andy's candidacy, click here. Talk of the Town is hosted by The Arab Daily News and Yahala Voice Radio.

The Mayor of Lincolnwood Illinois, Gerald Turry, defended the decision of the Human Relations Commission to rebuff complaints from a handful of activists demanding that the Palestine Flag be removed from a display of ethnic national flags placed on Lincoln Avenue in the north suburban Chicago community. Lincolnwood has displayed ethnic flags representing the various nationalities in Lincolnwood for the past 10 years since 2004 and this year had more than 60 flags on public display during August which is designated as Ethnic Pride Month. Turry, who is Russian Jewish American said that the issue of politics and the battle between Israel and Hamas in Gaza was not an issue and had no relevance over the display of the flag. During an interview on Talk of the Town Radio show with host Ray Hanania on WCEV 1450 AM Radio and live on www.YahalaVoice.com, Turry said that he received some negative and vulgar complaints following the meeting last week but that the overwhelming majority of residents of Lincolnwood, Jews and Arabs, supported the decision to keep the Palestinian Flag on display. Turry said that the commission also had debates between Greeks and Turks, Indians and Pakistanis, and other rival ethnic groups but said only the debate over the Palestinian flag received media coverage. More than 200 people attended the Human Relations Commission meeting on Monday August 11, 2014. Talk of the Town Radio show is presented by Yahala Voice radio and The Arab Daily news at www.TheArabDailyNews.com.

Political consultant Dennis Denno, who is chief of staff to State Senator Virgil Smith, discusses the elections on Tuesday August 5 in which Smith defeated a challenge from State Rep. Rashida Tlaib. Tlaib was forced to retire from her legislative district seat because of Michigan Term limits and chose to challenge a fellow Democrat, Smith, to survive. Tlaib lost to Smith by a landslide. Tlaib received only 41 percent of the vote or only 8,615 total votes. Smith won an impressive 52 percent of the vote or more than 10,882 total votes. A third candidate, Howard Worthy, won only 8 percent of the vote or1,616 total votes, most of which many observers believed would have gone to Smith. In an ironic twist, the Associated Press called the election for Tlaib counting only ballots cast at the polling booth, but not including absentee ballots that were cast. Smith will go on Nov. 5 to face the Republican challenger, although the district is 71 percent Democratic.

Denno is interviewed by Talk of the Town Radio show host Ray Hanania, managing editor of The Arab Daily News and President and CEO of Urban Strategies Group media consulting. Talk of the Town is broadcast every Friday at 4 pm CST (Chicago time) live on www.YahalaVoice.com and on WCEV 1450 AM radio.

Denno also discusses regional elections including the battle between two term U.S. Congressman Justin Amash and extremist challenger Brian Ellis. Amash easily won in a landslide with more than 57 percent of the votes cast in the Republican primary election. Amash is expected to easily defat his Democratic challenger as the congressional district based around Grand Rapids is overwhelmingly Republican.

Click to read a story on the overview of the Amash, Tlaib-Smith and Rashid Baydoun contests.

Click to read an assessment of Rashida Tlaib's future.

Hanania also discusses the decision by the University of Illinois at Urban-Champaign to fire Professor Steven Salaita because of his pro-Palestinian viewpoints posted on his Twitter account. Salaita left his longtime teaching position as Virginia Tech and moved with his wife and child this past week to Champaign to begin the position. But before he could start, Chancellor Phyllis Wise cancelled his contract. Click to read a story on the Salaita racial firing.

60 minutes.

Palestinian Ambassador Maen Areikat discusses the collapsing ceasefire in the Gaza Strip between Hamas and Netanyahu's Israeli army on Talk of the Town with Ray Hanania on Yahala Voice radio August 1, 2014.  Michigan legislative candidate Rashid Baydoun discusses his candidacy for the 11th Michigan House District. (A few telephone disconnects with Rashid, but he persists.) Also, we talk calls from callers. www.YahalaVoice.com Talk of the Town is broadcast live every Friday at 4 pm CST (5 PM EST, 12 midnight Jerusalem, Palestine).

Host Ray Hanania interviews Iymen Chehade and Peter Kirstein on the ramifications of the controversy surrounding the failed effort by Columbia College to cancel a class Professor Chehade was teaching on the Palestine-Israel conflict. Chehade's course was cancelled in November 2013 when a student alleged he was biased -- for showing a movie celebrated by Palestinians and Israelis, called "5 Broken Cameras." Click here for past articles and interviews.

Chehade received the support of the Illinois Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and its Illinois Vice President Peter Kirstein, who is also a history professor at St. Xavier University in Chicago. Kirstein and Chehade reflect on the battle that forced Columbia College to reinstate the course, and discuss Chehade's appointment to the AAUP's "Committee A on Academic Freedom & Tenure."

Hosted by the Arab Daily News online news and podcast website www.TheArabDailyNews.com

07-17-14 Israel's invasion of Gaza, Hanania & Younes debate the issues

Arab Daily News editors Ray Hanania and Ali Younes debate and discuss the issues surrounding the decision by Israel to launch a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip. Did Hamas or Israel start the current conflict? What are Israel's objectives? Is Hamas acting as a responsible government or are they terrorists with no strategic agenda other than conflict? Why is it that none of the Arab countries or the Muslim World have stepped in to speak out in defense of Hamas or the Palestinians in this conflict? Is the use of violence in the form of resistance against Israel effective or a detriment to the Palestinians and do they have other options? Hanania and Younes discuss these and other topics in this freewheeling 30 minute podcast discussion and debate. What is Egypt's role int he conflict and why are they siding with Israel? Why hasn't Hezbollah entered the conflict? And can the United States intervene to prevent the bloodshed that is one-sided and has taken more than 235 Palestinian lives including the deaths of more than 45 children? 

For more original news, features and information visit www.TheArabDailyNews.com.

Ali Younes and Ray Hanania, editors at The Arab Daily News online news website at www.TheArabDailyNews.com discuss the many aspects of the bombardment by Israel of the Palestinian civilians living in the Gaza Strip. Issues include how the conflict started and the factual history that shows Israeli settlers and soldiers were murdering and attacking Palestinian civilians long before the tragic June 12, 2014 kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers (Naftali Frankel and Gil-ad Sha'er, both 16, and Eyal Yifrach, 19) and the subsequent torture murder of Mohammad Abu Khdeir the day that the bodies of the three Israeli children were discovered. Since then, nearly 100 Palestinians have been killed including 23 children, according to Reuters News Service. Issues include how the conflict started. The exaggeration of the killings. The imbalance of how only Palestinians are being killed by Israeli bombardment of Gaza yet the media focuses on the Hamas and Palestinian resistance to Israel's assault which has resulted in no Israeli killed. The bias of the mainstream American media including ABC TV and Diane Sawyer using video of the destruction of Palestinian areas and misrepresenting them as video showing the destruction of Israelis. Also, what responsibilities do the Arabs have in the war. Is there a difference between an Israeli government committing war crimes and individual militant Palestinians committing war crimes? Are Arabs responding properly or are they dysfunctional and incompetent in defending themselves in the public debate? And why is the Arab World not standing up to defend the Palestinians who are being massacred by Israel's indiscriminate attack mainly against civilian targets in the Gaza Strip? Who is responsible and what can be done.

Telephone Scam Artists from "IRS" can't even speak English -- morons

Friday | June 27, 2014 | 9:31 AM CDT | 54 seconds

“This message is intended for Raymond Hanania to remind you you have any. This is officer Brad Nelson calling you from IRS Internal Revenue Service tax audit Department. Raymond Hanania. This is in reference to a legal case file on your name. If you knew that it's legal system is been either be want you or your agent attorney off record to call us back on an urgent basis on our toll free. My toll free number is 8773914356. I repeat it's 8773914356 as soon as you get this message you want to call me on my direct line number for owners and business. We have waiting for your call. Goodbye and have a great day.”

These callers are idiots. A clear sign that they are scammer is they can't speak English at all. This moron calls himself "Brad Nelson" but he sounds like Hubba Bubba from Nigeria or Uganda. Real idiots, but fun to listen too.

04-30-14 Ghassan Monayer, Christian Israeli harassed for expressing opinion on Facebook

Israeli citizen Ghassan Monayer shared photos from a Christian Israeli Priest who is encouraging Christian Arabs to join the Israeli Defense Force, and commented that they Israelis want Christians to fight their own people. The comments prompted Israeli police to summon him to their offices in Lod, Israel where he was harassed for six hours and later given five days home confinement, and warned to not talk to the people involved (who were never identified to him). The Monayer case is an example of the everyday harassment and discrimination that Christian and Muslim Arab citizens of Israel face. Monayer discusses the incident and talks about the reality of the discrimination that Arab citizens in Israel face that Israeli pretends does not exist.

Fort more information visit www.TheArabDailyNews.com

Writer and activist Eileen Fleming was just an Irish, South Florida resident when she heard the call of President George W. Bush after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 to "go out and go shopping" as a response to the terrorism. Instead, she went out and started to ask basic questions challenging the lies that the media foments against Arabs, Palestinians, Muslims and that protect and shield the war crimes of Israel. In the 13 years since, Fleming met Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli nuclear weapons whistleblower who exposed the lies Israel used to coverup its WMD program. Vanunu was kidnapped by the Israeli MOSSAD just as his story was published in London's SUNDAY TIMES Newspaper.  He had been lured to Rome, clubbed, drugged, bound and shipped to Israel's Gulag where he remained for 18 years. Vanunu was freed from prison on 21 April 2004, but under restrictions that deny his right to leave or talk about the Israeli nuclear program.

Eileen Fleming, the only non-Arab writer at The Arab Daily News www.TheArabDailyNews.com has dedicated the past 9 years writing about Vanunu and the just cause of the Palestinian people against Israel’s oppression and brutality.

Fleming talks about Vanunu and her four books "Beyond Nuclear: Mordechai Vanunu's Freedom of Speech Trial," "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American Girl's Life in the Occupied Territory" and "Keep Hope Alive." For more information on Eileen, click here to read her posts at the Arab Daily News or visit the following websites:

www.EileenFleming.org

www.WeAreWideAwake.org

and visit Mordechai Vanunu's website at

www.Vanunu.com

Fleming is interviewed by Ray Hanania, managing editor of the Arab Daily News.

Peter Kirstein, PH.D, is the vice president of the Illinois Conference of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). He discusses a recent AAUP report which concluded that Columbia College Professor Iymen Chehade had been discriminated against by the College following an anonymous complaint that was made accusing him of bias in his class instruction addressing the Israel-Palestine conflict. The report described Columbia College's actions as "inappropriate, arbitrary and a violation of Instructor Chehade’s academic freedom." Kirstein is also Chairman of the Illinois Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, and a Professor of History at Saint Xavier University. The AAUP website is www.ILAAUP.org. The program is hosted by Ray Hanania, managing editor of the Arab Daily News online at www.TheArabDailyNews.com.

Columbia College Professor Iymen Chehade discusses the censorship of his class by the Chicago Illinois based College administration after an anonymous student filed an official complaint against him accusing him of bias. Although the College failed to do a complete investigation or to identify the individual making the complaint, Professor Chehade's class was censored and he was prevented from teaching an important segment of the class he has been teaching for the past three years on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Chehade discusses the incident, the response of the college and protests that have been directed against the college because of its obvious anti-Arab bias. Columbia College has a history of anti-Arab conduct and the Chehade incident is only the latest. Host Ray Hanania on the Arab Daily News podcast. Click here to read a story about Iymen Chehade's case. Produced by The Arab Daily News podcast www.TheArabDailyNews.com. Discrimination against American Arab professors from pro-Israel extremists has increased and many college and universities around the country are denying American Arabs their rights to convey aspects of the Israel-Palestine conflict that challenge the lies and distortions from the pro-Israel fanatics.

Ray Hanania interviews Ramzy Sweis, the Humor Editor at the Arab Daily News online news website www.TheArabDailyNews.com about his comedy career and whack-a-doodle life.

Born in Melrose Park, IL; grew up in ‘Windy City’ Chicago. At 6, in 1989, my family & I moved to south suburb Oak Forest. Precisely 5 days later, I met my best friends. For over a decade, the 3 of us were together yet magnanimous. I have an older brother & a younger sister who also positively impact me to this very day; with whom I have a memory quilt.

Writers chase their shadow. William Saroyan said: "The writer is a spiritual anarchist, as in the depth of his soul every person is." I’ve had a colorful & frivolous 29 years. Worked construction; a pantry-cook in college. I studied at 6 alternate colleges. A trained boxer. My script, You Can’t See God, won awards from Chicago Screenwriter’s Network (whom I worked for) to Tribeca. I directed, acted & edited a 70-minute biopic on tinnitus. I’m currently shooting a standup comedy show: “I Never Repeat A Joke.”

At 19, I submitted a novella, Joy, Faith, Hope, June & Grace, to Vanity Press (received rave reviews by its’ readers). I performed surgery on it, revising it 12 times in passing 9 years. I cut 100 pages for starters. I retained the original copy. I am the only author with 2 different stories of the same plot. Fraternal twins instead of Siamese. Marketing gold. We are wired to listen; metaphors abound for what works best to engage. When I think of a joke, I take the audience on a journey. Laughter is a miracle — people see the world differently afterward. Jot ideas to strengthen the muscles. The detection of great art is conceived in the perception of imagination. Zoom in with copious detail; captivate; a pleasure to viewers who want to absorb not think!