FRONTLINE: the pbs documentary series not the flea medicine

also -- housing developer greed story in the USA serving as metaphor for state of the USA in general :(

ALSO i am officially psyched about the upcoming one on MILITIAS/the Bundy situation
the FBI posed as a documentary film crew and got inside scoop!!

definitely feel i can skip "i ate fish every day" now that they are back to their usual programming

whoa was the militia one yesterday? says 5/16 on website. i think i know what i'm watching tonight. did you see the american experience episodes about ruby ridge and timothy mcveigh (two shows, overlapping content)

I just saw a teaser for the militia one that promised insider FBI footage. Have not seen those other eps!!

they're both on netflix

ruby ridge & mcveigh eps were really good

Considering donning a hazmat suit for tonight's BANNON'S WAR

Militia one ("American Patriot") was pretty good, definitely recommend if you are interested in the topic

ALSO the one about affordable housing is a nice complement to this piece about Kushnerville https://www.propublica.org/article/the-beleaguered-tenants-of-kushnerville

i was a bit disappointed in the militia one, more for the lack of historical context etc but overall it was p good

There's a "for mature viewers only" content warning before Bannon's War
Lol/sob

watched the soon-to-be-on-Frontline film 'Abacus' last night; interesting portrait of a family and the incompetence of the feds

http://www.abacusmovie.com/

That sounds cool! looking forward to seeing it.

I'm done with Bannon's War and ready to suggest it as essential viewing for people who are like "how did this happem?!"
It explains (rather soberly, imo) how this happened

oops that is supposed to say *happen

Ben Shapiro is nauseating in this, describing his decision to quit as a result of breitbart's turn away from "journalist integrity"when they began attacking trump's opponents during the primary.

Pffffft

Everything about the whole doc made me want to puke. But it was very clear and explained a lot.

sorry to put a typo in quotes! "journalistic integrity", of course.

You were busy puking it's ok!

*pukey thumbs up*

An American Patriot was top-shelf journalism.

Life on Parole is so depressing :(

I did enjoy Jessica's success but her road was so rough. I loved watching the teacher telling her her grades :)

It seems like it has been a while since there was a new one, or at least since I looked for one. I watched all of four minutes of War on the EPA before I had to pause. Has anyone else seen it? Looks like it came out 10/11.

that's new isn't it? Maybe they just revamped an old episode with fifteen minutes on pruitt at the end?

idk -- i haven't seen it. it's kind of a relief to watch some good old Frontline. looks like it aired 9/28?

The EPA episode just came up on the Frontline podcast today.

Aside, the Frontline Dispatch podcast on the Oklahoma earthquakes is worth a listen

i think this is totally new -- they start into Pruitt about 12 min in
what a horror show! i guess they all are but man this is really awful

i need to catch up on the podcast. i wanted to hear the one about child marriage.

what better time than now to revisit Frontine's excellent docs about sexual assault & harassment at work https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/rape-on-the-night-shift/ and https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/rape-in-the-fields/

will someone please nail this company? https://www.revealnews.org/article/nations-largest-janitorial-company-still-plagued-by-sexual-violence

just a little Frontline news:

1) watched Gunned Down (the NRA) one with both of my composition classes during our class introducing cause/effect. felt good.
2) this new one is coming out Friday, just in time for the Oscars!
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/announcement/frontline-premieres-american-tvs-first-post-scandal-documentary-on-harvey-weinstein/

WEINSTEIN is up!
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/weinstein/

I just watched the intro and had to pause to post. brutal title/url !

this flea medicine no longer works on fleas in california. I know this is not about the flea medicine, but thought I'd mention this here.

I became a PBS Passport member so for like $5 per month I can watch anything in the back catalog. It's great! But when I looked at all the topics of Frontline episodes they were all on topics that I find so depressing, I couldn't face them. That's reality for ya.

What would a happy frontline look like?
The Hidden Menace in America's Schools... is an adorable gopher named William S Burrows

It doesn't need to be polarized into "depressing" and "happy" -- sometimes it's good to learn about things and other times it's too much. fwiw, my students have really enjoyed the Frontline docs they have watched and written about. The roughest time for me was Fall 2016-Spring 2017 and they still rallied. It kind of gives me hope tbh!

Weinstein doc was a good overview but I was expecting more I guess?

What would a happy frontline look like?

"this old plantation home is haunted by ghosts of the past. we spent the night there with special thermal imaging cameras, and then tried the best BBQ in South Carolina... right next door!"

https://i.imgur.com/P6D3dlI.jpg

I liked that it was a consolidation of all of the vital details about his decades of assault/harassment. learning all of that stuff in real time as it dripped out was exhausting, but to see it contextualized with the women's stories, which I thought were really well done, made it focused more on them. if you wanted to know what happened and wanted to find out in 1 hour. it does the trick

just finished watching Bitter Rivals, about Iran and Saudi Arabia, but also Iraq/Syria/Lebanon/Yemen. it's 3 hours spread out over 2 episodes. there is some amazing footage in there, some of it very graphic, some absolutely heartbreaking.

I watched some of that but didn't finish it.

coming in april, put on your seatbelt
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/coming-in-april-2018-on-frontline/

President Donald Trump’s time in office has been marked by ongoing turmoil — including in his own Republican Party, where presidential tweetstorms, inflammatory rhetoric and high-profile dissent have fueled open conflict.

In Trump’s Takeover, a new documentary airing Tuesday, April 10, FRONTLINE’s acclaimed political team tells the inside story of a president who vowed to take down the Washington establishment, and who has fought an intense war for control of the GOP.

Through interviews with longtime Republican legislators like Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), House Freedom Caucus members including Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), current and former senior White House officials including Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer, and other D.C. insiders, Trump’s Takeover examines how the president is remaking the GOP in his own image, counter-punching when criticized and publicly attacking those who defy him.

Gripping and revealing, the documentary is a window into the potential lasting impact of the Trump era on the Republican Party and the American political system as a whole.

The following week, on April 17, FRONTLINE’s reporting on the present, past and future of the GOP continues with McCain — a look at Sen. John McCain’s complicated relationship with President Trump, as well as his life and politics.

Then, on April 24, FRONTLINE and the Investigative Reporting Program at U.C. Berkeley team up for Trafficked in America — investigating the secret world of labor trafficking, and telling the story of Guatemalan teens forced to work against their will on an Ohio egg farm.

also true crime heads -- a development in the 2013 "did the cop murder his girlfriend and cover it up successfully?" case https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/lawsuit-dismissed-against-florida-agent-in-michelle-oconnell-investigation

man i remember that story like it was yesterday, so tragic & infuriating. i guess this development is ~something~ but god, what an uphill slog. it seems like it will be a long time before any real justice is served. so much stonewalling & dishonesty.

Next episode preview - the URL says it all: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/blackout-in-puerto-rico/

about time!!

a few things about the Blackout in Puerto Rico

* Laura Sullivan is at it again! I love the way she uses her facial expressions and general look to goad people into answering tough questions. seems like it works pretty well!
* there was LOTS OF SNIVELING in this one, RIYL government bureaucrats behaving like chickenshits
* going to be petty for a minute here -- the guy who taught himself how to reconnect to the electrical grid and then helped his community get the lights back on & then teared up when he mentioned his 4 kids: <3 i love u <3

overall, this one was really good, don't miss it

I caught part of the UN Sex Abuse one last night on WTTW -- extremely rough subject matter, CW for graphic sexual assault/abuse/you name it
WANNA KNOW MORE?!!?? https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/un-sex-abuse-scandal/

2013: (all of the political and financial ones give me nightmares, I love it)
2018: omg make it stop

i feel like my "know thine enemy" period has given way to a "protect ya neck" period :(

thanks for the link le lechera, will watch this

was super sad to read all of the sexual abuse happening in police detainment centres recently