Fred Gardner

California

Managing Editor, O’Shaughnessy’s and Writer at CounterPunch

managing editor of O'Shaughnessy's, a tabloid created by crossing a medical journal with a political leaflet. The focus is on cannabis.

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Articles

Bill Veeck - Anderson Valley Advertiser

1 week ago | theava.com | Fred Gardner

Slightly condensed from an article in the March 1949 American Legion Magazine by Paul Gardner (my dad, whose folder of yellowed clippings I’ve been looking through.)In mid-summer of 1946 Bill Veeck limped into Cleveland to head up a syndicate which had bought out the 6th place Cleveland Indians.
Cockburn & The 41ers

2 weeks ago | theava.com | Fred Gardner

Alexander Cockburn, the most incisive political journalist of our time, was born on June 6, 1941 (the year of the snake).
Coining Anti-Semitism

2 weeks ago | theava.com | Fred Gardner

There was no such thing as “semitism” when Wilhelm Marr, a German journalist/political organizer, coined the term “antisemitism” to mean prejudice against Jews. When Marr founded “The Anti-Semitic League” in 1879, why didn't he use the obvious term, “Anti-Jewish?”According to his biographer, Moshe Zimmerman, ”The Patriarch of Antisemitism,” wanted to distinguish his point of view from that of a rival faction who hated Jews on religious grounds (for killing Jesus, etc.).
Hopeful Signs - Anderson Valley Advertiser

1 month ago | theava.com | Fred Gardner

Are you ready for some hopeful news?
Political Flashback

2 months ago | theava.com | Fred Gardner

The removal of 381 books from the US Naval Academy Nimitz library last week was flashback-inducing for your correspondent. When Sen. Joseph McCarthy was at the peak of his power in March, 1953, Dashiell Hammett was subpoenaed to appear before his Subcommittee. McCarthy's pretext for grilling Hammett and other writers alleged to have CP affiliations, was that libraries maintained overseas by the US State Department purchased their books. I was 11 years old and wide awake.
Robert Trippet - Anderson Valley Advertiser

2 months ago | theava.com | Fred Gardner

"Stealing From the Rich: The Home-Stake Oil Swindle" by David C. McClintick (Evans, 1977) recounts how a Tulsa, Oklahoma lawyer named Robert Trippet masterminded the most lucrative Ponzi scheme of the 20th century. (Bernie Madoff began conning investors in the 1960s, but wasn't exposed until 2008.)Trippet graduated from the University of Oklahoma law school in 1941. "While in law school," McClintick recounts, "he married Helen Grey Simpson, daughter of a wealthy Tulsa oilman.
‘Future Soldiers’

2 months ago | theava.com | Fred Gardner

Many US citizens who want to join the Armed Services are too overweight or too poorly educated to qualify. (Eighth-grade level math and reading skills are required.) To meet its recruiting goals, in 2022 the Army created the “Future Soldiers Preparatory Course” –90 days at a training base to get in shape and cram for the written test. The New Yorker’s war correspondent Dexter Filkins described the program at Fort Jackson in a 2/10 piece about our nation’s overall readiness.
Fascism Arrives - Anderson Valley Advertiser

Mar 27, 2025 | theava.com | Fred Gardner

"This is Fascism" is the title of a Counterpunch Radio show featuring Ralph Nader that aired March 18. Those same words had crossed my mind two days before. The thought must be occurring to millions of US Americans these days. It's one thing to see fascism coming (this cartoon from a recent AVA says it all), and another thing to realize it has arrived. The F-word hit home when I decided not to post a very informative interview I'd just conducted with a federal employee.
Inventory Item - Anderson Valley Advertiser

Mar 26, 2025 | theava.com | Fred Gardner

Steve Howe died way too young. He was 48 when his pick-up truck rolled over on a road in Coachella, California, around dawn on the morning of April 28 [2006]. Riverside County authorities said Howe was doing 70 mph. They even drug-tested him in death.
Raw Earth - Anderson Valley Advertiser

Mar 9, 2025 | theava.com | Fred Gardner

Reporting on the February 28th meeting at which Trump and Vance ambushed Zelensky, the media almost totally ignored the President's use of the term "raw earth" instead of "rare earth" in reference to minerals US companies intend to mine in Ukraine. Trump said "raw earth" four times. If Joe Biden had said "raw earth" instead of "rare earth" four times in a speech it would not have been downplayed. Trump is equally demented, it just manifests differently.