Chiron Return: Looking Ahead to Another Year
of Fostering Integrity in Journalism

Dear Friend and Listener:

Planet Waves FM and Covid19 News, both projects of Chiron Return, continue to publish through the holiday season. A new program went up Christmas Eve and another will go up New Year's Eve. These are challenging times for many people, and our organizational goal is to be present for the people who need us.

More than any year in our history, our listeners have made this possible, with large and small contributions. Our listeners are doing their part to maintain integrity in journalism.

	At my usual broadcast station.

Chiron Return has greatly expanded its activities in 2020, with two professional editors working with an incredible volunteer research team to handle the rigors of daily publishing.

We've done many original features covering the waterfront of issues related to the crisis of our times, in its spiritual and scientific dimensions.

I view the program's primary role as providing a calm, welcoming place of refuge and sanity in a media environment driven by hype, commercialism and drug ads. The content is in many ways secondary: the vibe is what counts the most.

We are now pulling together our 2021 plans, and I'm here to reach out about that. Our work means more than ever, as we live through a blizzard of deception and counterfeit news reporting that is at the heart of the global crisis.

Meanwhile, social media has taken up its role as Grand Inquisitor, and people who express the "wrong" views are being deplatformed on a regular basis. This is creating the illusion of a false consensus and one side to the story.

Note: there is a reason I host Planet Waves FM on its own server, not on iTunes, Stitcher, Podbean or whatever. I do not trust third-party providers, who now think they are arbiters of truth. Therefore, we pay to host our own programs exclusively. Where An Actual Discussion is Welcome; the Incredible Guests of 2020

Planet Waves FM is somewhere that an actual discussion is welcome. I begin the program with discussion of astrology, tracking the astonishing aspects of our time; and then we expand into other topics, ending most weeks with Tantra Studio.

	Dr. Peter Breggin has spent his career campaigning against the performing of lobotomies, or surgically inflicted brain damage by doctors. He was a guest on Planet Waves FM this year.

Through 2020, we've offered an impressive run of guests to help analyze the issues and keep our listeners informed.

These have included New York's venerated former wildlife pathologist Dr. Ward B. Stone; therapist Laurie Buchanan; naturopath and activist Dr. Pam Popper; psychiatrist and humanitarian Dr. Peter Breggin; biochemist Dr. David Rasnick; expert on medical diagnostic testing Dr. Kevin Corbett; MIT's senior research scientist, toxicologist Dr. Stephanie Seneff; and Fulbright scholar and investigative journalist Jennifer Margulis.

I recorded the full-day presentation on biology and holistic health by Dr. Thomas Cowan and Dr. Andrew Kaufman and made that available to our listeners.

Behind the scenes, I've developed a network of sources who have helped us figure out what this issue in its many forms is really about.

For 2021, we have set a fundraising goal of $100,000 for Chiron Return. This will cover our basic costs of daily publishing and a weekly radio program. This includes office space, web hosting and equipment costs, as well as editing and outreach.

Collaboration of Large and Small Donors

To do this will call for the collaboration of large and small donors. In 2020, our contributions ranged from $5 to $12,000, and all of it added up to make our work possible. Total contributions from the public totaled about $25,000, which is a great start.

One of our requirements for funding is that it not be connected with any political viewpoint, so we may maintain our editorial independence.

Today I am asking you to return the commitment that my colleagues and I have made to you, steadfastly publishing through these very challenging times, stopping at nothing, and always keeping it both sane and real.

Please make a monthly or one-time contribution to Chiron Return, the New York-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that funds Planet Waves FM and Covid19 News, to support our excellent work.

If you are a potential major donor, please reach out personally and we can discuss your ideas and intentions. You may reach me by email at efc@chironreturn.org, or by phone at (845) 481-5616.

Thank you for listening and thank you for participating in what I consider to be Project Number One for the world: supporting honest, objective, independent journalism.

Thank you for doing your part.

With love,

PS — Here is my journalism manifesto, written as a letter to the principal of the local high school as part satire, and all truth (after they invited me in twice and threw me out three times). We teach journalism as a folk art at Planet Waves. I do a lot of it, and the experienced staff helps the new staff, like on a cheerleading squad. This manifesto is the outline for a journalism course I plan to create through Chiron Return.

PPS — One more: here is the outline for a digital literacy class. I would make some revisions to this, though you will get the idea. We would need a section on, "What Industry is the Media Really Part Of?" This project is in our plans as well.