Not a lot of lawyers can say that they helped create a whole new legal field, but William Shernoff can. On this week's episode, Ralph welcomes trailblazing attorney William Shernoff to discuss predatory insurance practices, and how consumers can protect themselves. This special episode was co-presented by The American Museum of Tort Law, and was recorded in front of a live virtual audience. William Shernoff https://shernoff.com/attorneys/william-m-shernoff/ is the founding partner of Shernoff Bidart Echeverria, a law firm specializing in insurance bad faith litigation. A longtime consumer advocate, he has made a career of representing insurance consumers in their cases against insurance companies. Often called the “father” of bad faith insurance law, https://www.superlawyers.com/articles/california/the-birth-of-bad-faith/ in 1979, Mr. Shernoff persuaded the California Supreme Court to establish new case law that permits plaintiffs to sue insurance companies for bad faith seeking both compensatory and punitive damages when they unreasonably handle a policyholder’s claim (). A frequent lecturer and writer, Mr. Shernoff co-authored the legal textbook, , which has become the field’s definitive treatise, as well as , , and .  Under bad faith law in California and in most states, you not only could get the benefits you deserve under the insurance policy—whether it be life insurance or disability insurance or health insurance. But you can also get damages over and above the policy limits, which are emotional distress damages…Not only can you get the emotional distress damages, but any aggravation of your medical condition. And then punitive damages are on top of that. And attorney's fees are on top of that. So all of these damages are coming from insurance bad faith if the insurance bad faith law applies. And punitive damages are designed to punish the insurance company so that they correct their wrongful conduct in the future, and deter them from unfair claims practices.  WILLIAM SHERNOFF Most people, if they get a letter from an insurance company—which they consider to be an authoritative source— and the insurance company says, “Your claim is denied because…” and then they cite all kinds of fine print in the insurance policy, most people accept that and don't do anything. They don't see a lawyer. They just accept what their insurance company told them because it sounded quite official to them. WILLIAM SHERNOFF Insurance regulation is state-controlled. The federal government has been blocked for decades and the Congress has imposed itself on the federal Federal Trade Commission and said that they can't even investigate the insurance companies without being allowed to by a committee in the House or the Senate that has jurisdiction over such matters. So the privileges of the insurance lobby are quite extraordinary even by comparison with other corporate lobbies. RALPH NADER  More people should know about bad-faith cases rights—and use them. And not take whatever is dealt to them by insurance companies—denials, rescission of insurance policies, refusing to renew, other delays, or other crazy obstructions. Learn about your rights. RALPH NADER  IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS NEWS 3/27/24 1. CNN https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/26/middleeast/israel-gaza-ceasefire-un-resolution-war-impact-intl/index.html reports the United Nations Security Council has passed a Gaza ceasefire resolution. The resolution itself is imperfect, calling only for a ceasefire during the month of Ramadan, but this watered down language paved the way for the United States to allow the resolution to pass. The U.S. has vetoed every previous ceasefire resolution before the Security Council and disputes the extent to which this resolution is legally binding. For its part, Israel’s Foreign Minister stated unequivocally that Israel “will not cease fire,” per CNN https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-03-26-24/h_e0ee3d3cb057c527571a8b5d8372d713. 2. Following the passage of the Security Council resolution, Prime Minister Netanyahu canceled a planned high-level Israeli delegation visit to Washington, per CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/26/israel-gaza-us-abstention-on-un-cease-fire-vote-triggers-netanyahu-rage.html. The planned visit, which would have included an address to Congress, was staring down scathing criticism from Congressional Progressives. Axios https://www.axios.com/2024/03/21/netanyahu-visit-dc-protests-progressives reports Representative Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian member of Congress and the most outspoken on the Israeli campaign of terror, said “[Netanyahu] shouldn't come to Congress, he should be sent to the Hague.” 3. In another sign of the rift between the Biden Administration and Netanyahu, Haaretz https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-03-23/ty-article/.premium/democrats-warn-biden-israel-not-in-compliance-with-u-s-law-as-recipients-of-military-aid/0000018e-6bcb-d8e8-a9de-7ffbe23f0000 reports that Congressional Democrats are sending formal warnings to the administration stating that Israel is not in compliance with U.S. laws governing the dispensation of military aid.  Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from Texas, said “Congress and [the] White House need to make clear to Israel that we will enforce US law to protect Palestinian children from starvation in Gaza.” 4. Professor Jana Silverman, co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America International Committee, reports https://x.com/silverman_jana/status/1770228731455414332?s=20 “After a totally last-minute, ad-hoc, no-budget campaign, 13.2% of voters in the Democrats Abroad primary said no to genocide in Gaza and voted Uncommitted!” This impressive performance signals that the Uncommitted electoral protest movement isn’t going anywhere. The next major test for the movement will be Pennsylvania, where Uncommitted PA is aiming for at least 40,000 votes in the state’s April primary, per Lancaster Online https://lancasteronline.com/news/politics/uncommitted-campaign-wants-pa-democrats-to-send-a-message-to-biden/article_2786c6d6-eb97-11ee-9612-e7c3c60359c7.html. 5. In an open letter, over 100 prominent American Jews condemned AIPAC. The letter reads “We are Jewish Americans who have…come together to highlight and oppose the unprecedented and damaging role of AIPAC…in U.S. elections, especially within Democratic Party primaries. We recognize the purpose of AIPAC’s interventions in electoral politics is to defeat any critics of Israeli Government policy and to support candidates who vow unwavering loyalty to Israel, thereby ensuring the United States’ continuing support for all that Israel does, regardless of its violence and illegality.” Signatories include the Ralph Nader Radio Hour’s own Alan Minsky, celebrated academic Judith Butler, Postal Workers Union president Mark Dimondstein, Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s, and the actor Wallace Shawn among many others. The full letter is available at USJewsOpposingAipac.org https://usjewsopposingaipac.org/. 6. Oscar winning director Jonathan Glazer continues to be the target of phony outrage by pro-Israel groups like the Anti-Defamation League. Coming to the defense of the filmmaker however are other prominent Jewish organizations, like Jewish Voice for Peace and the Auschwitz Memorial, whose director said “In his Oscar acceptance speech, Jonathan Glazer issued a universal moral warning against dehumanization,” per the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/20/jonathan-glazer-speech-jewish-groups-defense. Decorated Jewish playwright Tony Kushner, a signatory on the anti-AIPAC letter, told Haaretz https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/podcasts/2024-03-20/ty-article-podcast/tony-kushner-israels-gaza-war-looks-a-lot-like-ethnic-cleansing-to-me/0000018e-5cbb-d3c4-a7cf-7dffbba50000 “There’s been a concerted attempt by right wing American Jews to sort of sell the idea that American college campuses are awash with virulent antisemites – professors and students and so on. And the Jewish students are walking these campuses in terror for their lives. I think this is nonsense. I see no evidence of it.” 7. Both the Gannett and McClatchy newspaper companies have announced they will no longer use AP journalism in their publications, AP https://apnews.com/article/gannett-associated-press-contract-97405e4715c9a25d21477b992028db2a reports. This is yet another indication of the dire financial straits the news business finds itself in. The AP notes “Gannett’s workforce shrank 47% between 2020 and 2023 because of layoffs and attrition…The company also hasn’t earned a full-year profit since 2018… Since then, it has lost $1.03 billion.” 8. In Honduras, the Intercept https://theintercept.com/2024/03/19/honduras-crypto-investors-world-bank-prospera/ reports “an almost-impossible-to-believe scenario: A group of libertarian investors teamed up with a former Honduran government — which was tied at the hip with narco-traffickers and came to power after a U.S.-backed military coup — in order to implement the world’s most radical libertarian policy, which turned over significant portions of the country to those investors through so-called special economic zones. The Honduran public, in a backlash, ousted the narco-backed regime, and the new government repealed the libertarian legislation. The crypto investors are now using the World Bank to force Honduras to honor the narco-government’s policies.” While this story has certain unique angles – crypto and narco-trafficking chief among them – the key element is actually quite familiar: international ‘free trade’ regimes superseding sovereign governments. We offer Honduras solidarity against these contemporary crypto-filibusters. 9. On March 11th, Congressmen Jimmy Gomez and Joaquin Castro sent a letter https://castro.house.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_-_surveillance_of_the_latino_community.pdf to the heads of the CIA and FBI demanding disclosures of surveillance efforts on Latino civil rights leaders during the 1960s and ‘70s, citing the well-documented pattern of surveillance on Black civil rights leaders during that period and the wealth of circumstantial evidence indicating that these organs of national security did the same toward prominent Latino figures such as Cesar Chavez. The following day, in a hearing https://castro.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-castro-secures-commitment-from-cia-to-declassify-information-on-surveillance-of-the-latino-civil-rights-movement#:~:text=Inalettersentbefore,alsocontributetoamore before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Rep. Castro pressed CIA Director Bill Burns on the matter, and Burns committed to working with his office to bring these activities to light. We hope that further transparency will beget further transparency and that some day the complete account of the CIA and FBI’s domestic surveillance programs will be a matter of public record. 10. Finally, in Mississippi, CBS https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mississippi-good-squad-rankin-county-brett-mcalpin-joshua-hartfield/ reports that authorities have successfully convicted all six members of a police gang calling themselves the “Goon Squad.” These six white officers plead guilty to “breaking into a home without a warrant and torturing two Black men…The assault involved beatings, the repeated use of stun guns and assaults with a sex toy before one of the victims was shot in the mouth in a mock execution.” Lawyers representing the criminal cops allege that “their clients became ensnared in a culture of corruption that was not only permitted, but encouraged by leaders within the sheriff's office.” If true, then a federal investigation – and likely more than a few exonerations of individuals victimized by this “Goon Squad” – are in order. Justice demands it. This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

58m

Mar 30, 2024

Legendary public school reform advocate, Jonathan Kozol, joins us to discuss his latest book “An End To Inequality: Breaking Down the Walls of Apartheid Education in America.” Then, we do a deep dive into the scourge that is kratom, the dangerous so-called pain relief supplement our guest, lawyer Matt Wetherington, calls “gas station heroin.” Jonathan Kozol https://www.jonathankozol.com/ is a leading advocate for equality and racial justice in our nation’s schools, and he travels and lectures about educational inequality and racial injustice. Mr. Kozol is the author of nearly a dozen books about young children and their public schools, including (for which he received the National Book Award), , and. His latest book is I still give [Jonathan Kozol’s book ] out to people to show them what indignant writing backed by irrefutable evidence is like. There's too much cool writing in America today about ghastly situations. Ralph Nader The decision is now like the Ghost of Christmas Past.  Most school officials have pretty much turned their back on the legacy of and the dream of Dr. King, who was very explicit in his condemnation of segregated schools. I find it particularly heartbreaking that segregation is now at its highest level since the early 1990s. And many of the schools I visit are far more deeply segregated than the one that I described in . JONATHAN KOZOL We hear a lot about the “school-to-prison pipeline,” but this is a case where the prison is already there. It's right there. They don't have to wait 20 years. Children get a taste of our racist penal system when they're barely out of diapers. JONATHAN KOZOL The excuse, of course, we always hear in the big cities is that finances are scarce— “We would love to make these corrections. We would love to build new buildings. We would love to clean out the lead. But we just don't have enough resources to do this.” I call it the myth of scarcity. It's starvation funding for minority children in one of the richest nations in the world. JONATHAN KOZOL I'm always asked, “Why don't you come up with upbeat suggestions?” I always say I'm not going to be forced into a phony optimism to please my critics. The fact is, right now, we have a racist and autocratic education system teed specifically to the historic victims of American society. And it's not gonna change until teachers can expand their reach politically to the parents of their children, to the surrounding communities, to the unions—not only the teacher unions, but other unions of all sorts—in order to transform the political leadership of this nation. JONATHAN KOZOL Matt Wetherington https://wfirm.com/attorney/matt-wetherington/ is ​​a nationally-recognized lawyer focused on high-stakes cases involving personal injury, wrongful death, and class actions. He currently represents plaintiffs in a wrongful death lawsuit against more than a dozen defendants, including manufacturers, distributors, and retailers of Kratom https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/02/20/kratom-deaths/ products. Under the guise of safety, the [American Kratom Association] have tricked legislatures— and now they're trying to do it on the federal level—into making a product that is dangerous, deadly, and has absolutely no proven medicinal purpose, de facto legal. MATT WETHERINGTON The kratom industry is trying to put the burden on safety advocates to prove that kratom is unsafe. Rather than going through the normal model that literally every other drug has gone through, which is to prove a medicinal purpose before it can be sold anywhere. They've put the cart ahead of the horse here by saying, until you can prove that it's unsafe, you can get this heroin-like drug at any gas station. So I reject the premise that we have to be the ones that come out and prove that this is unsafe. And the reality is that they have the burden of proving that it has a medicinal purpose. MATT WETHERINGTON IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS NEWS 3/19/24 1. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, delivered a watershed speech on the Senate floor last week calling for the United States to use its influence to rein in the Israeli government as it continues to commit genocidal atrocities in Gaza. Listen to Michigan https://x.com/Listen2Michigan/status/1768295420369739832?s=20 highlighted an excerpt of Senator Schumer’s speech, wherein he said “if Prime Minister Netanyahu...continues to pursue dangerous and inflammatory policies that test existing U.S. standards for assistance, then the United States will have no choice but to play a more active role in shaping Israeli policy by using our leverage to change the present course.” While a mere baby step, this movement of the Overton Window – allowing even the discussion of conditioning military aid to Israel – is a radical departure from decades of unquestioning U.S. assistance and co-belligerency in Israel’s wars. This is also undeniable evidence that the massive protest movement against U.S. support for Israel’s genocidal campaign, including the “Uncommitted” electoral campaign, has worked. In other words, keep it up, they are feeling the heat. 2. Schumer’s speech comes amid a growing realization from the Biden campaign that this issue is not going away. A raft of media reports suggest that the president has been “incensed to the point of shouting and swearing,” per Business Insider https://www.businessinsider.com/joe-biden-cursing-mad-polling-numbers-tired-insulated-2024-3, over his low poll numbers in critical swing states, attributed to his handling of the slaughter in Gaza. And just this week, Palestinian-American as well as other Arab- and Muslim-American leaders refused to meet with senior White House officials in Chicago, instead publishing a letter via CAIR https://www.cair.com/press_releases/chicago-muslim-palestinian-groups-refuse-white-house-meeting-over-lack-on-policy-change-on-gaza-genocide/ stating “There is no point in more meetings. The White House already knows the position of the aforementioned groups and our allies across the nation…They know because we have made it abundantly clear, including in prior meetings with the White House, but also in press statements, letters to our elected leaders, media interviews, and enormous street action within earshot of the Oval Office.” According to the Huffington Post https://www.huffpost.com/entry/palestinian-americans-reject-white-house-meeting-arab-muslim_n_65f38f63e4b0651fa4a24337?a0n, “The rejection comes after a string of refusals across the country from Arab and Muslim groups over longstanding frustrations over the war in Gaza…Several members of the Palestinian American community refused to meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken last month in Washington…[and] In Michigan, Arab and Muslim community leaders canceled a listening session in February with…Biden’s campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez.” 3. More suspicious details have emerged regarding the death of Boeing whistleblower John Barnett. Yahoo Finance https://finance.yahoo.com/news/last-days-boeing-whistleblower-190814764.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly90LmNvLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAC7XXY0pD2akbYjSDiux352I1lOFKvf-9ZO7IxZmpxfZ55N29i63pJsfH8s8M3TD1m4m9u-Ie6SLpZZ05PLTiJdtckts6nFzNNwnUj7nMb3WTOOthL2wDsWwdHUaAHrN-NWy9x6kT0bH8kVf3BXSv_kYA26g7uMTs6nx1bBnntMm reports that Barnett was planning to drive home to Louisiana following his deposition on Friday March, 8th. Boeing lawyers then asked him to stay an extra day to finish his testimony, and Barnett was found dead the morning of March 9th. Additionally, ABC News 4 https://abcnews4.com/news/local/if-anything-happens-its-not-suicide-boeing-whistleblowers-prediction-before-death-south-carolina-abc-news-4-2024 in Charleston reports that shortly before his death – allegedly by suicide – Barnett told a close family friend “I ain't scared, but if anything happens to me, it's not suicide.’” 4. In more Boeing news, the New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/us/politics/faa-audit-boeing-737-max.html reports “The company failed 33 of 89 audits during an examination conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration,” following the Alaska Airlines door plug incident. The Times piece goes on “The F.A.A. said it could not release specifics about the audit because of its active investigation into Boeing in response to the Alaska Airlines episode. In addition to that inquiry, the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating what caused the door panel to blow off the plane, and the Justice Department has begun a criminal investigation.” 5. A disturbing NBC https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/card-blackstone-kids-autism-private-equity-bankruptcy-rcna118544 story chronicles how the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) – a nationwide group of clinics which effectively helped autistic children to “cope, learn and communicate” – was purchased and deformed by the Blackstone Group, resulting in abuse of the children in their facilities. The founder of CARD is quoted in this article saying “[under Blackstone’s ownership] the company added costly executives, increased CARD’s debt and struck expensive contracts with third-party providers. The new CEO had no experience in autism services…he had run a kidney dialysis company.” This story has a bit of a happy ending – after running CARD into the ground, Blackstone actually sold the company back to the founder who is setting things right. As she says in the piece “You have to watch over the company…It is an entity, not an endless bank account.” This story highlights the human cost of private equity gobbling up the economy while regulators are overwhelmed or asleep at the wheel. 6. In some positive news, Nikkei Asia https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Japan-s-unions-win-biggest-wage-hike-since-1991-in-stage-change reports “Japan's largest labor confederation [The 7 million-member Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo] said Friday that its [771] member unions won an average 5.28% increase in wages this year, the biggest raise since 1991.” 7. In more positive labor news, CNN https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/18/business/uaw-volkswagen-union-vote-chattanooga/index.html reports that the United Auto Workers (UAW) has filed for a union election for the over 4,000 workers at the Chattanooga, Tennessee Volkswagen facility. This is the first major test of UAW’s campaign to unionize autoworkers at foreign-owned plants in the United States. The union intends to organize workers at BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Mercedes, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, Volvo and Volkswagen as well as the non-union EV companies like Tesla, Rivian and Lucid. UAW has previously said that they would not file for an election until they had won 70% support among the workers, with this filing implying they have reached that threshold. President Biden has publicly come out in support of this campaign, issuing a statement on March 18th reading “I congratulate the Volkswagen autoworkers in Chattanooga who filed for a union election with the UAW. As one of the world’s largest automakers, many Volkswagen plants internationally are unionized…I believe American workers, too, should have a voice at work.” 8. Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced a bill to establish a standard 32-hour workweek. In a press release, Sanders wrote “Today, American workers are over 400 percent more productive than they were in the 1940s. And yet, millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages than they were decades ago…The financial gains from the major advancements in artificial intelligence, automation, and new technology must benefit the working class, not just corporate CEOs and wealthy stockholders on Wall Street. It is time to reduce the stress level in our country and allow Americans to enjoy a better quality of life.” This legislation was announced ahead of a HELP Committee hearing on the same topic, featuring Shawn Fain, President of the UAW and Dr. Juliet Schor, Professor of Sociology at Boston College and Lead Researcher for Four Day Week Global Trials. 9. A story in the American Prospect https://prospect.org/politics/2024-03-18-how-actually-existing-democrats-run-for-office/ has to do with a study by the Center for Working Class Politics. This study looked at all 966 Democratic candidates who ran in House or Senate primaries in 2022. What did they find? “Candidates who used economic populist rhetoric won higher vote shares in general elections, especially in working-class, rural and small-town districts.” In other words, broad-base, left-wing economic populism. It works. 10. Finally, NBC https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/dnc-war-third-party-candidates-rcna143290 reports that the DNC is assembling an anti-third party squad in an attempt to force voters into a binary choice between Biden and Trump in November. This team will be led by the infamous political operator Lis Smith, who helped cover up Andrew Cuomo’s serial sexual harassment. Another prominent member is Pat Dennis, president of Democratic opposition research firm American Bridge, who is quoted saying “A lot of people, including me, regret that we didn’t go after [Jill Stein] further,” blaming Stein for costing Hillary Clinton states in the midwest despite numerous missteps by the Clinton campaign – like not visiting Wisconsin in the entire course of the general election. Yet to figures like Smith and Dennis, the Democratic Party cannot fail, it can only be failed. This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 19m

Mar 23, 2024

Ralph is joined by Tim Judson from the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (N.I.R.S.) to discuss the growing support for nuclear power in Congress, and the persistent myths that fuel nuclear advocates' false hopes for a nuclear future. Then, Ralph pays tribute to Boeing whistleblower John Barnett, who died unexpectedly this week in the middle of giving his deposition for a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit against Boeing. Plus, Ralph answers some of your audience feedback from last week's interview with Barbara McQuade.  Tim Judson https://www.nirs.org/staff-and-board/ is Executive Director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (N.I.R.S.). Mr. Judson leads N.I.R.S.’ work on nuclear reactor and climate change issues, and has written a series of reports on nuclear bailouts and sustainable energy. He is Chair of the Board of Citizens Awareness Network, one of the lead organizations in the successful campaign to close the Vermont Yankee reactor, and co-founder of Alliance for a Green Economy in New York. Listeners should know that this very complex system called the nuclear fuel cycle—that starts with uranium mines out west piling up radioactive tailings, which have exposed people downwind to radioactive hazards…And then they have to enrich the uranium—and that is often done by burning coal, which pollutes the air and contributes to climate disruption. And then they have to fabricate the fuel rods and build the nuclear plants. And then they have to make sure that these nuclear plants are secure against sabotage. And then you have the problem of transporting—by trucks or rail—radioactive waste to some depositories that don't exist. And they have to go through towns, cities, and villages. And what is all this for? It's to boil water.  RALPH NADER In 2021 and 2022, when the big infrastructure bills— the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act—were being passed by Congress, the utility industry spent $192 million on federal lobbying in those two years. That's more than the oil industry spent in those two years on lobbying. These are the utility companies that are present in every community around the country. And their business is actually less in selling electricity and natural gas, and more in lobbying state and federal governments to get their rates approved…The utility industry (and the nuclear industry as a subset of that) have been lobbying Congress relentlessly for years to protect what they've got. TIM JUDSON Fusion is one of these technologies that's always been 30 years away. Whenever there's an announcement about an advancement in fusion research, it's still “going to be 30 years before we get a reactor going.” Now there's a lot more hype, and these tech investors are putting money into fusion with the promise that they're going to have a reactor online in a few years. But there's no track record to suggest that that's going to happen. It keeps the dream of nuclear alive— “We could have infinite amounts of clean energy for the future.” It sounds too good to be true. It's always proven to be too good to be true. TIM JUDSON One of the lines that they're using to promote theAtomic Energy Advancement Act and all of these investments in nuclear… is that we can't let Russia and China be the ones that are expanding nuclear energy worldwide. It's got to be the US that does it. TIM JUDSON IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS NEWS 3/12/24 1. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, has released a report claiming that “employees released into Gaza from Israeli detention [were] pressured by Israeli authorities into falsely stating that the agency has Hamas links and that staff took part in the October 7 attacks,” per the Times of Israel https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/unrwa-report-says-israel-coerced-some-agency-employees-to-falsely-admit-hamas-links/. These supposed admissions of guilt led to the United States and many European countries cutting off or delaying aid to the agency. The unpublished report alleges that UNRWA staffers were “detained by the Israeli army, and…experienced…severe physical beatings, waterboarding, and threats of harm to family members.” The report goes on to say “In addition to the alleged abuse endured by UNRWA staff members, Palestinian detainees more broadly described allegations of abuse, including beatings, humiliation, threats, dog attacks, sexual violence, and deaths of detainees denied medical treatment.” 2. Continuing the genocidal assault on Gaza, Israel has been bombing the densely populated city of Rafah in the South. Domestically, this seems to be too far for even Biden’s closest allies, with the AP https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-congress-joe-biden-war-8d5334a6ffbe36eb77301647affc4e01?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=share reporting just before the assault that “[Senator Chris] Coons…of Delaware, called for the U.S. to cut military aid to Israel if Netanyahu goes ahead with a threatened offensive on the southern city of Rafah without significant provisions to protect the more than 1 million civilians sheltering there. [And Senator] Jack Reed, head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, appealed to Biden to deploy the U.S. Navy to get humanitarian aid to Gaza. Biden ally Sen. Tim Kaine challenged the U.S. strikes on the Houthis as unlikely to stop the Red Sea attacks. And the most senior Democrat in the Senate [Patty Murray of Washington] called for Israel to ‘change course.’” Hewing to these voices within his party, President Biden declared that an invasion of Rafah would be a “red line.” Yet POLTICO https://www.politico.eu/article/israels-netanyahu-says-he-will-defy-bidens-red-line-and-invade-rafah/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=social reports that Israeli PM Netanyahu “says he intends to press ahead with an invasion.” POLTICO https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/11/biden-may-condition-aid-for-israel-after-a-rafah-invasion-00146340 now reports that Biden is threatening to condition military aid to Israel in response to Netanyahu’s defiance, but it remains to be seen whether the president will follow through on this threat. 3. POLITICO https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/11/burns-says-ceasefire-is-needed-to-help-starving-children-in-gaza-00146397 also reports that CIA Director Bill Burns is calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying “The reality is that there are children who are starving…They’re malnourished as a result of the fact that humanitarian assistance can’t get to them. It’s very difficult to distribute humanitarian assistance effectively unless you have a ceasefire.” This is obviously correct, and illustrates how out of touch the Democratic Party is that they are getting outflanked on peace issues by the literal director of the CIA. 4. Whether unwilling – or unable – to change course on Gaza, President Biden is paying the electoral price. In last week’s Super Tuesday primaries, the Nation https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/uncommitted-movement-growing-biden/ reports “Uncommitted” won 19 percent of the vote and 11 delegates in Minnesota, 29 percent and seven delegates in Hawaii, and 12.7 percent in North Carolina. This week, the New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/03/12/us/elections/results-washington-democratic-presidential-primary.html reports Uncommitted took 7.5% – nearly 50,000 votes – in Washington State. Biden also lost the caucus in American Samoa, making him the first incumbent president since Carter to lose a nominating contest, per Newsweek https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-loses-primary-jason-palmer-american-samoa-jimmy-carter-1876315. 5. In yet another manifestation of opposition to the genocide in Gaza, Jewish director Jonathan Glazer used his Oscar acceptance speech to “[denounce] the bloodshed in the Middle East and [ask] the audience to consider how it could ‘resist…dehumanization,’” per NBC https://www.nbcnews.com/news/jonathan-glazer-condemns-violence-gaza-israel-oscars-speech-rcna142761. Glazer’s award winning film “The Zone of Interest” examines how “[a] Nazi commandant…and his family…attempt to build an idyllic life right outside the walls of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland during the Holocaust.” Glazer said “All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present — not to say, 'Look what we did then,' rather, 'Look what we do now.' Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst…Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation, which has led to conflict for so many people." Glazer was the most forthright in his criticism of the Israeli campaign, but NBC notes “Billie Eilish, Mark Ruffalo and Ramy Youssef wore red pins on the Oscars red carpet symbolizing calls for a cease-fire.” 6. Aware that they are losing the public relations battle, pro-Israel lobbying groups like the UJA-Federation and the Jewish Community Relations Council have enlisted Right-wing messaging guru Frank Luntz to help with their Hasbara PR, the Grayzone https://thegrayzone.com/2024/03/06/leaked-israel-lobby-officials-war-gaza-mass-rape/ reports. Leaked talking points from his presentation run the gamut from playing up unsubstantiated claims of systematic sexual violence committed by Hamas to acknowledging that “’The most potent’ tactic in mobilizing opposition to Israel’s assault…‘is the visual destruction of Gaza and the human toll’… [because] ‘It ‘looks like a genocide’.” 7. Turning from Palestine to East Palestine, Ohio Cleveland.com https://www.cleveland.com/news/2024/03/rail-car-burn-in-east-palestine-wasnt-needed-transportation-safety-chief-tells-sen-jd-vance.html reports that during a recent Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing, National Transportation Safety Board  Chair Jennifer L. Homendy told Ohio’s junior Senator JD Vance that “The deliberate burn of rail cars carrying hazardous chemicals after last year’s crash…wasn’t needed to avoid an explosion because the rail cars were cooling off before they were set on fire.” In a statement, Ohio’s senior Senator, progressive Democrat Sherrod Brown, called the testimony “outrageous,” and said “This explosion – which devastated so many – was unnecessary…The people of East Palestine are still living with the consequences of this toxic burn. This is more proof that Norfolk Southern put profits over safety & cannot be trusted.” 8. In positive labor news, Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-09/microsoft-msft-game-testers-boost-union-ranks-at-company-to-1-000 reports that “About 600 video game testers at Microsoft…’s Activision Blizzard studios have unionized, more than doubling the size of labor’s foothold at the software giant, according to the Communications Workers of America.” This brings the unionized workforce at Microsoft to approximately 1,000. To the company’s credit, Microsoft has been friendly towards unionization, a marked difference from other technology companies – namely Amazon and Tesla – which have gone to extreme lengths to prevent worker organizing. 9. In not so positive labor news, Matt Bruenig’s NLRB Edge https://www.nlrbedge.com/p/the-aclu-is-trying-to-destroy-the reports “The ACLU Is Trying to Destroy the Biden NLRB.” In a narrow sense, this story is about the ACLU fighting its workers to preserve its internal mandatory arbitration process. More broadly however, Bruenig illustrates how the ACLU is seeking to oust Biden’s NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo – arguing her appointment was unconstitutional – which “could potentially invalidate everything the Biden Board has done.” This is yet another example of the non-profit industrial complex run amok, doing damage to progressive values and opting to possibly inflict economic harm on workers nationwide rather than treat their own workers fairly. 10. Finally, according to the Corporate Crime Reporter https://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/news/200/boeing-whistleblower-found-dead-in-charleston-after-break-in-depositions/, “Boeing whistleblower John Barnett was found dead in his truck at a hotel in Charleston, South Carolina after a break in depositions in a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit.” Barnett’s lawyer Brian Knowles told the paper “They found him in his truck dead from an ‘alleged’ self-inflicted gunshot.” Barnett had gone on record saying “[Boeing] started pressuring us to not document defects, to work outside the procedures, to allow defective material to be installed without being corrected. They started bypassing procedures and not maintaining configurement control of airplanes, not maintaining control of non conforming parts –  they just wanted to get the planes pushed out the door and make the cash register ring.” The timing and circumstances of Barnett’s death raise disturbing questions; we hope an exhaustive investigation turns up some answers. This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 9m

Mar 16, 2024

Ralph speaks to law professor, Barbara McQuade, who specializes in national security issues and has written a book that outlines the very real threat to American democracy, “Attack From Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America.” Also, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson sums up Israeli goals in its war on the Palestinians with three words “eradication, elimination, and expulsion.” Barbara McQuade https://barbaramcquade.squarespace.com/ is a professor from practice at Michigan Law School https://michigan.law.umich.edu/faculty-and-scholarship/our-faculty/barbara-l-mcquade. Her interests include criminal law, criminal procedure, national security, data privacy, and civil rights. From 2010 to 2017, Professor McQuade served as the US attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. As US attorney, she oversaw cases involving public corruption, terrorism, corporate fraud, theft of trade secrets, civil rights, and health care fraud, among others. She also serves as a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. Barbara McQuade is the author of . I think people are still bewildered about how to respond to Donald Trump. I think the media is bewildered because we've never seen anything like him—he's an absolute disruptor of how our system works. And so, he's a big bully who runs around and says all kinds of mean things and nobody knows how to deal with it. I think the media still struggles to decide how do you cover someone—when we've been trained to get both sides of an argument which presumes that both sides are engaging in good faith—when instead you have someone who is not engaging in good faith, engaging in lies, making inconsistent statements. BARBARA MCQUADE We need to demand truth. We can't allow ourselves to engage in fiction, even if we believe it is to advance our ends. The ends can never justify the means. Our country is built on integrity in the rule of law and we need to demand truth if we are going to have a democracy and effective self-government. BARBARA MCQUADE You don't want to go down in the mud with people. But when the national press begins and continues to be [Trump’s] bullhorn, verbatim, repeating it, repeating it, giving no right of reply, there's no way you can simply say, “I don't want to go to his level,” because the press has raised it to a level that is devastating to our democracy. RALPH NADER Lawrence Wilkerson https://ipconfederation.org/about-us/ is a retired U.S. Army colonel. Over his 31 years of service, Colonel Wilkerson served as Secretary of State Colin Powell's Chief of Staff from 2002 to 2005, and Special Assistant to General Powell when he was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993. Colonel Wilkerson also served as Deputy Director and Director of the U.S. Marine Corps War College at Quantico, Virginia, and for fifteen years he was the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Government and Public Policy at the College of William and Mary. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Eisenhower Media Network https://eisenhowermedianetwork.org/staff/lawrence-wilkerson/, senior advisor to the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft https://responsiblestatecraft.org/author/lwilkerson/, and co-founder of the All-Volunteer Force Forum http://www.avfforum.org/home.html.  The media is an Israeli agent when they do give some kind of deference to “the other side,” as it were, it's always in words and terminology and short sentences that make you know that “they are balanced.” “They are fair and balanced.” They're about as fair and balanced as my left foot. That's the way it is. The purpose here is eradication, elimination, or expulsion, period. Eradication, elimination, or expulsion. COLONEL LAWRENCE WILKERSON We all need to wake up, and we need to start taking actions such as we can locally—whatever's within our purview and power to do. Because we're losing this country. We're losing it to the moneyed oligarchy. We're losing it to the unprecedented amount of money, because of that's pouring into the political coffers of people who have no interest in what you want…These people are basing their decisions on money. Money—not you. They're not the people's representatives… They're the representatives of the deep state, which is the oligarchy.  COLONEL LAWRENCE WILKERSON It's all these people with these unprecedented amounts of money who can influence anything, anytime they want to with a few telephone calls. That's what's running your country. And the predatory capitalism that they're advancing is running the world into the ground. COLONEL LAWRENCE WILKERSON IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS NEWS 3/6/24 1. Just before the Michigan primary, President Biden implied https://time.com/6835515/biden-gaza-ceasefire-ice-cream/ that a ceasefire in Gaza was imminent. However, many believed at the time that Biden was simply trying to blunt the potency of the “Uncommitted” vote in that contest. The promised ceasefire never materialized, apparently confirming those suspicions. Yet, with “Uncommitted” winning over 100,000 votes in Michigan, the administration has begun using ceasefire language – a major rhetorical shift, but seemingly one without much corresponding action. Phyllis Bennis, writing in Al Jazeera https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/3/4/what-lies-behind-the-biden-administrations-changing-ceasefire-language, argues that “Whatever the language of Washington’s proposed UN Security Council resolution and likely the possible temporary truce deal as well, the words of National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby continue to resonate as a better reflection of the Biden administration’s policy: ‘We’re going to continue to support Israel… and we’re going to continue to make sure they have the tools and the capabilities to do that.’” 2. Following the self immolation of Aaron Bushnell, activist Talia Jane has shared a letter https://x.com/taliaotg/status/1764639811023884648?s=20 from active duty U.S. Military personnel calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. In this letter, the anonymous signatories write “it is undeniably evident that the Israeli Defense Forces are repeatedly and systematically committing war crimes in Gaza. Support for the conduct of the IDF is unacceptable and inconsistent with our values in the US Armed forces.” Talia Jane reports that “over 100 active duty military across Air Force, Navy, Army, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, as well as reservists and National Guard, and their families, have endorsed this open letter.” 3. J Street, the preeminent liberal Zionist group, has finally begun using the word ceasefire – while still only supporting a temporary truce. In a note to their members, J Street wrote "This move is not a change in policy. It is a decision to begin using a word that is fraught with meaning and implications in the context of the Gaza War," Daniel Marans https://x.com/danielmarans/status/1764739222835974631?s=20 of the Huffington Post reports. J Street has deep ties to the administration, so whether they are taking their cues from the administration in characterizing a temporary truce as a ceasefire – or vice versa – it is significant that this is the new line from mainstream liberal Zionists. 4. Max Tani https://x.com/maxwelltani/status/1763718537749639413?s=20 of Semafor reports that the NewsGuild of New York has sent a letter to the New York Times accusing the ‘Grey Lady’ of racially profiling their staff as they seek to hunt down the source of a leak exposing their shoddy – possibly completely false – reporting on sexual violence committed by Hamas. Per the letter, “Management’s investigators have questioned employees about their involvement in The Times’ internal Middle Eastern and North African Times Employee Resource Group (known as the MENA Collective), ordered them to hand over the names of all of the MENA Collective’s active members involved in group discussions, and demanded copies of personal communications between colleagues about their shared workplace concerns…The Guild intends to vigorously defend our members and their rights, and ensure that all our members are protected in a workplace free from harassment and racial profiling.” 5. According to NBC News https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/washington-states-largest-labor-union-endorses-uncommitted-biden-rcna141139, “The biggest labor union in Washington state endorsed voting ‘uncommitted’ in the state’s Democratic presidential primary next month, citing concerns about President Joe Biden’s political strength and his support for Israel’s war in Gaza.”  UFCW Local 3000 has over 50,000 members, making it the largest state chapter of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. NBC also reports that “The Stranger, a prominent alt-weekly publication based in Seattle, also endorsed the idea of voting ‘uncommitted,’ expressing disappointment in the options of  Trump and Biden, whom it referred to as the ‘two genocidal geriatrics leading the polls.’” 6. Amid humiliatingly low poll numbers, Democratic-turned-Independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema has dropped out of the 2024 Arizona Senate race, the Arizona Republic https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/03/05/senator-kyrsten-sinema-will-not-seek-reelection/72854383007/ reports. Senator Sinema, you will not be missed. 7. In Manhattan, over two-thirds of houses sold last quarter were purchased in cash, rather than via mortgage, per the Financial Times https://www.ft.com/content/824fcecf-21fb-45d5-a9f8-08a9c37c9f4f. In other words, the preponderance of homes were purchased by the very rich. Pamela Liebman, the chief executive of real estate brokerage firm Corcoran, told the paper “High mortgage rates are creating a real void for people who don’t have the strong finances that are required to buy in cash…It’s driving people who would be home buyers in New York into renting.” This piece further notes that “rents rose to an all-time median high of $3,950 [per month].” 8. West Virginia News https://www.wvnews.com/jacksonnews/kroger-workers-at-38-stores-vote-to-authorize-a-strike/article_e9e99880-d9b2-11ee-b838-3b131407c122.html reports “Kroger union members have voted in favor of authorizing a strike at 38 stores in West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio.” As this piece notes, this vote gives the bargaining committee authorization to call a strike at any time, but the workers are not currently on strike. In a statement, UFCW Local 400 said “This vote has sent a powerful message to Kroger that they must do better if they expect us to ratify a contract…Now, we are ready to sit down with the company and negotiate an agreement that we can recommend for ratification. If not, we are ready to continue to do whatever it takes to get a fair contract. By sticking together, we will win.” 9. Family Dollar has been hit with a $42 million fine in a food safety case after the company was found to have been “storing food, drugs, and cosmetics in a rodent-infested warehouse in Arkansas,” according to More Perfect Union https://www.instagram.com/perfectunion/p/C4HJZWct_m1/?img_index=1. An FDA investigation revealed “live rodents, dead and decaying rodents, rodent feces, urine, and odors, and evidence of gnawing and nesting throughout the facility.” Family Dollar had been aware of the infestation since 2020, and continued shipping merchandise – often eaten into by the rodents – to 404 stores throughout the region. This is the largest ever criminal fine in a food safety case. 10. Finally, on February 27th MyHighPlains.com https://www.myhighplains.com/news/local-news/emergency-situation-prompts-pantex-to-cease-operations/amp/ reported that a nuclear weapons factory in Texas was forced to cease operations in light of the state’s massive wildfires. According to Hans Kristensen https://x.com/nukestrat/status/1762674490067050830?s=20, Director of the Nuclear Information Project of the Federation of American Scientists, “This is America’s main nuclear weapons factory. Nearly 20,000 plutonium cores are stored there [and] full-scale production of B61-12 bomb & W88 Alt370 warheads are underway.” While this critical situation was resolved without injury, it highlights the interrelation between climate change and national security. We urge military and civilian leadership to view this near-miss as a chance to finally take the climate crisis seriously. This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 29m

Mar 09, 2024

Ralph welcomes Bishop William Barber from the Poor People's Campaign to discuss their March 2nd mass moral march on State Assemblies and their efforts to mobilize millions of poor and low-wage voters. Then, Ralph is joined by Washington Post health reporter Dan Diamond to discuss his team's recent report on a $2 billion Medicare fraud scheme.  Bishop William Barber https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/march2/ is President and Senior Lecturer of Repairers of the Breach https://www.breachrepairers.org/bishop-william-j-barber-ii, which was established to train communities in moral movement building. He is Co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, and Founding Director and Professor at the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy https://www.theologyandpolicy.yale.edu/bishop-william-j-barber-ii at Yale Divinity School. The biggest mistake people who are not poor can make is [thinking] that helping poor and low-wage people in this country doesn't improve their life. Total nonsense. And we're going to see how a greater turnout of poor and low-wage people in the elections can transform politics in this country at the national, state, and local level. RALPH NADER You cannot, in a democracy, let your power sit on the shelf. If folk are not recognizing that, you must force them. And we now have this power— we don't even know what battleground states are. Because if poor and low-wealth people voted at the same percentage rate as middle class and others, it would change all of the political calculations. And it is the fear of the greedy aristocracy. It is time for us to realize their fear. BISHOP WILLIAM BARBER Bad policy is mean, it is violent, and it is deadly. Because now we live in a reality… [where] poverty is the fourth-leading cause of death in this country. If you are not for ending policies that perpetuate poverty and low wages, then you are an accessory to the crime of human beings' lives being taken BISHOP WILLIAM BARBER Dan Diamond is a national health reporter for , focused on accountability, federal agencies and public health. He joined the in 2021 after covering the Trump administration for , where he won a George Polk award for investigating political interference in the pandemic response. One would think that somewhere at Medicare, there was the alert that this was a scheme to be looking out for. On the state level, several states began last year to issue warnings—the state of Hawaii, the state of Oklahoma, among others—saying, “Watch out, Medicare beneficiaries, for these catheter-fraud schemes.” So that was nine months ago at this point. Medicare itself—nationally—were not aware of any similar warnings or action, at least publicly. Again, they may have been doing things behind the scenes. They may have been wanting to bait the trap for these potential fraudsters,and maybe that's why they didn't say anything. But still it raises real questions—why they have waited so long to do anything, and why it takes news coverage in February 2024 to put a spotlight on something that's been going on for eighteen months. DAN DIAMOND IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS NEWS 2/28/24 1. The Michigan primary was held on Tuesday. On the Republican side, Donald Trump cruised to victory over Nikki Haley, but on the Democratic side, all eyes were focused not on the candidates themselves but on the “Uncommitted,” ballot line. In recent days, activists and prominent progressive elected officials urged voters to register their opposition to President Biden’s support for Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza by voting Uncommitted. The campaign set a goal of 10,000 Uncommitted votes; according to the New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/02/27/us/elections/results-michigan-democratic-presidential-primary.html they won over 100,000. The success of this protest vote movement in a key swing state should be setting off major alarm bells within the Biden campaign and hopefully will force the president to reckon with dissent to his Gaza policy from within his party. 2. On Sunday, U.S. Airman Aaron Bushnell self immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, registering the ultimate protest against the ongoing slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. Just before igniting himself, Mr. Bushnell shouted “Free Palestine,” yet that did not stop mainstream outlets like the New York Times and NPR from obfuscating the motives of his sacrifice, with their coverage featuring lines like “NPR was not able to independently verify the man’s motives.” As Ryan Grim https://x.com/ryangrim/status/1762273830121136245?s=20 of the Intercept put it, “what more could he have done to make a point NPR would hear.” Rest in Power, Aaron Bushnell. 3. A new Institute for Social Policy and Understanding or ISPU poll https://www.ispu.org/ceasefire-poll/, conducted between December 2023 and January 2024, found that majorities of all religious groups favor a ceasefire in Gaza. Support for a ceasefire is strongest among Muslim and Catholic Americans, with both groups reporting over 70% support. Support weakest among Jewish Americans, yet 50% favor a ceasefire, with only 34% opposed. In other words, President Biden giving a blank check to Israel is alienating Americans of all religious persuasions, including American Jews. 4. Signaling another troubling omen for Biden, a new poll https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Black-MI-Voters-Poll-Summary.pdf of Black voters in Michigan, conducted by Howard University, shows the president’s support among African-Americans has dropped from 94% in 2020 to just 49% today. This is coupled with a tripling of support for Donald Trump, who now attracts 26% of Black voters. 5. On February 22nd, Representatives Jerry Nadler, Jamie Raskin, Dan Goldman, and 10 more Jewish members of Congress took the first step toward calling for a ceasefire, sending a letter https://nadler.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=395116 urging the Biden Administration to “Facilitate [a] ceasefire in Gaza.” Many of these liberal members, including Nadler, Goldman, Raskin, and Becca Balint of Vermont have been the subjects of pressure campaigns by pro-Palestine activists to push them toward support for a ceasefire. Contrary to the headline however, this letter only calls for a temporary pause of hostilities. 6. Democracy Now! https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/27/headlines/irish_senate_votes_to_impose_sanctions_on_israel_prevent_us_arms_from_crossing_its_airspace reports “Ireland’s senate unanimously voted last week to impose sanctions against Israel, prevent the passage of U.S. weapons to Israel via Irish airspace and advocate for an international arms embargo against Israel.” Ireland has been among the most vocal countries condemning the Israeli campaign of terror in Gaza, particularly in Europe. Irish Senator Frances Black is quoted in this piece saying “I remember one woman…she said that she was…from a human rights organization…And she said, 'Why have the international community abandoned us?' And those words stay with me.” 7. Lauren Kaori Gurley, who covers Labor for the Washington Post, reports https://x.com/LaurenKGurley/status/1759951394398974028?s=20 that last week baristas at 21 Starbucks stores around the country filed for union elections. This is “the largest single-day filing since the campaign’s launch in 2021.”  The location of these stores ranges from Brooklyn and Chicago to Grand Forks, North Dakota and Sulfur, Louisiana – demonstrating the popularity of unions throughout the nation. Starbucks has now agreed to recognize the union and work with their employees to forge a master contract. 8. In more labor news, the United Auto Workers union has announced https://uaw.org/uaw-announces-40-million-commitment-to-organizing-auto-and-battery-workers-over-next-two-years/ they are allocating a stunning $40 million for new organizing through 2026. By contrast, the AFL-CIO pledged only $11 million annually for new organizing in 2022. UAW Region 9A leader Brandon Mancilla adds https://x.com/mancillabrando/status/1761162364194287917?s=20 that “The UAW will provide material support to Mexican autoworker organizing and their independent union reform movement. We need to end the international race to the bottom. The Mexican working class is our ally, not our enemy.” And Luis Feliz Leon of Labor Notes reports that “Workers at Mercedes-Benz’s largest plant in the U.S. announced that a majority of their co-workers have signed union cards in support of joining the @UAW. Workers at Mercedes Benz's Alabama plant launched their organizing committee 60 days ago.” 9. In a major loss for local journalism, WAMU – Washington DC’s NPR member station, run out of American University – has shuttered it’s flagship publication, DCist. Per Washingtonian https://www.washingtonian.com/2024/02/23/dcist-will-be-shut-down-again-this-time-by-wamu/ magazine, “DCist was originally owned by the company Gothamist. Joe Ricketts, the billionaire who bought it in 2017, shut down the site that same year after employees voted to unionize…The next year, two anonymous donations allowed WAMU to buy DCist.” The University said in a statement that this move represents “a new strategy to deepen engagement with Washingtonians…centered around audio and live experiences.” 10. Finally, St. Louis Public Radio https://www.stlpr.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2024-02-27/disbanded-girl-scout-troop-vows-to-continue-support-for-child-war-victims-in-gaza reports that local Girl Scouts Troop 149 “decided to raise money for the humanitarian nonprofit Palestine Children’s Relief Fund…inspired by other Girl Scouts troops that raised money for war victims in Ukraine.” Yet, instead of backing this effort, the  Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri responded with a legal threat, writing “Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri and Girl Scouts of the United States have no other choice than to engage our legal counsel to help remedy this situation and to protect the intellectual property and other rights of the organization.” Discouraged, the troop leaders opted to disband the troop. The national organization later apologized for their threat of legal action, but the troop leadership intend to remain disaffiliated from the group, and instead function as an independent troop. So far, they have raised over $10,000 for the PCRF. This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 13m

Mar 02, 2024

Ralph welcomes Professor Stephanie Luce of the City University of New York, who has co-authored “Practical Radicals: Seven Strategies to Change the World,” and together they outline the challenges and the strategies that face underdogs trying to change the system. Plus, our resident constitutional scholar, Bruce Fein, joins us to discuss the death of Russian dissident, Alexei Navalny. Stephanie Luce https://stephanieluce.net/ is Professor of Labor Studies at the School of Labor and Urban Studies, and Professor of Sociology at the Graduate Center at City University of New York. Professor Luce is best known for her research on living wage campaigns and movements. She is the author of and co-author of . Her latest book, co-authored with Deepak Bhargava, is . https://thenewpress.com/books/practical-radicals We find it's actually hard to get people to imagine really liberatory worlds because we're so dominated by corporate culture and consumer culture and undemocratic functioning that it is hard to imagine a world that's different. So even just getting people to dream of a different possibility is a good start, and then we have to think about what kind of power it's going to take to make those changes. STEPHANIE LUCE A lot of people critique [collective care as a strategy]. They think it's just about taking care of one another as part of life—that's what we do. We're arguing it can also be strategic because when done well, it enables people to engage in a fight in the long term. You can't go on strike if you don't have someone to watch your children, or if you don't have a strike fund. You can't risk arrest if you don't know if you have bail. So collective care is a way of taking care of one another, doing the things that enable us to take risks and to know people have our back. And that helps us up our militancy and strategy because we can take bigger risks and build the capacity for other kinds of struggle. STEPHANIE LUCE There’s such a thing as the civic personality that is a huge Achilles’ heel of the drive to train people civically. You can train people civically… but if they don't have a civic personality, if they don't have fire in their bellies, so to speak, emotional intelligence, if they don't have a framework of a public philosophy, if they don't have a capacity for resilience to learn from their last mistakes, if they haven't controlled their ego so they can give credit to other people in their circle and set an example and motivate, if they're not willing to read and stay up to date with what's going on in their fields and in the area of their opponents, it doesn't matter how many skills they learn from our efforts. RALPH NADER Bruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law.  Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of , and . [Alexei Navalny] was free. He knew he could have left [Russia]. He probably could have won a Nobel Peace Prize. He returned anyway. And the pride which I can express in such a human being is beyond words. BRUCE FEIN IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS NEWS 2/20/24 1. A diplomatic row is brewing between Israel and Brazil. On Sunday, leftist Brazilian President Lula compared Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza to Hitler’s genocide of the Jews during an address to the African Union. In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz declared that until he retracts his comments, Lula is “persona non grata in Israel.” Yet Lula does not intend to retract these comments, and has instead recalled the Brazilian ambassador to Israel. The Israeli campaign against Gaza has forced nearly all of its over 2 million inhabitants from their homes. This from Reuters https://www.reuters.com/world/brazil-president-recalls-ambassador-israel-talks-local-media-2024-02-19/. 2. On Monday, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/02/israelopt-un-experts-appalled-reported-human-rights-violations-against issued a report alleging “credible allegations of egregious human rights violations to which Palestinian women and girls continue to be subjected in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.” According to this report, “Palestinian women and girls in detention have…been subjected to multiple forms of sexual assault, such as being stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers. At least two female Palestinian detainees were reportedly raped while others were reportedly threatened with rape and sexual violence…photos of female detainees in degrading circumstances were also reportedly taken by the Israeli army and uploaded online.” Experts say “Taken together, these alleged acts may constitute grave violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, and amount to serious crimes under international criminal law that could be prosecuted under the Rome Statute.” 3. The anti-Biden “uncommitted” protest vote campaign in Michigan continues to pick up steam. On Valentine’s Day, the New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/14/us/politics/biden-michigan-gaza-uncommitted.html reported that Our Revolution – the Bernie Sanders legacy political operation – has endorsed the campaign. Our Revolution joins other prominent new boosters, such as Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and former Representative Andy Levin. In her video https://twitter.com/umichvoter/status/1758956974748659805?ref_src=twsrc%5etfw|twcamp%5etweetembed|twterm%5e1758956974748659805|twgr%5edff8bf59280b7ef1bcc81751cf15be62c739ec8b|twcon%5es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.freep.com%2Fstory%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Felections%2F2024%2F02%2F19%2Frashida-tlaib-primary-vote-uncommitted-biden%2F72657601007%2F endorsing the campaign, Tlaib says “It is important…not only to march against the genocide, not only make sure we’re calling our members of Congress … it is also important to create a voting bloc, something that is a bullhorn to say enough is enough.” 4. On February 15th, the African Methodist Episcopal, or AME Church Council of Bishops https://mailchi.mp/6640b1d7ce56/council-of-bishops-calls-for-immediate-withdrawal-of-financial-support-from-israel?fbclid=IwAR1sW-Qfcp5u1qJe199wzA-z6Tk9Xp0W7qy95FMICTdhJUn3-cPQXGqYqH0 issued a statement calling for the “Immediate Withdrawal of Financial Support from Israel.” This major step from a prominent Black faith group is an indication that the genocidal Israeli campaign in Gaza is alienating significant factions of the Democratic Party coalition. The statement reads “Since 1954, Israel has shown a willful disregard for the human dignity of Palestinians. Since October 7, 2023, in retaliation for the brutal murder of 1139 Israeli citizens by Hamas, Israel has murdered over 28,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children. The United States is supporting this mass genocide. This must not be allowed to continue. There must be an immediate and permanent ceasefire between these two communities. We call for a solution to be negotiated by genuine representatives of the people of Israel and Palestine and condemn all violence as a means of resolving this conflict. Surely there is a grassroots solution that affirms the dignity and humanity of all God’s people in Palestine and Israel. The tools of empire, colonialism, and domination will not solve the problems they created. The cycle of violence between historically wounded peoples will not be dissolved by the creation of more wounds or through weapons of war. We remain in solidarity with Jesus Christ of Nazareth, a Palestinian Jew, and the Prince of Peace. We weep for the suffering being inflicted upon the children of God in the Holy Land and all the earth. We cry for freedom and implore those who say they love God to demonstrate a tangible love for their neighbors. We will travail in prayer and pursue justice until freedom reigns for all.” 5. Semafor https://www.semafor.com/article/02/18/2024/pro-israel-group-targets-post-reporter reports that Pro-Israel groups are engaging in targeted harassment of mainstream American journalists perceived as too critical of Israel. This story focuses on foreign correspondent Lousia Loveluck, and documents how SKDK – a D.C. PR firm close to the Biden administration – has dug into Loveluck’s background, including unrelated protests she attended before becoming a journalist. While the defended Loveluck’s reporting, they did not defend her personally – setting a dangerous precedent for intimidation of American journalists by Israel-aligned groups. 6. The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that “An embryo created through in-vitro fertilization (IVF) is a child protected by Alabama’s wrongful death act and the Alabama Constitution.” Specifically, the court ruled that the “parents of frozen embryos killed at an IVF clinic when an intruder tampered with an IVF freezer may proceed with a wrongful death lawsuit against the clinic for alleged negligence.” Yet in a broader sense, this means that IVF clinics will be legally liable for the death of embryos fertilized through IVF – likely spelling the end of IVF in the state. This from 1819 News https://1819news.com/news/item/alabama-supreme-court-rules-ivf-embryos-are-protected-under-wrongful-death-of-a-minor-act. 7. A stunning report from the Center for Climate Integrity https://climateintegrity.org/plastics-fraud, published in the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/15/recycling-plastics-producers-report, reveals that the plastics industry has deliberately misled the public for years, claiming that their products are continuously and sustainably recyclable – all the while knowing that “recycling cannot be considered a permanent solid waste solution [to plastics], as it merely prolongs the time until an item is disposed of”. Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity puts it simply: “The companies lied…It’s time to hold them accountable for the damage they’ve caused.” 8. REI, the company given constant adulation by the liberal press, is union busting. From the REI Union SoHo https://x.com/reiunionsoho/status/1758873944759673164?s=20, “On Feb 15, REI announced it will be withholding annual merit pay increases from our store and all unionized [REI] stores across the Co-op.” Unionized workers walked off the job in protest of this blatant anti-union move. 9. AP https://apnews.com/article/amazon-nlrb-unconstitutional-union-labor-459331e9b77f5be0e5202c147654993e reports Amazon has joined SpaceX and Trader Joe’s in arguing that the National Labor Relations Board is unconstitutional. We have discussed this corporate stratagem on this show before and noted that more corporations, particularly those facing unionization efforts, were likely to adopt this legal argument. Seth Goldstein, a lawyer representing the Amazon Labor Union and Trader Joe’s United, said “Since [these companies] can’t defeat successful union organizing, they now want to just destroy the whole process.” 10. Finally, in some positive labor news, Michigan has become the first state in 60 years to overturn its so-called “right to work” law, the Nation https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/michigan-right-to-work-law/ reports. Michigan AFL-CIO President Ron Bieber is quoted saying “This moment has been decades in the making…By standing up and taking their power back, at the ballot box and in the workplace, workers have made it clear Michigan is and always will be the beating heart of the modern American labor movement.” Beyond overturning right to work, Michigan has also “restored prevailing-wage protections for construction workers, expanded collective bargaining rights for public school employees, and restored organizing rights for graduate student research assistants at the state’s public colleges and universities.” This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 5m

Feb 24, 2024

Ralph is joined by labor activist Gene Bruskin to discuss how labor leaders are joining with Progressive lawmakers to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, and the true meaning of solidarity. Then Ralph welcomes Rick Perlstein— historian, chronicler of American conservativism, and author of to explain Donald Trump's iron grip on the Republican Party. Gene Bruskin is a veteran of the labor movement as a local union president, organizer, and campaign coordinator for numerous local and national unions.  He has done extensive international labor solidarity work, including with Iraqi workers and unions, and is a founder of US Labor Against the War. He is also a member of the National Labor Network for a Ceasefire https://www.laborforceasefire.org/.  Never in the 140 year history of the labor movement—starting with the A.F.L. formation in 1885—has there been such a broad-scale resistance to U.S. government policy in the middle of a conflict like this. It's just never happened before. GENE BRUSKIN The labor movement has to understand that there's a lot of contradictions in the Democratic Party and we cannot allow the party to define our interests. And on foreign policy, the idea has been long time proposed in the labor movement that our national interests require us to do “this” kind of foreign policy or “this” war… But really what we did in our organization U.S. Labor Against the War during the Iraq War—where we actually built real solidarity with Iraqi workers and brought them all over the country here—was we said the national interest of the corporations is not the same as the national interest of the average worker.  GENE BRUSKIN Someday we will see that when unions endorse Democratic presidents, they make demands in return. They should not have simply endorsed Biden—as the U.A.W. did, and others—without demanding a public commitment. RALPH NADER Rick Perlstein https://prospect.org/politics/2024-01-03-you-are-entering-the-infernal-triangle/ is a historian and chronicler of American conservativism. He is the author of , , and . These feelings of dispossession, of vulnerability, of weakness really get at the darkest and most easily-manipulated parts of the human mind that are based on the most primal fears. Stuff like fears of snakes, fear of cockroaches, fear of dark things that go bump in the night. And those are there in our brains, they're in the lowest parts of our brains. And what the Republican Party has been doing for decades… is they're exploiting that animal part of the brain in order to aggrandize their own power. And it's really, really scary. And one of the things that makes it, again, so scary is it is precisely not amenable to rational persuasion. RICK PERLSTEIN The Democratic Party is not the kind of party that says, “Wow, we can use this and sustain these things that we were able to put in during an emergency to shore up our power forever.” Instead, as soon as they had the chance, they took them away. RICK PERLSTEIN IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS NEWS 2/14/24 1. On Monday, the Senate voted through a mammoth $95 billion foreign aid package furnishing American assistance to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. Beyond arming Israel however, this bill also bans funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, one of the key agencies providing relief to Palestinians in Gaza – even as starvation in Gaza deepens to lethal levels – and removes previous requirements that the president inform Congress of additional weapons transfers to Israel. Voting against the bill, Senator Merkley of Oregon said https://www.merkley.senate.gov/merkley-netanyahus-war-campaign-fails-to-reflect-american-values/ “The campaign conducted by the Netanyahu government is at odds with our American values & American law…I cannot vote to send more bombs & shells to Israel when they are using them in an indiscriminate manner against Palestinian civilians.” In another speech, Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said https://x.com/BiesanAK/status/1757179250317111593?s=20 “Kids in Gaza are now dying from the deliberate withholding of food. In addition to the horror of that news, one other thing is true, that is a war crime. It is a textbook war crime. And that makes those who orchestrate it war criminals.” Yet, despite correctly identifying the Israeli starvation campaign as a war crime, Van Hollen voted in favor of the arms package. The bill now moves to the House, which failed to advance it just last week. House Speaker Mike Johnson has gone on record https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4464176-speaker-johnson-ukraine-aid-senate-vote/ saying he opposes the package because it does not address immigration at the southern border. 2. In Michigan, a movement is underway to deny Joe Biden the state’s delegates, by encouraging voters to check the box for “uncommitted” in the upcoming Democratic primary. So far, over 30 Democratic elected officials in the state have cosigned this movement, including Mayor Abdullah H. Hammoud of Dearborn and Representative Abraham Aiyash, Majority Leader in the Michigan House. This list is expected to grow as Biden’s untempered support for Israel puts Michigan Democrats on increasingly perilous footing. More information is available at ListentoMichigan.com https://www.listentomichigan.com/. 3. If you’re a Hulu subscriber, you may have seen the pro-Israel propaganda the streamer has been running. Put simply, the ad – created by Israel’s National Public Diplomacy Directorate – begins like a tourist ad for Gaza – using AI-generated images – and then shifts to showing the reality on the ground there, ascribing all blame for conditions in Gaza to Hamas, with no mention of the fact that Israel has blockaded Gaza and turned it into what major human rights groups https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/14/gaza-israels-open-air-prison-15 call “the world’s largest open air prison.” With this ad running constantly, locals in Los Angeles have mobilized to protest Hulu’s offices, a rare escalation that the company would be wise not to ignore. This from Vice https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3w4xy/hulu-airs-ad-gaza-hamas-war-generative-ai. 4. Two stunning stories on Boeing: in an LA Times https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-01-30/boeing-max-9-flying-again-after-door-panel-blowout article, Ed Pierson – a former Boeing senior manager – is quoted saying “I would absolutely not fly a Max airplane...I’ve worked in the factory where they were built, and I saw the pressure employees were under to rush the planes out the door. I tried to get them to shut down before the first crash.” Joe Jacobsen, a former engineer at Boeing and the FAA, said “I would tell my family to avoid the Max. I would tell everyone, really.” Meanwhile, the American Prospect https://prospect.org/justice/2024-02-09-boeing-max-doj-epstein-deal/ reports that the lawyer who exposed Epstein’s sweetheart deal with Alex Acosta has sued the Department of Justice, in an attempt to force disclosure of what is in the Deferred Prosecution Agreement reached by Boeing and the Trump administration following the 737 MAX crashes. We hope this recidivist corporation finally gets its comeuppance. 5. The Federal Communications Commission https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-400393A1.pdf has issued a rule banning AI-generated voices in robocalls. Specifically, the commission expressed grave concern about the potential for manipulation of voters in the upcoming presidential election. AI-generated voices in these calls would likely be capable of deceiving voters into thinking that public figures had endorsed a particular candidate when they have not. 6. Gothamist https://gothamist.com/news/about-70-nyc-public-housing-employees-arrested-in-bribery-probe-federal-officials-say reports at least 70 current and former employees of the New York City Housing Authority have been arrested on bribery and corruption charges. According to the report, “superintendents, assistant superintendents and other NYCHA officials accepted more than $2 million in kickbacks from contractors in exchange for over $13 million in NYCHA business across at least 100 developments.” These corrupt bureaucrats manipulated no-bid contracts in a “pay-to-play” scheme to grant these contracts to contractors that paid them off. Federal prosecutors are calling this “the largest single-day bribery takedown in the history of the justice department.” 7. According to More Perfect Union https://x.com/MorePerfectUS/status/1753886750047670334?s=20, “Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont says his state will purchase $1 billion of residents' medical debt for just $6.5 million. Then he will cancel it all, abolishing medical debt for 250,000 people. This is the first time a state has forgiven medical debt at a massive scale.” This demonstrates what is possible for Democrats at the state and federal level. No excuses. 8. UFCW Local 400 https://www.ufcw400.org/2024/02/12/freshfarm-farmers-market-workers-vote-to-ratify-first-union-contract/ reports that the FRESHFARM workers have ratified their first contract. This marks the culmination of the first-in-the-nation successful farmer’s market unionization effort. Among other provisions, this contract includes “Higher wages…Vacation time…Improved workplace conditions and safety standards…[and] Grievance and arbitration procedures.” Yuval Lev, a market operator who was on the union’s bargaining committee said “We’re proud to codify these hard-fought gains in this historic contract and continue doing the work we love to serve the community.” 9. VOX https://www.vox.com/politics/2024/2/5/24062710/senate-immigration-bill-border-security-ukraine-2024 reports the U.S. has been pressuring Mexican President AMLO to help stem the flow of migrants across their northern border. But, signaling that Mexico will no longer blindly do the bidding of the United States, AMLO has demanded certain conditions from the U.S. if they want his help. These include “suspending the US blockade of Cuba, dropping all sanctions against Venezuela, and giving work permits and protection from deportation to at least 10 million Hispanic people living in the US.” Yet, this eminently reasonable set of demands is considered a non-starter within the Washington foreign policy consensus. 10. Finally, Pope Francis has responded to conservative critics blasting him for allowing the church to bless same-sex marriages. Speaking to Italian newspaper La Stampa https://www.lastampa.it/vatican-insider/it/2024/02/07/news/papa_francesco_nessuno_si_scandalizza_se_benedico_un_imprenditore_che_sfrutta_la_gente_mentre_accade_se_si_tratta_di_un_o-14051719/, Pope Francis said “No one is scandalized if I give my blessing to an entrepreneur who perhaps exploits people: and this is a very serious sin. But they get scandalized if I give it to a homosexual….This is hypocrisy!” This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 21m

Feb 17, 2024

Ralph welcomes Janine Jackson, of FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) and producer and host of FAIR’s syndicated weekly radio show “CounterSpin” to give us her take on the corporate media landscape and in particular how the major outlets are opining on the crisis in Gaza. Then, Palestinian American, Dr. Tariq Haddad, cardiologist and member of the Virginia Coalition for Human Rights joins us to recount the tragic story ofhow he has lost nearly one hundred family members in the current Israeli bombardment. Janine Jackson https://fair.org/author/janine-jackson/ is the program director of FAIR https://fair.org/home/leading-papers-skewed-gaza-debate-toward-israeli-and-government-perspectives/ (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) and she is the producer and host of FAIR’s syndicated weekly radio show . Ms. Jackson contributes frequently to FAIR’s newsletter , her articles have appeared in various publications, including and the UAW’s , and in books including and . What I like to say is: we hear a lot from the people we hear a lot from. The conversation becomes kind of insular, and it's very much a pro-U.S. and whatever the U.S. is doing position, with some criticism around the edges. But the point is, you're not hearing from the people who are recipients/victims of U.S. policy. You're hearing overwhelmingly from the people who make that policy. JANINE JACKSON If you just read the and the , the U.S. is the world. We're the only good country in the world. Anything we do is democracy. Anybody we bomb, we're bombing in service to democracy. And you're just supposed to keep swallowing that. And I feel that elite news media don't understand that people are not buying it. We're not buying it anymore. JANINE JACKSON What [Dr. Tariq Haddad] relates is not going to be easy to take for our listeners, but bear with us, listeners. We have to face up to it because it's your tax dollars, it's your US weapons… and cover—diplomatic and political—that is what Netanyahu wants and gets. The rest is just deceptive rhetoric. RALPH NADER Dr. Tariq Haddad https://here4thekids.substack.com/p/no-secretary-blinken is a cardiologist and member of the Virginia Coalition for Human Rights https://vchr.org/— a broadly based, growing coalition of 19 organizations, with over 10,000 Virginians from diverse backgrounds, who advocate for Palestinian human rights. Dr. Haddad grew up in Gaza.  For the last four months, my routine has been basically every morning finding out who's died, who's survived, who's suffering, who needs help, and it's been a constant daily thing starting from October. DR. TARIQ HADDAD I couldn't bring myself as a human being—forget as a physician—couldn't bring myself to meet with somebody (Secretary of State, Antony Blinken) for a photo op as a grandstanding opportunity, knowing full well what this administration has done to cause suffering and death in my family. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. And I just—especially given three minutes. How am I, in three minutes, going to describe everything that's happened to my family and all my fellow Palestinians in Gaza? DR. TARIQ HADDAD IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS NEWS 2/7/24 1. Eminent scholar Professor William Youmans, working with the Arab Center Washington DC https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/the-sunday-talk-shows-on-gaza-a-study-in-media-bias/, has published a study examining media bias on Gaza in the context of Sunday talk shows – including NBC’s Meet the Press, CBS’ Face the Nation, ABC’s This Week and Fox News Sunday. This study found significant “patterns of bias in guest booking, in the range of views expressed by guests, and in the framing of issues,” signifying “an abandonment of the ideal that news media’s purpose is to scrutinize government policies and the actions of those in power and to inform the public so it can forge independent opinions.” 2. A groundbreaking report from the Lever https://www.levernews.com/inside-the-israel-lobbys-new-90-million-war-chest/ has revealed many of AIPAC’s top donors, including such shady characters as Leonid Ravinsky, the billionaire behind the amateur pornography site OnlyFans, and Leslie Wexner, former CEO of Victoria’s Secret and a close associate of Jeffrey Epstein. This information came from a donors-only call that Lever journalists infiltrated. Also on that call was New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who said pro-ceasefire members of Congress are being misled by misinformation from “TikTok and China and Russia and our other adversaries.” 3. 19 student activists at Brown University have begun a hunger strike, demanding that the university divest “its endowment from companies enabling and profiting from the genocide in Gaza," the Providence Journal https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/local/2024/02/02/brown-university-students-start-hunger-strike-for-gaza/72452107007/ reports. The group, called Hunger Strike for Palestine, includes both Jewish and Palestinian students. Brown has invested in weapons manufacturing companies such Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon, among others. In a transparent attempt to suppress this story, the University is blocking media access to the campus. 4. Over 1,000 constituents of Representative Dan Goldman have signed a letter excoriating the Democratic Congressman for aligning himself with Republican efforts to discredit South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, per the Intercept https://theintercept.com/2024/02/01/dan-goldman-icj-israel-genocide/. The letter reads “Despite vehement and overwhelming opposition from your constituents and the alarming and escalating death toll that has now passed 26,000 Palestinians killed, including several thousand children, it is unfathomable that you persist in endorsing the U.S.’s continued support for these atrocities.” Goldman was a top recipient of AIPAC cash last month, receiving $45,400. 5. Following a mammoth general strike against President Javier Milei’s radical capitalist economic policies in Argentina, the country’s courts have “annulled the entire labor chapter of…Milei’s mega-decree, declaring its ‘constitutional invalidity,’” Progressive International https://x.com/ProgIntl/status/1752465682099286341?s=20 reports. Among other controversial provisions, Milei’s labor decree would have retaliated against workers who have engaged in certain forms of political protest. 6. The Intercept’s Ryan Grim https://x.com/ryangrim/status/1752379677140717893?s=20 has, for some time, been covering the story of Imran Khan – Pakistan’s popular former president who has been the target of political repression and a lightning rod of civil resistance in that country. Just recently, Khan’s party was formally barred from the upcoming Pakistani elections. Interestingly, this is a similar set of facts as in Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro has also barred an opposition party from competing in their upcoming election. Yet, as Grim comments, the disparity in the American response is stark: “Pakistan…  convict[s] the main opposition leader on totally bogus charges and…ban[s] his party. State Dep[artmen]t calls that an internal matter for Pakistan. Maduro does similar, citing a coup attempt, and State instantly dishes out sanctions.” 7. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a progressive former teacher in Chicago public schools, now publicly supports ending the Board of Education’s $10.3 million contract with the Chicago Police Department, thereby removing cops from the city’s schools. According to research on this topic,  “students who attended a high school that had a Chicago officer stationed inside were four times more likely to have the police called on them than kids at high schools that didn’t have in-house cops. And there [is] a stark divide in the rate at which Black students [are] policed compared to their peers.” Additionally “the presence of school officers has also not proven to prevent school shootings.” This from the Chicago Sun-Times https://chicago.suntimes.com/education/2024/1/30/24056400/cps-johnson-ok-pulling-officers-out-schools-he-tells-chicago-sun-times?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=socialflow-cst&utm_medium=social.  8. More Perfect Union https://x.com/MorePerfectUS/status/1752384265030090790?s=20 reports “Mississippi has approved bills to give Amazon a 10-year, 100% corporate tax exemption, plus 30 years of state tax exemptions. Lawmakers also set aside $44 million to help fund Amazon's latest project in the state.” This corporate welfare giveaway is all the more galling because, as More Perfect Union notes, “Mississippi has the highest poverty rate in America.” One can only hope this vote does not kickoff another race to the bottom for Amazon’s crumbs among the other poorest states in the union. 9. Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-06/uaw-signs-up-majority-of-workers-at-vw-plant-after-detroit-wins?utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_content=business reports that the United Auto Workers union has signed up a majority of employees at Volkswagen’s plant in Tennessee. Expansion of the union into plants owned by foreign auto companies has been a top priority for new UAW president Shawn Fain, and a union election at this factory would be key test for the industry and the union. Moreover, the speed at which they have organized majority support will no doubt put other non-union auto companies – namely Elon Musk’s Tesla – on notice. 10. Finally, speaking of Elon Musk, the AP https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-tesla-compensation-pay-shareholders-e75687178d1175fba36ca55bd9c4c805?taid=65b976d6779583000152a238&utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter reports a Delaware judge ruled against the billionaire in a recent case, deciding that he is “not entitled to a landmark compensation package awarded by Tesla’s board of directors that is potentially worth more than $55 billion.” Lawyers for the shareholders argued that it was “dictated by Musk and was the product of sham negotiations with [non-independent] directors … [and] approved by shareholders who were given misleading and incomplete disclosures in a proxy statement.” This all begs the question, how crooked do you have to be to lose a corporate case in Delaware? This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 21m

Feb 10, 2024

Ralph welcomes Eva Borgwardt from the grassroots Jewish-American organization IfNotNow to bust the myth that Palestinian rights and Jewish safety are mutually exclusive. Then, Ralph is joined by CPA and corporate accountability advocate Dr. Ralph Estes to discuss his book “Fight the Corpocracy, Take Back Democracy: A Mad As Hell Guide for the 99%." Eva Borgwardt https://www.ifnotnowmovement.org/ is the national spokesperson for IfNotNow, a grassroots Jewish-American organization that is dedicated to ending U.S. support for Israel's apartheid system and demanding equality, justice, and a thriving future for all Palestinians and Israelis. It's terrifying for Jews, for Muslims, for any marginalized community in the US—so many people would be vulnerable and under existential threat under a Trump presidency. And so I'm very clear-eyed about that. And I'm furious with President Biden, who seems to be willing to risk that scenario by insisting on sending unconditional aid and unconditional diplomatic support for this assault on the Palestinian people in Gaza led by Netanyahu's rightwing government. EVA BORGWARDT There's a key concept that's happening—especially among young people—which is that you can't manufacture consent with a population that has social media and direct access to what Palestinians are experiencing…And the immediacy of that horrific situation is very, very clear for a much wider swath of the American public than has had access to that type of information before.  EVA BORGWARDT Investors do not create corporations, they finance them. All corporations are created by the state. And that's often missed by the public in the description of private enterprise. It's viewed like it's sui generis—someone figures out a thing to produce or a service and goes around raising capital and starts a corporation. And what Ralph Estes is saying is the essence of the corporation—the reason why it's allowed to have limited liability for its shareholders, the reason why it has so many privileges and immunities—is because it was originally supposed to fulfill public purposes. RALPH NADER Dr. Ralph Estes https://ralphestes.com/ProfessorRalph.html is Emeritus professor of business and accounting at American University in Washington, D.C., organizer of the Stakeholder Alliance https://www.capponline.org/stakeholder.html, co-founder and vice president of The Center for Advancement of Public Policy https://www.capponline.org/, and Emeritus Trustee at the Institute for Policy Studies https://ips-dc.org/. He is the author of several books, including and . When I was in accounting, I learned one thing…Your goodwill, your persuasion, your humanness—these things, they've all got the lip service for it, they've got the words, but it doesn't cause action. I discovered what causes action is embarrassment. Corporate executives do not want to be embarrassed. DR. RALPH ESTES Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 17m

Feb 03, 2024

Ralph welcomes leaders from two grassroots groups advocating against the war on Gaza. First, from Tel Aviv, we are joined by Ido Setter of “Standing Together” a movement aimed at mobilizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel in pursuit of peace, equality, and social and climate justice. Then, here in America, Stefanie Fox, executive director of Jewish Voice For Peace, reports on their work taking action in Congress, on the streets, and in the press to stop the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Ido Setter https://www.standing-together.org/en works on Standing Together's digital mobilization team. Standing Together is a grassroots movement mobilizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel in pursuit of peace, equality, and social and climate justice. For the last two decades, the Israeli government and Israel as a state didn't offer any kind of hope for the Palestinian. There wasn't another serious peace process, no serious talks, and basically the Israeli government said to Palestinians, “Listen, this is how things are going to be. Deal with it.” And when you don't offer any hope, people will go to extreme places. So what happened on October 7th was, of course, a strategic collapse. But it was also an accumulation of the past two decades, where Israel didn't think that moving forward with a peace treaty or some kind of a peace agreement with the Palestinian people was an imperative. IDO SETTER Nothing stays on one side of the border. Everything that happens on the Palestinian side of the border eventually comes back to the Israeli side of the border… We need to stop right now what's happening at the current moment in Gaza, have compassion, and move in the opposite direction that Benjamin Netanyahu and his hawkish government is trying to lead us. IDO SETTER Stefanie Fox https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/resource/our-vision/ is Executive Director of Jewish Voice for Peace, which is one of the largest Jewish anti-Zionist organizations in the world. There is a large and growing community of faith leaders, of rabbis, of synagogues, of many, many Jews who are working to build a Judaism liberated from Zionism. And so there's probably 10 synagogues across the country that are anti- or non-Zionist. There are dozens of independent spiritual communities we call Chavurot that are connected (or not) to Jewish Voice for Peace. There's a burgeoning and growing movement to fight for the soul of Judaism, to fight for the future of our communities. And we have millennia of Jewish tradition—that predate the founding of the state of Israel and the movement of political Zionism—to lean on and to extend into a future where we are not bound up and made complicit in support for a genocidal ethno-state. STEFANIE FOX The term ‘semite’ comes out of 19th century scientific racism. It's not really something in any moment in history that anybody has actually used to describe themselves. It's only a racist term. And so, the term ‘antisemitism’ does refer to the bigotry and discrimination that emerged out of that racist classification system. And at its root it comes from the same white supremacy in which anti Palestinian racism and erasure and Zionism itself were born… And of course, antisemitism is real. There's real hatred and bigotry and discrimination against Jews. The point is that antisemitism and white supremacy and Zionism emerge from the same root of exclusionary ethno-nationalist racialized state building. STEFANIE FOX In order for [President Biden and the US Congress] not to ask for a ceasefire, they are engaged in hostilities now—the U.S. that is—against the Houthis in Yemen. They are bombing in Iraq and Syria. It's quite a price the U.S. is paying…because if there were a ceasefire, there'd be no Houthi assailing of shipping in the Red Sea. There would be no missiles with Hezbollah in Lebanon. RALPH NADER IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS NEWS 1/24/24 1. Just Foreign Policy https://x.com/justfp/status/1745250397147537518?s=20 reports that there is dissent brewing among Obama foreign policy alumni regarding President Biden’s air war on the Yemeni Houthis. Former Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, considered Obama’s foreign policy guru, called the campaign “a dangerous escalation,” and further stated "We have no legal basis to be doing that.” Rhodes, joined by former National Security Council Spokesman Tommy Vietor, are thus aligned with the dozens of groups – including the Friends Committee on National Legislation, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, and World BEYOND War, among many others – which signed a letter https://www.niacouncil.org/press_room/40399/ calling for an end to the campaign. Representative Ro Khanna, writing in the Nation https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/biden-war-powers-congress-yemen/, argues that “President Biden has both the constitutional obligation and a political imperative to seek congressional authorization for proposed hostilities,” but is quick to note that “ it is…not too late to pursue a more effective approach…which happens to be wildly popular with voters—regional diplomacy and statesmanship.” Asked "Are the airstrikes in Yemen working?" President Biden himself replied “are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they gonna continue? Yes," per Just Foreign Policy https://x.com/justfp/status/1748042115244831043?s=20. 2. Following Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s statement ruling out a two-state solution, more Senate Democrats are warming up to the idea of imposing conditions on military aid to Israel. Yahoo! News https://news.yahoo.com/us-democrats-push-biden-over-205255168.html reports that 18 Senate Democrats now support “an amendment that would require that any country receiving funding in the supplemental [aid package] use the money in accordance with U.S. law, international humanitarian law and the law of armed conflict,” with five Senators – Tina Smith, Tammy Baldwin, Laphonza Butler, Jon Ossoff, and Raphael Warnock – adding their names after Netanyahu’s comments, per Jewish Insider https://jewishinsider.com/2024/01/after-netanyahus-rejection-of-two-state-solution-five-new-senate-democrats-support-conditioning-israel-aid/. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has been non-committal, with the Times of Israel https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/schumer-democratic-caucus-weighing-best-way-forward-on-conditioning-aid-to-israel/ reporting that he said “the Democratic caucus is still discussing the best way forward, regarding conditioning aid to Israel.” 3. The Huffington Post https://www.huffpost.com/entry/congress-brett-mcgurk-biden-middle-east_n_65a98154e4b041f1ce65448b?ga reports controversial Biden Middle East advisor Brett McGurk may have earned a target on his back from Congressional Progressives. A draft letter from Congressional Democrats to Biden demanding McGurk’s resignation is already circulating, with sources saying frustration with McGurk “has reached a boiling point.” McGurk’s signature Middle East policy has been his attempted marriage of Israel and Saudi Arabia, even going so far as to push “U.S. officials to tie the future of the Palestinian enclave of Gaza to the prospective Saudi-Israel deal.” Other officials, speaking anonymously, called the plan “delusionally optimistic.” However, while Progressives may well claim McGurk’s political scalp, some worry that he could become a scapegoat for administration-wide policy on Palestine. 4. Harvard, caving to attacks from the likes of Larry Summers and billionaire Bill Ackman, has established an “Antisemitism taskforce.” However, this has not stopped the bad-faith attacks on the university, with that same coterie now alleging that the co-chair of the task force – Professor of Jewish History Derek J. Penslar – is insufficiently Zionist, per the Crimson https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/1/22/penslar-antisemitism-task-force-controversy/. Penslar has previously signed a letter stating “‘Israel’s long-standing occupation’ of Gaza [has] resulted in a ‘regime of apartheid,’” and rejects the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which includes anti-Zionism. Summers wrote that Penslar is “unsuited” to lead the task force; meanwhile the American Academy for Jewish Research writes “Professor Penslar is a prolific scholar with a stellar international reputation, whose numerous books address the historical development of many of the topics raising rancor at our universities today: antisemitism, Zionism, Jews and the military, and the history of Israel.” Responding to Summers, Professor Steven Levitsky, who is Jewish, said “Larry Summers…is not representative of a majority of Jews at Harvard,” adding “That guy is batshit crazy — and you can quote me on that.” 5. U.S. District Judge William Young has blocked the planned merger of Spirit Airlines and Jetblue Airways, arguing the acquisition would “‘substantially lessen competition’ in violation of the Clayton Act, which ‘was designed to prevent anticompetitive harms for consumers,’” per the Hill https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4412439-biden-hails-court-decision-to-block-of-spirit-jetblue-merger/. President Biden praised the decision in a statement, saying “Today’s ruling is a victory for consumers everywhere who want lower prices and more choices. My Administration will continue to fight to protect consumers and enforce our antitrust laws.” The Department of Justice has been fighting this merger since March 2023. 6. The New Republic https://newrepublic.com/article/178176/trump-foreign-payments-senate-democrats-investigate-emoluments reports “Earlier this month, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released an explosive report documenting that Donald Trump’s businesses pocketed at least $7.8 million in payments from foreign governments during his presidency.” Yet, House Democrats are powerless to subpoena witnesses to further investigate this report because Republicans hold the majority. Ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Jamie Raskin, has been pushing Senate Democrats – who hold the gavels in that chamber – to issue subpoenas. Yet these Senate Democrats have hesitated to do so. We urge these powerful Democratic committee chairs to use their subpoena power. The American people deserve to know if their president profited from foreign dealings at their expense. 7. Public Citizen https://x.com/Public_Citizen/status/1747754672209735883?s=20 reports “the [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] plans to crack down on banks charging ridiculous overdraft fees. Their proposal would cap overdraft fees at $3 and close the loophole that allows banks to take advantage of Americans who are already struggling.” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra is quoted saying “Decades ago, overdraft loans got special treatment to make it easier for banks to cover paper checks that were often sent through the mail…Today, we are proposing rules to close a longstanding loophole that allowed many large banks to transform overdraft into a massive junk fee harvesting machine." According to the CFPB’s statement https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-proposes-rule-to-close-bank-overdraft-loophole-that-costs-americans-billions-each-year-in-junk-fees/, “The proposed rule would apply to insured financial institutions with more than $10 billion in assets… The CFPB estimates that this rule may save consumers $3.5 billion or more in fees per year.” 8. California Senate candidate Barbara Lee has picked up the endorsement of the statewide McClatchy editorial board, including major Golden State papers like the Sacramento Bee. In their announcement of the endorsement, the Bee https://t.co/NP8rzDoWwk wrote “Barbara Lee stood out from the rest. Her independence, her perseverance in fighting for the underdog and her life experiences set her apart.” Confirming this assessment, just this week Congresswoman Lee was kicked out https://x.com/RepBarbaraLee/status/1748089433641902583?s=20 of a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing on Cuba for arguing in favor of normalizing diplomatic relations. 9. The National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint against Trader Joe’s for the company’s attempted union busting. Based on a 2022 unfair labor practice charge, the complaint alleges the company shuttered their New York City wine store in order to avoid impending unionization, in addition to “subject[ing] employees to interrogation, threaten[ing] to cut their benefits and [telling] them deciding to join a union would be ‘futile,’” Grocery Dive https://www.grocerydive.com/news/trader-joes-ufcw-unionization-labor-grocery-retail/705153/ reports. The United Food and Commercial Workers union praised the decision, writing “Trader Joe’s shamelessly and illegally engaged in union busting to scare Trader Joe’s workers across the region and stop these workers from having a voice on the job. We applaud the NLRB’s decision …and look forward to holding Trader Joe’s accountable for their egregious anti-worker behavior.” Possible remedies the board could utilize include compelling the company to reopen the store. 10. Finally, he Intercept https://theintercept.com/2024/01/22/air-america-cia-pensions-bill/?utm_campaign=theintercept&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter reports Republicans Glen Grothman and Marco Rubio have put forward a bill to provide pensions to citizens who worked for Air America. But just what was Air America? The generically named airline was in fact a CIA cutout which “has been accused of running weapons and even…drugs in Southeast Asia.” The faux airline also played a key role in the CIA’s operations in Laos and Cambodia, among the darkest chapters in American covert ops history. Tim Weiner, author of told the Intercept “The whole point of Air America was to kill Communists.” Ironically, as the piece points out, these are the same Republicans who decry the so-called “deep state.” This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 16m

Jan 27, 2024

Attribution: Palestinian News & Information Agency (Wafa) in contract with APAimages Ralph welcomes Josh Paul, the State Department official who resigned in protest over the Biden Administration’s policy of unconditional arms transfers to Israel in the response to the attacks of October 7th. Then, investigative reporter, James Bamford joins us to discuss his deep dive into how the Israeli government has recruited Americans as foreign agents to troll, dox, and blacklist college students and professors who dare to criticize Israeli policies. Josh Paul https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/why-a-state-department-official-lost-hope-in-israel served 11 years in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs at the US Department of State, before his resignation https://www.linkedin.com/posts/josh-paul-655a25263_explaining-my-resignation-activity-7120512510645952512-APhR?utm_source=li_share&utm_content=feedcontent&utm_medium=g_dt_web&utm_campaign=copy on October 17, 2023. Mr. Paul previously worked on security sector reform in both Iraq and the West Bank, with additional roles in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, US Army Staff, and as a congressional staffer. I have spoken with a number of members of Congress in the last few months and—even for those who haven't publicly called for a ceasefire—many are willing to acknowledge behind closed doors that yes, actually, they do believe that Israelis are committing war crimes, but they will not say it publicly. And that just seems to me such a moral abdication of the purposes for which you were elected. If you know something to be a fact, if you know the U.S. to be complicit in facilitating war crimes, but are unwilling to say it because you are afraid of how your donors might react or how your next election might go, why are you even in Congress? JOSH PAUL It is interesting that the United States places control of arms transfers and security assistance within the State Department. That is a different model than most of our allies follow… And there is an advantage to putting them in the State Department, so that they can be considered as tools of foreign policy along with other diplomatic tools such as economic assistance, such as of course diplomatic engagement. So there is an advantage there, but of course there is also inherently by doing so a militarization of foreign policy. Particularly when we look at the massive amount of funding that is provided for military assistance. And of course, the way that that providing that assistance then links us to the actions of our partners, whether we want to be complicit in those actions or not. JOSH PAUL It's been said that in the last three months, the pro-Palestinian people in the United States have controlled the , but the pro-Netanyahu people in the United States have controlled the in Congress and the Executive branch. RALPH NADER James Bamford https://www.thenation.com/authors/james-bamford/ is a best-selling author, Emmy-nominated filmmaker for PBS, award-winning investigative producer for ABC News, and winner of the National Magazine Award for Reporting for his writing in Rolling Stone on the war in Iraq. He is the author of several books https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/1307/james-bamford/, including . I think some of these (American) groups should be arrested for being agents of a foreign government. I mean, if you're an American and you're contributing money and support to a clandestine foreign operation or clandestine foreign agency of a foreign government, then that's pretty much the definition of being an agent of a foreign government. JAMES BAMFORD [People] get put on this blacklist—the Canary Mission list—and their job opportunities are extremely limited. Because if anybody goes for a job and their employer looks on the internet, one of the first things they'll see is that their name is on this blacklist where they're called a variety of names basically for doing something that's basically honorable. JAMES BAMFORD IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS * On Tuesday, Senator Bernie Sanders forced a vote on Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act, which, if passed, could have resulted in the United States cutting off military aid to Israel, the Intercept https://theintercept.com/2024/01/16/senate-israel-human-rights-condition-aid/ reports. While this attempt failed by a wide margin - 72-11 – it did win the support of Senators Laphonza Butler of California, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, and Peter Welch of Vermont, along with Rand Paul the lone Republican to back the effort. However, as Andrew O’Neil, policy director for Indivisible, put it “It’s frankly historic that this vote took place at all…The number of senators willing to take a vote like this even weeks ago, on the face of it, would have been zero.” * 384 leaders from around the globe, led by Representative Ilhan Omar and German politician Sevim Dağdelen, have signed a letter calling for “an immediate, multilateral ceasefire in Israel and Palestine, the release of all the remaining Israeli and international hostages, and the facilitation of humanitarian aid entry into Gaza,” per the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/11/ilhan-omar-gaza-ceasefire-joint-letter?CMP=twt_b-gdnnews. The letter continues “We further urge our own respective governments and the international community to uphold international law and seek accountability for grave violations of human rights.” Further American signatories include Reps. Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, André Carson, Greg Casar, Chuy García, Hank Johnson, Summer Lee, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Nydia Velázquez and Bonnie Watson Coleman, who are joined by British progressive icon Jeremy Corbyn  and politicians from Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey. * Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush have issued a statement https://bush.house.gov/media/press-releases/congresswomen-bush-tlaib-on-south-africas-international-court-of-justice-case-against-israel of support for South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. The representatives write “We unequivocally join world leaders and international human rights organizations in support of South Africa’s case before the International Court of Justice alleging Israel violated the Genocide Convention. There must be an end to the violence—and there must be accountability for the blatant human rights abuses and mass atrocities occurring in the region. The historical significance of a post-apartheid state filing this case must not be lost, and the moral weight of their prerogative cannot be dismissed. The United States has a devastating role in the ongoing violence in Gaza, where already over 23,000 Palestinians have been killed, more than 59,000 injured, and millions have been displaced. We must refuse to be silent as the majority of the world is calling for an end to the violence and mass human suffering, and the need for accountability. As one of the countries that has agreed to the Genocide Convention, the U.S. must stop trying to discredit and undermine this case and the international legal system it claims to support. Our commitment to protecting the human rights of all people must be unconditional. The best time to make a conclusive determination on genocide is when there is still time to stop it, not after. We will continue pushing for a lasting ceasefire, full accountability, and a just and lasting peace for everyone.” * The South African attorney Wikus Van Rensburg has formally delivered a letter to the leadership of the United States outlining that his firm “intend[s] to bring legal proceedings against the U.S. Government based on overwhelming evidence that the [it] has, and is, aiding, abetting and supporting, encouraging or providing material assistance and means to…the Israeli Defense Forces…enabl[ing]...crimes against the Palestinian people.” Legal advocates like Ralph Nader and Bruce Fein have long sounded the alarm that American support for Israel’s actions in Gaza are in breach of international law, but it remains to be seen whether the U.S. will stand trial at the Hague for their support of this genocidal campaign. This from Al-Mayadeen https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/south-africa-to-sue-us--uk-for-complicity-in-gaza-genocide. * Al-Mayadeen https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/white-house-employees-to-stage-walkout-over-biden--israel--p also reports “in a rare show of dissent, US federal employees from nearly 22 agencies are planning a walkout to protest the Biden administration's handling of the war on Gaza.” This report attributes organization of this walkout to a group called “Feds United for Peace” and the walkout is “expected to draw participants from key agencies, including the Executive Office of the President, the National Security Agency, and the Departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs…[along with the] Food and Drug Administration…the National Park Service, the Federal Aviation Administration…and the Environmental Protection Agency.” Axios https://www.axios.com/2024/01/14/mike-johnson-gop-federal-workers-gaza reports that Congressional Republicans are planning to retaliate against these workers exercising their free speech rights, with Speaker Johnson, saying “Any government worker who walks off the job to protest U.S. support for our ally Israel is ignoring their responsibility and abusing the trust of taxpayers…They deserve to be fired." * The Intercept https://theintercept.com/2024/01/08/israel-army-refusal-protest/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=theintercept published an interview with teenage Israelis who are refusing conscription into the IDF. These young “refuseniks,” almost all part of the group Mesarvot – Hebrew for “we refuse” –  have been resisting conscription since the large-scale protests against the Netanyahu government last year, when over 230 of them signed a letter stating “The dictatorship that has existed for decades in the territories is now seeping into Israel and against us…This trend did not start now — it is inherent to the regime of occupation and Jewish supremacy. The masks are simply coming off.” However, these courageous young people are facing an increasingly hostile environment in Israel due to their refusal to serve. We offer them our solidarity. * In a massive blow to journalism, the Baltimore Sun has been sold to David Smith, the Baltimore Banner https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/economy/the-baltimore-sun-media-group-sold-to-local-media-local-businessman-david-smith-GSYOCRC3PRE5FHNHDGHDBYFGOY/ reports. Smith serves as executive chairman of Sinclair Inc., which owns more than 200 television stations nationwide and has been criticized for pushing uniform, Right-wing narratives through these channels. In addition to the Sun, Smith purchased its affiliated papers, including “The Capital and Maryland Gazette newspapers in Annapolis, the Carroll County Times, the Howard County Times and the Towson Times.” * The Lever https://www.levernews.com/how-boeing-bought-washington/ has dropped a stunning report on “How Boeing Bought Washington,” which lays out the influence network the embattled airline has cultivated in the Beltway. The top-line numbers alone are eye-popping, with Boeing & Spirit AeroSystems spending over $65 million on lobbying and campaign donations over just four years. More insidious however is what they got for this money, namely safety waivers enabling them to keep unsafe planes in the sky. This report also touches on the case of Republican Congressman Ron Estes of Kansas, a top recipient of this campaign cash, who pressured the FAA to reinstate the 737 MAX – and Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, who received nearly $200,000 from the company and then dutifully “pushed through legislation to exempt Boeing’s 737 MAX…from a looming safety deadline that would have required changes in their alerting systems…despite concerns from the families of the passengers who died in the 2018 and 2019 crashes.” * Josh Eidelson, Labor reporter at Bloomberg, is out with two major updates on the United Auto Workers new campaigns. One, Bloomberg https://x.com/josheidelson/status/1745131409969459404?s=20 reports the union has “signed up more than 30% of workers at a Mercedes plant in Alabama, after hitting the same milestone last month at Volkswagen in Tennessee,” illustrating the durability and success of their union drives at foreign-owned auto plants in the U.S. And two, Bloomberg https://x.com/josheidelson/status/1745449377915961431?s=20 reports that “Tesla is boosting pay for all US production associates, the latest bump by a non-union automaker following the UAW’s big Detroit wins.” Taken together, one gets the impression that Auto Workers are organized, on the march, and have momentum behind them. * In Guatemala, Bernardo Arevalo of the Semilla Party has finally been sworn in as the president of that country, beating back multiple attempts by the corrupt ruling elites to undermine his ascension down to the moment of his inauguration. Reuters https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/guatemalas-arevalo-due-assume-presidency-with-difficult-path-ahead-2024-01-14/ reports “Arevalo's inauguration was thrown into disarray after the Supreme Court allowed opposition lawmakers to maintain their leadership of Congress, and forced members of the president's Semilla party to stand as independents… [sparking] wrangling in Congress…[with] supporters of Arevalo threaten[ing] to storm the building as police in riot gear amassed in the streets.” Arevalo managed to weather the storm however, in part because he was aided by other countries’ leadership. USAID Administrator Samantha Power, opposing the power grab, tweeted https://x.com/PowerUSAID/status/1746670161019503046?s=20 “There is no question that Bernardo Arevalo is the President of Guatemala. We call on all sides to remain calm — and for the Guatemalan Congress to uphold the will of the people. The world is watching.” Meanwhile, the presidents and foreign ministers present at the inauguration released a statement forcefully avowing “The will of the Guatemalan people must be respected,” Progressive International’s David Adler reports https://x.com/davidrkadler/status/1746665619099939192?s=20. Renowned investigative journalist Allan Nairn added https://x.com/AllanNairn14/status/1746672204513767557?s=20, “What is clear…is that even if Arévalo succeeds in taking power as president he will be governing under siege”. This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 32m

Jan 20, 2024

Ralph welcomes Professor John Kindt to discuss his recent article in the Time to Criminalize Internet Gambling." Then, our resident international law expert Bruce Fein takes us to the International Court of Justice and explains the lawsuit that South Africa has filed against Israel, which alleges genocide. Finally, Ralph has some choice words about Boeing's latest disaster.  John Kindt https://giesbusiness.illinois.edu/profile/john-kindt is Professor Emeritus of Business Administration at the University of Illinois Gies College of Business, where his teaching focuses on—among other topics—the socio-economics of gambling and legal policies. Mr. Kindt has frequently testified as an expert witness before state legislative and congressional committees. Illinois was one of the first states to get the so-called riverboat casinos. And of course, this was just deployed to bring casinos everywhere to Illinois and to other states. They promise what we call “the E's” — they'll help education, they'll help the environment, they'll help the elderly, they'll help employment. None of that is accurate. They just throw nickels and dimes at this. JOHN KINDT I feel very comfortable naming names of these companies. If you just talk about “Big Gambling”, you're nowhere near specific accountability. When you talk about specific names of companies, the next step is the names of the CEOs, the names of the Directors of Marketing and Advertising. You find out whether there are any whistleblowers. RALPH NADER Bruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law.  Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of , and . To my mind, this perhaps is the strongest case in the history of the Genocide Convention…Literally hundreds of officials from the highest levels of the Netanyahu administration have openly stated, “We are going to lay a siege. No water, no food, no medicine, no shelter, no hospitals.” You can't survive under those conditions… And they've also stated clearly that in their view, Palestinians are animals and will be treated accordingly. Many statements saying, “They need to be driven out of Gaza. They don't deserve to be there.” These are the most flagrant, direct confessions of a genocidal intent that's imaginable. BRUCE FEIN The FAA has inspection offices up in Seattle and they go to the Boeing factories all the time, but they've been rather lax over the years— to put it mildly. They have delegated regulatory authority to Boeing to regulate itself, and then they do the paperwork at the FAA… There’s going to be more and more disclosures, and it will come right back to the lack of regulatory enforcement and prosecution of the culpable executives who have turned a once-proud engineering aerospace company into a speculative tool to increase the stock price on Wall Street. RALPH NADER IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS NEWS 1/10/24 1. In response to Israel’s campaign of destruction in Gaza, South Africa has filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice alleging that Israel’s actions “‘are genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part’ of the Palestinians in Gaza,” per PBS News Hour https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/read-the-full-application-bringing-genocide-charges-against-israel-at-un-top-court. Israel – which PBS acknowledges “has a history of ignoring international tribunals,” – intends to send a legal team to the Hague to fight this case. 2. South Africa is joined in this case by a number of states, including the Organization of Islamic Countries, the Plurinational state of Bolivia, Jordan, Turkey, and Malaysia, according to Al Jazeera https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/9/which-countries-back-south-africas-genocide-case-against-israel-at-icj. Some high-profile individuals have also signed on, most notably Israeli Leftist MK Ofer Cassif, who said “My constitutional duty is to Israeli society and all its residents, not to a government whose members and its coalition are calling for ethnic cleansing and even actual genocide.” Common Dreams https://www.commondreams.org/news/ofer-cassif-icj-genocide-case reports that in retaliation, Right-wing Israeli MKs are seeking to expel Cassif from the Knesset. 3. Speaking to Democracy Now! https://www.democracynow.org/2024/1/2/south_africa_israel_genocide_icj, Professor Francis Boyle – the only lawyer to have ever successfully won a Genocide Convention case at the ICJ – said “I believe South Africa will win an order against Israel to cease and desist from committing all acts of genocide against the Palestinians.” He added that Israel has historically heeded orders from the U.S. to cease attacks on Palestine, meaning “We here in the United States of America have the power to stop this.” 4. Leaking anonymously to the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/news/2024/jan/05/adl-pro-israel-advocacy-zionism-antisemitism, extremism experts at the Anti-Defamation League are expressing outrage at the organization’s attempts to draw “false equivalences,” between anti-Semitism and Left-wing anti-Zionism, emphasizing that such equivocation undermines their mission to stop anti-Semitic hate. One ADL employee went so far as to say “The ADL has a pro-Israel bias and an agenda to suppress pro-Palestinian activism.” Since October 7th, the ADL has “been working with law enforcement to crack down on college campus activism … [developing] a legal strategy to go after branches of Students for Justice in Palestine… [and describing] grassroots calls for protests of Israel’s military campaign as ‘pro-Hamas activism’.” 5. A stunning report in the Intercept https://theintercept.com/2024/01/04/cnn-israel-gaza-idf-reporting/ reveals that “Whether reporting from the Middle East, the United States, or anywhere else across the globe, every CNN journalist covering Israel and Palestine must submit their work for review by the news organization’s bureau in Jerusalem prior to publication.” While CNN corporate claims this does not significantly impact their coverage of Israel and Palestine issues, a CNN staffer, speaking anonymously for fear of reprisal, disputes this claim – saying “Every single Israel-Palestine-related line for reporting must seek approval from the [Jerusalem] bureau — or, when the bureau is not staffed, from a select few handpicked by the bureau and senior management.” As Jim Naureckas of FAIR puts it, “When you have a protocol that routes all stories through one checkpoint, you’re interested in control, and the question is who is controlling the story?” 6. President Biden is facing a campaign staff revolt related to his policy on Gaza, POLITICO https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/03/biden-campaign-anonymous-letter-israel-hamas-00133705 reports. In a letter, 17 current Biden campaign staffers wrote “As your staff, we believe it is both a moral and electoral imperative for you to publicly call for a cessation of violence…Complicity in the death of over 20,000 Palestinians, 8,200 of whom are children, simply cannot be justified.” Beyond the clear moral imperative of this plea, the staffers emphasize that this is a form of “tough love,” intended to help Biden avert electoral catastrophe come November, already ominously portended by “volunteers quit[ting] in droves,” over Gaza. 7. Over 130 constituents of Representative Elise Stefanik, along with groups representing District members and concerned citizens, sent a letter to the Congresswoman this week decrying her conduct in the recent hearings that led to the ouster of the presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. The letter excoriated Rep. Stefanik for charging the university presidents with anti-Semitism while herself full-throatedly endorsing the ongoing genocide in Gaza, ending with the clear demand “Resign and let us be done with you!” 8. The Federal Trade Commission has won a temporary block of IQVIA’s Acquisition of Propel Media, according to a statement https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/01/StatementonFTCWinSecuringTemporaryBlockofIQVIA’sAcquisitionofPropelMedia?utm_campaign=statement_on_ftc_win_secu&utm_content=1704298763&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter released by the Commission. The FTC sought to block this merger because “the proposed acquisition would give IQVIA a market-leading position in programmatic advertising targeted to doctors and other health care professionals.” Senator Elizabeth Warren congratulated https://x.com/SenWarren/status/1742716570399646098?s=20 the FTC on social media, writing “This court win is the [FTC’s] fourth merger victory in the health care industry in less than a month. [Lina Khan] continues to fight for more competition and against bad deals that would raise health care prices for consumers.” 9. You may have heard about the recent Boeing 737 MAX 9 crisis, in which a violent explosive decompression event resulted in a door plug blowing out of the plane while in midair. Amid the flurry of information coming out about this story, it is worth highlighting the response https://www.afacwa.org/temporary_grounding_certain_737max9 by the Association of Flight Attendants, headed by labor icon Sara Nelson: “Our union supports the FAA's quick and decisive action to ground certain 737 MAX 9[s] that do not meet the inspection cycles specified in the Emergency Airworthiness Directive. This is a critical move to ensure the safety of all crew and passengers, as well as confidence in aviation safety. Lives must come first always. Last night’s incident could have been worse, but Flight Attendants and Pilots of Alaska 1282 ensured all passengers and crew arrived safely back on the ground. We commend the entire crew. We are closely monitoring and working with our airlines - Alaska and United - the FAA, and DOT to ensure that aircraft are not returned to service until they are deemed safe for all. AFA is also participating in the NTSB investigation and we support that process for full safety findings and actions. Flight Attendants are aviation’s first responders. We are trained for emergencies, and we work every flight for aviation safety first and foremost. We fly only when it’s safe.” 10. Finally, taking notice of the recent, groundbreaking Senate hearing on Corporate Crime, the Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/05/democrats-doj-white-collar-crime/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzA0NTE3MjAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzA1ODk5NTk5LCJpYXQiOjE3MDQ1MTcyMDAsImp0aSI6IjVjMTU4OWMxLWQ5NDctNDg0OS04YmQ1LWFhNjFiNjk2OTFlZiIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9wb2xpdGljcy8yMDI0LzAxLzA1L2RlbW9jcmF0cy1kb2otd2hpdGUtY29sbGFyLWNyaW1lLyJ9.82oAq2Klbz6DrGemVXX0TblPFITEQHgLLnxdTe3YAoc devoted an entire column to the issue. Focusing on the costs of corporate crime, the paper notes “The size and scope of corporate crime are massive, with an annual price tag exceeding $300 billion, according to FBI data…street crime…by comparison, is a meager $16 billion.” Furthermore, the repeated Senator Durbin’s lamentation that the Department of Justice lacks resources “to battle deep-pocketed corporations,” sending a message that “if you’ve got enough money, you can game the system and walk away with…billions when it’s…over.” In his closing remarks, Durbin wondered aloud, “What does it say about the system of justice in America…if the big guys are exempt and the little guys go to jail…?” This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 27m

Jan 13, 2024

Few people in American history have saved more lives than Dr. Sidney Wolfe. Dr. Wolfe and his small staff at the Health Research Group of Public Citizen have taken on Big Pharma and the FDA to pull over two dozen dangerous drugs and countless hazardous medical devices off the market, not to mention putting numerous incompetent doctors out of business. Over the course of his storied career, Sid worked relentlessly for workplace safety and with his best-selling book and subsequent newsletter , provided the American people with the most reliable, up-to-date, evidence-based, easy-to-read guide to pharmaceuticals ever compiled. Today we pay tribute to the man who invented the concept of the “public interest doctor.” Dr. Steffie Woolhandler https://pnhp.org/about/speakers-bureau/steffie-woolhandler/ is a co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program https://pnhp.org/, which is a non-profit research and education organization that advocates for single-payer national health insurance. Dr. Woolhandler is a practicing primary care physician, distinguished professor of public health and health policy in the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Public Health, an adjunct professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and lecturer in medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Woolhandler has authored more than 150 journal articles, reviews, chapters, and books on health policy. Dr. David Himmelstein https://www.cambridgehealthjusticelab.org/team/david-himmelstein-md/ is a co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program https://pnhp.org/. Dr. Himmelstein is a practicing primary care physician, distinguished professor of public health at the City University of New York, a lecturer at Harvard Medical School, and a His more than 150 peer reviewed studies include widely-cited articles appearing in the New England Journal, Annals of Internal Medicine, JAMA, Health Affairs and the American Journal of Public Health on the excess death rate among the uninsured, medical bankruptcy, health care administrative costs, insurance firms’ misbehaviors, and dangerous medications. For over 50 years, Dr. Sidney Wolfe—who directed Public Citizen's Health Research Group—has been what I would call the doctor's doctor. Stressing the prevention of trauma and sickness, stressing accountability for gouging and unsafe practices by the drug companies, and pushing for effective regulation by the Food and Drug Administration and the Occupational Safety and Health Agency. RALPH NADER I think that Dr. Sid Wolfe had that emotional intelligence that went with his cognitive intelligence, which makes all the difference in terms of whether someone just knows something and bewails it, or someone just knows something and connects it to action that saves people's lives and prevents injuries. RALPH NADER Dr. Sid Wolfe was insistent that those who sell drugs and profit from drugs have to prove that the drug is actually safe, that the harms do not outweigh the benefits. And for many, many drugs on the market in the United States, Sid and others found out that the harms were much greater than the benefits. In identifying literally dozens of drugs that were unsafe, that should not be used, Sid has saved hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of lives of Americans who were threatened by unsafe drugs. DR. STEFFIE WOOLHANDLER Dr. Sid Wolfe was meticulous about the truth. Sid insisted that you couldn't overstate what you didn't know, that the most important responsibility of doctors was to be honest with the patients, with the public, with the government about what we know and what we don't know—and often what we don't know is critically important. He never stretched the truth. That was important, not just because others were watching and trying to find flaws in what he did, but it was inherent in Sid's character that he cared about telling the truth and about doing what was right. DR. DAVID HIMMELSTEIN Robert Weissman https://www.citizen.org/about/robert-weissman is a staunch public interest advocate and activist, as well as an expert on a wide variety of issues ranging from corporate accountability and government transparency to trade and globalization, to economic and regulatory policy. As the President of Public Citizen https://www.citizen.org/home, Weissman has spearheaded the effort to loosen the chokehold corporations and the wealthy have over our democracy. Outrage may have been Sid's catchphrase, because he saw so much outrageousness in the health field. Precisely because he knew that things were being put on the market that shouldn't be, or services were being withheld from people that shouldn't be— not because of any lack of information, but because of the improper influence and political power and economic power of Big Pharma and the for-profit health insurance industry. And he was outraged about that. Because he understood it rightfully as a matter of life and death. ROBERT WEISSMAN Dr. Peter Lurie is President and Executive Director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest https://www.cspinet.org/—an independent, science-based consumer advocacy organization that advocates for a safer, healthier food system. The CSPI also publishes Nutrition https://www.cspinet.org/article/about-nutrition-action, a healthy-living guide for consumers.Dr. Lurie previously worked with the Food and Drug Administration and Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, where he co-authored their consumer guide to medications.’ Dr. Sid Wolfe was the person who really held [the FDA’s] feet to the fire and held us— or even me, when I was there—accountable. He was the person who raised the impertinent questions. He was the person who asked why you couldn't do more, or he was the person who asked why you did what you had done. All of those were appropriate to do. And all of those challenged the agency in ways that I think were healthy, even if not always welcomed by the agency. DR. PETER LURIE I didn't think, personally, that you could actually win in this life. What I thought that I would do was tilt at windmills for the rest of my life, fight the good fight, maybe be an honorable person, maybe my kids would appreciate it. That's all I really thought would happen. But what Dr. Sid Wolfe showed me was that if you picked the right project, if you picked the project that was the right size, that involved a question that was actually being posed to a regulatory agency… If you picked that right-sized project and you brought the right data to bear, you actually could win. You could get that warning on the box. And if you won the first time, that told you that you could win a second and a third and a fourth time. And that is what keeps you going. DR. PETER LURIE Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 16m

Jan 06, 2024

Ralph welcomes Rev. Dr. Donald Wagner, National Program Director of Friends of Sabeel—North America, to discuss the ongoing violence in Palestine, the influence that Christian Zionists have on America's Israel policy, and the religious organizations that have refused to collaborate with Israel's modern-day Crusader State. Plus, Ralph answers some listener questions and questions from the RNRH team. Rev. Dr. Donald Wagner https://mondoweiss.net/2023/06/i-saw-israels-final-solution-to-the-palestinian-problem-in-lebanon-41-years-ago-and-i-see-it-again-today/ recently retired as the National Program Director of Friends of Sabeel—North America https://www.fosna.org/, a nonprofit Christian ecumenical organization seeking justice and peace in the Holy Land through education, advocacy, and nonviolent action. Prior to that position, Rev. Dr. Wagner was a professor of Middle Eastern Studies at North Park University (Chicago) where he also directed the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. He has written several books, including ; ; . I believe Netanyahu's endgame is to force the Palestinians out, kill as many as possible. and then expel them into Gaza. Avi Dichter, who is a cabinet member, said, “We are rolling out the Gaza Nakba”. [The Nakba was the] 1948-49 ethnic cleansing operation. So it's clear what they're doing, and the Biden administration has rehabilitated a criminal in Netanyahu and enabled all this to happen.  REV. DR. DONALD WAGNER One of the few things that gives me hope after working on this issue for 45 years is the power of the young American Jewish and global Jewish activists. They're not buying the Netanyahu line. They range from being embarrassed to just angry about what Netanyahu, the A.D.L., and A.I.P.A.C have done to Judaism in blending it with Zionism. So these are the prophetic movements that are taking us back to authentic Judaism and the Torah, which is based on justice—tikkun olam [which means] healing of the world.  REV. DR. DONALD WAGNER Clarence Thomas is really the Donald Trump of the Supreme Court.  RALPH NADER I think they are reaching a point—the six-justice majority— of getting a huge backlash… I dont call for impeachment of Justices very easily. But when in case after case these Justices come down on the side of artificial entities called corporations—which are never mentioned in the Constitution— against real human beings—whether they’re workers, or victims of different oppressions, or looted consumers… that is a severe ground for collective impeachment proceedings before the U.S. Senate. RALPH NADER Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 4m

Dec 30, 2023

Ralph has a new book out,  and in this episode, we profile three of them, Andy Shallal, owner of the restaurant “Busboys and Poets,” John Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group, and Robert Townsend, iconoclastic CEO of Avis Rent-a-Car and author of the classic business book “Up The Organization!” Mr. Shallal joins us in person while financial advisor and Boglehead, Rick Ferri, talks to us about the late John Bogle and Robert Townsend Jr. explains the origins of his father’s philosophy. Plus, Ralph gives us an update and a call to action on Gaza. Click on the link to order your copy of Andy Shallal is an activist, artist and social entrepreneur. Mr. Shallal is the founder and proprietor of Busboys and Poets https://www.busboysandpoets.com/about/ restaurants in the Washington DC area, which feature prominent speakers, poets and authors and provide a venue for social and political activism. He is co-founder of The Peace Cafe, a member of the board of trustees for The Institute for Policy Studies, and a member of the advisory council for the American Museum of Peace. The whole idea of this book is to show that these CEOs reverse the business model. They didn't just have a vision and say, “We're gonna squeeze workers and consumers and environmental indifference to maximize the profits.” No, they started out saying, “We're gonna treat the workers well. We're gonna treat the consumers well. We're gonna confront the environment. We're gonna speak out against injustice.” And they all made money. Every one of them in the book said they always paid attention to profits because without profits they couldn't do all the things they wanted to do. RALPH NADER, AUTHOR OF “THE REBELLIOUS CEO” It becomes very personal. And when it's personal, it's hard to separate yourself from the business. So everything that happens in the business, it's not a one -off, it's about me. If the business is treating my employees badly, it means Andy Shallal is treating his people badly. That's a very personal way [of looking at it] and it's a way for I think a lot of these folks that you write about in the book to kind of stay on mission and say, “This is my name. This is my legacy. This is my entire being that is on the line.” ANDY SHALLAL Understanding those dynamics and how race plays out in this country and how people interpret and see race is really a very important part of our training— to make sure that people do not fall into the trap of saying, “I don't see race,” because race sees you. And unless you are proactive in how you deal with people as they walk through the door, you're gonna probably make mistakes. ANDY SHALLAL Rick Ferri https://www.bogleheads.org/ has worked for 35 years as a financial adviser and he is the host of the podcast. Mr. Ferri was a pioneer in low-fee investment advice and portfolio management using ETFs and index funds, he has authored 7 investment books and hundreds of articles published in , , and several professional journals, and he is the former president of the John C Bogle Center for Financial Literacy. [John Bogle] was very determined. He believed in giving investors a fair shake on Wall Street. He believed that we should get our fair share of market returns. He believed that there was a conflict of interest in the investment industry between the people who owned the investment companies and the investors in those companies—the people who bought the mutual funds. And he said, "You cannot serve two masters." RICK FERRI That's our mission—to build a world of well-informed, capable, and empowered investors. And that's what the Bogle Center and the Bogleheads are all about. RICK FERRI Robert Townsend, Jr. is the son of Robert Townsend, who was president of Avis Rent A Car from 1962 to 1965 and was the author of the best-selling and iconoclastic business manual . [Robert Townsend, Sr.] was definitely iconically an iconoclast, but I don't think he saw himself that way. He didn't just believe in partnership. He saw that—and teamwork— were the only things to accomplish. So he found, just through serendipity or synchronicity, partners everywhere he looked. ROBERT TOWNSEND, JR. [Robert Townsend, Sr.] embarked on a new career of consulting…He would come back from consulting with somebody or other, finding out, “All they wanted was me to tell them they were doing it right. And nothing I said actually made any difference.” ROBERT TOWNSEND, JR. IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS1. The tide seems to finally be shifting in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza. Democracy Now! https://www.democracynow.org/2023/12/18/headlines/uk_and_germany_call_for_sustainable_ceasefire_in_gaza Reports “British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called for a ‘sustainable ceasefire’ in a joint article in The Sunday Times. The pair said efforts should be focused on a two-state solution after the assault comes to an end. The U.K. and Germany had previously declined to call for a ceasefire and abstained from voting last week on the U.N. General Assembly’s ceasefire resolution. Also on Sunday, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna called for an ‘immediate and durable truce’ while meeting with her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen in Tel Aviv, saying ‘too many civilians are being killed’ in Gaza. This comes as U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Israel earlier today, where he is expected to focus talks on transitioning to a ‘lower intensity’ war.’” 2. Many wonder why these countries are changing their position so abruptly. One explanation could be the efficacy of the Red Sea blockade enforced by the Yemeni Houthis. Thus far, five of the largest shipping firms in the world, including CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk and MSC, along with Evergreen and BP, have “paused or suspended their services in the Red Sea,” due to Houthi attacks, per the Economist https://www.economist.com/international/2023/12/16/a-new-suez-crisis-threatens-the-world-economy. Collectively, these firms represent over 60% of global shipping. In response, the United States has announced its intention to form a naval bloc to combat the Houthis, risking further escalation in the region. 3. Haaretz https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-12-17/ty-article/al-jazeera-to-refer-death-of-cameraman-in-gaza-from-israeli-strike-to-icc/0000018c-76e1-dbd5-a39c-fff376d80000?utm_source=App_Share&utm_medium=iOS_Native reports that Al Jazeera is “preparing a legal file to send to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over what it called the ‘assassination’ of one of its cameramen in Gaza.” The ICC complaint focuses on a cameraman, Samer Abu Daqqa, who was “killed by a drone strike on Friday [December 15th] while reporting on the earlier bombing of a school used as a shelter for displaced people in the southern Gaza Strip,” but will “also encompass recurrent attacks on the Network's crews working and operating in the occupied Palestinian territories and instances of incitement against them." The Committee to Protect Journalists https://cpj.org/2023/12/journalist-casualties-in-the-israel-gaza-conflict/ reports at least 64 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since October 7th. 4. On Sunday, Pope Francis decried the murder of two Palestinian Christian women who had taken refuge in a church complex in Gaza, Reuters https://www.reuters.com/world/pope-francis-deplores-israeli-killings-civilians-gaza-church-2023-12-17/ reports. The Pope mourned that "Unarmed civilians are the objects of bombings and shootings. And this happened even inside the Holy Family parish complex, where there are no terrorists, but families, children, people who are sick or disabled, nuns…Some would say 'It is war. It is terrorism.' Yes, it is war. It is terrorism." 5. According to NBC Bay Area https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/union-members-ceasefire-gaza-oakland-protest/3399871/, “At least hundreds of union members rallied at Oakland City Hall Saturday to call for a ceasefire… The ‘Labor for Palestine’ rally brought out members from 14 unions across the Bay Area [including longshore workers, teachers, electricians, and nurses]. In addition to the call for the cease-fire, a statement put out by organizers said it also wanted the U.S. to stop providing military aid to Israel and ‘an end to Israel’s occupation.’ Organizers also said the rally was the first such labor-led rally in the U.S. this year.” 6. AP https://apnews.com/article/tesla-autopilot-recall-driver-monitoring-system-8060508627a34e6af889feca46eb3002 reports Tesla is recalling “nearly all vehicles sold in [the] US,”  following a two-year investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, regarding “a series of crashes [some deadly] that happened while the Autopilot partially automated driving system was in use.” Dillon Angulo, a driver who suffered brain trauma and broken bones in one such crash, said “This technology is not safe, we have to get it off the road…The government has to do something about it. We can’t be experimenting like this.” 7. Upon taking office, one of President Biden’s stated foreign policy goals was to overturn Trump’s designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terror. Yet, according to the Intercept https://theintercept.com/2023/12/14/cuba-terror-biden-state-department/ “in a private briefing last week on Capitol Hill, State Department official Eric Jacobstein stunned members of Congress by telling them that the department has not even begun the review process.” As the article notes, “The terror designation makes it difficult for Cubans to do international business, crushing an already fragile economy. The U.S. hard-line approach to Cuba has coincided with a surge in desperate migration, with Cubans now making up a substantial portion of the migrants arriving at the southern border. Nearly 425,000 Cubans have fled for the United States in fiscal years 2022 and 2023, shattering previous records. Instead of moving to stem the flow by focusing on root causes in Cuba, the Biden White House has been signaling support in recent days for Republican-backed border policies.” 8. In Chile, voters have rejected a far-right proposed new constitution, per PBS https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/chile-rejects-conservative-draft-of-new-constitution-in-2nd-referendum-vote. As the article notes, this vote “came more than a year after Chileans resoundingly rejected a proposed constitution written by a left-leaning convention and one that many characterized as one of the world’s most progressive charters.” The new, right-wing draft was characterized as even more conservative than the Pinochet-era constitution it sought to replace as it would have “deepened free-market principles, reduced state intervention and might have limited some women’s rights.” As ex-president Michele Bachelet, who campaigned against the new draft constitution said “I prefer something bad to something worse.” 9. In Argentina, radical right-wing President Javier Milei has announced a crackdown on civil society, “calling on armed forces to break strikes, arrest protesters, ‘protect’ children from families that bring them to demo[nstration]s, and form a new national registry of all agitating organisations,” per Progressive International’s David Adler https://x.com/davidrkadler/status/1735666098127733129?s=20. While unsurprising, this clearly flies in the face of Milei’s purported ‘anarcho-capitalist’ principles. 10. Finally, did Southwest Airlines cancel or significantly delay your flight during the holiday season last year? If so, you could be entitled to a $75 voucher as part of the Department of Transportation’s record $140 million settlement with the airline, per the Hill https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/4365459-passengers-could-get-75-for-delays-under-southwest-settlement/. Under the settlement, which the Department of Transportation claims is the largest ever penalty against an airline for violating consumer protection laws, the airline is required to establish a $90 million compensation system to be used for passengers affected by “controllable cancellations and significant delays,” in addition to paying $35 million to the federal government. Last December’s Southwest “meltdown” included “more than 16,900 flights…canceled or delayed…affect[ing] more than 2 million passengers around the holidays.” This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 22m

Dec 23, 2023

Ralph welcomes Allan Brownfeld from the American Council for Judaism to discuss, along with our resident constitutional scholar, Bruce Fein, the history of Jewish anti-Zionism and how Judaic principles can conflict with the Zionist project. We also review how university presidents recently responded to questioning from a congressional committee about free speech on campus. Allan Brownfeld http://www.acjna.org/acjna/articles_detail.aspx?id=3796 is the Editor of , the publication of the American Council for Judaism http://www.acjna.org/acjna/default.aspx(an 80 year-old organization that has opposed Zionism since its inception) and a syndicated columnist who has worked as associate editor of and a contributing editor to such publications as , , and . Mr Brownfeld has served as a staff aide to a U.S. Vice President, Members of Congress, and the U.S. Senate Internal Subcommittee. Everybody is afraid of this label “antisemite” if they criticize Israel. Israel has succeeded—in fact, it's a tactic used by the Israeli government. The former Education Minister [Shulamit Aloni] said it very clearly—That's silencing criticism. ALLAN BROWNFELD What has happened in recent years can be compared to idolatry. Just as in the Bible when we have people worshiping the golden calf, we have Jews now worshiping not the universal God, but the state of Israel has become the focus of attention—has become almost the object of worship. And I think that this will change as Israel's behavior continues as it is now, and as Jewish Americans slowly come to realize that the values they hold dear—religious freedom, separation of church and state—are exactly the opposite values that the state of Israel promotes. ALLAN BROWNFELD It's good in any criticism to criticize the Netanyahu regime rather than Israel. There's a lot of opposition to Netanyahu in Israel [and he doesn’t represent all Israelis] any more than Trump represents Americans. And we're seeing here—as Allan has pointed out—the most extreme right-wing, militaristic, jingoistic government in the history of Israel, headed by Netanyahu. And he's let the military run riot in Gaza. It’s out of control. RALPH NADER Bruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law.  Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of , and . What speaks volumes about [the Harvard Board of Overseers] statement is that it pretends that the only thing that has happened is October 7. Suddenly the world stopped. Nothing happened afterwards. It ignores completely what's ongoing in Gaza, which I think speaks volumes about the bias and the prejudice there. BRUCE FEIN IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS 1. On Tuesday December 12th, the Senate Judiciary Committee held the first congressional hearing on Corporate Crime since 1980. This hearing consisted of two panels, one made up of government witnesses and another featuring civilians, including Professor Brandon Garrett – architect of the Corporate Prosecution Registry https://corporate-prosecution-registry.com/. The main focus of the hearing was the decades-long decline in corporate criminal prosecutions at the Department of Justice, and what the Department needs to pursue a more expansive vision of corporate criminal justice. The full hearing is available at the Senate Judiciary Committee website https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-activity/hearings/cleaning-up-the-c-suite-ensuring-accountability-for-corporate-criminals. 2. On December 7th, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter, in light of the mounting civilian death toll in Gaza. Article 99 is a rarely used provision of the UN charter which allows the secretary-general to bring to the attention of the Security Council “any matter which…may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security,” per AP https://apnews.com/article/un-article-99-gaza-israel-hamas-ceasefire-guterres-334858e6a3eee7a71e050a6ea03de635. The last time Article 99 was invoked was nearly half a century ago, and was triggered by clashes between India and Pakistan that eventually led to the creation of Bangladesh. 3. However, the United States again vetoed the UN Security Council resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. The United States was the sole member of the council to vote against the resolution, with even close allies like France and Japan voting in favor. The United Kingdom abstained from the vote. According to AP https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-un-resolution-ceasefire-humanitarian-6d3bfd31d6c25168e828274d96b85cf8, “Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, told the council that Israel’s objective is ‘the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip’ and ‘the dispossession and forcible displacement of the Palestinian people.’” 4. The Mayor of Burbank, California, Konstantine Anthony has endorsed Representative Barbara Lee for Senate. Anthony had previously endorsed Congressman Adam Schiff – whose Congressional district includes the city of Burbank – but withdrew his endorsement and switched over to Lee because of her principled position in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza. In a statement https://barbaraleeforca.com/press/2023/12/11/mayor-of-burbank-konstantine-anthony-withdraws-adam-schiff-endorsement-backs-barbara-lee-for-senate/, Mayor Anthony said “We are in a moment of great reflection in this county…Congresswoman Barbara Lee is the progressive choice for our time.” Barbara Lee has been an extremely progressive and consistent voice on foreign policy issues, famously being the only member of Congress that did not vote for the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force, which she called a “blank check for endless war,” per KTLA https://ktla.com/news/local-news/burbank-mayor-backs-lee-after-withdrawing-schiff-endorsement/. 5. Semafor’s Joseph Zeballos-Roig reports https://x.com/josephzeballos/status/1734625637866823717?s=20 Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown is claiming that Democrats and Republicans are “making progress to expand the child tax credit” in a deal which would “revive R[esearch] &D[evelopment] [tax] deductions + accelerated depreciation for businesses.” This bipartisan gang hopes to push this through by mid-January, so Americans would see the benefit by the next tax season. Brown himself is facing a steep reelection challenge in his state of Ohio next year. 6. Two major unions in Hawaii – UNITE HERE and the International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union – are calling on the state of Hawaii to take unprecedented action to ensure locals are able to stay on Maui. In short, they are demanding, via the Honolulu Star Advertiser https://t.co/Lf6CcAwIzx, that local governments take over vacation homes and convert them into permanent housing for Hawaii residents. The housing shortage in Maui has become particularly acute following the disastrous fires on the island earlier this year. 7. In Guatemala, Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-12-08/guatemala-prosecutors-claim-presidential-election-is-invalid reports the Public Prosecutor's Office has announced its intention to nullify the 2023 general election results, citing vague “irregularities,” in an escalation of the legal coup the corrupt ruling clique has been attempting to pull off against President-elect Bernardo Arevalo and his Semilla Party. The Electoral Supreme Tribunal has stated that the elections “won't be repeated.” For its part, the United States State Department is opposing attempts to subvert the elections, characterizing these attempts as “anti-democratic actions…constitut[ing] evidence of…clear intent to delegitimize Guatemala’s free and fair elections and prevent the peaceful transfer of power.” The U.S. has also announced that it will impose visa restrictions on the individuals involved in “undermining democracy and the rule of law.” 8. Finally, back in 2021 the National Retail Federation released a report claiming that “‘organized retail crime’ was responsible for half the $94.5B in store merchandise” stolen. This finding was widely reported and served as a bedrock claim for cities increasing their policing budgets and backlash against reform prosecutors after the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. Now, the Federation is retracting this claim, admitting “organized retail crime” was only responsible for about 5% of stolen merchandise. The Federation further admits that “in most major cities, shoplifting incidents have fallen 7% since 2019,” per the New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/08/business/organized-shoplifting-retail-crime-theft-retraction.html. In a just world, this would lead to quite a few mea culpas, but I won’t hold my breath. This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 15m

Dec 16, 2023

Ralph sits down with three guests straight out of the latest edition of the Capitol Hill Citizen. First, world-renowned food politics expert and public health advocate Marion Nestle joins Ralph to discuss America's voracious junk food lobby. Then, Ralph speaks to legal expert Bruce Fein about Congressional staffers and the part they can play in making Congress stronger. Finally, Ralph welcomes Vishal Shankar from the Revolving Door Project to explain why President Biden is letting Postmaster General Louis DeJoy continue wrecking the Post Office.  Marion Nestle https://www.foodpolitics.com/ is the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, at New York University. She is the author of a wide range of books about the politics of food, nutrition, health, and the environment, including , , and .  If you want to make a profit and grow your profit every 90 days, you have to sell as much food as possible. And what that food does to public health is not your responsibility, because that's the way our system works.  MARION NESTLE We have a law on the books that says that the Federal Trade Commission can do nothing to restrict the marketing of foods to children on television. They're not allowed to do that. So what we're talking about here is a situation in which Congress is so corrupt that it cannot take on anything that will fight the food industry. MARION NESTLE Bruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law.  Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of , and . You really can't make a career anymore of being in the legislative branch as an employee or as an aide. And so everybody leaves after a couple years to go to K Street and become a lobbyist. And so with this rapid turnover, you have a lobotomized Congress. And what this letter was attempting to do was to say, listen, Congress still—when the architecture of the Constitution is honored—is the primary predominant branch among the three branches. It's simply that you're not exercising it. BRUCE FEIN Vishal Shankar https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/postal-board-suppresses-public-comments-to-advance-dejoys-destructive-agenda/ is a Senior Researcher at the Revolving Door Project, which scrutinizes executive branch appointees to ensure they use their office to serve the broad public interest, rather than to entrench corporate power or seek personal advancement. He has also worked at Inequality Media, as well as several government offices, nonprofits, and policy research projects. His work has appeared in and , and he has been quoted in , , and the . The crisis [with Louis DeJoy] is not as immediate to Biden, his voters, his supporters, and they very wrongly believe—in my opinion—that they can work with this man who has proven to be untrustworthy, a Republican mega-donor and partisan hack, and most importantly a committed privatizer of the United States Postal Service.  VISHAL SHANKAR DeJoy has been one of the single biggest impediments to piloting or expanding to creative new ideas that can grow out the Postal Service for decades to come…DeJoy has very stubbornly refused to consider these great potential ideas and is doubling down on service cuts and rate hikes as the only way he thinks he can run the agency. VISHAL SHANKAR IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS 1. Democracy Now! https://www.democracynow.org/2023/12/4/headlines/uaw_becomes_largest_us_based_union_to_call_for_gaza_ceasefire Reports the United Autoworkers union has called for a ceasefire in Gaza. They are the largest and most mainstream labor union to publicly come out for a ceasefire, joining the American Postal Workers Union, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, the California Nurses Association and the Chicago Teachers Union. UAW Region 9A Director Brandon Mancilla said "UAW International is calling for an immediate, permanent cease-fire in Israel and Palestine so that we can get to the work of building a lasting peace, building social justice, and building a global community of solidarity," per CBS News https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-gaza-war-united-auto-workers-cease-fire/. At the same time, UAW is “launching simultaneous, public organizing campaigns at more than a dozen automakers including Toyota… Volkswagen…and Tesla…aiming to organize nearly 150,000 employees…which would double the number of autoworkers in the union,” per Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-29/tesla-vw-toyota-nissan-bmw-among-13-targets-of-new-uaw-auto-union-push. In short, UAW is setting a new standard for labor. We hope other unions follow their lead. 2. A new Gallup poll https://news.gallup.com/poll/545045/americans-back-israel-military-action-gaza.aspx shows the Israeli campaign against Gaza is underwater among key segments of American public opinion. Some top line numbers: 63% of Democrats oppose Israel’s military actions in Gaza, as do 67% of adults under 35, 64% of people of color, and 52% of women. Moreover, this poll was conducted in the first weeks of November, so it is likely these attitudes have hardened since then. 3. Responding to the protests against Israel’s campaign, the House has passed a resolution classifying anti-Zionism as anti-Semitism, even among American Jews. In a surprising move, high ranking Jewish Democrat Jerrold Nadler took to the floor to decry https://nadler.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=395107 this resolution, saying “the resolution suggests that ALL anti-Zionism is antisemitism. That is either intellectually disingenuous or just factually wrong. And it unfairly implicates many of my orthodox former constituents in Brooklyn, many of whose families rose from the ashes of the Holocaust…the authors, if they were at all familiar with Jewish history and culture, should know about Jewish anti-Zionism that was, and is, expressly NOT antisemitic.” 4. Semafor https://www.semafor.com/article/11/30/2023/msnbc-cancels-mehdi-hasans-show reports MSNBC has canceled Mehdi Hasan’s news program. This article implies MSNBC canceled the show because it was a “cult favorite” which never “translated to ratings successes,” though it seems likely that Hasan’s willingness to push back on Israeli talking points during this recent conflict played a role as well. Lest we forget this is the network that canceled Phil Donahue’s blockbuster news program for criticizing the Iraq War. 5. Just Foreign Policy’s Aída Chávez reports https://x.com/aidachavez/status/1731740829293944935?s=20 “Sen[ator] Rand Paul is forcing a vote this week on getting US troops out of Syria. His Syria War Powers Resolution would remove all US troops – approx. 900 [US military personnel] – from Syria in the next 30 days.” Chávez highlights that “US forces have been targeted with dozens of attacks in Syria [in recent days] over US support for war in Gaza.” 6. From OtherWorlds.org https://otherwords.org/the-pentagon-just-cant-pass-an-audit/: the Pentagon has failed yet another audit. The mammoth Department of Defense has never passed an audit, and only even completed its first in 2018. In this most recent iteration, “the Pentagon was able to account for just half of its $3.8 trillion in assets (including equipment, facilities, etc)…[leaving] $1.9 trillion…unaccounted for — more than the budget Congress agreed to for the current fiscal year.” Congress is now set to allocate an additional $840 billion for the agency. 7. The Intercept https://theintercept.com/2023/12/04/nebraska-senate-dan-osborn-deb-fisher/ is out with a story that could have made headlines during the Populist Era of the 1880s and ‘90s. According to the report, Dan Osborn, a military veteran and labor leader who was a key figure in the 2021 strike against Kellogg’s, is running for Senate as an independent – and leading Republican incumbent Senator Deb Fischer in the polls. Osborn told the Intercept “Nebraskans have had it with Washington. We’ve been starving for honest government that isn’t bought and paid for…This poll shows that Nebraska’s independent streak is alive and well.” The article notes Nebraska Democrats have not yet fielded a candidate in this Senate race and are considering backing Osborn. Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb said many Nebraska voters tired of one-party control in the state, arguing it “Makes politicians lazy…[and] more beholden to corporate interests since they don’t have to answer to voters.” 8. NBC https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/airbnb-carbon-monoxide-poisonings-detectors-rcna105634 is out with a bombshell report on carbon monoxide deaths among Airbnb renters. According to the report, “NBC News has identified 19 deaths since 2013 that occurred at Airbnb properties and are alleged to have involved carbon monoxide poisoning, according to interviews with family members of victims and a review of news articles, autopsy reports, police records, and court and government documents. The company is currently facing at least three lawsuits pertaining to carbon monoxide deaths or poisonings.” Perhaps most damningly, following one carbon monoxide related death in 2014, the company made a blog post promising “By the end of 2014, we’ll require all Airbnb hosts to confirm that they have [carbon monoxide detectors] installed in their listing.” The company never made good on that promise, and that post has since been deleted. 9. Tesla has released its long awaited Cybertruck, and along with it, videos of the vehicle’s crash testing. These are distressing to say the least. As the American Prospect https://prospect.org/infrastructure/transportation/2023-11-30-tesla-cybertruck-dumbest-thing/ notes, “the Cybertruck’s body panels…are made of stainless steel…[which] is much stiffer than…ordinary [automobile body materials], which makes it dangerous. Since the 1950s at least, automakers have understood that stiffer cars are more dangerous to people inside and outside the car, because in a crash they deliver energy to other parties rather than absorbing it. In early crash test experiments with more heavily built cars, collisions often did only minor damage to the car but turned the test dummies into paste. Since then, cars have been designed with progressively more sophisticated crumple zones to absorb impact forces. Musk’s boasts of a Cybertruck “exoskeleton,” if true, are a recipe for gruesome carnage.” 10. Finally, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has died at 100 years old. A Rolling Stone https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/henry-kissinger-war-criminal-dead-1234804748/ obituary, which ran under the headline “Henry Kissinger, War Criminal Beloved by America’s Ruling Class, Finally Dies,” argues that while Kissinger deserves to be remembered as one of “history's worst mass murderers,” he instead has been given a place of honor, even in death, among the American elite. One can only hope that his many, many victims will someday see justice served. This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 37m

Dec 09, 2023

Ralph welcomes back Chuck Collins, heir to the Hormel fortune and cofounder of Patriotic Millionaires to discuss his latest report “The True Cost of Billionaire Philanthropy” which asks the question, “Would society be better off if billionaires just kept their money and paid their fair share of taxes?” Plus, we speak briefly about the situation in Gaza with Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace and Francesco DeSantis keeps us up to date with the latest news with his segment “In Case You Haven’t Heard.” Chuck Collins http://www.chuckcollinswrites.com/ directs the Charity Reform Initiative at the Institute for Policy Studies https://ips-dc.org/revealing-the-true-cost-of-billionaire-philanthropy/, where he also co-edits Inequality.org http://inequality.org/.  Mr. Collins co-founded the Patriotic Millionaires http://www.patrioticmillionaires.org/ and United for a Fair Economy http://www.faireconomy.org/, and he is the author of and . Here's our analysis: for every dollar that Elon Musk or Bill Gates - some of these billionaires - give, the rest of us chip in 74 cents in lost tax revenue. And that's at the federal level... So, these are our tax dollars at work. And yet they're completely unaccountable in terms of where the money goes. CHUCK COLLINS The financial industry, the wealth advisors—I call them the wealth defense industry—the tax attorneys and accountants. They have started to capture corners of what we think of as philanthropy with the same kind of worldview—capital preservation, tax minimization, passing on as much wealth to the next generation. So, you see ultra-wealthy people creating family foundations. And the most important thing to realize is this is taxpayer-subsidized private power. CHUCK COLLINS We need to change the laws governing philanthropy. The framework that we are living with now is from 1969, which was a zenith of relative equality in the United States. We wouldn't have necessarily known that 50 years later we would be living in an oligarchy where billionaires would use their charity as an extension of their influence and power as aggressively as they are now. CHUCK COLLINS [Shareholder resolutions are] a good way to shine some light on the murky, narcissistic, self-enriching practices of these executives who often do so at the expense of their own companies in a conflict of interest. It would be good if this discussion sparked something like that… It's not a structural reform of our political economy, to be sure. But it does alleviate some of the poverty, some of the health care necessities, the housing necessities in the areas where these corporations operate. RALPH NADER Lara Friedman https://fmep.org/about/staff/ is the President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace https://fmep.org/. She is a leading authority on the Middle East, with particular expertise on U.S. foreign policy in the region, on Israel/Palestine, and on the way Middle East and Israel/Palestine-related issues play out in Congress and in U.S. domestic politics, Ms. Friedman is a former officer in the U.S. Foreign Service, with diplomatic postings in Jerusalem, Washington, Tunis and Beirut. She also served previously as the Director of Policy and Government Relations at Americans for Peace Now. IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS 1. The AP https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-11-26-2023-556b251fadc25a234a499e957edd218d reports Hamas has released a third group of hostages – including 14 Israelis and the first American hostage – as part of a four-day truce with Israel. In return, Israel has released 39 Palestinian prisoners. The Biden administration has expressed that their goal is to extend the ceasefire as long as possible. This about-face in administration policy is a testament to the power of the sustained protest and public pressure campaigns in favor of a ceasefire. However, this truce is scheduled to expire at the end of this week. 2. Going further, Vermont Senator Peter Welch has called https://www.welch.senate.gov/press-releases/welch-calls-for-indefinite-ceasefire/ for an “indefinite ceasefire,” following the horrific shooting of three Palestinian-American students in Burlington, Vermont. Senator Welch writes “The ceasefire must be extended...to stop the bombing and prevent further loss of civilian life. The United States cannot condone a resumption of the bombing when it causes death and injury to so many civilians.” It is noteworthy that the other Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, still refuses to call for a ceasefire. 3. The Nation https://t.co/zOUDmLwi1Q has published a piece on the genocide in Gaza that was pulled from the Harvard Law Review at the last moment. The opening lines of this article read “Genocide is a crime. It is a legal framework. It is unfolding in Gaza. And yet, the inertia of legal academia, especially in the United States, has been chilling. Clearly it is much easier to dissect the case law rather than navigate the reality of death. It is much easier to consider genocide in the past tense rather than contend with it in the present. Legal scholars tend to sharpen their pens after the smell of death has dissipated and moral clarity is no longer urgent.” 4. The Intercept's Ryan Grim has shared an excerpt https://t.co/MnPt88MVJP from his new book in which he seeks to explain Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman’s intransigent stance in favor of Israel. Essentially, Grim argues that Fetterman made a deal with AIPAC and the Democratic Majority For Israel, with Fetterman pledging opposition to the BDS movement and support for unconditional military aid to Israel, and in exchange, “DMFI and AIPAC stayed out of his race.” 5. Independent journalist Séamus Malekafzali reports https://x.com/Seamus_Malek/status/1729888774782640394?s=20 “A member of Germany's ruling coalition from the Greens wants all German media to sign a pledge to support Israel and its ‘right to exist’, similar to how Axel Springer's media organizations (like Politico) do.” To learn more about ’s new ultra-Zionist German ownership, check out the first issue of the . 6. The Prospect https://prospect.org/justice/2023-11-28-google-secret-trial/ is out with a blockbuster article on the first major anti-trust case in 25 years, . This piece traces how what was once billed as the “Trial of the Century” became “the Secret Trial,” and stresses the testimony of Al-Amyn Sumar, legal counsel for the who “listed the factors that separated this case from any other his legal team had seen before… [including] numerous closed-door proceedings, withholding of public evidence, and extensive confidentiality claims by companies (not just Google, but secondary parties to the case like Microsoft and Apple) that were granted all too liberally by the judge. [Sumar noted] Even access to trial transcripts were scant, trickling out weeks after examinations.” Sumar capped this off by saying “this simply can’t be the best way to go about the legal process.” 7. The Prospect https://prospect.org/economy/cftc-industry-friendly-derivatives-rule/ also reports the Biden-appointed chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Rostin Behnam, is attempting to implement a Trump-era rule that would “roll back Dodd-Frank protections for swap trades, a major class of derivatives that led directly to the 2008 financial crisis, by relaxing margin requirements for certain categories of investment funds.” Several Democrats are coming out in opposition to this move. A letter from Senator Sherrod Brown decries this as “a step in the wrong direction… [which would] undermine the goals of Dodd-Frank.” 8. A third story from the Prospect https://prospect.org/health/2023-11-29-medicare-advantage-trap/ focuses on deceptive Medicare Advantage plans, and specifically how they have been able to legally circumvent ACA protections covering pre-existing conditions. Put simply, if one enrolls in a Medicare Advantage program before age 65, then wishes to transition to traditional Medicare, they can be forced to undergo “underwriting” or medical health screening. As of now, only four states – New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Maine – prevent Medigap, the Medicare supplemental insurance that covers the 20 percent of medical expenses not covered by Medicare, from underwriting Medicare Advantage patients attempting to switch back to traditional Medicare. As the article explains “The millions of Americans not living in those states are trapped in Medicare Advantage, because Medigap plans are legally able to deny them insurance coverage.” Yet another instance of the pernicious influence of Medicare Advantage on the health of American seniors. 9. The Tuscon Sentinel https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/112723_school_vouchers/arizona-gave-families-public-money-private-schools-then-private-schools-raised-tuition/ has published a story which exemplifies the folly of the so-called school choice movement. Last year, Arizona became the first state to offer all families in the state public dollars to spend at private educational institutions. In response, nearly all private schools raised their tuition rates. As the article notes, “Critics…cite the tuition increases as evidence of what they’ve warned about for years: Universal school choice, rather than giving students living in poverty an opportunity to attend higher-quality schools, would largely serve as a subsidy for the affluent.” 10. Finally, radical and cartoonish right-wing Libertarian Javier Milei has won the presidential election in Argentina. According to the AP https://apnews.com/article/milei-argentina-chainsaw-fed35a37c6137b951e4adada3d866436, Milei has vowed to implement his signature “Chainsaw Plan” for “wholesale reform of the state to slash public spending, scrap half the government’s ministries, sell state-owned companies and eliminate the central bank.” It remains to be seen how far Milei will go with this program, but signs point to turbulent times ahead in Argentina. This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

59m

Dec 02, 2023

Ralph is joined by author and human rights activist Miko Peled. They discuss the excuses that Israel uses to defend the atrocities they commit against Palestinians, and the truth behind all the propaganda.  Miko Peled https://mikopeled.com/ is an author, writer, speaker, and human rights activist living in the United States. He is considered by many to be one of the clearest voices calling for justice in Palestine, support of the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) and the creation of a single democracy with equal rights in all of historic Palestine. Mr. Peled was born and raised in Jerusalem. His grandfather was a signer of the Israeli Declaration of Independence and his father was a general in the 1967 war.  Anybody who is not courageous enough to stand up and speak the truth and stand up for what is right, because they might be called this name or that name—it's cowardice, it's hypocrisy. Being called antisemitic is a small price to pay when you talk about standing for the rights of millions of people who have been living under such terror for so many decades. MIKO PELED  This is pure revenge. What we're seeing is vengeance of a military force and a state that have been humiliated. And just like any bully, any gangster who's been humiliated, they take it out on the weakest people they can find, people who cannot defend themselves… It's revenge for the sake of revenge. It's savagery for the sake of savagery. It's brutality in its purest form. There's no other reason than the brutality itself.  MIKO PELED  Palestinians deserve nothing less than the lifting of the siege, release of all prisoners, and the dismantling of the apartheid state. Nothing less than that should be demanded. And all we're seeing people talk about is ceasefires, as though a ceasefire is some great accomplishment. Ceasefire does not provide the possibility of a future where this is not repeated. What needs to be demanded now is a political solution that will ensure the safety and security of Palestinians—and that is never part of the conversation. A ceasefire does not secure the lives or the security of Palestinians, because we know Israel will violate it a week later.  MIKO PELED  It's not going to collapse because Israelis agree. It's not going to collapse because Israelis wake up one morning in a good mood. Israel is going to have to be forced on its knees. Just like in South Africa, whites in South Africa were on their knees. We're talking about severe sanctions. We're talking about closing down all diplomatic missions. We're talking about not allowing Israelis to participate in sporting events, cultural events, any events, academic arenas. They need to be shunned. Israeli society and the apartheid state that they created need to be brought on their knees. MIKO PELED  IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS 1. The Intercept’s Prem Thakker reports https://x.com/prem_thakker/status/1727003496325787707?s=20 43 members of Congress now support a ceasefire. Some notable additions in recent days include Reps. Becca Balint, Sara Jacobs and Jamie Raskin, the first Jewish members to call for a ceasefire, and Jeff Merkley, the second Senator to call for a ceasefire. Pressure continues to mount on Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, but they still do not support a ceasefire. And the LA Times editorial board has become the first in the nation to call for a ceasefire. 2. According to Time https://time.com/6330906/israel-hamas-war-journalist-death/, Reporters Without Borders has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court for war crimes committed against Palestinian journalists in Gaza. The complaint cites the "deliberate, total or partial, destruction of the premises of more than 50 media outlets in Gaza." This crisis will likely prove decisive for the legitimacy of the ICC, as several countries including South Africa, have alleged that the court is biased in favor of western-aligned governments. 3. Haaretz https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-11-17/ty-article-live/idf-finds-body-of-65-year-old-israeli-woman-held-by-hamas-near-gazas-al-shifa-hospital/0000018b-db64-df9a-ab8b-dfecf1ca0000 reports former Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, who crafted the “Leahy Law” which prohibits U.S. military assistance to foreign security forces that violate human rights, has gone on record saying that the U.S. routinely ignores Israeli human rights abuses. Leahy said “it appears to me that shooting civilians and targeting civilian infrastructure, when you can't prove it is being used by Hamas, would be a violation of human rights…What is being done to apply the Leahy law now? I don’t know. I know past administrations have been too concerned to do it. It should apply to the Israeli Defense Forces, unless the administration, as many have, has waived it." 4. While not calling for a ceasefire, both Bernie Sanders and President Biden have announced plans to reshape military aid to Israel. Senator Sanders has put forth a plan https://www.sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/news-sanders-calls-for-conditioning-aid-to-israel-amidst-the-growing-crisis-in-gaza-and-the-west-bank/ to condition military aid upon multiple criteria including “the right of displaced Gazans to return to their homes” and “an end to settler violence in the West Bank.” Barak Ravid reports https://x.com/BarakRavid/status/1725976743234683347?s=20 President Biden is considering imposing sanctions on Israeli settlers – who have long operated with legal impunity – threatening to ban visas for violent Israeli extremists in the West Bank. Ravid adds this would be the “1st time the U.S. [has] publicly consider[ed] individual sanctions against settlers.” 5. KCRA https://www.kcra.com/article/california-democrats-meet-to-consider-endorsement-in-us-senate-race-ahead-of-march-primary/45882943 reports The California Democratic convention was interrupted at multiple points by demonstrators demanding the candidates to fill Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat call for a ceasefire. Rep. Barbara Lee has done so, but not Reps. Katie Porter or Adam Schiff. Barbara Lee won the most votes at the convention, but fell short of the 60% threshold required to get the formal endorsement of the state party. 6. A stunning ceasefire protest in the Bay Area saw activists park their cars on the bay bridge, then throw their keys into the water below – making it impossible for them or the police to move the vehicles, per FOX 8 https://myfox8.com/news/traffic/protestors-shut-down-bay-bridge-by-chaining-themselves-to-bridge-throwing-keys-into-water/. Another protest at the DNC resulted in a police crackdown leaving 90 protesters injured, per the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/16/us-capitol-police-clash-protesters-demanding-ceasefire-israel-gaza. Yet another protest at DC’s Union Station resulted in 3 arrests on vandalism charges for protesters leaving bloody handprints on the inside of the station, per WTOP https://wtop.com/dc/2023/11/dcs-union-station-blocked-off-metro-service-disrupted-due-to-protest-calling-for-cease-fire-in-gaza/. Expect these disruption tactics to escalate as political leaders continue to ignore demands for a ceasefire. 7. While many colleges are clamping down on pro-Palestine protests, Ryan Grim reports https://x.com/ryangrim/status/1725612916655677488?s=20 Occidental has set the model for engagement with student activists. The college announced that, following a student occupation of the administration office, they would pursue a dialogue with the student activists. Both the students and the administration stressed that Barack Obama got his start in activism at Occidental, pressuring the administration to divest from apartheid South Africa. 8. In other news, Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-16/guatemala-prosecutors-seek-to-revoke-president-elect-s-immunity#xj4y7vzkg reports the Public Prosecutor’s office in Guatemala has conducted raids and arrests of Semilla party members. Semilla candidate Bernardo Arevalo was elected earlier this year, successfully, dealing a rare defeat to the openly corrupt political establishment in that country. The Public Prosecutor’s office also announced that they will file charges against Arevalo, his vice-president elect, and several Semilla congressmen. The State Department https://www.state.gov/actions-to-impose-additional-visa-restrictions-in-response-to-anti-democratic-actions-in-guatemala-2/ has decried this move and is seeking to “Impose Additional Visa Restrictions in Response to Anti-Democratic Actions in Guatemala.”  9. Finally, More Perfect Union https://x.com/MorePerfectUS/status/1727031811916583047?s=20 reports that “For the first time ever, U.S. auto workers have gotten a shuttered factory reopened. Workers at the massive Belvidere [Illinois] Jeep plant were laid off or told to relocate in March. Now the plant is not only reopening — @UAW won three times as many jobs and a $30/hour wage floor.” This stunning victory shows what is possible in terms of revitalizing domestic manufacturing with a renewed labor movement. And that is something we can all be thankful for. This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 5m

Nov 25, 2023

Contrary to the popular narrative, Americans overwhelmingly agree on a startling range of issues. So why is there such a disconnect between what Americans want and what Americans get?  Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen, and co-author of the book “The Corporate Sabotage of America” identifies the culprits and outlines what we, the people, can do about it. Then, Ralph welcomes Ambassador Chas Freeman, who brings his vast diplomatic experience and historical insight to bear on the ongoing collective punishment raining down on the people of Gaza. Robert Weissman https://www.citizen.org/about/person/robert-weissman/ is a staunch public interest advocate and activist, as well as an expert on a wide variety of issues ranging from corporate accountability and government transparency, to trade and globalization, to economic and regulatory policy. ​​For 20 years, he edited the magazine https://www.multinationalmonitor.org/, and as the President of Public Citizen, Weissman has spearheaded the effort to loosen the chokehold corporations and the wealthy have over our democracy. He is the author, with Joan Claybrook, of . More than three in four people want to have CEOs held accountable for the crimes they commit. Eight in ten think the minimum wage is too low. Four in five support paid family leave, and on and on and on. By way of context, those are not regular numbers when you get polls. In fact, if you ask people, “Does the earth revolve around the sun?” only 80% of Americans agree that the earth revolves around the sun. So, when you get numbers in the 90% or 85%, these are extraordinary levels of national agreement. ROBERT WEISSMAN If you step back from the immediate moment, I think the big-picture story is that the bounds of what's considered important—or the policy solutions that are considered acceptable or reasonable—are really constructed by corporations and their lobbyists, and that's the problem we face every day. ROBERT WEISSMAN Ambassador Chas Freeman https://chasfreeman.net/ is a senior fellow at Brown University's https://home.watson.brown.edu/people/faculty/visiting-fellows/chas-freeman Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense, ambassador to Saudi Arabia, acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, and Chargé d'affaires at both Bangkok and Beijing. Ambassador Freeman is the author of several well-received books on statecraft and diplomacy, including , , and . I think one of the great pieces of collateral damage from this (Israeli/Gaza conflict) is the United Nations Charter, international law, and the credibility of these institutions at the UN. But more particularly, I think the next time Americans lecture foreigners about human rights, they're not going to laugh at us—they're going to sneer. Because this is such a tremendous demonstration of hypocrisy on our part. AMBASSADOR CHAS FREEMAN It (the bombing of Gaza) is a gross violation of any standard of human rights. And the fact that we support it is discrediting us. We started out claiming that the eyes of the world were upon us, and we should shine like a city on the hill. I think much of the world looks at us now and they see dead babies in rubble, not a shining city on the hill. AMBASSADOR CHAS FREEMAN IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS 1. On Tuesday, political titans like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries rallied in support of Israel in Washington. While supposedly condemning antisemitism, the speakers were joined by Pastor John Hagee, a rabid Christian Zionist who wrote in his book that Hitler was a "half-breed Jew" he was sent by God, as a "hunter," to persecute Europe's Jews and drive them towards "the only home God ever intended for the Jews to have – Israel." John McCain rejected Hagee’s endorsement in the 2008 presidential campaign. Meanwhile, the Intercept https://theintercept.com/2023/11/11/palestine-israel-protests-ceasefire-antisemitic/ reports that the ADL plans to add Jewish peace rallies to their map of antisemitic incidents. 2. Axios https://www.axios.com/2023/11/13/biden-gaza-hamas-policy-state-department-memo?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_source=twitter is out with a report on an “internal State Department dissent memo [which] accuses President Biden of "spreading misinformation" on the Israel-Hamas war and alleges that Israel is committing "war crimes" in Gaza.” Axios continues “The memo — signed by 100 State Department and USAID employees — urges senior U.S. officials to reassess their policy toward Israel and demand a ceasefire in Gaza, where more than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war.” This memo comes as the State Department is attempting to establish red lines on Israeli aggression, with Secretary of State Blinken stating “The United States believes key elements [for peace] should include no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. Not now, not after the war…No reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends. No attempt to blockade or besiege Gaza. No reduction in the territory of Gaza,” per the Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/11/08/blinken-gaza-future-reoccupation-indefinite/. 3. Al Mayadeen https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/colombia-to-cosponsor-algeria-s-war-crimes-icc-case-against reports that Colombian President Gustavo Petro will cosponsor Algeria’s war crimes case against Israel at the International Criminal Court. Petro has previously voiced support for ICC action, stating “what is happening in Gaza are crimes against humanity.” TimesLIVE https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/opinion-and-analysis/opinion/2023-11-12-arrest-netanyahu-and-halt-the-gaza-genocide/ reports South Africa’s Foreign Minister Zane Dangor is also calling for an ICC investigation of Israeli leaders for “war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide,” stressing that “Failure to do so will exacerbate the growing cynicism that international law is applied selectively for political purposes.” 4. From the Huffington Post https://www.huffpost.com/entry/calls-for-congress-ceasefire-gaza-israel_n_654d4d0ce4b0373d70b16b0f?d_id=6645620&ncid_tag=tweetlnkushpmg00000067&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=us_main: “Staffers from more than two dozen Democratic [congressional] offices say they are receiving an unprecedented number of calls and emails demanding for members to support a cease-fire…“Let it go to voicemail” was the prevailing guidance in several offices, one staffer said.” Yasmine Taeb of Mpower Change, a Muslim advocacy group lobbying on behalf of the ceasefire resolution, said there have been over 380,000 letters sent to the House alone. Last week, more than 100 staffers staged a walkout calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. 5. Journalists have also begun speaking up for Palestine. Over 1,200 journalists have signed a letter https://www.protect-journalists.com/ “condemn[ing] Israel's killing of journalists in Gaza and urg[ing] integrity in Western media coverage of Israel's atrocities against Palestinians.” The letter names many of the reporters injured or killed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza, including Mohammad Abu Hassir, who was killed along with 42 of his family members in a strike on his home. The journalists write “This is our job: to hold power to account. Otherwise we risk becoming accessories to genocide.” 6. Pro-Palestine protesters have also been taking the fight directly to the arms manufacturers. CT Insider https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/protest-colt-west-hartford-guns-palestine-israel-18479854.php reports protesters “blocked entrances at Colt…to protest…the gun manufacturer's sale of arms to Israel.”  Protester Mika Zarazvand is quoted saying that Israel is requesting 24,000 guns from the United States, and “we know that two-thirds of them are going to come from Colt.” In Arizona, the Tucson Coalition for Palestine staged a “die-in” blocking the roads to Raytheon’s facilities, according to Arizona Public Media https://news.azpm.org/p/azpmnews/2023/11/2/218049-anti-weapons-die-in-protest-blocks-raytheon-entrance-during-morning-commute/. Meanwhile in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 50 protesters chained themselves to the door of Elbit systems, decrying the company for profiting “from genocide” per NBC 10 Boston https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/protestors-demonstrate-at-israeli-defense-companys-cambridge-office/3158474/. 7. Abed Ayoub, Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, reports https://x.com/aayoub/status/1721908670198370807?s=20 that 5 U.S. citizens from Pennsylvania were “seriously injured after their bus out of Gaza was bombed. The family was on the State Department list of evacuees, and followed instructions.” Instead of speaking out for these victims, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman has instead been antagonizing pro-Palestine protesters. At a recent veterans protest in favor of ceasefire, Fetterman laughed at veterans being arrested and waved an Israeli flag at them, per progressive veterans group About Face https://x.com/VetsAboutFace/status/1722784193107599503?s=20. 9. In other news, details of the SAG-AFTRA deal have been released. In a note to members, the Guild wrote “In a contract valued at over one billion dollars in new wages and benefit plan funding, we have achieved a deal of extraordinary scope that includes "above-pattern" minimum compensation increases, unprecedented provisions for consent and compensation that will protect members from the threat of AI, and for the first time establishing a streaming participation bonus. Our Pension & Health caps have been substantially raised, which will bring much needed value to our plans. In addition, the deal includes numerous improvements for multiple categories including outsize compensation increases for background performers, and critical contract provisions protecting diverse communities.” A full summary of the deal is available at SAG-AFTRA.org https://www.sagaftra.org/files/sa_documents/TV-Theatrical_23_Summary_Agreement_Final.pdf. 10. Finally, ProPublica https://www.propublica.org/article/supreme-court-adopts-ethics-code-scotus-thomas-alito-crow?taid=65529cd5e7423b00010d7d0d&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter reports that for the first time, the Supreme Court has adopted a code of conduct intended to avoid improper outside influence on the Justices. This code establishes guidelines for acceptance of gifts and recusal standards, both of which have become major points of contention following ProPublica’s reporting on Harlan Crowe’s influence network targeting Justice Thomas. However, the publication is quick to note that this code does not come equipped with any sort of enforcement mechanism. Law Professor Stephen Vladeck is quoted saying “Even the most stringent and aggressive ethics rules don’t mean all that much if there’s no mechanism for enforcing them. And the justices’ unwillingness to even nod toward that difficulty kicks the ball squarely back into Congress’ court.” This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 35m

Nov 18, 2023

Ralph welcomes back public interest advocate Donald Cohen to discuss the long history of corporate propaganda covering for corporate greed, and his new book . Then Ralph is joined by founder of the Free Law Project, Michael Lissner, to talk about why the American legal system is so hard to use and the ongoing fight to make it more accessible. Donald Cohen https://inthepublicinterest.org/staff/donald-cohen/ is the founder and executive director of the research and policy center In the Public Interest. He is the co-author of and his latest book, co-authored with Nick Hanauer and Joan Wals, is . Every time say something, natural instinct is to it, which means we're playing on their playing field. We want to . We say, “That's bull. You're just playing a game. And listen to how you've done it in the past.” Because many of the quotes in this book are kind of hilarious, actually. We want to make fun of them and we're hoping that this becomes a little bit of a vaccine going forward.  DONALD COHEN This is more than just lies, falsehoods, off-the-wall predictive phoniness. It's more than that. It's deadly. In other words, it's not just rhetoric. It's not just craziness. It leads to the suppression of the society's response to foresee and forestall hazards, ripoffs, and the like, and to engage in preventive activity— regulations, opening it up for lawsuits under tort law—and deterrence. So we're dealing here with not only patterns of rhetoric, we're dealing here with deadly delays.  RALPH NADER Michael Lissner is Executive Director and Chief Technology Officer of the Free Law Project https://free.law/about. The Free Law Project is a nonprofit that uses technology, data, and advocacy to make the legal ecosystem more equitable and competitive. They build open-source tools to make legal information more accessible, and they host major open databases of opinions, federal filings, judges, financial disclosures, and oral arguments.  Open information is really how government works… You can imagine if the Supreme Court publish its opinions. Right now you can go to their website, you can find their latest decisions. But you could imagine a system where people went to the Supreme Court, they decided who was right and who was wrong, and they told those people— and that was it, and they didn't explain themselves. It wouldn't work very well, because we wouldn't know how the laws are being interpreted. And I hate to say so, but when you get a little bit away from the Supreme Court…you realize that's kind of the system we have.  MICHAEL LISSNER IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS 1. On Saturday November 4th, the largest ever pro-Palestine demonstration was held in Washington. The Real News Network https://therealnews.com/tens-of-thousands-march-on-washington-dc-for-a-free-palestine-demanding-ceasefire reports over 100,000 demonstrators gathered in Freedom Plaza and marched on the White House, demanding a ceasefire. CNN https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/04/us/washington-dc-ceasefire-protests-palestine/index.html reports that another 100,000 protesters gathered in London, along with demonstrations throughout the world, including in Paris and Berlin, where authorities have sought to quash or outright ban pro-Palestine protests. These tremendous shows of solidarity underline how much the politics of this issue have changed in the western world. 2. Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian member of Congress, has been censured by the House of Representatives. Defending herself on the floor of the House, Rep. Tlaib said https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2023-11-07/pdf/CREC-2023-11-07-house.pdf “I will not be silenced, and I will not let you distort my words…Trying to bully or censure me won’t work because this movement for a cease-fire is much bigger than one person. It is growing every single day. There are millions of people across our country who oppose Netanyahu’s extremism and are done watching our government support collective punishment and the use of white phosphorus bombs that melt flesh to the bone. They are done watching our government…supporting cutting off food, water, electricity, and medical care to millions of people with nowhere to go…they don’t believe the answer to war crimes is more war crimes. The refusal of Congress and the administration to acknowledge Palestinian lives is chipping away at my soul. Over 10,000 Palestinians have been killed. The majority were children…The idea that criticizing the Government of Israel is anti-Semitic sets a very dangerous precedent, and it is being used to silence diverse voices speaking up for human rights across our Nation…I can’t believe I have to say this, but Palestinian people are not disposable. We are human beings just like anyone else…Speaking up to save lives…no matter faith, no matter ethnicity, should not be controversial…The cries of Palestinian and Israeli children sound no different to me. What I do not understand is why the cries of Palestinians sound different to you-all…We cannot lose our shared humanity…We will continue to call for a cease-fire…for the immediate delivery of critical humanitarian aid to Gaza, for the release of all hostages and those arbitrarily detained, and for every American to come home. We will continue to work for real, lasting peace that upholds human rights and the dignity of all people and centers peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians, censures no one, and ensures that no person, no child, has to suffer or live in fear of violence.” Despite enormous pressure by the Israel lobby, support for a ceasefire in Congress continues to grow – adding powerful new allies like Rep. Maxine Waters and Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, who has, incredibly, taken a bolder stance than longtime progressives like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. 3. Two recent stories reveal widespread dissent within the State Department regarding the administration’s policy on Gaza. POLITCO https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/06/u-s-diplomats-slam-israel-policy-in-leaked-memo-00125538 is out with a report on a leaked State Department memo calling for the U.S. to support a ceasefire and allow for criticism of Israel’s military tactics, the gag on which “contributes to regional public perceptions that the United States is a biased and dishonest actor,” further arguing that American “tolerance” for wanton civilian death “engenders doubt in the rules-based international order that we have long championed.” Meanwhile, the Huffington Post https://www.huffpost.com/entry/state-department-israel-hamas-gaza_n_6543a0c4e4b0cde80b8bd72e reports State Department officials feel sidelined by the administration and unable to steer policy at this vital moment. One unnamed official decried the department for using “hollow moves” which “fail to acknowledge the complicity of our decisions and policy in the relentless suffering of Gazans…igno[ing] the fact that we still aren’t pushing for a cease-fire, still not asking Israel to control itself.” 4. The State Department isn’t the only institution dealing with internal dissent over Gaza. Democracy Now! https://www.democracynow.org/2023/11/6/headlines/jazmine_hughes_leaves_nytimes_after_condemning_gaza_assault_in_violation_of_newsroom_policy reports that Jazmine Hughes, an award-winning writer for The New York Times Magazine, “resigned after signing an open letter condemning Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The move constituted a violation of newsroom policy. New York Times contributor Jamie Lauren Keiles, who describes himself as a “religiously observant Jew,” also left the publication after signing on to the letter.” 5. Brandeis University has banned their campus’ chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. The group posted on their Instagram that the Student Affairs department at the university “derecognized” the group after they planned a vigil for the dead in Palestine, deeming the demonstration “a genuine threat or harassment.” Brooklyn College Professor Corey Robin wrote https://x.com/CoreyRobin/status/1719891258858991713?s=20 “the idea of an institution bearing [the] name [Brandeis], of all names, to investigate student groups exercising their speech rights—in the name of combating alleged danger—is outrageous. "Men feared witches and burnt women," he wrote. Quite.” The ACLU has urged higher education leaders to “Reject calls to investigate, disband, or penalize pro-Palestinian student groups for exercising their free speech rights.” 6. According to the Intercept https://theintercept.com/2023/11/06/hamas-counterterrorism-mass-surveillance-section-702/, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Christine Abizaid is using the October 7th Hamas attack in Israel to argue for reauthorization of section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. Section 702 “enables the U.S. government to gather vast amounts of intelligence — including about U.S. citizens — under the broad category of foreign intelligence information, without first seeking a warrant.” This section of the law is set to expire at the end of this year, though lawmakers are likely to renew it in some form. The Brennan Center for Justice recently published a report https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/fisa-section-702-civil-rights-abuses documenting how the FBI “has used the 702 authority to spy on U.S. representatives, senators, civil liberties organizations, political campaigns, and activists.” 7. CNN https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/06/africa/south-africa-chad-recall-diplomats-from-israel-intl/index.html reports that South Africa and Chad have recalled their diplomats from Israel. South African officials also “noted the continuing disparaging remarks of the Israeli ambassador to South Africa about those who are opposing the atrocities and the genocide of the Israeli government,” adding that “A genocide under the watch of the international community cannot be tolerated.” South Africa and Chad now join Turkey, Honduras, Colombia, Chile, Jordan and Bahrain, in withdrawing diplomats from Israel, while Bolivia has opted to cut off diplomatic relations with Israel entirely, citing “crimes against humanity committed against the Palestinian people.” 8. In domestic politics on Israel, Wisconsin Rep. and outspoken progressive Mark Pocan made waves this week for criticizing AIPAC, Israel’s chief lobbying arm in the U.S. In an interview with Slate https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/11/aipac-israel-gaza-netanyahu-mark-pocan.html, Pocan said “I don’t give a f**k about AIPAC—period…I think they’re a cancerous presence on our democracy and politics in general, and if I can be a surgeon, that’s great.” The Slate article goes to say “following Pocan’s lead, a small number of congressional Democrats (and one congressional Republican) have openly accused the organization of spreading falsehoods and misrepresentations in its lobbying efforts.” AIPAC was the top 2022 donor to both Reps. Mike Johnson and Hakeem Jeffries, respectively the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House. 9. Finally, in non-Palestinian news, More Perfect Union https://x.com/MorePerfectUS/status/1720434369142145053?s=20 reports that “Tens of thousands of garment workers in Bangladesh who make products for brands like Zara, H&M and GAP are on strike. Their minimum wage is $75 a month, and they're demanding it rise to $208. The bosses are only offering $90. They've shut down over 300 factories so far.” This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 17m

Nov 11, 2023

In this exclusive podcast edition of the Ralph Nader Radio Hour, we welcome the President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, Lara Friedman, to further inform our listeners about the ongoing state of affairs in Israel/Gaza and the emergency unconditional $14 billion spending bill moving through Congress to aid Israel. Lara Friedman https://fmep.org/about/staff/ is the President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace https://fmep.org/. She is a leading authority on the Middle East, with particular expertise on U.S. foreign policy in the region, on Israel/Palestine, and on the way Middle East and Israel/Palestine-related issues play out in Congress and in U.S. domestic politics, Ms. Friedman is a former officer in the U.S. Foreign Service, with diplomatic postings in Jerusalem, Washington, Tunis and Beirut. She also served previously as the Director of Policy and Government Relations at Americans for Peace Now. I've been in meetings over the years, and I've had a member of Congress say to me, "Well, you know, land without a people for a people without a land." Or they've quoted back to me something like, "Well, listen, Israel can't make peace so long as the Palestinians hate Jews more than they love their children." That kind of stuff. I mean, it's just this basic language, which at a fundamental level dehumanizes Palestinians in such a way that you don't have to question whether what Israel is doing is right or wrong. LARA FRIEDMAN, PRESIDENT OF THE FOUNDATION FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE There are no innocent civilians because they're all somehow in their DNA, virulently, viciously anti-Semitic, and full of hate and full of terrorism. And, once you've established that as a baseline, deep racism, deep dehumanization, it's extremely effective. Because then anything goes. LARA FRIEDMAN, PRESIDENT OF THE FOUNDATION FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE We know that there was a period of time when the Israeli military literally calculated the number of calories it needed to allow entry into Gaza to prevent the population from starving. And that was all they were letting in. LARA FRIEDMAN, PRESIDENT OF THE FOUNDATION FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE We're in the most bizarre place where we have almost 10,000 Palestinians dead on the ground in Gaza. And the narrative that is being pushed out by the Israeli government and its supporters here, including in the US administration, is that to talk about ceasefire is repugnant. It's just utterly surreal. LARA FRIEDMAN, PRESIDENT OF THE FOUNDATION FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE If people still believe that you can defeat an ideology by killing a lot of people and essentially taking a whole generation and killing their parents and injuring them, and they think that's going to defeat an ideology, then they've learned nothing. They've learned nothing from the horrible experiences of the past few decades of the U.S. experience in the war on terror, and they know nothing about human nature. LARA FRIEDMAN, PRESIDENT OF THE FOUNDATION FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

59m

Nov 05, 2023

Ralph welcomes Craig Mokhiber, who just resigned his post as the director in the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for the United Nations over the UN response to the bombing of Gaza. Then, we are joined by CODEPINK peace activist, Medea Benjamin, who was recently arrested at a hearing on Capitol Hill, featuring Secretary of State Antony Blinken, for protesting the weapons bill for Israel moving through Congress. Craig Mokhiber http://twitter.com/CraigMokhiber is lawyer and specialist in international human rights law, policy and methodology, and he has served the UN since 1992. Until his recent retirement https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/31/un-official-resigns-israel-hamas-war-palestine-new-york, Mr. Mokhiber served as Director in the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). He has also served as the UN's Senior Human Rights Advisor in both Palestine and in Afghanistan, led the team of human rights specialists attached to the High Level Mission on Darfur, headed the Rule of Law and Democracy Unit, and served as Chief of the Economic and Social Issues Section, and Chief of the Development and Economic and Social Issues Branch at OHCHR Headquarters. What was really at the center of my letter was a sense that in the United Nations, international law had been subverted or pushed aside in favor of an approach to political expediency. That, first of all, ignored the norms and standards of human rights and humanitarian law. And secondly, it’s failed miserably to improve the situation in Palestine and Israel. CRAIG MOKHIBER Hamas is not just Hamas's armed wing. Hamas is also effectively a local government that provides services. Hamas is not supported by everyone in Gaza by any means. Palestinians who belong to many different parties have many different perspectives from liberal to conservative. And so, I think this continuous focus on Hamas and an effort to depict Hamas as ISIS, with all sorts of fantastical stories, is an intentional distraction away from the reality—which is the 2.3 million interned civilians in Gaza who have no say over what happens in their lives and who are on the receiving end of the Israeli bombs. CRAIG MOKHIBER [This $14.5 billion in military aid to Israel] is being called the genocide tax on the American people— who I think if they were polled would say, “Let Israel pay for its own blunders on October 7th.” RALPH NADER Medea Benjamin https://twitter.com/medeabenjamin is the co-founder of the women-led peace group CODEPINK https://www.codepink.org/medea_benjamin and the co-founder of the human rights group Global Exchange https://globalexchange.org/. Her most recent book, coauthored with Nicolas J.S. Davies, is . Many of us, for weeks, have been going into their offices, doing sit-ins in their offices, joining in with the constituents in their districts, and trying to get them to come out for a ceasefire— to no avail. MEDEA BENJAMIN It's incredible the level of insanity of giving more money to Israel that could create a regional war there, continuing to fund (to the tune of $61 billion) the war in Ukraine that could lead to a regional war there, and then tacking on some more money to provoke China. MEDEA BENJAMIN Congress is behaving like an autocracy. It is blockading itself from the American people. It is putting its own power up for sale. It is ignoring the facts abroad. It's alienating huge portions of the world, and they don't care. RALPH NADER IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS 1. President Biden is facing a collapse in his 2024 polling related to his blind support for the Israeli military. A Gallup https://news.gallup.com/poll/513305/democrats-ratings-biden-slip-overall-approval.aspx? poll shows Biden’s disapproval rating among young people has hit nearly 60%, rivaling the collapse in support for LBJ as the Vietnam war dragged on. According to the same poll, Biden has dropped 11 points with Democrats overall since September. Among Muslim Americans, Time https://time.com/6330102/biden-israel-gaza-arab-americans-trump/ reports only 17% say they now plan to vote for Biden in 2024 – a steep decline from the 59% who voted for him in 2020. 2. Many Democrats are sticking with Biden despite his deeply unpopular position on Gaza, but not Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who is Palestinian and represents a significant Muslim American population in her Michigan district. In a recent video https://x.com/means_tv/status/1718794238748438593?s=20 made with Means TV, Tlaib signals “There is no excuse for Joe Biden's support of Israel’s genocidal campaign in Palestine. Don't count on our vote in 2024.” 3. On Monday, October 23rd, the AFL-CIO held a tense meeting of its executive council regarding Gaza. The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/27/us/politics/biden-democrats-israel-2024.html reports “Mark Dimondstein, the president of the postal union, argued that Israel and…Palestin[e]…should be combined into a single state [and] called for the A.F.L.-C.I.O. to demand a cease-fire, according to four people familiar with the contents of the meeting.” He also described himself as “[an] anti-Zionist Jew.” Randi Weingarten,  president of the American Federation of Teachers, asserted “Israel’s right to defend itself, [and] said she backed establishing an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel,” Noting “That has been part of the Democratic platform for as long as I can remember.” Mr. Dimondstein, responded that he is “not part of the Democratic Party.” 4. The International Federation of Journalists https://www.ifj.org/media-centre/news/detail/category/press-releases/article/palestine-shireen-abu-akleh-shrine-desecrated-in-the-west-bank reports that the West Bank shrine venerating Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh – murdered by an Israeli sniper who was never brought to justice in May 2022 – has been desecrated. IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said “I have visited this site myself and know firsthand how important it had become to those who mourn Shireen’s loss. It is hard to see this destruction as anything other than a cruel act of vengeance, of a kind that can only exacerbate tensions in Palestine. The sooner the ICC gives this case the attention it deserves, the better.” 5. Anti-war sentiment is even taking hold in Israel itself. Israeli journalist Oren Ziv reported https://x.com/OrenZiv_/status/1718307398463402402?s=20 on an Israeli anti-war protest on October 28th, highlighting that this was the first such demonstration and that the protesters blocked roads near the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv. This comes as the situation within Israel grows increasingly tense, with reports of Palestinian students being trapped in a dorm at Netanya Academic College as an Israeli mob outside changed “death to Arabs,” per the Middle East Eye https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestinian-students-trapped-hours-hundreds-israelis-chanted-death-arabs.  6. Even the Pope has weighed in on the growing violence, joining calls for a ceasefire. The pontiff issued a statement https://x.com/Pontifex/status/1718621456202936558?s=20 reading “Let the arms cease. Stop, brothers and sisters: war is always a defeat — always, always!” 7.  In major domestic news, the United Auto Workers union has triumphed in their strike against the Big Three automakers. On October 30th, UAW and General Motors reached a deal, following similar agreements being reached with Stellantis and Ford. Axios https://www.axios.com/2023/10/30/uaw-strike-united-auto-workers-update-deal reports that details of these deals include “25% wage hikes over four and a half years…cost-of-living adjustments…[bringing top wages] over $42 an hour by 2028…[and eliminating the] despised two-tiered wage scale for newer hires,” all key demands of the striking workers. These deals also provide “permanent jobs for temp workers and boosts retirement income, including 401(k) contributions,” and protections for EV workers. Reuters https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/gm-reaches-tentative-deal-with-uaw-source-says-2023-10-30/ quotes UAW President Shawn Fain saying “We wholeheartedly believe our strike squeezed every last dime out of General Motors…They underestimated us. They underestimated you." 8. The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/10/28/payday-lending-supreme-court-lobbying/ is out with a blockbuster new report on how payday loan firms have gone to war with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. According to the report, “Powerful financial firms that offer high-cost, short-term loans to poor Americans have blocked at least five federal investigations into their business practices since the start of last year, part of a broad and aggressive campaign by payday lenders to neuter or eliminate their chief watchdog agency in Washington.” These firms have fought the CFPB tooth and nail in the courts, successfully bringing a case to challenge the existence of the Bureau itself to the Supreme Court. As that case winds its way through the legal system, these firms have “cited the pending Supreme Court decision to slow ongoing CFPB investigations or fight off the agency’s recent punishments.”  Lisa Gilbert, the executive vice president of Public Citizen, which filed a briefing with the Supreme Court in defense of the CFPB, noted that “The really big-picture implication is all of the rules of the last 12 years could be called into question.” 9. Finally, the Intercept reports progressive House Democrat Jim McGovern and conservative House Republican Thomas Massie are circulating a letter calling on President Biden to end the judicial persecution of WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange. This letter emphasizes that “Deep concerns about this case have been repeatedly expressed by international media outlets, human rights and press freedom advocates,” and noted a previous letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland which stressed that “[e]very day that the prosecution of Julian Assange continues is another day that our own government needlessly undermines our own moral authority abroad and rolls back the freedom of the press under the First Amendment at home.” Hopefully this left-right coalition in favor of press freedom will prevail. This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 19m

Nov 04, 2023

In our ongoing coverage of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, we invite retired U.S. Army Colonel and senior advisor to the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Lawrence Wilkerson, to offer his experienced and unsparing perspective. Then our resident constitutional scholar, Bruce Fein, weighs in on how in this conflict the United States violates a number of international laws. Lawrence Wilkerson https://ipconfederation.org/about-us/ is a retired U.S. Army colonel. Over his 31 years of service, Colonel Wilkerson served as Secretary of State Colin Powell's Chief of Staff from 2002 to 2005, and Special Assistant to General Powell when he was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993. Colonel Wilkerson also served as Deputy Director and Director of the U.S. Marine Corps War College at Quantico, Virginia, and for fifteen years he was the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Government and Public Policy at the College of William and Mary. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Eisenhower Media Network https://eisenhowermedianetwork.org/staff/lawrence-wilkerson/, senior advisor to the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft https://responsiblestatecraft.org/author/lwilkerson/, and co-founder of the All-Volunteer Force Forum http://www.avfforum.org/home.html.   * Here is former director in the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs Josh Paul’s op-ed in the : “Opinion: This is not the State Department I know. That’s why I left my job https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/23/state-department-quit-israel-arms/.” Bibi [Netanyahu] is very strategically allied with Hamas. Hamas does not believe in a two-state solution. They are adamantly opposed to a two-state solution. They want a Palestinian state and Israel gone. But Bibi sympathizes with that because he wants an Israeli state and the Palestinians gone. So he's very much willing to work with Hamas— not explicitly, but certainly tacitly and implicitly. COLONEL LAWRENCE WILKERSON Netanyahu's goal here is to stay out of jail. COLONEL LAWRENCE WILKERSON Biden doesn't seem to distinguish between the subjugators and the subjugated… Factually, it's pretty clear that the difference in military superpower on the side of the Israelis and the U.S., compared to the feeble weaponry of the Palestinians (if they're even able to acquire them) it's probably the greatest gap in modern history between the occupier and the occupied. Why doesn't Biden recognize that? He's supposed to be a foreign policy expert… Why doesn't he recognize those basic facts? RALPH NADER Bruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law.  Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of , and . * Here https://nader.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Letter-to-President-Joseph-Biden-October-24-2023.pdf is Ralph Nader and Bruce Fein’s October 24, 2023 letter to President Joe Biden on the subject of the Biden Administration’s public response to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. You put all [the facts] together and it really is almost laughable to have the President of the United States stand up there and proclaim the fundamental principle of U.S. international foreign policy is making a rule-based international order. As he's violating the order himself.  BRUCE FEIN IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTISNEWS 10/25/23 1. High ranking State Department official Josh Paul has resigned from the agency, citing the Biden administration’s hard line on support for Israel’s attacks on Gaza, per the Huffington Post https://www.huffpost.com/entry/state-department-resignation-gaza_n_65306079e4b00565b622b1fb?jlm. Paul, who oversaw top-level arms sales at the State Department, said “When I came to this bureau ... I knew it was not without its moral complexity and moral compromises, and I made myself a promise that I would stay for as long as I felt … the harm I might do could be outweighed by the good I could do…I am leaving today because I believe that in our current course with regards to the continued – indeed, expanded and expedited – provision of lethal arms to Israel – I have reached the end of that bargain.” In a later interview with PBS NewsHour https://x.com/justfp/status/1715404607344513509?s=20, Paul stated that human rights abuses by the IDF are tracked, but routinely ignored by the State Department’s senior leadership. 2. Adding to this staff revolt, the Intercept https://theintercept.com/2023/10/20/john-fetterman-ceasefire-israel-hamas/?utm_campaign=theintercept&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter reports sixteen former campaign staffers for Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania sent a letter calling on the Senator to back a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, writing “it is not too late to change your stance and stand on the righteous side of history.” Fetterman has thus far been a hawkish supporter of Israel in this war. This letter follows a similar letter to Senator Elizabeth Warren, wherein 260 of her former presidential campaign staff urged her to call for a ceasefire as well, per POLITICO https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/20/warren-staffers-ceasefire-israel-hamas-war-00122674. The Messenger https://themessenger.com/politics/rep-ro-khanna-loses-political-director-over-not-sponsoring-israel-hamas-ceasefire-resolution also reports Representative Ro Khanna’s political director has resigned in protest of Khanna’s opposition to a ceasefire resolution.  2. The United Nations reports https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/10/1142507 that on October 18th, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The resolution, authored by Brazil’s UN delegation, won the support of 12 of the council’s 15 members, but the sole veto of the United States was enough to kill to the measure. The American UN ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, justified the veto by saying “this resolution did not mention Israel’s right of self-defence.” No other delegation voted against the resolution, though the United Kingdom and Russia abstained from voting. 4. USA Today https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/10/19/starbucks-workers-united-lawsuits-hamas-israel-post/71238901007/ reports that Starbucks and the Starbucks workers union have filed “dueling lawsuits over [a] pro-Palestine social media post.” Starbucks claims the post – which read simply "Solidarity with Palestine!" –  “damaged the company's reputation,” with executive vice president Sara Kelly claiming this implies the union’s “support for violence perpetrated by Hamas” On the other hand, the union alleges that this is nothing more than another tactic in Starbucks’ “illegal anti-union campaign” with the company “falsely attacking the union’s reputation with workers and the public.” Since 2021, over 330 unfair labor practice charges have been filed against Starbucks with the National Labor Relations Board. 5. As the United Auto Workers strike continues, the union has already achieved major concessions from the auto companies. These include General Motors, Ford, Stellantis offering a 23% wage increase,  Ford agreeing to reduce the progression period to reach peak wages from 8 years to 3 – with Stellantis agreeing to 4 years – and Ford agreeing to reinstate cost of living adjustments, per the Detroit Free Press https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2023/10/20/uaw-strike-shawn-fain-says-progress-with-gm-stellantis-not-ford/71252347007/. Union president Shawn Fain continues to press the companies however, noting forcefully that even as Ford claims to be financially strained, they announced a $600 million dividend to shareholders just this week. 6. The Hill https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4260936-name-image-likeness-national-standard-senate-hearing/ reports that the Senators are “zero[ing] in” on national standards for name, image, and likeness rights for college athletes. Senator Blumenthal of Connecticut said in a recent hearing on the issue “The system of college athletics is in need of reform. The system all too long has been exploitative and abusive, emotionally [and] physically.” Witnesses at the hearing testified that national standards would help avoid major disparities in compensation across state lines, and would ensure protections for student athletes in sports besides football and basketball. The senators assembled largely agreed that national standards are necessary, though some – like Senator Hawley of Missouri – fretted about the possibility of student athletes unionizing. 7. Axios https://www.axios.com/2023/10/20/local-news-vouchers-bill-dc reports that DC lawmakers have proposed an innovative bill that would “allocate $11 million annually to…Residents [who] could use those vouchers to support any local news outlet of their choice.” This proposal was pioneered by the Democracy Policy Network or DPN, co-founded by Pete Davis. DPN volunteer Mark Histed is said of the bill “We believe that markets are not sufficient to provide the level of journalism that we need in a democracy.” If the DC council passes the bill, the district would join New Mexico, California, and New Jersey in providing state funds for local journalism. 8. 33 states have filed a lawsuit against Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta, alleging that the tech titan “routinely collects data on children under 13 without their parents’ consent, in violation of federal law,” per AP https://apnews.com/article/instagram-facebook-children-teens-harms-lawsuit-attorney-general-1805492a38f7cee111cbb865cc786c28. In addition, nine state attorneys general are filing lawsuits in their states, meaning nearly every single state in the nation – and Washington D.C. – are taking action. New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement, “Meta has profited from children’s pain by intentionally designing its platforms with manipulative features that make children addicted…while lowering their self-esteem.” 9. On October 24th, the California Department of Motor Vehicles issued a statement https://email.dmvonline.ca.gov/t/y-e-xnltyk-dythvudjl-m/ declaring the immediate suspension of permits issued to the company Cruise, which had allowed them to test and deploy driverless taxicabs in the state. The California DMV wrote “When there is an unreasonable risk to public safety, the DMV can immediately suspend or revoke permits,” further noting that there is no set time limit for a suspension, and that the suspension is effective immediately. 10. Finally, the Minnesota Reformer https://minnesotareformer.com/2023/10/17/small-business-owners-they-are-pressured-to-hire-off-duty-mpd-cops-for-security/ is out with a story on how the Minneapolis police department and local government conspired to run a protection racket targeting small, minority-owned businesses in the city. Put simply, “Some businesses…are required by the city to have security, which until 2020, sometimes had to be off-duty Minneapolis police officers…The city doesn’t keep track of how much officers are working or how much they’re paid, or even have access to the contracts…Some officers are still paid in cash, increasing the risk of tax evasion. And, several business owners and Minneapolis officials said some small business owners — particularly those owned by immigrants — have been led to believe they must hire MPD officers, or risk getting ghosted by police.” One of the officers involved in this racket was none other than Derek Chauvin, later convicted of murdering George Floyd and setting off riots in the city that, in an ironic twist, led to the destruction of one of the businesses he had been been involved in “protecting.” This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 25m

Oct 28, 2023

In our continued coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ralph welcomes James Zogby, co-founder and president of the Arab American Institute and author of "Palestinians: The Invisible Victims.” Then, no-nukes activist Harvey Wasserman joins to warn us about the dangerous condition of nuclear reactors across the country, including the threat of “embrittlement” at the California reactor in Diablo Canyon.  James Zogby https://jameszogby.com/ is co-founder and president of the Arab American Institute https://www.aaiusa.org/, and he is featured frequently on national and international media as an expert on Middle East affairs. Since 1992, he has written a weekly column— “Washington Watch https://jameszogby.com/2020s-2” —that is published in 12 countries. He is the author of several books, including , , , and . There are two narratives, and we have to understand both. There's Israeli trauma and Jewish trauma, and there's Palestinian and Arab trauma. Both are real because there are two groups of humanity who each have histories. When we adopt one and ignore the other, then we end up creating the kind of torment the Palestinians have been living with. JAMES ZOGBY This does not make Israel more secure. Taking massive amounts of Palestinian lives, evacuating them, forcing them to flee from their homes, murdering them from the air—doesn't make them more secure. At the end of the day, when the dust settles and the tears dry, you're going to have a whole lot more dead people, a whole lot more anger, a whole lot more frustration, and nothing else will change in Gaza or in the West Bank. JAMES ZOGBY Hamas was a tiny religious organization which was fostered into a more powerful organization by the United States and Israel. They thought that if they built up a religious organization, it would undermine the PLO (the Palestine Liberation Organization). And once again, just as in Afghanistan, we create our own adversaries, blundering back and forth. RALPH NADER Harvey Wasserman https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/09/18/californias-embrittled-diablo-nuclear-plant-now-in-court/ is a journalist, author, democracy activist, and advocate for renewable energy. Mr. Wasserman https://solartopia.org/ is the author of , and https://bookshop.org/books/the-people-s-spiral-of-us-history-9781646060528/9781646060528. He has written and researched atomic energy since 1973, and co-authored . There's only one explanation why they're continuing to operate these two reactors and all the other reactors in the United States. And that's because the commercial reactor industry is now the infrastructure of the nuclear weapons industry. If you like nuclear power, you love nuclear weapons. They are joined at the hip, these two industries. HARVEY WASSERMAN These two reactors are upwind of the entire United States. An accident at Diablo Canyon could—within four hours—send an apocalyptic radioactive cloud into Los Angeles, into the Central Valley where we get our fruits and vegetables for the winter, and into the Bay Area. The stakes could not be higher. And again, these are military facilities, masquerading as fighters of global warming, which is absolutely ridiculous. HARVEY WASSERMAN IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS 1. The Huffington Post https://www.huffpost.com/entry/state-department-internal-emails-gaza-israel_n_65296395e4b0a304ff6ff95d?ykm reports that the State Department has imposed a censorship regime, directing high-level diplomats involved in Middle East affairs to refrain from using the following phrases: “de-escalation/ceasefire, end to violence/bloodshed, and restoring calm.” This mirrors White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s response to a reporter’s question during a recent briefing https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2023/10/10/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-and-national-security-advisor-jake-sullivan-9/, when she deemed calls for a ceasefire by progressives in Congress “wrong…repugnant, and…disgraceful.” Rejecting this censorious framework, Rep. Jamaal Bowman tweeted https://x.com/JamaalBowmanNY/status/1712985409511453180?s=20 that the “Official statement from [his] office [is] De-escalate. End the violence. Restore calm.” 2. According to Semafor https://www.semafor.com/article/10/13/2023/inside-msnbcs-middle-east-conflict, MSNBC has “quietly” pulled their Muslim anchors from the air, preventing them from covering the rapidly escalating situation in Gaza. “The network did not air a scheduled Thursday night episode of The Mehdi Hasan Show…reversed a plan for Ayman Mohyeldin to fill in this week…for…Joy Reid’s 7 p.m. show… [and] the network also plans to have Alicia Menendez fill in …for Ali Velshi.” This piece goes on to quote from anonymous MSNBC sources who “[feel] all three hosts have some of the deepest knowledge of the conflict.” NBC denies this is an intentional and coordinated move, instead claiming these shifts are merely “coincidental.” Meanwhile, MSNBC did prominently feature New York City Mayor Eric Adams making the extraordinarily dubious claim that “the DSA and others [were] carrying swastikas and calling for the extermination of Jewish people.” DSA members are now mulling a suit against the mayor for defamation, per City and State NY https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2023/10/national-tv-eric-adams-falsely-accuses-dsa-carrying-swastikas-and-calling-extermination-jews/391249/. 3. The Intercept https://theintercept.com/2023/10/15/j-street-gaza-ceasefire-staffers-letter/ is out with a story about divisions within the liberal Zionist advocacy group, J Street. Per the story, J Street is supporting a congressional resolution that “pledges unconditional support to Israel’s war in Gaza,” which “makes no mention of Palestinian civilians.” In response, over 1,000 former J Street staffers and representatives are urging the organization to join calls for a ceasefire. J Street’s position mirrors that of many congressional progressives who have been hesitant to call for a ceasefire even as the civilian death toll continues to mount. 4. Law schools have become another major venue for conflict on this issue. The Jewish Law Students Association of the City University of New York has issued a statement https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/e/2PACX-1vSORL3FuDTW_AmUYK3N6AgK4lmwk9M9-cHfL-TqKKg7YBzIJa1VoJ8RBIzErRPBTcShI70UsJN5vulc/pub, expressing their “uncompromising solidarity with the Palestinian people in their righteous struggle for self-determination,” and noting that “institutions like the UN have consistently demonstrated an unwillingness and/or inability to hold Israel accountable over its blatant disregard for international law.” Similar statements have come out of Harvard, Columbia, and NYU – leading top law firm Davis Polk to rescind job offers they had extended to students from these institutions, per NBC https://www.nbcnews.com/business/corporations/harvard-letter-israel-columbia-ivy-davis-polk-law-firm-student-rcna120881. Some donors have also cut ties with Harvard over the statement, including the Wexner foundation, founded by former Victoria’s Secret CEO and close Epstein associate Leslie Wexner. 5. The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/16/venezuela-us-sanctions-deal/ reports Venezuela and the United States have reached a breakthrough agreement in which the U.S. will ease sanctions on the country’s oil industry, and in exchange the country will hold  “a competitive, internationally monitored presidential election next year.” This agreement represents a win for both nations, with the Biden administration hoping it will ease oil and gas prices, while the Maduro administration will, at long last, have the opportunity to reaffirm its legitimacy following the Trump-backed coup attempt that began in 2019. 6. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania has called on the full Senate to expel Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey following his indictment on corruption charges and allegations by the Department of Justice that he was acting as an unregistered foreign agent. Fetterman’s statement reads “Senator Menendez should not be a U.S. Senator. He should have been gone long ago. It is time for every one of my colleagues in the Senate to join me in expelling Senator Menendez…This is not a close call.” This from the Hill https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4252919-fetterman-senate-expel-menendez-indictment/. 7. Negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP have broken down yet again, this time over two specific issues. The first, according to the LA Times https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2023-10-11/amptp-sag-aftra-roadblocks-actors-strike, is the actors’ demand for a 2% share of streaming revenue, or alternatively 57 cents per subscriber per year. The studios have called this an “overreach” which would “create an untenable economic burden.” The other major point of contention is AI, with the studios “continuing to demand ‘consent’ on the first day of employment for use of a performer’s digital replica for an entire cinematic universe (or any franchise project),” per Deadline https://deadline.com/2023/10/actors-strike-response-bully-tactics-1235571104/. Meanwhile, the guild has lauded a new Senate bill – the NO FAKES Act – which would “prevent a person from producing or distributing an unauthorized AI-generated replica of an individual to perform in an audiovisual or sound recording without the consent of the individual being replicated.” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said of the bill “A performer’s voice and their appearance are all part of their unique essence, and it’s not ok when those are used without their permission. Consent is key,” per Deadline https://deadline.com/2023/10/no-fakes-act-ai-limits-senate-1235571538/.   8. Finally, the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/10/author-arundhati-roy-may-face-prosecution-india-speech?CMP=share_btn_tw reports that Indian officials have approved a trial for sedition against renowned author Arundhati Roy concerning a 2010 speech she made on Kashmir. The article notes Reporters Without Borders has warned that “press freedom is in crisis” in India. Roy herself has been an outspoken critic of the rising tide of Hindu nationalism in India, which has earned her the ire of right-wing authoritarian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 41m

Oct 21, 2023

Ralph welcomes columnist Gideon Levy to discuss recent attacks by Hamas and the Israeli military in Israel and Palestine. Then, international law expert Bruce Fein speaks with Ralph about the recent violence, America's response, and America's historical culpability.  ‘Gideon Levy https://twitter.com/gideonle is a columnist and a member of the newspaper's editorial board. He is the author of the weekly “Twilight Zone" feature, which covers the Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza over the last 25 years, as well as the writer of political editorials for the newspaper. He is the author of the book . I think that there was something moving in [President Biden’s] speech because he seemed very sincere. But I was really, really missing the other side, the Palestinians, the siege, the occupation, the apartheid, nothing of this exists in his world. It was really a speech of a Zionist…not of a statesman who sees the siege and sees the agony and the suffering of the Palestinians for the last decades. And doesn't see the connection between this barbaric attack on Israel on Saturday and all those preconditions which are all of them criminal and inhuman. GIDEON LEVY Bruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law.  Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of , and . In the international arena, justice is subordinated to power. And that's what we have here. And when President Biden yesterday says, “Oh, we're all in favor of a rule-based international order,” while he's supporting the very definition of genocide? It shows you how incredibly hypocritical and callous these politicians are. I don't want to single out Biden, because I think politicians in general are that way. And I'm not going to exclude some of those who are Palestinians too. It's a universal sociopathology in the political figures. And it's very, very tragic. 'Cause who loses? the peaceful civilians who want nothing more than a better life and opportunity to develop their faculties and have families. BRUCE FEIN Given the current events and the destruction of Gaza, Biden should really demand an immediate ceasefire and negotiate to establish a truce. He's got to try to be an honest broker, and instead he's a dittohead bullhorn for more military activity by Israel. This is the low point in presidential positioning on the Middle East conflict since the end of World War II, and there's nobody in government to call him to account. RALPH NADER IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS 1. First, I must address the situation in Palestine. There is too much to say and the situation continues to develop rapidly, so instead of getting into specific news items I will instead read the October 8th statement https://tlaib.house.gov/posts/tlaib-statement-on-ongoing-violence-in-israel-and-palestine released by progressive Palestinian congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. “I grieve the Palestinian and Israeli lives lost yesterday, today, and every day. I am determined as ever to fight for a just future where everyone can live in peace, without fear and with true freedom, equal rights, and human dignity. The path to that future must include lifting the blockade, ending the occupation, and dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance. The failure to recognize the violent reality of living under siege, occupation, and apartheid makes no one safer. No person, no child anywhere should have to suffer or live in fear of violence. We cannot ignore the humanity in each other. As long as our country provides billions in unconditional funding to support the apartheid government, this heartbreaking cycle of violence will continue.” 2. The United Auto Workers strike has notched their first major victory. According to a statement https://uaw.org/uaw-wins-just-transition-general-motors/ issued by the union on October 6th, “General Motors will include electric vehicle battery production work in the UAW’s national master agreement with the company.” The statement lauded this agreement as a “historic step forward,” which will guarantee “the transition to electric vehicles at GM will be a just transition that brings good union jobs to communities across America.” Another major breakthrough is a whopping proposed 23% pay increase from Ford, with other topics ranging from Cost of Living Increases to profit sharing to retirement security. As union president Shawn Fain remarked “We may be foul-mouthed, but we’re strategic. We may get fired up, but we’re disciplined. We may be rowdy, but we’re organized…We’re not here to start a fight, we’re here to finish one.” 3. Last week, Dr. Cornell West announced that he would drop his bid for the Green Party nomination and instead continue his run as an independent. A statement from his campaign reads “The best way to challenge the entrenched system is by focusing 100 percent on the people, not on the intricacies of internal party dynamics,” per the New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/05/us/politics/cornel-west-independent-presidential-race.html. Barring other factors, this will complicate the activist academic’s ability to appear on the ballot in many states. Within the same week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that he would drop out of the Democratic Party primary and also run as an independent. Semafor https://www.semafor.com/article/10/06/2023/team-trump-readies-attacks-on-rfk-jr-as-spoiler-anxiety-grows reports that the Trump campaign now plans to target, rather than boost, the RFK Jr. campaign as his independent bid is expected to draw more votes from Trump than Biden in a general election. 4. AP https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-redistricting-justice-recuse-2f92a7ab6f326de16fcfb894e3e6bbb1 reports the Wisconsin Supreme Court voted 4-3 in favor of hearing a challenge to the state’s legislative maps, long regarded as lopsidedly gerrymandered in favor of Republicans. Liberal justice Janet Protasiewicz, under massive pressure from Wisconsin Republicans, refused to recuse herself from this case – setting the stage for a power struggle which could see Republican legislators go so far as to impeach her. Liberals took back a majority on the state supreme court following a 15-year run of conservative control. 5. X, formerly Twitter, has “roll[ed] out [a] new ad format that can't be reported [or] blocked,” per Mashable https://mashable.com/article/twitter-x-new-clickbait-ad-format. The article goes on to note that “the new ad format also doesn't disclose who is behind the ad or that it is even an advertisement at all.” This seems to violate FTC guidelines, which demand that disclosures of advertisements be “clear and conspicuous.” 6. An ominous report in the Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/10/07/amazon-alexa-news-2020-election-misinformation/ finds that if one asks an Amazon Alexa whether fraud was involved in the 2020 election, it will reply that the election was “’stolen by a massive amount of election fraud,’ citing Rumble, a video-streaming service favored by conservatives.” Amazon claims these responses were limited and that the error has been corrected, but this incident foreshadows a much larger issue of disinformation becoming so plentiful that it overwhelms reliable sourcing in terms of sheer volume online. Others have reported similar issues with so-called AI programs, which cull the internet for their answers to specific questions. 7. Politico https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/06/iowa-democrats-super-tuesday-00120337 reports that, following a DNC meeting this past week, the Iowa caucuses will no longer be first on the presidential primary calendar. The state will now vote with many other, larger states on March 5th, also known as Super Tuesday. Iowa delegates have made clear that they plan to “lobby for an earlier nominating contest in 2028.” On the other hand, New Hampshire has signaled that it will not abide by the Committee’s decision to move their primary, and may hold a “rogue” primary on their chosen date. Elaine Kamarck, a DNC member told Politico “We’ve made our decision about the sequence of these early states and we’re going to stick to that sequence.” 8. Finally, El Pais https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-10-07/colombian-hitmen-who-killed-presidential-candidate-fernando-villavicencio-murdered-in-an-ecuadorian-prison.html reports that the “Colombian hitmen who killed presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio [have been] murdered in an Ecuadorian prison.” Sources claim the men were hanged in a cellblock. Just days prior, “the United States offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest of the masterminds behind Villavicencio’s murder.” Outgoing right-wing Ecuadoran president Guillermo Lasso was in New York when the murders occurred, though former leftist president Rafael Correa wrote “If they are the hitmen who killed Villavicencio, it proves that the government was behind the crime.” Ecuador’s contentious presidential election is slated for October 15th. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 15m

Oct 14, 2023

Our five hundredth episode features long time labor organizer, Chris Townsend, who talks to Ralph about labor law reform, the Biden administration’s attitude toward the labor movement, the UAW strike, the threat of automation, and much more. Plus, Ralph clarifies his position re the Washington Post article where he said he preferred “autocracy over fascism,” and we briefly discuss the chaos in the Republican caucus. Chris Townsend https://mltoday.com/following-the-auto-union-showdown/ is a 44-year trade union worker and organizer. He is the retired Political Action Director for the United Electrical Workers Union and was the International Union organizing and field director for the Amalgamated Transit Union. The workplace in the United States is a dictatorship. And if you're willing to challenge that dictatorship— create a rebellion against it—you might be able to build a union. If you look at the statistics, the number of elections— the number of those campaigns that actually get that far, which is only a small number, most of them are incinerated, liquidated, poison gassed, fired, terminated out of existence before you ever get that election— but if you get that election, the labor movement is winning. CHRIS TOWNSEND When you have a labor leadership that is lazy, unimaginative, unimaginative, rarely challenged, has a very timid view, a very limited worldview, and they see their role more as administrator as opposed to leaders— this is the modern situation that we face. We don't have much of a leadership, sadly. We have an administrator group, and they have administered the decline. CHRIS TOWNSEND Let's be very, very realistic here. I don't think there can be a labor union movement in the United States under present federal laws. There are just too many hurdles, too many delays, too many licenses for these corporations to bust up the situation… And I'm amazed that you can listen to what the AFL puts out, what labor union leaders put out—they almost never mention card checks, they never mention repealing Taft -Hartley. They don't force the Democrats— who get elected in no small part because of union support— to put these labor law reforms in place. RALPH NADER IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS1. October 1st marked the first day of Fiscal Year 2024 in Washington DC, and with it, DC’s Cashless Ban finally goes into effect, per Axios https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2023/09/29/cashless-business-ban. Now, district residents will be able to report businesses that do not accept cash and/or those who post signage saying they will not accept cash. If any listeners out there are based in Washington and wish to report any such businesses, feel free to submit them to me at francesco.desantis@csrl.org. And remember, if you see something, say something. 2. Democracy Now! https://www.democracynow.org/2023/9/27/headlines/fcc_to_reinstate_net_neutrality_rules_repealed_under_trump reports that Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel has gone on record saying she plans to restore Net Neutrality rules – which would “bar internet providers from blocking access or throttling customers’ connections based on how much they pay or which websites they visit” – which were repealed under the Trump administration. This follows Democrats finally taking majority control of the commission. Common Cause remarked, “To allow a handful of monopoly-aspiring gate-keepers to control access to the internet is a direct threat to our democracy.” 3. Brazilian President Lula has issued a statement https://x.com/LulaOficial/status/1707061816075984903?s=20 in support of the United Auto Workers strike. Lula, who himself worked as a union organizer at the Brazilian automobile manufacturing facilities of auto giants like Ford, Volkwagon, and Toyota, made this statement after meeting with President Biden and seeing him take to the picketline in support of the striking workers. Lula added “It is crucial that presidents all around the world show concern for labor." More about Lula’s history with automobile labor unions is available at the Multinational Monitor https://www.multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1982/06/interview-alves.html. 4. Despite concerns raised by high-ranking Democrats in Congress, the Biden administration has approved Israel’s entry into the visa waiver program, meaning Israelis can now visit the US for up to 90 days without a visa, and Americans can do the same. However, the Middle East Eye https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/rights-group-sues-us-government-block-israels-entry-visa-waiver-programme reports that Arab-American Nondiscrimination Committee plans to challenge this decision in court, as Israel may not meet the legal criteria for the program due to their discrimination against Palestinian Americans. Huwaida Arraf, a lawyer representing the ADC, added “This is all so unnecessary, all the US government had to do was maintain the standard it has with every other country in the Visa Waiver Programme. This lawsuit could have been avoided, but the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department resurrected the debunked notion that separate is somehow equal. As these plaintiffs show, that notion is a farce.” 5. The Sacramento Bee https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article279975784.html reports California Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed two major pro-labor bills that emerged late in this session of the state legislature. One would have granted unemployment insurance to striking workers, a push which emerged in the face of the extended entertainment industry strikes. The other would have brought domestic workers under “the umbrella of OSHA protections.” These vetoes were handed down along with Newsom’s decision to appoint LaPhonza Butler, head of EMILY’s List and a Maryland resident, to fill the Senate seat left vacant by Dianne Feinstein’s passing. 6. On October 1st, The State Department issued a statement https://www.state.gov/anti-democratic-actions-in-guatemala/ decrying “Anti-Democratic Actions in Guatemala,” directed at President-elect Bernardo Arevalo and his Semilla Party. The statement expresses that “The United States is gravely concerned with continued efforts to undermine Guatemala’s peaceful transition of power…Most recently, the Guatemalan Public Ministry seiz[ing] electoral materials under the custody of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal,” and goes on to add that “The United States…[is] actively taking steps to impose visa restrictions on individuals who continue to undermine Guatemala’s democracy, including current and former members of Congress, judicial actors, and any others engaging in such behavior…The Guatemalan people have spoken. Their voice must be respected.” 7. PBS https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/mexicos-president-slams-u-s-sanctions-on-venezuela-and-cuba reports that during a recent meeting between American officials and Mexican President AMLO, the latter levied scathing criticisms of US foreign policy, including the mammoth aid packages for Ukraine and economic sanctions on Cuba, Venezuela, and other Latin American nations. President López Obrador said the United States “should spend some of the money sent to Ukraine on economic development in Latin America…[and]…called for a U.S. program “to remove blockades and stop harassing independent and free countries, an integrated plan for cooperation so the Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans and Ecuadorans, Guatemalans and Hondurans wouldn’t be forced to emigrate.” 8. The Japan Times https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/10/01/japan/japan-seek-dissolve-unification-church/ reports that “The Japanese government plans to seek a court order to disband the Unification Church…after a monthslong probe into the religious group over allegations of soliciting financially ruinous donations from members and other questionable practices.” The report goes on to say “Scrutiny of the group intensified after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot during an election campaign speech last year over his perceived links to the entity, an incident which also brought to light its connections with many ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers.” 9. Finally, Disney World is being hit with a substantial tort lawsuit. A woman visiting the park for her 30th birthday suffered “serious ‘gynecologic injuries’” while on the “Humunga Kowabunga” ride. I will spare listeners the grisly details, but suffice it to say she experienced “severe and permanent bodily injury,” which required surgery, per Law & Crime https://lawandcrime.com/lawsuit/disney-ride-caused-serious-gynecologic-injuries-for-woman-after-waterslide-wedgie-during-30th-birthday-celebration-lawsuit/. Yet, in typical fashion of corporate media reportage on tortious injury, this story is being presented primarily as nothing more than a “wedgie,” just as the McDonald’s lawsuit was reported as merely being about hot coffee. A deep dive into that case is available at the Tort Museum https://www.tortmuseum.org/liebeck-v-mcdonalds/ website.  Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 41m

Oct 07, 2023

Ralph welcomes award-winning foreign correspondent Stephen Kinzer to discuss America's bloody history of proxy wars. They'll also discuss the mainstream media's "shameful" coverage of the war in Ukraine, the warhawks on Capitol Hill, and the catastrophic trickle-down effects of American military meddling. Stephen Kinzer https://stephenkinzer.com/ is an award-winning foreign correspondent who has covered more than 50 countries on five continents. Mr. Kinzer spent more than 20 years working for the New York Times, most of it as a foreign correspondent. After leaving the Times in 2005, Mr. Kinzer taught journalism, political science, and international relations at Northwestern University and Boston University. He is now a Senior Fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University and writes a world affairs column for The Boston Globe. We attacked Libya in complete violation of international law, but in accordance with the system that we have used as a substitute for international law. And that's what we call the “rules-based international order.” That's our alternative to international law. And the rules-based international order is great for us because we're the ones that make the rules. We decide everything. We decide who's making war, who's not making war, who's good, who's bad, who needs to be punished, who doesn't need to be punished. Under international law, we can't do that because countries are treated more equally. So I think this is the real way we have turned away from both international law and our own domestic law—we've said that they're all superseded by the rules-based international order, which is a nice way of saying everybody has to do what the United States decides. STEPHEN KINZER A mantra in Congress is “Israel has a right to defend itself.” But no one ever says in Congress “the Palestinians have a right to defend themselves,” and they take casualty counts anywhere from 40 to 100 times greater in terms of innocent civilians, killed or injured. The Iranians apparently have no right to defend themselves… What is this inverted sense that these countries that are legitimately threatened, that have been overthrown… What's this mindset in official Washington that nobody threatened by the US or Israel has a right to defend themselves? RALPH NADER IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS 1. On Monday, the Writers’ Guild of America announced https://www.wga.org/messagewebview?tempName=Negotiations%20Update%209-24-23&tok=3BGuoQMsCJ8%3D that they have reached an interim agreement with the studios. The proposed deal includes minimum writing room sizes, pay increases, a ban on writing by generative AI programs, and disclosures of streaming numbers with residuals to match, to name just a few of the top line wins for the union. The agreement still needs to be formally submitted to the Guild membership for ratification, but this marks the end of the second longest strike in the WGA’s history. 2. AP https://apnews.com/article/president-joe-biden-strike-united-auto-workers-8ecc84eeca15c99673f31bdac6921f7b reports that earlier this week, President Biden joined the United Autoworkers on the picket line. This is the first time ever a sitting president has joined a picket line. “Donning a union ballcap and exchanging fist bumps, Biden told United Auto Workers strikers that ‘you deserve the significant raise you need’” and urged the workers to “stick with it.” Biden made this move in part because former President Donald Trump also addressed autoworkers in a speech this week, though he did so at a non-union plant away from the picket line. UAW president Shawn Fain deemed Trump’s address to non-union workers “pathetic irony,” per FOX 2 Detroit https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/trumps-rally-to-uaw-members-at-non-union-plant-blasted-by-fain-as-pathetic-irony. 3. Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey is facing a mammoth corruption scandal involving fraudulent halal meat from Egypt and $100,000 worth of gold bars. Per the BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66897845, Menendez has been forced to resign his chairmanship of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Yet, the powerful New Jersey Senator has not resigned his seat, even as a growing chorus of top Democrats have called on him to do so – including New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, Nancy Pelosi, Bernie Sanders, and many more. One possible upside to all of this is that Menendez’s departure from his post on the Foreign Relations Committee could pave the way for a more rational American policy towards Cuba. 4. In more Cuba news, NBC https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/molotov-cocktail-thrown-cuban-embassy-dc-no-significant-damage-rcna117164 reports that on September 24th, the Cuban embassy in Washington was attacked. The assailant hurled two molotov cocktails at the diplomatic mission; fortunately, the diplomatic staff were unharmed. No arrests have been made. This follows a 2020 attack, when a man shot “nearly three dozen rounds” at the embassy from an AK-47. 5. CNN https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/26/tech/ftc-sues-amazon-antitrust-monopoly-case/index.html reports that the FTC and the attorneys general of 17 states have filed a lawsuit against Amazon,   alleging that “Amazon unfairly promotes its own platform and services at the expense of third-party sellers who rely on the company’s e-commerce marketplace for distribution.” Specific examples of the e-commerce giant’s anticompetitive practices include “requiring sellers on its platform to purchase Amazon’s in-house logistics services in order to secure the best seller benefits, [and forcing] sellers to list their products on Amazon at the lowest prices anywhere on the web, instead of allowing sellers to offer their products at competing marketplaces for a lower price.” Hopefully, this reinvigorated consumer protection regime will serve as a deterrent to other would-be corporate criminals. 6. Kyodo News https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2023/09/a1451a2c7d43-update1-okinawa-governor-tells-un-that-us-military-base-threatens-peace.html#google_vignette reports Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki recently addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, and used the opportunity to rail against the proposed US military base in the Japanese-controlled territory. Tamaki noted that the base “was clearly opposed by Okinawan voters in a democratically held referendum" and that the installation of the base would threaten regional peace. Okinawa already hosts most of the American military presence in Japan. 7. Variety https://variety.com/2023/biz/asia/anil-kapoor-ai-hollywood-strikes-1235728538/ reports that Anil Kapoor, an A-list actor in India, has won his legal battle against AI. The court “granted an order…acknowledging [Kapoor’s] personality rights and restraining all offenders from misusing his personality attributes without his permission in any manner…across all modes and media worldwide.” Kapoor also noted that “My intention is not to interfere with anyone’s freedom of expression or to penalize anyone. My intent was to seek protection of my personality rights and prevent any misuse for commercial gains, particularly in the current scenario with rapid changes in technology and tools like artificial intelligence.” 8. Finally, the Orchard https://www.readtheorchard.org/p/canadian-parliament-gives-standing reports that On September 22nd, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy addressed the Canadian House of Commons. In attendance was Yaroslav Hunka, a 98 year-old veteran who, according to the CBC “fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians during the Second World War.” Students of history quickly put two and two together, deducing that this “veteran” was in fact a soldier in the 14th Grenadier Division of the Waffen SS, otherwise known as the Galician Division. Prime Minister Trudeau also held a private audience with this Nazi. Uproar in Canada proved so great that the Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons, Anthony Rota, was forced to resign, per the CBC https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/speaker-anthony-rota-resignation-1.6978422. Furthermore, Polish officials have now formally requested that Hunka be extradited to Poland to face charges for atrocities committed by the Galician SS Division during WWII. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 3m

Sep 30, 2023

Ralph welcomes Toby Heaps, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Canadian magazine “Corporate Knights,” which ranks the world’s 100 most sustainable corporations. And we welcome back Dr. Bandy Lee, psychiatrist and editor of “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump” to discuss Donald Trump’s continuing hold on 30% of the American population. Toby Heaps https://www.corporateknights.com/author/toby/ is the CEO and co-founder of Corporate Knights, and Editor-in-Chief of Corporate Knights magazine. He spearheaded the first global ranking of the world’s 100 most sustainable corporations in 2005, and in 2007 coined the term “clean capitalism.” Toby has been published in the , , and the , and is a regular guest speaker on CBC. You see these stories happening all over the world, whether it’s from the oil companies or the electric power companies, fossil power companies, or food companies, or real estate companies. And the ones who are going all in, investing big in the green economy and the more sustainable economy are, more often than not, the ones who are hitting the biggest numbers financially. TOBY HEAPS, We don’t want to just be doing a beauty contest or be subject to the latest headline. We’re trying to do something that’s reasonably rooted in evidence, and it can be defensible, and it can be considered fair. And we recognize that none of the big companies that we rank are perfect— they all have major issues, which is kind of the nature of the human condition. TOBY HEAPS, Dr. Bandy Lee https://bandylee.com/ is a medical doctor, a forensic psychiatrist, and a world expert on violence who taught at Yale School of Medicine and Yale Law School for 17 years before transferring recently to Columbia and Harvard. She is currently president of the World Mental Health Coalition, an educational organization that assembles mental health experts to collaborate with other disciplines for the betterment of public mental health and public safety. She is the editor of and . Essentially, [Trump] did not have the capacity to have ideologies or policies. He can’t think at that level. What he do is to manipulate psychologically those who are vulnerably predisposed and those who have formed emotional bonds with him. DR. BANDY LEE These are the kinds of effects that we expect from having a person with severe mental symptoms holding an influential position and having lots of public exposure. We do have a propagation of symptoms. I’ve been calling this the “Trump Contagion” but what it really is is shared psychosis, which is a psychosocial phenomenon that’s been researched and described since around the mid-19th century. DR. BANDY LEE [Trump voters] are still with him. But they would never support a friend or a neighbor who lied all the time, who had power over them, who described things that weren’t real about what was going on around them or what he did in the past, or who cheated his workers. RALPH NADER IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS 1. The United Autoworkers Union is on strike against the big three automakers. Just before the strike began, the Lever https://www.levernews.com/automakers-hand-billions-to-shareholders-while-stiffing-workers/ reported that General Motors claimed the union’s demands “would threaten our ability to do what’s right for the long-term benefit of the team.” Yet, for all their crying poverty, the Big Three “have reported $21 billion in profits in just the first six months of 2023,” and “have authorized $5 billion in stock buybacks.” The union’s strategy is also worth touching on, as it is novel for this industry. Instead of all workers going on strike at once, the union plans on “targeting a trio of strategic factories while keeping 90 percent of its members working under expired contracts,” per Axios https://www.axios.com/2023/09/15/uaw-strike-economy. However, this story notes the ways industry plans to strike back, notably by utilizing quasi-lockouts at active plants. 2. In a nigh-unprecedented shot across the bow, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has issued a “‘writ of body attachment’, directing the United States Marshals Service to take two corporate officials of Haven Salon + Spa in Muskego, Wisconsin into custody [after they] repeatedly failed and refused to comply with an enforced [National Labor Relations] Board order.” This followed years of opportunities for the corporate officials to settle this dispute and represents the strongest signal so far that the re-energized NLRB will use every weapon in its legal arsenal to protect workers. The Board’s full statement is available at NLRB.gov https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/news-story/us-circuit-court-directs-us-marshals-to-take-haven-salon-spa-corporate. 3. The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/14/al-qaeda-afghanistan-taliban-destroyed/ reports that since retaking power in Afghanistan, the Taliban has “all but extinguished al-Qaeda.” Yet buried within this story is a much more intriguing tidbit. According to this piece, “The CIA shares counterterrorism information with the Taliban,” per a senior Biden administration official. This official emphasized that this does not include “targeting data or ‘actionable intelligence,’” raising the question of what information exactly the CIA is passing along to the Taliban.  4. In Maine, voters are set to decide on a proposal to “turn the state’s two big private electric companies—Central Maine Power and Versant—into Pine Tree Power, a nonprofit, publicly run utility,” per Bill McKibben in the Nation https://www.thenation.com/article/environment/maine-public-power-referendum/. McKibben points out that the private utility companies “sent $187 million in profits out of Maine last year—much of it to shareholders in such far-flung places as Qatar, Norway, and Canada.” Moreover, this move could lower rates by “an average of $367 per household per year.” Bernie Sanders has endorsed this effort, declaring “Power belongs in the hands of the people, not greedy corporations.” 5. In an effort to combat food deserts, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has announced https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/mayor/press_room/press_releases/2023/september/MayorJohnsonAnnouncesTheExplorationOfAMunicipallyOwnedGroceryStore.html the city will explore the possibility of opening a municipally-owned grocery store. The announcement highlighted that “Historic disinvestment has led to inequitable access to food retail across Chicago, [which] have been exacerbated as at least six grocery stores closed on the South and West sides over the past two years.” This project would seek to provide healthy food for South and West side residents, as well as an economic anchor in these communities. 6. From Variety https://variety.com/2023/biz/news/california-senate-unemployment-pay-striking-workers-1235724062/: The California Senate has passed a bill to “grant unemployment benefits to workers who are on strike,” in a major win for the Writers Guild, SAG-AFTRA, and organized labor more generally. If signed, this will go into effect January 1st, 2024. Currently, only New York and New Jersey offer this safety net to striking workers. 7. A story in LA Public Press https://lapublicpress.org/2023/09/relocating-rent-controlled-tenants-in-la-is-a-lucrative-business/ traces the disturbing rise of so-called “Tenant relocators.” According to the story, “Lawmakers, tenants and tenant groups say that, across Los Angeles, landlords are buying rent-controlled buildings predominantly occupied by immigrants and using illegal tenant harassment to force people out so they can re-rent their units at market rate.” Further, “Organizers...say tenant harassment is so profitable that it has become an industry in its own right, and that the industry has spawned a profession: the tenant relocator, who cajoles or threatens tenants into leaving while their building falls to pieces around them.” This is yet another case showing the stunning lengths the rich will go to in order to acquire yet more wealth. 8. In Atlanta, over 115,000 signatures have been collected and submitted calling for a referendum on the “Cop City,” project. Yet, when these signatures were submitted, the Clerk’s Office refused to accept them, citing obscure deadline rules. Now, Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock is weighing in with a letter to Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens urging the City to “err on the side of giving people the ability to express their views,” the Atlanta Voice https://theatlantavoice.com/warnock-to-dickens-every-eligible-signature-matters/ reports. This contentious project will likely continue to be a political flash-point going forward. 9. Arundhati Roy, the world-famous Indian dissident writer, received a major European essay prize on September 12th. She used this opportunity to deliver an explosive speech warning of the danger posed to the world by “the dismantling of democracy in India.” Roy is explicit in naming “India’s descent…into first majoritarianism and then full-blown fascism,” and goes into gut-churning detail concerning the plight of religious minorities in what used to be called the world’s largest democracy. The full speech is available on YouTube https://youtu.be/LE3qgBW_u7M?si=DmJ3DRLmYdH_iHHU&t=2187. 10. Finally, Yahoo News https://www.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-stormed-tesla-office-121529779.html reports that back in 2015, “Elon Musk Stormed Into the Tesla Office Furious That Autopilot Tried to Kill Him.” Taken from the new blockbuster biography of the tech magnate, the story goes on to say that the Tesla autopilot, “thrown off by the road's faded lane lines,” steered into and almost hit oncoming traffic. This, the book argues, was due to Musk’s insistence on removing light detection and ranging technology – better known as LiDAR – from his vehicles in an attempt to cut costs. Ultimately, the autopilot was not actually fixed; instead, Musk’s chief of staff Sam Teller got the faded lane lines repainted. That may be a functional solution for the world’s richest man, but personally, I wouldn’t take my chances. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 33m

Sep 23, 2023

Professor David Hemenway,the author of “Private Guns, Public Health” joins us to explain how we can reduce gun deaths if we treat the problem more like a public health issue, just like Ralph proved when dealing with the auto industry. Plus, Ralph weighs in on the repeal of the child tax credit, and Francesco DeSantis reports news items that tend to get ignored in the corporate media in our segment “In Case You Haven’t Heard.” David Hemenway https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/david-hemenway/ is an economist, Professor of Health Policy at Harvard University, and director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center and the Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center. He is a former Nader’s Raider, and he is the author of ,  and . Just by making it harder for criminals to get those guns, we have fewer criminals using those guns. That’s a fundamental law of economics and of psychology— if you don’t want people to do something, make it harder. If you want them to do it more, make it easier. DAVID HEMENWAY The key about public health is: what we’re trying to do is prevent. Prevent. Prevent. Prevent. And too often, in the United States, what we try to do is . And often, blaming, all it does is say “Oh I don’t have to do anything. It’s somebody else’s fault.” DAVID HEMENWAY [Reinstituting the Child Tax Credit] is something so simple, it’s something that helps so many families, it increases consumer demand because most of this money is spent on the necessities of life… and the Republicans are blocking it in Congress and not paying a political price. And that’s the story of the Democratic Party— they don’t make the Republicans, who are as cruel as any Republicans in history, pay a price. RALPH NADER IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD WITH FRANCESCO DESANTIS 1. A Princeton University study https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2222103120, published at the end of August, traces the effects of unconditional cash transfers on homelessness. Focusing on Vancouver, Canada, researchers gave homeless people $7,500 Canadian. Conforming to the results of previous studies, the subjects used this money to get into housing – yet, what was remarkable about this study is it showed this program actually saved taxpayers money overall by relieving $8,277 per subject by removing them from the shelter system. 2. From Axios https://www.axios.com/2023/09/08/israel-visa-waiver-senate-democrats-blinken: 15 Senators have penned a letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken urging him to stop the planned admission of Israel into the Visa Waiver program. This program allows a country’s citizens to travel within the United States for 90 days without a visa. Built into this program is a provision demanding US citizens in a given country are treated equally – which is not the case for Palestinian Americans living in the West Bank. Israel claims that they are working to achieve compliance with this section of the law; however, this group of Senators argue that “There is no provision in law that provides that a visa waiver country can discriminate against certain groups of U.S. citizens for the first seven months of the program simply because a country claims they will treat all U.S. citizens equally for the last five months." 3. California Democrat Ro Khanna is making his pitch that President Biden should campaign on reelection on an anti-corruption platform, per the Huffington Post https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ro-khanna-political-reform-plan_n_64fa2aace4b03d2db3493fbe/amp. Khanna, who previously chaired the Bernie Sanders campaign in California, has authored a five-point plan, consisting of “banning candidates for federal office from receiving donations from lobbyists or political action committees of any kind, banning members of Congress from trading stocks, limiting Supreme Court appointees to 18-year terms, imposing 12-year term limits on members of Congress, and requiring federal judges and Supreme Court justices to adhere to a new and more robust code of ethics.” Beyond the hard policy though, is a political point – Khanna argues “What we cannot allow to happen is for a former president ― twice impeached and four times indicted ― to position himself as the outsider in the race.” 4. On September 7th, General Motors submitted a proposal to the United Autoworkers in a near last ditch attempt to stave off a strike from the newly re-energized union. In response, UAW president Shawn Fain released the following statement https://uaw.org/statement-uaw-president-fain-gms-latest-proposal/, “After refusing to bargain in good faith for the past six weeks, only after having federal labor board charges filed against them, GM has come to the table with an insulting proposal that doesn’t come close to an equitable agreement for America’s autoworkers. GM either doesn’t care or isn’t listening when we say we need economic justice at GM by 11:59pm on September 14th. The clock is ticking. Stop wasting our members’ time. Tick tock.” 5. On September 10th, Senator Richard Blumenthal sent a letter https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/09102023fecnonprofitpacscamsletter.pdf to the Chair of the Federal Election Commission urging her to crackdown on “telemarketing calls and online scams that prey on [Americans’] goodwill and civic engagement,” noting that a recent charity scam defrauded consumers of over $150 million dollars, while a recent “network of scam…(PACs) took in $140 million.” Many speculate that Senator Blumenthal was spurred to act on this issue following the release of a documentary series on telemarketing scams focusing on the Civic Development Group, which raised vast sums for charities, which only received between 10 and 15% of that money. The Civic Development Group has itself been shut down by the FTC.          6. Labor journalist Michael Sainato reports https://twitter.com/msainat1/status/1700166921423815108?s=20 that last week, the NLRB ruled in favor of the United Mine Workers of America, blocking Warrior Met Coal’s attempt to stage a decertification election at their Brookwood, Alabama facility. UMWA President Cecil E. Roberts is quoted saying the NLRB “based [its] decision on a ruling…that determined Warrior Met Coal...violated the law before the strike began, continue to violate the law today, and intend to keep violating it in the future.” The UMWA strike against Warrior Met is the longest coal strike in Alabama history. 7. The Intercept https://theintercept.com/2023/08/31/pakistan-us-military-aid/ reports Rep. Andy Ogles, a Republican of Tennessee has introduced a new amendment to the NDAA which would bar the Pentagon from providing assistance to Pakistan amid the “ongoing crackdown by the military establishment and its civilian allies.” Pakistan has been experiencing political turmoil since the ouster of popular president Imran Khan on dubious legal grounds. Pakistan is a major recipient of US military assistance and the Biden administration has resisted attempts to reign in the ruling regime since Khan was deposed. 8. A new piece in Insider https://www.businessinsider.com/john-fetterman-jd-vance-silly-performance-mask-mandates-rail-safety-2023-9 covers the clash of conservative and liberal populist Senators JD Vance of Ohio and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. The two have been collaborating on rail safety legislation following the East Palestine derailment, and we have covered the degeneration of this legislation on the show before. Now, Vance is turning his attention to banning mask mandates, which Fetterman calls  “silly performance art” which is taking time and attention away from the stalled rail safety bill. 9. Finally, a cover story in the Nation https://www.thenation.com/article/society/mckinsey-whistleblower-confessions/ chronicles the “Confessions of a McKinsey Whistleblower.” The author was assigned to the McKinsey teams advising ICE and the Rikers Island prison, and he lays out how he tried and failed to resist the brutal and insidious nature of these institutions from inside the firm. The story is worth reading in its entirety to see behind the curtain of a firm which tries to wrap itself in platitudes like “Change the world. Improve lives.” Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4

1h 13m

Sep 16, 2023