radiofree.asia

Category: Ralph Nader

  • Delivering the Election

    Ralph welcomes Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union. They’ll discuss the crucial role that the Postal Service plays in our democratic process, and how organized labor is impacting this year’s elections. Then, Ralph is joined by journalist James Bamford to talk about his latest article in The Nation: “Israel Is Killing Whole Families in Gaza—With Weapons Made in America.” Plus, how candidates’ positions on Israel may win or lose them voters on Election Day. 

    Mark Dimondstein is the President of the American Postal Workers Union. Since 2013 when Mr. Dimondstein was elected, he has turned the APWU into a fighting activist organization. Mr. Dimondstein advocates for the rights of postal workers as well as the right of the American people to a vibrant public Postal Service. The American Postal Workers Union supports Medicare for All and belongs to the Labor Campaign for Single Payer. The APWU believes in paying a living wage and providing benefits to all workers.

    We have about 200,000 members. And we definitely represent people throughout the entire political spectrum and throughout the whole country. So we represent people from right to left, left to right, everybody in between, and we represent people from the most rural outpost in the country to the urban centers. So first, the way we handle it is we don’t try to tell people how they should think and how they should vote. We’re all adults, we vote for what we think is in our best interest as workers, as family members, as community members, as citizens and so on. So we don’t try to dictate to our members how to vote, but we do have a responsibility to lead…So I think leadership has a responsibility to educate our members, to activate our members, and to get our members to be involved in the political electoral process.

    Mark Dimondstein

    I’m a proud Jewish American. Jewish Americans should be the first to say “never again” when it comes to genocide, when it comes to ethnic cleansing, and when it comes to war crime. And we’re not going to solve all the problems of the Middle East and the complicated history of the Middle East on this radio show. But let’s at least be clear that the crimes committed against the Jewish people should never be allowed to be committed against anybody else—no matter who’s doing it. 

    Mark Dimondstein

    Kamala Harris sent her two closest advisors to Wall Street about a month ago to get advice on her economic and tax policies and not connecting with the Citizens for Tax Justice, which has a progressive proposal. She doesn’t connect with citizen groups. She goes around campaigning with Liz Cheney…It’s quite amazing that the most popular incumbent elected politician in America today is Bernie Sanders…And she’s ignoring Bernie Sanders and going into one state after another with people like Liz Cheney. 

    Ralph Nader

    Whatever happens next Tuesday, our work isn’t done. The divisions that have been created by white supremacy, by this anti-immigrant fervor out here—these things aren’t going away. Issues that divide workers instead of unite workers—the growing bigotry, the attack on women’s rights to reproductive freedom and health, the attacks on voting rights—these are issues that are going to be here with whoever wins the election. So the working people and the trade union movement have a lot of work to do, whatever the outcome.

    Mark Dimondstein

    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, including Spyfail: Foreign Spies, Moles, Saboteurs, and the Collapse of America’s Counterintelligence.

    The reason I wrote [my article] was because people read about the bombs blowing up schools and refugee camps and hospitals and killing scores and scores, hundreds, thousands of people… But few people realized that it’s middle America, largely, that’s building the bombs, sending the bombs, and the American taxpayers are paying for the bombs. All the Israelis are doing is dropping the bombs.

    James Bamford

    I think the only way is international pressure. I wrote about this in my last book, that the only thing that you can ever do to affect Israel is to have an international boycott sanction. We have to treat it like the worst country on earth. That’s what happened with South Africa. That’s what stopped apartheid—once they couldn’t buy anything.

    James Bamford

    RECOGNIZING TIME-PRESSURED HEADLINE WRITERS’ CONTRIBUTIONS TO READERS

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    News 10/30/24

    1. A crisis is unfolding at the Washington Post following billionaire owner Jeff Bezos’ decision to block the paper’s planned endorsement of Kamala Harris. In a statement signed by 21 opinion columnists at the Post, they write “The…decision not to make an endorsement in the presidential campaign is a terrible mistake.” Signatories include Karen Attiah, E.J. Dionne, and Dana Milbank among many others. Since the publication of that statement, two opinion writers have resigned: David Hoffman, who has written for the Post since 1982 and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize just last week, as well as technology columnist Molly Roberts. Editor-at-large Robert Kagan also resigned his position at the paper. This from Semafor. Responding to the outcry, Bezos himself published an op-ed in the paper arguing that Americans see the news media as too politicized already and an official endorsement would merely make matters worse. As of October 29th, over 200,000 Washington Post readers, nearly 10% of the total readership, have canceled their subscriptions, per NPR.

    2. Like the Washington Post, the LA Times also opted not to endorse Kamala Harris. Similar backlash followed, with the New York Times reporting “Thousands of readers canceled subscriptions. Three members of the editorial board resigned. Nearly 200 staff members signed an open letter to management demanding an explanation, complaining that the decision this close to the election had undermined the news organization’s trust with readers.” Nika Soon-Shiong, the activist daughter of LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, publicly stated “Our family made the joint decision not to endorse a Presidential candidate. This was the first and only time I have been involved in the process…As a citizen of a country openly financing genocide, and as a family that experienced South African Apartheid, the endorsement was an opportunity to repudiate justifications for the widespread targeting of journalists and ongoing war on children.” Per Vanity Fair however, her father disputes this narrative, saying “Nika speaks in her own personal capacity regarding her opinion…She does not have any role at The L.A. Times, nor does she participate in any decision or discussion with the editorial board, as has been made clear many times.” The murkiness of these circumstances has left readers with many questions that likely will not be answered until well after the election.

    3. According to Slate, “Donald Trump told a crowd of supporters that he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [last] Saturday…According to Trump, the Israeli leader said he disregarded President Joe Biden’s warning to keep troops out of Rafah in southern Gaza.” In other words, Trump is conducting foreign policy independent of the sitting president, a flagrant violation of the Logan Act and the Constitution itself. This collusion between Trump and Netanyahu is reminiscent of the Nixon campaign’s collusion with the South Vietnamese to prolong the Vietnam War and thereby undermine the Hubert Humphrey campaign and similarly, the Reagan campaign’s collusion with Iran to prolong the hostage crisis. Yet again however, it seems unlikely that there will be any consequences to this open criminal activity.

    4. Reuters reports that on Monday, Israel formally banned the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency from operating inside Israel. UNICEF spokesperson James Elder, who has worked extensively in Gaza since this campaign of slaughter began is quoted saying “If UNRWA is unable to operate, it’ll likely see the collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza…So a decision such as this suddenly means that a new way has been found to kill children.” Reuters reports “over 13,300 children whose identities have been confirmed have been killed” in Gaza, while “Many more are believed to have died from diseases due to a collapsing medical system and food and water shortages.”

    5. The Muslim Mirror reports “In a landmark diplomatic move, Claudia Sheinbaum, the newly elected President of Mexico and the country’s first Jewish head of state, officially recognized the State of Palestine.” Sheinbaum is quoted saying “Today, Mexico reaffirms its commitment to human rights and justice for all. Recognizing Palestine is a step toward peace and a signal to the international community that the Palestinian people deserve dignity, statehood, and the right to self-determination.” Neither the United States nor Canada recognize the State of Palestine.

    6. Over 20,000 workers have lost their lives working on Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman’s Saudi Vision 2030 project, per the Hindustan Times. These workers, almost exclusively migrants, say they feel like “trapped slaves” and “beggars,” and allege widespread exploitation including “unpaid wages, illegal working hours and human rights abuses.” While rumors of the workers mistreatment has been circulating for years now, a new ITV documentary has brought more attention to the issue in recent days. The deeply suspect NEOM mega-city project alone, which is just one aspect of Saudi Vision 2030, is expected to cost at least $500 billion.

    7. BRICS, the loose multi-polar alliance of countries forming an alternative economic bloc to offset the United States, recently concluded their latest summit. Per Democracy Now!, the alliance voted to accept 13 more countries to the bloc, including Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. These were chosen from nearly three-dozen applicants. The outpouring of applications indicates a substantial appetite for an economic alternative to the United States throughout much of the world.

    8. On October 22nd, Congressman Ro Khanna re-introduced the Stop Wall Street Landlords Act, intended to curb the trend of private equity gobbling up housing stock across the country. The bill was first introduced in 2022, but the crisis has only grown since then. According to NOTUS, “In the first half of 2024, one in four ‘low-priced’ homes were purchased by investors…In that same time, the percentage of Americans with a ‘high degree of concern’ about housing costs rose to 69%.” If passed, this bill would raise taxes on home acquisitions by private equity firms that hold over $100 million in assets and “bar government-supported lenders from backing new mortgages for such purchases.” Both presidential campaigns have made housing a major issue on the trail, though only the Kamala Harris campaign has offered viable policy to address the crisis.

    9. E&E News reports Argus Insight, a conservative research firm is “collecting information that could be used to discredit officials involved in a multibillion-dollar climate lawsuit against fossil fuel companies.” The suit, filed last year in Oregon, accuses “Exxon Mobil, the American Petroleum Institute, McKinsey…and hundreds of other defendants of being responsible for a dayslong heat wave in 2021 that killed 69 people. Multnomah County, home to Portland, is seeking more than $51 billion to pay for damages from the tragedy and to prepare for future disasters.” It is unknown why exactly Argus is seeking this information, but experts speculate that they are “using the same tactics that the tobacco industry deployed against its critics decades ago.” Benjamin Franta, an Oxford professor of climate litigation, is quoted saying “The strategy is to ‘try to figure out who is helping to inform these cases and…discredit them in some way…If someone loses on the facts, they try to shoot the messenger.’”

    10. Finally, the Popular Information Substack reports “On October 10…[Attorney General Merrick] Garland held a press conference and announced that TD Bank had illegally laundered over $670 million of drug money.” Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo added “Time and again, unlike its peers, TD Bank prioritized growth and profit over complying with the law.” Surely such a clear, textbook case of corporate criminality would result in criminal charges…except Garland and the DOJ brought no charges, instead settling for a Deferred Prosecution Agreement and a fine of $3 billion. Only two low-level employees were hit with criminal charges, despite clear evidence showing the involvement of high-level executives. Senator Elizabeth Warren said of the deal “This settlement lets bad bank executives off the hook for allowing TD Bank to be used as a criminal slush fund.”

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Medicare (Dis)Advantage, Medical Blind Spots, & Supreme Court Stench

    As the Medicare enrollment period gets underway again, we welcome Dr. Adam Gaffney to remind us the ways all those heavily advertised Medicare Advantage programs are ripping you off. Then we receive another house call from Dr. Marty Makary, author of Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health about the effect of medical groupthink on all kinds of accepted treatments from peanut allergies to opioid addiction. Finally, founder of Media Matters, David Brock stops by to discuss his latest book, Stench: The Making of the Thomas Court and the Unmaking of America.

    Dr. Adam Gaffney is a physician, writer, public health researcher, and advocate. Dr. Gaffney practices at the Cambridge Health Alliance and is an Assistant Professor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. A member of the Cambridge Health Justice Lab, his research focuses on healthcare financing, reform, and equity, and disparities in lung health. He writes about the policy, politics, and history of health care, and is the author of To Heal Humankind: The Right to Health in History.

    The reality is we don’t need Medigap. We could plug those holes with public coverage. There’s no reason to have a role for private insurers to cover a slice of our healthcare when all seniors need the same thing—which is comprehensive universal care.  There’s no need for these private stopgap measures, when what we need is a public system of universal care.

    Dr. Adam Gaffney

    I do think there’s growing interest among physicians in change. Their bosses are increasingly these for-profit companies whose mission is not really medicine. Their mission is money. And what we need to do is to rethink our healthcare system, so it serves communities, is owned by communities, and it returns us to the underlying reason why we went into this profession—which is to help patients, and not to pad the pockets of shareholders.

    Dr. Adam Gaffney

    Dr. Marty Makary is a Johns Hopkins professor and member of the National Academy of Medicine. He is the author of two New York Times best-selling books, Unaccountable and The Price We Pay. Dr. Makary has written for the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, and he has published more than 250 scientific research articles. He served in leadership at the W.H.O. and has been a visiting professor at 25 medical schools. His latest book is Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health.

    For most of human history, doctors were respected, but maybe like you would respect your hairdresser, or maybe a clergy member in the community. And we didn’t have many tools as doctors. We had a lancet, we had a saw to do amputations, we had a couple of drugs that didn’t work or were counterproductive like digoxin. And then what happened in 1922 is Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin. And by the post-World War II era in the 1940s and ’50s, we saw the mass production of antibiotics. That ushered in the white coat era of medicine. Doctors began to wear a white coat. They now had the power to prescribe a magical pill that could cure disease, make childbirth safe, enable surgeons to do procedures safer. And this ushered in this new unquestioned authority. And what happened was, physicians as a class took advantage of this unquestioned authority.

    Dr. Marty Makary

    David Brock is a Democratic activist and founder of Media Matters for America, a progressive media watchdog group. Following the 2010 elections, Mr. Brock founded the Super PAC American Bridge, which works to elect Democrats. He is a New York Times best-selling author, and his books include the memoir Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative, Killing the Messenger: The Right Wing Plot to Hijack Your Government, and his latest book is Stench: The Making of the Thomas Court and the Unmaking of America.

    The Federalist Society was originally founded by three rightwing law students. And it was pitched as a debating society. So I don’t think in the original incarnation, they had a master plan. But soon enough, they realized that membership in the Federalist Society could confer on people a certain imprimatur for appointments—and that’s appointments not only to the federal judiciary, but all through the executive branch.

    David Brock

    The scheme to overturn Roe has been going on for all these decades. There were setbacks, of course, because there were times when Republican appointees ended up being independent—Sandra Day O ‘Connor, for example, David Souter, for example—and the right was defeated in their effort to overturn Roe. So it took a while and it took a lot of steadfast, patient spending of money on their crusade.

    David Brock

    [This is] a time when the Biden regime is supporting the destruction of the ancient land of Lebanon— whom he’s called in prior years an ally. He’s letting Netanyahu destroy Lebanon with the same tactics that Netanyahu applied to the genocide in Gaza.

    Ralph Nader

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    News 10/23/24

    1. Last week, Israel announced they had killed longtime Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. As NBC put it, the footage of his death released by Israel “showed Sinwar not hiding in a tunnel surrounded by hostages — as Israeli officials often claimed he was — but aboveground and hurling a stick at a drone with his last ounce of strength.” American political leaders, such as Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders, are seeking to use Sinwar’s death to argue that Israel has accomplished its mission and should therefore conclude its genocidal campaign in Gaza. Israeli leaders however have made it abundantly clear that they have no intention of pulling out of Gaza, with Benny Gantz – chairman of Israel’s National Unity Party and among Prime Minister Netanyahu’s chief political rivals – stating that the Israeli military “will continue to operate in the Gaza Strip for years to come,” per Al Jazeera.

    2. According to POLITICO, during an August 29th meeting in Washington Lise Grande, the top U.S. official working on the humanitarian situation in Gaza told the leaders of more than a dozen aid organizations that “the U.S. would not consider withholding weapons from Israel for blocking food and medicine from entering [Gaza].” It is illegal to block the delivery of humanitarian assistance under both American and international human rights law. As the paper notes, Grande’s “candid assessment…raises questions about the seriousness of recent Biden administration threats to [withhold arms].” One attendee told POLITICO “[Grande] was saying that the rules don’t apply to Israel.”

    3. Meanwhile, Israel continues its war on the United Nations mission in Lebanon. On October 20th, UNIFIL released a statement saying “Earlier today, an IDF bulldozer deliberately demolished an observation tower and perimeter fence of a UN position in Marwahin…The IDF has repeatedly demanded that UNIFIL vacate its positions along the Blue Line and has deliberately damaged UN positions. Despite the pressure being exerted on the mission and our troop-contributing countries…We will continue to undertake our mandated tasks.” UNIFIL added “Yet again, we note that breaching a UN position and damaging UN assets is a flagrant violation of international law and Security Council resolution 1701.”

    4. In a frankly dystopian story from the United Kingdom, British counterterrorism police “raided the home and seized several electronic devices belonging to The Electronic Intifada’s associate editor Asa Winstanley,” despite the fact that Winstanley has not been charged with any offense. Electronic Intifada reports the raid was conducted under sections 1 and 2 of the 2006 “Terrorism Act,” which deal with the “encouragement of terrorism.” Human Rights Watch has previously urged the British government to repeal the repressive provisions of the 2006 act noting that “the definition of the encouragement of terrorism offense is overly broad, raising serious concerns about undue infringement on free speech.” Electronic Intifada further notes “In August, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service issued a warning to the British public to ‘think before you post’ and threatening that it would prosecute anyone it deemed guilty of what it calls ‘online violence.’” Winstanley is the author of Weaponising Anti-Semitism: How the Israel Lobby Brought Down Jeremy Corbyn and has been interviewed by the Capitol Hill Citizen.

    5. According to the Libertarian magazine Reason, Bob Woodward’s new book War includes a passage about a “shockingly blunt conversation,” between President Biden and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham regarding “Biden’s attempts to negotiate a ‘megadeal’ between the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.” Per Reason “Graham reportedly said that only Biden could secure a U.S.-Saudi defense treaty, because it would ‘take a Democratic president to convince Democrats to vote to go to war for Saudi Arabia’” Biden’s response? “Let’s do it.” Furthermore, reports indicate this security pact only fell apart after October 7th, with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman seeing a prominent deal with Israel at that time as a major political liability. Reason cites an article from the Atlantic in January wherein Salman reportedly told Secretary of State Antony Blinken “Do I care personally about the Palestinian issue? I don’t, but my people do…Half my advisers say that the deal is not worth the risk. I could end up getting killed because of this deal.”

    6. In more international news, the Cuban energy grid collapsed on Friday, under strain from Hurricane Oscar. The complete grid collapse left the entire country of 10 million without electricity, per NPR. Reuters reports that over the weekend, the grid failed three more times as authorities sought to restore power. Brasil de Fato, or BdF, a Brazilian socialist news service, reports China, Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, Russia and Barbados are offering support to Cuba amid the total blackout. BdF further reports “The Alba Movimientos platform, which brings together more than 400 organizations from 25 countries, issued a statement…[saying] ‘No one can attribute this virtual collapse of the Cuban electricity system to a specific measure by the US government – that would be too simplistic…this is’“the result of a long strategy of planned destruction of the material and spiritual living conditions of the Cuban population…with the financial resources denied to Cuba due to the blockade policy, 18 days of accumulated damages equal the annual cost of maintaining the country’s electricity system.” According to the UN, the U.S. embargo cost Cuba $13 million US dollars per day between 2022 and 2023 alone.

    7. A new scandal has rocked American Higher Education. Inside Higher Ed reports “Last week a lawsuit accused 40 colleges and universities, as well as the nonprofit College Board, of participating in a price-fixing conspiracy to jack up tuition rates” specifically, for children of divorced parents. The scheme itself had to do with consideration of the non-custodial parent’s income, but the larger issue at stake here is the fact that the universities entered into a “cartel” in violation of antitrust laws. As this piece notes this is the “second major price-fixing antitrust lawsuit filed against highly selective universities since 2022, when 17 institutions…were accused of illegally colluding to set common financial aid formulas. So far, 10 of those institutions have settled for a combined $248 million.”

    8. Boeing has offered their striking machinists a new deal, which they hope will end their crippling strike. ABC reports “The new offer delivers a 35% raise over the four-year duration of the contract,” which is short of the 40% raise demanded by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers but considerably better than the aerospace titan’s previous offer of 25%. ABC continues “The proposal also hikes Boeing’s contribution to a 401(k) plan, but it declines to fulfill workers’ call for a reinstatement of the company’s defined pension.” As this piece notes, the machinists overwhelmingly rejected Boeing’s previous offer last month; this week they will vote on the new proposal. Whatever the details of the final contract, this episode clearly demonstrates the power of a union, even going up against one of the most powerful corporations in America.

    9. A stunning CNN investigation reveals the extent of predatory fundraising by the major parties off of elderly people suffering from dementia or other forms of cognitive decline in their old age. According to “More than 1,000 reports filed with government agencies and consumer advocacy groups… deceptive political fundraisers have victimized hundreds of elderly Americans…into giving away millions of dollars.” These heartbreaking stories concern “Donors…often in their 80s and 90s…[including] retired public workers, house cleaners and veterans, widows living alone, nursing home residents…[with] money…from pensions, Social Security payments and retirement savings accounts meant to last decades.” To cite just one just one shocking example: “[an] 82-year-old woman, who wore pajamas with holes in them because she didn’t want to spend money on new ones, didn’t realize she had given Republicans more than $350,000 while living in a 1,000 square-foot Baltimore condo since 2020.”

    10. Finally, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has sent a letter to Rodney McMullen, Chairman and CEO of Kroger, decrying the company’s “decision to roll out surge pricing using facial recognition technology.” Specifically, Tlaib cites concerns about price manipulation based on external factors like supply as well as discrimination based on race, gender, and other criteria determined through facial recognition. Tlaib ends this letter with six key questions, including “Will Kroger use…facial recognition to display targeted advertisements…?…What safeguards will be in pace?…[and] Are there plans to sell data collected in the store?” among others. Grocery prices continue to be a source of everyday economic hardship for working Americans and corporations are increasingly interested in surge pricing for essential goods. There is some comfort in knowing at least one member of Congress is concerned about this dangerous combination.

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Cashing in on the War in Gaza

    Ralph welcomes back William Hartung of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. They’ll discuss the Cost of War Project’s latest reports on US military spending in support of Israel, and the humanitarian costs of the war in Gaza. Then, Ralph is joined by Palestinian writer and analyst Sumaya Awad to discuss the mass civil disobedience at the New York Stock Exchange, which was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace to protest the weapons manufacturers that are making millions off the genocide in Gaza.

    William Hartung is an expert on the arms industry and US military budget, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He is the author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex, and the co-editor of Lessons from Iraq: Avoiding the Next War.

    In all my years of watching the operations of Washington—including the Bush/Cheney criminal invasion of Iraq—I have never seen such a servile position by top officials of an administration to a foreign power. Not even close. They are humiliating the United States of America. They are jeopardizing the United States of America—because as you know, the Department of Defense, CIA, NSA have studies and scenarios of blowback. So this war in the Middle East is gonna come back to the US in terms of reprisal and retaliation. And we are not able to anticipate that because we think, as the ruling empire in the world, that we’re invulnerable. But we’re not invulnerable.

    Ralph Nader

    The Biden administration is living in the past. They’ve got this “Israel, right or wrong” ideology. They think it’s a political detriment to criticize Israel, and the fact that the younger generation is not locked into that point of view. But I think they’re going to hurt themselves more by enabling the war crimes that Israel is committing than they would by taking a stand. And of course, they keep trying to say that they’re pushing for a ceasefire…But as long as they’re doing the weapons and the financing, that is laughable.

    William Hartung

    It’s just stunning. Given the record of this century—two failed wars, $8 trillion spent, hundreds of thousands killed—and yet they could say with a straight face, “We need a dominant military.” As if that’s the tool that’s gonna solve any of these problems, rather than make them worse.

    William Hartung

    Sumaya Awad is a Palestinian writer and analyst based in New York City, and she is the spokesperson for Jewish Voice for Peace’s mass civil disobedience event at the New York Stock Exchange. Ms. Awad directs strategy and communications for the Adalah Justice Project, and she is a cofounder of the Against Canary Mission Project, which defends student activists targeted by blacklists for their Palestinian rights advocacy. She is the co-author of Palestine and Elections and co-editor of Palestine: A Socialist Introduction.

    There were over 200 arrests—the majority of them anti-Zionist Jewish New Yorkers, who want to send a clear message both to the US government and the American people that Israel weaponizes their identity in order to justify crimes against humanity and that they are not okay with this. That they refuse for their identity and Jewish people to be weaponized in this way. And that in fact, what Israel is doing and what the US government is funding and politically backing is actively making this country and certainly the rest of the world unsafe not just for Jewish people, but for others.

    Sumaya Awad

    We are strategizing about how to push back against the role of AIPAC and the grip of AIPAC. I think the reality is that there are many people in Congress that are actually benefiting financially from what is happening in Gaza. We know that at least 50 members of Congress have links to the military-industrial complex—whether that’s through stocks or other things. And so it’s about unraveling this network, these connections between our government, the way it’s profitting from the genocide and then what that means in terms of these elections across the country.

    Sumaya Awad

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    News 10/16/24

    1. The Israeli government is finally dropping the facade that the genocide in Gaza is about ‘returning the hostages.’ Haaretz reports “According to senior defense officials, the Israeli government is not seeking to revive hostage talks and the political leadership is pushing for the gradual annexation of large parts of the Gaza Strip.” Not only that, apparently “Israel’s political leaders have not held any discussions with the various security branches about the condition of the hostages.” In other words, Israel clearly does not care about the hostages at all and are simply using them as political props to prolong their campaign of terror. In addition, the AP reports “Netanyahu is examining a plan to seal off humanitarian aid to northern Gaza,” and if Palestinians are unable or unwilling to leave their homes, they “would be considered combatants — meaning military regulations would allow troops to kill them.” Last weekend, Israel launched an offensive against the Jabaliya refugee camp, resulting in gruesome footage of Palestinians burnt alive while still connected to IV tubes in field hospital tents.

    2. Responding to a report by NBC, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), is sounding the alarm that “US officials have discussed joining Israel in offensive strikes against Iran, and passing them off as ‘defensive’ after the fact.” As Just Foreign Policy notes, this would not only violate the War Powers Resolution, but “Unnamed US officials” are seeking to circumvent the debate and Congressional vote required for such an act under the Constitution. Now the question becomes whether the American empire will allow itself to be drawn into a rapidly escalating regional war based on Israel’s aggression.

    3. On October 10th, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reported “This morning, two peacekeepers were injured after an IDF Merkava tank fired its weapon toward an observation tower at UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqoura, directly hitting it and causing them to fall. The injuries are fortunately, this time, not serious, but they remain in hospital.” Beyond this attack, UNIFIL also reports that the IDF fired on the UN positions in Labbouneh and Ras Naqoura, ending by writing “Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and of Security Council resolution 1701.”

    4. On October 8th, Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal released a statement decrying the lack of action by the organs of U.S. foreign policy regarding the killing of American citizen Aysenur Eygi in the West Bank. Jayapal writes “It has been 32 days…and we have seen no movement toward an independent investigation by the U.S. government and no additional information on changes in the practices of the…IDF…units that are using live ammunition on those who are peacefully protesting…I am frankly appalled…If the Israeli government is unwilling or unable to follow our own domestic laws as well as international humanitarian laws…we must initiate our own investigation into Eygi’s killing.”

    5. In the UK, Jeremy Corbyn and the parliamentary Independent Alliance have sent a letter to Foreign Secretary David Lammy expressing their “disgust over the government’s complicity in one of the greatest crimes of our lifetime.” This letter goes on to explain how “the government could have…opposed the genocide in Gaza. It could have ended military, economic and diplomatic support…[and] defended the equal application of international law. Instead, the failure to bring Israel to justice emboldened it to kill thousands of people in Lebanon and now, wage war on the UN.” The letter then asks a series of questions to the British government, including “what red lines, if any, does Israel have to cross for the government to end its diplomatic and political support?” and “does the UK government oppose genocide?”

    6. In a humiliation for Elon Musk, Forbes reports that Tesla stock slid by nearly $70 billion following the “sour” reaction to the company’s unveiling of their absurd new products including a “robotaxi” and “Optimus” humanoid robots. In fact, disappointment in Tesla’s “cybercab” was so acute that Uber shares spiked by 11% and Lyft’s by 10%. Another story signaling that Tesla is vastly overvalued comes from the Orange County Register, which reports the Irvine Police Department spent over $150,000 on the first ever police Cybertruck. What is the department planning to use this eye-wateringly expensive boondoggle for? According to this report “the department does not plan to use the truck for patrols. The Cybertruck will…principally be driven by DARE officers to schools.”

    7. According to USA Today, “A study from the University of California Berkeley’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment found that a California state law [which] raised the minimum wage for fast food workers did not lead to large job loses or price hikes.” The law in question, AB 1228 established a “$20 per hour minimum wage for those working at fast food restaurants with less than 60 locations nationwide and restaurants located inside airports, stadiums and convention centers. The law further gave employees stronger protections and the ability to bargain as a sector.” The study found that this law effectively raised average pay of these non-managerial employees by almost 18%, a truly remarkable margin, while prices went up only about 15 cents per $4 item. Hopefully this study will finally put an end to the old canard that raising wages for fast food workers leads to widespread job loss and price increases.

    8. A depressing story from NPR exposes the US Department of Agriculture’s “Wildlife Services” program, described as “a holdover from the 1930s, when Congress gave the federal government broad authority to kill wildlife at the request of private landowners….So long as livestock or human life are threatened.” Employees of this program continue to kill “hundreds of thousands of noninvasive animals a year…Even species considered [endangered]…like grizzly bears.” Yet even within the broad mandate of this program, data shows “employees frequently kill native wild animals without evidence of livestock loss,” including 11,000 in Montana. The USDA and the Bureau of Land Management now face increasing calls to overhaul this outdated program.

    9. Politiken, a prominent Danish newspaper, reports local harbormaster John Anker Nielsen encountered US Navy vessels at the scene of the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage operation in 2022, per Al Mayadeen. Nielsen, the harbormaster of Christianso, told Politiken that in the days after the explosion he tried to initiate a rescue mission “after noticing ships with their transponders turned off and presuming an emergency.” Yet once they drew near, they discovered the vessels to be US Navy warships. According to Nielsen, “the Naval Command then instructed…[him] to turn back.” This report conforms to the narrative of the Nord Stream sabotage as presented by legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh and directly contradicts the narrative put forward by the U.S. government.

    10. Finally, on October 11th the Democratic National Committee released what it claims is “its first-ever ad focused on third-party candidates,” per DNC Chair Jamie Harrison. The ad features Green Party nominee Jill Stein grotesquely morphing into Donald Trump with dialogue arguing that “a vote for Stein is really a vote for Trump.” As many have remarked, the DNC feeling the need to disseminate such an ad is an ill omen for their chances in the coming election, particularly in Michigan where recent polling shows Stein drawing 40% of Muslim voters, compared to 18% for Trump and just 12% for Kamala Harris, per Reuters. Of course, the DNC could instead direct their efforts to improving their standing with Muslim and Arab voters in Michigan – as well as young progressives throughout the country – by taking a stand against the ongoing genocide in Palestine, but then that isn’t really their style.

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Bibi Biden & Bibi Blinken

    Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson (retired) joins us once again to give his unvarnished view of the now yearlong ethnic cleansing of Gaza, an assault that has now extended into Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. Plus, our resident constitutional expert, Bruce Fein stops by to give us a quick take on how U.S. material support of the Israeli aggression in Lebanon, an ally of ours, is a clear violation of The Neutrality Act.

    Lawrence Wilkerson 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, senior advisor to the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, and co-founder of the All-Volunteer Force Forum. 

    The Jewish state in the Levant is finished. Now, if it wants to be a liberal democracy— if it wants to become a real democracy, it could possibly remain. But this Jewish state, especially in its current manifestation, which is the ultimate manifestation, has ended. It’s through. The rest of the world, if nothing else, will terminate it just as it did the South African apartheid state. And it will happen—and it will happen despite the Empire’s (The U.S.) protestations to the contrary. In fact, I predict ultimately when the Empire smells the tea leaves, it will probably join the crowd and tell them they have no choice but to be a liberal democracy—to invite what that means, which is ultimately a Palestinian Arab majority, and to even change their name to Israel-Palestine or Palestine-Israel or whatever. That’s the future. The future is not Bibi Netanyahu.

    Col. Lawrence Wilkerson

    Netanyahu talks about Joshua who moved on after Moses had given him instructions, and after the leadership had sort of fallen apart, and Joshua takes over. And they go in, and under God’s instructions they are to kill everything in sight— leave no human being alive. And that’s Netanyahu. Netanyahu thinks he’s a latter-day Joshua, and that’s what they’re doing. They brought a thousand years of history’s most rude, most bloodthirsty, most unbelievable procedures in waging war against another state or another people back into vogue again. And we’re supporting it.

    Col. Lawrence Wilkerson

    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 Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy, and American Empire: Before the Fall.

    The Neutrality Act of 1794 in substance prohibits anyone in the United States from directing or supplying arms or assistance— or otherwise engaging in war—that is against a country with which the United States is formally at peace. The United States at present is at peace with Iran. It’s at peace with Lebanon. Indeed, Lebanon’s an ally. We already know that President Biden had ordered Navy ships to use their Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense in collaboration with Israel to shoot down Iranian missiles—an act of war. And now they basically said we are combatants with Israel and probably planning covertly to join military forces on the next initiative that Israel takes against Iran. So it’s a clear violation of the Neutrality Act.

    Bruce Fein

    Listeners, you have your Senators and Representatives campaigning, as we speak, in your communities. You ask them to come to your town meetings where they can hear you out, and where you require them to respond. This is their moment of vulnerability before the election.

    Ralph Nader

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    News 10/9/24

    1. In These Times reports “U.S. Jewish Institutions Are Purging Their Staffs of Anti-Zionists.” This piece, based on interviews with 18 Jewish professionals at 16 different Jewish organizations over several months, yielded descriptions of “being fired, quitting under pressure, or seeing their roles disappear since October 7 for issues surrounding criticism of Israel or support for a permanent cease-fire.” The magazine identifies this trend as part of “a radical rightward turn in mainstream Jewish organizational life over the past year…[where] Support for Israel and its government’s assault on Gaza appear to have become a defining feature of employability.” Shaul Magid, who teaches modern Judaism at Harvard Divinity School is quoted saying “More than an exercise in pro-Israel muscle, this is…an act of desperation. The liberal Zionist center is collapsing.”

    2. In a statement, the Hind Rajab Foundation – named for the five year-old girl killed by Israeli forces – has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court accusing 1,000 Israeli soldiers of “war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza.” The statement goes on to say “These individuals, all of whom have been identified by name, are accused of participating in systematic attacks against civilians during the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” examples of which include destruction of civilian infrastructure, illegal occupation and looting, and use of inhumane warfare tactics, among others. The Foundation alleges that this complaint is supported by over 8,000 pieces of verifiable evidence, including “videos, audio recordings, forensic reports, and social media documentation.”

    3. In a clash of the fast food titans, the Washington Post reports McDonald’s has filed a lawsuit against Tyson Foods, Cargill, JBS and National Beef Packing alleging that the meat packing giants engaged in a “conspiracy…to fix, raise, stabilize and/or maintain the price of beef…at supra-competitive levels — that is, prices artificially higher than beef prices would have been in the absence of their conspiracy.” In this complaint, McDonald’s alleges that “the price per hundred pounds of cattle had historically stayed within $20 to $40 of the average price per hundred pounds of wholesale beef…. [but] By 2021, the difference had ballooned to $156.50.” The meatpackers have been under increasing scrutiny for the past several years. “In 2020, the Justice Department…sent subpoenas to the four meatpackers in an antitrust probe. A year later, nearly 30 members of Congress sent…a letter, suggesting it was time ‘to determine whether the stranglehold large meatpackers have over the beef processing market violate our antitrust laws and principles of fair competition,’” and in 2022, JBS agreed to a $52.5 million settlement with direct purchasers.

    4. In the final days before the 2024 election, Republicans are launching a full-scale assault on the regulatory state. The National Review reports House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer is opening an investigation into Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan, accusing her of politicizing the agency by appearing at events with progressive lawmakers. These events have centered on policy – an event in Texas with Bernie Sanders and Greg Casar was focused on “corporate power and worker freedom,” while others have dealt with grocery prices, health care, and price gouging, per Punchbowl News – but Comer is alleging that these events were political in nature and thus prohibited by the Hatch Act. Meanwhile Mark Joseph Stern reports “Fourteen Republican attorneys general are suing to block a new [Federal Communications Commission] rule that would prohibit prisons from charging inmates extortionist rates for phone and video calls,” which can cost as much $54 each. It seems unlikely that these attacks on consumer protection rules will deliver political dividends for Republicans come November.

    5. In another bizarre GOP misstep, Indiana Senator Mike Braun recently said “the U.S. Supreme Court was wrong to legalize interracial marriage in…1967,” and that the decision should have “instead been left to individual states,” FOX59 Indianapolis reports. Braun then tied himself in knots saying that he condemned “racism in any form” but maintained that “We’re better off having states manifest their points of view.” The Indiana Democratic Party condemned Braun’s statements, calling his rhetoric “an endorsement of…dangerous white nationalist views.”

    6. Airline Geeks reports “Boeing has cut health care coverage for 33,000 of its workers and their families as [the] machinists union strikes continue to halt production in the Pacific Northwest.” International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers International President Brian Bryant responded to this clear attempt at strikebreaking by saying “Boeing executives cannot make up their mind…One day they say they want to win back the trust of their workforce. The next moment…Boeing executives are…tripping over dollars to get pennies by cutting a benefit that is essential to the lives of children and families, but is nothing compared to the cost of the larger problems Boeing executives have created …over the last ten years. Their missteps are costing not just the workers but our nation.” The Machinists have been on strike since September 13th, and Bryant said “Our members continue to be strong in their resolve and will not settle for anything but a fair contract that recognizes and rewards the critical and dedicated work they perform.”

    7. According to Documented NY, “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has run a secretive program for years where ICE agents have trained hundreds of civilian volunteers on how to operate multiple types of firearms, conduct investigations and surveillance of immigrants, and use lethal force on human beings.” Documents from this quasi-fascist program, revealed via FOIA request on October 1st, include “detailed images showing where to strike with a baton or a weapon to cause differentiated harms on the body…presentations on how to shoot a gun, point at targets, and stand in positions to fire…[with] One presentation slide suggest[ing] yelling ‘drop the gun’ as a potential cover when employing lethal force against someone.” Ian Head, Open Records project manager at the Center for Constitutional Rights, calls this “a violent and racist program, where people pretending to be violent ICE officers got to hold guns and fire them in role-play situations where agents pretended to be immigrants.”

    8. More fascist news comes to us from Canada, where the Ottawa Citizen reports “The Department of Canadian Heritage is being told that more than half of the 550 names on the Memorial to the Victims of Communism should be removed because of potential links to the Nazis or questions about affiliations with fascist groups, according to government records.” Documents show the department had already determined that 50 to 60 of the names or organizations were directly linked to the Nazis. As the article notes, “The memorial was supposed to be unveiled in November 2023 but…was put on hold after members of Parliament honoured Yaroslav Hunka, a Ukrainian soldier with the Waffen-SS Galicia Division, a voluntary unit that was under the command of the Nazis. That incident became an international embarrassment for Canada.”

    9. In more positive news from our Southern neighbor, incoming Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has announced a new “Health at Home” program for seniors and persons with disabilities, per Latina Republic. The program, intended to reach 13.6 million people, “will bring healthcare personnel to the homes of all seniors across the country,” starting with a census to collect comprehensive health data to “establish a personalized care plan,” to be performed by over 20,000 new doctors and nurses. This ambitious program of preventative medicine is unimaginable in this country despite boasting a GDP almost 20 times the size of Mexico’s.

    10. Finally, in Nebraska, a new poll from the Independent Center finds Independent Senate candidate Dan Osborne leading two-term incumbent Republican Deb Fischer by a remarkable 5 points. Currently the candidates stand at 42% for Fischer, 47% for Osborne, with 10% undecided. Voter registration in Nebraska totals 49% Republican, 26% Democrat, and 25% Independent, meaning Osborne has a path to victory via a Democratic-Independent coalition. If successful, Osborne could provide a model for victory in red states: run as a left-wing populist and jettison the toxic Democratic Party brand.

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Destructive Tendencies

    First on today’s show, Ralph welcomes back Dr. Bandy Lee to discuss her recent conference, “The More Dangerous State of the World and the Need for Fit Leadership—The Much More Dangerous Case of Donald Trump”. Then, Ralph is joined by Professor Ted Postol to talk about the missiles and rockets (and other weapons) being used in the expanding war(s) in the Middle East. 

    [Nadia Milleron] went down to Springfield, the state capitol, and met with every assembly member, saying—for future wrongful death, you should give people in Illinois the opportunity to file for punitive damages against these corporate defendants, or other similarly-positioned defendants. And she got it through—it was considered impossible to beat Boeing, and she got it through and the governor signed it. That’s the determination of a parent who loses a child to corporate crime

    Ralph Nader

    Dr. Bandy Lee 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 joining the Harvard Program in Psychiatry and the Law. 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 The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President and Profile of a Nation: Trump’s Mind, America’s Soul.

    Let me clarify that there’s a distinction among the evaluations that mental health experts do—one is diagnostic, the other is functional. And the diagnostic exam is the one that mental health professionals have no business doing on a public figure because that’s what you do in private therapy sessions, and you diagnose someone in order to outline their course of treatment. But a functional assessment is something you do for the public—and that includes unfitness or dangerousness—and these kinds of comments are not only permitted, they are part of our societal responsibility because we are responsible not just for private individual patients, but for the public, for society.

    Dr. Bandy Lee

    Donald Trump is not an isolated phenomenon. He is a product of the system that has come before him and he is an accelerator of the dangers that succeed him. I do not believe that a Biden presidency would have been this dangerous without a Trump presidency preceding him. 

    Dr. Bandy Lee

    Ted Postol is Professor of Science, Technology and National Security Policy Emeritus in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT. His expertise is in nuclear weapon systems, including submarine warfare, applications of nuclear weapons, ballistic missile defense, and ballistic missiles more generally. He previously worked as an analyst at the Office of Technology Assessment and as a science and policy adviser to the chief of naval operations. In 2016, he received the Garwin Prize from the Federation of American Scientists for his work in assessing and critiquing the government’s claims about missile defenses.

    I do not want to appear like I don’t think it matters, but at the same time, it’s been provoked to the point that it’s amazing that the Iranians have restrained themselves to this point. But the Iranians know that they’re going to suffer heavy damage from Israel. They have not wanted to go to war. They have shown great wisdom and restraint in spite of the situation.

    Ted Postol

    What the Israelis want—this guy Netanyahu in particular, who I think is delusional besides being psychopath—what Netanyahu wants, he wants a decisive victory. Again, let me underscore that—a decisive victory against Iran and also Hezbollah and Gaza, these poor victims of his genocide in Gaza. He can’t do that. He’s going to kill God knows how many more people in his effort—which is already a crime against humanity that’s beginning to look like the Holocaust—but he’s not going to defeat Hezbollah in a decisive way. 

    Ted Postol

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    News 10/2/24

    1. ProPublica reports “The U.S. government’s two foremost authorities on humanitarian assistance [USAID and the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration] concluded this spring that Israel had deliberately blocked deliveries of food and medicine into Gaza.” Yet just days later, instead of acting upon this information, Secretary of State Antony Blinken misled Congress telling lawmakers “We do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance [to Gaza].” In USAID’s report, the agency laid out specific examples of Israeli interference, including “killing aid workers, razing agricultural structures, bombing ambulances and hospitals, sitting on supply depots and routinely turning away trucks full of food and medicine.” The State Department Refugee bureau separately concluded that “the Foreign Assistance Act should be triggered to freeze almost $830 million in taxpayer dollars earmarked for weapons and bombs to Israel, according to emails obtained by ProPublica.” Yet because Blinken refused to accept these facts and instead opted to lie to Congress, the weapons pipeline to Israel continues to flow unimpeded. Some, including Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, have called on Blinken to resign, per the Middle East Monitor.

    2. On September 27th, Israel assassinated Hezbollah Secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah. According to NBC, the Israelis made this decision “after concluding [Nasrallah] would not accept any diplomatic solution to end the fighting on the Israel-Lebanon border that was not tied to an end to the war in Gaza.” Through this assassination, and the assassination of Hamas Political Bureau chairman Ismail Haniyeh earlier this year, Israel has made clear that they would rather resort to extrajudicial killings than negotiate an end to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Israel now plans to invade Southern Lebanon, further escalating this conflict into a regional war, with the full backing of the United States.

    3. Following the pager and walkie-talkie attacks in Lebanon, the office of Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib issued a statement decrying that “The Biden-Harris administration continues to allow Netanyahu and the Israeli government to operate with impunity as they carry out war crimes. After facing no red line in Gaza…Netanyahu is now expanding his genocidal campaign to Lebanon…Deploying more U.S. troops and sending more U.S. bombs will only lead to more suffering and carnage. The…administration is capable of stopping the bloodshed. President Biden must implement an immediate arms embargo to end the slaughter and de-escalate the risk of a wider regional war.” Yet, far from de-escalating, the Biden administration has stood by while Netanyahu has escalated further, with increasing signs that the situation will tip over into a full-scale regional war between Israel and Iran. Dark days indeed could be ahead.

    4. This week, Hurricane Helene cleaved a “500-mile path of destruction” stretching from Florida to the Southern Appalachians, per CNN. So far, the casualties include at least 128 dead and whole communities wiped off the map. Yet, this devastation is not limited merely to peoples’ homes and communities. In a darkly ironic twist, “Hurricane Helene’s severe flooding [in Asheville, North Carolina] knocked offline the top tracker of U.S. and global climate data, including of extreme weather…The National Centers for Environmental Information,” or NCEI. According to the NCEI, “Even those who are physically safe are generally without power, water or connectivity,” per Axios. And just outside Atlanta, Vox reports “Amid the devastation and mass flooding…A chemical fire [at BioLab] released a massive plume of potentially toxic gasses into the air.” Officials issued a shelter-in-place order Sunday evening covering Rockdale County, home to around 90,000 people. EPA testing detected signs of chlorine gas in the air. Fulton County, which includes parts of Atlanta, has reported “a haze and strong chemical smell.”

    5. Last week, the International Trade Union Confederation published a report accusing “Some of the world’s largest companies of undermining democracy across the world by financially backing far-right political movements, funding and exacerbating the climate crisis, and violating trade union rights and human rights.” This report specifically names Amazon, Tesla, Meta, ExxonMobil, Blackstone, Vanguard and Glencore. This report cites a litany of damning acts by these corporations – ranging from union busting and environmental degradation to funding of far-right and anti-indigenous movements around the globe – but makes the fundamental point that “This is about power, who has it, and who sets the agenda. …They’re playing the long game, and it’s a game about shifting power away from democracy at every level into one where they’re not concerned about the effects on workers – they’re concerned about maximizing their influence and their extractive power and their profit…Now is the time for international and multi-sectoral strategies, because these are, in many cases, multinational corporations that are more powerful than states, and they have no democratic accountability whatsoever, except for workers organized.” Per the Guardian, “the ITUC includes labor group affiliates from 169 nations…representing 191 million workers…the federation is pushing for an international binding treaty…to hold transnational corporations accountable under international human rights laws.”

    6. Yet, although these corporations are being called out for their role in undermining democracy, the Biden administration is granting many of them large sums of money via the newly announced “Partnership for Global Inclusivity on AI.” According to the State Department, this partnership will bring together the Department of State, Amazon, Anthropic, Google, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and OpenAI to “promote inclusivity, respect for human rights, digital solidarity, and equitable access to the benefits of AI globally.” As the American Prospect’s Luke Goldstein notes, every single one of the companies listed are currently facing lawsuits or are under investigation by either the Department of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission, and two of these corporations were clients of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s during his time as a consultant at WestExec Advisors. And in California, Variety reports Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed SB 1047, a bill that “sought to ward off catastrophic risks of highly advanced [AI] models…[that] could be used to develop chemical or nuclear weapons.” This bill was strongly supported by SAG-AFTRA.

    7. A new article in the Atlantic makes the case that “Legalizing Sports Gambling Was a Huge Mistake.” On a previous program we discussed how the “widespread legalization of sports gambling over the past five years has [led to a] roughly 28% increase in bankruptcies and an 8% increase in debt transferred to debt collectors,” along with substantial increases in auto loan delinquencies and use of debt consolidation loans. Beyond the financial damages however, this piece cites a new University of Oregon study that found in places where sports gambling is legalized, a loss by the home NFL team increases intimate partner violence by approximately 10%. As Deseret News put the question, “If, after six years, a law was discovered to be encouraging domestic violence while causing people, especially the poor, to lose what little money they could put toward savings, what would be the correct next step?”

    8. On September 24th, the Federal Trade Commission took action against Invitation Homes, the country’s largest landlord of single-family homes, for “an array of unlawful actions against consumers, including deceiving renters about lease costs, charging undisclosed junk fees, failing to inspect homes before residents moved in, and unfairly withholding tenants’ security deposits when they moved out.” The FTC complaint cites a 2019 email from Invitation Homes’ CEO “calling on the senior vice president responsible for overseeing the company’s fee program to ‘juice this hog’” by making additional fees mandatory for renters. This action comes as “Democrats Are Torn Between Donors and Their Base,” over the high-profile FTC Chair Lina Khan, Wired reports. While many billionaire Democratic donors have publicly called for Khan’s ouster, polling shows around “80 percent of Democrats feel that the government should be doing more to take on corporate monopolies, compared to only 3 percent who say it should be doing less…[and] Nearly 90 percent of Democrats…feel that lobbyists and corporate executives hold too much power over the government.” To his credit, powerful House Democrat Jim Clyburn recently defended Khan when asked whether she should be fired, saying “… fired for what? For doing [her] job?…I suspect that people who represent Invitation Homes may want her to be replaced by somebody who would not do their [job],” per the Huffington Post.

    9. POLITICO Europe has published a shocking exposé documenting “the atrocities carried out during the summer of 2021 by a [Mozambican] commando unit led by an officer who said his mission was to protect ‘the project of Total.’” The “Total” in question being TotalEnergies, the French energy titan operating an enormous liquid natural gas plant in the Southeast African country. According to this report, “villagers had been caught in the crossfire between the Mozambican army and ISIS-affiliated militants. Having fled their homes, they had gone to seek the protection of government soldiers. Instead…[t]he soldiers accused the villagers of being members of the insurgency. They separated the men — a group of between 180 and 250 — from the women and children. Then they crammed their prisoners into… shipping containers…hitting, kicking and striking them with rifle butts. The soldiers held the men in the containers for three months. They beat, suffocated, starved, tortured and finally killed their detainees. Ultimately, only 26 prisoners survived.” Beyond this horrific massacre, this piece investigates the complex relationship between the Mozambican government, the Islamist insurgency, and French energy interests operating in Mozambique.

    10. Finally, on the eve of the inauguration of Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s incoming president and the first ever Jewish head of state in North America, tensions are mounting between the country and its northern neighbor, the United States. On his way out, popular left-wing president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, or AMLO, has declared a Yucatán port owned by Alabama-based Vulcan Materials a nature reserve in a move that the company is calling “expropriation.” According to Reuters, the company has quarried limestone in Mexico for over three decades and AMLO has long criticized their activities as environmentally damaging. AMLO also offered offered up to 7 billion pesos or $362 million for the land, but Vulcan rejected the offer. In response to AMLO’s move, Republican Senators Katie Britt of Alabama and John Cornyn of Texas sent a letter “threatening Mexico with ‘crushing consequences’ if the incoming Administration of Claudia Sheinbaum,” doesn’t reverse this decision, per José Díaz Briseño of Reforma. This vague saber rattling raises the question, voiced by decorated journalist Ryan Grim, “Are Senate Republicans threatening some kind of coup”?

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Boobytraps, Bombs & Blowback

    Ralph welcomes Middle East expert and executive VP of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Trita Parsi, to fill us in on the consequences of Israel boobytrapping pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon and how those tactics have the potential to blow back on us in the United States. Then we welcome back surgeon and humanitarian, Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, who has worked in Gaza during the Israeli assault, to update us on his efforts to get the Biden Administration to convince Israel to stop the killing. 

    Trita Parsi is the executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, and the co-founder and former President of the National Iranian American Council. He is an expert on US-Iranian relations, Iranian foreign policy, and the geopolitics of the Middle East, and has worked for the Swedish Permanent Mission to the UN, where he served in the Security Council, handling the affairs of Afghanistan, Iraq, Tajikistan, and Western Sahara, and in the General Assembly’s Third Committee, addressing human rights in Iran, Afghanistan, Myanmar, and Iraq. He has authored three books on US foreign policy in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Iran and Israel— Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States, A Single Roll of the Dice – Obama’s Diplomacy with Iran, and Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran and the Triumph of Diplomacy.

    We’re in a very sad situation in which we have a president who has been sitting on the front lines of American foreign policy for one-fifth of America’s history, who thinks that he knows everything best, and clearly doesn’t seem to be listening to anyone. And there’s plenty of discontent inside the Biden administration itself—and people appear to have just given up and are waiting for the elections—but there’s no clear signs yet that there won’t necessarily be much of a change even after that.

    Trita Parsi

    Let’s first remember that if any other entity had done this to Israel—or to us—we would not have hesitated for a second. We would have called it an act of terrorism, and we would have called it an act of war.

    Trita Parsi

    Dr. Feroze Sidhwa is a trauma and critical care surgeon as well as a Northern California Veterans Affairs general surgeon, and he is Associate Professor of Surgery at the California Northstate University College of Medicine. Dr. Sidhwa served at the European Hospital in Khan Younis in March and April of this year, and he has done prior humanitarian work in Haiti, the West Bank, Ukraine, and Zimbabwe. Dr. Sidhwa and 45 other American doctors and nurses who have served in Gaza recently sent a letter exhorting President Biden, VP Harris, and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden to effect an immediate ceasefire.

    It’s hard to appreciate, but really literally everything in Gaza that makes a place a society has been destroyed. I think of it in three levels— at the very base is agriculture, food production, and housing, at the level above that is healthcare, and at the level above that is things that are for a higher level of society, education, arts, industry, whatever. That top level is gone. Literally every university in Gaza has been obliterated, physically destroyed…The hospital system is almost completely useless right now…the functionality of the hospitals is very little more than a four walled space in which people can walk into and ask for a doctor to put bandages on them. And then even the lowest level…something like 85 or 90 % of the water sanitation and hygiene infrastructure in Gaza has been destroyed.

    Dr. Feroze Sidhwa

    This is just outrageous. I mean, why are we doing this even to ourselves? Is it worth corrupting the entire executive department of the United States so that we can murder more children? Is that what Americans want? I don’t think so.

    Dr. Feroze Sidhwa

    Let’s talk about Lebanon itself, not just Hezbollah. This is war on Lebanon—that has a dysfunctional government, to be sure— but it is a state that the U.S. is allied with in a way, supplying modest weapons to the Lebanese army, and France has had long relations with Lebanon going back to the mandate period. In the U.S., this is a whole new constituency where they’re losing relatives and friends.

    Ralph Nader

    More links to the letter sent by Dr. Sidhwa and his colleagues:

    To Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Canada

    To Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the UK

    How to email the President

    How to call the President

    Write or Call the White House

    In Case You Didn’t Hear with Francesco DeSantis

    News 9/25/24

    1. On September 11th, Senator Patty Murray and Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal sent a letter to the Biden administration demanding “an immediate, transparent, credible, and thorough independent U.S. investigation…into the killing of [Ayşenur] Eygi,” the American citizen murdered by Israeli forces during a protest in the West Bank. Senator Murray and Representative Jayapal both represent Washington state, where Ms. Eygi attended university. In this letter, Murray and Jayapal also list the numerous American citizens killed by Israeli soldiers even before the current explosion of tensions in the region, ranging from Rachel Corrie in 2003 to Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022. Senator Bernie Sanders echoed this call in his own statement on September 13th. Despite this pressure, the administration has not launched an investigation. The government of Turkey however – where Ms. Eygi was born, though she moved the United States when she was less than a year old – will pursue charges against Israel in the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice, Reuters reports.

    2. The Intercept reports that the Uncommitted Movement will not endorse Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. In their official statement, the Movement leaders write “Vice President Harris’s unwillingness to shift on unconditional weapons policy or to even make a clear campaign statement in support of upholding existing U.S. and international human rights law has made it impossible for us to endorse her.” Harris proved unwilling to even meet with the Uncommitted leaders. This cold shoulder could have disastrous consequences, particularly in Michigan where Uncommitted garnered over 100,000 votes in the Democratic primaries.

    3. Boeing is again in crisis. On September 20th, the New York Post reported that the chief of the company’s space unit, Ted Colbert, had been ousted after Boeing’s Starliner capsule left astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore stranded on the International Space Station. This comes amid a massive strike by Boeing machinists, 96% of whom voted in favor of the strike per Ryan Simms of KOMO News. The New York Post adds that Boeing’s shares have lost over 40% of their value so far this year.

    4. In more union related news, on September 18th, the Congressional Workers Union announced that “staff in the Office of Congressman Mark Pocan and Congresswoman Val Hoyle secured the first-ever Memorandums of Understanding…between congressional staff and their members.” These MOUs include salary increases, back pay, and immediate cost-of-living adjustments. The union will continue to press for the first ever Congressional office collective bargaining agreement.

    5. On September 12th, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau “filed a proposed order against student loan servicer Navient for its years of failures and lawbreaking.” If approved by the court, this order would permanently “remove Navient from a market where it, among other illegal actions, steered numerous student loan borrowers into costly repayment options…illegally deprived student borrowers of opportunities to enroll in more affordable income-driven repayment plans and forced them to pay much more than they should have.” Additionally, Navient would be forced to pay out $100 million to harmed borrowers, on top of a $20 million penalty. CFPB Director Rohit Chopra is quoted saying “For years, Navient’s top executives profited handsomely by exploiting students and taxpayers…By banning the notorious student loan giant from federal student loan servicing and ensuring the winddown of these operations, the CFPB will finally put an end to the years of abuse.” Navient, formerly Sallie Mae, is described as “a repeat offender with a long history of regulatory violations,” and when the CFPB first took legal action against the company in 2017, it was the largest student loan servicer in the country.

    6. More Perfect Union’s Jordan Zakarin reports the National Labor Relations Board has ruled that Starbucks illegally closed all three of its Ithaca, New York locations and that the NLRB “ordered that those stores be re-opened, with the unionized staff re-hired and given 16 months of backpay.” Yet, Zakarin notes that because this was decided by an administrative law judge, Starbucks can and more than likely will appeal this decision. This case starkly exemplifies why the capitalist class feels so threatened by the newly reinvigorated NLRB.

    7. A deeply disturbing story sheds light on sexual assault by CIA officers in postings around the world. The AP reports Brian Jeffrey Raymond, a longtime CIA agent, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for drugging, photographing, and sexually assaulting more than two dozen women in postings around the globe. Yet Raymond’s case is just the tip of the iceberg. “[A]nother veteran CIA officer faces…charges in Virginia for allegedly reaching up a co-worker’s skirt and forcibly kissing her during a drunken party in the office…Still another former CIA employee…is scheduled to face a jury trial next month on charges he assaulted a woman…at the agency’s Langley, Virginia, headquarters. That case emboldened some two dozen women to come forward to authorities and Congress with accounts of their own of sexual assaults, unwanted touching and what they contend are the CIA’s efforts to silence them.” Tellingly, even Raymond’s own attorneys contended that his “quasi-military” work at the CIA in the years following 9/11 contributed to his “emotional callousness [and] objectification of other people,” that led to his preying upon women. It is well worth remembering that, once set in motion, dehumanization is not easily stopped.

    8. Amid an expansive corruption probe in New York City, Gothamist reports just how much the NYPD is receiving in overtime pay in the subway; whereas last year, this slice of overtime pay totaled $4 million in taxpayer money, this year it has ballooned to $155 million, a nearly 4,000% increase. Meanwhile the Mayor continues to slash budgets for essential city services, such as libraries.

    9. Rolling Stone reports the Crypto lobby is spending gargantuan sums of money to take out Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown – reportedly $32 million by the end of September, or $800,000 per day. Aware that their cause is unpopular, they are not running pro-Crypto ads, but instead spots that say his opponent will stop “illegal immigrants from taking Ohio’s tax dollars.” As Luke Goldstein of the American Prospect puts it “Dems are getting played like a fiddle by crypto; Schumer caved to their demands to stop the bleeding and then crypto PACs said thanks we’re still dropping $32 mil in OH to knock out your senate majority.”

    10. Finally, in a story featuring a dizzying array of the worst things imaginable, Bloomberg reports “The owner of the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania will invest $1.6 billion to revive it, agreeing to sell all the output to Microsoft…as the tech titan seeks…electricity for data centers to power [AI].” This story notes that “one of the site’s two units permanently closed almost a half-century ago after the worst…nuclear accident” in American history, but Constellation Energy is “planning to reopen the other reactor, which shut in 2019 because it couldn’t compete economically.” In other words, Microsoft is dumping money into a defunct nuclear power plant that has proven to be unsafe for the sole purpose of powering AI that has no proven benefits. Corporate greed caused a catastrophe at Three Mile Island before. Corporate hubris could easily cause another.

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Throw Down for Peace/ Start-up Cities

    Ralph welcomes back Hassan El-Tayyab, the Legislative Director for Middle East policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation to talk about the FCNL’s recent lobbying efforts in support of a ceasefire in Gaza, as well as the recently-introduced bill to restore funding to UNRWA. Then, Ralph is joined by journalist Rachel Corbett to discuss her recent article for the NY Times Magazine “The For-Profit City That Might Come Crashing Down” about Próspera, the private, for-profit city off the coast of Honduras. Finally, our resident international-law expert Bruce Fein stops by to discuss Israel’s recent coordinated attacks in Lebanon. 

    Hassan El-Tayyab is Legislative Director for Middle East policy and Advocacy Organizer at the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL). Previously, he was co-director of the national advocacy group Just Foreign Policy, where he worked to reassert Congressional war authority and promote human rights in the Middle East and Latin America. He played a major role in the successful passage of the War Powers Resolution to end US military aid to the Saudi-UAE coalition’s war in Yemen. 

    I’ve been reading a recent statement that the Friends Committee has put out on the Gaza situation. They just can’t seem to keep up with the massive expansion of Israeli state terrorism and the death and destruction that’s being wrought on hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians, families, children, mothers, fathers, and the civilian infrastructure. [Their] effort on Capitol Hill—which is a longstanding feature of the Friends Committee on Legislation—seems hopelessly overwhelmed by the AIPAC-led Israeli-government-can-do-no-wrong lobby.

    Ralph Nader

    We try to find common ground. As you know, the Quaker way is to believe that there’s a spirit and light in everybody—whether we agree with them or not, we want to engage. And that’s just a philosophy that we’ve had for over 80 years as an organization, and much longer than that as Quakers doing peace advocacy work going back hundreds of years. So we try to engage with everybody. Maybe we don’t agree on the weapons shipments, but we can agree on sending US Navy hospital ships to the region. 

    Hassan El-Tayyab

    If we care about peace, we have to throw down for peace. And not just support humanitarian aid, but actually get involved in the political end of this as well. Because we are spiraling. We’re spiraling into a dark place if we don’t get our act together.

    Hassan El-Tayyab

    Rachel Corbett is a journalist who has written for the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic, and New York Magazine, among other publications. And she is the author of You Must Change Your Life: The Story of Rainer Maria Rilke and Auguste Rodin which won the 2016 Marfield Prize, the National Award for Arts Writing.

    On the one hand, you could almost laugh at something like this. There’s so many silly anecdotes that come out of it. And on the other hand, it seems incredibly serious, like something that may be happening underneath the surface that has actually been intentionally happening underneath the surface. I think there’s a concerted effort to keep things quiet while these cities get built and become almost too big to tear down… Although they’re not that advanced, the sheer money behind them and the influence of the people behind them is serious, and this tribunal case alone proves it could have really serious effects on the actual world.

    Rachel Corbett

    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 Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy, and American Empire: Before the Fall.

    There is no way that Israel was able to limit the distribution of the pages to Hezbollah, so they knew that they were taking a very high risk that civilians would be killed or injured—which is a violation of the Geneva Convention prohibition upon resorting to any military endeavor where the risk of harm to civilians is dramatically disproportionate to the military objective at issue.

    Bruce Fein

    Even with the low bar that many people present before the Biden administration, it is unsettling to see White House spokespeople day after day knowingly lying about Israel “complying with all laws.”

    Ralph Nader



    Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The Power of Where

    Ralph welcomes back Jack Dangermond, co-founder of Esri—Environmental Systems Research Institute, the leader in GIS mapping technology to open up his book, “The Power of Where: A Geographic Approach to the World’s Greatest Challenges.” Then John R. McArthur, journalist, author and publisher of Harper’s returns to discuss a recent study by neuroscientists that concluded that students absorb and retain information better on paper than they do on screens and what this means for the future of education and society as a whole.

    Jack Dangermond is President of Esri—Environmental Systems Research Institute—and is recognized as one of the most influential people in the field of geographic information system—GIS—technology. Jack, along with his wife Laura, founded Esri in 1969. He is the author of The Power of Where: A Geographic Approach to the World’s Greatest Challenges.

    Geography is everything. It’s what happens, when it happens, in some cases why it happens, but most importantly, where it happens.

    Jack Dangermond

    I believe geography and maps—the language of geography—are a new kind of way to understand the complexity of our world. Our world is complex. All these relationships—the world is hard to fathom. And using these interactive mapping tools, people can learn a lot in a short amount of time. They can see context, as well as all the content that they’re learning in their various disciplines.

    Jack Dangermond

    Years ago, Jack called up and said—help us apply GIS to civic action, civic advocacy…We used GIS techniques, applied federal government data, and in a report we came out with in the 1990s—it was called “Racial Redlining: A Study Of Racial Discrimination By Banks And Mortgage Companies In The United States”—the map showed the worst-case lending pattern as prima facie evidence of unlawful discrimination against low-income areas in mortgage lending. And so, the applications for civic work still need a lot of attention. I don’t think the potential has been reached anywhere near what it could be, especially as the field and the technology just explodes with innovation.

    Ralph Nader

    John R. MacArthur is the president of Harper’s, a journalist, and the author of several books, including Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the 1991 Gulf War

    Common sense tells you just instinctively—well, if somebody’s looking at a page in a book or in a newspaper, there’s less distractions and there’s more focus on what you’re actually reading, whereas on a screen you have a tendency to get distracted and the lighting is not good and so on and so forth. But now the obvious has been proven. And I get the sense that they’re almost ashamed. They just don’t want to address it. Or they’re in so deep with big tech.

    John R. MacArthur

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    News 9/11/24

    1. Zeteo reports “Israeli forces allegedly shot and killed US citizen Ayşenur Eygi…at a demonstration in the West Bank village of Beita…The 26-year-old was there alongside other Americans who have been demonstrating against illegal settlement activity and providing a nonviolent protective presence for Palestinians…Ayşenur…was shot at the same weekly demonstration where American teacher and volunteer Amado Sison was shot last month.” This piece also notes that Eygi was in the West Bank with the International Solidarity Movement, the same group that American activist Rachel Corrie was affiliated with when she was murdered by an IDF bulldozer in 2003. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken decried this incident as “unprovoked and unjustified,” saying “No one…should be shot and killed for attending a protest. No one should have to put their life at risk just for expressing their views,” per CNN. According to Yahoo News, President Biden has not talked to Eygi’s family, and neither he nor Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris have issued a statement on Eygi’s death.

    2. Congressman Jamaal Bowman, who was recently primaried by an AIPAC-backed challenger after being outspent a by margin of seven-to-one (per CNN), has issued a statement in light of the revelations that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu sabotaged negotiations for a hostage and ceasefire deal in July. This statement reads “Netanyahu has continuously derailed negotiations and added new demands to stall for his own political benefit, with zero regard for the immense death toll and scale of human suffering…His goal is not to bring the hostages home or bring peace and safety to the region…Every life is precious and should be treated as such…My thoughts are with the families of the dead hostages, who have suffered an unimaginable loss, and with the people of Gaza, who are facing the horrors of genocide and being killed indiscriminately every day.”

    3. Variety reports a group of prominent Hollywood actors are leading a new initiative to pressure the Biden administration to end illegal arms transfers to Israel. This new push, growing out of the Artists4Ceasefire collective, is led by Mark Ruffalo, Cynthia Nixon, Mahershala Ali, and Ilana Glazer. Ruffalo writes “Our demand is simple — our elected leaders must enforce existing U.S. and international humanitarian laws that prohibit the use of military assistance to commit ‘grave human rights violations.’” Nixon adds “Words without action will not end the unbearable suffering…Enough is enough. The global call for a permanent ceasefire — supported domestically by an overwhelming majority of Americans — must be answered.” Despite overwhelming public support for peace, advocating for Palestinian rights has been a dangerous proposition in Hollywood since October 7th, with “A top movie agent, an Oscar winner, and the star of Scream VII [having] all been demoted or fired for calling out Israel’s bombing of Gaza,” per Rolling Stone.

    4. In a chilling story from our Northern neighbor, the Ottawa Citizen reports “The Ukrainian Canadian Congress says it plans to go to court to stop the federal government from making public the names of alleged Nazi war criminals who fled to [Canada].” As this piece explains, “At issue are documents created by a 1986 federal government war-crimes commission…One of the documents is titled ‘Master List of alleged war criminals resident in Canada… [including] names of alleged war criminals as well as Nazi scientists and technicians” who fled to the country. The total number is around 900. These records have been requested under Canada’s equivalent to the Freedom of Information Act. The government must now decide whether or not to disclose these names. According to this article, the Canadian government has consulted with leaders of Canada’s Ukrainian community, but not with Holocaust survivors or scholars.

    5. In a major win for the Biden Treasury Department, the IRS announced last week that it has clawed back $1.3 billion from rich tax dodgers since last fall, per AP. Since 2023, the IRS has “launched a series of initiatives aimed at pursuing…taxpayers with more than $1 million in income and more than $250,000 in recognized tax debt.” According to officials, approximately 80% of the 1,600 tax delinquent millionaires have now made a payment.

    6. More positive news comes to us from the union front. The Orlando Weekly’s McKenna Schueler reports “Florida’s anti-union law, SB 256, has forced dozens of public sector unions to ask the state for recertification elections—and so far, they’re all crushing it. Out of 26 elections with final results reported, workers in all but 1 have voted to keep their unions alive & intact.” Yet despite the unions’ overwhelming victories in these re-certification elections, “more than 68,000 public employees in Florida have lost their union representation – NOT because they voted to get rid of their unions, but because their union had low membership and didn’t petition for a recertification election.”

    7. In more red-state union news, Washington Post Labor Reporter Lauren Kaori Gurley reports “Apple retail workers in Oklahoma City secured a tentative union contract, the 2nd store to do so at Apple.” This contract between Apple and the workers, represented by the Communications Workers of America, is said to include “pay increases of up to 11.5% over 3 years, severance & store closure protections [and] worker involvement in scheduling.”

    8. Yet not all is well on the union front. According to NJ.com a “civil war” is brewing between the United Autoworkers and the AFL-CIO at Atlantic City casinos over the UAW’s demand to end indoor smoking. According to this piece, many of the dealers at these casinos, represented by the UAW, have contracted emphysema or even cancer despite not smoking themselves due to their constant exposure to secondhand smoke. Meanwhile the state AFL-CIO, led by Charlie Wowkanech, is standing with the casinos against a proposed ban. The UAW’s Daniel Vicente is quoted saying “Dealing with Charlie was like dealing with some lame-ass mafia guy – it felt like a shakedown…We’re planning to go to war with these other unions…We’re coming straight at anyone who stands in the way of our people coming home safe.”

    9. Another story of betrayal comes from France. Al Jazeera reports “More than 100,000 left-wing demonstrators…have taken to the streets across France to protest President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to appoint centre-right Michel Barnier as [Prime Minister], with left-wing parties accusing [Macron] of stealing legislative elections.” For the past two months, the French parliament has been hung due to legislative elections that left it divided into three blocs – the largest of which being the left-wing coalition. Yet despite a popular front alliance between Macron and the Left during the elections, Macron has now chosen to elevate a right-winger as PM in order to appease the far-right bloc led by Marine Le Pen. Al Jazeera notes that French pollster Elabe found that 74 percent of French people believed Macron had disregarded the results of the elections and 55 percent believe he has stolen them.

    10. Finally, the first debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris was held on Tuesday. Shortly before the debate, Harris finally released some concrete policy proposals on her website. These include vague pledges to reduce the cost of healthcare, increase the minimum wage, and protect the civil liberties of marginalized communities. Harris more clearly articulated her more conservative policies, including beefing up border security, increasing funding for law enforcement, challenging China on the world stage, and keeping weapons flowing to Israel. This suite of policies seems designed to correspond with her courtship of anti-Trump Republican voters, which has included touting the endorsement of Liz and Dick Cheney.

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Field Team 6

    Ralph welcomes former TV writer turned grass roots organizer, Jason Berlin, who explains how his group, Field Team 6, uses the latest data and analytics to identify and reach out to potential Democratic voters in order to register them to vote and how that could turn the tide in purple, flippable states.

    Jason Berlin is a former TV writer and co-founder of Field Team 6, a national voter-registration project that organizes voter drives to register Democrats in the most flippable states across the country.

    The fact is you can’t get out the vote if those voters don’t exist to begin with. It’s like no one had a talk with people about where a voter comes from. So we concentrate on that first half of the equation—getting people over that biggest hurdle, getting them registered, generating this river of new Democrats and Independents who can then get into the system and be targeted by the massive get-out-the-vote machinery.

    Jason Berlin

    The Democratic Party over the years has exhibited serious symptoms of masochism. It’s like they’ve written off half the country, where they don’t even compete.

    Ralph Nader

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    News 9/4/24

    1. On August 28th, the Israeli Defense Forces targeted United Nations World Food Programme vehicles with “repeated gunfire,” per CNN. According to the agency, “Despite being clearly marked and receiving multiple clearances by Israeli authorities to approach, the vehicle was directly struck by gunfire as it was moving toward an…IDF…checkpoint.” Photos show at least ten bullet holes in the vehicle windows. As this piece highlights, “ongoing airstrikes and repeated evacuation orders by Israeli forces have forced many of the agency’s food warehouses and community kitchens to shutter…The IDF-designated ‘humanitarian zone’ in Gaza is also steadily shrinking; in the past month alone, the IDF has reduced this zone by 38%.” This incident is reminiscent of the Israeli strike on World Central Kitchen workers in April, when the IDF killed three Britons, a Palestinian, a US-Canadian dual citizen, an Australian, and a Pole via multiple airstrikes. Two days after the World Food Programme incident, CNN reported that the IDF killed four in a humanitarian aid vehicle affiliated with the American Near East Refugee Aid organization.

    2. On Monday, the Israeli labor federation, Histradrut, called a general strike in order to “pressure Netanyahu’s government into changing its approach to cease-fire negotiations,” per NPR. This action was taken in response to the death of six hostages who would have been released had Israel agreed to the ceasefire proposed in early July. According to NPR, “Many schools and government buildings were shut…[and]…Ben Gurion airport…paused flights for several hours.” Yet, Israel’s Labor Court quickly ordered the strike to end and the union obeyed; the action lasted less than one business day. This incident illustrates the deep discontent with the Netanyahu government’s handling of the hostage negotiations, but also the impotence of Israeli civil society to change course.

    3. In more positive news related to labor and Israel, Democracy Now! reports Jimmy Williams Jr. president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, says his union is “directing its massive international pension fund to divest from the Gaza genocide.” According to left-wing British outlet Skwakbox, the Painter’s Union receives $330 million dollars in new contributions from union members each year.

    4. The Middle East Monitor reports “Ray Youssef, CEO of the Bitcoin marketplace platform, Noonesapp…[alleges that cryptocurrency giant Binance] ‘has seized all funds from all Palestinians as per the request of the IDF. They refuse to return the funds. All appeals denied.’” Responding to this allegation, a Binance spokesperson claimed that this seizure of assets only covers a limited number of accounts linked to “illicut funds,” though “Binance did not specify the extent or value of the ‘illicit funds’ involved.” Boosters of cryptocurrency, like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have framed it in terms of “transactional freedom,” per Axios. Not so for the Palestinians, it seems.

    5. Jeremy Corbyn, former leader of the U.K. Labour Party, has united with four other independent, pro-Gaza MPs to form the Independent Alliance, per the BBC. This new parliamentary bloc will “use their…platform to campaign for scrapping the two-child benefit limit and against arms sales to Israel.” With five MPs in this alliance, it already outnumbers the Green Party and is equal to Reform UK, the far-right party formed by Brexit champion Nigel Farage. In their first move since forming the Independent Alliance, the MPs issued a statement in response to Foreign Minister David Lammy’s announcement that the U.K. will suspend a small number of arms export licenses to Israel. This statement reads “For months, we have called for an immediate and full suspension of arms sales to Israel. The government has finally admitted there is a clear risk of weapons being used to commit violations of international law…This announcement must be the first step in ending all arms…used by the Israeli military to commit genocide in Gaza.”

    6. According to the ACLU of Indiana, “[Indiana University] has approved a new policy that prohibits all expressive activity if it takes place between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., even if the activity is not at all disruptive, such as standing silently, holding a sign, wearing a t-shirt with a communicative message, or discussing current events with friends.” This policy, which “carries harsh punishments, including suspension or expulsion for students, and suspension or termination of staff,” was adopted in response to campus pro-Palestine demonstrations last year. The ACLU of Indiana has already filed a lawsuit to overturn this chilling policy. And at New York University, Palestine Legal reports “In a dangerous escalation of repression, [NYU] announced new student conduct policies last week that appear to prohibit criticism of Zionism. If implemented, these policies risk creating a hostile environment for Palestinian and anti-Zionist Jewish students and severely curtail…free expression.” This statement notes that NYU does not afford protected status to any other political ideology and that this decision “opens the door for other ethno-nationalist ideologies to claim protection from criticism. With Zionism enshrined as a protected class, there’s no reason why Hindu nationalism, Christian nationalism, white nationalism or similar ideologies wouldn’t be afforded the same.” Palestine Legal has vowed that it will “continue to monitor and combat institutional attempts to punish and censor students organizing for Palestinian rights.”

    7. In a major escalation of tensions, the United States seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s plane in the Dominican Republic and transferred it to Florida, per the BBC. According to this report, “US officials said the plane was seized for suspected violations of US export control and sanctions laws,” while Venezuelan officials have denounced this move as an act of “piracy,” and “reserves the right to take any legal action to repair this damage to the nation.” Foreign Minister Yván Gil said the US had justified itself “with the coercive measures that they unilaterally and illegally impose around the world.” This is just the latest case of western governments seizing Venezuelan state assets; in 2018, the Bank of England seized nearly $2 billion worth of Venezuelan gold and has refused to return those assets despite urging from the United Nations special rapporteur on sanctions, per Declassified UK.

    8. The Miami Herald is out with a stunning new report on the dubious “Havana Syndrome” which finds that patients were “coerced” to join an NIH study on the supposed illness. According to this piece, “An internal review board at the National Institutes of Health…decided to shut down a long-term study of Havana Syndrome patients that found no signs of brain injuries, after several participants complained of mishandled medical data, bias and pressures to join the research. [Jennifer George] A spokeswoman for NIH said the internal review found that ‘informed consent’ policies to join the study ‘were not met due to coercion.” Though George insists the coercion was not on the part of the NIH, she declined to identify who coerced the patients.

    9. Daniel Nichanian of Bolts Magazine reports “[Arizona Democratic Senate nominee Ruben] Gallego, fresh off of a police union endorsement, just penned a letter to the US [Department of Justice] asking them to stand down in its investigations against the Phoenix police and its effort to bring the department under a consent decree.” The proposed consent decree in question stems from a DOJ investigation that found “[Phoenix PD] uses excessive force, including unjustified deadly force… unlawfully detain, cite, and arrest people experiencing homelessness and unlawfully dispose of their belongings…discriminates against Black, Hispanic, and Native American people when enforcing the law…violates the rights of people engaged in protected speech and expression…[and] discriminate against people with behavioral health disabilities when dispatching calls for assistance and responding to people in crisis.”

    10. Finally, in more positive Senate-related news, a new Split Ticket poll shows populist Independent candidate Dan Osborn running neck-and-neck with incumbent Republican Senator Deb Fischer in Nebraska. While Donald Trump leads Kamala Harris 54 to 37, the same poll shows Senator Fischer leading by only 1 point – 39% to Osborn’s 38%, with 23% undecided. Osborn, a union leader who organized the 2021 Kellogg strike, has been favorably profiled by the American Prospect. There is no Democrat running for this seat.

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Dr. Osterholm’s Update

    Ralph welcomes back Dr. Michael Osterholm for a COVID check-up. They’ll discuss the latest vaccines, what we know about long-haul COVID, updated testing guidelines, and some of the key lessons we can take from COVID and apply to future outbreaks. Plus, a call to action from Ralph. 

    Dr. Michael Osterholm is a professor and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. In November 2020, Dr. Osterholm was appointed to President-elect Joe Biden’s 13-member Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board. He is the author of Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs, and he has a weekly podcast called The Osterholm Update which offers discussion and analysis on the latest infectious disease developments.

    I think what we’re trying to do today is use this vaccine to target those high-risk people in particular to say—you know what, you need to get it at least every four to six months, and that, unlike the flu vaccine, this is not going to be a once-a-year vaccine. If you did that— by just reducing serious illness, hospitalizations, and deaths—it would be a big accomplishment.

    Dr. Michael Osterholm

    The last time you had me on, Ralph, we actually talked about the need for a panel to actually do a post-pandemic review. Not to point fingers, not to blame people, but—what should we have learned from that pandemic? And what I think is, for me, still a real challenge is we haven’t seemed to learn through any of this. But more importantly—we haven’t realized what happened with COVID could be child’s play compared to what we could see, if this was anything like a “1918-like” pandemic of influenza.

    Dr. Michael Osterholm

    We are using, today, virtually the same technology to make flu vaccines that we did in 1940. Now, that should wake everyone up. 

    Dr. Michael Osterholm, on why we need to invest in vaccine development

    We have, as a society, a cultural aversion to foreseeing and forestalling omnicides.

    Ralph Nader

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    News 8/28/24

    1. Last week, the Uncommitted movement staged a sit-in at the DNC after the Democratic Party barred any Palestinian-American from speaking at the convention. According to Mother Jones, Uncommitted co-leader Abbas Alawieh, a delegate to the DNC, had been requesting a speaking slot for a Palestinian-American for two months in advance, and was only officially denied on the third night of the convention. Alawieh said he was “stunned” by the refusal, and added “We just want our voices to be heard.” As the article notes, “At the DNC, Republican staffers have been offered the chance [to speak]. An Uber lawyer who is high in the campaign got a prime-time slot. But not a single Palestinian has been given even five minutes on that stage.” Uncommitted gave the DNC an extensive list of potential speakers, including a physician just back from Gaza, and a Palestinian elected official from Georgia named Ruwa Romman. Her speech, available at Mother Jones, ended with the lines “To those who doubt us, to the cynics and the naysayers, I say, yes we can—yes we can be a Democratic Party that prioritizes funding our schools and hospitals, not…endless wars. That fights for an America that belongs to all of us—Black, brown, and white, Jews and Palestinians, all of us…together.” This was deemed unacceptable by the power brokers of the Democratic Party.

    2. In more bad news from the DNC, the New Republic reports that despite major progress in the party’s foreign policy platform in 2020, “the center of gravity appears to have shifted almost as far—right back to where it had previously been.” Not only does the 2024 foreign policy platform include nothing about ending the sale and shipment of arms to Israel, the Democrats actually removed sections about ending the support for the Saudi war in Yemen, moving away from misguided forever wars, and cutting military spending – as well as criticizing Trump for being too soft on Iran. This article goes on to say “The Democratic platform abandons the progress made in 2020 in more subtle ways, too. The last platform noted that ‘when misused and overused, sanctions not only undermine our interests, they threaten one of the United States’ greatest strategic assets: the importance of the American financial system.’…the new platform does not repeat these concerns…Both platforms call for competition with China, but in 2020 it said that Democrats would do so while avoiding the trap of a ‘new Cold War’—language that does not appear this time around.” In other words, the Democrats are trying desperately to scrub off any progress on foreign policy that pressure from the Bernie Sanders campaigns forced them to adopt into their platform. This is an ominous portend of what foreign policy could look like in a Kamala Harris administration.

    3. In yet more bad news from the DNC, the Huffington Post’s Jessica Schulberg reports “The Democrats quietly dropped abolishing the death penalty from their party platform. This is the first time since 2012 the platform doesn’t call for abolition and the first time since 2004 there’s no mention of the death penalty at all.” Prior to 2012, the Democratic platform called for limiting the practice. This article continues, “Public support for the death penalty has been gradually declining. A Gallup poll last year found that 65% of Democrats oppose the punishment.” Yet despite this super-majority support the Democrats are abandoning this promise and did not even bother responding to her email asking if the party still supports death penalty abolition.

    4. On Monday, the Middle East Studies Association sent a letter to the University of Pennsylvania “denouncing its collaboration with the House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s investigation of faculty members.” This letter expresses the association’s, and its Committee on Academic Freedom’s “grave concern about the apparent cooperation of the University…with the [Republican] witch-hunt…against…faculty, as well as faculty and students at other institutions of higher education.” Specifically, the Association accuses the university of providing the committee with materials – including course syllabi – despite no subpoena being issued. The Association compares this “witch-hunt,” to “the now-disgraced House Un-American Activities Committee hearings in the late 1940s and 1950s,” and makes clear that the House committee members are “less concerned with combatting invidious discrimination than with suppressing and punishing pro-Palestine speech.” This letter ends with a demand that the university “immediately desist from any form of cooperation…[and] to affirm [their] commitment to protect the academic freedom of [their] faculty, students and staff, and to vigorously defend them against all forms of governmental harassment and intimidation.”

    5. Remember the astronauts stranded on the International Space Station due to Boeing’s incompetence? According to AP, “NASA decided Saturday it’s too risky to bring [them] back to Earth in Boeing’s…capsule, and they’ll have to wait until next year for a ride home…What should have been a weeklong test flight for the pair will now last more than eight months.” As AP highlights, this is “a blow to Boeing, adding to the safety concerns plaguing the company on its airplane side. Boeing had counted on Starliner’s first crew trip to revive the troubled spacecraft program after years of delays and ballooning costs. The company had insisted Starliner was safe based on all the recent thruster tests both in space and on the ground.” In other words, whether in the air or in space, Boeing craft are undependable and dangerous. According to Good Jobs First’s Subsidy Tracker, Boeing has received nearly $100 billion in public subsidies, loans or bailouts since 1994.

    6. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Donald Trump, the BBC reports. In a press conference, Kennedy said he would “seek to remove his name from the ballot in 10 battleground states…where his presence would be a ‘spoiler’ to Trump’s effort.” That said, election officials in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nevada said it was too late to take his name off the ballot. In exchange for his endorsement, Kennedy’s running mate Nicole Shanahan “entertained the idea that Kennedy could join Trump’s administration as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services,” per AP, a perch that would allow him to carry out his anti-vaccine agenda. Kerry Kennedy, his sister, released a statement saying his support for Trump was a “betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story.”

    7. Last year, the Department of Justice announced an antitrust lawsuit accusing the meat industry of colluding to fix prices with the help of a data company, Agri Stats, that “violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act by collecting, integrating, and distributing competitively sensitive information related to price, cost, and output among competing meat processors,” per Common Dreams. Now, More Perfect Union has released a video on the case featuring Errol Schweizer, the former vice president of Whole Foods’ grocery division, saying “This is probably one of the top five food scandals of the 21st Century, and we can’t underplay it…People f*****g need to go to jail…for this s**t.”

    8. Labor Notes’ Luis Feliz Leon reports “Costco turned down a card check agreement with the Teamsters.” In a statement, the Teamsters explain “Costco Teamsters were forced to suspend negotiations for a new National Master Agreement after the wholesale giant, despite its claims of being pro-union, refused to accept a card check agreement that would make it easier for nonunion Costco workers to join the Teamsters…Despite Costco’s public reputation as a ‘worker-friendly’ company, the wholesaler has undergone a troubling shift in its corporate culture and governance. Increasingly…catering to Wall Street shareholders at the expense of workers.” Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien is quoted saying “Costco’s so-called ‘pro-worker’ image is now nothing more than a talking point for investors…We are not here for empty rhetoric — we’re here to win an industry-leading contract that stops Costco’s corporate backsliding and guarantees workers the right to organize with a card-check agreement.” This statement also notes that “Costco is ranked as the 11th largest U.S. corporation on the Fortune 500 and reported $242 billion in revenue and $29.7 billion in annual gross profits in 2023.”

    9. According to Vox, the 2019 US teacher strikes were “good, actually.” This piece cites “New research [which] finds labor stoppages raised wages without harming student learning.” As this article explains, “Answering…questions [like do these strikes work? Do they deliver gains for workers? Do they help or hurt students academically?] has been challenging…due to a lack of centralized data that scholars could use to analyze the strikes…Now, for the first time…researchers …have compiled a novel data set to answer these questions, providing the first credible estimates of the effect of US teacher strikes.” According to this data, which covers 772 teacher strikes across 610 school districts in 27 states between 2007-2023, “on average, strikes were successful,” delivering average compensation increases of 3 percent one year post-strike and reaching 8 percent five years out. Not only that, the data show strikes related to “improved working conditions, such as lower class sizes or increased spending on school facilities and non-instructional staff like nurses…were also effective…as pupil-teacher ratios fell by 3.2 percent and there was a 7 percent increase in spending dedicated to paying non-instructional staff by the third year after a strike.” Perhaps most critically, “the researchers find no evidence that US teacher strikes…affected reading or math achievement for students in the year of the strike, or in the five years after…In fact…they could not rule out that the…strikes actually boosted student learning over time, given the increased school spending associated with them.” The bottom line is this: teacher strikes get the goods, for teachers, staff, and students alike.

    10. Finally, Bloomberg reports China has achieved their renewable power target six years ahead of schedule. According to this report, “The nation added 25 gigawatts of turbines and panels in July, expanding total capacity to 1,206 gigawatts…Xi set a goal in December 2020 for at least 1,200 gigawatts from the clean energy sources by 2030.” As Bloomberg notes, “China by far outspends the rest of the world when it comes to clean energy, and has repeatedly broken wind and solar installation records in recent years. The rapid growth has helped lead to declines in coal power generation this summer and may mean the world’s biggest polluter has already reached peak emissions well before its 2030 target.” Impressive as these achievements are, solar and wind still only account for around 14% of energy generation in China. In order to arrest catastrophic climate change, much much more remains to be done.

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Tribute to Phil Donahue

    On his show, Phil Donahue never shied away from questioning those in power, be they government officials or corporate CEOs. And there was no more frequent guest on his program than Ralph Nader. Along with guests Joan Claybrook, Michael Jacobson and Jeff Cohen, we pay tribute to a man Ralph calls “the greatest enabler and defender of the First Amendment right of free speech in American history.”

    Joan Claybrook is one of the public interest champions of the modern consumer movement, and she is president emeritus of Public Citizen. Prior to becoming president of Public Citizen, Ms. Claybrook was head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the Carter administration from 1977 to 1981. Before serving as NHTSA administrator, she founded and ran Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division and worked for the Public Interest Research Group, the National Traffic Safety Bureau, the Social Security Administration, and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

    [Phil Donahue] had the deepest understanding of the First Amendment of anybody I’ve ever met. And the reason is that not only did he have these voiceless leaders and victims on a show that other media would avoid like the plague—it would upset their advertisers, who would upset their corporate bosses—he would have people on whose views he vehemently disagreed with.

    Ralph Nader

    Phil [Donahue] knew that it wasn’t just important to reach people on his show—that he had to have them accessible to materials that elaborated it in greater detail. And he did that for lots of people. But it all started with his sense of the purpose of the media and a public philosophy of justice for all.

    Ralph Nader

    Donahue was a great source of help to get information out to the public that they really wanted. And no one else would publicize it.

    Joan Claybrook

    Michael Jacobson holds a PhD. in microbiology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and he co-founded and then led the Center for Science in the Public Interest for four decades. Dr. Jacobson is the author of Salt Wars: The Battle Over the Biggest Killer in the American Diet. And he is the founder of the National Food Museum.

    Phil really was one of a kind— where he studied up on the topic, he knew it thoroughly, he was smart, he was generous, kind, thoughtful, asked good questions. So it was just a wonderful, positive experience for various reasons to be on his terrific daytime TV show.

    Dr. Michael Jacobson

    Jeff Cohen is Co-Founder and Policy Director at RootsAction. He is a media critic, columnist, documentary filmmaker, and retired journalism professor who founded the media watch group FAIR—Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting— in 1986. For years, he was a regular pundit on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC discussing issues of media and politics, and he is the author of Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media. He was senior producer of MSNBC’s Phil Donahue Show until it was terminated on the eve of the Iraq war.

    Management wrecked the show, and then they terminated the show three weeks before the invasion of Iraq. And remember, they terminated us right after the biggest anti-war marches in global history up until that point. And obviously there was a huge audience— if they had allowed Phil Donahue to be Phil Donahue and put on the experts that we wanted to put on. And we would have gotten huge ratings—but they ruined the show, they hurt our ratings. [And] when we were terminated—in spite of all of management’s interference—we were still the most-watched program on MSNBC. Management doesn’t usually cancel their most-watched television show, but they did it at MSNBC.

    Jeff Cohen

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    News 8/21/24

    1. Last week, the Kamala Harris campaign announced their first major policy proposal: “a federal ban on corporate price gouging on groceries,” per the New York Times. In a statement to reporters, the campaign said this policy would “[set]…rules of the road to make clear that big corporations can’t unfairly exploit consumers to run up excessive corporate profits on food and groceries,” according to the Washington Post. Reporter Jeff Stein further elaborates that this plan is expected to include “[money] for small firms to compete [and will] Challenge [industry] mergers.” This policy stems from the Federal Trade Commission report published by the New York Times in March, that found “Large Grocers Took Advantage of Pandemic Supply Chain Disruptions …[and] used rising costs as an opportunity to further hike prices.”

    2. This week of course Kamala Harris is in Chicago for the Democratic National Convention. Just before the convention, Mother Jones ran a profile of progressive Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, in which he said “What’s happening right now [in Palestine] is not only egregious, it is genocidal.” Chicago is the largest local government in the United States to pass a resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Further illustrating the success of pro-Palestine activism, Prem Thakker of the Intercept reports the DNC “will host [its] first ever panel on Palestinian human rights,” featuring Layla Elabed, co-leader of the Uncommitted movement, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, former Congressman Andy Levin, and Jim Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, among others. Ms. Elabed and her compatriot Abbas Alawieh said in a statement “Our focus remains on policy change. Vice President Harris has an opportunity to unite the party against Trump…by turning the page toward a human rights policy that saves lives…We will keep pushing for our party’s leadership to break away from its current financing of Israel’s horrific assault on Gaza and military rule over Palestinians.”

    3. Yet another sign that pro-Palestine activism is shifting the center of gravity in the Democratic Party, last Friday dozens of congressional Democrats – including Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi – sent a letter to President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken “urging a halt to weapons transfers to Israel,” per AP. This letter referred to the Israeli strike on American aid workers with the World Central Kitchen relief group, saying “In light of the recent strike against aid workers and the ever-worsening humanitarian crisis, we believe it is unjustifiable to approve these weapons transfers.” Other signatories include Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Barbara Lee, and AOC. This letter comes on the heels of a series of state polls by IMEU and YouGov showing “A significant share of Democrats and independent voters in pivotal swing states…are more likely to vote for the Democratic presidential nominee…if said nominee pledges support for an arms embargo to Israel,” per Zeteo. In Pennsylvania, 34% said more likely and only 7% less likely; in Georgia 39% said more likely and only 5% less likely, with similar numbers in Arizona. Put simply, it is clear that an arms embargo is both good politics and good policy. Even Pelosi knows it.

    4. A scandal is unfolding at the University of Florida, centering on a massive misuse of funds by the University president, former Senator Ben Sasse. The Alligator, the university newspaper, reports “In his 17-month stint as UF president, Ben Sasse more than tripled his office’s spending, directing millions in university funds into secretive consulting contracts and high-paying positions for his GOP allies.” This piece continues “A majority of the spending surge was driven by lucrative contracts with big-name consulting firms and high-salaried, remote positions for Sasse’s former U.S. Senate staff and Republican officials…[these] contracts have been kept largely under wraps, leaving the public in the dark about what the contracted firms did to earn their fees.” So much for the party of fiscal responsibility.

    5. A new piece in St. Louis magazine recounts the ongoing miscarriage of justice against Yolanda Greene. Ms. Greene was “fired from her job after being arrested—even though the police report that provided the basis of the charges against her is clearly contradicted by bystander video.” This piece continues “The police report says that Greene struck one of the officers ‘several times in the back near his neck, head, and shoulders with what appeared to be a closed fist.’ [and that she] ‘actively assaulte[d]’ a second officer.” Yet the bystander video shows “Greene on the ground and an officer [striking] her several times…A different video, captured by an officer’s body camera, records another officer exclaiming, ‘Don’t throw a strike’—even as the officer atop Greene does just that.” Mark Pedroli, Greene’s lawyer, is quoted saying “I sent the tape over to [Wesley] Bell’s office and said, ‘You’re prosecuting the wrong people. You should be prosecuting the police for lying in these reports,’” yet Bell – who is nearly guaranteed a spot in the next congress after his successful AIPAC-backed primary against Cori Bush – is pressing ahead with these charges.

    6. Continuing its series on civil asset forfeiture, libertarian magazine Reason reports “A new class action lawsuit accuses Indiana law enforcement of seizing millions of dollars a year in cash from FedEx packages without ever informing owners of what crime they’re suspected of violating.” This piece cites Sam Gedge a senior attorney at the “libertarian public interest law firm,” Institute for Justice, which claims “the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office has sued to forfeit $2.5 million in currency from at least 130 FedEx parcels in transit from one non-Indiana state to another over the past two years. This scheme is one of the most predatory we have seen…It’s illegal and unconstitutional for Indiana to forfeit in-transit money whose only connection to Indiana is the happenstance of FedEx’s shipping practices.”

    7. According ProPublica, Arizona’s experiment with school vouchers has failed spectacularly. As the publication explains “In 2022, Arizona pioneered the largest school voucher program in the history of education…any parent in the state…could get a taxpayer-funded voucher worth up to tens of thousands of dollars to spend on private school tuition, extracurricular programs or homeschooling supplies…Yet in a lesson for…other states, Arizona’s…experiment has since precipitated a budget meltdown. The state this year faced a $1.4 billion budget shortfall, much of which was a result of the new voucher spending…Last fiscal year alone, the price tag of universal vouchers in Arizona skyrocketed from an original official estimate of just under $65 million to roughly $332 million…[and] another $429 million in costs is expected this year.” We hope this catastrophic budget implosion gives pause to the prominent Republicans and Democrats boosting the canard of “school choice.”

    8. The Federal Trade Commission has announced a new rule that will “combat fake reviews and testimonials by prohibiting their sale or purchase and allow the [FTC] to seek civil penalties against knowing violators.” FTC Chair Lina Khan adds “Fake reviews not only waste people’s time and money, but also pollute the marketplace and divert business away from honest competitors…By strengthening the FTC’s toolkit to fight deceptive advertising, the final rule will protect Americans from getting cheated, put businesses that unlawfully game the system on notice, and promote markets that are fair, honest, and competitive.” These types of much-needed, commonsense consumer protection rules are exactly why billionaires and corporate America are terrified of Lina Khan and have been mounting a shadowy campaign for her ouster.

    9. More Perfect Union reports “Ride share drivers in Massachusetts are now guaranteed a minimum wage of $32.50/hr, plus benefits.” According to the Verge, “The two companies also agreed to pay a combined $175 million, the bulk of which will be paid out to ‘current and former drivers who were underpaid by the companies,’ [Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea] Campbell’s office announced.” Despite these victories, Uber and Lyft drivers will still be classified as independent contractors instead of employees.

    10. Finally, per Huffington Post labor reporter Dave Jamieson, “The Culinary Union has reached a tentative agreement on its first contract with longtime Vegas Strip holdouts the Venetian and Palazzo [closing] a long chapter in which previous owner Sheldon Adelson successfully resisted organizing efforts.” In addition to the Culinary Union, the deal with the Venetian and Palazzo’s new owners – private equity firm Apollo Global Management – also includes Bartenders Local 165, Operating Engineers Local 501 and Teamsters Local 986. As the Nevada Independent notes, “Combined, the Venetian and Palazzo have some 8,000 gaming and nongaming workers covering 7,100 hotel rooms, 225,000 square feet of casino space and 2.3 million square feet of convention space. It’s unclear how many members of the workforce could be covered by the union agreements.”

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • On Strike/ Out-of-Office

    On today’s program Ralph welcomes Kshama Sawant—teacher, activist, organizer, socialist, and former Seattle City Council Member— to talk about the labor movement, her organization Workers Strike Back, and how she achieved so many victories for Seattle’s working people. Then, Ralph welcomes the Washington Post’s Marc Fisher to discuss his reporting on the “return to office” issue. 

    Kshama Sawant is a teacher, activist, organizer, and socialist. Ms. Sawant helped organize demonstrations for marriage equality, participated in the movement to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and was a visible presence in the Occupy Movement. She served in Seattle’s City Council from 2014 to 2023— defeating a 16-year incumbent Democrat to become the first socialist elected in a major US city in decades. She has taught at Seattle Central Community College, Seattle University, and the University of Washington Tacoma—and she has been an activist in her union, the American Federation of Teachers Local 1789, fighting against budget cuts and tuition hikes. She is co-founder of Workers Strike Back and the host of their news and analysis broadcast On Strike.

    It should be extremely energizing for anybody on the Left who wants to aim to provide leadership that we actually have a historic shift going on in American working-class consciousness, where there is a willingness to fight back— a real hunger for strategy. I would say that what’s overwhelmingly clear to me as somebody who’s been a socialist, a Marxist, and an activist for well over a decade, is that what working people are parched for is real leadership that can actually garner the kind of victories that ordinary people are looking for.

    Kshama Sawant

    Business unionism is this idea that the role of the labor leader is to negotiate—to make peace between the bosses and the workers. It’s completely wrong. It’s exactly the opposite. The role of labor leadership is to organize a fight by mobilizing rank-and-file members against the bosses, with the understanding that the interests of the bosses—the greed of the bosses—is diametrically opposed to the needs of workers. 

    Kshama Sawant

    If we as working people want to win Medicare for all, we will need mass action— organized independent of the Democrats and Republicans. 

    Kshama Sawant

    Marc Fisher is an associate editor of the Washington Post, where he writes a column on Washington— the city, its suburbs, and the people— and issues of big-city America. For 37 years, Mr. Fisher worked as a reporter and editor across various news sections at the Post, most recently focusing on Donald Trump and major breaking-news events. He previously created and led the Metro staff’s enterprise reporting group, spent a decade as local columnist and blogger, served as the paper’s special reports editor, wrote about politics and culture for the Style section, worked as Central Europe bureau chief on the Post’s Foreign staff, and covered D.C. schools and D.C. politics for the Metro section.

    Most people who work with their hands are carrying on as they always did. But since COVID, we’ve seen that offices have emptied out in downtowns across the country. And Washington is particularly hard hit because 15-20% of the workers work for the federal or city governments. So there’s been this emptying… out of downtown Washington, which has had an enormous impact on the economy. So this is a multi-level issue and problem. And yet for many— if not most—workers, they don’t see it as a problem. They see it as a benefit. 

    Marc Fisher

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    News 8/14/24

    1. A shocking report from the Libertarian magazine Reason exposes “Operation Rolling Thunder,” an annual “five-day law enforcement blitz,” in which 11 different agencies – ranging from local police departments to the federal Department of Homeland Security – collude to confiscate as much cash as possible on a “20-mile stretch of freeway between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Atlanta, Georgia.” This piece details how officers will fabricate flimsy reasons for pulling drivers over, including “Lighting a cigarette…smelling like cologne, avoiding eye contact, being ‘preoccupied looking for the [car] rental agreement,’ and having a cluttered vehicle that appeared to be ‘lived in.’” In 2022, these agencies seized “$194,000 per day or more than $8,000 per hour,” through civil asset forfeiture during this operation. Many of these drivers are never charged with so much as a traffic citation, yet are unable to recover any of their property stolen by the cops.

    2. Last week, Representative Cori Bush was ousted by an AIPAC-backed primary challenger. An article in Slate details how AIPAC rallied to push the Congresswoman, and fellow Black Lives Matter activist Rep. Jamaal Bowman, out of Congress – outspending both by a margin of 4-1. This piece paints their losses as the death knell of the “George Floyd Era…in Congress,” noting also that no major reforms were passed “Despite broad popular support for legislation to curtail police violence…[and] Democrats…controlling both the House and Senate in 2021 and 2022.” In her concession speech, the Hill reports Bush vowed in no uncertain terms, “AIPAC, I’m coming to tear your kingdom down!” As for Bowman, rumors are now circulating that he will challenge Rep. Ritchie Torres – the “top recipient of AIPAC cash,” according to Track AIPAC – next cycle. Asked about this idea by journalist Ryan Grim, Minnesota Attorney General and former Congressman Keith Ellison said “That’d be a very good thing…I”ll put it like this, none of us own these seats.”

    3. In related news, a new report in the Intercept exposes the “… ‘Zionists for Don Samuels’ WhatsApp Group Raising Big Money to Oust Ilhan Omar.” As this report notes this group contained at least one campaign staffer, Alex Minn – whom the campaign has since severed ties with – and major outside donors despite “Campaign finance laws prohibit[ing] coordination between candidates’ campaigns and outside spending groups like super PACs.” One major donor in this group, wealthy entrepreneur Michael Sinensky, wrote “The bottom line is…we need to be supportive…of the alt right Christian Neo Nazis at the moment (like Ukraine) to fight off the socialist, Marxist, anarchists who are supporting radical Islam… Nazis are better than Islamic terrorists.”

    4. Last week, the Mayor of Nagasaki, Japan held a memorial for those killed in the atomic bombing of that city – and opted not to invite the Israeli ambassador “to avoid possible protests over Israel’s war on Gaza,” per Al Jazeera. In response, US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel announced he would skip the event because this decision had “politicized” the event. The British ambassador to Japan also announced that she would boycott this event due to Israel’s exclusion. According to the BBC, “In June, [Nagasaki Mayor Shiro] Suzuki said Nagasaki had sent a letter to the Israeli embassy calling for an ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Gaza.”

    5. Journalist Jessica Burbank reports Palestinian American Actress Sarah Alami has called on SAG-AFTRA to “break their silence on [the] genocide in Gaza.” In a statement, Alami writes “Our union president has helped raise 60 million dollars to fund Israel’s army,” and decries that many actors have “been put on Black lists in Hollywood for speaking out against a foreign government.” Alami also linked to SAG-AFTRA Members for Ceasefire, a group agitating for the Guild to take a principled stand against the genocide.

    6. On Monday, the leaders of France, Germany, and the U.K. issued a joint statement “calling for the immediate resumption of [ceasefire] negotiations,” stressing that “there can be no further delay…the fighting must end now…the people of Gaza need urgent and unfettered delivery and distribution of aid.” In this statement, President Macron, Chancellor Sholz, and Prime Minister Starmer also expressed that they are “deeply concerned by the heightened tensions in the region” and are “united in [their] commitment to de-escalation and regional stability,” ending this statement by writing “No country or nation stands to gain from a further escalation in the Middle East.

    7. Yet despite such strong words from our European allies, the Biden administration has instead taken measures sure to escalate tensions in the region. On August 9th, Zeteo reported that “The State Department…formally notified Congress of a direct sale of 6,500 joint direct action munitions (JDAM) to Israel.” This shipment, valued at $262 million, was “reportedly delayed in May, as it was…under review…[while the] U.S. sought to prevent Israeli forces from pursuing a major ground invasion in Rafah.” Sarah Leah Whitson, the executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), said “It is hard to comprehend how the Biden administration can justify rewarding Israel with new weapons, despite Israel’s persistent defiance of every single plea the Biden administration has made urging a modicum of restraint, and despite the very apparent fact that such sales violate black letter U.S. laws prohibiting weapons to gross abusers like Israel.” The very same day, Reuters reported that “The Biden administration…decided to lift a ban on U.S. sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia… reversing a three-year-old policy to pressure the kingdom to wind down the Yemen war.” This move is an unsubtle green-light for the Saudis to recommence their war on the Yemeni Houthis, who have had more success than anticipated in their naval campaign of blockading Israeli ports and attacking American naval vessels in the Red Sea.

    8. Much like the presidency of Lyndon Johnson, the Biden administration continues to pursue noble goals at home even while participating in human rights atrocities abroad. On Monday, More Perfect Union reported that “Banks, credit card companies, and more will be required to let customers talk to a human by pressing a single button under a new Biden administration proposed rule.” The pro-labor outlet goes on to say that this rule, coming from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau “is part of a campaign to crack down on customer service ‘doom loops,’” and simultaneously “[the Federal Trade Commission] is…considering similar requirements for phone, broadband, and cable companies,” while “[The Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Labor] are calling on health plan providers to make it easier to talk to a customer service agent.” Consumer advocates like Ralph Nader have long railed against the increasing difficulty of talking to real person when one calls corporate customer service lines.

    9. In more positive news, the UAW reports it has “filed federal labor charges against disgraced billionaires Donald Trump and Elon Musk for their illegal attempts to threaten and intimidate workers who stand up for themselves by engaging in protected concerted activity, such as strikes.” This attempt to threaten and intimidate workers came during a conversation between Trump and Musk on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday. Trump is quoted saying “I mean, I look at what you do…You walk in, you say, You want to quit? They go on strike, I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike and you say, That’s OK, you’re all gone. You’re all gone. So, every one of you is gone.” UAW President Shawn Fain commented “When we say Donald Trump is a scab, this is what we mean. When we say Trump stands against everything our union stands for, this is what we mean…Donald Trump will always side against workers standing up for themselves, and he will always side with billionaires like Elon Musk, who is contributing $45 million a month to a Super PAC to get him elected. Both Trump and Musk want working class people to sit down and shut up, and they laugh about it openly. It’s disgusting, illegal, and totally predictable from these two clowns.”

    10. Finally, in an almost unbelievable story from the Miami Herald, “[Former President Donald] Trump flew to campaign events on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane last weekend.” Apparently, this plane is now owned by a private plane chartering service, Threshold Aviation Group, and the Trump campaign “confirmed that a decal with the words ‘Trump 2024’ was placed on Epstein’s old plane for the trip.” As the Herald points out “Trump was in the same social circles as Epstein,” and records show he “flew on Epstein’s planes six times from 1993 to 1997.”

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Homicide: Success on the Street/National Food Museum

    So far this year, the city of Boston has recorded a grand total of 8 homicides while the similarly populated city of Washington D.C has had 110. Professor Thomas Abt, founding director of the Center for the Study and Practice of Violence Reduction explains what Boston is doing right. Plus, noted nutrition expert, Michael Jacobson reveals his latest project, The National Food Museum, to promote critical thinking about food’s impact on health, the environment, farm animal welfare, social equity, global and domestic hunger, and how the food industry and politics affect what we eat.

    Thomas Abt is the founding director of the Center for the Study and Practice of Violence Reduction (VRC) and an associate research professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Professor Abt is the author of “Bleeding Out: The Devastating Consequences of Urban Violence—and a Bold New Plan for Peace in the Streets” His work is cited in academic journals and featured in major media outlets, both print and video. His TED talk on community violence has been viewed more than 200,000 times.

    Here’s the important thing to remember. It’s not just about police, and it can’t just be about police… It’s also important to have balance… So, while you’re engaging these high-risk individuals, these people who are most likely to shoot or be shot, you need to back up those warnings of enforcement with offers of support and services. And that’s something that’s happening in Boston.

    Thomas Abt

    When you look at correlations between the restrictiveness of state laws and about how many guns there are, it’s about the access to guns. And when access to guns is particularly easy, that’s when you have higher rates of violence. Now, in D.C. they have restrictive gun laws, but they’re closer to states that have much more permissive laws, particularly in the South. And no city is an island.

    Thomas Abt

    While you’re hearing a lot of fear mongering out there about violent crime. The truth is that we have erased that massive surge that happened during the pandemic. And that’s very good news.

    Thomas Abt

    Michael Jacobson holds a PhD. in microbiology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and he co-founded and then led the Center for Science in the Public Interest for four decades. Dr. Jacobson is the author of “Salt Wars: The Battle Over the Biggest Killer in the American Diet.” And he is the founder of the National Food Museum.

    Some of the exhibits will focus on how healthier diets could improve our health, how better farming techniques could improve the climate. And there’s that intersection between climate and health. I thought of making a cow a symbol for the museum. Or maybe an anti-symbol, because meat-eating is a major contributor to disease; and it’s a major contributor to climate change and other environmental issues and animal welfare issues, of course. The museum will get into those.

    Michael Jacobson

    There are so many fascinating issues related to food. You know, I think about the history of the human diet, going back to the Stone Age, say 10 or 12 ,000 years ago, and the future of the human diet. It would be wonderful to have an exhibit, showing how diet has changed and may well change in the next 75 years, when many kids just growing up will still be alive.

    Michael Jacobson

    And in addition to all the wonderful improvements that you’re going to exhibit and inform people about once this museum gets underway, you want people to enjoy it and have fun. That’s what you’ve always been about, Mike.

    Ralph Nader

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Franceso DeSantis

    News 8/7/24

    1. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. Walz who presided over the passage of an impressive list of progressive priorities in Minnesota, arrayed a broad coalition of Democratic leaders behind his bid for the VP slot, including organized labor, Senator Bernie Sanders, and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. His key rival, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, faced increasing scrutiny over his support for anti-public school vouchers, his history of anti-Palestinian racism, and involvement with the shady cover-up in the death of Ellen Greenberg. AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler praised the selection of Walz, writing in a statement “By selecting Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, Kamala Harris chose a principled fighter and labor champion who will stand up for working people and strengthen this historic ticket.”

    2. In the UK, the new Labour government continues sending mixed signals on their Middle East policy. Last Friday, the Daily Mail reported the government had implemented a “secret arms boycott,” of Israel, supposedly “freez[ing] applications for new weapons export licences.” Yet on Monday, the Middle East Eye reported that the government has denied this report and maintains that “there has been ‘no change’ in its approach to export licences.” The Guardian adds “Although [British] military exports to Israel were only estimated at £18.2m last year, an arms embargo is widely perceived as an appropriate and powerful means to register disapproval of Israel’s actions towards the Palestinians.”

    3. The Canary, a left-wing British new outlet, reports “During the early hours of the morning of Tuesday 6 August, six Palestine Action activists were arrested after they broke inside and damaged weaponry inside the highly secured Bristol manufacturing hub of Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems.” According to this report, the group “used a prison van to smash through the outer perimeter and the roller shutters into the building,” and “Once…inside, they began damaging…machinery and Israeli quadcopter drones.” As the Canary notes, “Elbit System…supplies up to 85% of Israel’s military drones and land-based equipment.” Palestine Action issued a statement on this protest, writing “As a party to the Genocide Convention, Britain has a responsibility to prevent the occurrence of genocide. When our government fails to abide by their legal and moral obligations, it’s the responsibility of ordinary people to take direct action.”

    4. Semafor reports “In January, The Wall Street Journal made an explosive claim: Quoting ‘intelligence reports,’ the paper reported that not only had 12 members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, taken part in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, but 10% of the relief agency’s 12,000 workers in Gaza had ties to militant groups.” Yet, “months later, the paper’s top editor overseeing standards privately made an admission: The paper didn’t know — and still doesn’t know —whether the allegation, based on Israeli intelligence reports, was true.” As Semafor notes, the fact that this story was “based on information [the paper] could not verify is a startling acknowledgment, and calls into question the validity of the claims.” This unconfirmed story resulted in more than a dozen nations – among them the US, the UK, and Germany – freezing their funding for UNRWA, totaling $450 million.

    5. Federal News Network reports “The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved… funding the Defense Department at $852.2 billion, a 3.3% increase over fiscal [year] 2024.” In other words, another year, another $10 billion for the Pentagon. In 2023, the Department of Defense failed its sixth audit in a row, per Reuters.

    In more positive news, this has been a banner week for consumer protection action at the federal level.

    6. On August 2nd, the FTC reported “On behalf of the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice sued video-sharing platform TikTok, its parent company ByteDance, as well as its affiliated companies, with flagrantly violating a children’s privacy law—the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act—and also alleged they infringed an existing FTC 2019 consent order against TikTok for violating COPPA.” Specifically, “The complaint alleges defendants failed to comply with the COPPA requirement to notify and obtain parental consent before collecting and using personal information from children under the age of 13.” FTC Chair Lina Khan is quoted saying “TikTok knowingly and repeatedly violated kids’ privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country…The FTC will continue to use the full scope of its authorities to protect children online—especially as firms deploy increasingly sophisticated digital tools to surveil kids and profit from their data.”

    7. On August 1st, the Consumer Product Safety Commission ruled that online retail titan Amazon qualifies as a “distributor” and “therefore bears a legal responsibility for recalling dangerous products and informing customers and the public,” per NPR. This report continues to say this decision “stems from a lawsuit filed by the CPSC against Amazon in 2021 over a slew of [unsafe] products offered on the retailer’s platform… [including] children’s sleepwear that didn’t meet federal flammability standards, carbon monoxide detectors that failed to detect carbon monoxide and sound their alarms, and hair dryers that didn’t protect against electrocution when immersed in water. Amazon sold more than 418,000 units between 2018 and 2021.” Teresa Murray, consumer watchdog director at U.S. PIRG is quoted saying “This order is about making sure Amazon is just as accountable as every other company that sells products to consumers who often think that if something is for sale, it must be safe.”

    8. AP reports “Coca-Cola…said Friday it will pay $6 billion in back taxes and interest to the Internal Revenue Service while it appeals a final federal tax court decision in a case dating back 17 years.” This lawsuit began in 2015 and centered around how the beverage giant “calculate[s] U.S. income based on profits amounting to more than $9 billion from foreign licensees and affiliates.” The company has been enjoying increased profitability this quarter, reportedly “boosted by product price increases.”

    9. “The D.C. attorney general is suing online ticket provider StubHub for allegedly adding surprise fees onto a needlessly long checkout process in violation of local consumer protection laws,” the Washington Post reports. Specifically, this suit alleges “StubHub deceives customers by offering them an incomplete price at first, then making them go through a purchase process that can involve more than 12 pages — with a timer to impart a sense of urgency — and adding extra fees.” The office of Brian Schwalb, the D.C. AG, alleges StubHub has “[extracted] an estimated $118 million in hidden fees,” from District consumers, using “drip pricing” – described by the FTC as “a pricing technique in which firms advertise only part of a product’s price and reveal other charges later as the customer goes through the buying process.” This model is illegal under the District’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act.

    10. Finally, “The Justice Department and several dozen state attorneys general won a sweeping victory against Google Monday as a federal judge ruled that the search giant illegally monopolized the online search and advertising markets over the past decade,” per POLITICO. In a lengthy ruling U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google “locked up some 90 percent of the internet search market through a partnership with Apple to be the default search provider in its Safari web browser, alongside similar agreements with handset makers and mobile carriers such Samsung and Verizon. Mehta also found that Google disadvantaged Microsoft in the market for ads displayed next to search results, allowing it to illegally dominate that market as well.” Judge Mehta further stated that “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly.” Attorney General Merrick Garland commented “This victory against Google is a historic win for the American people…No company — no matter how large or influential — is above the law. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously enforce our antitrust laws.”

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Trauma in Gaza

    Ralph welcomes Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, an American trauma surgeon who worked at the European Hospital in Khan Younis. They’ll discuss Dr. Sidhwa’s experience on the ground in Gaza, as well as his letter (co-signed by 45 other American medical practitioners) to President Biden, VP Harris, and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden. Then, Ralph is joined by University of Chicago Booth School of Business Professor Luigi Zingales to look at why business schools are setting capitalism up to fail.

    Dr. Feroze Sidhwa is a trauma and critical care surgeon as well as a Northern California Veterans Affairs general surgeon, and he is Associate Professor of Surgery at the California Northstate University College of Medicine. Dr. Sidhwa served at the European Hospital in Khan Younis in March and April of this year, and he has done prior humanitarian work in Haiti, the West Bank, Ukraine, and Zimbabwe. Dr. Sidhwa and 45 other American doctors and nurses who have served in Gaza recently sent a letter exhorting President Biden, VP Harris, and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden to effect an immediate ceasefire. 

    Gaza is definitely unique compared to anywhere else that I’ve been—the level of violence, the level of displacement, the level of deprivation of normal things that society provides.

    Dr. Feroze Sidhwa

    There’s so much in this letter, listeners, that you need to know about because it’s such heartfelt and professionally documented close observation. This short interview cannot do justice to the horrors that Dr. Sidhwa and others observed—and they were just there for a few weeks. 

    Ralph Nader

    One of the things that we tried to emphasize in the letter is that we don’t have anything to say about the politics of the Israel-Palestine conflict…We, as physicians, that’s not what we’re talking about.  We’re talking about our own participation in a massive unprecedented assault on a civilian population. By a military that we fund—we supply, literally every day. We provide the training. We provide all the diplomatic cover. The economic support. Everything is coming from the United States. And in the end, the Israelis have already decided what they’re going to do. They have decided to destroy Gaza. If half the people there die, oh well, if all of the people there die, oh well. But we don’t have to be involved in it.

    Dr. Feroze Sidhwa

    I think the situation in Gaza has reached such a level, the political moment in the U.S. with Biden not running again, has reached a certain level, and then with Netanyahu’s bonker address to Congress—when Nancy Pelosi is openly criticizing the Prime Minister of Israel, he’s really screwed up.

    Dr. Feroze Sidhwa

    Luigi Zingales is the Robert C. McCormack Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He co-developed the Financial Trust Index, which is designed to monitor the level of trust that Americans have toward their financial system. He is currently a faculty research fellow for the National Bureau of Economic Research, a research fellow for the Center for Economic Policy Research, a fellow of the European Governance Institute, and the director of Chicago Booth’s Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State. Professor Zingales is the co-host (with Bethany McLean) of the podcast Capitalisn’t, and co-author (with Raghuram G. Rajan) of the book Saving Capitalism from Capitalists. 

    These days, there is a lot of attention in business school about the environment, about so-called social responsibility, about all these aspects…but business schools like to keep separate the social aspects from the business aspects. So, in many places now there are classes on social entrepreneurship—which is something very interesting where people try to use their entrepreneurial skills to promote an initiative that is good for society at large, even if it’s not necessarily profitable. But then if you are not a social enterprise, then you have to be the most capital, profit-maximizing firms on the face of the earth. There is nothing in between.

    Professor Luigi Zingales

    One year there was a management conference, and I organized a session on corporate fraud. And I expected a lot of people to show up and listen to the panel. In fact, it was a fiasco. Almost nobody showed up, because they don’t want to confront their own limitations and problems. They want to see the more glitzy and shiny aspects of success. And that’s what attracts them to business school, and that’s what we end up selling to them. So I think that we are in part responsible because we cater too much to their own demand. 

    Professor Luigi Zingales

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    News 7/31/24

    1. On Monday, nine Israeli soldiers were arrested on suspicion of raping a Palestinian prisoner at the Sde Teiman detention facility. In response, the Middle East Eye reports “Dozens of people…including members of parliament and Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, gathered outside Sde Teiman and stormed the…facility…[and] Hours later, some 1,200 rioters gathered outside the Beit Lid base, where the nine suspects were taken for questioning.” This piece quotes military chief of staff Herzi Halevi who described the riots as “bordering on anarchy” and said the rioters harmed the military. Yet, “Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich described the suspects as as ‘heroic warriors’…[and] National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees the prisons where Palestinians are detained, called [the suspects] the ‘best heroes’ and described the arrests as ‘shameful’.” One of these soldiers has now been released, according to the Middle East Monitor.

    2. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed Congress last week amid mass protests in Washington D.C. During his speech, Axios reports six spectators were arrested for “disrupting” the address. All six of these demonstrators are family members of the Israeli hostages. Capitol Police spokesperson Brianna Burch is quoted saying “demonstrating in the Congressional Buildings is against the law.”

    3. In the U.K., the new Labour government is sending mixed messages on their Middle East policy. Late last week, the government announced that they would drop the United Kingdom’s opposition to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against Netanyahu, per CNN. Yet this week, Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced that despite campaign promises, “Labour will…delay recognition [of a Palestinian state] indefinitely, making it conditional on Israel feeling ‘safe and secure,’” as reported by British blog Stats for Lefties. Labour continues to face pressure from independent MPs like Jeremy Corbyn on this issue.

    4. This week, President Nicolas Maduro was reelected in Venezuela. Elon Musk was caught spreading misinformation implying that Maduro engaged in election fraud – sharing a video that he claimed showed ballot boxes being stolen, when in fact the ballot boxes in question were actually air conditioning units, per Mediaite. The National Lawyer’s Guild International Committee however, which sent a delegation to monitor the election, “observed a transparent, fair voting process with scrupulous attention to legitimacy, access to the polls and pluralism.” The NLG statement went on to decry “Despite the soundness of the electoral process, the U.S. backed opposition, with support from an anti-Maduro western press has refused to accept the results, undermining the stability of Venezuela’s democracy.”

    5. Forbes reports that Disney has reached a deal with the unionized workers at Disneyland, ratifying a three-year contract that includes “a $24 hourly minimum wage…wage increases, seniority increases, more flexible attendance and sick leave policies, and other benefits.” This deal thus averts the first strike at the Anaheim park in four decades. Last week, More Perfect Union reported that the 14,000 unionized Disneyland workers “authorized a strike by 99%.”

    6. Jacobin reports “SpaceX [has won] a First Battle in Its Assault on the NLRB.” In this piece, People’s Policy Project founder Matt Bruenig lays out how “SpaceX…[winning] a preliminary injunction in a Texas federal district court against the National Labor Relations Board… moves us closer to a potential Supreme Court decision declaring the NLRB unconstitutional.” This is the latest installment in the corporatist war on administrative law, which has already scored major victories in the SEC v. Jarkesy and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo cases. Bruenig notes that “For now, the district court’s decision simply prevents the NLRB from processing a fairly run-of-the-mill unfair labor practice charge against SpaceX. The real question is going to be what the Supreme Court does once this case makes it to their docket. But in the meantime…it is likely that other companies subject to NLRB proceedings will seek similar injunctions.”

    7. A storm is brewing within the Kamala Harris campaign over Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan. Democracy Now! Reports “some of the Democratic Party’s biggest donors, including LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, are openly pushing Harris to fire…Khan, who has led Biden’s antitrust efforts.” NBC notes that Hoffman is a billionaire megadonor and that other megadonors like Barry Diller are also calling for Khan’s removal, and adds that “Khan’s pro-consumer, pro-worker, anti-monopoly agenda has attracted no small amount of hate from powerful and monied interests.” On the other side, Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and the Service Employees International Union – a close labor ally of Harris – have defended Khan. This battle illustrates the cross-cutting interests Harris will have to navigate as the Democratic nominee, and possibly, as president. We urge the Vice President to back Khan, not the billionaire donor class.

    8. The Washington Post is out with a heartbreaking new report on the increase of homelessness among “Working Americans with decent-paying jobs who simply can’t afford a place to live.” This report cites data showing that homelessness, already at record highs, is only getting worse – growing by 61% in Southeast Texas over the past year, 35% in Rhode Island, and 20% in northeast Tennessee. Throughout the country, rents have risen by over 32% in four years and overall homelessness by 12%.

    9. In another disturbing economic trend, a new academic working paper out of UCLA and USC analyzes how the “widespread legalization of sports gambling over the past five years has impacted consumer financial health.” The most-discussed findings of this paper have to do with debt, with a “roughly 28% increase in bankruptcies and an 8% increase in debt transferred to debt collectors,” along with substantial increases in auto loan delinquencies and use of debt consolidation loans. As the researchers put it “these results indicate that the ease of access to sports gambling is harming consumer financial health by increasing their level of debt.”

    10. Finally, for some good news, the White House issued a statement Monday celebrating that “As of today, over 600,000 Teamster workers and retirees have pensions protected from devastating cuts,” as part of Biden’s signature American Rescue Plan. This announcement came after the administration acted to protect 70,000 worker pensions in New England, building on similar actions in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. As the Boston Globe explains “The [American Rescue Plan] set up a special financial assistance program that allows struggling multi-employer pension plans to apply for assistance from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, a federal agency that protects the retirement incomes of workers in defined benefit pension plans.” The administration is paying particular attention to the protection of Teamsters, as that union’s leadership has been flirting with an embrace of the GOP. Not one Republican voted for the American Rescue Plan.

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Joe Steps Aside/Insurance Shenanigans

    Ralph welcomes Jeff Cohen from the activist group “Roots Action,” whose “Step Aside Joe” campaign was years ahead of the curve urging Joe Biden – for many reasons – to keep his promise to be a one-term president. Plus, Harvey Rosenfield, founder of Consumer Watchdog, updates us on how the insurance industry in cahoots with governor Gavin Newsom wants to roll back the immensely successful Prop 103 that over the years has saved Californians billions of dollars in insurance premiums and why this struggle has implications for auto and homeowner insurance premiums across the country.

    Jeff Cohen is Co-Founder and Policy Director at RootsAction. He is a media critic, columnist, documentary filmmaker, and retired journalism professor who founded the media watch group FAIR—Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting— in 1986. For years, he was a regular pundit on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC discussing issues of media and politics, and he is the author of Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media.

    Now, the challenge is reminiscent of Hubert Humphrey and Lyndon Baines Johnson. And when Hubert Humphrey ran for President in 1968—he was LBJ’s Vice President—he had to face the question, is he gonna stay loyal to Johnson’s position on the Vietnam War…or is he going to be faithful to his own personal judgment, which was to find a way to get out of the Vietnam War. He chose the former, to be loyal—he didn’t distance himself—and he lost the election.

    Ralph Nader

    You have all of these constituencies that want a change in policy…The base of the party is for peace and social justice. Not for continual expansion of the military budget. People forget that the Democratic platform in 2020 called for a reduction in military spending, and Joe Biden has increased military spending every year.

    Jeff Cohen

    We’ve organized around that point that if we cut the military budget—which has grown year after year under Joe Biden—and we took that money and spent it on healthcare and housing and education, imagine what a society we would have. If we uplifted working-class people. And when I look at what Joe Biden ran in in 2020—and the promises that were made that have been broken—if he had kept even half of these promises the Democrats would be winning in a landslide.

    Jeff Cohen

    Harvey Rosenfield is one of the nation’s foremost consumer advocates and founder of the advocacy group, Consumer Watchdog. Among many other accomplishments, Mr. Rosenfield authored Proposition 103 that has saved consumers hundreds of millions of dollars in auto insurance premiums. He has also co-authored groundbreaking initiatives on HMO reform and utility rate deregulation and is the author of the book, Silent Violence, Silent Death: the Hidden Epidemic of Medical Malpractice.

    The insurance industry never stopped fighting [Prop 103]. Even though they lost at the ballot box, they constantly tried to relitigate that election. They couldn’t believe that the voters would have the temerity to tell the insurance companies how to conduct business in the state of California.

    Harvey Rosenfield

    This kind of economic blackmail—boycotting state after state in order to up their profits—has worked in the past for insurance companies and this is what they’re doing now. And it’s easy to predict that as their bottom line improves, as the stock market improves…they’ll start coming back into these states with the promise of far higher rates, and things will calm down. But in the meantime, people will have been soaked for tens of billions, hundreds of billions of dollars nationwide.

    Harvey Rosenfield

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    1. This week, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will address the United States Congress for an unprecedented fourth time. According to the Wall Street Journal, presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris will skip Netanyahu’s address, but will meet with the Prime Minister – who is wanted on war crimes charges by the International Criminal Court – and is expected to tell him that “it is time for the war to end” and to stop the “suffering of Palestinian civilians.” Harris is expected to take a new foreign policy approach, likely doing away with key Biden administration figures like Jake Sullivan, Anthony Blinken and Lloyd Austin. Jim Zogby, founder of the Arab American Institute, has stated that Harris has shown “far greater empathy for Palestinians than Biden.”

    2. With Harris taking center stage, the Intercept’s Prem Thakker reports that Representative Rashida Tlaib has released a statement saying “I welcome the opportunity to engage Vice President Harris as my team and I work hard to inspire our Democratic base…They want to see a permanent ceasefire and an end to the funding of genocide in Gaza…They want us to fight against corporate greed that wants to eliminate unions and keep our families in the cycle of poverty. I am eager to speak to Vice President Harris about all of these issues and more.” Unlike other prominent progressive lawmakers – such as Bernie Sanders and AOC – Tlaib did not back Biden against the campaign to have him step aside as the Democratic nominee, and crucially, appears to be using whatever leverage she has to demand Harris push vigorously for a ceasefire in Gaza.

    3. The New York Times reports several major unions – including the The American Postal Workers Union, the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, the Service Employees International Union, United Auto Workers, United Electrical Workers, and the National Education Association, the largest union in the U.S. – have sent a letter to the Biden Administration demanding they “halt all military aid to Israel.” This letter emphasizes that “it is clear that the Israeli government will continue …until it is forced to stop,” and that “Stopping US military aid to Israel is the quickest and most sure way to do so.” APWU President Mark Dimondstein said in a statement “Our unions are hearing the cries of humanity as this vicious war continues…Working people and our unions are horrified that our tax dollars are financing this ongoing tragedy.”

    4. Reuters reports that in talks hosted in China this week, “Palestinian rivals including Hamas and Fatah agreed to form a unity government.” Al Maydeen reports “The meetings saw the participation of 14 Palestinian factions, including Fatah, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.” The so-called Beijing Declaration promises to “end the Palestinian national division [and] unify national efforts to confront…[Israeli] aggression and stop the genocide.” Implementation of this agreement will be monitored by Egypt, Algeria, China, and Russia.

    5. In the United Kingdom, “Five climate activists who planned a protest to cause gridlock and block traffic over four days on a major highway circling London were sentenced…to as much as five years in prison,” per ABC. Just Stop Oil, the group planning the protest, “called the prison terms ‘an obscene perversion of justice… for nothing more than attending a Zoom call.’” Protesting this decision, many prominent climate activists – ranging from Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn to Rowan Williams, Former Archbishop of Canterbury to musician Brian Eno – have signed a letter calling this “one of the greatest injustices in a British court in modern history…making a mockery of the right to a fair trial.” This letter also notes that these sentences are “higher than those given to many who commit serious sexual assault.” This letter also cites the United Nations special rapporteur on environmental defenders, who called this “a dark day for peaceful environmental protest, the protection of environmental defenders and indeed anyone concerned with the exercise of their fundamental freedoms in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.”

    6. In more climate related news, in New York City landlords are required to provide heat for tenants in the winter. Yet, there is no equivalent rule for landlords to provide air conditioning for tenants during the increasingly blistering summers. Now, Gothamist reports New York City Councilmember Lincoln Restler of Brooklyn plans to introduce a bill “requiring [landlords] to ensure tenants can cool their homes to at least 78 degrees when it is 82 degrees or warmer during the summer.” Restler is quoted saying “Heat is the number one climate or weather-related killer – not just nationally, but right here in New York City…We’ve already suffered three awful heat waves this summer. Can you imagine what it’s like to try to manage it without air conditioning or any cooling device in your apartment?” This move comes amid other attempts to legislate heat protections as temperatures continue to rise.

    7. In an infuriating example of corporate greed, the Guardian reports that pharmaceutical giant Gilead is charging outrageous prices for a new drug described as “the closest we have ever been to an HIV vaccine.” According to this report, “Lenacapavir, sold as Sunlenca…currently costs $42,250 for the first year…[yet] In a study…experts calculated that the minimum price for mass production of a generic version…allowing for 30% profit, was $40 a year.” This report continues “Given by injection every six months, lenacapavir can prevent infection and suppress HIV in people who are already infected…In a trial, the drug offered 100% protection to more than 5,000 women in South Africa and Uganda.”

    8. In a welcome check against corporate greed, the Federal Communications Commission has “voted to end exorbitant phone and video call rates that have burdened incarcerated people and their families for

    decades.” The new rules will cap the cost of a 15-minute phone call at 90 cents for large jails and $1.35 for small ones. As of now, a 15-minute phone call can cost as much as $11.35 in a large jail and over $12 in a small one. The new rules also bar added fees.

    9. In more positive regulatory news, the Federal Trade Commission has “issued orders to eight companies offering surveillance pricing products and services that incorporate data about consumers’ characteristics and behavior. The orders seek information about the potential impact these practices have on privacy, competition, and consumer protection.” The companies in question include Mastercard, JPMorgan Chase, and perennial corporate malefactor, McKinsey. Indicating the universality of this move, no more than 3 members of the FTC can be of the same party yet the Commission voted 5-0 to issue these orders.

    10. Finally, in some local news, NBC4 Washington reports that “Former President Donald Trump has threatened a federal takeover of Washington, D.C., if he wins a second term in November.” Leaving aside the ever-present bluster and bombast that accompany such Trump pronouncements, NBC4 makes the crucial point that because D.C. lacks statehood “The president can take over the police department and many of the powers the mayor and D.C. Council have.” In light of this credible threat, it is more critical than ever that Congress act on D.C. Statehood and end the unjust status quo of taxation without representation.

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Judge Cannon’s Fumble, Fairplay’s Victory, and Israel’s War on Journalism

    On today’s show, Ralph welcomes back Constitutional Law Expert Bruce Fein to dissect Judge Aileen Cannon’s dismissal of Donald Trump’s classified documents case in Florida. Then Ralph is joined by Haley Hinkle, Policy Counsel at Fairplay, to discuss their FTC complaint against the messaging app “NGL” and what their victory means for children’s safety online. Finally, Ralph speaks with journalist John Nichols about the state of journalism in Gaza, as well as the state of the Democratic Party.

    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 Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy, and American Empire: Before the Fall.

    I think that here, a little brief history speaks volumes of logic. The modern special prosecutor Ralph and I experienced directly during Watergate, it stemmed from the coverup of the Watergate burglars’ funding by the Republican National Committee to try to save Richard Nixon. And when the Attorneys General John Mitchell and Richard Kleindienst had been convicted of crimes, the vacancy was there, and Richard Nixon nominated his Secretary of Defense Elliot Richardson…[the Senate Judiciary Committee] insisted that they would never confirm Elliot Richardson unless he created the special prosecutor and appointed Archibald Cox. Because they could not trust the executive branch to investigate itself—that’s the absence of separation of powers. You can’t have the executive branch be a judge in its own case. So the purpose of the special prosecutor was to strengthen separation of powers by ending the absolute control that the President or Attorney General would have over prosecutorial decisions. 

    Bruce Fein

    Haley Hinkle is policy counsel at Fairplay, where she advocates for laws and regulations that protect children and teens’ autonomy and safety online. Ms. Hinkle has also worked on issues at the intersection of government surveillance technology and civil liberties. 

    What we have seen over the last couple of decades of the Internet with these types of anonymous platforms that encourage either anonymous messaging within your peer group or within a specific geographic area…is that encouraging minors to talk about and to each other anonymously within a limited community always leads to really horrific cyberbullying outcomes. Because anonymity empowers people to say things they wouldn’t normally say. 

    Haley Hinkle

    The other piece [of our FTC complaint] is really trying to shift some responsibility onto tech itself for considering specific issues and harms and specific safeguards and tools that will help make kids and teens more safe, and help their parents understand that there are certain default protections in place. And that’s why we’ve really been advocating for the Kids Online Safety Act to try to shift responsibility onto the platforms to consider specific harms in the duty of care…at the point of product design rather than trying to address these things after the fact.

    Haley Hinkle

    John Nichols is a national affairs correspondent for the Nation, and associate editor of the Capital Times. He has written, co-written, or edited over a dozen books on topics ranging from histories of American socialism and the Democratic Party to analyses of US and global media systems. His latest, co-written with Senator Bernie Sanders, is the New York Times bestseller It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism.

    What has taken so long for international media in general to pay attention to the circumstance in Gaza? Not just talking about reporting from on the ground, but to give it the priority, to give it the seriousness that it has long deserved. For generations. And so this is part of a much deeper problem, part of a much deeper challenge. 

    John Nichols

    The last couple of months, I think, have caused media organizations to frankly feel a measure of shame for their failure to cover up to this point, their failure to take it seriously, and frankly their failure to fight to be in a position to give the coverage that’s needed. So they’re stepping up now. And it took way too long, but it is important. It is absolutely vital that they are saying what they’re saying.

    John Nichols

    Democrats should be thinking very, very seriously about whether they want to have an open convention or a closed convention. And frankly, if they go with a closed convention, if they stage-manage things and don’t accept the dialogue—don’t accept the discourse that frankly is necessary at this point, not just on the issues, but even on the question of the nomination itself—if they don’t do that, I think the dangers are a) obvious and b) potentially profound.

    John Nichols

    One of the reasons— in addition to his performance on the debate with Trump—so many leading Democrats asked [Biden] to step aside is because they saw the whole ticket crumbling all the way down to the local elections around the country. Not just Congress, but state legislatures, governorships, city councils just collapsing. And that’s still a very great concern for them.

    Ralph Nader

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    News 7/16/24 

    1. Axios reports a bipartisan gang of Senators has reached a deal to ban stock trading by sitting lawmakers. This group, which includes Senators Jon Ossoff, Gary Peters, Jeff Merkley and Josh Hawley have agreed to a deal which would “immediately prohibit members of Congress from buying stocks and selling stocks 90 days after the bill is signed into law…ban member spouses and dependent children from trading stocks starting in March 2027..[and impose] Penalties for violating the law [totaling] either…the monthly salary of a lawmaker or 10% of the value of each asset they buy or sell.” This is the most promising iteration of the stock trading ban thus far. Action on this bill is expected later this month.  

    2. In Rafah, scenes of carnage abound. NBC reports the major southern Gaza city, once considered a “safe zone,” has become “an empty husk with almost every…building completely leveled.” NBC was given rare access to the city by Israeli forces as ceasefire negotiations ramped up last week; what they found were “Homes destroyed, buildings reduced to rubble and few signs of life other than sporadic gunfire. That’s all there is to see now in…the city…that was once home to more than 1 million people.” NBC further reports that Israel is launching new military operations in northern Gaza.  

    3. In the UK, pro-Gaza independent MP and former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, along with the other four pro-Gaza independent MPs recently elected, have penned a letter to British Foreign Secretary David Lammy reminding him of his and his Government’s “obligations under international law,” with regard to the ICJ’s ruling that Israel is engaging in “plausible genocide.” These MPs call on Lammy to “immediately suspend all provision of weapons and weapons systems to the Government Israel…Immediately restore and increase UK funding to UNRWA…Impose sanctions on individuals and entities inciting genocide against Palesinians…[and] Regonise the State of Palestine,” among other demands. Yet quite to the contrary, the Middle East Eye reports Lammy “will not withdraw [Britain’s] objection to the…ICC…prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants targeting…Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant,” despite campaign promises to do so.  

    4. POLITICO reports the Department of Justice is “planning to sue RealPage Inc., a software company used by landlords across the country… [accusing] the company of selling software that enables landlords to illegally share confidential pricing information in order to collude on setting rents.” This is the latest in an ongoing effort by the Biden administration to crack down on “rent gouging among corporate landlords.” The Biden administration has also signaled it intends to propose capping rent increases at 5% nationwide, per Axios.  

    5. Detroit-based journalist Phil Lewis reports “CNN [is] quietly disband[ing] its Race and Equality team.” This team was presented as evidence of a “significant, sustained commitment to ensure race coverage is a permanent part of [CNN’s] journalism,” when it was announced in during the George Floyd protests in July 2020. A CNN spokesperson confirmed “For all intents and purposes, the team is not a team anymore.” This comes amid news that the cable news channel will “lay off 100 employees as it restructures its newsgathering operations.” 

    6. This week, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien addressed the Republican National Convention. He is the first Teamster ever to address the RNC. In this speech, O’Brien sought to praise Republicans whom he believes have stood up for labor and urged the GOP to stand up for American workers. In terms of specific policies, O’Brien called on the Republicans to reject the “economic terrorism” of companies exploiting labor and bankruptcy laws to bilk American workers and stressed the need for “corporate welfare reform,” paid for by individual taxpayers. O’Brien’s speech has drawn much criticism from the Left. It remains to be seen whether it will sway the Republicans toward a more pro-labor agenda.  

    7. On the other end of the labor spectrum, UAW President Shawn Fain is sounding the alarm about President Biden’s reelection. At the Netroots Nation conference in Baltimore last week, Fain said “We’re speaking truth to those who need to hear it most and that’s the Democrat Party.” He urged the party to not put “our heads in the sand and hide from reality — we tried that in 2016 and it didn’t work,” per Bloomberg. UAW, which endorsed Biden in January, is reportedly weighing their options in light of the pressure on Biden to step aside. CNBC reports Fain met with the union’s executive board last week to discuss next steps.  

    8. The American Prospect reports the DNC is seeking to do an end-run around a contested convention by having delegates vote early in a virtual roll call beginning as early as July 22nd. While this virtual roll call procedure had already been approved for the convention – on dubious grounds – the early voting is a new tactic the Biden team is deploying to stave off challenges to his nomination. This underhanded campaign is being met with push-back from delegates and House Democrats. The Prospect’s Luke Goldstein reports “One [California] delegate told me: ‘I have the same feeling I did when I was campaigning in Michigan for Hillary in 2016; everyone is acting like we’re winning but it really feels more like we’re losing.’” Punchbowl News has published a letter being circulated among House Democrats expressing “serious concerns” about the early virtual roll call, arguing “It could deeply undermine the morale and unity of Democrats– from delegates, volunteers, grassroots organizers and donors to ordinary voters – at the worst possible time.”  

    9. In June, the FEC declared that Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is eligible to receive federal matching funds for her campaign. Yet, Stein’s campaign manager Jason Call reports “Congress robbed the fund and Treasury is refusing to pay us $270,000,” the campaign is rightfully owed. Call added “The Green Party takes no corporate money. We are following the rules. And the playground bullies are continuing to rig the system for the war machine and other corporate interests.”  

    10. Finally, in some positive news, Axios reports “Just 13% of workers in the U.S. are now earning less than $15 an hour; two years ago, that number was 31.9%, per new data from Oxfam.” The data also show “Even accounting for inflation — $15 an hour in 2024 has the same buying power as about $14 in 2022.” Yet even with these encouraging trends, Oxfam warns that wages are still too low. Senator Bernie Sanders has recently introduced a bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $17 per hour by 2028. 

     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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • A Doctor in Gaza/Trump Immunity

    We hear from Dr. Thaer Ahmad, a Palestinian American doctor who spent time in Gaza trying to administer to a civilian population under relentless siege. Plus, Constitutional scholar, Bruce Fein, takes apart the Supreme Court’s decision to grant the president of the United States the powers of a king. 

    Dr. Thaer Ahmad is a Palestinian-American emergency physician who has made numerous relief trips to Gaza. Dr. Ahmad is Assistant Program Director for the Emergency Medicine Residency Program at Chicago’s Advocate Christ Medical Center. He also serves as the Global Health Director and Medical Ethics Director for the Emergency Department at Advocate Christ. Dr. Ahmad is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a board member for MedGlobal, a medical humanitarian NGO that works at building healthcare capacity and reducing health inequities globally.

    I don’t think [Palestinian healthcare workers] get enough credit for what they’ve had to deal with over these last several months… These doctors are also displaced. Their families are displaced. They are living out of tents and they are showing up every day at the hospital to treat the community that’s there. They’ve not been paid—the health ministry collapsed—they have no money. They’re totally dependent on the scarce aid that gets in. These doctors are showing up to work when they should be in line at the bakeries that are producing some of the bread—where they should be in line collecting some of the aid that’s being distributed. But they’re showing up.

    Dr. Thaer Ahmad

    I work with MedGlobal. They’re doing fantastic work on the ground. They’re in Gaza—more than 110 physicians and nurses who are Gazans are running medical points throughout the Gaza Strip. They have a malnutrition center that they’re also using to help with the starvation that we were talking about. So I think that that’s an excellent organization to contribute to—medglobal.org .

    Dr. Thaer Ahmad

    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 Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy, and American Empire: Before the Fall.

    [On Trump v. United States]: The court gave nothing more than the equivalent of, “We know when it’s not immune when we see it, but otherwise you try to guess what that’s going to be.”

    Bruce Fein

    It’s a judicial counter-revolution. It’s a violation because it basically turns the Constitution into a scrap of paper—it means whatever the Justices want it to mean. It doesn’t have to find even a single word in the Constitution to justify the opinion.

    Bruce Fein

    It’s really a judicial coup d’etat that occurred on July 1, 2024. It’s hard to fathom the belief that these six judges think they’re going to get away with it. There is going to be all kinds of damage to all kinds of people—regardless of their political labels—and there’s going to be a big pushback. Do they think they’re going to get away with it? These unelected, lifetime-position judges?

    Ralph Nader

    News 7/10/24 

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    1. Haaretz reports that in the immediate wake of the October 7th attack, the Israeli Defense Forces implemented the ominously named “Hannibal directive” which “directs the use of force to prevent soldiers being taken into captivity.” In other words, the explicit order of the Israeli military was for Israelis to kill Israeli soldiers to prevent them from being taken hostage by Hamas, in order to deny the group leverage in negotiations. As Haaretz reports, this directive also put civilian lives at risk. The Hannibal Directive had been a secretive but official Israeli policy since the 1986 capture of three soldiers by Hezbollah in Lebanon, but was formally revoked in 2016. 

    2. Lancet, the prestigious British medical journal, has published a study estimating that as many as 186,000 people have been killed in Gaza as a direct or indirect result of the genocidal Israeli military campaign. This casualty count, far higher than the commonly cited figure of under 40,000, supports estimates offered by advocates. If accurate, this would mean Israel has wiped out nearly 8% of the total population of the Gaza Strip.  

    3. Due to previous legal entanglements, the United Autoworkers union is subject to a consent decree with the federal government. Included within this consent decree is a federal monitor assigned to the union. Yet, the Detroit News reports that this monitor, Neil Barofsky, went far beyond his mandate to pressure the union over its position on the crisis in Gaza. According to this report, following UAW’s official call for ceasefire, Barofsky called UAW president Shawn Fain to share his “concerns” about the union’s position. Later, Barofsky signed off on an email which included an ADL complaint about the union’s call for a ceasefire. Benjamin Dictor, outside counsel for the UAW, wrote to Barofsky saying “Your call to President Fain on an issue so blatantly outside of the Monitor’s jurisdiction was inappropriate…[and] represents a surprising lack of integrity.”   

    4. More misbehavior from the ADL is on display in a recent expose from the Guardian. According to this report, based on a leaked internal memo from 2020, “the ADL collected information on a Black Indianapolis activist, Tatjana Rebelle, who worked on Deadly Exchange, a national campaign against an ADL-backed program to send US police officials for training with the Israeli military.” Rebelle is quoted in this piece saying “It scared the s**t out of me…It stopped me from moving forward because I don’t want to put people in my life at risk – I work with youth, so it stopped me in my tracks.” The ADL calls itself the “leading anti-hate organization in the world,” with a straight face. 

    5. AP reports Boeing has taken the deal offered by the Department of Justice, and will “will plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from two crashes of 737 Max jetliners that killed 346 people.” The plea deal, which must still be approved by a federal judge, dictates that Boeing must pay an additional $243.6 million fine and submit to independent monitor-ship for three years, among other provisions. Ike Riffel, whose sons Melvin and Bennett died in the Ethiopian Airlines crash, is quoted saying “Boeing has paid fines many a time…When people start going to prison, that’s when you are going to see a change.” 

    6. President Biden shows no intention of stepping aside as the Democratic nominee. This is despite open calls from prominent Democratic lawmakers, such as Jerrold Nadler and Adam Schiff, as well as a full-blown revolt from major Democratic donors like Abigail Disney. Recent polls show Biden losing most swing states by a substantial margin, including an AARP poll in Wisconsin showing him running 12 points behind Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin. Infuriating many of those who wish to avoid a second Trump term, Axios reports “President Biden indicated…[in his interview with George Stephanopolous] that he would be at peace if he lost to former President Trump ‘as long as I gave it my all.’” 

    7. Hurricane Beryl is ravaging Texas, leaving millions without power, according to CNN. This widespread power outage will only compound an incoming heatwave, with the Houston heat index reaching 100 degrees on Tuesday. Las Vegas hit a record high temperature of 120 degrees the same day, per Fox 5. As many have remarked, this is likely to be the coldest summer for the rest of our lives. 

    8. The Daily Beast reports the Pope has excommunicated Carlo Maria Vigano, an ultra-conservative archbishop who served as the Vatican’s ecclesiastical diplomat to Washington from 2011 to 2016. A long time opponent of Pope Francis, Vigano has become increasingly unhinged in his criticisms, including accusing the supreme pontiff of being a “servant of Satan.” Other wild claims he has made in recent years include retweeting a Marjorie Taylor Greene post stating that  “The Covid vaccines are killing people,” and calling Black Lives Matter protests the machinations of “the children of darkness.” Vigano was accused of schism and found guilty.  

    9. In the United Kingdom, the New Arab reports five pro-Gaza independent candidates won seats in the House of Commons, including Shockat Adam, who defeated shadow Cabinet minister Jonathan Ashworth. Most prominent of these however is Left-wing luminary and former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who successfully defended his seat in Islington North after being expelled from the Labour Party over his criticism of Israel. Reuters reports that upon his victory, Corbyn said voters are “looking for a government that on the world stage will search for peace, not war.”  

    10. Finally, beating all expectations, the French Left emerged victorious from the second round of legislative elections. The New Popular Front lead by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, won the most seats, followed by Macron’s centrist bloc, after the two formed a “Republican Front” to defeat the Far-right, led by Marine Le Pen. Now, negotiations are underway to choose the country’s next Prime Minister, according to France24. Mélenchon has campaigned on a very simple platform, stating “I’m not saying we will create a paradise from one day to the next, but we will put an end to hell.” 

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The Plastics We Breathe/ Industrial Hemp

    Ralph welcomes Washington Post reporter Shannon Osaka to discuss her new article, “The Plastics We Breathe” and the shocking truth that all of the plastic we’re using isn’t just polluting the environment—it’s polluting our bodies as well. Then, Ralph checks in on the state of the industrial hemp movements with “Hempster” filmmaker and activist Michael Henning. 

    Shannon Osaka is a climate reporter covering policy, culture, and science for the Washington Post. Before joining the Post, she was a climate reporter at the nonprofit environmental outlet Grist.

    Microplastics are not only around us, they’re also inside us…This is a really difficult problem, and it’s partly because there is no one microplastic. Microplastics are made of a whole bunch of different materials—they’re made with different chemical additives. So scientists have found that microplastics can have certain effects in the laboratory—they can cause cell death, they can cause tissue damage, they can cause allergic reactions, they are starting to put the pieces together on the impact on human health.

    Shannon Osaka

    [“The Plastics We Breathe” by Shannon Osaka and Simon Ducroquet] comes across as a massive global assault—hour by hour, a violent, violent pandemic—when you look at the fact that it’s everywhere, it’s in the water, it’s in the air, it’s in human bodies, it’s in the animals that are eaten, it’s in the pipes, it’s being swallowed regularly, it’s invisible, it doesn’t produce immediate pain, it’s in the placenta, the liver, the breast milk.

    Ralph Nader

    Michael Henning is a filmmaker, public speaker, and longtime proponent of the Industrial Hemp Movement. He is the director of Hempsters: Plant the Seeds, a documentary about the struggle to legalize industrial hemp.

    The DEA is the most profitable hemp farmer in the world. They get a million dollars per acre. Here’s the irony of all this—they’re cutting down feral ditch weed…Well, why the hell are they eradicating cannabis when it’s legal to grow in all 50 states? They’re taking us to the cleaners with the amount of money that taxpayers pay to support the Cannabis Eradication Program.  How can you have a Cannabis Eradication Program when it’s legal to grow in all 50 states?

    Michael Henning

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantisNews 7/3/24

    1. Following President Biden’s disastrous performance in the first presidential debate, pressure is beginning to build for Biden to step aside as the Democratic nominee against Trump. The Texas Tribune reports Congressman Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat representing Austin, Texas is the first to explicitly call for Biden to stand down, writing in a statement, “President Biden…has the opportunity to encourage a new generation of leaders from whom a nominee can be chosen to unite our country though an open, democratic process….I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw. I respectfully call on him to do so.” Other top Democrats have not gone quite so far, but haven’t closed the door completely. Congressman Jim Clyburn, a powerful South Carolina Democrat and co-chair of Biden’s campaign, told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell “I will support…[Vice President Kamala Harris if President Joe Biden]…were to step aside,” per NBC’s Gary Grumbach. NBC reports House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi said Biden’s mental fitness is a “legitimate question.”

    2. Israel’s rabidly right-wing Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir has issued a statement on Twitter responding to claims from Palestinian prisoners that they faced “rape, physical and psychological torture, deprivation of food, medicine and sleep, humiliation and degradation,” in Israeli prisons, per the Middle East Eye. In this statement, Ben Gvir wrote “Everything published about the abominable conditions…was true…I have already proposed a much simpler solution…enacting the death penalty.”

    3. +972 Magazine is out with a report on the Sde Teiman detention center in the Negev desert, where Israel has held more than 4,000 Palestinian prisoners since October 7th. The magazine report recounts the countless instances of horrific abuse at the detention center, many perpetrated against Arab-Israeli citizens. The magazine also cites the New York Times report that “doctors at the facility were instructed not to write their names on official documents or address each other by name in the presence of patients, for fear of being later identified and charged with war crimes at the International Criminal Court.”

    4. CNN reports that the Israeli military has “issued new evacuation orders…for areas in southern Gaza, including eastern Khan Younis and Rafah….[forcing] residents, many already displaced, to find new shelter,” in advance of yet another ground invasion. The Gaza European Hospital, one of the last hospitals in Gaza, is located within this evacuation zone. While the IDF has said the evacuation order “does not apply to the patients in the European Hospital or the medical staff working there,” the hospital has already “transferred patients, including those in intensive care and babies in incubators…to other facilities ‘in fear of bloodshed,’ according to the hospital’s deputy director and doctors.” The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported earlier this week that the few remaining hospitals in Gaza are overwhelmed by the influx of patients from the European Hospital, as well as other hospitals that have been bombed or evacuated during the Israeli bombing campaign.

    5. Axios reports that even pro-Israel Democrats are expressing apprehension about what they describe as AIPAC’s “overkill” in the recent campaign to defeat progressive Congressman Jamaal Bowman. AIPAC, via their United Democracy Project PAC, spent at least $14.5 million on anti-Bowman ads as of June 20th, making this the most expensive primary ever, per POLITICO. One House Democrat, speaking anonymously, expressed concern that “that much money could backfire,” with another noting that “They do that a lot.” Progressive House Democrat Greg Casar said “[Progressives] have to adapt…voters have to know that, if they’re seeing a huge barrage of ads, they’ve got to…find out if those [millions] of dollars are telling [them] the truth.”

    6. The Department of Justice will formally charge Boeing with fraud over its fatal 2019 crashes, per Reuters. However, the Justice Department will offer the company a plea deal, including “a financial penalty and imposition of an independent monitor to audit the company’s safety and compliance practices for three years.” If Boeing does not take the deal and plead guilty, the Justice Department has vowed to take the company to court; if they do plead guilty, it could affect the company’s ability to enter into government contracts. Companies with felony convictions are barred from being awarded such contracts, but can receive waivers. The Department “declined to comment on the families’ reaction.”

    7. AP reports “Tesla is recalling its…Cybertruck pickup…to fix problems with trim pieces that can come loose and front windshield wipers that can fail.” This is the fourth recall of the Cybertruck since it went on sale late last November. Each recall affects over 11,000 vehicles, each of which cost between $80-100,000.

    8. Last week, the Supreme Court ruled in Grant’s Pass v. Johnson that a local ordinance banning homeless people from sleeping outdoors – even when there is inadequate shelter space available – does not violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Within days, lawmakers in Oregon and Los Angeles, among others, began to publicly signal they would utilize this ruling to crack down on unhoused people. The National Alliance to End Homelessness reports nearly 600,000 Americans are experiencing homelessness, an increase of six percent since 2017.

    9. France is facing a political crisis. In the first round of legislative elections, the far-Right National Rally and its allies claimed first place with just over 33% of the vote, followed by the Leftist New Popular Front with 28%. The centrist allies of President Macron came in a distant third. Going into the second round of voting, uncertainty swirled over whether the Center and the Left could form a so-called “republican front” against the far-Right, specifically whether the centrist candidates would stand down in close run-offs between the Left and far-Right, and vice versa. Macron now seems to have endorsed this position. According to Reuters, “A survey…showed a small majority of those who voted mainstream conservative in the first round would back the left-wing candidate best placed to beat an RN rival in the second round.”

    10. Finally, Kenya is being rocked by its own political crisis – one of neoliberalism. In order to meet targets set by the International Monetary Fund, Kenyan President William Ruto pushed a bill that would have imposed new taxes on “bread, vegetable oil…sugar, mobile-money transfers and some imports,” per Reuters. This announcement led to nothing short of a popular uprising in the streets, leading to violent clashes as the police sought to quash these protests. Those clashes left at least two dozen protesters dead. President Ruto has now pulled the bill, but protests continue to rock the country. One protester told Reuters “People are dying in the streets and the only thing he can talk about is money. We are not money. We are people. We are human beings…He needs to care about his people, because if he can’t care about his people then we don’t need him in that chair.”

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • An Undertaker in Gaza

    We focus once again on the ongoing genocide in Gaza with Delinda Hanley, executive editor of the “Washington Report on Middle East Affairs” who tells the heartrending story of an undertaker in Gaza who since October 8th personally has had to bury over 17,000 people. Then, Ralph welcomes back retired Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft to widen out the discussion to include the war in Ukraine and contends that “the Pentagon runs America.”

    Delinda Hanley is news editor and executive director of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. She writes extensively for the magazine on an array of topics and her stories have also been published in the Arab News, Saudi ARAMCO World, The Minaret, Islamic Horizons and other U.S. magazines, including The Jewish Spectator. She has written extensively on Palestine, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Libya, the emergence of the Muslim voice in Arab politics, and fairness in the mainstream American media.

    During this (Gaza) crisis, it’s been a meeting point for people on the sidewalk. We’ve had fundraisers, people just come and vent because they’re so upset about our U.S. foreign policy. Diplomats come in and vent about how they don’t get a say anymore—it’s just top-down foreign policy decisions. We’ve had ex-military people, who served in Iraq, vent. Everyone just comes here and starts to feel a little better because they’re talking to like-minded people. The only people who don’t come here are the media. We’ve never had a story about the magazine. It’s just verboten.

    Delinda Hanley

    While most publications depend on advertising to last, we don’t have much advertising. Only charities dare to advertise with us because if you’re a lawyer or insurance salesman, you get phone calls from our adversaries saying, “That’s an anti-Semitic magazine. Don’t do that. You won’t have our business.” We have a real problem with advertising. And also, may I say, we are so happy to send free subscriptions to libraries…Libraries are afraid to have us on their shelves sometimes because they get complaints. 

    Delinda Hanley

    Lawrence Wilkerson 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, senior advisor to the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, and co-founder of the All-Volunteer Force Forum. 

    AIPAC—the Israeli-government-can-do-no-wrong lobby here—poured over $14 million to defeat Jamaal Bowman, the Democrat from the Bronx and Westchester County just this week in the primary. And it came down to $17,000 an hour they were spending on blanket ads and other media against this super progressive member of Congress who dared a few weeks after October 7th to call for a permanent ceasefire and describe what Netanyahu was doing as genocide.

    Ralph Nader

    We know, all of us know, that the armed forces of the United States are broken. They are broken from years and years of the all-volunteer force, years and years of war, years and years of stupid idiotic war with no purpose, years and years of wounds, PTSD, suicides just off the charts now. And the armed forces are not doing well. 

    Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    News 6/26/24

    1. In a story that could have been written 200 years ago, independence activists in the French territory of New Caledonia in the Pacific have been sent to mainland France for pre-trial detention, per Al Jazeera. According to this report, these seven detainees include Christian Tein, head of the pro-independence group Field Action Coordination Cell, or CCAT. Tein’s lawyer Pierre Ortent said he was “stupefied” that Tein was being being held in France, accusing authorities of “answering to purely political considerations.” A lawyer for another detainee said these actions would only create “martyrs for the independence cause.” Riots broke out in New Caledonia earlier this year when France instituted new rules allowing long-term, non-indigenous residents to participate in independence referenda – which “Indigenous Kanaks feared…would dilute their vote.” France deployed 3,000 soldiers in response. New Caledonia remains on the United Nations list of “non-self-governing territories,” the modern euphemism for imperial colonies.

    2. Following a decade-long legal battle, the saga of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is finally coming to a close. Defending Rights and Dissent reports “On Monday, it was announced that Assange had filed a guilty plea in the US District of Northern Mariana Islands. Assange, who faced 17 counts under the Espionage Act and one count of conspiracy to violate the Computer Fraud And Abuse Act, pled guilty to [a] single count of conspiracy… Assange…will make an appearance in court and be sentenced to time served. He will then return to Australia a free man.” However, Policy Director Chip Gibbons was quick to note “Plea deals…set no legal precedent…the US government’s decision to charge Assange under the Espionage Act remains unconstitutional due to the First Amendment’s press freedom guarantees.”

    3. In an interview with Declassified UK, reported by Yahoo News, Independent MP Candidate and former Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn recounted how he was pressured to give blanket support to military actions by Israel. In the interview, he said “During one extremely hostile meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party Committee they confronted me and said will you give a blanket undertaking that you, as party leader and potentially prime minister, will automatically support any military action Israel undertakes?” Corbyn responded “no, I will give no such undertaking, because the issue of Palestine has to be resolved and Palestinian people do not deserve to live under occupation…” Corbyn is currently fighting to keep his longtime seat in Islington North after being expelled from the Labour Party by it’s reportedly CIA-linked new leader, Keir Starmer.

    4. British humanitarian group Save the Children has published a new report which finds “Over 20,000 children [are] estimated to be lost, disappeared, detained, buried under the rubble or in mass graves,” in Gaza. A Child Protection Specialist with the group, on the ground in Gaza, is quoted saying “Every day we find more unaccompanied children and every day it is harder to support them…there is no safe place in Gaza… Neighbours and extended family members who have taken in lone children are struggling to meet their basic needs, such as shelter, food, and water. Many are with strangers – or completely alone – increasing the risk of violence, abuse exploitation and neglect.” Jeremy Stoner, the group’s regional director for the Middle East, says “Gaza has become a graveyard for children.”

    5. On Tuesday, a new citizenship law took effect in Germany, allowing new immigrants to obtain a German passport within five years – but only if they declare that the State of Israel has the right to exist, per the Financial Times. This piece notes that the “[German] government…has…sparked anger by…[cracking] down on…criticism of the Israeli government over its conduct in Gaza, fuelling (sic.) a debate over free speech in Germany, particularly among artists and academics. Sabine Döring, Germany’s junior minister for higher education, was forced to resign earlier this month after her ministry started exploring legal options to defund the research of German academics who had signed a public letter criticising a police crackdown on anti-Israeli student protests.”

    6. AP reports Israel’s Supreme Court issued a ruling this week that “the military must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men for compulsory service…[putting] an end to a decades-old system that granted ultra-Orthodox men broad exemptions from military service while maintaining mandatory enlistment for the country’s secular Jewish majority.” The exemption from military service for the ultra-Orthodox Haredim has been a long-term flash-point in Israeli society and the issue has only grown more contentious as the recent campaign in Gaza has dragged on. The Netanyahu regime, which rules in coalition with Haredi parties, fought this ruling tooth and nail, claiming that forcing the Haredim to serve would “tear Israeli society apart.” Many speculate that the ruling will cause the ultra-Orthodox parties to leave Netanyahu’s coalition, which would precipitate the collapse of his government.

    7. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, over 20 elder care facilities in the area have closed in just the last few weeks, which this report ascribes to “The long-term mismanagement of nursing homes by private equity firms,” like the Carlyle Group. Specifically, the paper excoriates how “Private equity firms extract money from nursing homes,” using “sale-leaseback[s]…selling the land out from under the facilities for lump payments…[meaning] Nursing homes are suddenly forced to pay rent or ‘management fees’ to occupy facilities they once owned…the same process…that resulted in the bankruptcy of the Red Lobster restaurant chain.” The paper notes that the Biden administration is promulgating a new rule that elder care facilities must disclose their ownership, while acknowledging that “This will hardly solve the problem, but it will allow families to make informed decisions about their loved ones’ care.”

    8. Rumblings suggest Congress may raise the corporate tax rate. POLITICO reports “anti-corporate sentiment is running high among increasingly populist-minded Republicans,” and this article quotes Congressman Chip Roy of Texas saying “There’s a bubbling-up concern that we should not be doing the bidding of corporate America.” Roy is reportedly “consider[ing] kicking the corporate rate up to 25 percent, from the current 21 percent, if it means being able to extend breaks for individuals and small businesses.” On the Democratic side, Representative Don Beyer said “Every Democrat thinks the 21 percent corporate rate is far lower than is necessary,” and Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden added “Western civilization is not going to end if there’s some increase.”

    9. The Guardian reports DC area coffee chain Compass Coffee is “hiring dozens of friends of management, including other local food service executives and an Uber lobbyist, in an effort to defeat a union election.” Compass Coffee United, the union representing these workers, “accused the coffee chain of hiring 124 additional people at cafes that are attempting to unionize…[and] manipulating worker schedules retroactively to try to make the new employees eligible to vote in the union election.” The union has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB. Senator Bernie Sanders wrote on Twitter “Claiming that a lobbyist from Uber & CEOs from other companies are workers in order to rig a union election is totally absurd & disgusting.”

    10. Finally, in more labor news, CNN reports Teamsters President Sean O’Brien will speak at the Republican National Convention. Former President Trump wrote on Truth Social “Our GREAT convention will unify Americans and demonstrate to the nation’s working families they come first…When I am back in the White House, the hardworking Teamsters, and all working Americans, will once again have a country they can afford to live in and be respected around the world.” Trump and O’Brien previously met at Mar-a-Lago in January. According to Teamsters spokesperson Kara Deniz, “O’Brien’s appearance does not represent an endorsement of Trump,” and “O’Brien has requested the opportunity to also speak at the Democratic National Convention…The DNC has yet to accept that request.”

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Veterans for Peace/ Freedom of Speech

    Ralph welcomes Mike Ferner from Veterans for Peace to discuss their work pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza and mobilizing their members to obstruct the gears of our military-industrial complex. Then, Ralph speaks with criminal defense attorney Leonard Goodman about a major First Amendment case that he’s fighting in Florida as well as the Justice Department’s tradition of targeting political dissenters. 

    Mike Ferner served in the Navy during the Vietnam War, and he is former National Director and current Special Projects Coordinator for Veterans for Peace. He is the author of Inside the Red Zone: A Veteran for Peace Reports from Iraq.

    Veterans for Peace, listeners, might provoke you to say—well, why is there another veterans organization needed? Doesn’t the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars fit the bill? Well, as other listeners know, those two gigantic groups have been very closely aligned with the Pentagon, they don’t seem to ever see a war or an armed incursion that they don’t like from the U.S. Empire.

    Ralph Nader

    Every conflict is going to wind up ending at some point with talks and negotiations. And it’s a question of—how many people do you want to kill and wound, and how much suffering do you want to cause, before you say enough and sit down at the table? That happens in every war. 

    Mike Ferner

    It’s not like we’ve got some kind of democracy, and our national policy reflects what people want to do. It’s that the people who are running the show from the arms industries and so forth, they’re the ones that make the political contributions, they’re the ones that make the money. And those are the ones that we hold up as the mad men arsonists who are running around the world setting fires left and right. And we’re running around with a bucket brigade trying to stop them. So unfortunately they’ve got the upper hand, but Veterans for Peace and other parts of the peace movement are doing everything that we can to change that.

    Mike Ferner

    Leonard Goodman is a Chicago criminal defense lawyer, an adjunct professor of law at DePaul University College of Law, where he teaches Federal Criminal Law, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University College of Law. He also founded the Leonard C. Goodman Institute for Investigative Reporting, which provides editorial and financial support to independent journalists pursuing in-depth investigative projects.

    [Penny Hess, Omali Yeshitela, and Jesse Nevel’s] homes were raided, and they’re now under federal indictment, facing up to 15 years in prison with absolutely no notice, no letter being sent saying, “Hey, we think because you went to Moscow that you need to register.” Nothing. So what you talk about is a two-tiered justice system.

    Leonard Goodman



    Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Saving Lives On The Road/Ralph Answers Your Questions

    Ralph welcomes fellow auto safety advocate, Jackie Gillan, past President of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, a coalition working together to reduce motor vehicle crashes, save lives and prevent injuries. Then, Ralph outlines the latest issue of the Capitol Hill Citizen and responds to your feedback from recent programs.

    Jackie Gillan is past President of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, a coalition working together to reduce motor vehicle crashes, save lives and prevent injuries through the adoption of federal and state laws, policies and programs. Ms. Gillan has held senior policy positions for three state transportation agencies, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Senate.

    Biden talks about peace and humanitarian aid and a two-state solution, but his deeds are to send endless supplies of weapons of mass destruction—including weapons that are used in sheer, total violation of the Geneva Conventions and international law…He appears weak to more and more Americans, and he may well pay that price on November 5th to the horror of a Trump presidency. This is how far he goes in his obeisance to the right wing, violent, genocidal political coalition that has hijacked the Israeli society.

    Ralph Nader

    Nearly every single safety standard on your car has our fingerprints on it and battle scars for the staff fighting in Congress and in the agencies to try to get those [auto safety] rulemakings finished.

    Jackie Gillan

    At the time in 1988, there were 47,000 highway deaths and I think everyone was quickly realizing that slick slogans and public education programs were not going to bring down deaths and injuries—so they brought advocates together.

    Jackie Gillan

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    News 6/12/24

    1. The New York Times reports that since last year, Israel has been running an “influence campaign” targeting Black lawmakers in the United States. This project, overseen by Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, consists of a crude network of fake social media accounts that post “pro-Israel comments…urging [Black Democrats like Senator Raphael Warnock, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Representative Ritchie Torres] to continue funding Israel’s military.” This project was active on Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram, and utilized OpenAI’s ChatGPT, until both companies disrupted the operation earlier this year. The operation is still active on X, formerly Twitter.

    2. Mondoweiss reports that Israel has been torturing Palestinian prisoners, aided by the complicity of Israeli physicians. According to the report, “prisoners are being viciously beaten and abused multiple times a day, caged in cells ‘not fit for human life,’ kept blindfolded with their hands bound with plastic ties, isolated from the outside world, stripped of their clothing, collectively punished through starvation, attacked by dogs, sexually assaulted, and psychologically tortured.” As for the doctors, “Israeli physicians collaborate with Shin Bet interrogators [Israel’s equivalent of the FBI] to ‘certify’… that [prisoners]… are ‘fit’ to undergo torture. Throughout the duration of interrogation, a physician provides a ‘green light’ that torture can continue…look for physical and psychological weaknesses to exploit…[and] falsify or refrain from documenting the physical and psychological effects of torture on a detainee’s body and mind.” Meanwhile, for all the talk of Hamas brutality, Israeli news anchor Lama Tatour was fired for commenting that recently released hostage Noa Argamani looked remarkably healthy, saying “Look at her eyebrows, they look better than mine??” per Business Insider.

    3. The United Nations Security Council has, for the first time, overwhelmingly passed a Gaza ceasefire resolution, backed by the United States. Reuters reports “senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri…said [Hamas has] accepted the ceasefire resolution and [is] ready to negotiate over the specifics.” Yet, according to CNN, “Israel has vowed to persist with its military operation in Gaza, saying it won’t engage in ‘meaningless’ negotiations with Hamas.” As the CNN piece notes, “The resolution says Israel has accepted the plan, and US officials have repeatedly emphasized Israel had agreed to the proposal – despite other public comments from Netanyahu that suggest otherwise.” If the Israelis ultimately do not accept this ceasefire proposal, this would become yet another major embarrassment for the Biden administration.

    4. POLITICO reports “AIPAC [is] the biggest source of Republican money flowing into competitive Democratic primaries this year…spending millions to boost moderates over progressives who have been critical of Israel.” This piece quotes Eric Levine, a board member of the Republican Jewish Coalition who has donated to Rep. Ritchie Torres as saying “Under the William F. Buckley rule of politics, I want to support the most conservative person who can win.” On the other hand, Beth Miller – political director at Jewish Voice for Peace Action – sees this as the lobby showing its true colors, telling the paper “AIPAC can’t actually claim that they represent Democrats and Republicans in the same way. That veneer of bipartisanship is gone.”

    5. The NAACP, among the leading African-American Civil Rights group in the country, has called on the Biden administration to “Stop Shipments of Weapons Targeting Civilians to Israel [and] Push for Ceasefire.” In a statement, NAACP President Derrick Johnson wrote “The current state of Gaza and the latest bombing of Rafah complicates an already dire humanitarian crisis.  Relief workers have also been killed while attempting to administer aid and support to the people of Gaza. The NAACP strongly condemns these actions and calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.” Data from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace shows 68% of Black Americans favor an “immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza” and 59% believe “U.S. military aid to Israel should be conditioned to ensure that Israel uses American weapons for legitimate self-defense and in a way that is consistent with human rights standards.”

    6. Yet the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza has not stopped censorship of pro-Palestine speech in the U.S. Democracy Now! reports outspoken progressive commentator and former Bernie Sanders presidential campaign press secretary Briahna Joy Gray has been fired from the Hill’s morning show, Rising, for supposedly rolling her eyes during an interview with an Israeli guest. As Democracy Now! notes, “Last year, The Hill also fired the political commentator Katie Halper after she called Israel an apartheid state.”

    7. Even more outrageous, the University of Minnesota is “pausing its search for director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies — days after it offered the job to Israeli historian Raz Segal,” per the Star Tribune. As this article lays out, “Segal is…[a] professor of Holocaust and genocide studies …at Stockton University in New Jersey,” and a Jewish Israeli. Yet the offer was rescinded for “Among other things…[publishing] an article called ‘A Textbook Case of Genocide,’ which he published in [the Left-wing Jewish publication] Jewish Currents.” That’s right, apparently even being a Jewish Israeli professor of Holocaust and genocide studies is not enough to protect you from charges of antisemitism.

    8. A new article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, authored by Doctors Adam Gaffney, Steffie Woolhandler, and David Himmelstein analyzes “The Medicare Advantage Paradox.” This piece argues Medicare Advantage delivers less care to patients at a higher cost. As the authors put it, “[as] enrollment in…private [Medicare Advantage] plans surpassed 30 million…the health insurance industry’s trade group proclaimed [Medicare Advantage] ‘a good deal for members and taxpayers.’…The first part of that claim is debatable, while the second part is false. Medicare Payment Advisory Commission…the nonpartisan agency reporting to Congress, recently estimated that [Medicare Advantage] overpayments added $82 billion to taxpayers’ costs for Medicare in 2023 and $612 billion between 2007 and 2024.”

    9. In Britain, the Labour Party has been conducting a purge of its Left flank under the leadership of its cowardly centrist leader Keir Starmer. Included in that purge is former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn has represented the working class district of Islington North for over 40 years. Yet, as the Guardian explains, “[Corbyn] was blocked from standing again for Labour…[and] has been expelled from the Labour party.” The Guardian report continues “Last year, 98% of attenders at a local party monthly general meeting backed a motion thanking Corbyn for his ‘commitment and service to the people’, adding it was members’ ‘democratic right to select our MP’.” Ousted from the Labour Party, Corbyn now intends to stand for the seat as an independent MP. Writing in the district’s local paper, Corbyn stated, “When I was first elected, I made a promise to stand by my constituents no matter what … In Islington North, we keep our promises.”

    10. Finally, CNN reports Chiquita Brands International  – formerly the United Fruit Company – has been found “liable for financing the Colombian paramilitary group Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia,” by a Florida jury. The AUC was a “far-right paramilitary group that was designated a terrorist organization by the US.” Chiquita has been ordered to pay $38.3 million to the families of eight victims. CNN adds, “In 2007, Chiquita pleaded guilty to making over 100 payments to the AUC totaling over $1.7 million despite the group being designated a terrorist organization…The company agreed to pay the US government a $25 million fine.”

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Poor People’s Campaign/ Corporate Misbehavior

    Ralph welcomes back Bishop William J. Barber to discuss the upcoming Poor People’s Campaign March and Assembly in Washington, DC on June 29th, as well as Bishop Barber’s new book “WHITE POVERTY: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy.” Then Ralph is joined by Phil Mattera from Good Jobs First to discuss their new report on corporate misbehavior, “The High Cost of Misconduct: Corporate Penalties Reach the Trillion-Dollar Mark.”

    Bishop William Barber is President and Senior Lecturer of Repairers of the Breach, 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 at Yale Divinity School.  His new book is White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy.

    I might add, for our listeners, a lot of these social safety measures have been long enacted and are operating in Western Europe, in Canada, even in places like Taiwan and Japan—like full health insurance, and a lot of the labor rights, the absence of voter suppression, higher minimum wages. And in Western Europe, they have abolished poverty—as we know it in the United States. 

    Ralph Nader

    One thing that people are saying why they’re interested [in the Poor People’s Campaign] is because this is not just a gathering of a day, and it’s not just a gathering for a few high-profile people to speak. The messengers are going to be the impacted people, and many of the people are committing to the larger effort of mobilizing these poor low wealth voters.

    Bishop William Barber

    It’s not just “saving the democracy”, Ralph. It’s what kind of democracy do we want to save?

    Bishop William Barber

    We see the kindredness of issues and oppression— that if these bodies can come together and unite, not by ignoring the issue of race, but by dealing with it and dealing with race and class together and recognizing the power that they have together, there can be some real fundamental change.

    Bishop William Barber

    Phil Mattera serves as Violation Tracker Project Director and Corporate Research Project Director at Good Jobs First. Mr. Mattera is a licensed private investigator; author of four books on business, labor and economics; and a long-time member of the National Writers Union. His blog on corporate research and corporate misbehavior is the Dirt Diggers Digest, and has written more than 70 critical company profiles for the Corporate Rap Sheets section of the Corporate Research Project website. He is co-author, with Siobhan Standaert, of the new report “The High Cost of Misconduct: Corporate Penalties Reach the Trillion-Dollar Mark”. 

    This is a big problem with the Justice Department—it has this addiction to leniency agreements and it wants to give companies an opportunity not to have to plead guilty when there actually are criminal cases brought against them. So they offer them these strange deals—non-prosecution and deferred-prosecution agreements. And the theory is that the company is going to be so shaken up by the possibility of a criminal charge that they’ll clean up their act, and they’ll never do bad things again. But what we’ve seen over and over again is the companies get the leniency agreement and then they break the rules again. And sometimes the Justice Department responds by giving them another leniency agreement. So it turns the whole process into a farce. 

    Phil Mattera

    We’re always interested in more transparency about both the misconduct and about enforcement actions. We feel that there’s no justification for agencies to ever keep this information secret…I think there needs to be more pressure on companies, particularly high profile companies that have been involved in these offenses. A lot of companies seem to think that they pay their penalty, they just move on, and it’s as if it’s as if it never happened.

    Phil Mattera

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    News 6/5/24

    1.  In Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum has been elected president in a landslide. Sheinbaum is the hand-picked successor of Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, or AMLO, who is termed out but leaves office with an 80% approval rating, per Gallup. Sheinbaum is Mexico’s first woman president; she is also the country’s first Jewish president. In addition to years of service in government, Sheinbaum is an accomplished climate scientist who worked with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. During her campaign, Sheinbaum published a list of 100 commitments she will pursue as president. Front and center among these are climate-related goals. Sustainability magazine reports “[Sheinbaum] has committed to investing more than…$13 billion in new energy projects by 2030, focusing on wind and solar power generation and modernising hydroelectric facilities.” We urge the U.S. government to follow suit.

    2. Stacy Gilbert, a senior civil military adviser for the U.S. State Department, resigned last Tuesday, alleging that “The state department falsified a report…to absolve Israel of responsibility for blocking humanitarian aid flows into Gaza,” per the Guardian. Gilbert claims “that report’s conclusion went against the overwhelming view of state department experts who were consulted.” As the article notes, this report was a high stakes affair. Had the State Department found that the Israeli government had violated international humanitarian law, and linked those violations to U.S.-supplied weapons, there would have been serious consequences regarding the legality of American military support. In addition to Gilbert, “Alexander Smith, a contractor for the US Agency for International Development… resigned on Monday…[saying] he was given a choice between resignation and dismissal after preparing a presentation on maternal and child mortality among Palestinians.”

    3. Per the Jeruslam Post, “South African International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor affirmed…that the United States would be next if the International Criminal Court (ICC) is allowed to prosecute Israeli leadership.” Pandor “went on to claim that nations and officials who provide military and financial assistance for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza ‘will be liable for prosecution…’ [and]…noted that a group of 140 international lawyers are currently working on a class action suit against non-Israelis, including South Africans, who have been serving in Israel’s military.” International law experts like Bruce Fein have previously warned that the United States’ material support for Israel during this genocidal campaign makes this country a co-belligerent in this war and therefore liable for prosecution by the ICC.

    4. Liberal Israeli news outlet Haaretz has published a shocking report related to the recent revelations concerning Mossad’s intimidation campaign against the ICC. According to Haaretz’s report, the paper was “about to publish details of the affair” in 2022, when “security officials thwarted it.” Al Jazeera adds that the Haaretz journalist behind the story, Gur Megiddo was told during his meeting with an Israeli security official, that if he published, he “would suffer the consequences and get to know the interrogation rooms of the Israeli security authorities from the inside.” This story highlights how deeply Israel has descended into authoritarianism, seeking to bully and silence not only international watchdogs, but their own domestic journalists.

    5. Prem Thakker of the Intercept is out with an outrageous story of censorship at elite law reviews. According to Mr. Thakker, “In November, human rights lawyer Rabea Eghbariah was set to be the first Palestinian published in the Harvard Law Review. Then his essay was killed. [On June 3rd], he became the first [Palestinian published] in the Columbia Law Review. Then the Board of Directors took the whole site down.” As I write this, the Columbia Law Review website still says it is “under maintenance.”

    6. Lauren Kaori Gurley, Labor Reporter at the Washington Post, reports “16 [thousand] academic workers at UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Irvine will [go on] strike…according to their union… They will join 15 [thousand] workers already on strike at UCLA, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Davis over the university’s response to pro-Palestine protests on campus.” We commend these academic workers for leveraging their most powerful tool – their labor – on behalf of their fellow students and those suffering in Palestine.

    7. More Perfect Union reports “The FBI has raided landlord giant Cortland Management over algorithmic price-fixing collusion. Cortland is allegedly part of a bigger conspiracy coordinated by software firm RealPage to raise rents across the country through price-fixing and keeping apartments empty.” Paired with the recent oil price fixing lawsuit and the announcement from retailers that they are lowering prices on many consumer goods, a new picture of inflation is starting to emerge – one that has less to do with macroeconomic reality and more to do with plain old corporate greed.

    8. Vermont has passed a new law making it the first state in the nation to demand that “fossil fuel companies…pay a share of the damage caused by climate change,” per AP. Per this report, “Under the legislation, the Vermont state treasurer, in consultation with the Agency of Natural Resources, would provide a report…on the total cost to Vermonters and the state from the emission of greenhouse gases from Jan. 1, 1995, to Dec. 31, 2024… [looking] at the effects on public health, natural resources, agriculture, economic development, housing and other areas.” Paul Burns of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group said of the law “For too long, giant fossil fuel companies have knowingly lit the match of climate disruption without being required to do a thing to put out the fire…Finally, maybe for the first time anywhere, Vermont is going to hold the companies most responsible for climate-driven floods, fires and heat waves financially accountable for a fair share of the damages they’ve caused.”

    9. Following months of pressure and a probe led by Senator Bernie Sanders, Boehringer – one of the largest producers of inhalers – has announced they will cap out of pocket costs for the lifesaving devices at $35, per Common Dreams. Boehringer used to charge as much as $500 for an inhaler in the U.S., while the same product sold in France for just $7. Sanders, continuing this crusade, said “We look forward to AstraZeneca moving in the same direction…in the next few weeks, and to GlaxoSmithKline following suit in the coming months,” and added “We are waiting on word from Teva, the fourth major inhaler manufacturer, as to how they will proceed.”

    10. Finally, the Justice Department has unsealed an indictment charging Bill Guan, the Chief Financial Officer of the Epoch Times newspaper with “participating in a transnational scheme to launder at least…$67 million of illegally obtained funds.” The Epoch Times is the mouthpiece of a bizarre anti-Communist Chinese cult known as the Falun Gong, famous for their outlandish beliefs such as that proper mastery of qigong can be “used to develop the ability to fly, to move objects by telekinesis and to heal diseases,” per the New York Times. The Falun Gong is also the entity behind the Shen Yun performances and their ubiquitous billboards. In recent years, the Epoch Times has gone all-in on Right-wing propaganda and fake news, with close ties to the Trump White House and campaign, as the Guardian has detailed. We urge the Justice Department to pursue this indictment to the hilt and shut down this rag that has become a cancer within our republic.

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The Politics of Dominance

    Ralph welcomes professor M. Steven Fish, political scientist and author of “Comeback: Routing Trumpism, Reclaiming the Nation, and Restoring Democracy’s Edge” who argues that winning elections is about more than policy positions, it’s about projecting strength and dominance. And Donald Trump plays that game better than his Democratic rivals. Plus, former Navy Petty Officer, Phil Tourney, who was aboard the USS Liberty when it was attacked and nearly sunk by Israeli fighter planes and torpedo boats during the Six Day War in 1967, tells us why 57 years later, he still fights for accountability.

    M. Steven Fish is a comparative political scientist at the University of California, Berkeley who specializes in democracy and authoritarianism, religion and politics, and constitutional systems and national legislatures. He writes and comments extensively on international affairs and the rising challenges to democracy in the United States and around the world, and he has published commentary in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and Foreign Policy, among other publications. His latest book is Comeback: Routing Trumpism, Reclaiming the Nation, and Restoring Democracy’s Edge.

    Dominance can be used for good or for ill. The Republicans have used it to advance injustice and corruption. And the Democrats need to—as they did in the 20th century, very often—use it in favor of justice.

    M. Steven Fish

    What’s holding them back? PAC money? Corruption of campaigns? Lack of character? Fear of skeletons in their own closet? What’s holding them back if it’s so obvious?Ralph Nader, on why Democrats aren’t more dominant

    The Republican Party historically has been the party of “no”, once the Civil War was over. When they were formed in 1854, they were the party of “no” against slavery. But after that, they’re the party of “no” against labor unions, “no” against progressive taxation, “no” against Medicare, “no” against Social Security, “no” against environmental health regulation, “no” against consumer protection, “no” against raising the minimum wage, “no”, “no”, “no”. And the Democrats— in those examples at least—were “yes”, “yes”, “yes”, and they never bragged about it.

    Ralph Nader

    Phil Tourney served aboard the USS Liberty as a US Navy Petty Officer on June 8th 1967, when the Liberty was attacked by Israeli planes and torpedo boats. He is President of The USS Liberty Veterans Association, which was established to provide support for survivors of the attack. The efforts of the LVA are also focused on ensuring the US government finally conducts the public investigation of the attack on the USS Liberty.

    I can’t explain the carnage that went on, but that ship— all of us came together. All the spies, all the ship’s company we all came together…we saved that ship, to tell the truth—and we were ordered by Admiral Isaac Kidd never to say anything about it. He boarded our ship and told us to shut up or we’d end up in prison, fined, or worse— we all knew worse meant death. That’s what they told us. To shut up. They took away our First Amendment rights and Congress has not done a darn thing in 57 years. The line is, “It was a case of mistaken identity, that’s where they left it.

    Phil Tourney, President of the USS Liberty Veterans Association

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    News 5/28/24

    1.  In Rafah, at least 35 people were killed Sunday night when Israel bombed a “tent camp housing displaced Palestinians in a designated safe zone,” per Al Jazeera. AP reports that at first, Israel’s military claimed it had “carried out a precise airstrike on a Hamas compound,” and only after photographic and video evidence of the horror inflicted on civilians emerged did Prime Minister Netanyahu reverse this position and claim the strike was a “tragic mishap.” Israel’s assault on Rafah continues despite the U.N. International Court of Justice ordering Israel to “immediately halt its military offensive” in the South Gaza city, per the BBC. 

    2. The Guardian is out with a disturbing report alleging “The former head of the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency…threatened a chief prosecutor of the international criminal court in a series of secret meetings in which he tried to pressure her into abandoning a war crimes investigation.” This expose details how Yossi Cohen, the former Israeli spy chief, threatened ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, reportedly telling her “You should help us and let us take care of you. You don’t want to be getting into things that could compromise your security or that of your family.” The paper also hinted at further forthcoming revelations, noting that they are working with +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call to expose “how multiple Israel intelligence agencies ran a covert ‘war’ against the ICC for almost a decade.” This piece notes that “According to legal experts…efforts by the Mossad to threaten or put pressure on Bensouda could amount to offences against the administration of justice under article 70 of the Rome statute.”

    3. Investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein reports through his newsletter that “The Biden administration has publicly admitted that it is working with tech companies to…suppress pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel sentiment,” under the guise of “limit[ing] Hamas’s use of online platforms.” As Klippenstein explains, “Platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Facebook have long banned terrorist organizations like Hamas. Now, however, the federal government is pressuring companies to ban ‘Hamas-linked’ accounts and those of pro-Palestinian Americans.” Human Rights Watch raised the alarm about censorship of pro-Palestine content in a report from December 2023, which detailed “Meta’s…‘systemic…censorship’ of speech regarding the…war.”

    4. Over Memorial Day weekend, activists assembled in Detroit for the People’s Conference for Palestine. In a surprise address, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib spoke to the crowd, decrying the genocide in Gaza and asking “Where’s your red line, President Biden?” the Detroit News reports. Tlaib went on to call Biden an “enabler,” who “shields the murderous war criminal Netanyahu.” Over 100,000 Michigan residents voted “uncommitted,” in the state’s Democratic primary.

    5. Celebrated actor Guy Pearce was recently photographed by the French subsidiary of Vanity Fair during the Cannes film festival. When he posed for the photo, Pearce wore a Palestinian flag pin; yet when the photo was published, the pin had been photoshopped out entirely. The Middle East Eye, which covered this story, reached out to Vanity Fair asking for a comment on why they edited the image, but did not receive a response. Vanity Fair restored the original photo and apologized, claiming it was a mistake, but many are not buying it. As one social media commenter put it, “This is a reminder that the media… will do anything and everything to hide any form of solidarity.”

    6. The American Prospect’s David Dayen reports “[The American Prospect] has learned that during [Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco’s recent trip to California to participate in the 2024 RSA Cybersecurity Conference]…[she] had an off-the-record, no-readout briefing with several tech executives.” As Dayen notes, this meeting comes “at a time when the DOJ is suing both Google and Apple,” and as Monaco has spoken of making corporate criminal enforcement a higher priority at Justice. As there is no official record of this meeting it is impossible to know what was discussed, but the cloak-and-dagger nature of this rendezvous raises serious questions about DOJ’s commitment to pursuing the lawsuits against the tech giants. We demand the Deputy Attorney General disclose the content of this meeting at once.

    7. The Reform Party, originally founded by Ross Perot, has announced that it “has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr.…for President of the United States.” The most significant effect of this nomination, as the party notes, is that it “will hand [Kennedy] our automatic ballot access in the State of Florida as well as our advantages as a qualified party.” According to Kennedy’s campaign website, he is now eligible to be on the ballot in states totaling 229 electoral votes, though Axios has a lower tally. Kennedy now faces a race against the clock to qualify for the upcoming presidential debates, though even if he does qualify his participation is not guaranteed as both the Biden and Trump campaigns have agreed to sidestep the Commission on Presidential Debates.

    8. In more Third Party news, the Libertarian Party has chosen Chase Oliver as their 2024 presidential nominee, per POLITICO. Oliver gained national attention for his 2022 campaign for Senate in Georgia, with some claiming his candidacy forced the race to a runoff, ultimately resulting in the reelection of Democrat Raphael Warnock. During that race, Oliver describes himself as “armed and gay.” Both former President Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vied for the Libertarian Party nomination. Trump himself addressed the convention in person but was roundly booed. He was ultimately deemed ineligible, while Kennedy received only 19 votes. However, Larry Sharpe, a longtime Libertarian Party member and unsuccessful vice presidential candidate expressed alarm about Kennedy’s potential impact on the party. Sharpe said “We’re gonna lose ballot access in probably 22 states. We’re not gonna make more than half a percent…RFK sucks the money out of the room and he gets the ‘I’m mad at the system votes’ that we used to get because we’re the only other guy on the ballot.”

    9. The Teamsters union is turning their presidential endorsement over to their members. Since May 19th, Teamsters locals have been holding polls to determine which candidate the national union will endorse. This is a marked departure from the traditional endorsement structure, which is typically decided in a top-down fashion by the national union leadership. However, this process could result in a Teamsters endorsement of Donald Trump – a real possibility based on the union’s recent flirtation with Trump and the GOP more generally. We urge the union not to endorse Trump, who has an abominable track record on labor issues, clearly documented by the AFL-CIO and the Communications Workers of America.

    10. Finally, Bloomberg Labor reporter Josh Eidelson reports the United Autoworkers union is petitioning the National Labor Relations Board, to “discard the results of last week’s Mercedes election in Alabama, [and] asking the agency to hold a new vote due to alleged misconduct by the company.” CBS 42 reports this alleged misconduct includes “poll[ing] workers about union support, suggest[ing] voting in the union would be futile, target[ing] union supporters with drug tests and [per UAW] “engag[ing] in conduct which deliberately sought to exacerbate racial feelings by irrelevant and inflammatory appeals to racial prejudice.’” In addition to these complaints, Mercedes is reportedly under investigation by the German government for anti-union activity during this campaign. In a statement, the UAW wrote “All these workers ever wanted was a fair shot at having a voice on the job and a say in their working conditions…Let’s get a vote at Mercedes…where the company isn’t allowed to fire people, isn’t allowed to intimidate people, and isn’t allowed to break the law and their own corporate code, and let the workers decide.”

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The Power of Youth

    We explore how young people have made meaningful careers and lasting change working in the public interest with Sam Simon, editor of “Choosing the Public Interest: Essays From the First Public Interest Research Group” and Lisa Frank, Vice President and D.C. Director at The Public Interest Network and also Executive Director in the Washington Legislative Office at Environment America. Plus, the indomitable Chris Hedges stops by to report on his interviews with college students protesting the genocide in Gaza, which he chronicled in a Substack piece titled “The Nation’s Conscience.”

    Sam Simon is an author, playwright, and attorney who co-founded the Public Interest Research Group with Ralph and the other Nader’s Raiders in 1970. He compiled and edited the new book Choosing the Public Interest: Essays From the First Public Interest Research Group.

    This is something that every one of these themes have and that this movement has had—that the consumer, the user, the student, the pensioner have equal voice in our systems to help create the systems that are intended to benefit them, and not leave that power in the hands of corporate entities and profit-making enterprises. And that idea needs to continue to exist. And I’m glad that the Public Interest Network and PIRGS still thrive on many campuses.

    Sam Simon

    What I want to come out of this book is that average kids from average backgrounds ended up doing amazing things with their entire lives, because of the opportunity and the vision that they could do that.

    Sam Simon

    Lisa Frank is Vice President and D.C. Director at The Public Interest Network. She is also Executive Director in the Washington Legislative Office at Environment America, where she directs strategy and staff for federal campaigns. Ms. Frank has won millions of dollars in investments in walking, biking and transit, and has helped develop strategic campaigns to protect America’s oceans, forests and public lands from drilling, logging and road-building.

    The particular types of problems we’re focused on at [PIRG] are ones that really have been created in a sense by our success as a country in growing. We’re the wealthiest country the world has ever seen. We figured out how to grow more than enough food than we can eat, we produce more than enough clothing than we can wear, certainly more than enough plastic…And all of this abundance is leading to new types of problems…The problems that have either come about because of the progress we’ve made as a society and now we’ve got the ability to tackle them, or problems where—clean energy is an example—where there are problems that we newly have the ability to solve.

    Lisa Frank

    You have Congress that passed these five laws that are being violated, with the result of huge death and destruction overseas— and not just in Gaza, but places like Iraq and Libya in the past. And they’re talking about students trespassing at their own university, and nonviolent protests? The problem starts in Congress. They’re the funders, the enablers, the surrenderers of their constitutional rights of oversight and war-making powers.

    Ralph Nader

    Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, who spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He is the host of The Chris Hedges Report, and he is a prolific author— his latest book is The Greatest Evil Is War.

    [Students] understand the nature of settler colonial regimes. The expansion or inclusion of students from wider backgrounds than were traditionally there at places like Princeton…has really added a depth and expanded the understanding within the university. So they see what’s happening in Gaza, and they draw—rightly— connections to what we did to Native Americans, what the British did in India, what the British did in Kenya, what the French did in Algeria, and of course, they are correct.

    Chris Hedges

    [Students] have defied, quite courageously, the administrations of their universities, who are—kind of like the political class—bought and paid for by the Israel lobby, and in particular wealthy donors and the Democratic Party. And that is why these universities have responded to these nonviolent protests the way they have, with such overwhelming and draconian use of force.

    Chris Hedges

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    News 5/15/24

    1. The New Republic reports the Federal Trade Commission has filed suit against Scott Sheffield, former CEO of oil and gas giant Pioneer Resources alleging that “voluminous evidence” suggests Sheffield “collaborated with fellow U.S. producers and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in order to keep crude oil prices ‘artificially’ high.” As Matt Stoller explains in his newsletter, “after a bitter price war from 2014-2016, [American oil producers] got tired of competing on price with…the OPEC oil cartel, and at some point from 2017-2021, decided to join the cartel and cut supply to the market. This action had the [e]ffect of raising oil prices, costing oil consumers something on the order of $200 billion a year.” Stoller claims that this price-fixing scheme between the OPEC cartel and the American oil oligopoly caused 27% of all inflation-related price increases in 2021. Progressive lawmakers such as Senator Bernie Sanders who tried to raise the alarm about what he dubbed “greedflation” were dismissed at the time, but like so many times before, have been vindicated by the simple fact that American corporate greed always exceeds expectations.

    2. Tal Mitnick and Sofia Orr, the two Israeli teenagers conscientiously objecting to being drafted into Israel’s campaign of terror in Gaza, have sent a letter to President Biden excoriating him for his unconditional support of the Netanyahu regime, per the Intercept. The two heroic peaceniks write “Your unconditional support for [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s policy of destruction, since the war began, has brought our society to the normalization of carnage and to the trivialization of human lives…It is American diplomatic and material support that prolonged this war for so long. You are responsible for this, alongside our leaders. But while they’re interested in prolonging the war for political reasons, you have the power to make it stop.” These kids wrote this letter before reporting for their latest round of prison sentences, which have reached unprecedented lengths. As the article notes, “The refuseniks are not alone in their opposition, nor in the treatment they face. Throughout the war, Israelis have taken to the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to protest the war and Netanyahu’s government. This past week, Israeli police arrested and beat protesters and hostage family members calling for an end to the war, just the latest example of Israelis being punished for voicing dissent or sympathy with the people of Gaza.”

    3. Al Jazeera reports yet another Biden Administration official has made public his resignation over the genocide in Gaza. Army Major Harrison Mann, who resigned in November, posted a letter Monday wherein he expressed “incredible shame and guilt” over the United States’ “unqualified support” for Israel’s war. Explaining why he waited so long to come forward with the reasoning behind his resignation, Mann wrote “I was afraid. Afraid of violating our professional norms. Afraid of disappointing officers I respect. Afraid you would feel betrayed. I’m sure some of you will feel that way reading this,” yet he noted “At some point – whatever the justification – you’re either advancing a policy that enables the mass starvation of children, or you’re not.”

    4. At long last, Egypt has announced its intention to join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, Al Arabiya reports. In a statement, the Egyptian foreign ministry said this decision comes on the heels of the “worsening severity and scope of Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip,” likely referring to the terror bombing campaign in Rafah, which the United States had previously identified as a “Red Line” in terms of material support. Egypt has faced international embarrassment over its soft line towards its militaristic neighbor and alleged mistreatment of Palestinian refugees trying to flee into Egypt. The country has also “called on the UN Security Council and countries of influence to take actions to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and halt military operations in Rafah, according to the statement.”

    5. On Wednesday, May 8th, the State Department report on whether Israel has violated U.S. international law was due to Congress. Instead, it was delayed. As POLITICO reported “The State Department has been working for months on the report, which will issue a determination on whether Israel has violated international humanitarian law since the war in Gaza began. If so, the U.S. would be expected to stop sending Israel military assistance.” When the report was finally released, it stated “it is ‘reasonable to assess’ that US weapons have been used by Israeli forces in Gaza in ways that are ‘inconsistent’ with international humanitarian law,” but the report stopped short of officially saying Israel violated the law, per CNN. The report goes on to say that investigations into potential violations are ongoing but the US “‘does not have complete information to verify’ whether the US weapons ‘were specifically used’ in alleged violations of international humanitarian law.” This equivocation in the face of genocide – using American weapons — will leave an ineradicable black mark on the already spotty human rights record of the U.S. State Department.

    6. Students for Justice in Palestine at Columbia University reports “Columbia…is under federal investigation for anti-Palestinian discrimination and harassment.” According to the group, Palestine Legal is representing four Palestinian students and the group itself. Senior attorney for Palestine Legal Radikah Sainath said in a statement “The law is clear— if universities do not cease their racist crackdowns against Palestinians and their supporters, they will risk losing federal funding.”

    7. On May 8th, the D.C. Metro Police Department cleared the protest encampment at the George Washington University, using pepper spray and brute force. According to the Associated Press, the police arrested 33 protesters. The AP quoted Moataz Salim, a Palestinian student at GW with family in Gaza, who said the authorities merely “destroyed a beautiful community space that was all about love.” He went on to say “Less than 10 hours ago, I was pepper sprayed and assaulted by police…And why? Because we decided to pitch some tents, hold community activities and learn from each other. We built something incredible. We built something game-changing.” The police broke up the encampment in the wee hours of the morning, just before D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser was slated to appear before hostile Republican lawmakers in Congress, leading many to believe she acted when and how she did out of sheer cowardice and political expediency. After the encampment was cleared, the hearing was canceled. Undeterred, these courageous students have continued to protest their institution’s support of Israel’s criminal war and per the American University Eagle, have now set up a second encampment. We urge Mayor Bowser not to bow to pressure from bloodthirsty Congressional Republicans a second time.

    8. The Seattle Times reports “The FAA has opened an investigation into Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner after the company disclosed that employees in South Carolina falsified inspection records.” As the paper notes, “This is the latest in a long litany of lapses at Boeing that have come to light under the intense scrutiny of the company’s quality oversight since a passenger cabin panel blew out on an Alaska Airlines flight in January.” That is to say nothing of the safety lapses leading to the Lion Air and Ethiopia Airlines crashes in 2019, that resulted in the deaths of all aboard both flights. Incredibly, “This new 787 quality concern is unrelated to the 787 fuselage gaps described as unsafe in an April congressional hearing by Boeing whistleblower Sam Salehpour.” As these critical safety failures and lies continue to come to light, the only question remaining is when is enough enough?

    9. Bloomberg labor reporter Josh Eidelson reports “The US government [has] raised concerns with Germany about alleged union-busting in Alabama by Mercedes, an unusual move that escalates scrutiny on its handling of the high-stakes union vote.” Mercedes is facing a momentous union election at its Alabama plant, led by the United Autoworkers, fresh off of unionizing the first ever foreign-owned auto plant in the country. Eidelson goes on to say that members of the European Commission have raised the matter with Mercedes as well, raising the heat on the company as the election kicks off. Among other union busting tactics, Labor Notes reports Mercedes has tried enlisting a pastor to tell workers via text “Here in Alabama, community is important, and family is everything. We believe it’s important to keep work separate. But there’s no denying, a union would have an impact beyond the walls of our plant.”

    10. Finally, the Chicago Sun-Times is out with a story on the success of Illinois’ experiment with ending cash bail for pre-trial detention. As the article puts it, “Despite all the anguish over the Pretrial Fairness Act, [Cook County Judge Charles] Beach says he has been struck by how proceedings have significantly changed for the better in his courtroom. ‘I think we’ve come a very long way in the right direction…Things are working well.’” This piece describes how “Under the old system of cash bail, Beach — a supervising judge in the pretrial division — was often tasked with setting a dollar figure a person would have to post before being released, a decision that could force a family to skip the rent to post a bond. It was a process that could seem arbitrary, depending on the judge, the time of day and where in the state the hearing was held.” Beach himself goes on to say “There’s a sense in the courtroom that taking money out of the equation has leveled the playing field.” The success of this reform should be taken very seriously by other states, particularly New York where Democrats have sought to roll back the state’s attempts at ending cash bail following pressure from conservatives. Turns out, it works.

    This has been Francesco DeSantis.



    Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The Hammer

    Ralph welcomes labor journalist Hamilton Nolan to discuss his latest book, “The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor”. They’ll get into why some of the biggest names in organized labor have gotten so bad at organizing labor, and they’ll highlight the labor organizers who are effectively wielding power. Then, Ralph is joined by child advocate and original Nader’s Raider Robert Fellmeth to discuss the dangers of online anonymity. Plus, a creative call to action from Ralph!

    Hamilton Nolan is a labor journalist who writes regularly for In These Times magazine and The Guardian. He has written about labor, politics, and class war for The New York Times, the Washington Post, Gawker, Splinter, and other publications. He was the longest-serving writer in Gawker’s history, and was a leader in unionizing Gawker Media in 2015. His new book is The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor.

    A quality of the labor movement that I think makes the labor movement special and distinct from other movements and other political parties is that the labor movement acts to give people power. The labor movement does not necessarily tell people what to do. The labor movement instills people with power. 

    Hamilton Nolan

    More and more non-unionized workers know that a lot of what they get positively in the workplace is due to the few workers who are unionized. And the companies—wanting to avoid being unionized—up the wages, improve the working conditions, maybe fulfill more of the pension reserve requirements. So the second–order effects of unionism—which has been so long misunderstood, largely due to propaganda— has been sinking in the minds of more and more non-union workers, and the approval of unions and the number of American workers who want to join unions has resurged. 

    Ralph Nader

    You know, it turns out that a half century of rising inequality does in fact piss people off at a certain point. And causes tens of millions of American workers to say that they want something better—that they want what the labor movement has to offer.

    Hamilton Nolan

    For many, many years, organized labor has had a very unhealthy relationship with electoral politics. You’re in a two-party system and the [Republican] Party wants to destroy unions and crush them off the face of the earth. And the Democratic Party’s attitude has basically been—we’re the only game in town and so give us money, and we won’t try to kill you, but we won’t really do too much to help you either. 

    Hamilton Nolan

    Another thing unions can do with their money is— instead of sending it to Joe Biden’s campaign—use it to organize workers. The choice is not just between Democrats and Republicans. We can take those resources and use it to organize workers, which will increase our political power in its own right.

    Hamilton Nolan

    Robert Fellmeth is the Price Professor of Public Interest Law at the University of San Diego and the Executive Director of the Center for Public Interest Law. He is also Executive Director of the Children’s Advocacy Institute, which authored The Fleecing of Foster Children: How We Confiscate Their Assets and Undermine Their Financial Security.

    The First Amendment is not just the right of the speaker to belch whatever…the audience has some rights there. The audience has a right to hear, to listen, to understand, and to know something about the speaker, because the idea behind speech is not simply making noise. It’s to advance understanding, to advance knowledge. And therefore there should be a requirement that speakers identify who they are. And that allows the audience who are listening to decide whether they want to listen. 

    Robert Fellmeth



    Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Life Or Death Foods

    Ralph welcomes back medical journalist and New York Times bestselling author, Jean Carper, to elaborate on her latest book, “100 LIFE OR DEATH FOODS: A Scientific Guide to Which Foods Prolong Life or Kill You Prematurely.” Plus, the latest news about Boeing and the UAW.

    Jean Carper is a medical journalist, and wrote “EatSmart” (a popular weekly column on nutrition, every week for USA Weekend Magazine)  from 1994 until 2008; she is still a contributing editor, writing health and nutrition articles. Ms. Carper is also a former CNN medical correspondent and director of the documentary Monster in the Mind. She is the best-selling author of 25 books, mostly on nutrition and health. Her latest book is 100 LIFE OR DEATH FOODS: A Scientific Guide to Which Foods Prolong Life or Kill You Prematurely.

    The reason I wrote the book was that I knew there is no other book like this. Nobody has taken a scientific look at all the studies that are being done on specific foods with conclusions as to how they are going to affect longevity. It is a totally new field. It really only started several years ago where scientists are getting interested in this. I thought of all the things that would be the most interesting about a food, and whether or not you wanted to eat it would be, “Oh, how long does it prolong my life? Or on the other hand, is it likely to shorten my life?”

    Jean Carper

    Less-developed countries with their natural food from over the history of their cultures are very often far superior [in longevity studies] to the so-called corporatized Western diet.

    Ralph Nader

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    1. The International Criminal Court at the Hague is preparing to hand down indictments to Israeli officials for committing war crimes. The Guardian reports the indicted are expected to include authoritarian Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, among others. These indictments will likely focus on Netanyahu’s strategy of intentional starvation in Gaza. Yet, lest one think that the United States actually believes in the “rules based international order,” they have touted so frequently, the Biden administration will not allow these indictments to be effectuated, baselessly claiming that the ICC does not have jurisdiction in Israel. Democracy Now! reports State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told the press “Since this president has come into office, we have worked to reset our relationship with the ICC, and we are in contact with the court on a range of issues, including in connection to the court’s important work on Darfur, on Ukraine, on Sudan, as well. But on this investigation, our position is clear: We continue to believe that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over the Palestinian situation.” Former Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth – who has faced retribution for his past criticism of Israel – called this “the height of hypocrisy.”

    2. Even as the United States shields Israel from international legal consequences for its crimes, an internal state department memo indicates the American diplomatic corps is increasingly skeptical of the pariah state. Reuters reports “senior U.S. officials have advised Secretary of State Antony Blinken that they do not find ‘credible or reliable’ Israel’s assurances that it is using U.S.-supplied weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law.” This memo includes “eight examples of Israeli military actions that the officials said raise “serious questions” about potential violations of international humanitarian law…[including]  repeatedly striking protected sites and civilian infrastructure; “unconscionably high levels of civilian harm to military advantage”; taking little action to investigate violations or to hold to account those responsible for significant civilian harm and “killing humanitarian workers and journalists at an unprecedented rate.”” The State Department however will only release a “complete assessment of credibility” in its May 8th report to Congress.

    3. On Tuesday, the Guardian reports, an army of NYPD officers – including hundreds of armed officers in riot gear and heavy vehicles such as police busses, MRAPs, and “the Bear,” a ladder truck used to breach upper story windows – stormed the campus of Columbia University and carried out mass arrests at the college’s Hamilton Hall – which had been non-violently occupied by students and renamed Hind’s Hall after Hind Rajab, a six-year old Palestinian girl murdered by the IDF. Hamilton Hall was among the buildings occupied by anti-Vietnam War Protesters during the Columbia Uprising of 1968. Mayor Eric Adams used as a pretext for this militarized police action a claim that the student protest had been “co-opted” by “outside agitators”; there has been no evidence presented to support this claim. The NYPD also threatened to arrest student journalists, and the Columbia Journalism School Dean Jelani Cobb, per Samantha Gross of the Boston Globe, and videos show the cops arresting legal observers and medics. Columbia University President, the Anglo-Egyptian Baroness Minouche Shafik, has requested that the NYPD continue to occupy the Morningside Heights campus until May 17th.

    4. At the University of California Los Angeles, the New York Times reports “U.C.L.A. asked for officers after a clash between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and counterprotesters grew heated overnight.” This misleading report fails to clarify that, as Alejandra Caraballo of Harvard Law puts it “the police stood aside and let a pro Israeli lynch mob run wild at UCLA. They did nothing for two hours as violent Zionists assaulted students, launched fireworks into the encampment, and sprayed mace on students.” The accompanying videos must be seen to be believed. This is yet another glaring example of media manipulation on behalf of Zionist aggression against non-violent student protesters.

    5. In the nation’s capital, a peaceful pro-Palestine encampment at the George Washington University continues to hold in the face of increasing pressure. The Washington Post reports that the university requested the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department to clear the encampment last week, but the cops demurred. The Post article cites an unnamed D.C. official who “said they had flashbacks to June 2020, when images of mostly peaceful protesters being forcefully shoved out of Lafayette Square by U.S. Park Police officers with batons and chemical irritants made national news.” The university has issued temporary suspensions and did attempt to clear the encampment over the weekend, but failed to do so. Now however, congressional Republicans are heaping pressure upon the university and District of Columbia Mayor Bowser. According to the GW Hatchet, “[Representatives] Virginia Foxx and James Comer — who chair the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, respectively — wrote [in letter to Bowser and MPD Chief Pamela Smith] that they were “alarmed” by the Metropolitan Police Department’s reported refusal to clear the encampment.” and threatened to take legislative action. Senator Tom Cotton, infamous for his New York Times op-ed calling for the deployment of the national guard to shut down Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, sent a letter to Bowser on Tuesday, writing “Whether it is due to incompetence or sympathy for the cause of these Hamas supporters, you are failing to protect the rights of law-abiding citizens by letting a terrorist-supporting mob take over a large area of a university…Your actions are a good reminder of why Washington, D.C. must never become a state.” So far, the District’s leadership has exercised a rare and commendable restraint. One can only hope that continues.

    6. Looking beyond individual campuses, the Appeal reports over 1,400 students and staff have been arrested at “protest encampments or…sit-ins on more than 70 college campuses across 32 states during the past month.”  This piece followed up on these arrests by contacting prosecutors and city attorneys’ offices in every one of these jurisdictions – and found that “only two offices said they would not charge people for peacefully protesting.” These were “ Sam Bregman, the prosecutor for Bernalillo County, New Mexico, [which] includes the University of New Mexico’s Albuquerque campus….[and] Matthew Van Houten, the prosecutor overseeing Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.” Incredibly, this piece was published even before the recent mass arrests at Columbia and the City College of New York, which are estimated at nearly 300, per CNN.

    7. Bringing the civil war within the Democratic Party on this issue into full view, the College Democrats of America – the official student outreach arm of the DNC – has issued a statement commending the “heroic actions on the part of students…for an end to the war in Palestine…[and] for an immediate permanent ceasefire.” This statement goes on to say “Arresting, suspending, and evicting students without any due process is not only legally dubious but morally reprehensible,”  and excoriates the White House for taking “the mistaken route of a bear hug strategy for Netanyahu and a cold shoulder strategy for its own base,” noting that “Each day that Democrats fail to stand united for a permanent ceasefire…more and more youth find themselves disillusioned with the party.”

    8. Moving beyond Palestine, hard as that is, the American Prospect is out with a chilling new story on Boeing. This report documents how the late Boeing whistle-blower John “Swampy” Barnett – who died under deeply mysterious circumstances during his deposition against the aviation titan last month – was ignored, mocked, and harassed by his corporate overlords. When he tried to raise the alarm that Boeing’s practices could be in violation of Section 38 of the United States Criminal code “The whole room…burst out laughing.” When he found planes riddled with defective and nonconforming parts and tried to report it, a supervisor emphatically declared “We’re not going to report anything to the FAA.” Yet even more than Boeing’s rancid corporate culture, this piece takes aim and corporate criminal law – specifically the Y2K era AIR 21 law which “effectively immunizes airplane manufacturers…from suffering any legal repercussions from the testimony of their own workers.” Per this law, “the exclusive legal remedy available to aviation industry whistleblowers who suffer retaliation for reporting safety violations involves filing a complaint within 90 days of the first instance of alleged retaliation with a secret court administered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that lacks subpoena power, takes five years or longer to rule in many cases, and rules against whistleblowers an astounding 97 percent of the time, according to the Government Accountability Project.” No wonder Boeing acts as though they are above the law.

    9. The United Auto Workers union continues to rack up victories. On Tuesday, More Perfect Union reported “ Mercedes-Benz has abruptly replaced its U.S. CEO in an effort to undercut the union drive at Mercedes’s plant in Alabama…In a video shown to workers…new CEO Federico Kochlowski admits that ‘many of you’ want change and [promised] improvements.” As Jonah Furman, Communications Director for UAW, notes “Mercedes workers have already:

    — killed two-tier wages

    — gotten their UAW pay bump

    — [and] fired their boss

    and they haven’t even voted yet!

    If that’s what you get for just *talking* union, imagine what you can win when you *join* the union.”

    Moreover, UAW President Shawn Fain issued a statement decrying the mass arrests of anti-war protesters, writing “The UAW will never support the…intimidation of those exercising their right to protest, strike, or speak out against injustice…This war is wrong, and this response against students and academic workers, many of them UAW members, is wrong…if you can’t take the outcry, stop supporting this war.”

    10. Finally, the New York Daily News’s Chris Sommerfledt reports “[New York City’s] largest cop union [the Police Benevolent Association] is suing Police Commissioner Ed Caban and Mayor Adams for implementing a new “zero tolerance” policy on NYPD officers using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs.” The fact that the PBA is suing this ardently pro-cop mayoral administration is alarming enough, but the fact that enough NYPD officers are using steroids to warrant this policy – and enough for the union to step in on their behalf – raises an even more alarming question: how many roid-rage fueled NYPD cops are terrorizing marginalized people on the streets of New York City? Perhaps this could explain some of the NYPD’s outrageous, disproportionately violent behavior in recent years.

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Catastrophic Mismanagement of U.S. Security Policy

    Ralph welcomes Professor Theodore Postol, Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology and National Security Policy at MIT. We discuss the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel/ Palestine and breakdown what the weaponry being used in both conflicts tells us about the intentions and capabilities of all parties involved. Plus, Ralph answers listener questions!

    Theodore Postol is Professor of Science, Technology and National Security Policy Emeritus in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT. His expertise is in nuclear weapon systems, including submarine warfare, applications of nuclear weapons, ballistic missile defense, and ballistic missiles more generally. He previously worked as an analyst at the Office of Technology Assessment and as a science and policy adviser to the chief of naval operations. In 2016, he received the Garwin Prize from the Federation of American Scientists for his work in assessing and critiquing the government’s claims about missile defenses.

    We have a very complicated situation. In some ways, there’s no right or wrong. There are different groups of people with deep ethnic commitments, and a central government in Kiev that has acted in a way that’s completely intolerant of a significant fraction of its own citizens who happen to be of Russian descent. And right from the beginning, there was hostility from the West.

    Theodore Postol

    There’s a long history of the central Ukrainian command not supporting their troops at the battlefront. This is a real problem with the troops. The morale of the troops has been tremendously affected in an adverse way by the sense that their military leadership is not concerned about their life. It’s one thing to ask a soldier to go risk their lives or lay down their life for their country and be providing everything you can to protect them and make it possible for them to fight. It’s another thing when you’re sending them to a certain death just because it looks good.

    Theodore Postol

    The people in leadership roles are clueless, to a point that it’s astonishing. The last situation that I know of historically where the leadership was so clueless was Tsar Nicholas II in 1917.

    Theodore Postol

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    News 4/23/24

    1. According to AP, the United States has vetoed Palestine’s latest bid for full membership in the United Nations. The vote in the 15-member U.N. Security Council was 12 in favor, including close U.S. allies like France, Japan, and South Korea, with the U.K. and Switzerland opting to abstain. Only the United States voted against the resolution. If U.S. had not blocked the resolution, the question would have gone to the full U.N. General Assembly, where no country holds veto power. While the U.S. claims this vote “does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood,” these words obviously ring empty. Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour told the council “The fact that this resolution did not pass will not break our will and it will not defeat our determination…The state of Palestine is inevitable. It is real.” 140 countries recognize Palestine. Palestine currently sits as a non-member observer state at the U.N.

    2. Dr. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, a prominent Palestinian-American academic, was arrested at her home in Jerusalem last week, Democracy Now! reports. According to this report, Dr. Shalhoub-Kevorkian “was suspended by Hebrew University last month after saying in an interview Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.” Sarah Ihmoud, a co-founder of the Palestinian Feminist Collective who teaches at College of the Holy Cross is quoted saying “We see this as yet another example of Israel attacking Palestinians wherever they are, whoever they are. It underscores that no Palestinian is safe under Israel’s racist apartheid rule.” Now, Ryan Grim of the Intercept reports that Dr. Shalhoub-Kevorkian is communicating trough family that she is being tortured in Israeli custody. Maddeningly, it appears unlikely that President Biden will hold Israel to account for the possible torture of an American citizen.

    3. Left-wing Israeli journalist Nimrod Flaschenberg reports Israeli refusenik Tal Mitnick and Sofia Orr “were both sentenced this week by the Israeli army to prison terms of 45 days+15 days probation. This will bring Sofia to a total of 85 days and Tal to 150. The Israeli army is relentless. But these brave kids are not about to give up.” This is Mr. Mitnick’s 4th term in military prison and Ms. Orr’s third, accoring to Pressenza. The international press agency further reports “probation is unprecedented and aims at deterring the refusers by enabling the military court to extend their next sentence beyond the 45-day limit…[and] In addition to Mitnick and Orr, conscientious objector Ben Arad is serving his first term of 20 days in prison.”

    4. Much has been made of the recent pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University. Prem Thakker of the Intercept reports, organizers of these protests say over 50 Barnard students and over 30 Columbia students have been suspended, with Barnard students losing access to dining and housing services. Reports on the ground show the universities dumping students belongings in the street. At the protests themselves, organizers emphasize that Jewish and Muslim students shared prayer space, and stress “Columbia wants you to believe we are enemies to protect their genocidal investments, but there is no deeper solidarity.”

    5. Following SUNY Binghampton’s adoption of a BDS resolution, New York State Legislators sent a letter to SUNY Chancellor John B. King calling for the expulsion of the student leaders behind that campaign. Moreover, this letter calls for “the ouster of any faculty and committee members who played a role in promoting or supporting this resolution.” This letter was signed by both Republican and Democratic state legislators in Albany. As prominent DSA member Aaron Narraph aptly put it, this campaign against the student activists constitutes “our very own mccarthyism.”

    6. In more campus news, The Lens, a New Orleans based outlet, is out with a blistering report on LSU’s pay-for-play arrangement with fossil fuel companies. They write “For $5 million dollars, Louisiana’s flagship university will let an oil company help choose which faculty research projects move forward. Or, for $100,000, a corporation can participate in a research study, with ‘robust’ reviewing powers and access to resulting intellectual property.” This report links to documents that outline LSU’s fundraising pitch to oil and chemical companies, and “Records [which] show that after Shell donated $25 million in 2022 to LSU…the university gave the fossil-fuel corporation license to influence research and coursework for the university’s new concentration in carbon capture, use, and storage.” It is telling that, like pro-Palestine speech, the so-called campus free speech defenders are not standing up to corporate capture of research institutions.

    7. Against the backdrop of escalating diplomatic tensions in Latin-America over Ecuador’s raid on the Mexican embassy, Progressive International reports “Ecuador [has voted] NO in the referendum on investor-state arbitration…rejecting President Noboa’s underhanded efforts to override the Constitution to protect foreign investors over labor rights, Indigenous communities, and environmental regulations.” The Investor-State Dispute System – which places international corporations on the same legal footing as sovereign governments and hands over adjudication to the World Trade Organization – has come under heavy fire by left-wing skeptics of so-called ‘free trade’ in recent years, contributing to the ultimate demise of the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal engineered in the late Obama era. The ISDS has had a particularly troubling history in Latin-America, with tobacco companies suing Uruguay over anti-smoking legislation to name just one example. At the same time however, Ecuador overwhelmingly passed an anti-gang referendum in a victory for Noboa, per Reuters. Expect to see more about Ecuador in the coming weeks.

    8. Techcruch reports “Tesla is recalling all 3,878 Cybertrucks that it has shipped to date, due to a problem where the accelerator pedal can get stuck, putting drivers at risk of a crash, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.” This article goes on to say “The recall caps a tumultuous week for Tesla. The company laid off more than 10% of its workforce on Monday, and lost two of its highest-ranking executives.” The Guardian now reports that Tesla plans to cut prices on the Cybertrucks, which cost over $100,000 each. We beseech our listeners to be wary of these vehicles and to do thorough research on Tesla’s auto safety record.

    9. In more transportation news, transportation blog Second Ave. Sagas reports “The feds are threatening to sue [New York City] if city vehicles [such as NYPD patrol SUVs] do not stop parking on sidewalks and crosswalks in ways that ‘impede the access of people with disabilities to pedestrian pathways.’” According to the Justice Department’s letter, “The City of New York (and, more specifically, the NYPD) has failed to ensure that the pedestrian grid is ‘readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities,’… NYPD vehicles and the personal vehicles of NYPD employees frequently obstruct sidewalks and crosswalks in the vicinity of NYPD precincts…a recent study identified parking behaviors at 91% of the NYPD’s precincts that resulted in obstructions to sidewalks and crosswalks with the potential to render those pathways inaccessible.” We commend the Justice Department for taking action to ensure the ADA is enforced, even against the NYPD which routinely behaves as though it is above the law.

    10. Finally, the United Autoworkers have prevailed in their union election at the Chattanooga Volkswagen plant, winning by an overwhelming 2,628 to 985 margin, per the Guardian. This marks the first time workers have unionized a foreign-owned auto plant in the South and serves as a repudiation of the anti-union campaign backed by Republican Governors such as Tennessee’s own Bill Lee. UAW President Shawn Fain responded to this campaign, saying “They’re liars…These politicians are showing that they’re just puppets for corporate America, and they don’t give a damn about working-class people. They don’t care about the workers being left behind even though the workers are the ones who elect them.” Seizing on the momentum of victory,  said “The workers at VW are the first domino to fall. They have shown it is possible…I expect more of the same to come. Workers are fed up.” UAW now plans to target a Mercedes plant in Alabama; according to the union, “A supermajority of Mercedes-Benz workers have filed a petition with the…NLRB…for a vote to join the UAW.” As the Guardian notes, “Mercedes has been considerably more outspoken against the union than VW was, with a top Mercedes official telling workers: ‘I don’t believe the UAW can help us to be better.’” Yet Fain is confident, saying “At the end of the day, I believe that workers at Mercedes definitely want a union…and I believe a big majority there will vote in favor.”

    This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t



    Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Mumia Abu-Jamal: Criminal Injustice

    Mumia Abu-Jamal has spent the last forty-two of his seventy years on Earth behind the bars of a Pennsylvania state prison, twenty-nine and a half of those on Death Row based on a dubious and extremely flawed and biased conviction for murder. Today, we explore his story and what it tells us about what Ralph calls our “criminal injustice system.” We speak to Noelle Hanranah, the founder and legal director of Prison Radio for which Mumia has done thousands of commentaries, and Professor Joy James, political philosopher, academic and author, who has studied America’s carceral state. Plus, we get the rare opportunity to speak to Mumia himself, who answers our questions from prison.

    Joy James is Ebenezer Fitch Professor of Humanities at Williams College. Professor James has published numerous articles on: political theory, police, prison and slavery abolition; radicalizing feminisms; diasporic anti-black racism; and US politics. She is the author and editor of several books including The New Abolitionists: (Neo)Slave Narratives and Contemporary Prison Writings, Imprisoned Intellectuals, Resisting State Violence, and Warfare in the American Homeland.

    [Mumia’s] a treasure. And I don’t want to make him an isolate. I think there are a number of people who have been incarcerated for decades who study and struggle—that’s a phrase people use in terms of books reaching the incarcerated, but also the writings of the incarcerated coming out of prisons. They enable us to be able to learn and study with them. If not physically in the same space, definitely with the same ethics and the same commitments.

    Joy James

    The way that I see what we’re struggling against—which I believe echoes what Mumia has been writing about and talking about—is very complex, overlapping systems of containment and control in which poor- and working-class people are going to be the most negatively affected.

    Joy James

    Noelle Hanrahan is the founder and legal director of Prison Radio, a multimedia production studio that brings the voices of incarcerated people into the public debate. Since 1992, she has produced over 3,500 multimedia recordings from over 100 prison radio correspondents, including the critically acclaimed work of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

    [Mumia Abu-Jamal is] facing a system in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia, which literally does not privilege the U.S. Constitution. It’s more interested in finality…So they privilege procedure over merit.

    Noelle Hanrahan

    Mumia Abu Jamal is an award-winning broadcast journalist, essayist, and author of 12 books. Most recently, he’s completed the historic trilogy Murder Incorporated (Perfecting Tyranny, Dreaming of Empire, and America’s Favorite Pastime.) In the late 1970s, Abu-Jamal worked as a reporter for radio stations throughout the Delaware Valley. In 1981, Abu-Jamal was elected president of the Association of Black Journalists’ Philadelphia chapter. Since 1982, Abu-Jamal has lived in state prison (28 of those years were spent in solitary confinement on death row.) Currently, he’s serving life without parole at SCI Mahanoy in Frackville, PA. Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial and its resultant first-degree murder conviction have been criticized as unconstitutionally corrupt by legal and activist groups for decades, including by Amnesty International and Nobel Laureates Nelson Mandela, Toni Morrison, and Desmond Tutu.

    I love it when I hear or read about so-called conservatives talking about “two tiers of justice.” Justice if anything is at least three tiers— it’s one tier for white people, another tier for black folks, and a third tier for the very rich. Now guess who gets sweetest deals? I mean look, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist, right? If you’re rich in this country, you can get every break that you can afford. You can get the best justice, the best lawyers, and they will fight wars.

    Mumia Abu-Jamal

    When prisoners use the phone or go to the commissary—every item you buy, every call you make, it’s taxed. So what about taxation without representation, in this so-called democracy, where every voice should be heard, and every person should be allowed the opportunity to vote?

    Mumia Abu-Jamal

    In prison, the most important thing, the one thing that stops guys from coming back is education. The most important thing is education. I would even say what people need is a deep colonial education, especially in prison.

    Mumia Abu-Jamal

    I never succumbed to calling our system a criminal justice system—it’s a criminal injustice system, because it reflects raceand class bias to an extraordinary degree. The studies have been overwhelming on this. You don’t see many corporate criminals in jail these days. You don’t see many prosecutions. You don’t see many investigations of the corporate crime wave that takes a far greater toll in lives, injuries, and property than street crime does. But then, the system reflects the power structure.

    Ralph Nader



    Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Saving Israel and Palestine

    Ralph welcomes Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs to discuss what’s motivating anti-Palestinian extremism in Israel, how the U.S. has been complicit in Israel’s theft of Palestinian territory and genocide against the Palestinian people, and what the United Nations can do to help achieve a lasting peace. Plus, we share Ralph’s recent column: “Israeli Leaders’ Objective All Along Has Been the Expulsion of Occupied Palestinians and Seizure of Their Remaining Land.”

    Jeffrrey Sachs is the Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where he holds the rank of University Professor (the university’s highest academic rank) and he served as Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University from 2002 to 2016. Mr. Sachs has also served in numerous positions at the United Nations, including as President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

    The reason that diplomacy is not happening is perfectly obvious. Which is that the core of this government does not want diplomacy, even if it were to deliver security. Their aim is not security through diplomacy. Their aim is “Greater Israel.”

    Jeffrey Sachs

    I have lived through…watching the U.S. government abandon so many projects, from Southeast Asia through the Americas—these have been terrible projects often—but the U.S. loses interest, it moves on. And Israel needs to actually live in its neighborhood if it’s going to survive. And counting on military might to do that is a profound mistake. It’s eating away at its own fundamental capacity to act as a society—the idea that you can stand alone in the world community and have no one support you. This is a huge mistake. So I’ve tried to say to my counterparts in Israel…that this path is not only wrong and immoral, but doomed to fail as well.

    Jeffrey Sachs

    The Palestinians have one of the highest literacy rates—97 % — in the world. Under dire conditions, they have accomplished farmers, physicians, scientists, engineers, poets, musicians, novelists, artists, and a deep entrepreneurial tradition carried on by the Palestinian diaspora around the world. It is no accident that Israeli bombers directly target Palestinian cultural and educational institutions in their recurrent assaults on Gaza. Israeli militarists have to degrade all Palestinians… to expel them from their ancestral lands.

    Ralph Nader

    In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

    News 4/10/24

    1. An unsettling story in Business Insider recounts how the Israeli military uses an AI system – chillingly called “Where’s Daddy?” – to track Hamas militants to their homes. As one IDF officer put it, “We[‘re] not interested in killing [Hamas] operatives only when they…[are] engaged in a military activity…On the contrary, the IDF bomb[s] them in homes without hesitation, as a first option. It’s much easier to bomb a family’s home.” This policy of bombing family homes “as a first option” is a major factor in why so many Palestinian families have lost unimaginable numbers of relatives in Israeli strikes. IDF officers added “human input in the target identification process…[is] essentially [to] ‘rubber stamp’ the machine’s picks after little more than ‘20 seconds’ of consideration — which was largely to double-check the target is male.”

    2. As we know from the recent polling on the issue, only 22.5% of Democrats now support military aid to Israel, while 83% want a permanent ceasefire. More surprising is that only 41% of Republicans want  the U.S. to send military aid to Israel, and 58% want a permanent ceasefire. This poll is now joined by a similar poll from the United Kingdom, showing 56% of the British public – including 74% of Labour Party voters – support their government refusing to sell more weapons to Israel, with only 17% in support of continuing such sales. Pressing on this issue, progressive members of Congress Mark Pocan and Jan Schakowsky have penned a letter to President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken “strongly urg[ing them]…to reconsider [their] recent decision to authorize the transfer of a new arms package to Israel and to withhold this and any future offensive arms transfers until a full investigation into the [World Central Kitchen] airstrike is completed…to continue withholding these transfers until those responsible are held accountable [under U.S. or international law and]…to withhold these transfers if Israel fails to sufficiently mitigate harm to innocent civilians in Gaza, including aid workers, and if it fails to facilitate – or arbitrarily denies or restricts – the transport and delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza.” This letter was signed by 37 additional Democratic members of Congress – mostly the typical progressives, though with one extremely notable addition: Nancy Pelosi, signifying how mainstream this position has become.

    3. In yet another sign of the shifting political winds, Delaware Senator Chris Coons – a consummate moderate and perhaps President Biden’s closest ally in the Senate – has come out in favor of conditioning military aid to Israel, Axios reports. Coons added “I’ve never said that before, I’ve never been here before.”

    4. Yet even as the Democratic Party shifts., Biden has continued his blind support for Israel – resulting in continued success for the “Uncommitted” electoral protest movement. In Wisconsin, the “uninstructed delegation” option won nearly 50,000 votes statewide – over 8% of the vote – and over 30% of votes in the precincts representing the University of Wisconsin-Madison. And it hasn’t stopped with Wisconsin. In Connecticut, “uncommitted” won over 11%; in New York, blank ballots accounted for 12%; and in Rhode Island, “uncommitted” won a whopping 14.5% of primary voters statewide. John Nichols at the Nation tabulates that as of now, over half a million Democratic primary voters have given Biden a clear message: “Save Gaza!”

    5. The controversy surrounding Oscar-winning Zone of Interest Director Jonathan Glazer’s acceptance speech continues to drag on. This week, over 150 major Jewish creatives signed an open letter supporting Glazer, per Variety. These signatories include many household names, such as Joaquin Phoenix, Elliott Gould, Joel Coen, David Cross, Amy Berg, Boots Reilly, Hari Nef, Ilana Glzazer, Wallace Shawn, and many, many more. This letter states “We are Jewish artists, filmmakers, writers and creative professionals who support Jonathan Glazer’s statement from the 2024 Oscars. We were alarmed to see some of our colleagues in the industry mischaracterize and denounce his remarks…Their attacks on Glazer are a dangerous distraction from Israel’s escalating military campaign which has already killed over 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza and brought hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation. We grieve for all those who have been killed in Palestine and Israel over too many decades…We honor the Holocaust by saying: Never again for anyone.”

    6. In some positive news, the National Labor Relations Board reports union election petitions are up 35% in the first half of Fiscal Year 2024, with unfair labor practice charges up 7%. The NLRB is quick to note that this increased caseload coincides with a long-term funding crunch that has seen their offices shrink by 50% over the past 20 years. NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo writes “Congress needs to fully fund the NLRB to effectively and efficiently comply with our Congressional mandate when providing quality service to the public in conducting hearings and elections, investigating charges, settling and litigating meritorious cases, and obtaining full and prompt remedies for workers whose rights are violated.”

    7. In Ecuador, a diplomatic crisis is unfolding with Mexico after Ecuadorian forces stormed the Mexican embassy to arrest former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, who had sought – and been granted – asylum at the Mexican embassy. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, or AMLO, decried this as a “flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico.”  CNN reports this provocation prompted AMLO to suspend diplomatic relations with Ecuador and pursue a case against Ecuador at the International Court of Justice. For its part, the U.S. State Department issued a statement saying “The United States condemns any violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and takes very seriously the obligation of host countries under international law to respect the inviolability of diplomatic missions.”

    8. NBC4 Washington is out with a blockbuster report on gun running within the D.C. Metro police department. Put simply, “For at least seven months in 2020 and 2021, the D.C. area’s largest police department was…the only place D.C. residents could legally get a handgun.” Incredible as that may seem, that much was already public knowledge. Now, federal documents have been uncovered showing that a remarkable number of these guns ended up at crime scenes. In fact, “So many guns [were] recovered at crime scenes, in such a brief period, that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives placed D.C. police into a program designed to give extra scrutiny to dealers with higher levels of so-called crime guns.” In other words, D.C. cops, far from getting guns off the street, were in fact releasing so many guns on to the street that federal firearms regulators had to step in. So much for police improving safety.

    9. According to CNBC, “Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes initiated an investigation into tech magnate Elon Musk on Sunday…concern[ing] possible obstruction of justice by Musk, who said over the weekend that he would defy the court’s orders to restrict or suspend some popular accounts on its platform.” This comes as part of a larger investigation into “so-called digital militias, a term applied to people accused of spreading misinformation online to attack democratic institutions in Brazil.” While the list of accounts flagged by the Brazilian government is not public, Wired reports this list includes “the fugitive far-right influencer Allan dos Santos, a supporter of president Jair Bolsonaro. (Dos Santos fled the country in 2020 to avoid investigation for disseminating disinformation.)… [and] right-wing YouTuber Bruno Aiub, known as Monark, who has over 1 million followers on X and has argued that Brazil should recognize the Nazi party, and Brazilian billionaire and Bolsonaro-supporter Luciano Hang.”

    10.  Finally, you might have heard that Amazon is shutting down the “Just Walk Out” technology at its grocery stores. This technology supposedly relied on an entirely automated system of cameras and sensors to track what people picked up at the stores and charge that to their Amazon accounts. Yet, Gizmodo reports “Though it seemed completely automated, Just Walk Out relied on more than 1,000 people in India watching and labeling videos to ensure accurate checkouts. The cashiers were simply moved off-site, and they watched you as you shopped.” This genre of story has become all too common – companies trumpeting ‘automation’ when in fact all they’re doing is outsourcing with extra steps. Just another reminder to remain skeptical of claims by big corporations. Often flashy new tech is just a smokescreen for regular old labor exploitation.

    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


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Infectious Generosity

    Ralph welcomes Chris Anderson, author of “Infectious Generosity: The Ultimate Idea Worth Spreading” where he explains how techniques for tapping into the potential of “the internet to turbocharge generosity” can fund and scale-up bold, audacious projects for the common good.

    Chris Anderson is the founder of the Sapling Foundation, and Curator of TED, a nonprofit devoted to sharing valuable ideas, primarily through the medium of ‘TED Talks’ — short talks that are offered free online to a global audience. He is the author of Infectious Generosity: The Ultimate Idea Worth Spreading.

    There’re actually so many ways to be generous. And in the connected world, just acts of human kindness and sharing stories of human generosity can help transform the culture. We’ve somehow convinced ourselves that humans are pretty awful and especially “those other humans over there” are really awful and scary, and we don’t want anything to do with them. And this is really dangerous because we’re taking away what I think is humanity’s superpower, which is the ability for very very different people to connect and to negotiate and to agree and to find ways of cooperating.

    Chris Anderson

    The key mind shift here is to flip from saying what change could I pull off on my own or with someone I know, to saying how can we create a moment of ignition, a moment of bringing people together in a way that they see each other and are persuaded by each other to do something big together.

    Chris Anderson

    Generosity is way beyond just money. It’s time, advice, experience. It’s a retired lawyer, a retired doctor, for example, providing counsel to local neighborhood or community groups. Sometimes they make connections, they help networking in these groups. So it’s always good, I think, when you ask people for money to ask them for their advice, their time, their networks, the benefits of their experience. And oftentimes that way you can actually raise more money than if you just ask them for money.

    Ralph Nader



    Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe


    This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.