Ralph Nader Radio Hour
Ralph Nader Radio Hour

Ralph Nader Radio Hour

Ralph Nader

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Ralph Nader talks about what’s happening in America, what’s happening around the world, and most importantly what’s happening underneath it all.

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Mumia Abu-Jamal: Criminal Injustice
APR 20, 2024
Mumia Abu-Jamal: Criminal Injustice
<p>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<em> </em>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.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://sites.williams.edu/jjames/">Joy James</a> 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 <em>The New Abolitionists: (Neo)Slave Narratives and Contemporary Prison Writings, Imprisoned Intellectuals, Resisting State Violence, </em>and<em> Warfare in the American Homeland.</em></p><p>[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.</p><p><strong>Joy James</strong></p><p>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.</p><p><strong>Joy James</strong></p><p>Noelle Hanrahan is the founder and legal director of <em>Prison Radio</em>, 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.</p><p>[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.</p><p><strong>Noelle Hanrahan</strong></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.prisonradio.org/correspondent/mumia-abu-jamal/">Mumia Abu Jamal</a> is an award-winning broadcast journalist, essayist, and author of 12 books. Most recently, he’s completed the historic trilogy <em>Murder Incorporated</em> (<em>Perfecting Tyranny</em>, <em>Dreaming of Empire, </em>and <em>America’s Favorite Pastime.</em>) 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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p><strong>Mumia Abu-Jamal</strong></p><p><strong>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?</strong></p><p><strong>Mumia Abu-Jamal</strong></p><p>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.</p><p><strong>Mumia Abu-Jamal</strong></p><p>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.</p><p><strong>Ralph Nader</strong></p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at <a href="https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_4">www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe</a>
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81 MIN
Saving Israel and Palestine
APR 13, 2024
Saving Israel and Palestine
<p>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."</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.jeffsachs.org/">Jeffrrey Sachs</a> is the Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sipa.columbia.edu/communities-connections/faculty/jeffrey-sachs">Columbia University</a>, 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 <a target="_blank" href="https://sdgs.un.org/panelists/mr-jeffrey-d-sachs-29781">United Nations</a>, including as President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.</p><p></p><p>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.”</p><p><strong>Jeffrey Sachs</strong></p><p>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.</p><p><strong>Jeffrey Sachs</strong></p><p>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.</p><p><strong>Ralph Nader</strong></p><p><strong>In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis</strong></p><p><strong>News 4/10/24</strong></p><p><strong>1. </strong>An unsettling story in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-ai-system-wheres-daddy-strikes-hamas-family-homes-2024">Business Insider</a> 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.”</p><p><strong>2.</strong> As we know from the recent <a target="_blank" href="https://www.juancole.com/2024/04/americans-administrations-military.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&#38;utm_medium=twitter">polling</a> 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 <a target="_blank" href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2024/04/04/8aa72/1">poll</a> 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 <a target="_blank" href="https://pocan.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/pocan-mcgovern-schakowsky-urge-biden-blinken-withhold-weapons-transfers">letter</a> 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.</p><p><strong>3.</strong> 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, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.axios.com/2024/04/04/coons-israel-aid-conditions-rafah">Axios</a> reports. Coons added “I've never said that before, I've never been here before.”</p><p><strong>4.</strong> 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 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/uncommitted-campaign-results-gaza-biden/">Nation</a> tabulates that as of now, over half a million Democratic primary voters have given Biden a clear message: “Save Gaza!”</p><p><strong>5.</strong> 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 <a target="_blank" href="https://variety.com/2024/film/global/jonathan-glazer-oscars-speech-support-jewish-creatives-open-letter-1235960158/">Variety</a>. 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.”</p><p><strong>6. </strong>In some positive news, the National Labor Relations Board <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/news-story/union-petitions-up-35-unfair-labor-practices-charge-filings-up-7-in-the">reports</a> 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.”</p><p><strong>7.</strong> 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.”  <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/07/americas/outrage-mexican-embassy-ecuador-intl/index.html">CNN</a> 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. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.state.gov/events-at-the-embassy-of-mexico-in-ecuador/">State Department</a> 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.”</p><p><strong>8.</strong> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/investigations/dc-police-dealt-thousands-of-guns-atf-demands-answers-after-concerning-number-found-at-crime-scenes/3582252/">NBC4 Washington</a> 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 <em>on </em>to the street that federal firearms regulators had to step in. So much for police improving safety.</p><p><strong>9. </strong>According to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/08/brazil-supreme-court-justice-opens-inquiry-into-elon-musk-.html">CNBC</a>, “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, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wired.com/story/brazil-court-elon-musk-far-right/">Wired</a> 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.”</p><p><strong>10.</strong>  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, <a target="_blank" href="https://gizmodo.com/amazon-reportedly-ditches-just-walk-out-grocery-stores-1851381116">Gizmodo</a> 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.</p><p>This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard.</p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at <a href="https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_4">www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe</a>
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69 MIN
Infectious Generosity
APR 6, 2024
Infectious Generosity
<p>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.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.ted.com/speakers/chris_anderson_ted">Chris Anderson</a> 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 <em>Infectious Generosity: The Ultimate Idea Worth Spreading</em>.</p><p>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.</p><p><strong>Chris Anderson</strong></p><p>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.</p><p><strong>Chris Anderson</strong></p><p>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.</p><p><strong>Ralph Nader</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis</strong><strong>News 4/3/24</strong></p><p><strong>1.</strong> In an airstrike, Israel killed six foreign aid workers, including an American citizen, along with their Palestinian driver, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/4/2/israels-war-on-gaza-live-five-aid-workers-killed-after-delivering-food">Al Jazeera</a> reports. These workers were affiliated with Chef Jose Andres’s World Central Kitchen, which had been doing what it could to fill the gap left by UNRWA after the U.S. and other Israel-allied nations pulled the organization’s funding following <a target="_blank" href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/unrwa-report-claims-some-agency-employees-admitted-hamas-ties-under-israel-coercion/">dubious claims</a> about UNRWA workers colluding with Hamas. On <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/chefjoseandres/status/1774947232539644286?s=20">Twitter</a>, Andres wrote “These are people…angels…They are not faceless…they are not nameless. The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing…and stop using food as a weapon.” Israel claims that striking the convoy was unintentional, with PM Netanyahu saying “This happens in wartime,” while smirking in a <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/netanyahu/status/1775127861935935724?s=20">video</a> message. World Central Kitchen CEO Erin Goran, quoted in the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/01/world-central-kitchen-gaza-deaths-wck/">Washington Post</a>, maintains that this strike was “[a] targeted attack” by the IDF and called the strike “unforgivable.”</p><p><strong>2.</strong> The “uncommitted” electoral protest movement continues to pick up votes in Democratic primaries nationwide. In Missouri, Uncommitted took nearly 12% of the vote statewide and over 20% in the first Congressional district - represented by outspoken ceasefire advocate Cori Bush - per<a target="_blank" href="https://www.stlpr.org/government-politics-issues/2024-03-26/biden-wins-missouri-democratic-presidential-primary"> St. Louis Public Radio</a>. In Maine, blank ballots - that state’s version of an uncommitted ballot line - took over 10% of the vote statewide, a tenfold increase from 2020, per political blogger <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/ettingermentum/status/1773443609934893391?s=20">Ettingermentum</a>.</p><p><strong>3.</strong> More troubling for the Biden campaign are the polls - nationwide and in swing states - that show widespread discontent with his handling of Israel’s murderous rampage. A recent <a target="_blank" href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/642695/majority-disapprove-israeli-action-gaza.aspx">Gallup</a> poll shows that a majority of Americans now disapprove of Israel’s campaign by a margin of 55% to 36%, the result of an 18% drop among Democrats and Independents, and a 7% drop among Republicans. The same poll shows that only 27% of Americans approve of the president’s handling of the situation in the Middle East. And in Wisconsin, a new poll by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pollprogressive.com/post/poll-finds-wisconsin-democratic-voters-support-a-ceasefire-in-gaza-key-margin-say-war-will-impact-t">Poll Progressive Strategies</a> finds that one in five Wisconsin Democrats say Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza will impact their vote in November. 71% say they strongly support an immediate and permanent ceasefire - including a stunning 100% of voters under the age of 29. In 2020, Biden won Wisconsin by 0.63%. </p><p><strong>4.</strong> In another sign of how out of step the Biden administration has become with the liberal mainstream, Patrick Gaspard - president of the Center for American Progress, former Executive Director of the DNC, and former Ambassador to South Africa under Obama - has issued a stinging rebuke of the State Department’s claim that Israel is upholding international law in Gaza. In a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.americanprogress.org/press/statement-assertion-that-netanyahu-is-complying-with-international-law-in-gaza-is-a-gross-disregard-of-overwhelming-evidence-says-caps-patrick-gaspard/">statement</a>, Gaspard writes “The State Department's shocking assertion that the Netanyahu government is complying with international law in Gaza is a gross disregard of overwhelming evidence and a dangerous precedent in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy…The United States…cannot heedlessly deliver offensive weapons as the Israeli government continues to bombard and starve innocents on a mass scale. These actions have nothing to do with self defense; they are clearly intended as collective punishment and are resulting in the complete devastation of Palestinians as a people.”</p><p><strong>5.</strong> As Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman continues his unpopular turn to the Right, a wave of resignations has rocked his office. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.inquirer.com/politics/clout/john-fetterman-staffers-joe-cavello-20240329.html">Philadelphia Inquirer</a> reports the Senator’s deputy communications director Nick Gavio resigned last Friday, with his departure coming on the heels of the resignations of Fetterman’s former communications director Joe Calvello and press and digital aide Emma Mustion. Calvello decamped for the office of progressive Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson while Gavio is taking a job with the Working Families Party, per the <a target="_blank" href="https://newrepublic.com/post/180264/john-fetterman-bleeding-staff-not-progressive">New Republic</a>.</p><p><strong>6.</strong> As if escalation in the Middle East were not enough, the United States is now deploying Green Berets to Taiwan, the <a target="_blank" href="https://asiatimes.com/2024/03/us-green-berets-deploying-to-taiwans-front-line/">Asia Times</a> reports. According to this report, “US Special Operations Forces…have been permanently assigned to Taiwan’s frontline islands, preparing elite Taiwanese units for possible island defense and guerilla warfare operations against a Chinese invasion…US troops on Kinmen will be situated just ten kilometers from mainland China.” This outrageous provocation would not be tolerated by the United States of course, but any response by China would surely be labeled as aggression in the western media. This whole exercise is rendered especially preposterous as the U.S. recognizes Taiwan to be part of China under the one China policy, according to the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-taiwan/">State Department</a>.</p><p><strong>7.</strong> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/2024032679/medicare-advantage-is-overbilling-medicare-by-22">Morningstar</a> reports so-called Medicare Advantage has been overbilling Medicare by approximately 22%. This figure comes from a report issued by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MedPac, an independent body set up to advise Congress on Medicare in the 1990s. MedPac’s new report titled "Medicare Payment Policy” reads: "We estimate that Medicare spends approximately 22 percent more for MA enrollees than it would spend if those beneficiaries were enrolled in FFS Medicare, a difference that translates into a projected $83 billion in 2024." As Morningstar puts it: “The private insurers who now run more than half of all Medicare plans are overcharging the taxpayers by a staggering $83 billion a year. They are charging us taxpayers 22% more than it would cost us to provide the same health insurance to seniors directly, if we just cut out the private insurance companies as middlemen…It's a rip-off, pure and simple.”</p><p><strong>8.</strong> We have previously discussed on this program how President Biden is urging Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, or AMLO, to help stem immigration coming up through Mexico. In a recent interview with <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/60Minutes/status/1772050340570960006?s=20">60 Minutes</a>, AMLO laid out his conditions for doing so:</p><p>“-The U.S. [must] commit $20 billion a year to poor countries in Latin America and the Caribbean</p><p>- [the U.S. must] Lift sanctions on Venezuela</p><p>- [the U.S. must]  End the Cuban embargo [and]</p><p>- [the U.S. must] Legalize law-abiding Mexicans living in the U.S.”</p><p>This proposal sounds more than reasonable.</p><p><strong>9.</strong> A moving story in <a target="_blank" href="https://atmos.earth/a-descendants-call-for-whale-legal-personhood/">Atmos Earth</a> details the movement among Polynesian indigenous leaders to extend legal personhood to whales, considered their mythological common ancestor. In addition to legal personhood, these advocates are pushing for “the establishment of rāhui, or customary marine protected areas…to reduce harmful impacts from threats like trawling and ship strikes…[and] Empowering coastal communities as kaitiaki, or guardians.” If enacted, this would be a major shift in the legal landscape that would help preserve the planet’s marine ecology as it comes under greater and greater threat. </p><p><strong>10.</strong> Finally, in less uplifting animal news, the <a target="_blank" href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2024/03/31/vets-fret-as-private-equity-snaps-up-clinics-pet-care-companies/">Iowa Capital Dispatch</a> is out with a report on private equity’s impact on veterinary care. According to veterinarian Melissa Ezell of Huntsville, Alabama, vets are increasingly “feeling pressure from management to make a certain amount of money from every appointment. If a pet owner wasn’t going to spend enough, the message from management was to offer more services. She was urged to pack in more patients outside of normal business hours.” This clinic is “owned by National Veterinary Associates, one of the largest veterinary chains in the nation. In 2020 the company was acquired by JAB Consumer Partners, a global private equity firm based in Luxembourg…Private equity firms such as Shore Capital Partners, KKR, TSG Consumer and JAB Consumer Partners have spent billions over the past few years on veterinary practices, specialty animal hospitals, pet insurance services and pet food companies. Among the companies owned by private equity are PetSmart, PetVet Care Centers, FIGO, Thrive Pet Healthcare and ASPCA Pet Health Insurance.” This story may sound familiar, because it is the private equity playbook they have run on industries ranging “from nursing homes to car washes.” And being the same playbook, we know how this ends - with the philosophy of profit maximization leading to predatory pricing and a reduction in the quality of services. So, if you don’t want companies like JAB Consumer Partners controlling your pet’s health tomorrow, take a stand against private equity today.</p><p>This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard. </p><p></p><p></p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at <a href="https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_4">www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe</a>
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71 MIN
Live Taping w/ the Father of Bad Faith Insurance Law
MAR 30, 2024
Live Taping w/ the Father of Bad Faith Insurance Law
<p>Not a lot of lawyers can say that they helped create a whole new legal field, but William Shernoff can. On this week's episode, Ralph welcomes trailblazing attorney William Shernoff to discuss predatory insurance practices, and how consumers can protect themselves. This special episode was co-presented by The American Museum of Tort Law, and was recorded in front of a live virtual audience.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://shernoff.com/attorneys/william-m-shernoff/">William Shernoff</a> is the founding partner of Shernoff Bidart Echeverria, a law firm specializing in insurance bad faith litigation. A longtime consumer advocate, he has made a career of representing insurance consumers in their cases against insurance companies. Often called the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.superlawyers.com/articles/california/the-birth-of-bad-faith/">“father” of bad faith insurance law,</a> in 1979, Mr. Shernoff persuaded the California Supreme Court to establish new case law that permits plaintiffs to sue insurance companies for bad faith seeking both compensatory and punitive damages when they unreasonably handle a policyholder’s claim (<em>Egan v. Mutual of Omaha</em>).</p><p>A frequent lecturer and writer, Mr. Shernoff co-authored the legal textbook, <em>Insurance Bad Faith Litigation</em>, which has become the field’s definitive treatise, as well as <em>How to Make Insurance Companies Pay Your Claims . . . . And What To Do If They Don’t</em>, <em>Fight Back and Win – And How To Make Your HMO Pay Up</em>, and <em>Payment Refused</em>. </p><p></p><p>Under bad faith law in California and in most states, you not only could get the benefits you deserve under the insurance policy—whether it be life insurance or disability insurance or health insurance. But you can also get damages over and above the policy limits, which are emotional distress damages…Not only can you get the emotional distress damages, but any aggravation of your medical condition. And then punitive damages are on top of that. And attorney's fees are on top of that. So all of these damages are coming from insurance bad faith if the insurance bad faith law applies. And punitive damages are designed to punish the insurance company so that they correct their wrongful conduct in the future, and deter them from unfair claims practices. </p><p><strong>William Shernoff</strong></p><p></p><p>Most people, if they get a letter from an insurance company—which they consider to be an authoritative source— and the insurance company says, “Your claim is denied because…” and then they cite all kinds of fine print in the insurance policy, most people accept that and don't do anything. They don't see a lawyer. They just accept what their insurance company told them because it sounded quite official to them.</p><p><strong>William Shernoff</strong></p><p></p><p>Insurance regulation is state-controlled. The federal government has been blocked for decades and the Congress has imposed itself on the federal Federal Trade Commission and said that they can't even investigate the insurance companies without being allowed to by a committee in the House or the Senate that has jurisdiction over such matters. So the privileges of the insurance lobby are quite extraordinary even by comparison with other corporate lobbies.</p><p><strong>Ralph Nader </strong></p><p></p><p>More people should know about bad-faith cases rights—and use them. And not take whatever is dealt to them by insurance companies—denials, rescission of insurance policies, refusing to renew, other delays, or other crazy obstructions. Learn about your rights.</p><p><strong>Ralph Nader </strong></p><p></p><p><strong>In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis</strong></p><p><strong>News 3/27/24</strong></p><p><strong>1. </strong><a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/26/middleeast/israel-gaza-ceasefire-un-resolution-war-impact-intl/index.html">CNN</a> reports the United Nations Security Council has passed a Gaza ceasefire resolution. The resolution itself is imperfect, calling only for a ceasefire during the month of Ramadan, but this watered down language paved the way for the United States to allow the resolution to pass. The U.S. has vetoed every previous ceasefire resolution before the Security Council and disputes the extent to which this resolution is legally binding. For its part, Israel’s Foreign Minister stated unequivocally that Israel “will not cease fire,” per <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-03-26-24/h_e0ee3d3cb057c527571a8b5d8372d713">CNN</a>.</p><p><strong>2. </strong>Following the passage of the Security Council resolution, Prime Minister Netanyahu canceled a planned high-level Israeli delegation visit to Washington, per <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/26/israel-gaza-us-abstention-on-un-cease-fire-vote-triggers-netanyahu-rage.html">CNBC</a>. The planned visit, which would have included an address to Congress, was staring down scathing criticism from Congressional Progressives. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.axios.com/2024/03/21/netanyahu-visit-dc-protests-progressives">Axios</a> reports Representative Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian member of Congress and the most outspoken on the Israeli campaign of terror, said “[Netanyahu] shouldn't come to Congress, he should be sent to the Hague.”</p><p><strong>3.</strong> In another sign of the rift between the Biden Administration and Netanyahu, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-03-23/ty-article/.premium/democrats-warn-biden-israel-not-in-compliance-with-u-s-law-as-recipients-of-military-aid/0000018e-6bcb-d8e8-a9de-7ffbe23f0000">Haaretz</a> reports that Congressional Democrats are sending formal warnings to the administration stating that Israel is not in compliance with U.S. laws governing the dispensation of military aid.  Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from Texas, said “Congress and [the] White House need to make clear to Israel that we will enforce US law to protect Palestinian children from starvation in Gaza.”</p><p><strong>4. </strong>Professor Jana Silverman, co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America International Committee, <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/silverman_jana/status/1770228731455414332?s=20">reports</a> “After a totally last-minute, ad-hoc, no-budget campaign, 13.2% of voters in the Democrats Abroad primary said no to genocide in Gaza and voted Uncommitted!” This impressive performance signals that the Uncommitted electoral protest movement isn’t going anywhere. The next major test for the movement will be Pennsylvania, where Uncommitted PA is aiming for at least 40,000 votes in the state’s April primary, per <a target="_blank" href="https://lancasteronline.com/news/politics/uncommitted-campaign-wants-pa-democrats-to-send-a-message-to-biden/article_2786c6d6-eb97-11ee-9612-e7c3c60359c7.html">Lancaster Online</a>.</p><p><strong>5.</strong> In an open letter, over 100 prominent American Jews condemned AIPAC. The letter reads “We are Jewish Americans who have…come together to highlight and oppose the unprecedented and damaging role of AIPAC…in U.S. elections, especially within Democratic Party primaries. We recognize the purpose of AIPAC’s interventions in electoral politics is to defeat any critics of Israeli Government policy and to support candidates who vow unwavering loyalty to Israel, thereby ensuring the United States’ continuing support for all that Israel does, regardless of its violence and illegality.” Signatories include the Ralph Nader Radio Hour’s own Alan Minsky, celebrated academic Judith Butler, Postal Workers Union president Mark Dimondstein, Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s, and the actor Wallace Shawn among many others. The full letter is available at <a target="_blank" href="https://usjewsopposingaipac.org/">USJewsOpposingAipac.org</a>.</p><p><strong>6.</strong> Oscar winning director Jonathan Glazer continues to be the target of phony outrage by pro-Israel groups like the Anti-Defamation League. Coming to the defense of the filmmaker however are other prominent Jewish organizations, like Jewish Voice for Peace and the Auschwitz Memorial, whose director said “In his Oscar acceptance speech, Jonathan Glazer issued a universal moral warning against dehumanization,” per the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/20/jonathan-glazer-speech-jewish-groups-defense">Guardian</a>. Decorated Jewish playwright Tony Kushner, a signatory on the anti-AIPAC letter, told <a target="_blank" href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/podcasts/2024-03-20/ty-article-podcast/tony-kushner-israels-gaza-war-looks-a-lot-like-ethnic-cleansing-to-me/0000018e-5cbb-d3c4-a7cf-7dffbba50000">Haaretz</a> “There’s been a concerted attempt by right wing American Jews to sort of sell the idea that American college campuses are awash with virulent antisemites – professors and students and so on. And the Jewish students are walking these campuses in terror for their lives. I think this is nonsense. I see no evidence of it.”</p><p><strong>7.</strong> Both the Gannett and McClatchy newspaper companies have announced they will no longer use AP journalism in their publications, <a target="_blank" href="https://apnews.com/article/gannett-associated-press-contract-97405e4715c9a25d21477b992028db2a">AP</a> reports. This is yet another indication of the dire financial straits the news business finds itself in. The AP notes “Gannett’s workforce shrank 47% between 2020 and 2023 because of layoffs and attrition…The company also hasn’t earned a full-year profit since 2018… Since then, it has lost $1.03 billion.”</p><p><strong>8.</strong> In Honduras, the <a target="_blank" href="https://theintercept.com/2024/03/19/honduras-crypto-investors-world-bank-prospera/">Intercept</a> reports “an almost-impossible-to-believe scenario: A group of libertarian investors teamed up with a former Honduran government — which was tied at the hip with narco-traffickers and came to power after a U.S.-backed military coup — in order to implement the world’s most radical libertarian policy, which turned over significant portions of the country to those investors through so-called special economic zones. The Honduran public, in a backlash, ousted the narco-backed regime, and the new government repealed the libertarian legislation. The crypto investors are now using the World Bank to force Honduras to honor the narco-government’s policies.” While this story has certain unique angles – crypto and narco-trafficking chief among them – the key element is actually quite familiar: international ‘free trade’ regimes superseding sovereign governments. We offer Honduras solidarity against these contemporary crypto-filibusters.</p><p><strong>9.</strong> On March 11th, Congressmen Jimmy Gomez and Joaquin Castro sent a <a target="_blank" href="https://castro.house.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_-_surveillance_of_the_latino_community.pdf">letter</a> to the heads of the CIA and FBI demanding disclosures of surveillance efforts on Latino civil rights leaders during the 1960s and ‘70s, citing the well-documented pattern of surveillance on Black civil rights leaders during that period and the wealth of circumstantial evidence indicating that these organs of national security did the same toward prominent Latino figures such as Cesar Chavez. The following day, in a <a target="_blank" href="https://castro.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-castro-secures-commitment-from-cia-to-declassify-information-on-surveillance-of-the-latino-civil-rights-movement#:~:text=In a letter sent before,also contribute to a more">hearing</a> before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Rep. Castro pressed CIA Director Bill Burns on the matter, and Burns committed to working with his office to bring these activities to light. We hope that further transparency will beget further transparency and that some day the complete account of the CIA and FBI’s domestic surveillance programs will be a matter of public record.</p><p><strong>10.</strong> Finally, in Mississippi, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mississippi-good-squad-rankin-county-brett-mcalpin-joshua-hartfield/">CBS</a> reports that authorities have successfully convicted all six members of a police gang calling themselves the “Goon Squad.” These six white officers plead guilty to “breaking into a home without a warrant and torturing two Black men…The assault involved beatings, the repeated use of stun guns and assaults with a sex toy before one of the victims was shot in the mouth in a mock execution.” Lawyers representing the criminal cops allege that “their clients became ensnared in a culture of corruption that was not only permitted, but encouraged by leaders within the sheriff's office.” If true, then a federal investigation – and likely more than a few exonerations of individuals victimized by this “Goon Squad” – are in order. Justice demands it.</p><p>This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard.</p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at <a href="https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_4">www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe</a>
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58 MIN
Apartheid Education/Gas Station Heroin
MAR 23, 2024
Apartheid Education/Gas Station Heroin
<p>Legendary public school reform advocate, Jonathan Kozol, joins us to discuss his latest book “An End To Inequality: Breaking Down the Walls of Apartheid Education in America.” Then, we do a deep dive into the scourge that is kratom, the dangerous so-called pain relief supplement our guest, lawyer Matt Wetherington, calls “gas station heroin.”</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.jonathankozol.com/">Jonathan Kozol</a> is a leading advocate for equality and racial justice in our nation’s schools, and he travels and lectures about educational inequality and racial injustice. Mr. Kozol is the author of nearly a dozen books about young children and their public schools, including <em>Death at an Early Age </em>(for which he received the National Book Award), <em>Savage Inequalities</em>, and<em> The Shame of the Nation</em>. His latest book is<em> </em><em>An End to Inequality: Breaking Down the Walls of Apartheid Education in America</em><em>.</em></p><p>I still give [Jonathan Kozol’s book <em>Death at an Early Age</em>] out to people to show them what indignant writing backed by irrefutable evidence is like. There's too much cool writing in America today about ghastly situations.</p><p>Ralph Nader</p><p>The <em>Brown</em> decision is now like the Ghost of Christmas Past.  Most school officials have pretty much turned their back on the legacy of <em>Brown</em> and the dream of Dr. King, who was very explicit in his condemnation of segregated schools. I find it particularly heartbreaking that segregation is now at its highest level since the early 1990s. And many of the schools I visit are far more deeply segregated than the one that I described in <em>Death in Early Age</em>.</p><p><strong>Jonathan Kozol</strong></p><p>We hear a lot about the “school-to-prison pipeline,” but this is a case where the prison is already there. It's right there. They don't have to wait 20 years. Children get a taste of our racist penal system when they're barely out of diapers.</p><p><strong>Jonathan Kozol</strong></p><p>The excuse, of course, we always hear in the big cities is that finances are scarce— “We would love to make these corrections. We would love to build new buildings. We would love to clean out the lead. But we just don't have enough resources to do this.” I call it the myth of scarcity. It's starvation funding for minority children in one of the richest nations in the world.</p><p><strong>Jonathan Kozol</strong></p><p>I'm always asked, “Why don't you come up with upbeat suggestions?” I always say I'm not going to be forced into a phony optimism to please my critics. The fact is, right now, we have a racist and autocratic education system teed specifically to the historic victims of American society. And it's not gonna change until teachers can expand their reach politically to the parents of their children, to the surrounding communities, to the unions—not only the teacher unions, but other unions of all sorts—in order to transform the political leadership of this nation.</p><p><strong>Jonathan Kozol</strong></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://wfirm.com/attorney/matt-wetherington/">Matt Wetherington</a> is ​​a nationally-recognized lawyer focused on high-stakes cases involving personal injury, wrongful death, and class actions. He currently represents plaintiffs in a wrongful death lawsuit against more than a dozen defendants, including manufacturers, distributors, and retailers of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/02/20/kratom-deaths/">Kratom</a> products.</p><p>Under the guise of safety, the [American Kratom Association] have tricked legislatures— and now they're trying to do it on the federal level—into making a product that is dangerous, deadly, and has absolutely no proven medicinal purpose, de facto legal.</p><p><strong>Matt Wetherington</strong></p><p>The kratom industry is trying to put the burden on safety advocates to prove that kratom is unsafe. Rather than going through the normal model that literally every other drug has gone through, which is to prove a medicinal purpose before it can be sold anywhere. They've put the cart ahead of the horse here by saying, until you can prove that it's unsafe, you can get this heroin-like drug at any gas station. So I reject the premise that we have to be the ones that come out and prove that this is unsafe. And the reality is that they have the burden of proving that it has a medicinal purpose.</p><p><strong>Matt Wetherington</strong></p><p><strong>In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis</strong></p><p><strong>News 3/19/24</strong></p><p><strong>1. </strong>Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, delivered a watershed speech on the Senate floor last week calling for the United States to use its influence to rein in the Israeli government as it continues to commit genocidal atrocities in Gaza. <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/Listen2Michigan/status/1768295420369739832?s=20">Listen to Michigan</a> highlighted an excerpt of Senator Schumer’s speech, wherein he said “if Prime Minister Netanyahu...continues to pursue dangerous and inflammatory policies that test existing U.S. standards for assistance, then the United States will have no choice but to play a more active role in shaping Israeli policy by using our leverage to change the present course.” While a mere baby step, this movement of the Overton Window – allowing even the discussion of conditioning military aid to Israel – is a radical departure from decades of unquestioning U.S. assistance and co-belligerency in Israel’s wars. This is also undeniable evidence that the massive protest movement against U.S. support for Israel’s genocidal campaign, including the “Uncommitted” electoral campaign, has worked. In other words, keep it up, they are feeling the heat.</p><p><strong>2.</strong> Schumer’s speech comes amid a growing realization from the Biden campaign that this issue is not going away. A raft of media reports suggest that the president has been “incensed to the point of shouting and swearing,” per <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/joe-biden-cursing-mad-polling-numbers-tired-insulated-2024-3">Business Insider</a>, over his low poll numbers in critical swing states, attributed to his handling of the slaughter in Gaza. And just this week, Palestinian-American as well as other Arab- and Muslim-American leaders refused to meet with senior White House officials in Chicago, instead publishing a letter via <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cair.com/press_releases/chicago-muslim-palestinian-groups-refuse-white-house-meeting-over-lack-on-policy-change-on-gaza-genocide/">CAIR</a> stating “There is no point in more meetings. The White House already knows the position of the aforementioned groups and our allies across the nation…They know because we have made it abundantly clear, including in prior meetings with the White House, but also in press statements, letters to our elected leaders, media interviews, and enormous street action within earshot of the Oval Office.” According to the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/palestinian-americans-reject-white-house-meeting-arab-muslim_n_65f38f63e4b0651fa4a24337?a0n">Huffington Post</a>, “The rejection comes after a string of refusals across the country from Arab and Muslim groups over longstanding frustrations over the war in Gaza…Several members of the Palestinian American community refused to meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken last month in Washington…[and] In Michigan, Arab and Muslim community leaders canceled a listening session in February with…Biden’s campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez.”</p><p><strong>3.</strong> More suspicious details have emerged regarding the death of Boeing whistleblower John Barnett. <a target="_blank" href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/last-days-boeing-whistleblower-190814764.html?guccounter=1&#38;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly90LmNvLw&#38;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAC7XXY0pD2akbYjSDiux352I1lOFKvf-9ZO7IxZmpxfZ55N29i63pJsfH8s8M3TD1m4m9u-Ie6SLpZZ05PLTiJdtckts6nFzNNwnUj7nMb3WTOOthL2wDsWwdHUaAHrN-NWy9x6kT0bH8kVf3BXSv_kYA26g7uMTs6nx1bBnntMm">Yahoo Finance</a> reports that Barnett was planning to drive home to Louisiana following his deposition on Friday March, 8th. Boeing lawyers then asked him to stay an extra day to finish his testimony, and Barnett was found dead the morning of March 9th. Additionally, <a target="_blank" href="https://abcnews4.com/news/local/if-anything-happens-its-not-suicide-boeing-whistleblowers-prediction-before-death-south-carolina-abc-news-4-2024">ABC News 4</a> in Charleston reports that shortly before his death – allegedly by suicide – Barnett told a close family friend “I ain't scared, but if anything happens to me, it's not suicide.’” </p><p><strong>4.</strong> In more Boeing news, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/us/politics/faa-audit-boeing-737-max.html">New York Times</a> reports “The company failed 33 of 89 audits during an examination conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration,” following the Alaska Airlines door plug incident. The Times piece goes on “The F.A.A. said it could not release specifics about the audit because of its active investigation into Boeing in response to the Alaska Airlines episode. In addition to that inquiry, the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating what caused the door panel to blow off the plane, and the Justice Department has begun a criminal investigation.”</p><p><strong>5.</strong> A disturbing <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/card-blackstone-kids-autism-private-equity-bankruptcy-rcna118544">NBC</a> story chronicles how the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) – a nationwide group of clinics which effectively helped autistic children to “cope, learn and communicate” – was purchased and deformed by the Blackstone Group, resulting in abuse of the children in their facilities. The founder of CARD is quoted in this article saying “[under Blackstone’s ownership] the company added costly executives, increased CARD’s debt and struck expensive contracts with third-party providers. The new CEO had no experience in autism services…he had run a kidney dialysis company.” This story has a bit of a happy ending – after running CARD into the ground, Blackstone actually sold the company back to the founder who is setting things right. As she says in the piece “You have to watch over the company…It is an entity, not an endless bank account.” This story highlights the human cost of private equity gobbling up the economy while regulators are overwhelmed or asleep at the wheel.</p><p><strong>6.</strong> In some positive news, <a target="_blank" href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Japan-s-unions-win-biggest-wage-hike-since-1991-in-stage-change">Nikkei Asia</a> reports “Japan's largest labor confederation [The 7 million-member Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo] said Friday that its [771] member unions won an average 5.28% increase in wages this year, the biggest raise since 1991.”</p><p><strong>7.</strong> In more positive labor news, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/18/business/uaw-volkswagen-union-vote-chattanooga/index.html">CNN</a> reports that the United Auto Workers (UAW) has filed for a union election for the over 4,000 workers at the Chattanooga, Tennessee Volkswagen facility. This is the first major test of UAW’s campaign to unionize autoworkers at foreign-owned plants in the United States. The union intends to organize workers at BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Mercedes, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, Volvo and Volkswagen as well as the non-union EV companies like Tesla, Rivian and Lucid. UAW has previously said that they would not file for an election until they had won 70% support among the workers, with this filing implying they have reached that threshold. President Biden has publicly come out in support of this campaign, issuing a statement on March 18th reading “I congratulate the Volkswagen autoworkers in Chattanooga who filed for a union election with the UAW. As one of the world’s largest automakers, many Volkswagen plants internationally are unionized…I believe American workers, too, should have a voice at work.”</p><p><strong>8.</strong> Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced a bill to establish a standard 32-hour workweek. In a press release, Sanders wrote “Today, American workers are over 400 percent more productive than they were in the 1940s. And yet, millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages than they were decades ago…The financial gains from the major advancements in artificial intelligence, automation, and new technology must benefit the working class, not just corporate CEOs and wealthy stockholders on Wall Street. It is time to reduce the stress level in our country and allow Americans to enjoy a better quality of life.” This legislation was announced ahead of a HELP Committee hearing on the same topic, featuring Shawn Fain, President of the UAW and Dr. Juliet Schor, Professor of Sociology at Boston College and Lead Researcher for Four Day Week Global Trials.</p><p><strong>9.</strong> A story in the <a target="_blank" href="https://prospect.org/politics/2024-03-18-how-actually-existing-democrats-run-for-office/">American Prospect</a> has to do with a study by the Center for Working Class Politics. This study looked at all 966 Democratic candidates who ran in House or Senate primaries in 2022. What did they find? “Candidates who used economic populist rhetoric won higher vote shares in general elections, especially in working-class, rural and small-town districts.” In other words, broad-base, left-wing economic populism. It works.</p><p><strong>10.</strong> Finally, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/dnc-war-third-party-candidates-rcna143290">NBC</a> reports that the DNC is assembling an anti-third party squad in an attempt to force voters into a binary choice between Biden and Trump in November. This team will be led by the infamous political operator Lis Smith, who helped cover up Andrew Cuomo’s serial sexual harassment. Another prominent member is Pat Dennis, president of Democratic opposition research firm American Bridge, who is quoted saying “A lot of people, including me, regret that we didn’t go after [Jill Stein] further,” blaming Stein for costing Hillary Clinton states in the midwest despite numerous missteps by the Clinton campaign – like not visiting Wisconsin in the entire course of the general election. Yet to figures like Smith and Dennis, the Democratic Party cannot fail, it can only be failed.</p><p>This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard.</p><p> </p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at <a href="https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_4">www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe</a>
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79 MIN