Ralph explains it all for you, the history and the consequences of the legal fiction that is corporate personhood. Then his associate, Francesco DeSantis, from the Center of Study of Responsive law updates us on progress being made to institute a corporate crime data base along the lines of the street crime database in order to track repeat corporate criminal offenders. Francesco DeSantis is a public interest advocate and Outreach Coordinator at the Center for Study of Responsive Law. He has coordinated with the offices of Representative Mary Gay Scanlon and Senator Dick Durbin to get the Corporate Crime Database issue back on the Congressional agenda, and he’s advocated for it among members of Congress and consumer, labor, and environmental groups. Once unleashed, [a corporation] doesn’t conform to normal human accountabilities. It doesn’t have the same level of shame or guilt. It can make a lot of mistakes and hurt a lot of people and still be credible. Ralph Nader  It’s important for all of our listeners to know that corporations are not created by investors. They are created by state authority. Ralph Nader  Limited liability was the yeast that unfurled the future elaborations of corporate power.   Ralph Nader  The Justice Department has every statutory authority to [create a corporate crime database] on their own. It completely, 100% falls within their purview to monitor crime, to attempt to arrest criminals, to prevent recidivism… So, we are very hopeful that the Justice Department will see the light on this issue. Francesco DeSantis  If you think about the kind of crimes that corporations engage in, they would be completely beyond the pale for any individual. Francesco DeSantis  If the American people—journalists, academics, prosecutors, and so on— were able to see that “X Corporation” committed a crime, committed it again, committed it a third time, and each time got basically no serious penalty, I think that that would go a long way towards the political movement to demand more from the corporate criminal enforcement division of the Department of Justice. Francesco DeSantis 
 

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Corporate Personhood

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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News

Government

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.     

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The Politics of Dominance

On today's program, Ralph welcomes two guests who have worked as civic advocates for more than fifty years—chemical engineer and environmentalist Barry Castleman, and solar energy advocate Ken Bossong. How do they maintain their civic stamina over more than five decades? That's what Ralph wants to know. Then, Ralph is joined by our resident international law expert Bruce Fein, to discuss breaking news from the International Criminal Court.  Barry Castleman is a chemical engineer, environmentalist and researcher specializing in health issues. He is the author of Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects and has worked with public interest groups around the world over the past 50 years on the control of asbestos and chemical hazards. Mr. Castleman has been involved in rule-making on asbestos by numerous federal agencies as a consultant to the agencies and to environmental groups. He has testified as an expert witness in civil litigation in the US on the history of asbestos as a public health problem, and the reasons for failure to properly control asbestos hazards. I remember speaking to students at Johns Hopkins about 30 years ago about careers in international public health, and talking to them about how they should try and listen into themselves and think about what it is they'd really like to do, what they're really interested in, and try to follow that. Rather than following the money or auctioning themselves off to the highest bidder when they graduate from Hopkins. Barry Castleman You lose your innocence reading these corporate documents. They're unbelievable in terms of showing that all of these decisions about health and safety and environment are business decisions to the people who make them. And the wanton, reckless, willful disregard of public health is clear. So making these documents publicly available is an extraordinary public service. Barry Castleman  Ken Bossong is the Executive Director of the Sun Day Campaign, a non-profit research and educational organization he founded in 1992 to aggressively promote sustainable energy technologies as cost-effective alternatives to nuclear power and fossil fuels. Mr. Bossong has advocated for solar energy and other renewable energy for more than 50 years, and he previously served as Director of the Critical Mass Energy Project at Public Citizen.  Nearly 100% of all the new generating capacity in the United States in the month of March—which is the most recent month for which there are statistics—came from solar alone. There was none from coal. There was only one megawatt from natural gas. There was, I think, three megawatts from oil. And there was zero from nuclear. So the only resource that's growing and scaling up rapidly is solar. Coming in second place is wind. The fossil fuel technologies and nuclear power combined are producing very little. Ken Bossong What keeps me going? Basically the bad guys. I am always ginned up by the challenge of confronting people who are doing things which I consider to be socially, environmentally irresponsible. And as you pointed out with the example of the oil companies, there's never been a shortage of people who are trying to do things that I think are damaging.  Ken Bossong  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. Although it doesn’t really change a whole lot on the legal chessboard, the more countries that recognize a Palestinian statehood, the more pressure there will be on the United States to do something that acknowledges their right…The one other element that comes into play, however, is that there are various tribunals, jurisdictions that can be employed only by a state... So the more that we have international recognition of a Palestinian state, it then would have standing instead of South Africa to go to the International Court of Justice and say—we want a declaration that genocide is being committed against us by Israel. So there are small ways in which I think the greater the recognition, the greater the legal standing Palestine has as in at least some international body. Bruce Fein  In Case You Haven’t Heard with Francesco DeSantis News 5/22/24 1.  On May 20th, the International Criminal Court announced it would seek arrest warrants related to the ongoing atrocities in Gaza. Bucking pressure from western governments, the ICC will pursue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on charges including “Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare…[and] Extermination…as a crime against humanity.” The Court also announced it would seek arrest warrants for Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri for their alleged international offenses. The ICC’s decision was met with indignation by Israel and its western allies, including President Joe Biden, who said “What’s happening is not genocide,” per the Guardian. Mousa Abu Marzouk – the first chief of Hamas’ politburo, and the head of Hamas' international relations – writes in Media Review Network “Hamas stands ready to appear before the ICC with witnesses and live testimony and bear the burden of any judicial finding against it or its members after a full and fair trial with rules of evidence; with examination and cross examination into [what] we have done or not over the many years of our leadership as a national liberation movement. Is Israel?” 2. On May 19th, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was killed when his helicopter was forced to make a “hard landing” near the Iranian/Azerbaijan border. Many suspect Israeli involvement in this crash, largely due to Israel’s history of assassinating Iranian officials. Israel however denies any involvement. The Middle East Monitor, relaying what Israeli officials told Channel 13, reports “The message Israel is sending to the countries of the world is that Tel Aviv has nothing to do with the incident.” 3. Israeli ambassador Michael Herzog has sent a letter to dozens of congressional Democrats “accus[ing] lawmakers of aiding…Hamas…misrepresenting Israeli policy and…inappropriately trying to influence President…Biden,” per the Huffington Post. This letter – a response to moderate Democrats Jason Crow and Chris Deluzio’s May 3rd letter alleging that Israel is breaking U.S. law – has rankled Democrats in Congress. One staffer told the Huffington Post that multiple parts of the letter “verg[ed] on offensive,” and another said “the tone of this letter is not reflective of the fact that the U.S. is the primary guarantor of Israel’s security. An unaware reader would assume that Israel is the superpower in this relationship and the U.S. the recipient of aid.” Yet another aid put it this way, “Never before have we received such a harsh letter from the Israeli government. But then again, never before have we been so critical of their actions.” 4. Independent investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein reports “The National Counterterrorism Center, created in the wake of 9/11 to combat al Qaeda, is now working overtime to find evidence of foreign funding of pro-Palestinian student protesters.” Klippenstein continues “The effort follows repeated calls by Congress for the federal government to investigate university protesters’ purported links to Hamas, and coincides with a push by the FBI and homeland security bureaucracies to link the campus demonstrations to foreign actors. Tempting as it might be to laugh off the specter of foreign powers directing undergraduate protesters, evidence of this would provide the legal basis for the intelligence community to spy on Americans. Absent a foreign connection, the protests are constitutionally-protected speech.” Civil liberties advocates have long warned of the American anti-terrorism apparatus being weaponized against internal dissent. During the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, the Trump administration infamously worked feverishly to cook up some connection between foreign governments and supposed domestic “antifa” leaders. The fact that the Biden administration is seeking to do the same speaks to just how enticing it is for the federal government to use trumped up terrorism accusations to silence legitimate protests. 5. In a chilling new installment of the campus crackdown on pro-Palestine activity, POLITICO reports the California State University system has “placed Sonoma State campus President Mike Lee on leave… after he agreed to protesters’ demands to involve them in university decision-making and pursue divestment from Israel.” In a statement, CSU Chancellor Mildred García derided president Lee for his “insubordination and the consequences it has brought upon the system.” The message is clear: any degree of violence in confronting the student protesters is acceptable, engaging with their demands is not. 6. In more higher education news, the Harvard Graduate Student’s Union – organized under the UAW – has filed an unfair labor practice charge against the university over their response to campus pro-Palestine protests, per Bloomberg labor reporter Josh Eidelson. “[The union is] claiming the school's retaliation violated students' right as employees to protest over workplace issues.” This charge will test the limits of workplace speech protections and we will be watching closely to see where the board lands. 7. Last week, workers at two Alabama Mercedes-Benz plants voted against joining the United Autoworkers by a margin if 2,045 to 2,642, per 1819 News. UAW President Shawn Fain blamed the loss on union busting by the corporation, stating “Mercedes engaged in egregious illegal behavior. The federal government as well as the German government are currently investigating Mercedes for the intimidation and harassment they inflicted on their own workers. We intend to follow that process through…This is a David and Goliath fight. Sometimes Goliath wins a battle. But David wins the war.” Fain went on to say “Justice isn’t about one vote or one campaign. It’s about getting a voice, getting your fair share. And let’s be clear: workers won serious gains in this campaign. They raised their wages, with the 'UAW bump.' They killed wage tiers. They got rid of a CEO who had no interest in improving conditions in the workplace. Mercedes is a better place to work thanks to this campaign, and thanks to these courageous workers.” Finally, Fain noted the similarities between this campaign and the previous attempts to unionize Volkswagen plants, stating “[Mercedes] told the workers to give the new CEO a chance. That’s exactly what Volkswagen told its workers in 2019. And in 2024, Volkswagen workers realized it’s not about a CEO. It’s about a voice on the job, it’s about getting our lives back, and getting our time back. The only path to do that is through a union contract.” 8. CNN reports that on Tuesday May 14th, the Justice Department  “notified Boeing that it [had] breached [the] terms of its 2021 [deferred prosecution] agreement in which the company avoided criminal charges for two fatal 737 Max crashes.” This report goes on to say “Families of victims and lawyers representing them met with the Justice Department late last month to persuade the Biden administration to end the agreement in light of multiple safety lapses at Boeing this year and in past years after the 2021 agreement was reached.”  Following this meeting, attorney Paul Cassell said the deferred prosecution agreement was “rigged” and “pledged to hold Boeing accountable for its ‘fraud and misconduct.’”  9. On Monday May 20th, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange won the right to appeal his extradition to the United States. Per Democracy Now! “Assange’s lawyers argued before the British High Court that the U.S. government provided ‘blatantly inadequate’ assurances that Assange would have the same free speech protections as an American citizen if extradited from Britain. Assange…faces up to 175 years in prison for publishing classified documents exposing U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.” This is a major victory for Assange. Yet, as Chip Gibbons, policy director of Defending Rights & Dissent puts it “[Assange is] not out of Belmarsh [Prison] yet…This could still end in him being sent to the U.S. And the person who can stop this is Joe Biden.” 10. Finally, according to Washington Post labor reporter Lauren Kaori Gurley, “[Over 400] physicians have filed to unionize with SEIU, in what they say would be the first doctor's union in Delaware and the Mid-Atlantic.” These physicians – employed by ChristianaCare, Delaware's largest private employer – have laid out a list of grievances they hope to address by organizing, including “patient safety concerns due to understaffing and inadequate resources…the erosion of the physician-led model of care...[and] the moral injury caused by the pressure to prioritize...profit over patient needs.” Gurley further highlighted that a key priority of this doctor’s union is “combating excessive corporatization,” in healthcare. This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard.  

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Captains of Conscience

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. 

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The Power of Youth

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 
 

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The Hammer

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. 
 

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Corporate Personhood

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