Two US Senators and four US Representatives made a video this week reminding troops and intelligence officers of their duty to disobey unlawful orders - those that require them to break US or international law. Scott and I discuss this obligation from the perspective of our own military service.

Theme music: Partners In Crime by Alexander Nakarada https://creatorchords.com Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/free-music/ Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Scott and I discuss public education, its role in creating community, and a bit about policy in Virginia.

We host our first guest on the podcast, Montanan Jeff Mangan. Jeff runs a grassroots effort to change the way Montana - and other states - treat corporations. After the SCOTUS ruled in the Citizens United case that laws limiting corporate spending on election campaigns violate the First Amendment right to free speech, dark money has increased to the point where wealthy corporations and interest groups can pretty much buy elections, especially in small states. Jeff's group would amend the State Constitution to restrict this spending once again by repealing corporate personhood. Join us to hear about Jeff's work and find out how you can help - and start similar efforts in other states.

Show Notes:

From the Transparent Election website: The Transparent Election Initiative is committed to ending the influence of corporate and dark money in our politics through the groundbreaking The Montana Plan. We believe that elections should be decided by voters, not by the size of corporate checkbooks.

Our approach leverages each state's authority to define corporate powers, creating a pathway to campaign finance reform that doesn't rely on restricting speech but instead focuses on not granting political spending powers to corporations in the first place.

Website: https://transparentelection.org/

Disrupt Dark Money Blog: https://disruptdarkmoney.feather.blog/

EVENTS: https://disruptdarkmoney.feather.blog/events

CONTRIBUTE - https://tei.nationbuilder.com/tei_web

X/Twitter: @transparent406

Facebook: facebook.com/transparentelection

Instagram: instagram.com/transparentelection

Bluesky: transpelectinit.bsky.social

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TransparentElectionInitiative

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/transparent-election-initiative/

Theme music: Partners In Crime by Alexander Nakarada

https://creatorchords.com Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/free-music/ Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In Episode 4, Scott and I discuss the "Big Beautiful Bill" and its implications for people who depend on social services, including business owners and health care facilities in rural areas.

In Episode 3, Scott and I discuss the disconnect between productivity growth and wage growth since 1972 - that is, why haven't wages increased with worker productivity. We discuss possible causes and a few potential solutions.

In Episode 2 of the Foggy Bottom Line Podcast, Scott and I discuss rising authoritarianism in the US and a bit about how we can resist.

In Episode 1 of the Foggy Bottom Line podcast, R. Stanton Scott and Scott Konopasek talk about cheating in politics and the rhyme or reason behind the FBL project.