Solartopia Green Power & Wellness Hour

HE FEDS HAVE ATTACKED INDEPENDENT CAMPAIGNS; THE RABBI CELEBRATES THE EARTH

At GREEGREE #125 Dr. Jill Stein, the Green Party’s 2016 Presidential candidate, schools us in how the Federal Elections Commission protects America’s duopoly.

Stein is being PERSONALLY sued by the FEC for an independent campaign dating to seven years ago.  It’s an astounding story of fascism in action with serious implications for grassroots campaigns going forward.

RAY MCCLENDON of the Georgia NAACP and co-convenor JOEL SEGAL confirm the need to transform how we connect with grassroots donors and volunteers to challenge the duopoly’s unyielding power.

“We need publicly financed elections, period,” says Segal.  

With Stein’s terrible experience as background, the FEC must be changed to a non-partisan operation.  “It’s all about the oligarchy,” says Stein.

TATANKA BRICCA tells us about Exxon now pouring trillions of dollars into Swiss “non-profits” to hide their money while promoting fossil/nuclear fuels which destroy the Earth.

We then hear from CAROLINA AMPUDIA about the fight for progressive policies within the Florida Democratic Party.

WENDI LEDERMAN tells us about the fight over privatization of water in the Sunshine State.

LORENZO CANIZARES updates us on the situation in Peru.

LINDA SEELEY from the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace tells us of the horrendous licensing scams being pulled at the Diablo Canyon atomic reactors.

RABBI ART WASKOW then takes us into a brilliant, fascinating tour of the destruction of Atlanta’s forest land along with the horrific murder of a young eco-activist with no less than 13 bullets.

Art is a long-standing activist based in Philadelphia who has joined radical Judaism with ecological protection.  This broadcast is happening on the Jewish holiday, “the New Year of Trees...a fount of pleasure, of joy…” and much more.

His lifelong career has moved thousands of activists around the world, both within and outside the Jewish community, working for peace, social justice, protection of the Earth, an end to racism and anti-semitism and much more.

Art’s visit is punctuated with great comments by RON LEONARD, MYLA RESON and many more.

This is a fantastic, uniquely wonderful gathering.  Don’t miss it!!!

DAVID CROSBY, LEONARD PELTIER, THE ALLIANCE 4 GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY, DEATH IN ATLANTA, UPRISING IN PERU

We start our 123d GreeGree zoom with a heartfelt nod to the great DAVID CROSBY, whose brilliant music still warms the hearts of multiple generations.

David was a powerful No Nukes activist whose work to shut Diablo Canyon has been powerful and important.  Thank You, David.

We then speak with TATANKA BRICCA at length about the on-going refusal of Joe Biden (preceded by Bill Clinton and Barack Obama) to free Leonard Peltier, or at least to give him a new trial.

We get great questions from JUSTIN LEBLANC, LYNNE FEINERMAN, MIMI SPREADBURY, MIKE HERSH, WENDI LEDERMAN, MARY BUTLER-STONEWALL, and more.

DENNIS BERNSTEIN, legendary host of KPFA’s Flashpoints show, fills us in on the Atlanta killing of the powerful young environmental activist Manuel Esteban Paez Terán. 

DOROTHY REIK helps us mourn this young man’s passing and re-dedicate ourselves to protecting our Earth. 

In response to a question from JEFFREY BARKDUL, the esteemed labor leader LORENZO CANIZARES then tells of the great pro-democracy uprising in Peru.

As Lorenzo says, the fight in Peru could push a domino that will help bring democracy to all of Latin America.

Don’t miss this discussion!!!

ALLIANCE 4 GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY & GETTING PAST LITHIUM 4 BETTER BATTERIES       

We hear from the great JOHN BRAKEY on the latest struggles for real democracy in Arizona & taking it national.

CAMILLA REES comes on to talk about that struggle, and to highlight her breakthrough work on 5G vs. the horrendous threats posed by universal wireless telecommunications.

Camilla then introduces TIMOTHY SCHOECHLE, who talk about the utility-sponsored debacle of “smart meters,” net metering and their utter collective failure.

Tim also talks about micro-grids and alternatives to centralized energy generation.

And about the rapid transition from lithium/cobalt

RON LEONARD, MARK ROEST and MARY BUTLER-STONEWALL chime in on solar in California along with JUSTIN LEBLANC and MIMI SPREADBURY.

Distributed energy from 1.5 million solar roofs (some with batteries) saved the CA grid twice in 100-degree temperatures.  All this is here, says Ron Leonard.  Let’s just DO IT.

More on this next week….and deep into the grassroots democracy future.

APER BALLOTS, JULIAN ASSANGE & THE GREAT CLIFF ARNEBECK

 

In Green Grassroots Election Protection zoom #122 we pay tribute to pioneer election protection mainstay CLIFF ARNEBECK, who has just passed..

 

This heroic Ohio attorney joined with BOB FITRAKIS, CLINT CURTIS, JULIE WIENER & others who demanded an end to the 2004 electoral fraud that wrongly gave GEORGE W. BUSH a 2d term.

 

Clint gives us a tour of the paper ballot issue and questions the use of computerized ballot images to count the vote.

 

We then hear from DEEPA DRIVER and VINCENT DeSTEFANO about the situation with JULIAN ASSANGE.

 

Deepa delivers a brilliant talk on the absolute need for protected journalism and a public funnel for critical documents.

 

She is briefly joined by TATANKA BRICCA who promises to tell us in a later session about LEONARD PELTIER.          

 

We’re further joined by Vince DeStefano, who explains the possibility that Australia’s change of government may open a door for Julian’s release.

 

We hope it comes next week, as we adjourn for MLK DAY, returning January 23.  No Nukes!!

GRASSROOTS ELECTION PROTECTION & CAMPAIGNING TO 2024  Our elections need to be protected and our progressive campaigns need grassroots support, exclusive of the party system. In this GREEGREE zoom #121 we lay out a template for our work through November, 2024 (and maybe beyond). We look first at a list of 20+ core issues dealing with election protection that will be in varying degrees the upcoming focus of our work.  They are listed below. We are then joined by RAY MCCLENDON of the Georgia NAACP, who explains the nitty-gritty importance of grassroots “relational” campaigning with “democracy centers” for progressive candidates everywhere. Ray focusses in particular on Georgia, where the recent GEORGIA MIRACLE has helped swing control of the United States Senate, among much more. HOWIE HAWKINS of the Green Party lays out the details of Ranked Choice Voting, which can constitute a major leap forward for true democracy. RAY LUTZ of Audit USA tells us how audits can play a crucial role along with hand-marked paper ballots in guaranteeing accurate vote counts. Below is the partial list of key issues that are core to protecting free, fair, reliable and accurate elections. Along with safe energy, this will be the core of our work heading toward 2024.

GRASSROOTS ELECTION PROTECTION & CAMPAIGNING TO 2024

 

 

Our elections need to be protected and our progressive campaigns need grassroots support, exclusive of the party system.

 

In this GREEGREE zoom #121 we lay out a template for our work through November, 2024 (and maybe beyond).

 

We look first at a list of 20+ core issues dealing with election protection that will be in varying degrees the upcoming focus of our work.  They are listed below.

 

We are then joined by RAY MCCLENDON of the Georgia NAACP, who explains the nitty-gritty importance of grassroots “relational” campaigning with “democracy centers” for progressive candidates everywhere.

 

Ray focusses in particular on Georgia, where the recent GEORGIA MIRACLE has helped swing control of the United States Senate, among much more.

 

HOWIE HAWKINS of the Green Party lays out the details of Ranked Choice Voting, which can constitute a major leap forward for true democracy.

 

RAY LUTZ of Audit USA tells us how audits can play a crucial role along with hand-marked paper ballots in guaranteeing accurate vote counts.

 

Below is the partial list of key issues that are core to protecting free, fair, reliable and accurate elections.

 

Along with safe energy, this will be the core of our work heading toward 2024.

FIGHTING CELL TOWERS, NUKE POWER & FASCIST FLORIDA We’re headlined on our GREEGREE #119 zoom call by the great JULIE LEVINE, one of America’s leading activists on cell tower / 5G radiation.Julie has long, painful personal experience with the damaging health effects of electromagnetic radiation from cell phone technologies.She’s joined by DOUG WOOD, a top NY-based researcher and writer on what EMT is really doing to us all.Based on Long Island, Wood has helped pioneer our understanding of how fiber optics could and should do a far better job of transmitting those cell phone signals without health impacts.We then switch related issues to be joined by renowned journalist KARL GROSSMAN who elaborates on his latest piece warning that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is about to kill regulation for small modular reactors.A legendary pioneer in the No Nukes movement, Karl warns that the NRC may want to allow nuke reactors to be built inside towns, with no human operators or security guards.  

 

Issuing their deliberations from inside a padded cell, the NRC is also poised to green light extended operations at the Diablo Canyon Nukes, where TATANKA BRICCA fills us in ON the latest developments.

 

DENNIS BERNSTEIN OF KPFA / PACIFICA’S “Flashpoints” show chimes in on the insanity of a new $1 billion military aircraft of mass suicide.

 

As for Fascism in Florida, CAROLINA AMPUDIA and WENDI LEDERMAN inform on the sorry state of the Sunshine State Dems….not to mention the outright dictatorship of Ron DeSantis.  STAY TUNED!!!

THE “MIRACLES” OF GEORGIA & ARIZONA, 2021-2:   HAS DEMOCRACY BEEN SAVED?

 

Our GREEGREE zoom #117 welcomes RAY MCCLENDON of the Georgia NAACP, JOHN BRAKEY of Arizona’s election protection “scanned ballot image” movement, and democracy journalist STEVE ROSENFELD.

 

Together they outline the hard realities of the struggle—in many ways successful—to protect our democracy as seen in the outcome of the 2021 “Georgia Miracle” and the 2022 mid-terms.  

 

As a pillar of grassroots/relational campaigning, McClendon has played a key role in promoting the Get Out the Vote movements that made the difference in twin Senate victories in 2021, and that may hold the key to the “Manchin Runoff” in 2022.

 

Working with Andrea Miller of the Center for Common Ground, McClendon has been at the core of shifting progressive campaign donations away from mainstream Democratic Party media buys and into the machinery of on-the-ground organizing.

 

Based in Arizona, Brakey has pioneered the use of digital scanning in tandem with mailed-out hand-marked paper ballots.  Making a mockery of the 2020 Cyber-Ninja recount fiasco, Brakey has made Arizona into a living laboratory for reliable vote casting and counting.

 

Working the election protection beat, Rosenfeld has published innumerable articles on the 2021 double victory of Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossof, and in the on-going struggle to securable a reliable voting process.

 

With these three critical players, we provide an absolutely unique and irreplaceable primer on how American democracy must proceed if our nation is to survive.  

 

Above all, we come to understand the pivotal, permanent role of female and Millennial/Zoomer voters in re-shaping the government core of the nation in the age of Trump fascism and eco-suicide.

The “PINK TRICKLE,” the  "REACTOR GAP" & The WAR ON SOLARAs the “Red Wave” turns into a pathetic ripple, we’re joined by TATANKA BRICCA and KEVIN KAMPS, two of America’s leading experts on election protection, nuclear power & solar energy.We focus first on the stunning transformation of a pro-Trump “Red Wave” into at best a pink trickle.The powerful rise of women voters and Millennial/zoomers born after 1980 dominated the electorate in an outcome that has shocked the punditocracy and may have repelled a pro-fascist assault on our democracy. Like wise the California Public Utilities Commission seems now to be backing off its attempt to tax rooftop solar panels.  It is messing instead with net metering paybacks, which could hurt but not kill the green energy industry.But under intense public pressure, the CPUC may be retreating from an all-out attack on an industry that employs more than 70k workers in CA alone. At the same time CA Gov. Gavin Newsom and MI Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are boosting dangerously decayed old atomic reactors for future operations.Their apocalyptic potential fallout threatens the future of us all.  Don’t miss hearing how we can stop them!!!

GUNS & THE YOUTH VOTE WITH DAVID HOGG & JOHN ROSENTHAL

 

 

We devote the first hour of the GREE-GREE zoom gathering #116 with the great DAVID HOGG and a deep dive into two issues at the core of American politics:  gun violence and youth turnout.

 

Now a senior at Harvard University, Hogg has become a national icon in the movement to lower the death toll from guns and motivate the youth vote.

 

David’s work, in tandem with JOHN ROSENTHAL, has significantly changed views of gun registration and control in Massachusetts and elsewhere.

 

Hogg and Rosenthal have helped pioneer the AMERICA CALLING organization which aims to vastly expand the turnout among young voters.

 

Rosenthal’s efforts, in conjunction with Hogg, have tangibly lowered the gun violence death rate in Massachusetts, and could do the same nationwide, saving more than 26,000 lives.

 

These two grea activists are already legends in making real change in American politics.  

 

Rooted in the younger generations now taking control of the electorate, while simultaneously working to end gun violence, they are not to be missed.