Solartopia Green Power & Wellness Hour

DC STATEHOOD, GERRYMANDERING,  & THE ARIZONA “RECOUNT”

 

We dive deep into the hard realities of DC statehood with attorney CHARLES MORELAND and DC Senator MIKE BROWN.  Why joining Maryland won’t work.  Why mass civil disobedience may be on its way.

 

We then travel through the horrors of gerrymandered North Carolina with former two-term MAYOR JENNIFER ROBERTS, current STATE REP. JOHN AUBREY and former Deputy Secretary of State ROBERT WILSON.  Gerrymandering has utterly destroyed any semblance of democracy in NC and around the US, and here we get the basics on how and why.

 

Finally, we find ourselves in Phoenix with JOHN BRAKEY and RAY LUTZ dealing with the bitterly contested recount of the presidential ballots from the 2020 vote in Arizona.  Election protection experts around the US are discounting this as an exercise in Trump madness and futility.  But Brakey & Lutz have found in it a niche for setting the ground rules on real recounts.  Our contentious but enlightening discussion with ART LEVINE and others sets the tone for a national dialogue on this “show trial” for democracy.

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> In our 48th zoom gathering with the GRASSROOTS EMERGENCY ELECTION PROTECTION COALITION (GREEP) we start with Chernobyl and the astonishing five-part series on it produced by HBO. 

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> We then celebrate the final shut-down of the Indian Point atomic reactors outside New York City.  For the first time in decades, New Yorkers do not face an atomic catastrophe originating in Buchanan that could destroy the entire region.

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> We follow with an in-depth exploration of the complexities of Puerto Rican statehood.  As we hear from JOEL SEGAL, JAMES FUKUDA and RICARDO MERCADO, it’s a VERY mixed bag.

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> In synch we dive back into DC statehood with the great CHARLES MORELAND.

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> We also hear from ANDREA MILLER on the spread of democracy centers.

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> And we finish with an astonishing report from the Arizona recount circus brought to us by long-time election protection experts RAY LUTZ and JOHN BRAKEY.

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> On the one-year anniversary of our GREEP calls, this is an action-packed, in-depth, extremely important session.  Don’t miss it!!

The idea of storefront “Democracy Centers” has started to take tangible root.  ELSA SCHAFER explains how small gathering places in shopping malls and on city streets can serve as organizing hubs for a new grassroots push to save our democracy.

HOWIE HAWKINS speaks to us from his own Green Party storefront in upstate New York, where he says ordinary citizens walk in regularly….to the point they assume he is a county official.

With these grassroots safe spaces face-to-face/door-to-door organizing can take a great leap forward.

We start with Amazon’s “ALL IN” about Stacey Abrams and the fight to preserve what’s left of democracy in Georgia….and elsewhere. This comprehensive documentary—while it may not play well on radio—makes a good, strong case for the power of grassroots organizing.

It does not, however, cover the GEORGIA MIRACLE of the elections of November 2020 & January 2021.  For that we speak with JOEL SEGAL, RAY MCCLENDON and many more.

We also revisit the critical issue of DC Statehood, which has just been approved by the US House. 

As we stagger toward an actual democracy, this show provides some of the key, not-so-easy pieces. 

THE GEORGIA MIRACLE & THE ASTOUNDING CORPORATE PUSH-BACK AGAINST JIM CROW VOTER SUPPRESSION

 

With an All-Star cast including GLORIA TINUBU, JAMES FUKUDA, RAY MCCLENDON, STEVE ROSENFELD, JOEL SEGAL, CHARLES MONTGOMERY, ART LEVINE and many more, we dive deep into the weeds of modern American democracy.

 

The hideous right-win campaign to steal the right to vote from tens of millions of citizens of youth and color is now at the center of the national stage.

 

In Georgia, Michigan, Arizona and nearly all the other states, nearly 500 laws have been proposed to strip and flip our coming elections.  

 

Likewise democracy’s enemies continue to oppose DC Statehood (Taxation without Representation!!!) where more than 700,000 Americans are being denied their basic rights.

 

We further dig in to the amazing role major corporations like Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines  and Major League Baseball in boycotting Georgia over its Jim Crow attack on black/young voters.  We also give Will Smith a shout-out for moving his film production.

 

Overall, the life/death struggle over American democracy has soared to a level never seen before.  Join us at this Emergency Election Protection Zoom #45 to find out how!!

With an atomic reactor industry crumbling before our eyes, we celebrate the permanent shut down of Indian Point.  The insanely dangerous nuke threatened the entire New York region with apocalyptic ruin   

Renowned experts Tim Judson, Kevin  Kamps and Paul  Gunter explain in detail how Americas insanely lethal remaining 93 reactors threaten our health, safety and economy and what we must do to shut them down before they explode

So-called small reactors are also insanely dangerous and cannot compete with renewables. They must also be stopped

With team Biden apparently swallowing the nuke Kool aid we must act now!!

We plumb the depths of this terribly important problem cutting to the core of American life.

With nationally-renown leaders DONALD WHITEHEAD & JOEL SEGAL we trace the roots the current crisis from Kennedy to Reagan to Clinton to Trump.

We see how The New Frontier & Great Society built huge numbers of public housing units without consulting the people who’d have to live in them.

We see how Reagan slashed funding for HUD and other public housing.

We see how the Faircloth Amendment, signed by Clinton, blocked federal spending for more units.

We see now how Segal and Whitehead propose to solve this devastating problem in the here & now.

If you are all committed to making this country a decent place for ALL Americans, don’t miss this show.

Amidst a fierce fascist putsch against voting rights, we prepare for the birth of a major national grassroots campaign to Save our Democracy.

We hear from CHARLES MOORELAND on new Congressional hearings for DC statehood, and the brutal, pivotal fight over the Senate filibuster.

Reports also come from GLORIA TINUBU, JAMES FAKUDA, RAY MCCLENDON & JOEL SEGAL on the birth of the new national campaign to save our democracy.

The campaign is based on grassroots activism at all levels of the democratic spectrum, and includes voter information centers and much more.

This undertaking will be among the most significant in US history, rooted in community organizing and multi-racial coalitions from around the US.

It’s success will define the American future….don’t miss joining in!

THE WAR FOR VOTING RIGHTS GOES DEEPER DOWN:  ARIZONA, GEORGIA THE HOUSE & SENATE

 

Today’s exploration into the escalating war over voting rights starts with zoom reports from EMILY LEVY and LULU FRIESDAT.

 

JOHN BRAKEY updates us on the insane lawsuits over millions of actual paper ballots in Arizona.

 

Nationally syndicated journalists BOB KOEHLER and DENNIS BERNSTEIN check in.

 

Then we hear in great depth and importance from RAY MCCLENDON, Political Director of the Atlanta NAACP, on the scorched Earth attack by Georgia Republicans.

 

We end with an historic accounting from BURT WIDES, legendary Congressional staffer and attorney.  

 

Burt’s 50-year career with Senators like Edward Kennedy and Frank Church make him a true natonal treasure; his detailed, painstaking explanations of legislative challenges are not to be missed.

 

NOTE:  our PRN slot for this Grassroots Election Protection zoom #44 ends at the hour; however there’s another 30+ minutes you can find at the Zoom Archive at www.electionprotection2024.org.

 

The national uproar over voting rights and American democracy has escalated to a fever pitch. Throughout the nation, right wing Trump Cultists are working state by state to prevent citizens of youth and color from voting.  

 

Federally, the Omnibus Voting Rights bill HR-1 is now S-1, having passed the House.  We’re joined by PROFESSOR GLORIA TINUBA for a broad overview of what’s happening with these two critical bills and how income inequities in America are at the root of so many of our problems.

 

We’re also joined by CHARLES MOORLAND & EUGENE KINLOW of the DC Statehood movement.  As key activists at the core of the struggle, they explain how “No Taxation Without Representation” is the critical key to getting full rights for some 800,000 American citizens who are essentially being held in colonial status.

 

With JOEL SEGAL, LULU FRIESDAT, EMILY LEVY, HOWIE HAWKINS, DR. LORA CHAMBERLAIN and other great activists, we cover the ground in this critical times.  Join Us!

 

And please note that this discussion went on for a long time beyond our allotted hour.  If you’ve tuned in and want to stay with us after 5pm eastern, go to www.electionprotection.org to get the link for the rest of the recorded session.

The Trump GOP cult has lost the American electorate.  Citizens of youth and color have hugely rejected the party. 

Millennials in 2020 voted more than 60% against Trump; Zoomers even higher. 

So Republicans nationwide are reverting to Jim Crow by severely restricting voting rights and accessibility.

On our Grassroots Election Protection call #42, RAY MCCLENDON of the Atlanta NAACP and co-convenor JOEL SEGAL explain the nightmare now being perpetrated in Georgia.

JOHN BRAKEY talks about the insanity in Arizona.

LULU FRIESDAT, EMILY LEVY, DR. LORA CHAMBERLAIN and others chime in.

This is clearly the most comprehensive attack on voting rights since just after the Civil War, and could easily allow the Trump Cult to take fascist power in 2022 and 2024.

We also talk about DC STATEHOOD and whether the District might maybe just secede and form its own state!!