Podcasts about citizens united

A mega-donor to the Republican Presidential campaign, Elon Musk got something no other titan of industry has ever received: an office in the White House and a government department tailor-made for him, with incalculable influence in shaping the Administration. But even with Musk out of Washington, it remains a fact that the influence of wealth in America has never been greater. As one case in point, Donald Trump's “big beautiful bill” is estimated to raise or leave flat the taxes of about 57 million households, while the top five per cent of earners will have their taxes cut by more than $1.5 trillion. From his perch in Washington, Evan Osnos has for years been looking at the politics of hyper-wealth. While the wealthy have always held outsized influence, Osnos explains how tech tycoons, in particular, sought far greater influence under Donald Trump's second Administration. “These are guys who really believed that they were the greatest example of entrepreneurship,” he tells David Remnick, “and that all of a sudden they found that, no, they were being called monopolists, that they were being accused of invading people's privacy, that in fact they had been blamed for the degradation of democracy, of our children's emotional health, of our attention spans. They suddenly saw that there was a new President who would not only forgive any of those kinds of mistakes and patterns of abuse but would in fact celebrate them, and would roll back any of the regulation that was in their way.” Osnos's new book, collected from his reporting in The New Yorker, is “The Haves and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich.”

Note to the listeners: Due to some computer snafus onMike's end, the first five minutes of this episode are lost. We join this one as it is already in progress. This week, Mike and Ariel are on hand to talk Wishmaster 3Beyond the Gates of Hell. While we were warned we might experience something on par with the lows of the worst Wrong Turn franchise, this one is, just sort of there. It's not the worst thing we've ever watched, but it isn't all thatmemorable either. What is memorable is the mid-episode existential crisis Mike has as he ponders whether eternity would ever get boring, or if there is capitalism in the Afterlife, and if so, does Jesus make people toil in factoriesputting little screws into “Footprints” framed posters? We do talk about the movie a bit, and whether this is the same Djinn as the same movie, ponder why the Djinn doesn't act a little nicer when granting wishes in order to get the prophecyto come true, and wonder if Angels would ride public transportation. Good times. Mike also makes the argument again that Wishmaster 2 laid the groundwork for the landmark Supreme Court case of Citizens United. All that, plus a little bit of Buffy talk.

Send us a textCharles Thompson III shares his journey from inner-city gang member to political candidate and his vision for ethical, non-partisan governance focused on people rather than profits.• America's political system heavily favors incumbents and wealthy candidates, making meaningful change difficult• Citizens United decision fundamentally altered campaign finance, allowing outside money to dominate elections• Foreign news sources often provide more objective coverage of American issues than domestic media• Basic human needs like healthcare and housing should be socialized while wants remain capitalized• Implementing term limits and age limits would create more representative government• Anti-corruption laws with severe consequences would ensure ethical leadership• American exceptionalism should be questioned as we fall behind in key metrics like education• Charles approaches politics as a public servant rather than a typical politician• Social media and fundraising techniques have transformed how campaigns operateFind Charles Thompson on Facebook (Charles Thompson) or Twitter (@TheRealCharlieTruth) or email him at LLABESAB1@gmail.com - he welcomes questions from anyone across the political spectrum.Support the showFollow your host atYouTube and Rumble for video contenthttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUxk1oJBVw-IAZTqChH70aghttps://rumble.com/c/c-4236474Facebook to receive updateshttps://www.facebook.com/EliasEllusion/Twitter (yes, I refuse to call it X)https://x.com/politicallyht LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliasmarty/

In this conversation, David Bryan interviews Hilary Braseth, the executive director of OpenSecrets, discussing the organization's mission to promote transparency in political funding. They explore the implications of money in politics, the impact of the Citizens United ruling, the rise of dark money, and the importance of transparency for democracy. Hilary shares insights on how OpenSecrets collects and presents data, the public's interest in political information, and the challenges of measuring the organization's impact. In this conversation, Hilary from OpenSecrets discusses the organization's impact on political transparency, the investigative techniques used to uncover dark money in politics, and the future developments aimed at enhancing data accessibility. The dialogue emphasizes the importance of continuous political engagement and the challenges faced by organizations like OpenSecrets in navigating the political landscape.Open Secrets is nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit, organization whose mission is to serve as the trusted authority on money in American politics.They pursue their mission by providing comprehensive and reliable data, analysis, and tools for policymakers, storytellers and citizens. Their vision is for Americans to use data on money in politics to create a more vibrant, representative and responsive democracy.Hilary Braseth is executive director of OpenSecrets. Her background spans the nexus of emerging technology and social change, spending several years at IDEO in Silicon Valley and more recently, serving as a Public Service Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Together with her experience as a Technology Policy Design Fellow at the Aspen Institute, Hilary has demonstrated a commitment to safeguarding the integrity and accessibility of elections. Hilary is co-founder of two organizations: Dare to Innovate, a youth entrepreneurship incubator in West Africa and Oze, Africa's first mobile business insights platform. Hilary received her Master's in Public Administration from Harvard University, her Bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Marquette University, and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guinea (2011-2014).

We start by focusing on the ongoing debate around school vouchers in Ohio, particularly as the state legislature is poised to debate the new budget bill, which proposes cuts to public school funding while simultaneously increasing financial support for private institutions. We clarify how these so-called "scholarships" are essentially vouchers that funnel taxpayer dollars into private religious schools, often in direct violation of the constitutional separation of church and state. Currently, despite 90% of students attending public schools, nearly $900 million has been funneled into private school vouchers, highlighting a bizarre funding disparity that raises questions about equity and accountability.There are stark statistics illustrating that the majority of voucher funds benefit families already enrolled in private institutions. This misleading premise of "school choice" is particularly concerning for low-income families and those in rural areas, where no private options are available. Then we look at the ramifications of the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision, elucidating how it has contributed to the erosion of our democracy and facilitated the ascent of figures like Donald Trump. The decision has fundamentally altered campaign finance laws, allowing unlimited corporate spending in elections, which has skewed the political landscape in favor of wealthy interests and diluted the voices of the average citizen.We discuss the broader implications of campaign finance reforms, the necessity for rigorous regulations to ensure that the influence of money doesn't overshadow the democratic process. We advocate for constitutional amendments that clarify the rights of corporations versus individuals to establish a fairer electoral landscape.Full Show Notes & Links UsedSend us a textSupport the showSubscribe to our free newsletterCheck out our MerchFollow us on BlueskyFind us on Twitter(for now) Find us on InstagramFind us on Counter SocialFind us on Mastadon

Justice David Souter has died.  Souter was one of the most private, low-profile justices ever to have served on the Supreme Court. He rarely gave interviews or speeches. Yet his tenure was anything but low profile. Deemed a “home run” nominee by Republicans, Souter defied partisan expectations on the bench and ultimately ceded his seat to a Democratic president.As we reflect on his legacy, we wanted to share this episode again.  Produced two years ago, this episode tells the story of how “No More Souters” became a rallying cry for Republicans and inspired a backlash that would change the Court forever.Voices in the episode include:• Ashley Lopez — NPR political correspondent• Anna Sale — host of Slate's Death, Sex & Money podcast • Tinsley Yarbrough — author and former political science professor at East Carolina University• Heather Gerken — Dean of Yale Law School and former Justice Souter clerk• Kermit Roosevelt III — professor at University of Pennsylvania School of Law and former Justice Souter clerk• Judge Peter Rubin — Associate Justice on Massachusetts Appeals Court and former Justice Souter clerk• Governor John H. Sununu — former governor of New Hampshire and President George H.W. Bush's Chief of StaffLearn more:• 1992: Planned Parenthood v. Casey• 1992: Lee v. Weisman• 2000: Bush v. Gore• 2009: Citizens United v. FEC

Chuck Todd begins the show with a candid assessment of President Trump's troubled first 100 days, suggesting that Trump's authoritarian tendencies may stem more from laziness than deliberate strategy. He questions what it would take for Trump to improve his approval ratings, noting that someone truly interested in maintaining power would be working harder to communicate with non-supporters.Then he's joined by Dr. Jodi Vittori, an expert on kleptocracy – rule by thieves. Dr. Vittori explains why functioning democracies and kleptocracies cannot coexist, offering Russia as the clearest example while suggesting Hungary represents a more subtle version. She warns that America's potential kleptocracy would have unique characteristics, with the tariff exemption process potentially serving as a gateway. The discussion explores how the Constitution originally included anti-corruption measures, how the Supreme Court has eroded these protections, and specific warning signs of kleptocratic governance. Dr. Vittori highlights how crypto enables corruption, why state and local governments are particularly vulnerable, and offers concrete reforms to protect democratic institutions. Their conversation concludes with the provocative question of whether Trump initiated America's slide toward kleptocracy or simply accelerated an existing trend.The episode wraps with "Ask Chuck," tackling listener questions about whether politicians should face legal consequences for lying to the public, what it would take to end gerrymandering, the definition of political moderation in today's polarized climate, and lightens the mood by speculating about which elected officials are most knowledgeable about sports.00:00 Introduction01:15 Trump's first 100 days have gone badly03:00 Trump is mailing it in05:00 Trump's authoritarianism is a product of laziness08:00 What would it take for Trump to improve his approval rating?12:00 If Trump was truly interested in a third term, he'd be communicating to non-supporters… and he's not13:25 Dr. Jodi Vittori joins the show! 14:35 Define "kleptocracy" and what are some examples? 16:25 You can't have kleptocracy in a functioning democracy 17:35 Is Putin's Russia the clearest example of kleptocracy? 18:55 Hungary is the more subtle version of kleptocracy 19:55 The US kleptocracy will be unique 21:25 Is the tariff exemption process how we end up in kleptocracy? 23:10 Much of the constitution was set up for anti corruption as they knew it at the time 24:55 The Supreme Court laid the foundation for this crisis 26:25 How do you know when you're in a kleptocracy? 27:40 Lack of accountability for elites led us here 28:40 Conflict of interest is unethical but not a crime 30:25 Until 1992 members of Congress could pocket their campaign war chest 31:40 Citizens United made America unique compared to other democracies 32:45 What are the next steps on the road to kleptocracy? 33:55 Crypto is a massive enabler of corruption 35:40 State and local governments are particularly susceptible to corruption 37:05 Are there certain states that have the most corruption? 40:10 What are some reforms that we should look to pass? 44:55 Lobbying used to be corporation vs citizens, now it's corporation vs corporation 45:55 The interests of the citizens are now secondary 47:40 We've enabled corruption 49:25 The US has become a tax haven for overseas money laundering 50:55 Did Trump bring about kleptocracy, or were we already on our way there? 52:25 How did Dr. Vitorri end up specializing in anti-corruption?55:50 Chuck's thoughts on the interview with Dr. Vittori 57:00 Ask Chuck 57:15 Should politicians or government officials be legally liable for lying to, or misleading the public? 1:01:25 What would it take to stop gerrymandering? 1:07:40 What does it mean to be a political moderate? 1:12:15 What elected official is the most knowledgeable about sports?

This Day in Legal History: Mutiny on the BountyOn April 28, 1789, one of the most famous acts of rebellion at sea occurred aboard the HMS Bounty. Captain William Bligh and 18 loyal crew members were forcibly set adrift in the Pacific Ocean by mutineers led by Fletcher Christian. The incident exposed deep tensions over leadership, working conditions, and authority in the Royal Navy. British law at the time treated mutiny as a capital offense, reflecting the critical importance of discipline aboard ships. After the mutiny, an intense search for the culprits began, with some mutineers eventually captured and returned to England to stand trial.The ensuing court-martial proceedings offered early insight into naval justice and the balancing act between maintaining strict command and recognizing crew grievances. Defendants argued that Bligh's harsh leadership provoked the uprising, but the Admiralty was unwavering in its stance against insubordination. Of those captured, three were found guilty and hanged, while others were acquitted or pardoned. The legal handling of the mutiny reinforced the severe consequences for undermining maritime authority. It also prompted discussions about humane treatment of sailors, subtly influencing later reforms in naval discipline.The Mutiny on the Bounty became a lasting symbol in both legal and cultural history, illustrating how law functions as both a tool of control and a response to the realities of human endurance and dissent at sea.Seven Democratic senators on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee have requested information from the Justice Department regarding recent changes within its civil rights division under President Donald Trump's administration. In a letter sent Friday, they expressed concern over the reassignment of several career officials, suggesting these moves could be an attempt to pressure staff into leaving and shift the division's enforcement priorities. Since Trump's return to office and the appointment of Pam Bondi as Attorney General, the department has paused investigations into police misconduct, launched a gun rights investigation in Los Angeles, and altered its approach to transgender rights cases. It has also opened investigations into antisemitism related to pro-Palestinian protests at colleges. The senators emphasized the importance of nonpartisan career staff in maintaining the integrity of civil rights enforcement. About a dozen senior attorneys specializing in voting, police, and disability rights were among those reassigned. The Justice Department has not yet commented on the senators' letter.Democratic senators question US Justice Department on civil rights changes | ReutersThe U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced that federal law enforcement agencies raided a nightclub in Colorado Springs, arresting over 100 individuals who were in the U.S. illegally. The operation resulted in 114 arrests out of more than 200 people present at the venue, making it one of the largest immigration-related raids since President Donald Trump's second term began. Attorney General Pam Bondi stated that the raid also led to the seizure of cocaine, methamphetamine, and "pink cocaine," and two individuals were arrested on outstanding warrants. Bondi mentioned links to gangs like Tren de Aragua and MS-13, although she did not directly confirm whether those arrested were affiliated with them. The DEA noted that occupants were given multiple warnings before the raid was executed. This action is part of an intensifying crackdown on illegal immigration under Trump's renewed immigration policies. Separately, ICE recently reported nearly 800 immigration-related arrests in Florida during a multi-agency operation.Over 100 migrants in the US illegally arrested in Colorado nightclub | ReutersThe Supreme Court has requested additional briefing in a case challenging the Affordable Care Act's mandate that insurers cover preventive services, like cancer screenings, at no cost. The justices specifically want the parties to address whether the Secretary of Health and Human Services has the legal authority to appoint members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which advises on covered treatments. During arguments on April 21, Justice Neil Gorsuch questioned whether the power to remove officials necessarily implies the power to appoint them, an issue the lower court had not considered. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals previously ruled that the task force's structure violated the Constitution's appointments clause, arguing its members must be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The Trump administration contends the task force members are merely "inferior officers" under the HHS Secretary's control. The case also involves objections by Texas businesses and residents to mandatory coverage of HIV prevention drugs, claiming unconstitutional imposition by unelected officials. Supplemental briefs are due by May 5, and while rare, this is not the first time the Court has asked for more information after oral arguments, as seen in past cases like Zubik v. Burwell and Citizens United v. FEC.Supreme Court Orders New Briefs After Obamacare Case Argued (1) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

Andrew Callaghan and Patrick Bet-David break down Citizens United, the billion-dollar influence game, and Zuckerberg's regret over COVID-era censorship. With charts, donor data, and political history, they tackle how corporate power—left and right—shapes elections and public perception.

For Master Plan listeners, we're excited to drop Part 1 of Tax Revolt, a new mini-series from Lever Time that digs into the origins of America's obsession with dismantling the tax code.If you want to hear hear more, Part 2 is available now in the Lever Time podcast feed on all platforms. Learn more at LeverNews.com/TaxRevolt

Chuck Todd speaks with legendary documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney about his newest project The Dark Money Game on HBO and the influence of legalized bribery in American politics.First, Chuck gives his own thoughts on the corrupting influence of money in politics, why Donald Trump's memecoin is a bribery scheme in plain sight and why money has fueled distrust in politics from both sides of the aisleThen, Chuck and Alex dive into the Ohio scandal at the center of The Dark Money Game, exploring why Americans have grown numb to the Citizens United ruling—and how it effectively legalized bribery in politics. They discuss how money has become a deeply corrosive force in American democracy.Alex shares his process for selecting the story, what he uncovered during his investigation, and why the project ultimately became a two-part series.The conversation also touches on the troubling alliance between organized religion and dark money, the Trump administration's open embrace of corruption, and, finally, Alex reveals the focus of his next big project: Elon Musk.Finally, Chuck answers a listener question in the Ask Chuck segment!0:00 Introduction1:00 Citizen's United created the dark money era1:45 Reform efforts have failed3:00 Campaigns used to cost millions, not billions5:00 Money has cut voters out of the equation9:00 Trump's memecoin is a bribery scam in plain sight10:30 We need strong disclosure laws13:00 Public funding of elections is an all or nothing propositionv14:30 Distrust in politics centers on money in the system17:40 Alex Gibney joins the show! 18:40 Dark Money is the best attempt at telling the story of money corrupting politics 19:40 How hard is it to make this story accessible to the public? 20:40 Campaign finance should be rebranded as bribery 21:40 Ohio state legislature captured by special interests 24:10 Why did First Energy execs not end up in prison? 25:25 Huge money ensured GOP candidates in Ohio won, then were beholden 26:40 The bribe was a good investment 28:10 How did Alex access the wiretaps? 28:55 Investigators stumbled into the case 30:55 We've accepted money in politics and are numb to it 31:40 Citizens United opened the floodgates to corruption via PACs 33:40 Bribery is now legal 35:25 We're in a kleptocracy now 35:55 Reed Hoffman donated millions to Harris and wanted Lina Khan fired at FTC 37:40 Big money interests can just buy their own news coverage 40:10 Ohio whistleblower turned in his friend in service to his state 41:10 Florida gambling initiatives bought and sold petition signatures 42:40 Money in politics is like the mob bribing cops 45:10 Candidates don't run on an anti corruption/campaign finance platform 46:40 Billionaires shouldn't get define the world for the rest of us 47:55 Bernie/AOC turning out huge crowds tapping into anger against a rigged system 49:40 Dark money started as one film and became two because there was too much material 50:55 Evangelical grifters became fused with dark money in exchange for political influence 53:55 Corrupt Religious leaders "bless" political corruption to their followers 55:40 Society is driven by, and consumed by money 56:40 Law firms and universities have capitulated to Trump over their financial interests 59:10 Alex's advice for young documentarians 1:00:40 Lobbying is now corporation vs corporation 1:03:25 Elon Musk is Alex's next topic1:04:25 Chuck's thoughts on conversation with Alex Gibney 1:05:25 Ask Chuck - How can voters in states with later primaries feel involved in choosing presidential candidates? 1:06:55 A rotating system for primaries based on region is a potential solution 1:09:55 There are ways to make the system fair, but the people in charge don't want a fair system. 1:12:55 Voters in early states take the process very seriously

Every stolen vote, every purged roll, every billionaire's whisper in the ear of power — this is the legacy of John Roberts' court…See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

MP3 from the Oyez websitehttps://www.oyez.org/cases/2008/08-205

MP3 from the Oyez websitehttps://www.oyez.org/cases/2008/08-205

MP3 from the Oyez websitehttps://www.oyez.org/cases/2008/08-205

Hello to you listening in Dublin, New Hampshire!Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds (and a bit more) for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga.Imagine this: It's February 1998. You are 89 years old. You have arthritis and emphysema. You live in a small town in New Hampshire. You laid to rest your husband of 65 years after caring for him with Alzheimer's the last 10 years of his life. Your best friend of 50 years has also died. Now what, asks your son? What will you do?I have an idea, you say. Money is the big divider between people and politics. The tycoons with the money are buying the politicians and making all the decisions. Someone has to tell the American people about the need for national campaign finance reform. I can do that. How, your son wants to know.I'll go on a walk. And so she begins getting in shape walking 2 miles a day, 5 miles a day, 10 miles a day, and carrying a backpack. After 7 months she declares herself ready to go on a walk and tells her son she is starting in Los Angeles, California.After collecting petitions on a beach in Los Angeles Doris Haddock, a.k.a. Granny D begins 14-month walk across America through California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Arkansas and on up to Washington, DC. She has no GoFundMe account or any real plan except to get out and talk to as many people as she can about the need for campaign finance reform.My friend Granny D eats with the people she walks with along the way, sleeps in a spare bedroom, on a couch or in a church basement. She gives talks about national campaign finance reform at rodeos, county fairs, schools, and local gatherings. 10 miles a day, every day, walking across America in her 90th year.By the time Granny D arrives in Washington, DC a blizzard has blocked traffic so she cross-country skies to the Capital to meet then Senators McCain & Feingold who sponsored the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act which will become law 2 years later in 2002. The primary purpose of the Act was to eliminate the increased use of so-called soft money to fund advertising by political parties on behalf of their candidates.    Of her walk Granny D always had her doubts; but she persisted. Here we are 25 years later and deeper in soft-money shit than she could have imagined thanks to the bought and paid for SCOTUS decision in Citizens United that equated money with free speech, kicked open the floodgates to a tsunami of dark money, and tilted political influence toward wealthy donors tycoons, and corporations.    I knew Granny D, we wrote letters back and forth. Sometimes I wonder: What was the point? What difference did 14 months of walking and talking do? I'll tell you. It did this: I'm still talking about her and the wild possibility that she actually realized. She was one Ordinary Person who took up a cause she believed in, talked to thousands of people as she walked across America in her 90th year and kept on talking until she died at the age of 100. Like every good story Granny D lives on to inspire, motivate, and remind each of us - young and old - what we are capable of, what we can achieve before and even after our 90th year.  Yes! we are Ordinary Persons standing shoulder to shoulder with other Ordinary Persons drawn together like filings to a magnet building an Army of Ordinary Persons to Free America, unbalance the status quo, and create a Citizen's Future of hope, dignity, and inclusion. We are the stories of light we struggle to write in these dark times and will be proud to share with those we leave behind when we walk on.  Story Prompt: Who are you? What is your declaration of wild possibility? How are you shaping the future for good? Write that story!You're always welcome: "Come for the stories - Stay for the magic!" Speaking of magic, I hope you'll subscribe, share a 5-star rating and nice review on your social media or podcast channel of choice, bring your friends and rellies, and join us! You will have wonderful company as we continue to walk our lives together. Be sure to stop by my Quarter Moon Story Arts website, check out the Services, arrange a Discovery Call, and Opt In to stay current with me as "Wyzga on Words" on Substack.Stories From Women Who Walk Production TeamPodcaster: Diane F Wyzga & Quarter Moon Story ArtsMusic: Mer's Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch & Night Heron MusicAll content and image © 2019 to Present Quarter Moon Story Arts. All rights reserved.

Listen to the trailer for Tax Revolt. Part 1 is available now in the Lever Time podcast feed. Learn more at LeverNews.com/TaxRevolt

Here's your local news for Monday, April 14, 2025:We hear prison reform advocates' key goals for this spring,Get the details on a bill that would bring the question of campaign spending directly to Wisconsin voters,Find out why a measure that would make gun safes tax-free is getting bipartisan support,Share the local government's calendar for the week ahead,Remember one of the most violent strikes of the early twentieth century,Review a new series and an old classic,And much more.

In a powerful callout, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed Congress and the White House over insider trading. Elected officials shouldn't hold stocks—period. While Martha Stewart went to prison for it, members of Congress routinely outperform the market, raising red flags of insider trading. Donald Trump, for example, told people to buy stocks just before pausing tariffs, triggering a historic $304 billion windfall for billionaires, according to Bloomberg. How many people did Trump tell in private before hitting send on that social media post? Because that would be insider trading.  Corruption flows freely in America—like cheap wine at Mar-a-Lago. Now, MAGA Republicans are pushing the SAVE Act, requiring proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. It's voter suppression dressed up as security. Noncitizen voting is extremely rare, but this bill could disenfranchise millions—including women who changed their names for marriage and trans Americans. It's essentially a poll tax, nationalizing Jim Crow. Democrats could stop it in the Senate—unless a handful cave. Four House Democrats already backed it. If passed, this could become the next Citizens United, further empowering oligarchs like Elon Musk and paving Trump's path to authoritarian rule. What can you do? Show up. Protest. Call your senators, especially those who caved on the budget battle. Demand accountability. And yes, let's talk about AOC primarying Chuck Schumer or Kirsten Gillibrand—New York, an the nation, deserves better. For more on how to fight back, check the Gaslit Nation Action Guide at GaslitNationPod.com. Join us Monday, April 14, for a salon on defeating oligarchy, with special guests–Patrick Guarasci and Sam Roecker, senior advisors to Judge Susan Crawford's victorious Wisconsin Supreme Court campaign. Together, we're sand in their gears. In this week's bonus show, Gaslit Nation's special guest Adrian Karatnycky takes the Gaslit Nation Self-Care Q&A. Adrian has been on the frontlines fighting for democracy both at home and abroad. In his critically acclaimed book Battleground Ukraine, he traces Ukraine's struggle for independence from the fall of the Soviet Union to Russia's genocidal invasion today, drawing important lessons for protecting democracies worldwide. He has worked alongside civil rights legend Bayard Rustin and the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in America. He also supported Poland's Solidarity movement, which helped bring down the Iron Curtain, and played a key role, along with iconic Soviet dissident, writer, and Czech statesman Václav Havel, in preserving Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in the 1990s, when many thought the Cold War had ended.  Want to enjoy Gaslit Nation ad-free? Join our community of listeners for bonus shows, ad-free episodes, exclusive Q&A sessions, our group chat, invites to live events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit! EVENTS AT GASLIT NATION: April 14 4pm ET – Live-taping with Patrick Guarasci, chief political strategist for Judge Susan Crawford, discussing their campaign's victory against Elon Musk in the pivotal Wisconsin Supreme Court race! April 28 4pm ET – Book club discussion of Octavia Butler's The Parable of the Sower   Indiana-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to join, available on Patreon. Florida-based listeners are going strong meeting in person. Be sure to join their Signal group, available on Patreon. Have you taken Gaslit Nation's HyperNormalization Survey Yet? Gaslit Nation Salons take place Mondays 4pm ET over Zoom and the first ~40 minutes are recorded and shared on Patreon.com/Gaslit for our community  Show Notes:  Here Are the Senate Democrats Who Helped Republicans Avert a Shutdown https://time.com/7268499/senate-democrats-budget-vote/ Will They Help MAGA Pass the SAVE Act? Here's How to Contact Them: https://www.congressionalinstitute.org/contact-congress/ Four Democrats Pass Bill Making It Harder for Married Women to Vote The House of Representatives—with the help of four Democrats—just passed a bill that could disenfranchise millions. https://newrepublic.com/post/193868/democrats-save-act-bill-harder-married-women-vote The SAVE Act threatens to block millions of Americans from voting while also imposing significant burdens on state and local election officials. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/dangers-congresss-latest-election-bill 3.5 Million Votes Canceled in 2024 Election: https://gaslitnation.libsyn.com/will-we-have-free-and-fair-elections-in-the-midterms U.N. expert decries near 'tyranny' in U.S. against minority voting rights https://www.reuters.com/world/us/un-expert-decries-gerrymandering-parts-us-that-denies-minority-voting-rights-2021-11-22/ Report of the Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Fernand de Varennes, on his visit to the United States of America https://www.splcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/files/report-un-special-rapporteur-minority-issues-march-2022.pdf Attack on Civil Rights: SPLC contributes to UN special report on state of minorities in the US https://www.splcenter.org/resources/stories/attack-civil-rights-splc-contributes-un-special-report-state-minorities-us/ Members of Congress again outperformed the stock market, report shows https://finance.yahoo.com/news/members-congress-again-outperformed-stock-162050482.html Andrew Ross Sorkin Suggests Government Officials May Have Sold Stocks Ahead of Trump Tariffs: ‘Would Not Shock Me' https://www.mediaite.com/tv/andrew-ross-sorkin-suggests-government-officials-may-have-sold-stocks-ahead-of-trump-tariffs-would-not-shock-me/ Ocasio-Cortez: Colleagues ‘should probably disclose' recent stock purchases now https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5242235-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-congress-stock-donald-trump-tariffs/ The Power of the Powerless by Vaclav Havel October, 1978 https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/wp-content/uploads/1979/01/the-power-of-the-powerless.pdf

Dr. Cornel West and Nina Turner discuss the corrupting force of big money and dark money on elections. The race for the 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court has drawn $100 million. It is the most expensive state supreme court race in history and is a glaring example of why Citizens United must be overturned.

This week hosts Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, and Andrew Gillum talk about the single most powerful force in Washington DC: the special interests. Why is it that our political leaders so often act in opposition to the will of the voters? There is an industry of lobbyists and special interest groups that donate unlimited amounts of money (thanks Citizens United) to fund our politicians' campaigns, gain access to their offices, and influence their decision making. On today’s episode our hosts de-mystify the D.C. machine–who do our politicians REALLY work for? We’re looking at you, BlackRock. Check out who donates to YOUR representatives at www.opensecrets.org/ Speaking of the influence of special interests, Palestinian Mahmoud Khalil has been separated from his family and jailed for protesting the war in Gaza while he was a graduate student at Columbia University. His fight is not over and he has a message for all of us, read his open letter here: inthesetimes.com/article/mahmoud-khalil-letter-from-a-palestinian-political-prisoner-in-louisiana TELL US which special interest groups concern (or excite) you! Submit a question or comment to our Instagram page, directions below: www.instagram.com/reel/C5j_oBXLIg0/ We are 593 days away from the midterm elections. Welcome home y’all! —--------- We want to hear from you! Send us a video @nativelandpod and we may feature you on the podcast. Instagram X/Twitter Facebook NativeLandPod.com Watch full episodes of Native Land Pod here on YouTube. Native Land Pod is brought to you by Reasoned Choice Media. Thank you to the Native Land Pod team: Angela Rye as host, executive producer and cofounder of Reasoned Choice Media; Tiffany Cross as host and producer, Andrew Gillum as host and producer, and Lauren Hansen as executive producer; Loren Mychael is our research producer, and Nikolas Harter is our editor and producer. Special thanks to Chris Morrow and Lenard McKelvey, co-founders of Reasoned Choice Media. Theme music created by Daniel Laurent.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"Climate denial and Citizens United are two sides of the same coin." That was U.S. Senator Whitehouse basically summing up this episode. Discover why the fight against climate change practically stopped in its tracks following the 2010 Citizens United ruling -- and why it feels so infuriating -- and what we can do about it today.Sourceshttps://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/speeches/how-citizens-united-altered-the-climate-debate/https://www.commoncause.org/articles/inextricably-linked-how-citizens-united-halted-climate-action/ https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/15-years-later-citizens-united-allows-corporate-greed-to-fuel-climate-disasters/ https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-big-money-in-politics-blocked-u-s-action-on-climate-changePlutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections: https://amzn.to/3WXyjeJ Patreon: patreon.com/greeningupmyactInstagram: @greeningupmyactFacebook: Greening Up My ActEmail us with questions: greeningupmyact@gmail.comYouTube: Greening Up My Act

In this two-part episode, hosts Tiff and Kat break down Citizens United, the Supreme Court case that unleashed unlimited corporate spending in politics — and how that money fuels climate inaction. With fossil fuel giants pouring millions into elections and lobbying, we explore how this decision came about in the first place. Join us as we uncover the link between big money, political gridlock, and the fight for a sustainable future.As Amazon Associates, some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you click and buy.Sources:https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/citizens-united-explained More Perfect podcast: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolabmoreperfect/episodes/citizens-united https://www.fec.gov/legal-resources/court-cases/citizens-united-v-fec/ Congressional Research Service: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12691 https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00825851/ Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections: https://amzn.to/3WXyjeJ Patreon: patreon.com/greeningupmyactInstagram: @greeningupmyactFacebook: Greening Up My ActEmail us with questions: greeningupmyact@gmail.comYouTube: Greening Up My Act

The movement to get money out of politics will take a very long time. I know people don’t want to hear that. My guess is, in the best case scenario, we’re looking at 20 years. Best case. If it makes you feel any better, the movement to get money into politics took 181 years so by that measure, two decades to unravel what took 181 to build isn’t all that bad. Either we’re committed to playing the long game or not. The assholes that got us here were. Chapters Intro: 00:00:33 Chapter One: Non-Negotiable #4. 00:01:11 Chapter Two: The Long and Winding Road to Citizens United. 00:07:05 Chapter Three: Media Complicity. The Revolution Was Already Televised. 00:16:46 Chapter Four: Defying Its Creator. The Tale of Mitch McGolem. 00:20:43 Bring it Home, Max: 00:28:47 Post Show Musings: 00:37:13 Outro: 01:11:09 Resources OpenSecrets: Money-in-Politics Timeline Brennan Center for Justice: Since Citizens United, a Decade of Super PACs Cambridge University: Dark Parties: Unveiling Nonparty Communities in American Political Campaigns De Gruyter: Television Advertising in the 2022 Midterms De Gruyter: Digital Advertising in the 2022 Midterms Bowdoin College: Government Scholar Michael Franz on Impact of Ads during the 2024 Election Cycle Brennan Center for Justice: Life Tenure for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Is a Global Oddity with Clear Costs Ballotpedia News: Looking ahead at 2025 ranked-choice voting legislation Justia: Citizens United v. FEC | 558 U.S. 310 (2010) Senate: Saving American Democracy Amendment Constitution Center: Interpretation: The Twenty-Seventh Amendment American Promise CampaignFinanceReform.org Book Love Adam Jentleson: Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy Kermit L. Hall: The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States UNFTR Episode Resources Housing First. Building a Civilian Labor Corps: Bracing for the AI Job Apocalypse. Medicare for All. Project 2025. What’s the Deal with Peter Thiel? “Russputin” and the Tsar. -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, TikTok and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is hosted by Max and distributed by 99. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic."Support the show: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/unftrSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Park Ranger family man FIRED from dream job! CALLS: Gov't wasted money! Diesel regulations? Big money? "SToLeN LaNd"? Interest on money?The Hake Report, Tuesday, February 18, 2025 ADTIMESTAMPS* (0:00:00) Start* (0:01:48) Hake News…* (0:03:30) I'll sue! Other news…* (0:09:27) Hey, guys!* (0:13:13) Cry more, park ranger* (0:27:43) Arguing with the chat* (0:32:25) SHAWN, FL: Preppers, Jesus, Trump* (0:38:46) SHAWN: PBS, eggs, recession meals* (0:46:49) SHAWN: Barbara Walters* (0:48:54) ARDENE, CO: F-16, under-budget* (0:52:08) ARDENE: Lobbying, Pharma* (0:57:26) ARDENE: Stolen land?* (0:59:05) Post-Ardene rant* (1:06:51) Lisa on FB* (1:07:29) MANUEL, CA: $4.7T missing per DOGE; Diesel rant* (1:14:18) MANUEL: "Stolen land," white confrontation, Trump* (1:22:25) Citizens United, conservatives vs liberals* (1:25:18) Term Limits? No* (1:28:06) DANIEL, TX: Engines! Diesel* (1:37:10) JEFF, LA: JD Vance, foreign policy* (1:43:51) Coffee: Citizens United, no corps donating* (1:45:11) ALLEN, MI: Interest on money, biblical values* (1:50:35) Chambacu - Aurita Castillo & Su ConjuntoLINKSCLIP: Hake DOMINATES an older gal hung up on dumb stuff (shoutout) (17-min) Rumble | YouTube BLOG https://www.thehakereport.com/blog/2025/2/18/the-hake-report-tue-2-18-25PODCAST / Substack HAKE NEWS from JLP https://www.thehakereport.com/jlp-news/2025/2/18/hake-news-tue-2-18-25Hake is live M-F 9-11a PT (11-1CT/12-2ET) Call-in 1-888-775-3773 https://www.thehakereport.com/showVIDEO YouTube - Rumble* - Facebook - X - BitChute - Odysee*PODCAST Substack - Apple - Spotify - Castbox - Podcast Addict*SUPER CHAT on platforms* above or BuyMeACoffee, etc.SHOP - Printify (new!) - Spring (old!) - Cameo | All My LinksJLP Network:JLP - Church - TFS - Nick - Joel - Punchie Get full access to HAKE at thehakereport.substack.com/subscribe

In 2010, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case that corporations (and, by extension, unions and other groups) may make unlimited expenditures on messages encouraging votes for or against specific candidates, so long as they're not coordinated with candidates or parties. This gave birth to Super PACs and a foray of oligarchs in the US democratic process. The first group of oligarchs though, influenced US democracy in the late 19th Century during the gilded era. With the Tech oligarchs at the helm in 2025, lot more is at stake than just election influence.

Scott discusses the Citizens United decision and its repercussions fifteen years later, specifically how it's pure grift for the rich. He then offers advice to a listener asking for a raise at work and wraps up with his thoughts on the right time to have children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why do so many Americans think tax breaks for the uber-wealthy will help the average person? According to Jeffrey Winters, the answer is simple: oligarchy. Today Winters breaks down how massive wealth distorts politics, and what can be done to combat it. Winters is professor of political science and director of the Equality Development and Globalization Studies (EDGS) program at Northwestern University. His research focuses on oligarchy in the US and around the world, historically and today. His forthcoming book, Domination through Democracy: Why Oligarchs Win, will be published by Penguin Random House later this year. Winters is also an expert on the politics of Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia. He is an award-winning teacher, and his book Oligarchy (Cambridge, 2011) won the Luebbert Prize in 2012 for the best book in comparative politics from the American Political Science Association.

Trump to tour California wildfire damage ahead of Pete Hegseth Senate vote; Ohio's political landscape, 15 years after Citizens United; MS gets $7M grant for supports to help crime victims heal; AL dean prioritizes bridge-building, empathy training for students.

Fifteen years ago this week, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a ruling that fundamentally changed American politics —  In a 5-4 judgment in Citizens United v FEC, the court struck down restrictions on corporate spending in elections and paved the way for the mountains of dark money in our politics today. But there's more.In The Lever's recent series Master Plan, David Sirota and a team of journalists dove deep into the litigious roots of the Citizens United case, starting with the nearly-forgotten story of a small-town Indiana lawyer, as well as the vast political consequences of the high court's landmark decision. Today on Lever Time, we're sharing that episode with listeners to mark the anniversary of the ruling.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.ktfpress.comOn this month's bonus episode, Jonathan and Sy are talking political education in this new era of traditional and social media bowing to Trump and the MAGA movement. We get into:- The beliefs about free speech behind the changes at Meta that Mark Zuckerberg recently announced- How our understanding of healthy discourse differs from those beliefs- And tips for staying politically educated in this new environmentCredits- Follow KTF Press on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. Subscribe to get our bonus episodes and other benefits at KTFPress.com.- Follow host Jonathan Walton on Facebook Instagram, and Threads.- Follow host Sy Hoekstra on Mastodon.- Our theme song is “Citizens” by Jon Guerra – listen to the whole song on Spotify.- Our podcast art is by Robyn Burgess – follow her and see her other work on Instagram.- Transcripts by Joyce Ambale and Sy.- Editing by Sy.- Production by Sy and our incredible subscribersTranscript[An acoustic guitar softly plays six notes in a major scale, the first three ascending and the last three descending, with a keyboard pad playing the tonic in the background. Both fade out as Jonathan Walton says “This is a KTF Press podcast.”]Sy Hoekstra: The moderation isn't really a problem, it's sort of the greed behind the companies. Like, the people who have realized, “Oh, I can make a ton of money by making people super angry [laughs]. And I don't care what that does to our public discourse, because it makes me money.” That's the real problem to me. It's not actually the fact that somebody has said, “I will not let people say anti-Semitic things on my platform. “[The song “Citizens” by Jon Guerra fades in. Lyrics: “I need to know there is justice/ That it will roll in abundance/ And that you're building a city/ Where we arrive as immigrants/ And you call us citizens/ And you welcome us as children home.” The song fades out.]Sy Hoekstra: Hello, hello, everybody. This is Sy. Jonathan and I are still recording these monthly bonus episodes on Substack live. Thank you if you were able to join us for the live recording this time around. I'm just here to tell you that the recording cut off the very, very beginning of what I said when we started. So if I just dropped you in, it wouldn't make any sense. What I'm gonna do is seamlessly transition us from this to the live recording. Now ready? Here we go. Welcome to this bonus episode of Shake the Dust, seeking Jesus, confronting injustice. [transition to live recording] I'm Sy Hoekstra.Jonathan Walton: And I'm Jonathan Walton. Welcome again to this bonus episode recorded live on Substack. Thank you to everyone who is joining and watching right now and watching later, and again, thanks for being a subscriber to this podcast. We appreciate you.Sy Hoekstra: We are going to be talking today, as the headline says, about how to be politically educated, how to keep yourself politically educated in this new era of Trump. And not just Trump, but also both legacy and social media platforms, kind of bowing the knee to him and doing his bidding [laughs]. Political education has always been central to what we talk about at KTF Press, and our reasons for doing it and what we're trying to accomplish haven't changed, but the way that you go about doing it is actually starting to change in significant ways. So we thought we would take some time to talk about kind of the reasons behind the changes that are happening in the media and how that means we need to be paying attention going forward in order to remain people who are informed and who can be helpful and who can serve the kingdom of God in our politics.So we're kind of merging the whole show together. Normally, we have our conversation and then we do separately the Which Tab Is Still Open, which is where we have a segment where we talk about diving deeper into one of the things from our newsletter, one of the highlights that one of us brought out from the news in our newsletter. When we were talking about this conversation, I was like, “I wanna talk about the Meta stuff and Mark Zuckerberg and those announcements that he made.” And as we had the conversation, we sort of realized that's actually the whole episode [laughter].Jonathan Walton: Yeah, exactly.Sy Hoekstra: We're doing a whole episode of Which Tab Is Still Open. I will explain those of you who don't know, give a brief summary of what it is that Mark Zuckerberg said exactly last week, and then we will get into the meat of the conversation. And then we'll be talking about how to find trustworthy sources and how to better understand the political and news climate that we are in in this new Trump era. So this is gonna be a really good conversation. I'm sure you'll all enjoy it. Jonathan, though, before we get started, it's your turn to talk [laughter].Jonathan Walton: Yeah. Well, if you're listening to this live, please consider becoming a paid subscriber and supporting this work so we can do more of it. If you become a paid subscriber, you'll get access to this video, audio and all of our live and bonus episodes from like [laughs] the last four years. You also get access to archives of everything that we've done, our Zoom calls as well. So please, please, do become a paid subscriber. You'll also get the ability to comment and interact with us more, and you'll be supporting everything that we're doing as we push for just political discipleship and education and leave behind the idols of the American church. Welcome to all y'all who just signed on.For everybody, if you do like Shake the Dust, definitely go to Apple, Spotify, give a great review. That helps people discover the show and lets us know that y'all appreciate what we're doing, and we are so excited to jump into this conversation today. Go for it, Sy.Sy Hoekstra: All right, let me get us caught up. And for the people who are live, feel free to comment or question in the chat at any point, and Jonathan will be monitoring that. We will incorporate that into our discussion. And join us live, by the way, if you wanna have that opportunity, if you're listening later. So like I said, what I'm gonna do is explain just the brief bullet points of everything that Mark Zuckerberg said in his reel last week [laughter].Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: And all of the changes that are happening at Meta, which is Facebook and Instagram and Threads.Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: And then we will get into the conversation about it after I go into that. Like I said, Which Tab Is Still Open right at the top of the show. So here are the announcements that he made, and they're all about content moderation and filtering content and everything on Facebook and Instagram and Threads. So the first thing, he has six announcements. I'll go through them really quickly. One is they are ending their fact checking program [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Yeah.Sy Hoekstra: They are completely getting rid of all of their mostly third party fact checkers and replacing them with community notes like they have on Twitter, meaning users will be doing the fact checking and trying to post notes to correct disinformation on Facebook, instead of having professional fact checkers doing that. He will be limiting moderation on certain subjects. He specifically mentioned immigration and gender. People who have subsequently reported about the policy changes have said there are also things about race and some other subjects that will not be moderated. And this is like basically saying that censorship on those subjects is out of touch with mainstream discourse now.All of this he made pretty clear, was revolving around Trump's election. They're gonna be focusing their content filters, like their automatic, not the actual people doing the fact checking or the humans doing the moderation, but the robo content filters [laughs] on illegal content and high severity violations, as he described them. So that's stuff like drugs and terrorism and child exploitation, that sort of thing. And then anything that is not on those subjects, in order for the filters to act in any way, people will have to affirmatively report them. The filters won't act preemptively. They're gonna bring back what they call civic content, which is like their political content.They had been, as a lot of you probably know, sort of hiding it. You had to go into your settings and say that you specifically wanted to see it to get it in your feed. So they're taking away that filter, that'll be back in your feed. And then the [laughs], there's two more. One is the safety and content moderation teams. They are moving to Texas, where they're, as Mark Zuckerberg put it, “where there will be less concerns about their biases.” They are currently in California, so that tells you which biases [laughs] he cares about and which he doesn't. Also, by the way, other reporters have said a lot of their content, there's some of their content moderation teams are already in Texas, but…Jonathan Walton: It's true.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah [laughs].Jonathan Walton: It's a hand wave, yeah.Sy Hoekstra: Exactly. The rest of them will be moving to Texas.Jonathan Walton: Yeah.Sy Hoekstra: And then finally, he said he'll be working with Trump and the US government to push back on governments, he specially named Europe, Latin America and China, who want Facebook to be doing more moderation and content filtering, which he always refers to as censorship, to push back against them, combined with the power of the American federal government. Specifically noting that over the last four years, it has been difficult, because the American government was asking for more censorship.Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: And all of this he justifies under kind of a heading of giving people a voice and allowing people to share their real experiences and free speech. He mentions the constitution and just our culture of free speech and discourse. Those are kind of the, I don't know, bigger ideological points that he gives behind it. I will just note before we start, this is very similar to the moves that Twitter has made and, important for us, this is similar to what Substack has been the whole time. Substack has been a non-moderation, almost entirely unmoderated platform for a very long time. They only moderate material that is either illegal in some way or pornographic. They have pretty much let everything else be, which has caused some controversy.So we will get into it, Jonathan. As I said, anybody can comment or ask questions as we go. But Jonathan, before we jump into what we think good political education is in the midst of changes, like what's happening at Meta, I wanna talk a little bit about kind of the ideology, the world view behind this, what the politics and economics behind this way of thinking are, because that will inform how we think that you move forward. So tell us what you think about what the world view is, what the ideology is behind these sorts of changes, and how does yours differ from that worldview [laughter]? Because spoilers, it does differ.Jonathan Walton: Yeah. I mean, I've got a significant amount of disagreement with all of this.Sy Hoekstra: [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Lots of dissonance that I feel around it. And there's a meme that someone put out really, there's amazing art happening right now around the different things that are happening in culture, particularly around war, injustice, violence, et cetera. So if you're not following amazing artists on Instagram or, we'll dive into how to use social media a little bit more later, but find some great art, find some great photos, find some things. And I found one that basically showed Trump sitting on a throne with a stream of visibly cartoonish but totally recognizable CEOs dropping million dollar coins at his feet to signify the reality that there are many, many CEOs right now, basically tithing a million dollars paying tribute to our new leader.And I think that is what we need to hold as the reality, is that all of this is subservient to the reality that these CEOs are trying to make as much money as possible and to protect the empires that they're building, and there is no larger framework of engaging in a social good. The reality is wherever the wind blows that's going to be the most profitable for their company, that is where they're going. And I think this is signified by how Morning Brew Daily, one of the most popular podcasts on the planet, talks about how Elon Musk invested money in the election. That was how they framed it.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Jonathan Walton: He “invested” $227 million in Trump becoming president. We should not call election manipulation and subversion of democracy an investment. But I think that's exactly how the powers that be see and engage with our current political system downstream of Citizens United in 2010 and all that kind of stuff. So I think we have to remember that we sit on stolen land that's set up in an exploitative, capitalistic system, and the moves that are being made are to protect the accumulation and the unbridled accumulation of that capital. And I think pretty explicitly now and enshrined into law, like with Citizens United, is this political and economic marrying which has ballooned into just all kinds of campaign finance violations that are no longer violations, and secret organizations and all those kinds of things that I wish were different, but am recognizing, praying and working against so that they actually will be.Sy Hoekstra: It's interesting to me that you mentioned those things in particular, because as we have said with Donald Trump in so many other arenas, he is not particularly unique in… like everybody always donates to presidents' inaugurations. Companies have always donated money to senatorial campaigns or to whatever.Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: That's not new. The idea that your whole goal of your company is to maximize wealth for your shareholders is not new. It's just as usual with everything else. Trump magnifies things and puts them out in the open, not just him, but the whole culture around him, puts them out in the open in a way that they weren't before. And that's the chief thing that surprises people about him a lot is just how brazen he is.Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: But, yeah, no, I agree with you. And I think the things, part of what we're maybe uncovering there is the things that change in how you politically educate yourself are not about radically new ideas that are coming down the pike. They're just about things crystallizing and elevating in a new way, and that's why we have to change. But, yeah, you're right. It's a cohesive thing. It makes sense with how we've had 40 years or so of sort of Republican orthodoxy being the purpose of a corporation is primarily to maximize shareholder value, maximize the value for people who own the company, and then that will in turn, be in the best interest of society, which is sort of an article of faith, that those interests will be aligned, that it is useful for people [laughs] who want to make a lot of money to propagate that faith.Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah, go ahead.Jonathan Walton: No, I was gonna say, how about you? What are some of the things standing out for you as we engage?Sy Hoekstra: Oh, there's so much, Jonathan. There's too much.Jonathan Walton: [laughs].Sy Hoekstra: I have so many things written down [laughter]. So I will pause and allow you to talk as I go through this.Jonathan Walton: Yeah.Sy Hoekstra: So I think you're right in what you're talking about is the motivations behind what CEOs are doing, but more broadly, the reason that things like what Zuckerberg or Elon Musk or other people are saying about their social media platforms, there's ideologies that justify those things in the minds of people who aren't making money off of them [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: And one of those values or one of those, I don't know, it's a phrase, it's an idea that a lot of people have, is the marketplace of ideas. So this is a big part of our, quote- unquote, First Amendment or free speech culture in America. It's the idea that if you just put all your ideas out there in the world and all the justifications for them, the best ones will win out. Like products. You have a bunch of companies competing selling similar products. People are gonna buy the products that are the best at the best price, and the other ones will not do as well as whoever manages to provide the best product at the best price. It's the same. It is the marketplace of ideas.You provide the best ideas with the best justifications, you get them out there, they will beat all the other worse ideas, and the good ideas will dominate society. And so I say that that's important because that's kind of the reason that people say so there should be no moderation.Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: Nobody should be blocking anybody's content, because actually, the way to defeat ideas is by presenting better ideas, not by destroying them or censoring or moderating them. Now I'm not in favor of censorship [laughter]. I'm not in favor of shutting people down in oppressive, authoritarian regimes. I just think the notion that better ideas, if they're put out there, will just automatically be bad ones is absurd [laughter]. And that bad ideas can be propagated through things like money and advertising and political power and whatever. You can do things short of all out censorship and oppression that are bad for our civic discourse [laughter].Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: That is a thing that I firmly believe. It is not that there's one bad guy of censorship, and as long as we defeat that, then everything will be, all the conditions will be perfect for beautiful, productive public discourse [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: And I think part of the problem is that the idea, doesn't really account for either emotions or power dynamics

Trump's pardons of January 6th participants spark mixed reactions, federal DEI suspensions raise equity concerns, diversity in medicine faces challenges post-affirmative action and Citizens United continues to amplify big money in politics.

Headlines for January 22, 2025; “Have Mercy”: Watch Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde’s Sermon Challenging Trump at Inaugural Service; “Profoundly Dangerous”: Public Citizen Sues Trump over Legality of Elon Musk-Led DOGE; Citizens United at 15: Landmark Ruling Helped Elon Musk & Other Billionaires Bankroll Trump Victory; Tech’s Rightward Drift: Researcher Becca Lewis on How Trump Captured Silicon Valley; Immigrant Activist Ravi Ragbir Speaks After Biden’s Last-Minute Pardon Saved Him from Deportation

Hosts: Erin Rider and Adam Gardiner  Look on social media around election time, and you’re bound to see a lot of posts from folks complaining about the amount of money involved in politics. Since the Citizens United decision in 2010, more and more money has poured into American politics. Now, a new group hopes to pass a Constitutional Amendment limiting campaign finances. Jeff Clements, CEO of American Promise joins Inside Sources to discuss more about the initiative. 

Hosts: Erin Rider and Adam Gardiner  Pete Hegseth faces tough questions in Senate confirmation hearing  Facing difficult, pressing questions from Democrats and support, praise from Republicans, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Defense Secretary faced a long hearing today during his Senate confirmation hearing. Pete Hegseth continued his calls for change at the top of the Defense Department while also fending off attacks on his personal character. The Inside Sources hosts kick off the show with their thoughts on the hearing.    Reports: Draft cease fire agreement reached between Hamas and Israel  There are reports today that Israeli and Hamas officials are close to agreeing on a cease fire in Gaza. Inside Sources’ host Adam Gardiner thinks the agreement gives a lot more to Hamas than what Israel is giving in return. He describes his reasoning and co-host Erin Rider shares her thoughts on the points in the draft agreement.    On the Hill 2025: Previewing legislation on ballot initiatives and referenda  Utah’s Legislative General Session begins in one week. One topic that’s bound to be discussed is elections. State Representative Jennifer Dailey-Provost is working on a bill that would streamline how initiatives and referenda are written for the ballot. Part of that includes the inclusion of a summary for people signing initiative packets. Rep. Dailey-Provost joins Inside Sources to give more insight into her bill.    Lawmakers surprised by high rates of road rage in Utah  A new road rage law went into effect six months ago and in the time since, dozens and dozens of drivers have faced enhanced charges as a result. The sheer number of incidents have surprised Utah lawmakers who worked on the bills last year. Hosts Adam Gardiner and Erin Rider discuss whether the government can change the culture of road rage.    Special counsel, prosecutor reports released on Hunter Biden, Donald Trump  Special prosecutor David Weiss has released the results of his investigation into Hunter Biden, criticizing President Biden for his pushback on the investigation. At the same time, special counsel Jack Smith has begun releasing his report into President-elect Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The Inside Sources hosts have some strong feelings about these reports; they share them in this segment.    Jan. 6 Congressional Committee seeking preemptive pardons  Several outspoken critics of now President-elect Donald Trump have voiced concerns that the incoming President may go after them for their critiques. Among those are several current and former members of Congress who served on the January 6 committee. Now, reports say some of those committee members are seeking preemptive pardons from President Biden.    Group working on Constitutional Amendment to limit money in election  Look on social media around election time, and you’re bound to see a lot of posts from folks complaining about the amount of money involved in politics. Since the Citizens United decision in 2010, more and more money has poured into American politics. Now, a new group hopes to pass a Constitutional Amendment limiting campaign finances. Jeff Clements, CEO of American Promise joins Inside Sources to discuss more about the initiative.    TikTok ‘refugees’ flocking to new Chinese app  TikTok inches closer to the deadline to sell or be banned. Ahead of that, ‘TikTok refugees’ are moving to another app – a fully Chinese app nicknamed “RedNote.” Andy Cupp, Inside Sources Executive Producer joins the conversation on data privacy and security, and whether Millennials even care who has their data nowadays.   

2 Hours and 23 MinutesNSFWStormy Waters is a managing partner of a venture capital firm.Pete and Stormy discuss the consequences of "Citizens United" and how when there is no justice to be found, chaos soon ensues.Stormy's Twitter AccountPete and Thomas777 'At the Movies'Support Pete on His WebsitePete's PatreonPete's Substack Pete's SubscribestarPete's GUMROADPete's VenmoPete's Buy Me a CoffeePete on FacebookPete on TwitterBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-pete-quinones-show--6071361/support.

To unlock Politicology+ visit politicology.com/plus This week, we dive into the fandom that's developed around the assassin who killed United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson Then, we'll look at how Donald Trump's team pulled the Pete Hegseth nomination back from the brink in the Senate.  Later, we talk about the younger Democrats pushing for generational  change in House committee leadership positions.  Finally, we head to Politicology+ where we discuss how Citizens United moved the balance of power toward rich donors and pulled the Democratic party to the left.  Joining guest host Zack Czajkowski on this week's panel:  David Weigel (politics reporter at Semafor)   James Lynch (Communications Strategist)   Segments this week: (02:19) Assassin fandom (31:54) Hegseth Nomination saved in the Senate (45:48) Generational change in the Democratic Party Not yet a Politicology+ member? Don't miss all the extra episodes on the private, ad-free version of this podcast. Upgrade now at politicology.com/plus. Send your questions and thoughts to podcast@politicology.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(202) 455-4558‬ Get David's Newsletter “Americana”: https://bit.ly/4iB6HFd Follow this week's panel on X (formerly Twitter): https://x.com/ZackCz https://x.com/JamesGLynch https://x.com/daveweigel Related reading: Segment 1:  CNN- 1-star McDonald's reviews and sympathetic merch: Companies try to stop online support for CEO killer suspect | CNN Business Wired - The Internet's Obsession With Luigi Mangione Signals a Major Shift | WIRED Yahoo News - Black Lives Matter activist calls on ‘black vigilantes' after Daniel Penny's acquittal: ‘F—k America' Segment 2:  Politico - Ron who? How Trump brought Hegseth back from the brink - POLITICO NYT - Ernst Suggests She Will Not Oppose Hegseth for Defense Secretary - The New York Times Segment 3:  NBC News - 'The end of seniority': Younger Democrats are challenging elders for powerful positions AP - Rep. Ocasio-Cortez announces bid for top Oversight job as Democrats push for generational change Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I've been hosting this show exclusively online since January 21, 2010. Prior to that, we were on Air America Radio weeknights. But on that day, Air America went dark... coincidentally, that was the day that the Supreme Court handed down its democracy-killing decision in Citizens United, basically equating money with speech and upending one of the legs of democracy. Howie Klein has been a regular guest on this show since the Air America days. So, for more than 15 years now, Howie and I have spoken on the show almost weekly about our democracy and how to best keep or move the nation to be a bit more progressive. In addition to his blog at DownWithTyranny.com, Howie also oversees the Blue America PAC (joined by Heather 'Digby' Parton and Crooks & Liars' John Amato0, who actively raise money for the best progressive candidates running. I'm doing this 're-set' as it's been a few weeks since Howie has been here (all on me and my health issues), and because of a bit of a media realignment that I believe is just beginning, we have some newcomers checking out the show. Since we haven't spoken since the election, one of the things we'll discuss today is the disconnect between the narrative pushed by the legacy/corporate media pushing and the truth regarding the election results and, frankly, just about everything else...

Hey kids, it's Tuesday and David Waldman is here to lead our Camp KITM Sing-Along:  Second verse, same as the first, a little bit louder and a whole lot worse! Upcoming confirmation hearings for Pam Bondi will reveal the intrinsic corruption, looming danger... etc. etc. Scales will fall from eyes that tune into… Spinco, or some such. Ok, so 25% tariffs go on Mexico and Canada if our drug and immigration problems aren't fixed. Well, FAFO, as we used to say 2016-2020, in between posting “But Her Emails!” memes. Good times. Once again, a new group of backstabbing villains gather to loot as much as they can and yet find that they don't get along. As usual, it's all good as long as the boss gets the two scoops of ice cream. Boris Epshteyn is a double dipper. No one is sure how evil Brooke Rollins will be. Sometimes, you have to play your evil rookies off the evil bench. Citizens United is the funniest joke Elon Musk has ever heard, and one of the cheapest laughs he'll ever buy. How does Natalie Harp do it? Sweetie 2.0 has a lock on the ear and rear of all that matters to her. 

There are dangers lurking in our food that affect your health and the health of our entire society, and you should know about them. In this episode, get the highlights from two recent Congressional events featuring expert testimony about the regulation of our food supply, as well as testimony from the man who is soon likely to be the most powerful person in our national health care system. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Contribute monthly or a lump sum via Support Congressional Dish via (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Background Sources Joe Rogan Episodes The Joe Rogan Experience. The Joe Rogan Experience. The Joe Rogan Experience. The Joe Rogan Experience. Ron Johnson Scott Bauer. January 3, 2023. AP News. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Daniel Cusick. October 28, 2024. Politico. Rachel Treisman. August 5, 2024. NPR. Susanne Craig. May 8, 2024. The New York Times. Department of Health and Human Services U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. FDA “Generally Recognized as Safe” Approach Paulette M. Gaynor et al. April 2006. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Paulette Gaynor and Sebastian Cianci. December 2005/January 2006. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Glyphosate September 20, 2023. Phys.org. Lobbying and Conflicts of Interest OpenSecrets. OpenSecrets. OpenSecrets. LinkedIn. Shift from Democrats to Republicans Will Stone and Allison Aubrey. November 15, 2024. NPR. Helena Bottemiller Evich and Darren Samuelsohn. March 17, 2016. Politico. Audio Sources September 25, 2024 Roundtable discussion held by Senator Ron Johnson Participants: , Author, Good Energy; Tech entrepreneur, Levels , Co-founder, Truemed; Advocate, End Chronic Disease , aka the Food Babe, food activist Jillian Michaels, fitness expert, nutritionist, businesswoman, media personality, and author Dr. Chris Palmer, Founder and Director, Metabolic and Mental Health Program and Director, Department of Postgraduate and Continuing Education, McLean Hospital; Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School Brigham Buhler, Founder & CEO, Ways2Well Courtney Swan, nutritionist, real food activist, and founder of the popular platform "Realfoodology" , Founder and CEO, HumanCo; co-founder, Hu Kitchen Dr. Marty Makary, Chief of Islet Transplant Surgery, Professor of Surgery, and Public Policy Researcher, Johns Hopkins University Clips Robert F. Kennedy, Jr: When discussing improvements to US healthcare policy, politicians from both parties often say we have the best healthcare system in the world. That is a lie. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr: Every major pillar of the US healthcare system, as a statement of economic fact, makes money when Americans get sick. By far the most valuable asset in this country today is a sick child. The pharma industry, hospital industry, and medical school industry make more money when there are more interventions to perform on Americans, and by requiring insurance companies to take no more than 15% of premiums, Obamacare actually incentivized insurance companies to raise premiums to get 15% of a larger pie. This is why premiums have increased 100% since the passage of Obamacare, making health care the largest driver of inflation, while American life expectancy plummets. We spend four times per capita on health care than the Italians, but Italians live 7.5 years longer than us on average. And incidentally, Americans had the highest life expectancies in the world when I was growing up. Today, we've fallen an average of six years behind our European neighbors. Are we lazier and more suicidal than Italians? Or is there a problem with our system? Are there problems with our incentives? Are there problems with our food? 46:15 Robert F. Kennedy, Jr: So what's causing all of this suffering? I'll name two culprits, first and worst is ultra processed foods. 47:20 Robert F. Kennedy, Jr: The second culprit is toxic chemicals in our food, our medicine and our environment. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr: The good news is that we can change all this, and we can change it very, very, very quickly, and it starts with taking a sledgehammer to corruption, the conflicts in our regulatory agencies and in this building. These conflicts have transformed our regulatory agencies into predators against the American people and particularly our children. 80% of NIH grants go to people who have conflicts of interest, and these scientists are allowed to collect royalties of $150,000 a year on the products that they develop at NIH and then farm out to the pharmaceutical industry. The FDA, the USDA and CDC are all controlled by giant for-profit corporations. Their function is no longer to improve and protect the health of Americans. Their function is to advance the mercantile and commercial interests of the pharmaceutical industry that has transformed them and the food industry that has transformed them into sock puppets for the industry they're supposed to regulate. 75% of FDA funding does not come from taxpayers. It comes from pharma. And pharma executives and consultants and lobbyists cycle in and out of these agencies. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr: Money from the healthcare industry has compromised our regulatory agencies and this body as well. The reality is that many congressional healthcare staffers are worried about impressing their future bosses at pharmaceutical companies rather than doing the right thing for American children. Today, over 100 members of Congress support a bill to fund Ozempic with Medicare at $1,500 a month. Most of these members have taken money from the manufacturer of that product, a European company called Novo Nordisk. As everyone knows, once a drug is approved for Medicare, it goes to Medicaid, and there is a push to recommend Ozempic for Americans as young as six, over a condition, obesity, that is completely preventable and barely even existed 100 years ago. Since 74% of Americans are obese, the cost of all of them, if they take their Ozempic prescriptions, will be $3 trillion a year. This is a drug that has made Novo Nordisk the biggest company in Europe. It's a Danish company, but the Danish government does not recommend it. It recommends a change in diet to treat obesity and exercise. Virtually Novo Nordisk's entire value is based upon its projections of what Ozempic is going to sell to Americans. For half the price of Ozempic, we could purchase regeneratively raised organic agriculture, organic food for every American, three meals a day and a gym membership for every obese American. Why are members of Congress doing the bidding of this Danish company instead of standing up for American farmers and children? Robert F. Kennedy, Jr: For 19 years, solving the childhood chronic disease crisis has been the central goal of my life, and for 19 years, I have prayed to God every morning to put me in a position to end this calamity. I believe we have the opportunity for transformational, bipartisan change to transform American health, to hyper-charge our human capital, to improve our budget, and I believe, to save our spirits and our country. 1:23:10 Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): Our next presenter, Dr. Marty Makary also bears a few scars from telling the truth during COVID. Dr. Makary is a surgeon and public policy researcher at Johns Hopkins University. He writes for The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, and is the author of two New York Times best selling books, Unaccountable and The Price We Pay. He's been an outspoken opponent of broad vaccine mandates and some COVID restrictions at schools. Dr. Makary holds degrees from Bucknell University, Thomas Jefferson University and Harvard University. Dr. Marty Makary: I'm trained in gastrointestinal surgery. My group at Johns Hopkins does more pancreatic cancer surgery than any hospital in the United States. But at no point in the last 20 years has anyone stopped to ask, why has pancreatic cancer doubled over those 20 years? Who's working on that? Who's looking into it? We are so busy in our health care system, billing and coding and paying each other, and every stakeholder has their gigantic lobby in Washington, DC, and everybody's making a lot of money, except for one stakeholder, the American citizen. They are financing this giant, expensive health care system through their paycheck deduction for health insurance and the Medicare excise tax as we go down this path, billing and coding and medicating. And can we be real for a second? We have poisoned our food supply, engineered highly addictive chemicals that we put into our food, we spray it with pesticides that kill pests. What do you think they do to our gut lining and our microbiome? And then they come in sick. The GI tract is reacting. It's not an acute inflammatory storm, it's a low grade chronic inflammation, and it makes people feel sick, and that inflammation permeates and drives so many of our chronic diseases that we didn't see half a century ago. Who's working on who's looking into this, who's talking about it? Our health care system is playing whack a mole on the back end, and we are not talking about the root causes of our chronic disease epidemic. We can't see the forest from the trees. Sometimes we're so busy in these short visits, billing and coding. We've done a terrible thing to doctors. We've told them, put your head down. Focus on billing and coding. We're going to measure you by your throughput and good job. You did a nice job. We have all these numbers to show for it. Well, the country is getting sicker. We cannot keep going down this path. We have the most over-medicated, sickest population in the world, and no one is talking about the root causes. Dr. Marty Makary: Somebody has got to speak up. Maybe we need to talk about school lunch programs, not just putting every kid on obesity drugs like Ozempic. Maybe we need to talk about treating diabetes with cooking classes, not just throwing insulin at everybody. Maybe we need to talk about environmental exposures that cause cancer, not just the chemo to treat it. We've got to talk about food as medicine. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): So, Dr Makary, I've got a couple questions. First of all, how many years have you been practicing medicine? Dr. Marty Makary: 22 years. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): So we've noticed a shift from decades ago when 80% of doctors are independent to now 80% are working for some hospital association. First of all, what has that meant in terms of doctors' independence and who they are really accountable too? Dr. Marty Makary: The move towards corporate medicine and mass consolidation that we've witnessed in our lifetime has meant more and more doctors are told to put their heads down, do your job: billing and coding short visits. We've not given doctors the time, research, or resources to deal with these chronic diseases. 1:32:45 Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): Dr. Casey Means is a medical doctor, New York Times Best Selling Author, tech entrepreneur at Levels, an aspiring regenerative gardener and an outdoor enthusiast. While training as a surgeon, she saw how broken and exploitative the health care system is, and led to focus on how to keep people out of the operating room. And again, I would highly recommend everybody read Good Energy. It's a personal story, and you'll be glad you did. Dr. Casey Means: Over the last 50 years in the United States, we have seen rapidly rising rates of chronic illnesses throughout the entire body. The body and the brain, infertility, obesity, type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes, Alzheimer's, dementia, cancer, heart disease, stroke, autoimmune disease, migraines, mental illness, chronic pain, fatigue, congenital abnormalities, chronic liver disease, autism, and infant and maternal mortality all going up. Americans live eight fewer years compared to people in Japan or Switzerland, and life expectancy is going down. I took an oath to do no harm, but listen to these stats. We're not only doing harm, we're flagrantly allowing harm. While it sounds grim, there is very good news. We know why all of these diseases are going up, and we know how to fix it. Every disease I mentioned is caused by or worsened by metabolic dysfunction, a word that it is thrilling to hear being used around this table. Metabolic dysfunction is a fundamental distortion of our cellular biology. It stops our cells from making energy appropriately. According to the American College of Cardiology, metabolic dysfunction now affects 93.2% of American adults. This is quite literally the cellular draining of our life force. This process is the result of three processes happening inside our cells, mitochondrial dysfunction, a process called oxidative stress, which is like a wildfire inside our cells, and chronic inflammation throughout the body and the gut, as we've heard about. Metabolic dysfunction is largely not a genetic issue. It's caused by toxic American ultra processed industrial food, toxic American chemicals, toxic American medications, and our toxic sedentary, indoor lifestyles. You would think that the American healthcare system and our government agencies would be clamoring to fix metabolic health and reduce American suffering and costs, but they're not. They are deafeningly silent about metabolic dysfunction and its known causes. It's not an overstatement to say that I learned virtually nothing at Stanford Medical School about the tens of thousands of scientific papers that elucidate these root causes of why American health is plummeting and how environmental factors are causing it. For instance, in medical school, I did not learn that for each additional serving of ultra processed food we eat, early mortality increases by 18%. This now makes up 67% of the foods our kids are eating. I took zero nutrition courses in medical school. I didn't learn that 82% of independently funded studies show harm from processed food, while 93% of industry sponsored studies reflect no harm. In medical school, I didn't learn that 95% of the people who created the recent USDA Food guidelines for America had significant conflicts of interest with the food industry. I did not learn that 1 billion pounds of synthetic pesticides are being sprayed on our food every single year. 99.99% of the farmland in the United States is sprayed with synthetic pesticides, many from China and Germany. And these invisible, tasteless chemicals are strongly linked to autism, ADHD, sex hormone disruption, thyroid disease, sperm dysfunction, Alzheimer's, dementia, birth defects, cancer, obesity, liver dysfunction, female infertility and more, all by hurting our metabolic health. I did not learn that the 8 billion tons of plastic that have been produced just in the last 100 years, plastic was only invented about 100 years ago, are being broken down into micro plastics that are now filling our food, our water, and we are now even inhaling them in our air. And that very recent research from just the past couple of months tells us that now about 0.5% of our brains by weight are now plastic. I didn't learn that there are more than 80,000 toxins that have entered our food, water, air and homes by industry, many of which are banned in Europe, and they are known to alter our gene expression, alter our microbiome composition and the lining of our gut, and disrupt our hormones. I didn't learn that heavy metals like aluminum and lead are present in our food, our baby formula, personal care products, our soil and many of the mandated medications, like vaccines and that these metals are neurotoxic and inflammatory. I didn't learn that the average American walks a paltry 3500 steps per day, even though we know based on science and top journals that walking, simply walking 7000 steps a day, slashes by 40-60% our risk of Alzheimer's, dementia, type two diabetes, cancer and obesity. I certainly did not learn that medical error and medications are the third leading cause of death in the United States. I didn't learn that just five nights of sleep deprivation can induce full blown pre-diabetes. I learned nothing about sleep, and we're getting about 20% less sleep on average than we were 100 years ago. I didn't learn that American children are getting less time outdoors now than a maximum security prisoner. And on average, adults spend 93% of their time indoors, even though we know from the science that separation from sunlight destroys our circadian biology, and circadian biology dictates our cellular biology. I didn't learn that professional organizations that we get our practice guidelines from, like the American Diabetes Association and American Academy of Pediatrics, have taken 10s of millions of dollars from Coke, Cadbury, processed food companies, and vaccine manufacturers like Moderna. I didn't learn that if we address these root causes that all lead to metabolic dysfunction and help patients change their food and lifestyle patterns with a united strong voice, we could reverse the chronic disease crisis in America, save millions of lives, and trillions of dollars in health care costs per year. Instead, doctors are learning that the body is 100 separate parts, and we learn how to drug, we learn how to cut and we learn how to bill. I'll close by saying that what we are dealing with here is so much more than a physical health crisis. This is a spiritual crisis we are choosing death over life. We are we are choosing death over life. We are choosing darkness over light for people and the planet, which are inextricably linked. We are choosing to erroneously believe that we are separate from nature and that we can continue to poison nature and then outsmart it. Our path out will be a renewed respect for the miracle of life and a renewed respect for nature. We can restore health to Americans rapidly with smart policy and courageous leadership. We need a return to courage. We need a return to common sense and intuition. We need a return to awe for the sheer miraculousness of our lives. We need all hands on deck. Thank you. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): I'm not letting you off that easy. I've got a couple questions. So you outlined some basic facts that doctors should know that truthfully, you could cover in one hour of an introductory class in medical school, yes. So why aren't we teaching doctors these things? Dr. Casey Means: The easy thing to say would be, you know, follow the money. That sounds sort of trite, but frankly, I think that is the truth, but not in the way you might think that, like doctors are out to make money, or even medical schools. The money and the core incentive problem, which is that every institution that touches our health in America, from medical schools to pharmaceutical companies to health insurance companies to hospitals offices, they make more money when we are sick and less when we are healthy. That simple, one incentive problem corrodes every aspect of the way medicine is thought about. The way we think about the body, we talked about interconnectedness. It creates a system in which we silo the body into all these separate parts and create that illusion that we all buy into because it's profitable to send people to separate specialties. So it corrodes even the foundational conception of how we think about the body. So it is about incentives and money, but I would say that's the invisible hand. It's not necessarily affecting each doctor's clinical practice or the decision making. It's corroding every lever of the basics of how we even consider what the human body is and what life is. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): In your book, you do a really good job of describing how, because of the specialization of medicine, you don't see the forest for the trees. The fact is, you do need specialized medicine. I mean, doctors can't know it all. So I think the question is, how do we get back to the reward for general practitioners that do focus on what you're writing about? Dr. Casey Means: I have huge respect for doctors, and I am incredibly grateful for the American health care system, which has produced miracles, and we absolutely need continue to have primary care doctors and specialists, and they should be rewarded highly. However, if we focused on what everyone here is talking about, I think we'd have 90% less throughput through our health care system. We would be able to have these doctors probably have a much better life to be honest. You know, because right now, doctors are working 100 hours a week seeing 50, 60, 70 patients, and could actually have more time with patients who develop these acute issues that need to be treated by a doctor. But so many of the things in the specialist office are chronic conditions that we know are fundamentally rooted in the cellular dysfunction I describe, which is metabolic dysfunction, which is created by our lifestyle. So I think that there's always going to be a place for specialists, but so so many, so much fewer. And I think if we had a different conception for the body is interconnected, they would also interact with each other in a very different way, a much more collaborative way. And then, of course, we need to incentivize doctors in the healthcare system towards outcomes, not throughput. 1:46:25 Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): Our next presenter is Dr. Chris Palmer. Dr. Palmer is a Harvard trained psychiatrist, researcher and author of Brain Energy, where he explores a groundbreaking connection between metabolic health and mental illness. He is a leader in innovative approaches to treating psychiatric conditions, advocating for the use of diet and metabolic interventions to improve mental health outcomes. Dr. Palmer's work is reshaping how the medical field views and treats mental health disorders. Dr. Chris Palmer: I want to build on what Dr. Means just shared that these chronic diseases we face today. Obesity, diabetes, fatty liver, all share something in common. They are, in fact, metabolic dysfunction. I'm going to go into a little bit of the science, just to make sure we're all on the same page. Although most people think of metabolism as burning calories, it is far more than that. Metabolism is a series of chemical reactions that convert food into energy and building blocks essential for cellular health. When we have metabolic dysfunction, it can drive numerous chronic diseases, which is a paradigm shift in the medical field. Now there is no doubt metabolism is complicated. It really is. It is influenced by biological, psychological, environmental and social factors, and the medical field says this complexity is the reason we can't solve the obesity epidemic because they're still trying to understand every molecular detail of biology. But in fact, we don't need to understand biology in order to understand the cause. The cause is coming from our environment, a toxic environment like poor diet and exposure to harmful chemicals, and these are actually quite easy to study, understand, and address. There is no doubt food plays a key role. It provides the substrate for energy and building blocks. Nutritious foods support metabolism, while ultra processed options can disrupt it. It is shocking that today, in 2024, the FDA allows food manufacturers to introduce brand new chemicals into our food supply without adequate testing. The manufacturer is allowed to determine for themselves whether this substance is safe for you and your family to eat or not. Metabolism's impact goes beyond physical health. I am a psychiatrist. Some of you are probably wondering, why are you here? It also affects mental health. Because guess what? The human brain is an organ too, and when brain metabolism is impaired, it can cause symptoms that we call mental illness. It is no coincidence that as the rates of obesity and diabetes are skyrocketing, so too are the rates of mental illness. In case you didn't know, we have a mental health crisis. We have all time prevalence highs for depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, deaths of despair, drug overdoses, ADHD and autism. What does the mental health field have to say for this? Well, you know, mental illness is just chemical imbalances, or maybe trauma and stress that is wholly insufficient to explain the epidemic that we are seeing. And in fact, there is a better way to integrate the biopsychosocial factors known to play a role in mental illness. Mental Disorders at their core are often metabolic disorders impacting the brain. It's not surprising to most people that obesity and diabetes might play a role in depression or anxiety, but the rates of autism have quadrupled in just 20 years, and the rates of ADHD have tripled over that same period of time. These are neuro developmental disorders, and many people are struggling to understand, how on earth could they rise so rapidly? But it turns out that metabolism plays a profound role in neurodevelopment, and sure enough, parents with metabolic issues like obesity and diabetes are more likely to have children with autism and ADHD. This is not about fat shaming, because what I am arguing is that the same foods and chemicals and other drivers of obesity that are causing obesity in the parents are affecting the brain health of our children. There is compelling evidence that food plays a direct role in mental health. One study of nearly 300,000 people found that those who eat ultra processed foods daily are three times more likely to struggle with their mental health than people who never or rarely consume them. A systematic review found direct associations between ultra processed food exposure and 32 different health parameters, including mental mental health conditions. Now I'm not here to say that food is the only, or even primary driver of mental illness. Let's go back to something familiar. Trauma and stress do drive mental illness, but for those of you who don't know, trauma and stress are also associated with increased rates of obesity and diabetes. Trauma and stress change human metabolism. We need to put the science together. This brings me to a key point. We cannot separate physical and mental health from metabolic health. Addressing metabolic dysfunction has the potential to prevent and treat a wide range of chronic diseases. Dr. Chris Palmer: In my own work, I have seen firsthand how using metabolic therapies like the ketogenic diet and other dietary interventions can improve even severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, sometimes putting them into lasting remission. These reports are published in peer reviewed, prestigious medical journals. However, there is a larger issue at play that many have talked about, medical education and public health recommendations are really captured by industry and politics, and at best, they often rely on weak epidemiological data, resulting in conflicting or even harmful advice. We heard a reference to this, but in case you didn't know, a long time ago, we demonized saturated fat. And what was the consequence of demonizing saturated fat? We replaced it with "healthy vegetable shortening." That was the phrase we used, "healthy vegetable shortening." Guess what was in that healthy vegetable shortening? It was filled with trans fats, which are now recognized to be so harmful that they've been banned in the United States. Let's not repeat mistakes like this. Dr. Chris Palmer: So what's the problem? Number one, nutrition and mental health research are severely underfunded, with each of them getting less than 5% of the NIH budget. This is no accident. This is the concerted effort of lobbying by industry, food manufacturers, the healthcare industry, they do not want root causes discovered. We need to get back to funding research on the root causes of mental and metabolic disorders, including the effects of foods, chemicals, medications, environmental toxins, on the human brain and metabolism. Dr. Chris Palmer: The issue of micro plastics and nano plastics in the human body is actually, sadly, in its infancy. We have two publications out in the last couple of months demonstrating that micro plastics are, in fact, found in the human brain. And as Dr. Means said, and you recited, 0.5% of the body weight, or the brain's weight, appears to be composed of micro plastics. We need more research to better understand whether these micro plastics are, in fact, associated with harmful conditions, because microplastics are now ubiquitous. So some will argue, well, they're everywhere, and everybody's got them, and it's just a benign thing. Some will argue that the most compelling evidence against that is a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine a few months ago now, in which they were doing routine carotid endarterectomies, taking plaque out of people's carotid arteries. Just routinely doing that for clinical care, and then they analyzed those plaques for micro plastics. 58% of the people had detectable micro plastics in the plaques. So they compared this 58% group who had micro plastics to the ones who didn't, followed them for three years, just three years, and the ones who had micro plastics had four times the mortality. There is strong reason to believe, based on animal data and based on cell biology data, that microplastics are in fact, toxic to the human body, to mitochondrial function, to hormone dysregulation and all sorts of things. There are lots of reasons to believe that, but the scientists will say, we need more research. We need to better understand whether these micro plastics really are associated with higher rates of disease. I think people are terrified of the answer. People are terrified of the answer. And if you think about everything that you consume, and how much of it is not wrapped in plastic, all of those industries are going to oppose research. They are going to oppose research funding to figure this out ASAP, because that will be a monumental change to not just the food industry but our entire economy. Imagining just cleaning up the oceans and trying to get this plastic and then, more importantly, trying to figure out, how are we going to detox humans? How are we going to de-plasticize human beings? How are we going to get these things out? It is an enormous problem, but the reality is, putting our heads in the sand is not going to help. And I am really hopeful that by raising issues and letting people know about this health crisis, that maybe we will get answers quickly. Dr. Chris Palmer: Your question is, why are our health agencies not exploring these questions? It's because the health agencies are largely influenced by the industries they are supposed to be regulating and looking out for. The medical education community is largely controlled by pharmaceutical companies. One and a half billion dollars every year goes to support physician education. That's from pharmaceutical companies. One and a half billion from pharmaceutical companies. So physicians are getting educated with some influence, large influence, I would argue, by them, the health organizations. It's a political issue. The NIH, it's politics. Politicians are selecting people to be on the committees or people to oversee these organizations. Politicians rely on donations from companies and supporters to get re-elected, and the reality is this is not going to be easy to tackle. The challenge is that you'll get ethical politicians who say, I'm not going to take any of that money, and I'm going to try to do the right thing and right now, the way the system is set up, there's a good chance those politicians won't get re-elected, and instead, their opponents, who were more than happy to take millions of dollars in campaign contributions, will get re-elected, and then they will return the favor to their noble campaign donors. We are at a crossroads. We have to decide who are the constituents of the American government. Is it industry, or is it the American people? 2:09:35 Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): Calley Means the co-founder of Truemed, a company that enables tax free spending on food and exercise. He recently started an advocacy coalition with leading health and wellness companies called End Chronic Disease. Early in his career, he was a consultant for food and pharma companies. He is now exposing practices they used to weaponize our institutions of trust, and he's doing a great job doing interviews with his sister, Casey. Calley Means: If you think about a medical miracle, it's almost certainly a solution that was invented before 1960 for an acute condition: emergency surgical procedures to ensure a complicated childbirth wasn't a death sentence, sanitation procedures, antibiotics that insured infection was an inconvenience, not deadly, eradicating polio, regular waste management procedures that helped control outbreaks like the bubonic plague, sewage systems that replaced the cesspools and opened drains, preventing human waste from contaminating the water. The US health system is a miracle in solving acute conditions that will kill us right away. But economically, acute conditions aren't great in our modern system, because the patient is quickly cured and is no longer a customer. Start in the 1960s the medical system took the trust engendered by these acute innovations like antibiotics, which were credited with winning World War Two, and they used that trust to ask patients not to question its authority on chronic diseases, which can last a lifetime and are more profitable. But the medicalization of chronic disease in the past 50 years has been an abject failure. Today, we're in a siloed system where there's a treatment for everything. And let's just look at the stats. Heart disease has gone up as more statins are prescribed. Type 2 diabetes has gone up as more Metformin is prescribed. ADHD has gone up as more Adderall is prescribed. Depression and suicide has gone up as more SSRIs are prescribed. Pain has gone up as more opioids are prescribed. Cancer has gone up as we've spent more on cancer. And now JP Morgan literally at the conference in San Francisco, recently, they put up a graph, and they showed us more Ozempic is projected to be prescribed over the next 10 years, obesity rates are going to go up as more is prescribed. Explain that to me. There was clapping. All the bankers were clapping like seals at this graphic. Our intervention based system is by design. In the early 1900s, John D. Rockefeller using that he could use byproducts from oil production to create pharmaceuticals, heavily funded medical schools throughout the United States to teach a curriculum based on the intervention-first model of Dr. William Stewart Halsted, the founding physician of Johns Hopkins, who created the residency-based model that viewed invasive surgical procedures and medication as the highest echelon of medicine. An employee of Rockefeller's was tasked to create the Flexner Report, which outlined a vision for medical education that prioritized interventions and stigmatized nutritional and holistic remedies. Congress affirmed the Flexner Report in 1910 to establish that any credentialed medical institution in the United States had to follow the Halsted-Rockefeller intervention based model that silos disease and downplay viewing the body as an interconnected system. It later came out that Dr. Halsted's cocaine and morphine addiction fueled his day long surgical residencies and most of the medical logic underlying the Flexner Report was wrong. But that hasn't prevented the report and the Halsted-Rockefeller engine based brand of medicine from being the foundational document that Congress uses to regulate medical education today. Calley Means: Our processed food industry was created by the cigarette industry. In the 1980s, after decades of inaction, the Surgeon General and the US government finally, finally said that smoking might be harmful, and smoking rates plummeted. We listened to doctors in this country. We listened to medical leadership, and as smoking rates plummeted, cigarette companies, with their big balance sheets, strategically bought up food companies, and by 1990 the two largest food companies in the world were Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds, two cigarette companies. These cigarette companies moved two departments over from the cigarette department to the food department. They moved the scientists. Cigarette companies were the highest payers of scientists, one of the biggest employers of scientists to make the cigarettes addictive. They moved these addiction specialists, world leading addiction specialists, to the food department by the thousands. And those scientists weaponized our ultra processed food. That is the problem with ultra processed food. You have the best scientists in the world creating this food to be palatable and to be addictive. They then moved their lobbyists over. They used the same playbook, and their lobbyists co-opted the USDA and created the food pyramid. The Food Pyramid was a document created by the cigarette industry through complete corporate capture, and was an ultra processed food marketing document saying that we needed a bunch of carbs and sugar. And we listened to medical experts in this country, the American people, American parents. Many parents who had kids in the 90s thought it was a good thing to do to give their kids a bunch of ultra processed foods and carb consumption went up 20% in the American diet in the next 10 years. The Devil's bargain comes in in that this ultra processed food consumption has been one of the most profitable dynamics in American history for the health care industry. As we've all just been decimated with chronic conditions, the medical industry hasn't. Not only have they been silent on this issue, they've actually been complicit, working for the food industry. I helped funnel money from Coca Cola to the American Diabetes Association. Yeah. 2:31:40 Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): Next presenter will be Brigham Buhler. Brigham is the Founder and CEO of Ways2Well, a healthcare company that provides personalized preventive care through telemedicine, with a strong background in the pharmaceutical industry. Brigham is focused on making healthcare more accessible by harnessing the power of technology, delivering effective and tailored treatments. His vision for improving health outcomes has positioned him as a leader in modern patient centered healthcare solutions. Brigham Buhler: We hear people reference President Eisenhower's speech all the time about the military industrial complex, but rarely do we hear the second half of that speech. He also warned us about the rise of the scientific industrial complex. He warned us, if we allow the elite to control the scientific research, it could have dire consequences. 2:36:30 Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): I'm going to call an audible here as moderator, I saw that hopefully the future chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Mike Crapo from Idaho, came into the room. I asked Mike to share his story. He used to wear larger suits, let's put it that way. But he went down the path of the ketogenic diet, I believe. But Mike, why don't you tell your story? And by the way, he's somebody you want to influence. Chairman of Senate Finance Committee makes an awful lot of decisions on Medicare, Medicaid, a lot of things we talked about with Ozempic, now the lobbying group try and make that available, and how harmful, I think, most people in this room think that might be so. Senator Crapo, if you could just kind of tell us your story in terms of your diet change and what results you had. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID): Well, first of all, let me thank you. I didn't come here to say anything. I came here to listen, but I appreciate the opportunity to just have a second to tell you my personal story. I'll say before I do that, thank you for Ron Johnson. Senator Johnson is also a member of the Finance Committee, and it is my hope that we can get that committee, which I think has the most powerful jurisdiction, particularly over these areas, of any in the United States Congress, and so I'm hopeful we can get a focus on addressing the government's part of the role in this to get us back on a better track. 2:54:35 Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): Vani Hari, known as the Food Babe -- they wrote that for me, that wasn't me, that's my not my nickname -- is a food activist, author and speaker committed to improving food quality and safety. She has built a powerful platform through her blog advocating for transparency in food labeling and the removal of harmful chemicals from processed food. Her activism has spurred significant change in the food industry, encouraging consumers to make healthier, more informed choices, while prompting companies to adopt cleaner practices. Vani Hari: Our government is letting US food companies get away with serving American citizens harmful ingredients that are banned or heavily regulated in other countries. Even worse, American food companies are selling the same exact products overseas without these chemicals, but choose to continue serving us the most toxic version here. It's un-American. One set of ingredients there, and one set of ingredients here. Let me give you some examples. This is McDonald's french fries. I would like to argue that probably nobody in this room has not had a McDonald's french fry, by the way, nobody raised their hand during the staff meeting earlier today. In the US, there's 11 ingredients. In the UK, there's three, and salt is optional. An ingredient called dimethyl polysiloxane is an ingredient preserved with formaldehyde, a neurotoxin, in the US version. This is used as a foaming agent, so they don't have to replace the oil that often, making McDonald's more money here in the United States, but they don't do that across the pond. Here we go, this is Skittles. Notice the long list of ingredient differences, 10 artificial dyes in the US version and titanium dioxide. This ingredient is banned in Europe because it can cause DNA damage. Artificial dyes are made from petroleum, and products containing these dyes require a warning label in Europe that states it may cause adverse effects on activity and attention in children, and they have been linked to cancer and disruptions in the immune system. This on the screen back here, is Gatorade. In the US, they use red 40 and caramel color. In Germany, they don't, they use carrot and sweet potatoes to color their Gatorade. This is Doritos. The US version has three different three different artificial dyes and MSG, the UK version does not and let's look at cereal. General Mills is definitely playing some tricks on us. They launched a new version of Trix just recently in Australia. It has no dyes, they even advertise that, when the US version still does. This is why I became a food activist. My name is Vani Hari, and I only want one thing. I want Americans to be treated the same way as citizens in other countries by our own American companies. Vani Hari: We use over 10,000 food additives here in the United States and in Europe, there's only 400 approved. In 2013, I discovered that Kraft was producing their famous mac and cheese in other countries without artificial dyes. They used Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 here. I was so outraged by this unethical practice that I decided to do something about it. I launched a petition asking Kraft to remove artificial dyes from their products here in the United States, and after 400,000 signatures and a trip to their headquarters, Kraft finally announced they would make the change. I also discovered Subway was selling sandwiches with a chemical called azodicarbonamide in their bread in other countries. This is the same chemical they use in yoga mats and shoe rubber. You know, when you turn a yoga mat sideways and you see the evenly dispersed air bubbles? Well, they wanted to do the same thing in bread, so it would be the same exact product every time you went to a Subway. When the chemical is heated, studies show that it turns into a carcinogen. Not only is this ingredient banned in Europe and Australia, you get fined $450,000 if you get caught using it in Singapore. What's really interesting is when this chemical is heated, studies show that it turns into a carcinogen. Not only is this ingredient banned, but we were able to get Subway to remove azodicarbonamide from their bread in the United States after another successful petition. And as a bonus, there was a ripple effect in almost every bread manufacturer in America followed suit. For years, Starbucks didn't publish their ingredients for their coffee drinks. It was a mystery until I convinced a barista to show me the ingredients on the back of the bottles they were using to make menu items like their famous pumpkin spice lattes. I found out here in the United States, Starbucks was coloring their PSLs with caramel coloring level four, an ingredient made from ammonia and linked to cancer, but using beta carotene from carrots to color their drinks in the UK. After publishing an investigation and widespread media attention, Starbucks removed caramel coloring from all of their drinks in America and started publishing the ingredients for their entire menu. I want to make an important point here. Ordinary people who rallied for safer food shared this information and signed petitions. Were able to make these changes. We did this on our own. But isn't this something that the people in Washington, our elected politicians, should be doing? Vani Hari: Asking companies to remove artificial food dye would make an immediate impact. They don't need to reinvent the wheel. They already have the formulations. As I've shown you, consumption of artificial food dyes has increased by 500% in the last 50 years, and children are the biggest consumers. Yes, those children. Perfect timing. 43% of products marketed towards children in the grocery store contain artificial dyes. Food companies have found in focus groups, children will eat more of their product with an artificial dye because it's more attractive and appealing. And the worst part, American food companies know the harms of these additives because they were forced to remove them overseas due to stricter regulations and to avoid warning labels that would hurt sales. This is one of the most hypocritical policies of food companies, and somebody needs to hold them accountable. Vani Hari: When Michael Taylor was the Deputy Commissioner of the of the FDA, he said, he admitted on NPR, we don't have the resources, we don't have the capabilities to actually regulate food chemicals, because we don't have the staff. There's no one there. We are under this assumption, and I think a lot of Americans are under this assumption, that every single food additive ingredient that you buy at the grocery store has been approved by some regulatory body. It hasn't. It's been approved by the food companies themselves. There's 1000s of chemicals where the food company creates it, submits the safety data, and then the FDA rubber stamps it, because they don't have any other option. 3:09:15 Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): So our next presenter is Jason Karp. Jason is the founder and CEO of HumanCo, a mission driven company that invests in and builds brands focused on healthier living and sustainability. In addition to HumanCo, Jason is the co-founder of Hu Kitchen, known for creating the number one premium organic chocolate in the US. My wife will appreciate that. Prior to HumanCo, Jason spent over 21 years in the hedge fund industry, where he was the founder and CEO of an investment fund that managed over $4 billion. Jason graduated summa cum laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. 3:11:10 Jason Karp: I've been a professional investor for 26 years, dealing with big food companies, seeing what happens in their boardrooms, and why we now have so much ultra processed food. Jason Karp: Having studied the evolution of corporations, I believe the root cause of how we got here is an unintended consequence of the unchecked and misguided industrialization of agriculture and food. I believe there are two key drivers behind how we got here. First, America has much looser regulatory approach to approving new ingredients and chemicals than comparable developed countries. Europe, for example, uses a guilty until proven innocent standard for the approval of new chemicals, which mandates that if an ingredient might pose a potential health risk, it should be restricted or banned for up to 10 years until it is proven safe. In complete contrast, our FDA uses an innocent until proven guilty approach for new chemicals or ingredients that's known as GRAS, or Generally Recognized as Safe. This recklessly allows new chemicals into our food system until they are proven harmful. Shockingly, US food companies can use their own independent experts to bring forth a new chemical without the approval of the FDA. It is a travesty that the majority of Americans don't even know they are constantly exposed to 1000s of untested ingredients that are actually banned or regulated in other countries. To put it bluntly, for the last 50 years, we have been running the largest uncontrolled science experiment ever done on humanity without their consent. Jason Karp: And the proof is in the pudding. Our health differences compared to those countries who use stricter standards are overwhelmingly conclusive. When looking at millions of people over decades, on average, Europeans live around five years longer, have less than half our obesity rates, have significantly lower chronic disease, have markedly better mental health, and they spend as little as 1/3 on health care per person as we do in this country. While lobbyists and big food companies may say we cannot trust the standards of these other countries because it over regulates, it stifles innovation, and it bans new chemicals prematurely, I would like to point out that we trust many of these other countries enough to have nuclear weapons. These other countries have demonstrated it is indeed possible to not only have thriving companies, but also prioritize the health of its citizens with a clear do no harm approach towards anything that humans put in or on our bodies. Jason Karp: The second driver, how we got here, is all about incentives. US industrial food companies have been myopically incentivized to reward profit growth, yet bear none of the social costs of poisoning our people and our land. Since the 1960s, America has seen the greatest technology and innovation boom in history. As big food created some of the largest companies in the world, so too did their desire for scaled efficiency. Companies had noble goals of making the food safer, more shelf stable, cheaper and more accessible. However, they also figured out how to encourage more consumption by making food more artificially appealing with brighter colors and engineered taste and texture. This is the genesis of ultra processed food. Because of these misguided regulatory standards, American companies have been highly skilled at maximizing profits without bearing the societal costs. They have replaced natural ingredients with chemicals. They have commodified animals into industrial widgets, and they treat our God given planet as an inexhaustible, abusable resource. Sick Americans are learning the hard way that food and agriculture should not be scaled in the same ways as iPhones. 3:16:50 Jason Karp: They use more chemicals in the US version, because it is more profitable and because we allow them to do so. Jason Karp: Artificial food dyes are cheaper and they are brighter. And the reason that I chose to use artificial food dyes in my public activist letter is because there's basically no counter argument. Many of the things discussed today, I think there is a nuanced debate, but with artificial food dyes, they have shown all over the world that they can use colorants that come from fruit. This is the Canadian version. This is the brightness of the Canadian version, just for visibility, and this is the brightness of artificial food dyes. So of course, Kellogg and other food companies will argue children prefer this over this, just as they would prefer cocaine over sugar. That doesn't make it okay. Calley Means: Senator, can I just say one thing? As Jason and Vani were talking, it brought me back to working for the food industry. We used to pay conservative lobbyists to go to every office and say that it was the "nanny state" to regulate food. And I think that's, as a conservative myself, something that's resonated. I just cannot stress enough that, as we're hopefully learned today, the food industry has rigged our systems beyond recognition. And addressing a rigged market is not an attack on the free market. Is a necessity for a free market to take this corruption out. So I just want to say that. 3:21:00 Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): Our next presenter is Jillian Michaels. Ms. Michaels is a globally recognized fitness expert, entrepreneur, and best selling author. With her no nonsense approach to health, she's inspired millions through her fitness programs, books and digital platforms, best known for her role on The Biggest Loser, Michaels promotes a balanced approach to fitness and nutrition and emphasizing long term health and self improvement. Jillian Michaels: The default human condition in the 21st century is obese by design. Specific, traceable forms of what's referred to as structural violence are created by the catastrophic quartet of big farming, big food, Big Pharma, and big insurance. They systematically corrupt every institution of trust, which has led to the global spread of obesity and disease. Dysfunctional and destructive agricultural legislation like the Farm Bill, which favors high yield, genetically engineered crops like corn and soy, leading to the proliferation of empty calories, saturated with all of these toxins that we've been talking about today for three hours, it seems like we can never say enough about it, and then this glut of cheap calories provides a boon to the food industry giants. They just turn it into a bounty of ultra processed, factory-assembled foods and beverages strategically engineered to undermine your society and foster your dependence, like nicotine and cocaine, so we literally cannot eat just one. And to ensure that you don't, added measures are taken to inundate our physical surroundings. We're literally flooded with food, and we are brainwashed by ubiquitous cues to eat, whether it's the Taco Bell advertisement on the side of a bus as you drive to work with a vending machine at your kids school, there is no place we spend time that's left untouched. They're omnipresent. They commandeer the narrative, with 30 billion worth of advertising dollars, commercials marketed to kids, with mega celebrities eating McDonald's and loving it, sponsored dietitians paid to promote junk food on social media, utilizing anti-diet body positivity messaging like, "derail the shame" in relation to fast food consumption, Time Magazine brazenly issuing a defense of ultra processed foods on their cover with the title, "What if altra processed foods aren't as bad as you think?" And when people like us try to sound the alarm, they ensure that we are swiftly labeled as anti-science, fat shamers, and even racists. They launch aggressive lobbying efforts to influence you. Our politicians to shape policy, secure federal grants, tax credits, subsidy dollars, which proliferates their product and heavily pads their bottom line. They have created a perfect storm in which pharmaceuticals that cost hundreds, if not 1000s per month, like Ozempic, that are linked to stomach paralysis, pancreatitis and thyroid cancer, can actually surge. This reinforces a growing dependence on medical interventions to manage weight in a society where systemic change in food production and consumption is desperately needed and also very possible. These monster corporations have mastered the art of distorting the research, influencing the policy, buying the narrative, engineering the environment, and manipulating consumer behavior. Jillian Michaels: While I have been fortunate enough to pull many back from the edge over the course of my 30 year career, I have lost just as many, if not more, than I have saved. I have watched them slip through my fingers, mothers that orphan their children, husbands that widow their wives. I have even watched parents forced to suffer the unthinkable loss of their adult children. There are not words to express the sadness I have felt and the fury knowing that they were literally sacrificed at the altar of unchecked corporate greed. Most Americans are simply too financially strained, psychologically drained and physically addicted to break free without a systemic intervention. Attempting to combat the status quo and the powers that be is beyond swimming upstream. It is like trying to push a rampaging river that's infested with piranhas. After years of trying to turn the tide, I submit that the powers that be are simply too powerful for us to take on alone. I implore the people here that shape the policy to take a stand. The buck must stop with you, while the American people tend to the business of raising children and participating in the workforce to ensure that the wheels of our country go around. They tapped you to stand watch. They tapped you to stand guard. We must hold these bad actors accountable. And I presume the testimonials you heard today moved you. Digest them, discuss them, and act upon them, because if this current trend is allowed to persist, the stakes will be untenable. We are in the middle of an extinction level event. The American people need help. They need heroes. And people of Washington, your constituents chose you to be their champion. Please be the change. Thank you. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): There was one particular piece of legislation or one thing that we could do here in Washington, what would it be? Jillian Michaels: Get rid of Citizens United and get the money out of politics. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): Okay. 3:37:00 Calley Means: To the healthcare staffers slithering behind your bosses, working to impress your future bosses at the pharmaceutical companies, the hospitals, the insurance companies, many of them are in this building, and we are coming for you. 3:37:25 Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): Next up is Ms. Courtney Swan. Ms. Swan is a nutritionist, real food activist, and founder of the popular platform, Realfoodology. She advocates for transparency in the food industry, promoting the importance of whole foods and clean eating. Courtney is passionate about educating the public on the benefits of a nutrient dense diet, and she encourages sustainable, chemical-free farming practices to ensure better health for people and the planet. Courtney Swan: Our current agriculture system's origin story involves large chemical companies -- not farmers, chemists. 85% of the food that you are consuming started from a patented seed sold by a chemical corporation that was responsible for creating agent orange in the Vietnam War. Why are chemical companies feeding America? Corn, soy and wheat are not only the most common allergens, but are among the most heavily pesticide sprayed crops today. In 1974 the US started spraying our crops with an herbicide called glyphosate, and in the early 1990s we began to see the release of genetically modified foods into our food supply. It all seems to begin with a chemical company by the name IG Farben, the later parent company of Bayer Farben, provided the chemicals used in Nazi nerve agents and gas chambers. Years later, a second chemical company, Monsanto, joined the war industry with a production of Agent Orange, a toxin used during the Vietnam War. When the wars ended, these companies needed a market for their chemicals, so they pivoted to killing bugs and pests on American farmlands. Monsanto began marketing glyphosate with a catchy name, Roundup. They claimed that these chemicals were harmless and that they safeguarded our crops from pests. So farmers started spraying these supposedly safe chemicals on our farmland. They solved the bug problem, but they also killed the crops. Monsanto offered a solution with the creation of genetically modified, otherwise known as GMO, crops that resisted the glyphosate in the roundup that they were spraying. These Roundup Ready crops allow farmers to spray entire fields of glyphosate to kill off pests without harming the plants, but our food is left covered in toxic chemical residue that doesn't wash, dry, or cook off. Not only is it sprayed to kill pests, but in the final stages of harvest, it is sprayed on the wheat to dry it out. Grains that go into bread and cereals that are in grocery stores and homes of Americans are heavily sprayed with these toxins. It's also being sprayed on oats, chickpeas, almonds, potatoes and more. You can assume that if it's not organic, it is likely contaminated with glyphosate. In America, organic food, by law, cannot contain GMOs and glyphosate, and they are more expensive compared to conventionally grown options, Americans are being forced to pay more for food that isn't poisoned. The Environmental Working Group reported a test of popular wheat-based products and found glyphosate contamination in 80 to 90% of the products on grocery store shelves. Popular foods like Cheerios, Goldfish, chickpea pasta, like Banza, Nature Valley bars, were found have concerning levels of glyphosate. If that is not alarming enough, glyphosate is produced by and distributed from China. In 2018, Bayer bought Monsanto. They currently have patented soybeans, corn, canola and sugar beets, and they are the largest distributor of GMO corn and soybean seeds. Americans deserve a straight answer. Why does an agrochemical company own where our food comes from? Currently, 85 to 100% of corn and soy crops in the US are genetically modified. 80% of GMOs are engineered to withstand glyphosate, and a staggering 280 million pounds of glyphosate are sprayed on American crops annually. We are eating this roundup ready corn, but unlike GMO crops, humans are not Roundup Ready. We are not resistant to these toxins, and it's causing neurological damage, endocrine disruption, it's harming our reproductive health and it's affecting fetal development. Glyphosate is classified as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer. It is also suspected to contribute towards the rise in celiac disease and gluten sensitivities. They're finding glyphosate in human breast milk, placentas, our organs, and even sperm. It's also being found in our rain and our drinking water. Until January of 2022, many companies made efforts to obscure the presence of GMOs and pesticides in food products from American consumers. It was only then that legislation came into effect mandating that these companies disclose such ingredients with a straightforward label stating, made with bio engineered ingredients, but it's very small on the package. Meanwhile, glyphosate still isn't labeled on our food. Parents in America are unknowingly feeding their children these toxic foods. Dr. Don Huber, a glyphosate researcher, warns that glyphosate will make the outlawed 1970s insecticide DDT look harmless in comparison to glyphosate. Why is the US government subsidizing the most pesticide sprayed crops using taxpayer dollars? These are the exact foods that are driving the epidemic of chronic disease. These crops, heavily sprayed with glyphosate, are then processed into high fructose corn syrup and refined vegetable oils, which are key ingredients for the ultra processed foods that line our supermarket shelves and fill our children's lunches in schools across the nation. Children across America are consuming foods such as Goldfish and Cheerios that are loaded with glyphosate. These crops also feed our livestock, which then produce the eggs, dairy and meat products that we consume. They are in everything. Pick up almost any ultra processed food package on the shelf, and you will see the words, contains corn, wheat and soy on the ingredients panel. Meanwhile, Bayer is doing everything it can to keep consumers in the dark, while our government protects these corporate giants. They fund educational programs at major agricultural universities, they lobby in Washington, and they collaborate with lawmakers to protect their profits over public health. Two congressmen are working with Bayer right now on the Farm Bill to protect Bayer from any liability, despite already having to pay out billions to sick Americans who got cancer from their product. They know that their product is harming people. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): Couple questions. So you really have two issues raised here. Any concern about just GMO seeds and GMO crops, and then you have the contamination, Glycosate, originally is a pre-emergent, but now it's sprayed on the actual crops and getting in the food. Can you differentiate those two problems? I mean, what concerns are the GMO seeds? Maybe other doctors on t

Today's bad idea is about how ideas get adopted, argued over and rejected: David talks to political philosopher Alan Finlayson about what's wrong with seeing this as a competitive marketplace. From St. Paul to Citizens United, from John Stuart Mill to Jordan Peterson, what happens when ideas get turned into commodities? Who wins and who loses? And what is an ‘ideological entrepreneur'? Looking for Christmas presents? We have a special Xmas gift offer: give a subscription to PPF+ and your recipient will also receive a personally inscribed copy of David's new book The History of Ideas. Find out more https://www.ppfideas.com/gifts To sign up for the latest edition of our free fortnightly newsletter, out tomorrow, join our mailing list https://www.ppfideas.com/newsletters Next Bad Idea: Modernisation! Past Present Future is part of the Airwave podcast network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How did our democracy get replaced by a kleptocracy?  Discover the truth on Master Plan, a new podcast from The Lever. Hosted by David Sirota, former speechwriter for Bernie Sanders and Oscar-nominated co-writer of Don't Look Up, Master Plan exposes the deliberate scheme to legalize corruption in the U.S., allowing the wealthy to buy policies that benefit themselves and screw everyone else.  The Lever has unearthed never-before-reported documents proving this 50-year plot was a coordinated effort by wealthy individuals and political ideologues. Over the course of 10 episodes, the series follows the historic thread from Watergate in the '70s through the Citizens United decision and the current Supreme Court scandals. It's a tale of famous villains you already know like President Richard Nixon, Senator Mitch McConnell, and Fox News boss Roger Ailes, plus operatives and oligarchs you've never heard of. Listen to more episodes of Master Plan at https://link.chtbl.com/sIXXlFys?sid=Drilled Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Headlines for November 04, 2024; “You’re Being Lied To”: Pennsylvania County Elections Chair Debunks Claims of Voter Fraud; Former FEC Counsel Speaks Out on Big Money, Citizens United & Elon Musk’s Illegal Moves to Help Trump; Save the Children in Gaza: Israel Bombs Polio Vax Site, Bans UNRWA in Attacks on Humanitarian Aid; Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud on Refusing Meeting with Trump, Not Endorsing Harris

Joyce Vance hosts #SistersInLaw to discuss the proliferation of election lawsuits by the Republicans, the progress of their challenges to mail-in ballots in Pennslyvania, and attempts to remove voters in Alabama and Virginia.  Then, the #Sisters break down the influence of money in politics, the legality of Elon's offer of a million dollars to registered voters who sign his petition, and the pernicious effect of Citizens United on our politics.  They also explain the DOJ's role in protecting the electoral process and our rights compared to the obligations of the states and how lawsuits can be used to defend and expand our ability to vote. Check out Jill's New Politicon YouTube Show: Just The Facts Check out Kim's New Politicon Podcast: Justice By Design Get your #SistersInLaw MERCH at politicon.com/merch WEBSITE & TRANSCRIPT Email: SISTERSINLAW@POLITICON.COM or Thread to @sistersInLaw.podcast Get text updates from #SistersInLaw and Politicon.  Please Support This Week's Sponsors: Thrive Causemetics: For 20% off incredible clean and cause-focused beauty products, go to thrivecausemetics.com/sisters Mint Mobile: Cut your wireless bill to 15 dollars a month at mintmobile.com/sisters  LolaVie: Say goodbye to food waste and hello to a cleaner, greener kitchen. Head to lomi.com/sil and use promo code SIL to get $50 off your Lomi electric composter. Calm: Perfect your meditation practice and get better sleep with 40% off a premium subscription when you go to calm.com/sisters Get Barb's New Book:  Attack From Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America Get More From #SistersInLaw Joyce Vance: Twitter | University of Alabama Law | MSNBC | Civil Discourse Substack Jill Wine-Banks: Twitter | Facebook | Website | Author of The Watergate Girl: My Fight For Truth & Justice Against A Criminal President | Just The Facts YouTube Kimberly Atkins Stohr: Twitter | Boston Globe | WBUR | Unbound Newsletter | Justice By Design Podcast Barb McQuade: Twitter | University of Michigan Law | Just Security | MSNBC

It's Halloween, baby, and Sarah loves when her neighbors go all out on decorations! Plus, she gets a call from a broadway star, ruins hell for children, and hears from her old friend, Toad. You can leave a voice memo for Sarah at speakpipe.com/TheSarahSilvermanPodcast. Follow Sarah Silverman @sarahkatesilverman on Instagram and @sarahksilverman on TikTok. And stay up to date with us @LemonadaMedia on X, Facebook, and Instagram. For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This election is set to be the most expensive ever. On this week's On the Media, what does a billion dollars in campaign funds actually buy? Plus, Democrats condemned dark money for years. Now they embrace it.[01:00] Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger explore why Donald Trump came to be so reliant on his billionaire donors. Plus, Andrew Perez of Rolling Stone details Trump's history of promising his benefactors big favors. And Bloomberg reporter Annie Massa breaks down the relationship between Trump and megadonor Jeff Yass.[09:48] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Kenneth Vogel, who covers money, influence, and politics at the New York Times, about the rise of the dark money political infrastructure following the 2010 Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.[24:53] Host Micah Loewinger sits down with Helen Santoro, money and politics reporter at The Lever, about Kamala Harris' robust political history as a proponent of dark money reform, and her recent about-face.[38:16] Host Brooke Gladstone talks with Steven Sprick Schuster, professor of economics at Middle Tennessee State University, to discuss if raising more money actually helps you win an election.Further reading / listening:“Republicans Tell Trump That Elon Musk's Super PAC Is Blowing It,” by Asawin Suebsaeng, Miles Klee, and Andrew Perez“How Jeff Yass Became One of the Most Influential Billionaires in the 2024 Election,” by Annie Massa“Democrats Decried Dark Money. Then They Won With It in 2020,” by Kenneth Vogel and Shane Goldmacher“Harris' Turn To The Dark (Money) Side,” by Helen Santoro“Does Campaign Spending Affect Election Outcomes? New Evidence from Transaction-Level Disbursement Data,” by Steven Sprick Schuster On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

This week, Nick and Goldy are joined by Fordham Law professor Zephyr Teachout, who explains the urgent need for federal action on corporate price-gouging. Professor Teachout identifies misconceptions about price controls and highlights the failure of mainstream economists to recognize that price-gouging is a common practice, especially in light of skyrocketing corporate profit margins during the pandemic. Their conversation also unpacks the need for stronger antitrust enforcement, decreased market concentration, and more regulations aimed at protecting consumers in times of crisis. Zephyr Teachout is a Professor of Law at Fordham Law School, where she focuses on the intersection of corporate and political power. She is also the author of multiple books, including Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin's Snuff Box to Citizens United and Break 'Em Up: Recovering Our Freedom from Big Ag, Big Tech, and Big Money. Twitter: @ZephyrTeachout Further reading: The Atlantic - Sometimes You Just Have to Ignore the Economists More Perfect Union - Why Are Diaper Prices Up 184 Percent? Two Corporations are Preying on Parents The New Republic - A Very Good Sign: Kamala Harris Is Going Right at Corporate Greed Find out if your state has a price gouging law here: NCSL Price Gouging State Statutes Books By Professor Teachout:  Break 'Em Up: Recovering Our Freedom from Big Ag, Big Tech, and Big Money Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin's Snuff Box to Citizens United Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer, @civicaction Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics Substack: The Pitch

Trump Strategist Corey Lewandowski and Citizens United's Dave Bossie breakdown what to expect to see at tonight's debate, what points he will be expanding upon, and how his performance will set the stage for the rest of his campaign. Additional interviews with John Paul Moran from Grand Opportunity USA on groundbreaking app changing voter turnout in key battleground states.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Investigative Journalist Sharyl Attkisson on her new book, “Follow The Science: How Big Pharma Misleads, Obscures, and Prevails,” a deep dive exposing the corruption that has ruled the pharmaceutical industry and news media for decades, through lies, cover-ups, and high-level collusion with government and media, Big Pharma has continuously put profits over people with dangerous results. Additional interviews with President of ‘Citizens United' Dave Bossie, Investigative columnist Tony Kinnett, and ‘Campus Reform Higher Education' Fellow Nicholas Giordano. To see the daily show go to americasvoice.news each Monday through Friday at 6PM Eastern or watch any time at JustTheViews.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Joe Biden's latest difficulties have a lot of Republicans feeling upbeat — too upbeat. Charlie and Raheem Kassam look at the polling and recent events from Europe to explain why the word "landslide' should be banished from Republican vocabulary. Instead, it's time to work harder than ever before. Plus, David Bossie of Citizens United discusses the group's latest film release, Trump's Rescue Mission.Support the show: http://www.charliekirk.com/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.