Podcasts about Lowdown

What's wrong with us? Our nation's moral compass, I mean.I don't like being a downer, just focusing on wrongs, but some wrongs stand out as morally abominable, such as this one. It's about hundreds of thousands of our low-income elders who, toward the end of life (when frail and most vulnerable) find themselves cast into a part of the Medicaid system that has been deliberately structured by Congress to subject them to needless deprivations and daily indignities.These are our loved ones with serious health problems who need long term care in nursing homes, and two-thirds of them rely on Medicaid to cover their costs. To get this benefit, they surrender all of their income, which goes to defray their nursing home expenses. Of course, for a decent existence beyond mere survival, we all rely on a few little things that are basic to our humanity. So, Medicaid authorizes each state to set a monthly “personal needs allowance,” so their elderly patients can cover hygiene and grooming products, a book or CD, a small gift for grandchildren, a chocolate bar, etc.Good! But then Mr. Mingy walked in. In 1987, Congress set the minimum for this allowance at a meager $30 a month – under $8 a week! Congress has not raised it in the decades since, and most states still provide only a pittance, despite inflation and monopoly price gouging on practically everything. So, our state and national “leaders” (who freely dole out massive corporate subsidies and tax giveaways to billionaires) are leaving ill seniors with so little spending money that they must ration their toothpaste and scrimp pennies to buy a rare treat from the vending machine.I know this is small in the global scale of human indignities, but that makes it an even bigger moral failure for our society. It would take so little to do so much for so many.Do something!* There are 2 bills sitting in the Energy and Commerce committee in Congress right now: H.R.5685, sponsored by Rep Gwen Moore, and H.R.7778, sponsored by Rep. Suhas Subramanyam. If you've got a representative on the committee—hello, AOC and longtime friend of the Lowdown Jan Schakowsky— call as a constituent and find out what's going on with these bills.* Want to fight poverty in senior communities, and get support/ideas/resources if you're in need? Check out Justice in Aging!Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe

Nigel Farage & the radical right have tried to use the strange events at RAF Fairford to feed the politics of hateIn his latest Lowdown podcast short, Nick Cohen discusses Nigel Farage's extraordinary and irresponsible attempts to make political capital from the strange events at RAF Fairford this week, including allegations of an alleged Iranian-linked terrorism. Without any evidence, and before anyone was even charged, Farage rushed headlong onto social media and heavily suggested this was an Iranian plot, using terrorists who got into the UK on one of the small boats!Nick says that while the story initially appeared serious, the five arrested men were released on bail, no weapons were found, and one suspect had actually called the police. Nick argues that Farage used the event to falsely link the incident to asylum seekers and small boats, despite the suspects being British citizens. He claims Farage then aligned himself with the extreme right by comparing the situation to that of Danny "Tommo", a leader of a group that menaces ports. Nick describes a "media political complex" involving Farage, Rupert Lowe, and GB News that pressures the police and undermines contempt of court laws. Nick concludes by quoting a psychological profile of Adolf Hitler to suggest that Farage and his allies use similar tactics of repetition and blame to maintain supporter dependency. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hour one.Join Allan, Declan, and our great list of guests for all your Sports needs! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

BaggedMilk joined the show.Join Allan, Declan, and our great list of guests for all your Sports needs! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hour two.Join Allan, Declan, and our great list of guests for all your Sports needs! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What Are We Even Doing? is his podcast. And see him in Season 2 of The Lowdown, coming soon on FX.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Pippa Hudson speaks to Theo Lötter, the Founder and CEO of the Franschhoek Classic Car Festival, about how to maintain your classic car. Lunch with Pippa Hudson is CapeTalk’s mid-afternoon show. This 2-hour respite from hard news encourages the audience to take the time to explore, taste, read and reflect. The show - presented by former journalist, baker and water sports enthusiast Pippa Hudson - is unashamedly lifestyle-driven. Popular features include a daily profile interview #OnTheCouch at 1:10 pm. Consumer issues are in the spotlight every Wednesday while the team also unpacks all things related to health, wealth & the environment. Thank you for listening to a podcast from Lunch with Pippa Hudson Listen live on Primedia+ weekdays between 13:00 and 15:00 (SA Time) to Lunch with Pippa Hudson broadcast on CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from the show, go to https://buff.ly/MdSlWEs or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/fDJWe69 Subscribe to the CapeTalk Daily and Weekly Newsletters https://buff.ly/sbvVZD5 Follow us on social media: CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Send us Fan MailWe share a quick update on our release schedule while Pete gets his new house ready, plus a few theme park history notes we can't resist.Thanks for listening!We'd love it if you would give us a review on your podcast platform of choice: iTunes, Spotify, etc... They're really helpful.And get in touch and let us know about YOUR Plus-Ups for the attractions we've talked about!  We'd love to tell them on the air.Come visit us on Bluesky, Mastodon, Instagram, or whatever social media you like. Just look up Lowdown on the Plus-Up and you'll probably find us.  Or drop us a note to comments@lowdown-plus-up.com and let us know any questions or comments about how YOU would like to plus-something-up! We are a Boardwalk Times production.Boardwalk Times, https://boardwalktimes.net/Boardwalk Times store, https://boardwalktimes.store .

Hour one. Join Allan, Declan, and our great list of guests for all your Sports needs! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join Allan, Declan, and our great list of guests for all your Sports needs! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hour two. Join Allan, Declan, and our great list of guests for all your Sports needs! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the fall harvest season, when many farm stands and homes decorate with pumpkins, corn stalks, and maybe even a straw man.How to make a straw man? Easy – stuff a couple of burlap bags with hay and dress your “man” in an old flannel shirt, overalls, and straw hat. But today's billionaires, corporate elites, and other political megadonors have come up with their own version of this creature – stuff a couple of silk pillows with thousand-dollar bills, dress him in a fine-tailored suit, and – voilá! – they turn a common straw man into a congress man.The stuffing is what allows corporate powers to create a government that routinely serves their avarice at the expense of the rest of us. Indeed, in this election season, they've already stuffed about two billion dollars into congress creatures who'll support their AI data centers, tax breaks, and other boondoggles.Who are these money stuffers? Ahh, that's the secret to their corruption. In 2010, America's partisan, corporatized Supreme Court handed a legalistic, anti-democracy weapon called “Dark Money” to giant corporations.By judicial dictate, the Court's Republican majority ruled that executives can give unlimited sums of corporate cash to SuperPACs to elect their straw men – without telling us commoners who is buying which lawmakers and at what price.Secret money equals secret government. Yet, both parties are going along with this corruption, claiming to be “powerless” to overturn the Court's edict.Powerless? What about asking The People to intervene? An overwhelming majority of Americans of every political stripe despise the Dark Money trick and will rally behind any serious effort to kill it. A bipartisan effort to do just that is now underway in Montana. Learn about it from transparentelection.org – then go forth and multiply.Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe

On the last Tuesday of the month, solicitor Miriam McGillycuddy answers your questions. Email, in confidence, to kerrytoday@radiokerry.ie

Vic Verchereau welcomes Patrick Regan, who is Executive VP at Plas-Labs. His Mother would say "we are giving you roots and wings". This powerful gift of great parenting gave Patrick Regan and his brother Mike a 60 year old business with a solid culture and lessons on how to treat people. Plas-Labs has a global distribution network of over 110 distributors who have a proven record of good service, applications expertise, and knowledge of the product line. Many are scientists and engineers with strong technical backgrounds and “hands-on” experience. Although the company's reach and success is something to be proud of, Patrick and Mike are focused on the lessons learned from their amazing parents. Listen in on this edition of the Leadership Lowdown when Host Vic Verchereau pulls up a chair to the dinner table to hear all about the Regan family journey! » Visit MBN website: www.michiganbusinessnetwork.com/ » Subscribe to MBN's YouTube: www.youtube.com/@MichiganbusinessnetworkMBN » Like MBN: www.facebook.com/mibiznetwork » Follow MBN: X.com/MIBizNetwork/ » MBN Instagram: www.instagram.com/mibiznetwork/

Patrick Johnston from the Vancouver sun joined us to talk Canucks. Join Allan, Declan, and our great list of guests for all your Sports needs! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hour one. Join Allan, Declan, and our great list of guests for all your Sports needs! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hour two. Join Allan, Declan, and our great list of guests for all your Sports needs! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shawn Belle joined the show. Join Allan, Declan, and our great list of guests for all your Sports needs! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bethany and Dr. Kuba are absolutely giddy to introduce you to a special friend and guest - Laura Diamond, Attorney to dentists. Laura is an absolute wealth of information. While Dr. Kuba has had the privilege of seeing Laura defend and advise dentists for years now, she finally gets the opportunity today to dish out some tough legal questions. Dental professionals need to hear the advice that Laura gives, so don't miss it! Want to see this episode on video? Check it out here!

TRUMP'S "EMPIRE OF GRIFT" - WHY THE U.S. WE ONCE KNEW & TRUSTED MAY BE STONE COLD DEADIn this episode of The Lowdown, Nick Cohen talks with author and journalist Anne Applebaum about her recent essay in The Atlantic, which describes the current U.S. administration under Trump as an "empire of grift." Anne Applebaum explains that this administration has abandoned America's traditional role as a leader of democracies, instead promoting corruption, far-right ideologies, and imperialist policies both domestically and abroad. Canada's PM Mark Carney was among the first of prominent western leaders to publicly proselytise recognise the disturbing truth about the U.S. and propose a strategy to build a new order without such reliance on U.S. for our security.She details how the administration seeks to manipulate elections and influence politics in allied democracies like the UK, Canada, and European countries, often aligning with far-right groups and using economic pressure. Anne discusses the ideological underpinnings, including the Great Replacement Theory, and the normalisation of breaking democratic taboos. Chillingly, she warns that even if Trump loses power, the ideas and networks driving this movement will persist, and she advised European countries to consider alternative security arrangements. The conversation also touched on the role of tech companies and cryptocurrency in funding and amplifying these movements. Anne concludes by emphasising the fundamental will to power motivating these actions, referencing George Orwell's insights on the appeal of authoritarianism.Read all about!Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum @TheAtlantic and @SNFAgoraJHU is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of such brilliant best-selling histories as Gulag, Iron Curtain, Red Famine, Twilight of Democracy and now AUTOCRACY INC . Find her more often on http://wsocial.eu Warsaw, London, Washington linktr.ee/anneapplebaum . Her lates essay Empire of Grift is in the latest edition of The Atlantic.Nick Cohen's @NichCohen4 regular Substack column Writing from London on politics and culture from the UK and beyond is must-read. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Hour 1 we were joined by Allan Mitchell from The Lowdown with Lowetide and our Monday co-host, former CFLer Eddie Steele. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

During Hour 1 Allan Mitchell from The Lowdown with Lowetide joined the show previewing the Oilers' season ahead of Tuesday's opener. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jason Gregor joined the show. Join Allan, Declan, and our great list of guests for all your Sports needs! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hour one. Join Allan, Declan, and our great list of guests for all your Sports needs! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rachel Kryshak joined the show. Join Allan, Declan, and our great list of guests for all your Sports needs! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hour two. Join Allan, Declan, and our great list of guests for all your Sports needs! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

HOW CRYPTO BUYS AND SELLS POLITICANS ON THE FAR RIGHT ACROSS EUROPEIn this Lowdown short, Nick Cohen discusses the influence of the crypto industry on politics, focusing on how crypto billionaires have been buying support from radical right politicians. He highlighted cases such as Christopher Harbourne and Ben Delo's large donations to Nigel Farage and his party, and Donald Trump's involvement in the crypto industry. Cohen criticises the lack of regulation in the crypto sector and its use by criminals and authoritarian regimes. He argued that honest industries do not need to buy political protection and called for more scrutiny of large political donations. Cohen also mentioned the need for Labour and other politicians to take a stronger stance against the anti-democratic forces funded by crypto interests. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Saturday, September 26: The NHL Low Down by FiredUp Network

Last week, Hightower had the absolute pleasure of appearing on Tavis Smiley's live radio talk show—a lot of great laughs, and a lot of good ground covered! From the Texas races, to America at 250, to the idea that fundamental fairness is a sense all humans share, Tavis and Hightower went deep. Tavis and his team have given us permission to share it with you here, and we're so grateful—he's also just started his own Substack newsletter, and we encourage you to subscribe to one of the greats of American media at tavissmiley.substack.com. You can also listen live on KBLA 1580 daily, and subscribe to his podcast. —dzTranscriptEdited lightly for clarityPart 1Tavis Smiley: Tavis Smiley, glad you're with us in the second hour of our program here today.Yesterday, we stepped into what I call the Elders' Skybox to talk to Dr. Johnette Cole. She was absolutely amazing yesterday. If you missed that conversation with Johnnetta Cole yesterday, I encourage you to check out the podcast, now posted. She, of course, is the legendary, the iconic, first African American woman to be president of Spelman. But she's covered so much ground in her amazing career, and she joined us yesterday on the show. And Johnnetta Cole still got it. I mean, she was just blazing yesterday. So if you missed the conversation with Johnnetta Cole yesterday, I encourage you, you will not be disappointed. Check out the podcast, now up, of our dialogue with Dr. Cole yesterday.So we stepped into the Elders Skybox again today to talk to our friend and brother Jim Hightower, the legendary talk show host down in Texas. I quote him oftentimes. When you hear me say that the only thing you find in the middle of the road is a dead armadillo, that was Jim Hightower years ago, and I've never forgotten that line from all those years ago. You can't be middle of the road. We were just talking about that in our hour with Dr. Kaye Wise Whitehead about Hakeem Jeffries and some of these Democrats who, on a number of issues, still want to occupy the center, the middle of the road. That is not where one needs to be, especially right about now. Pick a side. Pick a side is my point. And that was Jim Hightower's advice many, many years ago. I never forgot when he said it, and I've held on to it all these years.I invited him on today to talk about this hot Texas Senate race, but more broadly to get his take, as a longtime progressive, on the march that we are witnessing in real time by these progressives after decades of being in the wilderness. With all that said, I'm honored to welcome Jim Hightower to this program. Jim, how are you, sir?Jim Hightower: I'm doing great, Tavis, and all the greater because I get to visit with you.Tavis Smiley: It's my honor to have you on this program. Thank you for those kind words. I meant what I said earlier about having listened to you. I'm at that age now. I just turned 62 a couple of days ago, and I've been at this, what, 35 years. My mom teases me about it, but people come on the show all the time: “Mr. Smiley, I grew up listening to you, I grew up watching you.” So I'm at that age now where I'm getting that. And this is funny, because I can say that to Jim Hightower now. I grew up listening to him and watching him, and so I'm thrilled to have him on this program.Let me just start with this, broadly speaking. I've asked this question of other guests. I've got two minutes now, we've got the rest of the hour when we come forward, but in these first two minutes, I'm asking you the same question I've asked of others. We are inside that eight-week sprint from Labor Day to Election Day. How are you feeling?Jim Hightower: I am feeling more upbeat than I have been in years about Texas politics. Our party has finally come alive down here, as you just indicated. We've had too many corporate centrists trying to dominate our party, thinking we can fool the people if we just tiptoe around our progressivism, rather than recognizing that people themselves are progressive. And if we talk to them in that kind of language, they might respond to us in a more favorable way than they have in the past, or respond at all.I would point out, first of all, Tavis, that Texas is not a right-wing state. It is not a Republican state. It is a non-voting state. And it has not been voting because the Democratic Party, my party, has been over in the ditch somewhere, trying not to be discovered, rather than recognizing that most people are quite progressive. I think of it in terms of my own father, who kept up with politics, but he was not political, particularly. He didn't know he had a political philosophy, but he did, and it was expressed to me many times in these words. He said, “Jim, everybody does better when everybody does better.” And that is what the Democratic Party is supposed to represent.And so that spirit is coming back within the Democratic Party. We have it with James Talarico running for Senate, Gina Hinojosa running for governor, but also let us not forget those down-ballot candidates, who can make such a difference in a campaign. I've been one of those myself, so I can attest to it. And we have a terrific lineup this year, including Clayton Tucker running for agriculture commissioner, a position that most people wouldn't pay a whole lot of attention to until you realize, wait a minute, if you eat, you are involved in agriculture. And we need to make that political as well as edible.Tavis Smiley: Love it. He's already on a roll. That is the Jim Hightower that I grew up listening to. He's wise, he drops these one-liners; as we say these days, he's dropping bars. I love his father's edict that everybody does better when everybody does better. It's so simple. But I want to give him some time to unpack this. I want to interrogate this notion that people themselves are progressive. People themselves are progressive. That line resonated with me; I suspect it did with you as well. I'll let him unpack that and a great deal more. I'm glad to have Jim Hightower for the hour on Tavis Smiley.Tavis Smiley, and longtime progressive activist, legendary talk show host, bestselling author Jim Hightower. So we've stepped into the Elders Skybox to tap into his wisdom in this hour as we are hurtling inexorably toward Election Day on Tuesday, November 3rd. Wanted to check in with him on some national issues, but certainly everybody's watching this Senate race in Texas. I talk to my friends down there all the time, and they are so excited about turning Texas blue. You heard Jim Hightower say a moment ago that Texas is not a Republican state, it's not a red state, it's a non-voting state. I'll let him unpack that as we move through this hour.But just some quick updates here. So you saw the Republican convention, that two-day farce they had down in Texas not long ago. Since that convention, a new poll has come out about the race in Texas. Interestingly, the survey happened on September 13th. That was Sunday, my birthday. And it's good news for James Talarico. The latest poll, this is the SoCal Strategies poll, shows Talarico leading Paxton 50 percent to 45 percent. It's a five-point margin. There had been a two-point lead by Paxton over Talarico. It's fascinating. So before the convention, Paxton was leading Talarico by two points in Texas. Post the convention, it flips. Talarico is now leading Paxton by five points. Not sure what Ken Paxton did or said at that convention that made these numbers flip. Obviously it's very, very tight, and these polls are snapshots in time. We still have weeks to go before Election Day. We'll let Jim Hightower unpack a bit more about the tightness of this race in Texas in this hour.But I want to start right now, Jim, where we left off moments ago, and that is with your suggestion that people are themselves a great deal more progressive than we acknowledge or give them credit for. We've got time. Unpack that for me.Jim Hightower: Well, just go back to your childhood. The very first political expression of a child, maybe at two years old, is “That's not fair.” That is a powerful political sentiment, and it's within all of us. And that's what we're seeing today. The unfairness of the billionaires with their data centers invading our communities. The unfairness of the destruction of voting rights, period. Not just the Voting Rights Act, but voting rights. The unfairness of economic plutocracy, really, and just a general unfairness that pervades our society, including the election itself.The idea that money can control. That happened to Texas, just as it did nationally, in the 1980s, when Tony Coelho, a member of Congress from California, decided that the Democrats didn't need to have all this grassroots stuff. We could just get money from rich people and throw it at television ads, and then we could compete with the Republicans. And the powers that be in the Democratic Party here in Texas agreed with that. So they began to shift away from what Ann Richards and myself and Jim Mattox and Garry Mauro and other good, solid Democrats were winning elections with: a focus on the grassroots people of our state. That got abandoned. Instead they turned to money.And when you turn to money, I can tell you, if you get a corporate check, written on the back of it is the corporate agenda. And they're going to cash that check, not you. That is what happened to Texas. The Democrats quit being Democrats because, well, we don't want to upset those money people, so we'll just tone down our message. And by toning down the message, we tone down our public support, our people's support. If we weren't standing for them, why would they stand for us? And so that's what happened. Our solid Democratic constituencies, which were farmers, working-class folks, teachers, environmentalists, didn't hear themselves in the Democratic message. So they quit voting. It's not that they turned Republican.We consistently had among the top one or two worst voting records in the country in the state of Texas. We have the lowest turnout in our country. Ken Paxton, you just mentioned, is now running for the U.S. Senate on the Republican ticket. Paxton got 68 percent of the Republican primary election that made him their nominee. Sixty-eight percent, boy, that sounds good. He must be very popular, until you realize that is 3.4 percent of the voters of Texas. That's who nominated him. That's his basic support: 3.4 percent. Can we not get 3.5 percent? Well, maybe if we began to organize and mobilize and strategize and do something a little stronger than we had been doing.And that's the good news in Texas. That's what has changed this election cycle over previous ones: our Democratic Party, with a new party chair, and a dynamic bunch of candidates running for statewide office and local office as well. We used to have 50 counties in our state that had no Democratic Party chair, much less a Democratic committee. We had state legislative district after district that had no Democratic contender in it. So we weren't even running. But this year we do. We have candidates, good candidates, in all of those districts. We have vibrant party building in every county in the state. You have to have the infrastructure. It's not just handsome candidates like myself, or smart and sassy people, that make the difference. It is grassroots, fundamentally. And if you abandon the grassroots, then there's no one to appeal to.Part 2Tavis Smiley: Let me ask you this. You said a few things, and I want to go back to them right quick. You're on a roll, and that's what he does every day, and I love it. I just have to keep up with him. Let me start with the money. No naiveté here, but my sense is, even though we've seen efforts, I think of McCain-Feingold, other efforts we've seen over the years, my sense is that at this point that horse has left the barn, and I can't imagine how we get money out of our politics. Citizens United, I can do this all day long, as you could, Jim Hightower. But that trade-off that Democrats made to get access to that money, there's no 180 on this. I mean, the Democratic Party is so broke now, as you know. The national Democratic Party is so broke, they've been borrowing money. So even though your indictment about the money in our politics is spot on, can you imagine any way to get money out of our politics at this point?Jim Hightower: Yes, I can, which is to go to the people with it. It is the most popular polling issue in America and has been for some time: getting corporate money out of politics. It's up at the 90 percent level, including something like 75 percent of Republicans who want to get this corporate money out of our system. So we have the base of support, but we have to have a politics that goes out there and collects that base. And that means running on it again. Our party nationally has quit running on that issue. So we've abandoned one of the very best issues we have, an issue of abject plutocracy over democracy, money over people.And that is what's beginning to change. That's why Talarico is up there, running as our Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate. He has raised a ton of money, outraised Paxton himself, because he's getting small-dollar donations from people who are mad as hell about money in politics and how government serves money, not people. And again, Clayton Tucker, running for agriculture commissioner, has a theme that says to beat money power, you have to have people power. You have to organize people against organized money. That is a winning topic, and candidate after candidate around the country this time are beginning to grasp that and make hay with it.Tavis Smiley: Let me ask you this. The other thing you said, I want to come back to it. You're saying so much that's just jumping out at me. I want to come back to this notion of fundamental fairness. I find myself time and time again over the course of my career, Jim, on any number of issues, making the point that it's ultimately about fundamental fairness. Pick the issue, and my moral stance on so many of these issues is that it's ultimately about what I term fundamental fairness.And I loved your suggestion that one of the first things that comes out of our mouths as kids... I don't know where we get this, but when you said it, I smiled. I'm sure every parent listening to this program right now smiled. We've all heard kids say, “That's not fair. That's not fair.” I don't even know where that comes from, but we've all heard babies say that line. So I'm glad you used that.I'm wondering whether or not, in this moment, you believe that everyday people in this country care about fundamental fairness. And before you answer, here's my point. I think that we've become more nativist for a lot of reasons. People are turning inward, they're lashing outward. I'm not sure that we actually believe in meritocracy anymore. We see Donald Trump and the big grift. We see him not playing the game by any set of rules that speaks to any kind of fairness. We see the Supreme Court putting its thumb on the scale in favor of Donald Trump too often. We see a Congress that's doing nothing; they're letting Donald Trump run roughshod. In the legislative branch, the executive branch, or the judicial branch, I don't see any semblance of fairness. Tell me whether or not you believe that everyday people in this nation still believe in the notion. Never mind what we say as a two-year-old: as adults, do we believe in fundamental fairness?Jim Hightower: Yes, we do. And in every case that you mentioned there, Trump being a sleaze, Congress not taking any action, the Supreme Court being a corporate subsidiary, et cetera, their popularity has declined in direct proportion to their abandonment of those values of fairness. That still is within the people. We don't appeal to it. For the most part, we've not had a politics nationwide that appeals to that fairness issue. But again, I think it is so fundamental that it is the core of reestablishing a people's democracy in our country: just to focus on that fundamental issue of fairness.You know, again, back to my upbringing in the little town of Denison, Texas. My parents taught egalitarianism. They didn't know what that word was. Probably couldn't spell it, you know. But they understood it. What they said to me was, “Nobody is better than you, and you're not any better than anybody else.” Again, those are powerful moral sentiments that are deeply imbued, I think, in the human experience.And you see it as people rebel against the privatization of our schools, as people rebel against the monopolization of our food economy, our energy economy, any basic economy you want to talk about, controlled by a handful of billionaires. You see it in the public disgust with Elon Musk and Peter Thiel and Jeff Bezos and these sorts of billionaires who seem to think that because they've got money, they've got brains, and they can just run things. But you can't run over the American people. You know, Lincoln said it: you can fool some of the people all the time, and all the people some of the time, but not all the people all the time. And I think those people are on the move.And again, if we have a politics that appeals to “we're going to be a unified country that believes in egalitarianism, that believes in fairness, that believes in economic justice, social justice,” then people will respond. They won't respond to those words, but they will respond to the reality that you put forward. Here's what we mean by that.Part 3Tavis Smiley: I hear it, I hear it. Jim Hightower, still on fire all these decades later. As I said earlier, in case you've just tuned in, people tell me all the time, “I grew up listening to you, I grew up watching you,” and I can say that about Jim Hightower, and now you see where I got it from. So much of the way I approach these issues I learned from Jim Hightower. He just speaks plain. I call it KISS MIP: keep it simple, make it plain. KISS MIP, keep it simple, make it plain. I love his parents' edict that everybody does better when everybody does better. There's a reason why he is the legendary Jim Hightower. You see why I want him on this program. I hope when I achieve his age, my mind is still as sharp as his and still on point the way his is. I am honored to have another half hour with Jim Hightower when we come forward on Tavis Smiley.I just saw the numbers. People are signing up by the hundreds to join us on Saturday, October 3rd. I'm inviting you once again, right now: mark your calendar. This is history in the making, the California Voices Town Hall and Ballot Forum, live from L.A., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. All the candidates are showing up, and you should too. The event is free, but you must register. Go to KBLA1580.com right now and get your seat. California Voices, Saturday, October 3rd. Come be a part of history, brought to you by KBLA Talk 1580 and the Community Voter Education Project.And this is what I call wisdom speaking. Wisdom speaking. I am honored to be in conversation with the legendary, the iconic talk show host Jim Hightower, New York Times bestselling author, syndicated columnist, who has his own Substack called the Hightower Lowdown that I encourage you to sign up for: the Hightower Lowdown on Substack, by Jim Hightower. He's still dropping bars as often as he can. And again, I'm just thrilled to have him on this program for the hour. In case you missed the first half hour, you missed a good one. I love this homespun wisdom that he's sharing with us. There are thankfully a few more minutes to go in this dialogue, but check out the podcast of the entire conversation, posted later this evening, if you missed any of the brilliance of Jim Hightower in this first half hour.I want to play a clip for you. Jim and I were talking a little bit ago about the Republican convention, the midterm convention, the first time in 50-plus years that somebody did one of these in the midterms. And it was in Texas, of course, in Dallas. James Talarico is running for Senate in Texas as a Democrat against Ken Paxton. He didn't go to the convention, but post the convention, Talarico got a bump. Typically the guy featured at the convention gets a bump. Didn't work that way. Paxton did not get a bump. Post the convention, the poll indicates that Talarico is now leading Paxton in Texas by five points.If you were listening earlier, you heard Jim Hightower say that Texas is not a red state, not a Republican state, it's a non-voting state. And when you break down the numbers, as he did so brilliantly earlier, you'll see that Texas really is a non-voting state. I was thinking, when Jim was making that point, that if we did the data on every state, we may find out that most of these 50 states are not blue or red. They're all non-voting states. It ain't just Texas. I think Jim is on to something. We should stop this red and blue nonsense, even the purple nonsense, and just call them non-voting states. Jim Hightower once again is giving us something to think about.But Talarico gets a bump out of their convention. He goes up. He's up by five points right now. So all of my friends in Texas are excited about the chance for Texas to turn blue this time around. We will see if Talarico can pull that off.But back to that convention. I want you to listen very carefully. I'm just setting this up now. There was a heckler at this convention when Ted Cruz was speaking. And maybe heckler is the wrong word, because in the Black church we say you've got your amen corner. So I'm not sure he's a heckler as much as he is an amen corner for Ted Cruz, who did nothing to chin-check this guy, to stop this guy from what he was saying repeatedly while Ted Cruz was speaking. Cruz heard it loud and clear. You can hear it on the tape. And at no point did Ted Cruz stop to correct him. But listen to Ted Cruz, and just listen very carefully. You're going to hear it two or three times; see if you can't pick it out for yourself. Give it to me, Miles.Ted Cruz (audio clip): When Mamdani says he wants to seize the means of production, he means it. When Abdul El-Sayed says he has a quote “obligation to comply with Sharia law,” he means it. And when James Talarico says he wants to dismantle capitalism, he means it.Tavis Smiley: Have Miles play it one more time. I want you to hear it now. I'll tell you exactly what you should have heard. Every time he calls out the name of Mamdani, then Abdul El-Sayed, then James Talarico, there's a guy standing not too far from Ted Cruz who yells out, “He should be shot.” Mamdani: “He should be shot.” Abdul El-Sayed: “He should be shot.” James Talarico: “He should be shot.” Now listen again; see if you hear it.Ted Cruz (audio clip, replayed): When Mamdani says he wants to seize the means of production, he means it. When Abdul El-Sayed says he has a quote “obligation to comply with Sharia law,” he means it. And when James Talarico says he wants to dismantle capitalism, he means it.Tavis Smiley: Going back, Jim Hightower, to all of the pronouncements made after the death, the murder, of Charlie Kirk, and now on national television, at a Republican convention, you have someone yelling three times, no less, “He should be shot, he should be shot, he should be shot,” and ain't nobody said nothing about it, Jim Hightower.Jim Hightower: Yes, the silence is the evil. And that's all about Trump. You know, almost no Republican will stand up and say Trump is just full of it. He is espousing hatred, he is espousing misogyny, he is espousing racism, he's espousing xenophobia. He's espousing everything that America is against. Everything America stands for is being rejected by Ted Cruz and Ken Paxton and Donald Trump, et cetera. You know, I heard on TV recently, Tavis, some Republican saying about Ted Cruz, “Well, you know, sometimes Ted is his own worst enemy.” And I said, “Not while I'm alive, he's not.”We have to take on these people. We progressives can't just say, “Well, they're just talking.” No, they're not. They're spewing a doctrine of hatred and of violence, really, as you just portrayed in that amazing work of audio technology that you pulled off. It's very, very telling. And again, you know, I keep coming back to the positive side of it. That is not America. That's what gets portrayed most, but that is not who we are.Part 4Tavis Smiley: Not who we are. You see why I love Jim Hightower. I mean, he said Ted's his own worst enemy? Not as long as I'm living. I love, love, love Jim Hightower. All right, and that's why I invited him on this program for an hour. Let me circle back, Jim, to something else you said earlier, and actually I opined on it myself. I thought about what you said during the break. Based on your analysis and based on your framing, Texas ain't the only non-voting state. So why are we stuck on this red, blue, sometimes purple narrative when the truth is that all of these states are non-voting states?Jim Hightower: Yes. Well, the media, the political consultants, they're the ones who drew this red-blue color map on us. And it is not true. It has never been true. I've got a great story from my campaigning days of going into an area with people who are supposedly right-wing, and being able to talk to them. And we have candidates today doing that. Talarico is doing it, Clayton Tucker is doing it, Gina Hinojosa is doing it: going into areas where people have been told, “You're right-wing,” and they're saying, “Wait a minute, we like what this person is saying. Can't we talk about that?” And so we just have to keep saying it. But that requires, Tavis, that we go back to grassroots people politics again, to where we're talking to the people, not talking through consultants and PR people.You know, I'll tell you, today I'm sitting in my kitchen in Austin, Texas. But I live on the south side of Austin, and we're a little more irreverent over here. We're just a little more spunky. In fact, our slogan over here is “We're all here because we're not all there.”Tavis Smiley: I love Austin, and I'm glad to know that you are in that part of town. As a matter of fact, Austin's my favorite city in Texas. I didn't realize that until 25, 30 years ago, when I started going to the Texas Book Festival, one of the best book festivals in the country. I've been honored to be invited to speak there a number of times over the course of the 24 or 25 books I've written. I've been going to the Texas Book Festival for years. It's in Austin, the state capital. And I remember the first time I went there, I wanted to know where Barbara Jordan sat. That's what I wanted to know. In what seat did Barbara Jordan sit, before she went to Congress, of course? I wanted to find that out. But I've been to Austin a number of times over the years, and I like Austin. It's my favorite city in Texas. I didn't know that's where Jim was today, but I'm glad to know he's there.When we come forward... We've been talking about Texas, and of course a lot of national issues, and I don't want to color this any more than this. I want to give Jim all the canvas he needs to paint. I am curious, given all the years he's been out here espousing these progressive POVs, these progressive points of view, what he makes of the march that progressives are on right now across the country. Call them progressives, call them DSA. What does Jim Hightower think of this march by progressives right about now? And I'm also curious to get his take more broadly on how he sees America at 250. He's been on the front lines as a progressive fighter for a long time, but here we are, 250 years in. What does Jim Hightower make of this moment in this republic? You're listening to Tavis Smiley.Tavis Smiley, with Jim Hightower. Jim Hightower, you've been out here a long time on the front lines of this fight as an unapologetic progressive. What's your read of, as I would term it, this progressive march literally all across the country?Jim Hightower: Well, it is the most encouraging thing I've seen in a long, long time. And it is happening for real reasons, because the powers that be are running roughshod over the powers that ought to be. And people are catching on to that. So they're beginning to rebel, and not just liberals, and not just progressives or populists like me, but everyday working people are saying, as we started our conversation, Tavis, “That's not fair. This ain't right. This is not America.”And so we've been battling for years. We win fights. Again, you know, I was elected in the 1980s, two terms as Texas agriculture commissioner, elected with Ann Richards running for treasurer, Mattox running for attorney general, Garry Mauro running for land commissioner. We ran a unified campaign, because we could then go to people and say, “It's not just about electing poor old Hightower here. It's about electing a government. We can make change.” And that is what's missing in our politics: people believing that change can actually happen. Because, as you indicated so rightly early on, Congress doesn't do anything, the Supreme Court just follows the corporate agenda, and the White House, of course, is the mess that it's in.So we have to have results coming from our work. And that means a long-term view of politics. You know, I ran for office the first time and I lost. I came very close, but I lost. But I was able to turn it around, because even a losing campaign creates energy. It creates new people. It creates talent. And you can apply that to the next campaign, not just for one individual, but for many, many others. As Willie Nelson put it to me once, he said, “Hightower, the early bird might get the worm, but it's the second mouse that gets the cheese.”Tavis Smiley: You can't fade Jim Hightower. You cannot fade Jim Hightower, coming with wisdom of his own, wisdom from his parents, wisdom from Willie Nelson. Love me some Jim Hightower. We'll close this conversation when we come forward with his thoughts on America at 250. You're listening to Tavis Smiley.I've got three minutes left in this hour, which I have enjoyed immensely, stepping into the Elders Skybox. Again, yesterday Johnnetta Cole was here, former president of Spelman. Check out the podcast if you missed that brilliant conversation. And if you missed any of this dialogue with Jim Hightower, there's so much richness in this thing, man. You'll want to hear it again if you heard it once. And if you didn't hear it, check out the podcast, posted tonight. You will not be disappointed in this conversation with Jim Hightower. As they say in Washington, I want to yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Texas. I've got three minutes left. It's all yours, Jim Hightower. Three minutes. Talk to me about America at 250 as you see it, my friend.Jim Hightower: I think America is healthy in a fundamental way. It's very active right now. You know, there are all kinds of great groups out there making fundamental changes, groups that are progressive and inclusive. And all the bad words we're not supposed to say, again: diversity and equity. I mean, what's wrong with diversity? What's wrong with equity? What are they talking about? And I think more and more people are asking that. And we need to have a constant politics that asks that question. Why should we be afraid of diversity? Unless you're a Native American, you are an immigrant. Stop pretending.And I'm talking to our people now, our progressive people. Stop thinking that it's dangerous to say this stuff. It's not dangerous. People want to hear it, and they will be better for hearing it. You'll get called an agitator. Our wonderful friend and mentor Jesse Jackson spoke brilliantly about being an agitator. You know, after all, it was agitators that built America: Thomas Paine, Shays' Rebellion, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, the populists, right on through. And Jesse put it like this. He said the agitator is the center post in the washing machine that gets the dirt out. We need a lot more of that. We need a lot more of that. And people are ready for it.And I would add just another Jesse Jackson moment, which, again, he did brilliantly. He said, “We might not all have come over on the same boat, but we're in the same boat now.” And that is a powerful political reality. So he was able to rally farmers, and I was with him at some of those events in his presidential campaign, and in his Rainbow Coalition and the other coalitions related to the Rainbow Coalition. They all built together. Jesse Jackson had an intentional program to create a little-d democratic, diverse populist movement based on equality for all. Those are old-time American themes. And we have fought for them, and we have won again and again. Let us not forget that we have won this battle before. It's in front of us, but we've got to do it again.Tavis Smiley: There you go, Jim. We say around here all the time, when we fight, we win. When we fight, we win, and you can't win it if you ain't in it. America needs more of Jim Hightower. I declare it. I knew I hadn't talked to Jim in a long time. I knew it'd be a great hour. I didn't know how great it would actually be, but he still got it. And I am pleased that he put me on his schedule for a full hour today. How blessed are we to have heard the insights of this longtime, unapologetic progressive, Jim Hightower, who's feeling himself these days, and I ain't mad at him, about this march that progressives are on. And I close with what his parents said to him many, many years ago: everybody does better when everybody does better. Jim Hightower, thank you, thank you, thank you, my friend.Jim Hightower: Thank you, Tavis.Tavis Smiley: Good to have you on. More of Tavis Smiley when we come forward.Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe

Friday, September 25: The NHL Low Down by FiredUp Network

Hour two. Join Allan, Declan, and our great list of guests for all your Sports needs! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steve Lansky joined the show. Join Allan, Declan, and our great list of guests for all your Sports needs! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To cope with the eminent danger posed by today's arrogant, profiteering AI billionaires – Donald Trump says that the only thing America needs is a “STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT!”Well, yes – let's try to find one of those!The president we have now is quite the opposite. Take the politically explosive issue of massive AI data centers suddenly intruding into thousands of communities across America, sucking up people's land, water, electricity, and democratic control. Even red-state, MAGA conservatives are in furious rebellion against what amounts to a corporate sneak attack on millions of us.Where's the president when we really need him? He's plotting with the tech invaders to publicly trash those who are rebelling against the tech giants, and deploying Big Government autocrats to rig the rules to silence us opponents. For example, a little-known Trump operative named Lee Zeldin has been embedded as czar of the EPA. He's now decreeing there's no need for local communities to be notified that a data center is moving in on them, nor should there be public comment period on air pollution issues.This means that residents' first notice that a sprawling data center will be built door will be the roar of bulldozers. Worse, Commissar Zeldin wants to let data center billionaires start building their acres of polluting facilities before permits are approved. Also, this MAGA bureaucrat insists that such massive facilities be reclassified as “minor” air polluters – like a car repair shop or local laundromat.Zeldin has also unilaterally reframed the purpose of the EPA. He has declared that the top priority of EPA is not environmental protection, but to “make the US the artificial intelligence capital of the world.”Do something!If you're unsure about what “AI” and “data centers” really mean, check out the plain-English explainers we published recently: part 1 on AI, and part 2 on data centers.Here are a few hubs of data center action that will help you find your way to join the rebellion:* Data Center Opposition Report: A regularly-published comprehensive report on the numbers of fights out there, with case studies for inspiration* The Stop Data Centers Coalition has a list of member organizations who are calling for a national data center moratorium* The Coalition for Responsible Data Center Development, a Minnesota based organization, has published a map of Facebook groups all over the country fighting data centers* One of our top go-to resources are the toolkits that MediaJustice has created* Kairos Fellowship also has a slew of guides and is developing a hotline that local groups can call for advice.Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe

Wednesday, September 23: The NHL Low Down by FiredUp Network

It's one thing for someone like me say that the Republican Party has dived into the abyss of political delirium.But it's another thing when the Party itself confirms its collective delirium for two whole days in a made-for-TV political talk-a-thon. Their theme was: “Bring Back Joe McCarthy!”Let's not forget what a horror McCarthyism was – a 1950s descent into totalitarian repression. Fomented by Joe – a brutish and slimey Republican senator who terrorized America for a decade with a vicious “red-baiting” crusade to crush liberals, unions, minorities, government employees, homosexuals, professors, and others he and his rich backers hated.Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Indeed, given Joe's direct parallels to today's White House, you'd think GOP strategists wouldn't want to resurface that disgraceful chapter of their heritage, but there they were this month, proudly pushing: McCarthyism 2026.Not just the party's fringe, but its top “leaders” were squawking from the podium like Chicken Littles that Democrats are anti-American communists! Trump himself bellowed maniacally that Dems even intend to destroy Mount Rushmore – “they want to blow it up,” he squealed.A parade of top Republican officials literally shouted at the audience's MAGA faithful to fear Democrats. Tim Scott, chair of the party's senatorial fundraising arm, exclaimed that Democrats are fiends who “hate what it means to be American,” so they are coming to “rip that heart out of our chest.”Sure, Tim, it's “evil” for Democrats to advocate for Social Security, health care for all, affordable housing, voting rights… and, you know, “communist” stuff like that. So, please, you do you – keep running your mouth and let the people decide who's crazy.Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe

Monday, September 21: The NHL Low Down by FiredUp Network

Hot one guys, one to save the peeps! PLEASE share and hype and comment etc. etc. as I am horrifically throttled on many platforms...you're gonna enjoy this one though, I'm sure of it!The crucial link to financial security: https://thepuregoldcompany.co.uk/ivor-cummins/

PUTIN IS AT WAR WITH US - WHETHER WE'RE WILLING TO RECOGNISE THE FACT, OR NOT! WITH LUKE HARDING OF THE GUARDIANIn his latest Lowdown podcast, Nick Cohen discusses the Kremlin's current Russian influence operations against and other countries in Europe with Luke Harding, Guardian foreign cortrespondent, and the author of "Betrayal: Trump, Putin, and A New Age of Conquest." Luke explains how Russian intelligence has shifted its focus from left-wing groups to right-wing populist parties, particularly targeting figures like Nigel Farage and the Reform Party in the UK. Luke and Nick discuss how Russian agent recruitment of Ukrainian Ilya Bilyik to attack mosques in London was part of a broader pattern of destabilisation operations, including the firebombing of Keir Starmer's home. Luke detailed Trump's long-standing connections with Russia dating back to the 1970s, including Soviet surveillance of Trump and his family, and questioned whether Trump serves as a Russian asset given his consistent pro-Russian policies in office. Luke examines Putin's war strategy in Ukraine, noting how Russian casualties exceed 1 million while making minimal territorial gains, and he talks to Nick about how Putin's approach of waiting out Western resolve while supporting far-right parties in Europe represents a new form of imperial conquest. Luke expresses concern about the West's response to Russian influence operations and emphasises the need for democratic countries to maintain their values and alliances despite current challenges.Read all about!Luke Harding @Luke Harding68. Journalist @Guardian is.a fomrer foreign correspondent * Moscow correspondent for The Guardian, and a former New York Times best-selling author. His new book is Betrayal: Trump, Putin and The New Age of Conquest. His publisher is @FaberBooksNick Cohen's @NichCohen4 regular Substack column Writing from London on politics and culture from the UK and beyond is another must-read. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

During Hour 1 Allan Mitchell from The Lowdown with Lowetide joined the show discussing the Oilers' first preseason game. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Hour 1 we were joined by Allan Mitchell from The Lowdown with Lowetide and our Monday co-host, former CFLer Eddie Steele. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This past week, our friends at Farm Aid celebrated the 40th anniversary of the United Farmer and Rancher Congress, held in St. Louis. The country was in the middle of one of the worst farm crises we'd ever seen, and solutions from America's leaders were not plentiful, nor particularly helpful. As Hightower put it in his 1984 speech to the DNC:Since 1981 when this guy took office, it's been hog-feedin' time at the Reagan White House. The hogs that just got feeding at the trough in Washington DC today, they have climbed up in the trough and they're wallowing in it up in there. If you're an international banker who made bad loans, no problem, Ronny Reagan will give you a multibillion-dollar bailout. If you're Ed Meese and you get caught in an embarrassing personal financial situation, no problem. Ronny Reagan will make you Attorney General. And if you're any right-wing Latin American dictator with a pair of sunglasses, this administration will give you enough money to burn a wet mule.But if you're just an old dirt farmer out there, needing a little bit of extra loan because your prices don't even cover expenses, this bunch slams the door of your own government right in your own face.After the success of the first Farm Aid concert in 1985, Willie Nelson and his crew didn't stop there— they kept organizing. In the spirit of the four farmers in Lampasas, Texas, getting together in the early 1870s to figure out how they were going to fight the banks and policies that were screwing them, Farm Aid brought together nearly 2,000 farmers and ranchers in 1986 to fight that same fight once again. Michael Foley, Farm Aid's current Cultural Impact Director, wrote up a wonderful article exploring the groundbreaking work that was accomplished:But organizers did not spend months pulling together the United Farmer and Rancher Congress only to issue forceful condemnations of the powerful. They came with solutions, the most fundamental of which was to stand together and transcend all of their differences. The Congress was incredibly diverse, made up of white, black, Latino and Tribal producers and coming from nearly all 50 states, producing every type of farm product imaginable. When Wayne Cryts of the American Agriculture Movement (AAM) spoke at the first plenary session and appealed for unity, he took off his AAM cap and put on a white UFRC trucker cap. The symbolism of every delegate in the auditorium following suit and taking off their own hats and putting on the UFRC caps may seem trivial, but it signaled a desire to overcome presumed differences and solidarity in spite of everything.No one spoke more pointedly, or with more authority, about surmounting difference than Jesse Jackson. “Unless we come out of isolation…unless we build a movement of farmers and consumers and workers and other allies, these monopolies will without mercy drive us beneath the soil.” He called on everyone in the room to hold hands and to hold their hands up high and to “turn to each other, not on each other” as the powers that be would want. That unity, he argued, is the basis for real political power.Make sure you check out the whole piece—and the next time someone tells you they think all those farmers out there are “conservative,” show them this work. ✊Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe

The Lowdown Ep. 30 with Low Audi0 Show: The Lowdown Artist: Low Audi0 Air Date: 18 September 2026 Genre: House / Tech House / Breakbeat / Bass House Low Audi0 takes over the airwaves for an hour to plug you with his favorite house and techno tracks from the month. You can expect to hear newly released tracks from artists we know paired with carefully selected tunes from upcoming producers you might not have heard of. Take a load off and lock in w/ Low Audi0 on the Lowdown Tracklist: 1. Flex (UK) – She's Dangerous 2. Jeff Sorkowitz – Feel The Same 3. Kieran San Jose – Black Magic 4. Cloonee, Prospa, Tristan Henry – Good Girl (Max Maldon Remix) 5. Nicole Moudaber – Body and Soul 6. Major Lazer, America Foster, Skillibeng, BEAM – RoTATe (Patrick Topping Remix) 7. VOLAC & Hackatone – Rhythm Has Control 8. Westend, Twin Diplomacy – Sensational 9. Öwnboss – Pop This 10. TOCADISCO X Beastie Boys – Til the Early Morn 11. Mau P – Just A Little Bit More 12. Mesto, Ink – Freak 13. Kyle Watson x Scrufizzer – Load Up 14. Audiojack & Kevin Knapp – Grab The Wall 15. TOBEHONEST, San Pancho – Percolate 16. Marco Lys, Michael Ekow, Kevcody – Super Hot (STRIPES Remix) Originally broadcast on Data Transmission Radio. Listen live and explore the archive: https://radio.datatransmission.co

A West Texas cowboy saying advises: “Never sign nothing by neon.”But that's exactly the key operational method of the AI data center hucksters who're foisting their exploitative, multibillion-dollar scams on local folks all across America. Corporate slicks for outfits like Amazon, Meta, Open AI, and Google are slithering through the countryside, luring locals to surrender land, water, electric power, and democratic rights to profiteering billionaires who promise pie-in-the-sky prosperity.The deals are typically cut in the dim light of secret meetings, where corporate lawyers whisper to bedazzled local officials: “Just sign here, cowboy.” The key to this mass deception is a legalistic corporate contrivance called an NDA (non-disclosure agreement). It allows data center owners and a small group of insiders to “negotiate” a raw deal for area residents by hiding essential details from the public. Details like: Who pays, how much, who profits, what are the side effects, who's responsible for damages… and why the hell is this room so dark?These NDAs even have corporate code names like “Project Lightning.” What's the rush? As one opponent of a Louisiana rush job said, “We live here. We want to know how it impacts us.” The inside schemers pushing that deal clucked sympathetically, winked at each other, then assured bothersome locals that “an independent study” had shown the proposed data center would cause no harm. Maybe… but the profiteers then said the study itself could not be released for public review. Why? Because the developer had covered it with an NDA.Government by corporate-imposed secrecy is totalitarianism. Didn't “We the People” have an armed revolution against that 250 years ago?Thanks to reader Steve for bringing this issue to our attention!Do something! If you're unsure about what “AI” and “data centers” really mean, check out the plain-English explainers we published recently: part 1 on AI, and part 2 on data centers.Here are a few hubs of data center action that will help you find your way to join the rebellion:* Data Center Opposition Report: A regularly-published comprehensive report on the numbers of fights out there, with case studies for inspiration* The Stop Data Centers Coalition has a list of member organizations who are calling for a national data center moratorium* The Coalition for Responsible Data Center Development, a Minnesota based organization, has published a map of Facebook groups all over the country fighting data centers* One of our top go-to resources are the toolkits that MediaJustice has created* Kairos Fellowship also has a slew of guides and is developing a hotline that local groups can call for advice.Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe

Greg Abbott, the right-wing hack who is governor of Texas, probably doesn't know what a “petard” is, but he's now been hoisted by a big one. “Hoist on a petard” is a Shakespearean phrase referring to a bomb maker being blown sky high by his own creation.Abbott's bombastic saga began last year, when he noticed that high tech billionaires were waving political cash at lawmakers who'd help them build massive AI data centers across America. Sniffing a quid pro quo bonanza, Abbott shoved his way to the front of that money hustle, loudly proclaiming that, by gollies, he would make Texas the “epicenter of AI development.” Not only did he pour massive taxpayer subsidies into the billionaires' pockets, but he even passed a law making it illegal for local officials to interfere with the profiteers.Sure enough, Texas is now the world's top location for these corporate invaders – so way to go, Guv! But… oops. The governor's giveaway is now called Greg's Folly, for the vast majority of Texans (especially rural Republicans) don't just oppose his AI data centers – they despise, abominate, HATE them. And they're now in angry grassroots revolt against the perpetrators, including Greg.So, hoisted on his own petard, Abbott has now flip-flopped from hypester to reformer, comically demanding an end to the tax giveaways he created; he's frantically trying to regulate AI projects he deregulated; and now crying that the rural voice he silenced must be heard.Sadly for him, those billionaires he courted so passionately are now laughing at him. When he recently commanded all data center owners to report their water usage to him, more than 70 percent simply ignored the petty tyrant.Do something!* Wanna hoist Abbott out of office? Donate to Gina Hinojosa's campaign here, and get involved with our friends at Mothers for Democracy.* Fighting data centers? Check out the list of resources at the end of this post.Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe

Labour must confront the far right & its fascism head-on - with Rafel BehrIn this week's Lowdown podcast, Nick Cohen talks to author and leading Guardian columnist Rafael Behr about the interconnectedness of ultra-capitalism and reactionary right-wing forces in politics. They discuss how both radicalised elderly voters nostalgic for the past and wealthy tech billionaires like Elon Musk are supporting extreme right-wing movements, creating a more dangerous political landscape than the "cosy" narrative of just elderly voters being concerned about change. Rafael analyses the Labour Party's failure to adequately confront far-right threats, particularly noting how they treat extreme right-wing protests as legitimate political expression rather than addressing the underlying fascism. Raf and Nick discuss how figures like Nigel Farage have been able to manipulate both mainstream and extreme right-wing voters, and discuss the lack of strong pushback from both Labour and Conservative parties against far-right influences, including Russian interference and extreme positions on immigration. They conclude by discussing their concerns about the need for clearer red lines against fascism and whether Labour leader Andy Burnham would articulate a stronger response to these sinister aspects of an increasingly transnational radical right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At a time when communities across America are literally under siege by secretive data center powers intent on seizing our land, water, electric grid, and even our local democracy – that's when you're grateful to have a president who'll stand with you, fighting for the people's rights!Let's hope we can get one those sometime soon.Instead, we're now stuck with a wholly corporatized, pusillanimous president who is waving the flag of surrender at AI data center invaders. Worse, America's self-proclaimed supreme leader is publicly mocking the gutsy local groups – of all political stripes – who are daring to oppose the global technocratic order being devised by Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and a handful of other billionaire profiteers.The president of our people's republic recently belittled the millions of grassroots democracy rebels who oppose the robber barons' Brave New World. He pompously sneered that the only reason that they don't want data centers is “they want to end up being backwards and poor.”Wow! Keen insight, Mr. President!He even proposes an AI monarchy: If your communities, “want to be successful and rich,” he says, “let data reign.” Reign? Yes, a US president has actually declared that artificial intelligence should rule over us, meaning that Musk, Bezos, and other royal billionaires who own AI will rule.Trump & Company warn that if you democracy rebels “kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame.” But perhaps he doesn't realize that the Golden Goose is a fable – a self-laudatory myth. “Golden Eggs” are not laid by a goose, but by humanity, communities working together, and investing in the Common Good.Do something!If you're unsure about what “AI” and “data centers” really mean, check out the plain-English explainers we published recently: part 1 on AI, and part 2 on data centers.Here are a few hubs of data center action that will help you find your way to join the rebellion:* Data Center Opposition Report: A regularly-published comprehensive report on the numbers of fights out there, with case studies for inspiration* The Stop Data Centers Coalition has a list of member organizations who are calling for a national data center moratorium* The Coalition for Responsible Data Center Development, a Minnesota based organization, has published a map of Facebook groups all over the country fighting data centers* One of our top go-to resources are the toolkits that MediaJustice has created* Kairos Fellowship also has a slew of guides and is developing a hotline that local groups can call for advice.Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe

Growing up, I received a wealth of working-class values from my parents, including this nugget about egalitarianism: “Nobody is better than you,” they said, “and you're no better than anybody else.”That's the ethical underpinning for “We're all in this together” – it's what Thomas Jefferson enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and it's what Lincoln consecrated in his Gettysburg address; it's in our own pledge of allegiance to “liberty and justice for all;” it's what the Statue of Liberty welcomes; it's Woody Guthrie's anthem to the Common Good; and… well, it's AMERICA!Unless, of course, you're Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, or other far-out, plutocratic supremacists who do indeed consider themselves better than the rest of us. For this ilk of technocratic elites, government's role is not to promote the Common Good, but to protect their wealth from the Common Good.Their grandiose sense of self-esteem is as silly as it is dangerous, but it is not new, and we commoners have risen up many times in our history to beat down such crushing arrogance. For example, John C. Calhoun, a venerated “statesman” of the mid-1800s, led a national crusade to convert all workers to slave laborers owned by monied masters; and in the Civil War, a family of profiteering bankers got one of their sons exempted from duty in the Union Army by asserting “there are plenty of lives less valuable” than his; and in the 1920s, a prominent, anti-woke academic proclaimed that races are inherently un-equal, so “democracy is an unrealizable absurdity.”This is the legacy of moral and political failure that Musk, Thiel, et al are trying to ride to victory today. Let's rise up… and crush them again.Do something!Did you know that there are wealthy people in America who don't think the economy should be rigged for them? Us either! Check out patrioticmillionaires.org.Also, we're hearing great things about Gil Durán's new book, The Nerd Reich. (Several of you also mentioned it in the comments on our AI explainers, thank you!) He's got a newsletter here!Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe

Chris and Andy talk briefly about some of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards that were handed out over the weekend and what they foreshadow for this coming weekend's Emmy Awards (2:40). Then they preview some of the fall television they're most excited for, including returning shows like ‘The Lowdown' and ‘Black Doves' (14:31) and some new shows like ‘Small Prophets' and ‘Youth,' from creator Sharon Horgan (26:04). Then they break down the latest episode of ‘Lanterns' (44:07) before ‘Lioness' After Dark (01:03:57). Hosts: Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald Producer: Kaya McMullen Video Production and Editing: Jon Jones Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Another chance to hear comedians Jake Johnson (New Girl, The Dink, We're Here to Help), Gareth Reynolds (Arrested Development, You're the Worst, We're Here to Help) and Eric Edelstein (The Boroughs, The Lowdown, Twin Peaks: The Return) join Jameela, as Jake shares a hair don't, Gareth breaks from proper lavatory etiquette, and Eric continues his brave battle against the fascists.Jameela's Substack is A Low Desire To Please, you can also find her on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.Our consulting producer is Colin Anderson.Wrong Turns was created and produced by Jameela Jamil and Stewart Bailey. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Let's all gather ‘round the campfire, Buckaroos and let Ol' Cactus Jim here tell you about some of today's hardy, hard-working cowboys. Yes, those manly men who live free-spirited, yippy-ti-yi-yo, cowboy lives out in the rustic ranch country of the Rocky Mountain West.Oh, wait – that was a century ago. The “cowboys” who're now humming “Home On The Range” across Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming are multimillionaire and billionaire corporate titan and celebrities like Rupert Murdoch and Bill Gates. They don't really live there nor mix with locals, no do they actually “ranch” their spectacular 300,000-acre spreads, since they don't know how.So they hire real ranching outfits to bring in some cattle, sheep, and other ranching accruements, then they fly in on private jets occasionally and strut around like John Wayne. They are in a word, pathetic.But they surely are land barons, spending up to $200 million each for their vast spreads. Indeed, these dilettantes rule the availability of ranchland and scenic wilderness, pricing out people who really want to ranch and locking out families who want to experience some of nature's most majestic rivers and mountains. Fifteen years ago, the biggest private landowners held 27 million acres; now they've grabbed 42 million acres for themselves.Well, say apologists for wealth concentration, they bought the land with their money, so it's fair and square. But hold on slick. They don't come just for the views, hunting, and exclusivity – their ranches get generous land subsidies, plus, states like Wyoming provide no-tax hideaways for their wealth.This is Jim Hightower saying… So, even though you and I are shut out of these gated land baronies, at least we can take pride in knowing that it's our tax dollars that help the rich buy them… and lock the gates.Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe