Cleveland 5 Update

Three of the five people arrested in Cleveland this past spring find out how long they will be spending in jail.  The presiding judge in this case keeps a relatively cool head in the face of the US Attorney's office pushing for upwards of 30 years for some of the defendants.  "It doesn't make any sense whatsoever," the judges said in an interview.  He went on to call the tough sentencing sought by the prosecution as "grotesque". [Click to Listen]

Banks and Drugs

Do you need any more reasons to be pissed off at banks?  How about their decades long cozy relationship with drug cartels and the CIA?  The Golden Triangle, Iran-Contra Affair, Mena, Arkansas, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela National Guard (to name just a few from a Wikipedia page). [Click to Listen]

Occupy Sandy and Rolling Jubilee

The Occupy movement in NYC has two fascinating off shoots that we take a look at today.  The first is Rolling Jubilee and The Debt Resistors Operation Manual.  Actual financial help for those in need!  The second is the OWS response to Superstorm Sandy, Occupy Sandy, and how organizers are being more effective in their own neighborhood than the Red Cross could ever hope to be.  The show ends with an audio clip from Naomi Klein discussing how Occupy Sandy relates to her ideas on disaster capitalism. [Click to Listen]

Occupy Elections - Post Mortem

A quick post mortem of the 2012 cluster fuck of an election.  A total of $6 billion spent to elect a corporate candidate.  How Bernie Sanders ran an actual re-election campaign with no TV, radio or direct mail ads.  A possible backlash against Super PAC's and the ridiculous idea of voting being either patriotic or a civic duty. [Click to Listen]

Occupy Elections - F**k Voting (Part II)

Let's say you have picked a candidate for the Presidency of the United States.  After all the primary debates, campaign stops, stump speeches, conventions, ads, mailings, robo-calls, PAC's, Super PAC's, canvassing, the debates (including third party debates), yard signs, billboards and get out the vote campaigns - you have finally chosen someone to vote for.  Great!  But, guess what?  There is a growing chance that your vote just won't count.  I this episode, we take a look at information from a few different sources that expose the problems with using machines to count our votes.  Books by Mark Crispin Miller and Greg Palast as well as the fantastic citizen reporting from Bev Harris at Black Box Voting.  It's all enough to make you say "F**k Voting!". [Click to Listen]

Occupy Elections - F**k Voting (Part I)

In part I, we take a look at who actually votes.  With all the corporate media hype about how important every election cycle is, why are almost half of registered voters staying home on (S)election day?  Also, we get into who works the polls on (S)election day and how there will be no one to work the polls in a few years. [Click to Listen]