Panama Papers’ and the Shadow World of Finance

The release of the ‘Panama Papers’ reveal the secret world of shell companies used by the rich to hide their wealth and avoid paying taxes on it. While it appears that the release of information was intended as a tool to demonize Russian President Vladimir Putin, it has backfired and instead led to a probing of who in the US is involved in this type of scheme. McClatchy News is publishing investigative pieces revealing the same activity taking place in states such as Nevada and Wyoming. The list of people involved connects directly to government figures such as US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. It has also led to massive upheaval in Iceland where protesters are calling for the resignation of the government and new elections. We explore what’s going on with James Henry of the Tax Justice Network and Chuck Collins of the Institute for Policy Studies.

Listen here:

Relevant articles and websites:

US Scolds Others about Offshores, but Looks Other Way at Home by Kevin Hall and Marisa Taylor

The Price of Offshore Revisited by the Tax Justice Network

Panama Papers Expose the Hidden Wealth of the World’s Super Rich by Chuck Collins

Tax Justice Network

The FACT Coalition

Inequality.org

We’re Not Broke Movie

Treasure Islands by Nicholas Shaxson

Guests:

James Shelburne Henry is a U.S. economist, attorney, and investigative journalist who has written extensively about global banking, debt crises, tax havens and economic development. In the corporate world, Henry served as Chief Economist, McKinsey & Co. (NYC global h.q.); VP Strategy, IBM/Lotus Development Corporation (Cambridge), Manager, Business Development, the Chairman’s Office (Jack Welch), GE (Fairfield), and senior consultant Monitor Group,the international consulting firm. As Managing Director of Sag Harbor Group, a strategy consulting firm, his clients have included such enterprises as ABB, Allen & Co., AT&T, AT Kearney, Calvert Fund, Ce-mex, ChinaTrust, the Scotland Yard/FBI Task Force on Caribbean Havens, IBM/Lotus, Intel, Interwise, Lucent, Merrill Lynch, South Africa Telkom, Rockefeller Foundation, the Swedish Power Board, TransAlta, UBS Warburg, Volvo, and Monitor Company. A member of the New York Bar, he has served as a pro bono cooperating attorney for the NYCLU on First Amendment issues, and as Vice President, New York Civil Liberties Union – Suffolk County. He is author of the acclaimed investigative economics book The Blood Bankers, and his articles and citations have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, The Nation, The Conference Board, The Washington Post, Harpers, Fortune, Jornal do Brasil, The Manila Chronicle, La Nacion, and many others.

Chuck Collins is a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and directs IPS’s Program on Inequality and the Common Good. He is an expert on U.S. inequality and author of several books, including 99 to 1: How Wealth Inequality is Wrecking the World and What We Can Do About It.

He is co-author with Bill Gates Sr. of Wealth and Our Commonwealth, (Beacon Press, 2003), a case for taxing inherited fortunes. He is co-author with Mary Wright of The Moral Measure of the Economy, a book about Christian ethics and economic life.

He is co-founder of Wealth for the Common Good, a network of business leaders, high-income households and partners working together to promote shared prosperity and fair taxation. This network merged in 2015 with the Patriotic Millionaires.

In 1995, he co-founded United for a Fair Economy (UFE) to raise the profile of the inequality issue and support popular education and organizing efforts to address inequality. He was Executive Director of UFE from 1995-2001 and Program Director until 2005.

Who is the Greatest Nuclear Threat?

On the heels of Obama’s Nuclear Security Summit, we speak with Greg Mello of the Los Alamos Study Group and Lillyanne Daigle and John Qua of Global Zero to cut through the propaganda about nuclear weapons, discuss which countries pose the greatest threat and what activists are doing to push for nuclear disarmament.

Listen here:

Relevant articles and websites:

No Significant Change Seen in Obama’s Nuclear Posture by Greg Mello

Global Zero Action at the Nuclear Security Summit 2016 by Liz Merrow

Irradiated (report on health impacts of nuclear weapons industry on workers) by Rob Hotakainen, Lindsay Wise, Frank Matt and Samantha Ehlinger

Los Alamos Study Group

Global Zero

Guests:

Greg Mello is Executive Director and a co-founder of the Los Alamos Study Group and has led its varied activities since 1992, including policy research, environmental analysis, congressional education and lobbying, community organizing, litigation (FOIA, civil rights, NEPA), advertising, and the nuts and bolts of funding and running a small nonprofit. From time to time he has served as a consulting analyst, writer, and spokesperson for other nuclear policy organizations. Greg was educated as a systems engineer with a broad scientific background (Harvey Mudd College, 1971, with distinction) and as a regional planner with emphases in environmental planning and regional economics (Harvard, 1975, with distinction, HUD Fellow in Urban Studies). During the early 1980s Greg was a high school science and math teacher, then a hazardous waste inspector and statewide hazardous materials incident commander, and in the late 1980s a supervising hydrogeologist, for the New Mexico Environment Department. In 1984 Greg led the first regulatory enforcement at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). In the early 1990s Greg was a consulting hydrologist in parallel with the early Study Group, with cleanup projects in New Mexico and California. In 2002, Greg was a Visiting Research Fellow at Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security. Greg’s research, analysis, and opinions have been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Issues in Science and Technology, in the New Mexico press, and elsewhere. He has been interviewed thousands of times by U.S. and international news media (print, radio, and television). Greg’s research has been the source or impetus of many of these media articles and programs. In addition to speaking at hundreds of public meetings and events in New Mexico, Greg has been a guest speaker at several international disarmament events here and abroad.

Lillyanne Daigle joined the Global Zero team in October 2014 as a U.S. field organizer.  In her role, she will be spearheading Global Zero’s volunteer recruitment and mobilization across the United States.  Lilly graduated from Warren Wilson College with a degree in Global Studies focusing on social justice and a minor in Peace and Conflict Studies. She is passionate about empowering individuals to fight for issues they care about.  Before her time at Global Zero, Lilly organized with several grassroots campaigns and completed the Green Corps year-long training program in field organizing.

John Qua joined the Global Zero team in January 2016 as a U.S. field organizer. He is committed to fighting for a more equitable world, and empowering people to make change through political organizing and community building. In his role, he will be spearheading Global Zero’s volunteer recruitment and mobilization across the United States. John graduated from Brown University with a degree in International Relations focusing on the environment. Before his time at Global Zero, John completed the Green Corps year-long training program in field organizing and organized on several progressive political campaigns with the Sierra Club, MoveOn.org, and Food & Water Watch.

New Phase in Climate Crisis Raises Demand for Clean Energy

We speak with Dr. Michael E. Mann, esteemed climate scientist, about the latest science regarding the climate crisis – the rise in global temperature, sea level rise, the impact of glacier melting on ocean currents and weather and what we can expect in the next few decades. Then we speak with Dr. Mark Z. Jacobson who has developed a 50-state plan for 100% renewable energy in the United States.

Listen here:

Relevant articles and websites:

Earth Enters New Era of Extreme Weather Caused by Global Warming, Michael Mann interviewed by Sharmini Peries

100% Clean and Renewable Wind, Water and Sunlight (WWS) All-Sector Energy Roadmaps for the 50 United States by Mark Jacobson et alia.

RealClimate.org

The Solutions Project

 Skeptical Science

Solutionary Rail

Guests:

Michael Mann is Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Penn State University, with joint appointments in the Department of Geosciences and the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute (EESI). He is also director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center (ESSC).

Dr. Mann received his undergraduate degrees in Physics and Applied Math from the University of California at Berkeley, an M.S. degree in Physics from Yale University, and a Ph.D. in Geology & Geophysics from Yale University. His research involves the use of theoretical models and observational data to better understand Earth’s climate system.

Dr. Mann was a Lead Author on the Observed Climate Variability and Change chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Scientific Assessment Report in 2001 and was organizing committee chair for the National Academy of Sciences Frontiers of Science in 2003. He has received a number of honors and awards including NOAA’s outstanding publication award in 2002 and selection by Scientific American as one of the fifty leading visionaries in science and technology in 2002. He contributed, with other IPCC authors, to the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He was awarded the Hans Oeschger Medal of the European Geosciences Union in 2012 and was awarded the National Conservation Achievement Award for science by the National Wildlife Federation in 2013. He made Bloomberg News’ list of fifty most influential people in 2013. In 2014, he was named Highly Cited Researcher by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) and received the Friend of the Planet Award from the National Center for Science Education. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Dr. Mann is author of more than 190 peer-reviewed and edited publications, and has published two books including Dire Predictions: Understanding Climate Change and The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines. He is also a co-founder of the award-winning science website RealClimate.org.

Mark Z. Jacobson is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University where he is also Director of the Atmosphere/Energy Program. He is a Senior Fellow for both the Woods Institute for the Environment and the Precourt Institute for Energy. He received a B.S. in Engineering, a B.A. in Economics and an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Stanford University. He received an M.S. and a PhD in Atmospheric Science from UCLA.

The main goal of Jacobson’s research is to understand better severe atmospheric problems, such as air pollution and global warming, and develop and analyze large-scale clean-renewable energy solutions to them.

To address this goal, he has developed and applied three-dimensional atmosphere-biosphere-ocean computer models and solvers to simulate air pollution, weather, climate, and renewable energy. In 1993-4, he developed the world’s first computer model to treat the mutual feedback to weather and climate of both air pollution gases and particles, and in 2001, the first coupled air-pollution-weather-climate model to telescope from the global to urban scale.

In 2000, he applied this model to discover that black carbon, the main component of soot pollution particles, might be the second-leading cause of global warming in terms of radiative forcing, after carbon dioxide. This and subsequent papers provided the original scientific basis for several laws and regulations on black carbon emission controls worldwide. His findings that carbon dioxide domes over cities and carbon dioxide buildup since preindustrial times have enhanced air pollution mortality through its feedback to particles and ozone served as a scientific basis for the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 approval of the first U.S. regulation of carbon dioxide (the California waiver).

With respect to solvers, in 1993, he developed the world’s fastest ordinary differential equation solver in a three-dimensional model for a given level of accuracy. He subsequently developed solvers for cloud and aerosol coagulation, breakup, condensation/evaporation, freezing, dissolution, chemical equilibrium, and lightning; air-sea exchange; ocean chemistry; greenhouse gas absorption; and surface processes.

With respect to energy, in 2001 he published a paper in Science examining the ability of the U.S. to convert a large fraction of its energy to wind power. In 2005, his group developed the first world wind map based on data alone. His students subsequently published papers on reducing the variability of wind energy by interconnecting wind farms; on integrating solar, wind, geothermal, and hydroelectric power into the grid; and on wave power.

In 2009, he coauthored a plan, featured on the cover of Scientific American, to power the world for all purposes with wind, water, and sunlight (WWS). In 2010, he appeared in a TED debate rated as the sixth all-time science and technology TED talk. In 2011, he cofounded The Solutions Project, a group that combines science, business, and culture to develop and implement science based clean-energy plans for states and countries. In 2013, his group developed individual WWS energy plans for each of the 50 United States.

To date, he has published two textbooks of two editions each and ~150 peer-reviewed journal articles. He has testified three times for the U.S. Congress. Nearly a thousand researchers have used computer models he has developed. In 2005, he received the American Meteorological Society Henry G. Houghton Award for “significant contributions to modeling aerosol chemistry and to understanding the role of soot and other carbon particles on climate.” In 2013, he received an American Geophysical Union Ascent Award for “his dominating role in the development of models to identify the role of black carbon in climate change” and the Global Green Policy Design Award for the “design of analysis and policy framework to envision a future powered by renewable energy.” In 2016, he received a Cozzarelli Prize from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences for “outstanding scientific excellence and originality” in his paper on a solution to the U.S. grid reliability problem with 100% penetration of wind, water, and solar power for all purposes. He has also served on the Energy Efficiency and Renewables advisory committee to the U.S. Secretary of Energy and was invited to talk about his world and U.S. clean-energy plans on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Farmworkers Fight for Food and Job Justice

Farm workers in the United States and Mexico are uniting to protest working conditions. From March 17 to 20, workers marched North in Mexico and South in the United States to meet at the border, at Playas de Tijuana. They are commemorating a march and strike one year ago and they are calling for the right to organize and demand fair wages, overtime pay and more. We speak with Rosalinda Guillen and Edgar Franks of Food Justice.

Listen here:

Relevant articles and websites:

Farmworkers in Mexico, Facing Human Rights Abuses Prepare to March in Protest by Griselda San Martin

Sakuma Farmworkers Depart on Month Long Tour to Promote Driscoll’s Boycott

Food Justice

Boycott Sakuma Berries

Alliance of Organizations for Social Justice (Mexican)

Community to Community Development Facebook Page

Guests:

Rosalinda Guillen is a widely recognized farm worker and rural justice leader. The oldest of eight she was born in Texas and spent her first decade in Coahuila Mexico. Her family emigrated to LaConner, Washington in 1960 and she began working as a farm worker in the fields in Skagit County at the age of ten. Ms. Guillen has worked within the labor movement with Caesar Chavez’s United Farm Workers of America and has represented farm workers in ongoing dialogues of immigration issues, labor rights, trade agreements, and strengthening the food sovereignty movement. She works to build a broader base of support for rural communities and sustainable agriculture policies that ensure equity and healthy communities for farm workers.

Edgar Franks lives in Bellingham, WA. He serves as the Civic Engagement Program Coordinator at Community to Community Development, working to engage supporters and develop a strategy that ensures the needs of the Farm Worker community are represented. Community to Community works on issues of Food Sovereignty through the lens of Farm Workers, with the goal of creating a politically conscious inter-sectional base that is fighting to create a local solidarity economy. Edgar currently represents Community to Community on the National Planning Committee for the US Social Forum and on the US Food Sovereignty Alliance. He is also on the National Leadership Team of Move to Amend.

Education Under Attack, Teachers Fight Back

We speak with two educators, Stephen Krashen and Timothy Slekar, about the newest federal legislation on education, the so-called “Every Student Succeeds Act.” Hidden in the more than 1,000 pages are provisions that will undercut the profession of teaching. We discuss why and how education is under attack, not just in the United States but globally, and what teachers are doing to fight back and create the high quality education that children deserve.

Listen here:

Relevant articles and websites:

How Educators Should React to ESSA by John Thompson

The Disturbing Provisions about Teacher Preparation in No Child Left Behind Rewrite by Valerie Strauss

Billions for Online Testing, Online Curriculum and Technology. This was never about the kids by Peggy Robertson

“Common” Goal: Corporate Ownership of Public Education and Our Children’s Futures (Part I) by Morna McDermott

“Common” Goal: Corporate Ownership of Public Education and Our Children’s Futures (Part II) by Morna McDermott

As Protests Rise over High Stakes Tests, More Students Likely to Opt Out by Kathy Boccella

SDKrashen.com

Busted Pencils

Peg with Pen

Educational Alchemy

United Opt Out

Bad Ass Teachers Association

Guests:

Stephen Krashen is Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Southern California. He is best known for developing the first comprehensive theory of second language acquisition, introducing the concept of sheltered subject matter teaching, and as the co-inventor of the Natural Approach to foreign language teaching. He has also contributed to theory and application in the area of bilingual education, and has done important work in the area of reading. He holds a PhD in Linguistics from UCLA, was the 1977 Incline Bench Press champion of Venice Beach and holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. He is the author of The Power of Reading (Heinemann, 2004, second edition). His recent papers can be found at his website.

Timothy D Slekar is currently the Dean of the School of Education at Edgewood College in Madison, WI.He began his career 24 years ago as a 2nd grade teacher in Virginia. Dr. Slekar attended Millersville University where he earned a Master’s degree in Education and continued on to earn his PhD at the University of Maryland at College Park. Dr. Slekar has published research in various top education research journals including Teacher Education Quarterly, Theory and Research in Social Education and Journal of Thought. Dr. Slekar is one of the founding members of United Opt Out National. He has been a radio cohost on podcast, local & national radio as well as on numerous television news shows as an expert education policy analyst including MSNBC, CNN & Fox News.  Make sure to check out Dr. Slekar’s progressive education podcast—BustED Pencils at http://bustedpencils.com/ .

The U.S. Needs a Foreign Policy for the 99%

We speak with Vijay Prashad and Raed Jarrar about the politics of Saudi Arabia, its ties to the United States and its role in the Middle East. We also discuss the rise of ISIS and what steps to take to weaken it and end the war on Syria. Both Vijay and Raed will speak at the upcoming Summit on Saudi Arabia being organized by CODEPINK on March 5 and 6 in Washington, DC. A thread that ties this all together and that is not discussed enough is how the conflicts in this region reflect the U.S. foreign policy of hegemony, which is designed by and for the benefit of the wealthy. We ask: what would a foreign policy for the 99% look like?

Listen here:

Relevant articles and websites:

ISIS Oil by Vijay Prashad

We Shouldn’t Play into the Hands of ISIS, Vijay Prashad on Democracy Now

Carnage in Syria a Product of U.S. Empowerment of Saudi Arabia, an interview of Vijay Prashad by Paul Jay

How America’s Destruction of Iraqi Society Led to Today’s Chaos, an interview of Raed Jarrar by Joshua Holland

U.S. Military back to Iraq? That’s a Terrible Mistake by Raed Jarrar

Syrian Refugee Crisis in Context by AFSC with Raed Jarrar

The Syrian Center for Policy Research Report

AFSC

2016 Summit on Saudi Arabia

Guests:

Vijay Prashad is a Professor of International Studies at Trinity College, Hartford, and a journalist and commentator. He earned his B.A. in History, Pomona College, Claremont, CA, in 1989, M.A. in History, University of Chicago in 1990, and Ph.D. in History, University of Chicago, in 1994. Prashad is the author of fifteen books, of which five were published in 2012. These include: – Arab Spring, Libyan Winter (India’s The Hindu called it “a book that deserves to become essential reading, a canonical account of a world-historic chain of events”); – Uncle Swami: Being South Asian in America (Boston Globe called this book as “required reading for anyone who wants to understand race, assimilation and patriotism”.); – The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South (the former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali called it “a contribution to the intellectual-cum-political emancipation of developing countries and their empowerment through greater self-reliance on their own intellectual and analytical resources.”). Other books of Prashad include: The Darker Nations. A People’s History of the Third World (2007), Keeping Up with the Dow Joneses: Debt, Prison, Workfare (2003), Fat Cats and Running Dogs: The Enron Stage of Capitalism (2002), Enron Blowout: Corporate Capitalism and the Theft of the Global Commons and Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting: Afro-Asian Connections and the Myth of Cultural Purity (2001). Prashad writes also regularly in the media: as a columnist for Frontline magazine (Chennai, India), as a contributing editor for Himal South Asia (Kathmandu, Nepal) and for Bol (Lahore, Pakistan), a fortnightly contributor to Asia Times, an occasional correspondent for al-Akhbar (Beirut, Lebanon) and a regular contributor to Counterpunch. In 2013-2014, Mr. Vijay Prashad was the Edward Said Chair at the American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.

Raed Jarrar serves as AFSC’s Government Relations Manager at the Office of Public Policy and Advocacy in Washington, D.C. Since his immigration to the U.S. in 2005, he has worked on political and cultural issues pertaining to U.S. engagement in the Arab and Muslim worlds. He is widely recognized as an expert on political, social, and economic developments in the Middle East. He has testified in numerous Congressional hearings and briefings, and he is also a frequent guest on national and international media outlets in both Arabic and English.

Born in Baghdad to an Iraqi mother and a Palestinian father, Raed Jarrar grew up in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Iraq. He received his bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Baghdad, and his master’s degree in architecture, with a specialty in post-war reconstruction in Iraq, from the University of Jordan.Raed has appeared in numerous media outlets, including MSNBC, Al Jazeera, Democracy Now, Foreign Policy in Focus, and Alternet. His opinion pieces have been published in the Chicago Tribune and Common Dreams.Follow Raed on twitter here.

End the Drug War and Abolish 21st Century Slavery

We speak with Neill Franklin from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) about the failed drug war, the damage it has done and alternatives to it that are working to create healthy and safe communities. We also speak with Yohanan EliYah of Move to Abolish 21st Century Slavery about the growing movement to amend the 13th Amendment and take the profit out of incarceration.

Listen here:

Relevant articles and websites:

3 Reasons Marijuana Legalization in Colorado is Good for People of Color by Neill Franklin

What We Can’t Seem to Remember about MDMA and Why Legalizing Drugs Will Save Your Child’s Life by Neill Franklin

We Can’t Arrest Our Way Out of This Problem by Neill Franklin

LEAP

Multiple Fees, Fines and Bail Charges add to Oklahoma County Jail Crowding by Randy Ellis

New Abolitionists Radio

Move to Abolish 21st Century Slavery

Guests:

Major Neill Frankiln (Ret.) is a 34-year veteran of both the Maryland State Police and the Baltimore Police Department who oversaw 17 separate drug task forces and is now Executive Director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), an organization of police, prosecutors, judges and other law enforcement officials who want to end the war on drugs.

Over his 33-year career, Neill Franklin watched hardworking and dedicated fellow cops die in the line of fire enforcing policies that don’t do any good. After 23 years with the Maryland State Police, including as an undercover narc and as the head trainer for drug enforcement, Neill was recruited by the Baltimore Police Department to reorganize its education and training division.

“It pains me to know that there is a solution for preventing tragedy and nothing is being done because of ignorance, stubbornness, unsubstantiated fear and greed.” – Neill Franklin

Yohanan EliYah, a local activist, co-hosts New Abolitionist Radio with Max Partha. Max and Yohanan are part of the group Move to Abolish 21st Slavery & Human Trafficking and that of Modern Abolitionists a growing movement to change the Constitution at the Federal and State level to eliminate the slavery exception for those convicted of a crime and take down the prison industrial complex in this country.

Some of the goals of the group Move to Abolish 21st Century Slavery & Human Trafficking and that of Modern Abolitionists:
• As abolitionists our goal is to see the immediate and complete abolition of prison for profit/punishment for sale through federal and private corporations.
• We want all private prisons abolished. Including private probation companies and all the satellite companies profiting off the prison system in a multi-hundred billion dollar industry.
• We want congress to REMOVE the 13th Amendment Slavery Abolition exception clause which allows for the continued existence of modern slavery through the very constitution we die to protect.
• We want all individual US states to officially end slavery language in their state constitutions.
• We want all 37 states which enacted legislation allowing private international corporations to use prison labor for commercial good and services to abolish such legislation immediately.
• We want the abolition of all local, state and federal laws which criminalize a race of people, a culture or an economic condition ; the war on drugs, marijuana laws, anti homeless laws, immigration laws and debtors laws.
• We want the abolition of all privately owned youth detention facilities and halfway houses. America incarcerates 2 million children a year with 95% arrested for non violent crimes. It must end now.

New Abolitionists Radio seeks to educate the public and agitate for an end of 21st Century Slavery and Human Trafficking. It is an extension of the group Move To Abolish 21st Century Slavery. The program broadcast live every Wednesday night at 8:00PM EST. Catch Them live on line or find archived shows at http://newabolitionistsradio.blogspot.com/

Fighting to end the Fossil Fuel Era

We speak with activists who are fighting to protect their homes from new fossil fuel projects. Cherri Foytlin from South Louisiana has been working constantly since the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico to protect the people of that region and their livelihoods. She is currently organizing a mass action to peacefully protest an auction of more oil drilling leases in the Gulf on March 23. Megan Holleran is a landowner in Northeast Pennsylvania who is physically blocking Williams, the company that wants to build the Constitution  gas pipeline, from cutting down more than 100 trees on her property. Williams has not yet been granted all of the permits required to build the pipeline. The Holleran family and supporters are maintaining a vigil on their property to stop any tree cutting.

Listen here:

Relevant articles and websites:

Cherri Foytlin’s articles on Huffington Post

Historic Call for an End to New Drilling Leases in the Gulf of Mexico

Louisiana Bucket Brigade

Petition to stop oil leases

No New Leases

Flipping the Script on Eminent Domain by Matt Martin

People Turned Away Tree Cutters, More Help Needed by Megan Holleran

No Constitution Pipeline in PA Facebook page

Pennsylvania Farm Defended against Constitution Pipeline Tree Cutters by John Zangas

Guests:

Cherri Foytlin has been a constant voice, speaking out to the Obama Administration’s Gulf Oil Spill Commission, and in countless forms of media. On July 15, 2010, in a CNN interview, she called out to the president for help, but was unanswered. She has also spoken at “The Rally for Economic Survival” and at the “Spill Into Washington Rally” in Washington D.C.where she challenged the American people to get involved in what she sees as an “atrocity on the shores” of the Gulf Coast. In the Spring of 2011 she walked to Washington D.C. from New Orleans (1,243 miles) to call for action to stop the BP Drilling Disaster, and has been a constant voice speaking out for the health and ecosystem of Gulf Coast communities, in countless forms of media. In addition, Cherri has written and illustrated a children’s coloring book on coastal erosion. Cherri will continue her fight for the industries, people, culture and wildlife of south Lousiana and the Gulf Coast “until we are made whole again”.

Megan Holleran is a Field Technician for her family’s business, North Harford Maple in New Milford, PA. The family taps trees on their property to produce maple syrup. Wiliams wants to cut down 100,000 trees on their property to build the Constitution gas pipeline. They have not received all of the permits yet, but they are starting to cut trees in preparation. In February, 2015, a federal judge in Scranton, PA condemned the Holleran family’s land so that it could be seized by eminent domain for the pipeline. The family has been fighting that ever since. And on February 4, the family began a vigil on their property to protect it. Supporters are coming from all over to help them protect their trees.

Time to Jail the Bankers and Take Back Control over Money

When the 2008 financial crisis hit, Iceland had a very different response than the United States. Iceland let the big banks fail, nationalized them and prosecuted the bankers, sending 26 of the bank executives to jail for fraud and market manipulation. In the US, no high level bankers were prosecuted and the big banks were bailed out through Quantitative Easing which bought bad debt burdening the big banks. The weak response in the US means that fraud and corruption by big finance continue and we are facing an unstable market which many people predict will crash again within the year. We speak with Bill Black of the newly formed Bank Whistleblowers United about the plan they have outlined to instill the rule of law on Wall Street and end fraud with the hope of mitigating the effects of the next financial crisis. And we speak with Randall Wray, an expert in financial instability and macroeconomics, about alternatives to the current financial system that would bring greater stability.

Listen live at 11 am Eastern here:

Jail the Bankers and Take Control of Our Money with Bill Black and Randall Wray by Clearingthefog on Mixcloud

Relevant articles and websites:

Iceland Sentences 26 Corrupt Bankers to 74 Years in Prison by Grouch E Geezr

Announcing the Bank Whistleblowers Group

Did Financial Giant Goldman Sachs Just Admit the System is Rigged? interview of Bill Black by Jessica Desvarieux

New Economic Perspectives

Levy Institute

Guests:

Bill Black, J.D., Ph. D., is the Editor-in-Chief and Contributor to New Economic Perspectives and is Associate Professor of Law and Economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

He is the author of “The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One.” He was the Executive Director of the Institute for Fraud Prevention from 2005-2007. He has taught previously at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and at Santa Clara University, where he was also the distinguished scholar in residence for insurance law and a visiting scholar at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Black was litigation director of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, deputy director of the FSLIC, SVP and general counsel of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, and senior deputy chief counsel, Office of Thrift Supervision. He was deputy director of the National Commission on Financial Institution Reform, Recovery and Enforcement. Black developed the concept of “control fraud” frauds in which the CEO or head of state uses the entity as a “weapon.” Control frauds cause greater financial losses than all other forms of property crime combined. He recently helped the World Bank develop anti-corruption initiatives and served as an expert for OFHEO in its enforcement action against Fannie Mae’s former senior management.

Bill Black has testified before the Senate Agricultural Committee on the regulation of financial derivatives and House Governance Committee on the regulation of executive compensation. He was interviewed by Bill Moyers on PBS, which went viral. He gave an invited lecture at UCLA’s Hammer Institute which, when the video was posted on the web, drew so many “hits” that it crashed the UCLA server. He appeared extensively in Michael Moore’s most recent documentary: “Capitalism: A Love Story.” He was featured in the Obama campaign release discussing Senator McCain’s role in the “Keating Five.” (Bill took the notes of that meeting that led to the Senate Ethics investigation of the Keating Five. His testimony was highly critical of all five Senators’ actions.) He is a frequent guest on local, national, and international television and radio and is quoted as an expert by the national and international print media nearly every week. He was the subject of featured interviews in Newsweek, Barron’s, and Village Voice.

Randall Wray, Ph.D. is Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Research Director with the Center for Full Employment and Price Stability and Senior Research Scholar at The Levy Economics Institute. His research expertise is in: financial instability, macroeconomics, and full employment policy. He also blogs at New Economic Perspectives.

ICE Raids, Mass Deportations and the Roots of Immigration

President Obama started the New Year off with a wave of ICE raids, including early morning raids of family homes with young children. Obama’s legacy, when it  comes to immigration, will be one of mass deportations, the jailing of immigrants in for-profit prisons and of worsening the US foreign policies that drive people to leave their homes. We’ll speak with Abraham Paulos, executive director of Families for Freedom, which has taken bold actions to highlight and stop these practices. And we’ll speak with Alexis Stoumbelis of Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) about the policies that drive migration.

Listen here:

ICE Raids, Mass Deportation and the Roots of Immigration with Abraham Paulos & Alexis Stoumbelis by Clearingthefog on Mixcloud

Relevant articles and websites:

NYPD Breaks Up Pro-Immigration Protest by RT

In the Face of ICE Raids, Know Your Rights

Stop the Raids; Focus on US Policy Instead by CISPES

Here’s Why the US is Stepping Up the Deportation of Central Americans by Greg Grandin

Families for Freedom

CISPES

Guests:

Abraham Paulos is executive director of Families for Freedom. Abraham joined Families for Freedom, as a member, after he faced immigration detention. His experience moved him to aggressively advocate for others. Abraham is deeply committed to social justice and has worked for a number of years advocating for human rights. Before joining the staff, he was a researcher at Human Rights First, focused on immigration detention. He also served as Program Director at Life of Hope, a community based organization in Brooklyn, which provides services to low-income immigrants. Additionally, Abraham has worked in media, reporting on urban policy and human rights as a writer and editorial assistant with City Limits, the civic affairs magazine that publishes investigative news on New York City politics and policies. Abraham is an Eritrean refugee, born in Sudan and raised in Chicago. He is a graduate of George Washington University with a degree in International Affairs and is currently finishing a Masters in Human Rights at the New School University. – See more at: http://familiesforfreedom.org/about#staff

Alexis Stoumbelis is the Co-Director of CISPES, the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador. Since 1980, CISPES has been leading grassroots campaigns in the United States against US military, economic and political intervention in El Salvador and Central America. She is based in Washington, DC.

Activism in 2016

We speak with four organizers who are currently involved in projects around racial, economic and environmental justice about what they are currently working on, what their goals are for the year ahead and how their issues are connected.

Listen here:

2016: Activism in the Year Ahead with Jimmy Betts, James Jones, Jennifer Bryant and John Duda by Clearingthefog on Mixcloud

Relevant articles and websites:

After the Crash by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers

Beyond Extreme Energy

The Democracy Collaborative

Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment

National Black Workers Center Project

One DC

Red Emmas

Guests:

Jimmy Betts is a traveling organizer and activist who is working with Beyond Extreme Energy with personal emphasis on racial, indigenous, and environmental justice.

Jennifer Bryant works at One DC. Her  work centers on Right to Income and involves the development of a DC Black Workers Center. Jennifer is co-host of Voices with Vision on WPFW 89.3FM and does Cuban solidarity work with the Venceremos Brigade. She holds a B.A. from Howard University and an M.A. from St. John’s University.

John Duda started working for the Democracy Collaborative as Communications Coordinator in 2011.  He holds a B.A. in lingustics from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master’s degree in Logic from the Universiteit van Amsterdam, and a PhD in Intellectual History from Johns Hopkins University, where his dissertation examined the genealogy of the idea of “self-organization” in politics and the sciences.  He is also a founding collective member at Red Emma’s, a worker-owned cooperative bookstore and coffeehouse in Baltimore, and has worked extensively as a digital media activist supporting a variety of grassroots independent media projects.

James Jones is an Organizer with MORE (Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment).  James heads off the MORE’s Decarcerate STL campaign, which is focused on ending mass incarceration in the St. Louis Metro Area. Decarcerate STL covers three focus areas of work; shutting down the St. Louis medium security detention center, consolidating the St. Louis county municipal courts, and putting an end to corporations profiting from the prison industrial complex.  James is also dedicated to researching solutions to the problems that limit the social and economic mobility of low-income communities.  His previous work experience includes federal policy analysis, community organizing, coalition building, and advocacy for residents of public housing.  James attended Jackson State University, where he earned a BA in English and a MA in Urban and Regional Planning from the School of Policy and Planning.

What Now for the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela?

Venezuela has been a leading country of the resistance in Latin America to US Empire and, through the Bolivarian Revolution, has put in place reforms that have created greater democracy. Chavez called it ‘Twentyfirst Century Socialism.’ However, in the Dec. 6 Venezuelan elections, the right wing won 109 of the 164 seats in the National Assembly giving them the power to undo much of the progress that the Bolivarian Revolution made over the past 15 years. We speak with Keane Bhatt, who was in Venezuela during the elections about the state of the economy, the elections and the extent of US involvement in both of these. Then we speak with Jesus Rodriguez-Espinosa of the Venezuelan Consul in Chicago about the response to the elections and next steps for the revolution.

Listen here:

What Next for the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela with Keane Bhatt and Jesus Rodriguez by Clearingthefog on Mixcloud

Relevant articles and websites:

US Backing the Destabilization of Venezuela, Jaisal Noor interviews Keane Bhatt for The Real News

Venezuela versus Haiti: A Tale of Two Elections by Keane Bhatt

Setting the Record Straight on Venezuela by Steve Ellner

Venezuelanalysis – series of articles on 2015 elections

Venezuela: A Revolution that will not Die by Eric Draitser

What Happens Now to the Struggle for Economic Justice between the Global North and the Global South by Harry Targ

TelesurTV.net

Venezuelan Embassy

Guests:

Keane Bhatt is the Community Development Associate at the Democracy Collaborative. He is an experienced activist and organizer, having worked both in the U.S. and in Latin America on a variety of campaigns and projects related to community development and social justice. His analysis and opinions have appeared in a range of outlets, including The Nation, NPR, St. Petersburg Times, the Providence Journal, CNN En Español, Pacifica Radio, and Truthout.

Jesus Rodriguez-Espinoza is a specialist in international relations, graduated from the Central University of Venezuela in 1996 with a specification in international economic law and an associate degree in Foreign Trade.

He has been a government officer since 1997, with expertise in the fields of science and technology, planning, and international trade. Before being appointed as Consul General he worked as Deputy Consul in Chicago since July 2005 and between 2000-2005 he taught international foreign trade in Venezuela while working as an advisor for the Ministry of Housing (MinHAVI) and for the National Agency for Cooperatives (SUNACOOP). He was officially appointed as Consul General of Venezuela in Chicago in October 2008.

Besides his academic background the Consul General has been involved in the birth and organization of the alternative media movement in Venezuela especially related with community media such as Radio Perola, Aporrea.org and the National Asociation of Alternative, Free and Community Media (ANMCLA) and with the Venezuelan Free Software Movement. He was born in 1969 and has been married for 12 years with Yullma Hernandez and they have two kids, Alba Lucia (11) and Jesus Alberto (2).

Since his arrival to Chicago, the Consul Rodriguez-Espinoza has participate in series of activities orientated to highlight the name of Venezuela and explain the process of democratic and pacific economic, political and social changes implemented by the people of Venezuela under the leadership of the President Hugo Chavez.

Modern Colonialism in the Pacific Islands

We speak with Herman Wainggai, a former political prisoner, visiting scholar and a leader in West Papua’s self-determination struggle, John Miller of the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network and Arnie Saiki of the Moana Nui Action Alliance about the ongoing threats to self-determination and resistance to it in Asia Pacific. Colonialism is still present and just as destructive as ever. We discuss the fight for independence in West Papua. Few know that West Papua was given independence only to be invaded by Indonesia. They have been under military occupation for more than 50 years. We discuss why and the US’ hand in it. We also speak about the Moana Nui Action Alliance which brings the struggles of many Pacific Islanders together. With the TransPacific Partnership racing to the finish line and the military’s Asia pivot, collective resistance is critical.

Listen here:

Modern Colonialism in the Pacific Islands with Herman Wainggai, John Miller and Arnie Saiki by Clearingthefog on Mixcloud

Relevant articles, websites and videos:

December 1 is More Than a Flag-raising Day by Herman Wainggai

Global Flag Raising for West Papua’s Freedom by Margaret Flowers

24 Pacific Island Countries and Occupied Territories Say No TPA, No TPP by Arnie Saiki

Petition to release records about US involvement in Indonesia

FreeWestPapua.org

Herman Wainggai’s Blog

ETAN.org

Moana Nui Action Alliance

StatehoodHawaii.org

VIDEO: West Papua – A Journey to Freedom

VIDEO: Moana Nui Statement

Guests:

Herman Wainggai was born in Yapen Island, into a tradition of orators, craftsmen, politicians, and musicians, and his activism is strongly influenced by the grace-filled virtues of justice, peace, and love. His passion for his nation’s political development was inspired by his father’s brother, Dr Thomas Wainggai, a formidable public servant and academic incarcerated for subversion after raising the flag of ‘West Melanesia’ in 1988. Sunday-visits to Abepura Prison with good food and clean clothes for his uncle were lessons in West Papua’s unique weave of politics, religion, and culture, and Herman was inconsolable when the government relocated Thomas to Cipinang Prison in Jakarta (where he died in 1996, poisoned by Indonesian Intelligence).

In 1989 the first generation of West Melanesia lecturers at Cenderawasih University were all incarcerated, so when Herman enrolled to study law, there was just one young lecturer mentoring the students in West Papua’s history and developing West Melanesia’s imaginary weave of indigenous culture and God’s laws as well as the modern regime of secular laws. His first venture into politics was to form the West Papua National Youth Awareness Team (WESTPANYAT) to develop, practice, and promote non-violent resistance. The Team began with seven students in a workshop developing legal argument and political debate around the New York Agreement (by which a Cold War coalition of allies gifted West Papua to Indonesia). By the time most of the lecturers were released, thousands of student-activists were raising awareness of Melanesian culture and identity throughout West Papua, as well as across Papua New Guinea, Bougainville, the Solomons, Fiji, Kanaki, and Vanuatu.

Herman also formed, with highland student-leader Benny Wenda, the West Papua National Students Solidarity (SONAMAPA) to generate reconciliation and unity between West Papuan leaders, and in December brought sixteen political organisations to a meeting in the bush on the PNG border to sign a unity agreement. Herman and Benny were both charged with subversion and incarcerated in Abepura Prison, but twelve months later the signatorees of the AWAWI Agreement formed the United West Papua National Front for Independence, and then the influential West Papua National Authority. The Papuan Intelligence Service organised Benny’s escape (after picking up Indonesian Intelligence plans to have him killed in prison), and he was secreted to London by international activists. Herman, meantime, was released, and invited by Hilda Lini to work at the Pacific Concerns Resource Centre in Suva (Fiji) for six months. That collaboration culminated in the Fiji-West Papua Foundation, but when Herman returned home, he was charged with subversion again and incarcerated for two years, until 2004.

In 2005 Herman organized himself, and forty-two other West Papuans, to circumnavigate their homeland in a traditional double-outrigger canoe (especially built for the journey) and cross the dangerous Torres Strait currents to the north coast of Australia. Torres Times photographer Damien Baker captured their landing on an isolated inlet at Mappoon in far-north Queensland, and the remarkable odyssey sparked media reports around the world. When Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone granted them asylum a couple of months later, Indonesian President Yudhoyono angrily recalled his Ambassador from Canberra. Prime Minister Howard’s efforts to reconstruct his government’s relationship with Indonesia culminated with the Lombok Treaty (2006), which outlawed independence activities in both countries. Herman meantime assisted a bevy of Australian NGOs settle his companions in Melbourne, including setting up the West Papua Christian Fellowship at St Hilary’s Anglican Church.

In 2009 Herman participated in an advanced study of non-violence run by The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tuft University in Massachusetts, and in 2010 commenced studying conflict analysis and resolution at George Mason University in Fairfax Virginia. He believes that people’s dignity and their culture, as well as the laws of God and of the secular world are equally essential pillars of the West Papuan independence and self-determination project. Like other West Melanesia advocates, he also believes West Papua’s independence will mark an advance in deomcracy in Indonesia. To date he has organised two conferences at George Mason: The Washington Solution in 2010, and West Papuan Culture and Human Rights in 2012.

John M. Miller co-founded East Timor and Indonesia Action Network and serves as its National Coordinator.He, along with ETAN, received the John Rumbiak Human Rights Defenders Award for 2009. On May 21, 2012, the 10th anniversary of the restoration of independence, Miller accepted on behalf of ETAN, the Order of Timor-Leste (Ordem Timor-Leste), the highest award of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. He co-publishes the monthly West Papua Report and currently serves as Treasurer of the War Resisters League.

Arnie Saiki is the Coordinator of the Moana Niu Action Alliance/Los Angeles and coordinated the Moana Nui conferences, a partnership between the International Forum on Globalization and Pua Mohala I Ka Po in 2011 and 2013 focusing on issues of Trade, Militarization, Indigeneity, Resources, and Globalization in the Pacific

He has been writing, producing online content and organizing conferences since 2007. Arnie received a “We the People” grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for his work on Hawai’i Statehood history and was the lead historical researcher for a federally-funded feature documentary, “State of Aloha.”

Since then he has been broadly focusing on Pacific Island regional economic and geo-political themes, specifically on the Trans Pacific Partnership, militarization and globalization issues.

He moderates a blog, Imipono.org and co-moderates several groups on Facebook, including Moana Nui, Free West Papua USA, and the TPP, TTIP, Globalization group.

Chris Hedges – The Wages of Rebellion

We speak with Chris Hedges about his newest book, “Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt.” Before turning his focus to resistance in the United States, Hedges spent twenty years as a foreign correspondent covering fifty countries. We discuss the lessons he learned from watching countries in turmoil, the dramatic political changes that occurred and how those lessons might be applied in the US.

Listen here:

Chris Hedges on The Wages of Rebellion by Clearingthefog on Mixcloud

Relevant articles, books and websites:

Book: Wages of Rebellion

Hedges’ articles on TruthDig

Hedges’ program “Days of Revolt”

Guest:

Chris Hedges, whose column is published weekly on Truthdig, has written 11 books, including the New York Times best seller “Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt” (2012), which he co-authored with the cartoonist Joe Sacco. Some of his other books include “Death of the Liberal Class” (2010), “Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle” (2009), “I Don’t Believe in Atheists” (2008) and the best selling “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America” (2008). His book “War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning” (2003) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction.

Hedges previously spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He has reported from more than 50 countries and has worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times, for which he was a foreign correspondent for 15 years.

Hedges was part of the team of reporters at The New York Times awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for the paper’s coverage of global terrorism. He also received the Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism in 2002. The Los Angeles Press Club honored Hedges’ original columns in Truthdig by naming the author the Online Journalist of the Year in 2009 and again in 2011. The LAPC also granted him the Best Online Column award in 2010 for his Truthdig essay “One Day We’ll All Be Terrorists”. In 2012 Hedges won the Southern California Journalism Award for the Online Journalist of the Year.

Hedges is a senior fellow at The Nation Institute in New York City. He has taught at Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University and The University of Toronto. He currently teaches prisoners at a maximum-security prison in New Jersey.

Hedges began his career reporting on the Falkland War from Argentina for National Public Radio. He went on to cover the war in El Salvador and Nicaragua for five years, first for The Christian Science Monitor and National Public Radio and later The Dallas Morning News. Following six years in Latin America, he took time off to study Arabic and then went to Jerusalem and later Cairo. He spent seven years in the Middle East, most of them as the bureau chief there for The New York Times. He left the Middle East in 1995 for Sarajevo to cover the war in Bosnia and later reported the war in Kosovo. Afterward, he joined the Times’ investigative team and was based in Paris to cover al-Qaida. He left the Times after being issued a formal reprimand for denouncing the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq.

In 2012, Hedges notably sued President Barack Obama after the passing of the National Defense Authorization Act. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration appealed, and the decision was overturned. In 2014 the the Supreme Court denied to review Hedges v. Obama   . The act still allows for presidential authority for indefinite detention without habeas corpus.

Hedges holds a B.A. in English literature from Colgate University and a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard University. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, Calif. Hedges speaks Arabic, French and Spanish and studied classics, including ancient Greek and Latin, at Harvard. In addition to writing a weekly original column for Truthdig, he has written for Harper’s Magazine, Le Monde, The New Statesman, The New York Review of Books, Adbusters, Granta, Foreign Affairs and other publications. In 2014, Chris Hedges was ordained as a minister at the Second Presbyterian Church. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey and is married to the Canadian actress Eunice Wong with whom he has two children. He also has two children from a previous marriage.

Extreme Capitalist Crisis and Autonomous Antidotes

The capitalist economic model is one of wealth extraction from communities to consolidate riches at the top. As an antidote, many communities are building alternatives to this model – models called economic democracy, the solidarity economy and ‘buen vivir’ (good living). We begin with Michael Johnson who is actively building the alternative economy in the Northeast to talk about what the alternative looks like and how communities are making it a reality. Johnson is currently on a book tour. Then we speak with Ellen Brown of the Public Banking Institute. Ellen has been following and writing about the fragility of the global financial system. Her most recent article concerns an extreme step being taken by central banks in the European Union of moving to a negative interest rate. This means that depositors would pay banks to hold their money. Ellen will describe who is the most impacted by this practice and who us most at risk in the next serious banking crisis.

Listen here:

Capitalism in Crisis and Alternative Antidotes with Michael Johnson and Ellen Brown by Clearingthefog on Mixcloud

Relevant articles and websites:

Building Cooperative Power

Valley Alliance of Worker Cooperatives

Grassroots Economic Organizing

SolidarityNYC

Hang Onto Your Wallets: Negative Interest, the War on Cash, and the Ten Trillion Dollar Bail-in by Ellen Brown

Ellen Brown

Public Banking Institute

Guests:

Michael Johnson born in the panhandle of Texas in 1942…Entered a Kansas monastery in ’63, left in ’66…became an ‘outside agitator’ at Columbia University in April of ’68…worked with the desegregation unit of the Austin public school system ’76-’80…co-founded the Ganas intentional community in Staten Island, NY in ’80 and still there…has been active in the co-operative and solidarity economic movements since 2007 through the Valley Alliance of Worker Co-operatives (VAWC), Grassroots Economic Organizing Collective (GEO), and SolidarityNYC…regular blogger, writer, and editor at GEO…currently working on two future books, Owning our Power and Building Transformative Cultures of Empowerment and Cooperation…michaelj.geo@gmail.com

Ellen Brown is the founder of the Public Banking Institute and the author of a dozen books and hundreds of articles. She developed her research skills as an attorney practicing civil litigation in Los Angeles. In the best-selling Web of Debt, she turned those skills to an analysis of the Federal Reserve and “the money trust.” She showed how this private cartel has usurped the power to create money from the people themselves, and how we the people can get it back.

In The Public Bank Solution, the 2013 sequel, she traces the evolution of two banking models that have competed historically, public and private; and explores contemporary public banking systems globally.

Brown developed an interest in the developing world and its problems while living abroad for eleven years in Kenya, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua. She returned to practicing law when she was asked to join the legal team of a popular Tijuana healer with an innovative cancer therapy, who was targeted by the chemotherapy industry in the 1990s. That experience produced her book Forbidden Medicine, which traces the suppression of natural health treatments to the same corrupting influences  that have captured the money system. She also co-authored the bestselling Nature’s Pharmacy, which has sold 285,000 copies.

Ellen ran for California State Treasurer in 2014 with the endorsement of the Green Party garnering a record number of votes for a Green Party candidate. Her blog and articles are at http://EllenBrown.com. The Public Banking Institute is at http://PublicBankingInstitute.org.