Ralph welcomes Andy Shallal of Busboys and Poets to discuss his new memoir, “A Seat at the Table: The Making of Busboys and Poets.” Then, Ralph speaks to business consultant and activist Bennett Freeman about why Big Business isn’t standing up to the Trump Administration.
Such a nice story of how Busboys and Poets was named. And such a simple, delicious way of making connections, in person
I have been catching up with the podcast so I don't know if the "pre-crime" list in the memorandum was discussed but according to Ken Klippenstein there is a real risk of the FBI opening files about not only organizations, but also people, for no legitimate reason.
For example, what does it mean to be anti-christian? Or anti-family values? Or anti-american values? I don't really know what those "American Values" are because depending on who you are speaking to, it excludes more people than it includes, and the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are of little value
Reading the memorandum, it looks like it is a not so veiled license to legitimize male, christian, white supremacy oppression and violence, and to silence, persecute anyone outside those definitions
I think you see it as it is. I'm sorry to say so. I want our country to be better than that. Under this Administration, I believe it will keep getting worse unless We the People act to prevent it. I was horrified by the Patriot Act, but everyone else was waving flags, as if we need to remove our Constitution to meet such a challenge. I think it is the opposite. That is exactly when we need it the most.
What can we do? I think it helps, for those who are able, to get to marches and demonstrations. I think it helps to call and/or write to members of Congress.
I wrote to a Judge whose ruling I appreciated. I thanked him for upholding our Constitution. Maybe that is just a little thing, but in this climate, I think people need to be appreciated for their courageous actions.
We can each do what we find possible, not too scarey, taking one small step.
It amazes me how many people come to the USA from substandard economies and crummy governments but feel the need to "point out" what is wrong about the US.
The USA economy is fine. The problems stem from Barack Obama's lousy presidency, and were exacerbated by Biden's extremely bad presidency. The US is not a dump, but looks like one now because of all the (illegal) migrants that bring their problems and bad attitudes to the US.
When relocating to another country, one must assimilate rather than expect to be accommodated. It is the latter causing almost all the strife in the US.
You're the only one with the bad attitude, parroting right-wing talking points. The global north (Europe & North America) has been extracting resources and wealth (Not to mention propping up authoritarian governments that make many of these countries safe for corporate exploitation) from the global south for centuries. Yet, somehow you don't make the connection that this may be why these countries have "crummy" economies and may be why those populations may be compelled to migrate to the north where that wealth found a home.
Illegal immigration is not the reason our economy has problems. It's a standard fascist mislead to blame the least powerful element in the equation. It's a distraction so that the powerful can steal your money. Blame immigrants, blame trans people, blame "wokeness." Look over there! while over here we pass a big beautiful bill that transfers even more wealth to the top.
And while I'm certainly no fan of corporate Dems like Obama or Biden, your analysis of their policies gets no more specific than "lousy" and "extremely bad." And you conveniently ignore the very real fact that George W. Bush's presidency ended with the Great Recession of 2008 and Donald Trump's first term ended in much the same way.
Are you perhaps referring to the way Elon Musk, immigrant from South Africa, , has been destroying our government agencies with a chain saw and ripping off our personal private sensitive Social Security data?
Maybe he is referring to way back, when the settlers tried soooooo hard to assimilate to the Indigenous Peoples living here. His bubble is about to burst
Or maybe he is just trolling because his life is so comfortable he has nothing else better to do
I sure hope this awful persecution of our immigrants is about to end.
I worry so much about what may be happening to those who have been "rendered" to foreign countries.
I read that people who were held in "Aligator Alcatraz" were moved to foreign countries when it closed down, and that they cannot be traced. It might have been Amnesty International that was looking for them, but I'm not sure now. I read that the government did not keep records, and that no one knows where they are.
Can this be true? Have we let them be disappeared and lost? I have been hoping that we would bring them back for due process asap.
Why do some of our people need to be so cruel and even sadistic? For instance, Aligator Alcatraz: Some posted on YouTube programs I follow and were relishing the idea of immigrants suffering. Could all of those people be robots? I'd feel better if they were.
It is reminescent to me of "3 minutes hate" (from the book "1984") that upsets me. That book was surprisingly prescient. When I read it, I was touched by the terrible personal conflict presented in the book for the main character. I was horrified by the authoritarian nature of that future, and especially by its cruelty, but I did not recognize it as our own future waiting to unfold. It's taken quite awhile.
Such a nice story of how Busboys and Poets was named. And such a simple, delicious way of making connections, in person
I have been catching up with the podcast so I don't know if the "pre-crime" list in the memorandum was discussed but according to Ken Klippenstein there is a real risk of the FBI opening files about not only organizations, but also people, for no legitimate reason.
For example, what does it mean to be anti-christian? Or anti-family values? Or anti-american values? I don't really know what those "American Values" are because depending on who you are speaking to, it excludes more people than it includes, and the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are of little value
Reading the memorandum, it looks like it is a not so veiled license to legitimize male, christian, white supremacy oppression and violence, and to silence, persecute anyone outside those definitions
I think you see it as it is. I'm sorry to say so. I want our country to be better than that. Under this Administration, I believe it will keep getting worse unless We the People act to prevent it. I was horrified by the Patriot Act, but everyone else was waving flags, as if we need to remove our Constitution to meet such a challenge. I think it is the opposite. That is exactly when we need it the most.
What can we do? I think it helps, for those who are able, to get to marches and demonstrations. I think it helps to call and/or write to members of Congress.
I wrote to a Judge whose ruling I appreciated. I thanked him for upholding our Constitution. Maybe that is just a little thing, but in this climate, I think people need to be appreciated for their courageous actions.
We can each do what we find possible, not too scarey, taking one small step.
It amazes me how many people come to the USA from substandard economies and crummy governments but feel the need to "point out" what is wrong about the US.
The USA economy is fine. The problems stem from Barack Obama's lousy presidency, and were exacerbated by Biden's extremely bad presidency. The US is not a dump, but looks like one now because of all the (illegal) migrants that bring their problems and bad attitudes to the US.
When relocating to another country, one must assimilate rather than expect to be accommodated. It is the latter causing almost all the strife in the US.
You're the only one with the bad attitude, parroting right-wing talking points. The global north (Europe & North America) has been extracting resources and wealth (Not to mention propping up authoritarian governments that make many of these countries safe for corporate exploitation) from the global south for centuries. Yet, somehow you don't make the connection that this may be why these countries have "crummy" economies and may be why those populations may be compelled to migrate to the north where that wealth found a home.
Illegal immigration is not the reason our economy has problems. It's a standard fascist mislead to blame the least powerful element in the equation. It's a distraction so that the powerful can steal your money. Blame immigrants, blame trans people, blame "wokeness." Look over there! while over here we pass a big beautiful bill that transfers even more wealth to the top.
And while I'm certainly no fan of corporate Dems like Obama or Biden, your analysis of their policies gets no more specific than "lousy" and "extremely bad." And you conveniently ignore the very real fact that George W. Bush's presidency ended with the Great Recession of 2008 and Donald Trump's first term ended in much the same way.
Are you perhaps referring to the way Elon Musk, immigrant from South Africa, , has been destroying our government agencies with a chain saw and ripping off our personal private sensitive Social Security data?
Maybe he is referring to way back, when the settlers tried soooooo hard to assimilate to the Indigenous Peoples living here. His bubble is about to burst
Or maybe he is just trolling because his life is so comfortable he has nothing else better to do
I sure hope this awful persecution of our immigrants is about to end.
I worry so much about what may be happening to those who have been "rendered" to foreign countries.
I read that people who were held in "Aligator Alcatraz" were moved to foreign countries when it closed down, and that they cannot be traced. It might have been Amnesty International that was looking for them, but I'm not sure now. I read that the government did not keep records, and that no one knows where they are.
Can this be true? Have we let them be disappeared and lost? I have been hoping that we would bring them back for due process asap.
Why do some of our people need to be so cruel and even sadistic? For instance, Aligator Alcatraz: Some posted on YouTube programs I follow and were relishing the idea of immigrants suffering. Could all of those people be robots? I'd feel better if they were.
It is reminescent to me of "3 minutes hate" (from the book "1984") that upsets me. That book was surprisingly prescient. When I read it, I was touched by the terrible personal conflict presented in the book for the main character. I was horrified by the authoritarian nature of that future, and especially by its cruelty, but I did not recognize it as our own future waiting to unfold. It's taken quite awhile.