We hear from citizen activist, Diana Kastenbaum, who organized a town meeting in her congressional district in Western New York State filled with both Democrats and Republicans airing their concerns.
Last week, we had discussions on the environmental impact of AI. Elizabeth Booker Attorney on Substack @ Bet it On Booker reported that Musk's xAI is polluting the air and water in the Blackest and poorest neighborhoods in Memphis.
With the ongoing removal of EPA protections and watch dogs dismantled polluters will become more prolific.
We need AI Ethics and Ethic Board of oversight for each industry adopted by states .
Thank you Ralph Nader & Team for the continued activism
I'll be linking to this story on Town Hall Citizen!
One of the problems I've faced is not being able to talk with anyone for help or advice. I've written about this here. Diana has a big advantage because she has a platform. She's a friend of Steve's.
I don't have a platform like Diana does. I'm not going to be on FB or X. I'm just some guy listening to Ralph and trying to do something. I would love to talk with Diana. Could someone put me in touch with her? You can reach me on the website.
Mr. Nader I beg you, please bring attention to GEORGIA right now!!! If people think the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant/"Construction Work in Progress" was a Boondoggle, well it's Nothing compared to the upcoming "SOLAR FARM JAMBOREE" aka, "DATA CENTERS"!!!!!!!! (SEE: GEORGIA POWER HEARINGS- YOU TUBE-2nd Round Of Hearings; 3rd Day of the Intergrated Resourse Plan/ . Docket # 570002.)
The town hall meetings that are happening are just theater. This is what happened in Florida district 7, Representative Corey Mills
I had visited his local office and got the runaround about pretty much everything. When I asked what it would take for him to have a town hall meeting, I was told that he had a few before. I receive his emails and never saw anything about a town hall meeting. I found out that they have a different email list, they select people who are supposed to attend those. I got on that list.
Then I received a call a few weeks later to confirm my email and that I would get an invitation for the meeting. I did receive the email for a "meeting" by phone. I had a code, so I could ask a question. I believe there were two emails, one for everybody and one for "the special people".
On the day of the meeting I called in and typed my code. Corey Mills came on the phone, talked about himself for 10 minutes, then started answering questions. At one point I was interrupted by a staffer to take my question.
My question never made it to the list. I know it wouldn't since it was vetted and it was a serious question about Medicaid cuts. In the end, Corey Mills answered about 6 or 7 questions, I am 100% sure that two of them were planted in there so he could spin his talking points. Maybe all of them were because they were so easy, praising him and sounding like they came from very naive people, not from real concerned citizens. The meeting was over in just under one hour. And they claimed that 220 thousand people were on the phone. Maybe 200 thousand very angry people
I sent an email after the meeting to voice my concerns about the way it was conducted and asking my question again. One thing I asked and I think many people should ask their MAGA republican representatives: what does Make America Great Again mean to them? Seriously, why did Corey Mills said MAGA so many times? I really want to know because for some, this country was never that great. For some, it was great when there was slavery and the civil rights laws didn't exist. Whatever they answer, there is a rebuttal. In most cases, one can argue that this country was somewhat great when rich people paid more taxes.
But I never received a reply to my email. Obviously
I can't tell if you listened to the episode, but Diana didn't go to a town hall at the invitation of the congressperson. She got together with her friends and summoned the representative to their meeting. Even though the rep didn't show up, the hundreds of people in attendance got to share their stories and their concerns in community. The press covered it and the congressperson was outed for not being there. And what has followed is a series of them all over the district, two a month. Diana took the power into her own hands.
I did listen and kudos to her. I was just trying to point out how ridiculous Congress has become. I know that there was at least one "cardboard" town hall meeting in my district but I am not in any social media and didn't hear about it until after. I asked a friend to let me know if she sees people organizing another one. I feel a bit like an impostor but I don't have the time or skills to organize anything. I don't have time to even be on social media because it is so easy to fall in the rabbit hole.
Thank you Ralph. As long as Americans continue to reward these two corrupt parties by voting for their Red and Blue cabal the American People will have no voice and no change. They will continue to do whatever they want and answer to AIPAC. These Hyenas do not belong in government.
Question to Norman Solomon or anyone from wrap-up segment. Now that AOC is a leading Candidate for President, which I think is scary. My feeling David Hogg should run for Congress or Mayor as a starting point so we can have a better candidate in a few years?
It's way past time for you to attend an emergency meeting with me as you continue to approach the problem with big money/the alleged Democratic Party as if it's business as usual clinging to the myth that we have two parties.
In major league baseball there are the American league and the National league. On paper they are two separate leagues but they are both under the control of MLB. So in practice and reality they are each one half of MLB.
The Dems and Repubs are two separate parties on paper but are both under the control of big money so in practice and reality they are each one half of the one big money party.
This is why 90% of the 2026 congressional elections are already decided in the gerrymandered districts making those districts one party districts no matter how you view the Dems and Repubs.
So let's organize the Dems in Repub districts, Repubs in Dem districts and independents in both to demand small donor candidates and enforce that demand with our votes in 2026 instead of continuing to prop up the big money two party myth.
No one that takes big money is a progressive or liberal or conservative. They are just putting on show for the rubes while they work together for the big money interests.
We need a grassroots effort to demand that politicians do not take big money.
Will town meetings like the one Diana Kastenbaum organized in upstate New York be able to counter the juggernaut of right-wing politics in the US? I’ve been involved in grassroots Democratic Party politics for decades and did not walk away until Bernie Sanders' primary run defeat in 2020. It may be too late. The movement of all three branches of the federal government under the dictatorial edicts of Donald Trump have overwhelmed those of goodwill to counter this insanity. That a genocide is being carried out in Gaza is hardly acknowledged in the US and among Israel’s allies. “Never again” is happening with the support of many, while many in the US, especially young people, have strong opinions, and have taken action to a limited extent on college and university campuses and on the streets where police repression and the repression of administrators at colleges and universities has been generally universal.
In terms of activism, besides continuing to write about and against these horrors, I’m going to protest against the Trump parade on June 14th.
The best town hall meeting is when someone yells something from the back of the room and know one completely hears or understands what he or she said.
Take the night our senior citizen Wanda yelled, " give them hell Buster'" , but Buster our new sheriff was not in the room nor anywhere to be found. And besides the meeting was about school lunches, what kids eat in my town is a big deal because sometimes it's the only meal some of our kids get. It's got to be more than just ' sloppy Joe's or sh__t on a shingle.
I saw an Elon Musk rocket go up the other day,, and it's cost could easily feed every day, every kid in America a great nutritional meal for a year.
Buster,, just showed up,, he said, " let's vote, come on folks, come on America we need great food for our kids every day right now ! '
It's really hard to do this. I'm not retired. I don't have a platform. So far, I'm alone. And the last thing I want to do is wade into the social media cess pool.
So what then?
Since I started townhallcitizen.com this is what I asked myself. Can I really do this? How will anyone know I exist if I won't do social media. BTW, this man organized without social media.
Then I asked myself do I really want to to have Trump in my head all day?
It all ended up to look like a battle and life is too short. But then I rallied. Where there's a will there's a way.
I'm going to post flyers around town and up and down the valley we live in. I'm going to call our local paper. Maybe only a few people will show up. But a few is a start. Because as Ralph says...
“Take a sweeping look at our history and you will discover that almost all movements that mattered started with just one or two people - from the fight to abolish slavery, to the creations of the environmental, trade union, consumer protection and civil rights movements. One voice becomes two, and then ten, and then thousands.”
— Ralph Nader
But no one should get the idea that this is easy. Because it's not. It's hard, it's frustrating. There's so many obstacles that make you want to give up.
I stopped to read your link. Wow! The image of the earth and its blue waters connected to an opened water faucet that is draining away our pure, clear, drinkable water containing no lead gets right to the point. That water may be appropriated for those who can afford to go to Mars with Elon Musk . . . Yikes! Truly chilling. Water is life.
I seem to remember that episode of Ralph's. That was a passionate person speaking about the need to protect our water as part of the commons. Ralph himself sounded tremendously impressed. The ownership of the resources of our planet by all the peoples of the earth is one of Ralph's great reminders that has been nearly totally eclipsed. When I first heard about it from Ralph, which must have been decades ago. I had never heard the idea of a commons. Ideas seem to have a sense of crazy impossibility to them until they become a natual part of the language. I really could not get it. I was too steeped in the idea of private property. What we cannot conceive, we cannot create. We need to open our imagination in order to survive.
The idea that social media is the opposite of activism is startling. I did not want my personal information to be appropriated, so I kept clear of it. I did not consider RNRH or a few other places with limited participation and fascinating content to be social media, although I could be wrong. I think the main difficulty is the insidiousness of the theft and sale of our personal information and of corporate algorithms that create jittery zombies of us. Surveilance, too, is a serious problem, and I think serious technology is needed to stay clear of it.
It turns out that I am interested in the political considerations I have discovered on YouTube, which I did not realize was social media. To my surprise, it seems that I got into social media after all. Commenting on YouTube can be satisfying, since it seems pressing now to express the importance of resisting authoritarianism. However, it has been dawning on me that this may equate to the entertaining distraction of the Roman circus in another age.
Perhaps intentionally, social media can be a compelling distraction from difficult, effortful activism that could create the real changes we need, such as assuring clean drinking water to our people, without which we cannot survive, or creating a deeply buried, frozen repository of our organic non-GMO seed stock to assure the means to restore our healthy agriculture, or supporting our Constitutional rights of due process, because freedom also really matters.
The worst thing you can do is post on social media. The worst! It's nothing but a waste of time. In fact this is what the Trumpers want us to do. Because they want us to waste time and be distracted.
There's a really great piece on 404 Media that I've linked to on my site - Why You Can't Post Your Way Out of Fascism.
This excellent piece accurately sums up why posting back and forth with anons about Trump’s latest atrocities adds up to nothing more than poor health and lost time. Why, it “keeps us in a state of debilitating fear and anger, endlessly reacting to our oppressors instead of organizing against them”, “always reacting and never acting”. And, that social media convinces “ourselves that posting is a form of political activism, when it is at best a coping mechanism—an individualist solution to problems that can only be solved by collective action”.
But yet, those on the left and so called progressives ask us to "follow them"! When in fact it's a giant waste of time. Instead, we the people need to organize and follow what the Tea Party did. Ralph calls it the Coffee Party. I'm calling it the Radical Party.
Whatever, pick a name. The point is that the only way we're ever going to get out of this nightmare we're living in -- AI, Tech Overlords, Gaza, Trump, Authoritarianism, etc., is to form a citizens group that makes the Democrats do what we tell them -- or else they won't win elections. It's a really simple concept. Here's the platform I'm proposing:
1. A good paying job, good education, good and affordable housing
2. Clean and healthy environment - clean air, food, and water
3. Medicare For All
4. The Open Web
5. Free speech
6. Publicly funded elections
7. Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies
8. Economic protection during sickness, accident, old age, or unemployment
9. Department of Peace
10. Fighting climate violence and pandemics
That's it. Nothing else. Because everything else we want will happen if we just stick to these 10 things.
Ralph agrees with these 10. He said as much on his show two weeks ago.
The Democrats aren't going to change unless we force them to! So? Let's force them to. All we need to do, IMO, is get about 5 million people nationwide to join our citizens group. Or, about 1/3 or Bernie's followers (Bernie has 15 million followers). We do this, we're now in charge. Dems will have to do what we want or they'll lose elections.
As Ralph has said, the Tea Party had no more than 300k constituents. But look what they accomplished. My god they took control of the Republican Party. We can do the same.
But not if we keep wasting time protesting, or posting. No. Because as the Notorious RBG once said, "Protests are important. But changing the culture means nothing if the law doesn't change".
Who makes the laws? Law makers. Who elects the law makers? We the people.
So c'mon, people. Let's do this. All we gotta do is get about 5 million people nationwide to join in and go forward with these 10 things -- which, btw, are just the New Deal, but updated. I got #'s 9 and 10 from Ralph.
For those of us who have a reluctant but passionate sense of needing to do "something" for which we feel totally inadequate, it is surprising how much difference it makes to hear your honest perspective about the very real challenges involved.
Interestingly, accepting what is actually true about the real challenges and difficulties of "doing something," rather than feeling discouraging, actually instead feels empowering. I can now see a different possibility.
I thought I needed to know what I was doing and to already be good at doing it, and to do it passionately with all my time and all my heart, none of which is true of me in the least. I may feel passionate about the importance of making change, but I'm just a tired old person with no experience and no time around the edges who wishes I could change the many ways our country falls short of what We the People truly need.
But what if I don't need to know what I'm doing, and what if I don't need to already be good at it, and what if I don't need to do it passionately with all my time and all my heart? What if whatever I am able to do at any moment, however tiny it may be, is exactly what I need to do.
Next, one has to be in a position in life to be able to afford to put in the time to be able to do this. Meaning, you either have too much money or too much time. That requirement right there eliminates 99% of the eligible population.
Then, in my experience it's been impossible to get help. I tried doing something else with Lauren Boebert - Vote Boebert Out. I sent in questions to David and Steve, never heard back.
I've tried contacting guests that Ralph has had on. Not one of them has ever replied to me. Nada. So Ralph has these people on, but us commoners can't ask them questions. It can be infuriating.
I think the worst is that this work requires diving (In a previous post I said "wading" - it's worse than that) into the cesspool called social media. Which means dealing with comments from the world's worst people. You might say "Ignore them". It's impossible. It's like peaking under the Christmas tree. You can't look just once. BTW why on earth folks like Ralph and these other people we're supposed to follow tell us to use social media is beyond me. Because they don't read our comments. And social media is a social disease.
There's other problems. Like the fact that young people aren't involved. I'm gonna get meetings going and I'll post the videos on my website. But I'll be you dollars to donuts the audience will be mostly older folks. I have an idea to get younger people to come, btw.
There's a reason why younger people don't care, have given up, don't pay attention, pick one. It's because of the machine. Even the so called progressives haven't figured out how to get younger people involved. So these "smart" people who went to Harvard, all these fancy schools, are really the dumbest. Because they can't even figure out how to get young people involved! Bernie is the closest, but even his machine has some gaping holes.
So yeah, this is really hard. But I'm gonna get some meetings going. Because I know it's the right thing to dol. And you watch me -- I'll get young people there.
Thanks for another excellent thought-provoking program.
I've not been listening to it on the internet as I cut my "Optimum" link, trying to limit internet to the local library though I have a very active ebay account. The internet is a net negative in many ways unless you are highly disciplined and serious in how you access it. For an active mind the internet is an ever present world of information, debate, entertainment and challenges.
SCOTUS intends that a government for the Bar, by the Bar, and of the Bar shall not perish from the face of the earth. Lawyers create conflicts to extort legal fees, and SCOTUS supports. US and Israel have, by far, the highest per capita ratio of lawyers in the world.
My ex-wife, Lugene Kelley, lied to extort money, and Chester County Judge Thomas Gavin, who had a crush on her, allowed this tribunal that was illegal because PA had no geographic jurisdiction. Only a federal court in CT would have jurisdiction. But my she still resided in PA, and a Chester County lawyer thought I would settle over the phone, because I didn't live in PA but the false allegation would soil my reputation, which was important to me.
I refused, didn't hire the lawyer, so Chester County detective had to testify that I was studying the stored comments of the hard drive of Lugene's computer, which was in PA. Only that is not possible. She testified that she had to keep changing the password of her hotmail account, that it became an everyday thing. Technical evidence from Hotmail, not seen at the fake jury trial, proved that was false. Even if true, the emails are not stored in PA and I lived in CT during FEB 8-10 2009.
I am a co-owner of the account. I didn't "hack" into anything. If she didn't want me to have access, why did she insist I set-up the account, and why didn't she change all security info as I suggested when I divorced her?
I was looking for evidence against Chester County Judge Grover Koon who colluded with her to extort money from me. I did eventually get the evidence, but by then I had 31 accesses in 2 days.
Judge Gavin thought I would mention my motive, which my ex-wife knew, but I didn't. Therefore, during the illegal jury trial, nothing that PA had jurisdiction over and was on the indictment was ever mentioned. Judge Gavin wouldn't have jurisdiction even if I mentioned Judge Grover Koon, but Gavin would have faked it.
I have been repeatedly and illegally extradited to PA, and thrown in prison by Judge Gavin because he wants me to sign a faked plea bargain so he can't be sued.
Lugene doesn't even live in PA since 2016, and is now in FL.
But Judge Gavin is still trying to have me arrested and extradited without ever alleging anything that PA had jurisdiction over. The email accesses were legal and I have evidence against Judge Grover Koon, that for 15 years Gavin and other PA officials have obstructed justice to protect Judge Koon from being a defendant in a jury trial.
It sounds like you strongly believe that a miscarriage of justice has occurred in a legal matter that is troubling you. It sounds extremely frustrating and disturbing, especially since this has repeatedly interrupted your life and distressed you, apparently for over the last 15 years.
This kind of perpetual stress over so long can wreak havoc on your health and well-being. I think you will be best served by doing all you possibly can to extricate yourself and put this situation behind you. Imagine the simple peace of being free of all this and of being able to wholeheartedly enjoy your daily moments once again.
I tried for a few hours to understand your narrative, and I found that I had missed important things that made a difference. I believe it could serve you well to write out what happened from start to finish in temporal sequence with clarity and accuracy, and with proof of all you say to the extent possible. Crystal clear evidence of the wrongdoing you discovered is vital.
Next, I believe you need to connect to someone for help. It seems to me that you cannot do this alone. You've tried that for too long. It is now time to get someone with knowledge and competence and clout on your side.
I remember that Edward Snowden turned to investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald to help him as he revealed things that turned the world upside down. He could not go home again, but he could survive, and he could be with his family, and he could do what he knew to be right, and he could feel inwardly free to be himself and do work he loved.
Where can you get the help you need? You might be able to turn to public interest law. This may not be the final answer, but you might get leads this way. These people are passionate against corruption, and they are quite busy because of the extensive corruption occurring.
I believe you will need someone with the power and passion of lightening to strike down corruption. Some of the essential government personnel who were fired from our agencies, who are passionate about justice, and who know how corruption works in practice might be one place to search. You might also speak to the ACLU, which might be able to direct you to potential sources of support.
I believe someone needs to listen to you and go to bat for you, so you have power and are not kept on the defensive. You need to find them. Then, whatever happens, you can let go, and be done with it. You can start to live again.
Wonderful group of panelists.
Last week, we had discussions on the environmental impact of AI. Elizabeth Booker Attorney on Substack @ Bet it On Booker reported that Musk's xAI is polluting the air and water in the Blackest and poorest neighborhoods in Memphis.
With the ongoing removal of EPA protections and watch dogs dismantled polluters will become more prolific.
We need AI Ethics and Ethic Board of oversight for each industry adopted by states .
Thank you Ralph Nader & Team for the continued activism
A woman after my own heart! I'm not alone!
I'll be linking to this story on Town Hall Citizen!
One of the problems I've faced is not being able to talk with anyone for help or advice. I've written about this here. Diana has a big advantage because she has a platform. She's a friend of Steve's.
I don't have a platform like Diana does. I'm not going to be on FB or X. I'm just some guy listening to Ralph and trying to do something. I would love to talk with Diana. Could someone put me in touch with her? You can reach me on the website.
https://www.townhallcitizen.com
Who knew, Batavia stands up for Free Speech and the audience are seniors.. Feels good.
Mr. Nader I beg you, please bring attention to GEORGIA right now!!! If people think the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant/"Construction Work in Progress" was a Boondoggle, well it's Nothing compared to the upcoming "SOLAR FARM JAMBOREE" aka, "DATA CENTERS"!!!!!!!! (SEE: GEORGIA POWER HEARINGS- YOU TUBE-2nd Round Of Hearings; 3rd Day of the Intergrated Resourse Plan/ . Docket # 570002.)
The town hall meetings that are happening are just theater. This is what happened in Florida district 7, Representative Corey Mills
I had visited his local office and got the runaround about pretty much everything. When I asked what it would take for him to have a town hall meeting, I was told that he had a few before. I receive his emails and never saw anything about a town hall meeting. I found out that they have a different email list, they select people who are supposed to attend those. I got on that list.
Then I received a call a few weeks later to confirm my email and that I would get an invitation for the meeting. I did receive the email for a "meeting" by phone. I had a code, so I could ask a question. I believe there were two emails, one for everybody and one for "the special people".
On the day of the meeting I called in and typed my code. Corey Mills came on the phone, talked about himself for 10 minutes, then started answering questions. At one point I was interrupted by a staffer to take my question.
My question never made it to the list. I know it wouldn't since it was vetted and it was a serious question about Medicaid cuts. In the end, Corey Mills answered about 6 or 7 questions, I am 100% sure that two of them were planted in there so he could spin his talking points. Maybe all of them were because they were so easy, praising him and sounding like they came from very naive people, not from real concerned citizens. The meeting was over in just under one hour. And they claimed that 220 thousand people were on the phone. Maybe 200 thousand very angry people
I sent an email after the meeting to voice my concerns about the way it was conducted and asking my question again. One thing I asked and I think many people should ask their MAGA republican representatives: what does Make America Great Again mean to them? Seriously, why did Corey Mills said MAGA so many times? I really want to know because for some, this country was never that great. For some, it was great when there was slavery and the civil rights laws didn't exist. Whatever they answer, there is a rebuttal. In most cases, one can argue that this country was somewhat great when rich people paid more taxes.
But I never received a reply to my email. Obviously
I can't tell if you listened to the episode, but Diana didn't go to a town hall at the invitation of the congressperson. She got together with her friends and summoned the representative to their meeting. Even though the rep didn't show up, the hundreds of people in attendance got to share their stories and their concerns in community. The press covered it and the congressperson was outed for not being there. And what has followed is a series of them all over the district, two a month. Diana took the power into her own hands.
I did listen and kudos to her. I was just trying to point out how ridiculous Congress has become. I know that there was at least one "cardboard" town hall meeting in my district but I am not in any social media and didn't hear about it until after. I asked a friend to let me know if she sees people organizing another one. I feel a bit like an impostor but I don't have the time or skills to organize anything. I don't have time to even be on social media because it is so easy to fall in the rabbit hole.
Thank you Ralph. As long as Americans continue to reward these two corrupt parties by voting for their Red and Blue cabal the American People will have no voice and no change. They will continue to do whatever they want and answer to AIPAC. These Hyenas do not belong in government.
Question to Norman Solomon or anyone from wrap-up segment. Now that AOC is a leading Candidate for President, which I think is scary. My feeling David Hogg should run for Congress or Mayor as a starting point so we can have a better candidate in a few years?
Thank you
Ralph,
It's way past time for you to attend an emergency meeting with me as you continue to approach the problem with big money/the alleged Democratic Party as if it's business as usual clinging to the myth that we have two parties.
In major league baseball there are the American league and the National league. On paper they are two separate leagues but they are both under the control of MLB. So in practice and reality they are each one half of MLB.
The Dems and Repubs are two separate parties on paper but are both under the control of big money so in practice and reality they are each one half of the one big money party.
This is why 90% of the 2026 congressional elections are already decided in the gerrymandered districts making those districts one party districts no matter how you view the Dems and Repubs.
So let's organize the Dems in Repub districts, Repubs in Dem districts and independents in both to demand small donor candidates and enforce that demand with our votes in 2026 instead of continuing to prop up the big money two party myth.
No one that takes big money is a progressive or liberal or conservative. They are just putting on show for the rubes while they work together for the big money interests.
We need a grassroots effort to demand that politicians do not take big money.
Will town meetings like the one Diana Kastenbaum organized in upstate New York be able to counter the juggernaut of right-wing politics in the US? I’ve been involved in grassroots Democratic Party politics for decades and did not walk away until Bernie Sanders' primary run defeat in 2020. It may be too late. The movement of all three branches of the federal government under the dictatorial edicts of Donald Trump have overwhelmed those of goodwill to counter this insanity. That a genocide is being carried out in Gaza is hardly acknowledged in the US and among Israel’s allies. “Never again” is happening with the support of many, while many in the US, especially young people, have strong opinions, and have taken action to a limited extent on college and university campuses and on the streets where police repression and the repression of administrators at colleges and universities has been generally universal.
In terms of activism, besides continuing to write about and against these horrors, I’m going to protest against the Trump parade on June 14th.
What a fascinating and diverse program! Thank you!
The best town hall meeting is when someone yells something from the back of the room and know one completely hears or understands what he or she said.
Take the night our senior citizen Wanda yelled, " give them hell Buster'" , but Buster our new sheriff was not in the room nor anywhere to be found. And besides the meeting was about school lunches, what kids eat in my town is a big deal because sometimes it's the only meal some of our kids get. It's got to be more than just ' sloppy Joe's or sh__t on a shingle.
I saw an Elon Musk rocket go up the other day,, and it's cost could easily feed every day, every kid in America a great nutritional meal for a year.
Buster,, just showed up,, he said, " let's vote, come on folks, come on America we need great food for our kids every day right now ! '
" Give them hell Buster' '
Is that you Wanda?
Good luck America have a great day my friends.
Adding this.
It's really hard to do this. I'm not retired. I don't have a platform. So far, I'm alone. And the last thing I want to do is wade into the social media cess pool.
So what then?
Since I started townhallcitizen.com this is what I asked myself. Can I really do this? How will anyone know I exist if I won't do social media. BTW, this man organized without social media.
https://www.townhallcitizen.com/ralph-nader-podcast-fighting-for-water-social-media-hinders-organizing/
Then I asked myself do I really want to to have Trump in my head all day?
It all ended up to look like a battle and life is too short. But then I rallied. Where there's a will there's a way.
I'm going to post flyers around town and up and down the valley we live in. I'm going to call our local paper. Maybe only a few people will show up. But a few is a start. Because as Ralph says...
“Take a sweeping look at our history and you will discover that almost all movements that mattered started with just one or two people - from the fight to abolish slavery, to the creations of the environmental, trade union, consumer protection and civil rights movements. One voice becomes two, and then ten, and then thousands.”
— Ralph Nader
But no one should get the idea that this is easy. Because it's not. It's hard, it's frustrating. There's so many obstacles that make you want to give up.
I stopped to read your link. Wow! The image of the earth and its blue waters connected to an opened water faucet that is draining away our pure, clear, drinkable water containing no lead gets right to the point. That water may be appropriated for those who can afford to go to Mars with Elon Musk . . . Yikes! Truly chilling. Water is life.
I seem to remember that episode of Ralph's. That was a passionate person speaking about the need to protect our water as part of the commons. Ralph himself sounded tremendously impressed. The ownership of the resources of our planet by all the peoples of the earth is one of Ralph's great reminders that has been nearly totally eclipsed. When I first heard about it from Ralph, which must have been decades ago. I had never heard the idea of a commons. Ideas seem to have a sense of crazy impossibility to them until they become a natual part of the language. I really could not get it. I was too steeped in the idea of private property. What we cannot conceive, we cannot create. We need to open our imagination in order to survive.
The idea that social media is the opposite of activism is startling. I did not want my personal information to be appropriated, so I kept clear of it. I did not consider RNRH or a few other places with limited participation and fascinating content to be social media, although I could be wrong. I think the main difficulty is the insidiousness of the theft and sale of our personal information and of corporate algorithms that create jittery zombies of us. Surveilance, too, is a serious problem, and I think serious technology is needed to stay clear of it.
It turns out that I am interested in the political considerations I have discovered on YouTube, which I did not realize was social media. To my surprise, it seems that I got into social media after all. Commenting on YouTube can be satisfying, since it seems pressing now to express the importance of resisting authoritarianism. However, it has been dawning on me that this may equate to the entertaining distraction of the Roman circus in another age.
Perhaps intentionally, social media can be a compelling distraction from difficult, effortful activism that could create the real changes we need, such as assuring clean drinking water to our people, without which we cannot survive, or creating a deeply buried, frozen repository of our organic non-GMO seed stock to assure the means to restore our healthy agriculture, or supporting our Constitutional rights of due process, because freedom also really matters.
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
Excerpt from William Wordsworth
The worst thing you can do is post on social media. The worst! It's nothing but a waste of time. In fact this is what the Trumpers want us to do. Because they want us to waste time and be distracted.
There's a really great piece on 404 Media that I've linked to on my site - Why You Can't Post Your Way Out of Fascism.
https://www.404media.co/you-cant-post-your-way-out-of-fascism/?ref=townhallcitizen.com
This excellent piece accurately sums up why posting back and forth with anons about Trump’s latest atrocities adds up to nothing more than poor health and lost time. Why, it “keeps us in a state of debilitating fear and anger, endlessly reacting to our oppressors instead of organizing against them”, “always reacting and never acting”. And, that social media convinces “ourselves that posting is a form of political activism, when it is at best a coping mechanism—an individualist solution to problems that can only be solved by collective action”.
But yet, those on the left and so called progressives ask us to "follow them"! When in fact it's a giant waste of time. Instead, we the people need to organize and follow what the Tea Party did. Ralph calls it the Coffee Party. I'm calling it the Radical Party.
Whatever, pick a name. The point is that the only way we're ever going to get out of this nightmare we're living in -- AI, Tech Overlords, Gaza, Trump, Authoritarianism, etc., is to form a citizens group that makes the Democrats do what we tell them -- or else they won't win elections. It's a really simple concept. Here's the platform I'm proposing:
1. A good paying job, good education, good and affordable housing
2. Clean and healthy environment - clean air, food, and water
3. Medicare For All
4. The Open Web
5. Free speech
6. Publicly funded elections
7. Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies
8. Economic protection during sickness, accident, old age, or unemployment
9. Department of Peace
10. Fighting climate violence and pandemics
That's it. Nothing else. Because everything else we want will happen if we just stick to these 10 things.
Ralph agrees with these 10. He said as much on his show two weeks ago.
https://www.townhallcitizen.com/ralph-nader-gives-thumbs-up-to-town-hall-citizen-platform/
The Democrats aren't going to change unless we force them to! So? Let's force them to. All we need to do, IMO, is get about 5 million people nationwide to join our citizens group. Or, about 1/3 or Bernie's followers (Bernie has 15 million followers). We do this, we're now in charge. Dems will have to do what we want or they'll lose elections.
As Ralph has said, the Tea Party had no more than 300k constituents. But look what they accomplished. My god they took control of the Republican Party. We can do the same.
But not if we keep wasting time protesting, or posting. No. Because as the Notorious RBG once said, "Protests are important. But changing the culture means nothing if the law doesn't change".
Who makes the laws? Law makers. Who elects the law makers? We the people.
So c'mon, people. Let's do this. All we gotta do is get about 5 million people nationwide to join in and go forward with these 10 things -- which, btw, are just the New Deal, but updated. I got #'s 9 and 10 from Ralph.
Who's in?
For those of us who have a reluctant but passionate sense of needing to do "something" for which we feel totally inadequate, it is surprising how much difference it makes to hear your honest perspective about the very real challenges involved.
Interestingly, accepting what is actually true about the real challenges and difficulties of "doing something," rather than feeling discouraging, actually instead feels empowering. I can now see a different possibility.
I thought I needed to know what I was doing and to already be good at doing it, and to do it passionately with all my time and all my heart, none of which is true of me in the least. I may feel passionate about the importance of making change, but I'm just a tired old person with no experience and no time around the edges who wishes I could change the many ways our country falls short of what We the People truly need.
But what if I don't need to know what I'm doing, and what if I don't need to already be good at it, and what if I don't need to do it passionately with all my time and all my heart? What if whatever I am able to do at any moment, however tiny it may be, is exactly what I need to do.
Hmmm.
See my comment above.
https://open.substack.com/pub/ralphnader/p/the-tale-of-a-town-meeting?r=16krn&utm_campaign=comment-list-share-cta&utm_medium=web&comments=true&commentId=122635577
It's even harder than I summarized.
First, one has to have the time to put into this.
Next, one has to be in a position in life to be able to afford to put in the time to be able to do this. Meaning, you either have too much money or too much time. That requirement right there eliminates 99% of the eligible population.
Then, in my experience it's been impossible to get help. I tried doing something else with Lauren Boebert - Vote Boebert Out. I sent in questions to David and Steve, never heard back.
I've tried contacting guests that Ralph has had on. Not one of them has ever replied to me. Nada. So Ralph has these people on, but us commoners can't ask them questions. It can be infuriating.
I think the worst is that this work requires diving (In a previous post I said "wading" - it's worse than that) into the cesspool called social media. Which means dealing with comments from the world's worst people. You might say "Ignore them". It's impossible. It's like peaking under the Christmas tree. You can't look just once. BTW why on earth folks like Ralph and these other people we're supposed to follow tell us to use social media is beyond me. Because they don't read our comments. And social media is a social disease.
There's other problems. Like the fact that young people aren't involved. I'm gonna get meetings going and I'll post the videos on my website. But I'll be you dollars to donuts the audience will be mostly older folks. I have an idea to get younger people to come, btw.
There's a reason why younger people don't care, have given up, don't pay attention, pick one. It's because of the machine. Even the so called progressives haven't figured out how to get younger people involved. So these "smart" people who went to Harvard, all these fancy schools, are really the dumbest. Because they can't even figure out how to get young people involved! Bernie is the closest, but even his machine has some gaping holes.
So yeah, this is really hard. But I'm gonna get some meetings going. Because I know it's the right thing to dol. And you watch me -- I'll get young people there.
https://open.substack.com/pub/peterbahouth/p/lets-get-visceral?r=1a90o4&utm_medium=ios
Ha, ha, ha, ha, so real, so alive!
Thanks for another excellent thought-provoking program.
I've not been listening to it on the internet as I cut my "Optimum" link, trying to limit internet to the local library though I have a very active ebay account. The internet is a net negative in many ways unless you are highly disciplined and serious in how you access it. For an active mind the internet is an ever present world of information, debate, entertainment and challenges.
SCOTUS intends that a government for the Bar, by the Bar, and of the Bar shall not perish from the face of the earth. Lawyers create conflicts to extort legal fees, and SCOTUS supports. US and Israel have, by far, the highest per capita ratio of lawyers in the world.
https://www.mainlinemedianews.com/2010/04/07/ex-husband-convicted-of-hacking-into-e-mails/
My ex-wife, Lugene Kelley, lied to extort money, and Chester County Judge Thomas Gavin, who had a crush on her, allowed this tribunal that was illegal because PA had no geographic jurisdiction. Only a federal court in CT would have jurisdiction. But my she still resided in PA, and a Chester County lawyer thought I would settle over the phone, because I didn't live in PA but the false allegation would soil my reputation, which was important to me.
I refused, didn't hire the lawyer, so Chester County detective had to testify that I was studying the stored comments of the hard drive of Lugene's computer, which was in PA. Only that is not possible. She testified that she had to keep changing the password of her hotmail account, that it became an everyday thing. Technical evidence from Hotmail, not seen at the fake jury trial, proved that was false. Even if true, the emails are not stored in PA and I lived in CT during FEB 8-10 2009.
I am a co-owner of the account. I didn't "hack" into anything. If she didn't want me to have access, why did she insist I set-up the account, and why didn't she change all security info as I suggested when I divorced her?
I was looking for evidence against Chester County Judge Grover Koon who colluded with her to extort money from me. I did eventually get the evidence, but by then I had 31 accesses in 2 days.
Judge Gavin thought I would mention my motive, which my ex-wife knew, but I didn't. Therefore, during the illegal jury trial, nothing that PA had jurisdiction over and was on the indictment was ever mentioned. Judge Gavin wouldn't have jurisdiction even if I mentioned Judge Grover Koon, but Gavin would have faked it.
I have been repeatedly and illegally extradited to PA, and thrown in prison by Judge Gavin because he wants me to sign a faked plea bargain so he can't be sued.
Lugene doesn't even live in PA since 2016, and is now in FL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLPh1WhqVz8
But Judge Gavin is still trying to have me arrested and extradited without ever alleging anything that PA had jurisdiction over. The email accesses were legal and I have evidence against Judge Grover Koon, that for 15 years Gavin and other PA officials have obstructed justice to protect Judge Koon from being a defendant in a jury trial.
It sounds like you strongly believe that a miscarriage of justice has occurred in a legal matter that is troubling you. It sounds extremely frustrating and disturbing, especially since this has repeatedly interrupted your life and distressed you, apparently for over the last 15 years.
This kind of perpetual stress over so long can wreak havoc on your health and well-being. I think you will be best served by doing all you possibly can to extricate yourself and put this situation behind you. Imagine the simple peace of being free of all this and of being able to wholeheartedly enjoy your daily moments once again.
I tried for a few hours to understand your narrative, and I found that I had missed important things that made a difference. I believe it could serve you well to write out what happened from start to finish in temporal sequence with clarity and accuracy, and with proof of all you say to the extent possible. Crystal clear evidence of the wrongdoing you discovered is vital.
Next, I believe you need to connect to someone for help. It seems to me that you cannot do this alone. You've tried that for too long. It is now time to get someone with knowledge and competence and clout on your side.
I remember that Edward Snowden turned to investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald to help him as he revealed things that turned the world upside down. He could not go home again, but he could survive, and he could be with his family, and he could do what he knew to be right, and he could feel inwardly free to be himself and do work he loved.
Where can you get the help you need? You might be able to turn to public interest law. This may not be the final answer, but you might get leads this way. These people are passionate against corruption, and they are quite busy because of the extensive corruption occurring.
I believe you will need someone with the power and passion of lightening to strike down corruption. Some of the essential government personnel who were fired from our agencies, who are passionate about justice, and who know how corruption works in practice might be one place to search. You might also speak to the ACLU, which might be able to direct you to potential sources of support.
I believe someone needs to listen to you and go to bat for you, so you have power and are not kept on the defensive. You need to find them. Then, whatever happens, you can let go, and be done with it. You can start to live again.
Good luck. Keep safe.