Episode 69 - Current Events, Killing a Culture

In this all new, lengthy and loaded episode of the podcast Rob dives into a whole host of stories sent in and topics brought up by listeners like forest fires in Spain, caring about animals' suffering, Trayvon Martin, aggressors with guns, armed white supremacists patrolling Sanford in case of race riots, American society's recent history of executing black men, Bernie Goetz, Amadou Diallo, Patrick Dorismond, Ousmane Zongo, Tim Stansbury, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Ramarley Graham, Orlando Barlow, Travares McGill, Ronald Madison, Kiwane Carrington, Victor Steen, Steven Eugene Washington, Jimmell Cannon, Wendell Allen, losing agency over our bodies, Supreme Court votes for degrading detainees, following up on Fluoride, reverse osmosis filtration, Koch brothers, and decolonization before diving into the state of racism in the US. Rob covers a number of stories in this arena, including talks of racial bias affecting perception of threats and violence, the 'shooter bias', studies prove American racism threatens safety of people of color in the country, Obama has faced severe racial bias as President, hate crimes, Shaima Alawadi, Islamaphobia in the US, Anna Brown, left to die on floor of jail for demanding treatment for pain hospital denies she had, blood clots in her legs moved to her lungs, black women often dismissed/labeled as angry, former Colombian President says US drug war a failure, Obama administration continues to dismiss claims of failure and calls for legalization, federal discrimination lawsuit brought against NYPD, racism in highest NYPD ranks, targeting black communities in New York, Howard Morgan, four white cops shoot Howard Morgan and leave him for dead, and Morgan sentenced to 40 years. Rob then discusses illegal drug checkpoints, police breaking laws to enforce them, more Arizona anti-choice antics, pregnancy begins two weeks prior to conception, limiting access, Michigan GOP illegally passed 96% of legislation since Republicans took hold in 2011, routing democracy, dismantling democracy, CISPA, Obama says he'll veto new anti-piracy legislation moving through Congress, more Monsanto madness, Monsanto versus Vermont, GMO labeling requirements, poisoning food supply and lobbying to lie about it, Gov. Walker versus equal pay, women aren't as driven in careers as men, Republican climate change, experience trumps science, Judges admit to jailing children for money, privatizing prisons, private prisons call to kept at 90-95% capacity, Catholic Church tried to erase native culture from Canada through abuse and torture of children in special schools, sexual abuse and torture inflicted on children in attempts to kill an entire culture. With poetry, music and more.