Tell Somebody

On this edition of Tell Somebody Ray McGovern recalls his former colleague, the late Sam Adams and the history of the Sam Adams award for truth-telling, just awarded to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.   This follows a quick update from the Bradley Manning trial by Nathan Fuller, writer with the Bradley Manning Support Network. This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody and may or may not reflect the edition of the show broadcast on the radio. Click on the pod icon above, or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer. You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or other podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions on the show, or problems accessing the files, send an email to mail@tellsomebody.us Click here to "like" Tell Somebody on facebook. Follow Tell Somebody on twitter: @tellsomebodynow

On April 8, 2010, the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) was signed in Prague.  Very shortly after that, Alicia Dressman appeared on the show to explain some of the issues related to START and how this is related to the U.S. Nuclear weapons Complex and Kansas City's prominent role in the complex.   In June 2013, President Obama made a speech in Berlin including some remarks about nuclear weaons. Independent researcher Alicia Dressman returned for the July 2, 2013 edition of the show to talk about nuclear disarmament and Life Extension Programs (LEP's).  After that, news about the Kansas City nuclear weapons parts plant, talk of misdeeds by and related to Bank of America, the great PR BoA gets on public television, and finally an excerpt of Glenn Greenwald's remarks about press coverage of Edward Snowden's NSA whistleblowing. This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody and may or may not reflect the edition of the show broadcast on the radio. Click on the pod icon above, or

Former FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley returned to Tell Somebody for the June 25, 2013 show to talk about whistleblowing generally and about whistleblower Edward Snowden. This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody and may or may not reflect the edition of the show broadcast on the radio. Click on the pod icon above, or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer. You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or other podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions on the show, or problems accessing the files, send an email to mail@tellsomebody.us Click here to "like" Tell Somebody on facebook. Follow Tell Somebody on twitter: @tellsomebodynow

The Bannister Federal Complex Community Advisory Panel, or CAP, met at the General Services Administration offices at the Bannister site on June 13, 2013.  Tell Somebody was there and on the June 18 edition of the show we heard some audio from the meeting, and a good bit of information on beryllium, one of at least 898 toxic substances identified as having been used in the production of parts for nuclear weapons at the soon to be abandoned Kansas City Plant currently run for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) by Honeywell. All this came came after a quick excursion into the NSA whistleblower controversy. This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody and may or may not reflect the edition of the show broadcast on the radio. Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer. You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your

Leading economics bloggers from around the country were in Kansas City on April 12, 2013, for the fifth annual Economics Bloggers Forum at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.  That evening, some of them, including UMKC economics and law professor Bill Black and UMKC economics department chair Stephanie Kelton, gathered for what was billed as a coffee house with food, drink, and discussion at a nearby restaurant, one of two such events sponsored by the Jobs Now Coalition and the UMKC Economics Club.   This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody and may or may not reflect the edition of the show broadcast on the radio. Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer. You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show or any problems accessing the files, send an emai

Bill Black came on the June 11, 2013 pledge drive edition of Tell Somebody to talk economics and regulation and to help ask for listener support of KKFI Community Radio. Bill Black is an associate professor of economics and law. He was the executive director of the Institute for Fraud Prevention from 2005-2007. He previously taught 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. Professor 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.  This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody and may or may not ref

On June 4, 2013, Tell Somebody talked to Mike Caddell about his internet radio show, Radio Free Kansas. This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody and may or may not reflect the edition of the show broadcast on the radio.   Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show or any problems accessing the files, send an email to:  mail@tellsomebody.us  click here for Tell Somebody on Facebook Twitter: @tellsomebodynow

On May 25, 2013, 2 million people in over 50 countries put on over 400 anti-Monsanto events.  The May 28 edition of Tell Somebody covered the March Against Monsanto event in Kansas City where a crowd of a couple hundred folks holding signs steadily built up, by some reports, at JC Nichols fountain to over 2,000 particpants.  This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody and may or may not reflect the edition of the show broadcast on the radio.   Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show or any problems accessing the files, send an email to:  mail@tellsomebody.us  click here for Tell Somebody on Facebook Twitter: @tellsomebodynow

On the May 21, 2013 edition of Tell Somebody, hear Cecile Pineda, author of Devil's Tango - How I Learned the Fukushima Step by Step.   "An astonishing anatomy of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster..." John Nichols "Pineda's masterful framing of the urgency for readers to learn from the Japanese nuclear disaster and the machinations of its industry handlers makes Devil's Tango one of the most important and required reads this year...." Jeff Biggers, Huffington Post This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody and may or may not reflect the edition of the show broadcast on the radio.   Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show or any problems accessing the files, send an email to:  mail@tellsomebo

The facebook event page for a KC MoveToAmend rally said "127 Years ago, on May 10, 1886, corporations began to finagle constitutional rights through the US Supreme Court. THAT was just the beginning! This year, on the 127th "birthday" of corporate persons, Kansas City Move to Amend will join activists all over the nation with a rally at the Nichols Fountain."   After a reminder that the corporate personhood "ruling" wasn't even in Santa Clara v. Southern Pacific Railroad decision, but only in the headnotes written by the clerk of the court, the May 14, 2013 edition of the show consists of the remarks of eight speakers at the rally, including yours truly. This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody and may or may not reflect the edition of the show broadcast on the radio.   Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podca

Two of journalist Arun Gupta's latest articles are The Trouble With Professor Petraeus and Little Bagdhad, California. Gupta got on the phone with Tell Somebody for the April 30, 2013 edition of the show to talk about both of them.  This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody and may or may not reflect the edition of the show broadcast on the radio.   Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show or any problems accessing the files, send an email to:  mail@tellsomebody.us  Twitter: @tellsomebodynow Tell Somebody on facebook

On April 29, 2013, I recorded a conversation with former CIA analyst and Presidential daily briefer Ray McGovern.  Ray held forth on some of the usual subjects, but with an added emphasis on the media.  Ray has said that in his 50 years of observing Washington, D.C., the biggest change he's witnessed is that we no longer have in any real sense a free media. On this show, Ray expands on that in the light of some of his recent interactions with university students, and talks about torture, detainess, and the conflict inherent in the CIA between intelligence analysis and operations directorates. This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody and may or may not reflect the edition of the show broadcast on the radio.   Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory.

On the April 23, 2013 editon of Tell Somebody Homelessness Marathon director Jeremy Alderson joined Gas Free Seneca co-founders Yvonne Taylor and Joseph Campbell to talk about the havoc being wreaked in the Finger Lakes area by Inergy LP, the Kansas City-based company planning to use 'fracking' in the area and to store explosive gases in empty salt mine caverns near Seneca Lake. Alderson was arrested for chaining himself to an entrance gate to the storage facility. While preparing this show on April 23, I learned that Common Cause  President & CEO Bob Edgar had died suddenly that morning.  Edgar had been a guest on the show in May and October, 2012, and this show includes a portion of his October interview. This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody and may or may not reflect the edition of the show broadcast on the radio.   Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio fil

The April 16, 2013 edition of Tell Somebody was the second of two parts on the Free Press National Conference for Media Reform in Denver, Colorado.  The show features excerpts from Free Press President/CEO Craig Aaron's opening and closing remarks at the conference, the remaining portions of an interview with Free Press co-founder Professor Bob McChesney, criticism from Project Censored's current and former directors Mickey Huff and Peter Phillips, and a response from Craig Aaron. This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody and may or may not reflect the edition of the show broadcast on the radio.   Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show or any problems accessing the files, send an email to:  mail

The April 9, 2013 edition of Tell Somebody is the first of  two shows covering the 2013 National Conference for Media Reform in Denver , Colorado. We hear from conference attendee Janet Wilson, law professor and past president of the National Lawyers Guild Marjorie Cohn, former FCC commissioner Michael Copps, journalism professor and Free Press co-founder Bob McChesney, and Free Press president & CEO Craig Aaron. This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody and may or may not reflect the edition of the show broadcast on the radio.  Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show or any problems accessing the files, send an email to:  mail@tellsomebody.us  Twitter: @tellsomebodynow Tell Somebod

On March 19, 2003, President George W. Bush came on national television and said "At this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.” On the March 19, 2013 edition of Tell Somebody, we observe the 10th anniversary of Shock and Awe and other anniversaries just past and upcoming: a short clip of Bradley Manning’s statement acknowledging his release of documents to Wikileaks; International Womens Day March 8, 1917 and the start of the February Revolution in Russia, reading an excerpt from an eyewitness account; the 10th anniversary of the killing of Rachel Corrie in Gaza on March 16 with a rebroadcast of a 2009 interview with her parents Cindy and Craig Corrie; and the April 4, 2004 wounding of Tomas Young with 2005 and 2007 interviews with Young and a 2008 interview with his mother, Cathy Smith.  In a February appearance via Skype to an audience viewing the film Body of War, Tomas Young announc

Kansas City cab driver and advocate for the homeless Richard Tripp and investigative journalist and New York Times best-selling author Greg Palast were guests on the the March 12, 2013 edition of Tell Somebody. For years, Richard Tripp, founder and director of Care of Poor People (www.coppinc.com) has held a Winter Survival event, and a Spring Break for the homeless in Kansas City.  For years, a couple thousand Kansas Citians have gotten free food, free clothes, and free entertainment twice a year from Tripp's organization.  As spring approaches this year, there are rumblings of coming legislation to outlaw giving food to hungry people outside of (inadequate) shelters and food kitchens, or, as a recent Kansas City Star article put it, "pretty soon, feeding the homeless in Kansas City without permission could be just as illegal as feeding the geese."   Tripp is "not ready to make nice" about this, and talks about it on the show. In the second half of the show, we hear about the late Venezuelan President, Hugo

On Saturday, February 9, 2013, Gershon Baskin spoke at Avila University in Kansas City, MO at an event billed "Peace in the Midst of Conflict." Gershon Baskin, PhD, is the founder of IPCRI, the Israel Palestine Center for Research and Information, the only joint Israeli-Palestinian think-tank in the world. It is devoted to developing practical solutions for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (http://www.ipcri.org). Baskin was featured on the February 19 edition of Tell Somebody with excerpts from his speech and an interview. This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody and may or may not reflect the edition of the show broadcast on the radio.  Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show or any problems accessin

Professor Robert McChesney  returned to Tell Somebody for the February 12, 2013 edition to talk about the vital importance of independent media and the urgent need to support it. Robert McChesney is co-founder and former president of Free Press, the national non-partisan media reform group that organized opposition to the Federal Communication Commission's decision to relax media ownership rules in 2003. He is the author of many books, and is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.. This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody and may or may not reflect the edition of the show broadcast on the radio.  Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about

For a very long time, Kansas City has had a ½ cent sales tax, called the Public Mass Transportation Fund, used primarily to fund the city bus system.  Because that was not enough for the bus system, in 2003 the citizens of Kansas City voted for an additional 3/8 cent sales tax dedicated for the Kansas City Area Transit Authority, the idea being that this would augment the 95% of the existing ½ cent tax being used to fund the KCATA. But the city began drawing off some of the ½ cent tax to other projects, in effect nullifying much of the 3/8 cent tax. In December 2010, the Kansas City City Council passed ordinance 100951 “directing the City Manager to incrementally increase current appropriations to Kansas City Area Transit Authority beginning May 1, 2010” and amending the City Code of Ordinances such that “at least ninety-five percent of the remaining sales tax for transportation…shall, by May 1, 2014, be appropriated and paid by the City to the Kansas City Area Transit Authority” and stating that “the City