Ralph Nader Radio Hour

Ralph hears from courageous former Boeing Quality Control Manager, John M. Barnett, who blew the whistle on shoddy production of the 787 Dreamliner, how the FAA has backed off on oversight, and how Boeing “bean counters” have put profits over safety. John M. Barnett was a Quality Control Manager for Boeing Company for 25 years in its Seattle facility. He transferred in 2011 to manage Boeing’s new plant in South Carolina to build the 787 Dreamliner where he revealed shoddy production as reported on the front-page of the April 20, 2019, New York Times. He retired under pressure in 2017 and assumed the challenge to inform the flying public. His whistleblower complaint to OSHA is pending. “I haven’t seen a plane out of Charleston yet that I would put my name on saying that it’s safe and air-worthy.” John M. Barnett, former Quality Control Manager on the 787 Dreamliner “In aircraft production, and working with Boeing all these years, we have a rule of thumb: that it takes eight to ten years for

In our continuing series honoring whistleblowers, Ralph welcomes winner of the Joe A. Calloway Award for Civic Courage, Dr. George Luber, former head of the Centers for Disease Control’s Climate Health program, who despite pressure from the newly-minted Trump Administration, blew the whistle after refusing to cancel a convention on how the climate crisis was affecting public health. George Luber is an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. His research interests include the health impacts of environmental change and biodiversity loss, harmful algal blooms, and the health effects of climate change.  Dr. Luber headed the CDC’s climate health program until it was eliminated in 2018 by the Trump White House. The nation’s premier health protection agency continues to retaliate against him for speaking out on the climate crisis and its public health effects. He has since filed for whistleblower status with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel and has just received the Jo

Ralph welcomes Tom Mueller, author of “Crisis of Conscience: Whistleblowers in an Age of Fraud,” where they discuss the heroic stories of the brave men and women, who at great personal cost, have called to account corruption across government and industry. Plus, Ralph answers your questions.   Tom Mueller is a free-lance writer of non-fiction and fiction, whose work has appeared the New Yorker, National Geographic, New York Times Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, and elsewhere. His first non-fiction book, Extra Virginity, is a New York Times best-selling account of olive oil culture, history, and crime. His latest is Crisis of Conscience: Whistleblowing in an Age of Fraud. “Bill Binney had the awful irony of having created this structure to surveil foreign targets and winnow out at top speed potential terrorists and seeing his own work… being used against Americans. It was a thing he had sworn every day of his working life not to do… So, he backed away from the agency (NSA) when he felt they wer

Labor writer, Steven Greenhouse, joins Ralph to discuss his new book “Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present and Future of American Labor.” Then Steve, David, and Ralph have a spirited discussion about how the 99% can wrest power from the 1%. Steven Greenhouse is an award-winning reporter who covered labor and workplace issues for nineteen years at The New York Times.  He has also served as a business and economics reporter and a diplomatic and foreign correspondent. His latest work is Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor. “I think one of the reasons Trump won Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania is that workers were too misinformed, and they thought Trump was going to do wonders for them. And if unions did a better job communicating, educating, perhaps a weekly email newsletter about how Trump is hurting workers, how Trump has rolled back all these protections that Obama had provided, extending overtime to millions of more workers. Obama issued this v

A member of “The Squad,” Rashida Tlaib, joins Ralph to talk about her aborted trip to the Occupied Territories, Israel and Palestine, poverty in Southern Michigan, and of course, impeachment. Plus, listener questions! Rashida Tlaib is currently the Congresswoman for Michigan’s 13th Congressional District, which includes the city of Detroit and many surrounding communities. Representative Tlaib is a well-known progressive warrior who made history in 2008 by becoming the first Muslim woman to ever serve in the Michigan Legislature. She is beloved by residents for the transformative constituent services she provides, and for successfully fighting the billionaires and corporations that tried to pollute her district. “We already know that corporations have tainted our democratic process on all levels of the government, not just on the federal level. For us, this (impeachment) is about our way of life… This won’t be the last crooked CEO that runs for President of the United States. So, it is rea

With a Constitutional crisis afoot, we continue our discussion of impeachment with Constitutional scholar Bruce Fein. And, Ralph welcomes Middle East policy expert, Hassan El-Tayyab, to fill us in on what’s going on with the humanitarian tragedy that is the war in Yemen. Bruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar, who was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan. Mr. Fein has been a visiting Fellow for Constitutional Studies at the Heritage Foundation and an adjunct scholar at American Enterprise Institute. He has advised numerous countries on constitutional reform, including South Africa, Hungary and Russia. He is author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy, and American Empire: Before the Fall. “It’s not just the conservatives who are in my judgment derelict here. I think the entire political class now has conceded that we no longer have a Constitutional dispensation. Both parties, if their guy is in the White House, say ‘do wha

Ralph talks to John Bonifaz, of The Impeachment Project, where he argues that the Ukraine scandal is just the last straw in a long line of Donald Trump’s impeachable offenses. And energy expert, David Freeman joins us to talk about the necessary steps the Climate Strike movement needs to take to realize their demands. John Bonifaz is a public interest lawyer and the Co-Founder and President of Free Speech For People, which in coalition with Credo Action has initiated The Impeachment Project. Mr. Bonifaz previously served as the Executive Director and then General Counsel of the National Voting Rights Institute and has been at the forefront of key voting rights battles in the country for more than two decades. In 2004, Mr. Bonifaz wrote the book Warrior-King: The Case For Impeaching George W. Bush. “We are in this urgent moment where Donald Trump almost on a daily basis attacks our Constitution, our democracy, and the rule of law. He’s a direct and serious threat to our republic and he nee

Ralph welcomes lawyer and advocate, Ugo Mattei, who tells us how he started a movement that successfully stopped Italy from privatizing its water supply. Plus, listener questions! Professor Ugo Mattei is Distinguished Professor of International and Comparative Law at University of California, Hastings and at the University of Turin, Italy. He is a widely published scholar in economic and political aspects of law and his work has been translated into many languages. He masterminded, as lawyer and an activist, the Italian campaign against the privatization of water, which was successfully completed in June 2011 with a national referendum endorsing Professor Mattei’s plan to recognize water as a common. He is the co-author with Laura Nader of Plunder: When the Rule of Law is Illegal, and also authored The Turning Point in Private Law. “People understand how important it is not to leave water in corporate hands. Giving water to corporations is putting ourselves literally and physically at the

Original Nader’s Raider, Robert Fellmeth, expands upon his open letter to Mark Zuckerberg, demanding that we should know who is talking to us on Facebook. Also, Executive Director of the Museum of Tort Law, Richard Newman, joins us to argue for an ordinary person’s right to have their day in court as he promotes Tort Law Day on October 5th. Robert Fellmeth has had a long and distinguished career as a public advocate. As a graduate student in the late sixties, he became the original Nader’s Raider, investigating the Federal Trade Commission. He then went on to work as an attorney in Ralph’s office, the Center for the Study of Responsive Law. In 1980, he founded The Center for Public Interest Law at the University of San Diego Law School and also founded the Children’s Advocacy Institute, an organization that specializes in reforming the child protection and foster care systems and improving outcomes for youth aging out of foster care.  “We need to know if that message popping up on a devic

Ralph spends the bulk of the hour with prominent FBI whistleblower, Mike German, whose new book is “Disrupt, Discredit, and Divide: How the New FBI Damages Democracy.”  Plus, Ralph answers listener questions! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ralphnader.substack.com

Ralph welcomes the man who coined the term “net neutrality,” Tim Wu, who talks about how we need to break up concentrated power in Big Tech and other industries. Then, Mickey Huff, director of Project Censored, returns to talk about the state of the media as outlined in his new book “United States of Distraction.” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ralphnader.substack.com

John Nichols returns to about the future of newspapers in light of the latest merger between the two largest chains in the country, Gannett and GateHouse. Also, Washington Post reporter and former meat-eater, Courtland Milloy, tells us how much his health improved when he turned to a plant-based diet.   This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ralphnader.substack.com

Ralph welcomes Matthew Myers, co-founder of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids to talk about the dangers of “Juuling.” Then, using an excerpt of Ralph from the documentary, “An Unreasonable Man, “ Steve, David and Alan Minsky, executive director of Progressive Democrats of America, discuss the “Anybody But Trump” mantra in the context of recent history. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ralphnader.substack.com

In an offbeat and more light-hearted episode, Ralph, Steve, and David talk to criminal defense lawyer, Mike Chase, author of “How To Be A Federal Criminal: An Illustrated Handbook For the Aspiring Offender.” Plus, Ralph answers more of your questions. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ralphnader.substack.com

Legendary former Senator, Mike Gravel, joins us to talk about his ideas for direct democracy, explains the concept of “Republican Socialism,” and tells us about his role in the Pentagon Papers. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ralphnader.substack.com

Military expert Professor Michael Klare talks military budget, the dangers inherent in our contentious relationship with Iran, and the shift in U.S. military planning away from stateless actors to China, Russia, and Iran. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ralphnader.substack.com

Ralph talks with John Nichols, national affairs correspondent for The Nation magazine, about Robert Mueller’s testimony, the imperial presidency and Ilhan Omar, and many other aspects of the current political landscape. Then we welcome aviation crash expert, Dr. Alan Diehl, who gives us his take on the situation with Boeing and the problematic 737 MAX 8. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ralphnader.substack.com

Ralph talks to progressive broadcaster, Thom Hartmann, about how to respond to a malignant narcissist, who also happens to be the President of the United States.   This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ralphnader.substack.com

Ralph welcomes two energy experts who span the far ends of the age spectrum, first 29 year old, Rhiana Gunn-Wright, one of the chief architects of the Green New Deal, and then 93 year old David Freeman, former head of the Tennessee Valley Authority. They both talk about the Green New Deal and the bright future of renewable energy. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ralphnader.substack.com

Ralph welcomes mental health experts Judith Eve Lipton and David Barash to talk about what we can learn from Costa Rica, a country that has survived and thrived after giving up its military. And consumer advocates Harvey Rosenfield and Laura Antonini tell us how they are exposing how companies like Walmart, Home Depot and Airbnb are using your personal data against you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ralphnader.substack.com