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Ralph welcomes Bishop William Barber from the Poor People's Campaign to discuss their March 2nd mass moral march on State Assemblies and their efforts to mobilize millions of poor and low-wage voters. Then, Ralph is joined by Washington Post health\xa0reporter Dan Diamond to discuss his team's recent report on a $2 billion Medicare fraud scheme.\xa0

Bishop William Barber is President and Senior Lecturer of Repairers of the Breach, which was established to train communities in moral movement building. He is Co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, and Founding Director and Professor at the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School.

The biggest mistake people who are not poor can make is [thinking] that helping poor and low-wage people in this country doesn't improve their life. Total nonsense. And we're going to see how a greater turnout of poor and low-wage people in the elections can transform politics in this country at the national, state, and local level.

Ralph Nader

You cannot, in a democracy, let your power sit on the shelf. If folk are not recognizing that, you must force them. And we now have this power\u2014 we don't even know what battleground states are. Because if poor and low-wealth people voted at the same percentage rate as middle class and others, it would change all of the political calculations. And it is the fear of the greedy aristocracy. It is time for us to realize their fear.

Bishop William Barber

Bad policy is mean, it is violent, and it is deadly. Because now we live in a reality\u2026 [where] poverty is the fourth-leading cause of death in this country. If you are not for ending policies that perpetuate poverty and low wages, then you are an accessory to the crime of human beings' lives being taken

Bishop William Barber

Dan Diamond is a national health reporter for The Washington Post, focused on accountability, federal agencies and public health. He joined the Post in 2021 after covering the Trump administration for Politico, where he won a George Polk award for investigating political interference in the pandemic response.

One would think that somewhere at Medicare, there was the alert that this was a scheme to be looking out for. On the state level, several states began last year to issue warnings\u2014the state of Hawaii, the state of Oklahoma, among others\u2014saying, \u201cWatch out, Medicare beneficiaries, for these catheter-fraud schemes.\u201d So that was nine months ago at this point. Medicare itself\u2014nationally\u2014were not aware of any similar warnings or action, at least publicly. Again, they may have been doing things behind the scenes. They may have been wanting to bait the trap for these potential fraudsters,and maybe that's why they didn't say anything. But still it raises real questions\u2014why they have waited so long to do anything, and why it takes news coverage in February 2024 to put a spotlight on something that's been going on for eighteen months.

Dan Diamond

In Case You Haven\u2019t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

News 2/28/24

1. The Michigan primary was held on Tuesday. On the Republican side, Donald Trump cruised to victory over Nikki Haley, but on the Democratic side, all eyes were focused not on the candidates themselves but on the \u201cUncommitted,\u201d ballot line. In recent days, activists and prominent progressive elected officials urged voters to register their opposition to President Biden\u2019s support for Israel\u2019s ongoing genocide in Gaza by voting Uncommitted. The campaign set a goal of 10,000 Uncommitted votes; according to the New York Times they won over 100,000. The success of this protest vote movement in a key swing state should be setting off major alarm bells within the Biden campaign and hopefully will force the president to reckon with dissent to his Gaza policy from within his party.

2. On Sunday, U.S. Airman Aaron Bushnell self immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, registering the ultimate protest against the ongoing slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. Just before igniting himself, Mr. Bushnell shouted \u201cFree Palestine,\u201d yet that did not stop mainstream outlets like the New York Times and NPR from obfuscating the motives of his sacrifice, with their coverage featuring lines like \u201cNPR was not able to independently verify the man\u2019s motives.\u201d As Ryan Grim of the Intercept put it, \u201cwhat more could he have done to make a point NPR would hear.\u201d Rest in Power, Aaron Bushnell.

3. A new Institute for Social Policy and Understanding or ISPU poll, conducted between December 2023 and January 2024, found that majorities of all religious groups favor a ceasefire in Gaza. Support for a ceasefire is strongest among Muslim and Catholic Americans, with both groups reporting over 70% support. Support is weakest among Jewish Americans, yet 50% still favor a ceasefire, with only 34% opposed. In other words, President Biden giving a blank check to Israel is alienating Americans of all religious persuasions, including American Jews.

4. Signaling another troubling omen for Biden, a new poll of Black voters in Michigan, conducted by Howard University, shows the president\u2019s support among African-Americans has dropped from 94% in 2020 to just 49% today. This is coupled with a tripling of support for Donald Trump, who now attracts 26% of Black voters.

5. On February 22nd, Representatives Jerry Nadler, Jamie Raskin, Dan Goldman, and 10 more Jewish members of Congress took the first step toward calling for a ceasefire, sending a letter urging the Biden Administration to \u201cFacilitate [a] ceasefire in Gaza.\u201d Many of these liberal members, including Nadler, Goldman, Raskin, and Becca Balint of Vermont have been the subjects of pressure campaigns by pro-Palestine activists to push them toward support for a ceasefire. Contrary to the headline however, this letter only calls for a temporary pause of hostilities.

6. Democracy Now! reports \u201cIreland\u2019s senate unanimously voted last week to impose sanctions against Israel, prevent the passage of U.S. weapons to Israel via Irish airspace and advocate for an international arms embargo against Israel.\u201d Ireland has been among the most vocal countries condemning the Israeli campaign of terror in Gaza, particularly in Europe. Irish Senator Frances Black is quoted in this piece saying \u201cI remember one woman\u2026she said that she was\u2026from a human rights organization\u2026And she said, 'Why have the international community abandoned us?' And those words stay with me.\u201d

7. Lauren Kaori Gurley, who covers Labor for the Washington Post, reports that last week baristas at 21 Starbucks stores around the country filed for union elections. This is \u201cthe largest single-day filing since the campaign\u2019s launch in 2021.\u201d\xa0 The location of these stores ranges from Brooklyn and Chicago to Grand Forks, North Dakota and Sulfur, Louisiana \u2013 demonstrating the popularity of unions throughout the nation. Starbucks has now agreed to recognize the union and work with their employees to forge a master contract.

8. In more labor news, the United Auto Workers union has announced they are allocating a stunning $40 million for new organizing through 2026. By contrast, the AFL-CIO pledged only $11 million annually for new organizing in 2022. UAW Region 9A leader Brandon Mancilla adds that \u201cThe UAW will provide material support to Mexican autoworker organizing and their independent union reform movement. We need to end the international race to the bottom. The Mexican working class is our ally, not our enemy.\u201d And Luis Feliz Leon of Labor Notes reports that \u201cWorkers at Mercedes-Benz\u2019s largest plant in the U.S. announced that a majority of their co-workers have signed union cards in support of joining the @UAW. Workers at Mercedes Benz's Alabama plant launched their organizing committee 60 days ago.\u201d

9. In a major loss for local journalism, WAMU \u2013 Washington DC\u2019s NPR member station, run out of American University \u2013 has shuttered it\u2019s flagship publication, DCist. Per Washingtonian magazine, \u201cDCist was originally owned by the company Gothamist. Joe Ricketts, the billionaire who bought it in 2017, shut down the site that same year after employees voted to unionize\u2026The next year, two anonymous donations allowed WAMU to buy DCist.\u201d The University said in a statement that this move represents \u201ca new strategy to deepen engagement with Washingtonians\u2026centered around audio and live experiences.\u201d

10. Finally, St. Louis Public Radio reports that local Girl Scouts Troop 149 \u201cdecided to raise money for the humanitarian nonprofit Palestine Children\u2019s Relief Fund\u2026inspired by other Girl Scouts troops that raised money for war victims in Ukraine.\u201d Yet, instead of backing this effort, the\xa0 Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri responded with a legal threat, writing \u201cGirl Scouts of Eastern Missouri and Girl Scouts of the United States have no other choice than to engage our legal counsel to help remedy this situation and to protect the intellectual property and other rights of the organization.\u201d Discouraged, the troop leaders opted to disband the troop. The national organization later apologized for their threat of legal action, but the troop leadership intend to remain disaffiliated from the group, and instead function as an independent troop. So far, they have raised over $10,000 for the PCRF.

This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven\u2019t Heard.

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