they are very hard to take. that are out that way that you are right there. just when you thought it couldn't get any worse for the water supply in west virginia last week yet another toxic spill struck the state this time over one hundred thousand gallons of coal slurry that watery byproduct of coal mining

spilled into the fields into fields creek which is a tributary of charleston's canal a river of course this latest rupture comes just weeks after the january ninth chemical spill the port an estimated ten thousand gallons of a chemical called for and into the elk river contaminating the water supply for three hundred thousand west virginians now the e.p.a. is saying that west virginia residents shouldn't be worried about this latest spill as the creek was not connected to a main drinking water source nor did the coal slurry contain the dangerous age and chemical but these assurances have done little to placate the fears and worries of west virginians are now heavily reliant on the coal industry and its economic benefits well earlier today i spoke to investigative journalist carl gibson was on the ground in west virginia about the latest developments regarding both spills i first asked him if he believe the e.p.a. has claims that the coal slurry contained none of the potentially deadly chemical and see. h m. tets was

a guy who lived in charleston he drove to the side of this bill the morning after and he told me that you know when you smell the air you smell that licorice and that licorice is the smell of and c h m which was the chemical spilled into the elk river on january night another environmental activist stockman from the ohio valley environmental coalition she told me the same thing she felt she smelled licorice now it's interesting because the west virginia department of environmental protection says that no m.c.h. was spilled even though people all around her are smelling that chemical so it remains to be seen what what ultimately going to be done and the cleanup crews right now are you know working on gaming out the spill with bales of hay back together with wire with fish sized chunks of gravel and you know vacuuming up the coagulant with they are pouring a chemical industry the coagulant comes together and in the vacuum it up with this

other machine they're working on the cleanup process right now as of as of right now even though all the coal is larry spilled into the cannot river that is not going to take for you just a lot of supplies so the smell itself and i hate to cut you off but you were talking about that licorice smell that was enough to close down a few schools even in these in these last couple of weeks but i want to ask you you know since we've seen these spills west virginia lawmakers have passed a bill regulating chemical storage and requiring that west virginia's water treatment plants have a secondary water intake point why weren't these measures already in place and why do you think this bill's going to do enough to protect us from jinyan from from water being poisoned in the future. it'll definitely be an improvement if the house version of that building is like you said there will be stipulations in place where they'll be a second water intake valve three to five days of water to be set aside and case of emergency now they say. these provisions were in place on january night the might

have been able to the bullet three hundred thousand people having water. but i think this bill is ultimately going to fall short because it's addressing it's symptomatic effect a larger problem the larger problem is that you know these bills are always going to keep happening in till the state department of environmental protection really steps in and starts to do the job they're starting to do and i know on the question of accountability and who's going to be held responsible for this let's talk about freedom industries that's a company that was behind that original spill back in january and it's to the company itself has filed for bankruptcy can you break down there's also a conflict of interest here concerning the company that bought out the this company the law firm representing it can you give us a breakdown of that conflict of interest. yeah it's a really shady situation and i'm surprised that no one. to be quite honest you know eight days after the still had the on january seventeenth jay clifford forced to

use older freedom industry and another company called chemistry holdings l.l.c. he opened up another company eight days later called mountaineer funding l.l.c. now right after filing for chapter eleven bankruptcy which by the way is the unity from over twenty five cities lawsuits and one federal lawsuit after filing for bankruptcy an hour later they filed an emergency motion for the better in protection so on that on that agreement and basically making this agreement to get five million dollars in loans to keep them in operation while they're doing the bankruptcy now that agreement that they filed an emergency motion for as she places decide one place for freedom industries and the other is for your funding which is that dam corporation the company itself that's doing the lending it's called w.v. fund the l.l.c. which has no incorporation records and either west virginia or pennsylvania so it appears on the surface that a phantom corporation is set up by friends owners to loan money during the bank.

and i asked you that conflict of interest that you spoke about you know. the law firm that's representing three ministries called it's called mcquire woods mcguire woods also representing cam stream which is which is acquired by freedom industries it also represented rosebud mining which is all so owned by j. clifford forrest so this one guy j. clifford force is in charge of all of these corporations and it's actually a violation of federal law or company has every vested interest in previous companies to represent a firm during a bankruptcy this is really this is really outrageous and i can't like you said i can't believe that there's nobody that's you know been really held accountable for this it seems that the company itself is being shielded against any sort of you punitive punitive damages are just hiding behind this bankruptcy but i want to ask you about this lawsuit there is there's a class action lawsuit filed by by residents of west virginia what options do they have left to you know for accountability the people in west virginia that were affected by the spill. sure so those west virginians they're suing the department

of environmental protection for failure to regulate coal industry and they have the right to do that under section seven thirty three of the surface mining control and reclamation that called. section seven thirty three of that bill that law allows for citizens to basically suit their state regulatory agency that from charge regulating the binding and you know ensuring there are environmental controls proving that they have not done so in which case they can supersede that stage regulatory autonomy and the federal e.p.a. can step in and do you know regulating that the state was and so and the other dogs without you know what are the odds of that call because i mean you've written about the ties with west virginia coal with west virginia politicians like governor already and joe mansion so do you think that this reliance of politicians having the state has on big coal is going to have an outcome on that or to what extent is that going to have an impact. i think i think the state and you know governor earl

ray tomblin and senator joe manchin are doing everything in their power to stop that regulation from happening precisely because people like jake like reporters donated to governor thomas camping the executives at patriot coal doing to governor thomas camping out financial resources which acquired massey energy which is responsible for. coal blast that killed over two dozen miners they gave money to this government so this this whole administration is in the pocket of the coal industry so i think and tell the federal government steps in and really starts to regulate the state because the state won't do it so i think until that happens you're not going to see much in the way of accountability at the state level that's that's really a shame and i want to ask you about another another aspect of this that it doesn't surprise me it sounds too absurd to actually be true the the koch brothers charles and david koch actually might be connected to these chemicals bills this is

something that you've been writing about yourself can you explain that connection. yes cook industries since two thousand and five even a company called georgia pacific and georgia pacific manufactures the line of chemicals that freedom industries heat for coal processing in over seven states you know west virginia virginia kentucky all the michigan and minnesota now the koch brothers not only do they own georgia pacific but here's the really twisted part they also own a company called hills resources funnels resources makes a product called arafat like acid which is used and water bottles kind of plastic and so you know i've called the bottled water satiation and i'm trying to get numbers i think for the one that benefit for january when the spill happened until march but i'm i've got a very strong hunch that water bottle sales skyrocketed after the spill and even though koch industries is a privately owned company so it's not traded i can't look at their stock value but

i would i would imagine that clinton's resort probably making a lot of money because of all the new water water bottles that are being bought and manufactured when it wouldn't come is as too big of a shock there call we're almost out of time but i wanted to ask you you know being on the ground in west virginia and getting a chance to talk to folks there are people that are so reliant on the coal industry in the state that are maybe starting to reconsider that maybe starting to see this a different way and how they're thinking about the future of their state in the future of the coal industry in this when what sort of sense are you getting from the people there. you know one guy i talked to you in van west virginia about an hour south of charleston he worked in the coal industry its entire life span we worked with their entire life even today he still loves and he told me you know what makes this. even he's told me that you know it's not looking likely that coal is going to have much of a future in west virginia you know given this latest bill another woman i talked to

in that same community she said that coal really doesn't have much in the future anymore and anyone buys that were opened already opened by their water we'll call unfortunately we're out of time but we do want to thank you for taking the time to join us today and thanks for being our eyes on the ground in west virginia coal gives investigative reporter with occupy dot com thank you thank you many. coming up i'll talk about a more taboo side of presidents day say to. the past twenty years america has changed from the producer to consumer and all consumers know that when the producer names the tune the consumer has got to dance dance troupes whoa. oh that's right frenchman can dance and the derivatives wielding baxter's and this being loony don't know if they want to be matt dillon or bob dylan ben bernanke here man of a thousand helicopters janet yellen doesn't tapering special effects from abacus

two thousand and seven a c. one in the failing crazy glue no worries friends lalama it won't be too long before the director cuts the same yeah it's all like that in the movie. crosstalk rules in effect going to can jump in anytime you want.

twenty fourteen almost a week ultimate and exhilarating winter. and you see now a make up and i'm the last of all of them thank you so you are so cheap twenty four take. on. today's president's day most of the american public working american public that

means a well deserved day off what is today really commemorate well in theory we're supposed to be celebrating george washington's birthday but that's actually february twenty second the holiday really honors is the entirety of washington's presidency is aside from the success of the american revolution and the establishment of america's first republic washington's greatest achievement is marked by something he didn't do seek a third term as president c. washington could have been king of a brand new country on the american continent but instead gave up his power after two four year terms all in the name of democracy and indeed this is an amazing gesture worth commemorating but while school kids across the nation may be assigning students schools across the nation might be setting students to write about their favorite presidents the focus is not likely to be on the hidden history behind the falling founding fathers pristine facade as always there is much more to washington than meets the textbook. now i want to be clear my intention is not to

be subversive subversive about america's founding fathers it's simply more important that history is looked at in full with the good and the bad and most importantly the truth so let's start with the white house america's symbol of the presidency a beautiful mansion located at sixteen hundred pennsylvania avenue but built almost entirely on the backs of slaves that's right not only was the white house built by slave labor it was also home to countless black slaves held in bondage and while the first republic was founded under the banner of freedom dignity and the infallible notion that says all men are created equal as many as twelve of america's forty four presidents have been slave owners even george washington himself who wrote prolifically against the institution of slavery was not immune to its evils see a law called the gradual abolition act was passed in pennsylvania in seven hundred eighty which allowed slaves brought into this state to apply to apply for freedom if they were there for longer than six months in order to circumvent this act washington would rotate the time his slave spent in the state going against his own

convictions against the horrific practice in fact one of washington's own slaves oh name maria judge was said to be given away as a present to martha washington's granddaughter and at the end of his second term but judge ran away before that could happen to live out the rest of her days as a free woman and in doing so changed the course of american history. journalists and authors of the time ran with the story and it became one of the first inspirations for the abolition movement it's not just the hollowed institutions like the white house or the presidency that are connected to slavery it's nearly every single facet of this country's history and ironically presidents day fall smack dab in the middle of black history month which is why it's perhaps more important that we remember and reflect upon an edited version of history only then can we come to grips with the tortured history that has shaped this country for centuries and apply that historical knowledge to solving the country's current social racial and economic injustices so by all means celebrate the men who put revolutionary ideas into action but just as importantly don't forget about those

who truly built this country. i here in the west we grew up we grew up learning about a particular narrative about the middle east and at the crux of that narrative is the decades old conflict between the palestinians and the israelis according to the western media whenever israel launches a military assault it's in self-defense against palestine so the vicious cycle of violence goes on in the conflict continues but according to one social critic and journalist ferrari shepherd there is no conflict simply put there is only occupation and with that comes total oppression and control of nearly every aspect of life in palestine shepherd just got back from the region and wrote a viral article for the huffington post about the myth of the conflict and how the western media gets it wrong but he's not simple journalist he's also editor in

chief of stop being famous a music blog dedicated to in-depth interviews with some of the biggest names in music today and covering a wide variety of social issues earlier today for our stop by the studio and i first asked him about another story he's been writing about check out. i want to ask about something that you posted very recently on stop being famous which is this open letter to d.m.'s you know in light of him wanting to box george zimmerman you were saying that this is sort of a mockery of a tragedy so you know what kind of brought it were brought this about what made you inclined to write this piece mainly brought the. piece that i made that are excused that i wrote was almost of it was like i was vomiting it was involuntary i couldn't hold it in i was thinking like you know i've been a fan for many years and i know where he was coming from in terms of saying yeah i'll take him off for the black rays or whatever paycheck or whatever it may be but

i don't think that he was taken into account. of the implications that it make. is this a joke is this a side show this is trayvon martin his body is this is dead we're talking about a day teenager in the ground and his mother has to suffer every day while the killer is out free and posing for pictures and painting i mean it's disgusting that this is what you know it comes through in the media in this country everything gets turned into a reality t.v. show like i've even the positive things like trying to go to mars people are trying to turn that into a real. but i want to get your take on this other case michael dunn in florida and you know he was he was found guilty of attempted murder of the other kids but not of the actual boy who was jordan davis the actual boy who was who was murdered do you are you then surprised anymore when you when you hear stories like this i mean do you see these as signs of just institutionalized racism i'm not surprised and i see it as

a sign of institutionalized racism but that's not that's not all i see. i take it personally because i grew up in a neighborhood you know in new york chicago where as a black man this is a black young teen it was almost as if i didn't belong anywhere everywhere i went there was a police officer there was a y.m.c.a. director there was someone to tell me what are you doing here why are you standing here actually have laws to say you do a mob action and you're standing in a group of three or more black people what are you doing so for this for this jury so deliver to kind of be indecisive is this a human life you know that this is done take a life or was it like to read in the stuff you know right and it's a jury of you you'd assume you know that they would of course know better but you know what i have you here you were talking about your website i can't help but ask you about this viral article that you wrote recently about your trip to israel

palestine and it's titled i traveled to palestine and discovered. there's no israeli palestinian conflict of course this entire notion completely flies in the face of everything that we've learned about can you help put into context what you mean by this. is this as i say it is simple travel to israel palestine palestine israel some might say and i was really shocked the ironic part about what has happened since i posted want to publish the article is went viral die i want to part is that i didn't expect it to go viral you know because i thought that it was something that everyone knew already even though you know i know differently that we don't get that narrative we don't get to see what is actually going on in the west bank what's going on in gaza we only see you know horrific scenes either that or this one dimensional terrorist or militant thing you

never get to see the day to day to day life of a palestinian and i think that is definitely dangerous and i was like the calls of writing this was to say ok we all know the narrative of everyone in western society you know the narrative the terror is you know. the name oh my god but they they don't they never stop to see why some of these catastrophes are happened you know and i think there's just. someone in the states you don't have a voice you're not a person anymore. you know we can do to an insurgent we can kill an insurgent and there will be no nothing said about it no one will care about you because you're not a person you're a militant so these were very violent like these the terrorists the militant used to be communists right it is the definition of these words as well reckless these are the the terminology that we hear. a combat ease of combat agee's of militant

age. really all that means is that you're what twelve years or older and running around a field in your you know subject to be a target of a drone strike no it did you're absolutely right and i wanted to ask you about you know you've you got a lot of flak as well for this article that you wrote and you recently went on post live and you were asked about you know maybe not giving the full context of the story we already in the west we already know the story you know israel says the we're being bred in in these like you know palestinians they just want to blow up buses and i know that story i think that anyone could turn on you know any major new station and see that story where we don't see is the why is the why is this happening and what's really going on i don't think that there's a counterargument to colonialism to slavery to how to in closing people in the neighborhood whether it be through gentrification or

a wall that's almost thirty feet tall and have a soldiers on every corner i don't think that there's an argument that can counteract that you know unless you have it having been there what do you see as being the i mean look you have the you have the solution in your hands what do you see as being because it's such a complicated issue and it's so central to the middle eastern politics and to what every one else in the region believes do you see the two state solution still being attainable do you see people moving well beyond that and what would the what a way to finally get equity equality the human dignity that palestinians deserve how do you get there without a two state solution. throughout history there is there's been you know the two state solution thing brought well especially in the united states will you say with the native americans they'll say ok all right we've got slaughtering each other enough let's stop and now let's let's let's talk about

a partition let's try to do this you have this and you have this and then what usually happens is. that the natives or the smaller people without the money in the power of their space in agency just starts to shrink and shrink and shrink until the reservation. you know so i really can't speak on like a solution i don't know a solution other than something that has to happen i don't want to say but spiritually inside the hearts and the minds of israelis ok i do see that you know there are that's one thing i didn't get to touch on in the piece which is that it's more was with the complexities of the society there are palestinians with money who you know you would call them high class but this oppressed ok and there's also israelis who really see that want to see the other side of the story.

society is shaped around that narrative as it is a revolution of consciousness that we need and it's need right here in the united states as well israel's closest ally you know a majority of people here still. are u.s. aid is everywhere you so much. all right that's our show guys thanks for joining me abby's back tomorrow to break the set all over again good night. jim. tracy told us to. keep militate. there were dealt with in. the.

play. drums in the future. show we go on toys sometimes stun where we meet some of his sons innovators in the night such as. we find out how to save black wings for composition and craft plimsoll the modern day funky but still money still takes some smocks for the album said look here on r.g.p. . the future of. good.

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be in the. ukraine's opposition claims up to five activists have been killed while thirty seven policemen to be injured in clashes that erupted a day after a government amnesty came into full. and it's unclear just who is fighting whom as all men in uniform clash with each other on the streets of kiev. and in other news this hour the kansas house of representatives approved legislation that would legalize the discrimination of gays on the grounds of people's religious beliefs.