now realistically this move is purely symbolic considering that a constitutional amendment requires a two thirds majority vote in both the house and the senate but the fact that ten of the most powerful members of the senate will be willing to vote against their own interests for once as encouraging chairman of the senate judiciary committee patrick leahy even went as far as saying quote i've always believe that amending our constitution must be subject to the highest measure of scrutiny and is something that should only be done as a last resort when the voices of hardworking americans continue to be drowned out by the money and few more serious action must be taken and i'm hardly suggesting that we should rely on the very people who benefit from this pay to play system to change it instead we should be looking at grassroots movements from outside the beltway movements like made a pac a super pac started by harvard professor lawrence lessig but ironically is raising money to elect candidates promising to repeal citizens united and other measures but of institutionalized money in politics unless they came on the show a couple months ago to talk about why the current system is so poisonous any human

who spends thirty to seventy percent of your time raising money from a tiny tiny fraction of the one percent you can't help and develop an intuition about exactly what sorts of things you need to say to continue to succeed in raising money from those people and what sort of issues you need to avoid so you begin to develop a sense sixth of what range of appropriate issues to approach and to talk about and to push our if you're going to continue to be able to be successful to raise money from these funders now amazingly that made a pact which was only started in may of this year has raised a stunning seven point six million dollars to date from over fifty three thousand individual contributors so while the future of our political system does indeed look grim the fact that there are people using the systems own tools to dismantle it is a bright spot indeed to break the set. the

leader of the turtle they are looking very hard to deal with the long. view that are out exactly the target they're looking. for that are like. the to. the touch the to leave. as i have covered all week on the show israel has launched a now four day assault on the gaza strip dubbed operation protective edge and today and israeli was critically injured by a hamas launched rocket that hit

a gas station in the city of ashdod on the palestinian side the death toll has now surpassed one hundred with another six hundred eighty injured according to news agency but again despite this gross disproportionality establishment press continues to the store at the truth take a look at this headline from the new york times after an israeli missile hit a gaza cafe packed with palestinians watching the world cup it says a missile at beachside gaza cafe finds patrons polies for world cup. that's right those gazans were just inviting that deadly missile to de seems like quite an inappropriate way to describe a massacre doesn't it well thankfully widespread outrage has forced the new york times to change the headline to a somewhat more appropriate but still bizarre and rubble of gaza seaside cafe hunt for victims who had come for soccer. but see this example is only a microcosm of the disturbing way this entire conflict has been framed by the

mainstream and it's the willful one sidedness that is forcing people out in the streets to voice their opposition in fact all of the world thousands are joining in protests from one in oslo with slogans such as and the siege on gaza and freedom for palestine right here in washington d.c. activists joined in solidarity at a large protest and from the israeli embassy by the grassroots organization code pink book i understand of this conflict has led to unbelievable tension suffering and tragedy for all those involved a perception is everything and if we let the media dictate the narrative it does a great injustice to any efforts of diplomacy and peace because as much as we might want to deny it the fact is that israel is the largest recipient of u.s. aid to the tune of over three billion dollars a year so what happens over there is all of our problems.

perhaps there is no better way to express frustration with the current system than splashing an image in a place where the public's forced to see it which is exactly what street artists guilds doesn't places all around new york. just one example for powerful body of work that mixes activism art and cutting political commentary join me now is brooklyn street artist herself gil to discuss her art and advocacy thank you so much for coming on. thanks for the idea and i'm great and so the vast majority of art is not political what drove your passion for some balik political parties. but well i started putting work out in the street in two thousand and eight in direct response to the bush administration i was awesome what was it about. the. just the. amount of terrorism i thought was happening in iraq with the torture of the prisoners and

a lot of the things i saw happening over there i just i i couldn't get behind and i was really. questioning you know the dialogues that were happening in our media and it just didn't none of it made sense to me so you know i was talking to people in friends and nobody wanted to listen everybody would change the topic of conversation and so i was left to express myself visually. street art could be territorial even dangerous i mean it's a practice largely dominated by men do you think it's been harder for you as a woman to establish your name and make a space for yourself in the medium. i definitely see the sexism that exists in the streets i think a lot of times people don't take me seriously because i'm female. but you know i if anything that just fuels me to work harder so let's take a look at some your different art work you've done a lot of work from rabin gentrification and progress banners around buildings to destroying a kitchen and gentrification protests as

a new yorker what effects have you seen gentrification do in your city and why is it an issue that speaks to you so much. when new york is a very unique place you know it's the birthplace of so much creativity and so many of the you know the arts are so concentrated here so when i see things like the rents sense two thousand and been increasing to seventy five percent in the last fourteen years you know you see a lot of creative people being pushed out because you know we're you know starving artists or however you want to put it and a lot of us are just surviving and not thriving necessarily financially so when you see you know places like five points that giant building that i wrapped. you see those sort of artistic meccas and institutions that have been around forever disappearing so that they can put up you know glass structures with you know luxury apartments you kind of have to question what's the motive and why. what's our city turning into how is this changing. the environment and how we're how are we supposed to co-exist in this sort of situation right i mean every every city that i

love life lived in the last five years it seems like they're just putting up these high rise apartment buildings pushing all the people out of the centers of the city and it's like you're not i mean you're just pushing it out so rich people can't see like the reality of what's going on and let's take a look at the amazing clip of use of mashing the hell out of this kitchen what drove you to create this food so work. well it was it's an abandoned building that was getting ripped down to make way for these condos and a friend had kind of gotten access to the building not necessarily legally and so a lot of us just came in and we were all going to work out and i decided to just take over the kitchen because of all places. what speaks to a family more in like where is that more of a communal space in the kitchen that's where you make memories you cook together you're talking you know you fight you argue you know you family in that room specifically so i felt the need to kind of destroy those memories and to recreate

a kitchen and then to take it apart all in the name of progress just it just felt the way i needed to go all in the name of progress it always is. and i love the work is so varied covers so much ground and take a look at copper green an outline of a famous image of the opera great prisoner with the department of homeland security freeze if you see something say something why did you bridge these two concepts. well i've i felt that we were. saying one thing to our citizens and doing another abroad and you know if. i felt the government wasn't. being honest with the population if you're going to be doing those sorts of things you know we should have a say in whether or not we find this to be ok and obviously i felt like we were we were misguided and doing things that weren't right and i was saying something. oh yeah another one your work such as the statue of liberty drinking kool aid and you

think nationalism is a hinderance to the evolution of empathy and consciousness. yeah that's that's a good way of putting it i think a lot of people get that wrong sort of mentality. thinking that we can do no wrong but in the last few years i feel like that's sort of been starting to unravel and i think people are starting to really become more informed and more aware and you know shows like yours are. what are doing that so thank you for that thank you so much and the first work i saw of yours of these amazingly complicated mazes first they seem purely abstract but upon closer examination they display words and phrases out of the concept manifest and how do you even map them out we have about forty five seconds left. the concept is really about kind of getting lost in your world and also giving those sorts of words strengthen power by kind of. you know exponentially growing through those lines so it's just about. seeking

deeper than reading between the lines and trying to see past what you know may at first glance be something simple and how the hell do you serious about the mo as an artist i like them they're incredible start from the inside and work out that's how it goes yeah drop your website real quick. and i see dot com and i see dot com thank you so much street artist really really love your work. appreciate it thanks so much coming up all future an exclusive performance by hip hop artist sage francis stay tuned. this is about making the business survive.

corporations to love more parishioners told eight corporations have no feeling. for issues to care about you or me corporations quicker. people come to untouched for sins and leave massive bleeds for the state come on. we're not going to quit we will not stop until it is done what is more precious music more moon.

oh. ten years ago i heard a song that deeply resonated with me and articulating my frustration with media and politics that song was called makeshift patriot it was written by an incredibly talented hip hop artist named sage francis francis is

a prolific lyricist who has broken through almost every genre from slam poetry to what's been dubbed indie hop considering that francis was the first hip hop artist to sign a punk record label epitaph now he runs his own independent company called strange famous and i was lucky enough to have an instead you joined me earlier to perform a song called vonnegut busy with his new album copper gone. head to try to hold her mind samantha the saddest all. night how much she wants to look like they didn't walk to my house to look like it's been in the clock to look like a dog with the spade given up the cliff michael good dog stuff great y'all don't clean the crime scene because tom needs money don't need bazin when i see blood you

just see dead people who just see he was going to come but to blame and then with the cute little puppy discuss not simple to see what led. up to your last together and then a freak out did the old couple so why does he now we'll still be chopped up on the road to look up the real sheep. sale see the sea breeze spread some wind if you want to play that they are useless. colin asleep to stay awake i got to be psychic like i'm not a psychic you just ridiculous nobody left the fight if i do they will come. in taser gun do somethin like my shoes to look like they've been walked to my house the bike has been a car to look like a carpenter's been driven off a cliff my career a nonstop great p.r. shifts in the gases in search of the paths to get up the earth feelin turns me dark for what it's worth i'm with you then a cemetery soil you'll do slave to make it

a midnight oil night is that the day dream i'm at the wheel they say famously cake people call me keep mats good job only one two and two to three or to the closure they said the war was so book was it they wanted more soldiers always there. is a fresh batch of people who step back the ball back to roll roll of the tracks taken aback at the people who probably need this is a small town in a box telling about the cinema which is the cult film and many think anyone that put it positive effects have to break a promise and take a breath but it is nothing that we can stay alive under subpoena talking about a local. kid on the cheap we took it to our play out we take all we keep. talking it might appear. it might. call the car nice and the status quo nicky please see the only way. to keep this in the way. there's

a phone who are you. going to keep busy. keep on with keep the. moment and see. mode upload. we came up on bully types as if that isn't what it is that inspiration strikes like unions might these lines just across and i'm concluding that my mama don't want to she never has to work you can't let that be washed premises they can appear dirty with the pain a flick my tongue and a bottom up promise might as mocking up a pin a problem probably make the columns want to pop out of the flame repeat some time to see what you don't say this as the most say the least little feat of the devil spanish club politics despite none of us and them in some cases they come out the same steamrolled two thousand and ten had a couple dreams stolen being

a pretty cold week so let me stop to rebuild it feels like you told me to move halle's cold feels like you're going to throw the ball with your feels like you're going to help keep the ball work and as they say made the bridges that we burned like the way i'm not so much for the flight they've been walking out the bike it's been in my coffin the blood the coffin it's been driven off a cliff by covering that nonstop crazy dog shit and like so much of the flight they've been walk to the house could look like it's been they've been a call but the call this day and driven off a cliff macabre nonstop train gone i'd like to much like the house to the pockets of many of the parts of the public operated cricket off a cliff michael could not stop playing golf. so long to keep. my mind i want to keep busy.

want to keep busy. morning busy. you started strange famous records in one thousand nine hundred six what compelled you to start and even able all the way back then and how hard was it to get off the ground. it didn't get off the ground until like many years later but in ninety six i was introduced to the hardcore punk rock scene. and they were all releasing their own records there was no major label putting out stuff like that and it inspired me because that whole time from childhood until i was in college i was like when is a major label going to sign me and it was obvious that wasn't going to happen unless you know i had to like get stuff in motion on my own it just inspired me i watched them print their own scenes they just like they were self sufficient subculture that hip hop was lacking it was like all of hip hop was run by a leg

a certain couple companies and that's all the same artist you listen to the good thing about that is like a collective experience because people came up listening to hip hop we all know the old a local j. records we all know the old run d.m.c. public enemy but eventually when the indie scene in hip hop started to explode in the late ninety's early two thousand and then everybody started putting in the legwork to get their material out there and you know napster and file sharing companies that allowed for people in sweden to hear my music when i didn't have distribution like that certainly kick started the in the scene you said that corporations have extracted intelligence from head pop and wanted you to elaborate on what you meant by that you know well for many many years i think that they decided. to promote and push artists who appeal to the lowest common denominator was the fastest and easiest route of getting an audience who was would spend money for the albums like capitalism but like. there's other things at play that i feel

like russell simmons i think has been put on blast recently by chuck d. about this stuff hot ninety seven a lot of a lot of other companies who were big tastemakers in hip hop early on who went the very easy and cheap route later on they deserve criticism because. they were lucky to be in a position where they were when they were in it and when everything was was brand new and fresh and they did push artists like public enemy who changed the way people think about hip hop and music and for positive change. and then for everything to just get so. cheap and watered down and that's all they cared about was all they pushed it's like there was no dialogue about how do we better this look what it's doing to the communities and where hip hop originated from slate how are we giving back to those places that's beyond me i don't feel like

that's my position to talk about a but i do think that they deserve a lot of criticism i have to talk about the song because that's what turned me on to you make shit patriot back right after nine eleven you wrote this song a month after nine eleven you released at the same exact day of talk about everything from the media analysis to the u.s. fighting terrorism in the past how the hell were you so precious hint and you did not get sucked up in that patriotic fervor so soon yeah after the event i think because i did i wrote it soon after and then recorded and released it on ten eleven but. i was kind of still fresh out of university and a graduate of the degree in journalism never pursued it but at least they taught me the ethics of journalism so then when i saw how the story was being presented not only did it just kind of like the red lights blinking like someone's wrong the way they were presenting the story was wrong the way people around me were talking was wrong and like people were just yesterday and very scared and i was scared to i

mean i remember being very scared but i was scared of. not like a muslim terrorist mostly like a scared of what people were doing around me. and i wanted to document the fear of the whole thing of everything because i know those moments get washed away i think history gets rewritten so all. often i was like waiting for someone else to come out with the song was like who's going to speak on it but everyone was just waving the flags and there was the echo chamber of you know what was being said on t.v. and i felt it was wrong i always thought it was hip hop's place to be that other voice to be the alternative and to speak some sense into a confusing or wrong situation so that was my inspiration obviously hip-hop taught me that coming up but my experience with journalism also showed me another angle so i want to do it like address that in the song and not have to be about nine eleven per se but that's part of it i do it all journalism as a whole media as

a whole and culture as a whole the fear driven. populace who just were like willing to do anything the shock doctrine enough stuff you know it really spoke to me and thank you for writing i know that it was deemed really controversial which is insane because i'm going to drop it is hard truth that no one else wanted to really get it out and i was out but i was wondering what was going to happen and i felt like i was put on i was red listed as you know i was red flags every time i fly or goes elsewhere and to tape and to go through all my stuff for years still to this day you said in back in two thousand and ten on our t.v. actually that you were come to what the direction obama was taking a country i wanted to see if you still felt that way i got it i got a lot for that but the thing was i felt the interviewer was steering me to talk obama and i wasn't ready to do that just yet. he had only been in office for four months and i don't know what it is to be

a president i don't know how long change takes to happen but so i was like i'm waiting it out i'm not here to like bash anyone who becomes president i was trying to see if maybe some could happen. but. no i don't think i'm very pleased with the direction things have been taken. and i still don't know all of what it is to be president because i did feel like he had it in him should change things for the better and like i said the downward trend is just continuing to happen and you can you know all day until you're blue in the face about don't buy from this company and you see that they own about a million companies and it's like what the hell he's going to do and i'm getting sucked into this election cycle every four years and nothing changes and i think it's just mobilization grass roots and hoping we can try to create some alternative here let's talk about your new album or gone you've taken a four year break from taurean. tell us what what when it is all because it's full

of so much tashan it's this reflection on politics the world how you interact with it how interacts with you just incredible kind of commentary there and so much. give the album. was a result of. i think being shut away for four years the kind of things that happen when you're you are shut away for four years media takes part in that because i'm watching t.v. thinking a lot about the same things how does that reflect in my daily life when i feel like things are broken outside but also i realize are broken inside so kopper gone was about and the title itself references how the homes around where i live were abandoned and copper pipes were taken out of it you know for scrap metal whatever so they spray painted copper gone onto the houses and in my house started to feel like that and then i started to feel like that in. just everything evolved out of

that whereas like why does everything feel like i'm just been stripped clean completely no matter what we pay no matter what we do they just like people just keep taking taking take in and. that was i think the driving force behind the record of my personal life the focus not so much politics but you know politics does play a role like i said it's all political man gore i mean everywhere that i read it you can bring it back to how we interact with the world and how it interacts with us and i love what you said in one interview just said i you know i can watch the world brain around me and get there myself in the fire and what i'm going to do and tell people where they can find out more about you in your music stage get my music get strange famous records dot com of course all the i tunes and all that stuff but it's much. for hopefully in stores if the use of a record store where you live and you can ask your local record yeah it's fun to

just you know sift through the cds if you have cd players will see does another thing they try to wipe out cd players like they're making cars without only making laptops about cd players they're forcing the issue i'm not ready for the change everything's going to be streaming now it's like i wasn't ready for the change from tape to cd eventually ten years later i adopted it and now they're trying to take away my sins whatever. it. is a great pleasure to have you back there and say thanks so much. disappear. disappear float off. disappear. we never saw that coming. we had no idea. i

would actually just at night pray to god you know me normal. they said you're a homo you're a homo and from that day in first grade i swear my life changed forever i became like a reticule to get stopped still to this day. well alabama and texas instruct school teachers to tell pupils young people that homosexuality is not an acceptable lifestyle and also instructs them to say that homosexual sex in private is a crime in those states if the church was going to fire me that's what they had to do but i was going to do this with. his radio months rained down on goals a killing civilians including children we hear from those right in the midst of the chalets family home relations between the u.s. and germany reach a new low over spying is but then kicks out a top cia official relationship as kiev says it's ready for his see swat team meets

the families devastated by all me every. watch on the media turns a blind eye to you gets all non-si. this is what we do we kill people and break things so we can see something as simple as people playing soccer you can see individual players and you can see the ball. you can almost see is facial expression you can see is a mouth open and crying out. maybe cursed. or maybe he asked. for forgiveness for. there must be near certainty that no civilians will be killed or in.

israel snubs international pressure to continue its strikes on gaza meanwhile the death toll one hundred twenty palestinians mostly civilians. how does militants in syria and iraq could create a fresh army of volunteers is the self-proclaimed islamic state reportedly collects a million dollars a day from selling captured oil. and side of a page tonight a surprise extra stop on his tour of latin america showing up in nicaragua that offer a fruitful day of talks with the castro brothers.