one of the most important reasons why our current representative system is so toxic and corrupt campaign finance seen a ten to eight vote the senate judiciary committee voted to approve a constitutional amendment that would overturn a notorious two thousand and ten supreme court's citizens united decision of course this ruling solidified the notion of corporate personhood and equated money with free speech by allowing companies to give unlimited amounts of cash to political action committees or super pacs which then lobby on behalf of individual candidates 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 that ironically is raising money to elect candidates promising to repeal citizens united and other measures but institutionalize money and politics less said came on the show a couple months ago to talk about why the current system is so what 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 but develop an intuition about exactly what sorts of things you need to say to continue to succeed in raising money for most people and what sort of issues you need to avoid so you begin to develop a sense that there's six that's what range of appropriate issues. to approach and

to talk about and to push are if you're going to continue to be able to be successful to raise money from these funders now amazingly the 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 system's own tools to dismantle it is a bright spot indeed let's break the set. the lead the turtle they are larry ours to take our little the two. lightly that are back with the earthquake there are those. that are like.

the to cut cut cut cut cut. cut cut. cut. 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 of 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 cads 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 tensions 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 image here is 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 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 that i saw happening over there i just 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 and 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. to look at them you're different artwork you've done a lot of work from rabin gentrification and progress banners around buildings to destroying a kitchen and gentrification pro does 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 a 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. supposed to co-exist in this sort of situation right i mean every every city that i love live 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 we're not i mean you're just pushing out so rich people can't see like the reality of what's going on and let's take a look at the the amazing clip of use of mashing the hell out of this kitchen what drove you to create this piece of 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 he's talking you know you fight you argue you know you your family in that room specifically so i felt the need to kind of destroy those memories and to recreate a kitchen and then to to take it apart all in the name of progress just it just felt the way 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 author great person or with a department of homeland security phrase if you see something say something why did you bridge these two concepts. well i've i felt that we were you know

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 rights and i was saying something. oh yeah another one your work such as the statue of liberty drinking the 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 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 strength and power by kind of. you know exponentially growing through those lines so it's just about. seeking deeper 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. dot com thank you so much street artist really really love your work. thanks so much

coming up on future an exclusive performance by hip hop artist c. francis stay tuned. this same logic that the united states pursued in afghanistan you know from army relatively unknown a graphic from the jackie dean. was good enough for the united states and look what happened a couple of years down the line again the problem with american policy is a lack of staying power after the soviet union left afghanistan the united states essentially forgot about afghanistan the soccer studies moved in to fill the void with the taliban that led to the growth of all with all the subsequent consequences this was the critique of pulling out of iraq as well.

just like. everybody else did you know the price is the only industry specifically mentioned in the constitution and. that's because a free and open process is critical to our democracy albus. rule. in fact the single biggest threat facing our nation today is the corporate excellent work of our government and across several we've been hijacked like a handful of transnational corporations that will profit by destroying what our founding fathers once built just by job market and on this show we reveal the big picture of what's actually going on in the world we go beyond identifying the problem. the rational debate and the real discussion that critical issues facing yeah i feel ready to join the movement then walk in the big picture.

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 with punk record label epitaph now he runs his own independent company called strange famous and i was lucky enough to have an instead you're joining me earlier to perform a song called vonnegut busy from his new album copper gone. the

saddest goodbye to call to her mind samantha the saddest. night for my shoes to look like they didn't walk to my house to look like it's been in the car to look like a proper it has been driven off a cliff michael could not stop great p.r. don't clean the crime scene because tommy's money don't. seem bloody just dead people who does it we walk under cover deadpan blend in with the cute little office discuss nothing but this one. together and then a freak out the old couple who watches keep back now we don't know each other i'm on the road to the real sheep. sales to the sea breeze rest some wind if you want to placate day to day i use my colon to sleep to stay awake i get to be here psychic like i'm not a psychic you just ridiculous nobody left the fight if i do they will come and taser gun do somethin like my shoes to look like they haven't walked in my house

the day like there's been a car to look like a car that has been driven off a cliff micro-grid it nonstop graveyard shifts in the gases in search of the path is big enough the earth building turns me dark for what it's worth i'm which is then a cemetery soil to slay to make it a midnight oil. that's ok tree me i'm at the wheel of the case a famously cake people call me keep mats good job only one two and two to three or two to full closure they said the war was so book we do was it they wanted more soldiers always it. is a fresh batch of people who sent back the ball back the old rosie get trapped in the back of the people who probably need this is a small town in alaska with a mountain in about two dissing called so many many thing anyone there pretty positive is effective to break a promise and take a breath but it is nothing that we can stay alive under subpoena the ladies charge you little let me ask why did you send them to look at all the cheap. we took it to

our play out we take all we keep. talking. mit. it might. call the birds mice and the status quo to keep the live or if they. want to keep the way. they're. going to keep busy. keep on with keep the. moment if that is the. hold up hold out hope. we can up one bully types as if that isn't one of these that inspiration strikes like you julian upright these lines just across and i'm concluding that my momma don't want to she never has to work you can't let that be while spread. the pain up

like much on the bottom a promise might as mocking up a man a problem probably make the columns want to pop out of the play repeat some time to see what you don't say this as the buzz say billy's little feat of the devil spanish club politics to the spot none of the cement in some cases came out the famously rolled up two thousand sand had a couple dreams stolen gold wheat so let me stop to rebuild it feels like you go with the coal fields they keep going to the coal with feels like you're going through hell keep it all work and as they say made the bridges that we are like. i'm not so much for the flight they haven't walked in the house but the bike it's been in my coffin the blood the coffin this been driven off a cliff michael dunn crazy dog shit on like the mushroom of the flight they've been blocked out like it's been they've been a call but this didn't prevent apocalypse now can be crazy. i'm like you must be

like to this to look let's just let's just talk through the book because it's been pretty good clip michael good stuff played here all. night long to keep. my mind going to keep. up my want to keep. learning here see. you started strange famous records in one thousand nine hundred six what compelled you to start an indie label all the way back then and how hard was it to get off the ground and well 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 indie 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 this on 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 in the media analysis to the us fighting terrorism in the past how the hell were you so precious hint and you did not get sucked up to 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 a 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 too 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 but. 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 often i was like waiting for someone else to come out with the song 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 wanted to would like to address that in the song and not have to be about nine eleven per se but that's part of 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 mad but i was wondering what was going to happen and i felt like i was put on i was red listed as red flags and it's on my i fly or goes elsewhere i'm detained 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 comfortable at the direction obama was taking the 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 that happen you can hear 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 it was doing and 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 cover gone you've taken a four year break from taurean. tell us what what when into this album cause it's full of so much passion it's this reflection on politics the world how you interact with it how interacts with you just incredible kind of commentary there on so much . give the album. it 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 growing 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. 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 fun. and camp and for hopefully in stores if do you still have a record store where you live and you could ask your local record yeah it's fun to look just you know sift through the cds if you have cd players they'll see that's another thing they try to wipe out cd players like they're making cars without only making laptops without cd players are 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. is a great pleasure to have you back there and thanks so much. dog the way it's thing disappear hold on a whole way the sting disappears slow doggone it sting disappears lodo all.

this is what we do we kill people and break things we can see something if simple as people playing a soccer game we can see individual players and if you see the ball. you can almost see is facial expression you can see is a mouth open and crying out. maybe cursed us or maybe he asked. for forgiveness for. there must be near certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured.

say a series of a couple of places try to clear out squares the same people are going to be going to want to give the title or destroy the teaching every minute of. the time a no no law no weapon. of my own life but hey. let's think this city all times. these cases to live to its limits. sometimes for nothing which. is so we have it simple still. it's not just the story. he still be. he sees the state. he. was.

israel's offensive on gaza presses into its sixth day as a single strike outside a mosque in gaza leaves fifteen people dead bringing the total number of palestinians killed in the offensive up to one hundred fifty. in. a suburb of the ukraine comes under a barrage of artillery fire from kiev's forces with reports that civilians have been killed. britons fear for their state health care service claiming a trade treaty will see the n.h.s. ripped apart by private american medical firms.