Hell with protecting kids, Meta does whatever makes the most money for them
We hear from citizen activist, Diana Kastenbaum, who organized a town meeting in her congressional district in Western New York State filled with both Democrats and Republicans airing their concerns. How did the district’s representative respond? We’ll hear the whole story. Then, Ralph welcomes back Washington Post tech reporter, Geoffrey Fowler, to discuss his latest report about how Meta promised parents it would automatically shield teens from harmful content. Find out what happened when Mr. Fowler and a group of Gen Z users put that promise to the test. Plus, we hear from RootsAction.org director Norman Solomon about the petition his group and Progressive Democrats of America sent to the DNC for an emergency meeting challenging how the party elites are responding to the authoritarian creep of the Trump Administration. Finally, Ralph calls for listeners to flood the White House switchboard to exhort the Administration to end the indiscriminate slaughter in Gaza.
Diana Kastenbaum lives in Batavia, New York, where she has been an owner in her family business, Pinnacle Manufacturing Company, Inc. for over 45 years. In 2014, she became the CEO of the company making her one of only a handful of women CEOs in the manufacturing field of tool and die casting in all of North America. In addition, she owned her own tech consulting company for 25 years. She has devoted herself to numerous national political endeavors and in 2016 ran for Congress in NY-27.
It wasn't until January 20th when those executive orders started to come out, I started to get really, really nervous. And it woke me up from my hibernation here in Western New York. So I actually had many sleepless nights, and I reached out to some friends. They weren't sleeping too. They were worried. And so we decided to do something about it.
Diana Kastenbaum on her summoning her congressperson for a town meeting
It (the town meeting) was just for people to ask their questions and tell their stories. And I think that's sort of where we are now in town halls is trying to get our friends and our neighbors and our local communities to hear what will happen, what is happening to the people in their communities. There were Republicans there, and they didn't yell or shout or anything like that. There was no disruption, but everybody stayed until the last moment, and everybody listened to these people share their stories.
Diana Kastenbaum
Geoffrey Fowler is The Washington Post's technology columnist. Before joining the Post he spent sixteen years with the Wall Street Journal writing about consumer technology, Silicon Valley, national affairs and China.
I performed an experiment on Instagram where I set up one of those accounts for a teenager that Instagram had promised us would be given special protections. And frankly, it took as little as ten minutes for me to swipe through and see what kinds of stuff Instagram was going to show this kid. And, oh boy, it really went off the rails quickly.
Geoffrey Fowler
It's like there's a dark commercial villain inside this company (Meta) that does whatever makes the most money for them.
Geoffrey Fowler
Norman Solomon is co-founder of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. He is the author of War Made Easy, Made Love, Got War, and his newest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine.
So we're hearing some mea culpas now about, "Oh, we should have told Biden not to run for re-election." But in point of fact, the same mentality, the same risk culture is still in place. And that's where I think the only change is going to come from the bottom up. It's going to come from us folks at the grassroots.
Norman Solomon
The Israelis bombed a home where they killed nine children out of ten children of parents who were both physicians with one American-made missile. That's just one of the tragedies that occurs every day, weaponized by the U.S. government – now Donald Trump – and funded by the U.S. taxpayers who are never asked their opinion on such foreign relation policies.
Ralph Nader
White House Switchboard : 202-456-1414
"Fast for Gaza" organized by Veterans for Peace
Discussion about this episode
Thank you
https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/p/the-tale-of-a-town-meeting
Wonderful group of panelists.
Last week, we had discussions on the environmental impact of AI. Elizabeth Booker Attorney on Substack @ Bet it On Booker reported that Musk's xAI is polluting the air and water in the Blackest and poorest neighborhoods in Memphis.
With the ongoing removal of EPA protections and watch dogs dismantled polluters will become more prolific.
We need AI Ethics and Ethic Board of oversight for each industry adopted by states .
Thank you Ralph Nader & Team for the continued activism
A woman after my own heart! I'm not alone!
I'll be linking to this story on Town Hall Citizen!
One of the problems I've faced is not being able to talk with anyone for help or advice. I've written about this here. Diana has a big advantage because she has a platform. She's a friend of Steve's.
I don't have a platform like Diana does. I'm not going to be on FB or X. I'm just some guy listening to Ralph and trying to do something. I would love to talk with Diana. Could someone put me in touch with her? You can reach me on the website.
https://www.townhallcitizen.com
Who knew, Batavia stands up for Free Speech and the audience are seniors.. Feels good.
Question to Norman Solomon or anyone from wrap-up segment. Now that AOC is a leading Candidate for President, which I think is scary. My feeling David Hogg should run for Congress or Mayor as a starting point so we can have a better candidate in a few years?
The best town hall meeting is when someone yells something from the back of the room and know one completely hears or understands what he or she said.
Take the night our senior citizen Wanda yelled, " give them hell Buster'" , but Buster our new sheriff was not in the room nor anywhere to be found. And besides the meeting was about school lunches, what kids eat in my town is a big deal because sometimes it's the only meal some of our kids get. It's got to be more than just ' sloppy Joe's or sh__t on a shingle.
I saw an Elon Musk rocket go up the other day,, and it's cost could easily feed every day, every kid in America a great nutritional meal for a year.
Buster,, just showed up,, he said, " let's vote, come on folks, come on America we need great food for our kids every day right now ! '
" Give them hell Buster' '
Is that you Wanda?
Good luck America have a great day my friends.
https://open.substack.com/pub/peterbahouth/p/lets-get-visceral?r=1a90o4&utm_medium=ios
What a fascinating and diverse program! Thank you!
Thank you Ralph. As long as Americans continue to reward these two corrupt parties by voting for their Red and Blue cabal the American People will have no voice and no change. They will continue to do whatever they want and answer to AIPAC. These Hyenas do not belong in government.
Adding this.
It's really hard to do this. I'm not retired. I don't have a platform. So far, I'm alone. And the last thing I want to do is wade into the social media cess pool.
So what then?
Since I started townhallcitizen.com this is what I asked myself. Can I really do this? How will anyone know I exist if I won't do social media. BTW, this man organized without social media.
https://www.townhallcitizen.com/ralph-nader-podcast-fighting-for-water-social-media-hinders-organizing/
Then I asked myself do I really want to to have Trump in my head all day?
It all ended up to look like a battle and life is too short. But then I rallied. Where there's a will there's a way.
I'm going to post flyers around town and up and down the valley we live in. I'm going to call our local paper. Maybe only a few people will show up. But a few is a start. Because as Ralph says...
“Take a sweeping look at our history and you will discover that almost all movements that mattered started with just one or two people - from the fight to abolish slavery, to the creations of the environmental, trade union, consumer protection and civil rights movements. One voice becomes two, and then ten, and then thousands.”
— Ralph Nader
But no one should get the idea that this is easy. Because it's not. It's hard, it's frustrating. There's so many obstacles that make you want to give up.