January 14 - The Tectonic Ruling Striking Down Net Neutrality; A Backlash to Corporate Rule in West Virginia; Justice Denied for a Homeless Man Beaten to Death By Cops

Full Program

Part 1

We  begin with the ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit striking down the FCC’s net neutrality rules in a victory for Verizon who brought the suit and the phone and cable giants who, given their monopoly power, will now be able to impose their content on consumers and deny their customers the content they have been used to accessing on the previously free and open Internet. Craig Aaron, the President and CEO of Free Press, joins us to discuss the tremendous implications of this ruling and its disastrous impact on free speech, free access to information and consumer choice.

Part 2

Then we speak with West Virginia resident Russell Mokhiber, the editor of Corporate Crime Reporter, about the corporate-friendly politics of West Virginia and the embrace of the mantra of deregulation that has led to lax and non-existent oversight of coal and chemical companies who have bought almost all of the politicians and most of the Press in the state. With growing public outrage over the chemical spill that has kept 300,000 residents without water for days, we will discuss efforts to organize third party candidates to run against corporate-friendly Democrat and corporate-owned Republican incumbents.

Part 3

Then finally we will look into the verdict in the case of an acquittal of two  Fullerton Police Officers for the beating death of a un-armed, mentally ill, homeless man who repeatedly begged for his life as he was tasered, bludgeoned and kicked to death. Adolfo Flores, an Orange County reporter with the Los Angeles Times, who has been covering the trial of the officers who killed Kelly Thomas, joins us to discuss the verdict and a possible backlash as happened with a similar verdict after the beating of Rodney King.