Global
When analyzing headline-grabbing national news, it is easy to view these events as isolated incidents happening elsewhere. But as decentralized, independent media—the Fifth Estate—our responsibility is to strip away corporate news noise, bypass institutional gatekeepers, and ask the direct question: How does this power dynamic directly impact everyday working families in Ohio? From severe accountability failures in municipal halls to institutional shifts in the military and geopolitical games driving global energy markets, a clear thread emerges. Unchecked institutional authority and geopolitical speculation continuously shift costs, burdens, and vulnerabilities onto everyday citizens.
The Local Price of Oversight Failures
The recent 23-count federal indictment against former Hanahan, South Carolina City Councilman Kevin Hedgpeth—alleging child sex trafficking, exploitation, and coercion across multiple digital platforms while he served in local office—serves as a grave reminder of what happens when public figures operate without rigorous oversight.
Starvation is a particularly cruel and horrible way to die. Beginning with intense hunger and pain and followed by exhaustion and mental deterioration, starvation continues with the body gradually consuming its own tissues on a downward spiral toward death.
The major safeguard against mass starvation around the globe is the World Food Program (WFP), which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020 for its vital humanitarian work. With hundreds of millions of people in jeopardy thanks to poverty, famines, violent conflict, and extreme weather, this UN agency distributes massive quantities of food aid―last year alone, reaching more than 100 million people facing acute hunger―thereby saving millions of lives.
Dr. Bob and Dan-o Dougan spin stormy weather tunes and Dan sings one original song - Eye of the Storm.
Listen live at 11pm Fridays, August 21 and 28, and Mondays, August 24 and 31 at 10am streaming at wgrn.org or on the radio at 91.9FM
and
Mondays at 2pm streaming August 24 and 3 at wcrsfm.org or on the radio at 92.7 or 98.3FM.
We start GREEP #277 with ALISON GREENE and her work on “ghost voting” and the theft of upcoming elections.
From MIKE HERSH we get a deeper dive on the need to have reliable voter rolls.
Producer MYLA RESON asks about the need for a “ground game” to bring out reliable voters.
From RAY LUTZ we hear warnings on the use of AI to penetrate electoral security systems.
From “This Will Hold” “T” we hear of a major zoom gathering on election protection upcoming on Sunday (Aug. 23, 2026), with thousands of votes appearing & disappearing apparently at will.
Radio host LYNN FEINERMAN attacks the “consultant class” that is corrupting the attempt to win Medicare for All and to defeat “Hook & Squeeze” scams that impoverish the grassroots.
Legendary organizer DOROTHY REIK reminds us of the dire danger of the fascism we face.
Engineer STEVE CARUSO reminds us of Andrea Miller’s great “See Something, Say Something” website.
Colombia's decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights marks a dangerous turning point.
By becoming only the second country in the world - after the United States - to endorse Israel's illegal annexation of Syrian territory, Bogotá has signaled a complete reversal of Gustavo Petro's foreign policy under new far-right President Abelardo de la Espriella.
I am in awe
of the deadeye imperturbability
of the armed righteous,
who look upon the world’s suffering
and see targets. . . .
This is a fragment of a poem (“Vigil”) I wrote 25 years ago, in response to the “vigil” some gun-rights advocates held in front of a school in Columbine, Colorado, while Bill and Hillary Clinton were in the gym meeting with students, in the wake of the terrible shooting at the local high school. The men held up bright yellow signs reading “Gun Control Kills Kids” and “We Will Never Give Up Our Guns.”
Yeah, my response was bitter. The vigil was really about . . . what? Even if the participants were truly concerned about their safety – and furious that bureaucratic theft of their sacred right to live with a sense of power was looming – I couldn’t tolerate their collective refusal to acknowledge what had just happened. Oh, every classroom in the country just needs a few armed good guys in them, ready to start firing when a lunatic announces his intent to lessen the student population? Can’t we open our souls and truly try to figure out how to create a sane future? I’ve been asking this question for decades.
