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ACLU Episode FOIA Freedom of Information Act Friday Night News Dump Income Inequality Minimum Wage NSA WSUM

TMI 12/27/2014 – Beware the Christmas Eve News Dump, and much more!

For those of us who do our best to remain alert to what’s really going on out there, one of the things we watch for every week is called the “Friday night news dump”, a common practice where corporations, agencies and other groups that have news to release that they want minimal coverage of use the time frame of late Friday to break the story. This assures that there will be far less coverage and chatter about whatever unfortunate news they were obligated to share. It’s one prime reason that I make sure TMI is on each Saturday at noon: to have a moment to sift through the Friday releases for information you need to know about.

There are a few times each year that are essentially Friday night news dumps on steroids. These are when you really need to keep a sharp eye out for information that they’d rather you don’t hear about. Christmas Eve is one of those times, and this year’s “Christmas Eve surprise” comes from our very own National Security Agency. The NSA was obligated to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request put in by the ACLU, but being the NSA, they didn’t want you to hear about it. We’ll cover what the release revealed, and compare that with what we’ve learned this year about what the NSA has been up to.

We’ll also discuss how raising the minimum wage, while important, is just one of many reforms needed in order to address the widening inequality gap between the top 1% and the rest of us; another reform, in fact, is one that President Obama *could* put into place at any time, with no input necessary from Congress whatsoever: it is an Executive action alone, and it would possibly boost the economy as much or more as raising the minimum wage to $10.10/hour would.

All that and more on TMI for Saturday December 27, 2014 – the last one of the year – airing live at noon Central on WSUM 91.7 FM in Madison, or simulcast via live stream on wsum.org. Tune in for your Cure for the Common Media!

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CIA Enhanced Interrogation Episode Glenn L. Carle WSUM

TMI 12/20/2014 – Interrogating the Interrogator, and much more !

With the CIA Torture Report’s release, there has been an onslaught of opinion about whether “enhanced interrogation” techniques need to be a part of our toolbox in confronting potential terrorist threats to America. Rather than taking the word of those who ordered it, or listening to those who, like me, have never had it be our jobs to obtain information that could save or lose lives, I decided we needed an expert who’s been there. Glenn L. Carle served twenty-three years in the Clandestine Services of the Central Intelligence Agency, and is the author of The Interrogator: An Education, a book that details his experience and views on the post 9/11 interrogation he conducted. He’ll be joining us to share his first-hand, fact-based insights on CIA interrogations of the past decade. If you want more solid information on the reality of interrogation, you can’t miss this.

All that and more on TMI for Saturday, December 20, 2014, airing live at noon Central on WSUM 91.7 FM in Madison and worldwide via live stream at wsum.org. It’s your Cure for the Common Media!

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Episode Fracking OPEC Steve Horn WSUM

TMI 12/06/2014 – How OPEC’s Floored the Gas Pedal and Denton’s Challenged Fracking with Steve Horn, and much more!

If you live in the USA, you might have noticed that gas prices have fallen steadily of late. Some worry that this will lead to increased usage and worsen the already tenuous situation we face with the climate crisis, but there may be an environmental upside to OPEC refusing to slow oil production, thus glutting the market and lowering the price we face at the pump. Steve Horn of DeSmogBlog joins us to discuss that as well as what’s happening in Denton, Texas, where, he reports, environmental groups have joined the city in defending itself against the big oil interests that are suing to overturn the ban on hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) that the citizens voted to put into place.

There’s that and much more on TMI with Aldous Tyler for Saturday, December 6th, 2014, airing live on WSUM 91.7 FM in Madison, and simulcast via live stream at http://wsum.org/ everywhere! Tune in for your Cure for the Common Media.

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Charter Schools Education Episode Housing Crisis Rick Snyder Scott Walker WSUM

TMI 11/22/2014 – Educate Yourself about the Education Agenda, the Foreclosure of Fraudulent Mortgages, and more!

Many of us who are upset about the changes made in state education programs by governors like Scott Walker and Rick Snyder are brought up short when challenged to name specifically what wrongs have been committed by their supporters. Listen in today, and be armed with specifics. Find out precisely what the overall budget cuts have resulted in. Be able to say precisely why charter schools have become a menace to public schooling. Match your passionate opposition to the factual results of these policies, and be better armed for Thanksgiving dinner-table debates.

Then, with proclamations that the recession caused by the housing bubble bursting is over, one might think that we are out of the woods when it comes to the ill effects of home foreclosures caused by fraudulent mortgage practices. If only that were true. We’ll look at Massachusetts, where 40,000 frauds continue to steal homes away, with no help to be had.

All that and more on TMI with Aldous Tyler for Saturday, November 22, 2014, airing live at noon Central on WSUM 91.7 FM in Madison and http://wsum.org/ anywhere – tune in for your Cure for the Common Media!

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Cenk Uygur Hiatus Hillary Clinton Mary Burke Pink Floyd Presidential Politics

TMI 11/08/2014 – On Hiatus, with Links

No episode today, but a couple of links to look at and ponder:

Were you aware that one of Mary Burke’s top advisors sent thousands of dollars to GOP candidates while working on the Burke campaign?

Did you know Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks is running an online “progressive presidential primary” to find an alternative to Hillary Clinton?

Finally, there’s been a lot of attention paid to Pink Floyd releasing a final new album this year, but have you heard this song from them which, to my mind, encapsulates our world and what it needs?

Enjoy, and TMI will be back next week!

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Bernie Sanders Democratic Party Episode Gubernatorial Politics Mary Jo Walters Patrick Walker Presidential Politics WSUM

TMI 10/25/2014 – Another Party Heard From with Mary Jo Walters on Wisconsin and Patrick Walker on Politics

Mary Jo Walters is running a campaign to represent the people of Wisconsin as Governor (after trying to run for Lt. Governor), but she’s not about to limit herself to the two big parties to do it! We’ll have her live in studio to discuss what it means to run outside the system. Then, Patrick Walker has been thinking about how Bernie Sanders may run for President in 2016, and he thinks that should be as a Democrat – but not so Bernie can be co-opted!

We’ll have all that and much more on TMI for 10/25/2014, broadcasting live at noon Central on WSUM 91.7 FM Madison or streaming live on http://wsum.org/ anywhere. Tune in for your Cure for the Common Media!

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Episode Media WSUM

TMI 10/18/2014 – The Cure for the Common Media

On TMI this week: Aldous will take on media laziness and malpractice while taking your comments and questions live at 608-265-9786 (265-WSUM) starting at noon Central on WSUM 91.7 FM in Madison and simulcast live via streaming at http://wsum.org/ – tune in and call in for your cure for the common media!

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Abortion Big Oil Bitumen Episode Karen Middleton KeystoneXL NARAL Personhood Pro-choice SCOTUS Steve Horn Tar Sands Women's Rights WSUM

TMI 10/11/2014 – No KXL Required with Steve Horn, Colorado’s Push for “Personhood” with Karen Middleton, and SCOTUS Interruptus!

Usually, I prefer a relaxed attitude about things: no jacket required, open mic nights, etc. In the case of big oil, however, I make an exception: they want to bring Alberta tar sands bitumen to market, no Keystone XL required… and it looks like they’ve managed it. Steve Horn joins us to discuss how this came to be while we were focused on KXL.

Then, have you heard of “Personhood”? It’s the concept that a fertilized egg has the same rights as a full human being. It comes up every few years, but this time it’s been reframed in an insidious new way that tricked former opponents into backing it. Karen Middleton, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado, joins us to help sort it out and pin down where in America is facing this new threat to women’s rights.

Finally, the Supreme Court is issuing rulings left and right, some good, some bad, and many confusing. We’ll go over some of what’s going on with the nation’s highest court. Catch all that and more on TMI for Saturday, October 11, 2014, airing live at noon Central on WSUM FM 91.7 and streaming live everywhere on http://wsum.org/ – get your dose of the Cure for the Common Media!

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Electoral Politics Episode Fracking Income Inequality WSUM

TMI 10/04/2014 – You Don’t Know the Power of Economic Inquality, When Democracy Meets Fracking, When Democracy Meets Hong Kong and more!

When asked if they feel that income inequality is an issue, overwhelmingly Americans say yes, but when asked just how unequal, they say 30 to 1… and they’re wrong, by a lot. We’ll get into that, plus we’ll talk about what happened in Colorado when local communities wanted to keep fracking out via the power of the ballot box. Who their foes turned out to be may surprise you. Finally, we’ll go over the way forward in Hong Kong after their attempt to have their voices heard democratically. All that and much more on TMI for Saturday, October, 4, 2014, live at noon Central on WSUM FM 91.7 in Madison, and streaming live anywhere in the net-connected cosmos at http://wsum.org/ – tune in for your Cure for the Common Media!

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Carl Gibson Ebola Episode Miles Kristan Peter Barca Scott Walker WSUM

TMI 9/20/2014 – The Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia, Peter Barca has Miles To Go with Carl Gibson, American Exceptionalism and Ebola, and more!

Lots of news from Wisconsin and abroad!

First: Wisconsin’s historic recall spawned backlash in a number of ways: perhaps the most insidious is the website http://putwisconsinfirst.com/, which took all of the names and addresses and political donation history of those who signed the recall petition and made all of that public and easily searchable, but MORE, matched them up with court data to list those who owe back taxes, are registered sex offenders, etc. But, as if that wasn’t bad enough, now there is a group calling themselves the “Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia” who intend to go to heavily-Democratic districts, find people who signed the recall petition, follow them home and call the authorities on them. They swear they won’t go after any Republican voters… so yeah, they’re the “good guys”. *sigh*

On the other hand, Representative Peter Barca (D – Kenosha) is often considered one of the “good guys” in Progressive circles; as Minority Leader in the State Assembly during Scott Walker’s administration, he’s been seen as someone who can be counted on to oppose the machinations of the GOP. Enter activist Miles Kristan, who knew of Barca’s reputation, and wondered why Barca was endorsing a Republican-turned-Dem who publicly supported Walker in 2010. Simply asking the question got Miles arrested. There’s even more to this story, and thanks to Carl Gibson’s reporting, we’ll discuss it.

Then: we commonly see America’s foreign policy as being well-intended, even if sometimes poorly executed. The response to the Ebola outbreak in Africa provides us an interesting and current example of why we need to hold that view of America’s intentions suspect, and we’ll go over all that and more on TMI for Saturday, September 20, 2014, airing live on WSUM FM 91.7 in Madison and streaming live anywhere on http://wsum.org/ – tune in for your Cure for the Common Media!