The White House – Nominations & Appointments

The White House – Nominations & Appointments

Latinos Are Being Fed to This Beast

Watch the Video

Over the past year we have exposed how greedy and abusive private detention corporations lock up immigrants for profit. Thanks to our work together and our partners we were able to fight back and shut down a facility in Southwest Ranches, Florida. Now we want to make you aware of an equally pressing nationwide problem.We want to introduce you to the latest Brave New Foundation campaign, Beyond Bars. Its purpose is to change Americans’ thinking and inspire action through short videos and shareable graphics that expose the U.S. system of mass incarceration.Think about this. The United States is spending over $200 billion a year on a justice system that locks up more people than any country on earth. We have more prisoners than China. More than Russia. More than anyone. This system is a beast — gobbling up resources that should be going to communities. WATCH THE VIDEO.

Beyond Bars will investigate corporations that profit off incarceration and politicians that use “tough on crime” rhetoric to scare voters. But we won’t just expose the negative; we’ll also show better ways to achieve public safety: things like prevention, rehabilitation, and job opportunity. This is particularly important to the Latino community as we see the rates of incarceration go up every year.

Will you join this campaign to curb mass incarceration? We want your thoughts, suggestions, and engagement as we begin this multi-year initiative. You can start now by sharing this new video to take a stand for a more just world.

Together we can make an impact,

Axel Caballero and the Cuéntame team

BraVeNew Foundation …. who are they?

Robert Greenwald Robert Greenwald is the president of Brave New Foundation as well as being a producer, director and political activist. Greenwald is the director/producer of several documentaries: “Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers” (2006), “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price” (2005), and “Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism” (2004). He also executive produced a trilogy of political documentaries: “Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election” (2002); “Uncovered: The Iraq War” (2003), which Greenwald also directed; and “Unconstitutional” (2004). More Robert on Facebook Robert on Twitter

Jim Miller Jim Miller is the Executive Director for Brave New Foundation. He joined the company when the Foundation was initially formed by putting together the coalition of over 100 groups (including Amnesty International, MoveOn, True Majority, and Voters For Peace) to push our unique system of distribution and house screenings for Iraq For Sale. Since then Jim has strengthened our distribution coalition so that our short videos now get over 1.5 million views per month. His film experience began over 20 years ago working on the film Bull Durham and includes being the Director of Development for The Shooting Gallery, an independent film company which produced ‘Sling Blade‘ and ‘You Can Count on Me‘, and Head of Acquisitions for Cinema Park Distribution. Immediately prior the BNF, Jim produced the star-studded ‘Les Girls’ charity benefits for the National Breast Cancer Coalition.

Devin Smith Devin Smith is the Vice President of Operations and Development at Brave New Foundation. Previously, he was a producer at Robert Greenwald Productions where he co-produced the critically acclaimed documentaries Iraq For Sale: The War Profiteers, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism and Uncovered: The War on Iraq. At Brave New Foundation, Devin has produced Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price and he was also the supervising producer on two documentary television series – The ACLU Freedom Files and The Sierra Club Chronicles. Currently, he oversees the operations and business affairs of the company. Prior to producing film and television projects in Los Angeles, Devin founded and operated a graphics company (Ideas to Images) in North Carolina. He also worked for several years for indie film company DownHome Entertainment. Devin received his BS degree in business from Wake Forest University’s Wayne Calloway School of Business and Accountancy. He is also a graduate of the American Film Institute (AFI) where he earned his Master of Fine Arts degree in Motion Picture Producing.

Axel Caballero Axel Caballero was born in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. He co-founded and produces Cuéntame, and MyCuéntame.org.Before, Axel was the Media and Community Relations Director for Peace Education Fund and Peace Action West. For over 10 years, Axel has been active on diverse campaigns issues from nuclear disarmament, environmental protection, immigration to human rights and Latin American affairs.He has been part in several electoral teams both in the United States as in Mexico. He was part of the Global Security Institute, a non-profit for nuclear disarmament as well as Aim for Human Rights in the Netherlands focused mainly on human rights in Latin America.He is a graduate in Political Science and International Relations as well as Law and Society and visual arts studies form the University of California in San Diego(UCSD) and received his masters in International Law and Protection of Human Rights from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, where he also participated in numerous forums on multiple international treaties. Axel on Facebook Axel on Twitter

Derrick Crowe Derrick Crowe is a Political Director at Brave New Foundation. Prior to joining BNF, he worked for 5 years on Capitol Hill for various Members of Congress. His writing has been featured on The Huffington Post, The Seminal at Firedoglake, MichaelMoore.com and AlterNet.In Washington, D.C., Crowe served as communications director for U.S. Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.). Prior to working in Smith’s office, he worked in communications for former U.S. Rep. Charlie Stenholm (D-Texas), then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and the national office of the Children’s Defense Fund.Crowe left D.C. once it became clear that Democrats under the Obama Administration would fail to challenge the militarization of the national economy and of U.S. foreign policy, and would instead greatly escalate the Afghanistan War. An active member of the peace movement, Crowe is a trained “Creating a Culture of Peace” nonviolence facilitator. He organized vigils and participated in civil disobedience actions to call for the end of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He blogs on current events from a Christian nonviolence perspective at http://returngood.com.Derrick and his wife, Laurie, live in Austin, Texas, with their two cats, Honey and Fuzz.

Kim Parker

Occupying A Private Prison … “Axel Caballero from Cuéntame”

Occupying A Private Prison: Shut Down Stewart Detention Center Watch The Video | Join The Virtual Vigil Correction Corporation of America’s Stewart facility in Lumpkin, Georgia is the largest private detention center in the nation. Stewart currently profits close to $50 million a year. As if that weren’t enough, CCA often cuts costs by denying basic services to detained immigrants and by limiting access to their family members. CCA charges inmates close to $5 a minute to make a phone call. To pay for this, inmates work in the facility and earn a whopping $1 a day. Five days of hard work gives them just enough time for a one minute phone call. Watch the video and take action to shut down Stewart Detention Center.CCA’s greed knows no boundaries. In the past few years they have spent $14.8 million lobbying for anti-immigration laws, like HB87 in Georgia, to ensure they have continuous access to fresh inmates and keep their money racket going. It’s time to put an end to it. This is why on November 18th, Brave New Foundation‘s Cuéntame is partnering with a coalition of immigrant and civil rights organizations, in a powerful vigil and occupation outside the Stewart facility in Georgia. The demand: Shut down Stewart Detention Center now. You can join-in too online! Add your demand message and we will read and deliver it at the action event! Your voice is the most important tool we need to fight back against the private prison greed and abuse. Yours, Axel Caballero and the Cuéntame team. I invite you to join Cuéntame on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. IN CASE YOU MISSED OUR OTHER IMMIGRANTS FOR SALE VIDEOS:           A Family Split ApartPedro Guzmanspent 19 months at CCA’s Stewart private detention because he missed an immigration order.Authorities showed no mercy after Guzman explained the court order was sent to an old address.CCA profited approximately $72,000 from Pedro’s detention.Guzman’s wife Emily and only son Logan endured a painful and debilitating struggle to survive while they fought for Pedro’s release.   Death For ProfitRoberto Martinez-Medina died in CCA’s Stewart Detention Center in Georgia in 2009.Medina had been arrested a month earlier for not having a driver’s license.CCA profited off of Medina’s incarceration, and ensured a greater profit by denying him critical health care.CCA has gone to great lengths to hush Medina’s death.   Immigrants For Sale Animated TrailerTop 3 things YOU need to know about the private prison money scheme:1) The victims: Private prisons don’t care about who they lock up. At $200 per immigrant a night, this is the “perfect” money scheme.2) The players: CCA, Geo Group and MTC— combined currently profit more than $5 billion a year.3)The money: These corporations spend $20 million a year lobbying legislators to get anti-immigrant laws approved and thus more inmates. Watch the video Share     Watch the video Share     Watch the video

Why do these Koch Industries neighbors have cancer?

Cancer Risks for Koch Profits Watch the Video and Fight Back Our Koch Brothers Exposed video investigation has discovered something so tragic it will haunt Charles and David Koch for years to come. Is a Koch Industries factory getting away with murder? While the brothers wage war against safety precautions, every day their factory is dumping millions of gallons of wastewater into streams that flow near a small rural town in Arkansas. “The Koch brothers are killing me and my family,” Norma Thompson, a Crossett, Arkansas resident told us during our investigation. She’s lived near the Koch brothers’ mill for 39 years. Journey to Arkansas, watch her story and take action to help her stop the Kochs. In many ways, the Koch brothers personify what’s driving people young and old to fight money in politics, occupy Wall Street and protest in the streets. People are rising up and have identified the overwhelming corporate influence on democracy as a corrosive stain that harms the rest of us. Our latest video reflects this as we follow the money and prove the Koch brothers buy a system that makes them richer at the expense of everyone else. Through political donations, think tanks and front groups, the Koch brothers are able to weaken safety and oversight laws, which leaves communities like Crossett, Arkansas behind to suffer. We can stop the Koch brothers from poisoning towns and cities. Local community leaders in Arkansas have volunteered to hand deliver messages directly to Charles and David Koch. Will you post a comment Arkansas residents can use to stop the Koch brothers? Yours, Robert Greenwald and the Brave New Foundation team P.S. I invite you to join me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter.

War profiteers escalate their war on jobs. Fight back! …Robert Greenwald

Watch the video  |  Call the deficit committee co-chairs The deficit committee will meet on Tuesday morning, and military contractors are marching on the Hill to influence, intimidate, or buy its members. We must make it as politically difficult as we can to side with the war profiteers.This will be a tough, long-term fight. War profiteers know that the committee gives us a real chance to cut job-killing war spending. That’s why their “Second To None” campaign is sending advocates to the Hill tomorrow. We’re launching War Costs’ fight-back in D.C. with a full-page ad in Politico targeting committee members, along with a new video to let people know what’s really going on.Help maximize our impact: Share our new video with your friends, and Call the committee co-chairs first thing on Tuesday morning (Eastern time). Tell them firmly (but politely) that war spending costs us jobs, and we expect them to cut the war budget despite Second To None’s pressure campaign.Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.): (202) 224-2621 U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas): (202) 225-3484 As co-chairs, Murray and Hensarling have huge influence on the committee. They have also taken almost half a million dollars from the war industry. Murray is the number two recipient of war industry dollars on the entire committee. The challenge is obvious. The co-chairs must understand that: •    Protecting the war budget costs us jobs; and •    We will hold them accountable. Our ad and your actions today are the opening skirmish in a longer, uphill fight to cut job-killing war budgets. Join the fight: share our video with your friends and call the co-chairs today! Sincerely, Derrick Crowe, Robert Greenwald, and the Brave New Foundation team P.S. If you haven’t already, please join the War Costs campaign on Facebook.

Aug 2011: GOP Presidenti​al Field – Yet Another Summer Disaster

What we Accomplished in Wisconsin

Progressives gained two seats in the Wisconsin Senate when Wisconsin voters voted to hold right-wing state senators accountable for their attacks on working families.We changed the game and seized momentum heading into the next battles, and many legislators across the country — especially those in competitive districts — got a message that there are consequences to their overreaching.The successful recalls of Republican Sens. Dan Kapanke and Randy Hopper were in districts where PFAW was very active and PFAW enthusiastically endorsed both Senators-Elect Jessica King and Jennifer Schilling — two strong progressive women who will be strong advocates for working families in the Wisconsin Senate. Read More > And please take a moment to read a special message from Wisconsin Senator-Elect Jessica King to PFAW supporters acknowledging all your hard work and support >

Rick Perry: Uniting the Really Far Right and the Really, Really Far Right Texas Gov. Rick Perry formally launched his presidential campaign this month and quickly shot to the top of national polls, where he continues to dominate. Maintaining his healthy lead by appealing to Tea Party, he recently came very close to accusing Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke of treason and has raised new concerns over his previous assertions that Social Security and Medicare were unconstitutional by calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme and a “monstrous lie.” People For the American Way continued its coverage of the 2012 presidential primaries with a piece by PFAW president Michael Keegan exposing Perry’s cozy ties with the various factions which comprise the Far Right. Read More > ‘What You Talkin’ Bout, Willard?’ If you watched TV in the 1980s, you surely remember the show Diff’rent Strokes– which featured the iconic tagline “What you talkin’ bout, Willis?” It was produced by PFAW cofounder Norman Lear’s production company. When Norman heard some of the recent things coming from presidential candidate Mitt Romney — whose first name is actually Willard — it rang a bell.In a piece in Variety, Norman asks Willard Mitt Romney, “What you talkin’ bout, Willard?” Read More > Koch Brothers Sink to a New Low to Undermine Public Education A new video from our friends at Brave New Foundation — a part of their “Koch Brothers Exposed” series — details the disturbing rise of racial resegregation in one award-winning North Carolina school district. The story goes like this: the Koch-created and funded Americans for Prosperity supported a slate of right-wing school board candidates who ran on a platform that echoed those of 1960′s southern segregationists like George Wallace almost verbatim … they won, and now they are using their power to hurt the public school system by not only erasing the district’s commendable achievements of diversity, but hurting the quality of public education received by all the district’s students.People For the American Way and PFAW’s African American Ministers in Action (AAMIA) program are both incredibly proud to cosponsor the release of this video, and we’re hopeful that we can help shine a light on this latest right-wing attack on public education, racial equality and civil rights. Watch the video and help spread the word > Perry, Prayer, Politics and the Presidency Casual viewers of “The Response,” including some political reporters who don’t pay a lot of attention to the Religious Right, may have watched Texas Governor Rick Perry’s prayer rally earlier this month and wondered what all the fuss was about.  Most of the time was taken up with prayer and praise music.  Few of the speakers seemed overtly political.  Nobody used the occasion to endorse Perry’s pending presidential bid.But context is everything, and the context for this event was remarkable: a governor launching a presidential bid by teaming up with some of the nation’s most divisive extremists to hold a Christians-only prayer rally that suggested Americans are helpless to solve the country’s problems without divine intervention. Some media coverage is missing the boat: the issue wasn’t whether it was ok for a politician to pray, or the size of the audience, but the purposes of the event’s planners and their disturbing vision for America. Read More > Pay-Per-View Congress? Showing a profound disregard for representative democracy and the First Amendment, several Republican members of Congress decided not to hold open-to-the-public town hall meetings for their constituents this August recess and instead, held meetings that required an admission fee — or as Politico put it, “strictly pay-per-view.” Read More & Speak Out > FEATURED VIDEO Mitt Romney: People Person? Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney turned a few heads this month when he told an audience at the Iowa State Fair that “corporations are people.”PFAW responded immediately by producing and running a TV ad in New Hampshire, where the Romney campaign’s focus has been. Watch > And if you have not done so already, please add your name to our petition to Gov. Romney telling him that he’s wrong, corporations are NOT people > News & Blogs Anonymous Attacks Against LA Progressives This summer, an organization called Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) finds itself the target of dozens of baseless public records requests instigated by an anonymous right wing entity apparently seeking to intimidate and harass the organization.LAANE has long fought for policies to raise wages, protect the environment, and enhance community input on new box stores. In other words, they have gotten in the way when giant corporations have put profit maximization over the rights of workers, consumers, and communities. Perhaps that is why they now find themselves the subject of an extensive fishing expedition for public records that can be taken out of context and demagogued ad nauseam. Read More > Darrell Issa’s Two Hats Rep. Darrell Issa’s ties to big business run deep, and as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, Issa has functioned quite efficiently as an arm of a Wall Street lobbying shop. He has demanded that government regulators back off from applying new rules to Goldman Sachs, and he has fought tooth-and-nail to deny the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and its yet-unconfirmed director Rich Cordray, any significant means to protect the public from fraud and abuse by the financial industry. Read More > Michael Keegan in Politico’s The Arena: Should disaster aid be conditional? Republicans in Congress never even suggested “pay as you go” for two wars and massive tax cuts for the rich under George W. Bush, but they are now willing to withhold urgent aid from American communities in crisis in order to prove some point about their new found budget orthodoxy. Republican budget brinkmanship over the debt ceiling cost the country its top credit rating; let’s hope brinkmanship over emergency spending funds don’t cost Americans in storm-damaged states their homes and livelihoods. Read More > Taking it Back to 1987, Mitt Romney Teams Up with Judge Bork Mitt Romney yesterday announced the members of his campaign’s legal advisory team, which will be led by none other than Robert Bork.This is interesting because Judge Bork’s views of the law and Constitution were so extreme that his 1987 Supreme Court nomination was rejected by the Senate. People For the American Way aired a TV spot about Bork at the time… Read More & Watch > Anti-Gay Groups Rally To Defend Anti-Gay ‘Charity’ Group A campaign spearheaded by LGBT rights and women’s rights groups Change.org and AllOut.org, encouraging companies to drop their ties to the Charity Give Back Group (formerly the Christian Values Network), unsurprisingly has the Religious Right up in arms. The CGBG “operates a sort of online mall, donating a portion of each purchase to religious nonprofits,” Michelle Goldberg explains. “Among them are conservative organizations like Focus on the Family, The Family Research Council, Promise Keepers, and a number of anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers.” Read More > ACLU DNA, Lead Paint, and the Judges who Made it Through GOP Obstruction As we like to remind people often, the current GOP senate has been shameless in its enthusiasm for obstructing judicial nominees just for the sake of obstruction. For instance, a PFAW memo on August 2 reported that of 24 nominees then waiting for confirmation votes, 21 had been voted through the Senate Judiciary Committee with no recorded opposition. Instead of sending through at least the unopposed nominees in a voice vote and moving on with its business, the Senate decided to keep these potential jurists off the bench for as long as possible  despite the pressing problem of unfilled judicial seats leading to slowed down justice. Ultimately, 4 of those nominees were confirmed by the Senate before it left for its August recess, and 20 remain waiting. (The Washington Postthis morning lamented that such “gamesmanship is not only frustrating but also destructive”) Read More >

Light up L.A.’s skies … Robert Greenwald

Light up L.A.’s skies with a reminder of war’s consequences

 
Donate today to help launch “The Remember Project”

Rethink Afghanistan is partnering with L.A.-based street artist Leba to create a deeply moving memorial to those who’ve been killed in Afghanistan, but we need your help.

Can you contribute $10 to help us launch 1,500 floating lanterns from the rooftops of L.A. to educate and remind people about the consequences of this war?   www.bravenewfilms.org

 The Afghanistan War has been a 10-year disaster, with more than 1,500 U.S. troops killed and countless civilians dead. With most of the mainstream media working to sell militarism to our neighbors, it’s our responsibility to put the true human cost of this fiasco in the public mind.
 
Leba is a street artist known for including social commentary in his art, and he’s busy creating “The Remember Project,” which will launch on September 8, 2011 at the Downtown L.A. Artwalk. The project will feature the names of the first 1,500 U.S. troops killed in the war etched onto floating lanterns to create a striking visual in the skies over Los Angeles, reminding people of the human tragedy of the Afghanistan War. This project, however, can’t launch without funding to finish crafting the lanterns. That’s why we’re coming to you.
 
Please donate $10 and help us get Leba the funding he needs to launch “The Remember Project.” Your financial support will help keep the consequences of war front-and-center in people’s minds.     www.bravenewfilms.org 
 
Sincerely,
 
Derrick Crowe, Robert Greenwald,
and the Brave New Foundation team

Why do the Kochs want to end public education? Robert Greenwald

 

Don’t Let the Koch Brothers

Resegregate These Children

Watch the Video

 Our latest video connects the dots and reveals how the Koch brothers fight against public education in every possible way.

Their efforts began in North Carolina where they funded an effort to resegregate schools in an award winning school district. Using the same language as Gov. George Wallace in the 60s, Koch-supported school board members attempted to make “segregation always” a policy for tens of thousands of families.

While David and Charles Koch drink down the high life, they are causing tens of thousands of families in North Carolina to lose their opportunity at enjoying educational equality and a free and fair shot at success. It’s part and parcel of the Kochs’ ideology to dismantle public service generally.

Watch the video, then take action.

Call David Koch at his Manhattan office at 212-319-1100 and tell him to “stop funding school resegregation now.”

We can’t let the Koch brothers ruin an equal opportunity for all. We’ve partnered with the Advancement Project, People for the American Way, Center for Social Inclusion and African American Ministers in Action to take action and spread this important investigation around.

Yours,
Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New Foundation team

P.S. I invite you to join our Koch Brothers Exposed page on Facebook and follow me on Twitter.

Koch Brothers Must Be Investigated

Koch Brothers Must Be Investigated -Watch the video below -click on link below

http://bnf.actionkit.com/go/535?akid=1489.1058794.-m6VVS&t=1



Outfoxed…

Walmart…

Iraq for Sale…

Rethink Afghanistan…

and now KOCH BROTHERS EXPOSED

Your participation has helped our videos to be seen over 56 million times! We need your help again to complete our first stage of editing, research, interviews, and production. We’ve had 4 months of hard work and we MUST get the Koch series finished and out to the world to educate the public.

Help us by becoming a Producer and get a t-shirt featuring an exclusive Shepard Fairey design of the ‘Koch-topus’. >>  http://bnf.actionkit.com/go/535?akid=1489.1058794.-m6VVS&t=4

Using our unique distribution ability we will create a multimedia/multi-platform campaign with videos, ground actions, online actions, flash mobs and crowd sourcing!

http://bnf.actionkit.com/go/535?akid=1489.1058794.-m6VVS&t=5

It is 40 billion dollars of Koch money versus us! Please donate to become a Producer on this project with us.

http://bnf.actionkit.com/go/535?akid=1489.1058794.-m6VVS&t=6

Thanks for your support,

Robert Greenwald

and the Brave New Foundation team