Jen Briney | Legislation 2017: Corporatization, Backdoor Deals, Data, & DNA

While we can all recognize that the scales have continued tipping in favor of powerful politicians, criminal corporations and the aristocratic elites, many of us avoid getting into the gritty details of these closed door deals, because frankly, it can be a confusing maze of information. From congressional hearings to corporate lobbying, keeping tabs on what the Washington machine is up to is more than a full-time job.

Fortunately, today’s returning guest, Jen Briney, has dug deep into the inner workings on Congress. Pouring over every piece of major legislation written in the five years since beginning her podcast, “Congressional Dish”, Briney has undertaken a task not many are up to and today she joins The Higherside to fill us in on what the fuck our government is doing.

3:00 With the first year of his presidency in the books, Greg and Jen bypass the media circus surrounding Trump and take a look into what little this year has yielded legislatively. Jen breaks down the upcoming agenda for Congress and expresses some of her concerns with not only the poor timing, but the last minute push to pass 10,000 page bills into law before Congress can read and debate what’s in them. Jen also describes the rampant corporatism in government and what this influence means for the average working-class citizen.

12:00 Continuing with the conversation about corporate welfare, Greg and Jen discuss the slew of corporate friendly laws signed by Trump and covered on her episode “Trump’s First Laws”. As Jen explains, although Trump is signing these one-sided bills into law, the real blame lies at the feet of the people writing these bills, Republicans in Congress. And, least we not forget, Greg and Jen cover the biggest overhaul in government policy in 30 years: tax reform.

20:00 Greg and Jen dive into Net Neutrality, and discuss Briney’s Congressional Dish episode where she breaks down some of the nuances that have been lost among the bitter arguments and disinformation surrounding this topic. As Jen explains, the current laws involving internet governance were established under a completely different landscape, using different objectives, and “internet laws” as we need them, have yet to written.

32:00 Focusing on one of America’s biggest corporations, Greg and Jen discuss the history of AT&T, their long running pattern of consolidating companies and monopolizing industries, and their involvement in First Net and Net Neutrality. As Briney points out, with AT&T stepping up to provide a communication network for first responders across the US, we have again allowed corporate infiltration of our government.

42:00 With almost the entire American populous victimized in the Equifax breach, and little to no consequences for the flagrant lack of security, Greg and Jen turn their attention to the scandal that will haunt many of us in the years and decades to come.

– Puerto Rico coverage and disaster relief

– tracking the tug of war over healthcare this year and where we now stand

– the Democrats’ obsession with making a Russian scandal stick instead of running the country

– changes to Veteran treatment and programs

– Impeachment: is it all hot air, or are the wheels in motion?

– the government funding bill, scheduled for Dec 22^nd

– the weed issue, and the clauses keeping Jeff Sessions at bay, also subject to change in the latest government funding bill

A few valuable resources from the interview:

Jen Briney on The Higherside Chats “The Corporate Control of Congress, The Federal Budget, & Privatization Propaganda”: https://www.thehighersidechats.com/jen-briney-the-corporate-control-of-congress-the-federal-budget-privatization-propaganda/

Jen Briney on The Higherside Chats “Our Corrupt Congress, The WTO, & The Push For Global Corporate Takeover”: https://www.thehighersidechats.com/jen-briney-podcast-interview/