Guest host, Christina Aanestad, discusses Prison University during the 1st hour and US Saudi relations in the second.
The 1st ever Prison University Conference took place at San Quentin on October 6, 2018. Three guests discuss the conference, education and mass incarceration. Amy Jamgochian is the Academic Program Director at the Prison University Project; Nelson Thedo “Noble” Butler is a former prison inmate—he was incarcerated for 30 years and earned a degree while at San Quentin through the Prison University Project; Gabby Falzone was a presenter at Prison University Project’s 1st conference. She’s a Doctoral Candidate in Social & Cultural Studies at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Education. Her focus is on mass incarceration, bio criminality and the trauma to prison pipeline. www.prisonuniversityproject.org.
The recent disappearance of Saudi journalist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi has turned a spotlight on U.S. Saudi relations. Saudi Arabia has spent nearly $30 million dollars in the last year on lobbying firms to influence U.S. foreign policy and sway public perception of the despotic government and it’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. It also brokered 8 business deals with Donald Trump since announcing his bid for U.S. presidency, according to guest, Dr. Ben Freeman, the Director and founder of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the Center for International Policy. He works to expose how foreign governments are influencing U.S. public policy and elections. This work builds upon his book, “The Foreign Policy Auction,” which was the first book to systematically analyze the foreign influence industry in the U.S. He’s written extensively about the Trump Administration and it’s ties to Saudi Arabia.