Scheer Intelligence

Has the CIA taken over local policing? Activist Jamie Garcia discusses how technologies launched by the CIA, NSA and the Pentagon to spy on terrorists are radically altering crime-fighting  in Los Angeles and local communities in a “predictive policing” program that ends up targeting black and brown communities.

Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch and a 25-year veteran of congressional trade battles, discusses NAFTA 2.0, the Trump Administration’s newly negotiated trade agreement between Mexico, Canada and the United States that, improbable as it may seem, could actually give Mexican workers a living wage and end corporate control of trade courts.

Jason Stanley, Professor of Philosophy at Yale University, discusses his latest book, How Fascism Works, the Politics of Us and Them, and why the United States is especially vulnerable to certain elemental features of fascist policies. Our history with actual fake news, patriotism, racism, and the lack of a true liberal democracy has led us to the rise of Trump, Stanley asserts.

California’s only elected public defender Jeff Adachi, of the City and County of San Francisco, discusses why he opposes California’s new bail reform bill, his views on  preventive detention, immigration, and how the Japanese internment camps led him to a career as a public defender.

Film veteran Susan Lacy discusses her latest documentary, Jane Fonda in Five Acts. Lacy stresses that celebrated actress and political activist Fonda has been shaped by four “acts —the four men in her life—her father and actor Henry Fonda, and husbands, film director Roger Vadim, political activist Tom Hayden and media mogul Ted Turner. The last act is Fonda’s alone, on her lifelong journey to per...

Author Anand Giridharadas discusses the distorted libertarian ideology that they use to subvert the American experiment in democracy. They have done so by denying the legitimacy of government intervention into the economy on the side of fairness and justice, including decent working conditions, fair wages, regulation of the economy, and the right to form unions to represent them and fight for thei...

Helen Sklar, immigration attorney for more than 33 years, discusses the basis of the immigration family separation under Trump  and how former President Clinton laid the groundwork for this.

Alissa Quart discusses her latest book, Squeezed, on living in a middle-class that is being crumpled by meritocracy and converted into what Quart terms the “Precariat,” which Scheer describes as “people who think they’re in the middle class, and they have the education, very often they find themselves living paycheck to paycheck.”

Jacob Snow discusses Amazon’s Rekognition program, which is being promoted for use at the state and federal level to use facial recognition to fight crime.  

Journalist and filmmaker Zeiad Abbas, a Palestinian refugee, describes living conditions of Palestinians under the state of Israel, which he calls “ethnic cleansing,” and discusses a toxic water crisis in Gaza and more.

Hollywood historian, film critic and writer Carrie Rickey discusses the lack of women behind the cameras in Hollywood; it wasn’t always so.

A deep look at how the accumulation of money has become the greatest goal, even at the peril of the self.

Nick Goldberg, the editorial page editor of the Los Angeles Times, discusses print journalism, its financing, and the challenges it faces.

The Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist assesses his career reporting on some of most significant stories of the past 50 years.

The sports journalist discusses his new book on the conflicted progress of black athletes.

The documentary director and Montana journalist discuss their film about how so-called dark money entered politics in the big sky state.

The former Wall Street banker turned journalist and author returns to Scheer Intelligence to critique the actions of international central banks.

The Loyola Law professor discusses her new book about the history and evolution of the right of publicity.

The documentary filmmaker and a former prisoner discuss the film about a group therapy program in one of the most infamous prisons in the United States.

The attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation discusses the fight for privacy online.

The independent film director discusses her documentary about the early career of the late artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.

The Oscar nominated director discusses his documentary about the current pope.

The UCLA Law professor discusses his newest book about the rights of corporations.

The journalist and professor discusses his latest book about how fear has contributed to demagoguery.

The documentary filmmakers discuss their film “RBG” on the life and career of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.