News Beat

In a follow up to our “Big Lie” episode, we report on the congressional hearings on fossil fuel disinformation that you likely didn’t see in the corporate media. Investigators publicly released internal Big Oil documents that further exposed how the industry utilizes propaganda and disinformation to further investments in oil and gas, while claiming publicly to be transitioning to alternative energy. News Beat is a multi-award-winning podcast brought to you by Morey Creative Studios and Manny Faces Media. Audio Editor/Sound Designer/Producer/Host: Manny FacesEditor-In-Chief/Producer: Chris TwarowskiManaging Editor/Producer: Rashed MianEpisode Art: Jeff MainExecutive Producer: Jed MoreySupport the show: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=EYkdQRkbZ6vNTGfNSGWZjx7_15orqqDl8vkmrAg3TkxLprft1OguFwxlheC3tAkNd-KVPG&country.x=US&locale.x=USSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What did the fossil fuel industry know about climate change and when did it know it? Turns out, these giant corporations were aware of the harmful effects of greenhouse gas emissions for DECADES and instead of combatting the crisis they’ve engaged in obfuscation and manipulative marketing campaigns to sow confusion and mistrust of science. At the same time, some of the most influential ad agencies on the planet—along with news organizations—have helped fossil fuel companies hone their image amid calls for increased action to reduce harmful emissions and fight the ever-worsening climate crisis! This is the story of how a greed-obsessed industry mastered the art of manipulation to f*** the world—with help from some well-connected friends. News Beat is a multi-award-winning podcast brought to you by Morey Creative Studios and Manny Faces Media. Audio Editor/Sound Designer/Producer/Host: Manny FacesEditor-In-Chief/Producer: Chris TwarowskiManaging Editor/Producer: Rashed MianEpisode Art: Jeff MainExecutive Prod

Bernadette Smith scours the depths of the Red River in Manitoba for her missing sister and other women and children murdered and dumped in its murky waters. Duana Johnson comforts families of those who’ve vanished from reservations throughout the U.S. Northwest. Mary Kathryn Nagle battles for justice on behalf of the mothers, daughters, sisters, aunties, and nieces stolen, tortured, raped, and killed. These Native women represent the countless voices extinguished by the ongoing genocide confronted by the MMIWG2S movement. Who’s committing these atrocities, and why isn’t more being done to stop them?!? This special episode of the News Beat podcast delves into the mystery, horrors, and heartbreak defining the crisis, searching for answers to these and many other haunting questions centuries in the making. Adding to the visceral journalistic storytelling, South Carolina-by-way-of-New York Hip Hop sorceress LiKWUiD performs original verse to illuminate the epidemic, and mission to end it.  News Beat is a multi-a

Ukraine is at the center of a proxy war between decades-long rivals and two competing economic systems, and opportunistic weapons manufacturers are cashing in. We provide a much-needed historical perspective about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, elements of which have gone under-reported, if not ignored entirely, by the corporate media. Our guests for this episode include Jennifer Briney, host of the fantastic podcast ‘Congressional Dish,' and Sam Ratner, policy director of the nonprofit Win Without War. We put a ton of work into this podcast, which is completely independent, so please follow us on your favorite app so you never miss an episode. For show notes and more information about this episode, head over to newsbeat.substack.com and subscribe to our FREE newsletter to receive updates about new episodes and bonus content.  News Beat is a multi-award-winning podcast brought to you by Morey Creative Studios and Manny Faces Media. Audio Editor/Sound Designer/Producer/Host:Manny Faces Editor-In-Chief/Prod

A staggering percentage of those locked up in America’s mass incarceration crisis—upwards of 20%, or 200,000 folks (!!)—were homeless or in marginal housing leading up to their imprisonment. Forty percent were on welfare. Even more were jobless, especially among the Black community. And far too many were in public housing or foster care prior to even turning 18. This episode examines the devastating link between poverty and incarceration in the United States—what reform advocates dub America’s ‘Poverty to Prison Pipeline.’ News Beat is a multi-award-winning podcast brought to you by Morey Creative Studios and Manny Faces Media. Audio Editor/Sound Designer/Producer/Host:Manny Faces Editor-In-Chief/Producer: Chris Twarowski Managing Editor/Producer: Rashed Mian Episode Art: Jeff Main Executive Producer: Jed Morey Support the show: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=EYkdQRkbZ6vNTGfNSGWZjx7_15orqqDl8vkmrAg3TkxLprft1OguFwxlheC3tAkNd-KVPG&country.x=US&locale.x=US See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform

On May 14, an 18-year-old white supremacist armed with an assault rifle and wearing body armor livestreamed his massacre of 10 Black people at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York. Ten days later, another 18-year-old slaughtered 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. While investigators scramble for motivations behind the latter, those of the accused mass murderer in the Buffalo shooting are crystal clear: He wanted to kill as many African Americans as possible, and researched Upstate New York neighborhoods, and that particular Tops, to do so. This mini-episode examines how America’s systemic racism played a role.  News Beat is a multi-award-winning podcast brought to you by Morey Creative Studios and Manny Faces Media. Audio Editor/Sound Designer/Producer/Host:Manny Faces Editor-In-Chief/Producer: Chris Twarowski Managing Editor/Producer: Rashed Mian Episode Art: Jeff Main Executive Producer: Jed Morey Support the show: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=EYkdQRkbZ6vNTG

Devised in the wake of the September 11th Terror Attacks and subsequent 9/11 Commission casting much of the blame on the lack of interjurisdictional communication between law enforcement, fusion centers have continued to operate in the shadows and outside the realms of the public eye, and even elected officials, ever since. Yet instead of foreign and domestic terrorists, these multi-million-dollar surveillance hubs monitor and collect data about everyday people exercising their constitutional rights to protest, assemble, speak out—or even simply snap a photo in the proximity of something as ubiquitous as a bridge. There’s at least one fusion center in every state, 80 in all, with hundreds of ancillary support agencies forming a complex network of local and federal law enforcement agencies—and private corporations—stretching every community across America, with dubious results.  News Beat is a multi-award-winning podcast brought to you by Morey Creative Studios and Manny Faces Media. Audio Editor/Sound Desig

In 2017, shortly after the deadly "Unite The Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, we released an episode titled ‘Misunderstanding Terrorism: Exposing Radical Caucasian Extremism’ calling out what the vast majority of mainstream news outlets and then-President Trump wouldn’t, yet what study after study had been warning about for quite some time: It wasn’t foreign Muslims posing the biggest threat to America’s safety—but white, far-right extremists. Tragically, this ideology’s death toll continues to climb.   We re-released this episode in the wake of the January 6 insurrection on the Capitol to shine extra light on this brutal trend, and we’re sadly doing so again now, following the racially motivated mass murder of 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo, NY. News Beat is a multi-award-winning podcast brought to you by Morey Creative Studios and Manny Faces Media. Audio Editor/Sound Designer/Producer/Host:Manny Faces Editor-In-Chief/Producer: Chris Twarowski Managing Editor/Producer: Rashed Mian Episo

Long time listeners will certainly recognize LiKWUiD who, as one of News Beat's "Artist in Residence," has been featured on several important episodes delivering compelling, often heart wrenching lyrics that compliment our social justice reporting in a truly powerful way. Find out a little bit more about this prolific Hip-Hop artist, DJ, educator and mentor as we welcome LiKWUiD to the News Beat Cypher, in a special cross-feed drop with Hip-Hop Can Save America!. News Beat is a multi-award-winning podcast brought to you by Morey Creative Studios and Manny Faces Media. Audio Editor/Sound Designer/Producer/Host:Manny Faces Editor-In-Chief/Producer: Chris Twarowski Managing Editor/Producer: Rashed Mian Episode Art: Jeff Main Executive Producer: Jed Morey Support the show: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=EYkdQRkbZ6vNTGfNSGWZjx7_15orqqDl8vkmrAg3TkxLprft1OguFwxlheC3tAkNd-KVPG&country.x=US&locale.x=US See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. demanded justice and equality—two essential truths which still have not been achieved, more than 50 years since his murder on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. Year after year, without fail, politicians, pundits, and corporations bastardize his image and legacy to their own capitalistic agendas—capitalism and its many evils something MLK fought so relentlessly against. This year, along with our annual re-release of our inaugural episode ‘MLK: What They Won’t Teach in School,’ we’re dropping this brand new one highlighting his last month and final campaign, supporting the Memphis sanitation strike. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was sooo much more than what talking heads and (collective groan) car companies purport. Do not confine him to those infamous four syllables, ‘I have a dream.’ Hopefully, these two episodes will help you understand why. Photo credit for art: Ernest Withers, St Lawrence University Art Gallery News Beat is a Morey Creative Studio

Like we always do at this time of year, we present an important, alternative look at Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy, examining how the civil rights icon was so much more than simply the “I Have a Dream” soundbite, which has become known as the cornerstone of his public perception. Along with Pastor Roger C. Williams of the First Baptist Church of Glen Cove, NY, Larry Hamm, of the People's Organization for Progress, hip-hop artist Silent Knight, and King’s own words, listeners learn of MLK’s Poor People’s Campaign, which he believed would be his true legacy. More than likely, it was this that got him killed. News Beat is a Morey Creative Studios production, in association with Manny Faces Media. Sign up for our free newsletter at newsbeat.substack.com Producer/Audio Editor: Michael "Manny Faces" Conforti Editor-In-Chief: Chris Twarowski Managing Editor: Rashed Mian Episode Art: Jeff Main Executive Producer: Jed Morey Support the show: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=EYkdQRkbZ6vNTGfNSGWZjx7_15orqqDl8

When disaster strikes, who profits? That’s the question Australian-based reporter Antony Loewenstein has been investigating for years. “Disaster capitalism” was first coined by renowned journalist and author Naomi Klein in her 2007 best-selling book “Shock Doctrine.” Loewenstein digs deeper with on-the-ground reporting to show how companies around the world profit from misery.  News Beat is a multi-award-winning podcast brought to you by Morey Creative Studios and Manny Faces Media. Subscribe for free to our Substack newsletter. Audio Editor/Sound Designer/Producer/Host:Manny Faces Editor-In-Chief/Producer: Chris Twarowski Managing Editor/Producer: Rashed Mian Episode Art: Jeff Main Executive Producer: Jed Morey Support the show: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=EYkdQRkbZ6vNTGfNSGWZjx7_15orqqDl8vkmrAg3TkxLprft1OguFwxlheC3tAkNd-KVPG&country.x=US&locale.x=US See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

America's longest war has one clear winner: Corporations. Has the war in Afghanistan become the biggest scam of our lifetime? News Beat is a multi-award-winning podcast brought to you by Morey Creative Studios and Manny Faces Media. Subscribe for free to our Substack newsletter. Audio Editor/Sound Designer/Producer/Host:Manny Faces Editor-In-Chief/Producer: Chris Twarowski Managing Editor/Producer: Rashed Mian Episode Art: Jeff Main Executive Producer: Jed Morey Support the show: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=EYkdQRkbZ6vNTGfNSGWZjx7_15orqqDl8vkmrAg3TkxLprft1OguFwxlheC3tAkNd-KVPG&country.x=US&locale.x=US See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Surprise, surprise. Modern day citizen’s arrest laws across the United States have their roots in Civil War-era laws designed to punish slaves. In this episode, one of the foremost experts on citizen’s arrest laws traces the history of these archaic laws from the colonial period to today—exposing yet another disturbing aspect of America’s “justice” system. News Beat is a multi-award-winning podcast brought to you by Morey Creative Studios and Manny Faces Media. Audio Editor/Sound Designer/Producer/Host:Manny Faces Editor-In-Chief/Producer: Chris Twarowski Managing Editor/Producer: Rashed Mian Episode Art: Jeff Main Executive Producer: Jed Morey Support the show: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=EYkdQRkbZ6vNTGfNSGWZjx7_15orqqDl8vkmrAg3TkxLprft1OguFwxlheC3tAkNd-KVPG&country.x=US&locale.x=US See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Beware the false messiahs of meaningful criminal justice reform, the so-called bipartisan coalition championing initiatives that purport to make a difference yet do absolutely nothing to incite true change, and in fact, further tighten the historical and ongoing noose of neoliberalism and structural racism within the world’s largest prison state. Our guests go behind the smoke and mirrors, ripping off the masks of the fake prophets pushing artificial revolutions and exposing the inherent deceit enabling the sinister shackles of mass incarceration to continue enslaving communities of color ad infinitum. News Beat is a multi-award-winning podcast brought to you by Morey Creative Studios and Manny Faces Media. Audio Editor/Sound Designer/Producer/Host:Manny Faces Editor-In-Chief/Producer: Chris Twarowski Managing Editor/Producer: Rashed Mian Episode Art: Jeff Main Executive Producer: Jed Morey Support the show: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=EYkdQRkbZ6vNTGfNSGWZjx7_15orqqDl8vkmrAg3TkxLprft1OguFwxlheC3tA

Since last spring, politicians, right-wing pundits, the media, and so-called “centrist” Democrats have weaponized the rise in violent crimes, including murders, to demonize police reform efforts and blame progressives. Sure enough, they conveniently neglect to mention that crime is up across the country—in cities run by Democrats and Republicans. We examine the spike in violent crime, potential factors, and whether defund and police reform are really to blame. Hint: It ain’t as simple as that. News Beat is a multi-award-winning podcast brought to you by Morey Creative Studios and Manny Faces Media. Audio Editor/Sound Designer/Producer/Host:Manny Faces Editor-In-Chief/Producer: Chris Twarowski Managing Editor/Producer: Rashed Mian Episode Art: Jeff Main Executive Producer: Jed Morey Support the show: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=EYkdQRkbZ6vNTGfNSGWZjx7_15orqqDl8vkmrAg3TkxLprft1OguFwxlheC3tAkNd-KVPG&country.x=US&locale.x=US See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Long time listeners know Silent Knight, his voice and his profound work -- not only as News Beat's "Artist in Residence," but as a solo artist, frontperson for our good friends and co-award-winning collaborators, The Band Called FUSE, and as an Innocence Ambassador for the renowned organization, The Innocence Project. Find out a little bit more about this prolific Hip-Hop artist, polka enthusiast (??) and all around cool cat as we welcome Silent Knight to the News Beat Cypher. News Beat is a multi-award-winning podcast brought to you by Morey Creative Studios and Manny Faces Media. Audio Editor/Sound Designer/Producer/Host:Manny Faces Editor-In-Chief/Producer: Chris Twarowski Managing Editor/Producer: Rashed Mian Episode Art: Jeff Main Executive Producer: Jed Morey Support the show: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=EYkdQRkbZ6vNTGfNSGWZjx7_15orqqDl8vkmrAg3TkxLprft1OguFwxlheC3tAkNd-KVPG&country.x=US&locale.x=US See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Law enforcement is increasingly using facial recognition, AI and other technologies despite numerous studies and real world examples of such tech falsely identifying criminal suspects. Along with concerns over how this tech will disproportionately impact Black and Brown communities, experts are raising concerns over First Amendment implications and what it means to live in a society in which we’re constantly surveilled. News Beat is a multi-award-winning podcast brought to you by Morey Creative Studios and Manny Faces Media. Audio Editor/Sound Designer/Producer: Michael "Manny Faces" Conforti Editor-In-Chief/Producer: Chris Twarowski Managing Editor/Producer: Rashed Mian Episode Art: Jeff Main Executive Producer: Jed Morey Support the show: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=EYkdQRkbZ6vNTGfNSGWZjx7_15orqqDl8vkmrAg3TkxLprft1OguFwxlheC3tAkNd-KVPG&country.x=US&locale.x=US See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode was honored as Best Podcast at the 2021 New York Press Club Journalism Awards. We dedicate the win to the many voices -- both heard, and unheard -- represented in this episode. The 2020 rebellions sparked renewed discussions surrounding a host of racial issues, including police brutality toward black men. Advocates argue that black women are similarly exposed to excessive police violence yet routinely forgotten or ignored. Among their demands: Say Her Name. News Beat is an award-winning Morey Creative Studios podcast. Producer: Michael "Manny Faces" Conforti Editor-In-Chief: Chris Twarowski Managing Editor: Rashed Mian Episode Art: Jeff Main Executive Producer: Jed Morey Support the show: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=EYkdQRkbZ6vNTGfNSGWZjx7_15orqqDl8vkmrAg3TkxLprft1OguFwxlheC3tAkNd-KVPG&country.x=US&locale.x=US See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you pay attention to mainstream media, you’d notice that many outlets are recognizing June 17, 2021 as the 50th anniversary of the “war on drugs.” Actually, the racist and deadly drug war goes back much further than conventional wisdom suggests, and was originally waged by an authoritarian bureaucrat that most people likely have never heard of. We think it’s important to understand the REAL history, to understand how others, including Nixon and Reagan, built on its foundation over the many decades since the war on drugs truly began. Producer/Audio Editor: Michael "Manny Faces" Conforti Editor-In-Chief: Chris Twarowski Managing Editor: Rashed Mian Episode Art: Jeff Main Executive Producer: Jed Morey Support the show: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=EYkdQRkbZ6vNTGfNSGWZjx7_15orqqDl8vkmrAg3TkxLprft1OguFwxlheC3tAkNd-KVPG&country.x=US&locale.x=US See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.