Photo: San Diego Indigenous Caucus in solidarity with Whistleblower Summit. Serena Levis, Joe Naiman, Michael Maertens-Odegaard, Eric Ortega, Camille Appling, Rose Davis, Gerardo Cota, Jolene Shumilak.
There are nights when pain becomes more than pain. There are nights when truth resonates so strongly it denies you sleep. The 14th Annual Whistleblowers Summit and Film Festival has that effect. It has a cruel way of stripping away distraction, stripping away pretense, stripping life down to whatever truth remains when your body has declared mutiny and sleep has abandoned you entirely.
When you are ripped awake by the kind of relentless, electric, almost indescribable pain that makes even breathing feel negotiable, the mind goes where it goes.
The Whistleblowers Summit is as essential as air and water, as it boldly and bravely opens the window to air the problems that plague our society and need to be addressed.
Take, for instance, the lax guardianship laws that mask the spectacle of wanton greed that dwarfs filial love and responsibility.
Or, the evidence, clear and indisputable, and not in the Jeannine Pirro way, that the GOP is rigging the election by implanting ghost voters into the voter rolls. To counter their statement that the democrats have rigged the election, democrats foolishly, and to their own peril, respond by declaring Elections safe and secure. They are not. Data detective Alison Greene actually looks at the voter rolls and discovered thousands of voters like Jenesaisquoi or Thunderbolt, all with the last name None, or, the dozens of alphabet voters starting with A, B,C, D and so on all with the same last name None, or Y with the Last name Y. Why, why is this outrage not been exposed? Is it perhaps our jaundiced journalists fear the wrath of the GOP?
Or, the Food and Drug Administration (AKA Trump) signing against e-cigarettes, which author/filmmaker Jason Tremko calls the “Devil’s Lettuce. Tremko proves that, from the medical renaissance to the revolution, Marijuana has changed. The conversation hasn’t. From 3% THC in the 1970s to today’s addictive and purposely delicious, ultra-high-potency products, cannabis has evolved into a commercial powerhouse-reshaping culture, classrooms, and communities in real time. With kids starting to vape as early as 11 and 12 years old, we’ve reached the marijuana tipping point. And regarding purchasing, there’s no age limit, which means the government is sleepwalking, or more realistically, bribed into silence.
The prestigious Pillar Award was given to Gerald Colby in recognition for exposing the pernicious practice of privishing. (private publishing) where a publishing house reduces its print run and support of a book so much that the book fails to reach the public.
He is notable for authoring Du Pont: Behind The Nylon Curtain. The 1974 publication was put under contract by Prentice-Hall in anticipation of a significant quantity of books sold to Book of the Month. The book painted a portrait of DuPont enterprises and the DuPont family that was characterized as “sober but unflattering. In response to pressure from DuPont, Book-of-the-Month cancelled its preorder. In anticipation of lower sales, Prentice-Hall reduced its print run and scaled back its marketing plans. Colby (Zilg) sued Prentice-Hall for breach of contract. In the federal case Zilg v Prentice-Hall, Inc., the Federal District Court in New York awarded Colby damages of $24,000. In 1984 the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned the ruling. The US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal the same year.
Meet The Supermen And Woman Behind The Whistleblower Awards
Marcel Reid is the co-founder and co-host of the 14th Annual Whistleblower and Film Festival Summit for Civil and Human Rights that takes place on Capitol Hill, where the prestigious Pillar Award is awarded to First Amendment rights advocates.
With pull-no-punches speeches, Marcel Reid has had a major impact over the last decade in grassroots community organizing, the whistleblowing community, and a national media foundation. Her efforts have resulted in major policy changes.
Later, Marcel brings a packet of pedigrees to her role as co-founder of the Whistleblower Summit and Film Festival. In 20??, she was elected to serve as a director on the National Board of Pacifica Radio. In that position, she introduced a motion to have Pacifica support whistleblowers; making it the first national media organization to incorporate it into their platform. After the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA) passed in 2012, Pacifica’s steadfast support of whistleblowers was credited by many in the whistleblowing community as helping to reinvigorate the WPEA campaign after over a decade of unsuccessful attempts.
After serving on the board of Pacifica for three terms, Marcel became the first national media whistleblower liaison for the Pacifica Foundation, the only position of its kind in media to date. She continues her efforts to shed light on corruption worldwide by actively supporting the efforts of whistleblowers globally in fighting entrenched corruption and introducing them to the whistleblower community.
Later, Marcel was elected to serve as a director on the National Board of Pacifica Radio. In that position, she introduced a motion to have Pacifica support whistleblowers; making it the first national media organization to incorporate it into their platform. After the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA) passed in 2012, Pacifica’s steadfast support of whistleblowers was credited by many in the whistleblowing community as helping to reinvigorate the WPEA campaign after over a decade of unsuccessful attempts.
Executive Director, Justice Integrity Project Andrew Kreig is an author, attorney and investigative reporter. His latest book, “Presidential Puppetry: Obama, Romney and Their Masters” was published Feb. 1, 2013, by Eagle View Books. It grew out of his legal reform and political work, focusing on federal justice prosecutions and official corruption. Also, since 2013, he co-hosts a weekly public affairs radio show, “Washington Update,” featuring prominent newsmakers and broadcast nationally on the MTL network.Andrew Kreig uses his decades of investigative journalism talent to unmask the characters who have manipulated our democratic institutions. His formidable sources and sophisticated insights will enable elected officials, journalists, professors, and voters to evaluate the power the November elections.
Since 1979, Tom Devine has been the Government Accountability Project’s legal director, where he has assisted over 8,000 whistleblowers and not lost a case.
People might be asleep when it comes to standing up to democracy, but you can bet the Whistleblower community is always wide awake and working on practical solutions.
