GUESTS
Rick Sanchez - Internationally-recognized, Award-winning Broadcast Journalist, reporter, news presenter, and host of the nightly news show News With Rick Sanchez on RT America | Journalism, Cuba, and the Election
Shirley Schwab- Child and Family Advocate for Native American Children | The Mette Rape Scandal
Igor Lopatonok - Film Producer, director, author of Ukraine on Fire movie | Color Revolutions and US Protests
Tyler Nixon - Archivist, Activist, Technologist, Legal Counsel to Roger Stone | Michael Caputo and Roger Stone
In the first segment, Lee talked with The Backstory’s very first guest, Rick Sanchez, about his backstory in journalism and being a reporter, which he says is like video editing, made up of words combined with natural sounds and pictures. He also discussed Cuba, since he is a Cuban-American. Rick says a small group of people from Cuba who live now in South Florida are anti-Cuban government, and the media outlets placate them. Rick said he is not a fan of Castro, but he believes we should have a better relationship with Cuba. Rick and Lee also discussed the upcoming election, and Rick pointed out that Biden’s numbers are up.
In the second segment, Lee spoke with Shirley Schwab, a former guardian ad litem for Native American children in South Dakota. She described a white couple named Mette who adopted and fostered many Native American children. A referral came in 2001 that revealed the Mettes’ physical and possible sexual abuse of the children, and a former resident of the home stated that there was pornographic material all over the place, but they were only told to sign a contract - basically a slap on the wrist. Years later, an aged-out foster child made several serious abuse reports, and there was an investigation by the police and Social Services. The story got national news from NPR, and the state of South Dakota faced a multi-million dollar lawsuit. When the children were removed in 2010, Shirley was working on discovery on the case with lawyer Brandon Tolliver and found negligence on the part of the state, with a strong possibility of a tort claim by the children. The state’s attorney was trying to take over Brandon’s part and bury the case, and Brandon was fired in 2011. The state of South Dakota indicted Shirley and Brandon with six felonies like witness tampering, etc., and they were each facing forty years in prison, but the charges were bogus and Shirley and Brandon were acquitted by the judge in two days. Brandon lost his law license, which he got back but lost a lot of money, and Shirley lost her social work license and a lot of money, too. Shirley is trying to get the governor, Kristi Noem, to figure out the truth of the story and finally get justice.
In the third segment, Lee discussed the film Ukraine on Fire with its director Igor Lopatonok. Igor talked about color revolutions and how what happened in Ukraine could happen here. He said he’s seeing the same techniques that were used in the color revolution playbook in other countries, including Belarus and even in the United States, where we see rioting on the streets in cities like Portland. Lee and Igor discussed the situation in Belarus, and how forces can take cracks in the system that are already there and use them to their advantage. Igor said he believes the same puppet masters that orchestrated the coup in Ukraine are behind Black Lives Matter.
In the fourth segment, Lee talked about the latest in the Russiagate scandal and Michael Caputo with lawyer Tyler Nixon. Tyler said Michael was one of the most effective voices in pushing back against the Russian collusion narrative, has known Roger Stone for decades, and is aligned with Trump, and that’s why the mainstream media hates him. Tyler said Caputo was put on the witness list, even though he had no material for Stone’s case and was barred from communicating with Roger, which was really frustrating for Michael.
On today’s Origin Story feature, host Lee Stranahan spoke about his own backstory. He grew up in Western Massachusetts with his golf pro father, his artist mother, and his brother who works as a visual effects artist now. Lee dropped out of high school and started college at 15. He had a strong interest in video and computers, and these merged in the early nineties. He did things like consulting with the people working on Jurassic Park, and he also went around the country teaching 3-D animation and graphics. Lee had always been interested in politics, and while he was working at Access Hollywood, the writer’s strike happened, so he started doing comedy YouTube videos making fun of Republicans and got some notice from media outlets such as Rolling Stone. This led to him writing for the Huffington Post, and then he met Andrew Breitbart, who had helped launch the Huffington Post. Andrew stated that the most successful journalistic venture he ever did was with Lee on the Pigford Farmers Settlement scandal.
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