The 92nd Great Mind Series Salon will take place in Westwood, Los Angeles on Friday, June 28, 2019 at 7 p.m. and will feature journalist and author John Carlos Frey who’ll be talking about his new book, Sand and Blood: America’s Stealth War on the Mexico Border. Lance Simmens will serve as moderator.
Tickets cost $25, and include drinks and hors d’oeuvres. Location supplied upon RSVP.
To reserve tickets email Ilene Proctor.
UPDATE: Because the second night of the Democratic Primary Debates has been scheduled for June 27, we have moved the date of our event from Thursday, June 27 to Friday, June 28. All ticket reservations for the previous date will be valid for this new one.
About John Carlos Frey
John Carlos Frey is an investigative reporter and documentary filmmaker based in Los Angeles. A five-time Emmy Award winner, he is a special correspondent for PBS NewsHour and a longtime Type Investigations journalist at the Type Media Center. His investigative work has been featured on 60 Minutes, PBS, and Dan Rather Reports, and in the Los Angeles Times, the Huffington Post, Salon, Need to Know online, the Washington Monthly, and El Diario. His documentary films include The Invisible Mexicans of Deer Canyon, The Invisible Chapel, The 800 Mile Wall, and The Real Death Valley. He is the 2012 recipient of the Scripps Howard Award, the Sigma Delta Chi award, the IRE Medal, and the Polk Award, among others, for his investigative work.
About Sand and Blood: America’s Stealth War on the Mexico Border
A damning portrait of the U.S.-Mexico border, where militaristic fantasies are unleashed, violent technologies are tested, and immigrants are targeted.
Over the past three decades, U.S. immigration and border security policies have turned the southern states into conflict zones, spawned a network of immigrant detention centers, and unleashed an army of ICE agents into cities across the country.
As award-winning journalist John Carlos Frey reveals in this groundbreaking book, the war against immigrants has been escalating for decades, fueled by defense contractors and lobbyists seeking profits and politicians-Republicans and Democrats alike-who relied on racist fear-mongering to turn out votes. After 9/11, while Americans’ attention was trained on the Middle East and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the War on Terror was ramping up on our own soil-aimed not at terrorists but at economic migrants, refugees, and families from South and Central America seeking jobs, safety, and freedom in the U.S.
The Border Patrol has grown exponentially, ICE detention centers have cropped up across the country, and the southern border is more militarized than ever before, but we are no safer. Instead, families are being ripped apart, undocumented people are living in fear, and thousands of migrants have died in detention or crossing the border.
Taking readers to the border patrol outposts, unmarked graves, detention centers, and halls of power, Sand and Blood is a frightening, essential story we ignore at our peril.
About Lance Simmens
Over a nearly four-decade career in senior level political, policy, and governmental positions, Lance Simmens has served two U.S. presidents (Carter and Clinton), two U.S. Senators, two prominent Governors, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, the President’s Commission on Y2K Conversion, and led statewide efforts in California to stop fracking and directed the Citizen’s Trade Campaign to defeat the Trans Pacific Partnership. He is the author of The Evolution of a Revolution and in November will be releasing Fracktured, an anti-fracking novel.
In Fall 2018, Simmens ran for Malibu City Council, and was unsuccessful in his election bid. However, he has recently been appointed Public Works Commissioner for the City of Malibu, to help with the massive rebuilding effort underway in response to the Woolsey Fire. Simmens serves as First Vice-President of the Malibu Democratic Club and is a former President of the Malibu Adamson House Foundation. Since moving to Malibu a little over 3 years ago he has been very active in local politics and continues to write regularly for the LA Progressive.
Ilene Proctor
The Great Mind Series aims to share the best ideas from the greatest minds. It was founded in 2010 by publicist and activist Ilene Proctor. The first event took place at Teddi Winograd’s home in Beverly Hills, CA. Since then, a grand total of 91 Great Mind Series salons have entertained and stimulated audiences of open-minded progressives.
Past even have featured Reza Aslan, Gore Vidal, Gabe Sherman, Mikey Weinstein, Gloria Allred with Lisa Bloom, Robert Baer, Ralph Nader, Larry Beinert, Max Blumenthal, Sidney Blumenthal, Jane Goodall, John Dean, Robert Dreyfuss, Robert Scheer, Oliver Stone, Amy Goodman, Professor Peter Drier, Reese Elrich, Elliot Gould, Former Rep. Alan Grayson, Libee HaLevy, Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Dahr Jamail, David Cay Johnston, Dennis Kucinich, Esai Morales, Harold Myerson, Ralph Nader, John Nichols, Greg Palast, Michael Parenti, Nomi Prins, Danny Schechter, Gabe Sherman, Robert Sheer, Lance Simmens, David Swanson, Harvey Wasserman, Marianne Williamson, Ambassador Joe Wilson, and Vincent Bugliosi, among others.