"Welcome to the second edition of The Weatherman. I am Dylan Ratigan and this is an ongoing and evolving experiment in a direct conversation between all of us about anything that we want to talk about, as long as it's through the frame of The Shift. The Shift ultimately represents complete and total change in not just our technological infrastructure, not just our communication infrastructure, even our transportation infrastructure. It's a unifying event and a completely shattering event,...

The Weatherman Podcast Experiment Begins… Welcome to this, the 1st edition of the Weatherman. I am Dylan Ratigan. Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. I'm actually in Italy, so it's the evening here. Our producer Meg Robertson is in New York and David DeGraw our other producer is in Los Angeles. Our callers are all coming from North America today. If you're listening to this right now, you probably read the launch email describing our objective with this call, which is...

The world is rapidly transforming at a scale that is without precedent. We are experiencing a paradigm shift, which affects everything at the same time - technology, transportation, communication, economics, production, distribution, governance, culture, spirituality and socialization among individuals across generations, demographics and countries worldwide. While the old paradigm collapses, a new one is being born before our eyes. This shift is the biggest risk and biggest opportunity in...

Edith Leung is among the millions of women that have led the protests in Hong Kong, of which a third of the protesters are women. Edith is also a member of the incoming class of recently elected pro-democracy politicians. Sitting in a cafe in Central over a pot of jasmine tea, Dylan Ratigan interviews Edith. The newly elected district representative sees change perpetuating and sustaining the two-systems-one-country protocol in Hong Kong, which is seen as at risk. "It is a warning to the...

As millions of people take to the streets of Hong Kong to fight for their freedom and independence, a wave of young pro-democracy candidates were recently elected to District Council. From the frontlines of protest to political office, Dylan Ratigan interviews three leading members of a changemaking movement that has featured an unprecedented number of “women warriors.” With Hong Kong as the gateway between China and the rest of the world, it is easy to see their fight for independence as a...

Student loan debt is crippling our economy. We've seen an entire generation of students held down by crushing debt. 45 million borrowers are struggling with monthly payments, predatory and aggressive bill collectors and confusing repayment terms. Nationally, student loan debt just behind mortgage debt in the United States. It accounts for a stunning 10 percent of debt balance – that's a total of $1.48 trillion nationwide. According to New York state statistics, the average student loan...

In a 15 minute clip, WATN host Jeff Graham talks with callers, including labor leader Ernie Labaff, about why Dylan Ratigan has the best shot of winning against incumbent Republican Representative Elise Stefanik.

WATN host Jeff Graham discusses why Dylan Ratigan is the only Democrat in NY-21 with the best chance to beat incumbent Republican member of Congress Elise Stefanik. "I think he's got kind of a different message," says Graham. "The only Democrat who can win in November -- I think that's true."

My campaign is running to reform broken politics that have completely disconnected the voter from the government. Not only disconnected the voter from the government, but allowed the government to become entirely beholding to these monopolies. Whether it's in the tech sector, the banking sector, or the health insurance sector, an increasingly small group of concentrated entities have incredible influence over everything that happens in the lives of billions of us around the world. It's the...

We’ve all experienced it: one-bar cell signals, calls that suddenly drop, or driving through “dead zones” without access to data.  And it’s not just inconvenient lack of coverage or dropped calls that we have to deal with. Thousands of residents live in areas where they don’t have access to reliable high-speed internet at home. North Country economic growth will go hand in hand with expanding data access.  It’s one of the most foundational aspects to growing our economy. We will catch up to...

How can you “Represent” people in a Congressional District, let alone improve it, if you haven’t defined where you are? It is long past due that all our Congress people are held to account for working with those they represent. Introducing the NY21 District Dashboard, a metric to hold our leaders accountable to the people they represent.

The U.S. decision to pull out of the Iran deal is just another example of failed leadership. If the deal is bad, a true leader should make it better. Anyone can walk away from a "bad deal" for a worse deal. For more on my campaign for Congress in NY-21, visit dylanratigan.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dylanratigan Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DylanRatigan

Everyone’s paying close attention to the latest scandal out of Washington – this time, it’s a question of who is going to lead the Veterans Administration. What’s getting lost in the noise is real service to our veterans. These are individuals who have devoted their lives and efforts to a mission larger than themselves. The opportunity we have right now is to invest in creating pathways, opportunities, and investments in enrolling that population. We must help our combat and military...

I am encouraged and inspired by the children and young adults leading a push for changing our broken political system. It is broken to the point that we are incapable of having even a sensible conversation around guns that would benefit everybody in this country. We need to fix our political system and discourse so we can have the sort of common sense conversations we need to have around guns.

Who am I, why am I running, and what are we doing? In short, I grew up in Saranac Lake, and eventually moved to New York to work in journalism. During my time at CBNC and MSNBC, I was privileged to have had a bird’s eye view of our financial and political system. In 2011, I observed a frustration, albeit an impassioned one, with both political parties and the entire political process. Here's a deep dive into what we're going to do about it.

Facing a rigged and broken political system, we’re at a very specific point in history. The world is shifting when it comes to the way things are done. We collectively feel a “shift” all around us – whether it’s in our jobs, in our communities, and even in government. This fast rate of change means opportunities for using new tools and build new ways of operating for our future. Check out this podcast where Dylan dives into “the shift” and what it means for NY-21.

It's true: there's no such thing as free trade. And even though so called "free trade" is at the forefront of political discussions right now, we can't forget the heavy cost for trade which has been paid for the last four decades by America's working class. I'm Dylan Ratigan and I'm running for Congress in NY's 21st District. Learn more about the campaign and get involved at www.dylanratigan.com

I was honored to receive a degree of Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa from my Alma mater, Union College, yesterday during their Commencement for the Class of 2012. Union College was the first institution to issue an honorary doctorate to Thomas Edison in 1878, and I am humbled to be included now among the ranks of those receiving an honorary degree from Union.

Harvard Professor Lawrence Lessig talks with Dylan Ratigan about his new book, "One Way Forward. You can read it at http://byliner.com/originals/one-way-forward.

Dylan stops by WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show to discuss The 30 Million Jobs tour and people who are creating innovative jobs around the country. He also shares his thoughts on NY Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin, our country’s fundamental ideals, and the idea of an agreed culture of aligned interests through collaboration to solve our country’s problems.

After our TV show today, we decided to do a quick outdoor "Parkcast" under the shadow of the Texas State Capitol building. Here's Dylan's conversation with Mark Meckler of the Tea Party Patriots and David DeGraw of AmpedStatus.com, and one of the original organizers of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

On Wednesday, February 8 2012 Dylan Ratigan joined AM970 The Apple's Curtis Sliwa for a conversation on Greedy Bastards, the 2012 election, and the state of the U.S. economy. Curtis is one of our favorite NY radio hosts, and we always love having Dylan on his show. Take a listen!

GBA "Auction 2012" - Education with Chris Kirkham by Dylan Ratigan

Dylan Ratigan and Paul Blumenthal of The Huffington Post continue our "Auction 2012" series with a discussion on the bought nature of our health care system in America. Paul Blumenthal is a reporter for the Huffington Post covering money and influence in politics. He previously worked as the Senior Writer for the Sunlight Foundation covering influence, lobbying, and transparency issues. His work has been featured in many different outlets including PBS' Frontline, CNN, the New York Review of...