Matt Taibbi

Matt Taibbi is an author and journalist for Rolling Stone. Taibbi has reported on politics, media, finance, and sports, and has authored several books, including The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap (2014), Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America and The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion.

Matt Taibbi, graduated from Bard College in New York in 1991; finished his studies at Leningrad Polytechnichal University in Russia.

Taibbi worked as a freelance reporter in the former Soviet Union, including a stint in Uzbekistan, from whence he was deported in 1992 after writing an article for the Associated Press that was critical of President Islam Karimov.

At the time of his deportation, Taibbi was also the starting left fielder for the Uzbek National baseball team.

He returned to the United States in 1994 and worked for a time as an investigator in a Boston-based private detective agency.

In 1995 he went back to Russia and played pro baseball for two Russian clubs, Spartak and the Red Army.

Subsequently he moved to Mongolia and in 1996-97 played professional basketball in the Mongolian Basketball Association, where he was the nation's leading rebounder, and was known as the "Mongolian Rodman."

He eventually resettled in Moscow, where he founded, with writer Mark Ames, an English-language satire newspaper called the eXile.

Among the paper's more notorious stunts was an incident in which it convinced Mikhail Gorbachev to take a job as an assistant coach to the New York Jets.

The paper also made headlines for throwing a cream pie made of horse sperm in the face of a New York Times reporter, and for convincing the caretaker of Lenin's corpse to design a museum display for the waterlogged foot of John F. Kennedy, Jr.

In between the jokes the eXile earned a reputation for hard-nosed reporting of corruption both in Russian government and the American aid community. The paper was the only publication to correctly predict the 1998 Russian financial crisis.

In conjunction with the Russian paper Stringer, for whom Taibbi wrote in Russian, the eXile also wiretapped the telephone of Kremlin Chief of Staff Alexander Voloshin in 2001.

Taibbi in his time in Russia produced a great deal of participatory journalism, working in a variety of jobs to show readers the reality of Russian life. He worked at various times as a bricklayer in Siberia, a migrant farm laborer, a moonshine dealer, a professional clown, a keeper in an elephant cage, a security guard, and a construction worker in an Orthodox monastery.

Taibbi returned to the U.S. for good in 2002 and founded the Buffalo-based newspaper The Beast.

He left that paper a year later to work as a columnist for the New York Press, and eventually as a contributing editor for Rolling Stone.

His Press column on George Bush's prewar press conference, "Cleaning the Pool," was included in the Best Political Writing 2003 anthology, and a year later he was named one of the 35 most influential New Yorkers under 35 by the New York Observer.

Prior to Spanking the Donkey, a collection of writings about the 2004 presidential campaign, Taibbi published one book, The eXile: Sex, Drugs and Libel in the New Russia (Grove, 2000).

He lives in New York City.

"Bernie & Sid"

Bernard J. McGuirk is the executive producer of the Imus in the Morning radio program. He was born and raised in the South Bronx, New York, where he worked in his younger years as a taxi driver.

Sid Rosenberg is a radio personality and the former morning host of WMEN-640 AM.  Rosenberg is known for his controversial and sarcastic humor as a host on many radio stations including, WAXY "790 The Ticket" in Miami, where he hosted his own morning show.  He originally was paired with O.J. McDuffie, formerly a wide receiver with the Miami Dolphins; McDuffie resigned his position with the station in the summer of 2006.

Rosenberg's self-given jokingly middle name "Arthur" is a reference to former baseball player Dave Kingman. When Hall of Fame sportscaster Bob Murphy gave the lineups for the New York Mets, he would always give Kingman's name as "David Arthur Kingman"; Rosenberg continues this running gag on the Sports Guys by using Arthur as everybody's middle name.

His radio career started in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he hosted the syndicated sports radio program The Drive on Sports Fan Radio Network in the late 1990s, after starting as an Internet broadcast. In 2000, he moved to New York City to co-host WNEW-FM's turbulent morning show, the Sports Guys. A year later, he joined the Imus in the Morning program. He shared the sports broadcasting duties with Warner Wolf before becoming the full-time sports reporter. He engaged in heated half-mock, half-serious disputes with the other members of the Imus cast, leading for example to an actual boxing bout with producer Bernard McGuirk.  Several months after joining the Imus show, he became the co-host of the midday show on Imus' flagship station, WFAN. Here, his strong knowledge of sports and distinctive, high-pitched Brooklyn accent served him well. He would hold both broadcasting positions until 2005. For several years, he also hosted the radio pre-game shows for New York Giants home games.

Bill White

Bill has dedicated his career to honoring, advocating and supporting our nation's military personnel, veterans and their families. He served as president of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund and the Intrepid Relief Fund. Under White's leadership, the museum emerged as a world-class education attraction welcoming almost 1,000,000 visitors. As President of the Intrepid family of foundations and lead director at their sister organizations, Bill led its fundraising totaling more than $600 million. He managed all operations, management, strategic planning and branding for the Intrepid Foundations, leading a team of over 250 professionals and thousands of volunteer personnel over the years. Bill spearheaded the $115 million capital Campaign for the 2006-08 restoration of the museum, building the Intrepid brand to an internationally respected one.

He serves as a Trustee of the Fisher House Foundation, which builds comfort homes for patient families at military and veterans hospitals. He has raised $42 million for the construction of Fisher Houses and its endowment and maintenance funding.
Bill serves on the boards of the News Corporation Global Diversity Council Advisory Board, the Catholic Medical Mission Board, the Fisher Alzheimer's Disease Research Foundation at Rockefeller University, and Intrepid Relief Fund.

He has visited the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and helped lead the first major entertainers visit to troops fighting in Iraq, featuring Robert DeNiro, Kid Rock & Wayne Newton. Just recently, Bill organized a Christmas 2010 visit to Afghanistan with Mark Wahlberg for the troops to preview his new critically acclaimed movie "The Fighter". In May 2009, White was offered the opportunity to serve in the Obama Administration by Defense Secretary Robert Gates as the Pentagon's Deputy Chief Management Officer.

In 1991, Bill established Operation Support, a volunteer charitable organization that raised over $400,000 for the families of military personnel killed in the Persian Gulf War.

He co-authored the book, Intrepid: The Epic Story of America's Most Legendary Warship, with Bob Gandt, forward by Senator John McCain, and donated all proceeds to the Intrepid Museum.

Bill has raised more than $2 billion for private equity, real estate, and hedge funds including the City Investment Fund, Guggenheim Advisors, Grove International Investors, and Palladium Partners, and other US corporations. White is shareholder and consultant for AQUAhydrate, a premier purified alkaline sports water bottle company owned and led by Mark Wahlberg, Sean Combs, and Ron Burkle. Bill raised funds within the sale of Blackwater/XE for Academi/Constellis Group approximately 5 years ago, who has subsequently sold to Apollo this year. Bill is humbled to be a regular on the Opinion Editorial page of the New York Post for his work with veterans. Bill founded Constellations Group in 2010 and has formed a highly successful strategic partnership and strong business development victories for his treasured clients, truly a who's who of the most prominent successful businesspeople in the United States and abroad.

He is twice the recipient of the Meritorious Public Service Award for extraordinary service from the US Coast Guard and for outstanding support from the US Navy. Bill was honored by the Lifesaving Benevolent Association for placing himself at risk to rescue an individual drowning in the Hudson River. The President of Italy awarded Bill the title of "Cavaliere della Repubblica Italiana del Merito", an Honorary Knight of the Republic of Italy.

Bill attended Chaminade High School. He holds a B.A. from Fordham University and a Culinary Arts Degree from the French Culinary Institute.

Bill and his life partner, Bryan Eure, reside in New York City.

Laura Ingraham

Laura Ingraham is one of the most influential conservative voices in America. She is the host of The Ingraham Angle, a new live primetime national program which debuts on Fox News Channel in the 10pm hour starting Monday October 30, 2017. She is the most listened to woman in America on political talk radio. The Laura Ingraham Show, is ranked in the nation’s Top 10 rated shows and heard coast to coast in close to 250 markets. She is the Editor in Chief and Co-Founder of the hugely popular website, LIfeZette.com, a cultural and political web destination for conservatives and independents. She is the author of several New York Times bestsellers, including The Obama Diaries, Power to the People, Shut Up & Sing, and The Hilary Trap. Ingraham is a former white-collar defense attorney and Supreme Court law clerk. In addition, Ingraham is a cancer survivor, a passionate supporter of our troops, and an advocate for increased domestic and international adoption through her website AdoptANewAttitude.com. She resides in Washington DC with her three children Maria, Dmitri and Nikolai.

"Bo-Monday"

Richard “Bo” Dietl was a New York City Police Officer and Detective from June 1969 until he retired in 1985.  Bo was one of the most highly decorated detectives in the history of the police department, with several thousand arrests to his credit.  There were two particular cases that represent his career highlights.  The first was what former New York City Mayor Edward I. Koch labeled “...the most vicious crime in New York City history” (1981) which involved a nun who was raped and tortured in an East Harlem convent as 27 crosses were carved into her by two men, who later confessed and were convicted.  The second was the Palm Sunday Massacre in 1984, which was one of New York City’s most bloody mass slayings, of ten people.  Bo was instrumental in the arrest and conviction of the suspects in both cases.

In 1986, Bo was nominated for the U.S. Congress by the Republican and Conservative parties of New York State for the 6th Congressional District (to fill the seat of the late Joseph Addabbo). In a 7-1 Democratic District, the Rev. Floyd Flake edged out Bo by a mere 2,500 votes - one of the closest races in New York history. 

President George Bush appointed Bo as Co-Chairman of the National Crime Commission.  Governor George E. Pataki appointed Bo Chairman of the New York State Security Guard Advisory Council.  He served as Security Consultant to the National Republican Convention and as Director of Security for the New York State Republican Convention

Richard “Bo” Dietl is the Founder & Chairman of Beau Dietl & Associates. Founded in 1985, Beau Dietl & Associates has grown to become one of the premier investigative and security firms in the nation and is a full service organization providing a wide