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As he awaits a court ruling on the Trump administration's attempt to deport him, Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian activist, co-founder of the Columbia Palestinian Student Union and former president of the Columbia University Buddhist Association, and his attorney, Nate Wessler, deputy director of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, talk about his studies, the state of the pro-Palestinian movement and the prospects of a peaceful solution in the region and worldwide.

Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi is currently awaiting a court ruling on the Trump administration's attempt to deport him.On Today's Show: Mahdawi, co-founder of the Columbia Palestinian Student Union and former president of the Columbia University Buddhist Association, and his attorney, Nate Wessler, deputy director of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, talk about his studies, the state of the pro-Palestinian movement and the prospects of a peaceful solution in the region and worldwide.

I step into the studio knowing that, for many listeners, the Donald Trump court saga feels endless. So let's get right to where things stand in the past few days.Across the country, Donald Trump is still juggling fallout from his earlier criminal and civil cases while his administration fights a new wave of lawsuits over how his Justice Department, Homeland Security, and other agencies are using federal power. Lawfare's Trump Administration Litigation Tracker describes a sprawling map of challenges, from immigration crackdowns to fights over federal workers and independent agencies, all feeding into a sense that the courtroom has become a second West Wing for this presidency.One of the biggest developments in the last few days comes from the Supreme Court and the immigration judges' free‑speech case. According to SCOTUSblog, the justices just rejected the Trump administration's request for emergency relief in a dispute over whether immigration judges can challenge speech restrictions in federal court. Commentator and law professor Stephen Vladeck called it the administration's first real loss at the Supreme Court since April, a rare sign that even this Court has limits on how far it will go on Trump's emergency asks. The order does leave the door open for the administration to come back if the trial court pushes into discovery, but for now, Trump's lawyers will have to keep fighting on the merits.At nearly the same time, another federal courtroom dealt the administration a blow on immigration detention. The ACLU of Massachusetts reports that a federal judge in Boston ruled that the Trump administration acted unlawfully when it denied bond hearings to people arrested by ICE in New England and then misclassified them to keep them in mandatory, no‑bond detention. The court granted partial summary judgment and held that, under the immigration statutes, these detainees must have access to a bond hearing. For thousands of people in New England lockups, that decision is not abstract law; it is the difference between indefinite confinement and a chance to argue for release.Overlay these fresh rulings on top of Trump's personal legal history and the picture sharpens. Outlets such as WABE have tracked how civil judgments for defamation and sexual abuse, as well as criminal convictions for falsifying business records in New York and the federal election‑interference and documents cases, have moved through appeals. A federal appeals court has already upheld one major civil jury verdict against Trump and declined to revisit it, locking in both damages and factual findings about his conduct. That appellate resistance puts real weight behind the idea that some of Trump's legal problems are no longer just allegations; they are affirmed findings of liability.And yet, while Trump personally appeals past losses, his administration simultaneously racks up wins and losses in real time. The Brennan Center and Lawfare both note that, since his return to the White House, the Supreme Court has often sided with the Trump administration on emergency applications involving immigration enforcement, federal workforce cuts, and control over independent agencies. Those shadow‑docket victories have let the administration move fast, even while lower courts probe legality. But the immigration judges' case and the Boston bond‑hearing ruling show that trial courts and, occasionally, the justices themselves are willing to draw constitutional and statutory lines.So when you hear about “Trump's trials” this week, it is not just one courtroom, one jury, or even one former president. It is Donald Trump the criminal defendant and civil litigant, and Donald Trump the sitting president whose policies are on trial in federal courts from Massachusetts to Washington.Thanks for tuning in, and come back next week for more. This has been a Quiet Please production, and for more, check out QuietPlease dot A I.Some great Deals https://amzn.to/49SJ3QsFor more check out http://www.quietplease.aiThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

In mid-March of 2025, ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt and his colleagues started hearing that the Trump administration might attempt a flagrantly lawless publicity stunt, involving migrant men, secret flights to El Salvador, a notorious gulag, and a total disregard for due process. Despite getting word that something was about to happen, and rushing into a Saturday night hearing, and then securing a TRO from DC judge James Boasberg, Lee and his colleagues were unable to prevent more than 250 men from being renditioned from Texas to the CECOT torture prison in El Salvador. The legal cases spawned by the dramatic events of March 15th 2025 haven't gone away, indeed they are reaching crucial milestones in the courts, raising foundational questions about the abuse of statutes and what it means to defy court orders. On this week's Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by the ACLU's Lee Gelernt who is litigating these cases, to discuss the very high stakes of a set of cases that may have fallen off your radar in the shuffle.  How these cases play out will dictate much of what happens for the rest of Trump's term in office by answering democracy-defining questions such as whether the antiquated and radical wartime powers of the Alien Enemies Act can be unleashed on people the government deems enemies domestically, whether court orders are actually directives the Trump DoJ is bound  to follow, whether the district courts can require Pam Bondi's justice department to assist in the finding of fact, and whether the ancient legal concepts protecting liberty of due process and habeas corpus have the force of law in Trump's America.  If you want to access that special 50% promotion for Slate Plus membership, go to slate.com/amicusplus and enter promo code AMICUS 50.  This offer expires on Dec 31st 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In mid-March of 2025, ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt and his colleagues started hearing that the Trump administration might attempt a flagrantly lawless publicity stunt, involving migrant men, secret flights to El Salvador, a notorious gulag, and a total disregard for due process. Despite getting word that something was about to happen, and rushing into a Saturday night hearing, and then securing a TRO from DC judge James Boasberg, Lee and his colleagues were unable to prevent more than 250 men from being renditioned from Texas to the CECOT torture prison in El Salvador. The legal cases spawned by the dramatic events of March 15th 2025 haven't gone away, indeed they are reaching crucial milestones in the courts, raising foundational questions about the abuse of statutes and what it means to defy court orders. On this week's Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by the ACLU's Lee Gelernt who is litigating these cases, to discuss the very high stakes of a set of cases that may have fallen off your radar in the shuffle.  How these cases play out will dictate much of what happens for the rest of Trump's term in office by answering democracy-defining questions such as whether the antiquated and radical wartime powers of the Alien Enemies Act can be unleashed on people the government deems enemies domestically, whether court orders are actually directives the Trump DoJ is bound  to follow, whether the district courts can require Pam Bondi's justice department to assist in the finding of fact, and whether the ancient legal concepts protecting liberty of due process and habeas corpus have the force of law in Trump's America.  If you want to access that special 50% promotion for Slate Plus membership, go to slate.com/amicusplus and enter promo code AMICUS 50.  This offer expires on Dec 31st 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’re going online to buy some last-minute gifts this holiday season, there’s a chance the price you pay will be influenced by what’s known as “surveillance pricing.” Some retailers are using artificial intelligence to set individualized prices online by sifting through personal data, including age, gender, location and browsing history. Ali Rogin speaks with Jay Stanley at the ACLU for more. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

In mid-March of 2025, ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt and his colleagues started hearing that the Trump administration might attempt a flagrantly lawless publicity stunt, involving migrant men, secret flights to El Salvador, a notorious gulag, and a total disregard for due process. Despite getting word that something was about to happen, and rushing into a Saturday night hearing, and then securing a TRO from DC judge James Boasberg, Lee and his colleagues were unable to prevent more than 250 men from being renditioned from Texas to the CECOT torture prison in El Salvador. The legal cases spawned by the dramatic events of March 15th 2025 haven't gone away, indeed they are reaching crucial milestones in the courts, raising foundational questions about the abuse of statutes and what it means to defy court orders. On this week's Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by the ACLU's Lee Gelernt who is litigating these cases, to discuss the very high stakes of a set of cases that may have fallen off your radar in the shuffle.  How these cases play out will dictate much of what happens for the rest of Trump's term in office by answering democracy-defining questions such as whether the antiquated and radical wartime powers of the Alien Enemies Act can be unleashed on people the government deems enemies domestically, whether court orders are actually directives the Trump DoJ is bound  to follow, whether the district courts can require Pam Bondi's justice department to assist in the finding of fact, and whether the ancient legal concepts protecting liberty of due process and habeas corpus have the force of law in Trump's America.  If you want to access that special 50% promotion for Slate Plus membership, go to slate.com/amicusplus and enter promo code AMICUS 50.  This offer expires on Dec 31st 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Imagine a blueprint so ambitious it aims to remake the entire U.S. government in 180 days, placing the executive branch firmly under presidential control. That's Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's 900-page Mandate for Leadership, published in April 2023, which outlines radical reforms for a conservative administration.At its core, the plan pushes the unitary executive theory, seeking to dismantle agency independence. According to the Heritage Foundation's document, it calls for replacing federal civil service workers with loyalists via Schedule F, a policy to strip protections from up to a million employees. The Department of Justice and FBI would answer directly to the White House, with the FBI director personally accountable to the president. Wikipedia details how it brands the DOJ a "bloated bureaucracy" pushing a "radical liberal agenda," proposing reforms to combat "anti-white racism" under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.Concrete examples abound. Project 2025 urges abolishing the Department of Education, Department of Homeland Security—replacing it with a streamlined immigration agency—and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The National Labor Relations Board would shrink, making union organizing harder by eliminating card-check elections, as noted in the National Federation of Federal Employees' analysis. On health, it proposes Medicaid cuts like per-capita caps, stricter work requirements, and voucher options, while defunding NIH stem cell research. Tax reforms include corporate cuts and a flat individual income tax.Latest developments, as reported by Government Executive in April 2025, show execution accelerating under President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk. Entire agencies like USAID face elimination, with tens of thousands fired—though courts have reinstated some, like Consumer Financial Protection Bureau staff. Health and Human Services plans 20,000 cuts, 25% of its workforce. Jenny Mattingley of the Partnership for Public Service warns this politicizes a traditionally nonpartisan civil service, undercutting services for rural areas and seniors.Experts like the ACLU highlight risks to reproductive, LGBTQ, and immigrant rights, while proponents argue it streamlines efficiency. The plan's scope—from fossil fuel favoritism to military aid in immigration enforcement—signals a governance overhaul.Looking ahead, key decision points loom: congressional battles over agency eliminations and Supreme Court challenges to workforce purges. As implementation unfolds, its full impact on American democracy remains a pivotal watchpoint.Thank you for tuning in, listeners. Come back next week for more.Some great Deals https://amzn.to/49SJ3QsFor more check out http://www.quietplease.aiThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

Blizzard conditions are impacting much of the Red River Valley today. Snow, falling heavily at times this morning, will total 3-4 inches, with totals closer to 2 inches for the Fargo-Moorhead area and Fergus Falls. Expect high winds gusting to 50-60 mph along the western edge of Minnesota as temperatures drop into the single digits. There's a chance of snow statewide Thursday.The first person charged in a scheme to defraud a state program for children with autism is expected to plead guilty Thursday morning. Asha Hassan is also charged with ripping off taxpayer-funded child nutrition programs.The 29-year-old is alleged to have bilked Minnesota's Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention program out of more than $14 million and used some of that to pay kickbacks to the parents. Six Minnesotans are suing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, alleging that federal agents violated their rights while they were observing immigration arrests. The ACLU and several law firms filed the lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of the plaintiffs. They say federal agents detained or threatened people who were not breaking any laws.One of the men arrested by ICE agents at a construction site in Chanhassen last weekend has filed a petition in federal court seeking release.

Tara breaks down explosive claims surrounding the Brown University shooting investigation — including allegations that campus security cameras were removed due to Sanctuary City policies and pressure from activist groups

Tara connects the dots between missing security cameras at Brown University, escalating campus unrest, cultural erasure, and the collapse of the government-forced EV agenda

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Project 2025 began quietly, as a 900-page manual from the conservative Heritage Foundation called Mandate for Leadership. According to Heritage, its goal is to prepare “the next conservative president” to remake the federal government from day one, with a pre-vetted army of appointees and draft executive orders ready to sign.At its core is a simple but sweeping idea: place almost the entire executive branch under direct presidential control. Heritage authors invoke the “unitary executive” theory, arguing that agencies like the Department of Justice and the FBI should no longer operate with traditional independence. Project documents call DOJ a “bloated bureaucracy” that has “forfeited the trust” of Americans and urge making the FBI director “personally accountable to the president,” reshaping federal law enforcement priorities and civil rights enforcement, as summarized by PBS NewsHour and the Mandate itself.To make that vision real, Project 2025 leans on a hiring category known as Schedule F. The National Federation of Federal Employees explains that the plan would reclassify large numbers of civil servants as at-will employees and replace them with ideological loyalists, eliminating long-standing job protections against political interference. Heritage allies describe this as clearing out the “administrative state”; unions and watchdog groups describe it as opening the door to political purges across the bureaucracy.The scope reaches every corner of government. The Mandate proposes abolishing the Department of Education entirely, shifting its programs to states and to the Department of Health and Human Services, and folding the National Center for Education Statistics into the Census Bureau. It urges dismantling the Department of Homeland Security and replacing it with a streamlined immigration-focused agency combining Customs and Border Protection, ICE, TSA, and parts of Justice and Health and Human Services, as detailed in the Project 2025 chapters on immigration and education.Economic regulators are also targeted. The document calls for eliminating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, abolishing the Federal Trade Commission, shrinking the National Labor Relations Board, and merging the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis into a single, politically directed statistics office, according to the Project 2025 overview compiled by Wikipedia and summaries from public-sector unions.Supporters argue this would cut red tape, boost fossil fuel production by rolling back environmental rules, and, in their words, “destroy the administrative state” that they see as blocking conservative policy. Critics, including the ACLU and Democracy Forward, warn that concentrating so much power in the White House could weaken checks and balances, politicize data, and threaten protections for workers, immigrants, and marginalized groups.The next major milestones hinge on elections and transition planning: whether a future administration formally embraces this blueprint, how much Congress will accept, and how courts respond if sweeping executive orders test the limits of presidential power. Thanks for tuning in, and come back next week for more.Some great Deals https://amzn.to/49SJ3QsFor more check out http://www.quietplease.aiThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

Increased Immigrations and Customs Enforcement actions in Minnesota this month have drawn, likely, thousands of community protesters and observers. And confrontations between ICE agents and community members have been chaotic. Today, six Minnesota residents along with the ACLU of Minnesota filed a lawsuit against ICE, alleging that agents have interfered with their rights to free speech and peaceful assembly and have subjected them to harassment, intimidation and unlawful detentions. For more information on the legal case, MPR News host Nina Moini talked with Alicia Granse, an ACLU of Minnesota staff attorney who is leading the lawsuit.

Six Minnesota residents and the ACLU of Minnesota are suing Immigration and Customs Enforcement alleging agents violated rights to free speech and peaceful assembly. The lawsuit comes after recent immigration enforcement actions resulted in chaotic confrontations between community members and federal agents. Minnesota's restaurant industry is on edge as ICE continues to detain and arrest scores of people in the Twin Cities. A prominent chef and restaurant owner shared how he is dealing with the situation.And lawyers for a couple charged with driving off with a Homeland Security agent in their vehicle are disputing prosecutors' version of events. Plus, we met a local musician creating original Hanukkah music.

I'm Still Here (dir. Walter Salles, 2024) is based on the true story of the enforced disappearance and murder of former congressman Rubens Paiva by the military dictatorship in Brazil. The film opens in Rio de Janeiro in 1970, where Rubens lives with his wife, Eunice, and their five children. Their lives are forever altered when the military government arrests and disappears Rubens. The film describes Eunice's attempt to find out what happened to Rubens and to rebuild her life and raise her family in his absence. The film is based on the memoir of their son, Marcelo Rubens Paiva, who was a young boy when Rubens was disappeared. I'm Still Here provides a harrowing account of Brazil's military dictatorship and a moving story of a woman's struggle to overcome adversity and obtain justice.Timestamps:0:00    Introduction2:16     The military dictatorship in Brazil4:38     Living amid contradictions6:52     The kidnapping of the Swiss ambassador8:33     Rubens' arrest and disappearance12:38   Authoritarian legality14:18    The arrest and mistreatment of family members17:16    Covering up state crimes19:29    Exile as another tool of repression23:08   Enforced disappearances27:18     Leveraging international pressure29:08   Eunice Paiva's struggle and success33:15    Support for the military dictatorship36:01   Finally obtaining Rubens' death certificate 25 years later40:10   Brazil's National Truth Commission48:39   Authoritarian threats to democracy todayFurther reading:Atencio, Rebecca J., Memory's Turn: Reckoning with Dictatorship in Brazil (2014)Filho, Paulo Coehlo, “Truth Commission in Brazil: Individualizing Amnesty, Revealing the Truth,” The Yale Review of International Studies (Feb. 29, 2012)Lima, Ana Gabriela Oliveira, “Corrected death certificates for Herzog, Rubens Paiva,and one hundred others are celebrated in a ceremony,” Folha de S. Paulo (Oct. 8, 2025)Paiva, Marcelo Rubens, I'm Still Here (2025)Pitts, Bryan, Until the Storm Passes: Politicians, Democracy, and the Demise of Brazil's Military Dictatorship (2023)Weinberg, Eyal, “Transitional Justice in Brazil, 1970s–2010s,” Oxford Research Encyclopedia (2022) Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.htmlYou can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.comYou can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilmYou can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

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The story of Project 2025 begins not on Election Day, but long before, in the quiet offices of the Heritage Foundation, where conservative policy experts assembled a nearly 900‑page blueprint called “Mandate for Leadership.” According to Heritage, the goal is simple and sweeping: prepare “the next conservative president” to overhaul the federal government on day one, using prewritten executive orders, a handpicked personnel roster, and a detailed 180‑day playbook.At its core, Project 2025 envisions a presidency with far greater direct control over federal agencies. Heritage's documentation argues for a robust “unitary executive,” calling for the Department of Justice and the FBI to be brought firmly under presidential authority and for the FBI director to be “personally accountable to the president.” Wikipedia's summary of the plan notes that independent regulators like the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission would lose much of their autonomy, reshaping how antitrust, consumer protection, and media rules are enforced.Listeners can see this ambition most clearly in proposals for the civil service. The National Federation of Federal Employees explains that Project 2025 leans on an idea known as Schedule F, a Trump‑era classification that would let the White House reclassify tens of thousands of career officials as political appointees. Heritage materials describe this as replacing a hostile “administrative state” with loyal staff, while unions and watchdogs warn it would strip protections and open the door to patronage and purges.The scope goes well beyond personnel. The blueprint urges abolishing the Department of Education and shifting most authority to states, with the National Center for Education Statistics folded into the Census Bureau. It says the federal role should be largely “statistics‑keeping,” accusing Washington of pushing “woke propaganda” in schools. In homeland security, it calls for dismantling the Department of Homeland Security and replacing it with a streamlined immigration‑focused agency built around border enforcement components, according to reporting summarized on Wikipedia.Economic and social policy would move sharply in a conservative direction. The plan calls for rolling back environmental regulations to favor fossil fuels, cutting corporate taxes, exploring a flat income tax, and reducing Medicaid and Medicare spending. The ACLU, which has published an overview titled “Project 2025, Explained,” warns that these shifts, combined with proposals to curtail civil rights enforcement and expand the federal death penalty, could weaken protections for immigrants, LGBTQ people, and communities of color.Supporters frame all this as restoring accountability and reversing what they see as liberal overreach. Critics at groups like the Brennan Center for Justice argue that concentrating power in the White House and politicizing law enforcement risks eroding checks and balances that have underpinned American governance for decades.The next key milestones will come as candidates decide how fully to embrace this playbook, and as voters weigh whether they want a presidency empowered to carry it out. Thanks for tuning in, and come back next week for more.Some great Deals https://amzn.to/49SJ3QsFor more check out http://www.quietplease.aiThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

Glenn Stanton of Focus on the Family Trans Lawyer Who Asked SCOTUS To Redefine ‘Sex' Can't Produce A Definition When AskedThe post A Transgender ACLU Attorney Unable to Define Biological Sex – Glenn Stanton, 12/15/25 first appeared on Issues, Etc..

John talks about House Dems releasing more photos from the Epstein Estate, personal photos from Epstein's own collection – some prominently featuring Donald Trump. He also discusses Trump's statement that he is pardoning former Mesa County, Colorado, clerk Tina Peters, but it's legally ineffective because it targets her state convictions, which fall outside presidential authority. Colorado says LOL. Next, he interviews Chris Anders who is the Director of the Democracy and Technology Divison at the ACLU. The ACLU just filed a major lawsuit demanding the Trump administration release the secret legal memo authorizing U.S. military strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats. These strikes have killed at least 87 people since September, including a now-controversial “double-tap” strike on survivors. Despite conducting 22 lethal strikes, the administration has refused to disclose the legal justification—breaking with long-standing precedent of releasing such memos for major military actions. The lawsuit argues these killings occur outside any recognized armed conflict, making their legality highly suspect and the memo's release urgently necessary. Then finally, John jokes with TV's Frank Conniff and they chat with listeners about pop culture and current Trump fuckery.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mark McCormick has written for Kansas Reflector since the summer of 2021, The distinguished journalist has a long career, with stents at the Wichita Eagle, the Kansas African American Museum and the ACLU of Kansas. He also co wrote a book with his lifelong friend, Barry Sanders. McCormick was inducted into the Kansas Press Association's Hall of Fame in November, and he came to the podcast to talk about his life and work.

A coalition of major civil and human rights organizations—including the ACLU, Human Rights Watch, the Texas Civil Rights Project, Estrella del Paso, and Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center—has issued a 19-page letter accusing personnel at the Fort Bliss immigration detention complex in Texas of serious mistreatment of migrants. SPONSOR: AURA Frames: Exclusive $35 off Carver Mat at https://on.auraframes.com/FIVEMIN. Promo Code FIVEMIN Independent media has never been more important. Please support this channel by subscribing here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkbwLFZhawBqK2b9gW08z3g?sub_confirmation=1 Join this channel with a membership for exclusive early access and bonus content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkbwLFZhawBqK2b9gW08z3g/join Buy Anthony's microphone: https://kellards.com/products/electro-voice-re20-broadcast-announcer-microphone-black-bundle-with-mic-shockmount-broadcast-arm Buy Anthony's black t'shirt: https://www.uniqlo.com/us/en/products/E455365-000/00?colorDisplayCode=09 Five Minute News is an Evergreen Podcast, covering politics, inequality, health and climate - delivering independent, unbiased and essential news for the US and across the world. Visit us online at http://www.fiveminute.news Follow us on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/fiveminutenews.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram http://instagram.com/fiveminnews Support us on Patreon http://www.patreon.com/fiveminutenews You can subscribe to Five Minute News with your preferred podcast app, ask your smart speaker, or enable Five Minute News as your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing skill. CONTENT DISCLAIMER The views and opinions expressed on this channel are those of the guests and authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Anthony Davis or Five Minute News LLC. Any content provided by our hosts, guests or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything, in line with the First Amendment right to free and protected speech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Project 2025 begins not with a candidate, but with a playbook. According to the Heritage Foundation, it is a “Presidential Transition Project” designed to prepare a future conservative administration to, in its words, “take back our government” on day one. Its core text, a nearly 900-page volume titled Mandate for Leadership, lays out a sweeping plan to reshape the federal government agency by agency, from the Justice Department to the Department of Education, and to concentrate power more directly in the presidency.At the heart of the project is personnel. Heritage leaders say their goal is to recruit and train thousands of conservatives ready to serve, insisting that “personnel is policy.” They openly advocate reviving a job category known as Schedule F, which would reclassify tens of thousands of civil servants as political appointees, making it easier to fire career officials and replace them with loyalists. The National Federation of Federal Employees warns this could “destroy the administrative state” by stripping protections from nonpartisan experts and giving a president “full control of the Executive Branch for personal and political gain.”The blueprint also calls for dramatic changes to federal agencies. Project 2025's Mandate for Leadership proposes dismantling the Department of Education entirely, shifting its programs to other departments and leaving states in charge of most education policy. It recommends abolishing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and even the Federal Trade Commission, arguing that such regulators have become hostile to business. According to the ACLU's analysis of Project 2025, the plan would curb the independence of the Justice Department and FBI so that both are “directly accountable to the president,” a move that critics say could erode the traditional firewall between law enforcement and politics.On policy, the document pushes for deep cuts to Medicaid, reductions in Medicare, and lower corporate taxes, alongside rolling back environmental regulations to favor fossil fuel production, as summarized by reporting on Project 2025 in major national outlets and by policy watchdog groups. Supporters describe this as unleashing growth and restoring constitutional limits. Opponents, including Democracy Forward and the Center for Progressive Reform, argue the agenda would weaken worker protections, civil rights enforcement, and climate policy, while concentrating power in ways that test constitutional norms.As the 2024 campaign season unfolded, references to Project 2025 became a proxy fight over the future of American governance. Heritage insists it is simply offering a roadmap should a conservative win the White House. Legal scholars, meanwhile, are already gaming out court battles over any attempt to purge civil servants or dismantle long-standing agencies without congressional approval.The next milestones will hinge on who controls the presidency and Congress, and how much of this vision they are willing and able to enact. For now, Project 2025 remains a blueprint—but one detailed enough that listeners can see the outlines of a very different federal government if it ever moves from paper to practice.Thanks for tuning in, and come back next week for more.Some great Deals https://amzn.to/49SJ3QsFor more check out http://www.quietplease.aiThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

‘Tis the season... to stay ready. A busy Supreme Court term is already underway, with trans rights, redistricting, birthright citizenship, and more on the docket. And this week, Cecillia Wang is back to break it down with Kamau. Join us as we reflect on this year's civil liberties work, celebrate our wins, and prepare for the fight ahead. At Liberty is a production of the ACLU. For the ACLU, our senior executive producer is Sam Riddell, our executive producer is Jessica Herman Weitz, and our intern is Madhvi Khianra. W. Kamau Bell and Melissa Hudson Bell, PhD are executive producers for Who Knows Best Productions. At Liberty is produced and edited by Erica Getto and Myrriah Gossett for Good Get. This episode was recorded at Skyline Studios in Oakland, CA.

‘Tis the season ... to stay ready. A busy Supreme Court term is already underway, with trans rights, redistricting, birthright citizenship, and more on the docket. And this week, Cecillia Wang is back to break it down with Kamau. Join us as we reflect on this year's civil liberties work, celebrate our wins, and prepare for the fight ahead. At Liberty is a production of the ACLU. For the ACLU, our senior executive producer is Sam Riddell, our executive producer is Jessica Herman Weitz, and our intern is Madhvi Khianra. W. Kamau Bell and Melissa Hudson Bell, PhD are executive producers for Who Knows Best Productions. At Liberty is produced and edited by Erica Getto and Myrriah Gossett for Good Get. This episode was recorded at Skyline Studios in Oakland, CA.

MN political commentators analyze the social program fraud scandal; the ACLU of IL is busy with hundreds of lawsuits against policies they say 'violate constitutional rights'; rollbacks on bonding requirements for oil and gas companies could leave NM footing the bill; gray whales might not be bouncing back as fast as previously thought and NY advocates are celebrating a federal ruling saying the Trump Administration's wind energy ban was illegal.

MN political commentators analyze the social program fraud scandal; the ACLU of IL is busy with hundreds of lawsuits against policies they say 'violate constitutional rights'; rollbacks on bonding requirements for oil and gas companies could leave NM footing the bill; gray whales might not be bouncing back as fast as previously thought and NY advocates are celebrating a federal ruling saying the Trump Administration's wind energy ban was illegal.

donate to the ACLU: https://action.aclu.org/give/donate-aclu-24TIKTOK: @skzzolno https://www.tiktok.com/@skzzolno?lang=enINSTAGRAM: @skzzolo https://www.instagram.com/skzzolo/YOUTUBE: sammy k https://www.youtube.com/@skzzoloPR/Partnerships: sammy@mattermediagroup.comxoxo,sammy k

Changes at the Pentagon, Charlie Kirk and cancel culture, free speech and misinformation, globalized censorship, Indiana University, how to support FIRE, and more!   Timestamps: 00:00 Introductions 02:11 What is the Press Clause, and who does it apply to? 05:53 FIRE's position on Oklahoma student grading incident 08:50 What does FIRE need from Members besides financial support? 15:59 FIRE's College Free Speech Rankings and what they mean 19:44 What is the latest on the Ann Seltzer cases? 22:08 What is FIRE's view on the Pentagon press room changes? 24:50 What is the value of small donations? How can FIRE supporters volunteer? 29:21 Indiana University is good at football but bad at free speech 33:46 Are courts trending in a more speech-protective direction? 37:05 Charlie Kirk and cancel culture 39:20 Pro- and anti-Zionist speech and "hostile environment" harassment 43:48 Is "globalize the intifada" incitement? 45:07 How does FIRE distinguish between free speech and misinformation? 47:54 Can FIRE help supporters start free speech alumni groups? 48:55 Free speech, artificial intelligence, and copyright/trademarks 51:51 The sordid legacy of Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier  53:22 Staying hopeful amidst so much hypocrisy 55:32 Global speech platforms and censorship 58:14 Differences between FIRE and the ACLU? 59:34 Does FIRE have a Substack? (The Eternally Radical Idea, So to Speak, Expression) 1:00:03 Closing remarks.   Joining us: Alisha Glennon, chief operating officer Nico Perrino, executive vice president Greg Lukianoff, president and ceo Will Creeley, legal director    Become a paid subscriber today to receive invitations to future live webinars. If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

donate to the ACLU: https://www.aclu.org/FOR THE STORYINSTAGRAM: @livingforthestory https://www.instagram.com/livingforthestory/TIKTOK: @skzzolno https://www.tiktok.com/@skzzolno?lang=enINSTAGRAM: @skzzolo https://www.instagram.com/skzzolo/YOUTUBE: sammy k https://www.youtube.com/@skzzoloPR/Partnerships: sammy@mattermediagroup.comdo it for the story.xoxo,sammy k

Jasmine Crockett, fresh off her disappearing House seat, has an announcement for all Texans, nay, all Americans. Are you ready, America? Netflix is trying to buy Warner Brothers. Paramount is trying to buy Warner Brothers. Who do we want to buy Warner Brothers? Chase Strangio, the transgender ACLU lawyer, is back to give us every bad take on the trans issue. Can't wait to hear it. GUEST: Josh Firestine Link to today's sources: https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/sources-december-9-2025 Go to https://zippixtoothpicks.com/discount/CROWDER and use code: CROWDER for 10% off MUST be 21 or older to order Warning: Nicotine is an addictive chemical Go to http://xlear.com/ use code LWC20 for a 20% discount DOWNLOAD THE RUMBLE APP TODAY: https://rumble.com/our-apps Join Rumble Premium to watch this show every day! http://louderwithcrowder.com/Premium Get your favorite LWC gear: https://crowdershop.com/ Bite-Sized Content: https://rumble.com/c/CrowderBits Subscribe to my podcast: https://rss.com/podcasts/louder-with-crowder/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://louderwithcrowder.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/scrowder Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/louderwithcrowder Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stevencrowderofficial Music by @Pogo

CNN's John King zooms in for a politics roundupACLU of MA executive director Carol Rose discusses some of their high profile cases this year; the ACLU birthright citizenship case picked by SCOTUS to debate the merits, their work monitoring Flock's surveillance network, and moreAuthor Jeff Pearlman discusses his book "Only God Can Judge Me" about Tupac ShakurState Rep. David Muradian and David Nangle, Executive Director of SIGMA (Stop iGaming) discuss the state's new proposed gambling rules

coachella vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zipiHweIq8&t=19sdonate to the ACLU: https://www.aclu.org/FOR THE STORYINSTAGRAM: @livingforthestory https://www.instagram.com/livingforthestory/SAMMY KTIKTOK: @skzzolno https://www.tiktok.com/@skzzolno?lang=enINSTAGRAM: @skzzolo https://www.instagram.com/skzzolo/YOUTUBE: sammy k https://www.youtube.com/@skzzoloPR/Partnerships: sammy@mattermediagroup.comdo it for the story.xoxo,sammy k

This Day in Legal History: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr's Kid Sworn in as JusticeOn December 8, 1902, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. was sworn in as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, beginning one of the most storied judicial careers in American history. Appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt, Holmes brought not just legal brilliance but a fierce sense of independence to the bench—qualities that would define his nearly 30-year tenure. He would become known as “The Great Dissenter,” not because he loved conflict, but because he saw the Constitution as a living document that demanded humility, skepticism of dogma, and above all, respect for democratic governance.Holmes shaped modern constitutional law, particularly in his groundbreaking First Amendment opinions. In Schenck v. United States (1919), he famously coined the “clear and present danger” test, establishing a foundational limit on government power to suppress speech. Though that decision upheld a conviction, Holmes's dissent later that year in Abrams v. United States marked his turn toward a much broader vision of free expression—one that laid the groundwork for modern civil liberties jurisprudence.A Civil War veteran wounded at Antietam, Holmes served with the Massachusetts Volunteers and carried shrapnel in his body for the rest of his life. His long memory gave him historical depth: legend holds he met both Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy—Lincoln as a young Union officer in Washington, and JFK decades later when the future president visited the aged Holmes on his 90th birthday. While the Lincoln meeting is plausible and widely accepted, the Kennedy encounter is well documented—photos exist of JFK visiting Holmes in 1932, shortly before the justice's death.Holmes's legal philosophy emphasized restraint, often reminding fellow jurists that the Constitution “is made for people of fundamentally differing views.” He resisted turning the judiciary into a super-legislature, warning against confusing personal preference with constitutional mandate. His opinions, dissents, and aphorisms—“taxes are what we pay for civilized society,” among them—still echo in courtrooms and classrooms today.By the time he retired in 1932 at age 90, Holmes had become an icon: not just a jurist, but a symbol of intellectual honesty and constitutional humility. His December 8 appointment wasn't just another judicial swearing-in—it was the beginning of a philosophical legacy that still defines the boundaries of American legal thought.Amit Agarwal, a former clerk to Justices Alito and Kavanaugh, will soon find himself arguing against the very ideology he once clerked under—defending limits on presidential power in a case that could gut a nearly century-old precedent, Humphrey's Executor v. United States (1935). He'll be representing former FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, who sued after President Trump gave her the boot, and whose case now tees up a potentially seismic shift in how presidents control independent agencies.At issue is whether the president can remove members of independent commissions—like the FTC—at will, or whether statutory “for cause” protections, created by Congress and upheld since the New Deal, still mean anything. If the Supreme Court overturns Humphrey's Executor, it would blow a hole in the legal framework that has shielded multi-member agencies from raw political interference since Roosevelt tried—and failed—to remake the FTC in his own image.Let's pause here: Humphrey's Executor isn't just some dusty New Deal relic. It drew a sharp line between executive officers who serve the president directly and independent regulators who are supposed to be immune from daily political whims. The Court in 1935 said: no, FDR, you can't just fire an FTC commissioner because he's not singing from your hymnbook. That ruling became the backbone of modern agency independence—from the Fed to the SEC to the NLRB. Without it, the next president could dismiss any regulatory head who doesn't toe the party line. You want crypto rules to mean something? Food safety? Banking supervision? Say goodbye to all that if we pretend these agencies are just White House interns with better titles.But here's where it gets interesting: Agarwal is making the conservative case for restraint. Now working at Protect Democracy, he's arguing that letting presidents fire independent commissioners at will isn't a win for constitutional governance—it's a power grab that warps the original design. He's invoked Burkean conservatism—the idea that practical experience should trump theoretical purity—and warns that blind devotion to the “unitary executive theory” threatens institutional integrity more than it protects separation of powers.And Agarwal isn't alone. A collection of conservative legal scholars, former judges, and ex-White House lawyers—some with deep Federalist Society credentials—have filed briefs supporting his position. Their argument? That Humphrey's Executor is an “originalist” decision, faithful to the Founders' ambivalence about concentrated executive power, especially in domestic administration.Still, let's be honest: the Court is unlikely to be swayed by this internal dissent. The Roberts Court has already chipped away at agency independence in decisions like Seila Law (2020) and Loper Bright (2024), where it let Trump fire the CFPB director and overturned Chevron deference respectively. With a solid conservative majority, and multiple justices openly embracing a muscular vision of presidential control, the writing may already be on the wall.Which is precisely what makes Agarwal's stand so notable. This isn't some progressive legal activist parachuting in from the ACLU (though his wife did work there). This is someone who backed Kavanaugh publicly, donated to Nikki Haley, and spent years rising through the conservative legal pipeline—only to conclude that this version of executive power isn't conservative at all. It's reactionary.So what happens if Humphrey's goes down? Beyond the short-term question of whether Slaughter gets her job back, the bigger issue is how much power presidents will wield over what were supposed to be politically insulated regulatory bodies. Will a ruling in Trump's favor mean future presidents can purge the Fed board? Fire NLRB members mid-term? Flatten the independence of enforcement agencies? The Court may claim it's just restoring “constitutional structure,” but don't be surprised if that structure starts to look a lot like one-man rule.Agarwal, to his credit, is saying: not so fast. Sometimes conserving means preserving. And sometimes defending the Constitution means restraining the people who claim to speak for it the loudest.Ex-Alito, Kavanaugh Clerk Defends Limits on Trump's Firing PowerFight over Trump's power to fire FTC member heads to US Supreme Court | ReutersA federal judge has temporarily barred the Justice Department from using evidence seized from Daniel Richman, a former legal adviser to ex-FBI Director James Comey, in any future attempts to revive criminal charges against Comey. The move comes just weeks after the original case was dismissed due to the lead prosecutor's unlawful appointment.At issue is whether federal prosecutors violated Richman's Fourth Amendment rights by searching his personal computer without a warrant during earlier investigations into media leaks tied to Comey's 2020 congressional testimony. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sided with Richman—for now—saying he's likely to succeed on the merits and ordering the government to isolate and secure the data until at least December 12.The contested materials had been used to support now-dropped charges that Comey made false statements and obstructed Congress regarding FBI leaks about the Clinton and Trump investigations. But Richman, once a special FBI employee himself, argues the search was illegal and wants the files deleted or returned.The Justice Department, undeterred, is reportedly considering a second indictment of Comey. But between shaky prosecutorial appointments and constitutional challenges like this one, their case is rapidly sliding into legally questionable territory.US federal judge temporarily blocks evidence use in dismissed Comey case | ReutersThe U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review a controversial book removal case out of Llano County, Texas, effectively allowing local officials to keep 17 books off public library shelves—titles that deal with race, LGBTQ+ identity, puberty, and even flatulence.The justices let stand a divided 5th Circuit ruling that found no First Amendment violation in the county's decision to pull the books. That decision reversed a lower court order requiring the books be returned and rejected the plaintiffs' argument that library patrons have a constitutional “right to receive information.” The 5th Circuit held that libraries have wide discretion to curate collections, and that removing titles doesn't equate to banning them altogether—people can still buy them online, the court reasoned.The dispute began in 2021 when local officials responded to complaints by residents, ultimately purging books including Maurice Sendak's In the Night Kitchen (due to nude illustrations), as well as works on slavery and gender identity. Opponents of the removal sued, citing free speech violations. But the case now stands as a significant blow to that theory—at least in the 5th Circuit, which covers Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.The Supreme Court's refusal to intervene leaves unresolved a key question: does the First Amendment protect not just the right to speak, but the right to access certain information in public institutions? For now, in parts of the South, the answer appears to be no.US Supreme Court turns away appeal of Texas library book ban | Reuters This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

donate to the ACLU: https://www.aclu.org/FOR THE STORYINSTAGRAM: @livingforthestory https://www.instagram.com/livingforthestory/SAMMY KTIKTOK: @skzzolno https://www.tiktok.com/@skzzolno?lang=enINSTAGRAM: @skzzolo https://www.instagram.com/skzzolo/YOUTUBE: sammy k https://www.youtube.com/@skzzoloPR/Partnerships: sammy@mattermediagroup.comdo it for the story.xoxo,sammy k

120525 ACLU Drops Free Speech Suit V. Louisiana, NOLA Pols Blast Trump, Are Veterans Next, Mamdani's Our Time by The News with Paul DeRienzo

David McGuire is The Executive Director of the ACLU of Connecticut. He calls with Concerns about license plate readers go back more than a decade, but the technology in recent years has exploded in popularity and the potential misuses have evolved.

CannCon and Ashe in America open with sponsor updates and hockey banter before diving straight into the Tennessee special election, where Democrats are already spinning a nine-point GOP win into momentum talking points. They move into Dallas County's move toward hand counting, stressing civic involvement and the broader fight over election integrity. The show then shifts to a heated discussion on immigration after Judge Beryl Howell's new constraints on warrantless arrests and the ACLU's role in shaping enforcement. CannCon and Ashe dig into Minneapolis' Somali-language political speech controversy, Trump's remarks on Minnesota visa fraud, and the broader battle over national identity. From there, they dissect Supreme Court arguments, DOJ investigations, and the political weaponization of the legal system, including the Comey-era “Arctic Haze” probe and ongoing leak issues. The episode also covers Trump's Monroe Doctrine “corollary,” Europe's escalating rhetoric toward Russia, fractured NATO relations, and the shifting landscape in Ukraine. They close by examining Rand Paul's critique of the Venezuela drug-boat strikes, Trump's defense of kinetic action against cartels, and NBC's new polling showing Americans abandoning faith in the four-year college model.

This week, we're showing thanks to everyone who's stepping up for our collective civil liberties, with a People Power potluck! And we've got a seat at the table for you. Our guest of honor is Maribel Hernández Rivera, the ACLU's National Director of Immigrant Community Strategies. And we have three volunteers from the ACLU's grassroots network People Power stopping by. Kathy joins us just around the 20-minute mark from Minnesota, Sophia around 40 minutes in from Colorado, and Terry at the hour mark from Tennessee. Listen in as they speak with Kamau about why and how they're advocating for immigrants' rights, and what their hopes are for their communities—and yours—this giving season and beyond. If you'd like to join Kathy, Sophia, Terry, and other People Power volunteers, now's the perfect time. You can head to aclu.org/campaigns-initiatives/people-power to learn more. And make sure to check out the ACLU's Holiday Conversation Guide, at aclu.org/the-aclus-holiday-conversation-guide. At Liberty is a production of the ACLU. For the ACLU, our senior executive producer is Sam Riddell, our executive producer is Jessica Herman Weitz, and our intern is Madhvi Khianra. W. Kamau Bell and Melissa Hudson Bell, PhD are executive producers for Who Knows Best Productions. At Liberty is produced and edited by Erica Getto and Myrriah Gossett for Good Get. This episode was recorded at Skyline Studios in Oakland, CA.

A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. Important Links We Belong Here campaign page We Belong Here Partner organizations: Asian Law Caucus |Asian Refugees United | Hmong Innovating Politics | Hmong Family Association of Lansing | Rising Voices Transcript Nina Phillips: Hello and welcome. You are tuning into APEX Express, a weekly radio show uplifting the voices and stories of Asian Americans. I'm your host Nina Phillips, and tonight we are doing something a little different. Earlier this month on Monday, November 3rd, communities of Hmong and Nepali speaking, Bhutanese Americans, fellow immigrants and allies, gathered together at a virtual [00:01:00] community event called We Belong Here. The goal: to shed light on the continued detainment and deportation of immigrant communities in the United States and the specific challenges faced by Bhutanese, Hmong, and Southeast Asian folks.  Tika Basnet: When, uh, my husband got detained on April 8, I took one week after to reach out Aisa and she told me, Hey Tika, come forward, you know, your story is powerful. People need to know your story.  Nina Phillips: That was the voice of Tika Basnet. Her husband, Mohan Karki is a Nepali speaking Bhutanese refugee from Ohio who has spent months in ICE detention, trapped in legal limbo. Tika has been working tirelessly to bring her husband home and shared her story with us at We Belong Here. Tonight, we are bringing you a recording of this virtual community gathering. You'll hear more from Tika about the Free Mohan Karki campaign and from Ann Vue, [00:02:00] the spouse of Lue Yang, a Hmong community leader from Michigan, who is also currently detained and facing deportation. Ann is leading the movement to Bring Lue Home, and we'll be sharing more later about how you can get involved as well and support both of these campaigns. You will also hear from state representatives of Michigan and Ohio, the music and spoken word performance of Asian Refugees United, and community tools and resources that a vital in helping to keep our immigrant loved ones safe. The host of this community event was Miko Lee, APEX producer, and a voice that you might be familiar with. Alrighty, without further ado, here's Miko. Miko Lee: We belong here. What we recognize right now is there's almost. 60,000 people being held in detention right now, immigrants that are being held in detention. It is a pandemic that is happening in our country that's impacting all of our people, and we need [00:03:00] to be able to take action. Tonight we're talking very specifically, not with this 60,000 people that are in detention now, but just two of those stories, so that you can get a sense of what is happening in the Bhutanese and Hmong communities and what's happening right now, and to talk about those particular stories and some actions you can take. First I wanna recognize that right now we are on native lands, so all of us except our original indigenous people, are from other places and I'd invite you to go into the chat and find your native land. I am speaking with you from the unceded Ohlone land, and I wanna honor these ancestors, these elders that have provided for us and provided this beautiful land for us to be on. So I invite you to share into the chat your name, your pronoun, and also what indigenous land you are living on right now in this Native American Heritage Month. Thank you so much to all of you that have joined [00:04:00] us. We are really seeing the impact of this administration on all of our peoples, and particularly tonight in terms of the Hmong and Nepali speaking, Bhutanese communities. These are communities that have been impacted, specifically refugee communities that have been impacted in incredible detrimental ways by this administration. And tonight what we really wanna do is talk to you about what is going on in our communities. We wanted to make sure we translated so that we have as much access into our communities as possible because we wanna be as inclusive of our world as we can. We Belong Here is focusing on the fact that all of us belong here. We belong in this land, and we are telling these stories tonight in the context of these sets of people particularly that have so many similarities in terms of Hmong folks who worked with our US government and worked with our US military during the Vietnam War and then came [00:05:00] here as refugees and stayed in this country to the Nepali speaking Bhutanese folks, who left their country from ethnic cleansing and then went into refugee camps and now took refuge in the United States. So these are all stories that are impactful and powerful, and it's really what it means to be American. we have come from different places. We see these attacks on our people. right now I would like to bring to the fore two empowering women, refugees themselves. Hailing from places as different as Somalia and Southeast Asia, and they're gonna talk about some of the detention and deportations that are happening right now. First I'd like to focus on Rep Mai Xiong, who's from Michigan's 13th District. I hand it over to the representative.  Rep. Mai Xiong: Good evening everyone. I'm state representative,  Mai Xiong, and it is a pleasure to meet all of you virtually. I'm coming to you from Warren, Macomb County, Michigan, and I represent the 13th [00:06:00] house of district, uh, the communities of Warren Roseville and St. Claire Shores. I've lived here in Michigan for over 20 years now. I came to the United States at a very young age, was born in a refugee camp and came here when I was three years old. So I grew up in Ohio. And then I moved to Michigan to attend college. Never thought that I would ever be serving in the State House. I previously served as a county commissioner here in Macomb. And, uh, last year when President Trump got elected, I had very quiet fears that as a naturalized citizen, that even I did not feel safe given the, um. The failure in our immigration system. So we have seen that play out, uh, with this administration, with the, attempts to get rid of birthright citizenship de-naturalization. And, you hear the rhetoric from officials about, deporting the worst of the worst criminal, illegal aliens. And we [00:07:00] know, as Miko mentioned in, in her introduction, that, refugees came here through a legal pathway. The Hmong in particular served alongside America during the Vietnam War and were persecuted from Laos. So my parents fled Laos. And so growing up I didn't have, uh, citizenship. Um, and so we have seen, uh, in this administration that refugees are now caught up in this, immigration effort to get rid of people who came here through legal pathways Lue is a father. He is a community leader. Uh, he is a well-respected member of our community as all of these individuals are. And at some point our system failed them and we are working extremely hard, to get their stories out. But what I have found with many of these families is that they are, uh, afraid to come forward. They are ashamed. There is a stigma involved and, uh, culturally, as many of you may [00:08:00] know, if you are of Asian American descent, and a fear of, uh, retaliation. And as the only Hmong American elected here in Michigan, I'm grateful that I have, uh, the ability to.  have those connections and to be such a visible, uh, member of my community that many of these individuals. Felt comfortable enough to reach out to me. But the reality is back in July we didn't know anything other than, the number of people who were detained. And that was through a firsthand account from loved ones who you know, were accompanying their loved one and got detained. And so it was literally like trying to find missing people and then getting the word out to let them know that, hey, there's actually, there's help out there. The volunteer attorneys, the nonprofits, the Immigration Rights Center, uh, here in Michigan, I mean, everybody has been doing a phenomenal job because I think the majority, the vast majority of Americans understand that, um, these [00:09:00] individuals that are being taken out of our communities are not a, a threat to society. They are members of our community. They've lived here for decades. They have jobs, they have children. And when you when you take an individual out of our community, it actually does more harm then it does to make any one of us safe. So that's the message that I have been sharing with others, uh, not only in having a connection and being a refugee just like these individuals, but advocating for them and making it clear that these are our neighbors, these are our children's classmates, parents, and it doesn't make any one of us feel safer. One of the things I am. Upset about that I continue to talk about is that we're not actually in a immigration crisis. We share here in Michigan, we share an international border with Canada, and we have never had an issue with border security. The [00:10:00] problem is the policies that have been put in place, that these individuals have been caught up in our immigration system for decades, and it is extremely hard for them to obtain citizenship or to even know what their rights are. And so we really need, in addition to advocating for these families, we need immigration reform. Throwing money at a problem is not going to solve the problem. If anything, we have are, we are in an economic crisis. Miko Lee: Thank you so much for joining. Um, I'd love to turn the baton over to another one of our powerful women representatives, Rep. Munira Abdullah from Ohio's Ninth District. Rep Abdullah. We pass it over to you. Thank you so much.  Rep. Munira Abdullahi: Uh, thank you for having me and also Rep Mai Xiong, it is really great to see you. I'm grateful to have been able to see you go from Commissioner to State Rep, doing amazing things on social media as well. I'm very, a big fan. Uh, my name is Munira Abdullahi. I represent District Nine in Ohio, which is in the Columbus area. Northland, [00:11:00] uh, Manette Park. Uh, a little bit of New Albany in Westerville city schools. Um, I'm also a refugee. My family fled Somalia and Civil War, and I was born in refugee camp in Kenya. And then we came to the United States when I was about two, three years old, uh, and ended up moving to Ohio when I was like four. First moved to Utah, salt Lake City, Utah, and then to Ohio when I was about five years old. And so I certainly understand the fear of being an immigrant in a new country and, um, struggling to belong and figure out where are your place is. And, and also just adjusting to a whole new society, um, with the language barriers and, and all of the the barriers are in the way. And then that fear of, your immigration status. You know, before my parents were, you know, passed their, their, uh, citizenship test, right. It was very scary. Um, and I know many families who feel the same way right now, especially with this new administration. Um, with the OCE raids that are happening that are really disrupting our communities and our [00:12:00] families. Um, we have a, a, a cons, a constituent of mine, um, who is now, uh, in prison. We have, uh, have a couple actually. One is Leonardo Faso, and then I know one we're gonna talk about soon is Mohan Karki, who is his family, I believe, is on this call. Uh, and he was taken by ICE. And he's, uh, you know, the, the breadwinner and the, the caregiver of his family. And so it's really important not to forget that a lot of these people who are being taken by ICE are like the breadwinners and, and, and the caretakers of these families. And now the family's left with a hole, uh, in their, in their home. And so, we really need to remember to take care of these families. I know there's gonna be a GoFundMe that that will be shared. Um, but finding these families and supporting them. Um, in any way that we can monetary, you know, checking on them, giving, you know, helping them with food. Now we have SNAP benefits are being cut for many, many, many Americans. We are struggling as is, but immigrants in particular are struggling a lot, lot more, um, with these raids and, and with the uncertainties. But one thing I wanna remind everyone is that, you know, through community we [00:13:00] find strength. And so that, um, understanding, you know, where our communities are, where people are suffering and finding our place and helping with that, right? Whether that might, might be, uh, maybe we have the financial capabilities to, to support, maybe we can cook for someone. Um, maybe we can advocate where, where we have the ability to advocate. Whatever we can do, we have a responsibility to do it. Um, and there are successes. I know in Ohio it's a little different where we can't really advocate anything on the state level because it's like they, we just make things worse. We're in a very rough, super minority, the Democrats and super minority, and we have bills in the State House we're trying to fight against that are trying to make it worse, where we're trying to get rid of Republicans in the State House are trying to get rid of like a sanctuary cities, um, and penalize cities that don't engage, uh, or don't cooperate with ICE. Um, we have currently a bill, which actually this is, this might be more of a, on a positive note, is we had a bill house bill one. That sought to ban immigrants, certain immigrants from owning land in certain areas. [00:14:00] But because of community engagement, because of advocacy, because of collaboration with community advocacy groups, that Bill was effectively paused. Like, as of now, it's paused because people came and advocated. They spoke to their representatives, they testified, they called, they protested, um, they had press conferences. They brought so much attention to the bill, and it just became so. Obvious that people don't want this bill. And that pressure really got to the majority in the State House. And that bill has been paused, right? It was created to keep Chinese Americans from buying land specifically. Um, and that list can change, by the way. It's an, it's a, a rotating list. The Secretary of State can add whatever countries that they want to, that list, so it's very harmful. But the Asian American community came together alongside with us representatives in the State House and, and effectively like paused that bill. So there's there are positive things we could, we could achieve as a community when we fight together and communicate and stand with one another regardless of our nationality. We're all struggling here. We're [00:15:00] all in the same place. We're all, uh, in need of one another. And that's why I was reminding people was like, when we are in need of one another. And when one person is struggling, we should all be feeling that.  Miko Lee: Thank you  Rep Munira. Thank you so much for joining us. And yes, we are all part of a collective community that needs to be working together. And Rep Munira talked about Mohan Karki and next we're gonna see a short video performance that was created by Asian refugees United, uh, Maxine Hong Kingston said, “in a time of destruction, create something”. So we're gonna watch this video that was created. Uh, it's a shortcut of a performance by Asian Refugees United. Nina Phillips: Hello, it's APEX Express host Nina Phillips here chiming in with a couple words on this performance. It's a very music and spoken word forward piece, so you should get a good sense of the production through just the audio. The youth performers from Asian Refugees United do a wonderful job of embodying the story of Mohan Karki and his family through music and [00:16:00] movement and dance as well. Very evocative. If you'd like to see this short video clip in full, with the visuals, please visit the website of Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality. That's accre.org/our-voices/webelonghere.  Enjoy the show. ARU Performer: Mohan Karki, I was detained by an ICE officer to be deported to a country that I never been to. A country. That I don't belong to [00:17:00] a country I wasn't born to, that I don't speak the language of. When they moved me to a detention center in Michigan, I called my wife Tika. They're taking me, I told her my voice was calm, but inside I was breaking into a million pieces. It felt like a goodbye, not just to her, but to the life we built together to the dreams that we planted seeds for. I was just 17 years old when I decided who I was before I could even speak up for myself. I stand here as a victim of an unjust system that never gave me a chance.[00:18:00]  I am a man with purpose. I worked hard. I drove trucks. I supported my family, and I loved my wife Tika, and waited for the day that I would finally meet our baby. [Speaks in Nepali] How do I tell my daughter that leaving her was never my choice? Now I wait for the news. Now would completely change everything. Will they send me back to Bhutan? Will I be deported like the ones before me? No one talks about what happens to us [00:19:00] once we're gone. We vanish. Into silence. Where do I belong?  You belong here. They belong here. We belong here. [Singing in Nepali] [Speaks in Nepali] What type of future do we wanna build? A future where we can all belong? A future where we can coexist, [00:20:00] coexist in nature. And coexist with each other. A future where another Mohan Karki does not have to fear of being displaced all over again. A future where Mohan Karki does not have to be separated from his new born baby girl. A place where people like Mohan Carkey can have home, a future and community, a future with family, a future and harmony. A future to heal. A future to grow. Above all, a future to belong. I hope the future is more generous to all of us. [Singing in [00:21:00] Nepali] Miko Lee: Can you all give it up in the chat for those performers. Nawal was our interpreter at the very beginning of this, and to show the power of how art can transform things at that performance, the ACLU was there. And actually because of that, we were able to find a pro bono lawyer to be able to help with one of, uh, Mohans Habeas Corpuses cases and just that's an example of Asian refugees United, that was their work before all of these detentions were going on. It was youth empowerment and storytelling, but they had to pivot, given the shape of our world. I wanna transition us to our panel of speakers of powerful. Again, powerful women. [00:22:00] Um, Ann Vue who is the spouse of Lue Yang, Tika Bassett, who is the spouse of Mohan Karki and Aisa Villarosa, who has been our brilliant, dedicated lawyer from Asian Law Caucus working on this. So we're not gonna go over and tell the entire stories of each of these people and what happened to them. And if you want that, you can listen to the radio show that we did on APEX Express. Tika, I wanted to start with you and just hear from you, what is your response after watching that video about your husband? Tika Basnet: Yeah, it is really beautiful story. Um, thank you ARU for, um, representing my husband story. Um, it just make, make me cry and I was crying while watching the video and it remind me what happened. Since seven month ago. And, um, yeah. Hi, my name is Tika Basnet. I'm from Ohio and I've been fighting for my husband deportation and detention since seven month ago. Without the community and without all the [00:23:00] support that I got from organization, I don't think it is possible that my husband will still be here. And the reason that this is possible is because I reach out to them without getting fear, without getting afraid of what will happen if I speak outside. So, um, yeah, um, it is really difficult. What is going on right now. Sometime I don't wanna speak because of the current policy. Uh, it make me feel, even though I'm US citizen, um, sometime I feel like if I speak something against the policy, I, they will might, they might gonna take my citizenship away. And then, um, I realized that, if I speak then it'll help me. Right now, um, ICE is not letting my husband come home, even though it is been seven month and our attorney try everything in a possible way. Uh, the ICE is not letting my husband come out. I dunno how long it'll take. I don't know. don't wanna, yeah. Thank you.  Miko Lee: No, you can speak more. Tika. Do you wanna add?  Tika Basnet: Yeah, um, especially I wanna thank you [00:24:00] ARU and Aisa and Miko. Everything is happening right now is because of them, because I reached out to them. If I did not, I feel like my husband is story will be one of those Bhutanese people that disappear. I don't know what happened to them. I hope, uh, the reason that I'm fighting for my husband case is because he deserve fear. Uh, he has a family member here. He has a community that loves him. He was supporting his parent, he was supporting us. We don't have a country. Um, this is our country and we belong here. Thank you.  Miko Lee: You. Thank you, Tika. I wanna bring Ann Vue up to speak about your husband, Lue Yang and his case and what's going on with his case. Very complicated case. What is going on with his case right now?  Ann Vue: So first of all,  Thank you guys so much for. Giving Tika and I this space just to share our stories of families who are fighting every day, um, just to stay together. So [00:25:00] currently with Lue's case right now we are, we just got his, um, stay of removal approved the emergency stay of removal approved. I might, um, have the right lingo for that, but, uh, so as of October 22nd our Michigan governor's, pardon was issued for Lue. So we were so grateful for that. I know our, our Michigan lawmakers are working around the clock uh, Michigan DHS team to bring him back to Michigan, uh, where we have a petition currently filed for his release while his case, uh, is ongoing. Miko Lee: Thanks Ann. And I just wanna point out that there's in, even though these communities are distinct and these two men are distinct, beautiful individuals, there are so many commonalities between the two. Um, both born in refugee camps, both in one case, the Bhutanese, the Nepali speaking Bhutanese, folks having escaped ethnic cleansing to then go to a. Uh, [00:26:00] refugee camp to then come to the US and in another families who worked with the American government in the Secret War in Vietnam, who then again became refugees and came to the US. Two young men who when they were young, like very young, um, with their peers, were involved in incidents that had, uh, really bad legal advice. That did not help them in the process. And that is why even though they're amazing contributing members in our current society, they have this past old, almost like childhood record that is impacting them. And both of them are impacted by statelessness because. Even though they're being deported, they're being deported to a place of which it is not their home. They might not speak that language. They might not have connections with that. Their home is here in America. Um, that is why we say use the terminology we belong here. Um, before we go a little bit more into personal stories [00:27:00] I saw from Asian Law Caucus, I wonder if you can give a little bit of an overview about the broader, legal actions that are taking place around these kidnappings.  Aisa Villarosa: Yeah, thanks Miko. And just huge love to Ann and Tika. Reiterating that these are two refugee communities bonded through not just this frustrating, heartbreaking experience, um, but also this, this solidarity that's building. To share Miko, about the broader legal ramifications, and there was a question in the chat about what's the big deal about a stay of removal? So just for starters, the system that Mohan and Lue got pulled into can be lightning quick with removing folks. Part of this is because Mohan, Lue, so many folks in refugee communities all across the country years and years ago, perhaps when they were teenagers, just like Mohan and Lue, uh, there might have been some sort of, run in with law enforcement. Oftentimes racial profiling [00:28:00] can be involved, especially with the over-policing, right in our country, decades later, after living peacefully in their communities. Oftentimes decades after an immigration judge said to Mohan, said to Lue, you are not a safety risk. You are not a threat to the community. You've done your time. You can come home. Uh, maybe some folks had some ICE check-ins that they would come to every year. Um, and then with this administration, this unprecedented attack on immigrant and refugee rights, that is when we started to see for the very first time as folks have mentioned, these broad deportations, uh, to countries that previously were not accepting refugees primarily because that is the same country of their ancestral persecution. Um, in some cases they have zero connection to the country. Um, and in cases like the Bhutanese refugees, they're actually [00:29:00] expelled from Bhutan when they're removed. Again, all this is happening for the very first time. There are some serious legal questions with due process. Even if immigration court does run on a similar track as a lot of our other court systems, there's still a duty of fairness and often that duty is completely neglected.  Nina Phillips: You are tuned into Apex Express on 94.1 KPFA, 89.3 KPFB in Berkeley, 88.1 KFCF in Fresno and online@kpfa.org. Coming up is Klezmer Dances II by The Daniel Pelton Collective.  [00:30:00] [00:31:00] [00:32:00] That was  Klezmer Dances II by The Daniel Pelton Collective. You are tuned into APEX Express [00:33:00] on 94.1 KPFA. Now back to Miko and her conversation with Tika Basnet and Ann Vue. Two incredibly strong women who are leading campaigns to bring home their respective spouses from ICE detention, and Aisa Villarosa with the Asian Law Caucus. Miko Lee: I would love to speak to a little bit more of the uplifting power of these women that are being highlighted right now. And I'm wondering both for Ann and Tika, if you could talk a little bit about your sense of resilience. because both of your spouses were, even though when they were youth, there were systems impacted in our Asian American communities. There's some shame that's associated with that. And so some people have been really hesitant to speak out. Can you talk a little bit about what encouraged you to speak out on behalf of your husband and how that has made a difference for you in the community? And I'm gonna start with Ann first.  Ann Vue: So I would say, um. In the [00:34:00] beginning when Lue was first detained on July 15th. I was scared. I am the first generation born American, uh, um, right here in Michigan. And even myself, I was so scared to say anything to anyone. I remember getting that call from Lue and it just felt so unreal. Quickly playing back to 2008, uh, which would be the third time that the embassy, Laos and Thailand both rejected Lue's entry and how his immigration officer was like, don't wait, start your life. And then fast forwarding it to what had happened, I was scared and, um. Lue and I are both, uh, Hmong community leaders as well. And Lue, of course, um, being president of the Hmong Family Association, him and I decided we're gonna keep a little quiet at first, and I started getting [00:35:00] calls from our Hmong community members. Uh, in concern to them receiving a letter, which is all dated for the same time at the same place that is not usual, where people would normally go see their immigration officer. And immediately that weekend I went to go visit him and I, it was explaining to him that I have received nine calls and I don't know what to do in immediately he. I think that the urgency around his people created that fear and immediately he was like, Hey, we've gotta start talking. You've gotta call you. You have to start making calls. Because he was detained on the 15th. On the 15th, which was Tuesday, and these letters were mailed to the community on that Friday. And immediately him and I started talking more and more and he said, “we have a 50-50 chance. If you don't fight for me and the others, then. We get sent back, you're gonna regret that for the rest of your life or [00:36:00] you fight for us. And as long as you fought all the way till the end, whatever happens, we can live with that”. And immediately, I remember speaking to, uh, attorney Nancy, and I've been mentioning to her that I wanna call, I wanna call Rep Mai. And I wanted to call Commissioner Carolyn Wright and she was like, well make the call and I'm glad that she didn't wait. And she just said, Hey, you know what? She just started talking and immediately Rep Mai called and that's how it kind of started this whole journey. So I am so thankful that I did. I did voice it out because I myself, even as a community leader, I felt hopeless. I felt like as loud as I am, everyone that I, for the first time had no voice. It became, became lonely. I became scared. Because they've got a, you know, we have a family, right, that we're raising together with small children. So I'm glad that we did, uh, [00:37:00] share our story and I'm glad that it is out. And, and that it, it opened the key to many other Southeast Asian families to do the same as well too.  Miko Lee: Thank you so much, Anna. And I remember you saying that even Lue was speaking with folks in Spanish to get their stories and share them out as well. Ann Vue: He had to learn it! And you know, I will say that with this whole detention thing, it doesn't just detain our person. It detains our whole family. We're all a part of this, you know? And so, you know, Lue had to learn how to count so he can give the numbers 'cause he was doing it with his hand motions. Because it's a hard system, it's a very complex system to navigate, which is how people go disappearing. And so for him to be able to reach out. Give me phone numbers to these families, regardless. Love beyond borders, right? And I was able to reach out to these families so that that way they know where their person was and [00:38:00] help them get set up so they can, so their families can call them. Miko Lee: Thank you so much for doing that. And you and your husband, both as organizers and continuing to be organizers even when locked up. Tika, I wanna turn it to you and ask about the courage it took to speak up and what keeps you going.  Tika Basnet: Yes. So when, uh, my husband got detained on April 8, I took one week after to reach out Aisa and she told me, Hey Tika, come forward. You know, your story is powerful. People need to know your story. And I told first thing to Aisa is our community is very just mental. They doesn't understand. And I've been looking at the video where our Bhutanese people get detained and deported and on common section, the first thing that I noticed was people are commenting, oh, these people are criminal. They are, maybe they, um, kill someone or they rape someone, you know, without. Understanding the people's story. And I, I [00:39:00] was thinking the same, whatever, if I come forward, will they gonna understand my story? Will they gonna talk to me? Will they gonna ask me personally, what is going on? And I actually same as Ann, I, um, I. Was scared to come out. I did not come out in two within two, two months, you know, when, uh, I tried to deport my husband on my due date that I was about to give birth, um, BIA, uh, grant, day of removal, you know, in two month I was crying alone. I was messaging Aisa and I was telling all my pain. And then when they stop my husband deport his son and that day, um. Aisa and ARU, everybody encouraged me. Like, you know, you need to come forward. People need to know your story. And then that day I decide, and I also remember that, um, within one minute after I gave birth, I was messaging, uh, ARU team I think his name [00:40:00] is Pravin or something. I was messaging him, Hey, I'm ready to give, uh, interview. I'm ready to give uh, a story. And that day I decide like I wanna come forward. I don't care what society is thinking, I'm the one that going through and people need to know my story. And, uh, I think, uh, and also I look at my daughter, you know, I don't want, um, her to think that I did not fight for her dad. You know, I want her to think like her mom is, is strong enough to fight and looking at her. That gave me so much power and yeah. And now like give, getting a lot of support, a lot of love is give me like, you know, I, I feel like, um, I wouldn't, uh, get all the support if I was scared and did not, uh, talk about my story. So now like receiving a lot of love from everywhere and that give me couraged to continue and talk about my husband's deportation.  Miko Lee: Thank you, Tika. And I wanna recognize that we're running late, but we're gonna get through it if those of you could stay with us a little bit [00:41:00] longer. My one more question to both Ann and Tika is what message do you have for people that are experiencing this right now? Because this, as we said, 60,000 people are detained right now. Your spouses, we, as we have said, it's not just you with your, the children, the grandparents, all the other people. What advice do you have for other folks that are going through this and do you have a message for those folks? Ann Vue: I would say, um, for anyone who is going through what Tika and I and the many are going through that, um, make sure you document everything, get your loved ones Alien Number because you want to track it as you go. Build your circle. Know that you are not alone. Uh, reach out. I'm still learning as I go too. And it's unfortunate that we as family, like have to become attorneys overnight and learn to as well. But make sure that you guys, that you know that you're not alone you know that [00:42:00] we're not fighting the system. We're fighting a system that. Hopes, uh, that we get tired of fighting it. And the moment that you speak up, they can't disappear your loved one quietly. And I am a very big, um, firm believer. There's this scripture that has always carried Lue and I and, uh, I, I can't stress on it enough. And especially to all of those, to all of our, everybody that's on tonight. And beyond that, uh, there's a scripture. It's a Proverbs, right? 3:27-28 that says, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is your power to act”. And so thank you to those who continues to act when action is really within your reach and. We belong here, our families belong here. And compassion delayed is really compassion denied. And so don't fight alone 'cause that's what they are hoping that we will fight alone, [00:43:00] but we're together in this.  Miko Lee: Beautiful, thanks. And Tika, what about you? What advice do you have for other people that are experiencing this with family members?  Tika Basnet: So, yeah, um, I'm encouraging everyone like we experiencing this deportation for the first time or. Come forward. You never know. You know how many support you will get. Looking at Ann and my story that if we did not reach out to the community, I don't think our husband will be here at the moment. So you are the one who going through the pain and, uh, sharing your pain will make you at least a relief and you never know. Your husband Deportes and will stop. You will get like support from, from community. So ICE is not deporting only your husband or your like wife or someone, they are deporting your dream, your hope. So when they try to deport my husband, they were deporting my husband, uh, my [00:44:00] daughter future, the future that we talk about. So I am telling everyone that come forward. Story, your story, and you'll get lot of love. You'll get lot of support. And if I did not talk before, I don't think my husband will be here. He'll be one of the person that disappear long time ago. So yeah, please come forward and see your story. And the last thing is, I wanna say we belong here. This is our home and our future is here.  Miko Lee: Thank you so much, Tika. Um, Aisa, I wanna turn it over to you. Ann was saying suddenly we have to become lawyers and, and so can you talk about, and even like with Lue's case, it was suddenly he got pardoned at the last minute when he was on a deportation plane, and then it was like, oh, that should fix everything, but it doesn't, so can you talk a little bit about some of the legal ramifications that people should know about? Aisa Villarosa: Sure. And just to say, Mohan, Lue, Tika, Ann, I mean, y'all have lived [00:45:00] several movies in, in just the span of months the amount of stress, both you yourselves as the lead advocate, your families. Uh, so, so for folks watching this is literally Mohan and Lue getting like pulled off planes because of the shared advocacy here, uh, which starts with the decision to speak out. Um, and for folks in the room who aren't sure whether they want to share their story, you know, we're not saying, oh, go to the press so much of it. Involves just opening your heart to a trusted person. Um, many of those people are here in this room uh, my organization, Asian Law Caucus. Uh, in a minute we'll share some links for some of our resources. Uh, the wonderful folks at ARU, there's such a full crew, and if you're part of a community, especially the many, many, too many refugee communities being targeted. You are not alone. So in terms of what the legal battle [00:46:00] looks like, another thing to remember is that for any case, there's usually a, a wave of folks that's needed, uh, for Lue, for Mohan. That's multiple states sometimes because in the immigration world, for example, you could have a very, very old final order of removal. So this is essentially the order that is put forward by an immigration judge. That technically allows a lot of these awful deportations and disappearances to take place. The battle to fight that can be multi-state, uh, multi-issue. So you're talking to a criminal defense attorney, you're talking to an immigrant rights attorney. Uh, but going back to that trust, just talk to someone who both you can trust and someone who has a good lay of the land because these cases are incredibly complex. Folks I work with, sometimes they're physically driving to a law office. Someone named Emily is on the call. You know, we drove to a law office. Turns [00:47:00] out the record we were looking for was, was too old. The, that previous attorney didn't have the record on file. There are so many practical challenges you don't anticipate. So the sooner you do that math and just open your story up, um, to, to a loved one, to a trusted one. And in a little bit we're, we'll share more links for what that process looks like.  Miko Lee: So we're gonna move into that call to action. We're running a bit over time, so if you could hang with us for a couple more minutes. Um, we want to one, thank all of our amazing guests so far and then move to our call to action. What can you do? A bunch of people are throwing things into the chat. We're gonna start with Rising Voices. Oh, I guess we're gonna start with OPAWL and Sonya is gonna share about OPAWL's work and the call to action there. Sonya (OPAWL): Hi everyone. My name is Sonya Kapur. I live in Columbus, Ohio, and I'm a member of OPAWL Building AAPI Feminist leadership. I'd like to share a little bit about our efforts to support Mohans Campaign for Freedom and encourage you to donate to [00:48:00] Mohans GoFundMe to cover his legal fees, and the link to the GoFundMe will be in the chat. With the funds raised so far, Tika and Mohan were able to hire a seasoned attorney to review Mohans court documents and work on his case. So your donations will allow Mohan to continue working with his legal team as we fight to bring him home. So even five or $10 will help us get closer to reuniting Mohan with his family and community here in Ohio. A really fun piece of this is that a local, Columbus based illustrator and OPA member Erin Siao, has also created a beautiful art fundraiser to help raise more funds from Mohans release campaign. So when you donate to Mohans GoFundMe between now and November 15th, you receive a complimentary five by seven art print of your choice. Families belong together on the right or on the left. To receive a print, you just email Erin and her. Email address will also be in the [00:49:00] chat, a screenshot of your donation confirmation along with your name and address. You can also send a direct message of the screenshot to her Instagram account, so please consider uplifting our art fundraiser on social media. Encourage others to donate to the GoFundMe and share Mohans story with your family and friends.  Miko Lee: Thanks, Sonya and Opal, and we'll turn it over to Emily at Rising Voices. Emily (Rising Voices): Hi, thank you. Um, rising Voices is one of the, uh, many members helping bring Lue Yang home. Just wanna share that. We do have a online petition going that directs you to email the ice field office in Detroit, pressuring them to bring him home. Um, there's also a number to call with a script provided. So nothing has to be reinvented. We please, please encourage you to share this out, and you do not have to be from Michigan to make a call or email every single email. And, all counts. And we also do have a GoFundMe for [00:50:00] him and his family. As we all know legal file, legal fees pile up, so anything counts. Thank you so much everyone.  Miko Lee:  Thanks Emily. Now we're gonna pass it over to Nawal talking about this event which is connected to disappeared in America.  Nawal Rai: Hi everyone. I'm Nawal here again and yeah, so We Belong Here. Uh, today's event was part of the Disappeared in America Weekend of Action, which is a national mobilization action to protect immigrants, uh, expose corporate complicity and honor the lives lost in detention and across America more than 150 towns and cities held.  Um. Weekend of Collective action this weekend on November 1st and second, standing in solidarity with immigrants families, uh, from holding freedom vigils outside of ICE facilities to via de Los Mortis gathering, honoring life's lost in detentions to ice out of Home Depot actions. Calling out corporate complicity this weekend was a resounding nation nationwide call for compassion, dignity, and [00:51:00] democracy, and demanding justice and due process for all. The National Action was organized by the Coalition of Partners, including National Day Labor Organizing Network, Detention Watch Network, the Worker Circle, public ci, uh, citizen, and many allied organization across the country. Thank you all. Thank you for joining us today.  Miko Lee: Thank you to everyone for showing up today. We thank all of our speakers, all of our many partner organizations. As we were saying, it takes many of us working together collectively. Even though we said there's 60,000 people detained. There are so many more than that. We know that immigrants contribute and refugees contribute immensely to the American experience, and we want everyone to know that we belong here. All of us belong here. This is our home.  Thank you so much for joining us all. We appreciate all of you, the interpreters, the translators, the folks behind the scene who helped to make this event happen. Um, shout out to Cheryl Truong [00:52:00] and Nina Phillips for really doing all the tech behind this. And to all of you for showing up tonight, we need each and every one of you to participate to show that you are part of the beloved community, that you are part of believing that America can be a place filled with beloved love instead of hatred. Um, so I would love you all to just all together. Shout out. We belong here. 1, 2, 3.  Event Attendees: We belong here. We belong here.  We belong here.  Miko Lee: Have a great night, and thank you all for joining us. Nina Phillips: This was a recording of a virtual community gathering that took place earlier this month on Monday, November 3rd. It was made [00:53:00] possible by We Belong Here, a coalition of immigrant rights organizations, Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality, Asian Refugees United, Asian Law Caucus, Hmong Family Association Lansing, Hmong Innovative Politics, OPAWL and Rising Voices.  As I mentioned earlier, you can watch the phenomenal video performance from Asian Refugees United on the website of Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality.  That's aacre.org/our-voices/webelonghere  There's also up-to-date information on how best you can support both the Free Mohan Karki and Bring Lu Home campaigns. We thank all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing. Your voices are important. Let's keep immigrant families together.  To close out. Here's a little more from the video performance. [00:54:00] [00:55:00] [00:56:00] [00:57:00]  Nina Phillips: For show notes, please check out our website, kpfa.org/program/APEX-express.  APEX Express is a collective of activists that include Ama Keane-Lee, Anuj Vaidya, Cheryl Truong, Jalena Keane-Lee, Miko Lee, Nina Phillips, Preeti Mangala Shekar, and Swati Rayasam. Tonight's show was produced by me, Nina Phillips. Get some rest, y'all. Good night. The post APEX Express – November 27, 2025 – We Belong Here: Bhutanese & HMoob Americans in the Struggle Against Statelessness appeared first on KPFA.

Back in April, Mo had the chance to sit down with W. Kamau Bell at SeriesFest in Colorado as part of a collaboration with the ACLU's podcast At Liberty. And today, you get to be in the audience! Listen in as Mo and Kamau discuss the differences between political and sociopolitical comedy, Kamau's evolving sense of humor, and what laughter has to do with our civil liberties. You can keep up with Kamau on Instagram @wkamaubell and at wkamaubell.com. The ACLU is on Instagram @aclu_nationwide, and at aclu.org. To learn more about SeriesFest, head to seriesfest.com. And you can listen to At Liberty across podcast platforms! Worse Than You with Mo Fry Pasic is hosted and produced by ⁠Mo Fry Pasic⁠. Our executive producers are Erica Getto, Myrriah Gossett, and Lauren Mandel. We're on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠TikTok⁠ @worsethanyoushow, and you can follow Good Get on ⁠YouTube⁠ for exclusive video content. Worse Than You with Mo Fry Pasic is a ⁠Good Get⁠ and ⁠Disco Nap⁠ Co-Production. Want more from Good Get? Check out ⁠One of Us with Fin and Chris⁠ and ⁠Drag Her! with Mano Agapion and Oscar Montoya⁠. For more from Disco Nap, listen to ⁠My Favorite Lyrics with Devon Walker⁠! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The ACLU is not new to the work of challenging presidents. During the first Trump administration, the ACLU successfully challenged Trump's Muslim ban, border wall, and family separation policies. Since Trump took office for his second term this January, the ACLU has filed 111 lawsuits against the administration — defending birthright citizenship, opposing deportations, and challenging executive orders. As Cecillia Wang, its national legal director notes, “litigation has been a tool of first resort in protecting people's rights and freedom.” We talk with Wang about how the ACLU is meeting this moment, and what individuals can do to ensure the preservation of civil rights and liberties. Guests: Cecillia Wang, National Legal Director, ACLU Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode explores An Officer and a Spy (J'accuse in French), Roman Polanski's 2019 film about the Dreyfus Affair in France. The Dreyfus Affair is one of most significant events in late 19th/early 20th century, an event whose implications reverberated for decades in France and around the world. The Dreyfus Affair centered around the military trial of Captain Alfred Dreyfus on charges of treason. Wrongly convicted based on secret evidence and false information, Dreyfus's case would become a cause célèbres and synonymous with a miscarriage of justice. It also exposed and exacerbated tensions within French society while underscoring deep and pervasive levels of antisemitism.  Based on Robert Harris's 2013 novel of the same name, An Officer and a Spy focuses on the role of George Picquart, the military officer who helps uncover the truth behind Dreyfus's wrongful conviction, and Picquart's complex relationship with Dreyfus himself. Hewing closely to historical fact, the film highlights critical issues around law, truth, and justice, at the heart of the Dreyfus affair and why it remains so relevant today. Timestamps:0:00     Introduction 3:02      An overview of the Dreyfus case and key players 5:54.     Georges Picquart 13:14.    The struggle to overturn Dreyfus's conviction 17:54     Tensions over the Dreyfus affair and a lack of accountability 20:48    The “evidence” in the Dreyfus case 25:38     How the Dreyfus affair divided French society 30:16     Other films about the Dreyfus affair 33:54     The controversy around Roman Polanski as director 39:21      Legacies of the Dreyfus affair 45:13      The role of Colonel Henry Further reading: Begley, Louis, Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters (2009) Bredin, Jean‑Denis, The Affair: The Case of Alfred Dreyfus (1986) Doherty, Thomas, “From Méliès to Polanski: The Dreyfus Affair on Film,” Cineaste (2020) Harris, Robert, An Officer and a Spy (2013) Read, Piers Paul, The Dreyfus Affair: The Scandal That Tore France in Two (2013) Samuels, Maurice, Alfred Dreyfus: The Man at the Center of the Affair (2024) Zola, Émile, The Dreyfus Affair: J'Accuse and Other Writings (1998)  Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.htmlYou can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.comYou can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilmYou can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

The real story of immigration enforcement isn't in the numbers or the politics, but lies in the human cost paid by children, caregivers, and families when ICE shows up without warning. In this episode of Inside Voices, we sit down with ACLU of Connecticut's Legal Director Dan Barrett to address how immigration enforcement is reshaping daily life for families in child care programs, schools, and local workplaces. We look at the state's new guidance, the recent cases shaking Connecticut and Chicago, and the terrifying first 48 hours after a detention when kids are left waiting, parents scramble for answers, and legal protections are put to the test. Dan explains what “sanctuary” actually offers, where the gaps are, and what families and providers can do right now to stay prepared.

Join Cecillia Wang, national legal director of the ACLU, to hear the latest on the organization's legal strategy to defend civil rights and civil liberties, including the ACLU's cases against the Trump administration. Since the beginning of President Trump's second term, the ACLU has filed more than 77 lawsuits on issues ranging from birthright citizenship, ideologically targeted immigration arrests and detentions, racial profiling by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, discrimination against transgender Americans, and termination of federal scientific research grants on disfavored topics such as COVID vaccines or gender and racial disparities in health outcomes. "Win or lose, it matters when we stand up in court to fight for freedom, due process, and the basic notion that the president is not above the law," Wang has said. The first woman and the first woman of color to serve as the ACLU's top lawyer, Wang was formerly director of the ACLU's Center for Democracy and its Immigrant Rights Project. This on-stage conversation will explore: Current controversies in constitutional law, civil rights and civil liberties, and where our country—and the Bay Area—stand in historical context How the upcoming Supreme Court term could impact civil rights What ordinary citizens can do to help protect our rights and freedoms and U.S. democracy Join us for this compelling conversation with one of the leaders on the national front lines of fights over immigration, abortion, voting rights, transgender rights and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Terminally ill residents with a prognosis of six months to live could get physician prescribed drugs to end their lives if Governor Pritzker signs a bill that passed the Illinois legislature Oct. 31. Advocates say it gives people suffering and near death a choice, but some disability rights activists are concerned it could pressure disabled people to end their lives. In the Loop hears Amber Smock, vice president of advocacy for Access Living and Khadine Bennett, director of advocacy and intergovernmental affairs for the ACLU of Illinois. For a full archive of In the Loop interviews, head over to wbez.org/intheloop.

Welcome to Dennis Prager’s Timeless Wisdom. Each Monday through Saturday, you’ll hear some of Dennis’s best lectures, talks, and series—with brief commercial breaks. To get the ad-free version of this podcast, and to access the full library of lectures, talks, and shows, visit dennisprager.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.