Podcast appearances and mentions of James Risen

All of this week's episodes of It Could Happen Here put together in one large file. Government Small Enough to Fit in Your Bedroom feat. Steven Monacelli & Dr. Michael Phillips CZM Rewind: Police Drones and You CZM Rewind: You Already Know How to Organize Anarchism in Gran Columbia feat. Andrew Anarchism in Central America feat. Andrew You can now listen to all Cool Zone Media shows, 100% ad-free through the Cooler Zone Media subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. So, open your Apple Podcasts app, search for “Cooler Zone Media” and subscribe today! http://apple.co/coolerzone Sources: Government Small Enough to Fit in Your Bedroom feat. Steven Monacelli & Dr. Michael Phillips Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer, The Fall of Roe: The Rise of a New America https://www.amazon.com/Fall-Roe-Rise-New-America-ebook/dp/B0CK72ZGL1/ref=sr_1_1?crid=LT8GCBOTWABV&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.JQimtOEGy3PsNcHVXC_RzHb4-nla_0uFg_mcpTX1ogL7AlrpV8uIf5LJfxCuazgOHruVfjQvhOd-B27Yyr-vsv6Jz5Rw2iecYpzZ8X1fODwGfubBl94YbczW4lNK_68iuBj2ipBDR9JsmUFKduu54NOSAjT_zA0v4iBiASNqit03Aix2od9liGMi5jliDW7hqtT59N7-A-bQTtkL38pZeRP_lNIji1bosnq7UeWXmNM.NrfQX0Mt4qMsvR3L2hDj0RFB_7GXrOGbbHNFxP_dxm0&dib_tag=se&keywords=Fall+of+Roe&qid=1732370376&s=books&sprefix=fall+of+roe%2Cstripbooks%2C124&sr=1-1 James Mohr, Abortion in America: The Origins and Evolution of National Policy https://www.amazon.com/Abortion-America-Origins-Evolution-National/dp/0195026160/ref=sr_1_1?crid=TR1W25IRTLDR&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ZBOxRJsGiXDvGWbf9K1MRx7h7sn4m4_IDKwbohsbDD0.w_NHhzr7kEEWE8yR4B1rh1cuOGR8of66ZlXAvTHzxgM&dib_tag=se&keywords=James+Mohr+Abortion&qid=1732370158&s=books&sprefix=james+mohr+abortion%2Cstripbooks%2C116&sr=1-1 Leslie J. Reagan, When Abortion was a Crime: Women, Medicine, and Law in the United States, 1867- 1973 https://www.amazon.com/When-Abortion-Was-Crime-1867-1973-ebook/dp/B0B8TNX2MW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2S9JMDTGAJQRN&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.GVgbRixhq1FpPKRp5yMnMOkGBck7LhL6KpbcZwznkVsd7LzGl_DPfKYBmem066YyaLnnRv1PlQP8Ysr75l695zDs8EZVD-oM42iCfuISV0g.1k8qK_S9Vp5KaliYGNYObwpmoQUvVOmVmxULkBK2JtM&dib_tag=se&keywords=When+Abortion+Was+Illegal&qid=1732370269&s=books&sprefix=when+abortion+was+illegal%2Cstripbooks%2C102&sr=1-1-catcorr James Risen, Wrath of Angels: The American Abortion War https://www.amazon.com/Wrath-Angels-American-Abortion-War/dp/046509273X Anarchism in Gran Columbia feat. Andrew Cappelletti, Angel (2018). Anarchism in Latin America. AK Press. https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/anselme-bellegarrigue-the-world-s-first-anarchist-manifesto Anarchism in Central America feat. Andrew Cappelletti, Angel. (2018). Anarchism in Latin America. AK Press. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Few journalists have ventured as deep into the shadows of American power as The Intercept's James Risen. A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, Risen waged a remarkable seven-year battle against the federal government to protect his sources, risking imprisonment to defend press freedom.As he prepares to retire from journalism, he joins this week's Intercept Briefing to reflect on his extraordinary career with longtime friend and colleague David Bralow, The Intercept's general counsel.Recently, Risen has written extensively on Donald Trump and the dangers he poses to American democracy and is working on a new book about Christian nationalism and extremism. He warns about what lays ahead: “Trump has appointed a bunch of lunatics and conspiracy theorists to positions of power and he's turned the government over to oligarchs, so I think it's gonna get bad really, really fast.”And Risen foresees that reporters and news organizations are at even more peril than in the past because of changing public attitudes and the legal approach embraced by those in power. “The wealthy can now use libel law against the press endlessly, not to try to win cases, but just to financially exhaust news organizations,” he says. “In most libel cases brought against news organizations, the other side almost never really cares about winning. What they want to do is impose large costs on news organizations to defend against frivolous libel suits.”To hear more of the conversation, check out this week's episode of The Intercept Briefing.If you want to support our work, you can go to theintercept.com/join. Your donation, no matter what the amount, makes a real difference. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hour 4 Brings Open Lines, with Reactions to Today's Guest Interviews! James Risen and Kevin Flynn gave us a memorable show and the Listeners provide Feedback. Then, a mysterious audio issue caused the show to end abruptly - sorry to callers who we couldn't get on! Merry Christmas, Peter is back on the 27th! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this edition of The Truth Central, Dr. Jerome Corsi explains how today's leaders and voters could learn today from political machinations of the past through three very important books about government deception and corruption:1. How FDR, through lying to the American people at the time, manipulated the nation into fighting World War II through Douglas Horne's book: The McCollum Memorandum: A Story of Washington, D.C. in 1940-41: Franklin D. Roosevelt's Journey from Deterrence to Provocation on the Road to Pearl Harbor2. How Senator Frank Church, the man at the center of numerous investigations into the abuses of power within the American government, tried to expose corruption and malfeasance while up against a very powerful establishment through James Risen's book: The Last Honest Man: The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, and the Kennedys―and One Senator's Fight to Save Democracy3. Mattias Desmet's in-depth study of how people become enamored by Marxist/Socialist philosophies in his book: The Psychology of Totalitarianism.Visit The Truth Central website: https://www.thetruthcentral.comIf you like what we are doing, please support our Sponsors:Get RX Meds Now: https://www.getrxmedsnow.comMyVitalC https://www.thetruthcentral.com/myvitalc-ess60-in-organic-olive-oil/Swiss America: https://www.swissamerica.com/offer/CorsiRMP.phpGet Dr. Corsi's new book, The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: The Final Analysis: Forensic Analysis of the JFK Autopsy X-Rays Proves Two Headshots from the Right Front and One from the Rear, here: https://www.amazon.com/Assassination-President-John-Kennedy-Headshots/dp/B0CXLN1PX1/ref=sr_1_1?crid=20W8UDU55IGJJ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ymVX8y9V--_ztRoswluApKEN-WlqxoqrowcQP34CE3HdXRudvQJnTLmYKMMfv0gMYwaTTk_Ne3ssid8YroEAFg.e8i1TLonh9QRzDTIJSmDqJHrmMTVKBhCL7iTARroSzQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=jerome+r.+corsi+%2B+jfk&qid=1710126183&sprefix=%2Caps%2C275&sr=8-1Join Dr. Jerome Corsi on Substack: https://jeromecorsiphd.substack.com/Visit The Truth Central website: https://www.thetruthcentral.comGet your FREE copy of Dr. Corsi's new book with Swiss America CEO Dean Heskin, How the Coming Global Crash Will Create a Historic Gold Rush by calling: 800-519-6268Follow Dr. Jerome Corsi on X: @corsijerome1Our link to where to get the Marco Polo 650-Page Book on the Hunter Biden laptop & Biden family crimes free online:https://www.thetruthcentral.com/marco-polo-publishes-650-page-book-on-hunter-biden-laptop-biden-family-crimes-Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-truth-central-with-dr-jerome-corsi--5810661/support.

Guests: Zeke Faux, Marq Claxton, Tim Weiner, James Risen, Rep. Jasmine CrockettThe billionaire takeover of the American Government. Tonight: shedding new light on what those billionaires are getting for their investment. And the growing concerns that Trump's FBI pick could pull America back to the dark days of J. Edgar Hoover. Then, an update on Day 3 of the manhunt after the insurance CEO shooting.  Want more of Chris? Download and subscribe to his podcast, “Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes podcast” wherever you get your podcasts.

MSNBC look at Trumps authoritarianism, Steven Harper on Nazi comparison to GOP, conservative Judge Luttig on corruption of rule of law under DJT and why Trump is unfit for office, COVID excess deaths of 400,000 under DJT, foreign interference in US elections - again, James Risen musings, the "secret plan" of Trump and Mike Johnson to derail the election certification via The House of Representatives

MSNBC look at Trumps authoritarianism, Steven Harper on Nazi comparison to GOP, conservative Judge Luttig on corruption of rule of law under DJT and why Trump is unfit for office, COVID excess deaths of 400,000 under DJT, foreign interference in US elections - again, James Risen musings, the "secret plan" of Trump and Mike Johnson to derail the election certification via The House of Representatives

Reactions to Israel's Retaliation Against Iran Appear to Indicate a Winding Down of Escalation | The Press Allows Trump to Be Lawless While Expecting Harris to be Flawless | Will the Election be Won by the Billionaire Tech Bros or Will the American People Save Our Democracy? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

The Media's Horse-race Coverage of the Election as CNN's Pathetic Harris/Walz Interview Asks Trump/Vance Attack Lines to Avoid the "Liberal Media" Label | Give a Post-Gaza Israeli/Palestinian Peace a Chance | The Domestic Threat to Democracy Posed by Trump and Project 2025 backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

* US Doctor Shares His Eyewitness Account of Gaza War Horrors; Ahmad Javed Yousaf, MD, an internist and pediatrician practicing in Benton, Arkansas; Producer: Scott Harris. * Trump's Racism is the Primary Driver of his Voter Support; James Risen, a best-selling author and former New York Times reporter; Producer: Scott Harris. * Youth Incarceration in the U.S. Declines, but Racial Disparities Persist; Joshua Rovner, Director of Youth Justice with The Sentencing Project; Producer: Melinda Tuhus.

A Journalist Who Faced Jail Under the Espionage Act on Assange's Plea Deal | Presidential Debate Prep and How to Fact-Check Trump From a Former Democratic Strategist | War Between Israel and Hezbollah Appears Increasingly Likely backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

“FISA 702” allows the government to spy on foreigners and store the information that they collect about American citizens incidentally. After more than a decade of FBI officials inappropriately searching the database of our information without warrants, Congress just reauthorized the program and made some changes - some reigning the program in and some expanding it. In this episode, learn what those changes are and how they are likely to affect you. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Contribute monthly or a lump sum via Support Congressional Dish via (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Background Sources Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes FISA Jasper Ward. April 20, 2024. Reuters. Luke Goldstein. April 12, 2024. The American Prospect. December 2019. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General. Edward C. Liu. April 13, 2016. Congressional Research Service. History of Surveillance Mark Klein. November 8, 2007. C-SPAN Washington Journal. James Risen and Eric Lichtblau. December 16, 2005. The New York Times. NSA Spy Center Kashmir Hill. March 4, 2013. Forbes. James Bamford. March 15, 2012. Wired. PRISM program T.C. Sottek and Janus Kopfstein. July 17, 2013. The Verge. Laws Vote Breakdowns Audio Sources April 19, 2024 April 12, 2024 Speakers: November 8, 2007 C-SPAN Washington Journal Music by Editing Production Assistance

The Arizona Supreme Court Takes the State Back to 1864 Before it Was a State With a Draconian Abortion Law | The Left/Right Coalition Refusing to Re-Authorize FISA With MAGA Republicans Doing So Because Trump Thinks it Was Used to Spy on Him | The Fatal Combination of Passivity in the Electorate and Trump's Impunity Could End American Democracy backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Journalist and author Tom Risen is here to tell me about some of the real conspiracies that the CIA and the FBI were involved in from the 50s to the 70s and how, in 1975, one senator finally took these agencies to task, revealing shocking truths that would be used for decades to make the conspiracy theories we know today seem far more plausible. Tom writes about government surveillance and spy agencies and is the co-author of the bestselling book 'The Last Honest Man: The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, and the Kennedys—and One Senator's Fight to Save Democracy,'" which he wrote with his father, James Risen, another journalist who has spent decades covering intelligence agencies. Get Tom's Book Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Head to americanhysteria.com to get merch and leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline! Head to FACTORMEALS.com/americanhysteria50 and use code americanhysteria50 to get 50% off your first purchase Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist and author Tom Risen is here to tell me about some of the real conspiracies that the CIA and the FBI were involved in from the 50s to the 70s and how, in 1975, one senator finally took these agencies to task, revealing shocking truths that would be used for decades to make the conspiracy theories we know today seem far more plausible. Tom writes about government surveillance and spy agencies and is the co-author of the bestselling book 'The Last Honest Man: The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, and the Kennedys—and One Senator's Fight to Save Democracy,'" which he wrote with his father, James Risen, another journalist who has spent decades covering intelligence agencies. Get Tom's Book Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Head to americanhysteria.com to get merch and leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline! Head to FACTORMEALS.com/americanhysteria50 and use code americanhysteria50 to get 50% off your first purchase Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Originally Recorded December 21st, 2023 About James Risen: https://theintercept.com/staff/jimrisen/ Check out James Risen's new biography of Senator Frank Church (D - ID), titled The Last Honest Man: The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, and the Kennedys―and One Senator's Fight to Save Democracy: https://www.amazon.com/Last-Honest-Man-Kennedys_and-Democracy/dp/031656513X This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit musicallyspeaking.substack.com

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winning journalist James Risen, details the life and work of Frank Church - the man who forever changed the US intelligence community. From humble Idaho beginnings, through to his lofty Presidential ambitions, we delve into who Church really was, and his tireless devotion to serving American ideals of transparency and accountability - culminating in the Church Committee. However, Church learnt that you can't shine a light on the darkest corners of the FBI, the CIA and the NSA, without making some powerful enemies... From SPYSCAPE, the HQ of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Morgan Childs. Music by Nick Ryan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Friend of the Murdered Leader of the Russian Opposition Discusses Putin's Latest Murder of the Leader of the Russian Opposition | Why Speaker Johnson Admires Putin and Has Shut Down the Government for a Month | What We Know About Recent Warnings Russia Plans To Deploy a Space Weapon backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

James Risen explains everything you need to know about Senator Frank Church and his 1975 senate investigation into the dirty tricks of the CIA. Including… assassinations of foreign leaders, spying on American citizens and connivances with mobsters. Also, did the CIA kill Sam Giancana? James Risen is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for the Intercept. And author of The Last Honest Man, a biography of Church. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Idaho Senator Frank Church upended Washington with his committee's investigations into our government's intelligence community and that story is the centerpiece of the best-selling book, "The Last Honest Man" by Pulitzer Prize-winning author James Risen.

Read the newsletter: fromboise.com Join the BFFs: fromboise.com/bffs Idahistory tours & more: idahistory.com Find Haunted Boise book at Flying M in downtown Boise, Rediscovered Books, The Lit Room in Garden City, Barnes and Noble, and on Amazon More info on the James Risen talk about Frank Church on Oct 19 here

An interview with James Risen, author of The Last Honest Man. The book examines the fight for democracy by Senator Frank Church, a man at the epicenter of numerous investigations into the abuses of power within American government.

@TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85  (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Post)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp   (Post) Sean Diller @SeanDillerCO   (Twitter and Post)https://heartlandpod.com/JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/  Marion County Record newspaper office raided for no real reason other than…that's the question that's now being investigated by the Kansas Fantastic interview with Kansas Reflector editor in chief. Reflector is the Kansas equivalent of the MO independent. https://www.democracynow.org/2023/8/16/marion_county_record_raidIt's a great interview and unpacks all the ridiculousness that led to the Marion police potentially illegal raid of a newspaper.The “criminal matter” was referred to the Kansas Bureau of Investigations (KBI) and also Kris Kobach in a weird position; way to go, Marion Police: https://kansasreflector.com/2023/08/17/kobach-kbi-looking-into-possible-data-breach-in-kansas-newspaper-case/Marion County prosecutor has already withdrawn the charges after it was referred to the KBI:https://www.kansascity.com/news/state/kansas/article278300178.html?ac_cid=DM835277&ac_bid=-579791093So…magistrate judges in Kansas. That's…weird. They don't have to be lawyers to be judges in Kansas? Anyway, no one understands why any judge signed off on the warrant. Late update from a good yahoo news article https://news.yahoo.com/kansas-newspaper-police-raid-warrant-withdrawn-equipment-released-marion-county-record-140050314.htm What Caught Your Eye?RachelSorta related: U.S. backing down on Trump administration's indictment of Julian Assanage maybe:https://theintercept.com/2023/08/14/julian-assange-plea-deal/  And from the always great and indelible James Risen: https://theintercept.com/2023/08/15/marion-county-record-raid/AdamSt. Charles Co. library resolutionhttps://missouriindependent.com/2023/08/15/community-uproar-leads-st-charles-county-to-admonish-library-to-be-non-political/MO supreme court ruling on county standing on health ruleshttps://news.stlpublicradio.org/government-politics-issues/2023-07-12/mo-supreme-court-weighs-who-can-appeal-ruling-on-state-health-regulations 

@TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85  (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Post)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp   (Post) Sean Diller @SeanDillerCO   (Twitter and Post)https://heartlandpod.com/JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/  Marion County Record newspaper office raided for no real reason other than…that's the question that's now being investigated by the Kansas Fantastic interview with Kansas Reflector editor in chief. Reflector is the Kansas equivalent of the MO independent. https://www.democracynow.org/2023/8/16/marion_county_record_raidIt's a great interview and unpacks all the ridiculousness that led to the Marion police potentially illegal raid of a newspaper.The “criminal matter” was referred to the Kansas Bureau of Investigations (KBI) and also Kris Kobach in a weird position; way to go, Marion Police: https://kansasreflector.com/2023/08/17/kobach-kbi-looking-into-possible-data-breach-in-kansas-newspaper-case/Marion County prosecutor has already withdrawn the charges after it was referred to the KBI:https://www.kansascity.com/news/state/kansas/article278300178.html?ac_cid=DM835277&ac_bid=-579791093So…magistrate judges in Kansas. That's…weird. They don't have to be lawyers to be judges in Kansas? Anyway, no one understands why any judge signed off on the warrant. Late update from a good yahoo news article https://news.yahoo.com/kansas-newspaper-police-raid-warrant-withdrawn-equipment-released-marion-county-record-140050314.htm What Caught Your Eye?RachelSorta related: U.S. backing down on Trump administration's indictment of Julian Assanage maybe:https://theintercept.com/2023/08/14/julian-assange-plea-deal/  And from the always great and indelible James Risen: https://theintercept.com/2023/08/15/marion-county-record-raid/AdamSt. Charles Co. library resolutionhttps://missouriindependent.com/2023/08/15/community-uproar-leads-st-charles-county-to-admonish-library-to-be-non-political/MO supreme court ruling on county standing on health ruleshttps://news.stlpublicradio.org/government-politics-issues/2023-07-12/mo-supreme-court-weighs-who-can-appeal-ruling-on-state-health-regulations 

Kevin Stillwell narrates an overdue biographical history like a reporter pursuing the story of a lifetime. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile's Alan Minskoff discuss this history of the 1975 Senate Committee that unearthed the multiple crimes and misdeeds of our nation's secret agencies, ranging from assassination plots to wire taps to illegal intelligence gathering. Ultimately the Committee, chaired by Idaho Senator Frank Church, uncovered CIA partnerships with the Mafia, FBI extra-legal pursuits, and NSA domestic spying operations. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile's website. Published by Hachette Audio. Find more audiobook recommendations at audiofilemagazine.com Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from A Soul of Ash and Blood. #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout revisits Poppy and Casteel's epic love story in the next installment of the Blood and Ash series. Learn more at Audible.com/ASoulOfAshAndBlood Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's another EmMajority Report Thursday! She speaks with James Risen, senior national security correspondent at The Intercept, and Thomas Risen, aerospace and airlines reporter at Cirium, to discuss their recent book The Last Honest Man: The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, and the Kennedys—and One Senator's Fight to Save Democracy. First, Emma runs through updates on ANOTHER Fed rate raise despite cooling inflation, rising child labor, a telecom probe, Mitch McConnell's medical emergency, Niger's coup, and Hunter Biden's legal woes, before touching on Jim Cramer's telling CNBC comments on the UPS Teamsters and UAW. James and Thomas Risen then join, diving right into a background on Senator Frank Church and his political evolution into a progressive, anti-imperialist, and anti-authoritarian legend of American politics, including his outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War and the expansion of the US Intelligence community in the wake of the assassination of JFK, and eventual push for the establishment of the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (Church Committee). Next, the Risens explore the expansion of the US Intelligence community post-WWII, tackling the establishment of the CIA as a covert actor for US hegemony on foreign soil, putting them on track to rapidly become the international assassination juggernaut they are today, before expanding on their interaction with domestic actors, their mutually antagonistic relationship with J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, and the FBI's own relationship to political conspiracy and terrorism. After taking on the establishment of the Church Committee in the wake of Watergate, the state of disillusionment with the US government, and the revelations the Church Committee brought forward (particularly around COINTELPRO), James, Thomas, and Emma wrap up by assessing the absurdity of the GOP's attempt to frame their Congressional farce as the Church Committee 2.0. And in the Fun Half: Emma is joined by Brandon Sutton and Matt Binder as they discuss the British-American accent dynamics in Hollywood, DeSantis' position on an RFK cabinet roll, and the Weinstein couple muses about their voyeuristic experience at a recent drag show. Lucas from Montana dives into the anti-woke hijacking of libraries, Cody from Georgia expands on today's interview and connections with JFK and the Oswalds, Newsmax comes for the White House dogs, Kowalski proposes a prudent judicial philosophical conundrum, and Adam from Rhode Island brings up Elon's active destruction of Twitter, plus, your calls and IMs! Check out James and Thomas's book here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/james-risen/the-last-honest-man/9780316565134/?lens=little-brown Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the ESVN YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/esvnshow Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: http://majority.fm/app Check out today's sponsors: Givewell: Go to https://givewell.org to find out more or make a donation. If you make a donation, let them know you heard about us by choosing PODCAST and enter THE MAJORITY REPORT WITH SAM SEDER  at checkout. Again, that's https://givewell.org. Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop Check out Matt's show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Brandon's show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Check out Matt Binder's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Check out Ava Raiza's music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com/ The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/

James Risen, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former New York Times journalist, talks about his new book, The Last Honest Man: The CIA, The FBI, The Mafia, The Kennedys—And One Senator's Fight to Save Democracy. Risen discusses the Church Committee, headed by Idaho Senator Frank Church, which exposed shocking abuses by the intelligence community involving assassinations of foreign leaders, hit men, the Mob, illegal surveillance of American citizens, and the mysterious deaths of three committee witnesses.

On this edition of The Truth Central, Dr. Jerome Corsi explains how today's leaders and voters could learn today from political machinations of the past through three very important books about government deception and corruption: 1. How FDR, through lying to the American people at the time, manipulated the nation into fighting World War II through Douglas Horne's book: The McCollum Memorandum: A Story of Washington, D.C. in 1940-41: Franklin D. Roosevelt's Journey from Deterrence to Provocation on the Road to Pearl Harbor2. How Senator Frank Church, the man at the center of numerous investigations into the abuses of power within the American government, tried to expose corruption and malfeasance while up against a very powerful establishment through James Risen's book: The Last Honest Man: The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, and the Kennedys―and One Senator's Fight to Save Democracy 3. Mattias Desmet's in-depth study of how people become enamored by Marxist/Socialist philosophies in his book: The Psychology of Totalitarianism. Get Dr. Corsi's new book with Swiss America CEO Dean Heskin, How the Coming Global Crash Will Create a Historic Gold Rush: https://www.thetruthcentral.com/how-the-coming-global-crash-will-create-a-historic-gold-rush/Follow Dr. Jerome Corsi on Twitter: @corsijerome1Our website: https://www.thetruthcentral.comOur link to where to get the Marco Polo 650-Page Book on the Hunter Biden laptop & Biden family crimes free online: https://www.thetruthcentral.com/marco-polo-publishes-650-page-book-on-hunter-biden-laptop-biden-family-crimes-available-free-online/Our Sponsors:MyVitalC: https://www.thetruthcentral.com/myvitalc-ess60-in-organic-olive-oil/Swiss America: https://www.swissamerica.com/offer/CorsiRMP.phpThe MacMillan Agency: https://www.thetruthcentral.com/the-macmillan-agency/Pro Rapid Review: https://prorrt.com/thetruthcentralmembers/RITA: https://members.sayrita.com/truthcentralreaders/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-truth-central-with-dr-jerome-corsi--5810661/support.

James Risen is a two-time Pulitzer winner and investigative journalist who's just written a great book about Senator Frank Churck, *The Last Honest Man.* In this interview we go into detail about the impact of Vietnam on Church's political evolution, the creation of the Church Committee, the CIA's subversion and assassinations, the role of presidents--both Democratic and GOP--in subverting foreign nations, and more. Church is one of the more important figures in the history of American anti-Imperialism and this is a must-see/must-hear interview. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Outro- "CIA Man" by The Fugs Links// +The Last Honest Man: The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, and the Kennedys—and One Senator's Fight to Save Democracy (https://bit.ly/46rgFmB) +The Intercept: Church and State. How the Murder of a CIA Officer Was Used to Silence the Agency's Greatest Critic. (https://bit.ly/3CTmSKo) Follow Green and Red// +G&R Linktree: ⁠https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast⁠ ⁠ +G&R's Website: https://greenandredpodcast.org/⁠ +We're part of the Labor Podast Network:⁠https://www.laborradionetwork.org/⁠ Support the Green and Red Podcast// +Become a Patron at ⁠https://www.patreon.com/greenredpodcast⁠ +Or make a one time donation here: ⁠https://bit.ly/DonateGandR⁠ This is a Green and Red Podcast (@PodcastGreenRed) production. Produced by Bob (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969). “Green and Red Blues" by Moody. Editing by Isaac.

In Part 2 of our interview with James Risen, Pulitzer-winning reporter formerly with The New York Times and now with The Intercept, we discuss more details from his new book: “The Last Honest Man.”

Headlines for June 27, 2023; “Dead Men Walking”: James Risen on How the Wagner Revolt Threatens Both Putin & Prigozhin; James Risen on Why Trump’s Charges Are Different Than for Whistleblowers Targeted Under Espionage Act; “The Last Honest Man”: James Risen on How Frank Church Exposed CIA, FBI & NSA Assassinations, Abuse

In Part 2 of our interview with James Risen, Pulitzer-winning reporter formerly with The New York Times and now with The Intercept, we discuss more details from his new book: “The Last Honest Man.”

We talk with James Risen about corruption in the CIA as outlined in his new book "The Last Honest Man." Then, we discuss an online rebellion over cultural issues at the streaming version of the game Call of Duty.

James Risen's latest book is titled "The Last Honest Man." The man he's talking about is Frank Church, former Democratic senator from Idaho. In the prologue he writes: "When the Church Committee began to investigate the CIA, FBI, NSA and other agencies, it marked for the first time there had been any serious congressional inquiry into the national security state." The year was 1975. James Risen is a former New York Times reporter and currently covers national security for The Intercept.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Things are pretty bleak for the LGBTQ+ community in Florida thanks to Ron DeSantis' blitz of hate legislation. Pride celebrations being cancelled just part of the fallout. The President and CEO of Lake County Pride, Danielle Olivani, joins TNA co-host Danielle Moodie on this episode of The New Abnormal to share why the group is moving ahead with their celebrations anyway, the pushback its gotten in spite of it, and the impact these bans have had on the community's youth, in particular. Olivani also notes what they see as a “mass migration” out of the state because of it. Plus: Part 2 of author James Risen's interview with TNA co-host Andy Levy, where he shares more about Senator Frank Church, the man who lead the Church Hearings against the CIA and FBI (and who Jimmy Carter called a jerk in his diaries). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Risen, author of The Last Honest Man: The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, and the Kennedys―and One Senator's Fight to Save Democracy, joins this episode of The New Abnormal politics podcast to talk about Senator Frank Church, who led what is known as the Church Committee, a group that held Senate hearings in order to hold the intelligence community accountable for its expansive abuses. He shares one particular story with co-host Andy Levy that explains how a few whip-smart journalists, and President Gerald Ford opening his big mouth, finally exposed the CIA and set the hearings against them in motion. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Niki, Natalia, and Neil discuss Martha Stewart's appearance on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Support Past Present on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pastpresentpodcast Here are some links and references mentioned during this week's show:   ·      Martha Stewart, at age 82, is the oldest model to appear on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Neil discussed the first swimsuit issue, in 1964, and Niki referred to this Washington Post article about different “firsts” on the publication's cover. We all drew on this Slate history of the swimsuit issue.     In our regular closing feature, What's Making History: ·      Natalia discussed historian Dan Royles' book, To Make the Wounded Whole: The African American Struggle Against HIV/AIDS. ·      Neil recommended the new Hulu series, Grand Nighthawk: Infiltrating the KKK. ·      Niki shared about James Risen's new book, The Last Honest Man: The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, and the Kennedys.

The First White House Insider to Expose Trump on How Trump Will be Even More Dangerous Next Time | After Top Officials Met For 8 Hours, Could China and the U.S. Work Together to End the War in Ukraine? | A Champion of Democracy and Transparency Who Took on Powerful Interests and Won backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Nearly 50 years ago, the Church Committee began holding hearings to investigate the CIA and U.S. intelligence agencies' lawless and secret efforts to spy on and plan assassination plots. This week on Intercepted, Jeremy Scahill is joined by James Risen and Thomas Risen to discuss how the CIA — without oversight from Congress and at times behind the backs of U.S. presidents — orchestrated coups against popular democratic governments from Guatemala to Iran and spied on anti-war activists and Black Power leaders inside the U.S. It was not until the Democratic Sen. Frank Church decided to take on this unaccountable, powerful, covert force within the U.S. national security apparatus that some of the CIA's crimes and abuses came into public view. Sen. Church chaired a committee in 1975 that sought to reign in the CIA and impose laws and rules for their conduct. A new book by James Risen and Thomas Risen, called “The Last Honest Man: The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, and the Kennedys — and One Senator's Fight to Save Democracy,” tells the story of the man behind the Church Committee and how an unlikely hero emerged to battle the most powerful secret entity in the U.S. government.If you'd like to support our work, go to theintercept.com/join — your donation, no matter what the amount, makes a real difference.And if you haven't already, please subscribe to the show so you can hear it every week. And please go and leave us a rating or a review — it helps people find the show. If you want to give us feedback, email us at Podcasts@theintercept.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist James Risen tells the story of Senator Frank Church, who exposed crimes and cover-ups of the CIA and the FBI nearly 50 years ago. Risen says the Church hearings, which revealed CIA assassination plots, led to congressional oversight of intelligence agencies. Risen's book is The Last Honest Man.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist James Risen tells the story of Senator Frank Church, who exposed crimes and cover-ups of the CIA and the FBI nearly 50 years ago. Risen says the Church hearings, which revealed CIA assassination plots, led to congressional oversight of intelligence agencies. Risen's book is The Last Honest Man.

GB&U, James Risen on meaninless vote to end Iraq War, Atlantic article by Breakthrough Institute bullsh*tters and their outing, water woes, a few frivolities

GB&U, James Risen on meaninless vote to end Iraq War, Atlantic article by Breakthrough Institute bullsh*tters and their outing, water woes, a few frivolities

Finally the Law is Catching up to Trump and It's Happening on Many Fronts | The UN Votes to Remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women | The Second Africa Leaders Summit Underway in Washington backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

[00:30] Election ‘Day' in Arizona Enters Day Three (7 minutes) Maricopa County is somehow still not finished counting votes from the Arizona Republican primary. What is going on? [7:55] The Investigation Is the Cover-up (12 minutes) The Justice Department has subpoenaed White House Counsel Pat Cipollone as part of its investigation into the January 6 “insurrection” and “efforts to overturn the 2020 election.” In reality, the investigation into the “insurrection” is meant to cover up the real insurrection: the 2020 election steal. [20:20] Salon's Truth Bomb (12 minutes) Left-wing Salon published an article titled “When Whistleblowers Go to Prison, We're on the Road to Tyranny.” The article describes the case of Daniel Hale, who is serving a 45-month sentence in a maximum-security prison for blowing the whistle on Barack Obama's drone strikes. The Obama White House routinely used the Espionage Act to treat whistleblowers like spies. This is why James Risen called the Obama administration “the biggest threat to freedom of the press in a generation.” [32:00] Orwellian Doublespeak (5 minutes) Guy Reffitt, the first January 6 protester to stand trial, has received a seven-year sentence for “threats of violence” and entering restricted grounds—another example of America's lopsidedly biased administration of justice. [37:00] Will Garland's DOJ Prosecute Donald Trump? (9 minutes) Earlier this week, American Spectator noted that the White House would love to arrest and prosecute Donald Trump because he gets in the way of their fundamental transformation of America. If this happens, however, it would tear the country apart. The Bible does prophesy of another civil war in the United States, and we must be spiritually sobered and emotionally prepared for what is coming. [46:25] E-Mail Feedback (9 minutes)

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Back in 2014, the FBI worked with an attorney-turned-informant to try to stop a meeting between journalist James Risen and a source. This week on Intercepted: Risen, national security correspondent for The Intercept, reveals how the FBI used his reporting to try to catch a person they secretly called "the second Snowden." Recordings of conversations between an FBI agent and the attorney expose the government's efforts to prevent Risen from obtaining documents that they feared could expose new details about U.S. government spying. join.theintercept.com/donate/now See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Is Putin, Like Many Tyrants in History, Mentally Ill? | Dissent Among Russia's Top Intel and Military Officials Who Likely Leaked War Plans | The GOP is Torn Between Putin Haters and Putin Lovers Like Trump backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

The Dire Implications For Press Freedom in the Extradition of Julian Assange | Big Oil's Global Warming Strategy From Climate Denial to Climate Delay | Pinochet's Ghost Emerges With the Son of a Nazi Running For President of Chile backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

The war in Afghanistan is over. In this episode, we document how and why the Biden administration finally admitted defeat in our 20 year attempt to create a new government in Afghanistan and we take a hard look at the lessons we need to learn. Afghanistan is a country in a far away land, but there are disturbing similarities between the Afghanistan government that just collapsed and our own. We'd be wise not to ignore them. Executive Producer: Rachel Passer Executive Producer: Anonymous  Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Support Congressional Dish via Patreon (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536. Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Background Sources Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD236: January 6: The Capitol Riot CD218: Minerals are the New Oil CD210: The Afghanistan War CD124: The Costs of For-Profit War How We Got Here Craig Whitlock. The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War. Simon and Schuster, 2021. Patrick Tucker. August 18, 2021. “Trump's Pledge to Exit Afghanistan Was a Ruse, His Final SecDef Says.” Defense One. Eugene Kiely and Robert Farley. August 17, 2021. “Timeline of U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan.” FactCheck.org. Eric Schmitt and Jennifer Steinhauer. July 30, 2021. “Afghan Visa Applicants Arrive in U.S. After Years of Waiting.” The New York Times. Craig Whitlock, Leslie Shapiro and Armand Emamdjomeh. December 9, 2019. “The Afghanistan Papers: A secret history of the war.” The Washington Post. Mark Landler and James Risen. July 25, 2017. “Trump Finds Reason for the U.S. to Remain in Afghanistan: Minerals.” The New York Times. John F. Harris. October 15, 2001. “Bush Rejects Taliban Offer On Bin Laden ” Washington Post. The Evacuation: Those Left Behind William Mauldin. September 2, 2021. “Afghanistan Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Staff Left Behind.” Wall Street Journal. Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Annie Karni. August 29, 2021. “Series of U.S. Actions Left Afghan Allies Frantic, Stranded and Eager to Get Out.” The York Times. Sami Sadat. August 25, 2021. “I Commanded Afghan Troops This Year. We Were Betrayed.” The New York Times. Marjorie Censer. August 18, 2021. “US contractors rush to get former employees out of Afghanistan.” Defense News. Siobhan Hughes. August 18, 2021. “Afghanistan Veterans in Congress Trying to Prevent ‘a Death Warrant' for Helping America.” Wall Street Journal. Alex Sanz and Tammy Webber. August 18, 2021. “US friends try to rescue brother in arms in Afghanistan.” AP News. Seth Moulton. June 04, 2021. "Moulton, Bipartisan Honoring Our Promises Working Group to White House: Evacuate our Afghan Partners.” Contractors in Afghanistan Matt Taibbi. August 18, 2021. “We Failed Afghanistan, Not the Other Way Around.” TK News by Matt Taibbi on Substack. Jack Detsch. August 16, 2021. “Departure of Private Contractors Was a Turning Point in Afghan Military's Collapse.” Foreign Policy. Matt Stoller. July 15, 2021. “‘A Real S*** Show': Soldiers Angrily Speak Out about Being Blocked from Repairing Equipment by Contractors.” BIG by Matt Stoller. Lynzy Billing. May 12, 2021. “The U.S. Is Leaving Afghanistan? Tell That to the Contractors.” New York Magazine. Oren Liebermann. March 29, 2021. “Pentagon could open itself to costly litigation from contractors if US pulls out of Afghanistan this year.” CNN. Lucas Kunce and Elle Ekman. September 15, 2019. “Comment Submitted by Major Lucas Kunce and Captain Elle Ekman.” [Regulations.gov(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulations.gov). Aaron Mehta. Oct 25, 2016. “30 Years: William Perry — Reshaping the Industry.” Defense News. Jared Serbu. August 22, 2016. “DoD now awarding more than half its contract spending without competitive bids.” Federal News Network. 41 U.S. Code § 3307 - Preference for commercial products and commercial services. Money: Lost and Gained David Moore. August 23, 2021. “Lawmakers Benefit From Booming Defense Stocks.” Sludge. Lee Fang. August 20, 2021. “Congressman Seeking to Relaunch Afghan War Made Millions in Defense Contracting.” The Intercept. Anna Massoglia and Julia Forrest. August 20, 2021. “Defense contractors spent big in Afghanistan before the U.S. left and the Taliban took control.” OpenSecrets.org. Stephen Losey. April 16, 2021. “The Bill for the Afghanistan War Is $2.26 Trillion, and Still Rising.” Military.com. Eli Clifton. February 16, 2021. “Weapons Biz Bankrolls Experts Pushing to Keep U.S. Troops in Afghanistan.” Daily Beast. Open Secrets. 2021. Defense: Lobbying, 2021. Open Secrets. 2021. Defense: Money to Congress. Laws S.1790 - National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 Sponsor: Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) Status: Became Public Law No: 116-92 on December 20, 2019 H.R. 3237: Emergency Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 Sponsor: Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) Status: Signed into law, 2021 May 20 House Vote Breakdown Congressional Budget Office Score Law Outline TITLE IV: BILATERAL ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE GENERAL PROVISIONS EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF THE AFGHAN SPECIAL IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM Sec. 401: Amends the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009 to expand eligibility to include Afghans who worked not only for the US Government for more than 1 year but also our allies as an off-base interpreter or if they performed "activities for United States military stationed at International Security Assistance Force (or any successor name for such Force). Increases the number of Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) to Afghan partners by 8,000, for a total of 34,500 allocated since December 19, 2014. Sec. 402: Authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security and Secretary of state to jointly waive for 1 year (maximum 2 years with an extension) the requirement that Afghan partners eligible for SIVs get a medical exam before they can receive their visa. The Secretary of Homeland Security has to create a process to make sure Afghan SIV holders get a medical exam within 30 days of entry into the United States. Sec. 403: Allows the surviving spouse or child or employee of the United States Government abroad to be eligible for immigration into the United States if the employee worked for our government for at least 15 years or was killed in the line of duty. It also expands entry permissions for Afghan SIV applicants in addition to those who have already been approved. This is retroactive to June 30, 2021. Policies for Visa Processing: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Policy Manual, Chapter 9: Certain Afghan Nationals U.S Department of State -- Bureau of Consular Affairs. “Special Immigrant Visas for Afghans - Who Were Employed by/on Behalf of the U.S. Government.” Audio Sources Gen. Mark Milley: "There was nothing that I or anyone else saw that indicated a collapse of this army and this government in 11 days." August 18, 2021 General Mark Milley: The time frame of rapid collapse that was widely estimated and ranged from weeks to months, and even years following our departure, there was nothing that I or anyone else saw that indicated a collapse of this army and this government in 11 days. Central Command submitted a variety of plans that were briefed and approved by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of Defense and the President. These plans were coordinated, synchronized and rehearsed to deal with these various scenarios. One of those contingencies is what we are executing right now. As I said before, there's plenty of time to do AARs(After Action Reviews) and key lessons learned and to delve into these questions with great detail. But right now is not that time. Right now, we have to focus on this mission, because we have soldiers at risk. And we also have American citizens and Afghans who supported us for 20 years also at risk. This is personal and we're going to get them out. President Biden on Afghanistan Withdrawal Transcript July 8, 2021 Sound Clips 01:30 President Biden: When I announced our drawdown in April, I said we would be out by September, and we're on track to meet that target. Our military mission in Afghanistan will conclude on August 31. The drawdown is proceeding in a secure and orderly way, prioritizing the safety of our troops as they depart 3:40 President Biden: Together with our NATO allies and partners, we have trained and equipped nearly 300,000 current serving members of the military, the Afghan national security force, and many beyond that are no longer serving. Add to that hundreds of thousands more Afghan national defense and security forces trained over the last two decades. 04:04 President Biden: We provided our Afghan partners with all the tools, let me emphasize, all the tools -- training, equipment -- of any modern military. We provided advanced weaponry, and we're going to continue to provide funding and equipment and we'll ensure they have the capacity to maintain their Air Force. 5:54 President Biden: We're also going to continue to make sure that we take on Afghan nationals who worked side by side with US forces, including interpreters and translators. Since we're no longer going to have military there after this, we're not going to need them and they'll have no jobs. We're [sic] also going to be vital to our efforts. they've been very vital, and so their families are not exposed to danger as well. We've already dramatically accelerated the procedure time for Special Immigrant Visas to bring them to the United States. Since I was inaugurated on January 20, we've already approved 2,500 Special Immigrant Visas to come to the United States. Up to now, fewer than half have exercised the right to do that. Half have gotten on aircraft and come commercial flights and come and other half believe they want to stay, at least thus far. We're working closely with Congress to change the authorization legislation so that we can streamline the process of approving those visas. And those who have stood up for the operation to physically relocate 1000s of Afghans and their families before the US military mission concludes so that, if they choose, they can wait safely outside of Afghanistan, while their US visas are being processed. 8:13 President Biden: For those who have argued that we should stay just six more months, or just one more year, I asked them to consider the lessons of recent history. In 2011, the NATO allies and partners agreed that we would end our combat mission in 2014. In 2014, some argued one more year. So we kept fighting. We kept taking casualties. In 2015, the same, and on and on. Nearly 20 years of experience has shown us that the current security situation only confirms that just one more year of fighting in Afghanistan is not a solution, but a recipe for being there indefinitely. It's up to the Afghans to make the decision about the future of their country. Others are more direct. Their argument is that we should stay with the Afghans and Afghanistan indefinitely. In doing so they point to the fact that we we have not taken losses in this last year. So they claim that the cost of just maintaining the status quo is minimal. 9:19 President Biden: But that ignores the reality, and the facts that already presented on the ground in Afghanistan when I took office. The Taliban is at its strongest militarily since 2001. The number of US forces in Afghanistan had been reduced to a bare minimum. And the United States and the last administration made an agreement that they have to with the Taliban remove all our forces by May 1 of this year. That's what I inherited. That agreement was the reason the Taliban had ceased major attacks against US forces. 9:55 President Biden: If in April, I had instead announced that the United States was going to go back on that agreement, made by the last administration, the United States and allied forces will remain in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future, the Taliban would have again begun to target our forces. The status quo was not an option. Staying would have meant US troops taking casualties, American men and women back in the middle of a civil war, and we would run the risk of having to send more troops back in Afghanistan to defend our remaining troops. Once that agreement with the Taliban had been made, staying with a bare minimum force was no longer possible. 10:34 President Biden: So let me ask those who want us to stay: how many more? How many 1000s more Americans' daughters and sons are you willing to risk? How long would you have them stay? Already we have members of our military whose parents fought in Afghanistan 20 years ago. Would you send their children and their grandchildren as well? Would you send your own son or daughter? After 20 years, a trillion dollars spent training and equipping hundreds of 1000s of Afghan National Security and Defence Forces. 2,448 Americans killed, 20,722 more wounded, and untold 1000s coming home with unseen trauma to their mental health. I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome. 11:51 President Biden: Today the terrorist threat has metastasized beyond Afghanistan. So, we are repositioning our resources and adapting our counterterrorism posture to meet the threats where they are now: significantly higher in South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. 12:07 President Biden: But make no mistake, our military and intelligence leaders are confident they have the capabilities to protect the homeland and our interests from any resurgent terrorist challenge emerging or emanating from Afghanistan. We're developing a counterterrorism over-the-horizon capability that will allow us to keep our eyes firmly fixed at any direct threat to the United States in the region and act quickly and decisively if needed. 12:38 President Biden: We also need to focus on shoring up America's core strengths to meet the strategic competition competition with China and other nations that is really going to determine our future. 14:58 Reporter: Is the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan now inevitable? President Biden: No. It is not. Because you have the Afghan troops, 300,000. Well equipped, as well equipped as any army in the world, and an air force against something like 75,000 Taliban. It is not inevitable. 15:45 President Biden: Do I trust the Taliban? No, but I trust the capacity of the Afghan military who is better trained, better equipped, and more competent in terms of conducting war. 18:07 Reporter: Your own intelligence community has assessed that the Afghan government will likely collapse President Biden: That is not true 18:53 President Biden: And I want to make clear what I made clear to Ghani, that we are not going to walk away and not sustain their ability to maintain that force. We are. We're going to also work to make sure we help them in terms of everything from food necessities and other things in the region. But there is not a conclusion that in fact, they cannot defeat the Taliban. I believe the only way there's going to be -- this is now Joe Biden, not the intelligence community -- the only way there's only going to be peace and secure in Afghanistan, is that they work out a modus vivendi with the Taliban, and they make a judgement as to how they can make peace. And the likelihood there's going to be one unified government in Afghanistan, controlling the whole country is highly unlikely. 21:30 Reporter: Mr. President, how serious was the corruption among the Afghanistan government to this mission failing there? President Biden: First of all, the mission hasn't failed yet. 22:00 President Biden: There were going to be negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan national security forces, and the Afghan government that didn't come to fruition. So the question now is where do they go from here? The jury is still out, but the likelihood there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely. 23:20 Reporter: Mr. President, "speed is safety," as you just said in your remarks. Are you satisfied with the timeline of relocating Afghan nationals? Is it happening quickly enough to your satisfaction if it may not happen until next month at the end? President Biden: It has already happened, there have already been people, about 1000 people have gotten on aircraft and come to the United States already on commercial aircraft. So as I said, there's over 2500 people, that as from January to now, have have gotten those visas and only half decided that they wanted to leave. The point is that I think the whole process has to be speeded up -- period -- in terms of being able to get these visas. Reporter: Why can't the US evacuate these Afghan translators to the United States to await their visa processing as some immigrants of the southern border have been allowed to? President Biden: Because the law doesn't allow that to happen. And that's why we're asking the Congress to consider changing the law. President Biden Remarks on Afghanistan Strategy Transcript April 14, 2021 Sound Clips 00:38 President Biden: I'm speaking to you today from the Roosevelt -- the Treaty room in the White House -- the same spot where in October of 2001, President George W. Bush informed our nation that the United States military had begun strikes on terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. It was just weeks, just weeks after the terrorist attack on our nation that killed 2,977 innocent souls, that turned Lower Manhattan into a disaster area, destroyed parts of the Pentagon and made hallowed ground in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and sparked an American promise that we would never forget. We went to Afghanistan in 2001, to root out al Qaeda to prevent future terrorist attacks against the United States planned from Afghanistan. Our objective was clear, the cause was just, our NATO allies and partners rallied beside us. And I supported that military action along with the overwhelming majority of the members of Congress. More than seven years later, in 2008 weeks before we swore the oath of office -- President Obama and I were about to swear -- President Obama asked me to travel to Afghanistan and report back on the state of the war in Afghanistan. I flew to Afghanistan to the Kunar Valley, a rugged, mountainous region on the border of Pakistan. What I saw on that trip reinforced my conviction that only the Afghans have the right and responsibility to lead their country. And that more and endless American military force could not create or sustain a durable Afghan Government. I believed that our presence in Afghanistan should be focused on the reason we went in the first place: to ensure Afghanistan would not be used as a base from which to attack our homeland again. We did that, we accomplished that objective. I said, along with others, we would follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell if need be. That's exactly what we did. And we got him. It took us close to 10 years to put President Obama's commitment into form. And that's exactly what happened Osama bin Laden was gone. That was 10 years ago. Think about that. We delivered justice to Bin Laden a decade ago. And we've stayed in Afghanistan for a decade since. Since then, our reasons for remaining in Afghanistan have become increasingly unclear, even as the terrorist threat that we went to fight evolved. Over the past 20 years, the threat has become more dispersed, metastasizing around the globe. Al Shabaab in Somalia, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, on Al Nusra in Syria, ISIS attempting to create a caliphate in Syria and Iraq and establishing affiliates in multiple countries in Africa and Asia. With the terror threat now in many places, keeping 1000s of troops grounded and concentrated in just one country at a cost of billions each year makes little sense to me and our leaders. We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan, hoping to create ideal conditions for the withdraw and expecting a different result. I'm now the fourth United States President to preside over American troop presence in Afghanistan: two Republicans, two Democrats. I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth. After consulting closely with our allies and partners, with our military leaders and intelligence personnel, with our diplomats and our development experts, with the Congress and the Vice President, as well as with Mr. Ghani and many others around the world. I concluded that it's time to end America's longest war. It's time for American troops to come home. 5:01 President Biden: When I came to office, I inherited a diplomatic agreement, duly negotiated between the government of the United States and the Taliban, that all US forces would be out of Afghanistan by May 1 2021, just three months after my inauguration. That's what we inherited. That commitment is perhaps not what I would have negotiated myself, but it was an agreement made by the United States government. And that means something. So in keeping with that agreement, and with our national interest, the United States will begin our final withdrawal beginning on May 1 of this year. 8:11 President Biden: You all know that less than 1% of Americans serve in our Armed Forces. The remaining 99%, we owe them. We owe them. They've never backed down from a single mission that we've asked of them. I've witnessed their bravery firsthand during my visits to Afghanistan. They've never wavered in their resolve. They paid a tremendous price on our behalf and they have the thanks of a grateful nation. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) High-Risk List Center for Strategic and International Studies Transcript March 10, 2021 Speaker: John Sopko - Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction Sound Clips 7:40 John Sopko: But right now, that state is under threat. In the wake of the February 2020 withdrawal agreement, all is not well. Compromise appears in short supply on either side. Taliban attacks have actually increased since the agreement was signed. Assassination of prominent officials, activists, journalists, aid workers and others have also increased, including an unsuccessful attack on one of the female members of the peace negotiating team. And the Taliban offensive on Kandahar city last October, as peace negotiations were ongoing, may well have succeeded, were it not for U.S. air support. Peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban have achieved little for Afghanistan so far, and only time will tell as to whether the new Biden administration initiative will bear fruit. And the Afghan people's fears for its own government survival are exacerbated by the knowledge of how dependent their country is on foreign military and financial support. 12:56 John Sopko: Another equally serious threat to Afghanistan's stability has also largely been ignored as we focus on the boots on the ground in Afghanistan. And that is the provision of last year's U.S.-Taliban agreement that stipulates that in addition to the departure of U.S. and coalition troops, or non-diplomatic civilian personnel: private security contractors, trainers, advisors, and supporting service personnel also must leave the country by May 1. Should this come to passSIGAR and many others believe this may be more devastating to the effectiveness of the Afghan security forces than the withdrawal of our remaining troops. Why is that? Because the Afghan government relies heavily on these foreign contractors and trainers to function. In the first quarter of fiscal year 2021 there are over 18,000 Defense Department contractors in Afghanistan, including 6000 Americans, and 7,000 3rd country nationals, 40% of whom are responsible for logistics, maintenance, or training tasks. Now, it is well known that the Afghan security forces need these contractors to maintain their equipment, manage supply chains, and train their military and police to operate the advanced equipment that we have purchased for them. For example, as of December, the Afghan National Army was completing just under 20% of its own maintenance work orders, well below the goal of 80% that was set and the 51% that they did in 2018. So that's actually going down. The Afghan National Police were just as bad if not worse, undertaking only 12% of their own maintenance work against a target of 35% and less than the 16% that we reported in our 2019 high risk list. Additionally, and more troubling. The Department of Defense does train, advise and assist command air, or commonly called TAC air recently reported that since late 2019, they have reduced their personnel in Afghanistan by 94%, and that the military drawdown now requires near total use of contract support to maintain the Afghan Air fleet. They assess that quote “further drawdown in the associated closure basis will effectively end all in country aviation training contracts in Afghanistan.” Again, why is this significant? Why do we view this as a high risk? Namely because contractors currently provide 100% of the maintenance for the Afghan Air Force, UAE 60 helicopters and CE 130 cargo aircraft and a significant portion of Afghans Light Combat Support aircraft. TAC air this January gave a bleak assessment, namely, that no Afghan airframe can be sustained as combat effective for more than a few months in the absence of contractor support. 17:51 John Sopko: Continued funding for U.S. reconstruction programs aimed at promoting economic development, rule of law, respect for human rights, good governance and security for the Afghan people may be more significant, because it may be the primary lever left for the US and other donors to influence that country. It appears that even the Taliban understand Afghanistan's dire need for foreign assistance. Because, as one of the few commitments that the US had to make last year was, “to seek economic cooperation for reconstruction, with the new post settlement, Afghan Islamic government.” Now how much the donor community wishes to stay involved will of course depend on what that government looks like and how it behaves. Numerous officials, including then Secretary of State Pompeo and Ambassador Halley, have stated that the US will be able to advance its human rights goals, including the rights of women and girls with the Taliban by leveraging or conditioning this much needed financial assistance. But unfortunately, as SIGAR has long reported, even when conditionality involved only dealing with the Afghan government, donors do not have a stellar record of successfully utilizing that conditionality to influence Afghan behavior. 27:19 John Sopko: Today our report suggests the donor community should realize the Afghan government is focused on a single goal, its survival. Afghanistan is more dependent on international support than ever before. It may not be an overstatement that if foreign assistance is withdrawn and peace negotiations fail, Taliban forces could be at the gates of Kabul in short order. Hearing: A PATHWAY FOR PEACE IN AFGHANISTAN: EXAMINING THE FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE AFGHANISTAN STUDY GROUP House Committee on Oversight and Reform: Subcommittee on National Security February 19, 2021 Testimony was heard from the following Afghanistan Study Group officials: Kelly A. Ayotte, Co-Chair; News Corp Board of Directors since April 2017 BAE Systems Board of Directors since June 2017 Blackstone Board of Directors Boston Properties Board of Directors Caterpillar Board of Directors Board of Advisors at Cirtronics General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr. (Retired), Co-Chair Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Obama and Trump presidencies. Lockheed Martin Board of Directors since February 2020 Nancy Lindborg, Co-Chair President and CEO of the David Lucile Packard Foundation Former President and CEO of the US Institute for Peace Former Assistant Administrator for the bureau for democracy conflict and humanitarian assistance at USAID During the mid-Obama years. Sound Clips 3:13 Rep. Stephen Lynch (MA): I'd also like to take a moment to thank the nonpartisan US Institute of Peace for the support and expertise they provided to the study group during the course of its work. 3:23 Rep. Stephen Lynch (MA): In the fiscal year 2020 omnibus bill Congress led by Senator Graham Senator Patrick Leahy and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee of state foreign ops and related programs. They tasked the independent and bipartisan Afghanistan study group to quote, consider the implications of a peace settlement or the failure to reach a settlement on US policy, resources and commitments in Afghanistan. After nearly nine months of review and consultation with current and former US and Afghan government officials, allies and partners and other key stakeholders, the Afghanistan study group issued its final report earlier this month. 15:12 Kelly Ayotte: We recommend that US troops remain beyond may 1. We believe a precipitous withdrawal of US and international troops in May, would be catastrophic for Afghanistan, leading to civil war, and allow the reconstitution of terror groups which threaten the United States within an 18 to 36 month period. 15:41 Kelly Ayotte: Let me be clear, although we recommend that our troops remain beyond may 1, we propose a new approach toward Afghanistan, which aligns our policies, practices and messaging across the United States government to support the Afghan peace process, rather than prosecute a war. Our troops would remain not to fight a forever war, but to guarantee the conditions for a successful peace process and to protect our national security interests to ensure that Afghanistan does not become a haven again, for terrorists who threaten the United States of America. 37:15 General Joseph F. Dunford: Do we need to increase forces if the Taliban don't accept an extension past the first of May, and if they then would re initiate attacks against US forces? and Chairman, we heard exactly what you heard. In the fall. What we were told by commanders on the ground in the department of fence was that 4500 US forces, in addition to the NATO forces that are there was the minimum level to address both the mission as well as protection of our forces in the context of the conditions that existed in the fall in as you've highlighted, those conditions have only gotten worse since the fall so in in our judgment 2500 would not be adequate. Should the Taliban re initiate attacks against the United States Hearing: Examining the Trump Administration's Afghanistan Strategy House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Subcommittee on National Security January 28, 2020 Witness: John Sopko - Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) Sound Clips 48:54 John Sopko: We've almost created a system that forces people in the government to give happy talk success stories because they're over there on very short rotations. They want to show success. The whole system is almost geared to give you, and it goes up the chain of command, all the way to the President sometimes. He gets bad information from people out in the field because somebody on a nine month rotation, he has to show success, and that goes up. 54:24 John Sopko: Maybe incentivize honesty. And one of the proposals I gave at that time,be cause I was asked by the staff to come up with proposals, is put the same requirement on the government that we impose on publicly traded corporations. Publicly traded corporations have to tell the truth. Otherwise the SEC will indict the people involved. They have to report when there's a significant event. So put that onus, call it The Truth in Government Act if you want, that you in the administration are duty bound by statute to alert Congress to significant events that could directly negatively impact a program or process. So incentivize honesty. 1:10:25 John Sopko: Over 70% of the Afghan budget comes from the United States and the donors. If that money ended, I have said before and I will stand by it, then the Afghan government will probably collapse. Wartime Contracting Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs September 21, 2011 Witnesses: Charles Tiefer: Commissioner on the Commission on Wartime Contracting Clark Kent Ervin: Commissioner on the Commission on Wartime Contracting Sound Clips 1:11:30 Charles Tiefer: Our private security in Afghanistan appears to be a major source of payoffs to the Taliban. Our report has the first official statement that it's the second-largest source of money for the Taliban. Sen. Carl Levin: After drugs. Charles Tiefer: After drugs, that's right. 1:25:18 Clark Kent Ervin: It's critical that the government have a choice, and that means that there needs to be at least a small and expandable, organic capacity on the part of these three agencies to perform missions themselves, so the next time there's a contingency, the government has a choice between going with contractors and going in-house and the determination can be made whether it's more effective to do it either way, whether it's cheaper to do it either way. As we said at the inception, right now the government doesn't have an option. Contractors are the default option because they're the only option. President George W. Bush announces U.S. Military Strikes on Afghanistan October 7, 2001 President George W. Bush: Good afternoon. On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes against Al-Qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. These carefully targeted actions are designed to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations and to attack the military capability of the Taliban regime. More than two weeks ago, I gave Taliban leaders a series of clear and specific demands: close terrorist training camps, hand over leaders of the Al-Qaeda network, and return all foreign nationals including American citizens unjustly detained in your country. None of these demands were met and now the Taliban will pay a price by destroying camps and disrupting communications. We will make it more difficult for the terror network to train new recruits and coordinate their evil plans. ** International Campaign Against Terrorism Senate Foreign Relations Committee October 25, 2001 Witness: Colin Powell: Secretary of State Sound Clip 27:00 Colin Powell: Our work in Afghanistan though, is not just of a military nature. We recognize that when the Al Qaeda organization has been destroyed in Afghanistan, and as we continue to try to destroy it in all the nations in which it exists around the world, and when the Taliban regime has gone to its final reward, we need to put in place a new government in Afghanistan, one that represents all the people of Afghanistan and one that is not dominated by any single powerful neighbor, but instead is dominated by the will of the people of Afghanistan. Executive Producer Recommendations Elect Stephanie Gallardo 2022 Krystal Kyle and Friends. August 21, 2021. “Episode 35 Audio with Matthew Hoh.” Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)

Emma hosts James Risen, Senior National Security Correspondent at the Intercept, to discuss his recent piece "A War's Epitaph: For Two Decades, Americans Were Told One Lie After Another About What They Were Doing In Afghanistan", on how bad the “good war” has been since it began. James and Emma walk through the US's failed twenty-year involvement in what was essentially another country's civil war, how it began, and the countless mistakes made along the way which were inevitably covered up. They begin with the first involvement in the region with the Bush Administration's invasion and propping up of the Karzai Presidency, which almost immediately fell to rampant corruption as US funding flowed through a Karzai-backed heroin trade, emphasizing the shell of a government that we had set up. Risen also touches on how the lack of genuine investment from either the local government or their US backing set the stage for the almost immediate collapse following the military exit, before moving onto the Obama years, and what his commitment to his “good war,” through mass investment in the preexisting corruption and the development of his collateral damage drone program, really meant. James and Emma conclude the interview by looking at how the major players in Afghanistan have developed to where they're at now, before Emma wraps up the first half with a discussion on the countless horrors stemming from last night's Supreme Court decision, as well as the lacking response from the Biden Administration, and Gov. Kathy Hochul's wonder at the “once in a thousand years” natural disaster that we've somehow been seeing with increasing frequency. And in the Fun Half: Emma, Brandon, and Matt discuss the horrors of Hurricane Ida, Matt's flooding, and Sam from NoLa gives a bit of the southern perspective after the storm left, and extreme heat came in. They also discuss supposed-naturalist Joe Rogan's pharmaceutical-heavy solution to catching COVID, Mike from PA's guest suggestion, and debate the filmmaking legacy of M. Night Shyamalan, before discussing Candace Owens' COVID skepticism coming back to bite her, and Tucker and Dave Rubin's projection of personal shortcomings onto AOC, plus, your calls and IMs! Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here. Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ (Merch issues and concerns can be addressed here: majorityreportstore@mirrorimage.com) You can now watch the livestream on Twitch Check out today's sponsor: BetterHelp gives you access to your own fully licensed and accredited therapist via phone, chat, or video. A lot of therapists elsewhere have long waitlists and it can take weeks or months before they can see you… But when you sign up with BetterHelp, they match you with a therapist based on your specific needs, and you'll be communicating with them in less than 24 hours. BetterHelp is giving our audience 10% off their first month when you go to https://betterhelp.com/majorityreport Support the St. Vincent Nurses today as they continue to strike for a fair contract! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein's podcast News from Nowhere, at https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere Check out The Letterhack's upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Matt Binder's YouTube channel! Check out The Nomiki Show live at 3 pm ET on YouTube at patreon.com/thenomikishow Check out Matt's podcast, Literary Hangover, at Patreon.com/LiteraryHangover, or on iTunes. Check out Jamie's podcast, The Antifada, at patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop Donate to Hurricane Ida efforts on Venmo @MutualAidLouisiana Donate to Cajun Navy Relief here. Donate to Second Harvest Food Bank here. Donate to Hands On New Orleans here. Become a Beta subscriber for new progressive social media platform Adduna! Sign up for The Press Freedom Defense Fund's free virtual event "When Right Matters in Government: A Conversation on Speaking Out With Retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman" on Wednesday September 15th here.

Best-selling author and former New York Times reporter, James Risen is The Intercept's Senior National Security Correspondent. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode features comments by drone whistleblower Daniel Hale, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist James Risen, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's half brother Gabriel Shipton, Julian Assange's attorney and partner Stella Moris, as well as Policy Director for Defending Rights and Dissent Chip Gibbons. Some of our guests were featured recently on CODEPINK Congress, a Tuesday night program, focused on demilitarization and foreign policy. This show takes a close look at how whistleblowers Hale and Assange revealed war crimes by the US government, as well as how the Espionage Act of 1917 is used to crush dissent

In reaction to a new column by James Risen that includes a mini-mea-culpa about the role of The Intercept in … Continue reading From the Archive: Whistleblowers Kiriakou and Hickman Finger Serial Informant Matthew Cole of The Intercept

In December of 2005 - 4 years after the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and just over 2 years after the U.S. launched troops to fight its “War on Terror” in Iraq - journalists James Risen and Eric Lichtblau published a bombshell report in the New York Times detailing the warrantless wiretapping of American citizens taking place at the behest of the George W. Bush administration as part of its intelligence-gathering operations. This expose was the first of many reports to emerge in the early years of the 21st century that outlined the continually expanding surveillance powers that the U.S. government and its various intelligence agencies put to use against its own citizen population, as well as against foreign governments and civilians.That very same year, a holiday-themed children's book titled The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition was published by mother-daughter author duo Carol Aebersold and Chanda Bell. The book tells the story of a “scout elf” from the North Pole whose job is to observe children's behavior during the Christmas season, and report back to Santa Claus whether they have been “naughty” or “nice” - thus, whether they deserve to have their Christmas wishes fulfilled.Both of these artifacts tell a story about the growing presence and awareness of surveillance in American culture, and about our continuing acquiescence to being watched by powerful entities with mysterious motives. While the reports of journalists like Risen & Lichtblau, as well as whistleblowers like Edward Snowden, tell of a government wielding dystopian technology to spy on its citizenry, The Elf on the Shelf presents a seemingly more anodyne, innocent form of total panoptic surveillance - one that surely promises to take some stress off the backs of busy parents and teachers during the holiday season. But at what cost? What happens when we put a patently creepy, always-watching children's toy in charge of teaching our children lessons about morality and self-discipline?On today's show, we explore just some of the many cultural artifacts that form the assemblage of The Elf on the Shelf as a new holiday tradition that celebrates surveillance culture. In doing so, we contextualize Elf by analyzing the forces that give rise to the tradition: from Jeremy Bentham's & Michel Foucault's exploration of the “panopticon,” to the ever-watching “eye of God” in Christian religious traditions, to the ravaging culture of consumer capitalism that seems to drain the genuine substance from every tradition by replacing it with a constant yearning for new products. We lay bare our trenchant critiques of Elf's place in American holiday culture, and attempt to imagine new types of holiday traditions that focus on mutual aid, ethics of care, teaching children consequences (both good and bad) for their actions, and resisting the culture of surveillance perpetuated by both Big Brother and Big Santa.Special thanks for research assistance on this episode to Dr. Laura Pinto, who co-authored research examining The Elf on the Shelf and surveillance in 2014, and was kind enough to correspond with us and point us to some useful background reading in preparation for this show!Elf on the Shelf videos featured:Inside Look at Scout Elf Training CampScout Elves Take Flight for Scout Elf Return WeekThe Elf on the Shelf's Night Before Christmas Song & Music VideoWorks and concepts referenced:Bentham, J., & Božovič, M. (1995). The panopticon writings. Verso Trade.Curtis, Adam. The century of the self. London: BBC Four, 2002.Foucault, M. (2012). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. Vintage.Hertsgaard, M. (2016). Bravehearts: Whistle blowing in the age of Snowden. Skyhorse.Lyon, D. (2014). Surveillance and the Eye of God. Studies in Christian Ethics, 27(1), 21-32.Pinto, L. E., & Nemorim, S. (2015). Normalizing panoptic surveillance among children: ‘The Elf on the Shelf'. Our Schools/Our Selves, 24(2), 53.Risen, J., & Lichtblau, E. (2005, December 16). Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts. The New York Times, A1.Additional reading on surveillance discourse, power, privacy, and consumerism:Barnard-Wills, D. (2011). UK news media discourses of surveillance. The Sociological Quarterly, 52(4), 548-567.Cohen, J. E. (2012). What privacy is for. Harv. L. Rev., 126, 1904.Lacan, J. (1991). The Seminar of Jacques Lacan: Book II: The Ego in Freud's Theory and in the Technique of Psychoanalysis 1954–1955. W. W. Norton & Company. [Describes Lacan's concept of “the Big Other”, a useful tool for understanding surveillance power.]Papacharissi, Z. (2010). Privacy as a luxury commodity. First Monday. [Explains how privacy is distributed unequally based on economic class.]

While Trump Offers Simplistic, Strongman Magic, Biden Must Show That Real Strength Does Not Depend on Magic | The Overlooked Senate Intelligence Report Puts Mueller's Report to Shame | China's Orwellian Digital Authoritarian Surveillance State backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Mark welcomes back the audience and J Elvis Weinstein! Then... As head writer on the Letterman Show (both daytime and late night) Merrill has influenced the entire culture and genre of contemporary talk shows. We visit with her as she writes her acceptance speech for the prestigious Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award from the Writers Guild and reflects on her award winning work with the Letterman shows--work that shaped a generation of comedy. J Elvis Weinstein joins Mark Thompson for the talk with Merrill. Then, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, James Risen on Iran, the U.S. intelligence community and a reinvigorated abortion debate in America. 00:00-07:20 Mark welcomes back the audience and J Elvis Weinstein! 720-41:10   Merrill Markoe on Comedy 41:25- 1:17:30 James Risen on Intel Community, Iran and Abortion Rights reach the show at: edgewithmarkthompson@gmail.com

Mark welcomes back the audience and J Elvis Weinstein! Then... As head writer on the Letterman Show (both daytime and late night) Merrill has influenced the entire culture and genre of contemporary talk shows. We visit with her as she writes her acceptance speech for the prestigious Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award from the Writers Guild and reflects on her award winning work with the Letterman shows--work that shaped a generation of comedy. J Elvis Weinstein joins Mark Thompson for the talk with Merrill. Then, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, James Risen on Iran, the U.S. intelligence community and a reinvigorated abortion debate in America. 00:00-07:20 Mark welcomes back the audience and J Elvis Weinstein! 720-41:10   Merrill Markoe on Comedy 41:25- 1:17:30 James Risen on Intel Community, Iran and Abortion Rights reach the show at: edgewithmarkthompson@gmail.com

Barr is Trumps Strategist and the Power Behind the Throne; Barr Uses the Laws that he Should Uphold and Enforce as Weapons Against Trumps Critic; Inside the Leaks from Irans Ministry of Intelligence and Security backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jeffrey Sterling was indicted in 2010 on charges under the Espionage Act for allegedly leaking sensitive national security information to then-New York Times reporter James Risen. Sterling discusses his time as a CIA case officer and how his internal complaint about Operation Merlin, a half-baked CIA scheme that had tried to disrupt Iran’s nuclear weapons development, led to his firing. Sterling explains the discrimination suit he filed against the CIA and how there is no evidence that he was the source for Risen, who is now The Intercept's senior national security correspondent. Sterling also shares what it was like to be charged under the Espionage Act and comments on the appalling hostility toward whistleblowers in the U.S. Sterling’s new book is “Unwanted Spy: The Persecution of an American Whistleblower.”

Donald Trump. Ukraine. Joe Biden. A phone call. Election Interference. Impeachment! What the hell is going on? In this episode, an irritated Jen gives you the backstory that you need to know about the impeachment drama, including what the steps to impeachment are. Prepare yourself: Everyone devoted to the Republican or Democratic parties will be pissed off by this episode. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Click here to contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536 Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD167: Combating Russia NDAA CD102: The World Trade Organization: COOL? CD067: What do We Want in Ukraine CD068: Ukraine Aid Bill CD190: A Coup for Capitalism CD176: Target Venezuela Regime Change in Progress Articles/Documents Article: Pelosi, Trump may reach trade deal despite impeachment by Niv Elis, The Hill, October 3, 2019 Article: This 2016 letter proves that GOP attacks on Biden over Ukraine are nonsense by Alex Ward, Vox, October 3, 2019 Article: Civilian Deaths in U.S. Wars Are Skyrocketing Under Trump. It May Not Be Impeachable, but It’s a Crime. by Murtaza Hussain, The Intercept, October 2, 2019 Article: Hunter Biden, the black sheep who might accidentally bring down Trump, explained by Matthew Yglesias, Vox, October 1, 2019 Article: Shoot Migrants’ Legs, Build Alligator Moat: Behind Trump’s Ideas for Border by Michael D. Shear and Julie Hirschfeld Davis, The New York Times, October 1, 2019 Article: Impeachment inquiry erupts into battle between executive, legislative branches By Karen DeYoung, Josh Dawsey, Karoun Demirjian and John Hudson, The Washington Post, October 1, 2019 Article: McConnell says if House impeaches Trump, Senate rules would force him to start a trial by Seung Min Kim, The Washington Post, September 30, 2019 Article: Trump claim on stalled aid for Ukraine draws new scrutiny by Robert Burns, Lolita Baldor, and Andrew Taylor, The Associated Press, MilitaryTimes, September 30, 2019 Article: Hunter Biden: The Most Comprehensive Timeline by Jim Geraghty, National Review, September 30, 2019 Article: The gas tycoon and the vice president’s son: The story of Hunter Biden’s foray into Ukraine by Paul Sonne, Michael Kranish and Matt Viser, The Washington Post, September 28, 2019 Article: The gas tycoon and the vice president’s son: The story of Hunter Biden’s foray into Ukraine by Paul Sonne, Michael Kranish and Matt Viser, The Washington Post, September 28, 2019 Article: Piety and Power by Tom LoBianco, The New York Times, September 27, 2019 Article: White House Knew of Whistle-Blower’s Allegations Soon After Trump’s Call With Ukraine Leader by Julian E. Barnes, Michael S. Schmidt, Adam Goldman and Katie Benner, The New York Times, September 26, 2019 Article: Democrats, Please Don’t Mess This Up. Impeach Trump for All His Crimes, Not Just for Ukraine. by Mehdi Hasan, The Intercept, September 26, 2019 Document: S. 2583 [Report No. 116-126], September 26, 2019, Pg 144 Article: Here’s what you need to know about the US aid package to Ukraine that Trump delayed by Joe Gould and Howard Altman, Defense News, September 25, 2019 Article: Read the record of Trump’s controversial call to Ukraine’s president Zelensky by Ephrat Livni, Quartz, September 25, 2019 Article: How the Impeachment Process Works by Charlie Savage, The New York Times, September 24, 2019 Article: Trump ordered hold on military aid days before calling Ukrainian president, officials say By Karoun Demirjian, Josh Dawsey, Ellen Nakashima and Carol D. Leonnig, The Washington Post, September 23, 2019 Article: Ukraine military aid extension passes US House after White House delay by Joe Gould, Defense News, September 19, 2019 Article: US State Department clears Ukraine security assistance funding. Is the Pentagon next? by Aaron Mehta, Defense News, September 12, 2019 Document: S. 2474: Defense Appropriations Act, September 12, 2019, Pg 305 Document: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS BILL, 2020, September 12, 2019, Pg 148 Letter: For Chairman Burr and Chairman Schiff August 12, 2019 Article: Will Hunter Biden Jeopardize His Father’s Campaign? by Adam Entous, The New Yorker, July 1, 2019 Article: What Powers Does a Formal Impeachment Inquiry Give the House? by Molly E. Reynolds, Margaret Taylor, Lawfare, May 21, 2019 Article: U.S. ambassador to Ukraine is recalled after becoming a political target by Josh Rogin, The Washington Post, May 7, 2019 Article: Timeline in Ukraine Probe Casts Doubt on Giuliani’s Biden Claim by Stephanie Baker and Daryna Krasnolutska, Bloomberg, May 7, 2019 Article: How does impeachment work? Here is the step-by-step process by Debbie Lord, Cox Media Group National Content Desk, AJC, April 22, 2019 Article: Trump’s feud with Jerry Nadler rooted in decades-old New York real estate project by Rachael Bade and Josh Dawsey, The Washington Post, April 8, 2019 Article: Joe Biden's 2020 Ukrainian nightmare: A closed probe is revived by John Solomon, The Hill, April 1, 2019 Article: Senior Ukrainian official says he's opened probe into US election interference The Hill, March 20, 2019 Article: Top Ukrainian justice official says US ambassador gave him a do not prosecute list The Hill, March 20, 2019 Document: 2019 Funding Report, February 13, 2019 Article: The Danger of President Pence by Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, October 16, 2017 Article: Joe Biden, His Son and the Case Against a Ukrainian Oligarch by James Risen, The New York Times, December 8, 2015 Additional Resources Document: H.R. Full Committee Print, Department of State Appropriations Document: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS BILL, 2020, Pg 100 Prepared Remarks: Prepared Remarks by Senator John McCain on America’s Role in Europe’s East, Atlantic Council, December 19, 2013 Sound Clip Sources Interview with Mitch McConnell:, CNBC, September 30, 2019 Speakers: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Transcript: Sen. Mitch McConnell (KY): Yeah, it's a, it's a Senate rule related to impeachment that would take 67 votes to change. So I would have no choice but to take it up. How long you're on it is a whole different matter, but I would have no choice but to take it up. President Trump Meeting with Ukrainian President, C-SPAN, 74th U.N. General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York City, September 25, 2019 Speakers: Donald J. Trump President Zelensky Transcript: 1:45 Volodymyr Zelensky: It’s a great pleasure to me to be here, and it’s better to be on TV than by phone. 3:30 Volodymyr Zelensky: My priority to stop the war on Donbass and to get back our territories, –- thank you for your support in this case, thank you very much. 6:40 Volodymyr Zelensky: And to know when, I want world to know that now we have the new team, the new parliament, the new government. So now we – about 74 laws, new laws, which help for our new reforms, land reform, -- law about concessions, that we – general – and we launched the – secretary, and anti-corruption court. As we came, we launched the anti-corruption court, it began to work on the 5th of September. It was, you know, it was, after five days we had the new – So we are ready, we want to show that we just come, and if somebody, if you, you want to help us, so just let’s do business cases. We have many investment cases, we’re ready. 12:00 Reporter: Do you believe that the emaiIs from Hillary Clinton, do you believe that they are in Ukraine? Do you think this whole -- President Trump: I think they could be. You mean the 30,000 that she deleted? Reporter: Yes. President Trump: Yeah, I think they could very well, boy that was a nice question. I like, that's why, because frankly, I think that one of the great crimes committed is Hillary Clinton deleted 33,000 emails after Congress sends her a subpoena. Think of that. You can't even do that in a civil case. You can't get rid of evidence like that. She deleted 33,000 emails after, not before, after receiving the subpoena from the U.S. Congress. 16:00 Translator for Volodymyr Zelensky: During the investigation, actually, I want to underscore that Ukraine is an independent country. We have a new –- in Ukraine, a hired, professional man with a western education and history, to investigate any case he considers and deems -- Speaker Pelosi Announcement of Impeachment Inquiry, C-SPAN, September 24, 2019 Speakers: Nancy Pelosi 0:40 Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA): Shortly thereafter, press reports began to break of a phone call by the President of the United States calling upon a foreign power to intervene in his election. 4:30 Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA): And this week, the President has admitted to asking the President of Ukraine to take actions which would benefit him politically. The action of the Trump, the actions of the Trump presidency revealed dishonorable fact of the President's betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security, and betrayal of the integrity of our elections. Therefore, today, I'm announcing the House of Representatives moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry. I'm directing our six committees to proceed with their investigations under that umbrella of impeachment inquiry. The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) talks with CNN's Erin Burnett, CNN, August 8, 2019 Speakers: Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) Transcript: Rep. Jerrold Nadler (NY): This is formal impeachment proceedings. We are investigating all the evidence, we are gathering the evidence, and we will at the conclusion of this, hopefully by the end of the year, vote to, vote articles of impeachment to the House floor, or we won't. That's a decision that we'll have to make, but that, but that's exactly the process we're in right now. Council of Foreign Relations: Foreign Affairs Issue Launch with Former Vice President Joe Biden, Tuesday, January 23, 2018 Speakers: Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Michael R. Carpenter Presider, Richard N. Haass Transcript: 6:00* Joe Biden: I think there's a basic decision that they cannot compete against a unified West. And I think that is Putin's judgment. And so everything he can do to dismantle the post world war two liberal world order, including NATO and the EU, I think is viewed as they're in their immediate self-interest. 52:00 Joe Biden: I’ll give you one concrete example. I was—not I, it just happened to be that was the assignment I got. I got all the good ones. And so I got Ukraine. And I remember going over, convincing our team and our leaders, that we should be providing for loan guarantees. And I went over, I guess, the 12th, 13th time to Kiev. I was supposed to announce that there was another billion-dollar loan guarantee. And I had gotten a commitment from Poroshenko and from Yatsenyuk that they would take action against the state prosecutor, and they didn’t. So they said they were walking out to a press conference. I said, nah, I’m not going to—or, we’re not going to give you the billion dollars. They said, you have no authority. You’re not the president. The president said—I said, call him. (Laughter.) I said, I’m telling you, you’re not getting the billion dollars. I said, you’re not getting the billion. I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. (Laughter) He got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time. 54:00 Joe Biden: But always worked in Kiev because, as I said, look, it's simple proposition. If in fact you do not continue to show progress in terms of corruption, we are not going to be able to hold the rest of Europe on these sanctions and Russia is not going to roll across the inner line here and take over the rest of the country with their tanks. What they're going to do is they're going to take your economy down. You're going to be absolutely buried and you're going to be done, and that's when it all goes to hell. 56:00 Joe Biden: It's a very difficult spot to be in now, when foreign leaders call me, and they do, because I never, ever, ever would say anything negative to a foreign leader, and I mean this sincerely, about a sitting president, no matter how fundamentally I disagree with them. And it is not my role, not my role to make foreign policy. But the questions across the board range from, what the hell is going on, Joe, to what advice do you have for me? And my advice always is to, I give them names of individuals in the administration who I think to be knowledgeable and, and, and, and, and committed, and I say, you should talk to so and so. You should, and what I do, and every one of those times, I first call the vice president and tell him I received the call, tell him, and ask him whether he has any objection to my returning the call. And then what is the administration's position, if any, they want me to communicate to that country. Interview, ABC News, March 30, 2015 Speakers: Mike Pence George Stephanopoulos 8:00 George Stephanopoulos: One fix that people have talked about is simply adding sexual orientation as a protected class under the state civil rights laws. Will you push for that? Mike Pence: I will not push for that. That's not on my agenda. And that's not been an objective of the people of the state of Indiana. Transcript of leaked Nuland-Pyatt call, BBC News, February 7, 2014 Speakers: Victoria Nuland Geoffrey Pyatt Watch on YouTube Victoria Nuland: Good. So, I don’t think Klitsch should go into the government. I don’t think it’s necessary, I don’t think it’s a good idea. Geoffrey Pyatt: Yeah, I mean, I guess. In terms of him not going into the government, just let him sort of stay out and do his political homework and stuff. I’m just thinking in terms of sort of the process moving ahead, we want to keep the moderate Democrats together. The problem is going to be Tyahnybok and his guys, and I’m sure that’s part of what Yanukovych is calculating on all of this. I kind of— Victoria Nuland: I think Yats is the guy who’s got the economic experience, the governing experience. What he needs is Klitsch and Tyahnybok on the outside. He needs to be talking to them four times a week, you know? I just think Klitsch going in—he’s going to be at that level working for Yatsenyuk; it’s just not going to work. Victoria Nuland: So, on that piece, Geoff, when I wrote the note, Sullivan’s come back to me VFR, saying, you need Biden, and I said, probably tomorrow for an “atta-boy” and to get the deets to stick. Geoffrey Pyatt: Okay. Victoria Nuland: So, Biden’s willing. Geoffrey Pyatt: Okay, great. Thanks. Senator John McCain on Ukraine, C-SPAN, Atlantic Council of the U.S., December 13, 2013 Speakers: John S. McCain III Watch on YouTube Transcript: 16:45 Sen. John McCain: Finally, we must encourage the European Union and the IMF to keep their doors open to Ukraine. Ultimately, the support of both institutions is indispensible for Ukraine's future. And eventually, a Ukrainian President, either this one or a future one, will be prepared to accept the fundamental choice facing the country, which is this: While there are real short-term costs to the political and economic reforms required for IMF assistance and EU integration, and while President Putin will likely add to these costs by retaliating against Ukraine's economy, the long-term benefits for Ukraine in taking these tough steps are far greater and almost limitless. This decision cannot be borne by one person alone in Ukraine. Nor should it be. It must be shared—both the risks and the rewards—by all Ukrainians, especially the opposition and business elite. It must also be shared by the EU, the IMF and the United States. All of us in the West should be prepared to help Ukraine, financially and otherwise, to overcome the short-term pain that reforms will require and Russia may inflict. Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)  

Source: www.democracynow.org James Risen: Whistleblower Complaint Shows “Trump Is a Habitual Criminal” Abusing His Office; James Risen: I Wrote About the Bidens and Ukraine in 2015. The Right-Wing Media Twisted My Reporting; Over 2,000 Arrested in Egypt in Growing Protests Against Sisi, Trump's “Favorite Dictator”.   The post James Risen: Whistleblower Complaint Shows “Trump Is a Habitual Criminal” Abusing His Office appeared first on KPFA.

September 25, 2019 - James Risen | Aaron Rupar | Keith Darden by Ian Masters

As the world wades further and further into the Information Age, the definition of a journalist has continued morphing at a faster rate than ever. So what is a journalist? Is it a person acting as a watchdog of the government, or a spokesman for it? Is it a member of age-old institutions that have been respected for years, or is it a lone speaker trying to be heard above the din of voices? Did he or she study some form of writing, or is he an accountant with a hobby? Does it matter? These are questions that no longer only plague discussions of credibility, but also the laws of the land. In recent months the discussion surrounding the implantation of a federal shield law has significantly increased, with cases like Jana Winter’s and James Rosen’s garnering mass media coverage. But smaller cases have been surfacing as well, such as the Crystal Cox defamation suit.   What Is a Journalist? Merriam Webster defines a journalist firstly as a “writer or editor for a news medium,” and secondly as a “writer who aims at a mass audience.” While the first definition may be reserved for employees of institutional news organizations, the second could easily apply to any blogger. Most citizen journalists know they’ll never reach more than a few readers, but it doesn’t mean that they don’t hope to go viral. Most people don’t write in a public forum just for themselves. The complication comes when you consider the rights of a journalist, and how broadly those rights should apply. Last summer the Senate Judiciary Committee spent time debating the definition of a journalist as it constructed the language for a federal shield law, which is any law that gives a reporter privilege, much like a priest or doctor has, that prevents a judge from compelling him or her to produce information for a subpoena. Sen. Diane Feinstein wanted to ensure that any definition did not cover entities such as WikiLeaks, who she feels aren’t journalists, just leakers. One proposal she put forward was a salary requirement. Sen. Chuck Schumer fought that requirement because in the Internet Age it’s not just writers who earn a living for it who are disseminating important public information. Consider Sohaib Athar, also known by his Twitter handle “Really Virtual,” who unknowingly live-tweeted the military operation that killed Osama bin Laden. He may live in Pakistan, but had he lived in the United States that type of citizen reporting likely would, and should, have been covered as journalistic in nature. Another prime example is the work of the members of the Arab Spring who helped forward the goals of freedom. TIME even awarded the protesters from that movement, as well as others such as Occupy Wall Street, with its “Person of the Year” award in 2011.   The Need For a Shield Law Currently 40 states have enacted specifically tailored shield laws. The rest of the states, less Wyoming, protect a reporter’s privilege through case law, the state constitution, or other legal means. The federal shield law, which would likely trump state laws and render them obsolete, is slowly making its way through Congress. The language, as it stands, states that a party searching for information in a trial must have exhausted all other means of obtaining the information; that there is a reasonable belief that a crime has been committed; and that the information is critical to the party winning its suit (criminal or civil). Other situations under which a journalist could be compelled to testify include cases of future national security threats; if the information could prevent imminent bodily harm or death; if trade secrets are being disseminated; or if the public interest of the information being revealed outweighs the public interest of the information being withheld. A judge has the final say on a case by case basis. The law also does not protect defamation, slander, and libel, which have case law as precedents. A last provision in the federal law state that the subpoena can’t be overly broad, unreasonable, or oppressive, and it must be “narrowly tailored” in subject matter and time so that other documents aren’t unnecessarily revealed. So why is this type of law necessary? Take a look at our current administration. Many say that it is the worst for ever for going after reporters. New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson told Al Jazeera America last year that the Obama administration “is the most secretive White House that I have ever been involved in covering” in 22 years; James Goodale, one of the lawyers who fought for publication of the Pentagon Papers and defended the Times’ right to publish them in front of the Supreme Court, wrote an editorial for The Daily Beast last May that the Obama administration is worse than Nixon’s in terms national security press freedom. In fact, this administration has prosecuted eight individuals for felonious crimes of leaking classified information to the press under the 1917 Espionage Act, compared with a total of three prosecutions for all previous administrations. First, it was uncovered that the Department of Justice had seized two months of incoming and outgoing phone records from Associated Press reporters and editors without notifying the publication to allow an appeal. The seizure came after The AP printed a story in May 2012 about the government’s actions to stop a bomb from Al Qaeda in Yemen. The AP says they consulted with the government to make sure no national security information was divulged, but the publication was still secretly monitored. It was soon revealed that in 2009 the DOJ used a search warrant to monitor Fox News reporter James Rosen. Rosen, a beat reporter in Washington, had his movements monitored via his State Department security badge. The warrant, which also permitted monitoring of Rosen’s email, was issued after the DOJ argued that he was a criminal co-conspirator with Stephen Jin-Woo Kim in leaking classified information that North Korea may test a nuclear bomb. These leaks led to reforms in the DOJ, but a federal shield law would theoretically, and hopefully, further limit the government from overstepping its power. Confidential sources are the most vital tool an investigative reporter has; without them, there would not be a free dissemination of information because there would be very little information to report. The monitoring of Rosen led to a conviction of his source, Kim, likely keeping other possible sources from approaching Rosen in the future.   A Federal Definition for “Journalist” But the most important part of the federal law, and the part that judges, journalists, and citizens will focus on, is how a journalist was ultimately defined. The final language protects those who publish news or information for any news information service whether it’s in print, electronic, or another format. The person must also act like a journalist, meaning he or she must gather information and materials with the prior intention of publishing. Other parameters do outline a type of salary requirement—you’re covered if you worked for a news organization for at least one year in the previous 20 or three months in the previous five years—but it also protects student journalists. And lastly, what pleased many in the media was the addition of a clause granting a judge the authority to extend coverage under the shield law to any person if the judge felt doing so was “necessary to protect lawful and legitimate news-gathering activities,” meaning that a citizen journalist doing true reporting could be covered.   Historical Setbacks The main legal barrier to a federal shield law is the Supreme Court Case Branzenburg v. Hayes. The court was deeply divided, siding 5-4 against the journalists claim that the press clause in the First Amendment constituted a privilege similar to that of a doctor’s, spouse’s, religious overseer’s, or lawyer’s protecting them from testifying before a grand jury. The court held that the burden to report the news doesn’t outweigh the public’s need for a law enforcement system and the absence of such a privilege had not held back the press from flourishing since America was birthed. While the case has been a set back for journalists since 1972, there were bright spots in the decisions. Justice Byron White, writing for the majority, wrote that though the court declined to recognize a privilege for journalists, it did see the importance of a free press and that the government should have to show “a substantial relation between the information sought and a subject of overriding and compelling state interest.” Justice Lewis Powell concurred, writing “The asserted claim to privilege should be judged on its facts by the striking of a proper balance between freedom of the press and the obligation of all citizens to give relevant testimony with respect to criminal conduct. The balance of these vital constitutional and societal interests on a case-by-case basis accords with the tried and traditional way of adjudicating such questions.”   Is A Shield Law a Good Idea? Despite the obvious need for some type of protection for journalists to protect their sources, there are concerns with the actuality of a federal shield law. Is it a good idea for the government to define a journalist? Many think this may lead to licensing for journalists, which is an enormous hindrance on free speech and a form of censorship, and thusly unconstitutional. Syracuse University Professor Roy Gutterman—an expert on communications law and the First Amendment, as well as the director for the renowned Tully Center for Free Speech at Syracuse—prefers that the “news gathering function” be defined instead of a “journalist.” Gutterman told Veritas News that “The analogy to licensing is obvious and it’s a long standing concern with shield law, whether it’s federal or state, it gets into this question of who gets to qualify,” so language that asks questions like “do you engage in news gathering and reporting and editing” would be preferable. Another concern is the government overriding any law put in place. As Gutterman pointed out, the Department of Justice already has guidelines for subpoenaing reporters. “They can’t just willy-nilly call up a reporter and ask for information or subpoena them. There is a sort of checklist they have to engage in, but it’s easy to overcome.” It’s certainly easy enough to find a claim for national security or an imminent threat, especially if those claims are considered top secret. In those cases the information doesn’t have to be conveyed in open court, and so a journalist can’t contest the veracity of the claim. The Attorney General Eric Holder even called James Rosen a “flight risk” so that the DOJ didn’t have to notify him that he was being surveilled.   The Future It’s quite possible that, not only will a federal shield law finally be put in place, but that the Supreme Court will soon rule on the matter of a reporter’s privilege. New York Times reporter James Risen faces prison for refusing to testify in the criminal trial of former CIA agent Jeffrey Sterling. Risen wrote in his book, State of War, about a failed operation to sabotage Iran’s nuclear research, and the DOJ thinks Sterling was the source. A three judge panel from the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Risen must testify, but in January he appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court. As the current administration fights tooth and nail to stem its leaky faucet, it’s more important than ever that journalists are protected. The United States contends its position as the world’s policemen because it is a democracy, and citizens are granted personal freedoms. The US condemns other countries, like Egypt, for jailing reporters. So why is this condemnation not reflected on the United States’ legal system? “You talk about making an international statement, it was very hard for the US to condemn other countries where reporters are…harassed, beat, and so on,” Gutterman said to Veritas News. “And now we have the federal government going after reporters who are going after the highest forms of government and it doesn’t look good and isn’t American tradition.” No one disagrees that the government has a difficult job to do protecting state secrets, but maybe it should spend less time fighting reporters and more time acting morally and within the boundaries of the law so that employees don’t feel the need to blow the whistle.

This week's episode is the second, concluding part of our series reviewing concepts and topics from last season. (If you haven't yet listened to part 1, you can find it here.)In part 2 of our re:verb “re:cap,” we rekindle the critical ideas brought up in episodes 6 through 9. First, we build upon our discussion of urban renewal and gentrification from episodes 6 & 7, talking through the ongoing transparency controversy at the heart of Pittsburgh's “bid” for Amazon HQ2, the economistic frames used by both proponents and opponents of the bid, and the difficulty of staging place-based resistance to massive corporate entities like Amazon. Then, we examine two cases that exemplify people's affective & emotional attachments to evidence (a call-back to Jenny Rice's work, discussed in episode 8): the liberal-left split over #Russiagate and the cryptic, all-encompassing, extremely-online #QAnon conspiracy. We go on to discuss the brilliant treatment of language ideology (a concept previously covered in episode 9) in the film Sorry to Bother You (Boots Riley, 2018), particularly its depiction of code-switching and “white voice.”Finally, we reflect on some of the unresolved tensions across all of our conversations on the show so far: rhetorics of “the future,” certainty vs. uncertainty, the role of aesthetics in rhetoric, and the relationship between language and power.Previous episodes discussed:Episode 6: How do spaces and places function in resistance movements? (Rhetorics of Place: Part 1) (w/ Derek Handley & Liana Maneese)Episode 7: What are the economic, social, and political forces fueling gentrification? (Rhetorics of Place: Part 2) (w/ Scott Riess)Episode 8: What can conspiracy theories teach us about how we use "evidence"? (w/ Jenny Rice)Episode 9: How does language influence our identity (and vice-versa)? (w/ Barbara Johnstone)Works & Concepts Referenced in this Episode:Creswell, J. (2018, Aug. 5). Cities' offers for Amazon base are secrets even to many city leaders. The New York Times. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/05/technology/amazon-headquarters-hq2.htmlHart, R., & Dillard, C. (2001). Deliberative genre. In Sloane, Thomas O. Encyclopedia of Rhetoric. Oxford University Press. Retrieved from: http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195125955.001.0001/acref-9780195125955-e-64.Kroskrity, P. V. (2004). Language ideologies. A companion to linguistic anthropology, 496-517.Org Chart of the QAnon Conspiracy compiled by “The Infomaniac”: https://throughthelookingglassnews.wordpress.com/2017/11/24/q-anon-learn-to-read-the-map/Rice, J. (2017). The Rhetorical Aesthetics of More: On Archival Magnitude. Philosophy & Rhetoric, 50(1), 26-49.Rihl, J. (2018, Feb. 8). How Amazon's HQ2 may both bring growth and imperil Pittsburgh's talent pool. Public Source. Retrieved from: https://www.publicsource.org/how-amazons-hq2-may-both-bring-growth-and-imperil-pittsburghs-talent-pool/Scahill, J. (2018, Feb. 21). RussiaMania: Glenn Greenwald vs. James Risen. Intercepted Podcast. Podcast retrieved from: https://theintercept.com/2018/02/21/intercepted-podcast-russiamania-glenn-greenwald-vs-james-risen/Shoemaker, J.D. (2018, April 11). Activists call on Pittsburgh officials to release Amazon bid, include residents in economic development decisions. Public Source. Retrieved from: https://www.publicsource.org/activists-call-on-pittsburgh-officials-to-release-amazon-bid-include-residents-in-economic-development-decisions/Shoemaker, J.D. (2018, July 5). Amazon's ripple effects: Six things that might happen if Pittsburgh gets HQ2. Public Source. Retrieved from: https://www.publicsource.org/amazons-ripple-effects-six-things-that-might-happen-if-pittsburgh-gets-hq2/Shoemaer, J.D., & Davidson, M. (2018, June 21). Advocacy groups file court brief supporting media efforts to make Pittsburgh's Amazon HQ2 bid public. Public Source. Retrieved from: https://www.publicsource.org/advocacy-groups-file-court-brief-supporting-media-efforts-to-make-pittsburghs-amazon-hq2-bid-public/VanDerWerff, T. (2018, July 27). 100 years of the American left in 5 minutes, with Sorry to Bother You director Boots Riley. Vox. Retrieved from: https://www.vox.com/2018/7/27/17620246/boots-riley-sorry-to-bother-you-history-of-the-left-interview

After the news broke that federal prosecutors secretly seized emails and phone records from New York Times reporter Ali Watkins, co-hosts Michael Isikoff and Dan Klaidman examine other instances where this has happened in past administrations. They speak with The Intercept’s James Risen about his experience as a New York Times reporter when his records were seized by the Obama administration. Isikoff and Klaidman also sit down with Obama chief of public affairs Matt Miller, who was in the administration when they seized Risen’s records, to discuss why administrations use this tactic against journalists. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

James Risen and Glenn Greenwald have both won Pulitzer prizes. They both have found themselves in the crosshairs of the U.S. government for their journalism. And they both write for The Intercept. But Jim and Glenn have taken very different approaches to covering the Trump/Russia story. This week on Intercepted, they go head-to-head in a debate.

The legendary national security reporter James Risen has a fascinating new expose detailing how U.S. intelligence agencies opened a secret communications channel with Russian operatives, who were offering to sell damaging or compromising intelligence on Donald Trump. In this special bonus episode of Intercepted, James Risen lays out the whole story.

James Risen, senior national security correspondent for The Intercept, joins Ana [01:14] to discuss the rocky relationship between journalists and the government, reminding us that Trump’s threats to press freedom are not unprecedented — and Risen would know, since both the Bush and Obama administrations took him to court over his reporting. He wrote about the experience, in a must-read piece, here: https://url.emailprotection.link/?a_64gq3nIS1JTwoUCTzOU0BEMTal24kTbYv7SAHyApgJQTz-aCpiV2hC7thv5GP8w02qq0C-KqxmYADRSi1AbGq7pH-WmboNGJquZv8onY911DoZFz7SDZ2btaA_DPEZ5rnHm7ZagZ2YiROhPXq0k6Z6_X0goiPm1nsOEo3icOF4~ Then, Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) drops by [51:15] to make a case for why the term “guys” is problematic as a default when addressing each other. Ana and Jamil conclude it really, truly doesn’t take much to consider someone else’s perspective in every day interactions. We read all your emails and questions. Please send them to withfriendslikepod@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter at @crooked_friends. Thanks to our sponsors! Squarespace: Visit Squarespace.com offer code FRIENDS for 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain.  The Great Courses Plus: Sign up for your free month by visiting thegreatcoursesplus.com/Friends. Stitch Fix: Go to Stitchfix.com/Friends for 25 percent off when you keep five items.

Chris Spangle and Harry Price discuss the new Michael Wolff book "Fire and Fury," we consider the mental health of Donald Trump, explain the American hero that is James Risen, and why Jeff Sessions rescinded the Obama marijuana rulings. Wolff Book/Trump's Mental Fitness http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/michael-wolff-fire-and-fury-book-donald-trump.html https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/01/trump-cog-decline/548759/ https://reason.com/blog/2018/01/08/is-trump-a-very-stable-genius-or-a-dange https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/michael-wolff-my-insane-year-inside-trumps-white-house-1071504 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/05/trump-book-highlights-michael-wolff-fire-fury http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/new-york-times-maggie-haberman-on-michael-wolff-book-he-gets-basic-details-wrong/article/2645066 http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/05/opinions/much-of-wolffs-trump-book-rings-true-opinion-dantonio/index.html https://www.axios.com/trumps-state-of-mind-1515262317-b4fdf611-a745-4ca0-b28d-d3069de423f7.html https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/1/5/16770060/trump-mental-health-psychiatrist-25th-amendment http://thehill.com/homenews/media/367635-who-is-fire-and-fury-author-michael-wolff https://www.gq.com/story/trump-mental-fitness-question https://www.gq.com/story/michael-wolff-white-house-trump-access https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/07/trump-25th-amendment-mental-health-327503 http://rare.us/rare-politics/everyone-is-wrong-donald-trump-actually-looks-like-a-winner-in-fire-and-fury/ James Risen https://theintercept.com/2018/01/03/my-life-as-a-new-york-times-reporter-in-the-shadow-of-the-war-on-terror/ https://theintercept.com/2018/01/03/all-the-news-unfit-to-print-james-risen-on-his-battles-with-bush-obama-and-the-new-york-times/ http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/03/ask_james_rosen_and_angela_merkel_about_obama_spying.html http://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/351495-it-looks-like-obama-did-spy-on-trump-just-as-he-did-to-me Sessions/Marijuana https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/4/16849866/marijuana-legalization-trump-sessions-cole-memo https://reason.com/blog/2018/01/08/4-things-congress-can-do-to-stop-a-canna https://reason.com/volokh/2018/01/07/the-rule-of-law-supports-marijuana-feder https://reason.com/blog/2018/01/05/did-jeff-sessions-marijuana-memo-restore https://reason.com/blog/2018/01/05/sullum-jeff-sessions-riscind-cole-memo https://reason.com/blog/2018/01/05/vermont-weed-legalization-passes-house https://reason.com/blog/2018/01/04/blame-scotus-for-allowing-the-feds-to-ta https://reason.com/blog/2018/01/04/sessions-still-is-not-leading-a-cannabis Dossier Causes Death https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/fusion-gps-attorney-drops-bombshell-somebodys-already-been-killed-as-a-result-of-this-dossier/

Recorded: January 5, 2018- Kmele's Axioms of Child Rearing- Long on Fury, Short on Fire- Red Flags, Fake News on Facebook- Trump's Tax Cut, Regulation Busting - Heather Mac Donald vs. Everybody  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we talk the latest messy bitch media gabfest about the Trump Administration contrasted against the opening of much of the US coastline to offshore drilling. Then we have a laugh about the new Philly DA Krasner firing a whole bunch of prosectors. Matt gives us the rundown in the big Intercept interview with James Risen, and takes a trip down memory lane to the Plamegate fiasco. We close with Felix's fever dream nightmare of Elon Musk's Rockabilly Martian colony and the "Raw Water" craze sweeping Silicon Valley. THE GAMING DEBATE TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE: https://www.thebellhouseny.com/event/1614039-no-cartridge-gaming-debate-brooklyn/ The Intercept James Risen interview https://theintercept.com/2018/01/03/all-the-news-unfit-to-print-james-risen-on-his-battles-with-bush-obama-and-the-new-york-times/ Watch DAs get shitcanned here: http://6abc.com/2867602/ [9:27 PM, 1/7/2018] Amber Frost: New Yorkers! Join us for the second installment of Labor Now, brought to you by Jacobin and Verso, January 18th, 7 pm at Verso books. Amber will be moderating a talk on union reform with Pamela Galpern of Communication Workers of America Local 1101, Beth Breslaw of Teamsters for a Democratic Union, and Alexandra Bradbury, Editor and Co-Director of Labor Notes! We’re selling beer and wine and giving out free subscriptions to Labor Notes.

Recorded: January 5, 2018- Kmele's Axioms of Child Rearing- Long on Fury, Short on Fire- Red Flags, Fake News on Facebook- Trump's Tax Cut, Regulation Busting - Heather Mac Donald vs. Everybody  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

James Risen is a legend in the world of investigative and national security journalism. As a reporter for the New York Times, Risen broke some of the most important stories of the post 9/11 era, from the warrantless surveillance against Americans conducted under the Bush-Cheney administration, to black prison sites run by the CIA, to failed covert actions in Iran. Risen has won the Pulitzer and other major journalism awards. But perhaps what he is now most famous for is fighting a battle under both the Bush and Obama administrations as they demanded — under threat of imprisonment —the name of one of Risen’s alleged confidential sources. But it isn’t just the government that Risen had to fight. He also battled his own editors and other powerful figures at the New York Times. Risen is now a senior national security correspondent at The Intercept where his incredible inside story has now been published. We talk with Risen about his career at the New York Times in a special edition of Intercepted.

Finks: How the C.I.A. Tricked the World's Best Writers (Or Books)   When news broke that the CIA had colluded with literary magazines to produce cultural propaganda throughout the Cold War, a debate began that has never been resolved. The story continues to unfold, with the reputations of some of America’s best-loved literary figures—including Peter Matthiessen, George Plimpton, and Richard Wright—tarnished as their work for the intelligence agency has come to light.  Finks is a tale of two CIAs, and how they blurred the line between propaganda and literature. One CIA created literary magazines that promoted American and European writers and cultural freedom, while the other toppled governments, using assassination and censorship as political tools. Defenders of the cultural CIA argue that it should have been lauded for boosting interest in the arts and freedom of thought, but the two CIAs had the same undercover goals, and shared many of the same methods: deception, subterfuge and intimidation.  Finks demonstrates how the good-versus-bad CIA is a false divide, and that the cultural Cold Warriors again and again used anti-Communism as a lever to spy relentlessly on leftists, and indeed writers of all political inclinations, and thereby pushed U.S. democracy a little closer to the Soviet model of the surveillance state. Praise for Finks  "Listen to this book, because it talks in a very clear way about what has been silenced."--John Berger, author of Ways of Seeing and winner of the Man Booker Prize  "It may be difficult today to believe that the American intellectual elite was once deeply embedded with the CIA. But withFinks, Joel Whitney vividly brings to life the early days of the Cold War, when the CIA's Ivy League ties were strong, and key American literary figures were willing to secretly do the bidding of the nation's spymasters."--James Risen, author of Pay Any Price: Greed, Power and Endless War  "A deep look at that scoundrel time when America's most sophisticated and enlightened literati eagerly collaborated with our growing national security state. Finks is a timely moral reckoningone that compels all those who work in the academic, media and literary boiler rooms to ask some troubling questions of themselvesnamely, what, if anything, have they done to resist the subversion of free thought?"--David Talbot, founder of Salon and author of The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA and the Rise of America's Secret Government  "The marriage of politics and literature is always messy and seldom boring. Intrusive governments are invariably unimaginative and plotting writers are hilariously ineffective. The whole thing makes for tortured drama, and Joel Whitney is a savvy dramatist who knows perfectly how to juice intrigue!"--Ilan Stavans, author of Gabriel Garcia Marquez: The Early Years  "The CIA's covert financial support of highbrow art and fiction may seem like a quaint, even endearing, chapter in its otherwise grim history of coups, assassinations, and torture. In Finks, Joel Whitney argues otherwise and shines a discomfiting spotlight on this obscure corner of the cultural Cold War. The result is both an illuminating read and a cautionary tale about the potential costspolitical and artisticof accommodating power."--Ben Wizner, ACLU Director of Speech, Privacy and Technology Project  Joel Whitney is a cofounder and editor at large of Guernica: A Magazine of Art & Politics. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, Boston Review, The San Francisco Chronicle, Dissent, Salon, NPR, New York Magazine and The Sun. Award-winning investigative journalist Nick Schou is managing editor of OC Weekly. He is the author of Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb (Nation Books 2006), which provided the basis for the 2014 Focus Features release starring Jeremy Renner and the L.A. Times-bestseller Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’s Quest to bring Peace, Love and Acid to the World, (Thomas Dunne 2009). He is also the author of The Weed Runners (2013) and Spooked: How the CIA Manipulates the Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood (2016).

New York Times investigative reporter James Risen breaks down Trump’s declaration that journalists are the enemy and analyzes Trump’s royal court. ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio and former New England Patriots star Donté Stallworth talk about the war on the transgender community and the rising resistance of pro athletes. Sam Biddle exposes the Trump-connected firm that helped the NSA spy on the world and actor Wallace Shawn stars as an NSA operative who is worried about adversaries spying on his luncheons. Plus music from Anohni.

Monday November 28, 2016 - Information overload, emotionalism, the search for truth in our pseudo reality, and much more on this 13th episode of the Propaganda Report.   Show Notes (roughly in order of mention on the podcast): Click Here To Subscribe To The Propaganda Report On iTunes Click Here To Subscribe To The Propaganda Report On Google Play Music Check Out Our New Website Propaganda Report Daily Click Here To Subscribe To Monica’s Blog Click Here To Subscribe To Brad’s Youtube Page   Fake site delivering fake advice on what is fake news: www.propornot.com Alex Jones v Larry Pratt on Piers Morgan - who did the better job for gun rights? Charles Schumer Ready for Battle, but Sees Some Common Ground With Donald Trump Incoming Senate minority leader would fight broad tax cuts for the wealthy or reductions in entitlement programs; views may converge on infrastructure and trade This passage appeared in the print version of the article and is not in the online version linked above: Mr. Trump suggested on Twitter that he saw potential for working with Mr. Schumer who is succeeding sen. Harry Reid as Democratic leader. “I have always had a good relationship with Chuck Schumer. He is far smarter than Harry Reid and has the ability to get things done. Good News!” Anti-Trumpers Channel Their Inner Donald Many who decried Trump now exhibit the worst traits he was accused of. Since Election Day Americans have seen the trashing of cars and shops that now constitute modern expressions of tolerance. In addition, the flesh-and-blood victims of the Love Trumps Hate beatdowns include a 15-year-old high-school student wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat in Rockville, Md., a 49-year-old Chicago man dragged out of his car, and a 21-year-old Arab-American university student chased down and hit from behind at a Black Lives Matter rally in El Cajon, Calif. All the while, the president-elect continues his Twitter “rants.” Here are a few of the most recent: “I have always had a good relationship with Chuck Schumer. He is far smarter than Harry R and has the ability to get things done. Good news!” “General James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis, who is being considered for Secretary of Defense, was very impressive yesterday. A true General’s General!” “I settled the Trump University lawsuit for a small fraction of the potential award because as President I have to focus on our country.” Guess it depends on what you mean by “lashes out.” Philosophy of Metrics: The Mystery of Truth – Information Power and Its Controlled Distribution A Comparison between the Gutenberg Printing Press and the Internet Perhaps the intent all along has been to swamp the masses with so much information that it causes a sort of cultural shutdown and avoidance of truth. Drowning out the sound of truth in the modern age would require something like the internet to work alongside the mainstream media in order to ensure the masses never stumble upon what has been hidden right in front of them. The internet is meant to distribute mass misinformation and false narratives Internet Reformation - my glossary entry Trumps New World Order A Coup and the Transformation of the Anglo-American Establishment The Take Down of George Soros Has Begun (FREEPOM) How a Rogue Alliance Betrayed the Rothschild’s and attempted to hijack the One World Government George Soros is running out of friends. With the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States and the BREXIT vote in Great Britain, a pattern is beginning to emerge. This pattern is indicating that a major take-down of George Soros and his Open Society Foundation, among other organizations, both sub and individual, is in process. George Soros on 60 Minutes  ‘Pizzagate’ shows how fake news hurts real people" according to the Washington Post anyway. Clash of Civilizations dialectic set up in the 1990 article The Roots of Muslim Rage by Bernard Lewis Clash of Civilizations laid out in 1993 by Samuel Huntington What is "subsidiarity?" What if ISIS isn’t what it appears to be? FoxNews reports video of ISIS beheading Copts faked: https://themonicaperezshow.com/2015/02/21/foxnews-reports-isis-video-of-beheading-copts-faked/   Corbett Report: 9/11 Suspects Sachtleben goes to jail for whistleblowing and disseminating kiddie porn: US Govt Makes Al Qaeda Recruitment Videos AND Runs Child Porn Sites??? Times Reporter Will Not Be Called to Testify in Leak Case Legal Fight Ends for James Risen of the New York Times Around an hour into the podcast I say James Clapper had something to do with the second underwear bombing--I meant CIA Director John Brennan: Why the underwear-bomber leak infuriated the Obama administration a.k.a. Tommy Chong #WTWOF: Will people on watchlists be denied the right to create news? Freeway Ricky Ross's official website Dark Alliance - Gary Webb reveals Iran-Contra & more (then commits suicide by shooting himself in the head--twice?) French Cops Fell for “Free Ice Cream” Trick? I guess my story about Brigitte Nielsen was FAKE! Sorry!! But in my research, I found this sad update on the actress: How did Stallone's movie star wife Brigitte Nielsen end up as a drunk in the park? GMO Labeling, the Obvious Libertarian Solution Psychological Warfare & the New World Order  

Abby and Robbie Martin talk about Puerto Rico's manufactured debt crisis and history of colonial subjugation, the Orlando massacre and America's mass shooting epidemic, James Risen's book 'Pay Any Price' documenting the criminal looting and corruption in our post-9/11 dystopia. www.mediaroots.org www.theempirefiles.tv

It's law! The USA Freedom Act, which reauthorizes and privatizes portions of the Patriot Act, is being called a victory for privacy... but it's not. In this episode, find out all the details of the bill that was signed into law just hours after this episode was recorded, including how it continues bulk data collection and lets the most powerful men in the United States get away with breaking the law. Please support Congressional Dish: Click here to contribute with PayPal or Bitcoin; click the PayPal "Make it Monthly" checkbox to create a monthly subscription Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Mail Contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North #4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Thank you for supporting truly independent media! H.R. 2048: USA Freedom Act of 2015 Title I: FISA business records reforms The government will need to provide "a specific selection term to be used for the basis" for the data being collected The term can't be the name of a telecom, unless that telecom is under investigation The term can't be a "broad geographic region, including the United States, a city, a county, a State, a zip code, or an area code" The term must be something that "specifically identifies an individual, account, or personal device." The government will have 180 days to comply after the bill is signed into law Limits ongoing phone call record collection to 180 days unless extended Orders the telecoms to keep secret the order from the government to turn over call records The Attorney General can require records be turned over in "emergencies" if he/she informs a judge and applies for the warrant within 7 days. If the warrant is denied, nothing collected under the Attorney General's emergency power will be admissible in court, "except with the approval of the Attorney General if the information indicates a threat of death or serious bodily harm to any person." The Attorney General will be in charge of determining if the standards above are met. Eliminates a clause that lets a judge immediately dismiss a protest from a company fighting a FISA order Gives immunity to any company that hands over information under a FISA order or an emergency order from the Attorney General Companies will be paid for "expenses incurred" producing the information or assisting the government with FISA or emergency orders "Call detail record" will not include the contents of the call, the person's name, address or financial information, or the cell phone's GPS location. The bill expressly says that nothing in the USA Freedom Act will limit the government's authority to get orders from the secret FISA court, as authorized in by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Title II: FISA pen register and trap and trace device reform The Attorney General will get to determine the privacy procedures for the use of tracing devices installed to track phone numbers dialed in monitor Internet communications. Title III: FISA acquisitions targeting person outside the United States reforms "Limits on use of unlawfully obtained information" can be waived if the government fixes whatever illegal thing they were doing, which would allow information they collected before the fix to be used in court. Within 180 days after enactment, FISA court judges will pick at least five people to serve as amicus curiae - "friends of the court" - to argue on behalf of privacy and civil liberties. FISA court judges will write the rules for the amicus curiae participation. The FISA court gets to decide if the amicus curiae's participation is appropriate The Director of National Intelligence must make publicly available "to the greatest extent practicable" any FISA court decision that includes "a significant construction or interpretation of any provision of law" The decision, order, or opinion can be released to the public in redacted form The Director of National Intelligence can waive the requirement to make FISA decisions, orders, and opinions public as long as they say it's "necessary to protect the national security of the United States or properly classified intelligence sources or methods". Title V: National Security Letter reform National Security Letter (NSL): Letters served by the FBI to telecoms that allow the FBI to secretly demand data. There is a gag order on anyone who receives these letters, guaranteeing that the public is not told and that there is no judicial review. Allows NSLs to be issued for telephone, financial, and consumer records if the order "specifically identifies a person, entity, telephone number, or account as the basis for a request". There will be a gag order, preventing companies from telling anyone that the FBI is requesting the information, as long as the order also has a notification of the telecoms right to judicial review and if the FBI says disclosure could result in: "A danger to the national security of the United States" "Interference with a criminal, counterterrorism or counterintelligence investigation" "Interference with diplomatic relations" (new) "Danger to the life or physical safety of any person" Title VI: FISA transparency and reporting requirements Orders the government to submit a bunch of new reports to Congress Allows companies served with National Security Letters to publicly report approximately how many NSLs they've received They can only report the number of FISA orders and NSLs subject to a gag order to the nearest thousand They can only report the number of FISA orders and NSLs not subject to a gag order to the nearest 500. They can report twice a year on the total number of orders, directives, and NSLs served to the nearest 250 These reports are only allowed to cover NSLs for the previous 180 days Once a year, they can report on the total number of orders, directives, and NSLs they were required to comply with to the nearest 100 The FISA court, if their ruling "includes significant construction or interpretation of any provision of law or results in a change of application of any provision of this Act", will have to submit their decision or denial of disclosure petition to Congress within 45 days Title VII: Enhanced national security provisions Emergency monitoring of a person outside the United States is limited to 72 hours without a warrant Extends PATRIOT Act and Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 provisions until December 15, 2019. Title VIII: Safety of Maritime Navigation and Nuclear Terrorism Conventions Implementation Allows civil forfeiture of property of people suspected of trying to harm a United States ship Gives a fine of up to $2,000,000 and possible life in prison to a person who possesses radioactive material or a device with intent to damage people or property or someone who threatens to do so. Sound Clip Sources Hearing: House Judiciary Committee Markup of H.R. 2048 from April 28, 2015 Senate Floor Proceeding: May 20, 2015 Senate Floor Proceeding: May 31, 2015, Part 1 Senate Floor Proceeding: May 31, 2015, Part 2 Speech: President George W. Bush speaks at Kansas State University, January 23, 2006. Television Appearance: President Barack Obama on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, August 6, 2013. Hearing: Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lies to Congress, March 12, 2013. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: HBO, October 5, 2014 Information Presented in This Episode USA Freedom Act Article: White House backs bill that would end NSA bulk collection of phone records by Ellen Nakashima and Mike DeBonis, Washington Post, May 11, 2015. Article: House Votes to End NSA’s Bulk Phone Data Collection by Jennifer Steinhauer, New York Times, May 13, 2015. Article: House reaches deal on bill to end NSA phone collection by Associated Press, April 30, 2015. Article: House Says No To NSA Bulk Data Collection As Fight To End Mass Surveillance Gathers Momentum by Thomas Fox-Brewster, Forbes, May 14, 2015. Article: US Congress to vote on bill banning NSA from bulk-collecting phone calls by Spencer Ackerman and Sabrina Siddiqui, The Guardian, May 13, 2015. Patriot Act Expiring Provisions Legal Summary: Section 206 - Roving Surveillance Authority under FISA by Mary DeRosa, American Bar Association. Legal Summary: Lone Wolf by Mary DeRosa, American Bar Association. Legal Summary: Section 215 - Access to Business Records under FISA ("Libraries Provision") and Section 214 - Pen Register and Trap and Trace Authority under FISA by Mary DeRosa, American Bar Association. NSA Surveillance System Article: Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts by James Risen and Eric Lichtblau, New York Times, December 16, 2005. Article: The NSA is Building the Country's Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say) by James Bamford, Wired, March 15, 2012. Article: The NSA's New Spy Facilities are 7 Times Bigger Than the Pentagon by Aliya Sternstein, Defense One, July 25, 2013. Article: In NSA-intercepted Data, Those Not Targeted Far Outnumber The Foreigners Who Are by Barton Gellman, Julie Tate, and Ashkan Soltani, Washington Post, July 5, 2014. Editorial: Meet Executive Order 12333: The Reagan Rule That Lets the NSA Spy on American by John Napier Tye, Washington Post, July 18, 2014. Podcast Appearance ProfitCast Episode #48: Effective NON-Marketing Ways to Grow Your Podcast - Interview with Jen Briney Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) Bill of Rights Song by Rhythm, Rhyme, and Results Let Their Heads Roll by Jack Erdie (found on Music Alley by mevio)

Egmont USA to Close After Sale Attempt Falls Through Christian publisher pulls heaven book after boy retracts story Human rights lawyer in Tajikistan jailed for nine years Racial Discrimination Act would outlaw Charlie Hebdo cartoons, say critics City of Paris to sue Fox News over on-air comments West Virginia Delegates consider adding journalists to list of protected workers David Petraeus: From military rock star to possible prosecution regarding biography Follow ups: Court Filing Ends AG v. HathiTrust Copyright Litigation Legal Fight Ends for James Risen of the New York Times Photo by Hector Alejandro >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes

8 AM - 1 - Investigative Reporter James Risen Talks About His New Book "Pay Any Price: Greed, Power, and Endless War". 2 - More with James Risen. 3 - Marshall's News. 4 - The News Buffet.

Nicole talks about the media's fear mongering - from Ebola to ISIS and beyond. Norman Solomon joins to talk about the targeting of whistleblowers and journalist James Risen. And Susie Madrak talks about corporate exploitation of workers and consumers. Plus the latest news and info you need to know.

Investigative journalists throughout the world face legal threats. This panel will look at how lawsuits have put a chill on watchdog journalism in the US and elsewhere. It will focus on the threats to national-security reporting, particularly the legal pressures on journalists to reveal their sources. Lucy Dalglish of the Reporters Committee on Freedom of the Press will provide a broad overview on the legal threats and challenges faced by US journalists. James Risen, who covers national security for The New York Times, has been put under surveillance and subpoenaed in court and being compelled to reveal the sources for his 2006 book on the CIA. He will speak on the pressures put on US journalists covering national-security issues. Roman Shleynov of Novaya Gazeta will address challenges faced by Russian journalists reporting on national security issues, and Harinder Baweja will discuss threats to journalists reporting on national security in India. Moderator: John Dinges, professor, Columbia Journalism School Lucy Dalglish, executive director, Reporters Committee on Freedom of the Press: Legal threats and challenges faced by investigative reporters in the United States James Risen, reporter for The New York Times and author of State of War, about the CIA: Protection of sources and threats on national security reporting. Roman Shleynov, investigations editor, Novaya Gazeta (Russia): Challenges in covering national security issues for journalists in Russia. Harinder Baweja, news and investigations editor, Tehelka: Threats to journalists reporting on national security in India.

Investigative journalists throughout the world face legal threats. This panel will look at how lawsuits have put a chill on watchdog journalism in the US and elsewhere. It will focus on the threats to national-security reporting, particularly the legal pressures on journalists to reveal their sources. Lucy Dalglish of the Reporters Committee on Freedom of the Press will provide a broad overview on the legal threats and challenges faced by US journalists. James Risen, who covers national security for The New York Times, has been put under surveillance and subpoenaed in court and being compelled to reveal the sources for his 2006 book on the CIA. He will speak on the pressures put on US journalists covering national-security issues. Roman Shleynov of Novaya Gazeta will address challenges faced by Russian journalists reporting on national security issues, and Harinder Baweja will discuss threats to journalists reporting on national security in India. Moderator: John Dinges, professor, Columbia Journalism School Lucy Dalglish, executive director, Reporters Committee on Freedom of the Press: Legal threats and challenges faced by investigative reporters in the United States James Risen, reporter for The New York Times and author of State of War, about the CIA: Protection of sources and threats on national security reporting. Roman Shleynov, investigations editor, Novaya Gazeta (Russia): Challenges in covering national security issues for journalists in Russia. Harinder Baweja, news and investigations editor, Tehelka: Threats to journalists reporting on national security in India.

For his work on the domestic spying scandal, Lichtblau is the recipient of a Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting and is also this year's recipient, with Times reporter James Risen, of the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. The Pulitzer jury applauded them "for their carefully sourced stories on secret domestic eavesdropping that stirred a national debate on the boundary line between fighting terrorism and protecting civil liberty." Lichtblau has recently uncovered more government monitoring activities. The Swift story, in which counter-terrorism officials accessed the banking transactions of thousands of Americans from an international database, has alarmed many. The government's departure from typical practice in how they acquire large amounts of sensitive financial data has stirred concerns about legal and privacy issues. Eric Lichtblau covers federal law enforcement and national security issues for the Washington bureau of The New York Times. Before coming to the Times, he worked for the The Los Angeles Times for 15 years in both California and Washington, focusing on investigative reporting, legal affairs and law enforcement. He is currently working on a book on the remaking of federal law enforcement since 9/11. Lichtblau is also a guest commentator on television, appearing frequently on CNN, CNBC's Hardball, PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and C-SPAN's Washington Journal. He also appears regularly on NPR's All Things Considered. Lichtblau has given speeches for Cornell University, Syracuse University, Mensa, judicial and academic conferences, and other forums.