CIA Sponsored Terror, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Human Rights, U.S. Militarism, Violations of U.S. and International Law
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Locals On Edge As Right Wing Christian Company Builds Community
A quiet rural county in Tennessee has become an unexpected frontline in a national struggle over identity, democracy, and belonging. Jackson County—a small Appalachian community of rolling hills, family farms, and a slowly revitalizing town center—is now at the center of a political and ideological clash. Longtime residents are facing a wave of out of state White Christian nationalists developers. Their stated goals include rolling back civil rights gains, discouraging women from higher education or voting, and expelling immigrants who are already U.S. citizens.
At the heart of this effort are developers RidgeRunner and New Founding; they’re buying up hundreds of acres to create an ideological enclave and consolidating local political power. RidgeRunner’s CEO, Josh Abbotoy, has sold land to two podcasters, Andrew Isker and C. Jay Engel. These “ambassadors” state publicly that they want to attract “hundreds or thousands” of people to Jackson County who share their Christian nationalist vision.
Locals fear the county is being used as a pilot site for a broader national strategy: intentional migration to reshape rural America and take over local governments. In a place where county elections are often decided by fewer than 300 votes, the danger isn’t theoretical. A disciplined ideological bloc of just a few hundred people could rewrite policy, alter governance, and silence dissent.What’s happening in Jackson County is an example of a growing pattern across the country: planned ideological enclaves, politically motivated relocation, and increased activity under the banner of Christian nationalism.
Guest – Kimberly Silvestri is a homeowner in Gainesboro, she’s a former professional pilot with a background in science. She’s currently working on her Master’s degree.
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International Law And U.S. Soldiers Refusing Illegal Orders
The extent to which Donald Trump is willing to go to dismantle of the rule of law at home and abroad is breathtaking and dangerous. In some cases, leaders are pushing back but in other cases major institutions are enabling Trump’s lawlessness. In a recent 90-second video organized by Sen. Elissa Slotkin (Democrat of Michigan), two senators and four Congress members, all U.S. military or CIA veterans, took turns reading a statement addressed to active service members, urging them to refuse to follow illegal orders. “Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution,” the lawmakers said. “Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders…. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.”
In Truth Social, Trump immediately responded: “It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL.” In subsequent posts, Trump wrote: “LOCK THEM UP???” … “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” Trump also reposted a statement saying: “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD!!” Now the Department of War is investigating one of the Senators, Mark Kelly for “serious allegations of misconduct,” threatening to call him back to active duty and court-martial him.
Meanwhile, on November 17, 2025, the UN Security Council enshrined Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian lands, put its imprimatur on Israel’s genocide, and granted colonial control over the lives of the Palestinians to the United States, which has aided and abetted the genocide. The Council adopted Resolution 2803, by a vote of 13-0. Russia and China, both permanent members of the Security Council, could have vetoed it. But they abstained. The resolution incorporates Donald Trump’s “peace plan.” It grants control over Gaza to the U.S.-led “Board of Peace” and it orders the deployment of a U.S.-led occupation force called “International Stabilization Force (ISF).” Trump will oversee both colonial bodies, in collaboration with Israel. Palestinians will not be allowed to participate in their own governance.
Guest – Marjorie Cohn is Professor Emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, Dean of the People’s Academy of International Law, and former president of the National Lawyers Guild. She is a legal and political analyst who does media commentary and writes columns on Truthout and other outlets, and she a former host on Law and Disorder radio. Her most recent book is Drones and Targeted Killing: Legal, Moral, and Geopolitical Issues.
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Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Human Rights, Supreme Court, Violations of U.S. and International Law
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Without Precedent: How Chief Justice Roberts and His Accomplices Rewrote The Constitution and Dismantled Our Rights
Early in his second term, after addressing a joint session of Congress, as he shook hands walking down the aisle, President Donald Trump turned to Chief Justice John Roberts, patted him on the back, and said, “Thank you again. Thank you again. I won’t forget.” What had Roberts done to deserve such gratitude? A lot.
In her withering and revealing new book, Without Precedent: How Chief Justice Roberts and His Accomplices Rewrote The Constitution and Dismantled Our Rights, Lisa Graves describes in detail how Roberts “has established himself not as a fair referee but as a diabolically effective player rewriting the Constitution and remaking America in accord with his reactionary political agenda, as he strategizes how to move the ball forward and disarm the opposition.” Sound too hyperbolic? Read the book.
Guest – Lisa Graves – before her work as Deputy Assistant Attorney General under Attorneys General Janet Reno, a Democrat, and John Ashcroft, a Republican, she was Chief Counsel for Nominations for Senator Patrick Leahy on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, where she investigated the careers and ideologies of judicial nominees, including John Roberts. She also learned how to examine the finances of sitting judges as Deputy Chief of the Article III Judges Division of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts with oversight of the Financial Disclosure Office. She was an adjunct law professor at George Washington University Law School and worked as the Senior Legislative Strategist for the ACLU on national security and civil liberties. From 2009-2017, she led the Center for Media and Democracy. Most recently, she co-founded Court Accountability and is also the Executive Director of True North Research, a national investigative watchdog group that describes its mission as exposing “the dark money fueling regressive agendas targeting vital institutions in our republic, such as our courts and public schools.”
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Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Human Rights, Surveillance
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Raiding the Genome: How the United States Government Is Abusing its Immigration Powers to Amass DNA for Future Policing
Worldwide, governments are quietly stockpiling one of the most intimate forms of personal data imaginable: our DNA. What began as a tool for identifying suspects and reuniting families has become a global infrastructure for surveillance—an invisible archive of our genetic code, stored and searchable.
In 2024, Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy & Technology sounded the alarm in a report titled Raiding the Genome: How the United States Government Is Abusing its Immigration Powers to Amass DNA for Future Policing. The findings were stark: U.S. immigration authorities are collecting DNA on a massive scale, far beyond what the law permits.
In a follow-up report last month, the Center reveals that Customs and Border Protection is taking DNA from American citizens, too—routinely, without consent, and without oversight—then funneling those samples to the FBI. Once there, they’re added to the national criminal database known as CODIS, where law enforcement agencies nationally can access and search them.
Guest – Stevie Glaberson is the Director of Research & Advocacy for the Center, and an author of the report. She joined the Center after serving as a Visiting Professor and the Director of Georgetown Law’s Civil Litigation Clinic, which she helped found as a clinical teaching fellow and staff attorney.
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Inventing Antifa
On October 18, No Kings Day, in her popular Newsletter, author Sarah Kendzior wrote a disturbing column titled Inventing Antifa. It begins: “In 2005, the Uzbek government invented a group called ‘Akromiya’ to justify a massacre of protesters. Now I worry the US government will do the same.” She recounted how on May 13, 2005, the Uzbek government killed over 700 civilians gathered in the eastern city of Andijon to protest the economic, social, and political conditions of Uzbekistan. Prompted by the imprisonment and subsequent jailbreak of popular local businessmen, the crowd grew to 10,000 people, some drawn by a rumor that their dictator, President Karimov, would address the largest protest in Uzbekistan’s history. Instead, military forces greeted the demonstrators. According to the Uzbek government, the forces targeted only armed insurgents, 187 of whom were killed. But according to nearly all other accounts, the military fired indiscriminately into the crowd, murdering at least 700 people, including children.
At the center of the massacre was a group the Uzbek government called “Akromiya.” According to the Uzbek government, Akromiya armed the militants, Akromiya gave the orders, Akromiya was responsible for the deaths of Uzbek citizens in Andijon. Akromiya was a menace that had to be stamped out at any cost. There was one problem with this theory: Akromiya — according to Uzbek and international human rights groups, political organizations, journalists, citizens, and accused Akromiya members themselves — did not exist. The Uzbek government had invented “Akromiya,” which became the all-purpose label slapped on any Uzbek who dared to dissent.
Kendzior believes that just as the Uzbek government invented the bogeyman “Akromiya” to justify the brutal suppression of dissent, Donald Trump is using the label Antifa to do the same to suppress and criminalize the rising resistance against his fascist regime in the United States. Kendzior knows alot about the myth of “Akromiya” because she’s the one who debunked it, so we’re very pleased to have her with us today on Law and Disorder.
Guest – Sarah Kendzior is the bestselling author of The View From Flyover Country, Hiding In Plain Sight and They Knew. Her latest book The Last American Road Trip was published this year and I had the pleasure of reviewing it – favorably I might add – for Ms Magazine. From 2018 until 2023, she was the co-host of Gaslit Nation, a weekly podcast and she is well-known for her coverage of the Trump administration and for writing about authoritarianism, kleptocracy, transnational organized crime, racism and xenophobia, media, voting rights, technology, the environment, and corruption, among other topics. Sarah holds a PhD in anthropology from Washington University in Saint Louis and an MA in Central Eurasian Studies from Indiana University In August 2013, Foreign Policy journal named her one of “the 100 people you should be following on Twitter to make sense of global events.” Inventing Antifa – Sarah Kendzior’s Newsletter.
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Civil Rights, Criminalizing Dissent, Freedom Of Speech, Human Rights, Racist Police Violence, worker's rights
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We’re Coming for You and Your Whole Rotten System
Tens of thousands of socialists, union members, and working people fought alongside Kshama Sawant and her city council office to win historic victories, like the $15 an hour minimum wage, Amazon tax on businesses, renter rights and more. Long before AOC and Bernie Sanders became household names, Kshama won elections as a socialist to the office of city council in Seattle in 2013.
Twelve years ago the demand for $15 an hour was dismissed as utopian by the Democrats in Seattle and the corporate media. They won and moreover, they won an escalation clause. Seattle workers are now getting over $20 an hour, the highest in the country.
In 2020, her office won the historic Amazon tax which funds affordable housing and other needs to the tune of $214 million a year by taxing the city’s, wealthiest corporations. Sawant launched the people’s budget campaign, organizing hundreds of activists every year and winning millions of dollars in funding for affordable housing, renters needs, including defense against evictions, and social services.
They won a law after the Roe versus Wade decision making abortion free in Seattle for all those who need it. They won a resolution making Seattle the largest city to pass the strongest cease-fire resolution condemning Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people. Why is KShama and the forces around her been able to defeat big business interests, the right wing, and the Democratic Party establishment again and again whereas Bernie Sanders and the Squad have not?
Guest – Jonathan Rosenblum, the author of the recently published book We’re Coming for You and your Whole Rotten System to answer this question. Mr. Rosenblum worked on the Sawant’s staff at the Seattle City Council office throughout the decade of 2010s. He’s a journalist, labor organizer, and a member of the National Writers Union.
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Netflix Documentary and Innocence Project Help Exonerate Falsely Imprisoned Killers
The black political leader, Malcolm X was assassinated 50 years ago in the Audubon ballroom in Harlem, in the City of New York. Assassination is a political murder. The story that we were all to believe was that Malcolm X, as a member and leader of Elijah Muhammad’s nation of Islam, developed differences with Elijah Mohammad. That he left the nation of Islam. And that he was later killed by members of the NY and Newark chapters, who came across the Hudson River and shot him while he spoke out at the ballroom.
But as we have learned recently, that story is not the full truth. The truth started coming out when Netflix did a six-part documentary on the assassination. This was followed up by the work of the Innocence Project, who along with help from the Manhattan district attorney’s office got two of the falsely imprisoned supposed killers exonerated.
We have learned of the FBI’s intelligence program called Cointelpro. One of its aims was to neutralize any future black leaders. Malcolm X‘s daughters have retained a team of civil rights attorneys who are suing the New York Police Department and the FBI over their possible involvement in the assassination of Malcolm X, and it’s cover-up.
Guest – Flint Taylor of the Peoples Law Office. Taylor is a nationally recognized civil rights attorney. He represented the family of Fred Hampton demonstrating that the Chicago Police Department and the FBI were responsible for the assassination of the young Black Panther leader. He’s written the book “The Killing Machine: Racism and Police Violence in Chicago”. He is one of the editors of the “Police Misconduct Law Reporter. He’s the author of The Torture Machine: Racism And Police Violence In Chicago.
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Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Criminalizing Dissent, Freedom Of Speech, Gaza, genocide, Human Rights, Prison Industry
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From The Flag To The Cross: Fascism American Style: Live Event
From The Flag To The Cross: Fascism American Style is the title of a newly published book edited by Zachary Sklar and our own Michael Smith. The book draws from seven key interviews with prominent socialist thinkers in the United States and Canada. They include Margaret Kimberly, Henry Giroux, Dianne Feeley and Bill Mullen. Last month publishers OR books held a live book launch event taking place at Live On Avenue C in the East Village. Speakers included economist Rick Wolff, New York-based writer Margaret Kimberly and economist Kshama Sawant.
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What Is Pretrial Justice?
On any given day, roughly 7,000 people are held in New York City jails—mostly at Rikers Island—awaiting trial. Many are there not because they’ve been convicted of a crime, but because they can’t afford bail or have been remanded to custody. Critics argue that New York’s approach to pretrial detention is both unjust and unsustainable and that meaningful reform is long overdue. Detaining people before they’ve been found guilty turns the presumption of innocence upside down.
This system hits Black and Latino New Yorkers hardest. Lower average incomes and heavier policing in their neighborhoods make them far more likely to be jailed pretrial. Beyond the human toll, pretrial detention drives up expenses for staffing, security, medical care, and administration—all paid by taxpayers. And the social costs ripple outward. Lock-up before trial separates families, jeopardizes jobs, housing, and pressures individuals into pleading guilty simply to go home.
Recently, the Pretrial Justice Institute joined forces with NYU’s Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law, and the Bronx Defenders to convene directly impacted people, public defenders, advocates, and service providers to reimagine a more just system. Their report, A City Without Cages: Creating Pretrial Safety and Liberty in NYC, outlines what that future could look like.
Guest – Guisela Marroquín, Executive Director of the Pretrial Justice Institute in New York. There, she leads cross-sector efforts to advance racial equity and transform pretrial systems. Before that, she was Senior Director of Programs at the New York Women’s Foundation.
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Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Freedom Of Speech, Human Rights, Right To Dissent, War Resister
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Non Citizens And Free Speech Rights: AAUP v Rubio
On September 30, 2025 a federal judge in Boston issued one of the most important decisions that has been rendered during the 9 months of Donald Trump’s second term. Following a nine-day trial in July that included the testimony of 15 witnesses and the admission of scores of documents, US District Judge William G. Young of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that the Trump administration’s policy of arresting, detaining, and deporting noncitizen students and faculty members for their pro-Palestinian advocacy violates the First Amendment. Judge Young was nominated by President Ronald Reagan and has served on the court for over 40 years. While there have been over 200 other court rulings involving Trump since January, this was the first decision following a full-dress trial.
The case, known as AAUP v Rubio, was brought by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, partnering with the law firm of Sher Tremonte LLP, representing the American Association of University Professors, including AAUP chapters at Harvard, Rutgers, and NYU, and the Middle East Studies Association (MESA). The associations’ members include tens of thousands of faculty and students across the country.
In his historic ruling, Judge Young wrote, “This case—perhaps the most important ever to fall within the jurisdiction of this district court—squarely presents the issue whether non-citizens lawfully present here in [the] United States actually have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally ‘yes, they do.’ ‘No law’ means ‘no law.’ The First Amendment does not draw President Trump’s invidious distinction and it is not to be found in our history or jurisprudence.”
Jameel Jaffer, executive director at the Knight First Amendment Institute, called it “a historic ruling that should have immediate implications for the Trump administration’s policies. If the First Amendment means anything, it means the government can’t imprison people simply because it disagrees with their political views. We welcome the court’s reaffirmation of this basic idea, which is foundational to our democracy.” Todd Wolfson, president of the AAUP, issued the following statement shortly after Judge Young issued his historic ruling: “The Trump administration’s attempt to deport students for their political views is an assault on the Constitution and a betrayal of American values. This trial exposed their true aim: to intimidate and silence anyone who dares oppose them. If we fail to fight back, Trump’s thought police won’t stop at pro-Palestinian voices—they will come for anyone who speaks out. Defending democracy means standing up now—loudly, visibly, and together.”
Having found that the policy violates the First Amendment, in the coming weeks, Judge Young is expected to turn to the question of what appropriate judicial relief should be granted.
Guest – Ramya Krishnan, senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute. Ramya served as lead counsel at the trial and presented the opening and closing arguments to the court. She holds a B.A. and LL.B. from the University of Sydney, where she served as an editor of the Sydney Law Review, and an LL.M. from Columbia Law School, where she was a Raymond J. Baer Scholar.
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Algorithmic Literacy for Journalists
Artificial intelligence is transforming the newsroom—from how stories are written, and headlines are chosen, to which readers see which articles. Algorithms, those invisible sets of instructions that guide everything from Google searches to social media feeds, are now shaping journalism itself. They can amplify—or silence—voices, and determine which stories gain traction in the public sphere. For journalists, understanding how these systems work isn’t just technical—it’s essential to democracy.
Algorithmic Literacy for Journalists is a new online resource that helps reporters and editors navigate this complex new terrain. The project equips journalists to hold technology platforms accountable, explain AI’s influence to the public, and confront the hidden biases and power structures embedded in algorithmic systems.
Guest – founder of Algorithmic Literacy for Journalists, Dr. Andy Lee Roth the editor-at-large for Project Censored and its publishing imprint, The Censored Press. He co-edits the State of the Free Press yearbook series and co-authored The Media and Me: A Guide to Critical Media Literacy for Young People. A sociologist, since joining Project Censored in 2006, Andy has led media literacy initiatives, including developing Algorithmic Literacy for Journalists, a web resource helping reporters understand how AI shapes—and sometimes distorts—news and society.
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