CIA Sponsored Terror, Civil Liberties, Criminalizing Dissent, Habeas Corpus, Human Rights, NSA Spying, Political Prisoner, Prison Industry, Surveillance, Targeting Muslims, Truth to Power, War Resister
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Hosts Mourn The Passing Of Friend And Colleague Lynne Stewart
Attorneys Heidi Boghosian and Michael Smith remember the courageous people’s lawyer Lynne Stewart.
We listen back to a past interview with Lynne Stewart February 4, 2008.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Hears Lynne Stewart’s Arguments
Law and Disorder hosts welcome back civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart. Lynne Stewart has been free on bail pending appeal since federal judge John Koeltl gave her a 28 month sentence in October 2006. As you may recall Lynne Stewart was initially facing up to 30 years after being found guilty of conspiring to aid terrorists. She was convicted of distributing press releases on behalf of her jailed client Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman who is serving a life sentence on terror-related charges.
Here on Law and Disorder we’ve followed Lynne Stewart’s case as it contains key breaches of civil liberties such as government eavesdropping into attorney/ client conversations.
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Recognizing 50 Years of The Center For Constitutional Rights And Michael Ratner
Michael Ratner co-founded Law and Disorder Radio radio 13 years ago. He died last May in New York City of complications after cancer surgery at age 73. At the time, he was the President of the Center for Constitutional Rights. Some years ago he helped form it’s European counterpart, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights. Last year was the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Center for Constitutional Rights.
The held a commemorative conference in Berlin last December on the 50th anniversary of the CCR and honored it’s president, Michael Ratner. Michael Smith, the co-host along with Heidi Boghosian of Law and Disorder Radiospoke at the conference about Michael Ratner and the four founders of the CCR. He was joined in his presentation by attorney Margaret Ratner Kunstler, a key figure in the early days of the CCR. Today we bring you excerpts from this presentation.
CIA Sponsored Terror, Civil Liberties, Human Rights, NSA Spying, Surveillance, War Resister
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Attorney Kellyanne Conway: Ethics Complaint
President Donald Trump and his main advisor Steve Bannon have declared war on any press that is critical of them. Last week in an historically unprecedented move they banned the New York Times and CNN from a news conference. President Donald Trump’s spokesperson Kellyanne Conway has countered factual reporting with what she calls “alternative facts”, that is, lies. In order to raise the fear level of the population two weeks ago she falsely claimed a muslim carried out a terrorist massacre in Bowling Green, failing to indicate whether it was Bowling Green, New York, Bowling Green, Ohio, or Bowling Green, Kentucky. Also that week she promoted Ivana Trump’s product line trying to perk up sales of Trump’s fading brand after her jewelry and dresses were dropped by Nordstrom and other department stores.
Kellyanne Conway is a lawyer who graduated from George Washington School of Law in Washington DC. Lawyers’ unethical and illegal conduct is monitored by the Bar Association there. In response to her unethical conduct a number of law professors who specialize in legal ethics filed a complaint with the association.
Guest – Attorney Ellen Yaroshefsky, a specialist in ethics who teaches at Hofstra Law School. Ellen Yaroshefsky is a former staff attorney and then board member of the Center for constitutional rights. She is a leader of the National Lawyers Guild. Currently, she is the director of the Monroe Freedman Institute for the Study of Legal Ethics at the law school at Hofstra University.
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Obama v Bahlul Case: First Amendment Protections And More
We are on the verge of unconstrained military power to suppress dissent under Commander-In-Chief Donald Trump. Section 1021 of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act would allow him to fully put into effect the military detention of dissenters who oppose government wartime policies or support whistleblowers who bring those policies to light. In the case of ” Hedges versus Obama”, the Department of Justice argued that “mere expressive activities” could be sufficient grounds for military detention of civilians such as journalists and US citizen Chris Hedges, at the Commander-In-Chief’s discretion. The conspiracy conviction by a Military Commission of Mr. Ali al Bahlul, who made a movie promoting Al Qaeda, is going before the Supreme Court. He is represented by three attorneys including our guest Attorney Todd Pierce.
Guest -Todd Pierce, an attorney and a retired U.S. Army Judge Advocate General Corps Officer. He served as a military defense counsel before the Military Commissions on teams representing three Guantanamo clients. He remains involved with Guantanamo related issues as co-counsel on a Guantanamo case currently before the appellate courts as well as consulting on related human rights cases. He serves on the Advisory Board of ExposeFacts.org. He writes as a critic of U.S. foreign and national security policy, regularly contributing to Consortiumnews.com, antiwar.com, mondoweiss.net, and other media. He is a member of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity and Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence and the Consultative Counsel of Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy. He currently is working on a Masters Degree in Politics at the New School in New York with a particular focus on the works of Hannah Arendt and her writings on imperialism and totalitarianism.
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CIA Sponsored Terror, Civil Liberties, Criminalizing Dissent, Human Rights, RFID, Surveillance, War Resister
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My Friend Cayla And Other Toys That Spy
Several consumer advocates are urging retailers including Amazon.com and Walmart to stop selling a doll that can eavesdrop on children and families.
The groups are calling on the retailers to discontinue sales of the doll called My Friend Cayla after filing a complaint in late 2016 with the Federal Trade Commission. The complaint alleges that Cayla and another toy, the I-Que Robot, which isn’t sold in the U.S., can transmit recordings to Nuance Communications, a speech-to-text software company that contracts with military and law enforcement agencies, among others.
The doll, made by interactive toy maker Genesis, are wireless-enabled devices that advocates say can open the door to hackers, and other privacy violations.
In a letter to Amazon’s CEO, Josh Golin, of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, wrote “My Friend Cayla poses significant security risks that could place children in physical danger…A stranger or potential predator within a 50-foot range can easily establish a Bluetooth connection with the doll, eavesdrop on the child, and even converse with the child through the doll.”
A similar letter, also signed by the Center for Digital Democracy and the Electronic Privacy Information Center was sent to Walmart, Target, and Toys ‘R’ Us. Toys R Us said the doll is no longer for sale at its stores or through its website.
Guest – Josh Golin, Josh started at CCFC as an intern in 2003 and has been with the organization in a variety of capacities ever since. Most recently, he served as CCFC’s Associate Director organizing CCFC’s advocacy campaigns and developing its communications strategy. His writings about the commercialization of childhood have appeared in a wide range of outlets. He and his wife Jennifer are doing their best to raise their daughter, Clara, commercial-free.
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Dakota Access Pipeline Dispatch #10
In early February, under orders from President Donald Trump, the Army Corp of Engineers approved and easement allowing Energy Transfer Partners to drill under the Missouri River near North Dakota’s Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Standing Rock and neighboring tribes are trying to halt the project in court and pipeline opponents have embarked on a so called last stand, holding protests and actions across the nation. Authorities had set a deadline of February 22, 2017 for the protesters to clean up and return home. At the main encampment, trucks are hauling away garbage and abandoned goods. Some protesters are relocating to higher ground nearby on the reservation. In preparation for the evacuation dozens of North Dakota police and National Park Service rangers had surrounded the camp.
Water Protectors Legal Collective – NLG
Guest – National Lawyers Guild Attorney Jeff Haas, recently returned from living at the North Dakota encampment with thousands of Native Americans and climate change activists who gathered in solidarity with the Standing Rock Indian tribe in North Dakota to protest the pipeline construction. Jeff Haas was a founding partner of the Peoples Law Office in Chicago. He victoriously represented the family of Fred Hampton, the chairman of the Chicago Black Panther Party and proved that Hampton was assassinated by the FBI and Chicago Police Department. He’s also author of the book The Assassination of Fred Hampton.
Sacred Stone Camp Legal Defense – Lawyers wanting to support the Sacred Stone Camp, contact Attorney Robin Martinez – robin.martinez@martinezlaw.net
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CIA Sponsored Terror, Civil Liberties, Criminalizing Dissent, Crony Capitalism, Human Rights, NSA Spying, Political Prisoner, Prison Industry, Surveillance, Torture, Truth to Power, War Resister
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The Deep State: The Fall Of The Constitution And The Rise Of The Shadow Government
A century ago, Ferdinand Lundberg wrote the classic book “America’s 60 Families” describing them, their interconnections and the powerful role they played in American governance. This was in 1965 when the great sociologist C. Wright Mills wrote “The Power Elite” and then William Domhoff wrote “Who Rules America?” Now, Mike Lofgren has made a significant contribution in describing the workings of the American ruling elite with his book The Deep State: The Fall Of The Constitution And The Rise Of The Shadow Government.
Guest – Mike Lofgren worked in Congress for 28 years, 16 of them as a senior analyst at the House and Senate Budget Committees. He held a top security clearance. He now represents no political party, no business interest, and no ideology. His previous book The Party Is Over was a New York Times bestseller.
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The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America’s Secret Government
As director of the CIA, from 1952 until Kennedy fired him, Allen Dulles has been said to exemplify unbridled authority at the height of the Cold War. Under his leadership the CIA became a lawless force domestically and internationally that engaged, with impunity, in covert acts such as the assassination of foreign leaders including Patrice Lumubo in the Congo and overthrowing the government led by Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala.
As an attorney for the law firm Sullivan and Cromwell in the 1930s, Dulles protected and promoted Nazi-controlled cartels. He wielded his influence in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II and then in the CIA to shield former Nazis from prosecution for war crimes in the ’40s and ’50s. David Talbot writes in book The Devil’s Chessboard, ” over the final months of the JFK presidency, a clear consensus took shape within the American “deep state” Kennedy was a national security threat. For the good of the country he must be removed and Dulles was the only man with the stature, connections and decisive will to make something of this enormity happen. so he could enlist them to fight communists. In addition to assisting with the assassination of Congo leader Patrice Lumumba, he organized the Bay of Pigs invasion and tried repeatedly to murder Fidel Castro.
Guest – David Talbot, the author of the New York Times bestseller Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years and the acclaimed national bestseller Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love. He is the founder and former editor in chief of Salon, and was a senior editor at Mother Jones and the features editor at the San Francisco Examiner. He has written for The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Time, The Guardian, and other major publications. Talbot lives in San Francisco, California.
Civil Liberties, Criminalizing Dissent, Habeas Corpus, Human Rights, Surveillance, Targeting Muslims, Truth to Power, War Resister
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Update:
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Pardons, Reduction of Mass Incarceration And Judy Clark’s Clemency
The United States of America has more prisoners behind bars given it its population than any other country in the world. This policy of mass incarceration is now under challenge. On December 30 of last year New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a broad and bold commitment to grant conditional pardons, clemency, and full pardons to New York state prisoners. Judy Clark, age 67, was one of the recipients and is now being allowed to go before the parole board. Clark has been in prison for 35 years, sentenced to 75 years to life for her role as the getaway driver in the infamous Brinks robbery in RocklandCounty, New York, where two policeman and one guard were shot and killed.
Changing Minds The Impact of College In A Maximum Security Prison Film: What I Want My Words To Do To You.
Guest – University of New York Distinguished Professor Michelle Fine. For 20 years she taught and conducted research with women and men in prison, most significantly at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility where Judy Clark is behind bars. Professor Fine participated in writing the influential report “changing minds: The impact of college in a maximum security prison for women. She worked closely with Judy Clark. Judy Clark Facebook.
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Reflections from A Southern People’s Lawyer You’ll Like: David Gespass
This year Martin Luther King Day had a special resonance for many given its lead-up to the Trump inauguration. That the president-elect engaged in social media attacks on civil rights icon John Lewis prompted a flurry of reactions of Twitter, especially emotional given that the timing coincided with MLK day. As we prepare for a changing of the guard, we talk to longtime civil liberties attorney David Gespass, from Birmingham Alabama. Read articles by David Gespass
Guest – Attorney David Gespass began his law practice in Washington, DC in 1971. A past president of the National Lawyers Guild, he also served as editor-in-chief of the Guild’s scholarly journal, the NLG Review, and was a founder and steering committee member of the Military Law Task Force. His practice includes police misconduct and prisoner rights’ litigation, Social Security disability and personal injury. He has been a member of the National Police Accountability Project since its founding in 1999. David has been practicing law in Birmingham, Alabama since 1978.
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Civil Liberties, Human Rights, Supreme Court, Surveillance, Truth to Power, War Resister
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Wildlife Preservation And The Trump Administration
The protection of endangered species and wildlife trafficking have not traditionally been big ticket campaign issues for presidential candidates. However, national security, the economy, trade and the environment are all impacted by wildlife preservation. Illegal wildlife trade–animal smuggling–is a multibillion-dollar business that is fueled on corruption and terrorism and that destabilizes developing countries.
Trafficking of rhinoceros horn, elephant ivory and other products is increasingly becoming organized crime. Despite recent headlines of animals being added to the endangers list, the Trump administration may change how the United States seeks to protect wildlife domestically and internationally. Animals protected by the U.S. Endangered Species Act, which could be weakened by the new president and a Republican-controlled Congress, may be increasingly imperiled.
Guest – Erika Mansourian, Executive Director of Elephant Family-USA, the American arm of the UK-based Elephant Family. Elephant Family’s mission is to save the Asian elephant—massive habitat loss has caused their numbers to plummet, and 90% of wild Asian elephants have been wiped out in the last century. Erika is also on the board of Veterinarians International and Tanzania’s PAMs Foundation, as well as the advisory board of the Humane Society of New York. She’s worked with Animal Defenders International and the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
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Lawyers Committee for Nuclear Policy and the Trump Administration
What are the prospects for nuclear arms control with the Trump administration? The United States is the only country to have used nuclear bombs. It dropped them on two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and several days later on Nagasaki in 1945, in order to intimidate the Russians at the end of World War II. Presently, the United States has 4500 nuclear warheads, 400 of them situated in intercontinental ballistic missiles and placed on a hair trigger alert. The U.S. also has weapons placed on submarines and on aircraft. Obama has started a process by which one trillion dollars will be spent in the next decade on modernizing Americas nuclear capacity.
Guest – Attorney John Burroughs, Executive Director of the Lawyers Committee for Nuclear Policy. John Burroughs represents LCNP and IALANA in Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review proceedings, the United Nations, and other international forums. Dr. Burroughs is contributor, Unspeakable suffering – the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons (2013) (available here); contributor, Assuring Destruction Forever: Nuclear Weapon Modernization Around the World (2012) (available here); co-editor and contributor, Nuclear Disorder or Cooperative Security? U.S. Weapons of Terror, the Global Proliferation Crisis, and Paths to Peace (2007) (available here); co-editor and contributor, Rule of Power or Rule of Law? An Assessment of U.S. Policies and Actions Regarding Security-Related Treaties (2003); and author of The Legality of Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons: A Guide to the Historic Opinion of the International Court of Justice (1998). He has additionally published articles and op-eds in journals and newspapers including the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the World Policy Journal, and Newsday. Dr. Burroughs has taught international law as an adjunct professor at Rutgers Law School, Newark. He has a J.D. and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley and a B.A. from Harvard University.
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