Gaza, genocide, Human Rights, Targeting Muslims, Truth to Power, War Resister
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The Power Of Labor And A Workers’ Party
The forces of the gathering authoritarian storm in our country are evident in many ways. It is manifesting itself in powerful and continuing nationalism, in disdain for human rights, in the entwinement of government and religion, in a controlled mass media, in the protection of corporate power and the suppression of labor power and in the encouragement of violence.
The power of labor has been channeled into the Democratic and Republican Party, the twin parties of capitalism. We need a workers ‘ party, but we don’t even have the nucleus of one. Race and gender are formative in the building of authoritarian regimes. We see this in the United States. Haitians, who are Black, have been accused of eating cats and dogs. Women’s right to control their own bodies is under attack from the Supreme Court on down and women are marked as “childless cat ladies” and told to stay home and bear children.
Guest – Dianne Feeley is an editor of the magazine Against the Current. She is a leader of Solidarity, a socialist feminist organization. Dianne lives in Detroit where she has been an activist for many years in the United Automobile Workers union.
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Complicity In Genocide: CCR Case Against The Biden Administration Update
Last fall, the internationally acclaimed Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of several Palestinian groups and individuals against President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, alleging that Israel’s actions in Gaza have amounted to genocide and that Biden, Austin, and Blinken have failed their obligation under international law to prevent Israel from committing genocide in Gaza.
The lawsuit claimed that the 1948 International Convention Against Genocide requires the US and other countries to use their power and influence to stop the killing. and the lawsuit asked the court to bar the US from providing weapons, money, and support to Israel. At the time of the filing of that lawsuit here on Law and Disorder, we spoke with an attorney from CCR about the case. Since that time there have been a number of developments in the case.
Guest – Attorney Maria LaHood, the Deputy Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, or CCR, to join us to bring us up to date on where the lawsuit now stands. Much of Maria LaHood’s own work at CCR is on behalf of defending the constitutional rights of Palestinian advocates in the United States, such as in the case of Davis v. Cox. She was involved in defending the Olympia Food Co-op board members for deciding to boycott Israeli goods and the case of Awad v. Fordham, compelling the university to recognize Students for Justice in Palestine as a student club.
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CIA Sponsored Terror, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Criminalizing Dissent, Extraordinary Rendition, Freedom Of Speech, Human Rights, Iraq War, Prosecution of the Bush Administration, Targeting Muslims, Torture, Violations of U.S. and International Law, War Resister, Whistleblowers
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September 11, 2001: Lessons Learned And Overlooked
It has been 23 years ago this week since the attacks on September 11, 2001 in New York City, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, PA, killing nearly 3,000 people and injuring more than 6,000. On that day, the United States had a choice: The George W Bush administration could have treated the attacks as a violation of US and international law, launched a criminal investigation, and brought the perpetrators to justice in accordance with the rule of law. Instead, President Bush waged endless wars against Afghanistan and Iraq, pushed through Congress the USA Patriot Act, opened the notorious detention center at Guantanamo Bay which remain to this day, rounded up Muslims and South Asians for indefinite detention, initiated a wave of civil liberties and human rights violations, and committed wholesale torture against detainees and others.
To assess the legacy of 9/11 and the lessons learned and the lessons overlooked, we’ve invited someone who was at the center of Bush’s War on Terror. John Kiriakou is a journalist, former CIA counterterrorism officer, former senior investigator for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and former counterterrorism consultant for ABC News.
In 2007, Kiriakou blew the whistle on the CIA’s torture program, telling ABC News that the CIA tortured prisoners, that torture was official U.S. government policy, and that the policy had been approved by President George W. Bush. He knew what he was talking about. In 2002, he was responsible for the capture in Pakistan of Abu Zubaydah, then believed to be the third-ranking official in al-Qaeda.
He became the sixth whistleblower indicted by the Obama administration under the Espionage Act of 1917 — a law designed to punish spies. He served 23 months in prison as a result of his revelations.
In 2012, the Ralph Nader family honored Kiriakou with the Joe A. Callaway Award for Civic Courage, an award given to individuals who “advance truth and justice despite the personal risk it creates.” He won the PEN Center USA’s prestigious First Amendment Award in 2015, the first Blueprint International Whistleblowing Prize for Bravery and Integrity in the Public Interest in 2016, and also in 2016 the Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence, given by retired CIA, FBI, and NSA officers.
Guest – John Kiriakou is the author of eight books, including The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA’s War on Terror; and The CIA Insider’s Guide to the Iran Crisis. I met John in 2017 and we collaborated on companion reviews or the Los Angeles Review of Books of the book with the euphemisitic title Enhanced Interrogation written by James E. Mitchell and Bill Harlow, the architects of the American torture system.
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COP 29 Held In Azerbaijan Dictatorship
This year the UN Climate Conference — known as COP29 — will be hosted by the petrol-dictatorship of Azerbaijan. As COP29 delegates prepare to attend talks in Baku, the international community has a chance to shine a spotlight on Azerbaijan’s abysmal human rights record, notably the blockade and ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh’s (Artsakh’s) Armenian population last year, and amid the government’s escalating domestic crackdown on freedom of speech, assembly and the press.
Ironically, Azerbaijan’s dictator Ilham Aliyev allocated $1 million to the UN Human Settlements Program, one day before a UN mission visited the Artsakh region who reported ‘no irregularities’ despite the territory being depopulated by Azerbaijan’s military invasion.
As one of the world’s top environmental and fossil fuel polluters, during its invasion of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan used the outlawed, lethal and environmentally hazardous White Phosphorus as a chemical weapon on the native Armenian population and their highly forested environment. In that fatal siege, which liquidated all native Armenians, the Azeri government-sponsored blockaders posed as climate activists, while punishing true protesters of lethal pollution, in Azerbaijan, especially journalists and activists in advance of COP29.
Guest – Karnig Kerkonian, one of 23 legal advisors representing the Republic of Armenia at the ICJ (International Court of Justice) in 2021. Karnig’s team presented their case against Azerbaijan, calling on the Tribunal to take provisional measures “as a matter of extreme urgency” to “protect and preserve Armenia’s rights and the rights of Armenians from further harm.” Azerbaijan has ignored the ICJ’s November 2023 ruling to “take all necessary measures to prevent and punish acts of vandalism and desecration affecting Armenian cultural heritage, including but not limited to churches and other places of worship, monuments, landmarks, cemeteries and artifacts.” Attorney Kerkonian has also represented the Armenian community of Old Jerusalem in recent Israeli settler incursions upon the Armenian Quarter.
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Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Gaza, genocide, Human Rights, Targeting Muslims, U.S. Militarism, Violations of U.S. and International Law, War Resister
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Separation of Powers And Project 2025
The US Constitution created the three branches of the federal government to serve as a check on one another. In particular, the judiciary was intended to ensure that the actions of the Executive and Legislative branches did not violate the Constitution.
But what happens when the Supreme Court is in the grip of a highly partisan, result-oriented super-majority half of whom were appointed by a President who has been convicted of 34 felonies and faces 57 more felony charges in three different criminal prosecutions, but claims absolute immunity for whatever he did while in office?
And on top of all that, this ex-President – Donald Trump – is a nominee for President of the United States and has promised to “terminate” the Constitution.
Meanwhile, in an almost 1000 page blueprint for the next conservative President titled Project 2025, a group of conservative organizations spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, has laid out a detailed plan under which the President would acquire almost dictatorial power over the entire federal government.
Guest – Marjorie Cohn is professor of law emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and former president of the National Lawyers Guild. She is also Dean of the People’s Academy of International Law and a member of the Bureau of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers. She writes frequent articles about the Supreme Court for Truthout.
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Larry Hebert’s Hunger Strike Against US Weapons To Israel
Israel’s deadly and unrelenting assault on Gaza following Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel has had repercussions around the world. In Gaza itself the death toll is approaching 40,000 and the humanitarian crisis worsens every day. In the United States, as students are headed back to campus, colleges and universities are bracing for a new round of protests and counter protests. Israel’s war in Gaza is dividing the Democratic Party just as Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are seeking to unite their party to stop Donald Trump from returning to the White House. Recent surveys show that 48% of Americans oppose Israel’s military action in Gaza, while 42% support it.
Guest – Larry Hebert [pronounced eh-BEAR], a very unlikely candidate to become an outspoken protestor against US military support for Israel, who would gain nationwide and international attention. Larry Hebert is a 26-year old U.S. Air Force Senior Airman and avionics technician assigned to Naval Station Rota in Spain, having served for 6 years in the military. At 10:00 am on Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024 on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, Hebert began a hunger strike during an authorized leave from his post. Shortly before his hunger strike, he joined Veterans for Peace, an organization that opposes U.S. military actions.
The organization argues that U.S. weapons shipments to Israel is a violation of U.S. law. In a press release issued by Veterans for Peace, the purpose of Hebert’s hunger strike was described as highlighting “the plight of the starving children of Gaza.” Hebert wore a sign that read, “Active duty airman refuses to eat while Gaza starves,” with a photograph of an emaciated Palestinian infant. Hebert said he was inspired by the self-immolation of 25-year old serviceman Aaron Bushnell, who died on February 25, 2024 outside the Israeli embassy in Washington. Before he died, Bushnell declared he would “no longer be complicit in genocide” in Gaza. Hebert’s hunger strike lasted 9 days but ended abruptly on April 9, when he was ordered to report immediately to Andrews Air Force Base for a return flight to his post in Spain. Hebert is pursuing a release from active duty as a Conscientious Objector.
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Civil Rights, Gaza, genocide, Human Rights, Targeting Muslims, U.S. Militarism, Violations of U.S. and International Law, War Resister
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Healing Divisions Within Jewish Communities Over Israeli War And Destruction
Ever since October 7, the American Jewish community has been deeply divided over how to react to the brutality of what Hamas did that day, the fate of the hostages, Israel’s overwhelming military assault in Gaza, the ensuing humanitarian crisis, the unspeakable death toll suffered by the Palestinians, and the deadly clashes in the West Bank. All of this has spilled over to college campuses across the United States, where pro-Palestinian protestors, including Jews, have been arrested and at UCLA, were attacked by pro-Israel counterprotesters. Many Jews, including family members, can’t talk to each other about any of this. Some observers see a rise in antisemitism, while others complain that political criticism of Israel and its prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being conflated with antisemitism, in an effort to silence pro-Palestinian voices.
Guest – Rabbi Sharon Brous is the founding and senior rabbi of IKAR, a leading edge Jewish community based in Los Angeles. She has been named #1 Most Influential Rabbi in the U.S. by Newsweek and The Daily Beast. Rabbi Brous blessed both President Obama and President Biden at their National Inaugural Prayer Services in 2013 and 2021. Her popular 2016 TED Talk is called “Reclaiming Religion.” Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post. She was featured on the cover of Time magazine, in an issue that examined religious diversity in America.
Rabbi Brous is the author of the national bestselling book The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend our Broken Hearts and World, which we’ll be talking about later in the program. I have know Sharon for almost two decades and I consider her one of the most compassionate people I know with wisdom far beyond her young life.
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Money And Class In America – Remembering Lewis Lapham
On July 23, 2024, Lewis Henry Lapham II passed away in Rome, Italy. A nationally respected journalist and author, of 14 books, Mr. Lapham was also the longtime editor in chief of Harper’s, and then founder and editor of Lapham’s Quarterly, Mr. Lapham offered a critical eye toward US domestic and foreign policies. On January 14, 2019, Michael Smith and I, Heidi Boghosian, interviewed the literary giant after his 1988 book, “Money and Class in America” was republished by OR books. His documentary film, “The American Ruling Class” has become part of the curricula in many of the nation’s schools and colleges. In tribute to Lewis Lapham and his legacy, we’re pleased to rebroadcast a shortened version of our one-hour interview.
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We are especially pleased and honored to spend the hour with our guest Lewis Lapham. After graduating from Yale in 1956 he started out working as a newspaper reporter in San Francisco and then in New York, where he currently lives and works. The editor of Harper’s Magazine for 20 years, Lapham has written 14 books. Currently, he edits “Lapham’s Quarterly.”
Lapham founded the quarterly magazine in an effort to further the consideration of history, which he calls “the advice and counsel of the past.” He sees history as “a guide to understanding and acting on the issues and ideas before us today.”
Major pillars of the rule of law have been defiled since 911. The edifice still stands, the promises remain, but as a nation, we have suffered huge losses. Last spring Lapham’s Quarterly addressed the topic, “The Rule of Law.” His 1988 book “Money and Class In America” was re-published by OR Books last year with a new introduction by Lapham and a forward by Thomas Frank. We speak with him in our studio today about the contradiction between the rule of the monied rich and the rule of law.
Guest – Lewis Lapham is editor and founder of Lapham’s Quarterlysince 2007 and editor of Harper’s Magazinefrom 1975 to 2006, Lewis H. Lapham is a member of the American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame. He is the author of fourteen books, among them Money and Class in America, The Wish for Kings,Waiting for the Barbarians, Theater of War, and Age of Folly. He produced a weekly podcast,The World in Time, for Bloomberg News from 2011 through 2013. His documentary filmThe American Ruling Class has become part of the curriculum in many of the nation’s schools and colleges. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Lapham has lectured at Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Stanford, the University of Michigan, and the University of Minnesota.
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Gaza, genocide, Human Rights, Targeting Muslims, U.S. Militarism, Violations of U.S. and International Law, War Resister
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Ralph Nader On Continuing War In Gaza
The American supported Israeli war against the 2.3 million Palestinians living in Gaza continues on since last October. The area, the size of Philadelphia, has been partially obliterated by American fighter planes, bombs, tanks, artillery shells, and bullets.
The number of dead Palestinians is at least 186,000 according to a recent article in the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently left Washington DC where he came to solidify support in our Congress. It was his fourth visit. Biden’s support for the genocide has been vigorously challenged by Kamala Harris, his choice to replace him. Her election is doubtful. Donald Trump has vowed to “finish the job.”
Guest – Ralph Nader, in a recent article wrote that the number the number of dead is higher than the 39 thousand figure set by Israel, America, and Hamas. Ralph Nader is an attorney, a significant figure in American politics, and a four-time presidential candidate in parties independent to the Republicans and Democrats. Ralph Nader one of the nation’s most effective and well-known social critics. He has raised public awareness and increased government and corporate accountability. As a young lawyer in 1965 he made headlines with his book Unsafe at Any Speed, leading to congressional hearings and passage of a series of life-saving auto safety laws in 1966. His example has inspired a generation of consumer advocates, citizen activists and public interest attorneys. Full biography.
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Humanitarian Emergency In Gaza
As of June 19, 2024, 37,396 people had been killed in Gaza according to the Gaza Health Ministry, as reported by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. According to a report in Lancet, that number is likely an underestimate. Furthermore, the UN estimates that, by Feb 29, 2024, 35% of buildings in Gaza had been destroyed, so the number of bodies still buried in the rubble is likely substantial, with estimates of more than 10,000.
Even if the conflict ends immediately, there will continue to be many indirect deaths in the coming months and years from causes such as reproductive, communicable, and non-communicable diseases. The total death toll is expected to be large given the intensity of this conflict; destroyed health-care infrastructure; severe shortages of food, water, and shelter; the population’s inability to flee to safe places; and the loss of funding to UNRWA, one of the very few humanitarian organizations still active in Gaza. Experts believe it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186,000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.
Human rights groups believe an immediate and urgent ceasefire in Gaza is essential, accompanied by measures to enable the distribution of medical supplies, food, clean water, and other resources for basic human needs.
Guest – Professor David Myers is Distinguished Professor of History at UCLA and holds the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History. He serves as the director of the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy and he also directs the UCLA Initiative to Study Hate. He is the author or editor of many books in the field of Jewish history, including, with Nomi Stolzenberg, American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York published by Princeton University Press in 2022. It was awarded the 2022 National Jewish Book Award in American Jewish studies. From 2018-2023, he served as president of the New Israel Fund.
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Civil Liberties, Gaza, genocide, Human Rights, Supreme Court, Targeting Muslims, U.S. Militarism, Violations of U.S. and International Law, War Resister
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Religious Nationalism and Separation of Church and State
The separation between church and state is a key component of our democracy, ensuring that freedom of belief is a right for all, not a privilege for some. The First Amendment’s establishment clause, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” has been understood to prohibit the government from establishing an official religion or favoring one religion over others. This interpretation aims to ensure that the government remains neutral in religious matters and does not interfere with or support religious activities, thus maintaining a clear separation between religious institutions and government functions. Despite this, recent rulings by the right-leaning Supreme Court blur the lines between church and state and threaten to undermine this doctrine.
The rise of white Christian nationalism contributes to the degradation of the principle of separation of church and state. This movement reflects broader cultural and demographic trends and exerts significant influence on policy, public discourse, and grassroots movements. Addressing this issue involves understanding the underlying causes and promoting policies that uphold the constitutional commitment to religious neutrality and freedom.
Guest – Attorney Andrew Seidel, is the Vice President for Communications at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, an organization that challenges threats to the First Amendment. He is also the author of two acclaimed books: The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American and American Crusade: How the Supreme Court is weaponizing Religious Freedom.
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Bend The Arc: Jewish Action
Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel on October 7 and Israel’s deadly and sustained military assault on Gaza have had significant consequences in the United States affecting the presidential election and triggering protests and counter-protests at hundreds of college campuses across the country.
It has also presented a serious test for progressive Jews and progressive Jewish organizations in the United States. One of those organizations is Bend the Arc which describes itself as “building a multiracial, multi-ethnic, inter-generational movement of Jews and allies all across the country who are rising up to build an American future free from white supremacy, antisemitism, and racism.” The Bend the Arc family of organizations includes a C3, C4 and a PAC, and in the past, I served as national chair of Bend the Arc’s C3 board and am currently active in its work in the California Chapter.
Until now, Bend the Arc had a strong boundary around working only on domestic economic and racial justice issues. But that all changed on June 4. On that day, Jamie Beran, CEO of Bend the Arc , sent a letter to President Biden. The letter welcomed Biden’s support for a permanent ceasefire plan in Gaza, but quickly added that, “Time and time again, despite your calls to end this violence, you have not followed through with material action. With over one million Palestinian refugees now being forced to flee Rafah, their last guaranteed refuge, thousands of lives lost, and families of captives being fined in Israel for demanding a ceasefire, it is long past time to end U.S. support for these attacks. Now is the moment to make good on your promise to stop providing offensive weapons to the Israeli military.”
Guest – Jamie Beran, is a leader in the Jewish social justice space. Jamie has built justice organizations that embody their values inside and out. She has held many roles at Bend the Arc in her 15-year tenure, including 9 years of executive leadership, most recently as Chief Operating Officer prior to becoming CEO. Prior to joining Bend the Arc, Jamie was the Leadership Development Director for Habonim Dror North America. Jamie holds a BA from Goucher College and is an alumna of UJA Federation’s and Columbia Business School’s Institute for Jewish Executive Leadership. Jamie lives in Central New Jersey with her husband and two children.
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