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Law and Disorder June 8, 2020
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President Trump Invokes 1807 Insurrection Act
Last week Donald Trump announced his readiness to deploy the military to enforce order inside the United States. From the Rose Garden he vowed that if city and state leaders did not “take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents” he would invoke the 1807 Insurrection act. The Act was renamed after Hurricane Katrina, but otherwise remains the same. It allows a president to deploy the military to suppress civil disorder.
In response, defense officials have expressed discomfort at the prospect of calling in active duty troops to police protected First Amendment activity. Many have emphasized the importance of having local law enforcement take charge. Some National Guard troops are also reportedly wary of this move, even as more are mobilized domestically than at any other time in history.
Army Major General Thomas Carden of the Georgia National Guard told reporters: “I believe that we in America should not get used to or accept uniformed service members of any variety having to be put in a position where they are having to secure people inside the United States of America.” He also said, “while we are glad to do it and honored to do it, this is a sign of the times that we need to do better as a country.”
During that Monday call with state governors, Trump intensified rhetoric about using military forces to “dominate” protesters. He wished there was an “occupying force” in cities across America and urged a tougher response to protests. Later that day, law enforcement officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets at a peaceful crowd outside the White House.
Guest – Mara Verheyden-Hilliard with the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund. Mara is one of the nation’s pre-eminent authorities on the policing of First Amendment protected activities including the right to peaceably assemble and associate.
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President Trump Withdraws From The Treaty On Open Skies
The chance for nuclear war which would destroy human life on Earth has never been higher. Just last week President Donald Trump withdrew America from The Treaty On Open Skies. This treaty is an agreement between 34 nations that allows each country to fly over each other’s territories. The treaty is designed to provide transparency and mutual observation of military developments. He also withdrew from the Intermediary Intermediary Ballistic Missile treaty with Russia. As a consequence the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has pushed the hands of its doomsday clock on its magazine forward to almost midnight
Shortly after taking office Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal. Trump enjoys the financial and political backing of big business, the banks, the hedge funds, and the military industrial complex. These money interests profit greatly from the nuclear rearmament which is now going on.
First under Obama and then Trump $1 trillion is planned to be spent over the next 30 years for a new generation of nuclear weapons, including low yield ones, which are likely to be used.
Whistleblowing truth teller Daniel Ellsberg has recently written the grimly important book The Doomsday Machine. He believes that so far, avoidance of a nuclear war has been miraculous and that the danger is as present today as it was during the Cold War. He thinks seeking profit in spite of the risk of nuclear winter is “institutional madness.“
Guest – Paul Jay is the editor of the blog the theanalysis.news. We will discuss with him the kind of movement that is needed to reverse the nuclear arms race as well as to bring about a democratic organization of the economy.
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Law and Disorder June 1, 2020
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Update: U.S. Judge Sides With Chevron, Blocks $9.5 Billion Judgement
What the Chevron oil company is doing to environmental and human rights attorney Steven Donziger is a cautionary tale. Donziger has been under house arrest in New York City wearing an ankle bracelet for the last 10 months. He’s charged with contempt of court for refusing to turn over confidential material on his computer to Chevron’s lawyers. He. goes to trial in September where he is likely to be convicted by a hostile judge.
Donzinger bravely and skillfully succeeded in obtaining a 9 1/2 billion dollar judgment against Chevron. This oil giant company is the epitome of a ruling class institution with its origins in the Rockefeller family. Chevron bought Texaco, which had polluted an area the size of Rhode Island in the Ecuadorian Amazon region. The indigenous people there are plagued with cancer. Five tribes are affected. It’ll cost at least 9 billion to clean up the area. Chevron refuses to pay it and instead has spent over $2 billion in resisting the lawsuit and victimizing Donziger.
Top Federal Judge Louis A. Kaplan of New York‘s Southern District has presided over the case in America where Donziger is seeking to enforce the judgment.
Judge Kaplan has shown pronounced favoritism towards Chevron throughout the progress of the case. Kaplan made public comments about Chevron’s importance to the global economy, expressed skepticism about the Ecuadorian judgment due to what he called the “socialist government” of Raphael Correa, and held investments in multiple funds with Chevron holdings at the time of his rulings.
The Chevron case is the most important environmental and corporate responsibility case of our time.
Guest – Attorney Martin Garbus, one of three pro bono lawyers representing Donziger in an attempt to get his law license restored. Garbus has a long and distinguished career as a civil rights and first amendment litigator.
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The Cooperating Witness: Attorney Michael Avery
As summer begins in the time of COVID-19, many people are returning to or discovering the age-old pleasure of reading. With that in mind, Law & Disorder is delighted to recommend our first thriller read. One of our longtime legal expert guests, civil rights attorney Mike Avery, has written The Cooperating Witness. While Mike has been writing for decades, this is his first nonfiction book. As prestigious as are his other titles—one on the Federalist Society, others on legal topics such as the laws of evidence in Massachusetts—The Cooperating Witness is sure to have far greater appeal to our listeners.
The book starts by introducing readers to Susan Sorella, a law student at Suffolk Law School where Mike used to teach. From the start we learn that Susan is no ordinary student. As she waits on tables at her father’s restaurant in Boston’s North End, the head of the local mob pays her a surprise visit. He is just one of several shady characters Susan will encounter on her quest to help a jaded defense attorney save an innocent man charged with killing the mob’s accountant.
Guest – Mike Avery is a civil rights lawyer. He’s has defended victims of police abuse and racial and sexual discrimination in the last four decades. He has served as the President of the National Lawyers Guild, and the National Police Accountability Project. He co-authored The Federalist Society: How Conservatives Took the Law Back from Liberals, which we have covered on Law and Disorder.
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Law and Disorder May 25, 2020
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USPS Crisis During Pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. postal workers have been considered essential workers who continue to perform their jobs. Yet the Postal Service is in imminent danger of shutting down entirely due to lack of funding. A permanent shutdown of this quasi-government agency would leave hundreds of thousands out of work, and threaten privatization of a beloved and venerable institution.
The nation relies on the delivery of critical goods and services that mail service allows, including life-saving medications. More than one billion prescription drugs were shipped last year alone. And in rural areas, millions of Americans rely on the Postal Service to deliver essential goods.
When President Donald Trump signed into law a $2 trillion coronavirus emergency spending bill, it allowed USPS to borrow a mere $10 billion from the Treasury Department. Fredric V. Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, called this “woefully inadequate,” and said, the administration clearly does not understand the importance of the Postal Service, especially now. Trump has said that the administration won’t approve the $10 billion loan if the postal service doesn’t quote, “take his advice” to raise package and shipping rates “approximately four times.”
Postmaster General Megan Brennan recently warned members of the House Oversight Reform Committee that “the sudden drop in mail volumes, our most profitable revenue stream, is steep and may never fully recover.
Help save the USPS – USMailIsNotForSale.org / NationalRuralOrganizing
The Postal Service is the most popular federal agency among the public. In a recent Pew Research poll, more than 91% of respondents said they have a favorable opinion of USPS. That rating is higher than the CDC or the Census Bureau.
Guest – Chuck Zlatkin. Chuck is the legislative director of the New York Metro Area Postal Union.
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Banking On The People: Ellen Brown
So far President Donald Trump and Congress have authorized $6 trillion to be given out in effort to stem an ongoing economic depression. One trillion is 1000 billion dollars and $1 billion is 1000 million dollars. There are so many zeros in $6 trillion that the number when written down stretches from one side of the page to the other. Six trillion if divided up and given to each American worker would mean that each one of them would have gotten tens of thousands of dollars. But instead most of the money went to the hedge funds, banks, and big corporations.
The average American got very little. Small businesses got very little and are now pressured to open up. State and municipal governments received very little. Millions of people got nothing at all.
Under the bailout legislation, money could go to finance public banks. These funds could be used to finance a better society, particularly a green new deal. Public banks could be like a utility operating on the principal of doing public good.
Guest – Attorney and economist Ellen Brown who has written 13 books on economics and is the founder of The Public Banking Institute. We will be speaking about the COVID-19 bailouts and how they will betray Americans just as the 2008 stimulus aid did. Ellen Brown is the cohost of a radio program on The progressive radio network, prn.fm, called It’s Our Money.
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