Between The Lines - Glenn Greenwald: In Obama’s Second Term, Civil Liberties Remains Under Attack (Week Ending Dec. 21, 2012)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

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The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

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SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

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2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

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Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

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Civil Liberties Erosion in President Obama’s Second Term Will Continue Unless Citizens Mobilize

RealAudio MP3

Posted Dec. 12, 2012

Interview with Glenn Greenwald, author and Guardian (UK) newspaper columnist, conducted by Scott Harris. Transcript compiled by Evan Bieder.

As a U.S. senator running for president in 2007 and 2008, Barack Obama pledged to end indefinite detention and the rendition of terrorism suspects to other countries, where they often were tortured. The former constitutional law professor also promised to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. As he campaigned four years ago, Obama vowed to govern the country differently than George W. Bush, respecting the separation of powers and not acting unilaterally to extend the power of the executive branch.

But once in the Oval Office, President Obama quickly set aside his campaign rhetoric and proceeded to continue many of the Bush administration’s post-9/11 war on terror policies. The Obama White House supported and extended government warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens, decided not to prosecute Bush administration officials who ordered torture, and exponentially increased the number of drone attacks launched abroad targeting militants and in at least two cases, killed U.S. citizens without due process. More recently, Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act which permits the government to indefinitely detain American citizens. Thus far, the Obama administration has failed to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo.

One of the nation’s boldest and most consistent critics of the erosion of civil liberties that has occurred under both the Bush and Obama administrations is author and Guardian newspaper columnist Glenn Greenwald. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Greenwald, who was attending an early December conference on ending indefinite detention at Central Connecticut State University. Here, he talks about his concern that in Obama’s second term, civil liberties will continue to erode.

GLENN GREENWALD: As far as the second term is concerned, I know one way to look at it is that if you believe that President Obama has been pursuing policies in the first four years that he didn’t really want to pursue, that he doesn’t actually believe in, that he was only pursuing because he had to for political necessity, I suppose you could be optimistic that now that the election is behind him, he’ll abandon those policies and do things in a better way. But I don’t believe that about him. I don’t think that these policies are ones that he is opposed to secretly in his heart. I think he’s been very clear and vigorous in his defense of them. There was no political compulsion for him to do these things; he chose to do them on his own. He was elected on a platform of reversing many of these policies. Clearly, he had people behind him who would have supported him if he had; he chose not to. I think that’s because he wants to preserve his own power, to expand his own power. If anything, I believe the second term means that he no longer needs the core base of his party and can be even more unrestrained in pursuing these policies than he’s been in the past. I think the opposite outcome is more likely.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Just after the election, there were reports that the Obama administration had tried to codify their "kill list" for the unmanned, aerial drone program. You’ve written your concern that this, of course, now institutionalizes this act of the president having the sole power. We don’t know the inner workings of the White House, but it seems that he’s got personal and complete control over this assassination list which I think is unprecedented in our history, at least in such an open way because it’s common knowledge that’s what’s going on. What are any checks and balances on that incredible grab for power in making these assassination lists that are quite out in the open now?

GLENN GREENWALD: Well, there are zero checks and balances and this is the core of the problem, that there’s nobody that can exercise any oversight in terms of who the president decides who should die, the reasons that he decides that, who it is that is putting together the list of potential candidates and what criteria are used to determine who will be targeted. Not only is there no oversight mechanism or checks and balances of any kind, there’s also no due process involved, so the person who was targeted has no opportunity to contest the allegations made against them, to deny the evidence that’s being used to suggest they’ve done something wrong. Worse still, there’s no transparency to it, so we don’t even know who the president is targeting for assassination, let alone what his reasons are.

Not only is there no check or oversight mechanism, which is the crux of the American republic (that people who exercise power without checks will inevitably abuse it, that was the whole premise of the founding), but there’s not even any transparency for us to know how many people are being targeted, who they are, what the criteria are. It’s really the most extreme power a government can exercise, which is the power to have their president execute whomever he wants and it’s done in the most tyrannical way, which is in total secrecy and without due process and it includes not just foreign nationals, but U.S. citizens as well. The fact that this power has been so systematically entrenched now means that there really is no conceivable end to it. If Barack Obama has the power and authority to exercise this power then it means the next president, whether a Republican or a Democrat, will have that authority as well and that’s what makes it so dangerous to acquiesce to it.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Do you think that these imperial presidential powers that Obama has now taken for himself can be challenged in the Supreme Court? I say that recognizing there’s a very conservative bent to this current Supreme Court which may reduce the odds of anything happening there, but what are your thoughts on the most effective ways to challenge what Obama’s institutionalizing as an imperial presidency?

GLENN GREENWALD: Well, unfortunately, the Supreme Court is really intended to be the ultimate institution to check these abuses. The reason I say that is because the concern that the founders had most was that these abuses would be directed towards the marginalized groups, the powerless groups as a way of institutionalizing them, and typically institutions that are democratically accountable like the Congress are afraid to side with marginalized groups by virtue of the fact that they’re marginalized. The judiciary was really supposed to be the institution that would have no fear of doing that. That’s why they’re not elected, they’re appointed and especially why they have life tenure to immunize them of these politically-driven fears of protecting the rights of people who are marginalized.

Yet, the history of the Supreme Court in the wake of 9/11 is probably the most shameful and disgraceful of any of the institutions that have failed in their duties, because almost invariably the federal judiciary has sided with the U.S. government especially, over the rights of Muslims. Whenever the word "terrorism" is invoked, the Constitution has basically been disregarded. Even establishment sources like Andy Rosenthal, whose the editorial page editor of the New York Times, has written that we’ve created this separate system of justice for Muslim Americans in the United States in the wake of 9/11.

The federal judiciary really has been completely complicit in that. They’ve imposed a few very mild restraints on presidential power, but by and large, they’ve acquiesced almost completely to executive power. The real, ultimate, last check on abusive power is supposed to lie with the citizenry. You did see a lot of pushback in the Bush era when these policies were quite controversial. You had very divisive debates over them. You had all kinds of political movements that were devoted to condemning, denouncing, and fighting against assertions of executive transgressions by the Bush administration. You see much, much, much less of that under the Obama administration because Democrats were behind most of those protests and the vast bulk of Democrats are now willing to endorse what they were once just a few years ago condemning because it’s a Democratic president doing it. Ultimately, it’s the responsibility of the citizenry to push back against these kinds of abuses. The problem has been that partisan allegiance has trumped any sort of commitment to principle and has made these protests really marginalized.

Former constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald is the author of four books, including “With Liberty and Justice for Some.” See Glenn Greenwald's Guardian column here.