Between The Lines - John Bonifaz on retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens’ book, "Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution" (Week Ending March 28, 2014)

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

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

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

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.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

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.

Between The Lines on Stitcher

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.

Listen to Scott Harris Live on WPKN Radio

Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint, from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.)

Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET Monday nights, and is available for at least a year following broadcast in WPKN Radio's Archives.

You can also listen to full unedited interview segments from Counterpoint, which are generally available some time the day following broadcast.

Subscribe to Counterpoint bulletins via our subscriptions page.

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Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens Advocates Six Constitutional Amendments

Posted March 19, 2014

Interview with John Bonifaz, attorney, co-founder and executive director of Free Speech for People, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has a book coming out in April titled, "Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution." In it, he argues for an end to political gerrymandering, granting elected officials immunity from prosecution and the death penalty. He advocates changing the Second Amendment to include language that states, people have the right to bear arms when serving in the militia, which he maintains was the original intent. Justice Stevens also recommends adding a new plank to the Constitution which states, "Neither the First Amendment nor any other provision of this Constitution shall be construed to prohibit the Congress or any state from imposing reasonable limits on the amount of money that candidates for public office, or their supporters, may spend in election campaigns."

When he retired in 2010, John Paul Stevens was the second longest serving justice in the history of the Supreme Court. Some critics say it’s a violation of judicial ethics for Stevens, who technically remains an Article III judge, albeit an inactive one, to publicly call for constitutional change.

Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with John Bonifaz, an attorney, co-founder and executive director of Free Speech for People, a nonprofit group founded the day the Citizens United case was decided by the Supreme Court in January 2010, The Citizens United decision ruled that money is speech and corporations and unions are legal persons who can use their money as speech. Here Bonifaz explains why he supports Justice Stevens' call for Constitutional change focusing on campaign finance reform, and how his book fits into a people-powered movement to amend the Constitution in this arena.

JOHN BONIFAZ: There's significant deveopments with this on a number of fronts. First, of course, it's rare for a current or former Supreme Court justice to call for a constitutional amendment. So it's significant that Justice Stevens is calling for these six amendments, one of which would overhaul our nation's campaign finance system. He was not part of the ruloing in Buckley v Valeo in 1976 that equated money with speech and set us on this course of unlimited campaign spending, but he has been very clear in his concurring and dissenting opinions since that time that the ruling was wrongly decided. In fact, in a 2000 campaign finance ruling, he wrote in a concurring ruling that money is property, and is not speech. And he's been vocal about that even outside of his court opinions. But this, I believe, is the first time he's publicly calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn that ruling and make clear that Congress and the states have the authority to set reasonable limits on overall campaign spending, which would do away with this current system we have of unlimited campaign spending where our elections are up to the highest bidders. It's not necessary, of course, to put that language in the amendment; he doesn't do that, but anyone following this jurisprudence knows that that amendment would overturn Buckley v Valeo because it was Buckley where the Court first stated that the First Amendment protects those who want to spend up to the sky in their campaigns or in independent expenditures. And that set us on this course that, of course, led to Citizens United, where we've not only enabled wealthy individuals – mega-wealthy individuals – to spend money on campaigns, but we've now enabled these artificial creatures of the state – corporations – to engage in these expenditures. And of course Justice Stevens is well known today for being the dissenter in that case. He wrote the 90-page dissent for the other dissenting justices – it was a 5-4 ruling – and it really has been celebrated by many in the democracy movement as being on the right side of history and one that is a clarion call for why the ruling should be overturned.

BETWEEN THE LINES: I read an interesting comment about this from a blogger, Josh Blackman, who writes on legal issues at his self-named blog. He said he thought it was inappropriate for Justice Stevens to write a book about amendments he thinks should be enacted, because even though he's retired from the Supreme Court, he's still a judge who could be called on some cases, so I guess he's not fully retired. I was surprised when I saw that he had written this book and this certainly couldn't come from a sitting Supreme Court justice, right?

JOHN BONIFAZ: Look, I'm not necessarily going to make a comment whether it should come from a sitting Supreme Court justice. I will say that we're facing a crisis in our democracy today, and we need the voices of all Americans, including those in the judiciary to help address that crisis. And at the core of that crisis is the dominance of big money over our politics and our elections. So I think Justice Stevens should be celebrated for standing up and calling for this amendment. And it's not being done in a vacuum. There's a vibrant constitutional amendment movement that's been underway since the Citizens United ruling – 16 states are on record calling for this kind of an amendment, 500 cities and towns. And the president has gone on record, along with 125-plus members of Congress. And there is, in fact, an amendment bill that would do exactly what Justice Stevens proposes, by Sen. Tom Udall and Rep. Jim McGovern, already having 29 co-sponsors. Ultimately, I think Justice Stevens will be seen as having lended a very important voice to this overall movement, and he will, I think, be recognized in history as being on the right side.

For more information on Free Speech for People, visit freespeechforpeople.org.