Between The Lines - Rabbi Mordechai Liebling: The Pope’s Climate Change Encyclical Inspires Action Among Many Religious Communities (Week Ending July 10, 2015)

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.)

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The Pope’s Climate Change Encyclical Inspires Action Among Religious Communities

Posted July 1, 2015

Interview with Rabbi Mordechai Liebling, director of the social justice organizing program at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

The Vatican's encyclical, Praise Be, or "Laudato Si" in Latin, was released June 18 and focuses on the need for people across the world to take action to reverse global warming, caused by activity. In this long-awaited document, Pope Francis makes an impassioned plea for humans to understand the interconnectedness of all life on earth, to recognize that the poor of the earth are suffering the most from climate change, and that it is humanity's responsibility to address the crisis.

The scientific consensus is that the Pope Francis correctly relates the science research on climate change, but his encyclical has been criticized by some for its rejection of market-based solutions to reduce climate change through mechanisms such as carbon trading.

Pope Francis addresses his encyclical to all the people of the earth, not just Catholics, and members of many religions are heeding his call. Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Rabbi Mordechai Liebling, director of the social justice organizing program at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, where he trains rabbis in social justice organizing and related topics. He recently taught a course called rabbi as environmental activist. Here, he explains why he's inspired by the Pope’s encyclical, and how interfaith groups are responding to to Pope Francis' visit to the U.S. this September.

MORDECHAI LIEBLING: Knowing that the encyclical was going to be released, several of us initiated a rabbinic letter on the environment, bringing in Jewish values to address climate change. And we raised, in a much shorter form, many of the issues that the pope raised. Climate change is the predominant moral issue of our time. Every religious person, regardless of your faith tradition, needs to understand that climate change – or the desecration of the earth – is the moral issue of our lifetime, and as the moral issue, each of us has wisdom in our faith traditions to bring to bear on it. And a piece of the wisdom has to do with how we treat the earth. All of our religions honor creation and have many teachings about the importance of the sanctity and holiness of the earth and what we see now is the desecration of the earth.

BETWEEN THE LINES: You know, like in the civil rights movement, there was a lot of interconnections among people of faith, and people risked their lives and some people lost their lives. Do you see this – and the letter you just mentioned – do you see this as sort of contributing to really stepping up the work of trying to make more people aware of the issue and maybe trying to get politicians to take action?

MORDECHAI LIEBLING: Yes. Right now in 30 or more states there is an organization called Interfaith Power and Light, which is obviously an interfaith group that's concerned about climate change, and I think the pope's encyclical is going to inspire many more people of faith to get involved in organizations like Interfaith Power and Light. There is another group called Interfaith Moral Action on Climate Change that is mostly headquartered in Washington, D.C., and trying to pressure Congress to make change on these issues. It's interesting that a number of Catholic legislators have responded to the pope in some way, saying we have to take this seriously. So the pope's doing this is going to have a large impact on politicians as well as other folks. Remember, Catholicism still is the largest single religion in the U.S. and it is going to influence tens of thousands if not millions of Catholics in the U.S. to be involved in this issue, and that kind of mass movement will translate into pressure on politicians to begin to act more resolutely on this issue.

BETWEEN THE LINES: It's interesting, though, that some of the Catholic politicians and some of the presidential candidates. Basically, some of them are saying the pope should stick to religion and not meddle in politics. So it's going to be interesting when he speaks to Congress, since he's been invited by the Catholic speaker of the house to address the body. But, do you have any thoughts about these recalcitrant Catholics? This is probably the last thing they want to hear.

MORDECHAI LIEBLING: Well, I think it's very interesting; when the issue was abortion, they were very happy to be good Catholics and follow the teachings of the Church. It was convenient for them. But now when the church's teachings are challenging them, they are taking a giant step away from their church's teachings. It's indicative of how much we can trust those folks.

The pope will be addressing Congress, incidentally, the day after Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, and some of us are going to hold a Yom Kippur service in Washington, D.C. at the Lincoln Memorial the day before Pope speaks to Congress, and the night that Yom Kippur ends, we're going to be joining in an interfaith service with some Franciscans to begin a vigil before the pope speaks to Congress. I think the pope doing this is a courageous act and hopefully will be a game changer. His rooting all of this teaching in the truth of the interconnectedness of all life is something that will be an inspiration for tens of millions of people.

For more information Interfaith Moral Action on Climate Change, visit interfaithactiononclimatechange.org and interfaithpowerandlight.org.