Between The Lines - Heather Doyle: Climate Activists Challenge Abuse During Civil Disobedience Arrest (Week Ending Dec. 18, 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.)

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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Climate Activists Challenge Abuse During Maryland Civil Disobedience Arrest

Posted Dec. 9, 2015

Interview with Heather Doyle, climate activist with Stopping Extraction and Exports Destruction (SEED), conducted by Melinda Tuhus

Last February, climate activists Carling Sothoron and Heather Doyle climbed atop a crane in order to interrupt construction of Dominion Energy's Cove Point liquefied natural gas export terminal in Lusby, Maryland, a $3.8 billion project on the shores of Chesapeake Bay. Opponents say the terminal and related industrial infrastructure will bring noise, toxic air pollution and the possibility of an explosion to residents living in the neighborhood located near the site. They also say the terminal will greatly increase fracking throughout the Marcellus shale region where natural gas is extracted; and blow a hole in any attempt to rein in carbon pollution, the major contributor to climate change.

The women are members of a local direct action group called Stopping Extraction and Exports Destruction, or SEED. After the pair were arrested, Sothoron accepted a sentence of probation while Doyle opted for a 40-day jail sentence so as not to limit her options for participating in direct action after she is released.

Upon the completion of their trials, both activists filed formal complaints against the Calvert County sheriff's office for their treatment during their arrests – both the dangerous way in which they were removed from the crane and other abuses. Those complaints were dismissed and the women were then slapped with an additional charge: making a false statement to police. Heather Doyle is now pursuing the case in court. Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus, who has been active in opposing the Cove Point LNG terminal, spoke with Doyle as she awaited trial on the new charge. Here, she describes the mistreatment suffered, why she believes activists should challenge police charges in court and what she hopes to accomplish in this case.

HEATHER DOYLE: There was one sheriff who had been up there with me previously, and then there were two other officers who held both of my arms back, one arm each. And the other sheriff was standing over top of me and he pressed his forearm into my throat, right into my larynx. And he did that for what felt like a really long time, and then he let off and then he stared at me and he pushed his forearm back into my throat for a shorter period of time. After he did all these things – and I wasn’t resisting at all; I was being held down by two very large men, and I’m a pretty small person, and I wasn’t struggling at all – after the sheriff choked me he lifted up his boot and he placed the bottom of his boot into my chest, right into my rib cage, and started pressing down really hard, right onto my sternum, and I felt like I was being crushed. And then he eventually let off and he said, “Oh, I just tripped or I misplaced my foot when I was stepping over you.”

We filed formal complaints – both me and the other activist – about our mistreatment by the sheriffs, so those formal complaints were lodged with the Calvert County Sheriff’s office. Because what happened to me included an assault by one of the sheriffs. My report was a brutality complaint, and then the other person’s complaint was just more generally how they risked her life at the top of the crane.

BETWEEN THE LINES: So what happened after you filed your complaints?

HEATHER DOYLE: They have charged us with a new crime, so they’ve charged us under a misdemeanor statute that is just “false statement to a police officer.” So, not only did they investigate our complaint and find no merit for it, but they turned around and also filed these new charges against us, and that was in the beginning of July.

BETWEEN THE LINES: You’re going back to court in January, and you’re not sure when your trial will be. Why are you taking this case to trial, when so many activists when they are arrested just pay a fine or plead to a lower charge and don’t go through the court process, which is a real hassle, not to mention, expensive?

HEATHER DOYLE: Specifically with this charge, we see this as an intimidation tactic designed to stop people who are opposing the Dominion Cove Point LNG export facility, which is still deeply in the process of being built and endangering the 20,000 people who live in Lusby. That feels extremely important to me, that this is a continuation of this fight, and as folks who are active in resisting extraction industries and these big corporations that have bought a lot of power and influence in Calvert County, we need to keep standing up to that, because it’s just about retaliation and trying to shut us down to keep us from continuing the fights. And then just specifically, in terms of why I fight this charge – because I didn’t lie about what happened; I was assaulted by the Calvert County sheriff during this action.

BETWEEN THE LINES: A lot of activists trying to stop Dominion’s construction at Cove Point point out that some Calvert County sheriffs wear two hats – they work for the county and they are also paid to do security for Dominion. And you and other activists say that’s a conflict of interest. Are you going to use your trial to expose some of this conflict?

HEATHER DOYLE: Yeah, I mean, absolutely. The sheriffs have an interest in trying to neutralize people who are trying to stop this Dominion export facility from being built, because the county has a security services agreement with Dominion, and Dominion is paying Calvert County $1.24 million a year to provide them with security. Additionally, a lot of the Calvert County sheriffs are working as contracted security officers for the project, so the lines are really blurred here. They have a personal and a financial interest in this facility coming online, so we’re hoping in the course of this trial it will become apparent that the reason that I’ve been charged and I’m being put through this whole new process is because the Calvert County sheriff’s office has decided to spend a whole lot of their time and effort building a case against me, and it’s almost like there’s a large corporation that’s paying them a lot of money to try to get an activist however they can.

For more information visit Stopping Extraction and Exports Destruction (SEED)at seedcoalition.wordpress.com and on Facebook at facebook.com/seedcoalition; To donate funds needed for Heather Doyle and Carling Sothoron's legal expenses, visit youcaring.com/seed-coalition-members-carling-sothoron-and-heather-doyle-431727.