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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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Progressive Resources

A compilation of activist and news sites with a progressive point of view

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Orlando Massacre the Latest in Hate Crimes Epidemic Targeting America's LGBTQ Community

Posted June 22, 2016

Interview with Sarah Warbelow, legal director with Human Rights Campaign, conducted by Scott Harris

After the carnage at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub that killed 49 and wounded 53 on June 12, Americans are reflecting on many issues related to the bloodbath there. Issues being debated include the threat of terrorism, religious extremism, gun control and hate crimes targeting the LGBTQ community. While the motivation of the Orlando mass murderer may never be fully known, given the contradictory statements and behavior of the perpetrator, the targeting of gays and lesbians for violence is a familiar fact of life in the U.S.

According to the most recent FBI statistics available, more than 20 percent of hate crimes reported nationally in 2014 targeted people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. However, advocacy groups say these numbers dramatically undercount incidents involving the LGBTQ community, as they are based on local, non-mandatory reporting. Further, statistics on murders and crimes against transgender people are especially unreliable, as many attacks are miscategorized or go unreported.

The serious problem of homophobia in the U.S. can be seen in the statements made by several conservative Christian churches across the U.S. after the Orlando mass shooting, which praised the murders of gays and lesbians there. One pastor in Sacramento, California lamented that more didn't die. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Sarah Warbelow, legal director with Human Rights Campaign. Here, she discusses the tragic mass shooting in Orlando in the context of the ongoing epidemic of hate crimes targeting members of the LGBTQ community across the U.S. (Rush transcript)

SARAH WARBELOW: First and foremost, we really do want to remind Americans that it was the LGBTQ community that was targeted. This was not a random act of violence, the perpetrator that we may never know his exact motives made it clear that he was staking out and seeking LGBTQ people as the victims of his crime. And so, we want to educate the public about the harms that occur when we have Americans who spew hate toward the LGBTQ community. And sometimes that hate is very much at the forefront, at the focus, there are clear messages that LGBTQ people are sinners who are not deserving of the full American Dream. But it's also those more than 200 pieces of legislation that have been introduced in more than 30 states across the countries designed to undermine the rights of the LGBTQ people. When we send messages of intolerance and hate, it's hardly surprising that someone who was predisposed to violence would select the LGBTQ community as the target of hateful attacks. So we're really committed to changing the rhetoric and policies that are being introduced in legislatures in coast to coast.

The second thing we're doing is we're really focusing on hate crimes against LGBTQ people. Currently, 20 percent of all hate crimes are motivated by victim's sexual orientation or gender identity. According to the latest hate crime statistics by the FBI, that's a huge number, second only to hate crimes committed on the basis of race. And when you consider the relatively small number of people that are LGBTQ in this community, we're talking about a disproportionate level of violence against the the LGBTQ community.

And then finally, in an area that has been relatively new for the Human Rights Campaign, we are taking on the issue of gun violence protection. We know that the vast majority of Americans support solutions that are common sense between the needs and rights under the Second Amendment and coming up with solutions that decrease the levels of violence nationwide.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Sarah, what kind of hate crimes are committed across this country that don't get a great deal of attention from our news media, unlike this horrendous massacre of 49 people in Orlando, Florida.

SARAH WARBELOW: In 2015, there were a very significant number of transgender women who were murdered in this country. These were individual murders, so rather than an instance of mass violence, but added up, we saw over 20 women who had their lives ended, simply because the perpetrator of the violence could not tolerate that they were living their lives with an understanding who they were. That their gender identity didn't match the sex assigned to them at birth, didn't correspond with who they understood themselves to be. And for their courage in living out their truth, their lives were horrendously ended.

And I want to note, too, that many of these hate crimes are committed by people of color. Virtually all of those trans women who were murdered last year were women of color, and if we look at the incident that happened in Orlando, the vast majority of the individuals who were murdered were Latino or Latina.

BETWEEN THE LINES:

SARAH WARBELOW: In the aftermath of the Orlando massacre, we heard from conservative politicians, including the presumptive GOP presidential candidate, Donald Trump, and some other right-wing commentators that they're now reaching out to the gay community, making the case that they are allies, and can protect the community from hate crimes, including that emanating from religious extremism in the Islamic community. What do you make of that?

I think that many of these politicians are being opportunistic. They're utilizing an incredibly tragic event to meet their own political goals. These are politicians who supposedly are offering an olive branch to the LGBT community but have supported nominating justices to the Supreme Court that would undermine marriage equality, who have supported the so-called First Amendment Defense Act which would allow for rampant discrimination against LGBTQ people by government actors and recipients of government funds. These are individuals who will not take a stand in support of ensuring that our civil rights laws provide the full protections needed for LGBTQ people in housing, public accommodations, even in jury service. So to think that all of a sudden they are the individuals who will be the saviors of the LGBTQ community is really just despicable.

Find more information on how the LGBTQ community is combating hate crimes by visiting Human Rights Campaign at hrc.org.