Between The Lines - Chip Gibbons: Trump and Cabinet Nominees Pose a Grave Threat to Civil Liberties (Week Ending Jan. 13, 2017)

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.

Thank you for donating

If you've made a donation and wish to receive thank you gifts for your donation, be sure to send us your mailing address via our Contact form.

See our thank you gifts for your donation.

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.

Subscribe to our Weekly Summary & receive our FREE Resist Trump window cling

(Car window cling)

Email us with your mailing address at contact@btlonline.org to receive our "Resist Trump/Resist Hate" car window cling!

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.

BTL Blog

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Special Programming

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Progressive Resources

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

Share this content:

|

Subscribe to BTL

Podcasts: direct or via iTunes

Subscribe to Program Summaries, Interview Transcripts or Counterpoint via email or RSS feed

If you have other questions regarding subscriptions, feeds or podcasts/mp3s go to our Audio Help page.

Between The Lines Blog

Stay connected to BTL

Learn how to support our efforts!

Tweets by @BTLRadioNews

Trump and Cabinet Nominees Pose a Grave Threat to Civil Liberties

Posted Jan. 4, 2017

Interview with Chip Gibbons, policy and legislative counsel with the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, conducted by Scott Harris

Throughout the 2016 presidential election campaign, real estate billionaire Donald Trump showed his contempt for standard political rhetoric, and instead bluntly attacked conventional bipartisan views on the need to uphold human rights, international law and freedom of the press. Trump laid out an agenda that drew applause from his mostly white, right-wing supporters, but provoked concern among civil libertarians about a Trump presidency that would be autocratic, and employ repressive measures to intimidate his many opponents.

Federal policies that Trump promoted included his advocacy of a ban on Muslims entering the U.S.; a program mandating the registration of all Muslims in America; the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants; his endorsement of torture and murdering terrorist suspects’ family members, the expansion of mass surveillance and opening up libel laws to more easily sue journalists and news outlets with whom he disagreed.

As the president-elect has announced his administration’s nominees and appointments, it’s clear that many nominees in Trump’s Cabinet share his views on critical civil liberties issues. For example, Attorney General nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions opposes the First Amendment rights of LGBT student groups; Michael T. Flynn, Trump’s national security advisor, believes that Shariah, or Islamic law, is a present threat to the U.S.; and Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist, promoted white supremacist and Islamophobic views when he led Brietbart media. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Chip Gibbons, policy and legislative counsel with the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, who discusses the grave threat he believes the incoming Trump administration poses to civil liberties.

CHIP GIBBONS: I mean, it's really hard to pin down Donald Trump on any sort of specific policies. He's very good at being slippery and going back and forth on things. But from what he's said, we know that he is going to be a nightmare for civil liberties. He's talked about surveillance of Muslims. He mentioned on people in mosques. He's mentioned a national Muslim registry and if not sure, that would be something similar to what Barack Obama just disbanded, the NSEERS (National Security Entry-Exit Registration System) registry which was of a resident immigrants in the country based on their country of origin, where all of the different countries just happen to be majority Muslim nation or an actual literal Muslim registry – it's difficult to figure out what he means by it. But either way, it's very frightening and something to to be opposed.

He also tweeted about criminalizing flag-burning. He said it should be, you know, either a year in jail or a loss of citizenship, which is kind of a really weird, incongruent two sets of punishments. He's generally defended torture; he said some stuff about "no one can tell me waterboarding doesn't work," which is interesting because one of his Cabinet picks for secretary of defense told him waterboarding doesn't work, and he was allegedly surprised to hear that, which makes you realize that Trump doesn't usually listen to views other than his own. He said he'll do a whole lot worse than waterboarding. He said, you know there's a debate about whether or not waterboarding is torture. Let's assume it is torture. I'm all for it. At one point he said, you know, even if it doesn't work, the people being waterboarded deserve it. So that's a really disturbing position on torture.

He also praised stop-and-frisk during the debate and he calls for some sort of national stop-and-frisk program which doesn't really make a whole lot of sense because it's local police, not the FBI, who are responsible for like, you know, cursory stops on the street. But it does show that he is supportive of various policies that are tantamount to racial profiling between his praising of stop-and-frisk to his really sort of unsettling comments about African-American communities to his wanting of a Muslim registry and spying on mosques. It's clear that he's into racial and religious profiling and the fact that he does not tolerate criticism and dissent very well, and when he has power over the NSA, over the FBI, and all these large surveillance apparatuses, it's just sort of, you know, a nightmarish situation – which is what we were worrying everyone about for the last 16 years or so. You know, if you keep building up these systems of repression, they can be abused, and of course, they have been abused by past administrations. So it wasn't like everything was rosy for civil liberties in the United States before Trump was elected, but I mean there has been a lot of people expressing concern about what Trump could do at the NSA that has the potential to be so terribly abused.

And we also know that his Cabinet picks are really unsettling and it would seem to be that they would confirm a lot of what he said he was going to do on the campaign trail. He's picked people who very pro-torture, who are very hostile to dissent, who have histories of racial and religious animus.

BETWEEN THE LINES: With the Trump administration coming in with an agenda that includes registering Muslims who live in the United States; a ban on Muslims entering the United States; the pledge for mass deportations of immigrants; building a wall in the southern U.S. border with Mexico; the endorsement of mass surveillance or escalating mass surveillance; reviving the official government sanctioning of torture; challenges to press freedom – what in your view are some of the most effective responses for opponents of these policy agenda items?

CHIP GIBBONS: So I think that one of the most effective means of resistance is actually organizing at the local level to pass local ordinances that limit what your local law enforcement can do. So we have two ordinances on our website and a resolution – a resolution is a non-binding state, you know, like "we disagree with the climate of hatred," whereas an ordinance has the force of law. So it would be like, "Our police are not allowed to cooperate with federal immigration policy or participate in mass deportations or spy on people because of their religion." And I think that it's clear that the current federal landscape is quite hostile to civil liberties. It doesn't mean we should give up or we just let them do it, but for a lot of people, particularly those who live in cities that are more open about civil liberties or more supportive and not supportive of the Trump agenda, there's a real window of opportunity for passing either of these model ordinances or some version of them and it would actually have the power of law and it would limit what your local people could in fact do. And I know passing local resolutions or ordinances can seem like a daunting task, but other cities have done it. There are a number of ways to contact us on our website about getting involved with this campaign. We can help you get started and give you some pointers.

For more information, visit the Bill of Rights Defense Committee at bordc.org.