Jenny Flanagan: New Trump "Election Integrity" Commission a "Sham"

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.

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New Trump Election Integrity Commission a "Sham"

Posted May 17, 2017

Interview with Jenny Flanagan, vice president for state operations with Common Cause, conducted by Scott Harris

Not long after the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump declared that he would have won the national popular vote and not merely by the Electoral College, if it hadn’t been for millions of illegal votes cast by non-citizens in several states. In fact, Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by some three million votes and his repeated charge of widespread voter fraud across the U.S. has been debunked by numerous investigations and academic research.

Now in the wake of the controversy generated by Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, the president has signed an executive order establishing a presidential commission to examine "election integrity," based on his bogus assertions of voter fraud. The commission will be chaired by Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach will serve as vice chair. Both these Republican politicians have a long history of supporting voter suppression measures that make it more difficult for specific groups of voters to cast ballots, groups that generally support Democratic candidates.

Since 2010, nearly two dozen Republican-controlled state governments have enacted an assortment of new voter suppression laws, many of which have been struck down by federal courts deeming them to be designed to gain partisan political advantage. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Jenny Flanagan, vice president for state operations with Common Cause. Here, she examines Trump's false premise for creating the "election integrity" commission, and the danger of the panel being used as a "Trojan Horse" to justify new voter suppression measures. [Rush transcript]

JENNY FLANAGAN: There's been a lot of research and I think, notably, to stand up to what Trump and other Republicans are saying, the investigation that took place under the Bush administration – George W. Bush – also led an investigation searching. This commission seeks, too, for that needle in the haystack of some indication of non-citizens voting in our elections. And they didn't find it. The Brennan Center also conducted years-long surveys of election challenges where voters may have been subject to claims of voter fraud or wrongful voting. It is more likely to be struck by lightning than it is for someone to have committed voter fraud in this country. It's just not happening.

But it is rhetoric that moves people. Most Americans find that it is easy to vote. They make their registration when they go to the motor vehicle office; they know where their polling place is. And for most Americans that's a wonderful thing. But for many Americans, particularly those who are disenfranchised historically, in all aspects of our society – who may not drive and have that driver's license who are in and out of homes and moving locations frequently – for those individuals, it's more difficult to track down the rules and requirements in order to access your vote. And they're capitalizing on those challenges instead of making it easier.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Jenny, given the fact that Republican-controlled state governments across the country have invoked these voter suppression tactics deemed as such by federal courts, highly partisan laws that try to gain political advantage for Republican candidates – given that fact, what is the ultimate objective of this commission in your view? Is the fact that Donald Trump invoked this panel to look at voter fraud mean that the objective possibly could be to justify more repressive voter measures – make it increasingly more difficult for particular groups of voters to cast ballots in future elections?

JENNY FLANAGAN: Absolutely. All signs are pointing in that direction. And that's why we call it a sham. To put these two individuals, Mike Pence and Kris Kobach, who are both known to support these voter suppression laws in charge of a commission aimed at "voting integrity"? I think the American public need to look much more closely at what integrity means to them. To us, voter integrity means that every eligible voter can cast their ballot and have it counted accurately with confidence. And with Russian interference in our elections, there were a lot of doubts going into the 2016 election, as there continue to be doubts in terms of what kind of interference took place, whether or not on our voting equipment or trying to influence our elections in other ways. And we deserve better than that as citizens of this country. We deserve voting systems that are modern and up to date. And that's why we're working with election officials all across the country.

BETWEEN THE LINES: One last question for you, Jenny. There are efforts across the country to push back in another direction. There's automatic registration as many countries across Europe have – when you're born or get a driver's license, or become of majority age, you are automatically registered to vote. Here, there's a lot of games involved in political partisanship that goes into a lot of the regulations around registering to vote. But maybe you can conclude here by telling us how people can push back against these voter suppression laws, and certainly resist what recommendations are likely to come out of this presidential election integrity commission.

JENNY FLANAGAN: Automatic voter registration is moving in dozens of states across the country with bipartisanship support because there are more convenient, more cost-effective ways to register voters with integrity. I'm not afraid of that word. We should have integrity in our voting system. And we can do it with Democrats and Republicans alike. People who really do care about our democracy. Reforms are moving likewise, reforms like combining vote by mail with in-person voting. There are real solutions out there that election officials and civic engagement leaders and elected officials in state legislatures are advancing to make reforms.

I think the most important thing that people can do is just keep the pressure on contacting your lawmaker whether they're a Democrat or a Republican, everybody's got a role to play to stand up for our democracy. And if we lose our right to vote, that is a right through which all other rights flow. This is a civil rights issue, it is a social justice issue, it is really the fundamental core of being American – to be able participate in our democracy through voting. So it is really critical that we continue to speak up on behalf of all Americans.

Learn more about Common Cause by visiting CommonCause.org.