Original Law and Disorder Radio ™

The First Amendment v. Trump 2.0 Policies And ActionsA prominent expert on the First Amendment recently wrote that “Trump 2.0 policies and actions have had broad censorious and chilling effects” that represent “the greatest governmental threat to the First Amendment since the McCarthy Era of the 1950s.”Trump and his cohorts have violated or threatened to violate the First Amendment by:Indicting government officials based on their criticism of the President or expression of disfavored ideasTerminating billions of dollars in federal funding to universities on ideological grounds to control their core academic operations; conditioning federal research on the agreement not to promote “diversity, equity, and inclusion” or “gender ideology” and to teach only “patriotic” curricula in K-12 schools;Arresting and detaining international students and foreign scholars based on their viewpoints and political activism, and revoking visas of foreign nationals based on political expression;Retaliating against the press by excluding specific media outlets from White House events based on their viewpoints and reporting;Threatening to revoke broadcast licenses based on networks’ editorial decisions;Restricting reporters’ access to unclassified defense-related information held by the Pentagon;Defunding libraries and public broadcasters;Scrubbing historical, scientific, and other data from federal agency websites;Ordering the removal of “anti-American” displays in national museums;Directing the Attorney General to prosecute individuals who burn the U.S. flag because that form of protest is “uniquely offensive and provocative” and communicates “contempt, hostility, and violence against our Nation;”To help us access the threat that Donald Trump poses to the First Amendment and in particular, freedom of the press, we are joined by a lawyer who has been defending the First Amendment his entire career.Guest - David McCraw serves as the senior newsroom lawyer for The New York Times. He has been at The Times for more than two decades and currently holds the position of Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel. His team provides legal counsel to Times journalists on libel, leak investigations, subpoenas for sources, access to information, and the law of newsgathering. He is the author of the book “Truth in Our Times: Inside the Fight for Press Freedom in the Age of Alternative Facts,” a first-person account of the legal battles that helped shape The Times’s coverage of Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein, national security, and the rise of political partisanship in America.He is a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, where he annually teaches a one-semester course on press law. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Cornell University, and Albany Law School.---- Prominent Freedom of Press Cases Follow UpIn May 2023, FBI agents raided the Florida home of independent journalist Tim Burke, seizing computers, hard drives, cellphones and notebooks. Burke had obtained unaired Fox News footage, including outtakes of Tucker Carlson interviewing Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, in which Ye made antisemitic remarks. Burke says he accessed the footage using login credentials that were publicly available. Prosecutors say he had no permission to use them. Three months later, police raided the offices of the Marion County Record, a small weekly newspaper in Kansas, along with the homes of its publisher and a city councilwoman. The paper's 98-year-old co-owner, Joan Meyer, died the day after the raid.Both investigations involved journalists gathering information and reporting on matters of public interest. Yet both brought extraordinary law enforcement power down on the press. Burke was charged in 2024 by the Biden Justice Department with 14 felonies. After a federal judge later dismissed seven wiretapping counts, the Trump Justice Department appealed, then dropped that appeal in September. Last month, a grand jury returned a new indictment charging Burke with 13 felony counts. He has also sued the government over secret searches of his Google and Twitter accounts. His criminal case is still moving toward trial.In Kansas, reporter Phyllis Zorn reached a settlement in her lawsuit against the city of Marion, three years to the day after the raid. The city will pay her $850,000; the county had already paid her $600,000. The police investigation centered on Zorn's lookup of a local businessman's driving record on a publicly accessible state website. Police characterized it as identity theft. freedom.press/newsletters  pressfreedomtracker.usGuest - Caitlin Vogus, senior adviser for advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation. She previously served at the Center for Democracy & Technology, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and the Federal Communications Commission.

Legal Challenges Leading Up to Mid-term Election Prior to our mid-term elections, scores of lawyers for the Republican Party prepared lawsuits in preparation to challenge the outcome of the elections around the country. And, in response, lawyers for the Democratic Party prepared to defend against all such lawsuits. Leading up to the elections, the Trump Administration sent federal agents to knock on potential voters doors, challenged mail-in ballots in court, and lost, and carried on a campaign to convince the American people that the elections would be unfair without the federal governments pre-election threats and lawsuits. Along the way Trump, on several occasions, suggested he might even declare martial law or take other steps to prevent the elections from taking place. He is on record as saying he wants to control the mid-term elections and will only honor the outcome if he judges them to be fair. So, today, on the eve of the elections, here on Law and Disorder radio, we will examine some of the many actions and threats coming from the Trump Administration in the lead-up to, and conduct of the elections, as well as possible challenges to the results of the elections once they have concluded. Guest - Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author, and the former Middle East correspondent for the New York Times. Among his more than a dozen books are American Fascism: The Christian Right and the War on America; The Greatest Evil Is War; and A Genocide Foretold: Reporting on Survival and Resistance in Occupied Palestine. Chris Hedges is also one of the contributors to the book titled From the Flag to the Cross: Fascism American Style, a book composed of summaries of interviews with guests here on the Law and Disorder radio show, and available for purchase at O/R Books. His latest book is titled Requiem for Gaza. ---- Chicago Wrongful Murder Convictions Case Awarded 260.8 Million Our guest today is Chicago civil rights attorney Anand Swaminathan. In October 2026, the Chicago City Council authorized payment of $260.8 million, that is over a quarter of $1 billion dollars, in compensation to 17 men who each spent decades in prison for wrongful murder convictions. These men were represented by Anand Swaminathan and his law firm Loevy & Loevy. They altogether served nearly 400 years in prison for murders of which they were falsely convicted. Attorney Swaminathan and his partner Steve Art litigated their civil cases for 13 years. The false convictions of murder were arranged by Chicago police detective Reynaldo Guevarra. He was responsible for some 50 wrongful convictions which he accomplished by using false witness statements, and false coerced confessions. The victims lived in the heavily Latino community of Chicagos Northwest side in the 1980s and 1990s. The victims were all young men ages 14 to 28. Detective Guevara is retired. He lives on a Chicago Police Department pension of $91,000 a year and will likely never be held accountable. The passage of time and the unavailability and death of witnesses has so far, got him off the hook. When Anand deposed Guevara, Guevara took the fifth Amendment some 200 times. At the same time detective Reynaldo Guevara was sending innocent Latino men to prison in the Humboldt Park area his counterpart Chicago Police Department Commander Jon Burge was torturing Black men on the south side into confessing falsely to an array of crimes. This was exposed through decades of community activism and litigation by civil rights attorneys from the People's Law Office. Peoples Law Office attorney Flint Taylor wrote about it in his book titled The Torture Machine." Burge was ultimately convicted of perjury and sent to prison. In 2015, the City of Chicago passed a landmark ordinance that among other things paid reparations to Burge's victims. Comedian Lenny Bruce used to say Chicago is so corrupt its thrilling." Is it possible to reform the police? What part does racism play? How much money have the citizens of Chicago been forced to pay by the actions of the police department?Will this gargantuan settlement actually bring about reforms? Do the powers that be in Chicago really want reforms? The most fundamental reform would be community control of the police instead of allowing them to terrorize the Black and Latino Community. Guest - Anand Swaminathan grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, the son of immigrant Indian parents who were professors . He attended Harvard law school, where he had more cases in its legal aid efforts than any previous student at the school. Swaminathan is a partner at a law firm of Loevy and Loevy, where he has worked for the last 16 years.

Gaza Rising: Voices From the Rubble As Israel continues to perpetrate its genocide in Gaza and atrocities in the West Bank, support for Palestinian liberation and sovereignty is growing around the world and in the United States. In July, Pew Research Center survey found unfavorable views of Israel at 62% among Americans and a recent Gallup Poll found for the first time, that US sympathy now leans toward the Palestinians (41%) compared to Israel (36%). This trend is due in great part to the unrelenting and outspoken defense of the Palestinian cause from prominent voices such as our guest today Dr. Ramzy Baroud. Dr. Baroud is a Palestinian author, historian, and academic whose work focuses on Palestinian history and liberation. He is the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle, which he has led since 1999, and has spent decades developing an alternative historical narrative centered on lived Palestinian experience rather than elite political frameworks. Dr Baroud holds a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter. He has taught mass communication at Curtin University and serves as a Non-Resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA) at Istanbul Zaim University. His scholarship bridges journalism and academia, and his work has appeared in numerous academic journals and edited volumes. He is the author of eight books. He has just published two new books, Before the Flood (from Seven Stories Press), which reconstructs Gazas modern history through family memory and intergenerational testimony, and Gaza Rising: Voices From the Rubble.(from Clarity Press).His earlier works include Searching Jenin, The Second Palestinian Intifada, My Father Was a Freedom Fighter, The Last Earth, and These Chains Will Be Broken. He is also the co-editor, with Ilan Papp, of Our Vision for Liberation. Guest - Dr Ramzy Barouds writing has been translated into multiple languages and widely published internationally. His work combines historical analysis, oral history, and political interpretation, contributing to global debates on settler colonialism, resistance, and liberation movements. He has lectured extensively at universities, research centers, and public institutions across North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, contributing to global discussions on Palestine, decolonization, media, and popular resistance. His public scholarship places academic research in conversation with civil society audiences, activist communities, and policy forums. ---- Buffalo Activist Coalition Demands Uniland Developer Not Lease Space To ICE In Buffalo, New York, a coalition of activists, community organizations, and small businesses is taking on powerful real estate developer Uniland over its decision to lease space to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The coalition, Evict ICE from 250 Delaware, is demanding that Uniland end ICEs lease at a downtown building. Federal immigrations operations there include detention holding rooms and the coordination of arrests and deportations across much of New York State outside New York City. The campaign is also challenging the local business establishment that profits from these arrangements. Last week, activists took their protest directly to a Buffalo Business Hall of Fame banquet, where Uniland executive chairman Carl Montante was being honored. Some campaign members entered the banquet as guests and confronted the proceedings, while others held a parallel Hall of Shame protest outside. The coalitions demand is straightforward: ICE out of 250 Delaware when the lease expires in March 2027. But the campaign raises larger questions about corporate responsibility, public subsidies, immigration enforcement, and what ordinary people can do when powerful institutions refuse to listen. Guest - Holly Verrett, Lackawanna resident, revolutionary activist, and gardener, Holly is committed to building stronger communities and fostering a love of nature. She is also the proud wife of Tony and mother to their daughter, Alice. 

Understanding Trump Era Capitalism Just prior to the 2024 presidential election, we interviewed 7 leading socialist thinkers and activists on whether, and if so to what degree, they were fearful that if Trump was elected to a second term Americas already weakened democracy would be further weaken and if so, to that extent. And did they think Trump was essentially a would-be fascistic, authoritarian president. Our guests over a number of weeks were Chris Hedges, Dianne Feeley, Henry Giroux, Bill Mullen, Margaret Kimberley, Kshama Sawant and Richard Wolff. All of them felt Trump and the Project 21 proposals he was promoting suggested he would, if elected, demonstrate fascistic and authoritarian desires, and act accordingly. After the election, OR Books published the book, From the Flag to the Cross: Fascism American Style, which provided, in essay form, the contents of the interviews of those seven guests. Today, we interview one of those guests, Richard Wolff on to what extent his fears about Trumps politics and manner of rule has come to pass and if so, in what ways and to ask him the best ways to fight back against the actions and policies of the Trump Administration. Guest - Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus from the University of Massachusetts, and the author of Understanding Capitalism. According to New York Times, Richard Wolff is, probably Americas most prominent Marxist economist. He is the founder of Democracy at Work and host of their national syndicated show Economic Update. Professor Wolff has authorized numerous books on capitalism and socialism, including most recently The Sickness is the System: When Capitalism Fails to Save Us From Pandemics or Itself, Understanding Socialism; and Understanding Marxism, which can be found at democracyatwork.info. ---- I Did It for My Country: Sirhan Sirhan, Palestine, and the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy Historian Michael Fischbach's new book I Did It For My Country is on the 1968 assassination of Robert Kennedy by Sirhan Sirhan. He was a Palestinian refugee who shot RFK in the head at a Los Angeles hotel the night Kennedy won the California presidential primary. Sirhan and his family were driven out of their native country of Palestine by Zionist settlers in 1948. History Professor Michael Fishbachs book is a unique contribution to our understanding of the unfolding of the tragedy of relatively recent American history.It is unique because of the many books written on the assassination Professor Fischbachs book is the only one that puts it in the context of the Palestinian catastrophe. In 1948, 750,000 Palestinians were driven from their native land. More than 500 villages were plowed over to establish Israel on the false Zionist slogan that they were making a country for a people without a land on a land without a people. When Robert Kennedy was murdered the night he won to California primary he was destined to become the next United States president. Had he become president modern American history wouldve turned out differently. Robert Kennedys brother John F. Kennedy had been assassinated by elements within the CIA five years before. It Is the consensus of knowledgeable people that JFK was killed because he was trying to pursue peace in Vietnam, Cuba, and especially with Russia. JFK signed a national security Memorandum in 1963 stating his intention to withdraw all American troops from Vietnam. Instead Lyndon Johnson who succeeded Kennedy escalated the war in Vietnam, which killed 3 million Vietnamese and 53,000 American soldiers before United States was forced out in 1975. Historically blowback is understood as the unintended consequences of a foreign policy action. Robert Kennedys murder was a blowback phenomenon. In this case, it was America's unwavering support from 1948 on to establishment of Israel. When Sirhan killed Kennedy yelled out I did it for my country. The centrality of American military , diplomatic, and economic support of Israel was never brought to the fore. Guest - Michael R. Fischbach is professor of history at Randolph-Macon College. His books include The Movement and the Middle East: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Divided the American Left.

The FACE Act Cited As Religious Protection Against Protesters Of Israeli Land Sale In PalestinePassed in 1994 in response to violent and obstructive protests at reproductive-health clinics, the federal FACE Act (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act) also protects people exercising their First Amendment right to religious freedom at places of worship. The law has now become the latest battleground over protest and free speech.The Party for Socialism and Liberation New Jersey, or PSL-NJ, published a social media post calling for a public protest against a real estate event involving the sale of property in an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. The Trump Administration's Justice Department responded by filing a federal lawsuit under the FACE Act, arguing that the protest violated the law's protections for religious worship. Their argument was an unusual one.Guest - Attorney Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Executive Director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and the Center for Protest Law and Litigation in Washington DC. In addition to serving as counsel for PSL-NJ in this case, Mara has spent decades defending protesters and political movements against government surveillance, repression and unconstitutional restrictions on speech.---- Geopolitical Shift In Balance As Brazil Elections UnderwayWe go south, to Brazil. Following its first-round presidential election on October 4th, incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and challenger Flávio Bolsonaro—son of former president Jair Bolsonaro—are officially heading to a runoff. It is an incredibly tight race, with Bolsonaro securing approximately 47% against Lula’s 45% of the vote.Against this electoral backdrop, relations between Brazil and the US remain fraught with tension. Remember—they’re the two largest democracies in the Western Hemisphere, so mounting friction with Washington continues to open up key diplomatic and economic opportunities for Brazil with China. What does this runoff and geopolitical shift mean for the future of Latin American democracy, global trade, and Washington’s influence in the region?Guest - James N. Green, Professor Green is Emeritus Professor of Brazilian History and Culture at Brown University, where he was also director of the Brazil Initiative. He’s spent decades studying Brazil’s political and social transformations—from the military dictatorship years to today’s high-stakes election.

Jews No Longer Identifying With IsraelPhil Weiss started Mondoweiss 20 years ago to provide a critique of Zionism and the suppression of Palestinians, which in those days was very much minority view. Today, Mondoweiss is widely read and respected for accurate reporting. Things have changed. A great number of Jews no longer identify with Israel. This is especially true of young people. Israel, because of its continuous genocide against the Palestine people in Gaza, it’s ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, it’s bombing of Lebanon and its partnership with the United States in its disastrous illegal war against Iran has become the most detested country on the planet.Guest - Philip Weiss, was a successful professional journalist 20 years ago before he launched Mondoweiss. He had contributed articles to places like the New York Times magazine. He grew up in a family of six children, the son of a microbiology professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He attended Harvard and started off as a crime reporter in Philadelphia.What caused Philip Weiss to change his political appreciation of Israel and his understanding of what it means to be. Jewish is the subject of our discussion today. Wages of War In Iran and GazaTuning in to international news today is more confusing than ever… with political alliances shifting daily, and the Trump administration provoking new challenges to peace, decency and world order. With the barrage of “breaking news” headlines perpetuating chaos on the mainstream news, we can forget to take some time to breathe, and critically think about the history of how we got to this moment, and how we might use that wisdom to avoid the doomsday scenarios that some believe to be inevitable.With that purpose in mind we will focus today on the U.S. war with Iran and its impact throughout the Middle East. How far will the war spread? When will the war end? Will the increased flow of Mid-East oil help bring about an end to the Iran war?Guest - Richard Becker is an expert on history and U.S. policy in the Middle East. Mr. Becker is the Western Regional Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition. He is the author of numerous political writings, including his book, Palestine, Israel, and the U.S. Empire and his book, The Myth of Democracy and the Rule of the Banks. Mr. Becker is also a leader in the Party for Socialism and Liberation. LiberationNews BreakthroughNews

Exceptional Hatred: Antisemitism And The Fight Over Free Speech In Modern AmericaToday in America, "we proclaim our commitment to fighting hatred while applying it selectively. We champion free speech until confronted with speech we despise - and minimize the claims of those wounded by words." American democracy "stands at a precipice, besieged by authoritarian politics, resurgent nativism, and populist demagoguery. These forces, once relegated to history, now threaten our pluralistic society and its defining commitments to freedom and equality." Those chilling words are from the brand new book Exceptional Hatred: Antisemitism And The Fight Over Free Speech In Modern America by James Loeffler.Guest - Professor James Loeffler is the Felix Posen Professor of Modern Jewish History at Johns Hopkins University, and Kogod Senior Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. He writes widely on modern Jewish history from antisemitism to Zionism, with a focus on the overlooked ties between the Jewish past and the global present in politics, law, and culture. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Republic.---- Privacy Laws Lag Far Behind Evolving Digital CommunicationThe 15th anniversary of Occupy Wall Street has just passed, when protesters occupied Zuccotti Park NYC and sparked a global movement. Occupy also attracted significant government surveillance. Documents later obtained through FOIA showed that the Department of Homeland Security monitored the movement and circulated intelligence to the private sector about Occupy activists and protests. That history raises a question that goes well beyond protest movements: How do lawyers protect confidential communications in a world where so much of their work is digital? Confidentiality handle information that can affect a client's freedom, finances, safety, and legal strategy. Yet many lawyers aren't trained to think about the technology they use in terms of protecting that confidentiality.Guest - Jonathan Stribling-Uss, is a New York City lawyer and digital security consultant. He founded and directs Constitutional Communications, an organization that supports non-profits specializing in information security for professionals and civil society groups. Jonathan previously served as a Mozilla and Ford Foundation Media and Democracy Fund Technologist Fellow at the New York Civil Liberties Union. He has trained hundreds of attorneys in cybersecurity and ethics through organizations including the New York County Lawyers Association and the American Bar Association.---- 

 The Conviction Machine: Prosecutors, Politicians and Police Violence in ChicagoThe comedian Lenny Bruce used to joke that Chicago was so corrupt. It was thrilling. He had no idea. Bruce was referring to run of the mill bribery of a traffic cop or a police officer taking your floor mats in lieu of a ticket or a pay off from a local bar owner. The corruption in Chicago ran much deeper. It went from the prosecutors who were actually in the police station, listening to the screams of men being tortured, before they went and took a signed confession from them.It was the commander of a whole section of police who learned how to torture people from a tour of duty in Vietnam. He brought back an electric machine that they had actually used in Vietnam Vietnamese. This machine was used on Black people in Chicago. Three hundred people were convicted on the basis of tortured confessions. The corruption ran all the way up to the mayor’s office. Mayor Richard J Daily knew about it and said nothing.It was only the work of a few attorneys like Flint Taylor and the community, the Black Panther party, and activists and progressive politicians who exposed it. Their victory included reparations, The torture of people in police stations on the west side and southside of Chicago is now taught to eighth grade and 10th graders in the public schools.“In the halls of justice the only justice is in the halls“ said H. Rap Brown, the leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)Guest – Flint Taylor, a founding member of Chicago’s Peoples Law Office. He represented the families of slain Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark. He continues to represent many survivors of police torture and wrongful convictions. Attorney Taylor is co-counsel in the Malcolm X assassination case and is the award-winning author of the historical memoir “The Torture Machine“. Flint’s book is a captivating account of the most corrupt and blood soaked chapter In Chicago law-enforcement history.---- U.S. Supreme Court Decisions Resetting Precedent Part 2Back we go to review of more cases from the recent term of the U.S. Supreme Court. We start with the birthright citizen case. Then we take up cases dealing with immigration and executive power, as well as other major cases. We also look at what many have described as corruption among the Justices.Guest – Ellen Yaroshefsky is the Howard Lichtenstein Distinguished Professor of Legal Ethics, Maurice A. Deane School of Law, at Hofstra University. She is a leading educator and expert in ethics law and serves as an expert witness and advisor to lawyers and law firms. Prof. Yaroshefsky is a former Commissioner on the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics. She has previously worked at the Center for Constitutional Rights and has been in private practice. And Prof. Yaroshefsky has received numerous awards, including the New York State Bar Association’s honor for Outstanding Contribution in Criminal Law Education.---------------

 Reviewing Key SCOTUS and Lower Court CasesLast month co-host Stephen Rohde reviewed the conservative legal doctrine known as the Unitary Executive Theory as the US Supreme Court ended its term further entrenching the reactionary Republican agenda. As legal battles mount across every tier of the judiciary, basic constitutional rights continue to be tested in the courtroom. We'll highlight key cases that impact immigration, voting rights, freedom of speech and freedom of press.Guest – Stephen Rohde is the author of two books and numerous articles and book reviews on constitutional law and history. He is the former president of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and is a special Advisor on Free Speech and the First Amendment for the Muslim Public Affairs Council. He is host of the new podcast Speaking Freely produced by MS Studios and is available on Spotify and I Heart radio and other streaming platforms. Steve Rohde is also, of course, one of the co-hosts here on the Law and Disorder radio show.----Defending Attacks Against First Amendment Rights We are living through one of the most dangerous government attacks on freedom of speech and freedom of the press in American history. Trump has issued more than forty executive orders, fact sheets, and presidential memorandum, along with scores of enforcement actions dutifully issued by the obedient federal officials he has appointed, that abridge the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans and foreign visitors.Here's a sampling of what Trump has done: He has retaliated against law firms for their advocacy and representation of specific clients; terminated billions of dollars in federal funding to universities in an effort to alter their ideological cultures and control their core academic operations; conditioned federal research and other funding on the agreement not to practice or promote “diversity, equity, and inclusion” or “gender ideology” and to teach only “patriotic” curricula in K-12 schools; arrested, detained, and subjected to deportation international students and foreign scholars based on their viewpoints and political activism, and revoking the visas of foreign nationals based on political expression; retaliated against the press by excluding specific media outlets from White House events based on their viewpoints and reporting; threatened to revoke broadcast licenses based on networks’ editorial decisions; restricted reporters’ access to unclassified defense-related information held by the Pentagon; sued newspapers and publishers for defamation, consumer fraud, and “election interference”; scrubbed historical, scientific, and other data from federal agency websites; ordered the removal of “anti-American” displays in national museums;Guest - Floyd Abrams, one of the most prominent First Amendment lawyers in America. ------------------------ 

Analysis Of A Transformation Our country is going through a great transformation. We are no longer the constitutional democracy we once were. Its reported that Elon Musk, the world‘s first trillionaire, gave Trump and his MAGA organization $200 million in the last election. Miriam Adelson, the widow of a casino magnate gave another $100 million. Trump bragged about her ready access to the White House. Musk took a wrecking ball to federal jobs. Other institutions such as law firms, the Supreme Court,universities, and Congress have been transformed. Extraordinarily no one in Congress is able to say “the king has no clothes“. The media facilitate all of this.Guest - Ann Wright is a retired colonel in the army having served 29 years in it and the reserves . She then became a diplomat and was posted in many countries around the world. In 2003 she quit over the lies the government told to manipulate the American people into supporting a war on Iraq. She then co-wrote the book with Susan Dixon titled “Dissent : Voices of Conscience : Government Insiders Speak Out Against the War in Iraq. It includes a forward by Daniel Ellsberg. Ann Wright has been active since then as a the leader of the anti-war group Code Pink and a leader of Veterans for Peace. She is was on numerous flotillas that sailed across the Mediterranean to bring help to the Palestinians and publicize their plight. VoicesOfConscience.---- We Will Dismantle The ICC Brick By BrickThe United States has long endeavored to undermine the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Although it is not a party to the Rome Statute, the U.S. has consistently attacked the ICC. In 2003, Congress passed, and then-President George W. Bush signed, the American Service-Members’ Protection Act, known as “The Hague Invasion Act.” It says that if a national of the U.S. or its ally (which includes Israel) is detained by the ICC in The Hague, Netherlands, the U.S. military can use armed force to extricate them.The Bush administration effectively blackmailed 100 countries that were parties to the Rome Statute by forcing them to sign bilateral immunity agreements in which they promised not to turn over U.S. persons to the ICC, or the United States would withhold foreign aid from them. In November 2024, after an investigation lasting more than three years, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. They stand charged with the war crimes of starvation as a form of warfare, and intentional attacks on civilians; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.Donald Trump has taken the U.S. assault on the ICC to a new level with punishing sanctions against those who seek to hold accountable individuals who commit the most heinous crimes. In February, Trump issued an executive order that has led to the sanctioning of nine of the ICC’s 18 judges and three ICC prosecutors. Sanctions include frozen or closed bank accounts, rejection of financial transactions, denial of access to digital services, and travel bans.In July, Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed to “dismantle” the International Criminal Court. He accused the ICC of “waging a war against our country, not with bullets or missiles,” but with “the force of so-called international law.” In an article in Wall Street Journal, Rubio wrote that “we will dismantle the ICC – brick by brick, if necessary.”Now four prominent human rights organizations have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that Trump’s executive order violates the U.S. Constitution, federal statutes, and international law.Guest – Marjorie Cohn, a former host on Law and Disorder is professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, dean of the People’s Academy of International Law, and past president of the National Lawyers Guild. She sits on the national advisory board of Veterans For Peace, she is a member of the bureau of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, and serves as the U.S. representative to the continental advisory council of the Association of American Jurists. Her books include Drones and Targeted Killing: Legal, Moral, and Geopolitical Issues. She writes a regular column for Truthout, including a recent one entitled, Trump Sanctioned ICC Officials to Shield Israeli Leaders. Rights Groups Sued.--------------