Lauren Bonds on ICE Murders

  https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260918.mp3 Right-click here to download this episode (“Save link as…”).     Corporate Crime Reporter (8/3/26) This week on CounterSpin: FAIR, the nonprofit collective that produces CounterSpin, had a T-shirt early on that called for the “separation of press and state.” That’s still meaningful, of course, but it feels a little odd now to talk about media bias without using the word “corporation.” Interrogating the role of profit-driven corporations in today’s journalism is crucial, but it’s important to see it as another part of a deep-going questioning of corporations’ power over our lives in general. We talk this week with a veteran of that work. Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.–based Corporate Crime Reporter, and editor and writer at Capitol Hill Citizen. He joins us this week on CounterSpin. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260918Mokhiber.mp3   Plus Janine Jackson takes a quick look at recent press coverage of “Alligator Alcatraz.” https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260918Banter.mp3

  https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260911.mp3 Right-click here to download this episode (“Save link as…”).   HarperCollins (2006) This week on CounterSpin: Some 3,000 people died when planes hit the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. One hundred twenty-five people died at the Pentagon in Virginia, and at least 265 people were killed—passengers and crew—on the planes used to carry out the attacks. It was a day of horror and grief. But then it became an excuse for more horror and more grief, inflicted “in the names of” people who were no longer here to say whether that was what they would want. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is currently striving for relevance by declaring that current Mayor Zohran Mamdani should not attend commemorative ceremonies. We hear about what Giuliani did when he was mayor with a 2007 interview with Wayne Barrett, then senior editor at the Village Voice and co-author, with Dan Collins, of Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260911Barrett.mp3   Broadleaf Books (2023) Also on the show: Giuliani isn’t alone in saying that New York city’s mayor should stay away from anything to do with September 11, 2001, because, because, well because, you know! The same reason no Germans are allowed in the Holocaust Museum. And no white Americans are allowed in the South. Hatred, fear, accusations against Muslims have been around forever, but some people—and some media—leapt on that day’s crime to use as cover for a bigotry they always harbored, now free to weaponize wherever they chose. CounterSpin talked about Islamophobia many times with writer and organizer Maha Hilal, author of Innocent Until Proven Muslim: Islamophobia, the War on Terror and the Muslim Experience Since 9/11. We hear just one of those conversations this week. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260911Hilal.mp3   Plus Janine Jackson takes a quick look at recent press coverage of Donald Trump’s sanity. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260911Banter.mp3  

  https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260904.mp3 Right-click here to download this episode (“Save link as…”).   CCR (7/30/26) This week on CounterSpin: No humor intended: Listening to this show might make you a domestic terrorist. Yes, the Trump White House is trying to make anyone a “terrorist” who speaks out publicly, or co-signs silently, against their plans or policies. That for sure means anyone who signs up on lists in support of outlets like this one, that make such dissent a core concern. At a time where we’re being told that speaking out in criticism of those in power is a crime, we need news media that do more than just narrate that nightmare. But that’s not what we have. The net is widening; which side are you on? Samer Araabi is the associate director of political education and research at the Center for Constitutional Rights. He wrote recently about how Trump is employing “counterterrorism” as an effort to target anyone who dissents at all in the face of the stuff they’re doing. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260904Araabi.mp3   Plus Janine Jackson takes a quick look at recent coverage of modern-day lynching, erasure of history and the lethal impact of targeting immigrants. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260904Banter.mp3  

  https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260828.mp3 Right-click here to download this episode (“Save link as…”).   New Republic (8/24/26) This week on CounterSpin: Corporate news media obscure it, almost like it’s their job, but we still understand that laws and policies land on differently situated people differently. I can believe that there are millionaire congressmembers who genuinely cannot imagine pushing through a sickness, or ignoring a health concern, because they can’t afford the doctor visit…people who haven’t even ever waited for an appointment, or struggled to fit it around a work schedule. But that’s the reality of millions of us, most of us. So current corporate media talking about how universal care, or Medicare for All, is, as Forbes magazine puts it, “a brand, not a plan”? Media who elitesplain that “oh, you don’t want to live in Canada, just trust me on that”? They don’t speak for the most of us, who just want to see a doctor, in a regular way, please. But they can speak OVER us. We’ll talk about Medicare for All—and the things you’re likely to read about it—with Abdullah Shihipar, public health researcher and writer, from the Brown University School of Public Health. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260828Shihipar.mp3   Plus Janine Jackson takes a quick look at press coverage of press pool censorship and “reverse surgery.” https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260828Banter.mp3

  https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260821.mp3 Right-click here to download this episode (“Save link as…”).   New York Times (8/15/26) This week on CounterSpin: The US news media marked the anniversary of August 2021’s nominal withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. A New York Times story explained that Taliban flags were “flying high along the streets of Kabul,” but that the deeper truth is that “the Taliban are holding Afghan society in a chokehold that spares no one.” But, the paper alleges, “The Taliban know the world wants a stable Afghanistan—one that isn’t a source of refugees, drugs or terrorism.” I don’t have enough breath to describe the hypocritical fantasizing in that sort of statement. But CounterSpin has hosted numerous reporters, researchers and activists over the course of the decades of devastating US intervention in Afghanistan—which did not, in fact, suddenly and righteously begin in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks. We’ll hear some of those conversations this week. And I will say, there has been some attention rightfully paid to the abandonment of Afghans who, at great danger to themselves, helped US troops, and who are now treated as yet more brown hordes seeking to sneak into the US. But those historical, human rights–based conversations are being overwhelmed by storylines like that from the Times, that talks about Afghanistan’s “fragile peace” being “already at risk,” every bit as though the United States hasn’t played a monumental role in making that peace impossible. And while we’re reimagining history, please recall Dan Rather, on David Letterman on September 17, 2001, describing his definition of his job as journalist: “George Bush is the president, he makes the decisions, and, you know, as just one American, if he wants me to line up, just tell me where.” We’re going to hear from Phyllis Bennis from the Institute for Policy Studies; from Matthew Hoh, senior fellow with the Center for International Policy; and Sonali Kolhatkar, host/producer of Rising Up With Sonali, and author—most recently—of Breaking ICE: Community Defense Against State Terror and MAGA Fascism. And there is much more about Afghanistan on FAIR.org. Phyllis Bennis: https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260821Bennis.mp3 Matthew Hoh: https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260821Hoh.mp3 Sonali Kolhatkar: https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260821Kolhatkar.mp3

  https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260814.mp3 Right-click here to download this episode (“Save link as…”). Al Jazeera (8/12/26) This week on CounterSpin: It was not a shock when Donald Trump’s Justice Department greenlit the merger of Paramount—owned by the scion of the Trump-adjacent Ellison family—with Warner Bros Discovery. Who cares if a single entity (that loves Donald Trump and all he stands for) controls a vast empire of the movies, cable TV and streaming services we have access to? It turns out a lot of people care, and that’s why the merger, presented as a done deal weeks ago, is actually on the ropes. We’ll get a state of play from Jessica Gonzalez, co-CEO of the public advocacy group Free Press. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260814Gonzalez.mp3   Extra! (12/08) Also on the show: A sitting congressperson stated publicly: “Every single Muslim holding public office in America is a Trojan horse, and a threat to both national security and our republic. We refuse to be silent.” The fig leaf, if there were one, is off. Folks are just out here saying all Muslims (well, except for Dr. Oz) are devils, criminals, evil—and woe betide anyone who doesn’t sign up for that perverse, hateful view. News media could declare such racist, ignorant, ahistorical, anti-democratic—did i say racist?—they could call all that out, and remove anyone spouting it from respectful public conversation. But: We have the media we have, so people who hate Muslims because they’re Muslim have a seat at the grown-up table, and a microphone. Islamophobia in media is not new. It wasn’t new when FAIR produced a report about it in 2008. We’ll hear today a conversation we had around that report, which we called Smearcasting: How Islamophobes Spread Fear, Bigotry and Misinformation, with former FAIR staffers Isabel MacDonald and Steve Rendall. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260814MacDonald_Rendall.mp3

https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260807.mp3 Right-click here to download this episode (“Save link as…”). CT Mirror (7/30/26) This week on CounterSpin: If you look for media coverage about the Farm Bill that’s currently passing through Congress, you can find it–at sites like agriculture.com or agri-pulse.com, or those outlets that have “ag” sections. If you look for coverage of SNAP, the largest food assistance program in the country, you can find that lots of other places. And while some of those headlines are about “Deadbeat Parents” and “SNAP Fraud,” these days many more say things like “Nearly 19K State Kids Have Lost SNAP Benefits Over Past Year” (that’s Connecticut) or “Illinois Launches New Program to Provide Food Benefits to People Who Lost SNAP,” or “Small Grocery Stores Cutting Inventory, Considering Layoffs as SNAP Dollars Decline.” Overwhelmingly, local reporters are documenting how cuts to SNAP are hurting people and communities. But the lack of major media stories linking the program to the Farm Bill seem somehow emblematic of the opacity around this country’s lawmaking on critical questions around food. We get an update from Gina Plata-Nino, director of SNAP policy and advocacy at the Food Research & Action Center. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260807Plata-Nino.mp3   Also on the show: People who rely on food benefits programs have long been a punching bag for both right-wing ideologues and their corporate media enablers. Claiming people working full time jobs that don’t provide enough to feed their families are really just grifters living high on your dime is a time-honored tactic, no matter how far it falls afield of reality. We talked about that last year with the president of Food Research & Action Center, Crystal FitzSimons; we add a little of that conversation as well. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260807FitzSimons.mp3  

  https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260731.mp3 Right-click here to download this episode (“Save link as…”).   NPR (7/16/26) This week on CounterSpin: “In Primetime Speech, Trump Doesn’t Provide Evidence for Illegal Voting” was the temperate headline NPR put on a story about Trump’s recent East Room speech that, they allowed, “included many baseless claims” about election integrity. They told us that “many of the documents the White House posted online during the speech did not appear to fully support sweeping claims the president made,” and even got to the point of calling his contention that he won the 2020 election “a lie.” What the story didn’t do was show, with urgency, how voting in the upcoming midterms and beyond will be materially affected by the use of state power to promote ideas that they’re saying are, yeah, for sure, not true. Obstacles to voting don’t have to be valid to have impact. Black people know that better than anyone. And it isn’t just Trump’s lies, that media keep repeating, even as they call them lies; the Supreme Court’s June decision in Louisiana v. Callais makes the terrain different, in ways people need to understand and confront. Vincent Southerland is associate professor at New York University School of Law, where he directs the Criminal Defense and Reentry Clinic. He’s faculty director of NYU Law’s Center on Race, Inequality and the Law, and co-editor of Race, Rights and Redemption: The Derrick Bell Lectures on the Law and Critical Race Theory. We talk with him this week on CounterSpin. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260731Southerland.mp3 Plus Janine Jackson takes a quick look at recent press coverage of the Gaza genocide. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260731Banter.mp3 Featured image: San Francisco voting rights activists, 1956 (Frances Albrier Collection)

  https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260724.mp3 Right-click here to download this episode (“Save link as…”).   Nine of the Prairieland protesters received sentences ranging from 30 to 100 years; one received a 30-year sentence for moving a box of zines. (Photo: DFW Support Committee) This week on CounterSpin: Are you upset about ICE agents using your tax dollars to detain and deport people because they have a quota to fill – and to kill anyone who doesn’t “comply”? Are you bothered by women losing not just the right but the ability to access abortion for whatever reason they might have? Do you care that fossil fuel-created climate disruption is rearranging the planet?  Well, my friend, you might be a terrorist. Last September, Trump issued a National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM-7) that added a whole lot of folks to a list of “domestic terrorists”. All of us are now officially, by challenging or questioning the Trump White House and their acolytes, “the enemy within.” When Trump pushed through NSPM 7 last fall, folks like Hina Shamsi at the ACLU told us: it’s a scare tactic – “domestic terrorism organization” as applied to a wide range of groups that are, in the memo’s language “anti-americanism, anti-capitalism, anti christianity” does not create new federal crimes or powers. The president, even if it’s Trump, cannot rewrite the Constitution. Which, Shamsi explained, doesn’t mean it isn’t scary, despite being a “fever dream of conspiracies, outright falsehoods and the president’s distorted equation of criticism of his policies by real or perceived political opponents with ‘criminal and terroristic conspiracies’. We have to stand up where we can, how we can, right now. And right now could have started years ago but it can at the least start with getting prison time for moving zines.  We’ll talk about the Prairieland case and what it means for you, with Dorothee Benz, who wrote recently about it all for FAIR.org https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin260724Benz.mp3

The focus seems heavy on the notion that we need to "humanize" the victims of racist state violence, rather than challenge the humanity of those who enact it.