FEATURING MALLORY MCMASTER – California Representative Katie Hill fought an uphill battle in 2018 to wrest a House seat from the rabidly rightwing Republican Steve Knight. Now, in a tragic tale of misogyny and GOP dirty dealing, Katie Hill has resigned. 

After right wing media published private and sexually explicit photos of her leaked by her estranged husband, the controversy forced her hand. In her last speech on the floor of the House Hill said, “I am leaving because of a misogynistic culture that gleefully consumed my naked pictures, capitalized on my sexuality and enabled my abusive ex to continue that abuse, this time with the entire country watching.”

Why did Democrats and progressives not come to Hill’s defense? 

Read Mallory’s piece for Rewire.News called ‘Katie Hill’s Resignation Should Have Been Met With Outrage, Not Silence,‘ HERE.

Mallory McMaster, writes for Rewire.News and is a reproductive rights advocate in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. She owns The Fairmount Group, a full-serve marketing and communications firm that serves social justice and abortion rights organizations.

Two new polls on impeachment of President Donald Trump have confirmed that large segments of the US population want to see an end to this presidency. A Washington Post/ABC Poll has found that support for impeachment tracks very closely with party affiliation. The paper explained that, “49 percent of Americans say the president should be impeached and removed from office, while 47 percent say he should not,” and that “Among Democrats, support for removing the president from office is overwhelming, with 82 percent in favor and 13 percent opposed. Among Republicans, it is almost the reverse, with 82 percent opposed and 18 percent in favor, even as the president’s approval rating reached a new low among members of his party.” The poll also found that Trump’s standing did not change in light of the raid that led to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi’s death. According to the paper, “While Obama received a short-term boost in popularity after bin Laden’s killing, the successful raid against Baghdadi does not appear to have helped Trump’s image as a leader.” Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also released their poll results on Friday and concluded that, “47% said they support the impeachment inquiry, while 38% disapprove.” However, a majority of Americans also felt that Democrats were motivated by political concerns rather than the merits of impeachment. One woman who responded to the survey told AP, ““I was getting very frustrated with Congress and those investigating because I felt like they were just dragging their heels. I wish they’d stop worrying about getting reelected themselves and get down to the business they’re supposed to be doing.”

There are two parallel court battles playing out over those caught in the competing demands of House subpoenas to testify in the impeachment inquiry and the Trump White House’s blanket ban on testimonies. Charles Kupperman, an aide to former National Security Advisor John Bolton had his case addressed in court on Thursday over his request that a judge decide for him whether he should testify before House committees or not. The judge in the case set a date of December 10th for oral arguments for lawyers from all sides. The second case is around former White House Counsel Don McGahn who Trump has claimed is absolutely immune from having to testify. A lawyer for the Justice Department on Thursday claimed that, “The Constitution does not allow this. It does not allow the House and the executive branch to sue each other in court.” The federal judge in that case sharply pushed back on the DOJ. The outcomes of both cases will determine how the impeachment inquiry can proceed.

A man who served as ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration has harsh words for President Trump’s decision to fundraise for the campaigns of those GOP Senators who are loyal to him in the impeachment inquiry. In a tweet, Richard Pa...

FEATURING MITCH JESERICH – The House on Thursday passed, along almost strictly partisan lines, the first resolution formalizing an impeachment procedure. The bill outlines the way in which transcripts of the closed-door testimonies would be made public, what rights the minority party would have, as well as how the Trump White House could access information and witnesses. White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham slammed the move as, “a sham impeachment” and “a blatantly partisan attempt to destroy the president.” 

On the same day, former White House National Security Advisor Tim Morrison testified to House Committees. And just days earlier, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who is the top Ukraine adviser at the White House, testified confirming the story that is emerging of how Trump used his position to elicit political dirt using US military aid to Ukraine as leverage. 

Mitch Jeserich, is the Capitol Hill Correspondent for Rising Up With Sonali, covering the impeachment inquiry. He’s a veteran journalist on DC politics and a Pacifica reporter, host of Letters and Politics heard on KPFA and KPFK.

FEATURING ESTHER – The US Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments in a case about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program on November 12th. Hundreds are expected to gather outside the court that day, among them DACA recipients and their allies who will have spent more than two weeks marching from New York to Washington DC. 

The #HomeIsHere march is currently underway and today we’ll speak with one of the lead organizers of the march, Esther. 

For more information visit www.homeisheremarch.org.

Esther, Community Organizer with NAKASEC and a DACA recipient. She is one of the lead organizers for the #HomeIsHere March.

The House moved to pass an impeachment resolution on Thursday morning along almost strictly partisan lines with 231 Democrats voting for it, and 194 Republicans against. No Republicans voted for the resolution but two Democrats, Collin C. Peterson of Minnesota and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey voted no. Independent Justin Amash who left the Republican Party voted alongside Democrats. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who spearheaded the effort prefaced the vote announcing the impeachment resolution that passed. Among the things that the resolution requires is the public release of transcripts of witness testimonies to the House Intelligence Committee. 

On the same day that the impeachment resolution passed, former White House National Security Advisor Tim Morrison testified to House Committees. Morrison was the top Russia and Europe expert and a senior member of the NSC and announced his resignation on the eve of his testimony after the White House directed him to defy the House request to testify. According to CNN, Morrison is, “expected to corroborate key elements of a top US diplomat’s account that Trump pressed for Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, using military aid.” The diplomat in question is Acting Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor. Meanwhile John Bolton, Trump’s former National Security Advisor has also been requested to give testimony next week. But Bolton says he would not appear without a subpoena.

Meanwhile the Washington Post reported on Wednesday that a White House lawyer moved to restrict access to the infamous phone call transcript between Trump and Ukraine’s president to a secret server after concerns were raised. Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who is the top Ukraine adviser at the White House and who had testified to House Committees earlier this week apparently raised alarms about Trump’s attempts at extortion to White House lawyer John Eisenberg. Eisenberg’s response was to move the call records to a secret server. 

In the Senate, where an impeachment trial would take place, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has cemented his loyalty to Trump ensuring that Trump’s Presidency would remain safe under his watch. But McConnell has apparently quietly told Trump to stop attacking senators who are critical of him or who remain on the fence regarding impeachment. Trump appears to be moving toward using a carrot rather than a stick to rally Republican Senators with reports of fundraising support for his loyalists. According to Politico, “Trump is tapping his vast fundraising network for a handful of loyal senators facing tough reelection bids in 2020. Each of them has signed onto a Republican-backed resolution condemning the inquiry as ‘unprecedented and undemocratic.’”

FEATURING JACKSON ALLERS – It took just 13 days of sustained protest in Lebanon to force the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri. In the biggest protests since the Cedar Revolution, Lebanon’s masses took to the streets demanding a change in government and economic reforms. They formed a human chain around the country. And now, even after Mr. Hariri’s announced resignation, they say they want more. 

Today we’ll go to Lebanon to speak with a journalist who is based there and who has had a firsthand view of the uprising. 

Jackson Allers, lived and worked in Beirut, Lebanon for 13-years as a documentary filmmaker and news correspondent. He has reported and produced films and radio documentaries from the region for outlets like the BBC World Service, BBC Radio 4, Free Speech Radio News, Democracy Now!, and Vice.

The House Impeachment inquiry continued on Wednesday with two mid-level State Department officials giving depositions to Congressional committees. Catherine Croft and Christopher Anderson reportedly testified about the negative view that President Donald Trump and some members of his cabinet had of Ukraine – in contrast to the traditional foreign policy perspective of seeing Ukraine as an ally and a useful bulwark to Russian expansionism. That negative view of Ukraine has apparently been fueled by Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. Mr. Anderson in particular testified about how the White House stopped the State Department from issuing a condemnation of a Russian attack against Ukrainian naval vessels. Ms. Croft’s testimony bolstered Anderson’s. In her written remarks she said that as early as 2017, “I heard — directly and indirectly — President Trump describe Ukraine as a corrupt country.”

Meanwhile, more details have emerged from Tuesday’s testimony of the top Ukraine Expert on the National Security Council Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman. Vindman told House committee members that on multiple occasions he attempted to correct the rough transcript of President Trump’s now-famous July 25th phone call with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. Vindman was one of the people listening in on the call and while some of his corrections were made, some were not. According to the New York Times, “The omissions, Colonel Vindman said, included Mr. Trump’s assertion that there were recordings of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. discussing Ukraine corruption, and an explicit mention by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, of Burisma Holdings, the energy company whose board employed Mr. Biden’s son Hunter.” Also emerging from Vindman’s deposition was the story of how two critical meetings on Ukraine took place at the White House on July 10th where former National Security Advisor John Bolton expressed concern about Trump’s desire to use the US-Ukraine relationship for personal political gain. Bolton was apparently fiercely opposed to this. 

House Democrats on Tuesday unveiled the text of their impeachment-related resolution which will face a vote on Thursday. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi explained that the resolution was intended, “to eliminate any doubt as to whether the Trump administration may withhold documents, prevent witness testimony, disregard duly authorized subpoenas, or continue obstructing the House of Representatives.” The resolution also explains how the House Intelligence Committee expects to hold public impeachment hearings and how the House Judiciary Committee could send articles of impeachment to the full House. Meanwhile, Republicans are fighting the impeachment relentlessly and have now aimed their focus on unveiling the originator of the complaint that led to the impeachment inquiry. But Democrats argued that public testimony from the original whistleblower was unnecessary...

FEATURING KELECHI UBOZOH – Every day more than a hundred Americans take their own lives. More than a quarter of Americans over the age of 18 years experience depression. We have a mental health epidemic and yet the resources to support those struggling with it are constantly dwindling. Patients are prescribed antidepressants and/or end up being criminalized. 

Now, a growing movement of people directly impacted by the mental health crisis are demanding a radical new approach that transforms how we think about the issue and challenges the conventional bio-medical framework that marks our discussions.

Kelechi Ubozoh, Nigerian American singer, writer, mental health advocate and co-editor of the new book, We’ve Been Too Patient: Voices From Radical Mental Health.

**This segment was broadcast on June 28, 2019.

FEATURING MIA DRAGNIC AND TROY KOKINIS – Chilean President Sebastián Piñera has replaced 8 Cabinet members in a bid to appease the public. Chile has been wracked by mass protests for weeks demanding his resignation. Although the protests were triggered by a hike in subway fares, the unrest is more broadly focused on the huge wealth inequality within Chile. 

More than a dozen people have died in violent clashes so far and Chilean police are under fire for their brutal response. A number of prominent Chilean leftists have signed a statement demanding an end to political violence and human rights violations. The author of the statement now joins me from San Diego. 

Mia Dragnic, prominent Chilean feminist, visiting scholar to University of California at San Diego, Troy Kokinis, Lecturer in Latin American Studies at University of California San Diego.

FEATURING MARJ HALPERIN – President Donald Trump during his first visit to Chicago as President, was met by mass protests. Thousands of Chicagoans marched and rallied, including in front of Trump Tower holding signs that included references to his impeachment. 

Trump was in the city to address the Conference of Police Chiefs which Chicago’s own chief Eddie Johnson boycotted. Trump repeatedly slammed Johnson during his speech, blaming him for the city’s notoriously high homicide rate. He also ominously promised a “surge” of police officers in the US. Using terminology usually reserved for war zones, he described how his Attorney General William Barr would, “announce a new crackdown on violent crime… targeting gangs and drug traffickers in high crime cities and dangerous rural areas.”

Follow Indivisible Chicago on Twitter @IndivisibleCHI and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/IndivisibleChi/.

Marj Halperin, Board member of Indivisible Chicago.