FEATURING RON FEIN – A year and a half of Donald Trump’s Presidency is more than most Americans have been able to tolerate. The levels of corruption and overt flouting of the US Constitution, race baiting, demagoguery, misogyny, and more are unprecedented. The US has perhaps never before had such an impeachable President as Trump.

Now a new book written by three veteran constitutional lawyers makes the case that Trump’s impeachment is imperative and that in fact the US Constitution itself demands it.

For more information visit www.impeachmentproject.org.

Ron Fein, Legal Director of Free Speech for People, and a constitutional lawyer who previously served as Assistant Regional Counsel in the US EPA. He is the co-author with John Bonifaz and Ben Clements or the new book The Constitution Demands It: The Case for The Impeachment of Donald Trump.

This story was originally published on 08/15/18

Friday is Day 4 of the confirmation hearings of Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Political fireworks were set off on Day 3 when Democratic Senator Corey Booker threatened to release documents on Kavanaugh that had been marked confidential and were available only to committee members. Booker then released the documents in two batches, the first of which Republicans said had been deemed public on Thursday morning. But the second batch was considered confidential. Senator Mazie Hirono also released confidential emails while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer cheered them on via Twitter. A lawyer named William Burck for President George W. Bush has been vetting which documents can be released to committee members and which are withheld.

Another issue that came up during Day 3 of the Kavanaugh hearings was a line of questioning from Senator Patrick Leahy as to whether Kavanaugh had been aware of a secret Bush-era surveillance program after the September 11th attacks. In 2006 Kavanaugh had claimed under oath that he knew nothing about the program but later it emerged that he did know, leading some to suggest that he, “may have a perjury problem.”

More also emerged on Kavanaugh’s views on abortion on Thursday when Republican Senator Ted Cruz asked him about a decision in a 2015 case concerning a group called Priests for Life. According to Huffington Post, “Kavanaugh had sided with the religious organization, which didn’t want to provide employees with insurance coverage for contraceptives.” Not only was it troubling to hear Kavanaugh admitting to opposing contraception coverage but he referred to the drugs as “abortion-inducing drugs.” Here is part of the exchange between Cruz and Kavanaugh. PLAY VIDEO.

That’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday referring to contraception as “abortion inducing drugs,” during his confirmation hearings. According to the Guttmacher Institute, “More than 99% of women aged 15–44 who have ever had sexual intercourse have used at least one contraceptive method,” including the vast majority of American women who identify as Catholic or Christian. Dawn Laguens (La-Gaanz), executive vice president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund responded to Kavanaugh’s position saying, “Let me break it down for you, Brett. Birth control is basic health care. Birth control allows women to plan their futures, participate in the economy, and ― for some women with health issues like endometriosis ― allows them to get through the day.”

Kavanaugh was also questioned by Democratic Senator Kamala Harris about his opinion on the landmark case that led to the legalization of same-sex marriage. PLAY VIDEO. That was Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday refusing to say whether he agreed with the Supreme Court decision to legalize same-sex marriage. The Human Rights Campaign issued a statement calling his response, “alarming and completely unacceptable.”

Meanwhile an activist working to stop Kavanaugh’s nomination named Ady Barkan, has collected more than $600,

FEATURING RON FEIN – A year and a half of Donald Trump’s Presidency is more than most Americans have been able to tolerate. The levels of corruption and overt flouting of the US Constitution, race baiting, demagoguery, misogyny, and more are unprecedented. The US has perhaps never before had such an impeachable President as Trump.

Now a new book written by three veteran constitutional lawyers makes the case that Trump’s impeachment is imperative and that in fact the US Constitution itself demands it.

For more information visit www.impeachmentproject.org.

Ron Fein, Legal Director of Free Speech for People, and a constitutional lawyer who previously served as Assistant Regional Counsel in the US EPA. He is the co-author with John Bonifaz and Ben Clements or the new book The Constitution Demands It: The Case for The Impeachment of Donald Trump.

This story was originally published on 08/15/18

FEATURING RACHEL O’LEARY CARMONA – Democratic Senator Cory Booker on Thursday upended the confirmation hearings of Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh by threatening to release documents about the nominee marked “confidential,” and then releasing them. The Senator decided that there was no official rule that he was breaking and dared the Republicans on the committee to launch any formal charges or procedures to censure him saying, “bring it.” Senate Democratic leaders backed him including Minority leader Chuck Schumer.

The hearings started out on Tuesday with protests from Democratic Senators and also from members of the audience. Seventy people, mostly women, were arrested, 61 of them from inside the hearing. Helping to coordinate these protests that were a critical symbol of public anger over the Kavanaugh hearings was the Women’s March.

Rachel O’leary Carmona, Chief Operating Officer of the Women’s March

The confirmation hearings for Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh continue into their second day on Wednesday. Sparks flew at the beginning of the hearings on Tuesday when Democrats asked for a motion to adjourn based on not having enough documents, or enough time to review those documents that were made available the night before. There were also repeated protests from members of the public in attendance. Still, Republicans, led by Senator Chuck Grassley, managed to finish up the first day’s hearings by 5 pm. Day 1 included opening statements from Senators, and three people who introduced Kavanaugh, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Senator Rob Portman, and attorney Lisa Blatt. Kavanaugh also made his opening statement. 

That’s Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s Supreme Court nominee speaking before Senators on Tuesday, day 1 of his confirmation hearings. Despite Kavanaugh’s assertions that he would be an independent justice, one moment that was captured on tape at the hearings suggested otherwise. Fred Guttenberg, the father of Jaime Guttenberg who was killed by gun violence in Parkland, Florida, approached Kavanaugh during a break to shake his hands. Kavanaugh looked at Guttenberg and refused to respond. The image and video of the handshake that didn’t happen has now gone viral.

Meanwhile dozens of people, mostly women, protested inside and outside the hearing and were arrested. Sixty one people were removed from the hearing room and another nine in another Senate room were also arrested. Trump gave an interview to the ultraconservative website The Daily Caller on Tuesday where he complained about the protesters saying, “I don’t know why they don’t take care of a situation like that. I think it’s embarrassing for the country to allow protesters. You don’t even know what side the protesters are on.” He added, “In the old days, we used to throw them out. Today, I guess they just keep screaming.” His suggestion that protesters not be allowed offered yet another illustration of the President’s lack of Constitutional understanding.

On Wednesday the second day of the confirmation hearing began with questioning from Senators Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein. Later on today’s show we’ll speak with Marjorie Cohn, Professor Emerita of Law at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law will join us to analyze the first day of hearings.  Professor Cohn will examine how Republicans have withheld a majority of information on Kavanaugh, how well Democrats are fighting back against the nomination process, and what is known about Kavanaugh’s positions through the public record.

Competing for news coverage with the Kavanaugh hearings were the first reviews of journalist Bob Woodward’s bombshell book on Trump. The book called Fear: Trump in the White House runs nearly 500 pages long and is based on hundreds of confidential interviews with members of Trump’s inner circle. According to CNN, which obtained an early copy of the book, “Woodward uses confidential background interviews to illustrate how some of the President’s top advisers view him...

FEATURING CHRIS HEDGES – Pulitzer prize winning reporter and veteran foreign correspondent Chris Hedges has just released his newest book America, the Farewell Tour. Hedges is the author of numerous best-selling books including War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, Empire of Illusion, Death of the Liberal Class, and Days of Destruction Days of Revolt which he co-wrote with Joe Sacco. In late August, Hedges spoke about his latest book at the independent bookstore in Washington DC called Politics and Prose.

As part of his on-going book tour he’ll be heading to California next week. He’ll be speaking in Berkeley, California on Wednesday, September 12, at 7:30 PM at the First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Then he heads to Los Angeles on Saturday September 15 at 6:30 pm, where he’ll speak at the Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 3300 Wilshire Boulevard in LA.

Special thanks to Politics and Prose.

FEATURING PENNIE OPAL PLANT – If this summer’s temperatures have been any indication it is that global warming is not just a theory, it is a fact. Communities around the US and world are endangered by terrible climate threats and yet our politicians especially at the federal level are doing nothing about it.

But a mass global set of actions to demand climate action and justice is gearing up in September in San Francisco and elsewhere. Many of those actions are being led by powerful and inspiring indigenous women like our guest today.

For more information about the marches visit www.riseforclimate.org and www.idlenomoresfbay.org.

Pennie Opal Plant, Yaqui & undocumented Choctaw & Cherokee, Co-Founder of Idle No More SF Bay, Co-Founder of Movement Rights, and Signatory on the Indigenous Women of the Americas Defending Mother Earth Treaty.

FEATURING R. LAURENCE MOORE – The US is a deeply religious country. A poll in 2016 by the Public Religion Research Institute found that nearly 70% of Americans identify as Christian, and about 45% say they attend Church regularly. Of the rest, there are myriad other religions including Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, etc. There are constitutional protections for religious beliefs.

And in fact the idea of religious liberty has been deeply politicized by Donald Trump’s government and the American evangelical right wing. But what about the non-believers? Why, in a nation that also separates church from state, is there such an outsized representation of religion and protections of religious liberties? A new history book attempts to explore this question.

R. Laurence Moore, Professor Emeritus of History and American Studies at Cornell University, co-author with Isaac Kramnick of the new book Godless Citizens in a Godly Republic: Atheists in American Public Life.

FEATURING MARJORIE COHN – The confirmation hearings for Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh got off to a fiery start on Tuesday morning as the Senate Judiciary Committee gathered in front of press and the public. During the opening minutes of the hearing committee chairman Chuck Grassley, who forced the hearings to start at an unprecedented speed, was interrupted by Democratic Senators Kamala Harris and Richard Blumenthal.

Several women including Women’s March leader Linda Sarsour interrupted the proceedings at that point and were dragged out by police. The war of words then continued among members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Marjorie Cohn, professor emerita at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law. She recently wrote the piece “Kavanaugh Scorns International Law and Loves Executive Power” for Truthout.

Click here to read Cohn’s article about Kavanaugh in Truthout.

In today’s news headlines the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday is holding confirmation hearings for Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The unprecedented speed with which Justice Anthony Kennedy is being replaced by an extremist conservative and very young judge has left Democrats and progressives up in arms. Senators from both major parties launched a war of words right from the start over the hundreds of thousands of missing documents from Brett Kavanaugh’s record. [Senator Kamala Harris began by asking why there was no time for Democrats on the committee to review more than 40,000 pages of documents that were given to them the night before. Republican senator Chuck Grassley simply talked over her. Senator Richard Blumenthal denounced the hearings as a “charade,” and a “mockery of our norms,” and asked for the hearings to be adjourned to which members of the public present at the hearing cheered loudly. But Senator Grassley continued to assert that the hearing would continue. From its opening minutes the hearing were interrupted by people in the audience yelling and being removed from the room.] Those are some of the highlights from the opening hours of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings.

On Monday former Democratic Presidential nominee and State Secretary Hillary Clinton weighed in on the hearings posting a series of tweets opposing Kavanaugh as being bad for workers and citing several of his anti-worker decisions. She wrote, “The Roberts Court has dealt some big blows to workers and unions in the last few years. With Kavanaugh on the Court, a 5-4 hard-right majority would be even more aggressive in siding with corporations over people.” We’ll bring you more coverage of the hearings on tomorrow’s show.

President Donald Trump lobbed yet another attack against his Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday, making clearer than ever his political conflicts of interest. He blamed the Justice Department for the poor timing of recent indictments against two Republican Congressmen running for re-election. “Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department,” tweeted the President. He added, “Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff……” CNN put into context the extreme inappropriateness of the President’s remarks this way: “A decision by the Justice Department to hold off on prosecuting two Republican congressmen up for re-election in order to help them win would have been highly unethical and a blatantly politically motivated violation of the department’s nonpartisan mission.” The Congressmen in question are Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-California, and Rep. Chris Collins, R-New York.

A major storm is heading toward the Gulf Coast and is expected to develop into a hurricane. Tropical storm Gordon, which has been pouring rain over the state of Florida has resulted in gusts of winds up to 45 mph and is now expected to hit the Northern US Gulf Coast by Tuesday night as a Hurricane.