Tag Archives: Donald Trump

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick – The American Immigration Council

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick is Senior Fellow at The American Immigration Council. He previously worked as a Staff Attorney at the American Immigration Council, working on impact litigation, Freedom of Information Act litigation, and practice advisories. Prior to joining the Council, he was an Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow and Staff Attorney at the Immigration Law Unit of The Legal Aid Society in New York City, representing immigrants placed in removal proceedings because of a prior criminal conviction.

Of course the implications for those from other countries, both documented and undocumented, are dire, but the implications for American rule of law and democracy are also increasingly disturbing. Things are happening so fast, norms are being shattered, judicial rulings are being ignored. To find out what’s going on, we spoke with Aaron Reichlin-Melnick on December 5, 2025 via Zoom.

Articles pertinent to this interview:

The Trump Administration Won’t Stop Firing Immigration Judges https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/12/deportation-judge-trump-immigration-court-purge-federal-plaza-new-york-city/

Putting Military Lawyers in Charge of Immigration Courts Is Problematic—and “Unlawfulhttps://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/09/trump-administration-military-lawyers-jags-immigration-court-judges/

“The Entire System Will Collapse”: Inside the Purge of US Immigration Courts https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/03/trump-immigration-courts-firing-doge-nonsensical-system-collapse-eoir/

ICE Investigations, Powered by Nvidia https://theintercept.com/2025/11/01/ice-nvidia-software-hsi-surveillance/

Trump’s Military Occupations of U.S. Cities Cost $473 Million and Rising https://theintercept.com/2025/11/11/cost-trump-national-guard-military-occupation/

The Contempt of Court Buck Stops With … Kristi Noem? https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/tcontempt-of-court-kristi-noem-emil-bove-alien-enemies-act

Chicago Protestors Reel After Fending Off Federal Charges https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/chicago-protestors-reel-after-fending-off-federal-charges

ICE Is Targeting Workers. Here’s How Employers and Unions Are Fighting Back. https://truthout.org/articles/ice-is-targeting-workers-heres-how-employers-and-unions-are-fighting-back/

Trump’s Thanksgiving Attack on Immigrants Likened to ‘Stuff You Hear Coming Out of White Nationalists’ https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-immigration-national-guard

Stephen Miller Is an Immigration Hypocrite. I Know Because I’m His Uncle. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/13/stephen-miller-is-an-immigration-hypocrite-i-know-because-im-his-uncle-219351/

Trump is using a tragic shooting to demonize millions https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/03/trump-national-guard-shooting-anti-immigration-push

Trump’s Immigration Forces Are Recklessly Deploying ‘Less Lethal’ Weapons. Protestors Are Getting Maimed https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trumps-immigration-forces-deploy-less-lethal-weapons-protests-are-getting-maimed

A Tale of Two ICEs https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/12/02/a-tale-of-two-ices/

Reverse Migration Is Not A Cure. It Will Only Make America Weak and Alone https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-reverse-migration

Charlotte activists met the immigration crackdown with ‘bless your heart’ resistance https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/23/activists-immigration-charlotte-north-carolina

A groundswell of activism takes hold in the US: ‘We are a bridge to the future’ ttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/21/us-activism-protests-boycotts-mutual-aid

20 states and D.C. sue DOJ to stop immigration conditions on funds for crime victims https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/20-states-and-d-c-sue-doj-to-stop-immigration-conditions-on-funds-for-crime-victims

The Education Department’s Forgotten Antiracist Origins https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/opinion/education-department-trump-antiracist.html

DHS Spends Millions Of Taxpayer Funds To Get Its Own Fleet Of Deportation Planes: Report https://www.huffpost.com/entry/scotus-blockbuster-case-2026-golden-globe-noms_n_6936a122e4b0a1c98be2a8f0/liveblog_6939a59fe4b028000c59fa6c?origin=home-latest-news-unit

Kristi Noem reportedly tried to buy 10 engineless Spirit Airlines planes that airline didn’t own https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/08/kristi-noem-spirit-airlines-planes

Trump administration moves to deny visas to factcheckers and content moderators https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/05/trump-administration-us-visa-crackdown

Arizona congresswoman says she was ‘pepper sprayed’ at protest against ICE https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/05/adelita-grijalva-arizona-pepper-spray-ice-protest

Senator says ICE ‘attack dog’ caused ‘horrific’ injuries to unresisting man as he was detained https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/06/us-senator-ice-attack-dog-horrific-injuries

Henry Giroux and Nate Bellinger

Today’s show is in two parts. First, longtime friend of Forthright Radio, scholar, public intellectual, McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest, and The Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy, Henry Giroux, joins us again to discuss many issues facing our nation and the world – from the increasing militarization of America at home and on the seas, to the young people he teaches who are rising to the challenges of becoming effective cultural producers in this era unlike any in human history.

In the last part of the show Nate Bellinger, Our Children’s Trust’s Supervising Senior Staff Attorney, shares with us about the latest in the recent federal district court decision that Federal District Dourt Judge Dana Christenson rendered on October 16, 2025, in the Lighthiser v Trump case, and their on-going legal efforts representing their youth plaintiffs suing for a livable climate.

The link to read the students’ Public Intellectuals Project essays Henry Giroux mentioned in our interview: https://publicintellectualsproject.humanities.mcmaster.ca

In the KZYX pledge drive show, we read this poem by Yevgeny Yevtushenko:

Talk

You’re a brave man they tell me.
I’m not.
Courage has never been my quality.
Only I thought it disproportionate
so to degrade myself as others did.
No foundations trembled. My voice
no more than laughed at pompous falsity;
I did no more than write, never denounced,
I left out nothing I had thought about,
defended who deserved it, put a brand
on the untalented, the ersatz writers
(doing what anyhow had to be done).
And now they press to tell me that I’m brave.
How sharply our children will be ashamed
taking at last their vengeance for these horrors
remembering how in so strange a time
common integrity could look like courage.

by Yevgeny Yevtushenko
Translated by Robin Milner-Galland and Peter Levi

Articles pertinent to these interviews:

Stephen Miller and the Making of the Fascist Subject https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/10/17/stephen-miller-and-the-making-of-the-fascist-subject/

Trump’s America: Echoes of a Fascist Past https://socialistproject.ca/2025/10/trumps-america-echoes-fascist-past/

Pedagogies of Repression: Ford, Trump and the War on Education https://socialistproject.ca/2025/09/pedagogies-of-repression/

Charlie Kirk’s Death Is a Symptom of a National Political Culture in Crisis https://truthout.org/articles/charlie-kirks-death-is-a-symptom-of-a-national-political-culture-in-crisis/

Trump’s Theater of Cruelty: Fascism’s Malignant Return https://www.laprogressive.com/immigration-reform/theater-of-cruelty

The Democratic Party: Architects of Cowardice, Accomplices to Fascism https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/09/08/the-democratic-party-architects-of-cowardice-accomplices-to-fascism/

The War on Memory: How Trump’s Cultural Erasure Threatens Democracy in the U.S. and Canada https://www.laprogressive.com/democracy/trumps-cultural-erasure-threatens-canadian-democracy

Plastic surgeons wrestle with requests for ‘Mar-a-Lago face’: ‘You’re going to look like Maleficenthttps://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/nov/18/mar-a-lago-face-plastic-surgery

Trump’s Warfare State: Domestic Terrorism and Spectacular Violence https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/29/domestic-terrorism-and-spectacularized-violence-in-trumps-warfare-state/

Resisting the Deadly Language of American Fascism https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/07/11/resisting-the-deadly-language-of-american-fascism/

A Broad Wave of Firings Followed Charlie Kirk’s Assassination https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/us/kirk-critics-fired-free-speech.html

New Trump Order Among ‘Scariest Things I’ve Seen in US Politics,’ Civil Rights Attorney Says https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-vigilante-portal

Kamala Harris Thinks Trump Is a “Communist.” That’s Insane. https://jacobin.com/2025/09/harris-newsom-trump-communist-oligarchy

‘An unworkable request:’ Federal judge dismisses climate lawsuit https://dailymontanan.com/2025/10/16/an-unworkable-request-federal-judge-dismisses-climate-lawsuit/

The Kids Who Sued Trump Just Lost Big in Court. Or Did They? https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/climate/climate-lawsuit-children-montana-trump-health.html

Judge Throws Out Children’s Lawsuit Against Trump’s Energy Policies https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/climate/montana-youth-trump-climate-lawsuit-dismissed.html

Young Activists Say 3 Trump Orders Violate Constitutional Rights https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/climate/lighthiser-trial-climate-trump.html?searchResultPosition=2

Young People Suing Trump Over Climate Have Their Day in Federal Court https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/climate/montana-lawsuit-trump-executive-orders-energy.html

Hawaii Settles With Young Plaintiffs in Climate Case https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/21/climate/hawaii-youth-climate-lawsuit.html

Youth Climate Activists Get Major Win in Montana Supreme Court https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/18/climate/held-montana-youth-climate-lawsuit.html

Leah Litman LAWLESS: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes

University of Michigan Law Professor, Leah Litman teaches and writes on constitutional law, federal courts, and federal post-conviction review. Her research examines unidentified and implicit values that are used to structure the legal system, the federal courts, and the legal profession. With her fellow law professors, Kate Shaw and Melissa Murray, she co-hosts the popular podcast, Strict Scrutiny, providing in-depth and irreverent analysis of the Supreme Court – its cases, culture, and personalities.

Her book, LAWLESS: HOW THE SUPREME COURT RUNS ON CONSERVATIVE GRIEVANCE, FRINGE THEORIES, AND BAD VIBES, is published by Atria/One Signal Publishers. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse wrote this: “Lawless is a lively narration of how big special interests captured the Supreme Court and redeployed it to deliver on the least popular policy planks of the Republican Party. Litman ably documents the Court’s devolution, as it was yoked into service to a political party and a billionaire class.”
We spoke with her on May 6, 2025.

Trump asks Supreme Court to allow cancellation of legal status for 500,000 immigrants https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/08/trump-supreme-court-parole-00336940

Trump Administration Live Updates: U.S. Welcomes White South Africans Given Refugee Status https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/05/12/us/trump-news

David H. Souter, Republican Justice Who Allied With Court’s Liberal Wing, Dies at 85 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/09/us/david-souter-dead.html

150 Former Judges Tell Pam Bondi They’re Not ‘Deranged’ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/former-judges-pam-bondi-letter_n_6819403de4b085c2f857aeb9

Trump order targeting law firm Perkins Coie is unconstitutional, judge rules https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/02/trump-perkins-coie-unconstitutional

Ketanji Brown Jackson Gets Standing Ovation For Slamming ‘Relentless Attacks’ On Judges https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kentanji-brown-jackson-slams-relentless-attacks-on-judges_n_681486aae4b0c3c651ebe017

TRUMP’S
BIGGEST
BENEFICIARY:
HIMSELF https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/27/opinion/trump-crypto-musk-spacex.html

Trump receives widespread backlash to social post calling himself ‘king’ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/19/trump-backlash-social-media-king

Wisconsin Judge Arrest: What We Know https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/26/us/wisconsin-judge-hannah-dugan-arrest.html

The US used to be the gold standard for press freedom. Not any more https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/28/press-freedom-us-trump

The Henchmen Strategy: What Trump Is Doing To Make The Law His Own https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-henchmen-strategy-what-trump-is-doing-to-make-the-law-his-own_n_680fe032e4b0a4f4db7f0bfd

Trump warns ‘nothing will stop me’ at rally to celebrate 100 days in office https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/29/trump-100-days-rally-michigan

Hegseth Directs 20% Cut To Top Military Leadership Positions https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ap-us-pentagon-leadership-cuts-pete-hegseth_n_681923a9e4b09d0e11f7c9a5

Judge Orders Elections Board to Certify Democrat’s Victory in Contested N.C. Race https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/us/north-carolina-supreme-court-federal-ruling.htm

Trump’s Justice Department Is Squandering Its Biggest Asset https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/05/06/trump-justice-department-trust-supreme-court-00329222

Judge strikes down Trump executive order punishing prominent law firm https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/02/trump-law-firms-executive-00324973

Trump asks Supreme Court to let DOGE access sensitive Social Security data https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/02/trump-doge-supreme-court-social-security-00324876

Trump’s immigration ‘shock and awe’ is losing in the court of law https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/02/trump-immigration-court-losses-00324683

US supreme court allows Trump trans military ban to take effect https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/06/trump-trans-military-ban-court

E.P.A. Plans to Shut Down the Energy Star Program https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/climate/epa-energy-star-eliminated.html

Feds Urged To Investigate Pizzas Sent To Judges Using Name Of Judge’s Murdered Son https://www.huffpost.com/entry/federal-investigation-pizza-deliveries-judges_n_681a0193e4b09d0e11f86cad

No One Has Ever Defeated Autocracy From the Sidelines https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/opinion/trump-authoritarianism-democracy.htm

Susanne Mueller Redwood: Competitive Autocracy in the Trump Era

Susanne Mueller Redwood is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Montana State University. Her research focuses on the international dimensions of authoritarianism. She investigates the role that economic cooperation plays in the survival and breakdown of authoritarian regimes. Her work has analyzed the role of trade, central banking, and currency politics under dictatorship, and has been published in different outlets, including the Review of International Political Economy and Cambridge University Press.

The broadcast of this Forthright Radio program ended with an interview by The Kyiv Independent’s Chris York with U.S. historian and author, Marci Shore, who had announced that she — along with her husband, historian Timothy Snyder, and colleague Jason Stanley — would be leaving their posts at Yale University and moving to Canada to teach at the University of Toronto.
It ended with John Lithgow‘s reading of Timothy Snyder‘s 20 Lessons on Tyranny. Due to copyright issues, we do not include them in this recording, however they can be accessed here:

Why this US historian is leaving Trump’s America https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noJ4rMMYvdo

20 Lessons on Tyranny: by Timothy Snyder / read by John Lithgow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXR5HLodsT8

Articles, etc. pertinent to this interview:

Democratic Senate & House members hold shadow hearing on Trump DOJ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcP8zEQgUC8

Personalism and the politics of central bank independence under authoritarianism https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09692290.2022.2127118#d1e125

To Save Democracy, Here’s a Playbook That Works https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/opinion/poland-democracy-us.html

Trump’s counter-terror cuts will harm fight against far right, experts warn https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/30/trump-counter-terrorism-cuts

Vance’s posturing in Greenland was not just morally wrong. It was strategically disastrous https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/31/trump-greenland-us-morally-wrong-strategy-disastrous

Logging is quietly ravaging US forests. Trump is taking an axe to protections https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/31/trump-logging-us-forests

Former Trump Cabinet Official Explains Why Trump Loves Tariffs: ‘It’s Personal Power’ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ryan-zinke-trump-tariffs-presidential-power_n_67ec11ade4b0c630d055461a

Fraudster-In-Chief On A Pardon Spree Of His Fellow White-Collar Criminals https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-fraud-pardon-spree_n_67eafd86e4b0d17863f2f781

If Putin Designed a Plan to Collapse America, What Would It Look Like? https://hartmannreport.com/p/if-putin-designed-a-plan-to-collapse-2ce

The Path to American Authoritarianism: What Comes After Democratic Breakdown https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/path-american-authoritarianism-trump

A turning point for the dollar is coming https://www.ft.com/content/7b97f48b-87e2-4cb3-bd3c-4e963356f109

‘Invasion’ barges, subsea cable cutters and surprise naval drills: how China is testing Donald Trump https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/14/china-taiwan-military-drills-trump-barges-asia-pacific-security

Henry Giroux & Michael Klare

Returning in our first segment, is Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in critical pedagogy and Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest at McMaster University, Henry Giroux.

In our second segment is Michael Klare, who is a Five Colleges professor emeritus of Peace and World Security Studies, whose department is located at Hampshire College. He is currently the secretary for the Arms Control Association board of directors, and a senior visiting fellow working on emerging technologies—such as lethal autonomous weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles—and how arms control strategies can mitigate their adverse impacts.

We spoke with Henry Giroux on March 24, 2025 from his home in Hamilton, Ontario, and Michael Klare on March 25th from his in Washington, D.C. Our conversation with Michael Klare begins at 25:05.

What a week! When we interviewed Michael Klare, the news of the Signal Group Chat had just broken. Since then, more has come to light. We were able to report that against the wishes of the government of Greenland, Usha Vance, Michael Waltz (he of the inclusion of the Atlantic’s Editor in Chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, in the infamous group chat) and Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, would be coming, whether Greenland wanted them to or not. Then, Vice President JD Vance announced he didn’t want “Usha to have all the fun,” so he would be coming, too. Then, the Prime Minister of Denmark condemned Trump’s escalated rhetoric. Now, The visit by the Americans is to be limited to the US Military Base in Northern Greenland. That’s as of the afternoon of March 27th. Who knows what will have happened by airtime on March 28th? Word has it that Greenlanders have created red MAGA caps – Make America Go Away.

We ended the program with the news from the talented Marsh Family, who turn current events into parodic art. They are a British mom, dad, 2 brothers and 2 sisters. We shared “You Were Not Supposed to Message It Through” and “I Put Up Tariffs.” Although we were not able to include them in the audio, due to copyright/royalty issues, the links to them are included below.

Articles and videos pertinent to this edition of Forthright Radio:

You Were Not Supposed to Message It Through https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPfwtXulKS4

I Put Up Tariffs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DyNjjSxO8s

Trump’s Reign of Cruelty: Gangster Capitalism and the Unraveling of the Social https://www.laprogressive.com/progressive-issues/gangster-capitalism

Law in Mahmoud Khalil’s Case Was Once Struck Down — by Trump’s Sister https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/us/politics/mahmoud-khalil-trump-sister-law.html?searchResultPosition=1

Trump is setting the US on a path to educational authoritarianism https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/17/trump-us-path-educational-authoritarianism

Yale professor who studies fascism fleeing US to work in Canada https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/26/yale-professor-fascism-canada

Government Science Data May Soon Be Hidden. They’re Racing to Copy It. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/climate/government-websites-climate-environment-data.html

A New Military-Industrial Complex Arises https://tomdispatch.com/a-new-military-industrial-complex-arises/

How a Cheap Drone Punctured Chernobyl’s 40,000 Ton Shield https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/world/europe/drone-chernobyl-shield-ukraine-war.html

Pete Hegseth’s Dangerous War on America https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-hegseth-woke-democracy-military-dei/

Trump Confronts a Rising China https://tomdispatch.com/trump-confronts-a-rising-china/

Town Hall Bozeman Public Library 3-21-25 https://kgvm.org/show/town-hall-bozeman-public-library-3-21-25/

Veterans Rally Helena, MT 3-14-25 https://kgvm.org/show/veterans-rally-helena-mt-3-14-25/

A Montana Senator Seeks to Be Trump’s Voice in Beijing https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/22/world/asia/trump-china-xi-daines.html?searchResultPosition=1

UN Moves to Expand Autonomous Weapons Discussions https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2024-12/news/un-moves-expand-autonomous-weapons-discussions

Beyond a Human “In the Loop”: Strategic Stability and Artificial Intelligence https://www.armscontrol.org/issue-briefs/2024-011/beyond-the-loop

Democrat vows to ‘stop Doge’s illegal power grab’ at non-profit peace institute https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/18/don-beyer-musk-doge-usip

Countries must bolster climate efforts or risk war, Cop30 chief executive warns https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/18/countries-must-bolster-climate-efforts-or-risk-war-cop30-chief-executive-warns

Chinese state media celebrates Trump’s cuts to Voice of America and Radio Free Asia https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/mar/18/chinese-state-media-celebrates-trumps-cuts-to-voice-of-america-and-radio-free-asia

Inside the El Salvador mega-prison where Trump is sending hundreds of immigrants https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-deportation-el-salvador-cecot-prison-b2716191.html?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

‘Segregated facilities’ are no longer explicitly banned in federal contracts https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/03/18/nx-s1-5326118/segregation-federal-contracts-far-regulation-trump?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

Justice department removes disability guidelines for US businesses https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/justice-department-disability-business-guidelines

Major-power conflict ‘no longer unimaginable’, Australian intelligence review finds https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/mar/21/australia-independent-national-intelligence-review-2024

Senator Claude Malhuret on the End of American Democracy https://washingtonspectator.org/senator-claude-malhuret-on-the-end-of-american-democracy/

Trump’s firings of federal workers with DEI jobs were illegal, complaint claims https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-firings-federal-workers-with-dei-jobs-were-illegal-complaint-claims-2025-03-26/

Melissa Hornbein & Anne Hedges: MT Supreme Court Ruling Upholds Held Verdict

On December 18, 2024 in a 6-1 ruling, The Montana Supreme Court upheld District Court Judge Kathy Seeley’s verdict in favor of the 16 Youth Plaintiffs in the Held v State of Montana case. They had sued the state for violations of their rights to a clean and healthful environment under the Montana State Constitution.

Melissa Hornbein Western Environmental Law Center

After the ruling, I invited Western Environmental Law Center attorney, Melissa Hornbein, a member of the plaintiffs’ legal team, and Anne Hedges of the Montana Environmental Information Center, whose lawsuits over the decades were cited by Chief Justice Mike McGrath’s opinion, and who had been an expert witness during the trail.

Anne Hedges Montana Environmental Information Center

Below are links to our coverage during the June 2023 trial, as well as other articles, etc. pertinent to the case and our interview.

Text of MT Chief Justice Mike McGrath’s Opinion with Justice Dirk Sandefur’s Concurring Opinion and Justice Jim Rice’s Dissent: https://dailymontanan.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Opinion-Published.pdf

Text of Helena District Court Judge Kathy Seeley’s 2023 Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law : https://mtclimatecase.flatheadbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Findings-of-Fact-Conclusions-of-Law-and-Order.pdf

Testimonies of Witnesses from the June 2023 Trial:

Mae Nan Ellingson http://kgvm.org/show/held-mae-nan-ellingson-testimony-6-12-23/Ricki Held http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-ricki-held-testimony-6-12-23/Dr. Steven Running http://kgvm.org/show/held-dr-steve-running-testimony-6-12-23/Grace Gibson-Snyder http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-grace-testimony/Eva http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-eva-testimony-6-12-23/

Dr. Cathy Whitlock http://kgvm.org/show/held-dr-cathy-whitlock-testimony-6-13-23/Mica http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-mica-testimony-6-13-23/Dr. Daniel Fagre http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-dr-dan-fagre-6-13-23/Badger Busse http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-badge-testimony-6-13-23/

Dr. Lori Byron http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-dr-lori-byron-testimony-6-13-23/

Dr. Shane Doyle http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-shane-doyle-testimony-6-14-23/ Michael Durglo, Jr. http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-michael-durglo-jr/Sariel Sandoval http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-sariel-sandoval-testimony-6-14-23/

Taleah Hernández http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-taleah-hernandez-testimony-6-14-23/ Georgianna Fischer http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-georgianna-fischer-testimony-6-14-23

Kian Tanner http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-kian-tanner-testimony-6-15-23/

Anne Hedges http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-anne-hedges-testimony-6-15-23/

Claire Vlases http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-claire-vlases-testimony-6-15-23/

Peter Erickson http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-peter-erickson-testimony-6-15-23/

Mark Jacobson http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-mark-jacobson-testimony-6-16-23/

Olivia V. http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-olivia-v-testimony-6-16-23/

Dr. Lise Van Susteren http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-lise-van-susteren-testimony-6-16-23/

Lander Busse http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-lander-busse-testimony-6-16-23/

Christopher Dorrington & Sonja Nowakowski http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-day-6-christopher-dorrington-sonja-nowakowski/

Sonja Nowakowski & Dr. Terry Anderson https://forthright.media/2023/06/20/held-v-state-of-montana-day-6-part-2-cross-examination-of-sonja-nowakowski-final-witness-dr-terry-anderson/

Closing Arguments https://forthright.media/2023/06/21/held-v-state-of-montana-day-7-closing-arguments/

Here are links to the Daily Audio Digests

Day 1 https://forthright.media/2023/06/13/held-v-state-of-montana-day-1-daily-digest/

Day 2 https://forthright.media/2023/06/14/held-v-state-of-montana-day-2-daily-digest/

Day 3 https://forthright.media/2023/06/15/held-v-state-of-montana-day-3-daily-digest/

Day 4 https://forthright.media/2023/06/16/held-v-state-of-montana-day-4-daily-audio-digest/

Day 4 (Peter Erickson) https://forthright.media/2023/06/18/held-v-state-of-montana-day-4-daily-digest-peter-erickson/

Day 5 https://forthright.media/2023/06/17/held-v-state-of-montana-day-5-daily-digest-dr-lise-van-susteren-lander-busse/

Day 5 (Dr. Mark Jacobson) https://forthright.media/2023/06/18/held-v-state-of-montana-day-5-daily-digest-dr-mark-jacobson/

Day 6 (Christopher Dorrington & Sonja Nowakowski) https://forthright.media/2023/06/20/held-v-state-of-montana-day-6-daily-digest-christopher-dorrington-sonja-nowakowski/

Day 6 (Dr. Terry Anderson) https://forthright.media/2023/06/20/held-v-state-of-montana-day-6-part-2-cross-examination-of-sonja-nowakowski-final-witness-dr-terry-anderson/

Arlie Russell Hochschild STOLEN PRIDE: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right

Arlie Russell Hochschild is University of California Berkeley Professor Emerita of Sociology. She is the author of many groundbreaking books, including THE SECOND SHIFT, WORKING FAMILIES AND THE REVOLUTION AT HOME; THE TIME BIND, WHEN WORK BECOMES HOME AND HOME BECOMES WORK; and her best selling book, STRANGERS IN THEIR OWN LAND, ANGER AND MOURNING ON THE AMERICAN RIGHT, was a National Book Award finalist. In addition to her many honorary degrees from Harvard, and European universities, She also received the Ulysses medal from University College, Dublin, and the Helmholtz Medal from the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. And if that weren’t enough, she was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in 2022.

Her most recent book is STOLEN PRIDE: LOSS, SHAME, AND THE RISE OF THE RIGHT, published by The New Press in September, 2024. In it she explores the question, what happens when a proud people in a hard-hit region suffers the deep loss of pride and are confronted with a powerful political appeal that makes it feel “stolen?” Dr. Hochschild, prompted by CA Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna, who was working with KY-5th District Republican Congressman, Hal Rodgers, went to Pikeville in the heart of Appalachia in his district, which is the whitest and second poorest in the United States. 30 years ago, it was in the political center, but in 2016 and 2020, Trump received 80% of the district’s vote.

26 year old Neo-Nazi, Matthew Heimbach, sought a permit for a white supremacist march to be held there on April 30, 2017. It turned out to be a trial run for the August Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, for which he was a core organizer. He is just one of the people she interviewed and followed, and whose character actually evolved in surprising ways. We spoke with Arlie Russell Hochschild from her home in Berkeley, CA via Skype on October 22, 2024.

In honoring the passing of Fernando Valenzuela, hero for Dodgers and Mexican baseball fans, who died on October 22, at age of 63, and whose team, the LA Dodgers face the New York Yankees in the first game of the World Series that evening, we ended this edition with beloved poet/publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s ode to Latino baseball, “Baseball Canto.”

David Daley ANTIDEMOCRATIC: INSIDE THE FAR RIGHT’S 50 YEAR PLOT TO CONTROL AMERICAN ELECTIONS

David Daley is the author of the national bestseller Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count, which has been credited for kick-starting the national drive to end gerrymandering; and Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy.

He returned to discuss his assiduously researched, well written and important latest book, ANTIDEMOCRATIC: INSIDE THE FAR RIGHT’S 50 YEAR PLOT TO CONTROL AMERICAN ELECTIONS, published by Mariner Books. It follows on the themes of those earlier books, and it couldn’t be coming at a more crucial time in our nation’s history’s, as we reel towards this tumultuous 2024 election, as democracy itself seems to be on the brink.


In addition to his books, David’s journalism has appeared in the New Yorker, the Atlantic, New York Times, Washington Post, and The Guardian, and he is the former editor in chief of Salon.com, as well as a senior fellow at FairVote. He has taught journalism and political science at Wesleyan University, Boston College, Smith College and the University of Georgia. We spoke with him via Skype on September 26, 2024.

Links to some articles pertinent to this interview:

There’s a danger that the US supreme court, not voters, picks the next president https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/17/us-supreme-court-republican-judges-next-president Millions of Americans will vote this fall – but six Republican justices might have the final say, in a Bush v Gore redux

There’s a fair way to ensure third-party candidates don’t ‘spoil’ the US election https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/28/presidential-election-ranked-choice-voting Two states have already adopted ranked-choice voting, a nonpartisan fix to our outdated electoral system

The election deniers with a chokehold on Georgia’s state election board https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/26/georgia-board-of-elections-election-deniers

An ‘Utterly Bonkers’ Miscarriage of Justice in Texas https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/26/opinion/texas-erma-wilson-marcellus-williams.html

Michael Graetz THE POWER TO DESTROY: How the Antitax Movement Hijacked America

Michael J. Graetz is professor emeritus at Columbia Law School and Yale Law School. He is a leading authority on tax politics and policy, having served in the US Treasury’s Office of Tax Policy and been an expert witness on a variety of tax matters before Congressional Committees.

He has written or co-written many books, including DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS: THE FIGHT OVER TAXING INHERITED WEALTH; THE WOLF AT THE DOOR: THE MENACE OF ECONOMIC INSECURITY AND HOW TO FIGHT IT; and TRUE SECURITY: RETHINKING AMERICAN SOCIAL INSURANCE.

His latest book, is THE POWER TO DESTROY: HOW THE ANTITAX MOVEMENT HIJACKED AMERICA, published by Princeton University Press. We spoke with him via Skype on February 6, 2024.

Articles pertinent to this interview:

Michael Zweig: An Economicst With an Alternative View of the National Debt https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/01/nyregion/long-island-qa-michael-zweig-an-economist-with-an-alternative-view.html?searchResultPosition=1

It Shouldn’t Be a Crime to Disclose Tax Returns https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/01/24/opinion/thepoint#trump-tax-return-public

Everyone’s Income Taxes Should Be Public https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/13/opinion/sunday/taxes-public.html

Former Contractor Who Leaked Trump’s Tax Returns Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/29/us/politics/irs-trump-taxes-prison.html

Imagine Getting $840,000 a Year. Not as Your Pay—as a Raise. https://newrepublic.com/article/178570/executive-compensation-rising-congress

How Congress is planning to lift 400,000 kids out of poverty https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2024/1/16/24035922/child-tax-credit-wyden-smith-deal

‘A Mockery’: House Passes Tax Bill That Favors Corporations Over Children https://www.commondreams.org/news/corporations-child-tax-credit?utm_source=Common+Dreams&utm_campaign=34e881a33a-Top+News%3A+Thur.+2%2F1%2F24&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-f33353396e-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

T.E.A. (Taxed Enough Already?!) by emma’s revolution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGpRN7ZWlp8

Ray McGovern, Veteran CIA Analyst Co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

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Ray McGovern was a CIA analyst for 27 years, from 1963 to 1990, where he chaired National Intelligence Estimates and prepared the President’s Daily Brief, which he briefed one-on-one to President Ronald Reagan’s five most senior national security advisers from 1981 to 1985.  He received the Intelligence Commendation Medal at his retirement, but he returned it in 2006 to protest the CIA’s involvement in torture.  In 2003 he co-found Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. He speaks fluent Russian and has studied Russia for more than 50 years.

In this interview originally broadcast on January 18, 2017, he discusses Obama’s commutation of Chelsea Manning’s sentence, the ethics of whistle-blowing, comparing her case with those of General David Petraeus, who became CIA Director, and General Cartwright.

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Pre-emptive leaks by government agencies.

The Stuxnet Virus used against Iran, destroying 100s of their centrifuges, introducing a whole new kind of warfare: cyberwarfare. Russia’s proposals for a treaty to govern cyberwar, which have been rebuffed ever since.

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Allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 elections vs. wikileaks revealing the efforts by the Democratic National Committee to sabotage Bernie Sanders’ campaign.

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Director Colby’s testimony that the CIA controls just about everyone in the US media & his subsequent firing.

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The popular vote vs the Electoral College.

Donald Trump’s relationship with the “Intelligence Community” & the rise of “The Deep State”.  “After 9/11 everything changed…” Syria as a proxy war… and more