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Between The Lines – Feb. 12, 2025 – Full Show


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Gaza ethnic cleansing

Trump Doubles Down on His Criminal Plan to Ethnically Cleanse Palestinians from Gaza

Interview with Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, conducted by Scott Harris

Elon Musk coup

Elon Musk’s Technofascist Army Illegally Working to Eliminate Multiple Federal Agencies

Interview with Amanda Marcotte, author and senior politics writer with Salon.com, conducted by Scott Harris

50501 protests

Nationwide ‘50501’ Anti-Trump Protests Mobilize to Protect Democracy from Trump-Musk Coup

Interview with Praisely McNamara, an organizer of the Feb. 5, 50501 Anti-Trump Protest in Hartford, CT, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

This Week’s Under-reported News Summary – Feb. 12, 2025

Compiled by Bob Nixon

  • Germany’s AfD migration bill fails
  • Māori protesters turn their backs on right-wing ministers
  • New Orleans nurses call strike coinciding with Super Bowl

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Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine

Timely, in-depth progressive news and views underreported in mainstream, corporate media BTLonline.org, distributed by 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt organization Squeaky Wheel Productions at http://SqueakyWheel.net.
Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine
Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine1 day ago
Musk seeks not only to dismantle the federal government, but to install his own technological vision of the future at its heart — techno-fascism by chatbot. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/elon-musks-ai-fuelled-war-on-human-agency #Musk #technofascism #AI
Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine
Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine2 days ago
Because Trump and Musk aren’t using DOGE, A FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE to serve the public interest of Americans and responsibly TRANSITION federal agencies before they SHUTTER or staff them with unqualified loyalists, WE NEED A #SHADOW GOVERNMENT, as is done in England. #stopdoge #DOGE #STOPMUSK #MUSKisIRRESPONSIBLE
Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine
Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine3 days ago
The most under-reported story about DOGE: On Inauguration Day, Public Citizen, a public interest research group founded by the renowned citizen advocate Ralph Nader, a nonprofit and the government workers labor union sued Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency for violating federal transparency laws.

Here, Public Citizen's Co-President Lisa Gilbert describes in detail how DOGE is only a FEDERAL ADVISORY GROUP (not created by Congress), which is mandated to follow several requirements in the Federal Advisory Committee Act. DOGE must hold public meetings with timely public notice, balanced perspectives, and keep records and minutes, among other requirements.

As we've seen in the three weeks since, DOGE's physical intrusions into government offices, taking control of federal payments, firing staff, shutting down USAID and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and dismantling other major agencies without public notification are egregious violations. #DOGE #DOGESUED
Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine
Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine
Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine4 days ago
Let's remember, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs are NOT about quotas where hiring requirements must have a certain percentage of staff from "unqualified minority groups." That's simply a lie.

"Even as far and as radical as he is being, (Trump's) not saying there’s not a problem with inequality. He’s just saying these remedies are bad. We shouldn’t look at these remedies.

So we should reground people. Do we care about equality? Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, he talked about we are dedicated to the proposition that all are created equal.

Are we still so dedicated? And I would start the dinner conversations — the neighbors, the friends conversations with that, there’s profound inequality. Do we still care? And are we going to do anything about it. And then we can talk about what’s the particular remedy. And so it remains the case that most people of color do see a lot of the racism that’s out there and want this to be a multi-racial democracy.

A lot of the conversation is a lot of whites want this to be a multiracial democracy. And that’s still the majority of people. But to the extent that the fight is not engaged and called out and people summoned to their highest and best selves, then we will continue to erode the votes, the margins that we have had." --Steven Phillips, host of the Democracy in Color podcast and best-selling author of "How We Win the Civil War: Securing a Multiracial Democracy and Ending White Supremacy for Good.” #DEI
Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine
Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine5 days ago
"Our lawsuit (filed on Jan. 20) – which we filed jointly with AFGE, the government employees’ union, and States Defending Democracy Fund – simply says that the so-called Department of Government Efficiency must comply with the requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

"Despite its name, DOGE is not a department of the U.S. government, as announced by Donald Trump and as reinforced in the executive actions they issued on Day 1. This is an entity that will be advising and so there are a number of requirements that go along with having a federal advisory committee: You have to have a fair balance of viewpoints. You have to have meetings that are held in public and with public notice. You need to have publicly transparent records and work product. So all of these requirements are things that if not happening, make DOGE in violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, so we are suing on those grounds."

Musk is not overstepping his bounds, not acting like an ADVISORY COMMITTEE

#StopMusk