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Between The Lines – April 23, 2025 – Full Show


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insurrection act

Democracy Defenders Work to Undermine Trump’s Future Invocation of Insurrection Act

Interview with Nastasia Lawton-Sticklor, organizer with the Climate Disobedience Center, conducted by Scott Harris

Avelo deportation hub tweed new haven ct airport protest

Nationwide Protests Target Avelo Airlines for Its Trump Contract to Fly Deportation Flights

Excerpt of speech by Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center, recorded and produced by Melinda Tuhus

DNC emergency meeting

Groups Demand Democrats Convene Emergency Meeting to Counter Trump’s Authoritarian Coup

Interview with Sam Rosenthal, political director of RootsAction.org, conducted by Scott Harris

This Week’s Under-reported News Summary – April 23, 2025

Compiled by Bob Nixon

  • Landmines in Syria killing hundreds
  • American detained by the Taliban is freed
  • Justice Department scales back crypto cases

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free speech on campus

Harvard’s Stand Against Trump’s Suppression of Free Speech on Campus Could be a Turning...

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Jason Stanley, the Jacob Urowsky professor of philosophy at Yale University and author of "How Fascism Works," gave the inaugural lecture at the Unitarian...
federal workers

Could Federal Workers Emerge as Leaders of a New Broad-Based Trump Opposition Movement?

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This Week’s Under-reported News Summary – April 16, 2025

A recent offensive by the Al Shabab Islamist insurgency in Somalia has prompted some State Department officials to propose closing the U.S. embassy in...

Special Feature

Resistance Roundtable: The Fight to Save the First Amendment with Dr. Isaac Kamola

Dr. Isaac Kamola, director of the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom with the American Association of University Professors, discusses the Trump regime's juggernaut attacks on free speech at colleges and universities and the budding collaboration with labor to create a united front against this assault.
And Brian Timko, communications and volunteer coordinator with Unidad Latina en Accion (ULA), talks about the demonstration and boycotts directed at Avelo Airlines (New Haven, CT) which just signed a contract to fly deportation flights for the Department of Homeland Security.
Panel: Scott Harris, Ruth Anne Baumgartner, and Richard Hill

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In Depth

insurrection act

Counterpoint April 21, 2025

The Forest and the Trees

SPECIAL REPORTS

Resistance Roundtable: International Women’s Day Special with Medea Benjamin and Francesca Rheannon

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Monthly Labor Report: Six Weeks in and YES–We’ve Got Fascism!

This month the Labor Report focuses on the rapid devolution of the American political system into an authoritarian fascist oligarchy.Michael Zweig, economist and labor...

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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 Newsmagazine2 days ago
A brilliant response to Bill Maher's craven report on his recent dinner with Donald Trump:

"My Dinner With Adolf," By Larry David:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/opinion/larry-david-hitler-dinner.html

Imagine my surprise when in the spring of 1939 a letter arrived at my house inviting me to dinner at the Old Chancellery with the world’s most reviled man, Adolf Hitler. I had been a vocal critic of his on the radio from the beginning, pretty much predicting everything he was going to do on the road to dictatorship. No one I knew encouraged me to go. “He’s Hitler. He’s a monster.” But eventually I concluded that hate gets us nowhere. I knew I couldn’t change his views, but we need to talk to the other side — even if it has invaded and annexed other countries and committed unspeakable crimes against humanity.

Two weeks later, I found myself on the front steps of the Old Chancellery and was led into an opulent living room, where a few of the Führer’s most vocal supporters had gathered: Himmler, Göring, Leni Riefenstahl and the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII. We talked about some of the beautiful art on the walls that had been taken from the homes of Jews. But our conversation ended abruptly when we heard loud footsteps coming down the hallway. Everyone stiffened as Hitler entered the room.

He was wearing a tan suit with a swastika armband and gave me an enthusiastic greeting that caught me off guard. Frankly, it was a warmer greeting than I normally get from my parents, and it was accompanied by a slap on my back. I found the whole thing quite disarming. I joked that I was surprised to see him in a tan suit because if he wore that out, it would be perceived as un-Führer-like. That amused him to no end, and I realized I’d never seen him laugh before. Suddenly he seemed so human. Here I was, prepared to meet Hitler, the one I’d seen and heard — the public Hitler. But this private Hitler was a completely different animal. And oddly enough, this one seemed more authentic, like this was the real Hitler. The whole thing had my head spinning.

He said he was starving and led us into the dining room, where he gestured for me to sit next to him. Göring immediately grabbed a slice of pumpernickel, whereupon Hitler turned to me, gave me an eye roll, then whispered, “Watch. He’ll be done with his entire meal before you’ve taken two bites.” That one really got me. Göring, with his mouth full, asked what was so funny, and Hitler said, “I was just telling him about the time my dog had diarrhea in the Reichstag.” Göring remembered. How could he forget? He loved that story, especially the part where Hitler shot the dog before it got back into the car. Then a beaming Hitler said, “Hey, if I can kill Jews, Gypsies and homosexuals, I can certainly kill a dog!” That perhaps got the biggest laugh of the night — and believe me, there were plenty.

But it wasn’t just a one-way street, with the Führer dominating the conversation. He was quite inquisitive and asked me a lot of questions about myself. I told him I had just gone through a brutal breakup with my girlfriend because every time I went someplace without her, she was always insistent that I tell her everything I talked about. I can’t stand having to remember every detail of every conversation. Hitler said he could relate — he hated that, too. “What am I, a secretary?” He advised me it was best not to have any more contact with her or else I’d be right back where I started and eventually I’d have to go through the whole thing all over again. I said it must be easy for a dictator to go through a breakup. He said, “You’d be surprised. There are still feelings.” Hmm … there are still feelings. That really resonated with me. We’re not that different, after all. I thought that if only the world could see this side of him, people might have a completely different opinion.

Two hours later, the dinner was over, and the Führer escorted me to the door. “I am so glad to have met you. I hope I’m no longer the monster you thought I was.” “I must say, mein Führer, I’m so thankful I came. Although we disagree on many issues, it doesn’t mean that we have to hate each other.” And with that, I gave him a Nazi salute and walked out into the night.
Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine
Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine2 days ago
At the New Haven, CT "No Kings" rally on April 19, 2025, the 250th anniversary of the first day of the American Revolutionary War! Starting at 1:10 in, listen to a history re-enactor's story of what happened that day.
Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine
Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine
Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine
Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine3 days ago
Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with journalist Micah Sifry, editor of the Connector newsletter, who talks about his recent New York Times commentary, “A Different Kind of Anti-Trump Resistance is Brewing,” where he explains why he believes federal workers could emerge as leaders of a new broad-based Trump opposition movement.
https://btlonline.org/could-federal-workers-emerge-as-leaders-of-a-new-broad-based-trump-opposition-movement/
Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine
Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine3 days ago
At the 50501 protests in New Haven, CT, about 1,000 people on the Green
Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine
Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine3 days ago
COUNTERPOINT RADIO, hosted by Scott Harris, is heard every Monday night on WPKN 89.5 FM, Bridgeport, CT between 8:00 – 9:30 pm ET. Webstreaming and audio archive at http://wpkn.org

1) Nastasia Lawton-Sticklor, an organizer with the Climate Disobedience Center discusses her group's recent "Call to Courage" campaign -- amid concern that the Trump regime may be getting ready to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807, which would give the president power to deploy US military on domestic U.S. soil to enforce mass deportation of immigrants and/or unconstitutionally target protesters and quash dissent.

2) People For the American Way President Svante Myrick discusses the escalating constitutional as the Trump regime defies or ignores court orders -- and the growing concern that the president may invoke emergency powers, such as the Insurrection Act of. to eliminate all remaining checks on executive power, and establish a brutal and violent police state to crush all dissent.

3) Ari Paul, a New York City-based journalist and lecturer at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs who has covered politics and labor for the Nation, the Guardian, Dissent, Al Jazeera, the Forward, discusses his recent article, "Failing to Rise to the Constitutional Crisis," about the deficiencies of corporate media's coverage of the Trump regime's authoritarian coup, and the growing importance of independent, non-commercial progressive media outlets.

4) Sam Rosenthal, Political Director of RootsAction.org discusses his group and Progressive Democrats for America's petition calling for the Democratic National Committee to convene an emergency meeting, declaring that "business as usual must give way to truly bold action that mobilizes against the autocracy that Donald Trump, Elon Musk and their cronies are further entrenching every day." He'll also talk about what actions petitioners are asking the Democratic Party to take in response to the current constitutional crisis.

Some segments featured on Counterpoint are edited for re-broadcast on the syndicated Between The Lines radio news magazine. Visit their web site at http://www.btlonline.org for free subscriptions to mp3 - podcast audio files, program summaries and interview transcripts. An archive of current and past Counterpoint interviews are accessible for free at our Counterpoint Radio web site: http://counterpointradio.org The full 1.5 hour unedited program can be accessed for a 2 week period after the show, at the WPKN Radio archives: http://archives.wpkn.org/bookmarks/search/counterpoint