Links to today’s show transcripts:

“Con Game”? Trump Accuser Jessica Leeds Responds to His Dismissal of Sexual Assault Allegations
Ahead of today’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, President Trump lashes out at the women who have accused him and his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, saying Democrats are running a “con game.” Jessica Leeds, whom Trump referenced in comments Wednesday, responds. She is one of 16 Trump accusers, who says he groped her in the first-class cabin of a commercial flight in 1979.

Bill Cosby Survivor Lili Bernard: Women Who Report Sexual Assault Are Often “Re-Raped” in Court
Bill Cosby rape survivor Lili Bernard responds to President Trump’s dismissal of sexual assault allegations against himself and his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh ahead of today’s hearing in which his accuser, Dr. Christine Ford, is set to testify. “Never in my life would I have imagined that the same week in which my serial rapist … is entered into a state penitentiary for years, that the nominated Supreme Court justice would be in a hearing where he has to face questions about sexual assault,” Bernard says. She is a visual artist and actor who has accused Bill Cosby of drugging and raping her in the early 1990s when he mentored her in preparation for her guest-starring role on “The Cosby Show.”

Yale Law Students Protest Alum Brett Kavanaugh, Demand Investigation of Sexual Assault Allegations
Thousands of Yale students are protesting Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in support of Deborah Ramirez, the Yale alumna who alleges that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her by thrusting his genitals in her face at a drunken dorm party when they were both freshmen. Kavanaugh is a graduate of both Yale University and the Yale Law School. More than 2,800 Yale women have signed a letter of support for Ramirez. On Monday, Yale Law School faculty canceled 31 classes to allow more than 260 of their students to join a protest in support of Ramirez. Yale Law School student Samantha Peltz, who helped organize the protests against Brett Kavanaugh, says that Yale students will “continue speaking out, speaking to the press, until we feel there is a full and fair investigation.”

Trump Threatens Venezuela with New Sanctions Even as It Faces Economic & Humanitarian Crisis
President Nicolás Maduro addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday in a surprise visit, just one day after Donald Trump accused him of corruption and announced new sanctions against his wife Cilia Flores and other members of his inner circle. “Despite all of the differences, … I am willing to reach out my hand to the president of the United States and sit down to talk about the issues of bilateral differences and the issues of our region,” Maduro said. Trump said Wednesday that he would be willing to meet with Maduro and that all options are on the table to help end the political, economic and humanitarian chaos in Venezuela. Vijay Prashad is the director of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and chief editor of LeftWord Books. He’s also the chief correspondent of Globetrotter.

Eric’s 2018 Autumn Reading, Empathy-Pathos, is now available for pre-order. This will be a 12-sign audio reading covering Venus retrograde and beyond. Pre-order all 12 signs now for just $88 — we will increase the price soon.

Links to today’s show transcripts:

World Laughs at Trump as He Boasts About Himself in U.N. Address Threatening Iran, Venezuela
World leaders in the United Nations General Assembly burst out laughing when President Trump boasted about his accomplishments. Trump praised North Korea, attacked Germany and accused Iran of “sowing chaos, death, and destruction,” drawing scorn from Iranian president Hassan Rouhani. “What’s amazing is not that this hall of seasoned professionals laughed at him, but that he doesn’t get more laughter, and in the United States, these news programs take him seriously, and he should be laughed off the screen everywhere,” says Juan Cole, historian and author of “Engaging the Muslim World.”

Trump Admin Targets Immigrants Using Food Stamps & Medicaid & Puts Millions of Children at Risk
Drama unfolded Monday when Axios reported that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein verbally resigned over the weekend amid mounting tension over the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election. Last week, Rosenstein and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly met at the White House hours after The New York Times reported Rosenstein had suggested secretly recording Trump in the White House and discussed recruiting Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office for being unfit. But on Monday, Trump confirmed Rosenstein still has a job, and said the two are scheduled to meet this Thursday. “I think once Mueller got Paul Manafort’s testimony locked in … to some degree, it was too late for Trump to completely undermine this investigation,” says Marcy Wheeler, in response to concerns that the Trump administration could shut down Mueller’s probe. Wheeler is an independent journalist who covers national security and civil liberties and runs the website EmptyWheel.net.

“A Tsunami of a Sentence”: Victory for Survivors as Bill Cosby Handed 3-10 Years In Prison for Rape
Dozens of women who have been accusing comedian Bill Cosby of sexual assault for decades were vindicated Tuesday when the disgraced actor was sentenced to 3 to 10 years in prison by a Philadelphia judge and sent immediately to jail. In April, a jury found Cosby guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, former director of operations for the women’s basketball team at Temple University, at Cosby’s home in 2004. Constand is one of more than 60 women who have accused Cosby of sexual assaults dating back decades. Many of these women were in the courtroom when Cosby was sentenced. We are joined by one of them, Lili Bernard, a visual artist and actor who has accused Bill Cosby of drugging and raping her in the early 1990s when he mentored her in preparation for her guest starring role on The Cosby Show.

Eric’s 2018 Autumn Reading, Empathy-Pathos, is now available for pre-order. This will be a 12-sign audio reading covering Venus retrograde and beyond. Pre-order all 12 signs now for just $88 — we will increase the price soon.

Links to today’s show transcripts:

#MeToo Founder Tarana Burke on Sexual Assault Allegations Against Kavanaugh: “We Believe Survivors”
Two women have now publicly accused President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, and at least 128 people were arrested on Capitol Hill Monday protesting his confirmation. “This is a time for us to not just show up via a viral hashtag, but in person with our feet to the street to say that we won’t be treated this way and we won’t stand for another survivor to be treated this way,” says Tarana Burke, founder of the “Me Too” movement, who called for the national walkout Monday in solidarity with survivors of sexual violence. Marcy Wheeler is an independent journalist who covers national security and civil liberties.

Marcy Wheeler: Rosenstein’s Ouster Would Not Necessarily Signal End of Mueller Investigation
Drama unfolded Monday when Axios reported that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein verbally resigned over the weekend amid mounting tension over the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election. Last week, Rosenstein and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly met at the White House hours after The New York Times reported Rosenstein had suggested secretly recording Trump in the White House and discussed recruiting Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office for being unfit. But on Monday, Trump confirmed Rosenstein still has a job, and said the two are scheduled to meet this Thursday. “I think once Mueller got Paul Manafort’s testimony locked in … to some degree, it was too late for Trump to completely undermine this investigation,” says Marcy Wheeler, in response to concerns that the Trump administration could shut down Mueller’s probe. Wheeler is an independent journalist who covers national security and civil liberties and runs the website EmptyWheel.net.

Naomi Klein: A Year After Hurricane Maria, There Is Nothing Natural About Puerto Rico’s Disaster
One year since Hurricanes Maria and Irma killed thousands in Puerto Rico and caused the longest blackout in U.S. history, we are joined by Naomi Klein, author of “The Battle for Paradise: Puerto Rico Takes on the Disaster Capitalists,” whose recent report for The Intercept is titled “There’s Nothing Natural About Puerto Rico’s Disaster.” Last week, President Trump generated widespread criticism when he falsely claimed on Twitter that thousands of people did not die in the two storms, even as a Harvard study estimated the death toll may top 4,600. Meanwhile, on Monday, President Trump declared himself an “absolute no” on statehood for Puerto Rico as long as San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, a major critic of his administration’s response to Maria, is in office. Following is a discussion of the role of the unelected PROMESA fiscal control board in the island’s unfolding economic crisis, with co-host and reporter Juan González.

Eric’s 2018 Autumn Reading, Empathy-Pathos, is now available for pre-order. This will be a 12-sign audio reading covering Venus retrograde and beyond. Pre-order all 12 signs now for just $88 — we will increase the price soon.