Links to today’s show transcripts:

Trump Blames Media for Inciting “Anger” After Bombs Sent to CNN & High-Profile Democrats
Federal authorities have launched an investigation after pipe bombs were sent to a number of prominent Democrats, all critics of President Trump. The targets identified include President Obama, Hillary Clinton, George Soros, former Attorney General Eric Holder, Congressmember Maxine Waters and former CIA Director John Brennan. The packages listed Democratic Congressmember Debbie Wasserman Schultz as the return address. Police are also investigating a suspicious package sent to former Vice President Joe Biden and a suspicious package found today at actor Robert De Niro’s restaurant in New York. On Wednesday, CNN was forced to evacuate its New York office after it received what police described as a “live explosive device” along with a container of white powder. It came in a package addressed to Brennan. All of the targets have been vilified by President Trump in the past. Authorities said it remains unclear if the devices were operable bombs or designed to look like bombs. No one has been hurt by the devices. Former FBI agent Mike German and Chapman University professor Pete Simi, who has studied political violence for decades, are interviewed.

California Neo-Nazi Group Members Arrested for Role in Violence at Rallies in CA and Charlottesville
The leader of California neo-Nazi gang the “Rise Above Movement” was arrested Tuesday in Los Angeles. Robert Rundo faces charges of plotting riots and inciting violence for his role in a range of attacks in 2017, including the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville last August. Three other members of the group were charged alongside Rundo. Robert Boman and Tyler Laube were apprehended at their homes in Torrance and Redondo Beach. A fourth suspect, Aaron Eason, is still at large. The men are accused of participating in violent attacks, as well as using the internet to incite violence ahead of various events. The group publicly documented their attacks as a recruitment tool. Former FBI agent Mike German and Chapman University professor Pete Simi, who has studied political violence for decades, are interviewed.

Gustavo Arellano: Could Longtime GOP Stronghold Orange County Go Blue in Midterms?
Orange County, California, has become an unexpected battleground region that could determine who controls Congress after the midterms. The Southern California county between Los Angeles and San Diego has remained staunchly Republican for 80 years. Orange County produced President Richard Nixon—who was born here in Yorba Linda and retired to San Clemente—and Orange County last voted for a Democratic president in 1936 with FDR. But dissatisfaction with Donald Trump and changing demographics in the region have challenged Republican dominance in and around Orange County. Now Democrats are hoping that the midterm elections will turn Orange County blue. Gustavo Arellano is a columnist at the Los Angeles Times, and is the former editor of OC Weekly. He resigned from the publication last year in protest against budget cuts.

Renters vs. Landlords: California’s Prop 10 Would Expand Rent Control Amid Affordable Housing Crisis
On November 6, California will be voting on a ballot initiative to expand rent control. Proposition 10 would repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, a sweeping state law that permanently exempts some properties from rent control. The ballot measure has come under attack by landlords and private equity firms, including the Blackstone Group. Elena Popp is interviewed. She is the executive director of the Eviction Defense Network, one of the three organizations that put Proposition 10 on the ballot.

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Stacey Abrams Slams Brian Kemp on Suppressing Vote as He Worries Too Many Georgians Will Vote
With the midterm elections less than two weeks away, we look at the governor’s race in Georgia, where Democrat Stacey Abrams is attempting to become the first black woman governor in the country. Polls show Abrams and her opponent, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, are in a dead heat, but the race has been roiled with accusations that Kemp has used his power as secretary of state to suppress the vote. Earlier this month, Abrams called on Kemp to step down as secretary of state for placing 53,000 voter applications on hold. Seven out of 10 of the stalled applications are for African-American voters, in a state where less than one-third of the population is black. Voting rights activists have also sued Kemp for purging voters from the rolls. On Tuesday, Rolling Stone published an audio recording of Kemp privately telling Republican donors that he was concerned about too many Georgians exercising their right to vote. Hours later, Abrams and Kemp sparred in their first debate. Leah Wright Rigueur is a professor at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She is the author of “The Loneliness of the Black Republican: Pragmatic Politics and the Pursuit of Power.”

Greg Palast Sues Georgia’s Brian Kemp for Purging 340,000 from Voter Rolls Ahead of Election
A new investigation has found Georgia secretary of state and Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp has overseen the removal of more than 340,000 current Georgia residents from voting rolls. Greg Palast, a journalist who has been investigating Brian Kemp and voter suppression in Georgia is interviewed. He has joined a lawsuit against Kemp over the purge.

Stacey Abrams Stands By Burning the Racist, Segregationist Georgia State Flag in 1992
During Tuesday’s debate, Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams defended her actions in 1992 when she helped burn the Georgia state flag, which at the time contained a prominent Confederate battle flag. In a victory for civil rights advocates, the flag was later changed. Leah Wright Rigueur is a professor at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Latino Voter Suppression in Kansas: Dodge City’s Only Polling Site Is Moved Outside City Limits
In Kansas, local officials are under fire for moving a majority-Latino city’s single polling site outside of city limits, more than a mile from the nearest bus stop. Dodge City, Kansas, is 60 percent Hispanic, but the Associated Press reports that Hispanic turnout was just 17 percent in Ford County, where Dodge City is located, compared to 61 percent turnout for white voters in 2014. The ACLU reports that the city’s lone polling site services more than 13,000 voters, compared to an average of 1,200 voters per polling site at other locations. Johnny Dunlap, chair of the Ford County Democratic Party is interviewed.

Order Eric’s Autumn Reading, which will cover Venus retrograde and beyond, and comprises all 12 signs. This will give you crucial insight into your Sun and rising signs, plus those of your closest partners, friends, family members and prospective lovers. Each sign will be 30 to 40 minutes each, and the set will come with a video introduction. You may order here, or call us at (845) 481-5616.

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Rula Jebreal: My “Secret Interview” with Jamal Khashoggi Before His Brutal Murder by the Saudis
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has directly accused Saudi Arabia of the premeditated murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was last seen alive entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in Turkey on October 2. Erdogan said a team of Saudi officials had planned Khashoggi’s murder days in advance, directly contradicting Saudi Arabia’s claim that Khashoggi died after a fight in the consulate. Turkish officials have claimed that audio and video recordings show Saudi officials used a bone saw to dismember Khashoggi’s body, but Erdogan made no mention of the audio and video recordings of the killing. Fallout from Khashoggi’s murder is being felt across the globe. Rula Jebreal is a journalist, author and foreign policy analyst who conducted one of the last known interviews with Khashoggi. She says calling Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a reformer is “like calling David Duke a civil rights activist.” Her new cover story for Newsweek is titled “Jamal Khashoggi Secret Interview: The Saudi Journalist’s Views of Islam, America and the ‘Reformist’ Prince Implicated in His Murder.”

The U.S. Helped Destabilize Honduras. Now Honduran Migrants Are Fleeing Political & Economic Crisis
President Donald Trump is lashing out at the Central American migrant caravan of some 7,000 people making their way through Mexico and toward the U.S. border. On Monday, he claimed without evidence that terrorists and members of the MS-13 gang had infiltrated the group. Trump has doubled down on his threat to cut aid to Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, and called out Democrats over U.S. border policy, in an ongoing attempt to turn the caravan into a main issue in upcoming midterm elections. Two Central American-born activists are interviewed, Patricia Montes of Centro Presente and Oscar Chacón of Alianza Americas.

Order Eric’s Autumn Reading, which will cover Venus retrograde and beyond, and comprises all 12 signs. This will give you crucial insight into your Sun and rising signs, plus those of your closest partners, friends, family members and prospective lovers. Each sign will be 30 to 40 minutes each, and the set will come with a video introduction. You may order here, or call us at (845) 481-5616.

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“Counterproductive and Dangerous”: Nuclear Arms Race Feared as U.S. Quits Key Treaty with Russia
President Trump has announced plans to pull the United States out of a landmark nuclear arms pact with Russia, in a move that could spark a new arms race. President Ronald Reagan and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 1987. The INF banned all nuclear and non-nuclear missiles with short and medium ranges. The treaty helped to eliminate thousands of land-based missiles. On Saturday, Trump vowed to build new nuclear weapons. Daryl Kimball is the director of the Arms Control Association. He previously led the Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers. He has been advocating for the U.S. and Russia to preserve the INF Treaty.

Trump Admin Attempts to Erase Existence of Trans People After Years of GOP-Led Attacks on Freedoms
The New York Times reports that the Trump administration is attempting to eliminate the rights of transgender people by creating a narrow legal definition of gender. Citing a government memo, the Times reveals that the Department of Health and Human Services has undertaken an effort across several government agencies to establish a legal definition of sex under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that bans discrimination on the basis of sex. That definition would be either male or female, unchangeable, and determined by the genitals a person is born with. The Times reports that the memo says, “Sex means a person’s status as male or female based on immutable biological traits identifiable by or before birth. The sex listed on a person’s birth certificate, as originally issued, shall constitute definitive proof of a person’s sex.” If enacted, the proposal would reverse the expansion of transgender rights that took place under President Barack Obama. We speak with Chase Strangio, staff attorney at the ACLU.

“Reminiscent of South Africa’s Grand Apartheid”: Israeli Human Rights Group Slams Israel at U.N
Shortly after Israel announced a new “zero tolerance” policy toward demonstrations in Gaza, some 130 Palestinians were injured Friday while protesting ongoing Israeli occupation and demanding the right of return. Four paramedics and 25 children were among the injured. Ten thousand protesters gathered along Israel’s heavily militarized separation barrier with Gaza as part of the weekly Great March of Return protests that began March 30. Since then, Israeli forces have killed at least 170 Palestinians, including more than 30 children, and injured thousands more. Hagai El-Ad, the executive director of the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem is interviewed. He was in New York last week testifying before the U.N. Security Council officially for the first time.

Order Eric’s Autumn Reading, which will cover Venus retrograde and beyond, and comprises all 12 signs. This will give you crucial insight into your Sun and rising signs, plus those of your closest partners, friends, family members and prospective lovers. Each sign will be 30 to 40 minutes each, and the set will come with a video introduction. You may order here, or call us at (845) 481-5616.

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Dissident Saudi Academic Madawi Al-Rasheed on Khashoggi’s Disappearance, U.S.-Saudi Relations & More
Evidence is mounting that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is directly implicated in the assassination of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Turkish officials say Khashoggi was tortured and murdered by a squad of 15 Saudi hit men shortly after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2. Four of the men implicated in Khashoggi’s death are reportedly linked to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s security detail. After weeks of defending Saudi Arabia, President Trump said Thursday that he believes Khashoggi is dead, and acknowledged allegations against the Saudis. We speak with Madawi Al-Rasheed, a Saudi dissident and visiting professor at the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics. She was stripped of her Saudi citizenship in 2005 for criticizing Saudi authorities. Her new piece in The New York Times is titled “Why King Salman Must Replace M.B.S.”

Dr. Madawi Al-Rasheed: In Khashoggi Murder, Saudi Arabia Must Not Be Allowed to Investigate Itself
As details continue to emerge about the disappearance and probable murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi dissident Madawi Al-Rasheed is interviewed about Khashoggi’s history as a Saudi journalist and government insider, and the future of Saudi Arabia. She is a visiting professor at the London School of Economics Middle East Centre. She was stripped of her Saudi citizenship in 2005 for criticizing Saudi authorities. Her new piece in The New York Times is titled “Why King Salman Must Replace M.B.S.”

Netanyahu Attacks Israeli Human Rights Group B’Tselem for Criticizing Israeli Occupation at U.N.
Fears are growing as Israel escalates its military presence along its heavily militarized separation barrier with Gaza. Israel has deployed 60 tanks to meet Palestinian protesters gathering today to protest the ongoing Israeli occupation and demand the right of return for those displaced from their homes. Israel has announced it is implementing a “zero tolerance” policy toward protesters in Gaza, who have been staging weekly Friday protests since March 30 under the banner of the Great March of Return. Since then, Israeli forces have killed at least 170 Palestinians, including more than 30 children, and injured at least 18,000. Hagai El-Ad is executive director of the human rights group B’Tselem, who testified Thursday in front of the United Nations Security Council about the crisis in Gaza and the West Bank.

Order Eric’s Autumn Reading, which will cover Venus retrograde and beyond, and comprises all 12 signs. This will give you crucial insight into your Sun and rising signs, plus those of your closest partners, friends, family members and prospective lovers. Each sign will be 30 to 40 minutes each, and the set will come with a video introduction. You may order here, or call us at (845) 481-5616.

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Sen. Warren’s Claim to Native Heritage Didn’t Aid Her Career, But Did It Keep Women of Color Out?
Senator Elizabeth Warren has come under fire since releasing a DNA test Monday showing Native American ancestry. The announcement responded directly to President Trump, who has frequently attacked Senator Warren by calling her “Pocahontas.” A Stanford professor of genetics says there is “strong evidence” of Native American lineage in Warren’s family tree dating back six to 10 generations. At multiple points in her career, Warren identified as Native American, but she says she did not use the claim to advance her career. nnie Linskey in Washington, D.C. is deputy bureau chief for The Boston Globe. She examined hundreds of documents to determine that ethnicity was “not a factor” in Warren’s rise in academia and law.

Native Americans React to Elizabeth Warren’s DNA Test: Stop Making Native People “Political Fodder”
Native Americans across the country are criticizing Senator Elizabeth Warren’s decision to use a DNA test to assert her Native American heritage. Chuck Hoskin Jr., secretary of state of the Cherokee Nation, said, “Sovereign tribal nations set their own legal requirements for citizenship, and while DNA tests can be used to determine lineage, such as paternity to an individual, it is not evidence for tribal affiliation. Using a DNA test to lay claim to any connection to the Cherokee Nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong.” This story is covered in a roundtable discussion of Native American activists and journalists to respond to Warren’s DNA test and the subsequent media coverage. In Fargo, North Dakota, Tara Houska is national campaign director for Honor the Earth and an Ojibwe lawyer. In Anchorage, Alaska, Mark Trahant is the editor of Indian Country Today. He’s a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. In Seattle, Washington, Gyasi Ross is a member of the Blackfeet Nation and host of the podcast Breakdances with Wolves.

As 2018 Midterms Approach, Native American Women Are Running for Office in Record Numbers
A record number of Native American women are running for office in the midterm elections. At least four candidates are vying to become the first Native American women elected to Congress, including Deb Haaland in New Mexico and Sharice Davids in Kansas. Three Native women are running for governor, and 31 are running for seats in state legislatures. In Fargo, North Dakota, Tara Houska is the national campaign director for Honor the Earth and an Ojibwe lawyer. In Anchorage, Alaska, Mark Trahant is editor of Indian Country Today. He’s a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. In Seattle, Washington, Gyasi Ross is a member of the Blackfeet Nation and host of the podcast Breakdances with Wolves.

Order Eric’s Autumn Reading, which will cover Venus retrograde and beyond, and comprises all 12 signs. This will give you crucial insight into your Sun and rising signs, plus those of your closest partners, friends, family members and prospective lovers. Each sign will be 30 to 40 minutes each, and the set will come with a video introduction. You may order here, or call us at (845) 481-5616.

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Jamal Elshayyal: Response to Khashoggi’s Death Will Determine Future of Saudi Arabia & Middle East
New details have emerged in the disappearance and probable death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was reportedly still alive when his body was dismembered inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul more than two weeks ago. A Turkish source says it took Khashoggi seven minutes to die. The New York Times reports four of the 15 Saudi men implicated in the killing are directly linked to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s security detail. We speak with Jamal Elshayyal, an international award-winning senior correspondent for Al Jazeera. He wrote a piece for the Middle East Eye last year titled “The rise of Mohammed bin Salman: Alarm bells should be ringing.”

A History of Crushing Dissent: Before Khashoggi, Saudis Targeted Feminists Demanding Right to Drive
As international outcry grows louder amid new revelations about the shocking death of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, investigative journalist Sarah Aziza is interviewed about Saudi Arabia’s long history of targeting dissidents. Just weeks before the ban was lifted on women driving in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi government arrested several of the country’s most prominent feminist activists, including women who had been campaigning for decades for the right to drive. Sarah Aziza has been reporting from Saudi Arabia with the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. Her latest piece for The Intercept is headlined “Jamal Khashoggi Wasn’t the First—Saudi Arabia Has Been Going After Dissidents Abroad for Decades.”

Investigation: As U.S.-Backed War in Yemen Raged, UAE Hired U.S. Mercenaries to Kill Yemeni Leaders
A shocking new investigation has revealed that the United Arab Emirates hired U.S. mercenaries to carry out assassinations of political and clerical leaders in Yemen. The former elite U.S. special operations fighters were paid to take part in missions to kill those deemed to be “terrorists” by the UAE. The UAE worked with the U.S. company Spear Operations Group, founded by an Israeli-American man named Abraham Golan, who told BuzzFeed, “There was a targeted assassination program in Yemen. I was running it.” The group’s first target in Yemen was a local leader of al-Islah, a political party whose members include Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Tawakkul Karman. Journalist Aram Roston of BuzzFeed News, who broke the story, is interviewed. His new piece is titled “A Middle East Monarchy Hired American Ex-Soldiers to Kill Its Political Enemies. This Could Be the Future of War.”

Order Eric’s Autumn Reading, which will cover Venus retrograde and beyond, and comprises all 12 signs. This will give you crucial insight into your Sun and rising signs, plus those of your closest partners, friends, family members and prospective lovers. Each sign will be 30 to 40 minutes each, and the set will come with a video introduction. You may order here, or call us at (845) 481-5616.

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Stacey Abrams Runs to Become Georgia’s First Black Governor as Her Opponent Suppresses the Vote
With the midterm elections just three weeks away, voting rights advocates are accusing Republican officials in several states of orchestrating a campaign of voter suppression targeting people of color. In Georgia, the Democratic candidate for governor, Stacey Abrams, is calling on her Republican opponent, Brian Kemp, to step down as secretary of state for placing 53,000 voter applications on hold. Seventy percent of the applicants are African-American. Abrams has accused Kemp of using the state’s “exact match” system to disenfranchise voters. With exact match, even a minor discrepancy in a voter’s registration and their official ID could bar them from casting a ballot. Carol Anderson is chair of the Department of African American Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, and is author of the new book “One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy.”

Desmond Meade Hopes to Win Voting Rights for 1.4M Floridians with Felony Convictions—Including Himself
Voters in Florida are preparing to vote on a measure that would restore voting rights to 1.4 million people with nonviolent felonies who have fully completed their sentences. One in five African Americans in Florida and 10 percent of the state’s adult population are ineligible to vote because of a criminal record. Across the United States, more than 6.1 million people with felony convictions are not eligible to vote. Florida is one of just four states that bar ex-felons from voting for life. The other states are Iowa, Kentucky and Virginia. The Brennan Center for Justice reports that Florida disenfranchises more citizens than Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee combined. Desmond Meade is the president of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, who is leading the fight to re-enfranchise felons in Florida. He’s also chair of the group Floridians for a Fair Democracy. Meade is an ex-offender who was previously homeless. He is still disenfranchised. Ari Berman is senior writer at Mother Jones, reporting fellow at The Nation Institute and author of “Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America.” His latest piece is titled “Inside the Unlikely Movement That Could Restore Voting Rights to 1.4 Million Floridians.”

Ari Berman: Republicans in North Dakota Are Attempting to Disenfranchise Thousands of Native Voters
The Supreme Court has ruled it will allow the state of North Dakota to enforce a new voter ID requirement that will make it harder for Native Americans to vote during the midterm elections. The state’s new voter ID law requires voters to show identification demonstrating a residential street address, but this has already rendered many tribal IDs invalid, since many Native Americans who live on reservations depend on post office boxes to receive mail. The law could make a difference in the close race between Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp and her Republican challenger Kevin Cramer. The race is expected to help decide who controls the U.S. Senate. Ari Berman is senior writer at Mother Jones, reporting fellow at The Nation Institute and author of “Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America.” His latest piece is titled “Inside the Unlikely Movement That Could Restore Voting Rights to 1.4 Million Floridians.”

Trump Won in 2016 Thanks to Voter Suppression Says Carol Anderson, Author of “One Person, No Vote”
Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election due to voter suppression. That’s what professor Carol Anderson argues in her new book “One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy,” which tracks the rise of restrictive voting laws across the United States. In it, Anderson examines how African-American voter participation has been systematically compromised since a 2013 Supreme Court decision that gutted the 1965 Voting Rights Act. By the 2016 election, turnout among black voters nationwide dropped from 66 percent to under 60 percent. The discrepancy was even larger in key areas like Milwaukee, where turnout went down from 78 percent in 2012 to less than 50 percent in 2016. President Trump won Wisconsin by a margin of fewer than 23,000 votes. Carol Anderson, chair of the Department of African American Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, speaks about her new book and the upcoming midterm elections.

Order Eric’s Autumn Reading, which will cover Venus retrograde and beyond, and comprises all 12 signs. This will give you crucial insight into your Sun and rising signs, plus those of your closest partners, friends, family members and prospective lovers. Each sign will be 30 to 40 minutes each, and the set will come with a video introduction. You may order here, or call us at (845) 481-5616.