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“Brutal and Sadistic”: Noam Chomsky on Family Separation & the U.S. Roots of Today’s Refugee Crisis
Federal officials say 711 children remain separated from their parents despite Thursday’s court-imposed deadline for the Trump administration to reunite all migrant children separated from their parents by immigration officials at the border. More than 400 parents have been deported back to their home countries while their children remain in U.S. custody in facilities scattered across the United States. Today’s guest is world-renowned political dissident, linguist, author and professor Noam Chomsky.

Chomsky Criticizes “Autocratic” Nicaraguan Government, Urges Ortega to Call for New Elections
International human rights groups say that over 300 people have died in Nicaragua since the protests erupted in April and that the vast majority have been killed by pro-government forces. Earlier this week, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega rejected calls to step down from power, amid mounting protests and civil unrest. Noam Chomsky speaks about the current crisis and the role of the U.S. in Nicaragua in the 1980s.

Noam Chomsky on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Spectacular” Victory & Growing Split in Democratic Party
The 2018 midterm election season has been roiled by the internal divisions between the Democratic Party’s growing progressive base and the more conservative party establishment. In New York City, this division came to a head with the most shocking upset of the election season so far, when 28-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez handily defeated 10-term incumbent Representative Joe Crowley, the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House. Ocasio-Cortez ran a progressive grassroots campaign as a Democratic Socialist advocating for “Medicare for All” and the abolition of ICE.

Noam Chomsky on Mass Media Obsession with Russia & the Stories Not Being Covered in the Trump Era
The New York Times reports special counsel Robert Mueller is scrutinizing President Trump’s tweets as part of Mueller’s expanding probe into Trump’s ties to Russia. This latest revelation in the Mueller investigation is part of a nearly 24-hour stream of headlines about Trump, Russia and the administration’s various scandals. But is the mainstream media missing the real stories amid its obsession with “Russiagate”?

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Despite Today’s Court-Ordered Deadline, More Than 900 Migrant Children Remain Separated from Parents
It has been nine weeks since the Trump administration sparked a national crisis by forcibly separating more than 2,500 migrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Most were seeking asylum from violence in their home countries of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Instead, the parents were charged in federal court with a crime for illegally crossing the border, then held in jail and detention. The children, some still breastfeeding, were sent to shelters around the country. Today is the deadline federal District Judge Dana Sabraw set to reunite these families. But the process has been chaotic, and the government admits at least 900 children have yet to be reunited, and some 463 separated parents have been deported—even as their children remain in U.S. detention centers. Officials say the parents voluntarily agreed to leave their children behind. But in court papers filed Wednesday, the ACLU argued many parents say they were coerced or misled into signing forms they could not read, and were confused about what they were agreeing to. Two immigration lawyers, Ofelia Calderón and Carlos García, are both representing and providing pro bono assistance to parents separated from their children, some of whom have still not been reunited by today’s court-imposed deadline.

Iraqi-American Pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha on the Trauma of Child Separation & the Travel Ban
As more than 900 children remain separated from their parents, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician from Flint, Michigan, who helped expose the dangerous levels of lead in the city’s drinking water after testing blood lead levels in children, speaks on the issue. The Iraqi-American doctor has just published a new book titled “What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City.” We talk to Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha about Trump’s immigration policies, the Muslim travel ban and her family history.

As Death Toll Rises in Flint, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha on Her Fight to Expose Lead Poisoning in City
A new report by PBS “Frontline” has found the death toll from the water crisis in Flint may be higher than Michigan officials have acknowledged. The state has admitted 12 people died following an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease after the city switched its water supply to the Flint River in an attempt to save money. But according to PBS “Frontline,” the city also saw a spike in pneumonia deaths during the water crisis. Some of these deaths may have actually been caused by Legionnaires’ disease. Between April 2014 and October 2015, 119 people died of pneumonia in Flint—a jump of 46 percent from that same time period a year earlier. More than a dozen state and city officials are facing criminal charges in part for failing to alert the public to the risk of Legionnaires’ disease during the Flint water crisis. On Wednesday, Nick Lyon, the former head of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, was in court for a hearing to determine whether he will stand trial on manslaughter charges.

Eric has now completed all 12 signs of The Sacred Space of Self, the 2018 Spring Reading on Chiron’s transition into Aries, and Mars retrograde in Aquarius over the summer. Order today and get all 12 signs for just $99. Check out our sample videos here, and the full Guide to Chiron Transits here.

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Profit Over Grizzlies: Trump Admin Tries to Gut Endangered Species Act for Oil & Mining Interests
The Trump administration has announced plans to gut the Endangered Species Act, ordering federal agencies to consider economic impacts before listing animals to be protected under the law. The newly proposed guidelines by the Interior Department would allow corporations involved in mining, drilling or other forms of extraction to proceed with projects that would otherwise be prohibited. The Trump administration’s proposed rules are among several recent attacks endangering the Endangered Species Act. Earlier this month, the Congressional Western Caucus introduced a package of nine bills to “modernize” the ESA. In introducing the legislation, Republican Congressmember Don Young of Alaska said, “The Endangered Species Act has been weaponized and misused by environmental groups for too long.”

Trump’s War on the Environment, from Attacking California Fuel Standards to Destroying Public Lands
While climate change denier Scott Pruitt has been ousted as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency over a slew of corruption scandals and his close ties to industry lobbyists, the Trump administration’s war on the environment and environmental regulations continues unabated.

As Heat Wave Sweeps the Globe, New Study Warns of Deadly Link Between Rising Temps and Suicide
As deadly fires and heat waves kill scores across the globe, a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change reports that when there are abnormally hot temperatures, there also tend to be higher suicide rates. The study warns up to 26,000 more people could die by suicide in the United States by 2050 if humans don’t reduce emissions of greenhouse gas pollution.

“Why Abolish ICE Doesn’t Go Far Enough”: Oscar Chacón on the Roots of Trump’s Immigration Crackdown
We turn now to a leading Central American activist’s response to the crisis prompting thousands in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to seek asylum in the United States. This week, the Trump administration announced it may have deported up to 463 parents of children separated by immigration officials at the border, even as their children remain in U.S. custody. This comes as a federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to reunite all separated migrant children and parents by Thursday, July 26.

Eric has now completed all 12 signs of The Sacred Space of Self, the 2018 Spring Reading on Chiron’s transition into Aries, and Mars retrograde in Aquarius over the summer. Order today and get all 12 signs for just $99. Check out our sample videos here, and the full Guide to Chiron Transits here.

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Tronc Fires Half the Staff of the New York Daily News in Latest Attack on Local Journalism
In New York City, the new owner of the New York Daily News says it will fire half the staff of the longtime newspaper. Among those who were fired was editor in chief Jim Rich, who tweeted, “If you hate democracy and think local governments should operate unchecked and in the dark, then today is a good day for you.” In the 1980s, the New York Daily News employed 400 journalists. After the latest firings, the newspaper will have only 45 people in its newsroom staff. The New York Daily News’s owner, Tronc, is also the publisher of The Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun and the Hartford Courant. Democracy Now!’s Juan González was a longtime columnist for the New York Daily News.

Who Is Maria Butina? The Story of Accused Russian Spy Who Infiltrated the NRA Before ’16 Election
Last week a Russian gun rights activist named Maria Butina—who had direct ties with the NRA—was charged by the Justice Department with acting as an unregistered agent of the Russian government. She was arrested in Washington, D.C. as she was preparing to go back to Russia. Butina is accused of trying to infiltrate the NRA and other right-wing groups. Butina worked for the Russian banker Alexander Torshin, a longtime friend of the NRA who now serves as the deputy head of the Russian central bank. In January, McClatchy reported the FBI was investigating whether Torshin illegally funneled money to the NRA to help Trump. The NRA spent more than $30 million to help elect Trump—more than twice what it spent on Mitt Romney’s run in 2012.

Can Mueller Get Former Trump Associates Michael Cohen & Paul Manafort to Flip on Trump?
A federal judge has delayed the start date for the trial of former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, who faces charges of tax fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, witness tampering and failing to register as a foreign agent. His trial will now start on July 31; it had been slated to start on July 25. The judge also agreed to grant immunity to five witnesses who are expected to testify in Manafort’s trial.

“Bring the War Home”: The Long History of White Power and Paramilitary Violence in the United States
Nearly one year since hundreds of torch-bearing white supremacists held a deadly march and rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has reiterated Trump’s defense of the violent white supremacists, saying, “I think what’s important about that conversation is, it’s not that one side is right and one side is wrong. Anybody that is advocating violence, we need to work to mitigate.” Organizers from Unite the Right, the group that held the rally in Charlottesville, have announced they will hold a repeat rally on the anniversary of last year’s deadly event, with plans to descend on Washington, D.C.

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U.S. Pushes Confrontation with Iran: Trump Warns of “Consequences,” Pompeo Likens Leaders to “Mafia”
President Donald Trump lashed out at Iran Sunday, warning he was prepared to unleash dire “consequences” on Iran if its president threatens the United States again. Trump’s threat came just hours after Rouhani’s speech earlier Sunday, in which the Iranian president warned the U.S. about pursuing a hostile policy against his government. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave a speech Sunday in which he compared Iran’s leaders to a “mafia” and promised unspecified backing for Iranians who are unhappy with their government. Pompeo spoke at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library outside Los Angeles. “This is not an administration that is pursuing a policy of actually trying to find a way to the negotiating table or striking a new deal,” says Trita Parsi, founder and president of the National Iranian American Council. “Everything they’re doing right now is only compatible with a policy of confrontation.”

Kings Bay Plowshares: Meet Two of the Seven Activists Who Secretly Entered a Nuclear Submarine Base
On April 4, 2018—the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination—seven Catholic Plowshares activists secretly entered Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia, one of the largest nuclear submarine bases in the world. They were armed with just hammers, crime scene tape, baby bottles containing their own blood, and an indictment charging the U.S. government for crimes against peace. Their goal was to symbolically disarm the nuclear weapons at the base, which is home to at least six nuclear ballistic missile submarines. Each submarine carries 20 Trident thermonuclear weapons. The activists said they were following the prophet Isaiah’s command to “beat swords into plowshares.” It was the latest of 100 similar anti-nuclear Plowshares actions around the world beginning in 1980 in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. The first Plowshares action in 1980 was led by the late Daniel Berrigan and Phil Berrigan. Phil’s wife, Liz McAlister, was one of seven arrested at the April 4 action. McAlister and two other activists, Jesuit priest Stephen Kelly and Mark Colville, remain locked up in pretrial confinement in Brunswick, Georgia. Four others—Patrick O’Neill, Carmen Trotta, Martha Hennessy and Clare Grady—are under house arrest. All seven could face years in prison, if convicted. We speak with Martha Hennessy and Carmen Trotta. Hennessy is the granddaughter of Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Worker movement. Carmen Trotta helps run the St. Joseph Catholic Worker House in New York.

Advocates: Israel’s Jewish Nation-State Law Constitutionally Enshrines Racism Against Palestinians
A fragile ceasefire remains in effect after four Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed during violence Friday along the border with Gaza. During the flare-up, Israel launched dozens of strikes it said were targeted at Hamas rockets and mortars. The death of the Israeli soldier was the first since Palestinians launched weekly nonviolent protests at the border in March. Israeli forces have shot and killed at least 140 Palestinians during those protests, while wounding thousands of others. This comes as Israeli lawmakers drew condemnation Thursday for passing a law that defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people and gives them the sole right to self-determination. The law declares Hebrew the country’s only official language and encourages the building of Jewish-only settlements on occupied territory as a “national value.” Yousef Munayyer is executive director of US Campaign for Palestinian Rights. Rebecca Vilkomerson is executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace. She co-authored a new op-ed in The Independent headlined “As Jews, we reject the myth that it’s antisemitic to call Israel racist.”

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As Ethiopia & Eritrea Sign Deal to End 20 Years of War, Will Political Prisoners Be Released Next?
A historic peace deal between Ethiopia and Eritrea ends 20 years of a “state of war” that saw 70,000 killed and thousands of families separated. Responding are Ethiopian writer Awol Allo, a lecturer at the Keele University School of Law in the U.K., and Vanessa Berhe, an Eritrean human rights activist. She founded the group One Day Seyoum, which campaigns for the release of her uncle, Eritrean photojournalist Seyoum Tsehaye, who was imprisoned in 2001 amid a crackdown on free expression.

Migrant Children Detained in Shelters Being Drugged, Told Not to Hug, Forced to Bathe in Sinks
The Trump administration has less than a week to meet a court-ordered deadline to reunite children and parents separated at the U.S.-Mexico border under its “zero tolerance” policy. This comes as advocates say some migrant children have been released from federally contracted shelters with scabies and lice. In Illinois, officials are investigating the Chicago nonprofit Heartland Alliance over allegations it housed children separated from their parents at the border, with many of the children reportedly suffering abuse and neglect.

Salvadoran Mother Reunited with 3-Year-Old Son Says He Shows Signs of Trauma & Aggressive Behavior
On Wednesday, Democracy Now!’s Laura Gottesdiener sat down with a Salvadoran mother named Belqui Yessenia Castillo Cortez, who reunited with her 3-year-old son Michael last week after they were separated by immigration officials at the border in Texas. Federal documents show the mother and son arrived at the legal port of entry in Rio Grande City on May 28, 2018, to apply for asylum in the United States. Immigration authorities detained them and then separated them, sending Belqui to the Port Isabel Detention Center in Texas, while her 3-year-old son was flown all the way to New York and held in a facility run by a human services agency called Abbott House. “His behavior is really aggressive,” she says. “He wasn’t like this before. … He’s violent, more than anything else.”

Psychologists: Migrant Parents Reunited with Detained Children Must Brace for Trauma & Long Recovery
Nancy Burke, psychoanalyst and a co-chair of the Psychotherapy Action Network, which helped publish a pamphlet aimed at helping immigrant parents separated from children, discusses the psychological impacts family separation has on young children. She’s on the faculty with the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis and Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University and says the trauma children are experiencing in detention “freezes them in time” and takes away their ability to express themselves.

Eric has now completed all 12 signs of The Sacred Space of Self, the 2018 Spring Reading on Chiron’s transition into Aries, and Mars retrograde in Aquarius over the summer. Order today and get all 12 signs for just $99. Check out our sample videos here, and the full Guide to Chiron Transits here.

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Deadly Suicide Bombing in Pakistan Ahead of Election Marred by Crackdown on Activists, Journalists
Voters in Pakistan go to the polls next week, but the run-up to the election has already been marred by deadly terrorist attacks, a crackdown on activists and journalists, hundreds of arrests, and accusations of widespread interference by the military. On Friday, a massive suicide bombing at an election campaign gathering in the southwestern province of Balochistan killed 149 people. Hours afterward, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam were arrested at Lahore’s airport as they returned to Pakistan from London in efforts to bolster Sharif’s political party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

PBS Report from Yemen: As Millions Face Starvation, American-Made Bombs Are Killing Civilians
The ongoing humanitarian crisis in Yemen is incredibly difficult to cover on the ground, with many obstacles for journalists hoping to access the capital Sana’a and other areas affected by the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition bombings. One reporter smuggled herself into northern Yemen to report on the widespread famine and devastation there in an exclusive three-part series for ”PBS NewsHour.” Special correspondent Jane Ferguson is a Beirut-based special correspondent. Her pieces are titled “Yemen’s spiraling hunger crisis is a man-made disaster,” “American-made bombs in Yemen are killing civilians, destroying infrastructure and fueling anger at the U.S.” and “Houthis deny U.S., Saudi claim that they are Iran’s puppets.”

Eric has now completed all 12 signs of The Sacred Space of Self, the 2018 Spring Reading on Chiron’s transition into Aries, and Mars retrograde in Aquarius over the summer. Order today and get all 12 signs for just $99. Check out our sample videos here, and the full Guide to Chiron Transits here.

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Debate on Political Crisis & Violent Deaths in Nicaragua: Camilo Mejía vs. Julio Martinez Ellsberg
The U.N. high commissioner for human rights says the death toll from anti-government protests in Nicaragua is approaching 300, as an escalating crisis in the country reaches its third month. Both opposition groups and pro-government forces are accused of violence, including kidnappings and killings. Julio Martinez Ellsberg, adviser to one of the main student movements opposing the Nicaraguan government, debates Camilo Mejía, well-known Nicaraguan-American Iraq War resister and son of the famed Sandinista singer Carlos Mejía Godoy.

On Mandela’s 100th Birthday, Rev. Jesse Jackson Remembers His Vision of Anti-Racist Democracy
Today marks the 100th birthday of Nelson Mandela, perhaps the world’s most famous former political prisoner. He was imprisoned 27 years in South Africa before his release in 1990. He was elected the country’s first black president four years later. On Tuesday, former President Barack Obama spoke in Johannesburg at an event marking the centennial and used his first major address since stepping down as president to issue thinly veiled criticism of President Trump. Mandela’s close friend, Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader and the founder and president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, responds to this and to the recent U.S.-Russia summit, and discusses his upcoming peace mission to South Korea.

Four Years After Eric Garner’s Killing in Police Chokehold, His Family Still Seeks Accountability
Tuesday marked four years since Eric Garner was killed, when a white New York City police officer wrestled him to the ground, pinned him down and applied a fatal chokehold, while Garner said “I can’t breathe” 11 times. The incident was captured on a cellphone video and spurred mass protests. On Monday, NYPD announced it plans to move forward with long-delayed internal disciplinary proceedings against the officers involved, if the Department of Justice does not announce criminal charges by August 31. Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who applied the fatal chokehold, continues to work for the New York Police Department on paid desk duty and has received multiple raises since Garner’s death. Garner’s mother Gwen Carr called for justice at a press conference this week. Her forthcoming memoir is titled “This Stops Today: Eric Garner’s Mother Seeks Justice After Losing Her Son.”

Eric has now completed all 12 signs of The Sacred Space of Self, the 2018 Spring Reading on Chiron’s transition into Aries, and Mars retrograde in Aquarius over the summer. Order today and get all 12 signs for just $99. Check out our sample videos here, and the full Guide to Chiron Transits here.