Links to today’s show transcripts:
“A Racist, Xenophobic Attack”: Immigrant Rights Activist Decries Trump Remarks About Southern Border
President Donald Trump addressed the nation Tuesday night in his first prime-time speech from the Oval Office. He urged Congress to approve $5.7 billion to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, but he opted not to declare a national emergency to force construction of the wall, in a xenophobic speech riddled with falsehoods. Oscar Chacón is the executive director of Alianza Americas, an immigrant rights group based in Chicago.
Bernie Sanders Responds to Trump’s Border Wall Address, Debunking President’s Lies About Immigration
After Donald Trump addressed the nation Tuesday in a speech that attacked immigrants and demanded a border wall, Sen. Bernie Sanders called out the president for lying to the American people and creating a false crisis at the border. Oscar Chacón is the executive director of Alianza Americas, an immigrant rights group based in Chicago.
Longtime Reporter Leaves NBC Saying Media Is “Trump Circus” That Encourages Perpetual War
“Prisoners of Donald Trump.” That’s how longtime NBC reporter and analyst William Arkin described the mainstream media in a scathing letter last week announcing he would be leaving the network, accusing the media of warmongering while ignoring the “creeping fascism of homeland security.” He issued the blistering critique after a 30-year relationship with NBC, calling for “Trump-free” media days and a reckoning about how the network encourages a state of perpetual warfare. Arkin, whose award-winning reporting has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post is interviewed. He is the author of many books, including “Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State.”
William Arkin on Homeland Security’s Creeping Fascism and Why the CIA & FBI Won’t Save Us from Trump
Longtime NBC reporter and analyst William Arkin announced he was leaving the network last week in a blistering letter that took aim at the mainstream media for encouraging perpetual warfare and bolstering the national security state. In his letter, Arkin writes of Trump, “Of course he is an ignorant and incompetent impostor. And yet I’m alarmed at how quick NBC is to mechanically argue the contrary, to be in favor of policies that just spell more conflict and more war. Really? We shouldn’t get out Syria? We shouldn’t go for the bold move of denuclearizing the Korean peninsula? Even on Russia, though we should be concerned about the brittleness of our democracy that it is so vulnerable to manipulation, do we really yearn for the Cold War? And don’t even get me started with the FBI: What? We now lionize this historically destructive institution?” Arkin, whose award-winning reporting has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post is interviewed. He is the author of many books, including “Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State.”
As we go deeper into this most unusual and challenging phase of history, intelligence is the thing we need the most. That is the theme of the 2019-2020 annual edition of Planet Waves — audio now available for instant access. See more information here. If you’re looking for individual signs, order here.