National • News & Public Affairs
Law and Disorder is a weekly, independent radio program airing on several stations across the United States. Law and Disorder gives listeners access to rare legal perspectives on issues concerning civil liberties, privacy, right to dissent and the horrendous practices of torture exercised by the US government.
Law and Disorder is a weekly, independent radio program airing on several stations across the United States. Law and Disorder gives listeners access to rare legal perspectives on issues concerning civil liberties, privacy, right to dissent and the horrendous practices of torture exercised by the US government.
This program examines the political forces and legislation that are moving the United States into a police state. Four of the top progressive attorneys and activists host the program and bring an amazing, diverse line up of guests from grassroots activists to politically mindful authors. Most importantly, Law and Disorder brings access to attorneys who give insights to some of the most controversial cases. Law and Disorder will sometimes be the generator of news within the radio echo-chamber throughout the country.
Program website – http://www.lawanddisorder.org/
Upcoming Episodes
May 12, 2025 National, News & Public Affairs
A New Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreement Amid Tension and Entrenching Authoritarianism: Expanding the Terrorism Framework and the Infrastructure of Surveillance to Repress Expression and Stifle Dissent
A New Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreement Amid Tension
In 2015 the United States and Iran negotiated an agreement designed to allow Iran to develop peaceful uses of nuclear energy, but not nuclear weapons. That agreement was terminated in 2018 during Trump's first administration, and sanctions on Iran were re-imposed, sanctions that have proven to be very damaging to Iran's financial well-being. Now, Trump has said his new administration is prepared to enter into a new nuclear non-proliferation agreement with Iran. Will Israel be successful in opposing Iran's development of a nuclear program even if it is limited to peaceful uses? Would the Trump Administration join Israel if it waged war on Iran, perhaps including its nuclear facilities and how would other Middle Eastern nations respond if war did break out? Guest - Richard Becker is the Western Regional Coordinator of the ANSWER---Act Now to Stop War and End Racism---Coalition, and the author of Palestine, Israel the U.S. Empire
Entrenching Authoritarianism: Expanding the Terrorism Framework and the Infrastructure of Surveillance to Repress Expression and Stifle Dissent
Recently, the Center For Constitutional Rights along with a group of four human rights organizations together with legal clinics published a new report urging the United Nations to denounce the accelerated disintegration of democracy in the US. The report focuses on the US governments increasing criminalization and repression of free speech, dissent, and protest under the guise of national security." The report was then submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council, which is scheduled to formally review the United States compliance with its human rights obligations in November. Guest - Attorney Nadia Ben-Youssef, the Advocacy Director at the Center for Constitutional Rights
May 5, 2025 National, News & Public Affairs
A Constitutional Crisis In The United States and Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World
A Constitutional Crisis In The United States
America is in the midst of a constitutional crisis. More than 200 lawsuits have been filed against the Trump administration during his first 100 days in office, resulting in more than 100 injunctions and stays, as he lays waste to fundamental constitutional protections and laws passed by Congress. On the first day of his second term, Donald Trump had the audacity to sign an executive order claiming he was "restoring freedom of speech." Instead, his administration is systematically destroying the right to speak freely, to write freely, to dissent freely, and to protest freely. Guest - Dahlia Taha, is a Policy Manager at the Muslim Public Affairs Council, where she leads the First Amendment and Civil Liberties work. Dahlia is a Palestinian-American Muslim.
Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World
One of the most consequential pillars of U.S. military power is also one of its most overlooked: our vast network of overseas military bases. In his meticulously researched book Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World, author and anthropologist David Vine reveals how more than 800 U.S. military installations scattered across foreign lands are not merely symbols of strength they're often sources of harm. From the Pacific islands to the Middle East and Europe, these bases have become fixtures of American empire. However, they rarely receive the scrutiny they deserve from policymakers or the public. Perhaps most troubling is how these bases have enabled decades of interventionist wars, making it easier for the U.S. to engage militarily across the globe without addressing root causes of conflict or engaging in genuine diplomacy.Our guest will discuss what a post-base foreign policy might look like, who benefits from the current system, and whats behind the emerging bipartisan calls to rein it in. Guest - David Vine is a writer and political anthropologist. David was a professor of anthropology at American University for 18 years.
April 28, 2025 National, News & Public Affairs
Chris Hedges: Trump 2.0 and The Great Moral Crime Of Our Time
Chris Hedges: Trump 2.0
Trump 2.0 is qualitatively different from his first term in office. This time Trump and his allies have brought down a tsunami on us, creating fear and chaos. Tens of thousands of government workers have been fired. Thousands of immigrants and foreign students have been deported. With his extreme tariff measures, Trump has damaged our economy, and it looks like there may be a recession down the road. Trump has promised to use the Army and National Guard to suppress protests. Moreover, and most importantly, not only politics, but the culture of our country is being changed, as well. Guest Chris Hedges, the journalist and author spent two decades as a foreign correspondent serving as the Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief for The New York Times.
The Great Moral Crime Of Our Time
Israeli -American killing of the Palestinian people living in Gaza is the great moral crime of our time. Gaza is a strip of land 25 miles long and 5 miles wide situated on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea immediately South of Israel. It used to have a population of 2.3 million people and was one of the most densely populated areas on the planet. The Palestinian people have been murdered by American made bombs dropped on them from American planes and American drones for the last year and a half. A short cease-fire, was recently unilaterally broken by Israel. Guest - Philip Weiss is the founder of Mondoweiss, a news and opinion website known for its critical perspective on Zionism and Israeli government policies as well as his support for Palestinian rights.
April 21, 2025 National, News & Public Affairs
Radio Documentary ” It Was Genocide: Armenian Survivor Stories and Investigating Armenian-American Debanking Trend
Radio Documentary " It Was Genocide: Armenian Survivor Stories
Around the world, April 24 marks the observance of the Armenian Genocide. On that day in 1915 the Interior Minister of the Ottoman Empire ordered the arrest and hangings of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople. It was the beginning of a systematic and well-documented plan to eliminate the Armenians, who were Christian, and who had been under Ottoman rule and treated as second class citizens since the 15th century. Why did this happen? Despite being deemed inferior to Turkish Muslims, the Armenian community had attained a prestigious position in the Ottoman Empire and the central authorities there grew apprehensive of their power and longing for a homeland. This troubling trend comes at a time when the U.S. government is considering a major financial arrangement with Azerbaijan. The Armenian Bar Association has issued a formal objection to a proposed $100 million loan or financial guarantee to Azerbaijan under the authority of the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945. Special thanks to Jennie Garabedian, Arthur Sheverdian, Ruth Swisher, Harry Mazadoorian, and Roxie Maljanian. Produced and written by Heidi Boghosian and Geoff Brady.
Investigating Armenian-American Debanking Trend
The greater Los Angeles area is home to the largest Armenian population outside of Armenia" estimated at over 200,000 people. In 2022, leaked audio recordings revealed derogatory remarks by Los Angeles City Council members about Armenians, reflecting underlying biases within political institutions. Recently, the Armenian Bar Association has launched an investigation into alleged discriminatory practices by banks in the Los Angeles area, where Armenian-American individuals and businesses have reported abrupt and unexplained closures of their bank accounts. These closures raise alarms about potential ethnic or national origin-based profiling. Guest - Alex Hrag Bastian, a member of the ABAs Board of Governors and Chair of its Armenian Rights Watch Committee.
April 14, 2025 National, News & Public Affairs
Oligarchs, Billionaires And Reshaping The Economic-Political Landscape and Critical Media Update: War Made Invisible
Oligarchs, Billionaires And Reshaping The Economic-Political Landscape
We're living at a time of profound changes in the institutions that previously governed our society. One hundred years ago V.I Lenin, the leader of the Russian Revolution, observed that sometimes nothing changes for decades and at other times decades-long changes occur within several days. This is what is happening now in America as the old institutions, the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, the universities, the media, the government, including Congress, governmental agencies, the elite law firms, educational institutions and most recently long-standing tariff policy are being reconfigured as instruments of authoritarian rule. Guest - Professor Henry A Giroux currently holds the McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest in the English and Cultural Studies department and is the Pablo Frre, Distinguished Scholar in Creative Pedagogy.
Critical Media Update: War Made Invisible
With respect to the Israeli/U.S. war in Gaza, peace talks limp along; Israel has accelerated its war in Gaza and the West Bank; and recent remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and president Donald Trump, make it clear that both countries intend, if they can do it, to ethnically cleanse all of the Palestinian people from Palestine, thereby bringing about the expected end result of their genocidal war on the Palestinian people. Meanwhile here in the United States, President Trump has seized upon the claim of rampant anti-Semitism on our nations college and university campuses to deport non-U.S. citizen leaders in the movement on the campuses in support of the Palestinian side in the war, and to withhold tens of millions of dollars from the campuses until they eliminate the anti-Semitic atmosphere on our campuses. Guest " Norman Solomon is the co-founder of RootsAction.org and Executive Director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, and the author or co-author, of 12 books, most touching on todays topic in either close or tangential ways.
April 7, 2025 National, News & Public Affairs
Taxpayers Against Genocide and The Dangerous Militarization of AI and the Profiteering Behind It
Taxpayers Against Genocide
The Israeli genocide in Gaza continues without any end in sight, resulting in the slaughter of over 50,000 Palestinians, with over 113,000 wounded. Meanwhile, the United States is escalating its support for Israel. Donald Trump is sending obscene amounts of military aid to Israel to help fuel the extermination of the Palestinian people, while threatening to take over the Palestinian homeland and turn it into the "Riviera of the Middle East." But most Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of the war in Gaza; support for Israel in the United States is at the lowest its been in 25 years and support for the Palestinians is up 6 points since last year. About 60% of Americans support a ceasefire in Gaza. So the question is what can be done to restrain the US government from its costly, illegal, and inhumane support for Israel's war in Gaza? Taxpayers Against Genocide - TAG- has an answer. TAG is a grassroots mass movement comprising of over 1,000 U.S. taxpayers. Countless federal tax payers repeatedly called, emailed, petitioned and peacefully protested their congressional representatives and U.S. government officials to stop using their tax dollars to fund what had become clear was a genocide in Gaza. Guest - Attorney Margaret DeMatteo is a movement lawyer and former class member of Donnelly et al. v. Thompson, et al. , a class action brought by the grassroots Northern CA group Taxpayers Against Genocide. She is joined by Attorney Huwaida Arraf is a Palestinian American attorney and human rights activist. She is a co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement, and also an organizer with the Freedom Flotilla to break the siege on Gaza
The Dangerous Militarization of AI and the Profiteering Behind It
A recent expos by investigative journalist Peter Byrne, titled One Ring to Rule them All, and published by Project Censored, reveals the unsettling extent of Silicon Valley's deepening ties to the military-industrial complex. Byrne traces the rise of Palantir Technologies founded with seed money from the CIA and ominously named after the all-seeing stone in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Today, Palantir stands as a $200-billion powerhouse, fueling AI-driven military operations across the globe. Byrnes investigation uncovers how Palantir and its sister company Anduril Industries, has built an AI weapons consortium that appears to skirt antitrust laws, monopolize Pentagon contracts, accelerate the militarization of artificial intelligence, and bypass essential democratic oversight. Byrne also draws a sobering parallel between today's AI-fueled war economy and the era of the Gilded Age robber barons. Guest - Peter Byrne is a veteran investigative reporter with decades of experience uncovering the dark intersections of Silicon Valley, Wall Street, and the ever-expanding military-industrial complex.
March 31, 2025 National, News & Public Affairs
The Silencing of Genocide Critics and Is The Trump Administration Upholding The Bedrock Of America’s Democracy?
The Silencing of Genocide Critics
The International Court of Justice, known as the World Court, found it plausible that Israel was committing genocide against the Palestinian people living in Gaza. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister Yoav Gallant. The philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism. Israel has fallen. Using the pretext of providing security for their Jewish students, American universities across the country enforce the silencing of critics of the ongoing genocide. They have not fought back to preserve the integrity of their institutions and the freedom of their students. Guest " Columbia University Professor Rashid Khalidi is a Palestinian American historian of the Middle East, the Edward Said professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University, and Director of the Middle East Institute of Columbia School of International and Public Affairs.
Is The Trump Administration Upholding The Bedrock Of America's Democracy?
On March 3rd, the American Bar Association issued a statement titled, The ABA rejects efforts to undermine the courts and the legal profession. They called upon the Trump Administration to adhere to four major principles of law that have, they say, guided our country for more than 200 years. The four principles are: to defend judges and the courts; to acknowledge the role of the courts; to adhere to the rule of law; and to respect the separation of powers and the three co-equal branches of government with distinct duties and responsibilities. These principles have, they state, been the bedrocks of American democracy. Guest " Stephen Rohde is a writer, lecturer and political activist. He is a past chair of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and past National Chair of Bend the Arc, a Jewish Partnership for Justice.
March 24, 2025 National, News & Public Affairs
James Goodale: Fighting for the Press and Freedom of Speech and Pushing The Limit Of Presidential Power
James Goodale: Fighting for the Press and Freedom of Speech
Donald Trump has wasted no time in his second term attacking free speech and freedom of the press. He arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent US resident with a green card and a student visa, and is trying to deport him. He also banned Reuters News Service and Huffington Post from the press pool. He has issued Executive Orders which federal agencies have cited as authority to ban forbidden words from government websites such as the words Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. He's threaten to pull federal funding from over 50 universities for teaching aspects of American history such as slavery and racism. Guest - James Goodale is the former vice president and general counsel for The New York Times and, later, the Times vice chairman.
Pushing The Limit Of Presidential Power
Since being sworn in for his second term on January 20, 2025, Donald Trump has signed (with a big black marker) almost 90 Executive Orders or EOs, stretching the limits of Presidential power. In response, over 100 lawsuits have been filed challenging the most egregious and questionable EOs. Some of the most sweeping orders seek to totally dismantle over 70 years of laws, policies, and programs promoting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility. These EOs were immediately challenged in court. Meanwhile, some companies have surrendered to Trump and terminated their Diversity programs, while civil rights groups are fighting back. Guest Stephen Rohdeis a writer, lecturer and political activist. For almost 50 years, he practiced civil rights, civil liberties, and intellectual property law.
March 17, 2025 National, News & Public Affairs
Weak Opposition Strengthened Capitalist Order and Advances For Workers Made By Independent Political Action
Weak Opposition Strengthened Capitalist Order
We, as ordinary people, are experiencing a profound change in the nature of who holds power in America today. Our constitutional democracy, however limited by race and class, is being replaced by an oligarchy, that is to say, the rule by the super rich few over the many. The separation of powers between the Congress, the Executive, and the Supreme Court has all but been eliminated. We are getting what the oligarchs wish for, a unitary executive where Trump is attempting to rule by executive decrees. President Trump and Musk want to cripple, shrink, and eliminate various government agencies that we have won to protect us. They include the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institute of Health, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Social Security Administration. They are perpetuating a hoax that all they want to do is eliminate fraud and waste and corruption. Guest " Margaret Kimberley, a New York-based writer and activist. She has been an editor and senior columnist for Black Agenda Report since its inception in 2006.
Advances For Workers Made By Independent Political Action
It's one thing to wring our hands in despair over the re-election of Donald Trump and decry his out of the gate authoritarian, neo-fascist assault on U.S. democracy and governance. Its quite another to offer, and begin to employ, a comprehensive strategy for not only combating the new Trump Administration, but to also advance a political ideology that challenges conventional wisdom over what is needed to make our country a truly democratic country, and a country that meets the needs of all its people, not simply its billionaire class. So today we've invited to the show a guest with a radical vision of what is needed to not only defend against Trumps dictatorial moves and legislative plans, but in a vastly more profound way bring about the end of the unjust and exploitative capitalist system of the rich in America, and replace it with an equitable and democratic system of governance. Guest - Kshama Sawant, a socialist economist who was elected to, and served 10 years on the Seattle, Washington City Council.
March 10, 2025 National, News & Public Affairs
Federal Court Challenges to Trump Administration Arguments and Free Speech Protections Threatened Under Trump Administration
Federal Court Challenges to Trump Administration Arguments
The number of active lawsuits in federal courts challenging Trump administration arguments has now topped 100. In 21 of those cases, judges have already issued temporary restraining orders or preliminary injunctions, effectively stopping, at least for now, parts of Trumps agenda. But it must be pointed out that in a number of preliminary victories against Trumps actions, the government, though losing the first round in the case, have nevertheless stalled in obeying the courts orders. And Trump, himself, posted the absolutist notion that, He who saves his Country does not violate any Law. Five of the judges who have ruled against Trump were appointed by Republican presidents, one by Trump himself. As a result of Trump's losing record in court cases so far, there is now talk on the right of seeking to impeach judges who rule against the Trump Administration. And the number of death threats judges are experiencing from the public have gone up alarmingly, as well. Guest " Stephen Rohde is a civil rights activist, author, and constitutional scholar.
Free Speech Protections Threatened Under Trump Administration
On March 4, 2025, President Donald Trump threatened to cut federal funding to colleges that permit what he calls "illegal protests." Trump's latest comments go further, asserting that any protest deemed illegal would lead to harsh consequences, including the imprisonment of agitators and expulsion or arrest of American students. The details, however, remain unclear, particularly around how the government would define "illegal protests" or the enforcement of such measures. Trump's latest threat has reignited concerns about the balance between freedom of speech and government intervention on college campuses. It also raises important questions about the rights of students, faculty, and protesters in the context of broader political and social movements. Guest " attorney Mara Verheyden-Hilliard from the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and the Center for Protest Law and Litigation in Washington, DC.
March 3, 2025 National, News & Public Affairs
Emphasis On Christian Nationalism and A Golden Age of Oligarchs
Emphasis On Christian Nationalism
Several recent developments in the United States have highlighted an increased emphasis on Christian Nationalism within government policies, raising concerns about the separation of church and state and its impact on daily life. This heretical form of Christianity is being forced upon us. It is super masculine, misogynist, nationalist, homophobic, white, supremacist, and racist. It is Christian in name only. The religion of egalitarian Jesus, who preached the values of the sermon on the mount, is not their religion. The Christian nationalists want to use the power of the state to impose on us their brand of Christianity. In February 2025, Donald Trump signed an executive order creating the White House Faith Office and announced the formation of a task force dedicated to eliminating what he termed “anti-Christian bias” within the federal government. Guest – Andrew Seidel, author and attorney who’s defended the First Amendment for more than a decade, both in and out of court. Andrew dedicated his career to challenging religious privilege and battling Christian Nationalism.
A Golden Age of Oligarchs
Last month, Elon Musk said “this was no ordinary victory. This was a fork in the road of human civilization.“ How true. Now our democracy, however, restricted by class and race, is in the process of being replaced by a super wealthy oligarchy. There are more than 800 billionaires in the United States. They are now in the saddle. The Citizens United Supreme Court case of 2010 eased the process. Trump was elected with money, truly big money from 10 people. The Democratic Party has greased the skids for this transition. It cannot be relied on for the defense of the American people. Biden and Harris after accurately calling Trump a fascist to the last few weeks of the election, then did an about face welcoming him in to the White House saying they would cooperate with him and praising the peaceful transition. Guest – Chris Hedges, the journalist and author spent two decades as a foreign correspondent serving as the Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief for The New York Times where he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
