Prosecution here in the United States should they still be pursuing this even in the era of cobain in the era of criminal Justice Reform in the era of what were seeing with this case so many violations of rights. And ramped up efforts to basically shut down journalist and journalism that the u. S. Government doesnt necessarily approve of both from journalists abroad as well as journalists within the United States its not surprising but its detrimental to our country and i think its just downright wrong i couldnt agree more than the thing is too is a look look i understand people join of songes a divisive figure some people dont like them personally some people love them your opinions personally of who the man is as a person that shouldnt matter when it comes to whether or not what he did was acting in the best interest of the public as a publisher or as a journalist which he was now you can critique the methods he used you can critique you know should he have redacted names should be redacted names but to me those are all kind of you know. Inside baseball kind of arguments of well he should have done this he should have done this at the end of the day he shouldnt be being prosecuted for what he did chris hedges host of on contact youre on r t you could join the military and in question earlier and to touch on their sons case here is what he had to say. Oh after figures. And not. Evidence. A court system. Into the same. European court. Security. Area radio into. Numerous. Activists. Are skewed to go away busy. But it is stir. It represents is. This separation. Of course because of the good point you see this of Service Aeration the constitution a verse aeration the rule of law but were not seeing that were seeing this not only in the major scale of the songs but were also seeing us across the country in light of the black lives matter protests and how theyve been treating press who have covered that especially independent press exactly what. Well watching is a full scale disillusionment of the press as we know it happening on the administration happening fast and were watching these journalists who are literally trying to get information on the ground to really tell people what is actually happening which in many cases specific to the protests is in stark contrast of what were hearing come out of the white house and he is doing everything that he can to make sure that they are not on the front lines that they cant tell that story that they cant tell the story of the activists on the ground and that the true painting of a picture of whats happening in these protests will never actually reached American Public its interesting that you say that because when you see this kind of fight over how journalism is covering the protests specifically a lot of times independent journalists or you know folks are you a citizen journalist and things like that there is this fight over what message do they have an agenda do they not have agenda and theres this kind of brewing battle over whos messages are getting out you saw the local states and cities say no no police shouldnt touch these journalists and then they actually pass laws saying that bad u. S. District judge Michael Simon of the originally barred federal officers who were deployed to portland from using physical force arresting or dispersing anyone you could reasonably call a journalist or legal observer covering these protests now interestingly just a few weeks back to trump appointed judges in the 9th Circuit Court of appeals up to the government challenge that law and challenge report was doing to protect journalists theyve now temporarily suspended those restrictions on federal officers interaction with legal observers so now youre seeing these kind of politics play out in the courtroom where 2 trump appointed guys are saying no no no you can go out but do you go up to them and when asked would you respond to this but i want you to respond to what william barr said when he found out about them overturning this the Appeals Court william barr attorney general United States says in practical effect the District Court order prevented the federal government for effectively addressing violent mobs to the general crowd control measures that are required and it unacceptably increased the risk of serious injury to a Law Enforcement officers a measure how does it how does it increase the. The risk to federal officers by a rusting journal its. Just blows well into the narrative that chaos is on the ground and anybody standing near is going to be a problem and i think that you know hes using bardic here in the water obviously bill barr knows that this is legally something that should never happen its something that is a and it was as to our Constitutional Rights it diminishes the role of the press but hes going to stand by president no matter what and i also find it problematic that what were seeing isnt necessarily getting the level of attention that it should thankful that youre bringing it up here and you know how its viewers are actually paying attention to it but here in america in our major media you will see it maybe one story blip and then folks have moved on this is one of those instances where when you dont have journalism that is going to be on the ground that is going to report specifically what they what is happening live youre going to have issues with how america views these protests and it allows for President Trump to create a narrative that is totally false to whats actually happening and i think that hes been trying to use that to his advantage come november. You know credit grouping more. Drain the swamp it was a battle cry for donald trump and 2016 he said it at nearly every Campaign Rally interview and basically to anyone within earshot or with a twitter account trump positioned himself as a washington d. C. Outsider coming to change politics as usual and root out corruption but instead of draining the swamp trump has become king among swamp creatures a recent opinion piece by fox news political analyst Juan Williams reveals just how deep and full the swamp has become undertones presidency in his op ed swamp creature at the white house were going to states trying to open the door for 281 lobbyist to work for his administration in the 1st 3 years former lobbyist now run for agencies including the departments of defense and interchange. True using the white house as a campaign prop during the Republican National convention was a clear violation of the hatch act and though conservatives argue most people dont even know what it actually is maybe some truth to that what americans do know is corruption when they see it just last year trump put a former coal lobbyist in charge of regulating air pollution guess how much cleaner air quality got after that small getting one truck recently fired the state Department Inspector general and for what might you say well the Inspector General was investigating how secretary of state might pump aoe was using Department Staff to run personal errands like picking up his food orders and his familys dry cleaning. And this is the same pompei o who spoke at the Republican NationalConvention Live from jerusalem on taxpayers dime. And to top it all off the office of special counsel sent 130 or letters warning federal workers of possible illegal actions during the 1st 3 years of the Top Administration the small just got a lot more dangerous you know. Thats one of the weird thing to be is its like every time im as a as us citizens were almost conditioned im sure its like this in other governments around the world youre almost conditioned to a certain point to say hey whats some of the campaign trail you might get 50 percent if youre lucky but most of the time was Just Lip Service but to run on drain the swamp and then pretty much be like a the lobbyist was a 200 some odd lobbyist 311 yeah. Thats a lot to go back on a Campaign Promise or it is one of those and it wasnt just a Campaign Promise it was something that he said everywhere all the time he was tweeting it on every single show he talked about it it was in print it was you could not hear about donald trump without also drain the swamp it was as popular a phrase as make America Great and you can and i think that for those who have seen him in this position where he has included more lobbyists in this white house than any other Administration Prior now granted there are several administrations who have cozy relationships a lobbyist just how things work in the but appointing them to high level positions and federal agencies and making the white house advisers and putting them in these positions of power that takes this whole swampy nature to another level yeah i mean people criticized obama because it was buddy buddy major with Goldman Sachs and you saw all those boerma Goldman Sachs like in high positions in the treasury and things like that. And i think a lot of people who are on the fence voted for donald saying we dont want to see that youre the outside you claim to be the outsider you claim to be that guy but is he really at the end of the day and thats not to say that look if joe biden wins this upcoming whether trump or biden wins this upcoming election i dont see the change in the revolving door for lobbyists happening any time soon in this country but its still important for people you know to always Pay Attention look just because somebody to. You what you want to hear doesnt mean theyre going to do it even donald trump even a lot of these people that kind of come in with you know waving the banner that there are the people in there are cleaning up washington now absolutely and you touched on that point because one of my frustrations has always been in reading while wombs this piece as well is that it is very difficult to quote unquote drain the swamp it is not a talking point that is novel to President Trump it actually existed decades before trump got into office but it is one that a lot of people will state when theyre thinking about running it is we want to change politics as usual and we want to you know eradicate corruption but as long as money isnt politics there red occasion of corruption is not going to happen anyway youve got if youre going to do it then youve got to close off a quid pro quo style you know the way politics is done in the washington you know the potomac 2 step of a quid pro quo hey it will be a revolving door of some big berm once you leave politics or we only hire the best of the brightest from this small group who gives money to both parties you know thats the real where the real problem of all this comes in exactly and that for that would be a further question is that there is a currently any legislation on the books to do just that because both parties actually benefit from it so were talking about lobbyists who turn into Campaign Donors on either side or lobbyist who you know play both ends up the middle and just donate the popes eyes and see what happens these people know that their investment is going to turn into something later on so it becomes not a politics of the people but of politics of the lobbyist because theyre the ones who donated and guess what when somebody gets elected those lobbyist are the 1st people at the door on the phone you know they want their papers they want to make sure that policies that protect them in the organizations they represent are uphill and thats to the best in many cases of the everyday i mean you know as utah pointed out to me earlier there were talk about the shows that look trumps daughter a bunker used her White House Position the game trademarks from china killing him quite a conway then promoted of on his clothing and i mean when you see all the threads and its not this isnt new to donald trump it is an age old story and its going to keep repeating itself into. So we actually get congress to pull the money out of politics or demand it in some capacity and something tells me were going to be waiting a really long time oh man that makes me sad all right everybody because we go to break remember you can also start watching the hawks on demand through the brand new portable t. V. Which is now available on all platforms so you have no excuse not to continue watching ox or other programs that are to america all right coming up after 159 years of service in the u. S. Militarys most famous news outlet stars and stripes may be shutting its doors this year and better rights advocate and political analyst warrior reilly topping has a lot to say about that stay tuned to watching the hawks as she joins us. By the sunday make no 2nd you know blood is just flying to nationalities. You. Know so much because we dont actually. Stick to. Judgment commentary classes so what is this sentence much. We can do better we should be doing better. Everyone is contributing each in our own way but we also know that this crisis will not go on forever the challenges created with the response has been so many good people are helping us. It makes us feel very proud that were in it together. Will justice be done in a london court not only is joining us on trial but so is freedom of speech and profession of journalism what explains this farce of Media Coverage obstruct why havent more journalists spoken out and is the suns being used as a car you need to Say Something for those challenge or is that the. Same wrong why dont you all just dont call. Me but yet to shape out these days to come out ahead and engagement because the trail. When so many find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground. Is your media a reflection of reality. In a world transformed. What will make you feel safe from. The isolation local community. Are you going the right way or are you being led so. Direct. What is true what is faith. In the world corrupted you need to descend. To join us in the depths. Or a maid in the shallows. To. The land of the free and the home of the brave is under attack and not from outside forces american exceptionalism is under fire from with it. President donald trump known for his love of hugging the American Flag of parading soldiers and high ranking military officials for Campaign Purposes hit a wall in the past week the political fallout its getting under his skin trump is known for his attacks on journalists calling them fake news and enemies of the people but military publications have largely been left out trumps full scale assault on journalism until now the pentagon recently delivered an order to in stars and stripes a newspaper that has been around since 861. 00 the publication is as old as the American Civil War and has existed across presidencies of multiple Political Parties serving as a go to source for military news and issues concerning the armed services. If truck gets his way stars and stripes will be effectively dissolved by september 15th but military Service Members past and present their families and current members of Congress Like combat veteran and senator Tammy Duckworth in addition to a small group of republicans are calling on defense secretary marc esper to do something before the publication is up and it even republican senator and trump ally Lindsey Graham is pushing against the imminent threat to funding for stars and stripes he said quote as a veteran who has served overseas i know the value stars and stripes brings to its readers. There are signs that trump might be succumbing to political pressure and he appears to be backtracking support for killing off stars and stripes the tweeter in chief offered this comment when he noticed how voters reacted to a potential in to the popular newspaper. Veterans advocate and political consultant rory riley thomas joins us now to discuss more welcome. Thank you for having me. All right i know that this is a story on top of a lot of peoples minds and as our expert here i have something for you why was removing funding for stars and stripes a priority to begin with especially considering that this is a tumultuous Election Year where trump has always posed him self as the chief defender and protector of u. S. Troops and their families. Well i mean i think the answer is basically what you just said in your opening the trumpet ministration has always been very critical of the news media and particularly news media that is critical of his administration so there has been some pushback that stars and stripes has been critical of the trumpet ministration in particular and particularly some of their decisions around defense issues so this was largely viewed as something that was in response to that there are some back and forth because although stars and stripes as opposed to be independent they do get their funding from the government so they viewed the fact that they could eliminate that funding as a way to eliminate the bad press as something that they could do that was within their power so really this just stems down to this ongoing war that youve been talking about that the Top Administration and the press have this tit for tat with one another and this is just yet another example of that that we were seeing play out its interesting because its you know i mean i look at it and say i can understand an argument to maybe defunding the money grubber theres voice of america my opinion but but you know stars and stripes is actually a generally good its never really gotten too controversial its always been a pretty good outlook at least in recent years and look we know hard it is to get democrats or republicans to join forces on much of anything these days but do you see any kind of consensus real consensus building in protecting the legacy this legacy of newspaper and how do you think stars and stripes and how how would you describe the impact of stars and stripes in the public discourse. Well yes to answer you had a couple questions there 1st i do think there is a discourse and they get and as you alluded to in your opening there are both republican and democratic members of congress that have spoken out about the importance of stars and stripes and the news that it delivers to our Service Members particularly those who are overseas and perhaps dont have access to the internet for either National Security reasons or based on where theyre station that sort of thing and the news from stars and stripes is typically not controversial its more straightforward in terms of reporting on things that are happening its not a heavily opinion based paper it does share some Opinion Pieces but compared to some other news outlets that it is a lot more straightforward so i think that helps build that consensus over Congress Seems to be forgetting that the ultimate ability to defund something according to the constitution it belongs with them and not with the president and thats one of the things thats been most interesting to me about this is even though this effort to defund stars and stripes was contained in the president s budget its up to congress to go through that budget ultimately decide what theyre going to fund and what theyre not going to fund so a house version of the pentagons budget stripped this provision so the provision that was saying that the funding for stars and stripes to be eliminated the house took that out so they looked at this and said this is not something we support theyre supposed to do that with every provision and to your point about how much money is being spent in the government i think its important to note that the pentagons overall budget is 700000000000. 00 the funding allocated for stars and stripes is 15500000. 00 obviously its the average american 15500000. 00 is a lot of money but it is literally a drop in the bucket when were talking about overall defense spending again the pentagons budget is 700000000000 dollars and feel like that that number is unfathomable to the most to most people so even if it is being put forward as a cost savings measure. Certainly more critical analysis that could take place if cost savings was really at the root of what was going on here when this issue came to a head again the house had stripped this provision out we see senators speaking out but they have not passed anything formal as far as the pentagons budget so again it is interesting to me that as much as everybody wants to hit on the trumpet ministration for proposing this congress is never under any obligation to accept what the Administration Sends to it in its Budget Proposal that is their job to go through and do a more critical analysis of every line item of funding and it would have been nice if they remembered the this ultimately came down to them and this was their job they could have put a stop to this but obviously with the greater issues related to the pentagons budget its been stalled and we didnt see it play out that way but with that being said trump seems to have rescinded his administrations position and said that it wont be defunded on his watch so very interesting how all of the players are interacting here. And to President Trumps recent tweets about not defunding it under his watch this comes after his administration urged the exact opposite as you know why do you think he changed his tune and what can veterans and Current Service men expect from this administration. Well i think a big part of why he changed his tune is because of the atlantic story that came out around the same time which has alleged that trump said very derogatory things about Service Members and veterans saying that people did not want to see amputees and disabled veterans saying that they were losers and suckers the controversy that surrounded that story certainly overshadowed his general proposition that hes a big defender of the military that he loves our troops so i think as backlash from that story began to catch up with him he was looking for something to do to show that he does in fact support the mill. Terry in making this decision was one way for him to say go ahead and do that now i think weve seen many things where trump goes back and forth depending on whats going on kind of the tone of the day and this is just another example of that this is unfortunately kind of par for the course with what we see from this administration its one thing one day its another thing another day its always fun watching Chicken Hawks like donald trump and other elected officials you know kind of dance around and love and hug the military every chance they get but then when it comes time to actually coming through for the veterans that they you know essentially chose not to be themselves they run and hide in the hills. You know i think this is one of those topics that we could go on and talk about forever but i thank you so much for coming on today and giving us your your opinion on whats what the current state of whats happening with stars and stripes always a pleasure having you on roy roy topping thank you. Thank you. He does love to dance around one loves to hug and im one of the its the most awkward thing ive ever seen but you know bone spurs kept him out of the vietnam war bone spurs and amputees are you know somehow not really virtuous a soldier is my dad i just dont understand irony its interesting isnt it all right that is our show for you today remember everyone in this world we were not told that we were loved enough so i tell you all i love you. And im obese across keep on watching all those hawks out there and have a great day and that everybody. The world is driven by generous shaped past and present those present as. Well jerry thinks. We are here to ask. Both of us. On the. 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