PRESS ROOM

Members of Congress have a hard time agreeing on virtually anything, and they’re already butting heads with the new president. But one issue should unite them: a new initiative to shrink the Pentagon’s massive overhead... READ MORE »

Last week Donald Trump torpedoed the U.S.-Mexico relationship, forcing President Enrique Peña Nieto to cancel their meeting. Speculation buzzed as to the reasons behind his acts to sabotage cooperation with one of the U.S.’s closest allies and third-largest trade partner... READ MORE »

Last Friday, Donald Trump made his first visit to the Pentagon where he spoke of signing an order to begin “a great rebuilding of the armed services of the United States,” something he’s been advocating for quite a while. As TomDispatch regular Bill Hartung indicates today, this will mean a massive surge in federal dollars pouring into the abyss of the Pentagon, which has shown itself quite capable of absorbing such moneys in the past and seems to lack the slightest ability to account for what’s done with them. (The Pentagon has never even managed to pass an audit.) We already know that this will mean more troops, more ships, more planes, and as a draft executive order for the new president put it, “a desire to invest in a host of military capabilities, including Special Operations forces and nuclear weapons.”... READ MORE »

In this broadcast, Laura Carlsen, host of Hecho en América, interviews Charlotte Bunch, founding director of the Center for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey; professor in the Department of Women’s and Gender at Rutgers, and one of the main organizers of the Global Campaign for Women’s Human Rights that gained UN recognition that women’s rights are Human Rights in 1992... READ MORE »

“The Wall”—a mythically impenetrable structure to seal off the southern border with Mexico—was the rallying cry of President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Chants of “build the wall,” followed by the rhetorical question, “And who’s going to pay for it?” prompted an immediate response from Trump crowds all over the country: “Mexico!”... READ MORE »

On today's roundtable, we look at Mexico and Donald Trump's proposal for a 20 percent tax on goods coming from Mexico to build his promised wall. What are the implications? Then, we discuss Trump's call for an investigation into voter fraud. Is it just a route to more voter suppression? Next, how do you build a resistance movement? Breaking down all of this and more are our guests Jackie Goldberg, Laura Carlsen and Dr. Gerald Horne... READ MORE »

The Trump administration has signaled that it is willing to return to the heinous crimes of the past two decades, including torture and abuse, secret prisons, and extraordinary renditions. The appointment of Gina Haspel as the deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency clearly indicates that the use of torture, including the use of waterboarding, which has been endorsed by the President, the national security advisor, and the CIA director, could once again be a major part of the U.S. campaign against international terrorism... READ MORE »

On our weekly roundtable: the ban, the wall, the threats towards Iran, the Supreme Court pick, white nationalism in the White House, and "alternative facts." Two chaotic weeks into Trump's presidency, we break down the congressional, national and global reaction to the president's recent actions. Our panelists are Jackie Goldberg, Dr. Gerald Horne and Laura Carlsen. Barbara Arnwine, Civil Rights Movement veteran and human rights leader, also joins us to break down the judicial record of Neil Gorsuch and his potential impact on communities of color... READ MORE »

At over $600 billion a year and counting, the Pentagon already receives significantly more than its fair share of federal funds. If President Donald Trump has his way, though, that will prove a sum for pikers and misers. He and his team are now promising that spending on defense and homeland security will increase dramatically in the years to come, even as domestic programs are slashed and entire civilian agencies shuttered... READ MORE »

Donald Trump pointedly drove to the Pentagon on Friday to close U.S. borders to refugees from around the world; to block families indefinitely fleeing the slaughter in Syria; and to suspend immigration from seven Muslim countries. With Secretary of Defense James Mattis smiling over his shoulder, Trump established a religious test for refugees from Muslim countries and ordered that Christians and others from minority religions would be granted priority over Muslims. During his confirmation hearings, General Mattis spoke with great feeling about his opposition to such moves and explained that the coalition to stop international terrorism would be weakened by any attempt to target and demonize Muslims... READ MORE »

“We’ve been fighting al-Shabaab for a decade, why haven’t we won?” the Trump transition team asked the State Department. To foreign policy professionals, such questions may sound naïve and uninformed. They may reflect “an overwhelmingly negative and disparaging outlook” on Africa, as one expert characterized them, and extreme skepticism about the value of foreign aid. But rather than debating the motives of those asking the questions, the national security establishment ought to seize the opportunity to reexamine some long-standing assumptions... READ MORE »

There is universal agreement that President Donald Trump’s “advertisement for himself” in front of CIA’s memorial wall on Saturday was an unmitigated disaster for both the vainglorious president and the Central Intelligence Agency. But there are always favorable reviews to be found. In this case, there were two: one from the president who told ABC’s David Muir that the presentation was “great;” the other from the Washington Post’s long-time apologist-in-chief for the CIA, David Ignatius... READ MORE »