Unanimous Dissent

Trump arrived in Washington, DC on Wednesday for a ribbon cutting ceremony at his new hotel. But if the protests that greeted him are any indication, his brand may be permanently damaged.Also, Arn Menconi, the Green Party’s candidate for US Senate in Colorado returns to the show. We would have had him in studio, but the Capitol Police had other ideas. That interview, coming up.And, Republican Senators are feeling the pressure for backing Trump. Marco Rubio, however, appears to be reaping the benefit of staying loyal….despite getting utterly pantsed by the Donald during the primary. Now, that might be changing, though. We’ll bring you the latest on Little Marco’s troubles later on.

Good news for Trump, after he loses the election he can fall back on a media venture. Bad news, it looks like that media venture will be awful.Also, did we wake up in 2012? Obamacare suddenly becomes an election issue, after the Department of Health and Human Services releases a report, warning of a sharp rise in insurance premiums.Plus, AT&T needs all the good press it can get as it tries to convince regulators to OK its buyout of Time Warner. Unfortunately for the company--there’s a new report that the company is conducting mass spying on the American people for hefty profits. Journalist Kevin Lipp is on to talk about it...And later, a massive scandal in the automotive industry heads towards the home stretch, after a federal judge signed off on a settlement between Volkswagen and car owners who got shafted by the company’s emissions test cheating. That story in a Sludge Report.

The Donald Trump presidential campaign has adopted a singular strategy as of late: accusing the media of rigging the election. But that conspiracy theory falls apart after it’s revealed the campaign was caught partying with members of the media at a Vegas strip club. Also, a viral video from the nation’s capitol revealed metro police roughing up a teenage girl for carrying a lollipop on the public metro. We have the latest on the incident, and other happenings around the capital, with DCist’s Rachel Kurzius.And, can we start seriously scrutinizing Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy already, without being accused of supporting Trump? The Washington Post reported that President Obama’s successor is likely going to be left with a big decision on Syria. That story coming up in a classified session.

From Customs and Border Patrol perusing Twitter to the NSA trying to understand how a hoarder compromised security, we’ve got a a chock-full classified session.Also, A disagreement among labor unions? But in-fighting is so unlike the left! We’ll tell about a schism forming over the Dakota Access Pipeline.And President Obama has charged more people with espionage than any other president in history, combined. And now he’s adding to his total. Though it doesn’t seem like this one is in trouble for talking to journalists. That story in a classified session.Finally, who says Class Struggle isn’t fun and games? We’ll be talking about the radical history of board games with Brian Van Slyke, co-founder of the TESA Collective, and author of a recent Truthout article on the subject.

The US media and Clinton supporters are worried about comments GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump made during the debate, suggesting he won’t accept the election results is he loses. The two Sams explain why there’s nothing to fear.Then, we talk about the latest election drama and all things Nov. 8 with a guy you might know from The Intercept and Twitter dot com: Zaid Jilani.And it’s Friday. So we do what we always do on Fridays, which is throw someone in the dang garbage can. Will it be a CNN anchor? The Kansas Attorney General? Or the DC Metro Police? The suspense nearly killed us. Honor our sacrifice by finding out who went in the can!

Republicans praising Wikileaks in 2016? What a difference six years make. We’ll explain in a Classified Session. Also, yes...we’re all looking forward to the end of this godawful election, but a lot of us are also looking forward to the end of this godawful Congress. We take a look ahead at what’s in store in the lame duck session and what the 114 Congress actually accomplished with Jen Briney, the host of the Congressional Dish podcast. Also, the pundits are all talking about cybersecurity, amid claims about the election. Banking regulators are joining in the general chatter, proposing new rules for the largest banks.

Baseball Hall-of-Famer Curt Schilling announced he would run for US Senate and challenge Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in 2018. He’s likely the first of many to come out of the woodwork seeking to emulate Trump in future elections.Plus, John Podesta emails published by Wikileaks confirms what we all expected: Hillary Clinton’s campaign is working with a nominally independent pro-Hillary Super PAC. Maplight’s Andrew Perez helped break the story, and he returns the show to discuss.And, Donald Trump’s feud with the New York Times is now well known. But the paper also has a beef with the Obama administration over the prosecution of an alleged source. That story in a Classified Session.

Trumps has outraged political observers with claims that the election is being rigged by forces working on behalf of his opponent Hillary Clinton. He’s wrong. But in a way, he’s also right, too.A Wall Street firm, whose CEO has close ties to the Democratic Party, is gearing up exploit a loophole in a Dodd-Frank rule designed to stamp out toxic financial products. We explain in a People’s Bulletin.Plus, Rachel Kurzius joins us to talk about how Donald Trump has fueled the--quite frankly, bizarre and sad--Men’s Rights movement.

The latest batch of Podesta emails released by WikiLeaks contains a bit of information showing Clinton campaign officials conspiring to whitewash what their candidate actually told banksters behind closed doors.Elizabeth Warren unloads on one of President Obama’s key regulators, sending a warning to a possible Hillary Clinton administration, about nominees who are too close to Wall Street. Also, Donald Trump has called for his supporters to keep watch over polling stations in November. That’s troubling, but just as troubling is the fact that the DOJ won’t have anybody keeping watch of our elections this year to make sure everything is on the up and up. Danielle Lang with the Campaign Legal Center joins us to discuss. And speaking of the DOJ, if they’re actually interested in investigating Wells Fargo, the New York Times gave them some interesting info, about the scope of the account fabrications scandal. That story and Sen. Warren’s ongoing struggle with industry hacks, in our People’s Bulletin.

Several women have come forward alleging GOP nominee Donald Trump sexually abused them, prompting the campaign to go to war with the press. Also, talk of criminal justice reform and an end to the War on Drugs appears woefully insufficient. How are officials missing the point, in their bid to finally consider addiction a public health crisis? Truthout Editor-in-Chief Maya Schenwar joins us to explain.And, It’s Friday so we’ll be throwing someone in the Garbage Can today. And, folks, the odor of the can is already wafting into the studio. It’s gonna be a smelly one.

The latest news coming out of John Podesta’s emails, courtesy of Wikileaks, including revelations that could harm the Clinton campaign if it wasn’t running against the complete disaster that is the Trump campaign.Then, we have a special extended interview with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Intercept Co-founding Editor and known dog owner, Glenn Greenwald. The two Sams and Glenn chat about the election, foreign policy, the state of journalism and how we proceed in 2017, when this nightmare ends and the nightmares of tomorrow approach.

Members of Congress were briefed last week on the procedures of replacing a presidential nominee on the top of the ticket, and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is growing more concerned that his majority could be lost in November. We talk to The Week’s Ryan Cooper to sift through the recent GOP wreckage.Also, no banksters are in jail yet for the role in the 2008 crisis, but the Securities and Exchange Commission released new data this week that could be a bit of a consolation for those of us who really want to see Jamie Dimon in an orange jumpsuit. Finally, don’t tell the judicial system about the brief, slight lull in the election campaign. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals just ruled that the CFPB is structured unconstitutionally. We’ll tell you what that means, later.

The Campaign Legal Center is sounding the alarm over decreasing poll observers, and increasing campaign finance violation by both campaigns. The Justice Department announced an investigation into Alabama’s prison system, in the wake of the nationwide prison strike that hit the state’s detention facilities--including its staff. Also, the government has spent roughly a billion dollars a year on public relations, according to a new report. We’ll tell you which department is responsible for the bulk of that spending, though it shouldn’t be too surprising.And finally, there is another “flash crash” to report--this one on foreign exchange markets. We’ll tell you which currency got pounded (though you might be able to guess).

Heading into the second presidential debate, Donald Trump makes an appeal to a voting bloc of terminally ill Americans.Also, Some unironically good news about the 2016 election. One quarter of the country looks set to fully legalize marijuana in November. So if you’re bummed about the outcome, at least you can still get stoned.And we recap the week’s big intelligence news, including what could be a new surveillance program being run out of Yahoo, and the arrest of spy contractor accused of stealing government secrets. Investigative reporter Marcy Wheeler is on to discuss. Finally, it’s Friday, folks, so that means the Garbage Can is ready….filled to the brim with banana peels, chicken carcases and bags of doo-doo that dog walkers have thrown in. It’s extra stinky this week, and so our candidates. You won’t wanna miss it.

Vice Presidential nominee Mike Pence is receiving high marks after his debate performance Tuesday night, which means he was quite effective at suppressing his own Trump-like extremism. The Justice Department drops charges against a guy who had been accused of selling arms to Libyan Rebels. Do as I say, not as I do...amirite? We’ll be talking about it in a Classified Session.Also, there may be a chance for humanity to survive after all. This week the Paris Climate Agreement was ratified in enough countries for it to formally kick into effect. The news comes just as a new report dropped showing just how expensive runaway global warming will be to deal with. It makes the 2008 financial crisis look like pocket change.And, finally, another rule by the CFPB takes aim at market that has grown by a factor of 60 in under ten years. We’ll explain in our People’s Bulletin how users of prepaid debit cards and services are being protected.

Following last weekend’s New York Times report on Trump’s tax returns, the GOP should be feeling regret for nominating another guy who wants to run the government like a business, but has done a really crummy job at running his own business.The court system rules in favor of Defense Department secrecy that harkens back to Ronald Reagan’s Dirty Wars in Central America. We’ll explain in a Classified Session.Also, got some news about former President Bill Clinton. He made some comments that are actually good and correct, but that will undoubtedly give his wife more headaches on the campaign trail. Not the first time, not probably not the last time. And with the vice presidential debate in the bag, we take a look at the longview, and how Mike Pence has had a long history of flouting pay-to-pay laws, that calls into question his integrity--and his cred as a social conservative. Andrew Perez, an investigative reporter from MapLight.org joins us to explain.

Passage of JASTA triggered a debate about sovereign immunity and Saudi Arabia. Now the Supreme Court is set to hear a case that could affect the sovereign immunity of Native Americans.Headlines about Deutsche Bank briefly roiled financial markets late last week--they went from troubled by a Bloomberg story, to saved by an AFP wire story, in the span of less than 24 hours. We chat about in today’s People’s Bulletin.Plus, new polling since last week’s debate has Donald Trump getting creamed in several battleground states. We discuss that, and take a moment to dump on MSNBC’s poll guru, Mr. Chuck Todd.

The DEA is running a confidential sources program that is vulnerable to abuse and fraud. Meanwhile, the FBI has decreased its use of a certain surveillance authority since the Edward Snowden revelations. Those stories in a Classified SessionAn update on the status of every American leftist’s favourite Englishman. Jeremy Corbyn won the challenge to his leadership, and we’ll be talking about the Labour Party with British Writer and Journalist, Sam Kriss.And it’s Friday, so someone is going in the Garbage Can. This week’s edition has a special theme related to the Wells Fargo scam. A Republican Member of the House Financial Services Committee is going in the Can.

An FBI oversight hearing in the House Judiciary Committee was completely derailed by politics as lawmakers put aside pressing criminal justice issues to instead focus on the presidential campaign.Then Congress makes history by overriding the first veto of the Obama Presidency. Legislation that would make it easier for 9/11 families to sue Saudi Arabia is now law, despite the White House’s objections. That story in a classified session. And finally, another story on the legislative branch, as it crams in items on the agenda before its campaign recess. Lawmakers look set to avoid a government shutdown by doing what they’ve done best over the past few years: kicking the can down the road for a few weeks.

The two Sams offer their final thoughts on Monday night’s presidential debate, including a discussion about just how wise it is for Clinton surrogate Howard Dean to be accusing Donald Trump of doing cocaine during the debate. Then, we discuss a story that would almost certainly get ignored, even without the campaign frenzy: the ongoing nationwide prison strike that was launched earlier this month. Alex Friedmann, the managing editor of Prison Legal News, brings us up to speed.Finally, the government could be headed for another shutdown, as Republicans still refuse to help the residents of Flint. We also discuss how the DEA’s kratom ban could be ruled illegal, because the agency may have not followed proper rulemaking procedures. Plus, a mail surveillance program is questioned by Ron Wyden.