When the Pentagon Papers came out on June 13, 1971, I was still in the process of trying to encourage Senator Gravel or before him. My advice right now for people who feel that we're heading toward an abyss is: Don't wait until it's too late. In 2005, counterspin Steve Rendold talked to Ellsberg about Israeli whistleblower Mordecai Vanuenu. To the extent that sources can be punished as was attempted in my case, or which VanUenu experienced here, obviously the intent of that is to close down information from people not authorized to give it. Otherwise you're left with handouts and an account of government decision making that is simply what
This week on CounterSpin: 70% of House Republicans belong to the Republican Study Committee, which just released a budget that calls for curtailing programs supporting racial equity and LGBTQ rights, natch—and also for increased cuts and access hurdles for Social Security and Medicare. It’s a tale as old as time, how some people want to take resources explicitly designated for seniors and disabled people and funnel them to rich people, in supposed service of “saving” those popular social programs. We’ve been asking for debunking of that storyline for years now from Nancy Altman, president of the group Social Security Works, and author of books, including The Battle for Social Security: From FDR’s Vision to Bush’s Gamble. We’ll get some more debunking this week, because when it comes to Social Security, it seems everything old will always be new again.
Also on the show: Whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg died last week at the age of 92, and elite media did that thing they do, where they sort of honor someone they discredited in life, burnishing their own reputation as truth-tellers while still somehow dishonoring the practice of truth-telling—of the sort that afflicts the comfortable. CounterSpinspoke with Ellsberg many times over the years. We hear just some of those conversations this week on the show.
