Counterpoint 07-07-25 Scott Harris discusses: the dire health impacts of Trump-GOP's federal budget; New ICE budget increased 365% prelude to a police state; DOJ hires indicted Jan 6th insurrectionist; IRIS CT serving refugees adapts to new mission

Counterpoint with Scott Harris

COUNTERPOINT RADIO, hosted by Scott Harris, is heard every Monday night on WPKN 89.5 FM, Bridgeport, CT between 8:00 – 9:30 pm ET. Webstreaming and audio archive at http://wpkn.org

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1) Adam W Gaffney, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Bruce Lesley, President of the group First Focus on Children discuss the expected overall healthcare impact of the Trump/GOP federal budget bill just passed by Congress that cuts $1 trillion from Medicaid and Medicare, will take away millions of poor families's access to food and nutrition programs, and close hundreds of community hospitals. Both will also address viable alternatives to America's current failed for-profit healthcare system.

2) Chris Lehmann, the DC Bureau chief for The Nation magazine and a contributing editor at The Baffler, discusses the important and timely issues examined in his recent Nation article, "Trump's Big Bill is Building a Big Police State," "explaining that with more than $150 billion in outlays to expand the horrific surveillance, detention, and rendition regime created under the Laken Riley Act, the measure will carry out Trump’s pledge to make the terror wreaked by masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, alongside federal and National Guard troops, in Los Angeles the standard operating procedure for immigrant roundups going forward."

3) Teddy Wilson, a journalist and researcher with more than a decade of experience covering the U.S. Radical Right who publishes the Radical Reports newsletter, talks about indicted January 6th insurrectionist, Jared L. Wise's appointment as a counselor to Ed Martin, Director of the so-called Dept. of Justice 'Weaponization Working Group,' and also discusses investigations he's conducted in his "Pardon Tracker" series re: the alarming activities of insurrectionists and other convicted criminals after they were pardoned by Donald Trump.

4) Maggie Mitchell Salem, Executive Director of the CT based group IRIS, Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services, discusses the impact of the Trump administration's new immigration policies on IRIS services, as well as federal funds revoked or withdrawn from IRIS' budget. She'll also talk about her group's new 'Know Your Rights' campaign that was launched on the July 4th weekend, and other projects and services local listeners can support or volunteer for.