Media Find a New Man Who Will ‘Save’ Colombia—de la Espriella Style
We have known for decades what it looks like when the gringos send heaps of money to right-wing governments and atrocity-prone security forces in Colombia.
‘Criminal Penalties Will Remain in Place Unless Marijuana Is Completely Descheduled’:
CounterSpin interview with Maritza Perez Medina on rescheduling marijuana
“There are people who are serving decades-long sentences for marijuana….They’ve been really punished for what others are making so much money off of.”
Jesse Rabinowitz on Harassing the Unhoused, Maritza Perez Medina on Rescheduling Marijuana
How hard is it to understand the difference between charging poor people monetary fines they obviously can’t pay, and addressing homelessness with housing?
Alex Main on Honduran Election
As we record on December 4, the Honduran election is still in question. Not in question: the US’s long history of violently intervening in Honduras.
Corporate Media Parrot Dubious Drug Claims That Justify War on Venezuela
With a possible military operation that could have disastrous consequences, corporate outlets are unsurprisingly ceding the floor to the warmongers.
‘The Government’s Own Disclosures Demonstrate These Strikes Are Not Lawful’:
CounterSpin interview with Jeffrey Stein on Trump's boat attacks
“The public should be able to read the government’s legal justification right now, while there’s still an opportunity to stop these illegal and dangerous strikes.”
Alex Main on Venezuelan Boat Assault
Can the Trump administration, or any administration, declare people guilty and summarily kill them based on that declaration?
‘Criminalizing Homelessness Only Perpetuates It’:
CounterSpin interview with Scout Katovich on criminalizing poverty
“The pitting against each other of people who lack housing and people who have housing is so insidious and counterproductive.”
20 Years After His Death, Gary Webb’s Truth Is Still Dangerous
Twenty years ago this month, former San Jose Mercury News investigative reporter Gary Webb died by apparent suicide after his career was systematically destroyed.
‘The US State Department Is Complicit With Juan Orlando Hernández’
CounterSpin interview with Suyapa Portillo Villeda on Honduran ex-president conviction
“The United States, through the coup d’etat, was in cahoots with elite power in Honduras that replaced a democratically elected president.”
Gay Gordon-Byrne on Right to Repair, Suyapa Portillo Villeda on Honduran Ex-President Conviction
Industry still argues that that cellphone isn’t really “yours,” in the sense that you can’t fix it if it breaks.
‘Punitive Enforcement Does Not Save Lives, or Reduce Drug Supply’
“We need to make sure that people who use drugs are armed with information that will keep them safe and that will keep them alive.”
Maritza Perez Medina on Fentanyl, Nancy Altman on Social Security
Saying how hard you want to be on “dealers” is really an admission of a failure to address a public health issue as a public health issue.
Marjorie Cohn on Prosecuting Trump, Mike Liszewski on Marijuana Justice
This week on CounterSpin: He wanted to go to the Capitol on January 6, Donald Trump tells the Washington Post, but the Secret Service wouldn’t let him. He hated the violence, and was furious Nancy Pelosi wasn’t putting a stop to it. He doesn’t remember getting many phone calls, and he didn’t destroy any […]
Rick Claypool on OxyContin Bankruptcy, Dean Baker on Economic Disconnects
A bankruptcy ruling shields the Sackler family, profiteers on Oxycontin, responsible for, conservatively, half a million deaths by overdose.
Jumping on the Hezbollah ‘Narcoterrorism’ Bandwagon
It’s helpful to have a narco-jihadi menace—in bed with socialist regimes in Latin America, no less—festering along the United States’ southern border.
‘To Tell Stories of Communities That Are Authentic, You Have to Have a Conversation’
The Best of CounterSpin is a reflection of the sorts of conversations we hope offer some voice or context or information that you might not have heard elsewhere, or that might help you assess the news you are hearing.
‘We Have a Long History of Criminalizing Communities of Color Through Drugs’
“The Nixon administration went about policing drugs…as if it were a real war. The same way that we would fight foreign adversaries, we were fighting our own citizens.”
Mitch Jones on Fracking’s Hazards, Matt Sutton on Drug War’s Victims
Corporate media prioritize the supposed “risks” to the electoral prospects of Democrats who call for banning fracking over the prospects for human civilization’s survival.
‘We Should Be Committed to Decriminalizing if We Want to Help Communities of Color’
“I think this bill really does fail to imagine what public safety could look like. That’s our biggest problem with it. They’re not listening to people on the ground.”
