On today’s show, James Risen joins us to discuss his piece at the Intercept, My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror. When he first uncovered a scoop on warrantless wiretapping of US citizens during the Bush years, it was an uphill battle to get the New York Times to publish it. The Bush administration told them to keep it under wraps for national security reasons, and NYT executive editor Bill Killer obeyed. When Risen threatened to put his reporting in a book instead, the paper still tried to suppress information in the name of national security. Risen’s bravery in moving forward with the project — which was published in 2006 under the title “State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration” — as well as protecting his sources in the face of a subpoena from the Obama administration and potential jail time, helped raise standards for how the media reports on national security matters.

On the fun half: Tomi Lahren is outraged black players aren’t standing for the national anthem, a DSA member asks what white gentrifiers should consider when organizing tenants’ unions in their communities, “steak doctor” Willie Degel cries about how the minimum wage increase is hurting small business owners, more discussion of DACA, the wall, and spineless Chuck Schumer, Alex Jones thinks he has the real Nunes memo, Senator Ron Johnson claims to know of an FBI “secret society,” Mindy shares a dispatch from the Women’s March, and how do Christians rationalize voting for Trump?

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