Why, America? with Leeja Miller

Can The Courts Stop Trump?

Within hours of some of Trump's more heinous executive actions, civil rights groups and attorneys general filed numerous lawsuits against Schedule F employee status, DOGE, and the bar on birthright citizenship. This is just the beginning of a long legal slog, but will it be enough to stop Trump and his cronies from undoing literal centuries of legal precedent? 
 
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🔗Sources: https://www.leejamiller.com/episodes
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Trump's First 48 Hours

A flurry of executive actions have made Trump's first 48 hours in office a whirlwind of chaos that's hard to follow. So I wanted to get into the weeds and lay out every executive action taken thus far, because it's important to stay vigilant. From border emergencies to putting people over fish, these are the actions you need to know about from Trump's first 48 hours.
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Sources: https://www.leejamiller.com/episodes
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What You Need To Know About Jack Smith's Report

Special Counsel Jack Smith's report on Trump's actions related to the January 6th insurrection was dropped in the middle of the night amid a congested news cycle, and it didn't get the attention it deserved. But, in the end, how much does it all really matter? Only time will tell.
 
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Sources: https://www.leejamiller.com/episodes
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LA Fires & Disinformation During Disaster

Right wing commentators and leaders like President Trump and Elon Musk are using the devastation in LA to fan the flames of disinformation about climate change and "DEI." Meanwhile, people who just had their fire insurance cancelled are grappling with how to rebuild, and marginalized communities will continue to face the brunt of these natural disasters for years to come. 
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Sources: https://www.leejamiller.com/episodes/2025/1/13/la-fires-amp-disinformation-during-disasters
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Fact Checking Is Bad For Business

Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta and all of its platforms, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, would no longer be fact checking or moderating its content, instead opting for a community notes system like X/Twitter. This change comes as Zuckerberg makes clear his willingness to do whatever it takes to get on Trump's good side, and signals a continued rightward turn as billionaires everywhere bend the knee.
 
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🖇️Sources: https://leejamiller.com/episodes/2025/1/8/fact-checking-is-bad-for-business 
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MAGA Is Splitting Apart

Who would have guessed that the H1B immigrant visa would be the thing splitting MAGA apart at the seams? From unhinged tweets by Elon Musk and Laura Loomer, to alleged censorship and arguments over lazy Americans, to discovering that we might actually have more in common than we think??? The infighting indicates a rocky road to come as Trump enters the White House.
 
🖇️Sources: https://leejamiller.com/episodes/2025/1/6/maga-is-splintering 
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How Billionaires Avoid Taxes

Buy, borrow, die. Donor-advised funds. Tax loopholes have been created specifically so that billionaires can legally avoid paying their fair share of taxes. Since so many billionaires will soon be running our government, let's discuss how billionaires avoid taxes.
🖇️Sources: https://www.leejamiller.com/episodes/2024/12/30/how-billionaires-avoid-taxes
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"President Musk" And The Dangers Of Plutocracy

Thanks to Lumen for sponsoring. Go to http://lumen.me/leeja to get 15% off and stay on top of your health goals this holiday season! | Elon Musk sent a few tweets and managed to get rid of a spending bill and nearly shut down the federal government. His newfound political power despite not being elected, and his close relationship to president-elect and alleged fellow billionaire Donald Trump, are pushing the bounds of what our government will allow in terms of unelected oligarchs and plutocrats influencing our politics. When will the madness end? Campaign finance reform now!
🖇️Sources & Transcript: https://www.leejamiller.com/episodes/2024/12/23/president-musk-and-the-dangers-of-plutocracy 
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When Does Murder Amount To Terrorism?

Luigi Mangione has been indicted on murder as a terrorist act in New York state. Doesn't all murder and gun violence create terror? What does it take to get charged with terrorism in this case? Who gets to decide the definition of terrorism? And how could the "terrorist" label be weaponized to take away the rights of activists and others trying to express political ideologies?
 
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S O U R C E S:
18 USC 2331 https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title18/part1/chapter113B&edition=prelim
 
NY Penal Code 490.05 “Act of Terrorism” https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/490.05
 
NY Penal code 125.27 Murder in the first degree https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/125.27
 
Death Penalty Information Center (New York) https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/state-by-state/new-york  
 
Luigi Mangione Indictment: https://manhattanda.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Mangione-Indictment-FINAL-as-filed.pdf 
 
D.A. Bragg Announces Murder Indictment Of Luigi Mangione https://manhattanda.org/d-a-bragg-announces-murder-indictment-of-luigi-mangione/
 
FBI: Terrorism https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/terrorism 
 
Hate crime vs. Terrorism (SPLC) https://www.splcenter.org/hate-crimes-explained#crime-v-terrorism 
 
Terrorism (Britannica) https://www.britannica.com/topic/terrorism 
 
Luigi Mangione Manifesto (Ken Klippenstein substack) https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/luigis-manifesto 
 
Towards a Unified Definition of Terrorism (Modern Diplomacy) https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2024/10/29/towards-a-unified-definition-of-terrorism/ 
 
Luigi Mangione Charged With Murder As An Act Of Terrorism—Here’s What That Means (Forbes) https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2024/12/17/luigi-mangione-charged-with-murder-as-an-act-of-terrorism-heres-what-that-means/ 
 
Will Luigi Mangione be extradited to New York? Hearing in CEO shooting set for Thursday (USA Today) https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/12/18/luigi-mangione-extradition-hearing-ceo-shooting/77063682007/ 
 
Luigi Mangione's mother said she could 'see him doing' shooting of insurance CEO: police (USA Today) https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/12/17/luigi-mangione-mother-police-ceo-shooting/77055817007/ 
 
‘Cop City’ Prosecutions Hinge on a New Definition of Domestic Terrorism (NY Times) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/26/us/cop-city-domestic-terrorism.html 
 
The Rising Threat of Domestic Terrorism in the U.S. and Federal Efforts to Combat It (GAO) https://www.gao.gov/blog/rising-threat-domestic-terrorism-u.s.-and-federal-efforts-combat-it [GOOD GRAPH]
 
Assassination attempt or domestic terrorism? Why Trump’s shooting poses a problem for the FBI (The Independent) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-shooting-assassination-terrorism-motive-b2582048.html 
 
Jan. 6 and Beyond: Why the U.S. Should Pass Domestic Terrorism Legislation (Lawfare) https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/jan.-6-and-beyond-why-the-u.s.-should-pass-domestic-terrorism-legislation 
 
The Meaning of ‘Terrorism,’ According to the United States (Current Affairs) https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2024/05/the-meaning-of-terrorism-according-to-the-united-states 
 
New York prosecutors may have trouble proving first-degree murder charge against Luigi Mangione, legal experts say (CNN) https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/18/us/luigi-mangione-murder-indictment-new-york/index.html 
 
First Amendment or threat? Florida woman's arrest after CEO shooting sparks online uproar (Tallahassee Democrat) https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/state/2024/12/13/first-amendment-or-threat-florida-womans-arrest-sparks-online-uproar/76957946007/ 
James Baldwin and the FBI (JSTOR) https://daily.jstor.org/james-baldwin-and-the-fbi/

Freedom Of The Press Is Under Attack

ABC and George Stephanopoulos have settled with Trump for $15 million in a defamation lawsuit that is an example of how Trump will operate as President. Our freedom of speech requires that we are able to criticize our elected officials. And freedom of the press is essential to keep tabs on political corruption. Trump knows this, and he and his allies are going to do everything they can to create a chilling effect on our press and our ability to criticize the government. 
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S O U R C E S:
ABC agrees to settle Trump defamation lawsuit for $15 million (Salon) https://www.salon.com/2024/12/15/abc-agrees-to-settle-defamation-for-15-million/
 
Why the ABC News Settlement With Trump Is Complicated (Mother Jones) https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/12/why-the-abc-news-settlement-with-trump-is-complicated/ 
 
Judge clarifies: Yes, Trump was found to have raped E. Jean Carroll (WashPo) https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/07/19/trump-carroll-judge-rape/ 
 
Why ABC News settled with Donald Trump for $15 million (CNN) https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/16/media/george-stephanopoulos-trump-settlement-abc/index.html 
 
New York expands the legal definition of rape to include many forms of nonconsensual sexual contact (AP) https://apnews.com/article/new-york-rape-law-governor-hochul-50e5f9d35b1a7e26881db616a787b45a 
 
Trump v. ABC Ruling on the Motion to Dismiss https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.664183/gov.uscourts.flsd.664183.34.0_1.pdf 
 
Trump v. ABC Settlement Order https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24990103-abc-trump-dismissal-ruling/ 
 
Florida statutes Ch 770 Defamation, http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0770/0770.html 
 
New York Times v. Sullivan https://www.oyez.org/cases/1963/39 
 
How Morning Joe plans to cover a second Trump term https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndkgprDLKjw&t=330s 
 
Trump and His Picks Threaten More Lawsuits Over Critical Coverage (NY Times) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/15/business/media/trump-defamation-lawsuit-abc-hegseth-cnn.html 
 
Bill to protect journalists from revealing sources is ‘on life support’ (WashPo) https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2024/12/11/senate-bill-protect-journalists-sources/ 
 
Freedom of the Press (ACLU) https://www.aclu.org/issues/free-speech/freedom-press 
 
Most Americans say a free press is highly important to society (Pew) https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/23/most-americans-say-a-free-press-is-highly-important-to-society/ 
 
Obeying in Advance: Media billionaires ask for tyranny (Timothy Snyder) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3nJYpx9K5w 
Free Speech for People https://freespeechforpeople.org/