Ralph Nader

Events are moving rapidly in the Middle East, so we wanted to provide our loyal podcast listeners with some context to help digest everything that’s happened so far. We hope to provide a longer view of the what, where, who, how and why and offer some perspective on this military action’s broader historical, political, and legal implications. Ted Postol is Professor of Science, Technology and National Security Policy Emeritus in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT. His expertise is in nuclear weapon systems, including submarine warfare, applications of nuclear weapons, ballistic missile defense, and ballistic missiles more generally. He previously worked as an analyst at the Office of Technology Assessment and as a science and policy adviser to the chief of naval operations. In 2016, he received the Garwin Prize from the Federation of American Scientists for his work in assessing and critiquing the government’s claims about missile defenses. Ambassador Chas Freeman is a retired career diplomat who has negotiated on behalf of the United States with over 100 foreign governments in East and South Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and both Western and Eastern Europe. Ambassador Freeman was previously a Senior Fellow at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, and served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense, U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, and Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires in the American embassies at both Bangkok and Beijing. He was Director for Chinese Affairs at the U.S. Department of State from 1979-1981. He was the principal American interpreter during the late President Nixon’s historic visit to China in 1972. In addition to Chinese, Ambassador Freeman speaks French and Spanish at the professional level and can converse in Arabic and several other languages. Bruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law. Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy , and American Empire: Before the Fall . Ralph Nader Radio Hour is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thanks for reading Ralph Nader Radio Hour! This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

With the American republic hanging in the balance, Ralph calls on Democrats to pressure Republicans in the House and Senate to impeach Trump before the midterms or suffer the consequences. Then, we welcome Dino Grandoni, co-author of a Washington Post report on the surprising ways various species of animals and plants help advance our own health and longevity. Dino Grandoni is a reporter who covers life sciences for the Washington Post . He was part of a reporting team that was a finalist for the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for coverage of Hurricane Helene. He previously covered the Environmental Protection Agency and wrote a daily tipsheet on energy and environmental policy. He is co-author (with Hailey Haymond and Katty Huertas) of the feature “ 50 Species That Save Us .” The Democrats—while there are people like constitutional law expert Jamie Raskin (who has said a shadow hearing to publicly educate the American people on impeachment “is a good idea”) he’s been muzzled by Hakeem Jeffries and Charlie Schumer, who basically don’t want the Democrats to use the word impeachment. So who’s using the word impeachment the most? Donald Trump—not only wants to impeach judges who decide against him, but he’s talking about the Democrats impeaching him, and he uses the word all the time. So we have an upside-down situation here where the opposition party is not in the opposition on the most critical factor, which is that we have the most impeachable President in American history, getting worse by the day. Ralph Nader If the founding fathers came back to life today, would any of them oppose the impeachment, conviction, and removal of office of Donald J. Trump, who talks about being a monarch? That’s what they fought King George over. Of course, they would all support it. Ralph Nader What we have in these cards and in our stories at the Washington Post here are examples of the ways we know, the ways that scientists have uncovered how plants and animals help us. But we don’t know what we don’t know. There are likely numerous other ways that plants and animals are protecting human well-being that we don’t know and we may very well never know if some of these species go extinct. Dino Grandoni I’m always eager to find these connections between human well-being and the well-being of nature and try to describe them in ways that are compelling to readers that get them to care about protecting nature. And also finding those instances (because I want to be objective here) of when human well-being and the well-being of nature might be in conflict, and that might involve some tough decisions that we as a society or policymakers have to make. Dino Grandoni News 1/16/25 * Our top two stories this week concern corporate wrongdoing. First, Business Insider reports that the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection has released a new report which estimates Uber Eats and DoorDash, by altering their tipping processes in the city – moving tipping prompts to less prominent locations after checkout so upfront delivery costs would appear lower – have deprived gig delivery workers of $550 million since December 2023. As this piece notes, that was the month that New York City’s minimum pay law for delivery workers took effect. As a result, “The average tip for delivery workers on the apps dropped 75%...from $3.66 to $

Ralph welcomes distinguished educators Dr. Tina Ellsworth and Kelly McFarland Stratman of the National Council for the Social Studies to discuss how our democracy depends on our children learning the civic tools of social studies. Then, civic legend Lois Gibbs, who exposed the Love Canal toxic dump that was poisoning families in her area and then went on to found a national organization to help other ordinary people fight toxic exposure joins us to update us on her latest campaigns . Kelly Stratman is the Executive Director of National Council for the Social Studies. Ms. Stratman’s career began in education, first teaching English to middle and high school students in Japan, and later as a classroom teacher for kindergarten and 4th grade in Ohio and Massachusetts. Currently, she serves as vice chair of AFS-USA, a nonprofit that promotes global citizenship and intercultural learning through international exchange. Dr. Tina Ellsworth is president of the National Council for the Social Studies. Dr. Ellsworth is currently an assistant professor at Northwest Missouri State University. Dr. Ellsworth is also an assistant professor of social studies education at the University of Central Missouri. Her research interests center on history education, pedagogical content knowledge for teaching history, and teaching with primary sources. She is currently a co-writer and co-editor for a book on teaching with primary sources expected to be released in fall 2026. The emphasis at certain levels of education and government is on STEM, computer skills, learning about AI. And of course, these are just tools to use or misuse. They are taught by asking the question: how? And the social studies ask the question: why? Much more fundamental, much more portentous in order to make sure that these tools are wisely used—or, at times, not used at all. Ralph Nader I hardly remember my physics and chemistry courses. Why? Because they were sterile. For example, in the physics course, while we learned about equations, et cetera, we never applied physics to anything in the community. We never studied the weather, for example. In the chemistry course, we never studied the drinking water. We had two dirty rivers and a very clean reservoir up on a hill, and it was never part of it. It was just studying the periodic table. Ralph Nader The important thing for us to realize is that these different subject areas in schools are not mutually exclusive. In order to do STEM well, you need social studies and need the ability to make good decisions. You need the ability to critically interrogate any kind of sources that you might be encountering and ultimately do things with your work to make the world a better place. That is all social studies skills that we’re talking about. Helping kids to become critical thinkers, to really ask good questions I think is really important. And thinking about students more than just their future career, but really preparing students for this civic life too. Dr. Tina Ellsworth Teachers right now are a little bit fearful about teaching anything that is focused on civics. They’re uncertain about where the project could go when you give kids the agency to be able to do that, or how the community might respond with what students are doing. Sometimes members of the public may even say, “Oh, you’re turning students into activists.” As if having students engage in their community to make it better is something that’s bad. So I don’t quite understand a lot of that vernacular that’s being thrown around as having kids care about their community is a bad thing. So I think we need to do more to take charge of the narrative and to help better

We welcome back nuclear power expert, Peter Bradford, former Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner and board member for the Union of Concerned Scientists to update us on the latest nuclear power boondoggles that force customers to pay for the construction of nuclear reactors sometimes decades before they benefit from any energy that’s produced. Plus, molecular biologist, Becky McClain, who got infected by a dangerous virus in her workplace, joins us to discuss her book, “Exposed: A Pfizer Scientist Battles Corruption, Lies, and Betrayal, and Becomes a Biohazard Whistleblower.” Peter Bradford teaches and advises on utility regulation, nuclear power, and energy policy in the United States and overseas. He is a former member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and is on the board of the Union of Concerned Scientists . Basically, (nuclear power) is like trying to stop world hunger with caviar. It’s too expensive, takes much too long, you wind up buying too little of it, and you displace all of the better sources. Peter Bradford It’s almost like there’s a bubble being built on top of a bubble, because there’s a real chance that we’re not going to see all the artificial intelligence demand that people have been saying. And then on top of that, it’s for damn sure that we’re not going to see successful companies developing all the small reactors that are on their drawing boards. Peter Bradford Becky McClain is a retired biotech worker and research scientist. She is known as the first successful biotech whistleblower who spoke and reported on biolab safety issues of public concern. On April 1, 2010, Ms. McClain won a federal court whistleblower trial against Pfizer, Inc., which centered on free speech rights concerning biosafety and public health. She is the author of “ Exposed: A Pfizer Scientist Battles Corruption, Lies, and Betrayal, and Becomes a Biohazard Whistleblower.” I was exposed to a dangerous virus and OSHA worked against me. My medical care was blocked. My complaints ignored. No safety inspection occurred after I had documented complaints shown to them from several scientists. They stole my documents. It seemed like every institution that I went for help, they just became part of the danger. Becky McClain The book really provides the public an understanding of the culture of health and safety operating within 21st century biotechnology. Once the reader reads it, they probably will feel the terrible repercussions that the public could face if it’s not countered and balanced with effective whistleblower protections and improved worker health and safety rights. Becky McClain When you were exposed and became sick, you tried to go to the workers’ compensation agency, the state of Connecticut, and their response was totally dismaying. They ruled that trade secrets of Pfizer superseded your rights to get exposure records from Pfizer for your healthcare. Ralph Nader Far, far more people die from silent violence of workplace and environmental contaminants than are killed in street crimes every year in the United States. Ralph Nader News 11/21/25 * This week, Congress voted to demand the release of the Epstein files. This is the culmination of a months-long pressure campaign which overcame stiff opposition from the Trump White House and its allies

Ralph welcomes Andy Shallal of Busboys and Poets to discuss his new memoir, “A Seat at the Table: The Making of Busboys and Poets.” Then, Ralph speaks to business consultant and activist Bennett Freeman about why Big Business isn’t standing up to the Trump Administration. Andy Shallal is an activist, artist and social entrepreneur. Mr. Shallal is the founder and proprietor of Busboys and Poets restaurants in the Washington, D.C. area, which feature prominent speakers, poets and authors and provide a venue for social and political activism. He is also co-founder of The Peace Cafe and a member of the board of trustees for The Institute for Policy Studies. He is the author of the new book A Seat at the Table: The Making of Busboys and Poets . I’ve called Andy Shallal “democracy’s restaurateur”, and he really fits the bill. Ralph Nader Activism is the best antidote to depression. It’s really hard to be able to sit back—and especially now with social media and everything else that’s right at your fingertips, to be able to watch the little babies being snipered and their limbs being chopped up. And it just feels so, so horrific. And the only way you can really be able to make sense of it—if there’s any way to make sense of it—is to continue to fight for a better world. Andy Shallal Since, of course, October 7th opened up a whole new thing for activists and really exposed in a very stark way the myth of “Western civilization,” the idea of how obvious the lies and the deceit that’s been happening, and the power of the military industrial complex that we’ve been warned about over the years I think [a new understanding is] taking shape right now, and we’re starting to understand it more and more. And as I think we are trying to free Gaza and free Palestine, at the same time I think Gaza and Palestine are freeing us to be able to understand our system better. Andy Shallal One of the things that I find is necessary for movements to be sustained is to have joy. You’ve got to have opportunities for joy. You got to have opportunities for people to actually have fun together, really feel like they’re part of a community. Because a lot of times, the work we do isn’t—well, it’s soul-sucking work, you know, and you need to have those opportunities to be able to refuel and re-energize. Andy Shallal Bennett Freeman is principal of Bennett Freeman Associates, where he advises multinational corporations, international institutions, and NGOs on policy and strategy related to human rights and labour rights. Mr. Freeman was founding chair of the advisory board for Global Witness (an investigative, campaigning organisation that challenges the power of climate-wrecking companies). He was also founding trustee of the Institute for Human Rights and Business, co-founder of the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, and co-founder of the Global Network Initiative. He served on the governing board of the Natural Resource Governance Institute, as well as the board of Oxfam America. Mr. Freeman was the lead author of “ Shared Space Under Pressure: Business Support for Civic Freedoms and Human Rights Defenders .” [Ralph,] you correctly characterize the silence and obeisance of much of corporate America (not least the tech CEOs) so far this year. I would use another pair of words as well to characterize their stance, which I think during the campaign last year in 2024 was:

Ralph answers some of your recent questions about the genocide in Gaza, how to jumpstart civic engagement, and more! Your feedback is very important. And the more detailed and factual it is, the better off the impact will be by your initiative and getting back to us. You have to be active in a program like this. Because we’re not just talking to the choir here. We want the choir to sing back—in affirmation or dissent. Ralph Nader I was astonished…how disinterested the American people are in empowering themselves. That’s the problem we have. The lack of civic motivation, the lack of saying, “Look, we’ve given our power to only 535 people in the Congress, and they’ve turned it against us on behalf of some 1,500 corporations. We’re going to turn it around. We’re the sovereign power.” As I’ve said a hundred times, the Constitution starts with “We the people,” not “We the Congress” or “We the corporations.” And the people don’t seem to want to focus on that. If they had anyone in their neighborhood and community who were treating them the way Congress is treating them—as voters, as workers, as consumers, as parents, as children, as taxpayers—they would never allow it. Ralph Nader You get more and more voters vulnerable to just what comes out of a politician’s mouth. Remember, everything Trump has achieved politically has come out of his mouth—not out of his deeds, just out of his mouth. Repeatedly, unrebutted largely over the mass media, and faithfully relayed to the American people by a supine media which points out his mistakes once in a while, but it was too little, too late. Ralph Nader News 9/26/25 * This week, the campaign for Palestinian statehood notched major victories. According to the BBC , the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Australia and Portugal all announced on Sunday that they would recognize the state of Palestine. They are expected to be joined by a number of smaller states, including Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, Andorra and San Marino. These countries, all traditionally close allies of the United States and Israel, join the 140 countries that already recognize the State of Palestine. A statement by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese explains that this move is “part of a co-ordinated international effort to build new momentum for a two-state solution, starting with a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages.” These heads of state are pursuing this policy despite a thinly veiled threat from Congressional Republicans, a group of whom – including Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Elise Stefanik – sent a letter to President Macron and Prime Ministers Starmer, Carney and Albanese warning them of possible “punitive measures in response,” and urging them to “reconsider,” per the Guardian . * In more Palestine news, as the Global Sumud Flotilla draws near to the coast of Gaza, they are apparently under low-level attack. Al Jazeera reports the flotilla, “has reported explosions and communications jamming as drones hovered overhead.” In response, the United Nations has called for a probe, with UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan stating, “There must be an independent, impartial and thorough investigation into the reported attacks and harassment by drones and other objects.” In response to this harassment, <a target="_blank" href="ht

Ralph welcomes Ben Cohen (anti-war activist and ice cream entrepreneur) to discuss his new campaign, "Up in Arms," which advocates for a common-sense Pentagon budget. Then, Ralph speaks to Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi about her recent piece: "When will we finally admit: the Gaza death toll is higher than we’ve been told." Ben Cohen is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and longtime anti-war activist. He is a co-founder of the ice cream company Ben & Jerry's and a prominent supporter of progressive causes. He is co-founder of Up In Arms , a public education and advocacy campaign pushing for a common-sense approach to military budgeting. In May of this year, Ben was arrested by Capitol Police after he interrupted Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s testimony by screaming,”Congress kills poor kids in Gaza by buying bombs and pays for it by kicking kids off Medicaid.” We're up in arms because the government has taken the kindness, the heart, the soul of the American people and essentially replaced it with so many bombs that there's no rational use for them. They've turned us all into mass murderers. Ben Cohen You know, politicians starting from Reagan are fond of saying “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.” And then they turn around and spend $100 billion a year on a nuclear arsenal that's capable of blowing up the entire world several times over. So they say one thing and they do another. I mean, a nuclear arsenal capable of blowing up the entire world several times over? That's not deterrence. That's delusion. Ben Cohen I just go back to the moral issue of our time, which is Gaza—two-thirds of the American people don't support continuing to arm Israel. And we need to make our politicians pay the price for continuing to arm Israel… We have a midterm election coming up. If your guy voted to continue to essentially facilitate the genocide, vote them out. Ben Cohen When you have more money than is needed, you tend to invite corruption, cost overruns, machinery that doesn't work, and I would advise that you look into why the GAO and the Pentagon auditors are being asked to do fewer audits of the military budget. Because there's almost a direct correlation between throwing money at a government program (especially at that scale) and corruption. And corruption is understandable to everybody. It's the number one political issue all over the world, when the pollsters poll. Ralph Nader Arwa Mahdawi is a columnist for the Guardian and author of Strong Female Lead: Lessons from Women in Power . Here is her recent piece on the genocide in Gaza: “When will we finally admit: the Gaza death toll is higher than we’ve been told” ( The Guardian, August 8, 2025 ) To be fair, the New York Times , Washington Post , and Wall Street Journal have published some pretty devastating reports from their reporters in that area. They've put out some devastating features on what's going on [in Gaza], but it doesn't translate into editorial denunciation by these papers. And it doesn't translate into taking the next step and doing what they would do in other conflicts around the world where there isn't so much prejudice and domestic pressure Ralph Nader I'm an opinion writer, but as journalists, you're always supposed to report facts. And the fact is: we have absolutely no id

In the midst of the terrible Trump tax bill moving through Congress, Ralph invites Sarah Anderson who directs the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies to discuss the massive tax loopholes huge companies like Amazon get that allow them to pay far less in taxes than ordinary working people. Then, Greg LeRoy from Good Jobs First joins us to discuss how state taxpayers are footing the bill for these massive data centers companies like Google are building all over the country. Plus, Ralph has some choice words for passive unions and responds to listener feedback about our guest last week, Nadav Wieman. Sarah Anderson directs the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies and is a co-editor of the IPS website Inequality.org. Her research covers a wide range of international and domestic economic issues, including inequality, CEO pay, taxes, labor, and Wall Street reform. They're (Congress is) planning to give huge new tax giveaways to large corporations like Amazon and wealthy people like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. And partially paying for those tax cuts for the wealthy by slashing programs that mean so much to so many Americans like Medicaid and food assistance.” Sarah Anderson We're not going to have a healthy, thriving society and economy as long as we have the extreme levels of inequality that we have today. Sarah Anderson Dubbed “the leading national watchdog of state and local economic development subsidies,” “an encyclopedia of information regarding subsidies,” “God’s witness to corporate welfare,” and “the OG of ensuring that state and local tax policy actually supports good jobs, sustainability, and equity,”* Greg founded Good Jobs First in 1998 upon winning the Public Interest Pioneer Award. He has trained and consulted for state and local governments, associations of public officials, labor-management committees, unions, community groups, tax and budget watchdogs, environmentalists, and smart growth advocates more than 30 years. Public education and public health are the two biggest losers in every state giving away money to data centers right now. Greg Le Roy We know of no other form of state spending that is so out of control. Therefore, we recommend that states cancel their data center tax exemptions. Such subsidies are absolutely unnecessary for an extremely profitable industry dominated by some of the most valuable corporations on earth such as Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and Google. Good Jobs First report: “Cloudy With a Loss of Spending Control” They've (Congress has) known for years that the ordinary worker pays a higher tax rate than these loophole-ridden corporations. Ralph Nader In my message to Trump, I ask him, "Why is he afraid of Netanyahu? And doesn't he want to come to the rescue of these innocent babies by saying, ‘Mr. Netanyahu, the taxpayers in this country are paying for thousands of trucks stalled at the border of Gaza full of medicine, food, water, electricity, fuel, and other critical necessities? We're going to put a little American flag on each one of these trucks, and don't you dare block them.’” …No answer. Ralph Nader News 5/23/25 1. It seems as though the dam in Israeli politics against acknowledging the horrors in Gaza is beginning to break. In an interview with the BBC this week, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated that what Israel "is currently doing in Gaza is very close to a war crime. Thousands of innocent Palestinians are being killed.” He went on to say, “the war has no objective and has no chance of achieving anything that could

First, Ralph welcomes Washington Post tech journalist Faiz Siddiqui to discuss his new book "Hubris Maximus: The Shattering of Elon Musk." Then, our resident legal expert Bruce Fein stops by to explain how Elon Musk and DOGE are breaking the law. Finally, David picks up our interview with Ralph about Ralph's new book "Civic Self-Respect." Faiz Siddiqui is a technology journalist who writes for the Washington Post and has covered companies such as Tesla, Uber, and Twitter (now X) for the Business Desk. His reporting has focused on transportation, social media and government transformation, among other issues. He is the author of Hubris Maximus: The Shattering of Elon Musk (excerpted here ). Over and over throughout this book, there's this recurring theme of victimhood, or at least Elon feeling like his back is against the wall. And why? For what? He and his fans felt they were doing the right things, and yet they were being scrutinized and punished for it. Faiz Siddiqui In the wake of many Facebook scandals, many Uber scandals, Tesla was the company to work for. Elon was the person to work for. There was no figure as magnetic, who inspired people in the way that Elon did. So recruiting was a strong suit of that company. And the pitch was: come here and change the world. Faiz Siddiqui I think what this book brings is a healthy dose of reality and skepticism… that so far has been lacking from the overall conversation around Musk. And what I you'll find is (I hope you'll find) that you can identify with some of the folks in the book who were lured in by the promises (or just enamored by the guy and what he might be able to bring to society if his goals were ultimately realized) but then ended up feeling disappointed or feeling like—hey, this guy was not all he was cracked up to be. Even if the goals were noble, even if the ambitions were the right ones, the ends might not have justified the means. And so I want people to find, ideally, that their understanding of one of the most powerful people in society today is enriched. Faiz Siddiqui Bruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law. Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy , and American Empire: Before the Fall . [Elon Musk is] just a walking violation of the federal code. Bruce Fein There's nowhere to go but up in terms of being a smart consumer. Unfortunately, our Elementary and high schools don't teach consumer skills (they prefer to teach computer skills) and consumer skills result in what is, in effect, a pay raise. Ralph Nader Adam Smith once said many centuries ago that the purpose of production is consumption. And if consumption is informed and feeds back, it can lead to a high-quality economy. It can lead to more integrity to your consumer dollar and to your health and safety. It can lead to less environmental damage. It could lead to stronger regulation of product defects and services that are harmful. It's sort of a bottom-up economic democracy. Ralph Nader</stron

Ralph talks about his new book, “Civic Self Respect” which reminds us that our civic lives have different primary roles—not only voter, but also worker, taxpayer, consumer, sometimes soldier and sometimes parent—and how each one offers special opportunities for people to organize to make change. Plus, we welcome back former commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, John Koskinen, who tells us exactly how the Trump/Musk cabal is both gutting and weaponizing the IRS. John Koskinen served as the IRS Commissioner from 2013 to 2017. This is not a how-to book. It starts at a much more elementary level and therefore should interest a much greater number of people. Because, as I say, if you can expand your civic dimension as a part of your daily role without disrupting the rhythms of your daily life (in fact, actually making them more gratifying and more interesting, less boring), you're on your way. Ralph Nader author of Civic Self-Respect The people who really fight for justice in this country have to fight for recognition, they have to fight for media, they have to fight an onslaught. And the people who lie and cheat and say the most terrible things and do the most terrible things are really the best-known people in the country. I mean, if you say who are the best-known people in Congress? They're the blowhards, the cruel and vicious people who've said things that are illegal, outrageous against innocent groups here and abroad. Ralph Nader I used to say to the Congress (trying to get appropriations) that the IRS is the only agency where if you give it money, it gives you more money back. Because the more you can actually audit people who aren't paying the proper amount or aren't filing at all, the better off you are. So no one has ever disagreed with that. John Koskinen Going back a thousand years, tax collectors have never been particularly popular. And so when you talk about the IRS, people say, "Oh, the poor old IRS." In some ways, they don't understand just the points you're making about the impact on them, on the country, of an ineffective IRS going forward. And that's why my thought is this move toward using the IRS to attack people ought to be a way for everyone to say, "You know, I may not love paying taxes, but I certainly don't want the government and the president or the treasury secretary or somebody else ordering an audit of my taxes just because they don't like my political position or what I'm teaching in my course.” John Koskinen Ralph Nader’s new book Civic Self-respect is available now from Seven Stories Press. News 4/16/25 1. On Thursday April 17th, Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland departed for El Salvador in an effort to personally track down Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an immigrant who was arrested and deported to CECOT, the notorious Salvadoran prison camp, WUSA9 reports. Garcia was legally protected against deportation by a 2019 court order and a Trump administration official admitted in court that he “should never have been on that plane.” Last week, the Supreme Court unanimously ordered that he be returned to the U.S. Van Hollen is quoted saying “You go out, you get disap