Politics

Tonight on The Independents: John Tierney, John Bolton, Bryan Suits and K.T. McFarland on Bowe Bergdahl; Plus Coal Regs, NSA Face-Tracking, International Whore Day, Sexy After-show, and a Texas DEA Raid You Will Not Believe

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Two weeks ago on this blog, Senior Editor Brian Doherty wrote about a case in Texas that sounds like one of the weirdest and most infuriating abuses of justice you'll see:

In a federal/local raid earlier this month on a "smoke shop" called the Purple Zone in Alpine, Texas, two sisters running the place were arrested: Ilana and Arielle Lipsen.

Arielle insists she was hit in the head with a rifle by a DEA agent in what she characterized as an unprovoked assault. […]

Pictures of Lipsen's head with the alleged gun butt wound were taken and spread on Facebook by Tom Cochran, who runs a screen printing shop whose services the Lipsen sisters used. […]

The document that Ilana Lipsen had to sign to make bond, which I have seen, included this handwritten demand […]:

"will advice media (Kwest9 news) that he [sic] sister, arielle lipsen, was not beaten by agents carrying/using a M16 rifle, and her sister instigated/assaulted agents."

A NewsWest9 report says Lipsen did, as ordered, recant her original story.

The pictures have now led Cochran to suffer a public call for boycott of his business, Big Bend Screen Printing, from the National Border Patrol Council, an AFL-CIO affiliate union for Border Patrol workers. (Local station NewsWest9 has more on that.)

So on tonight's live episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, repeats three hours later) we'll have Tom Cochran on to talk about this crazy series of events.

Party Panel this evening consists of New York Times science writer-slash-friend of Reason John Tierney and former Reagan-administration deputy defense secretary K.T. McFarland, who will talk about the two big pieces of news today: the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed rules mandating carbon reductions, and the confusing and contested prisoner swap of five allegedly Taliban-affiliated Guantanamo Bay prisoners for the controversial Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Later in the show the Panel will also discuss the National Security Agency's huge new facial recognition plans.

Bowe Bengdahl is back on the menu in the next segment, with radio host and military veteran Bryan Suits, who is threatening to bust out with some insiderish knowledge about the case. Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton will likely have a thing or two to add on the subject, though first we want to get his reactions to being a pawn in Iranian cyberespionage. And naturally we'll be celebrating International Whores' Day.

Aftershow begins on foxbusiness.com/independents just after 10. Follow The Independents on Facebook at facebook.com/IndependentsFBN, follow on Twitter @ independentsFBN, we'll use your best Tweets during the show, and click on this page for more video of past segments.