Loud & Clear

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Missing from the Debate: US Troops in Syria an Illegal Occupying Force Oct 08, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Rick Sterling, an investigative journalist and member of the Syria Solidarity Movement.
Political and military elites are in an uproar over the surprise move by the Trump administration to withdraw, or at least partially withdraw, U.S. troops from Syria. Mainstream media has been filled with wall-to-wall condemnation of the move, and Democratic and Republican politicians alike are united in their demand to continue the illegal U.S. presence in Syria.
The new Supreme Court term started this week, and today the highest court in the country is hearing three cases about workplace discrimination against LGBTQ people. Also on the docket in this new session is a challenge to the court’s historic case Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in 1973 but has been under attack since then. Julie Hurwitz, civil rights attorney and partner at the law firm Goodman, Hurwitz and James, joins the show.
The Trump administration today directed US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland not to testify before the House of Representatives today, according to Sondland’s lawyers. President Trump says that Sondland has previously stated there was no quid pro quo and therefore has no need to testify. Brian and John speak with Ted Rall, an award winning journalist and editorial cartoonist whose work is at www.rall.com.
After a third day of anti-austerity protests in Ecuador, President Lenin Moreno’s government fled from the nation’s capital, Quito, to Guayaquil, a right-wing stronghold. The austerity measures are due to a $4.2 billion deal that the country signed with the International Monetary Fund in March. Independent journalist, writer and researcher Denis Rogatyuk joins the show.
Juan Guaido’s U.S.-backed coup attempt in Venezuela has become little more than a farce as his so-called government loses international standing and is beset by corruption scandals. Nevertheless, the U.S. government still stands by its policy of attempting to install him as the country’s leader and is waging increasingly devastating economic warfare to do so. Anya Parampil, a journalist for The Grayzone who’s the author of two recent pieces on the crisis in Venezuela: “How Venezuela defeated Washington’s coup attempt at the United Nations” and Hausmann hypocrisy: Guaido coup official raked in dollars from dictators and banking behemoths while promoting ‘democracy’ for Venezuela,” joins Brian and John.
Tuesday’s weekly series is False Profits—A Weekly Look at Wall Street and Corporate Capitalism with Daniel Sankey. Brian and John speak with financial policy analyst Daniel Sankey.
Today’s regular segment that airs every Tuesday is called Women & Society with Dr. Hannah Dickinson. This weekly segment is about the major issues, challenges, and struggles facing women in all aspects of society. Hannah Dickinson, an associate professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and an organizer with the Geneva Women’s Assembly; Nathalie Hrizi, an educator, a political activist, and the editor of Breaking the Chains, a women’s magazine; and Loud & Clear producer Nicole Roussell join the show.

Impeachment Fight Escalates Political Civil War in Washington Oct 07, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker is joined by Daniel Lazare. He is a journalist and author of three books--“The Frozen Republic,” “The Velvet Coup,” and “America's Undeclared War.”
A second so-called whistleblower has now come forward claiming first hand knowledge of the call between Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky that forms the basis of the Democrats’ impeachment probe. But the controversy is not just engulfing the White House -- Democratic 2020 frontrunner Joe Biden is also badly damaged by the details of the case, leaving the effort to unseat Trump in next year’s election in a severely weakened state.
In a surprise announcement, the Trump administration announced that U.S. troops would withdraw from Northern Syria to make room for a new Turkish military offensive targeting the Kurdish YPG militia. The move has caused great controversy in the United States and around the world. Ambassador Peter Ford, the former UK Ambassador to Syria, joins the show.
More than 100 people are now dead from an Iraqi government crackdown on protests that have been going on for the last week. Protestors have taken to the streets against unemployment, lack of basic infrastructure, and corruption in the government. Brian speaks with Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Non-Violence.
Protests continued in Hong Kong over the weekend as many marchers defied a new regulation prohibiting the wearing of masks at actions. Demonstrations continue to be violent, and on Sunday a journalist was burned after being hit by a molotov cocktail. Mike Wong, the outreach coordinator for the San Francisco chapter of Veterans for Peace, joins the show.
Monday’s segment “Education for Liberation with Bill Ayers” is where Bill helps us look at the state of education across the country. What’s happening in our schools, colleges, and universities, and what impact does it have on the world around us? Bill Ayers, an activist, educator and the author of the book “Demand the Impossible: A Radical Manifesto,” joins Brian.
In this segment, The Week Ahead, the hosts take a look at the most newsworthy stories of the coming week and what it means for the country and the world, including the new second whistleblower in the impeachment inquiry, the potential withdrawal of US troops from the north eastern region of Syria, and the heavy death toll in Iraq following protests there over the past week. Sputnik News analysts and producers of this show Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek join the show.
Monday’s regular segment Technology Rules with Chris Garaffa is a weekly guide on how monopoly corporations and the national surveillance state are threatening cherished freedoms, civil rights and civil liberties. Web developer and technologist Chris Garaffa and Patricia Gorky, a software engineer and technology and security analyst, joins the show.

Gross US Interference in Ukraine Didn’t Start with Trump Oct 04, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Joe Lauria, the editor-in-chief of Consortium News, founded by the late Robert Parry, and author of the recent article in Consortium News, “The Untold Story of the Trump-Ukraine ‘Scandal’: The Routine Corruption of US Foreign Policy.”
Former US envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker testified in a closed-door session on Capitol Hill yesterday that Rudy Giuliani ran what he called a “shadow shakedown” of the Ukrainian government, according to a member of Congress who was present. Volker testified further that President Trump, through Giuliani, withheld aid to Ukraine and asked the country to look into former President Joe Biden, his son Hunter, and the 2016 election.
The Iraqi government imposed a curfew in Baghdad and blocked access to the internet following the deaths of at least 42 protestors over three days of violence, the worst rioting since the 1968 revolution. Prime Minister Adil Abd al-Mahdi said today that protestors’ demands were righteous and he added that he would work against corruption and for job creation, as demonstrators are demanding. Mike Prysner, an Army veteran who served for a year in Iraq, a documentary filmmaker, and a co-host of the anti-war podcast Eyes Left, joins the show.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will ask for a Brexit delay if no deal for withdraw from the European Union is agreed upon before October 19, according to papers filed in a Scottish court. Johnson earlier had said that he would rather lie dead in a ditch on the side of the road than ask for a delay. Brian and John speak with Steve Hedley, the senior assistant general secretary of the UK’s Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers Union.
Peace activists will march on the White House on Friday, October 11 and Saturday, October 12 as part of the Rage Against the War Machine movement. The event is in protest of the mind-boggling amounts of money spent on war and weapons, which then leaves little to nothing to spend on healthcare, education, clean water, and more, to say nothing of the human cost to life and limb. Cindy Sheehan, an anti-war activist and journalist whose son Casey was killed during the Iraq War, and one of the organizers of the March on the Pentagon, joins the show.
It’s Friday! So it’s time for the week’s worst and most misleading headlines. Brian and John speak with Steve Patt, an independent journalist whose critiques of the mainstream media have been a feature of his site Left I on the News and on twitter @leftiblog, and Sputnik producer Nicole Roussell.
Friday is Loud & Clear’s weekly hour-long segment The Week in Review, about the week in politics, policy, and international affairs. Today they focus on the new details in the impeachment inquiry and the US’s longer-term relationship to Ukraine, plus the protests in Iraq and Hong Kong. Brian and John speak with Jim Kavanagh, editor of thepolemicist.net, and Sputnik News analyst and producer and Nicole Roussell.

How This Impeachment Inquiry Differs from Watergate Oct 04, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Coleen Rowley, a former FBI special agent who in 2002 was named Time Magazine person of the year along with two other whistleblowers.
Former Special Envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker is being deposed by Congress today as part of the impeachment probe. And in two White House appearances with the President of Finland yesterday, President Trump continued to lash out at Democrats leading the impeachment inquiry, and he again called for Rep. Adam Schiff to be arrested for treason. House Democrats, meanwhile, said they would issue a subpoena for White House documents, and they warned Trump and Secretary of State Pompeo not to interfere with the probe.
YouTube has quietly begun demonetizing videos that, it says, don’t comply with its terms of service and community guidelines. What does that mean? It means that many content providers who are outside the mainstream or that use certain words or phrases in their descriptions, are not eligible to earn money from advertising. So how do alternative news providers reach their audiences? Ford Fischer, the founder of the media startup News2Share, joins the show.
Hong Kong’s cabinet will meet tomorrow to discuss the invocation of emergency powers to tackle increasingly large and violent protests, beginning with a ban on protestors wearing masks that they use to protect themselves from tear gas or to hide their identities. Chief Executive Carrie Lam called for the emergency meeting and said that the power will be approved and will become law on Friday. Brian and John speak with Walter Smolarek, a Sputnik News analyst and one of the producers of this show.
The Justice Department is planning to require the collection of DNA from all migrants crossing the border with Mexico, as well as from all people in immigration detention for use in a national criminal database. Senior Administration officials say the policy could take effect before the end of the week. Juan José Gutiérrez, the executive director of the Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition, joins the show.
The US plans to swiftly impose tariffs on $7.5 billion in aircraft, food products, and other goods from the European Union after the World Trade Organization authorized the levies yesterday. The new duties represent the most significant trade action against the EU since the Trump administration hit Europe with tariffs on aluminum and steel a year ago. The EU announced this morning that it would impose retaliatory tariffs on US goods. Meanwhile, stocks took yet another dive after disappointing data was released related to the US service sector. Steve Keen, the author of “Debunking Economics” and the world’s first crowdfunded economist whose work is at patreon.com/ProfSteveKeen, joins Brian and John.
Thursday’s weekly series “Criminal Injustice” is about the most egregious conduct of our courts and prosecutors and how justice is denied to so many people in this country. Paul Wright, the founder and executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center and editor of Prison Legal News (PLN), and Kevin Gosztola, a writer for Shadowproof.com and co-host of the podcast Unauthorized Disclosure, join the show.
A regular Thursday segment deals with the ongoing militarization of space. As the US continues to withdraw from international arms treaties, will the weaponization and militarization of space bring the world closer to catastrophe? Brian and John speak with Prof. Karl Grossman, a full professor of journalism at the State University of New York, College at Old Westbury and the host of a nationally aired television program focused on environmental, energy, and space issues, and with Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus.

Impeachment Inquiry A Shield to Protect U.S. Intelligence Agencies? Oct 02, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Daniel Lazare, a journalist and author of three books-- “The Frozen Republic,” “The Velvet Coup,” and “America's Undeclared War.”
The House Intelligence Committee’s impeachment inquiry seems to be expanding by the day. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is being accused of obstructing justice by insisting that State Department employees not cooperate with the investigation; the State Department Inspector General requested an emergency meeting this morning with Intelligence Committee staff members; and both Pompeo and Attorney General Barr and have either been in Italy or have spoken with Italian authorities, reportedly about Joseph Mifsud, a shadowy Maltese academic who is somehow involved.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to present what he says is his final Brexit proposal to the European Union today. The plan was supposed to include customs checks on the Irish border beginning in January 2021. Irish officials dismissed Johnson’s plan as “completely unacceptable,” and then in his speech at the annual Conservative Party conference, he said there would be no customs checks. British business leaders, meanwhile, reiterated their position that a no-deal Brexit would crash the UK’s economy. Alexander Mercouris, the editor-in-chief of The Duran, joins the show.
The New York Times is reporting that a senior Boeing engineer filed an internal ethics complaint earlier this year, saying that during the internal development of the 737 Max8 jet, the company had rejected a safety system in order to minimize costs. The engineer believes that the system could have reduced risks that contributed to two crashes that resulted in 346 deaths. Brian and John speak with Dr. Alan Diehl, an award-winning aviation psychologist and safety consultant, a major air safety whistleblower, and the author of the book “Air Safety Investigators.”
The United Nations reported yesterday that more than 1,000 migrants and refugees have died in the Mediterranean Sea this year, the sixth consecutive year that what it calls “this bleak milestone” has been reached. The UN refugee agency UNHCR called on European Union member states to reactivate search and rescue operations and to acknowledge the crucial role of aid groups’ vessels in saving lives at sea. What role have U.S. and European intervention played in causing the refugee crisis in the first place? Francis Boyle, a professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law and author of the book “Destroying World Order: US Imperialism in the Middle East Before and After September 11,” joins the show.
Under a new agreement between the Kiev government and separatist leaders, local elections will be held in separatist-controlled areas in the country’s east and troops from both sides will withdraw from the area. Experts believe the move could pave the way for peace talks between the government and ethnic Russian separatists. Mark Sleboda, an international affairs and security analyst, joins Brian and John.
Wednesday’s weekly series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective. Sputnik news analysts Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek join the show.
Wednesday’s regular segment, Beyond Nuclear, is about nuclear issues, including weapons, energy, waste, and the future of nuclear technology in the United States. Kevin Kamps, the Radioactive Waste Watchdog at the organization Beyond Nuclear, and Sputnik news analyst and producer Nicole Roussell, join the show.

The Hidden Story Behind Impeachment Oct 01, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Joe Lauria, the editor-in-chief of Consortium News, founded by the late Robert Parry, and author of the recent article in Consortium News, “The Untold Story of the Trump-Ukraine ‘Scandal’: The Routine Corruption of US Foreign Policy.”
News surrounding the impeachment inquiry against President Trump gets curiouser and curiouser. We now know that the President has enlisted the help of the Prime Minister of Australia to investigate the origins of the Mueller inquiry. And Attorney General Barr is personally asking foreign leaders for assistance on the same matter. Once of the primary questions seems to be “Who is Joseph Mifsud and how is he involved?”
Violent protests continued to take place in Hong Kong as China celebrated the 70th anniversary of the revolution that established the People’s Republic. Groups of demonstrators carried out attacks with metal pipes and molotov cocktails in an attempt to disrupt this important occasion as the hardcore separatist forces take center stage in the protest movement. Ben Norton, a journalist with The Grayzone and co-host of the Moderate Rebels podcast, joins the show.
Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi was a moderate critic of the Saudi government when he was lured into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, murdered, and dismembered by agents of Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman. The CIA concluded that Muhammad bin Salman was responsible for the assassination, but President Trump has refused to hold him or his government to account. Brian and John speak with Medea Benjamin, the co-founder of the peace group Code Pink, which is holding a protest at the Saudi Embassy in Washington tomorrow at 1:00 p.m., the time at which Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate.
Now-fired Dallas police officer Amber Guyger has been convicted of murder in the killing of her neighbor Botham Jean. Guyger burst into Jean’s home, which she said she mistakenly believed was her apartment, and shot Jean dead. Meanwhile, A New York police officer on Sunday got out of his vehicle to question a man, who then fled. The officer gave chase, caught up with the man, and in the ensuing struggle was shot and later died. While the man who was being chased was initially blamed for the killing, it turns out that it was in fact other police officers who opened fire and killed their comrade. Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, joins the show.
Today’s regular segment that airs every Tuesday is called Women & Society with Dr. Hannah Dickinson. This weekly segment is about the major issues, challenges, and struggles facing women in all aspects of society. Hannah Dickinson, an associate professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and an organizer with the Geneva Women’s Assembly; Nathalie Hrizi, an educator, a political activist, and the editor of Breaking the Chains, a women’s magazine; and Loud & Clear producer Nicole Roussell join the show.
Massive celebrations are being held across China today as the country marks 70 years since the revolution of 1949. President Xi Jinping presided over a huge military parade in Beijing where he paid tribute to the founders and past leaders of the People’s Republic of China. Meanwhile, violent demonstrations in Hong Kong have led to major disruptions in the city. John Ross, Senior Fellow at Chongyang Institute, Renmin University of China, and an award-winning resident columnist with several Chinese media organizations, and Jude Woodward, who is the author of the book “The US vs China: Asia's new Cold War?”, joins the show.
Tuesday’s weekly series is False Profits—A Weekly Look at Wall Street and Corporate Capitalism with Daniel Sankey. Brian and John speak with financial policy analyst Daniel Sankey.

Trump Sees "Civil War" Breaking Out Over Impeachment Sep 30, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jacqueline Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which hosts a livestream every week on Facebook, Dan Kovalik, a human rights and labor lawyer, and Aaron Maté, a journalist with The Grayzone and The Nation and host of “Pushback with Aaron Maté.”
House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff said over the weekend that the Committee had reached a tentative agreement for the CIA whistleblower to testify. It is not clear whether the testimony will be in open session or behind closed doors. Meanwhile, President Trump accused Schiff of manufacturing the transcript of his call with Ukrainian, and he called for the Congressman to be charged with treason, a death penalty offense.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels announced over the weekend that they had killed 500 Saudi troops and had captured another 2,000 Saudis. A Houthi-run television station ran video of long, snaking lines of Saudi prisoners, as well as interviews with some prisoners confirming that they were indeed Saudis. Meanwhile, Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman appeared on CBS’s 60 Minutes yesterday to say that he did not want war with Iran and that he did not order the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, although he took responsibility for the killing because it was carried out by Saudi government employees. Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Non-Violence, joins the show.
Monday’s segment “Education for Liberation with Bill Ayers” is where Bill helps us look at the state of education across the country. What’s happening in our schools, colleges, and universities, and what impact does it have on the world around us? Bill Ayers, an activist, educator and the author of the book “Demand the Impossible: A Radical Manifesto,” joins Brian and John.
In this segment, The Week Ahead, the hosts take a look at the most newsworthy stories of the coming week and what it means for the country and the world, including the ongoing drama over impeachment and the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the People’s Republic of China -- an occasion that protesters in Hong Kong want to disrupt. Sputnik News analysts and producers of this show Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek join the show.
Monday’s regular segment Technology Rules with Chris Garaffa is a weekly guide on how monopoly corporations and the national surveillance state are threatening cherished freedoms, civil rights and civil liberties. Web developer and technologist Chris Garaffa joins the show.

Beneath the Headlines: Dissecting the Politics of Impeachment Sep 27, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Aaron Maté, a journalist with Grayzone and The Nation and on the podcast Pushback with Aaron Maté.
The New York Times reported yesterday evening that the whistleblower who disclosed the contents of President Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Zelensky is a senior CIA officer. The ultimate disclosure was actually the result of several different memos and reports collated by the whistleblower. So now members of Congress are asking several questions: Is the whistleblower really a whistleblower or is there a partisan angle to the story? And has the President actually committed a crime?
The United Auto Workers and General Motors apparently are not close to a deal to end the nationwide strike against the company, and talks are expected to take at least another week, according to the Detroit Free Press. That also means that the strike could last at least another TWO weeks, if the union acts on a plan it’s considering to keep members on the picket lines until the rank and file votes to ratify a deal. Benjamin Frantz, the Vice President of the United Auto Workers Union’s Local 652, joins the show.
A former US Army soldier was arrested last week and charged with conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction in an attack against a major US news network and conspiring to murder Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke. The FBI revealed that the soldier also attempted to go to Ukraine to fight alongside neo-Nazi paramilitaries there. This is not an isolated incident. Recently two ex-Army soldiers who had fought alongside the neo-Nazis in Ukraine murdered a Florida couple to steal their money and fund a trip to Venezuela to fight the Maduro government. Is this a trend? And if so, what’s behind it? Brian and John speak with Mark Sleboda, an international affairs and security analyst.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been conducting a flurry of activity in the United States to boost his standing globally and especially with the Trump administration. Today, Modi is addressing the United Nations General Assembly, but a wide range of progressive groups anchored by Indian-Americans is holding a demonstration outside. Dr. Ania Loomba, a professor of literature at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert in postcolonial studies, joins the show from the action outside the United Nations.
It’s Friday! So it’s time for the week’s worst and most misleading headlines. Brian and John speak with Steve Patt, an independent journalist whose critiques of the mainstream media have been a feature of his site Left I on the News and on twitter @leftiblog, and Sputnik producer Nicole Roussell.
Friday is Loud & Clear’s weekly hour-long segment The Week in Review, about the week in politics, policy, and international affairs. Today they focus on impeachment, the UAW strike, the United Nations General Assembly meetings, a partial ceasefire in Yemen, and the Afghan elections. Sputnik News analysts and producers Walter Smolarek and Nicole Roussell join the show.

Impeachment: A Political Gift to Donald Trump? Sep 26, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Ben Norton, a journalist with The Grayzone and co-host of the Moderate Rebels podcast.
Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph McGuire testified before the House and Senate Intelligence Committees this morning on the whistleblower complaint about President Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky. Committee members took predictably partisan lines. But the Administration also released a redacted copy of the whistleblower complaint. It shows a president using his power to force a foreign leader to do something for him. And the complaint also says that the President ordered the call transcript “locked down,” that is, kept in a standalone computer in the National Security Council reserved for codeword material and covert action plans. However, critics are pointing out that the whistleblower was not actually on the call in question, and only heard about it from colleagues.
The Trump Administration announced a migration deal on Wednesday that will give US immigration authorities the ability to send asylum seekers from the US-Mexico border to Honduras, a country wracked by violence and instability especially since the 2009 U.S.-backed coup. The deal was reached between the Department of Homeland Security and President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who is widely seen as having been installed into office by the United States and also dogged by credible corruption allegations. Juan José Gutiérrez, the executive director of the Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition, joins the show.
Israeli President Ruvin Rivlin has asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to try to form a new government. Netanyahu has six weeks to do so. If he fails, Rivlin will ask Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz to try to form a government. In the meantime, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas announced that he will call the first Palestinian elections since 2006. Brian and John speak with Daoud Kuttab, an award-winning Palestinian journalist.
Thursday’s weekly series “Criminal Injustice” is about the most egregious conduct of our courts and prosecutors and how justice is denied to so many people in this country. Paul Wright, the founder and executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center and editor of Prison Legal News (PLN), and Kevin Gosztola, a writer for Shadowproof.com and co-host of the podcast Unauthorized Disclosure, join the show.
A regular Thursday segment deals with the ongoing militarization of space. As the US continues to withdraw from international arms treaties, will the weaponization and militarization of space bring the world closer to catastrophe? Brian and John speak with Prof. Karl Grossman, a full professor of journalism at the State University of New York, College at Old Westbury and the host of a nationally aired television program focused on environmental, energy, and space issues, and with Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus.

Impeachment Fever: What Trump Said to the Ukrainian President Sep 25, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemicist.net.
At least 200 Democrats have now said that they support impeaching President Trump for abuse of power after he apparently pressured Ukrainian President Zelensky to assist in an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. But the White House released what it says is a transcript of that call. And the accusations against Trump are now not so clear.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York yesterday, said that Washington must lift sanctions imposed on Iran in order for Tehran to return to the negotiating table. President Trump, in his own speech before the General Assembly, said the US wants “partners, not adversaries,” but only after he condemned Iran as the world’s gravest threat to peace. Kevin Zeese, co-coordinator of Popular Resistance. You can find their work at popularresistance.org, joins the show.
Google “corruption and gentrification” and you get almost half a million links to articles, studies, and scholarly research papers from all across America. Cities from Washington to Los Angeles, to Baltimore and Buffalo and San Francisco are all gentrifying, driving up prices and forcing poor people and minorities out of the neighborhoods that many of them have known for generations. The problems with this are many. But add corrupt municipal officials and politicians, and you have a looming disaster, including right here in the nation’s capital. Brian and John speak with Yasmina Mrabet and Tmac, both organizers with LinkUp, a community group that works to prevent displacement.
The Chief Executive Officer of the vaping pod maker Juul resigned yesterday and was replaced by the former Chief Growth Officer of the tobacco giant Altria as Massachusetts joined New York and California in banning the flavored smoking product. Dozens of people, mostly young people, have developed dangerous lung diseases, and at least seven have died, after smoking vaping pods. Altria owns a 35 percent stake in Juul. Dr. Louis Kyriakoudes, a professor at Middle Tennessee State University, director of the Albert Gore Research Center, and one of only three experts who has testified against Big Tobacco, according to The Nation magazine, joins the show.
Google has won, in part, a major case in Europe in its appeal of the EU’s so-called “Right to be Forgotten” law. The law allowed people in Europe to request the removal of old news about them that might be harmful to their reputations or otherwise embarrassing. The European Court of Justice, the EU’s highest court, ruled that while Google must delete such information in Europe, it doesn’t have to do so for the rest of the world. Patricia Gorky, a software engineer and technology and security analyst, joins Brian and John.
Wednesday’s weekly series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective. Sputnik news analysts Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek join the show.
Wednesday’s regular segment, Beyond Nuclear, is about nuclear issues, including weapons, energy, waste, and the future of nuclear technology in the United States. Kevin Kamps, the Radioactive Waste Watchdog at the organization Beyond Nuclear, and Sputnik news analyst and producer Nicole Roussell, join the show.

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