Loud & Clear

Latest Episodes:

Will Bolton’s Firing Lead to Trump White House Foreign Policy Shift? Sep 10, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Daniel McAdams, executive director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.
President Trump today announced the departure of National Security Advisor John Bolton. Trump said in a tweet that he told Bolton last night that his services were no longer needed and that Bolton resigned this morning. He added that he will name a new National Security Advisor next week.
Washington is abuzz with news that the CIA had to exfiltrate a sensitive Russian source, according to CNN because the Agency didn’t trust Donald Trump with the secret. But it turns out that the story is far more complicated. The source was actually not as well-placed as has been reported. He was under pressure from former CIA Director John Brennan to produce intelligence that he didn’t have access to. And now he’s living openly--using his true name--in suburban Virginia. Aaron Maté, a journalist with The Grayzone and The Nation and the host of Pushback with Aaron Maté, joins the show.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced today that, if he wins reelection in the country’s September 17 election, he will seek to annex parts of the West Banks. The Israeli media is reporting that Netanyahu told aides that if the West Bank were to ever be annexed, it would have to be done during a Trump presidency. Meanwhile, Trump said that he will unveil his “deal of the century” for Middle East peace as soon as Israeli elections are completed. Brian and John speak with Miko Peled, the author of “The General’s Son - A Journey of an Israeli in Palestine,” and of "Injustice: The Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five.”
The British parliament is now suspended. It ended its session last night with no decision on early elections or on anything having to do with Brexit. And there was genuine fury as the session wound down last night, according to the BBC. Opposition parliamentarians tried to block Speaker John Bercow’s traditional procession to the House of Lords, and other opposition members sang Welsh and Scottish folk songs, the Labour Party’s anthem, and even hymns. Alexander Mercouris, the editor-in-chief of The Duran, joins the show.
A special election for a seat in the US House of Representatives is taking place in North Carolina today. The seat has been in Republican hands since 1960, but the winner of the most recent election was not certified because of an illegal ballot-harvesting scandal. Today’s election is seen as a referendum on the Trump Administration. The President won 56 percent there in 2016 and the district leans Republican. But Democrats are pulling no punches in their efforts to win. Ted Rall, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist whose work is at www.rall.com, 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 and Nathalie Hrizi, an educator, a political activist, and the editor of Breaking the Chains.

Vaping Epidemic: A Toxic Combination of Corporate Profit and Addiction Sep 09, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by 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.
Hundreds of people across the country have been sickened by a severe lung disease linked to vaping, and at least five have died so far. Most were otherwise healthy young people in their teens and 20s. Scientists are only just beginning to study the phenomenon, and governmental regulation of e-cigarettes is sorely lacking. The situation sounds just like it did with tobacco decades ago.
President Trump abruptly announced in a series of tweets last night that he had invited the Taliban leadership to Camp David to discuss peace terms and that he had CANCELED his invitation for the Taliban to go to Camp David. More importantly, the flip flop on Taliban talks points to major policy divisions within the Administration, especially between National Security Advisor John Bolton, who has adamantly opposed any contact with the Taliban, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who supports it. Matthew Hoh, a veteran and peace activist who in 2009 resigned from the State Department over the American escalation of the war in Afghanistan and a winner of the Ridenhour Prize for Truth Telling, joins the show.
The British parliament will be prorogued, that is, suspended, at the close of business tonight, following a series of important votes. And as the day has gone on, the situation there has become more and more confusing. Parliamentary Speaker John Bercow announced that he will resign effective October 31, and yet another Tory Minister has announced his resignation. But a large public opinion poll shows that if Prime Minister Boris Johnson is able to call new elections, his Conservative Party would win 287 of 650 seats, not enough for a majority, but enough to form a new government with a like-minded partner. Brian and John speak with Neil Clark, a journalist and broadcaster whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Week, and Morning Star.
Violent clashes continued in Hong Kong over the weekend as thousands of protestors marched to the US consulate to demand American support for their demonstrations. Some of the protestors sang the US national anthem and called on President Trump to “liberate” the island. The Chinese government, meanwhile, warned Washington to not meddle in Hong Kong’s affairs. 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 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 . 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.

Trump Works for Wall Street, Pushes Housing Market Overhaul Sep 06, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Dr. Jack Rasmus, a professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California, author of “Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression,” and at jackrasmus.com.
The Trump Administration is unveiling a plan to alter the very structure of the housing market, drastically reducing the federal government’s role in housing, and slashing regulations established in response to the 2008 housing market crash that caused financial devastation for millions of people around the world. At its core, the plan would release Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from government control.
Hundreds of people are missing in the Bahamas and at least 30 are confirmed dead there as Hurricane Dorian moved north and now sits off the coast of North Carolina’s Outer Banks as a Category 1 storm. Experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say that stronger and more destructive storms will become more frequent as the climate continues to change. Meanwhile, meteorologists are watching three more tropical storms currently forming in the Atlantic, including one that’s already been named Tropical Storm Gabrielle. Danielle Purifoy, a board member of the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, and a geographer at UNC Chapel Hill, and Fred Magdoff, professor emeritus of plant and soil science at the University of Vermont and the co-author of “What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism,” join the show.
Robert Mugabe, the independence icon who led Zimbabwe out of its colonial past and who became its first president, died this morning in a hospital in Singapore. He was 95. Mugabe was praised internationally for broadening access to health care and education for his country’s black majority. But his later years were marked by political opposition and by his country’s severe economic problems in the face of western sanctions. He lost power after his own military leadership turned against him in 2017 after 37 years in power. Brian and John speak with Dr. Gerald Horne, a professor of history at the University of Houston and the author of many books, including his most recent “White Supremacy Confronted: U.S. Imperialism and Anti-Communism vs. the Liberation of Southern Africa from Rhodes to Mandela.”
Downing Street--that is, the Office of the British Prime Minister--is refusing to rule out the possible resignation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the coming weeks. No Prime Minister in British history has survived defeat in four major parliamentary votes, let alone the first four votes of his premiership. And pressed yesterday over whether he would resign if he cannot lead the UK out of the European Union by October 31, Johnson said, “That is not a hypothesis that I am willing to contemplate.” Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek 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 Brexit political crisis in the UK, the impact of Hurricane Dorian on poor and working people, the potential peace agreement in Afghanistan, and more. Brian and John speak with Sputnik News analysts and producers Walter Smolarek and Nicole Roussell.

Boris Johnson’s Great Brexit Miscalculation Sep 05, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Alexander Mercouris, the editor-in-chief of The Duran.
Yesterday we told you that British politics were in a state of chaos. That hasn’t changed. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s own brother this morning resigned both from parliament and from the Conservative Party and Johnson again was defeated in a procedural vote last night. It appears that there will be new elections, but nobody knows when. And it also appears that, in the event of those new elections, not much will change.
A federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia ruled yesterday that the federal terrorism watchlist violates the civil rights of those people listed on it. Judge Anthony Trenga said that the standard for inclusion on the list was unconstitutionally vague and he struck it down. Trenga is the same judge that has jailed whistleblower Chelsea Manning. Dave Lindorff, an investigative reporter, a columnist for CounterPunch, and founder of ThisCantBeHappening.net, who recently learned that he was on a watchlist, joins the show.
Iranian President Hasan Rouhani said in a televised address yesterday that Iran would no longer restrict its development of centrifuges for uranium enrichment, a major move away from the Iran nuclear deal, which the US withdrew from last year. Rouhani added, however, that the decision was “peaceful and reversible” if other signatories to the deal make firm commitments to provide economic relief to Iran. Meanwhile, the State Department announced a $15 million reward for anybody who can hack into and disable the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps computer system, which the State Department called the IRGC’s “oil for terror” network. Brian and John speak with Dan Kovalik, a human rights and labor lawyer who is the author of the book “The Plot to Overthrow Venezuela: How the US is Orchestrating a Coup for Oil.”
Prominent Washington attorney Greg Craig was acquitted yesterday on a charge of making a false statement to federal investigators examining Craig’s work through his law firm for the Ukranian government. The investigation came out of the Muller probe and focused on Craig’s interaction with the New York Times. The verdict is a setback for the Justice Department’s aggressive new policy on unregistered work for foreign governments. Daniel Lazare, a journalist and author of three books--“The Frozen Republic,” “The Velvet Coup,” and “America's Undeclared War,” joins the show.
The Federal Reserve is planning to cut interest rates as much as one quarter of one percent in the next two weeks, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Fed believes that it must act to counter an economic slowdown caused in part by the trade war with China. Meanwhile, trade negotiations between China and the US will resume in October in Washington. 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.

UK Political Crisis: Parliament Blocks "No Deal" Brexit Sep 04, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Neil Clark, a journalist and broadcaster whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Week, and Morning Star.
British politics are in a state of crisis. Prime Minister Boris Johnson lost his parliamentary majority yesterday when, during his first Prime Minister’s Questions session, one of his members stood up, walked over to the Liberal Democrats, and switched parties. Johnson is now calling for new elections, but Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has said he won’t back a new election until a Brexit delay is voted on.
Jeremy Hammond, an Anonymous hacker who was set up by law enforcement, is on his way back to the notorious Eastern District of Virginia, as authorities there apparently will try to force him to testify against Wikileaks cofounder Julian Assange. Hammond’s supporters report that he was recently moved from a medium-security prison in Tennessee to a Bureau of Prisons transportation hub in Oklahoma City and is on his way to Alexandria, Virginia. Hammond has been steadfast in his refusal to testify against anybody at any stage of his involvement with the federal legal system. Kevin Gosztola, a writer for Shadowproof.com and co-host of the podcast Unauthorized Disclosure, joins the show.
Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, said in a televised speech today that she is withdrawing the controversial extradition bill that set off months of ever-growing protests on the island. The move marks a major concession to demonstrators, although some protest leaders are saying that the bill’s withdrawal is not enough. They are now calling for the release of all protestors and for direct elections in Hong Kong. Brian and John speak with Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.
Defense Department officials announced yesterday that they would delay or suspend 127 military construction projects so that $3.6 billion could be diverted to pay for President Trump’s border wall. The move prompted an outcry from Congressional Democrats who maintain that the Pentagon must seek Congressional authorization before any money can be diverted. Juan Carlos Ruiz, cofounder of the New Sanctuary Movement, joins the show.
Our friend and frequent guest Ann Wright is in Moscow as part of a peace delegation. Along with a group of other Americans, she has been part of meetings with Russian civil society figures in an effort to reduce tension and promote peace and understanding. Ann Wright, a retired United States Army colonel and former U.S. State Department official in Afghanistan, who resigned in protest of the invasion of Iraq and became an anti-war activist, 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.

Huge Explosion Rocks Kabul as US Says “Peace is at Hand” Sep 03, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Brian Terrell, a long time peace activist and a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence.
Taliban and U.S. negotiators have drafted an initial agreement paving the way for peace in the country and the withdrawal of U.S. troops. However, fierce fighting continues to take place across the country.
As Hurricane Dorian bears down on the southeastern coast, what happens to prisoners who are in harm’s way? And with federal and state laws saying that convicted sex offenders--even those who have done their time--are not permitted in shelters, what happens to them. Paul Wright, the Executive Director of the Human Rights Defense Center and the editor and publisher of Prison Legal News and Criminal Legal News magazines, joins the show.
As tense negotiations over the future of the Iran nuclear deal continue, French President Emmanuel Macron has reportedly offered a $15 billion loan to the country to compensate for the harm done by the Trump administration’s unilateral withdrawal. Meanwhile, Israel escalated regional tensions with an attack on Hezbollah, prompting an exchange of fire along the Lebanese border. Brian and John speak with Massoud Shadjareh. He is the founder of the Islamic Human Rights Commission.
The three-year-old peace deal between the Colombian government and the FARC rebels has been beset by problems stemming from a wave of right wing repression and murder. One faction of the FARC led by FARC commander Ivan Marquez and other high-ranking demobilized rebel leaders have returned to the armed struggle while the majority of the FARC leadership has stayed with the Peace agreement. The latest move follows a wave of violence that has left 137 former FARC combatants assassinated along with over 700 progressive social movement leaders. James Jordan, a member of the Alliance for Global Justice who has been deeply involved in supporting the Colombian peace process, joins the show.
Most Americans agree that the country is in the grip of an opioid epidemic. Federal and state authorities are working to address it, but they don’t always agree on the causes or the solutions. And at the same time, many solutions are chosen because they’re politically expedient, not because they work, especially over the long term. Corey Davis, staff attorney at the National Health Law Program, 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.

Trump: "We Are Preparing for Victory" for Upcoming Wars in Outer Space Aug 30, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Sputnik News analysts and producers Walter Smolarek and 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 Space Command and the militarization of space, the reallocation of money from hurricane relief to immigrant detention beds, the broader discussion of global migration and where the planet is heading, the massive corporations that have marketed and profited off of opioid addiction and death, and lastly, Joe Biden’s new fake war story.
After decades in prison, many of the MOVE 9 political prisoners have now come home. To many, the police attacks on the MOVE organization, including the infamous 1985 bombing of their house by Philadelphia police, crystallized the racism and brutality displayed by the Philadelphia Police Department towards African Americans. The fight to free Delbert and Chuck Africa continues. Mike Africa Sr. and Debbie Africa, members of MOVE who spent 40 years in prison for their activism until their release last year, and Netfa Freeman, resident expert at the Institute of Policy Studies, a long-time activist, and host of the radio show Voices With Vision on WPFW, join the show.
Three prominent leaders of Hong Kong’s protests were arrested overnight as the government there prepared for the 13th consecutive weekend of anti-government demonstrations. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest an extradition law and the governance of Hong Kong Executive Carrie Lam, and there is no end in sight to the upheaval. Brian and John speak with Eugene Puryear, the host of Radio Sputnik’s By Any Means Necessary, which airs Monday through Friday from 2pm to 4pm on 105.5 FM and 1390 AM in the Washington area and online at SputnikNews.com.
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.

Comey Violated FBI Protocols By Leaking Trump Conversation Memos Aug 29, 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 Justice Department’s Inspector General released a long-awaited report today saying that former FBI Director James Comey violated DOJ policy when he gave a sensitive memo of a conversation he had with President Trump to a friend, and then asked the friend to leak the memo to a journalist. The Inspector General said the memo contained the names of countries raised in the conversation with Trump, which automatically classified it at the “confidential level,” the lowest level of classification. But the violation was not serious enough to prosecute.
MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell said on his show that a single source told him that Donald Trump’s loans with Deutsche Bank had been co-signed by unnamed Russian oligarchs. The report apparently was made up out of whole cloth, the White House threatened an immediate lawsuit, and O’Donnell has retracted the entire story and apologized. What does that say about MSNBC’s supposed “rigorous” verification and standards process? Lee Camp, a writer, comedian, activist, journalist, host of the television show “Redacted Tonight,” which is on RT America, and online at www.leecamp.com, joins the show.
Italy’s populist government collapsed yesterday, and President Sergio Mattarella has asked Prime Minister Giuseppe Conti to form an interim coalition government with the center-left Democratic Party. The move would force the hard right-wing League Party out of government and would stave off snap elections. Brian and John speak with Alexander Mercouris, the editor-in-chief of The Duran.
Yemeni government forces have retaken control of Aden Airport from southern separatists in what by all accounts was a night of intense fighting, but by afternoon today, the separatists had regained control of the city itself. More than 30 government troops were reported killed in the fighting. The rebels are backed by the United Arab Emirates, while government forces are backed by Saudi Arabia. The US is providing weapons and logistics to both sides. Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Non-Violence, joins the show.
The Washington Post and the New York Times reported today that the US Cyber Command in June carried out an attack that knocked out a crucial database used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to target oil tankers and shipping traffic in the Persian Gulf. This happened just hours after the IRGC shot down a US drone over the Gulf. Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the peace group Code Pink, 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.

Trump Is Blaming Puerto Ricans for Having Hurricanes Aug 28, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Aurora Santiago-Ortiz, Research Enhancement and Leadership (REAL) Fellow and a Doctoral Student in Social Justice Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Tropical Storm Dorian is expected to hit hurricane strength today and to make landfall in Puerto Rico. And this is as the island still hasn’t recovered from a devastating 2017 hurricane season. But what is the Trump Administration doing? The White House announced yesterday that it would divert $271 million in funds earmarked to help those affected by hurricanes and instead spend the money to add 1600 beds in immigrant detention facilities.
Deutsche Bank confirmed yesterday that it has a copy of Donald Trump’s tax returns responsive to Congressional subpoenas. But MSNBC commentator Lawrence O’Donnell went further than that and made some brash accusations on his show yesterday. He said that other Deutsche Bank loan documents show that Donald Trump’s cosigners are “Russian billionaires close to Vladimir Putin.” O’Donnell repeated the words “if true” multiple times. Even if it’s not true, he and MSNBC are doing what they can to keep the fake Russiagate narrative alive. Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemicist.net, whose latest article is “Dead Man’s Hand: The Impeachment Gambit” on Counterpunch and The Polemicist, joins the show.
It seems that CNN and the Democratic National Committee are working hard to decide who should be the next president. The media outlet and the party apparatus will allow only 10 candidates on the debate stage for the next Democratic debate, scheduled for September 12. The cutoff to add candidates was today, and those candidates have to meet polling and fundraising thresholds. As of today, billionaire Tom Steyer and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard are out. Brian and John speak with Dave Lindorff, an investigative reporter, a columnist for CounterPunch, and a contributor to Businessweek, The Nation, Extra! and Salon.com. And you can find his writings at ThisCantBeHappening.net.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced this morning that he has asked Queen Elizabeth II to suspend parliament days after it returns from its summer recess next week and just weeks before the Brexit deadline. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has written to the Queen asking her to deny the request. A suspension would drastically shorten the amount of time parliamentarians would have to attempt to block a no-deal Brexit. Neil Clark, a journalist and broadcaster whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Week, and Morning Star, joins the show.
Earlier this week, where a state judge in Oklahoma ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay the state $572 million for intentionally playing down the dangers and overselling the benefits of opioids. The decision fell short of the $17 billion that Oklahoma was seeking as reimbursement addiction treatment, drug courts, and other costs of the epidemic. But it opens the company to similar suits in every other state in America. Meanwhile, Purdue Pharma, the makers of OxyContyn offered $10-12 billion to settle more than 2,000 lawsuits against it. There are lessons to be learned here, and those lessons began with the lawsuits 20 years ago against Big Tobacco. 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 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.

America’s Biggest Drug Pushers Are in Corporate Boardrooms Aug 27, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by 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.
In a landmark decision yesterday, a state judge in Oklahoma ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay the state $572 million for intentionally playing down the dangers and overselling the benefits of opioids. The decision fell short of the $17 billion that Oklahoma was seeking as reimbursement addiction treatment, drug courts, and other costs of the epidemic. But it opens the company to similar suits in every other state in America.
Senator Tom Cotton, a far-right wing senator from Arkansas, has an op-ed in today’s New York Times in which he says that the United States must purchase Greenland at all costs. Cotton adds that he even raised the idea with the Danish Ambassador to the US a year ago. The Danish government has repeated that the island is not for sale. Is this crazy idea becoming mainstream? Bruce Gagnon, the coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus, joins the show.
French President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday that he would like to broker direct talks between President Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a proposal that Trump immediately endorsed. But Rouhani said today that there would be no direct talks between the two countries until US sanctions against Iran are lifted. Brian and John speak with Mohammad Marandi, an expert on American studies and postcolonial literature who teaches at the University of Tehran.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is rejecting $20 million in aid offered by the G-7 countries to fight raging wildfires in the Amazon. He also called on French President Emmanuel Macron to apologize for calling the fires an international crisis. Bolsonaro is apparently so angry at Macron that he took to Facebook today to call Macron’s wife “ugly.” Now it’s Macron who is demanding an apology. But are both politicians just grandstanding while the planet is in crisis? Aline Piva, a journalist and a member of Brazilians for Democracy and Social Justice, joins the show.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said today that he’s feeling more optimistic about achieving a Brexit deal and not crashing out of the European Union after spending the past week touring Europe and meeting with leaders. The hook seems to be--still--what to do about the Irish border. In the meantime, though, it is more and more clear that there will not be freedom of movement into the UK by EU nationals once the deal is done. Neil Clark, a journalist and broadcaster whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Week, and Morning Star, 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.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected