Loud & Clear

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United States of Dysfunction: Bracing for Next Govt Shutdown in 3 Weeks Jan 28, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Anoa Changa, the host of the show The Way With Anoa, and Pedro Rios, the director of the American Friends Service Committee’s U.S./Mexico Border Program.
President Trump and congressional leaders agreed on Friday afternoon to reopen the government for three weeks to give all sides time to come up with a workable federal budget. The three-week Continuing Resolution does not include money for the President’s border wall, but it does include money to hire more border patrol agents. The countdown is now on to strike a major deal on immigration policy before the government shuts back down next month.
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.
The United States and the Taliban agreed on a draft framework for peace in Afghanistan following nearly a week of talks in Qatar. The Afghan government did not participate because the Taliban does see it as illegitimate. But US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters that the Taliban had agreed to never again allow the country to be a base for terrorists. The Taliban spokesman, meanwhile, said that “all foreign troops must leave Afghanistan.” Brian and John speak with Brian Terrell.
The political crisis in Venezuela deepened over the weekend following Juan Guaido’s self-proclamation as Interim President. The main institutions of government remain loyal to President Nicolas Maduro, but the United States, along with allies like the UK, are turning up the economic pressure. What’s next for Venezuela? Chuck Kaufman, the National Co-Coordinator of the Alliance for Global Justice, joins the show.
The Integrity Initiative, a UK-based group that purported to be a watchdog for what it called the Russian threat against democracy in the UK, Europe, and the US, was unmasked last year as a British intelligence-funded propaganda front group. Its website was hacked recently and its internal documents were spread. The group has now taken the website down. Investigative journalist Kit Klarenberg joins Brian and John.
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.
A new National Intelligence Strategy, a long-term intelligence outlook prepared by the Director of National Intelligence, says that the United States will be challenged in the coming years by nations that exploit “the weakening of the post-WWII international order and dominance of western democratic ideals...and increasingly isolationist tendencies in the west.” What does that mean? It means that the US believes that Russia and China are its most important adversaries for the coming decades. Brian and John speak with Mark Sleboda, an international relations and security analyst.

Gov’t to Reopen: Worker Actions & Rising Discontent Force Trump’s Hand Jan 25, 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 livestreams every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook, and Sputnik News analyst and producer Walter Smolarek.
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 pressure on the US government to reopen, the coup attempt in Venezuela, and the way the mainstream media is downplaying the success of the teacher strike in L.A.
Longtime Republican Party operative Roger Stone was arrested during a pre-dawn FBI raid on his Florida home this morning. He was charged with seven felonies, including witness tampering, obstructing a federal investigation, and five counts of making false statements. Stone was arraigned in federal court today at 11:00 and his attorneys said he would fight the charges vigorously. Jim Kavanagh, whose commentary is published on his website, thepolemicist.net, Counterpunch, and other online journals, joins the show.
Venezuela’s judicial, political and military leaders backed President Nicolas Maduro yesterday as the U.S.-backed coup attempt continued. Meanwhile Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged member countries of the Organization of American States to back Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as president and refused to accept the decision by Maduro to expel the U.S. embassy staff. Street mobilizations by supporters of the government are continuing in the face of violence by opposition supporters. Brian and John speak with Medea Benjamin, an anti-war and anti-torture activist who is the co-founder of Code Pink.
Marzieh Hashemi, the American citizen who is a journalist for Iran’s Press TV, was released from federal custody after testifying before a grand jury. Hashemi had been held without charge as a material witness to force her testimony. She was subject to a variety of degradations while being held. Marzieh Hashemi 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.

Trump and Pompeo Adopt 19th Century Colonial Language Towards Venezuela Jan 24, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Aline Piva, a journalist and a member of Brazilians for Democracy and Social Justice, and Paul Dobson, a writer for VenezuelAnalysis.com.
As the attempted coup in Venezuela continues, the United States is upping the pressure by announcing that it will refuse to remove its embassy staff from the country, as ordered by President Nicolás Maduro in retaliation for the U.S. orchestrated plot to replace him with far-right opposition figure Juan Guaido. The U.S. diplomats were given 72 hours to leave the country, and President Maduro also has ordered closed the Venezuelan embassy in the U.S.
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.
The Senate voted on two competing measures today that would reopen the federal government. Neither bill garnered the required 60 votes, however. And President Trump announced that he will postpone the State of the Union Address; this came after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that she would not authorize the address so long as the government was closed. The partial government shutdown is now in its 34th day, with federal workers projected to soon miss their second paycheck. Brian and John speak with Julie Hurwitz, a civil rights attorney and partner at the law firm Goodman, Hurwitz and James.
Alex Salmond, who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014 and who was leader of the Scottish National Party for more than 20 years, was arrested yesterday and charged with sex crimes. The arrest took place two weeks after Salmond won a lawsuit against Scottish authorities relating to their investigative practices in this case. Mark Hirst, the Editor-In-Chief of Sputnik’s Edinburgh bureau, joins the show.
Veterans for Peace is Thursday’s regular segment about the contemporary issues of war and peace that affect veterans, their families, and the country as a whole. Gerry Condon, a Vietnam-era veteran and war resister who refused orders to deploy to Vietnam and lived in exile in Canada and Sweden for 6 years, organizing with other U.S. military deserters and draft resisters against the Vietnam war, and for amnesty for U.S. war resisters, joins the show. He has been a peace and solidarity activist for almost 50 years and has served on the Board of Veterans For Peace for the last 6 years, currently as national president.
A lot of Democrats are running for president. Major media outlets say that as many as two dozen Democrats are considering, or have already announced, campaigns. There are major names like Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren, newcomers like Kamala Harris and Tulsi Gabbard, and unknown like South Bend Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg and Maryland Congressman John Delaney. But are any of these politicians really any different from previous Democratic candidates? And do many of them have a chance to beat Donald Trump? Kevin Zeese, co-coordinator of PopularResistance.org, joins the show.
Our friend and contributor Ted Rall recently had a major court decision go against him in California. This was a case that had very important implications for Americans’ constitutional rights to freedom of speech. In the end, the court decided essentially, that Ted’s right to criticize the Los Angeles Police Department was less important than the Los Angeles Times’s right to block Ted’s right to freedom of speech. It’s a case with very important constitutional implications. Brian and John speak with Ted Rall, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist whose work is at www.rall.com.

Trump & Allies Launch Coup Effort Against Venezuelan Government Jan 23, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by from Caracas by Lucas Koerner, an activist and writer for VenezuelAnalysis.com, and from Merida, Venezuela, by Paul Dobson, a writer for VenezuelAnalysis.com, and in studio by Sputnik news analyst and producer Walter Smolarek.
Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido has declared himself the country’s president and was immediately recognized as such by the U.S. government. Huge numbers of government supporters have taken to the streets to fight back against this coup effort.
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.
Wednesday’s weekly series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and puts them into perspective, including the ongoing government shutdown, which is in Day 33, the successfully ended LA teacher strike, the indefinite detaining of journalist Marzieh Hashemi, and the news that Julian Assange is now working to have his US charges unsealed. Brian and John speak with Jacqueline Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which hosts a livestream every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook, and Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.
The six-day Los Angeles teachers strike ended yesterday as teachers and staff threw their support behind a new agreement negotiated with the school board. The agreement, which garnered the votes of a super-majority of union members, calls for a six percent pay raise, a gradual decrease in class sizes, and the hiring of more librarians, nurses, and counselors. Cecily Myart-Cruz, a teacher in the LA Unified School District for 23 years and the Vice President of United Teachers Los Angeles/National Education Association, the teachers union, joins the show.
Turkish President Erdogan is in Moscow today to meet with Russian President Putin on Syria. The two will discuss coordination in Syria, where they’ve been on opposing sides. Meanwhile, the Syrian government has floated the possibility of a retaliatory strike against Israel if it carries out another attack on the Damascus airport. Mohammad Marandi, an expert on American studies and postcolonial literature who teaches at the University of Tehran, and Ambassador Peter Ford, the former UK Ambassador to Syria, joins Brian and John.

Really?? Dr. King Saluted By FBI, CIA, & Northrop Grumman Jan 22, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Ariel Gold, a peace activist and the national co-director of Code Pink, and Ted Rall, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist at www.rall.com.
A lot happened this weekend, including women’s marches across the country, despite attacks on the leadership, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and federal holiday, which was ironically highlighted by groups like Northrop Grumman and the FBI, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller called foul on a breathless Russiagate report from Buzzfeed late last week. And meanwhile the government shutdown continues.
Tuesday’s weekly series is False Profits—A Weekly Look at Wall Street and Corporate Capitalism with Daniel Sankey. Financial policy analyst Daniel Sankey joins the show.
The government shutdown is now in its second month, and no solution appears in sight. As the Trump administration digs in and refuses to budge from its demand for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, the shutdown is beginning to have serious effects on the overall health of the economy. Brian and John speak with Dave Lindorff, an investigative reporter and founder of This Can’t Be Happening!, as well as a columnist for CounterPunch, and a contributor to the London Review of Books, The Nation, Extra! Tarbell, and Salon.com.
Reporters Without Borders has condemned the continued detention in the United States of Marzieh Hashemi, an American citizen who is a journalist for Iran’s Press TV. Hashemi was detained on a material witness warrant to force her to testify before a federal grand jury. That testimony is supposed to take place today. Hashemi has been held in St. Louis since January 13. Nargess Moballeghi, an independent journalist and friend and former colleague of Marzieh Hashemi, joins the show.
The European Commission confirmed this morning that a “no deal” Brexit would mean a hard border for Ireland; that is, the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland would be like crossing any other international frontier. But the soft border was one of the pillars of the Good Friday Accords that ended the decades-long war in the North of Ireland. Meanwhile, a second referendum that could see Brexit overturned is becoming increasingly possible. Andy Brennan, a journalist with Asia Times and CGTN, joins Brian and John.
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, joins the show.
Controversy continues to surround a Buzzfeed article saying that President Trump had specifically ordered his former attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about the Trump Organization’s plans to build a residential tower in Moscow in 2016. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team took the unusual step of denying the piece, in an embarrassing rebuke to the publication and the Russiagate narrative overall. Brian and John speak with Daniel Lazare, a journalist and author of three books—“The Frozen Republic,” “The Velvet Coup,” and “America's Undeclared War.”

Trump Will Meet Kim Jong-un for 2nd Peace Summit in February Jan 18, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker is joined by Jacqueline Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which livestreams every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook, and Sputnik News analyst and producer Walter Smolarek.
Friday is Loud & Clear’s weekly hour-long segment The Week in Review, about the week in politics, policy, and international affairs.
The White House announced today that the second summit between Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will take place in late February at a yet-to-be-determined location. This dramatic announcement comes after North Korean lead negotiator Kim Yong Chol visited Washington to meet with Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Brian speaks with Simone Chun, a fellow at the Korea Policy Institute and a member of the Korean Peace Network.
A new story published by Buzzfeed is being called a bombshell that will lead to Donald Trump either resigning or being impeached. The story is based on anonymous sources. It asserts that Donald Trump directed his then personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to lie to Congress about the nature and timing of negotiations between the Trump Organization and individuals in Moscow who are trying to broker a deal to set up a Trump Tower in Moscow. We’ll take a look at the story and its authors. Daniel Lazare, a journalist and author of three books—“The Frozen Republic,” “The Velvet Coup,” and “America's Undeclared War”, joins the show.
Four activists with the humanitarian organization No More Deaths are on trial in Tucson, Arizona, facing charges from an arrest in 2017 related to their efforts to place life-saving supplies like water in a stretch of desert near the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent migrants from dying of thirst and starvation. The outcome of the case will have wide-reaching implications for humanitarians and immigrant rights activists. Justine Schnitzler, a volunteer and staff member with No More Deaths, joins Brian.
As Jeremy Corbyn comes closer and closer to becoming the Prime Minister of the UK, attacks against him are ramping up. One line of attack has been the allegation that Corbyn, a long time supporter of Palestinian rights and opponent of intervention in the Middle East, is anti-semitic. Now, a new report shows that bot accounts on social media are being used to provide false evidence for these claims. Asa Winstanley. He is an investigative journalist with The Electronic Intifada and a columnist at Middle East Monitor whose article “Fake Labour accounts fueling ‘anti-Semitism crisis’” broke the story, joins the show.
It’s Friday! So it’s time for the week’s worst and most misleading headlines. Brian speaks 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.

Facebook Bans Sputnik Pages on Advice of NATO-funded Atlantic Council Jan 17, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker is joined by Ford Fischer, the founder of the media startup News2Share, and Alex Rubinstein, a writer for MintPress News.
Overnight, Facebook deleted hundreds of pages that it said were run by employees at Sputnik. 75 Sputnik employees have been blacklisted for posting on these pages. The reason that Facebook gave is that they promoted anti-NATO views. Is Facebook continuing its war on independent and alternative media?
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.
President Trump announced his Missile Defense Review today at the Pentagon. This includes 20 new ground-based interceptors but also a space-based missile defense layer as the Trump administration pushes ahead with its dangerous militarization of outer space. Brian speaks with Prof. Karl Grossman, a full professor of journalism at the State University of New York, College at Old Westbury, the author of six books, and the host of a nationally aired television program focused on environmental, energy, and space issues.
American citizen and journalist Marzieh Hashemi has been detained and held by the FBI since Sunday. She is not charged with any crime, but is being held because she is a “material witness.” Hashemi is an anchor for Press TV, an Iranian news outlet, and was detained at the airport when she flew to the US to visit her children and work on a documentary about the Black Lives Matter movement. Glen Ford, the executive editor of Black Agenda Report, joins the show.
Veterans for Peace is Thursday’s regular segment about the contemporary issues of war and peace that affect veterans, their families, and the country as a whole. Gerry Condon, a Vietnam-era veteran and war resister who refused orders to deploy to Vietnam and lived in exile in Canada and Sweden for 6 years, organizing with other U.S. military deserters and draft resisters against the Vietnam war, and for amnesty for U.S. war resisters, joins the show. He has been a peace and solidarity activist for almost 50 years and has served on the Board of Veterans For Peace for the last 6 years, currently as national president.
Two Democrats and two Republicans introduced a bill yesterday that would ban sales of US technology like phone chips to Chinese companies ZTE and Huawei. Despite ongoing negotiations between U.S. and Chinese trade officials, the campaign to stop China’s economic rise continues. David Ewing, the chair of the San Francisco chapter of the US-China People’s Friendship Association, joins the show.
This week mainstream media exploded over meetings between President Trump and Russian President Putin without a US translator. But this is not without precedent -- the hosts take a look at the history of presidential diplomacy. Brian speaks with Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov, a professor of history and author of the new book “The Russians Are Coming, Again: The First Cold War as Tragedy, the Second as Farce.”

Blast Kills US Troops in Syria: Will it Be Used to Stop Pullout Plans? Jan 16, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker is joined by Jacqueline Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which hosts a livestream every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook, and Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.
Wednesday’s weekly series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and puts them into perspective. Today they talk about the government shutdown, confirmation hearings for Trump’s Attorney General nominee, and more.
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.
Several U.S. troops have reportedly been killed in northern Syria in a bomb blast claimed by ISIS. Opponents of a U.S. withdrawal from the country, something long demanded by Syria’s sovereign government, seized on this development to try to derail the pullout. Brian speaks with Rick Sterling, an investigative journalist and member of the Syria Solidarity Movement, and Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.
Marzieh Hashemi, an American journalist, was arrested on Sunday and is still being held without charge by the FBI. Hashemi works for the Iranian outlet Press TV, and many are speculating that her detention is yet another move in the Trump administration’s effort to ramp up pressure on Iran and journalists. Massoud Shadjareh, the founder of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, joins the show.
Mainstream media outlets across the country are in a frenzy over Donald Trump’s decision to meet with Russian president Vladimir Putin without keeping official records; Brian puts this issue into context. Meanwhile, new developments in the ongoing struggle between the FBI and the White House have emerged, involving former FBI general counsel James Baker. Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemicist.net, joins Brian and John.
Purdue pharmaceutical corporation play a major role fueling the opioid crisis, an epidemic that has made the Sackler family who owns the company fabulously wealthy. Now, new internal documents reveal the direct involvement of the Sacklers in an ad campaign seeking to shift the blame for the crisis. Dr. Margaret Flowers, the co-coordinator of the news site Popular Resistance, at popularresistance.org, joins the show.
A top aid to imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman testified in court today that El Chapo paid a $100 million bribe to former Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. While this is yet to be verified, the claim highlights the endemic corruption among the country’s political elites and newly-elected progressive president Obrador’s effort to end it. Brian speaks with Dr. John Ackerman, professor of Constitutional Law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), researcher at the Legal Research Institute of UNAM, and editorial director of the Mexican Law Review, and Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.

Theresa May Suffers a “Historic Defeat:” What’s Next for Brexit? Jan 15, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by legendary anti-war activist and former British parliamentarian George Galloway and Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.
Tuesday’s weekly series is False Profits—A Weekly Look at Wall Street and Corporate Capitalism with Daniel Sankey. Financial policy analyst Daniel Sankey joins the show.
President Trump’s choice to head the Justice Department, William Barr, begins his nomination hearings today before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Barr has pledged not to hamper or end the Mueller investigation, and he spent last week paying calls on Committee members. He was previously Attorney General under President George H. W. Bush. Brian and John speak with criminal defense attorney Brad Schlesinger.
The New York Times reported today that a year ago President Trump suggested to aides that the United States should withdraw from NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. He made the statement several more times throughout 2018, calling it a financial drain on the US. A US withdrawal would likely signal the end of the alliance. Dr. Peter Kuznik, a professor of history and director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University and co-author with Oliver Stone of the book and the hit Showtime television series “The Untold History of the United States,” joins the show.
The Los Angeles Teachers Strike entered its second day today with no immediate end in sight. Why won’t the LA Unified School District reduce class sizes, hire more nurses, counselors, and librarians, and give teachers a raise when the district is sitting on a $1.86 billion surplus? Today, huge pickets are continuing and charter school teachers are joining the strike. Cecily Myart-Cruz, a teacher in the LA Unified School District for 23 years and the Vice President of United Teachers Los Angeles/National Education Association, the teachers union, joins Brian and John.
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, joins the show.
Representative Steve King, a Republican of Iowa, will be stripped of his committee assignments because of racist comments he made last week. But King has been making similar comments for years and the Republican leadership never said a word. Senator Chuck Grassley even endorsed him for reelection just last year. Why are the Republicans acting now? And does this mean the end of King’s career? Brian and John speak with Dr. Nazia Kazi, an activist and professor of Anthropology at Stockton University, and author of the new book “Islamophobia, Race and Global Politics,” published by Rowman & Littlefield.

Investigating Trump: Who Holds Power in the US? The FBI or President? Jan 14, 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, and Daniel Lazare, a journalist and author of three books—“The Frozen Republic,” “The Velvet Coup,” and “America's Undeclared War.”
Americans learned over the weekend that the FBI had taken perhaps an unprecedented step by opening a counterintelligence investigation targeting President Trump following his decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey. Shortly after news of the counterintelligence investigation broke, the media began to heavily focus on the availability of the translators’ notes from Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina and strong supporter of President Trump, urged him today to temporarily reopen the government to allow for talks that could satisfy his demand for a border wall. Anger is mounting as hundreds of thousands of federal employees are going without pay, and polls show that most Americans don’t want a border wall and most blame Trump for the longest government shutdown in history. Brian and John speak with Kevin Zeese, the co-coordinator of Popular Resistance, you can check out their work at popularresistance.org.
National Security Advisor John Bolton asked the Pentagon last year to draw up plans to attack Iran, and senior Pentagon officials are voicing deepening fear that he could precipitate a conflict with that country at a time when the US presence in the Middle East is declining. And President Trump said he would “devastate Turkey economically” if it attacks the Kurds when the US pulls its troops out of Syria. Mohammad Marandi, an expert on American studies and postcolonial literature who teaches at the University of Tehran, joins the show.
Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat from Hawaii, announced her candidacy for president on Saturday. Gabbard is a decorated veteran of the Iraq War and is a strong proponent of peace issues. She’s also the first American Samoan and the first Hindu to be elected to Congress. Pundits believe she may draw support away from Bernie Sanders, but she has also been subject to intense criticism over her record on LGBTQ rights. Sputnik news analyst and producer Walter Smolarek joins Brian and John.
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.
British Prime Minister Theresa May traveled around the country to drum up support ahead of Tuesday critical parliamentary vote on Brexit. She told voters in northern England that if parliament votes down the Brexit deal there will be no alternative and it will paralyze British politics and likely lead to no Brexit. Brian and John speak with Steve Hedley, the senior assistant general secretary of the UK’s Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers Union.

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