Loud & Clear

Latest Episodes:

Trump Visits Iraq, Pledges to Continue US Occupation Dec 27, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Gerry Condon, a Vietnam-era veteran and war resister who has been a peace and solidarity activist for almost 50 years, currently as national president of Veterans for Peace.
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. They start today with President Trump’s surprise visit to Iraq yesterday, his first into a combat zone as president. Instead of telling the troops they might go home soon, following his recent decisions in Syria and Afghanistan, the president continued the presidential legacy of discussing military strategy while keeping troops away from home instead.
One of the year’s most important Loud & Clear interviews is being replayed from November. Brian and John talked to investigative journalist and historian Gareth Porter about the Pentagon’s deepening control over U.S. politics, government and the economy in what he calls America’s Permanent-War Complex.
Six Israeli F-16s attacked Syria yesterday. But this wasn’t just any attack. The Israelis used civilian flights headed to Damascus and Beirut as cover for the operation, directly endangering the passengers onboard. And this is according to the Israeli press. The Syrian Defense Ministry said that it did not engage the Israelis because it did not want to accidentally hit the passenger jets. Brian and John speak with Ambassador Peter Ford, the former UK Ambassador to Syria.
Billionaire Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, has acknowledged that he partially funded New Knowledge, a group that used disinformation tactics and fake news to influence the 2017 Alabama senate race in a successful effort to sink Republican Roy Moore. Last week, Facebook suspended five accounts linked to the operation for “engaging in inauthentic behavior.” One of those accounts belonged to Jonathan Morgan, CEO of New Knowledge. Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemicist.net, joins the show.
This May 30 interview is one of Loud & Clear’s best 2018 shows, focusing on Washington’s hundreds of think tanks. These quasi-academic institutions are supposed to be a home for subject matter experts to think the big thoughts, write important papers and books, and, perhaps to influence policy. But the truth isn’t that simple. Most think tanks are financed by special interests like defense contractors, foreign governments, and partisan billionaires. Very few Americans realize the impact these groups have on our government and on our politics. Max Blumenthal, a bestselling author and journalist, whose latest film is “Killing Gaza,” senior editor of Grayzone Project, and co-host of the podcast “Moderate Rebels,” joins Brian and John.

Facebook Suspends Page of Russiagate Accuser for “False Flag Operation” Dec 26, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Dan Cohen, a journalist and a documentary filmmaker, most recently of the film “Killing Gaza.”
Last week we discussed two reports that were made public after being commissioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee. Those reports purported to document Russian interference in the US electoral process and senators from both parties lauded the research as “proof positive” that social media companies and the government should work more closely together to police and block fake news. But the truth is that the authors of those reports were the ones who engaged in electoral manipulation. They manipulated social media platforms to impact the 2017 special election for an Alabama senate race, utilizing Russian bots and troll farms and then accusing the Russians themselves of interference. Now one of the authors has had his Facebook page suspected and his credibility ruined.
False Profits—A Weekly Look at Wall Street and Corporate Capitalism with Daniel Sankey is Tuesday’s regular segment that is airing today. Financial policy analyst Daniel Sankey joins the show.
An 8-year-old Guatemalan boy died yesterday in the custody of Customs and Border Protection in New Mexico. This is the second death of a child in CBP custody in the past two weeks. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has called on CBP to conduct a probe into what they call “systemic failures” to protect and care for children in custody. Human rights activists say that vulnerable children are kept in overcrowded, unsafe, and cold facilities called “hielaras,” Spanish for “ice boxes.” Brian and John speak with Juan José Gutiérrez, the executive director of the Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition.
The partial government shutdown is in its fifth day today with no end in sight--at least not in the near term. President Trump this morning said that he was content to keep the government closed indefinitely, so long as Democrats will not agree to fund his border wall, which he is now calling, “a border wall or border fence or whatever you want to call it.” Senators speaking anonymously told the Washington Post yesterday, however, that negotiations are underway, and there could be an agreement to end the shutdown as soon as next week. Ted Rall, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist whose work is at www.rall.com, joins 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.

A Sad Christmas Message: Homelessness in America is Growing. But Why? Dec 24, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Richard Wolff, a professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; founder of the organization Democracy at Work; and his latest book is “Capitalism's Crisis Deepens: Essays on the Global Economic Meltdown.”
On any given night, more than 554,000 people are homeless in America. In New York, authorities report that 114,659 children are either homeless or living in temporary housing. And in the past six years, homelessness in Los Angeles has surged 75 percent to more than 55,000 people. Hunger, disease, and violence are rife in homeless communities. How can something like this happen--how can it keep getting worse--in the richest country in the world?
National Security Adviser John Bolton gave a speech last week to the right-wing Heritage Foundation, where he revealed his administration’s new “Africa Strategy.” His understanding of history on the continent has been criticized as lacking understanding of the white supremacy and colonialism that has plagued Africa for centuries. Dr. Gerald Horne, a professor of history at the University of Houston and author of many books, including “Blows Against the Empire: U.S. Imperialism in Crisis,” joins the show.
President Trump over the weekend decided to fire Secretary of Defense James Mattis effective a week from today, rather than to allow him to remain in his position until his resignation became effective in February. Mattis’s resignation letter embarrassed the president and was the talk of the right-wing chat shows all weekend. And while Mattis has signed an order to begin withdrawing troops from Syria, no such order has been given for Afghanistan, where the President says he wants to cut the US troop presence in half. Brian and John speak with Ambassador Peter Ford, the former UK Ambassador to Syria.
The Times of London is reporting that the British government is considering freezing the assets of Sputnik and RT employees in the UK, whom they accuse of being engaged in “information warfare” to destabilize Britain. Is this a brazen attempt to force RT and Sputnik out of business by attacking their employees? Mark Hirst, editor-in-chief of Sputnik UK, 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.
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.

Committed to Endless US Occupation of Syria, Mattis Resigns Dec 21, 2018

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 with 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 Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’s resignation, the troop drawdown in Afghanistan, new rearrangements in Saudi Arabian intelligence services, and the possible government shutdown.
In a series of sharply worded tweets this morning, President Trump promised a “very long” government shutdown if Congress does not approve his border wall. The House approved a temporary funding measure yesterday by a vote of 217-185 and sent the bill to the Senate. But even if it passes there, Trump said he would veto it. Brian and John speak with Abdushahid Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which livestreams every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook.
Fears had been growing that authorities could have taken advantage of the holiday weekend to evict Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy in London. But a group of German parliamentarians on Thursday condemned the Trump administration for pursuing the arrest and criminal trial of the Wikileaks co-founder, and the UN made a strong statement of support. Still, activists are on guard to mobilize at a moments notice. Suzie Dawson, an activist, journalist and the president of the Internet Party of New Zealand, joins the show.
Earlier this week, the US media was dominated by the news that a report produced for the Senate Intel Committee documented a massive Russian effort to influence the 2016 election campaign with targeted messaging towards the African-American community. This was presented as proof, as a smoking gun, proving that the Russians indeed interfered in the US election in the effort to elect Donald Trump. Less known and not widely reported, is that the same organization that produced the report, called New Knowledge, had itself used the same tactics that were attributed to Russia in what the company admitted was “an elaborate, false-flag operation that planted the idea that [Republican Roy] Moore’s campaign [in Alabama] was amplified on social media by a Russian botnet.” In fact, the same organization spent nearly $100,000 in this false-flag campaign including purchasing Russian bots to intervene in the Alabama election so as to help Democratic candidate Doug Jones. Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemicist.net, whose most recent piece is “For What It’s Worth: The Yellow Vests and the Left,” joins Brian and John.
Thousands of Catalonian protesters took to the streets today to oppose a cabinet meeting in Barcelona. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the meeting, which coincidentally takes place exactly one year after the central government called snap elections in Catalonia, to discuss raising the minimum wage and to rename the airport in an effort to placate supporters of Catalonian independence. But the continued imprisonment of Catalonian political leaders and the repressive tactics of the Civil Guard police force has caused outrage in the region. Dick Nichols, the correspondent for Spain and Catalonia for Green Left Weekly, 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 blog Left I on the News and on twitter @leftiblog, and Sputnik producer Nicole Roussell.

Anti-Russia Crusade Revives Cold War Slander Against African Americans Dec 20, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Dr. Gerald Horne, a professor of history at the University of Houston and author of many books, including “The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America.”
The New York Times reported earlier this week that Russia made an extraordinary effort in 2016 to influence the votes of African Americans, using an array of tactics to suppress voter turnout among Democrats and unleashing what it called a “blizzard of activity” on Instagram. But the implication of the article harkens back to the bad old days of segregation. It revives the racist narrative that African-American voters are so gullible to outside agitators that they effectively have no control over their own votes.
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’s surprise announcement yesterday that he would pull all US troops out of Syria has ignited a firestorm of opposition among the political elite. Democrats, even those who were historically anti-war, have joined Republicans in their outrage that the United States might “lose” Syria. Brian and John speak with Massoud Shadjareh, the founder of the Islamic Human Rights Commission.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced this morning that he would unilaterally tighten work requirements related to food stamps, a move that threatens hundreds of thousands of people’s access to the most basic of necessities. Anoa Changa, the director of political advocacy and a managing editor of Progressive Army, and host of the show The Way With Anoa, joins the show.
Despite ongoing negotiations, North Korea continues to suffer under a near total economic blockade imposed by the United States and other world powers. This has had a devastating effect on the North Korean people, and now even their efforts to mitigate the damage through scientific research is being demonized as a nefarious military plot. Author and professor Tim Beal, whose most recent book is “Crisis in Korea,” joins Brian and John.
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 federal jury yesterday found a former Blackwater security contractor guilty of murder in the 2007 shootings of dozens of unarmed Iraqi civilians. This was the second time that former sniper Nicholas Slatten had been found guilty in the case. The first verdict was overturned. This comes as Donald Trump is intervening in the case of Green Beret Major Matthew Golsteyn, who admitted to carrying out a summary execution of an Afghan prisoner. Brian and John speak with Kevin Zeese, the co-coordinator of Popular Resistance, whose work is at popularresistance.org.

Senate Passes "First Step" Act, But Mass Incarceration Still Intact Dec 19, 2018

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 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 looks at the most important ongoing developments of the week and puts them into perspective. Today they talk about the First Step Act getting passed through the Senate, Mike Flynn’s hearing yesterday, and the Israeli military crackdown on the West Bank.
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.
Newly released internal documents reveal that, for years, Facebook gave some of the world’s largest tech companies more intrusive access to its users private data than it had previously disclosed, effectively exempting those companies from privacy rules. In other words, Facebook sold your private data and then lied to you about it. Brian and John speak with New Haven, Connecticut by web developer and technologist Chris Garaffa.
A Defense Department official confirmed President Trump’s tweet this morning that he will order the withdrawal of all US troops from Syria. The president said that the only reason the US was in Syria was to defeat ISIS. That has been accomplished and so the troops will come home. Neither the president nor the Defense Department, however, gave a timeline for the withdrawal. Rick Sterling, an investigative journalist and member of the Syria Solidarity Movement, and Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek, join the show.
The Federal Reserve announced at 2:00 today that it would increase the prime interest rate by 0.25 percent to ward off inflation. 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.
Police in Cleveland confirmed yesterday that an African American man was denied the right to cash his paycheck because bank tellers thought he made too much money for the check to be good. When he demanded that they call his employer to confirm the check’s authenticity, the tellers called 911 and the man was handcuffed and put into a police car. The police and bank officials later apologized. Kofi Ademola, an activist and organizer with the Black Lives Matter movement, and Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek, join the show.
In a major policy reversal, the Trump Administration is changing the way it reviews sponsors who want to care for migrant children in custody. The change could lead to thousands of children being released to family members already in the US. There are currently nearly 15,000 unaccompanied children being held in government detention centers. Brian and John speak with Isabel Garcia, co-founder of Coalición de Derechos Humanos.

Mike Flynn’s Explosive Sentencing Hearing Dec 18, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Coleen Rowley, a former FBI agent who in 2002 was named Time Magazine person of the year, and Dan Kovalik, a human rights and labor lawyer and author of “The Plot to Control the World: How the US Spent Billions to Change the Outcome of Elections Around the World.”
A federal judge in Washington today delayed the highly anticipated sentencing of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn for lying to the FBI as part of the Mueller investigation related to lobbying he conducted on behalf of the Turkish government. Prosecutors had asked for leniency because of the degree to which Flynn cooperated in the Mueller probe, but Judge Emmet Sullivan’s incendiary comments during the hearing led to the sentencing being delayed.
Tuesday’s weekly series is False Profits—A Weekly Look at Wall Street and Corporate Capitalism. Regular “False Profits” guest Daniel Sankey is out sick today, but Loud & Clear is honored to be joined by Dr. Jack Rasmus, a professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California and author of “Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression,” whose work is at www.jackrasmus.com.
President Trump has decided to shut down his embattled and much-criticized personal charitable foundation amid allegations that he used it for personal and political gain. New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood said the president had also agreed to give away the remaining money. She added that the president had engaged in what she called “a shocking pattern of illegality.” Brian and John speak with Ted Rall, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist whose work is at www.rall.com.
Headlines in all major US newspapers and news websites today crowed about the firing of former CBS Chief Les Moonves for sexual misconduct. But even in this #MeToo era, nearly every headline mentioned Moonves’s loss of a $120 million severance package, but did NOT mention the accusations against him. Jodi Dean, a professor of Political Science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and her latest book is “Crowds and Party,” joins the show.
US negotiators in Abu Dhabi yesterday met with members of the Taliban leadership and representatives of the Afghan government to discuss a possible peace in Afghanistan. It’s possible that the Taliban and government delegations could meet face to face for the first time. The talks were supposed to last one day, but they’ve stretched into a second, raising hopes of substantive advances. Dr. Marvin Weinbaum, the Scholar-in-Residence and director of the Middle East Institute’s Center for Pakistan and Afghanistan Studies, joins Brian and John.
In a speech marking the 40th anniversary of China’s economic reform, President Xi Jinping vowed to continue market liberalization, but made no major policy announcements. He asserted the importance of strong Communist Party control of the economy and society and said in a reference to the United States that no master can control the Chinese people. Meanwhile, the intelligence chiefs of the Five Eyes countries met in Nova Scotia to discuss Chinese electronics giant Huawei. John Ross, senior fellow at Chongyang Institute, Renmin University of China, and an award-winning resident columnist with several Chinese media organizations, joins the show.
The Trump Administration earlier this year laid out plans to weaken emission controls on vehicles. The changes were so dramatic that even automakers balked at the notion of making and selling dirtier cars and trucks. But it turns out that another group was behind the push. The New York Times reports that it was US oil companies leading the charge to allow cars and trucks to emit more pollution. Brian and John speak with Dr. 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” and “Creating an Ecological Society: Toward a Revolutionary Transformation” from Monthly Review Press.

Who Cares about Facts? Reports to Senate Add to Anti-Russia Hysteria Dec 17, 2018

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,” and Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemicist.net.
Two reports prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee boldly assert that Russians working at the Internet Research Agency clearly sought to influence the 2016 election to the benefit of the Republican Party. But they don’t include anything about the dollar amounts spent (they’re absurdly low), when they were spent (56% after the election), or that when this agency actually showed up in court post-indictment, that the prosecution asked for a continuance -- and hasn’t made any moves since.
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.
There are only five days to go before a partial government shutdown, but the White House and Congressional Democrats are digging in their heels. As members of Congress left Washington for the Christmas holiday, Presidential Senior Advisor Stephen Miller said the administration will do “anything that is necessary” to build a border wall. But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, “the President is not going to get a wall in any form.” Brian and John speak with Jorge Barón, the executive director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.
US airstrikes over the weekend killed 62 purported members of the al-Shabaab fundamentalist armed group affiliated with al-Qaeda in a remote area of southern Somalia. A spokesman for the Pentagon’s Africa Command, or AFRICOM, said the strikes were carried out jointly with the Somali government and were designed to prevent future Shabaab attacks. But what’s behind the stepped-up role of AFRICOM that these strikes reflect? Is the U.S. engaged in a major escalation of its drone war program? Glen Ford, the executive editor of Black Agenda Report, joins the show.
A federal judge in Texas on Friday struck down the Affordable Care Act, ruling that because Congress changed the tax law associated with it, the entire system is no longer legal. The decision will be appealed immediately and will likely end up in the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, experts say that the decision will affect literally every American. Dr. Margaret Flowers, a medical doctor and the co-coordinator of Popular Resistance, at PopularResistance.org, joins Brian and John.
President Trump on Friday named as acting Chief of Staff OMB Director Mick Mulvaney. Mulvaney also is director of the Consumer Financial Protection Board. Both of these latter positions make him susceptible to Congressional subpoena. Why did Trump finally settle on Mulvaney, someone already with two jobs, after an embarrassingly protracted search for a Chief of Staff? 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 Nation, 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.

Trump’s Lawyer Off to Jail: What’s Next in Mueller Probe? Dec 14, 2018

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 with 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 Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s roll back of anti-labor teaching regulations and making education free, US-China relations through the Huawai arrest, North Carolina election fraud, and Michael Cohen’s week.
On Wednesday of this week, federal court judge Emmet Sullivan issued new orders demanding that the Mueller investigation provide to the judge, who’s overseeing the sentencing of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, FBI memoranda and other documentation held by the FBI regarding how and why the FBI initially interviewed Flynn on January 24, 2017. That was the day that Michael Flynn reported to FBI agents about his discussions with the Russian ambassador in Washington, D.C. in December, 2016. Flynn ultimately pled guilty to one count of lying to the FBI about his discussions with the Russian ambassador in that meeting. The hosts talk about what the judge’s order might mean for Michael Flynn and the Mueller probe. Brian and John speak with Dan Kovalik, a human rights and labor lawyer who is the author of the new book “The Plot to Control the World: How the US Spent Billions to Change the Outcome of Elections Around the World.”
The FBI has raided the home of a government employee who apparently sent documents to Congressional oversight committees showing fraud committed by the Clinton Foundation. Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican who is a champion of whistleblowers, sent a letter to the FBI asking them to explain why the whistleblower should not be protected under federal statute. So far, Grassley has been ignored. Meanwhile, a Congressional hearing on the Foundation yesterday exploded as Republicans attacked their own witnesses for refusing to answer questions. Brad Birkenfeld, a famed whistleblower who single handedly brought down international money laundering at banking giant UBS, joins the show.
A 7-year-old girl has died of shock and dehydration after being detained by the Border Patrol in New Mexico. The girl and her father were taken into custody after crossing the border. She was not given any food or water, and eight hours later, with a temperature of 105.7 degrees, she began having seizures. She died shortly thereafter. Juan José Gutiérrez, the executive director of the Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition, joins Brian and John.
The Senate last night, by a margin of 56-41, voted to end US military assistance for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen in the strongest showing yet of bipartisan defiance of President Trump’s defense of the kingdom after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Although dramatic, the vote is likely symbolic because House Speaker Paul Ryan is refusing to permit a similar vote in the House. Meanwhile, an agreement to end fighting in the crucial Yemeni port city of Hodeidah has raised hopes for peace in the country. Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Non-Violence, 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 blog Left I on the News and on twitter @leftiblog, and Sputnik producer Nicole Roussell.

"The Spy" Who Wasn't A Spy: US Media's False Coverage of Maria Butina Dec 13, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Dan Kovalik, a human rights and labor lawyer who is the author of the new book “The Plot to Control the World: How the US Spent Billions to Change the Outcome of Elections Around the World.”
Russian gun rights activist Maria Butina will plead guilty in federal court today to one count of conspiracy to fail to register as a foreign agent, for which there are no sentencing guidelines. She’s been held without bail behind bars since her arrest in July. The hosts review her case and several other pieces of the Russiagate saga.
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.
Joshua Schulte is a former CIA computer engineer who has being held in New York’s Metropolitan Detention Center. He was arrested after an FBI raid on his apartment in connection with the “Vault 7” leak of cyberweapons, but the government charged him with possessing child pornography. In a recent letter to US District Court Judge Paul Crotty, Schulte says that he is being tortured in prison, and he’s being denied medication, writing materials, and access to his attorneys. Furthermore, the government is demanding that if Schulte were to meet with his attorneys, he would have to be shackled, chained to a bolt in the floor, and denied access to the classified documents necessary to defend himself. Brian and John speak with Bill Binney, a former NSA technical director who became a legendary national security whistleblower.
A Kiev court said yesterday that two Ukrainian lawmakers and top anti-corruption official’s decision to release documents linked to Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in 2016 amounted to interference in the US presidential election. The complaint was initially filed by another lawmaker who alleged that Sergei Leshchenko and Artem Sytnik were trying to influence the election in favor of Hillary Clinton. International affairs expert and security analyst Mark Sleboda joins the show.
British Prime Minister Theresa May won a no-confidence vote last night in the House of Commons, making her immune from another leadership challenge for a year. But her loss of 37 percent of her own party’s members could be devastating, according to British political observers. Many of those more conservative members are calling on her to resign. Alex Gordon, former president of the National Union of Rail, Maritime, & Transport Workers, joins Brian and John.
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.
Mental health workers organized by the National Union of Healthcare Workers at Kaiser Permanente in California are on strike this week to protest the quality of care their patients receive. Strike leaders say that the action is not about money, but instead is about how the company allows them to provide for their patients. Nurses have joined the picket line. Brian and John speak with Doug Kauffman, an activist and a member of the National Union of Healthcare Workers.

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