Loud & Clear

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Bolsonaro Victory Opens New Stage in Brazil’s Political Struggle Oct 29, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by João Rodrigues, a longtime political activist in Brazil, and Aline Piva, a journalist and a member of Brazilians for Democracy and Social Justice.
Far-right populist Jair Bolsonaro won the presidency of Brazil yesterday with 55 percent of valid votes cast. Thirty percent of Brazilians cast blank ballots. Bolsonaro is seen as a populist and has been compared to Donald Trump and to Philippines President Duterte. He also has spoken warmly of Brazil’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship and said recently that he would have served in Hitler’s army if he had had the chance.
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.
Robert Bowers walked into the Tree of Life Synagogue on Saturday in Pittsburgh and opened fire with an AR-15 assault rifle. He’s facing 29 felony counts, including 11 counts of murder with a hate crime enhancement and the Assistant U.S. Attorney says that he will seek the federal death penalty. Bowers’ virulently anti-Semitic online posts presaged the attack. Brian and John speak with Mindy Isser, a labor organizer and member of the Jewish community in the Philadelphia area.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that the number of troops the US is sending to the border in anticipation of a migrant caravan is up from the reported 800 last week to 5,000. They’re joining 2,000 National Guardsmen already there. Meanwhile, Mexican officials say that the size of the caravan has dropped by half as some migrants are electing to remain in Mexico’s southern Chiapas state. Jorge Barón, the executive director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, joins the show.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced this morning that she would resign from the leadership of the Christian Democratic Party in December and would not seek re-election as chancellor in 2021. The announcement was unexpected, but comes in light of a resounding defeat for Merkel’s coalition in recent regional elections in Bavaria. Activist and journalist Diani Baretto joins Brian and John.
The fight for stronger rent control in California is headed to the ballot box next week. Proposition 10 would repeal the state’s Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which strictly limits rent control in cities across California. It’s blamed for the state having some of the highest rents in the country. Nathalie Hrizi, a public school librarian who ran on the Peace & Freedom Party ticket for state insurance commissioner in California in the last election and received over 5% of the statewide vote, 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? Brian and John speak with Bill Ayers, an activist, educator and the author of the book “Demand the Impossible: A Radical Manifesto.”

Prominent Neocon Promises More Censorship of Social Media Oct 26, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Max Blumenthal, a journalist, the senior editor of Grayzone Project, co-host of the podcast “Moderate Rebels,” and bestselling author whose latest book is “The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza.”
This month, Facebook and Twitter deleted the accounts of hundreds of users, including man alternative media sites. Most of those purged were popular sites that scrutinized police brutality and US interventionism, like The Free Thought Project and Cop Block. Max Blumenthal has written a major article exposing the neoconservative cadres, they are former government officials and now affiliated with DC think tanks, which are playing a dominant role in the new cenersoship of alternative media.
Friday is Loud & Clear’s regular segment on the midterms, taking a look at political races around the country in the runup to midterm elections in November. Jacqueline Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which hosts a livestream every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook, joins the show.
Cesar Sayoc was arrested in Florida today in connection with more than a dozen pipe bombs that have been mailed to prominent critics of Donald Trump. Two more bombs were intercepted today after being mailed to Democratic Senator Cory Booker and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Brian and John speak with Ted Rall, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist whose work is at rall.com.
Rep. Mark Meadows, a Republican from North Carolina, said following a seven-hour-long closed-door session with former Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos that the FBI’s Russia investigation was on weak footing from the beginning, and that the investigation of Papadopoulos in and of itself was unconstitutional. Papadopoulos told Fox & Friends this morning that the FBI had violated his constitutional rights and that he was considering withdrawing from his plea deal, even though he has already cooperated with the Mueller team and served two weeks in jail. Daniel Lazare, a journalist and author of three books—“The Frozen Republic,” “The Velvet Coup,” and “America's Undeclared War,” joins the show.
Sixteen years ago today the US anti-war movement burst onto the scene with a massive protest in Washington DC. The focus of the protest was to stop George W. Bush and Dick Cheney from taking the country to war in Iraq. Within a few weeks, that movement became a global anti-war movement, drawing in more than 10 million people. The NYT in February 2003 called this unprecedented movement “the world’s second superpower.” John interviews co host Brian Becker, the national director of the Answer Coalition, the group that initiated these mass protests 16 years ago today.
An oil spill that has been quietly leaking million of barrels into the Gulf of Mexico has gone unplugged for so long that it now verges on becoming one of the worst offshore disasters in American history. Between 300 and 700 barrels of oil per day have been leaking from a site off the coast of Louisiana for the past 14 years, since an offshore oil platform sank during Hurricane Ivan. It has never been capped. Scott Edwards, co-director of the Food & Water Justice project at Food & Water Watch, 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 producers Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek.

Instead of “Unity,” Political Polarization Deepens After Pipe Bombs Oct 25, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by New York by Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemecist.net, and from Virginia by Joe Lauria, the editor of Consortium News.
Even more pipe bombs were found this morning, this time addressed to former Vice President Joe Biden and to actor Robert DeNiro, both critics of Donald Trump. Yesterday, bombs were sent to Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, two members of Congress, former CIA director John Brennan, former Attorney General Eric Holder, and CNN. The bomber is clearly targeting opponents of President Trump. But the president’s only response so far is to blame the media for not treating him fairly and for inciting hatred in the country.
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.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is expected to sign an order sending at least 800 U.S. troops to the U.S.-Mexico border as a caravan of thousands of migrants heads north from Central America. Brian and John speak with Isabel Garcia, co-founder of Coalición de Derechos Humanos.
In a stunning prediction, Ben Hodges, the commander of U.S. forces in Europe from 2014 to 2017, told an audience at the Warsaw Security Forum that there is “a very strong likelihood that we will be at war with China” within 15 years. What can the world do to avert such a catastrophic conflict? Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek joins the show.
Type the words “Erdogan slams” into Google and you get a long list, including the US, the UN, the EU, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Compare that to the Turkish president’s latest statement about Saudi Arabia, which is “I have no reason to doubt the king’s honesty.” He’s referring to the Saudi murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Saudi Arabia’s “Davos in the Desert” investment summit has just finished, with billions of dollars in new investment being planned for the kingdom. Erdogan understands that. Why let the death of one journalist get in the way of Turkey’s share of the profits? Professor Mohammad Marandi, an expert on American studies and postcolonial literature who teaches at the University of Tehran, joins Brian and John.
The New York and NASDAQ stock exchanges have experienced extreme volatility over the past week, with daily swings of as much as five percent. Indeed, the markets are down so much this week that the entire year’s gains have been wiped out. What accounts for this volatility? And is it temporary or something we should get used to? Financial policy analyst Daniel Sankey joins the show.
There was a debate last night in Florida between the two gubernatorial candidates--Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum and Congressman Ron DeSantis. Actually, it was less of a debate than it was a bare-knuckle brawl. DeSantis said that Gillum as governor would allow pedophiles to have free reign in Florida. And Gillum said that DeSantis was the candidate of neo-Nazis and white supremacists. In the meantime, news broke that the FBI had earlier tried to set up Gillum on a criminal charge by giving him free tickets to the musical Hamilton. Brian and John speak with Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.

Bombs Sent to Obama, Clinton, Brennan, Holder, Soros & Other Figures Oct 24, 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 “Blows Against the Empire: U.S. Imperialism in Crisis.”
Explosive packages were sent to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and former Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz today and to billionaire Democratic Party donor George Soros over the weekend. None of them detonated and no one was injured. Why are incidents like this so common in the United States? The hosts look at the issue of political polarization, factional struggles among political elites and their impact on the larger population and the history and the role violence has played during periods of political turmoil and indeed within the foundational structures of what became the United States.
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, producer of Loud & Clear Nicole Roussell, and Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek, join the show.
In our continuing daily coverage of the midterm elections, the hosts take a look at Medicaid. Medicaid expansion is on the ballot in some of the unlikeliest places this election, places like Idaho, Utah, Montana, and Nebraska. These are states whose populations were no fans of Obamacare, but many people there have come to the conclusion that the only way to cover gaps in health care is to expand the federal program long attacked by conservatives. Brian and John speak with Leo Cuello, an attorney and the director of health policy for the National Health Law Program.
The United Nations Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs said yesterday that as many as 14 million Yemenis--half of the country’s population--is at risk of starvation because of Saudi Arabia’s war on that country. Mark Lowcock said, “There is a clear and present danger of an imminent and great famine” hitting Yemen that would be bigger than anything seen in the lifetime of any UN official. Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Non-Violence, joins the show.
Ecuador’s foreign minister said yesterday that the country would no longer intervene with the UK government on behalf of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Jose Valencia departed from previous policy by saying that it is now up to Assange to deal with his own problems with the UK. Randy Credico, an activist, a comedian, and the former director of the William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice, joins Brian and John.
Apple Corporation CEO Tim Cook launched a blistering attack yesterday in Brussels against what he called the data industrial complex. Cook said that the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation could provide an alternative model. Professor Bryan Ford, who leads the Decentralized/Distributed Systems lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), joins the show.
Last week, there was an attack in southern Afghanistan against the governor, police chief, and intelligence director of Kandahar Province. They were all killed when the governor’s own bodyguards opened fire. The attack was claimed by the Taliban. But now we’re learning that the primary target was US Army General Scott Miller, the four-star officer in charge of all forces in Afghanistan. And US Army Brigadier General Jeff Smiley was shot and wounded in the attack. Brian and John speak with Brian Terrell, a long time peace activist and also co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence.

Turkey, Saudi Arabia: The Geopolitics of an Assassination Oct 23, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Professor Mohammad Marandi, an expert on American studies and postcolonial literature who teaches at the University of Tehran.
Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan said today that the Turkish government had strong and convincing evidence that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in a “premeditated and savage murder” at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. He also called for Saudi Arabia to extradite the 15 Saudis implicated in the case for trial in Turkey. Meanwhile, it is being widely reported that Khashoggi’s body was buried in the garden of the Saudi Consul General’s house.
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.
Americans have caught lottery fever. The multi-state Mega Millions lottery jackpot stands at more than $1.6 billion. But what happens to the money that the states keep? Is it put to good use? And isn’t the lottery really just a kind of tax? Brian and John speak with 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.”
Thousands of migrants attempting to escape poverty and violence have made it into Mexico and are heading north towards the United States. As this human drama plays out, Donald Trump and the Republican Party are seeking to exploit the situation for their electoral advantage. Eduardo Garcia, an activist and photojournalist born in Mexico City who coordinates Alliance For Global Justice’s Prison Imperialism Project and supports the solidarity work in Honduras, joins the show.
The US Cyber Command is targeting individual Russian operatives to try to deter them from influencing the US midterm elections, telling them that American operatives have identified them and are tracking their work. But a 2011 investigation by The Guardian newspaper found that the US military was developing software that would allow it to secretly manipulate social media sites by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and to spread pro-American propaganda. Sound familiar? Alexander Mercouris, the editor-in-chief of The Duran, joins Brian and John.
Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday opened the world’s longest bridge nine years after construction began. The 34-mile-long span will connect Hong Kong and Macau to the Chinese mainland and is supposed to enhance economic growth in the region. The BBC and other British media are treating the bridge like an act of aggression. But Chinese planners expect great economic progress in the region. 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.
We’re 14 short days away from midterm elections and in many states early voting is already breaking records. Most of those states are in the south, where early voting is up from between 100 and 1000 percent. And according to the Cook Political Report, it’s Republicans who seem to be flocking to the polls. Brian and John speak with Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.

US Cancels Nuclear Treaty with Russia, But is China the Real Target? Oct 22, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Mark Sleboda, an international relations and security analyst, and Jude Woodward, author of the new book “The US vs China: Asia's new Cold War?”
President Trump announced over the weekend that he would withdraw the United States from the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF, a decades-old agreement signed in 1987 between President Ronald Reagan and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Trump said that Russia had not honored the agreement, but NATO allies expressed shock at the announcement and said that they were not consulted.
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.
Thousands of Central American migrants have entered southern Mexico on their way to the United States, despite President Trump’s exhortations that they are “criminals.” The president also threatened to cut off aid to any country associated with the caravan that’s not working hard enough to stop it. It appears that Donald Trump and the Republicans are, in fact, happy about this event and are trying to manipulate the optics for their own political benefit. Brian and John speak with Juan José Gutiérrez, the executive director of the Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition.
Today we begin a daily segment on politics that we’ll run until election day on November 6. We’ll tell you about the closest and most important races around the country and the issues that affect those races.
The story behind the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi continues to become more and more bizarre every day. Turkish authorities released a photograph yesterday of a man who apparently had been part of the team that killed Khashoggi leaving the Saudi consulate wearing the victim’s clothes. Meanwhile, Turkish President Erdogan says that he will release in the next 48 hours all of the information his government has collected in the case. That is sure to be a major embarrassment to the Saudi government. Mohammad Marandi, an expert on American studies and postcolonial literature who teaches at the University of Tehran, joins Brian and John.
A Russian woman has been charged in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia for allegedly trying to influence the upcoming midterm elections by creating fake Facebook accounts and posting articles to “create and amplify divisive social media and political content.” Her alleged crime is that she posted articles related to gay rights, gun control, a recent women’s march, and the NFL’s national anthem controversy. Daniel Lazare, a journalist and author of three books—“The Frozen Republic,” “The Velvet Coup,” and “America's Undeclared War,” 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? Brian and John speak with Bill Ayers, an activist, educator and the author of the book “Demand the Impossible: A Radical Manifesto.”

“US War Drive is Big Business”: Women Prepare to March on the Pentagon Oct 19, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Cindy Sheehan, an anti-war activist and journalist whose son Casey was killed during the Iraq War, and Bonnie Caracciolo, publisher of the blog “Vietnam: My War Too.” Cindy and Bonnie are the co-organizers of the Women’s March on the Pentagon.
The 2018 Women’s March on the Pentagon takes place on Sunday following a day of workshops in response to the continuing course of US military aggression and spending and to put an anti-war agenda back in the political spotlight. Marchers are calling for an end to wars abroad, the closure of foreign bases, and deep cuts to the military budget.
Friday is Loud & Clear’s regular segment on the midterms, taking a look at political races around the country in the runup to midterm elections in November. Jacqueline Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which hosts a livestream every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook, joins the show.
A massive caravan of 3,000 Honduran migrants that has drawn the ire of Donald Trump has begun to mass on Guatemala’s border with Mexico, setting up a showdown with Mexican authorities who have vowed to stop it from continuing to the United States. Guatemalan authorities arrested the caravan’s organizer, former Honduran congressman Bartolo Fuentes, and deported him back to Honduras. Brian and John speak with Jackie McVicar, a member of the Atlantic Region Solidarity Network, working in solidarity with people struggling for social justice and environmental protection in Latin America, the Caribbean and Atlantic Canada.
Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right candidate in Brazil’s October 28 presidential runoff, is the heavy favorite to win that race. Stirred by government corruption and rising crime, some voters are willing to look past his homophobia, misogyny, racism, and comments in support of dictators, including Adolf Hitler. But a rising movement in Brazil says Bolsonaro is a threat to democracy, and are supporting leftist Fernando Haddad. Now, a scandal related to illegal advertisements through the messaging app WhatsApp is shaking the race. Aline Piva, she is a journalist and a member of Brazilians for Democracy and Social Justice, joins the show.
Harvard University is on trial for allegedly discriminating against Asian-American applicants. The group Students for Fair Admissions alleges that Harvard violated the Civil Rights Act because the university’s so-called “holistic” approach to applicants—weighing things like leadership, extracurriculars, and personal factors—harms minorities and is unconstitutional. Dr. Kevin Kumashiro, an internationally recognized expert on educational policy, school reform, and educational equity and social justice, and the former dean of the School of Education at the University of San Francisco, joins Brian and John.
Israel’s Supreme Court ruled yesterday that American student Palestinian rights activist Lara Alqasem was permitted to remain in Israel to study human rights at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The Supreme Court said in its decision that Alqasem’s detention during her appeal was “an extreme and dangerous step which could lead to the crumbling of the pillars upon which democracy stands.” Meanwhile, the U.S. state department caused outrage by announcing that it would be closing its consulate handling relations with the Palestinians and replacing it with a Palestinian Affairs Unit that would operate out of the controversial U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. Daoud Kuttab, an award-winning Palestinian journalist, 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.

American Hit Squad Sent to Massacre Yemeni Elites Oct 18, 2018

Show notes

A private American company hired by the government of the United Arab Emirates has sent former US special forces soldiers to Yemen as mercenaries to carry out assassinations of political and religious figures there, according to a Buzzfeed investigation. The killings began in 2015 and, so far, dozens of people have been assassinated. Brian and John speak with Mark Sleboda, an international relations and security analyst.
New video in the police shooting of Ricardo "Ricky" Hayes, an autistic 18 year old in Chicago, was recently released.The footage contradicts the police assertion that Hayes was armed, and is related to a lawsuit filed on behalf of Hayes. Kofi Ademola, an activist and organizer with the Black Lives Matter movement, joins the show.
Taliban gunmen this morning assassinated several leaders of the regional government in Kandahar in the country’s south. Press reports indicate that the governor, provincial military leader, and intelligence director of Kandahar Province were killed when their own bodyguards opened fire on them. The target of the attack appears to have been US General Scott Miller, but he escaped unharmed. Two American soldiers were wounded. Jeremy Kuzmarov, a professor of American history at the University of Tulsa whose latest book is “The Russians Are Coming, Again: The First Cold War as Tragedy, the Second as Farce,” joins Brian and John.
The Jordanian government said today that 300 members of the White Helmets rescue group who fled Syria for Jordan three months ago have now been resettled in Canada, Germany, and the UK. The Israeli and US governments have said that they aided the Jordanians in the resettlement. Meanwhile, the government continues to consolidate its control over the country’s international borders. Ambassador Peter Ford, the former UK Ambassador to Syria, joins the show.
Donald Trump issued his strongest threat yet against a caravan of migrants attempting to safely reach the United States. Trump stated that he would deploy the military to close down the Mexican border to stop the caravan’s arrival, and implied that the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement might be in jeopardy. Brian and John speak with Jackie McVicar, a member of the Atlantic Region Solidarity Network, working in solidarity with people struggling for social justice and environmental protection in Latin America, the Caribbean and Atlantic Canada, and a former co-coordinator of the Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Solidarity Network.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the Trump Administration would give the Saudi government more time to explain what happened to journalist Jamal Khashoggi and President Trump expressed reticence in punishing the Saudis in any way. Meanwhile, Code Pink is leading demonstrations at the State Department and the Saudi Embassy in Washington tomorrow to protest Khashoggi’s death. Brian and John are joined by Mansour Alhadj, a journalist, author, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia.
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.

Agent Orange: America’s Use of Chemical Weapons Devastated Vietnam Oct 17, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Paul Cox, a Vietnam veteran and a member of Veterans for Peace, who focuses on advocating for compensation for victims of Agent Orange, and Marjorie Cohn, professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and the former president of the National Lawyers Guild.
Secretary of Defense James Mattis is in Vietnam to discuss the biggest ever US cleanup of contamination left by the defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. The project will cost $390 million and will begin early next year. A $110 million cleanup at Danang Airport has already been completed.
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.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flew to Ankara today to discuss the apparent murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi with President Erdogan. A day earlier, Saudi officials categorically denied that they had anything to do with Khashoggi’s murder, but Turkish investigators said that the journalist was beaten, drugged, killed, and dismembered within minutes of entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The investigators also said that they had found “toxic substances” inside the consulate, and it had been very recently repainted. The Saudi consul general has fled Turkey for Saudi Arabia. Brian and John speak with Thomas Lippman, an award-winning author and journalist who has written about Middle Eastern affairs and US foreign policy for more than 40 years, specializing in Saudi issues, and is a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington.
In a tweet last night, President Trump threatened the governments of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador because of a caravan of Honduran migrants heading north toward the US border. Trump said that if the Honduran government did not stop the caravan and turn it around, the US would cut off all aid. He made the same threat later to Guatemala and El Salvador. Juan José Gutiérrez, the executive director of the Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition, joins the show.
Canada has become only the second country in the world, behind Uruguay, to legalize marijuana for recreational use. The country is now grappling with how to maintain enough production to meet demand, and the manpower necessary to deal with impaired drivers. Garland Nixon, the co-host of the Sputnik morning show “Fault Lines with Nixon and Stranahan” and a twenty-year law enforcement veteran, joins Brian and John.
A major summit is taking place in Brussels today between UK Prime Minister Theresa May and the 27 leaders of the European Union member states to discuss Brexit. Talks on the British withdrawal from the EU have broken down and there is now a real possibility of a British withdrawal absent a deal. Steve Hedley, the senior assistant general secretary of the the UK’s Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers Union, joins the show.
Venezuela’s vice president for economy announced today that the country will cease using the dollar for international transactions and instead will use the euro. Tarrik Al Aissami said that US sanctions have blocked any possibility of using the dollar in international trade.This is part of Venezuela’s Recovery and Economic Growth Program. Brian and John speak with Paul Dobson, a writer for VenezuelaAnalysis.com.

What’s It All About? The 2020 Presidential Election Campaign Begins Oct 16, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Anoa Changa, director of political advocacy and a managing editor of Progressive Army, and host of the show The Way With Anoa, and Ted Rall, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist whose work is at rall.com.
New reports from the Federal Election Commission show that Donald Trump has already raised over $100 million for his 2020 re-election campaign, a number unmatched in decades. Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren has all but declared her intention to run for president. More than two years ahead of time, the race for the presidency is already well underway.
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.
Last month a US Border Patrol supervisor in Texas was charged with murdering four women and attempting to murder a fifth. He’ll be tried on capital murder charges. This alleged crime is extreme, but Border Patrol agents are arrested for committing crimes all the time. Just last year, 254 Border Patrol agents were arrested for drug and alcohol related crimes, domestic abuse, abuse of power, and other crimes. Brian and John speak with Isabel Garcia, co-founder of Coalición de Derechos Humanos.
The Saudi government is preparing to announce that the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was an interrogation gone wrong. But some of the most powerful people in Washington say that admission isn’t good enough, and they are calling for sanctions on Riyadh. Meanwhile, Saudi watchers say Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman may have gone too far in ordering the killing and may have put his own position in jeopardy. Whitney Webb, a journalist and a staff writer for MintPress News, joins the show.
50 years ago, on October 16, 1968, Black athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their black-gloved fists in the air during the US national anthem while on the medal podium at the Olympics. The third athlete on the podium was Australia’s Peter Norman, who joined them in wearing a human rights badge on his uniform. The international olympic committee president threatened to ban the entire US track team, and as a result, Smith and Carlos were expelled from the games. Eugene Puryear, the host of By Any Means Necessary, which is on 105.5 FM and 1390 AM in the DC area between 2 and 4 p.m. and on iTunes, Spotify, Spreaker, and iHeartRadio, joins Brian and John.
The Russian Orthodox Church yesterday cut ties with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the body seen as the spiritual authority of the world’s Orthodox Christians. The row is seen as the greatest split in Christianity since the Orthodox and Catholic churches split in 1054. There is no disagreement whatsoever on dogma. Instead, the fight is over who should have authority over Ukraine’s Orthodox--Russia or Constantinople. But is modern-day geopolitics the true cause of the split? Jim Jatras, a political analyst, a former US diplomat, and a former senior foreign policy advisor to the US Senate Republican leadership, joins the show.
North and South Korea agreed on Monday to begin reconnecting rail and road links in another step toward improving bilateral relations, despite US concerns over North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. The two also began demining procedures in the demilitarized zone. Brian and John speak with author and professor Tim Beal, whose most recent book is “Crisis in Korea.”

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