Loud & Clear

Latest Episodes:

Who's Worse: CBS or Donald Trump? Oct 15, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jim Kavanagh, editor of thepolemicist.net, and Dave Lindorff, an investigative reporter and founder of This Can’t Be Happening!, as well as a columnist for CounterPunch, and a contributor to Businessweek, The Nation, Extra! and Salon.com.
Donald Trump gave a wide ranging — and at some times shocking — interview that was broadcast on 60 Minutes yesterday. During the course of the interview, the President talked to journalist Leslie Stahl about issues as diverse as climate change, China, North Korea, trade, and Russia. He indirectly threatened the job of Defense Secretary James Mattis and said that the European Union was one of the greatest threats facing the United States.
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 government of Ecuador yesterday reinstated internet connectivity for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who has been in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for the past six years. Assange had his internet and visitors cut off in March after he allegedly commented on Spanish elections in violation of an agreement with the Ecuadorians. Brian and John speak with Randy Credico, an activist, a comedian, and the former director of the William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice.
The international investigation into the disappearance and apparent murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi continues. Turkish authorities say they are positive that Khashoggi was tortured, murdered, and dismembered inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and they have the video to prove it. Meanwhile, dozens of major business leaders are withdrawing from an upcoming business conference in Saudi Arabia — it’s being called Davos in the Desert — in protest of Khashoggi’s murder. Mansour Alhadj, a journalist, author, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, joins the show.
Political observers are calling this weekend’s elections in the southern German state of Bavaria
“A political earthquake,” as Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition partners were walloped while the Green Party and the far-right Alternative for Germany increased their share of the vote dramatically. In fact, the Social Democratic Party, one of the coalition partners garnered fewer votes than the neo-Nazis. Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek joins Brian and John.
The Trump Administration has ordered an obscure government agency, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, to guy environmental regulations related to chemical and oil pipeline safety. Instead of mandatory regulations designed to keep workers and the public safe, those regulations will become voluntary suggestions. Scott Edwards, co-director of the Food & Water Justice project at Food & Water Watch, 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.”

The Facebook Purge: Corporate America's War on Alternative Media Oct 12, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Matt Savoy of The Free Thought Project, one of the pages that was deleted by Facebook, and by Ford Fischer, the founder of the media startup News2Share.
Facebook yesterday censored and deleted hundreds of pages from the website that the company deemed to be part of an entirely American effort to influence the public and to possibly swing votes in the upcoming midterm election. The problem is that the company also deleted dozens, perhaps hundreds, of legitimate pages, including many where progressives get their news. The decision calls into question the role that private companies play in a democratic system.
We take a look at political races around the country in the runup to midterm elections in November. Jacqueline Luqman and Abdus Luqman, co-editors-in-chief of Luqman Nation, join the show.
If the mainstream media is to be believed, Russian intelligence services, hackers, and internet trolls manipulated social media in 2016 while employees of the Trump campaign colluded with Russian spies to give the country Donald Trump as president. But in an exhaustive new article in Consortium News, Gareth Porter says that narrative simply isn’t true. He says that a report done by the New York Times, which is cited as the definitive piece on this issue, is fundamentally flawed and journalistically irresponsible. Brian and John speak with Gareth Porter. He is a historian, investigative journalist, and analyst specializing in U.S. national security policy
Andrew Brunson, an American pastor who has been held by Turkish authorities for two years on terrorism charges, which he has steadfastly denied, was convicted in a Turkish court today, but then immediately sentenced to time served. He left Turkey immediately. Meanwhile, Turkish authorities investigating the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi told the Washington Post that they have video and audio evidence of Khashoggi being detained, tortured, murdered, and dismembered inside the Saudi Consulate. Dr. Gönül Tol, the founding director of The Middle East Institute’s Center for Turkish Studies, joins the show.
Syrian rebels appear to be complying with an agreement with Turkey and Russia to withdraw heavy weapons from Idlib and the buffer zone along the Turkish border. The Free Syrian Army already has confirmed that it has withdrawn all tanks and heavy guns from Idlib, the last rebel-held bastion in Syria. Rick Sterling an investigative journalist and member of the Syria Solidarity Movement, joins Brian and John.
It’s Friday! So we’ll look at the week’s worst, funniest, and most misleading headlines.
Steve Patt, an independent journalist whose critiques of the mainstream media have been a feature of his blog Left I on the News, joins the show.

"Sorry, You're On Your Own" US govt's message to Americans in Hurricane Oct 11, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Shelby Shoup, a student activist at Florida State University who was in the center of the hurricane yesterday, and Gail Walker, the executive director of Pastors for Peace and a Cuba solidarity activist.
Hurricane Michael slammed into Panama City, Florida yesterday as a Category 4, with winds of 155 mph before moving inland to Georgia and South Carolina. Two people are dead and more than a 800,000 are without electricity. Hurricanes are getting stronger and more frequent—that’s a fact of climate change—but can governments and citizens keep up?
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.
Days after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s appointment, he was drawn into a heated dispute between Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and then-acting FBI director Andrew McCabe over who would ultimately oversee the investigation. McCabe argued that Rosenstein’s memo justifying the firing of former FBI director James Comey implicated him in a potential obstruction of justice case against President Trump. McCabe lost that fight and was later fired. 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.”
A senior Chinese intelligence official was arrested in a sting operation and extradited yesterday to the United States to face espionage charges. Yanjun Xu, a deputy division director in the Ministry of State Security is the first Chinese intelligence officer ever to be extradited to face trial in open court. He is accused to trying to procure intelligence related to the design of jet engine fan blades. Meanwhile, a Bloomberg story about Chinese efforts to clandestinely install spy chips in US computers servers appears to be fake news. Web developer and technologist Chris Garaffa joins the show.
The US military has grounded its entire fleet of F-35 fighter jets in the wake of a crash last month in South Carolina. The F-35 has been dogged by cost overruns, poor performance, and engineering problems virtually since its inception. Pierre Sprey, a special assistant to the Secretary of Defense and a former defense analyst who is considered to be one of the fathers of the F-16 and A-10 fighter jets, and one of the country’s foremost critics of the F-35, joins Brian and John.
US intelligence services apparently have intercepts of Saudi government communications indicating that Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman ordered the kidnapping of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who has been missing for more than a week since entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkish officials believe that Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered inside the consulate. The Saudis are denying any wrongdoing. Massoud Shadjareh, the founder of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, joins the show.
Federal court judges are balking at what they call unlawful efforts by US immigration authorities to continue to detain people charged with entering the country unlawfully, even after they had been granted bail. The rulings complicate the Trump Administration’s “zero tolerance” policy against defendants charged with crossing the border illegally. Brian and John speak with Jorge Barón, the executive director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.

On the Eve of Destruction? UN Scientists Sound Alarm Oct 10, 2018

Show notes

An enormous category 4 storm is tearing into the Florida panhandle, and many people have been unable to evacuate. Extreme weather events just keep getting worse, and scientists agree with climate change is the culprit. A new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has an ominous warning for everybody in the world: The anticipated 1.5 degree Celsius temperature rise we should expect to see in the next 12 years will be far worse than the 1 degree rise we have already seen. The report was written by 132 authors drawing on 6000 peer-reviewed studies, and its findings are grim. If we don’t curb the emission of greenhouse cases immediately, people will die, species will become extinct, the food supply will dwindle, and ocean levels will rise precipitously.
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.
Major media outlets lined up today to praise the tenure of Nikki Haley as US Ambassador to the United Nations. The Washington Post said she succeeded in promoting multilateralism for a president who opposes multilateralism. The New York Times said Haley “would be missed” and lauded her pragmatism and positive relationships with other diplomats. An Israeli diplomat lamented that “now Israel has only one ambassador at the United Nations.” Brian and John speak with Ted Rall, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist, whose work is at rall.com.
Turkish authorities investigating the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said today that the well-known journalist appears to have entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he was killed on the orders of the Saudi leadership and dismembered by four men who subsequently left from the back of the building, drove to the airport, and flew to Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, condemnation of Khashoggi’s apparent murder is rippling across the globe. Ali al-Ahmed, the director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs, joins the show.
Israeli authorities have detained an American graduate student at the airport in Tel Aviv for the past week, solely because she is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, or BDS, program. Lara al-Qasem, whose grandparents are Palestinian, has a valid Israeli visa, but she will be deported because of her political views. She is being confined while she appeals the decision. Reem Zaitoon, the president of Students for Justice in Palestine at Florida State University, joins Brian and John.
Nearly two years ago, Marcus Mitchell and many other indigenous activists stood up to the oil and gas corporations trying to build the Dakota Access pipeline through their land. While protesting to protect his land, Marcus was blinded in one eye and lost partial hearing in one ear due to a lead pellet shot directly at his head by a county sheriff. Yet now he’s facing two years in prison. Kandi Mossett, Indigenous Environmental Network’s Native Energy & Climate Campaign Organizer who took part in the Standing Rock protests of 2017, joins the show.
Google announced that it would drop out of a bid for a $10 billion cloud contract with the Defense Department, saying that the project conflicted with its corporate values. In the meantime, the company is appealing a 5 billion euro fine for running a monopoly in Europe. Brian and John speak with Dr. Robert Epstein, the senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology.

Israeli Interference in the U.S. 2016 Election? Oct 09, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Max Blumenthal, a journalist and bestselling author whose latest book is “The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza,” the senior editor of Grayzone Project, and co-host of the podcast Moderate Rebels.
Indicted Trump Campaign official Rick Gates apparently requested proposals in 2016 from an Israeli company to create fake online identities, to use social media manipulation, and to gather intelligence to help defeat Donald Trump’s Republican primary challengers and, later, Hillary Clinton. The company is staffed by former Israeli intelligence officers and, while the New York Times says there is no evidence the Trump campaign actually engaged the company, an emissary of the United Arab Emirates Crown Prince wrote the firm a check for $2 million.
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.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, seen as a rising star in the Republican Party, abruptly resigned this morning. The news website Axios, which broke the story, said that the decision was Haley’s and that the White House foreign policy team was “shocked” when she offered the resignation a week ago. Brian and John speak with Jim Kavanagh, the editor of ThePolemicist.net.
Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right candidate in Brazil’s presidential election, nearly scored an outright victory yesterday, falling just short of the 50 percent necessary to avoid a runoff. He will now face Workers Party candidate Fernando Haddad, who finished with 29 percent. Aline Piva, a journalist and a member of Brazilians for Democracy and Social Justice, joins the show.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said yesterday that North Korea is ready to allow international inspectors into a key nuclear testing site, signaling a step forward in efforts to bring peace to the Korean peninsula. Pompeo also said that another Trump-Kim summit was “pretty close.” Professor Simone Chun, a fellow at the Korea Policy Institute and a member of the Korean Peace Network, joins Brian and John.
The British online investigative group Bellingcat reported today that it had identified what it calls a second Skripal poisoning suspect. The website says that Dr. Alexander Mishkin, a military doctor alleged to be in the pay of the GRU, the Russian military intelligence organization, had something to do with the Skripal poisoning. And while the circumstantial evidence is convincing that Mishkin was somewhere in the UK at the time Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned, there is no evidence that Mishkin had anything to do with it. Alexander Mercouris, the editor-in-chief of The Duran, joins the show.
Renowned Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi went to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul over the weekend to fill out a form to register his upcoming marriage. He never came out of that consulate. And now Turkish officials, who have received permission to enter the building to investigate, are saying that he was murdered by Saudi officials and his body disposed of. Brian and John speak with Medea Benjamin, an anti-war and anti-torture activist who is the co-founder of Code Pink, which has organized a protest tomorrow at noon at the Saudi embassy.

John “Make War Not Peace” Bolton Announces New Military Strategy Oct 05, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by international relations and security analyst Mark Sleboda.
National Security Advisor John Bolton yesterday announced a new national counterterrorism strategy, saying that it focuses on disrupting “all terrorist groups, which the document defines as including “radical Islamist terrorist groups.” But it also goes further. The document also focused on Iran, which Bolton said has been “the world’s central banker for international terrorism since 1979.”
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.
The Senate voted this morning 51-49 to move forward and have the vote on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination. It’s currently scheduled for tomorrow. Brian and John speak with Jane Cutter, the editor of Liberation News, which you can find at liberationnews.org.
Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke has been on trial for allegedly shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald on October 20, 2014. Three other officers have been charged with lying about the investigation and covering up the events. This is the second day of deliberation for the jury on Van Dyke’s charges, and they have reached a verdict of guilty on second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery. Aislinn Pulley, an organizer with the Black Lives Matter movement, joins the show.
Brazilians will head to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president. The country’s most popular politician, Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva, has been banned from the race due to highly disputed charges, and the Workers Party is running Fernando Haddad in his place. Jair Bolsonaro is a far-right fascist candidate who is slightly ahead in the polls despite being protested widely in the streets. Aline Piva, a journalist and a member of Brazilians for Democracy and Social Justice, joins Brian and John.
This Sunday marks the 17th anniversary of the US and allied invasion of Afghanistan, the longest war in American history. What began as an effort to destroy al-Qaeda in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks became a futile exercise in nation-building and then transformed into a never-ending policy of killing anybody who could someday pose a threat to the United States. Will this war ever end? Brian Terrell, a long time peace activist and also co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, 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.

Yellow Scare is Back: America’s New China Strategy Oct 04, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by David Ewing, the chair of the San Francisco chapter of the US-China People’s Friendship Association, and Sputnik News analyst Walter Smolarek.
Vice President Mike Pence gave a high profile, hardline speech at the Hudson Institute today that China is the world’s greatest military and economic threat, and he risks inflaming an already delicate relationship. In a speech that set a new tone in bilateral relations and seeks to confront China directly, Pence argued that Beijing is a hostile military power to both the United States and regional countries and that the Chinese government has meddled in US elections and will do so again. Pence also argued that China’s strong economy is a threat to global financial stability.
Today the hosts continue Loud & Clear’s weekly series “Criminal Injustice,” where we talk about the most egregious conduct of our courts and prosecutors and how justice is denied to so many people in this country. Kevin Gosztola, a writer for Shadowproof.com and co-host of the podcast Unauthorized Disclosure, and Alex Friedman, the associate director of the Human Rights Defense Center, join the show.
The US, British, and Dutch governments today accused the Russian military intelligence agency, the GRU, of a program of hacking into a variety of international targets. This includes the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, allegedly to interfere with the investigation into the poisoning of the Skripals—a charge Russia denies. The coordinated allegations come only a day after Defense Secretary James Mattis said that the US would share its offensive cyber capabilities with its NATO partners. Meanwhile, the Justice Department this morning indicted seven Russian military officers for hacking computers associated with international sports doping organizations. Why is the west rolling out this new policy right now? 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.”
Climate experts are gathering in South Korea this week to urge their governments to work harder and faster to halt global warming. Energy and climate ministers from around the world, joined by UN experts, are trying to conceive of a plan to reverse the effects of carbon emissions and are working to devise target dates for major reductions. Fred Magdoff. He is 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, joins the show.
The FBI investigation that the Senate asked for has wrapped up after 7 days without interviewing many witnesses who volunteered information, or even alleged sexual assault survivor Dr. Christine Blasey Ford or Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh himself. Today, there are actions against his nomination nationwide. Alexander Rubenstein, who we talk to from the rally at the Supreme Court, a Sputnik news analyst and journalist whose work is on twitter @RealAlexRubi, Karla Reyes, managing editor of the magazine Breaking the Chains and an activist for women’s rights who is mobilizing people for the rally today at Trump Tower in New York, and Sputnik News analyst Walter Smolarek, join Brian and John.
A federal judge in San Francisco yesterday blocked one of the Trump administration’s most important immigration policies, allowing hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who thought they would soon be deported to remain in the country. The temporary injunction covers immigrants from Sudan, El Salvador, Haiti, and Nicaragua. Juan José Gutiérrez, the executive director of the Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition, joins the show.
Amazon announced this week that it would institute a $15 per hour minimum wage after labor and political pressure on the company. Now, Amazon says that it will end performance bonuses for employees in order to recoup the costs of its wage increases. And all the while, Amazon’s founder and primary shareholder, Jeff Bezos, continues to be the richest man in the world, with a net worth of some $165 billion. Brian and John speak with Neal Sweeney, the Vice President of UAW Local 5810, the union representing post-doctoral researchers in the University of California system.

How Trump Amassed His Fortune: An Insight Into American Capitalism Oct 03, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Dave Lindorff, an investigative reporter and founder of This Can’t Be Happening!, Ted Rall (rall.com), an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist, and Dr. Jack Rasmus (jackrasmus.com), a professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California.
A blockbuster New York Times investigation has found that Donald Trump in the 1990s participated in dubious tax schemes, and committed outright fraud, that greatly increased the fortune that he had inherited from his parents. Trump won the presidency in part by proclaiming his status as a self-made billionaire. That, it turns out, was simply not true.
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.
Last night Donald Trump went before adoring crowds on the campaign trail to mock and deride the credibility of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who had alleged that Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her and attempted to rape her while he was severely inebriated at a gathering in a home in Bethesda, MD. Dr. Ford was 15 years old at the time and Kavanaugh was a seventeen-year-old football player. Meanwhile, it appears that the FBI is wrapping up its very limited investigation without interviewing Dr. Blasey Ford or Judge Kavanaugh. Brian and John speak with Dan Kovalik, a human rights and labor lawyer. He’s the author of the book “The Plot to Attack Iran.”
More than 1,600 children in recent weeks have been sent in the middle of the night and with no notice or public announcement to a tent city in west Texas where there is no schooling and almost no access to legal representation. The Trump Administration says it has done this because migrant shelters are overflowing. But apparently nobody bothered to consult attorneys or consider human rights. Jorge Barón, the executive director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, joins the show.
The Pentagon is expected today to announce that, if asked, it will offer NATO allies its formidable cyber warfare capabilities. A Pentagon spokesperson said that the Defense Department will offer allies both offensive and defensive capabilities, but the U.S. will maintain control over the program. Meanwhile, controversy continues over comments by U.S. NATO envoy Kay Bailey Hutchinson about preemptively “taking out” Russian missiles. Alexander Mercouris, the editor-in-chief of The Duran, joins Brian and John.
After a breakthrough agreement between the political bloc led by Muqtada al-Sadr and the pro-Iran Fatah Alliance, Iraq has a new Prime Minister. It’s Adil Abd al-Mahdi, a Shia Muslim former communist who will now try to create a new government. Abd al-Mahdi is a 76-year-old French-trained economist who has spent much of the past 30 years working at European think tanks. Mohammad Marandi, an expert on American studies and postcolonial literature who teaches at the University of Tehran, joins the show.
British Prime Minister Theresa May gave a keynote address at the Conservative Party Conference today in which she said that the economic austerity policies of her party are now a thing of the past. On Brexit, her policy was simple: My way or the highway. But most British observers think that May’s policy changes are too little too late. She faces strong challenges now from both the right and the left. Brian and John speak with Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.

What? US-NATO Envoy Threatens Military Attack Against Russia?! Oct 02, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker is joined by Mark Sleboda, an international relations and security analyst.
Kay Bailey Hutchison, the U.S. envoy to NATO made highly provocative comments today threatening to “take out” Russian missiles that the U.S. believes to be in violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty.
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.
Amazon announced today that it will raise its wages for all US employees to $15 an hour, starting November 1. The company has been under increasing pressure from the labor movement and other progressive activists to improve conditions for workers, and its CEO Jeff Bezos is rumored to have political ambitions. Brian speaks with Neal Sweeney, he is the Vice President of UAW Local 5810, the union representing post-doctoral researchers in the University of California system.
As the intense battle over the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh continues, women and survivors across the country are flooding sexual assault headlines, tweeting about their experiences, and publicly outing their assaulters. We’ll talk about the effect the hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh have had on sexual assault survivors. Danielle Norwood, a reproductive rights activist and a therapist specializing in treating adult and adolescent survivors of trauma, joins the show.
Protests are continuing today in Argentina against the austerity measures imposed by the government of right-wing president Mauricio Macri. Macri’s government has turned to the IMF to deal with the country’s economic crisis, an institution that is deeply unpopular in the country. Ambassador Cecilia Nahón, the former Argentinian ambassador to the US and a professor at American University who served as Argentina’s Secretary of International Economic Relations and has a Ph.D focusing on external financing and economic development, joins Brian.
Four white supremacists are facing federal charges from events surrounding the August 12, 2017 Unite the Right rally, where anti-racist protester Heather Heyer was run down and murdered, and the torchlight march held the day before at the University of Virginia. They are being charged with inciting a riot targeting anti-racist protesters. Tiernan Low, an organizer in Charlottesville who is involved in the movement against fascism and white supremacy, joins the show.
Huge crowds took to the streets in Catalonia yesterday to mark the one year anniversary of the independence referendum that was brutally repressed by the Spanish central government. Yet again, there was intense repression of civil disobedience actions held by pro-independence activists. Brian speaks with Dick Nichols, the correspondent for Spain and Catalonia for Green Left Weekly.

NAFTA Theatrics and the Coming Recession Oct 02, 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 and founder of the organization Democracy at Work. His latest book is “Capitalism's Crisis Deepens: Essays on the Global Economic Meltdown.”
Canada and the US have come to an agreement on trade. This agreement, along with the agreement the US and Mexico came to, will collectively be called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, and will be a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.
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.
After the extremely dramatic events on capitol hill last week, the FBI investigation into alleged sexual assaults committed by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is underway. Just a few swing votes in the Senate will determine the fate of his confirmation. Brian and John speak with Dan Kovalik, a human rights and labor lawyer who is the author of the book “The Plot to Attack Iran.”
This weekend, Brazilians rallied against presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro in a series of huge demonstrations titled “Not Him”. With just one week left before the first round of the election, could Brazil really elect a far-right, dictatorship-admiring president like Bolsonaro? Or will the candidate of imprisoned ex-President Lula’s Workers Party prevail? Brazilian-British activist Victor Fraga with Democracy for Brazil 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.
Iran fired missiles today at the terrorists who Iran’s Intelligence Ministry has accused of carrying out a deadly attack on a military parade on September 22, killing 25 and injuring many more. Iran’s government has stated that Israel, the United States, and gulf monarchies shared responsibility for the attack. Massoud Shadjareh, the founder of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, joins the show.
The Kurdistan region of Iraq held elections yesterday that will determine control of the Kurdistan Regional Government. These elections are the first to be held since the highly controversial and ultimately unsuccessful referendum to secede from Iraq last year, and come during a period of extreme tension in Iraqi politics. Brian and John speak with Yerevan Saeed, a political analyst who researches and writes on security, political, and energy issues in the Middle East, focusing on Iraq, Turkey, Iran, the Gulf, and the Levant and has served as White House correspondent for the Kurdish Rudaw TV.

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