Loud & Clear

Latest Episodes:

A Historic Day: 15th Anniversary of Largest Anti-War Mobilization Ever Feb 16, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Mike Prysner, a veteran of the Iraq War who became a leading anti-war activist, and Cindy Sheehan, an anti-war activist and journalist whose son Casey was killed during the Iraq War.
In our first hour, fifteen years ago yesterday, more than 10 million people around the world participated in mass demonstrations in opposition to the US decision to attack Iraq. It was the largest mass one day mass anti-war mobilization in history. All these years later, the US military is still in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it has armed troops in countless other countries around the world. The hosts take a look at militarism and war and the global forces that are trying to changing course.
Then, we continue our weekly series “Criminal Injustice,” where we talk about the most egregious conduct of 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 Paul Wright, the founder and Executive Director of the Human Rights Defense Center and editor of Prison Legal News, join the show.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller issued indictments today against 13 Russian citizens and three entities, and he announced one charge against an American as part of the Russia probe. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said that there is no evidence of Russia influencing the outcome of the 2016 election. And no American was wittingly involved. Brian and John speak with Jim Kavanagh, the editor of ThePolemicist.net and Jim Jatras, a political analyst and former US diplomat.
The bipartisan immigration bill failed in the Senate yesterday, as did President Trump’s unpopular immigration bill, dooming prospects for reform and casting doubt on the future of Dreamers in the country. Angie Kim, community engagement and advocacy coordinator at the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium, and Matt Adams, the legal director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, joins the show.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Turkey today in an attempt to repair relations between the two NATO allies. Those relations have frayed over allegations that the US supported a coup against Turkish president Erdogan last year, as well as Turkish demands that the US end support of Kurds in Turkey. Shabbir Razvi, he is an economist and political analyst, joins Brian and John.
Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai is being investigated by the FCC Inspector General over allegations that he improperly scrapped regulations to benefit conservative Sinclair Broadcasting in its purchase of rival Tribune Media. Tim Karr, the senior director of strategy at Free Press, joins the show.
John and Brian look at the worst and most misleading headlines of the week with Steve Patt, an independent journalist whose writings can be found Left Eye on the News.

Massacre at Florida High School Reignites Gun Control Debate Feb 15, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Dave Lindorff, an investigative reporter and columnist, and Gilbert Mercier, author and Editor in Chief of News Junkie Post.
The death toll from yesterday’s shooting in a high school in Parkland Florida remains at 17, with three people still in critical condition. The shooting was emblematic of a larger problem of gun violence in the United States.
South African President Jacob Zuma resigned yesterday under intense pressure from his own African National Congress party following accusations of corruption and bribery. ANC chairman Cyril Ramaphosa was immediately sworn in as president. In the hours before Zuma’s resignation, we spoke with Dr. Gerald Horne, an author and professor of history, about Zuma, the direction of the ANC, and South Africa’s political direction.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said today that five Russian nationals were killed in a recent US airstrike in Syria. This is the first official recognition of an incident that will further strain US-Russian relations. Mark Sleboda, an international affairs and security analyst, joins the show.
In the aftermath of the Florida shooting, former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has delayed the announcement of his candidacy for the US Senate seat being vacated by Orin Hatch of Utah, which will now come early next week. Does Romney have a burning desire to be in the US Senate? Or is he looking for a platform from which to run against President Trump? Brian and John speak with Ted Rall, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist.
A Sputnik News correspondent is reporting that Georgian snipers were active in Ukraine during the 2014 Maidan shootings, under the instruction of a former US Army officer. Exiled former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili left Ukraine for the Netherlands yesterday just as the story was being published. Alexander Mercouris, editor in chief of The Duran, joins the show.
There’s a dirty little secret of American history called “Eugenics.” That’s the state-sponsored forced sterilization of women, almost always women of color or the developmentally disabled. This was a policy in states across America all the way into the 1970s. Dr. Kathryn Krase, a professor of social work at Long Island University and an attorney who focuses on family law, joins Brian and John.
The Taliban has released an extraordinary 17,000 word statement addressed to the American people, asking them to pressure elected officials to end the war in Afghanistan, which has dragged on for more than 16 years. The statement adds that the US intervention has brought only death, corruption, and drugs to Afghanistan. Brian Terrell, a long time peace activist and a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, joins the show.

Again and Again: Nearly 300 Mass School Shootings in U.S. Since 2013 Feb 14, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Andrew Patrick, media director of Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.
Southern Florida was gripped by another mass shooting, again at a high school. Scores of people were shot in Broward County, Florida, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School this afternoon. The hosts discuss the school shooting as well as the phenomena of mass shootings and why this has become a regular feature of life in American society.
Despite the hope for a bipartisan immigration measure in both houses of Congress, efforts there are already beginning to falter, mostly over questions of process. With President Trump demanding a deep cut in the number of immigrants allowed into the country, and a phasing out of the visa lottery, it will be an uphill battle to reform the system. Erika Almirón, executive director of the immigrant rights organization Juntos, Juan José Gutiérrez, executive director of the Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition, and Sundrop Carter, executive director of the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition, join the show.
President Trump’s budget is beginning to come into focus, and the details are ugly. Even using Trump’s inflated economic growth projections, the deficit is projected to grow by more than $7 trillion. The White House is also demanding the popular programs like student loan forgiveness and the National Endowment for the Arts be phased out to pay for more Pentagon weapons. Brian and John speak with Dave Lindorff, an investigative reporter, a columnist for CounterPunch, and at ThisCantBeHappening.net.
The Democrats yesterday won a state legislative seat in Florida that had never before gone Democratic. This is the third Republican seat to flip to the Democrats in Florida in the past year, and it may presage what political experts are saying could become a major sweep for the Democrats in the midterm elections. Jacqueline Luqman, editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, joins the show.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, announced yesterday that it would stop paying for the hotel rooms of Puerto Ricans displaced by Hurricane Maria. This is despite the fact that a third of the island still has no electricity. Juliana Musheyev, a member of the Board of Directors of the Peace Education and Action Center, joins Brian and John.
"GoogleBro" James Damore was fired from Google for creating a hostile work environment by circulating a memo stating that women are biologically less geared toward work in tech and leadership. He’s now been invited to Portland State University by a group called PSU Freethinkers, and will be speaking this Saturday. Working with several activist groups and academic departments, the student government of PSU (called Associated Students), has organized three events through the week. Donald Thompson III, vice president of the Associated Students at PSU, and one of the primary organizers of the events this week, joins the show.
President Trump’s longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, told the press yesterday that he paid former porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 out of his own pocket to keep the actress quiet about a sexual affair she had had with Trump a decade ago.

“War, War, War…” U.S. Intel Chiefs Brief Congress on Future Feb 13, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Medea Benjamin, the co-founder of Code Pink, Ajit Singh, a writer and political analyst, and Bill Binney, a former NSA technical director who became a legendary national security whistleblower.
The Senate Intelligence Committee today will hear from the Director of National Intelligence and the Directors of the CIA, NSA, and FBI and others on the global threats facing the United States. Those threats haven’t changed much since last year. They include cyberattacks, Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and Syria. But for the first time, terrorism wasn’t at or near the top of the list.
The hosts continue the weekly series looking at the economic issues of the day with financial policy analyst Daniel Sankey. The three also examine President Trump’s proposed infrastructure bill.
A judge in the UK today refused to cancel an arrest warrant for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, ruling that he could still be arrested by UK police if he leaves the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Brian and John speak with Randy Credico, an activist, a comedian, and the former director of the William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice.
Three staff members of a jail formerly run by conservative activist sheriff David Clarke of Milwaukee were arrested yesterday and charged with multiple felonies after a mentally ill prisoner, Terrill Thomas, died of thirst. The staff members had denied him water for a week to punish him for behavioral problems. Michelle Gross, the president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, and Peter Koneazny, the litigation director for the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee, join the show.
The government of Kuwait yesterday opened a weeklong conference dedicated to raising money for the reconstruction of Iraq following the devastating war against ISIS. Experts estimate that Iraq needs more than $88 billion. Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov, a professor at the University of Tulsa and author of the book “Modernizing Repression: Police Training and Nation Building in the American Century,” joins Brian and John.
Israeli police are expected to recommend today that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be indicted on charges of bribery and abuse of power, charges that he insists he will fight. Meanwhile, Ahed Tamimi, a 17-year-old Palestinian girl, was put on trial yesterday in an Israeli military court on charges that she slapped an Israeli soldier after her cousin was shot with a rubber bullet. The case has attracted the attention of diplomats, human rights groups, Hollywood celebrities, and the media. Daoud Kuttab, an award-winning Palestinian journalist, joins the show.
CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling was released from a halfway house in St. Louis yesterday, arriving home in the late morning for the first time in more than two-and-a-half years. Sterling was prosecuted after alleging racial discrimination at the Agency and found guilty of a number of national security crimes, all of which he denied all the way through trial. The federal Bureau of Prisons did all it could to break Sterling even after he was released from prison.
tags: CIA, NSA, FBI, Senate Intelligence Committee, Director of National Intelligence, global threats, war, peace, cyberattacks, Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Syria, terrorism

Syria Downs Israeli F-16: A new, major war looming in the Middle East? Feb 12, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jana Nakhal, an independent researcher and a member of the Central Committee of Lebanese Communist Party, and Dan Cohen, a journalist and filmmaker.
An Israeli fighter jet was shot down in Syria over the weekend, after the Israeli Air Force attacked Syrian installations. That attack was in response to an Iranian drone crossing into Israeli airspace. By the time it was all over, six Syrians were dead and many more wounded.
The hosts talk about North and South Korea and the attitude of the Trump Administration. Mike Pence went out of his way to demonstrate unhappiness with the possibility that peace could break out on the Korean Peninsula. The two Koreas marched under one flag at the Olympics and North Korea has invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in to visit Pyongyang for more talks. The Korean War began 68 years ago—might it finally be coming to a close? Patrick Lawrence, the author of “Time No Longer: Americans After the American Century” and a columnist at Salon and The Nation, and Bruce Gagnon, the coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus, join the show.
The Trump administration submitted today a budget proposal that would see massive cuts made to social programs, including Medicare, alongside a huge boost to military spending. Meanwhile, President Trump will unveil his infrastructure bill today that critics say falls well short of what is needed to address the country’s needs. Brian and John speak with 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.”
Debate is set to begin today in the Senate on a new immigration reform bill, although no such debate has been scheduled in the House, casting doubt on Republican protestations that they want immigration reform. Meanwhile, 120 immigrants detained in an ICE facility in Washington State have begun a hunger strike. Jorge Barón, the executive director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, joins the show.
Lissa Lucas was asked to testify before the West Virginia legislature on an oil and gas industry-sponsored bill that would allow companies to drill on private land without the owner's consent. A few minutes into her testimony, her microphone was turned off. And a few minutes after that, she was forcibly dragged from the room. Natalie Thompson, the Executive Director of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, joins Brian and John.
The Ohio Attorney General is suing DuPont and its spinoff Chemour Co. for years of dumping toxic chemicals from its West Virginia plant into a river that fouled air, water, and land in neighboring Ohio, despite knowing the damage it was doing. Robin Blakeman, the Huntington Project Coordinator with the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, joins the show.
The New York Times reported over the weekend that the US intelligence community recently conducted a top secret operation to recover stolen classified documents from Russian operatives. The article says that the operation also inadvertently yielded a cache of documents related to Donald Trump and to Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The only problem is that the CIA, in a very rare public statement, says the report is “fantasy” and “patently false.”

And the Winner Is…Two Koreas Talk Peace at Olympics In Defiance of U.S. Feb 10, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Ann Wright, a retired United States Army colonel and former U.S. State Department official in Afghanistan, who resigned in protest of the invasion of Iraq and became an anti-war activist, Dr. Tim Beal, an author, researcher, and teacher whose most recent book is “Crisis in Korea,” and Professor Simone Chun, a fellow at the Korea Policy Institute and a member of the Korean Peace Network.
The Winter Olympics opened yesterday in PyeongChang, South Korea in the shadow of difficult international politics. The sister of DPRK leader Kim Jong-un shook hands with South Korean President Moon Jae-In. She became the only member of the Kim family ever to visit South Korea. Meanwhile, Vice President Pence, representing the United States, sat three feet away and never acknowledged the North Koreans. The hosts discuss US policy in the face of improving relations between North and South Korea.
In cities nationwide, longtime working-class city residents face higher rents and increased pressure from landlords and developers. The nation’s capitol is no exception, and two groups are taking the fight to a developer’s own house this weekend, with a march up a main DC street in upper Northwest. The hosts talk about the details of the march and the broader picture of gentrification in DC. Yasmina Mrabet, a housing organizer with ONE DC, a leading organization in the group that put together Saturday’s march, and Will Merrifield, an attorney with the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless who is representing the tenants of Congress Heights, join the show.
The federal government shut down briefly last night. You probably didn’t notice it. In the middle of the night, Congress passed a two-year funding measure that adds another $300 billion in spending, more than half of that for the Pentagon, and it keeps the rest of the government open until March 23. Brian and John speak with Ted Rall, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist.
With passage of the budget deal, Congress will now take up the issue of immigration reform. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has called for debate to begin on immigration on Monday, with the Senate using the House’s Hurd-Aguilar proposal as a starting point. Angie Kim, an immigrant rights advocate and community organizer with the MinKwon Center for Community Action, joins the show.
Years of war and violence have left 750,000 children in Mosul without basic health care, which UNICEF recently announced while appealing for $17 million to aid the area. Less than 10% of health facilities in the surrounding province are operating at full capacity. Despite this great need, there is little to no mention of it in the corporate media. Catherine Shakdam, a political commentator and analyst focusing on the Middle East, and the author of “A Tale Of Grand Resistance: Yemen, The Wahhabi And The House Of Saud,” joins Brian and John.
According to multiple reports, Israeli police authorities are recommending to the country’s minister of justice that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be indicted on a myriad of corruption and bribery charges. The recommendation was made unanimously by a panel of police chiefs. Miko Peled, the author of “The General’s Son - A Journey of an Israeli in Palestine” and the upcoming title "Injustice: The Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five," joins the show.
Again this week the hosts look at the worst and most misleading headlines. Brian and John speak with Steve Patt, an independent journalist whose searing critiques of the mainstream media have been a feature of his blog Left Eye on the News, which you can find at lefti.blogspot.com.

Stock Market Plunges While Congress Tries to Keep Government Afloat Feb 08, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Dean Baker, the co-director of the Center for Economic Policy and Research.
The stock market plunged again losing more than one thousand points at the same time as Congress raced to avert another government shutdown. Instability within the government and in the larger economy has become a hallmark of the crises looming in the United States.
In this segment, “Underreported America,” the hosts look at some of the less widely covered stories from around the country. A few days ago, a livery driver in New York City committed suicide in front of City Hall, apparently as a result of his inability to make a living under current taxi and livery regulations. The hosts look at regulations and the advent of ride-sharing. Johnice Earle, a business agent with the Washington DC Taxicab Association, a part of Teamsters Local #922, and the President and Secretary of the DC Taxicab Association, join the show.
Today is another installment of “Criminal Injustice,” where the hosts talk about the most egregious conduct of our courts and prosecutors and how justice is denied to so many people in this country. Brian and John speak with Kevin Gosztola, a writer for Shadowproof.com and co-host of the podcast Unauthorized Disclosure, and Paul Wright, the founder and Executive Director of the Human Rights Defense Center and editor of Prison Legal News.
The US and its allies struck Syrian government forces with air and artillery fire last night, killing more than 100 Syrians. This is the deadliest confrontation in Syria so far that involved the US military. Ambassador Peter Ford, the former UK Ambassador to Syria, joins the show.
Negotiations between the Venezuelan government and opposition in the Dominican Republic were indefinitely suspended, as the opposition meets today to decide whether to participate in a controversial presidential election in April, despite the barring of its two strongest candidates. Lucas Koerner, an activist and writer for VenezuelAnalysis.com, joins Brian and John.
A federal judge in Oklahoma recently gave a woman guilty of passing bad checks and possessing drugs a choice: Be sterilized or go to prison for a longer stretch. She was sterilized. Eesha Pandit, a writer, activist, and co-founder and managing partner at The Center for Advancing Innovative Policy, joins the show.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke for eight hours on the floor of the House yesterday about the Dreamers, the longest House speech in American history. Regardless, they still will not be protected in the proposed bipartisan budget deal. Meanwhile, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said that most Dreamers never got their citizenship because they were “lazy.” Brian and John speak with Isabel Garcia, co-founder of Coalición de Derechos Humanos.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Cyberwarfare chief said unequivocally yesterday that Russia hacked into the election systems of a number of US states in 2016. The state election commissions, however, said that was simply not true and there was no evidence of any hacking, from Russia or from anywhere else. Joe Lauria, a journalist, political commentator, and author of the book "How I Lost, By Hillary Clinton," joins the show.

Glorifying War, Trump Orders Military Parade: Mass Protest Planned Feb 07, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Non-Violence, and Dr. Peter Kuznick, a Professor of History and Director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University and the co-author with Oliver Stone of “The Untold History of the United States.”
President Trump, who never served in the military, has ordered the Pentagon to plan a large-scale military parade similar to one he saw in France on Bastille Day. The press says he was “awestruck” by it. Opposition to the parade, which would cost between $20 million and $25 million, has been swift.
The United Nations is warning that Gaza will run out of fuel in only 10 days, already causing hospitals to close. Meanwhile, an Israeli paper reported that Saudi Arabia granted overflight clearance to Air India’s new flight from Delhi to Tel Aviv, though Saudi Arabia is now denying it. And the Israeli government is preparing to expel as many as 40,000 African refugees. Ali Abunimah, the co-founder of The Electronic Intifada and author of the book “The Battle for Justice in Palestine,” joins the show.
Democratic and Republican senators came to an agreement on a two-year budget plan today, heading off what would have been another government shutdown, but increasing federal spending by some $200 billion. The measure now goes to the House, where it may face stiff opposition from budget hawks. Brian and John speak with Jim Kavanagh, the editor of ThePolemicist.net.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, recently gave a $156 million contract to a company in Georgia with one employee to provide 30 million meals to Puerto Ricans displaced by Hurricane Maria. The company took the money and delivered 50,000 meals. The FEMA contracting officer is calling the episode “a logistical nightmare.” Juliana Musheyev, a Community Engaged Researcher at Sarasota County Openly Plans for Excellence (SCOPE) joins the show.
Four Democratic senators have asked Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt to recuse himself from rulemaking around the Clean Power Plan. Pruitt sued the EPA 14 times as Attorney General of Oklahoma, four times concerning the Clean Power Plan, and he has been working to repeal the Clean Power Plan since becoming head of the agency. 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,” joins Brian and John.
Hundreds of thousands of Greeks demonstrated in Athens and Thessaloniki over the weekend to demand that the government not agree to accept any name for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia that includes the word “Macedonia.” FYROM, as it’s known internationally, cannot join NATO or the European Union until a name for the country is agreed upon. Dean Sirigos, an independent journalist and a former reporter for The National Herald, the largest Greek-American newspaper in the United States, joins the show.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel reached a deal with her previous governing partners, including the Social Democrats, bringing her within striking distance of forming a new government after five months of political limbo. Brian and John speak with Diani Baretto, an activist and the director of the Berlin Bureau of ExposeFacts.org.

Stock Market Rollercoaster: Is Another Economic Crash Looming? Feb 06, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by financial policy analyst Daniel Sankey and Steve Keen, the author of “Debunking Economics” and the world’s first crowdfunded economist.
The stock market yesterday had its largest intraday point drop ever, despite strong economic data that was released last week. What accounts for this volatility? The hosts look at the underlying reasons.
An internal audit of the Defense Logistics Agency by the Big Four accounting firm of Ernst & Young found that the Pentagon failed to keep track of nearly $800 million that it now cannot account for. The auditors said, across the board, the agency’s financial leadership is so weak that it is simply unable to account for its money. Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a senior adviser to the Center for Defense Information, and former Assistant Secretary of Defense during the Reagan Administration, joins the show.
A British court has upheld an arrest warrant for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, rejecting arguments that the warrant is moot because Assange is no longer wanted for questioning in Sweden. Brian and John speak with Randy Credico, an activist, a comedian, and the former director of the William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice.
Senators John McCain, a Republican, and Chris Coons, a Democrat, have come up with a bipartisan immigration bill that they believe will be attractive to both parties. The White House, though, already has rejected it. But will it still be the basis for real immigration reform? Immigration attorney Alan Diamante joins the show.
The government is set to run out of money again at the end of the week, while Congress scrambles to come up with another continuing resolution. Observers say that the Democrats will not move to shut down the government and instead will seek a standalone bill to address immigration, rather than tying it to the budget. Dr. Wilmer Leon, a political scientist, author, and host of a nationally broadcast talk radio show on Sirius/XM channel 126, joins Brian and John.
The Trump Administration is continuing its internal deliberations over what it euphemistically calls a “bloody nose” policy for North Korea. If fact, it’s a policy to attack North Korea militarily. At the same time, Victor Cha, a Bush Administration official and Georgetown University professor whom Trump had named as Ambassador to South Korea, had his nomination withdrawn after saying that the policy was a bad idea. Meanwhile, a group of Democratic senators have published an open letter saying that the President does not have Congressional authorization to launch any strike on North Korea. Chris Black, an international criminal lawyer who is on the List of Counsel before the ICC, joins the show.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has signaled his support for a coup in Venezuela, praising the history of military rule in Latin America and calling the armed forces an “agent of change”. Brian and John speak with Gloria La Riva, the Director of the Cuba and Venezuela Solidarity Committee.

Dr. Strangelove Returns: Analyzing the New U.S. Nuclear Policy Feb 05, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Greg Mello, the executive director of the Los Alamos Study Group, and Kevin Kamps, the Radioactive Waste Watchdog at the organization Beyond Nuclear.
The Trump Administration announced its Nuclear Posture Review, which calls for a major upgrade in the US nuclear arsenal, including more new nuclear weapons, and smaller tactical nukes that would be used on the battlefield. The policy is a violation of longstanding international agreements and could lead to a new arms race.
Days after the release of the sco called Nunes memo the Democrats are insisting on the release of their memo, which might be considered a minority rebuttal, but it’s time to take a look at the big picture. What does this whole incident say about the FBI, its power, its capacity for abuse and misconduct, and the history of an organization that has played such a decisive role in American politics over many, many decades. Brian and John speak with Dave Lindorff, an investigative reporter, a columnist for CounterPunch, and a contributor to Businessweek, The Nation, Extra! and Salon.com; And by David Cobb, campaign manager of the 2016 Jill Stein/Ajamu Baraka presidential campaign.
A Russian warplane was shot down over Syria on Saturday, killing the pilot. The surface-to-air missile was fired by al-Qaeda rebels, a dangerous development as the Trump Administration brags that it has defeated ISIS in Syria. Mark Sleboda, he is an international Affairs and Security Analyst, joins the show.
Today marks the 15th anniversary of the speech by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell to the United Nations Security Council that laid out the US path to war against Iraq. Powell had told the UN definitively that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. That was not true, and the lie led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink, joins Brian and John.
This week we’ll look at the worst and most misleading headlines. Steve Patt, an independent journalist whose writings can be found at lefti.blogspot.com, joins the show.
The hosts then talk about the latest news of the day regarding the so-called Nunes Memo, the Democrats’ minority memo, and a recently declassified referral from the Senate Judiciary Committee about a criminal accusation against Christopher Steele, the author of the now-infamous Steele Dossier.
In a setback for leftist former president Rafael Correa, the yes campaign succeeded on all questions in yesterday’s referendum in Ecuador pushed by current President Lenin Moreno, who is accused of betraying the “Citizens Revolution” movement that brought him to power. Independent journalist Denis Rogatyuk joins the show.

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