Loud & Clear

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From Protest to Rebellion: Actions Spread Against Racist Police Murder May 29, 2020

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Sputnik News analysts and producers Walter Smolarek and Nicole Roussell.
Friday is Loud & Clear’s weekly hour-long segment The Week in Review, about the week in politics, policy, and international affairs. Today they focus on the uprising in Minneapolis demanding justice for George Floyd, protests in other cities across the country against racist police violence, the failed renewal of FISA, Iranian tankers arriving in Venezuela, and more.
The American taxpayer has paid handsomely to develop a drug called Remdesivir which media reports say could become a major player in the fight against the coronavirus. Remdesivir was developed by the pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences with tens of millions of dollars from three federal agencies, but it was a failure among anti-virals. Well, now it shows promise, as well as profitability. And Gilead is keeping that money and not refunding taxpayers. Annette Gaudino, State & Local Policy Director at the Treatment Action Group, joins the show with John.
Pharmaceutical companies around the world are scrambling to develop a vaccine for the Covid-19 coronavirus and nine separate vaccines are currently being developed. But there’s a big difference in the way American and Chinese pharmaceutical companies are addressing the challenge. The Chinese government has already announced that its vaccine would be “for the public good” and would be shared around the world. US vaccines would be given only for profit. Brian speaks with Ian Goodrum, a writer and digital editor for China Daily.
A court in Vancouver Canada this week ruled that the “double criminality” requirement was met in the extradition case against Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou constituted a crime in Canada, opening the way for her to be sent to the United States. Meng was arrested in December 2018 at the request of the United States, which claimed that Meng had helped the company evade US sanctions. The Chinese government has expressed outrage at the case, calling it a clear case of the US government attempting to apply its laws extraterritorially. KJ Noh, a peace activist and scholar on the geopolitics of Asia, and a frequent contributor to Counterpunch and Dissident Voice, joins Brian.
It’s Friday! So it’s time for the week’s worst and most misleading headlines. Brian and John speak with Steve Patt, an independent journalist whose critiques of the mainstream media have been a feature of his site Left I on the News and on twitter @leftiblog, and Sputnik producer Nicole Roussell.

Killer Cops Still Roam Free in the Police State of Minnesota: But Why? May 28, 2020

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Michelle Gross, the president of Communities United Against Police Brutality in Minneapolis, and Jordan Kushner, a Minneapolis criminal defense and civil rights attorney.
Protests over the police killing of George Floyd continued in Minneapolis overnight, with at least one person dead. Most of the demonstrations continue to take place near the city’s 3rd precinct station, near the site where police officers killed Floyd by kneeling on his neck for an extended period. Protestors also appear to have set fire to numerous businesses in the area, and the mayor has asked the governor to call out the National Guard. Minnesotans from all walks of life continue to question why none of the policemen have been arrested.
House Democrats last night adjourned, rather than take a vote on a controversial bill to reauthorize surveillance tools as part of the FISA Act. The measure had broad bipartisan support in March, but Republicans began turning against the measure in March as FBI malfeasance in the Michael Flynn case came to light. President Trump also had said that he would veto the measure. Coleen Rowley, a former FBI special agent who in 2002 was named Time Magazine person of the year along with two other whistleblowers, joins the show.
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.
Loud & Clear’s series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective. Sputnik news analysts Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek join the show.
A regular Thursday segment deals with the ongoing militarization of space. As the US continues to withdraw from international arms treaties, will the weaponization and militarization of space bring the world closer to catastrophe? Brian and John speak with Prof. Karl Grossman, a full professor of journalism at the State University of New York, College at Old Westbury and the host of a nationally aired television program focused on environmental, energy, and space issues, and with Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus.

Mass Protests in Minneapolis Condemn Racist Murder of George Floyd May 27, 2020

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Sputnik news analysts Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek.
Wednesday’s weekly series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective, today focusing on the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.
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.
Thousands of protestors took to the streets of Minneapolis, Minnesota last night to protest yesterday’s police killing of George Floyd. Floyd was pinned to the ground by police officers, one of whom knelt on Floyd’s neck until he stopped breathing. A witness videoed the incident and it quickly went viral. After nationwide outrage, the officers were fired, but many Minnesotans are demanding that they be tried for murder. John is joined by Michelle Gross, the president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, and Noah McCourt, executive director of the Minnesota Disability Justice Network, which focuses on criminal justice and police brutality against people with disabilities.
The first two of five Iranian tankers have arrived in Venezuela carrying much needed refined gasoline in the face of military threats by the Trump administration, which has carried out a major naval deployment in the Caribbean to “surround” Venezuela. The move represents a deepening of economic relations between Iran and Venezuela, both of which are under intense economic pressure by the United States. Brian and John speak with Mohammad Marandi, an expert on American studies and postcolonial literature who teaches at the University of Tehran.
The Gwangju Uprising in Korea, ended in a massacre 40 years ago today. The uprising began on May 18, 1980, when South Korea’s martial law government attacked university students marching for democracy by killing at least 2,000 and beating and raping thousands more. The uprising and massacre is seen as a defining moment in South Korea’s modern political history. KJ Noh, a peace activist and scholar on the geopolitics of Asia, and a frequent contributor to Counterpunch and Dissident Voice, joins the show.
The European Union is planning an unprecedented $826 billion stimulus package to bring the organization’s member countries’ economies out of their coronavirus malaise. The package is the biggest in Europe’s history, far outstripping the post-World War II Marshall Plan. But is it enough to save Europe’s economy? Neil Clark, a journalist and broadcaster whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Week, and Morning Star, joins the show.

Mass Unemployment Is A Policy Choice May 26, 2020

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Professor Richard Wolff, a professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and founder of the organization Democracy at Work whose latest book is “Understanding Socialism.”
Today is Loud & Clear’s weekly series about the biggest economic news of the week with special guest -- Prof. Richard Wolff.
More than 60 activists, academics, writers, workers, and students from more than 20 countries have come together to form the Covid-19 Global Solidarity Coalition. The purpose of the group is to bring ordinary people together to seize the opportunity to overthrow global structures of inequity and violence and to build a better world. The coalition launched the manifesto this weekend. 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 book and the hit Showtime television series “The Untold History of the United States,” joins the show.
President Trump has ramped up pressure on governors around the country to reopen their states and economies, going so far as to threaten the Democratic Governor of North Carolina with moving the Republican National Convention out of the state if he doesn’t allow mass gatherings without masks. With that said, though, the president also is forcing governors to take on the cost and responsibility for testing for the coronavirus. Critics see it as an attempt to deflect criticism for the administration’s coronavirus response failures and to push the costs of testing onto the states. Brian and John speak with Ted Rall, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist, whose work is at www.rall.com.
Loud & Clear’s series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective, including the reopening of some states despite increases in coronavirus case numbers, state and local officials shielding meatpacking corporations from transparency in coronavirus case numbers, and the police killing of George Floyd who was suffocated until he died, saying “I can’t breathe,” in a repeat of Eric Garner’s police murder that sparked massive uprisings across the US. Sputnik news analyst Nicole Roussell joins the show.
Tuesday’s regular segment is called Women & Society with Dr. Hannah Dickinson. This weekly segment is about the major issues, challenges, and struggles facing women in all aspects of society. Hannah Dickinson, an associate professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and an organizer with the Geneva Women’s Assembly; Nathalie Hrizi, an educator, a political activist, and the editor of Breaking the Chains, a women’s magazine, which you can find at patreon.com/BreakChainsMag; and Loud & Clear producer Nicole Roussell join the show.

US Escalates Threats Against China Over Hong Kong & Taiwan May 22, 2020

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker is joined by John Ross, Senior Fellow at Chongyang Institute, Renmin University of China, and an award-winning resident columnist with several Chinese media organizations.
China’s biggest political gathering of the year is finally taking place after a two month delay because of the coronavirus pandemic. Called “Two Sessions,” the first meeting was yesterday and was a gathering of top political leaders of the Chinese Communist Party. Today’s meeting is of the National People’s Congress. Premier Li Keqiang will lay out the country’s economic goals and the policies needed to achieve them. And the U.S. government is lashing out at a new proposed Hong Kong security law.
Unemployment in the United States is likely in the 25 percent range with some 40 million Americans having filed for unemployment benefits in the past month. In real terms, it’s almost certainly higher, perhaps significantly, as many people have dropped out of the labor market or their benefits have run out. Like the US, the UK has struggled with its response to the coronavirus. But the official UK unemployment rate is less than four percent. That’s ridiculous, of course. Unofficial figures put it at around 20 percent. As Mark Twain once said, there are three kinds of lies: Lies, damn lies, and statistics. Is that what we’re seeing in the UK? John speaks with Neil Clark, a journalist and broadcaster whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Week, and Morning Star.
It’s Friday! So it’s time for the week’s worst and most misleading headlines. John speaks with Steve Patt, an independent journalist whose critiques of the mainstream media have been a feature of his site Left I on the News and on twitter @leftiblog.
Friday is Loud & Clear’s weekly hour-long segment The Week in Review, about the week in politics, policy, and international affairs. Today they focus on the chaotic and deadly push to reopen the country’s economy, the 2020 election, exploding unemployment, a developing housing crisis, and more. Sputnik News analysts and producers Walter Smolarek and Nicole Roussell join Brian and John.

The Difference One Week Made: 30,000 Extra Covid Deaths May 21, 2020

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Sputnik News analysts and producers of this show Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek.
Loud & Clear’s series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective, including still rising unemployment in the US, who’s at fault for the thousands of lives that could have been saved had the US locked down earlier that new data is showing us, the newest update in the propaganda war the US media and politicians are waging against China, and more.
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 John.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers nationwide have been hot spots for coronavirus, where people are forced into close quarters and detained. Organizers and families are leading protests all over the country to release people from these prisons. Brian speaks with Danny Cendejas, an organizer with la ColectiVa, a social justice organization in Northern Virginia campaigning for the release of everyone at the immigration detention center in Farmville, Virginia, where covid-19 has been spreading.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing an uprising in her own party over fears that Germany will end up footing the bill for the economic disaster wrought by the coronavirus in Europe. The EU is currently looking at a number of different stimulus packages to get Europe’s economy back on track. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron lost his parliamentary majority when several of his party members left and created a new party. They complained that Macron had failed to unify the center and the left, as he had promised to do during his campaign. Gilbert Mercier, Editor in Chief of News Junkie Post and the author of “The Orwellian Empire,” joins John.
A regular Thursday segment deals with the ongoing militarization of space. As the US continues to withdraw from international arms treaties, will the weaponization and militarization of space bring the world closer to catastrophe? Brian and John speak with Prof. Karl Grossman, a full professor of journalism at the State University of New York, College at Old Westbury and the host of a nationally aired television program focused on environmental, energy, and space issues, and with Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus.

Covid-19 Spreads to Rural America After Federal Government Bungling May 20, 2020

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Dr. Tara Smith, an epidemiologist and professor at the Kent State University College of Public Health, where she specializes in zoonotic infections and molecular epidemiology.
So much of the media has been focused on the coronavirus pandemic in the country’s urban hotspots. We hear a lot of news about the outbreaks in New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and elsewhere. But we don’t hear much about what is happening in rural America. How is the pandemic hitting rural counties across the country?
President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in recent days have repeated false information that the coronavirus was created in a Chinese lab in Wuhan. The two have said repeatedly that they have “enormous evidence” and “a significant amount of evidence” that this is the case. But the statements are not true. Pompeo, in an interview with Breitbart yesterday, backed off and said he doesn’t know where the virus originated. But Trump has doubled down, saying falsely that the US had given the lab $7.5 million as part of a 5-year grant and that he “ended it.” KJ Noh, a peace activist and scholar on the geopolitics of Asia, and he’s a frequent contributor to Counterpunch and Dissident Voice, joins Brian.
Last week, Senator Richard Burr, a Republican of North Carolina, stepped aside from his role as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee because he was being investigated by the FBI for insider trading. Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell named Florida Republican Marco Rubio as the acting chairman of that committee. Rubio, a former presidential candidate is a well-known conservative and war hawk who has advocated the use of US military force around the world, including against Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, and other countries. John speaks with Ben Norton, a journalist with The Grayzone and co-host of the Moderate Rebels podcast.
Wednesday’s weekly series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective. Sputnik news analysts Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek join Brian and John.
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 Brian on the show.

The Real Malcolm X and His Impact on American Politics May 19, 2020

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker is joined by Eddie Conway, Executive Producer with The Real News Network who was a leading member of the Baltimore branch of the Black Panther Party and a political prisoner for 44 years, and Dr. Jared Ball, a professor of communication studies at Morgan State University, the editor of “A Lie of Reinvention: Correcting Mannin Marable’s Malcolm X,” and the author of many writings at www.IMixWhatILike.org.
On this day 95 years ago, Malcolm X was born. He would go on to become an icon of the fight for Black liberation before being assassinated in 1965. Malcolm X remains a beloved figure and an inspiration to people’s movements around the world.
Today is Loud & Clear’s weekly series about the biggest economic news of the week with special guest -- Prof. Richard Wolff. Professor Wolff, a professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and founder of the organization Democracy at Work whose latest book is “Understanding Socialism,” joins the show with Brian and John Kiriakou.
Loud & Clear’s series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective. Sputnik news analysts Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek join the show with Brian and John.
Tuesday’s regular segment is called Women & Society with Dr. Hannah Dickinson. This weekly segment is about the major issues, challenges, and struggles facing women in all aspects of society. Hannah Dickinson, an associate professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and an organizer with the Geneva Women’s Assembly; Nathalie Hrizi, an educator, a political activist, and the editor of Breaking the Chains, a women’s magazine, which you can find at patreon.com/BreakChainsMag; and Loud & Clear producer Nicole Roussell join Brian.

A Covid-19 Riddle: 1.4 Million Health Workers Fired, Hospitals Closing May 18, 2020

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Leo Cuello, an attorney and the director of health policy for the National Health Law Program.
The Department of Health and Human Services recently began distributing portions of $175 billion allocated by Congress to healthcare providers as part of the four coronavirus relief bills. The largest share of the initial outlay will be to hospitals that accept Medicare. Although the money was appropriated weeks and months ago, it has been slow to reach hospitals, and many are now threatened by bankruptcy.
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.
Israel finally has a government. After an 18 month-long political stalemate, the Knesset voted confidence into the new unity government led by none other than Benjamin Netanyahu. In his acceptance speech, Netanyahu said that he will turn over the Prime Ministership to his political partner, Benny Gantz on November 17, 2021. He also vowed to begin annexing the West Bank. John speaks with Dan Cohen, a journalist and a documentary filmmaker, most recently of the film “Killing Gaza.”
Loud & Clear’s series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective. Sputnik news analysts Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek join the show with Brian and John.
Monday’s regular segment Technology Rules 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 and software engineer and technology and security analyst Patricia Gorky join the show with John.

A Hidden Massacre: Black Anti-War Protestors Killed at Jackson State May 15, 2020

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 the author of many books, including “Race to Revolution: The U.S. and Cuba during Slavery and Jim Crow.”
Commemorations are taking place across the country to mark the 50th anniversary of the Jackson State massacre. Frequently left out of the history books, two students were killed and 12 wounded when 75 state and local policemen opened fire on a dormitory at the predominantly Black Jackson State College in Jackson, Mississippi. The police said there was a sniper on the roof of the dorm. That turned out to be a lie. There were no arrests in connection with the deaths at Jackson State, although the Commission concluded "that the 28-second fusillade from police officers was an unreasonable, unjustified overreaction...A broad barrage of gunfire in response to reported and unconfirmed sniper fire is never warranted."
Republican Senator Richard Burr stepped aside yesterday as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee after the FBI showed up at his office with a warrant and took his cell phone. Burr is alleged to have engaged in insider trading after having sold hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock after receiving a confidential briefing from the intelligence community in the days before the start in the United States of the coronavirus pandemic. Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemicist.net, whose latest article on The Polemicist and CounterPunch is titled “Joe or No?,” joins the show.
It’s Friday! So it’s time for the week’s worst and most misleading headlines. Brian and John speak with Steve Patt, an independent journalist whose critiques of the mainstream media have been a feature of his site Left I on the News and on twitter @leftiblog, and Sputnik producer Nicole Roussell.
Friday is Loud & Clear’s weekly hour-long segment The Week in Review, about the week in politics, policy, and international affairs. Today they focus on the coronavirus aid bills that would guarantee worker pay (sponsored by progressives in the House but left out of Nancy Pelosi’s bill, and pushed by two conservative Republicans in the Senate), the death of Ralph McGehee, a former CIA officer who told the truth from on the ground about the real missions of the CIA in Vietnam and elsewhere, New York Governor Cuomo protecting the profits of the nursing homes in New York whose negligence killed thousands of elders, and more. Sputnik News analysts and producers Walter Smolarek and Nicole Roussell join the show.

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