Loud & Clear

Trump's Election Strategy Stimulates Right Wing Militia Mobilization

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 “Blows Against the Empire: U.S. Imperialism in Crisis,” and his latest book, which is called “The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism and Capitalism in the Long 16th Century.” Protests continued over the weekend across the country against racist police violence in the wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha. President Trump focused in on Portland and threatened to send federal troops to the city. Confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the United States are nearing 6 million, with more than 183,000 deaths. President Trump, though, retweeted a story saying that there were only 9,000 Covid deaths. That was one of 89 tweets that he released in a barrage between 5:49 am and 8:04 am on Sunday. In other tweets, he called for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to be arrested and he threatened a military takeover of Portlands, Oregon, saying that protestors there were organizing a coup to overthrow him. Ted Rall, an award-winning columnist and political cartoonist whose work is at www.rall.com [http://www.rall.com], joins the show. Greece and Turkey are gearing up for yet another armed conflict. Turkish president Erdogan appears to be lashing out at his neighbors Greece, Cyprus, Syria, and even Libya, and he is warning Greece, Cyprus, and Israel that oil exploration in the Mediterranean will be a causus belli for Turkey. At the same time, Turkish fighter jets violate Greek airspace on a daily basis, Turkish warships are in the Aegean Sea off the coast of the Greek islands, and Greece has called up its military reserves to prepare for war. Brian and John speak with Dr. Gönül Tol, the founding director of The Middle East Institute’s Center for Turkish Studies, and a former professor who has taught courses on Islamist movements in Western Europe, Turkey, world politics, and the Middle East. 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. In this segment, The Week Ahead, the hosts take a look at the most newsworthy stories of the coming week and what it means for the country and the world, including ongoing anti-racism protests and Trump’s threat of a renewed federal crackdown, the 2020 election, and more. Sputnik News analysts and producers of this show Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek join the show. 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.

Trump's Election Strategy Stimulates Right Wing Militia Mobilization

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 “Blows Against the Empire: U.S. Imperialism in Crisis,” and his latest book, which is called “The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism and Capitalism in the Long 16th Century.” Protests continued over the weekend across the country against racist police violence in the wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha. President Trump focused in on Portland and threatened to send federal troops to the city. Confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the United States are nearing 6 million, with more than 183,000 deaths. President Trump, though, retweeted a story saying that there were only 9,000 Covid deaths. That was one of 89 tweets that he released in a barrage between 5:49 am and 8:04 am on Sunday. In other tweets, he called for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to be arrested and he threatened a military takeover of Portlands, Oregon, saying that protestors there were organizing a coup to overthrow him. Ted Rall, an award-winning columnist and political cartoonist whose work is at http://www.rall.com/, joins the show. Greece and Turkey are gearing up for yet another armed conflict. Turkish president Erdogan appears to be lashing out at his neighbors Greece, Cyprus, Syria, and even Libya, and he is warning Greece, Cyprus, and Israel that oil exploration in the Mediterranean will be a causus belli for Turkey. At the same time, Turkish fighter jets violate Greek airspace on a daily basis, Turkish warships are in the Aegean Sea off the coast of the Greek islands, and Greece has called up its military reserves to prepare for war. Brian and John speak with Dr. Gönül Tol, the founding director of The Middle East Institute’s Center for Turkish Studies, and a former professor who has taught courses on Islamist movements in Western Europe, Turkey, world politics, and the Middle East. 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. In this segment, The Week Ahead, the hosts take a look at the most newsworthy stories of the coming week and what it means for the country and the world, including ongoing anti-racism protests and Trump’s threat of a renewed federal crackdown, the 2020 election, and more. Sputnik News analysts and producers of this show Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek join the show. 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.

57 Years After the March on Washington: White Supremacists Rise Again

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 Trump’s speech accepting the Republican nomination last night, the RNC event as a whole, the vigilante who killed two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the professional sports strikes going on this week, and more. In a presidential nomination acceptance speech as dark and angry as any ever given, President Trump last night said that Joe Biden, if elected president, would destroy the nation and would cede it to anarchists, extreme leftists, looters, rioters, and criminals. He said that Biden would destroy America’s suburbs, apparently by allowing African-Americans to live there, and he ridiculously accused Biden of “ignoring science.” Pundits are calling the speech, “a grinding monotone” and “low energy.” Others are calling it “one of the most sustained displays of propagandizing in the modern history of Western democracy.” Lee Camp, a writer, comedian, activist, journalist, host of the television show “Redacted Tonight,” on RT America, whose latest book is called “Bullet Points & Punch Lines,” and who’s at leecamp.com, joins the show. China yesterday fired a barrage of missiles into the South China Sea in response to rising tensions with the United States. The US, for its part, has repeatedly sent ships into the South China Sea, has improved relations with Taiwan, Beijing’s arch-rival, and initiated an arms race with China. President Trump says that he’s the man to shepherd relations with China into a new, more militarized, era. But is that just a recipe for war? Brian and John speak with Mike Wong, the Vice President of the San Francisco chapter of Veterans for Peace. Prominent Indian civil liberties defender Prashant Bhushan defended himself from possible imprisonment for insulting the country’s Supreme Court this week, the latest in what activists say is a wave of repressive actions by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Draconian new laws, such as the Public Safety Act, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, and tight internet curbs have resulted in real pressure on the most basic civil rights like freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. Dr. Ania Loomba, a literary scholar and the Catherine Bryson professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania who teaches English literature and early modern culture and the history of colonialism and postcolonialism in South Asia, 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.

57 Years After the March on Washington: White Supremacists Rise Again

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 Trump’s speech accepting the Republican nomination last night, the RNC event as a whole, the vigilante who killed two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the professional sports strikes going on this week, and more. In a presidential nomination acceptance speech as dark and angry as any ever given, President Trump last night said that Joe Biden, if elected president, would destroy the nation and would cede it to anarchists, extreme leftists, looters, rioters, and criminals. He said that Biden would destroy America’s suburbs, apparently by allowing African-Americans to live there, and he ridiculously accused Biden of “ignoring science.” Pundits are calling the speech, “a grinding monotone” and “low energy.” Others are calling it “one of the most sustained displays of propagandizing in the modern history of Western democracy.” Lee Camp, a writer, comedian, activist, journalist, host of the television show “Redacted Tonight,” on RT America, whose latest book is called “Bullet Points & Punch Lines,” and who’s at leecamp.com, joins the show. China yesterday fired a barrage of missiles into the South China Sea in response to rising tensions with the United States. The US, for its part, has repeatedly sent ships into the South China Sea, has improved relations with Taiwan, Beijing’s arch-rival, and initiated an arms race with China. President Trump says that he’s the man to shepherd relations with China into a new, more militarized, era. But is that just a recipe for war? Brian and John speak with Mike Wong, the Vice President of the San Francisco chapter of Veterans for Peace. Prominent Indian civil liberties defender Prashant Bhushan defended himself from possible imprisonment for insulting the country’s Supreme Court this week, the latest in what activists say is a wave of repressive actions by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Draconian new laws, such as the Public Safety Act, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, and tight internet curbs have resulted in real pressure on the most basic civil rights like freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. Dr. Ania Loomba, a literary scholar and the Catherine Bryson professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania who teaches English literature and early modern culture and the history of colonialism and postcolonialism in South Asia, 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.

Did the Police Give a Wink and Nod to Kenosha Shooter?

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Sputnik news analysts 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 the strike by professional athletes in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and the struggle for justice for Jacob Blake, the Republican National Convention and more. 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. Professional basketball is in turmoil, but for all the right reasons. NBA playoff teams went on strike yesterday to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, WI. Blake had broken up a fight between two women, but then police shot him in the back seven times as he entered his car and while his children screamed in the back seat. The protest began in the Milwaukee Bucks-Orlando Magic game and quickly spread to other playoff teams. All NBA games are now canceled, and the protest has spread with the WNBA, MLB and professional tennis. Even sports journalists and commentators have walked off the job. Jamarl Thomas, host of the show Fault Lines, on Radio Sputnik every Monday-Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., and host of the show Progressive Soapbox, joins the show. Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny was likely poisoned according to doctors in a Berlin hospital where he is being treated, though the exact substance has not yet been identified. Navalny fell ill during a trip to Siberia and was medically evacuated on Saturday. We’ll discuss this controversy and the effect it’s having on Russian politics. Brian and John speak with Bryan Macdonald, a journalist who specializes in Eastern Europe and Russia. 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.