Loud & Clear

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jacqueline Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which hosts a livestream every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook, and Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.Wednesday’s weekly series, In the News, is where the hosts looks at the most important ongoing developments of the week and puts them into perspective. Today they talk with Jacquie and Walter about the government shutdown, voter fraud in North Carolina, the protests in France, and the politics of the farm bill. 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. President Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen was sentenced this afternoon to 36 months in a federal prison. He had earlier pleaded guilt

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Alexander Mercouris, the editor-in-chief of The Duran.The Brexit crisis is coming to a head. UK Prime Minister Theresa May traveled to Brussels this morning for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders. She has not yet rescheduled the vote on Brexit after postponing it yesterday. Meanwhile, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn told parliament that the country is in chaos. 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. President Trump said this morning in a series of tweets that he will call out the military to build a border wall if Democrats in Congress fail to provide the necessary funding for the wall’s construction. Democrats, meanwhile, warned that Trump could cause a government shutdown on Friday if the Republican Congress does not approve emergency government funding. Bria

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Kevin Gosztola, a writer for Shadowproof.com, and Paul Wright, the founder and executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center. They both regularly join Loud & Clear every Thursday for regular segment Criminal Injustice.Every Thursday, Loud & Clear helps expose the injustices carried out by America’s courts, prisons, and police departments. Regular segment “Criminal Injustice” recently caught the attention of professional Russia-bashers, including a former Undersecretary of Homeland Security, who claim that this specific segment is part of a dastardly foreign plot to undermine confidence in the oh-so-wonderful institutions of the U.S. criminal justice system. 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 Garaff

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jacqueline Luqman, editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, and Sputnik News analyst and producer Walter Smolarek.Loud & Clear continues its regular segment The Week in Review, where we take a look at the biggest developments in the United States and around the world. The Chinese government reacted yesterday to the arrest in Canada at US request of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on charges of violating US sanctions on Iran. The government-aligned newspaper Global Times called the arrest “despicable” and the US Commerce Department began warning American businessmen about travel to China. Meng will be arraigned in Vancouver today, but any extradition could take years. 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.” The Ecuadorian president, Lenin Moreno, has

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin, David Liners, state director of WISDOM, a statewide organization seeking justice and common good, and Rabbi Bonnie Margulis, the president of Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice.Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin’s lame duck legislature have forced bills into law that will strip the incoming Democratic governor and attorney general of much of their power. New laws also would throw poor people off of Medicaid and shorten voting and voter registration times. And two days ago that same legislature approved 82 of Governor Scott Walker’s political appointees with no debate. 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 Gosz

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Dennis Bernstein., an author, poet, activist, and co-host of the political news show Flashpoints on Pacifica Radio, and Jackie Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, whose livestream is on every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook. The funeral of former president George H. W. Bush was held this morning at Washington’s National Cathedral with three former presidents and three former first ladies in attendance. Brian and John have looked at the legacy of George H. W. Bush every day this week and focus today on the Gulf War, the war on drugs, and mass incarceration. 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. Republicans in Wisconsin and Michigan were

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Dr. John Ackerman, professor of Constitutional Law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), researcher at the Legal Research Institute of UNAM, and editorial director of the Mexican Law Review.Mexico’s new president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador was inaugurated on Saturday and began his six year term with a press conference--something unusual for Mexican presidents. He promised to bring what he called “deep and radical change” in his fight against crime, and he even held a meeting with his national security team at 6:00 am today, something he said would happen daily. López Obrador said that he has a “respectful” relationship with President Trump, but it promises to turn rocky in negotiations over migrants and a border wall. And, Obrador has proposed sweeping changes to the country’s economic policy to break from neoliberalism. Tuesday’s weekly series is False Profits—A Weekly Look at Wall Street and Corporate Ca

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by John Ross, senior fellow at Chongyang Institute, Renmin University of China, and an award-winning resident columnist with several Chinese media organizations.The Group of 20, or G20, summit is over. As summits go, it was uneventful--almost not newsworthy. President Trump and the leaders of Canada and Mexico announced a trade deal to replace NAFTA, though, and more importantly, the US and China agreed to halt new tariffs. Immediately after the summit ended, President Trump announced that he would not boost tariffs on Chinese goods on January 1, and that China would purchase what he called “a very substantial amount” of US agricultural, industrial, and energy products and would reduce or remove tariffs on US automobiles. 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 liberti

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jacqueline Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which livestreams every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook, and Sputnik News analyst and producer Walter Smolarek.Friday is Loud & Clear’s weekly segment The Week in Review, about the week in politics, policy, and international affairs. This week includes the G20 segment, Marc Lamont Hill’s firing, and a domestic workers’ bill of rights being introduced. FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is spending more than $1 billion in Puerto Rico to repair homes damaged by Hurricane Maria. But much of that money is going to contractors charging steep markups and overhead? The New York Times reports that some repairs are indeed being made, but at an astronomical cost. Dr. Adriana Garriga-López, Department Chair and Associate Professor of Anthropology at Kalamazoo College, joins the show. Seven men were found guilty yesterday of the murder of Honduran indigen

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Fred Magdoff, professor emeritus of plant and soil science at the University of Vermont, and Antony Loewenstein, an independent journalist and author of “Disaster Capitalism: Making a Killing Out of Catastrophe.”Last week, just before Thanksgiving, the White House did everything it could to bury its own report on climate change, which Donald Trump says he doesn’t believe. But the science is in and climate change is here and is already affecting our health, with extreme heat having an effect on productivity, the food supply, and disease transmission. And the last four years have been the hottest in recorded history. 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. Kevin Gosztola, a writer for Shadowproof.com and co-host of the podcast Unauthorized Disclosure, joins the show. President Trump’s former lawye

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jacqueline Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which hosts a livestream every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook.Wednesday’s weekly series, In the News, is where the hosts looks at the most important ongoing developments of the week and puts them into perspective. 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. Special Counsel Robert Mueller has told the court that he is no longer obliged to maintain the plea agreement with Paul Manafort. Mueller asserts that Manafort has violated it by lying to the Special Counsel. Today, there are headlines proclaiming this to be true, because his legal team spoke with President Trump’s. But the two legal teams h

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Ahmed Rashid, a journalist and the best-selling author of “Pakistan on the Brink: The Future of America, Pakistan, and Afghanistan” and several books on Afghanistan and Central Asia, including “The Resurgence of Central Asia, Islam or Nationalism.”More than 17 years after US troops entered Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban, that country is still in a state of disarray. In just the past 48 hours, at least 20 Afghan police officers were killed in a Taliban ambush, a US special forces officer was killed, three American soldiers were killed in a bomb blast, and the Afghan government announced that it may delay the upcoming presidential election. 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. A journalists group, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, has filed a federal motion asking that all docum

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Alexander Mercouris, the editor-in-chief of The Duran.Two Ukrainian naval ships along with a tow boat navigated into the Kerch Strait yesterday, a narrow waterway that separates the Black Sea from the Sea of Azov, and were fired on and detained by Russian authorities. This set off a major political crisis, with the Ukrainian President vowing to declare martial law and Russia accusing Ukraine of staging a deliberate provocation by ignoring the procedure that had previously allowed safe passage for Ukrainian ships through the strait. 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. Migrants held protests at the border yesterday in Tijuana demanding their right to asylum be honored. When several tried to cr

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jacqueline Luqman, co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, and Sputnik News analyst Walter Smolarek to talk about this week’s biggest news stories. Olivia Hooker, the last survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre, died over the weekend at the age of 103. Dr. Hooker described the notorious 48 hours of death and fire at what was known as the Black Wall Street, as a “catastrophe” that began when a white lynch mob descended on the county courthouse where a black teenager was being held. Brian and John speak with Dr. Gerald Horne, an author and professor of history at the University of Houston.An Israeli court has ruled in favor of a settler organization seeking to evict 700 Palestinian residents from the Silwan neighborhood in East Jerusalem. The steady expansion of Israeli settlements -- illegal under international law -- continues. Journalist and filmmaker Dan Cohen joins the show. There’s a new international challenge to the Trump ad

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jacqueline Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, and Sputnik News analyst and producer Walter Smolarek.It’s the day before Thanksgiving and much of official Washington is closed. New members of Congress have been sworn in and have returned home to their families. But the rest of the world hasn’t come to a stop. The hosts take a look at this week’s major stories. 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 producers Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek join the show. We all know the story of Thanksgiving. Native Americans welcomed newly arrived pilgrims, showed them how to hunt and forage for food, and the two groups celebrated and gave thanks. But that’s a lie. The first mention of Thanksgiving came in 1627, six year

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Gareth Porter, a historian, investigative journalist, analyst specializing in U.S. national security policy, and a prolific author whose most recent piece, “America’s Permanent-War Complex,” is the subject of today’s interview.Fifty-eight years ago, President Dwight Eisenhower warned us of a growing military-industrial complex. He said, “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist.” All these years later, his prediction has come true. In a new article in The American Conservative magazine, Gareth Porter argues that the US has transitioned into a “permanent war complex,” where wars are now not meant to be temporary. Tuesday’s weekly series is False Profits—A Weekly Look at Wall Street and Corporate Capitalism with Daniel Sankey. Finan

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Max Blumenthal, a journalist, the senior editor of Grayzone Project, co-host of the podcast “Moderate Rebels,” and bestselling author whose latest book is “The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza.” 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. California’s wildfires continued to burn out of control over the weekend with 77 people dead and 997 still missing. President Trump visited Paradise, California, the town that was completely devastated, and called it “Pleasure, California.” He also claimed that the President of Finland told him that raking the forest floor would prevent future fires. Brian and John speak with Fred Magdoff, professor emeritus of plant and soil science at the University of Ver

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jacqueline Luqman, co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, and Sputnik News analyst and producer Walter Smolarek.Today Loud & Clear begins a new hour-long segment called The Week in Review. We’ll talk about the most important events of the week and offer some analysis to put it all into perspective.A federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia accidentally revealed yesterday that Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange has been indicted in the district, and the indictment is sealed. Assange’s name was accidentally included in an unrelated terrorism and child pornography case. Dan Kovalik, a human rights and labor lawyer who is the author of the new book “The Plot to Control the World: How the US Spent Billions to Change the Outcome of Elections Around the World”, joins the show. An announcement by the North that they have developed an unspecified new “tactical weapon” is causing controversy. The hawkish CSIS think ta

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Alexander Mercouris, the editor-in-chief of The Duran.UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s hopes of selling a draft Brexit agreement to parliament were dealt a serious blow today, when several senior members of her cabinet, including the Brexit Minister, resigned in protest of the deal. The resignations have May’s government teetering on collapse, with many arguing that the Labour Party’s Jeremy Corbyn poised to become Britain’s next Prime Minister. 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. The Saudi-led coalition has ordered a halt in its offensive against the Yemeni

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Ali Abunimah, the co-founder of The Electronic Intifada and author of the book “The Battle for Justice in Palestine,” and Miko Peled, the author of “The General’s Son - A Journey of an Israeli in Palestine” and “Injustice: The Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five.”Israel’s government moved close to collapse yesterday when Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman resigned and withdrew his party’s support for the government to protest the Netanyahu Administration’s cease-fire talks with Hamas. Far-right Education Minister Naftali Bennett threatened to withdraw his own party from the governing coalition unless Netanyahu names him as the new Defense Minister. 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, joins the show. In an interview wit