Loud & Clear

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jim Kavanagh, editor of thepolemicist.net, and Dave Lindorff, an investigative reporter and founder of This Can’t Be Happening!, as well as a columnist for CounterPunch, and a contributor to Businessweek, The Nation, Extra! and Salon.com.Donald Trump gave a wide ranging — and at some times shocking — interview that was broadcast on 60 Minutes yesterday. During the course of the interview, the President talked to journalist Leslie Stahl about issues as diverse as climate change, China, North Korea, trade, and Russia. He indirectly threatened the job of Defense Secretary James Mattis and said that the European Union was one of the greatest threats facing the United States. Monday’s regular segment Technology Rules with Chris Garaffa is a weekly guide on how monopoly corporations and the national surveillance state are threatening cherished freedoms, civil rights and civil liberties. Web developer and technologist Chris Garaffa

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Matt Savoy of The Free Thought Project, one of the pages that was deleted by Facebook, and by Ford Fischer, the founder of the media startup News2Share.Facebook yesterday censored and deleted hundreds of pages from the website that the company deemed to be part of an entirely American effort to influence the public and to possibly swing votes in the upcoming midterm election. The problem is that the company also deleted dozens, perhaps hundreds, of legitimate pages, including many where progressives get their news. The decision calls into question the role that private companies play in a democratic system.We take a look at political races around the country in the runup to midterm elections in November. Jacqueline Luqman and Abdus Luqman, co-editors-in-chief of Luqman Nation, join the show. If the mainstream media is to be believed, Russian intelligence services, hackers, and internet trolls manipulated social media in 2016

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Shelby Shoup, a student activist at Florida State University who was in the center of the hurricane yesterday, and Gail Walker, the executive director of Pastors for Peace and a Cuba solidarity activist.Hurricane Michael slammed into Panama City, Florida yesterday as a Category 4, with winds of 155 mph before moving inland to Georgia and South Carolina. Two people are dead and more than a 800,000 are without electricity. Hurricanes are getting stronger and more frequent—that’s a fact of climate change—but can governments and citizens keep up? Thursday’s weekly series “Criminal Injustice” is about the most egregious conduct of our courts and prosecutors and how justice is denied to so many people in this country. Paul Wright, the founder and executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center and editor of Prison Legal News (PLN), and Kevin Gosztola, a writer for Shadowproof.com and co-host of the podcast Unauthorized Disclo

An enormous category 4 storm is tearing into the Florida panhandle, and many people have been unable to evacuate. Extreme weather events just keep getting worse, and scientists agree with climate change is the culprit. A new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has an ominous warning for everybody in the world: The anticipated 1.5 degree Celsius temperature rise we should expect to see in the next 12 years will be far worse than the 1 degree rise we have already seen. The report was written by 132 authors drawing on 6000 peer-reviewed studies, and its findings are grim. If we don’t curb the emission of greenhouse cases immediately, people will die, species will become extinct, the food supply will dwindle, and ocean levels will rise precipitously. Wednesday’s regular segment, Beyond Nuclear, is about nuclear issues, including weapons, energy, waste, and the future of nuclear technology in the United States. Kevin Kamps, the Radioactive Waste Watchdog at the organization Beyond Nuclear, and

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Max Blumenthal, a journalist and bestselling author whose latest book is “The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza,” the senior editor of Grayzone Project, and co-host of the podcast Moderate Rebels.Indicted Trump Campaign official Rick Gates apparently requested proposals in 2016 from an Israeli company to create fake online identities, to use social media manipulation, and to gather intelligence to help defeat Donald Trump’s Republican primary challengers and, later, Hillary Clinton. The company is staffed by former Israeli intelligence officers and, while the New York Times says there is no evidence the Trump campaign actually engaged the company, an emissary of the United Arab Emirates Crown Prince wrote the firm a check for $2 million. Tuesday’s weekly series is False Profits—A Weekly Look at Wall Street and Corporate Capitalism with Daniel Sankey. Financial policy analyst Daniel Sankey joins the show. US Ambassador t

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by international relations and security analyst Mark Sleboda.National Security Advisor John Bolton yesterday announced a new national counterterrorism strategy, saying that it focuses on disrupting “all terrorist groups, which the document defines as including “radical Islamist terrorist groups.” But it also goes further. The document also focused on Iran, which Bolton said has been “the world’s central banker for international terrorism since 1979.” Friday is Loud & Clear’s regular segment on the midterms, taking a look at political races around the country in the runup to midterm elections in November. Jacqueline Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which hosts a livestream every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook, joins the show. The Senate voted this morning 51-49 to move forward and have the vote on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination. It’s currently scheduled for tomorrow. Brian and John speak with Jane Cutte

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by David Ewing, the chair of the San Francisco chapter of the US-China People’s Friendship Association, and Sputnik News analyst Walter Smolarek.Vice President Mike Pence gave a high profile, hardline speech at the Hudson Institute today that China is the world’s greatest military and economic threat, and he risks inflaming an already delicate relationship. In a speech that set a new tone in bilateral relations and seeks to confront China directly, Pence argued that Beijing is a hostile military power to both the United States and regional countries and that the Chinese government has meddled in US elections and will do so again. Pence also argued that China’s strong economy is a threat to global financial stability. Today the hosts continue Loud & Clear’s weekly series “Criminal Injustice,” where we talk about the most egregious conduct of our courts and prosecutors and how justice is denied to so many people in this countr

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Dave Lindorff, an investigative reporter and founder of This Can’t Be Happening!, Ted Rall (rall.com), an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist, and Dr. Jack Rasmus (jackrasmus.com), a professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California.A blockbuster New York Times investigation has found that Donald Trump in the 1990s participated in dubious tax schemes, and committed outright fraud, that greatly increased the fortune that he had inherited from his parents. Trump won the presidency in part by proclaiming his status as a self-made billionaire. That, it turns out, was simply not true. Wednesday’s regular segment, Beyond Nuclear, is about nuclear issues, including weapons, energy, waste, and the future of nuclear technology in the United States. Kevin Kamps, the Radioactive Waste Watchdog at the organization Beyond Nuclear, and Sputnik news analyst and producer Nicole Roussell, join the show. Last night Dona

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker is joined by Mark Sleboda, an international relations and security analyst.Kay Bailey Hutchison, the U.S. envoy to NATO made highly provocative comments today threatening to “take out” Russian missiles that the U.S. believes to be in violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty. Tuesday’s weekly series is False Profits—A Weekly Look at Wall Street and Corporate Capitalism with Daniel Sankey. Financial policy analyst Daniel Sankey joins the show. Amazon announced today that it will raise its wages for all US employees to $15 an hour, starting November 1. The company has been under increasing pressure from the labor movement and other progressive activists to improve conditions for workers, and its CEO Jeff Bezos is rumored to have political ambitions. Brian speaks with Neal Sweeney, he is the Vice President of UAW Local 5810, the union representing post-doctoral researchers in the University of California system. As the intense battle over the c

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Richard Wolff, a professor of economics emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and founder of the organization Democracy at Work. His latest book is “Capitalism's Crisis Deepens: Essays on the Global Economic Meltdown.”Canada and the US have come to an agreement on trade. This agreement, along with the agreement the US and Mexico came to, will collectively be called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, and will be a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. Monday’s regular segment Technology Rules with Chris Garaffa is a weekly guide on how monopoly corporations and the national surveillance state are threatening cherished freedoms, civil rights and civil liberties. Web developer and technologist Chris Garaffa joins the show. After the extremely dramatic events on capitol hill last week, the FBI investigation into alleged sexual assaults committed by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanau

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker is joined by Dr. Gerald Horne, a professor of history at the University of Houston and author of many books, including “Blows Against the Empire: U.S. Imperialism in Crisis.”The world is changing fast as the dominant position of the United States in global politics is called into question by emerging powers. As several world leaders sharply criticize the Trump administration from the rostrum of the United States, what does the future hold for geopolitics? Friday is Loud & Clear’s regular segment on the midterms, taking a look at political races around the country in the runup to midterm elections in November. Jacqueline and Abdus Luqman, the co-editors-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which hosts a livestream every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook, and Brent Jabbour, an RT news analyst and host of the podcast Origin Stories, join the show. Less than a day after the powerful testimony of Christine Blasey Ford and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh fu

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker is joined by Heidi Boghosian, the executive director of the A. J. Muste Memorial Institute and the former executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, and Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, the executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund.It is a historic day on Capitol Hill as the Senate Judiciary Committee hears testimony from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Dr. Ford has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault. 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. Donald Trump conducted a wide-ranging and often bizarre press conference yesterday, touching on is

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and Walter Smolarek and Nicole Roussell (sitting in for John Kiriakou) are joined by Peter Kuznick, a professor and director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University, and co-author with Oliver Stone of the book and the hit television series “The Untold History of the United States.” Donald Trump used his speech at the United Nations to lay out an aggressive agenda targeting U.S. rivals and declaring his blanket opposition to multilateralism and so-called “globalism”. While some of Trump’s remarks were met with laughter by the assembled diplomats, what does his speech reveal about his administration’s approach to securing U.S. hegemony around the world? 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. Speaking at the UN Security Council

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, John Kiriakou is joined by Massoud Shadjareh, the founder of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, and Mohammad Marandi, an expert on American studies and postcolonial literature who teaches at the University of Tehran.Iranian officials this morning vowed “unforgiving revenge” over an attack on a military parade on Saturday that killed 29 people, including the four attackers, and wounded 70. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps blamed “regional supporters of terrorism,” meaning Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both of which denied involvement. US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, meanwhile, said that Iran’s president should look in the mirror before blaming others. And this as Rudy Giuliani addressed the “Iran Uprising Summit” in Manhattan hosted by the bizarre political cult and terrorist organization MEK, a group that counts National Security Advisor John Bolton as one of its allies. Monday’s regular segment Technology Rules with Chris Garaffa is

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Dan Kovalik, a human rights and labor lawyer who is the author of the book “The Plot to attack Iran.”This week was filled with news, especially big developments in the war in Syria, the Moon-Kim summit in North Korea, and the future of the Iran nuclear deal. The hosts dig in to all three. Friday is Loud & Clear’s regular segment on the midterms, taking a look at political races around the country in the runup to midterm elections in November. Jacqueline Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which hosts a livestream every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook, joins the show. A diplomatic standoff is heating up between Washington and Beijing over new US sanctions on China. The Trump Administration announced the sanctions because China agreed to purchase Russian jets and S-400 missiles. But China has bought Russian weapons for decades. And even the Trump White House admits that the new sanctions strategy for we

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Walter Smolarek (sitting in for Brian Becker) and John Kiriakou are joined by Dr. Robert Epstein, the senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology.With the midterm elections fast approaching, will big tech companies be able to sway the results by manipulating the information the public sees first? Most Americans have no idea how their private information is used online. Indeed, a recent study shows that internet users would divulge 40 percent less information if they knew what it was being used for. And how do search engines and search results influence our voting habits, and especially the voting habits of independents and undecided voters? 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 Ne

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Vijay Prashad, the director of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and Chief Editor of LeftWord Books and the author of “Red Star Over the Third World,” and Dr. Christine Hong, associate professor of Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at UC Santa Cruz and a member of the Korea Policy Institute.The leaders of North and South Korea met in Pyongyang yesterday on the second day of their three-day summit. North Korea said it would close a key missile test facility in the presence of international observers if the US took corresponding action, and the two leaders teased an historic possible fourth summit in Seoul in the coming months. 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 Ro

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Ambassador Peter Ford, the former British Ambassador to Syria, and Mark Sleboda, an international affairs and security analyst.The governments of Russia and Turkey yesterday announced a demilitarized zone in the Syrian province of Idlib, a move that appears to have delayed what was believed to be an imminent assault on the area by the Syrian army. Meanwhile, a Syrian anti-aircraft battery accidentally shot down a Russian transport plane last night, killing all 15 Russians on board. The Russian and Syrian governments blamed interference by the Israeli air force for the accident. 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 yesterday ordered the declassification of documents related to the Russia investigation, including supporting material for a FISA warrant targeting former Trump campaig

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined from North Carolina by Jessica Culpepper, the Food Safety & Health Attorney at Public Justice, and 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.”Hurricane Florence was downgraded to a tropical depression over the weekend, but not until it killed at least 17 people, stranded thousands, and left millions without power. Many of those stranded are poor people who have bedridden family, no car, or no money to leave. Meanwhile, coal ash ponds are overflowing into neighborhoods and there’s been flooding around the animal excrement disposal ponds known as CAFOs as well. 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

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Richard Wolff, a professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and founder of the organization Democracy at Work, whose latest book is “Capitalism's Crisis Deepens: Essays on the Global Economic Meltdown.”Ten years ago today investment banking giant Lehman Brothers collapsed, turning a smoldering economic slowdown into the worst recession in modern American history. In 2008, Federal Reserve officials gave many reasons why they were unable to save Lehman Brothers—the bank’s collateral was inadequate, they lacked legal authority—but the result wiped out an institution with $619 billion in assets, the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. Experts estimate the the collapse and its ripples cost the American taxpayer more than $1.4 trillion, a burden that was shouldered mostly by the poor and working classes. Have we learned anything in the past decade? Friday is Loud & Clear’s regular segment on th