Loud & Clear

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Alexander Mercouris, the editor-in-chief of The Duran, and Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemicist.net.The two Russians accused by British authorities of being involved in the attempted assassination of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter sat for an interview yesterday with RT. Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov say they were simple tourists who had decided to take a day trip to London and Salisbury when poor weather forced them to change their plans and return to Moscow several hours earlier than they had planned.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. Today is the anniversary of the Attica uprising. 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 c

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Brad Birkenfeld, a famed whistleblower who singlehandedly brought down international money laundering at banking giant UBS. Now he’s working to spread the word about what whistleblowing is and about how anybody can report waste, fraud, abuse, or illegality in the workplace or in society at large.It’s Wednesday, so we continue our regular segment, Beyond Nuclear, where we look at nuclear issues, including weapons, energy, waste, and the future of nuclear technology in the United States. Brian and John speak with Kevin Kamps, the Radioactive Waste Watchdog at the organization Beyond Nuclear. New evidence has emerged linking New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s official re-election campaign to a controversial mailing accusing challenger Cynthia Nixon of anti-semitism. But the basis for this claim was that she allegedly supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement -- a non-violent international campaign to promote human ri

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Ray Nowosielski and John Duffy, authors of the new book “The Watchdogs Didn't Bark: The CIA, NSA, and the Crimes of the War on Terror.” Today we continue our weekly series False Profits -- A Weekly Look at Wall Street and Corporate Capitalism. Daniel Sankey, a financial policy analyst, joins the show. Turkish president Recep Erdogan said in an op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal that Turkey will face a catastrophic refugee crisis if the Syrian government is allowed to attack terrorists and foreign troops currently holed up in the city of Idlib, even as Russian and Syrian fighter jets bombed the city. Erdogan warned that “the entire world will pay a price” if Idlib is attacked. Brian and John speak with Rick Sterling, an investigative journalist and member of the Syria Solidarity Movement. The White House confirmed today that talks are underway with North Korea over setting up a second summit meeting between President Trump

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, most recently the author of “Injustice: The Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five.”John Bolton, US national security adviser, threatened the international criminal court (ICC) with sanctions today when he made an excoriating attack on the institution in a speech in Washington. According to drafts of his speech, Bolton will push for sanctions over an ICC investigation into alleged American war crimes in Afghanistan. He also announced the closure of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) office in Washington because of its calls for an ICC inquiry into Israel. 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 te

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 presidents of Russia, Iran, and Turkey met in Tehran today to discuss next steps in the Syrian province of Idlib, the Syrian rebels’ last stronghold and home to thousands of terrorists. Russia and Iran have provided vital support to the government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, but Turkey is fearful that a major assault on Idlib will result in a refugee crisis on its southern border. 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, join the show. This afternoon at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus, President Obama deliver

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Joe Lauria, the editor-in-chief of Consortium News, founded by the late Robert Parry, and the author of the book "How I Lost, By Hillary Clinton," and Ted Rall, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist.The New York Times took the unusual step last night of publishing an anonymous op-ed. The opinion piece was reportedly written by a senior Trump Administration official, and it talks about chaos in the White House, a president who is unhinged, and the worry that many of the most senior officials in government that the President is a danger to Americans. The fallout—especially that emanating from the White House—has been dramatic. 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, and Paul Wright, the f

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Dr. Piers Robinson, the chairman of the politics, society, and political journalism department at the University of Sheffield, and Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemicist.net.The British government has charged two Russian nationals, whom it describes as military intelligence assassins, with attempted murder in the poisoning last spring of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Both survived. Scotland Yard investigators claim to have found traces of Novichok, a weapons-grade nerve agent, in a perfume bottle that the two allegedly used on the victims. Both Russians are believed to be in Moscow. Thursday’s weekly segment, Beyond Nuclear, looks at 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

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by former British Ambassador to Syria Peter Ford and Rick Sterling, an investigative journalist and member of the Syria Solidarity Movement.Russian military leaders said today that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was ready to launch a phased offensive to retake Idlib, which both the Russians and Syrians called “a pocket of terrorism” because of the foreign fighters that are based there. The Trump Administration is sending signals that it is preparing for a possible U.S. military operation inside Syria. The dangers of a wider war are presented just at the moment that the Syrian government seems to be on the verge of winning a final victory against armed forces aligned with Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. Tuesday’s weekly series is False Profits—A Weekly Look at Wall Street and Corporate Capitalism with Daniel Sankey. The hosts discuss coal prices going up in Europe as China uses more electricity, and the burning of

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Liz Davis, president of the Washington Teachers Union who has taught in DC public schools for 41 years, and Justin Flores, the vice president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee.Monday is Labor Day, the day set aside to honor the social and economic achievements of American workers. It is a national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of the country. But organized labor is facing acute challenges thanks to recent court decisions. 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 and Sputnik News analyst Walter Smolarek, joins the show. President Trump on Wednesday reaffirmed his opposition to routine annual joint US-South Korean mi

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Hyun Lee, a member of the Solidarity Committee for Democracy and Peace in Korea and writer for Zoominkorea.org.The fate of the peace process in Korea hangs in the balance as the Trump administration takes an increasingly hard line. At the same time, a dispute between the Pentagon and the White House over the suspension of the U.S. military exercises in South Korea spilled into the open, with Trump openly contradicting Defense Secretary Mattis.Thursday’s weekly series “Criminal Injustice” focuses on the most egregious conduct of our courts and prosecutors and how justice is denied to so many people in this country. The hosts continue talking about the huge prison strike going on across the country, as well as the white cop who killed Jordan Edwards, a Black teenager, getting prison time. Kevin Gosztola, a writer for Shadowproof.com and co-host of the podcast Unauthorized Disclosure, and Paul Wright, the founder and Executive D

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and Walter Smolarek (sitting in for John Kiriakou) are joined by Peter Lavelle, host of RT’s flagship program CrossTalk.French President Emmanuel Macron said this week that the European Union needs to look out for its own security, rather than looking to the US. Germany is moving forward with the Nordstream 2 gas pipeline from Russia, against the US’s demands. What does the strengthening of European-Russian relations and the fraying of US-European relations mean for geopolitics? 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. Justice Department official Bruce Ohr gave testimony and answered questions for 8 hours behind closed doors yesterday in a hearing held by the House Judiciary and House Over

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Abby Martin, host of The Empire Files, and Mike Prysner, the producer. You can support their ongoing work at patreon.com/EmpireFiles and GoFundMe.com/keep-empire-files-going. Progressive alternative media in the United States is under attack. Recently, the prominent TeleSur program The Empire Files was shut down as a consequence of U.S. sanctions imposed on Venezuela. Meanwhile Facebook and other social media giants have been censoring and concealing content that doesn’t fit the corporate media narrative. Monday’s weekly series is False Profits—A Weekly Look at Wall Street and Corporate Capitalism with Daniel Sankey. Daniel Sankey, a financial policy analyst, joins the show. Despite being caught in a lie, CNN is standing behind their reporting. Lanny Davis, lawyer for former President Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen, told CNN as an anonymous source (and then other outlets as well) that Cohen had details on the Trump Tower meetin

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Dr. Nazia Kazi, an activist, professor of Anthropology at Stockton University and the author of the forthcoming book “Islamophobia, Race and Global Politics.” Senator John McCain died on Saturday and the testimonies about his service and character are pouring in from around the country. McCain is being described as a maverick and a moderate who tried to wrest his party from dangerous populism. However, his real legacy is his consistent votes for and encouragement for the country to go to war, and he personally dropped bombs over civilians in Hanoi. Progressive governments across Latin America have been under unprecedented pressure to move to the right, with countries from Brazil to Argentina to Ecuador either pushing liberal leaders aside or changing policy to ally themselves with the United States. What’s behind this push to the right? And are Latin American countries in danger of a return to military or fascist governments

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Max Blumenthal, a journalist, a 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.”Facebook is being accused of creating an entirely new level of censorship, deleting posts and whole pages, blocking content, and restricting access to news. The mainstream media has decried Facebook’s censorship of conservative sites like Prager University and InfoWars. But Facebook also has deleted pages associated with Bernie Sanders followers and Black Lives Matter. What the media aren’t talking about, however, is Facebook’s censorship of pages and news advocating for the Palestinian cause or for peace in the Middle East. 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

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Ted Rall, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist whose work is at rall.com.Headlines in major news outlets across the country sounded the alarm about what they said was yet another sinister Russian attempt to subvert American democracy—a hack into the Democratic National Committee’s voter database. But, it turns out, this was nothing more than a security test by one of its state affiliates. Adopting another talking point of the extreme right wing, President Trump has asked that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo take a look at “the large scale killing of farmers” in South Africa, referring to the white landowners whose property is subject to a new redistribution program aimed at addressing the legacy of apartheid. This comes after Fox News host Tucker Carlson called South African President Ramaphosa a racist. Dr. Gerald Horne, a professor of history at the University of Houston and author of many books, including “Fr

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemicist.net, Dan Kovalik, a human rights and labor lawyer who is the author of the book “The Plot to attack Iran,” and Joe Lauria, the editor-in-chief of Consortium News, founded by the late Robert Parry. Courts in New York and Alexandria, Virginia delivered bombshells for President Trump yesterday, as former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was convicted of eight felony counts of bank fraud, and Trump attorney Michael Cohen turned himself in to the FBI and pleaded guilty to eight counts of campaign finance fraud, bank fraud, and wire fraud. Manafort will now go on trial on additional fraud counts in Washington, DC, and Cohen will go to prison for between three and five years. Wednesday’s regular segment, Beyond Nuclear with Kevin Kamps, looks at nuclear issues, including weapons, energy, waste, and the future of nuclear technology in the United States. Today they focus on Trump’s plan t

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, the Paul Manafort guilty verdict and the Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s plea deal is the lead story at the top of the second hour. In the first hour, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Joe Lauria, the editor-in-chief of Consortium News, founded by the late Robert Parry and author of the book "How I Lost, By Hillary Clinton," and Alexander Mercouris, the editor-in-chief of The Duran.Key Senate committees held hearings today amid news that Microsoft has seized six websites that it says were registered by Russia’s military intelligence organization, the GRU, and that targeted Republican think tanks and the US Senate. New US sanctions on Russia take effect tomorrow, and two senators are sponsoring what they are calling “the sanctions bill from hell” that they would pass if the US intelligence community confirms that the Russian government was behind the six suspended websites. Meanwhile, British Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt today called on all EU member countries to

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemicist.net, whose most recent piece is “Fighting Fake Stories: The New Yorker, Israel and Obama,” and Ted Rall, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist.President Trump over the weekend revoked the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan and threatened to do the same to a list of other former Obama-era national security officials and a current Justice Department official. Meanwhile, media outlets reported that White House Counsel Don McGahn met at least three times with Special Counsel Robert Mueller. President Trump tweeted early this morning that McGahn is “not a rat, like in the Nixon White House.” Monday’s weekly half hour 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 Dr. Alice Bonner, a docent at the National Museum of African American History and Culture and a retired professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. Ahead of the anniversary of the deadly Charlottesville white supremacist protest, the hosts speak with Dr. Alice Bonner about a pivotal moment in the fight against racism in the United States -- The Watts Uprising. Again today we take a look at political races around the country in the runup to midterm elections in November. Jacqueline Luqman, co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, joins the show. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has declared a state of emergency in Charlottesville in advance of the one-year anniversary of the violent Unite the Right rally. Last year a right-wing extremist ran over and killed 32-year-old Heather Heyer. Brian and John speak with Kei Pritsker, he’s a D.C.-based activist who is one of the organizers of the cou

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by international affairs and security analyst.The latest round of sanctions targeting Russia is already taking a toll, as forces in the U.S. military and foreign policy establishment continue their campaign to ensure that the two countries remain on a collision course. Dozens of people, including many children, were killed in Yemen today by an airstrike launched by the Saudi-led coalition waging war on that country. The bombing, which hit a school bus, is causing outrage around the world. Medea Benjamin, an anti-war activist who is the co-founder of Code Pink, 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. 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 Hum