Podcasts about coming depression

Dr. Jack Rasmus discusses the decline of American Empire which has suffered a serious financial blow and militarily is in retreat. He gives his view on the Ukraine War and the March 22nd terror attack in Russia and believes we will continue to see escalation. The dollar is the linchpin of the global empire and it continues to be used less as we see the acceleration of BRICS as an antipole. Decline will be protracted, it's a process. The elites or the supranational financial capitalists/imperialists seek to continue maintaining and amassing global wealth. EU is done economically. The Pentagon is planning for war with China, but not before 2030. The empire isn't going away quietly. The propaganda and censorship machine of the one-party system will intensify as our current neoliberal regime cannot continue without further restricting democracy. Watch On BitChute / Brighteon / Rokfin / Rumble / Substack Geopolitics & Empire · Jack Rasmus: US Empire Isn't Going Quietly, China War, Restricting Democracy, & BRICS Antipole #413 *Support Geopolitics & Empire! Become a Member https://geopoliticsandempire.substack.comDonate https://geopoliticsandempire.com/donationsConsult https://geopoliticsandempire.com/consultation **Visit Our Affiliates & Sponsors! Above Phone https://abovephone.com/?above=geopoliticseasyDNS (use code GEOPOLITICS for 15% off!) https://easydns.comEscape The Technocracy course (15% discount using link) https://escapethetechnocracy.com/geopoliticsPassVult https://passvult.comSociatates Civis (CitizenHR, CitizenIT, CitizenPL) https://societates-civis.comWise Wolf Gold https://www.wolfpack.gold/?ref=geopolitics Websites Jack Rasmus Website https://jackrasmus.com X https://twitter.com/drjackrasmus Kyklos Productions http://www.kyklosproductions.com About Dr. Jack Rasmus Dr. Jack Rasmus, Ph.D Political Economy, teaches economics at St. Mary's College in California. He is the author and producer of the various nonfiction and fictional workers, including the books The Scourge of Neoliberalism: US Economic Policy From Reagan to Bush, Clarity Press, October 2019; Alexander Hamilton & The Origins of the Fed, Lexington books, March 2019; Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression, Clarity Press, August 2018; Looting Greece: A New Financial Imperialism Emerges, Clarity Press, Sept. 2016; Systemic Fragility in the Global Economy, Clarity Press, January 2016;  ‘Obama's Economy: Recovery for the Few‘, Pluto Press, 2012, ‘Epic Recession: Prelude to Global Depression‘, Pluto Press, 2010, and ‘The War at Home: The Corporate Offensive from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush‘, Kyklosproductions, 2006. He has written and produced several stage plays, including ‘Fire on Pier 32‘ and ‘1934‘. Jack is the host of the weekly radio show, Alternative Visions, on the Progressive Radio Network, and a journalist writing on economic, political and labor issues for various magazines, including  European Financial Review, World Financial Review, World Review of Political Economy, ‘Z‘ magazine, and others. Before his current roles as author, journalist and radio host, Jack was an economist and market analyst for several global companies for 18 years and, for more than a decade, a local union president, vice-president, contract negotiator, and organizer for several labor unions, including the UAW, CWA, SEIU, and HERE. Jack's website is www.kyklosproductions.com where his published articles, radio-tv interviews, plays and book reviews are available for download. He blogs at jackrasmus.com, where weekly commentaries on US and global economic matters are available. His twitter handle is @drjackrasmus. Jack is the owner and principal of Kyklos Productions LLC, which produces stage plays, books, and public presentations. Jack is also available for keynote and other speaking events on various economic and political topics.

Happy New Year 2023 - This Podcast will help people that are experiencing depression and or anxiety in this New Year. One Word from God can change your life forever by meditating on God's word for all your problems. The Word used in the Podcast can be found in Hebrew 11:1, Isaiah 43: 18-19 and Philippians 3:12-14. I pray this Podcast will help you realize God is with you now. He doesn't care about the past and will walk with you now. Faith in God happens now - not in the past or future!

On October 14th 2022 this Administration announced there was only 25 days of diesel fuel left the 25th day happens to be November 8th which is midterm election day from gas and diesel fuel to your electronics food clothing and other items diesel trucks deliver with diesel fuel running out that means more and more trucks will sit that also means shelves will go bare in this episode I state that and why we no longer are going into a recession we are going to go into a full loan economic depression there's a saying without trucks America stops --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/david-shore2/support

 Today's show takes a different emphasis than in the past by focusing on key personalities and their roles in the growing economic and political crises in the US and world. Dr. Rasmus discusses former UK prime minister, Liz Truss, who was just ousted by the UK's bond vigilantes and finance capitalists. What did Liz do to get thrown under the bus? Rasmus shows her proposals, for which she was deposed, were not much different than Ronald Reagan's in 1981-83. Rasmus explains why the UK's current crisis is actually ‘Made in the USA'. Steve Bannon's ‘slap on the hand' court decision and its implications are next discussed. Thereafter Elon Musk's flirting with a more neutral position in the Ukraine war and the shitstorm against him it's released. Nouriel Roubini's declaration we are already in World War 3, followed by Mohammed El-Erian's raising of the bogeyman that maybe the Fed shouldn't be so ‘independent'. Rasmus discusses the Fed fake issue of central bank independence, covered in detail in his 2017 book, ‘Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression'. (Check out Dr. Rasmus blog, jackrasmus.com, this Sunday for his blogpost and proposals to democratize the Fed). The show comments further on the meeting between US and Russian defense ministers, Austin and Shoigu, Zelensky's latest rants, Mario Draghi's declaration of Europe now in recession, and concludes with soon to be Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy's, public statements on likely Republican economic and war policies after the Nov. midterm elections. (Next week's show will address the midterm election issues).

Sterling is a multifamily investor specializing in value-add apartments in Indianapolis and other Midwestern markets. With just over a decade of experience in the real estate industry, Sterling was involved with the management of over $10MM in capital, which is deployed across a $16MM real estate portfolio made up of multifamily apartments. He founded Sonder Investment Group through the company he owns just over 500 units. Sterling was featured on the Bigger Pockets Podcast and has been a top contributor since 2014, with over 200 posts on topics ranging from single-family investing and apartment investing to wholesaling and scaling a business online.    Doing What Others Won't To Be A Success Where We Are In The Market Currently  Bridge Debt and Cap Rates Opportunity Is On It's Way With The Coming Dip Creating Reach In Multifamily   To find out more about partnering or investing in a multifamily deal: Text Partner to 72345 or email Partner@RodKhleif.com    Please Review and Subscribe

The economy is once again back in the news with stories of inflation, supply chain issues, and labor shortages. While Democrats attempt to spin this state of affairs as evidence of a post-COVID recovery, Republicans seek to paint a picture of doom and gloom. With these contradictory narratives abroad, we talk to economist Jack Rasmus about the current outlook for the American economy. What explains the issue of labor shortages? What explains the supply chain issues? And how serious is the threat of inflation?   Jack Rasmus Dr. Jack Rasmus, Ph.D Political Economy, teaches economics at St. Mary's College in California. He is the author and producer of the various nonfiction and fictional workers, including the books The Scourge of Neoliberalism: US Economic Policy From Reagan to Bush, Clarity Press, October 2019; Alexander Hamilton & The Origins of the Fed, Lexington books, March 2019; Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression, Clarity Press, August 2018; Looting Greece: A New Financial Imperialism Emerges, Clarity Press, Sept. 2016; Systemic Fragility in the Global Economy, Clarity Press, January 2016; ‘Obama's Economy: Recovery for the Few‘, Pluto Press, 2012, ‘Epic Recession: Prelude to Global Depression, Pluto Press, 2010, and ‘The War at Home: The Corporate Offensive from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush‘, Kyklosproductions, 2006. @drjackrasmus https://jackrasmus.com/about/ http://www.kyklosproductions.com/   About TIR Thank you, guys, again for taking the time to check this out. We appreciate each and every one of you. If you have the means, and you feel so inclined, BECOME A PATRON! We're creating patron-only programming, you'll get bonus content from many of the episodes, and you get MERCH!   Become a patron now: https://www.patreon.com/join/BitterLakePresents   Please also like, subscribe, and follow us on these platforms as well, especially YouTube!   THANKS Y'ALL   YouTube: www.youtube.com/thisisrevolutionpodcast   Twitch: www.twitch.tv/thisisrevolutionpodcast & www.twitch.tv/leftflankvets   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thisisrevolutionpodcast/   Twitter: @TIRShowOakland Instagram: @thisisrevolutionoakland   Read Jason's Grifters' Piece here: https://jasonmyles.medium.com/left-influencers-this-is-not-a-grift-5630ee792c25   Pascal Robert in Black Agenda Report: https://www.blackagendareport.com/author/PascalRobert   Get THIS IS REVOLUTION Merch here: www.thisisrevolutionpodcast.com   Get the music from the show here: https://bitterlakeoakland.bandcamp.com/   Follow Djene Bajalan @djenebajalan   Follow Kuba Wrzesniewski @DrKuba2  

Today's Flash Back Friday comes from Episode 755, originally published in November 2016. Jason’s guest James Dale Davidson is the co-founder of Agora Publishing, the Founder of the National Taxpayer’s Union,  co-editor of Strategic Investment for the Sovereign Society and founder of Newsmax. He is the Author of the best selling books Blood in the Streets: Investment Profits in a World Gone Mad, The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age, The Great Reckoning: Protecting Yourself in the Coming Depression and his new release, The Breaking Point: Profit from the Coming Money Cataclysm. Mr. Davidson foretells of an impending, marketplace disaster which will happen in this lifetime. He credits the Obamacare, Chinese ghost cities and fictitious capital. He shares this information because he believes it is important for people to understand what will happen so they can create a new life in a new environment. Key Takeaways: [1:50] James Dale Davidson believes the current business model and social contract which supported it is kaput in the Western Civilization. [6:27] Trump may have been voted in because of the life expectancy of middle-class white voters has dropped. [9:43] What’s next for the economy under a Trump presidency? [10:57] The Breaking Point looks at the symbiotic relationship between the drug companies and the food industry. [14:49] The US needs someone with business savvy to improve the quality of decisions made in politics. [18:30] Bernie Sanders reminds James Dale Davidson of Karl Marx. [20:32] When fictitious capital is created it goes to people with collateral. These people can borrow money for almost nothing. [27:56] Jason asks “Why not just kick the can down the road forever?” Mr. Davidson tells us why it’s not a good idea. [31:52] The Chinese have used more cement from 2011-2013 on ghost cities than the US spent on cement in the entire 20th century. [37:57] Most of the copper used by the Chinese came from Chile. [41:18] The probability of a very severe crack-up, the biggest in history, will be coming in our lifetime.      Mentioned in This Episode: www.JasonHartman.com/Properties The Breaking Point: Profit from the Coming Money Cataclysm Strategic Investment Newsletter

Brian Beaulieu is in the business of predicting economic trends. He’s been forecasting trends for the past 39 years and he’s very transparent about his methods. Brian is politically agnostic and aims to be as objective as possible. He doesn’t make money if the market goes up or down, he makes money by being right. Between March 20th and 28th of 2020, his GDP retail sales forecast came out with a 98% accuracy. When it comes to long-term trends, there are only a few ways they can play out. In terms of accuracy, Brian forecasted the great depression of 2008 and 2009 at the tail end of 2003, so their clients were well prepared when the crash hit. Back in 1987, a month before the stock market experienced a short but rapid decline, Brian warned his clients to get out and saved them from heavy losses. Brian’s team has a unique methodology as well as business cycle theories which help them achieve such a high level of accuracy. By using a system of leading indicators, Brian can forecast major market trends with confidence. Business cycles don’t turn based on old age, but that does produce imbalances which accumulate eventually causing major trends. Overall, Brian and his team have had an average accuracy of 94.7%. It’s not particularly useful to read financial publications when it comes to trying to make predictions. Publications like the Wall Street Journal are in the business of selling ad space and have financial biases. They often look for data that reinforces what they already believe, and if they don’t play that game, then their subscription base dwindles. Financial publications are interested in articles that get clicks, not in predicting the future. Brian knows that he’s not immune to that, which is why he tends to be very dogmatic about his leading indicators. Humans have a tendency to think linearly. Financial behavior has a recency bias and whatever we have experienced most recently has the strongest imprint on us. This leads people to think that next month will look a lot like last month, and next year will look like this one. Most Millennials and Gen Xers have only experienced falling interest rates. Because they haven’t experienced a rising interest rate environment they can’t figure out ways to take advantage of it. If the success of stimulus spending is defined by people receiving a check and thinking fondly of the political process, then the most recent stimulus was indeed successful. Long-term, the stimulus has made the forecasts worse and someone is going to have to pay for it. People are aging, and as a population gets older they spend less and cost more. We are not going to get out from underneath those healthcare costs until 2036. Another issue is that the government has refused to fund Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. When interest rates start to rise again, the government is going to find itself in the position of not being able to afford both the mandatory and discretionary items. Most people like to think that rising healthcare costs are due to litigation or the greed of pharmaceutical companies, but the truth is more complicated than that. All these trends are going to line up around the time when the US national debt is so large that it becomes untenable. Advocates of Modern Monetary Theory believe that because we can print our own money that we don’t have to worry about that, but history tends to disagree. What happens when the rest of the world stops lending the US money at the current interest levels? Over the next 8 years, Brian does not expect any politicians appearing with the political will to change the trajectory of the country until it’s too late. Since the inflation from stimulus spending is not immediately present, people are going to believe that they can print money indefinitely with little to no consequences. Even with Covid-19, the level of stimulus hasn’t changed the date of Brian’s prediction. In order to prepare, you need to make as much money as you can in the intervening years and invest in assets that do well when the US dollar is declining. Around 2029, you should flip into assets that will protect you during a period of deflation. The goal is to preserve your cash on the way down, and then in 2036 get ready to begin buying assets and stocks when things get back on the upswing.     Mentioned in this Episode: ITReconomics.com

I was recently sent a message by show economist Arash Kolahi about a blog I should read.  It was Dr. Jack Rasmus' blog where he lays out what could happen if the current Trump administration tries to circumvent democracy and have a coup to take power into not just one more term, but many more!  I asked Arash, if he could hook up Dr. Rasmus to come on the show.  Dr. Rasmus obliged, and I'm glad we could have him on.   A little about Dr. Rasmus: Dr. Jack Rasmus, Ph.D Political Economy, teaches economics at St. Mary's College in California. He is the author and producer of the various nonfiction and fictional workers, including the books The Scourge of Neoliberalism: US Economic Policy From Reagan to Bush, Clarity Press, October 2019; Alexander Hamilton & The Origins of the Fed, Lexington books, March 2019; Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression, Clarity Press, August 2018; Looting Greece: A New Financial Imperialism Emerges, Clarity Press, Sept. 2016; Systemic Fragility in the Global Economy, Clarity Press, January 2016;  ‘Obama's Economy: Recovery for the Few‘, Pluto Press, 2012, ‘Epic Recession: Prelude to Global Depression‘, Pluto Press, 2010, and ‘The War at Home: The Corporate Offensive from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush‘, Kyklosproductions, 2006. He has written and produced several stage plays, including ‘Fire on Pier 32‘ and ‘1934‘. Jack is the host of the weekly radio show, Alternative Visions, on the Progressive Radio Network, and a journalist writing on economic, political and labor issues for various magazines, including  European Financial Review, World Financial Review, World Review of Political Economy, ‘Z‘ magazine, and others. Before his current roles as author, journalist and radio host, Jack was an economist and market analyst for several global companies for 18 years and, for more than a decade, a local union president, vice-president, contract negotiator, and organizer for several labor unions, including the UAW, CWA, SEIU, and HERE.     Follow Dr. Rasmus on Twitter: @drjackrasmus   Dr. Rasmus' Website: https://jackrasmus.com/   Listen to Dr. Rasmus on Progressive Radio Network Here: https://prn.fm/category/archives/alternative-visions/#axzz26ySyu8Fl   Purchase Dr. Rasmus Books Here: http://kyklosproductions.com/#scourge   Thank you guys once again for taking the time to check this out.  We truly appreciate it.  Please support independent media and become a patron.  You'll get bonus content from most of the shows, we're currently creating patron only programing, and SO MUCH MORE! Become a patron now https://www.patreon.com/BitterLakePresents   Please like, subscribe, and follow us on these platforms   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG9WtLyoP9QU8sxuIfxk3eg   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thisisrevolutionpodcast/   Twitter: @TIRShowOakland   Instagram: @thisisrevolutionoakland   Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/thisisrevolutionpodcast   Medium: https://medium.com/@jasonmyles/vengeance-has-no-foresight-837212d85a97  

"President Trump has increasingly embraced, amplified or equivocated about a number of conspiracy theories in recent weeks," the Washington Post reported Thursday. "From the baseless QAnon movement to a racist theory about Sen. Kamala D. Harris of California's citizenship, Trump has given a nod to fringe groups and welcomed them into the mainstream of his party." Is this the culmination of the Republicans' failure to rein in the Tea Party early in the game? "New applications for unemployment benefits rose last week after a series of declines, another sign the labor market's recovery is cooling amid continuing disruptions because of the coronavirus pandemic," the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. "Weekly initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 135,000 to a seasonally adjusted 1.1 million in the week ended Aug. 15, the Labor Department said Thursday." The Journal mentions a recovery, even if it's slowing down - what recovery?"There is a misperception in western media that [Belarusian President Alexander] Lukashenko is [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's man. That is not true; Putin views him as an exasperating and rather dim legacy," Craig Murray wrote in a Thursday piece for Antiwar.com. "There is also a misperception in the west that Lukashenko really lost the recent election. That is not true. He almost certainly won, though the margin is much exaggerated by the official result." Why is it so difficult for Western media sources to get this right? It's Friday, so it's panel time. Margaret Kimberley, editor and senior columnist at Black Agenda Report and author of "Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents"; and Kevin Zeese, editor of Popular Resistance, discuss Thursday night's conclusion of the Democratic National Convention. For our final panel, we're joined by Jim Kavanagh, political commentator, editor of The Polemicist and author of the article "Payroll Taxes Are the Achilles Heel of Social Security"; and Ted Rall, political cartoonist and syndicated columnist.Guests: Caleb Maupin - Journalist and political analystJack Rasmus - Author of "Central Bankers at the End of Their Rope?: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression," whose work can be found at JackRasmus.comScott Ritter - Former UN weapons inspector in Iraq Margaret Kimberley - Editor and senior columnist at Black Agenda Report and author of "Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents"Kevin Zeese - Editor of Popular ResistanceJim Kavanagh - Political commentator, editor of The Polemicist and author of the article "Payroll Taxes Are the Achilles Heel of Social Security"Ted Rall - Political cartoonist and syndicated columnist

In a Wednesday interview on Fox News, Trump "claimed COVID-19 was spreading in a 'relatively small portion' of the country (it is spreading nearly everywhere); said children are 'virtually immune' to the virus (they are not); and once again insisted the outbreak 'will go away like things go away,'" the Washington Post reported. He continued to press his view that schools should be reopening, even as more districts delay in-person instruction. “My view is the schools should open. This thing is going away," Trump said. With COVID-19 cases and deaths continuing to rise in the US, how concerned should we be? "The blast near Beirut's port sent up a huge mushroom cloud-shaped shockwave, flipping cars and damaging distant buildings," CNN reported Tuesday. "It was felt as far as Cyprus, hundreds of miles away, and registered as a 3.3 magnitude earthquake in the Lebanese capital." At least 135 people were killed, and thousands more were injured. Lebanese officials have said the explosion was an unfortunate accident caused by improperly stored ammonium nitrate, though Trump said Tuesday that it looked like the incident resulted from a "bomb of some kind," citing unnamed US military officials. US Defense Secretary Mark Esper contradicted the president on Wednesday, saying the blast was likely an accident. "US GDP Collapses & Economic Rebound Fades" is the title of the latest op-ed by our next guest, Professor Jack Rasmus. He writes, "This past week US economy collapsed in the 2nd quarter by 32.9% at annual rate and nearly 10% just for the April-June period. Never before in modern US history — not even in the worse quarters of the 1930s great depression — has the US economy contracted so quickly and so deeply!" What are we to make of all of this? "In the last sitting week of 2019, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne requested the highly influential Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade to report on the possible introduction of legislation that mirrors the US Magnitsky Act," Philip Citowicki wrote in a July 2 piece for The Diplomat. "The Committee aims to report back by the end of 2020." What does this mean?A Tuesday headline in Common Dreams read: "Elliot Abrams Confirms to Senate Hearing That US Still 'Working Hard' to Overthrow Maduro in Venezuela." The outlet reported, "The US Special Representative to Venezuela Elliott Abrams told a Senate panel Tuesday that despite a number of failed previous attempts, the Trump administration is continuing efforts to foment the ouster of President Nicolás Maduro, elected democratically by the Venezulean people two years ago. 'Obviously we hope that [Maduro] will not survive the year and we are working hard to make that happen,' Abrams told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee." What does this mean going forward, and how concerned should Americans be that the US government, which claims to support democracy around the world, is working to overthrow a democratically elected president in a foreign country?"Rep. Roger Marshall won the Republican Senate nomination in Kansas on Tuesday night, defeating former secretary of state Kris Kobach and easing GOP fears that a victory by the conservative firebrand could have cost them a seat in November," the Washington Post reported Wednesday. While on the other side of the aisle, another Wednesday article in the Post was titled "Longtime Rep. William Lacy Clay loses Democratic primary in Missouri." Are these subtle or not-so-subtle indicators of shifts in the political landscape? "The Trump campaign late Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Nevada over a law aimed at expanding mail-in voting before the November general election, saying it and changes to election procedures make 'voter fraud and other ineligible voting inevitable,'" The Hill reported Wednesday. What does this mean going forward? An interesting piece ran Tuesday in Consortium News, entitled "A United State of Delusion." Its subheadline said, "Americans are caught in a kind of national psychosis, wherein little of what is said about foreign conduct — from Germany to the South China Sea — can be taken at face value." What are we to make of this?Guests:Dr. GiGi El-Bayoumi - Founder and executive director of the Rodham Institute of the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, DCLaith Marouf - Broadcaster and journalist based in Beirut, LebanonJack Rasmus - Economist, author of "Central Bankers at the End of their Rope?: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression" and professor in the Economics and Politics Departments at St. Mary's College of CaliforniaLucy Komissar - Investigative journalist focusing on corporate and financial corruption whose articles can be found at TheKomisarScoop.comLeo Flores - Latin America coordinator for Code PinkDr. Colin Campbell - Washington, DC, senior news correspondentDr. Avis Jones-DeWeever - Award-winning author, international speaker, political commentator, and race and gender empowerment expertMargaret Kimberley - Editor and senior columnist at Black Agenda Report and author of "Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents"

It's Friday: that means it's panel time!US President Donald Trump spoke about both George Floyd's death and the latest American employment data during Friday remarks in the White House's Rose Garden. "We all saw what happened last week. We can't let that happen," Trump said. "Hopefully, George is looking down right now and saying, 'This is a great thing that's happening for our country.' It's a great day for him. It's a great day for everybody. This is a great, great day in terms of equality. It's what our Constitution requires, and it's what our country is all about." Meanwhile, Washington, DC, residents have been besieged by "a number of heavily armed law enforcement officers who share an unexpected characteristic: Neither their affiliation nor their personal identities are discernible," the Washington Post reported Thursday. How concerned should we be, and what does this indicate?Another black man who said "I can't breathe" died in police custody, and an official autopsy has ruled his death a homicide. Manuel Ellis, 33, who called out “I can't breathe” before dying in police custody in Tacoma, Washington, "was killed as a result of oxygen deprivation and the physical restraint that was used on him, according to details of a medical examiner's report released on Wednesday," the New York Times reported Wednesday. “Mr. Ellis was physically restrained as he continued to be combative,” the Tacoma Police Department said in a Wednesday statement on the matter. The police officers were not wearing body cameras."A week ago in Minneapolis, for all the world to see, a black man, George Floyd, was murdered by a policeman, Derek Chauvin," Dr. Jack Rasmus wrote in a Wednesday piece published on his personal website and at CounterPunch. "Murders of black men by police in America are not new. They are endemic. ... What angers those who observed the murder most is the lack of mercy shown by Chauvin and his three complicit partner officers. What they showed was clearly an intention to kill. Chauvin appeared almost to take pleasure in keeping his knee on Floyd's neck for three minutes more after he lay motionless. That made it a particularly sadistic murder. It suggested to observers of the video, especially to black folks, that the police in 2020 will show you no mercy.""The job market unexpectedly reversed its free fall in May as employers brought back millions of workers after pandemic-induced layoffs and the unemployment rate declined," the New York Times reported Friday. "Tens of millions remain out of work, and the unemployment rate, which fell to 13.3 percent from 14.7 percent in April, remains higher than in any previous post war recession. But employers added 2.5 million jobs in May, the Labor Department said Friday, defying economists' expectations of further losses and offering hope that the rebound from the pandemic-induced economic crisis could be faster than forecast."Democratic Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has announced that the state will remove a monument to Confederate General Robert E. Lee from the capital of Richmond. "The 60-foot monument that has towered over Richmond for 130 years will topple into history as soon the state can line up contractors and make space in a warehouse, Northam announced Thursday, the seventh straight day of mass protests over police violence against African Americans," the Washington Post reported Thursday.GUESTS:Caleb Maupin — Journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy.Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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." Dr. Linwood Tauheed — Associate professor of economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Jim Kavanagh — Political analyst and commentator and editor of The Polemicist.

In response to the murder of George Floyd, violent protests erupted for the second night in a row on Wednesday in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Floyd, an African-American man, was seen on video pleading for medical assistance and saying that he could not breath while Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin placed a knee upon his neck while detaining him on the ground. The Minneapolis Police Department identified the other officers at the scene as Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng. All four officers have since been fired. What are we to make of these new developments?Some 2.1 million Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week as US President Donald Trump and state governors try to reopen the economy. This is according to data released by the Labor Department on Thursday. "In the week ending May 23, a seasonally adjusted 2,123,000 Americans filed initial claims for unemployment benefits, falling from a revised total of 2,446,000 applications filed the week before," The Hill reported Thursday. How do we make sense of this? "A $3 billion federal program designed to get food from farmers to hungry Americans during the coronavirus pandemic is being criticized by charitable groups for neglecting New York and other northeastern US states hit hard by the outbreak," the Financial Times reported Wednesday. "Of the $1.2 billion awarded by the US Department of Agriculture so far, only $54 million, or less than 5%, has gone to food distributors serving its northeastern region — New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, seven states that together represent roughly a tenth of the US population. The distribution of the aid has raised questions of political fairness, since none of the states voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election. It also follows allegations that companies without proper qualifications were given contracts in the 'Farmers to Families Food Box Program.'”GUESTS:David Schultz — Professor of political science at Hamline University and author of "Presidential Swing States: Why Only Ten Matter." Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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." Elizabeth Henderson — Member of the National Family Farming Coalition and the board of directors of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA-NY) who co-chairs the Policy Committee and represents the NOFA Interstate Council on the board of the Agricultural Justice Project. Her writings on organic agriculture appear in The Natural Farmer and other publications, and she is the lead author of "Sharing the Harvest: A Citizen's Guide to Community Supported Agriculture." She also wrote "A Food Book for a Sustainable Harvest" for the members of Peacework Organic Community Supported Agriculture (GVOCSA).

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It's Friday, so that means it's panel time.We find ourselves being bombarded by an anti-China narrative from a number of different angles: COVID-19, the implementation of 5G, the Belt and Road Initiative, currency manipulation, trade imbalances and more. In an interview with the Fox Business Network that was broadcast Thursday, US President Donald Trump "floated the idea that the United States 'could cut off the whole relationship' with China in the aftermath of the pandemic, in reference to discussions over the lingering trade differences between both countries," the Washington Post reported Friday. Where are we with China right now? Is this the beginning of a new Cold War?In a recent piece for the Black Agenda Report on Julian Assange and George Jackson, Patrick Anderson writes, “Because Jackson was a revolutionary Marxist who advocated armed revolutionary violence to take over the state and Assange is a cypherpunk anarchist who advocates technology-supported non-violence to curtail state power, it may seem that the two activists have little in common. But by understanding Assange and WikiLeaks through the lens of George Jackson's revolutionary philosophy, we can better appreciate how both Jackson and Assange dedicated themselves to challenging the US Empire in the name of self-determination for all peoples of the world." What does all of this mean?In Netfa Freeman's Wednesday Black Agenda Report piece, co-authored with Tunde Osazua and entitled "First Somali Congressperson Legitimizes AFRICOM and US Drone War," he states, "United States representatives, no matter their racial or ethnic backgrounds, appear unable to perceive the inherent white supremacy in the notion that the US has some altruistic responsibility to police the continent of Africa with military troops and supervisors. As a result, 'people of color,' such as the Somali-'American' Congresswoman IIhan Omar, provide political and moral cover to the presence of the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) and the dubious claims about 'US interests' on the continent." What's going on here?"This past Friday, May 8, the US Labor Dept. released its latest jobless figures. The official report was 20 million more unemployed and an unemployment rate of 14.7%. Both mainstream and progressive media reported the numbers," Dr. Jack Rasmus wrote in a Monday piece on his website. "But those numbers, as horrendous as they are, represent a gross underestimation of the jobless situation in America!" It is perplexing why so many progressives continue to simply parrot the official figures."Trump told reporters gathered in the Cabinet Room of the White House that he was 'surprised' by [Dr. Anthony] Fauci's warning during Senate testimony this week that states should be careful about sending children back to school. 'To me it's not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to school,' the president said," Common Dreams reported Thursday. "'This is a disease that attacks age, and it attacks health,' Trump continued. 'But with the young children, I mean, and students ... just take a look at the statistics. It's pretty amazing ... I think that they should open the schools, absolutely.'" This comes as the California State University system, the largest in the US, announced Tuesday that it is closing campuses for most for in-person instruction this fall."GOP senators worry Trump, COVID-19 could cost them their majority," reads a Monday headline in The Hill. The article says, "Senate Republicans looking at polls showing GOP incumbents losing ground are concerned that the Trump administrations handling of the pandemic has put their majority in danger. The two biggest criticisms of the administration that GOP lawmakers express privately are that his administration took too long to deploy coronavirus tests and that the president's statements and demeanor have been too cavalier or flippant. The biggest headwind Republicans face this fall is the faltering national economy, which now has a 14.7 percent unemployment rate, according to a Friday [May 8] report by the Labor Department." It's hard to put a spin on the pandemic's death toll."The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, signed in late March, included $30 billion for education institutions turned upside down by the pandemic shutdowns, about $14 billion for higher education, $13.5 billion to elementary and secondary schools, and the rest for state governments," the New York Times reported Friday. US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos "has used $180 million of those dollars to encourage states to create 'microgrants' that parents of elementary and secondary school students can use to pay for educational services, including private school tuition. She has directed school districts to share millions of dollars designated for low-income students with wealthy private schools," the Times continued, also noting that "House Democrats included language in a stimulus bill set for a vote on Friday that would limit Ms. DeVos's ability to use about $58 billion in additional education relief for K-12 school districts for private schools."We've got these stories and more!GUESTS:Caleb Maupin — Journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy.Patrick D. Anderson — Visiting assistant professor of philosophy at Grand Valley State University. His research focuses on anticolonialism, Black radical philosophy and the connections between technology, ethics and imperialism. He also contributes to Black Agenda Report.Netfa Freeman — Host of Voices With Vision on WPFW 89.3 FM; Pan-Africanist; internationalist organizer intimately involved with political prisoners' causes, from Mumia Abu Jamal to the Cuban Five; and organizer with Family & Friends of Incarcerated People. Daniel Lazare — Journalist and author of three books: "The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War."Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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."

Are Republicans using the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis to achieve bank deregulation, raising the potential for bank failures? The Intercept reported Friday that "experts are warning that the deregulatory blitz, sold as a fix to stimulate business by encouraging more lending, raises the potential for a flood of small bank failures, potentially lengthening economic woes and risking the need for future bank bailouts." "International diplomats were stunned and frustrated Friday night after the US again blocked a United Nations resolution to call for a global ceasefire during the coronavirus pandemic," Common Dreams reported Saturday. The insanity continues, and wait until you hear why the US is blocking this. "For six weeks the US delegation to the UN Security Council has objected to references to the WHO [World Health Organization] within the resolution, forcing French officials to lead an effort to reach a compromise," Common Dreams continued. "President Donald Trump has claimed that the WHO withheld information from world governments about the coronavirus, and that the global health agency was privy to information about the virus originating in a lab in China. The president has offered no evidence of the claims," the outlet noted."South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is threatening to take two Native American tribes to federal court if they do not comply with her order to remove coronavirus checkpoints they set up on state highways that pass through their reservations," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Monday. "Noem, a Republican, wrote to several leaders of the Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes last Friday, calling the checkpoints illegal and giving them 48 hours to be dismantled." Are these Sioux tribes standing on solid legal ground?"GOP senators worry Trump, COVID-19 could cost them their majority," reads a Monday headline in The Hill. The article says, "Senate Republicans looking at polls showing GOP incumbents losing ground are concerned that the Trump administration's handling of the pandemic has put their majority in danger." What are we to make of all of this?GUESTS:Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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." Dr. Ajamu Baraka — Journalist, American political activist and former Green Party nominee for vice president of the United States in the 2016 election. Jonathan Nez — Navajo Nation president.Eugene Craig III — Republican strategist, former vice-chair of the Maryland Republican Party and grassroots activists.

The numbers are in: last week, 3.2 million workers in the US filed unemployment claims. "Nearly 33.5 million applications for unemployment benefits have been filed since mid-March, according to the Labor Department, in the seven weeks since authorities widely began ordering businesses to close to combat the spread of the virus," the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. What does a leading economist think about this?"President [Donald] Trump said Wednesday that he will continue trying to toss out all of the Affordable Care Act, even as some in his administration, including Attorney General William P. Barr, have privately argued parts of the law should be preserved amid a pandemic," the Washington Post reported Thursday. So, we are in the midst of a pandemic. That means that people get sick. As people get sick, the one thing they need is health care. Last week, another 3.2 million US workers filed claims for unemployment benefits. That means a lot of these people, having lost their jobs, have also lost their health care, since for many Americans, their health insurance is tied to their jobs. Is the president serious, or is this just more red meat rhetoric for his base as we move closer to the November election?"In a statement Wednesday, the president said he vetoed the Iran war powers resolution that 'purported to direct me to terminate the use of United States Armed Forces in hostilities against Iran,' ... 'This was a very insulting resolution, introduced by Democrats as part of a strategy to win an election on November 3 by dividing the Republican Party. The few Republicans who voted for it played right into their hands,'” The Hill reported Wednesday. Is the president's perception of this accurate?According to Alan MacLeod in MintPress News, "In what has been labeled a new 'Keystone Kops Bay of Pigs,' the latest attempt to overthrow the government of Nicolas Maduro failed spectacularly, as both American and Venezuelan paramilitaries were immediately overwhelmed when they came into contact with the navy, or even with armed local fishermen's collectives." The Washington Post previously reported Sunday: "The government of President Nicolás Maduro said it had thwarted an early morning invasion off its Caribbean coast on Sunday, alleging its intelligence forces had uncovered a plot, ambushed the attackers and captured or killed 10." Now more details are coming to light.In another piece by MacLeod for MintPress, titled "Cuomo Announces Partnership with Bill Gates to 'Revolutionize' NY Schools in Wake of Coronavirus," he writes that Cuomo says "he will use the COVID-19 virus as an opportunity to 'revolutionize' the state's school system, inviting Bill Gates to implement his controversial ideas about education." What are we to make of this? It sounds like Naomi Klein's “Shock Doctrine.” America's so-called “free market” policies dominate the world -- through the exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries.GUESTS:Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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." Kevin Zeese — Co-editor for Popular Resistance.Dr. Gerald Horne — Professor of history at the University of Houston and author of many books, including "Blows Against the Empire: US Imperialism in Crisis." Ricardo Vaz — Writer and editor at Venezuelanalysis.com.Nino Pagliccia — Activist and freelance writer based in Vancouver. A retired researcher from the University of British Columbia, Canada, Pagliccia is a Venezuelan-Canadian who follows and writes about international relations with a focus on the Americas, and is also the editor of the book “Cuba Solidarity in Canada – Five Decades of People-to-People Foreign Relations.” Alan MacLeod — Academic and journalist. He is a staff writer at MintPress News and a contributor to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), as well as the author of "Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting."

"More US states are beginning to lift lockdown orders even as US leaders say social distancing guidelines will be necessary throughout the summer," the BBC reported Tuesday. According to models prepared by epidemiologists and computer scientists at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this could cost a lot of lives, and the head of the World Health Organization has warned that the pandemic is far from over. As more states look to reopen their economies, health experts have said officials need to put in place expanded testing capacity and contact-tracing teams, among other measures, to safely return to some version of normalcy.According to Common Dreams, "Leaders of some of the largest labor unions in the United States are warning that the Trump administration is brushing aside the interests of workers in its distribution of trillions of dollars in coronavirus bailout funds and instead using the taxpayer money to further enrich wealthy corporate executives." Is this a valid complaint?"The increasing number of COVID-19 cases among people who voted in-person for Wisconsin's April 7 election is fueling demands for Congress to help fund the implementation of expanded vote-by-mail provisions in every state for the rest of this year, particularly for the nation's general election scheduled for November," Common Dreams reported Monday. We talked about this earlier this month when the Supreme Court decision on voting by mail in Wisconsin came down, and the issue continues to grow.A Monday headline in the Wall Street Journal reads, "The Federal Reserve Is Changing What It Means to Be a Central Bank." The article states: "By lending widely to businesses, states and cities in its effort to insulate the US economy from the coronavirus pandemic, it is breaking century-old taboos about who gets money from the central bank in a crisis, on what terms, and what risks it will take about getting that money back."GUESTS:Dr. Yolandra Hancock — Board-certified pediatrician and obesity medicine specialist who combines her hands-on clinical experience and public health expertise with her passion for building vibrant families and communities by providing patient-empowering, best-in-class health and wellness care to children and adolescents who are fighting childhood obesity. Joia Jefferson Nuri — Communications specialist for In The Public Eye Communications.Greg Palast — Award-winning investigative reporter featured in The Guardian, Nation Magazine, Rolling Stone Magazine, BBC and other high profile media outlets. He covered Venezuela for The Guardian and BBC Television's "Newsnight." His BBC reports are the basis of his film "The Assassination of Hugo Chavez."Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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."

"Millions of Americans sought unemployment benefits last week in a continuation of a historic labor-market decline triggered by the coronavirus pandemic," the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. "About 4.4 million Americans applied for jobless benefits in the week ended April 18, the Labor Department said Thursday." Meanwhile, Reuters reported Thursday, "A stunning 26.5 million Americans have sought unemployment benefits over the last five weeks, confirming that all the jobs gained during the longest employment boom in US history have been wiped out as the novel coronavirus savages the economy." Reuters also reported Thursday, "US workers who refuse to return to their jobs because they are worried about catching the coronavirus should not count on getting unemployment benefits, state officials and labor law experts say. Workers in a handful of US states will face this situation this week, as state officials hope to revive economies paralyzed by shutdowns related to the epidemic." This is quite a conundrum."Companies and consumers flooded US banks with a record $1 trillion of deposits in the first quarter, when markets went haywire and America went dark to stop the spread of the new coronavirus. More than half of it went to the four largest banks in America — JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc.," the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. Is this evidence that, very simply put, cash is king?"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made clear in an interview Wednesday that the top priority for the Republican-controlled Senate upon its expected return early next month will not be approving desperately needed coronavirus aid for the unemployed, the uninsured and frontline workers," Common Dreams reported Thursday. "Rather, McConnell told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that the Senate will resume its rapid-fire confirmations of President Donald Trump's lifetime right-wing judicial nominees 'as soon as we get back in session.'" How big of a concern should this be for Americans?In activist Medea Benjamin's Wednesday article in Jacobin, titled "We Should Applaud the Cuban Health System — And Learn From It," she writes, "It is truly inspiring that this small, poor island has basic health indicators equal, or better, to those of the world's richest countries. This is even more remarkable after it has faced a brutal US blockade and sanctions for sixty years. Cuba's infant mortality rate of 4 per 1,000 live births is lower than in the United States — and that's according to the CIA!"GUESTS:Dr. Linwood Tauheed — Associate professor of economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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." David Schultz — Professor of political science at Hamline University.Medea Benjamin — Co-founder of human rights group Global Exchange and peace group Code Pink.

The effort to fight the COVID-19 pandemic is supposed to be an all-hands-on-deck response, if you listen to US President Donald Trump, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and others, but are all hands really being called, let alone welcomed? It appears to me that the Trump administration is not as concerned about eliminating the public health crisis as it is about mitigating the political problems caused by its pathetic response to the coronavirus. "For two years the Trump administration has been trying to stamp out one of Cuba's signature programs [The Henry Reeve Brigade] - state-employed medical workers treating patients around the globe in a show of soft power that also earns billions in badly needed hard currency," the Associated Press reported April 3.An April 3 headline in ProPublica read: "Early data shows African Americans have contracted and died of coronavirus at an alarming rate." The article notes that there are co-morbidity factors for which black people are at higher risk that "leave lungs and immune systems vulnerable: asthma, heart disease, hypertension and diabetes." These reduce the body's ability to fight the virus, exacerbating its impact in the African-American community. Here's my thing with this report: Duh! It's great that Doctors Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx are discussing this, but if this is breaking news, here are two other stories: There's a guy named Nicolaus Copernicus who has proven that Earth orbits the sun, rather than the other way around, and Ferdinand Magellan's daring voyage has proved the world is round.The US Supreme Court has "overturned the only protection in place to ensure that voters could still safely cast ballots, even if the state fails to provide them expediently," by allowing Wisconsin to "throw out ballots postmarked and received after Election Day, even if voters were entirely blameless for the delay," Slate reported Monday. "In an unsigned opinion, the majority cited the Purcell principle, which cautions courts against altering voting laws shortly before an election. It criticized the district court for 'fundamentally alter[ing] the nature of the election by permitting voting for six additional days after the election.' And it insisted that the plaintiffs did not actually request that relief — which, as [Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader] Ginsburg notes in her dissent, is simply false. ... 'If proximity to the election counseled hesitation when the District Court acted several days ago,' she wrote, 'this Court's intervention today — even closer to the election — is all the more inappropriate.'”"President Donald Trump on Tuesday once again voiced his support for slashing the payroll tax — the primary funding mechanism for Social Security and Medicare — and said he would be calling for such a cut even if the US were not currently in the midst of a nationwide public health and economic emergency," Common Dreams reported Wednesday. Is this "code for gutting Social Security's dedicated funding," as progressive organization Social Security Works called it?GUESTS:Caleb Maupin — Journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy.Dr. Shayla C. Nunnally — Associate professor with a joint appointment in the Political Science Department and the Africana Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut. She specializes in public opinion and political behavior, race and politics, African-American public opinion and political behavior, and black political development. She is also the author of "Trust in Black America: Race, Discrimination, and Politics."Richard Lachmann — American sociologist, specialist in comparative historical sociology and professor at the State University of New York at Albany. Lachmann is best known as the author of the book "Capitalists in Spite of Themselves," which has been awarded several prizes, including the American Sociological Association Distinguished Scholarly Book Award.Dr. Ajamu Baraka — Journalist, American political activist and former Green Party nominee for vice president of the United States in the 2016 election. Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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."

Today is Friday, which means it's panel time!So earlier this week, the White House "re-shared data publicly that [US President Donald] Trump had used privately in recent days about how many Americans they expect to die of the novel coronavirus," the Washington Post reported. "They estimate 100,000 to 240,000 deaths over the next few months." The Post also reported that the experts whose research the White House used "said they don't challenge the numbers' validity but that they don't know how the White House arrived at them. ... [The White House has] not provided the underlying data so others can assess its reliability or provide long-term strategies to lower that death count."The COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking both economic and medical havoc on the EU as it is in the US, as well as exacerbating the already existing problems within Europe. Some leaders fear their inability to manage these issues as a collective could break the bloc apart. "In the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, the response among European Union member states showed that national interests trump more-altruistic European ideals," the Washington Post reported this week. "Border restrictions were reimposed haphazardly, and Germany and France threw up export bans on medical equipment such as masks and ventilators, even as Italy clamored for assistance.""President Donald Trump on Monday came right out and admitted his Republican Party would soon be defunct if voting in the United States was easier in a way that allowed more citizens to vote in elections, telling a national television audience it was a good thing that Democratic proposals for increased voting protections and ballot access were left out of last week's coronavirus relief package," Common Dreams reported Monday. What are we to make of this?"The Trump Department of Justice has asked Congress to craft legislation allowing chief judges to indefinitely hold people without trial and suspend other constitutionally protected rights during the coronavirus and other emergencies, according to a report by Politico's Betsy Woodruff Swan," Peter Wade wrote in Rolling Stone on March 21. "While the asks from the Department of Justice will likely not come to fruition with a Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, they demonstrate how much this White House has a frightening disregard for rights enumerated in the Constitution."GUESTS:Caleb Maupin — Journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy.Derrick Johnson — President and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Daniel Lazare — Journalist and author of three books: "The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War."Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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."

On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by Dr.Ajamu Baraka, journalist and American political activist.As COVID-19 continues to spread across America's bipartisan politicallandscape, will the country be able to save itself? "With a globalpandemic testing the country's political, financial, social and moralfabric, there are growing signs that answering in the affirmative hasbecome increasingly difficult," the Washington Post reported Sunday."Top lawmakers and the Trump administration worked to clear theremaining hurdles for a deal on an estimated $2 trillion stimuluspackage, a massive bill designed to shield the US economy from themost drastic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic," the WallStreet Journal reported Tuesday. "Negotiators reconvened this morning,with some lawmakers predicting that the two sides were hours away fromsecuring a final agreement." America is waiting, and the Senate couldmove to quickly vote on the package later on Tuesday, if an agreementis reached. All of this while Common reams reported Monday, "For thesecond time in less than 24 hours, a largely united Senate Democraticcaucus on Monday stopped Republicans from advancing a nearly $2trillion coronavirus stimulus package that progressives havecharacterized as a massive bailout for corporate America that leavesordinary people out to dry." What's really going on here?"In a sign of mounting frustration with Afghanistan's leaders,Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced early Tuesday [local time]that the United States would cut $1 billion in aid to the countrybecause of its inability to form a unity government to negotiate withthe Taliban," the Washington Post reported Monday. What's going onhere? Is Pompeo talking to himself?GUESTS:Dr. Ajamu Baraka — Journalist, American political activist and formerGreen Party nominee for vice president of the United States in the2016 election.Dr. Jack Rasmus — Professor of economics at Saint Mary's College ofCalifornia and author of "Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes:Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression."Dr. Marvin Weinbaum — Scholar-in-residence and director of the MiddleEast Institute's Center for Pakistan and Afghanistan Studies.

It's Friday, so that means it's panel time.New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Friday ordered all non-essentialbusinesses in the state to have their employees work from home as partof the ongoing effort to stop the spread of the COVID-19 novelcoronavirus. He said that after looking at experts' numbers andevaluating the available stocks of medical supplies, he's convincedthe state's health care system will be overwhelmed if the governmentdoes not act. Cuomo specifically mentioned the 1918 flu pandemic andhow historians have pointed out that St. Louis, Missouri, took moreextreme measures to stop the spread, while Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,did not, and thus suffered many more deaths. The "pause" order, as thegovernor is calling it, takes effect on Sunday night."The Trump administration is closing the border to all nonessentialtraffic between the US and Mexico," TTWN reported Friday. "At theWhite House, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called it a mutualagreement with Mexico. The move is being made in response to growingconcerns about the coronavirus crisis.""Brazilians on Wednesday held what was described as the largestprotest against far-right President Jair Bolsonaro to date, but thedemonstration did not take place in the streets," Common Dreamsreported Thursday. What's going on in Brazil? "Instead, voluntarilyconfined to their homes to prevent the spread of the novelcoronavirus, millions of people in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro tookto their balconies and windows to demand Bolsonaro's ouster over hishandling of the COVID-19 outbreak, which the president continues todownplay even after more than a dozen members of his inner circletested positive for the disease." What's the difference between what'shappening in Brazil and what's happening in Spain and Italy?"Promising to 'smash' Venezuela's government during a 'maximumpressure March,' Trump has imposed crushing sanctions that forceVenezuela to spend three times as much as non-sanctioned countries oncoronavirus testing kits," The Grayzone reported Tuesday. What hashappened to diplomacy and soft power? Could this be considered virtualgerm warfare?"State officials and mayors critical of the federal response to thecoronavirus pandemic began imposing the most severe emergency measuresto date on Sunday, with four governors effectively forcingrestaurants, bars or other businesses to shut their doors," theWashington Post reported Monday. Are these actions really necessary,or is this just the tip of the iceberg?GUESTS:Caleb Maupin — Journalist and political analyst who focuses hiscoverage on US foreign policy.Dr. Yolandra Hancock — Board-certified pediatrician and obesitymedicine specialist who combines her hands-on clinical experience andpublic health expertise with her passion for building vibrant familiesand communities by providing patient-empowering, best-in-class healthand wellness care to children and adolescents who are fightingchildhood obesity.Daniel Lazare — Journalist and author of three books: "The FrozenRepublic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War."Dr. Jack Rasmus — Professor of economics at Saint Mary's College ofCalifornia and author of "Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes:Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression."

"New studies in several countries and a large coronavirus outbreak in Massachusetts bring into question reassuring assertions by US officials about the way the novel virus spreads," CNN reported Monday. "These officials have emphasized that the virus is spread mainly by people who are already showing symptoms, such as fever, cough or difficulty breathing. If that's true, it's good news, since people who are obviously ill can be identified and isolated, making it easier to control an outbreak. But it appears that a Massachusetts coronavirus cluster with at least 82 cases was started by people who were not yet showing symptoms, and more than half a dozen studies have shown that people without symptoms are causing substantial amounts of infection." With that said, the Washington Post reported Tuesday, "The Trump administration expressed support on Tuesday for sending direct cash payments to Americans as part of a massive economic stimulus package of around $850 billion, which the White House hopes could stanch the economic free fall caused by the coronavirus." What does all of this mean economically? A Tuesday New York Times piece entitled "Justice Dept. Moves to Drop Charges Against Russian Firms Filed by Mueller" ran with the subtitle: "The companies funded Russia's social media-fueled interference in the 2016 election, prosecutors said. But they tried to weaponize the case instead of fight it." I have a problem with this subtitle. To me, it makes the inference that the Mueller team's problem was one of tactics, not substance — as though they went at this the wrong way, rather than being just wrong.A Monday Washington Post piece entitled "Coronavirus Tests American Democracy as Planning Begins for ‘Worst Case' in November Election" says, "The coronavirus pandemic is presenting a singular test for American democracy, prompting states to postpone their primaries while already causing attorneys and voting-rights groups to take steps to ensure access to the November election in the event the outbreak is not contained by then. Hardly any precedent exists for the dilemma now facing campaigns and voters in the states moving ahead with their contests, as Americans are warned they may need to 'hunker down' to minimize casualties." Could COVID-19 really put American democracy to the test?GUESTS:Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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." Mark Sleboda — International affairs and security analyst. David Schultz — Professor of political science at Hamline University.

In an Oval Office address to the nation on Wednesday night, US President Donald Trump "initially described his restrictions on travel from Europe as a total ban, telling the nation that the United States 'will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days' and saying that 'these prohibitions will not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo but various other things as we get approval. Anything coming from Europe to the United States is what we are discussing,"' the Washington Post reported Wednesday. However, he corrected himself later that night on Twitter, clarifying that the restrictions do not apply to goods or trade, and that only foreign nationals will be barred from traveling to the US from Europe, not US citizens or permanent residents. What are we to make of all of this amidst all of this confusion?"Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning attempted suicide inside an Alexandria jail Wednesday and was hospitalized just days before a federal judge is scheduled to hear a motion to release her from custody, according to her attorneys," the Washington Post reported Wednesday.A Wednesday piece by Alan MacLeod in MintPress News has the headline: "The Corporate Media Celebrates After Handing Joe Biden Another Win." The article says, "Biden has deliberately refrained from public or media appearances due to his propensity for making egregious errors, but that hasn't stopped the media from paving the way for a Biden vs Trump contest. ... Biden, a consummate Democratic insider, has received the wholehearted backing of the party's establishment and the Democratic-aligned media. Yet his campaign is aware of his serious weaknesses both on his record and as a candidate."GUESTS:Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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." Jim Kavanagh — Political analyst and commentator and editor of The Polemicist.John Lyman — Editor-in-chief of International Policy Digest.

Tuesday is an important day for the Democratic presidential primary, and for candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in particular. "Voters are heading to the polls in Idaho, Mississippi, Michigan, Missouri, North Dakota and Washington. On a day dubbed 'Super Tuesday II,' no contest looms larger for Sanders than Michigan, a state he won in the 2016 primaries against Hillary Clinton and which also is likely to play a decisive role in the general election," the Washington Post reported Tuesday. "Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) is also competing for the Democratic presidential nomination, which is now unfolding amid mounting concerns about the spread of the novel coronavirus." What does this mean for the upcoming Democratic convention and the party overall?Whitney Webb has a great piece in MintPress News entitled "How the New US-Afghanistan Peace Deal Rekindled a 'Business Friendly Taliban.'" She opens her piece with the following: “President Trump, who is up for re-election this year, has added another 'peace' deal to his credentials, a deal that the president, his re-election campaign and his supporters have promoted as proof that Trump is willing and able to resist the US foreign policy establishment and its ceaseless push to keep the US embroiled in 'forever wars.' Yet, not unlike the much-criticized Israel-Palestine 'peace' deal that was recently released by the Trump administration, there is more to the US-Taliban 'peace' deal than meets the eye.” First, lets put the deal into some context. Is this a “landmark agreement”?"President Donald Trump on Monday said he would propose a 'major' economic relief package, including a possible payroll tax cut and measures to help hourly-wage workers, in an effort to reduce the negative impact of the coronavirus outbreak," the Financial Times reported Monday. What does it mean for the economy going forward?GUESTS:David Schultz — Professor of political science at Hamline University. Dr. Riley Emmitt — Political scientist and assistant professor of Africana Studies at DePauw University.Dr. Marvin Weinbaum — Scholar-in-residence and director of the Middle East Institute's Center for Pakistan and Afghanistan Studies. Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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."

On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by Caleb Maupin, a journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy. It's Friday, so that means it's panel time.Former US Vice President Joe Biden's big wins on Super Tuesday were a surprise to many, including his supporters. "Going into the contest, aides and others were looking to see if Biden could just keep the race competitive with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), with an eye toward a contested convention," The Hill reported Wednesday. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; businessman Tom Steyer; and Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) have dropped out of the race. Will Bloomberg's endorsement help Biden?Alabama man Nathaniel Woods, 42, who was convicted of fatally shooting three police officers in 2004, was executed Thursday night, "despite last-minute legal efforts and pleas for clemency from family members, high-profile activists, and even a victim's sister, who all say he shouldn't be put to death since he didn't pull the trigger," the Daily Beast reported Thursday. Not only did Woods not pull the trigger, the man who did admitted that Woods did not conspire with him to kill the cops.This Sunday, March 8, is International Women's Day. In that context, the Guardian reported Thursday that Sir Andrew McFarlane, president of the family division of the high court in England and Wales, found that the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, "orchestrated the abductions of two of his children – one from the streets of Cambridge – and subjected his youngest wife [Princess Haya] to a campaign of 'intimidation.'" Why is this important? Will it have any impact on the UK's relations with the United Arab Emirates, its ally in the Persian Gulf?"New York confirms 33 coronavirus cases as US officials widen states of emergency; global cases pass 100,000," read a Friday Washington Post headline. The newspaper reports: "In the United States, the death toll rose to 14, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University. Several states, including Maryland, confirmed their first COVID-19 cases." While US President Donald Trump on Friday signed a bill providing $8.3 billion in emergency funding to fight the outbreak, there are still concerns about the strain the virus is putting on the US health care system.GUESTS:Caleb Maupin - Journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy. John Burris — Lead attorney and founder of the Law Office of John L. Burris. He is primarily known for his work in the area of civil rights, with an emphasis on police misconduct and excessive force cases. Elisabeth Myers — Former editor-in-chief of Inside Arabia. Niko House — Political activist, broadcast journalist and founder and CEO of the MCSC Network.Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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." John Lyman — Editor-in-chief of International Policy Digest.

The effort to stem the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus in the US continues. "Health experts have warned that the country may struggle to rapidly test thousands of Americans," the Washington Post reported Thursday. In an article accompanying a map tracking the virus's spread in the US, the Post also reported: "Health officials in Washington state, Oregon and California have identified cases among people who have not recently traveled to countries impacted by the outbreak nor come into contact with anyone known to be infected. Evidence suggested the virus may have spread undetected for weeks in Washington state." How do we separate fact from fiction?"Appeals judges on the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday approved a request to investigate alleged war crimes committed by US military forces, CIA personnel, the Taliban and Afghan forces in Afghanistan," The Hill reported Thursday. This is quite a breakthrough. "The move overturns a lower court decision and allows prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to launch a probe into alleged war crimes by US forces for the first time, according to the Associated Press. The US government has long refused to cooperate with the court.""Elizabeth Warren has officially announced she will be dropping out of the 2020 election, but refused to endorse either Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden right now for the nomination," the Independent reported Thursday. "'I will not be running for president in 2020 but I guarantee I will stay in the fight for the hardworking people across this country who've gotten the short end of the stick,' she told reporters on Thursday outside her Cambridge, Massachusetts, home." How will this impact the race, especially with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg dropping out of the race and throwing his resources behind Biden?GUESTS:Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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." He also writes at jackrasmus.com. Melik Abdul — Republican communications consultant. Cindy Sheehan — Anti-war activist and journalist whose son Casey was killed during the Iraq War.

March 3 is Super Tuesday. "Fourteen states, plus American Samoa and Democrats Abroad, hold their contests today, awarding 1,357 delegates, or 34 percent of the total available," the Washington Post reported Tuesday. "Polls start closing at 7 p.m., with Vermont and Virginia. California's polls are the last to close, at 11 p.m. ET." With The Hill reporting Tuesday: "Late-breaking polls showing former Vice President Joe Biden making big gains following his decisive victory in South Carolina," what are we to make of this political landscape?"With 92 percent of the votes counted in Israel's third and unprecedented election in one year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud is currently the country's largest party," Haaretz reported Tuesday. "However, neither the premier nor his chief rival Benny Gantz are projected a clear Knesset majority. Netanyahu is currently three seats shy of a 61-seat majority in the Knesset. The Joint List, an Arab-majority alliance of factions, maintained its position as the Israeli parliament's third-largest party, according to the latest count, whereas Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu and left-wing alliance Labor-Gesher-Meretz lost ground." A Tuesday Reuters headline reads: "US sending $108 million in aid to Syria, supports additional border crossing: State Department." The article says, "The United States will send $108 million in humanitarian aid to the people of Syria, State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said on Tuesday. The United States also strongly supports the recommendation to open an additional border crossing between Syria and Turkey to deliver aid and medicine made by United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Ortagus said." This while Reuters reported the same day: "Turkey, Russia face off in Syria as fighting escalates, plane shot down." What are we to make of this?The US Federal Reserve on Tuesday cut interest rates by a half percentage point in an emergency response to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. The major stock indexes were down before the announcement. After an initial bump, the indexes went down again. The surprise move comes after G7 leaders held a conference call to talk about the outbreak, but their statement did not indicate any immediate action would be forthcoming. The cut brings the interest rate down to between 1% and 1.25%. GUESTS: Nicole Roussell — Sputnik producer and news analyst. Avis Jones DeWever — Founder of the Exceptional Leadership Institute for Women. Miko Peled — Israeli-American activist and author of "The General's Son: The Journey of an Israeli in Palestine." Mark Sleboda — International affairs and security analyst. Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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." He also writes at jackrasmus.com.

Former US Vice President Joe Biden "scored a decisive victory in the South Carolina primary on Saturday, reviving his listing campaign and establishing himself as the leading contender to slow Senator Bernie Sanders as the turbulent Democratic race turns to a slew of coast-to-coast contests on Tuesday," the New York Times reported Saturday. Biden won 48.4% of the vote to Sanders' 19.9%, according to the Times. Meanwhile, "Voters in 14 states and one US territory will head to the polls Tuesday to choose between the remaining Democratic presidential candidates," The Hill reported Monday. I say remaining because former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg suspended his campaign on Sunday night, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) followed suit on Monday after finishing third in New Hampshire's primary and sixth in both Nevada and South Carolina.There is some very interesting and conflicting reporting on this next story. A Saturday New York Times headline reads "Taliban and US Strike Deal to Withdraw American Troops From Afghanistan." The article says, "After more than a year of talks, the agreement lays out the beginning of the end of the United States' longest war. But many obstacles remain." One of those obstacles could be what's been reported in a Monday AFP story entitled "Taliban end partial truce as Afghan violence resumes." The article states, "A deadly blast shattered a period of relative calm in Afghanistan on Monday and the Taliban ordered fighters to resume operations against Afghan forces just two days after signing a deal to usher in peace." What's going on in Afghanistan?On Sunday, officials reported the first cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus in New York, Rhode Island and Florida, which declared a public health emergency. The outbreak continues to grow quickly in countries around the world. What are the latest developments and concerns? "In South Korea, Iran, Italy, France, Germany and now the United States, health officials are trying to stem the growing coronavirus epidemic, tracing all those who had come into contact with infected patients, even as they struggled to get a handle on how far the virus had spread," the New York Times reported Monday. "To date, the American authorities have reported a total of 96 cases nationwide, with six fatalities. But a genetic analysis of the virus in Washington State, where the deaths occurred, suggested that the illness could have been spreading within the community for as long as six weeks before the first case was detected."GUESTS:Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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." He also writes at jackrasmus.com.John Ross — Senior fellow of the Chongyang Institute at Renmin University of China.Elisabeth Myers — Former editor-in-chief of Inside Arabia. Catherine Shakdam — Political commentator and analyst focusing on the Middle East, and the author of "A Tale of Grand Resistance: Yemen, the Wahhabi and the House of Saud."

The Democratic White House hopefuls locked horns in the latest of the party's 10th presidential debate, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) coming under a fierce volley of attacks ahead of Saturday's primary in South Carolina.What are the takeaways from last night's scrum? This is still a crowded field and will Super Tuesday cull the herd?There are two conflicting portraits of Julian Assange that are being presented at his extradition hearing. The US who want to try Assange on espionage charges, say that he's an "ordinary" criminal whose publication of hundreds of thousands of secret military documents a decade ago put many people at risk of torture and death. Assange's lawyer countered that the WikiLeaks publisher was being victimized by a "lawless" US government that wanted to make an example of him.Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court barred a lawsuit against a Border Patrol agent Jesus Mesa, for fatally shooting a 15-year-old Mexican boy, Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca in the face in 2010. Guereca was on Mexican soil from across the border in Texas, refusing to open the door for foreign nationals to pursue civil rights cases in American courts in such incidents. The court ruled 5-4 to uphold a lower court's dismissal of the lawsuit against the agentWhat does this mean for immigrants going forward?GUESTS:Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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." He also writes at jackrasmus.com.Richard Lachmann — American sociologist, specialist in comparative historical sociology and professor at the State University of New York at Albany. Lachmann is best known as the author of the book "Capitalists in Spite of Themselves," which has been awarded several prizes, including the American Sociological Association Distinguished Scholarly Book Award. Walter Smolarek — Producer for Loud & Clear on Sputnik News Radio.Maru Mora-Villalpando — Nationally known immigrant rights activist, co-founder of the Latinx organization Mijente and community organizer with Northwest Detention Center Resistance.Carlos Casteneda — Attorney with The Law Offices of Perez & Malik, who specialize in immigration law.

It's Friday, so that means it's panel time.A lot of people were waiting for former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to get to the debate stage on Wednesday night; unfortunately for him, one of those people was Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Bloomberg wasn't stopped and frisked: he was cavity searched. Is the Democratic National Committee that tone-deaf and inept? Am I too naive to think that the candidates should be talking about the US' sluggish 2.3% economic growth in 2019, foreign policy, the wealth gap and how an international exam shows that American 15-year-olds are stagnant in reading and math, even though the country has spent billions of dollars to close gaps with the rest of the world? The lack of a broad scope of substantive policy discussions was disappointing.Last week we discussed the New York Times piece entitled "Playing on Kansas City Radio: Russian Propaganda"; then we discussed The Hill's article, "Democrats criticize FCC for not taking action against DC station broadcasting Russian disinformation." On Friday, the Washington Post jumped into the fray with a report titled "Senior intelligence official told lawmakers that Russia wants to see Trump reelected." "Healthcare workers are launching union drives and organizing protests across the US for better pay and working conditions," the Guardian reported Monday, while a Tuesday Common Dreams headline reads: "Walmart Workers Demand Fair Pay and Hours at Protest Outside Alice Walton's Penthouse as Retail Giant Cuts Jobs." All of this comes while we are being told that the US' 2.3% economic growth in 2019 was a solid performance. What's going on here?GUESTS:Caleb Maupin — Journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy and the global system of monopoly capitalism and imperialism. Jim Kavanagh — Political analyst and commentator and editor of The Polemicist.Daniel Lazare — Journalist and author of three books: "The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War.Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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." He also writes at jackrasmus.com.

On Wednesday night, the Democratic presidential hopefuls will debate in Las Vegas, Nevada. Now that former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has joined the fray, what should we pay attention to? Based upon his campaign, US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has moved quite comfortably into the front-runner's position. Based upon his campaign ads Bloomberg has become the man of the hour. What should people look for when they watch the Nevada debate?"Healthcare workers are launching union drives and organizing protests across the US for better pay and working conditions," the Guardian reported Monday, while a Tuesday Common Dreams headline reads: "Walmart Workers Demand Fair Pay and Hours at Protest Outside Alice Walton's Penthouse as Retail Giant Cuts Jobs." All of this comes while we are being told that the US' 2.3% economic growth in 2019 was a solid performance. What's going on here?UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson "should block attempts to extradite Julian Assange to the US, say two Australian MPs who visited the Wikileaks founder in prison, describing him afterwards as 'a man under enormous pressure' and whose health and mental health had deteriorated," the Guardian reported Tuesday. "Andrew Wilkie, an independent federal MP and the co-chair of the Bring Julian Assange Home parliamentary group, who joined [Liberal National MP George] Christensen in London, told a press conference in London on Tuesday morning that the extradition of Assange, who has been charged by the US with conspiring to hack into a secret Pentagon computer network, would set a dangerous precedent. 'This will establish a precedent that if you are a journalist who does anything that offends any government in the world then you face the very real prospect of being extradited to that country,' he said. 'This is a political case, and what is at stake is not just the life of Julian Assange. It is about the future of journalism.'"GUESTS:Richard Lachmann — American sociologist, specialist in comparative historical sociology and professor at the State University of New York at Albany. Lachmann is best known as the author of the book "Capitalists in Spite of Themselves," which has been awarded several prizes, including the American Sociological Association Distinguished Scholarly Book Award. Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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." He also writes at jackrasmus.com. Catherine Shakdam — Political commentator and analyst focusing on the Middle East, and the author of "A Tale of Grand Resistance: Yemen, the Wahhabi and the House of Saud."

"The Iowa Democratic Party Sunday released updated results from its presidential caucuses last week that showed former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, was projected to win 14 delegates to July's national convention in Milwaukee while Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will get 12," The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. "Mr. Sanders had more support on both rounds of the overall voting, but the caucuses reward delegates based on widespread geographic support and not just total votes." The Sanders campaign has formally requested a partial recanvass of the results, which would include 25 precincts and three satellite locations. There have been multiple violations or discrepancies reported in Iowa. As we look towards the New Hampshire presidential primaries on Tuesday, state officials are confident they'll avoid the chaos that occurred in Iowa. What are we to make of all of this?A Friday MintPress News article by Alan MacLeod states, "During a discussion at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies yesterday, United States Secretary of Defense Mark Esper claimed that North Korea and Iran ­– two countries that have drawn the ire of Washington in recent weeks – were 'rogue states' that require our 'constant vigilance.' The Oxford English Dictionary describes a rogue state as 'a nation or state regarded as breaking international law and posing a threat to the security of other nations.' Yet historian Mark Curtis argues that if Esper wanted to find a country that routinely flouted international conventions and threatened the world, he could look much closer to home, to one of the US' key allies. In a new exposé published today, Curtis revealed 17 separate and ongoing British government policies that did so, leading him to label his own nation as a rogue state." What can we make of this? "Just two days after vowing the White House 'will not be touching your Social Security or Medicare' in its budget proposal for fiscal year 2021, President Donald Trump on Monday is expected to unveil a $4.8 trillion blueprint that includes hundreds of billions in combined cuts to those programs over the next decade, deep reductions in safety-net spending and a major increase in Pentagon funding," Common Dreams reported Monday. Whose interests are being served here, and whose interests are being protected?"Sacred Native American burial sites are being blown up for Trump's border wall," The Washington Post reported Sunday. "Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), whose district includes the reservation, said crews this week began blasting through parts of Monument Hill, which includes a burial site for the Tohono O'odham Nation." GUESTS:Jesse Franzblau — Policy analyst and freedom of information advocate with a specialization in the use of freedom of information laws to document US national security policy and human rights violations. Alan MacLeod — Academic and journalist. He is a staff writer at MintPress News and a contributor to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), as well as the author of "Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting."Dr. William Spriggs — Professor in, and former chair of, the Department of Economics at Howard University who also serves as chief economist to the AFL-CIO. In his role with the AFL-CIO, he chairs the Economic Policy Working Group for the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and serves on the board of the National Bureau of Economic Research.Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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." He also writes at jackrasmus.com.Carlos Casteneda — Attorney with The Law Offices of Perez & Malik, who specialize in immigration law.

On Tuesday, The Grayzone founder Max Blumenthal reported: "Behind the app that delayed Iowa's voting results is a dark money operation funded by anti-Bernie Sanders billionaires. Its top donor Seth Klarman is a [Pete] Buttigieg backer who has dumped money into pro-settler Israel lobby groups. ... [J]ournalist Lee Fang reported that a previously unknown tech outfit called Shadow Inc. had contracted with the Iowa Democratic Party to create the failed technology. The firm was comprised of former staffers for Obama and Clinton as well as the tech industry, and had been paid for 'software rights' by the Buttigieg campaign." In a Thursday article, Blumenthal wrote, "The force accused of sowing the confusion and disarray surrounding the first Democratic Party contest of the 2020 election season is a dark money nonprofit called Acronym. It was Acronym that launched Shadow Inc, the mysterious company behind the now-infamous, unsecured, completely unworkable voter app which prevented precinct chairs from reporting vote totals on caucus night." Why does all of this matter?Democrats face a choice after US President Donald Trump's acquittal on Wednesday in his Senate impeachment trial: do they continue going down this rabbit hole, or do they shift into 2020 election mode and speak to the issues that matter to average Americans? The Washington Post reported: "On Wednesday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) suggested that it was a matter of time before the chamber would call [former national security adviser John] Bolton. 'When you have a lawless president, you have to bring that to the fore. You have to spotlight that,' Nadler told reporters. 'You have to protect the Constitution, whatever the political consequences.'” Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) of all people seems to be a voice of reason here, saying, “We also have to have our own idea and vision. We can't win the next election just being against Trump. We have to be for something,” the Post reported."China's biggest telecommunications equipment maker will square off in court against the No. 1 US wireless carrier over whether Verizon Communications Inc should pay Huawei Technologies Co Ltd for patent infringement," Reuters reported Thursday. This I find incredibly ironic, since one of the biggest complaints that US companies have against China is intellectual property infringement and reverse engineering. What's at stake here?GUESTS:Richard Lachmann — American sociologist, specialist in comparative historical sociology and professor at the University at Albany, SUNY. Lachmann is best known as the author of the book "Capitalists in Spite of Themselves," which has been awarded several prizes, including the American Sociological Association Distinguished Scholarly Book Award.Chris Garaffa — Web developer and technologist. Max Blumenthal — Co-founder of The Grayzone Project.Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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."

It's Friday, so that means it's panel time.On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump "made a theatrical prime-time appeal for the success of his divisive and turbulent stewardship after three years, projecting confidence that a strong economy and a reset of US standing in the world has put the nation on the right path despite the historic impeachment that has marred his term," The Washington Post reported. So, we started with Republican's chanting “four more years” and Trump's refusal to shake House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's hand, and we closed with Pelosi ripping up her copy of the address after Trump finished delivering it. Such partisanship in American politics. Who would have thunk it?"After 'Epic Nightmare' in Iowa, Democratic App Built by Secretive Firm Shadow Inc. Comes Under Scrutiny," read a Tuesday headline in Common Dreams. The article elaborates: "The app, according to several news reports, was developed by the secretive for-profit tech firm Shadow Inc., which has ties to and receives funding from ACRONYM, a Democratic digital non-profit organization. Shadow's CEO is Gerard Niemira, who worked on Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign." What's going on here? "An Airbus A320 jet carrying 172 passengers was nearly shot down on its approach to the Syrian capital, Damascus, shortly after 2 a.m. Thursday after Syria fired antiaircraft missiles in response to an alleged Israeli attack," The Washington Post reported Friday.There's a very interesting story in The Intercept, entitled "The FBI's China Obsession: The US Government Secretly Spied on Chinese American Scientists, Upending Lives and Paving the Way for Decades of Discrimination." In it, Mara Hvistendahl opens the story in 1973, talking about Harry Sheng, a mechanical engineer for Sparton Corporation, a defense contractor in Jackson, Michigan. "Sheng was among thousands of ethnic Chinese scientists then living in the United States, the early pioneers in what would become a sizable swath of the American research force," Hvistendahl wrote. He was a native of Jiangsu Province and a naturalized US citizen. He went home to see his sick mother, but after he and his wife returned from their 1973 visit to China, "the US government's scrutiny intensified." What happened next will leave you shocked.We've got all these stories and more!GUESTS:Caleb Maupin — Journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy and the global system of monopoly capitalism and imperialism. Mara Hvistendahl - An American writer whose book "Unnatural Selection" was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction. Dr. Gerald Horne — Professor of history at the University of Houston and author of many books, including "Blows Against the Empire: US Imperialism in Crisis." Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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 Iowa Democratic Party said Tuesday that a phone app the precincts were relying on to transmit results did not function properly and is partially responsible for the ongoing delay and confusion surrounding the caucuses," The Hill reported Tuesday. Meanwhile, Blumenthal wrote in The Grayzone that behind the app is a "dark money operation funded by anti-Bernie Sanders billionaires." Who are these billionaires, and what do people need to understand about this delay in Iowa? This firm, appropriately named Shadow Inc., was staffed by veterans of the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and former US President Barack Obama, Blumenthal said. Is this part of the intra-Democratic Party ideological battle between the elites and the progressives?The Iowa Democratic Party released some results of Monday night's caucuses earlier on Tuesday, blaming inconsistencies in reporting for the delay. "The candidates who were actively competing in Iowa included Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT); former Vice President Joe Biden; former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA); Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN); entrepreneur Andrew Yang; and investor Tom Steyer. Many of the candidates have already moved on to New Hampshire, which holds its primaries in a week," The Washington Post reported Tuesday. What are the campaigns saying about this huge dent in the momentum that was supposed to come from Iowa?Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) sought last week to name the person conservative websites say is the intelligence community whistleblower on the Senate floor. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts twice refused to read a question from the Republican that included the name during the impeachment trial. Paul claimed the question was legitimate and did not aim to identify the whistleblower. He stormed out of the Senate after the second rejection and read the question, including the name, to the media. Paul also said the name in two separate interviews in November. Why this, and why now?What should we expect from Trump when he speaks in front of a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, the day before the Senate is expected to acquit him in the impeachment trial? "Mr. Trump will deliver his third State of the Union address and his fourth speech to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber," The New York Times reported. "If Mr. Trump does address the trial in his speech, it may be less bombastic than his usual fare ... asserting that he has rebuilt the United States and accusing his Democratic opponents of favoring socialist policies that will reverse the progress. White House officials said that the theme of the speech will be 'the great American comeback,' highlighting his record on the economy, increased military spending and the appointment of conservative judges."GUESTS:Max Blumenthal — Co-founder of The Grayzone Project.Bob Schlehuber — Sputnik News analyst. Lee Stranahan — Co-host of Fault Lines on Sputnik News Radio.Daniel Lazare — Journalist and author of three books: "The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War."Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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."

"Former national security adviser John Bolton's claim in an unpublished manuscript that President Trump told him he wanted to hold military assistance to Ukraine to get officials there to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden has sharpened a rift within the Senate GOP over trial strategy," The Hill reported Monday. "Two key moderates, Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Susan Collins (R-ME), say Bolton's claim strengthens their calls for the Senate to hear from witnesses at President Trump's impeachment trial. Yet GOP leaders and other rank-and-file Republican senators are questioning Bolton's motivations and dismissing the reported claims of his book draft as adding little to the case against the president." What does this mean going forward?"'Iranians should not allow US President Donald Trump's 'maximum pressure' approach to harm national unity ahead of parliamentary elections,' President Hassan Rouhani said in a speech, lashing out at hardliners over mass disqualification of candidates," Reuters reported Monday. Is Trump's maximum pressure campaign having more impact in Iran than originally thought?"Over the past few weeks, former Vice President Joe Biden has been making an effort to recast his record on Social Security as one of a champion who defended the program from assaults, rather than one who consistently argued that it ought to be cut," The Intercept reported Saturday. A look at his record tells a different story. What does this mean going forward?"President Donald Trump is meeting with the leaders of Israel's two largest parties at the White House Monday, as he prepares to present the administration's Mideast peace plan," Haaretz reported. "Trump hosted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before meeting with Kahol Lavan [Blue and White] Chairman Benny Gantz, Netanyahu's rival in the upcoming March election. The meeting with Netanyahu was scheduled to last for over an hour, while the meeting with Gantz was scheduled to last between 30 to 45 minutes." Is this substantive or more of the same old show?GUESTS:David Schultz — Professor of political science at Hamline University. Dr. Ramzy Baroud — US-Palestinian journalist, media consultant, author, columnist and editor of Palestine Chronicle. He is a former managing editor of Middle East Eye and former deputy managing editor of Al Jazeera online. Daniel Lazare — Journalist and author of three books: "The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War."Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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." Mnar Muhawesh — Founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of MintPress News, and also a regular speaker on responsible journalism, sexism, neoconservativism within the media and journalism start-ups.

It's Friday, so that means it's panel time. According to a Tweet put out by Muhawesh on Thursday, "URGENT: @danielhopsicker & @GeorgWebb have been publishing dangerous & false allegations against @MintPressNews, myself, our staff writer @_whitneywebb & affiliates of MPN, not to mention putting all of our safety at risk thru doxing (publish private or identifying information)." MintPress intends to take legal action. How big of a problem is this, and what does it say about the safety of independent journalists in a country where a free press is supposed to be a cornerstone of democracy and the republic? Glenn Greenwald, co-founder of The Intercept, has been charged with cybercrimes in Brazil. He is "accused of being part of a 'criminal investigation' that hacked into the cellphones of prosecutors and public officials," the New York Times reported earlier this week. "Citing intercepted messages between Mr. Greenwald and the hackers, prosecutors say the journalist played a 'clear role in facilitating the commission of a crime.' For instance, prosecutors contend that Mr. Greenwald encouraged the hackers to delete archives that had already been shared with The Intercept Brasil, in order to cover their tracks. Prosecutors also say that Mr. Greenwald was communicating with the hackers while they were actively monitoring private chats on Telegram, a messaging app." Is there a link between US interests and what's happening in Brazil?"George Soros accused Facebook of working to re-elect Donald Trump in this year's US election campaign in exchange for protection," Politico reported Thursday. “'Facebook will work to re-elect Trump and Trump will protect Facebook,' the Hungarian-born US financier said in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday. 'It makes me very concerned about the outcome of 2020.' A Facebook company spokesperson later told Politico in response: 'This is just plain wrong.'" One of the problems that I have with this story is that Soros made this claim speaking at a dinner he hosted, but from all that I can see, he offered no proof."The Justice Department has concluded that two of the four court orders allowing the FBI to conduct secret national security surveillance as in secretly wiretap and spy on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page were not valid because the government made 'material misstatements' in obtaining them, according to a newly declassified judicial order," NBC News reported Thursday. What's going on here?"House impeachment managers laid out the heart of their abuse-of-power case against President Trump on Thursday — charging that his efforts to pressure Ukraine into political investigations were precisely what the nation's founders wanted to guard against when they empowered Congress to remove a president from office," the Washington Post reported Thursday. What can we expect to happen next?GUESTS:Mnar Muhawesh — Founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of MintPress News, and also a regular speaker on responsible journalism, sexism, neoconservativism within the media and journalism start-ups. Caleb Maupin — Journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy and the global system of monopoly capitalism and imperialism. Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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." Jim Kavanagh — Political analyst and commentator and editor of The Polemicist.Daniel Lazare — Journalist and author of three books: "The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War."

On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by Caleb Maupin, journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy; and Dr. Jack Rasmus, professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California and author of several books.It's Friday, so that means it's panel time."The third impeachment trial in US history officially began Thursday amid a swirl of new allegations about President [Donald] Trump's dealings with Ukraine, which several Republicans rushed to downplay as they dismissed Democrats' calls for further investigation," the Washington Post reported. "Lev Parnas, a former associate of Trump's personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, has alleged that Trump knew of his role in the effort to dig up dirt in Ukraine that could benefit the president politically." Are these new revelations making it tougher for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to hold his line?"[Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth] Warren and [Vermont Sen. Bernie] Sanders remain at odds over whether he told her, during a private dinner in 2018 about the presidential election, that a woman couldn't win -- neither backed off their previous statements," CNN reported Wednesday. "But both of the populist politicians seemed intent on avoiding a debate stage crack-up.""Senior administration officials declined Sunday to confirm President Trump's assertion that four US embassies had been targeted for attack by Iran, while saying that Trump's 'interpretation' of the threat was consistent with overall intelligence that justified the killing of a senior Iranian general," the Washington Post reported. They are really having a problem getting their lie together. Furthermore, 11 US troops were wounded in the Iranian missile strike on US bases in Iraq last week, though it was initially reported that no Americans were wounded. "The acknowledgment is a departure from initial reports from defense officials and the president, who described as inconsequential the effects of the missile salvos launched in retaliation for a US strike that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad," the Washington Post reported Friday."Iranian President Hassan Rouhani dismissed on Wednesday a proposal for a new 'Trump deal' aimed at resolving a nuclear row, saying it was a 'strange' offer and criticizing US President Donald Trump for always breaking promises," Reuters reported Wednesday. "British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has praised Trump as a great dealmaker, called on Tuesday for the president to replace Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with major powers with his own new pact to ensure Tehran does not get an atomic weapon. Trump said he agreed with Johnson that a 'Trump deal' should replace the Iran nuclear deal. In a televised speech, Rouhani told Washington to return to the nuclear pact, which Washington abandoned in 2018, under which Tehran curbed its nuclear work in return for the lifting of international sanctions on Iran." There are a few odd things here to me: the first is Johnson making this proposal, and the second is the idea of a “Trump deal,” almost as though Trump just wants his name on the thing, the same way he updated NAFTA and claims it as his own."A week before Germany, France and Britain formally accused Iran of breaching the 2015 nuclear deal, the Trump administration issued a private threat to the Europeans that shocked officials in all three countries," the Washington Post reported Wednesday. "If they refused to call out Tehran and initiate an arcane dispute mechanism in the deal, the United States would impose a 25% tariff on European automobiles, the Trump officials warned, according to European officials familiar with the conversations."GUESTS:Caleb Maupin — Journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy and the global system of monopoly capitalism and imperialism.Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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." Jim Kavanagh — Political analyst and commentator and editor of The Polemicist.Daniel Lazare — Journalist and author of three books: "The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War."

US President Donald Trump and Democrats are engaged in a brawl on war powers regarding Iran, while on Wednesday, Trump opened a small window for diplomacy with Tehran, but he also employed bellicose language that made it hard to see how the two countries could break out of their cycle of confrontation and revenge. Trump administration officials have repeatedly claimed that last week's assassination of Iranian Quds Force commander Gen. Qasem Soleimani made the United States safer, but a national USA Today/Ipsos survey published Thursday found that a majority of the American public disagrees and believes the White House's behavior toward Iran has been "reckless." What does all of this mean?A Ukrainian jetliner crashed Wednesday after taking off from an airport in Tehran, killing all 176 people on board. "The jetliner, a Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines, went down on the outskirts of Tehran during takeoff just hours after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at US forces. While the timing of the disaster led some aviation experts to wonder whether it was brought down by a missile, Iranian officials disputed any such suggestion and blamed mechanicaltrouble," AP reported Wednesday. What are we to make of this?A new article by activist Nino Pagliccia states, "The fact remains that the political confrontation in Venezuela has escalated with the addition of a NA [National Assembly] composed of deputies mostly representing a narrow ideological range and a board presided by unelected Juan Guaidó, and a NA composed of deputies representing several parties whose board was elected by all deputies present. 'Both' national assemblies are dominated by members who are opposed to the [Venezuelan President Nicolas] Maduro government and would favor regime change." What's going on here? GUESTS:Dr. Gerald Horne — Professor of history at the University of Houston and author of many books, including "Blows Against the Empire: US Imperialism in Crisis." Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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." Keith Mackey — President of Mackey International, an aviation consulting firm specializing in aviation safety, risk management, accident investigation, air carrier certification, and safety/compliance audits. Nino Pagliccia — Activist and freelance writer based in Vancouver. A retired researcher from the University of British Columbia, Canada, Pagliccia is a Venezuelan-Canadian who follows and writes about international relations with a focus on the Americas, and is also the editor of the book “Cuba Solidarity in Canada – Five Decades of People-to-People Foreign Relations.”

On January 3, General Qassem Soleimani, the military commander most beloved by Iranians and leader of its elite Quds Force, was assassinated in a targeted U.S. drone airstrike outside Baghdad International Airport, ordered by US President Donald Trump. Throngs of Iranians attended Soleimani's funeral in the capital of Tehran on Monday in a scene reminiscent of the 1989 funeral of the Islamic Republic's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. We know that Trump is not well-read, ignorant and not learned. Are there parallels between this assassination and that of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria? Are the mainstream media and American politicians trying to play both sides on this issue? GUESTS:Jefferson Morley — Journalist and editor who has worked in Washington journalism for over 30 years, 15 of which were spent as an editor and reporter at The Washington Post. The author of "The Ghost: The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton" and "Our Man in Mexico: Winston Scott and the Hidden History of the CIA," Morley has written about intelligence, the military and politics for Salon, The Atlantic and The Intercept, among others.Dr. Gerald Horne — Professor of history at the University of Houston and author of many books, including "Blows Against the Empire: US Imperialism in Crisis." Jon Jeter — Author and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist with more than 20 years of journalistic experience. He is a former Washington Post bureau chief and award-winning foreign correspondent.Marjorie Cohn - Professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and the former president of the National Lawyers Guild.Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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." Daniel Lazare — Journalist and author of three books: "The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War."

Reuters reports that after the evangelical publication Christianity Today published a blistering editorial on what it called Donald Trump's “grossly immoral character”, some church leaders and the U.S. president himself denounced the criticism as elitist and out-of-touch. There has been a big drop-off in white evangelical church participation among adults under 40, and publications such as Christianity Today and religious leaders are struggling to engage “Gen Z,” or those born after 1996. Does this give us greater insight into the depths of racism and homophobia in America? As Dr. King told us, the most segregated time in America is at 11 AM on Sunday. So, what are we to make from this fall out from the Christianity Today editorial?Georgia does not have to reinstate almost 100,000 voters removed from its rolls this month, a federal judge ruled Friday, backing the state over activists who said the purge violates people's rights. What does this mean for 1 person one vote democracy in America?President Donald Trump's personal lawyer held a back channel phone call with Venezuela's embattled President Nicolas Maduro in September 2018, according to The Washington Post, serving as the latest example of the scope of Rudy Giuliani's role in US foreign diplomacy. People familiar with the effort told the Post that Giuliani and then-Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas participated in the phone call with Maduro in a diplomatic endeavor to ease him from power and reopen Venezuela to business. Sessions' spokesman Matt Mackowiak told the newspaper in an article published Sunday that the call was a followup to a meeting Sessions had with Maduro in Venezuela that spring. What's going on here?The Indian government has allowed Chinese telecom company Huawei Technologies Co to participate in trials for 5G networks, a company spokesman said today. India's nod to Huawei comes at a time when the global rollout of 5G technology has been complicated by U.S. sanctions against the company. The United States has been lobbying allies not to use Huawei's network equipment in their 5G networks. Is this a signal to the US that its efforts are not yielding the desired results in certain spaces?GUESTS:Rev. Dr. Keith William Byrd Sr. — Pastor at the historic Zion Baptist Church in Northwest Washington, DC.Eugene Craig III — Republican strategist, former vice-chair of the Maryland Republican Party and grassroots activists. Barbara Arnwine — President and founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition and internationally renowned for her contributions on critical justice issues, including the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1991 and the 2006 reauthorization of provisions of the Voting Rights Act. Greg Palast — Award-winning investigative reporter featured in The Guardian, Nation Magazine, Rolling Stone Magazine, BBC and other high profile media outlets. He covered Venezuela for The Guardian and BBC Television's "Newsnight." His BBC reports are the basis of his film "The Assassination of Hugo Chavez."Yves Engler — Montreal-based writer and political activist. In addition to his 10 books, Engler's writings have appeared in the alternative media and in mainstream publications such as The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star.Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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."

Is it possible that Donald Trump could be twice impeached and as Shawn Blackmon from By Any Means Necessary said, and still remain president? House Counsel Douglas Letter said in a filing in federal court that a second impeachment could be necessary if the House uncovers new evidence that Trump attempted to obstruct investigations of his conduct. From the ridiculous to the sublime than 100-year history. What are we to make of this? China, Japan and South Korea have agreed to work together to promote dialogue between the United States and North Korea, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said today following a summit between the three countries in China. Should the US be concerned that it's failed diplomacy can have larger ramifications?Venezuela has arrested 11 people in connection with a weekend raid of a remote military outpost in southern Bolivar state, but some suspects have fled across the border to Brazil with stolen weapons, President Nicolas Maduro yesterday. Is this an issue that we should really be paying attention to?Defense Secretary Mark Esper is considering pulling U.S. troops from West Africa as part of a plan to shift deployments of the approximately 200,000 American forces stationed abroad. Under consideration is a plan to abandon a recently built $110 million drone base in Niger, and end assistance to French forces battling militants in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. What does this signal? Eugene Craig III — Republican strategist, former vice-chair of the Maryland Republican Party and grassroots activist. Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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." Mark Sleboda — International affairs and security analyst. Nino Pagliccia — Activist and freelance writer based in Vancouver. A retired researcher from the University of British Columbia, Canada, Pagliccia is a Venezuelan-Canadian who follows and writes about international relations with a focus on the Americas, and is also the editor of the book “Cuba Solidarity in Canada – Five Decades of People-to-People Foreign Relations.” Yves Engler — Montreal-based writer and political activist. In addition to his 10 books, Engler's writings have appeared in the alternative media and in mainstream publications such as The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star. Netfa Freeman — Host of Voices With Vision on WPFW 89.3 FM, Pan-Africanist, internationalist organizer intimately involved with political prisoners' causes, from Mumia Abu Jamal to the Cuban Five, and an organizer with Family & Friends of Incarcerated People.

On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by David Schultz, professor of political science at Hamline University.The US House of Representatives approved articles of impeachment against US President Donald Trump on Wednesday. "Lawmakers voted 230 to 197 on the resolution accusing Trump of abusing his power, with all Republicans opposed and only two Democrats — Reps. Collin Peterson (Minn.) and Jefferson Van Drew (N.J.) — crossing the aisle in dissent. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii), a Democratic presidential candidate, voted 'present,'" The Hill reported. "The second article, alleging obstruction, passed along near-identical lines, with lawmakers voting 229-198 approving it and Gabbard voting 'present.' Republicans were again unanimous in rejecting the measure, while a third Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden (Maine), joined Peterson and Van Drew in opposition." On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) took to the Senate floor and explained their positions on how the trial in the chamber should proceed.Thursday night will see the last Democratic presidential debate of the year. "After five debates including at least 10 candidates, tonight's face-off among seven Democrats will be the most intimate affair to date of the 2020 primary," the New York Times reported Thursday. What are we to expect from the evening?In an interview with Intercept co-founder Glenn Greenwald in Mexico, ousted Bolivian President Evo Morales "claimed that he was under pressure from the US from day one of his presidency to put Washington and American corporations before his people," MintPress News' Alan MacLeod reported Wednesday. "While faces in the White House may change, the same imperialist policies remain in place, Morales explained. Between Obama, Bush and Trump, he said: 'I doubt that there are differences between them. Maybe in their form, but at the end of the day, there are no differences between them. They all speak of peace, but none speak of social justice or the independence of states, the dignity or identity of the people … so, as far as I see, democracy in America deceives its people into voting but neither the people nor the government rule, it is the transnational corporations who govern, whether it's the Democrats or Republicans.'”On Thursday, just a day after impeaching Trump, the House of Representatives will vote on the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the president's revised version of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The deal, which has been a priority for Trump, is expected to advance to the Senate. Does this confirm the House as self-contradictory?GUESTS:David Schultz — Professor of political science at Hamline University.Garland Nixon — Co-host of Fault Lines on Sputnik News Radio.Nino Pagliccia — Activist and freelance writer based in Vancouver. A retired researcher from the University of British Columbia, Canada, Pagliccia is a Venezuelan-Canadian who follows and writes about international relations with a focus on the Americas, and is also the editor of the book “Cuba Solidarity in Canada – Five Decades of People-to-People Foreign Relations.”Yves Engler — Montreal-based writer and political activist. In addition to his 10 books, Engler's writings have appeared in the alternative media and in mainstream publications such as The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star.Dr. Jack Rasmus — 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."

Join Us live on the Air with Jeremy Banks  Sharing How He Over Came Depression!  Jeremy Dewayne Banks is a man after God's own heart. The ole saying goes never judge a book by its cover well that holds truth to him.  Jeremy is one who has battled with and overcame suicide, depression, low self esteem and more. He shares his testimonies in hope to encourage someone that they too can overcome. The love of God is demonstrated through him. God truly has his hands on him.  He's a son; father, brother, friend and more. Hes happily married to Shakeira Banks with two wonderful children, . God answered his prayer when He sent her. There is life after divorce. 

Jason's guest James Dale Davidson is the co-founder of Agora Publishing, the Founder of the National Taxpayer's Union,  co-editor of Strategic Investment for the Sovereign Society and founder of Newsmax. He is the Author of the best selling books Blood in the Streets: Investment Profits in a World Gone Mad, The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age, The Great Reckoning: Protecting Yourself in the Coming Depression and his new release, The Breaking Point: Profit from the Coming Money Cataclysm. Mr. Davidson foretells of an impending, marketplace disaster which will happen in this lifetime. He credits the Obamacare, Chinese ghost cities and fictitious capital. He shares this information because he believes it is important for people to understand what will happen so they can create a new life in a new environment. Key Takeaways: James Dale Davidson Guest Interview:   [1:50] James Dale Davidson believes the current business model and social contract which supported it is kaput in the Western Civilization. [6:27] Trump may have been voted in because of the life expectancy of middle-class white voters has dropped. [9:43] What's next for the economy under a Trump presidency? [10:57] The Breaking Point looks at the symbiotic relationship between the drug companies and the food industry. [14:49] The US needs someone with business savvy to improve the quality of decisions made in politics. [18:30] Bernie Sanders reminds James Dale Davidson of Karl Marx. [20:32] When fictitious capital is created it goes to people with collateral. These people can borrow money for almost nothing. [27:56] Jason asks “Why not just kick the can down the road forever?” Mr. Davidson tells us why it's not a good idea. [31:52] The Chinese have used more cement from 2011-2013 on ghost cities than the US spent on cement in the entire 20th century. [37:57] Most of the copper used by the Chinese came from Chile. [41:18] The probability of a very severe crack-up, the biggest in history, will be coming in our lifetime.      Mentioned in This Episode: Jason Hartman The Breaking Point: Profit from the Coming Money Cataclysm Strategic Investment Newsletter