Podcasts about their ropes monetary policy

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  

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  

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).

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.

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."

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."

"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."

There's a "little-noticed Trump administration proposal that could strip life-saving disability benefits from hundreds of thousands of people by further complicating the way the Social Security Administration determines who is eligible for payments," Common Dreams reported Monday. How big of a concern should this be?We keep hearing discussions about how well the US economy is doing, but there's some data out there that indicates that the picture is not as rosy as the media would have you believe. The New York Times reported Monday, “The American economy has found its footing after a summer recession scare. But much of the Midwest is still stumbling.” Before we get to the Midwest stumbling part, has the American economy found its footing? US President Donald Trump has made the economy a centerpiece of his re-election campaign, but the Times notes that "job growth has slowed sharply this year in Michigan, Pennsylvania and other states that were critical to Mr. Trump's victory in 2016, as well as in states like Minnesota that he narrowly lost."A recent Common Dreams article titled "Voting Rights Advocates Vow to 'Organize Harder Than GOP Can Supress' After Judge Orders 200, 000 Voters Purged From Rolls" begins: "Pro-democracy advocates on Saturday vowed to ensure all Wisconsin voters are permitted to vote in the 2020 election after a state judge ordered more than 200,000 voters to be purged from the rolls. The state had sent letters to 234,000 people who were believed to have moved, who were told they would be removed from voting lists if they did not respond within 30 days — but that the purge would not take place until 2021. Conservative group Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty filed a lawsuit, saying the voters should be removed from the rolls before the next general election." What can be done to reverse voter purging, and who's really at fault?GUESTS:Teresa M. Lundy — Government affairs and public relations specialist and principal of TML Communications, LLC. 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." Eugene Craig III — Republican strategist, former vice-chair of the Maryland Republican Party and grassroots activist.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.

It's Friday, so that means it's panel time."The House Judiciary Committee quickly approved two articles of impeachment Friday against President Trump on party-line votes accusing him of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress," the Washington Post reported. "The full House is expected to vote to impeach Trump next week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has said there is 'no chance' the Senate will vote to remove Trump from office." Trump is now on his way to becoming the third president in history to be impeached, after Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson."Prime Minister Boris Johnson called on Friday for 'closure' over the Brexit divisions that have riven or split the United Kingdom, saying his election victory provided an overwhelming mandate to take Britain out of the European Union on January 31," Reuters reported. "Johnson, the face of the victorious 'Leave' campaign in the 2016 referendum, fought the election under the slogan of 'Get Brexit Done,' promising to end the deadlock and spend more on health, education and the police." Now that the votes have been tabulated, the die has been cast. What does this mean going forward?"The United States and China cooled their trade war on Friday, announcing a 'Phase one' agreement that reduces some US tariffs in exchange for increased Chinese purchases of American farm products and other goods," Reuters reported. "Beijing has agreed to buy $32 billion in additional agricultural goods over the next two years, US officials said, from a baseline of $24 billion purchased in 2017, before the trade war started. China would also ramp-up purchases of US manufactured goods, energy and services."So, more than 180 House Democrats joined a nearly united Republican caucus Wednesday night in passing the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, a $738 billion military budget that includes funding for the Space Force as a sixth armed service and increases the Pentagon's budget by $22 billion. On the House floor Wednesday night, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) excoriated the bill, saying, "The bipartisan amendment to stop the war in Yemen: stripped by the White House. The bipartisan amendment to stop the war against Iran: stripped by the White House." Only 41 Democrats voted against the bill. What does all of this really mean?"A confidential trove of government documents obtained by The Washington Post reveals that senior US officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable," the Post reported Monday. Sounds like Iraq and Vietnam all over again. GUESTS:Jim Kavanagh — Political analyst and commentator and editor of The Polemicist.Dave Lindorff — Investigative reporter and founder of the news collective This Can't Be Happening! Caleb Maupin — Journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy and the global system of monopoly capitalism and imperialism.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."

Amber Guyger, who was found guilty on Tuesday of murdering 28-year-old Botham Jean in his apartment, was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison. Prosecutors had asked the jury to sentence her to no less than 28 years - the age Jean would be, were he still alive today. Botham's brother Brandt was the first to speak following the sentencing: "If you truly are sorry, I know I can speak for myself, I forgive you," he told Guyger. "I know if you go to God and ask him, he will forgive you." He then asked the judge whether he could give Guyger a hug. It was as if Guyger ran to him for that hug. The US Department of Homeland Security intends to collect DNA samples from people detained by immigration authorities and enter the information into a federal database. "Senior officials at the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that the Justice Department was developing a federal regulation that would give immigration officers the authority to collect DNA in detention facilities across the country that are currently holding more than 40,000 people," the New York Times reported. Is this over the top, even for the national security state?"The FBI is running ads on Facebook in the Washington DC area seemingly designed to target and recruit Russian spies as well as those who know about their work," CNN reported Wednesday. Who are they really planning to recruit here? "Some of the Russian in the ads is awkwardly phrased or contains typos - an indication they may not have been written by a native Russian speaker," the outlet noted. Leaving aside a discussion about whether it's smart, if you are going to do this, at least make sure the ads are convincing. Instead they are written in gibberish pseudo-Russian? If there are potential spies out there, I doubt they would ever cooperate with such inept group."California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday signed into law historic legislation that would allow the state's cities and counties to establish public banks as an alternative to private financial institutions, a move advocates hailed as a 'stunning rebuke to the predatory Wall Street megabanks that crashed the global economy in 2007-08,'" Common Dreams reported Thursday. How significant of a change is this?GUESTS:Kara Gotsch — Director of strategic initiatives at The Sentencing Project, for which she oversees federal advocacy work and develops special projects and partnerships to advance the organizational mission of reducing mass incarceration.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. Attorney Mark Shmueli — Manages a solo practice dedicated exclusively to immigration law. Shmueli represents asylum seekers before the Asylum Office and Executive Office for Immigration Review and handles employment-based non-immigrant and immigrant visa petitions. He has authored articles on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions and the Violence Against Women Act for the Maryland Bar Journal and is a frequent lecturer at national and local conferences on immigration law. 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."

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 the global system of monopoly capitalism and imperialism.It's Friday, so that means it's panel time. A battle between Congress and the White House, set off by an anonymous whistle blower and believed to involve the government of Ukraine, according to two former US officials who spoke to the Washington Post, has moved into the public eye. The whistle blower, an intelligence official who worked at the White House, said US President Donald Trump made a "promise" to a foreign leader, which the official found sufficiently alarming to alert Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson. Atkinson found that the complaint reached the threshold of an "urgent concern," which would require him to notify congressional oversight committees on the matter. However, Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, has been unwilling to provide Congress with the details of what Trump allegedly did, causing some to charge that he is improperly protecting the president. What happened?The Pentagon said Thursday that the US will leave it up to Saudi Arabia to decide whether there is sufficient proof accuse Iran of being behind the drone strikes that hit two Saudi Aramco oil facilities last weekend. “We'll wait until the final assessment's completed with the Saudis and that they've made the declaration,” Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters. Really? Well that's a change of tone. “This was an attack on Saudi Arabia. We're supporting their investigation. We have teams on the ground working with them, but we're not going to get ahead of their conclusions.” What are we to make of this?Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned Thursday that if the US or Saudi Arabia attacks Iran, an "all-out war" is sure to follow. "We don't want war, we don't want to engage in a military confrontation," Zarif told CNN, noting that any conflict would result in "a lot of casualties." The latest source of tension between the three nations is last Saturday's drone strikes on Saudi oil facilities, which temporarily halved Saudi Arabia's oil production and for which the Yemeni Houthis have claimed responsibility. However, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that the attacks were "an act of war" against Saudi Arabia, and that they involved not just drones, but cruise missiles, pointing the finger at Tehran. President Trump tweeted September 15 that the US military was "locked and loaded" to respond against the perpetrators, though he said the following day that the US would prefer not to go to war. Where will all of this tension lead?"Californians, the Trump administration said Thursday, breathe the same air, and live in pretty much the same environment, as the rest of the country. Their vehicles spew the same gases. So their emissions standards should be the same as everyone else's," the San Francisco Chronicle reported in August 2018 on the Environmental Protection Agency's proposal to revoke federal waiver under the Clean Air Act allowing the state to enact more demanding vehicle emissions standards than the rest of the US, colloquially known as the tailpipe emissions waiver. On Thursday, the administration officially revoked the waiver, but a legal battle is sure to ensue.In an attempt to keep the economy from faltering, the US Federal Reserve lowered interest rates Wednesday from 2.25% to just below 2%. While President Trump has called for the Fed to cut rates, the reduction is much more modest than he might have liked, emphasizing the gap between how the Fed and the White House view the American economy as the 2020 elections loom. Is this effort to keep the economy strong being made because of the projections of a recession and the data that continue to point in that direction?All those 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.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 and author of "Presidential Swing States: Why Only Ten Matter."

In an attempt to keep the economy from faltering, the US Federal Reserve lowered interest rates Wednesday from 2.25% to just below 2%. While US President Donald Trump has called for the Fed to cut rates, the reduction is much more modest than he might have liked, emphasizing the gap between how the Fed and the White House view the American economy as the 2020 elections loom. Is this effort to keep the economy strong being made because of the projections of a recession and the data that continue to point in that direction?While the US considers how best to respond to drone strikes on Saudi Aramco oil facilities over the weekend, Trump has asked the Treasury to "substantially" strengthen sanctions in place against Iran. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the attacks, which temporarily halved Saudi Arabia's oil output, an "act of war," and on Wednesday, the kingdom presented what it said were remains of Iranian-made weapons used in the strikes. Tensions are increasing in the Persian Gulf region, with Tehran promising retaliation against any US attacks, according to Iranian news outlets. All of this jingoism and saber-rattling, for what?Israel's two largest parties, Likud and Blue and White, sought support from smaller factions Wednesday in a desperate effort to form a ruling coalition in the Knesset, a day after the country's second election in five months. After votes were cast in April, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a government, and the possibility remains that Israel will see a new PM for the first time in a decade. 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." Daniel Lazare — Journalist and author of three books: "The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War."Miko Peled — Israeli-American activist and author of "The General's Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine."

It's Friday, so that means it's panel time. US President Donald Trump tweeted last weekend that he had canceled scheduled meetings with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and senior Taliban leaders on September 8. He claimed to have called off the secret Camp David meetings because the Taliban admitted responsibility for a recent attack in Kabul which killed a US soldier. US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zhalmay Khalilzad previously declared that an agreement with the Taliban had been finalized "in principle" and initialed by both sides after nine rounds of painstaking negotiations in Doha, Qatar. "Taliban leaders said they would come to Washington as long as the visit came after the deal was announced. That would become a fundamental dividing point contributing to the collapse of the talks. Mr. Trump did not want the Camp David meeting to be a celebration of the deal; after staying out of the details of what has been a delicate effort in a complicated region, Mr. Trump wanted to be the dealmaker who would put the final parts together himself, or at least be perceived to be," The New York Times reported September 8."In the largest of a number of demonstrations across Britain on Saturday, crowds gathered outside Downing Street to protest against 'Boris Johnson's coup against the democratic process' and hear combative speeches from anti-Brexit campaigners. The London protest was marred by violence when scores of pro-Brexit counter-protesters attempted to disrupt the rally and provoke the anti-Brexit demonstrators by marching through the crowd holding a banner demanding the UK revert to WTO rules – which some believe would be the default eventuality after a no-deal Brexit – and verbally insulting them," The Guardian reported on September 7. All of this occurred after Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd launched a broadside against UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's "aggressive and dangerous" approach to Brexit when she resigned on September 7 from the Conservative Party. Rudd, who favors Britain remaining in the EU, warned that if Johnson continues to pit Parliament against the people, violence in the streets will follow.Former South Carolina governor and congressman Mark Sanford said last Sunday that he's challenging President Trump in 2020 for the Republican presidential nomination, and he criticized both the president and Congress for the nation's rising deficit. "I think we need to have a conversation on what it means to be a Republican," he told Fox News. "I think that as a Republican Party, we have lost our way. ... The epicenter of where I'm coming from is that we have lost our way on debt and deficits and spending … The president has called himself the 'King of Debt,' has a familiarity and comfort level with debt that I think is ultimately leading us in the wrong direction."President Trump claims US forces are responding aggressively after an American soldier was killed in a car bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, last week. Speaking at the Pentagon's annual 9/11 ceremony, Trump said, "We have hit our enemy harder than they have ever been hit before and that will continue." Trump also talked about canceling planned peace talks with the Taliban after the car bomb attack. He said, "They thought they would use this attack to show strength, but actually, what they showed is an unrelenting weakness." Wednesday marked the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States. But as the Washington Post states, "That was thrown into sharp relief this week when President Trump abruptly announced Saturday that he was canceling months of negotiations with the Taliban, even as he aims to fulfill a promise of ending America's endless wars. The US war in Afghanistan has led to the deaths of about 2,400 American service members, including 16 in combat action this year. Some 20,000 more have been wounded, many grievously." So will we ever pull out, and why are we still there?The US Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration can enforce its new asylum rules, which require some people seeking asylum to apply in a third country before applying in the US. The administration's intent is to block immigrants from Central and South America from traveling to the southern border of the US to ask for asylum. The high court said the administration could enforce the new rule while it's being challenged in court, overturning a lower court's ruling that temporarily blocked the measure.We have all these stories and more!GUESTS:Kathy Kelly — Co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. 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." David Schultz — Professor of political science at Hamline University and author of "Presidential Swing States: Why Only Ten Matter."

National Security Adviser John Bolton is out. US President Donald Trump announced the ouster in a tweet, noting that he "disagreed strongly" with many of Bolton's suggestions, "as did others" in the administration. One key area of contention involved the role of the US military in Afghanistan's future. Trump vowed to name a new national security adviser next week, and he also thanked Bolton for his service. The hawkish Bolton was Trump's third national security adviser. The British Parliament is voting down Prime Minister Boris Johnson's demand for a snap election. Johnson wanted a new election after Parliament voted last week to force him to ask the European Union for a Brexit extension if a deal couldn't be reached for the UK to leave the bloc before the October 31 deadline. Johnson had pledged Britain would leave the EU at that time with or without a deal. If no deal is reached by then, it will be the third time the UK has asked for an extension. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is promising voters he intends to annex all settlements in the occupied West Bank if he is reelected. The premier said that he is working with President Trump to apply Israeli sovereignty to all Jewish settlements, and that Trump plans to release his Middle East peace plan immediately after the September 17 election in Israel. A Palestinian negotiator said the announcement adds fuel to the fire of the conflict between the two sides. There's a new report that the CIA extracted a top spy from Moscow in 2017 due to concerns that the operative could be exposed. The security concerns were reportedly motivated by the Trump administration's handling of classified material. Around the same time the news report was released, Trump tweeted that CNN is "bad for the USA." He did not cite the report about the spy in Russia but said CNN "spews bad information & Fake News all over the globe." What does all of this really mean?The majority of new US hires of prime working age (25 to 54) are people of color, a historical first for the country, the Washington Post reported Monday, citing data that the Labor Department began collecting in the 1970s. Minority hires surpassed white hires last year. The report also stated, "Women are predominantly driving this trend, which is so powerful that even many women who weren't thinking about working — because they were in school, caring for kids or at home for other reasons — are being lured into employment, according to The Post's analysis." With a looming recession, will this group be able to hold onto gains? GUESTS:Daniel Lazare — Journalist and author of three books: "The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War."Miko Peled — Israeli-American activist and author of "The General's Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine." Ray McGovern — Former CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Peace. 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. The Washington Post reported it this way: “Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean president who rose to power as a champion of anti-colonial struggle but during 37 years of authoritarian rule presided over the impoverishment and degradation of one of sub-Saharan Africa's most promising countries, died Sept. 6 at a hospital in Singapore. He was 95.” That statement disgusted me - did not surprise me but disgusted me, because I know better. We'll discuss the man, the freedom fighter, the myth and how the US contributed to the reputation of Mugabe.The US economy added a disappointing 130,000 jobs in August, the Labor Department said Friday, heightening fears that US President Donald Trump's trade war is starting to bite. The jobs report has taken on greater significance as concerns grow that the US economy has entered a rough patch. Economists had predicted a gain of 160,000 jobs in August, but anemic hiring in manufacturing, mining, truck driving and retail — industries that are most directly affected by the trade war — helped drag employment gains down this summer. That 130,000 number is not truly representative of the strength of the economy, since hiring in August was boosted by the federal government adding part-time workers for the 2020 US Census. Without the addition of those temporary jobs, the new data reveals private sector companies added 96,000 jobs, the weakest total in many months.As if the events of recent days were not enough, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was dealt a fresh blow on Thursday when his brother Jo quit the government, saying he could no longer reconcile "family loyalty and national interest." Jo Johnson had campaigned strongly against Britain´s exit from the European Union in 2016, a position that put him at odds with his older and more famous brother Boris. What's next after crushing Tory defeat on a no-deal Brexit?Marsh Harbour, a port city in the Bahamas of more than 6,000 people, was once home to quaint island businesses and wood-frame homes. When Hurricane Dorian struck the Bahamas as a Category 5 storm, it destroyed homes, cars and boats and took lives in Marsh Harbour, which was ground zero for the storm's landfall. Dorian basically washed and blew this part of the island off the map, and is now making its way up the East Coast of the US.The context of global warming and how it relates to Trump reportedly drawing his own map of Dorian's path.The Pentagon is pulling funding from Hurricane Maria recovery projects at military facilities in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, and the money is being redirected towards Trump's proposed wall on the US' southern border. Further funding is being redirected from construction projects in Europe, which were intended to strengthen allied defenses. In total, 127 such military construction initiatives in 23 states, three US territories and 20 countries will lose funding in order to budget $3.6 billion for the border wall, according to a Wednesday release from the Defense Department. This is real presidential brinksmanship.A diverse team of advocacy groups kicked off an effort Thursday to convince local, state and federal lawmakers to enact a blanket ban on the use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement. The coalition of organizations, which represents more than 15 million people, warns that the tech imperils fundamental privacy rights and is "spreading like an epidemic." How big of a problem is this technology?GUESTS:Sinclair Skinner — Co-founder of BitMari.com, a Pan-African bitcoin wallet. 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.

On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by Caleb Maupin, journalist and political analyst focusing on US foreign policy and capitalism; Daniel Lazare, journalist and author; and Dr. Jack Rasmus, professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California. It's Friday, so that means it's panel time. The forecast for Hurricane Dorian keeps becoming more ominous and serious, particularly in Florida, even as the specifics as to exactly where it will strike remain uncertain. Dorian steadily strengthened Thursday night and Friday morning, growing into an “extremely dangerous” Category 3 storm with winds of 115 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center's 2 p.m. EDT bulletin. This intensification trend is forecast to continue. By the time Dorian bears down on Florida on Labor Day, it is forecast to be a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph winds. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declared Tuesday that the US should lift sanctions against Tehran if it wants to negotiate, saying, "We will not witness any positive development unless the United States abandons its sanctions and corrects the wrong path it has chosen." This was just a day after Rouhani seemingly signaled a willingness to meet with US President Donald Trump, telling Iranian citizens that diplomacy could solve the country's problems. We'll discuss this in the context of Trump's fabricated China phone call while at the recent G7 meeting in France.Video doorbell company Ring is working with more than 400 police departments to make it easier for law enforcement to access homeowners videos. The Amazon-owned company made the announcement this week, saying the partnerships will allow local law enforcement agencies to post important safety information and view and comment on public posts to a portal operated by Ring. Is this really more "Big Brother" and law enforcement invading privacy?It was reported on Monday that Bank of England Governor Mark Carney took aim at the US dollar's "destabilizing" role in the world economy last Friday and said central banks might need to join together to create their own replacement reserve currency. How big of signal is this sending, and what is it a signal of?Queen Elizabeth II approved a request by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson Friday to shut down Parliament for several weeks ahead of Britain's upcoming departure from the European Union, a startling maneuver that will rob his opponents of time to thwart a no-deal Brexit. British lawmakers return to Parliament next week following their summer recess. Parliament then normally shuts down in late September when the political parties hold their annual conferences. The suspension will extend that period of inactivity. What does this say about the current state of Brexit?Former FBI Director James Comey violated FBI policies in his handling of memos documenting private conversations with US President Donald Trump, the Justice Department's inspector general said. The report found that none of the information shared by him or his attorneys with anyone in the media was classified, and the Justice Department has declined to prosecute him. Comey said he considered his memos to be personal rather than government documents, and that it never would've occurred to him to give them back to the FBI after he was fired. The inspector general's office disagreed, citing a policy that FBI employees must give up all documents with FBI information once they leave the bureau. Is there a double standard here? You and I would go to jail for this sort of thing, but not Comey, because we have different rules for ordinary people and the VIPs. "We have previously faulted Comey for acting unilaterally and inconsistent with Department policy. Comey's unauthorized disclosure of sensitive law enforcement information about the [Michael] Flynn investigation merits similar criticism," the inspector general noted.We'll discuss all these topics 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.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."

On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by Dr. Jack Rasmus, professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California; Jim Kavanagh, political analyst and commentator and editor of The Polemicist; and Caleb Maupin, journalist and political analyst. It's Friday, so that means it's panel time. US President Donald Trump is raising the stakes in his trade war with China, tweeting Friday that he's increasing the tariffs scheduled to start next week from 10% to 15% on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods. Trump's comments came on a volatile day in his trade war. China started things off by announcing tariffs on $75 billion of US goods Friday morning. Just as the market was starting to calm down, Trump made two tweets that further rattled investors. The first ordered American companies to find alternatives to doing business in China, and the second wondered who is the bigger enemy: Chinese President Xi Jinping or US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Trump also tweeted his justification for taking on China over trade, saying it is something that was long overdue. Hong Kong saw its first weekend without tear gas in weeks, even as anti-government protesters brought streets to a standstill, and hundreds of thousands of people marched despite police objection. Hong Kong's embattled leader, Carrie Lam, has said she will “immediately” set up a platform for dialogue with citizens and tackle complaints against the police, after a weekend of peaceful protests that she hoped would be the start of a return to calm in the financial hub. Her offer was dismissed by activists as “a trap”, however. “Work will start immediately to build a platform of dialogue,” Lam said. “We hope this dialogue can be built upon a basis of mutual understanding and respect to find a way out for Hong Kong.” What is to come of these protests?New York state, New York City, Connecticut and Vermont sued the US federal government Tuesday, challenging new Trump administration rules blocking green cards for many immigrants who benefit from public assistance programs, such as food stamps, Medicaid and housing vouchers. The plaintiffs are not the only ones suing over the new policy, one of the administration's most aggressive moves yet to stem legal immigration. The Trump administration is also planning to hold migrant families in detention for the entire duration of their immigration proceedings. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan says the current standards incentivize illegal entry, which has “caused and fueled” the family crisis at our southern border. At issue is an agreement the US government made with a federal court in 1997 after lawyers representing migrant children, including a girl named Jenny Lisette Flores, filed a lawsuit objecting to their treatment in custody. The resulting "Flores Settlement Agreement" limited the time children could be held in custody to 20 days and required that they be provided safe and sanitary conditions.Police arrested Tristan Scott Wix, 25, on Friday in Daytona Beach, Florida, on a charge of making written threats to kill. Wix was detained outside a Winn-Dixie grocery store after police were alerted of text messages he had sent saying he wanted to “break a world record for longest confirmed kill,” according to WKMG-TV. The suspect sent several text messages saying he wanted to kill 100 people in a mass shooting and had decided on a location, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office reported. Deputies said the 25-year-old told them he is fascinated by mass shootings but does not own any guns. However, Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood told CNN Sunday that officials had searched Wix's apartment and found a .22-caliber hunting rifle and 400 rounds of ammunition. What's really going on here?These stories and more!GUEST:Jim Kavanagh — Political analyst and commentator and editor of The Polemicist.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."

On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by 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." In the latest escalation of a long-running and savagely bitter bilateral dispute that has already bounced from the historical space to the economic, Seoul took a cleaver on Thursday to a military intelligence-sharing pact with Tokyo, shifting the damage into the military space. So, the General Security of Military Information Agreement was up for renewal on Saturday, but Seoul, in a move that had been widely signaled, announced Thursday that it was “terminating” the pact. It was the brainchild of US President Barack Obama's administration, which sought to promote greater defense cooperation between its two Northeast Asian allies. Both shared separate treaties with Washington, but no official ties linked Seoul and Tokyo until GSOMIA went into effect in 2016. It had been renewed yearly since then. How have we gone from the historic to the economic to the military sphere?This has been the summer of crippling ransomware attacks. Wilmer — a town of almost 5,000 people just south of Dallas — is one of 22 cities across Texas that are simultaneously being held hostage for millions of dollars after a sophisticated hacker, perhaps a group of them, infiltrated government computer systems and encrypted their data. More than 40 municipalities have been the victims of cyberattacks this year, from major cities such as Baltimore, Maryland; Albany, New York; and Laredo, Texas; to smaller towns including Lake City, Florida. What's going on here, what's at stake, and is the national government taking appropriate action?The Trump administration is planning to hold migrant families in detention for the entire duration of their immigration proceedings. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan says the current standards incentivize illegal entry, which has "caused and fueled" the family crisis at our southern border. Here we go again. Almost every day, or at least every week, there's a new assault on immigrants.The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland is weighing in on the possible return of a surveillance plane to help spot crime in Baltimore. In a statement, the group says the program is a privacy nightmare come to life, and it's the equivalent of requiring residents to wear GPS trackers whenever they leave home. The ACLU says a city with a terrible history of racism and lack of accountability by police should be the last place a secret program of mass surveillance is used. ACLU Maryland Executive Director Dana Vickers Shelley says surveillance technology designed for a military battlefield has no place in American cities, adding that Baltimore is not a battlefield, and its residents are not the enemy. A group of miners is continuing to block a coal train from leaving a mine in eastern Kentucky in protest of unpaid wages. Miners with Blackjewel LLC have been stationed along a section of track outside the Cloverlick Mine in Cumberland, Kentucky, since Monday afternoon and say they aren't leaving until they get paid. According to local outlet WYMT, several supporters have brought food and water to the protesters, including members of a church in South Carolina. The mayor of Cumberland told the station Monday that as many as 100 people were blocking the tracks. Is this part of a larger economic landscape?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." Robert Fantina — Pro-Palestine activist, peace and human rights leader, journalist and author of "Essays on Palestine." Attorney Mark Shmueli — Manages a solo practice dedicated exclusively to immigration law. Shmueli represents asylum seekers before the Asylum Office and Executive Office for Immigration Review and handles employment-based non-immigrant and immigrant visa petitions. He has authored articles on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions and the Violence Against Women Act for the Maryland Bar Journal and is a frequent lecturer at national and local conferences on immigration law. Chris Garaffa — Web developer and technologist. Eugene Puryear — Co-host of By Any Means Necessary. Nathan Brown — Owner of mobile kitchen JonEvan Jack's.

New York state, New York City, Connecticut and Vermont sued the federal government Tuesday over new Trump administration rules blocking green cards for many immigrants who use public assistance, including Medicaid, food stamps and housing vouchers. The states and city join a growing list of entities suing over the change, one of the Republican administration's most aggressive moves to restrict legal immigration. The rules set to take effect in October would broaden a range of programs that can disqualify immigrants from legal status if they are deemed to be a burden to the US. What's the real impact behind this action? Planned Parenthood announced on Monday that it will drop participation in a federal program that supports family planning services because of new restrictions placed on it by the Trump administration, calling a recent regulation an "assault on access to birth control and reproductive health care, especially for people struggling to make ends meet." What impact will the administration's actions have on access to women's health care for poor women and women of color? US President Donald Trump dismissed concerns of recession on Sunday and offered an optimistic outlook for the economy after last week's steep drop in the financial markets. "I don't think we're having a recession," Trump told reporters as he returned to Washington, DC, from his New Jersey golf club. "We're doing tremendously well. Our consumers are rich. I gave a tremendous tax cut , and they're loaded up with money." Oh, really Donald? So, riddle me this: why are several senior White House officials discussing whether to push for a temporary payroll tax cut as a way to arrest an economic slowdown? UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has faced fresh calls to ensure there is no return to a hard border on the island of Ireland in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The prime minister wrote to EU Council President Donald Tusk on Monday evening, outlining his opposition to what he called the "anti-democratic" Northern Ireland backstop. In the letter, Johnson said that while he wants the UK to leave the EU with a deal, he could not support any withdrawal agreement that "locks the UK, potentially indefinitely, into an international treaty which will bind us into a customs union and which applies large areas of single market legislation in Northern Ireland." What does this mean, and why is Johnson taking this position now?GUESTS:Carlos Casteneda — Attorney with The Law Offices of Thomas Esparza Jr. Attorney Mark Shmueli — Manages a solo practice dedicated exclusively to immigration law. Shmueli represents asylum seekers before the Asylum Office and Executive Office for Immigration Review and handles employment-based non-immigrant and immigrant visa petitions. He has authored articles on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions and the Violence Against Women Act for the Maryland Bar Journal and is a frequent lecturer at national and local conferences on immigration law. Deirdre Fulton McDunough — Communications director at Maine Family Planning. Jay Thibodeau — Communications director at Abortion Care 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."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."

Daniel Pantaleo is no longer an officer with the New York Police Department. Commissioner James O'Neill fired Pantaleo Monday for his role in the 2014 arrest and death of Eric Garner. The New York City Police Benevolent Association is unhappy with the decision, tweeting that O'Neill "has chosen politics and his own self-interest" over siding with his officers. What's going on in Hong Kong? The Civil Human Rights Front, a broad coalition of pro-democracy groups, claimed more than 1.7 million had attended a Sunday demonstration, while Hong Kong police said 128,000 people attended the rally at its peak. It is reported that the rally was attended, crucially, by thousands of ordinary residents as opposed to more radical student and youth protesters who have headlined recent demonstrations, including an occupation of Hong Kong International Airport last week. Sunday showed as well that the public was still united against the government and Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who sparked protests in early June when she attempted to push a bill through the legislature that would have allowed extradition of some arrested in the city to mainland China, among other places.A new poll finds more than 70% of economists expect the US economy to slip into recession in the next two years. The poll released Monday shows 38% of economists surveyed predict the slowing economy will slide into a recession in 2020. Another 34 see the recession coming in 2021. The economists were surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics. They've previously voiced concerns that US President Donald Trump's tariffs and higher budget deficits could eventually let the air out of the economy. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Monday that his department will grant another temporary reprieve to Huawei Technologies, delaying the implementation of a penalty on the Chinese tech giant for another 90 days. “It is another 90 days for the US telecom companies,” Ross said. “Some of the rural companies are dependent on Huawei. So we're giving them a little more time to wean themselves off. But no specific licenses are being granted for anything.” The next deadline, he added, is roughly November 19. All of this while the Washington Post reports, "The quantum revolution is coming, and Chinese scientists are at the forefront." Chinese physicist Pan Jian-Wei describes revolutionary breakthroughs in technology such as "hacking-resistant communications networks they are building across China, the sensors they are designing to see through smog and around corners, and the prototype computers that may someday smash the computational power of any existing machine. All the gear is based on quantum technology — an emerging field that could transform information processing and confer big economic and national-security advantages to countries that dominate it." What does this mean going forward?GUESTS: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. Bob Schlehuber — Producer for By Any Means Necessary and Sputnik news analyst. 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."

US stocks plummeted Wednesday morning after an inverted yield curve, one of the most reliable indicators of a recession, sparked a new wave of investor fears. For the first time since 2007, the yields on short-term US bonds eclipsed those of long-term bonds. This phenomenon, which suggests investors' faith in the economy is faltering, has preceded every recession in the past 50 years. What does this mean going forward , and is this a data point that we need to pay attention to going into the 2020 US elections? Two media giants are planning to reunite, more than a decade after splitting. CBS and Viacom announced Wednesday an agreement to come together in an all-stock merger that will create a company with more than $28 billion in revenue. The merger puts some of the biggest entertainment brands under one corporate roof, including CBS' broadcast network and All Access streaming service, Paramount movie studio and cable networks like Showtime, MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central. Is this continued consolidation of media sources threatening democracy?In an online forum, he praised the Oklahoma City bombing, mass shootings and attacks on Planned Parenthood, the FBI says. When the deadly 1993 siege in Waco, Texas, came up, he allegedly offered one lesson: “Shoot every federal agent on sight.” The comments were all written by an Ohio teenager named Justin Olsen, the FBI says in federal court documents. And when agents raided a home where the 18-year-old lived earlier this month, they found about 10,000 rounds of ammunition and a vault full of assault-type weapons and shotguns. Federal agencies face mounting pressure to root out homegrown terrorists in the wake of two mass shootings earlier this month and amid a national upswing in violent right-wing extremism. Is the rise of social media sites and the dialogue that is transmitted through them putting pressure on the First Amendment?Some eight states are on course to use paperless voting machines, which provide no paper records of votes, as polling place equipment during the 2020 US elections, according to a Tuesday a report published by New York University's Brennan Center for Justice. That would mean some 12% of Americans, or about 16 million people, will cast ballots using paperless machines in 2020 and will have no paper record of how they voted. With all of the hand-wringing and so-called concern about the validity of our elections, this tells me that we have made a modicum of progress but are still moving in the wrong direction.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." Kim Keenan — Executive vice president of marketing and research at Odyssey Media, co-chair of the Internet Innovation Alliance and senior adjunct professor at George Washington University Law School. Michael Meltsner — Former dean of Northeastern University School of Law, Matthews Distinguished University Professor of Law and author of "With Passion: An Activist Lawyer's Life." Barbara Arnwine — President and founder of Transformative Justice Coalition, internationally renowned for 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.

It's Friday, so that means it's panel time. Democratic presidential candidates are traversing Iowa this week with lively summer bus tours, stopping with their families at the Iowa State Fair and eating fried butter and fried Oreos, and speaking at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox and the annual Democratic Wing Ding fundraiser. So, right now Real Clear Politics has Joe Biden up by nine points over Elizabeth Warren, followed by Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg. Is there any sense of momentum on the ground that either confirms these numbers or provides a different perspective? Have the shootings in Gilroy, California; El Paso, Texas; and Dayton, Ohio, changed the focus of discussion for these candidates?The man accused of carrying out last weekend's deadly mass shooting at a Walmart in the Texas border city of El Paso confessed to officers while he was surrendering and later explained that he had been targeting Mexicans, authorities say. The death toll is 22. Just hours after that attack, another man wielding a powerful firearm unleashed more horror, this time at a strip of bars and restaurants in Dayton, Ohio. Police said that in about 30 seconds, the shooter killed nine people and injured 27 more. Police in Dayton are still trying to determine his motive. On July 28, three people were killed, including two children, and 12 others wounded in a shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California. Santino William Legan, 19, was the shooter. In April, 19-year-old John Earnest opened fire at the Poway synagogue in San Diego, California, killing one person and injuring three others. Last October, 46-year-old Robert Gregory Bowers opened fire at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, killing 11 people and injuring six others.The deputy director of national intelligence is resigning. Sue Gordon is leaving a vacuum at the top of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), resigning at the same time as her boss, DNI Dan Coats, who announced his resignation last month. Gordon spent more than 25 years at the CIA before becoming the second-in-command at the ODNI. US President Donald Trump praised her as a great professional in a tweet. She and Coats are leaving on August 15. But did Trump push her out? What's going on here?US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents rounded up nearly 700 suspected undocumented immigrants Wednesday in what's being called the biggest single-state immigration raid in US history. Agents who raided food processing plants in six Mississippi cities took 680 people into custody. The acting director of ICE says they'll go before an immigration judge to see if they should be allowed to stay in the US. The Southern Poverty Law Center says children had their parents ripped away from them parents during the first week of school. Chokwe Antar Lumumba, the mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, called the raids "dehumanizing and ineffective" and is asking churches in the city to become immigrant sanctuaries. Trump is still insisting that Americans are not paying for the steep tariffs he has imposed on China. Economists and trade analysts say otherwise. Talking at the White House, Trump again expressed optimism about striking a deal with China to end the ongoing trade war with the US. More meetings between negotiators are expected next month. Trump said the US has been "hurt by China" for decades. What's the truth?GUESTS: Bob Schlehuber — Producer for By Any Means Necessary and Sputnik news 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."Jim Kavanagh — Political analyst and commentator and editor of The Polemicist.Caleb Maupin — Journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy and the global system of monopoly capitalism and imperialism.

The Trump administration has officially labeled China a “currency manipulator” after the Chinese central bank allowed the renminbi to fall below a key threshold, marking a dramatic escalation in the trade war between the two economic powers. This comes as US President Donald Trump has dismissed concerns about the trade war with China, while his top economic aide said the US president was committed to negotiations with Beijing after labeling the country a currency manipulator. The US Treasury designation is seen by analysts as a largely symbolic move that will serve as a political justification for more tariffs. As I understand it, there's a clear definition of currency manipulation that has three elements, and China at this point only meets one.Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló resigned Friday, as promised, clearing the way for veteran politician Pedro Pierluisi to be sworn in as his replacement. The down-to-the-wire maneuvering risked political chaos and sowed bitterness and pessimism among Puerto Ricans about the fate of their island, which has been battered by years by bankruptcy and Hurricane Maria in 2017, one of the worst natural disasters in US history. However, I don't think it's that simple. The US is imposing a total economic embargo against Venezuela. Trump made the announcement Monday that an executive order will freeze all government assets unless exempted, like funds used to provide humanitarian aid. The embargo expands already tough sanctions Washington has leveled against the South American nation, which has been embroiled in a political and economic crisis for months. Trump singled out Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, calling him illegitimate and an abuser of human rights. The US and several other allies recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as the rightful president. What's really going on here?GUESTS: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." Dr. Adriana Garriga-López — Chair of and associate professor in the Anthropology and Sociology Department at Kalamazoo College, and associate faculty member at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research.Netfa Freeman — Host of Voices With Vision on WPFW 89.3 FM. Pan-Africanist and 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.

The Trump administration announced Friday that the United States will pull out of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a nuclear arms control treaty with Russia, ending a cornerstone Cold War agreement and raising fears of a new nuclear arms race in Europe and Asia. US President Donald Trump said Russia is violating the INF Treaty, a charge Moscow denies. It is the US' contention that the treaty leaves it at a disadvantage because of its own compliance at a time when global threats have changed considerably in the more than 30 years since the pact was signed. Are the US' allegations true? If so, how dangerous of a move is this?The Trump administration is gearing up to bring home several thousand troops from Afghanistan in a bid to strike a peace agreement with the Taliban after 18 years of conflict. In return, the White House will be seeking a number of concessions from the Islamic fundamentalists, including a ceasefire and the renunciation of al-Qaeda, US officials revealed. What does this mean for the possibility of peace in the region going forward?A New York Police Department judge, Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado, has recommended that NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo who put Eric Garner in a deadly chokehold in 2014, be fired from his position from the department. She reached her verdict after overseeing Pantaleo's disciplinary trial earlier this year. A spokesperson for NY Mayor Bill de Blasio says the police commissioner is expected to decide Pantaleo's fate by August 31. Richard Donoghue, the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said that an exhaustive investigation found there is "insufficient evidence" to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that Pantaleo acted "willfully" when applying the chokehold.China says it doesn't want a trade war with the US but is not afraid of fighting one. That's part of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's response to Trump's threat to impose a 10% tariff on another $300 billion worth of Chinese imports starting September 1. Trump made the threat in a series of tweets Thursday, and China fired back Friday morning. Only eight presidential candidates have qualified for the next Democratic debate: Former Vice President Joe Biden; New Jersey Senator Cory Booker; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; California Senator Kamala Harris; Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar; Former Texas Representative Beto O'Rourke; Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders; and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. The Democratic National Committee has set stricter criteria for the third set of debates, which will be held on September 12 and 13 in Houston. If 10 or fewer candidates qualify, the debate will take place on only one night. Who will survive?The Federal Reserve is cutting its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point. Policymakers wrapped up their July meeting this week by lowering the Fed's benchmark rate to 2-2.25%. It's the first rate cut by the central bank since the financial crisis more than 10 years ago. However, they're sending mixed signals on what's next.GUESTS:Mark Sleboda — International affairs and security analyst. Dr. Marvin Weinbaum — Scholar-in-residence and director of the Middle East Institute's Center for Pakistan and Afghanistan Studies. 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. 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." Jim Kavanagh — Political analyst and commentator and editor of The Polemicist.

On Wednesday, the second night of round two in the Democratic presidential debates saw 10 candidates going at each other — hard. Former Vice President Joe Biden was a popular target, as was California Senator Kamala Harris. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker criticized the front-runner for playing up his role in former President Barack Obama's administration on some issues and downplaying it on others. Harris took heat for her years as a tough-on-crime district attorney of San Francisco and attorney general of California. Biden hit Harris over the cost of her version of Medicare For All, while calling for refinement and expansion of Obamacare. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday criticized China's actions in Asia after meeting his Chinese counterpart for the first time this year amid political tension between the two countries. Pompeo spoke out against Chinese "coercion" of its Southeast Asian neighbors in disputes over the South China Sea and its dam-building on the Mekong River. After meeting China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, Pompeo said both countries wanted to improve ties that have soured on issues ranging from trade, US sanctions on Chinese telecom giant Huawei, Taiwan and the busy South China Sea waterway. What does this have to do with negotiating trade deals? Is the US trying to fight too many battles on too many fronts?Iran accused the United States on Thursday of “childish behavior” driven by fear after Washington imposed sanctions on its foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, escalating tensions between two foes at loggerheads over Persian Gulf shipping and Iran's nuclear program. What is to be gained by such a move? The United States is ready to support pro-market reforms and privatizations in Venezuela with investment and credit to reverse socialism and rebuild a ruined economy, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Thursday. This, I believe , speaks volumes about America's initial intentions.GUESTS:Bob Schlehuber — Producer for By Any Means Necessary and Sputnik news 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."Daniel Lazare — Journalist and author of three books: "The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War." Teri Mattson — Activist with the Campaign to End US and Canadian Sanctions Against Venezuela.

Over the weekend, US President Donald Trump called Baltimore, Maryland, “a disgusting, rat and rodent-infested mess.” He blamed it on Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), who is black and is the congressional representative for the city's district, and claimed on Sunday that the lawmaker himself is “racist.” He went on to Tweet, "Why is so much money sent to the Elijah Cummings' district when it is considered the worst run and most dangerous anywhere in the United States? No human being would want to live there. Where is all this money going? How much is stolen? Investigate this corrupt mess immediately!" I need some help with all of this. I think responding to these tweets is nothing but a distraction, and every minute that we spend discussing these ignorant, racist rants is a minute that we are not discussing what really matters: wealth disparity, Trump's inability to bring manufacturing jobs back to the Midwest, health care, the war in Yemen and more. Follow Trump down this rat hole at your peril.The US Federal Reserve this week will most likely cut interest rates for the first time since 2008, when the economy was mired in a deep recession, as the central bank tries to keep a record economic expansion from petering out. Is a rate cut at this moment in the cycle sending a signal? Is the current economy as good as it is going to get?By the time the CIA delivered Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in 2006, it had already extracted confessions from him through interrogations that included waterboarding, rectal abuse, sleep deprivation and other forms of torture. But none of what Mohammed said during his three and a half years in secret CIA prisons could be used in the military commission trial he would face on charges that he was the architect of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. So within months of his arrival at Guantánamo Bay, the Bush administration had FBI agents question him and other al-Qaeda suspects to obtain fresh, ostensibly lawful confessions. Prosecutors called the new interrogators “clean teams.” Now defense lawyers in the September 11 case — which has been stuck in pretrial hearings since 2012 and will not go to trial before next year — are stepping up their arguments that those teams were not so clean after all.Trump announced on Twitter Sunday that he will nominate Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) to replace Dan Coats as director of National Intelligence, confirming Axios' earlier reporting that Ratcliffe was favored for the job. Coats will leave office on August 15.GUESTS:Eugene Puryear — Co-host of By Any Means Necessary on Radio Sputnik.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."Todd Pierce — Retired US Army major.John Kiriakou — Co-host of Loud and Clear on Radio Sputnik

On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by Daniel Lazare, journalist and author of three books: "The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War." Former London Mayor Boris Johnson will be the new prime minister of the United Kingdom after being elected leader of the Conservative Party Tuesday. Polls ahead of voting that ended Monday showed Johnson with support as high as 70% in his party contest with Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt. Johnson will formally take over as prime minister Wednesday afternoon. He'll face the same challenges outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May failed to resolve in managing Britain's exit from the European Union. The Justice Department is warning former Special Counsel Robert Mueller to stay within the bounds of his report when testifying in the House of Representatives this week. A letter to Mueller from the DOJ says that he should decline to answer questions on privileged matters such as investigative steps or decision making. It also notes that he should not testify about any redacted portions of the report. Meanwhile, Mueller's spokesman says he doesn't plan to stray from his conclusions in the report. That report outlined Russia's alleged efforts to meddle in the 2016 election. It also detailed possible instances of obstruction of justice by US President Donald Trump, but didn't make any decision about prosecuting those potential violations.Venezuela has been hit with another massive blackout. More than half of the country's 23 states lost power on Monday, according to witnesses who spoke to Reuters and reports on social media, in a blackout the government blamed on an “electromagnetic attack.” What's going on here?Undocumented immigrants who are in the US for a short time may be more easily deported by authorities under a policy expansion from the Trump administration. The Department of Homeland Security will issue a notice saying it's expanding "expedited removal," giving authorities permission to detain and deport immigrants quickly without having them see an immigration judge. Under the new policy, undocumented immigrants captured anywhere in the US within two years of entering the country can be deported without a hearing. The federal budget is climbing higher after the White House and Congressional leaders reached a deal to raise the debt ceiling. The Washington Post is reporting that the two sides agreed to raise spending caps by $320 billion and increase the amount of money the government can borrow. The agreement covers the next two years and calls for spending on domestic and military programs to increase equally. By pushing the debt ceiling up, it ensures the government will have enough money to pay its bills until after the 2020 election.GUESTS:Daniel Lazare — Journalist and author of three books: "The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War." David Schultz — Professor of political science at Hamline University and author of "Presidential Swing States: Why Only Ten Matter." Teri Mattson — Activist with the Campaign to End US and Canadian Sanctions Against Venezuela. 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. Jack Rasmus, professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California; Jim Kavanagh, political analyst and commentator and editor of The Polemicist; and Caleb Maupin, journalist, and political analyst. It's Friday, so that means it's panel time. Disputes between the Trump administration and Puerto Rican leaders over rebuilding costs and the unsteady implementation of a new process to approve project funding have severely hamstrung recovery from Hurricane Maria. Out of some 10,000 schools, bridges and other damaged sites dotting the island, funds for only nine have gotten the green light from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as of Wednesday. Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló faces calls to resign over two separate scandals: a fraudulent scheme involving federal funds that ensnared two former top aides; and the release of private chat messages between the governor and other top aides that were insulting and inflammatory.US President Donald Trump is confident that the drone the US took down in the Strait of Hormuz this week was Iranian. Speaking at the White House Friday, Trump said the US is prepared to respond to other provocations from Iran and warned them not to do anything foolish. The US Navy warship USS Boxer brought down the drone as it came within 1,000 yards of the vessel. Pentagon officials say numerous calls to "stand down" were ignored. Iranian officials say the drone wasn't theirs. However, Iran claims it seized a British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. State media reports the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps captured the oil tanker Stena Impero on Friday for violating international regulations. The move comes a day after Trump said US forces took down the Iranian drone. Where do we go from here?Convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein is staying behind bars for now after he was denied bail. He is awaiting a trial on new charges in New York that he sex trafficked and abused underage women. Prosecutors argued Epstein's wealth, access to a private jet and motive to flee were reasons he should remain locked up. Epstein's attorneys were pushing to have him out on bail living in his Manhattan mansion under heavy supervision. Epstein, already a registered sex offender, is accused of sex trafficking dozens of girls from 2002 to 2005. 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."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.

It's a virtual tie between former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination. According to a new Quinnipiac poll, there's a two-percent difference in support from voters, with Biden having 22-percent support and Harris with 20-percent. That's a double-digit jump for Harris since last month's poll and after her widely praised performance during last week's Democratic debate. Women held in rooms without running water, sleeping bags set up on concrete and children left apart from their families, that was what Democratic lawmakers said they heard about on Monday as they toured two Texas border facilities. Let's talk about the realities here and the impact of the detention center that has turned into mini jails.OPEC is extending its deal to cut production for another nine months in bid to keep oil prices from sagging as the oil cartel faces a weakening outlook for global demand. The decision among the members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries came during a meeting Monday at the cartel's headquarters in Vienna. What does this mean going forward?GUESTS:Dr. Clarence Lusane — African-American author, activist, lecturer and chair of the political science department at Howard University. Maru Mora-Villalpando — Nationally known immigrant rights activist, co-founder of the Latinx organization Mijente and community organizer with Northwest Detention Center Resistance. Carlos Castaneda — Attorney at Garcia & Garcia. 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 acting Customs and Border Protection commissioner is resigning amid a surge of immigrants at the southern border. John Sanders' resignation is set for July 5, and he didn't provide a reason for stepping down. The resignation comes as CBP deals with accusations of poor living conditions at US border facilities. House Democrats are battling over a $4.5 billion emergency aid bill for the southern border. Liberals are outraged over the treatment of migrant children and are pushing for more protections in the bill. They want tougher standards for facilities that house migrant families. In the meantime, the White House is threatening a presidential veto, as it seeks more funding for ICE detention. House leaders want to get the bill passed before next week's July 4 recess. In an open letter, 18 individuals from 11 wealthy families detailed the sweeping benefits of imposing a wealth tax on the richest Americans. What signal is this sending to the broader American electorate? “We are writing to call on all candidates for president, whether they are Republicans or Democrats, support a moderate wealth tax on the fortunes of the richest 1/10 of the richest 1% of Americans — on us. The next dollar of new tax revenue should come from the most financially fortunate, not from middle-income and lower-income Americans.” How much revenue could realistically be generated from a tax of this nature?US President Donald Trump said in a Tuesday tweet, “Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force. In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration.” He called Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's comments “ignorant and insulting.” Rouhani said earlier Tuesday that the White House was "afflicted by mental retardation" and vowed that Tehran would not be intimidated by American sanctions. “Imposing useless sanctions on Iran's Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] and the commander of Iran's diplomacy [Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif] is the permanent closure of the path of diplomacy,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Twitter. What does this mean going forward?A recent New York Times piece, "Guantánamo Case to Test Whether Torture Can Be Put on the Docket," details abuse Majid Khan suffered while in CIA prisons. "Mr. Khan, a confessed Qaeda courier, was held in almost total darkness for a year, fearing he would be drowned in an icy tub and isolated in a cell with bugs that bit him until he bled. In 2004, his second year of CIA detention, the agency 'infused' a purée of pasta, sauce, nuts, raisins and hummus up Mr. Khan's rectum when he went on a hunger strike, according to a Senate Intelligence Committee report. Now Mr. Khan and his legal team are pursuing a strategy in an effort to force the United States government to acknowledge what was done to him in a way it never has for any of the detainees who were subjected to torture — and to give him a measure of compensation for it." The government is fighting the case, so what will happen next?GUESTS:Maru Mora-Villalpando — Nationally known immigrant rights activist, co-founder of the Latinx organization Mijente and community organizer with Northwest Detention Center Resistance. 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."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. Jim Kavanagh — Political analyst and commentator and editor of The Polemicist.Dr. Ajamu Baraka — American political activist and former Green Party nominee for vice president of the United States in the 2016 election.

It's Friday, so that means it's panel time. Earlier Friday, US President Donald Trump described the decision-making process to call off an attack on Iran in order to avoid disproportionate casualties. His decision and his account of such are facing scrutiny from aides around him and military analysts questioning the sequence of events he laid out in tweets and statements. The president said he called off the strike at the last minute because it would kill 150 people in retaliation for the downing of an unmanned surveillance drone. “We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights when I asked, how many will die,” he tweeted. But administration officials said Trump was told earlier Thursday how many casualties could occur if a strike on Iran was carried out, and that he had given the green light to prepare for the operation Thursday morning. The decision has divided his top advisers, with senior Pentagon officials opposing the decision to strike and National Security Adviser John Bolton strongly supporting it.China's President Xi Jinping went to North Korea to hold talks with Kim Jong Un before this month's G-20 summit, while Trump and Canadian prime Minister Justin Trudeau discussed the North American trade deal in the context of the trade war with China. Xi arrived in North Korea for a historic summit with Kim Thursday, becoming the first Chinese leader to travel to the country in 14 years. His two-day trip comes days before Xi is scheduled to meet with Trump during a Group of 20 summit in Japan. Is this pre-game strategy between Xi and Kim?The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed a $1 trillion spending bill Wednesday that amounts to what some describe as an opening bid in a guns vs. butter fight with the Trump administration. The measure far exceeds Trump's budget request for domestic programs, attracting a White House veto threat, but denies him his full Pentagon budget increase. The House bill includes $733 billion for the Pentagon, up from $716 billion the previous year. Trump demanded $750 billion. The Philadelphia Police Department announced Wednesday it had taken 72 officers off the streets in response to the discovery of thousands of offensive social media posts by the officers, including violent messages and racist memes. The officers were placed on desk duty as the social media scandal brews, implicating more than 300 officers of the city's 6,500-strong police force. The posts came to light as part of the work of the Plain View Project, a group of lawyers that began monitoring the social media accounts of Philadelphia officers in the fall of 2017 in order to assess whether the officers' online behavior eroded public trust in the police force. The group's data collection ended up identifying offensive posts by 2,900 officers, including hundreds more former officers across eight police departments. The data dump has caused police departments in other cities — including Phoenix, St. Louis and Dallas — to assess how to discipline their officers for offensive posts. In a thorough and damning report on the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi released Wednesday, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions Agnes Callamard concluded, after a nearly six-month investigation, that Khashoggi was the victim of a “deliberate, premeditated execution” and his kidnapping and murder violated international law. She added that Khashoggi may have been tortured. "Evidence points to the 15-person mission to execute Mr. Khashoggi requiring significant government coordination, resources, and finances," Callamard wrote. "Every expert consulted finds it inconceivable that an operation of this scale could be implemented without the crown prince being aware, at a minimum, that some sort of mission of a criminal nature, directed at Mr. Khashoggi, was being launched." We have talked in the past about how this heinous murder has been used as the rationale for members of Congress to oppose the US involvement in the Saudi war against Yemen.GUESTS: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."Caleb Maupin — Journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy and the global system of monopoly capitalism and imperialism.

Iran shot down a US RQ-4 Global Hawk naval surveillance drone early on Thursday. Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement that it targeted the drone inside Iranian airspace over the southern province of Hormozgan, next to the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The US Central Command confirmed the incident Thursday but denied that the aircraft was in Iranian airspace. What are we to make of all of this?The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed a $1 trillion spending bill Wednesday that amounts to what some describe as an opening bid in a guns vs. butter fight with the Trump administration. The measure far exceeds Trump's budget request for domestic programs, attracting a White House veto threat, but denies him his full Pentagon budget increase. The House bill includes $733 billion for the Pentagon, up from $716 billion the previous year. US President Donald Trump demanded $750 billion. What are we to make of this? Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in North Korea for a historic summit with Kim Jong Un Thursday, becoming the first Chinese leader to travel to the country in 14 years. His two-day trip comes days before Xi is scheduled to meet with US President Donald Trump during a Group of 20 summit in Japan. Is this pre-game strategy between Xi and Kim?GUEST: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." 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."

On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by Dr. Jack Rasmus, professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California; Jim Kavanagh, political analyst and commentator and editor of The Polemicist; and Caleb Maupin, journalist and political analyst. It's Friday, so that means it's panel time. A London court will decide in February whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be extradited to the US to face 18 criminal charges in connection with the leak of thousands of classified documents relating to US military activity in Iraq and Afghanistan. Assange appeared at the Westminster Magistrates' Court Friday by video link from Belmarsh Prison, where he is currently serving a 50-week sentence for skipping bail and fleeing to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012. It's interesting to me that Assange told the London court he had not seen the latest indictment containing 18 US allegations against him.The US Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a lawsuit by a Yemeni man, Moath Hamza Ahmed al-Alwi, who has been held in wartime detention for more than 17 years at the military's Guantánamo Bay prison, prompting Justice Stephen G. Breyer to warn in a statement that the American legal system is on autopilot toward permitting life imprisonment without trial. “It is past time to confront the difficult question left open by” a 2004 ruling allowing the indefinite detention of Guantánamo prisoners captured after the 2001 American invasion of Afghanistan. What has happened to the US Constitution? Two petrochemical tankers in the Gulf of Oman came under suspected attack early Thursday amid soaring tensions between the United States and Iran. One of two ships attacked, a Japanese-owned tanker, was targeted just as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was wrapping up a high-stakes visit to Tehran to help cool hostilities in the region and potentially mediate US-Iran talks. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed Iran on Thursday for the “blatant assault” on the vessels and said the United States would defend itself and its allies against Iranian aggression in the region. US President Donald Trump rejected Iran's denials Friday that it had attacked two tankers, insisting in a television interview that “Iran did do it” and pointing to a video released by the US Central Command purporting to show Iranian vessels retrieving an unexploded mine from one of the damaged ships. Can anyone say Gulf of Tonkin?President Trump announced an expanded military relationship with Poland on Wednesday, including the likelihood of additional US troops serving at what Trump called a “world-class” new Polish base, as his administration rewards a like-minded and increasingly authoritarian NATO ally. What's going on here? Poland, which has said it wants to buy 32 state-of-the-art F-35s from the US, meets its NATO defense spending commitment, while Germany falls far short. Trump pointed to the NATO spending shortfall several times during public appearances alongside Polish President Andrzej Duda, and also criticized Germany for its planned purchase of large amounts of Russian natural gas.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 Kavanaugh — Political analyst and commentator and editor of The Polemicist.Caleb Maupin — Journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy and the global system of monopoly capitalism and imperialism.

Today House Democrats initiated their first hearings on special counsel Robert Mueller's report on alleged Russian election interference and ties to the Trump campaign, in a test of the party's strategy of building public support before possibly launching impeachment proceedings. They are also expected to take the momentous step of authorizing Congress to go to court to enforce subpoenas to President Trump's attorney general and the former White House counsel, setting up a clash that could also help redefine the relationship between the president and Congress. Today the House Judiciary Committee is hearing from John Dean, the Nixon White House counsel who pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in the Watergate scandal, and former U.S. attorneys as part of a hearing on the lessons of the Mueller report. We must ask the question again, are the Democrats overplaying their hand with these ongoing investigations or impeachment or no impeachment, are they doing the peoples work?Trump says tariffs on Mexico suspended indefinitely but according to Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Trump's use of tariffs as a driving force in his negotiations with Mexico is also meant to be a message for China. In addition, he spoke about the forthcoming G20 meeting, stressing that if Chinese President Xi Jinping does not meet the US leader at the event, tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods will become immediately effective. Really, Trump thinks he can pressure Xi into meeting him at the G20? First, Trump is really boxing himself into a corner. Trump also mentioned Asian tech giant Huawei, emphasizing that it could be part of a trade agreement between Washington and Beijing. I thought Huawei was a security threat. How do you incorporate a security threat into your trade agreement?United Technologies and Raytheon say they are joining forces in one of the biggest mergers of the year. The companies are calling it a "merger of equals," with the new company being an equal combination of shares between the two companies. In an interview Monday, Trump voiced his concern about the merger that would create an aerospace and defense powerhouse, saying it could kill competition. "I'm a little concerned about United Technologies (UTX) and Raytheon (RTN)," the president said during a phone interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box." the military-industrial complex wasn't monopolized enough, we get another mega-company that will feed on taxpayers' money. What's the truth about the merger?GUESTS: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." Jack McCarthy - Freelance Journalist written for Counterpunch and other independent media outlets and former Center for Participant Education.Daniel Lazare — Journalist and author of three books: "The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War." Michael Welch — Host of the "Global Research News Hour" radio show.

On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by Dr. Jack Rasmus, professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California; and Caleb Maupin, journalist and political analyst. It's Friday, so that means its panel time. Hiring cooled in May, the Labor Department reported today, as firms appeared more hesitant to bring on new employees amid uncertainty over President Trump escalating the trade war. The U.S. economy added 75,000 jobs in May, a significant pullback from 224,000 jobs added in April. Analysts had expected a gain of about 175,000 jobs, according to Bloomberg. Is this heightening fears the trade war is taking a greater toll? The unemployment rate remained at a five-decade low of 3.6 percent. Dr. Jack Rasmus, you have been talking for the past few months that a recession is looming on the horizon. Are jobs still a lagging indicator of the US economy? The Justice Department has decided not to charge Julian Assange for his role in exposing some of the CIA's most secret spying tools. It's a move that has surprised national security experts and some former officials, given prosecutors' recent decision to aggressively go after the WikiLeaks founder on more controversial Espionage Act charges that some legal experts said would not hold up in court. The decision also means that Assange will not face punishment for publishing one of the CIA's most potent arsenals of digital code used to hack devices, dubbed Vault 7. So instead, the Justice Department will go after Assange on the one count for allegedly assisting Manning and the 17-count Espionage Act indictment. There are no plans to bring any additional indictments prior to his extradition.During his press conference in London on Tuesday with outgoing British PM Teresa May, President Trump dismisses London protests, says he would have sued E.U. over Brexit and a bunch of other things. He said that he believed Brexit would eventually happen, adding that Britain is “a very, very special place and I think it deserves a special place.” What are we to make of all of this? The saga in Venezuela continues. During a closed-door meeting in New York last week with Jewish leaders, Secretary Pompeo spoke honestly about the challenges the Trump administration is facing in their attempts to overthrow the democratically elected president of VZ, Nicolas Maduro. The US narrative has been that the opposition is strong, united and legitimate. In this meeting Pompeo admits, “Our conundrum, which is to keep the opposition united, has proven devilishly difficult…The moment Maduro leaves, everybody's going to raise their hands and [say], ‘Take me, I'm the next president of Venezuela.' It would be forty-plus people who believe they're the rightful heir to Maduro.” What's going here? Speaking ahead of his trip to Normandy, Trump said he had made clear to Mexico that he was prepared to follow through on his threat to levy 5 percent tariffs on Mexican exports from June 10, rising to 25 percent by October. But he added: “We're having a great talk with Mexico. . . something pretty dramatic could happen”. This is a marked change of tone from Wednesday night when he tweeted that “not nearly enough” progress had been made. I've been asking is the threat of further tariffs a negotiating ploy? All of this while the NY Times today published analysis on Which States Will Be Hit Hardest by Trump's Tariffs on Mexico.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."Caleb Maupin — Journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy and the global system of monopoly capitalism and imperialism.

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard is meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday, as Mexico and the US try to reach an agreement over immigration and tariffs. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his government negotiators are trying to delicately negotiate their way out of looming US tariffs. But many fear that talks with the Trump administration could break down, leading to a backlash here and long-term damage to the bilateral relationship. We have a bipartisan group of senators, led by Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a Trump ally and once a staunch defender of Riyadh, trying to force nearly two dozen votes rebuking the Trump administration's decision to declare a national emergency to circumvent Congress and sell billions of dollars of munitions to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. What does this say to you?The US announced major new restrictions on US citizens traveling to Cuba late Tuesday, blocking the most common way Americans are able to visit the island - through organized tour groups that license US citizens to travel automatically - and banning US cruise ships from stopping in the country. American tourism is not explicitly permitted in Cuba. However, Americans could travel to Cuba if their visits were covered under specific categories, which included organized group travel, known as group people-to-people travel, until Tuesday. Commercial flights from the US will continue to be permitted, as they "broadly support family travel and other lawful forms of travel," according to a spokesperson. Is President Donald Trump taking us through "Groundhog Day?"After ignoring shouts of "build the wall" from a Republican congressman and defeating amendments designed to kill the legislation, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed the "Dream and Promise Act" on Tuesday, with the goal of providing a pathway to citizenship for millions of young undocumented immigrants who are facing the threat of deportation under the Trump administration. The bill, H.R. 6, passed by a vote of 237 to 187, with just seven Republicans voting in its favor. How significant is this? Cosmetics retailer Sephora will temporarily close all stores for diversity training after singer SZA tweets about racial profiling. Sephora says it will close all of its stores for an hour on Wednesday so employees across the country can undergo diversity training. The move comes after singer SZA said she was profiled at a Sephora in Calabasas, California. Does diversity training really work, and is this the solution to this systemic problem?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." Mac Hamilton — Executive manager at STAND: The Student-led Movement to End Mass Atrocities. Joe Lombardo — Co-coordinator, United National Antiwar Coalition. Oscar Chacon — Co‐founder and executive director of Alianza Americas, dedicated to improving the quality of life of Latino immigrant communities in the US, as well as of peoples throughout the Americas. Maru Mora-Villalpando — Nationally known immigrant-rights activist, co-founder of the Latinx organization Mijente and community organizer with Northwest Detention Center Resistance. Torin Ellis — SiriusXM host of Career Mix, human capital strategist focused on the art of recruiting diverse talent using various creative methods and author of "Rip the Resume: Job Search & Interview Power Prep." Dr. Shantella Sherman — Historical researcher, technical writer, author of "In Search of Purity: Popular Eugenics & Racial Uplift Among New Negroes 1915-1935" and publisher of Acumen Magazine.

On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by Dr. Jack Rasmus, professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California; Jim Kavanagh, political analyst and commentator and editor of The Polemicist; and Caleb Maupin, journalist and political analyst. It's Friday, so that means it's panel time. Special counsel Robert Mueller finally spoke publicly Wednesday, and his carefully chosen comments highlight the ways in which he disagrees with his boss, Attorney General William Barr, about the facts and the law surrounding the investigation into US President Donald Trump. One of the lines from his nine-minute presentation is: “If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.” Mueller's remarks also made clear how heavily his office relied on a long-standing legal opinion from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel that a sitting president cannot be indicted. That opinion, Mueller said, “says that the Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing.” I don't agree with that. So, where was all of this weeks ago when Barr first came out with his spin machine, and what are we to make of Mueller, who infamously told us that Saddam Hussein had WMD's?The license for Missouri's last abortion provider will not expire, according to court documents. Judge Michael Stelzer has ruled that the “temporary restraining order is granted” and "petitioner's license shall not expire and shall remain in effect." The matter will be heard in court again on June 4. The clinic's license to perform abortions was scheduled to expire at the end of Friday.Federal judge Carlton Reeves blocked a Mississippi law last week that forbids abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. In issuing a preliminary injunction, Judge Reeves said the law "threatens immediate harm to women's rights, especially considering most women do not seek abortions services until after six weeks." He further wrote, "Allowing the law to take effect would force the clinic to stop providing most abortion care," adding that "by banning abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, the law prevents a woman's free choice, which is central to personal dignity and autonomy."According to Bloomberg, China, the world's largest soybean buyer, has put purchases of American supplies on hold as the trade war between Washington and Beijing escalates. "State-grain buyers haven't received any further orders to continue with the so-called goodwill buying and don't expect that to happen given the lack of agreement in trade negotiations. Still, China currently has no plans to cancel previous purchases of American soybeans," the outlet reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.We'll cover these topics and so many more!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.Caleb Maupin — Journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy and the global system of monopoly capitalism and imperialism.

On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by 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." So, on his way out the door Wednesday, special counsel Robert Mueller spoke publicly. He clarified a few points of discrepancy between him and his boss, Attorney General William Barr. Mueller was clear: “If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.” He also made clear how heavily his office relied on a long-standing legal opinion from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel that a sitting president cannot be indicted. Mueller said “that the Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing.” I take issue with that conclusion, but be that as it may, in the midst of all of this, US President Donald Trump attacks Mueller, saying he would have brought charges if he had evidence of a crime. We talked Wednesday about the possibility of this happening, but the prevailing sentiment was that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would succeed in the 11th hour. Well, a politically fatigued Israel has cranked back into election mode Thursday, barely 50 days after its last national ballot and after the staggering failure of Netanyahu to form a government by midnight on Wednesday. The next vote is set for September 17. What does this mean going forward?Facebook bans a political artist for her provocative MAGA-hats-as-Klan-hoods sculpture. In a great MintPress News article, Alexander Rubinstein states, "Facebook has a longstanding tradition of stifling dissenting and alternative voices, including those of journalists. Now, artists' careers are being hurt by the strongarm of the social media behemoth. Earlier this month, artist Kate Kretz — who employs a multitude of techniques, including silverpoint, wood burning, drawing, painting, embroidery and sculpture — had her account disabled for posting images of her latest work. The offending image was of her recent piece, entitled 'Hate Hat,' which resembles the hoods made infamous by the Ku Klux Klan. It's red and made out of 'Make America Great Again' hats (knockoffs, she insists), and features the slogan above the eyes. The provocative display is a clear dig at President Donald Trump, meant to highlight his bigotry." How dangerous is 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." Robert Fantina — Pro-Palestine activist, peace and human rights leader, journalist and author of "Essays on Palestine." Chris Garaffa — Web developer and technologist.

It's Friday, so that means it's panel time. A federal judge today issued a preliminary injunction blocking Mississippi's fetal heartbeat anti-abortion law from going into effect, saying it infringes on women's health care rights. “Here we go again. Mississippi has passed another law banning abortions prior to viability,” Judge Carlton Reeves wrote in his order. "By banning abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, SB 226 prevents a woman's free choice, which is central to personal dignity and autonomy.” The Mississippi ban prohibited abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, or around six weeks into pregnancy. Governor Phil Bryant signed the bill into law in March. The lawsuit leading to the injunction was filed by the Jackson Women's Health Organization against Thomas Dobbs, the state health officer of Mississippi.After defying political gravity for three years, Theresa May brought her tortured tenure as UK prime minister to a close Friday. "I will shortly leave the job that it has been the honor of my life to hold," she said outside Downing Street, her voice quivering in the morning sunshine. And with that, she's off - or at least she will be later in the summer, once a new Conservative leader is elected. We knew it was imminent, but to me, it is still a surprise.The US government is stressing that Julian Assange is no journalist after bringing an 18-count indictment against the co-founder of WikiLeaks. Federal prosecutors are accusing Assange of violating the Espionage Act in working with a former Army intelligence analyst to obtain and distribute classified information. That worries some professional journalists because it's close to what they do. Assange remains in jail in London after being evicted from the Ecuadorian Embassy there. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notified lawmakers Friday that US President Donald Trump is invoking his emergency authority to sidestep Congress and complete 22 arms deals that would benefit Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other countries, despite lawmakers' objections to the transactions. Both Republicans and Democrats urged the Trump administration this week not to take the rare step of exploiting a legal window to push through deals - worth about $8 billion, according to congressional aides - that lawmakers have blocked from being finalized. You know, it was Wall Street who was happy and well cared for during the Obama administration. Now it seems like the war machine, the military industrial complex and the arms manufacturers are being so well cared for.Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Thursday acknowledged that the growing tensions with Iran “may involve sending additional troops” to the region. Shanahan's comments marked the first public confirmation that the Trump administration is considering sending additional US forces to curtail what it claims are “troubling and escalatory indications and warnings” from Iran. The Pentagon has already deployed a carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Middle East, and news reports emerged this week that Shanahan on Thursday was set to present the White House with a request to deploy 10,000 troops to the Middle East. An earlier report said that the US could send upwards of 120,000 additional troops. 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.Caleb Maupin — Journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy and the global system of monopoly capitalism and imperialism.

What I think about you and what I believe you stand for are a moral basis for justice and consistency. In this current political landscape as we look towards 2020, the Democrats have constructed this anti-Trump narrative and hold themselves out as a moral alternative to the Republicans. But as I look at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's support for the continued US attack on Venezuela and Sen. Chuck Schumer's support for the Zionist, genocidal government in Israel, it really seems to come down to a thinly veiled, ongoing support of the empire. I mean, I hear talk about jobs and healthcare, etc., but when asked where the money will come from to support the programs, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is the only one who talks about cutting the war budget. We'll discuss this issue and so many more regarding justice, politics and the moral high ground lacking in today's economic structure. British Prime Minister Theresa May was under growing pressure to resign Wednesday after her final Brexit gambit was rejected across the board by lawmakers and even criticized by some of her own ministers. Where does it go from here? In her last pitch on Tuesday to get her divorce deal approved by Britain's deeply divided Parliament, she offered lawmakers a vote on whether to hold a second Brexit referendum — once her legislation passed the first stage — as well as closer trading arrangements with the EU in the future as incentives. But the backlash was swift and fierce.President Xi Jinping of China has called for the Chinese people to begin a modern “long march,” invoking a time of hardship from the country's history as it braces for a protracted trade war with the United States. Xi's call, made on Monday, referred to the Long March, a grueling 4,000-mile, one-year journey undertaken by Communist Party forces in 1934 as they fled the Nationalist army under Chiang Kai-shek. From there, they regrouped and eventually took control of China in 1949, making the Long March one of the party's foundational legends. This sounds to me like Xi is digging, not backing down. What's going on here?GUESTS: Dr. Cornel West — Prominent and provocative democratic intellectual. He is a professor of the practice of public philosophy at Harvard University and holds the title of professor emeritus at Princeton University. He has also taught at Union Theological Seminary, Yale, Harvard and the University of Paris. West graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in three years and obtained his MA and PhD in philosophy at Princeton. He has written 20 books and has edited 13. Lee Stranahan — Co-host of Fault Lines on Sputnik Radio. 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 is joined by Dr. Jack Rasmus, professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California; Jim Kavanagh, political analyst and commentator and editor of The Polemicist; and Caleb Maupin, journalist and political analyst.It's Friday, so that means it's panel time.Stocks are finishing the week in the red amid reports of stalled trade talks between the US and China. Uncertainty over the negotiations prompted a big drop on Monday, and the major indexes haven't recovered. As the trade war with China heats up, US President Donald Trump is cooling the fight with America's neighbors. Trump announced Friday that negotiators have reached an agreement with Mexico and Canada to end tariffs on metal imports. He also will put a pause on the planned tariffs on cars and car parts. This deal could be the first step toward ratifying the US-Mexico Canada Agreement that Trump hopes will replace NAFTA.President Trump says he hopes there will not be a war with Iran. He made the remark in response to a question from a White House reporter Thursday. The White House has been tamping down reports of a rift within the administration over Iran. There have been reports that some high level administration officials are suggesting possible US military action against Tehran.The few remaining pro-Maduro protestors occupying the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, DC, are out. Four people were arrested by federal law enforcement officers this morning and forcibly removed from the building. Activists had been occupying the embassy for over a month, following the US government's recognition of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's rightful leader. For weeks the embassy has been the site of a standoff between supporters of President Nicolas Maduro and backers of Guaido. Federal officers and DC police on Monday posted an eviction notice telling those camped inside the building they had to leave.GUEST: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. Caleb Maupin — Journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy and the global system of monopoly capitalism and imperialism.

It's Friday, so that means it's panel time. High-level trade talks with China are over for now with no word of any breakthrough. US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin categorized Friday's discussions with China's top trade negotiator as "constructive." The talks are aimed at trying to salvage a trade agreement that seemed to be within reach just a week ago. The US boosted tariffs on about $200 billion of Chinese goods overnight, and Beijing has promised to retaliate. North Korea launched two suspected "short-range missiles" on Thursday, adding yet another complication into Pyongyang's stalled negotiations with the United States and peace talks with South Korea. Yesterday's firing comes less than a week after North Korea tested several new weapons systems, the first confirmed launches of their kind since 2017. Since China has played a stabilizing role in the US' relationship with North Korea, what does this mean for everyone?The Venezuelan Embassy goes dark as the standoff intensifies on the streets of Washington, DC. On Wednesday evening, the lights flicked off inside the facility. The water has also been turned off in spite of the fact that from all reports, the bills have been paid, Venezuela owns the building and this in direct violation of international law. The commander overseeing US naval forces in the Middle East told Reuters Thursday that American intelligence showing a threat from Iran will not prevent him from sending an aircraft carrier through the vital Strait of Hormuz, if needed. Iran has dismissed the US contention of a threat as “fake intelligence.” Tensions have risen between Tehran and Washington since the Trump administration withdrew a year ago from a 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran and began ratcheting up sanctions to throttle the Islamic Republic's economy.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."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. Caleb Maupin — Journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy and the global system of monopoly capitalism and imperialism.

A decade of tax records from US President Donald Trump, obtained by the New York Times and running from 1985 to 1994, has Democrats asking for more. Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA), a certified public accountant, says the New York Times story only shows a snapshot of the president's finances. And while the report details more than a billion dollars in losses, Sherman says much of that could be from real estate depreciation. The California Democrat wants to get the full tax returns so he can see what the Trump businesses were reporting to the IRS. The House Judiciary Committee will consider contempt of Congress citations for Attorney General Bill Barr and the Justice Department Wednesday morning. The department has refused to honor a subpoena to give the committee the full, redacted final report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The subpoena also demands access to all underlying evidence in the report. If the Democratic-led committee decides that contempt citations are in order, the matter will be referred to the full House. [EDITOR'S NOTE: The committee voted this afternoon to hold Barr in contempt, so the resolution will now have to go to the House as a whole. Not sure if you want to change this paragraph in light of that development.] Iran says it will no longer fully comply with the nuclear deal it signed with the US and five other nations. Wednesday's announcement comes one year after President Trump pulled the US out of the agreement. Iran's Supreme National Security Council said in a statement the Islamic Republic will no longer abide by limits on keeping enriched uranium and heavy water reserves. Iran says the other nations that signed the 2015 agreement - Britain, Germany, China, Russia and France - now have 60 days to ease restrictions on its banking and oil industries. The Trump administration is currently working to block all of Iran's oil exports.One student died, and eight classmates were wounded Tuesday in a shooting at a suburban Denver, Colorado, school, law enforcement authorities said, less than a month after the region marked the 20th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre. The student who died was a senior who was expected to graduate in just three days, officials said. He died at the school. The Denver region was on edge as the 20th anniversary of Columbine was memorialized, and deadly threats were called into other Denver-area schools. What does this say about the culture of violence in America, and why are we not addressing the culture of white mass shootings?Confederate and other historic markers would be protected from local regulators under a bill passed Tuesday by the Texas Senate. The legislation reduces the power of local governments, state agencies and public universities to remove or change monuments honoring historically significant events or people, including Johnny Reb. The bill would require a two-thirds vote of both the state House and Senate to remove, change, or relocate a monument 25 or more years old on state property or a public university campus. The measure protects statues, portraits, plaques and place names. The bill now goes to the Texas House. 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." Daniel Lazare — Journalist and author of three books: "The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War." Ambassador Seyed Hossein Mousavian — Iranian policymaker and scholar who served on Iran's nuclear diplomacy team in negotiations with the EU and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Dr. Shantella Sherman — Historical researcher, technical writer, author of "In Search of Purity: Popular Eugenics & Racial Uplift Among New Negroes 1915-1935" and publisher of Acumen Magazine. Joseph L. Graves Jr. — American scientist and the associate dean for research and professor of biological studies at the Joint School for Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, which is jointly administered by North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and UNC Greensboro.

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee said they will vote Wednesday on whether to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress after Barr missed a deadline to produce a complete version of special counsel Robert Mueller's report. Also, President Donald Trump reversed himself on Sunday and said that the special counsel should not testify before Congress. What will the Democrats do now in this ongoing confrontation over presidential authority and the separation of powers?President Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen hopes the US "will be in a place without xenophobia, injustice and lies at the helm of our country" when he finishes his prison term. That comment came as he reported Monday to a federal correctional facility in Otisville, New York. Cohen added that there remains much to be told, and he looks forward to the day he can share the truth. He'll be serving a three-year sentence for tax evasion, lying to Congress and campaign finance crimes. The US is sending a carrier strike group and bombers to the Middle East in a show of force to Iran. National Security Advisor John Bolton said in a Sunday statement that the presence of the US military will send a message to the Iranian government that any attack on American interests or allies "will be met with unrelenting force." The move comes after a series of rocket strikes against Israel by forces in the Gaza Strip that are allied with Iran. Are we reading the April jobs numbers incorrectly? How accurate are these statistics? According to economist Jack Rasmus, "Claims of wages rising are similarly misrepresented when a deeper analysis shows the proclaimed wage gains are, once again, skewed to the high end of the wage structure and reflect wages for salaried managers and high-end professionals by estimating ‘averages' and limiting data analysis to full-time workers once again; not covering wages for part-time and temp workers; not counting collapse of deferred and social wages (pension and social security payments); and underestimating inflation so that real wages appear larger than otherwise. Independent sources estimate more than half of all US workers received no wage increase whatsoever in 2018 – suggesting once again the gains are being driven by the top 10% and assumptions of averages that distort the actual wage gains that are much more modest, if at all." We'll dissect those numbers and reach the truth.GUESTS: Jackie Luqman — Co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation and the co-host of the Facebook live stream "Coffee, Current Events & Politics." 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 roof collapses at Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral as a massive fire rages on. It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, while local media reported that police in the city are treating it as an accident. The cathedral, which dates back to the 12th century and is famous for featuring in Victor Hugo's classic novel “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame,” attracts millions of tourists every year. "The roof has entirely collapsed; there are flames coming out the back of the cathedral as if it was a torch," said a journalist for France 24 at the scene of the fire. Notre Dame ('Our Lady of Paris' in French) is a Gothic cathedral and serves as the official seat of the Catholic archbishop of Paris. Construction began on the cathedral in 1160 and was completed nearly two centuries later. In its history, the tower stood over world-changing events like the French Revolution and the crowning of Napoleon Bonaparte, and it served as the setting for one of Hugo's most famous novels. Within its halls, a mass was held in 1944 to celebrate the liberation of Paris from Nazi Germany. Its place in French history cannot be overstated. A protest took place Saturday outside Belmarsh Prison in London, where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is being held following his forcible seizure and arrest Thursday. The protest was organized by the Julian Assange Defence Committee and supported by the Socialist Equality Party (UK) and the World Socialist Web Site. On Monday, German and Spanish lawmakers protested against Assange's detention, gathering outside the prison to urge Britain and the EU to prevent his extradition to the United States. Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno told the Guardian that Assange repeatedly violated his asylum conditions and tried to use the Ecuadorian embassy in London as a “centre for spying.” WikiLeaks was reportedly linked to an anonymous website that claimed Moreno's brother had created an offshore company, and Moreno also accused the website of leaking private pictures of him and his family, which WikiLeaks denies. Moreno also accused Assange of repeatedly interfering in the internal affairs of other states, referencing WikiLeaks' publication of Vatican documents in January 2019 as a recent example. “It is unfortunate that there are individuals dedicated to violating the privacy of people,” Moreno said. Moreno also says he has it in writing from the UK that Assange's rights will be respected. Assange faces up to 12 months in prison after being found guilty of breaching his bail conditions when he entered the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012. The National Women's March group is urging Twitter to suspend US President Donald Trump's account for posting a highly edited video that misrepresents remarks by Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, intercut with footage of the September 11, 2001, attacks. On Friday, and again on Saturday, Trump shared a clip of Omar edited to portray her as being dismissive of the 9/11 attacks. It is important to reiterate, the clip is a highly edited video that misrepresents her remarks. The clip presents footage of Omar at a California banquet in March hosted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), saying, "CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something," and mixes those words with footage of the burning World Trade Center and Pentagon. That's not an honest account of what she said.Monday, April 15, is Tax Day in the United States. It's the due date for Americans to file their 2018 taxes. How is tax policy being used in this country, and who are the beneficiaries? How can we explain major corporations paying little to no taxes?GUESTS:Emine Sevin — Photo researcher for Culture Trip. Culture Trip is a global hyper-growth startup operating in travel, media and entertainment. It creates stories that reveal what is unique and special about a place, its people and its culture. In-house creative teams work with a global network of more than 300 freelance creators to produce location-based inspiration from around the world, including articles, videos, photography, illustration and animation. Lee Stranahan — Co-host of Fault Lines on Sputnik Radio. Avis Jones DeWever — Founder of the Exceptional Leadership Institute for Women. 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."

Boeing 737 MAX jetliners are no longer flying anywhere on the planet. US President Donald Trump ordered the immediate grounding of the jetliners on Wednesday, citing two deadly international crashes of the same models. Trump called the disasters "a terrible thing." The Federal Aviation Administration issued a statement Wednesday saying the decision to ground the aircraft is based on new data gathered at the site of the Ethiopian Airlines crash. The US move comes hours after Canada banned the Boeing 737 MAX from flying in that country. Paul Manafort is being hit with state charges in New York that cannot be pardoned by President Trump. The indictment came moments after Manafort was sentenced to an additional three-and-a-half years in prison today in Washington, DC, in his second trial related to the Russia probe. Manafort could spend seven-and-a-half years behind bars after being found guilty in two separate cases related to Robert Mueller's probe. British lawmakers voted no to leaving the European Union without a deal. Members of Parliament voted by 312 to 308 to reject leaving the EU without a formal withdrawal agreement. The new vote comes a day after Parliament overwhelmingly rejected the withdrawal agreement that Prime Minister Theresa May negotiated with the EU over the course of nearly two years. Britain is currently scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, but a vote to delay the date will likely take place later this week. While Meng Wanzhou awaits the next stage of her extradition hearing, her lawyers are likely to be watching events in Washington as closely as those in Vancouver, where her case is being heard following her arrest on US charges last year. On several occasions, President Trump has hinted he could stop the case against the Huawei CFO as part of a grand bargain with China to end the trade war between the two countries. Is it really a good idea for Trump to weigh in on this?The FBI and federal prosecutors say they are charging at least 50 people in the largest college cheating scandal ever. US Attorney Andrew Lelling said the indictments include current and former D-1 coaches at Yale, Georgetown, USC, Wake Forest and Texas. At least 33 parents, including actresses Felicity Huffman from "Desperate Housewives" and "Full House" star Lori Loughlin, are among those facing charges. Lelling said all of the parents knew their kids were cheating on the ACT and/or SAT entrance tests or creating false sports profiles to gain admission.GUESTS: Eugene Craig III — Republican strategist, former vice-chair of the Maryland Republican Party and grassroots activist. Dr. Binoy Kampmark — Senior lecturer in the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies at the RMIT University Melbourne.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. Micol Seigel — Professor of American Studies and History at Indiana University, Bloomington, and the author of "Uneven Encounters: Making Race and Nation in Brazil and the United States," also published by Duke University Press.

China, Indonesia and several airlines around the world have grounded the Boeing 737 MAX 8 after a second crash in nearly five months. All 157 people on board a 737 MAX 8 operated by Ethiopian Airlines were killed when the plane crashed shortly after takeoff on Sunday. In late October, a 737 MAX 8 flown by Lion Air went down off the coast of Indonesia. Both the Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air planes were brand-new aircraft, and both crashed minutes after taking flight. Several countries are grounding their current fleets, but not the US. American Airlines has 24 of the jets in its fleet, and the FAA issued a statement, saying, "Today, the FAA will issue a Continued Airworthiness Notification to the International Community (CANIC) for Boeing 737 MAX operators. The FAA continuously assesses and oversees the safety and performance of US commercial aircraft. If we identify issues that affect safety, the FAA will take immediate and appropriate action." It's unprecedented for an aircraft of that type to be grounded. What's going on here, and why are the planes still flying in the US? The Trump administration accused Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government of torching a truck carrying humanitarian aid amid a civil plight in Venezuela in February. But now, The New York Times has exposed the claim as a lie. While the State Department released a video of the "incident," the NYT says, "There is a problem: The opposition itself, not Mr. Maduro's men, appears to have set the cargo alight accidentally. Unpublished footage obtained by The New York Times and previously released tapes — including footage released by the Colombian government, which has blamed Mr. Maduro for the fire — allowed for a reconstruction of the incident. It suggests that a Molotov cocktail thrown by an anti-government protester was the most likely trigger for the blaze." The White House is defending the annual budget blueprint that has been sent to Congress. The $4.7 trillion proposal makes deep cuts in domestic spending while continuing to boost the Pentagon's budget. Talking with reporters today, acting White House budget chief Russell Vought said that the proposal does not include funding for "endless wars." He said there is considerable waste and inefficiency in the federal government that the US can no longer afford. The budget plan calls for more than $8 billion for the massive border wall that is President Donald Trump's top priority. That is a non-starter with Democrats who now run the House of Representatives. The budget roadmap also forecasts trillion-dollar deficits for the next three years. Vought argued that the president's budget plan would lead to a balanced budget in 15 years, calling the overall blueprint fiscally responsible. Meanwhile, Vought rejected reports that the budget proposal cuts Medicare. GUESTS: Captain Ross “Rusty” Aimer — CEO of Aero Consulting Experts and perhaps the most experienced pilot in the world still flying today. His distinguished career includes piloting the Shah of Iran and two former Russian presidents.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."

As a candidate, Donald Trump promised “brilliant trade” policies that would drop the national trade deficit “like you've never seen before.” As president, he has continued to champion the same rhetoric. Two years after he was elected, despite his singular focus on trade, America is importing more goods, while exporting less, than it ever has. What does this say about the negotiator in chief and the US economy? The Commerce Department said Wednesday that — despite more than two years of Trump's “America First” policies — the United States last year posted an $891.2 billion merchandise trade deficit, the largest in the nation's 243-year history. The trade gap with China also hit a record $419 billion, underscoring the stakes for the president's bid to reach a deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping as soon as this month. What's going on here? It appears to me that the trade deficit is headed in the wrong direction, and this is an imbalance Trump has depicted as the primary threat to the American economy.HIV has reportedly been cured in a second patient, a milestone in the global AIDS epidemic. Scientists have long tried to duplicate the procedure that led to the first long-term remission 12 years ago. With the so-called London patient, they seem to have succeeded. What does this mean for HIV-AIDS treatment going forward? For just the second time since the global epidemic began, a patient appears to have been cured of infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The news comes nearly 12 years to the day after the first patient known to be cured, a feat that researchers have long tried, and failed, to duplicate. The surprise success now confirms that a cure for HIV infection is possible, if difficult, researchers said. How can there be the confirmation of a surprise success based upon the appearance of a cure? [EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm not sure how to interpret the last sentence of this paragraph. Can you clarify it?] In his recent piece, "Forced Blood Draws & Implied Consent Laws Make a Mockery of the Fourth Amendment," attorney John Whitehead says, "All of those freedoms we cherish — the ones enshrined in the Constitution, the ones that affirm our right to free speech and assembly, due process, privacy, bodily integrity, the right to not have police seize our property without a warrant or search and detain us without probable cause — amount to nothing when the government and its agents are allowed to disregard those prohibitions on government overreach at will. This is the grim reality of life in the American police state. Our so-called rights have been reduced to technicalities in the face of the government's ongoing power grabs." We'll discuss the US Supreme Court case Mitchell vs. Wisconsin, in which Wisconsin police officers read an unconscious man his rights and then proceeded to forcibly and without a warrant draw his blood while he was still unconscious in order to determine if he could be charged with a DUI.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."Deja Abdul-Haqq — Interim director of the Center for Community Based Programs (CCBP) with My Brother's Keeper, Inc., where she leads multi-purpose teams of advocates and health professionals in creating sustainable wellness impact in Mississippi.John Whitehead — president of The Rutherford Institute and author of "Battlefield America: The War on the American People."

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam acknowledged on Friday that he was photographed more than 30 years ago in a costume that was, according to his words, “clearly racist and offensive” — admitting that he had dressed either as a member of the Ku Klux Klan or in blackface. “I am deeply sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that decision caused then and now,” the Democratic governor said in a statement on Friday evening. On Saturday, Northam held a press conference wherein he retracted his Friday admission and said that he is not in the picture. He admitted donning black-face during a Michael Jackson dance contest that same year but said that was not him in the yearbook photo as either racist character. Can you, during an early part of your life, do stupid, racially ignorant and insensitive things but not be racist? Should you be allowed to continue to serve?European powers have backed Juan Guaidó as Venezuela's interim president in an effort to raise the pressure on President Nicolás Maduro's regime, even as divisions in the EU threaten efforts to forge a common stance. Spain, France, Germany and the UK followed through today on a January 26 pledge to recognize Mr. Guaidó as interim leader if the government in Caracas failed to call fresh elections within eight days. Other European states including Denmark, Austria and Latvia followed suit in a coordinated show of support for the opposition leader and head of Venezuela's National Assembly to organize fresh polls. The EU had also given eight days for the Maduro government to announce elections, but has stopped short of saying it will recognize Mr. Guaidó as interim president and has warned only of possible “further action” instead. The bloc's position has been complicated by divisions within Italy's governing coalition of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the far-right League over the crisis in Venezuela.US President Donald Trump is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address tomorrow evening at 9 p.m. ET. What should Americans expect? The first question is whether he'll declare a national emergency to build his proposed border wall if Congress can't agree to fund it. He's been coy on that subject leading up to the speech, telling reporters last week: “You'll hear the State of the Union, and then you'll see what happens right after the State of the Union.” He may use the event to unveil where and when he'll meet North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un for their second summit. Trump has expressed optimism about striking a deal with China, and said on Friday that a meeting with President Xi Jinping would probably be announced this week. He's likely to at least claim progress has been made with China during the speech on Tuesday. How will he analyze the state of the US economy?In the crowded race to the White House, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) officially kicked off her campaign for president this past Saturday. In a speech in Oahu, Gabbard, 37, stressed lessons she learned while serving in her state's National Guard. “When we raise our right hand and volunteer to serve, we set aside our own interests to serve our country, to fight for all Americans. We serve as one, indivisible, united, unbreakable ― united by this bond of love for each other and love for our country,” she said. “It is in this spirit that today I announce my candidacy for president of the United States of America.” She has to be the most truly progressive candidate in the race at this point, but she's getting the least amount of coverage. The four-term congresswoman took aim at US interventionism, slamming officials who engage in armed conflicts at great costs while treating troops “as political pawns and mercenaries for hire in wars around the world.” Other policy positions that the White House hopeful discussed included Medicare for all, criminal justice reform, environmental advocacy and the need to combat privacy infringement by big tech companies. Is she getting the coverage she deserves? GUESTS:Gary Flowers — Host of The Gary Flowers Show on radio station Rejoice WREJ-AM 990. He has been executive director of the Old Dominion Bar Association, special assistant to Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, public policy analyst and coordinator of electoral observers for the 1994 elections in South Africa, vice president of programs and national field director for the Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition and Executive Director and CEO of the Black Leadership Forum in Washington. 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, who also writes at jackrasmus.com. Garland Nixon — Co-Host of Fault Lines on Sputnik News.

The Taliban says that the US has agreed on a draft peace plan that would see all foreign troops out of Afghanistan in the next 18 months. The draft agreement comes after several days of talks between the Taliban and US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in Qatar, aimed at ending the 17-year war. Khalilzad said the talks have been productive, and he plans to travel to Afghanistan to meet with government officials. The Taliban has so far refused to hold talks with the Afghan government, insisting that the US is the primary enemy. The deal reportedly includes promises from the Taliban that al-Qaeda and Daesh will not be allowed to use Afghanistan as a base of operations to attack the US and its allies. It's not clear when and if this draft agreement will be implemented. A new report by the Congressional Budget Office says the US lost $11 billion due to the government shutdown and predicts the federal deficit will rise to $897 billion this year. That would be a hike of $118 billion over last year's deficit. The CBO is also forecasting slower economic growth this year. The partial government shutdown lasted 35 days, but a deal was reached on Friday to extend funding for parts of the federal government until February 15. President Donald Trump has threatened another shutdown if he doesn't receive funding for a border wall. How much more damage can the American worker take? Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says the US is targeting Venezuela's powerful, state-owned oil company with tough sanctions. The US no longer recognizes Nicolas Maduro as president of the South American nation. As for possible US military action, National Security Adviser John Bolton echoed President Trump and said "all options are on the table" in Venezuela. Bolton again warned Maduro not to harm any US diplomats in Venezuela. But is Senator Marco Rubio really calling the shots in the US-Venezuela conflict? GUESTS: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, who also writes at jackrasmus.com.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. Anthony Monteiro — Author, activist, DuBois Scholar and former professor in the African American Studies Department at Temple University.

The partial shutdown that has impacted a quarter of the US government and some 800,000 federal employees is now 17 days old, with no end in sight. President Donald Trump and his team seem focused on finding a way around Congress by using emergency powers to redirect money for the proposed border wall, which would be challenged in court immediately. The president plans to address the nation over the situation at the southern border on Tuesday and visit the border on Thursday. Meanwhile, the partial government shutdown is extending into its third week, and the fallout is having devastating effects on everyday Americans. A new bill could impose penalties for entities that boycott Israel. In his recent MintPress article titled, "New Senate Anti-BDS Bill Unconstitutional and Ineffective at Curbing Boycotts," Alex Rubinstein writes, "Pro-Israel lawmakers in Washington, undeterred by the partial shutdown of the United States government, are pursuing their agenda full speed with the introduction of the first piece of legislation before the 116th Senate — a bill that aims to stifle the free-speech rights of American critics of apartheid Israel. BDS seeks to place economic pressure on companies and institutions that support Israeli ones operating in illegally occupied areas in Palestine, in order to pressure the Israeli government into compliance with international law and to cease its practices of apartheid, ethnic cleansing and the ongoing encroachment of Israeli settlements." What's going on here, and why is the US so protective of Israel?In the recent Gray Zone Project article, "Senate Report on Russian Interference Was Written By Disinformation Warriors Behind Alabama ‘False Flag Operation,'" writer Dan Cohen states: " ... the authors of one of the reports soon suffered a major blow to their credibility when it was revealed that they had engaged in what they called a 'Russian style' online disinformation operation aimed to swing a hotly contested special Senate election. The embarrassing revelation has already resulted in one of the authors having his Facebook page suspended. The well-funded deception was carried out by New Knowledge, a private cyber intelligence firm founded by two self-styled disinformation experts who are veterans of the Obama administration: Jonathon Morgan and Ryan Fox." What's behind the deception and propaganda, and why isn't mainstream media talking about it?GUESTS:Monica Biscoe — VP of marketing and communications for Maryland Strategic ConsultingDr. 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, who also writes at jackrasmus.com.Dan Cohen — Correspondent at RT America, filmmaker and director of Killing Gaza, and writer for The Gray Zone Project. Alexander Rubinstein — Staff writer for MintPress News based in Washington, DC. He reports on police, prisons and protests in the United States and the United States' policing of the world. He previously reported for RT and Sputnik News.

Kurt Volker, the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine recently said a foreign military-financing package of around $250 million to sell additional military equipment to Ukraine was currently being reviewed by the U.S. Congress. Should US citizens be concerned about this? The IMF and World Bank – with the backing of the US are providing new financial loans for Ukraine and it's President Poroshenko as he was trailing in opinion polls and looked set for a trouncing defeat in the election; which I believe he postponed and moved the date. What's the US role here and why? Finian Cunningham writes in the Mint Press writes, “It doesn't seem to bother American lawmakers that the Kiev regime is dominated by Neo-Nazi demagogues and paramilitaries who worship (Ukrainian nationalist and Nazi collaborator) Stepan Bandera and other Ukrainian collaborators in the Third Reich's Final Solution. Just recently President Poroshenko was photographed inspecting Ukrainian special forces some of whom were donning insignia of the Third Reich's SS.” When people inject Third Reich, SS, Nazi into a discussion it can take things into a hyperbolic direction. In this case, are these apt descriptions?A bruising stock slump resumed today, as the euphoria that swept the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its biggest-ever point gain subsided, pulling the blue-chip index down more than 600 points. All 30 Dow industrial stocks notched losses, from Apple to Goldman Sachs Group, after investors made an about-face from Wednesday's historic rally—when the Dow surged more than 1,000 points. What was behind yesterday's historic climb and today's downturn? Will the Netanyahu corruption probes dominate Israeli elections? As Israel prepares for a general election called for in April, the threat of criminal charges hanging over Benjamin Netanyahu will be the central theme of the campaign. Mr. Netanyahu and his coalition partners agreed to early elections on Monday, less than a month after police recommended to state prosecutors that they indict the prime minister in a third corruption case. Will this have an impact going forward? So, the decision on whether or not to indict the prime minister lies with Avichai Mandelblit, the attorney-general who was appointed by Mr. Netanyahu. He will also have to consider whether to announce his decision before or after the vote. This sounds a lot like Sessions and Trump. Is it possible that parties, or leaders of parties, will say that they will not sit in a government with an indicted prime minister? GUESTS: 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, who also writes at jackrasmus.com.Miko Peled — Israeli-American activist and author of The General's Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine.

A federal judge on Tuesday postponed the sentencing for Michael Flynn after he lambasted President Donald Trump's former national security adviser for trying to undermine the country and warned he might not spare Flynn from prison. The stunning development means that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's engagement with Flynn will continue for some months longer, leaving Flynn to wonder whether he will lose his freedom. Flynn's attorney requested the delay after the judge's opinion became apparent, hoping further cooperation with law enforcement could earn the court's mercy. From the start, US District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan made clear he was infuriated by Flynn's conduct — both in lying to the FBI while in the White House and in working to advance the interests of the Turkish government while he was a part of Trump's campaign.Trump has approved a second round of trade aid payments for US farmers. The USDA expects direct payments to farmers under the program to total $9.567 billion, with around $7.3 billion for soybean farmers, the hardest hit from the trade war. The USDA program includes an additional $1.2 billion in food purchases and around $200 million to develop foreign markets, bringing the total estimated aid to just below $11 billion. Also, yesterday was the one-year anniversary of the GOP tax cuts, and the president made a last-ditch effort to sway the Federal Reserve with a "take the victory" tweet. But what does this tell us about our economy and the 2019 projection? The Grayzone entered the carefully concealed offices of a covert, British government-backed propaganda mill that is at the center of an international scandal the mainstream media refuses to touch. What's behind the “network of networks" and the Integrity Initiative? In the midst of Julian Assange being pursued as a criminal, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg testifying before Congress and all this fear about Russian's hacking into US elections, we'll examine what Mohamed Elmaazi uncovered in his Grayzone piece, "Inside the Temple of Covert Propaganda: The Integrity Initiative and the UK's Scandalous Information War."A new report shows more journalists were targeted by murder and violence in 2018 than any other year since records have been kept. The report out today, from Reporters Without Borders, put some of the blame on politicians and public figures around the world who stir up contempt for journalists and the media. Is there a war on media?GUESTS: 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, who also writes at jackrasmus.com.Max Blumenthal — Co-founder of the Grayzone Project.Ebony McMorris — Sputnik producer and freelance reporter.

As US President Donald Trump was arranging a trade truce with President Xi Jinping of China in Buenos Aires over dinner on Saturday night, his administration was coordinating the arrest of a top Chinese technology executive who was flying through Canada. The arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei and daughter of its billionaire founder, is a serious if not gangster move by the Trump administration. What does this mean, and how does it bode for the future? The NY Times writes, “The detention is a boon to administration officials trying to limit the global spread of Chinese technology, especially equipment that poses security risks, and to enforce sanctions with Iran. But the move threatens to upend sensitive talks to resolve a trade war between the world's two largest economies.” The Asia Times writes, “The fallout from the decision has rocked mainland markets and threatened the trade war truce between Washington and Beijing.” What's going on here?US lawmakers have brought General Motors CEO Mary Barra to Capitol Hill for a series of private meetings this week as the company comes under fire after announcing up to 14,000 job cuts. Barra isn't publicly testifying this week. She's meeting behind closed doors with several lawmakers representing regions that will be hit hard by the cuts. What's really behind these discussions? Meanwhile, trade conflicts have cost Nebraska's economy more than $1 billion. The Nebraska Farm Bureau says the state's farmers have lost upward of a billion dollars in revenue from ongoing trade conflicts, according to a new report. Are these losses limited to the agriculture sector in the Midwestern US, or is this the tip of the iceberg? Are we looking at farmers losing farms if this trade war continues? It's one thing to retool a factory. For example, with GM talking about closing plants in Ohio and Michigan and the discussion with Barra, you can re-tool and retrain plant workers, but what do you do with displaced farmers across the Midwest of the US?As a result of the midterm elections, some more progressive voices are on their way to Congress. Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined 150 youth activists in a sit-in recently at House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's Capitol Hill office, where the group called for congressional action on climate change. What's behind this effort, and will climate change become a rallying cry or galvanizing force across politically active groups? There's a piece in The Atlantic entitled, "The Democratic Party Wants to Make Climate Policy Exciting: After years of infighting, the Democrats may finally have found an environmental consensus in the Green New Deal." Speaking at a town hall led by Senator Bernie Sanders, Representative-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez framed her chosen climate policy—the Green New Deal—through the lens of gallant American exceptionalism. “This is going to be the New Deal, the Great Society, the moon shot, the Civil Rights movement of our generation,” she said. What is the Green New Deal? 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, who also writes at jackrasmus.com.Gloria Mattera — Co-chair of Green Party USA. She has been a member of the Green Party since 2001. Coming to the Green Party through the Ralph Nader campaign, Gloria has been involved in building a left, political independent movement since the mid '90s as a leader in the Labor Party New York Metro Chapter.

Republicans have spent years warning us that voter fraud is rampant. Despite no evidence that this is the case -- election fraud in the United States is in fact rare –President Trump has warned us repeatedly about hordes of Mexicans and other illegals attacking this pillar of our Democracy, the GOP has put legislation into place in states across the country to make it harder to vote, arguing that it's necessary to protect the sanctity of elections. They take voter fraud seriously, they say. It's become one of their core issues. So, we would expect that faced with a rare case of potentially serious and pervasive electoral fraud, they would jump on it -- insist on an investigation, figure out exactly what happened, punish wrongdoers and close whatever holes in the system led to the abuses. So, here's their chance. Allegations of flagrant absentee ballot fraud in a North Carolina district have thrown the Election Day results of one of the nation's last unresolved midterm congressional races into question. Unofficial ballot totals showed Republican Mark Harris ahead of Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes in the 9th Congressional District. But the state elections board refused to certify the results last week in view of "claims of numerous irregularities and concerted fraudulent activities" involving mail-in ballots in the district. What's going on in NC? Ministers from Opec the oil cartel that controls roughly a third of global production, and its allies including Russia and Kazakhstan, will meet in Vienna this week to decide how to respond to the 30 percent plunge in oil prices to around $60 a barrel over the past two months. What are the projection for the US and international implications as US production is booming? Will the latest Senate briefing on the Kashoggi murder have an impact? But for Saudi Arabia, which remains the world's top oil exporter and the cartel's de facto leader, that decision has been complicated by the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. - Senators emerged from a closed-door briefing with the CIA director on Tuesday and accused the Saudi crown prince of complicity in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Qatar has announced that it is withdrawing from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Jan. 1 after nearly 60 years of membership. This is jarring news to energy markets but understandable at two levels: operational and political.Two police departments in the New England region of the United States canceled their annual visit to Israeli police forces and engagement in training, amid pressure from organizations affiliated with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The Vermont State Police and the Northampton Police Department in Massachusetts both canceled their planned trip to Israel for a training program just days before it was supposed to start. What does this signal about the pressure from the BDS movement? Vermonters for Justice in Palestine, announced in a press release today that Vermont State Police Director Colonel Birmingham canceled the trip in response to a petition created against it. GUESTS:Bob Phillips — Executive Director for Common Cause. Common Cause North Carolina is a Raleigh-based nonprofit and nonpartisan organization dedicated to encouraging citizen participation in democracy.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, who also writes at jackrasmus.com.Wafic Faour - Works with Vermonters for Justice in Palestine works to support the Palestinian people in their struggle for human rights and to end the illegal, immoral, and brutal Israeli occupation through education, advocacy, and action.

Today, Wednesday, November 21, is considered to be the busiest travel day in America as people try to get to and fro, hither and yon for Thanksgiving. In terms of airline travel, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is expecting to screen 25 million people throughout the week. According to live flight trackers, there are about 3,300 planes in the air at the moment. Assuming an average capacity of 200 passengers, there are about 660,000 people in the air right now. Since 9/11, the TSA has been created and Americans have been led to believe that the taxes and fees that are being charged and the security procedures that have been implemented are keeping airline passengers safe. Are we as safe as we are being led to believe? What are the three biggest flaws found in the so-called security system? Anti-Pelosi Democrats publicly vow opposition in House speaker race: 'The time has come for new leadership' – what does this mean for the politics of the Democratic Party going forward? So, as a result of the 2018 midterm elections, around 40 new women are on their way to Congress, including two Muslim women and some Bernie Sanders supporters. With that, a rebellious faction of House Democrats released a letter Monday vowing to mount a coup and derail Nancy Pelosi's bid to become House speaker. They seem to be starting a rebellion with no leader. Rep. Marcia Fudge has decided not to run for speaker and agreed to back Pelosi for the gavel after securing some concessions from the longtime Democratic leader. “My consideration was due in large part to the lack of sustained efforts that ensure diversity, equity and inclusion at all levels of the House,” the Ohio Democrat said in a statement, noting Pelosi has assured her that black women will have a seat at the decision-making table. What are we to make of this in two frames, immediately relative to Pelosi and long-term in the context of Democratic solidarity in terms of policy? With Pelosi, Sen. Steny Hoyer, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. James Clyburn still at the helm of Democratic leadership, is the party failing to read the tea leaves? GUESTS: Dr. Stacey Tyler - Professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, CEO of International Intelligence Corporation and author of The Inside Man: Evaluating Security Communication Failures at a United States Commercial Airport.Shermichael Singleton - Writer and political 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, who also writes at jackrasmus.com. Danny Haiphong - Activist and journalist in the New York City area. He and Roberto Sirvent are co-authors of the forthcoming book American Exceptionalism and American Innocence: A People's History of Fake News- From the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror.

In a recent CounterPunch article by Anthony DiMaggio, he states, "In the wake of the 2018 midterms, President Trump and his foot soldiers on the right have continued to repeat paranoid and fact-free claims about 'electoral fraud' via the recounts in Florida and Arizona. Trump is seeking to save face by weighing in on the Florida gubernatorial race (Nelson v. Scott) and the Florida (Gillum v. DeSantis) and Arizona (Sinema v. McSally) Senate races. These are political battles, plain and simple, and Trump is trying to preserve as many Senate seats as possible for Republicans moving toward 2020." So what's the future of progressive politics? Beyond the politics of Obamacare, the 2018 elections were a mandate on Trump's presidency. About two-thirds of American voters admitted that Trump was a major motivating factor in their turning out to cast a ballot. Outside of specific exit polling results, what does all this tell us about the state of American politics? According to a study by The Watson Institute, the cost of the War on Terror for the US has reached nearly $6 trillion. The report states, "Through 2018, the US federal government has spent or been obligated to spend $5.9 trillion on the post-9/11 wars, including care for veterans over the next forty years. Massive Debt: This spending has largely been financed by borrowing. Unless the US changes the way it pays for the wars, future interest will exceed $8 trillion by the 2050s. Additional Costs: There are many other unacknowledged consequences of the choice for war, including environmental damage, fueling sectarianism across the Middle East, strengthening authoritarian forces and leading to historically high levels of corruption in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria." The figure far exceeds the Pentagon's estimate of $1.5 trillion in total spending since September 11—a number that does not even account for combined State Department spending and the Pentagon's war fund, which totals $1.8 trillion, according to the Watson Institute. In Miko Peled's article, "The Palestinian People Are As Unified as Hamas and Fatah are Obsolete," he writes, "There is a solid, grassroots leadership in Palestine. From Al-Jalil in the north to the Naqab in the south, and from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, Palestinians on the ground are well aware that the Hamas-Fatah politics have little to do with them. Among the myths that cover the reality in Palestine is the one that says Palestinians have no leadership, no unified message, and that the Hamas-Fatah divide represents the entire political reality in Palestine. There is also a myth that claims that the Palestinians of 1948, who carry Israeli citizenship, are somehow not connected to the larger Palestinian issue. Over a ten-day journey in Palestine, it becomes crystal clear that these claims are unfounded." We'll explore his findings and talk about the road ahead. 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, who also writes at jackrasmus.com.Daniel Lazare — Journalist and author of three books: The Frozen Republic, The Velvet Coup, and America's Undeclared War. Miko Peled — Israeli-American activist and author of The General's Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine.

As Robert Bowers, the man accused of killing 11 congregants in a hate-filled attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue, prepared to make his first court appearance today, survivors and relatives of the victims were still struggling to come to terms with the enormity of the loss. What does this say about hate and vitriol in the American political landscape, especially in the context of the man who killed two people at a grocery store last Wednesday? A white man, Gregory A. Bush, 51, who allegedly killed two people at a Kroger grocery store in Kentucky, tried to enter the First Baptist Church in Jeffersontown, a predominantly black church nearby, just minutes before the fatal shooting. Maurice Stallard, 69, and Vickie Jones, 67, were shot in the grocery store and the parking lot, respectively. Rabbi Michael Lerner writes, in response to "the love pouring out toward the Jewish community from all sectors of this society" since the massacre on Saturday: "The good news is this: despite the negativity, hurtfulness and evil that has increasingly gotten support by the Trump administration and sections of the Republican Party, there is a fundamental decency and goodness in most people on this planet and in the US." The leaders of a progressive Jewish organization in Pittsburgh said President Donald Trump should not visit the city as it mourns, unless he changes his tone. Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right candidate, wins Brazil's presidential election. We've talked about the possibility of this happening, but now it is a reality. Mr. Bolsonaro's pledge to fight crime and corruption following a string of scandals have won him mass support. However, critics are worried by his praise of Brazil's former dictatorship, and by his comments on race, women and homosexuality. The question being asked in the bourgeois press is: what psychological malady is taking hold that could persuade voters to elect such a person? The framing poses the resurgence as inexplicable, as the result of the fundamental flaw of democracy: the voters. A litany of failures is redistributed downward. Because Mr. Bolsonaro is politically repressive and culturally intolerant, the electorate must want political repression and cultural intolerance. Because Mr. Bolsonaro is a gender bully and homophobic, voters must be gender bullies and homophobic. Missing from explanations of the rise of Mr. Bolsonaro is that for the last decade, Brazil has experienced the worst economic recession in the country's history. Fourteen million formerly employed, working-age Brazilians are now unemployed.Americans' personal income is up, but not as much as economists expected. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reports today that personal income rose two-tenths of a percent last month. That's half the increase analysts had forecast. But Americans aren't shy about spending what they make. Consumer spending increased four-tenths of a percent in September, right on the experts' prediction. Jake Johnson writes in Common Dreams that while we see this, billionaires made more money in 2017 than any other year in history. “The past 30 years have seen far greater wealth creation than the Gilded Age,” the UBS annual billionaires report says. Could this systemic inequality result in a change of public perception resulting in civil unrest as people see their American Dream become more of a nightmare? What does this inequality mean for the country going forward? GUESTS:Earl Ofari Hutchinson — Political analyst; author of Why Black Lives Do Matter; the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles and the Pacifica Network.Michael Lerner — American political activist, the editor of Tikkun, a progressive Jewish interfaith magazine based in Berkeley, California, and the rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue in Berkeley.Gerald Horne — Professor of history at the University of Houston and author of many books, including Blows Against the Empire: U.S. Imperialism in Crisis.Tom Porter — African American Studies Department at Ohio University and former director of the King Center in Atlanta.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, who also writes at jackrasmus.com.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's highly anticipated comments, during a speech to his ruling party in Ankara, the Turkish capital, contradicted Saudi accounts that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed when an argument inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul escalated into a fistfight. Erdogan said the killing was a “planned” and “brutal” murder and called on Saudi Arabia to extradite 18 suspects to Turkey to face justice for the crime. He had promised to reveal the "naked truth" about Khashoggi's death but failed to do so. What happened? US President Donald Trump declared himself a “nationalist” at a Texas rally last night. What in the world does this mean? Let's start with what nationalism means. Here's the definition, from Merriam-Webster: "a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups." While patriotism, like nationalism, involves pride and belief in one's own country or values, it doesn't include the idea of promoting your values and culture as inherently superior to those of others. The roots of Adolf Hitler's rise were built around his emphasis on extreme nationalism. White nationalism, which reared its ugly head in Charlottesville, Virginia, last year, is organized under the principle that Caucasians are inherently superior, and in order for society to truly prosper, the agenda of whites need to be recognized as a first priority — at the necessary expense of anyone who isn't white.The US Supreme Court has blocked a deposition of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in a case challenging the decision to reinstate a citizenship question on the 2020 census. The action is a partial victory for the Trump administration, which had argued such a deposition of a Cabinet official is "rarely if ever justified." It took five justices to grant the government's request. There was no recorded vote attached to Monday night's unsigned order. This is one of the first cases involving Justice Brett Kavanaugh and his view of the executive branch and presidential power. What does this say about the impact of the upcoming census? Challengers, led by New York's attorney general and groups such as the ACLU, charge that the Trump administration's real reason for adding the question was to reduce the representation of immigrant populations. A trial in the case is scheduled to start next month.GUESTS: 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, who also writes at jackrasmus.com.Leslie Proll — Civil rights lawyer, advisor to the NAACP on judicial nominations, former NAACP LDF Policy Director and former Alabama director of the US Department of Transportation.

The US government closed the 2018 fiscal year $779 billion in the red, its highest deficit since 2012 as Republican-led tax cuts pinched revenues, and expenses rose on a growing national debt, according to data released on Monday by the Treasury Department. New government spending also expanded the federal deficit for the 12 months through September. US President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans have touted the tax cuts as a boost to growth and jobs, but what's really behind the numbers?So, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held talks with top Saudi leaders today as the kingdom is preparing to acknowledge that missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Pompeo had a short discussion with King Salman before a longer meeting with the king's son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). There's a growing groundswell of people, such as senators Lindsay Graham and Marco Rubio, calling for MBS to go. Others, such as Pompeo and the president, seem to be working with the royal family to develop a cover story and make this go away. While damage control continues, what would be the international impact if MBS were replaced?Today is the last day to register to vote in 10 states and DC. In Georgia, there's a showdown in the race to become the next governor. Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams is calling foul play and asking for her opponent Brian Kemp to resign as the state's top elections official to avoid a conflict of interest. She accuses him of disenfranchising minorities for years, including his office's latest effort: suspending the processing of 53,000 voter registrations, mainly belonging to African-Americans. In North Dakota, voters are also protesting voter ID rules. Native Americans are pushing back on a Supreme Court ruling that could make it harder for them to cast their votes in the upcoming midterm elections. Last week, the Supreme Court ruled against overturning North Dakota's controversial voter ID law, which requires voters to present identification that verifies a current residential street address. Proponents of the law say it will help prevent voter fraud. Opponents say it will prevent many Native Americans from voting.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, who also writes at jackrasmus.com.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, Morley has written about intelligence, military and political subjects for Salon, The Atlantic, and The Intercept, among others. Greg Palast — Author and award-winning investigative reporter featured in The Guardian, Nation Magazine, Rolling Stone Magazine, BBC and other high profile media outlets.

On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by 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, who also writes at jackrasmus.com.President Donald Trump likes the new trade deal between the US and Canada. In a series of tweets this morning, Trump said the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement "is a great deal for all three countries, solves the many deficiencies and mistakes in NAFTA and greatly opens markets to our farmers and manufacturers … it reduces trade barriers to the US and will bring all three great nations together in competition with the rest of the world. The USMCA is a historic transaction!" Economist Dr. Jack Rasmus' latest Op-Ed, "Mexico-US-Canada NAFTA Trade Agreement Reached – Trump's Phony Trade War Confirmed," argues, "Trump has been playing his ‘economic nationalism' card that helped win him his election once again ...Trump will now exaggerate and lie about both deals to his domestic political base, but the terms of both the Mexican and Canadian trade deals will show hardly any change.” What's really going on here?As I said last Friday, it was quite a day in the US Senate. More specifically, it was quite a day inside one elevator in the US Senate. Just as Senators Chuck Grassley, Lindsey Graham, and Orrin Hatch were about to take their victory lap, Senator Jeff Flake got cornered by two women whose personal stories rocked him to his socks. With that, Flake agreed to vote for Kavanaugh on the Senate Judiciary Committee but said he would not be comfortable voting for final confirmation on the floor of the Senate without giving the FBI a week to investigate. So, the FBI is investigating, but I'm not clear on what this really entails, and is it really an investigation that will produce any substantive information? "The Trump administration's bellicosity has combined with the volatility of the global economy to sharply accelerate what has become an international movement: ditching the dollar as the world's reserve currency," writes Jon Jeter in a recent MintPress op-ed. But what does this mean going forward? We'll explore his hypothesis and examine if this is leading the US towards another economic crisis.

It's Friday, so it's time for the panel news roundup! Today was quite a day in the US Senate and in an elevator in the Capitol. Just as Senators Chuck Grassley, Lindsey Graham and Orrin Hatch were about to take their victory lap, Senator Jeff Flake got cornered by a woman whose personal story rocked him to his socks. With that, Flake agreed to vote to send Kavanaugh's nomination to the Senate floor, but said he would not be comfortable voting for Kavanaugh's final confirmation without giving the FBI a week to investigate. What's going on here? Dr. Cosby was given a three-to-10 year prison sentence for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, at his home outside Philadelphia 14 years ago. Judge Steven T. O'Neill upheld a state board's finding that Dr. Cosby is a sexually violent predator. He was immediately taken into custody and will go straight to prison, as the judge denied him a request to remain free on bail while he pursues an anticipated appeal. It is a tragic end to a brilliant career.We'll take another look at President Donald Trump's UN speech, with our guest Dr. Jack Rasmus. In his recent piece, "Trump At the UN: Lies, Damn Lies & Statistics," he states, "In the course of his over-the-top, self-congratulatory announcement he said the US economy had grown faster in his first two years at the presidential helm than in any administration before during a like period, he had reduced unemployment to the lowest rate ever in the US, and his policies have produced record wage gains for American workers. The reality, however, is none of the above are true.” We'll drill into the details.We've got all your news analysis and so much more to cover!GUESTS:Abdus Luqman — Co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, and the co-host of the Facebook LivestreamCoffee, Current Events & Politics, Thursdays at 9 p.m.Earl Ofari Hutchinson — Political analyst, author of Why Black Lives Do Matter and host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles and the Pacifica Network.Ray Baker — Political analyst and host of the podcast Public Agenda.Dr. Jack Rasmus — Professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California, author of Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression and writer at jackrasmus.com.

Dr. Cosby was given a three to 10-year prison sentence earlier today for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home outside Philadelphia 14 years ago. Judge Steven T. O'Neill upheld a state board's finding that Dr. Cosby is a sexually violent predator. He was immediately taken into custody and will go straight to prison, as the judge denied him a request to remain free on bail while he pursues an anticipated appeal.It is a tragic end to a brilliant career.President Trump addressed the UN General Assembly this morning with a very interesting speech. We'll provide full analysis and fact-check his statements and views on sovereignty, global governance, criminal courts, OPEC and sanctions. From China to Venezuela, Trump pulled no punches, but did they really land? Trump positioned the US as a victim being taken advantage of by the rest of the world. How does his speech stack up against the Monroe Doctrine? Monroe made four basic points: (1) the United States would not interfere in the internal affairs of or the wars between European powers; (2) the United States recognized and would not interfere with existing colonies and dependencies in the Western Hemisphere; (3) the Western Hemisphere was closed to future colonization; and (4) any attempt by a European power to oppress or control any nation in the Western Hemisphere would be viewed as a hostile act against the United States. Trump opened his speech with the statement, “In two years, my administration has achieved more than any administration had achieved before in history,” and the room laughed at him. Are they still laughing after this speech? GUESTS: Tom Porter — African American Studies department at Ohio University and former director of the King Center in Atlanta.Caleb Maupin — Journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy and the global system of monopoly capitalism and imperialism. He has appeared on Russia Today, PressTV, TeleSur and CNN. He has reported from across the United States, as well as from Iran, the Gulf of Aden and Venezuela. Daniel Lazare — Journalist and author of three books: The Frozen Republic, The Velvet Coup and America's Undeclared War.Mark Sleboda - International affairs and security analyst.Dr. Jack Rasmus — Professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California, author of Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression and writer at jackrasmus.com.

On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by 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, who also writes at jackrasmus.com. This past weekend, September 15-16, marked the 10th anniversary of the Lehman Brothers investment bank collapse and the subsequent generalized financial system crash that followed. Can this happen again? To answer this question and others, my first guest, Dr. Jack Rasmus, is the author of the recently published book, Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression, and he joins us to discuss his article, "On the 10th Anniversary of Lehman Brothers 2008: Can ‘IT' Happen Again?" Today the United States imposed sanctions on a Chinese military agency and its director for buying defense equipment from Russia in breach of a sweeping US sanctions bill enacted in 2017. The US State Department said it would immediately impose sanctions on China's Equipment Development Department, which oversees defense technology, and its director, Li Shangfu, for engaging in “significant transactions” with Rosoboronexport, Russia's main arms exporter. The measures come as President Donald Trump's administration pursues a variety of strategies to clamp down on China and faces growing pressure to respond strongly to US intelligence agency reports that Russia is continuing to meddle in US politics. Why was this done, and what does it mean going forward? Why has the Trump administration decided to take this unprecedented action?As we continue to navigate the turbulent waters of the Trumpian era, there are two issues that struck me today. First, a Republican activist who donated more than $20,000 to Ron DeSantis's gubernatorial campaign club called former President Barack Obama a “F****** MUSLIM N*****” on Twitter recently, in addition to other inflammatory remarks. Second, a ProPublica analysis found that African Americans and Native Americans are under-represented in clinical trials of new drugs, even when the treatment is aimed at a type of cancer that disproportionately affects them. These two stories are just today's examples of the systemic nature of racism/white supremacy, as Dr. Welsing would say, in America. A number of analysts want to deal with Trump as though he's an anomaly or exists in some type of vacuum. I believe that he is and demonstrates what America is and has always been.