According to the US Secret Service, several suspicious packages have been found at or intercepted on their way to prominent political and politically connected figures this week. One was found Monday at the New York home of George Soros, reportedly containing an explosive device. On Tuesday, another suspicious parcel was intercepted on its way to the Clinton residence in Chappaqua, New York. On Wednesday, a package was intercepted en route to former US President Barack Obama's residence in Washington, DC; another was intended for Former US Attorney General Eric Holder but had the wrong address, and was thus sent to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz's Florida office, which was listed on the package as a return address; and yet another parcel, addressed to former CIA Director John Brennan and containing white powder as well as an apparent pipe bomb, was found at CNN's New York City headquarters, prompting an evacuation.
Is America descending into the politics of rage, or is this part of a cyclical ebb and flow? Also, what is it about America that stimulates this behavior? Professor Joanne Freeman wrote an interesting piece in The Atlantic in which she said, "Anger has a peculiar power in democracies… It feeds on raw emotions with a primal power: fear, pride, hate, humiliation. And it is contagious, investing the like-minded with a sense of holy cause… Such is the dynamic of politics in the time of Trump. The politics of outrage is fast becoming a political norm, each flare-up lowering the bar of acceptable rhetoric and producing an upswing in belligerent posturing." Is this fast becoming a new political norm, or is this America being America?
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is embarking upon the first trip by a Japanese prime minister to China in seven years. He faces challenges on the strategic front but may find gentler economic common ground to traverse, as he and Chinese President Xi Jinping face off against a gale blowing across the Pacific. What does this mean for these two countries, and what does it say about their relations with the US? These two Asian giants — the world's number two and number three economies — are regional strategic rivals with a bloody history, and they are increasingly finding themselves confronted by US President Donald Trump's assault on their trade practices. What is the basis of this meeting?
Yemen is right now experiencing one of the world's worst human atrocities, and it's not front page news. At least seven Yemeni civilians were killed on Sunday when Saudi-led coalition aircraft targeted residential areas in Yemen's northwestern governorate of Hajjah, the northwestern city of Sana'a and the western coastal province of Hodeida. In Hajjah, Saudi airstrikes targeted a car as it was traveling on a road in the Bani Hassan area of the Abs district on Sunday afternoon, leaving four people dead and one injured, including one woman. The Legal Center for Rights and Development in Yemen, a non-governmental organization monitoring human rights violations immediately after their occurrence, told MintPress News that the ongoing Saudi-led military campaign against Yemen has resulted in the death of 15,185 civilians, including 3,527 children and 2,277 women. Meanwhile, more than 700,000 Yemenis, along with their families, are struggling to survive after recently being expelled from the Saudi Kingdom. Why is mainstream media ignoring this grave humanitarian crisis?
GUESTS:
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. 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.
Elisabeth Myers — Editor-in-chief of Inside Arabia.
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