We are six days out from the 2018 mid-term elections. What are the significant issues on the minds of most voters, and what happened, as Aaron Mate has written, after months of fearmongering about a sweeping Russian interference effort and a compromised, complicit president? By November 6, Americans will decide on all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 35 of the Senate's 100 seats and who governs 39 different states. Six in 10 Americans say it is the federal government's responsibility to make sure all Americans have health care coverage, including 31 percent who support a "single-payer" approach to health insurance, according to a new national survey by Pew Research Center. The share of US adults saying drug addiction is a "very big" problem in the country has increased 12 percentage points since a survey conducted shortly before the November 2016 election, from 56 percent then to 68 percent today. Increasing shares of Americans cite the affordability of a college education (up 11 percentage points) and sexism (also up 11 points) as "very big" problems in the country. The share who say racism is a very big problem has risen seven points, while the share citing gun violence is up five points.
The US has called for a swift cessation of hostilities in Yemen, where three years of civil war have caused the world's worst man-made humanitarian crisis. Can this be done, and why now?
Defense Secretary James Mattis said all parties needed to take part in UN-led peace talks within the next 30 days. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, meanwhile, urged the Saudi-led coalition battling the rebel Houthi movement to end its air strikes on populated areas.
The United States has allocated $40 million to the Global Engagement Center in an attempt to fight what they called the Russian and Chinese propaganda machine. "At the end of September, the Global Engagement Center obligated $40 million to support initiatives that counter disinformation propaganda spread by foreign countries," State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino told reporters. "This funding will support a variety of efforts to counter Russian, Iranian and Chinese disinformation and propaganda." Really? Is that what's really going on here? Washington has repeatedly accused Russia, as well as China, of trying to influence the elections held in the US. They have created the Global Engagement Center under the State Department to counter such supposed foreign influence. Is this is a sensible use of resources?
GUESTS:
Jackie Luqman — co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation.
Elisabeth Myers — Editor-in-chief of Inside Arabia.
William Binney — Former highly placed intelligence official with the United States National Security Agency turned whistle-blower who resigned on October 31, 2001, after more than 30 years with the agency.
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