Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions took a parting shot at communities affected by police violence and civil libertarians on his way out the door when he severely limited the ability of federal law enforcement officials to use court enforced agreements, or consent decrees, to overhaul local police departments accused of abuses and civil rights violations.
Friday is Loud & Clear's regular segment on the midterms, today taking a look at the just-completed political races around the country and some of the marquee races still yet to be decided. Jacqueline Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which hosts a livestream every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook, joins the show.
President Trump signed a new executive order yesterday denying migrants the right to ask for asylum when they are caught crossing the border without a visa. Immigrant rights organizations say the new executive order targets Central Americans almost exclusively. Meanwhile, a federal appeals court yesterday blocked the Trump Administration from ending DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Brian and John speak with Juan Carlos Ruiz, cofounder of New Sanctuary Coalition.
A federal judge late last night blocked construction of the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline, saying that the Trump Administration had "simply disregarded" the effect that the pipeline will have on climate change. The President said today that he will take the issue to the Supreme Court. Andrea Carmen, executive director of the International Indian Treaty Council, joins the show.
Utah, Nebraska and Idaho, three Republican-dominated states, all voted to expand Medicaid in midterm election ballot measures. What will this mean for the residents in those states? And what will it mean for the fight for the right to healthcare across the country? Leo Cuello, an attorney and the director of health policy for the National Health Law Program, joins Brian and John.
Four inmates in Tennessee are on death row, and are suing the state to let them choose to be killed via firing squad rather than the electric chair or lethal injection. Both methods have had many legal challenges, and the last lethal injection execution in Tennessee, which took place on August 9, took more than 20 minutes to complete. Deborah Golden, an attorney with Human Rights Defense Center and a national expert in prisoner human rights litigation, joins the show.
It's Friday! So it's time for the week's worst and most misleading headlines. Brian and John speak with Steve Patt, an independent journalist whose critiques of the mainstream media have been a feature of his blog Left I on the News and on twitter @leftiblog, and Sputnik producers Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek.
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