President Trump and congressional leaders agreed on Friday afternoon to reopen the government for three weeks to give all sides time to come up with a workable federal budget. The three-week Continuing Resolution does not include money for the President's border wall, but it does include money to hire more border patrol agents. The countdown is now on to strike a major deal on immigration policy before the government shuts back down next month.
Monday's regular segment Technology Rules with Chris Garaffa is a weekly guide on how monopoly corporations and the national surveillance state are threatening cherished freedoms, civil rights, and civil liberties. Web developer and technologist Chris Garaffa joins the show.
The United States and the Taliban agreed on a draft framework for peace in Afghanistan following nearly a week of talks in Qatar. The Afghan government did not participate because the Taliban does see it as illegitimate. But US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters that the Taliban had agreed to never again allow the country to be a base for terrorists. The Taliban spokesman, meanwhile, said that "all foreign troops must leave Afghanistan." Brian and John speak with Brian Terrell.
The political crisis in Venezuela deepened over the weekend following Juan Guaido's self-proclamation as Interim President. The main institutions of government remain loyal to President Nicolas Maduro, but the United States, along with allies like the UK, are turning up the economic pressure. What's next for Venezuela? Chuck Kaufman, the National Co-Coordinator of the Alliance for Global Justice, joins the show.
The Integrity Initiative, a UK-based group that purported to be a watchdog for what it called the Russian threat against democracy in the UK, Europe, and the US, was unmasked last year as a British intelligence-funded propaganda front group. Its website was hacked recently and its internal documents were spread. The group has now taken the website down. Investigative journalist Kit Klarenberg joins Brian and John.
Monday's segment "Education for Liberation with Bill Ayers" is where Bill helps us look at the state of education across the country. What's happening in our schools, colleges, and universities, and what impact does it have on the world around us? Bill Ayers, an activist, educator and the author of the book "Demand the Impossible: A Radical Manifesto," joins Brian and John.
A new National Intelligence Strategy, a long-term intelligence outlook prepared by the Director of National Intelligence, says that the United States will be challenged in the coming years by nations that exploit "the weakening of the post-WWII international order and dominance of western democratic ideals…and increasingly isolationist tendencies in the west." What does that mean? It means that the US believes that Russia and China are its most important adversaries for the coming decades. Brian and John speak with Mark Sleboda, international relations, and security analyst.
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