President Trump yesterday vetoed a measure that would have cut aid to the war against Yemen, saying that it was an infringement on his authority as President. The Yemen bill passed with healthy majorities in both houses of Congress, but not by enough to override the veto.
A redacted version of the Mueller report will be released tomorrow, but Democrats and their media allies already are downplaying the event. House Democrats announced that they will seek an unredacted version of the report on Friday. Meanwhile, CIA Director Gina Haspel apparently told the President that British intelligence officials told her that two children were injured and several ducks were killed in last year's Novichok attack against a Russian dissident in the UK. There is no evidence, however, that this ever happened. Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemicist.net, whose latest article on both Counterpunch and The Polemicist is "Investigation Nation: Mueller, Russiagate, and Fake Politics," joins the show.
The FBI affidavit used to charge Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange confirms that the US government targeted him for publishing information. Although he has not been charged with espionage, the affidavit, sworn by FBI agent Megan Brown, clearly accuses Assange of violating the Espionage Act and raises fears of a superseding indictment. Brian and John speak with Kevin Gosztola, a journalist for Shadowproof.com and host of the Podcast "Unauthorized Disclosure."
In a major reversal of US immigration and human rights policy, Attorney General Barr yesterday declared that detained asylum seekers who have shown that they have a credible fear of returning to their countries will no longer be able to ask a judge to grant them bail. The move will likely fill the country's prisons and detention centers for refugees, even though they have been neither convicted of or even accused of a crime. Isabel Garcia, co-founder of Coalición de Derechos Humanos, joins the show.
French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday gave a short and solemn speech in the aftermath of the fire that devastated the Cathedral of Notre Dame. He used the speech, however, to draw parallels between the fire and the Yellow Vest protests. Macron had planned the speech for Monday, and it was supposed to be exclusively about the political uprising that has shaken France for five months. Gilbert Mercier, Editor in Chief of News Junkie Post and the author of "The Orwellian Empire," joins Brian and John.
Yesterday, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin tapped current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a governing coalition, after a majority of Knesset members supported him. Netanyahu will now continue talks with the goal of dividing up cabinet ministries among his coalition partners. The new government is expected to be the most right wing in Israeli history, and human rights advocates are sounding the alarm that even more restrictions on Palestinian citizens of Israel are imminent. Loud & Clear producer Nicole Roussell spent the week in Israel covering the election there.
She had the opportunity to speak with Jonathan Kuttab, a leading human rights attorney in Israel and Palestine. He was born in West Jerusalem, but after the Six Day War, his family moved to the United States. After practicing law with a Wall Street firm for several years, he returned home to co-found the Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence, al-Haw (which is a group of lawyers and others who assist with human rights issues), and the Mandela Institute for Political Prisoners. He serves on the board of directors of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem.
Wednesday's regular segment, Beyond Nuclear, is about nuclear issues, including weapons, energy, waste, and the future of nuclear technology in the United States. Kevin Kamps, the Radioactive Waste Watchdog at the organization Beyond Nuclear, and Sputnik news analyst and producer Nicole Roussell, join the show.
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