The panel takes a look at the biggest stories so far this week and put them into historical context, including U.S. aggression against Iran and Venezuela and so-called "great power competition" against China.
Chelsea Manning was released yesterday from a federal detention facility in Alexandria, VA. She had refused to testify before a grand jury against Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange. The term of the Assange grand jury had expired. But Manning will likely be arrested again next week when a new grand jury is empaneled. She already has said that she again will refuse to testify. Joe Lauria, editor-in-chief of Consortium News and author of the book "How I Lost, By Hillary Clinton", joins the show.
The Justice Department announced yesterday that Daniel Everett Hale was arrested and indicted on espionage charges for providing an Intercept journalist with information about the US's drone program. The information apparently was the subject of an expose Jeremy Scahill wrote in 2015. The U.S. government's war on whistleblowers continues at it seeks to shield from public view the abuses it carries out around the world. Brian and John speak with Kevin Gosztola, a writer for Shadowproof.com and cohost of the podcast Unauthorized Disclosure.
The Trump Administration has escalated its trade war with China, raising tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese exports. Beijing expressed what it called "deep regret" over the development and said that it would immediately implement countermeasures. Meanwhile, in an early morning tweet storm, President Trump said that there was "no need to rush" into a China trade deal. Steve Keen, an economist and author of "Debunking Economics", joins the show.
A poll released today by The Financial Times shows that the UK's Conservative Party is facing its worst defeat in the history of European parliamentary elections. The poll of polls shows the Tories winning just 14 percent. That's compared to 29 percent for Nigel Farage's new Brexit Party and the Labour Party's 25 percent. Sputnik News analyst and producer Walter Smolarek joins Brian and John.
Again this week we'll look at the worst, most misleading, funniest, and the just plain wrong headlines of the past week. Steve Patt, an independent journalist whose critiques of the mainstream media have been a feature of his site Left I on the News, at lefti.blogspot.com, joins the show.
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