In a leaked video released Tuesday, ABC News anchor Amy Robach, sitting at her desk on-set but apparently speaking to colleagues off-air, expressed frustration that the network did not air her 2015 interview with Virginia Giuffre, who said she was coerced into a sexual relationship with wealthy pedophile Jeffrey Epstein when she was a teenager. Now we find out that CBS News has fired a female staffer believed to have had access to the tape when she worked at ABC, and who was reportedly responsible for the leak. It appears to me that many in mainstream, corporate media present themselves as defenders of whistleblowers. But not only do they either stay silent or actively vilify people such as Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and John Kiriakou — real whistleblowers, not CIA stooges — but they also actively retaliate against media whistleblowers. Do whistleblowers have a right to remain anonymous?
"President Donald Trump plans to use Atlanta as a launching pad for his new African American coalition with a Friday rally at the Georgia World Congress Center," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Monday. "The president will kick off the Black Voices for Trump Coalition initiative at 3 pm. Friday at the downtown Atlanta convention center after a high-dollar fundraiser in Buckhead to support US Sen. David Perdue." Is this a laudable effort or pandering to some in the African American community?
"Kentucky's Senate President Robert Stivers suggested Tuesday night that the close race between Gov. Matt Bevin and Democratic challenger Andy Beshear could ultimately be decided by the state's Republican-controlled legislature, sparking warnings that the GOP could attempt to 'steal' the election," Common Dreams reported Wednesday. The article notes: "According to the New York Times, Beshear is leading Bevin by more than 5,000 votes with 100 percent of the precincts reporting. Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, a Democrat, called the race for Beshear Tuesday night." Furthermore, it adds: "Bevin, a fervent backer of President Donald Trump, told his supporters Tuesday night that he has no plans to concede the election. The Republican governor claimed without evidence that there were 'more than a few irregularities' in the race. ... The local Courier Journal reported that Bevin has 30 days under state law to 'formally contest the outcome once it is certified by the State Board of Elections.'" In justifying his complaints, Common Dreams said that "Stivers pointed to Section 90 of the Kentucky state Constitution, which says: 'Contested elections for Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall be determined by both Houses of the General Assembly, according to such regulations as may be established by law.'"
"An uprising in Iraq is the broadest in decades. It’s posing an alarming threat to Baghdad and Tehran," reads the headline of a Washington Post article published Thursday. The piece notes: "From Baghdad to the Shiite Muslim shrine city of Karbala and farther south, Iraqis are pushing for a revolution. They fill central squares to sing and dance from daybreak, and face down riot police when night falls."
GUESTS:
Garland Nixon — Co-host of Fault Lines on Sputnik News Radio.
Eugene Craig III — Republican strategist, former vice-chair of the Maryland Republican Party and grassroots activist.
Ernie Suggs — Reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 1997, currently covering a variety of breaking news and investigative stories for page A1.
Teresa M. Lundy — Government affairs and public relations specialist and principal of TML Communications, LLC.
Dr. Gerald Horne — Professor of history at the University of Houston and author of many books, including "Blows Against the Empire: US Imperialism in Crisis."
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