In demonstrations today, the Israeli army and police killed at least ten Palestinian protesters, injured more than one thousand people, and many more were arrested. In response to the Israeli government's announcement that it would expropriate thousands of acres of Palestinian land to build a settlement, a general strike and protests were organized in Arab towns all over the country in 1976, and ever since today has been commemorated as Land Day.
On our regular Friday segment covering the upcoming midterm elections, a special election is coming soon in a solidly Republican district in Arizona. But Republicans are panicking and are spending millions of dollars in what should be a safe seat to try to head off what could be a disaster in the coming midterm elections. Republicans are also in trouble in the Philadelphia suburbs, where incumbent Ryan Costello has announced that he will not seek reelection. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will take up the issue of gerrymandering. Jacqueline Luqman and Abdus Luqman, co-editors-in-chief of Luqman Nation, join the show.
Crystal Mason lives in Texas. She was recently released after a short prison sentence for inflating tax deductions for her accounting clients. When she got home, her mother urged her to register to vote. Crystal did, and she voted in the 2016 election. She had no idea that it was illegal for felons to vote in Texas. And yesterday she was sentenced to five years in a state prison for what the state calls "illegal voting." Nicole and John speak with James Kilgore, a research scholar at the Center for African Studies at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) who wrote the book "Understanding Mass Incarceration: A People's Guide to the Key Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time," and spent six-and-a-half years in federal and state prisons.
Schools across eight districts in Kentucky closed today after teachers went on strike or called in sick over the legislature's decision to change their pensions. Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin tweeted that the teachers should be grateful that they have a funded pension. Meanwhile, teachers in Oklahoma and Arizona, inspired by the recent successful teachers strike in West Virginia, are also talking about striking. John Winstead and Greg Capillo, community organizers in Lexington, Kentucky for economic and social justice, join the show.
Terry James Albury, the only African-American FBI agent in Minneapolis, was arrested this week and charged under the Espionage Act for providing documents to the news outlet The Intercept that showed how the FBI infiltrates ethnic organizations and Black empowerment groups. Albury's attorneys have already said their client would plead guilty. Coleen Rowley, a former FBI special agent who in 2002 was named Time Magazine person of the year along with two other whistleblowers, joins Walter and John.
The official results of the Egyptian election are in and, to no surprise, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has been re-elected with over 90 percent of the vote. But as the economy falters and the demands of the 2011 revolution go unmet, how secure is his regime really? Dr. May Darwich, an assistant professor in International Relations of the Middle East in the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University, joins the show.
Another Friday, another week of the 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, which you can find at lefti.blogspot.com, and Nicole Roussell, a producer of Loud & Clear.
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