The world is changing fast as the dominant position of the United States in global politics is called into question by emerging powers. As several world leaders sharply criticize the Trump administration from the rostrum of the United States, what does the future hold for geopolitics?
Friday is Loud & Clear's regular segment on the midterms, taking a look at political races around the country in the runup to midterm elections in November. Jacqueline and Abdus Luqman, the co-editors-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which hosts a livestream every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook, and Brent Jabbour, an RT news analyst and host of the podcast Origin Stories, join the show.
Less than a day after the powerful testimony of Christine Blasey Ford and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh furious response, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted along partisan lines to advance Kavanaugh's nomination with a positive recommendation. All eyes are now on the full Senate as it prepares for a final vote. Brian speaks with Heidi Boghosian, the executive director of the A. J. Muste Memorial Institute and the former executive director of the National Lawyers Guild.
Julian Assange stepped down yesterday evening as the editor-in-chief of Wikileaks. He'll remain the publisher, but Kristinn Hrafnsson will step up to be the new editor-in-chief there. Randy Credico, an activist, a comedian, and the former director of the William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice, joins the show.
Bellingcat, a citizen journalist website, reported this week that they'd found the true identity of Ruslan Boshirov, one of the Russians that Britain has accused of poisoning the Skripals in Salisbury. Bellingcat has existed for a few years, and most of its renown has come from chemical weapons investigations and accusations against Syrian President Assad. Alexander Mercouris, the editor-in-chief of The Duran, joins Brian.
The US and Mexico will release the text of their bilateral trade agreement tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern, according to Bloomberg News. The Trump administration was eager to conclude an agreement with Mexico before president-elect Obrador takes office, leaving Canada out in the cold and calling the existence of the NAFTA trade agreement itself into question. Dr. Jack Rasmus, a professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California and author of "Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression," whose work is at www.jackrasmus.com, joins the show.
It's Friday! So it's time for the week's worst and most misleading headlines. Brian speaks with Steve Patt, an independent journalist whose critiques of the mainstream media have been a feature of his blog Left I on the News and on twitter @leftiblog, and Sputnik producer Nicole Roussell.
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