National Security Advisor John Bolton gave a fiery speech in Miami yesterday declaring the existence of a "troika of tyranny" in Latin America — Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. Bolton also pledged support for far-right Brazilian President-elect Jair Bolsonaro, who made several bold announcements yesterday. Since the election Bolsonaro said that he would move Brazil's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, he would merge the Environment and Agriculture Ministries, threatening the Amazon, and he would name former president Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva's prosecutor as the new Minister of Justice.
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 Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which hosts a livestream every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook, joins the show.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican of Iowa, announced yesterday that for four years during the Obama Administration, the CIA intercepted the emails of potential Intelligence Community whistleblowers and the emails of the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees. Grassley said that he had known this was happening for four years, but the information was classified. It was finally declassified at his request this week. Grassley blames former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper by name for what appears to be an overtly illegal act.
President Trump offered remarks yesterday evening about immigration and the thousands of troops he's sending to the border. He said he hopes the military doesn't have to shoot, but he told reporters that he's told the military that if any migrants seeking asylum throw any rocks, that the military should consider the rock a rifle. Pedro Rios, the director of the American Friends Service Committee's U.S./Mexico Border Program and chairperson for the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium, joins the show.
US sanctions against Iran will take effect again on Monday, six months after the Trump Administration withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the Iran trade deal. The question, though is what other countries will do about the sanctions and whether waivers will make a difference. Professor Hamed Mousavi, a professor of political science with the University of Tehran, joins Brian and John.
Just hours after President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had a positive phone call that pointed to an improvement in diplomatic relations, the Department of Justice issued indictments against two Chinese companies and three individuals yesterday for allegedly stealing trade secrets. What's behind the mixed signals coming from the U.S. government? David Ewing, he is the chair of the San Francisco chapter of the US-China People's Friendship Association, joins the show.
It's Friday! So it's time for the week's 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 and on twitter @leftiblog, and Sputnik producer Nicole Roussell.
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