Australian federal police this morning raided the headquarters of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in a move that is meeting with an outcry from journalists, civil libertarians, unions, and human rights groups. The police had warrants naming two reporters and the news director, who had worked on a story using Defense Ministry documents showing that Australian troops had committed war crimes in Afghanistan. Police also raided the home of one of the reporters.
Joe Biden is the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for president. Believe it or not, this is the fourth time he's run for the country's highest office. And he was Vice President for eight years. Biden's earlier campaigns were doomed for a variety of reasons. In 1988 he was credibly accused of plagiarism. In 1992 he was accused of embellishment. In 2000, his candidacy didn't catch on because of his high-profile role in the Clarence Thomas hearing. All these years later, Biden doesn't seem to have changed. Can he really win the Democratic nomination? And if he does, can he really become president? A controversy over plagiarism in his newly announced environmental policy have people raising these questions more and more. Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemicist.net, joins the show.
The US and its allies say that 180 civilians were killed in military operations in Raqqa, Syria between June and October 2018. But a new study by Amnesty International says that the real number of civilian deaths was more than 1600. Meanwhile, Iraq has executed nine French citizens who worked as cooks and mechanics for ISIS and is preparing to execute 11 more. The nine had trials that lasted mere minutes. Brian and John speak with Ben Norton, a journalist with the Grayzone and co-host of the Moderate Rebels podcast.
Wednesday's regular segment, Beyond Nuclear, is about nuclear issues, including weapons, energy, waste, and the future of nuclear technology in the United States. Kevin Kamps, the Radioactive Waste Watchdog at the organization Beyond Nuclear, and Sputnik news analyst and producer Nicole Roussell, join the show.
Wednesday's weekly series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective. Sputnik news analysts Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek join the show. They focus on the Australian police raid of major news outlet Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the major problems and challenges facing Joe Biden's campaign for the Democratic nomination, and the "deal of the century" where the United States that is attempting to liquidate the national aspirations of the Palestinian people for genuine self-determination.
Jazz arose in late nineteenth century North America-most likely in New Orleans-based on the musical traditions of Africans, newly freed from slavery. Grounded in the music known as the "blues," which expressed the pain, sufferings, and hopes of African-Americans under the thumb of Jim Crow, this new music entered the world via the instruments that had been abandoned by departing military bands after the Civil War. Gerald Horne's new book Jazz and Justice examines the economic, social, and political forces that shaped this music into a phenomenal US-and Black American-contribution to global arts and culture. They also talk with Dr. Horne about his second new book, "White Supremacy Confronted: U.S. Imperialism and Anti-Communism vs. the Liberation of Southern Africa from Rhodes to Mandela." Dr. Gerald Horne joins Brian and John and is a professor of history at the University of Houston and the author of many books.
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