On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by Bob Schlehuber, producer for By Any Means Necessary and Sputnik news analyst.
Embattled Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello vowed not to step down, even as the streets of San Juan were choked with demonstrators calling for his ouster following the release of profane chats with aides that disparaged political opponents and ordinary Puerto Ricans. Rossello on Monday told reporters he “respects the right to demonstrate” by protesters calling for his resignation and “has asked for their forgiveness.” Rossello’s comments came after many lawmakers from his own New Progressive Party, which favors Puerto Rico becoming a US state, joined the opposition Popular Democratic Party, which favors continuing Puerto Rico’s current commonwealth status, in calling on him to step down. Thousands of protesters flooded the streets of San Juan’s colonial quarter once again, chanting, banging drums and blowing whistles and vowing to bring down the commonwealth’s chief executive, depicted as a prisoner, mobster or goat on demonstrators’ placards. Are the leaked messages the straw that’s breaking the camels back? Are people so disgusted with the failure to return to normality after Hurricane Maria?
Former US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens died Tuesday at the age of 99. He was a very important and pivotal figure on the court. He was not a blind ideologue, a jurist who came to the court with a world view and an approach to jurisprudence that could not be swayed by the facts and a changing world. He was a registered Republican when appointed, but here’s the thing: he was considered to be on the liberal side of the court at the time of his retirement, and he disliked being referred to as such, but he was found to be a very reasonable voice on issues regarding civil liberties, the death penalty, government action and intellectual property. In cases involving presidents of the United States, he found for the court that they were to be held accountable under American law. Imagine that: a Supreme Court holding that presidents of the US are accountable to the law while in office. Was he perfect? No, no human is, but he did demonstrate how a person can become better if they live long enough, listen more, talk less and think as deeply as they can.
The US House of Representatives voted Wednesday to table an impeachment resolution against President Donald Trump, effectively killing the measure for now but not burying the issue that has divided Democrats. The resolution’s sponsor, Rep. Al Green (D-TX), was seeking to capitalize on growing criticism of Trump after the president’s recent attacks on minority congresswomen. The House voted 332 to 95 to set aside the measure. The House also passed a resolution condemning Trump's attacks on four minority Democrats: Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib. On Sunday, Trump said on Twitter that the lawmakers should go back to their own countries. The Democratic women are all American citizens, with only one having been born outside the US. Trump has since doubled down, accusing the women of hating the US and saying they should leave if they're so unhappy.
With Amazon's Prime Day sales event underway, the company's workers, as well as labor groups and other activists, are calling out the e-commerce giant on issues including work conditions, climate change and its ties to US government moves to deport immigrants. Demonstrators in Seattle delivered a petition with over 270,000 signatures to Amazon headquarters demanding it stop exploiting workers and cooperating with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Prime Day is estimated to make $5.8 billion in sales. Recently, Amazon has been marketing and soliciting to federal agencies, like ICE, the use of their Rekognition — spelled with a "k" — technology. This technology, which is used to identify people's faces, is absolutely concerning to us. It is absolutely dangerous to immigrant communities and communities of color. It has higher error rates on women, non-gender-conforming individuals and people of color.
GUESTS:
Bob Schlehuber — Producer for By Any Means Necessary and Sputnik news analyst.
Jackie Luqman — Co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation and the co-host of the Facebook Livestream "Coffee, Current Events & Politics."
Maru Mora-Villalpando — Nationally known immigrant rights activist, co-founder of the Latinx organization Mijente and community organizer with Northwest Detention Center Resistance
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