Four employees at Google were fired this week in what activists say is a clear case of workplace organizing related to growing opposition to the company’s business with Border Patrol.
The US military has quietly resumed large-scale military operations in Syria, following a brief hiatus after what President Trump called the defeat of Daesh. Air Force Major General Eric Hill said that US forces were active in Deir az-Zour over the weekend, where they captured more than a dozen Daesh fighters and killed and wounded an unknown number. The real question, though, is with eight other countries already actively fighting in Syria, why is the US there at all? Ambassador Peter Ford, the former UK Ambassador to Syria, joins the show.
More than 60 medical doctors have written an open letter saying that Wikileaks cofounder Julian Assange’s health is so poor that he could die in London’s maximum-security Belmarsh Prison, from which he is fighting extradition to the United States. In the letter, which is addressed to the British Home Secretary, the physicians ask that Julian be transferred to a university teaching hospital. Brian and John speak with Joe Lauria, the editor-in-chief of Consortium News, founded by the late Robert Parry, and the author of the book "How I Lost, By Hillary Clinton."
The United Nations has just published a bleak report saying that, without immediate drastic action, climate change will be irreversible, causing massive natural disasters. By the end of this century, average temperatures will rise by seven degrees Fahrenheit, causing mass migrations and displacement of millions of people. Fred Magdoff, professor emeritus of plant and soil science at the University of Vermont and the co-author of “What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism” and “Creating an Ecological Society: Toward a Revolutionary Transformation” from Monthly Review Press, joins the show.
Four Michigan residents, on behalf of more than half a million people, have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the state’s new requirements that all Medicaid recipients must work to remain eligible for healthcare. Michigan asked the federal government late last year for a waiver that would make “work or work-related activity” mandatory for recipients between the ages of 18 and 62. The rule is scheduled to go into effect on January 1. Leo Cuello, an attorney and the director of health policy for the National Health Law Program, joins Brian and John.
The hosts talk about the biggest news so far this week, including the newest in the impeachment inquiry, that courts have said White House Counsel Don McGahn must testify, Chile’s strike, Google allegedly firing workers over organizing against sexual harassment and other problems in the workplace, and a Palestinian dying of cancer in an Israeli jail. Brian and John are joined by Sputnik News analysts and producers Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek.
Today’s regular segment that airs every Tuesday is called Women & Society with Dr. Hannah Dickinson. This weekly segment is about the major issues, challenges, and struggles facing women in all aspects of society. Hannah Dickinson, an associate professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and an organizer with the Geneva Women’s Assembly, and Loud & Clear producer Nicole Roussell join the show.
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