"German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Thursday rejected Washington's latest threat of sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, saying, 'European energy policy is made in Europe,'" Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.
The infamous Steele dossier is said to have given rise to the equally infamous Russiagate investigation. The document's author, Christopher Steele, is a former British intelligence officer who started a private intelligence company called Orbis. Is Steele a spy, a businessman or a political operative? Here to guide us through the murky world of one of Russiagate's central figures is Alexander Mercouris, editor-in-chief of The Duran.
On Friday's panel with Dr. Clarence Lusane and Dr. Colin Campbell, discussion items include the US setting a record Thursday by reporting more than 70,000 new COVID-19 cases; the removal of some COVID-19 data from the website of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the backlash it caused; and how some US police departments have banned the use of neck restraints since the killing of George Floyd by officers in May.
A Thursday headline in the Washington Post read: "White House warns stimulus package ‘must’ include Trump payroll tax cut proposal." The Post explains: "The White House is insisting that Congress include a payroll tax cut as part of the next coronavirus stimulus package, potentially complicating talks with lawmakers by pushing a measure that President Trump has tried but failed to advance for almost a year. ... The payroll tax is the 7.65 percent tax that is taken out of workers’ paychecks and goes to fund the Social Security and Medicare trust funds."
The second panel consists of author Margaret Kimberly and journalist Daniel Lazare. They discuss how US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan issued two injunctions this week aimed at preventing the Trump administration from carrying out federal executions. However, both Daniel Lewis Lee and Wesley Ira Purkey were put to death this week at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.
The hosts end the day talking to economist Dr. Jack Rasmus about his new article on the economic desperation that may lie ahead as a result of the US government’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
GUESTS:
Caleb Maubin - Speaker, writer, journalist and political analyst
Dr. Clarence Lusane - Author, professor and activist
Dr. Colin Campbell - Washington, DC, senior news correspondent
Alexander Mercouris - Editor-in-chief of The Duran
Daniel Lazare - Investigative Journalist
Margaret Kimberley - Editor and senior columnist for the Black Agenda Report
Dr. Jack Rasmus - Economist, author and professor at St. Mary’s College in California
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