"Republican lawmakers led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) want to keep the price tag of the next round of coronavirus relief legislation at $1 trillion," The Hill reported Wednesday. It seems to me that they are trying to find a number that works instead of finding a real solution to the impact of the pandemic.
We have been sold this myth that Republicans and Democrats are at the opposite ends of the political spectrum and that voting for one party over the other brings about significant changes in policy. Well, a Tuesday headline at Antiwar.com read: "House Democratic Leadership Teams Up With Republicans To Keep US Troops in Afghanistan." What do policy votes such as these tell us about the current state of politics in the US?
"The United States has ordered China to close its consulate in Houston by Friday," the Washington Post reported Wednesday. "The Trump administration decided to order the closure of China's consulate in Houston, which was opened in 1979 and is situated in an area with a large Chinese community, 'to protect American intellectual property and Americans' private information,' State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said Wednesday," the outlet added. What are the implications of this ham-fisted action?
A July 17 headline in The Grayzone read: "With US support, Taiwan planted deception about warning World Health Org of COVID. " According to writer Ajit Singh, "Taiwan’s claim that it provided early warning to the WHO about COVID and 'human-to human-transmission' has been exploited by the Trump administration to attack the multi-lateral body and turn up the heat on China. There’s just one problem: it’s totally false."
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi warned then-US President Obama in 2011 not to interfere in the North African country's affairs, as doing so would open a can of worms the US wouldn't be able to control. Whom did Obama listen to? Gaddafi? No, that would have been too close to correct. He listened to Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice. We lay this mess right at their feet.
In an effort to present himself as a law and order leader, US President Donald Trump has invoked the powers of the Department of Homeland Security within the country, attempting to quell the unrest on American streets. The fact that these actions are unconstitutional is irrelevant. After all, who needs a constitution in a constitutional republic anyway?
So, we’ve heard about co-morbidity factors in the African-American community that are exacerbating the effects of COVID-19. On that topic, a Monday New York Times headline read: "Black Children Are More Likely to Die After Surgery Than White Peers, Study Shows." The outlet noted, "A large study, published in the journal Pediatrics, suggests that disparities exist in surgery outcomes, even among healthy children." What are we to make of this?
And for our last segment, Alexander Mercouris joins the show to discuss Crimea, the 2014 Ukraine coup and how the region returned to Russia.
Guests:
Niko House - Political activist, broadcast journalist and founder and CEO of the MCSC Network
Steve Lendman - Author and Geopolitical Analyst
Michael Wong - Vice President of the San Francisco chapter of Veterans for Peace
K.J. Noh - Peace activist, writer and teacher
Dr. Gerald Horne - American historian and holder of the Moores Professorship of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston
Ray Baker - Political analyst and host of the podcast Public Agenda
Dr. Yolandra Hancock - Board-certified physician and obesity medicine specialist
Alexander Mercouris - London-based writer on international affairs with special interests in Russia and law
We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com