So, we are hearing all of these scare tactics about US President Donald Trump, many of which are true, but elections are supposed to be about substantive change and progress. As we hear the name Michele Flournoy bandied about as the rumored front-runner for the position of secretary of defense if Democratic candidate Joe Biden wins the November presidential election, is there any sense that there will be change and progress, or is it all style over substance?
"Jobless claims increased slightly to 870,000 last week from 866,000 a week earlier, according to Thursday’s Labor Department report," the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. "The totals remain well above pre-pandemic peaks but are down significantly from nearly 7 million in March," the Journal added, also noting that "employer uncertainty about the economic recovery six months into the coronavirus pandemic continued to restrain hiring gains." What does the future hold?
"China's permanent representative to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, on Thursday fought back at US accusations against China over the handling of COVID-19" the Chinese state outlet Xinhua News Agency reported Friday. "At a summit-level debate on 'global governance after COVID-19,' the US permanent representative to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, repeated President Donald Trump's demand to hold China accountable for the spread of the virus. In response, Zhang said Thursday's meeting was a moment for solidarity and cooperation, as reflected by the appeals of the vast majority of Security Council members. 'Regrettably, we once again heard noises from the US that are so at odds with the atmosphere of the meeting. China resolutely opposes and rejects the baseless accusations by the US,' said Zhang." Is the US winning these arguments on any level?
Friday is panel day, and our first panel is with Dr. Linwood Tauheed and Dr. Colin Campbell. "Senate Republicans were left dumbfounded Thursday by President Trump’s latest self-engineered controversy, a suggestion there might not be a peaceful transition of power after Election Day, which left his GOP allies on Capitol Hill scrambling for political cover," The Hill reported Friday. What are we to make of this?
For our final panel, we talk to David Lindorff and Dr. Gerald Horne about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' proposed bill that "would newly classify certain forms of protest as felonies and impose harsh penalties on some protesters," as reported Tuesday by Common Dreams.
Guests:
Caleb Maupin - Journalist and political analyst
Dr. Jack Rasmus - Professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California
KJ Noh - Peace activist, writer and teacher
Dr. Linwood Tauheed - Associate professor of economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City
Dave Lindorff - Journalist
Dr. Gerald Horne - Professor of history at the University of Houston, author, historian and researcher
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