The Critical Hour

McConnell Nixes Pandemic Relief Talks to Protect Vote on Barrett Supreme Court Nomination

Timely economic relief is in doubt "after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell revealed that he told the White House not to make a deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi before the November 3 election," the Washington Post reported Tuesday.
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Jim Kavanagh, writer at ThePolemicist.net and CounterPunch and the author of the article "Over the Rainbow: Paths of Resistance After George Floyd," joins us to discuss McConnell telling the White House not to make a deal with Pelosi before Election Day. A Wednesday headline in Common Dreams read: "McConnell Admits He's Been Working to Sabotage Covid Relief Talks Behind the Scenes to Prioritize Rushing Barrett Confirmation."

Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, examines the implications of a letter that went out Monday with the signatures of more than 50 former senior intelligence officials "outlining their belief that the recent disclosure of emails allegedly belonging to Joe Biden's son 'has all the classic earmarks of Russian information operation,'" as Politico reported Monday.

Caleb Maupin, a frequent collaborator with all major news outlets and author of "City Builders and Vandals in Our Age," discusses a Tuesday article in Antiwar.com reporting that "GOP lawmakers introduced a bill to the House that declares China is the top economic and national security threat to the US. The legislation, dubbed the China Task Force Act, was authored by House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and co-sponsored by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX)."

Daniel Lazare, investigative journalist and author of three books - "The Frozen Republic"; "The Velvet Coup"; and "America's Undeclared War" - discusses a book by Stephen Wertheim, entitled "Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of US Global Supremacy," that was the subject of a Tuesday piece in Consortium News by Andrew J. Bacevich. The book makes the case that "since 1945, the US pursuit of 'dominance in the name of internationalism' has mainly served as a device for affirming the authority of foreign-policy elites," the outlet notes.

Niko House, political activist and independent journalist and podcaster, talks about a Tuesday Politico report that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's "transition team is vetting a handful of Republicans for potential Cabinet positions - despite doubts it will win him new support from the right and at the risk that it will enrage the left." 

Steve Dear, acting executive director for People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, examines the story of Lisa Montgomery, who was convicted in 2007 of strangling a pregnant woman and kidnapping her unborn child. Montgomery is set to be executed on December 8 in Indiana by lethal injection, which would mark the first time since 1953 that the US federal government has executed a woman.

Mark Sleboda, Moscow-based international relations and security analyst, joins us to discuss a Tuesday report in Antiwar.com that said, "Azerbaijan and Armenia reported fresh fighting on Tuesday over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. Despite two attempted ceasefires, clashes that broke out on September 27 continue to rage as the death toll mounts." According to the outlet, "Armenia and Azerbaijan confirm Pompeo meetings for Friday."

George Koo, journalist, social activist, international business consultant and chemical engineer, analyzes the implications of a Tuesday report in Antiwar.com that said, "The US, Japan, and Australia conducted joint naval exercises in the South China Sea on Monday, the US Navy's Seventh Fleet said on Tuesday. The drills marked the fifth time this year that the three countries had conducted exercises together in the Seventh Fleet's operations areas."

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