Fires Ravage Greece; Restaurant Wages Rise to $15; Social Media Gatekeeping

John Kiriakou, co-host of the Backstory on Radio Sputnik, talks to us about the fires ravaging Greece that continue unabated despite efforts by the government to keep them under control that have destroyed 200,000 acres of forest land, particularly on the island of Evia and in the southern Peloponnese Peninsula. We also talk about the chaotic response by the government to the fires that have many people blaming Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the political fallout of the handling of this crisis, and what it will take to rebuild these areas and assist the population that has lost so much due to this disaster.

Trupti Patel, advisory neighborhood commissioner for Ward 2A03 in Washington, DC, talks to us about the news that workers in the supermarket and restaurant industries have seen their wages rise to a little over $15 dollars an hour, how this was an increase that should have happened long ago, and how even this wage increase consigns millions of workers to a life of precarity. We also talk about whether the hesitancy of workers to return to the workforce may have contributed to this increase, and how workers and consumers working together may show the way forward to improve wages and working conditions.

Dan Lazare, journalist and writer, talks to us about Andrew Cuomo’s resignation and how it came as a surprise after he vowed to fight the accusations. We also talk about efforts by Joe Biden and the Democratic Party to shepherd two infrastructure bills through Congress in the hopes of finalizing a $3.5 trillion plan through reconciliation, and Twitter partnering with Reuters and the AP to “identify and elevate credible information on Twitter,” how this gatekeeping effort could stymie free speech, and how media companies in the past have actually promoted misinformation fed by security agencies.

John Kane, Mohawk activist, educator, producer and host of the Let's Talk Native Podcast, joins us in a conversation about the new FX show “Reservation Dogs,” what this means for native voices in the entertainment industry, and whether this will lead to a better understanding of Native American culture.