For the Past Decade, US Executions, Death Sentences, and Public Support for Death Row Have Declined

Caleb Maupin, journalist, and political analyst, joins us to wrap up the important news stories from the week. The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), a watchdog group that tracks data on capital punishment, reports this year's findings. The number of executions, death sentences, and the public's support for death row practices has declined over the past decade. Caleb also talks about how President Biden's betrayal of rail workers represents the demise of liberal politics.

Jack Rasmus, professor of Economics and Politics at St. Mary's College in California, joins us to discuss this week's economic news stories. One of the most critical US labor events of 2022 was the 115,000 US railroad workers and their unions' attempts to negotiate a new contract with Railroad companies. To date, negotiations have yet to favor the workers. The Biden administration and the Democrat-controlled US Congress have joined the Republicans in repeatedly intervening on the side of the management in the negotiations. Also, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by half a percentage point on Wednesday and signaled plans to keep growing them more in 2023.

Jon Jeter, journalist, and author, discusses the week's stories. WNBA player Brittney Griner was finally released on December 8 in a prisoner swap for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout and is now in what is called a "reintegration" facility at an army base in San Antonio, Texas. Also, days before International Human Rights Day, the US overwhelmingly passed the 858 billion dollar National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which earmarks another $800 million for the Ukraine conflict.

Ajamu Baraka, 2016 US vice presidential candidate for the Green Party, and Dr. Margaret Flowers, activist, and editor of "Popular Resistance.org," join us to discuss the US Leaders Africa Summit. President Biden brought Africa's leaders to Washington, hoping to foster better relations with the continent. Meanwhile, Senegal's President (who is also president of the African Union) Macky Sall was quoted saying, "Let no one tell us no, don't work with so-and-so, work with us. We want to work and trade with everyone."

Steve Poikonen, national organizer for Action4Assange, and Jim Kavanagh, writer at thepolemicist.net and CounterPunch, and author of "Danger in Society: Against Vaccine Passports," join us to round up the week's events. Demonstrators occupy airports in response to the coup in Peru. Columbia, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, and Honduras continue to recognize President Castillo as Peru's president, and the US mulls sending a small number of troops into Ukraine to track weapons.

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