Clearing the FOG with co-hosts Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese

Clearing The FOG examines the new fronts of US militarism: the encirclement of China with the Asian Pivot, NATO surrounding Russia and the Ukraine trap for Russian President Putin. In addition, we'll be discussing the Spring Rising organized by peace activist Cindy Sheehan. “Spring Rising” is four days of creative resistance; theater, teach-ins; rallies and marches marking the anniversary of the United States’ “shock and awe” attack on Iraq. Spring Rising will bring people together to oppose the plans and calls for growing military intervention. Our guests are Bruce Gagnon, the Coordinator and co-founder of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. And Cindy Sheehan, a peace and justice advocate, author, and host of her own podcast Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

In 2003, the Internet was reclassified as an information service instead of a public utility which reduced the Federal Communication Commission’s ability to control the giant telecoms’ behavior. Ever since, defenders of Internet freedom have been fighting to make it a public utility or common carrier again and the telecoms have been fighting to further commodify and profit from the Internet. After a dedicated ten month campaign, net neutrality activists have finally won. The FCC is expected to vote on reclassification on Feb. 26. While this is a victory and we will celebrate, there is more to do. Craig Aaron of Free Press explains why reclassification is necessary for net neutrality, but not sufficient. And David Isenberg who organizes Freedom to Connect discusses more steps that can be taken to guarantee that the Internet is a place for free speech in the 21st century and is available to everyone. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We are now 5 years into the national healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act. The deadline for purchasing insurance this year is Feb. 15. Although more people have health insurance, we have not changed the healthcare system in the United States. The same problems of lack of access to care because of cost, medical debt and bankruptcy and poor health outcomes continue. Dr. Robert Zarr, the new president of Physicians for a National Health Program, joins us to talk about the current healthcare system and the newly introduced HR 676 Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act in Congress that would create a single payer health system. We also speak with Ellen Schwartz of the Vermont Workers Center about their work to push for a universal healthcare system at the state level. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) many times over the past several years is a huge international agreement that covers trade and enhances corporate power that has been negotiated in secret by the Obama administration for more than five years. Members of Congress have had restricted access to the text of the agreement. The commercial media has had a virtual blackout on the TPP until recentlyCorporate lobbyists have had direct access to the text and have been helping to write it. Now the President is pushing Congress to give him the power, called Fast Track, to sign it before they see it. We are in a critical time to stop this dangerous trade agreement. Some call it "NAFTA on steroids." To discuss what is in the agreement and how we stop it, we'll be joined by Adam Weissman of Trade Justice New York and Nancy Price of the Alliance for Democracy. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Coast to coast communities are celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day this year by rejecting the watered-down version of Dr. King and lifting up the Dr. King who questioned capitalism, who saw the connections between racism, militarism and economic injustice and who promoted independent politics. We will speak about Dr. King’s politics and how they relate to the current economic and political environment. We will also talk about the current protests. Kymone Freeman who is co-founder of We Act Radio and also a leading organizer of DC Ferguson and other local groups demanding police reform will be our guest. He will also speak about his new play, “Whites Only.” We will also be joined by Jasiri X and Cat Brooks. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We spend the hour with Tim DeChristopher who is most known for his action as "Bidder 70" to stop the illegal sale of public lands for oil and gas. For that act he served 21 months in prison. DeChristopher continues to work on climate justice with front line groups and youth. He also works to support those who are preparing for nonviolent civil resistance and those who are going to trial or their actions. He is currently studying at Harvard Divinity School. We talk about climate justice, how to shift power, electoral politics and more. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We bring together several activists to speak about the new year in resistance. We discuss the top issues of 2015 and what we can expect as the movement of movements for social, economic and environmental justice continues to grow. Joining us are Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence who has been focused on building peace and stopping US drone attacks and Evan Greer of Fight for the Future who has been focused on issues of Internet privacy and net neutrality. Bill Ragen of Rising Tide North America, a coalition of groups and people fighting for climate justice is also a guest. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

At the beginning of the year, 2014 was called “the year that everything changed,” and indeed it has been a turning point for a number of resistance movements in the United States. We look back over the past 12 months and discuss some of the highlights and ways that movements made connections and worked together towards building the necessary ‘movement of movements’. We use a roundtable format for the hour. Our guests are Sandy Nurse, an activist in New York City who runs the composting business called BK ROT; Cassidy Regan, an activist in Baltimore who works on a number of fronts including militarism and trade agreements; and Tarak Kauff, an activist from Woodstock, NY who is on the board of Veterans for Peace and is active on environmental issues, militarism, racial justice and incarceration. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The Senate Intelligence Committee report on the CIA's torture program was released last week and it demonstrates both that the US used torture methods during interrogation which led to deaths in some cases and that torture was ineffective in obtaining necessary information. The Obama administration worked to suppress and censor the report; and following its release Obama announced that there will be no investigation of those involved in the program. The United Nations disagrees and UN Rapporteur Ben Emmerson is calling for prosecution up to the highest level of office. In addition, the UN has criticized the use of solitary confinement in the US as a domestic form of torture and suggests that it be banned. To discuss the report and the implications of this lack of accountability, we speak with Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights and Jeremy Varon of Witness Against Torture. For more information, visitwww.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The COP 20 talks have just concluded in Lima, Peru and now eyes are turning to the next treaty expected to be signed in Paris in December, 2015. So far, the United Nations’ COP process has failed to produce a meaningful agreement to address the climate crisis and to achieve climate justice. The United States has been a great obstacle to progress. And the UN talks have essentially devolved into another tool for commodifying the Earth and pushing a neo-liberal economic agenda. We speak with Brian Tokar, author of the newly-revised “Toward Climate Justice: Perspectives on the Climate Crisis and Social Change” about new organizing and a new framework that are pushing for real solutions to the climate crisis. We also speak with Karen Orenstein of Friends of the Earth about the Lima talks and how the Paris Treaty is shaping up. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.