Loud & Clear

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jimmy Williams, General Vice President At Large for Organizing with the Painters and Allied Traders International Union.

Construction work is the 6th largest employment sector in the country. These are the workers employed on projects, rather than as salaried employees. They are construction workers, painters, laborers, and tradesmen. Without the benefit of steady employment or corporate backing during the coronavirus outbreak, how are they handling the hardships being foisted on them, even with the temporary respite of unemployment benefits?

Israel’s Blue & White Party leader Benny Gantz shocked his supporters last week when he announced that he would enter into a unity government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party. Netanyahu will continue on as Prime Minister for the next 18 months and then Gantz will replace him as Prime Minister for 18 months. In the meantime, Gantz will serve as Speaker of the Knesset. Gantz head earlier said that he would not take part in a unity government with Netanyahu under any circumstances, and he called for the Prime Minister’s imprisonment on corruption charges. So what happened? Miko Peled, the author of “The General’s Son - A Journey of an Israeli in Palestine,” and of "Injustice: The Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five,” joins the show.

Monday’s segment “Education for Liberation with Bill Ayers” is where Bill helps us look at the state of education across the country. What’s happening in our schools, colleges, and universities, and what impact does it have on the world around us? Bill Ayers, an activist, educator and the author of the book “Demand the Impossible: A Radical Manifesto,” joins Brian and John.

The coronavirus continues to hit the UK hard, with even Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the country’s health minister testing positive for the disease. So far, the UK has seen more than 20,000 confirmed cases of the disease and more than 1,250 deaths. Neil Clark, a journalist and broadcaster whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Week, and Morning Star, joins the show.

In this segment, The Week Ahead, the hosts take a look at the most newsworthy stories of the coming week and what it means for the country and the world, including . Sputnik News analysts and producers of this show Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek join the show.

Monday’s regular segment Technology Rules is a weekly guide on how monopoly corporations and the national surveillance state are threatening cherished freedoms, civil rights and civil liberties. Web developer and technologist Chris Garaffa joins the show.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Sputnik News analysts and producers Walter Smolarek and Nicole Roussell.

Friday is Loud & Clear’s weekly hour-long segment The Week in Review, about the week in politics, policy, and international affairs. Today they focus on the rapid spread of the Coronavirus pandemic, Washington’s efforts to bail out Wall Street, the state of the presidential election, and more.

The United States yesterday overtook both China and Italy in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases. But Italy far exceeds the rest of the world per capita in the number of deaths from the coronavirus to the point where bodies can’t be buried quickly enough and health care providers are becoming infected and are dying at an alarming rate. Guido Salza, a leading member of the Italian political organization Fronte Popolare, joins the show.

The United States greatly stepped up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro yesterday when the Justice Department charged him in federal court in New York City with narco-terrorism and conspiracy to commit international cocaine trafficking, with prosecutors maintaining that he led a violent drug cartel even as he rose to the leadership of his country. At the same time, the State Department offered a $15 million reward for information leading to Maduro’s capture.The Venezuelan denounced the move as “miserable, vulgar and baseless accusations.” Brian and John speak with Leo Flores, a member of the peace group Code Pink, where he is the Latin America campaign coordinator.

World Water Day was commemorated earlier this week as a way to focus attention on the importance of fresh water and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. The day took on renewed significance amid calls for a moratorium on utility shut offs as the country and the world is gripped by the Coronavirus pandemic. Mary Grant, the director of the Public Water for All Campaign at Food & Water Watch and a policy analyst on US water utility privatization, joins the show.

It’s Friday! So it’s time for the week’s worst and most misleading headlines. Brian and John speak with Steve Patt, an independent journalist whose critiques of the mainstream media have been a feature of his site Left I on the News and on twitter @leftiblog, and Sputnik producer Nicole Roussell.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Vijay Prashad, the Director of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and Chief Editor of LeftWord Books, the author of “The Death of the Nation and the Future of the Arab Revolution,” and his most recent publication is “Red Star Over the Third World.”

The Coronavirus pandemic has set off a global economic catastrophe of historic proportions, shaking the very foundations of capitalism. The world is scrambling to address the profound health and economic fallout and discontent is rising. Meanwhile, many are looking to the model set by the Indian state of Kerala as an example of a humane, people-first approach to the crisis.

Thursday’s weekly series “Criminal Injustice” is about the most egregious conduct of our courts and prosecutors and how justice is denied to so many people in this country. Paul Wright, the founder and executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center and editor of Prison Legal News (PLN), and Kevin Gosztola, a writer for Shadowproof.com and co-host of the podcast Unauthorized Disclosure, join the show.

Loud & Clear’s weekly series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective, including the coronavirus aid bill that congress is working on. Sputnik news analysts Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek join the show.

A regular Thursday segment deals with the ongoing militarization of space. As the US continues to withdraw from international arms treaties, will the weaponization and militarization of space bring the world closer to catastrophe? Brian and John speak with Prof. Karl Grossman, a full professor of journalism at the State University of New York, College at Old Westbury and the host of a nationally aired television program focused on environmental, energy, and space issues, and with Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Lee Camp, a writer, comedian, activist, journalist, and host of the television show “Redacted Tonight,” on RT America, and his latest book is called “Bullet Points & Punch Lines,” available at leecamp.com.

The Senate this afternoon approved a $2 trillion spending bill that would flood the US economy with money in an effort to stabilize households and businesses hit by the fallout from the coronavirus. The House passed its own measure a week ago. But senators were stuck because Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would not negotiate with Democrats, and he focused the first draft of the bill solely on corporate bailouts with little in the way of regulations. The latest version of the bill sends the lion’s share of money to the largest corporations in America. That’s on top of the trillions -- yes, trillions -- already promised from the Federal Reserve Bank to the biggest banks in the country.

The coronavirus has now been detected in at least 189 countries around the world. Just this week it was detected in Gaza, Syria, Afghanistan, west Africa, and other areas that have large numbers of refugees and people affected by conflict. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed Monday for an "immediate global ceasefire" to protect vulnerable civilians in conflict zones from the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic. Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Non-Violence, joins the show.

Joe Biden has been virtually incommunicado for the past two weeks. He did give one short statement on the coronavirus, but he appeared to become confused and he just walked away from the podium. So he tried again yesterday to insert himself in the coronavirus debate. But in a statement on the television show The View, he said disingenuously that the coronavirus cure would be worse than the disease itself. What’s wrong with Joe Biden? Brian and John speak with Ted Rall, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist, whose work is at www.rall.com.

Wednesday’s weekly series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective. Sputnik news analysts Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek join the show.

Wednesday’s regular segment, Beyond Nuclear, is about nuclear issues, including weapons, energy, waste, and the future of nuclear technology in the United States. Kevin Kamps, the Radioactive Waste Watchdog at the organization Beyond Nuclear, and Sputnik news analyst and producer Nicole Roussell, join the show.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Dr. Tara Smith, an epidemiologist and professor at the Kent State University College of Public Health, where she specializes in zoonotic infections and molecular epidemiology.

The coronavirus is, in large part, a testing crisis, at least in the United States. We read about tests, we talk about tests, the news networks report on tests. But where are the tests? Are they readily available? Are there different tests in different countries? Why do some take weeks to read when others take hours or even minutes? And is there any change on the horizon?

Today is Loud & Clear’s weekly series about the biggest economic news of the week with special guest -- Prof. Richard Wolff. Professor Wolff, a professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and founder of the organization Democracy at Work whose latest book is “Understanding Socialism,” joins the show.

Loud & Clear’s weekly series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective. Sputnik news analysts Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek join the show.

Tuesday’s regular segment is called Women & Society with Dr. Hannah Dickinson. This weekly segment is about the major issues, challenges, and struggles facing women in all aspects of society. Hannah Dickinson, an associate professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and an organizer with the Geneva Women’s Assembly; Nathalie Hrizi, an educator, a political activist, and the editor of Breaking the Chains, a women’s magazine, which you can find at patreon.com/BreakChainsMag; and Loud & Clear producer Nicole Roussell join the show.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Sputnik News analysts and producers of this show Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek.

In this segment, The Week Ahead, the hosts take a look at the most newsworthy stories of the coming week and what it means for the country and the world, including coverage on the coronavirus spread, the government’s woefully inadequate response, and more.

Monday’s regular segment Technology Rules is a weekly guide on how monopoly corporations and the national surveillance state are threatening cherished freedoms, civil rights and civil liberties. Web developer and technologist Chris Garaffa and software engineer and technology and security analyst Patricia Gorky join the show.

Cuba sent doctors and medics to Italy over the weekend after more than 800 people died there on Saturday. The Cuban government has sent its doctors around the world for decades, and they have fought outbreaks of disease in Haiti, Angola, west Africa, and elsewhere. This is the sixth medical brigade that Cuba has sent overseas since the coronavirus outbreak began, with Cuban doctors now working in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Jamaica, Suriname, and Grenada. Dr. Helen Yaffe, an Economic History Fellow at the London School of Economics and author of the book “Che Guevara: The Economics of Revolution,” joins the show.

The first two cases of coronavirus appeared in the densely populated Gaza strip over the weekend, as fears mount that the pandemic may spread through some of the most vulnerable populations in the Middle East. Gaza has two million people packed into only 140 square miles, and authorities there have already closed markets, schools, and event halls. Dan Cohen, a journalist and a documentary filmmaker, most recently of the film “Killing Gaza,” joins the show.

Monday’s segment “Education for Liberation with Bill Ayers” is where Bill helps us look at the state of education across the country. What’s happening in our schools, colleges, and universities, and what impact does it have on the world around us? Bill Ayers, an activist, educator and the author of the book “Demand the Impossible: A Radical Manifesto,” joins Brian and John.

China has seen 81,093 cases of coronavirus and 3270 deaths since the disease was first identified. The country now seems to have turned a corner, with no new cases reported on Friday or Saturday and only two cases of infected travelers entering China on Sunday. Now China is trying to help other countries affected by the coronavirus, shipping masks, gloves, and medical equipment around the world, including to the United States. Peter Miller, a China correspondent for the Canadian magazine Rebel Youth, joins the show.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Sputnik News analysts and producers Walter Smolarek and Nicole Roussell.


Friday is Loud & Clear’s weekly hour-long segment The Week in Review, about the week in politics, policy, and international affairs. Today they focus on allegations of insider trading ahead of the Coronavirus outbreak by members of the Senate, efforts to bail out big business, the urgent need for 100% unemployment benefits for all, the international dimensions of the pandemic, and more.



The economic outlook for Americans has plummeted in just the past few days the most since the 2008 financial crisis as the coronavirus threatens to push the United States and most of the rest of the world into recession. Meanwhile the government is considering in short order corporate tax cuts and massive industry bailouts to keep the economy afloat. Dr. Jack Rasmus, a professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California and author of “The Scourge of Neo-Liberalism: US policy from Reagan to Trump” whose work is at www.jackrasmus.com, joins the show.



London is the epicenter of a growing coronavirus outbreak in the UK with more than 900 cases in the city. That’s one third of all the cases in the country. 50 of the UK’s 137 deaths from coronavirus have been in London, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson says that neither London nor the UK as a whole will go into lockdown. Brian and John speak with Neil Clark, a journalist and broadcaster whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Week, and Morning Star.



It’s Friday! So it’s time for the week’s worst and most misleading headlines. Brian and John speak with Steve Patt, an independent journalist whose critiques of the mainstream media have been a feature of his site Left I on the News and on twitter @leftiblog, and Sputnik producer Nicole Roussell.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Sputnik News analysts and producers Walter Smolarek and Nicole Roussell.

L&C’s regular segment, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective, including the Coronavirus pandemic and the latest developments in the Democratic 2020 primary.

A regular Thursday segment deals with the ongoing militarization of space. As the US continues to withdraw from international arms treaties, will the weaponization and militarization of space bring the world closer to catastrophe? Brian and John speak with Prof. Karl Grossman, a full professor of journalism at the State University of New York, College at Old Westbury and the host of a nationally aired television program focused on environmental, energy, and space issues, and with Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus.

Tomorrow marks the 17th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. President George W. Bush said at the time that the invasion was meant to “disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people.” Instead, the invasion has led to nearly two decades of death, destruction, and economic ruin for the Iraqi people. And all these years later, US troops are still fighting there. Brian and John speak with Dr. Peter Kuznik, a professor of history and director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University and the co-author with Oliver Stone of the book and the hit Showtime television series “The Untold History of the United States.”

Thursday’s weekly series “Criminal Injustice” is about the most egregious conduct of our courts and prosecutors and how justice is denied to so many people in this country. Paul Wright, the founder and executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center and editor of Prison Legal News (PLN), and Kevin Gosztola, a writer for Shadowproof.com and co-host of the podcast Unauthorized Disclosure, join the show.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by KJ Noh, a peace activist and scholar on the geopolitics of Asia, and a frequent contributor to Counterpunch and Dissident Voice, and Mike Wong, the Vice President of the San Francisco chapter of Veterans for Peace.

Deaths in the United States from coronavirus topped 100 yesterday as infections increased exponentially and West Virginia, the last state to be disease-free, reported multiple cases. Local and state governments took even more drastic actions, including orders to close restaurants, bars, and gyms in many states. New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio warned that an order to shelter in place would come soon, similar to what has been done in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Rep. Devin Nunes and the Republican Governor of Oklahoma are urging residents to take their families out to restaurants because there’s no wait.

Joe Biden swept yesterday’s races in Florida, Illinois, and Arizona, putting himself over 1,000 delegates. Biden won 62 percent in Florida and 59 percent in Illinois, and he beat Bernie Sanders in Arizona by 12 percentage points. The Sanders campaign now must win 60 percent of all remaining delegates to win the nomination. Meanwhile, Congressman Daniel Lipinski, one of the few remaining anti-abortion Democrats in the House, lost his primary race to a political upstart endorsed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemicist.net, joins the show.

The United States imposed new sanctions on Iran today even as Tehran grapples with one of the worst Coronavirus outbreaks in the world that has so far left over 1,000 dead. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed that Tehran was even considering the release of American prisoners, but said the US would choke off Iran’s ability to export its oil. The sanctions target three specific Iranian citizens involved in the oil industry, as well as companies based in South Africa, Hong Kong, and China. Brian and John speak with Mohammad Marandi, an expert on American studies and postcolonial literature who teaches at the University of Tehran.

Wednesday’s weekly series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective. Sputnik news analysts Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek join the show.

Wednesday’s regular segment, Beyond Nuclear, is about nuclear issues, including weapons, energy, waste, and the future of nuclear technology in the United States. Kevin Kamps, the Radioactive Waste Watchdog at the organization Beyond Nuclear, and Sputnik news analyst and producer Nicole Roussell, join the show.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Professor Wolff, a professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and founder of the organization Democracy at Work whose latest book is “Understanding Socialism.”

Today is Loud & Clear’s weekly series about the biggest economic news of the week with special guest -- Prof. Richard Wolff. He discusses the economic impact of the coronavirus.

Democratic primary elections are taking place today in Florida, Illinois, and Arizona. Polls show likely big wins there for John Biden. Voting was supposed to take place there and in Ohio, Georgia, Kentucky, and Louisiana, but governors in those states postponed the elections because of the coronavirus outbreak. New York officials are considering whether to postpone their upcoming primary, and Wyoming is suspending in-person caucuses and asking residents to vote by mail. Other states are taking similar precautions. Dan Kovalik, a human rights and labor lawyer who is the author of the book “No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using 'Humanitarian' Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interests,” joins the show.

In a surprise announcement yesterday the Justice Department dropped its case against two of the 16 defendants in the so-called Russian troll farm case brought by Robert Mueller. A DOJ spokesman said that the companies were “exploiting the case to gain access to delicate information that Russia could weaponize.” What that means, in English, is that they have a right to discovery to see exactly what evidence the Justice Department has against them. Brian and John speak with Daniel Lazare, a journalist and author of three books--“The Frozen Republic,” “The Velvet Coup,” and “America's Undeclared War.”

L&C’s regular segment, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective. John Ross, Senior Fellow at Chongyang Institute, Renmin University of China, and an award-winning resident columnist with several Chinese media organizations, and Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek join the show.

Tuesday’s regular segment is called Women & Society with Dr. Hannah Dickinson. This weekly segment is about the major issues, challenges, and struggles facing women in all aspects of society. Hannah Dickinson, an associate professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and an organizer with the Geneva Women’s Assembly; Nathalie Hrizi, an educator, a political activist, and the editor of Breaking the Chains, a women’s magazine, which you can find at patreon.com/BreakChainsMag; and Loud & Clear producer Nicole Roussell join the show.