Loud & Clear

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Dr. Jack Rasmus, a professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California and author of “The Scourge of Neoliberalism: US policy from Reagan to Trump,” at www.jackrasmus.com.

1.4 million Americans filed new unemployment claims last week, the first increase in months, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to weigh on the labor market. Meanwhile, Republicans in the Senate came closer to a unified position on a new stimulus package. They scrapped the president’s demand for a payroll tax cut, but they also proposed dramatically lower benefits for the unemployed.

President Trump yesterday threatened to send federal agents to cities all around America, ostensibly to protect federal buildings. We know from what we’ve seen in Portland, Oregon, though, that these agents are perpetrating violence on peaceful and unarmed protestors. The agents appear to be from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and the Bureau of Prisons. They are dressed in military fatigues and they don’t wear nameplates or insignia. And they’ve been snatching people off the streets, throwing them into unmarked vehicles, and detaining them without charge. Dari Rodriguez, an organizer with the Bronx Justice Center, joins the show.

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 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.

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.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by John Ross, Senior Fellow at Chongyang Institute, Renmin University of China, and an award-winning resident columnist with several Chinese media organizations.

The Trump Administration today ordered China to close its consulate in Houston amid deteriorating relations between the two countries. China denounced the move as “an unprecedented escalation.” The State Department said the closure is punishment for the Chinese theft of American intellectual property.

President Trump yesterday reinstated Covid-19 medical briefings from the White House press room. But instead of Drs. Fauci or Birx leading the event, the president appeared by himself. Trump had a moment of clarity when he said that Covid-19 infections would get worse before they get better, and indeed, more than 1,000 people died yesterday for the first time in 50 days. And Trump has begun wearing a mask after saying that they were unpatriotic. Ted Rall, an award-winning columnist and political cartoonist and you can check out his work at www.rall.com, joins the show.

Federal agents wearing military fatigues but no name tags or identifying insignia have been snatching protestors off the streets of Portland in rented black vans, and they are now reported to be in Chicago. President Trump said that he will send these agents, who are apparently from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and the Bureau of Prisons, to any city in America where protestors are damaging statues or property. But civil libertarians are crying foul and say that there are serious constitutional violations being committed. Brian and John speak with Medea Benjamin, a legendary peace activist and the co-founder of the peace group Code Pink.

The White House and Republicans on Capitol Hill are in disarray over a Covid-19 spending plan just as benefits from the last bill are set to expire. The Washington Post reports that the White House and Congressional Republicans can’t even agree on policy goals, spending parameters, or even deadlines. And there’s not yet even talk about reconciling whatever the Republican bill will look like before it’s reconciled with the Democrats’ bill. Pete Dolack, an activist and writer with Trade Justice New York Metro, who focuses on human rights, social justice, and environmental and trade issues and the author of “It’s Not Over, Learning from the Socialist Experiment,” joins the show.

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 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,” which you can find at leecamp.com.


An annual Washington ritual has begun again. That’s debate and passage of the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA. But this year it’s more ominous. While much of the defense-related press focuses on money for troops in Germany or additional destroyers in Spain, the measure also authorizes and funds military action against American citizens in American cities. We’ve seen it in Portland. Chicago is next. And this isn’t just an invention of Donald Trump. It began during the Obama Administration. In the meantime, how many masks, gowns, and gloves could be purchased for frontline medical personnel with the money used to put down peaceful demonstrators?



A long-awaited report from the British Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee accuses Russia to meddle in the UK’s internal affairs and to influence the Brexit referendum. Russian authorities have strongly disputed these allegations, calling them “groundless” and impossible to substantiate. Neil Clark, a journalist and broadcaster whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Week, and Morning Star, joins the show.



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 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 Mara Verheyden Hilliard, the executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund.

A viral video is making the rounds on social media and in the mainstream news that shows a Navy veteran and graduate of the US Naval Academy being brutalized by a federal officer in Portland, Oregon. The man is standing peacefully, when he is attacked by a federal officer in fatigues, who strikes him with a club multiple times, breaking his hand, while another officer sprays him in the face with pepper spray. That’s the situation in Portland, where these federal officers--with no name tags and no identifying features--have taken to the streets. They are even kidnapping protestors and taking them away in unmarked vans.

The 2020 presidential campaign seems to get crazier and crazier. President Donald Trump gave an interview over the weekend to Fox News’s Chris Wallace that became combative and called into question whether Trump can maintain his base as we get closer to the election. Meanwhile the latest national polls show Joe Biden leading Trump by 15 percentage points. Joe Lauria, the editor-in-chief of Consortium News, founded by the late Robert Parry, and the author of the book "How I Lost, By Hillary Clinton," joins the show.

The coronavirus continues to spread at an increasingly rapid rate, especially across the southern United States. Nationally, Covid-19 is infecting 20 people per 100,000 residents. But the infection rate is far higher in many states, with Florida at 55 people per 100,000 residents, Arizona at 44, Louisiana at 41, and Nevada at 39. And deaths stand at nearly 141,000. Meanwhile, the European Union announced that it would not allow Americans to travel there at least until July 31. Brian and John speak with Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious disease physician and vice chair of the Infectious Disease Society of America’s Global Health Committee.

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.

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 Trump’s efforts to minimize his administration’s mishandling of the Coronavirus crisis, the state of the 2020 presidential election, the kidnapping of protesters by unidentified federal agents in Portland, and more. 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 and software engineer and technology and security analyst Patricia Gorky join the show.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jim Kavanagh,veditor of thepolemicist.net, and Walter Smolarek, Sputnik News analysts and producer.


In The Week in Review, we take a look at the biggest stories of the week, including the latest controversies over the response to the Coronavirus pandemic, the shakeup in the Trump campaign, the latest U.S. threats against China, recent developments in the economic crisis gripping the country, and more


The number of Covid-19 infections broke another record yesterday, its ninth in 11 days, with 77,255 new cases reported. Another 943 Americans died yesterday. Medical professionals in Florida, South Carolina, Texas, Arizona, and southern California warn that Intensive Care Units are full or almost full, and there are no signs that the spread of the disease is slowing. Meanwhile, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp lifted an Atlanta rule that residents must wear masks. Kemp said, disingenuously, that while he wants people to wear masks, he doesn’t want to mandate it. Dave Lindorff, an investigative reporter whose writings can be found at ThisCantBeHappening.net., joins the show.



The Supreme Court yesterday refused to consider an Appeals Court decision to uphold the disenfranchisement of as many as one million ex-felons in the state of Florida. Florida voters had passed a referendum allowing ex-felons who had completed probation and parole to register to vote, except if they had been convicted of murder or sex crimes. But the state’s governor sued, and the state legislature passed a law saying that ex-felons also had to have paid all fines, fees, and restitution before registering. Brian and John speak with Ruth Beltran, an organizer with Black Lives Matter Tampa, and Kofi Ademola, an activist and organizer with the Black Lives Matter movement.


The UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission, the country’s official equality watchdog, finds itself in the center of a controversy over its impartiality. That controversy began when two pro-Israel lobbying groups in the UK asked for an investigation into alleged anti-semitism in the British Labour Party. But the Equality and Human Rights Commission never revealed that it had named one of the pro-Israel lobbying groups to its legal advisory board. And it also hadn’t revealed that one of its senior members had donated thousands of pounds to the Conservative Party and had hosted a fundraiser for the party. Asa Winstanley, an investigative journalist and an associate editor of the Electronic Intifada, joins Brian and John.


Again this week we’ll look at the worst, most misleading, funniest, and just plain wrong headlines of the past week. Steve Patt, an independent journalist whose critiques of the mainstream media have been a feature of his site Left I on the News, at lefti.blogspot.com, 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.

Loud & Clear’s series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective, including new studies showing that coronavirus antibodies may only exist temporarily, the European Court of Justice’s ruling on US violations of data privacy, the hack yesterday into famous Twitter accounts, the new footage of George Floyd’s death and what the cops said as they killed him, and more.

Until recently, the Japanese island of Okinawa, which is home to several different US military bases, had no Covid-19 cases at all. But in the past two weeks, nearly 100 servicemen have been infected and all US facilities on the island have gone into lockdown to try to prevent the disease from spreading to the population. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo escalated tensions with China this week. KJ Noh, a peace activist and scholar on the geopolitics of Asia, and a frequent contributor to Counterpunch and Dissident Voice, joins the show.

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.

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 Sputnik news analyst Nicole Roussell.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Ted Rall, an award-winning columnist and political cartoonist whose work is at www.rall.com.

2020 is taking some odd political turns. Last night in the Alabama primary, former senator and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions lost his comeback attempt handily--61 to 39--to former football coach Tommy Tuberville. President Trump complained in a Rose Garden press conference that Joe Biden’s environmental plan to reduce greenhouse gasses would mean that new houses would be built without windows.

The UK has banned Chinese telecom giant Huawei from its 5G network, reversing a January decision that would have allowed the tech company to have a role in building the country’s super-fast wireless infrastructure. President Trump is claiming that it was he who convinced the British government to take the decision. Meanwhile, Apple won a major EU court victory yesterday when a 2016 decision to force Apple to pay $16 billion in taxes was overturned. Neil Clark, a journalist and broadcaster whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Week, and Morning Star, joins the show.

President Trump today unilaterally weakened one of the nation’s bedrock conservation laws, the National Environmental Policy Act, limiting public review of federal infrastructure projects to speed up the permitting of freeways, power plants, and pipelines. Gutting the 50-year-old law is one of the most significant measures the administration has taken. And to date, Trump has either weakened, suspended, or canceled more than 100 environmental protection laws and regulations. Brian and John speak with Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemicist.net.

Armenian and Azerbaijani troops clashed along their border this week, killing an Azeri general and at least 10 other people. Both sides accuse each other of shelling civilians. The fighting is a result of a long-time dispute over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is claimed by both sides. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, negotiated a fragile ceasefire in 1994, but Azeri President Aliyev called any further diplomacy “pointless.” Mark Sleboda, a foreign affairs and security analyst, joins the show.

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 Daniel Lazare, a journalist and author of three books--“The Frozen Republic,” “The Velvet Coup,” and “America's Undeclared War.”

Ghislaine Maxwell, the woman accused of procuring and grooming young girls for the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, appeared in court today, charged with perjury and conspiracy. Maxwell’s attorneys are expected to base their legal defense on an unprecedented sweetheart deal Epstein received from prosecutors in Florida in 2007 that shielded his co-conspirators from legal consequences. But what Maxwell is accused of doing is just as horrifying as the accusations against Epstein.

A major battle is brewing between the White House and states, municipalities, and school districts around the country over whether, when, and how to reopen schools in the fall. The President and his Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, are adamant that schools must reopen fully and on-time or risk losing federal aid. But epidemiologists and educators say it’s too dangerous and a fight is likely in the courts. Rick Ayers, a professor of education at the University of San Francisco, the author of “An Empty Seat in Class: Teaching and Learning after the Death of a Student,” and co-author of the book “You can’t fire the bad ones: And 18 other myths about teachers, teachers unions, and public education,” and Karla Reyes, a teacher in New York Public Schools and a managing editor of the women’s magazine Breaking the Chains, joins the show.

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 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; Ann Marie Kernen, a Washington, DC anti-war organizer; and Loud & Clear producer Nicole Roussell join the show.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Dave Lindorff, an investigative reporter, a columnist for CounterPunch, and a contributor to The Nation, Extra!, and Salon.com, and whose writings are at ThisCantBeHappening.net.


States across the country yesterday reported record numbers of Covid-19 infections, 57,789, with marked increases in 35 states. Florida alone reported 15,300 new cases on Sunday. And perhaps even more troubling, the average age for those people newly-infected has declined. Experts say this is a result of bars and beaches opening and younger people refusing to practice social distancing and to wear masks. Meanwhile, the White House appears to have turned on Dr. Anthony Fauci, calling into question his ability to continue leading the fight against the disease. And a new report has shown even more abuse of pandemic assistance programs by the ultra-rich -- this time by wealth management firms.



Major unions representing academic workers are organizing protests today in cities across the country in opposition to ICE’s new policy of deporting international students whose universities do not resume in-person classes. Tomorrow, a court in Massachusetts will hold a hearing on a major lawsuit brought by Harvard and MIT seeking to block ICE. Neal Sweeney, the Vice President of UAW Local 5810, 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 theImpossible: A Radical Manifesto,” joins Brian.



The federal government was just prohibited from beginning executing death row prisoners again today. As if that’s not controversial enough, the government has been secretly experimenting with pentobarbital as the execution drug without telling the companies that manufacture it and without telling the people of St. Louis, MO that experiments in advance of the executions are taking place in the center of their city. Miriam Gohara, a Clinical Associate Professor of Law at Yale Law School who spent sixteen years representing death-sentenced clients in post-conviction litigation, as assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) and then as a specially designated federal public defender with the Federal Capital Habeas Project, joins John.



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 the huge and growing coronavirus numbers, the Washington football team abruptly changing its name during the current protest movement after years of campaigns against the name, and more. 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 and software engineer and technology and security analyst Patricia Gorky join the show.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Sputnik News analyst and producer Nicole Roussell and, in the second half hour, special guest Kym Smith, an South Carolina organizer in the ongoing protest movement.


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 record-breaking counts of new coronavirus cases in six of the last ten days, deaths due to coronavirus beginning to increase, the Supreme Court cases this week that ruled on Trump’s taxes and women’s right to health care, and a special report from Columbia, South Carolina, about the escalating level of police repression against the protest movement.



Immigration detention facilities have been hit hard by the coronavirus. Last week, more than 100 of the 412 detainees at an ICE facility in Farmville, Virginia tested positive for the coronavirus, which is spreading rapidly throughout the facility, and detainees say the real numbers are far worse. ICE, meanwhile, continues to transfer people from other states into the Farmville facility, further endangering everyone. And those who are sick are merely handed Tylenol. Danny Cendejas, an organizer with la ColectiVa, a social justice organization in Northern Virginia campaigning for the release of everyone at the immigration detention center in Farmville, Virginia, where covid-19 has started spreading, joins the show.



Many Americans followed the story of Army Specialist Vanessa Guillen. She was the soldier from Fort Hood, Texas who was brutally murdered and dismembered by a fellow soldier in April. Her remains were found two weeks ago. The murderer was Guillen’s supervisor, and she had been harassed by him previously. Now Guillen’s family and a group of female veterans are demanding systemic changes and a congressional investigation into the failure of the military to protect Guillen and other female soldiers. Brian and John speak with Isabel Garcia, co-founder of Coalición de Derechos Humanos.



The unemployment rate in the UK is expected to soar to more than 15 percent in an expected second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. That’s according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD. Such a rise in unemployment would put the British rate above unemployment levels in France, Germany, and Italy. Neil Clark, a journalist and broadcaster whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Week, and Morning Star, 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.