FEATURING JANE PIPER – When the news about rape accusations facing Hollywood media mogul Harvey Weinstein, first made headlines more than 2 years ago, it broke a dam in American consciousness and popularized the movement we now call #MeToo. Weinstein epitomized the culture of predatory and pervasive rape and sexual assault of women by powerful men that had gone unacknowledged for so long. 

This week a New York jury convicted Weinstein on two counts of sexual assault and third-degree rape ending a seminal chapter in this sordid saga. Although he was acquitted on the most serious charges of first-degree rape and predatory sexual assault, he faces to 25 years in prison. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for March 11th. While the New York case is over, Weinstein faces new charges in Los Angeles over the assault of two women at a Beverly Hills hotel in 2013.

Jane Piper, an activist who works on issues of rape and sexual assault, a rape survivor who runs a Facebook page with Karen Pomer called This Is Rape: Stories From Survivors Inspired By Jane Piper.

Democratic candidates running for the Presidential nomination debated one another on stage yet again on Tuesday evening, this time in Charleston, South Carolina. Joining front runner Bernie Sanders on stage was former Vice President Joe Biden, who currently enjoys a slim majority among that’s state’s voters, plus Senators Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and billionaires Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer. As the front runner and one of two candidates challenging the Democratic Party establishment, Sanders faced the numerous attacks from his rivals including positive statements he had made about literacy rates in Cuba, and, per usual, the cost of his Medicare-for-All plan. He was excoriated for supporting the rights of gun owners in the past as well. Meanwhile Bloomberg, who performed disastrously in the last debate, was once more challenged for allegations over sexism and his taxes. Tickets reportedly cost between $1,750 and $3,200. Charleston County Democratic Party Chair Colleen Condon told reporters that it was unclear if the general public would have been able to attend and that, “This is something that the average person doesn’t usually get to go to.” She added, “These kind of events really are set up for sponsors and things like that.” 

The next primary takes place in South Carolina on Saturday where black voters make up about a third of Democrats. Mr. Biden just snagged a coveted endorsement from House Majority Whip James Clyburn who represents that state. Meanwhile a new national poll by Reuters and Ipsos showed Sanders with a slim lead over Biden among black voters. Twenty six percent of African Americans back Sanders while 23% back Biden. The poll also found that, “26% of registered Democrats and independents now see the senator from Vermont as the most electable of the party’s presidential candidates. Another 20% said it was Bloomberg and 17% said it was Biden.” And, “Among all registered voters, including Republicans, 47% said they would vote for Sanders in a hypothetical general election matchup, while 40% said they would vote for President Donald Trump.” Still, those numbers did not seem to impress Mr. Buttigieg who said during the debate that a Sanders nomination would mean Democrats losing the White House, Senate and House in the general election. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed back later saying, “I think whoever our nominee is, we will enthusiastically embrace, and we will win the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives.” Meanwhile tech giant Google published data showing that Sanders was the most-searched candidate during the Tuesday debate, and Twitter said that he was the most-tweeted about candidate as well. 

The coronavirus strain known as Covid-19 continues its march across the globe with new infections reported in several countries. There have been more than 81,000 confirmed infections and 2,700 deaths worldwide. Brazil report...

FEATURING JESSICA GOODHEART – When asked about the volatility of the stock market on Tuesday President Trump said during his press conference in India, “if I don’t win you’re going to see a crash like you’ve never seen before.” Trump has bet his presidency on solving economic woes for ordinary Americans and has touted the buoyancy of the stock market as evidence that he is lifting up all Americans. He has pointed to the official unemployment rate which has remained low. 

But a deeper examination of the actual economic health of ordinary Americans – which is not the same as the stock market – paints a very different picture. A new year-long report into economic inequality shows that the reality is at odds with Trump’s rhetoric. Specifically under Trump, in almost all states, real median household income growth has fallen over the past two years.

Jessica Goodheart, senior reporter for Capital & Main.

FEATURING KALI NICOLE GROSS – The legacy of Black women in America is getting its due in a new book just published by two acclaimed historians. Kali Nicole Gross and Daina Ramey Berry’s A Black Women’s History of the United States is a comprehensive and inclusive survey of the role that African American women have played in American society going back to the year 1600. It doesn’t just focus on the well-known names but rather the forgotten women, transgender women, radicals and reformers, poor women and incarcerated women. 

Kali Nicole Gross, Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of History at Rutgers University. Her books include the award-winning, Colored Amazons: Crime, Violence and Black Women in the City of Brotherly Love. She is the co-author of the newly published book with Daina Ramey Berry called A Black Women’s History of the United States.

President Donald Trump wrapped up his 2-day trip to India on Tuesday with a press conference one day after a massive joint rally in Gujarat, the home state of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While Trump was being treated to pomp and pageantry nearly a dozen people were killed in violent clashes in the capital New Delhi. Asked about the violence and the Indian government’s approach to religious freedom, Trump said this. There are  photos and videos of Hindu mobs burning down and destroying mosques and beating Muslims. A troubling video of injured and bleeding men being forced by Indian police to lay down and chant a patriotic song has also emerged. Meanwhile Trump claimed he had secured a $3 billion weapons deal with the Modi government but no actual deal was made or signed. There was also no trade deal with India and while Trump heaped praised on Mr. Modi, he complained of Indian tariffs on US goods. 

Meanwhile the Coronavirus strain known as Covid-19 continues to spread almost as fast as panic over the disease. South Korea has documented nearly 1,000 cases of the virus more than half of which have originated in the city of Daegu. Officials are focusing on a controversial church that has been likened to a cult. The 200,000 church members are all being tested for the disease and the city’s 2 and a half million residents have been advised to remain indoors. South Korean President Moon Jae-In visited Daegu and assured residents saying, “We can sufficiently overcome and definitely triumph over the covid-19.” Meanwhile Iran is also struggling with the spread of the disease, most notably marked by the nation’s deputy health minister being diagnosed with it. Mr. Iraj Harirchi, who has been leading Iran’s response to the coronavirus outbreak appeared on live television on Monday during which he was visibly sweating. He later announced he was infected and has self-imposed a quarantine. And, Mahmoud Sadeghi, a prominent member of the Iranian parliament has also been diagnosed with Covid-19. So far 95 people have been officially diagnosed nationwide and 15 are recorded dead. 

Here in the US, the White House has announced a $2.5 billion plan to fight the virus. A spokesperson from the Office of Management and Budget said, “The Administration believes additional Federal resources are necessary to take steps to prepare for a potential worsening of the situation in the United States.” During his press conference in India Trump claimed that a vaccine to fight the spread of the virus would soon become available but experts downplayed his claim saying it would be 12-18 months before a vaccine would become available.

FEATURING ROSA CLEMENTE – Culinary workers in Nevada defied their union leadership’s criticism of Bernie Sanders’s Medicare for All plan to back him in large numbers in the primary caucuses on Saturday. Sanders’s win was greater than the cumulative votes won by his next three challengers: Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, and Elizabeth Warren. Buttigieg has warned against Sanders saying he would alienate Democrats and Americans in general, while calling on others to withdraw from the race in order to consolidate the centrist vote. Meanwhile media pundits like MSNBC’s Chris Matthews reacted hysterically to Sanders’ momentum, likening it to the Nazi invasion of France. 

But what the numbers from Nevada show is that Latinos, African Americans, and working people across different races coalesced around Sanders’s vision for a different kind of Presidency. As the elite fear mongering about Sanders being as divisive as Trump builds up, the reality is that Sanders appears to be winning over a far more diverse electorate than the experts thought him capable of. 

Rosa Clemente is a community organizer, 2008 Green Party Vice Presidential candidate, and currently a doctoral candidate in the W.E.B. DuBois Department of AfroAmerican Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is also a news correspondent for Rising Up With Sonali.

FEATURING RAJASHIK TARAFDER – President Donald Trump is visiting India to solidify ties with one of his most favored international allies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Just a few months after Modi’s visit to the US where thousands of people gathered in Houston, Texas for a joint appearance by Trump and Modi, Trump has now received the same treatment in India, basking in the glow of the pageantry that Modi has rolled out for him. 

But as the US President and his wife toured the Taj Mahal, protests that had been on-going against Modi’s new citizenship law designed to exclude Muslims, continued on Monday. In New Delhi police cracked down on dissenters in scenes of violence that sharply contrasted with the images of pomp and celebration that Modi’s government built for the American president and his entourage.  

For more information visit The Wire.

Rajashik Tarafder, Graduate Student at Caltech active with the Coalition for Democracy and Secularism in India.

Vermont Senator and Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders declared a decisive victory in Nevada’s Primary caucuses on Saturday, taking a large lead ahead of his rivals so early in the race that Associated Press declared him the winner before the official results were in. Ultimately Sanders drew 46.8% of the vote, with Joe Biden at 20.4% Pete Buttigieg at 13.9%, and Elizabeth Warren at 9.8%. Sanders celebrated his victory in Nevada from San Antonio, Texas, where a massive crowd had gathered. Even before Sanders spoke, Buttigieg took to the stage warning Democrats to not choose Sanders. Buttigieg was widely criticized for saying, “Sen. Sanders believes in an inflexible, ideological revolution that leaves out most Democrats, not to mention most Americans.” Meanwhile his campaign has now said there were major errors in vote counting in the Nevada Caucuses.

MSNBC Host Chris Matthews is coming under fire for comments during coverage of the Nevada caucuses where he compared the rise of Sanders’ popularity to the Nazi invasion of France. Matthews previously claimed that if Sanders won the nomination there would start being public executions in the US. Critics are calling for Matthews to apologize and even resign from the network. Sanders is Jewish and lost family members in the Holocaust. Meanwhile the Presidential frontrunner continued his trend of bucking the Democratic Party by declaring over the weekend that he would not attend this year’s conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee or AIPAC, the leading pro-Israel lobby group in the country that has regularly drawn support from both major parties. Sanders explained his position on Twitter saying, “I remain concerned about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights.” AIPAC hit back at Sanders’s announcement calling it “truly shameful.”

A new poll of New York State shows Sanders leading all candidates across the state with 25% support. Former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg is not far behind with 21% support followed by Joe Biden at only 11%. In New York City however, voters picked their former mayor – 33% said Bloomberg would be the best candidate for the Democratic Party nomination. Meanwhile, Bloomberg has decided to skip this week’s CNN townhall meeting in order to prepare for taking on Sanders in Tuesday’s candidate debate, which will be only his second time on stage. A Bloomberg campaign spokesperson said, “the country can’t afford to let Bernie Sanders skate by another debate without a focus on his extreme record.” And, former Presidential candidate

FEATURING EMRAN FEROZ – The people of Germany got a horrific taste of American-style gun violence when a man walked into two bars in the town of Hanau near Frankfurt and fatally shot 9 people. All the victims were of immigrant origin. The suspect, known only as Tobias R., was in his 40s and apparently published a racist screed online before being found dead. 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel addressed the nation saying, “There are many indications that the perpetrator acted out of far-right and racist motives, driven by hatred of people of different origin, different faith or different appearance…Racism is poison, hatred is poison that exists in our society and has been behind far too many crimes.”

Emran Feroz, independent journalist and the founder of Drone Memorial, a virtual memorial for civilian drone strike victims. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Al Jazeera, The Atlantic, The Hindu, The Intercept, Alternet and several other media outlets. He is also a regular contributor to German-language newspapers and magazines.

Paul Kitagaki Jr. is a Pulitzer Prize winning Photographer and videographer who has documented natural and human-caused disasters. His works have been published in numerous papers including National Geographic, Time, Smithsonian Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post, and The Sacramento Bee. But his newest project is deeply personal – it documents the stories and images of formerly incarcerated Japanese Americans like his own parents during World War II. 

Paul Kitagaki Jr., Pulitzer Prize winning Photographer and videographer who has documented natural and human-caused disasters. His works have been published in numerous papers including National Geographic, Time, Smithsonian Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post, and The Sacramento Bee. His new book is called Behind Barbed Wire: Searching for Japanese Americans Incarcerated During World War II.

**This segment was originally broadcast on January 30, 2020.