FEATURING BEN CLEMENTS – The House of Representatives debated two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump on Wednesday in a historic day that would lead to only the third Presidential impeachment in US history. Six hours of debate showed that Republicans generally stuck to a few themes: asserting in the face of plenty of evidence that there was no evidence to impeach Trump, and accusing Democrats of harboring some sort of vendetta against a President they have wanted to impeach on Day 1 of his tenure. 

The vote came a day after thousands of people in more than 600 rallies around the country protested against Trump and demanded their lawmakers impeach him. 

For more information about the impeachment visit www.impeachmentproject.org.

Ben Clements, Board Chair of Free Speech for People and co-author with Ron Fein and John Bonifaz of the book The Constitution Demands it: The Case for the Impeachment of Donald Trump.

FEATURING FRANK TAMBORELLO – Donald Trump’s administration has just finalized a new rule on states’ discretion in distributing food aid. The rule is likely to result in hundreds of thousands of Americans losing access to food stamps by the middle of next year through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

Currently more than 36 million Americans rely on food assistance through SNAP.  The new rules will tighten the work requirements and take into account the cost of utilities in determining eligibility for food stamps. Advocacy groups estimate the change will eliminate benefits for at least 700,000 people. 

WEB SPECIAL: KPFK Supports Hunger Action LA’s Market Match Program

Frank Tamborello, Executive Director of Hunger Action LA.

The House voted on rules early on Wednesday morning over how the Articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump should be debated. Republicans attempted to throw up procedural obstacles at every turn and tried to dismiss the articles but failed. Many asserted that Democrats were intent on impeaching Trump just as he took office. After the rules themselves were debated they were passed a vote by the Democratic dominated House 228 to 197 with all but two members of the liberal party joining in. Speaker Nancy Pelosi then addressed the chamber, which kicked off 6 hours of debate, divided equally between the majority party and the minority party ahead of a vote on the articles of impeachment. The equal time means that Republicans will get disproportionately more time per representative given that they are in the minority. As of this recording the vote to impeach has not yet taken place but the House is expected to pass the two articles. 

The day before the historic impeachment vote President Trump sent a lengthy letter to Speaker Pelosi that analysts widely derided. In it he denounced the impeachment effort as an “attempted coup,” and liberally sprinkled in lies and exaggerations in order to paint an Orwellian picture of being unfairly persecuted. He even made a little noticed claim that, “Each one of your members lives in fear of a socialist primary challenger — this is what is driving impeachment.” Huffington Post published a round-up of the letter’s analysis: ‘Conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post described it as ‘bizarre and frightening’ and said the president was ‘unhinged.’ GOP strategist Rick Wilson denounced it as ‘pure crazy, weapons-grade nuts.’ The New York Times called it “rambling and angry.” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) said it was a ‘tantrum’ while Twitter users slammed the screed.”

Across the country more than 600 rallies took place in support of impeachment drawing tens of thousands of people many of them braving extremely cold or wet weather.  The goal of organizers was to show lawmakers widespread public support for impeachment. This is Times Square, New York City, Louisville, Kentucky, and Portland, Oregon .  

On the same day that the House debates and votes on the Articles of Impeachment the Justice Department’s Inspector General Michael ...

FEATURING SOUMYA SHANKAR – Mass protests have broken out in cities and states across India in response to the passage of a controversial anti-Muslim bill called the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The Hindu Nationalist prime minister Narendra Modi has called for calm and unity after his party ushered in the bill offering non-Indians from neighboring nations citizenship only if they are not Muslim. So far at least half a dozen people have been killed in protests that have been met by a violent crackdown from police. India is home to 200 million Muslims who remain a minority. 

Soumya Shankar reports on electoral politics and social movements with a South Asia focus. She teaches journalism at Stony Brook University in New York. Her work has been published in The Intercept and other publications.

FEATURING CLIFF ALBRIGHT – A federal judge has just signed off on the purging of hundreds of thousands of registered voters in Georgia, the same state where massive vote suppression efforts just a year ago helped propel a Republican Governor into power. Many of the registered voters are being removed from the rolls simply because they have not voted in years. Others have out-of-date addresses. Stacey Abrams, the charismatic gubernatorial candidate who lost narrowly last year is challenging the voter purges. 

The news from Georgia comes days after Wisconsin was shedding voters that could impact the Democratic Party and an Associated Press review of Ohio’s absentee ballots found widespread application denials. 

Cliff Albright, Cofounder of Black Voters Matter, Radio Host, Writer, Consultant, Social Justice Activist.

The House Rules committee met on Tuesday to set parameters for a Wednesday debate that will precede a historic impeachment vote aimed at President Donald Trump. If Trump is impeached as expected, it will trigger a Senate impeachment trial as early as the first week of January. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky rejected Minority Leader Chuck Shumer’s request to bring to the floor additional witnesses such as Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and former National Security Advisor John Bolton, saying it was, “a strange request at this juncture.” But a new Washington Post/ABC poll found that, “Among Democrats, 79 percent say Trump should let his advisers appear before the Senate, while among Republicans, 64 percent agree. Among independents, 72 percent favor their appearance.”

That same poll found that 49% of Americans want to see Trump impeached and removed from office, compared to 46% who do not. Meanwhile, a number of freshmen Democratic lawmakers who consider themselves politically moderate now say they will vote to impeach Trump regardless of the political risk of losing their seats next year. A large group of 750 historians including Nobel prize winners have signed on to a letter demanding Trump be impeached. And nationwide protests are being held in cities across the country on Tuesday night to support impeachment. There will be more than 500 gatherings in all 50 states organized by more than 100 organizations. More information is available at impeach.org. 

The New York Times published an interview with Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani in which he said that he warned the President multiple times about former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and that he thought she should have been fired. Yovanovitch was one of several key witnesses called by the House Intelligence Committee in their impeachment hearings. Giuliani explained to the paper that Yovanovitch had been trying to block the improper investigations that the White House sought on Trump’s political rival Joe Biden. Mr. Giuliani is known for blurting out incriminating details about his client.

A new organization called the Lincoln Project is seeking to oust Trump and lobby against his reelection. Consisting of a small group of Trump’s conservative critics, the organization is seeking to form a Political Action Committee (PAC) to fundraise. On the same day that the group launched its website, several of its leaders penned an op-ed in the New York Times explaining their goal. The op-ed writers, which included George Conway,

FEATURING COLLIN REES – As the annual UN Climate conference in Madrid, Spain ends, climate justice activists denounced the conclusion of the 2-week long meeting as weak. In what has now become a dreaded predictable outcome of the COP or Conference of Parties meetings, country representatives walked away without making significant concessions on curbing their fossil fuel emissions or paying for adaptation.

Collin Rees, Senior Campaigner with Oil Change U.S.

FEATURING WILLIAM HARTUNG – As the latest National Defense Authorization Act gave the US military yet another financial boost with bi-partisan support, there was little if any questioning over the spending of taxpayer funds on the Pentagon. Any discussion of human needs like healthcare or education elicits the question, “but how will we pay for it?” When discussing the Pentagon’s needs, there is no such concern. Having studied the US military for decades my guest today shares some of his reflections on this critical question. 

Read Hartung’s piece on Tom Dispatch HERE.

William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy and a senior adviser to the center’s Security Assistance Monitor. He is also the author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex. He writes regularly for Tom Dispatch and his latest piece is called Lessons From Battling the Pentagon for Four Decades.

The House Judiciary Committee released its 658-page report early on Monday morning that laid out the arguments for two counts of impeachment charges against President Donald Trump ahead of a vote by the full House. The report concluded that, “the articles charge that President Trump has placed his personal, political interests above our national security, our free and fair elections, and our system of checks and balances. He has engaged in a pattern of misconduct that will continue if left unchecked. Accordingly, President Trump should be impeached and removed from office.” Committee members also specified several federal crimes that they say Trump committed including bribery and fraud. The Democrat-dominated House is expected to impeach the President which will then lead to a trial in the Senate presided over by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. Although Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has promised a biased process during which he plans to closely coordinate with the White House, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has requested the presence of several witnesses who did not testify to the House. Specifically Mr. Schumer in a letter to McConnell requested that Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and former National Security Advisor John Bolton be brought in among others to testify in front of the Senate. In his letter, Schumer also requested that McConnell adopt the bi-partisan process established during the Senate impeachment trial of former Democratic President Bill Clinton.

Conservative Democrat Jeff Van Drew announced his resignation from his party and his intention to defect to the Republican Party later this week over opposition to Trump’s impeachment. But six of his staffers were so opposed to his switching parties that they resigned together saying in a letter that they were, “deeply saddened and disappointed” by Van Drew’s decision. Meanwhile, Justin Amash, a Republican who left his party to become an Independent, is being held up by a group of freshmen Democrats as the perfect impeachment manager during the Senate trial. They say Amash, who hailed from the Tea Party movement but left the GOP disgusted by Trump, could draw support from conservatives for impeachment.

A federal judge on Friday ordered the State Department to release documents that include correspondence between Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and State Secretary Mike Pompeo over the withholding of US military aid to Ukraine. Mr. Giuliani, who audaciously spent time in Ukraine during the House Judiciary committee’s hearings, has now returned saying he has proof of no wrongdoing by Trump and evidence of corruption over former Vice President Joe Biden’s role in Ukraine. Republican Senator

FEATURING RICHARD WOLFF – Britain’s highly anticipated general election on Thursday resulted in a massive victory for the Tories, who captured well over the majority they needed in Parliament to push through the Brexit deal they want. The Labor Party, which had taken a nuanced approach to Brexit won just over 200 seats out of 650 leading Party leader Jeremy Corbyn to announce he is stepping down. Just days ago leftist analysts were predicting a progressive landslide with Corbyn’s promises of protecting healthcare and expanding social services. What happened?

Richard Wolff, visiting professor at the New School University, New York and professor of economics emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, author of a number of books including ‘Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism’, ‘Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism’, ‘Imagine: Living in a Socialist USA’, ‘Capitalism’s Crisis Deepens: Essays on the Global Economic Meltdown,’ and ‘Understanding Marxism.’ He also hosts Economic Update. His new book is called ‘Understanding Socialism.’