FEATURING GENNA REED – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just released the text of a new rule that would make it easier for industries to pollute our air, water, and soil. The proposed rule dramatically restricts the type of scientific data that could be used in decision making to shape regulations. 

The move, overseen by EPA chair Andrew Wheeler – a former coal lobbyist – is the latest battle in the Trump administration’s war on science. The rule is so far-reaching that it would retroactively undermine the science of how pollutants like lead and mercury impact human health. 

Genna Reed, Lead Science and Policy Analyst with the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The US Supreme Court heard arguments in a legal challenge being brought against President Donald Trump’s ending of the DACA program. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which had been implemented by former President Barack Obama, enabled about 700,000 undocumented young people to defer deportation and study or work in the US. As one of his earliest acts in office, Trump canceled the program. Hundreds of people gathered outside the Supreme Court in Washington DC on Tuesday demanding that the court uphold DACA. Here are the sounds of cheers as dozens of DACA registrants emerged from the court building after sitting through the arguments. Early reports suggest that the court’s justices are split along predictably partisan lines and that Chief Justice John Roberts may be the closely watched swing vote. Lower courts have repeatedly rejected the Trump administration’s legal basis for ending the DACA program. Early on Tuesday morning Trump dug his heels in, repeating a claim on Twitter that he has often made without evidence, that, “Many of the people in DACA, no longer very young, are far from ‘angels.’ Some are very tough, hardened criminals.” He then inexplicably added, “If Supreme Court remedies with overturn, a deal will be made with Dems for them to stay!” 

In other immigration news, Associated Press in collaboration with the PBS series Frontline released a documentary on Tuesday showing that a record number of children were held in custody during fiscal year 2018 to 2019. A shockingly high number of kids – nearly 70,000 – “spent more time in shelters and away from their families than in prior years.” The number is 42% higher than the year before. According to AP, “Some of these migrant children who were in government custody this year have already been deported. Some have reunited with family in the U.S., where they’re trying to go to school and piece their lives back together. About 4,000 are still in government custody, some in large, impersonal shelters.” United Nations researchers say this is the highest number of children detained separately from their parents of any country in the world by a very large margin. The Frontline documentary, called Kids Caught in the Crackdown, premieres Tuesday night. Here is the film’s trailer. 

The latest FBI report on hate crimes in the US found a slight overall dip in the number of incidents in 2018 compared to 2017. But, a deeper look at the statistics shows that there was a drop in crimes aimed at properties while the number of crimes aimed at people increased. Indeed, hate crimes against human beings reached their highest levels in 16 years as per the report for a total of 4,571. The report admits it may be undercounting crimes given that cities and states are not required to report hate crimes and many do not turn over data.  Hate crimes against Arabs and Muslims dropped while those against Latinos increased. Sikh Americans were in far greater danger with bias-motivated crimes against them tripling in 2018. Attacks on people with disabilities increased by 37% while those against transgender people increased by 34%. 

FEATURING GUILLAUME LONG – Bolivia’s first indigenous President Evo Morales has resigned after weeks of political turmoil after he was reelected for a fourth term. Having served for 14 straight years Morales became Latin America’s longest serving elected head-of-state. He denounced the forces pushing for his resignation as “a coup.” Protesters and opposition forces contend that it was Morales’ bid for unlimited Presidential terms that led to his downfall. But the socialist leader and his supporters say a rightwing backlash against his pro-poor policies was to blame. 

Meanwhile in neighboring Brazil the long-embattled former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva – known affectionately as Lula – was freed on Friday from prison after Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered his release. Opposition leaders in Brazil charged him with corruption only to be convicted of similar charges themselves later on. Lula gave a defiant speech a day after his release. 

Guillaume Long, senior research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. He is a former Ecuadorian politician and academic who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador and Human Mobility, in the government of Rafael Correa. He was previously the Minister of Culture and Heritage, and Minister of Knowledge and Human Talent. He later became Ecuador’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, before resigning in January 2018. 

FEATURING GUSTAVO ARELLANO – This fall marks the 25th anniversary of a seminal moment in the history of California – the battle over Proposition 187, an anti-immigrant ballot measure that divided the nation’s largest and increasingly diverse state. It set the stage for the models of political activism for both pro- and anti- immigrant groups for decades to come. And, for my guest, it was a transformational moment. Writing in a series of articles for the Los Angeles Times, Gustavo Arellano has attempted to capture the political upheaval of 1994. He wrote, “Proposition 187 split the psyche of the state like few things before or since.” 

Listen to Gustavo’s podcast on the Los Angeles Times called ‘This is California, The Battle for 187,’ HERE. Read Gustavo’s articles on the LATimes HERE and follow him on Twitter at @GustavoArellano.

Gustavo Arellano, writer for the Los Angeles Times, He previously worked at OC Weekly, where he was an investigative reporter for 15 years and the paper’s editor for six. At the paper he also wrote a column called ¡Ask a Mexican! Which catapulted him to national fame. His books include “Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America.”

Donald Trump spoke at the New York City Veterans Day Parade on Monday becoming the first sitting president to ever address the event. It was the 100th anniversary of the city’s parade. The New York Times reported that his speech, “was met with some claps and cheers as he thanked veterans for their service. But raucous boos and chants jeering Mr. Trump could also be heard throughout.” The glass windows of a building overlooking the area where he spoke sported the word “impeach” in giant letters. 

In news from the impeachment inquiry in Washington DC, public hearings begin this week on Wednesday and Friday. House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff announced in a letter to his Republican colleagues on Saturday that the original whistleblower who filed the complaint over Trump’s Ukraine conduct would not be testifying publicly. He wrote, “The committee … will not facilitate efforts by President Trump and his allies in Congress to threaten, intimidate and retaliate against the whistleblower who courageously raised the initial alarm.” The whistleblower was on the list of people that House Republicans submitted to Committee chairs to call in as witnesses. Meanwhile Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, who is among those subpoenaed by the House to testify has asked to join a legal case by Charles Kupperman over whether the House has the authority to demand testimony or the White House has the authority to restrict testimony. Kupperman was deputy to former National Security Advisor John Bolton and Bolton himself has been awaiting the outcome of the Kupperman case to decide whether or not to testify. Mulvaney’s move has apparently angered Bolton. 

Meanwhile Associated Press has uncovered how outgoing Energy Secretary Rick Perry obtained a lucrative contract in Ukraine for two of his supporters, using his government position. According to the media outlet, when Perry attended the inauguration event for newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, he, “handed the new president a list of people he recommended as energy advisers. One of the four names was his longtime political backer Michael Bleyzer.” Just days later, “Bleyzer and his partner Alex Cranberg submitted a bid to drill for oil and gas at a sprawling government-controlled site.” Although they offered millions of dollars less than the only other competitor, they got the contract. The story exposes how Perry may be guilty of a very similar sort of corrupt dealing that Trump has accused Joe Biden of doing on behalf of his son Hunter. 

Former US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley’s new book claims that former White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly, and former State Secretary Rex Tillerson recruited her to try to undermine President Trump during their tenures. Haley wrote, “Kelly and Tillerson confided in me that when they resisted the president, they weren’t being insubordinate, they were trying to save the country.

FEATURING RICHARD CAHAN – As Americans mark Veterans Day on Monday, the actual experience of soldiers in wartime is rarely explored in detail. Veterans are valorized and romanticized, sometimes pitied, and often held up on pedestals. 

Now, a new book captures the experiences of World War II veterans and the war zones they fought in through the eyes of soldiers themselves. The book is, Aftershock: The Human Toll of War – Haunting World War II Images by America’s Soldier Photographers.

To get a signed copy of the book visit www.cityfilespress.com.

Richard Cahan, journalist who writes about photography, art and history. He worked for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1983 to 1999, primarily serving as the paper’s picture editor. He is the author or co-author of more than a dozen books, including Un-American, about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, and River of Blood, a book based on the interviews of formerly enslaved Americans. He is the co-author with Mark Jacob and Michael Williams of the new book ‘Aftershock: The Human Toll of War – Haunting World War II Images by America’s Soldier Photographers.’

FEATURING DOUG HENWOOD – With the news that former New York city mayor Michael Bloomberg is throwing his hat into the Presidential race, many are speculating that America’s billionaire class could be panicking. Bloomberg, who is a billionaire himself, is apparently running because the only centrist frontrunner among Democratic primary candidates is former Vice President Joe Biden, and Biden’s poll numbers appear to be flagging. 

With a deadline looming to make it onto the primary ballot in some states, does Bloomberg’s move indicate a panic about what wealthy elites may lose if Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren becomes President?

Doug Henwood, political economist, editor of Left Business Observer, contributing editor at The Nation, host of the Pacifica program Behind the News, author of After the New Economy, and My Turn: Hillary Clinton Targets The Presidency.

President Donald Trump has said he has the transcript of a second phone call he had with Ukraine’s newly elected President Volodymyr Zelensky from April of this year – several months before the controversial July 25th phone call that is the subject of the House impeachment inquiry. Trump says he has no problem turning over the transcript to the committee investigators. He raised the call to reporters on Friday morning saying, “I have a second call, which nobody knew about, and I guess they want that call to be produced as well. So I had a second call, which actually I believe came before that call. If they want it, I’ll give it to them. I haven’t seen it recently. I understand they’d like it. I have no problem giving it to them.”

Meanwhile Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney defied a House subpoena to appear for a deposition on Friday which was expected. Mulvaney is a central figure in the impeachment scandal and famously admitted to reporters that Trump engaged in a quid pro quo with Ukraine’s President. Now, among the Republican Party’s attempts to protect Trump from being removed as President, Mulvaney, along with two others, may turn into political scapegoats. The Washington Post on Thursday pointed out that, “House Republicans’ latest plan to shield President Trump from impeachment is to focus on at least three deputies — U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, Trump’s lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, and possibly … Mulvaney — who they say could have acted on their own to influence Ukraine policy.”

Meanwhile House Committees continued their publication of closed-door deposition transcripts with the release on Friday of testimonies by Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and the National Security Council’s Russia expert, Fiona Hill. In a statement Committee chairs said, Vindman and Hill, “testified despite pressure by the White House to silence their testimony…Their superiors in the White House have declined to cooperate with the inquiry, but transcripts released today show clearly that individuals close to the President were alarmed by a presidential scheme as illicit and corrupt as a ‘drug deal.’”

A day earlier the transcript of senior State Department official George Kent was released. The transcript reveals that Kent was deeply concerned about Trump’s insistence that Ukraine, “initiate politically motivated prosecutions,” and that the move was, “injurious to the rule of law.” Kent also apparently testified that he made his concerns apparent in a memo he wrote during the summer. He also cited a briefing on Ukraine where he was apparently told, “POTUS wanted nothing less than President Zelensky to go to microphone and say investigations, Biden and Clinton.” By Clinton, Trump apparently meant the email leaks from the Democratic National Committee that foreshadowed Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid. 

Meanwhile Trump’s daughter and White House advisor Ivanka Trump spoke with Associated Press about the impeachment inquiry and predictably defended her father. She did however, take a different approach on the identity of the original whistlebl...

FEATURING MITCH JESERICH – The three House Committees overseeing the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump have begun a new phase into their month-long probe with the public release of transcripts of closed-door hearings this week, and the start of public hearings next week. 

So far what has been released are the transcripts of testimonies from US Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, high-level State Department official Michael McKinley, former special envoy Kurt Volker, and Gordon Sondland, the US Ambassador to the European Union. Sondland, a Trump loyalist, was called in to revise his earlier testimony and now confirms the quid pro quo arrangement Trump was seeking with Ukraine, prompting Republicans like Senator Lindsey Graham to speculate that he is in cahoots with Democrats. 

Next week a number of those who have already testified will reappear before the committees for public hearings. 

Mitch Jeserich, Pacifica Reporter, host of Letters and Politics heard on KPFA and KPFK; covering the impeachment inquiry, veteran journalist on DC politics. He’s the Impeachment correspondent for Rising Up With Sonali.

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton appears to be willing to defy a White House order and testify before House Committees conducting the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. Although Bolton failed to respond to a request for testimony on Thursday, the Washington Post on Thursday reported that Bolton’s lawyers are apparently waiting for a court decision on the constitutionality of House summons in a case involving former White House counsel Don McGahn. It is not clear if that decision will come in time for the start of public hearings next week. Bolton’s willingness to eventually testify would be bad news for Trump.

Meanwhile House hearings continued this week with an aide to Vice President Mike Pence testifying on Thursday. Jennifer Williams was on the controversial July 25th phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Her lawyer told reporters, “We expect her testimony will largely reflect what is already in the public record.”

News emerged that in addition to US military aid, Ukraine’s new President Zelensky, was angling for an invitation to the White House given that the optics of meeting Trump in the Oval Office would send a strong message to Russia. According to AP, “Trump and his allies made clear that the meeting and millions of dollars in military aid were contingent on Ukraine agreeing to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and the dealings in Ukraine of Biden’s son Hunter.”

President Trump is denying reports that he demanded Attorney General William Barr to hold a press conference defending his actions on Ukraine. According to sources speaking with the Washington Post, Trump asked Barr to exonerate him publicly soon after the White House released the rough transcript of the Ukraine phone call and that Barr demurred. The President denied the story and claimed that the Justice Department had, “already ruled that the call was good.”

Analysis of the recently released transcript of top diplomat William Taylor shows that the veteran statesman saw the Ukraine controversy as a “nightmare” scenario. Taylor referred to the figures pushing for extortion of Ukraine as part of a “Washington snake pit.” The transcript of his deposition is more than 300 pages long, and according to the Washington Post, “offers a window into why Democrats believe he will provide compelling testimony, given his meticulous accounting of texts, emails and phone calls, and his unsparing criticism of an effort he viewed as unethical and transactional.” Taylor will be among those publicly testifying next week. 

And Trump allies and supporters are engaged in a