FEATURING MARJORIE COHN – The Afghan capital Kabul was the site of a massive deadly bombing of a wedding over the weekend that killed 63 people. What was supposed to have been a joyful occasion turned into a nightmare as the Islamic State took credit for the brutal attack. While the bride and groom were spared, many of their family members were not. More than 180 people were injured. At the same time more than 90 people were injured as a result of 10 coordinated bombs in the Eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar. 

The attacks came at the same time as the US is in yet another round of talks with the Taliban over the conditions for some troops to withdraw. The US war in Afghanistan is the longest official war in the nation’s history. Under President Trump that war has not waned and civilian casualties at the hands of the US and its allies have increased. In late July Trump casually remarked to the leader of Pakistan that he could end the Afghan war “in a week,” and that he could jave Afghanistan “wiped off the face of the earth” but did not “want to kill 10 million people.”

Read Marjorie Cohn’s article on Truthout called “Candidates Must Commit to Immediate US Withdrawal From Afghanistan,” HERE.

Marjorie Cohn, professor emerita at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, and a writer for Truthout. She recently wrote the piece, “Candidates Must Commit to Immediate US Withdrawal From Afghanistan.”

FEATURING LUKE READER – Britain’s Sunday Times has leaked a government document outlining the worst-case scenario in case of a no-deal Brexit with the European Union. The document was apparently compiled by the Cabinet office and named “Operation Yellowhammer.” It concludes that there would be “catastrophic” damage to Britain’s economy and infrastructure in the weeks and months following a hard exit. 

European Union officials have already rejected Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s appeal to re-visit his predecessor Theresa May’s negotiations for a Brexit deal. The deadline to negotiate a deal or leave without one is the end of October. 

Luke Reader, teaches in the Department of History at Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar spoke out about the travel ban that Israel imposed on them at the behest of President Donald Trump. In an emotional press conference on Monday, the two freshmen lawmakers who are also the first two Muslim American women to ever be elected on a federal level, called on their colleagues in Congress to go in their stead to document Israel’s crimes. Tlaib was granted a humanitarian visit to the West Bank to see her grandmother but with a strict gag order as a condition. She turned down the offer. 

The nation’s largest reproductive health care provider for women, Planned Parenthood, has withdrawn from the Government’s Title X family planning program. The Trump administration has deliberately targeted Planned Parenthood to reward anti-abortion voters and required that those organizations accepting government funding for family planning services cannot also provide abortions. At stake was about $60 million in annual funding that Planned Parenthood will now forego in order to continue its work as an abortion provider. Meanwhile a 19-year old in Chicago was just arrested after making an online threat to slaughter abortion providers and patients. And, a 21-year old Salvadoran woman who had been sentenced to 30 years in prison after her pregnancy ended in a stillbirth was just acquitted. Evelyn Hernández had gotten pregnant as the result of a rape and was then accused of terminating her own pregnancy. A judge finally acquitted her after she served three years in prison.

Barely two weeks after 2 back-to-back mass shootings, President Trump has reportedly already begun losing interest on the modest gun control measures he said he was in favor of. A White House official told The Daily Beast, “He’s started to move on. If it were up to the president, he’d do background checks today. But that’s not how it works, and he loses patience [quickly].” A Senate Democratic aide also spoke to the outlet and lamented, “This is all Trump. It is all in his hands. No one is talking to Republicans or their offices. If the president says, ‘Yes I wanna do it,’ it gets 85 votes. If he doesn’t, it doesn’t.” Meanwhile researchers at the UC Davis Medical Center have found that three years after California passed a so-called “Red Flag” law, allowing weapons to be seized from individuals known to pose a risk, authorities have prevented at least 21 potential mass shootings. 

Despite the fact that Trump has publicly claimed the US economy is robust and thriving, in private White House officials are drafting plans to bolster the financial system. The plan involves cutting payroll taxes as a way to put more money into consumer pockets and stimulate the economy. It would need congressional approval and an admission by Trump that the economy was weakening. So far there is no talk of reversing Trump’s China tariffs that have triggered a trade war.

FEATURING ARUN GUPTA – The city of Portland, Oregon – which usually enjoys a reputation for liberalism – has become the site of regular clashes between white supremacist groups and anti-fascist counter protesters. On Saturday the latest planned gathering by groups like Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer drew a few hundred people for about an hour. 

President Donald Trump tweeted ahead of the rally that he would be paying close attention to events in the city and that he was considering declaring “Antifa a terrorist organization,” even though Antifa is not an organization and white supremacists have been most closely linked to mass shootings and hate crimes. 

The fascist groups declared victory. But was it indeed a victory?

Read Arun’s article in The Intercept is called ‘Riotlandia: Why Portland has Become the Epicenter of Far-Right Violence,’ HERE. 

Arun Gupta is a regular news correspondent for Rising Up With Sonali. He’s a journalist who has written for The Intercept, the Washington Post, The Nation, Raw Story, The Guardian, and Jacobin. He is the author of the upcoming “Bacon as a Weapon of Mass Destruction: A Junk Food-Loving Chef’s Inquiry Into Taste.” His latest article in The Intercept is called ‘Riotlandia: Why Portland has Become the Epicenter of Far-Right Violence’.

FEATURING MARSHALL AUERBACK – The stock market has gone up and down at various times over the past two years but generally held strong on the upward trend – until recently. A confluence of factors including market instability over President Trump’s tariffs on China, finally appears to be taking a toll. A recent survey of business economists found that 74% worried that there would be a full-blown recession in the US by the end of 2021. 

But Trump was having none of it, blaming negative media coverage for fueling uncertainty, and his own Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Trump has sold his base the claim that the economy is in excellent health and that it is all because of him. He fears that a crash would deeply hurt his chances of reelection. 

Marshall Auerback, market analyst and commentator. He is a regular contributor to Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

white supremacist groups carried out their planned rally in Portland, Oregon on Saturday and were met by fierce resistance from anti-fascist activists, leading to 13 arrests and six minor injuries. A man named Joe Biggs organized the rally along with prominent fascist groups called Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer. Biggs admitted that his goal was to draw out anti-fascist protesters and was helped by President Donald Trump tweeting supportively on Saturday, “Major consideration is being given to naming ANTIFA an ‘ORGANIZATION OF TERROR.’ Portland is being watched very closely.” White supremacists have been linked to numerous domestic terrorist threats and mass shootings while Antifa has not. Biggs claimed victory saying to the press about the President, “He talked about Portland, said he’s watching antifa. That’s all we wanted.” The rally-goers ended their event less than an hour into their planned 5-hour rally.

Meanwhile CNN reported that three separate potential mass shootings had been averted according to authorities over the weekend. All three were white men between the ages of 20 and 25. Twenty-two year old Brandon Wagshol in Connecticut was arrested after making an online threat to commit a mass shooting; 25-year old Tristan Scott-Wix in Daytona Beach, Florida was arrested after texting his ex-girlfriend his desire to kill more than a hundred people; and 20-year-old James Patrick Reardon was arrested in Youngstown, Ohio, after making an ominous threat on Instagram against a Jewish community center. All three men were found to have been hoarding weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. 

Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in a speech on Friday declared that he would go to war against white nationalism and racism. He was addressing a largely young African American audience at the Young Leaders Conference in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday. Meanwhile in Columbia, South Carolina on Sunday Sanders unveiled a lengthy plan called Justice and Safety for All to reform the US’s criminal justice system. His plan includes a ban on for-profit prisons, an end to the system of cash bail, and greater accountability for law enforcement. 

 The New York police officer involved in the killing of Eric Garner five years ago has finally been fired from his position. A departmental disciplinary judge recommended the firing of Daniel Pantaleo last week. The New York Times obtained the Judge Rosemarie Maldonado’s opinion – a document which concluded that Pantaleo had been “untruthful,” and his defense witnesses to be, “unhelpful or unreliable.” Additionally Garner’s autopsy, “provided ‘overwhelming’ evidence that Officer Pantaleo had used a chokehold in spite of being trained not to.” And, in another bizarre story of racist police misconduct, the

FEATURING DAVID CLENNON – The news of Israel’s decision to ban American lawmakers critical of its treatment of Palestinians has drawn attention to the political battle within the US over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The two major parties have for decades joined forces to unconditionally support Israel and provide billions of dollars in military aid in spite of systemic Israeli oppression and occupation of Palestinian people and lands. But the movement to call Israel out for its crimes and even boycott it over its policies is gaining ground. 

Read David Clennon’s article in Truthout entitled, “I Said No to a Netflix Series Audition Because I Support Palestinian Rights,” HERE.

David Clennon is an Emmy award-winning actor, appearing in the feature films Being There, Missing, The Thing, Syriana and Gone Girl. His television credits include “thirtysomething,” HBO’s “From the Earth to the Moon,” Netflix’s “House of Cards,” and HBO’s “Dream On.” He wrote an article in Truthout entitled, “I Said No to a Netflix Series Audition Because I Support Palestinian Rights.”

FEATURING DAVID KIRP – While the cost of attending college in the US is a burgeoning problem – one that burden millions of students with un-payable debts – a lesser-discussed college-related scandal is graduation rates.

College dropout rates in the United States are appallingly high – lower than most of us realize. Overall about 40% of people enrolled in 4-year colleges or universities will graduate within a 6-year period. For students of color, especially African American and Latinx, the number is even higher.

David Kirp has written about this scandal in a book examining the factors that keep students from graduating and exploring the models that have worked. 

David Kirp, Professor at UC Berkeley, contributing writer at the New York Times, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Education. His earlier book is Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great American School System and a Strategy for America’s Schools. His newest book is The College Dropout Scandal.

Israel granted Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib entry to the West Bank on humanitarian grounds. The move came a day after Israel capitulated to President Donald Trump’s demand to deny Tlaib and her colleague Ilhan Omar entry into Israel and the Palestinian territories. But Tlaib has now refused to accept Israel’s offer, which included strict conditions such as not speaking out about human rights violations of Palestinians. On her Twitter feed Tlaib, who wanted to visit her elderly grandmother in the West Bank, wrote, “Silencing me & treating me like a criminal is not what she wants for me. It would kill a piece of me. I have decided that visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in–fighting against racism, oppression & injustice.”

 On Friday morning Trump addressed the controversy with reporters saying this about Representatives Omar and Tlaib, the first two Muslim American female members of Congress, who he has taken particular aim at since their election. A day earlier, Trump addressed his supporters at a campaign rally in New Hampshire where he fat-shamed a man after several protesters disrupted the rally. What Trump did not realize is that the man he fat-shamed was actually one of his own supporters who happened to be standing near the protesters. Trump also instructed his supporters to vote for him if they wanted to keep the economy strong. Trump also continued slamming the so-called “fake news media” and belittled gun control efforts in the wake of major mass shootings and blamed mental illness instead. 

Meanwhile a new poll conducted by Fox News, Trump’s favorite media outlet, spells trouble for the President’s reelection prospects when matched up against the top four Democratic Presidential candidates. According to a Washington Post analysis of the poll, “He trails Joe Biden by 12 percentage points, Sen. Bernie Sanders by nine points, Sen. Elizabeth Warren by seven and Sen. Kamala D. Harris by six.” 

News emerged this week that Trump has been seriously considering buying the Dutch territory of Greenland. According to the Wall Street Journal, “In meetings, at dinners and in passing conversations, Mr. Trump has asked advisers whether the U.S. can acquire Greenland, listened with interest when they discuss its abundant resources and geopolitical importance and, according to two of the people, has asked his White House counsel to look into the idea.” A day after the story broke lawmakers from Greenland and Denmark brushed aside the idea saying Greenland was not for sale. According to the Washington Post, “Danish politicians from across the spectrum reacted with bewilderment, ridicule and outright anger over what they perceived to be a deeply inappropriate suggestion.”

Associated Press published an exclusive investigation together with PBS’s Frontline ...

FEATURING IVO HERZOG – Brazil’s right wing President Jair Bolsonaro has been in power for less than a year but has already left an indelible mark on Latin America’s largest nation. Reacting to critical investigative journalism of his government’s corruption by The Intercept, Bolsonaro has threatened to imprison the American writer Glenn Greenwald. Greenwald is based in Brazil. 

Bolsonaro is also facing increasing protests from indigenous groups who are fighting his assault on their communities and lands. But his support remains strong in other sectors. The New York Times reported recently that much of Bolsonaro’s support lies in the spread of online propaganda, primarily through YouTube. 

Ivo Herzog, human rights activist based in Sao Paulo, President of the Board of the Vladimir Herzog Institute named after his father, who was a Brazilian journalist tortured and assassinated by the dictatorship.