FEATURING JESSE LITTLEWOOD – With just months to go before midterm elections that could reshape American politics, an activist organization has launched a new campaign to hold politicians’ feet to the fire on issues critical to our democracy.

All across the US voting rights are under attack under Donald Trump’s Administration as the Justice Department allows voter roll purges and other attacks on voting rights. Dark money flows into negative and misleading advertising campaigns from untraceable corporate coffers thanks to Citizens United.

Common Cause is asking candidates around the country to fill out a questionnaire as part of its Our Democracy 2018 campaign. Several have already done so giving voters helpful information on how to make their choices in November.

To find out more visit www.democracy2018.org.

Jesse Littlewood, National Campaigns Director of Common Cause.

FEATURING RONNIE CUMMINS – A major trial against pesticide and chemical manufacturer Monsanto has resulted in a historic $289 million settlement. The lawsuit in question was brought by a former groundskeeper in California named DeWayne Johnson who suffers from non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and blames his exposure to Monsanto’s Round-Up Ready for his condition. Bayer, which acquisitioned Monsanto for a whopping $62 billion saw its shares fall in the wake of the settlement. Monsanto is facing more than 5,000 such lawsuits around the US. The company has of course vowed to appeal the decision.

For more information visit www.organicconsumers.org and millionsagainstmonsanto.org.

Ronnie Cummins, international director of the Organic Consumers Association.

In today’s news headlines former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman has released secret recordings to the public during her publicity blitz about her new tell-all book Unhinged. On Monday morning she released a snippet of a phone conversation she had with President Donald Trump right after she was fired from the White House by Chief of Staff John Kelly. 

That recording was the second one she released in 2 days. On Sunday during an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press Manigault Newman played a tape of John Kelly announcing to her that she was being removed from the White House and issuing what appears to sound like a veiled threat.  The former White House aide played the tape on Sunday during an interview where she also said she had heard Trump use the N-word during a taping of the reality TV show, The Apprentice and that she was attempting to obtain a recording proving it. The White House is scrambling to stop her from releasing any more secretly taped audio and has already begun a campaign to undermine her credibility. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders denounced Manigault Newman’s book as, “riddled with lies and false accusations,” and Trump on Saturday called her a “lowlife.”

On Sunday, a year after the violent Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, a handful of right wing activists gathered in Washington DC for Unite the Right 2. After being denied permission to hold it in Charlottesville again, white supremacist organizer Jason Kessler successfully obtained a permit to have his rally in DC near the White House. Thousands of counter-protesters showed up, vastly outnumbering the mere 2-dozen reported attendees of Kessler’s gathering. Trump, who was slammed last year for refusing to unequivocally denounce white supremacy, neo-Nazis, and self-proclaimed fascists, was at it again this year when he wrote on Twitter, “I condemn all types of racism and acts of violence.” It is a favorite assertion of white supremacists to proclaim that white people are the victims of anti-white racism.

Chuck Grassley, head of the Senate judiciary committee has announced that there will be confirmation hearings held for Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on September 4th, lasting 3-4 days. The GOP’s goal is to seat Mr. Kavanaugh on the nation’s highest court before the midterm elections, cementing a conservative majority for a generation. So far Republicans have refused to release much information about Kavanaugh’s work during the George W. Bush years and Democrats have even submitted FOIA requests to obtain it. In an op-ed published on Sunday Grassley offered Justice Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings as a comparison for Kavanaugh’s given that Kagan’s judicial record was not fully documented at the time of her confirmation. He did not raise Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell’s unprecedented refusal to let President Obama nominate Merrick Garland to the court after Antonin Scalia’s death. Nor did he mention that the pace of nominating, and confirming Kavanaugh would be the

FEATURING AIMEE ALLISON – An unprecedented number of women are running for elected office this year, in local, state, and federal races. Women of color in particular have made striking gains, many of them running on proudly progressive platforms such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York and Rashida Tlaib in Michigan running for Congress and Stacey Abrams in Georgia running for Governor. Many of these women would break records for representation in their various offices. In the era of Donald Trump this trend offers a glimmer of hope.

For more information visit Shethepeople.org and democracyincolor.com.

Aimee Allison, President of Democracy in Color, host of the “Democracy in Color” podcast. She launched “Get in Formation”, a national call for Black women to support Stacey Abrams for governor of Georgia and is the author of Army of None (Seven Stories Press, 2007). Her forthcoming book is called She the People: The New Politics of Women of Color. In September she will lead the inaugural ‘She the People Summit’ – a national gathering of women of color transforming U.S. politics.

FEATURING KEVIN GOSZTOLA – The first trial of the Special Counsel’s investigation is wrapping up. On Friday the federal government’s trial against Donald Trump’s former campaign Paul Manafort wound down. Manafort, who has an ugly history outside the US of helping to elect dictators and demagogues, faced multiple charges of tax and bank fraud. He chose to take the case to trial rather than settle. Among those testifying against him was his former right-hand man, Rick Gates, who was also an aide in the Trump campaign.

The judge in the case, T.S. Ellis III displayed anger at prosecutors throughout the trial, even going as far as losing his temper over allowing a witness to remain in the courtroom. After he realized he had approved of the witness remaining, he apologized but prosecutors feared that the jury was now prejudiced against the witness in question.

It was not expected for the President to figure in this particular trial but his name did come up several times. Trump has repeatedly denounced the Special Counsel’s investigation as a “witch hunt,” and a “hoax.” He did admit as the Manafort trial was playing out that his son’s 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer was about obtaining opposition research on Hillary Clinton.

Kevin Gosztola, managing editor of Shadowproof.com. He also produces and co-hosts the weekly podcast, Unauthorized Disclosure.

In today’s news headlines Vice President Mike Pence gave a major address on Thursday at the Pentagon, expanding on Donald Trump’s wild idea for a new branch of the armed forces called ‘Space Force.’ The proposal requires congressional approval and would take billions of dollars and at least 5-10 years before it could materialize. That’s Vice President Mike Pence in a speech on Thursday night at the Pentagon making an announcement to create ‘Space Force,’ just days after Congress authorized a whopping $716 billion for military spending.

The high-profile federal government case against Trump’s former campaign chair Paul Manafort wraps up on Friday. The judge in the case had repeatedly used harsh words against prosecutors in the courtroom. According to Associated Press, “The judge has subjected the prosecution to repeated tongue-lashings over the pace of their questioning, their large amount of trial exhibits and even their facial expressions.” He did apologize on Thursday for an earlier mistaken outburst over allowing a witness to remain in the courtroom. Prosecutors say the judge’s anger prejudiced the jury about that witness’ testimony. On Thursday several bank employees testified about the false information that Manafort gave them when applying for loans. On our next episode we’ll bring you analysis of the Manafort case.

The Kansas GOP primary race for Governor continues to move toward a nail-biting finish. Current Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is notorious for his racist and anti-immigrant claims of voter fraud, is neck in neck with incumbent Gov. Jeff Colyer. Kobach has been endorsed by Trump and was leading Colyer by a mere 191 votes with 100% of all precincts reporting. But a vote discrepancy led to the discovery of a few more votes for Colyer, reducing Kobach’s lead to a mere 121 votes. That margin of error could very well flip once all the provisional ballots are counted. Kobach, who is eager to start campaigning for the November general election was forced to recuse himself as Secretary of State from being involved in the vote tallying.

Tennessee has executed 59-year old Billy Ray Irick, a man who was convicted of the rape and murder of a 7-year old girl in 1985. It was the first time in a decade that the state performed an execution. The US Supreme Court rejected a stay of execution just hours before Irick was pronounced dead. Irick’s lawyers had petitioned the court to consider the use of lethal injection to be “cruel and unusual” punishment. In a fiery dissent Justice Sonia Sotomayor objected to the ruling, writing, “If the law permits this execution to go forward in spite of the horrific final minutes that Irick may well experience, then we have stopped being a civilized nation and accepted barbarism.”

President Trump on Thursday met with a number of Republican state-level officials at his golf course in New Jersey. The topic of discussion was to help released inmates with job training, employment, and treatment for drug addiction.

There are nearly 2,

FEATURING BILL SCHNEIDER – Our current political moment in the United States seems to be unprecedented. We have the type of president this nation has never ever seen – one who has refused to divest from his many businesses and thrives on conflicts of interest, who is under active investigation by the Justice Department, and who has actively encouraged a mob mentality among his base against people of color, immigrants, women, and other minorities. Those who support Donald Trump do so at all costs and have a diametrically opposed view of reality to the rest of America.

How did the US come to become so polarized? One journalist and academic who has covered every Presidential race since 1964 has written a book attempting to answer this question.

Bill Schneider, Professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, Visiting Professor at UCLA, Brandies University, and Boston College. He has written for the LA Times, the New Republic, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, Politico, Reuters, and more. He was CNN’s senior political analyst from 1990 to 2009 and has been a contributor to Al Jazeera English since 2012. He has covered every Presidential election since 1964. His new book is called Standoff: How America Became Ungovernable.

FEATURING COURTNEY MORRIS – The Central American nation of Nicaragua faces a major crisis that some are worried will turn into a civil war. Violence erupted in April after the government headed by President Daniel Ortega announced pension reforms. Police forces cracked down on anti-government protests and since then hundreds of people have been killed.

The Inter-American Commission of Human Rights released a report condemning what it called “gross violations of human rights.” Some have suggested the anti-government opposition is responsible for the violence.

Courtney Morris is a news correspondent for Rising Up With Sonali. She is an assistant professor of African American and Women’s Studies at Penn State University.

In today’s news headlines, New York’s Republican Congressman Chris Collins has been indicted on charges of insider trading. Collins, an early supporter of Donald Trump’s campaign for President, was at a White House picnic last June when he received a text about a clinical trial failing at a pharmaceutical company where he was the majority shareholder. Prosecutors are charging Collins with using that information to sell shares in the company and avoid hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses. Collins has pled not guilty and vowed to keep his seat and clear his name. He has been removed from the House Energy and Commerce Committee for now.

Republican Troy Balderson has declared victory in Ohio’s special election despite the fact that he trails his opponent Danny O’Conner by less than 2,000 votes and that 8,000 provisional ballots remain uncounted. On Wednesday a box with 688 ballots from a district in Columbus, Ohio were unexpectedly found and netted Danny O’Connor a few more votes. He now has just 1,564 votes behind Balderson and is waiting before announcing his concession.

In other election news, Congress will see its first Muslim American female member this fall. Rashida Tlaib, a Muslim woman with Palestinian roots, won the Democratic Primary in Michigan in the district that John Conyers represents. Tlaib is the second Democratic Socialist to win a primary race and together with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York, the two women of color, who face little opposition in the general election, will take their progressive agenda to DC. Here are the sounds of Tlaib on election night followed by her post-election plans. 

Senator Bill Nelson from Florida claimed on Wednesday that, “Russian operatives have penetrated some of his state’s election systems ahead of this year’s midterms.” Nelson, who is a Democrat and the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee is running for reelection this year. Nelson and his Republican colleague and fellow Senator Marco Rubio wrote to county supervisors who oversee elections in the state. The Florida State Department said it had not received anything from Homeland Security or other federal agencies corroborating Nelson’s claims.

Just days before the 1-year anniversary of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, the city has declared an emergency. Local officials are readying law enforcement in case of a repeat of last year’s massive rally of assorted Nazis, fascists, confederate flag wavers, Klansmen, Trump supporters, and khaki-wearing flame wielders who showed up ostensibly to defend a confederate statue from being torn down. A white woman named Heather Heyer was killed and a black man named De’andre Harris brutally beaten and scores of others were left with lesser injuries.

Charlottesville barred a similar gathering this year so organizers have moved their annual gathering of hate to the nation’s capital and were approved for a permit. Reports have emerged that KKK leader David Duke is among those scheduled to speak in DC this Sunday.

The city of

FEATURING KHURY PETERSEN-SMITH – The Democratic Party has been at serious odds with President Donald Trump – except when it comes to military spending. Earlier this month a majority of Democrats in the House and the Senate joined their Republican colleagues voting for a massive $716 billion military spending bill. The vote was rushed through and handed Trump a major victory.

Trump had asked for an increase to the already-bloated military budget in January. He faced almost no opposition in Congress. Despite the fact that US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, and elsewhere have caused untold death, destruction, and an unprecedented refugee crisis, the US military continues to expand even as other social programs are chronically under-funded.

Read Khury’s latest article ‘Given What the U.S. Has Done to the World, It Should Be Letting All Refugees In’, HERE.

Khury Petersen-Smith, Middle East Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies.