FEATURING PARKER MOLLOY – Marking his first public appearance since he left the White House, former President Donald Trump gave a lengthy, grievance-filled speech at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference where he cemented his hold over the Republican Party. The incendiary speech was similar to the one Trump gave in Washington DC on January 6th before a mob of his supporters broke into the Capitol with the intent of harming lawmakers. Trump repeated the lie that he won the 2020 election and attacked the U.S. Supreme Court for refusing to overturn the election in his favor. He also listed by name every Republican lawmaker that opposed him saying ominously, “get rid of them all.” 

Parker Molloy, editor-at-large for Media Matters. 

President Joe Biden met with Senate Democrats on Tuesday to discuss the details of his $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill that passed the House over the weekend and that must now pass the Senate, with a deadline of March 14th looming—the date when currently authorized unemployment benefits will run out. Centrist Democrats have added amendments to the bill to narrow the eligibility for $1,400 stimulus checks from the government. And, the House bill includes an increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, which Senators are choosing to exclude in line with the Senate Parliamentarian’s view. Senator Bernie Sanders, head of the Budget committee, issued a statement saying, “I regard it as absurd that the parliamentarian, a Senate staffer elected by no one, can prevent a wage increase for 32 million workers.” Sanders is urging Senators to overrule the Parliamentarian. 

The Vermont independent has joined other 9 Senate Democrats in writing a letter to the Biden Administration to consider backing, “recurring direct payments and automatic unemployment insurance extensions tied to economic conditions,” in a new bill that the President wants to pass, focused on a jobs program to revive American infrastructure called Build Back Better. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who was among the signatories on the letter, says she wants to introduce a wealth tax to fund Biden’s infrastructure bill. Her legislation is called the “Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act of 2021.” Meanwhile millions of Americans are struggling during the pandemic and new analysis shows that even those benefits that are technically available are not reaching a majority of the unemployed. 

In other news, FBI Director Christopher Wray testified to the Senate Judiciary committee on Tuesday where he did not mince words in referring to the January 6th Capitol riot as “domestic terrorism.” Prosecutors have continued to unearth new information about the siege including that members of the Proud Boys group had planned to break into the Capitol building from multiple points that day. Still, a new report shows that the majority of people arrested in connection to the attack were not involved in specific groups, suggesting that they were instead buoyed by the common motivations repeatedly fed to them by former President Donald Trump. According to the George Washington University study about 142 of those arrested were, “inspired by a range of extremist narratives, conspiracy theories, and personal motivations.” In fact

FEATURING STUART APPELBAUM – Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, have just begun a 7-week process of voting for to join a union. For the first time in seven years the world’s largest retailer faces a unionizing effort – one that it has fought tooth and nail against. Workers at the sprawling warehouse facility in Bessemer have been subjected to aggressive anti-union messaging but if the union drive works, Amazon could be forced to negotiate with workers on the size of their salaries, the conditions of their workplace, and more. And, it could inspire other Amazon workers to unionize. 

For more information on the Amazon workers’ efforts to unionize at www.BAmazonunion.org. 

Stuart Appelbaum, Executive Vice President of UFCW and President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).

** This interview was originally broadcast on February 8, 2021.

FEATURING JESSICA BRUDER – Sunday night’s Golden Globes awards ceremony featured a big win for filmmaker Chloe Zhao who won Best Director and whose film Nomadland won Best Picture in the Drama category. The film is a sparsely shot and artistically fictionalized feature based on a non-fiction book of the same name by writer Jessica Bruder. There is already plenty of Oscar buzz around the film. 

Nomadland, the book, shines a light on a little-known but growing trend in the US labor force: workampers, who are mostly American retirees who find they cannot make ends meet and pay their rent or mortgages on their Social Security and pension checks, so they live life on the road in RVs and campers, driving to where the work is and camping overnight in parking lots and campgrounds.

But Nomadland, the film, focuses on two characters, both of whom have excellent options for living comfortable middle-class lives in homes offered by close relatives. One of the characters takes the option and the other does not, giving the impression that nomadic existence is a personal choice made by retired workers rather than a social symptom of our race-to-the-bottom economy. While the book is an indictment of Amazon’s impact on the economy, the film barely features the retailer and when it does, it does so in a positive light. Today we’ll re-air our interview with writer Jessica Bruder about her book Nomadland.  

Jessica Bruder, award winning journalist whose work focuses on subcultures and the dark corners of the economy. She teaches at Columbia School of Journalism. Her books include Burning Book: A Visual History of Burning Man and Nomadland: Surviving America In the Twenty First Century. Bruder is also a producer on the film of the same name as her book. 

Former President Donald Trump dominated the Conservative Political Action Conference over the weekend in an incendiary speech that was not unlike the one he gave in Washington DC on January 6th before a mob of his supporters broke into the Capitol with the intent of harming lawmakers. The Sunday speech was Trump’s first public appearance since leaving the White House and included repetition of the lie that he won the 2020 election. Trump also attacked the U.S. Supreme Court for refusing to overturn the election in his favor. Trump lost both the electoral college and the popular vote by a significant margin. But his repeated lies to a loyal base continue to generate an alternate reality for millions of his loyalists who truly believe he won. During his CPAC Speech Trump listed by name every Republican lawmaker that opposed him saying ominously, “get rid of them all.” He ruled out the creation of a third party which reports had indicated that he was contemplating in recent weeks. 

In other news from CPAC, observers pointed out the extremely disturbing shape of the conference stage that exactly matches the so-called “Odal rune,” the symbol worn by Nazi SS guards in Hitler’s Germany. Meanwhile anti-Trump Republicans singled out by the former President are attempting to marshal their own army of financiers and activists. Representative Adam Kinzinger who opposed Trump and voted to impeach him is at the center of new SuperPAC to financially support those conservative lawmakers hoping to salvage their party’s future. Among the lies that Trump repeated was the implication that the election was unfair and that reforms were needed – which of course is code for making it harder for Democratic-leaning voters to cast ballots. 

Meanwhile the U.S. Supreme Court will soon be considering how state voting practices may or may not be violating federal laws intended on protecting the voting rights of minority groups. The Washington Post explained that, “The cases at the Supreme Court involve two voting regulations from Arizona that are in common use across the country. One throws out the ballots of those who vote in the wrong precinct. The other restricts who may collect ballots cast early for delivery to polling places, a practice then-President Donald Trump denounced as “ballot harvesting.” 

After the House passed a $1.

FEATURING DR. STEPHEN ZUNES – Just over a month into his Presidential tenure Joe Biden has called in air strikes. The target of his militarism was Syria, and ostensibly Iranian-backed Iraqi militias. The strikes were supposed to be retaliation for a recent rocket attack in Iraq that killed a civilian contractor and wounded a U.S. soldier and other troops. Initially it was reported that 1 person was killed but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 22 victims. 

Dr. Stephen Zunes is a Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, where he serves as coordinator of the program in Middle Eastern Studies. He also serves as a senior policy analyst for Foreign Policy in Focus, a project of the Institute for Policy Studies. He is also an associate editor of Peace Review. 

FEATURING KATE KAHAN – In spite of the Congressional Budget Office showing the positive economic impacts of raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough on Thursday rejected the raise from the Covid relief bill that is being considered by Congress. If Democrats want to use a simple majority in the Senate via a “budget reconciliation” process, they cannot now include a federal minimum wage raise in the $1.9 trillion law. Senate Budget Committee chair Bernie Sanders was livid saying he would find another way, including raising taxes on major corporations that don’t pay their workers a living wage. The current federal minimum wage is a paltry $7.25 an hour. 

Kate Kahan, Legislative and Advocacy Director at Community Change. 

President Joe Biden ordered U.S. airstrikes on Syria in his first military offensive since he took office. The strikes were aimed at buildings purportedly used by Iranian backed Iraqi militias in a nation that has experienced a decade of devastating war. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the strikes resulted in the deaths of, “22 militiamen of the Iraqi Hezbollah and Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces,” as well as “three trucks carrying ammunition.” The UK-based group that has been tracking Syrian war casualties for years also reported that Russian fighter jets earlier this week dropped 250 bombs killing “nearly 35 ISIS members.” According to Associated Press, the U.S. air strikes on Thursday, “were retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq earlier this month that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a U.S. service member and other coalition troops.” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, “I’m confident in the target that we went after, we know what we hit.” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby called the strikes a “proportionate military response.” Mainstream media outlets like the New York Times were quick to characterize the air strikes as “a carefully calibrated approach” by the new president.

In other news, the Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has ruled that a federal minimum wage increase to $15 an hour cannot be included in the current Democrat-backed $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill if it is to pass through a simple budget reconciliation process. While President Biden appeared to capitulate instantly saying he was “disappointed” by the decision but “respects” it, Senator Bernie Sanders, chair of the Senate Budget committee had a far different reaction. Sanders slammed the decision in a statement saying there was a clear case for economic stimulus impact through raising the wage. He pointed out, “it is hard for me to understand how drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was considered to be consistent [with the budget reconciliation rules] while increasing the minimum wage is not.” Congresswoman Ilhan Omar suggested firing the Senate Parliamentarian who is an unelected official —just as Republicans had once done so years ago. Omar also said the Senate needs to abolish the filibuster which is the reason why Democrats are forced to use budget reconciliation instead of a majority vote. The House is expected to pass the bill as is on Friday, keeping intact the wage increase. 

GOP lawmakers continue to show hostility to transgender people. Just a day after Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene attacked trans-rights in the Equality Bill (which incidentally was

FEATURING MONIQUE MORRISSEY – US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, known for his allegiance to Donald Trump, faced a House Oversight committee hearing this week where he said he intended to remain his position until kicked out. He told lawmakers, “get used to me.”

But President Joe Biden appears to be laying the groundwork to oust DeJoy, appointing three new governors to the Postal Service Board—Ron Stroman, Anton Hajjar and Amber McReynolds—to fill vacancies. The board, if those appointees are confirmed by the Senate, could then move to remove DeJoy who has faced criticism for his politicization of the Postal Service last year when he, among other things, dismantled bulk mail sorting machines ahead of a pandemic-era election.

Monique Morrissey, Economist at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). She has been analyzing the Postal Service for EPI and her latest pieces are “Congress Should Think Big About the Postal Service’s Future,” and “The War Against the Postal Service.” 

FEATURING PAUL RUSESABAGINA – The Rwandan hotelier and humanitarian who protected over a thousand of his countrymen during the height of the 1994 Rwandan genocide is now facing trial under Paul Kagame’s government. Paul Rusesabagina is the author of An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography, and founder of the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation. He has been widely lauded for his critical life-saving work and been recognized internationally including receiving the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom. He has used his celebrity to continue doing humanitarian work but also speaking out against abuses by President Kagame. 

Last year Rusesabagina was arrested outside Rwanda and brought back to the country for a trial on trumped up charges that include murder, armed robbery and terrorism. Mr. Rusesabagina is currently a citizen of Belgium and his lawyers say he has been denied due process and is also in ill-health. In April 2014 I spoke with the man whose story is told in the film Hotel Rwanda. It was the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. Today we re-air that interview in light of his current plight.