FEATURING MELEIZA FIGUEROA – With Twitter’s permanent suspension of Donald Trump’s account, the President has lost his direct megaphone to tens of millions of Americans. Trump effectively used his social media accounts to generate headlines, deflect attention, praise his supporters, direct their fury, castigate his political enemies, and subvert traditional media gatekeepers. Now, some on the left are warning that silencing Trump and his supporters is a violation of their free speech rights that could come back to haunt the left. 

Meleiza Figueroa, PhD Candidate in Geography at UC Berkeley and Faculty owner at the Cooperative New School for Urban Studies and Environmental Justice. She has been a longtime political educator and organizer, involved in a wide range of movements for social and environmental justice in California and is a correspondent for Rising Up With Sonali. 

FEATURING HONEY ROSENBLOOM – The U.S.’s growing tech industry has for years successfully fought off unionizing efforts. But a new union formed by workers at Google and its parent company Alphabet has broken precedent and sent shock waves through Silicon Valley. Rocked by sexual misconduct scandals and accusations of racial bias and discrimination, a few hundred workers at Google and their related companies formed the Alphabet Workers Union. The Union says it, “strives to protect Alphabet workers, our global society, and our world. We promote solidarity, democracy, and social and economic justice.”

Honey Rosenbloom, Executive Director, Friendship Garden Game Developers, an organizer and spokesperson with Alphabet Workers Union and an employee of Google as a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Analyst. 

House Democrats have set up a vote on their Article of Impeachment against President Donald Trump for Wednesday. On Tuesday the House will vote on a bill formally calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from office. But even though he has received death threats from Trump supporters Mr. Pence has signaled he will remain loyal to Trump and will refuse to invoke the 25th. But support for Trump among Republicans appears to be eroding as at least one GOP Congressman, Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigan said he would consider voting to impeach. Tom Reed of New York opined that although he does not support impeachment, he thinks the President should be censured. Rank and file Republican voters are demanding Trump’s immediate removal, taking to social media to post videos of themselves denouncing his actions. Trump unsurprisingly dug his heels in over his remarks to tens of thousands of supporters last Wednesday just before a faction of them went on a violent rampage of the Capitol building. In remarks to reporters he asserted that his speech was “totally appropriate.” Pivoting to anti-immigrant hatred, as he has often done to deflect attention from his misdeeds, Trump headed to Texas after days of remaining at the White House. He plans to boast about his border wall.

The Washington Post on Tuesday published a timeline of the 6 hour-riot during which President Trump did nothing to call of his supporters attacking the Capitol, even as House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy and his own adviser Kellyanne Conway vainly tried to reach him by phone. According to the Post, “as senators and House members trapped inside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday begged for immediate help during the siege, they struggled to get through to the president, who — safely ensconced in the West Wing — was too busy watching fiery TV images of the crisis unfolding around them to act or even bother to hear their pleas.” In an interview, Senator Lindsey Graham, who also desperately tried to reach the White House, said, “The president saw these people as allies in his journey and sympathetic to the idea that the election was stolen.” Graham has been one of Trump’s most ardent loyalists and enablers. Axios reported that in a private phone call between Trump and McCarthy, the President is now insisting that the rioters were leftwing “Antifa.”

House Democrats are also considering a measure to remove those of their Republican colleagues who voted to overturn the election.

FEATURING JOHN BONIFAZ – House Democrats have introduced an article of impeachment against President Trump over his role in inciting a violent mob of his supporters to break into the Capitol building in an incident that stunned the world. The attack, unprecedented in modern history resulted in at least 5 deaths. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says representatives would fast track a vote on the article of impeachment as soon as this Wednesday. 

John Bonifaz is the Co-Founder and President of Free Speech For People, co-author with Ron Fein and Ben Clements of the book The Constitution Demands It: The Case for the Impeachment of Donald Trump. 

FEATURING IMARA JONES – President Donald Trump’s supporters for weeks heard their leader claim the election was stolen from him and heard his exhortations to head to Washington DC to “stop the steal.” They listened, they breached the capitol, rampaged through the halls of power, and some it seems intended to take hostages or even murder lawmakers. Now, they are planning armed protests at all 50 state capitols on Inauguration Day. Clearly most Americans were caught off guard by the January 6th attack. Will the coming violence catch us off guard too?

Imara Jones, Founder and Creator of Translash, a cross-platform Journalism and storytelling project which centers the stories and humanity of trans people, especially trans people of color at a time of social backlash, and she is also a Soros Equality Fellow. She just published her analysis of the Capitol attack entitled, “We’ve Entered the Most Dangerous Period of the Trump Era.”

House Democrats have introduced an article of impeachment against President Donald Trump, charging him with “incitement of insurrection,” in his role in the attack on the Capitol last week that left at least 5 people dead. Representative David Cicilline, one of the authors of the article wrote an op-ed in the New York Times on Monday explaining his reasoning. He referred to the pro-Trump violent mob that broke into the Senate and House Chambers as engaging in an “attempted coup,” and asserted, “We cannot let this go unanswered.” He also explained that House Democrats would have preferred Vice President Mike Pence invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office and that his refusal to do so left them no choice but to impeach. In fact, Republicans blocked a separate legislative effort calling on Pence to use his power. A vote on the article of impeachment may come as soon as this Wednesday. According to a new ABC-Ipsos poll released Sunday, a historic number of Americans now want Trump removed from office. Yet, House Democrat Jim Clyburn on Sunday made headlines after suggesting that any Senate trial following impeachment ought to wait. He said, “Let’s give President-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running, and maybe we will send the articles some time after that.” 

New details are emerging about the attack on the Capitol, suggesting it was far more sinister than previously thought. Videos from various points during the attack shows a violent mob bent on breaking into the building and willing to hurt police officers to do it. Although some officers appeared to sympathize with the mob, and even allowed them to enter, others were targeted violently. One officer was seen getting crushed in a doorway as a vast sea of rioters pressed in. Another video shows a man dragging an officer down stairs surrounded by attackers who then pummeled him with a flag pole while he lay prone. Two Black officers spoke to Buzzfeed about their harrowing experiences facing racist hate speech from the nearly all-white pro-Trump crowd. Another Black officer named Eugene Goodman is being hailed as a hero for using himself as bait to lure violent rioters away from Senators who were still in their chamber when the Capitol was breached. Meanwhile an officer named Howard Liebengood has died after com...

FEATURING JENNIFER HOWARD – The American economy is driven by consumerism, by the unending need for people to keep buying stuff in order to boost markets. Where does all that stuff end up? It ends up in our houses, on our sidewalks, and ultimately in our landfills, oceans, and soil. The history of consumerism and how we fill our lives and homes with things we may or may not need is told in a new book Clutter: An Untidy History. 

Jennifer Howard, former contributing editor at the Washington Post and a former senior reporter at the Chronicle of Higher Education, and author of the new book, Clutter: An Untidy History. 

House Democrats have announced they plan to introduce Articles of Impeachment against President Donald Trump just about a year after he was acquitted by the Senate after his first impeachment. The stunning attack on the Capitol building on Wednesday by a mob of pro-Trump rioters has left Washington D.C. reeling and accusations flying as to who should be held responsible. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has written a letter to her Republicans colleagues demanding that Trump resign immediately or face Congressional action. Associated Press reports that Pelosi is “meeting with the House Democratic caucus Friday to consider impeachment proceedings against the president.” Assistant House Speaker Katherine Clark of Massachusetts said that an impeachment vote could be held as early as next week. Pelosi has also reportedly spoken to the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff about curbing Trump’s power to command the military and particularly nuclear strikes. After Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for the invoking of the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office immediately, Vice President Mike Pence, who would have to initiate such an action, immediately shot down the idea. 

After a 12 hour suspension by Twitter, Trump on Thursday posted a video striking a different tone saying in a carefully scripted address that those who broke into the Capitol building would be held accountable. He also claimed contrary to evidence that his orders led to the National Guard clearing the building and for the first time acknowledged that he would leave the White House before January 20th. Even though Trump on Thursday attempted to distance himself from the rioters, just a day earlier Trump had posted a video embracing them. On Friday morning he asserted, “I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.” Trump cabinet members have been fleeing his administration and on Thursday Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao resigned over the riot. 

In addition to a 35-year old woman who was killed by Capitol police, and 3 others who died of “medical emergencies” outside the building, a law enforcement officer has now apparently died after being injured in the riot. His death is apparently being investigated as a possible homicide. Meanwhile when asked about it, the Justice Department did not rule out charging Trump for his role in instigating the violence. An inside source told reporters that over the past few weeks the President has been discussing the possibility of pardoning himself,

FEATURING MITCH JESERICH – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have called for the removal of President Donald Trump from office through the 25th Amendment a day after a violent mob of his supporters rioted their way into the Capitol building in Washington DC. Ms. Pelosi announced the dramatic step on Thursday saying, “I join the Senate Democratic leader in calling on the vice president to remove this president by immediately invoking the 25th amendment. If the vice president and cabinet do not act, the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment.” Lawmakers worked late into the early hours of Thursday to certify the electoral college win of Joe Biden after the Senate chamber invasion interrupted them. 

Mitch Jeserich, Pacifica Reporter, host of Letters and Politics heard on KPFA and KPFK. He covered the Congressional hearings certifying Biden’s win this week, veteran journalist on DC politics. 

FEATURING ERIC WARD – The nation, media, and elected officials were stunned this week after a violent mob of extremists on Wednesday breached the barricades of the Capitol building as Congress was certifying the results of the election, and invaded the Senate and House chambers. Masses of white nationalists adorned with Trump and MAGA clothing and flags cheerfully scaled the walls, broke windows, vandalized the chambers, stole items, and revealed in their insistence against all evidence that Donald Trump won reelection. But for those who have been closely following the trajectory of armed rightwing violence and its links to Trump were not surprised. 

Eric Ward, senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Executive Director of the Western States Center.