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The mainstream news outlets play it safe by parroting the perspectives of their corporate benefactors. The Critical Hour uses clear, cutting edge insight and analysis to examine national and international issues impacting the global village in which we live.

Are 'Red Flag' Laws About Protecting Citizens or the Status Quo?

Are 'Red Flag' Laws About Protecting Citizens or the Status Quo?
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On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by Joia Jefferson Nuri, Communications specialist for In The Public Eye Communications.

A North Dakota state lawmaker is considering whether to re-introduce red flag legislation aimed at preventing gun violence.

Democratic Representative Karla Rose Hanson was the main backer of a bill designed to keep dangerous people from having guns, but it was rejected by the state's Republican-controlled House of Representatives in February. On Monday, in the wake of mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, US President Donald Trump and Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) said they supported red flag laws.    

Venezuela and Uruguay have issued warnings to those of their citizens planning to visit the US in the wake of two mass shootings over the weekend that killed 31 people and injured dozens more. “We warn Venezuelans, living in or aiming to travel to the US, to be extra careful or to postpone their travel, given the recent proliferation of violent acts and hate crimes,” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro wrote Monday evening on Twitter. “These growing acts of violence have found echo and sustenance in the speeches and actions impregnated with racial discrimination and hatred against migrant populations, pronounced and executed from the supremacist elite who hold political power in Washington,” the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Just hours after Venezuela issued its travel advisory, Trump issued an executive order freezing all assets of the Venezuelan government in the jurisdiction of the US and prohibiting Americans from doing business with the country’s government except in special cases.

A recent Intercept article reads, "Government whistleblowers are increasingly being charged under laws such as the Espionage Act, but they aren’t spies. They’re ordinary Americans, and, like most of us, they carry smartphones that automatically get backed up to the cloud. When they want to talk to someone, they send them a text or call them on the phone. They use Gmail and share memes and talk politics on Facebook. Sometimes they even log in to these accounts from their work computers." Why does this matter , and how should journalists react?

GUESTS:

Joia Jefferson Nuri — Communications specialist for In The Public Eye Communications.  

Chris Garaffa — Web developer and technologist.  

Ray McGovern — Former CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Peace.   

Douglass Sloan — Democratic strategist and principal at National Capital Strategy Group.

David Schultz — Professor of political science at Hamline University and author of "Presidential Swing States: Why Only Ten Matter."  

We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com

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