Biden’s Budget, Poisoned Negotiations, Prison Services Corruption

Restrictive laws proliferate across US states but talks between Ukraine and Russia show some promise, so it’s not all bad news.

Misfits John Kiriakou and Michelle Witte are joined for a conversation about President Joe Biden’s new budget proposal by Robert Hockett, Edward Cornell Professor of Law and a professor of public policy at Cornell University in New York, senior counsel at Westwood Capital and a Century Foundation fellow. He’s more enthusiastic about the budget as a political tool than a pathway to change. Hockett also discussed the misguided nature of some current economic interventions and why Saudi Arabia is raising oil prices again.

Ariel Gold, co-executive director of peace group Code Pink, discussed the proliferation of anti-BDS, pro-Israel laws in states across the US, despite the protections the First Amendment is supposed to offer. She also brought an update on the state of a new Iran deal, and talked about why Gulf states are so willing to work with Israel.

Dan Lazare, journalist and writer, discussed prospects for peace in Ukraine, the strange saga of the supposed poisoning of Ukraine’s negotiators, how the conflict in Ukraine is affecting Nagorno-Karabakh, and why people are defending Joe Biden’s dangerous off-the-cuff remarks.

Paul Watson, executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center and managing editor of Prison Legal News and Criminal Legal News magazines, discussed corruption in the awarding of prison services contracts and the state of prison healthcare.

The Misfits also talked about Representative Madison Cawthorn’s controversial statements about the US capital, the extradition of former Honduran President Juan Hernandez and Donald Trump’s hole in one.

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