"Russell Vought, a [White House Acting Chief of Staff Mick] Mulvaney protege who leads the White House Office of Management and Budget, intends a concerted defiance of congressional subpoenas in coming days, and two of his subordinates will follow suit — simultaneously proving their loyalty to the president and creating a potentially critical firewall regarding the alleged use of foreign aid to elicit political favors from a US ally," the Washington Post reported Sunday. This happens as House of Representatives impeachment investigators begin to take their work into the public eye: on Monday, the House released transcripts of private testimonies by former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and diplomat Michael McKinley, who advised Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. And what’s really interesting to me is a federal appeals panel said on Monday that President Donald Trump’s accounting firm must turn over eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns to Manhattan prosecutors. The appeals court said the president’s accounting firm, not Trump himself, was subpoenaed for the documents, so it did not matter whether presidents have immunity.
In Chile, there’s a revolt against neoliberalism that corporate American media is refusing to cover. Alan MacLeod writes in MintPress News: “'We are at war with a powerful, relentless enemy that respects nothing nor anyone' thundered Chilean President Sebastian Piñera during a speech to the nation, deliberately echoing the infamous catchphrase of fascist military dictator Augusto Pinochet. The 'enemy' he was referencing were Chilean citizens, more than 1 million of them taking to the streets Friday afternoon in a revolt against the neoliberal system Piñera was implementing against their will, demanding his resignation." In October 2018, when Jair Bolsonaro became president of Brazil after one of the most polarizing elections in the country's history, he called himself a "defender of freedom" and said his government would protect citizens who "follow their duties and respect the laws." How are these neoliberal politicians taking hold and carrying the day?
"Hundreds gathered this weekend to mark the 40th anniversary of the Greensboro massacre, when 40 Ku Klux Klansmen and American Nazis opened fire on an anti-Klan demonstration in Greensboro, North Carolina, killing five anti-racist activists in a span of 88 seconds," Democracy Now! reported Monday. "Those killed were members of the Communist Workers’ Party. Ten other activists were injured. No one was convicted in the massacre, but a jury did find the Greensboro police liable for cooperating with the Ku Klux Klan in a wrongful death. Local pastors in Greensboro are now calling on the City Council to issue an apology for the events that led to the 1979 killing." Many call this the massacre that spawned the alt-right. What was this, how are its repercussions being felt today, and why is this not getting more coverage?
GUESTS:
Dave Lindorff — Investigative reporter and founder of the news collective This Can't Be Happening!
Dr. Ajamu Baraka — Journalist, American political activist and former Green Party nominee for vice president of the United States in the 2016 election.
Netfa Freeman — Host of Voices With Vision on WPFW 89.3 FM, Pan-Africanist, internationalist organizer intimately involved with political prisoners' causes, from Mumia Abu Jamal to the Cuban Five, and an organizer with Family & Friends of Incarcerated People.
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