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Tensions Mount Across US as Election Day Approaches

Tensions Mount Across US as Election Day Approaches
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More than 95 million Americans have already voted, more than two-thirds of 2016’s turnout, with both parties vying for Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania during the presidential election.

Dr. Emmit Riley, political scientist and assistant professor of Africana studies at DePauw University, examines the race for the presidency. US President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden continue to campaign in key states on the eve of Election Day, pitching dueling visions on how to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alexander Mercouris, editor-in-chief of The Duran, joins us to discuss UK politician Jeremy Corbyn's suspension from the Labour Party "just six months after stepping down as leader, threatening to ignite an internal civil war," as Sky News reported Friday. "A party spokesman said it was because of [Corbyn's] reaction to a bombshell report into how complaints of anti-Semitism were handled. Some MPs have welcomed the move as necessary, saying it shows Labour has changed and will take swift action against racism. But it has also sparked a rupture, with those who remain loyal to Mr. Corbyn vowing to challenge the decision and warning a divided party will lose the next election."

Ted Rall, political cartoonist and syndicated columnist, joins us to discuss new information about the alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. According to the Washington Post, photos and videos show that three of the six men facing federal charges in the alleged plot attended several anti-lockdown protests earlier in the year. Rall also weighs in on a Washington Post story from over the weekend, entitled: "Peaceful march to the polls in North Carolina is met with police pepper spray and arrests, causing an outcry on eve of election." 

Dr. Yolandra Hancock, board-certified pediatrician, joins us to decipher the latest report coming from Johns Hopkins University about new COVID-19 cases. According to the University, 99,321 new cases were recorded in the US on Friday, and the five highest records for daily cases were all set in the eight days that preceded Saturday. She also discusses the Saturday announcement by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson that England will begin a second national lockdown this week. The news came just hours after the UK surpassed 1 million total COVID-19 cases. 

Robert Fantina, journalist and Palestine activist, joins us to discuss an October 5 Tehran Times report quoting Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh as saying that Iran is not concerned about who wins the US presidential election. “Whether this or that administration comes to power, the path is clear,” he said. “They should admit to their wrongdoing, stop this economic war, return to their commitments, and compensate for the damage.”

Journalist and political analyst Caleb Maupin joins us to discuss the continued fallout of the resignation of journalist Glenn Greenwald from The Intercept, which he co-founded in 2013. Greenwald said in an October 29 Substack post that "the brute censorship this week of [his] article — about the Hunter Biden materials and Joe Biden’s conduct regarding Ukraine and China, as well [his] critique of the media’s rank-closing attempt, in a deeply unholy union with Silicon Valley and the intelligence community, to suppress its revelations — eroded the last justification [he] could cling to for staying.” 

Netfa Freeman, Pan-Africanist, internationalist organizer and Host of Voices With Vision on WPFW 89.3 FM, joins us to discuss an October 24 report in Mondoweiss about the Trump administration pressing Sudan into partially normalizing relations with Israel. The article quoted a New York Times piece which said that "Sudanese officials have privately complained about being railroaded into a deal over Israel that was driven by American political interests, at a time when Sudan is struggling to get onto its feet."

Daniel Lazare, investigative journalist and author of "The Velvet Coup," joins us to discuss the death of veteran UK journalist Robert Fisk at the age of 74. "Fisk won numerous awards for his reporting on the Middle East, starting from the 1970s," the BBC reported Monday. "But he also drew controversy for his sharp criticism of the US and Israel, and of Western foreign policy." 

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