Clearing The Fog With Co-hosts Margaret Flowers And Kevin Zeese

Last week, the US Senate confirmed Betsy DeVos as the new head of the Department of Education. DeVos, who has no experience in public education, is a wealthy Republican donor and proponent of vouchers and charter schools. There was widespread opposition to her appointment by teachers and the public. Public schools and the rights of teachers have been under attack under the past two presidents, and DeVos is surely to continue that trend. We will discuss the struggle for education in the US, its connections to other struggles and what people can do to strengthen and protect education with two academics and activists, Denisha Jones and Robert Helfenbein. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.  

In his first few weeks in office, the Trump administration has escalated US aggression towards both Syria and Iran. He is asking for more US military presence on the ground in Syria, which may increase tension with Russia, and signed an Executive Order for more sanctions against Iran, which received bipartisan support in Congress. Trump's National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, stated last week that Iran has been "put on notice" and that the US would consider military action in response to Iran's legal test of a non-nuclear missile. We speak with foreign correspondent Reese Erlich and retired Colonel Ann Wright about the current situation between the United States and countries in the Middle East and Asia. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

As President Trump and Congress repeal the failing “Affordable Care Act” it becomes even more critical that people organize to make National Improved Medicare for All the only politically viable replacement. To that end, a new coalition called Health Over Profit for Everyone (HOPE) has formed to use all of the tools necessary to finally solve the healthcare crisis in the United States. Our guests are Dr. Carol Paris, the current president of Physicians for a National Health Program, and Russell Mokhiber of Single Payer Action. The four of us were part of the National Mobilization for Healthcare Reform, which organized national days of protest for Medicare for All in 2009-10. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The outgoing President Obama, who used the Espionage Law more times than all other presidents combined to go after whistleblowers and the media, hurled a final blow at political dissent when he signed the newest version of the National Defense Authorization Act into law (on the Friday before Christmas when people weren't paying attention). Within the new NDAA is a provision to create and fund a "Global Engagement Center" to counter so-called propaganda. Chris Hedges, who sued President Obama over a previous version of the NDAA and has reported in countries that experienced similar silencing of dissent, and Rick Sterling, an independent journalist, who has been investigating the new NDAA, will explain what is going on, what we can expect and what we can do about it. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Communities around the country are meeting and preparing for the continued onslaught of neo-liberalism that has exploded the wealth divide and has undermined education, health care, wages and more and the additional threats of an administration and Congress that are openly hostile towards immigrants, Muslims, LGBTQ, women and blacks. We speak with Kali Akuno of Cooperation Jackson and the Malcolm X Grassroots Organizing Movement about the new project Ungovernable 2017 and the ongoing work to build economic alternatives to capitalism. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Throughout 2016, there have been protests of presidential candidates, both Republican and Democrat. They took place during the primaries, at the conventions and through and after the election. No matter who was elected, it was clear that the next president would be a plutocrat who does not have the interests of the people or planet at heart. We will talk with three activists who are organizing protests around the inauguration about those actions and how they will build a presidency of protest so that the people set the political agenda. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The fight to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline from being built on tribal land and under Lake Oahe has brought together hundreds of tribes in an historic show of unity. Non-indigenous people and organizations have also joined to support this Indigenous-led effort. There is a long legacy of extraction of fuels on Indigenous land without respect for their sovereignty or treaties and without regard for the impacts these projects have on people, animals and Earth. Currently, another project is about to start – a Uranium mine on Havasupai land near the Grand Canyon. The Uranium ore will be carried by trucks through Diné (Navajo) and close to Hopi land to White Mesa Mill, which is close to a Ute community. President-elect Trump has declared a plan to privatize Indigenous land for coal, oil and gas extraction. Our guests will discuss the history of Indigenous rights in the United States and the current effort to stop the Canyon Mine. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Now that the election is over, we will discuss what it will take to build political power for the changes that we require. We'll look specifically at the Green Party, its history, its context within the current political environment and what must be done next. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

On Dec. 1 and 2, the People’s Tribunal on the Iraq War will take place in Washington, DC. Organized by CODEPINK, people from around the world will testify or send testimony on the lies that were used to start the war and on the costs of war. We speak with two people who will participate, Sam Koplinka-Loehr of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee and Elizabeth Murray, a former intelligence officer who is now a peace activist. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org

The unexpected election of Donald Trump has created confusion among the elites and political space for a new people's agenda. Bruce Dixon of Black Agenda Report joins us to analyze the elections results. Then Bill Moyer of the Backbone Campaign will discuss ways to build popular power to counter the potential harm of Trump's policies and demand changes that protect our communities and the planet. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

On the eve of the election in an unprecedented election year, we speak with Dr. Jill Stein, Green Party candidate for President in the US, for an hour about the campaign, the Green Party and how to build political power for radical change in the United States. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Decades of lesser evil voting and a growing plutocracy have brought us to the two most hated presidential candidates in history. The public discourse has devolved to discussion of the illegal behaviors of the candidates while the United States and the planet are facing multiple crises. We can almost hear Nero's fiddles. To help us get through the next week, we invite political comedians Lee Camp and John F. O'Donnell to join us for some therapeutic humor. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Tensions are mounting between the US and Russia. The European border with Russia has seen an increase in NATO troops, missile systems and bases, while Russia has moved troops and equipment to their border. The conflict in Syria has grown worse with a failed cease fire, and Russia and the US are unable to agree to renewed talks. Russia has added additional air defense systems in Syria and for the first time in many years has dispatched 5,000 paratroopers to Egypt for joint anti-terrorist exercises. Russia has suspended several nuclear weapons agreements with the United States while the US continues to upgrade its nuclear stockpile with a trillion dollar program. The US media has been accusing Putin of being an aggressor. Our guests are former CIA official Ray McGovern and Gerry Condon, vice president of Veterans for Peace. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Most people in the US buy their food in grocery stores with little knowledge of the human and environmental injustices that went into bringing it there or the fights to improve the quality of our food. Today we speak with Maru Mora-Villalpando, who works with Families United for Justice, about a campaign led by farm workers who pick berries in the U.S. and Mexico that is starting to have victories. And then we talk with long-time food advocate Carlos Martinez about Monsanto, the consolidation of Big Ag and the fight for the right to healthy food. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The science is clear that no new fossil fuel infrastructure can be built. People around the world are taking it upon themselves to stop fossil fuel projects. The Sacred Stone Camp was created by the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota Nations on April 1, 2016 to stop construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), which would carry Bakken oil through four states. The DAPL could contaminate the Missouri River, as well as the land and other aquifers. Construction of the pipeline is destroying sacred sites and wildlife habitat. Matt Remle will speak with us about resistance to the pipeline and what people can do to support the efforts. We must also build alternatives to meet our needs for energy and transportation. Bill Moyer and Steve Chrismer have been working together on a project that they call Solutionary Rail. They envision rebuilding the rail system to run on electricity created through renewable sources to carry goods and passengers. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We speak with Ajamu Baraka about his work for decades as a human rights defender, about his current run for Vice President on the Green Party ticket and his activism at the Sacred Stone Camp in North Dakota recently in solidarity with the fight to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

As predicted, major insurance companies are complaining that they are not making enough money and so they are pulling out of the health insurance exchanges. What does this mean for health professionals and patients? How do we solve the ongoing health care crisis in the United States? We speak with Sam Jordan about his fight to force Care First Blue Cross to live up to its public obligations and Dr. Steffie Woolhandler about the current state of healthcare in the United States and what impact proposed solutions would have. For more information, please visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

As we enter the final months of the presidential campaigns, voters are looking towards the debates. The first one will be in New York on September 26. However, unless we mobilize to change the process for presidential debates, voters will not get to hear the views of all candidates who are on the ballot in enough states to win the election. We'll talk about the presidential debate commission, which is really a private corporation, the ways that debates are restricted by the Democrats and Republicans and what we can do to create greater democracy. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOG.org.

The final national presidential nominating convention is over for this election season. To discuss the upcoming elections and what they mean, we are joined by Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report and Eugene Puryear, an activist based in Washington, DC. What will it take to build the political power necessary for transformation to a more just and peaceful society? For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOG.org.

Decades of lesser evil voting and the failed policies that have been the result are creating a political realignment in the United States. Such a realignment has been going on in other countries recently such as Spain, Venezuela, Greece and Iceland. The two major parties in the US, the Democrats and Republicans, are shrinking and more people are joining third parties or switching to be unaffiliated. We’ll discuss this political realignment and what it means with Darcy Richardson and Ashley Smith. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.