Clearing the FOG with co-hosts Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese

Members of the Sanctions Kill coalition are currently in Nicaragua as guests of the Friends of the ATC (the Association of Rural Workers) to learn about the Sandinista Revolution and the impacts of the recent economic war being waged by the United States against it. The ATC is a member of the global Via Campesina movement. Nicaragua is putting concrete programs in place to uplift its people by focusing on eradicating poverty, providing basic necessities such as health care, education, retirement security and more and empowering sectors of society that are typically at a disadvantage. A major focus of the Nicaraguan government is achieving food sovereignty using farming methods that are rooted in sustainable and organic methods and supporting small farmers. Clearing the FOG speaks with Erika Takeo of the Friends of the ATC, Antonio Tovar of the Farmworkers Association of Florida and Paul Oqwist of the Nicaraguan government. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

While the Equality Act that passed recently in the House is getting attention, the critical struggle for the rights of transgender people is taking place in state legislatures. This year, 26 states have legislation that would criminalize the provision of gender-affirming care to youth, ban transgender students from participating in athletics and more. This is an increase from 20 states last year. These bills are being pushed through by conservative Christian groups. Clearing the FOG speaks with Chase Strangio, a lawyer with the ACLU LGBT project, who is tracking the bills and working to stop them. We discuss what these anti-transgender rights bills would do, where they are imminent and what people can do to stop them. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The current student debt burden is over $2 trillion and it is crushing the economy. Defaults on student loans are high and for most borrowers, especially those who are people of color, their loan balances are rising instead of falling. Clearing the FOG speaks with Alan Collinge of Student Loan Justice about the impacts of the student loan burden and how to resolve this crisis. He makes a critical point about why it is President Biden, as he promised on the campaign trail, and not Congress, who cancels student debt and why that would be a powerful way to stimulate the economy. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The state of Maryland and Baltimore City in particular have been dominated by Democratic Party politics for decades, yet many residents struggle under a repressive police force, a lack of affordable housing, gentrification, inadequate investment in schools and in majority black communities, environmental pollution, and more. Black workers in the state have spent the past ten years building their own political structure, the Ujima People's Progress Party, to challenge the Democrats and now having established a base of support, they are working to achieve ballot access. Clearing the FOG speaks with the state organizer, Nnamdi Lumumba, about building black worker power in the state by engaging with communities around the struggles they are facing, building self-sufficiency and providing political education. He explains why this is necessary at this moment in time and how it fits into the broader picture of building political power on the Left. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Jovenel Moïse's term as president in Haiti ended on Sunday, February 7, but he is refusing to leave office with the support of the Biden administration, the United Nations and other western imperialist countries and institutions. Moïse was placed in power by the United States and is ruling unilaterally by decree. He is violently repressing anyone who challenges his power. Clearing the FOG speaks with Wilkenson Bruna, a filmmaker and political activist in Haiti, about the dire situation, the events surrounding Moïse's refusal to step down and what people in the United States can do to support the rights of the Haitian people. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

President Biden declared early in his presidency that he wants to advance racial equity. The new Secretary of Defense, General Lloyd Austin, the first Black person to serve in that role, announced his intentions to root out racism in the Pentagon. The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) recently launched two new campaigns calling for specific actions the Biden administration can take to end militarization of black and brown communities and to end the 'forever war' on Afghanistan. Clearing the FOG speaks with Ajamu Baraka, the national organizer for BAP, about these initiatives and the imperative to build the antiwar, anti-imperialist movement during the Biden administration. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

On January 22, the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons went into effect. This treaty, which is supported by more than two-thirds of the countries in the world but none of the nuclear states, is groundbreaking in many ways and is a significant step toward nuclear disarmament at a time when the threat of nuclear war is the highest it has ever been. I speak with Seth Shelden of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons about the treaty, how it came about, what it will do and what people in the United States can do to press our government to ratify it. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Baltimore Maryland is a majority-black but hyper-segregated city. Following the uprising in Baltimore in 2015 in response to the police murder of Freddie Gray, Dr. Lawrence Brown, a public health expert at Morgan University, a historically black university in Baltimore, found that historical context and data were missing from the conversation about what was happening. Thus, he wrote "The Black Butterfly: The Politics of Race and Space in America." In this book, Dr. Brown describes the history of and the players who created the urban apartheid and how Baltimore became a template for many cities across the country. His book, available through Johns Hopkins University, provides the data, language and solutions necessary for the struggle to dismantle systemic racism. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

In the last years of his life, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. rejected duopoly politics and challenged the roots of the crises we face, what he called the triple evils of racism, capitalism and militarism. As many people active in the Civil Rights Movement moved into the Democratic Party, Dr. King taught that the movement must be independent of political parties and be "the conscience" of them. For this, Dr. King was shunned and hated. In this interview from MLK Day in 2015, Kevin Zeese and I spoke with Kymone Freeman, co-founder of We Act Radio in Washington,DC, JasiriX, an activist and artist out of Pittsburgh, PA, and Cat Brooks, an activist in Oakland, CA about the revival of the radical Dr. King and how they are continuing his work in their communities. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

On January 6, 2021, thousands of Trump supporters rallied in Washington, DC at the White House with President Trump and then marched to the Capitol as the presidential election was being certified. Some of them entered the Capitol illegally, either with the assistance of police, as the police passively allowed them to enter or by breaking in through windows and doors. Some of them sought out and threatened lawmakers and ransacked offices. I speak with longtime DC organizer, Brian Becker, who is the national coordinator for the ANSWER Coalition about the events of January 6, the rising extreme right wing movement in the United States and what can be done to turn the current dangerous situation around. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

This past weekend, new members of Congress voted for the speaker of the House. Given the slim majority of Democrats, progressives urged members of Congress who ran on a platform of Medicare for All to negotiate a floor vote for the Medicare for All bill in exchange for their support for Nancy Pelosi. Given the recession, pandemic, the millions who have lost their health insurance, growing support for Medicare for All and this rare opportunity of holding political power, the floor vote was seen as an important demonstration that progressives in Congress would fight for the people's interests this year. The campaign went by the hashtag #ForceTheVote. I speak with Nick Brana of the Movement for a People's Party about the campaign and next steps to win National Improved Medicare for All. For more information, visit PopularResistance.com.

Judge Vanessa Baraitser will announce her decision on the United States' request to extradite Julian Assange on January 4. Assange faces 18 charges, 17 of them under the Espionage Act, which has been weaponized to go after journalists who expose war crimes and other truths the United States wants to keep secret. If he is extradited, it will end press freedom as we know it. Any journalist anywhere in the world will know they could face similar consequences if they expose the US government. I speak with Kevin Gosztola of Shadowproof, who has been following the extradition process closely, about what is likely to happen and what activists can do to protect Julian Assange and our right to know. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

You won't hear this in the corporate media but the struggle for Palestinian rights is gaining power and that is why there is an escalation by the Zionists to hold onto their power. Author and activist Miko Peled provides an update of what we need to know including a new study about the Palestinian refugee crisis, the status of the annexation of the West Bank, what is behind Arab states normalizing relations with the Israeli state, the new definition of anti-Semitism that is spreading and the current political instability in Israel. He also talks about the incoming Biden-Harris administration in terms of what that means for the Palestinian struggle and what activists should be demanding. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The federal eviction moratorium is set to expire in December leaving an estimated 30 million people at risk of eviction. Members of Congress are still unable to reach an agreement on a relief bill that will extend the moratorium, as well as other important programs that were included in the CARES Act early in the year. I speak with two people about what is being done in their communities. They provide examples for others in similar situations. Joey Lankowski is with Food Not Bombs Las Vegas. They are building tiny home communities to keep people sheltered and physically separated when they have nowhere else to go. Then I speak with William X Nietsche whose family was victimized by predatory lending practices about what they are doing to keep their home. Many people in the community have rallied around them, building an eviction defense camp around their house. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

On December 6, Venezuelans elected a new National Assembly with a left political majority. This election, which was well-run and legitimate despite what the imperialist media and countries say, reconstitutes the Venezuelan parliamentary body with participation from both the ruling and opposition parties. It marks the end of an era during which the National Assembly was a tool of the right wing agenda and US regime change efforts. To facilitate understanding of the current election and political climate in Venezuela, Vijay Prashad of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and Paul Dobson of Venezulanalysis provide their insight and analysis. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

On December 6, Venezuelans will vote for a new National Assembly. Just as it has done for the past twenty years, the United States is interfering in the election process and has already falsely claimed the elections are rigged. The last National Assembly election in 2015 was marred by a vote-buying scheme in one remote region. Upon an order from the Supreme Court to redo those races, right-wing parties refused, putting the entire National Assembly in contempt of court. Latin American policy analyst, Leonardo Flores, joins me to speak about this election and the impacts of the US' efforts to interfere and overthrow the current government. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

After nearly four decades, Indigenous Peoples win an agreement for the largest dam removal in the world. Four of the six dams on the Klamath River in California and Oregon will be taken down, allowing the water to flow freely again and the salmon to spawn. This is a powerful story of how four tribes put aside their past conflicts to work together and environmental groups participated in an indigenous-led campaign that took on two of the wealthiest men in the world, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. And this is an example of why, if we want to succeed in restoring our relationship with the earth, Indigenous Peoples must be at the forefront. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Youth protests against police violence in Nigeria, the #EndSARS movement, gained international attention with solidarity protests around the world. To understand those protests and the context of the political, economic and social environment in Nigeria, I speak with Comrade Abiodun Aremu, the general secretary of the Joint Action Front and the co-coordinator of the Amil Cabral Ideological School Movement. Aremu speaks about the failure of the government to fulfill the 1999 Constitutional obligations, the extent and role of police and military repression, especially of the youth, and the ties between the United States and Nigeria. For transcript, visit PopularResistance.org.

The presidential election has been called for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. I speak with Constitutional lawyer and activist Shahid Buttar about what that means for our work on issues of social justice, his campaign to challenge House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her congressional seat, and critical issues of the day such as the media, democracy, militarization and mass surveillance. Buttar points out that the crises we face are more than political. The United States is in a Constitutional crisis and legislators such as California's Nancy Pelosi and Dianne Feinstein are at the helm. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Five years ago, the movement for internet freedom won an important victory when the Federal Communications Commission reclassified the internet as a common carrier, making it like a utility that everyone should have equal access to without discrimination. That was quickly reversed in 2017 under the new chair of the FCC, Ajit Pai, a former Verizon lawyer, who deregulated the internet giving the government no authority to oversee the internet service providers like Comcast and AT&T. I speak with Josh Stager of the Open Technology Institute about the ongoing fight to protect the internet and what we need to do next. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

With the presidential election coming up, there is a lot of focus on how the election will go and who will win. One thing is certain, no matter which corporate candidate wins, the people and the planet will lose. To understand where we are and how we got here, I speak with Gabriel Rockhill, a philosopher, author and activist. He explains the connections between our governance structure and capitalism and how both liberal democracy and fascism in a sort of good cop/bad cop relationship are used to protect the profits of the few while exploiting the many. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Last October following the re-election of indigenous president Evo Morales in Bolivia, the United States backed a coup that successfully forced him out of power. The coup regime reversed many of the gains made under Morales and waged violent and austerity policies against the people. A new presidential election was held this past weekend largely because of massive popular mobilizations over the summer that demanded them. I speak with Camila Escalante of Telesur English and Kawsachun News about the coup, the protests and the recent election. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The Global South is adversely impacted by the many crises that exist in this world - the climate crisis, pandemic, recession, war to name a few. Although the Global South is wealthy in terms of culture, biodiversity, knowledge and more, the way the Global North defines what is valuable contributes to economic inequality between the North and South and exploitation of peoples and the planet. Now, my guests Arnie Saiki and Chanzo Greenidge are challenging that paradigm with a new concept of intemerate accounting. The idea is receiving growing support by Pacific Island nations. They explain what it is and how social movements can adopt it to transition to a more ecological economic system. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

October 1, 2020, marked the twelfth anniversary of AFRICOM, the United States military's presence in Africa. An international day of action was organized to call for AFRICOM to be shut down and for the US to stop interfering in Africa. Ajamu Baraka, a human rights defender and the national organizer of the Black Alliance for Peace, which coordinated the day of action, speaks about the history of AFRICOM and its impact on the continent. He also discusses why it's necessary to be anti-imperialist and to have an internationalist perspective, the changing power dynamics in the world, the upcoming elections in the United States, and where activists should focus their time and energies to achieve the changes we need. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The climate crisis, wars, violent states and economic crashes are driving migration around the world and in this capitalist global environment, it is no surprise that a profiteering industrial complex has evolved. I speak with Siobhan McGuirk and Adrienne Pine, co-authors of "Asylum for Sale: Profit and protest in the migration industry," about the ways capitalism both drives migration and benefits from it. They discuss who has the resources to migrate, the problem with how asylum-seeking is framed in the public discourse and courts and the diverse international resistance that is forming to demand universal access to asylum. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Portland, Oregon is one of the epicenters of the rebellion against police violence that broke out after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Portland has a long history of racism and abusive police. David Rovics, a composer, performer, organizer and activist, joins Clearing the FOG to speak about the history of Oregon as a "Whites Only" state, the resistance there, the murder of Michael Reinoehl, the current fires and his work to develop Eviction Defense Squads. Eleanor Goldfield joins Margaret in the first half of the show to discuss current news. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

As US empire wanes and China's economy and global reach grow, the United States has entered a Cold War with China that includes economic warfare, military antagonism, and a misinformation campaign. Western imperialist media promote myths designed to build public opposition to China and support for this US aggression. This leaves even those on the left confused. Rarely do we hear from Chinese people who would provide clarity about their country. To fill that gap, the new Qiao Collective, composed of Chinese analysts and scholars, was created this year. We speak with collective member Elias Tchen. This is the last interview recorded before Kevin's sudden death on September 6. Ralph Nader joins Margaret in the first half of the show to remember the life and work of Kevin Zeese. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

When we last interviewed Chris Hedges in December, we spoke about the coming uprising and whether the left was ready for it. Now we are in the midst of a nationwide rebellion against police violence and lack of protection for workers, right wing violence is on the rise and an election is nearing. We speak to Hedges about the ways the liberal class protects the status quo, his experiences studying the Christian Right and the times in which we live. Hedges covered wars and revolutions in Latin America, the Middle East and the former Yugoslavia so he has seen what the United States is currently experiencing. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

As the US Empire falls, the US government continues its regime change attempts around the world in an effort to hang onto power. We see the same tactics applied over and over again. We speak with John Kiriakou, a former CIA analyst and case officer, about what regime change looks like from inside the CIA, which he describes as similar to the Bansky painting, "The Banality of the Banality of Evil." He reveals the tension between those who ignore the illegality of what the US is doing and those who believe in the rule of law, how the process of deciding to intervene in a country works, and then how it is carried out. He provides specific examples from his own experience, what is happening in Belarus and Hong Kong, and his thoughts on the current state of US politics. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

On August 4, 2020, an explosion of tons of ammonium nitrate being stored at the port of Beirut Lebanon ripped through the city killing 0ver 170 people and injuring 6,000 people. This happened at a time when Beirut was already suffering an economic collapse and the COVID-19 pandemic. We speak with Rania Khalek, a Lebanese-American independent journalist who was in Beirut, about what it was like during and after the explosion, the protests that followed and the complicated political situation in Lebanon. Khalek explains how the United States and other Western and Gulf States are interfering and causing more harm and why much of what we hear in the Western media about Lebanon is false. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The United States is facing multiple crises with no signs of improvement on the horizon - a deep recession, high unemployment, millions of people soon to be displaced from their homes, a failed healthcare system in the midst of a pandemic, the climate crisis and more. We speak with Professor Richard Wolff, an economist and the author of "Democracy at Work", about the history of capitalism and how it is inherently unstable. Prof. Wolff posits that the United States is now in a situation where capitalism is unlikely to survive. He describes why that is and the lessons we must learn from the fatal mistakes made when the US was in a similar situation one hundred years ago. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Federal protection against housing evictions has expired and local and state governments are not stepping up to fill in the gap leaving tens of millions of families vulnerable to homelessness during this growing pandemic and deep recession. In Philadelphia and across the country families, out of desperation, are taking over empty publicly-owned housing. It is estimated that there are up to ten vacant homes for every homeless person. We speak with Cheri Honkala of the Poor People's Economic and Human Rights campaign about the practicalities of housing takeovers from identifying empty houses to how to turn on the utilities and talk to police. Honkala has decades of experience in this and other necessary actions to survive in poverty in the United States. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The Trump Administration sent federal law enforcement, including the paramilitary squad of Customs and Border Patrol, BORTAC, which has been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, to the streets of Portland, OR to stop the ongoing demonstrations against racist police violence. Federal law enforcement, working with local police, is also being sent to other cities where anti-racist protests are going on. We speak with constitutional lawyer Mara Verheyden-Hilliard about the legality of this and how activists can fight back to protect the rights of everyone and end police violence and lawless impunity. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Climate justice advocates are justifiably celebrating recent victories such as stopping three major pipelines, a new court decision regarding the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and national discussion of the Green New Deal, but does this mean we are winning? We speak with Steve Horn, a climate reporter and investigative journalist, about the future of the Atlantic Coast, Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines, what it means that oil companies are going bankrupt and a proposal to create a North American version of OPEC. Steve describes how fossil fuel companies are working to preserve their future and what we must do to save ours. For more information, visit PopularResistane.org.

The Green Party of the United States held its presidential nominating convention, a virtual convention, this past weekend. The nominees are Howie Hawkins, a co-founder of the party and the first candidate to bring the Green New Deal to the US, for president and Angela Walker for vice president. Both are members of the working class - a retired Teamster and a truckdriver. Both are also lifelong socialists who are working to build the Green Patry and build unity among the Left in the US. We speak with Howie and Angela about the times in which we live, why they are running and what they hope to accomplish through their campaign. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

This past week, just as public sentiment and corporate media attention were shifting in favor of Julian Assange, the United States issued another superseding indictment in his extradition case. The indictment doesn't add any charges, it merely uses public information to smear Assange's reputation and attempt to portray him as a hacker instead of the journalist and publisher that he is. This shows that the US government has a weak case against Assange. Joe Lauria, an investigative journalist and senior editor of Consortium News, explains the new indictment and provides an update on Julian Assange. The Assange case is the most important press freedom case of this era. It will determine our right to know what our government and corporations are doing. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

In 2017, a leak from the FBI revealed they were targeting black activists organizing to end racist policies and practices calling them "Black Identity Extremists." This is consistent with the FBI's long history of investigating and harassing black and brown activists. Organizations like Media Justice and the ACLU have been working to get information from the FBI about what they are doing and who they are targeting but the FBI has been putting barriers in their way. We speak with Myaisha Hayes of Media Justice about what they have learned so far and its impact on activists. Hayes also discusses their efforts to urge Congress to stop federal funding for surveillance of people exercising their constitutional rights and to educate activists about ways to protect themselves. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The recent protests across the country following the murder of George Floyd have elevated the demands to defund and abolish the police. This comes on the heels of the nationwide resurgence of a movement for community control of police led by the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. We speak with author and activist Max Rameau of Pan African Community Action about the role of police in the bigger picture of the evolution of human beings as protectors of private property and wealth, the pitfalls of defunding police if this dynamic is not addressed and what community control of police looks like. Max is co-author with Netfa Freeman of an upcoming book, "Community Control over Police." For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The United States is in the midst of a mass uprising against police violence, but also a whole list of grievances such as the lack of jobs, health care, education and more. Sustained protests have been going on for two weeks defying curfews and severe repression by police. The national guard has been deployed to 23 states and President Trump threatened to deploy the military against people expressing their First Amendment rights. We speak with Danny Sjursen, a retired Major and spokesperson for About Face: Veterans Against the War, about how members of the military are responding to current events. Veterans have called for members of the national guard and military to refuse illegal orders and they are receiving an unprecedented number of responses. Danny also provides insight into the police community and why they are doubling down on repression. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Texaco was the first oil company to drill in the Amazon. To maximize profits, and because they thought they could get away with it, they did not take any steps to protect local communities or the environment from their toxic waste. For a long time, they did get away with it. Then a group of lawyers and organizations worked with locals to sue Chevron, which bought Texaco, and won a $9.5 billion judgment. Chevron refuses to pay and instead has gone after the lawyer, Steven Donziger, in unprecedented ways with a vengeance. We speak with Donziger and Paul Paz y Miño of Amazon Watch. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

On May 9, the Sanctions Kill coalition based in the United States held the first in a series of webinars on the United States' illegal economic coercive measures imposed on 39 countries and one-third of the global population. This webinar featured representatives from six countries: Cuba, Zimbabwe, Nicaragua, Syria, Venezuela and Iran. Each of these targeted countries shares common struggles to maintain their sovereignty and provide basic necessities for their people while trying to build new forms of governance in the face of aggression and interference from the United States. It is rare to hear directly from government representatives from targeted countries in the United States and it is important for us to understand what is happening in a way the corporate media will not provide. The second webinar is on Sunday, May 31 at 1:00 pm Eastern. Register directly at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_f5ntIQ8ORBC6u1cts7t7vQ. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

As we get close to two months of quarantine to stop the spread of COVID19 and the government has failed to put in place both public health infrastructure to effectively control the pandemic and economic support to see people through it financially, pressure is building to end it. In addition to the protests against the restrictions on movement and businesses, people are starting to question the rationale behind measures such as wearing masks, quarantining and vaccines. This is being fueled by a few people who are pushing unsubstantiated claims that are causing confusion. We speak with Dr. Andy Coates, a practicing physician in Albany, New York who also teaches evidence-based medicine, about what we know so far about the new SARS-CoV2 virus that is causing COVID19. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

In the face of the twin crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic collapse, people are organizing mutual aid networks to provide food, medicines and other basics to those in need. This is done in the spirit of solidarity, not charity, a non-hierarchical empowering approach versus a hierarchical exploitative approach. We speak with Eleanor Goldfield, an activist in Washington, DC who is active in her local mutual aid network and has written about it, about how they are organizing, the response from the community and government and how this fits into the bigger picture of resistance and building alternative systems to meet human needs. Some resources that Eleanor suggests are MutualAidDisasterRelief.org, ItsGoingDown.org and her website, ArtKillingApathy.com. For more, visit PopularResistance.org.

There is a growing movement of people refusing to pay their rent whether they are not able to or whether they can but they are acting in solidarity with those who can't. In this recession, tens of millions of people have lost their jobs. Support from the government is not reaching everyone who needs it. Thirty percent of people could not pay their rent in April. This is occurring in an environment where property owners are large corporations that seek profit even when it means people losing their homes during a pandemic. We speak with DC activist and co-host of By Any Means Necessary about the Cancel the Rent campaign, which calls on local government to put a moratorium on rent until the pandemic is over. Their long term goal seeks to transform the way housing is structured in the United States so it is treated as a basic human right. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The wave of worker, student, and renter strikes is growing into a campaign for a general strike that begins on May 1 and continues at the first of each month from there. The government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and economic collapse, a purely neoliberal money grab, has revealed that the only way we are going to survive and maintain social programs is by fighting for them. We speak with Mark Dimondstein, the president of the American Postal Workers Union, about Congress' failure to provide necessary funding for the US Postal Service as revenue has fallen by 50%. The USPS faces the real possibility of going bankrupt and the administration is openly saying it will let it fail in order to privatize it. We also speak with Joe Henry, political director of the League of United Latin American Citizens in Iowa, about the Meatless Monday campaign for meatpackers and against factory farming. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Over the last two years, there have been record numbers of worker strikes in the United States not seen since the depression. Since the recession and COVID-19 pandemic started this winter, there have been many wildcat strikes in response to workers having their pay cut and being required to work in hazardous conditions even though they are deemed essential. Now, as the government demonstrates its unwillingness to provide basic protection for the population even as it injects billions of dollars to big industries and banks, support for a general strike is here. We speak with Kali Akuno of Cooperation Jackson about the plans being made for the first general strike on May Day, what that will look like and how the campaign will be sustained over time. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The economy has shut down considerably in the United States so that people can shelter in place and slow the spread of COVID-19, but not all workers are able to do so. Essential workers include those who work in the food industry, not only the producers but also grocery store workers. One group of workers that is in high demand is the personal shopper who will buy what people order and deliver it to their homes. Shipt Shoppers, who do this work, have had pay cuts and are not being provided with what they need to protect themselves and their customers from contracting COVID-19. We speak with Robin Pape, a gig worker who is helping to lead the fight back to demand that Shipt Shoppers are protected and compensated for the hazardous work they are doing. Their fight is representative of what many essential workers are facing during the pandemic. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The United States government often criticizes other countries for controlling their media, but over the past thirty years, it is the US media that has become tightly controlled. We speak with Kathryn Foxhall with the Society of Professional journalists who explains how government agencies from the local to the national levels, educational and scientific institutions and police departments restrict access by media to officials and use minders to monitor what those officials say. Foxhall describes how this lack of access to information hinders ethical journalism, how it has impacted the stories we read and what people are doing to push back. This is particularly important during emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic because reporters are being denied access to health officials. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

New York is the area hardest hit by the coronavirus currently in the United States with over 60,000 cases and over 1,000 deaths, ranking it as the sixth highest number of cases in the world. The area in and around New York City has the most cases. Governor Cuomo is scrambling for hospital beds and equipment. The Army Corps of Engineers has been called in to convert convention centers and other large spaces into temporary hospitals. A naval hospital ship is heading up from southern Virginia to provide support. The city is bringing in refrigerated trucks to store dead bodies and China is sending planeloads of medical supplies. We speak with Dr. Mike Pappas, who is working on the front line of this crisis about COVID-19, how health professionals are handling it, how it is exposing the flaws in our healthcare and economic systems and what systems would protect people. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

It was recently confirmed that the former president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, won the last presidential election in October. He was forced to resign in a US-assisted coup that has brought a violent and fascist government into power. We speak with Alfred de Zayas, a legal expert on civil and political rights and an independent expert to the United Nations, about the legal implications of the coup and interference by the United States in other countries besides Bolivia. Mr. de Zayas describes the US government's history of flouting international law and why the international legal system is unable to enforce those laws. He also discusses the COVID-19 pandemic and what the world needs in this time of crisis. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Stock markets around the world have become very volatile over the past few weeks with record losses. We are in a global recession, which could become a depression in the United States. Panic over the coronavirus and falling oil prices triggered the crisis, but economists have predicted this for some time due to high levels of corporate debt and artificial propping up of Wall Street. It was just a question of when. We speak with economist Jack Rasmus, author of "The Scourge of Neoliberalism: US Economic Policy from Reagan to Trump," about the current state of the economy and what we can expect from here. Rasmus posits that twenty-first-century neoliberalism is doomed to be highly unstable with rapid crashes and long recovery times. The system is going to change, but the direction it takes depends on what people do to demand a system that puts people before profits. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The Extinction Rebellion is a nonviolent direct action campaign that started in the United Kingdom in the Fall of 2018 to push governments to declare a climate crisis and to take action to rapidly cut net carbon emissions. It quickly spread to more than 50 countries including the United States where activists added another demand for climate justice to make sure that the government's actions do not worsen the current crises of racism, inequality and oppression. Little did US organizers expect that after decades of bringing justice to the forefront of the climate movement, Extinction Rebellion UK would work to undermine that. We speak with long time environmental and climate justice activists Cherri Foytlin and Bea Ruiz, national team members of Extinction Rebellion US, about their struggle to protect the progress they've made. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

For a long time, students and faculty of predominately-white universities across the country have been experiencing oppressive environments where racism and homophobia are tolerated. This academic year, a group of Syracuse University students who call themselves Not Again SU has taken strong actions to confront this environment. They garnered significant attention last fall when they occupied the Barnes Center and issued 19 demands to the university. The administration agreed to address many of the demands but months later not much has been done and hate incidents continue to occur without consequences to deter them. They are currently occupying the administrative building to press for more action. This time the university responded aggressively by suspending students, denying them access to food and other necessities and unleashing a violent police force against them. We speak with one of the student organizers about what is happening on campus and how their actions have sparked a nationwide movement. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The United States changed its national security strategy from the "war against terror" to "great power conflict" targeting countries such as Russia and China. Some say the United States is already at war with them, surrounding them militarily and using economic and media attacks to try to weaken them. A current example of the propaganda war is the US' response to the coronavirus, which started in the Chinese province of Wuhan. We speak with US-based activist Siu Hin Lee about the reality of life in China under quarantine, the Chinese healthcare system and why the West doesn't recognize China's approach to foreign policy. As China with its economic power and Russia with its military might collaborate, the United States faces a choice between competition and cooperation. This choice will define the outcomes for the US in the twenty-first century. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

As the presidential races heat up, Margaret Kimberley has a new book, "Prejudential: Black America and The Presidents," that exposes how every one of the forty-five presidents in the United States has maintained a state of white supremacy. Her research cuts through the traditional narratives and myths of our presidents to show their support for chattel slavery until the Civil War and then the ongoing oppression of blacks in many forms after that and continuing today. Characterizing the presidents as bad to less bad, she discusses that our presidents reflect the reality of the founding principles of the country, which have not been successfully challenged. Kimberley argues that it has always been popular movements, not presidents, who have brought significant reforms and encourages black voters to break with the duopoly political parties. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org. 

The Trump administration has been one of the most aggressive toward supporting the Israeli colonialist and apartheid state in Palestine in cooperation with the extreme right-wing government under Netanyahu. During his term, funding has been withdrawn from the United Nations relief agency for Palestinian refugees, the capital of Israel was moved to Jerusalem (the Palestinian Capital), Israel was declared a Jewish State and the US changed its position on the illegal settlements. This latest so-called 'Deal of the Century' is set to complete genocide against Palestinians. We speak with Awad Abdelfattah, a Palestinian in Haifa who is leading the campaign for One Democratic State about the current situation, the campaign and what people in the United States can do to support a secular, equal, democratic state in Palestine. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Last December, the National Defense Authorization Act that was renewed with bipartisan support in Congress authorized the creation of a new branch of the military, a space force. In January, President Trump appointed the head of that new force, General John Jay Raymond. The US military plans to move 16,ooo military and civilian personnel into that space force. We speak with Bruce Gagnon of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space about what this space force means. He describes how space technology is already being used in warfare, how this area is a new profit center for the aerospace industry and how it is draining critical resources from necessary programs. He also explains that a war in space will create so many problems that everyone on the planet will be impacted in a negative way. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org. 

It has been a hundred years since the first and only public bank was created in the United States, in North Dakota, but now there is renewed interest in starting more public banks. California passed a law last year allowing public banks. New Jersey and New York are not far behind. To explain why public banks are necessary and describe the growing movement for them, we speak with Ellen Brown of the Public Banking Institute. She discusses the benefits of public banks, how they save money and free up funds for necessary public projects and what the obstacles are. Brown also writes about financial issues. She talks about the current crisis in the repo market that is brewing in the United States and how it makes the economy precarious. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The United States still has a long way to go to come to terms with its history of being founded on genocide and slavery. In recent years, we have heard about efforts to take down monuments to those who perpetrated these crimes. What we rarely hear are the stories of how that genocide and slavery have been covered up and how even today there are barriers to those who seek to expose them. One such effort is taking place right now in one of the wealthiest counties in the United States. Dr. Marsha Coleman Adebayo tells us the riveting story of her discovery of an African Cemetery under a parking lot. She has led a community effort to stop a building from being erected on the site, which has unearthed a horrific past experienced by former residents of that land and has become a struggle against gentrification and white supremacy. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org. 

In December, the Department of Justice announced a new $71 million program, Operation Relentless Pursuit, that will increase policing and the involvement of federal agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Agency in seven cities, four of which are majority-black cities. Rather than addressing the root causes of crime, the program will result in greater repression and violence against these communities. We speak with Jacqueline Luqman about the program, what policies would be more effective and what people are doing to fight back. Kevin Zeese, who has worked for decades to end the war on drugs and mass incarceration, describes how similar programs have been tried in the past and have failed. We also provide current news and analysis.  For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The United States reached a new height of recklessness on January 3 when the military assassinated Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes in Iraq, igniting major mobilizations throughout Iraq and Iran of mourning and rage. We spoke with Ajamu Baraka of Black Alliance for Peace shortly after we learned of the murders. He describes what they mean, how to counter the militarists' messages in support of war and next steps for the anti-war, anti-imperialist movement. We also bring you clips from the national day of action in the United States on January 4 when people took the streets in protest in more than 80 cities and 38 states. And we discuss what really happened at the Venezuelan National Assembly on Sunday. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

As 2019 comes to a close and we enter a new decade, we look back at the major events and issues that shaped the year with Chris Hedges. We discuss the rise of the Right, in part due to the weaknesses of the Left, what the Sanders campaign means for activism and achieving meaningful social change and whether or not the United States is ready for a massive uprising against neo-liberalism, as is happening around the world. The next decade will be a time when major crises such as the climate, wealth inequality and militarism are devastating. At some point, a spark will be lit in the US, but in the current environment, that is likely to result in greater movement to the right unless we prepare now to build power on the left. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The United Nations Conference of Parties, COP25, climate meetings to continue working on the Paris Climate Agreement ended recently. They took place in Madrid Spain rather than Chile because of popular uprisings against neoliberalism in Chile. We speak with Anne Petermann of the Global Justice Ecology Project. Petermann has been attending the COP meetings since the early 2000s. Her organization chose to stay in Chile. We speak with her about what is going on there and about the COP meetings - whether they are effective or not - and what people need to be doing to deal with the climate crisis effectively. Petermann explains why many of the 'solutions' being put forward are false and harmful paths. We also provide current news and analysis.

On December 12, Jeremy Corbyn, head of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom, suffered a great defeat as the conservative Boris Johnson became the new prime minister with a gain of 47 new seats. Labour lost 59 seats. After years of austerity, including cuts to the National Health Service, Corbyn offered a strong manifesto outlining his program for change. We speak with Dr. Leo Panitch, a professor who has studied the Labour Party and left politics since the 1970s. Panitch explains what happened in the UK election and what it potentially means for Senator Sanders' run for president in the United States. He also speaks more broadly about what the left needs to do to build power to the point of having the capability of instituting a progressive platform. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org. 

Native Americans and allies recently commemorated the 50th Annual National Day of Mourning at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. Next year will be the 400th anniversary of the pilgrims landing as part of the European colonization of North America, which led to land theft and massacres of the Indigenous Peoples living there. We speak with Jean-Luc Pierite of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe who currently resides in Boston about the National Day of Mourning and some of the ways European colonization and the genocide that resulted from it are ongoing. Pierite describes efforts he is involved in such as community programs, reenactments, and legislation and the solidarity that is building worldwide. He emphasizes the necessity of oppressed peoples' voices being at the center of the struggle to decolonize the United States and bring about reparations. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

This week, Latin American countries allied with the United States are meeting in Colombia to invoke a post-World War II treaty, the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, TIAR in Spanish, which would permit military intervention in Venezuela. This comes as the US-appointed coup-leader Juan Guaido faces the end of his term as president of the Venezuelan National Assembly and all efforts to install him as the president of Venezuela have failed. We speak with William Camacaro, a Venezuelan activist living in the United States, about the impact of TIAR and what people in the United States can do to stop US interference in Venezuela. We also discuss what is happening in the region as the United States loses control. Plus, we provide current news and analysis. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

As an independent journalist, Alison Weir went on her own to see what was happening during the Second Intifada (uprising) in Occupied Palestine. What she found was the complete opposite of what was being reported in the corporate media. Upon her return, she founded "If Americans Knew" and has been covering Occupied Palestine and the Israeli state in a fact-based way ever since. We speak with Weir about the extent of US support for the Israeli State, the most prominent misconceptions being pedaled in the United States and the reality Palestinians experience. She also describes how to reach people in the United States who are misinformed and what we can do to end the injustice.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has a long history of monitoring, infiltrating and entrapping activists and social movements engaged in First Amendment activity. A new report by Rights and Dissent's legal counsel Chip Gibbons details some of these activities over the past decade. The report covers FBI surveillance from Occupy to racial justice movements, and from those who work to abolish ICE to peace activists. We speak with Gibbons about the history of the FBI, why it is not structured to be held accountable and how it fits into the whole practice of state surveillance. We also discuss how the FBI interferes with protected First Amendment rights and what people can do to stop these repressive practices. For more information, visit www.PopularResistance.org.

Revolts are arising all around the world and it can be hard to keep track of them. We speak with Andre Vltchek, a photographer, writer and documentarian who travels all over to cover world events. He brings a deeper understanding of the conditions that have given rise to the protests, the historical context of those conditions and outside forces that may be influencing them. We discuss Lebanon, a very complex situation where basic social services have broken down but there are also western interests; Hong Kong, China, and the Uyghurs, which are completely propagandized in the United States; and Chile, where people are facing violent state repression and a deeply neoliberal government that has existed since the US-led coup by General Pinochet in 1973. Vltchek provides incredible insights and information. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

From November 22 to 24, the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, founded in 1973, will be relaunching itself in Chicago, IL. A major part of the conference will be focused on work to create community control of the police to end racist, violent and murderous police actions. We speak with Frank Chapman, who has been with the alliance from the start and who is involved in the work in Chicago to create a Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC). They have legislation in the city government. Chapman speaks about how they have made so much progress to this goal in Chicago, what potential it will unleash for transformative change and how it ties into the long struggle for black liberation and against fascism.

Visit PopularResistance.org for more information

Latin America is in a revolt against neoliberalism and the austerity measures that go with it. Ecuador and Chile have had mass protests in recent weeks. Bolivia re-elected President Morales, who has put anti-neoliberal policies in place in his previous three terms. Argentina defeated its neoliberal president, Macri, in the recent election and Hondurans are mobilizing to defeat their current president. We speak with Camilo Mejia about Nicaragua where the US had a failed coup attempt last year and is continuing to try to overthrow President Daniel Ortega of the Sandinista Movement. Mejia helps us recognize the similar tactics being used in each of these countries and describes the real economic alternative that Nicaragua offers to the world, an alternative the capitalists don't want people to be aware of.

President Trump recently announced he was withdrawing US troops from northeastern Syria where they had fought and imprisoned ISIS members with the Kurds. This move gave the green light for Turkey to invade and try to push the Kurds out ostensibly to replace them with the three million Syrian refugees from the western region currently living in Turkey. Democrats and Republicans are criticizing Trump for withdrawing and abandoning the Kurds. This has created a dilemma for peace activists - should the troops stay or go? We speak with Ajamu Baraka of Black Alliance for Peace who has spent time in the Middle East, most recently in Syria, to clarify what is going on and how best to advocate for peace in the region.

Clearing the FOG is a project of PopularResistance.org.

President Lenin Moreno restored neo-liberalism to Ecuador, accepting a $4.2 billion dollar loan from the US-dominated International Monetary Fund that required measures call 'structural adjustments'. These included putting austerity in place in order to repay the loan. When Moreno announced Decree 883, or "The [Austerity] Package," on October 4, the country erupted in a general strike with mass protests in many cities. Moreno imposed a national emergency, fled to the coast and sent police and troops to repress the protests. At least ten people died and thousands were injured. We speak with Wellington Echegaray, an Ecuadorian living in the United States, about the protests and about the history of political instability and difficult living conditions that led to this uprising.

In 2015, under great pressure from a broad media justice movement, the FCC passed Net Neutrality policies that guaranteed the universal right to go where users want to go on the Internet. In 2017, the Trump FCC under Verizon lawyer Ajit Pai moved quickly to repeal Net Neutrality. The movement responded with several tactics to win Net Neutrality back. One of those was a challenge in court, Mozilla v FCC. Last week, the court finally announced its decision. We speak with Craig Aaron of Free Press about that decision. While the court did not restore Net Neutrality, it did open the doors for the movement to use other tactics to achieve a free Internet. Aaron describes what those are and the bigger picture of an Internet for everyone.

As the United Nations wraps up its General Assembly session, we speak with Bahman Azad, a professor who heads the United States Peace Council, about the unprecedented steps the Trump administration took to restrict visiting diplomats and heads of state from attending or from speaking outside the UN during their stay. We discuss the current state of the world, the harmful impacts of US imperialism, and powerful global institutions such as the UN, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. As the world shifts to one where there are many dominating countries, how will that impact US foreign policy and our chances of creating a more peaceful, just and livable future? We also discuss 'Ukrainegate' in-depth and other current events.

Subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through, plus Clearing the FOG totes, water bottles and T shirts. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

Customs and Border Protection is in the news with the recent article in the New York Times on the lowered morale among CBP officers. Much of it stems from public opposition to the detention and separation of families and mistreatment of adults and children, whether it be crowded cells with unsanitary conditions and inadequate food or sexual and physical abuse of children and deaths. Immigrant detention is being compared to concentration camps. We speak with Jenn Budd, a former CBP officer turned whistleblower, who speaks about the reality of CBP from the inadequate training to the compromising and corruption of officers, from the misogyny to the racism and what happens to officers who speak out. Budd describes the dysfunctional culture of the CBP in detail and shares her wisdom on whether or not CBP should continue to exist.

Subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through, plus Clearing the FOG totes, water bottles and T shirts. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

Ireland has been a neutral nation since the 1930s, meaning it doesn't join military alliances and under numerous treaties is not supposed to assist other countries in military endeavors. However, the United States regularly violates Irish neutrality by flying troops, weapons and military supplies through Shannon Airport. We speak with Tarak Kauff, Ken Mayers and Ellen Davidson, all members of Veterans for Peace, about an action Tarak and Ken took in March to protest the US' violations. They were arrested and held in jail for 12 days for a minor offense and since then have had their passports seized and are not allowed to leave Ireland. It could be many years before they face trial. Listen to their story and what their current walk across Ireland to raise awareness of Ireland's participation in wars.

Subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through, plus Clearing the FOG totes, water bottles and T shirts. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

On March 30 2018, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip started a weekly peaceful protest they call "The Great March of Return." The purpose was to go to the wall separating them from their previous homes and demonstrate their desire to return. The response by the state of Israel has been violent and intense, killing 210 demonstrators and wounding more than 7,400. Although they were blocked from entering Gaza, Abby Martin and Mike Prysner of Empire Files were able to obtain high-quality video footage of the frontlines and interviews of people involved in the weekly actions. We speak with Abby Martin about their new documentary, "Gaza Fights for Freedom," and the severe conditions under which Palestinians live. Martin and Prysner show the reality that is not portrayed in most media today.

Subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through, plus Clearing the FOG totes, water bottles and T shirts. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

Residents of Newark New Jersey learned last year that their water was poisoned with high levels of lead, something the government failed to inform them about even though it knew about it in June 2017. When people learned of the problem, the government first denied it and then tried to blame homeowners and downplayed the severity of the impacts. Then, the city offered half-hearted solutions. We speak with Anthony Diaz, a long time organizer in Newark, who co-founded the Newark Water Coalition. They recently had a successful direct action and won an important victory, but there is still more to do. Diaz explains what is going on and offers advice for others who may face similar struggles. 

Subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through, plus Clearing the FOG totes, water bottles and T shirts. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

Wildfires are raging around the world, creating a negative feedback loop for the climate by releasing greenhouse gases and destroying the forests' capacity to sequester carbon. The United States is on track to be the biggest producer of oil and gas in the 2020's. According to Global Witness, seven of the top ten producers of new fossil fuels are states in the US, with Texas producing nearly four times more than Canada and almost ten times more than Russia. Democratic Party leadership is preventing a presidential debate on climate and is suppressing efforts to develop a Green New Deal. Scientists say that we don't have any time left to take action on the climate. We should have made changes decades ago. In response, climate activism is escalating. We speak with Greg Schwedock of the Extinction Rebellion in New York City about actions being planned this fall and the current political environment.

Subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through, plus Clearing the FOG totes, water bottles and T shirts. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

Protests have been escalating in Hong Kong this year with tens of thousands of people taking the streets and aggressive actions such as occupying the airport and attacking journalists. What started in April as opposition to an extradition law has erupted into a 'pro-democracy' and racist anti-China movement that is supported by the US corporate media and members of Congress. It has the markings of a color revolution. We speak with author and activist K. J. Noh about the protests - who is behind them and what they want - and about Hong Kong's relationship to China. He describes the ways that China differs from traditional western politics and development. As China rises, it is critical to understand these differences and how they impact the shifting global power dynamics.

Subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through, plus Clearing the FOG totes, water bottles and T shirts. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

In a textbook United States regime change operation, wealthy businessmen manufactured a revolution in Hawai'i and executed a coup d'état in 1893. The Queen of the Hawai'ian Kingdom surrendered the administration of the country, but never its sovereignty. A Hawai'ian Kingdom government continues to operate to this day and is working to regain its sovereignty. We speak with Hawai'ian Kingdom Foreign Minister Leon Siu about the story of Hawai'i's struggle for independence and the broken promises of the US government over the past century. This struggle is escalating through the current protests at Mauna Kea and has big plans in store this fall. We discuss where people in the US can learn more and how to support the Hawai'ian independence movement.

Subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through, plus Clearing the FOG totes, water bottles and T shirts. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

The United States has long considered itself to be above the law, and it has gotten away with it by manufacturing public support for its actions, no matter how heinous, through the myths that we are better than everyone else and that we mean well even when things don't work out. Roberto Sirvent and Danny Haiphong's new book busts through these myths and shows why all of the problems of today are consistent with the history of what "America" has always been. Every chapter exposes truths and raises questions about who we really are. We can only live up to the values we claim to support if we understand these hard truths and recognize that to fix anything, we must fix everything. While it sounds daunting, the world is changing and this book provides essential knowledge for a path to a better place.

Subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through, plus Clearing the FOG totes, water bottles and T shirts. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

Puerto Ricans have suffered over the past several years from deep debt, a faltering economy and the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Struggling to hold on, the final straw came when hundreds of chats between the Governor and other officials were published showing their blatant disregard for the living and the thousands who died after Maria. Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have mobilized to demand the Governor's resignation. We speak with Natasha Bannan, a lawyer who lives in Puerto Rico and is active in the protests about the corruption and subversion of democracy behind this mass uprising, what the people want and how activists can support Puerto Ricans.

Subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through, plus Clearing the FOG totes, water bottles and T shirts. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

"The Earth Is Not For Sale." That is the title of David Schwartzman's new book, written with his son Peter. Both are environmental scientists who have worked on climate change issues for a long time. Schwartzman says the problem is that right now the earth is for sale and it shouldn't be. He discusses what he calls "militarized fossil capitalism," and  explains why it is a fundamental problem driving the climate crisis. Schwartzman outlines the possible scenarios for the future, what needs to be done to have a chance for a positive outcome (he believes that is still possible) and how we get there. We also cover recent news and actions.

Subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through, plus Clearing the FOG totes, water bottles and T shirts. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

It wasn't always a crime to cross the border, but now it is not only a crime but we are also housing immigrants in concentration camps under severe conditions and prosecuting those who try to assist them. As awareness of the inhumanity of immigration policy in the United States grows, people are taking action to change it. We speak with immigration attorney Heather Benno about how the laws have changed (hint: it started way before Trump) and practical advice for immigrants and human rights advocates about how to handle ICE raids, plus information about upcoming actions. Being a human and seeking asylum are not crimes.

Subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through, plus Clearing the FOG totes, water bottles and T shirts. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

Venezuela used to be an "oil republic," which made oil executives from the United States and the wealthy class in Venezuela very rich. That lasted until the election of Hugo Chavez in 1998 when the Bolivarian Process began and oil profits were used to provide for basic needs of all the people. Ever since then, the US and its allies have used everything they have to overthrow the revolution, but like Cuba, the people have resisted, despite great suffering being inflicted on them, and the US has failed. We speak with Dan Kovalik about his newest book, "The Plot to Overthrow Venezuela" and the tremendous resistance of the Venezuelan people. We also cover some recent news and have a tribute to Bruce Dixon, co-founder and editor of Black Agenda Report, who died last week of cancer.

Subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through, plus Clearing the FOG totes, water bottles and T shirts. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

The United States has been waging an economic war against Iran ever since the Iranian Revolution overthrew the US-backed brutal shah in 1979, but that war has escalated recently with the US-imposed oil embargo. Oil is a major source of revenue for Iran. Add to that the US pulling out of the nuclear agreement, the attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and Iran shooting down a US drone, and we are extremely close to a hot war that would destabilize the entire Middle East. We speak with Patrick Hiller, a conflict resolution expert who traveled to Iran with us earlier this year, about just how dangerous the current situation is, what the potential consequences are and what we can do to reconcile the hostilities. We also cover recent news and analyses.

Subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through, plus Clearing the FOG totes, water bottles and T shirts. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

The United States has been waging an economic war against Iran ever since the Iranian Revolution overthrew the US-backed brutal shah in 1979, but that war has escalated recently with the US-imposed oil embargo. Oil is a major source of revenue for Iran. Add to that the US pulling out of the nuclear agreement, the attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and Iran shooting down a US drone, and we are extremely close to a hot war that would destabilize the entire Middle East. We speak with Patrick Hiller, a conflict resolution expert who traveled to Iran with us earlier this year, about just how dangerous the current situation is, what the potential consequences are and what we can do to reconcile the hostilities. We also cover recent news and analyses.

Subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through, plus Clearing the FOG totes, water bottles and T shirts. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

Canada issued a report two weeks ago on thousands of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) calling them victims of Canadian Genocide and connecting a root cause to colonization, racism, and sexism. This report came after decades of pressure by families of the victims and validates what indigenous communities have been reporting as a major problem. We speak with Annita Lucchesi (Cheyenne), a founder of the MMIW Database, who organizes to track these cases, raise their visibility and change policy throughout the Americas. She recently started the Sovereign Bodies Institute. as a home for the database. Lucchesi discusses what it will take to protect indigenous women and girls and how everyone can play a role in this movement.

Subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through, plus Clearing the FOG totes, water bottles and T shirts. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

The Trump administration designated Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela as a "Troika of Tyranny" and has been ratcheting up pressure on all three countries through economic blockades, creating dissent and covert attacks. This includes manipulating popular opinion in the US to demonize them and build support for intervention. All three countries have in common that they are resisting US domination. Recently, President Trump announced a travel ban to Cuba, which will curtail the possibility of people being able to visit and see for themselves that things are not as they have been told by the media. We speak with Netfa Freeman, who just spent two weeks in Cuba and who has done Cuba solidarity work since the early 1990's, about the situation there, how the US is interfering and what Cubans are doing to resist.

Subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through, plus Clearing the FOG totes, water bottles and T shirts. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

Each new report indicates the need to take urgent action on the climate crisis. The impacts in the US so far this year are already devastating - much of the farmland in the Midwest is still unsuitable for planting because of flooding and severe storms. In the European Union, climate was a major factor in the parliamentary elections with Green Party candidates surging toward the top in many countries. Will there be a similar awakening in the United States? We speak with Howie Hawkins, the person who brought the Green New Deal to the US and who recently announced that he is seeking the Green Party nomination for president, about the details of the eco-socialist Green New Deal he proposes and how to win it.

Subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through, plus Clearing the FOG totes, water bottles and T shirts. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

According to the director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, Renata Dwan, the risk of nuclear war is the highest it has been since World War II. Last year, seven plow shares activists entered the Kings Bay Naval Base in Georgia to protest the Trident submarine, calling it "the world's deadliest nuclear weapon," to bring attention to this risk. They poured blood on it and beat on it with hammers to symbolize the biblical statement, to "beat swords into plow shares." We speak with four of the seven, the other three are in prison, about why they took this action, how it connects to the triple evils identified by Martin Luther King of "racism, extreme materialism, and militarism," and what can be done to stop this threat.

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And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

For 37 days, from April 10 to May 16, activists calling themselves the Embassy Protection Collective stayed at the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, DC 24/7 to prevent the United States from perpetuating its coup attempt and violating the Vienna Convention by turning the embassy over to the US-supported coup leader, Juan Guaido. The activists, including the show hosts, were there with the permission and support of the elected government of Venezuela. The United States government used everything it could to force the activists out, including cutting off access to food, electricity and water and surrounding the embassy with violent fascists. Adrienne Pine, a professor of anthropology who has studied the coup in Honduras and who was an Embassy Protector until the end, joins us to discuss what happened, what it was like and what comes next.

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And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

On March 18, opposition leader Juan Guaido's people took over the Venezuelan consulate in New York  City and the military attaché office in Washington, DC. They announced they will take over the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, DC next. Activists, with permission of the legitimate Venezuelan government, have been staying at the embassy 24/7 for over two weeks now to protect it from opposition people entering. They may attempt to do so as soon as April 25. The US is setting a new precedent by failing a coup attempt but pretending it succeeded and turning assets over to the opposition anyway. We speak with Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODE PINK, who is staying with us in the embassy.

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And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

In the middle of the last century, there was a large and secure working class. Then, changes to the tax structure distributed more and more of the wealth to the richest and hollowed out the middle class. Now, levels of inequality in the United States are unsustainable as the top one-tenth of one percent (0.1%) has wealth equal to the bottom 80%. Momentum is growing to make the tax system more fair at both the state and federal levels. We speak with Sam Pizzigati about the history of taxes and what policies are currently being proposed.

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And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

On April 4, 2019, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) foreign ministers met in Washington, DC to celebrate its 70th anniversary. While both parties in Congress applauded NATO, peace and justice activists held a week of action in protest, disrupting meetings, shutting down an entrance to the State Department and taking the streets. Activists are trying to expose the truth about NATO as an institution founded to prevent the rise of left movements, protect capitalism and provide cover for illegal wars. We speak with Yves Engler, a Montreal-based author and activist, about the history of NATO and why it's time to abolish it.

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And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

Julian Assange, the editor of Wikileaks, a media outlet for information provided by whistleblowers, has been in confinement in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for almost seven years and is experiencing increasingly harsh treatment. Chelsea Manning, who leaked information to Wikileaks and spent seven years in prison for it, is back in prison for her refusal to testify against Assange in a secret court. We speak with Joe Lauria of Consortium News about why Assange and Manning are sacrificing so much to protect our right to know what our governments are doing, the historical significance of their deeds and what we must do to support them.

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And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

The United States and its allies are waging a long term battle for Venezuela's abundant resources, which include oil, gas, gold, diamonds and minerals. The Venezuelan government, through the Bolivarian Process, is trying to use those resources to meet the needs of its people for housing, education, health care, food and more. We speak with Paul Dobson, a resident of Venezuela and journalist, about how Venezuelans are organized to resist the escalating attacks by the US and its allies and how US efforts are backfiring by consolidating support for the democratically-elected President, Nicolás Maduro.

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And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

Through a series of mergers, pesticide companies are consolidating, taking over seed companies and pushing genetically-engineered foods. Companies such as Monsanto, now merged with Bayer, and Dow and Dupont, which have merged, are chemical companies with a long history of producing toxic chemicals, including chemical weapons used in warfare. We speak with Mitchel Cohen and Robin Esser, authors of "The fight Against Monsanto’s Roundup: The Politics of Pesticides," who spoke about the corruption and health impacts of pesticides as well as the connections to imperialism and colonialism.

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And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

In a new report, "Dreams Deferred: How Enriching the 1% Widens the Racial Wealth Divide," researchers at the Institute for Policy Studies outline how the racial wealth gap has widened over the past thirty years and how this fits the long term pattern of systemic racism. We speak with one of the authors, Sabrina Terry, about the findings in the report and recommendations for closing the wealth divide. We report live from Caracas, Venezuela where the United States is continuing its aggressive efforts at regime change.

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The United States has a long history of interfering in Iranian politics. Perhaps the most famous is the coup of the democratically-elected prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953 followed by the re-installation of the US-friendly brutal shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Since the revolution in 1979, which overthrew the shah and put in place a representative theocratic government, the US has sanctioned Iran and both supported and threatened military attacks. Now, in addition to increased sanctions, Iranians are banned from traveling to the US and US citizens have great difficulty getting visas to visit Iran. We spent nine days in Iran and bring you this interview with Dr. Foad Izadi, a professor who teaches American Studies at the University of Tehran about the impacts of the sanctions, their state of democracy and how Iranian students view the US and Iran.

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And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

After years of corruption and neglect of the Haitian people, a popular revolt is demanding the current president's resignation. The US-led attempted coup in Venezuela played a role in sparking the protests as the Haitian government sided with the US in voting to recognize Juan Guaido, the fake president over President Maduro, the democratically-elected president. Haiti and Venezuela share a history of interconnected revolution and mutual aid since 1804. We interview Kim Ives, an editor of Haiti Liberté, who has been covering Haiti for decades, about the protests and the bigger picture of imperialism. We also report live from Tehran, Iran where we are on a peace delegation.

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And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

Progressives have been trying to make the Democratic Party move to the left and adopt their agenda since Senator Bernie Sanders started running for president in 2015. Like the many who have tried before them, they have failed. We speak with Nick Brana, the former national political outreach director for the Sanders campaign and a co-founder of Our Revolution who was on the inside of that effort, about what happened when they tried, where the party is now and what he sees as a path forward to build political power on the left.

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And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

The climate crisis is no longer an abstract concept, it is here and it is getting worse. Each new report finds the temperatures are getting hotter, the ice is melting faster and the seas are rising, not to mention the storms, fires and droughts. In his new book, "The End of Ice," Dahr Jamail takes us on  tour to the places where the impacts of climate disruption are evident. And he takes us on a tour of his personal journey through grief to acceptance and even hope. Jamail shows us the reality of the climate crisis and offers advice for how to relate to it in a meaningful way.

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And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

On January 23 2019, Juan Guaidó, the current president of the defunct Venezuelan National Assembly, pronounced himself the president of the country. The United States, Canada, the European Union and a few Latin American countries immediately recognized him, while Russia, China, Mexico and many other countries support the democratically-elected current president, Nicolas Maduro. How did this relatively unknown man who barely won his race for the assembly rise to the position of fake president? We discuss that and more with Dan Cohen of The Grayzone Project.

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And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn.

The Yellow Vests (Gilets Jaunes) movement of workers in France just completed its eleventh act this past weekend. They are revolting against neoliberalism and austerity and rule by and for the wealthy. There are many similarities to the Yellow Vest movement and the Occupy movement. We speak with Lola Girerd, a post-doctoral student in Paris who is participating in and studying the Yellow Vests, about what the protests are like, what they are about and how the Macron government is responding to them. We also discuss recent news, including mass climate actions, strikes and the US-led coup in Venezuela.

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And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

The case of Mumia Abu Jamal, who was framed with the murder of a police officer, has had some important breakthroughs in the last month including allowing him appeal rights and the finding of six previously undisclosed boxes of evidence in his case. This could result in the dismissal of his case and release from prison after 37 years. We talk with Rachel Wolkenstein, who has served as an attorney and advocate for Mumia since 1990. Wolkenstein explains the significance of his case in the context of racist police enforcement, mass incarceration, the myths of US justice and legal lynching and describes evidence showing Mumia was framed because of his political activism. She argues that Mumia will only get justice if a mass movement demands it.

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And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

The Wet'suwet'en Nation, which has never ceded its territory, has been working to stop a number of pipelines that Canada wants to build through their territory for the past ten years. This struggle came to a head last week when Canadian police violated their agreement with the Gidumt'en Clan by using violence to remove their blockade and arrest fourteen members. We speak with Jennifer Wickham, who is a member of the Gidumt'en Clan, about what is happening in this pivotal fight to protect the land, water and earth and what can be done to support the Wet'suwet'en People.

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And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

The United States military is building another base on Okinawa in an environmentally-sensitive area, on top of the second most diverse coral reef in the world, against the will of Okinawans who have been protesting every day for over 1,600 days. There are many reasons why this base should not be built. We discuss those with Robert Kajiwara, a Hawaiian-Okinawan human rights activist, as well as why he traveled to Washington, DC and new developments in the struggle to regain Hawaiian sovereignty. And we cover news and upcoming actions.

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And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

The Green New Deal, a plan to transform the economy to one based on clean, renewable energy sources and other measures to adapt to the climate crisis and protect human rights, gained widespread attention in 2018. We speak with Howie Hawkins from New York, who brought the concept of the Green New Deal to the United States, about what the plan involves, where it is now and what it will take to win it. Hawkins, a long time activist, unionist and political candidate, also puts this struggle in the context of political history and the role of third parties.

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And visit the new Popular Resistance Podcast Network at www.PopularResistance.org/prpn/

As 2018 comes to a close, we bring back this interview with Kali Akuno from January, 2017, just prior to President Trump's inauguration. Akuno has been an organizer in the South for decades and is currently active with Cooperation Jackson in Mississippi. He started a movement called "Ungovernable" to encourage resistance to oppressive policies and the building of alternatives. Akuno brings a wealth of experience and wisdom when it comes to organizing, political analysis and the state of the movement in the US. This is a must listen as we prepare for 2019 and beyond.

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Sometimes the truth is painful to hear, but if we don't know what is going on or what we are up against, it's impossible to change it. We speak with political comedian Lee Camp about how he began using humor to tell people the truth and his current one-hour special, "Super Patriotic Very Uncle Sam Comedy Special Not Allowed on American TV." We also delve into his take on current issues and the state of resistance movements.

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The majority of people in the United States are in a position of wage slavery, in which they depend on their boss for the ability to survive, but it has been so normalized that many do not question this arrangement. We bring back an interview with John Curl, author of "For All the People: Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements and Communalism in America." He writes about the long history, that isn't often taught, of people who created cooperative structures to counter the power of industry and finance. Cooperative movements often parallel social movements. We discuss why this matters today.

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On November 30, leaders of the United States, Mexico and Canada signed the revised North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) at the G20 in Argentina. The new NAFTA is an updated version of rigged corporate trade that sells out workers and endangers the environment for profits. We speak with Arthur Stamoulis of Citizens Trade about what is in the new NAFTA and the politics around it. We have an opportunity to stop this model of rigged corporate trade, which began in the 1990s with NAFTA, and replace it with a trade model that protects people and the planet. Learn what you can do.

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In his new book, "America: The Farewell Tour," based on his travels around the United States, Chris Hedges describes the decline of society and how that brought President Trump into power. Trump is a symptom of failing systems, and there will be more Trumps until things change. We speak with Hedges in depth about the basis for what is happening, what he has learned while covering other countries that went through similar transitions and what we must do if we are to weather the current crises. 

People often think that fascism began with Hitler and Mussolini, but fascism actually has its roots in the United States and was exported to other countries. In this extended interview, we speak with Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report about various types of fascism, its history and how it is manifested in the United States today. In fact, the very people who claim to be "the resistance" to fascism right now are actually supporting it.

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The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a conservative body, estimates that humans have twelve years to take effective action to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Given the lack of response by most governments to do what is necessary, a new movement has arisen in the United Kingdom targeting the House of Parliament to force significant policy changes. Called the Extinction Rebellion, this movement needs to go global. We spoke with Marijn Van de Geer about what the Extinction Rebellion is doing, their model of change and how to get involved.

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Throughout history, there has been tension between those who desire obedience to authority and those who question authority. It is those who question authority that contribute to social change, but our culture does not treat them well. We speak with psychologist Bruce E. Levine about his latest book, "Resisting Illegitimate Authority: A Thinking Person's Guide to being an Anti-Authoritarian - Strategies, Tools and Models" and the lessons it teaches for the political moment in which we find ourselves, how anti-authoritarianism is being suppressed and what we must do.

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For decades, US policies have created economic crises and violence that drive people from their homes in search of a place where they can work and live. Rather than recognizing that US imperialism causes migration and changing US foreign policy, the US has increasingly militarized its borders to keep people out. We speak with Dévora González, an organizer with School of Americas Watch, who is the daughter of migrants and lives in the border lands, about what it is like to live in a low intensity war zone and the criminalization of migrants who are trying to survive.

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The United States has been at war or involved in military aggression for all but a few years since its founding. This is not surprising when we understand that the US is the largest empire in the history of the world. We speak with Ajamu Baraka, national organizer for Black Alliance for Peace, about imperialism and its connections to colonialism, racism and white supremacy. Without an understanding of imperialism, people in the US who believe they are for peace wind up supporting war and intervention. This is why it is critical that peace advocates are also against imperialism in all of its forms.

Compared to other wealthy countries, large sectors of the US economy are more socialized than is realized. From energy to water to transportation, land and more, and from cities and states to the nation, there is public ownership and control. The neo-liberal era of privatization is winding down. This has particularly accelerated following the 2008 financial crash. We speak with Thomas Hanna, author of "Our Common Wealth: The Return of Public Ownership in the United States," about reclaiming public goods and how to prepare for the next financial crash. Plus, we put the current news in the context of the bigger picture.

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In 2017, eight men controlled half of the world's wealth and 70% of the world controls 5% of the wealth. Global elites, the 1%, are consolidating their fortunes without regard for the remaining 99% or the welfare of the planet. It is important to understand how this small number of people control the world and who they are so that we know what we're up against and whom to hold accountable. We speak with Peter Phillips, author of "Giants: The Global Power Elite," about his decades of work tracking the power holders and what we do to create a more just and sustainable world.

The 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly is taking place right now. President Trump spoke before the General Assembly and chaired a session of the Security Council. While the media has mostly focused on the laughter that arose when Trump claimed his administration has done the most of any president, there is much more going on both openly and behind the scenes. We speak with James Paul, who has monitored the UN for two decades, about the current meeting, the state of the world and what we must do.

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From August 21 to September 9, prisoners in 17 states went on strike to protest inhuman living and working conditions and to promote ten basic demands. Although the formal strike is over, some prisoners are being retaliated against and others are continuing to strike. We speak with Amani Sawari, a prisoner's rights activist, about the strike, the demands and how we can all provide support to finally end legalized slavery in the United States.

The current generation is the first one in history that will have a lower standard of living than its predecessors and a shorter life expectancy. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash, where there are more people in part-time jobs with lower wages, fewer benefits and massive debt, people are forced to find ways to make  a living. In his new book, "Everything for Everyone: The Radical Traditions that are Shaping the New Economy," Nathan Schneider explains how his generation is incorporating old traditions, such as worker ownership, with new technology in creative ways to form a new economy that ends exploitation and nurtures fairness and democracy. 

For an in-depth discussion of the political impacts of the 2008 financial crash and where we're headed, subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

There is a rising awareness that capitalism is at the root of many of the crises that we face, from the economy to the environment and climate change to the absence of democracy. We need to end capitalism to solve these crises. We speak with Emily Kawano, coordinator of the United States Solidarity Economy Network, about how we are changing the economy right now, what the end of capitalism (as a dominant part of the economy) would look like and how to answer those who worry that it can't or shouldn't be done.

We speak with Medea Benjamin, who has traveled to and written about US conflicts in the Middle East, about the war on Yemen, the origins, the extent of US involvement and how it connects to other conflicts. Yemen is a current center of failed US foreign policy. We also discuss what we can do about it, as well as Labor Day and current news.

For an in-depth discussion on the tenth anniversary of the financial crisis of why the banks got bailed out and why we didn't, plus what we can do differently next time, subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

Chase Iron Eyes, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and an attorney with the Lakota People's Law Project, describes the movement to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline and his almost two-year fight against felony charges. His work to develop a necessity defense led to the uncovering of corruption and collusion between industry, law enforcement and government. Chase also  gives his analysis of what the mobilization at Standing Rock means in the greater context of colonialism, capitalism and the absence of democracy. He explains the work that he and others at the Lakota People's Law Project are doing to reclaim Indigenous culture and sovereignty and create alternatives to current systems.

For an in-depth discussion of the changing global dynamics, what that means to people in the United States and what we can do about it, subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

Seventy years ago, the Israeli military attacked a US Naval vessel and, mysteriously, the President prevented the US military from protecting the people on that ship and the investigation was a sham. We speak with a survivor of that attack, Joe Meadors, about the efforts to expose what happened and why he currently risks his life to save Palestinians. 

The national movement for improved Medicare for All is gaining momentum, which means that we have the real potential to win a national universal public health insurance and means that our opponents will double down on preventing this. We speak with Dr. Carol Paris, outgoing president of Physicians for a National Health Program, about how the single payer healthcare movement has changed in the Trump era and where it needs to go. We also cover recent news, including the successful anti-racist actions in DC, the recent verdict against Monsanto and an update on the UPS worker fight for a contract. Visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

For a more in-depth discussion of the movement for national Improved Medicare for All and specifics on ways the opponents are fighting back, subscribe to Clearing the FOG on Patreon and receive our bonus show, Thinking it Through. Visit Patreon.com/ClearingtheFOG.

People in the United States have a long way to go to achieve the social and economic gains that other countries, such as the Nordic ones, have. The big question is - how do we make those gains? We discuss that with George Lakey, a lifelong activist, academic and movement strategist. On the one year anniversary of the Charlottesville rallies,  we explore the question of how to confront the overt racism in the US and how to dis-empower white supremacists. We also cover current news and upcoming actions. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

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During the scripted Trump-Putin press conference in Helsinki, Finland, a US journalist, Sam Husseini, was taken into police custody for holding a small sign. Husseini, a long time advocate for exposing and breaking through the corporate media machine, hoped to ask a few critical questions of the world leaders. He speaks about the press conference, how he was treated and the state of media in general. We also cover recent news including the Mueller indictments, Russia gate, NATO, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and the release of Ahed Tamimi and her mother.

On our new program, "Thinking it Through," we discuss what a people's media looks like in greater depth. To hear "Thinking It Through" and support improvements to Clearing the FOG, join the new Patreon campaign at patreon.com/clearingthefog. You will also find new Clearing the FOG gear.

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UPS workers are in a critical struggle with both their employer and their union, the Teamsters, which are pushing a poor contract on them. Like many workers in the United States, UPS workers are facing low wages and cuts to health care and other benefits. Although UPS workers nationwide voted by over 90% to go on strike, they are being told that the new five-year contract is a "done deal." Rank and file workers are doing all they can to reach workers and let them know that this is not the case. They can still reject the contract and keep fighting for a better one. We discuss why this is an important step in raising the standards for all workers and why all people need to support UPS workers now with Richard Hooker of #623LivesMatter. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Violent protests have been going on since April of this year, forcing residents to stay indoors.  While the corporate media and an army of online trolls have been making false claims about the Ortega government, the reality is exactly the opposite. We speak with Stephen Sefton, who lives in Nicaragua and is a founder of Tortilla con Sal. He names the names behind the violence and describes what is really happening. We also discuss recent news and upcoming events. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Labor unions have been on the decline in the United States for over fifty years, which has caused a decline in wages, working environments and overall social conditions. In other countries, a strong alliance between labor unions and social movements have brought improvements. We discuss two major mistakes that labor made in the United States that caused its decline, the recent Supreme Court decision on Janus and what workers must do now to improve their situation. We also discuss recent news and cut through the corporate media fog on major issues. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFGRadio.org.

Two major crises of our era are growing wealth inequality and its resultant poverty and climate change, which is connected to a variety of environmental issues. Neither of these crises can be resolved without addressing the underlying root cause of capitalism, but many people are uncertain about what an economy beyond capitalism looks like. In his new book, Red Green Revolution: The Politics and Technology of Ecosocialism, Victor Wallis explains why a livable future must be ecosocialist, what ecosocialism is and how we get there. We discuss his book and the latest news. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

This Juneteenth, there are actions around the militarization of police and community-based efforts to create security without the police. Eugene Puryear, who works with Stop Police Terror DC, discusses the Washington DC version of "Stop and Frisk," which involves Jump Out Squads, and the efforts to get data on how this program works. Stop Police Terror DC grew out of mass Black Lives Matter protests, which Puryer helped organize, in reaction to the police violence in Ferguson, MO and around the country. We also discuss current events including immigration issues around separating parents from their children and treatment of youth who were brought to the US as children, protests in support of Julian Assange, US regime change efforts in Nicaragua and the initial agreement between the United States and North Korea. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

For the 50th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Poor People's Campaign and Resurrection City, poor and houseless people marched from the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia to Washington, DC where they are setting up a Resurrection City in DuPont Circle. We speak with Tiny (aka Lisa Gray-Garcia), co-founder of POOR Magazine and a participant on the march, about the reality of poverty in the United States. Tiny describes the march and the intersections between poverty and many other areas such as mass incarceration, health and colonization. This is a poor-led people's campaign that is not only resisting the policies and systems that drive the current crises, but is also putting forth poor people-led solutions, such as the Bank of Community Reparations and Homefulness. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela just succeeded against the forces of US imperialism through the election of Nicolas Maduro for a second term as president. US officials were openly calling for regime change, supporting opposition forces and announcing that the recent presidential election was illegitimate before it even occurred. We spoke with Roger Harris, past president of Task Force Americas, who participated in an international delegation with Kevin Zeese to Venezuela during the election, about the revolution, the bloodbath that will occur if US empire succeeds in regime change and the necessity of US activists to be in solidarity with Venezuela. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Since the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, there has been an unprecedented consolidation in the healthcare industry. Giant medical corporations are investing in "vertical integration," which basically means they own everything, including the hospitals, doctor's practices, long term care centers, pharmacies, insurances (both public and private), and more. This gives corporations the power to have control over hospitals and health professionals. Their interest is a healthy bottom line, not the health of patients and communities. Non-profits are just as ruthless as the for-profits, and on top of that they don't pay taxes. We speak with Dr. Anna Reed about the way this is playing out in Maryland and putting children and the poor at risk. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

First there were charter schools and high stakes testing, and now we are entering a whole new realm of corporate education that treats students as commodities and views schools and teachers as obstacles to profits. Education corporations are pushing computer-based learning on students and crowding out classroom-based instruction, even though studies show online learning is less effective. On top of that, new education tech also monitors students’ eye movements, vital signs and emotional state. It is mining data on students from preschool on up that can be sold to marketers and used to determine a student’s future. We speak with Morna McDermott, an educator and mom who co-founded the Opt Out Movement and has launched a new campaign, “Classrooms, Not Computers.” For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Each new study on climate change shows that not only is the crisis here now, but changes are happening a century earlier than predicted. We speak with respected climate scientist, Dr. Michael Mann, about what we can expect in the next decades and what we need to do to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis. We also cover recent movement news and upcoming actions. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The meeting between President Moon Jae-in of South Korea and Chairman Kim Jong Un of North Korea resulted in an agreement to end the Korean War and work toward unity. Their declaration was a major breakthrough where the two Koreas announced Koreans will determine their own fate and end hostilities on the Korean Peninsula. We speak with Hyun Lee, an editor of Zoom In Korea and a peace activist who is a member of the Solidarity Committee for Democracy and Peace in Korea, about the importance of their meeting and what to expect from President Trump's upcoming meeting with Kim Jong Un. We also provide news and activism updates. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Chelsea Manning is running for U.S. Senate in Maryland in the Democratic Party primary against career politician, Ben Cardin. She explains why she is running, her concerns about the future, which should be of concern to all of us, and what we should be doing right now. We also bring you news and upcoming actions that you can join. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We speak with Vijay Prashad, who provides insightful analysis of the situation in Syria and the aerial bombing of Damascus by the US. The US' claims, which were used to justify the bombing, of attacking Syrian chemical weapons facilities make little sense. If the US knew of such facilities, the information should have been provided to the UN so they could be inspected. Prashad finds it strange that the US attacked Damascus while chemical weapons investigators were in Syria and had not yet completed their investigation of the alleged chemical attack. The attack did not change the balance of power. Syria continues to regain control of its territory and the rebels, along with their allies, i.e. the US, UK and France, have been routed. These and other issues around the Syrian war are discussed and Prashad also examines the impact of US actions on conflicts with North Korea and Iran. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Poor People's Campaign, called for by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Although Dr. King was murdered a month prior to the Poor People's Campaign, it happened anyway. Resurrection City was built on the Mall in Washington, DC and people stayed there for six weeks. Fifty years later, widespread poverty exists and the "evils" of racism, capitalism and militarism are still in crisis. Two major campaigns are organizing poor people across the country. We speak with Cheri Honkala of the Poor People's Economic and Human Rights Campaign and Rev. Robin Tanner of the Repairers of the Breach. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

In Palestine, on Friday, March 30, Land Day, thousands of Palestinians demonstrated. This began six weeks of protests leading up to the 70th anniversary of the Nakba on May 15. Israeli soldiers fired at the demonstrators with live ammunition killing 17 and wounding over one thousand. We speak with author and activist Miko Peled about the violent occupation of Palestine by Zionists. The United States is a top supporter of the occupation through funding of the Israeli military and providing cover for Israeli violations of international law in the United Nations. Peled emphasizes that activists in the US have a responsibility to take action to end the occupation of Palestine and outlines many ways to do this, including an aggressive BDS campaign and support for legislation in Congress. Peled says “Israel” is an illegitimate state and the area should be called Palestine. He also speaks about his newest book, “Injustice: The Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five.” For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The science is clear that we must no longer build new fossil fuel infrastructure and we must invest in clean sources of energy, yet oil and gas companies continue to receive permits to build more pipelines, compressor stations and refineries. in response, communities are organizing to stop these projects. We speak with Tim DeChristopher about how communities are using the necessity defense to defend their actions to stop the projects. And we discuss the state of the climate justice movement, how Big Greens are failing on climate justice and strategies for action. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Our current food system has a large negative impact on the climate crisis and our health. Factory farms produce large amounts of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs), pollute the land, air and water and deplete the nutrients in soil. We are eating foods that contain low levels of nutrients and contain hormones, antibiotics and pesticides that harm our health. Regenerative farming techniques ameliorate these problems by restoring the nutrients to the soil, lowering the need for chemicals (and water) and sequestering carbon. We speak with Pat Kerrigan of Organic Consumers Association about the growing move toward regenerative agriculture and what people need to know about the food we eat. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Ajamu Baraka of Black Alliance for Peace attended an historic meeting, with over 100 countries represented, in Caracas Venezuela in early March. We discuss the current situation in Venezuela and why solidarity by people in the United States is critical, even if we believe the process in Venezuela is not perfect. We also discuss Syria, North Korea and the Ukraine, and the serious threat of conflict with Russia and China. Baraka placed the current discussion of gun control in the U.S. in the context of the need to make deeper connections between violence and weapons in the U.S. and U.S. imperialism around the world. We also talked about the upcoming military parade in November called for by President Trump and the urgent necessity of mobilizing against the normalization of war and militarism in the U.S. For more information, visit www.PopularResistance.org.

Public Banks exist around the world. They are used to hold public dollars, such as taxes and fees, to keep the money local so it serves the public interest, instead of giving it to Wall Street banks who charge high fees and interest rates. There is only one public bank so far in the United States, the Bank of North Dakota. It has been in existence for almost 100 years. Now, thanks to the work of the Public Banking Institute, there is a vibrant movement to create more public banks in the U.S. at the city and state level. We speak with Walt McRee and John Comerford about the reasons to support public banks, how they would serve people instead of Wall Street profits and current efforts across the country. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

President Trump formally requested the Pentagon to organize a military parade in Washington, DC on November 11, celebrated as Veteran's Day. However, groups of veterans want to stop the glorification of war and are organizing to reclaim the holiday as Armistice Day. This November is the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I. We speak with Brian Becker of the ANSWER coalition about the many groups organizing opposition to the military parade and calling for an end to wars at home and abroad. We also speak with Cindy Sheehan about the October Women's March on the Pentagon, which was organized in response to the Democratic Party-affiliated Women's Marches that omitted anti-war messages. Both Becker and Sheehan expose the bipartisan nature of the war machine in the United States. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The Supreme Court has entered the final phase in its deliberation of Janus vs AFSCME and is expected to announce its decision this June. If the decision is made against public sector unions, as is expected, it will be one more nail in the coffin of collective bargaining and protection of worker's rights. Union leaders and workers are taking this assault seriously. They recently held a national day of action, #UnrigTheSystem. Unions are educating their workers about the case to overcome billionaire-funded propaganda being aired in support of it. And in West Virginia, teachers and other public school employees are now in the eighth day of a wildcat strike for better pay and health benefits. Oklahoma teachers are planning to go on strike too. We speak with Elizabeth Davis, president of the Washington Teachers Union and Dale Lee, president of the West Virginia Education Association. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Sherri Mitchell, Penobscot, an Indigenous lawyer, writer and activist, has a new book, “Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change,” which explains her personal journey to activism and both how our societies have arrived at this time of grave threats and what we can do to create change. Some of our tasks are to recognize that colonization has not ended, the ways it manifests itself and how to begin the process of decolonization. We can do that, in part, by working to protect water sovereignty. Sherri talks about the mobilization at Standing Rock and the rise of Water Protectors. Then we speak with RaeLynn Cazelot, United Houmi and Pointe-au-Chien, who is a Water Protector working to stop the Bayou Bridge Pipeline (BBP). The BBP is being built by Energy Transfer Partners, the same company that built the Dakota Access Pipeline in the Dakotas. Currently, Water Protectors are holding a week of action against the BBP in Louisiana. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Latin America is described as the back yard of the United States. There is a long history of US intervention in Latin American countries and vibrant resistance both to the US and to vicious right wing governments. Current hot spots are Venezuela, where the US is now openly advocating regime change, Colombia, which is struggling to live up to its peace agreement, and the Honduras, where the new president is being heavily protested after a fraudulent election. We speak about these countries and more with James Jordan and Chuck Kaufman, co-coordinators of the Alliance for Global Justice. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The United States has a long history of intervention in Africa that is not widely discussed. Africa is a continent with tremendous resources that has been colonized and exploited by Western countries for more than 100 years. True to the practices of colonizers, the United States and its allies have made sure that African governments are controlled and the population is kept in poverty. These efforts expanded with AFRICOM (Africa Command) after its creation in 2008. We discuss AFRICOM with Margaret Kimberley of Black Agenda Report and the Black Alliance for Peace. Then Maurice Carney, co-founder of Friends of the Congo, digs deep into the history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and U.S. involvement, which continues today. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The new National Defense Strategy announced last week moves from the ‘war on terror’ toward conflict with great powers. The move from military conflict against non-state actors, i.e. ‘terrorists’, to great power conflict means more military hardware, massive spending on weapons and a new arms race. We speak with Nicolas Davies and Mike Whitney about reasons for the change in defense strategy, the broad impacts it will have and how it will affect areas of conflict around the world. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

In 2017, President Trump repealed Obama's executive order for young immigrants, Dreamers, called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which allowed them temporary status in the United States. The repeal took effect in September and advocates have been fighting since then to restore DACA and pass the Dream Act, which would create a path to citizenship. We speak with two immigrant's rights advocates, Mani Martinez of Cosecha Movement and Juan Escalante of America's Voice, about the impacts of current immigration policies and what it would take to permanently protect immigrants in the United States. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Jeff Sessions, head of the Department of Justice, reversed the “Cole Memo” that allowed states to pursue marijuana legalization without fear of the federal government stepping in and prosecuting the marijuana industry. Sessions is leaving it up to each state’s federal prosecutor to decide on how to proceed. This happened just as California moved to implement legal marijuana and Vermont voted to legalize marijuana. We speak with Justin Strekal, policy director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), and Doug McVay, a long time advocate for drug law reform at the state and national level and editor of Drug War Facts, about what lies ahead for the movement to end marijuana prohibition. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

In his latest book, "In the Shadow of the American Century: The rise and decline of US global power," Alfred McCoy writes about the tools used by the United States to maintain global domination and how its status is declining. McCoy predicts that China will replace the US as the dominant global power holder by 2030. We speak with him about US Empire, what the decline will look like and how it will impact people in the US and around the world. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We talked to Mostafa Afzalzadeh from Tehran about what the current protests in Iran are about and where they are going. Mostafa has been an independent journalist in Iran for 15 years and a documentary filmmaker. One of his documentaries is Manufacturing Dissent, about the US, UK and their western and Gulf State allies that launched a covert war in Syria in early 2011, dressed up by the media as a “revolution,” to remove Assad from power and the role of western media in creating support for the war. Mostafa said the US has been trying to change the Iranian government since the 1979 Iranian revolution. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

In 2017, more people became activated for social justice. At the same time, white supremacist groups became more visible, marching with torches and chanting words of hatred. There were conflicts between people who disagreed over what tactics would be most effective in stopping the rise of white supremacy and fascism and achieving greater equality and justice. We speak with Rivera Sun about her novels, which use fiction to teach lessons of movement strategy, and about organizing for social change in our times. Her newest book is "The Roots of Resistance: Book Two of the Dandelion Trilogy" and it will be available in February. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The year 2017 has been another active year for people fighting on a wide range of fronts. The Trump administration has brought many issues that have existed for years out into the open where they are more difficult to deny – racism, colonialism, imperialism, capitalism and patriarchy and the crises they create. There will be a backlash against overreach by the power holders on a number of issues, including wealth inequality, health care, Internet freedom, militarization at home and abroad, mass incarceration, climate change and human rights abuses. This backlash provides an opportunity to organize a broader movement of movements and clarify our demands so that we are well-positioned to demand transformative policies. We discuss two of these areas today in greater depth: US imperialism and the fight against fossil fuel infrastructure. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

On December 14, 2017, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), lead by chairman Ajit Pai, voted to dismantle the hard-won net neutrality rules, going against widespread public support for those rules. The public organized in a massive effort to stop the vote, and now organizations, states and people are taking action to revoke and challenge the FCC’s decision. This decision and the public activation around it provide an opportunity to build power not only to win net neutrality, but also to put laws and structures into place that go much farther to create the universal right to high quality, affordable Internet access and equality.

A new report released by Chuck Collins and Josh Hoxie of the Institute for Policy Studies, "Billionaire Bonanza 2017: The Forbes 400 and the Rest of Us," reveals that only 3 people in the US hold wealth equivalent to the bottom 50% of the population, about 160 million people. The wealth divide is getting more severe every year. Just 7 years ago it was 400 people who owned wealth equivalent to the bottom 50%, now they own wealth equal to the bottom 64%, 204 million people. The numbers of people with zero wealth or who are in debt is also growing and is worse for black and Latinos than whites. We discuss the current wealth divide, what's behind it, how the new tax proposal will affect it and how to resolve it. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Two new divestment campaigns launched this year. One is the Divest from the War Machine campaign, led by CODEPINK and endorsed by more than 60 organizations, which is targeting weapons manufacturers. The other, Mazaska (Money) Talks, is an Indigenous-led campaign that began after Seattle divested from Wells Fargo for being a major investor in the Dakota Access Pipeline. Mazaska Talks is now a global campaign targeting Wall Street banks for the many harmful investments they make and promoting public banks as a positive alternative. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We discuss two of the many assaults on our communities by corporations that put their profits above the health and safety of people. The first is the re-negotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by the Trump administration. Bill Waren of Friends of the Earth explains how this process is more secretive than the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations. The corporations and Wall Street financiers are using the NAFTA negotiations to slip in the worst of the TPP and TTIP. Then Peggy Chase of the Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation describes how Nestle is taking public water in Michigan and other states and other efforts at water privatization. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

PBS is currently airing a ten-part documentary about the Vietnam War by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick that is financed by the Koch Brothers and Bank of America and promoted by the Pentagon. We speak with Vietnam scholar, Professor Bob Buzzanco about the real history of the Vietnam War, what led to it and the opposition that developed. He emphasizes that it is important to understand this history so that we do not repeat it in North Korea or the Middle East. Then we speak with Vietnam Vet, David Ross, about his experiences in Vietnam and subsequently in organizing veterans to stop the war. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

With Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, wildfires and droughts fresh in our minds and threats of greater global aggression, we take a look at the connections between Empire, war, Indigenous rights and the environment. This week is the tenth anniversary of the official adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We speak with Gar Smith, editor of The War and the Environment Reader, about his new book and a conference he is organizing later this month with World Beyond War on the topic. Then we speak with Charmaine White Face, author of Indigenous Nations' Rights in the Balance, who participated in and protested the process used by the United Nation, about Indigenous sovereignty and her work to protect the Black Hills, a sacred site. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

White supremacist rallies and counter protests, especially the events in Charlottesville that led to the murder of Heather Heyer and many people injured, are bringing the issues of institutional racism and white supremacy to the forefront of our national dialogue. After years of efforts to remove confederate statues in Baltimore, protests brought about their swift removal in the night. A Columbus monument was also protested. Sean Yoes explains what the monuments in Baltimore symbolize and efforts to remove them. Dedrick Asante-Muhammad speaks about the racial wealth divide and ways to bring greater equity. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Members of Congress are currently trying to outlaw a form of free speech – the boycott. For over a decade now, hundreds of Palestinian organizations have been calling for the world to impose boycotts, divestment and sanctions targeting illegal Israeli settlements, much as people urged a boycott of South Africa during apartheid. The BDS movement, as it is known, has been an effective tool causing Israel to fight back. For years, state legislatures have introduced legislation to prevent participation in BDS. Now, led by Senator Ben Cardin, a similar but much more severe law has been introduced in Congress. Miko Peled, author of The General’s Son, speaks with us about Israeli apartheid, what moved him to fight it and the BDS movement. Visit www,ClearingtheFOGRadio.org for more information.

July 26 to 29, 2017, there will be national actions to raise awareness that housing is a human right and to pressure the federal government to lift spending caps and increase funds for housing. Currently, only one in four people who are eligible for federal housing assistance receive it and public housing is either being privatized or wiped out of existence. We speak with Sarah Mickelson of the National Low Income Housing Coalition about the situation from a policy standpoint and with David Prater, a disability rights activist, and Rev. Annie Chambers, a welfare rights activist, about actions they are organizing in Baltimore and why they are necessary. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

As wealth inequality grows in the United States and people struggle to afford basic necessities, civil unrest is growing. Rather than responding with policies to address these unmet needs, the state responds with repression. The political system in the United States has lost its legitimacy and people are searching for alternatives. The People’s Congress of Resistance, which meets this September 16 – 17 in Washington, DC, is designed to shift political power to the people. We speak with two of the organizers, Walter Smolarek and Karina Garcia. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The health care fight is hot right now. The Republicans are working to repeal the Affordable Care Act, possibly without a replacement until a later date, and the Democrats are largely ignoring their base’s pleas for Medicare for All, with some exceptions. People across the United States are taking bold action to prevent cuts to health coverage, especially to Medicaid, and to pressure lawmakers to support Medicare for All. We speak with Professor David Barton Smith about the history of our social insurances and racism, including the way Medicare was used to by the civil rights movement to desegregate thousands of hospitals. Then we speak about the status of the current healthcare fight and what we must do to win National Improved Medicare for all. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

There are fights against new pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure around the country as people demand an end to carbon-based energy. We speak with three people who are deeply involved in pipeline fights about the impacts these projects have on their communities and the lengths that fossil fuel companies will go to in order to protect their profits. In Western Maryland and West Virginia, TransCanada wants to build a pipeline under the Potomac River in a place where the geology is very porous and a spill will poison the drinking water for 6 million people. In Pennsylvania, Sunoco is building a pipeline that will carry fracked gas to an export terminal on the Delaware River. The company is harassing families who oppose the pipeline. And in the Bayou region known as Cancer Alley, Energy Transfer Partners wants to build a final leg of the Dakota Access Pipeline that will harm mostly lower income communities of color. Visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org for more information.

June 19 is known as Juneteenth, the day in 1865 when black slaves in Texas were freed. It was two and one half years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth is recognized as a holiday by 45 states, although it is still not widely celebrated. On this Juneteenth, we speak with historian Ana Edwards about the work she does through the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice and Equality to preserve and protect land in Richmond that is an African Burial Ground and the site where organizers of a slave rebellion in 1800 were hanged. Then we'll speak with Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report about systemic racial injustice that continues in the United States. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

This week on Clearing the FOG Radio we examine the issue of RussiaGate and the special counsel examining the Trump administration and President Trump. We will talk with former FBI agent, Coleen Rowley, about the backgrounds of former FBI director, James Comey and Special Counsel, Robert Mueller. Both have received a lot of positive commentary on their trustworthiness and reliability. We will discuss the history of both, their relationship and whether the public can trust them. Then, with reporter Max Blumenthal, we will discuss ‘RussiaGate’: what is the proof of Russian interference in US elections, is there evidence of collusion with the Trump administration and who is behind these accusations and why? For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The United States is now in its 17th year of the "War on Terror" with no end in sight. President Trump is escalating aggression and tension in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan and is threatening Russia, Iran, North Korea and China. He wants to increase military spending by $54 billion while he cuts critical safety net programs. On top of that, militarization and the security state are growing within the United States. We discuss the impacts of living in an Empire Economy and the inherent racism with Joe Lombardo, co-coordinator of the United National Antiwar Coalition. UNAC is holding a national conference in Richmond, VA from June 16 to 18 called "Stop the Wars at Home and Abroad." Then we speak with Alice Slater of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation about the United Nations treaty to ban nuclear weapons currently being negotiated. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

In 2015, a large coalition of organizations and tech groups together with millions of people forced the Federal Communications Commission to reclassify the Internet as a common carrier under Title II of the 1934 Telecommunications Act so that strong net neutrality rules could be put in place. Net neutrality means that neither the government nor the telecoms can discriminate against legal content on the Internet and that all people can go where they want to go on the net. The new chair of the FCC, Ajit Pai, is moving quickly to dismantle net neutrality. We speak with Joe Torres of Free Press about what's happening, why it's important and what we must do to protect our Internet. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Recently, hundreds of thousands of people marched for climate justice. The science is clear that climate change is here and is happening at a more rapid rate than was expected. The United States is the world's largest economy and military, and while we have some of the best climate scientists in the world, we lack governments at every level that are willing to take necessary steps to address the crisis. We speak with climate scientist, Ben Horton, about the state of the climate crisis and what we need to do to solve it. And we speak with Lee Stewart of Beyond Extreme Energy about their extraordinary work to take on the Rubber Stamp Machine for the fossil fuel industry. Visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio,org for more information.

Immigrant's rights activists have ramped up their organizing and protests this year in response to ongoing ICE raids that are now targeting undocumented organizers. Leading up to mass marches and strikes on May Day, known as Day Without Immigrants, actions are being held across the country to raise awareness about the contributions that immigrants make to the United States economy and the challenges they experience living in the US. Organizers are working towards a week-long general strike. We discuss the May Day actions with Sergio Hurtado, a volunteer organizer with Movimiento Cosecha. And we also provide an update on the campaigns for National Improved Medicare for All and to stop a US attack on North Korea. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The level of student loan debt has risen to $1.5 trillion and defaults are 40% and rising. Underneath the crisis are rising tuition costs, a predatory student loan industry and an absence of consumer protections for students. Governor Cuomo recently signed a new law that is supposed to help with the cost of higher education, and Senators Sanders introduced similar legislation at the federal level. Alan Collinge, the founder of Student Loan Justice, says that these efforts will not solve the crisis, which is going to hit within the next 12 to 18 months. Nothing short of a student debt jubilee will end the crisis. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

This has been a tumultuous time for health care in the United States,. The Affordable Care Act has plateaued in the number of people that it covers, leaving 29 million out altogether and tens of millions more who are under-insured. The Republican's attempt to move our health system further towards privatization flopped due to public pressure. And meanwhile, the house bill HR 676: The Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act is gaining co-sponsors rapidly and Senator Sanders has committed to introducing a companion bill in the Senate. We speak with Dr. Robert Zarr, the past president of Physicians for a National Health Program and a practicing pediatrician about why now is the time for National Improved Medicare for All and what we must do to win. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Mainstream media in the US are complicit in drumming up support for US aggression against North Korea. They fail to place North Korea’s actions in the context of the long history of US hostility and interference in North and South Korea. As both the US and North Korea prepare for war, and a successful sociopolitical movement in South Korea has ousted President Park Geun-hye, there is a critical need for clarity about North and South Korea. We speak with Tim Shorrock, an independent journalist who grew up in and has written extensively about Korea, and Hyun Lee, managing editor of Zoom in Korea. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Kevin Zeese interviews two alumni of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Rashad Staton of Morgan State University and DeJuan Patterson of Bowie State University, about an ongoing situation. Since the early 1970's, Maryland has been found to be in violation of its constitutional requirement to desegregate higher education by significantly under-funding its four HBCUs and duplicating their flagship programs (rather than investing in the HBCUs) at other schools, drawing students and faculty away. In what is the most significant federal court case since Brown v The Board of Education, Maryland was found again in violation in 2013 and the struggle over remediation of this continues. This is not being covered well in the commercial media. This interview was pre-recorded for the Baltimore Green Party Education Series. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGadio.org.

Last week we discussed the ongoing push towards privatization and commodification of everything. We are in a disastrous cycle: As wealth inequality grows and the rich successfully avoid taxes, the funds for necessary programs and projects are shrinking. This is driving privatization of basic needs like water systems, transportation, schools and more. Some cities are taking action to oppose this trend by developing the commons, putting control and benefit into the hands of the people. David Bollier joins us to discuss the municipal commons movement. For more information and resources, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

For decades, the neo-liberal agenda, first tested outside of the United States and then brought home, has driven waves of privatization. Today, it is proceeding in an unchecked way and without regard for the suffering that it leaves in its wake. We'll discuss some of the vehicles for privatization and commodification of everything and how we fight back. We'll cover the Trade in Services Agreement, public private partnerships and the attack on the commons, such as the Internet. This boils down to corporate power versus popular power. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The Trump administration has taken the attack on immigrants in the United States to a higher level, and people are responding in some areas with escalated fight back. From Sanctuary Cities to Rapid Response Teams to days of mass actions, communities are organizing to disobey stricter enforcement of deportations and to pressure the Trump administration to back down. Our guests will describe the history of immigrant struggles in the US in recent decades and what we can all do to protect our families, neighbors and communities. 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.

A study from 2014 showed that 99% of domestic terrorist plots in the US are aided in some way by the FBI; only 4 out of 400 were not FBI stings. And human rights groups found that the way the sting operations are conducted violate human rights. Sue Udry of Defending Dissent will speak about the ways these sting operations have been used to fuel hatred against Muslims. And to discuss the shooting and mass murder in Orlando, FL, Janaid Ahmad of Just International and Peace for Life speaks about the rise of homophobia and violence within Muslim communities because of Western influence and support for extremist sects such as the Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

As President Obama completes his final term in office, his administration is working closely with Big Business and Big Finance to sneak the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) through Congress during the lame duck session after the November election. The TPP is an international agreement that was negotiated in secret with the help of hundreds of corporate advisers. If ratified, it will rig the political system even more to benefit multinational corporations at the expense of our sovereignty and our ability to protect our communities and the planet. Bill Waren of Friends of the Earth will join us to discuss the close ties between the financial industry and the office of the US Trade Representative and why it is critical that we stop the TPP. Gillian Locascio  of the Washington Fair Trade Coalition will speak with us about how people are organizing to stop the TPP. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Three members of the Corean Alliance for Independent Reunification and Democracy (CAIRD) are in the United States on a peace expedition. They speak with us about the brutal history of the US’ involvement in Korea and their work to end the Korean War, bring reunification and build democracy. Their work builds on decades of work by Korean activists. Under the current leader, this work is being made even more challenging by the application of a National Security Law. We also discuss the impact of trade agreements on Korean farmers and workers. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

May has been a month of escalated resistance to fossil fuel industries and a call for a rapid transition to clean renewable sources of energy. The month began with Break Free: two weeks of direct action targeting coal, oil and gas around the world. That was followed by a week of action called the Rubber Stamp Rebellion protesting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for its approval of new fossil fuel infrastructure without adequate consideration of the impacts new projects will have on the health and safety of communities, harm to the environment or worsening of the climate crisis. We speak with three advocates who are working to stop dangerous fossil fuel projects. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We discuss the current election environment in the context of the movement: how the movement and the Sanders campaign have impacted the campaigns and the political parties and what a political revolution means.  Our guests discuss their ideas for continuing the momentum beyond this election season and for having an impact on whomever is elected. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We speak with Joe Guinan and Dana Brown of the Next System Project about their ambitious work to draw from new economic institutions that are being used in the United States and around the world to build real alternatives that solve the crises of economic, racial and environmental injustice. They just completed a series of teach-ins across the country. They share with us what they've learned so far and what exciting new initiatives are developing out of the teach-ins. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

On the day after May Day, we focus on the current situation forworkers and how they are building power to lift up wages and workerrights. We speak with Professor Richard Wolff of Democracy at Workand Mike Somers, President of CWA Local 2100. Nearly 40,000 CWAmembers have been on strike against Verizon since April 13. Theyare calling for a national day of action on May 5. For moreinformation, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

On the one year anniversary after the uprising in Baltimore over the murder of Freddie Gray, we broadcast a two-hour special live from Baltimore. We speak with people who are directly impacted by police violence and those who are working to stop the injustices. Joshua Harris is a leader and visionary who advocates on behalf of the community. He is dedicated to creating attainable solutions for the challenges Baltimore faces. He is currently running for Mayor of Baltimore seeking the Green Party nomination. For more information, visit www.clearingthefogradio.org.

On the one year anniversary after the uprising in Baltimore over the murder of Freddie Gray, we broadcast a two-hour special live from Baltimore. We speak with people who are directly impacted by police violence and those who are working to stop the injustices. Derrick Chase was born and raised in Baltimore. He is currently the president of the Coalition for the Transformation and Betterment of Baltimore, known as Stand Up Bmore. For more information, visit www.clearingthefogradio.org.

On the one year anniversary after the uprising in Baltimore over the murder of Freddie Gray, we broadcast a two-hour special live from Baltimore. We speak with people who are directly impacted by police violence and those who are working to stop the injustices. Kelly Holsey is a paraeducator for the Baltimore County Public School system. She is the fiancee of Keith Davis, Jr. who remains in jail after being chased and shot by Baltimore City Police in June, 2015 for a crime that he did not commit. For more information, visit www.clearingthefogradio.org. To support Keith and Kelly, visit https://fundrazr.com/b16kK3.

On the one year anniversary after the uprising in Baltimore over the murder of Freddie Gray, we broadcast a two-hour special live from Baltimore. We speak with people who are directly impacted by police violence and those who are working to stop the injustices. Abdul Salaam is a Baltimore resident and father who works in as a mental health provider. He was brutally beaten during a July 1, 2013, traffic stop in Northeast Baltimore. The same officers beat and killed another Baltimorean, Tyrone West, during a traffic stop a few weeks later. Salaam was recently awarded $70,000 in a case related to the beating. The officers continue to work for the police force and have been promoted. For more information, visit www.clearingthefogradio.org.

We speak with two Refusers from Israel, Yasmin Yablonko and Khaled Farrag, who are on tour in the United States to raise awareness about the conditions that youth face in Israel. Yasmin and Khaled are part of a coalition of organizations called the Refuser Solidarity Network that supports teenagers who decide not to serve in the Israeli Defense Force. Then we speak with Ramah Kudaimi of End the Occupation and Chip Gibbons of Freedom to Boycott - Maryland about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement to end Israeli Apartheid and the push back against it in the United States. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The release of the 'Panama Papers' reveal the secret world of shell companies used by the rich to hide their wealth and avoid paying taxes on it. While it appears that the release of information was intended as a tool to demonize Russian President Vladimir Putin, it has backfired and instead led to a probing of who in the US is involved in this type of scheme. McClatchy News is publishing investigative pieces revealing the same activity taking place in states such as Nevada and Wyoming. The list of people involved connects directly to government figures such as US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. It has also led to massive upheaval in Iceland where protesters are calling for the resignation of the government and new elections. We explore what's going on with James Henry of the Tax Justice Network and Chuck Collins of the Institute for Policy Studies. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

On the heels of Obama’s Nuclear Security Summit, we speak with Greg Mello of the Los Alamos Study Group and Lillyanne Daigle and John Qua of Global Zero to cut through the propaganda about nuclear weapons, discuss which countries pose the greatest threat and what activists are doing to push for nuclear disarmament. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We speak with Dr. Michael E. Mann, esteemed climate scientist, about the latest science regarding the climate crisis - the rise in global temperature, sea level rise, the impact of glacier melting on ocean currents and weather and what we can expect in the next few decades. Then we speak with Dr. Mark Z. Jacobson who has developed a 50-state plan for 100% renewable energy in the United States. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Farm workers in the United States and Mexico are uniting to protest working conditions. From March 17 to 20, workers marched North in Mexico and South in the United States to meet at the border, at Playas de Tijuana. They are commemorating a march and strike one year ago and they are calling for the right to organize and demand fair wages, overtime pay and more. We speak with Rosalinda Guillen and Edgar Franks of Food Justice. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We speak with two educators, Stephen Krashen and Timothy Slekar, about the newest federal legislation on education, the so-called “Every Student Succeeds Act.” Hidden in the more than 1,000 pages are provisions that will undercut the profession of teaching. We discuss why and how education is under attack, not just in the United States but globally, and what teachers are doing to fight back and create the high quality education that children deserve. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We speak with Vijay Prashad and Raed Jarrar about the politics of Saudi Arabia, its ties to the United States and its role in the Middle East. We also discuss the rise of ISIS and what steps to take to weaken it and end the war on Syria. Both Vijay and Raed will speak at the upcoming Summit on Saudi Arabia being organized by CODEPINK on March 5 and 6 in Washington, DC. A thread that ties this all together and that is not discussed enough is how the conflicts in this region reflect the U.S. foreign policy of hegemony, which is designed by and for the benefit of the wealthy. We ask: what would a foreign policy for the 99% look like? For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We speak with Neill Franklin from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) about the failed drug war, the damage it has done and alternatives to it that are working to create healthy and safe communities. We also speak with Yohanan EliYah of Move to Abolish 21st Century Slavery about the growing movement to amend the 13th Amendment and take the profit out of incarceration.For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org,

We speak with activists who are fighting to protect their homes from new fossil fuel projects. Cherri Foytlin from South Louisiana has been working constantly since the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico to protect the people of that region and their livelihoods. She is currently organizing a mass action to peacefully protest an auction of more oil drilling leases in the Gulf on March 23. Megan Holleran is a landowner in Northeast Pennsylvania who is physically blocking Williams, the company that wants to build the Constitution gas pipeline, from cutting down more than 100 trees on her property. Williams has not yet been granted all of the permits required to build the pipeline. The Holleran family and supporters are maintaining a vigil on their property to stop any tree cutting. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

When the 2008 financial crisis hit, Iceland had a very different response than the United States. Iceland let the big banks fail, nationalized them and prosecuted the bankers, sending 26 of the bank executives to jail for fraud and market manipulation. In the US, no high level bankers were prosecuted and the big banks were bailed out. The weak response in the US means that fraud and corruption by big finance continue and we are facing an unstable market which many people predict will crash again within the year. We speak with Bill Black of the newly formed Bank Whistleblowers United about the plan they have outlined to instill the rule of law on Wall Street and end fraud with the hope of mitigating the effects of the next financial crisis. And we speak with Randall Wray, an expert in financial instability and macroeconomics, about alternatives to the current financial system that would bring greater stability. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

President Obama started the New Year off with a wave of ICE raids, including early morning raids of family homes with young children. Obama’s legacy, when it comes to immigration, will be one of mass deportations, the jailing of immigrants in for-profit prisons and of worsening the US foreign policies that drive people to leave their homes. We’ll speak with Abraham Paulos, executive director of Families for Freedom, which has taken bold actions to highlight and stop these practices. And we’ll speak with Alexis Stoumbelis of Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) about the policies that drive migration. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We speak with four organizers who are currently involved in projects around racial, economic and environmental justice about what they are currently working on, what their goals are for the year ahead and how their issues are connected. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Venezuela has been a leading country of the resistance in Latin America to US Empire and, through the Bolivarian Revolution, has put in place reforms that have created greater democracy and economic equality. Chavez called it 'Twentyfirst Century Socialism.' However, in the Dec. 6 Venezuelan elections, the right wing won 109 of the 164 seats in the National Assembly giving them the power to possibly undo much of the progress that the Bolivarian Revolution made over the past 15 years. We speak with Keane Bhatt, who was in Venezuela during the elections about the state of the economy, the elections and the extent of US involvement in both of these. Then we speak with Jesus Rodriguez-Espinosa of the Venezuelan Consul in Chicago about the response to the elections and next steps for the revolution. Visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We speak with Herman Wainggai, a former political prisoner, visiting scholar and a leader in West Papua’s self-determination struggle, John Miller of the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network and Arnie Saiki of the Moana Nui Action Alliance about the ongoing threats to self-determination and resistance to it in Asia Pacific. Colonialism is still present and just as destructive as ever. We discuss the fight for independence in West Papua. Few know that West Papua was given independence only to be invaded by Indonesia. They have been under military occupation for more than 50 years. We discuss why and the US' hand in it. We also speak about the Moana Nui Action Alliance which brings the struggles of many Pacific Islanders together. With the TransPacific Partnership racing to the finish line and the military's Asia pivot, collective resistance is critical. For more information, visitwww.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We speak with Chris Hedges about his newest book, “Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt.” Before turning his focus to resistance in the United States, Hedges spent twenty years as a foreign correspondent covering fifty countries. We discuss the lessons he learned from watching countries in turmoil, the dramatic political changes that occurred and how those lessons might be applied in the US. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The capitalist economic model is one of wealth extraction from communities to consolidate riches at the top. As an antidote, many communities are building alternatives to this model – models called economic democracy, the solidarity economy and ‘buen vivir’ (good living). We begin with Michael Johnson who is actively building the alternative economy in the Northeast to talk about what the alternative looks like and how communities are making it a reality. Johnson is currently on a book tour. Then we speak with Ellen Brown of the Public Banking Institute. Ellen has been following and writing about the fragility of the global financial system. Her most recent article concerns an extreme step being taken by central banks in the European Union of moving to a negative interest rate. This means that depositors could be forced to pay banks to hold their money. Ellen will describe who is the most impacted by this practice and who is most at risk. Visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

At the end of November, national leaders will meet in Paris, France for the United Nation’s COP 21 to try to put together a new treaty to replace the Kyoto Treaty which expires in 2020. With atmospheric CO2 levels continuing to rise, this may be too little too late.It is up to our communities to take action now. Courtney White who has published a new book, “Two Percent Solutions for the Planet: 50 Low-Cost, Low-Tech, Nature-Based Practices for Combatting Hunger, Drought and Climate Change” speaks about ways that communities can work together now to lower carbon footprints and sequester carbon. Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, youth director of the Earth Guardians, works locally and globally fighting pollution and fossil fuel extraction. He is helping to organize a global youth climate strike on November 30. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

While Martin O'Malley was governor of Maryland, he pushed two energy projects that threaten the health of local Marylanders. First we hear from Lili Sheeline who lives near the neighborhood of Cove Point where Dominion Resources is building a new gas refinery, power plant and export terminal. It is the first gas export terminal to be built on the East coast and the first in the world to be placed in a densely-populated community. Learn more about it, why O'Malley was given the "Golden Pillow" award for his role and how the community is fighting back. Then we hear from Amanda Maminski of Curtis Bay where Energy Answers is trying to build a large trash incinerator. O'Malley tried to sneak it through as a 'clean energy solution' but the community didn't fall for that and they are working to build a solar farm there instead. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

This fall, with international treaties like the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) and Paris climate treaty looming, mass actions are taking place to demand an end to the fossil fuel and the rapid transition to clean sustainable energy, trade that doesn't drive a race to the bottom in worker rights and environmental protection and a health care system that includes everyone. As a wave of protests is unfolding in the capital of Vermont, we speak with Jane Palmer, a landowner trying to stop a fracked gas pipeline on her land. These actions are part of Rising Tide North America's campaign, Flood the System. We talk about the mass mobilization being planned in Washington, DC November 14 to 18 to protest treaties like the TPP and the TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. And we talk with Anand Saha, a medical student and organizer with Students for a National Health Program which held a national days of actions on October first called #TenOne. Visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

October 16 was World Food Day. Decades of consolidation of agriculture into large industrial farms and the drive for ever greater profits is destroying family farms, the environment and climate, our health and food safety. Vandana Shiva writes, "“For the planet and people, the costs have been tragically high. 75 per cent of the earth’s biodiversity, soils, water have been destroyed, the climate has been destabilised, farmers have been uprooted, and instead of nourishing us, industrial food has become the biggest cause of disease and ill health.” We speak with Jim Goodman, an organic dairy farmer who started Family Farm Defenders, about the what smaller farms are doing to protect their futures and the integrity of the food system. Then we speak with Diana Reeves, founder and executive director of GMO Free USA, about the growing movement to label foods that contain GMOs and her work to build sustainable and healthy food systems. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

October 7 marked the 14th anniversary of the US invasion of Afghanistan. The week started off in a tragic way with the US bombing of a Doctors Without Borders (Medecins sans Frontieres, MSF) hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. It was the only hospital of its kind serving Northeastern Afghanistan and treated hundreds of patients every week. The Senate held a hearing last week to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. We discuss the hospital bombing and why this may be a violation of international law and we will speak with Kathy Kelly, who travels frequently to Afghanistan, about her impressions of the US' military presence there. We also discuss Columbus/Indigenous Peoples' Day and its impacts on US 'War Culture'. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We talk with attorney and consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who, along with a team of lawyers and museum experts, recently opened The American Museum of Tort Law in his home town of Winsted, CT. The  first museum of law in the country, focuses on tort law which governs claims made in courts by victims harmed by wrongful actions of corporations or others. Tort law operates of, by and for the people by giving people the power to right injustices and operates because of citizen participation: citizens bring the lawsuit, not the government; and  the outcome of the lawsuit often depends on a verdict reached by a group of ordinary citizens, sitting as jurors, who determine the facts to and apply the law.However, for many reasons, Tort law is under attack. In addition to the new museum, we discuss current issues with Nader, among them whether people will be able to stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other corporate rigged trade deals. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We speak with Ethel Long-Scott of the Women’s Economic Agenda Project (WEAP) about the crises of poverty and un/under-employment that are not expected to improve under the current system due to technology and robotics and the need for new solutions such as an unconditional basic income. Then Steve Shafarman, a life member of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), discusses the history of basic income and how it works to immediately end poverty and guarantee that all people can meet their basic needs and live with dignity. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

This week on Clearing The FOG Radio Margaret Flowers will be interviewed by Kevin Zeese about her plans to run for US Senate in Maryland. Flowers is normally a co-host on the show but this week she will change roles and be interviewed by her co-host. Flowers and Zeese not only co-host Clearing The FOG but also co-direct Popular Resistance and are partners in life. So, you can expect an in-depth conversation about why she is running for Senate, how she plans to win as a third party candidate and what she will do when she is elected. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We speak with Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK women for peace and tireless activist for justice and peace about US foreign policy and taboo topics like American Empire, Saudi Arabia, AIPAC, the soft regime change tools of US agencies like the CIA, State Department and US AID and the corporate duopoly. In particular, Benjamin talks about her travels and work in Iran, Yemen, Bahrain, Cuba and more. We discuss the Iran Nuclear Agreement and what people can do to support that. And we talk about the presidential elections. Tune in for views you won't hear in commercial media. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We talk with two teachers who are protecting our children's right to have an education. In the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, parents are on a hunger strike in their desperate attempt to save the last public high school. Dyett High School is the last school in their area that accepts all students regardless of ability and the city is trying to shut it down. The parents have another vision of a school that teaches cutting edge technology for sustainability. In Washington State, kindergarten teacher, Susan DuFresne, is a power house fighting to protect her students from the cruelty of standardized testing that robs them of their education and labels them at successes or failures when they are just getting started. Seattle, where Susan teaches, is investing $210 million to expand a youth prison. The city is basing occupancy on fourth grade reading scores. Rather than investing in better education, it is choosing to lock students up. For more info, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Two major diplomatic changes occurred recently between the US and Iran and Cuba. Iran and the P5+1 (China, France, Russia, UK, US + Germany) completed an agreement regarding Iran's nuclear program. It is historic that the US and Iran engaged in diplomatic relations and that the sanctions against Iran will end. The agreement opens Iran up for more foreign investment and trade. Will war be averted? We speak with Professor Muhammad Sahimi, a chemical engineer who frequently writes about Iranian politics and the nuclear program to hear an Iranian perspective on this agreement. And diplomatic relations were restored with Cuba after 54 years of economic and political isolation. The Cuban embassy was reopened in Washington, DC. We speak with Miguel Fraga, the First Secretary of the Cuban Embassy about the restoration of diplomacy, what Cuba is asking of the US and how the US is responding. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

This week there are two groups in Washington, DC protesting colonialist policies being imposed on them by the US government. Apache Stronghold traveled across the country from Oak Flat in Arizona because there was a provision in the most recent version of the National Defense Authorization Act to give land including the sacred site of Oak Flat to Resolution Copper Company – Rio Tinto – BHP for a billion dollar mining operation. The land was protected since 1955, but the mining companies have been trying to get a license to mine it since 2005. We speak with San Carlos Apache Tribal Councilman Wendsler Nosie and Naelyn Pike, a leader in the Apache Stronghold movement. The International People’s Tribunal held events over the past week in New York and Washington, DC to bring attention to the collaboration between the US and Philippines in the “war on terror” which is resulting in the disappearances, torture and murder of hundreds of people and the displacement of tens of thousands. We speak with Ka Paeng (Rafael Mariano) who is a former member of Congress and is current co-chair of the Peasant Movement of the Philippines, KMP. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We speak with Debbie Bookchin and Blair Taylor, editors of "The Next Revolution: Popular Assemblies and the Promise of Direct Democracy," which is a compilation of essays by the late Murray Bookchin. Bookchin ran the Institute for Social Ecology in Vermont which describes itself as "a pioneer in the exploration of ecological approaches to food production, alternative technologies, and urban design, and has played an essential, catalytic role in movements to challenge nuclear power, global injustices and unsustainable biotechnologies, while building participatory, community-based alternatives. The Institute strives to be an agent of social transformation, demonstrating the skills, ideas and relationships that can nurture vibrant, self-governed, healthy communities." Bookchin was one of the most influential thought leaders in the later twentieth century. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The recent massacre of nine people in a black church in Charleston, South Carolina by a white supremacist highlights the racist culture that is particularly prevalent in the South and has amplified the call for removal of symbols such as the Confederate flag. The attack demonstrates that institutionalized racism is not isolated to the police and judicial system, it is pervasive in the educational system, government and in our neighborhoods. And it is not limited to the United States but extends around the world, particularly where the US Empire and other colonists have interfered. Kymone Freeman, an activist and artist, and Reverend Graylan Hagler of the Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, DC join us to discuss the state of racism in the US and around the world today. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

In the wake of Freddie Gray's murder by police, national attention has been focused on Baltimore. Police brutality and unjustified arrests have been problems in Baltimore for a long time stemming back to Mayor Martin O'Malley's program of mass arrests without probable cause. But the injustice in Baltimore runs deeper. Wealth inequality has been rising in Baltimore, MD so that some neighborhoods look like war zones with rows of abandoned houses and dilapidated structures while others are dotted with large mansions and their sophisticated gardens. Delegate Jill Carter, a practicing attorney in Baltimore, and Dayvon Love of Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle speak about the history of police violence and poverty in Baltimore and what is being done to bring justice to the people. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Recently we met with a delegation of mayors from Okinawa who came to the United States because the US is building a very large military base in Henoko that will destroy ecologically sensitive areas and that is not wanted by the people of Okinawa. Through opinion polls, the election of politicians who are opposed to the base and persistent nonviolent direct action, Okinawans are making it clear that they are not supportive of a continued US military presence there. With less than 1% of Japan's land mass, Okinawa is home to 74% of the US military in Japan. We air a recorded interview with Mayor Susumu Inamine of Nago City in Okinawa where the Henoko Base is being built. Then we speak with Professor Steve Rabson who studies and writes about the situation in Okinawa. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Clearing the FOG speaks with two guests from the Center for Governance and Sustainability at the University of Massachusetts – Boston about the current direction that global governance is taking. Senior fellow Harris Gleckman authored a response to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Redesign Initiative which was released in 2010. In brief, the direction proposed by the WEF would give a stronger role to multinational corporations and reduce the role of the nation-state. Maria Ivanova, co-director of the Center for Governance and Sustainability, will discuss governance systems with respect to environmental issues around the world that function well and those that do not. The future of global governance is the major question of the century. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Clearing the FOG speaks with APWU President Mark Dimondstein about the new alliance of postal unions that are working desperately to stop the dismantling of our public postal service. The postal service has been hit with mandates that are forcing it to reduce hours and staff and to sell off historic post offices that were created with public dollars during the New Deal. We follow that discussion with a second guest, Katherine Isaac from the Campaign for Postal Banking. And we explain why the attack on the US Postal Service is related to racial and economic injustice. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Clearing the FOG speaks with two guests who are part of bold actions to demand justice for familities and accountability for police who get away with murder. Maria Hamilton's 31 year old son Dontre was killed in April, 2014. He was unarmed and sleeping in a public park when he was shot 14 times and killed by Officer Christopher Manney. Maria started Justice for Mothers United and is organizing the Million Moms March in Washington, DC on May 9. Carmen Perez of the Justice League NYC is currently leading a 250 mile march to Washington called the March 2 Justice to demand three new laws to address police accountability and miltarization. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Clearing the FOG speaks with activists from Washington State to Washington, DC who are taking on Big Energy to say "no" to more fossil fuel infrastructure. We begin with four organizers who walked across the United States last year to raise awareness about the climate crisis. They visited front line communities along the way. When they arrived in Washington, DC, they spent a week protesting the little known Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as part of the Beyond Extreme Energy coalition. Now they are planning more resistance. In Washington State, the "SHell No" campaign is organizing a Flotilla to keep Shell Oil out of the Port of Seattle. We'll discuss why direct action is the necessary tactic to end fossil fuels and move to renewable energy sources. For more inforrmation, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

ClearingThe FOG interviews Kshama Sawant for a full hour. Sawant was elected to the Seattle City Council in 2013 running with the Socialist Alternative Party. She previously was an adjunct economics professor and involved in social movements like Occupy Seattle and efforts to prevent home foreclosures. In her time in office she has galvanized the politics of Seattle, successfully spearheading a campaign to raise the minimum wage to $15. She is also an advocate for tenant rights, affordable housing, universal taxpayer funded healthcare and other progressive issues. When Boeing threatened to move from Seattle because of worker demands, she urged workers to take over Boeing’s facilities. She seeks to break the power of big business and the two big business parties, the Democrats and Republicans. For more inforrmation, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

In March, 2013, Detroit was placed under the control of an appointed emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, despite protests from local residents. Facing a severe financial crisis, the city later filed Chapter 9 Bankruptcy. Several years prior to the emergency manager for the city, the Governor replaced the school board with an appointed manager, Robert Bob, who made cuts to the budget and closed schools. The Detroit public school board members continue to meet ‘in exile’ and protest these school cuts. We’ll speak with Lamar Lemmons, a past president and current member of the school board in exile. We’ll also speak with Miss Beulah Walker, an amazing volunteer who works with the Detroit Water Brigade bringing water to those who have had their water turned off and helping to pay their bills. Miss Beulah also volunteers helping homeless people in Detroit. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

President Obama recently declared the small South American country of Venezuela to be a security threat to the largest empire in the history of the world. And the US commercial media fails to question this declaration. On this show, we discuss in depth why Venezuela frightens elites in the US. We talk about the Venezuelan economy, her struggle for radical democracy, the recent coup attempt, the upcoming elections and why Obama’s administration is working so hard to weaken Venezuela. Our guests are Alex Main of the Center for Economic and Policy Research and Professor George Ciccariello-Maher of Drexel University. For more information, visit www. ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Clearing The FOG examines the new fronts of US militarism: the encirclement of China with the Asian Pivot, NATO surrounding Russia and the Ukraine trap for Russian President Putin. In addition, we'll be discussing the Spring Rising organized by peace activist Cindy Sheehan. “Spring Rising” is four days of creative resistance; theater, teach-ins; rallies and marches marking the anniversary of the United States’ “shock and awe” attack on Iraq. Spring Rising will bring people together to oppose the plans and calls for growing military intervention. Our guests are Bruce Gagnon, the Coordinator and co-founder of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. And Cindy Sheehan, a peace and justice advocate, author, and host of her own podcast Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

In 2003, the Internet was reclassified as an information service instead of a public utility which reduced the Federal Communication Commission’s ability to control the giant telecoms’ behavior. Ever since, defenders of Internet freedom have been fighting to make it a public utility or common carrier again and the telecoms have been fighting to further commodify and profit from the Internet. After a dedicated ten month campaign, net neutrality activists have finally won. The FCC is expected to vote on reclassification on Feb. 26. While this is a victory and we will celebrate, there is more to do. Craig Aaron of Free Press explains why reclassification is necessary for net neutrality, but not sufficient. And David Isenberg who organizes Freedom to Connect discusses more steps that can be taken to guarantee that the Internet is a place for free speech in the 21st century and is available to everyone. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We are now 5 years into the national healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act. The deadline for purchasing insurance this year is Feb. 15. Although more people have health insurance, we have not changed the healthcare system in the United States. The same problems of lack of access to care because of cost, medical debt and bankruptcy  and poor health outcomes continue. Dr. Robert Zarr, the new president of Physicians for a National Health Program, joins us to talk about the current healthcare system and the newly introduced HR 676 Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act in Congress that would create a single payer health system. We also speak with Ellen Schwartz of the Vermont Workers Center about their work to push for a universal healthcare system at the state level. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) many times over the past several years is a huge international agreement that covers trade and enhances corporate power that has been negotiated in secret by the Obama administration for more than five years. Members of Congress have had restricted access to the text of the agreement. The commercial media has had a virtual blackout on the TPP until recentlyCorporate lobbyists have had direct access to the text and have been helping to write it. Now the President is pushing Congress to give him the power, called Fast Track, to sign it before they see it. We are in a critical time to stop this dangerous trade agreement. Some call it "NAFTA on steroids." To discuss what is in the agreement and how we stop it, we'll be joined by Adam Weissman of Trade Justice New York and Nancy Price of the Alliance for Democracy. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Coast to coast communities are celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day this year by rejecting the watered-down version of Dr. King and lifting up the Dr. King who questioned capitalism, who saw the connections between racism, militarism and economic injustice and who promoted independent politics. We will speak about Dr. King’s politics and how they relate to the current economic and political environment. We will also talk about the current protests. Kymone Freeman who is co-founder of We Act Radio and also a leading organizer of DC Ferguson and other local groups demanding police reform will be our guest. He will also speak about his new play, “Whites Only.” We will also be joined by Jasiri X and Cat Brooks. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We spend the hour with Tim DeChristopher who is most known for his action as "Bidder 70" to stop the illegal sale of public lands for oil and gas. For that act he served 21 months in prison. DeChristopher continues to work on climate justice with front line groups and youth. He also works to support those who are preparing for nonviolent civil resistance and those who are going to trial or their actions. He is currently studying at Harvard Divinity School. We talk about climate justice, how to shift power, electoral politics and more. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We bring together several activists to speak about the new year in resistance. We discuss the top issues of 2015 and what we can expect as the movement of movements for social, economic and environmental justice continues to grow. Joining us are Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence who has been focused on building peace and stopping US drone attacks and Evan Greer of Fight for the Future who has been focused on issues of Internet privacy and net neutrality. Bill Ragen of Rising Tide North America, a coalition of groups and people fighting for climate justice is also a guest. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

At the beginning of the year, 2014 was called “the year that everything changed,” and indeed it has been a turning point for a number of resistance movements in the United States. We look back over the past 12 months and discuss some of the highlights and ways that movements made connections and worked together towards building the necessary ‘movement of movements’. We use a roundtable format for the hour. Our guests are Sandy Nurse, an activist in New York City who runs the composting business called BK ROT; Cassidy Regan, an activist in Baltimore who works on a number of fronts including militarism and trade agreements; and Tarak Kauff, an activist from Woodstock, NY who is on the board of Veterans for Peace and is active on environmental issues, militarism, racial justice and incarceration. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The Senate Intelligence Committee report on the CIA's torture program was released last week and it demonstrates both that the US used torture methods during interrogation which led to deaths in some cases and that torture was ineffective in obtaining necessary information. The Obama administration worked to suppress and censor the report; and following its release Obama announced that there will be no investigation of those involved in the program. The United Nations disagrees and UN Rapporteur Ben Emmerson is calling for prosecution up to the highest level of office. In addition, the UN has criticized the use of solitary confinement in the US as a domestic form of torture and suggests that it be banned. To discuss the report and the implications of this lack of accountability, we speak with Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights and Jeremy Varon of Witness Against Torture. For more information, visitwww.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The COP 20 talks have just concluded in Lima, Peru and now eyes are turning to the next treaty expected to be signed in Paris in December, 2015. So far, the United Nations’ COP process has failed to produce a meaningful agreement to address the climate crisis and to achieve climate justice. The United States has been a great obstacle to progress. And the UN talks have essentially devolved into another tool for commodifying the Earth and pushing a neo-liberal economic agenda. We speak with Brian Tokar, author of the newly-revised “Toward Climate Justice: Perspectives on the Climate Crisis and Social Change” about new organizing and a new framework that are pushing for real solutions to the climate crisis. We also speak with Karen Orenstein of Friends of the Earth about the Lima talks and how the Paris Treaty is shaping up. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We spend the hour speaking with Larry Hamm who is described as “a relentless advocate for African-American people and the cause of human rights for more than 30 years.” Larry is chair of the People’s Organization for Progress in Newark, NJ which he helped to found in 1983. His work focuses on education, jobs, health care, police brutality and issues that arise in the Black community. He is quoted saying, “But there’s a certain realization you come to about the tempo of social change. It’s not the same as the tempo in an individual life. It’s a much longer beat. And we just have to keep doing what we can to keep pushing the struggle forward.” He is a leading voice in the growing national movement to end racially-biased and violent policing which has been inspired most recently by the events in Ferguson. We talk about his life’s work, where he sees the movement and the work ahead of us. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

This past week, as part of the Beyond Extreme Energy campaign to retire fossil fuels there were daily actions to shut down the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission every morning and actions at other locations in the afternoon. These took place simultaneously with direct action at two FERC-approved gas infrastructure projects in Seneca Lake, NY and Cove Point, MD. And the week of actions at FERC followed the conclusion of an 8 month 3,000 mile 7 million step Great March for Climate Action from Los Angeles to Washington, DC. The Beyond Extreme Energy actions focused on retiring fossil fuels and calling for investment in clean renewable energy instead. Similar struggles are occurring in a number of states where residents are using every tool at their disposal including creative nonviolent direct action to stop the construction of fossil fuel infrastructure. We spoke with Faith Meckley of the Great March for Climate Action and We Are Seneca Lake and Will Bennington of Rising Tide Vermont. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The month of October has been dedicated to the issues of mass incarceration, racially-biased policing, militarized policing and the abusive behavior and extrajudicial murders being carried out by police. Over the weekend of October 10, thousands of people converged in St. Louis, MO to demonstrate for justice in the murders of Michael Brown and other Black men killed by police. On October 22, thousands of people marched and protested in 80 cities from coast to coast. There is tremendous momentum right now to change policing in the United States. On this program, our guests talk about what is happening in Ferguson, MO and other areas of the country and about next steps in this struggle. Especially we discuss what response would be constructive in the high likelihood that the officer who shot Michael Brown is not indicted by the Grand Jury. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

David Hartsough has dedicated his life to working for peace and justice and continues now with one of his greatest endeavors, the abolition of war. His story, “Waging Peace: Global Adventures of a Lifelong Activist,” has just been released. David writes, “The book shares personal stories about my experiences in nonviolent movements over the past sixty years. My goal is to inspire and empower readers to realize that they do have the power to help make history and help build a more peaceful and just world.” David joins us for a full hour to discuss the work he has done and continues to do. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Monday, October 13, is celebrated in many places around the United States as Columbus Day after Christopher Columbus. In school, most American students are taught that Columbus discovered the ‘New World’ and are not taught that not only is this false but also aren’t taught about the horrors that he and others during that time inflicted on the Indigenous population. This is starting to change as awareness grows about the United States’ true history. Seattle recently voted to celebrate Indigenous Peoples on Oct. 13 and Bellingham, WA is planning a similar vote. We will speak about the true legacy of Columbus and the movement for a national day to celebrate our Indigenous Heritage. Our guest will be Matt Remle who has been engaged in community organizing for two decades around environmental and economic justice, Indigenous sovereignty and Tribal Rights. For morer information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Following the events around the UN climate summit including the People's Climate March and #Flood Wall Street, we discuss what needs to be done next to solve the climate crisis. We speak with John Farrell of the Institute for Local Self Reliance about the work that is being done across the country to build the renewable energy economy that is carbon free and nuclear free and based on distributed and democratized systems. We also speak with Rae Braeux from Rising Tide North America about their plans for resistance to the extreme energy extraction economy. Rising Tide NA is a network of climate justice activists who take strategic direct action to stop dangerous extraction and transport of fuels. For more information, visit www.clearingthefogradio.org.

David Swanson writes that war is always based on lies and that is obvious as the US becomes more committed to greater military involvement in Iraq and Syria each day. In this episode we will look at the roots of the crises in Iraq and Syria. Where did ISIS come from? What are the options in intervening and should we intervene at all? We speak with Matthew Hoh, Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy who worked on US policy on Iraq for the Pentagon and State Department and is now a strong critic of US foreign policy. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We spoke with organizers of the New York Climate Convergence, a two day conference just before the People’s Climate March that will focus on discussion of the roots of the climate crisis, obstacles to addressing it and how to build a united movement to put real solutions in place while stopping false and harmful solutions. Jacqui Patterson works with frontline communities that are impacted by dirty energy sources such as coal burning power plants and the effects of climate change. She writes that climate change is a civil rights issue because people of color are disproportionately affected. Dr. Jill Stein is a long time environmental advocate who ran for President in 2012 as the Green Party candidate. She is a co-founder of the Global Climate Convergence which started in April of this year. The convergence brings advocates on a wide range of issues together to see that our work is connected and that climate change is the ticking clock which drives the urgency of our work. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We spend the hour with Dr. Nafeez Ahmed who is a bestselling author, investigative journalist and international security scholar. He is executive director of the Institute for Policy Research & Development. His newest book is “Zero Point,” a science fiction thriller that “explore[s] the self-defeating hubris of an all-powerful national security state in an era of converging environmental, energy and economic crises.” His novel predicted current events in the Middle East, particularly the recent US airstrikes in Iraq. We’ll explore the climate crisis, resource wars (particularly for energy), the growing surveillance state and more. (We apologize - there were some technical problems with the sound early on that were resolved.) For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We speak about the increasing militarization of police forces throughout the US. Armed with military equipment including assault rifles and tanks and trained by the military, the police force is treating our streets like a war zone and responding with excessive force to events, particularly when people of color are involved. Our guests, Carl Williams and Kade Crockford, from the Massachusetts American Civil Liberties Union have been studying this trend and the lack of transparency and accountability around it. We will talk about the problems and also what we can do in our communities to de-escalate the situation. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We examine the true costs of nuclear energy and whether it is truly necessary as we transition to a sustainable energy economy. Starting in the 1950's there was a Uranium Rush in the US that dwarfed the Gold Rush and left behind more than ten thousand abandoned uranium mines that continue to pollute the air, land and water today and cause serious public health problems. This is the dirty beginning of nuclear energy. Klee Benally of Clean Up The Mines! speaks about the impacts of uranium mining and the national campaign to clean up the abandoned uranium mines. Leona Morgan of Diné No Nukes speaks about the impacts of these mines and her community's work to stop mining and restore health. Then Tim Judson of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service will describe how the nuclear industry is prohibiting sustainable energy and positioning itself to be the solution to the climate crisis. For more information, visitwww.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We speak about the expanding US Empire. The United States is the largest empire in the history of the world with over 1,000 bases and outposts around the world compared to the 37 bases of the British Empire at its peak. Despite our military being stretched thin and the military budget causing austerity to social programs and infrastructure at home, the US continues to expand. Our guests will be Coleen Rowley, retired FBI whistleblower who teaches constitutional law and ethics and who follows Empire closely, and David Swanson, author of several books on war and empire and co-coordinator of the movement to abolish war called World Beyond War. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We speak with Courtney White, author of “Grass, Soil, Hope” who has traveled the world and experimented on his own ranch to find ways to sequester carbon that are sustainable and also solve other problems related to the climate crisis, water management and food security. Though the evidence for these solutions is very strong, they are not widely known yet. And we speak with Dr. Sean Sweeeney, director and founder of the Global Labor Institute, about the new international coalition Trade Unions for Energy Democracy. This coalition of unions is turning the decades-long narrative of market-based extreme energy extraction on its head. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

As the failings of the capitalist economy become more evident, people recognize that there are alternatives. The cooperative economy though largely hidden is growing and is outperforming the capitalist economy when it comes to job and economic stability. The cooperative economy places capital in service of jobs instead of the other way around. To discuss this in more depth we spoke with Janelle Cornwell, lead author of a new book called Building Cooperative Power! Stories and Strategies from Worker Co-Operatives in the Connecticut River Valley, and Ajowa Nzinga Ifateyo who has extensive experience studying and creating cooperatives. For more information, v isit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We take a look at the disturbing trends in Michigan. Emergency Financial Managers are being appointed by the governor to run cities and school boards, particularly in black majority communities, in a dictatorial fashion. As our guest Tom Stephens writes,”The Emergency Financial Manager regime imposed on Detroit is ‘an entirely new and unprecedented form of antidemocratic local government directly controlled by the corporate agents of ‘the 1%’ that is designed to steal everything: land, water, air, lives, and every right not associated with capital.” The first Emergency Financial Managers were appointed to run cities in 2000, but a significant change occurred in 2011 with the passage of Public Act 4, the Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act. This state law gave EFM’s unprecedented power to “exercise any power or authority of any officer, employee, department, board, commission or other similar entity of the local government whether elected or appointed.” Our guests will discuss how the EFM’s are dismantling cities to pave the way for privatization and gentrification and what people in those cities are doing to fight back. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

A sister trade agreement to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is being negotiated in secret with the European Union. It’s called the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership but is known as TAFTA. Last month, a leaked memo showed that negotiators are pushing for the US to produce more oil and gas through extreme measures such as fracking and export it to the EU. Already the US is making preparations. In Maryland, the Governor is pushing to build a liquefied methane gas terminal at Cove Point for export. A coalition of groups that includes environmentalists, Native Americans and other residents is fighting the terminal at Cove Point. We speak with Shilpa Joshi of Chesapeake Climate Action Network about the Cove Point terminal and with Mitch Jones of Food and Water watch about TAFTA. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

In this time of oligarchy and corruption, it is necessary for democracy that people who serve in the government step forward and tell the truth. However, the Obama administration through its attacks on whistleblowers and use of the Espionage Act more times than all other presidents combined has intimidated workers from speaking out. In the past two weeks, new tools and organizations were launched to assist and support whistleblowers. We speak with Matthew Hoh of ExposeFacts.org on the urgent need for whistleblowers and Sarah Harrison of the new Courage Foundation on her work to support Edward Snowden and the future Snowdens. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Now that it has been proven that we live in a plutocracy, what are we going to do about it? PopularResistance.org is joining with the Backbone Campaign to launch the Rolling Rebellion for Real Democracy. The first step is a week of actions across the country from July 5 to 12.  Bill Moyer from Backbone Campaign joins us to speak about the campaign and what we hope to achieve. In the second half of the show, we speak with Jessica Lee of Peaceful Uprising who is an organizer of the permanent protest set up in PR Springs, UT to stop the land from being mined for tar sands. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Unions in the US which were a driving force for social change in the early 20th century have been in decline for decades. Recently however union and non-union workers have been fighting for better working conditions and wages and the right to organize. Steve Early has been present for the past 40 years of labor’s struggles. His new book is titled “Save Our Unions: Dispatches from a Movement in Distress.” He joins us to talk about the current state of labor. We also speak with Traven Leyshon of the Vermont AFL CIO, Vermont Workers Center and Vermont Progressive Party. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

This month, economic democracy conferences were held in both Jackson, MS and Baltimore, MD. The conferences focused on the structural causes of poverty, the failures of the current economic system and new systems that can be put in place to build wealth in communities. Th Baltimore conference, which we helped to organize, focused on building cooperatives, complementary currencies and alternative finance, participatory budgeting, land trusts, renewable energy and food security. Our guest Dorcas Gilmore attended both conferences and the other guest Lasana Mack is working on new systems in African-American communities of Washington, DC. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We discuss the FCC’s plan to eliminate net neutrality on May 15. FCC chair Tom Wheeler will be deciding on new rules regarding the internet that will allow those who have wealth to have faster service and will leave the rest of us behind with internet service that ranks us between 35th and 40th in the world. The internet will become a pay-to-play entity rather than being treated as a public good – something to which all people should have the same standard of access. We will discuss the upcoming decision at length and what people are doing to stop it. And we will discuss the growing movement to municipalize internet service. For more information, v isit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The focus of today’s show is President Obama’s trip to Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines to build support for escalation of the US’ military presence and for the TransPacific Partnership (TPP). We are joined by Bernadette Ellorin of BAYAN USA which helped to coordinate protests to US military and economic domination in the region. Protests occurred in the US and in each of the countries that Obama visited. We also discussed a new letter urging Obama to take meaningful action to end nuclear weapons, the launch of our new campaign to clean up abandoned uranium mines, the attack on internet neutrality and recent studies which document that the US is a plutocracy. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We spoke with Martin Kirk and Anuradha Mittal about the World Bank's "Doing Business" ranking which encourages countries to lower protections for workers, public health and the environment in order to attract businesses. It allows businesses to move factories and capital to countries with the lowest standards and fuels the race to the bottom. Of particular concern is the rising number of acres being sold to Big Ag which is displacing millions and destroying local food protection. The Rules and Oakland Institute are partnering in a new campaign, "Our Land Our Business" to end land grabs. They seek one million signatures by October. Visit OurLandOurBusiness.org to learn more and take action. Visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org for more information about the program.

We speak with two guests who are working to transform their cities into places that support their populations rather than exploiting them and pushing them to the edges. Andy Shallal, artist, activist and owner of the Bus Boys and Poets bookstore restaurants is running for mayor in Washington, DC. He advocates for policies that bring greater community engagement and empower communities through education, employment support and affordable housing. Dean John H. Morris, Jr is head of the Department of Urban Planning and Community Development at Sojourner-Douglass College in Baltimore, MD. He is working with the local community to recreate local neighborhoods so they are places that build and sustain homeownership and local businesses through a grass roots democratized economy. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We talk about the efforts in Vermont to create a new economy which includes a public bank that is designed to serve the needs of the public and protects public dollars from the risks of too big to fail banks with Gwendolyn Hallsmith, the new Executive Director of the Public Banking Institute. We also speak with Ellen Brown who has written numerous books and articles on public and postal banking and the big banks. This topic is especially timely given the huge bubble that is inflating on Wall Street at the same time that the world's biggest economies are scaling back and there are numerous financial crises. Learn how to protect yourself and your community from the next crash. For more information, visithttp://www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The newest study published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) shows that press freedom in the US is disappearing. The US fell 13 places to number 46 in the world, largely due to mass surveillance and aggressive attacks on whistleblowers and journalists. Delphine Halgand of RSF joins us to speak about the new report. Then Josh Stearns of Free Press who has written about specific attacks on journalists in the US tells us about the newest challenges to press freedom in the US and what we need to do to end them. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

On February 11, thousands of websites will display messages to expose and oppose the national security state in “The Day We Fight Back Against the NSA.” The day was chosen to remember Aaron Swartz who took his life one year ago and the massive day of online action that stopped SOPA and PIPA. Swartz was a pioneer at a very young age in developing systems to share information and demanding that people should have access to information, especially data that was created using public dollars. To get the facts behind the extent of the security state and what people are doing to fight back against it, our guests are Andrew Krieg, author of “Presidential Puppetry: Obama, Romney and their Masters,” and Evan Greer of Fight for the Future. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org. 

In his State of the Union Speech, President Obama said, “Today, after four years of economic growth, corporate profits and stock prices have rarely been higher, and those at the top have never done better. But average wages have barely budged. Inequality has deepened. Upward mobility has stalled. The cold, hard fact is that even in the midst of recovery, too many Americans are working more than ever just to get by; let alone to get ahead. And too many still aren’t working at all.” Obama was forced to mention wealth inequality because the real disparity that has caused rising poverty and hunger, but his overall message was still one of “if you work hard enough, you can get ahead,” rather than an honest focus on the structural causes of the wealth divide and how to reduce it. To have this conversation, we’ve invited Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report and labor economist Jack Rasmus. We look at the state of the wealth divide, its causes and its remedies. For more information, see ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We discussed the conference about Syria that is taking place in Montreux, Switzerland. Although the stated goal is peace, the structure of the talks is designed around removal of Assad from power. We will discuss the politics behind the war in Syria with Ajamu Baraka. Baraka writes of the peace talks, “Its main purpose was always to affect their main strategic objective – the removal of President Bashir al-Assad from power and the disappearance of Syria as an independent state.” Baraka calls them “war talks” and states that they are laying the groundwork for an attack on Syria. Alli McCracken of CODEPINK joins us to speak about her recent trip to Geneva with a delegation of women to press for the inclusion of women in the talks. Visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org for more information.

We continue our discussion of building a trans-formative social movement in the United States. On our last program, we looked back at the social movement over the past few years and analyzed it based on the Eight Stages of Successful Social Movements. On this program, speak about the tasks ahead to build consensus and an engaged movement of people pushing for peace, justice and a sustainable way of living. Our guest is David Solnit. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We spoke with Ken Butigan about the stages of social transformation, where the US fits in and what the tasks are during this stage. You may be surprised to find out how close we are. Butigan is director of Pace e Bene, a nonprofit organization fostering nonviolent change through education, community and action. He also teaches peace studies at DePaul University and Loyola University in Chicago. He has been involved in numerous ‘people powered’ movements for thirty years. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We spoke with James Quilligan, who is presently Managing Director of the Centre for Global Negotiations and Chairman for the Secretariat of Global Commons Trust, which develops innovative means of restoring value—beyond business and government—through people’s social, cultural, intellectual, genetic and natural resource commons. He wrote an in-depth series of articles for Kosmos Journal about the transformation from what he calls the Market State to a Commons-based Economy. In the Market State, all resources, goods and services are monetized and privatized so that they are controlled by a few and kept away from some of the public, and the economy is based on debt. In the Commons-Based Economy, the commons which also includes genes, culture and knowledge, the economy is based on credit and on a trust that manages the resources in a way that is sustainable and regenerative. People have more control over the economy as well. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The Presidential election in Honduras took place on November 24. Since the US was involved in the 2009 coup that removed President Manuel Zelaya, Hondurans have lived under a brutal regime in which political activists are harassed and murdered. This year, Zelaya’ wife, Xiomara Castro, ran as the new LIBRE party candidate. The official report is that she came in second, but widespread fraud and repression in the election makes this result questionable and there have been large protests to demand a recount. To discuss this, we will be joined by Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic and Policy Research who writes regularly about Latin America and Chuck Kauffman of the Alliance for Global Justice who was a member of a large delegation of election observers present for this election. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

On this week’s show, we hear firsthand about the conditions in Palestine from Ellen Davidson and Tarak Kauff. They and four other Veterans Peace Team members traveled in Palestine for three weeks in November to witness the conditions there and stand in solidarity with the people during their weekly protests. Kauff, who leads the Veterans for Peace Action Network, created the Veterans Peace Team after the Occupy Movement started in order to provide assistance to nonviolent protests. Peace Team members will stand between police and nonviolent protesters upon request. In addition to being a peace team member, Davidson who has traveled to Palestine before is a photographer and blogger. She chronicled the trip on StopTheseWars.org. Davidson and Kauff share what they learned and experienced on their trip. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We spoke about the state of dissent in the United States with Bruce Levine, practicing psychologist who connects the dots between society, politics, culture and mental health. He is also a social commentator and author of Get Up, Stand Up as well as other books. Levine writes about the mental health profession’s increasing trend to treat healthy challenges to authority and a dysfunctional society as abnormal. Psychologists in the US also do not recognize alternative worldviews such as anarchism and so attempt to coerce youth into adopting what are considered to be cultural norms within a hierarchical framework. Levine also writes about the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on the mental health profession and even the new DSM-V. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We spoke with two cultural activists who use arts and culture to educate and empower people to take action in their communities. This follows our conversation last week in which author Rivera Sun described how her novels tell the story of social transformation and educate her readers about nonviolent resistance. Bill Moyer of the Backbone Campaign teaches “Artful Activism” in his community and facilitates direct action training camps throughout the nation. He lectures in nonviolent strategy and tactics. Moyers says, “Our role, as change makers, social movement activists, organizers, and cultural workers is to change the social/political/economic variables and expand the scope of what is politically possible in tune with our principles and aspirations. Simultaneously, we must make politically toxic the world view that we oppose, lessening its appeal, reducing its claim in the territory of the politically possible.” His area of expertise is “Spectacle Actions.” Mic Crenshaw uses Hip Hop to expand the public dialogue about race and class issues in both the United States and Africa. Crenshaw says, “The music is an expression of my creativity but ultimately serves as a tool for a critique on dominant culture that limits and defines the kind of choices folks even imagine under capitalism.” He teaches social justice in Portland, OR, is Executive Director of Education Without Borders, is Political Director of Hip Hop Congress and organizes primarily around housing. He also founded Globalfam to help youth in Africa and organizes the Afrikan Hip Hop Caravan. Visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org for more information.

We live in a time of transition. There is a greater understanding of the interconnections between living beings and the planet. And there is a greater understanding that the current way of life and political system do not function for the majority of people. A nonviolent culture of resistance is growing and alternative systems that are more peaceful, just and sustainable are being created. We explore this transition with Rivera Sun, author of the newly-released book The Dandelion Insurrection. Sun tells the story of building a nonviolent movement to overcome a plutocracy within a highly militarized state. Her novel is both inspiring and instructive. We then spoke with Stephanie Van Hook and Michael Nagler of the Metta Center for Nonviolence. They provide tools and training for nonviolent skills and coordinate the Shanti Sena Network of Peace Teams.

We spoke with Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK and author of Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control. Medea has been a relentless activist to stop the use of drones to terrorize communities and kill civilians. She traveled to Pakistan and Yemen to speak with the families of drone victims and recently attended the briefing in Congress in which family members told their stories. Medea exposed that funds for victims of drones are actually going to US-based NGOs. She is organizing the upcoming drone conference. We also spoke with Naureen Shah of Amnesty International about a new study on drone attacks in Pakistan and David Swanson of War Is a Crime about the legality of drone warfare and whether it should be banned. Visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org for more information.

We discuss the growing effort to stop the rigged corporate trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). This deal affects every issue we care about from food safety to the cost of medicines to jobs and wages, protection of the environment, internet freedom and more. The TPP gives corporations more power to sue governments, even down to the local level, and to challenge court decisions if laws that protect workers, consumers and the environment interfere with profits. David Newby of the Wisconsin Fair Trade Coalition and Ruth Caplan of the Alliance for Democracy will speak about communities that are passing resolutions to declare themselves “TPP Free Zones.” And Arthur Stamoulis of Citizens Trade Campaign will tell us about an international day of action on Dec. 3 and what else is being done to stop the TPP. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

In this program we speak about the newest phase of the health law, the Affordable Care Act. The health insurance exchanges are open and starting in January most people will be required to have health insurance or pay a penalty. There’s one problem: having health insurance in the United States does not mean that people will have access to or be able to afford the health care they need. Under the ACA, billions in public dollars are being spent to set up insurance markets, advertise them and sell their products. But, most people will only be able to afford, even with subsidies, the lowest tier insurances that require high payments up front before they cover care and that have very restricted networks of providers. The struggle for a real health care system, national Medicare for all, continues. Sergio Espana of the Maryland Health Care is a Human Right campaign and Russell Mokhiber of Single Payer Action talk about their work and what it will take to get real health care for everyone. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We discuss the situation at Fukushima nuclear power plant and the urgent crises that it faces after the disaster in 2011. In addition to the ongoing problem with contaminated water that is leaking into the Pacific Ocean, Japan plans to start removing damaged spent fuel rods next month. Nuclear experts warn that this must be done perfectly to avoid another release of massive amounts of radiation. Harvey Wasserman describes the process, what dangers we face and what needs to be done about it. For more information, see ClearingtheFOGRadio.org and to sign the petition calling for international intervention, visit PopularResistance.org. The petition will be hand delivered to the United Nations in November.

Indigenous Nations all over the world have been occupied for centuries by settlers who push them off of their land and take resources without permission or respect for the land, water and air. After trying to use domestic and international approaches, including the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, to regain legal sovereignty and failing, Indigenous Nations are rising up. We speak with Clayton Thomas Muller, Sylvia Mcadam and SuZanne MoniQue Patels of Idle No More about the movement, steps they are taking to protect the Earth and the October 7 Day to Proclaim Sovereignty. Today is the 250th anniversary of the Royal Proclamation, also known as the Indian's Magna Carta. For more information, see ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We began a two-part series on the sovereignty of Indigenous Nations. This week we spoke with Charmaine White Face, Zumila Wobaga, who participated in the process to develop the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Charmaine recently published a book titled “Indigenous Nations’ Rights in the Balance” in which she describes the difficult process of achieving recognition of rights agreed upon by the majority of indigenous peoples and how the process of creating the declaration was full of obstacles. She analyzes the text of the final declaration and what it means for indigenous nations. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Two years ago hundreds of people began to occupy Zuccotti Park in New York City in the heart of Wall Street. That occupation, Occupy Wall Street (OWS), exploded into hundreds of occupations around the country within a matter of weeks. We'll speak to three people who were part of OWS. Laura Gottesdiener who recently published" A Dream Foreclosed" will speak about Occupy Our Homes. Goldi Guerra will speak about the ongoing Occupy Sandy efforts including organizing for long term recovery in the affected areas. And Justin Wedes will announce a new financial service for the unbanked and underbanked, the Occupy Money cooperative. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers broadcast from Colorado where they spoke at the “What Does Democracy Look Like? Conference.” The conference was sponsored by the It’s Our Economy chapter in Denver and included a number of groups who are working on issues of food security, housing and alternative currencies. We spoke about the widespread opposition to an attack on Syria by the US including a broad spectrum of the public, members of Congress, the military and intelligence analysts. And we closed with an update on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the campaign to demand democracy and transparency in trade negotiation. For more information, see ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Economist Jim Sauber who serves as Chief of Staff to the President of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) joins us to explain the attack on the USPS, the reasons for the sale of local post offices, what communities are doing to save the postal service and the vision to expand the services provided at local post offices to include voting, finances and a US Postal Savings Bank to finance infrastructure programs and create jobs. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

David Bollier, co-author of The Wealth of the Commons: A World Beyond Market and State, talks about the Commons, which can be almost anything as long as there is public action and governance around it. Bollier explains the myth of the ‘tragedy of the commons’ which is widely taught as truth . We talk about the benefits of reclaiming public space and institutions and the growing sharing economy. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

The artificial inflation of the housing market, predatory lending practices and fraudulent behavior by Big Finance which created the collapse of the housing market and epidemic of evictions, calls into question whether housing is a commodity that should be subject to the whims of the market or a human right that is not commodified. We explore ways that people are creating permanently affordable housing in their communities and taking on the Big Banks to hold them accountable, prevent foreclosure and strengthen their local economies. Our guests are Michael Carlson, former director of the Madison Area Community Land Trust and now the maintenance director for the Madison Cooperative Community, and Nancie Koerber of Project REconomy in Oregon. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Jacqui Dunne, co-author of “Rethinking Money : How New Currencies Turn Scarcity into Prosperity,” joins us for the hour to discuss the concept of money, why the current dominant monetary system is failing and new systems that are being created to solve problems such as the need for credit and to support localism. Thousands of complementary currencies and monetary systems are in existence. The WIR system in Switzerland has been around for almost 80 years. Dunne describes how unmet needs and unused resources can be connected through complementary currency systems that reflect the values of a community and encourage positive human interactions. A diverse, flexible and resilient monetary system is developing around the world. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We spoke about the current trade agreement, the TransPacific Partnership (TPP), being negotiated by the White House, and its more than 600 corporate advisers, and countries in the Pacific Rim. Rather than a trade agreement, the TPP is a backdoor for corporations to receive laws to their benefit that would not pass in the open. Coalitions of groups from around the Continent and around the world are working together to stop the TPP and offer in its place a trade policy based on justice, fairness and sustainability. We speak with Kristen Beifus, executive director of the Washington Fair Trade Coalition and Richard McIntyre, professor of economics at the University of Rhode Island and US Trade Representative for the Green Shadow Cabinet. For more information, see ClearingtheFOGRadio.org. 

On International Human Rights Day we look at the right to education. Tyler Paige is one of 11 students occupying a building at Cooper Union demanding that the college continue to offer free education. Students, faculty and alumni are united in this effort which is part of the global movement for the right to education. You can follow them onhttp://www.cusos.org/ and http://www.facebook.com/FreeCooperUni.... Lynn Petrovich, CPA and author of "Sticker Shock," exposes the fraudulent practices of Sallie Mae and other corporate student lenders. And Danny Weil, author of over 7 books who also writes on http://truth-out.org/, http://www.dailycensored.com/ and other outlets exposes the financialization of education, the monetization of students, the collusion between government and corporations, Obama's neo-liberal education agenda and what we can do about it. 

We explore restrictions on the rights of people to assemble and express dissent in the United States. The First Amendment gives us the right to peaceably assemble and redress our government for our grievances. Instead of protecting that right, the government, local police and private companies are acting to prevent and stop actions of dissent. The First Amendment also gives the right to freedom of the press, but today’s press are mouthpieces for the corporate state. What is being done to preserve our rights? We speak with Kevin Gosztola who has been covering this issue for FireDogLake as the Dissenter,  and Tarak Kauff, a veteran arrested at the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial last Oct for protesting the war in Afghanistan. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

We interview John Curl, author of "For All the People: Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements and Communalism in America." John discusses the efforts to create real democracy in the US pre-dating the Revolution and obstacles to their success as well as the way these efforts have paralleled social transformation. His book results from a lifetime of research and experience in cooperatives. See our follow-up article: Cooperatives and Community Work are Part of American DNA.

We explore the extent of surveillance by the United States. Why is there so much surveillance and is the increasing surveillance of people in the United States justified? We discuss which is more harmful to our society, leaks or the policies that are leaked. Our first guest is Thomas Drake who was prosecuted for allegedly disclosing National Security Agency secrets years before Edward Snowden surfaced. Drake says the U.S. government has an “industrial-scale” surveillance system that “the Stasi in East Germany would have drooled over.” Then Fred Branfman, who recently wrote “America’s Most Anti-Democratic Institution: How the Imperial Presidency Threatens U.S. National Security,” is our guest. He argues,  ”And today’s U.S. executive branch policies pose an even greater long-term threat to U.S. strategic interests, not only abroad but at home. The evidence is overwhelming, including the statements by several dozen U.S. national security experts cited at the end of my recent piece, that U.S. leaders are not protecting national security but rather weakening it as never before.”

Gar Alperovitz, author of “America Beyond Capitalism” and “What Then Must We Do: Straight Talk About the Next American Revolution” speaks about the growing economic democracy movement in the US and how that is bringing evolutionary reconstruction to transition to the new economy.

Don Yellowman of the Forgotten Navajo People and Charmaine White Face of the Great Sioux Nation describe the effects of abandoned uranium mines on tribal land. Uranium mining by private corporations for purchase by the US Atomic Energy Commission started in earnest after WWII. The miners, many of them Indians, and their families were not protected and they were not informed of the hazards of radiation exposure. Thousands of open mines now sit on land in the Navajo and Great Sioux Nations. They continue to poison the water, land and air causing devastating health effects such as respiratory illnesses, cancers and birth defects. Although the Church Rock uranium spill released a much higher amount of radiation in 1979 than the accident  at Three Mile Island, it received little attention and resources. White Face also describes the radiation released in the Great Sioux Nation from the 2,885 uranium mines as four times greater than the radiation released by Fukushima. However, no member of Congress is willing to sponsor legislation to study the ongoing radiation release and clean it up. The radiation released from these pits do not respect borders and affect all of us. It is a secret that we are not supposed to know about. Learn more in this episode of Clearing the FOG. And visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org for links to articles and websites.

We discussed what the big banks are doing to rip off homeowners in honor of the JusticetoJustice week of actions in DC organized by the Home Defender’s League. Anti-foreclosure activists are in Washington, DC this week to demand that Attorney General Eric Holder hold the big banks accountable for fraudulent foreclosures. The banks use a variety of tools to profit from illegal foreclosures that displace millions of people each year from their homes even when they can make their mortgage payments. Our guests were Steve Bailey, an anti-foreclosure activist in Denver, CO,  David Petrovich of the NJ Society for the Preservation of Continued Homeownership and author of Fighting Foreclosure. We were also joined by Debra Castilo and Kevin Whelan of the Home Defender’s League. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org. 

On May 25, protests against Monsanto will take place all over the world. Ronnie Cummins of Organic Consumers Association which runs the Millions Against Monsanto Campaign and Patty Lovera of Food and Water Watch tell us about Monsanto’s long history in the chemical business, poisoning and polluting our communities and Monsanto’s mission to own access to our food through ownership of seeds and use of genetically engineered seeds which contaminate organic seeds. Adam Eidinger of Occupy Monsanto tells us about the May 25 International Day of Protest against Monsanto. Visit Occupy Monsanto to find a protest near you or to plan one. Visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org for more information and resources related to this podcast.

We explore racism inside governmental and nongovernmental institutions and how their policies affect minority communities. Co-host is Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, EPA whistleblower and director of the Government Transparency and Accountability in the Green Shadow Cabinet. Lawrence Lucas is President of the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees and advocates on behalf of black farmers. Norris McDonald was the first black environmentalist and is president of the African American Environmentalist Association. Rue is an environmental activist who organizes with the community of Manchester in Houston, TX. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.  

Today we focus on using local currencies and economies to opt out of Wall Street and build resilient and sustainable communities. Alternative currencies are founded on principles that value all types of work, reciprocity, interconnection and building community. Our guests are Jeff Dicken of Baltimore Green Currency, Paul Glover who started Ithaca Hours and Edgar Cahn, author of “No More Throw Away People.” For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Today we mark International Mother Earth Day with the announcement of the new alternative government in the US, the Green Shadow Cabinet. The Cabinet was appointed by the Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala campaign for President and Vice President. They ran on the Green Party ticket and on a platform of the Green New Deal. Kevin Zeese serves as US Attorney General and Margaret Flowers serves as Secretary of Health. Joining us for the announcement to to discuss the urgent need to create an alternative political structure that serves people and the planet are Vice President Cheri Honkala, Political Ecology Advisor to the President Christopher Cox and Climate Change Advisor to the President Sean Sweeney. Cox and Sweeney spoke about what they would advise the President to do and the new green economy. To learn more about the alternative government which has so far brought together more than 80 prominent scientists, lawyers, health professionals, economists, labor leaders and advocates, visit GreenShadowCabinet.us. Visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org for video and articles.

This week we discuss the use of drones for surveillance and warfare around the world, but particularly in Pakistan. April is a month of actions in the US to protest the use of drones. It culminates with a weekend conference and action in Syracuse, NY, home of Fort Hancock Air Force Base where drones are piloted. There is growing resistance in both the US and globally. Our guests are Noor Mir, a citizen of Pakistan and graduate of Vassar who is focusing her research on targeted killings and works with Code Pink, and Judy Bello of the Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars and other peace organizations who traveled to Pakistan to meet with families who are affected by drones. Medea Benjamin, author of "Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control," was scheduled to be on the show but had to cancel at the last moment. We included an interview with her by Robert Brune. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Bill Black, associate professor of economics and law and leading investigator of financial fraud, discusses the rampant fraud and corruption in the financial system, the misguided response to the financial crisis by the government and solutions that would bring greater accountability and stability to the economy. Then Ellen Brown, chair and president of the Public Banking Institute, joins us to talk about the new Cypriot model of seizing depositor’s funds to bail out banks, whether that could happen in the US and the advantages of public banking. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

King Downing joins Clearing the FOG for the full hour to discuss the criminal justice system, from police encounters with citizens through mass incarceration. Jean Casella of Solitary Watch joins the program to discuss the extreme form of incarceration, solitary confinement, which is very common in the Untied States, Anywhere from 80,000 to 100,000 people are held in solitary confinement on any given day in the US. Downing and Zeese discuss the Stop and Frisk program in New York which is a form of racial profiling.  There is a trial challenging the practice currently underway. Last week, two police officers described how they were ordered to target young black men ages 14 to 21. We also discuss police encounters that have resulted in the killings of young black men by undercover police.  We end the show discussing the 166 people remaining at Guantanamo Bay, 86 of whom have been cleared for release three years ago but remain incarcerated.  At least two dozen inmates at the prison are in the seventh week of a hunger strike to protest prison conditions. Witness Against Torture is holding emergency actions this week in solidarity with the Guantanamo prisoners. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

In this episode we expose the TransPacific Partnership, an agreement that has been negotiated in secret over the past 3 years by the Obama Administration. Our guests are Arthur Stamoulis of Citizen’s Trade Campaign and Ben Beachy of Global Trade Watch from Public Citizen. The US is using the TPP to bully smaller Pacific Rim nations into accepting an agreement that goes beyond trade to put provisions in place that give transnational corporations greater power than sovereign nations. It creates a path to go around regulations that have been put in place to protect the environment, labor rights, consumer rights, internet privacy and economic stability. The Obama Administration is hinting that it will push for Fast Track, now referred to as Trade Promotion Authority, in Congress which would subvert a democratic process to review and pass the TPP. There are numerous opportunities to expose and oppose the TPP and prevent it from becoming law. Visit FlushtheTPP.org. Visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org for more information.

The US is the only wealthy nation in which people go bankrupt because of illness and medical costs. More than 62% of personal bankruptcies are due to medical debt and nearly 80% of those who went bankrupt had health insurance. But people are working to change that. Thomas Gokey is a member of Strike Debt Rolling Jubilee that is raising funds to erase debt. More than that, they provide tools so that people can understand how debt works in their communities and how to resist it. Dr. Steffie Woolhandler is a co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program and is author of several leading studies on medical bankruptcy. She explains why medical debt occurs, the impact of medical costs on health and how the national health law will affect medical debt and bankruptcy. She advocates for a national single payer health program. See ClearingtheFOGRadio.org for more information.

Dr. Tony Ingraffea, the foremost engineering authority on fractures, and biologist/author Sandra Steingraber bust the industry myths around the hydrofracking of natural gas. Dr. Ingraffea states that the risks are not acceptable and lists a number of problems that can occur from water and air pollution to worsening climate change. Steingraber, who founded the growing New Yorkers Against Fracking and helped to delay fracking in New York, explains the health risks. A mother of two, she states that fracking and climate change constitute the most serious risks to children’s health. Find out what you can do to stop it. For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

Following the most recent nuclear weapon test by North Korea, US media has mainly focused on giving the impression that North Korea is a nuclear threat. In this show, we place the events in North Korea in context of the long history of US interference there, the ongoing Korean War and the current US objective to circle China with military bases. We are joined by Bruce Gagnon of the Global Network Against Nuclear Power and Weapons in Space and Elliott Adams of Veterans for Peace. Both are veterans who are dedicating their lives to organize and take action for peace. We also discuss the new US Naval Base on Jeju Island in South Korea which is being protested by the inhabitants of the island and the Obama Administration’s investment in nuclear weapons. We scratched the surface of these important topics and will provide resources so that our audience can get more information that is not being presented.

Anne Petermann of the Global Justice Ecology Project discusses the recent climate conference in Doha, Qatar which is characterized more as a trade show for corporations looking to profit from climate change than a conference about solutions, and the increasing exclusion of non-corporate voices. She says solutions to the climate crisis are coming from the bottom up.   Ramsey Sprague of the Tar Sands Blockade describes the growing resistance to the Keystone XL Pipeline and the upcoming direct action training camp and action Jan. 3 to 8. Co-hosts Margaret and Kevin will participate in that action and urge you to support it or participate as well. And ecology activist Diane Wilson who is on her 19th day of a hunger strike describes why she is risking her life to hold Valero Oil accountable to her community.

Last week, we spoke about ‘managed democracy’ in the US. In this show, we bust the myths about the democracy movement in Venezuela. The US media routinely misreports on Venezuela because its success threatens US Empire. Mike Fox, a journalist and documentarian, has covered the rise of participatory democracy in Venezuela and other Latin American countries over the past ten years. Following the election of Hugo Chavez, the people of Venezuela rewrote the Constitution granting rights to education, health care, land for growing food and more. They have worked to build new institutions to meet their needs and are creating a democratic structure of governance through community councils. The results are that they have the lowest index of inequality in all of South America and are ranked fifth in the world in happiness. We then speak with Maria Hadden of the Participatory Budgeting Project in the US. Participatory budgeting gives decision-making power over public funds to the people. In the US, it started in Chicago and is growing coast to coast.

Chris Hedges, author of “Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt,” speaks about "Managed Democracy" in the US, or what he calls “political theater.” He also discusses “Inverted Totalitarianism,” a term first used by Sheldon Wolin who wrote “Democracy, Inc.” Hedges describes the “Sacrifice Zones” that he visited as he wrote his most recent book, "Day of Destruction, Days of Revolt." Hedges writes a weekly column for Truthdig. We then speak with Cliff DuRand, author of “Recreating Democracy in a Globalized State.” DuRand explains capitalism as a Monopoly game that always ends up with gross inequality and collapse of the game. He also explains our current political environment as a "polyarchy" that suppresses real democracy in order to maintain control. DuRand’s writing can be found at the Global Justice Center (globaljusticecenter.org). For more information, visit ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

While corporate media talks about the deficit and cutting Social Security and Medicare, we turn the argument for cuts on its head. We focus on growing poverty among seniors and popular solutions. Instead of cutting social insurances, our guests call for expanding and improving them. Steven Hill (Steven-Hill.com) wrote in The Atlantic that Social Security is the most stable pension plan in today's economy and that there are ways to double Social Security benefits. This would bring more seniors to a comfortable level of retirement and would stabilize our economy through increased spending. Dr. Andy Coates, the current president of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP.org), discusses improving and expanding Medicare to everyone as a way to address both the health care and economic crises.

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and President Obama's second inauguration, we speak with Cheri Honkala of the Poor Peoples Economic and Human Rights Campaign and Robert Pollin of the Political Economy Research Institute at U Mass-Amherst about Dr. King's Poor Peoples Campaign, the current state of the economy, the direction the economy is expected to go during Obama's second term and what people are doing to shift the economy and meet human needs. We listen to excerpts from Dr. King's speech before the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta, GA in August, 1967 called "Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community." VisitClearingtheFOGRadio.org. 

Ray McGovern and Bill Blum discuss President Obama’s second term and his appointments to Secretaries of State and Defense and head of the CIA in the broader context of US foreign policy and imperialism. We speak about John Brennan’s involvement in extraordinary rendition, torture and drone attacks as well as the weekly Tuesday ‘Kill List” that he presents to President Obama. We speak about the influence of the military-industrial complex on US expansion into Asia and Africa and the influence of AIPAC on policies on the Middle East. See http://clearingthefogradio.org/ray-mc... for more information including links to the guests articles and essays.