Month: September 2023

An Alarming Poll by CNN Has 46% Against Biden With 44% Saying Any Democrat Would Be Better Than Trump As Biden and Trump’s Favorability Stands at 35%

We begin with an alarming poll by CNN that should be a wakeup call for Democrats which finds that nearly half of registered voters (46%) say that any Republican presidential nominee would be a better choice than Biden with 44% of voters feeling that any Democratic candidate would be a better choice than Trump as both Biden and Trump’s favorability ratings stand at 35%. Joining us is Simon Rosenberg, a political strategist and the former President and Founder of the New Democrat Network, a leading progressive think tank and advocacy organization. Previously, he was a writer and producer at ABC News for five years, before working on the Dukakis and Clinton Presidential campaigns where he was a member of the 1992 Clinton War Room.

The Only American to be Jailed by a Corporation For Winning a Lawsuit Against Chevron

Then we discuss the double standard of peaceful environmental protesters being arrested as “terrorists” for protesting against Big Oil and pipelines while white nationalist militias armed to the teeth can storm state houses and terrorise the families of elected officials only to be told to stand back and stand by. Joining us is the only American to be jailed in a corporate prosecution in retaliation by Chevron for winning a lawsuit against them, Steven Donziger, a renowned lawyer, writer, and public speaker with a focus on addressing human rights abuses and corporate malfeasance. He was a key lawyer on the team that won a $9.5 billion settlement against Chevron related to its contamination of the Ecuadorian rainforest. Following the victory, he became the main target of a retaliatory campaign by Chevron and was the only person ever to be prosecuted by a corporation and was imprisoned. We discuss his article at The Guardian, “The people of Ecuador just made climate justice history. The world can follow.”

The Firing of Ukraine’s Defense Minister and Zelensky’s Efforts to Root Out Corruption

Then finally we speak with Alexander Motyl, a professor of political science at Rutgers University and a specialist on Ukraine, Russia and the USSR on nationalism, revolutions, empires and theory. He is the author of 10 books of nonfiction including Imperial Ends: The Decay, Collapse, and Revival of Empires and Why Empires Reemerge: Imperial Collapse and Imperial Revival in Comparative Perspective. He has an article at The Hill, “Ukraine will never be a Russian colony again” and we discuss the firing of Ukraine’s Defense Minister and Zelensky’s efforts to root out corruption.