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Outrage over police brutality and the mass incarceration of Black and Brown people has generated calls to defund and abolish the police. Longtime organizer Mariame Kaba's new book, titled "We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice," brings together collected essays, interviews and other writings that she and numerous collaborators produced between 2014 — the year of the uprisings in Ferguson, Missouri, over the police killing of Michael Brown — and today. Kaba says the book grapples with "the fact that so many people around the country recognize the complete and utter failures and limits of so-called reform" to systems of injustice. "People are impatient with incrementalism and are impatient with solutions that don't actually address the root causes of violence."

Israel has failed to make COVID-19 vaccines available to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, despite its responsibility under the Geneva Conventions. Critics in the United States say this "vaccine apartheid" is another example of Israeli human rights abuses going unpunished, even as the country receives billions in U.S. aid each year. Congressmember Mondaire Jones of New York says Israel must ensure that Palestinians are vaccinated. "There's no question about that," he says. "I don't think that anyone can argue otherwise in good conscience."

The House of Representatives has approved sweeping legislation protecting the right to vote with the For the People Act, which has been described as the most sweeping pro-democracy bill in decades. The legislation is aimed at improving voter registration and access to voting, ending partisan and racial gerrymandering, forcing the disclosure of dark money donors, increasing public funding for candidates, and imposing strict ethical and reporting standards on members of Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. The bill, which comes amid a nationwide attack on voting rights in courthouses and statehouses, is heading to the Senate, where it is expected to die unless all 50 Senate Democrats unite to end the filibuster. Democratic Congressmember Mondaire Jones of New York says H.R. 1 is "of foundational importance" to preserving U.S. democracy against Republican attacks on voting. "The modern-day Republican Party cannot compete on the merits of its policy ideas," says Jones. "Rather, it is seeking to disenfranchise large swaths of the American electorate, especially Black and Hispanic people in Southern states."

FEATURING ALAN MACLEOD – White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has indicated that President Biden was open to Congressional revocation of the authorizations for military force from 1991 and 2001 that were still in effect and provided cover for unilateral air strikes on Syria. While there is some bipartisan support for ending such authorization in Congress,...

FEATURING CATHERINE LIU – As politicians debate whether or not Americans deserve a $15 an hour minimum wage or decent unemployment benefits, a forgiveness of onerous college loan debt, or nationalized healthcare, a new book singles out the so-called Professional Managerial Class (PMC). It’s author Catherine Liu calls the PMC “the credentialed elite class that serves...

Seven Senate Democrats and one independent, joined Republicans on Friday to defeat the inclusion of Bernie Sanders’ $15 an hour minimum wage amendment in the $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill. The Democrats were Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Jon Tester of Montana, Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, and...

"How the Party of Lincoln Has Become the Party of Alex Jones" | Christopher Miller and Ryan McCarthy Must Explain Why The Pentagon Waited Over Three Hours to Rescue the Capitol | How One Crackpot Conspiracist is Holding Up Help For Millions of Americans backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Time to Join the Fight Against the Party of White Supremacy's Attempt to Rewrite History | A Former Colleague of Senator Hawley's on Whether the FBI is Investigating Hawley's Ties to the Insurrection | Going After Billionaires Who Pay Millions to Hide Trillions backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

The "Christian" GOP Celebrates a Sexual Harasser While the Democrats Show Cuomo the Door | A Plan to Save Democracies From Kleptocracies by Going After Dirty Money | The Brave and Inspiring Kurdish Women Warriors Who Fought ISIS backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Prepare to be outraged by some gobsmacking and maddening numbers from today's guest on The BradCast. [Audio link to show is posted below summary.] But first, speaking of startling numbers, statistics from this year's flu season prove that masks and social distancing do indeed help to prevent viral transmission and death. That, of course, is bad [...]

We've got mostly democracy-related stories to report on today's BradCast. Some good news, and some bad. But there's a whole bunch of anti-democracy GOP fraud throughout, because what democracy story in the U.S. these days doesn't include Republican fraud and/or attempted voter suppression? [Audio link to full show is posted below summary.] Among the stories covered [...]

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: The Gulf Stream is the weakest its been in a thousand years, and climate change is likely to blame; The COVID carbon rebound begins as global emissions rise; Biden Administration to raise US climate target under Paris Agreement; PLUS: Volvo is latest carmaker to say goodbye to gasoline, go all-electric... All [...]