Welcome to G&R’s (Griping and Ranting) new series–the Week in Review.
We’ll be airing our grievances about the week’s events and news, our thoughts and analysis, biting critiques, lots of snark, some humor and more.
Jessica Reznicek is a land and water defender who worked with the Catholic Worker Community in Des Moines, IA.
Listen to our podcast by Jessica: https://bit.ly/FreeJessRGandR
In 2016, she began to organize against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in Iowa. When the regulatory, political and even civil disobedience channels didn’t work, she concluded the system was broken. Then, she, and a fellow Catholic Worker, began to disable construction machinery along the pipeline route.
Two weeks ago, we’ve seen the Taliban seize Kabul abruptly ending the 20 year war and occupation of Afghanistan. Afghan president Ashraf Ghani fled the country. The sudden and dramatic Taliban gains came as the U.S. withdrew its ground troops from Afghanistan.
Aid groups are warned of the humanitarian crisis that is now unfolding. Since January, nearly 400,000 have been displaced. Over 1,000 civilians have been killed or injured in fighting over the past month. The images of U.S. helicopters flying over the U.S. embassy brought back memories of the April 1975 evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Saigon.
America’s forever war in Afghanistan ended with the withdrawal of U.S. troops after a twenty year war and occupation. A speedy summer offensive by the Taliban through quickly led to the fall of Kabul.
Listen in: https://bit.ly/foreverGandR
Images of the Taliban in the Afghan presidential palace, crowds
This past weekend, we saw the Taliban seize Kabul ending the 20 year war and occupation of Afghanistan. Afghan president Ashraf Ghani fled the country. The sudden and dramatic Taliban gains came as the U.S. withdrew its ground troops from Afghanistan. Aid groups are warning of a humanitarian crisis unfolding. Since January, nearly 400,000 have been displaced. Over 1,000 civilians have been killed or injured in fighting over the past month. The images of U.S. helicopters flying over the U.S. embassy brought back memories of the April 1975 evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Saigon.
Last month, whistleblower Daniel Hale was sentenced to 45 months in prison after pleading guilty to violating the Espionage Act in March. During his time in the Air Force from 2009 to 2013, Hale worked with the National Security Agency and the Joint Special Operations Task Force at the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, where he helped identify targets for assassination. He later worked as a contractor for the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.
Listen in: https://bit.ly/HaleGandR
After leaving the Air Force, Hale became an outspoken opponent of the drone program, U.S. Foreign Policy and vocal supporter of whistleblowers.
Since the protests in Cuba on July 11th, the U.S. media has been promoting aggressive action if not intervention against Havana.
Listen in: https://bit.ly/CubaGandR
But even segments of the self-described Left, especially social democrats in New Politics magazine, have been attacking the Diaz-Canel government, supporting the protests in Cuba, and dismissing the larger political-cum-power issues at play in this episode.
Despite government and media claims in June that the crisis of COVID was ending, we’re seeing a resurgence in cases, especially due to the Delta variant, lagging vaccination rates, and less mask wearing. Sarah breaks down the nature of the new variant, the health risks it poses, and what we need to do to be as safe as possible.
Listen in: bit.ly/DeltaGandR
Sarah Koster is Green and Red’s public health guru and most frequent guest and we just had another great discussion about COVID with here.
Woke Up This Morning, Got Myself a Podcast!
Madison Lynn (@dickexpert) and John Palmucci (@gabagoolmarx) of the new “Fresh Kills” podcast (@freshkillspod), which features “garbage takes by garbage guidos,” joined us to talk about their new entry into social media, their takes on left politics and cancel culture, among other issues, and whether New Jersey or Youngstown Italians drop more “F Bombs.”
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