By Any Means Necessary Discussion of Senate War Powers Resolution (2/14/2020)

Black Mayors, White Players: Stop & Frisk Bloomberg Buying Black Votes

On this episode of "By Any Means Necessary" hosts Jacquie Luqman and Sean Blackmon are joined by Jim Kavanagh, a political analyst and contributor to Counterpunch and ThePolemicist.net (where you can find his latest article, "The Party’s Over: Bernie’s Last Dance With the Dems") to talk about the Senate's passage of the Iran War Powers resolution, why the legislation's unlikelihood of surviving a presidential veto makes it more symbolic than anything else, the complicity of President Obama in normalizing independent warmongering by the executive branch, why so many presidents get elected on anti-war promises only to maintain or enhance the global US military presence, how Trump's openly imperialist ambitions represent a break from the prior emphasis on so-called humanitarian intervention, why breathless reports that Attorney General William Barr is supposedly attempting to rein in President Trump may be exaggerated, and how the obsession with Trump's interpersonal dramas distracts from actual debates over policy.

In the second segment, Jacquie and Sean are joined by Ian Goodrum, senior editor with China Daily, to contextualize the "spike" in coronavirus cases in China which is being portrayed by mainstream media as a kind of pandemic, why the successful containment efforts in the overwhelming majority of China are going unappreciated, how hysteria over the issue is stoking a racist backlash facing Chinese people and others of Asian descent in the west, how the press is exploiting the issue to paint China as simultaneously lackadaisical and heavy-handed in their response, and how the virus' spread is impacting daily life in different regions of the country.

In the third segment, Jacquie Luqman and Sean Blackmon are joined by Bernadette Ellorin, National Spokesperson for Bayan USA, to talk about the decision by the Filipino government of Rodrigo Duterte to cancel the military agreement with the US military, the need to resist both US imperialism and the repressive Duterte government, how the Filipino government's decision to rescind military access to may impact the relationship between Trump and Duterte and vice versa, and why relations between the US and the Philippines have always been characterized by colonialism.

Later in the show, Jacquie and Sean are joined by Bryan Weaver, founder and director of Hoops Sagrado, and China Dickerson, National Political Director for Forward Majority, to talk about Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser's endorsement of Mike Bloomberg for president, the prospects of Bloomberg selecting Bowser as his vice presidential candidate, whether some of Bloomberg's employees will actually vote for him come November, how the South Carolina primary may look for Joe Biden, the tension between pro-police and anti-police elements in Black communities, how such attitudes may explain Bloomberg's bump in support among Black voters, the DC Defenders' debut in the new XFL football league, prior attempts to create an alternative to the NFL (and how Donald Trump managed to end one), why some sports fans defend exploitative and anti-indigenous team names so intensely, the surprisingly international history of Juneteenth, and why Elizabeth Warren's poll numbers are dropping so rapidly.

[My segment starts at 10:00]
Listen to "Black Mayors, White Players: Stop & Frisk Bloomberg Buying Black Votes" on Spreaker.

“By Any Means Necessary” on Radio Sputnik is hosted by Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman and aims to connect the political, social and economic movements shaping the world around us. With a sensibility informed by movements from Black Power to #BlackLivesMatter with a dash of Occupy, the show elevates the people and narratives that (while often ignored) are driving some of the most important changes in the world.