RINGSIDE POLITICS – JULY 13, 2021
Written by WGSO Producer on July 13, 2021
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Welcome to another edition of Ringside Politics with Jeff Crouere
Today’s Hot Topics:
1) Thousands of Cubans have risked jail by joining the biggest protests for decades against the island’s Communist government.
“There is no food, no medicine, there is no freedom. They do not let us live,” one of Sunday’s protesters named only as Alejandro told BBC Mundo.
The protests are significant, because government critics face harsh punishments for dissent in Cuba.
The island’s president called for his supporters to “fight” the protesters.
Cuba is in the midst of an economic crisis and has been hit hard by US sanctions and Covid.
2) Vice President Kamala Harris was criticized Saturday for arguing against voter ID laws, claiming rural Americans can’t get photocopies of their ID’s.
“I don’t think that we should underestimate what that [compromise on voter ID laws] could mean,” Harris said in an interview with BET News. “Because in some people’s mind, that means you’re going to have to Xerox or photocopy your ID to send it in to prove who you are. Well, there are a whole lot of people, especially people who live in rural communities, who don’t – there’s no Kinkos, there’s no OfficeMax near them.”
“Of course people have to prove who they are,” Harris continued, but “not in a way that makes it almost impossible for them to prove who they are.”
3) The Detroit Youth Choir sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” and a crowd of people at Detroit’s TCF Center cheered Monday as Vice President Kamala Harris took to the podium to speak during her first visit to Michigan since the 2020 election.
“I’ve been here many times, so I say this with knowledge: Detroit really is the definition of resilience,” she said. “Time and again, this city has been rebuilt. This city has been reborn. Time and again, this city has helped lead our nation through war, through recession, and most recently through this pandemic.
“At the very start of the pandemic, companies in Detroit from small-batch manufacturers to Big Three automakers converted their factories and produced protective gear and ventilators for our nation’s hospitals. You did that not only for the folks locally, but nationally.
4) Former President Trump on Sunday lambasted his former Attorney General William Barr after Barr described Trump’s repeated unsubstantiated claims about the 2020 election as “bullshit” in a forthcoming book.
“Bill Barr was a disappointment in every sense of the word,” Trump said in a statement issued late Sunday. “Besides which, Barr, who was Attorney General (lawyer) shouldn’t be speaking about the President.”
“Instead of doing his job, he did the opposite and told people within the Justice Department not to investigate the election,” Trump continued. “Just like he did with the Mueller report and the cover up of Crooked Hillary and RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA, they don’t want to investigate the real facts. Bill Barr’s weakness helped facilitate the cover up of the Crime of the Century, the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election!”
The statement from Trump is the latest episode in the months-long falling out between the former president and Barr, who spent nearly two years as attorney general under Trump.
Today’s Guests:
1) Reggie Littlejohn, Founder & President, Women’s Rights Without Frontiers
2) Raghu Kilambi, CEO & CFO; Powertap Hydrogen Corp
3) Simulcast with Bill Martinez, host of Bill Martinez Live
4) Andrew Gruel, American Chef, TV Personality
5) Brandon Irlbeck, CEO and Found of YORESPOT.COM
6) Dr. Carole Lieberman, America’s Psychiatrist