During the 2020 presidential campaigns, it was common for people who planned to vote for Joe Biden to say that they recognized he was a corporate-friendly candidate but that we just needed to elect him and then he could be pressured to act in the interests of the people. Well, unlike the marches after President Trump was elected, that mass pressure on Biden has not materialized. Now, a coalition of smaller climate justice groups (not the Big Greens) has just completed a weeklong occupation of land close to the President's home with two demands: that he declare a climate emergency and that he stop any new fossil fuel projects. Clearing the FOG speaks with one of the organizers, Karen Igou, about the action and next steps in the campaign to pressure Biden. Igou also speaks about actions we need to be taking outside of the political arena to address the climate crisis. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

For the end of the year, Clearing the FOG speaks with economist Richard Wolff about the current state of United States capitalism. Wolff explains that the United States is experiencing the greatest crisis in its history - a severe economic crisis at the same time as a pandemic, as well as the climate crisis. This is unprecedented. Unlike the great depression in the last century, when the wealth divide shrank, inequality is worsening. On top of that, US empire is in decline. Wolff discusses the current state of inflation and supply chain disruption and the forces behind them. Instead of facing up to these realities and learning from the experiences of other countries, such as China, and even our own past, the ruling class is in denial and continues on the same path that created the current situation. Wolff talks about what we need to focus on going forward. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

A new program is placing Medicare recipients into private health insurance plans without their knowledge or consent in a final effort to fully privatize our national Medicare system. Known as "Direct Contract Entities (DCEs)," this program is putting more of our healthcare system into the hands of private equity to generate enormous profits at the expense of our health. Clearing the FOG speaks about this with Kay Tillow, a long time health care, civil rights and union activist. Tillow explains what these entities are, why they threaten the future of our entire healthcare system and how they block our ability to achieve a national, universal and publicly-financed healthcare system such as national improved Medicare for All. She describes the fight to stop DCEs and win single payer health care. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

If you listen to the corporate media in the United States, you may believe the lies that say Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine. In reality, it is the United States, led by then vice president Joe Biden, that conducted a coup to replace the elected president of Ukraine in 2014 and has been training and arming Nazis to attack the ethnically Russian Donbass Region in eastern Ukraine ever since. There is daily violence against civilians and basic infrastructure. The Biden administration is escalating this aggression and trying to blame Russia with the support of the same corporate media that defended US attacks on Iraq, Libya and Syria. To clear the fog on this misinformation campaign, Bruce Gagnon of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space speaks about what is actually happening in Ukraine, the role of the US and the growing risk of war with Russia. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

A new study out of York University in Toronto, Canada finds that the US military plays a large role in the spread of diseases globally, including past and present pandemics. Clearing the FOG speaks with one of the lead authors, K J Noh, an expert analyst on the geopolitics of the Asian-Pacific region and health, about the study. Important factors in the spread of disease are Status Agreements that the US military makes with local and national governments that exempt members of the military from being required to follow public health measures and a culture of impunity within the military that leads to members defying all public health restrictions, even those measures imposed by the military. Noh also explains how the weaponization of disease is causing harm to everyone and why the US establishment doesn't want the public to know there are governments designed to serve their populations. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Since achieving independence in 1956, Sudan has had a number of military coup governments and popular revolutions that overthrew them. Most recently, the Sudanese people ousted the thirty year long dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir at the end of 2018 only to replace him with another military-led government and a civilian figure head. Clearing the FOG speaks with Ahmed Kaballo, a British-Sudanese journalist and producer who just released his two-part documentary called "Sudan's Unfinished Revolution," which you can find here and here. Kaballo describes the history of the struggle in Sudan, the dire situation facing Sudan right now and the powers behind the current government. He exposes the lies being told in the corporate media about the fight for democracy in Sudan. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The corporate media in the United States is waging a misinformation campaign as part of the hybrid warfare being used to try to subjugate Ethiopia. Ajamu Baraka of the Black Alliance for Peace states there “is a coordinated effort to criminalize and delegitimize the Ethiopian state in order to cripple or balkanize it, maybe even to provide the political will for a direct military intervention.” For 27 years, the United States-backed Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) ruled Ethiopia until it was overthrown by a popular movement in 2018. Ethiopians then elected their Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, who refuses to bend to pressure from the US. To clarify what is happening in Ethiopia and the fight to protect its people’s right to self-determination, Clearing the FOG speaks with Deacon Yoseph Tafari, the chairman of the Ethiopian American Civic Council. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The United States has tried to control the poor Central American country, Nicaragua, for more than 100 years. John Bolton designated Nicaragua as part of the "Troika of Tyranny" along with Cuba and Venezuela for daring to defend its sovereignty. Since the failed violent coup attempt in 2018, the US foreign policy establishment has focused on preventing President Daniel Ortega's reelection using a variety of tactics. Ben Norton, associate editor of The Grayzone, who is based in Managua, describes those tactics, the complicity of corporate media and social media and how Nicaragua is working to protect its democratic institutions. Norton outlines the US playbook in Nicaragua, including what to expect after the election. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The COP 26 United Nations climate meeting is underway in Glasgow Scotland. Following the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recent “Code Red” report that proves urgent action is critical, the world is looking at the corporate-dominated COP 26 to do what is necessary. Clearing the FOG speaks with Anne Petermann, executive director of the Global Justice Ecology Project, who says COP 26 is focused on ‘false solutions’ promoted by large corporations to protect their profits instead of the planet. Petermann describes a new publication, “Hoodwinked in the Hothouse,” that explains what these false solutions are and what is necessary, the real solutions. She also discusses what people can do to save the planet. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The United States government demonstrates repeatedly that it will do whatever it takes to protect the economic and political interests of the elites, even if it means total disregard for human rights and international law. Two cases that highlight this are the recent kidnapping and prosecution of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab and the attempts to extradite the Australian Wikileaks publisher and journalist Julian Assange. Clearing the FOG speaks with Roger Harris of Task Force on the Americas who travelled to Cabo Verde where Saab was detained and tortured for over a year before his rendition to Miami and with Joe Lauria, the editor of Consortium News, who has covered the case of Julian Assange extensively. Canadian economist Paul Tulloch provides some insight into the upcoming COP26 meeting in Glasgow, Scotland. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.