Trump Admin: US Won't Be Part of WHO-Backed COVID-19 Vaccine Project

On this edition of The Critical Hour, co-hosts Dr. Wilmer Leon and Garland Nixon talk to Dr. Margaret Flowers about the Trump administration's decision that the US will not take part in an international effort to create and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine, as the World Health Organization (WHO) is involved in the project.A Tuesday headline in Common Dreams read: "'Nonsensical and Madness': Outrage After Trump Excludes US From WHO-Backed Global Vaccination Cooperation Pact." Is this their balance between profit and public health?"The Trump administration Tuesday announced a four-month halt on eviction proceedings against cash-strapped renters, invoking federal public health laws out of concern that a national homelessness crisis could worsen the country’s coronavirus outbreak," the Washington Post reported Tuesday. Is this enough or is it too little too late?"Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) on Tuesday successfully fended off a challenge from Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA) in the Massachusetts Senate Democratic primary after facing what was initially seen as an uphill climb against a rising Democratic star and member of the most famous political family in the US," The Hill reported Tuesday. On August 20, Common Dreams reported, "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi came under fire from progressive activists and advocacy groups for endorsing Rep. Joe Kennedy III in his bid to unseat Sen. Ed Markey," a move that critics said suggested that she and other Democratic leaders were tone-deaf to the concerns of the left wing of their party. What are we to make of all of this?"The lead attorney representing Breonna Taylor's family says Louisville prosecutors offered Jamarcus Glover — her ex-boyfriend who is facing multiple drug-related charges — a plea deal that listed Taylor, who was shot and killed by police in her own home in March, as a co-defendant in the case," The Hill reported Tuesday. One the same night Taylor was killed, Glover was arrested at another location on charges of trafficking and firearm offenses. Kenneth Walker, Taylor's boyfriend, was in her house that evening and "fired his weapon and struck an officer in the leg, maintaining that he believed someone was breaking in," the Louisville Courier-Journal reported in June. This raises two questions or issues to me. One, is this as big of an issue as the headline is making it out to be? And two, does this give us insight into a problem within our judicial system: the plea bargain and how prosecutors use their power to extort guilty pleas from innocent people?This proven fake Russiagate story continues to haunt us. In an August 28 piece published on Medium.com, Caitlin Johnstone wrote: "The only interesting thing about either of the conventions held by America’s two mainstream political parties this month was not anything that was said by the interminable parade of vapid speakers, but rather what those speakers did not say. Despite their dominating mainstream news cycles for years on end, at no time during the four-day Democratic National Convention was the word 'impeachment' ever uttered, nor was any mention made of the Mueller investigation into allegations of collusion between Trump and the Russian government." What are we to make of this?A Wednesday headline in the New York Times read "Aleksei Navalny Was Poisoned With Novichok, Germany Says." The subhead noted, "The German government said that toxicology tests showed the Russian opposition leader was poisoned with a nerve agent from the same group used in a 2018 attack on an ex-Soviet spy." What’s our level of confidence in this story?"The signatories to the faltering Iran nuclear deal are meeting in Vienna as the United States urges the reimposition of international sanctions on Tehran and the extension of the conventional arms embargo against it," Al Jazeera reported Tuesday. "Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia are struggling to save the...