0:08 – Today, prisoners across the country launched a national strike, including work stoppages and hunger strikes, to demand better conditions, better pay, and justice. Brooke Terpstra is an organizer with the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (@IWW_IWOC) and joins us to discuss. The National Prisoners’ Strike is planned for Aug 21 to Sep 9.
0:34 – Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says the Trump Administration is mulling a $100 billion dollar capital gains tax cut to wealthy Americans by allowing taxpayers to account for inflation while determining capital gains tax liabilities. Matt Gardner is a Senior Fellow with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (@iteptweets) and joins us to discuss.
0:41 – The Trump White House has re-purposed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) from Trump Inc to White House staffers in an unprecedented obstruction of transparency, public records, and key information about the workings of the trump White House. Mark Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) is a Washington DC-based attorney. He often represents former/current federal employees, intelligence and military officers, whistleblowers and other who have grievances or have been wronged by agencies of the US Government or foreign governments.
1:08 – As wildfires rage across the West, inmates are called on to join firefighters at the front lines. There are roughly 14,000 firefighters on active duty in CA, and 2,000 inmates among them, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. They perform essential duties of firefighting, and are paid $2 dollars per day. After release, they’re ineligible for firefighting jobs. We speak with Amika Mota, now Director of Prisoner Reentry with the Women’s Freedom Center in SF (@YoungWomenFree), about her experience fighting fires, then being released and barred from the job she was trained to do.
1:34 – Emily Harris is a Senior Campaigner with the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, based in Oakland, CA. She joins us to discuss criminal justice reform bills now being debated in the California legislature, including use of force by police officers (AB 931), sentencing reforms (SB 1393), and juvenile court reforms (SB 1391).