In this episode of We Decide: America at the Crossroads we go to Ukraine to consider what's at risk for the world in a war zone where Russia has seized a Ukrainian nuclear power complex in a region with so many vulnerable atomic power plants.
Is the world just watching and waiting? Will we say if there's a Chernobyl scale disaster nobody saw it coming?
We consider if the Trump administration's violent mass deportation campaign is now engaging in widespread torture by denying and delaying medical care in it's detention sites where detainees are dying in custody with no accountability.
In the A Block, we began with our political panel with Dave Levinthal, Laura Jedeed and Egberto Willies discussing the nearly billion dollars in Trump vanity construction projects underway in Washington. The Washington Post reports the Trump administration is spending at least 900 million dollars on projects at and around the White House, with taxpayers footing most of the bill. We'll look at what's being built, who's paying for it, and what that says about this administration's priorities.
We review how the USS Abraham Lincoln earned headlines from the Persian Gulf for its record long eight-month deployment to support President Trump's war of choice on Iran. Reports from aboard the aircraft carrier describe shortages of basic supplies and concerns about deteriorating mental health among the crew. We asked what those conditions tell us about the human cost of America's military presence in the region.
Following on multiple credible reports that the U.S. has exhausted critical supplies of munitions, the question presents itself is President Trump accomplishing what he accused President Biden of doing---breaking the U.S. military?
Also, we examine an extraordinary rebuke from U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who called Israeli settlers who attacked a Palestinian family in the occupied West Bank, "terrorists." The comments come amid a spike in settler violence.
And in New York, Luigi Mangione has pled guilty to federal charges stemming from the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. We broke down the plea and what comes next.
In the B Block, we went to Wisconsin, where the race for governor saw moderate David Crowley, the Milwaukee county executive prevail over Francesca Hong, a state legislator and Democratic Socialist who was heavily favored to win.
Could this tell us something larger about the direction of the Democratic Party?
We examined the contest and the political forces shaping Wisconsin with two people who know the state well: Chali Pittman, former news director at WORT in Madison and now a staff writer at Is-mus, and Norman Stockwell, former WORT operations coordinator and publisher of The Progressive.
What are Wisconsin voters looking for? And what could this race tell us about the national political mood heading into November?
Then in the second hour, we turned to southern Ukraine and a troubling story about Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, one of the world's largest nuclear power facilities that's been occupied by Russian forces since 2022.
But as Pacifica's Ursula Ruedenberg reports, there's evidence that Russia plans on building a new high voltage electricity transmission line in occupied Ukraine intended to become part of Russia's efforts to reconnect the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant to the Russian electricity grid.
Ursula interviewed Sean Burney who has been Senior Nuclear Specialist with Greenpeace since 2022. Burney discusses Russia's role as a leading exporter of nuclear power technology around the world and the role of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which promotes nuclear power, in how the high risk industry is regulated.
Greenpeace Ukraine's analysis concluded that the new transmission line is a key element of Moscow's long-term plan to transmit electricity from the Ukrainian power plant to occupied territories in Ukraine, including Crimea, and southern Russia.
Burney sounds the alarm about the risk to the planet from the ongoing Russian and Ukrainian war playing out amidst a region heavily reliant on atomic power plants.
And finally, in the D Block, we shared a Reporter's Notebook from Pacifica's Bob Hennelly who attended a Congressional briefing in Morristown, on Delaney Hall, the notorious private immigration jail run by the GEO Group where three detainees have died in custody since December, part of troubling trend nationwide where this year close to two dozen detainees have died in Ice detention. That does not include the multiple fatal shootings just since Trump was sworn in for the second time.
The press conference, convened by recently elected Congresswoman Analilia Mejia (D-NJ) and included Rep. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) as well as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NJ). Earlier in the day, the members of Congress heard first hand from victims of ICE and private immigration jailers like GEO and CoreCivic like Doña Margarita Cielo Balbuena who was detained at the Elizabeth Detention Center for two months while only getting a fraction of the diabetes medication she needed.
In an interview one on one with Rep. Menendez, the Hudson County member of the House recounted cases where detainees were being denied basic medical care to such a decree that it amounted to "torture." Similar complaints have been documented across the country as ICE made a record 46,000 arrests and detention last month alone.
"Taxpayer dollars should be used to make life more affordable for the people of this community, this state, and throughout our country," Rep. Jeffries told reporters. "Instead, taxpayer dollars are being used by ICE and Donald Trump's violent mass deportation machine to brutalize And kill American citizens and law-abiding immigrant families." Jeffiries continued. "Donald Trump lied to the American people. He said that immigration enforcement in this country was going to target the worst of the worst. That's not what has been happening. Immigration enforcement ices violent, out-of-control, and unhinged behavior are targeting people who are paying taxes, people who are homeowners, people who are raising families in this community and all across our country."
