Listen: Gaza Death; 9-11 Dust; Constitutional Crisis; Bronx Defenders; More
UAW Local 2325 has a tentative new deal this week following a 1-day strike. Photo/Keziah Glow
By Bob Hennelly
On this edition of WBAI’s "What’s going On?” we open with BBC reports that in central Gaza the Israeli military has launched "yet another devastating blow" to humanitarian relief efforts in an area that the IDF had previously refrained from directly attacking.
The Gaza health ministry is reporting that over 55,000 civilians, including thousands of children have already been killed, others are dying of disease and starvation.
Top United Nations officials have consistently blasted what they say is the collective punishment of the Palestinian civilian population as a massive violation of International Law. In February, President Trump proposed that the US should take over Gaza and turn it into a resort.
In our first hour get our weekly preview of the world economy from James Henry, Yale Global Justice Fellow, investigative journalist and economist. He's joined by Tomisina Schwarz, with the Northern Valley League of Women Voters based in Pascack Valley in Bergen County, New Jersey. Back in April, the nonpartisan League of Women Voters, established over a century ago, formally declared that the Trump administration's "flagrant disregard" of existing laws had thrown the United States into a full blown Constitutional crisis requiring mass voter mobilization.
We also get a report from Emma Perez and Osman Yasin with UAW Local 2325 that represent staff with the Bronx Defenders on a tentative contract deal they reached after just a one day strike on Friday. Under the tentative deal investigators and other non-lawyer titles at the non-profit will see a $68,500 salary.
The Bronx Defenders joined the Center for Appellate Litigation and the Office of the Appellate Defender from four other nonprofit organizations already on the picket line seeking better pay and working conditions, bringing the total number of strikers to more than 700, according to the City Newspaper.
In our second hour, we check in with City Council Oversights & Investigations Committee Chair Gale Brewer. Last week,the City Council passed legislation requiring the city's Department of Investigation probe what the Giuliani administration knew and when they knew it regarding the toxic air in lower Manhattan that in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attack the US EPA said was "safe to breathe."
In the years since, thousands more people have died from occupational exposure to the toxic air in lower Manhattan than died in the actual attack on 9/11. Close to 137,000 ailing first responders and civilian survivors are enrolled in the 9/11 WTC Health Program.
The Adams administration has refused to release those files asserting they are concerned about legal liability.
Council Member Brewer is joined by filmmaker Bridget Gormley. Her-award winning documentary "Dust: The Lingering Legacy of 9/11" offers an intimate portrait of the struggles of 9/11 WTC first responders and civilian survivors.
New York State Senator James Sanders from Queens who chairs the Banking Committee also joins us to discuss his bill to have Albany stop rebating the Stock Transfer Tax which has handed Wall Street hundreds of billions in potential tax revenue since the early 1980s.
Sanders also discusses the significance of Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani's upset victory in last month's Democratic Mayoral primary.
Listen to the entire show below: