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2013 Program Archive
October 29 - Top Spy Affirms the Need to Snoop on Foreign Leaders; "Kludgeocracy: The American Way of Policy"; Driving a Car as an Act of Political Protest
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We begin with testimony by senior intelligence officials before a House panel on Tuesday where Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that learning the intentions of foreign leaders is a key goal of U.S. spying agencies, contradicting Senate Intelligence Committee chairwoman Diane Feinstein who called for an end to eavesdropping on leaders of countries allied with the U.S. Elizabeth Goitein, the co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice joins us to discuss the growing international outrage over the latest NSA revelations. |
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Then, following profuse apologies in testimony from the government official in charge of the troubled healthcare.gov website, we will speak with the author of an article in National Affairs, “Kludgeocracy: The American Way of Policy”. Steven Teles, a professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University, joins us to discuss the clumsy and inelegant patchwork of solutions known as kludges which are at the heart of the dysfunction between the government and private contractors in the context of a larger ideological battle over the size of government. |
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Then finally we speak with Dr. Ali Alyami, the founder and director of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia about the Saudi women who are defying the repressive religious police and the feudal government by driving cars, an activity that is banned for fear it will encourage licentiousness and damage women’s ovaries. We discuss stirrings of protests for freedom and democracy in a tightly-controlled country under the absolute rule of a royal family determined to insulate their kingdom from the Arab Spring. |
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October 28 - An Analysis of the Restrictive Texas Abortion Laws Struck Down and Upheld; A Single Mother Takes The Fall for Wall Street; Surprising Results When Economics Combine with Anthropology
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We begin with an analysis of the ruling in Texas that struck down parts of a very restrictive abortion law that Texas Senator Wendy Davis challenged with her 13 hour filibuster. Carolyn Jones, who covers women’s reproductive health for the Texas Observer, joins us to discuss what abortion restrictions survived the Federal judge’s ruling that will go into effect Tuesday.
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Then we speak with Dennis Kelleher, the President and CEO of Better Markets Inc., a Washington D.C. non-profit that promotes the public interest in the U.S. and global financial markets. We discuss the $13 billion settlement JP Morgan has agreed to pay and the apparent scape-goating of a minor official with Countrywide Savings who appears to be taking the fall for the housing market crash that has yet to see any major Wall Street players taking a perp walk or doing time for the massive crimes that led to the 2008 Wall Street crash. |
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Then finally we speak with behavioral economist John List about his new book “The Why Axis: Hidden Motives in the Undiscovered Economics of Everyday Life”. We discuss field work he has done that combines economics with anthropology and comes up with surprising results on why women earn less, why people discriminate, what is behind inner-city violence and the gap between rich and poor students and what can be done to improve public education. |
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October 27 - The Continuing Fallout From The NSA Leaks; Keeping Dark Money in The Dark; "The Syria Dilemma"
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We begin with a damage assessment from the Snowden leaks as allies Germany and France express outrage over the NSA’s intrusion into the private emails and cell phone calls of heads of state like Angela Merkel. A former senior CIA analyst Paul Pillar who was the National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia and head of the Assessment and Information Group at the Counterterrorist Center joins us to discuss fallout from the continuing revelations of the NSA’s spying on our allies and our fellow citizens.
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Then we look into the dysfunction on Capitol Hill and the continuing influence of dark money as Senator Ted Cruz holds up the nominee to head the FCC in order to protect the anonymity of billionaire donors like the Koch brothers who Cruz apparently feels will reciprocate by making unlimited and unaccountable donations to his 2016 presidential campaign. Lisa Gilbert, the Director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch and contributor to the National Journal’s “Expert Blog” on lobbying and ethics joins us to examine efforts to keep dark money in politics in the dark. |
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Then finally we get an update and an overview on the on-going civil war in Syria, which most Americans have turned their back on as the Russian and American deal to destroy Assad’s chemical arsenal goes ahead while thousands more Syrians die and millions more become refugees. We will speak with Nader Hashemi, the co-editor of a new book “The Syria Dilemma”, a collection of essays from a diverse range of experts on Syria that sheds light on the many dimensions of this tragedy that is not going away. |
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October 24 - California Exposes the Koch Brothers' Dark Money; Senator Cruz Makes a Stand for Billionaires' Dark Money; Fallout in Mexico from NSA Spying
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We begin with the California Fair Political Practices Commission’s announcement of its largest campaign-reporting fine of $15 million levied against two out-of-state front groups named as “part of the Koch Brothers Network of dark money political non-profit corporations”. Derek Cressman, the Former Vice President for California Operations of Common Cause joins us to discuss the end of an investigation of a murky multi-billion dollar money trail that ends up on the Koch brother’s doorstep.
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Then we examine another Koch brothers-related story that is the sub-text for Senator Ted Cruz’s brazen hold on the nomination of the new head of the FCC because Cruz wants to protect the anonymity of the Koch’s and other billionaires who pour dark money into political campaigns. Timothy Karr, the Senior Director of Strategy for Free Press joins us to discuss the latest obstruction by the junior Senator from Texas who is shamelessly shilling for the Kochs to ensure that tons of dark money will pour into Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign. |
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Then we look into the political fallout in Mexico from recent revelations by Edward Snowden that the NSA had captured the emails of the former and current presidents of Mexico. An expert on Mexico, George Grayson, a professor of comparative politics at the College of William and Mary, joins us to discuss the genuine outrage from former Mexican president Felipe Calderon and the more politically calculated outrage from the current president Enrique Pena Nieto. |
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October 23 - Abandoning Pakistan; A New Low Point in Presidential Disrespect; An Overview of the Economy
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We begin with the White House visit of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and speak with Pakistan expert Christine Fair who is a professor in the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University. She joins us to discuss the strained relations between the U.S. and Pakistan and concerns that America will abandon Pakistan after its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
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Then we examine the latest display of racist disrespect for the president that occurred in a recent White House meeting when a top House GOP leader told Obama to his face that “I cannot even stand to look at you”. Chris Parker, a professor of Social Justice and Political Science at the University of Washington and author of “Change They Can’t Believe In: The Tea Party and Reactionary Politics in America” joins us to discuss the disgusting and dangerous level of hatred in American politics. |
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Then finally we have an overview of the economy and an analysis of why the Republicans, having lost the fight over the shutdown and the debt ceiling, are dominating the national conversation over the size of government and the deficit which a lot of Americans see as our biggest problem even thought it is demonstrably wrong. Justin Wolfers, a Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Michigan and co-editor of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity joins us to discuss the Republican’s focus on deficits while ignoring the collapse of the Middle Class and the growing inequality as almost all of the economic gains go to the top 1%. |
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