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2016 Programs
2016 Program Archive
May 21 - Stepping on Each Other's Toes in a Diplomatic Dance; Genocide Verdict Anulled in Guatemala; Apple Avoids U.S. Taxes on Billions in Ireland
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We begin with an analysis of whether or not the U.S. and Russia, let alone the Syrian parties themselves, will be able to come to an agreement over peace talks on Syria. Former White House Middle East Advisor Ambassador Marc Ginsberg joins us to discuss Russia’s insistence that Iran join the international conference and remarks from Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov cautioning against arbitrary deadlines, implying Secretary of State John Kerry is getting ahead of himself. |
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Then we look into today’s annulment by Guatemala’s highest court of the verdict of genocide against General Rios Montt who was sentenced to 80 years for the deaths of 1,700 of the 200,000 Mayan Indians murdered by the Guatemalan military. Anita Isaacs, a Professor of Social Sciences and Political Science at Haverford College and author of “The Politics of Transitional Justice in Postwar Guatemala” joins us to discuss her recent article at The New York Times “We Enabled Genocide, but the Elite Committed it”. |
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Then finally, we speak with Lee Sheppard, a contributing editor of Tax Notes who was recently named one of the Global Tax 50 most influential players in international taxation by International Tax Review. We discuss today’s hearing before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations where the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook was grilled over avoiding $9 billion in taxes in 2012 and keeping billions of Apple’s profits in Irish subsidiaries to avoid paying U.S. taxes. |
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May 20 - Change on the Syrian Battlefield and in the Diplomatic Arena; "What Happened to Obama's Promise?"; "Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age"
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We begin with an analysis of whether the tide of battle in Syria is turning in favor of the Assad dictatorship and what that might have to do with talks soon to take place brokered by Russia and the United States. Chris Toensing, an Arabic-speaking specialist on Syria who is the Executive Director of the Middle East Research and Information Project and Editor of The Middle East Report joins us to discuss recent changes on both the battlefield and in the diplomatic arena. |
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Then we speak with Princeton historian Julian Zelizer about his article at CNN “What Happened to Obama’s Promise”, and discuss the criticism of the president coming from his disillusioned supporters on the left who expected a transformational president instead of a transactional one. We examine whether reform is possible in Washington and what Obama could and should do to motivate his spiritless supporters to vote in 2014. |
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Then finally we look into the power of the telecom oligarchs in the new gilded age who are the contemporary equivalent of the railroad barons but exert unprecedented influence over us as the gatekeepers of news and information. Susan Crawford, who served as Special Assistant to President Obama for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy and is the author of the new book “Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age”, joins us to talk about how America, where the Internet revolution began, is slipping further and further behind as Americans get gouged by monopolies who charge more and more for less and less service. |
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May 19 - Looking for the "There" There in the Latest Scandals; Poor Morale Among Those With Their Finger on the Nuclear Trigger
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We begin with an analysis of the trifecta of scandal, the IRS, Benghazi and the AP that is supposed to be crippling the White House. For some context we turn to award-winning investigative journalist Mark Feldstein, the author of “Poisoning the Press: Richard Nixon, Jack Anderson and the Rise of Washington’s Scandal Culture”, and discuss the "doctored" White House emails that were leaked to The Weekly Standard and ABC News to breathe new life into the so-called Benghazi scandal and whether there is a “there” there, and what Obama should do to put these manufactured scandals to rest. |
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Then, with recent revelations that Air Force personnel in charge of launching nuclear missiles have been relieved from their posts due to poor morale, we look into the Dr. Strangelovian world of why those who baby sit these Cold War relics under the prairies of North Dakota are disciplined because they recognize the futility of what they are doing. While those who were prepared to destroy the world during the Cold War were given promotions. Rudolf Herzog, the author of “A Short History of Nuclear Folly: Mad Scientists, Dithering Nazis, Lost Nukes, and Catastrophic Cover-ups” joins us to discuss the dark comedy of the nuclear age that still lives on. |
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May 16 - "The Real Scandal at the IRS"; Exposing the Real Face of the Tea Party; Phony Scandal Versus Urgent Issues
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We begin with President Obama on the defensive about minor officials in the IRS targeting “Tea Party” and other “Patriot” groups. Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and columnist with the Los Angeles Times Michael Hiltzik joins us to discuss his article in the LA Times “The Real IRS Scandal” and whether it is more of a case of the IRS doing too little as opposed to too much, in going after flagrantly political groups applying for tax exemption in the name of “social welfare”. |
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Then with the Tea Party claiming political victimhood, we analyze the real nature of the Tea Party movement with Chris Parker, the author of a new book “Change They Can’t Believe in: The Tea Party and Reactionary Politics in America”. We discuss his thoroughly researched study of the Tea Party that presents itself as a new revolutionary phenomenon when in fact it is the old reactionary right re-packaged as a grassroots movement. With its funding from billionaires, it is much more the heir to the Know Nothing Party, The Ku Klux Klan and the John Birch Society than to those who inspired the American Revolution. |
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Then finally, with phony scandal overwhelming important substance, we will look further into the recent breaching of the threshold of 400 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere, and speak with Michael Mann, the co-founder of the award-winning science website RealClimate.org who shared a Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. We discuss the need for aggressive leadership to slap down the deniers and take urgent action to save the planet before we pass the point of no return. |
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May 15 - The Real Questions About Benghazi; Breast Cancer Treatment and Elective Surgery; The Radical Shift Underway in the Global Oil Market
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We begin with an analysis of what the real questions should be in regards to what happened in Benghazi on September 11 last year, as opposed to the trumped up partisan circus that has been largely generated by Fox News since then. A former CIA veteran, Melvin Goodman, the author of “National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism” joins us to discuss the facts behind the fiction as outlined in his article at Counterpunch “The Real Benghazi Scandal”. |
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Then we examine the issues raised about women’s health and breast cancer treatment that have followed actress Angelina Jolie’s New York Times op-ed where she revealed she undertook a prophylactic double mastectomy to avoid a genetic likelihood she would contract the disease that kills close to 40,000 women in America each year. Dr. Susan Wood a former FDA Commissioner for Women’s Health and Executive Director of the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health at George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services joins us to discuss the connection between breast cancer surgery and breast implants. |
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Then finally we discuss the radical shift underway as the U.S. changes from the world’s leading importer of oil to a net exporter, overtaking Russia as the world’s biggest gas producer by 2015. One of the most quoted analysts on energy issues, Fadel Gheit, Senior Vice President for Oil and Gas Research at Oppenheimer and Company joins us to explain the reshaping of the world’s energy markets and the shift in the global power balance outlined in a new report by the International Energy Agency. |
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