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2016 Programs
2016 Program Archive
January 17 - Taking on a Congress in the NRA's Pocket; An African Perspective on Mali; "Money Out/Voters In" "Day of Action"
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We begin with the overheated reaction to the President’s gun control initiative from members of Congress and speak with Jonathan Lowy, the Director of the Legal Action Project at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, to assess the chances of Congress passing any measures that would curb the epidemic of gun violence in America.
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Then, with the arrival of West African troop in Mali following a military deployment by the French, we discuss an intervention that the West sees as a war against Al Qaeda and Malians see as a war against the Tuareg. Nii Akuetteh, an independent African policy researcher joins us to discuss what is at stake in the region where an attempt by the Algerian military to rescue Western hostages taken in retaliation against the French, resulted in many killed in the crossfire and some missing. |
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Then finally we are joined in the studio by three campaign finance reform activists who are part of this weekend’s “Money Out/Voters In” “Day of Action” that will take place in 76 cities and 33 states on the third anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling. Mary Beth Fielder, the founder of the Los Angeles Money Out/Voters In Coalition and Kai Newkirk, a founding organizer of 99Rise and Lauren Windsor the host of The Undercurrent, a grassroots political TV web-show on the Young Turks Network, discuss the upcoming day of action.
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January 16 - The President's End Run Around the NRA; Lance Armstrong's Come to Jesus Moment; The Power of Money Versus People Power
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We begin with the president’s unveiling today of an expansive gun-control initiative involving 23 separate executive actions in an attempt to get around a Congress in the pocket of the NRA. A former special agent with the ATF, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, William Vizzard, professor emeritus and Chair of the Division of Criminal Justice at California State University, Sacramento joins us to discuss whether the president’s end-run around the NRA will reduce the epidemic of gun violence in America. |
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Then we speak with the author of a new book on Lance Armstrong, “The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France; Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Cost”. New York Times best-selling author Daniel Coyle joins us to discuss the fate of the popular athlete whose fall from grace into a swamp of costly litigation is just beginning as we wait to learn about the extent of his contrition in an interview with Oprah Winfrey to be broadcast Thursday and Friday. |
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Then finally Richard Wolff joins us. He is professor emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and author of “Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism”. We discuss the on-going battle between the power of money that has captured our money-driven politics and the power of people who may or may not, rise up to assert their ownership of their government and their economy. |
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January 15 - A Perfect Storm of Dysfunction in Pakistan; Will Wall Street Demand Adult Behavior in Washington?; A Call for More Women in Obama's Cabinet
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We begin with a perfect storm of political dysfunction brewing in Pakistan where the Supreme Court has just called for the arrest of the prime Minister and a fundamentalist preacher is leading a horde marching on the capitol, while all around the country, minority Shia are conducting sit-in protests against a government that does not protect them from religious violence meted out by murderous Sunni fanatics. An expert on Pakistan who speaks the local languages Christine Fair, joins us to discuss a country whose neighbor India is accusing of trying to start another war. |
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Then we look into the warning by the rating agency Fitch that it may downgrade U.S. debt in another self-inflicted crisis over the debt ceiling that calls into question the predictability and reliability of the handling of the nation’s fiscal affairs. William Cohan, a contributing editor at Fortune and the author of “Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World” joins us to discuss whether Wall Street, who gave the bulk of their money to Republicans in the last election, will be able to exert enough pressure on their political hirelings to ensure enough adult behavior to avoid a government default. |
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Then finally, following the president’s re-election victory helped by an overwhelming vote from women, we discuss the deficit of women in the new Obama cabinet with Michelle Kinsey Bruns, the online manager for The Women’s Media Center. They have launched a petition to urge Obama to appoint more women to senior positions, particularly at the FCC to address the paucity of women in the all-white, all-male top management circles of America’s mainstream media. |
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January 14 - Did the Government Hound an Internet Freedom Fighter to His Death?; The French Intervene in Mali Against the So-called Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb; American's Wages Go Down While Profits Go Up
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We begin with the suicide of the 26 year old Internet entrepreneur and advocate for the electronic commons Aaron Swartz, who appears to have been hounded to his death by over-zealous government prosecutors unable to distinguish between malicious hackers and defenders of free speech and freedom of information. His friend and mentor, the Director of the Center for Ethics at Harvard and a Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School, Lawrence Lessig joins us to discuss the tragic loss of this young progressive activist. |
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Then we examine the intervention in Mali by French forces to prevent a takeover of the country by Islamists rebels from the north who are alleged to be members of AQIM, Al Qaeda In the Islamic Maghreb. The former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell joins us to discuss the likely short-term outcome and the longer-term possibility of a protracted guerrilla war in a failed state where world heritage sites have already been desecrated by rebels who are cutting off hands in the name of Islam. |
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Then finally we look into the state of working America where wages as a share of America’s gross domestic product fell last year to a record low of 43.5 percent, down from 49% in 2001. Economist, author and analyst Lawrence Mishel, the president of the Economic Policy Institute, joins us to discuss how wages are falling while profits are rising and how much stagnant wages are contributing to the growing income inequality in America. |
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January 13 - Will Jack Lew Work For Main Street or Wall Street?; Karzai's Duplicitous Double Dealing; Amy Wilentz on Haiti Three Years After the Earthquake
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We begin with an overview of the economic challenges ahead facing the new Secretary of the Treasury and the extent to which he understands them. Robert Johnson, the Executive Director of the Institute For New Economic Thinking joins us to discuss whether Jack Lew recognizes the systemic risk posed by the big banks and whether they are sufficiently regulated to prevent another meltdown which the Treasury will not have the funds to bail out next time. |
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Then, with President Obama having just met in the Oval Office with Afghanistan’s kleptocrat-in-chief Hamid Karzai, we are joined by Robert Pelton Young, an author, filmmaker, journalist and explorer who has just spent five weeks on missions in the mountains of Afghanistan with U.S. Special Forces hunting the Taliban. We discuss what is happening on the ground as Karzai asks for more American money for his family and cronies. |
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Then finally, with yesterday's observation of the third anniversary of the Earthquake in Haiti which took 300,000 lives and left over a million homeless, we are joined in-studio by Amy Wilentz, the author of the new book, Farewell Fred Voodoo: A Letter From Haiti. She also has an article in Sunday’s LA Times, “For journalists today, the whole world is watching”. |
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