Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the latest reports from Liberia that suggest the Ebola epidemic is spreading exponentially and is largely out of control, with the World Health Organization warning Liberia “faces a huge surge” in Ebola. Steven Radelet, the Donald F. McHenry Chair in Global Human Development at Georgetown University who was formerly Chief Economist of USAID and has served as economic advisor to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf since 2005, joins us to discuss the extent to which the health crisis in Liberia is exacerbated by a governance crisis and devastated infrastructure as legacies of a brutal and destructive civil war.

Part 2

Then we assess the chances of the just-announced new Iraqi government in Baghdad stepping up to combat the Islamic State and heal the rift with the alienated Sunni minority who are unlikely to want to be “liberated” by the Shiite-dominated military that has oppressed and marginalized them. Juan Cole, a professor of Modern Middle Eastern and South Asian History at the University of Michigan and the author of the new book “The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation is Changing the Middle East”, joins us to discuss the exaggerated and almost hysterical fear of 10,000 Islamic State fighters and his article at the History News Network “Americans are Worried About ISIS and Putin. What They Should be Worried About is Climate Change”.

Part 3

Then finally Antonio Gonzalez joins us in the studio. He is President of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, the largest and oldest non-partisan Latino voter participation organization in the U.S. We discuss the growing disillusionment and fury in the Latino community expressed in Spanish-language media, against President Obama’s decision to delay executive action on immigration reform out of concerns that vulnerable Senate Democrats facing reelection will be punished at the polls in November by an anti-immigrant backlash and charges of executive overreach.

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the long-awaited ruling by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier that found BP acted with gross negligence in setting off the biggest offshore oil spill and worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. Cynthia Sarthou, the Executive Director of the Gulf Restoration Network joins us to discuss how BP, who have already stated they will appeal the federal judge’s decision, still actively fights claims by oil spill victims and challenges settlements while spending millions on advertizing campaigns portraying themselves as concerned environmentalists and generous benefactors while claiming to have successfully restored the Gulf’s eco-systems.

Part 2

Then, with discussions underway at the NATO summit on collective action to be taken against the Islamic State, we look into the role of Saudi Arabia as the religious and ideological guide of the violent Sunni Salafist movement and speak with Toby Jones, a professor of history at Rutgers University and author of “Desert Kingdom: How Oil and Water Forged Modern Saudi Arabia”. We discuss the influence of Wahhabi religious doctrine in both the newly insurgent Islamic State and other radical movements worldwide like the Taliban, Boko Haram, al Shabab and al Qaeda.

Part 3

Then finally, with this year’s 2014 midterms shaping up as the dark money election, we speak with Sheila Krumholz, the executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics who tracks money, politics and influence in Washington. She joins us discuss the massive influx of unattributed dark money operating under the “social welfare” rubric of the IRS 501c-4 nonprofit vehicle that is pouring into the upcoming November elections. We also talk about her latest article at CNN “Will Eric Cantor Help Wall Street?’