Tag: primary debate

Handicapping the Latest Democratic Presidential Candidates’ Debate

We begin with the latest Democratic presidential candidates’ debate just getting underway as we go to air with 12 on the stage in Ohio which, after five previously crowded debates, indicates the field in not being winnowed sufficiently for voters to get an in-depth understanding of who the best candidate might but rather are barraged by a series of frantic sound bites from candidates trying to get noticed. Robert Hockett, a Professor of Law at Cornell Law School who recently helped Senator Elizabeth Warren write the Accountable Capitalism Act as well as Senator Bernie Sanders’ counterpart, the Corporate Accountability and Democracy Plan, joins us. We discuss the health issues facing Bernie Sanders and the gargantuan sums of campaign money that Wall Street and the Health Insurance industry will deploy against Senator Warren as well as assess whether Joe Biden can get out of his own way and start displaying some basic political instincts to respond to attacks and to outline policies let alone a vision. Then after assessing the chances of the front-runners, we will examine the other nine, many of whom appear to be more likely vice-presidential candidates than being at the top of the ticket, as well as questioning why some seem to be giving TED talks while others appear to have bought their way onto the stage. All this leading many to question what Tom Perez, the head of the DNC, is doing to facilitate the emergence of the most viable candidate to beat the worst and most dangerous president the United States has ever had.

The Uncertain Custody of 50 US Hydrogen Bombs in Turkey

Then, with the custody of 50 U.S. hydrogen bombs sitting in bunkers at the Incirlik airbase in Turkey now in doubt as America’s so-called NATO ally Turkey lobs shells on U.S. soldiers retreating from Northern Syria, we speak with Joseph Cirincione, the President of the Ploughshares Fund and host of the “Press The Button” podcast and author of “Nuclear Nightmare: Securing the World Before It Is Too Late”. He joins us to discuss the idiocy of having these Cold War nuclear relics in bases in Europe and Turkey, particularly given Erdogan’s grandiose vision of Turkey being a nuclear power.

The Civil Servants Are Choosing Loyalty to Country over Obedience to Trump

Then finally, with civil servants now coming out of the woodwork in Washington D.C. to expose the chaos, corruption and criminality of the Trump regime, we speak with Mike Lofgren who has spent 28 years working in Congress, the last 16 as a senior analyst on the House and Senate Budget Committees. He joins us to explain how many civil servants have reached a breaking point choosing loyalty to country over obedience to Trump as more and more can longer remain silent and continue to serve a wrecking crew of incompetent ideologues and cynical grifters.