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The Only True Democracy in Talk Radio
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Wednesday Jun 17, 2020
Wednesday Jun 17, 2020
Today's guest hosts are Edwith Theogene and Charlotte Hancock, Organizing Director and Communications Director for Generation Progress.
During today's episode, they discuss Pride Month, which takes place this and every June. Pride Month is a time to celebrate the LGBTQ community and reflect on what has been done, and what still must be done, to achieve full equality. Pride also commemorates the Stonewall Riots of June 1969, which were led by trans women of color in response to police violence towards LGBTQ+ patrons at the Stonewall Inn. This Pride month in particular feels extremely significant for a few reasons. One reason is that the Supreme Court ruled earlier this week that Tile VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects LGBTQ+ workers from workplace discrimination, which means it is illegal to discriminate against or fire employees for their sexual orientation or gender identity. The case will also give LGBTQ+ people and advocates stronger legal standing when it comes to addressing discrimination in other institutions or services.
The other reason is because massive numbers of Americans across the country have taken to the streets in recent weeks to demand an end to systemic racism and state-sanctioned violence against Black Americans. Black members of the LGBTQ+ community—particularly Black trans women—have been especially vulnerable to violence, and their murders and disappearances are too often forgotten or glossed over by local and national media. Consequently, we have seen a push during this Pride month especially to recall the history of Pride, which began with riots against police violence led by trans women of color, in order to emphatically state that Black trans lives matter.
To talk with Edwith and Charlotte more about Pride month, the Black Lives Matter movement, and more, they’re joined by Nadine Smith, the Executive Director of Equality Florida, and Dr. Lourdes Ashley Hunter, the Executive Director of the Trans Women of Color Collective.
Here are the Twitter handles for today's guests and their respective organizations: Nadine Smith - @1NadineSmith, Equality Florida - @equalityfl, Dr. Lourdes Ashley Hunter - @HunterLourdes, Trans Women of Color Collective - @twoccnyc.
The website for "Generation Progress" is www.GenProgress.org and their Twitter Handle is @GenProgress. Edwith Theogene's handle is @WhoIsEdwith and Charlotte Hancock's handle is @CharlatAnne.
Tuesday Jun 16, 2020
Tuesday Jun 16, 2020
The guest host for today's show is Brad Bannon. Brad runs Bannon Communications Research, a polling, message development and media firm which helps labor unions, progressive issue groups and Democratic candidates win public affairs and political campaigns. His new show, 'Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon,' airs every Monday from 3-4pm ET.
Brad is first joined by John Nichols, the National Political Correspondent for 'The Nation,' and Author of the new book, "The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party." (Available for purchase here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48624170-the-fight-for-the-soul-of-the-democratic-party)
John's Twitter handle is @NicholsUprising.
Brad and John discuss today's landmark Supreme Court decision protecting LGBT Americans from workplace discrimination, as well as John's new piece for 'The Nation,' "Georgia Shows How Serious the Threat of Voter Suppression Will Be This November." (Link here: https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/georgia-voter-suppression-november/)
During the second half of the show, Brad leads a political round-table with Kim Scott and Mark Grimaldi. The roundtable discusses possible running mates for Joe Biden, what this year's Democratic Convention might look like, and whether improvement in racial attitudes can lead to behavioral change in America.
Kim Scott is the Founder and Publisher of DemList, LLC, a free national daily political column, calendar and resource site for Democrats and allies - a unique, central source that connects people to the who, what and where of Democratic events, issues and activism. You can find out more about them at DemList.com and follow them on Twitter @TheDemList.
Mark Grimaldi has been a progressive political activist for the past 12 years. He volunteered for the campaigns of President Obama (2008 and 2012), Senator Bernie Sanders (2016), and Secretary Hillary Clinton (2016). Mark is also involved in campaign finance reform efforts around the country, and philanthropic efforts for Cancer research. His Twitter handle is @MarkJGrimaldi.
Brad writes a column every Sunday on the 2020 Presidential race for 'The Hill.' He's on the National Journal's panel of political insiders and is a national political analyst for WGN TV and Radio in Chicago and KNX Radio in Los Angeles.
You can read Brad's columns at www.MuckRack.com/Brad-Bannon and watch his previous 'Deadline D.C.' broadcasts at www.Periscope.TV/BradBannon. His Twitter handle is @BradBannon.
Watch a video broadcast of this episode here: https://www.pscp.tv/w/1BdxYnamrWQKX
Friday Jun 12, 2020
Friday Jun 12, 2020
Leslie is joined by Scott Paul, President of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), a partnership established by some of America’s leading manufacturers and the United Steelworkers union.
For over a decade, Mr. Paul and AAM have worked to make American manufacturing a top-of-mind issue for voters and our national leaders through effective advocacy, innovative research, and a savvy public relations strategy.
The two discuss Scott's recent op-ed titled, "Unmade in America: Black Americans disproportionately felt the devastation of industrial flight, and it is reflected in the crises of today." (Link: https://medium.com/@ScottPaulAAM/unmade-in-america-11001d910182)
They also talk about a new EPI study which examines how racism and economic inequality hurt black workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Link: https://www.americanmanufacturing.org/blog/entry/new-epi-study-examines-how-racism-economic-inequality-hurt-black-workers-du)
The website for AAM is AmericanManufacturing.org and their Twitter handle is @KeepItMadeInUSA. Scott Paul's handle is @ScottPaulAAM.
Wednesday Jun 10, 2020
Wednesday Jun 10, 2020
Today's guest hosts are Brent J. Cohen and Charlotte Hancock, Executive Director and Communications Director for Generation Progress.
Over the last couple of weeks, we have seen protests across the country to call out the systemic racism in policing and the cyclical injustices faced by Black Americans for over 400 years in this country. In many cities, these protests have been met with wildly disproportionate and often outright violent reactions from police, who have tear-gassed, beaten, and even driven cars into protesters. Despite the danger faced by those protesting, it has been encouraging to see how many people are willing to stand up on this issue and call on elected officials to rethink the role of policing in our society and the many institutions that are still plagued by white supremacy.
To talk with Brent and Charlotte more about the roots of systemic racism, and how we can further work to dismantle white supremacy, they are joined today by Dr. Theodore R. Johnson, Senior Fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice.
Here is the Twitter handle for today's guest and his respective organization: Dr. Ted Johnson - @DrTedJ, Brennan Center for Justice - @BrennanCenter
The website for "Generation Progress" is www.GenProgress.org and their Twitter Handle is @GenProgress. Brent J. Cohen's Twitter handle is @BrentJCohen and Charlotte Hancock's handle is @CharlatAnne.
Tuesday Jun 09, 2020
Tuesday Jun 09, 2020
Leslie begins the show with her 'Ripped from the Headlines' news segment.
Here are the stories she covers during the segment:
1. AUDIO: One of George Floyd's Brothers, Philonise Floyd, Remembers His Brother at this week's Public Memorial Service
2. WASHINGTON POST: "In Georgia, primary day starts with long lines, problems with voting machines — a potential preview of November"
Leslie is then joined by Michael Mendelsohn, a Retired Law Enforcement Officer from Charlotte County Sheriff's Office in Florida.
Retired Officer Mendelsohn believes that former Minnesota Police Officer, Derek Chauvin, who is now charged with second-degree murder, was wrong for how he physically handled George Floyd during the arrest, which led to Mr. Floyd dying. Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, all while Floyd was saying "I Can't Breathe," and pleading for his life, while two other Officers leaned on Floyd's body, and a fourth Officer told concerned bystanders to keep their distance.
Leslie is next joined by Connor Maxwell, a senior policy analyst for Race and Ethnicity Policy at the Center for American Progress. His work focuses on criminal justice, racial justice, diversity, and inclusion issues. His Twitter handle is @Connor__Maxwell, and the handle for the Race and Ethnicity policy team of the Center for American Progress is @CAPTalksRace.
Leslie and Connor analyze the new policing reform bill released by Congressional Democrats on Monday, which is called "The Justice in Policing Act of 2020."
Here are some of the key parts of the bill:
- Revising federal law on criminal police misconduct and qualified immunity reform
- Ban no-knock warrants in drug cases at the federal level
- Ban chokeholds at the federal level
- Establish a national registry of misconduct by law enforcement officers
- Require states to report use of force to the Justice Department
- Mandate racial bias training at the federal level
- Require that deadly force only be used as last resort
- Make lynching a federal crime
- Require police to use more body and dashboard cameras
- Limit the transfer of military equipment to local police departments
(more info on the bill can be found here: https://www.vox.com/2020/6/8/21283841/democrats-police-reform-bill-explained-george-floyd)
Leslie and Connor also briefly touch on the semantics surrounding the #DefundPolice movement, which does not mean what many people think it means.
Monday Jun 08, 2020
Monday Jun 08, 2020
The guest host for today's show is Brad Bannon. Brad runs Bannon Communications Research, a polling, message development and media firm which helps labor unions, progressive issue groups and Democratic candidates win public affairs and political campaigns. His new show, 'Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon,' airs every Monday from 3-4pm ET.
Brad is first joined by Ed Chung, Vice President for Criminal Justice Reform at the Center for American Progress, where he co-hosts 'The Tent' Podcast. Before working at CAP, he served as Senior Adviser on criminal justice, policing, and civil rights issues for the Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Justice Programs at the U.S. Department of Justice.
Chung also held positions in the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, including special counsel to the assistant attorney general and federal prosecutor with the Criminal Section, where he received the John Marshall Award for successfully prosecuting the first case under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.
Ed's Twitter handle is @EdChungDC and the handle for his podcast is @TheTentPod.
Brad and Ed discuss police reform legislation that was released today by House Democrats in response to the police killing of George Floyd. They also compare the police reform work that Ed did as part of the Obama Justice Department to that of the Trump Justice Department.
During the second half of the show, Brad leads a political round-table with Will Jawando and Mark Grimaldi. The roundtable continues the discussion of reforming policing in America. They also have a conversation about public opinion of nationwide #BlackLivesMatters protests, and President Trump's deployment of the military in response to peaceful protests in our nation's Capitol last week.
Will Jawando is Councilmember At-Large for Montgomery County, Maryland. Described as “the progressive leader we need” by revered civil rights activist and Congressman, John Lewis, Will has worked with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senator Sherrod Brown, and then-Senator Barack Obama.
During the 8-year Obama Administration, Will had the honor of serving as Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, followed by a position as an advisor to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in the U.S. Department of Education.
Will's handle on both Twitter and Instagram is @WillJawando.
Mark Grimaldi has been a progressive political activist for the past 12 years. He volunteered for the campaigns of President Obama (2008 and 2012), Senator Bernie Sanders (2016), and Secretary Hillary Clinton (2016). Mark is also involved in campaign finance reform efforts around the country, and philanthropic efforts for Cancer research. His Twitter handle is @MarkJGrimaldi.
Brad writes a column every Sunday on the 2020 Presidential race for 'The Hill.' He's on the National Journal's panel of political insiders and is a national political analyst for WGN TV and Radio in Chicago and KNX Radio in Los Angeles.
You can read Brad's columns at www.MuckRack.com/Brad-Bannon. His Twitter handle is @BradBannon.
Watch a video broadcast of the show here: https://www.pscp.tv/w/1LyGBaMRNoPKN
Saturday Jun 06, 2020
Saturday Jun 06, 2020
Leslie begins the show with her 'Ripped from the Headlines' news segment.
Here are the stories she covers during the segment:
1. AUDIO: Trump says it's a great day for George Floyd
2. AUDIO: Joe Biden responds to Trump's comments today on George Floyd and new unemployment data
3. AXIOS: "D.C. mayor asks Trump to withdraw military and federal law enforcement"
4. AXIOS: "High Ranking Former Military Officials Denounce Trump's Military Response to Peaceful Protesters"
5. New ABC/IPSOS Poll: Roughly 2/3rds of Americans Disapprove of Trump's Handling of COVID-19 and Handling of the Response to George Floyd's Death
6. Today is National Gun Violence Awareness Day (#WearOrange)
7. The Week: "The White House is now surrounded by nearly 2 miles of fencing and barricades
8. As President Trump visited Main on Friday, the editorial board of Maine's largest newspaper called on Trump to resign
Leslie is then joined by Congressman Ro Khanna. He represents California's 17th congressional district, including Silicon Valley. His focus is to create proposals for jobs in areas left behind and tax credits for the working class. He believes in exercising restraint in foreign policy, and takes no PAC money!
The two discuss President Trump and A.G. Bill Barr ordering peaceful protesters in D.C. to be tear-gassed for a Trump photo-op. They also analyze Trump and Barr authorizing unidentified officers to police D.C. protests.
Additionally, Leslie talks with Rep. Khanna about policing reform, including the related legislation he has co-sponsored, which is called the PEACE Act.
Rep. Khanna's website is Khanna.House.Gov and his handle on Twitter and Instagram is @RepRoKhanna.
Wednesday Jun 03, 2020
Wednesday Jun 03, 2020
Leslie is first joined by Professor Joshua Geltzer, who serves as the founding Executive Director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, as well as Visiting Professor of Law, at Georgetown University Law Center.
He is also an International Security Program Fellow at New America and an Executive Editor at Just Security.
Geltzer served from 2015 to 2017 as Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council staff. He also served as a law clerk to Justice Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Leslie and Professor Geltzer analyze President Trump's threat to invoke the Insurrection Act, a centuries-old law that gives the president the authority to send the U.S. military into America cities and towns to quash domestic unrest. This came on the same day that Trump had berated Governors for being "weak" and demanded that they fully utilize the National Guard to "dominate" the streets amid civilian unrest.
You can follow Professor Geltzer on Twitter where his handle is @jgeltzer.
Leslie is then joined by Sarah Riggs Amico, a labor-backed progressive businesswoman and Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Georgia, running for the seat currently held by David Perdue. A Harvard MBA and 17-year business leader, she served most recently as Executive Chair of her family’s trucking company. Sarah is the only candidate in the race to have the backing of labor, with endorsements from five labor unions. In 2018, she was the Democratic nominee for Lt Governor, running with Stacey Abrams in one of the most closely-watched elections in the country.
Sarah tells Leslie and the audience why she is calling for "deep systemic change" in regard to law enforcement's policing of minorities, as well as justice for George Floyd. Sarah and Leslie also discuss her condemnation of President Trump's federally-directed assault on peaceful protesters outside of the White House so that the president could take a staged photo at St. John’s Episcopal Church. Sarah released a statement on Trump's decision, saying, "there is nothing holy about tear-gassing peaceful protestors so the president can do a Bible-waving photo op at a house of worship.
Sarah and her husband live with their two young daughters in Marietta, GA. Her website is SarahForGeorgia.com and her Twitter handle is @SarahRiggsAmico. The Democratic primary election in Georgia takes place on Tuesday, June 9th.
Tuesday Jun 02, 2020
Tuesday Jun 02, 2020
The guest host for today's show is Brad Bannon. Brad runs Bannon Communications Research, a polling, message development and media firm which helps labor unions, progressive issue groups and Democratic candidates win public affairs and political campaigns. His new show, 'Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon,' airs every Monday from 3-4pm ET.
Brad is first joined by Jeneé Osterheldt, a culture columnist who covers identity and social justice through the lens of culture and the arts. Sometimes this means writing about being Black at Art Basel. In 2020 it means exploring both the pandemic of coronavirus and America's original pandemic: racism.
She joined the Globe as a culture writer in 2018. A graduate of Norfolk State University, Osterheldt was a 2017 Nieman Fellow at Harvard, where her studies focused on the intersection of art and justice. She previously worked as a Kansas City Star culture columnist.
Jeneé 's Twitter handle is @SincerelyJenee.
Brad and Jeneé discuss her latest piece for the Boston Globe, titled "It’s bigger than buildings. America is burning." (Link here: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/05/29/nation/its-bigger-than-buildings-american-is-burning/)
During the second half of the show, Brad leads a political round-table with Tim Zenk and Mark Grimaldi. The roundtable discusses the impact of racial conflict on Joe Biden choosing his running mate, as well as Biden's increased public visibility during the COVID-19 pandemic and the protests in response to the police killing of George Floyd.
Tim is a Principle at 'Molecule,' a business and public affairs company, a former Democratic staffer, and a well known renewable energy expert. His Twitter handle is @greencrude.
Mark Grimaldi has been a progressive political activist for the past 12 years. He volunteered for the campaigns of President Obama (2008 and 2012), Senator Bernie Sanders (2016), and Secretary Hillary Clinton (2016). Mark is also involved in campaign finance reform efforts around the country, and philanthropic efforts for Cancer research. His Twitter handle is @MarkJGrimaldi.
Brad writes a column every Sunday on the 2020 Presidential race for 'The Hill.' He's on the National Journal's panel of political insiders and is a national political analyst for WGN TV and Radio in Chicago and KNX Radio in Los Angeles.
You can read Brad's columns at www.MuckRack.com/Brad-Bannon. His Twitter handle is @BradBannon.
Watch a video broadcast of the show here: https://www.periscope.tv/w/1YqJDEZZkDvxV
Saturday May 30, 2020
Saturday May 30, 2020
Leslie is joined by United Steelworkers President Tom Conway to discuss manufacturing, infrastructure, and American security during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Much of the information they covered can be found in this week's USW blog, titled "America's Infrastructure Crisis." (link here: https://usw.org/blog/2020/americas-infrastructure-crisis)
The website for the USW is www.USW.org and their Twitter and Instagram handle is @steelworkers.