The Leslie Marshall Show

Police Brutality, Gun Violence Prevention, and COVID-19

Today's guest hosts are Brent J. Cohen and Edwith Theogene, Executive Director and Organizing Director for Generation Progress.

During today's episode, they discuss how as COVID-19 continues to reshape many elements of our lives, we’ve been reminded that one thing that has continued in spite of the pandemic, is the threat of gun violence and the harm that the criminal legal system in the United States inflicts on Black bodies.

While heavily armed white protesters have marched on state capitals to protest stay-at-home orders without any police intervention, we have seen several horrific instances in just the past few weeks of racism and racist violence that police have inflicted on Black Americans. Though these events have taken place in different parts of the country and have ended in different ways, they are all part of a broader system that poses a daily threat to people of color and is in desperate need of dramatic change.

To talk with Brent and Edwith more about these tragedies, and the broader gun violence prevention space, they're joined by Greg Jackson, the National Advocacy Director of the Community Justice Action Fund, and Tia Bell, Founder of the T.R.I.G.G.E.R. Project.

Here are the Twitter handles for today's guests and their respective organizations: Greg Jackson - @gregoryjackson, Community Justice Action Fund - @CJACTIONFUND, T.R.I.G.G.E.R. Project - @TheTRIGGERProj.

The website for "Generation Progress" is www.GenProgress.org and their Twitter Handle is @GenProgress.  Brent J. Cohen's Twitter handle is @BrentJCohen and Edwith Theogene's handle is @WhoIsEdwith.

COVID-19 and Homelessness

Today's guest hosts are Charlotte Hancock and Edwith Theogene, Communications Director and Organizing Director for Generation Progress.

They discuss one group of people in particular who are extremely vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic—people who are experiencing homelessness or who have insecure housing situations. These populations are more at risk both as a result of the infectious nature of the disease and because of the economic crisis that the pandemic has caused.

To talk with them more about how this population is affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and what lawmakers should do to better protect people who are unhoused, they’re joined by two expert guests.  They are Valencia Gunder, the CEO and founder of The Smile Trust, and Jaboa Lake, a senior policy analyst for the Center for American Progress’s Poverty to Prosperity Program.

Here are the Twitter handles for today's guests and their respective organizations: Valencia Gunder - @ValenciaGunder, The Smile Trust- @SmileTrustInc, Jaboa Lake - @jaboalake, the Center for American Progress - @amprog

The website for "Generation Progress" is www.GenProgress.org and their Twitter Handle is @GenProgress.  Charlotte Hancock's Twitter handle is @CharlatAnne and Edwith Theogene's handle is @WhoIsEdwith.

Fired Inspector General was Investigating Pompeo and Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia

Leslie begins the show with her 'Ripped from the Headlines' news segment.

Here are the stories she covers during the segment:

1. AUDIO: Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) asks Treasury Secretay Steven Mnuchin, “How many workers should give their lives to increase our GDP by a half percent?”

2. WASHINGTON POST: "As White House pushes firms to reopen, new report says much of bailout stimulus money remains unspent"

3. TIME: "The Real Estate Industry Pushed for $160 Billion in Tax Breaks in the CARES Act, Disclosure Filings Show"

4. AXIOS: "Trump threatens to end WHO funding and withdraw U.S. membership"

5. POLITICO: "Biden White House would yank Keystone XL permit"

6. USA TODAY: "New poll shows Sen. Martha McSally losing ground to Mark Kelly and that's not even the bad news"

During the second half of the show, Leslie is joined by Bob Ney, an Independent Political analyst for radio stations across America, covering the White House, Congress, and specializes in Mideast issues.
He graduated from 'The' Ohio State University and taught English in Shiraz, Iran to Persians in 1978. Leaving Iran due to the beginning of the revolution, Bob was then the American manager of a private sector company in Saudi Arabia, where he lived for a year. He then returned to the United States and was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives (1980), Ohio Senate (1984) and the U.S. House in 1994 as a Republican in an overwhelming Democratic seat.
Bob became Chairman of the House Administration Committee, Chair of the Housing Sub Committee, Deputy Whip leadership position and member of the House Transportation Committee.
His legacy bill was the passage of the Help America vote act. Co-authored by now Democratic leader Steny Hoyer. HAVA in a bipartisan effort, modernized the American voting systems after the Bush/Gore election aftermath.
In 2006 Bob resigned from Congress due to the Jack Abramoff scandal and wrote a book about his time in politics and his incarceration in the federal corrections system. “ Sideswiped” (lessons learned courtesy of the hit men of Capitol Hill) was released in 2013, and is definitely worth a purchase and a read! (buy here: tinyurl.com/buysideswiped)

The two discuss news that the State Department Inspector General who was fired by President Trump late Friday night, Steve Linick, was investigating the president’s effort to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia without congressional approval.

Bob Ney also volunteers helping people with recovery from alcohol and drug abuse, and is involved in other entrepreneurial ventures. He makes his home in Ohio, Father of two grown children and five grandchildren. Bob also co-hosts a weekly podcast, with co-host Jim Owen, where they speak the truth about a fundamentally unfair economic system, and learn what can be done to correct it. It's called 'Door to Door' and can be found at www.BobNeyDoorToDoor.com.

You can watch this episode here: www.pscp.tv/w/1RDGlQagbAqJL

New Biden-Trump Poll, Potential Biden Running Mates, COVID-19 'Heroes Act'

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 Shawn Zeller, Deputy Editor of CQ Magazine, and host of the 'CQ on Congress' podcast. Shawn's Twitter handle is @ShawnZeller.

Brad and Shawn discuss a new Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump CNN poll, potential Biden running mates, and the 'Heroes Act' legislation that passed in the House this past Friday.

During the second half of the show, Brad leads a political round-table with Tara Devlin and Mark Grimaldi. The roundtable continues to discuss the new CNN Biden-Trump poll, as well as the general election as a whole.

Tara Devlin is a New York City-based comedian, writer, and founder of RepublicanDirtyTricks.com, also known as 'RDTdaily.' Tara's Twitter handle is @REALTaraDevlin and her Instagram handle is @Taradacktyl. Tara's unapologetically liberal weekly podcast, "TARABUSTER" is recorded LIVE every Saturday evening at 6PM eastern on the RDTdaily Facebook and Youtube channels and replayed starting Sunday at 6PM eastern on Progressive Voices, or any time on the Progressive Voices app. You can become a 'patron' of Tarabuster and RDTdaily at www.Patreon.com/TaraDevlin.

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 this episode here: https://www.pscp.tv/w/1RDxlQadMdDKL

Protecting the Postal Service, Expanding Vote-By-Mail During COVID-19 Pandemic

Leslie begins the show with her 'Ripped from the Headlines' news segment.

Here are the stories she covers during the segment:

1. NBC NEWS: "Fact check: Coronavirus vaccine could come this year, Trump says. Experts say he needs a 'miracle' to be right."

2. NBC NEWS: "House to vote on Democrats' $3T coronavirus 'HEROES' aid: Stimulus checks, money for states, rent assistance"

3. AXIOS: "Ousted vaccine chief: I was told my pandemic warnings were "causing a commotion""

4. AXIOS: "UN issues dire economic report as WHO warns coronavirus "may never go away""

5. AXIOS: "Another 3 million Americans filed for unemployment last week"

During the second half of the show, Leslie is joined by Kristen Clarke, President and Executive Director of the National Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers’ Committee), which is one of the country’s most important and long-tenured national civil rights organizations in the pursuit of equal justice for all. The Lawyers’ Committee seeks to promote fair housing and community development, economic justice, voting rights, equal educational opportunity, criminal justice, judicial diversity and more.

The two discuss protecting the U.S. Postal Service, and expanding vote-by-mail for Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Clarke released the following statement about the recent murky departure of Deputy Postmaster General Ronald Stroman:

“We are sounding an alarm regarding the departure of Ronald Stroman from the Postal Service. The Postal Service lies at the heart of our democracy and is critical to the success of an unprecedented vote-by-mail system that is needed for a fair and effective 2020 election season. The Postal Service is also a lifeline for vulnerable people who are counting on mail delivery for medication, stimulus payments, and more. Stroman’s untimely departure signals deepening chaos and disruption inside the Postal Service at a critical moment during the 2020 election season.

“We call on Congress to convene oversight hearings to determine whether the recent wave of leadership shifts at the Postal Service stands to harm the public by jeopardizing implementation of the Census and vote-by-mail amid the pandemic.”

The website for the Lawyers’ Committee is lawyerscommittee.org and their Twitter handle is @LawyersComm. Kristen's handle is @KristenClarkeJD.

Additionally, the Lawyers’ Committee powers '866-OUR-VOTE,' which is working 365 days a year to advance and defend your right to vote. You can call 866-OUR-VOTE with your voting questions and issues! (Remember this number between now and Election day!) Their website is 866OURVOTE.org.

You can watch this episode here: https://www.pscp.tv/w/1mrGmQakykkGy

The U.S. Criminal Justice System Harms Women and Families

Today's guest hosts are Brent J. Cohen and Edwith Theogene, Executive Director and Organizing Director for Generation Progress.

During today's episode, they discuss the ways in which our criminal justice system harms women and families, and particularly women and families of color. Especially during this pandemic, which is shedding on just how vulnerable incarcerated people are during emergencies and crises, finding ways to change this system—which is firmly rooted in white supremacy—has never been more important.

To delve further into this issue, and discuss why it is critical to approach criminal justice reform with a reproductive justice lens—Brett and Edwith are joined by two guests with substantial expertise in this area.  They are Arissa Hall, the Project Director at National Bail Out, and Yveka Pierre, litigation counsel at If/When/How.

Here are the Twitter handles for today's guests and their respective organizations: Arissa Hall - @riss_understood, National Bail Out - @nationalbailout, If/When/How - @ifwhenhow.

The website for "Generation Progress" is www.GenProgress.org and their Twitter Handle is @GenProgress.  Brent J. Cohen's Twitter handle is @BrentJCohen and Edwith Theogene's handle is @WhoIsEdwith.

Identity Theft During COVID-19; Trump Economic Advisors Push "Work Til' You Die Plan" to Gut Social Security

Leslie is joined by two different guests on two different topics.

Leslie is first joined by Eva Casey Velasquez, President and CEO at the Identity Theft Resource Center. The ITRC is a non-profit organization established to empower and guide consumers, victims, business and government to minimize risk and mitigate the impact of identity compromise and crime. Ms. Velasquez previously served as the Vice President of Operations for the San Diego Better Business Bureau and spent 21 years at the San Diego District Attorney’s Office.

They discuss financial identity theft during the COVID-19 pandemic, including what people can do if it's happened to them.  Eva also highlights how and why unemployment benefits are being targeted by identity thieves during the pandemic.

The website for the ITRC is idtheftcenter.org.  Their Twitter and Instagram handle is @IDTheftCenter.  Eva's Twitter handle is @ITRCCEO.

During the second half of the show, Leslie is joined by Alex Lawson, Executive Director of Social Security Works, which fights to address the retirement income crisis by protecting and expanding America's Social Security system.  Social Security Works is the convening organization of the Strengthen Social Security Coalition— a coalition made up of over 340 national and state organizations representing over 50 million Americans.

Leslie and Alex discuss how President Trump's economic advisors are pushing a new "Work Til' You Die Plan," as Social Security Works has accurately dubbed it, with the goal of gutting America's Social Security program.

The 'Social Security Works' website is socialsecurityworks.org and their Twitter handle is @ssworks.  Alex's Twitter handle is @alaw202.

Record Breaking Unemployment Numbers, Michael Flynn Case, and Ahmaud Arbery Injustice

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 Heidi Shierholz, Senior Economist and Director of Policy at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank created in 1986 to include the needs of low- and middle-income workers in economic policy discussions.  Heidi leads EPI’s policy team, which monitors wage and employment policies coming out of Congress and the administration and advances a worker-first policy agenda. 

Brad and Heidi discuss how nearly one in five workers applied for state unemployment insurance benefits in the last seven weeks, which is nearly five times the worst seven-week stretch of the Great Recession.  They also talk about what type of economic relief package that the government should be working on to help the American people who are financially struggling thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, and why the relief should not include any arbitrary end dates.

The website for EPI is epi.org and their Twitter handle is @EconomicPolicy.  Heidi's handle is @hshierholz.

During the second half of the show, Brad is 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.
Some of our audience will also recognize Ed's voice, as he has guest hosted Leslie's show a number of times in the past

Brad and Ed discuss two different topics during their interview.  First, they cover the Justice Department’s decision to drop the criminal case against Michael Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser.  Experts have noted how there is no obvious precedent to a case being dropped after a suspect has plead guilty to lying to investigators, which Flynn did twice.  Second, Brad and Ed talk about the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery murder.  Arbery, a black man, was chased by two white men and shot dead by one of them.  Arbery was jogging and unarmed when killed.  It took authorities 74 days to arrest the suspects, and only after a video of the killing was leaked to the media.

The website for the Center for American Progress is AmericanProgress.org and their Twitter handle is @amprog. Ed Chung's handle is @EdChungDC.

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 this episode here: https://www.pscp.tv/w/1jMJgQpkaoyKL

COVID-19 and Student Borrowers

Today's guest hosts are Brent J. Cohen and Charlotte Hancock, Executive Director and Communications Director for Generation Progress.

 

During this episode, they’re going to be examining yet another example of how COVID-19 has exacerbated an existing issue in this country—in this case, the student debt crisis. Generation Progress has been doing advocacy work in the student debt space for much of their existence, and it’s an issue that they feel very strongly about. The collective student loan debt owed by Americans today totals over 1.5 *trillion* dollars, and around one-third of people under the age of 35 currently have a student loan. The cost of attending college has risen dramatically in recent decades, but these advanced degrees are still considered a prerequisite for most middle-class jobs. That precarious situation combined with the rise of predatory, for-profit institutions that exploit students’ desire for higher education have resulted in many students battling climbing debt well into their careers. Now, with many people in this country out of work or losing income as a result of the pandemic, the student debt crisis is positioned to get much worse, especially for people already fighting against gender and racial wealth gaps.

To learn more about what needs to be done now to protect and provide relief to student borrowers—particularly those most impacted by COVID-19—they’re joined by Ashley Harrington, senior policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending, and Cody Hounanian, program director at Student Debt Crisis.

 

Here are the Twitter handles for today's guests and their respective organizations: Ashley Harrington - @achesquire, Center for Responsible Lending - @crlonline, Cody Hounanian - @chounanian, Student Debt Crisis - @DebtCrisisOrg

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.

Why Can’t America Make Enough Masks or Ventilators?

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 published in the New York Times titled, "Why Can’t America Make Enough Masks or Ventilators?" (Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/opinion/coronavirus-industry-manufacturing.html)

They also talk about President Trump’s troublesome “tariff relief” plan, as well as why AAM believes now is the perfect time to rebuild America's infrastructure.

On that note, we'd like to encourage you to please add your name to AAM's message to President Trump, and Vice President Pence, that it's time to Rebuild America!
Just go to tinyurl.com/RebuildAmericaAction to add your name. Thank you!

The website for AAM is AmericanManufacturing.org and their Twitter handle is @KeepItMadeInUSA. Scott Paul's handle is @ScottPaulAAM.