Yes, the auction is in full-swing. I’m selling off all this cool stuff because we really need the money. So click, browse, click and bid! Rinse and repeat. So, it is all about the money.
Sadly so is our political system. The NY Times today has a fabulous interactive piece on how much money each candidate for the 2016 nominations has raised, from how many people, and from the source (as in individual, corp or PAC, etc), and the results are fascinating. Read it for yourself, but the one thing that stood out to me is the fact that Bernie Sanders has gotten contributions from more individuals than any other 2016 candidate, period!
Scott Walker officially jumped in this week. This morning, we learned more than we ever wanted to know about Walker of Wisconsin from Harvey J. Kaye, author of The Fight for the Four Freedoms: What Made FDR and the Greatest Generation Truly Great, who now joins us every other Thursday morning.
In Scott Walker’s case, it’s all about the Koch money!
In the second hour, I spoke with Jeff Sharlet. Jeff is the nationally bestselling author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power and Sweet Heaven When I Die: Faith, Faithlessness, and the Country In Between. He is also an associate professor of creative writing at Dartmouth College, and won the National Magazine Award for Reporting for “Inside the Iron Closet,” in the February 2014 issue of GQ.
Jeff is also one of my favorite people to chat with on the show because it’s always a fascinating conversation. From learning all about C Street and The Family from him, I take a bit of pride from the fact that I’m now the most-hated woman of the Men’s Movement (after our interview about his GQ piece on them)….
Today, Jeff joined me to discuss his latest piece for GQ, “The Invisible Man: The End of A Black Life That Mattered,”about the killing of a homeless man on LA’s Skid Row who was killed by cops on March 1, 2015, making him the 175th person killed at the hand of cops (that we know of) already. Jeff’s article tells us that number has since risen to 573. Five hundred seventy-three, that we know of.
I would say that it’s a coincidence that, as we were speaking, Twitter was buzzing with the stories of Sandra Bland, who was pulled over in Texas for not using her turn signal before turning, and was discovered dead in her jail cell three days later. But it’s no coincidence, just a matter of the odds. These killings are happening all the time.
Tomorrow, we’ll end the week with a variety of guests, including Bayan Abdul Rahman, Kurdistan Regional Government Representative to USA, formerly UK. In leadership of Kurdistan Democratic Party. Seriously! And we’ll end the week with a Flashback Friday musical blast from the past to go along with the big Radio or Not auction, happening now! Don’t forget to check out the listings and start bidding!
See you tomorrow, radio or not!
