Episodes
Thursday Jun 25, 2020
Ep. 6.25.20: A Crazy Little Thing Called Hope
Thursday Jun 25, 2020
Thursday Jun 25, 2020
THE HOME FOR PROGRESSIVE POLITICS
This Week’s Discussion:
Dave talks about how recent events have given him something he has had little cause to feel over the waking nightmare of the Trump years: reason for hope. Like for someone seeing light at the end of a very dark tunnel, these are particularly perilous times.
We discuss the reasons for hope and those for caution in the latest Supreme Court ruling against Trump and his racism, and for the Dreamers. What to make of the second Supreme Court ruling in just over a week that is cause for celebration?
We find more reason for hope and caution in the latest polls that do not look good for Trump and in Trump's latest moves towards totalitarianism in firing the US Attorney for the Southern District of NY for not quite tailoring the law to the satisfaction of Trump and his cronies.
We also examine the hopeful and perilous signs in the latest on COVID and the protests for racial and social justice.
Finally, we ask what you do with all the leftover red meat if you throw a white supremacist rally and nobody shows up.
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Forward Nation Radio with Professor David Leventhal
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Wednesday Jun 17, 2020
Wednesday Jun 17, 2020
THE HOME FOR PROGRESSIVE POLITICS
This Week’s Discussion:
We discuss a great way to celebrate Pride Month, as the US Supreme Court issues a shocking and dramatic decision that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act bars discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender. Don't get your hopes up about the Supreme Court, however. There is no reason to expect it will now protect civil rights or develop integrity; it's more like road kill for an unstoppable and too-long-denied force for social progress.
Dave takes that same sentiment to his discussions of the week in social justice protests. We start with a reminder that Governor Cuomo of NY has only looked so great these past weeks because he is being compared to trump, a "leader" without brains or empathy still relying on calls to racists such as scheduling his white supremacist rally on Juneteenth in Tulsa. Cuomo telling protesters to go home because they had already won was like a hockey team declaring victory and going home after a first period goal. With added offensiveness.
The battle for racial justice, 400 years in the making, will not be won in a day, nor will it be won by securing cosmetic changes. (Nor will it be won at all if we get distracted by red herrings such as that seeking to make looting the real story here.) Keep marching to November...and beyond.
And then there's COVID. Trump moves the Republican convention to Florida, a state willing to sacrifice its citizens (and those of all the other states) for a few bucks. And schedules his rally in Tulsa, without taking precautions other than to force the morons to sign liability waivers! (But don't worry, the whole COVID thing is a George Soros plot!) Anybody want to guess a couple of states setting new records for new COVID cases?
The lockdown backlash will cost many thousands of US lives, all so Americans don't lose the freedom to dine in a packed restaurant. We consider the irony that people are siding with republicans on re-opening, due to concerns about small businesses, when it is republicans that are stealing the damage relief funds Democrats have allocated to small businesses!
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THE HOME FOR PROGRESSIVE POLITICS
Forward Nation Radio with Professor David Leventhal
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Tuesday Jun 09, 2020
Tuesday Jun 09, 2020
THE HOME FOR PROGRESSIVE POLITICS
This Week’s Discussion:
Peaceful worldwide pro-justice protests continue. Could this be different from protests past and lead to real systemic change? There are reasons to hope. Protests begin to force change, but need to break down the blue wall that puts police across the nation above the law. Trump and the police respond by reasserting that that is where they intend to stay. We need to force accountability, and then we need to keep marching right into the voting booths in November.
Meanwhile the President continues to demonstrate the strong, decisive, principled, and honest leadership that this country needs in times...oh, never mind. At least he reminds us that in republican circles, only corporations and rich people get constitutional rights as he fires on peaceful protesters so he can get a photo op with a--wait for it--bible! On second thought, can't we just lock him in his bunker and forget about him?
The media gets all excited over some cracks in Trump's cult as well, as he faces criticism from within his own administration and criminal political party. Seems we have been here before, but we can always find reason to hope. Anyone expecting integrity from the GOP needs to get real, but maybe they are a bellwether of ominous tidings for the criminal-in-chief.
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THE HOME FOR PROGRESSIVE POLITICS
Forward Nation Radio with Professor David Leventhal
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Sunday May 31, 2020
Sunday May 31, 2020
THE HOME FOR PROGRESSIVE POLITICS
This Week’s Discussion:
Protests erupt around the world following the police killing of George Floyd, just the latest (or is it?) unjustified police killing of a black person. Even as ultraconservatives infiltrate the ranks of the protesters to try to discredit them, the battle lines for 2020 are made clear. Those who protest for justice, equality, fairness vs. those who protest in favor of white privilege and the right to harm others. Guess which side our President is on? In case it wasn't clear before, he again makes clear his penchant for violence and desire to see his political rivals murdered.
Speaking of murder, Trump calls former Republican congressman and current MSNBC commentator Joe Scarborough a murderer. Do we even need to note it's not true? This is the President of the United States. But of course, there is so much he needs to deflect our intention from, including his allowing the first successful foreign-engineered terrorist attack in the US since 9/11.
How recent events continue to inform our discussions of free speech and how the media should treat Trump. Then we talk about Trump's recent botching of the issue of federalism. He may not know what it is all about, but he still manages to promote discredited and dangerous GOP ideas for allowing the rich to further enrich themselves while destroying the lives of millions. Or more.
*Also available on Spotify, iTunes, and Stitcher-Please SUBSCRIBE
THE HOME FOR PROGRESSIVE POLITICS
Forward Nation Radio with Professor David Leventhal
If you love what you heard, Like Us and share on Facebook - Instagram - Twitter