WZBC 90.3 FM Newton

Dr. Susan Rogers: Contrary to GOP Talking Points, Medicare For All Will Reduce Costs for All; Mark Colville: Catholic Activists Claim Their Civil Disobedience Against Nuclear Weapons is Based on Their Faith; Sam Pizzigati: U.S. Inequality Reaching Record Highs, Requires Policy Shift; Bob Nixon: This Week’s Under-reported News Summary.

The Supreme Court won’t rule until spring on the cases it recently took up, involving employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. But that doesn’t mean we have to wait until then to assess the state of fairness for LGBTQ people in US society. The gap between what the law says LGTBQ people merit, and the harms and hardships they experience, can be cavernous. We’ll also about talk about the ridiculously bad media coverage of Ecuador with Joe Emersberger, writer for a number of outlets, including FAIR.org.

Ted Howard, co-founder of the Democracy Collaborative, and Marjorie Kelly, author of The Divine Right of Capital, and Owning our Future have teamed up to co-author The Making of a Democratic Economy, a clarion call for a movement ready to get serious about transforming our economic system. The authors illuminate the principles of a democratic economy through the stories of on-the-ground community wealth builders and their unlikely accomplices in the halls of institutional power. Their book is a must read for everyone concerned with how we win the fight for an economy that's equitable, not extractive.

The Kingsbay Ploughshares 7 are facing 25 years in prison for their action at a nuclear submarine base. We speak with six of them: Elizabeth McAlister, Martha Hennessy, Mark Colville, Clare Grady, Patrick O’Neill, and Carmen Trotta. All six are eager to explain their action and its importance. This site in Georgia, which they entered easily without challenge, houses enough nukes to end life on earth. It highlights the travesty of so-called "national security."

Today we feature Harvard Professor Cornel West giving the annual Edward Said memorial lecture sponsored by the Palestine Center in Washington DC. Edward Said, the outstanding Palestinian intellectual, author, and classical musician, taught at Columbia University for many years before his death in 2003. Cornel West and Edward Said were friends and colleagues for several years.

James Fallows spent decades covering national politics for The Atlantic. For the last four years though, he’s traveled the parts of America typically left out of the national conversation. And he comes back with "good" (really?) news.

Murray was physically present at the devastating UK court proceeding in which the callous magistrate, Vanessa Baraitser, ignored or thumbed her nose at every single request or argument presented by Assange's lawyers, all as obviously dictated by the American goons who sat with the prosecution. The UK/US extradition treaty does not permit extradition for "crimes" like publishing leaked documents; the magistrate refused a special hearing to consider this, instead decreeing a prompt extradition trial, with virtually no preparation time or access to seized documents, in a remote prison with only six seats for observers. Meanwhile, Assange was present, emaciated and barely able to talk, showing obvious signs of serious torture.