Southern Florida was gripped by another mass shooting, again at a high school. Scores of people were shot in Broward County, Florida, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School this afternoon. The hosts discuss the school shooting as well as the phenomena of mass shootings and why this has become a regular feature of life in American society.
Despite the hope for a bipartisan immigration measure in both houses of Congress, efforts there are already beginning to falter, mostly over questions of process. With President Trump demanding a deep cut in the number of immigrants allowed into the country, and a phasing out of the visa lottery, it will be an uphill battle to reform the system. Erika Almirón, executive director of the immigrant rights organization Juntos, Juan José Gutiérrez, executive director of the Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition, and Sundrop Carter, executive director of the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition, join the show.
President Trump's budget is beginning to come into focus, and the details are ugly. Even using Trump's inflated economic growth projections, the deficit is projected to grow by more than $7 trillion. The White House is also demanding the popular programs like student loan forgiveness and the National Endowment for the Arts be phased out to pay for more Pentagon weapons. Brian and John speak with Dave Lindorff, an investigative reporter, a columnist for CounterPunch, and at ThisCantBeHappening.net.
The Democrats yesterday won a state legislative seat in Florida that had never before gone Democratic. This is the third Republican seat to flip to the Democrats in Florida in the past year, and it may presage what political experts are saying could become a major sweep for the Democrats in the midterm elections. Jacqueline Luqman, editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, joins the show.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, announced yesterday that it would stop paying for the hotel rooms of Puerto Ricans displaced by Hurricane Maria. This is despite the fact that a third of the island still has no electricity. Juliana Musheyev, a member of the Board of Directors of the Peace Education and Action Center, joins Brian and John.
"GoogleBro" James Damore was fired from Google for creating a hostile work environment by circulating a memo stating that women are biologically less geared toward work in tech and leadership. He's now been invited to Portland State University by a group called PSU Freethinkers, and will be speaking this Saturday. Working with several activist groups and academic departments, the student government of PSU (called Associated Students), has organized three events through the week. Donald Thompson III, vice president of the Associated Students at PSU, and one of the primary organizers of the events this week, joins the show.
President Trump's longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, told the press yesterday that he paid former porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 out of his own pocket to keep the actress quiet about a sexual affair she had had with Trump a decade ago.
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