KPFA - Letters and Politics

Guest: Brenda Wineapple is the author of the book The impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation. This is the story of the period shortly after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, when Vice-President Andrew Johnson, now “the Accidental President,”  ignored Congress, pardoned rebel leaders, promoted white supremacy, opposed civil rights, and called Reconstruction unnecessary. Congress had to stop the American president who acted like a king.   Feature image: The Senate as a Court of Impeachment for the Trial of President Andrew Johnson on Wikipedia The post The First Impeachment of a President appeared first on KPFA.

Part I – Impeachment as tool to deal with impunity  Guest: Frank O. Bowman is a professor of law at the University of Missouri. He also teaches a seminar on impeachment at Georgetown law school. And is the author of the book High Crimes and Misdemeanors: A History of Impeachment for the Age of Trump.   Part II – The Importance of Holding Leaders Accountable Guest: Almudena Bernabeu is a renowned international human rights lawyer. She is the co-founder and director of Guernica 37 International Justice Chambers. She has been involved in the investigation and prosecution of several cases and human rights violations in Latin America, the Middle East, and Europe, including the massacre of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter by members of the Salvadoran Military High Command in El Salvador.   Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash The post Impeachment and Holding Leaders Accountable appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Gerald Horne is Moores Professor of History & African American Studies at the University of Houston.  He is the author of more than three dozen books including White Supremacy Confronted: US Imperialism & Anticommunism vs the Liberation of Southern Africa from Rhodes to Mandela, The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism: The Roots of Slavery, and White Supremacy and Capitalism in 17th Century North America and the Caribbean.  His latest is The Bittersweet Science: racism, racketeering, and the political economy of boxing. The post Gerald Horne on the Political Economy of Boxing and Slavery appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Ethan Zuckerman is the founder of the Institute for Digital Public Infrastructure at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and associate professor of public policy, information, and communication.  He is cofounder of the international blogging community Global Voices.  His latest book is Mistrust: Why Losing Faith in Institutions Provides the Tools to Transform Them. Front page image by Markus Spiske on Unsplash The post The Mistrust of Institutions: Internet, Corporations, and the Government appeared first on KPFA.

Part I – The Military Coup in Myanmar Guest: Nyunt Than is Chair of the Burmese American Democratic Alliance (BADA). Part II – The Rights and Safety of the Rohingya Guest: Robert McCaw is Government Affairs Department Director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).   Photo by Bao Menglong on Unsplash The post The Military Coup in Myanmar & The Rights and Safety of the Rohingya appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Dr. Margaret Bordeaux is Research Director of the Program in Global Public Policy and Social Change at Harvard Medical School.  She is Co-chair of the Berkman Klein Center, Policy Practice: Digital Pandemic Response Working Group at Harvard University, and an Associate Physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the Division of Global Health Equity. Her research and clinical work has focused on global responses to epidemics, humanitarian crises and ecologic disasters around the world.   Photo by Steven Cornfield on Unsplash The post The Coronavirus Variants and The Vaccine: A Race Between Team Covid and Team Human appeared first on KPFA.

  Part I – The Future of the U.S. and the Global Economy Under a Biden Administration. Guest: Joseph Stiglitz is a Nobel laureate in economics, University Professor at Columbia University, and chief economist of the Roosevelt Institute. His latest book is People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent.   Part II – Biden’s Orders on Climate & Fossil Industry Guest: Matt Kent is Regulatory Policy Associate at Public Citizen Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash The post Joseph Stiglitz on the Future of the U.S. and the Global Economy & Biden’s Actions on Climate Change appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Miguel Tinker-Salas is Leslie Farmer Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of History and Chicana/o Latina/o Studies at Pomona College. He is the author of several books including The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture, and Society in Venezuela and Venezuela: What Everyone Needs to Know. photo: Bernardo Ramonfaur on Unsplash The post Militarization and Neo-Liberalism for Latin America Under the Biden Plan appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Steven S. Smith is the Kate M. Gregg Distinguished Professor of Social Science and Director of the Weidenbaum Center at Washington University in St. Louis. He is the author or coauthor of numerous articles and books, including Politics Over Process and The Senate Syndrome: The Evolution of Procedural Warfare in the Modern U.S. Senate and The Party Influence in Congress.   Photo source: Wikimedia- Drawn by Peter F. Rothermel / engraved by Robert Whitechurch (1814-ca. 1880) The post The Filibuster and the History of Congressional Rules and Procedural Warfare in The Senate appeared first on KPFA.

Part 1 – The Immigration Crisis in Central America and the Migrant Caravans Seeking Refuge Guest: Arturo J. Viscarra is staff attorney for CHIRLA’s International Programs. Part 2 – The Immigration Policies Under the New Biden Administration Guest: Catherine Tactaquin is an immigration policy expert and co-founder of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.   Photo source: Wikimedia commons The post The Central American Exodus & The Immigration Policies Under the New Biden Administration appeared first on KPFA.