Juneteenth and the Legacy of Racism in Texas
We begin with today’s Juneteenth holiday and examine the legacy of racism in Texas, since Juneteenth celebrates the freeing of slaves in Texas who were cynically and cruelly kept in slavery in Texas well after the Emancipation Proclamation. Joining us is Melanye Price, Endowed Professor of Political Science at Prairie View A&M University, Texas. She is the author of The Race Whisperer: Barack Obama and the Political Uses of Race and Dreaming Blackness: Black Nationalism and African American Public Opinion. We discuss a latest poll that shows a sharp increase in support from black voters for Trump, up from 7% to 21%, and a decrease in support for Biden, down from 86% to 70%.
The Wholesale Self-abasement, Humiliation, and Degradation in the Recent Groveling of GOP Lawmakers Before the Insurrectionist Who Directed the Attack on Their Capitol Workplace
Then we speak with an historian of Abraham Lincoln to assess Trump’s capture of the party, on display last week on Capitol Hill as Speaker Johnson and Minority Leader McConnell grovelled before the insurrectionist who directed the January 6 attack on their Capitol workplace. We discuss how, in the entire history of the Congress, there has never been such a scene of wholesale self-abasement, humiliation, and degradation — in spite of a deadly duel in the early 19th century and the shocking caning on the floor of the Senate in 1856 by a South Carolina congressman of the abolitionist senator Charles Sumner, as he sat at his desk. Joining us is Sidney Blumenthal, the former assistant and senior adviser to both President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton. He has been a national staff reporter for The Washington Post and Washington editor and staff writer for The New Yorker. His books include the bestsellers The Clinton Wars, The Rise of the Counter-Establishment, and The Permanent Campaign. His latest book is All the Powers of Earth: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln, 1856-1860. We discuss his article at The Guardian, “Trump’s enablers in Congress are a fascinating case study of political amnesia.”
The Senate Votes 88 to 2 to Boost Nuclear Power Based on “New” Reactor Technology That is Old and Less Safe
Then finally, we examine the 88-to-2 vote in the Senate for a bill to boost nuclear power based on the false promises of a new technology that is both old and less safe than the current aging power reactors, which have been plagued with near-disasters and massive cost overruns. Joining us is Edwin Lyman, Director of Nuclear Power Safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists and an internationally recognized expert on nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism, as well as nuclear power safety and security. He is a member of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management and has testified numerous times before Congress and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He co-authored the critically acclaimed book Fukushima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster.