What We Do Know About Police Brutality Is Bad: What We Don’t Know May Be Worse — Podcast May 4, 2015

Posted on May 8, 2015 by William Timberman


Police Violence: a Statistical Black Hole. Democratic Perspective’s Mike Cosentino, Gary LaMaster and Steve Williamson review the shocking lack of statistical information on the frequency of unprovoked police violence against a citizenry they’re sworn to protect and to serve. Our cellphone cameras have now given us a clear warning about what the police do when they think we aren’t watching. The questions we need to ask are simple enough: what don’t we know about police violence, and why don’t we know it? The answers, such as they are so far, are anything but reassuring.

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Posted in Bigotry, Civil Rights, Government, Law Enforcement, Podcasts, Policing, Racial Discrimination, Racism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on What We Do Know About Police Brutality Is Bad: What We Don’t Know May Be Worse — Podcast May 4, 2015

Debt Peonage as a Source of Revenue: Paying for Government by Fining the Poor — Podcast April 27, 2015

Posted on April 28, 2015 by William Timberman


On the Backs of the Poor: The Great Recession and the Criminalization of Debt. Democratic Perspective’s Mike Cosentino, Gary LaMaster and Steve Williamson analyze the effect on the poor, especially minorities, of the disturbing recent trend toward financing hard-pressed local governments through exorbitant fines for minor offenses, and the even more disturbing trend toward jailing people who can’t pay the fines or the interest on them, then charging them fees for their own incarceration. Whose American Dream is that supposed to be? The answer may shock you.

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Posted in Arizona Law Enforcement, Capitalism, Class Conflict, Constitutional Issues, Corrections Policy, Corruption, Democratic Governance, Income Inequality, Justice System, Law Enforcement, Legal Issues, Local Politics, Mass Incarceration, Minimum Wage, Penology, Podcasts, Policing, Private Prisons, Racism | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Debt Peonage as a Source of Revenue: Paying for Government by Fining the Poor — Podcast April 27, 2015

Alessandra Soler Meetze Interview — Podcast April 20, 2015

Posted on April 23, 2015 by William Timberman


The ACLU in Arizona, 2014/15: Some Good News for a Change. Democratic Perspective’s Gary LaMaster and Steve Williamson discuss some recent civil liberties litigation victories with Alessandra Soler Meetze, Executive Director of the ACLU for Arizona. Dreamers got their driver’s licenses, Joe Arpaio was enjoined from conducting raids for the sole purpose of rounding up undocumented immigrants, and Chuck Ryan from the Arizona Department of Corrections agreed to a federally approved settlement to improve the health care of Arizona prison inmates. Much has been accomplished, much remains to be done, and the ACLU — as ever — is on the job.

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Posted in Anti-Gay Discrimination, Arizona Law Enforcement, Arizona Politics, Civil Rights, Constitutional Issues, Corrections Policy, Education Policy, Immigration, Interviews, Justice System, Law Enforcement, Penology, Podcasts, Policing, Private Prisons | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Alessandra Soler Meetze Interview — Podcast April 20, 2015

U.S. Interventionism: In Search of a Coherent Foreign Policy — Podcast April 13, 2015

Posted on April 17, 2015 by William Timberman


Does Military Intervention in Other Countries Really Advance U.S. Interests? Democratic Perspective’s Mike Cosentino, Gary LaMaster and Steve Williamson  discuss the long list of American military interventions in the affairs of other countries, and the consequences to date. The balance sheet is far from positive, yet critics of our foreign policy have yet to make much headway against an entrenched foreign policy establishment which insists in the face of consistent failure that force and the threat of force are the key to favorable outcomes in foreign affairs.

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Posted in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, International Relations, International Terrorism, Iran, Islamic Republic, Middle East, Middle East Policy, Military Policy, Palestinian/Israeli Conflict, Podcasts, U.S. Armed Forces | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on U.S. Interventionism: In Search of a Coherent Foreign Policy — Podcast April 13, 2015

The Iran Nuclear Framework Deal: Yet Another Historic Achievement to Bedevil the Right — Podcast April 6, 2015

Posted on April 9, 2015 by William Timberman


Binyamin Netanyahu and the Republicans Hate It: Will the Historic Nuclear Framework Agreement with Iran Survive the Meddling of Congressional Warmongers? Democratic Perspective’s Mike Cosentino, Gary LaMaster and Steve Williamson  discuss the framework plan agreed upon between Iran and the Six Powers for the final stages of negotiations toward a comprehensive treaty on Iran’s nuclear program. What are the elements of the framework, and why are they opposed by the Israeli government and by Congressional hawks? If they succeed in blocking the deal, are there any other alternatives short of war?

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Posted in Disinformation, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, International Terrorism, Iran, Islamic Republic, Media Campaigns, Middle East, Middle East Policy, Military Policy, Nuclear Weapons, Palestinian/Israeli Conflict, Podcasts | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Iran Nuclear Framework Deal: Yet Another Historic Achievement to Bedevil the Right — Podcast April 6, 2015

The Arizona Legislative Lunacy Report: Spring 2015 Edition — Podcast April 30, 2015

Posted on April 1, 2015 by William Timberman


The March of Ideology and Incompetence Continues in Phoenix: Democratic Perspective’s Mike Cosentino and Gary LaMaster take a detailed look at the Arizona Republic’s recently published docket of bills pending in the Legislature. Listen as our intrepid analysts subject the moderately acceptable, the irredeemably awful, and the crazy ugly to the test of common sense.

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Posted in Anti-Federalism, Arizona Budget, Arizona Economy, Arizona Politics, Budget Negotiations, Campaign Finance, Child Protection, Citizens United, Constitutional Issues, Corporate Welfare, Corruption, Dark Money, Education, Education Policy, Elections, Federal Lands, Firearms Legislation, Fiscal Policy, Gun Control, Immigration, Industrial Policy, Nullification, Podcasts, Political Contributions, Public Education, Regulatory Agencies, Special Interest Legislation | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The Arizona Legislative Lunacy Report: Spring 2015 Edition — Podcast April 30, 2015

Peg Bowden Interview — Podcast March 23, 2015

Posted on March 26, 2015 by William Timberman


The Quality of Our Mercy: Peg Bowden Speaks from Experience on the Militarization of the U.S.-Mexican Border. Democratic Perspective’s Mike Cosentino, Gary LaMaster, and Steve Williamson talk to Peg Bowden about the experiences that impelled her to write her 2014 book, A Land of Hard Edges. Why do we treat impoverished refugees from Central America and Mexico as criminals? Why is it a felony to aid people in distress in the Sonoran desert which spans the border? Why are tourists who take pictures on the border detained, and their cameras confiscated by ICE in the same way that the East German Volkspolizei once did in Europe? The ugly politics of immigration, and its human costs, as seen by someone who lives in the midst of our current madness on the border.

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Posted in Arizona Law Enforcement, Arizona Politics, Bigotry, Child Protection, Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security, Immigration, Law Enforcement, Legal Issues, Podcasts, Racism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Peg Bowden Interview — Podcast March 23, 2015

The Confederate State of Arizona — Podcast March 16, 2015

Posted on March 19, 2015 by William Timberman


The Payback for Dark Money in Arizona: More Corporate Tax Cuts, Continued Defunding of Public Education, and Yahoo! a Secessionist Republican Legislature. Gary LaMaster and Steve Williamson dissect the results of the 2014 election in Arizona: a seemingly endless stream of bills from both houses of the legislature which would reduce the state’s tax base, impoverish its universities and community colleges, and assert for Arizona the right to ignore the U.S. Constitution in theory, if not in practice. This tawdry little drama, starring Doug Ducey as Jefferson Davis, and Bob Thorpe as John C. Calhoun, is apparently destined, in the absence of U.S. Supreme Court intervention, for a long run on the capitol stage in Phoenix. As someone who shall  remain forever nameless* once remarked, history does indeed repeat itself; the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.

*Karl Marx in Der 18te Brumaire des Louis Napoleon, 1852

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Posted in Arizona Budget, Arizona Economy, Arizona Politics, Budget Negotiations, Conservatives and Reactionaries, Constitutional Issues, Dark Money, Education, Education Policy, Housekeeping, Jobs and Employment, Podcasts, Political Contributions, Privatization, Public Education | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Confederate State of Arizona — Podcast March 16, 2015

David R. Frazer Interview — Podcast March 9, 2015

Posted on March 14, 2015 by William Timberman


Ethical Meltdown: a Question of Values? Democratic Perspective’s Mike Cosentino and Steve Williamson welcome David Frazer, respected Arizona attorney and author of Ethical Meltdown: the Need to Recover Our Vanishing Values, for a discussion about the current decay of legal and professional ethics in the United States, and the threat it poses to a society which claims to value justice, fairness, and democratic government.

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Posted in Arizona Law Enforcement, Arizona Politics, Corruption, Ethics, Interviews, Justice System, Law Enforcement, Legal Issues, Morality, Podcasts, Regulatory Agencies | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on David R. Frazer Interview — Podcast March 9, 2015

Terry Goddard Interview — Podcast March 2, 2015

Posted on March 6, 2015 by William Timberman


Dark Money: How Industrialized Lying Poisons the Well of Democracy. Democratic Perspective’s Mike Cosentino and Gary LaMaster welcome Terry Goddard, former Mayor of Phoenix, Attorney General of Arizona, and twice Democratic Party candidate for Governor, to another in our series of discussions on the malign influence of wealth on American political processes and governance.

Someone once said that you can be pretty sure that a country which calls itself The Independent Democratic People’s Republic of X is neither independent, democratic, nor do its people actually have anything to do with governing it. Likewise, when you see a political ad supposedly sponsored by Citizens for Mom, Apple Pie, and the Flag, you can be pretty sure that its sponsor is a) NOT a grassroots political organization, and b) that its agenda has less to do with motherhood, family values, or patriotism than it does with a corporate economic interest that is in fact inimical to all of them.

Listen in for fascinating insights from a career politician on why and how it’s come to this, and what we, as actual citizens, can do about it.

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Posted in Arizona Politics, Citizens United, Constitutional Issues, Corruption, Dark Money, Democratic Governance, Elections, Government, Interviews, Media Campaigns, National Politics, Podcasts, Political Action Committees, Political Contributions, Propaganda, Special Interest Legislation, Supreme Court | Tagged | Comments Off on Terry Goddard Interview — Podcast March 2, 2015