journalist and author
Freelance journalist and Contributor to The Wrap; former US Correspondent for the Independent, a London daily newspaper; author of Steal This Vote: Dirty Elections and the Rotten History of Democracy in America and Oklahoma City: What the Investigation Missed--and Why It Still Matters
Forensic Science and the Wrongful Conviction of Innocent People Mistakes made at the FBI's crime lab may have helped put thousands of people behind bars, based on faulty analysis of forensic evidence. The alarm bells went off in 1995, when an FBI special agent testified in the high-profile terrorism trial of the Muslim sheik suspected of plotting the first attack on the World Trade Center. A chemist and lawyer, he told the court he'd been pressured by his superiors to ignore forensic findings that didn't support the government's theory of the bombing. The uproar that followed prompted a Justice Department investigation. But the report, which took nearly a decade to complete, was never released publicly. A Washington Post report found several wrongful convictions. What about the other cases? How reliable is forensic evidence? Are new standards and oversight needed?
The Nixon Library and the 'Last Battle of Watergate' For 30 years, the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California was a haven for supporters of a former President who resigned in disgrace. Then, the National Archives appointed a new director who later called Nixon "the worst President in modern history." When Tim Naftali took over in 2006, he instituted a new display on the Watergate scandal. Instead of blaming the Democrats, it looked to Nixon loyalists like an "unapologetic attack" on Nixon himself. Now Naftali's resigned and the story is unraveled in an article by Andrew Gumbel that appears in the magazine Miller-McCune .
Motion Picture and Television Home One of LA's most venerable institutions is the Motion Picture and Television Retirement Home in Woodland Hills. It was started by Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin 87 years ago. Recently the foundation that runs it said it was losing $10 million a year and would have to close part of it down. But veteran reporter Andrew Gumble, who blogs at TheWrap.com , discovered that not all the statements were true. Today, Jeffrey Katzenberg, head of DreamWorks Animation and the chair of the foundation met with reporters .
David Beckham's Star Power Shines on LA Galaxy David Beckham is in Los Angeles, preparing to earn his $6 million-a-year salary. The soccer icon is also a major celebrity, the husband of Posh Spice , a global marketing brand and a major investment by the LA Galaxy who will no doubt bring unprecedented buzz to the game of soccer. That buzz began long before Beckham's arrival yesterday to an enormous reception by the media. But are fans as excited as the paparazzi? Though enormously popular with this country's Latino population, and with suburban kids and their parents who gather on playing fields all over the US, soccer's never achieved the media status enjoyed by other sports. Will Beckham make a difference? We ask Jamie Trecker of FoxSports.com and Andrew Gumbel of London's Independent .
The Integrity of the Ballot Box After Florida’s contested presidential election in 2000, Congress mandated a transition to electronic voting. In 2004, new technology caused confusion and controversy, as hundreds of different counties struggled with new machines and programs. Next month, some experts are saying, the electoral process will be more chaotic than ever. New technology means new opportunities for rigging the outcome, a tradition as old as democracy in America. Both Democrats and Republicans are braced for battle. But is partisanship as great a risk to an accurate vote count as incompetence and mismanagement? (An expanded version of this discussion was originally broadcast earlier today on To the Point .)
The Integrity of the Ballot Box After Florida's contested presidential election in 2000, Congress mandated a transition to electronic voting. In 2004, new technology caused confusion and controversy, as hundreds of different counties struggled with new machines and programs. Next month, some experts are saying, the electoral process will be more chaotic than ever. New technology means new opportunities for rigging the outcome, a tradition as old as democracy in America. Both Democrats and Republicans are braced for battle. But is partisanship as great a risk to an accurate vote count as incompetence and mismanagement?
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.
White House budget proposal slashes and burns President Trump's first budget request is considered dead on arrival in Congress — a familiar development in Capitol Hill. We hear what it reveals about the priorities of the new administration. What's likely to die… and what might survive?
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.