- Social:
National Network to End Domestic Violence
President and CEO of the National Network to End Domestic Violence; former president of the National Organization for Woman
PROFILE
Kim Gandy
Guest
FROM Kim Gandy
To the Point
NFL Fallout and the Domestic Violence Discussion This is the second full weekend of the National Football League’s 2014 season… but nobody’s talking about the games. Outrage continues to pour forth after the release this week of a videotape taken inside an elevator where Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice is seen punching his then-fiancee, now-wife, in an Atlantic City hotel back in February. It’s the prelude to a tape published by TMZ four days after the assault that showed him dragging her out of that elevator. Prosecutors offered Rice a plea bargain of no jail time if he went to anger management counseling. In late July, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Rice for two games, prompting a flurry of criticism that the punishment was too lenient. In August, Goodell admitted to NFL owners that he "didn’t get it right," and instituted a mandatory six-game suspension for first-time domestic abusers. When the new video came to light this week, Goodell suspended Rice indefinitely, and came under renewed fire over what he knew and when he knew it, including calls for his resignation. The topic of domestic abuse now stands front and center—on the 50-yard-line, if you will—in any discussion of the NFL. Today on the program: Misogyny in sports, blaming the victim, and where fans fit in the implicit condoning of violence as entertainment.
To the Point
The Democratic Party: Stuck in the Mud? The Democrats will make history by nominating either the first black or the first woman to run for President of the United States, generating more political energy than America has seen for decades, but as one writer has it, " the Democrats are stuck in their own mud ." Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have enough votes and delegates to go all the way to the August convention , and the campaign gets nastier by the day. Is it all about who gets the power? What are the roles of race and gender? Is the party itself so divided that unity in November is at risk? Will all those new voters and Independents go to John McCain or just stay home?
Which Way, L.A.?
Hillary Loses Her Inevitability Hillary Clinton 's "inevitability" is old news as Barack Obama moves ahead in some polls and John Edwards just won't go away. The Democratic primary in South Carolina comes hot on the heels of the Iowa and Nevada caucuses and the primary votes in New Hampshire. In Orangeburg, South Carolina yesterday, Bill Clinton was asked what his wife's number one priority would be if she were elected. He said the first thing Hillary Clinton would do is send him and the first President Bush on a worldwide mission to repair the damage the current president has done to America's reputation. What happens as a fading front-runner resorts to damage control? Does she go on the attack or soften her image? Does she talk about issues or electability in November?
To the Point
Hillary Loses Her Inevitability Hillary Clinton 's "inevitability" is old news as Barack Obama moves ahead in some polls and John Edwards just won't go away. The Democratic primary in South Carolina comes hot on the heels of the Iowa and Nevada caucuses and the primary votes in New Hampshire. In Orangeburg, South Carolina yesterday, Bill Clinton was asked what his wife's number one priority would be if she were elected. He said the first thing Hillary Clinton would do is send him and the first President Bush on a worldwide mission to repair the damage the current president has done to America's reputation. What happens as a fading front-runner resorts to damage control? Does she go on the attack or soften her image? Does she talk about issues or electability in November?
To the Point
Hillary Clinton and the Price of Inevitability In Iowa, Hillary Clinton has begun a bus tour she calls the " Middle Class Express " to tell voters she cares abut hard-working Americans. Meantime, conventional wisdom has shifted in her direction and the acknowledgement that she's overcome years of personal scrutiny. The Boston Globe reports that New Hampshire voters are " warming unexpectedly to Clinton ." She's leading in the latest Iowa poll . Today's New York Times calls here the " presumptive Democratic presidential nominee ." But as her lead grows in fund raising and Democratic public opinion polls, some Republicans are rubbing their hands. With the Iowa caucuses still three months away, does being the acknowledged front-runner create a new set of vulnerabilities? Have those old, negative images been erased forever?
To the Point
Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate in South Carolina Last night, on the campus of a historically black institution, South Carolina State University , all the Democratic candidates met for the first time. Results of the debate in this very Republican state, whose primary will be held fourth in next year's election process, could be a bell weather, especially for the voting patterns of African American Democrats. Each of the eight candidates got 11 minutes in total during an hour and a half of one-minute answers to questions on complex issues. For the most part, they were nice to each other, tough on President Bush and really angry about the war in Iraq. Are Clinton , Obama and Edwards still the top three? Did any "second tier" candidates distinguish themselves? We hear from across the Democratic political spectrum.
Recommended
To the Point
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.
To the Point
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
To the Point
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?