- Social:
New York University
President of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law; author of The Second Amendment: A Biography and The Fight to Vote
PROFILE
Michael Waldman
Guest
FROM Michael Waldman
To the Point
Chaos and Disenfranchisement at the Polls In yesterday's primaries, party frontrunners won. Many voters lost. A record number of New Yorkers complained about delays and glitches, not to mention anger at closed primary rules. Four times as many calls about voting problems poured into the national voter hotline than did in 2012. Frustration is building from Arizona to Wisconsin, over long lines, budget cuts, incompetence and restrictions. Thirty-three states have strict new voter ID laws after a 2013 Supreme Court ruling that struck down key parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Are voters already feeling the loss of the full protection of that landmark law of the civil rights movement?
To the Point
The Tragic Mathematics of Gun Violence Another lone gunman grabbed headlines last week in California, but so-called mass shootings rarely kill more than a dozen people. That's all too many, but it's a fraction of the 20 to 30 deaths every day from firearms -- 32,000 every year: the daily gun violence that does not receive saturation news coverage. Each rampage focuses attention on killers with mental illness. But most of the mentally ill are not violent, and most violent people are not mentally ill. Is there some way to reduce the carnage without violating the gun rights now recognized by the US Supreme Court?
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.
Left, Right & Center
The week that wouldn't quit Will next week get even weirder? (Special one-hour episode)
Left, Right & Center
President Trump: US to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord Trump says he was elected to serve Pittsburgh, not Paris.
To the Point
Janesville and the American Dream Janesville, Wisconsin is the hometown of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. But he couldn’t prevent the closing of the General Motors factory after 100 years. On this Memorial Day rebroadcast of To the Point, we hear what’s happened to what once was a model of American middle-class unity.