The Nation
Contributing writer and blogger at The Nation and Feministing; Knobler Fellow at The Nation Institute
PROFILE
Mychal Denzel Smith
Guest
FROM Mychal Denzel Smith
To the Point
Who's Accountable for Police Killings? In New York, the medical examiner called a videoed killing "homicide" by chokehold, but the grand jury did not return an indictment. In Ferguson, there was no video, and testimony conflicted, but there's been outrage nationwide because there was no indictment and no public trial. Now in Cleveland, there are troubling new revelations about the white policeman who killed a 12-year old black boy playing with a toy gun in a public park. President Obama wants to outfit cops with body cameras. Will that help restore lost confidence in the justice system?
To the Point
America: Democracy or Oligarchy? The evidence is overwhelming. The wealth gap in America is growing. A new study claims that the wealthiest 10% of Americans influence public policy in this country more than any other group. Of that 10%, the top one percent pocketed nearly the entire gains from the recovery from the financial crisis. Yet many pay a lower tax rate than middle class. The top selling book on Amazon is a re-working of Marx's Das Kapital. It argues that income inequality is an inevitable result of free market capitalism, and that it threatens our democratic institutions at almost every turn. Is that just capitalism at work? Has income inequality eroded democracy to a vanishing point? If our country is indeed controlled by the very few and the very rich, how do we level the playing field?
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To the Point
Replacing Obamacare: Now you see it… now you don’t As the Senate deliberates replacing Obmacare, health coverage for millions of people is at stake. There've been no public hearings, and a draft measure won't be made public. Is the House version so unpopular that that Senate is hiding a version that looks much the same?
To the Point
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?
To the Point
Trump's new look at civil rights and global warming President Trump is reportedly ready to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look at the possible consequences. On the second half of the program, we hear about cuts in Obama-Era civil rights programs called for by the Trump Administration's first budget plan.