Chapman University
Pete Simi is professor of sociology at Chapman University, where he studies extremist groups, violence and lone wolf attackers. He is the author of American Swastika: Inside the White Power Movement's Hidden Spaces of Hate. He is a former professor of criminology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
The Las Vegas Strip turned into a war zone A gunman shot and killed at least 58 people and wounded more than 500 at a Country Music Festival in Las Vegas. Automatic gunfire rained down on a crowd of 22,000 from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Hotel. ISIS, the terrorist group, claims the shooter was a convert, but the FBI calls that “nonsense.” Local police say the shooter killed himself just as they blew open the door of his room. Sixty-four-year-old Stephen Craig Paddock was a Nevada resident with no criminal record. It’s believed he acted alone. President Trump has called for national unity after the incident he described as “an act of pure evil.”
Hate, Terrorism, and America's Religious Pluralism Since they first arrived in the US more than 100 years ago, Sikhs have experienced brutal discrimination. Since September 11, they've been subject to scorn and retaliation. Now six have died along with a gunman, after a shooting spree in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Others are on the critical list. Investigators are trying to determine why Wade Michael Page shot up the Sikh house of worship. We hear from a man who knew him as part of the hate music scene and raise some disturbing questions about American intolerance of a major world religion.
Personal Rage, Hostility and Deadly Gunfire America's latest mass killing took the lives of seven people, including the gunman, who shot up a Sikh house of worship in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Law enforcement agencies want to know if Wade Michael Page acted alone. We talk with a criminologist who knew him as part of the hate-music scene. Since they first arrived in the US more than 100 years ago, Turban-wearing Sikhs have experienced brutal discrimination. They were the first targets of retaliation in the US after the attacks of September 11. Was this a hate crime or an act of domestic terrorism? How could it happen in a country based on tolerance of religious pluralism?
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.
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.
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.