PROFILE
FROM Robert Atkinson
The President and America's infrastructure: Bait and switch? America's bridges, roads and airports are crumbling, but President Trump's trillion dollars for infrastructure isn't really a public works program. It looks more like tax breaks and profits for developers than government spending. Organized labor likes the prospect of new jobs, but objections from both the Left and the Right are a real challenge to the bipartisanship needed to pass it in Congress. Americans may not see increased gasoline taxes or airport fees any time soon — and they may not see infrastructure improvements where they're needed most, either.
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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?
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.
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?