Mark Riley: The Intersection of Politics Culture

Voter suppression takes on many ugly disguises, from curtailing early voting to proposing to legally withholding water from vulnerables lining to vote. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), was among nine arrested for holding a voting rights protest at the Capitol. Yes, folks, that’s the same Capitol that hundreds of right wing zealots took under siege…Is causing ‘good trouble’ the only way voting rights will be protected? What’s going on in Cuba and S. Africa? Biden’s not loosening the embargo yet both countries are in civil unrest with only the poor getting hurt. As the Olympics soon open, why are Soul Caps being banned for Black female swimmers? Click the link and tune in for more…

Haiti's Assassin! Who killed Jovenel Moïse, the President of Haiti, and who gave anyone permission to take his seat? Was it an inside job? Will the US Military intervene or will chaos carry on? In New York, former police captain Eric Adams wins Democratic primary to run against Curtis Sliwa for NYC mayor, but will his position on Stop 'n Frisk lose voter support? Trump's recycling his broken Boo-Hoo records and crying fowl ...again...with lawsuits out on the Big Tech giants for banning him on social media. Check out my new episode with Special Guest Jocelyn McCalla.

Bill Cosby’s a free man from a fundamental component of US law, but he’ll still have to live with being a hypocritical perv who ought to be shunned for the rest of his days. I’m pretty sure he won’t be shunned…someone will pay him a princely sum for an interview. Let’s see who it is? In Canada, more than 1000 graves of indigenous children have been found thus far near schools whose avowed purpose was to beat the ‘indigenous’ of out young people. In many cases, the bodies show signs of exposure to disease and physical and sexual abuse. Meanwhile, droves turned out to enable narcissist Donald Trump, chanting “Save America.” D’ya miss anything? Nah, his not-so-new mantra… “I won last year’s election, critical race theory is itself racist, and religious liberty is being crushed…” blah blah blah.

Derek Chauvin’s sentencing, 22.5 years with the possibility of parole in 2035; Given the usual ‘turn-a-blind-eye’ approach to cops who kill unjustly, this was as close to justice as I could have expected. The family of George Floyd has publicly proclaimed the sentence satisfactory. Matt Gaetz (R-Fl), a tool and an idiot or whatever other negative term you wish to use. He was recently defending himself against allegations he passed around pictures of naked women on the floor of the House, and allegedly had sex with a 17-year-old girl. Now he’s pushing back the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin regarding a military budget slugfest on Critical Race Theory. Rudy Giuliani, now stripped of his law license, and nearly 900 employees of the US Secret Service have contracted COVID-19!

The Affordable Care Act lives...yet Republicans in Congress continue to say they’ve got a better and alternative plan, even when their former leader couldn't produce one in four years of presidential office. Meanwhile, down in Texas, Trump-wannabe Gov. Greg Abbott wants to finish up the border wall. He’s committed $250 million dollars of Texas taxpayers’ money and is asking for donations to pay the balance! Juneteenth...cheers to all those celebrating. I'll wait to pop the champagne for End of Climate Change Denial Day, End of Hate Day and End of Voter Suppression Day ...all of them at once.

The G7 – is it a just weekender of photo opps and Surf & Turf dinners? We break down what it is, what it means, and the commitments aimed to be accomplished. Nobody knows for sure how the Coronavirus spread ferociously around the globe. Was it transmitted from a flying bat at a Wuhan, China animal market, or was it deliberately leaked from a Wuhan science lab? Who knew...the NFL denounces further use of Race-norming (a scale assuming black football players have a lower cognitive function than non-black players), to determine compensations. So that's the measure they've been using up until now? 

Vice President Kamala Harris has a portfolio larger than many of her predecessors yet this latest assignment could well be a defining one both for her and President Joe Biden: to lead the charge on voting rights. There are more than 389 bills in 48 states seeking to curtail voting rights based on the rationale of non-existent voter fraud. Meanwhile, in Hudson, Ohio retired Army Lt. Colonel Barnard Kemter’s Memorial Day speech was cut off mid-broadcast deliberately due to the event’s organizers disapproval of his mentioning the black contribution to Memorial Day. My special guest is acclaimed photographer, Chester Higgins.

I'm tired of watching the slow erosion of civil discourse where people can agree to disagree. Seem the world we thought we were working toward improving has been taken from us; Is tennis star Naomi Osaka's code of silence with the media at the French Open a solution for her mental health? My guest is the legendary @FABNEWYORK Fab Five Freddy  - sharing profound insights on his breaking through racial roadblocks to build mini empires in the worlds of Film, Music and Renaissance Art.

At 107-years-old, Viola Ford Fletcher travels to D.C. to testify and demand reparations for the Oklahoma Massacre of 1921; Why are there pardons for men like Cuomo but punishments for women like Emily Wilder? Our special guest, award winning Writer and Professor, Thomas Glave talks about inclusion and bias in the US and the Caribbean.

NEW PODCAST EPISODE: Mask rules are relaxed again but what about vaccine passports when it comes to public health and disease control?  Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga) has a ludicrous vendetta against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), but how is it that some Americans insist on confusing her with Magic: The Gathering just because they bear the same initials MTG. My special guest, Frank Radice, explains everything you need to know about Artificial Intelligence, Social Media and Streaming channels.