Mark Riley: The Intersection of Politics Culture

Oklahoma tries to out-Texas Texas with what they proudly call the most restrictive anti-abortion law in the nation. Proudly?

Inflation figures continue on an upward trajectory, leading some experts to predict a recession could be coming soon. Does the GOP actually have a plan to fight it? There's a shortage of baby formula and some of it's tainted... Women are being told just breastfeed...will that work?

A senior journalist from Al-Jazeera is shot and killed on the West Bank. Her funeral was disrupted, attacked by the Israeli military.

The January 6th Committee subpoenas 5 Republican colleagues.

Another abortion fail by the Democrats in Congress.

Finland is moving closer to NATO, much to the chagrin of guess who.

And did the meatpacking industry and the Trump Administration lie about shortages at beginning of pandemic, exposing workers to health risks?

ABORTION... from several different angles; from the leaked Supreme Court decision and its potential consequences, to ways around it like the abortion pill. What lawmakers can do to mitigate the decision, if the final decision to kill Roe v. Wade becomes reality. What's it like to be Female, Black, Gay and locked up in Russia...even when you're an American basketball star #Brittney Griner. Texas Governor Greg Abbott's decision to challenge his responsibility to educate the children of undocumented immigrants.

The US gross domestic product shrank by 1.4% for the beginning of 2022. Does this spell doom for Democrats in the midterms and for Joe Biden's economic agenda? We take a look at House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who got caught in a lie but with no consequence. Republicans in Ohio have made up a new, bizarre trope about undocumented immigrants voting in elections, and a lawsuit against the Postal Service over those trucks you see in cities and towns across America. Wanna guess their gas mileage?

According to Google, the trending hashtag is not #Ukraine, it's #ElonMusk. The valiant struggle of the war-torn battle zone has to be balanced against the short attention spans of the West. There are already reports that neighboring Poland is experiencing fatigue with the war, and pushback against accepting more refugees. A different war is brewing in the US - The Republican Party vs The LGBTQ community. Going way beyond the "Don't Say Gay" bill in Florida, Republicans are alleging that Democratic defenders of gay rights are trying to groom young people. Their proof? C'mon people…they don't have any, it's a tradition.

Don't sleep on the Solomon Islands…yeah, we're on the 'other' side of the world but secret security deals with China and who knows what other strategic plots should have us up all night with insomnia.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson went high when those questioning her nomination went low. From Republicans, I expected that. What I didn't except… and won't accept…is venom from her own community spousing nonsense about her marital configuration.

NATO countries were ramping up sanctions when the first set have not stopped Putin. Is that really the best we can do?

Personal shout out to Mr. Chris Smalls…the underdog who went up again Labor titan Amazon, and got a Union up and running.

Has the Chris Rock slapdown boosted his ticket sales with the bloodthirsty clamouring to hear his side of the story? Is it OK for our children see bad behavior rewarded by bling awards? War in the Ukraine - the only person who can end it is the person who started it.

Has the Oxford Dictionary officially made the word 'Greed' synonymous with 'Trump,' or is that just a cruel April's Fool joke? He's now trying to pimp off of his former White House photographer maybe to offset the lawsuit #EddyGrant has out for illegal use of #ElectricAvenue.

What does victory look like for Putin? Ask the same question for The Ukraine and in either direction your head will be spinning. Is it a question even asked by the so-called sanctions negotiators? Maybe if there were some definitive answers we could strive for conflict resolution? While the World's Ugliest Circus aka Supreme Court nomination hearings carry on, Uncle Thom's wife, Ginni, continues to capture media attention. I can't 'unsee' the vision of how she maintains sadistic control over her husband, but the kind of pillow talk that allows him to justify January 6 gives me nightmares.

Am I the only one that feels Big Brother is always watching my algorithms? We're talking Big Tech ethics, and much, much more in this week's podcast.

Despite the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian armed forces and its people, the forces of Russia are pushing into Ukraine's biggest cities, and more than 3m Ukrainians have fled. Also looks like it's a firm 'no' to President Zelensky's request for a no-fly zone over his country and allowing his pilots to launch MIG fighter from out a US airbase in Germany.

Supreme Court Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson is accused of ill-doings for having represented detainees at Guantanamo Bay, while Uncle Tom Clarence's wife, Ginny, gets a blind eye for her attendance at the Stop the Steal rally on January 6. Do y'all realize Texas is still pushing voter suppression or a y'all just not paying attention?