Radio Times

Guests: Beth Grossman, Dahlia Lithwick

Republican candidate for District Attorney for Philadelphia, BETH GROSSMAN, joins us today. Grossman has worked as a [prosecutor in the District Attorney’s office for more than 20 years and touts her work combating crime and violence in the city. She led the city’s public nuisance task force where she employed the controversial practice of civil asset forfeiture. She’ll talk with Marty about her long prosecutorial career, what she hopes to bring the DA’s office, and to give us her perspective on the Seth Williams scandal. But first, we’ll talk with Slate’s DAHLIA LITHWICK about a lawsuit against President Trump. It accuses him of violating the Constitution’s “Emoluments Clause” by accepting payments from foreign officials who stay in his hotels.

Guest: James Forman, Jr.

The American criminal justice system disproportionately affects people of color, and there are conversations taking place about the possible root causes of this problem. JAMES FORMAN JR., professor at Yale Law School, argues in his new book Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America that violence, drug addiction and the war on crime seen in black communities in the last 50 years was supported by many African American mayors, judges and police chiefs in American cities. In this hour, Marty talks with Forman, a former D.C. public defender, about racial discrimination, the distribution of political power, and he shares stories of the men and women who are caught up in the criminal justice system.

Guests: Carol Kuniholm, Sam Wang

Pennsylvania routinely tops the list as the one of the country’s most gerrymandered states and commonwealths. Take a look at the geometry of the Keystone State’s congressional districts and you’ll see a lot of strange, contorted shapes. A lawsuit filed with Commonwealth Court asserts that the 2011 Congressional map was drawn for political gain. Similar suits have sprung up around the country and the Supreme Court recently heard arguments in Gill v. Whitford, a case challenging Wisconsin’s redistricting plan. Today, we’ll discuss partisan gerrymandering, how software and big data enable the practice, the effect it has on our democracy and what can be done to make redistricting fairer and more transparent. Marty’s guests are CAROL KUNIHOLM, co-chair of Fair Districts PA, and SAM WANG, a data scientist and neuroscience professor at Princeton University.

BOB SCHIEFFER has been a journalist for CBS News for nearly 50 years covering the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, Congress, and anchoring the news on CBS. In his new book, Overload: Finding the Truth in Today’s Deluge of News, Schieffer interviews other news outlets, including NBC, the New York Times, Politico and NPR, about how Americans receive and interpret real and fake news. Schieffer also examines the effect of rapid technological changes in news consumption. He joins Marty for an hour of discussion about how to navigate the news and separate fact from fiction.

Guests: Lindsey Fitzharris, Dan Lamothe

Surgery in the nineteenth-century was pretty gruesome – a lot of blood, pain, saws and no sanitation.  In fact, operating theaters used to be called “gateways of death” because so many people died under the knife. That was until a young Quaker doctor, Joseph Lister, transformed surgery by advancing germ theory and introducing antiseptics. Medical historian LINDSEY FITZHARRIS writes about how Lister revolutionized medicine in her new book, The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s’ Quest to Transformed the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine.   But first, we’ll hear about Bowe Bergdahl’s guilty plea when we speak with DAN LAMOTHE of The Washington Post.

Guests: Kate Tuttle, Dan De Luce, Mary Agnes Carey

We begin our show today talking about the Boy Scouts and their decision to integrate girls into their organization. Writer and critic KATE TUTTLE thinks that the move is a cheap publicity stunt, and she’ll join us to tell us why. Then, we’ll talk with Foreign Policy’s DAN De LUCE about Trump’s decision not to certify the Iran Deal, how negotiations will move forward, and what the move means for international diplomacy and nuclear nonproliferation. Lastly, we’ll hear about Trump’s latest effort to undermine the Affordable Care Act. MARY AGNES CAREY, senior correspondent for Kaiser Health News will tell us how this will effect health insurance in America.

Guests: Margaret Sullivan, Vicki Magley, Brandi Stewart

The Harvey Weinstein scandal is continuing to unfold, and is opening up a variety of conversations about sexual abuse, power, enablers, and bystanders. Washington Post media columnist MARGARET SULLIVAN joins us to discuss how Hollywood and the press were complicit in Weinstein’s predatory behavior, and how powerful men use their status to shield themselves from being held accountable for their actions. Then, we’ll talk about sexual harassment in the workplace with VICKI MAGLEY, professor of psychological sciences at the University of Connecticut, and with BRANDI STEWART, psychologist and Director of Clinical Services at the Joseph J. Peters Institute, about how men become sex offenders and the best ways to treat their disorder.

VAN JONES, CNN political contributor, host and longtime social activist, has been trying to build bridges across party lines. He’s even traveled across the country to speak with Americans about the issues that matter to them most. In his new book, Beyond the Messy Truth: How We Came Apart, How We Come Together, Jones argues that both Democrats and Republicans have let down the American people for a long time even before President Donald Trump. In this hour, Marty talks with Jones about how both parties should take responsibility for the nation’s polarizing politics and how the nation can move forward and focus on real solutions which will bring about meaningful change.

E.J. DIONNE JR. and NORMAN ORNSTEIN are veteran political watchers having covered many Presidents and Congressional officials over the years. In their new book, One Nation After Trump: A Guide for the Perplexed, the Disillusioned, the Desperate, and the Not-Yet Deported, they argue that American democracy was never supposed to give the nation a president like Donald Trump. In this hour, Marty talks with Dionne and Ornstein about how Trump was able to exploit the politics of the GOP to win election and how the country can come together around their Charter for American Working Families.

Guests: Gretchen Borchelt, Yaba Blay, Kim Masters

We begin today’s show discussing the Trump administration’s new policy allowing employers to omit birth control from their health care coverage on religious grounds. GRETCHEN BORCHELT, vice president for reproductive rights and health at the National Women’s Law Center joins Marty to give us her concerns. Then, we’ll discuss the Dove’s ad for body wash where a black women removes her brown shirt and underneath is a white woman in a light shirt. Some say the ad suggested a racist message, and others say the ad was meant to represent the diversity of women. YABA BLAY, a professor, researcher and ethnographer, will discuss the ad, which Dove pulled, and give historical context to soap advertising.  And we’ll close out the hour discussing Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, and how he was able to get away with sexual harassment for more than three decades. KIM MASTERS, editor-at-large of the Hollywood Reporter and host of KCRW’s The Business.