The Bob Zadek Show

When Rebecca Friedrichs first started teaching in Orange County nearly 30 years ago, she was surprised to discover how little recourse her school had to remove poor quality teachers from their posts. For decades, she would do her best to contain her frustration with a system – backed by powerful public sector teacher's unions – that protects inept, long-time insiders (read: tenure) at the expense of students and outstanding young faculty. Finally, an opportunity arose for Friedrichs to become the lead plaintiff in a free speech case against the California Teachers Association, and take a stand against mandatory dues for non-members who oppose the union's practices. Her side appeared on the verge of a landmark Supreme Court victory when Justice Antonin Scalia passed away suddenly – leaving the court divided 4-4, which affirmed the lower court's ruling in favor of the union. Friedrichs and her attorney, Terry Pell (President of the Center for Individual Rights), will Bob to explain why they are still fighting on behalf of teachers and students to have Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association reheard once a ninth justice is confirmed. The saga of Scalia's Supreme Court vacancy continues on the show of ideas, not attitude.

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Is Europe over? Foreign correspondent and Tablet Magazine contributor James Kirchick looks at the many troubling signs on the radar for the continent – long a home of peace and stability.

Black Lives Matter, War on Cops, law enforcement

Whatever your opinion is of law enforcement, the Black Lives Matter movement, or the root causes of violent crime, you can't claim to be informed without reading Heather Mac Donald's latest book, The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe. The stories and statistics brought to light by the Manhattan Institute Fellow go against much of what liberal elites and civil libertarians alike wish to believe. The prevailing narrative goes like this: inner-city violence and dysfunction result from a combination of unnecessary laws, a racially-biased legal system, and police that routinely violate the rights of the citizens they're supposed to protect. Against this narrative, Mac Donald brings evidence of a surge in violent crime – primarily victimizing African Americans – following a rising tide of anti-police sentiment among major media and politicians. Mac Donald channels former FBI Director James Comey in claiming that the fear of false accusation has caused police departments to dial back the "proactive policing" that has been credited with reducing past violent crime waves. Her speeches on college campuses have been shut down by the usual suspects (student mobs inflamed by the "threat" of a free exchange of ideas) leaving the strongest counter-counter-narratives to Mac Donald's counter-narrative unexpressed. Mac Donald joins the show to defend the police from unsupported charges of racial bias, and Bob takes calls to test the thesis of The War on Cops against a strict interpretation of the Constitution's civil liberty guarantees.

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Environmental regulations

Ask a Californian what’s so special about the Golden State – you'll hear about our beaches, our redwood forests, and our high tech and entertainment hubs. 30 years ago, you'd have heard about our smog. Today's small business owners, however, will tell you about our "unique" environmental regulations. California’s emissions laws are the strictest in the nation, thanks to an exemption from the EPA’s Clean Air Act that allows special vehicle standards, as long as they're at least as strict as federal standards. The Clean Air Act of 1970 requires the EPA to submit new rules to an expert oversight panel, which it failed to do for new recommendations by the California Air Resources Board. While the Air Resources Board may have once been needed to address a crisis, its new rules go too far (modern diesel engines emit far less exhaust than engines from even 15 years ago). Ted Hadzi-Antich is the senior attorney for the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for the American Future, and is on the team challenging the EPA's violation of the law. He stands for thousands of small businesses that would be devastated by the restrictions on diesel vehicles, while big corporations thrive based on their ability to comply. Ted joined the show to clear the air for us Californians, and to give an overview of the EPA's regulatory overreach nationwide.

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Juries

A general surgeon explains what's wrong with the Republican's most recent

attempt at "repeal and replace."

It's rarely good news when Latin American politics makes headlines. For those who haven't been monitoring the situation in Venezuela, the "chavista" revolution that began in the 90’s has blossomed into a full-blown meltdown. Think 20th-century socialism was bad? Wait until you hear about Hugo-Chavez-inspired “21st-century socialism,” complete with hyperinflation, widespread famine, and narco-trafficking leaders bent on leading the country further into ruin. Chavez may be gone, but his legacy of misery lives on. Fergus Hodgson, founder of Antigua International, is a prolific writer and global citizen who has been observing Venezuelan politics for years, and has spent time in numerous Latin American countries. Fergus believes we must examine the underlying ideals of revolution in Latin America to understand why the situation is so desperate. Many Venezuelans are seeing through Nicolas Maduro’s failed policies, but the United Socialist Party of Venezuela is clinging to the dictatorship and blocking democratic paths to reform. With protests growing in size and intensity, history is being written. The coming days could determine Latin America's course for years to come.

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History is being written in Venezuela, as the chavista government attempts

to drag the rest of Latin America down the road of 21st-century socialism.