The Political Notebook

Oregon-based defense attorney and former public defender John Robb returns to the podcast to discuss the First Step Act.

Does the new federal law represent an accelerating trend toward criminal justice reform?

What are the potential consequences? What would be the most effective next steps?

Do we now only have two branches of government? What could the Senate and the House do to recover their authority?

Will the Democrats impeach Trump? What would it take for the Republicans to convict?

We discuss three different ideas for education reform in Arizona.

1) K-12 testing: How do we reduce the amount of testing, but still hold students and schools accountable?

2) Higher education (18:00): How do we increase accessibility of the college degree?

3) Charter schools (25:00): Do we need charter school reform? If so, could it be done in a way that keeps the current benefits for students?

Did Trump kill McSally's chances? What will the national political scene look like for the next few years? Did #RedForEd make a difference in Arizona?

Matt Emerson returns to the Political Notebook for a reflection on the life of one of the great figures in U.S. military history. General Ulysses S. Grant won the Civil War for the Union and served as president during the tumultuous period of Reconstruction. How did an underachieving young man get thrust onto the bright lights of history? What made him such a brilliant general? What were his guiding principles? Why is he sometimes seen as a bad president even though he kept the country in one piece in the aftermath of the Civil War?

The themes that emerge from this historical discussion are immediately relevant to life and politics today.

The conversation stems from the biography "Grant" by Ron Chernow: (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/311248/grant-by-ron-chernow/9780143110637/)

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The Arizona Supreme Court released the full opinion on Invest in Ed. Was the decision correct on the law? Was there something fishy about the way it went down?

A conversation about U.S. foreign policy over the last two years. Is Trump screwing things up, or is a naked assertion of American interests clearer and better?

Sinema was scripted, McSally was gaining ground in the debate until she blew it at the end. But we spent much of this podcast talking about Trump and the state of our national politics.

Moses Sanchez is running to be the next Mayor of Phoenix. We sit down for a wide ranging discussion of city issues: economic development, city finances, the proposed tax on marijuana dispensaries, policing, homelessness, sports stadiums, and the light rail.

What are Martha McSally, Kyrsten Sinema, Doug Ducey, and David Garcia doing right in their campaigns so far? What are they doing wrong? What are they missing?