February 27 – Supreme’s Appear Ready to Strike Down Key Part of Voting Rights Act; Whitey Bulger and the Intersection of Crime and Politics; How America’s Self-Inflicted Economic Wound is Seen from Abroad

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Full Program

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Part 1

 We begin with today’s Supreme Court arguments over striking down Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that requires nine states with a history of discrimination to seek prior approval from the Justice Department to change their election laws. Elizabeth Wydra, Chief Counsel of the Constitutional Accountability Center, who frequently participates in Supreme Court litigation, joins us. We discuss early indications that Scalia and other conservatives on the court are itching to turn back the clock. elizabeth wydra

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Part 2

Then we speak with veteran crime reporter with the Boston Globe, Shelly Murphy, the author of the new book “Whitey Bulger: America’s Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt that Brought Him to Justice.” We discuss little known aspects of the case such a Bulger’s participation in the CIA’s MKUltra LSD experiments, the extent of corruption and criminal complicity in the FBI that enabled C-4 explosives to be shipped to the IRA, and the most-wanted fugitive’s final capture in Santa Monica.

 shelly murphy

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Part 3

Then finally, we go to London to get a perspective on how America’s impending self-inflicted economic wound is seen from abroad and how the Europeans are reacting to the re-emergence of Berlusconi and political paralysis he brings to the Eurozone’s third largest economy that threatens to unravel modest gains made so far in stabilizing the Euro. Economist Stephany Griffith Jones joins us to discuss the devastating effect austerity has had in Europe. Yet in spite of the warnings, the world’s largest economy is poised to drink the same poison.

 stephany griffith jones