January 14 – Trump and Cruz Square Off in the 6th Republican Debate; Saudi-Inspired and Financed Radicalization of Islam in Malaysia and Indonesia; Jon Krakauer on the Militia in Oregon and the Rape Culture on Campus

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the sixth Republican presidential debate in South Carolina that begins when this program ends and discuss the battle of the billionaires as the self-declared billionaire Donald Trump is expected to square off against Ted Cruz who lately has been courting billionaires with the help of his wife who works for Goldman Sachs who were big donors to Cruz’s 2012 Senate campaign, with a generous loan that Cruz did not report according to the New York Times. Darrell West, the vice president of governance studies at the Brookings Institution and author of “Billionaires: Reflections on the Upper Crust”, joins us to discuss the “wealthification” of our politics with Republican presidential hopefuls lining up to kneel at the feet of the Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson begging for his money as they offer to do his bidding.

Part 2

Then we are joined in the studio by Ani Zonneveld, the Founder and President of Muslims for Progressive Values who recently returned from Malaysia which has been under the influence of the well-financed hardline Saudi Arabian Wahhabi religious doctrine that has made inroads into the country which has traditionally practiced a moderate form of Islam as is the case in Indonesia. We discuss the terrorist bombing in Indonesia the Islamic State has taken credit for and assess the role of Wahhabi influence in radicalizing Indonesian Muslims and death threats that Ani received in Malaysia from religious radicals.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with the best-selling author Jon Krakauer about his latest book “Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town” and we also discuss his latest article at The Huffington Post “The Fundamentalist Religious Views That Inspired Ammon Bundy and His Militia to Occupy a Remote Federal Facility in Oregon”.