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Part One:
We speak with David Cash, Dean and Associate Professor at the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, UMass Boston, about how energy efficiency delivers green dividends in both red and blue states. He fleshes out strategies for transformation to a clean energy economy by developing and implementing innovative policies on sustainable development, climate and energy.
Part Two:
We check in again with Steffen Schmidt, Professor at Iowa State University, about the latest developments in politics, including:
The upsides and downsides of Bernie Sanders’s entry into the Democratic presidential race;
How conservative groups show us their skills at effective political messaging — as demonstrated by the digital billboard they sponsored in Times Square targeting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, falsely blaming her for all sorts of problems;
Pres. Trump’s ability to offer voters great political theater — which distracts them from questioning the inhumanity of his policies and programs. At the same time, he preys on people’s fears and prejudices. He stirs up their emotions and suppresses their ability to think rationally, to engage in thoughtful, critical analysis. And the media (mainstream and right-wing) enable him to get away with this strategy.
We also discuss the frightening rise of hate groups and hate crimes in our country. Just yesterday, the FBI arrested a Coast Guard Lieutenant for plotting to assassinate a group of left-of-center politicians and media personalities. His stockpile of deadly weapons was the latest shock to the average American’s sense of security. Of course, hate and violence are not new to this country. Today is the 53rd anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X by Black Muslims who opposed his belief that the enemy of African-Americans was not white people, but that, instead, racism was the enemy. Three years later, Martin Luther King and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy were murdered. What has changed over the decades is that, in today’s political climate, white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and other hate groups are no longer in the shadows, no longer on the fringes. The President of the US legitimizes their bigotry and violence.
