Best-selling true crime writer and former prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi says believers and atheists are both wrong about “the God Question”: the only reasonable position, he argues, is “I don’t know, and neither do you.” I’ll be talking with Bugliosi about his new book Divinity of Doubt: The God Question at the L.A. Times Festival of [...]
LISTEN ONLINE TO THIS SHOW – SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST The L.A. Times Festival of Books is at USC this weekend. Our BookFest Preview show features RUSSELL JACOBY on the roots of violence: his book Bloodlust argues that the greatest violence is typically not aimed at “The Other” but rather occurs in Civil Wars. his panel [...]
Did the Republicans commit suicide with the budget they passed in the House last week? ARI BERMAN of The Nation says Obama is clearly winning the debate on the debt and the deficit – but ignoring the problems of job creation … and the Afghan war. Also: An insurance company insider speaks out on how [...]
It’s the fiftieth anniversary of the Bay of Pigs, April 17-18, 1961, when a CIA-trained army of Cuban exiles were sent by President Kennedy to overthrow Fidel Castro. Their humiliating defeat showed the world that Cubans would fight to defend their revolution, especially against an invasion sponsored by the United States. But that’s not the [...]
Bob Dylan did not sell out to the Chinese government when he performed in Beijing on April 6. The “sellout” charge was made in the New York Times on Sunday by Maureen Dowd, along with several other people. The problem: Dylan submitted his set list to the Chinese culture ministry, according to The Guardian’s Martin Wieland [...]
LISTEN ONLINE TO THIS SHOW – SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST Did Bob Dylan sell out when he sang in Beijing and Saigon this week? Maureen Dowd says yes — what Bob did is “worse than Beyonce singing for Qaddafi.” But SEAN WILENTZ says it’s not true — Bob did not bow to government demands that he [...]
One of two NPR stations in the Los Angeles area, KPCC-FM, suspended its regularly-scheduled Planned Parenthood spots on Friday, in response to Republican demands that Congress eliminate federal funding for the family planning group. . . . . Contined at TheNation.com HERE
LISTEN ONLINE TO THIS SHOW – SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST HAROLD MEYERSON of The American Prospect says the labor movement in L.A. is the great exception nationally – instead of fighting defensive battles, they are winning new jobs at decent wages—mostly, union jobs in government construction projects. Harold wrote about L.A. labor for the L.A. Times [...]
Watergate was “the ultimate stress test” for the nation, says Timothy Naftali, director of the Nixon Library. It was also a stress test for the National Archives and the Nixon Library. . . . . . . continued at the L.A. Times op-ed page HERE