April 16 - The Refugee Crisis in the Mediterranean; Republicans Move America Towards an Oligarchy; Anti-Vaxxers Stall Bill in California

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the increasing refugee tragedies in the Mediterranean where 10,000 immigrants have been rescued in recent days with more than 500 drowned including a hideous incident in which Muslims tossed Christians overboard. Daryl Grisgraber, who leads Refugees International’s research and advocacy related to the Middle East and North Africa, joins us to discuss divisions in the E.U. over how to respond to the refugee crisis which the Pope has warned is turning the Mediterranean into “a vast cemetery”.

Part 2

Then, with the Republican House passing the so-called “Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015” that will exempt America’s richest families from estate taxes and allow them to pass on their wealth from generation to generation without ever being taxed, we will speak with Jeffrey Winters, a professor of Political Science at Northwestern University and the author of “Oligarchy”. We discuss the power of America’s elite to escape taxes and the political strategy to pass the burden down to the middle class and working Americans, thus making those who are unfairly taxed more angry at taxes than at the one percent who are avoiding paying their fair share.  

Part 3

Then finally we examine the bill to limit vaccine exemptions of school children that is stalled in the California legislature between the Senate Health Committee and the Senate Education Committee, following vocal demonstrations from the anti-vaxxers who don’t want to vaccinate their kids but want them to get a public education where they pose a danger to their classmates. Dr. Peter Katona, a Clinical Professor of Medicine in Infectious Diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine and a Professor of Public Health at UCLA, joins us to discuss whether a special school for the children of those with unconventional belief systems is a viable option.