February 24 - Donald the Destroyer; Congressman Ted Lieu on His "No Money Bail Act of 2016" He Introduced Today; Putin's Diplomatic Offensive Over Syria

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with Donald Trump’s resounding victory in the Nevada caucus and explore his increasingly open path ahead to the Republican nomination with David Lowery, a Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for American Political Responsiveness at Penn State University. He joins us to discuss the options Trump has to win the nomination outright or, if what’s left of the Republican establishment is able to stop him, then he could run as an Independent, but either way he is likely to cause down-ticket destruction of the Republicans running in 2016, and while they may hold the House, they will likely lose the Senate and in the States, not to mention the White House.

Part 2

Then we speak with Congressman Ted Lieu who along with Congresswomen Bonnie Coleman and Brenda Lawrence and Congressman Ruben Gallego, introduced a bill in the House today, the “No Money Bail Act of 2016”. We discuss the outrage that of the 2.3 million Americans in prisons today, there are 450,000 who have not been convicted of a crime but are there because they cannot afford bail. And although debtor’s prisons are supposed to be a thing of the past, there is a war on the poor underway in spite of the principle of innocent until proven guilty in America and equal justice under the law.

Part 3

Then finally, we do an update on Syria as Russia’s President Putin engages in a frantic round of diplomacy calling the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran and Israel today to implement a ceasefire that Washington and Moscow agreed to on Monday. Joshua Landis, who is the Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma and writes the daily blog on Syrian politics, “Syria Comment”, joins us to discuss how the facts on the ground that the Russians are creating to bolster the Assad regime, may lead to a ceasefire but will not end the war or stop the flow of refugees.