April 3 - The Latest Shooting at Fort Hood and PTSD; An Analysis of the Supreme Court's McCutcheon Ruling; The Real Jonathan Pollard and the Damage he Did

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the latest shooting a Fort Hood, Texas that has left four people dead, including the gunman and 16 others wounded, three of whom are critical. Joining us is Kayla Williams, the author of a new book about dealing with Post Traumatic Stress disorder PTSD, from military service in Iraq, “Plenty of Time When We Get Home: Love and Recovery in the Aftermath of War”. She served in the U.S. Army for five years as an Arabic Linguist, including a year in Iraq with the 101^st Airborne Division and we discuss this tragedy and its impact on military families, as well as examine the links, if any between violence and PTSD.

Part 2

Then we examine the details of the Supreme Court ruling overturning limits on campaign funding in McCutcheon versus the FEC with Jessica Levinson, a Professor at Loyola Law School who has an article at the Los Angeles Times “Supreme Court Ruling: As if we don’t have enough money in politics already”. We discuss what partisan advantage might come out of the ruling in this case that was brought to the Supreme Court by the Republican National Committee, and assess how many average citizens in this country can afford to give the low end $5,200 to a candidate, let alone the millions now allowed to candidates, parties and political committees.

Part 3

Then finally, with the American who spied for Israel, Jonathan Pollard, now at the center of a storm over who is scuttling the Israeli/Palestinian peace talks, we will speak with M.E. “Spike” Bowman. He was at the time of Pollard’s arrest and trial, the liaison officer for the Department of Defense to the Department of Justice, and the coordinator of an investigation into the extent of Pollard’s damage to the American intelligence community. We discuss comparisons of Edward Snowden with Jonathan Pollard, and why it is that Pollard is a hero in Israel.