August 29 - Hurricane Harvey Hits New Orleans; Trump's Gangster Partner Offers Up Putin; North Korea's Deliberate Provocation of Japan

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the storm that has caused unprecedented flooding in Houston now impacting New Orleans. Joining us is Mark Schliefstein a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist with the New Orleans Times Picayune and author of “Path of Destruction: The Devastation of New Orleans and the Coming Age of Superstorms”. On the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina which struck 12 years ago, we discuss whether the city has fully recovered and although more flooding is expected in Houston and considerable less rain is predicted to hit New Orleans, there are questions whether the pumping system, some of which is 100 years-old, will be able to cope with the rainfall. We also look into the politics of recovery since Texas Senator Ted Cruz opposed relief from Hurricane Sandy for New Jersey and New York but now wants it for Texas, and how Louisiana’s U.S. Senators and most of its congressmen who are global warming deniers, can continue to deal with the aftermath of superstorms without recognizing the causes.

Part 2

Then we get an update on the Russia inquiry following stories in The New York Times and The Washington Post that reveal efforts to contact Putin’s inner circle by Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen and a Russian-born gangster and business partner of Trump’s, Felix Sater who is a childhood friend of Cohen’s. James Henry, an economist, lawyer and investigative journalist who is a Global Justice Fellow at Yale, a co-founder with David Cay Johnston of DCReport.org and the author of “Blood Bankers”, joins us to discuss a rider attached to an appropriations bill by Florida Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis blocking the Mueller investigation and whether or not the special counsel will come up with a “smoking gun” that could convince Trump’s base that he should be impeached.

Part 3

Then finally we assess what response is likely to come from Japan after a North Korean missile crossed over its territory is a deliberate provocation which Prime Minister Abe called “an unprecedented, serious and grave threat”. Sheila Smith, a senior fellow for Japan Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of “Japan’s New Politics and the U.S.-Japan Alliance” joins us to discuss how Japan and South Korea are likely to increase their defenses and forge close military ties with the U.S. which might cause China to increase its pressure on Kim Jong-un.