January 17 - Bernie Sanders Has Caught Hillary By Surprise; Could We End Up With Spoiled Brats Running Iran and Saudi Arabia?; A Volcano of Methane Continues to Spew Out in Los Angeles

Full Program

Part 1

As the democratic presidential candidates head into their final debate tonight, which like the few previous ones has been buried by the Democratic National Committee this time on a holiday weekend up against an NFL playoff game and “Downton Abbey”, we begin with an analysis of how much the Hillary Clinton campaign underestimated Bernie Sanders who is ahead in the polls in New Hampshire and neck and neck in Iowa, with better numbers in a general election race against Donald Trump. Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg joins us. He is the President and Founder of the New Democrat Network and previously worked on the Dukakis and Clinton presidential campaigns and was a member of the 1992 Clinton War Room. We will discuss the strength and sophistication of the Sanders campaign that has apparently caught the overconfident presumptive winners, the Clinton campaign, by surprise.

Part 2

Then we look into the prisoner swap with Iran as oil and financial sanctions are lifted on Iran following its compliance with the P5+1 nuclear deal. Dr. Moshen Sazagara, who was a founder of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps before clashing with the Supreme Leader resulting in his arrest in 2003, joins us to discuss the power struggle going on behind the scenes in Iran over who will succeed the ailing Supreme Leader whose son Mojtaba Khamenie is jockeying to succeed his father. This ironically mirrors the power struggle underway with Iran’s arch-foe Saudi Arabia where the ailing King Salman may abdicate the throne in favor of his controversial 30 year old son, bypassing his designated successor America’s favorite Prince Mohammed bin Nayef.  

Part 3

Then finally we get an update on the massive methane leak at Porter Ranch in the northern suburbs of Los Angeles following a postponement by the Southern California Air Quality District of a hearing now scheduled for January 20^th at a location far from the site of the leak that has forced 12,000 residents from their homes.  Matt Pakucko, an engineer and co-founder of Save Porter Ranch, joins us to discuss whether attempts by the Southern California Gas Company to plug the leak that began in October have made things worse and whether efforts to capture the gas might ignite it.