September 4 - BP Guilty of Gross Negligence in Causing the Gulf Spill; Understanding the Saudi Wahhabis and I.S.; Dark Money Pours in to this Midterm Election as "Social Welfare"

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the long-awaited ruling by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier that found BP acted with gross negligence in setting off the biggest offshore oil spill and worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. Cynthia Sarthou, the Executive Director of the Gulf Restoration Network joins us to discuss how BP, who have already stated they will appeal the federal judge’s decision, still actively fights claims by oil spill victims and challenges settlements while spending millions on advertizing campaigns portraying themselves as concerned environmentalists and generous benefactors while claiming to have successfully restored the Gulf’s eco-systems.

Part 2

Then, with discussions underway at the NATO summit on collective action to be taken against the Islamic State, we look into the role of Saudi Arabia as the religious and ideological guide of the violent Sunni Salafist movement and speak with Toby Jones, a professor of history at Rutgers University and author of “Desert Kingdom: How Oil and Water Forged Modern Saudi Arabia”. We discuss the influence of Wahhabi religious doctrine in both the newly insurgent Islamic State and other radical movements worldwide like the Taliban, Boko Haram, al Shabab and al Qaeda.

Part 3

Then finally, with this year’s 2014 midterms shaping up as the dark money election, we speak with Sheila Krumholz, the executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics who tracks money, politics and influence in Washington. She joins us discuss the massive influx of unattributed dark money operating under the “social welfare” rubric of the IRS 501c-4 nonprofit vehicle that is pouring into the upcoming November elections. We also talk about her latest article at CNN “Will Eric Cantor Help Wall Street?’