February 12 – The U.S. Plunges 13 Points on the Reporters Without Borders Global Press Freedom Index; Important Rules Stalled at the White House; Love and Marriage with a Wounded Warrior

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the report just released by Reporters Without Borders ranking the freedom of the press worldwide in 2014. Josh Stearns, the Press Freedom Director at Free Press joins us to discuss his article at the Huffington Post “U.S. Plummets in Global Press Freedom Rankings” and why the U.S. has plunged 13 points on the Reporters Without Borders global press freedom rankings to number 46.

Part 2

Then we look into how the clock is ticking on the Obama Administration’s rule making process where critical regulations on food safety, the environment, worker’s safety and consumer protection have been stalled for months and even years. Ronald White, the Director of Regulatory Policy at the Center for Effective Government joins us to discuss why an array of important rules to be implemented by key government agencies have been stalled, and who benefits from this bottleneck with many of the pending rules having been stalled beyond deadlines set by Congress.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with Kayla Williams who served in the U.S. army for 5 years as an Arab Linguist and wrote about her experience in “Love My Rifle More Than You: Young and Female in the US Army”. She joins us to discuss her latest book “Plenty of Time When We Get Home: Love and Recovery in the Aftermath of War” which tells the story of her romance with a fellow soldier in Iraq who was later severely wounded, and their subsequent love and marriage that endured the harrowingly painful challenges of PTSD without sufficient support from the VA and any understanding of the challenges women veterans have.