December 1 – Republican Deficit Hawks Push a $400 Billion Tax Cut for Big Corporations; Outliers at the U.N. Climate Conference in Lima, Peru; The Supreme Court Considers Limits on Free Speech on the Internet; Finally a Coal Baron Faces Justice

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the $400 billion in permanent tax cuts for big corporations making its way through the lame duck Congress and speak with Jared Bernstein, a Senior Fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the former Chief Economist and Economic Advisor to Vice President Joe Biden. He joins to discuss his article at The Washington Post “A Lame Duck Turkey: The Tax Extender Package Working its Way Through Congress Should be Stopped” and the hypocrisy of Republican deficit hawks who are happy to add $400 billion to the deficit as a gift to their corporate backers while discontinuing two temporary tax provisions that help low income working families and children.

Part 2

Then we assess the chances of meaningful action on global warming at the U.N. Climate Change Conference at which 190 nations are gathered in Lima, Peru to work on drafts for a global climate deal to be adopted next year in Paris. Jeffrey Bury, a Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who studies the political economy of climate change and glacier recession in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru, joins us to discuss resistance to new targets to cut emissions from India, Russia, Japan and Australia, which incidentally just endured the hottest year on record.

Part 3

Then we examine today’s arguments in the Supreme Court to limit freedom of speech on the Internet and in social media as a result of threats posted on Facebook against an FBI agent which were made by a man whose wife left him, taking their two children. Garrett Epps, a Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law, joins us to discuss his article in The Atlantic “When Does the First Amendment Protect Threats?” and whether a standard can be reached to measure the intention of the person issuing the threat or whether the standard should be how much the recipient of the threat feels threatened.

Part 4

Then finally we speak with Russell Mokhiber, the editor of the Corporate Crime Reporter who is currently working with the West Virginia local activist group Morgan County USA.org. We discuss the indictment of the coal baron Donald Blankenship, the CEO of Massey Energy, who is being charged with disregarding health and safety laws and conspiring to hide violations at the Upper Big Branch mine where 29 miners were killed by an explosion of methane in 2010.