July 29 – The Pope has Kind Words for Gays While Putin Cracks Down on Them; Will Congress Again Threaten the Full Faith and Credit of the USA?; Inside the Muslim Brotherhood

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with Marianne Duddy-Burke, the executive director of Dignity USA, the leading organization for LGBT Catholics, and look into the Pope’s surprising remarks to reporters that “if a person is gay, and looks for the Lord and had goodwill, who am I to judge them?”. And we also speak with gay political activist Mike Rogers, the Managing Director of Raw Story, about Vladimir Putin’s moves in the opposite direction as his anti-gay crackdown takes on darker and sinister tones, and discuss growing calls of a boycott on Russian products and the Sochi Winter Olympics.  

Part 2

Then we speak with economist James Galbraith about the coming showdown over raising the debt limit which the president has vowed is non-negotiable. We discuss the House Republican’s intention to tie a debt ceiling increase to spending cuts in the name of deficit reduction and the White House’s new focus on job creation to reverse income inequality and restore economic opportunity for working Americans.

Part 3

Then finally, with more clashes in Egypt between supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Army, we speak with Carrie Wickham, a Professor of Political Science at Emory University and author of “The Muslim Brotherhood: Evolution of an Islamist Movement”. She has a recent article at the New York Times examining the inner working of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, “Egypt’s Lost Opportunity”.