March 29 – Senator Sanders on the Republican Budget; A Hidden Motive Behind Saudi Intervention in Yemen; A Pilot on How to Prevent Future Germanwings Crashes

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with Senator Bernie Sanders, the longest serving independent member of Congress in American history who is the ranking member of the Senate budget comittee, and discuss the Republican budget which passed the Senate on a party line vote that repeals the Affordable Care Act, throws extra money at the Pentagon and repeals the estate tax even though only 3,700 estates valued at over $5.43 million, or $11 million for a couple, are subject to the tax which means the richest 0.12% will now pay no estate tax.  We also discuss a number of issues including the 2016 Democratic presidential primary debates that so far look more like a monologue than a dialogue. 

Part 2

Then we speak with Lina Khatib, the Director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut about a possible hidden motive behind Saudi intervention in Yemen that might result in a military occupation of the south of the country to secure the port of Aden and its oil terminals so that Saudi oil could be piped directly to Asian customers from terminals on the Indian Ocean, thus bypassing the Gulf and the Iranian-dominated Straights of Hormuz.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with an instrument-rated pilot and author of “Free Flight: From Airline Hell to a New Age of Travel”.  Award-winning author and national correspondent for The Atlantic, James Fallows, joins us to discuss his article in The Atlantic “Could the Germanwings Crash Have Been Avoided?”