Political Misfits

Western US Under Threat of Water Shortages; States Take on Healthcare Fight

Universal healthcare could have prevented hundreds of thousands of deaths in the COVID pandemic. Why we need to keep fighting for Medicare for All.
Sputnik

Kevin Kamps, radioactive waste watchdog at Beyond Nuclear, and Tina Landis, environmental and social activist and the author of the book “Climate Solutions Beyond Capitalism,” join us in a conversation about the threat of water shortages and droughts facing the western United States, what kind of impact could these have, and how big agribusiness, bad water management, and climate change denial exacerbate these crises in the region. We also talk about how these climate events also threaten the nuclear infrastructure of the country, how nuclear energy is not the most safe and efficient form of energy generation, and how we need to move forward with alternative solutions.  

Dr. Bill Honigman, retired emergency physician and California State Coordinator and Healthcare Issue Team Coordinator for the Progressive Democrats of America, talks to us about how individual states are undertaking new initiatives to try to make their health care systems more affordable and humane in light of general inaction from the federal government, how the ACA as originally devised leaves so many people behind, how the lack of a single-payer system in the US may have contributed to excess deaths in the hundreds of thousands during the COVID pandemic, and why we need to keep fighting for universal healthcare, which will lower costs and improve the quality of life for people in this country.

Eugene Puryear, journalist, activist, and host at Breakthrough News, and the author of "Shackled and Chained: Mass Incarceration in Capitalist America,” joins hosts Michelle Witte and Bob Schlehuber reflecting on the outcome of the Derek Chauvin trial, how it has galvanized collective action in the country towards justice and how need to abandon atomization and individualism to heal and improve our society. We also talk about the so-called new US policy “playbook” in Latin America, and the controversy over the OPCW report on chemical weapons use in Syria.   

Emily Satterwhite, volunteer at Appalachians Against Pipeline, joins our “Trends with Benefits” segment to talk about the protests against the Mountain Valley Pipeline, and how other collective actions, like Standing Rock, inform these and can help build solidarity and strengthen environmental movements.  

We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com

Discuss