Nov 3, 2015
David Waldman is still out today, but will be back tomorrow, and so will Greg Dworkin, and Joan McCarter! Meanwhile here is an new pre-recorded show:
Rand Paul threw a tiny little “filibuster” (which wasn’t a filibuster) to fulfill his promise at the last debate to fight the “Washington Machine”. He spent every ounce of his energy, and charged his supporters about a buck a minute. David devotes today’s show to an examination of the machine - the business of politics, and the politics of business.
How can candidates turn campaign cash into personal cash? No surprise that many ways have been devised. Buy Ted Cruz’s book for $85.00 and find out.
How can the government partner with business to redefine the illegality out of criminal behavior? Again, there has been no shortage of ideas or effort put into this.
The Education Department, despite a crackdown against what it calls “bad actors,” continues to hand over tens of millions of dollars every month to other for-profit schools that have been accused of predatory behavior, substandard practices or illegal activity by its own officials or state attorneys general across the country.
Copyright law on auto software might have hindered the emissions detection that could have shown Volkswagen’s deception earlier. With microphones and RFID readers in cars and home appliances that can communicate with whomever asks them, what is there to worry about?
With a variety of people worried about sharing the information stored in their own DNA, progress continues on the technology to read and store it. Don’t worry, there is no trick say researchers. They only want to help.
Rosalyn MacGregor's Michigan politics segment, scheduled for last Friday, makes it into this show:
The State legislature is still looking for a billion or so to fix their roads.
Accusations fly on who who was responsible for feeding Flint River water to the city.
MI state police and the attorney general's office continue to investigate whether Todd Courser broke any laws trying to cover up his affair, and conclude the investigation into Todd’s claims that extortion drove him to accusing himself of doing drugs and sleeping with a male prostitute.