Infectious Myth – The Mysterious Acceptance of Bad Science as the cause of AIDS – 10.06.15

In episode 73 David tackles four weighty issues. A different take on Planned Parenthood. The Roseburg/Umpqua mass shooting. The complex issue of sexual consent. And finally, the original four Robert Gallo papers that cemented the HIV=AIDS theory in one fell swoop. Oh, and don’t forget the US government press conference that preceded their publication by a few weeks.

Nomi Prins – Trumpocrisy

The 2016 election campaign is certainly a billionaire’s playground when it comes to “establishment candidates” like Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush who cater to mega-donors and use their money to try to rally party bases. The only genuine exception to the rule this time around has been Bernie Sanders, who has built a solid grassroots following and funding machine, while …

Steven Rosenfeld – GOP Debate Shows a Party Where Crazy Is the New Normal

Despite the large number of candidates on the stage at the Ronald Reagan Library, the second debate of Republican presidential candidates was an astounding display of how intellectually bankrupt the Republican Party has become in 2015. Beyond the many subplots—such as a red-faced Donald Trump eating crow for his nasty remarks about ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina’s looks (then he …

Heather Digby Parton – Why Ben Carson’s Rapid Surge in the Polls Should Have You Very, Very Worried

Even as Donald Trump continues to dominate the national polls, with the latest from PPP [3] showing him holding on to a substantial national lead, another one of the Republican presidential candidates is finally starting to break away from the pack. And it’s not one of the mainstream political professionals, as everyone assumed it would be: Governor Scott Walker, Senator Marco Rubio, …

Medea Benjamin – Who’s the Real Troublemaker in the Middle East?

Except for maybe the Affordable Care Act, nothing gets Republican politicians fired up like Iran. In the first GOP debate alone, Scott Walker promised that he’d tear up the Iran nuclear deal on day one of his presidency. Carly Fiorina blamed the country for “most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East.” Mike Huckabee vowed to topple the “terrorist Iranian …

John Kasich Doesn’t Belong Anywhere Near The U.S. Department Of Education

Some Very Serious People have decided Governor John Kasich of Ohio is the latest personality to emerge from the field of presidential candidates in the Republican Party as a genuine bona fide consideration. According to a round up of political pundits and campaign strategists compiled by Politico, Kasich – along with Hewlett-Packard ex-CEO Carly Fiorina – put in a superior …

Jim Hightower – Superrich Donors Turn Our Democracy Into Their Plutocracy

Robert Mercer, a Wall Street hedge-fund magnate who started at I.B.M. and made his fortune using computer patterns to outsmart the stock market, has already put more than $11 million into Ted Cruz’s SuperPAC Once upon a time in our Good Ol’ US-of-A, presidential contenders and their political parties had to raise the funds needed to make the race. How …

Richard Eskow – The GOP Debate is What Oligarchy Looks Like

In the run-up to the first Republican presidential debate, a flurry of news stories about the candidates offered glimpses of oligarchy in action. Consider:   Jeb Bush’s largest Super PAC has already raised $103 million, most of it collected before he even officially declared that he was running for president. (That may explain the exclamation point in his “Jeb!” logo.) …

Elias Isquith – The media’s attempts to take Trump down are doomed. The more they hate him, the stronger he gets

Now that Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is no longer a bizarro mid-summer distraction but a real-life thing that is actually happening, the response of the political class is beginning to change. At first, they treated “The Donald’s” candidacy as a welcome distraction from Hillary Clinton. But then Trump broke one of their cardinal rules — “Thou shalt not take cheap …