The Syrian military’s crackdown on protestors has left thousands in detention and hundreds dead. Anthony Shadid of The New York Times and Joshua Landis of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma report on the violence. Plus: Democrats in the Senate are seeking to reframe the debt debate by proposing an end to tax cuts for the largest oil companies; the details on the insider trading conviction of Raj Rajaratnam, hedge fund boss; and Jill Lepore, staff writer at The New Yorker, on how past events have influenced the present political and social climate in the U.S.
Supermajor Oil Companies and the Deficit
Dan Berman, POLITICO Pro’s energy editor, talks about how removing tax subsidies for large oil companies has become central to the Democrats plan to lessen the debt, and Robert Menendez, U.S. Senator from New Jersey (D), talks about subsidies for the five largest oil companies as a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the issue progresses in Washington D.C.
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Wall Street Titan Convicted
John Coffee, Adolf A. Berle Professor of Law at Columbia University School of Law, discusses Raj Rajaratnam, the hedge fund boss who has been accused of insider trading and has been found guilty of conspiracy and securities fraud.
Past and Present With Jill Lepore: The Politics of Death
Jill Lepore, professor of American history at Harvard, staff writer at The New Yorker and author of The Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party’s Revolution and the Battle Over American History, is our weekly guest for the month of May. She will discuss how four past historical moments have influenced the present political and social climate in the United States.
Today's historical moment: The Karen Ann Quinlan right-to-die case of 1975.
The Latest on Syria
Anthony Shadid, New York Times correspondent in Beirut, and Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies, associate professor at the University of Oklahoma and writer of the Syria Comment newsletter, discuss the latest on the uprising and crackdown in Syria.
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Open Phones Follow-Up: Gay Conservatives
In our interview with Andrew Breitbart yesterday, he asserted that there is a significant gay conservative vote. Jimmy LaSalvia, executive director of GOProud, an organization Breitbart is affiliated with, discusses his organizations work and the balance between social and fiscal issues within the GOP. Are you a gay conservative? How did you arrive at your political philosophy? Let us know!
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Raising Manhattanites
Sam Roberts, urban affairs correspondent for The New York Times, looks at the new census numbers showing more children under five living in Manhattan, but fewer children city-wide.
»» Check out WNYC's census maps below
Past and Present With Jill Lepore
New Yorker staff writer and Harvard historian Jill Lepore talks history all month.
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