Summary: We're back! It's been a crazy few weeks in the radio world, but Talking Left is back after a two-week hiatus! We tried to catch up on a few stories that we didn't get a chance to talk about, and get in to the current news stories that the corporate media is ignoring. In the first hour, we discussed how social media has taken over our so-called news cycle, and how opinion and talking points has replaced facts and analysis. Although there are a million examples we could point to that prove this point, the latest one is definitely the trade President Obama made to get Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl back from the Taliban. We gave you our opinion of the people who are smearing a POW and his family, and we ALL have to wait on the real facts to come out. During the second hour, we talked a lot about the Supreme Court, and their recent refusal to hear an appeal by New York Times reporter James Risen. The Obama Administration has persecuted more journalists than all other Administrations combined, yet they've also shown public support for a Media Shield law. Now that Congressman Alan Grayson has introduced - and passed - some protections for journalists, it will be interesting to see where the President stands. Also in that hour, we spoke with Dr. Frank Empsak of Workers Independent News. He explained how three different news outlets - the New York Times, Al Jazeera, and The Wall Street Journal - analyzed income data from recent decades to show that the middle class is losing ground to the one percent. No one can claim that it's partisan talking points when you have that type of across-the-board conclusions. The fact is that American wages have declined along with the loss of unions, and we have to fight like hell to make up ground. You can start by supporting Workers Independent News and all the great work being done at LaborRadio.org. In the last hour, we spoke with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Hedrick Smith, author of "Who Stole The American Dream." Although many of us only hear about French Economist Thomas Piketty because of his latest book, Hedrick has been following his work for years. He explained that Piketty's analysis of Capitalism shows why we're in the economic situation that we're in, and why sitting back and doing nothing will never change the system. As Hedrick explains in his book, we've been in tough economic times before, and the decisions we made then helped to create a strong, robust middle class. Yes, times are tough and we have an up-hill battle, but we can change the system and take back the American Dream. Thanks to Rocky Mountain Mike for writing and producing our incredible theme music! Please check out his amazing Sound Cloud! Thanks to We Act Radio - 1480AM WPWC, Netroots Radio, SoFlo Radio, and Radio or Not,- for helping to ensure all listeners have corporate-free, independent radio! And, of course, thanks to you, our listeners, friends, and family - for supporting us through all of our crazy shows, dreams, and political addictions!! You can also follow all of the news about upcoming topics and guests on our Facebook page and on Twitter @TalkingLeft. And you can subscribe to Talking Left free on iTunes! As always, thanks for listening!
