Today on The Michelangelo Signorile Show on SiriusXM PROGRESS ch.127

3:35pm ET - Abolishing the US Department of Education has long been a talking point of conservatives like possible Republican Presidential contender and senator from Kentucky Randal Paul who only last year said “I don’t think you’d notice if the whole department was gone tomorrow,” at a University of Chicago Institute of Politics panel.  And he isn’t the only one, Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry have also said the department of education is “nonessential” or worth scrapping completely.  But what would the country be like if this actually happened?  Joining me today to talk about the problems associated with getting rid of the Dept. of Ed. is Casey Quinlan, education reporter for ThinkProgress.  You can also follow Casey on twitter.

4:35pm ET - The recent unrest in Ferguson and Baltimore have forced our country to take a long hard look at the way in which our government and law enforcement agencies treat American citizens of African descent, and the results of that self-evaluation only raised more complex and confounding questions, which many people have attempted to define solely in terms of insurgent American racism and violent police behavior.  But according to Orlando Patterson, a professor of sociology at Harvard University, that is a gross oversimplification.  In a recent op-ed in the New York Times he argued that America is not reverting to earlier racist patterns, and calling for a national conversation on race is a cliché that evades the real problem we now face.  He joins us today to discuss the multitude of problems that have brought us to where we are today.  You can also follow Prof. Patterson on twitter.

Don't forget, you can follow Michelangelo on Twitter, Facebook, & and Instagram! 

Listen to The Michelangelo Signorile Show weekdays live from 3-6 pm ET on SiriusXM Progress 127 and on the SiriusXM iPhone, Blackberry and Android apps. Not a subscriber? Not a problem! Listen online any time with a free thirty-day pass or, if you have an if you have an iPhone or Blackberry, go to the app store and download SiriusXM for free, for a 7-day trial, and listen on your phone.