Yesterday, as the U.S.
Senate worked to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and end Medicaid as we
know it, doctors, nurses, medical students, impacted Medicaid patients, those
with pre-existing conditions and people living with HIV took their fight
against the repeal bill directly to the Senate. The protestors called on key
red-state senators to reject proposals that will gut life-saving Medicaid for
74 million working families, children, seniors, veterans, and people with
disabilities to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations. Wednesday’s protests, which include acts of
civil disobedience, were led by the Center for Popular Democracy and Housing Works’ nationwide network of patients and activists who have been showing up at
town hall meetings all over the country. The event came the same day as a
national “Medicaid Not Millionaires” Day of Action led by Health Care for America Now (HCAN) partners across the country.
Joining me today to talk all about the protests and the need to save the
ACA and Medicaid from Republican attacks is Eric Sawyer who is the Vice President of Public Affairs and Policy
at Gay Men’s Health Crisis and was one of the activist arrested yesterday while
engaging in a peaceful act of protest and civil disobedience.
On Monday, the U.S.
Supreme Court reinstated a portion of President Trump’s Muslim ban as it
prepares to hear a broader challenge, and today we are learning about the
guidelines that government has set for its restriction on visitors from six
predominantly Muslim nations. Joining me
today to talk all about Trump’s Muslim Ban and the impact it will have is Dean Obeidallah, columnist for The Daily Beast and the host of The Dean Obeidallah Show here on
SiriusXM Progress.
Over the course of the
past few years, more and more Americans have become aware of the fact that the
United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, but what is not
broadly understood is how cash-strapped and overcrowded state and federal
prisons are increasingly relying on religious organizations to provide
educational and mental health services and to help maintain order. Furthermore, these religious organizations
are overwhelmingly run by nondenominational Protestant Christians who see
prisoners as captive audiences. In her
new book God in Captivity: The Rise of Faith-based Prison Ministries in the Age of Mass Incarceration, Tanya Erzen provides an eye-opening account of how and why
evangelical Christian ministries are flourishing in prisons across the United
States and the impact they are having on our criminal justice system. Tanya is an associate professor of religion
and gender studies at the University of Puget Sound and executive director of
the Freedom Education Project Puget Sound, a nonprofit that provides college
education for incarcerated women.
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