california

"The USA has got to join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee health care to everyone as a right, not a privilege," says Senator Bernie Sanders, who this week is introducing a new bill in Congress that would provide a single-payer health care system, administered at the state level, that would treat health care as a human right. Sanders' home state of Vermont is on its way to being the first state in the country with a single-payer plan, but he notes that all Americans should have that same right. Senator Sanders joins Laura from Washington, D.C. via Skype to explain his bill, why it matters, and why he thinks Vermont can lead the nation to a better health system. Obama travels to El Paso today as part of a campaign to win back Latino voters, many of whom are still waiting for Obama to make good on his last campaign promise of immigration reform. At the same time the glad handing and photo ops are taking place, in nearby Tuscon Arizona there's a new front to the war on immigration where students are fighting the Board of Ed to preserve a historically successful ethnic studies program. Here's a report from the Real News Network. World War I was called "the war to end all wars," but nearly 100 years later, war is far from over. Adam Hochschild, co-founder of Mother Jones magazine, has written a new book looking back at that war and specifically, those who objected to and fought against the Great War. Adam joins Laura in studio to discuss World War I, the anti-war movement then and now, and why we're still struggling to articulate an opposition to war that will successfully end all wars. Distributed by Tubemogul.

"We need to be able to laugh about issues but we also need to know that aside from the comedy that we find in the series when cultures collide, there is a very real issue of displacement in many urban communities," says Julia Ahumada Grob, the co-creator and lead actor of the web TV series East WillyB. The show is set in Bushwick a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, and it addresses the problems of gentrification and displacement of communities of color through humor, and brings high-quality TV production values to the 'net. Julia and actor Flaco Navaja join Laura in studio to discuss dealing with pressing social issues through humor, addressing the "new generation Latino" and why they moved to create their own media. The job of the journalist is not to give people a voice, filmmaker Miki Chakarova explains to her students: "People have a voice," she says, "It's just that they don't have an outlet." In her recent film, The Price of Sex, Chakarova went to great lengths to provide that outlet by embedding herself in the world of Eastern European sex trafficking. The resulting film is an intimate portrait of the individuals that comprise an industry, and the way that corruption thrives in the context of poverty. The film is playing around the country at select venues and will have its NYC premiere this summer at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. Budget cuts are everywhere we look these days, but they often come right along with giveaways and moves to further enrich those at the top. In San Francisco, students and teachers came out to protest massive budget cuts in the California State University system, express outrage over the obscene salaries of the dean of students and voice their concern about their financially debt ridden future. This video comes courtesy of Davey D and OpenLine media. Finally, a new story in The Nation shows that the Supreme Court's also made it a lot easier for companies to pressure their employees directly about voting. Laura has some thoughts on the way Citizens United is changing the workplace as well as the ballot box. Distributed by Tubemogul.

"It wasn't just students involved in this protest. There was a lot of people from all walks of life involved," says Laurie Penny of the New Statesman, who joins us from London to talk abut the newest round of protests led by UK Uncut. Saturday's protests saw crowds in excess of 500,000 and violent clashes with police forces. Penny joins us from London where she has been observing the protests first-hand to talk about the protests, the media coverage, and what comes next. "I do see flickers of hope, I see that there's an organic movement going on in Wisconsin, across the country," said Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, "It's time to get activated, It's time to let our elected officials know what we want in terms of better working conditions and a better, fair playing field for everyone. Not just those at the top, but those at the bottom and the middle." Laura spoke with Secretary Solis at the Triangle Fire memorial on Friday about sweatshop conditions then and now, whether we can expect prosecutions for those responsible for the deaths of Massey coal mine and BP workers, and what we can do to help protect working people, U.S. citizens or not. "Get involved, volunteer, go out there and organize and make sure those people get off of the sidewalk and onto the street." Finally, a commentary from Laura on the passing of Geraldine Ferraro and her enduring legacy. Distributed by Tubemogul.

The Koch brothers have operated largely beneath the radar of most Americans for years, convening twice-yearly meetings for the past 8 years of some of the richest and most powerful conservatives in the country. Their meetings have even been attended by Supreme Court Justices Scalia and Thomas; part of the five-vote majority on the Supreme Court that handed down the Citizens United ruling, and their Americans for Prosperity buses appear at Tea Party events around the country. But this week, they had a little surprise--their gathering wasn't a secret any more, as around a thousand protesters showed up outside their Rancho Mirage, CA getaway. Ed Pilkington of the Guardian was there, and he joins us to give us the story.