Air Date: 4-22-2025

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We knew for decades before the overturning of Roe v. Wade that Republicans wanted to repeal abortion rights. But I recall an argument I heard many years ago from someone ostensibly on the left about how wrong the left was to worry about it because George W Bush had been in office for 8 years and didn't stop abortions. I knew that was a profoundly uninformed point at the time but it's also evidence that some people just don't understand the time horizons over which plans to dismantle cherished rights and government programs play out. George W. Bush also proposed privatizing Social Security and didn't succeed there either. But in both cases, groundwork was being laid as part of a multi-decade effort that would, they hoped, pay off in the future. So don't be surprised when they come for your earned benefits programs just as they came for the fundamental right to bodily autonomy.

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KEY POINTS

KP 1: What few people know about the program that saved America - Meg Jacobs - TED-Ed - Air Date 6-17-21

KP 2: Trump is coming for Social Security. And he has a new 'Big Lie' to justify it. - All In with Chris Hayes - Air Date 5-5-25

KP 3: What DOGE could mean for Medicare and Medicaid? - Consider This - Air Date 2-10-25

KP 4: Food banks feel the pain from higher prices and cuts to government programs - PBS NewsHour - Air Date 4-10-25

KP 5: Important HHS services _will grind to a halt_ with cuts, former Secretary Sebelius says - PBS NewsHour - Air Date 4-2-25

KP 6: Trumps Butchering Social Security to Feed His Starving Billionaires w/ Alex Lawson - The Hartmann Report - Air Date 3-12-25

KP 7: 'The federal workforce feels tormented': Federal employees on the consequences of losing their jobs Part 1 - On Point - Air Date 4-1-25

KP 8: INTERVIEW: Tim Faust on Defending Medicaid - The Worst of All Possible Worlds Part 1 - Air Date 3-31-25

(00:51:58) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

On the false moral arguments for cutting social safety nets

DEEPER DIVES

(01:02:18) SECTION A: SOCIAL SECURITY

A1: Social Security Struggles - NightSide With Dan Rea - Air Date 4-1-25

A2: Destroying Social Security Part 1 - The Hartmann Report - Air Date 3-31-25

A3: Nancy Altman on Social Security Attacks - CounterSpin - Air Date 3-21-25

A4: ‘It is wrong’: Warren sounds off on the Trump-Musk attack on Social Security - All In with Chris Hayes - Air Date 3-25-25

A5: 'Nothing to Do With Efficiency': Expert Eric Kingson warns DOGE is leading to Social Security collapse, privatization - The BradCast w/ Brad Friedman - Air Date 4-10-25

A6: Destroying Social Security Part 2 - The Hartmann Report - Air Date 3-31-25

(01:51:24) SECTION B: GENERAL CUTS

B1: Stand Up for Science: Nationwide Protests Oppose Trump Cuts to Research from Cancer to Climate Change - Democracy Now! - Air Date 3-10-25

B2: Reproductive Rights Crackdown: Planned Parenthood CEO on Supreme Court Case, Title X & More - Democracy Now! - Air Date 4-4-25

B3: 882 - Personnel Cuts at the CDC - Public Health On Call - Air Date 4-13-25 

B4: 'The federal workforce feels tormented': Federal employees on the consequences of losing their jobs Part 2 - On Point - Air Date 4-1-25

B5: Former Congressman Max Rose of VoteVets on Trump, Musk 'war on veterans' - The BradCast w/ Brad Friedman - Air Date 3-27-25 

(02:34:52) SECTION C: MEDICAID & HHS

C1: RFK Jr. is doing Eugenics - Happy Pancake - Air Date 4-4-25

C2: Republicans Move to Cut Medicaid. How Many Millions Could Lose Healthcare? - What A Day - Air Date 2-24-25

C3: INTERVIEW: Tim Faust on Defending Medicaid - The Worst of All Possible Worlds Part 2 - Air Date 3-31-25

MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions)

Produced by Jay! Tomlinson

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