The Costa Report

Floyd Abrams is an American attorney at Cahill Gordon & Reindel.  He is an expert on constitutional law, and many arguments in the briefs he has written have been adopted as United States Constitutional interpretative law as it relates to the First Amendment and free speech.  He is also the William J. Brennan Jr. Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [53:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

The court of public opinion is officially in session. Soon, the country will choose sides. Those who want Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to pay for the bombing in Boston with his life. Those who hope the government will work out a plea deal and spare us another O. J. Simpson spectacle. And those who test the outer limits of our humanity by daring to urge compassion.

If you have never asked for forgiveness, then redemption is off the table. It's the stuff movie-makers and writers fantasize about: a vampire is saved by the love of a good woman, a cheat learns his lesson from a child, a drunk hits rock bottom and sees the light. We cheer the fallen priest, the lousy father, the ruthless boxer and sea captain as they fight their way back from the dark side.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

Before we turn up the volume on the Second Amendment. Before we trot out data proving that more guns lead to more violence — or don't. Before we re-live every senseless mass murder and make children afraid to step into a movie theater, school or mall. Before all of this and worse — experts would be wise to examine a phenomena that has been the impetus behind so many recent attacks on innocent civilians: Long before the perpetrators reached for a weapon, they lost their desire to live.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [00:05:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

Clem Brooks is the James H. Rudy Professor of Sociology at Indiana University.  His interests are voting behavior, public opinion, and social policy.  He co-authored Whose Rights? Counterterrorism and the Dark Side of American Public Opinion with Jeff Manza.  He also wrote Why Welfare States Persist (University of Chicago Press, 2007), and Social Cleavages and Political Change (Oxford University Press, 1999).

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [00:54:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

Jack Allan Abramoff is a former American lobbyist, businessman, movie producer and writer. He was at the heart of an extensive corruption investigation that led to his conviction and to 21 persons either pleading guilty or being found guilty, including White House officials and nine other lobbyists and Congressional aides.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

Alan Lee Keyes is an American conservative political activist, author, former diplomat, and perennial candidate for public office.  He ran for President of the United States in 1996, 2000, and 2008 (founding and serving as the presidential nominee of the America's Independent Party in 2008), and was a Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in 1988, 1992, and 2004.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

Daniel H. Pink is an American author who has written five books about business, work and management. He worked as an aide to Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, and from 1995 to 1997 he was chief speechwriter for Vice President Al Gore.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

Byron Dorgan is a former United States Senator from North Dakota and is now a senior policy advisor for a Washington, D.C.  law firm.  He also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center, where he focuses on issues related to energy policy and is a co-chair of BPC's Energy Project.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [00:54:03m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

Stephen Jones is an attorney and Republican activist from Enid, Oklahoma. He is best known for serving asTimothy McVeigh's lead defense lawyer during McVeigh's trial on 11 counts regarding his actions in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

For eighteen years Russ Feingold represented Wisconsin in the United States Senate.  Well known for leading the fight for campaign finance reform in the Senate alongside Senator John McCain, Feingold has always championed efforts to limit the influence of special interests.  He was the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act, was the first to propose a timetable to exit Iraq, and has always fought against unfair trade agreements like NAFTA and against financial deregulation.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)