Bob Collins
Monday January 21, 2019
(Subject to change as events dictate. This page is updated throughout the day.)
9 a.m. – 1A with Joshua Johnson
There is no lack of options if you like to watch someone take a punch. Or a kick. Or a chokehold. Professional boxing and mixed martial arts stand out in the sports world. Joshua Johnsons explores the idea that fighting is more than entertainment. And whether it feeds a human need that most of us are conditioned to resist.
Guests: Josh Rosenblatt, author, “Why We Fight: One Man’s Search For Meaning Inside The Ring;” Leslie Smith, professional MMA fighter.
10 a.m.- 1A with Joshua Johnson
The First Amendment protects freedom of religion, and freedom from religion. The number of Americans with no religious affiliation is on the rise. And some estimates of how many say they don’t believe God exists at all are as high as 26 percent.
Guests: Mandisa Thomas, president, Black Nonbelievers, Inc.; Kevin Bolling, executive director, Secular Student Alliance; Amanda Poppei, senior leader, Washington Ethical Society; Leigh Schmidt, religious studies professor, Washington University in St. Louis.
11 a.m. – MPR News with Angela Davis
Two high school leaders and a professor from the University of St. Thomas will talk about what the Civil Rights Movement means to them, and what they are dealing with today when it comes to race.
Guests: Senam Akyea, freshman at Highland Park High School; Terrell Turner, senior at Johnson High School; Prof. Todd Lawrence, associate professor of English at the University of St. Thomas.
12 p.m. – MPR News Presents
Keynote speaker Don Lemon at this morning’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Breakfast at the Minneapolis Armory. His speech is titled, “My Life in the Spotlight: On a Road Paved and Guided by Dr. King.”
Also in the hour: Fox News host and former NPR host Juan Williams, author of “What the Hell Do You Have to Lose? Trump’s War on Civil Rights.”
1 p.m. – The Takeaway
The Takeaway opens their hour on civic engagement with a look at what it is, how it works, and why people now feel that they should be getting involved in their communities and in issues that matter to them more than ever.
2 p.m. – BBC NewsHour
Zimbabwe reels from protest and violence and shortages – are things worse than under Mugabe ? Theresa May explains how she’ll produce Plan B for Brexit .. and political violence in Brazil
3 p.m. – All Things Considered
Federal prisons and the shutdown; MLK Day celebrations; NFL insurance crisis.
6:00 p.m. – Marketplace
Verizon and 5G. Sometimes new developments in high tech leave consumers that unsatisfied, didn’t-live-up-to-the-hype feeling.
So Verizon tried to be mindful.
6:30 p.m. – The Daily
Did the workload at a company cause pregnant workers to miscarry?
7 p.m. – The World
As the partial government shutdown continues, DACA and TPS recipients were drawn into the stalemate with a proposal by President Trump this weekend that would end the shutdown and give them temporary legal protection, in exchange for funding for a border wall. Democrats say that’s a non-starter. So what do the people caught up in this political fight say? Their perspectives, today on The World.
Also, we’ll have the latest about a gasoline pipeline explosion over the weekend that killed dozens of people. The blast raises questions about one of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s first steps since coming to power in December: a crackdown on pipeline thefts targeting the state-run oil company Pemex. The move has led to widespread gasoline shortages and public anger in Mexico.
And we’ll get a Mexican perspective on the trial of notorious Mexican kingpin known as “El Chapo,” which continues this week in New York City. Host Marco Werman speaks with Mexican journalist Alejandra Ibarra Chaoul, who’s been covering the trial in New York.
Plus, the Trump administration has stopped cooperating with UN experts who investigate reports of potential human rights violations within in the United States. The World’s Rupa Shenoy delves into one of the specific cases that’s not being investigated because of this situation: a transgender activist who received death threats in Seattle and is now taking refuge in Sweden.
8 p.m. – Fresh Air
Terry Gross talks with Henry Louis Gates, host of PBS’s Finding Your Roots, now in its fifth season. Its mission is to “get into the DNA of American culture”, examining ancestral histories and genetic codes. Gates is a teacher, historian and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker. He’s the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He has hosted several PBS series that look at U.S. history, including The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, a six-part series chronicling the African American experience, which he also executive produced.
