The Mark Riley Show - 10/01/14

Today on The Mark Riley Show, Mark's guest is Costas Panagopoulos, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Electoral Politics and the Master’s Program in Elections and Campaign Management at Fordham University. He is also Research Fellow at the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University. They discuss Scotland’s recent referendum on independence was illuminating on one particular level. 85% of the eligible electorate turned out to vote. Venezuela had similar numbers in their last presidential election. By contrast, NYC’s mayoral election last year had a 24% turnout. Why is this, and what needs to happen to drive turnout in the USA?

Mark also discusses:

Many Missteps in Assessment of ISIS Threat. Obama blames Intel, Intel strikes back, says WH wasn’t interested. With the inroads ISIS is making, can we really afford to play blame game?

White House Intruder Gets Past Front Door, Made it as Far as East Room. Can’t anyone here do security???

And if that weren’t enough, an armed security contractor rode with the President in an elevator in Atlanta. This should cost a few Secret Service people their jobs!!!

Mayor signs executive order expanding living wage to thousands more. FINALLY, something really progressive to talk about. 

The Hole in Holder’s Legacy.  Joe Nocera writes in the Times that Holder’s failure to prosecute those responsible for the nation’s financial collapse is a serious stain on his time as AG. Not that he didn’t do some good things, but acting like nothing criminal happened in the Great Recession means he had blinder

Trump Gets Punked! Donald Trump falls for Twitter prank. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy!