Today on Boston Public Radio:
E. J. Dionne discussed the litany of challenges facing President Joe Biden in his first months in office and why he believes he ought to prioritize urgency over unity. He also talked about his expectations for the future of the filibuster. Dionne is a columnist for The Washington Post and a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution. His latest book is " Code Red: How Progressives And Moderates Can Unite To Save Our Country.”
Kenneth Feinberg discussed the open question of whether a federal victim compensation fund ought to be instated in response to the pandemic. Feinberg is a victim’s rights attorney and former special master of the U.S. government's September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
Next, we opened our phone lines to hear listeners' thoughts on the merits of a COVID-19 victim compensation fund.
Daniel Lieberman talked about his new book on the evolution of human beings and our aversion to exercise, called " Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved To Do Is Healthy And Rewarding.” Lieberman is a professor in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University.
The Rev. Irene Monroe and the Rev. Emmett Price talked about the need for civil rights leaders to maintain pressure on the Biden administration on issues of racial equity. They also discussed critiques of Biden from conservative leaders in the Catholic Church. Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist, the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail and a visiting researcher in the Religion and Conflict Transformation Program at the Boston University School of Theology. Price is executive director of the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Together, they host GBH’s All Rev’d Up podcast.
Shirley Leung spoke about her reporting on struggling restaurants in Boston and recent federal and statewide progress made towards prioritizing small and minority-owned businesses for grants and loans. She also weighed in on the significant challenges that Boston Mayor Marty Walsh wil face as U.S. labor secretary. Leung is a business columnist for The Boston Globe.
We closed out Monday’s show by re-opening our phone lines, talking with listeners about their experiences trying to stay in shape in quarantine.
