Joining MIke on this edition of HItting Left is Martha Biondi. Martha is a historian and the Lorraine H. Morton Professor of African American Studies and Professor of History at Northwestern University. She is author of We Are Internationlists: Prexy Nesbitt and the Fight for African Liberation.

Joining Mike in the Lumpen Radio studio is nationally recognized journalist and communications expert, Meredith Shiner. We'll be unpacking the widening rift within the Democratic Party over the vote to end the government shutdown.