First, tons of discarded plastic are choking off the ocean, killing wildlife, and building islands of garbage. How bad has it become and what can be done about it? [ dur: 19 mins. ]

• Captain Charles Moore is founder of the ALGALITA Marine Research & Education Institute.

Then, how is the anti-government movement a type of constitutional coup? How does civil service provide a check on presidential power? [ dur: 39 mins. ]

• Jon Michaels is a Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law. He is the author of Constitutional Coup: Privatization’s Threat to the American Republic.

This program is produced with contribution from following volunteers Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

First, the makings of a scandal. Why are some perceived as big scandals, while a rash of other wrongs are ignored? [ dur: 21 mins. ]

• Robert Entman is a Professor of Media and Public Affairs and Professor of International Affairs at The George Washington University. He is the author of, Scandal and Silence: Media Responses to Presidential Misconduct, Projections of Power: Framing News, Public Opinion and US Foreign Policy, and ,The Black Image in the White Mind: Media and Race in America.

Then, while many argue that we are in a post-truth era, some scholars argue that deception has always been ubiquitous. In this hour, we get some truth about lying. [ dur: 37 mins. ]

• Timothy R. Levine is Distinguished Professor and Chair of Communication Studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is the editor of Encyclopedia of Deception, Vol. 1 & 2 and many scholarly articles on deception.
• David Livingstone-Smith is Professor of Philosophy in the University of New England. He is the author of Why We Lie: The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind, Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave and Exterminate Others and The Most Dangerous Animal: Human Nature and the Origins of War.
• Briony Swire-Thompson is a Ph. D. student in the School of Psychological Science at the University of Western Australia. She is a co-author of the studies Processing Political Misinformation: Comprehending the Trump Phenomena, and Correcting false information in memory: Manipulating the strength of misinformation encoding and its retraction.

This program is produced with contribution from following volunteers Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

First, the dark side of Uber, AirBnB and the rest of the so called “sharing economy.” We speak with Steven Hill. [ dur: 30 mins. ]

• Steven Hill is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation and co-founder of Fair Vote: Center for Voting and Democracy. He’s the author of Raw Deal: How the Uber Economy and Naked Capitalism are Screwing American Workers.

Then, we explore Anonymous and the political ethos driving it with Luke Goode. [ dur: 28 mins. ]

• Luke Goode (profile page) is Senior Lecturer in Media, Film and Television at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. His research interests focus primarily on the connections between media, technology and democracy. He is the author of Jurgen Habermas: Democracy and the Public Sphere (Modern European Thinkers) and has published on a range of topics including public service broadcasting, social media, citizen journalism and hacktivism.

This program is produced with contribution from following volunteers Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

First, when does democracy have a dark side? Michael Mann says that majorities can and do oppress minorities in the name of majoritarian democracy. He is the author of The Dark Side of Democracy. [ dur: 15 mins. ]

• Michael Mann is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at UCLA. He is author of The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing.

Then, what is consciousness? Is it just brain activity? and how does it differ from the subconscious? [ dur: 43 mins. ]

• Valerie Gray Hardcastle is Professor of Philosophy, Psychology, and Psychiatry & Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Cincinnati. She is the author of Locating Consciousness, The Myth of Pain, How to Build a Theory in Cognitive Science, and Constructing the Self.
• Dr. Rocco J. Gennaro is the Philosophy Department Chairperson and a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern Indiana. He is the author of Consciousness, The Consciousness Paradox: Consciousness, Concepts, and Higher-Order Thoughts, and is the editor of the anthology Theories of Consciousness and Psychopathology and the Routledge Handbook of Consciousness.
• Hakwan Lau is Professor in the Department of Psychology (Cognitive & Behavioral Neuroscience) & Brain Research Institute at UCLA. His numerous research papers include What is consciousness, and could machines have it? Should a few null findings falsify prefrontal theories of consciousness? and Heuristic use of perceptual evidence leads to dissociation between performance and metacognitive sensitivity.

This program is produced with contribution from following volunteers Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

First, hacking, fake news, paid trolls both from within the country and from afar, are they destroying democracy? [ dur: 28 mins. ]

• Chris Tenove is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Ethics and the Munk School of Global Affairs of the University of Toronto. He studies international relations and political theory, with an emphasis on issues of global governance and global justice. He is also an award-winning freelance writer and broadcaster.
• Jennifer Forestal is an Assistant Professor of Political Science (Theory) at Stockton University in New Jersey.

Then, what are the politics of Muslim Americans? And how might they be changing with the current political climate? [ dur: 30 mins. ]

• Emily Cury Tohma is a Research Fellow at Northeastern University’s Middle East Center. She’s the author of the research papers Muslim Americans and the 2016 Elections and Muslim American Policy Advocacy and the Palestinian Israeli Conflict: Claims-making and the Pursuit of Group Rights.
• Aubrey Westfall is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Wheaton College. She is the author of the research papers Gender and Political Behavior among Muslim Americans, The Complexity of Covering: The Religious, Social and Political Dynamics of Islamic Practice in the United States, and the forthcoming Islamic Headcovering and Political Engagement: The Power of Social Networks.

This program is produced with contribution from following volunteers Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

We spend the hour exploring the latest nominee for Supreme Court justice, the possible role for the four so-called liberal justices, and how privatization has amounted to what our guest calls a Constitutional Coup.[ dur: 58 mins. ]

• Jon Michaels is a Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law. He is the author of Constitutional Coup: Privatization’s Threat to the American Republic.

This program is produced with contribution from following volunteers Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

First, secret heroes. We know the role of presidents and other leaders in shaping history, however we hear little about the unsung heroes; many who have risked their lives to liberate and rescue others. Who might some of those secret heroes be? We are joined by Paul Martin author of Secret Heroes: Everyday Americans Who Shaped Our World. [ dur: 14 mins. ]

• Paul Martin is a journalist, author and editor. He is the author of Secret Heroes: Everyday Americans Who Shaped Our World and his most recent American Trailblazers:A Celebration of All But Forgotten Firsts.

Next, tens of thousands of people remained loyal to Britain during the American Revolutionary War, who were they and what happened to them? Where did they go after the war and what do their stories tell us about American history? Maya Jasanoff joins us, she is a Professor of History at Harvard and author of Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World.[ dur: 15 mins. ]

• Maya Jasanoff is Professor of History at Harvard University. She is the author of Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists and the Revolutionary War. Edge of Empire: Lives, Culture, and Conquest in the East, 1750-1850, and The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World.

Finally, what does the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy mean for the United States? This is part two of a two part interview. Part one can be found here. [ dur: 29 mins. ]

• Sanford Levinson, is a Professor in the Department of Government at the University of Texas. He is the author of The Undemocratic Constitution and Nullification and Secession in Modern Constitutional Thought and Framed: America’s 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance (2012)
• Dr. John Vile is a professor of Political Science at Middle Tennessee University. He is the author of: Constitutional Law in Contemporary America, Essential Supreme Court decisions and The Writing and Ratification of the US Constitution
• Stephen Griffin is a professor of Constitutional Law at Tulane University. He is the author of American Constitutionalism: From Theory to Politics, Long Wars and the Constitution, and Broken Trust: Dysfunctional Government and Constitutional Reform

This program is produced with contribution from following volunteers Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

First, what’s behind the rise in suicide? [ dur: 30 mins. ]

• Dr. Mark S. Kaplan, is a professor of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. His publications include: The social nature of male suicide: A new analytic model. Suicide among male veterans: a prospective population-based study and Physical illness, functional limitations, and suicide risk: a population-based study.

Then, what does the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy mean for the United States? This is part of 2 part interview. Part 2 can be found here. [ dur: 28 mins. ]

• Sanford Levinson, is a Professor in the Department of Government at the University of Texas. He is the author of The Undemocratic Constitution and Nullification and Secession in Modern Constitutional Thought and Framed: America’s 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance (2012)
• Dr. John Vile is a professor of Political Science at Middle Tennessee University. He is the author of: Constitutional Law in Contemporary America, Essential Supreme Court decisions and The Writing and Ratification of the US Constitution
• Stephen Griffin is a professor of Constitutional Law at Tulane University. He is the author of American Constitutionalism: From Theory to Politics, Long Wars and the Constitution, and Broken Trust: Dysfunctional Government and Constitutional Reform

This program is produced with contribution from following volunteers Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

First, the intersection of music, art and politics. Our guest producer Sam Smith explores how modern artists like Childish Gambino use music and video for political communication. [ dur: 15 mins. ]

• Patrycja Rozbick is Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Aston University. She is the author of Childish Gambino shows, pop music can be powerfully political – despite censorship, this article can be found here and Crisis in the Eye of Beholder: Contingency and Perplexity Along the Balkan Migration Route.

Then, the toll of trauma, its aftermath and how to heal after traumatic experiences. We speak with three renowned experts. [ dur: 43 mins. ]

• Charles R. Figley is Distinguished Chair, Professor in Disaster Mental Health and Director of the Tulane University Traumatology Institute and School of Social Work. He’s Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the author of Mapping the Wake of Trauma: Autobiographical Essays by the Pioneers of Trauma Research; the Encyclopedia of Trauma: An Interdisciplinary Guide; and Beyond Trauma: Cultural and Societal Dynamics, and Death and Trauma.
• Richard A. Chefetz is a psychiatrist in Washington, D.C. and past President of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. Richard Chefetz is Founder and Chair of their Dissociative Disorders Psychotherapy Training Program, a Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology and a faculty member at the Washington School of Psychiatry, the Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis, and the Washington Center for Psychoanalysis. He is the author of Intensive Psychotherapy for Persistent Dissociative Processes: The Fear of Feeling Real.
• Dr. Daniel Siegel is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and the founding co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA. He is Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute, the author of books, including The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are, The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being, and co-author of books including The Yes Brain: How to Cultivate Courage, Curiosity, and Resilience in YourChild and Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain

This program is produced with contribution from following volunteers Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

First, we continue our exploration of the future of food. With climate change, contamination and host of stressors on the planet, how will we feed a growing population? What are the politics of food? This is part three of a three part panel from a symposium held in Auckland, NZ. In the third part of this symposium on food, we look at solutions and the changes we need to assure a system is just, sustainable and resilient. Future of Food symposium recording: Part 1, Part 2.[ dur: 23 mins. ]

• Michael Carolan is a Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean of Research for the College of Liberal Arts at Colorado State University. He has authored and coedited books including Reclaiming Food Security; The Sociology of Food and Agriculture; The Real Cost of Cheap Food; Food Utopias: Reimagining Citizenship, Ethics and Community; and Biological Economies: Experimentation and the Politics of Agrifood Frontiers.
• Richard Le Heron is a Professor of Geography in the School of Environment at the University of Auckland. His has coauthored and coedited books including Knowledge, Industry and Environment: Institutions and Innovation in Territorial Perspective; Economic Spaces of Pastoral Production and Commodity Systems: Markets and Livelihoods; Agri-Food Commodity Chains and Globalising Networks; and Biological Economies: Experimentation and the politics of agri-food frontiers.
• Nicolas Ian Lewis is an Associate Professor in the School of Environment at the University of Auckland. He coedited the book Biological Economies: Experimentation and the politics of agri-food frontiers and has authored book chapters including ‘Constructing economic objects of governance: the New Zealand wine industry’ in Agri-Food Commodity Chains and Globalising Networks.
• Anastasia Telesetsky is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Auckland. She has coauthored and coedited the books The International Law of Disaster Relief; Ecological Restoration in International Environmental Law; and Marine Pollution Contingency Planning, State Practice in Asia-Pacific States.

Then, is America facing a human rights crisis with its immigration policy? With reports of indefinite detentions and separating children from their families, we explore how we got here, what the political and legal ramifications are, and what happens next for America. [ dur: 35 mins. ]

• Kevin Johnson is Dean and Professor of Public Interest Law at UC Davis School of Law. He has co-authored Opening the Floodgates: Why America Needs to Rethink Its Borders and Immigration Laws, and authored Immigration Law and the US-Mexico Border. His list of publication can be found here.
• David Kyle is Professor of Sociology at University of California, Davis. His publications include, Global Human Smuggling: Comparative Perspectives, and Transnational Peasants: Migrations, Networks and Ethnicity in Andean Ecuador and Smart Humanitarianism: Re-imagining Human Rights in the Age of Enterprise. You can find his publications here.

This program is produced with contribution from following volunteers Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download