Tag Archives: Governance / Law

Scholars’ Circle – Side effects of google and facebook businesses -/- Teaching children civics and community – October 14, 2018

First, are Google and Facebook increasing income inequality, harming the arts and damaging democracy? Our guests says yes. [ dur: 44 mins. ]

Then, how one university professor is teaching children about community, civics, empathy and giving. [ dur: 14 mins. ]

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

Scholars’ Circle – Tracking and Prosecuting Money Laundering Organizations – September 23, 2018

We discuss the many faces to money laundering, the cost to society and potential remedies. Why is it so hard to track and prosecute money laundering? How does it finance terrorism? [ dur: 58 mins. ]

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

Scholars’ Circle – Making Sense of Trump Presidency with recent revelation from inside his administration – September 9, 2018

What can we make of the latest revelations from inside the Trump administration? We spend the hour with three top scholars of the U.S. presidency. [ dur: 58 mins. ]

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

Scholars’ Circle – Laws governing Misconduct by the Sitting President of The United States – September 2nd, 2018

In this hour, what types of criminal proceedings are possible for a US president? What types of secrets can they keep? Who can they fire and who can they pardon? We spend the hour with two constitutional law professors who untangle these and other legal issues. [ dur: 58 mins. ]

  • Heidi Kitrosser is Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School. She is the author of the book, Reclaiming Accountability: Transparency, Executive Power, and the U.S. Constitution, and the articles, The Shadow of Executive Privilege, and Accountability in the Deep State.
  • Eric M. Freedman is a Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Rights at Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. He is the author of Making Habeas Work: A Legal History and the article, On Protecting Accountability

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

Scholars’ Circle – Plastics choking Oceans eco-system -/- The Anti-Govenment movement and US Constitution – Aug. 19th, 2018

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. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

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 contributions from the following volunteers: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Scholars’ Circle – Supreme Court Justices, Privatization and Constitutional Coup in USA – July 15, 2018

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 contributions from the following volunteers: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Scholars’ Circle – Stories about Secret Heros -/- Britain Loyalist during American Revolution -/- Retirement of US Justice Anthony Kennedy ( part 2 ) – July 8, 2018

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. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

  • 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 contributions from the following volunteers: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Scholars’ Circle – What is behind rise of suicides in USA -/- Retirement of US Justice Anthony Kennedy ( part 1 of 2 )- July 1, 2018

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

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

  • 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. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

  • 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 contributions from the following volunteers: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Scholars’ Circle – Future of food, food politics -/- US immigration policy and Human Rights Crisis – June 17, 2018

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. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

  • 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 contributions from the following volunteers: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Scholars’ Circle – Humanity’s Crisis in Yemen -/- WARs in our times – June 3, 2018

First, Yemen is facing one of the worst humanitarian crisis on earth. How did it get to this? And what should be done?[ dur: 27 mins. ]

Then, scholars note that the world is waging fewer wars, but that the wars that are waged are more brutal and intractable. How far have we come in the science of making peace? [ dur: 31 mins. ]

  • George Lopez is Vice President and Director of International Conflict Management at US Institute of Peace. He is the co-author of Sanctions and the Search for Security: Challenges to UN Action.
  • Ervin Staub is Professor of Psychology at the University of Massettuces, Amherst. He is the author of The Psychology of Good and Evil: Why Children, Adults, and Groups Help and Harm Others.
  • Norrin Ripsman is Professor of Political Science at Concordia University. He is the co-author of Globalization and the National Security State.

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