The Trump administration continues plans to dismantle the Department of Education by splitting the department's responsibilities between other federal angencies. To discuss, we FEATURE Sue Klein. Klein is the education equity director of the Feminist Majority Foundation focusing on fully implementing Title IX, the key federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in publicly funded education. She is co-chair of the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education Single-Sex Education Task Force and co-vice president for membership of the Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues. She completed a multi-year research project and report on “The State of Public School Sex Segregation in the United States.” Klein joined the Feminist Majority Foundation in 2003 after 34 years in the research offices in the U.S. Department of Education where she worked on gender equity issues, education dissemination and evaluation. Extensive media experience.

BBC director Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness have resigned following the release of a Panorama documentary, which was cut in a way that showed President Trump encouraging the January 6th riots. To discuss, we FEATURE Cristina L. Azocar, professor and journalism department chair at San Francisco State University. Azocar is a citizen of Upper Mattaponi Indian Tribe and the author of News Media and the Indigenous Fight for Federal Recognition and the co-editor of Indigenous People and the Media. Her research focuses on the intersection of race and journalistic practice, particularly in the area of news coverage of Indigenous people. Azocar earned her doctorate in Communication Studies at the University of Michigan. She holds a master's degree in ethnic studies and a bachelor's degree in Journalism, both from San Francisco State University. Her interest in diversity in the news media spans more than 30 years. Extensive media experience.

Dr. Ralph Lee Abraham has been appointed the new second in command of the CDC. As Louisiana's surgeon general, Lee discredited Covid-19 vaccines and treatments and delayed informing the public about a whooping cough outbreak. To discuss, we FEATURE Céline Rani Gounder. Trained at Princeton University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Washington, and Harvard University, Gounder is an internist, infectious disease specialist, and epidemiologist. She is a CBS News medical contributor, a senior fellow KFF, and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News. Gounder is also a clinical associate professor of medicine and infectious diseases at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine. She has advised local and national policymakers on COVID, MPOX, Ebola, and more, including through her service on the Biden-Harris Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board. She has testified before the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee and has been interviewed several times by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. Media includes: The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, CNN, CBS.

After Mark Kelly and five fellow Democrats urged service members to refuse "illegal orders," Donald Trump accused them of treason that is "punishable by DEATH." To discuss, we FEATURE Chris Demaske. Demaske is a nationally recognized First Amendment law scholar whose work seeks to reconceptualize First Amendment law in a manner that more fully protects and supports free speech for everyone, especially for members of racial, ethnic, gendered and religious groups typically marginalize, silenced or vilified in U.S. society. Demaske has authored two books in field of First Amendment law. Her first book, Modern Power and Free Speech: Contemporary Culture and Issues of Equality, called for a radical shift in the fundamental way we think about the assumptions of how free speech protection operates in society. Her most recent book, Free Speech and Hate Speech in the United States: The Limits of Toleration, addresses the question: What can be done to curb the proliferation of hate speech and hate acts in the United States? Media includes: Seattle Times, Jackson Clarion Ledger, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Union Herald Standard.

U.S. and Ukraine officials have met in Geneva to discuss the war in Ukraine and look over a 28-point proposal drafted by the U.S. and Russia. To discuss, we FEATURE Toby Gati. Gati is president of TTG Global LLC. Formerly a senior international advisor at the global law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Gati focused on political, economic and trade developments in Russia, Eurasia, and Central and Eastern Europe. She also provided assessments of various politically sensitive regions of the world, as well as analyses of the workings of international political and economic institutions. As special assistant to the president and senior director for Russia, Ukraine and the Eurasian States at the National Security Council in the White House in 1993, Gati helped develop and implement U.S. policy towards Russia during the first Clinton administration. Media includes: Newshours with Jm Lehrer, CNN, ABC, NPR.

The U.S. has continued to strike unconfirmed “drug boats” in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, killing at least 83 people. U.S. officials have now announced a new phase in the operation with a build-up of military boats around Venezuela and President Trump putting a $50m bounty of the head of Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan leader. To discuss, we FEATURE Johanna Leblanc. Leblanc is a national security law and foreign policy expert. As a partner at Adomi Advisory Group, PLLC, she offers invaluable guidance to a diverse clientele on matters such as trade, debt financing for projects in emerging markets, public relations, sanctions, federal legislative processes, and diplomacy. Before joining the firm, Leblanc excelled as a legislative director at the United States Congress. Prior to her tenure in Congress, Leblanc served as a senior foreign policy advisor to three sitting Haitian ambassadors to the United States and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Her portfolio included, but not limited to, promoting the interests of the Republic of Haiti before the United States Congress, White House, Department of State, and other institutions, and advising the government on intergovernmental relations, immigration, national security, and trade. Media includes: Voice of America, Roland Martin Unfiltered, Black News Channel (BNC), Fox 5 News.

On Monday, President Trump and Chinese President Xi discussed plans to "return" Taiwan to China. To discuss, we FEATURE Lotta Danielsson. Danielsson is the executive vice president of the US-Taiwan Business Council, a post she has held since 2003 after joining the Council as director of corporate affairs in 2000. Danielsson conducts research on current U.S.-Taiwan policy issues and the needs of U.S. businesses in Taiwan. Her specialties include the triangular relationship between the U.S., Taiwan, and China in the technology supply chain; defense and national security issues in the U.S.-Taiwan relationship; U.S. business operations in the Taiwan market; and government policies and their impact on the business environment. Media includes: South China Morning Post, The Washingtonian, Jane's Defence Weekly.

December 1 is World AIDS Day. To discuss, we FEATURE Aletha Maybank. Maybank is a young, highly respected physician on a mission. Until recently, she was chief health equity officer and vice president at the American Medical Association (AMA). Previously, she was an assistant commissioner at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Maybank is also a founding board member of the Artemis Medical Society, an organization created in 2012 to support and nurture women physicians of color worldwide with a current engagement of over 3500 women. Her areas of expertise include preventive medicine, health injustice and inequities, food and fitness, maternal and child health, cancer, HIV/AIDS, and community health. She is pediatrician board certified in preventive medicine/public health. Media includes: Good Morning America, Black Enterprise, Ebony.com, MSNBC, FOX 5.

November is National Native American Heritage Month. To commemorate, we FEATURE Rebecca Adamson. Adamson is an Indigenous economist of Cherokee descent and founder of First Nations Development and First Peoples Worldwide. A leader, activist, and ground-breaking indigenous woman, she holds a distinct perspective about how indigenous people’s systems thinking and the value system behind indigenous economies can be used to catalyze change. Adamson has worked directly with grassroots indigenous communities, and internationally as an advocate of Indigenous self-determination since 1970. Media includes: Forbes, Bloomberg, WMC Live with Robin Morgan.