The Senate has released a bipartisan border security and military aid deal. The deal will attempt to curb immigration at the border and also includes billions of dollars for humanitarian aid in Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific. To discuss, we SPOTLIGHT Frances Z. Brown. Brown a vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who previously worked at the White House, USAID, and in non-governmental organizations. She writes on conflict, governance, and U.S. foreign policy. In her last role before leaving government, Brown served as director for democracy and fragile states on the White House National Security Council (NSC) staff, where she helped manage policy processes on democracy support, key political transitions, and post-conflict stabilization efforts. Serving under both the Obama and Trump administrations, she also convened a fragile states interagency committee, aimed at elevating comparative insights on conflict into policy deliberations. Media includes: The Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, Al Jazeera.
The Supreme Court will hear Trump’s appeal of a ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court that disqualifies him from being on that state’s presidential primary ballot under the U.S. constitution’s 14th Amendment for engaging in insurrection. The court will decide whether or not Donald Trump can run in the 2024 presidential election. To discuss, we FEATURE Jennifer Mercieca. Mercieca is an award-winning professor in the department of communication at Texas A&M University. She writes about American political discourse, especially as it relates to citizenship, democracy, and the presidency. Mercieca has published three books: Founding Fictions, The Rhetoric of Heroic Expectations: Establishing the Obama Presidency, and Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump. Media includes: The New York Times, The Guardian, Vice News, Politico, Salon, Slate, USA Today, BBC, NPR.
The Education Department has sent its final Title IX rule, which will mandate how schools respond to sexual misconduct and gender protections for transgender students, to the White House for approval. To discuss, we FEATURE Shiwali Patel. Patel is a nationally recognized expert on Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) and leads policy development and advocacy addressing gender-based harassment in schools for the National Women's Law Center, where she also works to strengthen civil rights protections for LGBTQI+ students. Previously, she was at the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, where she worked on civil rights policy and legal guidance interpreting Title IX’s anti-discrimination protections, including schools’ responsibilities in responding to sexual harassment, protections for transgender students, and the rights of girls of color. Media includes: The New York Times, The Hill, Vice, The Washington Post, USA Today, Reuters, CNN, NPR.
On Saturday, the U.S. launched airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, killing nearly 30, as a response to the attack in Jordan that led to the deaths of three American soldiers. To discuss, we FEATURE Lauren C. Anderson, an international consultant, national security and crisis management expert, and a retired FBI Executive.. Anderson had a distinguished FBI career, with many “firsts”, including being one of the first women selected for an FBI SWAT team. She was appointed to the position of Legal Attaché in Paris, France, the first woman to hold that position, where she directed the FBI’s engagement with, and operations in, 24 countries, twenty-two of which were in Francophone Africa. She worked extensively throughout Africa, Europe and the Middle East, leading FBI terrorism and criminal investigations with a nexus to these regions in close collaboration with her foreign counterparts. Media includes: The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Fox News Live.
Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of a Michigan school shooter, has been found guilty of manslaughter. The jury determined that she is responsible for the deaths of four people killed by her son. To discuss, we FEATURE Debbie Hines. Hines is a Washington, DC-based trial attorney, legal analyst, former Baltimore prosecutor and member of the Supreme Court bar. Debbie is an expert in criminal law, high-profile criminal cases, gun control and gun laws, police brutality, death penalty, domestic violence and Supreme Court cases. She often addresses legal/political issues at the intersection of gender, race and class. As a former felony prosecutor, she tried homicides, attempted murders, rapes, burglaries, robberies, narcotics and economic crimes. Presently, she maintains a boutique law practice focused on civil and criminal litigation. Media includes: The Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, the Hill, The Huffington Post, MSNBC, CNN, Fox News.
OECD chief economist Clare Lombardelli has said that the U.S. economy is "remarkably strong" compared to Europe. To discuss, we FEATURE Valerie Laxton. Laxton is a senior associate in World Resource Institute's Finance Center, where she leads the Center’s work to promote climate ambition at development finance institutions, including multilateral development banks, national development banks, and the International Monetary Fund. Laxton has worked at the intersection of international economics, finance, and global governance. Prior to joining WRI she was working at IFC (World Bank Group) as a sector economist in the development impact department. She started her career at the EU as a labor market analyst, and as a forecaster and business cycle analyst; she worked on bilateral and multilateral economic relations, and headed the Economic and Financial Affairs section at the Delegation of the European Union to the United States in Washington, DC. Extensive media experience.
As the Super Bowl approaches, Signs of HOPE, a nonprofit supporting survivors of sexual violence and human trafficking, will be teaming up with Las Vegas law enforcement to keep an eye out for sex trafficking—events like the Super Bowl often coincide with jumps in sex trafficking. To discuss, we FEATURE Rochelle Keyhan, the chief executive officer of Collective Liberty. Keyhan offers 10 years of experience in government and nonprofit organizations as an advocate for vulnerable populations, leveraging in-depth experience in gender-based violence issues, including domestic violence, sexual violence, and human trafficking. She is called on as an expert on combatting human trafficking for government officials, financial institutions, and other for-profit and non-profit corporations across the United States. As CEO at Collective Liberty, she develops and executes the organization's strategic direction and collaborations focused on disrupting specific types of human trafficking, including recruiting and maintaining robust collaborative networks of law enforcement, agency stakeholders, and service providers. Media includes: Washington Post Magazine, Thomson Reuters, New York Magazine, Chicago Tribune, NBC, CBS, ABC.
February is Black History Month. To commemorate, we FEATURE Koritha Mitchell. Mitchell is an award-winning author, literary historian, cultural critic, and professional development expert. Mitchell is author of Living with Lynching and From Slave Cabins to the White House: Homemade Citizenship in African American Culture. She has edited Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, the first book-length autobiography by a formerly enslaved African American woman, as well as Frances E.W. Harper’s 1892 novel Iola Leroy. Her research focuses on African American literature as well as violence in United States history and contemporary culture. She examines how texts, both written and performed, help targeted families and communities survive and thrive. Media includes: Ms. Magazine, Black Perspectives, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Vox, PBS, CNN.
Liz Theran
