The White House has confirmed that President Trump is serious about closing the U.S-Mexico border. This follows the decision to cut aid to El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala after they have been unable to curb migrant departures. To discuss, we SPOTLIGHT Shannon O'Neil. O'Neil is the vice president, deputy director of studies, and Nelson and David Rockefeller senior fellow for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is an expert on Latin America, U.S.-Mexico relations, and global trade. She is the author of Two Nations Indivisible: Mexico, the United States, and the Road Ahead (Oxford University Press, 2013), which analyzes the political, economic, and social transformations Mexico has undergone over the last three decades and why these changes matter for the United States. Media includes: Foreign Affairs,Americas Quarterly, Política Exterior, Foreign Policy, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today.
On Monday, a White House security adviser revealed that over two dozen security clearance denials were reversed during the Trump administration. To discuss concerns over national security, we FEATURE Michèle Flournoy. Flournoy is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for a New American Security. She served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from February 2009 to February 2012. She was the principal adviser to the Secretary of Defense in the formulation of national security and defense policy, oversight of military plans and operations, and in National Security Council deliberations. Extensive media experience.
The Arab League has rejected U.S. recognition of the Golan Heights as Israeli territory. To discuss, we FEATURE Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet. Kashani-Sabet is the Robert I. Williams Term Professor of History and director of the Middle East Center at the University of Pennsylvania. She is an expert on boundary disputes and politics in the Middle East. A scholar of modern Iran, the Ottoman Empire, and the Persian Gulf, she has published extensively on these topics. Media includes: NBC Philadelphia, Voice of America, NPR, Newsday.
The House of Representatives will be voting on the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, which lapsed after they failed to pass on extension in February. To discuss, we FEATURE Linda Seabrook. Seabrook is General Counsel at Futures Without Violence, where she leads a number of programs aimed at reducing violence against women and children. She began her professional work on behalf of crime victims as a Family Violence Victim-Witness Coordinator with the Dubuque County Attorney's Office where she created the first multidisciplinary response team for domestic violence incidents in the State of Iowa. Media includes: USA Today, the Post & Courier.
Today is Equal Pay Day. To discuss the gender pay gap, we FEATURE Fatima Goss Graves. Goss Graves is the President and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center. Ms. Goss Graves has served in numerous roles at the National Women’s Law Center for more than a decade and has a distinguished track record working across a broad set of issues central to women’s lives—including income security, health and reproductive rights, education access, and workplace justice. Prior to becoming President and CEO, she was the Center’s Vice President for Education and Employment, where she led the Center’s anti-discrimination initiatives, including work to promote equal pay, and address harassment and violence at work and in school, with a particular focus on outcomes for women and girls of color. Media includes: the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, AP, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, NPR.
On Wednesday, the House Judiciary will be voting to subpoena the entirety of Mueller's report into Russian interference of the 2016 presidential election. To discuss, we FEATURE Rebecca Pilar Buckwalter-Poza. Buckwalter-Poza is an attorney and politcal strategist and is currently the Judicial Affairs Editor at Daily Kos. Her areas of legal expertise include the Supreme Court, the federal judiciary, civil rights law, military law, and Indian law. Buckwalter-Poza brings heightened insights into judicial nominations, politics, and decision-making. Her experience--including two federal appellate clerkships, a U.S. Attorney's Office fellowship, and a stint in the White House Counsel's Office--is unique. Media includes: MSNBC, CNN, NPR, The National, Buzzfeed, BBC, CBC, The Atlantic, Politico.
With President Trump's plans to reverse the Affordable Care Act and states refusing to expand Medicaid, we FEATURE Mana Kasongo. Dr. Kasongo is board-certified emergency physicianworking in rural Southwest Georgia, one of the poorest, most depressed socio-economic areas in the country. Dr. Kasongo has spent much of her adult life in the pursuit of both of her passions--medicine and journalism. While maintaining her journalism roots by continuing to contribute articles to The Black Star focusing on topics such as obesity and diseases prevalent in Black communities airing from poor diet/nutrition, Dr. Kasongo went on to receive her medical degree from Rush Medical School and completed her residency in emergency medicine from New York University in 2006. Media includes: InStyle Magazine, ABC News, Newsweek, Real Health Magazine.
The Trump Administration has proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that would cause more than 750,000 people to lose their food stamps. To discuss, we FEATURE Mimi Abramovitz. Abramovitz is Bertha Capen Reynolds Professor in Social Policy at Hunter School of Social Work and teaches in the Masters Program as well as the Ph.D. Program in Social Welfare at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. She is the author of Under Attack and Fighting Back: Women and Welfare in the United States (2000, 2nd, rev edition). Abramovitz is widely recognized as a scholar and activist. She has written extensively about the issues of women, work, poverty, social welfare policy as well as the impact of public policy on the delivery of human services and the history of activism among low-income women. Media includes: the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, The Women's Review of Books, Ms. Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, NPR.
The drug company called Insys Therapeutics is on trial now for racketeering following discoveries that they were bribing doctors and lying to insurance companies in order to push an opioid to patients. To discuss, we FEATURE Jennifer D. Oliva. Dr. Oliva is an Associate Professor at West Virginia University in the College of Law and School of Public Health. In the College of Law, she teaches evidence and public health law courses and directs the WVU Veterans Advocacy Clinic, which represents West Virginia veterans in litigation before administrative agencies and courts, on benefits, discharge upgrades, employment claims and other civil and criminal matters. Media includes: The Conversation, The Oxford Human Rights Hub, and Appalachian Justice Initiative.
An NYC landlord has decided to install facial recognition into a rent-stabilized apartment complex in Brooklyn, plans that the tenants are opposed to. Tenants have brought up concerns about privacy and racial bias in facial recognition technology. To discuss, we FEATURE Leah Goodridge. Goodridge is the Supervising Attorney of the Housing Project at Mobilization for Justice (formerly known as MFY Legal Services). Goodridge represents tenants in New York City Housing Court, New York State Supreme Court, the Appellate Division of New York State, the New York State Court of Appeals and federal courts. In 2018, Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed Goodridge to serve on the New York City Rent Guidelines Board to advocate for rent stabilized tenants across the city. Extensive media experience.
Alicia White
Liz Theran
