President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have reached a deal to raise the national debt ceiling. The bill now must pass through Congress before June 5. To discuss, we SPOTLIGHT Nancy Altman. Altman has a 35-year background in the areas of Social Security and private pensions. She is co-director of Social Security Works and co-chair of the Strengthen Social Security coalition and campaign. She is the author of The Battle for Social Security: From FDR’s Vision to Bush’s Gamble and co-author of Social Security Works! Why Social Security Isn’t Going Broke and How Expanding It Will Help Us All. Altman is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Pension Rights Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection of beneficiary rights. In the mid-1980’s, she was on the organizing committee and the first board of directors of the National Academy of Social Insurance. Media includes: USA Today, PBS Newshour, MSNBC’s Politics Nation with Al Sharpton.
June 5, Colorado moms, led by Here4TheKids, will be gathering at the state Capitol to call on Colorado Governor Jared Polis to sign an executive order to ban guns and implement a statewide buyback program. To discuss, we FEATURE Saira Rao, co-founder of Here4TheKids. Saira is also co-founder of Race2Dinner, an unconventional network of women and non-binary folx gathering together to discuss race with honesty and vulnerability, co-author of The New York Times Bestseller White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How to Do Better and Executive Producer of the documentary Deconstructing Karen. She is also the co-founder of HAVEN, a community by and for Black, Indigenous and brown womxn. Saira is a former congressional candidate, lawyer at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and law clerk on the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She is a published novelist and graduate of the University of Virginia and New York University School of Law. Media includes: Fast Company, TODAY Books, Teacher Pop, Reel Girl, CBS.
Texas' abortion law will ban abortions if a heartbeat is detected, which the law says is at six weeks of pregnancy. Physicians have called this misleading, saying that at six weeks, the fetus does not yet have a heart and that the heartbeat heard is actually from the ultrasound machine. To discuss, we FEATURE Julie A. Jenkins. Julie is a sexual and reproductive health nurse practitioner and, previously, the lead plaintiff in ACLU litigation challenging Maine’s physician-only abortion law, as well as a declarant in Maine Family Planning’s litigation through the Center for Reproductive Rights to defend Title X. She is a telehealth medication abortion provider for Choix, a Clinicials in Abortion Care Strategist & Training Program Manager for the National Abortion Federation, and a Co-Founder of Abortion Freedom Fund— a national abortion fund supporting accessible, affordable, evidence-based telehealth abortion care for all. A longtime political activist and women’s health advocate, reproductive justice and sex positivity are guiding principles of her practice. She is board certified in Women’s Health, and in addition to her doctorate, holds a Master of Science in Nursing from California State University, Long Beach. Media includes: Miami Herald, The Baltimore Sun, Mother Jones, Boston Globe, Al Jazeera, Politico, Jezebel, Ms. Magazine.
On Monday, Kviv, Ukraine, was hit with missiles following drone attacks, causing civilians to run for shelter. To discuss, we FEATURE Marla B. Keenan. Marla is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Stimson Center. Her areas of expertise focus on issues relating to international security, including human rights in armed conflict, protection of civilians, civilian harm tracking and analysis, and civil-military relations in armed conflict. Marla is also a National Security Fellow at the Truman National Security Project. Marla was senior director of policy and advocacy and previously senior director of programs at Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC), a Washington, DC-based NGO working on armed conflict and the protection of civilians. She led the design, management, and successful implementation of outcome-focused field programs in active conflict zones. Media includes: Rolling Stone, Thompson Reuters, Buzzfeed, The Christian Schience Monitor.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has signed an anti-LGBTQ bill into law, that includes imprisonment and the death penalty as punishments. To discuss, we FEATURE Elise Keppler. Keppler is associate director with the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch. She is the author of fact-finding reports on the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone and Uganda’s International Crimes Division, and played an integral role in advocacy for former Liberian president Charles Taylor’s surrender to the Special Court and Darfur’s referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC). She is regularly quoted by international and African media, including Associated Press, British Broadcasting Corporation, Al Jazeera, National Public Radio, New York Times, American Lawyer, Guardian (Nigeria), Daily Times (Malawi), The Monitor (Uganda), and Mail and Guardian (South Africa).
The Centre for AI Safety has posted a statement saying that artificial intelligence could lead to human extinction. The statement has been supported by the heads of OpenAI, Google Deepmind, and ChatGPT. To discuss, we FEATURE Ashlesha Nesarikar. Ashlesha is Founder and CEO of Plano Intelligence, a Texas based AI company committed to the constructive social impact of AI. Their privacy and security centric cognitive AI platform, iCognet, is a reusable, plug & play, and versatile foundation for existing and future AI applications. Ashlesha has spoken on AI, its operationalization, and societal impacts. She was invited to speak on the Ethics in AI and Facial Recognition panel of the Big Data and AI Conference (2019). As an engineer, researcher, entrepreneur, and believer in civil liberties, she offered a nuanced perspective on the effects of facial recognition on privacy and personal liberties. She urged for developing “civic intuition of AI," whereby every citizen has opportunity to contribute to AI’s future direction. Media includes: NBC,
SXSW, KRLD Radio.
China has turned down the Pentagon's request for U.S. and Chinese defense chiefs to meet at an annual security forum in Singapore. To discuss, we FEATURE Elsa B. Kania, an Adjunct Senior Fellow with the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. Kania's research focuses on Chinese military strategy, military innovation, and emerging technologies. She is author Fighting to Innovate: National Security and Technology in China's New Era. She serves as an Adjunct Policy Advisor for the non-profit Institute for Security and Technology; contributes to the Party Watch Initiative at the Center for Advanced China Research; and co-founded the China Cyber and Intelligence Studies Institute, a non-profit research collaboration. Kania has been invited to testify before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, and the National Commission on Service. Media includes: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The Economist.
The Carter Center has announced that former first lady Rosalynn Carter has dementia. To discuss, we FEATURE Jean Kim. Jean is a psychiatrist and clinical team leader – medical officer in the division of psychiatry at the FDA. Her areas of expertise include geriatric disorders/dementia, neuropsychiatric disorders, and psychoanalytic/psychodynamic issues. Jean has provided expert mental health input to numerous mainstream media publications, radio and TV programs, such as The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Rolling Stone, Prevention, NPR, SiriusXM, etc.
Several films that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival tackle issues related to #MeToo, including How to Have Sex and In Flames. To discuss, we FEATURE Michele Meek. Michele's expertise focuses on women filmmakers, independent film, girlhood studies, and sexuality studies. She published the compilation Independent Female Filmmakers: A Chronicle through Interviews, Profiles, and Manifestos with Routledge, and she co-edited the book The Independent’s Guide to Film Distribution. She is an expert on representations of sexual consent and sexual violence, Hollywood film, filmmaking, women filmmakers, and gender bias. She has spoken on panels and presented at events including TEDx, Tribeca Film Festival, and the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, and she has often served as a juror on awards and film festivals, such as the Women in Comedy Festival, Coolidge Award, and Stowe Story Labs. She has often written for industry publications including Moviemaker Magazine and indiewire. Media includes: Inc. Magazine, The Boston Globe, Rhode Island Monthly, NPR.
June is LGBTQ Pride Month. To discuss, we FEATURE Melissa R. Michelson. Michelson is a nationally recognized expert on Latino politics, voter mobilization experiments, and LGBTQ rights. She is the award-winning author of six books, including Mobilizing Inclusion: Transforming the Electorate through Get-Out-the-Vote Campaigns and, most recently, Transforming Prejudice: Identity, Fear, and Transgender Rights. Michelson’s current projects include ongoing research on how best to motivate Latinx citizens to vote, how to reduce prejudice against members of the LGBTQ community and against people living with HIV/AIDS, how best to motivate members of hard-to-count populations to participate in the Census, how best to motivate poll workers on new and developing vote technology, and many other smaller projects. Media includes: The New York Times, FiveThirtyEight, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal.
Alicia White
Liz Theran
