A week ago, Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil was detained by ICE for involvement in pro-Palestinian protests despite having a green card. This has raised concerns over First Amendment protections and fears that other protestors may face deportation for speaking out. To discuss, we FEATURE Laboni Hoq. Hoq is an experienced civil rights lawyer whose practice draws from her over twenty-year career successfully litigating high-profile cases on behalf of workers, immigrants and those seeking government accountability. Hoq was lead counsel in James v. City of South Pasadena, a case against a police department that violated the Constitutional rights of peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters when it acted in complicity with White supremacist vigilantes who perpetrated hate crimes against them. She was also lead attorney in Hamdan v. U.S. Dept. of Justice, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case that won disclosure of documents concerning the U.S. government’s role in the detention and torture of a Muslim American man in an overseas “blacksite.” Among the notable immigrants’ rights cases Hoq has litigated is Gomez v. Trump, a case which resulted in summary judgement against the Trump administration for its policy that effectively ended the 2020 Diversity visa program. Media includes: The OC Register, The Sacramento Bee, Los Angeles Times, NBC News.

Monday, a cross country storm moved through Missouri, Kansas, and Alamaba, killing 42 people. This follows layoffs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. To discuss, we FEATURE Dana R. Fisher. Fisher is is the Director of the Center for Environment, Community, & Equity and Professor in the School of International Service at American University. Her research focuses on questions related to democracy, civic engagement, activism, and climate politics. Current projects include studying political elites’ responses to climate change, the ways national service corps programs in the US are expanding their work on disaster response, recovery, and resilience, and on-ramps to activism and political engagement. Fisher is the author of National Governance and the Global Climate Change Regime; Activism, Inc.; The Practice of Research (with Shamus Khan); and Urban Environmental Stewardship and Civic Engagement (with Erika S. Svendsen and James Connolly). Media includes: The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal,The Chicago Tribune, USA Today, Science Magazine, CNN.

Chuck Schumer is facing heavy criticism from Democrats for backing a Republican bill in order to avoid a government shutdown. To discuss, we FEATURE Christy Setzer. Setzer is the President and Founder of New Heights Communications, a Washington, DC public affairs firm that provides strategic and communications counsel to mission-driven clients. Setzer started New Heights in 2010 after more than a decade on campaigns and working for progressive causes. She served as a national spokesperson on the presidential campaigns of Vice President Al Gore, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, and Senator Christopher J. Dodd. She set national communications strategy and directed media relations for the AFL-CIO, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Service Employees International Union. Media includes: MSNBC, NPR, BBC, Fox News, Bloomberg TV.

A Texas midwife has become the first arrest after the state's abortion ban, which bans all abortions excepy lifesaving abortions. To discuss, we FEATURE Jessica Valenti. Valenti has been writing about women and politics for nearly 20 years. After Roe v Wade was overturned, Valenti started Abortion, Every Day, a comprehensive daily newsletter dedicated to abortion rights, and the feminist community that supports it. Subscribers get emails every weekday tracking anything and everything happening with abortion: from anti-choice legislation and court battles to analysis of conservative strategy and stories of women denied care. AED also publishes columns, explainers, investigations, interviews, TikTok roundups and more. Media experience: The Guardian, The Nation, The New York Times, The Toast, CNN.

The U.S. will be withdrawing from the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression (ICPA), a multinational group that is set to investigate Russia's role in the invasion of Ukraine. To discuss, we FEATURE Kimberly Marten. Marten is a Professor of Political Science at Barnard College, and a faculty member and executive committee member of Columbia's Harriman Institute for Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies, and Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies. She specializes in international relations and international security, with a keen interest in Russia. Marten is author of Engaging the Enemy: Organization Theory and Soviet Military Innovation, which received the Marshall Shulman Prize; Weapons, Culture, and Self-Interest: Soviet Defense Managers in the New Russia; and Enforcing the Peace: Learning from the Imperial Past. She has also analyzed Russia’s intelligence agencies under Putin and explained Putin's decision to intervene militarily in Ukraine. Media includes: The New York Times, The Washington Quarterly, The Daily Show, MSNBC, CNN.

Many women and people of color have been removed from the Defense Department and Arlington Cemetery websites as part of the Trump administrations purge of DEI content. To discuss, we FEATURE Antonieta Rico. Rico is the senior strategic communications specialist at the U.S. Army Directorate of Prevention, Resilience and Readiness. Previously, she was women, peace,and security advisor at Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute (PKSOI). Earlier in her career, she was the director of communications and policy at the Service Women's Action Network (SWAN), where she led their public affairs efforts. She served in the U.S. Army from October 2001 to September 2008, working as a military journalist and public affairs NCO. She has served in Iraq and embedded with various Army and infantry units during day-to-day missions and combat operations. Media includes: USA Today, TIME, National Geographic Magazine, Task & Purpose.

Adolescence, a new miniseries from Netflix, follows a family after son Jamie has been suspected of killing a female classmate. The series was inspired by similar attacks and explores the affects of online misogyny and toxic masculinity. To discuss, we FEATURE Soraya Chemaly. Chemaly is an award-winning author and activist, she writes and speaks frequently on topics related to gender norms, inclusivity, social justice, free speech, sexualized violence, and technology. She is the director and co-founder of WMC Speech Project. Chemaly is the author of Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger, and most recently Free Speech in the Digital Age and Believe Me: How Trusting Women Can Change The World. As an activist, Chemaly has spearheaded successful campaigns challenging corporations to address online abuse, restrictive content moderation and censorship, and institutional biases that affect free speech. Media includes: Huffington Post, The Feminist Wire, The Guardian, Alternet, CNN.

March is Women's History Month. To discuss, we FEATURE Jonel Beauvais. Beauvais works diligently to empower and induce healing within all Native/Indigenous communities in order to prosper in the Haudenosaunee teachings of good medicine and good minds. She recently has moved from working for Kahwatsiraien:ton which is founded in supporting the families of Ohero:kon. She has dedicated seven years as a council member and Lead Auntie for all adolescent girls entering their first year of fasting in Ohero:kon “Under the Husk”, which is the Rights of Passage for youth in Akwesasne. In 2022 she received an award from the Women’s Institute for Leadership and Learning for her dedication to raising the voice of women and helping them attain pride and power through personal accountability. In 2019, she was picked one of ten women nationally to represent a fellowship for formerly incarcerated or directly impacted woman of color, through the Community Change organization. Extensive media experience.