Donald Trump's recent post on social media platform Truth Social threatened Iran in a manner that was compared to “an unhinged madman” and “dangerous and mentally unbalanced” by congressional leaders. To discuss, we FEATURE Elizabeth K. Markovits. Markovits associate provost and associate dean of faculty and professor of politics on the Ford Foundation at Mount Holyoke College. She is the author of Future Freedoms: Intergenerational Justice, Democratic Theory, and Ancient Greek Tragedy & Comedy and The Politics of Sincerity: Frank Speech, Plato, and Democratic Judgment. She has also published articles on rhetoric and politics. Markovits was the executive co-director for the interdisciplinary Association for Political Theory (2007-2010) and currently serves on the Editorial Board PS, the American Political Science Review, and Political Research Quarterly. Media includes: The Washington Post, Huffington Post, The Christian Science Monitor.

Last week Artemis II was launched into space on a 10-day journey around the moon. To discuss, we FEATURE Edythe Weeks. Weeks is a professor, space law scholar and author, and is working to raise pre-awareness and stimulate knowledge inclusion for a broad range of people throughout the global general public about outer space development. She has been developing and teaching space themed courses to social and behavioral sciences students and has been sharing her knowledge through public talks to the general public. Weeks teaches at Washington University and Webster University on international law and politics of outer space; the new space rush; and introduction to international relations. Weeks was named as a Fubright Specialist on International Affairs and International Space Law for the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Institute of International Education’s Council for International Exchange Scholars. Media includes: PR Newswire, Arizona Daily Sun, Channel 2 News.

On Sunday, Donald Trump stated that is was an “Easter miracle” that a U.S. airman was rescued from Iran. The statement drew criticism for invoking religion as a justification for war on Iran. To discuss, we FEATURE Anna Grzymala-Busse. is the Michelle and Kevin Douglas Professor of International Studies in the Department of Political Science, the Director of the Europe Center, and Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute. Her research focuses on the historical development of the state and its transformation, political parties, religion and politics, and post-communist politics. Other areas of interest include populism, informal institutions, and causal mechanisms. She is the author of Nations Under God, which analyzes how churches influence public policy in both authoritarian and democratic settings—and how they find political parties to be both very risky and very costly allies. Grzymala-Busse has also published widely on state-building, nationalism, informal institutions, democratization, and the role of religious doctrine. Media includes: New Republic, The Irish Times, The Guardian, NPR.

Last week Pam Bondi was fired as U.S. Attorney General. Bondi and the Justice Deparment had been facing criticism for their handling of the Epstein files and their lack of success in prosecuting President Trump’s political opponents. To discuss, we FEATURE Rebecca Buckwalter Poza. Buckwalter Poza provides commentary on law, politics, and policy for web and print media, radio, and television. Currently serving as senior program associate at The Carter Center, she was previously Alliance for Justice’s Senior Aron Justice Counsel, where she is best known for her role as the first named plaintiff in Columbia University’s successful First Amendment lawsuit barring President Trump from blocking journalists and other constituents on Twitter. 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: The Daily Beast, Pacific Standard, The Nation, The Atlantic, Politico, CNN, NPR.

On Monday, Russia sent a drone attack to Ukraine's port city of Odesa, killing four people. To discuss, we FEATURE Michèle Flournoy. Flournoy is co-founder and managing partner of WestExec Advisors, and former co-founder and chief executive officer of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), where she currently serves on the board. 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. Previously, she was dual-hatted as principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and threat reduction and deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy. In that capacity, she oversaw three policy offices in the Office of the Secretary of Defense: Strategy; Requirements, Plans, and Counterproliferation; and Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasian Affairs. Extensive media experience.

The Trump administration agreed to exempt gas and oil companies from complying with endangered species laws that protect Rice's whales. To discuss, we FEATURE Betsy López-Wagner. López-Wagner serves as principal of López-Wagner Strategies. The award-winning multilingual team is stacked with visionaries, strategists and climate justice advocates. She is also is co-chair of NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries Business Advisory Council, a national 15-member council, and serves on the board of directors for the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. She’s led strategic, bilingual and equitable communications initiatives on climate action and ocean justice throughout her career, including at the Packard Foundation, LCV, and Earthjustice, as well as alongside her López-Wagner Strategies colleagues in a successful Stop Poseidon advocacy campaign to stop the California Coastal Commission’s permitting of a dirty desalination plant, as facilitators for the Ocean Justice Forum, supporting Azul and its first-of-its-kind U.S. Latinos and the Ocean commissioned polling, and in authoring an award-winning environmental justice curriculum for EarthEcho educators and in advancing equitable partnership and grantmaking strategies for various organizations. Media includes: Univision, Telemundo, La Opinion, The Hill.

Tax Day is next week. To discuss, we FEATURE Amy K. Matsui. Matsui is vice president of Income Security & Child Care at the National Women’s Law Center. She works on a broad range of economic issues affecting low- and moderate-income women and families, with special emphasis on federal and state tax policy. Her work comprises policy analysis, state and federal advocacy, and public education and outreach. Media includes: Wall Street Journal, Jezeball, Fortune, Fox.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Week. To discuss, we FEATURE Aishah Shahidah Simmons. Simmons is an award-winning Black feminist lesbian documentary filmmaker, activist, cultural worker, writer, and international lecturer whose work, for the past 25-years, examines the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and sexual violence. Her work is informed by her lived experiences as a child sexual abuse and adult rape survivor. She is a 2016-2019 Just Beginnings Collaborative (JBC) fellow. Funded by the NoVo Foundation, the JBC fellowship initiates strategies to end child sexual abuse. Simmons’s JBC-funded project, love WITH accountability focuses on the power of transformative storytelling to tackle the global epidemic of child sexual abuse through the experiences, insights, and perspectives of diasporic Black child sexual abuse survivors and advocates. Previously, Simmons produced, wrote, and directed the 2006-released, Ford Foundation-funded, internationally acclaimed film, NO! The Rape Documentary. Media includes: Essence, All in the Family, Colorlines, NBC.