In a few days, Iran will exceed the uranium stockpile limit in the Nuclear Deal. To discuss, we SPOTLIGHT Samantha Pitts-Kiefer. Pitts-Kiefer is the Director of the Global Nuclear Policy Program at the Nuclear Threat Initiative where she leads programming on nuclear weapons policy. She joined NTI in June 2012 and has led two major projects: the NTI Nuclear Security Index and the Global Dialogue on Nuclear Security Priorities. She helped lead NTI’s analysis related to the Nuclear Security Summit process and helped develop new projects on cybersecurity of nuclear facilities and nuclear command and control. She is an expert on nuclear security governance and international law. Media includes: Huffington Post, CCTV America.
Tomorrow is Juneteenth, the day that slavery was abolished in America. To discuss, we FEATURE Janet Dewart Bell. Dewart Bell is a social justice advocate, activist, executive coach, and motivational speaker, with a doctorate in Leadership and Change from Antioch University. She is the author of Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement. She was the Director of Communications at the National Urban League, where she redesigned, edited, and marketed the League’s signature annual publication, The State of Black America. Her special projects included the Stop the Violence campaign and the National Urban League/Merrill Lynch ScholarshipBuilder program. Media includes: WMC Features, The Ed Show, NPR.
Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, has collapsed and died while on trial for espionage charges. To discuss, we FEATURE Mona Eltahawy. Eltahawy is an award-winning New York-based journalist and commentator and an international lecturer on Arab and Muslim issues. Eltahawy was a news reporter in the Middle East for many years, including in Cairo and Jerusalem as a correspondent forReuters and she reported from the region for The Guardian and U.S. News and World Report. She was born in Egypt and has lived in the U.K, Saudi Arabia and Israel and is currently based in New York. Since she moved to the U.S. in 2000, Ms Eltahawy's views on Arab and Muslim issues have become sought after by producers and college campuses alike. Media includes: The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, ABC Nightline, PBS Frontline, BBC TV, CNN, MSNBC.
Rent control bills have been passed through the New York State Legislature. To discuss, we FEATURE Jennifer Epps-Addison. A leader with deep roots in Milwaukee, Epps-Addison, is currently the Network President and Co-Executive Director of the Center for Popular Democracy. Formely, she was the Chief Program Officer of the Liberty Hill Foundation, a social justice foundation in Los Angeles that funds grassroots community organizing campaigns for social change. She was also the Executive Director of Wisconsin Jobs Now, a nonprofit fighting for social and economic justice with collective, direct action as a fundamental organizing principle. Media includes: The Washington Post, The Guardian, International Business Times, Politico, MSNBC, NPR.
June 28th is the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, one of the most important events in modern LGBTQ history. To discuss, we FEATURESusan Henking. Henking is the 14th president of Shimer College, the first woman since its founding in 1853. A scholar of American religion, with 25+ years of experience in higher education, she writes on religion and LGBTQ studies and the history of the social sciences, has a food blog and was co-founder of the first undergraduate major in LGBT Studies at a liberal arts college. Media includes: The New York Times, Windy City Media Group, Evocations.
Hong Kong had its biggest protests in recent history after citizens opposed a new law that would allow criminal suspects to be extradited to China. To discuss, we FEATURE Afra Zhao Wang. Wang is a writer, researcher, and podcaster. As a writer, Wang covers a wide range of issues such as nationalism, gender, Chinese millennials, U.S. politics, and social changes in U.S. and China. As a historian, Wang’s master’s dissertation focuses on contemporary US-China, UK-China relations and soft power regarding the negotiation over Hong Kong’s sovereignty. She finished her Master’s degree in International and World History at Columbia University and London School of Economics. Media includes: The New York TImes (Chinese Website), Initium Media, ChinaFile, IrisMagazine.
In Phoenix, Arizona, police officers recently pulled guns out on a family after their four year old daughter took a doll from a Family Dollar store. To discuss, we FEATURE Andrea J. Ritchie, Esq. Through research, writing, legal services, and organizing, Ritchie has dedicated the past two decades to challenging racial profiling, police violence, criminalization and mass incarceration, with a particular focus on the experiences of women, girls, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people of color. She is the author of Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color (Beacon Press 2017) and co-author of Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women (African American Policy Forum 2015). Media includes: The New York Times, The Washington Post, Teen Vogue, HBO, Yahoo News, NowThis, MSNBC, NBC Nightly News, NPR.
President Trump has officially kicked off his campaign for reelection. To discuss, we FEATURE Claire Wofford. Wofford is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina. Her teaching and research interests are in the field of American politics, with a particular emphasis on the U.S. legal system and the role of gender in structuring political power. She offers courses on American Government, the Judiciary, Constitutional Law, Civil Liberties, and Gender and the Law at the undergraduate level. Extensive media experience.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has unveiled "Trump Heights," a new settlement in Golan Heights. To discuss, we FEATURE Laura Kam. Kam is the founder of Kam Global Strategies, a one-stop-shop for organizational, policy and business leaders from countries (especially U.S., China and India) wanting to do business in Israel. Due to her work with the world’s leading pollsters in China, India, Russia, Britain, France and Germany (Stanley Greenberg PhD, Neil Newhouse and Frank Luntz PhD) and because of her research of US elites, voters and college students, Kam is also able to discuss attitudes towards Israelian, Iranian, and Palestinian issues as well as other Mideast affairs. Media includes: Al Jazeera English, The Washington Post, Jerusalem Post, ABC.
A recent report by The Guardian found that the majority of plastic waste in the U.S. is shipped and dumped into the world's poorest nations, which can cause harm to public health and the environment. To discuss, we FEATURE Lyne Morissette, PhD. Morissette owns a B.Sc. degree in biological sciences from Université de Montréal (QC Canada), a M.Sc. in Wildlife Management from Université du Québec à Rimouski (QC Canada), and a Ph.D. in Zoology (specialized in marine ecology and ecosystem functioning) from the Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia (BC Canada). She is an expert on ocean pollution and plastic waste. Extensive media experience.
Liz Theran
