Talks between the U.S. and Iran remain at a standstill and the U.S. military have bombed targets in Iran for the last two nights to try and bring Tehran to the negotiating table. Iran has retaliated with strikes on Gulf nations. To discuss, we FEATURE Irina Tsukerman. sukerman is a human rights and national security lawyer based in New York, where she runs a boutique national security law practice. She is a member of the American Bar Association's Energy and Environment and Science and Technology Sections. She is also a member of the New York City Bar Association's Middle East and North African Affairs Committee and an affiliate member of the Foreign & Comparative Law Committee. Tsukerman specializes in information warfare; she has written and spoken extensively on active measures by Russia, China, and Iran and influence campaigns by Middle Eastern state actors, as well as on the impact of active measures and influence campaigns on the human rights and NGO world; she has also published on a wide range of global issues touching on energy, geostrategy, strategical alliances, Great Power competition and its impact on geopolitics, domestic policy, and business, information security and digital rights/cybersecurity, big tech, terrorism and extremism, as well as issues in intelligence and counterintelligence. Media includes: Al Jazeera, The Epoch Times, CyberNews.

Donald Trump has signed a $70B bill that will fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol for the next 3 years. To discuss, we FEATURE Lorella Praeli, co-president of Community Change & Community Change Action. Praeli is passionate about building collective power to win transformative policy change at all levels of government, so that people can thrive. Until she joined CC/A in 2019, she was a deputy national political director at the ACLU, where she fought to defend and expand the rights of immigrants and refugees. Praeli is an expert on path to citizenship, inclusion in economic policies, immigrant voters, DACA, TPS, immigration enforcement, immigrant rights movement. Media includes: The Washington Post, The New York Times, Univision, Newsweek, Salon, MSNBC, CNN.

The U.S. Department of Defense has reduced its list of recognized faiths and religions by 180, bringing the list to just 31. To discuss, we FEATURE Laura R. Olson. Olson is professor of political science at Clemson University and editor-in-chief of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Her research focuses on contemporary religion, civic engagement, and American politics. Olson is the author, coauthor, or coeditor of nine books, most recently Religion and Politics in America: Faith, Culture, and Strategic Choices; Beyond Red State, Blue State: Electoral Gaps in the Twenty-First Century American Electorate; and Religious Interests in Community Conflict: Beyond the Culture Wars. Media includes: he New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, CNN, NPR.

Following knife attacksin Belfast and Southampton, right-wing agitation has ignited anti-immigration protests. To discuss, we FEATURE Laura Weinstein. Weinstein holds a PhD in Irish History and she is an independent scholar and analyst of Irish politics. She has published scholarly work on the Irish Republican Army, sexual assault in Ireland, the importance of competing discourses in history, and right-wing nationalism in Ireland. Her dissertation examined the relationship between the Catholic church, government, and rape law in the Republic of Ireland. Weinstein is currently researching a book on right-wing nationalism in Ireland. She has lived in Belfast and Dublin. Media includes: The Washington Post, Éire-Ireland, Radio Kingston.

Health experts have expressed concern over the spread of diseases as millions around the world come together to watch the 2026 World Cup. To discuss, we FEATURE Céline Gounder. Trained at Princeton University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Washington, and Harvard University, Gounder is an internist, infectious disease specialist, and epidemiologist. She is a clinical associate professor of medicine and infectious diseases at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine and she cares for patients on the wards at Bellevue Hospital Center. She is also a member of NYU Stern’s Volatility and Risk Institute’s faculty advisory board. She is one of the world’s leading experts in science, medicine, and public health communication. Media includes: The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, MSNBC, CNN.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be in the United States, Canada, and Mexico from June 11– July 19. To discuss, we FEATURE Shireen Ahmed. Ahmed is a multiplatform journalist, a senior contributor with CBC Sports, a public speaker, and an award-winning sports activist focusing on the intersections of race and gender in sports. She is a global expert on Muslim women in Sports. Ahmed's passion for sports, politics and women’s issues has been recognized by sports media for its candid discussions. Her work has been featured and discussed in The Guardian, TIME, Sports Illustrated, Football Weekly, The National Post, espnW, MSNBC, TRT World.

Next Friday is Juneteenth, which celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. To commemorate, we FEATURE Koritha Mitchell. Mitchell is an award-winning author, literary historian, cultural critic, and professional development expert. Her research focuses on African American literature as well as violence in United States history and contemporary culture. She examines how texts, both written and performed, help targeted families and communities survive and thrive. Mitchell is the author of Living with Lynching and From Slave Cabins to the White House: Homemade Citizenship in African American Culture. She also edited Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, the first book-length autobiography by a formerly enslaved African American woman, as well as Frances E.W. Harper’s 1892 novel Iola Leroy. Media includes: The Washington Post, TIME, Feministing, Vox, Huffington Post, CNN.

June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month. To commemorate, we FEATURE Rev. Marie Alford-Harkey. Alford-Harkey, who presently serves as the resident chaplain at the Baptist Health Boca Raton Regional Hospital, is the former president and CEO of the Religious Institute, a national multifaith nonprofit dedicated to advocating for sexual health, education, and justice in faith communities and society. She is the lead author of the Religious Institute publication Making the Invisible Visible: Bisexuality in Faith Communities. Alford-Harkey leads workshops, writes, preaches, and teaches to promote a progressive vision of faith and sexuality on such issues as access to abortion and family planning, LGBTQ rights, comprehensive sexuality education, and prevention of sexual abuse, misconduct and harassment. Extensive media experience.