The Trump administration is pushing states to ‘undo’ any actions to provide full SNAP repayments while the government is shutdown. Millions of Americans rely on the program for their groceries. 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. She is an expert on the care economy, including SNAP and TANF, child care policy, the child tax credit and earned income tax credit, the anti-poverty movement, economic justice movements, income inequality and the wealth gap. Media includes: The Washington Post, The New York Times, Newsweek, Univision, MSNBC, CNN.

World nations are meeting in Brazil for the UN annual climate summit. The summit will continue until November 21st and marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement. To discuss, we FEATURE Farhana Yamin. Yamin is a leading international environmental lawyer and climate change and development policy expert. She has provided legal and policy advice to many different countries and constituencies over the last 30 years working as an adviser to developing countries especially the Alliance of Small Island States and least developed countries. She represented the Marshall Islands in the negotiations of the 2015 Paris Agreement and helped create the High Ambition Coalition. As CEO of Track 0, she is widely credited with getting the goal of net zero emissions by mid-century into the Paris Agreement. Media includes: Huffington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Carbon Brief.

Donald Trump has pardoned Rudy Giuliani and many others involved in trying to overturn the 2020 election results. To discuss, we FEATURE Lenese Herbert. Herbert is a professor of law at Howard University School of Law, where she teaches evidence, criminal procedure, criminal law, social media and the law, and administrative law. She has practiced before administrative law judges, military tribunals, and Article III courts on federal, local, trial, and appellate levels. Herbert co-authors Constitutional Criminal Procedure, a problem-based casebook adopted in a number of law schools across the U.S., as well as Criminal Law: Skills and Values. Media includes: Voice of America, Al-Jazeera, The Washington Post, NBC.

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa has visited the White House, making him the first Syrian head of state to do so. To discuss, we FEATURE Kelly J. Shannon. Shannon is a visiting scholar at the Institute for Middle East Studies (IMES) at the George Washington University (GWU). In 2023-2024, she was a W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Shannon specializes in the 20th century history of U.S. foreign relations. Her research focuses on U.S. relations with Iran, the Islamic world, women’s human rights, transnational history, and international relations. Media includes: Voice of America, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, NPR.

Defense Secretary Hegseth announced two additional suspected “drug boats” had been struck in the Pacific Ocean. Six people were killed, increasing the death toll from the attacks, which have been condemned as illegal by the U.N., to 76. To discuss, we FEATURE Andrea Strimling Yodsampa. Yodsampa has over 25 years of experience in government, civil society, and academia. Yodsampa served as lead researcher on innovation research efforts sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense. She played a leadership role in developing methodologies and software tools for resiliency assessment, and joint civil-military strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation, which have been piloted by the NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan, US Department of State, and US Central Command’s NESA Center. She designed and led negotiation and conflict management programs in Asia, Central and South America, and Eastern Europe. Presently Yodsampa serves as CEO of DEPLOY/US, a nonpartisan not for profit organization working to accelerate ambitious, durable, bipartisan U.S. climage leadership. Extensive media experience.

The BBC is facing challenges. The director general Tim Davie and news CEO Deborah Turness have both resigned, and President Trump has threatened to sue the corporation for $1bn. To discuss, we FEATURE Courtney C. Radsch. Radsch is a global thought leader who writes and speaks about the intersection of technology, media, and rights. Currently, she is the director of the Center for Journalism and Liberty at Open Markets Institute and is a non-resident fellow at UCLA’s Technology, Law and Policy Institute, Brookings Institute, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Media and Journalism Research Center, and the Center for International Governance Innovation. Her research focuses on AI and internet governance; platformatization; media sustainability and the future of journalism; and the evolving socioeconomic and technopolitical effects of media and technology. Media includes: Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, The Hill, CNN, NPR.

November is National Native American Heritage Month. To commemorate, we FEATURE Michelle Schenandoah (Oneida Nation). Schenandoah is a trained lawyer, writer, producer and founder of Rematriation, a nonprofit highlighting the untold stories and contributions of Indigenous Peoples in North America. As an in-demand keynote speaker, Schenandoah talks about the Haudenosaunee Confederacy’s influence on the formation of U.S. democracy, the U.S. Constitution and women’s rights. She creates healing narratives about truth telling, racial justice and intergenerational trauma for public and private audiences to process harmful histories and inspire meaningful action. Her traditional name is Kaluhyanu:wes, which means “She is Fond of the Sky.” Media includes: Associated Press, Al Jazeera, APTN News, PBS.