Tensions are rising across the Middle East as the Israel-Hamas war enters its third month and Iran revives its nuclear program. To discuss, we FEATURE Barbara Slavin. Slavin is a distinguished fellow at The Stimson Center. Previously, she was a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center and Washington correspondent for Al-Monitor.com, a website devoted to news from and about the Middle East. The author of Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the US and the Twisted Path to Confrontation (2007). Slavin is a regular commentator on U.S. foreign policy and Iran. Slavin also served as a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, where she wrote Bitter Friends, and as a senior fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace, where she researched and wrote the report Mullahs, Money and Militias: How Iran Exerts Its Influence in the Middle East. Media includes: The Washington Times, USA Today, The Economist, NPR, PBS.

Tomorrow, former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will face off in the fifth Republican primary debate, taking place in Des Moines, IA. To discuss, we FEATURE Lee M. Pierce. Pierce is an expert on political rhetoric, political campaign rhetoric, protest speech, women's speech, and debate and argumentation. She is assistant professor of rhetorical communication at the State University of New York (SUNY) Geneseo and an instructor for the Harvard Debate Council. Lee holds a PhD in Speech Communication from the University of Georgia and is the author of Tense Times: Rhetoric, Syntax, and Politics in US Crisis Culture. Lee is also a contributor for The Conversation and has been featured as an expert in ABC7 News, Hello Giggles, and Newsmax.

House and Senate leaders have reached a tentative spending deal, which needs to be approved by both the House of Representatives and the Senate before January 19 to avert a government shutdown. To discuss, we FEATURE Rachel Snyderman. Snyderman is director of economic policy for the Bipartisan Policy Center. Snyderman joined BPC following federal service with the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the Department of Commerce, and the Office of Management and Budget. Prior, Snyderman worked with the Mexican Ministry of Finance’s Economic Productivity Unit in Mexico City to design innovative financial products that promoted financial security and social inclusion. Earlier in her career, Snyderman was a senior analyst with EY’s Quantitative Economics and Statistics practice in Washington, DC. Media includes: The Hill, The Washington Post, NY Daily News, Newsweek.

Boeing 737 Max 9 aircrafts have been grounded following an an emergency landing of an Alaska Airlines flight. Friday night, the Max 9 fuselage blew out in midair, leaving a hole in the plane. To discuss, we FEATURE K. Denise Rucker Krepp. Krepp is a homeland security, transportation, and sexual assault expert who began her career as an active duty Coast Guard officer in 1998. After September 11, 2001, Krepp was a member of the team that created the Transportation Security Administration and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Krepp was a staffer on the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee and then served as Chief Counsel at the U.S. Maritime Administration during the first Obama administration. Krepp is currently naval history and heritage command at Director’s Action Group, as well as a private consultant, writer, and lecturer. Media includes: The Washington Post, Tradewinds, Jezebel, The Hill, American Shipper, Roll Call, MSNBC.

Nearly 200 previously sealed court documents from the Jeffrey Epstein lawuit have been released. To discuss, we FEATURE Deborah Richardson. Richardson is the executive director of ACLU of Colorado. Previously, she was the executive director of the International Human Trafficking Institute. She is a nationally recognized leader on social justice for women and girls and an advocate to end child sex trafficking. She has designed leading programs for girls victimized by sexual trafficking and testified before Congress. Media includes: The Huffington Post, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The first commercial moon mission has taken flight, however the mission began facing a propulsion issue on the way to the moon that could put it in jeopardy. 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. Weeks teaches at Washington University, and Webster University and formerly Northern Arizona University on international law and politics of outer space; the new space rush; introduction to international relations; African Americans and the law; and diversity, politics and law. Weeks is lead co-author on the International Study on Global Space Governance at McGill University’s Institute of Air and Space Law. Media includes: Newswire, Arizona Daily Sun, Channel 12 News Arizona.w

The Emmy Awards are on Monday, January 15. To discuss, we FEATURE Carla Hay, who wrote the Women’s Media Center 2023 Report Gender & Non-Acting Primetime Emmy Nominations. Hay is editor-in-chief of Culture Mix. She is also a Tomatometer-approved critic at Rotten Tomatoes and a member of the Critics Choice Association. She has been a writer or editor for Paramount Media Networks, Women's Media Center, Shondaland, AXS.com, Examiner.com, Lifetime, People, and Billboard. She has been interviewed on CNN, Access Hollywood, and CNBC, and has been a guest speaker at Columbia University and New York University. In addition, Hay has booked panelists and speakers for conferences presented by Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter.

Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. To discuss, we FEATURE Janus Adams, Emmy Award-winning journalist, historian, entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and author. Adams is the host of public radio’s The Janus Adams Show and podcast. She is author of eleven nonfiction works, including Glory Days: 365 Inspired Moments in African American History. Devoted to books, history, culture, and the right-to-read, she is curator of the “50 Books That Changed the Story of African America” list. Engaged by history since childhood, a northern school desegregation pioneer at 8, she was one of the four children selected to break New York’s de facto segregation in the wake of Brown v. Board of Education. At 10, she was introduced to Dr. King. Media includes: The New York Times, Newsday, USA Today, The Washington Post, ABC, BET, CBS, CNN, Fox News.