Podcasts about federal congress

The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Friday called on voters to prevent what it termed an African National Congress-Economic Freedom Fighters-uMkhonto weSizwe Party (ANC-EFF-MKP) Doomsday Coalition, by voting for the DA. Last year during the party's Federal Congress, DA leader John Steenhuisen warned that the ANC, EFF and their proxies in small parties such as the Patriotic Alliance, were converging towards forming a "doomsday coalition" after the 2024 general election. Steenhuisen noted on Thursday EFF leader Julius Malema said in an interview that he would "give the EFF vote to the ANC" if the party did not reach 50% of electoral support, on the condition that his deputy Floyd Shivambu becomes Minister of Finance. "Malema added that this is because 'you need a radical' to take control of South Africa's purse strings. This morning, the EFF's secretary-general, Marshall Dlamini, added that land expropriation without compensation and the nationalisation of mines would form some of the 'cardinal pillars' of its planned Doomsday Coalition with the ANC," Steenhuisen stated. He said with these comments, the EFF leadership had, for the first time, publicly confirmed that the DA had been right all along. "Malema's confirmation that the Doomsday Coalition we foresaw is now taking shape, only serves to galvanise the DA's determination to succeed. The single best way to avert, oppose and combat the Doomsday Coalition, is to vote for the DA," he said. Steenhuisen said an "EFF doomsday" would make the collapse of Zimbabwe "look like a dress-rehearsal", and said it would leave all South Africans destitute. He warned that the "EFF doomsday coalition" would expropriate property without compensation and abolish private property rights, and would nationalise and destroy foreign investment, businesses, banks and mines. The "EFF doomsday coalition" would plunge this country into ethnic and racial conflict the likes of which it had never witnessed before, claimed Steenhuisen.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has accepted the resignation of Ghaleb Cachalia as an MP and as a member of the party, effective immediately, while also dismissing Cachalia's claims about the party. Cachalia announced his resignation on Thursday, detailing his reasons to the chairperson of the party's Federal Executive, along with various pertinent appendices. On Tuesday, the DA's Khume Ramulifho announced that he would be joining RISE Mzansi, as he also resigned as a member of the DA and as a Member of the Provincial Legislature in Gauteng. In his resignation letter, Cachalia wrote that the leadership of the DA had become increasingly uncomfortable with his public utterances on the war in Gaza. He claimed there was a "growing dysfunctional, undemocratic and authoritarian tendency" in the party, adding that he had not directly contradicted party policy in any way. He said he had been served with a cease and desist order and had been accused of contradicting DA official policy and contravening a caucus injunction to only allow the shadow minister of International Relations and Cooperation to comment on the Israel-Hamas conflict. He added that he was fired from his position in the shadow cabinet. "As a consequence, I cannot but infer that party leadership intends not only to sideline me, but also to prevent my return as a candidate MP on the list for the 2024 elections," he explained. The DA categorically rejected Cachalia's claims, which the party said he "manufactured" in an attempt to justify his resignation, including his mischaracterisation of the party's position on the war in Gaza. DA national spokesperson Solly Malatsi noted that the DA remained irrevocably committed to peace, to a two-State solution, and to the creation of a sovereign and unoccupied Palestine in peaceful co-existence next to a secure Israel. Malatsi said that it was important to recognise that, "as the most diverse party in South Africa", the DA is home to members from all walks of life with divergent views on various issues. "These views are frequently aired in an atmosphere of mutual respect through the party's various caucuses, with members respecting the outcomes and decisions resulting from these discussions," he explained. Malatsi said that Cachalia's disrespect for party processes, for his colleagues, and for the diversity of views in the DA had mounted over time, culminating in his violation of a caucus decision that the party's shadow minister for International Relations and Cooperation would be the spokesperson on the war in Gaza. The DA further rejected attacks on the party's coalition partners, on civil society that had rallied behind the Multi-Party Charter, and on the DA's systems and processes. Malatsi explained that the party rejected Cachalia's attempts to scapegoat DA leader John Steenhuisen, particularly after his "full-throated" support for Steenhuisen during the party's recent Federal Congress. "Less than a year ago, Cachalia declared on Facebook his "admiration" for Steenhuisen, pointing out that he 'walks the talk as a leader'," Malatsi said. Cachalia said he would evaluate and consider his future options which would "always seek to serve human rights, economic prosperity, and a more inclusive democracy". "I find myself unable to address and serve these aims appropriately within the confines of the DA in its current incarnation and leadership. This is pertinent as we face all-important national elections," he explained.

Introducing thoughtbot's ongoing maintenance service. Need reliable support and maintenance for your software? Look no further. Our expert team handles upgrades, bug fixes, UI adjustments, and new feature development. And the best part? Our maintenance packages start at just 5k per month for companies of all sizes. From Ruby on Rails to Node, React, and, yes, even PHP, we've got you covered. Trust thoughtbot for top-notch support and optimized performance. To receive a custom quote, contact sales@thoughtbot.com. Marc Mar-Yohana is the CEO and Founder of OtisHealth, a personal health application and platform for patient-caregiver engagement, population health, and clinical research. The conversation revolves around the origin and working principles of OtisHealth, a healthcare app designed to consolidate health information. Marc was motivated to start the app following the tragic death of his eight-year-old daughter, Constance, from an undiagnosed brain tumor. Despite being under the care of multiple health providers, the fragmentation of her medical data meant they missed the signs of her condition. Marc has dedicated his life to developing better tools for families and caregivers to manage their loved one's health. He aimed to create a unified system where all health data could be gathered, enabling caregivers, patients, and medical providers to see the whole picture. OtisHealth allows patients to integrate data from different sources, including wearable devices, and capture information outside clinical settings. The initial outreach strategy of OtisHealth through consumer channels was slow to get traction. The company switched to recruiting through organizations with health interests, such as health insurers or "payers," leading to a significant increase in users. Although not everyone uses the app daily, it is a crucial health management tool for those with chronic illnesses or emergencies. The trustworthiness of OtisHealth is demonstrated through accreditation from the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission, indicating that their practices meet or exceed federal regulatory requirements and industry guidelines. This, along with community outreach and educational content, helped build trust with users. Marc's diverse corporate background gave him the skill set to lead OtisHealth, emphasizing the importance of team development and collaboration with other organizations, even competitors, to move the mission forward. __ OtisHealth (https://otishealth.net/) Follow OtisHealth on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/OtisHealth), LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/otishealth/), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/bloxisawesome/), or YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5yGWpOTCOJnbxjD1LnkMXg) Follow Marc Mar-Yohana on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-mar-yohana/). Follow thoughtbot on Twitter (https://twitter.com/thoughtbot) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/). Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Giant Robots! Transcript: VICTORIA: This is the Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Podcast, where we explore the design, development, and business of great products. I'm your host, Victoria Guido. And with me today is Marc Mar-Yohana, CEO and Founder of OtisHealth, a personal health application and a platform for patient-caregiver engagement, population health, and clinical research. Marc, thank you for joining me. MARC: Victoria, I'm honored to be here. Thank you so much for inviting me to join you on this podcast. VICTORIA: You're welcome. I'm excited to have you. So, why don't you just tell me a little bit about what's going on in your world right now? MARC: Well, OtisHealth is keeping me pretty busy. So, I live in Northern California. My team is mostly in California, a little bit in Illinois. And we're busy every day, both supporting our members and working with clients. And so, it's exciting times, especially on our advocacy front. We work with organizations across the country to advocate for patient access to their health records and also for individuals themselves to improve their access to quality healthcare wherever they reside in the United States. The advocacy, the work with our clients, and the work with our members keeps us super busy. Although I do still try to make time to hike in the beautiful scenery out here. I'm new to California. I'm originally from Illinois, so it's great to just be able to get out every once in a while for a hike in the area. VICTORIA: That's wonderful. Have you made it to any redwood forest out there? MARC: Yeah, Muir Woods, which is just north of us, north of the San Francisco Bay Area. Most of the time, we like to walk the coastline. So just north of Santa Cruz is a great state park known as Wilder State Ranch. And they have amazing views of the coastline, wonderful views of birds, as well as occasionally spotting whales, and dolphins, and sea otters along the coast. VICTORIA: That's so cool. I had a friend, actually, who just went up there and went kayaking with the otters, and I'm very jealous. [laughter] It sounds beautiful. MARC: Yeah, that can be fun. Otters are really cute creatures. And they can be aggressive too. There's a concern right now. There's one female otter that likes to grab people's surfboards. And I saw a video of a sea lion jumping on top of a sea kayak to steal a fish from a fisherman. VICTORIA: I think if a sea otter or a sea lion wanted my vessel, a kayak or surfboard, I mean, you can have it. [laughter] You worked this hard. [laughs] MARC: Yeah, they're pretty aggressive. They're more comfortable in the water than we are, so they [laughs] pretty much are in charge in the environment. VICTORIA: That's right. We're in their house, right? So, I'm, like, okay, [laughs] you can have it. That's great. Oh, wonderful. I'm glad you still have time to get outside and enjoy hiking with your family, even though you're a very busy founder [chuckles] and very active advocate for your community. So, why don't you tell me how everything with OtisHealth got started? MARC: So, it started with a tragedy, a horrible tragedy in my life. My daughter, Constance, who was eight years old at the time and had been previously diagnosed with autism, apraxia of speech, and epilepsy, died from an undiagnosed brain tumor. She had great healthcare. She had a neurologist, a pediatrician. She had therapists that saw her five days a week and, of course, her parents watching over her. Yet, we all missed the symptoms, the major illness that claimed her life. And so, because all of her healthcare providers were on different systems, and as parents, we didn't have a system, there wasn't a place to put our observations together. And everyone attributed their observations of her changing condition to other medical concerns. And so, after she passed, I started to spend a couple of years trying to understand what happened. And I realized a big part of it was the information was in front of us. It was just in different people's hands. And when we put it together, we could have seen the whole picture that would have shown that she had a more serious illness. And so I chose a new mission in my life: to abandon my corporate career and move into this role of developing a better set of tools for families and caregivers to manage their loved one's health. And so, our mission today is to work with families, caregivers, and people with chronic illness to give them better tools to manage their everyday health and the health of their loved ones, and thereby also improving lives in the community. VICTORIA: Well, I love that out of the tragedy, you were able to find direction and purpose to solve this major problem, which I can relate to having moved across the country. Your medical records don't come with you. You have to basically kind of start all over, or they have to go get them from your past patients. It's not unified as a system, as you might think that is. [laughs] MARC: That's absolutely right. Our data is spread out across different clinical sources. Just in the time I moved out here to California from Chicago, I saw five different providers just because I wanted to get some tests done. So, I had to go to a few different locations to do a normal battery of tests. And so, I had at least five different health records created just when I moved out here. And they're all in different systems, and they're not even on the same type of application. So, to bring them together, I had to basically download them and put them in files on my desktop computer. With OtisHealth, I'm able to retrieve that data and put it onto one continuous record and watch it. But that's still just our clinical data, meaning data collected in clinical settings. We have more data to share of things that you and I observe as regular people or our families observe. And so, the part that's missing in the record is all the observations in the time that we're not in the physician, in a physician's office, or in the presence of a clinician. We can; with our tools today, such as wearable watches, or blood pressure cuffs that are Bluetooth-connected, we can get a lot more data and share that back into our records so that we have a true baseline, not the once-a-year that I go to see a physician, and they say my blood pressure is high. And the next time I go, it's low. It's because we only have two data points over two years. Where today, with our technology and our capabilities, we can have a baseline of true data continuously throughout the year that will give the physician or care team more insights into how we're doing in terms of our health. VICTORIA: That's so interesting. And it makes a lot of sense to me why someone would want to use this or why doctors would want to use this. And I'm curious, once you had this idea, how did you get that initial traction to get started with OtisHealth? MARC: Initially, it was a little difficult. And this is kind of part of our lessons learned when we started the company. We started advertising on Facebook. This is after we launched the product. So, we launched in 2021. We had the idea that we were going to make this available to a lot of people. We knew a lot of folks that needed it. It was okay to get the first 100 or so people because there were folks that we knew needed the application or folks that were curious about it and wanted to try it. And we started advertising through consumer channels such as Facebook, and LinkedIn, and other magazines to people that we knew had the need for the app. Yet, it was a very slow uptake. And the part of what we learned and we started applying to our marketing or our membership development or recruitment thesis is that the health records are kind of like an umbrella. We don't think about the umbrella or going out to get an umbrella until it's raining, and for most people, it doesn't rain very often. And so, it's not something that people would use every day. In most cases, they use it only when they have an emergency or when they're managing their chronic illness or the chronic illness of a loved one. And so, we eventually changed the way we were recruiting and started recruiting through other organizations, such as clients where we're able to get thousands of users through the client that has members. And then, slowly, over time, teach them the importance of managing their everyday health, and taking their own vitals, and recording that, and they record for themselves and their family. VICTORIA: Right. So, you were able to offer the app for free for daily users because you found another group that was interested in having access to the data and having this app, right? MARC: Yeah. So, anybody today can go to the Apple Store or the Google Play Store and they could download the app for free. And they can use the web version also. And they could share it with friends and family, which I always encourage people to do. So, if you have an emergency contact, invite them to your medical records; at least they have your basic medications, and allergies, and other key information in case of an emergency. What we did in terms of our change of strategy early on is we started going to organizations that also had an interest in improving the health of their population and, in particular, health insurers or what we call in the industry payers. And so, payer organizations could be Medicaid, Medicare, or it could be employee health plan, one of the big health insurance companies like Blue Cross or UnitedHealthcare. They have an interest in people managing their everyday health. And so, one of our clients right now, everyone that enrolls in one of their plans automatically gets enrolled in a version of OtisHealth specifically for their members. And those members could still invite people to join them on the platform, and those people can get on with OtisHealth. But the nice thing is now this payer has a way to both encourage healthier activity or healthier practices for their population and monitor if there's a problem. So, if somebody is missing medications, or not taking their medications on time, or has vitals that are tracking poorly, this gives the payer an opportunity to reach out and ask them if they need help managing their health. VICTORIA: So, how does that dynamic affect how you measure successful engagement on the platform, like, a successful rate of engagement? MARC: So, for us, most people don't use the app every day. Most of us don't even think about our health [laughs] on a daily basis from a standpoint of our medical health or clinical health. Sometimes those of us that exercise regularly think about it in those terms or eating healthy. But we don't think about keeping a record or using an app to maintain our health. And so, for us, an active user is anybody that's logging in at least once a month to update their information. Our really great users are the ones who are using the reminder features to take supplements or take their medications. And so, I would say of the few thousand users that we have—we're approaching 10,000 right now active users—only a small percentage of those, maybe 10%, are actually using it on a daily basis for themselves or their family. And so, for us, a good engagement and good practice is folks setting reminders on at least a weekly basis to take vitals, weigh themselves—something that would help them track their health over time—and if they're taking medications, to set daily reminders for the medications that they take. And so, we currently have far more people enrolled in OtisHealth and that, you know, 5,000, 6000 I mentioned that are active. But they basically bought the umbrella, and they just put it in their closet. They're waiting for that rainy day that they have to pull it out and start using it. VICTORIA: That makes sense. And I'm already in my head going through the people in my family who would benefit from this where, you know, I have family members who have a learning and a physical disability, and tracking everything that they're supposed to be doing to maintain their health is quite difficult. So, I can definitely see the value in that and why people would want to use it. And I think for, you know, healthcare apps, you have to build this high level of trust. You know, people are giving you all this data about their health information. So, how do you go about building a product that people can trust from the beginning? MARC: One of the things we sort early in the life of OtisHealth is an accreditation. An accreditation is not required by law. It's not required by any institution necessarily. It's a third party that reviews our practices and our systems to see if we're actually following good privacy and security standards and practices. And so we went live in November of 2021, and by the end of December of 2021, we already had our full accreditation in what's called a comprehensive level from a national established organization known as The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission. And so, that was the first step of making sure that folks understood that we took their privacy and security seriously. That accreditation means that our practices and our technology meets or exceeds federal regulatory requirements and industry guidelines. And that's just the first step. Then after that, it's really a matter of people gain their trust because an accreditation itself doesn't necessarily mean that we trust that brand. That's just a basic starting point for us. After that, we publish articles about maintaining health. We have launched some videos about different aspects of our advocacy, such as with autism for caregivers. And we participate in community activities at the national level to improve patient access and to talk about how important it is to manage our own health and the health of our loved ones. And so, it's a combination of both basic accreditations that show that we made the investment, and we provided a third party to critique us and to review us. And we actively maintain that accreditation is not a one-time stamp. And then, the second part is continuous outreach, and letting the community know what we're working on, what's important to us, so that, over time, they start to look at what we do and start to trust it and invite other people to trust it as well. VICTORIA: That makes a lot of sense. And I'm curious if there were experiences from your corporate career that informed how you acted as a founder and what you prioritized. MARC: I've had an odd corporate career. [laughs] So, I started my career as an engineer in manufacturing operations and in product development and then went down to as a consultant strategy in ops and market management, and then, later, investment management and private equity, and then, later, for a safety science company where I was managing global capital investments in technology and new operations. And so, I've been fortunate that I've had a breadth of experience, from marketing to sales, to product and technology development, and infrastructure management. So, I had some basic skills that helped me understand what...well, the endeavor before I jumped into it because I spent a couple of years thinking about whether or not I even wanted to do something like this. And then, I would say probably the most important part of my previous experience that I apply every day at OtisHealth is developing teams and developing collaboration with different organizations. You know, aside from the team that I have, our own staff, we also work very closely with other organizations, even competitors, to make sure that we're all successful. And so, that collaboration across organizations that don't even have a necessarily contractual relationship is something that I brought over from my previous work and seeing how working across the industry, we can help each other and serve the mission. So, I think that was probably the most important part of my previous work experience that I apply today is this: building a team and building a coalition of organizations that want to move forward together. VICTORIA: That's great. And I'm wondering if there was anything that surprised you in that early phase of building collaboration with other companies and understanding your users that changed the strategic direction you were going with in the app. MARC: So, one of the things that I was really just in awe of was how willing people in the healthcare industry were to jump in and help out when we started talking. And so, many of the organizations that we work with, the founders or the senior staff within the nonprofits we work with, all have a story of why they're doing what they're doing. Many are brilliant people who could have taken their careers in many different directions, not in healthcare. And they chose to move forward in healthcare because of some personal experience in their life. And so, as I learned about the people I was working with, I was surprised how quickly they just took me under their wing and said, "Hey, let's get you started marketing. Let's move OtisHealth forward." And so, we have organizations like Onyx and Invitae [SP] that are giving us support in data access. There's another organization that I can't mention yet; that's another private entity that has offered their support, and we hope to launch with them in the next couple of weeks. And so, we're forming these data access bridges to help get patients more access to their data, their loved ones' data. And then, there's the nonprofits in the advocacy and standards organizations we work with, such as HL7, which is an international health technology standards organization, and DirectTrust, which is an organization that establishes trust networks in ecosystems, as well as the technology infrastructure behind how those systems communicate. And we work also with EHNAC, the accreditation commission. So, we not only are using the accreditation from EHNAC, we're on committees to advise them on future criteria for accreditation. VICTORIA: That's really cool. I love that there's that collaboration and just openness and willingness to try to make things better and to invest in solutions together. Mid-Roll Ad: VICTORIA: Introducing thoughtbot's ongoing maintenance service. Need reliable support and maintenance for your software? Look no further. Our expert team handles upgrades, bug fixes, UI adjustments, and new feature development. And the best part? Our maintenance packages start at just 5K per month for companies of all sizes. From Ruby on Rails to Node, React, and, yes, even PHP, we've got you covered. Trust thoughtbot for top-notch support and optimized performance. To receive a custom quote, contact sales@thoughtbot.com. VICTORIA: And with me here, I have Richard Newman, who is the Development Director on our Boost Team, to talk to me a little bit more about what maintenance actually looks like once you've built your software application, right? RICHARD: Hi, Victoria. VICTORIA: Hi, Richard. You have experience building applications. I wonder if you could describe to a founder who's considering to build an application, like, what should they consider for their long-term maintenance? RICHARD: Well, like you said earlier, part of what you're going for with that long-term maintenance is making sure the health of your project, of your application, is always there. And you don't want to be surprised as you're continuing to work with your users and so forth. And so, a number of things that we pay attention to in maintenance are, we're paying attention to keeping the application secure, providing security updates. We want to make sure that the ecosystem, basically, all of the tools and third-party services that are tied to your application that, we're responding to those sorts of changes as we go along. And then part of it is, occasionally, you're going to find some smaller issues or bugs or so forth as your user group continues to grow or as needs continue to change. You want to be able to respond to those quickly as well. And so, a lot of what goes into maintenance is making sure that you're paying attention and you're ahead of those things before they surprise you. VICTORIA: Because what can happen? Like, what are the consequences if you don't do that ongoing maintenance? RICHARD: Well, the security updates those happen across gems and in the platform sort of tools that are there. And so, if you're not keeping those up to date, your exposure, your vulnerability to being hacked, or having a bad actor come into your application start growing on you if you're not doing the maintenance. The other ones that can come up is there's new interfaces that these third-party services...they may be updating their APIs. They may be updating how you're supposed to work with their tool. And so, those can occasionally break if you're not paying attention to what's going on or you're suddenly surprised by an upgrade that you have to make. And then, finally, there's this long-term sort of code change that just builds up over time if you're not keeping it refactored for the changes that are upcoming in a language or the gems that you work with. And then, suddenly, after a while, it suddenly gets to the point where you have a lot of work that you might have to do to rehabilitate the application to take on some of the newer features that are being released. And so, that makes it that much more difficult, that much more friction about being able to deliver updates for your users or to be able to respond to changes that are happening out there in your application. VICTORIA: Right. So, if you don't have that ongoing maintenance, you could run into a situation where, suddenly, you need to make a very large investment and fixing whatever is broken. RICHARD: Absolutely. It's going to be very tough to plan for if you weren't keeping up all the way along and, yes, absolutely ends up being much slower if you have to remediate it. VICTORIA: That makes sense. I wonder if you have any examples of a project you've walked into and said, "Wow, I wish we had been doing a little bit more maintenance." [laughs] And maybe you can share some details. RICHARD: Yeah. We had a fairly large application that involved a number of clinic services. So, we had an application that users were going in every day and counting on our fast response. And, over time, we've got surprised by a database upgrade that had to happen. Basically, the database was going to be changed by our third-party hosting service, and that hadn't been tested. There hadn't been procedures in place when we discovered this need. And there was a very hard date that that change had to be done or else the entire application was going to go down. And it came at a very inconvenient time, at the end of the year around Christmas, that we had to respond to all of that. And had we been in front of it and just updated it every quarter and staying current with it, it wouldn't have been nearly the lift that it turned out to be. We were facing a pretty hard deadline [laughs] there to keep things going. It was very, very stressful and disruptive for the team and potentially for the clinics. VICTORIA: Right. And it always happens around a big holiday or something like that, right? When it all comes to a head. So... [laughter] RICHARD: Absolutely. You want to be in control of the timeframe and not have the timeframe be in control of you. VICTORIA: Right. And if you have a team like thoughtbot supporting you, you can go on your vacation with a little bit more knowledge that if something breaks, there's someone there who can respond and fix things, and you don't have to interrupt your very valuable time off. So... RICHARD: [chuckles] Absolutely. VICTORIA: Yeah. Well, thank you so much, Richard, for joining me today. I appreciate you coming here to talk with us. And we'll talk to you again soon. RICHARD: Yeah, it was a pleasure. Thank you. VICTORIA: You mentioned advocacy. And I'm curious if you could say more about what advocacy are you doing or how does that blend into your business model and what you're doing with OtisHealth? MARC: I'll give you an example. One of the organizations we belong to and I participate in personally is the Health Information Management System Society. And so, this is a professional society of healthcare IT professionals. And in Northern California, there's an advocacy committee that works directly with the state legislature to promote legislation that will improve the quality of healthcare for people in California. We actively talk to members of the legislature to tell them what bills we think are important. The ones we focus on and the ones I personally focus on are the ones that improve access to our data and also improve our privacy. So, there's a legislation in California, as an example, that will prohibit access to people's healthcare data without proper legal warrant. So, it's basically extending HIPAA protections across any health app launched in California. And we, of course, are already HIPAA-compliant, so that's very easy for us. There's also advocacy specific to certain health conditions. So, my daughter had autism. I work with the Autism Society here in California and also Achieve Tahoe, which is an organization that teaches skiing and other skills to people with disabilities in particular. This past season was my first season. I work primarily with children and young adults with autism and other developmental disorders. And then we also partner with organizations when we think that they're aligned with some of our mission. And so we work with the Caregiver Action Network. We also will work with AARP and other organizations regarding caregiver rights and also teaching caregivers how to access the healthcare data of their loved ones and how to take care of themselves personally. VICTORIA: That's wonderful. And I guess it's not really a question, but I saw that autism service dogs are a thing, and I just thought that was really cool. [laughs] MARC: Yeah, OtisHealth is named after Constance's autism service dog, Otis. And so, service dogs are extraordinary animals. They're highly trained. Otis had been trained for two years before we received him. He was trained specifically for Constance's needs, and he kept her safe. And that was the primary interest in Otis is observing things that she...because of her cognitive limitations, wasn't always aware of her surroundings and wasn't always safe. And so, the dog maintained her safety and her boundaries and kept her focused, as well as just basically blocked her if she was going to do something that was unsafe. So, there are many different kinds of service dogs, and I'm talking specifically about ADA, the Americans with Disability Act type service dogs. These aren't, like, companion dogs or therapy dogs. These are truly highly trained animals that are focused on specific tasks to help an individual be safer, more free, or have more abilities than their disabilities may allow. VICTORIA: Well, I love that. And I like that the app is named after her dog as well. That's just very sweet. And I love that that's how that worked. And I'm curious, what's on the horizon? What are you most excited about for OtisHealth in the next year? MARC: Like all startups, we have [laughs] a lot of plans. And we've been invited to speak at some conferences. I spoke at two already this year. And I have another one coming up in Washington, D.C., where we're going to advocate, again, for patient access. And this is primarily talking to the health systems themselves in adopting technology that makes it easier for patients to securely access their health records. And so, we're excited about that movement in the industry to recognize and start to act on that need for patients to be able to access their health records. And we work with our partners to promote that and also with the federal government. We work with the health and human services to promote this access. And we were published in a report earlier this year because of our technology demonstration with health and human services. And it sounds like it's finally getting some real traction in hospital systems. And members of the Federal Congress are also saying that this is something we need to move forward with in a more aggressive manner. On a more direct path, we're excited our membership's growing. We've had tens of thousands of people register to use the app, with thousands actively using it today. We're working on some new programs right now for payers and for providers that will improve health outcomes and within their populations, as well as bring on hundreds of thousands of other people on the app. We're really excited to know that we're getting both recognized for the work that we're doing and that people are starting to understand the importance of managing everyday health, whether it's with OtisHealth or another application. VICTORIA: Well, I love being excited for these opportunities to advocate for your product and for the mission behind the product. I'm not going to recommend being excited about going to D.C. during the summer. [laughs] Last time I was there when I landed at 9:00 p.m., it was 90 degrees outside [chuckles] and humid, like, 90% humidity. But it's great to have access to people who care and are trying to make things better and have that voice. I'm excited to see you grow. And then, it's been two years since you started the app. I wonder, if you could go back in time to when you first were getting started, what advice would you give yourself? MARC: So, this is a really hard thing for anybody to look back and say that they'd like to change a few things. There are things I would change. I have a lot of experience managing large, sophisticated programs. Because in the past I had large budgets, it was really easy to maintain strict discipline around the implementation. And I think I was too loose in the implementation process at the onset of OtisHealth. I would have been more disciplined around my program management and the accountability that I had to developers I was using. As a startup, I didn't have a large development team in-house. I needed to use external parties. And I should have been a little more closely on top of that process. The other things that we experienced were primarily a result of pivots. We were constantly pivoting as we were learning. I think having a team to review our process and pivot more quickly is really critical. You don't want to pivot 20 times a week. You need to stay focused for a while, but also having friends or advisors or members of your team that can help you assess when a pivot is necessary, or a new opportunity presents itself, I think, is critical. And so, we all know, as founders, the team is key. And I think the earlier you engage a team and not be bashful by asking for advice, the better. VICTORIA: I love that. And I'm curious if you have any advice from your program or from your startup career now on choosing the right development teams. And how do you find those right partners to actually build the app and have that accountability? MARC: So, I would say the number one thing that I've learned, that I knew previously, but I really appreciate it more now as a founder of a small company, is you need mission alignment, not just company to company, but person to person. And I took my time picking advisors to join us, and I took my time getting people on board to OtisHealth. We pick folks that we believe understand what we're doing, and we take our time and make sure that they appreciate it and that we're comfortable with them. Our startup is too small to make a bad hire or to have the wrong perspective because somebody has other motives, such as just making money. If I was providing advice in terms of picking teams or picking vendors to work with, I would say take it slow. Don't rush, even though you may be in a rush, or we may be in a rush to get moving, either for financial reasons or personal reasons. It's important just to feel comfortable. Get to know folks. Meet them in person if you can and spend a few hours with them at a time [laughs], just to make sure that they believe in you, and you believe in them, and that you have a common vision. Because when things get rough or tough, financially or otherwise, you need people that are going to be able to stick through it and work with you. VICTORIA: That makes a lot of sense. There's a lot of pivots happening. You want everyone to be on the same page. And you don't want to have to be corralling everyone all the time if they have competing priorities, so that makes a lot of sense. MARC: Absolutely. Just to be clearer on that, we all run into challenges. So, in some cases, we had to make some financial sacrifices, and everyone did it together. You really need people that are that committed that say, "Okay, I understand where we are, and so, I'm willing to take a pay cut for a while or not get paid for a while until we can get this spec started again." Even vendors I work with today that are strategic vendors understand that and have helped us financially when we need some time to get more revenue in. VICTORIA: Great. And so, when you were building a healthcare app, was there people you needed to have on your team who had that exact specialty in either patient care, or medical records, or something like that? MARC: Yes, yeah, you need experts. So, I'm a quick read. I mean, I spent a couple of years learning the industry and understanding the technology. But the person that's our IT director he has over 25 years of experience in healthcare IT systems, so he is the expert in-house. We also have advisors on our team that are experts in payer services and payer systems, launching healthcare apps, managing standards, and managing SaaS services. We have a data and an AI expert, and a clinical research specialist. We also have physicians we refer to. [laughs] So, we have a pretty big entourage of individuals that we go to for very specific advice and work. VICTORIA: That makes a lot of sense. Let's see, what question should I be asking that I haven't asked yet? MARC: You know, I think most of the people listening to this podcast are technical founders. And it was surprising to me, and I had some founders contact me, asked for some free advice, which I'm happy to do, but they didn't seem sincere in their interest in being in healthcare. And one thing I told them, and I would say to anybody that's interested in being a healthcare technology developer, is you have to have a reason to do it besides the money. It will be a really hard battle to move forward with a technology if the only motivation is a financial opportunity. That isn't going to sustain the pivots or the development. You'll run into a lot of walls, primarily because everyone will see it. Everyone in the industry sees those players come in that just have a financial interest, and the consumers see it, and they don't like it. So, my advice to anybody that wants to develop technology in healthcare is you have to be a little sincere about it and have a real reason to do it beyond just making money, and I think you'll find it more rewarding. There's so much need for healthcare technology and better technology out there. So, I welcome folks to join the fight, the battle, or the opportunities. But I would say that just come in with the idea that you're helping people, not just making money. VICTORIA: I think that rings true for any business you're in, right? But especially in healthcare because it is this big target. Even in consulting, if you're doing business development and you're thinking of working on health IT projects, there's just a huge market that you have to narrow down and figure out where you're going to be. So, if you don't have that intrinsic motivation, it can be overwhelming and scattered, and then people won't connect with you, right? Because everybody is going after the same thing. MARC: That's exactly right. One of the conferences I went to earlier this year, a speaker got up and said, "People invest in people, or people make deals with other people." We talk about companies signing a deal with another company, but it's really one person trusting another person. Whether it's in healthcare or another industry, obviously, that trust needs to happen. At some point, if I don't trust the individual I'm talking to, I'm less likely to have a deal with that company. VICTORIA: Right. It's like; I don't know how, you know, it doesn't really matter how impressive your credentials are. If there's not a basic level of trust, you might not move forward with it, so that makes a lot of sense to me. MARC: Yeah, that's absolutely right, Victoria. VICTORIA: Absolutely. Is there anything else that you'd like to promote at the end of this podcast? MARC: I'd love for folks to try OtisHealth. If you have family that have chronic medical needs or need help managing their medical information, please download OtisHealth, help them join. There are videos on YouTube that explain how to use it if you need some guidance, but we believe most of it is self-explanatory. We are continuously adding data access points. We're going to be launching this week new versions of OtisHealth that have access privileges for people in New York and Nevada and parts of California and Colorado. And so that means that with the app, once you're ID-proofed on the app, you can use it to get your medical records from different sources without having to log into all these different patient portals. So please try it. Use it for yourself but especially use it for your family or anybody who you care for. We'd love to get your feedback as you use the app too. VICTORIA: That's great. And I'm actually already thinking about...next week; I'm going to be going to The San Diego Annual Veterans Stand Down, where anyone who is experiencing homelessness can come in and get access to all the services that they might need, whether it's legal, or healthcare, or dentistry, showers, food, all of these things. And I'm curious if that organization might benefit from having a tool like that for their users. So, I'll be talking about it. [laughs] MARC: Oh, thank you so much. That'd be wonderful. Thank you. VICTORIA: That's great. Well, thank you so much, Marc, for joining us. MARC: My pleasure. Thank you, Victoria, for having me on the show. VICTORIA: Excellent. You can subscribe to the show and find notes along with a complete transcript for this episode at giantrobots.fm. If you have questions or comments, email us at hosts@giantrobots.fm. And you can find me on Twitter @victori_ousg. This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot and produced and edited by Mandy Moore. Thank you for listening. See you next time. ANNOUNCER: This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot, your expert strategy, design, development, and product management partner. We bring digital products from idea to success and teach you how because we care. Learn more at thoughtbot.com. Special Guest: Marc Mar-Yohana.

Africa in for Clement speaks to Dr Mpho Phalatse, the losing candidate for the Democratic Alliance's top job and Former Joburg Mayor as well as Dirk Kotze, a Professor of Political Sciences at UNISA about the outcomes of the DA Federal Congress.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Democratic Alliance, DA will host its Federal Congress at the weekend to elect the party's leadership. More than 2 000 delegates are expected to attend the two-day congress, which will officially kick off at the Gallagher Convention Centre, in Midrand, Johannesburg. Incumbent DA leader John Steenhuisen and former Johannesburg mayor Dr. Mpho Phalatse are vying for the position of party leader. For more on this, Elvis Presslin spoke to Greg Krumbock, DA Federal Congress Presiding Officer

Governmental Excesses. It should come as no surprise that the U.S. government is the largest employer in America. A Federal Congress person takes on added importance allocating money to all those workers losing a sense of humility. Being humble in the halls of our Nation's capital just doesn't exist. Then again, things get complicated when the place you work for is over 30 trillion dollars in debt. Let's not forget the 1.8 m. military on active duty, 833,000 reservists, or the 3.4m. contract workers you pay. So how come 200 lobsters were flown from Maine to feed 300 guests at the White House? Everyday excesses? MUSIC Gilbert/Sullivan, Minnelli/Grey, Rod Steiger/Gordon Macrea

As of July 1, 2022, edibles containing small amounts of hemp-derived THC are legal in Minnesota. Under the law, Minnesotans can buy food and beverages that contain up to 5 milligrams of THC per serving, with a limit of 50 milligrams per package. THC is the psychoactive compound that delivers the “high” associated with marijuana. This is the biggest step Minnesota has taken towards legalizing recreational marijuana. MPR News host Angela Davis spoke with two lawyers who specialize in cannabis law about Minnesota's new law, how it compares to cannabis laws in other states and what all this means for Minnesotans. Guests: Jay Wexler is a professor of law at Boston University. He is the author of the forthcoming book, “Weed Rules: Blazing the Way to a Just and Joyous Marijuana Policy.” Jason Tarasek is an attorney, the founder of the Minnesota Cannabis Law firm and a board member of the Minnesota Cannabis Association. Below are highlights from the discussion. Quotes have been edited for length and clarity. Listen to the full conversation using the audio player above or by searching MPR News with Angela Davis wherever you get your podcasts. What exactly does this new law in Minnesota do and what doesn't it do? Tarasek: It's a groundbreaking piece of legislation. For the first time ever in Minnesota, consumers can purchase THC infused food and beverages. Of course that THC needs to be hemp-derived which makes us unique in the country. So we're not a full adult use marijuana state but we have taken a big step towards that. There are no restrictions on who can sell and where it can be sold. What's the difference between hemp and marijuana? Tarasek: It's kind of confusing. Cannabis is sort of the catch all term and that can refer to both hemp and marijuana which many people are surprised to learn is the same plant. So the distinction is a legal one. The federal law and regulations and the state law and regulations around this say hemp is defined as a plant or its derivatives containing 0.3 percent delta 9 THC or less. Anything over that threshold is considered marijuana. So that's the distinction but it's the same plant, looks very much the same, smells the same, the THC is the same but that is the distinction. What kinds of products are allowed under this new law? Tarasek: The thing that retailers were stocked for since this was sort of a surprise to a lot of us were gummies. So most people right now are going to be consuming gummies that they can buy in packages up to 50 milligrams. But the serving size is recommended to be 5 milligrams. And there's no limit on how many bags you can buy. Have you kept in touch with those store owners? How are they doing two weeks out? Tarasek: They were not necessarily stocked for the demand. And they sold out. The retailers that I spoke to sold out in a matter of days. And so they are scrambling now trying to get more product. I am doing my best to connect them with gummy manufacturers and other states. So we're hoping to have them restocked soon. But you know, it was pretty obvious. There was a lot of pent up demand among Minnesota consumers for this. And I think the politicians are going to take take note of that. Tell us more about the packaging. Tarasek: The legislators, to their credit, went to great lengths to make sure this is an adult use product. So this can't be marketed to children. You can't manufacture them. You can't call them like fruit loop gummies are things that would appeal to children. They're tamper proof. So we've taken strides to make sure they don't fall into the hands of children or teens. What stands out about this law compared to those in other states? Wexler: The law is completely unique among all cannabis legalization laws in the states so far. What happens in pretty much every state that's legalized for recreational use up till now is the people of the state or the legislature of the state basically vote to make cannabis legal. And then they delegate authority to some sort of agency. And that agency takes a long time coming up with regulations that authorize retailers and cultivators to become licensed, and they get a license. And then they're regulated by the state pretty closely about how much they can grow and what conditions they have to grow under, what environmental regulations they have to follow. And retailers have to follow a whole set of regulations as well. Then there's a long process where companies apply to get licenses. And there's usually a bunch of controversy over who gets the licenses and then it's a long process. Finally, the stores open up and you go in there and the only thing you can get in the in the stores are marijuana products. And the people who are working there are trained bud tenders who know who can advise customers about what they're getting. So this Minnesota approach is completely different. Tarasek: [In Minnesota] there are no restrictions on who can sell and where it can be sold. For folks who are concerned about safety, should we be? Wexler: I don't know exactly about how this works in practice. But there's a testing requirement from what I understand, and manufacturers have to contract with a lab in order to get their products tested. But the results don't necessarily have to be filtered through or sent to any kind of government agencies, which makes it very different from other states. So it's hard to know if those testing labs, whether they're good, I assume they're high quality, but it's a little different from other states. Tarasek: The THC has to be derived from certified hemp. So in Minnesota, we have a hemp program where the growers and the processors are licensed. And then, at the point of sale, the actual product has to confirm that indeed this did go through the correct process that checks those boxes, and that it did meet the testing requirements. So again, it's under the 0.3 percent delta 9 THC threshold. Caller question: What about delta 8? And does a consumer of THC in Minnesota have any guarantee that there's any safety in this product? Tarasek: Delta 8 THC, which was getting extremely popular because it sort of benefited from a loophole in both the federal law and the state law that put restrictions on delta 9 THC. So a lot of people said, and frankly, there are some courts that agree with them, that delta 8 THC was fully legal everywhere, so long as it was hemp-derived and you're correct that that delta 8 THC occurs in very tiny amounts naturally in the plant. But entrepreneurs saw an opportunity and they are using a chemical process to extract delta 8 out of CBD. And there were some health concerns about that because people were using it in vapes and there wasn't any regulation around that. And this law actually aims to address that because this law does not allow for vapes and allows only point 0.3 percent delta eight THC. The law is it references THC generically, so you can have delta 8, you can have delta 10. I'm expecting most of these products are going to have delta 9 THC, which is the more traditional THC because you don't need to go through that extra chemical induced process to extract it. So I hear what you're saying. I believe that this law was drafted by the legislators and the Board of Pharmacy to address the health concerns about delta 8 and I expect the products you're gonna see food and beverages are gonna mostly contain hemp derived delta 9. What is the average cost? Tarasek: I wish I knew the answer, but I think it's relatively inexpensive, $20 or so for a bag. Caller question: If you get pulled over or if you're going to a concert how does this new law effect possession requirements? Tarasek: These hemp derived products, they're legal anywhere. You can possess them, you can use them, you can sell them. I think perhaps it's obvious to everyone that there's still work to be done here because there's no licensing requirement. We're not capturing any special tax through the sale of these products. We don't have a cannabis control board. All those ideas and regulations exist in the adult use marijuana legislation that the DFL controlled House passed a few years ago. And I expect that when the legislature reconvenes here in Minnesota in January, they may be trying to extract some portions of that law and that the Republican controlled Senate refused to pick up because I think everyone is going to recognize that these hemp derived products perhaps require more regulation. And we need, perhaps, a little more guidance on how this law is gonna be allowed to proceed. Have people had some legal problems because they tested positive and even though they were using a legal form of the substance? Wexler: Sure. That's a major issue around the country in states that have legalized cannabis for recreational and medical use. Somebody uses cannabis off-site for a medical purpose that they absolutely need to help them with, say Crohn's disease, or PTSD or something like that. But the employer can still in most states test employees for the presence of THC in their bloodstream, which does not tell you when the person has consumed THC. THC stays in the bloodstream, or stays in the body for for up to 30 days. So even if you test positive today, it doesn't mean that you had just used THC, you could have used it a week ago or so. And so people do get fired regularly for using cannabis off the job. And there have been many cases in different jurisdictions about whether that's OK or not. I don't know where Minnesota was stands on it. Tarasek: Minnesota's Medical program has legislative protections for people who consume medical cannabis, there's no such similar protection for people using these new products. So people need to be careful. Caller question: Are any of these over the counter products equivalent to medical cannabis products, for someone who just doesn't want to be part of the state medical program? Tarasek: This is hemp-derived THC in very small amounts, so it's not going to compare whatsoever to the products that would be available through the medical program. There are cannabis pharmacists who work for our medical marijuana dispensaries who could advise you on this, I expect it may provide some relief. But I am not a cannabis pharmacist. Wexler: There's so much that we don't know about THC and CBD's medical benefits, because there just hasn't been as much research as we would have liked for the last 40 years, the federal government has made it illegal, largely, to research the benefits of cannabis. And so, we're just now I think learning which strains and which forms of THC and CBD are effective for which conditions. And so that's partially a problem that's linked to the ongoing prohibition at the federal level. And hopefully, as that sort of loosens up over time, we're gonna learn a lot more about which strains work for which conditions but it is frustrating. Caller comment: If you are not a U.S. citizen, then you still need to worry about federal rules, because it can affect your immigration status. Wexler: That's absolutely right. The federal government continues to make all cannabis illegal except for hemp and I think an open question is about what federal law says about a unique thing like Minnesota's law. I'm sure the intent of the Federal Congress would be to keep those products illegal. There's lots of discussion about alcohol consumption compared to the consumption of cannabis products. Tarasek: I get some weird looks when I say cannabis is safer than alcohol because it is so baked into our society. You know, alcohol is celebrated and there's such a stigma around cannabis. But the slogan that worked in Colorado when they pass their ballot initiative in 2012, was that cannabis and marijuana in particular is safer than alcohol. I'm not going to tell you that marijuana is safe or healthy, but is it safer than alcohol, 100 percent. And there is a culture shift underway certainly among the millennials where they are are not consuming alcohol like older generations did. And there's a transition going on culturally away from alcohol and toward THC. And this new law in Minnesota gives consumers an alternative that they did not have before. And it is in the interest of public health. We banned vapes, I think out of the interests of public health and allowing more THC in the marketplace here in Minnesota is a public health initiative. Wexler: What we really need I think, are places to socially use cannabis, the sort of equivalent of the bar. And those are referred to as social use establishments or cannabis cafes. Some states allow for them, but only in a very sort of begrudging way. And very few have opened across the country, a few in California, a few in Colorado, here and there. But until that happens, I think it's going to be hard to normalize cannabis. So I think it's really important that legislatures and state agencies push for social places to use cannabis, so that we can use cannabis instead of alcohol and still have that social gathering together. #AskMPRNews What questions do you have about Minnesota's THC law?

The Constitution of the United States had established March 4 as Inauguration Day in order to allow enough time after Election Day for officials to gather election returns and for newly-elected candidates to travel to the capital. On April 30, 1789, George Washington was inaugurated in New York City as our first president. Washington was scheduled to be inaugurated on March 4, however weather prevented Congress from being able to make quorum, and thus the beginning of our nation under the original Constitution was delayed almost two months. On March 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson was the first president inaugurated in Washington, D.C., our new federal capital. After New York, Philadelphia had become our nation's capital. Though, in order to appease Southern slave holders fearing a northern capital would be inordinately influenced by Northern Abolitionists, the nation's capital was moved south to its current location. Inauguration was initially held inside the House and Senate chambers of the Federal Congress. James Monroe, the newly elected president in 1817, began the tradition of holding the inauguration outside, in front of Congress. The outdoor inauguration would prove fatal in 1841. With great hubris, the newly elected President William Harrison decided to ride on horseback, without a coat, to his inauguration – despite the winter weather. Harrison then delivered the longest inauguration speech in American history — a two-hour-long oration, which led to the shortest Presidency in American history as Harrison subsequently caught pneumonia and died 31 days later. The twentieth amendment of the Constitution, took effect before Franklin D. Roosevelt's second term began. The twentieth amendment specified that the elected president would become president through inauguration at noon on Jan. 20, two months, instead of four, after the presidential election. The twentieth amendment also clarified the presidential secession plan. The first inauguration held on the new date of January 20, 1937 turned out to be the wettest inauguration ever with 1.77" rain in 24 hours. It was quite windy with temperatures just above freezing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We answer the following questions: Can Biden / OSHA issue an Executive Order / Regulation mandating employment vaccines? Can the Federal Congress issue a statute mandating employment vaccines or is that a state's rights issue?What is the precedent for an individual state to issue a vaccine mandate and would it be upheld?Does it matter if an individual state's Governor or Legislature issued an employment vaccine mandate for enforceability?How does a sincerely held religious belief against vaccines avoid employment vaccine mandates?How can employers refuse an accommodation who has a disability or sincerely held belief and requests to avoid an employment vaccine mandate?Plus, we discuss brisket, ice cream, 9/11, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, horse dewormers, and most importantly, we break down the hiring / staffing issues faced by employers everywhere.

The Constitution of the United States had established March 4 as Inauguration Day in order to allow enough time after Election Day for officials to gather election returns and for newly-elected candidates to travel to the capital. On April 30, 1789, George Washington was inaugurated in New York City as our first president. Washington was scheduled to be inaugurated on March 4, however, weather prevented Congress from being able to make quorum, and thus the beginning of our nation under the original Constitution was delayed almost two months. On March 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson was the first president inaugurated in Washington, D.C., our new federal capital. After New York, Philadelphia had become our nation’s capital. Though, in order to appease Southern slave holders fearing a northern capital would be inordinately influenced by Northern Abolitionists, the nation’s capital was moved south to its current location. Inauguration was initially held inside the House and Senate chambers of the Federal Congress. James Monroe, the newly elected president in 1817, began the tradition of holding the inauguration outside, in front of Congress. The outdoor inauguration would prove fatal in 1841. With great hubris, the newly elected President William Harrison decided to ride on horseback, without a coat, to his inauguration – despite the winter weather. Harrison then delivered the longest inauguration speech in American history — a two-hour-long oration, which led to the shortest Presidency in American history as Harrison subsequently caught pneumonia and died 31 days later. The twentieth amendment of the Constitution, took effect before Franklin D. Roosevelt’s second term began. The twentieth amendment specified that the elected president would become president through inauguration at noon on Jan. 20, two months, instead of four, after the presidential election. The twentieth amendment also clarified the presidential secession plan. The first inauguration held on the new date of January 20, 1937 turned out to be the wettest inauguration ever with 1.77" rain in 24 hours. It was quite windy with temperatures just above freezing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In today's business headlines: - John Steenhuisen has been elected as the Democratic Alliance’s new leader for the next three years following its virtual Federal Congress over the weekend. - All eyes will be on the United States this week where it will be determined if the world would have four more years of Donald Trump or whether Joe Biden will take over the reigns of the world’s most powerful country. - Comair, the South African partner of British Airways, said it secured financing from banks, paving the way for the resumption of flights in December. - Prosus says it would buy back up to $5billion in its own and South African parent Naspers’ shares as part of efforts to narrow a discount between the companies’ share prices and underlying assets. - In what the Financial Sector Conduct Authority calls the most expensive SMS in South Africa's history, former Steinhoff Chief Executive Officer, Marcus Jooste has been fined more than R162 million for insider trading.

In today's business headlines: - John Steenhuisen has been elected as the Democratic Alliance’s new leader for the next three years following its virtual Federal Congress over the weekend. - All eyes will be on the United States this week where it will be determined if the world would have four more years of Donald Trump or whether Joe Biden will take over the reigns of the world’s most powerful country. - Comair, the South African partner of British Airways, said it secured financing from banks, paving the way for the resumption of flights in December. - Prosus says it would buy back up to $5billion in its own and South African parent Naspers’ shares as part of efforts to narrow a discount between the companies’ share prices and underlying assets. - In what the Financial Sector Conduct Authority calls the most expensive SMS in South Africa's history, former Steinhoff Chief Executive Officer, Marcus Jooste has been fined more than R162 million for insider trading.

We're revisiting an episode from 2011 featuring previous hosts Sarah and Deblina. To recruit troops for the U.S. Civil War, the Federal Congress passed the Union Conscription Act in 1863, which drafted able-bodied men between the ages of 20 and 45. Needless to say, this didn't go over well in New York.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers

Historian and author Fergus Bordewich joins The Steve Fast Show to talk about the work of the first Federal Congress. Bordewich says that much of the American political system depended on the work of legislators who were unsure if the "Great Experiment" of U.S. democracy would even work.

Svitlana Chernykh (University of Oxford) presents an overview of the Coalitonal Presidentialism Project at the Federal Congress of Brazil, Brasília.

Paul Chaisty (University of Oxford) gives the second talk at the workshop on Coalitional Presidentialism at the Federal Congress of Brazil, Brasília.

Nic Cheeseman (University of Oxford) gives the third talk at the workshop on Coalitional Presidentialism at the Federal Congress of Brazil, Brasília.

Santiago Basabe Serrano (FLACSO-Ecuador and GIGA) gives the fourth talk at the workshop on Coalitional Presidentialism at the Federal Congress of Brazil, Brasília.

Germán Bidegain Ponte (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) gives the fifth talk at the workshop on Coalitional Presidentialism at the Federal Congress of Brazil, Brasília.

Carlos Nepomuceno gives the sixth talk at the workshop on Coalitional Presidentialism at the Federal Congress of Brazil, Brasília.

Timothy Power (University of Oxford) gives the seventh talk at the workshop on Coalitional Presidentialism at the Federal Congress of Brazil, Brasília.

Lucio Rennó (University of Brasília) gives a talk at the workshop on Coalitional Presidentialism at the Federal Congress of Brazil, Brasília.

News and Current Affairs Show hosted by award winning presenter Sakina Kamwendo, live on weekdays from 12 noon to 1 pm on SAfm 104-107fm

To recruit troops for the U.S. Civil War, the Federal Congress passed the Union Conscription Act in 1863, which drafted able-bodied men between the ages of 20 and 45. Needless to say, this didn't go over well in New York. Tune in to learn more. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers