Podcast appearances and mentions of kay bailey hutchison

Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison served as the U.S. Ambassador to NATO from 2017-2021. From 1993-2013, she represented Texas in the U.S. Senate. Join us for a conversation about her life and career.Featuring: Hon. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO; Former U.S. Senator, TexasModerator: Nitin Nainani, Judicial Law Clerk, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

The city of Dallas is considering taking out a $1 billion loan to move forward with the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center project. Staff will brief the City Council Wednesday on the updates to the convention center plan. Also, after sitting through more than two months of auditions, training and performances, American Idol fans were minutes away from finding out the winner of season 23 when WFAA's Chief Meteorologist Pete Delkus appeared on screen shortly before 10 p.m., warning of severe weather — including possible tornadoes, thunderstorms and flash floods — in counties across the region. Frustrated viewers took to social media to express their displeasure;  Katy Perry's “Lifetimes” tour stop at American Airlines Center has been moved to Thursday night to accommodate the Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers' NHL playoff game; and whatever happened to your favorite Dallas restaurant? What's going on with that project in your neighborhood? Curious Texas could help find an answer. With Curious Texas, The Dallas Morning News invites readers to ask questions about North Texas and the Lone Star State. It's a chance for you to join the reporting process and help choose what topics the newsroom covers. What questions do you want Curious Texas to investigate? Submit them now at curious texas dot com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Former US Ambassador and US Senator, Kathryn Ann Bailey Hutchison "Kay". Discusses Trump wanting to end the war in Ukraine, and wanting an equal defense partner in Europe. Hutchison, speaks to Bloomberg's Guy Johnson at the Bank of America Global Investor Summit in Dubai.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Host Marianne Schnall takes a historical look at the feminist trailblazers and political milestones that helped advance women and chart the course to this pivotal moment. As we approach the 2024 election and the possibility of electing our first woman president seems closer than ever, this episode pulls from Marianne's new and archival interviews to share insights and stories from women who helped pave the way, including quotes from Carol Moseley Braun, Nancy Pelosi, Madeleine Albright, Pat Schroeder, Barbara Lee, Gloria Steinem, Kirsten Gillibrand, Nicholas Kristof, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Brittany Packnett Cunningham, Cecile Richards, Kimberly Peeler-Allen, Glynda Carr, Melissa Etheridge, and Maya Angelou.

We were honored this week to welcome Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Rutherford for this Special Edition COBT. Senator Hutchison is a Founding Member of the KBH Energy Center at the University of Texas and has had a distinguished career in both the public and private sectors, including serving as the US Ambassador to NATO.  We previously had the pleasure of hosting Senator Hutchison on COBT in November 2023 (episode linked here). John is an expert energy and finance executive and serves on the KBH Energy Center Executive Council in addition to board positions with Enterprise Products Partners and TD Williamson. Recently, Governor Abbott appointed John to the Teacher Retirement System of Texas Board of Trustees. We were excited to speak with Senator Hutchison and John about the KBH Energy Center's upcoming Symposium in September and also mix in some observations about the current world. This year's KBH Energy Center Symposium theme is “Energizing Tomorrow – Tackling Today's Energy Challenges while Preparing for the Future.” The event will take place on Friday, September 13 in Austin. In our conversation, Senator Hutchison and John touch on the Symposium's history and the KBH Energy Center's unique structure, collaborating with the business, law, engineering, and soon geosciences schools at the University of Texas. We discuss the Symposium's agenda (linked here) with panels focused on the evolution of LNG, emerging energy trends, technology, AI, energy storage, and more. As you'll hear, the Symposium is nearing capacity but there is still room to attend. Registration details can be found linked here. While discussing the history of the KBH Energy Center as well as the agenda for the Symposium, we also found time to discuss Senator Hutchison's experience as the Ambassador to NATO, how critical energy is to the world economy, and some of her thoughts on the war in Ukraine. As you will hear, her direct experience with Putin informs all her judgements. We are excited for what promises to be a fantastic Symposium and greatly appreciate Senator Hutchison and John for joining us. We hope you enjoy the discussion and that you'll consider attending the Symposium. We also hope you have a great Labor Day weekend and enjoy this last weekend of summer. Our best to you all!

The news of Texas covered today includes:Our Lone Star story of the day: Dishonest Democrat Colin Allred, the Left's nominee to take on Ted Cruz for Texas' U.S. Senator, is running an advert on border security trying to put his party's border policies on the shoulders of Senator Cruz. It's another in a long line of examples of how Democrats treat voters as being exceptionally ignorant and stupid. And, on the subject of the border and voting, Fox News carried this interesting piece: Texas sheriff candidate ‘shocked' by growing Trump support in blue Hispanic border county.Our Lone Star story of the day is sponsored by Allied Compliance Services providing the best service in DOT, business and personal drug and alcohol testing since 1995.How did Texas do in the Olympics? Extraordinarily well!Good words from former U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison on the National Athem: Let's honor our national anthem with a traditional rendition.About calls for Republicans to boycott the Leftist Texas Tribune's little political festival in Austin – go where the people most need to hear our message. It reminds me of the long controversy of Bill Buckley's writings appearing in Playboy Magazine.Listen on the radio, or station stream, at 5pm Central. Click for our radio and streaming affiliates.www.PrattonTexas.com

Criminal defense attorney Dick DeGuerin has defended members of Congress, judges, cult leaders and everyone in between. In this episode, DeGuerin joins host Vince Citro and reveals how he came to represent David Koresh and what transpired in Waco, Texas that fateful April of 1993. He also discusses how he avoided becoming labeled a “cult lawyer” through his high-profile representation of public figures such as U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. Listen in as DeGuerin shares valuable advice for young attorneys and underscores the importance of giving back.  

About the Guest(s): Rebecca Contreras is the accomplished CEO of AvantGarde, showcasing her leadership and commitment to excellence. A business leader with a strong sense of advocacy, she also serves as a dedicated board member of the not on our watch Texas event and movement. Her personal experiences have shaped her into an advocate for children's safety, particularly in the online space. Contreras's professional background is marked by service to three iconic Texas leaders, including Ann Richards, Kay Bailey Hutchison, and George W. Bush. Episode Summary: In this compelling episode of the who you know show, host Trevor Houston sits down with Rebecca Contreras, an influential figure in business and child advocacy. They address the serious and growing issue of online child exploitation, with a particular focus on Texas' unfortunate ranking as the second state in the nation for human trafficking and sex exploitation of children. Dive into an engaging conversation that explores practical steps for awareness, prevention, and the potential for political involvement to catalyze change in this crucial arena. Contreras shares poignant personal experiences of exploitation and abuse, highlighting the importance of engaging women in business and families across Texas to take a stand against such atrocities. As the conversation progresses, the topic shifts to Contreras's potential political aspirations, examining the power of grassroots mobilization and the importance of every Texan having access to the American dream. Resources: Rebecca Contreras LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-contreras-98059013/ Career Transition Summit: https://event.webinarjam.com/register/67/04404igv  LinkedIn e-book: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://online.flippingbook.com/view/714118097/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/who-ya-know-show ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Trevor Houston is a licensed financial professional offering insurance/financial products through various carriers. For more info visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://cpwstrategies.com Chapters: (0:00:00) Introduction to the show and guest, Rebecca Contreras   (0:01:16) Rebecca shares her personal experience with exploitation   (0:02:15) Reasons why Texas ranks second in human trafficking   (0:03:43) Engaging women in business to raise awareness   (0:06:02) The American Dream and the benefits of living in Texas   (0:07:07) Discussion on the political divide and healthy dialogue   (0:09:37) Rebecca Contreras talks about changing the tone regarding child trafficking   (0:10:13) Rebecca Contreras discusses the tendency to ignore the issue and shares a disturbing story   (0:10:55) The psychological reasons behind ignoring the issue   (0:11:13) Trevor's personal experience related to child exploitation   (0:12:46) Trevor concludes the show and thanks Rebecca for her involvement. 

We are pleased to share with you a unique and special COBT episode. Late last week, The KBH Energy Center in partnership with Vinson & Elkins and Veriten, hosted a discussion in Houston featuring Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and Secretary Dan Brouillette. Senator Hutchison is a Founding Member of The KBH Energy Center and most recently served as the US Ambassador to NATO following a distinguished career spanning both the public and private sectors. Secretary Brouillette is an Executive Council Member for The KBH Energy Center, the President and CEO of Edison Electric Institute (EEI) and former president of Sempra Infrastructure. He is a respected leader in the energy, finance and automotive sectors and also served as the Secretary of Energy. The combined extensive experience of Senator Hutchison and Secretary Brouillette in geopolitics and energy laid the groundwork for a wide-ranging and fascinating discussion. We were thrilled to moderate this unique COBT discussion in front of a live audience at Vinson & Elkins's offices. Senator Hutchison first shares the unique features of the KBH Energy Center including its focus on traditional oil and gas as well as emerging technologies and its multidisciplinary nature with involvement from the business, law and engineering departments at the University of Texas. We discuss the paramount importance of energy security for America, the state of energy policy, geopolitical considerations with Ukraine and Israel, and the importance of American leadership, especially in organizations like NATO. As you'll hear, Senator Hutchison recently wrote an article for the Atlantic Council that focused on the immediate need for stronger and more deliberate American leadership (linked here). Secretary Brouillette touches on the complexities of the energy transition, advancements in drilling technology and battery storage, the role of natural gas, power demand considerations, and economic challenges the US faces, including its stunning national debt. In our conversation, we also touch on future plans for The KBH Energy Center, the importance of involving young people in discussions about energy and the exciting opportunities they'll have to shape the industry. In this unique COBT, the fundamental importance of energy to everything we care about as a society was a driving theme. Senator Hutchison and Secretary Brouillette have both made significant contributions to energy policy and the industry and it was both an honor and super thought-provoking to get their perspectives on today's world. There are some serious issues for us all to be considering. We want to thank our friends at the KBH Energy Center and V&E for including us in the discussion and hope you find it as interesting as we did!

Dr. Paul Edgar, the executive director of the William P. Clements, Jr. Center for National Security at the University of Texas-Austin, sat down with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson to discuss energy and national security. The conversation focused on energy security, its relevance for U.S. national security, and how a more effective energy policy would allow for a more robust response to global crises.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken sat down for a conversation on the state of foreign affairs with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. The conversation touched on America's role in the world, the war in Ukraine, and the on-going challenges posed by illegal migration and the fentanyl trade. The two also discussed President Biden's belief that the world is now at an inflection point that requires continued American diplomatic leadership.  

The "Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation" hearing begins in the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, where FBI Director Christopher Wray is expected to testify before Congress and face tough questions from those who distrust the integrity of the bureau. The FBI has recently faced allegations of operating with political bias after the agency searched former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago home for classified documents. Director Wray will appear before the House Judiciary for the first time since the GOP took control of the House and is expected to confront the alleged politicization of federal agencies and his lack of transparency regarding whistleblower allegations. Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker joins the Rundown to explain what the FBI needs to do to prove such biases don't exist and his belief that there must be greater separation between the FBI and the Justice Department. At the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania this week, President Biden and other NATO members came to an agreement to allow Sweden to join the alliance, yet members concurred that adding Ukraine remains out of reach while the war with Russia persists. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy criticized the NATO members for this decision, panning the decision to delay Ukraine's NATO membership without being given a concrete timeline, yet the members did agree Ukraine will join the alliance when the right conditions are met. On the Rundown, former Texas Senator and U.S. Ambassador to NATO during the Trump administration, Kay Bailey Hutchison, joins the podcast to explain what impact we could see on the world stage from the expansion of NATO and how the member nations walked a delicate line between supporting Ukraine and avoiding open war with Russia. Plus, commentary by Jimmy Failla, host of "Fox Across America with Jimmy Failla." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The "Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation" hearing begins in the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, where FBI Director Christopher Wray is expected to testify before Congress and face tough questions from those who distrust the integrity of the bureau. The FBI has recently faced allegations of operating with political bias after the agency searched former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago home for classified documents. Director Wray will appear before the House Judiciary for the first time since the GOP took control of the House and is expected to confront the alleged politicization of federal agencies and his lack of transparency regarding whistleblower allegations. Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker joins the Rundown to explain what the FBI needs to do to prove such biases don't exist and his belief that there must be greater separation between the FBI and the Justice Department. At the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania this week, President Biden and other NATO members came to an agreement to allow Sweden to join the alliance, yet members concurred that adding Ukraine remains out of reach while the war with Russia persists. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy criticized the NATO members for this decision, panning the decision to delay Ukraine's NATO membership without being given a concrete timeline, yet the members did agree Ukraine will join the alliance when the right conditions are met. On the Rundown, former Texas Senator and U.S. Ambassador to NATO during the Trump administration, Kay Bailey Hutchison, joins the podcast to explain what impact we could see on the world stage from the expansion of NATO and how the member nations walked a delicate line between supporting Ukraine and avoiding open war with Russia. Plus, commentary by Jimmy Failla, host of "Fox Across America with Jimmy Failla." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The "Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation" hearing begins in the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, where FBI Director Christopher Wray is expected to testify before Congress and face tough questions from those who distrust the integrity of the bureau. The FBI has recently faced allegations of operating with political bias after the agency searched former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago home for classified documents. Director Wray will appear before the House Judiciary for the first time since the GOP took control of the House and is expected to confront the alleged politicization of federal agencies and his lack of transparency regarding whistleblower allegations. Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker joins the Rundown to explain what the FBI needs to do to prove such biases don't exist and his belief that there must be greater separation between the FBI and the Justice Department. At the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania this week, President Biden and other NATO members came to an agreement to allow Sweden to join the alliance, yet members concurred that adding Ukraine remains out of reach while the war with Russia persists. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy criticized the NATO members for this decision, panning the decision to delay Ukraine's NATO membership without being given a concrete timeline, yet the members did agree Ukraine will join the alliance when the right conditions are met. On the Rundown, former Texas Senator and U.S. Ambassador to NATO during the Trump administration, Kay Bailey Hutchison, joins the podcast to explain what impact we could see on the world stage from the expansion of NATO and how the member nations walked a delicate line between supporting Ukraine and avoiding open war with Russia. Plus, commentary by Jimmy Failla, host of "Fox Across America with Jimmy Failla." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, William Inboden, editor-in-chief of the Texas National Security Review and executive director of the Clements Center for National Security at the University of Texas at Austin, sat down with Amb. Kay Bailey Hutchison, former United States senator from Texas and, later, the U.S. permanent representative to NATO. The two had a thoughtful and wide-ranging conversation about European security and global energy policy. First, the two discussed Inboden's new book, The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan in the White House and the World, and how President Dwight D. Eisenhower helped shape President Reagan's foreign policy strategy. Then, they talked about Amb. Hutchison's tenure at NATO and how the war in Ukraine has affected the alliance. In particular, she touched on the need for U.S. leadership to drive solidarity within the alliance and the importance of continued U.S. support for Ukraine. Finally, the two discussed European views of China and the latest work done by the Kay Bailey Hutchison Energy Center at the University of Texas at Austin. This episode was recorded in Austin, Texas.

It's been more than 50 years since humans last set foot on the lunar surface. But the recent success of NASA's Artemis I mission has put the US back on track to return man to the Moon. As the Artemis program proceeds, space enthusiasts remain skeptical of NASA's timeline and its expensive Space Launch System rocket — especially as the reusable SpaceX Starship rocket comes online. To find out more about the future for NASA as well as private companies like SpaceX, I'm joined today by Eric Berger.Eric is the senior space editor at Ars Technica and author of 2021's excellent Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX.In This Episode* When will the US return to the Moon? (1:19)* How SpaceX's Starship will change the game (5:58)* Reusability and launch costs (12:04)* The future of America's space program (15:59)* Is the window for Mars colonization closing? (24:13)Below is an edited transcript of our conversation.When will the US return to the Moon?James Pethokoukis: I think you have one of the best journalism jobs in America. I hope you feel that way too.Eric Berger: I have a fantastic job. I love space, I live and breathe it every day, and I get to write about what I think is really happening out there. It's pretty nice.It's almost like someone who is covering the internet in the late ‘90s, when all of a sudden there's just so much happening. I remember you at year end recounting what happened in 2022, and it was a pretty long list of space achievements.I first got into space more than 15 years ago, and at the time it was really pretty dull — not to downgrade the space shuttle program, but it was kind of dull. They would do six or seven launches a year, go up, work on the International Space Station, come down. Everything pretty much worked like clockwork. There just wasn't a whole lot happening. It's really accelerated and accelerated since then. And you just have so much happening in the United States commercially, abroad. It is just a very vibrant field. And as you say, it feels like we're in the early days of this space flight revolution.When will the United States return to the Moon, and what is going to take us there?We returned to the Moon last year, right? We sent an uncrewed spacecraft, Orion, around the Moon. That really was the first step back to the Moon. And I think probably in about two years from now, we'll send the first crewed mission up there. This was going to be a mission where they fly out to the Moon, loop around, and come back. So it's not like they're going to go to the surface or anything like that. But that will be the first people going into deep space in more than 50 years. And then we're going to have a lunar landing later this decade. I don't really feel comfortable putting a date out there. I think it's probably 2027, 2028 maybe. And most likely, they're going to launch on the Space Launch System rocket built by NASA and its contractors, and go up on Orion, and land on the Moon in a SpaceX Starship.Is there a current official target date?It's 2025, but that's completely unrealistic.What hasn't happened to make a 2025 mission seem highly unlikely to you?The first thing is they have got to do the crewed flight, the Artemis II mission, around the Moon. And we're probably 22 to 24 months away from that happening. They're not going to turn around then and do Artemis III the same year. And then you've got two other really important pieces to put together. SpaceX has to fly its Starship, it has to do a bunch of orbital refueling tests, then it has to actually go and land on the Moon and take off and show that everything's ready ahead of that lunar landing. And the other big piece of this is there's a private company in Houston, Axiom Space, that is building the space suits for Artemis III. These are the suits that will allow the crew to get out on the surface of the Moon, walk around and explore. And this company has never built a space suit before, and they just got the contract last fall. It's going to take time for Artemis II to happen, and everything has to go right there. There's a bunch of planning that has to go on, and then you've got to have the Starship and the space suit pieces come together.Is there a chance that the rocket that ends up taking Americans to the surface will end up being a Starship rocket?There is a chance. But at this point, I would think it's a fairly low one. The fact is, the Space Launch System rocket, which took a decade and billions and billions and billions of dollars to develop, finally did fly in November of last year. And by all accounts, the flight was flawless. It's pretty impressive for the debut launch of this rocket for it to perform as well as it did. I think NASA has pretty high confidence now in that launch vehicle. And it will have more confidence in Orion after the second mission. I do think that, initially, that's how we're going to get to the Moon. I think eventually that will change. It would not surprise me to see astronauts launching on, say, a Crew Dragon and rendezvousing with Starship and going to the Moon that way. Because the fact of the matter is, if you can do that, you don't need to spend the $3 or $4 billion every mission to go to the Moon on an SLS rocket and an Orion. You can do it with SpaceX vehicles for probably one-quarter of the cost.How SpaceX's Starship will change the gameBased on that cost structure that you mentioned, why are we even doing this? Why are we even using a rocket that may never fly again after that Moon mission, Artemis III? It just seems like a lot of wasted money. Why don't we just wait for Starship to get out the kinks, launch, and go that way?That's a great question. The reality is that we built the SLS rocket because in 2010 there were two senators, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Bill Nelson of Florida, who were looking at the end of the space shuttle program and all the jobs in Florida and Texas that were bound up by that and said, “Well, we've got to have a replacement for this.” There were contractors who had been working on the space shuttle program, building the solid rocket boosters, the engines, and the structures and so forth saying, “Hey, we've got to preserve all these jobs.”If you look at the Space Launch System rocket, it uses the same engines as the space shuttle. It uses very similar solid rocket boosters on the sides. And the diameter of that core stage is the same diameter as the external tank of the space shuttle. All of those jobs were essentially rolled from the space shuttle into the Space Launch System rocket. Now, at the time that decision was made, SpaceX had not launched a single Falcon 9 rocket, so I don't think there was the confidence in the private sector then that there is today. The fact of the matter is SLS will continue flying for as long, I think, as Starship is not shown to be a viable vehicle. Once Starship starts flying like the Falcon 9 rocket — which by the way flew 61 times last year — once it starts flying like that, there will be no need for a rocket that costs five or 10 times as much, is not reusable, and can only fly once a year. There'll be no need for that. But 1) it's a political thing. Lots of political support for that program. And 2) as of today, there is no viable alternative, even though we all know one is coming down the line.What is the best estimate of the Starship launch agenda, launch tempo from here on out? Do we have a good idea of what that's going to look like?I'm happy to make predictions with the proviso that they're going to be almost certainly wrong.Duly noted.I do think we're getting closer to the first Starship orbital test flight. This is going to be a big moment. You're going to have a rocket with 33 very powerful Raptor engines taking off from south Texas. That's the first stage. And then the second stage is the Starship upper stage. It's going to go up and go briefly into orbit before it comes back down near Hawaii. That is going to prove that A) the rocket works. And I still think that's kind of a crapshoot because this is a rocket with 33 engines, it's never flown, we haven't seen these Raptor engines in space flight before. It's also very important to get data on bringing Starship back from orbit, if it does make it there. I think we'll see maybe two or three test flights this year. And then next year, maybe half a dozen test flights. And then perhaps in late 2024, 2025, we'll start to see some operational missions carrying Starlink. And also they'll start doing some fueling tests. One of the things that Starship has to do is … it's got enough fuel to get to orbit this massive vehicle — and it can carry like 100 tons to low-Earth orbit, and then it lands back on Earth — but to go anywhere, to go to the Moon, to go to Mars, or what have you, it needs to be refueled. And that's a technology we've never really demonstrated in space: the storage of these cryogenic propellants. Starship runs on liquid oxygen and liquid methane. And we've never shown the ability to store these propellants in space, because you have concerns like boil off. These propellant depots, if they're sitting in the sun, the temperature is much higher than is able to keep them at liquid temperatures. And then you've got to show you can transfer them from one vehicle to another. SpaceX will be doing those tests almost from the beginning of their Starship test program.When I was a full-time journalist, I'm pretty sure that when I would use the word “game changer,” editors would hate that. They would strike that word out. But Starship seems like it would be, if all those “ifs” are solved, it would be kind of a game changer. It's a big rocket.If you think about it, everyone remembers the Saturn V rocket from the Apollo program, this massive launch vehicle. But all that came back to Earth was that tiny little capsule at the top. The first stage, second stage, third stage all fell into the ocean. The capsule came back, but then they were put in museums because they weren't reusable. The goal of Starship is for that whole stack to be reusable. So the first stage comes back, Starship comes back, and then you fly them again at some point. I think we're probably years and years away from those kinds of operations. But if and when SpaceX gets there, it does entirely change the paradigm of spaceflight that we've known since the late 1950s when Sputnik first went to orbit, which is now 65 years ago.It's always been a premium on size — you want small vehicles that can fit on top of rockets in the payload fairings—and mass, because it costs so much to get to low-Earth orbit. If Starship works, it completely or almost completely removes those constraints: You can launch often, and it's got this huge payload fairing that you could fit elephants inside them, you could fit just massive structures inside of this thing. All of a sudden, the problem of scarcity, of getting stuff to orbit, no longer exists. It becomes not about the one thing we can do in orbit, but all the things we can do because it costs so much less to get there. And you can bring much larger structures.Reusability and launch costsRight now when we look at SpaceX, we're looking at partial reusability. What you're talking about is the whole thing: everything you can use more than once.Yeah. Right now with the Falcon 9 rocket, which I would submit is really a modern-day miracle, you're reusing the first stage, which is about 60 percent of the mass of the rocket. You get all those nine engines back, and they're now reflying relining those first stages 15 times. I think they're going to continue to push the limits. They're also getting back the payload fairing, which is that protective structure on top that then falls away once the rocket gets to orbit and the satellite comes out and pops out like a jack-in-the-box. That payload fairing costs like $5 or $6 million. So it's not insubstantial that they're collecting those, refurbishing them, and flying again. What is not reusable right now is the upper stage. It has a single Merlin vacuum engine, and those probably cost $10 to $12 million to manufacture. So that's a significant piece that they have to build. Every time they launch, they have to build a second stage.An SLS launch versus a Starship launch where everything is reusable: Do we have a guess at the difference of each of those launches?The cost difference? The NASA Inspector General has put a cost on a single SLS launch with an Orion spacecraft on, and it said that's $4.1 billion. That is exclusive of development costs, which for those vehicles are now about $40 billion. So if you just say, “Okay, we're going to ignore the fact that we spent all this money,” it's still $4.1 billion to launch one of these a year. Starship, we don't know how much it's going to cost. But if it's made out of stainless steel, and you're getting all those Raptor engines back, and you're flying each vehicle like 10 times or 20 times, the incremental cost of launch is going to be on the order of $100 million or less. So that's a 40x cost difference. Again, once Starship becomes operational. It's probably at least five years away from that point. But that's the future we're headed into. And it is coming. [If] you look at what's happened with the Falcon 9, they will get there. Or get close.We talk a lot about the reusability of these rockets. Does SpaceX also just make them cheaper than competitors? Is that the only factor in the decline in launch costs?Yes, they also have … Musk is pretty cutthroat on costs.I hear.The whole Twitter experiment, right? He runs a tight ship. One of the very important things that SpaceX did, and a lot of the new space companies that have come afterward have tried to emulate, is they very much did vertical integration. And that just means that prior to 2000, the way you built your rocket in this country was, okay, you're United Launch Alliance: You buy your engines from Aerojet, you buy your structures from someone, you buy your software from someone, you buy your payload fairing from RUAG, you buy your upper-stage engine from Aerojet. And then you sort of integrate that all together into your factory after paying a premium for all these different products. And you launch the rocket. You're the operator.SpaceX came along and said, “No, no, we're going to build the engines. We're going to build as much of each of these rockets as we can in-house. And when we need to outsource some components, we will.” And a lot of these other companies that have come since, like Rocket Lab, have tried to do the same. Relativity Space is trying to additively manufacture, so 3D print, its entire rocket inside its factory. And so they've really changed the game. And that vertical integration has allowed them to control costs and move more quickly.The future of America's space programAfter we land on the Moon via an SLS rocket and a SpaceX lander, is the American space program at that point government doing more science-y things and the private sector doing private sector things, whether it's, you know you know, orbiting space platforms. What does the Americas program comprehensively look like after that landing?We don't really know. We're talking about something that's probably about four or five years in the future, and it's very difficult to say where we're headed.I'm very glad, by the way, that you say four or five years in the future, not four or five decades. I like the fact that we keep talking years, single digits.After the success of Artemis I, we are definitively on the way back to the Moon. This is a great time in US space policy. It's healthier than I've ever seen it, I think, in my lifetime or certainly since I've been covering this. The NASA and United States space program has problems, has difficulties, has challenges, but we are on a healthy trajectory, I think. So we can all feel good about that. It's just going to take a little longer than I think any of us would like. But the way NASA has been going, and I don't see this trend changing, is it wants to be a customer and not the customer. It is looking to buy services from companies rather than top-down build processes. The SLS rocket was procured through a cost-plus program where NASA designed the rocket, its engineers were side by side with the contractors at Boeing and elsewhere. And it costs a lot. It takes a long time. And NASA oversees every step of the process, and it's the only customer. No one else wants to fly in the SLS rocket. The military doesn't. Private customers don't because it costs way too much. NASA's science program doesn't want to use it. NASA would rather be a customer. SpaceX launched 60 Falcon 9 rockets last year. NASA bought like six or seven of them, and the rest of them were other customers and SpaceX's Starlink missions. It's buying services, like this spacesuit contract it's giving to Axiom and to another company: It's basically leasing spacesuits. And the lander, it's like buying the landing service on the Moon. It's going to private space stations next decade, and it's buying time on those space stations. It's not going to own those space stations. NASA wants to procure services. NASA would like to see an ecosystem where it is one customer for activity on the Moon alongside maybe the European Space Agency or private companies or Hilton Hotels, I don't know. They sort of want to be one customer in that area. I think the question in my mind is, will there be more entities that want to get involved in human space flight or exploration of the Moon? Or will this be a NASA-led program for a long time, simply because it's so expensive and there's not that much there for people to do beyond collecting rocks and doing science experiments for NASA? And that's the question I don't think we've answered. It may be NASA for a long time, unless you do really get vehicles like Starship or Blue Origin's New Glenn that come along and really do bring down the costs of transportation to and from the Moon.How far behind is Blue Origin?Very far behind. They were founded before SpaceX was, and they still haven't put anyone in orbit. They just move slowly. That's kind of Jeff Bezos' philosophy in space fight. He wants to go very methodically. I don't think their CEO, a guy named Bob Smith, has been particularly dynamic in terms of getting them moving forward quickly. But if they ever do get their act together, they have a large and talented team of engineers. They could really kick some butt in this field. But they're way behind SpaceX in terms of building rockets. The New Glenn rocket probably doesn't launch for at least two years. That's a massive vehicle, but then they're going to have to go through some growing pains. And it's going to take a while. I don't think New Glenn will ever be able to catch up to Starship.I'm interested in there being a permanent Moon base. Would that be operated by NASA? Would that be operated by somebody else?That's a great question. I think NASA would love for Lockheed, or I don't know who, to say, “We are going to build a lunar surface station.” And NASA says, “Great, we want to buy 50 percent of the capacity. And we'll give you $2 billion a year for that service.” The question is whether any private company is going to step up and do something as audacious as that. That's one of the real ways in which SpaceX has changed the game: They have sort of stepped forward with these audacious visions. And then NASA has kind of come in and bought. When SpaceX created Starship, NASA wasn't interested. NASA wasn't a customer. And now, look, they're giving them $3 billion to land on the Moon twice. I think if you had a big enough vision to do that, then you could get NASA to come on board. The problem is, if you're a publicly traded company — it's really hard for a company other than SpaceX or Blue Origin, which have these well-endowed founders — it's really hard to convince your board of directors to go along with something like that.How many space stations will there be in orbit by the end of this decade?It's just all fluid. So the International Space Station comes down in 2030. That's down. China's Space Station is still flying, I think, Tiangong. And Russia is talking about a space station, but I don't think there's any way they have a replacement up by then. So then the question becomes, there are four different companies trying to build commercial space stations for NASA. And again, NASA has given them some money for development, but they're not paying for the stations. They ultimately want to be customers on them. And of those four, one is Blue Origin led by them, one is Nanoracks and Lockheed Martin, another is Axiom Space, and then a fourth is Northrop Grumman. I would put the over-under at one-and-a-half of those. And I think NASA is very happy if one was demonstrative functionable by 2030.The skeptics will say, “Okay, so what are we going to do in those space stations? Some science?” How satisfying is the answer, “We don't know what we're going to do; we have to get there and figure it out — who knew what the internet was going to look like in 1990 versus what it looks like today”?I think you've got to build it and see if people will come. NASA is going to continue to do scientific research, human research, astronauts living in space for long durations. But then you've got to see how much interest there is in sports or filming movies or holidays or from other countries like UAE who want to have their own astronauts up there doing research or from private astronauts. For about two years now, we've had the capability to put astronauts in a low-Earth orbit on private space missions. SpaceX has that capability. There's been some interest, but there hasn't been an overwhelming amount of interest. And so the jury is very much out on commercial potential. And I think the only real way to answer that question is when someone figures out how to make money by having people living and working and doing things in space, then that market explodes. And until that happens, it's very tenuous.Is the window for Mars colonization closing?I am very excited about the notion of going to Mars and humans permanently living on Mars. Is that a 2030s thing? A 2040s, a 2070s thing?The way I would look at it is, that kind of thing is never happening without the private sector, because there is no reason at all, no good reason, for NASA to send people to Mars. The amount of science that can be done by rovers at one-100th the cost without having to worry about safety issues. The rovers can do a lot of science. They can't do it all. There are some things humans can do better and faster, but it's just not worth it to send people there. Maybe if it's like a US-China-Russia-Japan pan-worldwide mission to promote peace and go to Mars. I could see something like that. But there's just no good reason for NASA to send humans to Mars.They will talk about it. They will say, “We're going to the Moon and Mars.” But NASA's not going to Mars before 2050, and probably not by then. So then the question becomes, is SpaceX sincere about going to Mars? Yes. Do they have the wherewithal to work together with NASA to send human missions to Mars? Not right now. But if Starlink, this internet from space, is a successful business — and there are some signs that it will be, and some signs that, no, they have a long way to go — but if that is a success, then the plan is for SpaceX to use that money to help finance Starship and take steps to building some kind of settlement on Mars. And I think if SpaceX can build a credible transportation system to Mars, then NASA comes along for those first couple of missions because there are lots of reasons for them to want to go. And there are lots of reasons for SpaceX to want NASA to go. Most notably, probably, just it clears the regulatory hurdles away for them. If it's going to happen before 2050, it would be a public-private partnership with SpaceX leading the way in terms of the vision.It's sort of amazing how much of this seems to depend on the interest and will of one person: Elon Musk.It's true. If you look at the space industry today, SpaceX dominates it. They launched more rockets than all the other companies in the United States by like a factor of three, two or three. They equaled China in terms of launch output. They're one of three entities in the world that has the capability to put humans into orbit. They operate more satellites than any company or country in the world. They're building the world's largest and most powerful rocket. They are kind of at the forefront of all these areas. And they're the ones pushing and pushing. If you take SpaceX out of the equation, then NASA's Moon program looks an awful lot like Apollo, which was not sustainable. A lot of it does hinge on the success of SpaceX and their ability to push and pull this commercial space flight initiative forward. And hopefully, by lowering the cost of access to space, you can find ways to make money in space, which in turn fuels more commercial space flight activity.Have you watched the TV show For All Mankind?I have, yes.Do you enjoy that television program?Yeah. It's an interesting take on the future that's really well done.I think Elon Musk may have said that at that SpaceX event where they showed that fantastic video, which I've used about 30 times in my newsletter, where he said the window is open but it might not be open forever, to do what we're doing. Do you think he's wrong? Do you think it is permanently open because of the advances, because of declining costs, because of the geopolitical competition from China and from other nations? Is the space window open, and it's going to just stay open?I don't know if it's going to stay open. He's concerned that it won't stay open. And one of the reasons that he would've cited a couple years ago is this era of cheap money ending. And that era of cheap money has ended. This is going to have a profound impact on a lot of the commercial space companies that have started up over the last five to 10 years. A lot of those are not going to survive the next few years. Congress is talking about holding budgets flat, and that probably may impair space flight activity as well. That's one area of, is this funding opportunity window going to be open long enough for it to happen? And he's also worried about existential threats to humanity. Whether any of those really come up in the next five to 10 years or 50 years, I don't know. But we're a little closer to nuclear war than we were 12 months ago.If there's an accident, another Challenger or another Columbia, do you think we're into this enough and there's been enough progress that we'll push forward? Or will we retreat?It's a great question. I think about that a lot because if, God forbid, something happens with the Crew Dragon spacecraft or the Falcon 9 rocket with people on board and NASAs astronauts die, that really would bring out the critics of SpaceX who have been awfully quiet in the last few years. Think about it, the only way we're getting to space right now with people is on the Falcon 9 rocket. And imagine if we'd had these last 10 months or 11 months of tensions with Russian and still had to rely on them to get our people into space. A lot of the critics of SpaceX have kind of shut up because it's clear that they have done such a service for this country.But if they have some major accent, then all those questions come again. He is reckless. Elon self-sabotages himself a lot in that regard. The way he acts on Twitter sometimes is pretty unserious. And officials at the DOD and NASA see that. That would embolden critics to say, “Hey, wait a minute. Why are we giving SpaceX all this money if they're not acting responsibly?” And especially if the accident was caused by some negligent act on SpaceX, trying to move too fast or save money or something like that. I don't think an accident like that will happen. NASA and SpaceX work very diligently to ensure it doesn't happen. But I do think that would be a setback, whether it would be an absolute killer, I don't think so, because I suspect NASA would stand by SpaceX regardless. They're very good about that when their contractors have an accident. NASA sort of stands by them and goes through the accident investigation and so forth. But if you put people's lives at risk, then that may change. It's a great question, and I hope we don't have to find an answer to it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fasterplease.substack.com/subscribe

  On Wednesday's show: A new survey takes a closer look at the race for Harris County Judge. We discuss the findings. Also this hour: Actor Kevin Bacon and his brother, composer Michael Bacon, aka The Bacon Brothers, talk about their music ahead of a performance Sept. 10 at Dosey Doe in The Woodlands. And former U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison reflects on her career and discusses the state of American politics. She's delivering the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Lecture on Ethics and Leadership at the University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs on Sept. 13.

In this special collaboration with Latino USA, Maria and Julio are joined by Sonja Diaz, founding director of the Latino Policy & Politics Institute at UCLA, and Jazmine Ulloa, national politics reporter for the New York Times, to talk about the complexity of Latino voters ahead of the midterm elections. They get into what they are hearing from voters on the ground, and the key races we should be keeping an eye on. ITT Staff Picks: Suzanne Gamboa writes about the “erosion of Latino voter support” for Republicans following the overturn of Roe v. Wade, for NBC Latino. In this piece for The Atlantic, Ronald Brownstein examines whether we're seeing a lasting realignment of Latinos toward the Republican Party. “But what is most striking is that Ms. Flores won by shunning moderates, embracing the far right and wearing her support for Donald J. Trump on her sleeve — more Marjorie Taylor Greene than Kay Bailey Hutchison,” writes Jennifer Medina in this piece for The New York Times.  Photo credit: AP Photo/Eric Gray, File

This week in the studio my co host Chris VanSant and I have a conversation with a man who dedicated 27 years of service to the US Army, more than 21 of those in Special Operations, including 12 years with the Special Missions Units as a Tier 1 Operator. Our guest has spent time with units such as the 3rd Infantry, 101st Airborne, 5th Special Forces, 10th Special Forces, Special Operations Command as a congressional liaison, and even as an Army Congressional Fellow where he advised Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison from the Great State of Texas on military budgets, construction programs, and other military issues. He served in 11 combat rotations between Iraq and Afghanistan. He is the recipient of the Silver ☆ and 6 Bronze Stars. Our guest is not just a warrior though, he is also a renaissance man who holds a bachelors degree in Liberal Arts and a Masters Degree In Legislative Affairs. He is the founder Tier One Trapper and is still Instructing and Consulting as an Independent Contractor.I am so honored to introduce not only this weeks guest but my great co hosts former team member, Jesse Boettcher.

On this episode, we're replaying our recent Public Policy Briefing on the plan to replace the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center and renovate the Cotton Bowl and parts of Fair Park. You'll hear a presentation from Rosa Fleming, Director of the City of Dallas' Convention & Event Services Department; as well as Brian Luallen, CEO of the nonprofit Fair Park First; and Ruben Landa, Assistant Vice President and Texas Business Leader of Communications & Public Involvement for WSP USA. You may download their presentation slides here: https://recouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Kay-Bailey-Hutchison-Convention-Center-Presentation.pdf Register for our August 17 Bank of Texas Speaker Series event with Crescent Real Estate co-founder John Goff here: If you are interested in purchasing a table for FightNight XXXIII: Breaking Ground, email Kristin Urias at kurias@recouncil.com. Subscribe to TRECcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/treccast/id1438048995 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7df4hgNUizIRV35pzXltno Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/55396a83-c374-403d-ab3f-8ad2e7b59861/treccast Have an idea for an episode topic or guest? Email bsanantonio@recouncil.com. Follow TREC on Social Media Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therealestatecouncil Twitter: https://twitter.com/TRECDallas Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trecdallas/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-real-estate-council YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk-GkSGoJOltGV34Yt83GRA

Quick links: ABOUT THE BOOK: Amazon | Book Website ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Hi-Res Headshot | Author LinkedIn SOCIAL LINK: Website www.rebeccacontreras.com; Facebook @RebeccaAnnContreras; Instagram @RebeccaAnnContreras Born into poverty to a drug-addicted mother, Rebecca Contreras had been a “lost girl” for almost two decades when, at age 19, she found herself to be a drop out, welfare-dependent teenage mother. As a high school dropout with substance-abuse and emotional trauma tendencies, she was well on her way to perpetuating the generational cycle of destruction and becoming a statistic lost to the system and her upbringing. Her new book, Lost Girl: From the Hood to the White House to Millionaire Entrepreneur (Boss Media, released Oct 2021), recounts this journey from getting off welfare to advising a sitting U.S. president to eventually founding a thriving 100+ person company, her journey demonstrates that harsh beginnings or past mistakes do not need to define us; rather, we each have the power to forge our own pathways, especially when we have self-determination and the ability to recognize and accept helping hands along the way. Rebecca's transformative journey continued with the marriage of her husband, David, who she met while serving in a gang outreach youth community program in Austin. Rebecca and David have been married for 31+ years and live with their family in the Austin area. Together, she and David founded LaunchPad (LP) in 2008, a nonprofit that focused on serving middle school age inner city youth through a comprehensive after school program for nearly a decade in Northeast Austin. Today LaunchPad has shifted to support other philanthropic causes in the State of Texas and globally that are near and dear to the Contreras' heart. To learn more about LP visit www.launchpadthecenter.org. Rebecca started her government service as a single mom in a “welfare-to-work' program under the iconic Texan Ann Richards. After she completed that program and got her GED, she then went on to work in HR for Kay Bailey Hutchison, and worked her way all the way to being a top leader serving 12 years in the George W. Bush legacy, first in Texas as his director of HR, and then in the White House as a Commissioned Officer on Bush's right hand team supporting the presidential transition and leading the process for staffing over 1,200 positions in boards and commissions across the government, President Bush then appointed her to serve on the Board of WestPoint Military Academy.

Jesse Davis was elected to District 3 in May 2019 and is serving his first term. Prior to his election, Davis served as the inaugural chair of the City's Board of Ethics and as an officer of the Denton County Historical Commission. Davis is a lifelong Denton resident and a proud alum of Denton High School. He earned a B.A. in History and Political Science from the University of North Texas, where he served as Student Body President. After graduating from UNT, Davis served under U.S. Senator Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in her Washington, D.C., office as a senior staff assistant and Assistant Press Secretary. Davis earned his J.D. from Baylor School of Law, and for the past eight years has been an Assistant District Attorney for Denton County. Davis, his wife Diana, and their three children are active volunteers in their church and engaged members of the Denton community. Davis is the outgoing President of the Denton Evening Rotary Club, chair of the North Texas Children's Choir board, and a Boy Scouts of America volunteer.

In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Will Inboden, executive director of the Clements Center, and Jim Golby, senior fellow at the Clements Center, sit down with Amb. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a former U.S. senator and most recently U.S. ambassador to NATO. They discuss NATO’s future, the challenges that confront NATO now, as well as the development of a new strategic concept, likely to be developed and unveiled as part of the upcoming NATO summit in June.

U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison joined The Post to discuss the emerging challenges facing NATO, President Trump’s frequent criticisms of that alliance and the vital role it still plays in upholding democratic values around the globe.

President Trump has announced his intention to pull out 9,500 American troops from Germany. Kay Bailey Hutchison, the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, joins Christiane Amanpour to unpack this latest development in American policy. She reveals that this won’t be happening right away. Judge and President of the International Criminal Court Chile Eboe-Osuji discusses an investigation into whether US forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan and says he hopes the U.S. stop their trend of attacking the ICC. A key base of support in Trump’s corner has always been white, evangelical Christians –  our Michel Martin speaks to a minister from that very group: Rob Schenck. Once part of an aggressive wing of the anti-abortion movement, he talks about rejecting divisive and zealous rhetoric in these already divisive times. And finally, Amos Nachoum, Wildlife Photographer, and Yonatan Nir, co-director, "Picture of His Life", reflect on teaming up on a quest to photograph a polar bar whilst swimming with it. Some much needed visual escapism whilst in lockdown.   

Jesse Davis was elected to District 3 in May 2019 and is serving his first term. Prior to his election, Davis served as the inaugural chair of the City's Board of Ethics and as an officer of the Denton County Historical Commission. Davis is a lifelong Denton resident and a proud alum of Denton High School. He earned a B.A. in History and Political Science from the University of North Texas, where he served as Student Body President. After graduating from UNT, Davis served under U.S. Senator Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in her Washington, D.C., office as a senior staff assistant and Assistant Press Secretary. Davis earned his J.D. from Baylor School of Law, and for the past eight years has been an Assistant District Attorney for Denton County. Davis, his wife Diana, and their three children are active volunteers in their church and engaged members of the Denton community. Davis is the outgoing President of the Denton Evening Rotary Club, chair of the North Texas Children's Choir board, and a Boy Scouts of America volunteer.

Kay Bailey Hutchison, U.S. Ambassador to NATO, joins Christiane Amanpour to discuss the key developments and dramas to come out of the NATO summit in London. Michael Lewis, author of "Fifth Risk" and "The Big Short," digs down into the political crisis unfolding on Capitol Hill, as the House Judiciary Committee hears its fist testimony from four constitutional scholars. He gives his take on the impeachment process so far and the future of the country. Our Hari Sreenivasan sits down with Jonathan Haidt, the social psychologist and co-author of "The Dark Psychology of Social Networks." He serves up solutions for what he calls the "outrage machine," that is spreading anger and toxicity.

Katherine Haley is the senior director of K-12 education programs for The Philanthropy Roundtable.Prior to joining the Roundtable, Katherine spent 13 years working for members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. Most recently, she served for seven years as the chief policy adviser for education, workforce, antipoverty, global health, and other social issues for former Speaker of the House John Boehner. Motivated by the belief that all students deserve access to a great education, Katherine was instrumental in the successful reauthorization of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. She previously served as a policy adviser and legislative assistant for Representative Pete Hoekstra, and a legislative aide for Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.A native of Arizona, Katherine received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Duke University and her master’s degree in government from Johns Hopkins University. She serves on several boards in the Washington, D.C. area, and is actively involved with Opportunity International.Support the show (http://www.faithandlaw.org/donate)

334 Kay Bailey Hutchison Spousal IRA Limit --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker is joined by Mark Sleboda, an international relations and security analyst.Kay Bailey Hutchison, the U.S. envoy to NATO made highly provocative comments today threatening to “take out” Russian missiles that the U.S. believes to be in violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty. Tuesday’s weekly series is False Profits—A Weekly Look at Wall Street and Corporate Capitalism with Daniel Sankey. Financial policy analyst Daniel Sankey joins the show. Amazon announced today that it will raise its wages for all US employees to $15 an hour, starting November 1. The company has been under increasing pressure from the labor movement and other progressive activists to improve conditions for workers, and its CEO Jeff Bezos is rumored to have political ambitions. Brian speaks with Neal Sweeney, he is the Vice President of UAW Local 5810, the union representing post-doctoral researchers in the University of California system. As the intense battle over the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh continues, women and survivors across the country are flooding sexual assault headlines, tweeting about their experiences, and publicly outing their assaulters. We’ll talk about the effect the hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh have had on sexual assault survivors. Danielle Norwood, a reproductive rights activist and a therapist specializing in treating adult and adolescent survivors of trauma, joins the show. Protests are continuing today in Argentina against the austerity measures imposed by the government of right-wing president Mauricio Macri. Macri’s government has turned to the IMF to deal with the country’s economic crisis, an institution that is deeply unpopular in the country. Ambassador Cecilia Nahón, the former Argentinian ambassador to the US and a professor at American University who served as Argentina’s Secretary of International Economic Relations and has a Ph.D focusing on external financing and economic development, joins Brian. Four white supremacists are facing federal charges from events surrounding the August 12, 2017 Unite the Right rally, where anti-racist protester Heather Heyer was run down and murdered, and the torchlight march held the day before at the University of Virginia. They are being charged with inciting a riot targeting anti-racist protesters. Tiernan Low, an organizer in Charlottesville who is involved in the movement against fascism and white supremacy, joins the show.Huge crowds took to the streets in Catalonia yesterday to mark the one year anniversary of the independence referendum that was brutally repressed by the Spanish central government. Yet again, there was intense repression of civil disobedience actions held by pro-independence activists. Brian speaks with Dick Nichols, the correspondent for Spain and Catalonia for Green Left Weekly.

Clive Bundy's mooching off the gubmint again. Guess who's suing to keep Libertarians off the ballot in Illinois? A chalkboard vote on the most jaw dropping lie of the week. Also, our congressman sends us a curious postcard, and Kay Bailey Hutchison decides RON Christie should be promoted? Science Fiction University is all about los gatos! More at ProfessionalLeft.blogspot.com.Support the show (https://www.paypal.me/proleftpodcast)

Kay Bailey Hutchison appears at the 2013 Library of Congress National Book Festival, Sep. 21, 2013. Speaker Biography: Former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison served in Congress's upper chamber from 1993 to 2013, representing her home state of Texas. She was the fifth-most senior woman senator when she left office. Hutchison most recently was on the Appropriations; Commerce, Science and Transportation; Veterans' Affairs; and Rules and Administration committees. The former Texas treasurer (1991-93) is also an author, and her books include "American Heroines: Female Role Models in America" and "Leading Ladies." She has turned to her birthplace for her latest book, "Unflinching Courage: Pioneering Women Who Shaped Texas." For transcript, captions, and more information, visit http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=6138

Texas Politics Speaker Series Presents: Kay Bailey Hutchison, Texas State Senator, announces her Gubernatorial Campaign Launch at UT Austin