Podcasts about university professors

In this explosive and highly anticipated episode, Dr. Roger McFillin hosts Dr. Ragy Girgis, a Columbia University Professor of Psychiatry and researcher, for a no-holds-barred confrontation that exposes the shocking divisions tearing apart the mental health field. What begins as a conversation about mass violence research rapidly explodes into a devastating examination of psychiatric medicine's crumbling foundations, questionable effectiveness, and devastating potential harms. The two clash in fierce, unrelenting disagreements over fundamental issues including the validity of DSM diagnoses, the debunked "chemical imbalance" theory of depression, dangerous SSRI safety cover-ups and black box warnings, corrupted research quality and pharmaceutical industry manipulation, and the catastrophic crisis of psychiatric drug overprescription poisoning 1 in 4-5 Americans. Dr. Girgis desperately defends traditional academic psychiatry and current treatment approaches, while Dr. McFillin ruthlessly dismantles the entire paradigm, arguing that the current system is systematically creating chronic mental illness rather than healing it. Buckle up for this brutal intellectual warfare.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Throughout the interview, Dr. Girgis repeatedly stated that "the data is clear" while dismissing contradictory evidence that challenges his conclusions. For our listeners' benefit, I have compiled research and documentation that directly disputes several of Dr. Girgis's key claims.Serotonin Hypothesis of Depression1. The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic umbrella review of the evidence (Moncrieff et al.)Conclusions: "This review suggests that the huge research effort based on the serotonin hypothesis has NOT produced convincing evidence of a biochemical basis to depression. This is consistent with research on many other biological markers . We suggest it is time to acknowledge that the serotonin theory of depression is NOT empirically substantiated."2.What has serotonin to do with depression?Conclusions: "Simple biochemical theories that link low levels of serotonin with depressed mood are no longer tenable."3. Is the chemical imbalance an ‘urban legend'? An exploration of the status of the serotonin theory of depression in the scientific literatureViolence & Suicide Associated with SSRI's 1. Precursors to suicidality and violence on antidepressants: systematic review of trials in adult healthy volunteers2. Prescription Drugs Associated with Reports of Violence Towards Others3. Antidepressant-induced akathisia-related homicides associated with diminishing mutations in metabolizing genes of the CYP450 family4. Lexapro Approved for Pediatric Use Despite the 6-Fold Increase in Suicide Risk5. McFillin Substack Review on Lexapro approved despite Suicide Risk6. Suicidality and aggression during antidepressant treatment: systematic review and meta-analyses based on clinical study reports7. Antidepressants Increase Suicide Attempts in Youth; No Preventative Effect8. Effect of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment following diagnosis of depression on suicidal behaviour risk:9.  FDA Warning: Antidepressants increase the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior (suicidality) in children and adolescents10.  Suicide Mortality in the United States, 2001–2021 CDC documentation11. US suicide rate reaches highest point in more than 80 years: See what latest data shows12.  CNN article reporting Eli Lilly Internal Documents"An internal document purportedly from Eli Lilly and Co. made public Monday appears to show that the drug maker had data more than 15 years ago showing that patients on its antidepressant Prozac were far more likely to attempt suicide and show hostility than were patients on other antidepressants and that the company attempted to minimize public awareness of the side effects. The 1988 document indicated that 3.7 percent of patients attempted suicide while on the blockbuster drug, a rate more than 12 times that cited for any of four other commonly used antidepressants.In addition, the paper said that 1.6 percent of patients reported incidents of hostility -- more than double the rate reported by patients on any of four other commonly used antidepressants."Examples of Violence after Prescription in legal system (Sample)January 24, 2020 – Newcastle, South Dublin, Ireland: Deirdre Morley, 44, smothered and killed her two sons Conor, 9, and Darragh, 7, and her three-year-old daughter Carla McGinley in their family home. She had been taking antidepressants since October 2018 and was admitted to St. Patrick's Mental Health Services on July 6, 2019, but was discharged after a short period, but was put on a combination of two antidepressants and a sedativeMay 11, 2018 – Osmington, Western Australia: Peter Miles, 61, shot his 35-year-old daughter and four grandchildren, aged 8 through 13, while they slept in their beds, in a shed that had been converted to a second house on the property. He then turned the gun on his 58-year-old wife in the living room of their house, before placing a call to police alerting them to his crimes. When they arrived, Miles was also found dead from a gunshot wound. Miles had started taking antidepressant medication just weeks before.April 6, 2018 – Wadsworth, Ohio: Gavon Ramsay, 17, strangled his neighbor, 98-year-old Margaret Douglas in her own home. His parents blame his actions on his having been misprescribed Zoloft. After a report by his school principal that the teen was depressed and might harm himself, he “returned to therapy,” and after a recommendation by a psychologist, the family's pediatrician prescribed the antidepressant Zoloft. From January through March leading up to the incident, the dosages were increased. During this time, his mother said she observed her son's behavior change—becoming increasingly irritable and hostile and saying bizarre things.October 21, 2013 – Sparks, Nevada: 12-year-old Jose Reyes opened fire at Sparks Middle School, killing a teacher and wounding two classmates be...

A Otago University professor says extinction is forever and the moa isn't coming back. A US genetic engineering project with backing from Peter Jackson claims it might restore the extinct South Island moa to New Zealand within a decade. But zoology professor Philip Seddon says he's questioning the researchers' goal and whether it's even possible. "Its genetics will be different, its physiology will be different, its behaviour will be different. There's a lot of question marks about whether a GMO version of a moa is actually going to be useful at all." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Community News and Interviews for the Catskills & Northeast Pennsylvania

Brown University Political Science Professor Wendy Schiller joins Gene to discuss the latest on the 2026 Rhode Island Governors race, the latest on Trumps winning streak and what happened with the Jeffrey Epstein list. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This Day in Legal History: Newlands ResolutionOn July 7, 1898, President William McKinley signed the Newlands Resolution, formally annexing the Hawaiian Islands into the United States. Unlike traditional territorial expansion through treaties, this annexation occurred via a joint resolution of Congress—an unusual and legally contested mechanism. The resolution was named after Representative Francis Newlands of Nevada and passed by a narrow margin, reflecting deep divisions over imperialism, expansion, and national identity. Supporters argued that annexing Hawaii would bolster American strategic and economic interests, particularly as the U.S. was engaged in the Spanish-American War and needed a naval base in the Pacific.The legality of annexation by joint resolution, as opposed to treaty ratification requiring a two-thirds Senate majority, sparked constitutional debate. Critics contended that this method sidestepped constitutional checks and amounted to imperial overreach. Native Hawaiians had overwhelmingly opposed annexation, as demonstrated in the Kūʻē Petitions signed by over 20,000 islanders. The resolution disregarded this opposition, cementing a colonial dynamic that would echo in future U.S. territorial acquisitions.The annexation also laid the groundwork for the eventual formation of the Territory of Hawaii in 1900 and its statehood in 1959, though not without continued controversy and calls for sovereignty. Legally, the Newlands Resolution exemplified the flexibility—and limits—of congressional authority in foreign affairs and territorial governance. It also introduced enduring questions about consent, self-determination, and the legitimacy of U.S. expansionism under constitutional law.This event highlights how domestic legal processes were used to justify international actions, revealing tensions between democratic ideals and imperial ambitions.A rare trial is beginning in Boston over a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's policy of deporting international students and faculty involved in pro-Palestinian activism. The case was brought by academic groups including the American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association. It centers on actions taken after Trump signed executive orders targeting non-citizens with so-called "hateful ideology" and promising to fight antisemitism. Plaintiffs allege that these directives led the State and Homeland Security Departments to revoke visas and detain students like Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil and Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk, both of whom were targeted after expressing pro-Palestinian views.Unlike most Trump-era immigration cases, this one is proceeding to a full trial rather than being decided early by a judge. U.S. District Judge William Young emphasized that a trial is the best path to uncover the truth. Plaintiffs argue the policy violates the First Amendment, accusing the administration of suppressing political dissent on college campuses. The administration denies a deportation policy exists, claiming decisions are made based on security concerns, not ideology. Homeland Security officials insist the U.S. won't tolerate advocacy that they perceive as violent or anti-American.The trial outcome could shape how immigration authorities interpret and apply free speech protections to non-citizens in academic settings. It's only the second Trump-era policy case to reach trial under Judge Young, who has publicly criticized the judiciary for avoiding fact-finding through trials.Rare trial to begin in challenge to Trump-backed deportations of pro-Palestinian campus activists | ReutersApple has formally appealed a €500 million ($587 million) fine imposed by the European Commission for allegedly violating the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The Commission found that Apple restricted app developers from directing users to more affordable options outside its App Store, which regulators said limited competition and consumer choice. Apple filed its lawsuit at Europe's second-highest court on the last day allowed for appeal, arguing that the fine is excessive and that the EU is overreaching by trying to dictate how it operates its App Store.The company claims it altered its policies to comply with the DMA and to avoid further daily fines, which could amount to €50 million per day. Apple also contends that the Commission's demands are both confusing for developers and harmful to users. Despite the changes, EU regulators are still reviewing the company's new terms and have solicited feedback from app developers before deciding if additional enforcement is needed.The case is part of broader efforts by the EU to rein in the influence of major tech companies and ensure fair digital market practices under the newly implemented DMA.Apple takes fight against $587 million EU antitrust fine to court | ReutersMaryland Legal Aid (MDLA), a critical legal support system for low-income individuals, especially women and domestic violence survivors, is facing a potential funding crisis due to the Trump administration's 2026 budget proposal. The proposal includes $21 million to close out the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), which provides federal funding to 130 nonprofit legal aid programs across the country, including MDLA. This move would eliminate a key source of support for clients like a Moroccan immigrant mother in Baltimore, who received urgent legal help from MDLA while still hospitalized from domestic abuse.LSC-funded services assist people earning at or below 125% of the federal poverty line, a group that includes a significant portion of Baltimore residents, where one in five people live in poverty. MDLA, the largest legal aid provider in the state, operates 12 offices and assists hundreds of clients each week with issues like eviction defense, expungement, and protection from abuse. Despite receiving only 14% of its funding from LSC, losing this support would result in fewer clients being served at a time when demand is growing.Staff at MDLA describe their work as essential, often likening their intake offices to emergency rooms. Without legal aid, tenants and abuse victims often face court alone, without understanding their rights. Advocates say that legal aid services prevent homelessness, violence, and broader social harm. While similar efforts to cut LSC funding have failed in the past, the current budget process will determine if the latest proposal gains traction.Legal Aid That Helped Abuse Victim Threatened with Trump Cuts This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

Michael Silverman is the President & CEO of Silver Lining Insurance Agency, Inc. in New York, where he serves as a committed advisor helping clients make educated choices on what product or service best suits their wants and needs. Growing up in New Jersey as the grandson and son of an Independent Agency Owner, Michael learned the value of community collaboration and partnerships early as a young entrepreneur reselling donuts to long gas lines in the seventies to earn enough dollars for his own treats. Over the past 30+ years, he has earned a reputation for his industry knowledge and expertise, his commitment to his clients, and his overall passion for his life's work. As a business leader in the tri-state NY area, he has even served as Mayor for a small town, demonstrating his dedication to community service. His goal is simple: to protect what people value most. A journey of legacy, learning, and the skill of salesmanship is fully manifested...All because he found the most underrated industry in business today!Website: Silver Lining Insurance AgencyLinkedIn: Michael Silverman on LinkedInFacebook: Silver Lining Insurance on FacebookAbout You Should Get A LicenseYSGAL Podcast is the number #1 source for anyone looking to learn about or join the most underrated opportunity in business today...a career in the Insurance industry. Get educated, motivated, and inspired for your journey, as you learn How and Why..."You Should Get A License"Get the Book: 'You Should Get A License' ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://a.co/d/cgjRqNT⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Host Social Media: IG: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/ysgetalicense/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tik Tok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@ysgetalicense⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/78299851 Rod's Social Media IG: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/therodpowell/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarrard-a-rod-powell-sr-86801616/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠About me: Greetings! My name is Rod Powell. I'm an insurance and financial services professional and Author, and University Professor based in the DMV. I'm multi-state licensed in Life & Health and Virginia licensedin Property & Casualty Insurance, a Chartered Life Underwriter, Registered Employee Benefits Consultant, and a Commercial Lines Coverage Specialist. This channel is not for me to offer my services directly, but to educate you oncareers in the industry that has allowed me to bring a ton of value to others and has been very good to me as well. Hope you enjoy and heard something that makes you think..."You Should Get A License"

Iwi-owned entities have emerged in good shape following the country's economic downturn. ANZ's annual Te Tirohanga Whanui report reveals iwi surveyed saw asset values grow a median 4.1% in the 2023-2024 year. Auckland University Professor of Māori Management Jason Mika told Andrew Dickens iwi have focused on being prudent when it comes to treaty settlements. He says they only get one shot, so they're doing all they can to be careful while also being innovative with how they manage these assets. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Avodah Zara 18 – Sunday – 10 TammuzBy Rabbi Dr. Jacob J. Schacter, University Professor of Jewish History and Jewish Thought, Yeshiva Universityעבודה זרה דף יח, דף יומי

There are now 364 days to go until the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, a historic document that remains relevant as we approach the semiquincentennial. Eight days have passed since the executive branch of the federal government demanded the resignation of University of Virginia President Jim Ryan. There's a lot happening, and Charlottesville Community Engagement is intended to document as much as possible. I'm Sean Tubbs.In this edition:* Five people were shot in the city's Fifeville neighborhood late Friday night including two children* A Charlottesville Circuit Court judge has thrown the city's zoning ordinance out after a legal deadline was not met (learn more) (learn even more)* President Jim Ryan has resigned from the University of Virginia and the path is known for his replacement (learn more) (learn even more)* Former Attorney Ken Cuccinelli continues to serve on the UVA Board of Visitors despite his confirmation being rejected by a Virginia Senate committee, prompting a legal case* Seventy-four new Americans were sworn in as citizens on the morning of July 4 at Monticello (not yet in print)* Hundreds of people were on hand for a protest at UVA just a few hours later to demand steps to prevent the public institution from more federal interference (not yet in print)* Greene Supervisors vote to move forward with smaller water supply (learn more)Thanks for reading Charlottesville Community Engagement ! This post is public so feel free to share it.A note before we beginThis edition should have gone out yesterday as soon as I finished the version for WTJU, but I chose to attend a social event instead. I'm glad I went but do wish I had stayed to complete the work.You will also note that this edition has written versions for three stories including the one about the shooting. I didn't have a lot of audio to work with this week, and I wanted to document in audio the zoning code and the Ryan resignation. The headlines are sparse because those are slugs. The protest story and the naturalization story will be posted to Information Charlottesville before going out in Monday's newsletter.No written shout-outs in this one because I want to get this posted, but I'm going to be experimenting as I go.Five people shot in Fifeville Friday nightAn Independence Day celebration in Fifeville turned tragic late Friday night when gunfire erupted, sending five people to the hospital including three children.A series of firework displays had begun after dark across the neighborhood causing many people to be outside to see and hear the explosions.According to an information release from Charlottesville Police Department, officers responded to multiple calls of a shooting on Orangedale around 11:23 p.m. The first officers arrived a couple of minutes later and found five people who had been shot.The victims were a 10-year-old girl, an 11-year-old boy, a 17-year-old male, an 18-year-old female, and a 52-year-old male.“Due to heavy foot and vehicle traffic, emergency medical units were initially unable to access the scene,” reads the release. “Officers and medics worked together to transport the victims on foot and in patrol vehicles, applying pressure to their wounds until additional EMS personnel arrived.”Everyone shot was reported to be in stable condition as of the release sent out at 11:13 a.m. this morning. The Criminal Investigations Division and Forensics Unit are investigating and police want to see video footage.The Fifeville Neighborhood Association is holding a community gathering at 6 p.m. at Abundant Life at 782 Prospect Avenue.Copy for UVA RYAN:Facing pressure from the United States Department of Justice, University of Virginia President Jim Ryan resigned from his position on June 27.The Cavalier Daily reports that the Civil Rights Division under the control of President Donald Trump sent seven letters to UVA between April 11 and June 17 insisting that not enough had been done to demonstrate that programs to encourage and promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion had not been sufficiently dismantled.In a statement, Ryan said he did not want to put federal grant funding at risk to save his job, a job he planned to leave in 2026. So he resigned and Executive Vice President J.J. Davis will serve as acting president.Many groups have condemned the pressure from the federal government including the Faculty Senate. The Virginia Conference of the American Association of University Professors sent a letter on June 30.Later on in the program we'll have audio from a protest held at the University Avenue side of the Rotunda on July 4.The Board of Visitors had been scheduled to meet on July 1 for a personnel matter but canceled the virtual event before it began. The claim is that the meeting wasn't needed, but on that same day former Rector Robert Hardie was served with a lawsuit arguing that one of the members of the Board of Visitors continued to sit in the position unlawfully.On June 9, the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee failed to confirm Ken Cuccinelli for the seat. Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares advised Hardie and others to ignore that out of a claim that the entire General Assembly had not taken a vote. Members of the committee have sued in Fairfax County Court and are seeking an injunction.More from that protest in a moment.DEVELOPMENT CODE copyNearly five years ago, the City of Charlottesville embarked on a process called Cville Plans Together which sought to update the city's housing policies, the Comprehensive Plan, and the zoning code. The general idea was to increase development rights across the entire city and to remove City Council from many of the decisions about density and height.City Council voted unanimously on December 18, 2023 to enact the code, and a group of property owners who disagreed with the blanket approach filed suit in Charlottesville Circuit Court asking for the new rules to be declared voided ab initio, a Latin term meaning “from the beginning.”The plaintiffs in White v. Charlottesville survived an attempt by the city to have Circuit Court Claude Worrell dismiss the case. In April of this year, Judge Worrell ruled that the case would proceed to trial and a date was set for June 2026.However, attorneys for the plaintiffs noticed that the outside counsel for the city, Gentry Locke, failed to respond to a directive to submit a particular document. On June 2, they filed for default judgement and the next day the city's attorneys filed for permission to file late.In a hearing in Charlottesville Circuit Court on June 30, Judge Worrell sided with the plaintiffs and expressed lament that the case would not go to trial.“There are things in this case I thought might be useful about what zoning is and what zoning isn't,” Worrell said. “It would have been interesting.”The next day, the city's Department of Neighborhood Development Services sent a note to the development community.“Pursuant to the order issued by the Honorable Judge Worrell of the Charlottesville Circuit Court on June 30, 2025, the City of Charlottesville is currently reviewing all zoning and development applications on file to assess appropriate next steps,” reads the email.The next day, Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders called the default judgement “terribly disappointing.” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

A History of the Muslim World: From Its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity (Princeton UP, 2024) by Michael A. Cook This book describes and explains the major events, personalities, conflicts, and convergences that have shaped the history of the Muslim world. The body of the book takes readers from the origins of Islam to the eve of the nineteenth century, and an epilogue continues the story to the present day. Michael Cook thus provides a broad history of a civilization remarkable for both its unity and diversity.After setting the scene in the Middle East of late antiquity, the book depicts the rise of Islam as one of the great black swan events of history. It continues with the spectacular rise of the Caliphate, an empire that by the time it broke up had nurtured the formation of a new civilization. It then goes on to cover the diverse histories of all the major regions of the Muslim world, providing a wide-ranging account of the key military, political, and cultural developments that accompanied the eastward and westward spread of Islam from the Middle East to the shores of the Atlantic and the Pacific.At the same time, A History of the Muslim World contains numerous primary-source quotations that expose the reader to a variety of acutely insightful voices from the Muslim past. Michael Cook is the Class of 1943 University Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. His books include Ancient Religions, Modern Politics: The Islamic Case in Comparative Perspective (Princeton), A Brief History of the Human Race, and The Koran: A Very Short Introduction. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/a48266/videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

A History of the Muslim World: From Its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity (Princeton UP, 2024) by Michael A. Cook This book describes and explains the major events, personalities, conflicts, and convergences that have shaped the history of the Muslim world. The body of the book takes readers from the origins of Islam to the eve of the nineteenth century, and an epilogue continues the story to the present day. Michael Cook thus provides a broad history of a civilization remarkable for both its unity and diversity.After setting the scene in the Middle East of late antiquity, the book depicts the rise of Islam as one of the great black swan events of history. It continues with the spectacular rise of the Caliphate, an empire that by the time it broke up had nurtured the formation of a new civilization. It then goes on to cover the diverse histories of all the major regions of the Muslim world, providing a wide-ranging account of the key military, political, and cultural developments that accompanied the eastward and westward spread of Islam from the Middle East to the shores of the Atlantic and the Pacific.At the same time, A History of the Muslim World contains numerous primary-source quotations that expose the reader to a variety of acutely insightful voices from the Muslim past. Michael Cook is the Class of 1943 University Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. His books include Ancient Religions, Modern Politics: The Islamic Case in Comparative Perspective (Princeton), A Brief History of the Human Race, and The Koran: A Very Short Introduction. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/a48266/videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/islamic-studies

A History of the Muslim World: From Its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity (Princeton UP, 2024) by Michael A. Cook This book describes and explains the major events, personalities, conflicts, and convergences that have shaped the history of the Muslim world. The body of the book takes readers from the origins of Islam to the eve of the nineteenth century, and an epilogue continues the story to the present day. Michael Cook thus provides a broad history of a civilization remarkable for both its unity and diversity.After setting the scene in the Middle East of late antiquity, the book depicts the rise of Islam as one of the great black swan events of history. It continues with the spectacular rise of the Caliphate, an empire that by the time it broke up had nurtured the formation of a new civilization. It then goes on to cover the diverse histories of all the major regions of the Muslim world, providing a wide-ranging account of the key military, political, and cultural developments that accompanied the eastward and westward spread of Islam from the Middle East to the shores of the Atlantic and the Pacific.At the same time, A History of the Muslim World contains numerous primary-source quotations that expose the reader to a variety of acutely insightful voices from the Muslim past. Michael Cook is the Class of 1943 University Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. His books include Ancient Religions, Modern Politics: The Islamic Case in Comparative Perspective (Princeton), A Brief History of the Human Race, and The Koran: A Very Short Introduction. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/a48266/videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies

A History of the Muslim World: From Its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity (Princeton UP, 2024) by Michael A. Cook This book describes and explains the major events, personalities, conflicts, and convergences that have shaped the history of the Muslim world. The body of the book takes readers from the origins of Islam to the eve of the nineteenth century, and an epilogue continues the story to the present day. Michael Cook thus provides a broad history of a civilization remarkable for both its unity and diversity.After setting the scene in the Middle East of late antiquity, the book depicts the rise of Islam as one of the great black swan events of history. It continues with the spectacular rise of the Caliphate, an empire that by the time it broke up had nurtured the formation of a new civilization. It then goes on to cover the diverse histories of all the major regions of the Muslim world, providing a wide-ranging account of the key military, political, and cultural developments that accompanied the eastward and westward spread of Islam from the Middle East to the shores of the Atlantic and the Pacific.At the same time, A History of the Muslim World contains numerous primary-source quotations that expose the reader to a variety of acutely insightful voices from the Muslim past. Michael Cook is the Class of 1943 University Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. His books include Ancient Religions, Modern Politics: The Islamic Case in Comparative Perspective (Princeton), A Brief History of the Human Race, and The Koran: A Very Short Introduction. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/a48266/videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

A History of the Muslim World: From Its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity (Princeton UP, 2024) by Michael A. Cook This book describes and explains the major events, personalities, conflicts, and convergences that have shaped the history of the Muslim world. The body of the book takes readers from the origins of Islam to the eve of the nineteenth century, and an epilogue continues the story to the present day. Michael Cook thus provides a broad history of a civilization remarkable for both its unity and diversity.After setting the scene in the Middle East of late antiquity, the book depicts the rise of Islam as one of the great black swan events of history. It continues with the spectacular rise of the Caliphate, an empire that by the time it broke up had nurtured the formation of a new civilization. It then goes on to cover the diverse histories of all the major regions of the Muslim world, providing a wide-ranging account of the key military, political, and cultural developments that accompanied the eastward and westward spread of Islam from the Middle East to the shores of the Atlantic and the Pacific.At the same time, A History of the Muslim World contains numerous primary-source quotations that expose the reader to a variety of acutely insightful voices from the Muslim past. Michael Cook is the Class of 1943 University Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. His books include Ancient Religions, Modern Politics: The Islamic Case in Comparative Perspective (Princeton), A Brief History of the Human Race, and The Koran: A Very Short Introduction. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/a48266/videos

A History of the Muslim World: From Its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity (Princeton UP, 2024) by Michael A. Cook This book describes and explains the major events, personalities, conflicts, and convergences that have shaped the history of the Muslim world. The body of the book takes readers from the origins of Islam to the eve of the nineteenth century, and an epilogue continues the story to the present day. Michael Cook thus provides a broad history of a civilization remarkable for both its unity and diversity.After setting the scene in the Middle East of late antiquity, the book depicts the rise of Islam as one of the great black swan events of history. It continues with the spectacular rise of the Caliphate, an empire that by the time it broke up had nurtured the formation of a new civilization. It then goes on to cover the diverse histories of all the major regions of the Muslim world, providing a wide-ranging account of the key military, political, and cultural developments that accompanied the eastward and westward spread of Islam from the Middle East to the shores of the Atlantic and the Pacific.At the same time, A History of the Muslim World contains numerous primary-source quotations that expose the reader to a variety of acutely insightful voices from the Muslim past. Michael Cook is the Class of 1943 University Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. His books include Ancient Religions, Modern Politics: The Islamic Case in Comparative Perspective (Princeton), A Brief History of the Human Race, and The Koran: A Very Short Introduction. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/a48266/videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/book-of-the-day

On 4 June 2025, Gayatri C. Spivak delivered the Holberg Lecture: "Imperatives to Re-imagine the Future" at the University Aula in Bergen. An imperative is an urgent command, generally brought about by external circumstances. Today, natural violence creates an imperative to develop a planetary view of the future. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak was awarded the 2025 Holberg Prize for her groundbreaking work in the fields of literary theory and philosophy. Spivak is University Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University.

There's expectations weight-loss drug Wegovy will eventually be funded publicly, according to experts. It's become available from pharmacies under prescription - from today. It's not funded by Pharmac, and costs about $500 dollars per month. Auckland University population nutrition professor, Boyd Swinburn, says that is unaffordable for the public purse. "When the first generation of these drugs come off patent, their price will drop enormously and that will give Pharmac a chance to really negotiate the price." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Zohran Mamdani has been declared the winner of the NYC Democratic mayoral primary. Ranked choice votes were counted today and showed that, all in all, Mamdani beat former governor Andrew Cuomo by twelve percentage points. WFUV's Adithi Vimalanathan reports. The Senate has passed President Trump's “Big Beautiful Bill” with a tie breaking vote from Vice President JD Vance. The bill includes tax breaks. It also has spending cuts to programs like Medicaid and SNAP benefits. Two new public art pieces were revealed on Fordham Road this week. WFUV's Livia Regina takes us to the unveiling. One Fordham University chemistry professor is helping reimagine how artificial intelligence could shape the future of scientific discovery. WFUV's Jay Doherty speaks with Dr. Joshua Schrier to learn more about his fascinating new research. News Host and Producer: Lainey Nguyen Editor: Tess Novotny Theme Music: Joe Bergsieker

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To strike or not to strike. The US President has had talks with officials on joining Israel's attacks on Iranian nuclear sites. Since the initial attack on Friday, strikes have killed at least 224 Iranians and 24 Israelis. Otago University International Relations Professor Robert Patman says the split in Trump's supporter base will make things difficult. Patman says many MAGA supporters want to stay out of foreign wars. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  One of the more remarkable facts about some of the policies that state and federal lawmakers adopt for public benefit programs these days is that they're based not on facts or data, or the money and lives saved, but on gut feelings about the worthiness of the people who would be helped. Nowhere is […]

Wisconsin’s unemployment insurance program provides financial assistance to those who have lost their job through no fault of their own. Under state law, certain nonprofit organizations can opt out of the program, including those operated primarily for religious purposes. Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Superior—a religious ministry that serves people with disabilities, the elderly, and the impoverished—requested an exemption from the state’s program so that it could enroll in the Wisconsin Bishops’ Church Unemployment Pay Program (CUPP), which provides the same level of unemployment benefits.Last year, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Catholic Charities could not receive an exemption because its charitable work was not “typical” religious activity. The court said that Catholic Charities could only qualify for an exemption if, for example, it limited its hiring to Catholics and tried to convert those it served. On June 5th, 2025, the United States Supreme Court unanimously reversed the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s ruling, holding it was a violation of the First Amendment to withhold a tax exemption on the grounds that they were not “operated primarily for religious purposes” because the organization did not proselytize or limit services to only fellow Catholics. Join us for an expert analysis of the decision and its implications.Featuring:Eric Rassbach, Vice President and Senior Counsel, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberties(Moderator) Prof. Michael P. Moreland, University Professor of Law and Religion and Director of the Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law

Meet Dwight Geddes, founder of Metro Claims & Risk Mgmt and The Geddes Mgmt Group in Floral Park, New York. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Dwight originally wanted to be a firefighter and studied pre-law in college before "falling into insurance" over 25 years ago.Today, his company handles claims and catastrophic events nationwide. As Co-Dean of CLM Claims College and national board member of the National African American Insurance Association, Dwight is a certified mediator, expert witness, and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitrator who's published extensively on fraud, risk management, and diversity, equity & inclusion topics.A true thought leader, he is passionate about recruiting people of color into the insurance industry. Dwight advocates for active recruitment and mentorship, noting that many talented professionals leave due to lack of representation in senior leadership... All because he found the most underrated industry in business today!Website: Geddes Management GroupWebsite: Metro Claims and Risk ManagementLinkedIn: Dwight on LinkedInInstagram: Geddes on IGAbout You Should Get A LicenseYSGAL Podcast is the number #1 source for anyone looking to learn about or join the most underrated opportunity in business today...a career in the Insurance industry. Get educated, motivated, and inspired for your journey, as you learn How and Why..."You Should Get A License"Get the Book: 'You Should Get A License' ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://a.co/d/cgjRqNT⁠⁠⁠⁠Host Social Media: IG: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/ysgetalicense/⁠⁠⁠⁠Tik Tok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@ysgetalicense⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/78299851 Rod's Social Media IG: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/therodpowell/⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarrard-a-rod-powell-sr-86801616/⁠⁠⁠⁠About me: Greetings! My name is Rod Powell. I'm an insurance and financial services professional and Author, and University Professor based in the DMV. I'm multi-state licensed in Life & Health and Virginia licensedin Property & Casualty Insurance, a Chartered Life Underwriter, Registered Employee Benefits Consultant, and a Commercial Lines Coverage Specialist. This channel is not for me to offer my services directly, but to educate you oncareers in the industry that has allowed me to bring a ton of value to others and has been very good to me as well. Hope you enjoy and heard something that makes you think..."You Should Get A License"

For 19 years, Dr. Andrea Martin was a professor at Worcester University in Massachusetts, where she taught many classes, including several on UFO disclosure.  She began having extraterrestrial contact experiences between the ages of 2 and 3, and realized she was a walk-in from the Pleiades. Between the ages of 5-8, she was subjected to Military Abductions (MILABs) where attempts were made by the Raytheon corporation to study and weaponize her telepathic abilities. As a teenager, Dr. Martin was subjected to trauma-based mind control and memory wipes at various military facilities in Massachusetts, and also abused on antigravity military craft where she had been taken.She claims to be in telepathic contact with her extraterrestrial husband from the Pleiades, Eeka, who is part of an extraterrestrial contingent associated with the Galactic Federation of Worlds currently working with the USAF. Dr. Martin says that he meets with her by projecting his astral body to her home, as it is still unsafe for him to physically meet with her. She claims that beginning in June, human-looking extraterrestrials will begin physically meeting with starseeds who are ready, and the contact process will gradually unfold over the next year.Dr. Andrea Martin's website is: https://growingupalien.com/

Meet Diandra Nims, a Senior Underwriter specializing in E&O risk for video and film, and the Creative Director of Limitless Visions, LLC. This multi-talented professional has carved a unique path in both the insurance and creative industries. Starting as a self-taught videographer and cinematographer, Diandra's journey led her to become a powerful voice in professional liability underwriting while maintaining her passion for storytelling and advocacy.An accomplished industry leader and an active member of the National African American Insurance Association's New York Tri-State Chapter, Diandra was a participant in the Professional Liability Underwriter Society's LAMP 2024 Cohort, and continues to break barriers and create opportunities for underrepresented voices.Today, she combines her insurance expertise with her creative vision, advocating for Black & Queer creatives while excelling in risk assessment and underwriting... All because she found the most underrated industry in business today!Website: LimitLessVisionsLinkedIn: Diandra Nims on LinkedInInstagram: @LimitlessVisionsLLCYSGAL Podcast is the number #1 source for anyone looking to learn about or join the most underrated opportunity in business today...a career in the Insurance industry. Get educated, motivated, and inspired for your journey, as you learn How and Why..."You Should Get A License"Get the Book: 'You Should Get A License' ⁠⁠⁠https://a.co/d/cgjRqNT⁠⁠⁠Host Social Media: IG: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/ysgetalicense/⁠⁠⁠Tik Tok: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@ysgetalicense⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/78299851 Rod's Social Media IG: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/therodpowell/⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarrard-a-rod-powell-sr-86801616/⁠⁠⁠About me: Greetings! My name is Rod Powell. I'm an insurance and financial services professional and Author, and University Professor based in the DMV. I'm multi-state licensed in Life & Health and Virginia licensedin Property & Casualty Insurance, a Chartered Life Underwriter, Registered Employee Benefits Consultant, and a Commercial Lines Coverage Specialist. This channel is not for me to offer my services directly, but to educate you oncareers in the industry that has allowed me to bring a ton of value to others and has been very good to me as well. Hope you enjoy and heard something that makes you think..."You Should Get A License"

Giving up can be painful. That's why we need to talk about it. Today: stories about glitchy apps, leaky paint cans, broken sculptures — and a quest for the perfect bowl of ramen. SOURCES:John Boykin, website designer and failed paint can re-inventor.Angela Duckworth, host of No Stupid Questions, co-founder of Character Lab, and professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.Amy Edmondson, professor of leadership management at Harvard Business School.Helen Fisher, former senior research fellow at The Kinsey Institute and former chief science advisor to Match.com.Eric von Hippel, professor of technological innovation at M.I.T.'s Sloan School of Management.Jill Hoffman, founder and C.E.O. of Path 2 Flight.Gary Klein, cognitive psychologist and pioneer in the field of naturalistic decision making.Steve Levitt, host of People I (Mostly) Admire, co-author of the Freakonomics books, and professor of economics at the University of Chicago.Joseph O'Connell, artist.Mike Ridgeman, government affairs manager at the Wisconsin Bike Fed.Melanie Stefan, professor of physiology at Medical School Berlin.Travis Thul, vice president for Student Success and Engagement at Minnesota State University, Mankato. RESOURCES:“Data Snapshot: Tenure and Contingency in US Higher Education,” by Glenn Colby (American Association of University Professors, 2023).Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, by Angela Duckworth (2016).“Entrepreneurship and the U.S. Economy,” by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2016).“A C.V. of Failures,” by Melanie Stefan (Nature, 2010).Ramen Now! official website. EXTRAS: “How to Succeed at Failing,” series by Freakonomics Radio (2023).“Annie Duke Thinks You Should Quit,” by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).“How Do You Know When It's Time to Quit?” by No Stupid Questions (2020).“Honey, I Grew the Economy,” by Freakonomics Radio (2019).“The Upside of Quitting,” by Freakonomics Radio (2011).

Season finale!The past year, we've talked a lot about just how much we've had to fight for the university. From authoritarian leaders who wish to suppress dissent and protests in universities, particularly protests in support of Palestine, to rudderless senior administrators who suspend programs, fire long-term staff, and hire expensive and useless consultancy firms, there's a lot of reasons to feel disheartened because the odds seem stacked against us. And yet, the fight continues. And we are seeing lots of victories. To counter Donald Trump's attacks against higher education, more and more chapters of the American Association of University Professors are being founded. Unions are being established. And continued organizing for Palestine has led to a number of wins. The University of Toronto's Faculty Association, for example, successfully passed a motion divesting from companies that fuel genocide in Palestine and in other illegally occupied territories. On a more personal note, witnessing and reporting and mobilizing against senior administrators' decisions has actually pushed me to get involved in the fight for our university. Overcoming my aversion to running for positions, I ended up running for a seat in our university senate, and won! So did all of my progressive, feminist friends who are sick of being told by senior administrators that we just had to trust that senior admin knows what they're doing. We're there to roll up our sleeves, dig up reports, and ask questions. So organizing matters. Being savvy, strategic, and smart matters. And building relationships matters the most. This is the core of our organizing work. In today's episode of Academic Aunties, our season finale, my new friend, Dr. Elisha Lim, and I talk about organizing tactics, the importance of relationships, and the potentialities of artificial intelligence. That's right, AI can be be put to good use. Elisha is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Humanities and does groundbreaking research on AI, social media, critical race theory, and much more.Related LinksDeclarations of Interdependence: How Media Literacy Practices are Developed, Negotiated, Rejected, and Exploited Across Social Media Platforms, by Elisha Lim, Gina Marie Sipley, Ladan Siad Mohamed, Francesca Bolla Tripodi Tripodi, Vincente PerezProf explores colonial roots of digital platformsThanks for listening! Get more information and support the show at academicaunties.com. Get in touch with Academic Aunties on BlueSky, Instagram, or by e-mail at podcast@academicaunties.com.

The Software Process and Measurement Cast Crew is on vacation. Until then, we are revisiting some fabulous panel discussions we have had during the last 19 years. We will be back on June 21st.   Poor work intake equals out-of-control.  Being out of control leads to stress and poor quality.  Mastering Work Intake is the path to bringing order out of chaos. Buy a copy today!  JRoss Publishing or Amazon. JRoss Publishing: Amazon:   Original Show Notes:  In March 2020, as our world was shrinking and words like 'lockdown' and 'zoom-bombing' were becoming a reality, we recorded and aired . Paul Laberge, Susan Parente, Jo Ann Sweeney, John Voris, and I talked about how we could create or preserve interactions leading to serendipity. Remote working was new for many people. This week we discuss what went well and what have we learned from nearly a year of working remotely. As the editor of the SPaMCAST it is my great pleasure to reconvene a group of people that have such great insight into people. The discussion is full of great ideas to improve remote and hybrid working environments, but most of all it is full of ideas to help respect people in tough times or not.   Panelist Bios Jo Ann Sweeney FCIM FIIC MCIPR is an engagement and communication consultant. Typically, she acts as change management lead on complex programmes, facilitating development of effective engagement, training, and communication strategies and then assisting as the strategies are implemented. Clients value her deep understanding of audiences. Jo Ann is known for clarifying the complex and for persuading key stakeholders to get involved and actively support change. You are welcome to download a complimentary copy of Jo Ann's guide How to Explain Change in 8 Easy Steps at Contact Jo Ann at jo.ann@sweeneycomms.com John Voris is the current leader of AgilePhilly, the local user group in the Philadelphia area for Scrum, Kanban, and Lean Software. ()  His day job is working on financial applications for Crown Cork & Seal, an essential company with over 100 years of manufacturing food and beverage cans.  Prior to Crown, John was an independent software consultant for 30+ years helping both small companies and Fortune 100 large companies with both applications and operating systems. Reach out on LinkedIn: With more than 30 years in the information technology industry, Paul Laberge – CGI Director Consulting-Expert, has a wide range of experience providing IT project management. He enjoys coaching leaders in deploying business technology solutions. His experience in organizational change management spans many different lifecycles including transitions to Agile frameworks (RUP, XP, Scrum, SAFe, Nexxus, LeSS) and incorporating Lean (Kanban) methodologies. Reach out on LinkedIn: Susan Parente is a Principal Consultant at S3 Technologies, LLC and a University Professor at multiple Universities. Mrs. Parente is an author, mentor and professor focused on risk management, traditional and Agile project management. Her experience is augmented by her Masters in Engineering Management with a focus in Marketing of Technology from George Washington University, DC, along with a number of professional certifications. Ms. Parente has 23+ years' experience leading software and business development projects in the private and public sectors, including a decade of experience implementing IT projects for the DoD. Contact Susan at parente.s3@gmail.com  

On October 20, 2023, the Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond sued the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board for signing a contract with St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, claiming that St. Isidore cannot participate in the charter school program because it is a religious school. The Oklahoma Supreme Court agreed, holding that the contract violated the Establishment Clause.The United States Supreme Court is hearing this case to address 1) if the teaching decisions of a private school are considered state action when the school contracts with the state to provide free education and 2) if a state is prohibited from excluding a religious school from its charter school program because of the Free Exercise Clause or if it can justify the exclusion under the Establishment Clause. Arguments are scheduled for April 30.Featuring:Philip A. Sechler, Senior Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom(Moderator) Prof. Michael P. Moreland, University Professor of Law and Religion and Director of the Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law

During her term as 20th Poet Laureate of the Commonwealth of Virginia (2020-22), Emerita, the Academy of American Poets awarded Luisa A. Igloria one of twenty-three Poet Laureate Fellowships in 2021, to support a program of public poetry projects. She is the recipient of the Immigrant Writing Series Prize from Black Lawrence Press for Caulbearer (2024), and was one of 2 Co-Winners of the 2019 Crab Orchard Poetry Prize for Maps for Migrants and Ghosts (Southern Illinois University Press, fall 2020). In April 2021, the Writers Union of the Philippines (UMPIL) conferred on her the Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas lifetime achievement award in the English poetry category. In 2015, she was the inaugural winner of the Resurgence Prize (UK), the world's first major award for ecopoetry, selected by former UK Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion, Alice Oswald, and Jo Shapcott. Former US Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey selected her chapbook What is Left of Wings, I Ask as the 2018 recipient of the Center for the Book Arts Letterpress Poetry Chapbook Prize. Other works include The Buddha Wonders if She is Having a Mid-Life Crisis (Phoenicia Publishing, Montreal, 2018), Ode to the Heart Smaller than a Pencil Eraser (2014 May Swenson Prize, Utah State University Press), and 10 other books. She is lead editor, along with co-editors Aileen Cassinetto and Jeremy S. Hoffman, of Dear Human at the Edge of Time: Poems on Climate Change in the United States (Paloma Press, September 2023). Her poems are widely published or appearing in national and international anthologies, and print and online literary journals including The Georgia Review, Orion, Shenandoah, Cincinnati Review, The Common, Indiana Review, Crab Orchard Review, Diode, Missouri Review, Rattle, Poetry East, Your Impossible Voice, Poetry, Shanghai Literary Review, Cha, and others. Luisa served as the inaugural Glasgow Visiting Writer in Residence at Washington and Lee University in 2018. Luisa also leads workshops at The Muse Writers Center in Norfolk (and serves on the Muse Board). She is a Louis I. Jaffe Professor and University Professor of English and Creative Writing, and a member of the core faculty of the MFA Creative Writing Program at Old Dominion University, which she directed from 2009-2015. Since 2010, she has been writing (at least) a poem a day. www.luisaigloria.com Social Media: Facebook https://www.facebook.com/VAPoetLaureate2020 Instagram @poetslizard X/Twitter @ThePoetsLizard https://linktr.ee/thepoetslizard

A dystopian reality has gripped America's colleges and universities: ICE agents are snatching and disappearing international students in broad daylight; student visas are being revoked en masse overnight; funding cuts and freezes are upending countless careers and our entire public research infrastructure; students are being expelled and faculty fired for speaking out against Israel's US-backed genocidal war on Gaza and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. An all-out assault on higher ed and the people who live, learn, and work there is being led by the federal government and aided by law enforcement, internet vigilantes, and even university administrators. Today's climate of repression recalls that of McCarthyism and the height of the anti-communist Red Scare in the 1950s, but leading scholars of McCarthyism and political repression say that the attacks on higher education, free speech, and political repression we're seeing today are “worse” and “much broader.” In this installment of The Real News Network podcast, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with a panel of scholars about the Trump administration's authoritarian war on higher education in America, the historical roots of the attacks we're seeing play out today, and what lessons we can draw from history about how to fight it. Panelists include: Ellen Schrecker, a historian and author who has written extensively about McCarthyism and American higher education, and a member of the American Association of University Professors national committee on academic freedom and tenure. Schrecker is the author and co-editor of numerous books, including: The Right To Learn: Resisting the Right-Wing Attack on Academic Freedom; The Lost Promise: American Universities in the 1960s; No Ivory Tower: McCarthyism and the Universities; and Many Are the Crimes: McCarthyism in AmericaDavid Palumbo-Liu, Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor in Comparative Literature at Stanford University, host of the podcast Speaking Out of Place, and author of several books, including: Speaking Out of Place: Getting Our Political Voices Back; The Deliverance of Others: Reading Literature in a Global Age; and Asian/American: Historical Crossings of a Racial FrontierAlan Wald, H. Chandler Davis Collegiate Professor Emeritus of English Literature and American Culture at the University of Michigan. Wald is an editor of Against the Current and Science & Society, he serves as a member of the academic council of Jewish Voice for Peace, and he is the author of a trilogy of books from the University of North Carolina Press: Exiles from a Future Time: The Forging of the Mid-Twentieth-Century Literary Left; Trinity of Passion: The Literary Left and the Antifascist Crusade; and American Night: The Literary Left in the Era of the Cold WarStudio Production: David HebdenAudio Post-Production: Jules TaylorHelp

The Software Process and Measurement Cast Crew is on vacation. Until then, we are revisiting some fabulous panel discussions we have had during the last 19 years. We will be back on June 21st.   Poor work intake equals out-of-control.  Being out of control leads to stress and poor quality.  Mastering Work Intake is the path to bringing order out of chaos. Buy a copy today!  JRoss Publishing or Amazon. JRoss Publishing: Amazon:   Original Show Notes:    SPaMCAST 597 features a special panel of leaders who discuss working from home now and after the initial reaction to being remote has worn off. One of the important points we discussed was the need to make space for intentional serendipity. The panel is composed of Paul Laberge, Susan Parente, John Voris, Jo Ann Sweeney, and your host.  Panelist Bios Jo Ann Sweeney FCIM FIIC MCIPR is an engagement and communication consultant. Typically, she acts as change management lead on complex programmes, facilitating development of effective engagement, training, and communication strategies and then assisting as the strategies are implemented. Clients value her deep understanding of audiences. Jo Ann is known for clarifying the complex and for persuading key stakeholders to get involved and actively support change. You are welcome to download a complimentary copy of Jo Ann's guide How to Explain Change in 8 Easy Steps at Contact Jo Ann at jo.ann@sweeneycomms.com John Voris is the current leader of AgilePhilly, the local user group in the Philadelphia area for Scrum, Kanban, and Lean Software. ()  His day job is working on financial applications for Crown Cork & Seal, an essential company with over 100 years of manufacturing food and beverage cans.  Prior to Crown, John was an independent software consultant for 30+ years helping both small companies and Fortune 100 large companies with both applications and operating systems. Reach out on LinkedIn: With more than 30 years in the information technology industry, Paul Laberge – CGI Director Consulting-Expert, has a wide range of experience providing IT project management. He enjoys coaching leaders in deploying business technology solutions. His experience in organizational change management spans many different lifecycles including transitions to Agile frameworks (RUP, XP, Scrum, SAFe, Nexxus, LeSS) and incorporating Lean (Kanban) methodologies. Reach out on LinkedIn: Susan Parente is a Principal Consultant at S3 Technologies, LLC and a University Professor at multiple Universities. Mrs. Parente is an author, mentor and professor focused on risk management, traditional and Agile project management. Her experience is augmented by her Masters in Engineering Management with a focus in Marketing of Technology from George Washington University, DC, along with a number of professional certifications. Ms. Parente has 23+ years' experience leading software and business development projects in the private and public sectors, including a decade of experience implementing IT projects for the DoD. Contact Susan at parente.s3@gmail.com  

“I'm really interested in the relation between performance and ritual. Where do those two separate?”Richard Sennett grew up in the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago, attended the Juilliard School in New York, and then studied social relations at Harvard. Over the last five decades, he has written about social life in cities, changes in labour, and social theory. His books include The Performer: Art, Life, Politics, The Hidden Injuries of Class, The Fall of Public Man, The Corrosion of Character, The Culture of the New Capitalism, The Craftsman, and Building and Dwelling. Sennett has advised the United Nations on urban issues for the past thirty years and currently serves as member of the UN Committee on Urban Initiatives. He is the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and former University Professor of the Humanities at New York University.“I want to show what is kind of the basic DNA that people use for good or for ill. What are the tools they use, if you like, of expression that they use in the creative process?”Episode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

“I'm really interested in the relation between performance and ritual. Where do those two separate?”Richard Sennett grew up in the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago, attended the Juilliard School in New York, and then studied social relations at Harvard. Over the last five decades, he has written about social life in cities, changes in labour, and social theory. His books include The Performer: Art, Life, Politics, The Hidden Injuries of Class, The Fall of Public Man, The Corrosion of Character, The Culture of the New Capitalism, The Craftsman, and Building and Dwelling. Sennett has advised the United Nations on urban issues for the past thirty years and currently serves as member of the UN Committee on Urban Initiatives. He is the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and former University Professor of the Humanities at New York University.“I want to show what is kind of the basic DNA that people use for good or for ill. What are the tools they use, if you like, of expression that they use in the creative process?”Episode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

“I'm really interested in the relation between performance and ritual. Where do those two separate?”Richard Sennett grew up in the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago, attended the Juilliard School in New York, and then studied social relations at Harvard. Over the last five decades, he has written about social life in cities, changes in labour, and social theory. His books include The Performer: Art, Life, Politics, The Hidden Injuries of Class, The Fall of Public Man, The Corrosion of Character, The Culture of the New Capitalism, The Craftsman, and Building and Dwelling. Sennett has advised the United Nations on urban issues for the past thirty years and currently serves as member of the UN Committee on Urban Initiatives. He is the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and former University Professor of the Humanities at New York University.“I want to show what is kind of the basic DNA that people use for good or for ill. What are the tools they use, if you like, of expression that they use in the creative process?”Episode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

“I'm really interested in the relation between performance and ritual. Where do those two separate?”Richard Sennett grew up in the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago, attended the Juilliard School in New York, and then studied social relations at Harvard. Over the last five decades, he has written about social life in cities, changes in labour, and social theory. His books include The Performer: Art, Life, Politics, The Hidden Injuries of Class, The Fall of Public Man, The Corrosion of Character, The Culture of the New Capitalism, The Craftsman, and Building and Dwelling. Sennett has advised the United Nations on urban issues for the past thirty years and currently serves as member of the UN Committee on Urban Initiatives. He is the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and former University Professor of the Humanities at New York University.“I want to show what is kind of the basic DNA that people use for good or for ill. What are the tools they use, if you like, of expression that they use in the creative process?”Episode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

“I'm really interested in the relation between performance and ritual. Where do those two separate?”Richard Sennett grew up in the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago, attended the Juilliard School in New York, and then studied social relations at Harvard. Over the last five decades, he has written about social life in cities, changes in labour, and social theory. His books include The Performer: Art, Life, Politics, The Hidden Injuries of Class, The Fall of Public Man, The Corrosion of Character, The Culture of the New Capitalism, The Craftsman, and Building and Dwelling. Sennett has advised the United Nations on urban issues for the past thirty years and currently serves as member of the UN Committee on Urban Initiatives. He is the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and former University Professor of the Humanities at New York University.“I want to show what is kind of the basic DNA that people use for good or for ill. What are the tools they use, if you like, of expression that they use in the creative process?”Episode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

“I'm really interested in the relation between performance and ritual. Where do those two separate?”Richard Sennett grew up in the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago, attended the Juilliard School in New York, and then studied social relations at Harvard. Over the last five decades, he has written about social life in cities, changes in labour, and social theory. His books include The Performer: Art, Life, Politics, The Hidden Injuries of Class, The Fall of Public Man, The Corrosion of Character, The Culture of the New Capitalism, The Craftsman, and Building and Dwelling. Sennett has advised the United Nations on urban issues for the past thirty years and currently serves as member of the UN Committee on Urban Initiatives. He is the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and former University Professor of the Humanities at New York University.“I want to show what is kind of the basic DNA that people use for good or for ill. What are the tools they use, if you like, of expression that they use in the creative process?”Episode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

“We look at creative work as though the very creative process itself is something good. These are tools of expression, and like any tool, you can use them to damage something or to make something. They can be turned to very malign purposes, for instance, in the operas of Wagner. So I wanted to do this set of books, I want to show what is kind of the basic DNA that people use for good or for ill. What are the tools they use, if you like, of expression that they use in the creative process?”Richard Sennett grew up in the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago, attended the Juilliard School in New York, and then studied social relations at Harvard. Over the last five decades, he has written about social life in cities, changes in labour, and social theory. His books include The Performer: Art, Life, Politics, The Hidden Injuries of Class, The Fall of Public Man, The Corrosion of Character, The Culture of the New Capitalism, The Craftsman, and Building and Dwelling. Sennett has advised the United Nations on urban issues for the past thirty years and currently serves as member of the UN Committee on Urban Initiatives. He is the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and former University Professor of the Humanities at New York University.Episode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

“We look at creative work as though the very creative process itself is something good. These are tools of expression, and like any tool, you can use them to damage something or to make something. They can be turned to very malign purposes, for instance, in the operas of Wagner. So I wanted to do this set of books, I want to show what is kind of the basic DNA that people use for good or for ill. What are the tools they use, if you like, of expression that they use in the creative process?”Richard Sennett grew up in the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago, attended the Juilliard School in New York, and then studied social relations at Harvard. Over the last five decades, he has written about social life in cities, changes in labour, and social theory. His books include The Performer: Art, Life, Politics, The Hidden Injuries of Class, The Fall of Public Man, The Corrosion of Character, The Culture of the New Capitalism, The Craftsman, and Building and Dwelling. Sennett has advised the United Nations on urban issues for the past thirty years and currently serves as member of the UN Committee on Urban Initiatives. He is the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and former University Professor of the Humanities at New York University.Episode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

“We look at creative work as though the very creative process itself is something good. These are tools of expression, and like any tool, you can use them to damage something or to make something. They can be turned to very malign purposes, for instance, in the operas of Wagner. So I wanted to do this set of books, I want to show what is kind of the basic DNA that people use for good or for ill. What are the tools they use, if you like, of expression that they use in the creative process?”Richard Sennett grew up in the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago, attended the Juilliard School in New York, and then studied social relations at Harvard. Over the last five decades, he has written about social life in cities, changes in labour, and social theory. His books include The Performer: Art, Life, Politics, The Hidden Injuries of Class, The Fall of Public Man, The Corrosion of Character, The Culture of the New Capitalism, The Craftsman, and Building and Dwelling. Sennett has advised the United Nations on urban issues for the past thirty years and currently serves as member of the UN Committee on Urban Initiatives. He is the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and former University Professor of the Humanities at New York University.Episode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

“We look at creative work as though the very creative process itself is something good. These are tools of expression, and like any tool, you can use them to damage something or to make something. They can be turned to very malign purposes, for instance, in the operas of Wagner. So I wanted to do this set of books, I want to show what is kind of the basic DNA that people use for good or for ill. What are the tools they use, if you like, of expression that they use in the creative process?”Richard Sennett grew up in the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago, attended the Juilliard School in New York, and then studied social relations at Harvard. Over the last five decades, he has written about social life in cities, changes in labour, and social theory. His books include The Performer: Art, Life, Politics, The Hidden Injuries of Class, The Fall of Public Man, The Corrosion of Character, The Culture of the New Capitalism, The Craftsman, and Building and Dwelling. Sennett has advised the United Nations on urban issues for the past thirty years and currently serves as member of the UN Committee on Urban Initiatives. He is the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and former University Professor of the Humanities at New York University.Episode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

A new project sponsored by a coalition of organizations seeks to track the various ways that federal and state programs discriminate against religious participants in a range of funding programs despite a series of Supreme Court cases holding such discriminatory treatment unconstitutional. The Religious Discrimination Tracker is a project of the EPIC Coalition (a multi-faith coalition that focuses on education), the Teach Coalition, the Notre Dame Religious Liberty Clinic, and the Notre Dame Educational Law Project. The site seeks to identify ways to ensure equal access to funding by religious participants, particularly in education. In this webinar, Professor Nicole Stelle Garnett (Notre Dame Law) will discuss this new project and expand on her argument in a November 2024 Wall Street Journal op-ed that a range of federal programs "reflect[] an outdated understanding of the First Amendment that assumes the Constitution requires the exclusion of religious expression from public life and programs."Featuring:Prof. Nicole Stelle Garnett, John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law and Associate Dean for External Engagement, University of Notre Dame Law SchoolProf. Michael A. Helfand, Brenden Mann Foundation Chair in Law and Religion and Co-Director of the Nootbaar Institute for Law, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law(Moderator) Prof. Michael P. Moreland, University Professor of Law and Religion and Director of the Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law

“We look at creative work as though the very creative process itself is something good. These are tools of expression, and like any tool, you can use them to damage something or to make something. They can be turned to very malign purposes, for instance, in the operas of Wagner. So I wanted to do this set of books, I want to show what is kind of the basic DNA that people use for good or for ill. What are the tools they use, if you like, of expression that they use in the creative process?”Richard Sennett grew up in the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago, attended the Juilliard School in New York, and then studied social relations at Harvard. Over the last five decades, he has written about social life in cities, changes in labour, and social theory. His books include The Performer: Art, Life, Politics, The Hidden Injuries of Class, The Fall of Public Man, The Corrosion of Character, The Culture of the New Capitalism, The Craftsman, and Building and Dwelling. Sennett has advised the United Nations on urban issues for the past thirty years and currently serves as member of the UN Committee on Urban Initiatives. He is the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and former University Professor of the Humanities at New York University.Episode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

International students are being abducted and disappeared by ICE in broad daylight. Life-saving research projects across the academy are being halted or thrown into disarray by seismic cuts to federal grants. Dozens of universities are under federal investigation for their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs, their allowance of trans athletes to compete in college sports, and their tolerance of constitutionally protected Palestine solidarity protests. In today's urgent episode of Working People, we get a harrowing, on-the-ground view of the Trump administration's all-out assault on institutions of higher education and the people who live, learn, and work there. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Todd Wolfson, President of the American Association of University Professors, Associate Professor of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University, and co-director of the Media, Inequality and Change Center; and Chenjerai Kumanyika, Assistant Professor at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, AAUP Council Member, and Peabody-award winning host of Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD. Additional links/info: April 17: Day of Action to Defend Higher Ed website American Association of University Professors (AAUP) website Federal Unionists Network website AAUP letter to college and university legal offices: “Institutions Should Not Provide Student and Faculty Info To Enable Deportations” Alan Blinder, The New York Times, “Trump Has Targeted These Universities. Why?” Oliver Laughland, The Guardian, “‘Detention Alley': inside the Ice centres in the US south where foreign students and undocumented migrants languish” Alice Speri, The Guardian, “‘A huge cudgel': alarm as Trump's war on universities could target accreditors” Joy Connolly, Chronicle Review, “Colleges must stand together to resist Trump” Collin Binkley, Associated Press, “More than 50 universities face federal investigations as part of Trump's anti-DEI campaign” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘Kill these cuts before they kill us': Federally funded researchers warn DOGE cuts will be fatal” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor

International students are being abducted and disappeared by ICE in broad daylight. Life-saving research projects across the academy are being halted or thrown into disarray by seismic cuts to federal grants. Dozens of universities are under federal investigation for their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs, their allowance of trans athletes to compete in college sports, and their tolerance of constitutionally protected Palestine solidarity protests. In today's urgent episode of Working People, we get a harrowing, on-the-ground view of the Trump administration's all-out assault on institutions of higher education and the people who live, learn, and work there. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Todd Wolfson, President of the American Association of University Professors, Associate Professor of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University, and co-director of the Media, Inequality and Change Center; and Chenjerai Kumanyika, Assistant Professor at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, AAUP Council Member, and Peabody-award winning host of Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD.Additional links/info:April 17: Day of Action to Defend Higher Ed websiteAmerican Association of University Professors (AAUP) websiteFederal Unionists Network websiteAAUP letter to college and university legal offices: “Institutions Should Not Provide Student and Faculty Info To Enable Deportations”Alan Blinder, The New York Times, “Trump Has Targeted These Universities. Why?”Oliver Laughland, The Guardian, “‘Detention Alley': inside the Ice centres in the US south where foreign students and undocumented migrants languish”Alice Speri, The Guardian, “‘A huge cudgel': alarm as Trump's war on universities could target accreditors”Joy Connolly, Chronicle Review, “Colleges must stand together to resist Trump”Collin Binkley, Associated Press, “More than 50 universities face federal investigations as part of Trump's anti-DEI campaign”Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘Kill these cuts before they kill us': Federally funded researchers warn DOGE cuts will be fatal”Permanent links below…Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter pageIn These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter pageThe Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter pageFeatured Music…Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme SongStudio Production: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Jules TaylorBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.

In the two months since the Trump regime took power, it has worked feverishly to dismantle the higher educational apparatus in the United States. Grant money funding research in the billions of dollars has been stopped or held to use as leverage against researchers and institutions. At the same time, Trump and his cronies are working to suppress free speech on campuses, deporting faculty and graduate students who do not share the administration's views on the Israel-Gaza conflict. The effects of these actions are terrifying. To discuss, we've invited Todd Wolfson, President of the American Association of University Professors and an Associate Professor of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University.

Aziz Rana, J. Donald Monan, S.J., University Professor of Law and Government at Boston College, is back on the program to talk about the 20th and 21st century constitutional order leading to the current crisis under Trump. They delve into the attack on racial liberalism, the balance between the disavowed and embraced aspects of McCarthyism, the theory of the unitary executive, defending and regulating capitalism, the advent of the carceral state, and more. Read Aziz's piece on the matter at New Left Review, “Constitutional Collapse”. Subscribe now for the full episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ralph welcomes journalist Chris Hedges to talk about his new book "A Genocide Foretold: Reporting on Survival and Resistance in Occupied Palestine." Then, Ralph speaks to David Swanson of World BEYOND War about what his organization is doing to resist this country's casual acceptance of being constantly at war. Finally, Ralph checks in with our resident constitutional scholar Bruce Fein.Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, who spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He is the host of The Chris Hedges Report, and he is a prolific author— his latest book is A Genocide Foretold: Reporting on Survival and Resistance in Occupied Palestine.We not only blocked the effort by most countries on the globe to halt the genocide or at least censure Israel to the genocide, but of course have continued to sendbillions of dollars in weapons and to shut down critics within the United States… And that sends a very, very ominous message to the global south, especiallyas the climate breaks down, that these are the kind of draconian murderous measuresthat we will employ.Chris HedgesIt's a very, very ominous chapter in the history of historic Palestine. In some ways, far worse even than the 1948 Nakba (or “Catastrophe”) that saw massacres carried out against Palestinians in their villages and 750,000 Palestinians displaced. What we're watching now is probably the worst catastrophe to ever beset the Palestinian people.Chris HedgesIt's a bit like attacking somebody for writing about Auschwitz and not giving the SS guards enough play to voice their side. We're writing about a genocide and, frankly, there isn't a lot of nuance. There's a lot of context (which is in the book). But I expect either to be blanked out or attacked because lifting up the voices of Palestinians is something at this point within American society that is considered by the dominant media platforms and those within positions of power to be unacceptable.Chris HedgesIt eventually comes down to us, the American people. And it's not just the Middle East. It's a sprawling empire with hundreds of military bases, sapping the energy of our public budgets and of our ability to relate in an empathetic and humanitarian way to the rest of the world.Ralph NaderDavid Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, radio host and Nobel Peace Prize nominee. He is executive director of World BEYOND War and campaign coordinator for RootsAction. His books include War Is A Lie and When the World Outlawed War.The biggest scandal of the past two days in the United States is not government officials secretly discussing plans for mass killing, for war making, but how they did it on a group chat. You can imagine if they were talking about blowing up buildings in the United States, at least the victims would get a little mention in there.David SwansonThe Democrats are the least popular they've been. They're way less popular than the Republicans because some of the Republicans' supporters actually support the horrendous behavior they're engaged in. Whereas Democrats want somebody to try anything, anything at all, and you're not getting it.David SwansonYou know how many cases across the world across the decades in every hospital and health center there are of PTSD or any sort of injury from war deprivation? Not a one. Not a single one, ever. People survive just fine. And people do their damnedest to stay out of it, even in the most warmongering nations in the world. People try their very hardest to stay out of war personally, because it does great damage.David SwansonBruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law. Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy, and American Empire: Before the Fall.If there were really an attorney general who was independent, they would advise the President, “You can't make these threats. They are the equivalent of extortion.”Bruce FeinVigorous Public Interest Law DayApril 1, 2025 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm at Harvard Law School the Harvard Plaintiffs' Law Association is hosting Vigorous Public Interest Law Day with opening remarks by Ralph Nader. The program will feature highly relevant presentations and group discussions with some of the nation's most courageous public interest lawyers including Sam Levine, Bruce Fein, Robert Weissman, Joan Claybrook, and Pete Davis, to name a few. More information here.News 3/26/251. Starting off this week with some good news, Families for Safe Streets reports the Viriginia Assembly has passed HB2096, also known as the Stop Super Speeders bill. If enacted, this bill would allow would judges to “require drivers convicted of extreme speeding offenses to install Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) technology in their vehicles, automatically limiting their speed to the posted limit.” According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA, established by Ralph Nader, speeding was responsible for 12,151 deaths in 2022 and is a contributing factor in the skyrocketing number of pedestrians killed by automobiles which hit a 40-year high in 2023, per NPR.2. In more troubling auto safety news AP reports NHTSA has ordered a new recall on nearly all Cybertrucks. This recall centers on an exterior panel that can “detach while driving, creating a dangerous road hazard for other drivers, [and] increasing the risk of a crash.” This panel, called a “cant rail assembly,” is attached with a glue that is vulnerable to “environmental embrittlement,” per NHTSA. This is the eighth recall of the vehicles since they hit the road just one year ago.3. At the same time, the Democratic-controlled Delaware state legislature has passed a bill to “award…Musk $56 billion, shield corporate executives from liability, and strip away voting power from shareholders,” reports the Lever. According to this report, written before the law passed, the bill would “set an extremely high bar for plaintiffs to obtain internal company documents, records, and communications — the core pieces of evidence needed to build a lawsuit against a company.” On the other hand, “Corporate executives and investors with a controlling stake in a firm would no longer be required to hold full shareholder votes on various transactions in which management has a direct conflict of interest.” As this piece notes, this bill was backed by a pressure campaign led by Musk and his lawyers that began with a Delaware Chancery Court ruling that jeopardized his $56 billion compensation package. In retaliation, Musk threatened to lead a mass exodus of corporations from the state. Instead of calling his bluff, the state legislature folded, likely beginning a race to the bottom among other corporate-friendly states that will strip anyone but the largest shareholders of any remaining influence on corporate decision making.4. Speaking of folding under pressure, Reuters reports Columbia University will “acquiesce” to the outrageous and unprecedented demands of the Trump administration. These include a new mask ban on campus, and placing the school's Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies department – along with the Center for Palestine Studies –under academic receivership for at least five years. By caving to these demands, the University hopes the administration will unfreeze $400 million in NIH grants they threatened to withhold. Reuters quotes historian of education, Professor Jonathan Zimmerman, who decried this as “The government…using the money as a cudgel to micromanage a university,” and Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors, who called the administration's demands “arguably the greatest incursion into academic freedom, freedom of speech and institutional autonomy that we've seen since the McCarthy era.”5. The authoritarianism creeping through higher education doesn't end there. Following the chilling disappearing of Mahmoud Khalil, the Trump administration has begun deploying the same tactic against more students for increasingly minor supposed offenses. First there was Georgetown post-doc student Badar Khan Suri, originally from India, who “had been living in Virginia for nearly three years when the police knocked on his door on the evening of 17 March and arrested him,” per the BBC. His crime? Being married to the daughter of a former advisor to Ismail Haniyeh, who in 2010 left the Gaza government and “started the House of Wisdom…to encourage peace and conflict resolution in Gaza.” A court has blocked Suri's deportation. Then there is Rumeysa Ozturk, a PhD student at Tufts who was on her way home from an Iftar dinner when she was surrounded and physically restrained by plainclothes agents on the street, CNN reports. Video of this incident has been shared widely. Secretary of State Marco Rubio supposedly “determined” that Ozturk's alleged activities would have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences and would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest.” These activities? Co-writing a March 2024 op-ed in the school paper which stated “Credible accusations against Israel include accounts of deliberate starvation and indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinian civilians and plausible genocide.” The U.S. has long decried regimes that use secret police to suppress dissident speech. Now it seems it has become one.6. Yet the Trump administration is not only using deportations as a blunt object to punish pro-Palestine speech, it is also using it to go after labor rights activists. Seattle public radio station KUOW reports “Farmworker activist and union leader Alfredo Juarez Zeferino, known…as ‘Lelo,' was taken into custody by [ICE].” A farmworker and fellow activist Rosalinda Guillén is quoted saying “[Lelo] doesn't have a criminal record…they stopped him because of his leadership, because of his activism.” She added “I think that this is a political attack.” Simultaneously, the Washington Post reports “John Clark, a Trump-appointed Labor Department official, directed the agency's Bureau of International Labor Affairs…to end all of its grants.” These cuts are “expected to end 69 programs that have allocated more than $500 million to combat child labor, forced labor and human trafficking, and to enforce labor standards in more than 40 countries.”7. All of these moves by the Trump administration are despicable and largely unprecedented, but even they are not as brazen as the assault on the twin pillars of the American social welfare system: Social Security and Medicare. Social Security is bearing the brunt of the attacks at the moment. First, AP reported that Elon Musk's DOGE planned to cut up to 50% of the Social Security Administration staff. Then, the Washington Post reported that the administration planned to force millions of seniors to submit claims in person rather than via phone. Now the administration is announcing that they are shifting Social Security payments from paper checks to prepaid debit cards, per Axios. Nearly half a million seniors still receive their payments via physical checks. These massive disruptions in Social Security have roiled seniors across the nation, many of whom are Republican Trump supporters, and they are voicing their frustration to their Republican elected officials – who in turn are chafing at being cut out of the loop by Musk. NBC reports Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance subcommittee on Social Security, said “he had not been told ahead of time about DOGE's moves at the agency.” Senators Steve Daines and Bill Cassidy have echoed this sentiment. And, while Social Security takes center stage, Medicare is next in line. Drop Site is out with a new report on how Trump's nominee to oversee the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services – Dr. Oz – could shift millions of seniors from traditional Medicare to the insurer-controlled Medicare Advantage system. Medicare and Social Security have long been seen as the “third rail” of American politics, meaning politicians who try to tamper with those programs meet their political demise. This is the toughest test yet of whether that remains true.8. The impact of Oscar winning documentary No Other Land continues to reverberate, a testament to the power of its message. In Miami Beach, Mayor Steven Meiner issued a draft resolution calling for the city to terminate its lease agreement with O Cinema, located at Old City Hall, simply for screening the film. Deadline reports however that he was forced to back down. And just this week, co-director of the film Hamdan Ballal was reportedly “lynched” by Israeli settlers in his West Bank village, according to co-director Yuval Abraham, an anti-occupation Jewish Israeli journalist. The Guardian reports “the settlers beat him in front of his home and filmed the assault…he was held at an army base, blindfolded, for 24 hours and forced to sleep under a freezing air conditioner.” Another co-director, Basel Adra of Masafer Yatta, told the AP “We came back from the Oscars and every day since there is an attack on us…This might be their revenge on us for making the movie. It feels like a punishment.” Stunningly, it took days for the Academy of Motion Pictures to issue a statement decrying the violence and even then, the statement was remarkably tepid with no mention of Palestine at all, only condemning “harming or suppressing artists for their work or their viewpoints.”9. In some more positive news, Zohran Mamdani – the Democratic Socialist candidate for Mayor of New York City – has maxed out donations, per Gothamist. Mamdani says he has raised “more than $8 million with projected matching funds from about 18,000 donors citywide and has done so at a faster rate than any campaign in city history.” Having hit the public financing cap this early, Mamdani promised to not spend any more of the campaign raising money and instead plans to “build the single largest volunteer operation we've ever seen in the New York City's mayor's race.” Witnessing a politician asking supporters not to send more money is a truly one-of-a-kind moment. Recent polling shows Mamdani in second place, well behind disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo and well ahead of his other rivals, including incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, per CBS. However, Mamdani remains unknown to large numbers of New Yorkers, meaning his ceiling could be much higher. Plenty of time remains before the June mayoral election.10. Finally, in an extremely bizarre story, Columbia Professor Anthony Zenkus reports “Robert Ehrlich, millionaire founder of snack food giant Pirate's Booty…tried to take over the sleepy Long Island town of Sea Cliff.” Zenkus relays that Ehrlich waged a “last minute write-in campaign for mayor in which he only received 62 votes - then declared himself mayor anyway.” Though Ehrlich only received 5% of the vote, he “stormed the village hall with an entourage, declaring himself the duly-elected mayor, screaming that he was there to dissolve the entire town government and that he alone had the power to form a new government.” Ehrlich claimed the election was “rigged” and thus invalid, citing as evidence “One of my supporters voted three times. Another one voted four times…” which constitutes a confession to election fraud. Zenkus ends this story by noting that Ehrlich was “escorted out by police.” It's hard to make heads or tails of this story, but if nothing else it indicates that these petty robber barons are simply out of control – believing they can stage their own mini coup d'etats. And after all, why shouldn't they think so, when one of their ilk occupies perhaps the most powerful office in the history of the world. Bad omens all around.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have taken on a contentious role in the new Trump administration, which has affected federal agencies and thousands of workers. But are DOGE's actions legal? Those arguing they aren't worry it is overstepping and violating the Constitution. Those supporting DOGE's actions say it is operating under strict oversight while fulfilling its mandate. Now we debate: Is Musk's DOGE Dodging the Law?    Arguing Yes: Laurence Tribe, University Professor of Constitutional Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School  Arguing No: Michael W. McConnell, Former Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit; Law Professor and Director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School    Emmy award-winning journalist John Donvan moderates  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices