Dr. Iyabo Obasanjo, professor of public health at College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA, talks to us about updates in vaccination efforts and in the fight against COVID-19, how inequities remain in vaccination rates between communities, regions, and nations, how the mutations undergone by the virus may render current vaccines not as effective, how countries could deal this, and what lessons should be learned from the pandemic as the U.S. slowly reopens in order to deal with a crisis of this magnitude in the future.
Nick Mottern, reporter, researcher, writer, political organizer, and coordinator of KnowDrones.com and Bankillerdrones.org, a website devoted to education and organizing to stop drone warfare and surveillance, talks to us about reports that the Pentagon has been conducting tests that would allow AI to make critical decisions in drone operations including using deadly force, the philosophical and ethical underpinnings of the opposition to this, and how this could lead to countries with those capabilities conducting more violent actions since there will be no humans involved on one side of the equation.
Eugene Craig III, Republican strategist, former vice-chair of the Maryland Republican Party and grassroots activist, and Teresa Lundy, communications strategist and principal at TML Communications, join us in a conversation about whether or not Democrats and Republicans are growing their bases in the off-year election, whether or not we can take race out of our political discussions, with both parties trying to appeal to more white voters and others who believe that we live in a post-racial society, and how this flies in the face of reality. We also talk about the prospect of criminal justice reform in a period of rising violence in the country, and whether the question of policing will divide black communities and progressives.
In our Politics of Art segment, hosts Michelle Witte and Bob Schlehuber talk about Van Morrison’s new album and its peculiar lyrics, the controversy over allegations of corruption and lack of representation in the Golden Globes committee, and Donald Glover and Billie Crystal joining the “cancel culture” crowd.
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