Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the public beheading by the Islamic State of an 83 year old archaeologist who had dedicated his life to protecting the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Palmyra in Syria. An expert with extensive field experience in Syria, Nicholas Heras, a Middle East researcher at the Center for a New American Security joins us to discuss the killing of a man who refused to divulge where hidden treasures are buried that the Islamic State wanted to sell on the black market and whether the Islamic State does not want to provoke an international intervention if they destroy the ancient Roman ruin as they have done to other priceless historical antiquities they have demolished in Iraq.

Part 2

Then we speak with the author of a new study organized by the Environmental Defense Fund to quantify the total emissions of methane from the gathering and processing sector of the natural gas chain. Anthony Marchese, a Professor of Engineering at Colorado State University joins us to discuss how the EPA has vastly underestimated the volume of this most potent greenhouse gas, 100 billion cubic feet of which is leaking into the atmosphere in the U.S. per year, which is 8 times as much as previous estimates.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with Najmedin Meshkati, a Professor of Engineering and International Relations at the University of Southern California who was a Senior Science and Engineering Advisor at the Office of Science and Technology Advisor to the Secretary of State. We discuss the lack of technical analysis and fact-based criticism raised by opponents of the P5+1 deal with Iran and his article at The Huffington Post ”Senator Schumer’s Position on the Iran Nuclear Deal: Knowledge or Error?”  

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the bombing at a shrine in Bangkok, Thailand that is a popular tourist site, which resulted in 20 killed and over 120 injured. Gerald Fry, a distinguished professor of international and intercultural education at the University of Minnesota who wrote the definitive book on Thailand, “A Historical Dictionary of Thailand” and has a forthcoming book “The Thais: The Bamboo and the Lotus” joins us. We will discuss the military government’s charge that the bombers “targeted foreigners to damage tourism and the economy” and examine whether the bombing is a result of the country’s deep political rivalry between the red shirts and the yellow shirts, as well as speculate if and when Thailand will emerge from its destructive pattern of polarized civilian governments interspersed between military coups.

Part 2

Then we speak with Mark Feldstein, a professor and the Chair of Journalism at the University of Maryland and author of “Poisoning the Press: Richard Nixon, Jack Anderson, and the Rise of Washington’s Scandal Culture.” We examine why Hillary Clinton can’t seem to get out from under the constant media refrain of real and manufactured scandals that dog her campaign, while the Republican front-runner, Donald Trump, brushes off career-ending scandals that roll off him like water off a duck’s back.  

Part 3

Then finally we get an analysis of The New York Times’ investigative article on employment and work practices at the country’s most valuable retailer Amazon, and speak with Barbara Garson, the author of “The Electronic Sweatshop: How Computers are Transforming the Office of the Future” and “Down the Up Escalator: How the 99% Live in the Great Recession”. We will discuss how the country’s fifth richest person, Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos, has imposed a work culture of “purposeful Darwinism” that encourages workers to snitch on each other as they strive long hours in a corporate game of musical chairs to avoid being fired in the annual culling of the workforce.