Challenging Opinions >>

Otaviano Canuto was a vice president of the World Bank Group. He previously served as Executive Director at the Board of the International Monetary Fund, the IMF, and he’s held other roles at the World Bank and, as well as the position of State Secretary for International Affairs at the Ministry of Finance of Brazil. … Continue reading "CO147 Otaviano Canuto on the Post-Covid Economy"

Dr. Rashawn Ray is Associate Professor of Sociology and Executive Director of the Lab for Applied Social Science Research (LASSR) at the University of Maryland, College Park. He’s a coauthor of the book How Families Matter: Simply Complicated Intersections of Race, Gender, and Work. ***** I’ve talked about Venezuela before, it’s a country that has … Continue reading "CO146 Rashawn Ray on the Numbers of Policing"

Steven Koltai is an entrepreneur, long time business executive, and foreign policy expert with a focus on entrepreneurship. He’ s also the author of ‘Peace through Entrepreneurship: Investing in a Startup Culture for Security and Development‘ published by Brookings Institution Press in 2016. ***** Sometimes it’s hard to tell if the idiots are getting more … Continue reading "CO145 Steven Koltai on the Business of Peace"

Tom Rosenstiel founded and for 16 years directed the Project for Excellence in Journalism. He was also a reporter and editor, and he recently published his third novel, Oppo. ***** If you are looking for reading suggestions to fill up the lock down hours, I’d suggest anything by Dave Eggars. He’s a great and inventive … Continue reading "CO144 Tom Rosenstiel on Political Fact and Fiction"

William Burke-White is Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. He’s got a long string of other academic distinctions, and he has written extensively on international criminal law, international economic law, and human rights. He’s also the author of forthcoming book How International Law got Lost, due to be published next … Continue reading "CO143 William Burke-White on Electoral Interference"

Bill St. Clair is a blogger, programmer and libertarian. ***** You might not have heard of Benford’s law. It’s not so much a law, it’s really just an observation that when you get a large enough set of natural numbers, let’s say a list of all the countries in the world by population, in sets … Continue reading "CO142 Bill St Clair on Anarchy and Liberty"

Fletcher Armstrong is the south east director of the Center for Bioethical Reform. ***** Father abandoned child, wife husband, one brother another; for this illness seemed to strike through the breath and sight. And so they died. And none could be found to bury the dead for money or friendship. Members of a household brought … Continue reading "CO141 Fletcher Armstrong on the Underpinnings of the Case Against Abortion"

Amanda Starbuck is a senior food researcher and policy analyst at Food & Water Watch. ***** I’ve talked about the other thing a couple of times already, but I’m sure you’ve heard enough about it by now, and there’s nothing extra that I can say that hasn’t already been said, so let’s talk about something … Continue reading "CO140 Amanda Starbuck on Protecting Necessities"

Demetrius Minor is a member of the national advisory council of the Project 21 Black Leadership Network. He is also the associate producer of the nationally-syndicated “Stacy on the Right” talk radio show. In addition to writing that has been featured in The Washington Times, Townhall.com and by FreedomWorks, Demetrius is the author of the … Continue reading "CO139 Demetrius Minor on Being a Black Conservative"

Randy Sutton is a retired police lieutenant Las Vegas Police Department and founder of the Wounded Blue national assistance and support organisation for injured and disabled law enforcement officers. He’s also the author of a number of books including The Power of Legacy, Personal Heroes of America’s Most Inspiring People. I mentioned the previous episode … Continue reading "CO138 Randy Sutton on the Life of a Cop"

Roy Speckhardt is the executive director of the American Humanist Association, and the author of Creating Change Through Humanism published by Humanist Press . ***** As of this podcast, something over 2,000 people have died from Corona virus infections, all but six of them in China. About 75 thousand people have been confirmed as infected, … Continue reading "CO137 Roy Speckhardt on Freedom from Religion"

Rosanna Weaver is programme manager for executive compensation As You Sow. ***** Her face looks at the camera in a way that is totally different to how teenagers take selfies now. There’s no elaborate expression, but there is, for some reason, a hint of a smile. Maybe the instinct to smile when a camera is … Continue reading "CO136 Rosanna Weaver on Targeting Shareholders"

Chris Bostic is Deputy Director for Policy of ASH, Action on Smoking and Health. Which, since 1967 has been campaigning against Big Tobacco to reduce the death toll from smoking. ***** So this is a famous clip of Ellen Degeneres on her TV show talking about some ridiculous products aimed at women. Ellen is a … Continue reading "CO135 Chris Bostic on the End of Smoking"

Steve Garner is a researcher at the department of Social Science at Cardiff University. The BBC Analysis programme that he appeared in is available here. ***** Back in August I talked here about the pro-democracy protests, anti-Putin protests in Moscow, and I noted that, compared to the similarly-motivated protests in Hong Kong, there were small. People might grumble, … Continue reading "CO134 Steve Garner on Whiteness"

Ivan Eland is a senior fellow at the Independent Institute. He has a PhD in Public Policy from George Washington University and has been director of Defense Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, and he spent 15 years working for Congress on national security issues. Earlier this year he published War and the Rogue Presidency … Continue reading "CO133 Ivan Eland on Presidential Overreach"

Joan Esposito is the afternoon host for WCPT AM 820, Chicago’s progressive talk radio. We talked about, among other things, Barack Obama’s call for progressive unity and condemnation of excessive expectations of purity. ***** You’re used to me spouting on here based on not much more than my own prejudice, but here’s a topic that … Continue reading "CO132 Joan Esposito on Democratic Strategies"

Ira Mehlman is the media director of Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). In our discussion we talked about the prominent stories on FAIR’s home page which suggest that undocumented immigrants in the US are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime, or are a disproportionate burden on the economy. In fact, the weight of … Continue reading "CO131 Ira Mehlman on Debating Immigration"

Thom Hartmann is one of America’s most prominent progressive talk show hosts. His latest book, The Hidden History of the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of America was publisher by Berrett-Koehler recently. ***** I know that some listeners are in the UK, but most aren’t, and for you in the majority, although you’ve probably heard … Continue reading "CO130 Thom Hartmann on the Purpose of SCOTUS"

Randall Holcombe is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute, and DeVoe Moore Professor of Economics at Florida State University. In the past He has also served as President of the Public Choice Society, President of the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics and as a member of the Florida Governor’s Council of Economic … Continue reading "CO129 Randall Holcombe on Protecting Liberty"

Michael Tauberg is a senior Columnist with ProgressiveBrief.com. We discussed his article Trump Administration Corruption Doesn’t Excuse the Bidens. ***** Air pollution in India is off the scale. That sounds like a rhetorical flourish, but it isn’t. It’s literally the truth. Most cities around the world, including in India, have sensors which monitor the levels … Continue reading "CO128 Michael Tauberg on Questioning Biden"