Battletested with Tanya Acker

Tanya talks to the CEO and Founder of Think of Us about his personal journey through foster care; redesigning the foster care system; and healing childhood wounds through “radical service.”

Do you care? Should you? Lisa Rein did a story on the penalties the Social Security Administration imposed on those who broke the rules, and an independent watchdog group opened an investigation. When cheaters cheat, do rules still matter? And are all cheaters treated equally?

(Taped 6/21/22)

Special Re-release: Tanya talks to New York Times reporter Emily Bazelon and former U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee member Russ Feingold about historical pushback against perceived Court excesses; reforming the Court and how we got to 9; and the heightened politicization of the confirmation process.

Tanya talks to the author of The Devil Never Sleeps: Learning To Live in an Age of Disasters about the January 6 hearings; the ongoing insurrection and the way to defuse it; and about how thinking ahead can help us “fail safer” when bad things happen. 

Tanya talks to the young lawyer about why her parents homeschooled her (hint: being cast as “the mulatto slave girl” in school plays played a part); becoming the young Black person to graduate from law school in US history; and the change she wants to make happen in the world.

Sarah Carver and Jennifer Griffith helped bring down the largest Social Security fraud in history - featured in The Big Conn (Apple TV+). What did courage cost them? 

Tanya talks to the World Champion Olympic medalist bobsledder and Past President of the Women Sport’s Federation about her formula for winning; double standards; her advice for confronting situations that are just wrong; and what it means to open doors for women in sports.

In person. Online. Tanya talks to the host of Banfield about the shootings in Buffalo, Uvalde and the violence racking the nation. 

Tanya talks to Catherine Porter, Toronto Bureau Chief of the New York Times and co-author of The Ransom: The Root of Haiti’s Misery - Reparations to Enslavers (New York Times, 5/20/22).

Tanya talks to the Congresswoman about Roe, the ups and downs of student loan forgiveness, and growing authoritarianism in America.