This week on Connect the Dots, we’ll explore how the representation of Asian American and Pacific Islanders in the media, and lack thereof, can impact the mental health of the people in these communities. 

To learn more, we spoke with Dr. Kevin Nadal, Distinguished Professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York, and the author of “Filipino American Psychology” and “That's So Gay! Micro-aggressions and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community, and Valerie Soe, a Chinese American experimental filmmaker and Asian American Studies professor at San Francisco State University, who has produced experimental films in an effort to dismantle racist stereotypes. 

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How did the student loan crisis get so bad?

This week on Connect the Dots, we’ll explore the history of the federal student loan program and how it has impacted a generation of borrowers. 

We spoke with Josh Mitchell, author of “The Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became a National Catastrophe,” and with Elizabeth Tandy Shermer, author of “Indentured Students: How Government-Guaranteed Loans Left Generations Drowning in College Debt,” who both explained how the student loan crisis started from systemic flaws in the 1965 Higher Education Act and how that has helped propel the loan program into a $1.7 trillion industry. 

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This week on “Connect the Dots”, we’ll explore the Walt Disney Company’s tense relationship with conservative politicians as the company attempts to advocate for its LGBTQ+ employees in the wake of Florida’s Parent Rights Education Bill, also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” proposal, which was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis in March. 

We spoke with Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, a professor of corporate governance at Stetson University, who explained how Disney's relationship with politicians has fostered privileges for the company. We also heard from Blake Simons, a former Disney Parks employee and a student of corporate law and Savannah Bell, another former Disney employee and LGBTQ+ Florida resident.

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This week on Connect the Dots, we investigate the psychological mechanisms behind climate change inaction in discussion with psychologist and environmental scholar Susan Clayton – who co-authored the American Psychological Association (APA) reports on “Psychology and Global Climate Change” – and Kate Melges, an oceans campaigner at Greenpeace USA who works to end the flow of plastic pollution. 

This week on Connect the Dots, we’ll explore how President Biden’s proposal could impact billionaires and their income, how it could help the average American taxpayer and if the bill has the potential to make the tax system more equal.

We spoke with Alan Auerbach, a professor of economics at University of California, Berkeley, and the director of the Center for Tax Policy and Dr. Tim Libretti, a Politics USA contributing writer, professor and associate dean of English for the College of Arts and Sciences at Northeastern Illinois University, to get a clearer understanding about the bill and how political messaging influences the way we think about taxes in the U.S. 

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Pres. Biden fulfilled a campaign promise to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court this year by choosing Kentanji Brown Jackson to replace outgoing justice Stephen Breyer. The nation then watched as Jackson sat through aggressive questioning during her confirmation hearings. 

Why are we still celebrating firsts such as Jackson’s nomination? 

This week on Connect the Dots, we’re joined by Dr. Lindsey, who is also the author of Colored No More: Reinventing Black Womanhood in Washington D.C. We’re also joined by professor Rory Little of the UC Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. We’ll discuss Jackson’s nomination, her confirmation hearings and what it all reveals about representation in our federal government.

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Are journalists – the people we hope remain neutral in the midst of war – truly unbiased when it comes to reporting on the Russia-Ukraine conflict? 

Since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine last month, reporters have been called out for saying Ukrainians “look more like us,” comparing them to white Americans and implying that wars in non-white countries are normalized.

On this week’s episode of Connect the Dots, we hear from Lorraine Ali, a television critic for the Los Angeles Times, about her views on how inherent bias affects war reporting. We’ll also speak with her about her family's escape from Iraq during the U.S. invasion and how she hopes to see equitable coverage of other countries experiencing warfare in addition to Ukraine. 

Residents in war-torn Ukraine are on the run – at least some of them are.

Overall, 7 million people are expected to cross its Western border. While this is the largest exodus of its kind from Europe in decades people can be found in desperate attempts to leave their countries throughout the world at any given time, and not everyone has the capability to leave at the same time or are met at their destination with open arms.

On this week’s episode of Connect the Dots podcast, Executive Producer Mallory Somera speaks with Dr. Coleen Kivlahan – Medical Director of the University of California San Francisco’s Human Rights asylum clinic and Chair of the UCSF Health and Human Rights Initiative – to catch up on the refugee crisis in Ukraine and discuss difficulties faced by different refugee groups as they search for shelter and security. 

In the latest episode of the “Connect the Dots” podcast, KCBS Radio’s Melissa Culross explores how Black History and its leaders in civil rights movements have informed the past, present and future of activism by hearing from Fredrika Newton, the co-founder and president of the Huey P. Newton Foundation in Oakland; Atlanta City Council member Michael Julian Bond, son of Civil Rights leader Julian Bond; and Justin Scott Douglas of the Black Star Project in Chicago.

This episode was written and produced by Lauren Barry, Sydney Fishman and Mallory Somera; edited, mixed and mastered by Mallory Somera; hosted by Melissa Culross.

Sports gambling is a popular trend, and during Super Bowl season, the stakes are high. 

But what could this common form of gambling do to our mental health and our social lives? What happens when it leads down a path of addiction?

On the latest episode of the “Connect the Dots” podcast, we hear from Dr. Timothy Fong, the co-director of the UCLA Gambling Studies program, as well as sports radio pioneer (and former gambling addict) Craig Carton and law professor Marc Edelman to learn about the ins and outs of sports gambling and the work that’s being done to humanize those struggling with gambling addiction.

This episode was written and produced by Tim Scheld and Dempsey Pillott; edited, mixed mastered by Mallory Somera; hosted by Mack Rosenberg.