How US Courts Endorse Deception in Personal Relationships

Guest: Jill Elaine Hasday, Distinguished McKnight University Professor and the Centennial Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School, Author of “Intimate Lies and the Law”

If you lie or defraud someone in business, you can end up in jail or –at the very least -forced to compensate the person you deceived. But you can cause the same level of financial harm to a family member or romantic partner and there’s a very good chance the court will let you off without even a slap on the wrist.  

Conspiracy Without the Theory

Guest: Russell Muirhead, Chair of the Department of Government and Robert Clements Professor of Democracy and Politics at Dartmouth College, Co-Director of the Political Economy Project; Nancy L. Rosenblum, Senator Joseph Clark Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government Emerita at Harvard University

Often in American politics today it feels like we’re living in separate realities. Former special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony in Congress Wednesday is a perfect example. Democrats zeroed in on the details they hoped would convince the public that President Trump is guilty of something worthy of impeachment. Republicans spent their time picking at the integrity of the investigation itself, hoping to show it for the partisan “witch hunt” they –and President Trump –insist it was. And today, both sides are declaring victory.

The Forgotten Homeless

Guest: Graham Pruss, Researcher, University of Washington's Interdisciplinary Critical Narratives Team and Homeless Research Initiative

Big cities with expensive housing have seen an increase in people living out of cars, trailers and RVs. Technically, “car campers” are homeless, but they don’t usually consider themselves homeless and they’re not interested in staying at a homeless shelter or accessing homeless services. So they fall through the cracks –and become a nuisance for neighborhoods who don’t want overstuffed cars parked perpetually on their streets. 

Poor, Sick, Mad & Criminal in 19th Century New York

Guest: Stacy Horn, Author of “Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad & Criminal in 19th-Century New York”

Nellie Bly is heading back to the site of her most famous exploit. As an investigative journalist in the late 1800s, Bly went undercover to get herself committed to the notorious insane asylum on an island in New York’s East River. Her expose shocked the world and drew attention to the dreadful treatment of those with mental illness. Today, Roosevelt Island is a trendy residential neighborhood, but its residents want to make sure the island’s difficult past is remembered. Hence the Nellie Bly statue they’re planning for the spot where the insane asylum once stood.

Summer Learning Loss Worries Many Parents

Guest: Abel Koury, Senior Research Associate at the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy, Ohio State University

One of parents' and teachers' greatest fears is that young students will leave for summer break with their heads stuffed with knowledge from the last year and return having lost all of it. This phenomenon, known as summer learning loss, is a common enough belief that it is driving policy changes like shorter breaks or year-round options. But data on the topic are mixed, indicating that summer loss is not as big of a problem as many parents fear.