Tatter

Sarah Sherman-Stokes is Associate Director of the Immigrants' Rights and Human Trafficking Program at Boston University Law School, and she graciously spoke with me about what's been happening along the southern border of the U.S., where prosecution of families seeking asylum has gained national and international attention, especially since children have been intentionally separated from their parents by the U.S. government. She also spoke to historical context, including the origins of MS-13. In addition to discussing the facts on the ground, and relevant history, we also discussed what people who want to help asylum-seekers can do.

LINKS

Cover art photo credit: Orage PLN (public domain, from Wikimedia Commons)

Special Guest: Sarah R. Sherman-Stokes.

On June 18, 2018, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen held a briefing largely focused on the Trump administration's treatment of families seeking asylum at the southwestern border of the U.S. On June 19, I spoke with Sarah Pierce, Policy Analyst for the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute. We discussed the predominant home countries of those who have been recently apprehended at the southwestern border of the U.S., a bit about data cited by the Nielsen, and quite a bit more about what would happen if legislation proposed in the U.S. House were to become law.

LINKS

(Cover art photo credit: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, The White House, & U.S. Congress)

Special Guest: Sarah Pierce.

This is a conversation with four people who all know stories well, and who were willing to think with me about how stories can work for and against those fighting injustice. Jonathan Adler is a psychologist at the Olin College of Engineering, who has studied the stories people tell while addressing mental or physical health challenges. Skylar Bayer is a marine biologist who is currently working on marine policy in DC as a Dean John A. Knauss Fellow in the U.S. Senate, and is also a storyteller. Tara Clancy is a storyteller and host with The Moth, and has appeared on The Moth Radio Hour, Snap Judgment, and Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!, and she's also the author of a recent memoir (The Clancys of Queens). Adriana Salerno is a mathematician at Bates College, a storyteller, and a blogger.

LINKS

Special Guests: Adriana Salerno, Jonathan Adler (psychologist), Skylar Bayer, and Tara Clancy.

In elections with three or more candidates, spoiler effects are thought to occur when one candidate, one with supporters who are ideologically similar to those of another candidate, garners enough support that a third, ideologically dissimilar or even opposite, candidate can win without a majority. For example, in the 2014 Maine gubernatorial general election, Democratic nominee Mike Michaud received 43.4% of the vote, while independent candidate Eliot Cutler received 8.4%. Because Cutler's issue positions (e.g., pro-choice, supportive of marriage equality, pro-union) aligned him more closely with Democrats than the Republican opponent, many have suggested that Cutler's participation in the election drew enough support away from Michaud to prevent what otherwise would have been a Democratic victory. As it was, Republican Paul LePage was elected with 48.2% of the vote, less than a true majority.

Vote-count systems that allow a candidate to win with merely a plurality (i.e., the greatest number of votes, but less than a majority) are vulnerable to spoiler effects. In response to apparent spoiler effects such as this one, and (as some have argued) Ralph Nader's impact on the 2000 U.S. presidential election, some reformers have advocated for the use of ranked-choice voting. In this episode, I talk with political scientists Jason McDaniel and Jack Santucci about the potential rewards--but also risks--associated with ranked-choice voting. The risks include ones that could be detrimental to the interests of low-income citizens, and less educated ones.

EPISODE LINKS

2014 Op-ed from Minnesota (Jacobs & Miller redux)

FAQ on ranked-choice voting in Maine

A timeline of actions on ranked choice voting in Maine

William Poundstone's "Gaming The Vote"

Special Guests: Jack Santucci and Jason McDaniel.

According to the Brewers Association, in 1994, there were 537 brewpubs, microbreweries, and regional craft brewers in the U.S. In 2017, that number had risen to 6,266. Coast to coast, there's been an explosion in craft brewing, with brewers producing a delightful diversity of types of beer. But demographic diversity has been a different story. It's a story still being written, but it's still a different story.

In this episode of Tatter, I talk with J. Nikol Jackson-Beckham, who has written about beer and was recently named the new Diversity Ambassador for the Brewers Association, and I also talk with Carla Jean Lauter, a Maine-based beer writer who has written under the name "The Beer Babe." We discuss the status of women and people of color in the craft beer industry.

I learned a lot from our conversation, including about the Pink Boots Society. Check out this episode. (Music in this episode is by Slavic Soul Party!, used by permission.)

Also, if you listen via iTunes, please post a review. I value feedback immensely--not as much as I value craft beer, but still immensely.

Special Guests: Carla Jean Lauter and J. Nikol Jackson-Beckham.

Writing is important in many areas, and the sciences are no exception. Publications such as Nature offer guidance on such issues as when to use past tense and when to use present tense. In these contexts, grammar is more than something for the Grammar Police to enforce. It matters substantively, as it shapes how assertions are understood by readers and listeners. These effects matter for understanding policy, because research in the sciences can potentially inform sound policy judgment, at least in my happy fantasyland where leaders actually pay attention to relevant science.

In this episode, my guest (linguist Conor Quinn) and I explore grammar and some of its impact on how people make claims, in English, and beyond.

Highlights

--Conor sounds smart (because he is)

Special Guest: Conor Quinn.

Lucas St. Clair is famous (or, for some, infamous) for leading the successful effort to persuade former U.S. President Barack Obama to designate 87,500 acres in northern Maine as the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. Now, St. Clair is running for Congress in Maine's Second Congressional District. As a follow-up to the "I-95 Northernmost" episode of Tatter, in which St. Clair was discussed and briefly quoted, this episode features the entirety of my interview with him.

Special Guest: Lucas St. Clair.

Maine political writer Al Diamon (The Daily Bulldog and The Forecaster) and political scientist Amy Fried (University of Maine and The Bangor Daily News) discuss Maine's Second Congressional District, the district's pivot from Democratic presidential candidates to Donald Trump, and the upcoming election of its representative to the U.S. House. The episode ends with an excerpt from a recent interview with Democratic candidate Lucas St. Clair, an interview that will be the basis of the next episode of Tatter.

Special Guests: Al Diamon and Amy Fried.

As in previous years and decades, the freedom of exchange of ideas and freedom of inquiry on college campuses are subjects of debate. In this episode, Sargent talks with legal and literary theorist Stanley Fish (author of, among other things, "There's No Such Thing As Free Speech, and It's a Good Thing, Too") as well as Bates College classicist Margaret Imber.

Special Guests: Margaret Imber and Stanley Fish.

The AR-15 style rifle is famous or infamous, depending on whom you ask. Celebrated by some as "America's Rifle," it is also notorious for its use in multiple mass shootings. For any of us inclined to engage in debates about access to the AR-15, especially if we debate gun enthusiasts who use and know the weapon, it behooves us to be informed. Preparing this podcast allowed me to learn more, particularly (though not exclusively) through my conversation with John Ismay, a New York Times reporter. I invite you to listen if you're curious.

(Special thanks to the Bates College Digital Media Studios, and especially Colin Kelley.)

Special Guest: John Ismay.