This week, Jeremi and Zachary are joined by Dr. Jasbir Singh to discuss the changing landscape of abortion access in the United States.

Zachary sets the scene with his poem entitled, "Ode to a Doctor."

Dr. Jasbir Singh is a specialist in maternal fetal medicine. He is in private practice with Austin Maternal Fetal Medicine Organization, affiliated with St. David’s Medical System in Austin, Texas.

This episode was mixed and mastered by Kate Whitmer.

This week, Jeremi and Zachary are joined by Dr. Peniel Joseph to discuss his new book, The Third Reconstruction, and his interpretations of American history.

Zachary sets the scene with his poem entitled, "The Third Reconstruction."

Peniel E. Joseph  is the Barbara Jordan Chair in Ethics and Political Values, Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy, and Associate Dean for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of award-winning books on African American history, including The Sword and the Shield, Stokely: A Life, and most recently, The Third Reconstruction.

This episode was mixed and mastered by Rayna Sevilla and Jasper Murphy.

Today, Jeremi and Zachary discuss the significance and legacy of Mikhail Gorbachev and his political career with professor, author, and political scientist Dr. William Taubman.

Zachary reads his poem, "What Mikhail Thought of."

This episode of This is Democracy was mixed and mastered by Morgan Honaker.

This week, Jeremi and Zachary are joined by American historian Mark Updegrove. They discuss Mark's recent book, Incomparable Grace: JFK in the Presidency and President John F. Kennedy's popularity and lasting legacy.

Zachary reads his poem, "Never Again the Same."

This episode of This is Democracy was edited, mixed, and mastered by Morgan Honaker.

This week, Jeremi and Zachary are joined by Arizona candidate for state attorney general, Kris Mayes. They discuss how state attorney generals fulfill the role of the highest law enforcement officer in the state, as well as how they're involved in elections and environmental issues.

Zachary sets the scene with his poem: "Prayer at the Sick Bed of Truth"

Kris Mayes is the Democratic candidate for Attorney General in Arizona in 2022. She served on the Arizona Corporation Commission from 2003 to 2010. She is a Professor of Practice at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.

https://krismayes.com/

This week, Jeremi and Zachary are joined by Hal Brands and Michael Beckley to discuss China's rise as a military power, lessons from the Cold War, and the changing relationship between the United States and China.

Zachary sets the scene with his poem: "Probably"

Hal Brands is the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He is also a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. He is the author of several books, including, most recently: The Twilight Struggle: What the Cold War Teaches Us about Great-Power Rivalry Today (2022), The Lessons of Tragedy: Statecraft and World Order (2019) co-authored with Charles Edel, and American Grand Strategy in the Age of Trump (2018). Professor Brands served as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Strategic Planning from 2015 to 2016. He has also served as lead writer for the Commission on the National Defense Strategy for the United States, and consulted with government offices and agencies in the intelligence and national security communities.

Michael Beckley is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Tufts University and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Previously, Michael was an International Security Fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and worked for the U.S. Department of Defense, the RAND Corporation, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He continues to advise offices within the U.S. Intelligence Community and U.S. Department of Defense. He published his first book in 2018: Unrivaled: Why America Will Remain the World’s Sole Superpower.

Brands and Beckley have co-written a new book: Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China: 

Danger Zone.

This episode was mixed and mastered by Karoline Pfeil.

This week, Jeremi and Zachary are joined by Professor Vida Johnson to discuss policing in America and the types of checks and balances required by a justice system.

Zachary sets the scene with his poem: "Prayer of the Unjustly Imprisoned"

Vida Johnson is an associate professor of law at Georgetown University. Prior to joining Georgetown, she was a supervising attorney in the Trial Division at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS), where she worked for eight years. At PDS Ms. Johnson was assigned to the most serious cases at the “Felony One” level, and her experience included numerous trials in D.C. Superior Court representing indigent clients facing charges including homicide, sexual assault, and armed offenses. Ms. Johnson’s responsibilities at PDS also included supervising other trial attorneys and serving as one of the agency’s two representatives to the D.C. Superior Court Sentencing Guidelines Commission. She recently published "Policing and the Siege of the United States Capitol” in Lawfare (16 June 2022): 

Policing and the Siege of the United States Capitol.

This episode was mixed and mastered by Karoline Pfeil.

This week, Jeremi and Zachary are joined by Dr. Adam Tooze to discuss the rise in inflation and the broader economic concepts that contribute to it.

Adam Tooze is the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of History at Columbia University. He is a leading economic historian and expert on the contemporary global economy. He is the author of numerous prize-winning books: Statistics and the German State 1900-1945: The Making of Modern Economic Knowledge (2001), Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy (2006), The Deluge: The Great War and the Remaking of the Global Order, 1916-1931 (2014); Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World (2018); and Shutdown: How COVID Shook the World's Economy (2021). Tooze frequently comments on current affairs for the Guardian, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, among other publications. You can follow him on Twitter: @adam_tooze.

This episode was mixed and mastered by Oscar Kitmanyen and Karoline Pfeil.

This week, Jeremi and Zachary are joined by Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch to discuss the ways in which U.S. policy has evolved in the region surrounding Ukraine, and the ways people should understand the evolution of that policy for current challenges regarding Ukraine and Democratization in the region as a whole.

Zachary sets the scene with his poem: "Ode to President Zelensky".

Marie Yovanovitch served as the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine (2016-2019), the Republic of Armenia (2008-2011) and the Kyrgyz Republic (2005-2008). She also served as the Dean of the School of Language Studies at the Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Department of State and as the Deputy Commandant and International Advisor at the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, National Defense University. Earlier she served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, where she coordinated policy on European and global security issues. Before that, she was the bureau’s Deputy Assistant Secretary responsible for issues related to the Nordic, Baltic, and Central European countries. Ambassador Yovanovitch is the author of a recent memoir: Lessons from the Edge.

This episode was mixed and mastered by Oscar Kitmanyen.