The Sidebar

Christopher Leonard and Charles Kenny discuss the drought in the Midwest and its effects on food, fuel, and politics. Konstantin Kakaes hosts.

Gabriel Sherman discusses the way media covers and hypes tragedy in the age of the 24-hour news cycle and David Gray explains why America is the only advanced nation without a vacation policy. Elizabeth Weingarten hosts. 

Lina Khan illuminates the reasons behind the precipitous decline of American startups over the past few decades, and Danielle Kehl explains why high-speed Internet in many major American cities is slower and costlier than offerings in comparable municipalities around the world. Elizabeth Weingarten hosts.

Reniqua Allen explains the controversy behind Texas' voter ID law and weighs in on Mitt Romney's cold reception at the NAACP. Konstantin Kakaes breaks down the science of the Higgs Boson, and argues that its discovery has been overhyped. Elizabeth Weingarten hosts.

Noam Scheiber and Liza Mundy discuss Anne Marie Slaughter's controversial Atlantic magazine cover story, "Why Women Still Can't Have it All", and explore facets of presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's Mormonism. Scheiber talks about one way Romney's Mormon background may have helped him financially this election, and Mundy explains how Romney's faith could impact his  policies affecting women -- if only he would address the subject. Elizabeth Weingarten hosts. 

Alexandra Starr talks about how President Obama's new immigration executive order could impact U.S. competitiveness - and the Latino vote. Dana Goldstein explores a counter intuitive way to get more women to pursue science, technology and engineering careers: Get them to play more video games as kids.

Peter Bergen discusses the Obama Administration's covert drone war in Yemen, White House information leaks, and the president's kill list. Evgeny Morozov explores the peaceful side of cyber warfare and the American cyber attacks on Iran. Elizabeth Weingarten Hosts.

Host Elizabeth Weingarten talks to Steve LeVine about the environmental downside of the impending oil and natural gas boom, and to Jamie Holmes about whether New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's soda ban can really change consumer behavior.

Host Elizabeth Weingarten talks to Andrés Martinez about the student-led protest movement in Mexico tied to the July presidential election and with Lisa Guernsey about the dark side of summer vacation for kids in the U.S.

The implications of two global summits, the NATO Conference in Chicago and the Iranian nuclear talks in Baghdad are explored this week as Jennifer Rowland and Tom Kutsch join host Elizabeth Weingarten.

On this week's episode of The Sidebar Leila Hilal discusses Egypt's first ever presidential debate and the emerging democratic process in the Middle East. Jeff Vanke talks about France's new president and the future of the Eurozone. Elizabeth Weingarten hosts.

The meaning of Russian President Vladimir Putin's third term and updates on immigration policy and trends are topics for discussion in this week’s podcast.  Host Pamela Chan is joined by Schwartz Fellows Steve Levine and Tamar Jacoby.   To learn more about today’s topics, check out: Steve’s blog, The Oil and the Glory (http://oilandglory.foreignpolicy.com/ ) and book, Putin's Labyrinth: Spies, Murder, and the Dark Heart of the New Russia (http://www.amazon.com/Putins-Labyrinth-Spies-Murder-Russia/dp/0812978412)  Tamar’s opinion on CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/24/opinion/jacoby-immigration-supreme-court/) and the ImmigrationWorksUSA website (http://www.immigrationworksusa.org/) 

Human rights in China and the U.S. Federal student loan interest rate debate are topics for discussion, as Rebecca MacKinnon and Jason Delisle join host Pamela Chan.

The short fallings of US internet policy and national security rhetoric in a world where information and technological developments are more easily collected and shared around the world are topics for this week’s episode of The Sidebar.  Host Pamela Chan is joined by Thomas Gideon from the Open Technology Initiative and Konstantin Kakaes from the Schwartz Fellows Program. 

Inequality in the tax code and updates from the Presidential campaigns are topics for this week's episode of The Sidebar. Host Pamela Chan is joined by Rachel Black and Franklin Foer.