Virtually Speaking

Life on planets orbiting low mass stars. Dr. Sarah Ballard completed her PhD in Astronomy & Astrophysics at Harvard University in 2012 and is now a NASA Carl Sagan fellow at the University of Washington. She’s written articles for the Harvard Crimson and for the Women in Astronomy blog about parental leave, values affirmation, and the intelligence of groups. On her website, she also provides some resources for running your own Impostor Syndrome workshop. Follow @hubbahubble @b0yle http://www.astro.washington.edu/users/sarahba/Welcome.html

Historian Rick Perlstein returns to Virtually Speaking to discuss his new book, The Invisible Bridge.  Blogger extraordinaire Digby joins us as guest interviewer.  RIck has described Digby this way: My other favorite political writer, Heather Parton, blogs under the name “Digby.” Daily for over 10 years she’s been unleashing a fire hose of brilliance on the fecklessness of the Democrats, the craziness of the Republicans and especially the way that what we now call the “culture wars” has been seared into our national DNA at least since the Civil War. In the acknowledgments to “Nixonland,” I called her the other half of my brain. We're delighted to have them both here tonight.

A VS Sundays regular, political satirist CultureofTruth is a US Constitutional lawyer and political satirist. His weekly Bobblespeak Translations are based on the transcripts of Meet the Press and This Week with George Stephanopoulos, sometimes known as the  Sunday morning talking heads.  Each week, he creates the 'most ridiculous moment' for Virtually Speaking Sundays. We play it at the bottom of the hour and then post it as a stand-alone podcast.

Ferguson Stutting down the gov't: McConnell's implied threat. Austerity in Europe and the US. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson/three-charts-to-email-to_b_5664699.html Rick Perry Indictment. The BofA mortgage settlement: http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/aug/21/bank-america-settlement-homeowners-help-deal-wait New York banking regulator Ben Lawsky rolling up the financial "consultant" scam: http://www.salon.com/2014/08/20/wall_streets_hot_new_scam_shady_banking_consultants_absolve_the_banks_that_pay_them/ The crazy debt gambit in Argentina and how it's actually a good thing: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2014/08/22/Why-Argentina-s-Crazy-Debt-Gambit-Could-Make-Sense

Jay talks with public policy researcher Kathleen Geier, who writes about economics, labor, feminism, politics and culture. See Inequality Matters, The Baffler, The Nation, The Washington Monthly, Salon, The American Prospect. etc.  More at: http://inequalitymattersblog.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html#sthash.9UqWAHEM.dpuf Follow @Kathy_Gee @JayAckroyd

Ferguson: the war at home. On the streets and in the courts. Discrediting progressive voices: Rick Perlstein. Jay Ackroyd moderates. Plus political satire from Culture of Ttruth.

This is a rerun of Jay Ackroyd's interview with Rick Perlstein, about his monumental tour de force, Nixonland. Rick is one of the nation's leading popular historians, and, until now, the capstone of his career.  He has actually exceeded himself in his latest book, The Invisible Bridge. He will be discussing that book with Digby as our guest host on August 28. 

Known for her work in theoretical cosmology at the interface of particle physics and astrophysics, author and theoretical astrophysicist, Katherine Freese is the George Eugene Uhlenbeck Collegiate Professor of Physics at the University of Michigan and Director of Nordita, the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, in Stockholm. In The Cosmic Cocktail: Three Parts Dark Matter, Katie 'recounts the hunt for dark matter, from the discoveries of visionary scientists like Fritz Zwicky—the Swiss astronomer who coined the term “dark matter” in 1933—to the deluge of data today from underground laboratories, satellites in space, and the Large Hadron Collider" Jennifer Ouellette - author of five popular science books. – specializes in physics and related topics, with particular emphasis on how science intersects with popular culture, science communication and outreach. Read Cocktail Party Physics at Scientific American. Follow @JenLucPiquant @KTFreese

Commentary. Follow @Stuart_Zechman @JayAckroyd

Richard (RJ) Eskow has a rich history of engagement with public policy making, in the Eastern Europe transition to market economies, in addition to extensive technical work in health care and finance in the US. He recounts his experience being on the inside of policy discussions. This conversation provides an interesting contrast to Joe Sudbay's talk with Gaius Publius, on tactics conducted for an outside game.

The Planetary Society’s Emily Lakdawalla, Space.com contributor Rod Pyle and journalist and author Marc Kaufman  look back at the first two years of the Curiosity Rover’s mission on Mars, and look ahead to the future of Mars exploration. Pyle is the author of the newly published book “Curiosity: An Inside Look at the Mars Rover Mission and the People Who Made It Happen.” Lakdawalla is working on a book tentatively titled “Curiosity on Mars: Design, Planning and the First Mars Year of Operations,” due to be published in 2015. Marc Kaufman writes for the Washington Post and is the author of "First Contact: Scientific Breakthroughs in the Hunt for Life Beyond Earth" and  Mars Up Close: Inside the Curiosity Mission, published August 5, 2014. NBC News science editor Alan Boyle is the host for this episode, which marks the second anniversary (in Earth years) of Curiosity’s Mars landing. Follow @B0yle @elakdawalla  @chryseplanatia #CuriosityRover

Balance of powers: SCOTUS restricting executive power and Congress refusing to act.  Are GOP seats really so safe that letting everything go to hell is a viable strategy? From Dept of Nat'l Security: CIA and NSA update. Joan McCarter & Marcy Wheeler plus Culture of Truth. Jay Ackroyd too. Follow @emptywheel @JoanMcCarter @Bobblespeak @JayAckroyd The 2014 Virtually Speaking Media Panel: Avedon Carol, Cliff Schecter, David Dayen, Dave Johnson, David Waldman, digby, Gaius Publius, Joan McCarter, Marcy Wheeler, RJ Eskow, Stuart Zechman

Australian economist and author Steve Keen considers himself a post-Keynesian, criticizing neoclassical economics as inconsistent, unscientific and empirically unsupported. He and Jay will talk about Keen's book Debunking Economics. Follow @ProfSteveKeen - Head Economics History & Politics at @KingstonUni, Neoclassical Econ critic, Debunking Economics author, Debtwatch blogger, Developer Minsky modeling program.

Tom Levenson talks with MIT science historian David Kaiser about the development of physics in the United States during the Cold War and Kaiser's latest book 'How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture and the Quantum Revival.' Follow @TomLevenson

July 27, 2014 – Political satirist Culture of Truth bases The Bobblespeak Translations on Meet the Press and This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Using show transcripts, he creates the 'most ridiculous moment' for Virtually Speaking Sundays. Excerpted from July 27 Virtually Speaking Sundays.