America after COVID-19, Ben McAdams, The Better Half
After COVID-19, America Will Never Be the Same (0:30) Guest: Chris Karpowitz, PhD, Professor of Political Science, Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, BYU; Grant Madsen, PhD, Professor of History, BYU The COVID-19 pandemic clearly feels like a turning point for the United States. History books will probably refer to life before the 2020 coronavirus outbreak and after. I know I will. In what ways will our lives, our politics, our perceptions be permanently changed? Should Congress Meet Online? (19:28) Guest: Marci Harris, Former Congressional Staffer, Co-Founder and CEO of PopVox Let’s consider now how the pandemic might change the way Congress operates. At least five members of the House and Senate have contracted COVID-19 and many others have self-quarantined because of contact with an infected individual. Is it safe for members of Congress to be traveling back and forth between their districts and the Capitol every few weeks during a pandemic? Is there a way for Congress to do its business remotely during a crisis? So far House and Senate leadership have resisted the idea of going virtual. But there are others in Congress clamoring for it. Belarus May Be Next on Russia’s “To Annex” List. (36:01) Guest: Matthew Schmidt, Associate Professor of National Security and Political Science at the University of New Haven. Belarus is a former Soviet bloc country landlocked and sandwiched between Russia and the European Union. Russian President Vladimir Putin could make it his – just like he annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. In some ways Belarus and Russia make a good fit. They’ve been closed economically and culturally for years. And Belarus’ leader is often called “Europe’s last dictator.” Belarus has continued to be even more of a Soviet-style country than Russia has. Congressman Ben McAdams on His Encounter With COVID-19 (50:35) Guest: Ben McAdams, United States Representative for Utah’s 4th Congressional District Close to a half dozen members of US Congress have come down with COVID-19. Utah Democrat Ben McAdams was among the first and his battle with the virus included a week in the hospital. Why Women Are Genetically Superior (1:00:52) Guest: Sharon Moalem, MD, PhD, Author Of, THE BETTER HALF: On the Genetic Superiority of Women Around the world, COVID-19 is killing more men than women. That’s because women have two XX chromosomes, which makes their immune systems much better at fighting off infection. The genetic advantage of that extra X chromosome gives females a survival advantage from birth to death. But it comes with a cost.