Violence in Israel, Pitfalls of Body Cam Footage, Ebola Outbreak

Guest: Quinn Mecham, PhD, Associate Professor of Political Science, Brigham Young University More than 40 Palestinians were killed and more than a thousand injured by Israeli soldiers in clashes along the border fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip. The protests coincided with the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem, a move fraught with political tension.  Armenia is undergoing political change as a new Prime Minister is sworn in. We'll discuss the circumstances leading up to Nikol Pashinian becoming Prime Minister and the political challenges facing the country.  Malaysia’s recent elections saw shocking results: an oppositional coalition formed a government and dethroned the incumbent party for the first time in more than half a century. What does the peaceful transition of government say about democracy in Malaysia?

Guest: Case Lawrence, JD, Founder and CEO, CircusTrix A generation ago, the family with the trampoline in the background seemed to be the most popular on the block. Nowadays, one trampoline won’t do for kids. They beg their parents for a trip to one of those warehouses filled with trampolines, foam pits and swinging ropes – some even have Ninja-warrior-type obstacle courses and trapeze swings. The jump craze is serious business in the US right now and the largest trampoline park company in the world happens to be headquartered here in Provo: CircusTrix.

Guest: Deryn Strange, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice The majority of police and the American public, surveyed by Pew Research, favor the use of body cameras by officers to record interactions with the public. The hope is that video evidence of just what happened during an encounter can restore some of the fraying trust between police and communities.  If only it were that simple.

Guest: Brittany Long Olson, Writer, Illustrator, Editor, comicdiaries.com, Author of "Dendo: One Year and One Half in Tokyo" First we had blogs, then Facebook and Instagram, as a platform for telling the intimate details of our lives to the world. All over the internet, you can peek into the triumphs, failures and daily minutiae of people you know and those you don’t. Brittany Long Olsen who keeps a daily journal in the form of comic strips. Her self-published book “Dendo: One Year and One Half in Tokyo” chronicles the 18 months she spent in Japan as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Guest: Rod Gustafson, Film Reviewer at ParentPreviews.com Mother’s Day hit the movies over the weekend with two takes on the mama bear trope. Gabrielle Union fights off bad guys to save her kids in “Breaking In.” Melissa McCarthy simultaneously embarrasses and inspires her college-aged daughter when she enrolls at the same school in “Life of the Party.”

Guest: Jeremy Konyndyk, Senior Policy Fellow, Center for Global Development The World Health Organization announced last week that there is an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo—19 people have died so far. The organization is rushing to contain the deadly virus, which kills half its victims. Over 11,000 died in the 2014-2016 Ebola pandemic in West Africa.