Panama Papers, American Religiosity, German Ambassador

Guest: Will Fitzgibbon, Reporter for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists  Some 11 million documents leaked from a Panamanian law firm called Mossack Fonseca reveal off-shore holdings of 12 current and former world leaders and more than 100 other politicians and public officials globally. Iceland’s prime minister resigned last week over his family’s financial dealings revealed in the Panama Papers. British Prime Minister David Cameron was on the hot seat in Parliament answering for his family’s offshore dealings revealed by the leak. Officials in China and Russia are clamping down on unwelcome media coverage of what the papers say about the shady financial dealings of their friends and family.

Guest: Carol Fishman Cohen, CEO and Co-Founder of iRelaunch  “Beware of the gap.” That was the warning drilled into me during a career skills and resume writing course near the end of college. Employers do not look kindly on an unexplained employment gap on your resume. Which makes getting back into the workforce after time off to take care of family or deal with a health crisis an even bigger challenge than finding your first job out of college.  The solution, according to Carol Fishman Cohen is to do like you did fresh out of college – get an internship – or a returnship as Cohen calls it.

Guest: Jean Twenge, PhD, Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University and Author of “Generation Me”  The rise of the “nones” has been much discussed since the Pew Research Center’s massive study on religion in America found that the fastest growing religious group in the country is people who claim “no religion.” A fifth of Americans now fit that category. But researchers have also suggested that “none” doesn’t necessarily mean “nothing.” Rather, “nones” are spiritual in their own, private way: they may believe in God and even pray; they’re just not into the public, organized aspects of faith.

Guest: Peter Wittig, German Ambassador to the United States  A deal between the European Union and Turkey went into effect one week ago. About 200 refugees were loaded onto boats in Greece and sent back to Turkey. But further deportations are on hold while Greek authorities attempt to process thousands of asylum applications. The looming threat of deportation may be having the intended effect of keeping refugees from attempting the dangerous boat trip to Greece. The Associated Press reports that just 18 refugees entered Greece by sea in the last 24 hours – which is down from the thousands that were coming daily at the peak of the crisis in October.  Getting to Germany has been the goal of many – maybe even the majority – of migrants fleeing war and poverty in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries.

Guest: Rod Gustafson, Film Reviewer at ParentPreviews.com  We discuss the film “God is Not Dead 2” and profanity in Hollywood.

Guests: Mike Wirthlin, PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor at BYU; Dave Brown, BYU's Technology Transfer Office One of the challenges NASA must solve before going to Mars is how to protect astronauts from the sun’s radiation during the long trip. We’re protected from the most harmful radiation here on Earth by a magnetic band at the outer edge of the atmosphere. To solve the radiation problem, NASA’s been running contests and offering prizes to people who offer good ideas.