Supreme Court, Right to Repair, Calvin and Hobbes

Guest: Kimberly Robinson, Bloomberg BNA Supreme Court reporter Republican Senators invoked what’s known as “the nuclear option” to push past opposition from Democrats and clear the way for Judge Neil Gorsuch’s appointment to the Supreme Court. Much of the drama centers on procedural maneuvers and partisan bickering. The US Supreme Court is supposed to be above politics, but making that argument will become more difficult after the Gorsuch confirmation.

Guest: Gay Gordon-Byrne, Executive Director of the Repair Association. Once upon a time, electronics were simple enough that someone with a repair manual and a bit of knowhow could figure out how to fix a broken TV, stereo or camera. But electronics are a lot more complicated today, and companies that make everything from cars to phones are working to prevent repairs from happening easily. They no longer provide repair manuals free of charge. They lock down the software that runs a device so repairs can only be done by the manufacturer – at a higher price than the corner store would have charged. And, in the case of many Apple products, just opening the device up to inspect its inner-workings is virtually impossible. So, now repair shops and consumer advocates are pushing back with legislation and lobbying aimed at reclaiming the “right to repair” electronics.

Guest: J.T. Griffin, Chief Government Affairs Officer, MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) Last month, Utah became the first state in the nation to drop its drunk driving blood alcohol limit to .05. While that lower limit is common in other countries, it’s unusual in the US, where the standard for years has been .08 blood alcohol content, thanks to advocacy by the influential group “Mothers Against Drunk Driving,” or MADD. Now, the interesting twist here is that MADD does not advocate lowering the DUI limit to .05 and many critics argue that if the goal is making roads safer, changing the blood alcohol threshold is not the best approach.

Guest: Phil Windley, PhD, Enterprise Architect in the CIO’s office at Brigham Young University and Chairman of the Sovrin Foundation.  These days it’s tough to buy a new electronic device that’s not WiFi enabled with the promise of cool features if you hook it up to the internet. What trouble might hackers cause if literally everything from our cars to our crockpots are connected online? Does the Internet of Things pose a threat to our digital freedom?

Guest: Martine Leavitt, author of “Calvin,” winner of a Governor General’s Literary Award in 2016.   What if Calvin from the beloved comic strip Calvin and Hobbes wasn’t just a self-absorbed, hyperactive kid with an imaginary pet tiger? What if he was, instead, suffering from schizophrenia?  That thought inspired Martine Leavitt’s young adult book, “Calvin” which, in 2016, received one of the most prestigious literary awards in Canada: The Governor General’s Literary Award.

Guest: Graham Thornicroft, PhD, Professor of Community Psychiatry at King's College London In wealthy nations like the US, it’s not unusual for Hollywood stars and prominent individuals to talk openly about struggling with – and seeking treatment for – conditions such as depression.  That is not so much the case in developing countries where only about 1 in 27 people who suffer depression get adequate treatment for it.  The estimate comes from a study published in The British Journal of Psychiatry.