August 16, 2014 – A Discussion of the Protests In Missouri

This weeks show carries on the discussion of the Missouri shooting of a young, unarmed 18-year-old African-American man, who was shot by white police officer Darren Wilson. The city of Ferguson, and the surrounding areas have seen protests, and rioting and looting, and in response, city and county police have responded in full military force. It seems almost everyone has on opinion on this issue, so we go to the phones to get your input. Guests for this show: Samuel Walker: One of the largest surprises to come from the protests in Ferguson, Missouri was the militarization of police. Instead of being part of the community, they seemed to view the lawful protesters as hostile foes. Dressed in military gear and armed with the machines of war, the police were intimidating and at times seemed out of control. Our guest is Samuel Walker, a criminologist at University of Nebraska. He conducted extensive research on police force issues. His current book is, The New World of Police Accountability. Dr. Daniel Levitin: In 2011, Americans took in five times as much information every day as they did in 1986 – the equivalent of 175 newspapers. During our leisure time every day, each of us processes 34 gigabytes, or 100,000 words—and that’s not even counting our work! The information age is drowning us in a deluge of data, even while we’re expected to make more and faster decisions than ever before. Here to talk about information overload in the 21st Century is Dr. Daniel Levitin. He is a professor at McGill College and the author of a new book, “The Organized Mind:Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload.” Shermin Kruse: Shermin Kruse grew up in Iran, but now is a lawyer the great city of Chicago. Kruse co-founded Pasfarda Arts and Cultural Organization, hich is committed to promoting peace between America and Iran through the arts.Kruse has a new novel, Butterfly Stitching. It was inspired by her true life experiences. Her novel delves into political oppression, Iran’s terrifying secret police, forbidden love, and the realities of Iran’s brutal war against Iraq.