Lex Listen
By Alexa Whaley
Lex ListenFeb 14, 2023
Aliens, UAPs, and Space Exploration with Dr. Avi Loeb
There are a lot of questions surrounding the possibility of intelligent life recently. What used to be a fringe subject that only conspiracy theorists or weird uncles would bring up is now being discussed by scholars, elected officials, and even major media outlets. Even recent polling suggests that 65% of Americans believe intelligent life exists on other planets. That’s more than people who believe in God. And this is no doubt fueled by the latest unidentified aerial phenomenons also known as UAPs that were shot down and are still in the process of being recovered and identified. No one knows what is going on – and understandably so. I wanted to look further into this topic, so I brought on a person that I often look to for information in this area, Dr. Avi Loeb.
Dr. Loeb is an Astrophysicist and the former chair of the department of Astronomy at Harvard. He is the Founding Director of the Black Hole Initiative (BHI), the Chair of the Breakthrough Starshot Advisory Committee, and has authored nearly 700 research articles and written 4 books, most recently Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth. He also founded The Galileo Project at Harvard University.
“Listen-first” Politics with Layla Zaidane
One of the reasons why I started this show was because I found listening to be an effective tool in softening hearts and minds, especially my own. I think this attribute is particularly important in politics. When philosophers, political scientists, and other thinkers sat down to come up with their ideas on democracy – debate, and listening were kind of the whole point. I know in my own life, I have changed my mind on several topics simply because I was able to hear a sit-down conversation or long explanation on the matter as opposed to a headline or a 60-second news clip.
Today’s guest I think really embodies this sort of listen-first politicking. Although reactionary politics makes more headlines, there are rising leaders such as our guests today who are combatting the status quo through empathy, open-mindedness, and listening. I’m a firm believer that these traits are not just reserved for the few, but instead, they are usually mended and formed through intentionality and experiences that form these leaders into becoming an effective listener and in turn bridgebuilders.
Today’s guest is Layla Zaidane. Layla is the President and CEO of the Millennial Action Project. She is a nationally recognized expert on youth engagement and has been featured in outlets including Forbes, The Washington Post, New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, Refinery29, The Huffington Post, and McClatchy. Before joining MAP, Layla served as the Managing Director for Generation Progress, where she led integrated communications, policy, and advocacy efforts around solutions to the challenges facing today's youth, and spearheaded innovative new global youth engagement efforts. She helped launch and manage the It's On Us campaign in partnership with the White House in 2014, and launched the Higher Ed, Not Debt campaign in 2013, a coalition group of dozens of organizations working to make higher education accessible and affordable for all.
Show Resources:
Follow Layla: https://twitter.com/layla_says
Follow Millennial Action Project: https://twitter.com/MActionProject
Recommended Listens from Host:
Follow the podcast on socials:
Lex Listen: https://www.instagram.com/lexlisten/
Alexa Whaley: https://www.instagram.com/alexa_whaley/
Have an idea for the show? DM’s are open.
What's Wrong with TikTok? with Michael McLaughlin
It’s clear that our nation is in a pivotal place for reframing its approach to US-China relations. One of the ways that I see this manifested in policy is with the influx of TikTok bans that have been occurring around the states. On today’s episode, I brought on Michael McLaughlin to discuss the bans and what U.S. politicians are really trying to get at with them.
Michael is a cybersecurity attorney and policy adviser. Before his time in law, he served as an Intelligence Officer in the United States Navy for over 12 years. While assigned to United States Cyber Command, he also served as Senior Counterintelligence Advisor to the Commander. Michael also served as a cyber policy research affiliate for the Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security, where Michael advised senior government officials on the integration and expansion of Department of Defense cyberspace capabilities. Michael is also the author of a new book called: Battlefield Cyber: How China and Russia are Undermining Our Democracy and National Security.
Show Resources:
Michael McLaughlin’s Book Available for Pre-order: https://www.amazon.com/Battlefield-Cyber-Undermining-Democracy-National/dp/1633889017
Follow Michael on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-g-mclaughlin/
Recommended Listens from the Host:
How to Fix the House with Dustin Wahl
The US House of representatives is absolutely bonkers right now. It holds a slim majority; it just went through an unprecedented speaker election, and it is full of *unique* members who are often winning by slim majorities.
Today’s episode deep dives into a potential solution to the House’s craziness called “proportional representation.” Proportional representation is the popular democratic system where a party shares the percentage of seats in a legislature equals its share of the popular votes nationwide.
To discuss the topic, we have Dustin Wahl. Dustin works for the organization, Fix Our House. Fix Our House is a new education and advocacy campaign that promotes proportional representation as needed reform to offer America’s diverse electorate full and fair representation in the House of Representatives. Dustin first got his start in reforming institutions when co-founding the organization, Save71 an alumni organization that advocated for reform at Liberty University. The organization called for accountability during former President Jerry Falwell’s corruption and scandals and continues to call for accountability and reform within the school.
This episode was pre-recorded in October.
Mentioned:
- Find Dustin at https://twitter.com/_DustinWahl
- Fix Our House
- Save71