EP 154 WHY ARE BABY BOOMERS DIVORCING AT SUCH HIGH RATES?
Among U.S. adults ages 50 and older, the divorce rate has roughly doubled since the 1990’s, according to a recent Pew Research Center report. It’s a startling figure until you think about. Previous generations thought there was a stigma to divorce. No longer. And they often didn’t live long enough to make this decision. All that has changed and more and more people feel entitled to live fully and happily. Once the kids are gone, and that job is done, some married couples find they have nothing in common any longer. According to Attorney Jacqueline Newman, a New York City based divorce lawyer, one of the challenges, particularly for women in these situations, is that she may not be aware of the couple’s finances. We explore the trend in graying divorces and what to be ready for if you find you on on your way to divorce proceedings. If you are just curious, you may want to listen to this one with your headphones.
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In studying the changing climate in the Arctic region, you can foreshadow what patterns we will detect where we live. In his new book, ‘Brave New Arctic: the Untold Story of the Melting North’, Mark Serreze, a renowned climatologist and Director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center, has come to the disquieting conclusion that surface temperatures in the Arctic are rising twice as fast as the rest of the globe and that man’s impact is contributing substantially to the change. He now believes we are Geo-engineering our own planet and that we’ve entered the Anthropocene. He will get your attention in this podcast with his calm, yet authoritative, demeanor. While you may meet people who question climate change, none will have the credentials and the experience of this man, who came to his conclusions reluctantly. Take a listen.
Ian Bremmer’s new book, ‘Us Vs. Them: The Failure of Globalism’, captures the public’s disquiet with the way elites have sold us a present that holds much for the few and little for the many. He tells us that you can pick your grievance–free trade, open borders, demographic shifts, failed wars or rampaging technology–and its setting in motion political convulsions. Every area he surveys shows a divide between the haves and have nots that is sharpening. He sees societies, literally, at war with themselves. So where does this lead us? Find out as Ian Bremmer makes his case, as he always does, in a compelling manner.
We might imagine that the conviction of Bill Cosby is a watershed moment for women across the country crying out to be heard as to the assaults they have suffered at the hands of men in their life. It’s about time when we consider these statistics: one in three women will experience some form of sexual violence in their lifetime and that over sixty percent of those assaults are not reported to police. Justice has been a long time coming for so many who have been abused by their own family members at a young age. So now that that the veil of secrecy has been lifted how is our society responding to the new day? We invited Dr. Arlyne Diamond to join us to discuss this painful issue. Is there any chance we will get the crime and punishment issues right in these cases? Will we become nuanced enough to recognize a hierarchy of harm and prescribe the right remedy, whether that be imprisonment, rehabilitation or restitution? These are hard questions for a society that for so long has simply looked the other way. We delve in to the topic on this podcast
To some, the syndrome defies definition. To others who’ve experienced it, it’s a living hell. Best simplified, it is a set of behaviors that involve the mental manipulation of a child by one parent in order to destroy the relationship they once shared with the other parent. That systematic take down of the other parent is a strategy that might well influence custody decisions by family courts. It’s complicated and it’s messy. And at times has resulted in protracted court battles and shocking decisions to leave children in the hands of abusive parents. Kelly Jones, the ex-wife of ‘ Info Wars’ Alex Jones, joins us to discuss her experiences with parental alienation and her road to a jury trial in which she was named Primary Parent in 2017. She is a passionate advocate for family court reform. You’ll find out why in this riveting account of her story.
In 2016, two events brought us back to an examination of Appalachia in ways we hadn’t, perhaps, since the 1960’s ‘War on Poverty’. One was the headline that it was ground zero for America’s ‘forgotten tribe’ of white working class voters who made up Trump Country. The other was the publishing of the influential book, ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ by J. D. Vance. Elizabeth Catte, a writer and historian from East Tennessee, feels that many voices have been omitted when trying to simply put this region into a monolithic box and call it ‘other America’. She tries to provide a different aperture into the lives and culture of the region in her book, ‘What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia’. That examination is available for you here in her own words.
We all recall the civil rights struggles regarding lunch counters, buses and other public accommodations, yet many have overlooked the fences and barricades that have blocked the public right to ocean access to many. Beachfront property owners, wealthy towns and private homeowners’ associations have put up a range of physical and legal barriers to restrict access and maintain the exclusivity of our beaches. While some states, and not necessarily blue ones, have opened the waterfront to all, many progressive states on the east coast retain vestiges of the past. In his book, ‘Free the Beaches’, Professor Andrew W. Kahrl tells the story of civil rights activist, Ned Coll, and his crusade to open up the beachfronts of Connecticut towns and hamlets to inner city children in the civil rights era. Listen and learn on this episode.