In this episode of The Politically Social , host Afia Sengupta sits down with Brooklyn Borough President candidate Khari Edwards for a heartfelt and honest conversation about his vision for a more inclusive, equitable, and healthier Brooklyn. From addressing affordable housing and healthcare disparities to supporting youth empowerment , public safety reform , and the impact of the 2025 tax lien sale cancellation , Khari shares personal stories, bold solutions, and a deep commitment to community....
Jun 04, 2025•34 min•Season 2Ep. 20
Welcome to another episode of "The Politically Social." I am your host, Afia. Today, we have the privilege of speaking with Michelle Gabriel, a passionate teacher, mentor, advocate, and expert in youth violence prevention and gun violence awareness in Harlem schools. As a dedicated founder of the Joseph Gabriel Foundation, Michelle has been actively working to empower and engage young people in vital discussions surrounding violence and its impact on their communities. Her commitment to fosterin...
Apr 01, 2025•1 hr 11 min
We are honored to have Sharonne Salaam join us on the podcast today. Sharonne is a passionate advocate for social justice, known for her unwavering dedication to supporting those wrongfully convicted. As the mother of Yusuf Salaam, one of the Central Park Five, Sharonne has transformed her family’s painful experience with the justice system into a powerful platform for change. Beyond her work in criminal justice reform, she is also deeply committed to humanitarian efforts in Africa, where her no...
Mar 07, 2025•45 min•Season 2Ep. 5
"Welcome to 'The Politically Social' with Afia Sengupta. Today, we have an insightful interview with William F. Boyland Jr., a former New York State Assemblyman and a resilient advocate for justice. Boyland served in the Assembly representing Brooklyn, focusing on issues impacting his community. In 2021, he faced federal charges related to bribery and fraud, leading to a conviction that he contested, claiming a lack of evidence and inadequate legal representation.Despite these challenges, Boy...
Jan 23, 2025•54 min
Professor Randal Milch, serves as the Faculty Co-Director of the MS in Cybersecurity Risk and Strategy Program at the New York University School of Law. He is also the Co-Chair of the NYU Center for Cybersecurity and a distinguished Fellow at the Reiss Center on Law and Security. He is the former chair of the Board of Equal Justice Works at the New York University Law School. Prior to coming to NYU, Prof. Milch was the General Counsel and head of public policy at Verizon Communications ...
Jun 10, 2024•48 min
Today we have with us Attorney Michael Bachner.Michael Bachner is a prominent American criminal defense and securities litigation attorney in New York City. He has represented numerous high-profile figures in the political, sports, entertainment, and business communities, and is frequently quoted by national media outlets like CNN and ABC News as a Legal Expert. Michael Bachner started his career as an associate for prestigious criminal defense attorney Benjamin Brafman, with whom...
Apr 07, 2023•1 hr
Today we have with us, Captain. Reyne O’ Shaughnessy. Reyne served as a commercial airline pilot for over 34 years for a Fortune 50 company, and captained Boing 767/757, 747,727, Airbus 300/310 aircrafts, with over 10,000 hours of total heavy jet flight time logged. Notably, thirty four years ago Reyne was one of the first women boeing 747 qualified. Captain Reyne is the founder of Piloting 2 Wellbeing and recently co-found Aviation Health and Wellbeing Institute. Both organizations are found...
Jan 20, 2023•23 min
Today we have with us, Jacy Chavira. Jacy was prescribed puberty blockers at the age of 13, transitioned during adolescence, and then stopped treatment at 18. She has strongly advocated self-acceptance, removing religious and social stigma, and more importantly dealing with the discomfort of puberty naturally as opposed to a medical transition to adolescence.Today we are going to talk about gender stigma, the side effects of puberty blockers, and what kind of an impact it has on people. Jacy ...
Dec 07, 2022•17 min
Today we have with us Mr. Peter Kellner once again. The last time we spoke was when Borris Johnson had announced his resignation.Peter Jon Kellner is an English journalist, former BBC Newsnight reporter, political commentator, and former president of the YouGov opinion polling organization in the United Kingdom. He is known for his appearances on TV, especially at election times. He has also been a visiting fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, and the Institute for Policy Studies, London, and ...
Nov 22, 2022•34 min
Today we have with us, Retired Detective, John Baeza. He was involved in hundreds of criminal investigations in his 20-year law enforcement career. Det. Baeza began his career as a New York State Correction Officer; worked patrol in Harlem's 32nd Precinct, and served as an undercover police officer and detective in the Manhattan North Narcotics and Major Case Units. Thereafter he transferred to the Manhattan Special Victims Squad, where he was responsible for the investigation of sex crimes, ...
Aug 29, 2022•40 min
Today we have with us, Jillian Snider. Jillian is a retired NYPD officer who spent the majority of her career working in special operations. She has appeared as a subject matter expert on a variety of media outlets, including CNN, MSNBC, and NewsNation. Jillian is the policy director for R Street Institute where she leads their Criminal Justice & Civil Liberties team providing research and commentary on public policy related to all stages of the justice system. She also ...
Aug 29, 2022•45 min
Daniel K. Williams is a professor of history at the University of West Georgia and the author of Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-Life Movement before Roe v. Wade and God's Own Party: The Making of the Christian Right. His articles have appeared in Christianity Today, First Things, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. He blogs at the Anxious Bench (Patheos).Today we will talk about the history of the pro-life movement before Roe v. Wade, its roots in social justice, what c...
Aug 19, 2022•1 hr 13 min
Today we have with us, Mr. Peter Kellner. Peter Jon Kellner is an English journalist, former BBC Newsnight reporter, political commentator, and former president of the YouGov opinion polling organization in the United Kingdom. He is known for his appearances on TV, especially at election times. He has also been a visiting fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, and the Institute for Policy Studies, London, and has advised several large corporations. He is the chairman of NCVO (National Council fo...
Aug 15, 2022•1 hr 3 min
Doctor Helena Herr, the author of the fin whale study that was quoted everywhere from the New York Times to CNN about how the oceans are showing signs of hope, said in an exclusive interview with The Current Affairs Times on Thursday, “I think it is a trap if you witness some great natural event to extrapolate (that) to the whole ocean. Just because we have a positive sign in one place, that doesn’t mean the ocean is healthy again.”She points to climate change, overfishing, and pollution as k...
Jul 18, 2022•9 min
Dr. Robert A. Sanders is a retired U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG Corps) Captain, a legal/national security educator, a former federal government organization counsel, and private industry military communications and weapons systems engineer. For more than two decades he developed the critical thinking of diverse groups of global leaders and supported the international human rights, international law, military, and diplomatic objectives of the United States. He has served as a ...
Jul 06, 2022•23 min
Today we have with us staff judge advocate for Air Force Materiel Command Col. Eric Mejia. He received his undergraduate degree from Arkansas State University and his J.D. from the University of Arkansas. He’s served in a number of roles as an Air Force attorney, including as an area defense counsel. Currently, as the senior military attorney for a major Air Force headquarters, Col Mejia leads a team of over 460 attorneys and paralegals at 18 legal offices. His team provides legal ...
Jun 13, 2022•25 min
This week we spoke with Chris Bugbee, a conservation activist who has taken the Feds to court over Cattle Grazing. We spoke to Chris as part of an ongoing investigation into Cattle Grazing on public land by private parties.Support the show
Jun 13, 2022•15 min
Today we have with us Attorney Ryan Guilds - Attorney Guilds represented the victim in the case against Gen. William Cooley. Mr. Guilds has nearly two decades of experience and is a recognized national victims’ rights expert who represents survivors of crime in connection with the investigation and prosecution of their assailants. Under his leadership, the law firm Arnold & Porter represented dozens of sexual assault survivors in both civilian and military proceedings pro bono. He is on t...
May 30, 2022•28 min
Lt Col. (ret.) Rachel E. VanLandingham is a national security law expert and former judge advocate in the U.S. Air Force (USAF) who was appointed to the Southwestern Law School full-time faculty as a Professor of Law in Fall 2014. She teaches criminal law, constitutional criminal procedure, and national security law. During Professor VanLandingham's military career, she served as a senior legal advisor on the international law of armed conflict, military prosecutor, criminal defense atto...
May 30, 2022•32 min
Today we have with us, Professor Eugene Volokh. Prof. Volokh. Prof. Volokh teaches Constitutional Law at the UCLA School of Law. Before coming to UCLA, he clerked for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor at the U.S. Supreme Court. Volokh is the author of the textbooks The First Amendment and Related Statutes (6th ed. 2016), Academic Legal Writing (5th ed. 2013), and over 90 law review articles. He is the founder and co-author of The Volokh Conspiracy, a leading legal blog. His law review article...
May 15, 2022•34 min
Good Morning everyone, welcome to the politically social podcast brought to you by The Current Affairs Times. I am your host Afia Sengupta. Today we have with us former senior NYPD Detective Sergeant Joseph L Giacalone. Today, we are addressing the issues and challenges that the police force faces while making every effort to prevent crimes similar to those committed by Frank James in NYC. Professor Joseph L. Giacalone is a retired NYPD Detective Sergeant who held many prestigious positi...
May 12, 2022•30 min
Current Affairs Times reporter, Christopher German sits down to talk with Eric Balkin, director of The Glen Canyon Institute. In this interview, they discuss the latest in the Western Drought including a recent federal announcement to release 500,000-acre feet of water into Lake Powell. This announcement comes despite concerns from critics that this is a stop-gap solution when is what is needed now is decisive action to avert further damages from an impending water crisis in the American Sout...
May 02, 2022•12 min
Francisco Puebla manages the Saifee Hardware store in the East Village. He is one of the heroes that helped the NYPD get Frank James, the man who opened fire in a Brooklyn Subway. Today, we are honored to tell you Francisco Puebla’s story, his concerns, and the details of what exactly happened the day the New York Police caught Frank James.There are still concerns about security and we humbly request our readers to hear Francisco Puebla's story and support his request of getting status in the...
Apr 27, 2022•5 min
Today we talk about the prevailing social issues in China. The whole world read about the mysterious chaining of a woman in China. A video shows a chain running from her neck to a wall inside a doorless shed. This is shocking.Today we speak to Yaqiu Wang. Yaqiu Wang is a senior researcher on China at Human Rights Watch, working on issues like internet censorship, freedom of expression, protection of civil society and human rights defenders, and women’s rights. She has provided commentar...
Apr 13, 2022•19 min
