USMCA vs. NAFTA, Ivory Smugglers, Personal Branding, Suicide Prevention

Guest: Earl Fry, PhD, Emeritus Professor, Political Science, BYU The US, Mexico and Canada trade a trillion dollars-worth of goods back and forth over their borders every year. And since 1993, that trade has been governed by an agreement called NAFTA – the North American Free Trade Act. This week, President Trump a new three-way deal to replace it: “Throughout the campaign, I promised to renegotiate NAFTA, and today we have kept that promise.  But, for 25 years, as a civilian, as a businessman, I used to say, “How could anybody have signed a deal like NAFTA?”  And I watched New England, and so many other places where I was just — the factories were leaving, the jobs were leaving, people were being fired, and we can’t have that. So we have negotiated this new agreement based on the principle of fairness and reciprocity.”

Guest: Samuel K. Wasser, PhD, Professor, Biology, University of Washington Poachers kill tens of thousands of African Elephants every year for their tusks. Ivory trade is illegal, and yet the multi-billion dollar industry keeps growing. Authorities are up against some very powerful international crime syndicates. Researchers have discovered that the elephants themselves may be the key to stopping the whole trade at its source. They’re using elephant DNA to pinpoint where  cartels are operating in Africa.

Guest: Ilana Gershon, PhD, Professor, Anthropology, University of Indiana Bloomington Google “personal branding workshop” and you will get tens of thousands of hits. There’s a booming business in teaching job seekers how to package and market themselves like you would chewing gum or a new car. So, does it work?

(Originally aired June 6, 2018) Guest: Michael Staley, Suicide Prevention Research Coordinator, Utah’s Medical Examiner’s Office It’s time for Rewind. Over the last decades and a half, the suicide rate in America has risen 30 percent. Every state but Nevada saw an increase in its suicide rate, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The same week those numbers were reported, two celebrities died of suicide, driving home the urgent need for better a better prevention strategy. How can we prevent suicide? REWIND

(Originally aired April 3, 2018) Guest: Senator Lincoln Fillmore, (R), Utah’s 10th District Utah’s first in the nation free range parenting law took effect this week, and a number of states including New York and Texas are looking at following suit.  The bill shields parents from liability if they allow children to walk home from school, or to a park, or wait in the car by themselves. Last April we had the bill’s author, Utah State Senator Lincoln Fillmore on the line. He spoke with Top of Mind’s Tennery Taylor.

(Originally aired May 22, 2018) Guest: Dr. Craig Richard, Ph.D., Professor of Biopharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, Shenandoah University, Founder of the ASMR University website, Researcher, The ASMR Research Project, Curator of the Voices of ASMR Project, Host of the ASMR University Podcast, Author , “Brain Tingles” There’s an advertising gimmick companies like IKEA, Applebee’s and McDonald’s have been using, that involves people – often celebrities – whispering right into a microphone while bed sheets crinkle or meat sizzles loudly in your ears. If you don’t know they’re tapping into a viral online trend, you’ll think it’s really weird.