Kavanaugh accuser Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Brett Kavanaugh, the Kavanaugh vote and a look at RULE MAKERS, RULE BREAKERS and how our classification effects our politics with cultural psychologist and author of the book of the same title, Michele Gelfand, the topics we explore on The Halli Casser-Jayne Show the podcast posted at Halli Casser-Jayne dot com. Also joining me at my table in our weekly politics segment, Podcast America, is journalist Matthew Cooper.

As we do every week, newsman Matthew Cooper will join me for our politics segment, PODCAST AMERICA, in which Matt and I slice and dice all things politics. Matthew Cooper is known for his in-depth reporting and analysis from Washington. Mr Cooper has worked for some of America's most prestigious magazines including Time, Newsweek, The New Republic, National Journal and U.S. News & World Report. He now serves as a contributing editor to Washingtonian magazine. For the record, Cooper also earned national attention during the CIA leak case when he was held in contempt of court and threatened with imprisonment for his refusal to name his sources and to testify before the Grand Jury regarding the Valerie Plame CIA leak investigation, a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court. He has appeared on 60 Minutes,Meet the Press, Hardball, The O’Reilly Factor and This Week with George Stephanopoulos. He has covered Donald Trump extensively, his hard-hitting and insightful profiles of “The Donald” always well-worth the read.

In her provocative new book, RULE MAKERS, RULE BREAKERS: HOW TIGHT AND LOOSE CULTURES WIRE OUR WORLD, celebrated cultural psychologist Michele Gelfand shows that much of the diversity in the way we as a people think and act derives from a simple difference—“tight” (rigid social norms) versus “loose” (weak social norms). Sensing threats, tight cultures (whether large nations or small, close-knit groups) insist on social order. Feeling safe, loose cultures promote individual expression—sometimes to excess. Is this the source of America’s great divide and how, for instance, do we apply this theory to opinions on Kavanaugh accuser Dr. Christine Blasey Ford?

A Distinguished Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, Gelfand used field, experimental, computational, and neuroscience methods to understand the evolution of culture--as well as its multilevel consequences for human groups. Her work has been cited over 20,000 times and has been featured in the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, National Public Radio, Voice of America, Fox News, NBC News, ABC News, The Economist, among other outlets.

In an era that is more divided than ever, RULE MAKERS, RULE BREAKERS offers a startling new lens through which we can see exactly why others stake out the positions they do, and with that new perspective, reap—for the first time—the benefits other cultures have to offer.

Kavanaugh Accuser Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Brett Kavanaugh, The Senate , mediation, the Supreme Court, Roe v. Wade, a fascinating show this week on The Halli Casser-Jayne Show, the podcast posted at Halli Casser-Jayne dot com.