Political Jar

The President arrives John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center
2025-03-17 14:55 (America/New_York)
In-Town Travel Pool

The President participates in a Kennedy Center Board Meeting and Tour
2025-03-17 15:00 (America/New_York) | John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

The President participates in a Kennedy Center Board Meeting and Tour
2025-03-17 15:00 (America/New_York)

The President departs John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center en route The White House
2025-03-17 17:05 (America/New_York) | John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

The President departs John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center en route The White House
2025-03-17 17:05 (America/New_York)

The President arrives The White House
2025-03-17 17:15 (America/New_York) | South Portico

The President arrives The White House
2025-03-17 17:15 (America/New_York)

U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes
2025-03-18 08:30 UTC | Washington, DC

In-Town Pool Call Time
2025-03-18 09:00, 2025-03-20 09:00 (America/New_York)
In-Town Pool

In-Town Pool Call Time
2025-03-18 09:00, 2025-03-19 09:00, 2025-03-20 09:00 (America/New_York) | The White House

The President signs Executive Orders
2025-03-18 15:30 (America/New_York) | Oval Office
Closed Press

The President signs Executive Orders
2025-03-18 15:30 (America/New_York)

Assessing U.S. Relations with Russia and Ukraine
2025-03-18 17:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | The Institute of World Politics, 1521 16th Street Northwest, Washington, DC, 20036, United States
Join IWP’s expert panel as they examine the U.S.’s evolving policies toward Russia and the war in Ukraine

About the Lecture:
As the war in Ukraine evolves and U.S. policies toward Russia shift, the world may be entering uncharted territory. Join IWP’s expert panel as they examine these developments, drawing on decades of experience shaping and implementing U.S. policy — from the Reagan Administration to today.

About the Speaker:
Professor Glenn Corn is a 34-year veteran of the U.S. Intelligence and Foreign Affairs communities, Prof. Corn served for over 20 years abroad, including tours in Russia, Turkey, Central Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East. He also held senior leadership positions within the Intelligence Community in the U.S. and is a graduate of multiple specialized training programs in the fields of Intelligence, Security, Adult Education and Training and Executive Leadership. He is a founding partner of the Strategic Advisory and Consulting firm “Varyag” and Expert contributor to the “Cipher Brief”.

Mr. Ralph Goff is a 35-year veteran of the CIA where he was a 6-time Chief of Station with extensive service in Europe, the Middle East, and Central and South Asia including several war zones. He served as Chief of Operations for Europe and Eurasia. Goff also served as Chief of CIA’s National Resources Division, working extensively with “C Suite” level US private sector executives in the financial, banking, and security sectors.

Dr. John Lenczowski is Founder, President Emeritus, and Chancellor of The Institute of World Politics. From 1981 to 1983, Dr. Lenczowski served in the State Department in the Bureau of European Affairs and as Special Advisor to Under Secretary for Political Affairs Lawrence Eagleburger. From 1983 to 1987, he was Director of European and Soviet Affairs at the National Security Council. In that capacity, he was principal Soviet affairs adviser to President Reagan.

Mr. Emmanuel Thomann (Moderator) is an active duty Commander in the U.S. Navy, who has served in multiple sea and shore-based assignments, to include tours of duty on the Department of the Navy Staff, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Additional operational assignments include serving as the Maritime Intelligence Operations Cell Director for US Navy Tenth Fleet, the Director of Intelligence for Sea Air Land (SEAL) Team Two, and the Deputy Director of Intelligence for Fleet Cyberspace Command. A graduate of Colby College, Emmanuel holds a master’s degree in Cold War history from the University of Connecticut, and a Master’s in Strategic Intelligence from National Intelligence University, with a concentration in Eurasian Studies. His Doctoral studies at the Institute of World Politics have centered on Information Warfare and the role of the Maritime Domain in Great Power competition.

Make a gift to IWP

GBBR Pizza and Politics - with Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen
2025-03-18 17:30 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Angeli’s Pizzeria & Bar, 413 South High Street, Baltimore, MD, 21202, United States
Come join us for GBBR Pizza and Politics for an evening of delicious pizza and engaging political discussions!

Come join us for an evening of delicious pizza and engaging political discussions at Angeli’s Pizzeria in Fells Point Meet fellow community members, share your thoughts, and enjoy a casual event filled with good food and great company! Whether you’re a political enthusiast or just looking for a fun night out, this event is perfect for anyone interested in lively conversations and tasty pizza. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to connect with others and indulge in some cheesy goodness! Easy Parking; open to GBBR Members and the public.

The Politics of Translation
2025-03-18 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | 20 Cooper Sq, 20 Cooper Square, New York, NY, 10003, United States
Featuring Madhu H. Kaza, Matvei Yankelevich, Emily Apter, Maria Jose Zubieta, and Simon Leser

Madhu H. Kaza, Matvei Yankelevich, Emily Apter, Maria Jose Zubieta, and Simon Leser explore the political potential and the constraints of translation especially in our time. Is translation inherently political? Or is it simply the transfer of knowledge and meaning from one language to others? What does it mean to translate texts that traverse languages and nations and also cultures and class? How can translation serve as a tool for liberation, and conversely, in what ways might it hinder understanding?

Who is Government? |Michael Lewis, Casey Cep, and David Shipley at Sidwell
2025-03-18 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Sidwell Friends Meeting House, 3825 Wisconsin Avenue, Washington, DC, 20016, United States
An urgent and absorbing civics lesson from an all-star team of writers and storytellers.

The government is a vast, complex system that Americans pay for, rebel against, rely upon, dismiss, and celebrate. It’s also our shared resource for addressing the biggest problems of society. And it’s made up of people, mostly unrecognized and uncelebrated, doing work that can be deeply consequential and beneficial to everyone.
Michael Lewis invited his favorite writers to find someone doing an interesting job for the government and write about them in a special in-depth series for the Washington Post. The stories they found are unexpected, riveting, and inspiring, including a former coal miner devoted to making mine roofs less likely to collapse, saving thousands of lives; an IRS agent straight out of a crime thriller; and the manager who made the National Cemetery Administration the best-run organization, public or private, in the entire country. Each essay shines a spotlight on the essential behind-the-scenes work of exemplary federal employees.
Whether they’re digitizing archives, chasing down cybercriminals, or discovering new planets, these public servants are committed to their work and universally reluctant to take credit. Expanding on the Washington Post series, the vivid profiles in Who Is Government? blow up the stereotype of the irrelevant bureaucrat. They show how the essential business of government makes our lives possible, and how much it matters.

Michael Lewis is the best-selling author of Liar’s Poker, Moneyball, The Blind Side, The Big Short, The Fifth Risk, and Going Infinite. He lives in Berkeley, California, with his family.

Casey Cep is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee, which was a New York Times bestseller and named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post, The Economist, Time Magazine, and President Barack Obama. She lives on the Eastern Shore of Maryland with her family.

David Shipley is an American journalist, book author, and the editorial page editor at The Washington Post.

The President receives his Intelligence Briefing
2025-03-19 11:00 (America/New_York) | Oval Office

The President receives his Intelligence Briefing
2025-03-19 11:00 (America/New_York)

Press Briefing by the White House Press Secretary
2025-03-19 13:00 (America/New_York) | James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
On Camera

Master Political Reputation Management with Kateryna Odarchenko
2025-03-19 13:00 - 14:30 (America/New_York)
Join this exclusive masterclass led by international political strategist Kateryna Odarchenko.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT FOR POLITICAL PRISONERS AND PRISON ACTIVISTS
2025-03-19 17:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Academic Learning Commons – VCU, 1000 Floyd Avenue, Richmond, VA, 23220, United States
An interactive event featuring political prisoner Shaka Shakur about how we can build bridges between activists and political prisoners.

This hybrid event will feature a short documentary, a Q/A session with Shaka Shakur and activists who are working for his freedom, and tons of ways folks can plug in to local and national movements for justice for incarcerated people.
Timeline:
Food: 5:30-6 pm
Documentary Screening: 6-6:45 pm
Q/A and Discussion: 7-8ish pm
Time for folks to sign up to get involved, continue discussion, etc.: 8-9 p.m.

IF YOU CAN’T ATTEND IN PERSON, WE WILL HAVE A ZOOM LINK FOR YOU TO ATTEND VIRTUALLY, SO PLEASE RSVP TO THIS EVENT!

Great Decisions with Daniel Drezner|US Changing Leadership in World Economy
2025-03-19 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Boston Public Library, Rabb Hall, 700 Boylston Street, Boston, MA, 02116, United States
Join WorldBoston for a timely Great Decisions program on U.S. Changing Leadership in the World’s Economy featuring Dr. Daniel Drezner.

Under President Biden, the U.S. has advanced new ideas about trade, technology, industrial policy, competition with China, and the organization of the world economy. For most of the postwar era, the U.S. has tied its global leadership to cooperative agendas aimed at creating a more open-world trading system, but that has apparently come to an end. What are America’s options and opportunities as a leader of the world economy? How will America’s “foreign policy for the middle class” and strategic competition with China impact its leadership role? How can the postwar rules and institutions of the world economy be made safe for economic nationalism and great power competition?
Join us for a timely discussion of this topic with Dr. Daniel Drezner, Distinguished Professor of International Politics and Associate Dean of Research at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. This program will feature an expert presentation, live audience Q&A, and time for networking and discussion with other globally-oriented participants in the Newsfeed Café.
This program is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required.
The program will be live-streamed to Zoom from 6:00-7:00 PM. To attend virtually, please register here.

Daniel W. Drezner is Professor of International Politics, a nonresident senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and the co-director of Fletcher’s Russia and Eurasia Program. Prior to joining The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, he taught at the University of Chicago and the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has previously held positions with Civic Education Project, the RAND Corporation and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and received fellowships from the German Marshall Fund of the United States, Council on Foreign Relations, and Harvard University. Drezner has written seven books, including All Politics is Global and Theories of International Politics and Zombies, and edited three others, including The Uses and Abuses of Weaponized Interdependence. He has published articles in numerous scholarly journals as well as in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Politico, and Foreign Affairs, and has been a regular contributor to Foreign Policy and the Washington Post. He received his B.A. in political economy from Williams College and an M.A. in economics and PhD in political science from Stanford University.

Trapped: Does the Security Industry Make Us Less Safe?
2025-03-19 18:30 - 19:45 (America/New_York) | Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, 365 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Setha Low and Mark Maguire in Conversation

Can security be bought? At this moment when people are nervous about their safety, authors Setha Low and Mark Maguire discuss how security has become a commodity, causing both those with and those without it to live in fear. In their new book, Trapped: Life Under Security Capitalism and How to Escape It, they explore — in interviews with police, private contractors, and ordinary citizens — how the security-industrial-complex actually increases anxiety — and what can be done to break down walls for a freer, safer, and more just society. Low, a distinguished professor of psychology, anthropology, earth and environmental sciences, and women’s and gender studies at the CUNY Graduate Center, and Maguire, a professor anthropology at Maynooth University in Ireland, speak with Alex S. Vitale, a professor of sociology and coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center.

Presented with the Ph.D. Program in Anthropology, the Ph.D. Program in Earth and Environmental Sciences, and the Public Space Research Group.

Pandemic Political Education Book Club
2025-03-19 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Denver) | Under the Umbrella Bookstore and Cafe, 511 West 200 South, #Suite 120, Salt Lake City, UT, 84101, United States
Read books to learn lessons from HIV/AIDS Activism and Disability Justice.

The Anti-Caste Collective: Reading, Reflection, and Action (2025)
2025-03-19 23:00 - 2025-03-20 01:00 (Africa/Dakar)
Come join us for this book club experience designed to build anti-caste capacity!

The Invitation
With the continued rise of the multi-racial right, and specifically Hindutva politics and rhetoric in diasporan communities, we felt called to launch The Anti-Caste Collective, with the intention to build a community in Canada that is committed to interrogating, disrupting and dismantling systems of supremacy. A community where each person’s dignity, safety, and belonging needs matter.
Leena Sharma Seth (she/they) and Adeeta Aulakh( she/her), of Mending the Chasm, invite you to join this virtual five-session facilitated book club experience.
These sessions offer a space, specifically for caste-privileged members of the South Asian Community and Allies from other communities to learn about, interrogate, and to work together to identify, interrupt and end caste oppression in our communities, schools, institutions, and most importantly, our culture. All so that we can work to embody active Allyship with caste-oppressed communities.
To ensure that we are creating an intimate and accountable container for this work, we are limiting this to a maximum of 12 participants.
This experience is for you if you:

Identify as someone who is caste-privileged or from the caste system and are ready to learn more about the history and impact of caste, for the purpose of building your anti-caste practice.
Are passionate about practicing social justice that is inclusive and intersectional
Identify as someone from outside of the caste systemand are working to be an Ally to those who are harmed by caste (white bodies, Black bodies, Indigenous bodies, Brown bodies etc.)

We are passionate about holding healing-centred space that empowers us to build deeper equity, inclusion, and belonging- abundant communities and cultures. We:

Recognize that we are humble students on this journey and trying to do better work today than we did yesterday.
Are working to have better conversations today than we did yesterday.
Strive to cultivate deeper compassion for self and others

Community-building, community-healing and community transformation work can only happen in community and so this is where you come in.

About The Anti-Caste Collective
We are a community space dedicated to dismantling caste-based oppression through shared learning, dialogue, and action. Activities we organize include book clubs, guest speakers, community organizing, and facilitated dialogues.
The intention of this collective is to create opportunities for deep reflection and meaningful discussion, whether you’re personally impacted by caste oppression or working to become an Ally.
Our humble aim is to serve as a platform to build solidarity, inspire collective action, and drive transformative change. Grounded in a posture of accountability, the collective welcomes diverse voices and perspectives, emphasizing education, empathy, and justice.

The Book
We welcome emergence on this journey and our initial offering will focus on the book The Trauma of Caste: A Dalit Feminist Mediation of Survivorship, Healing and Abolition by Thenmozhi (pronounced Then-mauri) Soundararajan, published in 2022.
Dalit American activist Thenmozhi Soundararajan, founder of Equality Labs, puts forth a call to awaken and act, not just for readers in South Asia, but all around the world. She ties Dalit oppression to fights for liberation among Black, Indigenous, Latinx, femme, and Queer communities, examining caste from a feminist, abolitionist, and Dalit Buddhist perspective—and laying bare the grief, trauma, rage, and stolen futures enacted by Brahminical patriarchy and social structures on the caste-oppressed.

Meet Your Hosts and Facilitators
L eena Sharma Seth (She/Her), Principal & Founder, Mending the Chasm
Leena is a settler who is cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied, and a child of hindu, pnjabi (India), and brahmin immigrants. Leena brings a set of lived and intersectional experiences to her work as a facilitator, strategist, and process designer in the equity, justice, inclusion and belonging space. Leena’s practice is grounded in the belief that equity work is sacred and that healing, wholeness, and embodiment are critical to creating a just and inclusive present and future.
With over twenty years of experience in various leadership roles, both in Canada and in Asia, Leena has worked to advance equity in non-profit, consulting, education, philanthropy, and supplier diversity spaces.
Leena has a Masters in Conflict Analysis & Management from Royal Roads, achieved her Canadian Certified Inclusion Professional (CCIP) designation with the Canadian Centre for Diversity & Inclusion, has received her Pride at Work certification, completed the 4 Seasons of Reconciliation program via First Nations University, and completed an Embodied Social Justice Certificate with Transformative Programs (led by Rev. Angel Kyodo).
As a part of her personal commitment to this work, Leena has been working with fellow South Asians to examine tensions between the ways Brown bodies, caste-privileged bodies, and northern Indians are both privileged and impacted by systems of oppression, and also perpetuating anti-Black racism, and to work intentionally to disrupt anti-Black racism and to collectively heal from the harmful impacts of colonization, patriarchy and white supremacy.
Her work in community-building has been recognized by MP Karina Gould with the Sesquicentennial Citizenship award, the Women’s Centre of Halton – 150 Years of Exemplary Women award, and the 2021 Mayor’s Community Service Award, Burlington Chamber of Commerce.
Leena is raising two social justice warriors with her partner Sanjay and is proud to call Burlington, Ontario home.

Adeeta Aulakh (she/her), Associate, Mending the Chasm
Adeeta is a settler with West Indian and South Asian heritage, who is cisgender, heterosexual, and able-bodied. Adeeta is an Occupational Therapist, and worked clinically in the mental health field before moving to a career in local health systems planning. Her experiences as a Mental Health Therapist have developed her understanding and appreciation of the holistic nature of health and the impact of social determinants of health on individuals’ health and wellness. She brings an equity lens to her work and is dedicated to her own life long learning around equity, trauma and healing.
Adeeta has a Masters of Health Science in Health Administration from the University of Toronto and a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy from the University of Toronto. She has completed numerous trainings to expand her clinical therapy skills and anti-oppression related training on anti-black racism, becoming gender affirming and Indigenous cultural safety training.
Adeeta is grateful to share space with others on their learning journey around caste, caste oppression, and Allyship as a facilitator of The Anti-Caste Collective series.

Session Flow
Each session will be two hours (2 hours) and the agenda will flow like this:

Welcome & Land Acknowledgement
Community Assumptions & Agreements
Embodiment/Somatic Practice
Opening Reflection
Session Theme Discussion
Closing Reflection

Below is a thematic overview of each of six the sessions.

Session 1, Wednesday, March 19th, 7pm – 9pm: Setting the Container for our Work Together
In this first session, we will spend time connecting, co-creating guidelines for engagement (we will share Mending the Chasm’s Community Assumptions and Agreements before-hand), sharing our respective why’s for this journey, and what we are working to be active commitments to in this work.

Session 2, Wednesday, April 9th, 7pm – 9pm: Meditation 1: The Existence of Caste
Together we’ll review the first section of the book and explore responses to set questions from the worksheet that Thenmozhi has so generously provided to help us better understand some of the ways we’ve each been socialized (consciously and subconsciously) around caste and the foundational stories we tell ourselves about caste and our place in the system.

Session 3, Wednesday, April 30, 7pm – 9pm: Meditation II: The Source of Caste
In this session we’ll explore the sources of caste in various faiths, including caste pyramids from different South Asian countries, and we’ll also explore Dalit Liberation Theology. We’ll use a set of guided questions to discuss insights that came up for each of us as we moved through this section.

Session 4, Wednesday, May 21st,7pm – 9pm: Meditation III: From Wounds to Liberation
In this session we’ll explore the impact of identities that intersect with caste, the disproportionate impact and harm caused by caste, and the ways caste oppression intersects with climate justice and many other movements for justice and equity. We’ll use a set of guided questions to hold space to hear from each other about the insights that came up for each of us as we read this section.

Session 5, Wednesday, June 11th, 7pm9pm: Meditation IV: The End of Caste and Closing the Container
In this session we’llmove through a set of questions to guide our discussion and consider what it means to fight for a world where choice and consent are every human’s birth right. What does it mean to end caste oppression? We’ll share reflections on the journey, consider the ways our thinking and practice around caste have shifted, discuss active commitments we’re making going forward, and close our container for this shared experience.

Registration and Cost
If you register before February 28th, the early bird rate for this seriesis $249 CDN.
March 1st, 2025 and on, the cost for this series is $299.00 CDN.
20% of every registration will go to SADAN – South Asian Dalit Adivasi Network of Canada.
We are committed to supporting barrier-free access to this experience, if you would like to access a sliding scale fee, please contact Anna at anna@mendingthechasm.ca.
