JUSTUS with Jack & Gonzo

Health care systems can tie up their physicians for years though noncompete agreements which preclude them from moving to a competitor. For rural health care systems where there are not enough physicians to begin with, this is a big recruiting problem. Our guest today is Paul Westbrook, Vice President and General Legal Counsel for Memorial Health System. Paul explains that physicians who sign nonc...

How did the phrase, “diversity, equity and inclusion”—DEI—which sounds like a positive thing, get such a bad rap? The answer lies in how the concept has often been introduced. Our guest, Dr. Melissa Crum , explains that most people aren’t reacting to the actual idea of DEI; they’re reacting to how the idea was introduced. Instead of hearing, “Let’s look at systems that create problems,” people hea...

What has caused the rise in political violence in the United States that culminated with the January 6 insurrection? In part, our government’s uneven and counterproductive responses to jihad terrorism. After 9/11, U.S. policy was disproportionately harsh toward Muslims while being comparatively lenient toward violence committed by far-right actors. This imbalance, according to our guest, Laura Dug...

Today, we look into the world of conservative political commentary and focus on Ben Shapiro . At the heart of Shapiro’s approach to messaging is a bent for spouting more fiction than fact and more emotion than reason. We listened to a Shapiro podcast in which he explains why he doesn’t regret voting for President Donald Trump. After hearing Shapiro, we have to wonder if he aligned himself with Tru...

We’re joined by Reverend Derrick Holmes, pastor of the Union Grove Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio, to explore the intersection of faith, justice and civic responsibility in one of the most divided moments in modern American life. Reverend Holmes compares today’s political and social climate with the civil rights era of the 1960s, arguing that the moral urgency of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s tim...

Some years back, Connie Cherin was a guest on our podcast and talked about the non-profit she started, Partners for Care . Having supported PFC since then, I thought it was time to travel to Kenya and see firsthand the work PFC does. Connie arranged for the Kenya staff to take me to various locations where PFC provides services. While most of our trips were centered in Nairobi, PFC's presence exte...

Chris Vineis, founder of Unite for Safe Social Media , talks with us about the risks that social media presents for kids. The philosophy at Unite for Safe Social Media centers on collaborative action among parents in limiting their children’s access to social media. The group provides a wealth of free resources, focuses on the risks associated with artificial intelligence, and advocates for politi...

Article II allows the president to grant pardons for any offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment. The presidential pardon power is among the most absolute authorities granted in the Constitution, and President Donald Trump has abused it. The pardons Trump issued to the 1500 people who took part in the January 6th insurrection have rightfully generated outrage. Those pard...

Today, we are joined by Jeff Wenninger , a retired LAPD Lieutenant, a nationally recognized law enforcement expert and author of “On Thin Ice,” an analysis of how poor leadership and entrenched mindsets have eroded public trust in police. Good policing requires standardization and training. The lack of standardized training nationwide is evident. Police academies across the nation vary significant...

While only about 13% of the nation’s population is Black, the percentage of incarcerated Blacks can be as high as 50 %. The proportion of Black men on death row is significantly higher than that of whites. Our guest, Courtney Teasley, a criminal defense lawyer, emphasizes the responsibility that defense attorneys have in contributing to incarceration rates. Some lawyers fail to communicate with cl...

As part of a reciprocal exchange sponsored by the Columbus Rotary Club, educators from São Paulo, Brazil, were welcomed to Ohio. This group included college professors and English teachers at both primary and secondary levels. Their itinerary included visits to several public and private schools. We talk with two of the educators, Amanda Piovezani and Elaine Berges. Tracy Najera, a previous podcas...

A visible law enforcement presence, like the National Guard, may deter crime, but Professor Laura Dugan, of the Ohio State University Department of Sociology, explains that deploying the Garud will not reduce crime in the long term. The first step in reducing crime is to understand the crime dynamics within a city and then make strategic decisions to address not only the crimes themselves but also...

Neil Clark’s perspective as an Ohio lobbyist revealed the pervasive influence of money in politics. By wearing a “DeWine for Governor” t-shirt when he died by suicide, Clark appeared to question why lobbyists and others were being prosecuted for actions that were common throughout Ohio’s political system. The distinction between legitimate lobbying and illegal “pay-to-play” schemes is nearly indis...

The First Amendment guarantees both freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and both are under attack. These protections apply universally, ensuring that anyone can express themselves without prior restraint, though certain limitations exist through laws addressing harm or falsehoods. Professional journalists adhere to a clear ethical code: never knowingly publish false information. This princ...

There's been a push in recent years by Ohio legislators to accommodate religious education in public schools. We talk with Gary Daniels, lobbyist for the Ohio ACLU, about this movement. Most recently, Republican state reps. Gary Click and Mike Dovilla introduced Ohio House Bill 486 , also known as the Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act, which promotes teaching in public schools the positive impact...

The New York Times Editorial Board published a piece on October 31, 2025, about a variety of indicators that should alarm everyone about the threat President Trump poses to our democracy. The first is Trump’s effort to stifle dissent, something we haven’t seen before with other presidents. The Associated Press has been denied access to the White House because the AP prefers the name “Gulf of Mexic...

The term “shadow docket” is a name given to the U.S. Supreme's Court emergency docket and reflects that decisions are made quickly with little explanation. This isn’t a new concept. Historically, it was used for urgent matters like death penalty appeals, but its use has expanded significantly in recent years. The shadow docket now addresses a variety of urgent issues, many of which have been trigg...

If you’re like us, you’ve had your fill of people saying stupid stuff publicly. Some of it is just so stupid it bears repeating, if only as a reminder for the rest of us that saying stupid stuff accomplishes nothing—except providing a platform for outrage. As if we need more of that. Let’s begin with Cracker Barrell updating its logo . The C suite execs thought it would be a good idea to ditch the...

How does a gang member make the transition from life on the streets to earning a doctorate in public policy? It’s not exactly an everyday event. Terence Lester was born into a two-parent household, but his parents later separated. In search of safety and stability, his mother moved Terrence and his sister from place to place. Carrying the weight of that early trauma, Terence turned to gangs, becam...

  Some people don't believe the Holocaust actually happened or that Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. And some people don’t believe that 26 children and adults were massacred at Sandy Hook Elementary school in 2012. And the man best known for creating the Sandy Hook conspiracy is conflict entrepreneur and InfoWars star, Alex Jones, who called the massacre a “fake” and a “hoax.” Josh Koskoff , the...

Josh Koskoff , the lawyer for the families of the Sandy Hook victims, did what most thought was impossible. He prevailed in a lawsuit against Remington Arms, the company that manufactured and marketed the AR-15 rifle that was used to murder 20 children, between six and seven years old, and six staff members at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. But obtaining justice for the familie...

Is money the determining factor to school districts producing students who perform well? Surprisingly, the answer is no. If money alone were the key, a small town like Steubenville, Ohio, in Jefferson County on the Ohio River and part of the Rust Belt, would not perform as well as Upper Arlington, Ohio, an affluent community. No doubt, adequate funding is important, but other factors are equally i...

Statistics show that between two and five percent of those incarcerated were wrongly convicted and are actually innocent. Can you imagine? How do the wrongly convicted win their freedom? It’s a long and arduous process that begins with a committed attorney and, often, those attorneys are assisted by the nationwide organization, the Innocence Project . One of those committed attorneys is our guest...

We continue our conversation with MAGA faithful Chuck Cordit about why he thinks Donald Trump's first 100 days in office have been successful.

Donald Trump has the lowest 100-day job approval rating of any president in the past 80 years, with public pushback on many of his policies and extensive economic discontent, including broad fears of a recession. The concept of the "First 100 Days" refers to the early period of a U.S. president’s new term, typically seen as a symbolic window to set the tone, push key policies and demonstrate leade...