Today on Boston Public Radio:

We start the show by opening phone lines, talking with listeners about Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-WI) ouster from GOP leadership.

Jonathan Gruber weighs in on whether the U.S. should implement a value-added tax to help fund President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda. Gruber is the Ford Professor of Economics at MIT. He was instrumental in creating both the Massachusetts health-care reform and the Affordable Care Act, and his latest book is "startingamerica.com/">Jump-Starting America: How Breakthrough Science Can Revive Economic Growth And The American Dream."

Juliette Kayyem discusses the cyber attack on the Colonial Pipeline, and explained how ransomware attacks on private companies are on the rise. She also talks about the crash of a Chinese rocket in the Indian Ocean, and the potential for more space debris and rocket parts to fall to earth. Kayyem is an analyst for CNN, former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security and faculty chair of the homeland security program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Art Caplan shares his thoughts on the possibility of school COVID-19 vaccine mandates, and an increase in Americans on diets. Caplan is director of the Division of Medical Ethics at the New York University School of Medicine.

Chuck Wexler explains the nationwide decline in police applicants, and discusses changes in police training over the last few decades. Wexler is the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), and a former member of the Boston Police Department.

Brendan Nyhan talks about his research into misinformation, emphasizing the role digital technology has played in accelerating the spread of misinformation. Nyhan is a professor in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College, and the co-founder of Bright Line Watch, which monitors practices of and threats to American democracy.

We end the show by asking listeners what they thought about Apple’s new AirTag tracking devices.