I've been a writer and observer of all things American propaganda ever since I worked at the United States Information Agency in Washington. On Monday, August 12th at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, I found two unlikely kindred spirits who share my interest in the subject, especially as it relates to what we know or think we know about American foreign policy.

Though things sure aren’t looking good for US universities, Wisconsin has it unusually bad. Decades of plummeting investment in higher education has left it among the US’s 10 worst states. Fear of debt mean Wisconsin students are balking at paying for college, denting revenue even more. But what can Wisconsin universities do to drum up funding? The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has a plan.

Before I moved to Paris three years ago, although I’d already been to the city and was lucky enough to call French my second language, I still held more than a few romantic preconceived notions. Every metropolis has a set of stereotypes linked to it, and Paris exists in many people's minds as a charming, luxurious, timeless hub of style and sophistication—in fact, so many people expect the City of Light to be what they want it to be that the reality has rendered some tourists physically sick with disappointment.

The strength in U.S.-Brazil relations remains in the shared values of the two nations, says U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. On his first visit to the country as secretary of state, Kerry said Brazil and the United States “share a remarkable and dynamic partnership” — one that should not be derailed by inevitable disagreements. “I ask the people of Brazil,” Kerry said in Brasilia August 13, “to stay focused on the important realities of our relationship, the bilateral relations between our countries which continue to grow stronger and stronger.”

This past weekend, Ambassador Samantha Power gave her first speech as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations to more than 1,500 young activists at Invisible Children's Fourth Estate Leadership Summit in Los Angeles.

Press reports of Secretary of State Kerry’s description of the Western Hemisphere as “our backyard” overlooked the next words, “[our] neighborhood … I think there are relationships we could improve.” [1] The focus on “our backyard” caused President Evo Morales to announce on May 1, 2013 that he was expelling the USAID mission from Bolivia because, among other accusations, it reminded hemispheric leaders of U.S. relations toward the hemisphere during the Cold War.

Internet freedom is a foreign policy priority for the United States, and has been for many years. Our goal is to ensure that any child, born anywhere in the world, has access to the global Internet as an open platform on which to innovate, learn, organize, and express herself free from undue interference or censorship. Indeed, during his time in Congress, Secretary Kerry worked closely with then-Secretary Clinton to make certain that we could effectively promote long-standing values of openness and human rights in a networked world.

Tina Turner did it. So did Facebook’s Eduardo Saverin. And Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame. They all renounced their US citizenship. It doesn’t happen all that often–maybe a thousand a year. But it looks like the pace is increasing. According to the Wall Street Journal, more Americans gave up their US citizenship in the the first half of this year than in all of 2012 .Host Marco Werman talks with Marylouise Serrato, of American Citizens Abroad, about the trend.