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Biden Infrastructure, Chauvin Trial, COVID Surges in South Asia | President Biden is pitching his next big piece of legislation, a two trillion dollar infrastructure plan he says will restart the economy. Day two of Derek Chauvin's murder trial included some emotional witness testimony. And, after making significant progress in the fight against the coronavirus, infections are surging again in India and Pakistan. |
African Leaders Debate Continuing Sudan Mission | African heads of state met in Gambia over the weekend for one of the bi-annual summits of the African Union. The AU peacekeeping operation in Sudan's Darfur region was one of the main topics up for discussion. African leaders are debating whether their troops should be replaced by a U.N. force. |
Reporter Details William Barr's Effort To Uphold Trump's 'Law And Order' Image | <em>Washington Post </em>reporter Matt Zapotosky talks about the attorney general's role in the Trump administration's forceful response to the largely peaceful George Floyd protests in Washington, DC. |
Maryland's Cummings Criticizes FEMA Response | U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, criticizes the administration's response to the crisis created by Katrina. He indirectly endorses a call for the resignation of Mike Brown, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. |
What Just Happened Also Occurred Before The Last 7 U.S. Recessions. Reason To Worry? | Signs are pointing to a coming U.S. recession, according to an economic indicator that has preceded every recession over the past five decades. It is known among economists and Wall Street traders as a "yield curve inversion," and it refers to when long-term interest rates are paying out less than short-term rates. That curve has been flattening out and sloping down for more than a year, raising worries among some analysts that investors' long-term view of the market is not positive and that an economic downturn is looming. But on Sunday, an inauspicious milestone was achieved: The yield curve remained inverted for three months, or an entire quarter, which has for half a century been a clear signal that the economy is heading for recession in the next nine to 18 months, according to Campbell Harvey, a Duke University finance professor who spoke to NPR on Sunday. His research in the mid-1980s first linked yield curve inversions to recessions. "That has been associated with predicting a recession for the last seven recessions," Harvey said. "From the 1960s, this indicator has been reliable in terms of foretelling a recession, and also importantly, it has not given any false signals yet." Still, many economic forecasters do not see a recession on the horizon. For instance, Randal Quarles, the Federal Reserve's vice chairman for banking supervision, has said that the gap between short- and long-term interest rates does not mean the U.S. is moving toward a recession. And then there is a sea of bright economic news setting the backdrop for the yield curve inversion hitting its three-month mark: Unemployment is at a near historic low. The stock market is going strong. The S&P 500 is up 17% for the year. And while some economists say the pace of growth may be slowing, the consensus view is that a dramatic economic plunge is not on the horizon. But Harvey says no single economic predictor has the impressively prescient track record of the yield curve inversion. "Yes, the economy looks good right now," Harvey said. "But the yield curve is about the future. It captures the expectations of the broad market in terms of what might happen in the future." Might a whole quarter of an inverted yield curve become a self-fulfilling prophecy? "Perhaps," Harvey said. Consumers could see the data point as a red flag and pull back on spending, or corporations may view the sloping yield curve and decide not to make investments or hire new employees. "I look at it more in terms of risk management. This is an important piece of information. It helps people plan," Harvey said. "It enhances the possibility that we have a soft landing, not a hard landing, like a global financial crisis." If the idea of an inverted yield curve remains hard to grasp, Harvey says think of it this way: A yield curve is the difference between a short-term cash instrument, like a three-month government bill, compared to a long-term one, such as a 30-year government bond. When the short-term ones are paying out more than the longer-term ones, something is wrong. And economists call it an inverted yield curve. Or, Harvey said, think of a certificate of deposit at a bank, better known as a CD. "If you lock your money up for five years, you expect to get a higher rate than, say, locking it up for six months," he said. "But in certain rare situations, things get backwards and it turns out the long-term interest rate is lower than the short-term rate, and that's called an inverted yield curve. That's exactly the situation we've got now, and it is a harbinger of bad news." |
Spectacular: The Descent Of Curiosity As Seen From NASA's Mars Orbiter | This photograph brings some perspective to the amazing feat of landing a small vehicle on Mars: The picture was taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter just as the spacecraft carrying Curiosity deployed its parachute. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment at The University of Arizona, which released the image, explains: "The parachute appears fully inflated and performing perfectly. Details in the parachute such as the band gap at the edges and the central hole are clearly visible. The cords connecting the parachute to the backshell cannot be seen, although they were seen in the image of Phoenix descending, perhaps due to the difference in lighting angles. "The bright spot on the backshell containing MSL might be a specular reflection off of a shiny area. MSL was released from the backshell sometime after this image was acquired." One more thing: this picture was taken after the spacecraft had slowed from 13,000 mph to about 800 mph. As Mark Stencel reported for us early this morning, the "giant supersonic parachute" unfurled to slow it to about 200 mph. If you want a closer look, click on the image and it'll show you a zoomed-in version. |
Woman And Children Stabbed; Five Die In Brooklyn Attack | Four children are among the dead in a stabbing attack that took place in Brooklyn Saturday night, New York officials say. Police say five people died from the attack at an apartment in the Sunset Park neighborhood. Emergency responders were called to the residence around 11 p.m. "All five of the dead had stab wounds to their upper bodies, police said," according to CNN. "Police identified the victims as Qiao Zhen Li, 37; Linda Zhuo, 9; Amy Zhuo, 7; Kevin Zhuo, 5; and William Zhuo, 1." Three of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene, The Associated Press reports; the woman and a boy were taken to hospitals but did not survive. The news agency says that Qiao Zhen Li was the children's mother. "A man identified by police as a person of interest has been taken into custody, but no charges had been filed as of Sunday morning," the AP says. According to the New York Daily News, the man was reportedly found in the apartment when emergency personnel arrived. The newspaper reports that after the children's father came home to the apartment, police informed him of the attack through an interpreter. "The father was freaking out," neighbor May Chan tells the Daily News. "He just came home from work and saw the police and they told him. He was hysterical." Chan says the children were a common sight around the building. "I always see (the kids) running around here," she says. "They run around by my garage playing. They run up and down screaming. They're little kids ... that's so heartbreaking. Innocent kids, my God." |
Nepalese Opposition Welcomes Return of Parliament | Nepal's opposition alliance formally calls off weeks of pro-democracy protests after King Gyenandra reinstates Parliament. But the country's communist insurgents reject the king's offer, a sign that the turmoil in this Himalayan country may be far from over. |
Belgium Detains Terror Suspects | Belgian police are questioning 10 people in connection with a search for terrorism suspects. The AP says officials suspect some of those arrested were planning an attack in Belgium while others may be linked to Chechen rebels. AFP says people were arrested in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany as part of an 'inquiry into international jihadist terror'. THE VATICAN CLARIFIES POPE'S REMARKS ON CONDOMS Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi says Pope Benedict XVI included women in his comments about the acceptable use of condoms. The pope's remarks are included in a book based on lengthy interviews and excerpts were published over the weekend. Then, Benedict said condom use by male prostitutes was a lesser evil since it suggests a man is taking a responsible step with his sexuality. The AP reports Rev. Lombardi asked the pontiff whether he meant only to refer to male prostitutes: 'I personally asked the pope if there was a serious, important problem in the choice of the masculine over the feminine,' Lombardi said. 'He told me no. The problem is this ... It's the first step of taking responsibility, of taking into consideration the risk of the life of another with whom you have a relationship. 'This is if you're a woman, a man, or a transsexual. We're at the same point,' Lombardi said. HUNDREDS DIE IN CAMBODIAN STAMPEDE At least 378 people were trampled to death when a huge crowd panicked during an annual festival in Phnom Penh. The New York Times reports a massive throng had tried to cross a narrow bridge over the Bassac River but were crushed or fell in the water and drowned. There's no word on what caused the panic. WILLIAM AND KATE SET WEDDING DATE The BBC says Britain's Prince William and his fiancee, Kate Middleton will exchange vows on Friday, April 29, 2011 at Westminster Abbey. The Telegraph adds: The Royal family and the Middletons will bear the cost of the wedding, the reception and the honeymoon, although any associated costs such as security, policing and cleaning streets will be picked up by the taxpayer. |
We Buy A Superhero 3: Resurrection | After weeks of searching, we have finally found the superhero for us: Micro-Face. He's an obscure Golden Age character, plucked from the depths of the public domain, wearing a mask with a built-in microphone. He's the hero that the world of podcasting needs right now. But we have a problem. The original Micro-Face can never truly be ours. Since he is in the public domain, anyone can use the character's likeness and existing story. To produce a Planet Money version of Micro-Face, we need to innovate. A new look. A new story. A fresh, original take on the classic. How do you even do that? We are going to find out. Today on the show, Planet Money Studios officially launches the Micro-Face franchise. Miss any of the Micro-Face madness? Listen to the whole series here. Music: "Finish Big," "Murmur," "Heroes Legacy," "Epic War Games," and "Brave and True." Find us: NPR Shop / Twitter / Facebook / Instagram / TikTok Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts and NPR One. Need some help building your own comic book empire? Our Newsletter can't help you, but it can give you the latest news in the economics world, which certainly won't hurt. |
Al-Awlaki's Death Raises Questions About U.S. Tactics | A joint CIA and U.S. military operation targeted and killed the cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in an air strike this week. Awlaki had been linked to terrorist attacks against the United States and was a key target for several years. NPR's Rachel Martin shares the latest with host Scott Simon. |
French Reauthorize Libya Bombing; Juppé Says Gadhafi Is Ready To Leave | French lawmakers voted 482-27 to reauthorize the bombing mission in Libya. The vote was required by the constitution and came after a three-hour debate in the lower house of parliament. But perhaps the more interesting news to come out of France is that Foreign Minister Alain Juppé said France has been talking to "emissaries" of Col. Moammar Gadhafi. The New York Times reports: "Ending the crisis entails the departure of Qaddafi from power," Mr. Juppé told France Info radio. "This was absolutely not a given two or three months ago." "The question is no longer to know if Qaddafi must leave, but when and how," he added. Representatives sent by Colonel Qaddafi have indicated that "Qaddafi is ready to leave" and have called for negotiations, he said, but denied a claim that those negotiations might directly involve France. In an interview Monday in the Algerian newspaper El Khabar, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, Colonel Qaddafi's powerful second-eldest son, said the regime was holding "real negotiations with France and not with the rebels." |
NFL Team Owners Approve Tentative Deal | NFL team owners have approved a tentative deal that would end the lockout of the players. Michele Norris talks with NPR's Mike Pesca. |
Romeo & Juliet In Rwanda: How A Soap Opera Sought To Change A Nation | In 1994, the Hutu-led government of Rwanda led a systematic campaign to wipe out members of the Tutsi minority. At first, the people participating were tied to the government—military leaders, local mayors and police. But soon, thousands of ordinary people were encouraged or bullied into taking part in the killing. Shopkeepers and farmers, fathers and husbands slaughtered their own friends and neighbors, using basic farm tools like hoes and machetes. Often they killed in broad daylight, in the most public of settings, like churches, hospitals, and even schools. By the time the Rwandan Patriotic Front defeated the Hutu government, just 100 days after the mass executions began, the country was in ruins. As many as one million people were dead, including about three quarters of the Tutsi population. For Ervin Staub, a Jewish psychologist who had narrowly escaped the Holocaust in Hungary some 50 years earlier, it all seemed eerily familiar. A genocide had unfolded, and yet again, the world had sat on its hands and done nothing. And now, after a lifetime of studying genocide and how to work toward reconciliation, Ervin felt he had to act. He wanted to know, how do you convince people who once slaughtered each other to join hands and make peace? Is it possible to change a person's deepest beliefs? His answer would take him to the Rwandan capital of Kigali. There, with a team of Rwandans, they would try an unusual social experiment on a national scale: a radio soap opera. Additional Resources: The Roots of Evil: The Origins of Genocide and Other Group Conflict, by Ervin Staub, 1989 Musekeweya is produced by Radio La Benevolencija, an NGO that works in Rwanda to help with post-genocide reconciliation, and to build a more tolerant country. Reducing Intergroup Prejudice and Conflict Using the Media:A Field Experiment in Rwanda by Betsy Levy Paluck, 2009 |
Your Letters: Blackberry OT; Fat Man Earrings | Host Scott Simon reads your letters in response to stories about a Chicago police sergeant who is suing the city for overtime spent on his BlackBerry and about the Museum of Nuclear History and Science in Albuquerque's gift shop. |
'Teach For America' Teachers Learn On The Job | New science teacher Tim Cooper trained for a grand total of five weeks before flying solo in the front of his own classroom at Isaac Bildersee Middle School in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Ohio native Cooper received his training from Teach For America, which recruits and places new teachers in underserved American public school systems. The short but intense training program wrapped up in August; now that he's in the classroom, he's learning on the fly. And that's how TFA is supposed to work — Cooper learns on the job. He relies heavily on the many mentors and advisers the program and the school provide. Isaac Bildersee Principal Alex Fralin says that new teachers like Cooper have the toughest time with classroom management. Cooper has developed his own elaborate system of punishments and rewards: When kids pay attention, he hands out tickets redeemable for a pizza party or some other treat. He got this idea by observing other teachers. "So I went to the math teacher, sat in his room one day and saw him handing out these tickets. So I don't have to say anything, I don't have to raise my voice, I don't have to call kids out.," Cooper says. Will He Stay? Teach For America is extremely popular right now. The organization reports rapid growth in applications from recent college graduates, eager to devote at least two years of their lives to teaching. The program's goal is to send the most promising, idealistic young people into some of the nation's toughest schools. And it's highly selective. This past year, the program only had space for one out of seven applicants. And TFA only takes on people who can work independently. Aylon Samoa, who manages the training program, says the 5-week course that TFA teachers go through might not be enough for everyone. "This system is probably more set up for folks who are high-achieving, who can take challenge really well, and won't fold," Samoa says. TFA teachers all have different stories about how they go to the program. But most had a kind of epiphany that led them to take on this very tough job. After studying biology at Denison University in Ohio, Cooper worked in a biomedical lab for a couple of years. Then he worked in the Ohio state senate. All along, he felt the draw of teaching. TFA's quick path to the classroom spoke to his desire to get to work. "And for me the choice was: I want to get into the classroom and I want to do it now," Cooper says. "When I was working in the Ohio state senate, I saw firsthand, I had kids coming in saying they hadn't had a proper science teacher in four years. It floored me! I was like, I can't wait for two years to get a Masters and then get into a classroom." Now that Cooper is here, the big question is: Will he stay? Teach for America only requires a 2-year commitment. But the organization has been working on that weak spot and says that two-thirds of all corps members have remained in education. Cooper say he's can't say for sure what he'll do in the future, but he says he is committed to teaching. The Program's Limitations Fralin says he'd never hired a TFA teacher before Cooper because retaining teachers is so important to him. "I really look for a 3-year minimum from anyone, particularly from new teachers because we spend so much time and so much money on their growth and development," Fralin says. Others are concerned that TFA has created unrealistic expectations for schools and school systems. Ric Hovda, dean of the education school at San Diego State University, says he can't afford to recruit the way TFA can. TFA, for example, conducts face-to-face interviews at schools around the country. "Multi-millions of dollars, most of them private dollars, are supporting Teach For America work. Not to discount what it is that they have accomplished, but it hasn't been without financial support above and beyond what would typically be given to any other education enterprise," Hovda says. So, TFA may not hold the solution for reforming teacher education nationwide. But for individual schools and for individuals like Cooper, it's a nice fit. RENEE MONTAGNE, host: Teach for America is the program that sends promising idealistic young people to teach in some of the nation's toughest schools. This year, recent college graduates flooded the program with applications. In the latest report in our series on teaching, NPR's Larry Abramson profiles one new teacher. LARRY ABRAMSON: Isaac Bildersee Middle School in the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn. Tim Cooper, a six foot four, baby-faced blonde from Ohio is teaching his science students how to weigh a beaker of water. Mr. TIM COOPER (Teacher, Isaac Bildersee Middle School): What happens if I put the cup and the water on this triple beam balance? What am I getting the mass of? Unidentified Group: The cup and the water. Mr. COOPER: Yeah, I'm getting the cup and the water. ABRAMSON: This classroom hums with Brooklyn attitude, but Tim Cooper commands respect even though |
Forget Taxing Marijuana; The Real Money's In Cocaine | The Fed just came out with one of those statements that everybody talks about and nobody finds surprising. Two key points from today's statement: Read More >> 1. As expected, the Fed will stop purchasing mortgage-backed securities by the end of this month. It bought more than $1 trillion of these bonds as part of its massive intervention during the crisis. 2. There had been some question about whether the Fed would use the same language it's been using about keeping its key interest rate super low for a lot longer. That language did stay the same, including the key four words: "for an extended period." That drove up the price of stocks and commodities, which tend to do well when money is cheap, the WSJ notes. The statement is from the Fed's Open Market Committee. Nine committee members (including Ben Bernanke) voted for the statement; a single member dissented, because he thinks keeping that "extended period" language in there could create another financial bubble and cause more trouble. Or, in Fedspeak, he believed that: ...continuing to express the expectation of exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period was no longer warranted because it could lead to the buildup of financial imbalances and increase risks to longer-run macroeconomic and financial stability. |
In A New Biography, Monk Minus The Myth | Biographer Robin D.G. Kelley wants to clear the air about Thelonious Monk. "His story challenges a very tired idea of the tortured artist ... committed to making an art by any means necessary," Kelley says. Kelley teaches history and American studies at the University of Southern California. He says Monk wanted people to enjoy his music — and purchase it, too. "He was someone who thought of music as a vocation: to keep his family afloat; his wife, Nellie; his two kids," Kelley says. "And so he took his work seriously." Monk died more than 25 years ago, but his music is still played and heard around the world. Monk's work was often discounted by critics and the general public during the better part of his first two decades as a performer. When critical attention came his way, myths were spun around him, many of which remain to this day. Among them: that he was difficult, a recluse, an untrained genius. But in his new book, Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original, Kelley tackles those enduring myths. He argues that Monk was not an isolated genius. He was connected to his New York City community, and he played benefits for the social causes of the day. And his talent was not some mysterious, God-given gift: Monk studied. "Well, I always did want to play the piano — the first piano I saw, I tried to play it," Monk said on a 1963 public television broadcast on New York's Channel 13. "I learned how to read before I took lessons, you know, watching my sister practice her lessons over her shoulder." That recording is but one of Kelley's discoveries over the 14 years he spent researching his book. In scouring roughly 300 interviews, he says he learned that Monk may have started reading music when he was 10. By the time he was 11, he began studying with a classically trained pianist named Simon Wolf. "The kinds of exercises he gave Thelonious came out of the books of Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninoff," Kelley says. "These were the composers Monk was drawn to; Bach, Beethoven to a lesser degree." In addition, Kelley notes that Monk studied with the stride pianist Alberta Simmons, a contemporary of Fats Waller. Thelonious Monk, Dad Drummer T.S. Monk is the son of the famed musician. "For me, he was a father first, and then he was this Thelonious guy second," T.S. Monk says. In spite of his father's daily rehearsals at home — and a constant parade of musicians through the apartment, including Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and John Coltrane — in the most important ways, the Monks had a fairly normal household, with a mom who worked a day job. "It would be me, my father and my sister," T.S. Monk says. "He had on a wife-beater [shirt], and he was changing diapers — there was no such thing as Pampers back then, so these were funky diapers that you put in a bucket. And people don't think of Thelonious as Mr. Mom, but I clearly saw him do the Mr. Mom thing, big-time." T.S. Monk helped Kelley gain access to the pianist's personal effects — and to his widow, Nellie Monk. She played a central role in the musician's life and career, and she functioned to a great degree as his manager. She also gave her son rare recordings of Monk playing that had not been heard outside the family. Kelley calls them "just incredible gems." "And what I heard particularly in this wonderful recording of him dealing with the song 'I'm Getting Sentimental Over You,' " Kelley says, "you hear him first try to assimilate the song, understand its dimensions. And he's playing a passage over and over again. And it sounds like somebody who doesn't know the song, though you know he does. "And he works through it. And after about, really, 45 minutes of working through this, as if he's struggling, he suddenly gets his stride. And he obtains a kind of mastery of the song. And if there's any lesson in those tapes, it's that it was hard for Monk to play Monk." Thinking Differently Kelley says it may also have been hard for Monk to be Monk. He was known to drink heavily and to smoke marijuana, and his struggles with what was initially described and treated as manic depression were ongoing. It took two decades before he got proper help for his bipolar disorder. T.S. Monk remembers a cold New York day with 3 inches of snow on the ground. "My father put on his slippers, his silk pajamas, his seal-skin hat — period," he says. "And we're walking down West End Avenue. And I knew I had to put on all my winter stuff, and I had to follow him to make sure that nothing happened to him." In spite of his challenges, Monk could also be wryly funny in his own way. In that 1963 public television appearance, he was interviewed by Hall Overton, a composer and arranger with whom he'd worked. Overton asked Monk to talk about his intended audience: "I'd like to reach everybody, the public plus the musicians; that's the standard I set for my songs," Monk said. "Something that will get to the people's ear, plus ... no criticism from the musicians." "What he reminds the audi |
The California Report 2006-12-20 | Tulare County Approves New Dairies. Drunk Driving Crackdown Planned for Holidays. Health Care Access a Priority for 2007, But Who Will Get It?. End Music. |
Gawker Files For Bankruptcy As It Faces $140 Million Court Penalty | Gawker Media, the gossip and news company that lost a high-profile court case in which it was ordered to pay $140 million over a violation of Hulk Hogan's privacy, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from its creditors. In addition to its eponymous website, Gawker operates several other popular sites, including Deadspin, Jezebel and Gizmodo. But reports out Friday also said Gawker's founder, Nick Denton, was trying to find a buyer for the company. Update at 2:30 p.m. ET: Gawker Confirms Ziff Davis Deal Gawker Media Group says it has reached an agreement "to sell its seven media brands and other assets to Ziff Davis, a global digital media company which operates in the technology, gaming and lifestyle categories and is a subsidiary of j2 Global, Inc." The announcement, made after news of Gawker's bankruptcy filing emerged, confirms an earlier report by Recode. Gawker founder Nick Denton says of the deal, "We are encouraged by the agreement with Ziff Davis, one of the most rigorously managed and profitable companies in digital media." The news release also puts in a plug for Gawker's value, saying, "Writer for writer, GMG has broken more important and interesting stories than any other digital news venture. " Here's how the release describes Gawker Media: "With a distinctive commitment to journalism as an honest conversation between writers and readers, GMG is the only interactive media group to have achieved scale and profitability without outside capital. The company is a leader in online commerce, native advertising and online discussion software, but the driving force is its distinctive editorial mission." Our original post continues: Gawker filed bankruptcy papers with a court in the Southern District of New York Friday, claiming an estimated $50 million to $100 million in assets and between $100 million and $500 million in liabilities. A massive chunk of those liabilities rests in a punishment levied on the company for making public a video in which professional wrestler Hulk Hogan was seen having sex with a woman who was married to a man who has been called Hogan's best friend. That case was part of a pattern for the company, which has sought to bring previously unknown details about public figures into the public realm. After the ruling, it emerged that a wealthy businessman who had previously been the subject of Gawker's reporting had been backing Hogan's case. As NPR's David Folkenflik reported Thursday: "A Gawker site outed PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel as gay nine years ago and Thiel's never forgotten. ... Thiel told The New York Times that backing the lawsuits against Gawker was an act of philanthropy. Commentators at The New York Times and The Washington Post said Thiel's hidden assault on Gawker was an attack on the broader press." Denton has his own take on the circumstances. Here's what he told David: "It's harder now for journalists to do stories about billionaires, like Peter Thiel, without having at the back of their minds the fear that maybe somebody deep-pocketed, you know, with unlimited resources is going to come after us and can my organization afford to defend me?" According to the Recode website, Gawker and founder Denton are planning to sell the company: "Gawker has told [its] employees it still plans to fight the Thiel/Hogan case and to operate its publishing business while it does so. But it is also now formally entertaining offers to buy the company and says it has a firm bid from publisher Ziff Davis to buy the entire operation for less than $100 million." The bankruptcy filing authorizes Gawker's officers "to commence the process of marketing and selling the assets of the Company and its subsidiaries." NPR's Alina Selyukh contributed to this report. |
Underground Petroleum Leaks in Hartford, Ill. | Matt Sepic of member station KWMU profiles the refinery town of Hartford, Ill., near St. Louis, plagued with a decades-old problem. A layer of gasoline sits under the village. Leaky petroleum pipelines deposited it over the years. That's left the town with bad smells, fires and even a few explosions. Government and industry officials say they're doing something about it. But some residents say nothing can be done and want to be bought out. |
Miss. Makes Working with False Documents a Felony | It's after 8 a.m. at the Home Depot in Gulfport, Miss. Eight men, all from Honduras, are the only ones left in front of the megastore. A few dozen already have been picked up for day work. "There was tons of work when we first got here right after Katrina," says one of the men, who doesn't want to give his name because he is in the country illegally. He says in those days, the police would escort workers to jobs in the disaster area. "Now the police come and chase us out of here, arrest us and hassle us all the time. I can't believe that they would throw us in jail for five years just for working. Everyone was so happy to have us here when we were doing the dirty work." He's referring to a new law in Mississippi that makes it a felony punishable by up to five years in prison to use false documents to get a job. Hope for 'Self-Deportation' Phil Bryant is Mississippi's lieutenant governor. Back in 2005, he was the state auditor and one of the first to speak out about the costs of illegal immigration, which he estimated at about $25 million annually. His strong support for the illegal worker crackdown has raised his political profile and gained him a loyal following. It also won him detractors. He likes to pokes fun at them and himself, as he did during a recent luncheon in Biloxi: "Now I know a lot of people say, 'Oh, he's xenophobic and he's racist and all that.' ... I thought [xenophobic] was a musical instrument. I'm none of those things," he said. "I have learned all my life about the rule of law." Starting July 1, businesses in Mississippi with at least 250 employees must use the federal government's E-Verify database to see if a job applicant is authorized to work in the U.S. Smaller companies must gradually comply. Businesses have complained that the system is error-prone. Even the governor, Haley Barbour, expressed concern as he signed the bill into law. But Bryant insists the system is reliable. And he believes most illegal immigrants will just leave the state on their own when faced with the threat of jail time for using false documents to get a job. "What we hope to do is what's called self-deportation," he says. "We hope that illegals from all over the world that come here, that cross our borders and violate our federal and state laws will say, 'Don't come to Mississippi to do that because, you know, they have a very strict law.' " Hispanics Disappearing Rosalinda Sandati has already seen the impact. She owns a small grocery store in East Biloxi catering to Hispanics. "A lot of people is moving to other states," she says. They told her they're leaving because it's already hard to find a job. "The law is real hard." Sandati opened her store last year. She started off selling cell phones and long-distance calling cards. She's added everything from tortillas to cowboy boots and now supports her three kids with her earnings. Sandati says she prays every night that the Hispanics won't leave. "God is the same for all of us," she says. "I don't know why the government is seeing another people different than the other ones." Weighing Priorities Immigrants hang out in front of a coin-op laundry next to Sandati's store. Everyone says work is getting harder to come by, but — surprisingly — no one has heard of the impending crackdown on illegal immigrants. A couple from Guatemala say they don't have cable TV and don't watch the news. There are no local Spanish-language TV or radio stations along the Gulf Coast. The woman says they try to keep expenses down so they can send $500 a month to their six children in Guatemala. Her husband says they get on their knees every night and pray that the government will allow them two more years of work here. They just want to earn enough money so their children can finish school. Then, the man says, they'll go home. RENEE MONTAGNE, host: This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. Mississippi has a tough message for illegal immigrants working in that state: Go back to where you came from or face up to five years in prison. That's the gist of a new state law which makes it a felony to use false documents to get a job. The crackdown is popular, but critics say Mississippi has forgotten how those same immigrants helped the state recover from Hurricane Katrina. NPR's Carrie Kahn reports. CARRIE KAHN: It's after 8:00 in the morning at the Home Depot in Gulfport. Eight men, all from Honduras, are the only ones left in front of the megastore. A few dozen already got picked up for day work. Unidentified Man #1: (Foreign language spoken) KAHN: There was tons of work when we first got here right after Katrina, says one of the men, who doesn't want to give his name because he's in the country illegally. He says back in those days, the police would escort workers to jobs in the disaster area. Unidentified Man #1: (Through translator) Now the police come and chase us out of here, arrest us and hassle us all the time. I can't b |
Pakistan's Military Unveils iPad Copy PACPAD | Pakistani workers at an Air Force factory are making a low-budget tablet computer. With Pakistani engineering and Chinese hardware, they make their version of Apple's iPad. The copy is the PACPAD. |
Even As Trump Denounces Vote By Mail, GOP In Florida And Elsewhere Relies On It | With an election year pandemic, mail-in ballots may become an increasingly popular way to vote, especially in states like Florida that allow any voter to use them. While those ballots accounted for nearly 1 in 4 of all ballots cast in 2018, President Trump this week said he wasn't in favor of expanding the practice during the present health crisis, even as he used one himself when he voted (presumably for himself) in Florida's presidential primary last month. During the White House coronavirus briefing Tuesday, Trump said, "I think that mail-in voting is a terrible thing" and followed up the next day with several tweets calling on Republicans to oppose statewide mail-voting, claiming without evidence that the practice hurt GOP candidates and was susceptible to widespread fraud. "At least in Florida, I think he's being a little misguided," said Mac Stipanovich, a longtime Republican strategist in Florida who recently left the GOP because of Trump. Mail-in ballots have also been a key tool in other Republican-friendly states such as Arizona and Utah. For more than 40 years, Stipanovich helped Republicans win campaigns and come to dominate Florida politics. "Absentee ballots," he said, "are typically Republicans' friends in Florida." In 2002, Florida began allowing anyone who requests a mail ballot to receive one, a change Stipanovich said Republican strategists and campaign managers immediately embraced. "People recognized that was a mine of gold that you could ... control." He said campaign strategists could "figure out who got the ballots, contact them [and] try to make sure they got their ballots in." In Florida, a state nearly evenly divided among Republicans, Democrats and independents, elections are often decided by the narrowest of margins. In many races, both local and statewide, mail-in ballots have provided Republican candidates with the votes to win. For many years, it was Republicans who pushed voting by mail, said Daniel Smith, a political science professor at the University of Florida, who has studied how mail-in voting has been used in the state. "Their electorate happens to be older on average than Democrats, happens to be more affluent," Smith said of Republicans. "It happens to have a more permanent residency in terms of less transient, less mobile population, which makes the delivery and return of absentee ballots easier." In recent elections, Democratic campaigns in Florida have also begun relying on mail ballots. They allow campaign staffers to know who has received a ballot, so they can call and encourage the voters to return it. Campaigns also know when people have returned their ballots, enabling operatives to "focus their attention on less reliable voters," said Smith, "who may not vote in every election and need a little more cajoling to get out to the polls." That strategy helped Trump narrowly carry Florida in 2016, Smith said. After securing the mail-in ballots, Republicans were able to concentrate on getting their occasional voters out to the polls. In Florida and elsewhere, mail ballots have been involved in election fraud, but Smith and other experts say it's rare. A bigger problem, according to Smith, is the relatively high percentage of mail ballots that are disqualified because they arrive too late, or the voter's signature doesn't match the one on file. In a study he conducted after the 2016 election in Florida, Smith found the rejections disproportionately affect minority voters and young people. With two elections coming up in the next several months, a statewide primary in August and the general election in November, Florida election officials are expecting a surge of requests for mail ballots. "I think every county in Florida is gearing up on that," said Bill Cowles, the election supervisor of Orange County, Fla., which includes Orlando. "We're also putting pressure on our vendors, our mail houses for doing it." With the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, Democrats and voting right groups have been pushing for an expansion of the use of mail-in ballots. Some Republicans, including the governors of Nebraska, New Hampshire and Ohio, have also backed major expansions of mail-in voting in response to the pandemic. In Florida, a state vital to both parties' presidential hopes this fall, elections officials have asked Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis for more time to mail out and count ballots but they've also said that it won't be possible to conduct an all-mail ballot election this year. |
Superbug Resistant To Every Antibiotic Available In U.S. | A new study out this week finds that a particularly dangerous kind of superbug called CRE — short for carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae — is better at evading antibiotics, and showing other bacteria how to evade antibiotics, than scientists had previously realized. Officials have called CREs “nightmare bacteria” because of how resistant they can be to even the strongest, last-resort antibiotics. Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson gets the latest on CREs from Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell), who covers infectious diseases and public health for the health and medicine publication STAT. |
Reviewing The Year Works Best | So how did everyone do this long holiday weekend? For those of us who were experiencing a "first" without their loved one, it wasn't easy, was it? We all got the advice. Start new traditions. Make new memories. Surround yourself with family and friends. Well, at least I tried some of that advice. And it worked when I was in the moment. But I still felt that other half of me missing when the house emptied out and the rooms went silent again. And I still cried. So I decided to take some of my own advice. Remember holidays of the past. The healthy years, when cancer didn't get in the way. For me, that worked better. I saw a strong Leroy. In-charge and in-command of the season... Celebrating with friends. Laughing out loud and living life. Oh, did he live life, especially around holidays. I guess we all have to do what works best for us. This is such an individual journey. I figure I'm half-way through now. New Year's eve is just around the corner. Any and all suggestions are welcomed. But rewinding back over the years might work best for me again. And I know, no matter what, I'm still going to cry. |
WXPR We Live Up Here | WXPR's We Live Up Here series is a home for stories that focus on the people, history, and culture that make the Northwoods of Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan such a unique place to live. |
Double Take 'Toons: Shorts Shrift? | The failure of the latest underwear bombing attempt didn't leave Cam Cardow or Jerry King in a bind. |
Rand Paul's Philosophies: Rhetoric Or Reality? | Host Michel Martin continues her interview with Senator Rand Paul. She asks whether his actions really line up with his libertarian philosophies. |
For Return Of Stolen Items, N.Y. Hotel Offers Amnesty | Did one of those little demitasse spoons somehow end up in your purse when you returned home from the Waldorf Astoria? Conscience getting the best of you? Not to worry: the hotel is offering an "amnesty program" for the return of hotel property, and they hope there'll be some interesting stories of hotel lore in return. <em>Weekend Edition</em> host Rachel Martin speaks with the Waldorf's director of sales and marketing Matt Zolbe. |
Close Races For Senate And House As Election Day Nears | Election Day is just four days away and while the country has largely been focusing its attention on the presidential race, there are many key Senate and House seats up for grabs on Tuesday, too. Those races could have a big impact on what Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump is able to accomplish as president. Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson talks with NPR digital political reporter Jessica Taylor about key Senate and House races that could tip the balance of power.
Hear more from Here & Now‘s district profile and Senate tracker series
Guest Jessica Taylor, NPR digital political reporter. She tweets @JessicaTaylor. |
NFL Hall Of Fame Game Called Off Due To 'Congealing And Rubberized' Field Paint | The unofficial kickoff to the NFL season got off to a false start Sunday when the Hall of Fame Game was canceled due to poor field conditions and nervousness over players' safety. The Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts were sent packing before the teams could even take the field in Canton, Ohio. At issue was paint on the midfield logo and in the end zones that hardened and raised anxieties that players might slip and suffer injuries. The league and the NFL Players Association issued a joint statement Sunday expressing regret over the cancellation. "Due to safety concerns with the condition of the playing surface in Canton, tonight's game between the Indianapolis Colts and Green Bay Packers has been cancelled. We are very disappointed for our fans, but player safety is our primary concern, and as a result, we could not play an NFL game on this field tonight." David Baker, president of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, reportedly said fans who bought tickets to the game would get a full refund, which The Associated Press said "will cost the hall several million dollars." In an interview with the NFL Network, Baker described the paint on the field at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium as "kind of congealing and rubberized, which meant players might slip on it." He also said the grounds crew had tried to fix the issue: "The folks with the field tried to remediate that by dropping some other pellets but after talking to the coaches and staff for both the Packers and the Colts, there was a concern they might be able to remediate it but they would have to do something underneath the surface." As the AP points out, Sunday's game wasn't the first NFL exhibition game to be called off. "This was not the first cancellation of an NFL exhibition game — the Hall of Game contest was not played in 2011 because of the lockout — but it was the most high-profile preseason match to be called off. "In 2001, a new artificial surface at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium was deemed too dangerous for the Eagles to play the Ravens." The issue of potential player injury linked to slipping on field paint is also something the NFL has experience with. SI.com reminds readers of what happened to a Steelers player just last year: "The turf at Tom Benson Stadium in Canton has been criticized in the past, with former Steelers kicker Shaun Suisham suffering what would be a career-ending ACL injury in last year's Hall of Fame game. Suisham led the charge this offseason on this issue, which helped result in the creation of a joint committee between the NFL and NFLPA to monitor field conditions, including at non-traditional venues like Canton." The Hall of Fame Game is traditionally played the day after the induction ceremony for the hall's latest class of players. This year's class included members who were part of the franchises scheduled to play Sunday. Among the eight inductees: Brett Favre, who spent 16 years with the Green Bay Packers; Tony Dungy, who was the first African-American head coach to win a Super Bowl when his Colts defeated the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI; and Marvin Harrison, who played on that Super Bowl-winning team and is considered one of the best receivers in NFL history. |
Why The 'Sgt. Pepper's' Cover Art Matters As Much As The Music | Fifty years ago, The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It's acknowledged nearly universally as one of the most well-known and influential rock albums of all time — and critic Colin Fleming argues that the artwork on the cover is just as important as the music. The Sgt. Pepper's cover art, co-created by pop artist Peter Blake, is iconic. It depicts The Beatles surrounded by the images of famous figures from history and pop culture — "almost like a giant birthday party or an Irish wake," Fleming says. "Kind of like a death of the 'pop' Beatles and a rebirth, really, of this new, almost populist-avant-garde Beatles." And while the Sgt. Pepper's cover has prompted its fair share of imitations, Fleming thinks its cultural impact goes beyond that. "I think it expanded the notion of what was possible," he says. "And the notion of freedom — I think the cover as much as the final, famous chord of 'A Day In The Life' signifies the same kind of idea." Hear more of Fleming's conversation with NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro at the audio link. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS BAND CLUB") THE BEATLES: (Singing) It was 20 years ago today Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play. They've been going in and out of style, but they're guaranteed to raise a smile. So may I introduce to you the act you've known for all these years, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band? LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST: Fifty years ago, The Beatles released one of the most well-known and influential rock albums of all time. I barely even have to say the name - "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." And my guest, music critic Colin Fleming, argues the artwork on the album's cover is as important as the music. Colin, welcome. COLIN FLEMING: Hey, how are you, Lulu? GARCIA-NAVARRO: I'm good. That sounds like almost something that is heretical. But before we get into why the artwork is important, remind us what the album cover looks like so everyone out there knows what we're talking about. FLEMING: It's a vertiginous assembly, really, almost like a giant birthday party or an Irish wake where you have lots of famous people from history from pop culture assembled around The Beatles as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and wax statues of the lovable mop top Beatles. And it's either, depending on how you look at it, kind of like a death of the pop Beatles and a rebirth really of this new, almost populist avant garde Beatles. GARCIA-NAVARRO: What was the process behind "Sergeant Pepper?" How involved with The Beatles in crafting that image? FLEMING: They were quite involved, Paul McCartney, in particular, because it's around this time that he's spearheading a lot of things to the - for the band, much to, like, John Lennon's annoyance. So I'm going to say that it was his central idea. He wanted to have The Beatles in, like, Edwardian garb in this room, almost like a locked room mystery, with photographs on the wall of people and, like, their dead uncles and whatnot. And - but you have that sort of bric-a-brac collage idea, which is built up, of course, by Peter Blake, the pop artist, into the cover that we know now. GARCIA-NAVARRO: So in that crowd in that image, you have Marilyn Monroe and you have Bob Dylan. Were there arguments about who to include there? FLEMING: Oh, yes, they really were. Lennon had to be reigned in. Now, it's - the year before, he says that they're more popular than Jesus, which wasn't, like, completely fatuous. Like, it was ballpark. GARCIA-NAVARRO: (Laughter). FLEMING: But he wanted Jesus on the cover. It's just like, maybe not. He also wanted Hitler to pair with Jesus on the cover. So they couldn't do that. Shirley Temple wanted to hear the record, like music critic style, before she would allow herself to be on it. And Aleister Crowley, the satanist of all people, is on the cover, too. GARCIA-NAVARRO: What cultural impact do you think the art had? FLEMING: It produced a lot of drecky imitation, certainly. But beyond that, I think it expanded the notion of what was possible. Not just visually with a record, but musically, you could go as far as your imagination was able to take you. Now, I don't think that's the same right now, but it was for, like, a bunch of years. And the notion of freedom, I think, the cover as much as the final famous chord of "A Day In The Life" signifies the same kind of idea. GARCIA-NAVARRO: That's music critic Colin Fleming. Colin, thanks so much. FLEMING: Thank you. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS BAND CLUB") THE BEATLES: (Singing) We're Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. We hope you have enjoyed the show. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, we're sorry, but it's time to go. |
Politics with Juan Williams: Iraq and the Capitol | Alex Chadwick talks politics with NPR senior correspondent Juan Williams. This week's topic: the politics of the continued occupation of Iraq and the failure to reach a compromise on the nation's draft constitution. |
Dunkin' Donuts To Add More Eggs To Its Egg Patty | The company says while there will be more eggs, there will be less water and other ingredients. The downside is that the egg patty will also have more calories. |
10 Killed When Gunman Opens Fire In Texas High School | NPR's Scott Simon has the latest news on the shooting that killed eight students and two teacher at Santa Fe High School in Texas on Friday. |
First Step To 'Eco-Grieving' Over Climate Change? Admit There's A Problem | Just thinking about the impacts of a shifting climate is making some people feel anxious and overwhelmed. A support group in Utah is helping people cope, and the idea has drawn interest in other states. In a split level outside Salt Lake City, eight people gather for a weekly meeting. The group, called Good Grief, has members ranging from millennials to grandparents. As they sit in a circle in the living room, Dick Meyer talks about why the problem of climate change made him emotional. Just thinking about the impacts of a shifting climate is making some, like Meyer, feel anxious and overwhelmed. This support group, which began meeting last year, is helping people cope. Meyer used to be skeptical. "And I think I came to the conclusion that it was the loss of the future — the future that I had lived knowing was going to be there — all of a sudden is gone," he says. "And that is really disorienting." Meyer spends his winters in Utah but has run a landscaping business in Nebraska for decades. That's where he's seen a few common tree species dying out — something scientists trace to heat and drought. "At some point, you come to a conclusion if you're paying attention, I think, where you just say, 'Whoa, this is serious,' " he says. "And then you suffer for a while, you grieve." Humboldt State University in California also recognizes so-called "eco-grief." Sarah Jaquette Ray, head of the environmental studies program, says her students find their study of climate change so depressing that she's added lessons to help them cope with their emotions. "They need the emotional skills and the emotional tools" to actually address the climate problem, she says. When the idea for this group first came to LaUra Schmidt, she was also struggling. She was an undergraduate student then, studying species extinction and melting ice caps. The human impacts of all that made her feel heartsick and powerless. Then Schmidt remembered the 12 steps that self-help groups use for problems like drugs and overdrinking. She says she has been an avid participant in an Adult Children of Alcoholics group, "and I realized that that group could be co-opted." So she wrote her own nine steps, which are still being solidified and possibly expanded by the group. The first step is the standard, "Admit there's a problem." "It's a lot about understanding your power and what you're capable of but also your limitations as a single human being on this planet," she says. Lise Van Susteren, a psychiatrist and climate activist in Washington, D.C., says people have climate anxiety. "Every single day we are told about what disasters are just around the corner," she says. "And this is being processed whether we know it consciously or not." Van Susteren calls the Utah group's approach brilliant since it helps people cope with their feelings and makes their community ties stronger. The American Psychological Association suggests both strategies in its new report on climate and mental health. Alli Harbertson says she comes to the Utah meetings to mourn the past and reimagine her kids' future. It helps, she says, to talk about it with people. "We don't do chitchat," she says. "We go right to what's on your heart. And I cry like every week, which is ... no big thing for me. I'm a huge crier. But still, feeling like I can do that with almost complete strangers is amazing." People in other states who've heard about this program are asking if they can use it too. The Utah group is planning to share it. Judy Fahys is a reporter with NPR member station KUER. You can follow her @judyfutah. |
Finding Jobs In Dallas | -- NPR's Wade Goodwyn reports on a program at the Wilkinson Center in East Dallas that helps the unemployed find jobs. |
Chinese Influence on N. Korea Increasingly Unclear | Last week North Korea said it has developed nuclear weapons and it's withdrawing from six-party talks on its nuclear weapons. One member of the six-party process, China, appears to have less and less influence over the North Koreans. |
Advocate's Comments On ACA Now A Liability For Law's Supporters | Lawmakers grilled an MIT professor on Tuesday over controversial comments he made about Obamacare. Jon Gruber has been one of the law's strongest advocates, but he also said the law passed with a big assist from voters' "stupidity." |
Bolton: Trump Administration Could Be Making 'Big Mistake' On North Korea | John Bolton is not particularly concerned about receiving a present from North Korea this holiday season. In an exclusive interview with NPR, the former U.S. ambassador dismissed the country's recent threat that it could deliver a "Christmas gift" if the U.S. does not meet an end-of-year deadline to offer better terms in nuclear negotiations. Bolton, who has avoided interviews since President Trump fired him as national security adviser in September, instead suggested that the Trump administration take the threat with a "grain of salt." "I think part of this may be bluff on their part. They think the president's desperate for a deal, and if they put an artificial time constraint on it, they may think they're going to get a better deal. We'll just have to wait and see," he said. "But this is all part of the North Korean playbook. They've successfully jived the three prior American administrations, and they plan to do the same with this one." And he thinks the administration is making a "big mistake" if — as reported by The New York Times — it stymied attempts by the United Nations Security Council to hold a discussion on North Korea's human rights abuses, for fear of upsetting North Korea and thereby derailing nuclear negotiations. "It's been the pattern as we've watched it for over three decades now: The North Koreans are very happy to declare that they're going to give up their nuclear weapons program, particularly when it's in exchange for tangible economic benefits, but they never get around to doing it," said Bolton. "And I think the inescapable conclusion is that they're happy to sell that same bridge over and over again, but there's no serious chance they will ever voluntarily give it up." Bolton's comments represent a stark break — but not a surprising one — with the administration he served before his ouster three months ago. The foreign policy hawk and the president had butted heads repeatedly over the direction of the administration's national security policy. Now, Bolton has found himself at the center of the political maelstrom over the impeachment of the president, with Democratic lawmakers seeking — and so far failing — to obtain his testimony about Trump's decision to withhold U.S. military aid to Ukraine. As for their differences on North Korea, Trump has actively pursued a deal with the nuclear state throughout much of his time in office — though that diplomatic pursuit has fallen on tough times lately. The promise of talks and a landmark agreement, seemingly so close when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met Trump for the first time last year, has devolved into an exchange of bellicose rhetoric. How did we get here? A good place to start is a more hopeful moment, during one of Trump's subsequent meetings with Kim, in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February. Despite a hopeful start, they did not reach an agreement to end North Korea's nuclear weapons program. "Sometimes you have to walk," Trump explained then, "and this was just one of those times." The decision to walk started a chain of events featuring increasingly hostile rhetoric. Jenny Town, who follows North Korea for 38 North, took note of a speech Kim delivered to the country's People's Assembly in April. "Kim Jong Un basically said that he would give the U.S. until the end of the year for the U.S. and North Korea to make progress and to come to some kind of agreement on how they move forward," she told NPR. "I think this was a sign of frustration with the process." It was that deadline that a North Korean official was referring to in his "Christmas gift" threat. And that deadline has become a time bomb of sorts. "They're going to have to do something now," Town explained. Negotiators from the U.S. and North Korea have met in recent months, but they have made no progress. A U.S. official familiar with the talks describes North Korean negotiators as "professional" but "afraid." For their own safety, they want Kim to decide on any deal North Korea makes, but he's not in the room. Now, the holiday deadline approaches, and satellite images suggest that North Korea has been firing off rocket engines as if preparing for some kind of long-range-missile test. Is it possible, then, that North Korea is on its way to some dramatic nuclear confrontation by mistake? "The key is 'by mistake' — we have a situation now where it's unclear if there are red lines or what those red lines would be," Town said. Ever since Trump began meeting and exchanging letters with Kim, North Korea has refrained from nuclear and long-range-missile tests. Nobody knows what Trump would do if North Korea resumes. The U.S. is doing one thing as the deadline nears, according to an official: trying to deliver a "constant message" of "reassurance" to Kim. Kelly Craft, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, sounded a note of disappointment during a U.N. Security Council session on North Korea's threat earlier this month, observing that the country "has continued to advance its prohi |
Is There A Conflict Between Science And Religion? | In a recent book — Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion and Naturalism — the philosopher Alvin Plantinga argues that the conflict between science and religion is superficial. Natural science doesn't entail the nonexistence of "a person such as God" or even rule out the possibility of miracles. Given quantum indeterminacy, at least according to Plantinga, we have no grounds for saying that miracles are impossible, even if we do have good grounds for thinking them highly unlikely. Of course, as Plantinga would be quick to admit, this is not to say much on behalf of theism; after all, the point is a general one and doesn't depend in any way on the specific likelihood or truth of religious doctrines. The same argument would allow us to conclude that natural science does not entail the nonexistence or impossibility of there being a teapot orbiting the sun (to use an example of the philosopher Bertrand Russell, recently made famous by Richard Dawkins). Plantinga does have a stronger claim in mind though. He thinks that the truth of theism — which he explains thus: "the thought that there is such a person as God: a personal agent who has created the world and is all-powerful, all-knowing, and perfectly good" — gives science the foundation it needs. In the absence of such a benevolent source of meaning, why suppose there is enough regularity or order in the world for the world to be knowable by us at all? And this is where Plantinga's argument gets interesting, although it is very far from being, in my judgment, in the least bit convincing. There is no deep conflict between science and religion, he says, but there is a deep conflict between science and what he calls "naturalism." Naturalism, for Plantinga, is the scientific world view; he explains it roughly as "the thought that there is no such person as God, or anything like God." Plantinga argues that science is, in a way, in conflict with itself! Read More I won't detail the argument he lays out. But his reasoning can be summed up this way: from a naturalistic point of view, we have every reason to doubt that our cognitive faculties are reliable. Therefore we can't seriously believe naturalism. For to believe it would be to have grounds for doubting the reliability of our own inclinations to believe it. Why does naturalism give us reasons to doubt the reliability of our cognitive faculties? Because, so the reasoning goes, according to naturalism our cognitive faculties have evolved to maximize our fitness, not to represent the world accurately. What is a belief, from the naturalistic point of view, but a cluster of firing neurons. And their job is not to capture the truth — what would that even mean? — but to get our bodies where they need to be to avoid predators, to find food, encounter mates, and so on. So naturalism entails that our cognitive faculties are unreliable. How can we even take naturalism seriously as something we might believe? Evidence for its truth would be self-defeating. We can begin to see where Plantinga goes wrong when we notice that science is not committed to the nonexistence of God. The world view of science is the world view of a man repairing his automobile. The "check engine" light is on and he wants to know why. That light is an explanatory itch and the man wants to scratch it. Now there may be a potential infinity of possible explanations for why the "check engine" light is on, ranging from "it isn't really on, I'm hallucinating it" to "my guardian angel is protecting me from going out today" to "a North Korean spy has tampered with my car." But these aren't very good explanations. They're unreasonable, which is really just to say that they don't scratch the explanatory itch. Why not? One reason is that, other things being equal, they are not very likely. Given the way things are, it is much more likely that, oh, the alternator is on the fritz. Another reason is that, in part because they are so improbable, these further possibilities seem to raise more questions than they answer. It's like trying to scratch an itch by tickling it with a feather. It doesn't work. Naturalism is committed to acknowledging that it doesn't work. Rationality is not a lock-step set of rules and regulations stipulating what we may and may not think. It is, rather, the appreciation of the way in which our interests, knowledge, evidence, and concerns, our sense of "other things being equal," shape what is likely, what is pertinent, what is useful, and what matters. And the thing about the guy fixing his car is that, if he's rational, he won't trouble himself with guardian angels, hallucinations or North Korean spies. As with "check engine" lights, so with human cognitive faculties. Plantinga gives us no more reason to think that we need God to continue relying on what we see and feel and think than he gives us reason to think we ought to check with the State Department about the possible infiltration of North Korean vandals. We don't need God |
Expected North Korea Meeting 'Has A Lot To Do With' Tillerson's Firing, Former Rep. Harman Says | Rex Tillerson is out as secretary of state, President Trump said Tuesday morning, and CIA Director Mike Pompeo will be nominated to replace him. Jane Harman, director, president and CEO of the Wilson Center and a former U.S. representative who served on the House Intelligence Committee, says Tillerson is an “admirable man” who lacked a strong relationship with Trump. “I think there are some accomplishments on [Tillerson’s] watch,” Harman tells Here & Now‘s Robin Young of his time at the State Department. “Having said that, no one ever claimed that the chemistry between him and our commander in chief was good — it just wasn’t. They were very different people.” An expected meeting between the U.S. and North Korea likely factored into Trump’s decision, Harman says. “I think that Trump wants good chemistry by his side, and that’s what this appointment is,” she says. “I don’t know that he particularly values the State Department and what it contributes. I think he values who Mike Pompeo is and what he contributes.” Interview Highlights On Pompeo’s time as CIA director, and his stance on Russian election meddling “Pompeo has been CIA director for a year. He brings some skills to that post. He was No. 1 in his class at West Point, he has a Harvard Law degree, he played some role — whether I agree with him or not — in investigating the Benghazi events. But at any rate, at the CIA, the workforce is not political, and the truth shall set you free, is the mantra of the CIA, and they believe firmly that there was Russian involvement, our entire intelligence community does. So Pompeo was the leader of that, picked up that cause, and I think there’s no question that that’s what he believes. Trump doesn’t stress that.” On Tillerson’s firing coming a day after the House Intelligence Committee ended its investigation into Russian election meddling, with some members breaking with the intelligence community’s assessment of Russia “That breaks my heart. I spent eight years on the House Intelligence Committee, four as the senior Democrat, the ranking member on the committee, the role that Adam Schiff now has. And although there were disagreements from time to time — some of them very serious — we patched them over and we functioned as a committee. I think the committee is now broken, certainly for the near term, the next cycle, or maybe certainly as long as Donald Trump continues as president. And what happened yesterday, to the surprise of the Democrats, was the Republicans fell in line with Donald Trump’s view about the lack of Russian meddling. “So I think where you’re going with this is, what’s Pompeo now gonna do, as Trump’s appointee and loyal counselor? I think he’ll have a difficult time breaking with the CIA view. I think he’ll try to find a way forward that satisfies both his boss — that would be Trump — and his recent history. How he will do that will require some deftness.” On Gina Haspel, who oversaw the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program, being named as Pompeo’s replacement “I think the [confirmation] hearings need to be careful. I lived this history, and I’m the one who then on the Intelligence Committee wrote a letter to the CIA general counsel, who had briefed me on the interrogation, asking him what policy guidance there was for the list of techniques that were used. I never got a substantive answer. My letter was classified — it’s since been declassified, which is why I’m talking about it — but she was very involved in this. And I also urged them not to destroy videotapes, which I was told had been made, and they were destroyed, and she was part of that action. So I think she needs to be asked careful questions. Of course it’s good news, and no surprise to me, that women are competent to head major intelligence agencies. But this part of her experience I hope will be carefully probed in her confirmation hearings.” |
Martin Talks With Cellist | Martin talks with cellist Carter Brey, who's walking away from his solo and chamber music career to become the principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic next season. |
Feinstein's CIA Outrage Splits Senate | The Senate was a chamber divided in reaction to Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein's diatribe against the CIA for allegedly hacking into Senate computers. A no-nonsense Feinstein, the Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, took to the Senate floor Tuesday to speak at length and publicly for the first time about a dispute with the agency. NPR's news blog, The Two-Way, provides much of the news and background on what happened Tuesday. The bottom line: Feinstein raises the prospect that the alleged actions of CIA employees violated the constitutional separation of powers and even criminal statutes. She alleges that CIA employees illegally hacked into her committee's computers to remove documents related to her panel's CIA oversight duties and spy on the activities of Senate staffers. CIA Director John Brennan seemed to deny that, but said there was an internal investigation into the matter limiting what he could say. Some Republican senators shared Feinstein's alarm, though they seemed to be willing to reserve ultimate judgment until a full investigation was concluded. "If what they're saying is true about the CIA, this is Richard Nixon stuff," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. "This is dangerous to a democracy. Heads should roll. People should go to jail, if it's true. The legislative branch should declare war on the CIA, if it's true." "It's very disturbing," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. "There needs to be a thorough and complete investigation." But Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., the top Republican on the intelligence committee, indicated to reporters some disagreement with Feinstein assertions. He called for a study to get to the truth. "Right now we don't know what the facts are." he said. And Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., sounded more skeptical about Feinstein's charges. He told Bloomberg Television in an interview, "I think it's a bit more complicated than what's being put out there by Sen. Feinstein or others." Rubio's skepticism was nothing compared to the hostility Feinstein's charges engendered beyond the Senate. Some compared her anger towards the CIA to her previous defense of the NSA. Feinstein was one of the NSA's more vocal supporters following revelations by Edward Snowden that the agency, as part of its counterterrorism efforts, collected telephone call information for virtually every American. Smelling hypocrisy, Snowden said in a statement to NBC News that the situation was one "... where an elected official does not care at all that the rights of millions of ordinary citizens are violated by our spies, but suddenly it's a scandal when a politician finds out the same thing happens to them." Similar concerns were expressed mainly by conservatives on social media. Feinstein may find herself in coming days being frequently asked to explain her very different reactions to the NSA and CIA. |
California Freezes Construction Projects | California financial officials voted Wednesday to freeze nearly $4 billion in financing for construction projects across the state. We visited some projects in northern California that are threatened by the funding cutoff. Rachael Dornhelm reports for member station KQED. MADELEINE BRAND, host: This is Day to Day. I'm Madeleine Brand. ALEX COHEN, host: And I'm Alex Cohen. California is suspending almost $4 billion in funding for public construction projects because, well, there's no money for them. State legislators have been in gridlock for months over a projected $40 billion deficit. Reporter Rachael Dornhelm visited the Northern California city of Livermore to see how the decision to pull the plug on building will affect local communities. RACHAEL DORNHELM: Two construction workers are finishing a new sidewalk at Livermore High School. Mr. FLOYD WILSON (Facilities Director, Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District): Looks pretty good, guys. Unidentified Man: Thank you. DORNHELM: I'm getting a tour of the latest addition to the campus. Mr. WILSON: This is our new science facility, providing an additional quad for the students. DORNHELM: My guide is Floyd Wilson, facilities director for the school district. He's upset that the state board in charge of managing public funds is suspending $12 million his district was promised and already spent. Mr. WILSON: And to finish off the project and pay off all of our bills, we're expecting the money back from the state. DORNHELM: Not anytime soon. Wilson says, now facing a deficit, students could feel a squeeze on programs. And then, there are the builders. Mr. WILSON: The way it's worked out is all of our contractors, with the exception of one, are all Livermore-based contractors. And so, that - yeah, that has a big ripple effect in our community. (Soundbite of traffic) DORNHELM: My next stop in Livermore is more like a drive-by. Along a major eastbound freeway, I-580, there are cones and work signs. The end result will be a carpool lane for one of the state's most congested roadways, but work here could grind to a stop after yesterday's vote. Ray Akkawi is with the Alameda County Congestion Management Agency. He says they planned to finish this phase by next fall, but now, it seems... Mr. RAY AKKAWI (Manager, Project Delivery, Alameda County Congestion Management Agency): That deadline or that milestone will not be achieved and may be delayed. DORNHELM: He says suspending the work may add $5 million to the overall cost. Where does that money come from? Mr. AKKAWI: We don't have it. (Soundbite of laughter) DORNHELM: These are just two examples of projects thrown into limbo in one city. Some of the biggest-ticket projects now on hold include a $420 million tunnel near San Francisco and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of school projects in Southern California. If the work does not move ahead, the state treasurer's office estimates it would cost private companies $12.5 billion and 200,000 jobs over the next year and a half. Ms. JENNIFER WHITING (Legal Representative, League of California Cities): This is not a regional or a local problem; this is a problem that we're seeing across the state. DORNHELM: Jennifer Whiting is with the League of California Cities. She says she's been hearing from local governments worried about how to pay contracts they signed based on money they thought was coming. Ms. WHITING: It creates local jobs. It helps the local economy. They're very important, and the state really needs to figure out a way to keep the projects going forward. DORNHELM: In the meantime, all the work will be on hold for at least a month until the board meets again. For NPR News, I'm Rachael Dornhelm. |
Fort Campbell, Home of the 101st Airborne | Operation Swarmer continues today. At least one soldier from the 101st Airborne Division was killed yesterday in Samarra. The military says it's detained 31 people and discovered some large underground weapons caches. NPR's Eric Weiner has a piece today on Day to Day. He was near Fort Campbell, Ky., home of 101st Airborne, the day Swarmer happened. He sent me a quick email: "Sometimes we get lucky, at least when it comes to timing. I had already planned a reporting trip to the Fort Campbell area when news broke of the assault on Samarra..." At the time, Weiner was in Clarksville, Tenn., the closest big town to Fort Campbell. Clarksville, Weiner says, is a pretty interesting place: "The town… is a strangely international place. The Korean presence is especially strong -- Korean restaurants, Korean tailors, Korean barber shops. Some of the signs are even in Korean, which seems odd in rural Kentucky. I asked someone about this and they quickly had an answer. Soldiers based here had previously been posted in South Korea. They met and married Korean women, who then moved to Fort Campbell. Thus, all those Korean BBQs." "There's a subtle shift taking place in Clarksville, a reflexively patriotic town. Yes, residents still support the troops 100 percent, as anyone will gladly tell you. But people are beginning to voice doubts about the war. I met many people who supported the war three years ago, (the anniversary [of the beginning of the war] is Sunday) but who now say it's time to bring the troops home. I wouldn't say that's the majority opinion here, but it's one you didn't hear at all three years ago." |
Iraq: Real Stories, Real People | As we've said before, reporting from Iraq is one of the most dangerous jobs. As a result, it's hard to know what life is actually like for ordinary Iraqis in Baghdad, Karbala, Tikrit. One way to follow life over there is to read any one of the many Iraqi blogs that have popped up since the 2003 invasion. Another, is to listen to NPR's Anne Garrels, Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, and Jamie Tarabay... all of whom have done some really intrepid, and heart wrenching reporting. But one of the only places you'll get to ask Iraqis what life is really like for them, is Talk of the Nation, today. We'll be talking to a pediatrician, a religious student, and a professor on our show...please post your questions for them here. |
'I’ll Never Ride Out Another Hurricane': For Katrina Survivor, Harvey Is Deja Vu | Lorrine Adamore is holed up in one of the three shelters the city of Dallas has set up for people fleeing Hurricane Harvey, now a tropical storm. It’s a familiar, and unsettling feeling. Twelve years ago she was rescued by boat when her New Orleans home was swamped by Hurricane Katrina and she relocated to Houston. Bill Zeeble (@bzeeble) from Here & Now contributor KERA in Dallas has her story. |
Researchers Create A Tiny Camera To Be Carried By Beetles | A research team at the University of Washington has developed a small, lightweight wireless camera that can be carried by beetles. In the future, the device could also allow tiny robots to see. |
Obama Outlines Surveillance Proposal | In a wide-ranging news conference before summer vacation, President Obama announced a series of steps designed to boost confidence that government surveillance efforts are not trampling Americans' privacy. |
U.N. Seeks Access to Guantanamo Detainees | A group of U.N. human rights investigators says it wants to investigate reports of torture at the U.S. prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where detainees are being held. But the team is reporting that the United States is ignoring their requests. Also, information about the detainees is being improperly disseminated, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine. |
Legalized Marijuana Forcing Old Dogs To Learn New Tricks | Drug-sniffing dogs, those cute bellwethers of illegal activity, are dropping Marijuana from their repertoire in Washington state. A 2012 ballot initiative legalized the use of marijuana in the state (although federal law still prohibits its use). Since then authorities have been working to implement the law. Part of that process is, apparently, to employ canines who don't react to the smell of marijuana. The AP explains why: The prosecuting attorneys' association also told police that an "alert" from a drug-sniffing dog that had been trained to find marijuana is no longer enough evidence for a search warrant. Police will need other evidence, at least until the old dogs retire. In an extensive story on the changes facing law enforcement agencies and their dogs, Seattle's KOMO News reports that not every agency is responding the same way: Sgt. Sean Whitcomb said the Seattle Police Department is already taking steps to desensitize its dogs to marijuana through rewards and constant training. "Got to keep those sniffers in shape," Whitcomb said. ... But, not all law-enforcement agencies are on board with the changes. Tacoma Police Department spokesperson Loretta Cool said the department will not be changing any of its procedures for training or using narcotics dogs as the possession of marijuana is still illegal under federal law. KOMO has this full story, or you can watch their video (complete with cute dogs): |
Songs For The Snowbound | If you find yourself stuck in the house due to recent snowfall around the country, huddling around the fire has surely become tiresome by now. So why not hover around your computer with some wintry tunes and a cup of tea instead? These five songs ought to make your winter a little brighter. Hear the music, after the jump. |
Weathering Emotional Storms Over Gulf Oil Spill | Oily beaches and lost livelihoods are the visible effects of the massive well leaking into the Gulf Coast. But consequences that are harder to spot are starting to get more attention now, like the need for mental health care. On June 23, an Alabama boat captain, whose friends say he was "despondent" over the oil spill, took his life. The surgeon general was in Alabama Wednesday and is in Florida Thursday, talking about mental health. And if the reaction to this spill mirrors that of the Exxon Valdez case, follow-up litigation may bring more anguish than the initial disaster. State officials across the Gulf have started pushing BP to donate money for mental health outreach. 'That's All He's Ever Been' Garet Mones is one of many Gulf residents who have sought mental health support as a result of the spill. On June 9 -- Day 51 of the oil spill -- Mones checked himself into the hospital. He was having a nervous breakdown. "I feel like everything's been taken from me, you know? Not just my livelihood -- my life," he says. Mones got his first boat when he was 8. He has been a commercial fisherman for nearly all of his 29 years in the small Louisiana bayou town of Hopedale. His buzzed haircut and chiseled features make him look pretty tough. But the oil spill has left Mones completely deflated. He spent a total of six days in the hospital. "In there it was like ... I'm watching it on the news, and I'm seeing it still and it's still there, but I just put my mind in there and just let everything out here just be whatever it is," Mones says. Mones' fiancee, Carmen Mackles, says "he was really, like, suicidal." "His dad was a fisherman. All his friends are fishermen, his uncles. You know, that's all he's ever been. He's never had any other job," Mackles says. Now the stress -- of being out of work, of wondering if things will ever return to normal, of waiting for a check from BP to help pay the bills -- is wearing on Mones and thousands like him up and down the coast. Lessons From Exxon Valdez University of South Alabama sociologist Steven Picou documented significantly higher rates of anxiety and depression in Alaska fishing towns after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. He expects the same in the Gulf, because of what he calls a "corrosive social cycle." "See, there's an all-clear that's signaled after a natural disaster, and you know when it has ended," Picou says. That gives communities closure, and people tend to pull together in recovery. But with a man-made disaster like an oil spill, Picou says, the effects unfold over time, and it's more common to see communities tear apart. People get caught up blaming the company and fighting for a piece of the compensation pie. In Alaska, Picou says, the legal battle with Exxon became like a second disaster for the people. "And by 2000, what we found was that the primary source of stress relating to the spill was being a litigant and not being a commercial fisherman," Picou says. To deal with stress, some people, like Mones, turn to church. He says the singing and praying make him feel hopeful. Others drink. More than 3,000 have sought out crisis counselors at centers set up by Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans. Gulf states have asked BP for millions of dollars to pay for mental health services. So far none of those requests has been granted, though BP is offering crisis counseling to locals working on the cleanup effort. Between Friends And Family But social workers say commercial fishermen are an independent lot, reluctant to ask for this kind of help. If they're turning to anyone, they are looking to family and friends like Diane Phillips. Phillips (called "Momma D") is not a professional counselor. She fishes and guides boat tours. But she's a good listener and has lived in Hopedale for a long time. Lately, she says, the extra folding chair on the porch in front of her weathered trailer is almost always occupied. "Most of the commercial fishermen have fractured families at this point. Not that they're divorced, but a lot of the young mothers have made the decision to stay in Mississippi or in north Louisiana so they don't have to worry about the home, everything we've dealt with since Katrina," Phillips says. Just as some of those wives were looking to come back, just when things seemed to be turning around, the spill happened. "It's always gonna bring out the best in some and worst in others," says Petrina Balser, who grew up in the fishing towns of St. Bernard Parish. She now runs a Catholic Charities crisis center there. "I have actually seen families, longtime friends who are not speaking anymore because of the anger issues, the blame -- you getting on, I'm not. And it's a really, really sad thing to see," she says. But Balser also says the Gulf's fishing communities are full of incredibly resilient people. They do have a tough road ahead, but they have weathered many a previous storm. MICHELE NORRIS, host: Oily beaches and lost livelihoods are obvious effe |
Erlanger, NYT Jerusalem Bureau Chief, to Leave Post | Steven Erlanger, Jerusalem bureau chief for The New York Times, discusses what's next for him after he leaves Israel in a few weeks. During his tenure in Jerusalem, Erlanger has covered Yasser Arafat's death, Ariel Sharon's debilitating stroke, Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, and the Hamas victory in the Palestinian elections. "There is a madness in Gaza now." So says New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Steven Erlanger, who joins Terry Gross to talk about the Palestinian power struggle that's erupted recently and how the battles between the Hamas and Fatah factions are affecting life in the West Bank and Gaza. Erlanger has reported from all over the world, serving in Moscow, Bangkok, Prague and other cities. Prior to his tenure at the Times, he wrote for The Boston Globe. |
At Glenn Beck Rally, Signs Of Negativity | Standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday and addressing tens of thousands of admirers at his “Restoring Honor” rally, conservative and religious talk show host Glenn Beck said, “"America today begins to turn back to God." And he spoke of positive actions. “Today we are going to concentrate on the good things in America,” he said, “the things that we have accomplished and the things that we can do tomorrow." But in the massive crowd, there was an undercurrent of negativity – people concentrating on what they consider to be the bad things in America. Wearing a “Nobama” t-shirt, Ted McCarron, 45, of DeKalb Illinois, said that he was somewhat disappointed that the event was not more politicized. McCarron works the over night shift at a warehouse. He watches and listens to Glenn Beck. Read More He said that he was glad he had come, but there was too much emphasis from the speakers on conciliation for his liking. “I was hoping it would be more like a Tea Party event,” he said. “I’m an ultraconservative,” McCarron said. “I believe that 80 percent of the federal government is illegal because it’s unconstitutional.” “The stronger the government gets,” he said, “the weaker we get.” Though signs and placards were discouraged by Beck, plenty of rally-goers like McCarron sported tshirts emblazoned with photos and slogans to get their points across -- wearing their emotions on their sleevelessness. There were lots of Tea Party shirts, invoking the Constitution and protesting taxes and other governmental actions. One popular design featured an illustration of the Constitution and the words "Taken Enough Already" (T.E.A., as in Tea Party). Another advertised "Sick of Spending." Lots of people wore "Stop Socialism" stickers. Near the Mall, vendors peddled large and small "Don't Tread on Me" flags, popular with tea party enthusiasts. One group distributed fliers urging voters to "Dump Obama." In the material Obama was depicted wearing a Hitler-like mustache. One man blasted “Obama No!” through a portable amplifier. There was no way to get an accurate count on the Tea Party faithful, or the throngs at large. But it was a massive turnout. As political observers have noted, the influence of the tea party, and widespread voter disgruntlement in general, have already played a role in primary elections and could be a mitigating factor in November. A Vietnam War veteran, Ken Ratliff, 55, of Rochester, N.Y., said he is leaning toward the tea party. "There's got to be a change, man," he said. Mike Cash, a 56-year-old Atlanta businessman, wore a T-shirt that read "Treat Obama like a used tea bag, toss him out now!" Cash, who brought his family, said he wouldn’t have missed the rally. "We are here kind of protesting about our government, too. I'm a businessman and I'm worried about taxes going up." As Tea Party favorite Sarah Palin spoke, rally volunteers near the Washington Monument handed out leaflets: Stop the Madness. One usher, shepherding the crowd to the north side of the Reflecting Pool, repeatedly said, “The far right is less crowded.” But on this particular August day in America, the far right seemed to be very crowded. (The Associated Press contributed to this report.) |
Atlanta Reacts To Election Results | Tell Me More takes to the streets of Atlanta, Ga., for more reaction to Sen. Barack Obama's White house win. |
'The Louvre Is Suffocating': Museum Closed As Workers Strike, Citing Overcrowding | The Louvre was shuttered on Monday, leaving hordes of tourists outside amid its famous glass pyramids. The reason? The Paris museum's security and reception staff were on strike, protesting "unprecedented deterioration of conditions" amid record crowds. The museum, located in a former royal palace on the city's Right Bank, attracted a record 10.2 million visitors last year – a 25% increase over the year before. "No other museum in the world has ever equaled this figure," the museum trumpeted in January. But workers say both visitors and staff are suffering from such massive popularity. "The Louvre is suffocating," the Sud Culture Solidaires Union said in a statement Sunday. "While the public has increased by more than 20% since 2009, the palace has not grown. ... Today the situation is untenable." Amid rising crowds from 2009 to 2018, staff headcount declined in that period from 2,161 to 2,005, according to the union. American visitors to the museum on Monday posted photos of the disappointed queues outside. "Well this is great," tweeted one Californian. "Glad I got to the Louvre early." The museum is offering refunds to those who bought tickets for the day. The union cites several problems it says are caused by overcrowded conditions at the museum: an aggressive and impatient public, jostling crowds and inadequate emergency evacuation measures. "What to say about visiting conditions when people are confronted with noise, trampling, crowds, extreme fatigue and the total inadequacy of museum facilities at such a high volume of visitors?" the union said in the statement. "The Louvre does not have the means of its ambitions." The Louvre is closed today, as it is customarily on Tuesdays. A notice on its website said the museum would open late on Wednesday after "a general meeting attended by members of the Musée du Louvre's Reception and Security staff." It warned that large numbers of visitors are expected in the coming days, and recommended buying tickets online. Pierre Zinenberg, a Louvre employee and union representative, told the Associated Press that the outcome of Wednesday's meeting would determine whether the museum would re-open that day, or whether the strike would continue. |
The Generation That Can't Wait to Move Up at Work | The newest generation of workers seems to be at the top of managers' worry list these days. These 20-somethings, known as the Millennial Generation, are eager to bounce up the corporate ladder without putting in the time on the lower rungs. "This generation of 20-somethings is slightly different in that they grew up very coddled by their parents," career consultant Alexandra Levit tells Renee Montagne. "And so they're coming into the workforce really not prepared to do some of the grunt work associated with being an entry-level employee and want to do meaningful work right away." "This cuts both ways, because in one sense you have people who are very motivated, very smart [and] know how to leverage technology. But on the other hand, you have people who tend to want to be general managers by the age of 23..." Levit adds. When I landed a job in a top public relations firm after my college graduation, I thought the toughest part of my entry into the business world was over. I dumped my extra resumes in a recycling bin and eagerly awaited a paycheck that would scarcely cover my rent. I looked forward to worldly business trips, stimulating office brainstorms and hanging out with my co-workers every Friday at happy hour. A few years later, I had never made it to a happy hour gathering because on Friday nights I was passed out on the couch. I held an entry-level position for 16 months while people with half my intelligence and work ethic lapped me. My résumé listed four positions in three years because I was always on the lookout for a better opportunity that would bring the ever-elusive job satisfaction. Eventually, I considered joining the large numbers of my friends who were leaving the corporate world in favor of business or law school. The idea of going back to school is tempting, and why not? We're comfortable with the concept of school. We know how the story goes. If you work hard, you get good grades, and everyone is happy. The business world is another animal entirely. Politically motivated and fraught with nonsensical change, it's not a natural fit for ambitious graduates who leave school expecting results from a logical combination of education and effort. Suddenly, the tenets of success we've followed since kindergarten don't apply, because getting ahead in the business world often has nothing to do with intelligence or exceeding a set of defined expectations. Since they don't teach corporate in college, here are six tips to help you win at the business world's game: Develop a marketable corporate persona: Think of yourself as a publicist with the task of promoting you. Learn to capitalize on your skills, succinctly assert your achievements and project a corporate persona — or your most mature, professional and competent face. Establish profitable relationships: Business networking is a valuable tool to gain information, increase your visibility in your field and make connections that will help you move forward in your career. Seek out new contacts and potential mentors whom you like and admire and whose interests you share. On the home front, don't expect your boss to figure out what you're all about. Determine her priorities, find out what she wants from you, and brainstorm ways to surpass her expectations. Master transferable skills like goal setting, effective communication and time management: You might not know exactly what you want to do with your life, but transferable skills will serve you well no matter what future path you decide to pursue. Make your time count now by working with your boss to set specific, reasonable and attainable goals for your present position that will help you advance to the next level. Stay motivated despite trying circumstances: There's no doubt that the business world can be frustrating, but remember that you can choose your response to your environment. If you make a conscious decision to begin each day with a positive outlook, negative conditions at work can't take that away from you. Aim to increase your self-awareness so you can better understand your emotional hot buttons. Get people to cooperate: Always keep in mind that other people don't care what you want — they want to know what's in it for them. By approaching negotiations with an attitude that allows both parties to win, you'll be more effective at eliciting cooperation and ultimately getting what you want. Be proactive about your career growth: Approach your performance review strategically by soliciting feedback on your progress, identifying new goals and growth opportunities and hammering out a long-term promotion plan. When asking your boss for a raise, be prepared with a list of contributions that have positively impacted the bottom line. When you're struggling to survive in a corporate job, it might be an achievement just to make it through the day. But if at any point you feel like taking these steps is not worth the effort, just consider how much time you are likely to spend in the busines |
At 84, Poet Gary Snyder Lives In 'This Present Moment' | Poet Gary Snyder has hung with the Beats, studied Buddhism, worked as a logger and he's still going strong. He talks with NPR's Linda Wertheimer about his new collection, <em>This Present Moment</em>. |
'The Dinner' Offers Food For Thought | Food doesn't matter much in novels. Years will pass in a person's life without a single description of a snack. Not a moment between adverbs for a taco. No wonder so many characters in contemporary fiction are glum: They're not hopeless; they're hungry. In his new book, The Dinner, Dutch author Herman Koch structures his entire plot around a five-course meal, going from aperitif to digestif. The novel was originally published in the Netherlands in 2009 and went on to become an international best-seller. It's the story of two couples meeting for dinner in a sophisticated Amsterdam restaurant, the type of place where every item on the menu practically comes with a birth certificate, and in very small portions. As Koch writes, "The first thing that struck you about Claire's plate was the vast emptiness. Of course I'm well aware that, in the better restaurants, quality takes precedence over quantity, but you have voids and then you have voids. The void here, that part of the plate on which no food at all was present, had clearly been raised to a matter of principle." But all the eating is cover for nasty events. The four people at the table, two brothers and their wives, have come together for an uncomfortable conversation. One of the brothers is a famous politician. The other is a retired teacher. They don't get along, but their sons do, and it turns out the boys have done something awful. Something so upsetting it has shocked the entire nation after footage of their crime turned up on the nightly news. However, the video did not show the boys' faces, leaving them anonymous for the moment, and now their parents must decide what to do next. I won't explain what happens after that. Half the pleasure of reading The Dinner is feeling the author's steady hand on the story as secrets are revealed. What he puts forward is not only possible, but frighteningly probable. It's also very contemporary, in terms of the ways that smartphones and the Internet can bring people together, and also push them apart. Many novelists are afraid to write about the evolving social customs of our digital world. They treat YouTube and text messages as communications of some exotic tribe. Here, Koch treats them as mundane aspects of our lives, as they deserve, and as tools — for good or for evil. Which leads me to the second reason why I so enjoyed this novel. The Dinner is an alarming drama. What these boys have done is grotesque, but not alien. Their crime could take place in Nebraska as easily as the Netherlands. But it's their parents' behavior that's even more chilling. By dessert, characters that I sympathized with during the appetizer course begin doing things, saying things, that are not only — and forgive the pun — unpalatable to me, but unconscionable, and I had to wrestle with what I would have done in their place. The best part about The Dinner was this tension taking place above the plates. As the meal wore on, I realized I couldn't get up from the table. Rosecrans Baldwin's latest book is Paris I Love You but You're Bringing Me Down. MELISSA BLOCK, HOST: Now, something to whet your appetite for reading. It's a novel structured around a five-course meal, from aperitif to digestif. This is not your average evening meal, as we hear from reviewer Rosecrans Baldwin. ROSECRANS BALDWIN, BYLINE: In most books, eating doesn't matter. Years can pass in someone's life, and we don't hear about the meals. We don't even hear about the snacks. But that's not true in "The Dinner," by Herman Koch. The book was originally published in the Netherlands and this month, it's coming out in the U.S. It's the story of two brothers and their wives meeting for dinner. The restaurant is one of those super-sophisticated places - overpriced champagne, guinea fowl wrapped in bacon; that kind of thing. And of course, the portions are tiny. At one point, the narrator describes his wife's dinner like this: (Reading) The first thing that struck you about Claire's plate was its vast emptiness. Of course, I'm well aware that in the better restaurants, quality takes precedence over quantity. But you have voids, and then you have voids. But the fancy dinner is a cover. What's actually going on is much more nasty. One of the men is a famous politician; the other is a retired teacher. They don't get along but their sons do, and over the course of the meal, you realize the boys have done something terrible. It's so upsetting, it showed up on the news and the whole country is shocked. But in the video, the boys' faces are hard to see, so they might be safe for now. The parents are at this dinner to decide what to do next. I won't explain the rest of the book. The secrets are half the fun. But I will say one of the reasons it's so chilling is that it seems like it could really happen. What the boys did is grotesque, but it's not impossible. And even worse, the parents - by dessert, they're saying and doing things that are so horrifying, they're almost unpalatable; a |
World Cafe Next: Emil Friis | This week's World Cafe: Next artist is a Danish singer-songwriter named Emil Friis, who's just released a dark, vibe-driven album called Sand In Your Eyes. Friis originally wrote this music for a French gangster film that didn't pan out before it became his new album. Friis aims for a combination of Ennio Morricone's dusty landscapes and Lee Hazlewood's vocals. Hear and download two of his songs here, or through the World Cafe podcast. |
Excerpt: 'American Lion' | Chapter 1: Andy Will Fight His Way in the World Christmas 1828 should have been the happiest of seasons at the Hermitage, Jackson's plantation twelve miles outside Nashville. It was a week before the holiday, and Jackson had won the presidency of the United States the month before. "How triumphant!" Andrew Donelson said of the victory. "How flattering to the cause of the people!" Now the president- elect's family and friends were to be on hand for a holiday of good food, liquor, and wine–Jackson was known to serve guests whiskey, champagne, claret, Madeira, port, and gin–and, in this special year, a pageant of horses, guns, and martial glory. On Wednesday, December 17, 1828, Jackson was sitting inside the house, answering congratulatory messages. As he worked, friends in town were planning a ball to honor their favorite son before he left for Washington. Led by a marshal, there would be a guard of soldiers on horseback to take Jackson into Nashville, fire a twenty- four- gun artillery salute, and escort him to a dinner followed by dancing. Rachel would be by his side. In the last moments before the celebrations, and his duties, began, Jackson drafted a letter. Writing in his hurried hand across the foolscap, he accepted an old friend's good wishes: "To the people, for the confidence reposed in me, my gratitude and best services are due; and are pledged to their service." Before he finished the note, Jackson went outside to his Tennessee fields. He knew his election was inspiring both reverence and loathing. The 1828 presidential campaign between Jackson and Adams had been vicious. Jackson's forces had charged that Adams, as minister to Russia, had procured a woman for Czar Alexander I. As president, Adams was alleged to have spent too much public money decorating the White House, buying fancy china and a billiard table. The anti- Jackson assaults were more colorful. Jackson's foes called his wife a bigamist and his mother a whore, attacking him for a history of dueling, for alleged atrocities in battles against the British, the Spanish, and the Indians–and for being a wife stealer who had married Rachel before she was divorced from her first husband. "Even Mrs. J. is not spared, and my pious Mother, nearly fifty years in the tomb, and who, from her cradle to her death had not a speck upon her character, has been dragged forth . . . and held to public scorn as a prostitute who intermarried with a Negro, and my eldest brother sold as a slave in Carolina," Jackson said to a friend. Jackson's advisers marveled at the ferocity of the Adams attacks. "The floodgates of falsehood, slander, and abuse have been hoisted and the most nauseating filth is poured, in torrents, on the head, of not only Genl Jackson but all his prominent supporters," William B. Lewis told John Coffee, an old friend of Jackson's from Tennessee. Some Americans thought of the president-elect as a second Father of His Country. Others wanted him dead. One Revolutionary War veteran, David Coons of Harpers Ferry, Virginia, was hearing rumors of ambush and assassination plots against Jackson. To Coons, Jackson was coming to rule as a tribune of the people, but to others Jackson seemed dangerous–so dangerous, in fact, that he was worth killing. "There are a portion of malicious and unprincipled men who have made hard threats with regard to you, men whose baseness would (in my opinion) prompt them to do anything," Coons wrote Jackson. That was the turbulent world awaiting beyond the Hermitage. In the draft of a speech he was to deliver to the celebration in town, Jackson was torn between anxiety and nostalgia. "The consciousness of a steady adherence to my duty has not been disturbed by the unsparing attacks of which I have been the subject during the election," the speech read. Still, Jackson admitted he felt "apprehension" about the years ahead. His chief fear? That, in Jackson's words, "I shall fail" to secure "the future prosperity of our beloved country." Perhaps the procession to Nashville and the ball at the hotel would lift his spirits; perhaps Christmas with his family would. While Jackson was outside, word came that his wife had collapsed in her sitting room, screaming in pain. It had been a wretched time for Rachel. She was, Jackson's political foes cried, "a black wench," a "profligate woman," unfit to be the wife of the president of the United States. Shaken by the at- tacks, Rachel–also sixty-one and, in contrast to her husband, short and somewhat heavy–had been melancholy and anxious. "The enemies of the General have dipped their arrows in wormwood and gall and sped them at me," Rachel lamented during the campaign. "Almighty God, was there ever any thing equal to it?" On the way home from a trip to Nashville after the balloting, Rachel was devastated to overhear a conversation about the lurid charges against her. Her niece, the twenty-one- year- old Emily Donelson, tried to reassure her aunt but failed. "No, Emily," Mrs. Jackson replie |
Northeast Blackout Update | NPR's Alex Chadwick talks with NPR's Jennifer Ludden about the blackout that affected much of the Northeast. |
John Edwards Affair Leads To Federal Indictment | Former Sen. John Edwards pleaded not guilty on Friday after he was named in a six-count indictment on campaign finance charges. It's a highly unusual case stemming from an extramarital affair. Prosecutors say three years ago, while he was running for the Democratic nomination for president, he was soliciting hundreds of thousands of dollars from donors to support his mistress Rielle Hunter and their baby. A federal grand jury has handed up a six-count indictment based on the contention that the money was covered under campaign finance laws, and should have been officially disclosed. The Justice Department contends the donations from two wealthy supporters were intended to benefit the campaign because they helped Edwards maintain his family-man image. That theory is controversial. "This is totally novel," says Kelly Kramer, a lawyer in Washington who represents members of Congress in criminal investigations. "I've never seen a campaign finance case that's based on an allegation that a candidate's covering up an affair." Kramer says the "prosecutors must have been offended by some of the conduct they saw here." That might include having an affair with a woman who shot video footage of the Edwards campaign, getting her pregnant and keeping the secret from both his wife and the voters. Attorney Jan Baran, who advises candidates on campaign finance law, says the case is unusual because "almost always the candidates are not aware of the illegal nature of the donations and therefore are not the subject of prosecutions." Prosecutors say Edwards not only knew about the plan to send money to his mistress but that he brainstormed with aides to figure out who might pay for her private airplanes and luxury hotels. They settled on two people: personal injury lawyer Fred Baron and banking heiress Rachel "Bunny" Mellon. Altogether, those two supporters sent nearly $1 million to an Edwards aide and his wife to pass on to the senator's mistress. Baron enclosed a personal note that read, "Old Chinese proverb: use cash not credit cards." Mellon allegedly scribbled that her checks were for chairs, a book case, or an antique table — not illicit payments to cover for her favorite politician. "If they're trying to hide something," says Baran, "one would have to ask, why are they doing it that way? Are they doing it because they're trying to hide it from an accountant or hide it from a spouse or hide it from law enforcement authorities?" The Justice Department calls it consciousness of guilt. And it'll be important in a case that turns on what was in the mind of the candidate and the donors. The key question: whether the money was a personal gift — or a life raft to keep the Edwards campaign afloat. At the courthouse in Winston-Salem, N.C. on Friday, a judge released Edwards after asking him to turn over his passport for safekeeping. The judge also ordered Edwards not to contact Mellon, whose home he visited days before the indictment. Later, Edwards told reporters that his conduct was wrong, but not illegal. He's getting some support from unexpected circles, including Republican election lawyer Elliot Berke. "A lot of folks are going to look at this and say, why isn't this simply a matter that should be before the Federal Election Commission," asks Berke. "Why is a criminal case being brought in this matter?" The indictment was announced after negotiations between the Justice Department and Edwards on a possible charge to which he would agree to plead guilty broke down. One source close to the talks said prosecutors wanted Edwards to plead to a felony count, which might have carried prison time and resulted in the loss of his license to practice law. Unfortunately for Edwards, he's the last man standing. His friend Fred Baron died in 2008. Bunny Mellon is 100 years old. That leaves Edwards on his own, to face off against former aide Andrew Young. Young ultimately turned against Edwards and has offered conflicting accounts about the money. Edwards, a former high-stakes trial lawyer, may be gambling that he can persuade a jury in the ultimate contest, with his freedom on the line. He could be sentenced to five years in prison if convicted. MICHELE NORRIS, host: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Michele Norris. ROBERT SIEGEL, host: And I'm Robert Siegel. It is a historic fall from grace. Former U.S. Senator John Edwards has been indicted on campaign finance charges. Just three years ago, Edwards was in the running for the Democratic nomination to become president of the United States. But behind the scenes, prosecutors say he was racing to solicit money from donors to support his mistress and their baby. NPR's Carrie Johnson has the story. CARRIE JOHNSON: With six felony charges, the Justice Department turned the former senator's private misconduct into a very public criminal case, building the indictment on notes from campaign donors and damning grand jury testimony from aides once close to John Edwards. Edwar |
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At Versailles Palace, An American Looks For Clues To Family History | When Maureen Hargrave, a 71-year-old American who lives in San Diego, wrote an email to the chateau of Versailles in January, she wasn't sure she would hear back. "I went to the Versailles website," she says, "and pulled down the link, and just wrote, 'On December 16th, 1944, [Pearlie] Hargrave, my aunt, married Michael McKeogh, Eisenhower's aide de camp. She was Eisenhower's driver, and they were married in Marie Antoinette's chapel. Can I come see it, please?' " Hargrave is referring to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during the Second World War. And Marie Antoinette, of course, was the last queen of France — the ill-fated, Austrian-born wife of France's 18th century monarch, Louis XVI. Hargrave's email was forwarded to Versailles archivist Karine McGrath, who responded immediately. "I thought, this is incredible," says McGrath. "It's a lovely story and a historical story and so I wrote her back, saying, 'We never heard this story, what can you tell us?' " Two months later, the native Midwesterner and the palace historian are standing side by side in that same Versailles chapel, built in 1710 by Louis XVI's great-great-grandfather, Louis XIV. It rises in splendor on two tiers of sculpted marble columns and arches, with light pouring in through tall windows, illuminating ornate paintings on the ceiling. An altar and pipe organ are covered in gold. Hargrave's aunt and uncle may have been the most recent couple to marry here. But the most famous marriage took place 174 years earlier, on May 16, 1770, between Louis XVI, France's final monarch, and Marie Antoinette. Until Hargrave's email arrived, the palace thought the royal nuptials were the last to be celebrated in the palace's Chapelle Royale. "We knew of the wedding of Eisenhower's aide de camp and driver, but we thought it was held in the Trianon Palace," says McGrath, referring to an early 20th century luxury hotel near the palace grounds. McGrath says Hargrave's visit has helped reveal unknown details about this period. "She's piecing together family history," McGrath says, "and I'm piecing together the history of a very special moment at Versailles." American troops liberated the town and its chateau in August 1944. Eisenhower stayed on for another six months, until February 1945, running the war from the palace. "At the end of August [1944], the Germans left and the Americans arrived, and bombs fell in the chateau gardens that summer," says McGrath. "So this is a momentous time in the palace's history and there are still many things we don't know." McGrath says the palace, now one of France's major tourist attractions, was closed to the public during the war, but American soldiers came to visit, just as the German soldiers had. "Not at the same time, of course," she says with a laugh. "But they did the same things and their offices were in the same places." Even after the Germans left, a fear of spies remained. Both women talk about the fact that Eisenhower was locked down and kept out of sight for a few weeks in December 1944, due to fears that Germans were parachuting spies in to kill him. Hargrave says that Eisenhower wrote during this period to his wife, Mamie, saying, "'They let me walk outside today and I'm finally able to breathe!'" Versailles curators wanted to give Eisenhower the very best furnishings for his office, McGrath says. "But he didn't want them," she says. "He didn't want to have to be careful. He just wanted to work normally." She says the Americans showed particular concern about conserving the palace's art and furnishings and conducted a full inventory when they arrived after the four-year German occupation. Pearlie Hargrave was serving at the time in the Women's Army Corps or WAC, and met Sgt. Michael McKeogh, Eisenhower's aide, in North Africa, where they began their courtship. "My uncle had to ask for Eisenhower's permission to marry my aunt because they were in a war," says Hargrave. The couple adored Eisenhower and considered him the perfect boss, she says. McKeogh oversaw Eisenhower's personal affairs — "like clothing, food and getting him settled in a new place," Hargrave says — so he could concentrate on the war. "He loved to read Western novels and would read through the night," she says. Hargrave says her uncle wrote to Mamie Eisenhower requesting "more socks and more novels" for the general. Her aunt — Hargrave's father's youngest sister, in a family of 10 — was part of a team of drivers serving Eisenhower. She wasn't the only woman. McGrath says palace records show Eisenhower gave the newlyweds $100 as a wedding gift, but he had to leave their reception early. He had a good excuse: The Battle of the Bulge broke out on the same day. "He didn't have much time to socialize," says McGrath. "He was there to win the war." The Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive, fought in the Ardennes forest in eastern France. For her visit to Versailles in March, Hargrav |
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Obama, AIG, And The Politics Of Anger | Wednesday afternoon, President Barack Obama again addressed the AIG bonuses, acknowledging "people are rightly outraged." Also, former Vice President Dick Cheney told CNN's John King that he believes policy changes made by Obama have made the country less safe. Guests: Ken Rudin, NPR's political editor David Gergen, professor of public service and director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University NEAL CONAN, host: This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. AIG on the hot seat; South Carolina's Governor spurns stimulus money, some of it anyway; and the president calls out the troops to battle for the budget. It's Wednesday, and time once again for the Political Junkie. President RONALD REAGAN: There you go again. Vice President WALTER MONDALE: When I hear your new ideas, I'm reminded of that ad: Where's the beef? Senator BARRY GOLDWATER (Republican, Arizona): Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. President RICHARD NIXON: You don't have Nixon to kick around anymore. Secretary HILLARY CLINTON (U.S. Secretary of State): Lipstick. President GEORGE W. BUSH: But I'm the decider. Governor HOWARD DEAN (Democrat, Massachusetts): (Screams) CONAN: On Wednesdays, NPR political editor Ken Rudin joins us to talk politics, which is all about AIG this week. David Gergen will join us to talk more about the politics of populism in a bit, but there's also a bellwether battle for a congressional seat in Upstate New York, former Vice President Dick Cheney's charge that we're not as safe as we were, RNC Chairman Michael Steele puts his other foot in his mouth, two unprecedented moves for a sitting president, onto the set with Jay Leno tomorrow night, and a call for volunteers to go door to door this weekend on behalf of the budget. But we begin, as always, with a trivia question. Political Junkie Ken Rudin joins us here in Studio 3A. Hey, Ken. KEN RUDIN: Hi, Neal. Well, the story of the day, of course, or the week or the year is AIG, and Andrew Cuomo, who is the attorney general of New York, is trying to force AIG to release the names of all the employees who are receiving bonuses. I was going to say G. Gordon Liddy - probably G. Gordon Liddy is more popular now than Edward Liddy. But Edward Liddy today said that there were privacy issues there, and he talked about that. Anyway… CONAN: Anyway, Barney Frank wants to subpoena them anyway. RUDIN: Exactly. So Andrew Cuomo may - but actually, Andrew Cuomo may run for governor of New York against David Paterson in the primaries. CONAN: But isn't he somebody's son? RUDIN: Andrew Cuomo's actual father was Mario Cuomo, and the question is, who were the last three governors from the East Coast - and what I mean by the East, I mean the New England states and the mid-Atlantic region. CONAN: Roughly the Northeast. RUDIN: This is the most convoluted trivia question in history, but it's worth it because you get a T-shirt. Who were the last three governors whose sons also ran for governor? CONAN: So if you think you know the names of the last three governors from the Northeastern part of the United States whose sons also ran for governor in that same state, give us a call: 800-989-8255. E-mail us, talk@npr.org. Ken, any hints here? Timeframe? RUDIN: Well yes, it'll be post-World War II. I mean, obviously Franklin Roosevelt was governor of New York, and his son ran twice for governor, as you well remember, in 1954 and 1966. But more recent than that. So post-World War, that they served as governor, and then their sons, of course, ran for governor. CONAN: And let's get back to the story of the week, the month, the year, and that is the AIG, and there is - well, there are a lot of pitchforks and torches out on Capitol Hill today. RUDIN: There is outrage out there, and it's legitimate, and it seems like the White House is trying to get in front of it, but belatedly so. I mean, the fact is that Tim Geithner, the Treasury secretary, apparently knew about these bonuses before the rest of the country did, and of course there's a big - it was a big outrage, and I think we've seen some of that, a lot of that, since the election and since the bailouts. We saw that with Bernie Madoff. We saw that with the amount of - with the earmarks. We saw that with Tom Daschle, that the White House was slow to realize that there was a boiling resentment out there that somebody who, for whatever reason, did not fail to pay his taxes, failed to pay his taxes on time. CONAN: And made $5 million after leaving Congress. RUDIN: Right, while the rest of us, except for you and me, are paying our taxes. So there was an outrage out there. We saw that also years ago with the pay raise in Congress. Most of Washington, most of official Washington, pooh-poohed it, said it wasn't a big deal, but out there, out in the country, the real country, unlike Washington, there was resentment, and there is resentment now. CONAN: Well, we're going to talk more about that with |
United Auto Workers Go On Strike Against General Motors | NPR's David Greene talks to Michigan Radio reporter Tracy Samilton and Kristin Dziczek at the Center for Automotive Research about workers striking after a new contract wasn't reached. |
'Everybody's Other Than Everybody Else': Choreographer Mark Morris | When Mark Morris was a 6-year-old in Seattle, he'd stuff his feet into Tupperware juice cups so he could walk en pointe. In essence, it worked. Morris grew up to become a celebrated dancer, choreographer and director. He founded his own company, the Mark Morris Dance Group, in his twenties, then took over the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, and has gone on to create and collaborate with most of the world's great dancers and companies on signature works that include Gloria, Dido and Aeneas, a controversial Nutcracker, and Falling Down Stairs (with Yo-Yo Ma). Mark Morris has written a memoir about dance, identity and ingenuity, hits and flops, goose and mescaline holiday dinners with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Written with Wesley Stace, it's called Out Loud. Interview Highlights On being subjected to "sissy tests" in gym class, and putting the experience into his dance Jr. High I have to tell you, a very good friend of mine — my best friend, [fashion designer] Isaac Mizrahi — I said [to him] something a long time ago which was true. I told him that, you know, if it weren't for bullies, how would I know I was a sissy? And I was dancing already from a very young age. So to me, it was just kind of degrading, a little bit humiliating, not much fun. And you know, I didn't like that kind of competition. I was an "other," as people call now. But you know, everybody's other than everybody else. ... I used what was called the "sissy test" — you know, look at your fingernails; if you do it a certain way, you're a butch or a femme. But it turned into a little bit of a look back when I made up a dance based on the quotidian humiliations of junior high school — that age, that degree of development and that confusion and annoyance that happens. On a traumatic year of his life, as a teenager That must have been the fire in our house and the car accident; not long after that, my father died. So that was a lot of horrible things. I imagined every airplane flying overhead would crash into me directly. You know, it's like: Well, what about the other 300 people on the plane? That didn't occur to me. It was just that here I am, walking down the street, and there is a plane. That's it — that's my death warrant. On the advice of his late father So of course, my father wanted me to go to college, and I had no intention of doing that, because I was already dancing and I was already a real smartypants. And so, you know, he wanted me to know how to type, to have something to fall back on — which everybody wishes for his child. So I very, very reluctantly learned how to do that. But I also learned how to cook, and how to very badly sight-read playing the piano, and how to read and write bad juvenile poetry ... as opposed to the other kind of juvenile poetry. I was always doing what we would term creative ventures, you know. So I wasn't told that I was not qualified for something or that I wasn't good enough to do it. It was like: Go ahead and see how it goes — and be sure to learn how to type. On his Dances for the Future program of works to be premiered after his death Oh my. Yes, Dances for the Future is my answer to the big question of legacy. I choreograph all the time. I choreograph whether I have some place to debut a piece or not. So I'm making up dances like I always do, which is in the studio with the dancers. They're notated, filmed, recorded, designed and taught to other people through the age-old dance tradition of training younger people and teaching them the moves. And so when you leave the company, you teach your part to somebody; we re-rehearse it. But no one sees the finished piece until it's time. So I'm hoping to release one a year or so — posthumously, I imagine — for a long time. I guess once I finish a dance and release it to the public and we're performing it, I'm kind of done. ... Well, I love watching it, and I love watching other people's work too if it's really good and interesting. But you know, the most exciting part is also very often the most frustrating part: trying to finish something or get it just right or get across something that I'm not sure what it is until it happens. Erin Covey and Melissa Gray produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Patrick Jarenwattananon adapted it for the Web. |
Conservative Take On Kavanaugh Hearing And Investigation | NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro asks <em>National Review</em> editor Rich Lowry about reactions among conservatives to the Supreme Court nomination fracas. |
Allegations Against Kavanaugh Cause Political Turmoil, Echoes of Anita Hill | The woman who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault revealed her identity Sunday in an interview with The Washington Post.Christine Blasey Ford, a 51-year-old California professor, accused Kavanaugh of groping her and trying to take her clothes off when they were both attending suburban Maryland high schools in the early 1980s. This episode: White House correspondent Tamara Keith, Congressional correspondent Scott Detrow, and legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg. Email the show at nprpolitics@npr.org. Find and support your local public radio station at npr.org/stations. |
Ben Folds: Cynicism Meets Sweetness | As cathartic piano prodigies, both Ben Folds and Regina Spektor know how to make listeners laugh and weep at the same time. So it should come as no surprise that they discover one other and meet on common ground in the raw, personal "You Don't Know Me." Folds' cynicism and Spektor's unearthly sweetness make for a perfectly balanced, bitterly endearing requiem about finally giving up. In spite of the dueling vocals, the song presents just the masculine perspective of the failed relationship, defined especially by the lines, "If I'm the person that you think I am / Clueless chump you seem to think I am." The highly structured, quick-tempo piano melody also seems to belong purely to Folds. Nevertheless, there's a tinge of welcome femininity to his typical angry-dumped-guy rant: Spektor's cascading vocals add crucial layers to the turmoil; she's the second fiddle that nonetheless completes the equation. It's enough to prompt questions about the true nature of compatibility, because these two seem to know each other better than their song declares. Listen to yesterday's Song of the Day, and subscribe to the Song of the Day newsletter. |
Instagram Advertising: Do You Know It, When You See It? | In the photograph, Gretchen Altman is smiling, leaning back casually, a cup of coffee in hand — Hills Bros. Coffee, to be precise. It looks like a candid shot, but if you hit like, leave a comment, and tag a friend, you can get three different blends of brew, for free. You've heard of influencers — social media celebrities with massive followings, who get paid to affect consumer tastes. Kim Kardashian, perhaps the most recognizable name in influencing, has more than 140 million Instagram followers and reportedly gets paid up to $1 million per post. But Altman is part of a growing trend of "micro-influencers." She has a small following — around 6,000 on Instagram. Her going rate is $300 to $800 to promote something, which makes her much more affordable than a Kardashian. And Altman does some posts in exchange for free goods, she says, as long as it's stuff she believes in. All this hasn't stopped her from working with major companies like Verizon or Walgreens. Altman says that as a micro-influencer she has a much more intimate relationship with her followers than a big social media star. "I'm just living a normal life and people relate to that," she says. "They just feel like I'm a friend of theirs." And it works, says Bonnie Patten, executive director of Truth In Advertising, a nonprofit that focuses on protecting consumers from deceptive ads and marketing. "Consumers are very apt to buy things that they see being promoted on social media — especially by people they feel they have some authentic natural connection with," she says. But this intimate relationship worries Patten and consumer rights groups. Several recent studies have found that young audiences are largely unable to understand when something is sponsored content. In some cases, it's clear. When a big star like Jonathan Van Ness, of Netflix's Queer Eye, takes to Instagram to rave about toilet paper, the assumption is he's probably getting paid to do so. And Van Ness's posts are clearly labeled as ads, with the caption #advertisement or #sponsoredcontent. But what happens when an everyday person with just a couple thousand followers takes to social media to extol the virtues of a product? The motivations are not so clear cut. "The problem with a lot of these social media posts is that you don't know whether it's an ad or not," Patten says. She wants transparency in social media advertising. Whether it's that nutritional shake, or that tooth whitener that will make you look like a Cheshire Cat, Patten wants influencers to be clear that they are getting paid to recommend it. Ultimately, consumer advocates say the buck stops with the Federal Trade Commission. But several watchdog groups say the agency has done little in terms of enforcement. "There are laws that say what influencers and companies can and cannot do," Patten says. "Unfortunately, the FTC does not have the resources to police social media platforms to the extent necessary." An FTC spokesperson referred us to the agency's guidelines, which say if people are getting paid to promote, "then a disclosure is appropriate." Altman is diligent about using those hashtags. She loves what she does and sees it as a business, but she doesn't necessarily want to be a social media celebrity. "With social media being so integrated into our everyday lives, we have this unique opportunity that I don't think anyone has ever had before where we can each be our own brand," Altman says. For many, the very idea of everyday people becoming brands sounds like some nightmare capitalist dystopia. Saleem Alhabash, who teaches public relations and social media at Michigan State University, says there are bigger implications to this. When the lines between what is real life and what is marketing get blurred, it changes people's behaviors. "You always need to be doing something exciting," Alhabash says. "Taking pictures of your food, taking pictures of the sunset. Where it becomes so important for people to be liked and appreciated, that they have to live another person's life." Like many people, he wonders: What are we buying into when we're all trying to sell something? |
New Dead Sea Scrolls Unearthed During Excavation In Israel's Cave Of Horror | Archaeologists discovered new pieces of the Dead Sea Scrolls for the first time in more than six decades. Oren Ableman, a Dead Sea Scrolls scholar and a member of the Israel Antiquities Authority, and his team of archeologists found the ancient biblical texts in caves in Israel. “These are tiny scraps,” Ableman says of the scrolls. “But some of them, we did manage to kind of put a puzzle together.” To retrieve the scrolls, a team rappelled down a cliff and entered the Cave of Horror. Ableman says there are two explanations behind the cave’s name, and it’s likely a combination of both. The first is that the cave can only be entered by going down a steep, “frightening” cliff, he says. “Personally, it’s one of the only caves I do not want to go into. I’ll leave that to the expert rappellers,” he says. The other reason dates back to the 1960s, when archaeologists first discovered the cave. Inside, they found nearly 40 skeletons. While the scrolls are only fragments, the team managed to piece some of them together. One fragment turned out to be the fifth verse in chapter one of the Book of Nahum. Another was verses from the eighth chapter of Zechariah. The scrolls are in Greek, which Ableman says isn’t the typical language found in biblical books in the Judean deserts. The most famous Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible is the Septuagint. While the fragments that Ableman and his team found aren’t the Septuagint, he says their pieces are a reworking of it. In their version, the name of God is in ancient Hebrew script while the remaining text is in Greek. Ableman says this shows the importance of God. The team also uncovered an ancient basket that was completely intact. Ableman says that finding the basket helps understand early human civilization since it comes before the invention of ceramics. “It looks completely new,” Ableman says, “but it turned out to be 10,500 years old, which makes it, to the best of our knowledge, the oldest complete basket ever discovered anywhere in the world.” As a Dead Sea Scroll scholar, discovering more fragments was a dream Ableman never expected to come true. “This is something that we hope will also help us gain knowledge that will help us conserve the other scrolls and make sure that they survive much longer,” he says. Correction: The Dead Sea Scroll fragments were found in Israel, not in the West Bank. We regret the error. Karyn Miller-Medzon produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Todd Mundt. Jeannette Jones adapted it for the web. This article was originally published on WBUR.org. |
Saddam Hussein's Money | The Government Accounting Office estimates that Saddam Hussein embezzled over $6 billion of money garnered from illegal oil sales. Last month, President Bush issued an executive order, confiscating $1.7 billion in non-diplomatic Iraqi assets in the U.S. and called on other countries to do the same, so the money could be returned to the Iraqi people. The Treasury Department's Juan Zarate joins Neal to discuss the worldwide hunt for Saddam's "blood money." <BR><BR>Guest:<BR><BR> <STRONG>Juan Zarate</STRONG><BR> *Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury<BR> *Director of the Executive Office Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes |
From Kerouac To Rand, 'Harmful' Reads For Writers | Columnist Crawford Kilian advises aspiring writers to avoid Jack Kerouac's On the Road, Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged and eight other well-known novels. But Kilian isn't saying they're bad novels — quite the opposite, actually. In a piece for the Canadian online daily The Tyee, Kilian writes, "their readable styles look so easy that they might seduce a young writer into imitating them." Kilian tells NPR's John Donvan that he composed his list based on personal experience. "As a teenager in the '50s, I read those books," he says. Take, for example, J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. "It took me awhile to recover from [its] seductive influence ... because it meant I could essentially be a stenographer for my own teenaged whining." And even Salinger couldn't take that theme beyond one book. "Salinger never followed up with anything remotely like it himself," says Kilian. "[So] why should we think that yet another teenaged kvetcher is really what the reading public is yearning for?" Interview Highlights On Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged "It was a powerful book for a lot of young people, especially young Americans and some Canadians as well, simply because it seemed to be so confident of itself and its radical point of view. And an impressionable kid could read that and think, 'Oh, so that's the way the world really works. Well, now I know something, and I'm smarter than my folks and all the dummies around me who think that they should take care of each other.' And we have spent half a century dealing with the consequences of that." On the right way to let great books inform your writing "What you need to do is bear in mind that you are entering a conversation with everybody you have ever read when you start writing. And you don't want to simply say 'ditto, ditto, ditto' to the authors that you're conversing with. What you want to do is to say, 'That's a very interesting point you made. Now let me take it a little further and show you what could also be done in this regard.' ... "There's a lot of great writing being done in translation from other languages. One of the authors I say you can't imitate but you can still learn from is Gabriel Garcia Marquez, whose One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of the most astounding books of the century. ... "These writers are telling you, in effect, don't worry about the choice of words, or the plot or the kind of characters we're using. Think about, for example, writing a century-long history of a family and what kind of family would it be if it grew up in Schenectady instead of Macondo, Colombia. You know, play games with what you've learned from the writers you love, and see what — they're not the last word. It's interesting gateways to somewhere else." |
Sun Kil Moon: Black And Blue And Beautiful | Generations of mopes have come of age to the songs of Mark Kozelek, first as lead singer of Red House Painters, then as an unlikely AC/DC tribute act, and most recently as head of Sun Kil Moon. In all his various incarnations, Kozelek has mastered a sort of wounded gentility, which works best amid warmly Nick Drake-ian acoustic arrangements. The title track from Sun Kil Moon's new Admiral Fell Promises fits that bill perfectly: While inadvertently summing up virtually his entire recorded output in a few words ("black and blue and beautiful"), it's an almost impossibly lovely and tender plea to a would-be lover. Perhaps the least lascivious come-on in the history of seduction, "Admiral Fell Promises" alternates between reassurance ("Come into my arms and let your worries die") and obsession ("Let me lock you in my room and keep you for a while"). But the effect is unmistakably romantic and sweet: Kozelek may allude to bondage, but "Admiral Fell Promises" is nothing if not one long, slow, sweet plea for permission. |
How An Imbalance Of White Teachers Could Impact Students Of Color | The nation’s student population is growing increasingly diverse as an overwhelming number of teachers in the U.S. are white. Sojourner Ahebee of WHYY’s The Pulse explains the possible long-term consequences for students of color. This article was originally published on WBUR.org. |
Does Debt Deal Show Diversion From Business As Usual? | President Obama and Republican congressional leaders reached a compromise Sunday to permit vital borrowing by the Treasury in exchange for more than $2 trillion in potential long-term spending cuts. |
The Team Behind 'Little Miss Sunshine' | Directors Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton, and writer Michael Arndt. Little Miss Sunshine, their bittersweet film about a dysfunctional family, has been nominated for four Academy Awards. This was Faris and Dayton's feature film debut after directing hundreds of music videos, and also the first screenplay of Arndt's to be produced. After the small independent film premiered at Sundance last year, film distribution companies went into a bidding war. The film fetched $10.5 million, the highest price ever at Sundance. Little Miss Sunshine stars Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Alan Arkin, Steve Carell and Abigail Breslin. |
Pic: No Money Down In Bellevue, Wash. | Seven_Null7 sends this picture from Bellevue, Wash., with the caption: "Isn't 0% down part of what got us into trouble in the first place?" Prices at Highland Lane are running $285,000 to $324,950. The "$0 down" offer will cost you a full point on interest, according to the site, which also pitches the federal government's $8,000 tax credit for rookie buyers. Bonus: Join the Planet Money Flickr pool. |
Mothers Bound Together by the Cost of War | Paula Davis, Gina Barnhurst and Beth Belle are charter members of a club no mother ever wants to join. These women and others meet informally at Arlington National Cemetery. There, they sit at the gravesides of their sons who were killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. They also talk with each other. And cry. And listen. They call themselves Section 60 Mothers, after the section at Arlington that holds the fresh graves of men and women killed in America's current wars. The group meets roughly every week now, with the help of an e-mail list. But it's their deep wounds, they say, that have linked them together with deep bonds. Amid Arlington's quiet, and its white headstones that stretch to the horizon, grieving mothers have built small shrines to their sons. There are ribbons in the trees and photographs leaning up against the stones. But the cemetery is considered hallowed ground, and technically those shrines are against the rules at the cemetery. Groundskeepers take them down every time they pass through. The mothers put them right back up. They come every week. We've asked six Section 60 Mothers to describe their experience. Each of them has gone through the worst thing that could ever happen to a parent. And yet, as one mother told us, they lean on each other: "It's quite a family we have at Arlington." |
French Winemakers Welcome Warmer Summers | In 2003, France got a glimpse of what the future may hold. A summer heat wave broke all temperature records, straining the country's medical and energy resources. But a future of warmer summers could bring unexpected pleasures — including wine. The town of St. Emilion lies in heart of a France's famous Bordeaux wine region. Beside just about every road there are row upon row of exquisitely manicured grapevines. Francois Despagne, the winemaker at Chateau Grand Corbin Despagne, explains that it is impossible to produce good wine without good grapes. And he should know. Despagne's family has been living in this part of the Bordeaux wine region since the 16th century. Today, he has 200,000 plants on 53 different plots. If you follow strict rules about how you grow your grapes — where you grow them, and what type you grow — you can qualify for the St. Emilion appellation. The better vineyards qualify for St. Emilion Grand Cru, and the best are Premier St. Emilion Grand Cru Classe. Despagne says that French wines are so special because French winemakers pay almost religious attention to something the French call terroir. "Terroir is weather and the soil," he explains. "Many people say it is the soil. No. It is the combination of the weather and the soil." The soil in Bordeaux is a mix of gravelly dirt and clay, perfect for grapevine growth. The weather is good, too. There's not too much rain, and enough summer sun for the grapes to mature. But the weather varies considerably from year to year, and this affects the vintage. Despagne says he had good vintages in 1988, 1989 and 1990, but each year was very different. "It is like three children," he says. "They are your children, but they are not the same." Profiting from Warmer Summers Something else is happening in addition to the annual variation. Harvests have been coming earlier — and grapes have had more sugar — because on average summers have been getting warmer. At least in the short run this is a good thing for Bordeaux, because a warm, dry August is a good thing for wine. These changes are welcomed at Chateau Ausone, a premier Grand Cru Classe winery. The Ausone vineyards are just outside the walls of the medieval city, below the Romanesque church. They're on a southeast facing hill, so the grapes are bathed in the warm morning sun. The 2005 vintage hasn't appeared in stores yet, but if you want to buy the rights to a bottle when it does come out, it will set you back nearly $1,800. That's for one bottle. And global warming could send the prices even higher, according to Alain Vauthier, the owner of Chateau Ausone. "I very sincerely think that right now global warming is very favorable," he says. "We're getting more and more great vintages. We have very sweet grapes like those that we want for great years such as '47, '61, '82." And he doesn't seem concerned about the climate getting too hot. "In 30 or 50 years, I don't know what the climate will be," Vauthier says, "But we'll see. Actually, I won't see, because I'm too old." Growing Practices Change Most winemakers won't be getting thousands of dollars for their 2005 vintages. Francois Despagne's 2005 wine will cost about $30 a bottle. And he's not so sure that global warming will be good for St. Emilion. But Despagne says the wines of Bordeaux have changed over the years — sometimes because of disease, sometimes because people's tastes have changed. He says that if the climate changes by one or two degrees over the next 10 or 20 years, the wine he makes will change a little. "Perhaps it is possible to say it is a more Mediterranean wine," he says. But he thinks Bordeaux can adapt. As he speaks, Despagne's hands clasp together and his eyes dart upwards — as if checking with a higher authority about his predictions both for this year — and for the future. Even without divine intervention, there are growing techniques that could be modified to account for the warmer temperatures. Right now, for example, it's common to remove leaves from the grapevines so the fruit gets more exposure to the sun. Perhaps in future the leaves will stay on longer. And maybe it won't be necessary to remove as many grapes from the plants. Stephane Aplebaum is the vigneron, or winemaker, at Chateuau Quercy. He shows how many bunches of grapes are growing on a vine. Like most vignerons, Apelbaum refers to the grapes as berries. "If you let all 25 bunches of berries stay on the vine until harvest ... the results is blah, tedious fruit," he says. That's because there's not enough sun and water for that many grapes to reach a magnificent ripeness. So while the grapes are still green, most are sacrificed. Maybe with global warming it will be possible to keep more of the berries and make more wine. Apelbaum says dealing with a changing climate is part of being a winemaker. "When I taste my wines and old vintages, amazingly I remember the weather," he says. "I remember the stress, I remember maybe some fights I had with people |
Top Five Myths Of Genetically Modified Seeds, Busted | Having just stepped into the shouting match over patents on genetically engineered crops, there are a few small things that I, too, would like to get off my chest. I say small things. I'm not talking about today's big hot issues: Whether genetically modified organisms — GMOs — should be labeled, or cause cancer in rats, or might improve the lives of poor farmers in Africa; none of that. This is about something simple: Seeds of GMOs. Various myths have grown up around these seeds. Like most myths, they are inspired by reality. But they've wandered off into the world of fiction. Myth 1: Seeds from GMOs are sterile. No, they'll germinate and grow just like any other plant. This idea presumably has its roots in a real genetic modification (dubbed the Terminator Gene by anti-biotech activists) that can make a plant produce sterile seeds. Monsanto owns the patent on this technique, but has promised not to use it. Now, biotech companies — and Monsanto in particular — do seem to wish that this idea were true. They do their best to keep farmers from replanting the offspring from GMOs. But they do this because, in fact, those seeds will multiply. Myth 2: Monsanto will sue you for growing their patented GMOs if traces of those GMOs entered your fields through wind-blown pollen. This is the idea that I see most often. A group of organic farmers, in fact, recently sued Monsanto, asserting that GMOs might contaminate their crops and then Monsanto might accuse them of patent infringement. The farmers couldn't cite a single instance in which this had happened, though, and the judge dismissed the case. The idea, however, is inspired by a real-world event. Back in 1999, Monsanto sued a Canadian canola farmer, Percy Schmeiser, for growing the company's Roundup-tolerant canola without paying any royalty or "technology fee." Schmeiser had never bought seeds from Monsanto, so those canola plants clearly came from somewhere else. But where? Canola pollen can move for miles, carried by insects or the wind. Schmeiser testified that this must have been the cause, or GMO canola might have blown into his field from a passing truck. Monsanto said that this was implausible, because their tests showed that about 95 percent of Schmeiser's canola contained Monsanto's Roundup resistance gene, and it's impossible to get such high levels through stray pollen or scattered seeds. However, there's lots of confusion about these tests. Other samples, tested by other people, showed lower concentrations of Roundup resistance — but still over 50 percent of the crop. Schmeiser had an explanation. As an experiment, he'd actually sprayed Roundup on about three acres of the field that was closest to a neighbor's Roundup Ready canola. Many plants survived the spraying, showing that they contained Monsanto's resistance gene — and when Schmeiser's hired hand harvested the field, months later, he kept seed from that part of the field and used it for planting the next year. This convinced the judge that Schmeiser intentionally planted Roundup Ready canola. Schmeiser appealed. The Canadian Supreme Court ruled that Schmeiser had violated Monsanto's patent, but had obtained no benefit by doing so, so he didn't owe Monsanto any money. (For more details on all this, you can read the judge's decision. Schmeiser's site contains other documents.) So why is this a myth? It's certainly true that Monsanto has been going after farmers whom the company suspects of using GMO seeds without paying royalties. And there are plenty of cases — including Schmeiser's — in which the company has overreached, engaged in raw intimidation, and made accusations that turned out not to be backed up by evidence. But as far as I can tell, Monsanto has never sued anybody over trace amounts of GMOs that were introduced into fields simply through cross-pollination. (The company asserts, in fact, that it will pay to remove any of its GMOs from fields where they don't belong.) If you know of any case where this actually happened, please let me know. Myth 3: Any contamination with GMOs makes organic food non-organic. The organic rules prohibit the "use" of genetic modification in organic agriculture. But if pollen blows from genetically modified corn into your organic cornfield and pollinates a few kernels, you aren't "using" it — at least according to the USDA's interpretation of those rules. In fact, a lot of the organic corn that's fed to organically raised chickens or pigs, does contain some level of GMOs. That said, organic producers typically do try to minimize the presence of GMOs, because their customers don't want them. It's usually not too hard to keep contamination to a very low level. But there are crops — specifically canola and corn — in which it's extremely difficult to eliminate it entirely. Myth 4: Before Monsanto got in the way, farmers typically saved their seeds and re-used them. By the time Monsanto got into the seed business, most farmers in the U.S. and Europe were already |
Opening Statement: Sen. Jeff Sessions | The following is the opening statement, as prepared for delivery, of Sen. Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, the ranking Republican of the Senate Judiciary Committee, at the beginning of the confirmation hearing on Monday for Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Before I begin, I want to thank Chairman Leahy for his openness and willingness to work together on the procedures for this hearing. I hope it will be viewed as the best hearing this Committee has ever held. Judge Sotomayor, I join Chairman Leahy in welcoming you here today. This hearing marks an important milestone in your distinguished legal career. I know your family is proud, and rightfully so. It is a pleasure to have them with us today. I expect this hearing and resulting debate to be characterized by a respectful tone, a discussion of serious issues, and a thoughtful dialogue, and I have worked hard to achieve that from day one. I have been an active litigator in federal courts for the majority of my professional life. I have tried cases in private practice, as a federal prosecutor with the Department of Justice, and as Attorney General of the State of Alabama. The Constitution and our great heritage of law are things I care deeply about — they are the foundation of our liberty and prosperity. This nomination hearing is critically important for two reasons. First, Justices on the Supreme Court have great responsibility, hold enormous power, and have a lifetime appointment. Just five members can declare the meaning of our Constitution, bending or changing its meaning from what the people intended. Second, this hearing is important because I believe our legal system is at a dangerous crossroads. Down one path is the traditional American legal system, so admired around the world, where judges impartially apply the law to the facts without regard to their own personal views. This is the compassionate system because this is the fair system. In the American legal system, courts do not make the law or set policy, because allowing unelected officials to make laws would strike at the heart of our democracy. Here, judges take an oath to administer justice impartially, which reads: "I . . . do solemnly swear that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me . . . under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God." These principles give the traditional system its moral authority, which is why Americans respect and accept the rulings of courts — even when they lose. Indeed, our legal system is based on a firm belief in an ordered universe and objective truth. The trial is the process by which the impartial and wise judge guides us to the truth. Down the other path lies a Brave New World where words have no true meaning and judges are free to decide what facts they choose to see. In this world, a judge is free to push his or her own political and social agenda. I reject this view. We have seen federal judges force their own political and social agenda on the nation, dictating that the words "under God" be removed from the Pledge of Allegiance and barring students from even silent prayer in schools. Judges have dismissed the people's right to their property, saying the government can take a person's home for the purpose of developing a private shopping center. Judges have — contrary to the longstanding rules of war — created a right for terrorists, captured on a foreign battlefield, to sue the United States government in our own courts. Judges have cited foreign laws, world opinion, and a United Nations resolution to determine that a state death penalty law was unconstitutional. I'm afraid our system will only be further corrupted as a result of President Obama's views that, in tough cases, the critical ingredient for a judge is the "depth and breadth of one's empathy," as well as "their broader vision of what America should be." Like the American people, I have watched this for a number of years, and I fear this "empathy standard" is another step down the road to a liberal activist, results-oriented, and relativistic world where: • Laws lose their fixed meaning, • Unelected judges set policy, • Americans are seen as members of separate groups rather than simply Americans, and • Where the constitutional limits on government power are ignored when politicians want to buy out private companies. So, we have reached a fork in the road. And there are stark differences between the two paths. I want to be clear: I will not vote for — no senator should vote for — an individual nominated by any President who is not fully committed to fairness and impartiality towards every person who appears before them. I will not vote for — no senator should vote for — an individual nominated by any Preside |
Moussaoui Lawyers Begin Arguing for Life Sentence | Court-appointed defense lawyers begin presenting arguments to spare Zacarias Moussaoui's life. They hope to convince jurors to put Moussaoui in jail for life, without the possibility of parole. The prosecution has rested its case for the death penalty in the sentencing phase of the confessed terrorist's court saga after presenting a series of emotional accounts from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. RENEE MONTAGNE, host: This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne. STEVE INSKEEP, host: And I'm Steve Inskeep. Starting today, defense attorneys try to convince a jury that Zacarias Moussaoui deserves life in prison, not execution. Their job could not have been made any easier by the tapes that prosecutors played yesterday. They played the cockpit voice recorder from United Airlines Flight 93. That plane's crash in Pennsylvania was dramatic enough to become the subject of a movie, as we'll hear in a moment. And yesterday, jury members heard the sounds of what really happened. Here's NPR's Larry Abramson. LARRY ABRAMSON reporting: The cockpit voice recording captured two violent struggles aboard the doomed plane. The tape opens after hijackers have seized the controls and are apparently killing the crew. One crew member begs, Please don't hurt me, and I don't want to die. But soon, the struggle ends, and a hijacker tells his partner in Arabic, Everything is fine, I finished. A half hour later, passengers mount an effort to retake the cockpit. The tape played in court does not reveal whether passengers actually got into the cockpit, but it shows how determined they were. In the cockpit, if we don't, we die, one says. Eventually the hijackers realized the passengers might succeed. One urges another to: Pull it down. The plane pitches toward the ground, inverts, and after the hijackers offer prayer to Allah, flight 93 it's the ground at top speed. For families of the victims, it was hard to take. Abraham Scott lost his wife, Ann Marie, in the attack on the Pentagon. Mr. ABRAHAM SCOTT (Husband of 9/11 Victim): It was very emotional for me. Even though it was not that clear, I could understand that--when the pilot or maybe the copilot was begging for his life--and that was very rough for me. And also, the point where passengers rushed the compartment. ABRAMSON: For more than three days, the jury has been immersed in the sorrows of the 9/11 victims and their families. Today, they face an abrupt change as the defense takes over. Moussaoui's attorneys have indicated they will focus on why this individual does not deserve to die. They say he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, that he was brainwashed by Muslim radicals. These are mitigating factors that the jury is supposed to weigh against the aggravating factors laid out by prosecutors. That's the way the legal system lays out the task, but former federal prosecutor Andrew McBride says, in the end, the two sides presented in capital sentencing cases don't have much to do with one another. Mr. ANDREW McBRIDE (Former Federal Prosecutor): Sometimes, you're talking about measuring, you know, two diamonds against 1,000 pounds of coal. In other word s, it's just--it really comes down to the fact that this jury is asked to make a moral decisions based on the magnitude of the crime--Mr. Moussaoui's involvement in it--weighed against what the defense is now going to put on, which is: here's a little bit about Mr. Moussaoui and how he got to where he is today. ABRAMSON: The jury has already decided, in the first phase of the trial, that Moussaoui is eligible for the death penalty, even though he was not directly involved in the 9/11 plot. But defense attorneys say Moussaoui's lawyers must try to revisit this issue to convince the jury they cannot execute a man for lying to FBI agents when he was interviewed about his reason for learning to fly. Richard Jaffe has represented defendants in a number of death penalty cases. Mr. RICHARD JAFFE (Defense Attorney): In every way possible, the defense should attempt to distance Mr. Moussaoui from being a major player, if a player at all, in the planning and the execution of this horrific deed. ABRAMSON: Jaffe says the judge may not allow defense attorneys to argue that point as much as they would like. But, he says, they have to try. As the trial nears the homestretch, family members who've gathered to watch remain divided about the sentence they favor. Rosemary Dillard lost her husband, Eddie, on American Airlines flight 77. Ms. ROSEMARY DILLARD (Wife of 9/11 Victim): I want the jury to make their decision. And whatever decision they make, I don't want them to think that the families will be angry. 'Cause if some of the families want the death penalty, some of the families don't. ABRAMSON: The trial has been an emotional experience for many family members, one that transcends Moussaoui's eventual fate. Larry Abramson, NPR News, Washington. INSKEEP: You can find a transcript of the cockpit recording from U |
Coronavirus Fears Derail Friday Prayers For Muslims Across The World | Come Friday, few places will show the effects of the coronavirus more vividly than mosques across the world — not so much for what will be there, as what won't: Friday prayers have been curtailed or outright suspended in more than a dozen majority-Muslim countries across the world. The list of countries to close mosques to mass gatherings or issue widespread bans includes Turkey and Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt, Jordan and Malaysia — along with a growing collection of others. "Islam doesn't permit practices that would put human life in danger," Ali Erbaş, head of religious affairs in Turkey, said earlier this week, citing the example of the Prophet Muhammad. "Until the danger for the contagion disappears, prayers in congregations will be suspended," he added. "Instead of Friday prayer, [Muslims] can continue the noon prayer at their own homes." In Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, the country's highest religious body recommended the closure of mosques to Friday prayers across the kingdom, with the exception of the two grand mosques in Mecca and Medina. The suspension is in place "until further notice," according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency. The decision to suspend prayers was not universal, however. In Indonesia, the most populous Muslim-majority country in the world, authorities are allowing group prayers to proceed at what's believed to be the largest mosque in Southeast Asia, the massive Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta. Though authorities say they are taking precautions: The mosque's interior has been sprayed with disinfectants, and the Jakarta Post reports that officials there will not provide prayer mats as usual. The country's highest religious authority, the Indonesian Ulema Council, also issued a nationwide ruling allowing Muslims to temporarily skip Friday prayers in regions where the virus has spread "uncontrollably." |
Ambassador Rice Asks Not To Be Considered For Secretary Of State | Moving to withdraw her name from among those being considered to be the next secretary of state, embattled U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice has told President Obama she does not want to be nominated. The White House just released a statement from the president that says, in part: "Today, I spoke to Ambassador Susan Rice, and accepted her decision to remove her name from consideration for Secretary of State. For two decades, Susan has proven to be an extraordinarily capable, patriotic, and passionate public servant. As my Ambassador to the United Nations, she plays an indispensable role in advancing America's interests. ... "I am grateful that Susan will continue to serve as our Ambassador at the United Nations and a key member of my cabinet and national security team, carrying her work forward on all of these and other issues. ... "While I deeply regret the unfair and misleading attacks on Susan Rice in recent weeks, her decision demonstrates the strength of her character, and an admirable commitment to rise above the politics of the moment to put our national interests first. The American people can be proud to have a public servant of her caliber and character representing our country." NBC News broke the story, minutes before the White House statement was released, reporting that: "Embattled U.N. envoy Susan Rice is dropping out of the running to be the next secretary of state after months of criticism over her Benghazi comments, she told NBC News on Thursday. " 'If nominated, I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly — to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities,' Rice wrote in a letter to President Obama, saying she's saddened by the partisan politics surrounding her prospects." Rice has been the target of sharp criticism from many Republicans because of what they have charged were misleading statements she made in the days after the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, in which the ambassador and three other Americans were killed. Critics say she downplayed the role that terrorists played. The administration says she relied on information provided by the intelligence community. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has said she plans to step down sometime in the coming months. Among others thought to be leading contenders for the job is Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. Update at 4:05 p.m. ET. The Letter: We've put a copy of Rice's letter to the president online, and you can read it in the box below. Click on the title — "Susan Rice Letter" — to pop up a larger view. |
Congressman On NSA: Checks And Balances Prevent Abuse | Melissa Block talks to Republican Congressman Mac Thornberry, who serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He talks about the testimony by leaders of the National Security Agency, the Department of Justice and the FBI on Tuesday morning. He's been supportive of the NSA surveillance program, saying it's not only legal, but vital to security. |
The Case for Ending Quarterly Reports | Quarterly earnings reports help to drive the markets, as momentum swings with how companies have fared against expectations. But at least one market expert says that pressure on CEOs to meet their own forecasts can run afoul of good corporate governance -- and end up hurting shareholders. Robert Siegel talks to Matthew Orsagh, co-author of the report Breaking the Short-Term Cycle, released today. Orsagh is a senior policy analyst at the CFA Centre for Financial Market Integrity. ROBERT SIEGEL, host: From the financial industry today comes a report called Breaking the Short-Term Cycle, that comes from the CFA Center for Financial Market Integrity and also from the Business Roundtable's Institute for Corporate Ethics. And its recommendations include rethinking the benefits of companies issuing what are called quarterly earnings guidance. Matthew Orsagh, senior policy analyst at the CFA Center, is one of the authors of the report and he joins us from New York, and I'd like you to begin, Mr. Orsagh, by explaining what quarterly guidance is or are? Mr. MATTHEW ORSAGH (Senior Policy Analyst, CFA Center): Well, quarterly guidance is generally when companies, before their earnings come out, throughout the quarter they will give analysts guidance as to what they expect their numbers to be. You know, how many earnings per share - up to the penny -they expect to make that quarter. And so analysts over the quarter will pretty much coalesce around a narrow range of earnings guidance that the company's given. SIEGEL: This is before they actually report what they earned during the quarter. They say here's what we think we're going to earn this quarter. Mr. ORSAGH: That's correct. SIEGEL: And what's the problem with doing that? Mr. ORSAGH: Well the problem seems to be that over last - this practice hasn't been around forever. It's may over the last 15 years companies have started doing this. And what we found is you seem to get a number that everyone kind of coalesces around, and the companies feel they have to meet that number or beat that number. And part of the problems with some of the financial scandals over the past couple of years is that companies have consistently beat that number again and again, maybe by a penny or two, and we see that a lot of incentives are connected to beating those numbers by a penny or two. And that, of course, can lead to perverse incentives where companies may be borrowing from their own future, not engaging in projects that will return money to the shareholders in the future. SIEGEL: Well, let's translate that conflict that you just described into more common terms. Let's say I'm the head of the XYZ Corporation and I've given out quarterly guidance that says we're going to do this well. Everybody in the markets thinks that's how well we should do. I'm under great pressure to do a little bit better than that. What might I do that would ill serve my investors in order to do that? Mr. ORSAGH: Well for example, there was a paper that came out by Duke University and Washington University and it interviewed more than 400 executives and over half of them told the researchers that if they were going to - if they had the decision of missing earnings expectations, which this treats, punishes very harshly if you miss those - or engaging in a project that would bring revenues to the company in the future, overwhelmingly the executives would choose to smooth earnings in the short term, thereby bypassing a project that would be beneficial to their shareholders in the long term. SIEGEL: Now, it's not as though the Securities and Exchange Commission says that companies have to do this. This is report from, essentially, a financial analyst or asset managers and corporate executives, who are the very people who are asking that it be done and who do it, saying stop us before we do this again. Mr. ORSAGH: Well, that's part of the problem is it's become just the way things are done. And companies themselves, analysts and asset managers all play a part in this. Incentives for asset managers, analysts and sometimes, you know, short-term quarterly options exercises for companies and company executives are based too much in the short term. So all parties have a small role to play in this and the practice has kind of evolved over the past ten or fifteen years to where everyone pays attention to quarterly earnings guidance. SIEGEL: Now I've read that the trend in the past couple of years, or at least the past year, has been away from this, that fewer corporations are issuing quarterly guidance now than they did a couple of years ago. But even if all of them abandoned quarterly guidance, so long as you report your earnings every quarter, isn't there still a problem of thinking in the short term because Wall Street's going to reevaluate you every three months? Mr. ORSAGH: Well there will always be that short-term pressure there, but what we're calling for is more of a balance. And in the report we do |
Top Stories: UBS Loss, Medal Of Honor For Marine | Good morning. Our early posts: -- U.K. Prime Minister To Gadhafi: 'It Is Over, Give Up' -- Swiss Bank UBS Says Rogue Trader Caused $2 Billion Loss Other top headlines of the day so far: -- "For A Marine Hero, A Medal Of Honor." (Morning Edition) -- "New Foreclosures Surge During August In Hardest-Hit Markets." (Los Angeles Times) -- "Obama Green-Tech Program That Backed Solyndra Struggles To Create Jobs." (The Washington Post) -- "As Influence Of Islamists Rises, Hard Questions For Libya." (The New York Times) -- University Of California Tuition "Could Rise By 16% A Year." (San Francisco Chronicle) |
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