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Limbaugh Unloads On Those Who Killed His Rams Dream

In non-Balloon Boy news, conservative radio superstar Rush Limbaugh on Thursday took after his adversaries who killed his chances to be a minority owner of the National Football League's St. Louis Rams. And he doesn't leave unscorched Dave Checketts, the leader of the investment group seeking to buy the NFL team, who invited Limbaugh to come along for the ride, only to throw him under the bus when the controversy erupted. At the start of Thursday's show, Limbaugh said Checketts came to his house and offered him an ownership stake earlier this year. Limbaugh recalls asking Checketts at their second meeting if he and the other investors were ready to take the heat sure to come once it became public knowledge that Limbaugh was part of the group. Checketts assured him they were. And adding to the sense that he was doublecrossed by Checketts, Limbaugh says he was never told noted liberal philanthropist George Soros was one of Checketts' partners. An excerpt from the show's transcript: "Are you aware of the firestorm this --" "Oh, yes, totally aware, Rush, and believe me, I wouldn't have approached you if I hadn't taken care of that. I would not have even come and asked you to be part of the group if I had not cleared your involvement with people at the highest levels of the National Football League." And my mistake at that point was not asking him, "All right, do you really mean it, and who did you speak to?" He gave me a couple of names that are pretty high up and led me to believe that it was all handled and that he was fully prepared for what was going to happen. When the whole thing started to unravel last week, whenever this thing leaked -- and, by the way, I learned yesterday that George Soros might be in this group. Reuters had a story that George Soros is one of Dave Checketts's partners. I did not know that. I wasn't told that. Mr. Checketts is not the primary partner here. The NFL has a rule that the primary owner has to have 30% equity in the team, and our group lost our 30% equity guy, and we had to scramble and find a new one, and I was told who it was, but now I'm wondering if it was Soros and I wasn't told. Soros and Checketts did, I have learned, partner together previously to try to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers. Mr. Soros, of course, is well known politically for his left-wing slants, his politics fit in perfectly, apparently, with what the National Football League is becoming. But I wonder if they know that he is also involved in the movement to legalize marijuana and how that will play as the owners decide whether or not he's fit. This is all speculative because I don't know that he's in the group. Reuters reported it yesterday. Read More >> But Limbaugh was only working up to his crescendo. That came when he started took after the high-profile African Americans who publicly spoke against his possible ownership. So when this all started to unravel with the leaking of my being part of the group, the predictable firestorm started, and I said, "Are you guys prepared here? Do you understand what's going on?" "Oh, yeah, we want you to be a partner, don't worry, Rush, I would not have gone this far if I hadn't wired this before I even spoke to you." Now, remember, I did not seek them out, they sought me out. They came here to my home. So eventually when DeMaurice Smith -- and he may pronounce it DeMaurice, I'm not sure -- DeMaurice Smith is the new executive director of the National Football League Players Association, he sent a letter to the Commissioner Roger Goodell strongly objecting to my being anywhere near the National Football League on the basis that I don't unify, I'm a divider and divisive and this sort of thing. Then of course the two race hustlers, the Reverend Jackson and Reverend Sharpton got involved, and I got a call on Tuesday night from Dave Checketts, "I'm sorry, I have to ask you to withdraw." And I said, "I thought you had this wired, I thought --" "Well, Rush, obviously I'm sorry, I feel terrible about this but we can't go forward with you in the group." And I said, "Well, I'm not going to withdraw. If you want me out you go public and fire me," which he did. He sent me a letter yesterday afternoon right after the program and told me that the announcement would come this morning, and he wanted me to know that it was a very tough personal decision for him to make, he had a lot of respect for me, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, but when I got to the airport -- Kathryn and I flew to Missouri last night for a family dinner in Cape Girardeau and I had to go to St. Louis first to pick up some of the family, then back down to Cape Girardeau. But Limbaugh wanted it known he was aware of who really was behind the whole debacle -- President Barack Obama. And the real reason, the real reason -- and there are many, many reasons that are valid, but the real reason -- that pressure was brought upon me by Sharpton and Jackson and DeMaurice Smith and the commissioner is that the Players

Major Corporations Distance Themselves From Saudi Arabia After Journalist's Disappearance

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with <em>New York Times</em> columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin about his coverage of the Saudi conference losing big name attendees as news of a missing journalist makes headlines.

Samsung Discontinues Galaxy Note 7 After More Fires

Samsung is permanently ending production of its signature Galaxy Note 7 after more reports of the smartphone catching fire. The electronics giant previously called on carriers to stop selling the phone, but now it says it will take more drastic steps while it investigates the problem. The move leaves Samsung without a high-end model to rival Apple&#8217;s iPhone 7, and may cause headaches for millions of customers. Here & Now&#8216;s Jeremy Hobson speaks with Ina Fried of Recode about Samsung&#8217;s woes. Plus: the Supreme Court hears oral arguments Tuesday in the epic patent case Apple v. Samsung. Guest Ina Fried, senior editor of mobile for Recode. She tweets @inafried.

Coastal Vietnamese Community Leans On Faith, And Each Other, To Rebuild After Harvey

Of all the churches on the Texas coast battered by Hurricane Harvey, one of the hardest hit is St. Peter Catholic Church in Rockport. As it happens, St. Peter is the heart and soul of Aransas County's large Vietnamese population. "This used to be our church. I haven't been inside to see the devastation," said Leah Oliva, a catechist and secretary there, as she gingerly stepped over broken glass and clumps of insulation. A gulf breeze wafted through a gaping hole in the east wall. Most of the stained-glass windows were blasted away--somehow St. Martin de Porres survived. The ninth Station of the Cross—Jesus falls a third time—lay shattered on the floor. The hymnals and prayerbooks were swollen and discolored in the pews, where women once sat on the left and men on the right in conservative Vietnamese tradition. The massive wooden crucifix suspended over the altar was undisturbed--a miracle, say the parishioners who've seen it. This popular fishing village, with its famous oak trees, looks like it was fed into a shredder. But the cohesion and resilience of this coastal Vietnamese-American community, which numbers about a thousand, may help it recover from the storm's destruction. Vietnamese immigrants who relocated on the Gulf Coast have faced adversity before, having arrived here 42 years ago after the fall of South Vietnam with very little. In the early days, they worked on shrimp boats. Leah Oliva came to Texas from Saigon when she was six. "When they came here, in order to get themselves up and running, to actually build a boat, they went into their family nucleus to borrow money instead of going outside somewhere else," she said. "They borrowed money from each other and then they repaid it." With the Gulf shrimp industry in gradual decline, most Vietnamese-Americans sold their boats over the years. They opened nail salons, got teaching certificates and engineering degrees, and built bait houses. Assessing the damage Sunlight streamed through a hole in the roof of the Fulton Harbor Bait Stand onto empty tanks of croakers, piggies, and mullet. The owners are Long Nyugen and his wife Nelda Salazar, who claim to be the only mixed couple in town. "At Christmas we give eggrolls and tamales, a half dozen of each," she says, laughing. They are still assessing the damage to their business. "The pilings on the bottom might be damaged," Salazar said, wearing an "I Survived Hurricane Harvey" t-shirt. Nguyen added, "We're gonna start all over. This building belongs to the (county) navigation district. If they supply me all the materials, I'll supply the labor." As for rebuilding the Vietnamese community, Nguyen said Father Tran is the only leader who can guide them through the difficult years ahead. "It's up to the preacher," he said, "He's the one who can pull everybody together." "A population that overcomes obstacles" So it was with the large Vietnamese population in New Orleans East after Hurricane Katrina. In the past 12 years, almost all have returned, the incidence of PTSD is low, and people are working again. After the storm, Mary Queen of Vietnam Catholic Church was a central gathering place for organizational meetings and distribution of supplies. Moreover, the parish priest emerged as a leader. "They fared great by all standard measures of recovery," said Mark VanLandingham of Tulane University, who has studied the Vietnamese in New Orleans. He said the elders had the 1975 immigrant experience as a lens to view the calamity of Katrina. "(They said) we're a group that's going to make it. We're a population that overcomes obstacles, and I think that self concept played a really big role and gave them a collective self confidence that they're going to make it through (Katrina)," VanLandingham said. The plucky Vietnamese community on the Texas coast may have this advantage as well, but for the fact that their church has been destroyed. "It tests our faith" "The hurricane is testing our faith in God," said Father Tran, walking through the ruins of his mobile home rectory next door. "I went through the war in Vietnam. I was 9 years old. I saw dead bodies everywhere. After the war we survived every day, so yes, it tests our faith." He said they plan to reconstruct St. Peter from the foundation up, but the diocese has only begun to bring in appraisers to calculate the damages. The aging Vietnamese congregation is devastated by the loss of their spiritual home. "My biggest concern is how to rebuild the church for the people," said Father Tran. "They have lost a lot and are disappointed." MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: And now let's go to Texas for a few minutes. It might seem like it was a lifetime ago, but it was just two weeks ago that Hurricane Harvey hit Texas. Our reporters have been trying to get to as many places as they can to report on what's been happening. John Burnett found himself in Rockport, Texas, surveying what remains of St. Peter Catholic church. That church has long served the large Vietnamese community

'4 Months' Raises the Iron Curtain on Abortion

The word "abortion" puts many people on edge, but director Cristian Mungiu wanted viewers to experience what it was like to try to get one in a country where it was illegal. The result is 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, a film that follows two Romanian college women in 1987. Gabita lies to herself and those around her about her pregnancy, until her friend Otilia comes to understand what's happened and bails her out. The film chronicles the women's struggle to obtain an abortion for Gabita, from their surreptitious efforts to book a hotel room to the procedure itself, and while the images — including a shot of a fetus on a bathroom floor — may be shocking, nothing in 4 Months is overdramatized. Mungiu won't go into personal details but says his film is based on the experience of someone he knows. He says half a million women died getting illegal abortions during the reign of Romanian dictator Nicolai Ceausescu. The country he shows is a place of dark hallways and cramped rooms. As the two women pack for their meeting with the abortionist, one scrounges for cotton balls and soap; the other hunts through the echo-y halls of the dorm and the crowded common bathroom for a hair dryer and cigarettes. Mungiu says he wasn't thinking about issues like the end of Romanian Communism or even abortion when he was making the film; rather, his approach was dictated by the story, not a message. "I try to just choose the scenes which are going to be allowed in the film, considering just one thing," he says. "Would this reasonably have happened, and does it make sense to the story to keep it?" Despite Mungiu's subject matter and his decidedly uncommercial approach (he uses long, unedited takes throughout the film, with some scenes running 10 minutes without a cut), 4 Months has been one of the most popular attractions at film festivals, winning the top prize at Cannes. General audiences in the U.S. will get a chance to see it as it opens in theaters over the coming months. MICHELLE NORRIS, host: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Michelle Norris. MELISSA BLOCK, host: And I'm Melissa Block. Oscar nominations were announced this week. And one film that did not make the cut is titled, "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days." The Romanian movie stirred considerable buzz last year at Cannes. They won that festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or. There are some speculation among critics that the film was overlooked for an Oscar nomination because of its subject — abortion. "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" takes its title from the length of the pregnancy of one of its characters. Howie Movshovitz of Colorado Public Radio reports. HOWIE MOVSHOVITZ: The word abortion puts many people on edge. But Cristian Mungiu wanted viewers to experience what it was like to try to get one in a country where it was illegal. Mungiu focuses on the details. From the surreptitious efforts to book a hotel room for the abortion, to the procedure, to a shot of the fetus on the bathroom floor. While the images may be shocking, nothing is overdramatized. The story just unfolds. Mr. CRISTIAN MUNGIU (Director, "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days"): I don't think there is anything for anybody to feel offended about. It's just the way the story goes. And it's just that people need to face it with all the details that I knew. And then I can say it's up to them to — I don't know, may their own choices. But things should be seen the way they are. MOVSHOVITZ: Mungiu won't go into personal details, but he says the film is based on the experience of someone he knows. He says half a million women died getting illegal abortions during the reign of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. The country he shows in "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days" is a place of dark hallways and cramped rooms. French director Bertrand Tavernier, best known for his films, "A Sunday in the Country" and "'Round Midnight," says these images give the Romanian movie tremendous emotional power. He first met Cristian Mungiu in 1995 while he was shooting his World War I drama, "Capitaine Conan," in Romania. Mungiu served as Tavernier's assistant director. Mr. BERTRAND TAVERNIER (Director, "A Sunday in the Country" and "'Round Midnight"): I find him very devoted, very passionate. And it was one of the real find I made during "Conan." MOVSHOVITZ: Tavernier says the younger filmmaker gets audiences to feel what the young girls' lives are like in their crowded college dorm right from the opening shot. Mr. TAVERNIER: It gives you the whole place where the two girls are living, their rooms — what it is to get one cigarette. What you have to deal to negotiate the importance of money. I mean, you get that in one shot. (Soundbite of movie "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days") Unidentified Woman #1: (Speaking in foreign language) MOVSHOVITZ: As the two girls pack for their meeting with the abortionist, one scrounges for cotton balls and soap. (Soundbite of movie "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days") Unidentif

A Kindergarten, A Story And A Life In Shambles

Lukas works in a Danish kindergarten, and it's clear he's in the right place: When the kids look at him, they see a great big toy. That's especially true for 5-year-old Klara, the lonely daughter of Lukas' best friend, Theo. Klara's folks fight a lot, and her teenage brother is too busy looking at dirty pictures with his buddies to pay her much attention. Lukas, though, treats her kindly, and she's developed a little crush. She spends an afternoon making him a paper heart with glitter. And she's hurt, in the way that 5-year-olds can be, when he gives it back, suggesting she give it to a boy her age. So she says something — after school, quietly, not realizing what it means — that she heard her brother say when he was looking at dirty pictures ... and she says it about Lukas. And the school's headmistress, erring on the side of caution, tells Lukas to take a few days off. The title of the film in which this scenario will play out — Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt -- is a play on words. There are characters who have rifles and go hunting, yes. But for Vinterberg, this story is about a witch hunt, an accusation of impropriety that takes on a life of its own, shattering bonds of trust in a close-knit community. The director makes clear that everyone means well — the headmistress, protective of her students; the parents, trying to shield children from things they shouldn't know about just yet; the investigators asking questions carefully, trying to see their way through ambiguous answers. But they're all talking to and about a 5-year-old. When someone asks Klara if she's uncomfortable because she doesn't like what Lukas did to her, she nods yes. But you realize what the investigator doesn't — that what Lukas did to upset her was return that paper heart. Mads Mikkelsen, whose Lukas goes through the movie in a sort of defensive crouch, is playing intriguingly against his own image, whether you know him as TV's Hannibal Lecter (and a 007 villain) or as what Danish audiences have repeatedly voted him — the sexiest romantic lead in Denmark. He's playing neither of those extremes here. Lukas, a toy now in the hands of a wanton fate, is just an ordinary man trying to brave the hysteria of The Hunt, realizing that everyone around him smells blood. (Recommended) JACKI LYDEN, HOST: Summer is Hollywood's blockbuster season filled mostly with big-budget spectacles and action comedies. But sometimes, more serious pictures slip into the mix. That's the case with the foreign language film starring Mads Mikkelsen who is probably best known in this country as TV's Hannibal Lecter. In "The Hunt," a social drama from Denmark, he plays what critic Bob Mondello says is a markedly different role. BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: Lukas works in a Danish kindergarten. And from the moment you see him there, it's clear he's in the right place. (SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE HUNT") MONDELLO: When the kids look at him, they see a great, big toy, especially 5-year old Klara, the lonely daughter of Lukas' best friend. Klara's folks fight a lot, and her teenage brother is too busy looking at dirty pictures with his buddies to pay her much attention. Lukas, though, treats her kindly. (SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE HUNT") MONDELLO: And she's developed a little crush. She spends an afternoon making him a paper heart with glitter and is hurt when he gives it back suggesting she give it to a boy her age. So she says something after school quietly, not realizing what it means, that she heard her brother say when he was looking at dirty pictures. And she says it about Lukas. And the school's head mistress, erring on the side of caution, tells Lukas to take a few days off. The title "The Hunt" is a play on words. There are characters who have rifles and go hunting. But for director Thomas Vinterberg, "The Hunt" is about a witch hunt, an accusation of impropriety that takes on a life of its own, shattering bonds of trust in a close-knit community. The director makes clear that everyone means well: the head mistress, protective of her students, the parents trying to shield children from things they shouldn't know about, the investigators asking questions carefully... (SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE HUNT") MONDELLO: ...trying to see their way through ambiguous answers. (SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE HUNT") MONDELLO: But they're talking to and about a 5-year-old. When someone asks Klara if she's uncomfortable because she doesn't like what Lukas did to her, she nods yes. And you realize what the investigator doesn't, that what Lukas did that she didn't like was return her paper heart. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) MONDELLO: Mads Mikkelsen, who goes through the movie in a sort of a defensive crouch, is playing intriguingly against his own image as Lukas, whether you know him as TV's Hannibal Lecter and a 007 villain or as what Danish audiences have repeatedly voted him, the sexiest romantic lead in Denmark. He's playing neither of those extremes here, just a man trying to brave the hysteria of "The

Moms Discuss Educating Children on Cultural Heritage

In this week's Mocha Moms, Jolene Ivey, Cheli English-Figaro and Davina McFarland discuss how to teach children to become culturally conscious. Special guest Dr. Marguerite White, a child psychologist, offers advice on how healthy parenting can help create a culturally sound household.

The Princess and the Marine

Tomorrow, a 19-year old princess from Bahrain will ask a U.S. immigration judge if she can remain in the country with the U.S. Marine who smuggled her out of the kingdom last year. Host Jacki Lyden talks with Dwight Davis of the <EM>San Diego Union Tribune</EM> about the case that could cause a riff between the U.S. and the royal family of Bahrain.

Summary Judgment: 'Click,' 'Waist Deep,' 'Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man'

<em>Slate</em> contributor Mark Jordan Legan reviews what critics are saying about this weekend's major movie releases -- <em>Click</em>, <em>Waist Deep</em> and the documentary <em>Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man</em>.

Life In Haiti Is Arduous, Relief Effort Expands Reach

It's been more than a week since the devastating magnitude 7 earthquake flattened large sections of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. There have been frequent aftershocks. Assistance is arriving, and the General Hospital is functioning again. Still, hundreds of thousands of people are living on the streets without access to even tents.

Once Ruled By Taliban, Residents Of Pakistan's Swat Valley Say Army Should Leave

In the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains, on the bank of the river that courses through the Swat Valley, boys play soccer in a dusty field. When the Pakistani Taliban occupied this valley a decade ago, loyalists trudged to the same riverbank with their own television sets, setting them ablaze in a fiery rejection of Western culture. But the Taliban embraced other broadcast technology, when it was useful. Yards away, tucked into the low-slung village of Imam Dherai, lies the rubble of a pirate radio station where a preacher, Fazal Hayat, known as Maulana Fazlullah, broadcast his vision of an Islamic utopia in the Swat Valley. Residents nicknamed the charismatic preacher "Mullah Radio." And that is how militants began inching across the Swat Valley in 2004: over the airwaves. Women donated jewelry to Mullah Radio, who used the donations to help fund a network of religious hardliners. Men offered labor and money to build a seminary and a mosque. Fazlullah promised Islamic law in Swat; residents — chafing under what they said was a sluggish, corrupt and inept state system — said they were enamored by his promises of swift justice. Young men joined him. Fearing his messianic influence on their elderly mother, one family sabotaged their radio. "Mother kept asking me to repair it," Iqbal Isakhel, a lawyer who opposed the militants, said with a laugh. "I didn't." In 2007, Fazlullah led militants in an uprising to avenge a high-profile military operation against a radical mosque in Islamabad. The militants captured key towns in Swat and killed local leaders. Government officials went into hiding. The militants used the radio station to announce who would be arrested or killed for infractions like adultery and homosexuality that violated their harsh rule. Men and women were whipped in the main square of the valley's largest town, and sometimes the Taliban left bodies hanging off a street light, pinned with notes detailing the peoples' alleged crimes. Girls' schools were targeted in attacks. The Taliban, based in Imam Dherai, took control of the entire Swat Valley and held power until the Pakistani military retook the area in 2009. But nearly a decade later, the soldiers remain. Military checkpoints dot the roads. Residents say soldiers occupy government buildings in their towns and villages. And they say the military has overstayed its welcome. "A black chapter" When a Pakistani airstrike crushed the radio station in 2009, many residents said they cheered. Fazlullah escaped, and now leads the Pakistani Taliban, who remain violently opposed to the Pakistani state. "It's a black chapter of our history," Waris, a 22-year-old Swat Valley resident, said with a sigh. "We prefer to forget it." He requested NPR only use his first name because he still fears the Taliban. Still, he pointed out, "There is also our Malala Yousafzai." Pakistan's Nobel Peace laureate, who recently returned to Swat for the first time since she was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012, was born and raised here. As a child, she defied the Taliban by calling for girls' education. Fawad, a 28-year-old activist, said the army routinely points to Swat as a success story. He preferred not to use his full name, to avoid possible repercussions from the military. "As they are saying, we have established peace in Swat," Fawad said. "We want them to give full authority to civilian government — to police and local government." But security problems remain. On Feb. 3, a suicide bomber with the Pakistani Taliban — the same branch that once ruled Swat — attacked soldiers, killing 11. And so, says Shahid Latif, a retired air vice marshal, the military must remain as well. He said it is unlikely that the army will ever leave Swat, because police aren't trained properly to deal with the region's security complexities. "Perhaps some kind of presence of the army, in my opinion, is going to stay there permanently," he said. Pakistan's army spokesperson declined NPR's repeated requests for interviews. The "paradise of Pakistan" Across the river from Imam Dherai is the blaring, blinking Swat Wonderland Amusement Park. It opened two summers ago. It is best reached by crossing the Swat River in a dinky, two-seat chairlift. It is manned by soldiers: they took it over because it was symbolically tied to the Taliban's rule of Swat. Before he was Mullah Radio, Fazlullah was the chairlift operator. At the park, young women shrieked as they swung wildly on a carousel. They pressed their veils to their faces, worried they'd fly away. Iqbal Asad, 26, a dental assistant, brought his two-year-old nephew Sahil Khan for a fun day. This, he said, gesturing to rides, showed "life is going well here." "Swat — it's called the paradise of Pakistan," he said. "It's the Switzerland of Pakistan." Foreign tourism was once a mainstay of the local economy and residents hope to revive it, but they've hit some obstacles. In 2016, a company opened a ski resort. Workers are widening the p

'Fetch Clay, Make Man': Ali, Fetchit And The 'Anchor Punch'

--- Muhammad Ali's first title defense, a first-round TKO of Sonny Liston in 1965, propelled Ali to the status of icon. In Ali's training camp before the fight was an icon from an earlier era: Lincoln Perry. He was the first African-American movie star, who went by the stage name Stepin Fetchi. The relationship between the two men is the subject of an off-Broadway play called Fetch Clay, Make Man. By the spring of 1965, Muhammad Ali had spent less than a year as heavyweight champion of the world. He had recently joined the Nation of Islam and shed his former name, Cassius Clay. Ali was a newlywed, his friend Malcolm X had been assassinated, and boxing fans considered him an underdog in the upcoming fight against Sonny Liston. Playwright Will Power knew all that. But then, Power saw a photo of Ali that contained an image Power did not expect. "I was like, what?" Power said. In the picture, palling around with Ali was actor Perry, who gained enormous fame — and then something approaching enormous infamy as Fetchit. To Power, schooled as he is in African-American history, this photograph and the circumstances behind it simply did not make sense. "I learned about Muhammad Ali and learned about Stepin Fetchit. But I learned about them as being polar opposites," says Power. But in 1965, Ali and Fetchit came together in pursuit of a legendary boxing tactic that the great Jack Johnson was rumored to have employed: the anchor punch. Ali called Fetchit his secret strategist. The boxer reached out to the former Hollywood star who had been friendly with Jack Johnson to learn more about this magical punch. Fetch Clay, Make Man shows that Ali was obsessively driven. He was bragging, plotting, envisioning, even when just shadowboxing. All of this — the relationship, the secret strategist, the anchor punch — is true. Well, true as far as a punch with mystical man-stopping properties can be. But Ali did credit the punch with being the tool that dropped Sonny Liston in the first round. It is not an accident that much of the play centers around a mystical technique. Des McAnuff, director of Fetch Clay, Make Man says: "I do think the play is not just realistic, though you might call it 'mystic realism.'" Perry understood that with his role, he was creating a myth — and he viewed his character Fetchit as a trickster. Ali was of course mythic in the sense of godlike, but also, in the sense that Ali understood archetypes. Ray Fisher, the actor who portrays Ali, talks about the aspects of the play that resonate with him: "The idea of people wearing masks, you know, trying to be who you want to be, especially in society that views you as less than that..." History shows that Ali won that struggle: He won the fight, he defined himself, he came to embody his nickname "The Greatest." Lincoln Perry, on the other hand, never got to play a character other than Stepin Fetchit. While Perry earned a small fortune, he wound up spending a large one. But he was perceptive, telling a reporter before the Ali-Liston fight: "People don't understand the champ. But one day he'll be one of the country's greatest heroes. He's like one of those plays where a man is a villain in the first act and then turns out to be a hero in the last act." In this piece, Stepin Fetchit gets a turn at, if not heroism, then a bit of redemption. Fetch Clay, Make Man plays at the New York Theatre Workshop through Sunday. MELISSA BLOCK, HOST: Muhammad Ali's first title defense, a first-round knockout of Sonny Liston in 1965, helped solidify Ali's status as a boxing titan. In his training camp for that fight was an unlikely face from an earlier era. Lincoln Perry was the first African-American movie star under his stage name Stepin Fetchit. As NPR's Mike Pesca reports, the relationship between the two men is now the subject of an off-Broadway play. It's called "Fetch Clay, Make Man." MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: In the spring of 1965, Muhammad Ali had spent less than a year as heavyweight champion of the world. He had just become Muhammad Ali, shedding his slave name, Cassius Clay, when he joined the Nation of Islam. He was recently married. His friend Malcolm X had been assassinated. He was an underdog in his upcoming fight against Sonny Liston. Playwright Will Power knew all that. But then he saw a photo of Ali at the time, a photo that contained an image that Power did not expect. WILL POWER: I was like, what? PESCA: There, palling around with Ali, was the actor Lincoln Perry, who gained enormous fame - and then something approaching enormous infamy - playing the part of the stereotypically kowtowing and shiftless Stepin Fetchit. To Will Power, schooled as he is in African-American history, this photograph and the circumstances behind it simply made no sense. POWER: I learned about Muhammad Ali and I learned about Stepin Fetchit, but I learned about them as being polar opposites. PESCA: But in 1965, the two came together in pursuit of a legendary boxing tactic that the great Jac

Big Sunni Turnout Anticipated in Iraq Vote

The vast majority of Iraq's Sunni Arabs boycotted the parliamentary elections of January. On Thursday, they're expected to vote in large numbers. This time, they hope to obtain enough legislative power to combat a push by Shiites and Kurds for a decentralized Iraq.

AIDS Activists Take Aim At Gilead To Lower Price Of HIV Drug PrEP

When the first HIV drug, AZT, came to market in 1987, it cost $10,000 a year. That price makes Peter Staley laugh today. "It sounds quaint and cheap now, but $10,000 a year at that time was the highest price ever set for any drug in history," he says. At the time, the price Burroughs Wellcome set for the drug sparked outrage. The AIDS epidemic was an urgent national crisis. For many, the diagnosis was a death sentence. The TV-viewing public was horrified by endless images of young men suddenly sick and dying. A lost generation. ACT UP — the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power — was established to drive government attention and research toward a cure. A key early goal of the movement: force down the price of AZT. Whatever it took. "I led an action where we invaded [Burroughs Wellcome] headquarters in April of 1989 and sealed ourselves into a third floor office and caused $9,000 of property damage," Staley says. "In September, we infiltrated the New York Stock Exchange before the opening bell with fake IDs and got into a VIP balcony and unfurled a banner that said 'Sell Wellcome,' and set off Marine fog horns that drowned out the opening bell. And we threw out fake $100 bills to the traders below us." He can't quite remember, but thinks the fake bills read, "F*** your profiteering, we die while you play business." "The company lowered the price another 20% three days after that," Staley says. Because of ACT UP's effectiveness, he says, the price of AZT went from $10,000 a year to $3,200 a year. "We were a major news story back then," he says. "And that was essential to all of the victories that we had." Now, AIDS activists — drawn from that older generation, and from a new one — are working again to bring down the prices of HIV medication. This time, the drugmaker is Gilead Sciences, and the drug is Truvada. It's the only FDA-approved version of PrEP, which stands for pre-exposure prophylaxis, currently available commercially in the U.S. The list price? $1,780 a month, or $21,360 per year — more than 350 times the cost of generic versions of the drug available in most other countries. "There are remarkable parallels to what's happening with Gilead these days," Staley says. "We are back to the Burroughs Wellcome days, where we have one company — we have a monopoly dominating the market and raking in money for what are actually government inventions. And we're having massive access issues because of it." Still, the issue is playing out in a different era, Staley notes, and that's requiring new tactics from advocates for patients. "AIDS is an old story now," he says. "That's our new reality. So we accept it and we work around it." Today, though the HIV epidemic is quieter, it's still deadly. People can live long lives with the virus, but there's no cure, and it continues to spread. Gay and bisexual men, African Americans, Latinos and people living in the South are especially at risk. Staley is now part of PrEP4All — a coalition that includes ACT UP. The group was launched last summer, but is ramping up its activity now in light of the Trump administration's plan to end the spread of HIV in America by 2030. That goal can only be reached if more people get on the PrEP regimen — currently only a fraction of the 1.1 million people at significant risk for getting HIV are taking the daily prevention pill. To meet this new moment, Staley says, PrEP4All activists are using some of the same broad tactics as ACT UP, but also increasing their activity behind the scenes. They're showing up in front page articles and editorials, at pharmaceutical shareholders meetings and publicly confronting officials in the Trump administration. They have a petition and a hashtag and a white paper — and have harnessed the tools of social media to help hold elected officials accountable. "We have a congressional strategy, and we have what ACT UP never had — a legal strategy," Staley says. "We're working with deep-pocketed law firms, which is totally something that ACT UP never thought to do." He credits the young activists who are part of today's movement for that new approach. "The sophistication by the millennial activists that I'm working with today has my head spinning," Staley says. "They've got this historical template that says, 'Anybody can do this. You just have to have the willpower and the self-confidence.' They're absolutely on fire — they already are making changes and they will continue to." The public "disruptions" PrEP4All has engaged in recently — along the lines of those ACT UP was known for — generally fall into two categories: shaming Gilead into voluntarily lowering the price of Truvada, and pressuring the government into challenging Gilead's patent of the medication, so generic competition might force the price down. "Our goal is to get Gilead Sciences to release the patent," says Emily Sanderson, a co-founder of PrEP4All and one of the millennial activists Staley mentioned. "Gilead has the power to make PrEP available ri

A Millennial Republican Response To The Third GOP Debate

Steve Inskeep speaks to Kristen Soltis Anderson, author of <em>The Selfie Vote: Where Millennials Are Leading America</em>, to get her response to Wednesday's GOP debate.

The New Republic: Sorry, Class Of 2009

The OMB blog has an interesting item up about the effects of entering the labor market during a recession versus a tight labor market. On the one hand, there are the immediate effects you'd expect: lower wages and scarcer jobs. Per the item: "[A]ccording to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, less than 20 percent of the class of 2009 graduated from college with a job offer in hand, compared to 25 percent in the class of 2008 and more than 50 percent in the class of 2007." More interestingly, though, are the apparent longer-term effects. Relying on the results of this recent paper by Yale's Lisa Kahn, Peter Orszag writes that: "[A] one percentage point increase in the national unemployment rate is associated with a 6 to 7 percent loss in initial wages. The annual wage loss declines over time, but is still statistically significant 15 years later. Comparing the wages earned by the class of 1982 (a peak unemployment year) with the wages of the class of 1988 (a peak employment year) over the first 20 years of a career, the wage difference resulted in a difference of nearly $100,000 in cumulative earnings in net present value." Apparently the reason isn't just that it takes a while to catch up from a lower starting point. It's also that people who join the labor force during a tough job market are more likely to end up in a poorly-fitting job, and with a less optimal set of skills and responsibilities — all of which can drive wages later on. One question worth thinking about (and maybe the paper addresses it — I haven't read it): Is the effect likely to have gotten stronger or weaker as the labor market has gotten more fluid? That is, a generation ago, people were much more likely to stay at a single firm for a long period of time. Today, they're much more likely to hop around — professional life is more like serial monogamy than a 40-year marriage. I could see it going either way. On the one hand, you can imagine getting trapped in a lower, long-term trajectory if you have to stick with a single firm — maybe it's easier to break out of that trajectory if you leave the firm. On the other hand, we know that people's salaries at a new job are tied to their previous salary, so you can see how the job-hopping scenario could also produce the lower trajectory. Today at TNR (October 26, 2009) Paradise Lost: Is California Finished? by John B. Judis We Now Have a Black President. Was Booker T. Washington Wrong? by Steven Hahn Senate Dems to Obama: We Could Use a Little More Help Here, by Jonathan Cohn Can a Self-Described 'Boring as Hell' Candidate Really Lead a Major American City for 20 Straight Years? by E.J. Dionne Jr. Writing Is Increasingly About Speed. What a Shame. by Damon Linker The News Keeps Getting Worse for the Class of 2009, by Noam Scheiber The Art of the Impossible: Building Megaprojects During the Recession, by David Jackson The T.E. Lawrence of Afghanistan: Rory Stewart Takes on McChrystal, by Jason Zengerle Michelle Cottle's Guide to DC Halloween Costume Etiquette, by Michelle Cottle

CEO's Personal Life Can Affect Company

Studies show that chief executive officers' personal lives can adversely affect their companies' stock prices. For example, stock prices can plunge if a CEO buys a new house or yacht. A 15 percent decline can occur if a CEO's spouse dies. SCOTT SIMON, Host: This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) SIMON: However, statistics show that if an executive's mother-in-law dies, the company's stock price can increase slightly. But this is an incidental statistic. It is not an acceptable business plan.

Why Are There So Many Mattress Stores?

There are so many mattress stores in the America, and they always seem to be empty. So how can they afford the real estate? And how do they stay in business?

The Cello Sonata By Jorg

The Cello Sonata by Jorg Demus (YORG DAY-moos) is titled "Sunset". The end of the piece, like the end of the day, sees the flight of birds...headed for home. Demus is the pianist in this recording of "Birds' Flight" with cellist Maria Kliegel. (Marco Polo 9158)

Kansas City Artist was Master of the Heartland

If Kansas City is a cathedral for what it is to be American, Thomas Hart Benton painted the ceiling. In the 1930's, his stylized figures and mural-size scale got him Time magazine's first cover story on an artist. But styles change — and Benton didn't. He wasn't "new" anymore when he and Rita, his wife and business partner, left New York after 20 years and came back to Kansas City. The Bentons bought a home there in the late 1930's. There was an old stable out back where Benton could put in a big, north-facing window. He added a cast-iron wood stove and he went to work making art. A Grandson's Memories Inside, Benton's grandson, Anthony Gude, studies the now-quiet space, a union of studio and workshop: saws, chisels, packing crates — and paint. An eight-foot easel holds a large, blank canvas, partly covered with a linen drop cloth — just as Benton left it. The air smells abandoned, but the light is still good. Gude says he hasn't been back in nearly 20 years. And in that time, the house has gone through quite a few changes. "But the studio remains very intact," he says. "It hasn't changed since the day he died. To me, that's where the spirits or ghosts, if you will find them, will be." Gude says he used to come to the studio and watch his grandfather paint, sometimes dabbling himself with drawings or playing with clay. He and his family often posed as figures for Benton's murals. Gude especially remembers a mural destined for the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville: "He was very particular about making sure that the musicians in the mural were all playing the same chord," says Gude. "If you play a violin or a guitar or the dulcimer, you know the hands are in the right position." And all of the musicians in the painting are definitely playing the same chord, says Gude. Home as Gallery The Bentons loved food and drink, and a table of people. Their dinner parties were artfully managed by Rita. In the afternoon, she'd walk out back to the studio, go through Benton's most recent work, and pick some pieces to display where the guests — and patrons — would see them. An authentic Thomas Hart Benton! In the Benton home! He didn't need a gallery; he had Rita, and his home. John Callison bought some of those paintings — and stayed close with the family. So he was there that night in 1975 when Benton had just completed the country music mural. "He went out and sat down to sign the mural and had a massive heart attack and died," recalls Callison. "In fact, his watch was stopped at 7:15, where it hit the floor." The mural was never signed. Rita Benton lived a few months more, and then she, too, was gone. Discovering Unknown Works Thirty years later, the clapboard and stone building still seems like someone's home. Tom and Rita Benton's things are here: couches, chairs, rugs, an entry table. The place invites you in — as the art does. Benton didn't necessarily paint the big events in American history or the famous people, says the Benton Home's curator, Steve Sitton. "His great, great uncle, Senator Thomas Hart Benton from Missouri is not included in the mural in the Missouri state capitol," Sitton explains. "Tom said that mules did more for the development of the state than Senator Benton ever did." Burton Dunbar, a Kansas City art appraiser, says it's not uncommon to get a call like one he received a few weeks ago: a family has some Bentons; can he come take a look? Think about how Rita Benton sold those paintings: straight out of the studio, into the dinner party, then home with a guest. There must be many works that Tom and Rita Benton saw, and the families that got them still see, but no one else has ever seen. For an art historian, this is about possibility. "You kind of want to shout 'this is the "Benton" Benton that we've been looking for,'" exclaims Dunbar, "and this is, I know, Benton at his finest hour." Burton Dunbar has seen these unknown works with Benton's price notations on the back — $1,500, say. Some of those paintings are worth millions now. Even so, Dunbar says, most of the time his clients listen to his valuations and then they thank him. In Kansas City, they keep their Bentons. MADELEINE BRAND, host: This is DAY TO DAY. I'm Madeleine Brand. ALEX CHADWICK, host: And I'm Alex Chadwick all week here in Kansas City. We've been asking people what it means to be in the middle. A lot of them talk about the heart of America, and that phrase spoken here does settle naturally. If Kansas City is a cathedral for what it is to be American, Thomas Hart Benton painted the ceiling. I drove over to the Roanoke neighborhood, where he used to live, to talk with people who knew him. On my last visit here, I stood outside with Tom's grandson, Anthony Gude, also an artist. He'd driven up from his farm hours away - his first time back in almost 20 years. Mr. ANTHONY GUDE (Artist): Not having been in the studio in all these years, after my grandparents died, the house went through quite a few chan

'How's That Hopey, Changey Stuff?' Palin Asks

Conservative activists in Nashville this week for the first-ever National Tea Party Convention gave a hero's welcome to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who closed the event with a speech Saturday night. Palin praised the Tea Party movement and delivered a scathing — sometimes mocking — critique of both the economic and national security policies of the Obama administration. After three days of workshops and speeches by movement leaders far less well-known, Tea Party convention delegates got to see a bona fide conservative superstar. "I am so proud to be an American," she called out to the cheering crowd Saturday night in a hotel ballroom at the Opryland resort. "Thank you so much for being here tonight. Do you love your freedom?" She drew more big cheers when she told Tea Partiers that America is ready for another revolution. This was the rare Palin speech these days to be open to the press, and she used the opportunity to tear into the president. She described his foreign policy as not recognizing the true threats America faces. She cited the decision to criminally charge the suspect in the Christmas Day airline bombing attempt as a move that she says puts the country at grave risk. "Because that's not how radical Islamic extremists are looking at this. They know we're at war, and to win that war we need a commander in chief and not a professor of law standing at the lectern." On the economy, she accused the White House of pushing a stimulus package that hasn't created the promised jobs. Millions of dollars have been wasted, she said. Palin also says the Obama administration has not been transparent, as promised during the campaign. "This was all part of that hope and change and transparency. Now, a year later, I gotta ask the supporters of all that, 'How's that hopey, changey stuff working out?' " The speech was short on policy specifics; the former GOP vice presidential candidate spoke of getting back to the kind of conservatism exemplified by that most revered Republican president, Ronald Reagan. In fact, she invoked Reagan's name several times during her remarks. The speech lasted just over 40 minutes, but it was followed by 20 minutes of conversation with conference organizer Judson Phillips, who read questions submitted in advance to the conference Web site. We all know about the Obama plan, Phillips read to Palin. What, he asked, is the Palin plan? "My plan is quite simple," Palin answered. "To support those who support the foundation of our country when it comes to the economy. It is free-market principles that reward hard work and personal responsibility." And on national security: "It's easy to just kind of sum it up by repeating Ronald Reagan when he talked about the Cold War, and we can apply it to our war on terrorism. We win; they lose. And we do all we can to win." Palin said time and again that the Tea Party movement doesn't need a leader — even as she looked just like the very leader the people here would like to have. Then came the final question. "I can think of two words right now that scare liberals," Phillips said. "President Palin." The cheers then became a chant of "Run, Sarah run." Palin smiled, but didn't address the implied question. Instead she said, "I will live, I will die for the people of America. Whatever I can do tonight, this party, this Tea Party, is the future of America, and I'm proud to get to be here today."

Key Issues at the 2004 Democratic National Convention

NPR's Tavis Smiley talks about the convention, the issues and the signs to look out for at this Democratic National Convention with Antonio Gonzalez, president of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project. We also hear from Arianna Huffington, a nationally syndicated columnist and author of several books, the latest of which is <EM>Fanatics and Fools: The Game Plan for Winnng Back America</EM>. Multimedia journalist Farai Chideya, host of <EM>Your Call Radio</EM> in San Francisco, also joins the panel.

Multiple Narratives Mean Non-Stop Action In 'The Child'

Some books tell you a great deal, while other books show even more. I'm happy to report that Fiona Barton's second novel, The Child, falls firmly into the second camp. That's not because of the usual "show, don't tell" dictum that so many novelists hear from instructors, but because Barton has a reason to keep readers firmly in the action. More on that shortly. Like her 2016 smash-hit The Widow, Barton's new book centers on a cold case involving a little one. This time, and it's no spoiler to say so, the "child" is a newborn's skeleton, discovered at a building site in London. Kate Waters, the newspaper journalist who plied her wits against a canny murderer in the first book, is back and looking for something, anything, to impress her boss, Terry. When she sees a small mention of the skeleton's find, she convinces Terry to allow her out of the office to make some inquiries. Although he saddles her with a young male intern, Terry, like Kate, thinks this find might be a big story. Also like The Widow, The Child is told from several perspectives — in this case, Kate's, a grieving mother named Angela, and a younger wife named Emma who is afflicted with terrible anxiety. Kate is looking for a story. Angela is looking for closure. Emma isn't sure what she's looking for, but she knows the answer lies in her past as the daughter of a single mother named Jude. All three women have reasons to be interested in the "building-site baby," as it comes to be known. Barton moves the story along with the same alacrity she used for The Widow, a method that works particularly well for this slightly quieter book. There's never a moment when the reader sits back on her heels and thinks, "Well, that might not matter" or "Forget it, it'll never work." You're in medias res with Kate, Angela, and Emma, and the spliced action-narration is an excellent way of reminding you that no crime affects just one person, and each person it affects has many other people in her life. The frequent, fast chapters (86 of them!) highlight all of those people and their daily routines. However, more important — at least to Barton — is the idea of shoe-leather investigative reporting and how it can transform the lives it affects. As the book opens, things are grim at Kate's paper. While the newsroom is still full, most of its cubicles are filled, not with journalists, but with very young workers trolling the Internet for potential clickbait. "The Editor's focus had moved increasingly from investigative journalism to the sort of instant news that got the online community clicking and commenting. [Kate] now found herself evermore redundant in this new world order." Kate, however, won't be made redundant in her own mind, which still clicks and whirrs as fast or faster than her colleagues' browsers. Her professionalism, experience, and self-awareness make her highly sympathetic to readers, and they should — Barton, long a professional journalist herself, knows all of the tricks of Kate's trade. She also knows the limits of those tricks: This is a case that will be solved by hard science. Even so, no one in The Child would have reached any scientific conclusions if Kate Waters hadn't been around to push them in the right direction. As she smiles, cajoles, and sticks her well-shod foot in various doors, Kate remembers her limits: Her ex-Fleet Street boss had once ordered her to take a camera into a hospital to take a photograph of a famous patient. "She hadn't done the sneaky hospital bed photographs ... She'd taken a photo of her coat and pretended the camera had gone wrong ... But it didn't matter who'd done what anymore. They were all guilty as far as the public was concerned, and they all had to face the reckoning." The Child isn't a book about journalism — any more than The Girl on the Train is a book about alcoholism, or Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is a book about being an orphan. Like her fellow novelists, Fiona Barton knows showing is better than telling because it allows for the reader's perspective. When the stories from Angela and Emma converge, whether the conclusion occasions a shock or an "aha!" doesn't matter; it's satisfying due to all the work that's gone into its discovery. Bethanne Patrick is a freelance writer and critic who tweets @TheBookMaven.

Toxic Groundwater Cleanup Expands at Hanford

It's not safe to drink and can kill baby salmon. That's why the federal government will spend an extra 3-million dollars to clean up polluted groundwater heading toward the Columbia River from the Hanford nuclear site.

This Week's ScuttleButton Winner: Brian Engel of Dallas, Texas

Being chosen as the winner of the coveted ScuttleButton puzzle award is an emotional thing all right, but NOT winning it can be even more emotional.  Just ask Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-NC). The key, of course, is knowing how to play. Every Friday on this blog I offer up a vertical presentation of buttons.  The goal:  Take one word or one concept per button, add 'em up, and arrive at a familiar saying or a name. (Seriously: a saying that people from Earth might be remotely familiar with.) Submit your answer and hope you're the person chosen at random. That's it! Oh wait. You MUST include your name and city/state to be eligible. Also, the answer does not necessarily have to be political. For instance, the answer to a puzzle awhile back was "Minnesota Twins" -- not political at all, unless you're thinking Mondale and Humphrey instead of Killebrew and Oliva. Here are last week's buttons, in case you forgot: Stuart Ain for Congress -- The Republican candidate in New York's 6th District, he lost to Democratic incumbent Lester Wolff. I Miss Ike / Heck, I Even Miss Truman! -- A classic anti-JFK button, circa 1962. B 4 Burdick -- Quentin Burdick, a North Dakota Democrat, was first elected to the Senate in a special 1960 election. Haaven Congress '72 -- He was defeated by Rep. Bob Bergland (D) of Minnesota. So, when you add Ain + Miss + B + Haaven, you might end up with ... Ain't Misbehavin' -- The Fats Waller song from 1929 that morphed into a musical in 1978. A good percentage wanted to know if current South Carolina politics is what led to that selection this week. Anyway, this week's winner, chosen completely at random, is (drum roll) ... Brian Engel of Dallas, Texas. Wanna be alerted the moment a new ScuttleButton puzzle goes up on the site? (How can you NOT???) Sign up for our mailing list at [email protected].

The Importance Of Getting Things Wrong

Think about our planet for a second. Earth has an elliptical — oval-shaped — orbit. That means we're closer to the sun for one part of the year and farther away another part of the year. Does that fact explain why it's hotter in the summer and colder in the winter? Lots of kids think it does. Lots of adults think so, too. And they're wrong.* Philip Sadler is both a professor of astronomy and the director of the science education department at Harvard University, and he is obsessed with wrong answers like these. "Students are not empty vessels," he says. "Students are full of all kinds of knowledge, and they have explanations for everything." From birth, human beings are working hard to figure out the world around us. But we go about it more like the early Greek philosophers than modern scientists: reasoning from our limited experience. And like those early philosophers — Ptolemy comes to mind — we're often dead wrong. Sadler says that cognitive science tells us that if you don't understand the flaws in students' reasoning, you're not going to be able to dislodge their misconceptions and replace them with the correct concepts. "It's very expensive in terms of mental effort to change the ideas that you come up with yourself," Sadler says. "It's a big investment to say, 'I'm going to abandon this thing that I came up with that makes sense to me and believe what the book or the teacher says instead.' " In one study, which he recently wrote about in American Educator magazine, Sadler gave 20 multiple-choice science questions to a group of middle school students. For each test item, one of the "distractors" was a very common misconception. In fact, often the misconception was far more popular than the right answer. For example: 2. Eric is watching a burning candle very carefully. After all of the candle has burned, he wonders what happened to the wax. He has a number of ideas; which one do you agree with most? a. The candle wax has turned into invisible gases. d. All of the wax has melted and dripped to the bottom of the candle holder. The wrong answer, d., was chosen by 59 percent of the students; only 17 percent chose the right answer, a. The study gave the same test to these students' teachers. They asked them which of the wrong answers was most commonly chosen. They found that teacher knowledge of common student misconceptions was weak: They knew 85 percent of the right answers, but only 41 percent of the "right" wrong answers. But, among teachers with stronger knowledge of student weaknesses, their students learned significantly more science, based on a retest at the end of the year. Having discovered the importance of wrongness, how can teachers act on that knowledge? The first step, Sadler says, is to teach Socratically (there's the Greeks again), by asking questions and having students think out loud. This works much better than lecturing. "Teachers who find their kids' ideas fascinating are just better teachers than teachers who find the subject matter fascinating," he says. The next step is to give students exposure to the information and experience that will enable them to reason their way to the right answer. For example, Sadler and colleagues created a high school astronomy course. In one of the lessons, students looked at pictures of the sun taken through the same telescope at each month of the year. Most predicted that the sun would appear larger in the hot months. However, once they got out the rulers, they would discover that the sun is biggest (i.e., closest) in January. (The closest point in our orbit, the "perihelion," was Jan. 2 this year.) "That throws a monkey wrench into the logic of the elliptical orbit," says Sadler. *The true cause of the seasons is our planet's 23.5 degree tilt off its axis. A version of this story appeared on NPR Ed in April 2016.

High Point University Boosts Its 'Wow' Factor

The president of High Point University in North Carolina hired a director of "wow" to help make students happy. The campus now features ice cream trucks, valet parking, a concierge desk, a hot tub and free snacks. Classical music wafts through the grounds.

Security Still a Chief Concern Just Weeks Before Olympics

With just three weeks to go before the Summer Olympics begin in Athens, Greece, security is still the prime concern at what could be a prime terrorist target. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from Athens that the Greek government is confident it can handle the threat, without accepting foreign armed forces on its soil.

Pentagon Official Outlines Postwar Plans for Iraq

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz tells a congressional committee that the Pentagon has a plan to fill the power vacuum in Iraq. But some lawmakers have misgivings about the Pentagon taking on the task of nation-building. NPR's David Welna reports.

The Latest From Crimea

Ukraine&#8217;s prime minister is in Washington today while people in Crimea are getting ready for Sunday&#8217;s referendum on the future of that Ukrainian region. The BBC&#8217;s James Reynolds is in Sevastopol in Crimea and joins Here & Now&#8217;s Jeremy Hobson with the latest. Note: Please subscribe to the Here & Now podcast to hear this BBC interview. Guest James Reynolds, correspondent for the BBC. He tweets @JamesEReynolds.

Protests Escalate In Libya

Libyan protesters claimed control of the country's second largest city, Benghazi, and anti-government unrest and violence spread to the capital, Tripoli. Moammar Gadhafi's regime appeared to be preparing a new major assault in the capital in an attempt to crush unrest.

From Hot Sauce To Diapers, 'Superconsumers' Of Color Buy More Of, Well, Everything

What do Fox's runaway hit Empire and booming sales of Goya rice and beans have in common? They're examples of the growing clout a segment of hyper-engaged, hyperconnected consumers of color, according to a new report from Nielsen. The consumer research company calls them "multicultural superconsumers" — "multicultural" meaning people of color, and "superconsumers" because they make up the 10 percent of households who drive at least 30 percent of sales, 40 percent of growth and 50 percent of profits in a given consumer product category. People of color were the biggest buyers in 40 percent of the 126 different kinds of products that Nielsen looked at. These superconsumers of color are responsible for two-thirds of the sales volume in categories like dried vegetables and grains — this is the Goya thing — and make up more than half of the high-volume consumption on goods like hot sauce, family planning products, and women's fragrances. They also have outsized presences on social media apps and want products to buy and watch that nod to their cultures — this is the Empire thing, as anyone who's been on Twitter on a Wednesday night can tell. (As my colleague Eric Deggans has written, Fox has been beating this particular drum long before Lucius and Cookie.) The shift in the country's demographics tell much of the story. People of color accounted for 92 percent of the population growth in the United States between the turn of century and 2014. And with that demographic explosion has come tremendous buying power — from $661 billion in 1990 to $3.6 trillion in 2014, according to Nielsen. And the younger the cohort of Americans, the browner it gets — about half of the kids in the U.S. under the age of nine are of color. That brown baby-boom, and the fact that households of color are more likely to have several generations living in them, explains why so many categories where POCs are leading the spending charge have to do with family planning, child-rearing, and stuff young people are especially interested in. (Shereen Marisol Meraji, my Code Switch teammate, reported on the gender dynamics of these household purchases; Latinas tend to be the primary decision-makers in Hispanic households.) Nielsen's Vanna Tran told me that winning brand loyalty among people in these demographics could determine the future of a company's bottom line. You "can't talk about marketing to Millennials without speaking about the multicultural quotient," she said. In other words, selling to young people means marketing to consumers of color. Of course, people of color aren't all out there buying up the same stuff. According to Nielsen, Asian-American folks are way more likely to say they buy organic food products than Latinos, black folks, or whites. And while POCs are bigger smartphone and mobile apps users overall, they tend to use them in very different ways: Nielsen found that Asian-American power users don't seem to care about Vine and black power users aren't terribly interested in Snapchat.* Interestingly, the Nielsen research suggests that the superconsumers are also influencing how white people spend money. When white millennials live in neighborhoods where a lot of people of color also live, they end up spending more money on stuff that people of color like. (For example, they were much more likely to be big consumers of things like Asian noodles and, again, hot sauce than older whites.) This is surprising, given that three out of four white folks have no non-white friends, according to Public Religion Research Institute. It might be that white millennials hang out with people of color more than their parents do. Or maybe the power of the brown superconsumer is so considerable that it can offset that lack of interracial contact. Tran points out that young folks today are growing up with pop culture that looks really different than what their parents got. "When they turn on a tv, there are celebrities of color," she said. And that diversity, she said, is "very much of American society, whether you have diverse social circles or not." *Oh, please believe we're going to be digging into this some more in the future.

Navigating Dietary Supplement Regulations

Echinacea, vitamins, and other dietary supplements have become a $5 billion industry, but the products don't need to be pre-approved by the FDA before they go on the market. How do we know what is really in our supplements? What regulations are currently in place? How can we keep ourselves safe and informed?

A Google-Related Plan Brings Futuristic Vision, Privacy Concerns To Toronto

Years ago, Google's founders wondered what would happen if they could take their pieces of technical knowledge and apply them to cities. "We started talking about all of these things that we could do if someone would just give us a city and put us in charge," Eric Schmidt, CEO of Alphabet, Google's parent company, joked recently. Last month, after a public competition, an Alphabet subsidiary called Sidewalk Labs was chosen as an "innovation and funding partner" to help Toronto come up with an ambitious, tech-heavy plan for a small part of the city's waterfront. When Waterfront Toronto, the government-created entity tasked with revitalizing the area, asked for proposals for the future neighborhood, Sidewalk Labs responded with a vision of a futuristic, sci-fi-ready smart city. The company suggested heated pedestrian lanes to melt the snow; a self-driving bus; and a series of underground channels where trash is hauled away, packages might be delivered, and utilities are easier to reach and repair. Sidewalk Labs has promised to spend $50 million planning the project over the next year. The proposal has raised concerns related to affordability and privacy — it does involve the thinkers behind Google after all. But, for now, looking at the nearly vacant lot facing Lake Ontario, it's hard to imagine some kind of futuristic utopia. While condos are being rapidly built on nearby lots, the future community remains a dirt-filled patch of land, home to some film-industry trucks with a few historic grain silos on a nearby property. Nonetheless, Dan Doctoroff, the CEO of Sidewalk Labs and New York City's former deputy mayor, hopes to craft "a place where the streets literally come alive with activity." It's early days for all these plans. Sidewalk Labs will be making a master plan for the site with Waterfront Toronto, which is expected to take at least a year. Doctoroff hopes that if that goes well Sidewalk may become a "co-master-developer" with Waterfront Toronto for the larger site on which this 12-acre plot is situated. Doctoroff says he envisions a community where polite taxi-bots and van-bots someday shuttle people around, avoiding pedestrians or cyclists, and transit or bike shares are chosen over car ownership. Thanks to these conscientious self-driving vehicles and the plethora of non-car options, streets will be able to be narrower, he says. And that will mean more room for parks and public spaces. Along with Sidewalk and Google, Alphabet owns Waymo, a self-driving car company, and Nest, which focuses on technology for the home. (Google is an NPR sponsor.) At a news conference in early October, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the development would also bring well-paying jobs to the city by creating an urban "innovation hub." Torontonians seem to have mixed views on the project. At a town hall meeting Sidewalk Labs held for Torontonians to talk about the upcoming plan, a small group of housing activists with ACORN Canada protested outside, saying that the company's vision for affordable housing had not been adequately laid out. Alejandra Ruiz Vargas, a local ACORN spokesperson, said she wants homes for low-income people included in Sidewalk Lab's plan. "This is a concern," she said. "Because we're in ... a housing crisis." Sidewalk Labs says it's hoping to increase affordability with modular construction technologies that make buildings easier to erect, and easier to change depending on the needs of the neighborhood. Others at the event were excited about the new project. Asma Khan, a 35-year-old project manager at a tech startup in Toronto, lives near the waterfront. She said that for years she and her friends have "talked and pondered about how abandoned it feels." Other local residents had questions about what a data-driven development could mean for people's privacy. "We're worried that Google might be using this as a lab to test the people that live there — and we just want to make sure that people's privacy is protected," said Donna Patterson, a neighborhood activist who says she lives near the site. In Sidewalk Labs' response to Waterfront Toronto's request for proposals, the company also details how it will use sensors and data collection to measure how different urban designs are working. Sidewalk Labs' Doctoroff says data collection has one goal: to "improve quality of life." Because the neighborhood is starting from scratch on an empty lot, he says, privacy can be baked into the design of the plan. "We all know that privacy in public space today is sort of a mess," he says. "Everybody has cameras; we don't know where they are; people are collecting data in all sorts of different ways; there are no standards for it." In Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail, Doctoroff was quoted describing the plan as a "real estate play," but in an interview, he seems to have a broader outlook on what could come next. "If you can provide really dramatic benefits to people there are always way

Summer Must Be Over, It's Time For Football

College football started over the weekend. In a televised game, No. 3 Boise State takes on No. 10 Virginia Tech Monday night. Steve Inskeep talks football with ESPN commentator and sportswriter Kevin Blackistone.

'Stopp!' 'Schnell!' Cried The Nazis Before The Dinosaur Ate Them

His name is "Boulet." Just Boulet. He's French. He's had a blog for years and what we have here, as you will no doubt notice, is a rough French-to-English translation, but the words don't matter that much. This is a fantastic voyage, one of the coolest I've seen on the Web. What happens is a vaguely bored bearded guy with nothing much to do, one day falls (or dives?) into his toilet bowl and goes down a sewer pipe, then into a cave of some sort, out into a cloud-filled sky, then into a field of mushrooms inhabited by Nazis, who get eaten by dinosaurs, who then chase the guy into a pond, or is it an ocean? It's not like anything I've ever seen, he keeps falling and falling and you can go at your own pace using your cursor. Even if mushrooming your way through the universe isn't your thing, try this. One of the coolest parts — and this has always fascinated me — is that wherever he goes, no matter how remote, how distant from anything familiar, graffiti artists have been there before him and have left tags. That's true in real life. One time I was kayaking in the Hudson River and for the fun of it, I slipped under some mostly broken down wharves. And on the underside of the piers, only three feet above the water level, were endless graffiti, paintings, images, painted (I don't know how because they were so detailed) in rich profusion where no one would ever look or go. Who knows why? Who knows why this guy goes where he goes or sees what he sees, but it's the weekend — if you're in the mood, why don't you go too? Thanks to science educator/about-to-get-his-Ph.D. Aatish Bhatia and his pals for finding stuff like this. Aatish's tweets are like nobody else's.

New Home Prices Predicted to Fall this Year

The National Association of Realtors predicts the price of new homes in the United States will fall this year for the first time in 15 years. The association also projects that the price of existing homes will rise, barely.

Who's Who In France's Wild Presidential Election

The French go to the polls Sunday to cast ballots in the first round of a political race like no other in France's recent history: Entrenched politicians have been swept aside, with fringe candidates and untested newcomers filling the void. After Sunday, the field of 11 presidential candidates will be narrowed down to two contenders, who will face each other in a runoff on May 7. The top four candidates offer starkly opposing visions for the country. Yet they are so close in the polls that the race is impossible to predict. Polls in France are due to close at 1 p.m., ET (7 p.m., Paris time), while some larger cities' polls will close an hour later. Preliminary results could be known about 3 p.m., ET. Here are the front-runners candidates and their platforms: The Political Newcomer Emmanuel Macron currently leads the polls, with an estimated 23 percent of the vote. The 39-year-old former investment banker founded his political movement — En Marche, or On The Move — last August after stepping down as economy minister to Socialist President Francois Hollande. Macron has never been elected to public office. He says he is neither left nor right, and says the traditional parties don't have the answers for 21st century problems. The self-proclaimed progressive says he wants to make France innovative and to encourage risk taking. As president, Macron says he would make France more business-friendly and train workers for new jobs, rather than trying to save old jobs in dying industries. Corinne Mellul, a professor of political science at the Catholic Institute of Paris, says Macron provides voters hope for change and an escape from the left-right divide. "Whether it amounts to something real remains to be seen," she says. "But part of his appeal is that no one even knew who he was three years ago." Macron's critics say he stands for nothing and has an empty program. There also been a disinformation campaign swirling about him, and his campaign says he has been targeted by Russian hackers. The candidate is pro-European Union and takes a hard line on Putin. Some of the conspiracy theories charge that Macron is an agent of U.S. banks. Others say he has a secret private life or may be gay. Macron married his high school French teacher, who is 24 years his senior. Brigitte, his wife, appears regularly with him in public, and is said to be closely involved with his campaign. The Far-Right, Anti-Immigrant Populist Marine Le Pen, leader of the far right, trails by just one point behind Macron in polls. The National Front party has never been so strong. In 2011, Le Pen took over leadership of the party founded in 1972 by her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen. She has worked to bring the National Front more into the mainstream and break with the party's xenophobic, anti-Semitic past. She has succeeded in "de-demonizing" the party to a great extent. Today, National Front supporters include many more women and young people. Her rallies are now full of middle-class, working professionals, not just angry blue-collar workers. And while Jean-Marie Le Pen just wanted to shake up the system, Marine Le Pen wants true power. If elected, Le Pen says France will vote in a referendum to leave the European Union, which she calls a tyrannical, undemocratic institution. France is one of the key founders of the EU, and if it pulls out, analysts say the EU could not survive. Another priority for Le Pen is reinstating France's borders and severely curbing immigration. Le Pen believes the wind of history is behind her. She says globalization is gutting industry and agriculture in countries across Europe, and people yearn for a return to the strong nation-state. Le Pen promotes "economic patriotism," which she says the EU prohibits. In other words, she wants to promote, buy, consume and eat French. The Scandal-Plagued, Establishment Politician Francois Fillon is the only candidate from the mainstream political establishment and the only one with real experience in governing. Fillon served as prime minister to President Nicolas Sarkozy. Though Sarkozy allegedly treated him as an underling, Fillon got his revenge by soundly defeating his former boss (who was hoping to make a political comeback) in the conservative primary last November. Fillon is a polished and seasoned politician and a wholesome family man who was considered a shoo-in for the French presidency — until January, when allegations surfaced that he may have employed his wife in a fake job as his parliamentary aide. Fillon is now under official investigation. He has also admitted to accepting expensive suits and watches from "a friend." (France has discovered that Fillon is a man of luxury tastes.) Despite the cloud hanging over him, Fillon has plugged on, proclaiming his innocence. Hiring family members is not illegal in France, as long as they do real work. And he did give back those suits. Even so, the scandal has tarnished him. Fillon once touted himself as the "irreproachable" candidate

As Celebrations Continue, Morsi Begins Forming Government

Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate who became Egypt's president-elect yesterday, began consultations and moved into the office once held by the deposed Hosni Mubarak. This was a historic weekend for Egypt: Many feared that the ruling military council would give the elections to Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's last prime minister. But that didn't happen and when Morsi was handed the victory, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians poured into the streets. From Cairo, NPR's Grant Clark filed this report for our Newscast unit: "There are still scenes of jubilation in Cairo's Tahrir Square after hundreds of thousands of Egyptians celebrated Morsi's win through the night. Morsi claimed almost 52 percent of the vote, compared with former general Shafiq's 47 percent. "In his victory speech, Morsi said he intended to build a new inclusive Egypt and appealed for unity. As promised, he has resigned from the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and will begin working on forming a new administration. Mursi is expected to be inaugurated on June 30th...but with the military still holding significant control, just how much actual power he'll have remains a question." As the AP writes this morning, Morsi's job is a tough one. The military has handed itself great power and Morsi is an Islamist, who is "feared among youth groups behind the uprising, which campaigned for a secular democratic state." But in his first speech as president Morsi said he would be a "president for all Egyptians." The BBC reports that the divided country breathed a bit easier after rumblings that Morsi had discussions with Nobel peace-prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei. Egypt's Al Ahram reports that this morning Morsi was all business. He meet with Egypt's industrialists and he presented a "renaissance project," that envisioned political reforms and an ambitious economic vision. "We want Egypt to be a stable country and for people to trust its president and government by making the people feel partner in the country having rights and duties," Morsi said according to Ahram. "The era of the president as institution is over." To that end, the AP reports that the Egyptian stock market soared. At one point, reports AP, the EGX 100 index "rose more than 5 percent, triggering a 'circuit breaker' designed to prevent drastic market fluctuation."

First Listen: White Rabbits, 'Milk Famous'

Audio for this feature is no longer available. The members of White Rabbits clearly understand the importance of making a strong first impression. On its 2007 debut, Fort Nightly, the Brooklyn-via-Columbia, Mo., band introduced itself with "Kid on My Shoulders," a rollicking, cabaret-esque opener revolving around a mischievous piano line and an anxious guitar riff. The band's 2009 follow-up, It's Frightening (produced by Spoon's Britt Daniel), kicked off with the similarly urgent "Percussion Gun," a rhythm-centric track highlighted by a rumbling floor-tom beat and repetitively pounded pianos. Unsurprisingly, White Rabbits' new Milk Famous (out March 6) continues that trend. The ominous opener "Heavy Metal" crackles with nervous energy; in four and a half minutes, the song throws out enough skittering synth loops, deafening guitar blasts and paranoid lyrics to leave you looking over your shoulder. Getting a listener's attention is one thing — maintaining it is another altogether. Thankfully, the band has learned a few lessons about hanging onto momentum. The jagged guitar riffs in "I'm Not Me," the off-kilter drum beat of "Everyone Can't Be Confused" and the guttural bass line of "Temporary" aren't the newest tricks in the bag, but they provide enough variation throughout Milk Famous to keep the album interesting past its grabby opening moments. It's those little details, combined with the band's playfulness and lyrical charm, that result in White Rabbits' most consistent record to date: Milk Famous grabs listeners from the get-go and keeps them spinning in circles, leaving them to guess which of the band's many faces it'll show next.

Blue Cut Fire Claims An Unknown Number Of Structures

Firefighters in Southern California are struggling to battle the Blue Cut wildfire near San Bernardino. It's now burnt more than 25,000 acres. Tens of thousands of homes remain threatened.

The Drottningholm (Drott-Ning-Holm)

The Drottningholm (DROTT-ning-holm) Baroque Ensemble is heard in performance of the music of 18th century Swedish composer, Johan (YO-hahn) Helmich (HELL- meeck) Roman (Roe-MAHN). Fittingly enough, the piece is is collation of music from "Drottningholm Music" a sort of musical vignette for 18th century Sweden, written for a royal wedding in the Drottningholm Palace in 1744. (the performance was recorded in Washington DC by NPR).

'My Way,' OK; But Singing 'Someone Like You' At A Funeral? Isn't That Wrong?

Of course My Way — the Frank Sinatra version — is the most requested contemporary song at funerals in the U.K., according to Co-operative Funeralcare. That makes sense. But check out the song that the funeral home firm says soared to No. 22 in the past year on its list of pop songs that folks want to hear at services for the dearly(?) departed: Adele's Someone Like You. The song's basically about a spurned lover telling an old flame, "nevermind, I'll find someone like you." As Gawker says, playing Someone Like You at a funeral is "about as appropriate as playing My Sharona at a tween's birthday party." (Those too young to remember The Knack can check out My Sharona's lyrics here.) Related note: This may say something about the British sense of humor: Monty Python's Always Look on the Bright Side of Life is No. 13 on the funeral firm's pop chart.

The Austin 100: Why Bonnie

Hometown: Austin, Texas Genre: Rock Why We're Excited: At the helm of Why Bonnie, Blair Howerton writes glossy, synth- and string-inflected guitar-pop songs that fit a mighty, beating heart underneath all the gleaming hooks. Between 2018's Nightgown and the forthcoming Voice Box EP, Why Bonnie started cranking its guitars a bit, lending heft and fervency to a sound that had already sported a fair bit of Cranberries-esque intensity. Listen to Why Bonnie's "Gold Rush"

California Faces Federal Judges On Prison Gridlock

California officials must tell a panel of federal judges Friday how they plan to cut the state's prison population by some 40,000 inmates over two years. California's prisons now house roughly twice as many men and women as they're supposed to. The Legislature just tried — and failed — to come up with a plan that might've satisfied the judges. Now the court may have the final word. Last month a riot at the men's prison at Chino, east of Los Angeles, injured 175 inmates. Dozens were sent to the hospital, some with stab wounds, and one of the barracks-like buildings was destroyed by fire. Matt Cate, secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said a major cause of the riot was overcrowding. "It's certainly true that when you run a prison system at 190 percent of its capacity, it makes everything, including security, much more difficult," he said. California's prisons have been overcrowded for a couple of decades. Last week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to get a plan through the state Legislature that would have cut the prison population by about 35,000. It passed the Senate but stalled in the Assembly. "When it comes to criminal justice, it's very, very political," said Senate President Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat. Despite the court order and California's desperate financial condition, not one of Schwarzenegger's fellow Republicans voted for the plan. In the Assembly, some Democrats rejected it as well — afraid of the finger-pointing that might follow a high-profile crime, Steinberg said. "Where someone can point back and say, 'See, if you hadn't changed the law, this wouldn't have happened,' " he said. "And of course too many of them running for higher office or concerned about their political futures were not willing to cast the votes for a comprehensive package." Steinberg may have had Assembly Democrat Ted Lieu in mind. He's running for attorney general and wouldn't even vote for the watered-down bill that was ultimately passed. Lieu objected to a provision that would have let some inmates out a few weeks early if they completed a rehabilitation program. "Because you're putting very dangerous people back into the communities," he said. "We were doing this simply to try to save money." The federal court got involved with California's prisons as the result of a couple of lawsuits. The complaints argued that overcrowding made it impossible for inmates to get adequate medical or mental health care. "The state should be taking care of this, but they haven't done anything about crowding for at least 20 years," said Don Specter, executive director of the Prison Law Office, which filed one of the suits back in 1991. "That's when the federal courts have to step in to protect constitutional rights, in this case after years and years of failure by the state to respond appropriately." But it's not the court's intention to micromanage the California prison system, said Kara Dansky, head of the Criminal Justice Center at Stanford University. She said the court really wants the state to come up with its own plan to reduce overcrowding, but that's going to be tough. "The Legislature really was not a friend to the secretary of corrections this past week, when it really didn't give the secretary what he needed to go back to the court," she said. But the state will present something Friday. And whatever the reaction, California will appeal the judges' order to the Supreme Court, said Gordon Hinkle, press secretary for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. "The main argument is that California is equipped to handle its own inmate situations," he said. That panel of federal judges, however, hasn't seen any signs of that so far.

Film Chronicles Persecution Of Monks In Algeria

<em>Of Gods and Men</em>, a French film set in an Algerian monastery in the 1990s, is loosely based on the story of seven monks who were kidnapped and decapitated in 1996. Actor Lambert Wilson discusses his role in the film.

Prosecutor Seeks Arrest Of Sudan's President

The prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague has asked the court to issue an arrest warrant for the president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir. It is the first time the court's prosecutor has filed charges against a sitting head of state. Bashir is accused of orchestrating a five-year reign of terror in Sudan's Darfur region, where hundreds of thousands have been killed and even more have been driven from their homes. But the prosecutor's move is the first step in a long process that may not result in an arrest. BBC correspondent Geraldine Coughlan in The Hague talks with NPR's Deborah Amos about the unprecedented move by the ICC. Coughlan says the prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said he has enough evidence to show that Bashir bears criminal responsibility in relation to 10 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity — including murder, extermination, torture and rape — and other war crimes charges, including attacks on civilians and ethnic groups. He spoke to the international media in The Hague for a long while Monday, detailing his investigations, the victims, their suffering and where they are now, Coughlan says. Moreno-Ocampo asked a panel of three judges to issue the arrest warrant. The judges now will examine the prosecution's evidence from the investigation. "It took five years, so they have a lot of homework to do," Coughlan says, and then it could take weeks or months to determine whether the evidence provides firm enough legal basis to issue an arrest warrant. The court has no police force to deliver an arrest warrant, however. If the judges do give the go-ahead, the ICC would have to go to the United Nations to ask for support services to help peacekeepers on the ground in Sudan carry out an arrest. But there are only 9,000 peacekeepers in Sudan — there are supposed to be 26,000 — so "the logistics and the tools are just not there at the moment," Coughlan says. The European Union and the U.N. have expressed concern that the move complicates an already unstable situation in Sudan, putting U.N. peacekeepers and aid workers at increased risk of attack. And the African Union fears that an international prosecution could jeopardize the peace process there, Coughlan says. STEVE INSKEEP, Host: It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep. DEBORAH AMOS, Host: Good morning. GERALDINE COUGHLAN: Good morning. AMOS: You've been listening to the prosecutor this morning. What did he say? COUGHLAN: Well, the chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said, first of all, that he had asked a panel of judges, three judges to issue an arrest warrant for the Sudanese president, Umar al-Bashir. He said that he has enough evidence to show that Mr. al-Bashir bears criminal responsibility in relation to 10 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity, including murder, extermination, torture and rape and other war crimes charges, including attacks on civilians and ethnic groups. He also spoke to the international media for quite a long time here at the International Criminal Court and went into details about his investigations and about the victims, their suffering and where they are now. AMOS: And what, then, do the judges do now? What's the procedure? COUGHLAN: Well, first of all, the judges have to look through the evidence which has been collected in the prosecution's investigation. As you say, it took five years, so they have a lot of homework to do. And then it could take them weeks or months to decide whether or not this can provide a firm enough legal basis to issue an arrest warrant. And then, after that, the problem could arise if they do say - give the go ahead for an arrest warrant. The court has no police force to deliver it. So it would be then up the International Criminal Court to go to the UN and ask for support services for the peacekeepers on the ground in Sudan, to help them to carry out any arrests. AMOS: Is it the idea that someone would actually go and arrest the president of Sudan? COUGHLAN: Well, that's really - it seems an unlikely situation at the moment because they International Criminal Court has already issued arrest warrants of a government minister in Sudan and a militia leader. Sudan has refused to hand them over to the court because they say they do not recognize the International Criminal Court. So that's where the problem would come in. However, there are only 9,000 peacekeepers on the ground in Sudan, and there's supposed to be 26,000. So during the length of time that it would take between now and a decision by the judges and then a period after that, then it could be a possibility that with more peacekeepers on the ground, arrests could be carried out, but the logistics and the tools are just not there at the moment. AMOS: This is unprecedented that the International Criminal Court would press charges against a sitting head of state, but does it complicate a very unstable situation in Sudan? COUGHLAN: Well, there are a lot of voices of concern both inside and

On Location in 'Open Water'

Forget "Bruce" the mechanical shark, star of Steven Spielberg's 1975 classic Jaws. For the low-budget thriller Open Water, actors Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis were required to film on location in 60 feet of ocean water with live sharks. Ryan and Travis play a yuppie couple on vacation in the Caribbean for a bit of fun and scuba diving. Based on a true story, the script has the two surfacing after a dive to discover that their dive boat has left them behind, miles from dry land. Inevitably, they begin to get attention from notoriously aggressive reef sharks. The actors recently spoke to NPR's Scott Simon about the experience and about exactly why they signed on to work under such hazardous circumstances. Director Chris Kentis and producer Laura Lau, who released the critically acclaimed movie Grind in 1997, are behind Open Water. They filmed their actors in the shark-infested water for over 120 hours. Travis and Ryan wore chain mail sleeves under their wet suits and stress that every possible precaution was taken for their safety during the shoot.

Iran, World Powers Reach Deal On Nuclear Program

Officials in Vienna tell NPR's Peter Kenyon that preparations are being made today to announce a historic accord that will restrict Iran's nuclear program and lift some economic sanctions.

Goldman Sachs Posts Profit After Being Charged With Fraud

Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs reported close to $3.5 billion in first quarter earnings. The news comes days after the Securities and Exchange Commission announced fraud charges against the firm over Goldman’s role in selling a subprime-mortgage investment was allegedly created to lose value. Host Michel Martin talks more about the news and what’s next for Goldman Sachs with Jacob Goldstein (GOLD-steen), blogger and correspondent for NPR’s Planet Money team.

The White Elephants In The Room

One of the biggest storylines from the 2020 presidential race has ... well, race at the center of it. If you paid attention to the stories about exit polling, you heard a lot of talk about how Latinx and Black voters showed up in bigger numbers this year than back in 2016. But on this week's episode, we also focus on a conversation that's not happening: The one about a group whose support for Donald Trump hasn't wavered. We're talking about the white vote, and in particular, white evangelical voters. Trump's support is overwhelmingly white, but no one goes harder for him than the white voters who have been the beating heart of the conservative movement for decades. No matter what happened over the last four years — Charlottesville, 'sh*thole countries," the disastrous handling of the coronavirus pandemic — about 80 percent of white evangelicals consistently approved of President Trump's performance. While their numbers have dwindled from 21 to 15% of the U.S. population, white evangelicals are a force to be reckoned with in politics, says Robert P. Jones, the author of White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity and the CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute. They make up a little over a third of Republicans, Jones says, and have an outsized impact on elections, making up about a quarter of voters. That's right—15% of Americans account for around 25% of those who turn out to vote. We talked to Jones about the power of this voting bloc, and what that means for the national discussion around race in this country. Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity. You said that the number of white evangelicals dropped from 21 to 15%. What's happening there? Is that just attrition, people growing old and dying, or people no longer identifying as evangelical? It's a mix of those things. It's more decline than would be accounted for than just simply generational replacement; there are lower birth rates, and so there are more people dying than are being born. So there is that dynamic. But what's really turbocharged the drop in the last decade has been younger people leaving the group. So one of the other things we're seeing is that, as [the group] is shrinking, it's also becoming older. The median age has been ticking up; the median age now is in the high 50s in this group, and only around one in 10 are under the age of 30. How different are white evangelicals from white voters in general? Do they have regional bases? How educated are they compared with white voters more broadly? They are older, and they tend to be concentrated more in the South and the Midwest. So they're more populous in those states. But notably, if you talked to [a white evangelical person] a generation or two ago, they would have been less likely to have a college education than Americans as a whole. But there's actually been a decent amount of upward mobility in this group. And in fact, it's actually tied to the lower birth rates; one of the things that has led to lower birth rates is more evangelical women getting college degrees, wanting a career and spacing out having kids. So we're actually [finding] now that they're roughly comparable to the country as a whole in terms of the number of who have four year college degrees. In some of the recent polling data that you found before the election, eight in 10 white evangelicals said that they would vote for Trump. Given Trump's very particular biography and demeanor, his appeal among white evangelicals is confusing for a lot of us who are not part of that world. So why have they embraced him so enthusiastically? I think I've probably spent more time answering this question over the last four years than maybe any other question in my career. It is perplexing. And the reason it is perplexing is that this group has defined itself as so-called values voters, right. That's the internal history there. But there are two things here.They have supported Republican candidates, no matter who they were, going all the way back to Reagan. So [their support for Trump] is not atypical. Now, it was notable that [white evangelical support of Trump] reached 81 percent in the exit polls in 2016, which was even higher than what George W. Bush got. And he was kind of one of their own, who himself identified as evangelical. Trump's appeal among this group really was a cultural appeal. It was really the "Make America Great Again" mantra. I think most of the power of that slogan was in the last word: again. It was hearkening back to a kind of 1950s America, where white Christians and particularly white Anglo-Saxon Protestants were more dominant in the society demographically and culturally. That's also obviously before Brown v. Board of Education, desegregation and the civil rights movement. And it really had that power. I even started calling them nostalgia voters in the 2016 election cycle, because it was that backward pull that was really the real attraction. In 20

Writer SCOTT PECK and his father Colonel FRED PECK

2: Writer SCOTT PECK and his father Colonel FRED PECK . PECK has written his first book, All American Boy (Scribner) a memoir of his life growing up in an abusive home with his step-father and the rebuilding of his relationship with his father after a fourteen year estrangement. PECK was thrust on the national scene in May 1993 when his Marine Colonel father spoke against gays in the military to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Col. Peck went on to say his oldest son, Scott, was gay, and though he loved him, he should not be able to serve in the military. .

Mexico's Drug War More Sophisticated, Deadlier

Mexico's army claimed a victory this week against one of the country's most powerful drug cartels. Soldiers shot and killed Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel, a top lieutenant to the kingpin of the Sinaloa cartel. Guest host Jacki Lyden talks to reporter Michael O'Boyle about the latest developments in Mexico's drug wars.

After Years Of Conflict, U.S. Mission Shifts In Afghanistan

On this last day of 2014, America's troops in Afghanistan are still a combat force. On Thursday, their mission changes. "We will be ending our combat mission in Afghanistan, obviously because of the extraordinary service of the men and women in the American armed forces," President Obama said during a recent visit with Marines and their families in Hawaii. But there will still be more than 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The American mission begins on New Year's Day with a name change. Operation Enduring Freedom comes to an end. Operation Resolute Support begins. "Our mission really focuses on train, advise and assist," Gen. John Campbell, the top American officer in Afghanistan, said during a recent interview with NPR. "It's a little bit different. We're not out every patrolling every day with the Afghans." Not patrolling every day but training Afghans on things like logistics and intelligence collection. Most Americans will be working out of bases. But American special operations forces — such as Green Berets — will still be on patrol. Working with Afghan forces, they'll track down terrorists. The Pentagon also says that U.S. attack aircraft will come to the rescue of Afghan forces. "Should members of the Taliban decide to threaten American troops or specifically target and threaten our Afghan partners in a tactical situation, we're going to reserve the right to take action as needed," Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said. In other words, the combat mission isn't completely coming to an end next year. And the Afghans will still need help fighting. "There is no evidence as yet as to how well the Afghan forces are going to be able to do in 2015," defense analyst Anthony Cordesman says. He says Afghan soldiers and police suffered large numbers of casualties this year and are spread thinly around the country. Meanwhile, the Taliban has been chipping away at areas once secured by U.S. forces. "Now that doesn't mean that the Taliban, the Haqqani network or other insurgents are going to take over or even be able to capture a lot of major cities, but this is an extremely fragile Afghanistan," Cordesman says. The challenge for Campbell, the U.S. commander, is training his Afghan counterparts and managing the drawdown of U.S. troops. That American force of 10,000 is supposed to drop to 5,000 by the end of 2015. Those drawdowns tend to be especially perilous, Campbell says. The Taliban can mount attacks to take advantage as American troops withdraw from an area. "You know you're most vulnerable when you go through transitions, so we can never ever get complacent," Campbell says. "But at the same time we've got a long history here; we've got great partnerships. A lot of what I do at my level is about relationships, about relationships-building." And a key relationship is with the new Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani. The Americans see the former World Bank official as a far better partner than his predecessor, Hamid Karzai, who ignored rampant corruption and failed to provide basic governance. Ghani is scheduled to visit the White House early in 2015. The expectation, officials say, is that he will ask for more aid money, and a slower withdrawal of U.S. troops. The American military may also press to keep its 10,000 troops longer to fend off the Taliban threat. "There is a very palpable sense that security has declined," says Vanda Felbab-Brown, an Afghanistan expert at the Brookings Institution. She says keeping more Americans in Afghanistan for a longer period makes sense. "That's a very reasonable request," she says. "2015 will be a tough year. That's the year when the Taliban will really test the mettle of the Afghan forces." But both Ghani and the U.S. military will have to convince Obama, who says America's longest war must come to an end.

Cox Automotive Economist Discusses Potential Impact Of Border Shutdown On Auto Industry

NPR's Audie Cornish talks with Charlie Chesbrough, senior economist at Cox Automotive, about how a potential southern border shutdown could upend the American auto industry.

Controversy Follows Science Host's industry Ties

Dr. Frederick K. Goodwin is the former director of the National Institute of Mental Health and is considered an authority on bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses. As a result, he was considered a weighty figure to host the public radio show The Infinite Mind, which he has, with some interruptions, since 1998. But last week's revelation by Sen. Charles Grassley that Goodwin had received about $1.3 million in speaking fees from major drug manufacturers from 2000-2007 has led to widespread recriminations. Those payments were never disclosed on the air, even though some of the programs touched on the efficacy of drug treatments for mental ailments. Grassley has been pushing for greater transparency about corporate ties that could color the findings of federally funded medical researchers. In one instance, drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline paid Goodwin to give a series of talks last March about the beneficial effect the company's Lamictal drug had on bipolar disorder. That same week, participants appearing on Infinite Mind seemed to discount links between antidepressants and suicide. The show's executive producer, Bill Lichtenstein of the independent production company Lichtenstein Creative Media, said he would have fired Goodwin for breach of contract — had he not already decided to shut down the program at the end of this year for lack of funds. "What is so outrageous is that since 2000 — and since then we've produced almost 300 shows — that he was taking large amounts of money from the pharmaceutical industry out of marketing budgets, and we were unaware of that," Lichtenstein said in an interview. "This is an eight-year problem." In an interview with NPR News, Goodwin acknowledged the payments but said his actions are being mischaracterized and misconstrued at a time when ethical standards are shifting. "I think that in today's climate it's very important to disclose [possible conflicts of interest], and I think we fell down on that on that original show," Goodwin said. But Goodwin otherwise defended his actions. He said it was appropriate for him to be involved with leading drug producers so that he kept current on developments in the field. He also said Lichtenstein knew he was receiving some fees from pharmaceutical companies. Indeed, Goodwin said, Lichtenstein repeatedly solicited his help to introduce him to drug company officials to help find funding for the show. In addition, the psychiatrist said he never shaped his beliefs or statements to favor his clients' products — and sometimes spoke dismissively of them on the air — as he has elsewhere publicly. "If [Lichtenstein] felt surprised or blindsided by something, it might have been the amount of money, but he couldn't have failed to know that I was consulting for companies — we talked about it," Goodwin said. "We used that to raise money for the program." Lichtenstein said he knew of Goodwin's work on continuing medical education courses and past research as a university professor funded by drug manufacturers. But he rejected the assertion that he knew of any consulting work for the companies' marketing divisions. And he said any contacts Goodwin made with drug company officials were analogous to those made by other public radio hosts who speak about their shows to major donors or underwriters. On the Senate floor, Grassley charged that NPR had failed to make an important conflict-of-interest disclosure. "When a show runs on National Public Radio, NPR, doesn't the public have a right to know where the show's host gets his money?" Grassley asked, according to the Congressional Record. Infinite Mind's Place In Radio Infinite Mind is not actually an NPR show. It does, however, have two links: It appeared on one of the two channels that NPR programs for Sirius Satellite Radio, and while the program is not distributed by NPR, dozens of NPR member stations independently made the decision to air the program. NPR's vice president for programming, Margaret Low Smith, has announced the show would be dropped from NPR's Sirius channel and Internet feed, effective this week. "You can't be talking about the efficacy of certain drugs and at the same time be in the business of making money off those drugs. It is stark, and it is clear," Smith said. "I think there are times when revealing your involvement on a certain front is an acceptable form of disclosure. In this case, it is decidedly not." The show's status was tenuous even before this flap. Although Infinite Mind is a weekly show, Lichtenstein concedes that only seven or eight fresh episodes were taped this year. Goodwin appeared in a handful of them, and Lichtenstein served as the host on the rest. Dozens of other shows sent to stations were repeats. But Goodwin and Infinite Mind first came under critical scrutiny back in May. Slate.com pointed out that Goodwin and his guests had each failed to disclose past payments from the manufacturers of antidepressants during the March 26 prog

Molly Tuttle On Mountain Stage

When browsing photos of Molly Tuttle on stage, we searched (to no avail) for a shot of her making it look hard. Her cool, calm stage presence makes performing look incredibly easy. But listen closely to this set recorded in January, and you will easily hear the intricate and precise playing that earned her the award of International Bluegrass Music Association Guitarist of the Year. Accompanied by Duncan Wickel on fiddle and mandolin, Hasee Ciaccio on bass, and Wes Corbett on banjo, Tuttle's playing is as clean and pristine as her vocals, performing songs from the breakthrough album Rise. Mountain Stage enjoyed a long relationship with quintessential American bard John Hartford, who most famously composed the Glen Campbell hit song "Gentle On My Mind." So we take extra pride anytime an artist of Tuttle's generation chooses to do a Hartford tune on our show, keeping the swift-footed dancing fiddler's music in the contemporary vernacular. Tuttle is touring the U.S. and U.K. from now through September. SET LIST "Friend Of A Friend" "Girl In My Shoes" "You Didn't Call My Name" "Old Man At The Mill" "Bas-Pelles Erik's Brudpolska" "Rain and Snow" "Gentle On My Mind"

Paul Newman's 'Lincoln Portrait' At Carnegie Hall

Paul Newman, who died of cancer Saturday at age 83, will always be remembered for his movie roles. But he had other ambitions and talents, including race cars and his Newman's Own line of food products, the proceeds from which he donated to charity. Another interest took Newman to the cathedral of classical music, Carnegie Hall, to join conductor David Robertson and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra as narrator in a performance of Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait. With all Newman's years of acting on stage, performing with an orchestra, he said, was still a new and unusual feeling for him. "It's one thing to be sitting in the eighth row with the orchestra [in front of you]," he said. "It's another experience to have them in back of you, on top of you, where you can actually get the concussion of the instruments. It certainly jacks you up." Newman, with his history of humanitarianism and philanthropy, was outspoken about equality in government and business, as well as a staunch admirer of Abraham Lincoln's abilities as both a president and a writer. Newman said that his favorite moments of the Lincoln Portrait take place right at the end. "I think it would be good for all of us, both citizens and people in government, to think about those last phrases: 'Government of the people, by the people and for the people,'" Newman said. "It's a prophetic statement, I think." Copland wrote his Lincoln Portrait in 1942, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He meant for it to boost spirits during that difficult time. Listeners might recognize a couple of American songs embedded in the music: Stephen Foster's "Camptown Races" and the folk song "Springfield Mountain." (Special thanks to the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and conductor David Robertson.)

In Case You Were Wondering, Marshawn Lynch Is Here For One Reason

Whatever the question, Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch has the answer. At a (mandatory) media appearance for the upcoming Super Bowl, Lynch stuck to one response Tuesday: "I'm just here so I won't get fined." After he said it nearly 30 times, he added one word: "Time." It was a five-minute display of staying on message. And in the process, Lynch showed he can put different spins on a rote response, smiling and using slight changes in his words and delivery to make a steadfast refusal to answer questions seem like a joke he was sharing with his audience. And it seems many other people felt that way, too: The unusual news conference, at which reporters and the NFL Network's Deion Sanders tried to lure Lynch into speaking his mind, has become something of a sensation — and a welcome break from talking about deflated footballs. At this rate, we won't be surprised if Lynch's "I'm just here so I won't get fined" goes on to a long life on the Internet, or at least on T-shirts. In case you're new to the story, Lynch has been famously reluctant to speak to the media, earning a $100,000 fine from the NFL last season for his refusal to take part in press sessions. If you're curious about Lynch, an elite running back who had 13 touchdowns this season, ESPN has a look at his personality.

Officials Promote Iraq Unity in Wake of Election

Iraq Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi calls for national unity after the country's elections Sunday. Michele Norris talks to John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, who says efforts are under way to reach out to Sunnis.

U.S. Continues Trade Talks With China Despite Trump's Tariff Threat

A Chinese delegation arrives in Washington, D.C., for trade negotiations on Thursday after the Trump administration accused Beijing of reneging on previous promises and threatened to increase tariffs.

The Eye-Opening Saga Of Walter And Margaret Keane, Now On Screen

It's a story almost too strange to be true: Throughout much of the 1960s and '70s, the wistful, wide-eyed children of painter Walter Keane were absolutely everywhere. Paintings and posters of the big-eyed waifs, often in rags, their hair unkempt, brought fame and fortune to the charming, smooth-talking artist — along with widespread critical disdain. But years later, it emerged that the art was actually the work of Walter's wife, Margaret Keane. She painted in secret, behind closed doors, and he publicly claimed the work as his own. Director Tim Burton has taken the Keanes' strange partnership as the subject of his new film Big Eyes, and Amy Adams plays Margaret Keane. Burton tells NPR's Renee Montagne that he remembers seeing Keane paintings everywhere as a child. "They had a mixture of kind of sad and emotional and slightly disturbing, all at the same time. ... People didn't have Picassos or Matisses hanging on the wall, they had Keanes, and so it was something that was staring at you all the time." Interview Highlights Burton on the appeal of the Big Eyes paintings Growing up in that era, the sort of late '50s, early '60s, was a real transitionary time in the sense of the culture. And I always thought about Margaret and Walter as this dysfunctional couple creating these sort of weird mutant children, which seemed very much like the way I grew up, so maybe it was just a sign of the times. Adams on Margaret Keane and her husband's deception He had been doing it unbeknownst to her, and by the time she found out, she kind of felt backed into a corner. He basically said, "I have to be the artist. I'm the guy." He's the personality, and she understood that ... and she still gives credit to Walter today, that perhaps people wouldn't know [her] art if he wasn't the one selling it. On the Keanes' scathing critical reception, and a scene of Walter arguing with an art critic Burton: I always felt it must have been strange for Margaret; being criticized was like a double whammy. Adams: Well, and also, seeing the absolute delusion at that point of her husband — not only taking credit for the work, but the emotional and creative process, and sort of the artistic burden of creating these children ... so that had to be so strange for her. I don't think she ever painted for public approval. She painted because it's in her soul. Burton on kitsch as art I grew up in Burbank, and kitsch is art, you know, it is art to me. ... When you look at Keane's work, Margaret's work, it has all those mixtures of mystery, sort of enigmatic — people describe, that's the way they describe the Mona Lisa! I mean, you wouldn't compare this, but you can describe things as, for me, this is something I respond to. So it's a form of art. RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: It's a story almost too strange to be true. Throughout much of the 1960s and '70s, the wistful, wide-eyed children of painter Walter Keane were everywhere. Paintings and posters of waifs, often in rags with unkempt hair, brought the charming, smooth-talking artist fame and fortune despite widespread disdain from the critics. Then, years later, it emerged that the art was actually the work of Walter's wife, Margaret. She painted in secret, behind closed doors. He publicly claimed them as his own. Director Tim Burton has taken the Keanes' strange partnership as the subject of his new film, "Big Eyes." And Amy Adams plays the part of artist Margaret Keane. They joined us from our New York studio. Welcome. TIM BURTON: Thank you for having us. AMY ADAMS: Thank you. MONTAGNE: Yeah, nice to have you. Let me start with you, Tim Burton. Would you mind starting by describing the phenomenon of Keane's big-eyed waifs? BURTON: I remember it very well because it was, like, in everyone's living room. You'd see it in dentists' offices. And, you know, even as a child I thought, this is quite strange, you know? It's like they had a mixture of being kind of sad and slightly disturbing all at the same time. And I was also intrigued by the fact that it was such a popular phenomenon. It was like suburban art. I mean, people didn't have Picassos or Matisses hanging on the wall. They had Keanes. And so it was something that was staring at you all the time. MONTAGNE: What was the appeal? BURTON: That's the interesting question because growing up in that era, the sort of late '50s, early '60s, was a real transitionary time in the sense of the culture. And I always thought about Margaret and Walter as this dysfunctional couple creating these sort of weird, mutant children, which seemed very much like the way I grew up. So maybe it just was a sign of the times. MONTAGNE: (Laughter) I'm wondering if you're one of the weird, mutant children. BURTON: Yes. MONTAGNE: And another sign of the times is how it came to be that Margaret Keane allowed her husband to take credit for her paintings. Here's a clip from the movie soon after he's begun to sell them under his name for big bucks. (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BIG EYES") CHRISTO

Former PIMCO CEO Mohamed El-Erian On The Wild Week In Markets

Stocks in the U.S. opened slightly lower after a two-day surge, following a steep fall in the first part of the week over concerns about China&#8217;s stock market and economy. After a wild week, Here & Now&#8217;s Jeremy Hobson speaks with Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser for Allianz SE, about how China&#8217;s economy impacts the U.S., and what is coming up for the Federal Reserve. El-Erian is also the chair of President Obama&#8217;s Global Development Council and the former CEO of PIMCO, a global investment management firm headquartered in Newport Beach, California Guest Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz SE and former CEO of PIMCO (Pacific Investment Management Company). He also chairs President Obama&#8217;s Global Development Council. He tweets @elerianm.

Op-Ed: 'Lobbyists Are Good People, Too'

In a recent op-ed in The Washington Times, political analyst Lanny Davis argues that lobbyists aren't the problem — the lack of transparency surrounding lobbyists is what causes trouble. "Without lobbyists," he writes, "government could not function efficiently, and perhaps not at all." ALISON STEWART, host: This is Talk of the Nation. I'm Alison Stewart in Washington. Neal Conan is away. Here are headlines for some of the stories we're following today at NPR News. City Group announced today that it plans to cut its payroll worldwide by 15 percent. That works at to about 53,000 jobs. About half of those positions are in units the company plans to sell. And New York's governor says the legislature's failure to enact spending cuts in the midst of the state's deepening financial crisis is embarrassing and irresponsible. David Patterson, a Democrat, blames the crisis on years of overspending by state government. You can hear details on those stories and much more coming up later today on All Things Considered. Tomorrow, in this hour, frenemies, President-elect Barack Obama said that good ideas could come from anywhere and anyone - liberals, conservatives, even from rival politicians. In business and politics, can you really keep your friends close and your frenemies in the office next door? Plus, getting to know Michelle Obama. That's tomorrow on Talk of the Nation. Now, it's time for the Talk of the Nation opinion page. Lobbyists: famous for their five-star lunches and their moral turpitude. President-elect Obama's transition team has refused to take money from them after the infamous descent of super lobbyist Jack Abramoff sullied their reputations. And yet today, from the opinion pages of the Washington Times, a shocking plea on their behalf. From Washington lawyer and political analyst, Lanny Davis, lobbyists are good people too. Davis argues that the problem isn't the lobbyists; it's the absence of transparency. So, out there, if you're a lobbyist, we do want you to call. We promise we won't call you names. We won't give out your email address. Let us no whether or not the total transparency that Davis suggests could work. Give us a call. The number here is 1-800-989-8255. You can always email us at [email protected]. And you can join the conversation on our website, go to npr.org and click on Talk of the Nation. Lanny Davis is here with us in Studio 3A. Welcome to Talk of the Nation. Mr. LANNY DAVIS (Political Analyst): Thanks and glad to be on with such a shocking revelation. STEWART: Well, first, I need to ask for the record, are you a lobbyist? Mr. DAVIS: I do very little lobbying, but I do share one characteristic. This is the second shocking revelation. STEWART: OK. Mr. DAVIS: With other lobbyists. We are actually human beings. STEWART: Really? Mr. DAVIS: This is a headline. STEWART: Can you prove that? (Soundbite of laughter) Mr. DAVIS: Look, the point of my column is that the way that the term is being used is both unfair and inaccurate. Lobbyists perform a vital, some would say, indispensable function, which is information and expertise transmitted to people in government who don't have either and need both in order to make the right decisions. They also represent their clients who also - shocking - employ real people with real jobs. And if legislation is going to adversely affect those companies, then under our system of government, those folks ought to have a voice in government. Excuse me. STEWART: Would you like some water? Mr. DAVIS: No, I'm OK. STEWART: OK. Was there a point where you can sort of identify where lobbyist became a bad word? Mr. DAVIS: Sure. When a lobbyist gives a politician a campaign donation, and the politician, as a result, does something contrary to his or her conscience. That's a crime. Both of them should go to jail and both have. Going back in American history, that's always been the case where we have some bad apples that are crooks. And then they make it bad for the rest of the barrel. In fact, most lobbyists, including - I added in my column today - lobbyist for the Girl Scouts of America, Boy Scouts of America, American Cancer Society and lots of other good organizations, use lobbyists the same way that companies do, to express their perspective as part of our right to petition our government. The problem isn't the lobbying, which is an important function and indeed an indispensable function. It's as you said in the introduction, the absence of transparency, and I have some ideas on that. STEWART: All right. Well, when you talk about transparency, let's define some terms. What do you mean? Mr. DAVIS: I mean full and complete disclosure. I said in my piece, the words total transparency should be a redundancy except a lot of people use transparent and don't really mean it. I mean that what's bad about lobbyists is that people don't know who's paying them, and how much money they've given to the politician and most importantly, what are they asking

Questions Over Israel's 'Second Anthem'

A flap has emerged in Israel over the popular song "Jerusalem of Gold." Composed after Israel captured East Jerusalem in the Six-Day War, the song quickly became a sort of second national anthem. On her deathbed, the composer confessed she hadn't really written the melody, but taken it directly from a Basque lullaby. The revelation has set off a round of introspection and recrimination.

Why Milk And Water Are The Only Drinks Allowed On The Senate Floor

Capitol Hill Twitter exploded over a report that senators were only allowed to drink milk and water on the floor. Turns out there's a long history of beverage regulation in the legislative body.

34 Ways To Beat The System In 'Raised In Captivity'

So there's the one about the puma in the airplane toilet. The one about the time traveler who doesn't feel like saving the world. The one about the fake-woke boyfriend. The one about the woman hiring the Ultimate Assassin to kill her husband and how it all goes wrong. They sound like jokes, these stories. Barroom tales saved up for that hour before last call when everyone has run out of interesting things to say about their jobs, their kids, their fantasy football league. "Hey," the guy at the far end of the long oak says. "You ever hear the one about the high school football team that only had one play?" That story, "Execute Again," and all the others make up the moving parts of Chuck Klosterman's newest collection, Raised In Captivity — a mash-up of 34 short-short stories that stretch from the vaguely science fictional to the vaguely thriller-y to the vaguely vague. And that's not an insult. That's design. That's deliberate, this sense of disconnection. Of extreme oddity cloaked in muffling banality. There's a prison story called "If Something Is Free The Product Is You" which is all about a screwdriver. It could be a novel, but if it were a novel, it would have to be about prison and the narrator and how he ended up in prison and all the other prisoners. At seven-and-a-half pages (one of the long-ish ones), it can just be about what it is about, which is a screwdriver and the worth of such a thing at a moment in life where all markers of traditional worth (and, therefore, power, influence, potential) have been removed. It becomes a story about pure economics and the long con. A distillation of motive. The puma story (which is also the title story, "Raised in Captivity") is just straight weird, no chaser. "What About The Children" is about a man, his brother and his sister who very consciously start a cult in California; who presume (correctly) that people know all about cults these days and that, within the population of everyone, there exists a certain segment who really want to join a cult — who expect the cult to do cult-y things and display all of the cult-ish signifiers, up to and including the inevitable mass suicide. That one is weird with a message. It's not telegraphed, just there: In any population, there exists a measurable percentage of really stupid people just waiting to be taken advantage of by... something. That message comes up a lot in Klosterman's stories. But it's okay because, the way they're written, we're (almost) always in on the joke. We're never with the stupid people. We're always on the side of the bright. The book is tagged "Fictional Nonfiction," which is kinda cutesy, and not in a great way. I get the intent, but shut up, right? They're stories. No one really saw a whale get struck by lightning and, because of that, decided to change his entire life. No one really found a puma in the first class airplane bathroom. But what's sticking in my brain is that a lot of them, maybe most of them, maybe really kinda all of them, feel real. "Microdoses of the straight dope" — that's another way Klosterman (or someone on his marketing team) describes this collection. And that's truer, because he's playing the Hunter Thompson game here, living by Thompson's maxim that "fiction is a bridge to the truth that journalism can't reach." Like "Execute Again," the football one? That's a great story because it is so off-puttingly smart and just one shuffle-step left of real. The set-up is simple: A high school football coach (who knows nothing about football and has never coached before) designs a single, complicated play which, when executed perfectly, "would always, always, end up 2.7 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, with a standard deviation plus or minus four inches." The team learns no other plays. They have no punt formation. No defensive strategy. Just this one play. And it works. But it works in more than just a few high school football games. It is a thing that has ripples. That alters the life of everyone who learns it. Because in learning it, they learn that all rules and formalities are breakable. That anyone smart enough can game the system. Can change the world. "Execute Again" is the second story in the collection. Read alongside the puma one, they create the brackets on which the rest of Raised In Captivity hangs. Absurdity and intelligence, applied in unequal measure. A sliding scale between reality and pure banana-pants craziness. Most of them work. Some don't. Some (like the assassin one, for example, or the one about the woke boyfriend), really do come off like complicated jokes that don't really land, and others are muddled by their own ironic detachment or internal Gen X sarcasm. But taken in the aggregate, Klosterman's microdoses of reality present something larger than the sum of their parts: A clear-eyed vision of consensus reality as a breakable construct, easily manipulated by those who can see the complicated workings inside and come up with the one great play that

Opinion: U.S. Faces Hard Choices To Fight Terrorism After Afghanistan Withdrawal

Colin P. Clarke is the director of policy and research at The Soufan Group and a senior research fellow at The Soufan Center. He is the author of After the Caliphate: The Islamic State and the Future Terrorist Diaspora. President Biden's decision to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan no later than Sept. 11 sets in motion an end to the longest war in America's history. In announcing the withdrawal on Wednesday, Biden declared, "Bin Laden is dead and al-Qaida is degraded in Iraq and Afghanistan." The president is correct that al-Qaida is degraded, but the transnational terrorist organization has not been defeated. According to the 2021 Annual Threat Assessment released this week by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, "ISIS and al-Qa'ida remain the greatest Sunni terrorist threats to US interests overseas; they also seek to conduct attacks inside the United States, although sustained US and allied [counterterrorism] pressure has broadly degraded their capability to do so." Policymakers, high-ranking military officials and counterterrorism analysts are concerned that in the absence of a U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, al-Qaida will metastasize and once again pose a direct threat to the U.S. homeland. CIA Director William Burns acknowledged the challenges that a U.S. withdrawal will present to intelligence collection and the ability to act on that intelligence. There are several difficulties in navigating what amounts to an offshore counterterrorism strategy. The first question is where the U.S. will place its military bases as part of the new strategy. Relying solely on existing U.S. bases in the Persian Gulf would be inadequate in terms of ferrying in quick reaction forces to strike high-value targets. The Pentagon is reportedly discussing several Central Asian countries, including Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. But both Russia and China exert significant economic and political influence in the region, and this option would put the U.S. at the mercy of internal politics in countries at risk of instability. The United States was forced to leave the Karshi-Khanabad Air Base in Uzbekistan in 2005 after fallout over Uzbek security forces' crackdown on protesters that killed between 200 and 700 people, according to the United Nations. There is speculation about whether Pakistan could be a viable option for U.S. military bases, given historic cooperation between the U.S. intelligence community and its Pakistani counterparts. Just prior to Biden's withdrawal announcement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly spoke with Pakistan's army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa. The Pakistani army says Blinken praised Pakistan's "continuous efforts for peace and stability in the region and pledged to further enhance bilateral relations between both countries." The U.S. has relied on bases in Pakistan at various points of the so-called global war on terror, operating a clandestine drone campaign from western Pakistan in an effort to target high-ranking al-Qaida leaders in the northwestern region bordering Afghanistan. Despite being granted access to bases in Pakistan, Islamabad has been a partner in name only. In practice, Pakistan's elite spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, has long supported the Afghan Taliban and terrorist groups like the Haqqani network. Both of these organizations work closely with al-Qaida. Pakistan is a notoriously unreliable ally which demands a lot and delivers little, while its military and security services work at cross-purposes to U.S. interests throughout the region. To demonstrate how little faith Washington has in Islamabad, the Obama administration kept the Pakistanis in the dark about the operation targeting Osama bin Laden in May 2011, for fear that someone in the ISI would tip off the world's most wanted terrorist. As with Central Asian countries, staging the crux of U.S. counterterrorism operations from Pakistan would make the U.S. hostage to geopolitics. Pakistan's domestic population has demonstrated a strong anti-American streak. Pakistan and Russia recently announced closer security cooperation around counterterrorism. And Pakistan's close relationship with China means that Beijing could also have a say in what shape a U.S. presence in Pakistan might take. The perception of a U.S. overreliance on Pakistan might also complicate relations for Washington with Afghan security forces and militias, which would also be crucial to an offshore counterterrorism strategy. Finally, while Pakistan might be willing to aid the United States in its continued fight against al-Qaida, cooperation would stop short of operations that involve the Taliban. And if the Taliban comes to dominate large swaths of Afghanistan militarily, it will become more difficult to differentiate between the Taliban, al-Qaida and the Haqqani network. Curiously absent from much of the withdrawal discussion is the fate of the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan, Islamic State Khorasan Prov

Serving Others On King Day

Jean Wilson, the executive director of Peace Relief Detroit, and callers talk about how they are volunteering to help others on Martin Luther King Jr. Day — a day designated by Congress as a national day of service.

Metropolis: 3/8/2014

The Entire Playlist Rufus Du Sol, "Desert Night" (Sweat It Out!) Flight Facilities, "Stand Still (Mario Basanov Remix)" (Glassnote / Future Classic) Coldplay VS Booka Shade, "Essential Midnight" (Promo) Booka Shade, "Crossing Borders (Kolombo Remix)" (Blaufield Music) SBTRKT, "Kyoto" (XL Recordings) Little Dragon, "Klapp Klapp (Girl Unit Remix)" (Loma Vista/Republic) Chromeo, "Jealous (I Ain't With It)" (Big Beat / Atlantic) Uone, "Sao Paulo Groove" Haim, "If I Could Change (MK Regrets Dub)" (Columbia) Jonas Rathsman, "Hope I'm Wrong" (French Express) Booka Shade, "Crossing Borders (Mihalis Safras Remix)" (Blaufield Music) Sleight Of Hands, "Sometimes" (Smoke N'Mirrors) Derrick May, "Strings Of Life (Tom Middleton Remix)" (R&Amp;S Records) Phantogram, "Nothing But Trouble" (Barsuk / Republic) The Seshen, "Oblivian" (Tru Thoughts) Tensnake, "No Colour" (Astralwerks) Chris Malinchak, "If U Got It" (Ultra) Shur-I-Kan, "Blue Giraffe" (Lazy Days Recordings) Shur-I-Kan, "Away" (Lazy Days Recordings) Corbu Sound, "We Are Sound (Charles Webster Deep Dub)" (Promo) Eno / Hyde, "The Satellites" (Warp Records) Underworld, "Dark & Long (Dark Train)" (V2) Duke Dumont, "I Got U (Ft. Jax Jones) (High Contrast Mix)" (Blase Boys Club) Tom Middleton, "Gliding (D&B Mix)" (Urban Torque)

The Alternative Minimum Tax and You

The Alternative Minimum Tax was originally designed to ensure that ultra-wealthy taxpayers don't evade taxes through excessive deductions. But now it is hitting a growing number of middle-income families. And with a rate that hovers from 26 to 28 percent, the AMT can severely alter a tax return. While the tax itself is fairly obscure to the American public, some of its rules -- and how it works -- are even murkier to many taxpayers. It remains to be seen what Congress and the IRS can do to improve the program. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks with Sandra Block, personal finance columnist for USA Today.

Anti-Immigrant Policy Boosts France's Le Pen Again

Jean-Marie Le Pen, who rose to a surprising second-place finish in the French 2002 presidential election, is drawing support again this year for his anti-immigration stance. The extreme-right politician is pushing for a "national preference" welfare system that favors indigenous French over those with immigrant backgrounds. Last week, Le Pen's National Front held a three-day presidential convention. It was a celebration of everything ultra-conservative and right-wing. The convention included the traditional Latin mass, where the priest faces away from the faithful. In his homily, Father Bruno Schaeffer said, "France is not dead, and with the help of the leaders of the National Front, France will rise again to fulfill its duty as a Christian nation before God and the entire world." Immigration -- code for Muslim immigration -- was the convention's hot-button issue. Renaud Swarz, a young man from France's rust belt in the north, was wearing the blue, white and red colors of the French flag. He spat out his disdain for people of immigrant background. "They should be kicked out," he said. "There's no place for them here. All those Arabs and Turks, they're not French. They want to bastardize France into an Arabic country." Musicians dressed in old French military uniforms sang army songs. Walls were covered with posters proclaiming "Le Pen for President" and "France, love it or leave it." One stand celebrated pigs. It was a right-wing charity that had stirred a national controversy last year when it served pork soup, seen as a deliberate offense to Muslims. The sense that French national identity and Europe's Christian culture are under threat was echoed by the priest, Father Schaeffer. "Islam is to the 21st century what communism was to the 20th," he said. "Catholicism -- which is spread through the blood of its martyrs -- must fulfill its missionary role to evangelize and convert Muslims." The convention climax was a speech by Le Pen. Disdaining liberal intellectuals as bourgeois bohemians, the 78-year-old leader lashed out at the political establishment that he said opened up France to mass immigration, endangering its security and its identity. Le Pen is calling for a return of French sovereignty over the European Union, including replacing the euro with the old franc. He opposes globalization and wants an immediate halt to immigration, expulsion of illegal aliens and, above all, what he calls "national preference" -- a welfare system that favors indigenous French over those with immigrant backgrounds. Known for remarks widely considered anti-Semitic, Le Pen was convicted by a German court in 1999 of minimizing the Holocaust. A paratrooper who fought against Algerian revolutionaries in the 1950s, he had been accused of torturing prisoners. But political scientist Nonna Mayer, an expert on the National Front, says most people who vote for Le Pen are not swayed by his political ideology. "They don't even read his program," Mayer says. "What they remember of Le Pen is one thing -- national preference, the idea that all problems are caused by the presence of immigrants and that we must be tougher with immigrants, and we must go back to the old traditional values. That is all they see." The latest poll shows that 18 percent of the French say they'll vote for Le Pen next spring. That's double the level of his support in the same period before the last election. And he now boasts support among nearly all social groups, including pensioners and blue-collar voters, who used to vote for the left, in urban areas like Paris as well as in rural communities. RENEE MONTAGNE, host: The French extreme right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen believes he will be the next president of France. Most commentators think that's unlikely. But in the presidential election of 2002 Le Pen shocked the world when his anti-immigrant and protectionist rhetoric took him to second place. Now a mood of introspection and insecurity in France is boosting Le Pen's support again. In the last of our stories on Europe's rightward tilt, NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from Paris. (Soundbite of music) SYLVIA POGGIOLI: Last week, Le Pen's National Front held a three-day presidential convention. It was a celebration of everything ultra-conservative and right wing. Mr. BRUNO SCHAEFFER (Priest): (Speaking foreign language). POGGIOLI: Including the traditional Latin mass where the priest faces away from the faithful. Mr. SCHAEFFER: (Speaking foreign language). POGGIOLI: In his homily, Father Bruno Schaffer said France is not dead. And with the help of the leaders of the National Front, France will rise again to fulfill its duty as a Christian nation before God and the entire world. Immigration, code for Muslim immigration, was the hot button issue of the convention. Renaud Swarz, a young man from France's Rousseville in the north, was wearing the blue, white and red colors of the French flag. He's spat out his disdain for people of immigrant back

Newly Expanded AT&T Announces New Bundle Promotion

Less than two weeks after AT&T acquired Direct TV, it&#8217;s luring new customers with a heavily discounted, $200 per month plan that bundles TV, Internet and phone service. Smaller cable companies and some consumer advocates are not happy, but some analysts say this new offer is a good deal. Here & Now&#8216;s Robin Young speaks with Ina Fried of Re/code about the deal. Guest Ina Fried, senior editor of mobile for Re/code. She tweets @inafried.

The Jamestown Project

Guest: Karen Ordahl Kupperman, the Silver Professor of History at New York University

Fate Of India's Moon Lander Unknown

India's mission control lost contact with its Vikram lander as it tried to make a soft landing near the moon's remote South Pole. Now the craft has been located, but its condition is unknown.

Musharraf Tightens Grip on Power in Pakistan

Pakistan's constitution has been suspended and its independent news media is under blackout orders after the country's leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, declared emergency rule. Musharraf made the announcement just before Pakistan's Supreme Court was to rule on his future as president. In declaring an emergency, Musharraf also replaced the Pakistan Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, whom he had formerly attempted to remove from the bench. Musharraf's actions followed months of conflict with the Supreme Court, which was due to issue a ruling soon on the validity of Musharraf's victory in a recent presidential election. JACKI LYDEN, host: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Jacki Lyden. Andrea Seabrook is away. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency today. He also suspended the country's constitution and replaced the nation's Supreme Court chief justice. Musharraf's actions followed months of conflicts with the Supreme Court, which was due to issue a ruling soon that could have threatened his hold on power. NPR's South Asia correspondent Philip Reeves has this report. President PERVEZ MUSHARRAF (Pakistan): I would like to take this opportunity to speak to the world in general, but particularly to our friends in the West. PHILIP REEVES: With those words, delivered in a late-night television broadcast to his nation, General Pervez Musharraf began to explain to a worried world why, once again, he today seized absolute power in Pakistan. Pres. MUSHARRAF: Pakistan is on the verge of destabilization, if not arrested in time, now without losing any further time or delaying the issue. REEVES: General Musharraf knew as he spoke the international community was broadly against him. The U.S. successfully stopped him declaring a state of emergency earlier this year. But this time, it failed to restrain its ally, a chief recipient of American aid. The U.S. State Department was left to fume publicly, declaring that it was, in its words, deeply disturbed by Musharraf's move. Musharraf presented his move as a matter of life and death. Pres. MUSHARRAF: I personally, with all my conviction and with all the facts available to me, consider that inaction at this moment is suicide for Pakistan. And I cannot allow this country to commit suicide. REEVES: The general has long argued that, thanks to him, Pakistan is in the third stage of a transition from military rule to democracy, though his many critics dispute this. He said today's decision was to protect that process. Pres. MUSHARRAF: And it is this third stage which I want to complete with all my conviction. And if we don't take action, I don't think we are going into this third stage. I don't know what chaos and confusion may follow. REEVES: But there's already plenty of chaos and confusion. In the last few weeks, Pakistan has been hit with one suicide bombing after another, many of them successfully targeting the security forces. There's a new insurgency led by a cleric demanding Sharia law in the Swat Valley in northwest Pakistan, once a tourist haven. The army seems to be making little impact. In the tribal bout, several hundred Pakistani soldiers have been held hostage for weeks after surrendering to pro-Taliban militants, evidence of a general collapse in morale. However, today's decision probably has more to do with Pakistan's Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. The current political crisis in Pakistan began in March when Musharraf tried to sack him. Chaudhry refused to work and began to tour the country in a convoy, sometimes attracting huge crowds. Pakistan's legal community led the way. (Soundbite of protesters) REEVES: In July, Chaudhry was reinstated by Pakistan's Supreme Court. He returned to the bench to lead a court that was, to the delight of many Pakistanis, willing to confront the military government. The court decided to allow the recent presidential elections to proceed before it could decide whether it was actually legal for Musharraf to stand again. Musharraf easily won that election, but the court wouldn't allow the result to be confirmed until it had made its mind up. Its decision was expected soon. Musharraf and his aides were worried the verdict would go against him. And that, many believed, is the reason Musharraf declared emergency rule today and sacked the chief justice. It's a move that could well mobilize the judge and his supporters again. Philip Reeves, NPR News. New Delhi.

In the Gulf, a Coalition of the Floating

NPR senior news Analyst Ted Koppel has just returned from the Middle East, where he found the coalition of the willing -- at sea. Pakistanis, Italians and others are working with the United States to protect shipping routes -- and the flow of oil. Robert Siegel speaks with Koppel.

Picturing the Homeless, on Their Terms

Gary Clark doesn't call himself a photographer. But over the past few years, he's felt compelled to take pictures of homeless people — those "on the edge," he says. His work has brought a rare brand of celebrity to people used to living anonymously in harsh conditions. Half a million members visit Clark's Web page, "Mashuga" — Yiddish for crazy — to see the images that result. Viewers from around the world post dozens of comments for each photo, creating a running subtext. Clark returns to his subjects over time, updating their pictures and adding bits of biography. This interplay recently took a grave turn, when Paul Tagney, one of Clark's subjects in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., was diagnosed with lung cancer. Tagney's hospital stay and the photographs of his losing struggle against the illness raised sympathies in Wilkes-Barre that were echoed by Web visitors around the world. Clark talks with NPR's Jennifer Ludden about creating an ongoing chronicle of lives that are often overlooked.

Conversation With The Creators Of The HBO Series 'Our Boys'

NPR's Michel Martin speaks to two of the creators of the new series <em>Our Boys</em>, Joseph Cedar and Tawfik Abu Wael.

U.S. Women's Soccer Team Cannot Go On Strike, Court Rules

Affirming the status of a collective bargaining agreement, a federal judge sided with U.S. Soccer on Friday, ruling that players on the women's national team are prohibited from going on strike by their collective bargaining agreement. The case is separate from a federal complaint by several high-profile players filed against U.S. Soccer in March, when they accused the federation of wage bias. The status of the players' labor agreement had been in dispute: It expired at the end of 2012 but was extended by a memorandum of understanding that the players association had recently threatened to end if "significant progress" wasn't made in talks for a new contract. Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman's ruling in Illinois' Northern District removes the possibility that the American women might refuse to play in this summer's Rio Olympics as part of the maneuvering over their union contract. The specter of a work stoppage led U.S. Soccer to file a complaint in early February, seeking a court order to prevent a potential strike. As a result, the players will now continue to operate under the terms of a CBA that dates to 2005. The federal wage case that was filed by several star players — including Carli Lloyd, Hope Solo, and Alex Morgan — centers on a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that accuses U.S. Soccer of paying the reigning World Cup champions far less than it does their male counterparts. The U.S. women's national team will begin its Olympics campaign in Brazil on Aug. 3, facing off against New Zealand.

El Niño Does Bring Floods And Drought, But There's A Silver Lining

Maybe El Niño isn't as bad as its reputation. El Niño is an ocean-warming phenomenon in the Pacific that crops up every few years and alters world weather patterns. And the world is in the middle of a big El Niño that roughly began in May 2015 and will continue for at least several more months this year. This El Niño has already been linked to a series of weather-related disasters: Massive flooding in Paraguay. Drought in Ethiopia. Another looming food crisis in Madagascar and Zimbabwe. But for all the doom and gloom, scientists say there's also a silver lining here. To understand why, you need to go back to the last time the planet was hit by an El Niño this big — in 1997. That event, which lasted through 1998, seemed particularly devastating to poor countries. "A lot of people were looking around at the climate impacts and starting to create lists of how expensive that El Niño event was, how much damage it was costing," says Columbia University climate scientist Lisa Goddard. Then, as now, there was a lot to add up: flooding in Peru, drought-fueled wildfires in Indonesia, a severe malaria epidemic in Kenya caused by excessive rainfall. The tab reached into the tens of billions of dollars. "The conclusion that was coming out was that El Niño events were very costly, were very damaging, were very extreme," she says. But Goddard, who heads Columbia's International Research Institute for Climate and Society, had her doubts. After all, she notes, "Different parts of the world experience extreme climate in any year." Were extreme weather disasters really more likely to occur across the world during El Niño years? "What we found was that they weren't," says Goddard. In fact, what she and a colleague concluded after an extensive review of the data is that what distinguishes climate disasters during an El Niño isn't that they're more severe or more numerous. It's that El Niño-produced disasters are more ... predictable. Goddard explains that scientists know an El Niño is coming when — for reasons that are not fully understood — the waters of the Pacific become unusually warm. That warming "reorganizes the seasonal pattern of weather — like where the jet stream is carrying the storms," she says. The signature pattern of an El Niño has been well-documented. What's more, the stronger the El Niño, the more pronounced the effect — and therefore the more accurately scientists can predict the impacts. So this current, extra-powerful El Niño has offered governments and aid agencies a rare chance to prepare. Take the United Nation's World Food Program. Richard Choularton is overseeing a groundbreaking shift there. They're monitoring the El Niño forecasts to identify places where a natural disaster might hit so they can send aid money proactively. For example, explains Choularton, "If you need a certain amount of rainfall for a maize crop to grow, and the forecast says there's a 60 percent chance that you'll get less than that, we trigger funding for communities to do things that will help them deal with a drought." Now, in this scenario that would mean there's a 40 percent chance there won't be a drought. The WFP could end up spending money that wasn't needed. But Choularton says it's worth the risk because preventive aid is so much cheaper than emergency aid. "In fact, this is what's given us the confidence to be able to say we should be able to act before something happens based on the forecast, because we know that we'll save money in the long run." WFP is setting up this pilot effort in five countries where El Niño-related weather could create food shortages in the coming months: Guatemala, Niger, Sudan, Zimbabwe and the Philippines. The International Red Cross has launched a similar program for Uganda. "That's never happened before," says Choularton. "It really is changing the fundamental way we do our work from one which is reactive to one which is anticipatory." Still, forewarned hasn't always meant forearmed in this El Niño. Especially in Indonesia. Every fall, everyone from small farmers to big companies there set fires to clear land for palm oil production. It's always a problem. But this past year, the El Niño created extra-dry conditions. Any fires were bound to get out of control. And the government did spread the word. "Of course they told people about the situation," says Rizaldi Boer, director of the Center for Climate Risk and Opportunity Management at Indonesia's Bogor Agricultural University. But Boer says in many cases the warnings only encouraged people to set fires. They thought it would be the ideal year to do it, says Boer, because the fires would burn more easily and they could clear land more quickly. "They really made use of the situation to get more land." The result was fires that raged for weeks, choking the region with smoke, sickening hundreds of thousands. Boer says the solution for the next El Niño will be to give people a better reason not to set fires — cracking down on offenders, of cou

The 5 Funniest Tiny Desk Concerts

"Now get back to work!" It's the default joke at the end of many, many Tiny Desk concerts — not all of them, of course, but maybe 400 of them? 500? The band gets done playing, the applause dies down and someone blurts out, "Now get back to work!" It might be the singer or a band member, or perhaps an NPR staffer; Felix Contreras does it a lot, befitting his role as NPR Music's lovable uncle. And the crowd dutifully, reflexively and/or sincerely laughs uproariously, struck by the discord between the event (a concert!) and the setting (a workplace!). Sometimes we include the line in the published recording; most of the time, we edit it so the applause trails off into silence. To join the ranks of the funniest Tiny Desk concerts, you've got to dig a little deeper. In the case of Fragile Rock's 2017 set, "digging deeper" meant rolling out an emo puppet band — complete with puppet crowd-surfing — while Reggie Watts improvised three delightfully funny songs in 2012, even filling one with playful digs at NPR. Dan Deacon's bonkers 2015 performance featured the most ludicrously elaborate dance-party instructions we've ever heard, "Weird Al" Yankovic went unplugged all the way back in 2010 for three satirical originals and Neil Innes (the Rutles and Monty Python veteran who died late last year) joined us in 2011 to revisit a few of his comedy classics. Now get back to work! Tiny Desks In This Playlist Fragile Rock Reggie Watts Dan Deacon "Weird Al" Yankovic Neil Innes

Grading Community Colleges, 5 Years Into Obama Improvement Efforts

President Obama has been touting community colleges almost since he got into office. In 2009, at Macomb Community College in Michigan, he said, &#8220;Community colleges are an essential part of our recovery in the present &#8212; and our prosperity in the future. This place can make the future better, not just for these individuals but for America.&#8221; Earlier this month, Obama went to Allegheny Community College in Pennsylvania to announce that $600 million in existing job training money would be redirected to programs that would set up apprenticeships with businesses and partner with businesses in a competitive grant program to teach real-world job skills in the classroom. So with all the attention from the White House, how are community colleges doing? Peter Coy has been writing about this for Bloomberg Businessweek and joins Here & Now&#8217;s Robin Young with details. Guest Peter Coy, economics editor at Bloomberg Businessweek. He tweets @petercoy.

Public Cares Less Than Media

-- NPR's Margot Adler reports that the public seems to care much less about the White House sex scandal than the media does. Polls indicate that very few people think the President should resign...and most think the media is spending too much time on the story.

Pusha T On His Controversial New Album 'Daytona'

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with rapper Pusha T about his latest album, <em>Daytona</em>, his relationship with Kanye West, and his growth as an artist.

Federal Government Restructuring

President Bush will address the nation tonight on a proposal for what his spokesman calls the largest federal government restructuring since 1947, with emphasis on elevating the role of homeland security in an age of terrorism. Congress would have to approve the changes. Bob Edwards speaks with NPR's Don Gonyea. [3:55]

Americans Could See A Vaccine By Mid-December, Says Operation Warp Speed Adviser

Moncef Slaoui, the chief scientific adviser for Operation Warp Speed, says that some Americans could start receiving a COVID-19 vaccine by the second week of December. Slaoui's comments follow the announcement on Friday that Pfizer and its partner, BioNTech, have asked the Food and Drug Administration to grant an emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine — which has been found to be 95% effective. A second vaccine from the biotech company Moderna is expected to be submitted for emergency authorization soon as well. "Our plan is to be able to ship vaccines to the immunization sites within 24 hours from the approval, so I would expect maybe on day two after approval on the 11th or the 12th of December," Slaoui told CNN on Sunday. While millions of people in the U.S. could be vaccinated in the weeks and months following an emergency use authorization, Slaoui said it will be well into 2021 before the nation would be able to achieve herd immunity. "Normally, with the level of efficacy we have, 95%, 70% or so of the population being immunized would allow for true herd immunity to take place," he said. "That is likely to happen somewhere in the month of May, or something like that, based on our plans." In an interview with NPR last week, Slaoui said there would be enough doses to immunize "about 20 million people by the month of December" and "40 million doses between the two vaccines." "But then what's important to keep in mind," he said, "is we have four more vaccines in the pipeline — in our portfolio — two of which are in the middle of their phase three trials with already about 10,000 subjects recruited in each one of their trials." Slaoui's comments on Sunday echo what Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease expert, told NPR's Morning Edition this past Tuesday. Fauci said that Americans with the "highest priority" — such as health care workers and those most at risk of the virus — will likely receive a vaccine towards the end of December. Cases of the coronavirus continue to rise at an alarming rate in nearly every state in the U.S. There have been more than 12 million confirmed cases of the virus and more than 255,000 people have died in total across the nation. On Saturday alone, there were an additional 177,552 new confirmed cases and 1,448 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

In Pricey Cities, Being A Bohemian Starving Artist Gets Old Fast

There are very few professions where poverty is romanticized, but if you're a Franciscan friar or an artist, being poor is seen as somehow ennobling. Josh Shaw, who ran a recent Pacific Opera Project production of La Boheme in Los Angeles, says the opera's famous story of starving artists hits a little close to home. "There's been times recently ... where I have practically nothing in my bank account," Shaw says. Almost everyone in his company works multiple jobs — waiting tables, teaching music, writing for little publications. Their lives don't seem too different from the artsy bohemians in Puccini's opera. La Boheme saw a spectacular reboot with the musical Rent in 1994. But how is its story of suffering romantically for art's sake faring in an age of rising income inequality? In the HBO series Girls, young faux bohemians subsidize their Brooklyn rents with handouts from their parents — and have to explain to their parents their choice of an artist lifestyle: "Tell them you'll get tuberculosis in a garret if you have to," one character advises. "Tell them it's what Flaubert did. Tell them that Picasso did it. Rappers who were poor and sold their tapes in the street did it." Playwright and performer Mike Albo loves Girls, even though it bears little resemblance to the vision of fabulous poverty he aspired to in the 1990s. "I moved to the city thinking: But I'm like Patti Smith. I'll just sleep on a mattress and, you know, eat one potato," he says. But Albo, who recently staged a well-reviewed off-Broadway show called The Junket, says his romance with artistic poverty is dead. He says that paying his bills every month in a city as expensive as New York requires a lot of "plate spinning." And that is why a new generation of artists would never dream of a glamorously poor existence almost anywhere, much less in the capital of the art world. "It's sort of impossible; it's really sad," says Bianca Diaz. Diaz lives in Pilsen, a Mexican-American neighborhood in Chicago that's also been an artists' enclave for years. It was actually founded more than a century ago by Bohemians — the original ones, from Czechoslovakia. Diaz graduated last year from the Rhode Island School of Design, where she says her classmates showed little interest in living in garrets and eating ramen noodles. "I really don't feel like people are glamorizing poverty as much," she says. "They're more interested in glamorous technology that can support their work." In short, a YouTube channel might be today's equivalent of a raw loft space on Avenue B. Musician Stephen Brackett sees a deeper problem than the rising costs of life in cities, and that's how artists are viewed broadly: That artists aren't "laborers," and that they're not "working." Brackett believes all kinds of Puritan projections are put on jobs like his that are fundamentally about creating visions, not pulling paychecks. "Because we are living this kind of dreamed upon lifestyle, I think there's kind of like a passion tax," he says. Brackett is an MC with a group called The Flobots. They try to redress what they see as the general devaluation of the arts by bringing music education to public schools in Denver. Arts education is itself impoverished even though study after study points to its importance in a post-industrial global economy. One year after Lyndon B. Johnson started the War on Poverty, he approved the National Endowment for the Arts, which supports artists and arts education. Its current budget is about $146 million, says visual artist William Powhida. Just compare that, he says, to today's private art market. On Tuesday night, in one single auction, wealthy collectors bought almost a billion dollars in contemporary art at Christie's in New York. "If you had a 2 percent tax just on the auctions in New York you could probably double the NEA budget in two nights," he says. Critics might call that wealth redistribution. Powhida finds it strange and not a little cruel that art is one of the most excessive markers of income inequality — even as artists tend to be among the least well-paid workers in the art industry.

Paris Attacks Create A Dilemma For Travelers

Julija Svetlova had already made reservations at two Paris restaurants, booked hotels and paid for the two-hour Eurostar train from her home city of London last week when she turned on the television. "I was about to pack my luggage on Friday, and then I just sat down and started to see all the stuff happening in Paris," she says. Svetlova and her boyfriend stayed up until 3 a.m. watching the news. Brokenhearted, they canceled their plans. "I actually went online and I saw that both of the places we were supposed to go to on Saturday, they were just basically half a mile away from [where] all these attacks happened," she says. Svetlova, a photographer who had hoped to visit photo exhibitions in Paris, says she's determined to eventually make the trip. "It's just hard, you know, it's just scary because you kind of think you're not safe anywhere," she says. Joe Diaz has heard of many similar canceled adventures. He's the co-founder of Afar, a travel magazine "[A] family of four canceled a trip that they were going to London, Paris and Barcelona," he says. "Another couple canceled a trip to Provence that they're going to be heading to in December. You've seen some business conferences cancel." Diaz says he was in Paris last weekend, and intends to go again in three weeks. "France, and Paris specifically, is probably one of the ... safest cities in the world right now because of what's happened," Diaz says. "And I think for us it would just do a disservice to cancel a trip in a place where I think they need those visitors and they need that support the most." Rick Seaney, CEO of comparison shopping site FareCompare.com, says he thinks the dip in travel is temporary. He says the typical pattern following a terrorist attack is that travel declines for a few weeks. So far, he says, he hasn't seen traffic, searches or demand change dramatically for Paris or France. "The airlines are waiving ... change fees if you already have a ticket, for example, for just the immediate time period, the next couple of weeks or so," Seaney says. "They're not even waiving the fees if you had travel in December, so if they were worried about that, they'd actually be refunding tickets and canceling flights." The latest Paris attacks come on the heels of other attacks — in Beirut, the downed Russian jet in Egypt, and on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper, also in Paris. Seaney says if demand declines and remains low for more than a few weeks, the airlines' complex ticket-pricing systems will pick up on it. "It may lower those price points as it senses the demand isn't as good," he says. And typically, even in areas where there is real or perceived increased risk, lower prices often bring back travelers. "Even with the security risk, we saw a lot of people traveling to Mexico against the common wisdom to fly down there, because it was a third of the price as it was the year before," Seaney says. Julija Svetlova, the London artist, says she thinks travel and security lines will become more of a hassle. But she will not be putting away her passport because of the terrorist attacks. "I will definitely not stop traveling because of that, because things like that can happen anywhere and you can't predict it," Svetlova says. In the meantime, she's been trying to get through to Eurostar to reschedule her trip. She says every time she calls, though, the line is busy.

Medical Residents Are Indebted But Reasonably Happy

Medical residents are the tweeners of health care. They've got their medical degrees but still haven't finished the training they need to go forth and practice their chosen specialties. Talking to residents is one way to get a bead on where medicine may be headed. Medscape, an online news source for health professionals, just released a survey of more than 1,700 medical residents that asked a slew of questions about their hopes, everyday experience on the job and finances. We pulled some of the highlights from the results released Wednesday. (For the more detailed findings, check out Medscape's report "Residents Salary & Debt Report 2015: Are Residents Happy?") Right off the bat, the survey shows that most resident are in debt. And some are deeply in debt — more than a third are at least $200,000 in the hole. Most residents work long hours, often in hospitals. But concerns about patient safety led to changes in work hours that put limits on the lengths of shifts. So how much time are residents clocking at the hospital each week? Overall, about 47 percent of residents are spending 60 or more hours a week in the hospital. The times vary by year of residency. Only 18 percent of resident said their hours were excessive. How are the working relationships between residents and their colleagues? Quite good, it seems, whether those colleagues are senior doctors or nurses and physician assistants. The answer were less glowing to the specific question of whether residents are satisfied with their treatment by attending physicians, the doctors who teach and supervise residents. Equal proportions responded that they were very satisfied or only somewhat satisfied with the way these doctors dealt with them. "Some attendings belittle us, curse at us, yell at us, don't teach, are unreasonable, and promote a negative work culture," as one resident told Medscape. "Others are fantastic to work with, patient, great teachers, and knowledgeable." Given all the fretting about whether we'll have enough doctors (and other) providers of primary care in the future, it's natural that Medscape asked the residents in primary care about their plans. A little less than half of them said they planned to stick with primary care. About an equal proportion said they have another specialty in mind. A smaller fraction said they'd already given up on primary care but hadn't figured out their ultimate specialty yet. On that note, primary care, which pays less than many other specialties, may be unappealing. When asked if potential earnings influence the choice of specialty, the vast majority of residents said it was a significant factor. Only 10 percent said future income potential didn't factor in at all.

With Audience In Mind, Media Offers Varied Treatment Of Chauvin Trial

As the second week of the Derek Chauvin trial wraps up, how are various media outlets covering it?

Lawmakers Take Hard Look at N.J. Child Welfare System

At a hearing on adoption, the House Ways and Means Committee takes a hard look at New Jersey's child welfare system. A New Jersey family has been accused of starving their four adopted sons. NPR's Rachel Jones reports.

Three Quarters Of Young People Unfit For U.S. Military

The U.S. military has a problem. And when the military has a problem, the nation does too. The trouble is that only a quarter of the eligible young people in the country are able to join the military. About 75 percent are unfit to serve, according to a new report titled "Ready, willing and Unable to Serve." The report's introduction: The Pentagon reports that 75 percent of Americans aged 17 to 24 cannot join the United States military -- 26 million young Americans. The reasons behind this are serious and, if left unaddressed, will adversely affect the future strength of our military. In the interest of national security, we must understand and deal with these problems now. We cannot rely on a continuation of what may be the worst recession since the Great Depression to ensure that America has enough qualified men and women to defend our country. Read More >> The report cites the lack of a high school diploma by a fourth of young people, the criminal records of 10 percent of the age cohort the military considers for recruitment and physical and health problems of more than a quarter in that group as the reasons limiting the pool. The best solution, the report says, lies in early education which means solving the problem will take the long view. A letter at the start of the report signed by the retired generals, admirals and senior enlisted officers, states: The most proven investment for kids who need help graduating from high school starts early: high-quality early education. It also helps kids stay away from crime and succeed in life. Our recommendation to state and federal policymakers is to ensure that America's children have access to high-quality early education. That is the best way to make certain that more young Americans will meet the tough standards of the United States military should they choose to serve. A strong commitment today to high-quality early education will keep America strong and safe tomorrow. It makes sense that early education would help with graduation and crime rates among the target group though it's not clear it would have much of an impact on the problem of physically unfit young people.

Harriet Rubin: The Power and Promise of Mature Women

The show presents a discussion focusing on the achievements and challenges of mature women, as well as the factors which may contribute to their power and promise in late life.

Trump On Las Vegas Shooting: 'An Act Of Pure Evil'

Updated at 5:28 p.m. ET President Trump solemnly addressed the nation Monday morning about Sunday night's mass shooting in Las Vegas, saying Americans are "joining together in sadness, shock and grief." In brief remarks from the White House Diplomatic Reception Room, Trump called the shooting, in which police say at least 58 people were killed and over 500 were wounded, "an act of pure evil." He said he will visit Las Vegas on Wednesday, and he ordered flags flown at half-staff. Trump praised first responders, including the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, "for their courageous efforts." He said the speed with which they reacted to the shooting was "miraculous and prevented further loss of life." Trump noted that the FBI and Department of Homeland Security are working with local authorities on the investigation. Trump said of the victims, most of whom were attending a country music concert, "We cannot fathom their pain; we cannot imagine their loss." The president quoted from Scripture that "the Lord is close to the brokenhearted," and said he and first lady Melania Trump are praying for the speedy recovery of the wounded and for the families of the victims. "In moments of tragedy and horror," Trump said, the nation "comes together as one." He continued, "Our unity cannot be shattered by evil; our bonds cannot be broken by violence." In the afternoon, the president held a moment of silence on the South Lawn of the White House with the first lady and dozens of White House staffers. Trump had been briefed earlier in the morning on the attack and tweeted, "My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you!" The president's schedule had called for him to visit Puerto Rico on Tuesday in light of the hurricane damage there, and White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said that is still the plan.

Trump Saw 'Many Sides' While Some Republicans Saw White Supremacy, Domestic Terrorism

Updated Aug. 13 at 10:50 a.m. ET Political leaders used Twitter to respond to the violent confrontations that began Friday night in Charlottesville, Va.; continued with a "Unite the Right" rally that pitted members of the alt-right, Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi groups against anti-racism counterprotesters on Saturday; and turned deadly when a car plowed into a group of pedestrians. Republican officials, from the president to members of the House and Senate, went online to speak out against bigotry and violence. But President Trump came under criticism from some members of his own party for not speaking out forcefully enough. While the president remained silent on the white nationalist march across the University of Virginia campus Friday night, he reacted to the street brawls, fistfights and attacks with homemade pepper spray the next day in a broadly worded tweet Saturday afternoon. "There is no place for this kind of violence in America," Trump said, "Lets come together as one!" A White House spokesperson has defended the president's statement. "The President said very strongly in his statement yesterday that he condemns all forms of violence, bigotry and hatred and of course that includes white Supremacists, KKK, neo-nazi and all extremist groups. He called for national unity and bringing all Americans together." Others weighing in included Vice President Pence, who is heading Sunday on a six-day trip through Central and South America. "U.S is greatest when we join together & oppose those seeking to divide us. #Charlottesville," Pence tweeted. The first official statement on Charlottesville came out of the East Wing of the White House, however. First lady Melania Trump tweeted nearly an hour before the president or vice president on Saturday. "...[L]et's communicate w/o hate in our hearts. No good comes from violence. #Charlottesville," she tweeted. But the president's initial response quickly appeared outdated when a Dodge Challenger plowed into pedestrians, killing one woman and injuring at least nine others. Just over an hour later, during televised remarks about a bill signing that had already been on his daily schedule, Trump addressed the intensifying situation in Charlottesville, which had been covered on cable news outlets throughout the day. But he did not specifically address the vehicular attack. And he did not condemn the white nationalist and white supremacist groups that had arrived to protest the city's decision to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee, a hero of the Confederacy — and the president did not call out any of those groups by name. Instead, the president alluded to shared blame between protesters and counterprotesters for failing to maintain peace in Charlottesville. "We condemn in the strongest most possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides. On many sides," Trump said. As the afternoon progressed, some members of his own party began to call out the president for his generic remarks and criticize him for not calling the vehicular attack a terrorist attack — like those that have occurred in recent years in European cities. "Mr. President - we must call evil by its name," Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., tweeted, "These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism." Gardner's sentiments were echoed in tweets by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa; Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.; and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. Late Saturday, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, specifically called on the Justice Department "to immediately investigate and prosecute this grotesque act of domestic terrorism." Later on Saturday night, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a statement on the opening of a federal investigation into the day's incident in Charlottesville, Va. The statement said in part: "The Richmond FBI Field Office, the Civil Rights Division, and the US Attorney's Office for the Western District of Virginia have opened a civil rights investigation into the circumstances of the deadly vehicular incident that occurred earlier Saturday morning. The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence, and as this is an ongoing investigation we are not able to comment further at this time." Prominent Democrats also used Twitter to comment on the racially charged events and their deadly outcomes. Invoking the torch-lit march of mostly young, white men through the Univeristy of Virginia's campus on Friday night, House Democrats tweeted a photo of the Statue of Liberty with the message: "The torch of liberty outshines darkness and hate." Onetime Trump rival Hillary Clinton unleashed a tweetstorm Saturday almost immediately after Trump's televised remarks ended. "Now is the time for leaders to be strong in their words & deliberate in their actions," Clinton said, adding, "We will not step backward. If this is not who we are as Americans, let's prove it." Riffing on Trump's controversial "many sides" comment, former Vice Presid

Obama Urges Movement On Mideast Peace

President Obama challenged Israeli and Palestinian leaders to find a way forward on peace in the region. In New York Tuesday, Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas held their first three-way meeting.President Obama brought Israeli and Palestinian leaders together Tuesday for a handshake, but he came no closer to reviving long-stalled peace negotiations. After a brief three-way discussion in New York with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Obama issued what has become a familiar American call for all sides to work harder. The president called the talks "productive" and said he will send his special Mideast envoy, former Sen. George Mitchell, back to the region next week for talks with negotiators for the two sides. But Obama's statement at the beginning of the meeting revealed his frustration at the lack of progress. "Simply put, it is past time to talk about starting negotiations," Obama said. "It is time to move forward." Speaking with reporters later, Mitchell argued that more was accomplished than meets the eye. He noted that this was the first top-level meeting between Israelis and Palestinians in more than a year, something that he says didn't seem possible even a few months ago. Mitchell said the parties agreed to make another effort. "We're going to enter into an intensive, yet brief, period of discussion in an effort to re-launch negotiations," the envoy said. Obama said he expects a progress report by the middle of next month. "It's a testimony to Mitchell's continued vitality," says analyst Nathan Brown, "but it doesn't sound like much was accomplished." Mitchell has made at least five trips to the region since he was appointed as the administration's top negotiator on the Middle East, but he returned to Washington essentially empty-handed last week. All sides had worked in advance to dampen expectations about the meeting, held on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly session. Brown, a professor of international affairs at George Washington University, says the result is disappointing for the administration's Mideast policy: After carefully crafting a policy that sought a freeze on Israeli settlement building in return for normalizing relations with Arab states, he says, the administration got nowhere. "You're dealing with a right-wing Israeli government that doesn't want to make concessions, and a Palestinian government that doesn't represent all the Palestinian people," Brown says. With the two parties so far apart on the issues, reporters asked Mitchell why Obama chose to take such a public step in bringing the leaders together. Mitchell said the president wanted to convey "his sense of urgency, his impatience, his view that there is here a unique opportunity at this moment in time — that may pass if there is further delay." Mitchell has tried since early this year to get Israel to agree to a freeze on building settlements in eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank. Israel has said it would accept only a moratorium on some construction in the West Bank and ruled out any freeze in Jerusalem. Palestinian officials have said that there is no point in negotiating if Israel would not stop building, saying that Israel is, in effect, "colonizing" the occupied territory. The Palestinians recently proposed a plan to move toward a Palestinian state within two years, independent of any negotiations with Israel. But the Palestinians remain deeply divided, with Hamas controlling Gaza, and Abbas' Fatah Party controlling the West Bank.

Hot Club Of Cowtown On Mountain Stage

Hot Club Of Cowtown makes its sixth visit to Mountain Stage, recorded live at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, W.Va. The band formed in 1996, when guitarist and singer Whit Smith answered an advertisement placed by singer and fiddler Elana James. After moving to Austin, the pair added upright bass player Jake Erwin, and the trio quickly made a name for itself by fusing hot jazz and Western swing. The band has since become a favorite at fairs and festivals across Europe, and has opened stadium shows for Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. In 2011, the trio released a collection of Western swing standards made famous by Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, titled What Makes Bob Holler. The band's latest, Rendezvous In Rhythm, is a companion piece of sorts, produced by Lloyd Maines and featuring a collection of songs played in the hot-jazz style of legendary musicians Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt. SET LIST "Ida Red" "Slow Boat To China" "The Continental" "High Upon The Mountain" "Three Little Words" "24 Hours A Day" "How High The Moon"

Fans, Family And The Freakin' Weekend: What's Next In Nashville

Very few musical gatherings during the crowded summer festival season have been going on as long as CMA Music Fest, which launched under the name Fan Fair in 1972 and now descends upon Nashville just after the heat and humidity set in each June. One of the secrets to its longevity is that it's always been a place where country fans can encounter artists up close; folks who get a bit of face time with their favorite artists, maybe even a hug, are prone to keep coming back. These days, most of the media attention goes to CMA Fest's four-night run of ticketed stadium shows, which boast performances by many of the format's superstars from the past and present. But that's only part of the experience on offer. All day long, there are free shows on stages dotting every available block downtown, not to mention merch stands, booze tents and plenty of corporate promotion, and the meet-and-greet tradition lives on in an expo called Fan Fair X and at artists' fan parties in rented-out bars, restaurants and event spaces. It's no surprise that acts who have a lot of critical and commercial momentum right now — like Chris Stapleton, Maren Morris, Dierks Bentley and Kelsea Ballerini — would command sizable spotlights at country's biggest festival, but fans of varying generations also sought out opportunities to see and interact with relatively unknown newbies and veteran artists who are well past their hitmaking heydays. NPR Music's Ann Powers and Jewly Hight waded into the fray and emerged describing a festival scene populated by anything but passive consumers of one-size-fits-all, hot country hits. THE SCENE Ann Powers: CMA Fest is like a combination of county fair, tourist experience, music festival and family reunion. It occupies most of downtown Nashville, whose eastern border is the Cumberland River. Across the river is the football stadium where the big shows happen at night. There are several different stages open to the public for free, and some other areas where you have to have a pass or a special ticket, like to the fan parties. And then a lot of interstitial space where other things happen, where there might be games, or there are displays of goods, people selling boots, people selling product, pop-up stores from artists ... Jewly Hight: People selling bottles of water for a dollar. AP: Because it's hot! But mostly, lots of stuff for sale. Merchandise is important at every festival and to every artist now, but CMA Fest is an ocean of merch. JH: The companies doing promotional agreements with CMA Fest, that's a very visible thing. I saw two different performances in a venue called the HGTV Lodge, which is a big wood-framed structure that they assemble each year. On the walls are big pictures of stars from HGTV series. That's one example. Durango Boots has its own stage; there's the Cruze stage, named after a Chevy sedan... AP: Isn't there one that was named for underwear? The one that had the big picture of Blake Shelton in his underwear? I think this might be the only festival that has an underwear-sponsored stage. [Editor's note: Gildan, the stage sponsor, sells all kinds of active wear.] JH: At Eric Church's fan party, I was introduced to a woodworking artist who does a lot of work for him. This artist made frames to be distributed to the fans, and the frames were like folk art. That's an elaborate take on the souvenir element that you see at most fan parties. There were so many stands that sold both merch for CMA Fest itself and for particular artists. It's the sort of thing where you can buy and consume as much as you want, but I'm sure people's experience in that regard depends on how much disposable income they have. FAMILY AP: In a way this gets at how CMA represents country music's forthright Americanness. If consumerism is a key element of being American, and I believe it is, the celebration of consumerism and the celebration of brands is definitely part of the mood at the fest. There are other ways in which the stereotypes we have about country music are reinforced. I heard lots of shot-outs to the armed forces. And also a lot of talk from the stage and songs about nostalgia, rural roots. JH: About family values too. Chris Janson's take on that struck me as interesting. He's somewhere around 30 years old. During his set, he talked about how he married a woman who already had two children, and he didn't want to call them "step-kids" because he felt that was devaluing them. He said, "I'm proud to be a father, I'm proud to be a husband, proud to be a Christian, proud to be a country singer." Here's a young guy saying these things. I got a similar vibe from Mo Pitney, who's only 23-years-old. And then Aaron Tippin, who is 58 and has been performing for a quarter-century, had his wife and one of his sons singing backup for him. AP: There was an all-female showcase that the influential DJ Bobby Bones hosted at the Ascend Ampitheater. Hillary Scott performed — she is the lead singer for the group Lady

Facing Severe Food Shortages, Venezuela Pushes Urban Gardens

Last week, opposition lawmakers in Venezuela declared a "food emergency." That's because Venezuela is facing widespread shortages of milk, meat, bread and other staples. Critics blame the government's socialist economic policies. But instead of changing course, President Nicolás Maduro is calling on Venezuelans to help feed themselves — by starting urban gardens. Josefina Requena is among those who have heeded Maduro's call. Cucumbers, green pepper, passion fruit and other produce grow in the front yard of her home in a slum in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital. She also has a chicken coop. On a sweltering afternoon recently, I joined Requena and some other Caracas residents on a hike into the mountains that rise above the city. They were on a mission to find dirt for their gardens, which they keep on balconies, rooftops and small plots of their homes. After digging up the fresh earth, they lugged it back down the mountain. "All my life, I've loved to plant all sorts of plants," Requena tells me in Spanish. "But over the past two years, things have become much more difficult, so I am taking gardening a little more seriously." So is the Venezuelan government. President Maduro is urging people to grow food and raise chickens in their homes, even though 83 percent of Venezuelans live in cities. To help them, Maduro announced the formation of a Ministry of Urban Farming. The president also claims that he and first lady Cilia Flores have taken up the cause. "Cilia and I have 60 laying hens," Maduro said in a speech. "We produce everything we eat." Critics say Maduro should focus on making life easier for traditional farmers. Home to vast stretches of fertile land, Venezuela could grow much of its own food. Instead, production has collapsed. Economists blame the expropriation of farms and food-processing plants, as well as government price controls that force farmers to sell at a loss. In addition, falling prices for oil — Venezuela's main export — mean the government has fewer dollars to import food. There's also a severe shortage of imported farm machinery and supplies, says Vicente Perez, director of FEDEAGRO, Venezuela's main farm organization. "There is nothing — just like there's no food, there are no seeds, no herbicides ... and no medicines to vaccinate farm animals," says Perez. Phil Gunson, who is based in Caracas for the International Crisis Group, warns of a pending humanitarian crisis. "At least one in 10 people is eating two meals a day or less. There isn't starvation. We are not talking about famine," Gunson says. "But we are talking about malnutrition, particularly in the case of children." Maduro blames the food shortages on a so-called "economic war" that he claims is being waged against his government by the opposition. Gunson and other analysts reject this argument and say urban gardens will have little impact. They note that many city dwellers lack the time and know-how to grow food. Poultry can also be complicated — so says truck driver Juan Pablo Ibarra, one of the people who climbed into the mountains gathering dirt for his garden. Ibarra says he used to have 30 egg-producing hens, but the corn he fed the birds was too expensive. His family ended up eating the chickens.