Note: Transcripts may contain errors. If you wish to re-use all, or part of, a transcript, please contact CBC for permission. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print. Copyright © CBC 2016

The AIH Transcript for March 17, 2017

Hosts: Carol Off and Jeff Douglas

STORIES FROM THIS EPISODE

Prologue

CAROL OFF: Hello, I'm Carol Off.

JEFF DOUGLAS: Good evening, I'm Jeff Douglas. This is As It Happens.

[Music: Theme]

JD: Tonight:

CO: Showing some restraint. A judge in Hawaii issues a temporary restraining order against the latest version of President Trump's travel ban. Tonight, Hawaii's Attorney General tells us why he challenged it in the first place.

JD: Close Encounters of the burned kind. A BBC team went up Mt. Etna in Sicily to do a story on volcano monitoring and then ran down at top speed when it abruptly erupted.

CO: Out of thin air. Our guest was in a shopping mall parking lot when a small plane plummeted from the sky after a midair crash. And then the other plane fell on the Mall itself.

JD: Tough act to swallow. An Ohio activist takes the actor James Woods to court, because when someone falsely accused her of giving Donald Trump a Nazi salute, Mr. Woods retweeted it launching a barrage of hate.

CO: Full-frontal newt-ity. She's an expert on their mating preferences, so she's mounting a defense of endangered amphibians by trying to convince them to mount each other.

JD: And… live but not in concert. Establishments in Stouffville, Ontario and Detroit are both trying to stage the longest concert in the history of the world. And because of their rivalry the show must go on. And on, and on, and on. As It Happens the Friday edition, radio with a strong gig reflex.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: Hawaii AG, Quebec plane crash, Stouffville vs. Detroit concert

Hawaii AG

Guest: Douglas Chin

JD: U.S. President Donald Trump is calling it quote, “unprecedented judicial overreach.” This week, a federal judge blocked his latest attempt at a travel ban from six Muslim-majority countries. The first travel ban was blocked by a judge last month, but only after wreaking havoc at airports across the United States. This new ban, slightly narrower in scope, was intended to withstand such court challenges. Thus far, it has not. Douglas Chin is the Attorney General for Hawaii. He was the first Democratic Attorney General to successfully challenge the new ban. We reached him in Honolulu.

CO: Mr. Chin, President Trump’s latest travel ban he says was specifically designed to withstand a court challenge. So why has it failed in that regard so far?

DOUGLAS CHIN: Well, the judge saw it our way, which is basically context matters. What essentially happened with the second executive order is that it contained more neutral language than the first. However, what we argued was that you have to look at the context and the statements that were made by the policy makers prior to the statement coming out. So here what you had was statements from President Trump back in 2015 all the way through 2016 and then even when he became President describing this as a Muslim ban. And the judge was persuaded by argument that you have to be able to see through the subterfuge to be able to find the discrimination.

CO: OK. Tell us where you see and where the judge saw intent?

DC: Sure. By describing it as a “Muslim ban” he made several statements where he said that you know Syrian refugees are pouring into our country. They are the ones who are committing terrorist acts and he connected the refugee program to terrorism. Even though many of us know it's just unfounded. And then furthermore, there was a telling statement that was made by his surrogate, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, where Mayor Giuliani had admitted that President Trump had come to him and said I want a “Muslim ban”. Tell me how to go about doing that legally? So one of the judge's interesting statements was that we don't actually need to look into the veiled psyche of President Trump in order to be able to determine this intent. The record is so full of statements that were made by him and his surrogates that the discrimination is obvious and then certainly even two nights ago, after this ruling came out. There you have President Trump at a rally saying that this was a watered down version of the first one. And he thought that, “I think we ought to go back to the first one and go all the way.” Well there you go I mean that's just another statement that was made. And now he is the President just describing what his true intentions are.

CO: Now you mentioned this ban is called a watered down version of the first one which came out on January 27^th. That one banned citizens of seven countries, but suggested that Christian refugees in those countries have been given preference in the future when they were allowed in again. And that's gone from this version. Doesn't that indicate that this is generally those countries and not the Muslim faith that's being targeted?

DC: Right. And certainly that was precisely the argument that the U.S. Department of Justice was making to defend the document. Their argument essentially was that courts need to just look at the four corners of the document itself, look at the neutral language and just take it at face value and also credit the government for curing whatever discriminatory intent was behind there. When we looked at the executive order, I think what was still unsatisfying was the fact that it still had the same blanket ban against these six countries, which no president has ever done in the last 50 years since Congress made race based discrimination illegal. So you've had all these presidents all these years. None of them have said if you come from this country you are presumptively a terrorist. Doesn't matter if you're a grandmother, doesn't matter if you're a baby. That is a nation of origin type discrimination, it's a religious discrimination. And I think for people in Hawaii, that's especially chilling given our history and the fact that we're the most ethnically diverse state in the country.

CO: Can you tell us in Hawaii this case is based on a particular person's situation. Can you tell us just a bit about that story?

DC: Sure. This is an imam, he is a U.S. citizen. He became one a few years ago, and then his wife is from Syria and she also became a U.S. citizen. But the difficulty that they were having was that the mother-in-law or the grandmother had not been able to get a visa to enter from Syria to be able to come into the country. And so that might seem minor in comparison to national security, but part of the argument that we make is when you have discrimination than any sort of harm that flows from that discrimination is enough for an individual to show standing, that's the legal term, and for the state to be able to show standing. So here you have this individual plaintiff whose children, who are U.S. citizens, are unable to see their grandmother because of this discriminatory factor. And then from a state perspective, we have our university that is unable to admit students at this time, that's unable to recruit professors and to be able to add to its existing Persian language and culture program because of this discriminatory executive order.

CO: President Trump is saying that this this challenge out of Hawaii is politics. You're a Democrat. The judge in your case, Derrick Watson, was appointed by President Barack Obama. Is there truth to his accusation that you are playing with politics and not with rights?

DC: I don't feel that way at all. I don't see this as a political thing. I really see this as a discrimination thing. Hawaii has had a long history of having to deal with prejudice and discrimination against certain groups. In fact, the timing of this executive order couldn't have been any worse. It came 75 years almost to the day after a prior president, it was President Roosevelt, had issued an executive order on the basis of national security which resulted in the internment of Japanese-American citizens, German-American citizens and Italian-American citizens. And we had an internment camp here that was one of the largest here in the state of Hawaii. And people remember that time. And so when this executive order came out I think what really struck us and stunned us was that you have this return back to a time that almost an entire generation had gotten away from.

CO: President Trump has said this ruling is, “unprecedented judicial overreach.” He said it makes the United States look weak in the eyes of the world. How do you respond to his charges that the courts are thwarting national security in the U.S.?

DC: Well, I'm really proud of our system of checks and balances that we have. And I think what this really shows is the strength of the American system that that you have the ability to check discriminatory or unconstitutional behavior even by your president.

CO: All right, we'll be following this as it moves to the courts. Mr. Chin, thank you.

DC: Carol, thank you so much.

JD: Douglas Chin is Hawaii's Attorney General. We reached him in Honolulu. President Trump has vowed to appeal the latest rulings against his revised travel ban.

[Music: Indie rock]

Quebec plane crash

Guest: Bianca Godin

JD: Tonight, witnesses and police in Quebec are still trying to understand how two small planes collided midair and then came crashing down on a shopping mall. The calls to police started coming in at around 1:00 o'clock this afternoon. Police say two small Cessna airplanes were flying above Saint Bruno on Montreal’s south shore. When they collided, one of the planes crashed on the roof of Promenades Saint Bruno, it’s a shopping center. The other plane crashed in the mall’s parking lot. One person is dead, another critically injured. Bianca Godin witnessed it. We reached her at her home in Saint Hubert, near Montreal.

CO: Bianca, how close were you to this plane crash today?

BIANCA GODIN: Well, as it was in midair, I was maybe 20 meters away. I was actually driving through the parking looking for a parking spot when I looked up and saw a big white mass flying over the mall. It looked like a big white sheet falling from the sky, it passed right over the mall roof. And then is when we started noticing smaller pieces floating from the sky and falling down. As I continued through the parking lot, a bigger piece, which looked pretty much like a wing, had fell in between the parking spaces. We were pretty amazed that nothing hit us or I didn't notice anything hit the other vehicles, but we were pretty lucky in in my opinion.

CO: And how were people reacting as this plane came down?

BG: Confusion at first because I was on one side of the mall. But slowly enough, we came to a conclusion that it was plane pieces that were falling from the sky. Another client from the mall had confirmed to us that it was actually two planes collided into each other. And one was actually on the roof and the other one was on the other side of the mall.

CO: So we know that one person is dead, another is critically injured. It seems to be the pilots. There were two other people who are in state of shock, who went to the hospital. And so did you see any of that? Did you see people being taken away?

BG: No, I did not see anyone being taken away. I didn't get super close to the crash itself because as I was approaching, police had arrived and started creating a perimeter. But it was pretty clear that whoever was in that plane had not survived. The plane was crushed.

CO: So some people were closer to this when it fell. Did you did you talk to any of them?

BG: We ran into one young lady, who was crying and hysterical and saying that the plane had fallen maybe 10 feet in front of her. She was really choked up and her boyfriend took her away.

CO: So someone was there with her?

BG: Yes.

CO: And did you see other people who were distraught?

BG: Not exactly, everyone was just really in shock. It was more of everyone trying to figure out what had happened and you know word of mouth going around and figuring out how.

CO: One of the planes that people could see, it said CARGAIR on it, which is a flight school in that region. And that there is a pilot training school based near Saint Hubert. Did you often see planes flying overhead?

BG: Oh yes, all the time, especially in the summer. There are often low planes up in the sky. And I've heard of other accidents in the area, but nothing of this nature.

CO: What did the parking lot look like after the plane had come down?

BG: I saw a tire, a wingspan, probably little pieces of debris here and there. But the main crash was in front of one of the entrances.

CO: And you were you were with your mom and your grandma?

BG: Yeah, we had decided to go shopping that morning and I decided oh why not Saint Bruno mall? We were pretty shocked.

CO: You sound OK.

BG: Well I didn't see much. I mean I know someone has passed and my condolences to the family, but I think it was more of a shock on the on the spot. I'm managing.

CO: Bianca, I'm glad you're OK and that no one else was seriously hurt in the parking lot and I appreciate speaking with you.

BG: My pleasure.

CO: Take care.

BG: Bye.

JD: Bianca Godin was a witness to a plane collision and subsequent crash today in the parking lot of Promenades San Bruno Shopping Centre. One person is dead, another is in critical condition. And for updates on this story, go to www.cbc/news.

[Music: Ambient synthesizer and xylophone]

Trump Ireland

JD: It is St. Patrick's Day, a day for all of us to wear green, to celebrate our Irish heritage, and to lecture the U.S. President about immigration policy. Actually, that last part probably doesn't apply to most of us. But it does apply to Enda Kenny, the Irish Taoiseach, or prime minister. It is an annual St. Patrick's Day tradition for the Taoiseach to visit the U.S. president in Washington. And this year, Mr. Kenney did not waste the opportunity to address Mr. Trump in public.

SOUNDCLIP

ENDA KENNY: It's fitting that we gather here each year to celebrate St. Patrick and his legacy. He too, of course, was an immigrant. And though he is of course the patron saint of Ireland, for many people around the globe, he's also a symbol of the patron of immigrants. Here in America, in your great country, thirty-five million people claim Irish heritage. And the Irish have contributed to the economic, social, political and cultural life of this great country over the last 200 years. Ireland came to America because deprived of liberty, deprived of opportunity, of safety, of even food itself, the Irish believed. And for decades before Lady Liberty lifted her lamp, we were the wretched refuse on the teeming shore. We believed in the shelter of America, in the compassion of America and the opportunity of America. We came and we became Americans. We lived the words of John F. Kennedy long before he uttered them. We asked not what America could do for us, but what we could do for America? And we still do.

JD: That was Enda Kenny, the Irish Taoiseach, speaking in Washington yesterday at a press conference with President Donald Trump. It was not the first time that Mr. Kenney has been critical of Mr. Trump. During the U.S. election campaign, he called Mr. Trump's rhetoric quote, “racist and dangerous.” During the Oval Office meeting, Mr. Kenny said he and Mr. Trump discussed the President's plan to crack down on illegal immigrants including an estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish immigrants.

[Music: Traditional Irish folk]

Stouffville vs. Detroit concert

Guests: Kevin Ker, AJ O’Neil

JD: They will be here all night, and tomorrow night, and the next night, and the night after that. And anyone who is there for any part of that interminable show will hear one phrase over and over again: “Hello Stouffville!” Tonight, a pub in Stouffville, Ontario will try to beat the record for the longest concert ever. The music will go on with different bands 24 hours a day, for 16 days straight and maybe longer. And they're not just playing to beat a record. They are playing to beat another venue, in another country. A cafe in Detroit is sponsoring another record concert attempt. And that marathon show has been going on since last week. So who's going to stop the music first? We decided to get both organizers on the line and find out. Kevin Kerr works at Stouffville’s Earl of Whitchurch pub, and AJ O'Neil is the owner of Detroit Bold Coffee.

CO: AJ, I’m going to start with you. How many days has music been pumping down there in Detroit so far?

AJ O’NEIL: We are in our ninth day nonstop.

CO: And what's it been like?

AO: Pardon me, our eighth day. Oh it's been great. It ebbs and flows naturally. It ebbs and flows with people's workday. You know this is our fourth one and we've done this successfully by Guinness twice. So we're trying to win the record back like you guys are. We don't do it until someone breaks the record and we try to get it back.

CO: AJ, who's performing right now?

AJ: This Fresco.

CO: What kind of instrument is he playing?

AO: He's got techno music right now, which was born here in Detroit. It's got a lot of human interaction to it and it is one of the things that we get from time to time. We’ve had every possible genre here.

CO: All right, that's what's happening at the Detroit Bold Coffee and what's happening there in Stouffville at the Earl of Whitchurch pub, Kevin?

KEVIN KER: In stouffvile, we got mayhem happening. Everyone's showing up. We start tonight obviously, so there's a lot of excitement. I’ll walk you out right now. There's no band until 7 o'clock, but you can hear the people talking. Everybody say hi to CBC!

[Sound: A chorus of people say hi and cheer]

KK: So that’s going on here. The band starts at 7:00 o’clock, there is a lineup forming outside.

CO: And there will be a lot of beer I'm sure consumed.

KK: I imagine there will be. Not for me, I got my head in the game.

CO: Well, that's one of the things they tell you. If you're going to go in for this marathon that you just should keep away from the taps.

KK: For sure. I mean AJ’s done this a few times. I'm sure he's got a pretty good idea of how it operates and for me, I mean I've been to a lot of music festivals and I lost a lot of marathon open mics. But I fully understand that this is something that's going to be a new experience and so we're going into it well prepared. And I am really focused and we've got a really big team, so it's exciting.

CO: So Kevin is sounding very pumped and there's lots of energy there. But AJ, after you've done it for eight days, is it a bit more subdued?

KK: Yeah, it tends to ebb and flow. And naturally when we started, we had a very robust crowd and a full house here. We're actually at Eastern Market in downtown Detroit off our community marketplace, so we built a venue here, which incidentally serves only coffee. So we really knew just stay away from the taps as well. Knowing something as innocent as you know maybe someone that had a little bit too much tripping over one of the sound equipment or recording devices could really create mayhem. So we try to keep the alcohol on the other side of town for this.

CO: Kevin, I'm sure you're learning the rules. Because it's quite strict to get into the Guinness book on this…

KK: For sure, they don't make it easy.

CO: What are the rules?

KK: Well, there's no more than five minutes between bands. No more than 30 seconds between songs. No songs under the length of two minutes. Once a person leaves the stage, they can't get back on the stage for an hour. The ten people in the audience is something we've really been focusing on. We've had such a great outpouring of volunteers and I mean we've had a thousand bands already register. So we've signed up 400 already, everything's scheduled and we've actually scheduled our audience in some cases too. Especially for the hours we were concerned about.

CO: But you're dealing with musicians, guys.

KK: I do that for a living, I herd cats for a living.

CO: They're notoriously late for things and they’re no shows.

KK: Our committee is you know half of us are musicians and we have extra guitars on the wall. We have extra amps. We have two back lines prepared. We have two stages set up in one. So the changeovers are going to be quick and we’re prepared for backup instruments and anything. And if anything goes wrong with a band or someone doesn't show up, we've got another 600 bands on standby. Not to mention committee members who are willing to jump up on stage at any minute.

CO: I understand you have your ukulele with you?

KK: Yeah, I don't even play ukulele, but I get to have it on my back at all times and just tiptoe through the tulips whenever I need to.

CO: And so now back to you AJ, now you been herding cats for a number of these already, so how difficult is it to make sure your musicians show up?

AO: Kevin is exactly right. You want to have standbys. You want to have people at the ready. You won't be able to predict what's going to happen, I can guarantee that. We have survived power outages, wind storms; we've been put from one side of the market to the other because of the proximity of other events.

CO: just back to the idea that this is a competition…

KK: You don't like that me and AJ are becoming friends right now.

CO: I’m just telling you this is going to be going on simultaneously. So Kevin, you're vowing to go for 16 days. Will you go further?

KK: We will go further. Like I said, we have some many bands signed up and because it has become something bigger. We want to give everybody the opportunity to perform.

AO: Oh no, you don’t want to do that. There’s a road that I am very familiar with. It is the road from Windsor to Toronto, I know that. And we think that if we add a little bit more to ours, we will have you taken care of. So we are not worried.

CO: How long can you go Kevin?

KK: A couple months.

CO: AJ, can you match that?

AO: Well, we can go until June. This is Detroit, I mean this is Motown, we've got we got no lack of talent here. And the thing is I mean I'm a big baseball fan, so if we're going to throw a challenge out there. I'm going to say that the winner has to sing the national anthem of the other country at a ballgame either Comerica Park in Detroit or a Blue Jays game in Toronto. How’s that for a challenge?

KK: I’m all about it. Let's do it!

CO: But you have to get all the words right.

AO: I know “Oh Canada”. I know it well.

CO: Well listen, we're going to check back with you and see how you're doing in a few days. And good luck to Stouffville. Good luck to Detroit and I hope you guys get through this.

KK: Thanks so much.

CO: All right. Take care.

OA: Best of luck to you Kevin.

KK: Same to you AJ. Good chatting.

JD: Kevin Kerr works at Stouffville's Earl of Whitchurch pub. AJ O'Neil is the owner of Detroit Bold Coffee. They are both attempting to set the record for longest concert ever.

[Music: Let’s Get It On/ Motown]

Amphibian sex

JD: Oh yeah, the rain is gently falling. The temperature is swelling and the barometric pressures is set to “oh yeah”. And when your bulging eyes meet from across a crowded terrarium, your tiny mind goes pitter patter and you want to feel your partner's mucus emitting skin under your webbed toes. I'm sorry to be so sexy, but admit it, you've been there. I mean you've been in the vicinity to find that exact scenario hot with two t's, you would have to be a salamander or some other species of amphibian. And then, you would be very lucky to have a matchmaking friend like Dr. Ruth Marcec. Dr. Marcec is an expert in amphibian mating. And since nearly half the world's amphibian species are under threat, she has been getting busy getting these creatures to get busy. Most recently, she was hired as the new director of the National Amphibian Conservation Centre at the Detroit Zoo. Her job is in part to create the ideal conditions for all those frogs, salamanders, toads and newts to explore each other's bodies. And inspiring that kind of procreative activity requires some proactive creativity. Here's Dr. Ruth Marcec giving a few hints about her approach.

SOUNDCLIP

RUTH MARCEC: Amphibians are very difficult to breed in captivity. You need to get the mood just right. They need some Marvin Gaye. No. They need specific barometric pressure. They need specific rainfall and things like that.

JD: Don't we all? Although the stakes are higher for these amphibious creatures, Dr. Marcec travels all over the United States trying to help them hook up. Because, if they do not, the effect on the ecosystem could be catastrophic. So good luck to her and to all the amphibians she helps get it on. Because inducing them to multiply is serious business. So there's no fooling around getting them to fool around.

Part 2: Mount Etna eruption, Nazi salute suit

Mount Etna eruption

Guest: Rebecca Morelle

[Sound: screaming and crackling]

JD: That is a bit of what it sounded like on the side of Mount Etna in Sicily yesterday, as it unexpectedly erupted. Sending visitors and scientists fleeing, and injuring several of them. Among them was a team from the BBC, whose camera operator continued to shoot and capture that footage, while being pelted with flying rocks. Rebecca Morelle was also part of that BBC team. We reached her at the airport in Palermo.

CO: Rebecca, what was the first sign that Mount Etna was about to blow?

REBECCA MORELLE: Well, we already knew that Manhattan was erupting. It's one of the world's most active volcanoes and it was going through a short period of activity. So we'd come to film a lava flow that formed overnight. We were away from the crater, which is where the really dangerous explosions take place. And we went to see a lava flow that was really slowly snaking its way down the mountain. It’s a great mass of molten rock — it’s about a thousand degree Celsius. When you get close, you can really feel the heat of these things. And the scene was really quite kind of serene at the time. We were there with the scientist, he was monitoring the situation and there were tourists there too because this activity wasn't really considered to be a dangerous thing to do. Because the lava moves so incredibly slowly and you know because its heat you have to stand some way back. But then, we saw first of all were plume of white smoke emerge from this stream of lava. And we thought oh hang on this looks kind of OK, but not quite right. And then the guide started saying Come down, come down. So we started to move away. And then moments later, there was an explosion and essentially burning rocks, boulders and steam blasting high up into the air. And, of course, the stuff that goes up has to come back down again and we just started to run. I mean I knew if we were hit by pieces of rock large enough we'd die. I thought we were all going to die. And I fell over onto my face as I was sprinting. I don’t think I’ve ever run so fast as I was trying to get away from this. As I fell, all I could hear was the rocks hitting all around me.

CO: Can you say what Happened because you weren't near the source of the volcano — the mouth of it? So what caused the explosion?

RM: I've since found out it is quite an unusual set of circumstances. So lava normally snakes its way quite safely and slowly down the mountain, that's a regular occurrence. So that's why tourists are normally brought up to see these things because nothing normally goes wrong. However, when we were there, it was a very clear day and the snow up there had started to melt. And this caused melt water to form. Now the melt water normally drains away through the rocks. But for whatever reason some of it hadn’t and it built up under the lava flow. So you imagine that you've got these hot rocks about a thousand degrees Celsius moving above. And then down below you've got a pool of really, really icy water. It starts to boil. The pressure builds and that's what's let of this huge, huge explosion. I mean my camerawoman, Rachel Price, she's absolutely incredible. She caught all of it all on camera. She's absolutely incredible and very brave too.

CO: What happened to Rachel? She got knocked over in this didn't she?

RM: Yes she fell over. I mean a lot of people fell over. And she fell over; she was pelted with these rocks. She had her coat, which is a thick, warm coat and it was just covered in holes where these burning rocks had hit her. They were the size of your fist just raining down on her. One of them actually fell down the back of her coat and burned a massive hole through her coat and on to her back. So she is burned, but not too badly. Today actually after the adrenalin wore off, the aches and bruises of the whole event. All of us are kind of not feeling particularly our best. But we're all very relieved to have got out of there alive.

CO: How did you get out? What did you finally get to in terms of safety?

RM: I have to say at this point, the guides and Mount Etna were incredible. So a snow vehicle had brought us up the mountain. And there were tourists there too. So I was running, I’d fallen down, I got up, was disoriented and then suddenly I heard the roar of the engines from this snow cat. And the driver started to beep his horn so you could locate where the sound was. You could actually hear where the vehicle was. I ran over and had to duck behind it again because the second barrage or rocks was flying through the air. The BBC team and tourists, everyone pilled on board. They didn’t leave anyone behind. They made sure everyone was on there safely. The scene was horrible I mean people had head injuries. There was blood everywhere. Someone had dislocated their shoulder and they were screaming in pain in pain. But it did quickly become apparent that while the injuries looked really bad, there weren't any really serious, serious injuries. When we were driving back down, because he moved quite quickly, I mean we had to get out of there. There was a huge hole above my head where a rock had actually passed through this enormous, bulky metal tank of a vehicle. Its windows were smashed. I thought if one of these rocks — a big enough rock — could do that to this vehicle, imagine what it could do if it hit one of us. I mean I just can't believe we were alive.

CO: Rebecca, I'm so glad that you and the crew are safe.

RM: Thank you very much.

JD: Rebecca Morelle is the global science correspondent for the BBC. We reached her in Palermo, Italy.

[Music: Hip-hop]

Don Meredith

JD: Senator Don Meredith says he is deeply sorry. But he is not preparing to resign from the Upper Chamber any time soon. He said both those things, and more, in his first media interview since a damning Senate ethics report was released last week. It detailed how Senator Meredith allegedly had sexual relations and an explicit online chats with a teenaged girl, known as Ms. M. The report also said that the senator failed to uphold quote, “the highest standards of dignity inherent to the position of Senator.” This week, Senator Meredith spoke to Colin Perkel from the Canadian Press. And he suggested that his race is a major factor in the way the case is being handled.

SOUNDCLIP

DON MEREDITH: For six years I’ve sat in the Senate of Canada and consistently faced racism and discrimination. So this is nothing new to me. This is something that is again in almost every single institution, where individuals of color rise and somehow they're taken down.

COLIN PERKEL: So do think if a white man was having an affair with a teenage girl, that nobody would mind or that this wouldn’t be an issue for people?

DM: If this was a criminal incident we wouldn't be having this discussion, but I’ve broken no laws. The police have confirmed that and I want all Canadians to understand that. What I'm trying to say is that this would have been handled totally differently when individuals have breached the code.

CP: You're not indicating at this point that you're going to resign. You’re considering your options if I understood it, is that correct?

DM: I'm currently, on the advice of my doctors, on a medical leave. A report has just come out that has detrimental impact on me as a human being — on my family. And I believe that it is my right to consider all options available to me. And that's exactly what I plan to do.

CP: And your message to Canadians today and to Ms. M and to anybody else who is interested in this?

DM: To my family, to Ms. M, to my colleagues in the Senate, to all Canadians, I deeply regret this and I’m deeply sorry. And I apologize from the bottom my heart. And I ask their forgiveness and for us to be able to reconcile. because I believe is reconciliation and forgiveness.

JD: That was Senator Don Meredith, speaking with Colin Perkel of the Canadian Press. One of Senator Meredith's colleagues was quick to respond today. And to say that Senator Don Plett was displeased would be an understatement.

SOUNDCLIP

DON PLETT: I've never heard of something so ridiculous. Our Senate is made up of a diverse group of people. I have never ever heard of anybody being accused of being racist in our chamber and for him to make comments like this shows me the arrogance of this man. And the fact that he is not, as he says, remorseful of what he did. If he wanted to come out and apologize; if he wanted to truly ask for forgiveness. He keeps on saying that he has asked his family for forgiveness. He hurt a 16-year-old young woman; I have never clearly seen where he has asked her for forgiveness. And to me, I was thinking if he would do that I would at least openly look at seeing if he was remorseful of his actions.But for him to try to portray himself as the victim it this is extraordinarily strange. He is not the victim, he's the perpetrator. Ms. M is the victim in this.

That was Senator Dawn Plett, reacting to Senator Don Meredith's comments yesterday with the Canadian Press.

[Music: Ambient]

Nazi salute suit

Guest: Portia Boulger

JD: At first, Portia Boulger says that all she wanted from James Woods was a correction and an apology. Now, she says the Hollywood star can talk to her in court. Last year at this time, Ms. Boulger was busy organizing for Bernie Sanders in Ohio. Then a pro-Trump activist accused her of being the woman giving a Nazi salute in a notorious photograph taken at one of Mr. Trump's rallies. Mr. Woods retweeted the accuser's message. So did one of the candidate's sons. Pretty soon, Ms. Boulger found herself the target of much hate. All because of an accusation that was entirely false. We reached Portia Boulger in Chillicothe, Ohio.

CO: Ms. Boulger, how did you first learn that you had been featured in a tweet as the woman giving a Nazi salute at a Trump rally?

PORTIA BOULGER: Well, I woke up on Saturday morning — March 12th — I believe it was. And my son and my daughter almost simultaneously called me and they were upset and asked me to go take a look at my Facebook page and it was just blowing up with accusations and horrible remarks. And I went over to my Twitter feed and the same thing was going on.

CO: What was the message that was going with those tweets? What was the point of that?

PB: Well, to any cognitive person the point was to make it appear as if I was Bridgette Peterson, who was the woman that gave the “Heil Hitler” sign, at the University of Chicago during a Trump rally that actually was shut down due to violence. And they made the statement that Bridgette was really Portia and that Portia Boulger, a Bernie Sanders supporter, was infiltrating to make it look like Trump supporters were violent and Nazis and bad people.

CO: And also played into claims being made at the time by Trump supporters that Democrats and Sanders people were trying to sabotage his campaign and this was their evidence, is that right?

PB: Absolutely. Well, there was actually a tweet by Donald Trump Sr. that other campaigns were infiltrating and then right under it those comments about me. So yes.

CO: Donald Trump Jr. got involved as well, is that right?

PB: Yeah, I want to really clarify that I cannot prove that Donald Trump Sr. was involved in the accusation against me, but he made a generalized statement. Then Donald Trump Jr., his son, in addition to James Woods, the actor, came forth then and named me.

CO: Describe a bit more of the role that you're alleging that James Woods played in this?

PB: I'm not letting anything, it's fact. The tweets we speak for themselves. They come from his Twitter account and he clearly stated that it was me as the Bernie Sanders supporter.

CO: I think I got the tweet here that James Woods put out qand he says so-called “Trump Nazi” is a Bernie Sanders agitator/operative.

PB: Yes, that was one of them.

CO: And does he name you at some point?

PB: Yes.

CO: And does it make a difference at all that he put a question mark at the end of that? He said that Bernie Sanders agitator/operative question mark. As though he's questioning it and not actually stating it.

PB: It doesn't make a difference to me at all. He put it out there. He let it stay there for about two weeks and he knew exactly what he was doing. Mr. Woods may not be the nicest man in the world, but he's not stupid.

CO: And he wasn't alone in doing that. Others once they learned that you were not the person in that photo, not the person giving the Nazi salute. They withdrew those tweets, is that right?

PB: Well I know that Vox Day, the man who started this whole thing, withdrew. And it was very clear to anybody that's on social media that it was not me after a very short period of time because the Chicago Tribune came out and named the woman and actually interviewed Bridgette.

CO: What happened to you in the meantime? What kind of messages were you getting?

PB: I got horrible, horrible, nasty comments. Do you want me to tell you verbatim or do you just want me to give you generalized?

CO: Well…

PB: They called me the most worst of worst names. They said that they hoped I got raped by those liberals that go to the rallies and die of AIDS. They hoped that my children died of AIDS that my grandchildren died of AIDS. One of the messages said something to the effect I'm going to buy a gun and come hunting for you. I’ve been getting hang up calls since that happened. One of the most concerning came either at the end of January or February of this year, where someone stayed on the line for a long time and it sounded like somebody walking in gravel and I happen to live on a gravel lane, so it scares me.

CO: What efforts did you make to try and get Mr. Woods to take the tweet down?

PB: Well, I was very fortunate in obtaining a wonderful attorney and he sent demand letters to Donald Trump Jr. and to James Woods. And the demands were to retract the tweets and to make a public apology. And Donald Trump took his tweet down quickly, but it took I don't know close to two weeks before he actually made an apology and he did make it on Twitter. And James Woods refused. He finally did take his tweet down and came back with three more tweets that he did not apologize. And it's been a year now and he still hasn't apologized.

CO: I’m just going to give a quote from Mr. Woods his own lawyer reacting to your suit, which the lawyer says is, “patently bogus”. He says in response to a rumor circulating on the Internet about Ms. Boulger’s alleged affiliation with a Trump rally. Mr. Woods tweeted a question seeking clarification. On its face, that is not defamation. In fact, Mr. Woods went out of his way to defend Ms. Boulger against alleged harassment. This case proves the adage no good deed goes unpunished.” What do you say to that?

PB: I say that that Mr. Woods is Trump as a liar and he knows he's lying. And that was not a good deed. Lies do not equate with good deeds.

CO: And so what do you want Mr. Woods to do now?

PB: I want Mr. Woods to understand through the full power of the law in my country that he cannot come after common citizens or any body and get by with it. I want justice. I want him to understand through a court of law that he was guilty of what he did and he's got to pay.

CO: Ms. Boulger, I appreciate speaking with you. Thank you.

PB: Thank you very much.

JD: We reached Portia Boulger in Chillicothe, Ohio.

[Music: Groove]

Steak Library

JD: As bottles go, they're all top-shelf. Unless are in the magazines or the newspapers I suppose. Or on the bottom shelf. At the Avon Lake public library in Ohio, staff are still trying to figure out who has been hiding bottles of A-1 Steak Sauce everywhere. As we told you earlier this week, 30 bottles have been discovered in various parts of the building since mid-January. Weirdly, they are all empty. Even more weirdly, they've all been thoroughly cleansed almost sanitized. And as of today, even after reviewing security camera footage, there are no suspects. Well after she heard that story, Jacqueline George got in touch with us. And her own story also raises complicated questions such as: was it shelved under “R” for “rib-eye”? or T for “T-bone”? Ms. George writes quote, “While I was working in the public library in Kentville, Nova Scotia a co-worker approached the desk with a piece of steak that she had discovered on one of the shelves in history, the 940’s, I think. It had been filed on the shelf like a book. We were all baffled. Who did this and why? Now, we may have an answer. It was meant to go with the bottles of steak sauce and the Avon Lake, Ohio library.” Well thank you very much for writing Jacqueline, we do appreciate it. Even if you have actually introduced a disturbing new level to this mystery instead of solving it. I recommend the Kentville library and the Avon Lake library be put under constant surveillance until we have some real answers. Because honestly the only thing that's going to solve both of these cases is the stakeout.

Part 3: Refugee attack, OxyContin lawsuit

Derek Walcott obit

SOUNDCLIP

DEREK I think it is a benediction and I also think it is a calling and a duty. For me it was definitely, that's the only thing I knew I wanted absolutely to do from extremely early.

JD: That was the voice of the late Derek Walcott, one of the most celebrated poets of the Caribbean. That was his speaking voice anyway. His poetic voice was different. It was honed over decades, first heard when he published his first book in 1948 as a teenager. He was perhaps best known for a poem that came 42 years later in 1990, Homeric work entitled “Omeros”. That work is an epic. It is set on his home island of St. Lucia. Mr. Walcott said quote, “the whole book is an act of gratitude. It is a fantastic privilege to be in a place in which limbs, features, smells, the liniments and presence of the people are so powerful. Derek Walcott died today. He was 87-years-old. In 1992, Mr. Walcott was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. In 2015, he was given a lifetime Recognition Award by the Griffin Trust. And last year, he was named a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Lucia. Here is Derek Walcott reading a passage from his work “The Prodigal” in 2006.

SOUNDCLIP

DW: The solid specter of your grief. Yes you can still see his ascetic halos. A hat or a sign. then the moor fills with phantoms serenely hurrying to the same exit the arched doorways of sunlight almost celestial. I silently shout their names, but I am inaudible to them since they outnumber me. To them I am the Phantom and they are the real ones. Their names still claiming them over the noise of waiters clearing the tables of their possessions. Of the crumbs of bread and the glasses of recent blood still clouded with one breath. The breath that I too would leave in a water glass to condense when I join them following the pale tonsure of a moon that fades into the glare of the dawn outside the intricate an immense cathedral of our terrestrial traffic. The changing light within the circumference of the cathedral and its immense and bustling piazza and along mall of cafes and shops I saw him because I needed to. Because a lengthening absence requires its apparition lost then returned again by the frothing crowd. I was not ready for the stone web and incantation hallowed intricacies of the altar's. An architecture like frozen fury demanding surrendering all.

JD: That was Derek Walcott reading a passage from his work “The Prodigal” in 2006. The Nobel Prize winning poet died today. He was 87-years-old.

[Music: Jazz]

Refugee attack

Guest: Joel Millman

JD: The civil war in Yemen claimed at least 40 more innocent lives yesterday. Last night, a boat carrying Somali refugees was attacked as it sailed past the coast of Yemen on its way to Sudan. Joel Millman is a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration. We reached him in Geneva.

CO: Mr. Millman, as far as you know, what happened last night to this boat?

JOEL MILLMAN: Well, we understand about 160 people, all Somalis, had got together and arranged to contract a ferry boat that left the port of Hodeidah in Yemen. After that it gets a little murky. We understand that 3:00 a.m. there was an attack.

CO: And as far as you know, what you're hearing, who attacked this boat?

JM: Haven't a clue. We assume that if it was a military vessel then there had to be some connection to one of the warring factions in the in the civil war there. But it's just not a question I can answer.

CO: But what are witnesses saying as to what and how they were attacked?

JM: Well, they say at 3:00 a.m. they were shelled and some people insist it was from the sky and they heard helicopter sounds and some people think it was from a vessel, which they described as military. Could it have been a helicopter leaving the vessel? That's a possibility. We can only go with what the witnesses say. Unfortunately, they don't say the same thing.

CO: What did the people do to try and alert who was attacking them that this might be a boat of refugees?

JM: I'm not aware that they did anything. You know with high fire power you can kill people pretty quickly. And maybe the people attacking recognized they were civilians and maybe they thought maybe they had reports of another target. I just can't really speculate. But we know that over 90 people were rescued and about a third of those were so severely injured and brought to hospital. That people on the ground told us today that they think that the death toll will certainly rise. Now, we initially heard 31 killed and now we're saying 42 confirmed dead. So it's already risen, but I don't know how many of those new extra numbers come from the hospitals and how many come from bodies found at sea.

CO: I appreciate that the International Organization for Migration is careful. But at the same time, there is a limited number of parties who would be capable of this and just put in for the record what has been reported the possibilities are that Saudi Arabia is involved in this coalition. And it has class frigates that are capable of carrying helicopters and could have been in the waters. Also the United States is involved in that coalition it has that capacity.

JM: It is reasonable. But if we have the information we wouldn't hide it. I just don't think we have it.

CO: And how are you going to get it?

JM: Well, I mean you know sadly Friday is the worst possible day to try to you know make the machinery work in most of the Muslim world because of it's the beginning of a holiday holy season. You know I know that we immediately did what we do, which is get personnel on the ground close to where the victims are. Bring them first-aid. We know that we've been to hospitals who've been to a makeshift morgue that was made at a Fish market. I'm told there were some bodies that were held in an ice chest were fish are held. And in addition to comforting the afflicted, we also try to gather as much information as we can and we do this a lot. For example, in Italy when migrant ships come in we try to match the testimony with you know 20 or 30 or 40 witnesses. And we generally end up at the end of a day with a pretty clear picture of what everybody agrees happens. You know how many people are on the boat? Where they came from? What time it was? So I'm sure that's going on now and has gone on you know all day today.

CO: And these are Somali refugees who are in Yemen trying to get out. You said that you're dealing with many people who are leaving this war in Yemen. Does it send a signal to indicate that things are getting more desperate for people that this vessel had left with all these refugees? Does that tell you anything?

JM: You know traffickers have convinced people that they want to get jobs in Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf Emirates. And then then they are told that this is a golden opportunity because Yemen is in chaos with the war. This is the time when you should try to make it across Yemen and get to get to a job in Saudi Arabia, or Qatar, or one of those other countries. And instead they end up being in crossfire. So in addition to all that kind of irregular activity going on in the same water, we are also taking out thousands of people if we can by plane, which has been pretty successful and often by boat. And that's why we were worried when we heard about this incident is maybe this is one of our boats, but it wasn't.

CO: We will leave it there. Mr. Millman, thank you.

JM: Thank you.

JD: Joel Millman is a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration. We reached him in Geneva.

[Music: Indie rock]

Bank turtle update

JD: She was showered with good wishes and they almost killed her. But then fate intervened to retrieve her from misfortune. Last week, we told you about the plight of a 25-year-old green sea turtle in Thailand nicknamed “Omsin” meaning “Bank”. And she earned that name for having swallowed nine hundred fifteen coins, tossed into her pond by good-luck seekers. Members of the Thai Navy noticed that she was floating and swimming erratically. They took her to a university animal hospital in Bangkok. A team of five veterinary surgeons spent several hours removing the five kilogram mass of metal from her gut, which had caused a crack in her ventral shell that became infected. We are happy to report that Omsin’s prognosis does look good. The head of the surgical team recently said quote, “It's fantastic. She is responding very well now. She is very happy and looks like a normal turtle.” Unquote.

[Music: Cultural]

Bacon waiter PSA

[sc]

[Sound: Jazz music and the sizzle of cooking bacon]

SPEAKER: Bacon is a fantastic ingredient that gives you the power to make anything taste better. Corn on the cob? Try bacon wrapped corn on the cob. Apple pie, boring. How about you bake a bacon apple pie, or bacon wrapped asparagus, onion rings, peppers, cheese.

JD: Oh you hear what they did there. They play a little bit of bouncy jazz, mix a greasy Pavlovian sizzle underneath and keep repeating the word bacon. It really does leave you craving some more of that pro-bacon propaganda. And the good news is you can find the rest of the video that you just heard a snippet of the Halifax Water YouTube channel. The bad news is that it's not just another ode to the artery clogging wonder of breakfast meat. The video is called “How to bacon responsibly” and it's really more of a bacon public service announcement reminding us all to practice proper fatty food disposal. When too much of the greasy drippings go down the drain. We risk creating so-called “fatbergs”. Those are the globular masses of congealed fat that are causing these titanic problems for Halifax's sewer system. So here is James Campbell, spokesperson for Halifax Water, breaking issue down for Don Connolly, host of CBC Radio's “Information Morning.”

SOUNDCLIP

JAMES CAMPBELL: The message is pretty serious you know. Like I say we have 25,000 KM of sewers and you have 1000 or so people pouring grease down the drain it’s got to start building up somewhere.

DON CONNOLLY: Even I don't for bacon in down the sink.

JC: Well that's fantastic. That's great news. That’s what we're trying to get everybody else to do to. Just let it cool in the pan. I remember my mother, when we're younger, she used to pour it in a Campbell's soup can and let it cool. And I think it went outside and the birds pecked away at it. You can do that our you can just let it cool and pour it in the green cart, it's great organic matter. Just don't pour down the drain. You know if you have some leftover salad dressing don't put it down the drain either. It creates the so-called “Fatbergs”. And that it's quite unpleasant for the crew the crews to deal with and it is also very costly. But I guess the biggest problem is if it backs up into somebody's home, you know wastewater in your basement is not very nice. It's just not the right thing to do.

DC: What does your crew do with a “fatberg” when it's retrieves one?

JC: Well, Like I say, they have to take one of those trucks and the truck is about half-a-million-dollars and whatever the location is they suck it out and get the flow going in the pipe again. And we have a facility by Aerotech Park where they dispose of it. So we’re not saying don't enjoy that bacon because I certainly do. Just don’t pour the grease down.

DC: OK. Duly noted.

JD: Avoid “fatbergs” at all costs. That was James Campbell, spokesperson for Halifax Water, speaking with Don Connolly, host of CBC Radio's “Information Morning” in Halifax.

[Music: Folk]

OxyContin lawsuit

Guest: Hil Kaman

JD: As cities across North America fight an epidemic of opioid addiction and overdoses, one municipality is setting its sights on a pharmaceutical company that made one often abused painkiller. Everett, Washington has gone to federal court to sue Purdue Pharma, the company responsible for the painkiller OxyContin. The suit alleges that the company knew that its pills were being sold to sketchy pharmacies and ending up on the black market. Hil Kaman is the Director of Public Health and Safety for the city of Everett. That's where we reached him.

CO: Mr Kaman, first of all, how has the opioid epidemic affected your city.

HIL KAMAN: We're seeing it in all city departments. Our parks staff are finding needles in our parks. Our law enforcement officers are all carrying Naloxone, the overdose reversal drug, and we now started a program in getting social workers in our police department. And our fire department is responding to overdoses and addiction related calls, so it is touched on every part of our city.

CO: And that's the cost of it. The dollar cost. What is the cost per year for the society? For the mental health of people in the city?

HK: We have heard stories again and again, particularly since filing the lawsuit against Purdue, from individuals who themselves have suffered from an opioid addiction. And also from family members and loved ones telling stories of losing someone they care about to addiction. To an overdose and having families pulled apart. We have people who are living on the streets because of addiction and because we don't have adequate resources to be able to address the full scope of the problem.

CO: And these are in many cases people who were having functional lives before they encounter the drugs?

HK: A very common story that we hear is that people started on a prescription opioid, particularly OxyContin. They received it either as a prescription or oftentimes they were experimenting with drugs on the street. These oxy pills during that time when they were in in the black market, 2007 to 2010, were very popular. We've heard many people say they thought it was safe because it was a prescription drugs. They didn't realize how addicted they would become and when the pill was reformulated in 2010, many of those users switched to heroin.

CO: Can you explain how you in the city of Everett thinks that Purdue's OxyContin has made it to these addicts on the streets of Everett?

HK: Our lawsuit alleges in particular one instance where there was a pill mill in Los Angeles, where millions of pills were leaving into the black market. Purdue had an obligation to monitor for that kind of diversion of their product and they failed to act to do so. We know those pills entered into the hands of criminal gangs, who then trafficked them up to Everett and sold them on the streets.

CO: What is it you think about these suspicious pharmacies that you've cited. What role did they play and how do you know they existed?

HK: We know they existed because Purdue had a list of pharmacies that they kept track of. They were under a legal obligation to the state of Washington to monitor for diversion and they would look think look for things like a high number of oxy 80s that were being prescribed to one particular pharmacy; something that might have been greater than the population of an area where that pharmacy existed. And those practices, those prescribing and distribution practices were recognized by Purdue that indicated black market diversion. And then they failed to act for their own profit and benefit at the cost of the city.

CO: And what's your evidence? How do you know that Purdue Pharma knew that these drugs were being sold and ending up in the black market?

HK: We have internal emails from sales staff who tried to alert the company by saying there are long lines of individuals here that look like they are homeless, like they are gang members who are lining up to receive pills at this particular pharmacy. The prescribing practices indicate that these individuals are not there to meet health needs, but are there in order to get the product that they wanted for street use.

CO: These are allegations and they've not been tested in court and Purdue, the company, says that your lawsuit presents an inaccurate picture and notes that in 2007 it was providing evidence to police in Los Angeles and that evidence helped convict people who were prescribing the drugs illegally. How do you respond?

HK: I'd respond that we have very good evidence that shows they did not take the steps they were obligated to do to prevent this level of diversion into the street. And so we feel confident that our lawsuit while unique, while one of a kind, has a very good chance of moving forward and bringing back to this community the restitution is owed for the harm Perdue caused.

CO: What are the obligations? What are you claiming that Perdue's responsibilities were for not allowing these drugs to get onto the street?

HK: So our capacity to address the scope of the problem has been limited. We need to be able to have the services, the treatment, the first responders, the housing to address the scope of this problem. And so we want the maker, the manufacturer, the seller of OxyContin to pay for increasing the scope of this problem of which we have been trying whatever we can to address within our city.

COL: All right, we'll be watching and many other municipalities will be as well. Mr. Kaman, thank you.

HK: I really appreciate you having us on today. Thank you.

JD: Hil Kaman Is the Director of Public Health and Safety for the city of Everett, Washington. And that's where we reached him.

[Music: Indie pop]

From Our Archives: balloon guy

JD: Depending on who you are I guess and how you remember it. It was either a daring act of whimsy straight out of a movie, or a wildly dangerous and yet successful publicity stunt. In July of 2015, an Alberta man decided to fly over the Calgary Stampede in a chair held aloft by more than 100 industrial balloons filled with helium. It was an effort to promote his cleaning company. Daniel Boria reached an estimated 4,200 meters of altitude in this contraption. About 14,000 feet, but he lost control and ended up landing in an industrial area instead of in the stampede field, where chuck wagon races were taking place. A country judge believes the stunt went off course the minute it began. At Mr. Borias sentencing today, Judge Bruce Fraser called the stunt quote, “unconscionably stupid.” Right after his flight, As It Happens guest host Susan Bonner spoke to Daniel Boria. Here's part of that conversation, from our archives.

SOUNDCLIP

SUSAN BONNER: Mr. Boria, to begin with, are you crazy?

DANIEL BORIA: Can you define that word a little bit more? Because in my view, it's crazy not to do something like this. It'd be crazy to go through your whole life and not be something substantial that you can look back on and at least laugh a little bit.

SB: OK. My second point then would be kids don't try this at home…

DB: Absolutely not.

SB: So tell me what you did and what you were thinking as you did it?

DB: So our aircraft was $19.95 lawn chair and 120 six-foot helium balloons.

SB: So you attached these balloons to the lawn chair…

DB: Yes, we measured it and everything. We had a huge engineering team working on it the whole time. I am just kidding. What we did is we waited out each place to carry three to four pounds and we used 120 of them. So we had over 100 pounds of lift after the weight of myself and a parachute.

SB: And how did you make sure that you weren't going to fall out?

DB: I tied myself into a carabineer for the first 3,000 feet.

SB: Well, I'm imagining that you didn't have a lot of control once you took off, am I right?

DB: We had some experts with wind direction helping us from our takeoff location and where we’d end up.

SB: You had some experts?

DB: Absolutely.

SB: Can you tell me more about that please?

DB: I'm going to keep that private for now. It was pretty early in the process.

SB: You don't want to get anybody else in trouble.

JD: From July of 2015, that was As It Happens guest host Susan Bonner, speaking to Daniel Boria, also known as the “Balloonatic”. Who attempted to float over the Calgary Stampede in a lawn chair lifted by 120 helium balloons. Today, Mr. Boria was sentenced after pleading guilty to the dangerous operation of an aircraft. The Calgary judge said his balloon voyage endangered flights taking off and landing at the Calgary International Airport, including two passenger jets that flew directly underneath him that day. In court, Mr. Boria apologized and was fined $6,500 in addition to the $20,000 donation he was ordered to raise for the Veterans Food Bank. Addressing reporters outside of court today however, his words were a bit more high and mighty.

SOUNDCLIP

DB: Yeah, well I've been incriminated based on a balloon chair propulsion system and flight innovation. And why we did this? You may well ask. Why climb the highest mountain? Why 85 years ago, Fly the Atlantic? Why did the Oilers play the flames? I chose to fly a chair not because it is easy, but because it is hard.

JD: In case you're wondering what that accent at the end there was supposed to be. Daniel Boria was quoting U.S. President John F. Kennedy who said the same thing with regards to the space race. Mr. Boria also added that he is now pursuing a hot air balloon pilot license.

[Music: Surf rock]

Mice itching

JD: The French essayist Michel de Montaigne once wrote, "Scratching is one of the sweetest gratifications of nature, and as ready at hand as any. But repentance follows too annoyingly close at its heels." He was right about that. And he probably spent a lot of time scratching and repenting: in every picture I've seen of him, he's wearing an gigantic, ridiculous ruff that makes my neck itch just to look at it. Seriously. And if you could see me scratching my neck, you'd be itchy too. We've known for a long time that itchiness is contagious. You see someone scratching and suddenly your neck demands the immediate attention of your fingernails. Now, we may know what to blame for that: gastrin-releasing peptide, or GRP. Now, I'm a layperson and I'm distracted by this itchy neck, but I'll try to explain anyway: GRP is a chemical that has previously been seen to trigger scratching. And when Zhou-Feng Chen and his team from the Washington University School of Medicine showed a mouse a video of another mouse scratching itself, that first mouse would start scratching too. Because, when the non-itchy mouse watched the itchy mouse, its brain, in Dr. Chen's words, quote, "began sending out itch signals using GRP as a messenger." That means the second mouse actually became itchy after watching the first mouse. So, Dr. Chen says, quote, "The next time you scratch or yawn in response to someone else doing it, remember it's not really a choice of a psychological response; it's hardwired into your brain." Unquote.

March, 17, 2017 episode transcript

Social Sharing

More from this episode