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The AIH Transcript for March 20, 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: Sea change. So far this year, the number of refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean has risen dramatically. Tonight, I’ll speak with a doctor aboard a ship that saved nearly a thousand people just yesterday.

JD: Starting from the top. At a hearing in Washington, James Comey offers another extraordinary revelation: this time, that the FBI is investigating Russian interference in the election. And any links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

CO: Where you have a big tent, you have big flaps. And while some people are upset that Jason Kenney, the new leader of Alberta's PC party, wants to unite all the province's conservatives, our guest is intent on being in that tent.

JD: The body impolitic. On Facebook, an Ontario photographer posts photographs of naked women standing behind a mannequin, to show the world there are no strict standards of beauty. And then Facebook imposes its own strict standards.

CO: Ruling within an ironic hand. A funny thing happened when a Washington Post writer published a scathingly satirical article about President Trump's budget. The White House apparently missed the joke and republished it.

JD: And… It's got a back beat. And he never did lose it. The great Chuck Berry was one of the key figures in the history of rock n roll. And now he's duck-walked off this mortal coil to join the other classical composers.
As It Happens the Monday edition, radio that suggests you roll over Beethoven and tell Tchaikovsky to move.

[Music: Theme]

Back To Top »

Part 1: Refugee rescues, Jason Kenney win, Chuck Berry obit

Refugee rescues

Guest: Conor Kenny

JEFF DOUGLAS: If you had hoped the refugee crisis was becoming less urgent. This is sobering news. Yesterday, 3,000 people were rescued off the coast of Libya. That brings the total number of people rescued while trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe to 20,000 — 20,000 since the beginning of 2017. One of the ships involved in yesterday's mass rescue was the MS Aquarius. It is now sailing toward Italy with many of the rescued, including many on accompanied minors. Conor Kenny is a doctor on board the MS Aquarius, and that's where we reached him.

CAROL OFF: Doctor Kenny, how many people are on board this ship with you right now?

CONOR KENNY: We have 946 people onboard.

CO: How many of them are minors?

CK: We have 248 minors, and 214 of them are unaccompanied minors. And we also have 128 women, 11 of whom are pregnant.

CO: Just on the unaccompanied minors. What ages are we talking about here?

CK: Anything between nine and 17-years-old.

CO: And they're on their own? There's nobody with them — they're unaccompanied?

CK: They're not accompanied by any adults or guardians above the age of 18.

CO: Can you tell us about the rescue and where you found the people who were on the boat with you now?

CK: Saturday evening, we got called to a target by the Mediterranean rescue coordination. And the first rescue involved I think 25 people on a boat. And then, throughout the course of the night, we came across other boats and in all nine boats in total were rescued and came aboard our boat: the Aquarius. so that rescue went all night of maybe 11 o'clock in the morning. It was an incredibly busy night.

CO: So these are what kinds of vessels?

CK: Many of them wooden boats, and many of them rubber boats. Rubber boats for example, the issues with them powered by gasoline. The gasoline often pools at the bottom of the boat, mixes with the seawater and causes corrosive effect, which burns the skin and causes it very extensive chemical injuries. On one boat in particular, we had a large number of people coming into the clinic due to their wounds. Other issues with the boats is if they have a wooden floor often it's poorly made, there are nails sticking out. So you've got a lot of injuries that way. Many of the boats are completely overcrowded and you have many people who have been crushed on their way into the boat or when they're on the boat that they just simply can't move. And they developed muscle injuries as a result of that. So the boats are pretty badly made.

CO: You're rescuing these people — almost 1,000 people — so many of them children during the night in the dark. And so what kind of emotional or mental condition are they in as you’re bringing them on to your vessel?

CK: It's a real mixture. Many of them are still happy just to have survived, there’s a sense of elation. However, with other boats there's a real sense of desperation. They may have been in the water for an extended period of time or had a particularly bad journey. And it often takes that 24 hours of supportive therapy for them to become themselves — to bounce back. So it's a real mixture of emotions.

CO: And your ship, the M.S. Aquarius, was able to pick up almost 1,000 people altogether during that same period time, around 3,000 migrants on various boats the same as the ones that you encountered were rescued at the same time. So is that an unusually high number of people who are making this voyage on this weekend?

CK: I don't necessarily know that in terms of that 3,000 how it compared to previous figures. Obviously it's incredibly significant and there is that figures to suggest that the amount of people crossing the Mediterranean between January and March of this year, compared to last year, that figure is up significantly. So this is a trend that seems to be increasing.

CO: So we know that the Mediterranean since this migrant crisis began it has been called one of the world's largest graveyards. Do you know if you didn't rescue people — some who didn't get rescued?

CK: I mean I know there's reports in the Libyan press today about a boat with 40 people on board who drowned. Often you hear from many of our guests on board the Aquarius, they'll tell you stories of bodies washing up on the coast of Libya after a failed attempt. So there are people who definitely didn't make it this weekend and that's the real tragedy of the situation. So it's a real mixture of emotions being able to rescue people, but also the feeling that you may have you know failed to read the others.

CO: The people on your boat, what countries do they come from?

CK: A real variety of countries. I mean I can only speak for the people that came into my clinic today, but mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, Gambia, Ghana and Nigeria as well Ivory Coast and also a number from Bangladesh as well.

CO: We saw some pictures of people from Syria. Have you got Syrians on your boat?

CK: We have one Syrian on board.

CO: What happens to these people now?

CK: So when we get to Italy, they will then be processed and then from there they will come under the care of the Italian authorities where their asylum application will be processed.

CO: And then what?

CK: And then, I mean obviously the application can be accepted or rejected.

CO: You know that European countries are making it very difficult for these migrants to arrive and to settle so why is that not been a deterrent for those who make this crossing?

CK: I mean pretty much every person who's come into the clinic today has been beaten at some stage was staying in Libya. So either by the police or by armed groups or by their employers. And that's just the men. Many of the women that we see have been the victims of sexual or gender based violence as well as in Libya. So their experiences there have been pretty horrific. And so it's completely understandable why they actually wanted to leave Libya and make the journey across.

CO: And why did they leave their countries?

CK: Many are fleeing conflict or war. Many are fleeing poverty as well. It's just a real mixture.

CO: Dr. Kenny, I know you've got much to do on the ship and I appreciate you took time to speak with us. Thank you.

CK: No problem. Thank you for your time.

CO: Bye.

JD: Conor Kenny is a doctor aboard the MS Aquarius rescue ship on the Mediterranean. Yesterday 3000 people were rescued off the coast of Libya. Almost 1000 of them by the Aquarius. You can find more on this story on our website including photographs and videos from onboard the ship: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

Jason Kenney win

Guest: Donna Kennedy-Glans

JD: In his victory speech over the weekend, Jason Kenney said, "Today, we have chosen the future." But it's unclear what the future has in store for the Alberta Progressive Conservatives, the party Mr. Kenney leads.
He wants to form a party that all Alberta conservatives can join – including the Wildrose Party. And to that end, earlier today, Mr. Kenney and Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean held a meeting to discuss unity.
And then, of course, there are the centrists within the PC Party, who might need some persuasion from Mr. Kenney.
Donna Kennedy-Glans is one of those centrists – but she doesn't need persuading. The former PC leadership candidate is now a member of Jason Kenney's transition team. We reached Donna Kennedy-Glans in Calgary.

CP: Ms. Kennedy-Glans, last fall you were competing against Jason Kenney for the job of Progressive Conservative leader, so why have you joined his transition team?

DONNA KENNEDY-GLANS: Three quarters of the PC voters support unity and that's a clear message and I'm grateful to have a voice at that table and be able to influence decisions going forward.

CO: When you were campaigning, were you in support of the United Conservative Party?

DKG: I was very much in support of the idea that we had to bring fiscal conservatives together. I agree with the numbers that you split the vote when you have fiscal conservatives within two parties. I had other ideas about pathways forward. But it's very clear that this leader has support for the approach that he's got on the table and I am very invested in that. It's time for renewal of the Progressive Conservative Party and conservatism in Alberta. We've had some dark days and we need renewal and I think everybody is behind it.

CO: But it's not going to be the Progressive Conservative party, is it?

DKG: It's going to be a party that includes fiscal conservatives and it also is going to have to figure out a way to bring together social conservatives and more progressive conservatives. There is work to be done. I do believe that we agree on about 80 percent of the issues. I've been an MLA and I've seen how this functions in practice. And I think there is a lot of common ground.

CO: But you seem to have among the Progressive Conservatives people who believe that those social conservatives are going to not fit in as well or that you're going to lose the progressive voices. We heard from for instance Richard Stark who said after the decision, after the election, he said we hold our breath hoping that none of our candidates will say “Gay people will spend eternity in a lake of fire”, as was a remark of a candidate in 2012 of the Wildrose Party. He also mentioned the e-mail of “Feminism is cancer” which came out of the University of Calgary’s Wildrose on campus group. These are the kinds of things that the centrist voices who are in the party are very concerned about. What do you say to that?

DKG: I say lots and I say it constantly. These are aberrations. And I think the challenges is our response. So when things like that have come up in the past, there has been a very clear and for the most part quick response and majority of Albertans would not support racist, homophobic, or anti-feminist viewpoints.

CO: How do you bring the social conservatives into this tent with the progressive fiscal conservatives?

DKG: What's being laid out is a plan to start with negotiations as early as today I suspect, come back to the grassroots members of the Progressive Conservative Party in early summer with a referendum and then go to both of those parties with a unity agreement ratified at a membership level. I believe that going back to the grassroots is actually the most powerful piece of what Jason Kennedy is advocating for today.

CO: What will you do about people who are saying that they're going to leave? People like Thomas Lukaszuk who says that the party no longer has to do with the progressive side. Doug Horner walked out during his speech. What do you say to them?

DKG: I actually know both of those gentlemen very well. I actually served with both of them. I respect both of those people. I'm sitting on Jason Kenney's advisory committee during this transition because I believe that having a voice at that table is very very important. I would rather have a voice at the table than be throwing stones from the outside. Thomas Lukaszuk and Doug Horner make their own decisions for their own personal reasons and I respect their decision. I hope that they will come to the table because they are very valuable voices.

CO: But you call them personal reasons. Why personal? Don't they sound like these are political reasons? These are larger than just their own personal views? That they are concerned where the party is going?

DKG: Their personal interpretations of where the party is going. And their own personal experience and their own personal values. It's an alignment issue for both of them.

CO: Well it reflects the same kinds of things we heard when Stephen Harper was trying to pull the… unite the Right party together, progressives and the alliance, and to try make a big tent party as he wanted. Many of those people believed at the time and continue to believe that it yoking together, the progressive positions were abandoned. And that's seems to be reflected in these remarks. What do you say to that?

DKG: I think comparing those two situations has some merit but I think it's also quite limited. Alberta is 4.5 million people it's a much smaller jurisdiction than all of Canada. We're trying to deal with a party that has really suffered some scars. We need to regain our dignity and feel confident with the values that we're putting forward. We need renewal.
As far as the numbers of people exiting, people are not accepting in droves. There was a clear statement from the other candidates who are running that they are willing to wait and see what emerges. And I'm hearing that daily from people. I've heard it for the last six months.

CO: What will the party be called?

DKG: I have no idea. That will be something that will be recommended by the negotiating team and ultimately decided by the membership which I think is back to the root of this. It's a free enterprise approach that will be endorsed and ratified by the members.

CO: Ms. Kennedy-Glans, thank you.

DKG: Thank you.

JD: Donna Kennedy Glanz is a former Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership candidate. She is now a member of the transition team for Jason Kenney, newly elected PC leader. We reached Ms. Kennedy glands in Calgary.

[Music]

Chuck Berry obit

Guest: Joe Edwards

JD: The great John Lennon once said, "When I hear rock, good rock, the calibre of Chuck Berry, I just fall apart and I have no other interest in life."
That may sound melodramatic. But when you really consider Chuck Berry’s monumental importance, you realize it actually might have been an understatement. Because Mr. Berry helped invent and define the whole genre, and he made himself a legend in the process. Chuck Berry died at his home in Missouri over the weekend. He was 90 years old.
Joe Edwards was Mr. Berry's longtime friend. He's also the owner of Blueberry Hill – a St. Louis restaurant and venue where the musician often performed. We reached Joe Edwards in St. Louis.

CO: Joe can I just say first off I'm sorry for the loss of your friend.

JOE EDWARDS: Yeah, it’s very difficult. It’s amazing. The finality of it is really hitting.

CO: How did you become friends with him?

JE: Just one of those unpredictable things in life. But I guess a trust built up between the two of us because he was a very guarded person because of, you know, the things that happened in the 1950s and 1960s when he was touring and all. And I guess he found a friend in me where I was always straightforward with him as he was with me, and a trust and friendship built up from that.

CO: And how often did he perform at your venue, at the Blueberry Hill?

JE: Chuck Berry performed a Blueberry Hill 209 consecutive months in a legendary concert series. People would come from all over the world to see him in that intimate setting. He loved performing and connecting with an audience. And one night we were sitting around at my house late at night. He was reminiscing about his early career and he said you know Joe, I'd like to play a place the size of the ones I played when I first started out and it only took about a half a second for us to connect and he said, well let's do it let's do it at Blueberry Hill. And that's how that concert series started.

CO: What was it like to see him onstage?

JE: Electrifying. And it was really fun because on stage, especially ay Blueberry Hill, he was as loose as he wanted to be. I mean he was he didn't have the pressure of a 20,000 capacity place, a time limit or to play a certain number of hits and all, and so it was very spontaneous.

CO: And 200 shows, the last being October 2014.So he died on Saturday at age of 90 so in his late 80s, he was still doing that electrifying show on stage?

JE: He was, through his 88th birthday and it was pretty remarkable that he still had the desire to connect with an audience. And they were very appreciative I tell you. It's amazing. Even though he might have forgotten a lyric here and there because he never used a teleprompter like musicians today even in their 40s, they use teleprompters a lot.
He would always make a joke out of it and [Sound: gibberish lyrics] and the audience would laugh and all of a sudden he’d pick it right back up and boom off to the races.

CO: Was he still doing the duck walk?

JE: Yeah the duck walk. It's one of those intuitive chorea graphical moves if there is such a word. So I'm starting to sound like Chuck Berry… that he did and people imitate that to this day. He did it every show it. He didn't get down as low in later years because of knees and all that and just that's the reality. But he did it and the crowd always went nuts.
The fact about Chuck Berry is that he was the first great poet laureate of rock n’ roll. And his lyrics were they connected with a whole new generation, the post-World War II generation and gave them a music of their own. And he really brought black kids and white kids together through music which is… his influence went well beyond music into culture and racial relations. So he choreographed the first great stage moves of a rock and roll musician. I mean he was playing the guitar behind his head, through his legs and then of course the inimitable duck walk. And then he was just a great guitar player.

CO: And just a bunch of things you said that I want to just pick apart, because it's so important that he spoke to a generation of kids of young people, black, white, didn't matter. They were drawn to the sound of like Johnny Be Good, Roll Over Beethoven, Sweet Little Sixteen, You Can't Catch Me. All these songs were just spoke to a generation. What was the sound? What did he do to create something so unique that spoke to them that way?

JE: When Chuck Berry took the humor and some of the music influenced, musical influences from country, kind of hillbilly country at that time in America, and blues, and rhythm and blues, and just created a new sound on guitar. He wrote a lot of his songs on piano. He's a really good piano player too. Humungous hands I don't know how, when he is over my house and playing, I don't know how he could hit single notes because his hands are so large, but he took all those sounds and melded them into a new sound.

CO: You mentioned that you became friends with him even though he was a very guarded person and that was because the things happened to him, with him the 1950s. He did spend, he did do a bit of time in prison. He had a few a lot of rough stretches. What effect would that have on him?

JE: Well the early ones were so racially motivated it had a powerful effect. I think that's why he became very guarded. Even he admitted he did some silly things at times, about every 17 years as he joked on Johnny Carson's shows one night. But it's yeah it did it. It did have an effect. He became a lot less open and a lot more guarded. And I think our friendship developed a lot because he always knew he could count on me as being straightforward in my comments, my support. I would tell them what I thought about whatever it is, and as he did to the world.

CO: Well some of that led to… his marriage fell apart but came back together again. He had four kids. Did he have much family? Did he have support around him?

JE: He did. And that's one reason that Chuck Berry, it was all about family. His wife of 68 years, Themetta, is very very sad obviously right now, but he was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri and never left. Other stars left to the east coast or the West Coast where maybe the fame could have been more impactful in certain ways. Or the connections could be at least. But he never did because his family meant everything to him. Even if he had not become a great superstar musician and songwriter, he was just dead set on supporting his family. Whether it was at an auto plant or whatever job it would take to do. And luckily he became a great superstar in music. If he had not, I think he would have been a great comedian. He has a great sense of humor and a great command of the English language about how to reinterpret it and create new words even like in this very first song Maybelline. You know when I was motivatin over the hill. Motivatin’! It would take any other poet or any other writer about five words to describe the exhilaration of the speed and going over the hill in a car and the wind coming through your hair. But in one word he got that across.

CO: And yet, we still talk about words he invented. His last great hit was My Ding A Ling. There’s just so many jokes about right.

JE: Right. Now that's kind of one of those whimsical. It was just recorded live in England in 1972. And all of sudden became a number one hit. But there is good news with the new album that's going to come out of new music that he recorded over the last quite a few years and produced, wrote, and recorded himself. And it's going to be his final album but there are 10 songs on the album about to come out sometime this year.

CO: And that album is simply called Chuck.

JE: Yes. It is.

CO: Joe, thank you. It's great to talk to you.

JE: Thank you very much.

JD: Joe Edwards is the owner of Blueberry Hill in St. Louis, a venue Chuck Berry played hundreds of times. Also a good friend of Chuck Berry's. Chuck Berry died over the weekend. He was 90 years old.

Back To Top »

Part 2: Comey hearing, body image photographer, James Cotton obit

Comey confirms investigation

Guest: Shane Harris

JEFF DOUGLAS: Today, the Director of the FBI, James Comey, made an exceptional admission:

SOUNDCLIP

JAMES COMEY: As you know our practice is not to confirm the existence of ongoing investigations especially those investigations that involve classified matters but in unusual circumstances, where it is in the public interest, it may be appropriate to do so as Justice Department policies recognize. This is one of those circumstances.
I have been authorized by the Department of Justice to confirm that the FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission is investigating the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and that includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia's efforts.
As with any counterintelligence investigation, this will also include an assessment of whether any crimes were committed.

JD: FBI Director James Comey before the House Intelligence Committee earlier today. Mr. Comey, alongside NSA director Admiral Michael Rogers underwent hours of bipartisan questioning about Russian links to now President Donald Trump's advisors and his campaign.
Shane Harris is a senior national security writer at The Wall Street Journal. He watched today's hearing closely. We reached Mr. Harris in Washington D.C.

CAROL OFF: Shane, as we just heard, FBI director James Comey confirming that the FBI is investigating Russian links to the presidential campaign of Donald Trump. Did he reveal any details?

SHANE HARRIS: No. Aside from that really important detail he revealed very little other information. We do know that it's part of a broader investigation into the Russian interference that there is this focus on potential links between Trump associates and Russian officials. But he was pressed over the course of a more than five hour hearing to reveal specifics and consistently the director just said he wasn't going to go there in an open hearing. And I doubt that he'll go there in a closed hearing either frankly.

CO: We will do we know even who the FBI is investigating? I mean is it, is Donald Trump involved in the investigation?

SH: As far as we know, not the president himself. We know from news reports, we've reported this and other organizations too, is there at least four people who have been examined as part of this FBI counterintelligence investigation. Mike Flynn who is the former National Security Adviser for President Trump, Carter Page who was named during the campaign as a foreign policy adviser, Paul Manafort, who was the former campaign manager for Mr. Trump has been also investigated, and a man named Roger Stone, who is a long-time Republican, political operative, has reportedly been implicated in this as well.

CO: And do we know what they're looking for?

SH: Well in a counterintelligence investigation, generally what the FBI will look for is any indications or evidence that someone may have been compromised by a foreign government or could be working with a foreign government in a way that might violate U.S. law or threaten national security. There are allegations that have been made most notably in this infamous dossier that was prepared by a former British intelligence official, that there was collusion between Trump campaign staff and the people orchestrating these hacks against the Democratic National Committee. The deputy director did not say if he was looking at that. But these kinds of contacts that could range anywhere I think from business dealings that might put Mr. Trump in a position where he was potentially obligated to Russian interests, all the way up to collusion between the campaign in Russia. These are the kinds of concerns and allegations that we've heard bandied about for months now. And I think that we have to presume that the FBI is at the very least looking into any and all of those.

CO: Will come as no surprise that Mr. Trump was tweeting throughout these hearings and one of the things he points out kind of an aha moment, which is that this none of what's being said of Mr. Comey indicates that the results of the election are in question, and that's very important to Mr. Trump as we know. Mr. Comey says back to him, he says that that in fact that they're examining what Russia did to interfere with the election, but the impact of that interference. What's the significance of that?

SH: I think it's very significant actually. I mean and one of the things that the president has said time and again is that the Russian hacking interference did not actually affect materially affect the outcome of the election. And I think he means really the votes as well. The intelligence community and the FBI never investigated that directly. They didn't measure the outcome. So it was just an incredible moment to watch the hearing which was being televised. And then this social media back and forth and the director of the FBI essentially being put in a position to have to refute the president of the United States.

CO: Mr. Comey took a fair bit of heat today because he was willing to, as the Democrats are saying, he was willing to talk about the Hillary Clinton e-mails just days before the presidential election to say that that was an investigation. And yet, this long reluctance to say that they're investigating the Trump campaign and Russia. How did he respond to that?

SH: Yeah this has put him in a real bind. Essentially the construct that he's tried to create here is that it was appropriate for him to comment on the Hillary Clinton matter at the time, which the FBI normally doesn't do, because of the extraordinary public interest surrounding this matter. And of course it had been known for several months that Hillary Clinton, this private e-mail server was being investigated even before Comey talked about it publicly.But of course Democrats were furious when he did that and even more so when after saying in the summer that there was going to be no recommendation for prosecution, he then announced, not long before the election that “No, we're looking at new e-mails that we found” and opened this can of worms up all over again and of course the Clinton campaign thinks that that actually blunted their momentum in key states and maybe cost them the election. So he is now in this position of having to explain to angry Republicans why it's important for him to comment on an investigation into Donald Trump. And Republicans I think we're as angry as that revelation as Democrats were at the FBI director for talking about Hillary Clinton's problems back during the campaign.

CO: Finally we have to talk about the other revelation in this issue which is about Mr. Trump's accusations that Barack Obama was wiretapping Trump Tower during the election campaign and the answer from Mr. Comey was that we have no information to support those claims. What is he saying in that. Is he actually saying there is no truth to it or just that we have no evidence?

SH: I think you have to read between the lines a little bit but not much and see that what he's saying is there's no truth to it. For the FBI, which is an investigative agency, to say there is no evidence of this, I think is definitive. And I think that because if there were a wiretap order in place, it would have been drawn up by the FBI and the Department of Justice. So if there's no information there, I mean it didn't happen unless there is some kind of, you know, highly illegal and unorthodox operation that the president was running that evaded the knowledge of the FBI director. What he's saying is it just simply didn't happen.

CO: We've heard that from the media spokesperson Sean Spicer who has for days now defended those claims from Mr. Trump, though he’s started to use air quotes around wiretapping. What does he think today?

SH: Well he didn't back off this claim. He was asked directly now that FBI Director Comey has said there's no evidence to back this up, has the president changed his allegation? Has he walked away from it? And Sean Spicer said no. And they continue to maintain that something may have happened and they're now being much vaguer about it than President Trump was and his very specific tweets of a few weeks ago. But the White House is sticking to its story.

CO: We will leave it there. Shane, thank you.

SH: It was a pleasure. Thanks for having me.

CO: Bye.

JD: Shane Harris is a senior national security writer at The Wall Street Journal. We reached him in Washington D.C.

[Music]

Body image photographer

Guest: Julia Busato

CO: It seems it seems one is holding a bathroom scale.

JB: Yes. That was her grandma's scale. Her grandma was big into very healthy eating and she was always weighing herself. But her granddaughter came to the realization that that itself isn't healthy, but she wanted to bring a piece of her grandma who she loved into the photo.

CO: What kind of responses were you getting from people who looked at them?

JB: Up and down. There are very negative ones. And then there are some very loving ones. So there are ones that are coming in that are very mean to models about their weight and what their story could be. And then there are ones that are so loving and so caring that it's people that are like “This is me. This is what I look like. These are my feelings. This is how people treat me. Thank you for putting this out there.”

CO: How did you feel when you found out that the photos were being censored by Facebook?

JB: Angry, frustrated. I don't understand how I can see so many different things on Facebook that offend me when it comes to sexuality, when it comes to like animal cruelty comes to, like just plain hatred on the Internet. And this is being censored.

CO: What does Facebook say for as reasons why they're taking your pictures down?

JB They say that it's in violation of their nudity clause, even though everything is censored and covered when I put it up. I don't put up things that show anything even if a model is posed completely full frontal. I make sure everything is censored.

CO: This is important. Important point for people to know, that in these pictures they’re suggestive of nudity but there is nothing shown. There's no full frontal nudity other than… the mannequin’s far more starkly naked than they are.

JB: Well that’s the thing and I even had somebody say to me “Well maybe they're offended by the mannequin’s nudity”, because pretty much most of these women are behind the mannequin. And even though the mannequin is frosted you still can't really see anything.

CO: I understand that now you have actually been frozen out of your Facebook account.

JB: Yeah. So what I'm explaining is I can still sign in. I can still see stuff. I just can't reply, I can't post. I can't even like a picture. There's nothing I can do. I can just watch the world go by.

CO: Why is that? Why have they done that to you?

JB: I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if it’s like a tease. Like here we have all the control, you can still see all the stuff you can normally see but we're not going to let you have any control over what you can do about it.

CO: We recently did a story with another woman who had the same similar problem with Facebook. She was trying to help women who had had mastectomies and she developed a way to artfully tattoo nipples onto the woman's breasts and she was locked out of her account. Why do you think Facebook responds that way?

JB: I don't know. I personally think maybe because we're trying to push the envelope. But then the allow everything else to go up.

CO: You said though some people did find the photos offensive. What did they say?

JB: Well they're not really saying it to me. They're saying it to the models themselves. They're saying like they find their body shape disgusting. They find who they are. It's not like… we have one lady who's larger size and they’re like “Well, she's going to die within a year because she's unhealthy.” Like nobody knows anybody’s story, so I don't understand how they can be that hateful towards anybody.

CO: What are you going to do? Are you going to keep trying to post these photos?

JB: Oh yeah. Hell yeah. I'm not going to stop.

CO: Julia, we'll be watching.

JB: Well thank you very much.

CO: Thank you.

JD: Julia Busato is a photographer. We reached her in Guelph, Ontario.

[Music]

James Cotton obit

JD: When James Cotton took hold of his harmonica, you could imagine it as a living, breathing thing, something that he had somehow tamed. The sounds he could coax from it seemed limitless. But to hear Mr. Cotton himself describe it, it was more of a negotiation, with perhaps one limitation: "If I don't feel it, I can't play it", he said. James Cotton died last Thursday. He was 81 years old.
He grew up in the Mississippi Delta, he began performing professionally at age nine. For a time, he served as the opening act for Sonny Boy Williamson. In 1955, he was recruited by the legendary Muddy Waters – a collaboration that endured more than a decade, and culminated in Waters' seminal 1960 recording, At Newport , recorded live at the Newport Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island.
Eventually James Cotton struck out on his own. He recorded dozens of albums and performed with a diverse range of artists, including The Grateful Dead, B.B. King, Janis Joplin, Johnny Winter, Ben Harper.
He spent a lot of time touring in Canada, with the likes of Ronnie Hawkins, Colin Linden, and the Downchild Blues Band.
In 1987, while on tour in Canada, Mr. Cotton sat down with Jack Farr, then-host of CBC's The Radio Show, to discuss life on the road, and to treat Mr. Farr – a budding harp player himself – to an impromptu lesson. Here is some that conversation, from our archives.

SOUNDCLIP

JACK FARR: OK now I've got a harmonica player from Chicago and I'm a harmonica player from Winnipeg.

JAMES COTTON: Now. Now, here we go.

JF: Yeah. Now you know with the Blues making a comeback, maybe it's time I made a change a career. Made myself some dough, just get out with this thing and knock the folks dead.

JC: That's right. That's right. That's what you've got to do.

JF: Just let me show you what I can do right now with this fancy blues harp. And then you can tell me what I've got to do. See, I've got troubles. There are 10 holes in this thing.

JC: Right.

JF: And here it says OK put your tongue overhauls one, two and three and blow into four.

[Sound: harmonica note, James Cotton’s laughter]

JF: What's… the man is laughing.

[Sound: harmonica note]

JF: I'm doing something wrong. Am I trying too hard? I’m not going to give you this because it's filled with saliva. Now what am I doing wrong here? You've got your own. You've got your own?

JC: I don't know. I used to sleep with it. So I woke today so I think I got it.

JF: Now OK. Can you put your tongue over three and blow into four?

JC: I don't know that's what they said on that.

JF: Yeah OK there's the instructions here.

JC: No, I'll use my own.

JF: OK. You tell me what you do.

JC: I'll use my own. I'll let them keep that. I’ll just use my own. OK. But I’ll play anything you want me to play. I’ll play four, one, anything you want.

JF: Well play me something simple that I can learn.

JC: OK. Something simple.

[Sound: harmonica trill]

JF: That’s simple?

JC: That was hole four.

JF: That was hole four?

JC: Yep.

JF: Well it changed, it changed though. You know like hole four, I'm going to cover everything up. Here’s hole four.

[Sound: harmonica note]

JF: Now yours didn't sound like that. Let's hear your whole four.

JC: Well, see that's different strokes for different folks.

[Sound: complicated harmonica riff]

JF: OK I don't think I can do… I don't think I can do that. How many holes were you dealing with there?

JC: Well I the same thing you did. I [unintelligible] and then played hole four.

JF: Is this a hard instrument to learn how to play?

JC: Yeah it is.

JF: OK it's hard to play, like hard to play well. Is it hard to learn it, so I can, you know, go to a party one night, and bring it out and the folks sing along with me?

JC: Just like… [sound: harmonica notes and singing]
You get a line and I'll get a pole. Baby that's easy. [Sound: singing] You get a line and I get a pole baby. You get a line and I get a pole and we go down to the crawfish hole, honey baby [Sound: harmonica riff].
Very easy

JF: OK. I don’t know.

JC: Why don’t you try sucking up on hole five.

[Sound: harmonica note]

JC: I think that’s better, don’t you?

JF: Yeah. Going this way, sucking up rather than blowing in, is easier. OK I’m sucking in on hole 8. But then when I try and blow into seven, Oh I got it! [sound: blows note]

JC: Blow straight down hole ten All right. All right.

JF: Why can't I do four. OK I'm going to go back to four. [Sound: harmonica note, sounds hollow]. Something’s wrong. I don't look at my… is my whole four plugged? [Sound: harmonica note, clear]

JC: Not to me. [Sound: laughter] I don't know. That sounds really good to me as a matter of fact.

[Sound: harmonica riff]

JF: Well I'm convinced that it's not my $22 harmonica.

JC: No, didn’t rip you off.

JF: Well you know blues is making a comeback but it's coming back without Jack Farr. But James Cotton, you're along for the ride and you're enjoying every minute.

JC: I'm enjoying every minute.

JD: From our archives, that was blues harp virtuoso James Cotton taking Jack Farr to school on CBC's The Radio Show on September 19th of 1987 James Cotton died Thursday of pneumonia. He was 81 years old.

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Part 3: Cinco de Mayo cancelled, budget satire reporter

Canada Reads

JEFF DOUGLAS: It's almost that time of year again. No, not taxes. I mean, yes, taxes, but that's not nearly as exciting as the other thing that it's time for: Canada Reads.
The annual book battle in which prominent Canadians face off over the question: "What is the one book Canadians need now?" [lb\ In the ring this year we have veteran and city councillor Jody Mitic, singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk, spoken word artist Humble The Poet, comedian and broadcaster Candy Palmater, and opera singer Measha Brueggergosman. Each of whom is hoping to deal more than paper cuts in defense of their favourite books.
Canada Reads starts next Monday and to get you ready for the back-and-forth, As it Happens will air an excerpt from each of the competing books, read by the authors, beginning tonight.
Up first is a book that already has a few gold stickers. Fifteen Dogs won the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize, and its author, André Alexis, won the Windham-Campbell Prize for literature earlier this month. The book begins with a bet made in a bar by two Greek Gods. One thinks human consciousness is a good thing, the other thinks it's a burden that makes us miserable. So these two dogs decide to test their theories, by bestowing human intelligence on a group of dogs at a Toronto vet.
In this passage, one of the dogs, Prince, tries his hand at poetry for the first time, And his fellow canines are not quite sure how they feel about it.

SOUNDCLIP

One night, Prince sat up and spoke a strange group of words:
The grass is wet on the hill.
The sky has no end.
For the dog who waits for his mistress,
Madge, noon comes again.
Hearing this grouping of growls, barks, yips and sighs, Frack and Frick had jumped up, ready to bite the face off the weary dog’s mistress. They assumed a master was among them, ready to inflict pain. But Prince’s words had not been meant as warning. Rather, he had been playing. He had been pretending. He had been speaking for speaking’s sake. Could there be a more despicable use for words? Max got up, snarling, ready to bite.
He had not counted on the pleasure some of the others had taken in Prince’s words, however. Athena thanked Prince for his evocation of wet hills and endless skies. Bella did the same. Far from feeling that Prince had abused their tongue, a number of the dogs felt that — as with his play with words — he’d brought something unexpected and wonderful to it.
“I was moved”, said Majnoun. Please, do it again.

JD: André Alexis with a reading from his book, Fifteen Dogs. Fittingly, the book will be championed by spoken word artist Humble The Poet in this year's Canada Reads debates. So tune in starting next Monday, March 27th, on CBC Radio, TV and online. For showtimes and more, go to cbcbooks.ca.

[Music]

Cinco de Mayo

Guest: David Pina

JD: Thousands and thousands gather in Philadelphia every spring to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. They dress up, they dance to celebrate the Mexican Army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla.
But this spring, the streets will be empty because there won't be a celebration. Organizers say they're cancelling the event due to concerns over federal immigration raids in the United States.
David Pina is one of the organizers of the event. We reached him in Philadelphia.

CAROL OFF: Mr. Pina, how did you come to deciding to cancel this carnival this year?

DAVID PINA: Well we are trying to cancel because you know whatever happens right now with the politics about the immigration laws and all that, so we don't want to expose my people to something bad. So we want to keep them safe. We want to keep the community together and far of the dangers they can.

CO: What do you think that they will be exposed to? What do you fear will happen to people?

DP: Because you know right now, we heard a lot of stories. They catching people driving with no license and they find them not legal in this country and to take them away. So we don't want to happen to all the people because a lot of people, they come and celebrate the event. They come from New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, Chicago, Los Angeles. So that's why we want to keep them safe.

CO: Can you give us some specific ideas of what people fear might happen? What you fear might happen to people in the Latin American communities from around the United States? What might happen to them if they come to this celebration?

DP: My fear is because you know, I don't want to you know, like people drive in on the way here and you know get maybe get arrested somewhere, and you know, didn’t make it, and then you know, take him away from this country. And that's the only reason we don't want to do the event.

CO: Maybe just tell us a bit more about what's been happening in Philadelphia recently with the immigration people and the arrests and the deportations that you have been experiencing?

DP: Right now we don't hear anything like bad things happening in the area, but we see three friends, they come and get them because they have some criminal record before. Maybe like five, six years ago, and they went to the court and tried to clean up everything. And so right now they are coming get him because they say they have a bad record some before. Not now but the people you know they're trying to fix their mistakes.

CO: We know that we've heard that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the U.S., ICE as it's known, that they've been they've just this past week, say that they have 248 people in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and West Virginia in custody awaiting deportation. Are people hearing that this is happening a lot? That people are being taken in?

DP: Yes that's what I heard and that’s why we decide to cancel this event because we don't want like more people having the same thing. So you know that's why we're trying to get the community away from the dangers.

CO: Can you just tell us a bit about this carnival and how you celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Tell us about the event.

DP: The celebration exactly is we celebrate the victory of the fighting by French and Mexico and Mexico won. So that's why we celebrate every Cinco de Mayo the victory. And we celebrate here in South Philly for 10 years now and the celebrations kind of like, you ever heard the Mummers Parade?

CO: Yes.

DP: Yes. It's kind of similar because it's the same party, where we close the streets, we go every 10 minutes, we go from the city. We have live bands so the people start coming in, dancing. We provide food, drinks for all the family because this event is like a family event. And you know, we arehave a party and after that we march from between like maybe 15 to 16 blocks from the street we close to the park playgrounds and we end the party over there.

CO: It sounds like a great celebration. Aren't you worried though that this is driving you underground? That you will disappear from the sight of people who live in your city who don't know about your community unless you're out there?

DP: Yes. So that's why we are you know, we very sad because it's not the way they're supposed to treat us because you know we are not a bad people. We are a good people. We are fun people. We come to this country to do good things, you know? Like myself. I have my own business. People say “Oh you just come to this country, and not pay taxes. Don’t pay this, don't pay that.” But you know a lot of people, we come to this country and we do everything by the law.

CO: Does it make you sad?

DP: Yes it does make me sad because you know there's celebration. They've been doing this for 10 years and we was very excited when we started. And right now, that things happened, we stopped this for this year and a lot of people was waiting for the event. And right now a lot of people were sad because we're not going to have it.

CO: And you think you're going to bring it back?

DP: Yes. They’re waiting for that. So you know, we’re not going to lose that opportunity. We're not going to lose that advantage. So next year we hope everything cools down so everything. So like you know, we know how the things going and we going to know how are we going to do it.

CO: Mr. Pina, I appreciate speaking with you. Thank you.

DP: Thank you very much.

CO: Take care.

JD: David Pina is one of the organizers of the Cinco de Mayo celebrations in Philadelphia. And we reached him in Philadelphia. If you would like to listen again or know someone who would and you'd like to share it you can find it on our website: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

Teacher awarded

JD: She was up against teachers from all over the world. But Canada's Maggie MacDonnell taught them all a lesson.
This weekend, in Dubai, Ms. MacDonnell awarded the Global Teacher Prize, worth one million US Dollars.
She's originally from Nova Scotia, but Ms. MacDonnell was awarded for her work with students in the Inuit community of Salluit. Salluit is a fly-in community in northern Quebec. Young people there face a lot of challenges. In 2015, there were multiple suicides in the community. Earlier today, the CBC's Norma Lee MacLeod asked Ms. MacDonnell about how she uses art and programs like Running Club to help her students. Here's her response:

SOUNDCLIP

MAGGIE MACDONNELL: I think it’s all about just trying to introduce young people to healthier coping strategies; addictions in the community that I live in. And addictions come out of a place of pain, so it makes a lot of sense if all the pain that they’ve been through, that people would resort to, you know relying upon alcohol or marijuana to kind of deal with some of their issues.
But I think it's really important to offer kids more choices. And when we do offer them more choices, they almost always rise up and seize it with two hands. So for example, we got $100,000 to put together a fitness center, one year. And I did that with my students. And it's been fantastic. It's been running for five years. It's become the home to our Salluit Run Club which has brought runners to the Blue Nose out there in Halifax for several years. I want to say hi to that community because they've hosted it so well. And then for the last two years, my runners I've traveled all the way to Hawaii where they’ve all taken on the distance of half marathons. And some have even gotten podium placements. As they got across the finish line, they realized they came in first in their age division.
Again, I just highlight that to say that when we're invest in properties and to making healthy environments for young people, they absolutely rise to them.

NORMA LESS MACCLEOD: What is it like for a teacher from a small rural community in Nova Scotia to be recognized in this way?

MM: Well I don't know if I have the answer yet. It’s still overwhelming, you know? But I'm just glad more attention is being brought to the lives of Inuit youth in Canada.

JD: That was Canadian teacher Maggie MacDonnell speaking with the CBC's Norma Lee MacLeod on Maritime Noon earlier today. Over the weekend, Ms. MacDonnell was awarded the Global Teacher Prize.

[Music]

Toilet paper cameras KGB

JD: It's hard to see how the plan deserved anything more than a roll of the eyes. But controversy is swirling around measures enacted in Beijing to keep an eye on toilet-roll theft.
Recently, the city installed facial-recognition software into one of the Chinese capital's busiest bathrooms in an effort to put a lid on the plundering of entire rolls of toilet paper. The restroom servicing the Temple of Heaven – one of Beijing's most popular tourist stops is now equipped with a high-definition camera. Anyone requiring bathroom tissue must first remove hats, glasses, and anything else obscuring their face – and subject themselves to a three-second facial scan, before being rewarded with 60 centimetres of tissue.
If more tissue is required, the patron must wait a full nine minutes before another ration can be dispensed. Individuals who return too often get the "bum's rush", so to speak, losing their paper privileges altogether.
If the plan ever looked promising on paper, the roll-out has been anything but smooth. First, it required the city to dispatch attendants to the bathroom, who could explain to visitors how the technology works, which takes time, and meant growing lines of people waiting to use the facilities. Second, some of the machines have reportedly malfunctioned, resulting in delays of a minute or more between the end of the facial scan and the beginning of the paper dispensing. Third, and perhaps worst: some machines have completely broken down, leaving attendants to manually distribute the bathroom tissue while endeavouring to recall the faces of each recipient and track their usage.
Clearly, the city is going to great lengths to prevent great lengths of paper going missing from its busiest public bathroom. But the approach seems to be quickly unravelling into a mess that threatens to clog up the entire system, with little ream, or reason.

[Music]

Budget satire reporter

Guest: Alexandra Petri

JD: Every day, the White House puts out a newsletter to update the American public on its official business. The newsletter usually includes the President's schedule, some information about what he's done that day, and links to news articles.
Usually, those articles are favourable to the White House – or at the very least, not negative.
Which is why Alexandra Petri was so very surprised to see a link to her most recent column for the Washington Post in Friday's White House newsletter. We reached Ms. Petri in Washington.

CO: Ms. Petri,can you just tell us first of all the headline of your article about the budget?

ALEXANDRA PETRI: Well the headline reads “Trump's Budget Makes Perfect Sense and Will Fix America and I Will Tell You Why.”

CO: And we'll get into some of the details of your article in a moment but in general, what was the tone of your piece?

AP: Not favourable. Largely a lot of all caps, exclamations and snark.

CO: It's a satire piece.

AP: Well essentially. It’s almost less satire and more me just yelling at the budget. But not positive.

CO: How do you think it ended up being included on the White House newsletter that's about favorable pieces about what's going on in the White House?

AP: Well I guess there were two possible explanations for a while, one of which was that they'd only seen the headline, assumed probably with a headline like that, it was a favorable piece, and had not bothered to click on the rest of the article, which can be a sound media consumption strategy. Or that they had read it and really enjoyed the part where I said that all teachers would be replaced by F-35s wearing “Make America Great Again” hat and thought “This woman really gets the budget,” and were sharing it in that spirit.

CO: I have the post here, and it's one, two, three lines in. Not deep into the body the piece you say, you describe it as a “hard power budget which I think is the name of an exercise program where you eat only what you can catch, pump up your guns and then punch the impoverished in the face. This conveniently is also what the budget does.” What is not to be understood about that being negative?

AP: It seems pretty subtle, but you know, if you were in favor of funding the in power in the face, you might be like “Ah, finally.” It reminds me of those movie reviews, you know, where they'll have one word just excerpted and they'll say the L.A. Times said “Stunning.” And you wonder in context, was “stunning” actually a positive word? That was sort of the vibe I was getting.

CO: It could have been stunningly bad.

AP: Exactly.

CO: How did you learn that you were included in this exclusive club?

AP: Well I am ashamed to say that I was not previously subscribed to the 1600 Daily newsletter. I am now because I know it uses good sources, but actually someone forwarded it to me, and said “Did you know that the White House has been sending out your piece about the budget? I really enjoyed it but I'm not sure they clicked on it.” And then I got, people on Twitter started noticing. So yeah, I sort of found out from many directions at once.

CO: And how did you respond?

AP: With delirious laughter.

CO: And do you think other people did as well?

AP: I think I've still… I can't get over it. I'm very entertained by the fact that this happened, although not reassured. But that's sort of a general status of people living these days.

CO: Look I read a bit of your piece in the first paragraph, maybe give another flavor of what you wrote in this.

AP: Oh yeah I was saying they're going through all the cuts. So I have agriculture department. No more of this namby pamby gathering nonsense. We will be hunters again. This is also why we are cutting the Supplemental Nutritional program for women, infants, and children. Let them fight for their meat or have none.

CO: And you do a lot of caps in this piece.

AP: I do. I have “BOOM”, “POW” “PEW PEW PEW” at the end of the, I think second paragraph. So you know a lot of I think it's written at the reading level where they say a lot of people can understand it. Not to make any inferences about the people currently running the government of course.

CO: And you posed the question as someone might, “’But how will I survive on this budget?’ you may be wondering. I'm a human child not a fighter jet.” And you answer, “You may not survive but that's because you are soft and weak. Something this budget is designed to eliminate.” That's the general theme of your piece, isn't it?

AP: Well exactly. It’s very survival of the fittest budget. Cut the EPA because clean rivers and breathable air are making us soft and letting the Chinese and the Russians get the jump on us.

CO: In this newsletter that gets put out, what company are you keeping in this round up?

AP: Well I would also… there was some sort of vaguely neutral positive headlines saying things like “Next week, we will have hearings”. As positive as you can get while describing actual events which in this case, I think mine was a rare beacon of potentially positive coverage in what has been sort of a dank swamp of the media saying everything is going wrong and those are usually not cited. Usually it’s wonderful things like Breitbart.com where you have good true news and stuff like that.

CO: Well I guess I mean that the tone of this or this rest of this newsletter is that it's a roundup of things which Mr. Trump and the White House would say is “This is not fake news. This is everything else is fake. New York Times, Washington Post, whatever. But this isn't. And you ended up in the “not fake news” category.

AP: Yeah well that's what I've always aspired to be. Real news, the kind of news that the Trump administration believes in. So I'm glad that I finally catapulted out of the media swamp and into the light.

CO: When do you think they find the on that your article is not positive?

AP: I think it was in the afternoon because it mysteriously vanished from the website around I think five.

CO: So your piece, you got dumped out of the round-up.

AP: Yeah I've been cast back down among into the fire and brimstone with the rest of the said fake news.

CO: OK well maybe you'll get back there again. We'll watch for it.

AP: I'm trying.

CO: Ms. Petri, thank you.

AP: Thanks for having me.

JD: Alexander Petri is a columnist with The Washington Post. We reached her in Washington D.C.

[Music]

From Our Archives: Big cod catch

JD: The last time we spoke with Landan Brochu, he had just laid claim to the title of Ling King. But he hadn't yet ascended the throne. Now however, it's official. The 19-year-old from Thunder Bay, Ontario, has caught the largest ling on record in the province.
The ling, also known as "burbot", is a freshwater cod. It is considered unspeakably ugly by many anglers. But for Mr. Brochu, the slimy, eel-like fish is a thing of great beauty.
He reeled in his record-setting 16-point-8 pound ling on Jessie Lake, near Nipigon, Ontario. And while that happened over a year ago, the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters just certified the record this month.
Shortly after his battle with the great burbot, Landan Brochu spoke with As It Happens guest host Helen Mann. From our archives, here is the Ling King, King of Ling, describing how it all went down.

SOUNDCLIP

LANDAN BROCHU: We got there early in the morning. So we walked out, set up all our gear. Got the otter going. Had a bit of troubles with it but it eventually worked for us. I drilled the hole in probably about 30 feet, about 50 yards away from our ice shack, and dropped the line and I was jigging for probably I'd see about two hours with no bites. Just a few follow ups on her flasher. And then all of a sudden my rod just buckled right over. So I set the hook and anyway the other guy that was fishing with us, our family friend, he came over to see what was going on. He asked me if I was going to need help with his fish and anyway he just started pulling drag and I was told him “You know what? You probably should come here because if this is a lake trout, that's what I was originally fishing for, it was late trout, it's going to be my personal best lake trout for sure. So it was just pulling line. It was like I hooked into a truck. Basically that’s what it felt like.

HELEN MANN: So when did you realize it wasn't a trout?

LB: I realized that at the top of the hole because basically when a lake trout comes to the top of the hole, it will start running even more sporadically, but this thing was just rolling. So I knew that that's what burbot do from all the previous burbot that I've caught. Anyway, it's head actually came up out of a hole pretty quick, which I was surprised. I must have just been positioned perfectly and it came up and its head was pretty well the exact same size as the eight inch hole that we had drilled.

HM: Wow.

LB: And yeah so I started freaking out when I first saw its head come up the hole and I didn't even process to grab it because I was too excited. So me and my partner we just started you know freaking out and I reached my hand into the water wrist deep to grab it by the gill and pulled it up. And we just were totally astonished by the size of it.

JD: Landan Brochu is Ontario's Ling King. Word has it an even bigger ling, or burbot, or freshwater cod, was caught this winter on Lake Simcoe, an 18-pounder. But for now, Mr. Brochu's crown is safe: this year's contenders will only be certified in 2018.

[Music]

Tom Brady’s jersey

SOUNDCLIP

It's like taking, you know, a great Chagall or Picasso or something. You can never display it. And somehow I feel there'll be some notes that will clear this up in the not too distant future.

JD: That was the owner of the New England Patriots Robert Kraft speaking on the Fox Business Network back in February. He was providing some much needed perspective on the loss of an irreplaceable object d’art. A stained football jersey marinated in sweat and expensive cologne, worn by Patriots quarterback Tom Brady during an epic come from behind victory in Super Bowl 51.
And Mr. Kraft was simply articulating what we all felt that the theft of that filthy shirt worn by a talented football guy was exactly the same as the theft of a priceless masterpiece by an artistic genius. And to make matters worse, this was the second time it had happened to the same football guy. Mr. Brady's game jersey had also gone missing after Super Bowl 49.
Now obviously we were all very upset since this was exactly the equivalent of someone stealing Guernica two years after stealing Les Demoiselles D'Avignon. The only difference is that instead of Picasso's Cubist period, the thief was into Brady's QB-ist period.
It's okay to smile at that clever wordplay. Because Tom Brady's jerseys aren't missing anymore.
If you can still hear me over your sobs of relief, you should know that you can send your letters of gratitude to the NFL's security team, the New England Patriots' security team, the Houston Police Department's Major Offenders Division, the Texas Rangers, the FBI, and Mexican law enforcement authorities. Maybe just send a form letter.
According to an NFL spokesperson, "The items were found in the possession of a credentialed member of the international media". To which Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick added, "Note to the international media: Don't Mess With Texas".
Again, a great example of someone keeping everything in perspective. But Mr. Patrick is just expressing the relief we all feel – now that we're no longer scared shirtless.

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March 20, 2017 episode transcript

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