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The AIH Transcript for October 27, 2017

Hosts: Helen Mann and Jeff Douglas

STORIES FROM THIS EPISODE

Prologue

HELEN MANN: Hello, I'm Helen man sitting in for Carol off.

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

[Music: Theme]

JD: Tonight…

HM: The reign of Spain goes plainly against the grain. No sooner was Catalonia celebrating its declaration of independence than the Spanish government announced measures to reduce the region's autonomy.

JD: The road away from recovery. New outcry over the Trump administration's immigration policy after a 10-year-old girl is taken to a detention centre by ICE agents while recovering from surgery.

HM: Multiplying insults to injury. As a B.C. man returns home to recover from the massacre in Las Vegas, he finds himself under attack from conspiracy theorists who think the whole thing was fake.

JD: Just say no to just saying no. The U.S. president designates the opioid crisis a public health emergency. Our guest says the White House's response is too little, too late.

HM: She has convictions but not those ones. When a BBC meteorologist is erroneously identified onscreen as a former criminal she succumbs to a hilarious bit of technical difficulties

JD: And…Error message. A respected commenter on the New York Times site is dictating another astute post into her phone when she starts talking to a friend, and the resulting post goes from sublime to ridiculous. As It Happens the Friday edition. Radio that knows where voice recognition is concerned things can get lost in trainslotion. I mean lust in translation. Forget it.

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Part 1: Catalonia: latest, Las Vegas attack: victim's brother, Sobey Art Award

Catalonia: latest

Guest: Josep Maria Terricabras

SOUNDCLIP

CROWDS CHEERING

JD: Today the vote came in and the crowd in Barcelona’s Plaça Sant Jaume erupted in cheers. But moments after the Catalan parliament had declared independence came a defiant, sobering response from Spain's central government. Madrid imposed direct rule over Catalonia and declared the vote unconstitutional. Josep Maria Terricabras is a member of European Parliament for the pro-independence Republican left of Catalonia. And we reached him earlier today just after Spain's Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, announced even harsher additional measures.

HM: Mr. Terricabras press as we are talking we are just learning that Prime Minister Rajoy has sacked the Catalan government and dissolved parliament. So what do you make of that?

JOSEP MARIA TERRICABRAS: Well, first it is the extraordinary undemocratic that the Prime Minister can fire people democratically elected in the government of Catalonia. This would be impossible in any other European country, that’s absolutely incredible. Secondly, I don't know whether our politicians will accept that because we declared independence.

HM: So you see Catalonia now as an independent country?

JMT: It starts being independent. That’s not something which happened from today to tomorrow, not overnight no. But the declaration means that the difference between declaration and proclamation, and in 18 months we'll be ready to proclaim it.

HM: Mr. Rajoy says he is going to seek to have this declaration declared illegal.

JMT: Spain declares everything illegal practically, and it commits extremely illegal things. For instance, now two leaders of social movements are in prison, in jail. Would that be possible in Canada or in Britain? How is it that two peaceful, nice leaders of social movements be in jail? That's the Spanish style.

HM: Article 155 of the Spanish constitution — does that not allow an action of this kind where Madrid can declare that the independence of Catalan government is no longer allowed?

JMT: But that article is so vague that it says only that the central government can ask the regional government to behave, so to speak, properly. But this is what the Spanish government has interpreted and of course the Senate accepts that because in the Senate Rajoy has absolute majority.

HM: You say that most Catalans want to be independent but the polls the, opinion polls, indicate otherwise.

JMT: No, no, no not a single one.

HM: They were back in July prior to the referendum.

JMT: I can explain that. Now in the in the Catalan parliament we have absolute majority. The fact is that those who were candidates for election for the Catalan parliament declared that if they were elected they would go for independence, and they were elected.

HM: No European country has offered any support for Catalonias declaration of independence. The European Union itself says it will only speak directly to Madrid. How do you take that?

JMT: Of course, that's absolutely natural, that's the way they proceed always. The European Union is not a union at all. It's a club of states and they protect themselves, which is a very funny when Mr. Juncker says that it's not possible that too many small countries come as members of the European Union when he comes from look Luxembourg. That’s funny, it’s the smallest country in the European Union. It’s much smaller than many cities in Catalonia, and he says that his country is allowed to be in European Union and we are not.

HM: Many observers say Catalonia will have difficulty if it tries to achieve independence. You don't have fiscal autonomy. Your institutions are intertwined with the central government in Madrid. Your population is divided. So how do you achieve independence? And can you achieve independence in a peaceful way?

JMT: In a peaceful way for sure, because the only ones who used violence have been the Spanish police. But of course all countries have had difficulties at the very beginning, but we have to solve them because I think that Catalonia is a very good country in the sense that it has a good economy, that it has a commercial relationship with everyone in the world — we are Democrats. So we will achieve that I'm sure but not in an easy way. Above all, if the Spanish government tries to fight against this would be also bad for them.

HM: If the Spanish government, if Madrid refuses to budge, how far do you think you and other people are willing to go to fight them?

JMT: No, no we are not going to fight them, of course. No, no, not at all. But if they give us a lot of problems, economically they can of course, but we can also respond to that in that sense that all the difficulties of the Catalan economy will be the difficulties of the Spanish economy. The wrong and strange idea is that Spain wishes to kill it’s best economy, that's incredible. If it does this then it kills itself.

HM: How does that encourage people in Catalonia to support independence? Does it not cut off your nose to spite your face, as we would say?

JMT: I think that there is this strange idea that the independence of Catalonia has been made by politicians, no. Millions of people are supporting this.

HM: At the heart of this, why is it so important for you to see Catalonia be independent?

JMT: Before devoting my life to politics I was a professor of philosophy. I will quote Kant, the German philosopher, when he says enlightenment means that people realize that they have achieved maturity. I think that Catalonia has realized that we can live on our own. And this is a very nice feeling all countries have. I don't understand why we shouldn't have.

HM: Is this a happy day for you?

JMT: Very happy, I have to say. And I've seen people on the street crying, singing and we are happy to divorce. That’s a very good divorce for us.

HM: Mr. Terricabras, thank you very much for speaking with us.

JMT: Thank you very much to you for calling me. Thank you. Thank you.

HM: Goodnight

JMT: Goodnight.

JD: Josep Maria Terricabras was a member of European Parliament for the pro-independence Republican left of Catalonia. We reached him earlier today in Girona in the Catalonia region.

[Music: Heavy Ambient Bass]

Las Vegas attack: victim’s brother

Guest: Taylor Matekja

JD: When a gunman began shooting at concert goers in Las Vegas earlier this month he killed dozens of people and injured hundreds more. Braden Matekja was one of those injured. He was hit in the head. He returned to British Columbia to recover, but according to his brother Mr. Matekja has had to deal with further injuries since the attack — in the form of online messages from conspiracy theorists. Taylor Matekja is Braden's brother. We reached him in Gloucestershire, England where he currently lives.

HM: Mr. Matekja, before we get into what is going on online, I want to know how your brother is doing.

TAYLOR MATEKJA: He is recovering well, physically. The wounds on his head have healed up quite nicely. He's still dealing with some post-concussion symptoms, a lot of migraines, blurred vision on occasion, stuff like that. He's just been cleared to drive just this past week here.

HM: You say he is recovering well physically. How otherwise though?

TM: Well, yeah I mean, like probably all the other victims that experienced this, I just imagine emotionally it's not the easiest thing to come to grips with. Not only the near brush with death but everything they saw as well. They were in the middle of it so they did see a lot of a lot of people dying and a lot of people on the ground wounded. I know in the hospital when Braden was in the waiting room there was a eight gunshot victims in the room. And I think three of them died while he was in there.

HM: A lot of people will remember hearing his story at the time. You're far away from your family, so what was it like for you as you heard what was going on?

TM: It was the most — I can't even explain it. It was the most difficult thing I've ever felt in my entire life, and it took it might have taken a year or two off my life to be honest.

HM: So now he's on the road to recovery and these comments start showing up online. How soon after the attack did he notice these?

TM: It must have about a week after, I'd give or take a day.

HM: What platforms were they on?

TM: Facebook and Instagram, mostly Facebook. I know there's lots of conspiracy pages on Facebook and alternative news sites. You know, sites that are dedicated to disproving mainstream media, that's where it kind of started. It was just, I think, from more one or two pages with a fairly large following the followers is from there read what whoever is running the page says about Braden, that he’s a crisis actor, all this, and they in turn just find him on Facebook and start the assault.

HM: So that's the message. They don't believe he was actually shot, but that he's what they call a crisis actor?

TM: Exactly.

HM: What's the tone of these messages?

TM: It ranges. These aren't people who have thought about what they're saying, or thought about the fact that they’re talking to actual human beings. They'll say, “I hope you do get shot in the head. You're a fraud.” He started a GoFundMe page and a lot of our friends and family were promoting it, and a lot of these people are saying, “You’re a scam artist. You're a fraud. Give these people their money back.” You know you can imagine.

HM: What do you think's going on there? Do you think these people actually believe that this is some fake situation, or that they want to spread that idea for some other reason?

TM: No, I think they truly believe that, and that’s the problem. They'll try and disprove the mainstream media any chance they get, and they'll call out anyone and anything that kind of goes along with that. And I was not really aware of the magnitude of this problem, these people have been doing this to victims since Sandy Hook and beyond. Orlando, San Bernardino, all these shootings, and they think that the victims are all, every time, that they’re all are crisis actors.

HM: What do you think of that? I mean, what effect does it have? I know it must have an effect on your brother too, but how is your family dealing with this?

TM: I mean, Braden just deleted all of his social media. He's just — I can't imagine him. I've had some stuff on my page, but the magnitude of his is just outstanding. I can't imagine opening Facebook to talk to friends and family and seeing this atrocious material being said to him.

HM: Do you have any idea the numbers of messages that have been directed at him.

TM: Hundreds. Oh, easily hundreds, if not thousands. There would be 300-400 comments per post on his page. Not all negative, of course, but maybe half of those, and a lot of friends and family coming to the defense of that.

HM: So short of doing what I guess you've done, which is pulling down your pages, what do you think needs to be done to stop this?

TM: I haven't.

HM: You haven't.

TM: I haven't pulled down mine. I'm just kind of a witness to all this. I'm not a victim of this shooting, and the fact that these people are attacking the actual victims is just appalling. Of course, I'm not going to delete my Facebook because of a few lunatics that think that my family are liars. I can just respond or choose not to respond, which I've done in many cases.

HM: Now you've got your family, and as you mentioned, there's the parents who for years have been dealing with this from Sandy Hook, who lost little children and they’re being called out by these people. What do you think needs to be done to address this?

TM: I think there needs to be some level of accountability. These people base every accusation with zero legitimate research. You know, they’ll just point the finger and accuse, and the easiest target is victims because they are tangible, they’re easy to access the real people on Facebook and these people think that they are liars. And a lot of times they do anonymously. At the very least these people need to be exposed as their true identities. They can't hide behind that anonymity make people's lives worse who have already experienced such an insane tragedy.

HM: Mr. Matekja, thank you very much. I hope your brother is sort of feeling back to himself soon as possible, and I really appreciate you talking to us about this.

TM: Yeah of course.

HM: Thank you, bye.

TM: Thank you very much. Bye, bye.

JD: That was Taylor Matekja. His brother Braden Matekja was injured in the Las Vegas attack earlier this month. The worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. We reached Taylor Matekja in Gloucestershire, England. And if you'd like to see some photographs of the family visit our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Ambient Tones]

Sobey Art Award

Guest: Ursula Johnson

JD: She has been described as one of the country's most exciting young artists. And on Wednesday Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw artist Ursula Johnson proved that by winning the country's biggest contemporary art prize, the Sobey Art Award. She earned that honour by using performance art and traditional means like weaving. Most of her work focuses on her Indigenous heritage and colonialism. We reached Ursula Johnson in Toronto.

HM: Ursula, first of all congratulations on the award.

URSULA JOHNSON: Thank you so much Helen.

HM: What does it mean to you?

UJ: It means a lot. I'm extremely thrilled and honoured to have been selected. It essentially gives me a lot of exposure on a national level, and also an international level, and the prize money also means that I'll be able to explore different materials to work with that may not have been financially available. And that also means that I’m able to broaden my reach on a more international level and learning to work with different artists and learning about their practices and potentially entering into collaborative relationships with them.

HM: I understand the ceremony itself was particularly emotional for you, and that you found comfort or inspiration from an ash tree. Can you share that with us?

UJ: Yes, that's correct. It was just in the beginning of the night, as people were starting to spill into this giant outdoor tent. I was feeling really anxious and I just felt like I just wanted to run away for a moment. And so I kind of ducked down a back alley and I found this ash tree that had been planted just before the sports field. It was it was quite a grounding emotional space for me because my family being basket makers that use ash trees, it was kind of like almost like a little piece of home that was brought to me. And also Wednesday would have been my great grandmother's 98^th birthday as well.

HM: You mentioned your great grandmother Caroline Gould. She's a master basket weaver, and a lot of your art involves basket weaving. Tell me about what you've learned from her and how you use the traditional art that you've studied with her and kind of meld that with a more contemporary boundary-pushing art?

UJ: My great grandmother who was kind of considered to be almost like the queen of Mi'kmaw basketry. She was able to explore new ways of working and really pushing boundaries, in her own right, and doing different types of baskets than her mother would have been doing for instance. And I had the amazing opportunity to grow up with her very present in my life. And so when I started exploring and researching our family traditions of Mi'kmaw basketry I realized that it brought me to all of these different intersections that I was studying at university at the time. Looking at different art series and art history and how our own First Nations culture, even though art has been such a huge part of our practice for thousands of wears, we are still in this place where you know Indigenous art history is not a part of that core curriculum or the conversations within these institutions. And it was something that her and I were able to talk about before she passed away.

HM: One of the pieces that you have is both a creation of physical art and also a performance piece — Basket Weaving (Cultural Cocoon). Tell us what you're doing in this performance?

UJ: The very first time I did it I felt like I was still an art student and it was kind of like this big avant garde thing. I’m going to weave a giant basket around myself and it's going to be so cutting edge and coming from this really kind of enthusiastic art student perspective. And then I realized I'm like oh maybe that's faux pas, or maybe I'm not allowed to do that. So I went to my great grandmother and I asked her permission. I was like “Is it OK if I try to weave a basket around myself.” And she just laughed hysterically and she said “You mean you want to be inside of this basket that you're making? And I said, “Yeah I want I want to make it because I feel like maybe I'd learn something from it.” And she just laughed and she said, “Well that's going to be quite a huge basket, but if you want to make it, sure. If you're looking for my blessing, you have it. I don't really care what you're doing as long as you're weaving.” And so that project as an art student really gave me a really great life lesson.

HM: You are interested in politics and I'm wondering how the political intersects with the creation of your art.

UJ: While I was studying at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design I was also working with the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre in Halifax that gave me an opportunity to work alongside with the National Association of Friendship Centres, and also to take a great part in the Department of Canadian Heritage. We put together basically like an embassy of young people from across the country and we took part in the Permanent Forum at the United Nations in New York City, where we had a very active role in creating the first International Indigenous Youth Caucus for the United Nations. And it was something that I was very, very passionate about and, I still am passionate about. And I just felt at a certain period of my life, that I wanted to focus more on art production and cultural and community based education, on a bit more of a grassroots level as opposed, to you know pursuing a career that would eventually take into Parliament. In some way and point in time, I would be able to take that drive and that knowledge and all of that mentorship that I was able to receive while I was so young, and to be able to translate that into my artistic practice.

HM: You mentioned when we began this conversation that the award is going to allow you to work with the new materials that you haven’t before. What are you interested in exploring? What's next for you?

UJ: So working with sound or video or kind of video production types of things. And a lot of that type of work includes needing to buy gear and editing equipment. And that’s definitely something that I'm looking to integrate.

HM: Well given your broad range of interests and your desire to grow even more, I'm really looking forward to hearing what's ahead for you and seeing some of that work. Thank you very much for talking with us.

UJ: Thank you Helen.

HM: OK. Bye.

UJ: Bye, bye.

JD: Ursula Johnson is the winner of the 2017 Sobey Art Award. We reached her in Toronto. You can find some of her art on our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Upbeat Strings Section]

New York Times comment

JD: The New York Times article was about economic inequality. Here as part of a thoughtful comment by Christine McMorrow, whose record of thoughtful comments has earned her the coveted title of verified commenter on the Times website, and I quote, “Capitalism has eclipsed its dream for worker opportunity, creating class inequality. The U.S. will have to come to grips with these changes sooner rather than later, when the tension between the haves and the have-nots becomes unsustainable,” unquote. And here's part of another thoughtful comment by Ms. McMorrow on a Times article about weekend legal protections for press freedom quote, “Are we scared yet? So far it doesn't seem so. But with articles like these we should be. Democracy is only as strong as its citizens demand,” unquote. Now here's a comment she wrote yesterday on a Times article about the transformation of the Republican Party. Quote, “Zero optimism that the Democrats can ever regain. Hello hi, oh you're there are you outside? Oh well let me come to the door. I'm icing my knee and I'm hard boiling some eggs. I'll turn them off and then we'll do our meeting yet out that, that will be fine. I'm Norman's out doing some errands and he knows you're coming so he'll just go down to the cave. I was down in the cape myself this morning by getting, so let me get up because I'm right now sort of trapped in my chair and then I'll put the ice pack back on when you get here. OK thanks. Bye, bye,” unquote. And finally here is a thoughtful comment by Christine McMorrow on that thoughtful comment. Quote, “I was composing a message using the autospeak and a friend arrived early to my house. I had no idea all that drivel was being recorded. There are even errors in the drivel,” unquote.

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Part 2: Detained 10-year old, opioid emergency

Detained 10-year-old

Guest: Alex Galvez

JD: Rosa Maria Hernandez is 10 years old. She has cerebral palsy and she is recovering from emergency gallbladder surgery. She has also become the latest symbol in the battle over Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Right now Rosa Maria is recovering in a Texas detention centre. She finds herself there after the vehicle that was taking her to the hospital, for that surgery, was stopped at an immigration checkpoint. ICE agents followed her to the hospital and then they took her to the detention centre the moment she was deemed ready. Alex Galvez is one of the lawyers representing Rosemarie and her mom. We reached Mr. Galvez in Los Angeles.

HM: Mr. Galvez, first of all, how is Rosa Maria doing right now?

ALEX GALVEZ: Well you can just imagine a 10-year-old who suffers from cerebral palsy, that has never been away from her mother, and is currently detained in an immigration facility. How would that make anybody who is 10 years old feel? Unfortunately the mother right now is devastated. The child is not aware that she's under immigration custody. She thinks that she's still recuperating from an hour-and-a-half surgery that she had in Corpus Christi. So that's a current situation. And the child is in immigration custody

HM: Now Rosa Maria is 10 years old but she does face developmental challenges. In terms of her capacity and how much care she needs, what can you tell us?

AG: I've been to the facility and they do have medical resources in there to confront any medical issue. However, nothing could substitute the presence of the mother. And that's why we have object, not only that she is away from her mother, constitutionally the mother has a right to be with her child. So any one day, two days, one week or a month of being separated, we think it's a constitutional violation.

HM: If her mother were to come to her side what could happen?

AG: Well, one of the reasons why the mother didn't accompany the child to the hospital is because there was an immigration checkpoint between Laredo and Corpus Christi. And right now the child is in San Antonio, and it makes travel for the mother to the shelter, almost virtually impossible, because she would have to pass immigration checkpoints and then expose yourself to being arrested and placed in removal proceedings. So at this point we would rather just have a child in removal proceedings. Let's work the system. We're hoping that we could have her released in about 21 days. In 21 days she will be by her mother's side.

HM: Can you clarify for us the circumstances under which Rosemarie was picked up initially on her way to this hospital, or at least how she was tracked?

AG: Well, the operation would have been scheduled. Everybody was aware that she had to go to the hospital in Corpus Christi on that day and everyone knew of the risk because of the checkpoint. The hospital provided a letter just in case they were to be stopped. And unfortunately that's what happened on their way to Corpus Christi they passed through the immigration checkpoint. The officer asked for identification and unfortunately they couldn't provide one. They provided the letter and told them that this was an urgent matter. Unfortunately there was no proof that she was here lawfully. So they did allow her to pass the checkpoint, but they followed her from the checkpoint all the way to Corpus Christi, waited in the hospital, and when she was transferred to recuperating room they put four immigration officers right outside her door.

HM: As far as you know is it legal for these ICE officials to have picked her up from the hospital and taken her to this detention centre?

AG: Is it legal? Could they have done it? Yes, because she’s here undocumented it was their right to do it. And this is the big legal dilemma. Under the Obama administration this would never happened. And we are arguing that, even today, immigration acted without discretion. And for those that are wondering whether Jeff Sessions is serious about deporting people that are here without that status, if anybody doubts what the administration's intent is when it comes to immigration issues they're, realizing with this case that if you're here undocumented, even if you're a 10-year-old who suffers from some cerebral palsy and you're on your way to the hospital, if immigration finds out that you are here undocumented they're going to arrest you, they're going to place you in removal proceedings, irrespective of any humanitarian reasons — and that's the issue that we have. Immigration shouldn’t have acted in the way that they did. They could have easily just issued her a notice to appear by mail that she had she had to show up and present herself before an immigration judge, or they could have placed an ankle bracelet, that's all.

HM: What does what happened to Rosa Maria tell us about the state of other children in the United States who are undocumented? Is this a common procedure?

AG: I’ve never seen this in all the years that I’ve practiced, I've never seen immigration take such a position when it comes to undocumented children. I understand that the policy right now, when it comes to arriving aliens, that the children that are apprehended at the border, that they do go through a different process and they are transferred to the shelters. However, in this case this girl was living in the U.S. for the past 10 years. Immigration knew it and there was no need to detain her, especially when she is going on her way to the hospital and is released. And there's no reason why she should have been placed in the shelter. But it does tell us something. I mean, this is a seminal case. This is a case of first impression. That immigration is going to act first and then ask questions later. And that's the issue that we have, that America has always been the beacon for human rights, always been the beacon and an example of how to treat immigrants. That is slowly dissipating, that is slowly disappearing. Now we're seeing that immigration law is going to be acted on with a heavy hand. Forget discretionary, forget the human aspect and consequences of taking certain actions, humanitarian reasons are out the door. Immigration now is going to be applied black or white, with a heavy hand.

HM: You have to wonder what was going through the minds of these ICE agents as they were carrying out this this effort.

AG: I still can't come to terms with that. It goes beyond the pale for two officers — they have to follow orders, I understand that. And I can't stop asking myself, as human beings, knowing that you've been given orders to follow a girl who suffers from cerebral palsy — 10-years-old who has the capacity of a 6-year-old. What kind of threat is she to the United States? What kind of a flight risk is she? This case went too far. And God help us if immigration is going to keep on acting the way they did with this child.

HM: Mr. Galvez thank you very much for speaking with us today.

AG: Thank you.

HM: All right, good bye.

JD: That was lawyer Alex Galvez. We reached him earlier today in L.A..

[Music: Ambient Electric Guitar]

Rose McGowan on Weinstein

JD: She put her fist in the air as she spoke, others in the audience did the same. Today actress Rose McGowan gave a speech at the Women's Convention in Detroit. It was her first public appearance since accusing Harvey Weinstein of sexually assaulting her. She is one of many women who have come forward with allegations of sexual harassment and assault against him. Mr. Weinstein has denied quote “any allegations of non-consensual sex” unquote. In her speech today, Ms. McGowan spoke out against male dominance in Hollywood. And here's what she said next.

SOUNDCLIP

ROSE MCGOWAN: We are given one view. And I know the men behind that view. And they should not be in your mind and they should not be in mine. It's time to clean house.

[APPLAUSE and CHEERS]

RG: I want to thank you for being here. For giving me wings during this very difficult time. The triggering has been insane. The monstrous face everywhere, my nightmare. But I know I'm not alone, because I'm just the same as the girl in the tiny little town, who was raped by the football squad, and they have full dominance and control over the little town newspaper. There really is no actual difference. It's the same situation and that situation must end because it is not our shame. The Scarlet Letter is theirs. It is not ours. We are pure. We are strong. We are brave. And we will fight.

[APPLAUSE and CHEERS]

JD: Rose McGowan speaking at the Women's Convention in Detroit. Earlier this month, Ms. McGowan publicly accused film producer Harvey Weinstein of rape. He has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.

[Music: Flutes & Oboe]

Opiod emergency

Guest: Avi Israel

JD: Yesterday Donald Trump declared that the opioid crisis constitutes a public health emergency.

SOUNDCLIP

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No part of our society, not young or old, rich or poor, urban or rural, has been spared this plague of drug addiction, and this horrible, horrible situation that's taken place with opioids. As Americans we cannot allow this to continue. It is time to liberate our communities from the scourge of drug addiction. Never been this way. We can be the generation that ends the opioid epidemic.

JD: That declaration fell short of the president's previous promise to declare a national emergency. That means that no additional federal funding will be directed to the opioid crisis. Instead grant money will be redirected from other programs to deal with the problem. Avi Israel is the founder of a non-profit that raises awareness of prescription and drug addictions. It is called Save the Micheal's of the World. It is named for his son. In 2011 his son Michael took his own life after struggling with an opioid addiction. We reached Avi Israel in Buffalo.

HM: Mr. Israel, what do you think of President Trump's decision to declare opioids a public health emergency?

AVI ISRAEL: I'm disappointed. I think President Trump fell a little short of what he promised the American people he was going to do. There's a big difference between an emergency and public health emergency.

HM: What would a national state of emergency have done that that this declaration doesn't do?

AI: Well, a national emergency would have opened up a lot more avenues, would have added money into this crisis, and it would have given us a lot more access to treatment. So for instance, when we had the Ebola crisis in this country, which was one person that died, President Barack Obama has declared a national emergency. What we have right now is really nothing but a lot of lip service. So we have people that walk into emergency rooms after an overdose and get sent right out the door without any access to treatment, without any connection to treatment. And when you walk out the door there's a drug dealer waiting at the end of the parking lot that can help you get the same amount of drugs that you did before and you overdose again. We have for instance, Naloxone, and the co-pay for that is somewhere around 60 to 80 dollars a co-pay. The price of Naloxone have skyrocketed. If it was a national emergency the prices could have gone down or it could be free.

HM: The declaration of a public health emergency though does provide some grant money, is that not an improvement over what was going on before?

AI: Well, let's put it this way, anything is better than nothing. But I think what people need right now is help today. We have people that call Save the Michaels and ask for help and we spring to action and find places to go into treatment. I don't see that happening right now.

HM: Your organization is named, of course, for your son Michael, whom you lost to opioid addiction. Can you take us back to the day when he admitted to you that he was dealing with this problem? What was your reaction? What did he tell you?

AI: Michael walked into my bedroom and said, “Dad can we talk?” And I said, “Yes.” I was kind of a little happy that he wanted to talk to me, because he was acting a little strange for a couple months. And when he says, “Dad I’m addicted,” I had no clue what he was talking about. I didn't know anything about addiction other than what comes to mind when you first hear the word addict or addiction is somebody that's homeless, that's lives under a bridge somewhere. I look at my son's face and I couldn't imagine him being addicted.

HM: And he was addicted to opioids he acquired how?

AI: Through his doctors. Michael was prescribed anything he wanted. Michael was actually prescribed into addiction, and his addiction was subsidized by our insurance company.

HM: What did you tell him at the time?

AI: I said, “What are you addicted to.” And he said, “My painkillers.” I said, “How the hell did you get a to painkillers?” And he says, “Dad they're very addictive.” I said, “OK we're going to have to tell your doctor,” which we did. When I informed the doctor that Michael was addicted I got a tap on the shoulder and I was told that he knew what he was doing.

HM: The Doctor.

AI: Yes. Six months later Michael was gone.

HM: During the time between him admitting what was happening to him and the time he took his own life, what did you do to try to get him help? What did you find in the way of what was available to you?

AI: I found there was a severe shortage of treatment facilities. I found that our medical community didn’t know anything about opiate addiction. I found conflicting ways to talk to Michael. I found people really treated Michael terribly. Michael attempted suicide on May 17^th and sent me a text that says, “I love you Dad. You don't deserve a son like me.” We were told we had to go to our county hospital, which we spent 12 hours in that county hospital and then we were sent home. And I was told that Michael was a liar and my reply was, “Of course he's lying, he's addicted.” Two weeks later Michael was successful in taking his life.

HM: During the U.S. presidential campaign President Trump talked a lot about the opioid crisis, maybe more than a lot of other people had been for a long time. We see the scale of what's happening in our country as well. Why do you think so little help is available when people seem to be acknowledging that the problem is there?

AI: I think that the perception of addiction in this country, and probably in the Canada is a little similar to the U.S., is that as a choice — people don't take that seriously. There's a stigma that goes along with addiction.

HM: Do you think money is an issue here? Do you think that the governments are wary of that?

AI: Yeah, I was got a touch on that also. Money is a big drive behind all of this. Let's face it, pharmaceutical companies make a large amount of money. There's over a hundred million people that take painkillers in this country.

HM: Besides your call for more facilities and more help, what do you think the government should do to address the pharmaceutical companies themselves and the prevalence of opioids?

AI: I think as far as the pharmaceutical companies, obviously, I'm biased. My son died because pharmaceutical companies have lied to us. So I would treat the pharmaceutical companies the same way that the tobacco industry was treated, and have them pay for the treatment. The other thing that I didn't see from this president is my God we don't have a public awareness campaign. What if we just started talking to people and started educating our young ones. The first thing that I would have liked to have seen declared by the president was you know we're going to do a public awareness campaign to let people understand that addiction could be deadly, and addiction kills a lot faster than cancer.

HM: And it does seem these days to be a downward spiral. Do you see any reason for hope?

AI: I see hope in everything, I'm that type of a person. I think that the population in this country needs to maybe stand up and say enough is enough, and make sure that you know Congress behaves responsibly, and the same thing with the current occupier of the White House. Talk is cheap, it's action. The last president was in office for seven years before even acknowledged that there is a problem. This president told us that he was going to do something about it. Really, as far as concrete action to help people right now, this minute, today, we don't see anything.

HM: Mr. Israel, I'm very sorry for your loss and I appreciate you very much talking with us about your efforts and your views about what's happening.

AI: Thank you so much.

HM: All right. Goodbye.

AI: Bye, bye.

JD: Avi Israel is the founder of Save the Micheal's of the World, named for his son who killed himself last year after struggling with addiction to opioids. We reached Mr. Israel in Buffalo, New York. We have posted more on this story on our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Piano Ballad]

BBC presenter

JD: When you work in media, live media, mistakes they happen. Now in my case, I have absolutely no problem admitting that the vast majority of those mistakes are someone else's fault — technical difficulties. The good thing however, is that I am not working in live television, because when you throw graphics and video into the mix things can go even wronger. Take the recent case of Kawser Quamer. Ms. Quamer is a weather presenter with the BBC. She was doing a live report when a graphic on screen accidentally labeled her as “Aaron Ramsey, ex offender.” Meaning, of course, a person who has been convicted of a crime. Here is what happened after she noticed the glitch.

SOUNDCLIP

KAWSER QUAMER: And some of these have been heavy at times, quite blustery and sharp just north of Glasgow across the northwest of the country and there may be the odd rumble of thunder this afternoon some of the sharp showers across the very far north and the Northern Isles.

[GIGGLING]

KQ: Sunny spells though this lovely picture

[GIGGLING]

KQ: We’ll continue to see some blustery showers as we head into the rest of the afternoon. Breezy conditions, there may even be some gale force gusts across Orkney as well.

[STIFLED LAUGHTER]

KQ: Excuse me, and some sunny spells elsewhere. Temperatures climbing up to 13 or 14 Celsius. As we look at the even though the showers still with us across the northwest and those winds very strong as well across parts of Orkney. They made nice and gale force gusts here. Temperatures dipping to and seven to eight Celsius maybe cooler for some sheltered spots in the north. Tomorrow then some sunny spells especially across central and southern areas across the far north.

[STIFLED LAUGHTER]

KQ: The showers will continue for a time, heavy in places and temperatures 13 or 14 Celsius. Looking ahead then high pressure firmly establishes itself across the country. But the winds more of a north or northwesterly, so feeling cooler by the time we reach Friday. And we're looking at some sunny spells around especially across central southern areas across the north. More in the way of cloud and temperatures again cooler, 11 or 12 degrees. And that's your forecast for now.

JD: That was BBC weather presenter Kawser Quamer trying to keep her cool during a weather report after graphic labeled her as “Aaron Ramsey, ex offender.” And Ms. Quamer was not the only victim of technical difficulties in that broadcast. Right after that weather segment anchor Catriona Shearer was back on screen identified as “Vicky Stewart, Erin's fiance.”

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Part 3: Manitoba carbon pricing, Vancouver rare magazines

Manitoba carbon pricing

Guest: Rochelle Squires

JD: Rochelle Squires has a number for members of the Trudeau government. They are not going to like this number. Ms. Squires is Manitoba's Sustainable Development Minister, and today she announced that her government would be imposing a carbon tax. But Ottawa has told the provinces that Canada's climate change commitments require a price on carbon of at least $50 per tonne. Manitoba's price is going to be set at 25 bucks per tonne. We reached Minister Squires in Winnipeg.

HM: Minister Squires are you thumbing your nose at Ottawa with your version of this carbon tax, which is a half the rate that they've set?

MINISTER ROCHELLE SQUIRES: We're very excited today to launch our Made in Manitoba plan. This is a plan that was made in consultation with hundreds of Manitobans, and we believe that it is reflective of the Manitoba environment, in the sense that we have been a leader in green for decades. And we think that ultimately our plan will achieve the same results as the federal backstopped plan in in carbon emissions and that's really the goal here is reducing emissions.

HM: The Federal Minister, of course, Catherine McKenna, has actually praised the fact that you guys have set a price on carbon, but made clear that she believes it needs to be set at $50 a tonne by 2022, not the 25 dollars that you are setting. So it sounds like you might be heading for a standoff.

RS: Well, I'm looking forward to my conversations with Minister McKenna next week at the CCME conference. But I certainly do believe that if our plan is to — if the goal is to reduce emissions and our plan shows a pathway to achieve those emissions, and help our economy here in Manitoba, and help our province transition to a low carbon future — I think that that is really where things are, that's the priority.

HM: What makes you so sure that your plan, which is half the rate, is actually going to achieve the same objective?

RS: That's because our plan takes in a more of a holistic view of climate and our economy. And that we want to look at a whole array of options when we talk about transitioning to a low carbon future. Carbon pricing, of course, is part of that but it's only one small piece. We are going to be looking at and our plan includes the four pillars, which include jobs and the economy, climate, land and water. And so here in Manitoba we're going to be working with industries to help us innovate and we're going to be working with the clean tech sector to help us find technologies that will make it more convenient for all Manitobans to transition to a low carbon future. We're going to be looking at working with our many, many agriculture producers in how we can best transition to a low carbon future. And by that I mean looking at making sure that they have good nutrients in their soil and allow them to keep those nutrients in the soil and not having them run off with excessive water during our flooding seasons.

HM: Okay but are you suggesting that the federal plan is less, what you call holistic, than what you're proposing? I mean, do they have different objectives ultimately when it comes to prosperity?

RS: Well this plan was made in Manitoba and that is the fundamental difference between our plan and Ottawa's plan. It wasn't made out of province, that wasn't reflective of the Manitoba realities. Our plan is that the end result of many, many hours of consultation with hundreds of stakeholders in this province, and it is very reflective of the Manitoba environment.

HM: What would a $50 tax do to Manitobans? Why would that be more onerous than what you've suggested?

RS: Well, we came up with a price that we thought was really reflective of the work that's already been done. Manitobans have invested hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars in developing hydroelectricity. Since 1906 we have been developing green technologies and we have been a leader in terms of having a very clean electricity grid and we wanted a plan to be reflective of that.

HM: All right, well you talk about the investment the province has made in hydroelectricity, the Green Party leader James Beddome says that basically the province is trying to avoid responsibility inreducing emissions by claiming this should somehow exempt you from the same standards that other provinces are dealing with. Why should Manitoba be able to have a different set up than other provinces when the feds have made it very clear that they had this expectation of $50 a tonne?

RS: We've seen other provinces be able to introduce flexibility into their plan. We've got some provinces that are looking at cap-and-trade systems. Our province doesn't have those significant number of large polluters. So a cap-and-trade system, of course, wouldn't work here. But there again we've seen the flexibility in the plan and we heard from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier today saying that he wants to see all provinces have an appropriate plan and if our plan isn’t appropriate then I don't know what is.

HM: What are you going to do if Justin Trudeau says your $25 just isn't enough and ends up slapping an extra $25 tax on Manitobans?

RS: Well that is a hypothetical question and I can't really answer that.

HM: But it's something you should — I mean, they're obviously saying very clearly, they have expectations that you're going to meet their standards. It's got to be something you're considering.

RS: I'm looking forward to productive conversations with Minister McKenna next week. And again we heard loud and clear from the prime minister this morning that all provinces have to find an appropriate way. And I believe that when they see that our plan is going to achieve the carbon reductions that it will, they will be satisfied.

HM: Those who oppose carbon taxes altogether wonder where you’re going to spend the money you collect. What's the plan?

RS: We're going to be talking to Manitobans over the next six weeks and getting input from them in terms of how we should be using that revenue. And one thing is clear, we'll be very transparent on that that you have revenue. We're going to be looking at all options in terms of spending some possibly on on innovation and helping our economy and our businesses develop some of that technology that will help us move into a low carbon future. And perhaps looking at rebating some of that money to Manitobans but all those conversations are going to be had with Manitobans.

HM: All right Minister Squires, thank you very much for talking to us.

RS: Thank you very much for your interest today.

HM: Okay bye.

RS: Bye, bye for now.

JD: Rochelle Squires is Manitoba's Sustainable Development Minister. We reached her in Winnipeg.

[Acoustic Guitar Plucks]

Meat debate

JD: For most of us who wouldn't exactly be delightful dinner table conversation, although truthfully, it really is all about what is for dinner. Still, it is a question you hear being raised more often these days. Is it okay to raise animals for our consumption — not just for food, but for clothing and the myriad ways we use them? And it's a question that has long concerned people like Nicolette Hahn Niman and Gary Francione. Ms. Niman is a beef rancher in California, she is vegetarian. Gary Francione is a professor of law and philosophy at Rutgers University in New Jersey. And tonight on Ideas they grapple with that very question. Ms. Niman believes it is OK to consume animals as long as we treat them well throughout their lives. Gary Francione on the other hand, believes that animals are sentient beings with their own interests, and we therefore, need to stop using them for our own purposes. Here's a bit of their conversation.

SOUNDCLIP

NICOLETTE HAHN NIMAN: I think we need to focus on how we're doing things because it's causing environmental problems. It's cruel to the animals in many cases, but that doesn't mean that it's inherently wrong to have animals in the food system. And I think there are so many benefits, but I think that when we're just bashing the presence of animals in the food system and saying ‘that's bad’ all the time, we're taking the energy away from improving the system, which is where I think we need to be focused.

GARY FRANCIONE: Look, by 2050 it's estimated that global meat production is going to go to about 1.2 trillion pounds a year. I respectfully disagree that we're going to be able to do that in some idyllic way that is going to result in improved animal welfare. I just think that that's a fantasy. However, the bottom line is if you don't need to kill to live, then you ought not to do it, it really isn't rocket science.

JD: That was legal scholar Gary Francione and before that you heard beef rancher Nicolette Hahn Niman debating whether it is okay to raise animals for human consumption. And you can hear the rest of that debate on meat on the table on Ideas, 9:00 p.m. tonight 9:30 in Newfoundland.

[Music: Electric Guitar Strums]

Vancouver rare magazines

Guest: Don Stewart

JD: Don Stewart got an exciting shipment at his bookstore recently — four leather-bound magazines. They are not new and you will not find them between In Style and People near the cash register at Shoppers Drug Mart. These copies of The Far East date back to 1870. So the issues do not come cheap, but the rare find does come with a good back story, both about the volumes themselves and about how they were discovered. Mr. Stewart’s book store, McLeod's Books, is in Vancouver. That's where we reached him.

HM: Mr. Stewart, what did you think when you first laid eyes on these magazines?

DON STEWART: Well, I had one of those moments where you go “oh, this is something really special.” The man who had talked about bringing them in had mentioned that they had to do with China, but that's all he had suggested. So what I saw first was a beautiful full Morocco, that is leather bound book, with Far East stamped in gold on the front cover. And it immediately clicked for me because I had seen the odd bound volume of The Far East over the years at high-end book fairs. So when I opened it I confirmed that it was illustrated with photographs, original photographs from the 1870s. So I suggested to the man that I needed to have him leave me the book to be checked and asked if he had any others. And he said, “Yes” and he had three others in his pack.

HM: So explain to us what a little bit more about what The Far East was and is?

DS: There was an editor, J.R. Black, who had gone from Scotland to Yokohama in the early 1870s. And in order to foster goodwill and explain the east to the west he decided to start producing this magazine. And what he did, which was almost unique, he decided to illustrate each issue with original photographs, which is very hard to do at that point. It means you had to have a very small print run. Initially it was only 300, eventually growing to about 500, and he had to get two negatives from each photographer of each photograph because the negs of course would wear out over the reproductive process. And in 1876 he left Yokohama, actually it was ’75, he moved to Shanghai and relaunched his magazine in 1876. So the content from there on is primarily of China. A lot of photographs to do with Shanghai, it’s harbour, the area, but also photographs, portrait photographs of prominent Westerners.

HM: And who would have purchased these magazines?

DS: They would never have been cheap. So they were primarily of interest to merchants who were active in the Far East and some were of course sent back to Britain and to the United States.

HM: Now you say these magazines would never have been cheap. How valuable are they now do you think?

DS: Well, first off, no institution in the world has a complete run. Everyone has scattered issues here or there. And that is explained by the number of subscribers, who were very, very few. The magazines that have come up at auction have done very well. There is one kind of startling auction record where some 18 issues, in the original wrap, sold at Sotheby's back in 2009 for £32,000. So what do you think yours might be worth then?

DS: Ours do not have the original wrappers but they do have an amazing amount of manuscript additional material done by this contributor, Gideon Nye, who was planning on turning his contributions into a book. Unfortunately he died in January of 1888 so he never completed the task. In my view this particular set, which by the way has extensive insect damage along the spines, I would suggest it has a value of around forty-five-thousand-dollars.

HM: You mentioned that the magazines were brought to you by a man in Vancouver. Tell us about him and how he came to you?

DS: He's actually a homeless man, and he as many do, goes up and down back lanes looking to see what he can find that might be of use. And he was out in Burnaby going down the lane and found a pile of old boxes filled with books, in and amongst them tied up with old string, were these old volumes. He is a very smart guy. He checked things out at the library on their computer, but to show the kinds of problems that can arise, he had taken them for safety's sake to friends who had a hotel room in the Downtown Eastside. That person's possessions were seized by the landlord and it took him some weeks before he could persuade the landlord to release his property to him so he could bring it to me.

HM: So you're going to sell them. Have you compensated him already?

DS: What I did was I gave him a substantial amount of money. He and I came up with a figure together and then I suggested to him that I will give him a percentage of the final sale price. So he's going to do quite well out of it.

HM: And he feels okay about that.

DS: Yes.

HM: How does this find rank among some of the things that people have brought you over the years?

DS: I would say that this is perhaps the biggest such find that's come out of a back lane. I've certainly not heard of one that's worth as much as this. And historically the value is very high indeed, because of all the manuscripts material in the volumes. We did some research to try to find out where these had come from and found out that the person who had them at his house died without a will. And so the office of the public trustee had stepped in and I guess, they assigned someone just to clear the house and dump everything.

HM: Wow. Isn't it fortunate this man was able to find them? I mean just stumbled across them or they would have ended up probably in a landfill.

DS: It's also fortunate that it happened a few months ago when Vancouver was going through an extended period without rain. But it is an amazing story.

HM: It sure is. Thank you very much for telling it to us Mr. Stewart. I appreciate it.

DS: Have a good evening.

HM: You too.

DS: Bye, bye.

HM: Bye.

JD: Don Stewart is the owner of Macleod’s Books in Vancouver. That's where we reached him.

[Music: Heavy Drums and Chimes]

JFK documents

Guest: Philip Shenon

JD: There was a fair amount of anticipation. One of the biggest document dumps in American history was being waited on with bated breath. And then after hours of waiting and no sign of the last batch of JFK Assassination files they finally did appear last night — but the 3100 files were not all there. The most sensitive documents were withheld after appeals from American security agencies. And the new date for those remaining documents to be released is April 26th of 2018. For now, historians, conspiracy theorists and the rest of us have been poring over the 2800 files that were released. Philip Shenon is the author of A Cruel and Shocking Act: The Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination. We reached him in Washington, D.C.

HM: Philip Shenon, yesterday U.S. president Donald Trump said “I am ordering today that the veil finally be lifted.” Was the veil lifted? Did we learn much with this document release yesterday?

PHILIP SHENON: No we really didn't. It was a big disappointment for historians and I think a big disappointment for a lot of people in the general public, because we've been promised full transparency 54 years after Kennedy was killed, and we didn't get it yesterday, and I'm not convinced we're going to get it next year.

HM: It's not a complete picture, as you say. There were though, some nuggets in this 2800 pages of documents. Among those that we did see what stands out for you as being potentially significant?

PS: What stands out to me I suppose they solidified the view that all roads lead to Mexico City in the Kennedy assassination story. There are many unanswered questions about Lee Harvey Oswald's trip to Mexico just several weeks before the assassination, where we know he's in contact with people who may have wanted to see John Kennedy dead.

HM: Who were those people? Are we talking about Cubans? Are we talking about other people?

PS: We have to remember that Oswald was a self-proclaimed champion of Castro's revolution. He once tried to defect to the Soviet Union. And he goes to Mexico City and we know he's in contact with Cuban spies and Soviet spies, and again, other people who may have wanted to see Kennedy dead. The CIA had Oswald under close surveillance in Mexico City. And the question has always been whether or not the CIA didn't know in real time that Oswald was a threat.

HM: Do we have any clearer sense of his motive in the shooting?

PS: The Warren Commission, which investigated in 1964, the initial investigation, really ducked the question of Oswald's motives. They just said he was communist, he just hated America sort of writ large was the motive. But in declassified documents we've gotten recently, it appears the CIA had a theory that Oswald had been motivated by news reports in 1963 that President Kennedy was trying to assassinate Castro. And Oswald was acting in, what he thought, was Castro's interest. He was going to kill Kennedy before Kennedy killed Castro. And to be honest with you that theory makes a lot of sense.

HM: One of the big intrigues has always been also the death of Oswald himself at the hands of Jack Ruby, who was a nightclub owner in Dallas, and in some speculation had links to the mob. Do we learn anything more about Ruby's motives through these documents?

PS: I don't see anything new in there. And you know, I totally understand where the conspiracy theories involving Ruby come from. I'll tell you as somebody who has thought about this for a number of years you would think that any half-sane Mafia chieftain would never think of Jack Ruby as the gunman because Ruby was a delusional blabbermouth. He's just the last person you'd want to send in and to keep secret a conspiracy.

HM: In the release yesterday there's a memo that was written after Oswald's death from J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI director at the time, concerned about how the public would perceive Oswald after his death. What does it say?

PS: It says that J. Edgar Hoover was really desperate after the assassination to establish that Oswald was the lone wolf, that there was no conspiracy, and certainly no conspiracy that the FBI could have foiled. I think J. Edgar Hoover feared that the FBI was going to be blamed for the assassination, that it had bungled intelligence about Oswald that might have saved Kennedy's life.

HM: The decision to not release all of the files. We were told that the CIA, the FBI, other security agencies had been fighting to shield these, as we know for more than 50 years. But now all this time later what are they possibly worried about?

PS: I still think there is this sort of institutional embarrassment at the CIA and the FBI about how they had bungled the intelligence about Oswald before the assassination. There is a concern that some agents and informants from the 1960s, who were identified to some of these pages, some of them are still alive today and they might even be in some sort of physical danger if their identities were revealed. And I think there's also a concern that this might damage American foreign policy because it will expose the links between the CIA and various foreign governments, especially the Mexican government.

HM: Donald Trump has himself seemed particularly intrigued by these documents. We know he, himself, has enjoyed conspiracy theories and spouting some of them. What do you think is so interesting to him?

PS: Well you know it's funny. It appears when he put out these tweets over the last couple of days sort of announcing the release of these documents, it appeared he wanted to be seen as this champion of government transparency. And, of course, then we had the debacle on Thursday with so many of these documents weren't released. You know, Donald Trump is and always has been a conspiracy theorist and he offered that specific conspiracy theory about JFK and Ted Cruz's dad during the presidential campaign last year. We should be clear, there's no other evidence of that beyond a single photograph. But I think in his mind this is just the sort of subject that intrigues him — a President's death, a possible conspiracy. Donald Trump seems to be as interested as any of the conspiracy theorists out there.

HM: Why are people so compelled all these years later by this story?

PS: You know, I think there was a logical disconnect right at the beginning. The American people just couldn't accept the idea that the most powerful man in the world was brought down by this 24-year-old misfit with a $21 mail order rifle — it just didn't make sense. What made more sense was that there was a conspiracy involving gray haired men in Washington or Moscow or Havana and people just went wild with their conspiracies right from the start. It's gotten worse and worse over the years as we have learned more and more about how much evidence was denied the American people in the years immediately after the assassination.

HM: All right well Philip Shenon, thank you very much for sharing your thoughts all of this with us.

PS: My pleasure.

HM: All right, bye, bye.

PS: Thanks.

JD: Philip Shenon is the author of A Cruel and Shocking Act: The Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination. We reached him in Washington, D.C..

[Music: Banjo Stumming]

Gord Downie

JD: Some envelopes you are a little nervous to open. Not because you're not desperate to see what's inside, but because you know that even though you will love it, it's going to break your heart. And if you just bought a physical copy of Gord Downie’s album, Introduce Yourself, which came out today, that may be how you're feeling right now. This is the album that Gord Downie started working on last January after he was diagnosed with brain cancer. And it was cold, but every morning while he was recording he would walk down to Lake Ontario and write the lyrics out by hand. There are 23 songs on Introduce Yourself and Gord Downie said quote, “Each song is about a person.” And the subject of those songs will recognize themselves in the details. The rest of us will recognize perhaps, bits of ourselves, and of course will recognize the man who wrote them. Gord Downie died last Tuesday. He was 53 years old. And this batch of song letters is the last batch he wrote. They are funny and personal and poetic and hopeful and they're also going to break your heart.

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October 27, 2017 episode trancscript

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