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The AIH Transcript for September 14, 2018

Hosts: Helen Mann and Jeff Douglas

Prologue

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

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

[Music: Theme]

JD: Tonight…

HM: Emergency exit. As the storm called Florence does its worst to the U.S. east coast, an alderwoman and one North Carolina town does her best braving floodwaters to go door to door imploring her constituents to flee.

JD: Coming apart at the seams. A police describe as a mild-mannered tailor makes a stunning confession — over the past decade he has methodically murdered 33 truck drivers in India.

HM: Pup quiz. Miners in Dawson City you can find a well-preserved young wolf frozen in the ground. And we'll ask the local paleontologist how he determined it dates back to the last Ice Age.

JD: From refugees to nominee. A 27-year-old woman who fled Afghanistan as a child has defeated a long-time incumbent in the Democratic primary for a ward in New Hampshire.

HM: Tow-er de force. For more than 50 years Lincoln Towing has terrorized drivers in the Windy City so Chicagoans rejoice with the company itself gets the hook.

JD: And…Was it a logical choice or a proctological choice? The managing editor of a brand new Missouri newspaper helps us get to the bottom of the decision to call it The Uranus Examiner. As It Happens: The Friday Edition. Radio that's confident our guest is part of a crack team.

[Music: Theme]

Back To Top »

Part 1: Florence: New Bern, N.C., Mummified wolf, Uranus Examiner

Florence: New Bern, N.C.

Guest: Jameesha Harris

JD: Parts of North Carolina are underwater. Hurricane Florence has just been downgraded to a tropical storm, but whatever its status, it is doing some serious damage across the Carolinas. As we go to air at least four people have died, including a woman and her infant child. Yesterday on the program we spoke with Juan Rojas. Mr. Rojas fled the coastal town of New Bern when he heard about the hurricane because he had lived through Maria in Puerto Rico. He urged others to do the same. Many did not heed that warning. Hundreds of people have had to be rescued in the last 24 hours, with many more still stuck in their homes. Jameesha Harris is an alderwoman in Cuba. We reached her at home in New Bern earlier today.

HM: Alderwoman Harris, tell us what's going on there right now in New Bern?

JAMEESHA HARRIS: Well, right now the winds are really bad. The flooding is really bad. There's all types of power lines trees down but we do have our swift water rescue people out there trying to get the remains of the individuals that have called in to 911 where there are literally on their roofs or in the attic and their houses almost over water and rescuing them right now.

HM: Have you got power?

JH: I just got my power was restored literally speaking to you right now.

HM: That must be at least some relief given what you're going through?

JH: Yes ma'am it is.

HM: So give us some perspective here when you're talking about the amount of water you're seeing. How high is it compared to area buildings or cars?

JH: Okay, so downtown New Bern is probably about nine feet under water from the storm surge. So the river is in rising and rising and the water, it’s nonstop rain so most of downtown New Bern and many communities are literally under water right now.

HM: How dangerous is this for people who are still stuck in their homes there?

JH: It's really dangerous. I mean there's young ones was with their parents that felt like they didn't have the means or really understood what it was to have a mandatory evacuation. So they were just going to say ‘I'm going to bunker down.’ And that was all on Wednesday, and then Thursday when it started to get bad overnight people realized that they needed to get out. It was really too late that most of their house is underwater so they've been inboxing and calling and we’re just telling them to get to the attic and find anything to bust yourself out of the roof so that we're putting your name on the list to stay safe because we had to tell our staff to stop rescuing people last night because it was so dark and the winds were so bad we didn't want to risk the lives of first responders. And once we got day break that the wind started slowing down we were able to get people back out so we were telling them anything to bust yourself out on their roofs and sit out on the roof. There's been reports where people were on the roof for about five hours with this rain nonstop with their kids last night.

HM: Are you worried that anybody might be up in their attics? Because we remember Katrina many people drowned because they couldn't get on the roof.

JH: People are still up in their attics from what I know. We were at a point where we just did not have enough manpower so we made a social media post to say that if you have a boat and you’re willing to rescue people, to meet at the New Bern mall and we had about 25 people register their boats. They've been out — when people call 911, they've been out trying to rescue them. So I mean, we have come together tremendously as a community like no other right now. It’s just amazing what's going on and just the scene — I mean it's catastrophic right now.

HM: What about you? I understand you've been driving around. You've talked about trying to help people. Are you putting yourself at risk doing this?

JH: Yes I am. And what it is, is that I got my family out safe and my husband and his mother stayed behind and I realize as an elected official that, you know, I have to be here when the aftermath is here. So I represent a community where I know these individuals are very prideful and they didn't want to get out. So I just kind of just layered myself in clothes and covered my head and knocked door to door and begged people to get out. And I just told them that we need you to get out because they were under water. I mean, I was literally in my stomach all the way up to my chest in water knocking on the doors. I mean, power lines and stuff, and at that point when you're in it you're so emotional you're just thinking about these elderly people and these babies. At that point I was ready to risk it because I wanted them to get to safety and we were able to get seven families yesterday, we were able to get a mother a father and a seven-month-old out today. So so far we've saved about 13 families.

HM: What are people saying to you about the ordeal that they've gone through before you've rescued them?

JH: They thought that they could wait it out and they were just so thankful. I had people that they were adamant that they weren't going to leave and then two hours later they found me on Facebook and inboxed me and said ‘I just want to thank you so much for your speech. We decided to pack some of our stuff and get out.’ So that really, you know, I was not able to sleep so that really made me feel better that people took heed to what I was saying to get out because it was going to get worse.

HM: Yesterday we spoke with a man who fled New Bern because he had already lived through Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and he was pleading with other people to get out. Do you think that perhaps people who have never lived through a storm like this are just not prepared for Hurricane Florence and where it's going to deliver?

JH: Yes. I just hope now people understand that when we say mandatory evacuation we're not forcing you, but we're begging you to get out so that you're saving your life and others.

HM: Officials are warning that this could still go on for days. There's even talk of a tornado warning. Do you think that New Bern can handle anything more?

JH: We have a hashtag called ‘Newburn Strong.’ And so I feel like we're built for anything especially after what we’re going through now. Do we want a tornado that touched down and hit? No. But, I mean, at this point there is nothing — you know, we're riding it out.

HM: Well, Alderwoman Harris, please stay safe. Take care of yourself as much as you can, and thank you very much for telling us about all you and your community are going through.

JH: Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

HM: We wish you the very best.

JH: Thank you.

HM: Bye-bye.

JD: Jameesha Harris is an older woman in New Bern, North Carolina. We reached her there earlier today. For more on the story, including photos of the flooding in New Bern, head to our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Oboes]

Margarita Simonyan/BBC

JD: You could be forgiven for thinking that the BBC perhaps is not the favourite news agency of the Kremlin funded RT network. Last night RT editor Margarita Simonyan gave a phone interview to the BBC show Newsnight. Kirsty Wark, the BBC presenter, wanted Ms. Simonyan to answer some questions about her rather bizarre conversation with the two Russian men accused of poisoning ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. An interview in which both men claimed they had visited the small U.K. town of Salisbury simply to sightsee — to see, including other things, the breathtaking spire of the local cathedral. At first it seemed to be going pretty well and then — it didn't.

SOUNDCLIP

MARGARITA SIMONYAN: Having worked as a reporter for almost 20 years now I only believe — over more than 20 years now — I only believe what I see with my own eyes. I saw with my own eyes that they do look completely like the people on the video that was released by the British police. So for that matter I do believe they are those people. But as far as the story goes, I don't have any reason to believe them. I don't know them. I haven't spent life with them. They're not my friends but I have normal reasons to believe Secret Services who have been lying previously.

KIRSTY WARK: Doesn’t the manner of this interview concern you? And doesn't just reinforce the idea that RT is a propaganda tool for the Russian state?

MS: You did watch the interview, didn't you?

KW: I watched the interview.

MS: Did you see my face? Did you see the tone? You probably don't speak Russian.

KW: I don’t speak Russian, but I also looked at the transcript.

MS: Yeah. And the questions were quite obviously hard for them and made them nervous and at some point they even said something like ‘We came here, we thought you would support us, and you behave like we were the investigation in a court.’ And I said ‘Well, I'm not here to support you, I’m not your advocate. I’m a journalist. I don't know why you would say that. Your question seems completely not objective to me right now. Your question to me seems like a typical western propaganda because of which people actually watch RT.

KW: And one last point.

MS: My interview was nothing like what you’re saying it was, nothing like.

KW: One last question. You actually looked at the footage of the two men…

[PHONE CLICKS]

KW: Margarita Simonyan, are you still there? I think she's gone.

JD: That was RT editor Margarita Simonyan hanging up on BBC presenter Kirsty Wark after Ms. Wark work questioned the quote “manner” of the interview Ms. Simonyan conducted with two alleged Russian spies.

[Music: Somber Guitar]

Mummified wolf

Guest: Grant Zazula

JD: Wolf cubs are no strangers to the area around Dawson City, Yukon. What is strange is to find a perfectly preserved specimen that dates back to the last Ice Age. But that is exactly what Grant Zazula found himself looking at. Mr. Zazula is a Yukon government paleontologist. A couple of years ago his team got a call after a team of gold miners uncovered the mummified animal. Now it is on display at the Dänojà Zho Cultural Centre in Dawson City. We reach Grant Zazula in Dawson City.

HM: Mr. Zazula, start by telling us how this mummified wolf cub looks?

GRANT ZAZULA: Oh, it's fantastic. It looks like a baby taxidermy little wolf pup. It’s as a cuddly little puppy, it's about maybe a foot long, it's got fluffy little fur, little ears, a little tail and paws. It's sort of resting on its front paws and its lip is curled up showing its teeth. It's just absolutely beautiful.

HM: It looks like something that could almost be like sleeping in front of a fireplace.

GZ: Exactly. But, of course, it died over 50,000 years ago and only discovered recently.

HM: Are you astonished by the quality of the sample, this example?

GZ: Yeah. You know, I have colleagues that work in Siberia and sometimes we get a little jealous because it seems like they find these woolly mammoth carcasses emerging from the permafrost all the time and we just don't get those in North America, in the Yukon. And when this was found by the goldminer and then we saw it for the first time and it ended up in a freezer and then got shipped to Ottawa for a bunch of work and when it came back we couldn't believe how beautiful it looks because it just looks like an animal that died yesterday, like you said in front of in front of a fireplace. And of course we get a chance to see it for that for the first time just recently.

HM: What colour is the fur?

GZ: It's reddish. But we're not — we don't think that's actually representative of actual colour and life. What happens is a lot of oxidation that happens after the animal died. Now it's been in the frozen ground for over 50,000 years and that the pigment in the hair oxidizes and changes and turns red. Most of the mummified carcasses from the ice age that have been found in places like Siberia, again, they're often a reddish in colour from that oxidization that happens. It may not represent its actual colour that it had one when I was living.

HM: So when you touch the fur what does it feel like?

GZ: It feels like petting your own dog. It's really bringing the ice age to life. It feels like an animal that yeah, like that just, just died. It's amazing.

HM: Do you have any idea how old this pup might have been?

GZ: When it died — well one of the first things we did, because, you know, we're appealing to all this and paleontologists generally study bones and fossils so something like this is kind of outside my realm of knowledge. And we took it to a veterinarian and they were just amazed when we told them this was an animal that was from the ice age they couldn't believe it. So they did some x rays of it and the x rays confirm two things. First it confirmed it was a female because it lacked a baculum bone. And then secondly, based on the lack of fusion in the skull and in the long bones, they suggested it was an animal, a wolf pup that died before the age of eight weeks old. So it was a little baby. So in my mind what probably happened was that there was a mother wolf with some puppies or maybe a single puppy in this case, and mama went off hunting or scavenging and left the baby back in the den and possibly the dirt that the den was built in collapsed on top of it and basically the animal, this little baby probably starved or died by the collapse and got completely encased in the frozen ground. And 50,000 years later it sees the light of day.

HM: What does it smell like?

GZ: There's no smell at all actually. The sediments that we generally find these ice age animals in in the Yukon at these gold mines, it's actually got an amazing smell in the summer because it's melting frozen mud that has kind of organic material that's thousands or tens of thousands of years old, so it almost smells like — the site smells like the kind of when you go to a barn yard in the spring. There's a lot of off-gassing of melting mud and poop. But this actual wolf pup itself doesn't really smell. Yeah, it's perfect.

HM: How are these specimens in such incredible shape?

GZ: It's really the magic of the permafrost. The ash bed itself wasn't — it didn't actually bury the animals. The sediments, the permafrost in this region have a whole bunch of different types of volcanic ash that's from volcanoes in Alaska that were exploding and then that dust plume covering the Yukon and that happened hundreds of times during the ice age. So we have the remnants of these volcanic ash beds but really it's the permafrost. So in order to preserve an animal in this sort of state the animal has to die and it has to be buried very quickly after its death because if it's left out on the surface, if an animal dies on the surface, you know, those animal scavengers will come in to eat it and then it will eventually rot in place and all that skin and muscle and hair just rot away or get scavenged. So the animal needs to die, needs to get buried very quickly. And in this case the permafrost needs to engulf it, so it needs to freeze. So those combinations of burial and permafrost make conditions that are just absolutely exceptional for the preservation of mummified remains like this.

HM: How did gold-miners come to make the discovery?

GZ: Well, you know, there's a real close association between gold mining and ice age paleontology in the Yukon and it's really built on a really great working relationship. And that's been the case ever since 1898 the big gold rush of the Klondike, gold miners in those early days, as soon as they started scratching away at the frozen ground they start fighting bones of woolly mammoths and camels and saber tooth cats and all these crazy ice age animals. And so that that relationship exists today so gold miners who were out there working in the hills around Dawson City, they're using these large water cannons, these hydraulic water cannons where they’re washing away the frozen mud so they can get at the gold bearing gravel that's underneath. And when they do this they expose all these thousands of ice age mammal bones every summer. So we find thousands of bones — but we almost never find mummified soft tissue like this. I've never seen anything like this in the region we work a. So it's a very unique find, and we're really excited to be a part of it of course.

HM: Well Mr. Zazula, thank you very much for telling us about this.

GZ: All right, thank you very much.

HM: Bye-bye.

GZ: Bye-bye.

JD: Granted Zazula is a paleontologist with the Government of Yukon. We reached him in Dawson City. And we have a picture of the puppy mummy on our Twitter feed. @CBCAsItHappens.

[Music: Whimsical Strings]

Uranus Examiner

Guest: Natalie Sanders

JD: When Pulaski County, Missouri's last local newspaper shut down there was an obvious hole in the media landscape in Missouri. And so some local journalists came up with a brand new paper. It is called The Examiner. And they're situated in kind of an unofficial town. Kind of a tourist attraction off Route 66 in Pulaski County. It is called Uranus. So it is The Uranus Examiner. So you know what? Let's talk to Natalie Sanders about it. She is managing editor of The Uranus Examiner. We reached her at town headquarters in Uranus.

HM: Natalie, aren't you worried that your new paper is going to become the butt of every joke in your town?

NATALIE SANDERS: No I'm not because, you know, Uranus jokes aside, if you give people the product that they're expecting that just sort of wears off after a while. You know, if you put out something that's good and people want to read it then it doesn't really matter what the name is.

HM: Could you not maybe they'll have called it something like the Uranus Herald or the Uranus Times instead of Uranus Examiner?

NS: The name came about from the fans of this place. You know, 30,000 plus people come through here in a month. It's a very popular tourist destination on Route 66. It's bankrolling the paper. And whenever, you know, we asked what should we name our paper this was the overwhelming thing. And that's a nod to the people that know us and love us.

HM: Why is it that there is a town called Uranus in your county?

NS: Well, we're not exactly a town, we’re a destination. It’s styled after sort of an old west looking town feel and it's in the grand tradition of Route 66 stops. It's kitschy, it's fun. Uranus has got everything from dinosaurs to cut outs to our fudge factory. It's just a fun destination.

HM: Well where did the name Uranus though come from? Who came up with that and when?

NS: Well that was Louie Keen. You know, he's got a great sense of humour and people just love it.

HM: Louie Keen by the way he started up the name here, but he also on the paper right?

NS: Yes.

HM: Now the paper itself though what are the origins? I mean I understand at one point this might have been a bit of a joke but now you're really a full-fledged community newspaper.

NS: That is the plan. I guess I have to tell my personal story in order to explain how this came about. I used to be the editor of our local newspaper. It was the Daily Guide and last Friday they announced they were closing and they closed the doors on Friday. And I had left the Daily Guide back in June because I was burned out and Louie had a position here for someone to handle their email and their blog and to do a fun newspaper that was a promotional tool for the property. Anyway, whenever the Daily Guide closed it felt a little bit like an old friend was dying, you know. I had been the editor there for about three years and we didn't have a newspaper that was covering entire county and it was leaving a hole. Newspapers are an important part of America, they’re an important part of what it means to keep a watch on what your local city council is doing and what school districts are doing, what your community is doing and seeing, you know, the kids making it to state championships when they're playing a game. So we decided we were going to turn our fun paper into a real newspaper.

HM: The mayor of Waynesville, near Uranus, is not happy with the newspaper's name. Mayor Luge Hardman said “No, I'm sorry the innuendo of the newspaper title puts the city up for public ridicule.” Does she not maybe have a point?

NS: Well, to me that's sort of ‘Okay who cares.’ I don't mean to sound like it's not an important thing to her because I know her and I respect her. But if people are going to make fun then they're going to make fun no matter what it was. If Joe Schmo started a paper and he called it the Shmo Examiner we wouldn't be having this conversation.

HM: We're joking about everything better that Uranus Examiner is getting you publicity.

NS: Well, I guess it is, yeah. And as I said, you know, I am a serious journalist and I was one for a long time and I don't I don't have an issue with the name, and I'm actually really proud of what we're setting out to do and what we're going to accomplish. And if someone else's, you know, gonna turn that into a joke, that's their problem not mine.

HM: If it wasn't for the Examiner where else would people in Pulaski County be getting their local news from?

NS: That's a good question because there is a local blogger who puts things up on Facebook but that's about it. If you're not on Facebook you're not going to see it.

HM: You're going to have ever print edition? Because so many places now are backing off of print editions.

NS: It is a print edition. It's going to be directly mailed to starting with about 15,000 addresses in the county. It's free, it's not costing the readers anything. We're doing it as a — it’s advertiser driven.

HM: Now you said earlier you're burned out by the newspaper industry and here you are helping launch this new newspaper it's like you couldn’t get away.

NS: I am, but was a one-woman show when I was doing it and I'm not a one-woman show here. And, you know, it wasn't burned out by the newspaper industry so much as I was just kind of burned out where I was at and this is exciting, this is something different, this is new. This is doing something that people are not doing yet and they should be. So that's a little different to me.

HM: How many journalists have you got on board?

NS: I have two sports reporters. I have a regular reporter and then I have several stringers.

HM: And when’s your launch date?

NS: Well we don't have a hard lunch date yet because we're looking at the production schedule. We are planning towards mid to the end of October. When we were first doing this we had planned for an October 15th launch date for our fun paper. But because we're having to backtrack and do the real paper and I need to hire staff and things like that it's getting our ducks in a row for that. So we're looking at about four or five weeks out from where we are right now.

HM: It is encouraging to hear that someone is actually taking a newspaper to print in this world right now so thank you very much. Nice to talk to you.

NS: It was really nice talking to you. Thank you.

JD: Natalie Sanders is the managing editor of The Uranus Examiner. We reached her in the unofficial town of Uranus, near St. Robert, Missouri.

Back To Top »

Part 2: India serial killer, Lincoln towing

India serial killer

Guest: Saptarshi Ray

JD: He is described by the police officers who caught him as a mild-mannered tailor. But if the allegations against him are true he could be one of India's most prolific serial killers. 48-year-old Adesh Khamra was arrested two weeks ago near the town of Bhopal where he worked in a small clothing shop. This week he confessed to killing 33 truck drivers over the past 10 years. He has not yet been convicted. Saptarshi Ray is a journalist who has been following the story. We reached him in Delhi.

HM: Saptarshi Ray, tell us a bit about what is known about Adesh Khamra? Who is he?

SAPTARSHI RAY: So what is known about Adesh Khamra is that by day, I mean, it sounds like a Hollywood movie or something. But by day is a mild-mannered tailor well-known in the community, and by apparently he was part of a criminal gang that robbed and looted lorry drivers. What the police are saying mainly is that he had a modus operandi of befriending truckers at these stops. You know, these truckstops, I'm sure you have them in Canada — any big country. The general gist was that he would go into their truck, offer them a drink and drug them, and then the rest of his gang would rob the loot from the cargo from the back of the lorry. Some of them would drive off with the truckers who were at this point unconscious, and then he would murder them at some stage.

HM: And how far back did these murders go?

SR: Well at the moment, I mean, I'm sure you can appreciate, Helen — so much the information is coming from the police here in India and these are confessions that are coming out but obviously we're not going to trial yet. But they're saying now it could go back as far as 2005-2006 nationwide across several states of India.

HM: And police are saying he's confessed?

SR: Yes. So pretty much, I mean, how it happened is that in itself could make a blockbuster movie. He was actually taken down by a female police officer who herself could make an action hero or heroine I should say. I mean, she's an expert in Taekwondo and Judo — a former medalist at the Asian Games and she was basically on a manhunt for him through the jungle for three days before she arrested him.

HM: That's extraordinary. So tell me a little bit more about what motivated the crimes?

SR: So what is happening is we're getting essentially a domino effect from the criminal gang. I mean, you know, the shakedown was he befriends the lorry drivers, they go off then they steal the truck itself and they sell it off in a different state. And because stealing of lorries is rife in India so a lot of the time there's huge insurance policies that cover them so a lot of them were not followed up. And a lot of the truckers themselves are not documented or, you know, people who would be registered as being missing. So to actually piece it all together would have taken a long time. But the gang now seems to be turning in upon itself, and his associates, if I can use that word — saying that he was the one who killed them.

HM: What about the bodies? I mean, presumably you've got 33 victims here. How did police not trace the bodies to the trucks, to the people responsible?

SR: He was very clever. I mean, bear in mind again, I have to repeat that this information is coming from the police, but he was very careful, he would stripped them of clothes, buried them in forest or jungle or land in various different states. So the idea that maybe even if a couple of bodies were found in one state — the idea the joined up policing across various borders, various ranks of police and so on — to link these crimes would have taken quite some doing.

HM: You say he drugged them and then they were back in their trucks. Not to be too gruesome, but how did he actually kill them?

SR: So the main weapon of choice, again yeah not to be gruesome, seems to have been a knotted rope according to police. But one of the things that came out is some of the police officers were saying that it was very unsettling interviewing him because he seemed to have amazing recall about every single victim.

HM: How did police eventually link Mr. Khamra to these crimes?

SR: Well, interestingly — he comes originally from a place called Bhopal, which is in a state of Madhya Pradesh, the neighbouring state is Uttar Pradesh, and it was actually the two bodies of lorry drivers that were discovered, and through that the police managed to find someone in a criminal gang who then said he was part of another gang. And so the dominos kept falling, and then eventually his name was brought up as they brought more and more people into the net as it were. So, I mean, what we're talking about it could be essentially a nationwide network of robbery gangs preying on lorry drivers, of which this man at Adesh Khamra seems to have been the chief hit man or murderer to make sure that there were no loose ends. Now whether it's a serial killer in the terms that we think of a Hollywood serial killer, you know, like Jeffrey Dahmer or, you know, or fictional like Hannibal Lecter, or whether it's criminal enterprise. I mean, the fact he's been talking about, you know, I released them from their lives, I gave them salvation — that brings a whole psychological dimension to it. He's also talked about his father. He's talked about, you know, his upbringing — but of course this could all be leading to an insanity defense at trial.

HM: And police are saying they're finding him incredibly manipulative.

SR: Indeed. They absolutely are because they say that he’s talking about his father he’s talking about his upbringing. But I guess we're in the period between arrest and trial. It could be amounting to him speaking out saying well, you know, ‘This is my upbringing, I'm actually clinically insane. I wasn't aware I was committing these crimes. I'm sociopath, I'm a psychopath and so on.’

HM: And so how are people reacting to all of this?

SR: Not quite the way you'd expect in some ways, in that you would think it would be all over the news everything, but I think once the trial begins there'll be much more reaction. And also you got to bear in mind, I mean, the way the media plays and the way reaction plays, if this man was going around murdering upper and middle class socialites I think there would have been headlines for a lot longer. But the fact that it’s truckers, you know, working class people and so on doesn't necessarily mean — with all due respect to the victims and their families — doesn't necessarily mean that people were immediately jumping on the case with political ramifications.

HM: So as you say this is something that is still evolving. We're going to get more details as police continue their investigation. Saptarshi, we appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

SR: Thank you.

JD: Saptarshi Ray is a journalist based in Delhi. That is where we reached him.

[Music: Ambient Bells]

Lincoln Towing

Guest: Cheryl Reed

JD: Lincoln Towing is a towing company that hauls vehicles away for sketchy reasons, overcharges owners to get their cars back and mocks people when they complain. I know what you're thinking, ‘So what you're saying Jeff is it's a towing company.’ Well yes and no. Lincoln Towing is an especially notorious towing company — not just in Chicago where it operates — but across America. There was even a song written about it from 1972. Here's Chicago folk singer Steve Goodman with Lincoln Park Pirates

SOUNDCLIP

STEVE GOODMAN: The street lamps are on in Chicago tonight and lovers are gazing at stars. The stores are all closing and daily is dozing and the fat man's counting the cars. There's more cars than places to put them he said. But I got room for them all. So round them up boys because I want some more toys, hit the lot by the grocery store. Way hay tow them away, the Lincoln Park Pirates are we. From Wilmette to Gary there’s none that’s so hairy and we always collect our fee. Way hay tow them away, we plunder the streets of your town. Be it Edsel or Chevy, there’s no car too heavy, and no one can make us shut down.

JD: The 1972 song Lincoln Park Pirates by Chicago folk singer Steve Goodman. Now however, Lincoln Towing’s more than 50-year reign of terror is over — at least for the time being. This week the Illinois Commerce Commission revoked Lincoln's license after a two-year investigation into hundreds of unauthorized tows. One person rejoicing is Cheryl Reed. Ms. Reed is a former long-time resident of Chicago and a former reporter for The Chicago Sun Times. And she had her own run in with Lincoln Park pirates. We reach Cheryl Reed in Syracuse, New York.

HM: Ms. Reed, on a scale of 1 to 10 how happy were you when you heard that Lincoln Towing had had their vehicle relocation license revoked?

CHERYL REED: I was ecstatic. I was extremely happy. Many of my friends sent me the story on Facebook. As soon as I posted the story everyone I knew was commenting and saying good riddance and that this should have happened years ago. So I think I'm not the only one happy.

HM: Well, in fact, we just heard part of the song Lincoln Park Pirates, which was written more than 40 years ago. Were they really that bad in the eyes of Chicagoans?

CR: Yes, absolutely. Everyone called them the pirates. They operated as if they were above the law, that they didn't have to answer to anyone. They were the, you know, judge and jury on whether or not your car was parked illegally. There was very little recourse for someone to take. In my case, I actually filed with the Commerce Commission who investigated my case and then made them repay me. But that goes — a lot of people don't have time for that. And so they end up just having to pay for their car and they're so frustrated by it. And then the attitude of the people when you go and get your car is, you know, ‘You're at fault, we don't care what your story is. You're the illegal people.’ And they treat you with complete disregard and they're just really, really rude.

HM: How did your car get towed?

CR: It was a book launch for my new novel last year and my name, my face everything was plastered on the front of the bookstore. I parked in the bookstore lot during my launch party and they came and towed it. Here I had launched my first novel I was this author blah, blah, blah, I come outside and no car. I was feeling very defeated and I had to truck over to where the tow company was. There was a long, long line, I had to wait an hour in the line. While I was waiting they actually towed my car in. So they didn't just tow my car, they towed my car and then drove around with it for at least 30 to 45 minutes.

HM: Why do you think they did that? Because, you know, as I understand they argued that this was an after-hours thing and you weren't supposed to be in the lot.

CR: Because the contract with the owner says that they're only supposed to tow cars after midnight or 1:00 o'clock and it was well before that. I think that's why, but I don't know. I mean, who knows why they do the things they do, it makes no sense.

HM: You had called police and I gather that there were some officers there to witness your interaction with them when you went to get the car.

CR: Yes. Because they had towed my car illegally I wanted proof. I wanted someone that was a witness to say and try to discuss it with them. They talked to the night manager and the night manager just said ‘No, we had the right to tow your car, and we're going to tow your car, it doesn't matter.’ And when I paid him the money, which was $215 dollars, I said I had the right to be there. And I'm going to you know file a grievance. And he said ‘It doesn't matter, you're never going to get your money back.’

HM: But you did.

CR: I did.

HM: How come you got your money back?

CR: Because I pursued it. And I think it was a real clear cut case. I mean, I had a letter from the owner of the bookstore saying I had permission to park there. Also the sign does not say that they're going to tow you after a certain time period. It just says you need to have official business with the owner. So the signs are very vague. And I was able to document my case and I was willing to go through the pain of having to do that. I mean, it took a while. I think a lot of people they just feel like they feel defeated, it's like it's part of the cost of living in Chicago someone told me.

HM: Are there specific stories that you've heard from other people about their own experiences with Lincoln Towing that stand out for you?

CR: I've had several friends who talked about how they parked in their rented legal spot and they have come out in the car will be gone, and then they will show Lincoln Towing you know their rental agreement that they have the right and that is their spot and the towing company will just say you know, tough.

HM: So this has been going on, this kind of behaviour for more than 60 years. How do you think it is that this company's been allowed to operate like this for so long?

CR: Well, I think you can surmise that somebody was protecting them and somebody was allowing them to continue to operate this way.

HM: Do you have any evidence of that?

CR: No, of course I have no evidence — other than the fact that a company that an official Commerce Department has determined legally is not competent to be functioning. So you have your own government determining that the business should not be in business. And yet somehow they have been allowed to continue to be in business.

HM: Well, you know, the descriptions are of a pretty belligerent organization it sounds like that they're continuing with that. They say they're not going down without a fight. They have filed a complaint in court. It says the Commerce Commission's revoking of its license is unenforceable even saying that physical violence could break out in parking lots. What do you make of that argument?

CR: I think that if the city allows them to continue functioning, I think that is a disservice to the public. And I think people will be belligerent about the fact that this company is continuing to operate. And I think that will cause all kinds of outbreak of violence.

HM: How much celebrating you think was there among car owners in Chicago yesterday?

CR: There was a lot. There's been a lot for a couple of days and cabbies too, yeah.

HM: All right. Well look, Ms. Reed thanks for telling us about your own experience. We appreciate it.

CR: Okay, thank you so much, Helen. OK.

HM: Bye.

CR: Bye.

JD: That was author and former Chicago reporter Cheryl Reed. We reached her in Syracuse, New York. We have more on that story on the as it happens website.

[Music: Upright Bass]

Jeremy Dutcher: Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa

JD: There is really only an infinitesimal chance that you will understand what Jeremy Dutcher is singing on his debut album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa. The songs are in a language that fewer than 100 people speak — Wolastoqiyik. It's the language of the Wolastoqiyik First Nation. And Mr. Dutcher provides no translation of the lyrics. As he told Tom power during a conversation on q quote. “I wanted to say something so rooted in where I come from.” Because, as he also said, “As people who fluently speak Wolastoqiyik pass away,” quote “We're not losing words. We're losing entire ways of seeing the world.” Actually when I think of it what I just said isn't quite true, is it? You will not understand the words perhaps or the language — you will understand however intuitively and emotionally what Mr. Dutcher means, what the songs mean. In an online bio Jeremy Dutcher is described as a quote “performer, composer, activist and musicologist.” On his first album he is all those things — at once. While I was at Dalhousie University an elder told him about an archive of wax cylinders collected by a white anthropologist about a century ago. These were recordings of people singing in Wolastoqiyik at a time when it was illegal to practice Indigenous culture. He wrote and he recorded his album as a kind of dialogue with those songs and those singers from the past — with an eye toward the present and the future.

[Music: Electric Guitar Strumming]

Lindie Liang: Ig Nobel Prize

Guest:

JD: Last night during a ceremony at Harvard, researchers were honoured for their work at the semi-prestigious Ig Nobels — not to be confused with the very prestigious, very serious, much less fun — Nobels. Because instead of honoring people who do super serious stuff that changes the world or whatever the Ig Nobels honour those whose work quote “makes people laugh and then think.” One of the ten awards was given to the author of a probing report called Colonoscopy in the sitting position: lessons learned from self-colonoscopy. And it will not surprise you to learn that we have spoken to some of the other winners on this program. David Wartinger shared the prize for medicine for a study that riding a roller coaster could help people pass kidney stones. In September of 2016 he told Carol how he had conducted his research.

SOUNDCLIP

DAVID WARTINGER: What we did is we took an actual patient CT urogram, so a computerized a tomographic study of the person's kidney and we use the software to create a three dimensional model of the hollow space inside the kidney. We then filled the block up with urine and kidney stones and resealed it and we were able to take our simulated pyelocalyceal system full of urine and stones on whatever ride or activity — we wanted to see what forces made a kidney stone.

CAROL OFF: Did you go to the Magic Kingdom?

DW: Absolutely.

CO: With this and were you carrying it in your hand, this kidney?

DW: Well, we were a little more subtle than that. We were actually concerned that we would draw the attention of the security department, we thought, you know, two adult men riding the same ride again and again carrying a backpack was going to look a little bit suspicious, so as soon as we got in the entrance of the Magic Kingdom we actually presented ourselves to representatives of Walt Disney World and told them why we were there what we wanted to do and the fates were on our side — the first official we spoke to had passed a kidney stone and actually sort of embraced us, called the ride operators, the managers of the rides said ‘We a couple of guys from Michigan State University that are going to try to figure out how to prevent kidney stones and you're going to help them.’

JD: Urological surgeon, and now Ig Nobel winner, David Wartinger. Another award went to a team that determined a way people could reduce work related stress caused by a boss or supervisor. Wilfrid Laurier University researcher Lindie Liang explained the study to us earlier this year.

SOUNDCLIP

LINDIE LIANG: We asked employees to recall a time when their supervisors abused them in the workplace or mistreated them. So, for example, you know, yelling at them just being rude to them, just being hostile towards them. So by then they're really angry so they recall that time in their memory. And then we randomly assigned them into two conditions. So for one group of employees we asked them to go online and there's this online Voodoo doll program so they can actually do a lot of things like set the Voodoo doll on fire, they can insert pins into the doll, or they can use pliers or some tools to tear the Voodoo doll apart. So we ask them to play with the doll for a minute and for the other condition we ask them to label the Voodoo doll as nobody and we just asked them to trace the outline of the Voodoo doll. So they didn't get to retaliate, they didn't have the opportunity to retaliate. So basically what we found is that across several studies, people who had opportunity to retaliate, to harm the Voodoo doll that that symbolized their boss, they actually show restored justice perception. So they actually feel better. They think the world is fair again. You know, I had the opportunity to retaliate. But for the other group who didn't get the opportunity to retaliate then their justice perception is really low, they think this really unfair.

JD: From our archives, Ontario researcher Lindie Liang speaking about a Voodoo doll study on As It Happens in March. Last night Ms. Liang won an Ig Nobel for that work.

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Part 3: Florence: weather channel, Safiya Wazir

Florence: weather channel

Guest: Mike Potts

JD: If you have been tracking the unwelcome arrival of Hurricane Florence, you may have seen some recent reports by The Weather Channel. And if so you may have been impressed and or disturbed. Impressed because the technology is providing a whole new way of predicting what a storm will do. Disturbed to because that technology is creating realistic and frightening scenes onscreen. As reporters speak they appear to be surrounded by water rising higher and higher. Here is what one of those reports sounded like.

SOUNDCLIP

WEATHER REPORTER: Once that water comes up to three feet, you can see it would be coming up my shins up towards my waist. This could be enough to knock you off your feet. It could even float some cars that could be parked on the side of the roadway. This is extremely dangerous, but once we get up into that six-foot range look at how high this water goes. Winds pick everything up, cars would be floating at this point. This water's over my head. I wouldn't be able to stand here, even withstand the force of the water coming in. There might even be dangers like chemicals and exposed power lines lurking in the waters.

JD: It is called Immersive Mixed Reality Technology. If you’d like to see it, we do have an example on our website: www.cbc.ca/aih. The Weather Channel began using this tack at its Atlanta headquarters earlier this year. Mike Potts is the vice president of design for the weather group. We reached him in Atlanta.

HM: Mr. Potts, we are obviously at a disadvantage here being on the radio but for those who may not have already seen this, can you give us some details of what viewers see on their screen if they watch one of your channel's recent reports on Hurricane Florence?

MIKE POTTS: We open on a meteorologist standing and presenting at a map. There is a legend behind her that describes increasing the water levels from three-feet to six-feet to nine-feet and above nine feet. And the presenter is discussing a specific area on the map that's next to her and it shows areas that are colored in a way that may have storm surge flooding warning. And this is all live data from the National Hurricane Center. And the viewer sees the map zoom to a few locations and then we see the camera zoom out and the view expand the map, and the map and legend disappear leaving our presenter actually just standing on a street corner in anywhere America. It could be down the street or outside your front door. The presenter then describes the impacts of storm surge and it brings in a flood of water that rises to three-feet. It floods everywhere around her but for a safe safe space that she's standing on — it's a circular disc that isn't impacted by the weather. And she describes the perils of what three feet of water can do and asks us to now imagine not just three-feet but six-feet of water and with that the water raises. We’re up to six-feet now, more and more water rushes in and it's flooded in the neighbourhood trashcans and bicycles are floating, cars that you've seen in the background on the street have been lifted off the ground and have become battering rams. The wind has picked up and you can hear the trees, they’re blowing, bands of rain appear in the distance ,and our presenter is now standing in front of an ominous wall — that goes from left and right and all the way around her — that's about to get even taller.

HM: And you can actually see fish floating by at one point. I'm just wondering how important it was for you to make this as realistic as possible?

MP: Well, it had to be real. You know, our whole goal was to elicit this visceral response. The danger of storm surge is so powerful, and, you know, there's been many ways in the past and you can communicate the data and there can be warnings that are put out. But we wanted to connect with the audience in a very immediate and powerful way.

HM: What kind of emotions do you think that seeing this will evoke for people?

MP: We wanted them to just think this is real. You know, that it's scary, that if I say that this is powerful, and then to take action, right. We wanted a sense of urgency and immediacy.

HM: You started, as I understand it, doing this kind of thing back in June. Can you can you tell us what other types of weather events you've used the technology for?

MP: We've used this technology to explore the scale of tornadoes the EF scale from 0 all the way to EF5 where it destroyed our studio virtually. And then the power of lightning, you know, the power and the heat of lightning and then what safety measures that you can take. So there's a wide range of things that we've done that where we've yet to explore.

HM: You mentioned the public service aspect of this, but there has to also got to be some motivation here in terms of attracting viewers, making a profit with these kind of splashy graphics?

MP: Well, I think, you know, great content has great content, and if we can use, you know, the tools that are available and harness those to have stuff that's memorable and shareable, then then all the better. But you're absolutely right in that you know it all does boil down to ‘Are we getting our public safety messages out there?’ Snd I think it's a benefit that it's done in a beautiful way.

HM: Does it appear to be increasing your viewership?

MP: Well, I think it's too soon to tell. But I think our viewership has certainly been excited, if not ignited, online and across all of our platforms. But, you know, our viewership takes this really seriously.

HM: Is there not though some risk here in sort of turning actual serious news into the realm of entertainment?

MP: Well, I think, you know, there's always a line and we take that very seriously. And it's not so much entertainment. You know, I think each topic is considered and the appropriate response is gauged and measured and that's what our target is. And we wanted that message and the takeaway to be very simple here, is that rising water and storm surge is dangerous and if you can learn and take away something from this and this may affect you, please heed the warnings.

HM: I watched the one you did about tornadoes and while it was, you know, very effective and honestly quite entertaining, I really noted that the meteorologist was kind of in a position where he was reacting kind of like an actor would. Are you not turning a meteorologist into performers?

MP: Well, I think to really harness, you know, the evolving media landscape and the technology that we use to broadcast, presenters really are actors. They are giving information and they need to convey that information in a realistic and compelling way. And yeeh, quite frankly, our talented experts in meteorology are also talented presenters and actors on any stage that we have. And yeah, they do a tremendous job in conveying the information.

HM: Do any of them push back against that? Do they say, you know, ‘I'm not here to be an actor, I'm here to be someone who presents science?’

MP: Well, I think anyone in front of the camera, you know, to some degree has to adapt and evolve. And where the technology takes us, they need to follow. And everyone here is excited and loves to be in front of this technology.

HM: If this is indeed the future of weather reporting, do you think maybe five, 10 years down the road — maybe even sooner — this is how we will see our regular weather forecast presented on a daily or even an hourly basis?

MP: Well, I hope so. The medium is changing, you know, the platforms are becoming agnostic and people just want to see great content. And as long as there's screens out there, the kinds of content that we that we watch are going to evolve. And this is something that I think wholeheartedly we are going to harness and we're going to see where it can take us. And our goal is to transform their presentation by using this technology.

HM: Well, Mr. Potts it's very interesting. Thank you very much for telling us all about it.

MP: Oh, absolutely my pleasure. Thank you.

HM: Bye-bye.

MP: Bye.

JD: That was V.P. of design Mike Potts in Atlanta speaking about the weather channel's use of immersive mixed reality technology. And if you'd like to see how it looks on TV, visit radio website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Ambient Guitar Plucks]

Maxime Bernier/People’s Party of Canada

JD: Maxime Bernier says his new party is for everyone. But as the former Conservative cabinet minister unveiled the name of his new movement — the People's Party of Canada — most of the questions were about who he's against. Mr. Bernier’s departure from the Conservatives came along with a stream of tweets about immigration and multiculturalism and Canadian values. And after this morning's announcement reporters asked him if he had any evidence that immigrants were coming to Canada with un-Canadian values. Here's his response.

SOUNDCLIP

MAXIME BERNIER: You know, what this country is right now, it's a great country, it's a diverse country with people coming from all over the world. So we — and I'm proud of that. What I'm saying is that it all the people who came in Canada were coming because of our Canadian values and we must put the focus on that like we did in the past. So it is not because — I'm not saying that people are coming today are not sharing Canadian values. I want to be sure that people will come home in the future they will always share Canadian values.

REPORTER: Just to be clear, you don't have evidence that that's not the case now. So it's a solution in search of a problem right now?

MB: No, no. What I'm saying it's, you know, Canadian are questioning that. 49 per cent of Canadians are saying that there is too much immigration in Canada — 49 per cent of Canadians are saying that. So I think we must — I want to have this debate and I'm very open for immigration. We must look at the level of immigration. I want the people who will come to Canada to be able to have a job, to integrate our society, that's important also — and share our Canadian values. So let's have a real debate about that. That's what I want to do.

REPORTER: During your leadership you that you can't help who supports, you know, some people who may have extreme views online, they support you. You can't tell people not to support you. I wonder now that you're a leader of a new party, is there anybody you would say explicitly has no place in the People's Party? I'm thinking about people who may want to limit immigration but for xenophobia or racist reasons.

MB: They don't have a place in our party. They don't have a place. I don't share these values. It's clear.

JD: That was Maxime Bernier taking questions in Ottawa today after announcing the creation of his new People's Party of Canada. And we will have some questions of our own for Mr. Bernier next Thursday. That is when he is due to come into our studio for a one-on-one with Carol Off about the change he hopes his party will bring.

[Music: Ambient Bass]

Spanish Bombs/Saudi Arabia update

JD: A quick update now on the cancellation of that deal to sell Spanish bombs to Saudi Arabia we told you about earlier this month. Spain's new Socialist government had announced that it was nixing the multimillion dollar sale after a Saudi airstrike struck a school bus in Yemen killing dozens of kids. The human rights activist we spoke with at the time hoped that the next step would be a much larger freeze. That however, was before the Saudis started threatening to tear up billions of dollars’ worth of naval contracts with Spain, prompting the country's shipbuilders to protest by blocking roads. A very pleasant meeting between Saudi and Spanish officials followed and then came the announcement that the Spanish government had decided to cancel the cancellation. There was no mention of the potential threat to civilian lives.

[Music: Trance Bass]

Safiya Wazir

Guest: Safiya Wazir

JD: Safiya Wazir was only 16 years old when her family fled the Taliban in Afghanistan and moved to Uzbekistan. When she was 16 years old, the family arrived in the United States as refugees and they settled in Concord, the state capital of New Hampshire. This week, the now 27-year-old Safiya Wazir surprised observers by winning the Democratic primary for a state House seat in a blue collar neighbourhood in Concord. It was her first time running for office and she got more than twice the number of votes as the long-time incumbent. If she defeats her Republican opponent in November Ms. Wazir could make history as the first former refugee to hold office in the state of New Hampshire. We reached Safiya Wazir in Concord.

HM: Ms. Wazir, congratulations on your victory.

SAFIYA WAZIR: Thank you so much.

HM: How did you first react when you found out that you had won this primary?

SW: So the reaction was unreal because after standing on my foot for 13 hours I was blinking and I said ‘Is this really happening? Is it me winning or the opponent?’ And the person who is writing down the numbers said ‘Yes, it's you.’ And at that moment it was just incredibly crazy that I could say, I couldn't hold my laugh. I was like ‘Oh my gosh, it's really happening.’

HM: And it wasn't close either, was it?

SW: No. It was 329 to 143. So it was two by one.

HM: Wow. Now your opponent, a man named Dick Patton, he's had the seat for four terms. He's, you know, pretty much a regular fixture in local politics. How do you think, given that, that you managed to beat him?

SW: So, I believe having the right message and being able to present the younger people and the working families and the seniors. The message that I was giving out to the people was standing out and that's how I believe I won the primary.

HM: But there must have been a lot of door-knocking on your part?

SW: Yes. I have done a lot of door-knocking. The day that I launched my campaign and being pregnant with the first trimester and going out with a 90 degree heat and we would go out for hours and knock doors and talk to the voters and just bringing the message out and asking questions what they are concerned about.

HM: What is the core of your message? What do you think it was about what you had to say that convinced voters you were the right person in this primary?

SW: So the message to the younger people I am representing is that it doesn't matter if you're native born or refugees. I just want to show people the message is that you're capable of doing. We're in a state that has democracy and freedom and you need to advocate and stand up for yourself. And that message was always — on the day that I become a U.S. citizen, I wanted to give back to the community.

HM: Mr. Patton, your opponent, has not exactly taken his defeat graciously. He responded to your victory by saying that you were quote “treated like a princess” because you were from Afghanistan originally and because so many immigrants have moved into the district. What goes through your mind when you hear something like that?

SW: I don't usually a respond to his questions and I don't take it as granted in personal. But I want to say that we’re immigrants or refugees, you know, we came here to do something good. The day that you become a U.S. citizen you have the responsibility to contribute and pitch into the community and serve.

HM: And so Dick Patton has also said that come November he plans to throw his support behind the Republican nominee because he says that candidate has lived in the district for more than 50 years. How do you interpret that statement that a Democrat would do that? And, I guess moreover too, how do you think your supporters will interpret that?

SW: So he has to serve everybody in the community of New Hampshire. And, like I said, New Hampshire is my home for 11 years. And this place has been beautiful and I have been raising my children. We have a diversity that is rising up. If you're a U.S. citizen you're able to be capable of who you want to vote for.

HM: You mentioned that you have been pregnant throughout this campaign. This Patton, the opponent you had in this, he's also singled you out for having two children, being pregnant with another throughout the whole campaign. What is it like for someone like you, who's, you know, a newcomer to politics, to face these kinds of personal attacks?

SW: I don't take them personally. I just want to say that a women are capable of doing things and it's okay that I have two young children and I'm pregnant. But that did not hold me back from knocking doors and going out in the heat. And as a woman, if you have children you know how tough it is for the first trimester. And I was out there knocking on doors and I usually have the worst trimester and that did not hold me back. I just wanted to show everybody that women are capable of doing things and that equal opportunity needs to be given to them.

HM: When you first arrived in the U.S. did you envision a future in politics?

SW: I have never thought about it, no. When I get in the United States I was at 16-and-a-half-years old. And mainly I was focusing to do a better life and, you know, helping my parents and working and going to school. So that was my priority as far as my teenage years.

HM: What did your parents think of where you are now?

SW: They're proud of me. They always wished that we had more women and younger people to step up and run.

HM: You're not the only sort of unexpected victory I guess in this current election season in the U.S. We're seeing a lot of sort of non-establishment Democrats winning primaries. Why do you think people are turning towards candidates like you?

SW: So, in our country, you know, like I said, America has this opportunity that is given to all these citizens that you can do things — that you can be heard. That's the beauty of America. And I think everybody should take advantage of this, and I'm glad that people who are actually stepping in and they are taking advantage of this.

HM: How much has the current political climate at the national level in the United States, you know, that the pushback we're seeing from Republicans like Donald Trump against immigrants and refugees coming to the United States. How much has that perhaps fueled or inspired you to challenge those assumptions?

SW: So I was very upset every time I would hear about you know what Donald Trump goes on but I don't want to put it too much into this because my focus is not just for immigrants. It's for everybody in New Hampshire.

HM: We, again, congratulate you on your win, Ms. Wazir, and we thank you for joining us today.

SW: Thanks so much. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you guys.

JD: Safiya Wazir is the new Democratic nominee for state representative in Concord, New Hampshire.

[Music: Ambient Bass Tones]

The Buchanan

JD: There are millions of people who are Buchanans — but only one is The Buchanan. Problem was no one knew who it was. The Buchanan is the official title of the chief of the Scottish clan Buchanan. And there was a time every Buchanan knew who The Buchanan was. Most recently it was a guy named John Buchanan. But then he died leaving no heirs. So Buchanan's everywhere waited for a new leader and waited and waited — and continued to wait — but then they kept waiting. The last the Buchanan died in 1681. It would take until 2018 — 337 years for the — Clan Buchanan to get a new The Buchanan. And the Clan has Hugh Peskett to thank. Mr. Peskett is himself a member of the Buchanan Clan as was his grandmother. Decades ago she told him about the void at the top and exhorted him to do the necessary work to determine who was the rightful heir to the leadership. So Mr. Peskett became a genealogist and began working. And for the past 50 years, Hugh Peskett painstakingly traced family lineages to discover the rightful chiefs of more than a dozen clans. And now at long last he has fulfilled his late grandmother's wish. He has found The Buchannan. John Michael Bailey Hamilton Buchanan — owner of the sprawling Cambusmore Estate central Scotland. So congratulations Hugh Peskett, all Buchanans — and The Buchannan — must be nice after all this time to have a The and know it is the definite article.

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Sept. 14, 2018 episode transcript

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