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The AIH Transcript for November 26, 2018

Hosts: Peter Armstrong and Jeff Douglas

PETER ARMSTRONG: Hello, I’m Peter Armstrong, sitting in for Carol Off.

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

[Music: Theme]

Prologue

JD: Tonight:

PA: Disassembly lines. General Motors announces it will close its plant in Oshawa, Ontario — and what it calls a "global restructuring" will have a devastating local effect.

JD: Brinksmanships. After a stand-off in the Black Sea, Russia makes off with 3 Ukrainian vessels — and Ukraine's parliament votes to impose martial law.

PA: Overriding the privacy settings. British Parliament sends an officer to a London hotel to seize internal Facebook documents from a visiting businessman — private documents one MP says could soon be made public.

JD: On the auteur hand. In some ways, director Bernardo Bertolucci was the alpha male of art cinema. Tonight, a close collaborator reflects on his late friend's influence, and legacy.

PA: The winner is just floored… also ceilinged and walled. But that's what you'd expect of this year's "best building in the world" — a rural boarding school in Brazil.

JD: And...unheard mentality. Crowds dance through Edinburgh, Scotland, wearing headphones — and even though they're called "silent disco" walking tours, they're causing headaches for residents.

JD: "As It Happens", the Monday edition. Radio that guesses boogie isn't just in the eye of the beholder.

[Music: Theme]

Part one: General Motors worker, Facebook documents, silent discos

General Motors worker

Guest: Cory Weir

00:01:39 - SPEAKER: M8

JD: According to the General Motors press-release, the company is, quote, "accelerating its transformation for the future." But for Oshawa, Ontario, GM's global restructuring is set to slam on the brakes of the city's most important industry. The planned closure of the assembly plant in Oshawa could mean the loss of over 25-hundred direct jobs — and countless more for related employers. Four other GM plants in the U.S. are also slated to close down. Cory Weir has worked at the Oshawa GM plant for eight years. We reached Mr. Weir in Oshawa.

PA: Mr. Weir, how did you hear that this news was happening?

CORY WEIR: I was at home, I had just finished eating dinner, and actually, my girlfriend's father called and said hey, you better turn on the news there's some talk about the plant. So we were pretty shocked, right? We're used to this kind of thing happening in the industry sometimes with all the speculation. But to have a decision of this magnitude come down, and for us to find out through the press before the company is even notified the union was the degree of arrogance that I haven't seen in a while.

PA: So tell me what's going through your head as you're driving into, I'm presuming you went to work this morning, what was going through your head as you're pulling through the gate?

CW: Honestly, the only thing I could think of was that we needed to walk out of there. Like it disgusted me that we were going in, and you know a couple of guys said at the press conference basically being led like lambs into a slaughter, right? And you know every single car that move I just was gut-wrenching for me to see because I knew that we're lining the pockets of the shareholders who are about to absolutely gut our community.

PA: The share went up today. I mean they've done better as a result of this.

CW: Yeah, they've received a nice healthy bump in their stock shares, which should say something I think pretty profound about our economic system. But I think maybe another discussion.

PA: And yet, one of your union executives gave a pretty rousing speech this afternoon, saying no, we're gonna go back to work, and we're going to continue making the best cars and trucks in North America. How do you feel about that?

CW: I mean I feel conflicted. You know, I support our leadership. You know they have a plan to engage in talks with the federal government. You know that's the avenue that they're going to take right now, I think we'll see how that goes and take it from there.

PA: How pent up is the demand on the shop floor? People like you that are in there working every day to just say no, we're gonna walk out — take some kind of job action. How much friction will there be between you and the union leadership?

CW: Yeah, on the shop floor, you always get a variety of opinions, right? Like today when we walked out, there were some people that thought it was the wrong thing to do to even walk out, to begin with. You know they were getting into some confrontation and conflict with our committee people, saying you guys need to walk or we're hitting the streets, right?

PA: Right. Give us a sense of what is this going to mean for Oshawa to lose this plant?

CW: Oh, the impact on Oshawa will be enormous. I mean you know our economy is a little bit more diverse than what Detroit was when they had their city absolutely destroyed by the “Big Three”, not just GM, but it's going to be a major impact on Oshawa. I mean for every one of our jobs, I've heard different figures, I've heard everything from six to as high as 11 jobs tied to the GM through suppliers alone. And those workers actually are even more precarious than we are because we have workers who're making around 14-15 dollars an hour. And if you live in the Durham Region, that's already below the low income cutoff. And those workers are already living in poverty, so now they're going to be speak thrown out into the wind here to compete with jobs against each other and against us. Like this is going to affect everybody. It's going to be drastic. And I think I remember seeing figures that the auto industry provides around five billion dollars annually for our GDP, and over a million dollars in federal tax, and a million in provincial. So I mean taking that money off the table is just devastating for everyone.

PA: So that's the community. What will this mean for you personally — for your family?

CW: For me personally, I don't know. I mean you know I'm building a life in Oshawa. I have a home here. I have a family. I have you know everything is here. It's been built around this career that I built in the auto industry, right? So for me, I don't know. I haven't even got there yet, right? I have all these things, I'm trying to process them as we go along, and that's gonna be a struggle that's for sure, regardless of where I go.

PA: Yours obviously isn't the only plant closing; GM says this part of a global transformation that it needs to do to remain competitive in the future. How do you respond to that?

CW: That's absolute garbage. They're making record profits. You know they're going to spin that, right? Obviously, that's going to be the position: we need to remain competitive. But I mean there's a point where remaining competitive actually becomes being almost sadistic and just destroying communities, right? I mean I feel for all these plants in America to like these people are workers; we're all workers, right? And yeah, I just don't buy into it. They're still like an enormously profitable multinational corporation. So for them to ever cry broke is just laughable to me. It's disgusting and insulting.

PA: I mean in 2017, GM Canada reported a 17 per cent year-over-year drop in vehicle sales. Do we have to be asking the question is GM making the right kind of vehicles?

CW: Yeah. I mean as we know I think the writing is kind of on the wall. If it wasn't a few years ago it definitely is now. We're moving towards AV. The nature of auto is changing, right? We're going through probably the fastest transportation transformation that we've seen in human history.

PA: I mean if the future is autonomous and electric vehicles, is there a criticism to be made that maybe the Oshawa plant just didn't keep up with the times in making the right decisions about how to prioritize what it was doing?

CW: I mean ultimately I think the onus has to go back to Detroit, right? Because at Oshawa, we’re one of the most flexible and adaptive plants running, right? So if Detroit had come to us in 2016 and say you're building the Volt, or we're going to full shift full bore toward AV, our workers would've got it done because you know we're a skilled and dedicated workforce. I don't think it's our plant that has failed. I think Detroit has failed us through not allocating product to us.

PA: All right. Well, we'll be watching with great interest. Mr. Weir, thank you so much for making time today.

CW: Thank you very much.

JD: Cory Weir works at the Oshawa GM plant. We reached him in Oshawa, Ontario. Later on in the program, we'll have more on GM's decision to close the Oshawa assembly plant. We'll speak to the MPP for the area, Jennifer French.

[Music: Piano]

Facebook documents

Guest: Donie O'Sullivan

JD: Initially, they asked nicely. Now, they're done with being nice. It's no secret that politicians in Britain are frustrated by Mark Zuckerberg's refusal to come to London to answer questions about Facebook's handling of users' private information. They have repeatedly pressed him to address Parliamentarians directly. Now the British Parliament has used its powers to seize internal Facebook documents from an American software executive visiting London. And that's not the only drama that unfolded. Donie O'Sullivan has been covering the story for CNN. We reached him in London.

PA: Donie, how did the British Parliament get possession of these documents?

DONIE O’SULLIVAN: So Peter, we learned over the weekend. That an executive from a app development company was visiting London — a small app that nobody has ever really heard of — and this executive had documents which are internal Facebook documents — documents which could include emails among top Facebook executives including Mark Zuckerberg. Somehow British parliamentarian Damian Collins, who leads the committee looking into disinformation and online fake news, found out that this executive was in town. And long story short, sent a Sergeant-at-Arms to his hotel, and eventually compelled him to hand over the documents.

PA: The sergeant at arms?! I mean I didn't even know that the sergeant of arms would have the legal authority to demand somebody hand over these kinds of documents?

DO: Yeah. We were told that it's a very rarely used mechanism. And just to give you a bit of background, the executive who was visiting London as a man named Ted Kramer, and he runs a company called Six4Three. And they've been in a years’ long litigation against Facebook. He basically sued Facebook when he said that Facebook changed some of their policies a few years ago and that it killed his business. So during this lawsuit, as part of the discovery process, Kramer and Six4Three got access to these internal Facebook records. Now the course where they are suing Facebook in California ordered that these documents should remain under seal. So none of us are supposed to know what's inside them. But now that Damian Collins a member of the British Parliament has them, he could exercise his parliamentary privilege here and put them into the record of Parliament for all of us to see.

PA: And he sent the sergeant-of-arms over to this executive's hotel with a deadline. And as I understand it, the executive said no, no, no, we're not handing this over. What happened then? Did he drag them off to parliament?

DO: Yes. So it's not entirely clear that the full sequence of events how much executives protested. But what we do know is that he was eventually escorted to parliament, possibly by the sergeant-at-arms. It's not entirely clear. And he eventually did hand over the documents that were in his possession, which we believe were on a laptop. What we do know is that these documents, some of which could paint Facebook in a not so great light, are in the possession of Mr. Collins and his committee here in London. And Facebook has been fighting very hard for these documents to not be made public.

PA: I mean we don't really know what's in these documents. Do we have a sense of how damaging they could be?

DO: So in the lawsuits that Mr. Kramer brought against Facebook, they use these documents to make a whole litany of allegations against the company. So what we can actually see in court filings is the claims that Kramer is making, but not the documents to back up those claims.

PA: Right.

DO: So what he's claiming is basically that Facebook doesn't really give a damn about users’ privacy. That Mr. Zuckerberg was sort of pretty cutthroat in how he went about coming up with schemes to sort of squash competitors and potential rivals to Facebook, back in 2014-2015 Facebook will say that Six4Three’s case is without merit, and they have pushed back very much on the premise of Six4Three’s lawsuit. But Facebook is fighting very hard for these documents that have been obtained through discovery for them not to be made public. So you can imagine that there might be some details in those documents, maybe emails from Mark Zuckerberg, that do not cast the billionaire in a very positive light.

PA: And they are already as you say pretty active in trying to keep them from getting into the public. Has Facebook responded to the seizure and said anything publicly since?

DO: So once Facebook learned that Mr. Collins was demanding these documents in London last week, Facebook called up the courts in California which ruled that these documents should stay under seal. And the course and as you can imagine the judge in California doesn't seem too happy about how it's all gone down. And he has asked both Facebook and Mr. Kramer to let the court know by tomorrow how this all happened. Facebook over the weekend wrote a letter to Mr. Collins. And they said we understand you have parliamentary privilege, but we'd ask that you wait to see what the judge in California says. Mr. Collins, the MP, did not take that letter very well. He wrote back within a few hours yesterday on Sunday basically saying look I am a Member of Parliament; we are sovereign. I have these powers in UK, and basically, I can do whatever I want with these documents. Tomorrow is when Mr. Collins will be appearing at a committee. They will be questioning a Facebook executive. So you could imagine that it's possible, and I think Facebook is quite fearful, that Collins will use some of the information that he has seen through these emails and documents in the questions he poses to the Facebook executive tomorrow. Or possibly worst case scenario for Facebook is that Collins exercises parliamentary privilege entirely and posts all of the documents into the record for all of us to see.

PA: And for all of the fireworks and all of the drama that we've seen so far, if he were to do that, if he was to just post these up on the Internet, what would the impact of that be?

DO: Well, it's obviously difficult to say without having seen the documents. But if you take the allegations that Six4Three makes in their lawsuits, which they say is based on these documents, this could be extremely damaging.

PA: All right. Brace yourselves. It’s going to be another interesting day. Donie, thanks for this.

DO: Thanks, Peter.

JD: Donie O'Sullivan is the politics and technology reporter for CNN. We reached him in London. And we've more on this story on our website: ww.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Percussive]

B.C. Legislature

JD: Gary Lenz wants his job back. So does Craig James. Mr. Lenz and James are respectively the sergeant-at-arms and clerk of the B.C. legislature — they were marched from their offices last week in the midst of an investigation into...what we still don't know exactly. Mr. James told reporters that they had been "deeply humiliated", and that he could think of nothing that he done to disqualify him from doing his job. And then one of the reporters noticed that Mr. Lenz was choking up, he asked him to explain.

[sc]

GARY LENZ: It was a shock when this took place. And when I got home, I didn't have a phone, didn't have any way to communicate to my family, my daughter came to me and she says you know when this happened so quickly within her world. She was at work, and she says she got a text says sorry to hear about your father. Our prayers are with your family. She says my dad’s dead. She couldn't reach anybody. She couldn't reach my wife. I'm not just the sergeant-at-arms; I'm a father, I'm a husband. All of these levels impact what happened today. Like right now, I'm lucky to get three hours sleep at a time. Hard to eat. All my family is around me, the friends are around me, and their supportive of all those issues. It is not what keeps me from sleeping at night the investigation. It’s my family. It's everybody who's around me. I know I've done nothing wrong. It's not an issue of anything that I've done that's going to be coming out. Let the process continue. Let the investigation take place. Let's get to this as quickly as possible so that I can get my name cleared and we can live. But it's my family, it's the friends reputation, that is that is I think about.

JD: Gary Lenz was suspended from his job as sergeant-at-arms of the British Columbia legislature this week. He was speaking at a press conference in Vancouver, alongside Craig James, who was also suspended from his job as clerk pending a police investigation relating to both men.

[Music: Danny Elfman?}

Silent discos

Guest: Jo Mowat

JD: If you were to happen upon one of them, it's nothing short of terrifying: a group of people, flailing around together while walking, in utter silence. Don't worry, however: what you're seeing is people dancing at a mobile "silent disco" — where everyone's wearing headphones, instead of listening to music blasting out of giant speakers. What a relief for you to discover that. And, you'd think, what a relief for people who don't want to hear deafening dance music. But according to some residents of Edinburgh, Scotland, silent discos are much more disruptive than one might think. The local city council has received complaints about them — and tonight, it discussed a report on the problems with silent discos, and other walking tours in Edinburgh. Jo Mowat is a councillor in Edinburgh. We reached her today, before she headed to that very meeting.

PA: Councillor Mowat, paint a picture for us. Where do these silent discos usually take place? What do they look like? What's going on here?

JO MOWAT: Well, if you can imagine usually a man leading them in head to toe spandex, lots of headphones, winding through the narrow medieval streets of the city centre of Edinburgh. And you've got people walking about. And then suddenly they break into dance to music you can’t hear.

PA: I laugh because it does kind of sound funny. You don't see quite as much of the humour in it?

JM: I mean I can see that to be on a visit somewhere to do this I can see that that would be really good fun. And there's parts of the town it's not a particular problem. And you can see it in a film and you can think it looks like a flash mob. Doesn’t that look cool? And that's okay. But the thing about Edinburgh which is different to a lot of the inner-cities is we have a big residential population. And it's the people who have got 40 people who are maybe a bit more relaxed. They're a bit less inhibited because that dancing in the middle of the street to music. And sometimes the music may be silent, but the people aren't. Underneath your window when you've got a fairly small flat, that's maybe something that is a bit difficult to live with when it's happening three or four times a day.

PA: And what are constituents telling you? And I understand that you know the noise is a bit much, but they live downtown in areas where there's often noise and people leaving and going to bars. What are their main complaints?

JM: Their main concern is as they've described it to me there's a lot of whooping…

PA: Whooping?

JM: Whooping. And it tends to be in the same place. And it's quite big crowd. So there's two things. There's the noise when you're sitting at home minding your own business. And there's also we don't have that much space on the pavement, so to the pavements are quite narrow, and there's lots of people that want to be there. So it's the obstruction on the pavements as well that causes concern. And you know you've got people, they’re dancing around, they may be not paying that much attention, and who's walking in the road when there's traffic going past it. Is it them? Is it you? So those are the concerns. It's noise, it’s safety, and just blocking the pavements.

PA: So what is council going to do in response to these complaints?

JM: Well, what we've been asked to look at is say have we got anything under current licensing legislation that we could use to do that? And the answer there is no. So tonight, at the meeting we're having, I'll be saying look can we look at how we can manage this better? And this isn't about saying I don't want this to happen. Walking Tour shouldn't happen. But it's saying there's loads of people that want to do a lot of stuff in quite a small area in the city. And so that the people who are coming and visiting and want to have a good time so that they can have a good time, and they can be safe, and that the people who live here can go about their daily business and can be safe. So all those things can happen. It's about how can we manage this better?

PA: Now, The Telegraph, for what it's worth, is saying that you're considering an outright ban on the silent discos altogether. That would be a UK first. Would you really go that far?

JM: No, The Telegraph's got it wrong. But The Telegraph just scooped that up from somewhere else. And I think if you read the article, they've headlined it as it's a ban. But actually, in the article it doesn't say that. So I think that's fake news.

PA: Would you though consider abandoning parts of the city as you say that are more residential, and say listen if you want to do it, let's create a zone in which you are allowed to make this work?

JM: What I think is really, really difficult about Edinburgh, and one of the best things about it, is that we've got people living everywhere right in the heart of the city. And we want that to continue. It's much more about managing this at a finer grain, and saying you know if you stand there and jump out and go boo every night, which some of the ghost tours do, you're disturbing this block of flats. You can do it the next close down and it's not a problem. So it's sometimes it's just about getting the right place and the right time. And even if it's a case of knowing who is running the tours, being able to contact the tours, being able to say look we've had a complaint, could you tweak this? I think we'd all get on much better.

PA: This is one company, Silent Adventures, and it claims it's the only one that actually gives these tours year round. And the marketing director of Silent Adventures has said that you know he feels that this is a kind of punishment because of some frankly out of control companies that were operating during the Fringe Festival. What's your response to that?

JM: I can understand why he feels like that. Funny enough, I've just been in touch with him earlier this evening to say this is exactly not about punishing good operators. It's about trying to find a way of encouraging the good, so that the bad who are overcrowding their tours, who are not giving a very good tour, and some of them you know we get tours coming through the front of our building every day in the courtyard. And some of them are a bit loose with their facts. So it's a case of how can we encourage the good, and maybe if you've got to rush into space try and say that we don't really want the bad ones operating here who are causing the problems.

PA: Can I ask have you ever tried a silent disco?

JM: No, I haven't tried it.

PA: Any desire? If I came there, would you do it with me?

JM: No, probably not. One of the attractions they've got this Christmas for the Christmas parade is we've got a street of lights, and they are running a silent disco in there. And I did say to my daughter do you want to go up and do the silent disco? Should we go out with a few friends and do it. And I go to no, that's just not cool, Mum. So I was prepared to do it because that's the right space for it, you know? It's a good space for it. I'm not completely against this. I'm just saying we really need to manage it.

PA: Well listen, let us know what happens. And we really appreciate you making the time talk to us today.

JM: Will do.

PA: Cheers.

JM: Not at all. Thanks a lot.

PA: Bye now.

JM: Thank you. Bye.

JD: Jo Mowat is a city councillor in Edinburgh. And that is where we reached her. And if you would like to see a video of some of these silent disco tours in her city, and I know you do, visit our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Indie rock]

Part two: Ukraine-Russia tensions, General Motors: political

Ukraine-Russia tensions

Guest: Christopher Miller

JD: Tonight, the parliament of Ukraine voted to impose martial law on that country's border regions. President Petro Poroshenko asked for the new powers after an incident on Sunday in the Black Sea — that ended with Russia sailing off with 3 Ukrainian naval vessels. Ukraine's allies have denounced the seizures as a dangerous escalation of hostilities. The Russians insist they were provoked. Christopher Miller is an freelance journalist who's been covering Ukraine for years. We reached him in Kyiv, shortly after the vote.

PA: Christopher, just how tense are things in Kyiv tonight?

CHRISTOPHER MILLER: It's been pretty tense for the last 24 hours, ever since the skirmish between Ukrainian and Russian ships. But here in Kyiv, lawmakers today have been debating a proposal that would see martial law imposed across the country. And then just within the last hour here in Kyiv, they finally did pass a bill that will allow for martial law to be imposed. So tensions are pretty high as people try to figure out just what exactly it means. And, of course, you know with this looming threat of possible further Russian aggression that President Poroshenko spoke about in Parliament, and in a televised address to Ukrainians earlier.

PA: So when martial law does kick in on Wednesday, what's it gonna look like? What will actually happen?

CM: Yeah, so Ukrainians will wake up, and at 9:00 a.m., so just as everyone is starting their workday, in ten regions that border areas where Russia has troops. So it would mean several regions that actually border Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea, or Transnistria, the breakaway territory and Moldova where Russia has troops. In those areas, people will see an increase in the number of police and military and other security forces on the street. They will be subjected to arrests if military police officials see anything that they might deem fishy. They don't need any kind of pretext or reason. Prohibitions on the freedom of movements, so the Border Guard Service of Ukraine might block or restrict the movement of Russian citizens coming across the borders in those areas — even the entry to some of the some of the regions such as the regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, which are already considered to be in the conflict zone. If it doesn't immediately look different, it's going to certainly feel different just with that coming into force.

PA: And this all stems as you say from this skirmish yesterday. The Russians are said to have fired on and then boarded these three Ukrainian ships. What happened there?

CM: Ukrainians had wanted to move three naval vessels from their Black Sea port of Odessa to their port Mariupol. And while in route, the Russian coast guard vessel that's controlled by the FSB of the federal security service intercepted these boats. And one Russian vessel rammed into a Ukrainian vessel causing pretty bad damage to its motor and its hull. Two other vessels were fired upon by other Russian coastguard vessels. They were damaged. Twenty-three Ukrainians were detained. Three of them we've come to learn were wounded in the gunfire. And it's the first time that Russia has openly admitted to firing on a Ukrainian military element since the war between the two countries, which of course, is being fought with Russian soldiers, but also through pro-Russian separatist proxies since the war began in April 2014.

PA: That's the what. I wonder if there is an answer to the why? Why is this happening now?

PA: Yeah, it's a really good question. You know that's one we don't have an exact answer to. But you know Russia has always looked for a way to further destabilize Ukraine in order to keep it within its sphere of influence. And they would have had several hours to know that these ships were coming and perhaps seen as maybe a setup in their favour to make it look as though Ukraine was acting aggressively in order to justify closing off the Kerch Straight. And this body of water is a jointly-shared body of water between Ukraine and Russia. And Moscow has wanted to completely control it because it happens to also wash the shores of Russian-occupied Crimea. But also you know it puts a lot of economic pressure on Ukraine because there are two really strategic and important ports. And the only access is getting through the Kerch Strait. And this Kerch Strait is now covered by a bridge that Russia built that links mainland Russia to the Crimean peninsula. So it's able to kind of you know either pinch or close off the sea and hurt Ukraine economically. On the Ukrainian side, you know it serves Poroshenko as we saw tonight with this passage of martial law in that he is doing miserably in the polls right now. And he's fighting for re-election. And he's always presented himself as a strong military leader. He's been praised for his role in commander-in-chief, while being criticized in many other areas. And so this is kind of served him domestically at a particularly critical moment in time.

PA: So I mean you take the looming election, another sort of standoff between Ukraine and Russia, and it sets up just sort of bubbling over tensions yet again what can happen next?

CM: Yeah, that's the big question. There are several possibilities. It's I would say not highly likely, but one thing that Ukrainians and Ukrainian President Poroshenko in particular was warning of tonight was a full-scale land invasion by Russia. They say that tens of thousands of Russian soldiers are already in position around the country. And we've known this actually for quite a while. But it was presented in a way tonight as to appear as though an attack was imminent, and we're not quite certain that it is. You know I think there's a lot that that could happen, but we don't we don't quite know what exactly will happen. I think come Wednesday morning, when martial law does come into place, we'll get a slightly better sense of just what things are going to be like here for the next month.

PA: All right. Well, we'll keep a close eye on it as well. Do take care yourself over there, Christopher. Thank you for this.

CM: Sure. Thank you.

JD: Christopher Miller is a freelance journalist. We reached him in Kyiv, Ukraine.

[Music: Jazz]

Ricky Jay obit

JD: He was a cyber-terrorist in the James Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies." He was a porno camera operator in "Boogie Nights." In real life though, Ricky Jay was a magician. The actor, author, and sleight-of-hand artist died this weekend. And in keeping with his lifetime of artful deception, his age has been reported as both seventy, and seventy-two. The comedian Steve Martin once described Ricky Jay as, quote, "the intellectual elite of magicians. He's expertly able to perform and yet he knows the theory, history, and literature of the field." Mr. Jay had a way with playing cards. He could do astonishing close-up magic with them. He was also able to throw one 57 metres and hit a target. His mastery of craft got him work as a consultant on films like 'Ocean's Thirteen', 'The Prestige', 'The Illusionist.' But craft alone wasn't what made him a favoured guest of late night talk shows — he had charm. He appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman" a number of times over the years. Here he is in 2013, promoting a documentary called "Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay"

SOUNDCLIP

DAVID LETTERMAN: In the film, there's a great segment where suddenly we're talking to a guy from I think from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, who is teaching you in a rarefied form of martial arts. And he had seen an illusion or slight-of-hand that you had done where you take two one-dollar bills, woop, woop, and out comes a single two-dollar bill. And he was so baffled by this that after months and months of hectoring you about how it was done, he follows you into the shower, and he says he says here are two one-dollar bills. Do it for me now. And you, according to this guy, did it. Now, how did you do it?

RICKY JAY: The way I analyzed it was it was the quickest way to get him out of the shower.

DL: But I mean is that true? Is that possibly true?

RJ: Well, yes. I mean I thought it was funny. I had lost track of him. He was a sheriff in Los Angeles. And these wonderful filmmakers, Molly Bernstein Alan Adelstein, tracked him down to god knows where. And he was still carrying the two-dollar bill in his wallet.

DL: You guys were all at lunch, and you said who's got a dollar bill? Who's got a dollar bill? And then bingo, abracadabra, zippo it becomes a two-dollar bill. I understand that at lunch. I don't understand it in the shower.

RJ: Actually, Vernon was known to have performed something rather remarkable in the shower as well. What are we talking about?

DL: But honestly, now you had no idea the guy's following you into the shower, or did you say later if you're not busy? How was that possible? Don't tell me how the trick was done. Just tell me how it was possible?

RJ: You know I wake up on alternate days in my life thinking I'm the unluckiest guy in the world; I'm the luckiest guy in the world. And I think this proves I'm a little closer to the luckiest guy in the world.

DL: Could you do it now if you and I were taking a shower?

RJ: Well, It would be hard to say no.

JD: The great magician and actor Ricky Jay, never one to tip his hand, on "The Late Show with David Letterman" in 2013. Ricky Jay died on Saturday. He was seventy or seventy-two — depending who you ask.

[Music: Ambient]

General Motors: political

Guest: Jennifer French

JD: GM workers in Oshawa say they aren't prepared to take the loss of their plant lying down. As we told you earlier on in the program, over 25-hundred workers in the Ontario city are set to lose their jobs, after General Motors announced a massive global restructuring. After the news came out, workers in the plant walked off the job — some set up blockades of the plant. Here are some of those workers speaking to reporters as they left the plant today.

SOUNDCLIP

SPEAKER ONE: Bawling their eyes out. I've never seen anything like it. And we can't get any answers, so we've stopped. We have no answers. No one knows what's going on.

SPEAKER TWO: If anything, we're just taking our stand and off we go. That’s all there is to it. Line’s down, everyone's leaving, end of story.

SPEAKER THREE: How are you feeling?

SPEAKER TWO: Oh, I mean heart’s pumping out of my chest right now. I've been here 13 years, so you got to take a stand at some point. So that's what we're doing. That’s what we’re doing.

SPEAKER FOUR: Moms and dads working in here, right? Like the man and wife together or couples, and nowhere to go.

SPEAKER THREE: What's your situation?

SPEAKER FOUR: Well, I only had a few years to go. But still, who's going to hire somebody in their 60s, right? It's a bad situation all around.

JD: Later in the day, a union official for GM workers at the Oshawa plant told them, quote, "They are not closing our damn plant without one hell of a fight." Unquote. And that sentiment is being echoed by the city's NDP MPP, Jennifer French. We reached Ms. French in Oshawa.

PA: Ms. French, Ontario premier Doug Ford said today that he tried to reason with GM, but was told there was absolutely nothing he could do to reverse this decision. Do you buy that?

JENNIFER FRENCH: No, I don't accept that. I believe that was the conversation, but I can't believe that that is the end of the conversation. You know we have a whole toolkit that we're not even opening.

PA: I mean this move is part of a massive global restructuring of a global conglomerate. What do we have in our tool kit that could have persuaded GM when looking at that broader global perspective to stay?

JF: Well, you ask an excellent question. You know there is a bigger picture here. And you know I know that Oshawa is a part of it. But the thing is Oshawa was also the start of it. You know they really were one hundred years ago. And this isn't just a history lesson. You know there is real potential for the future because Oshawa is a cutting-edge facility. It’s award-winning. You know, GM has really showcased it as their jewel. You know they're their numbers, and their products are excellent. And so to just cut them out of the next chapter of innovation and vehicles moving forward, if that's hybrids, or if that's you know green technologies, we are ready for that. The facility has had so much investment. To have that end without an explanation or without even looking at continuing with Oshawa operating and keeping the jobs here I think is the absolute wrong thing to do, especially on the first day of the fight to just you know throw in the towel.

PA: But I mean the numbers were speaking pretty loudly. In 2017, GM reported 17 per cent year-over-year drop in vehicle sales well Canadians were buying 13 per cent more cars and vehicles. We knew that there was going to be an imbalance there. The question was what was GM going to do about it, wasn't it?

JF: Well, and anyone you talk to sort of has a different interpretation of what we have seen, right? You know GM apparently had signed an agreement that promised no closures for four years is what we heard today. There are a lot of questions to be asked. Yes, I think everyone recognizes that people are not buying cars the way they used to. They're going to trucks, they're going to crossover vehicles, but Oshawa surpassed all expectations when it came to putting in you know the truck line. We can put in a hybrid. We could put in the next whatever you want to imagine.

PA: The provincial and federal governments poured what… 14 billion dollars into GM's bailout back in 2009. Looking back on that decision now, what would you like to have seen done differently?

JF: Well everyone in Canada has an opinion about that money, which is fair. Whichever side of the conversation you're on about putting the money in the money was put in. But it was put in without strings attached, as we're finding now.

PA: Well, it was put in with a bunch of strings attached, and they met those strings. But it's now been whatever it is… nine years since.

JF: Well, were the strings enough? I guess that is a debate, especially as we go forward. You know if there is a way to convince General Motors to reconsider I don't know. But like I said, we haven't explored any options. And then we've got the feds and the province saying it's disappointing, and we are sad, and we are already going into damage control mode when we have I don’t know… it looks like a year that we're hearing before the product will no longer be allocated at this point. And we aren't moving forward with any strategies. Like I said, we're just folding like a cheap suit on the first day. It’s frustrating. I understand that the broader conversation of you know global restructuring. But I also know that when I look around the community, I see that it isn't just about a global story. This is a community story. And this isn't just an Oshawa and Durham Region story. You know taxpayers contribute to our broader Canadian economy. Lord knows the automotive industry has been a massive part of our Canadian economy.

PA: And I think that's the broader question here that I'm sure the people you were talking to down at the plant all day are in their heart of hearts concerned about. Is this decision by GM a canary in the coal mine, not just for GM but for the automotive sector in Canada? And what are your concerns about that?

JF: That concern certainly is shared by the folks here. I mean there's panic. There is a lot of anger. A sense of betrayal is sort of what I was what I was picking up. You know that we've heard it's only Oshawa, but for how long? We still don't have a reason why, right? When you look at Oshawa as being the crown jewel, so to speak, that their numbers for you know the best of all of the plants, if they aren't staying open then what is to keep anyone else, right? What is to keep anyone else getting product and moving forward? It has been a really rough day. I know that we're in for one heck of a bumpy road. You know the workers today were not impressed with the damage control strategies, the five extra weeks or things like that because they want to hear that someone wants to fight to keep these jobs.

PA: All right. Ms. French, we have to leave it there. But thank you so much for this.

JF: Thank you.

JD: Jennifer French is the NDP MPP representing Oshawa, Ontario. And that indeed is where we reached her.

[Music: Indie rock]

Misinformation word

JD: What do we really know about the people who make dictionaries? I know what we're told. That they're innocent "lexicographers" who give us the etymologies, pronunciations, and — most importantly — the meanings of words. But can we trust them? For example: Dictionary-dot-com has just announced its word of the year: "misinformation". Now, Jane Solomon, the website's linguist-in-residence told the Associated Press, quote, "We believe that understanding the concept of misinformation is vital to identifying misinformation as we encounter it in the wild, and that could ultimately help curb its impact." And how does Dictionary-dot-com define misinformation? As follows. Quote, "false information that is spread, regardless of whether there is intent to mislead." Unquote. That checks out. And apparently, it follows spikes in searches for "mainstream media", "Orwellian", and "white lie" in 2018, so it's timely. But just for a moment, let's consider the source, shall we: Dictionary-dot-com. A site that, when you look up "sher-BERT", claims it's actually "sher-BET" — with only one R! A site that says that the word "EPP-it-toam" is pronounced "epp-IT-oh-me". And that "SEG-you" is pronounced "SEG-way?" Now, Linguist Jane Solomon admits the website's choice of "misinformation" as the word for 2018 is a call to action — in the hope that we'll all be vigilant about language. All for it. All I'm saying is: take a close look at the source. Because maybe Dictionary-dot-com's appearance of infallibility...is just a fa-KADE.

[Music: Blue grass]

Part three: Tijuana border, Bernardo Bertolucci obit, ‘Best Building’ architectural prize

Tijuana border

Guest: Cesar Martinez

JD: The Tijuana border crossing in Mexico is officially back open. But migrants hoping to cross it are in limbo. Yesterday, U.S. border officials fired tear gas at migrants who rushed towards the border, as Mexican authorities in riot gear held others back. Mexico has vowed to deport hundreds of migrants, and U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening to shut down the border permanently. Meanwhile, the so-called "migrant caravan" remains in Tijuana. Cesar Martinez is a local resident volunteering at a Tijuana sports complex, which has been transformed into a shelter. We reached Mr. Martinez in Tijuana.

PA: Mr. Martinez, Tijuana is your home. What was it like for you to learn that tear gas was being fired at migrants yesterday, just a couple of blocks away from you.

CESAR MARTINEZ: To see all the disorganization from everywhere. It's very frustrating to watch my city in that way. You know, I said to my friends the community here is divided. Locals are against and another is in favour to help the immigrants.

PA: And so the situation in town today, is it tense? Are people angry? What is it like in Tijuana right now?

CM: Yeah, there are many people angry here in Tijuana. Right here out at the complex it is quiet right now, but it’s tense. It’s tense early in the morning. There was about 20 federal police with a bunch of equipment. I can see many, many police coming in and coming out.

PA: So you're saying there are police officers coming in and out of this sports complex, which is being used as this giant shelter right now. You say it's making everyone tense. Can you describe the conditions inside the building?

CM: Oh my god, this is dramatic the conditions inside of there. Since the beginning there is not organization, so there is not enough space. I hear some calculation from official that the space is about 2,000-person capacity. Right now, there are almost 6,000. People living inside there is dramatic, families, children, women, so everybody trying to survive. Local authorities are doing their best they can do, but they are very disorganized as well.

PA: Just to be clear, you're saying that the capacity inside this sports complex is 2,000 people, and there are 6,000 migrants staying inside?

CM: Yes.

PA: And do they have enough basics: food, water, clothing?

CM: I can tell you for sure, everybody eats at least one time every day. But very bad organizing. I'm just working, and my specific work is to reheat the donations, protein, food, and everything, and distribute to the shelter, and also to other shelters here in Tijuana.

PA: And you have a full-time job. Why is it so important to you to go down and volunteer at this shelter?

CM: Tijuana is founded by immigrants from all over the world, and gives opportunity to everybody. I believe that everybody is part of the solution. The three levels of government here are a main part of the the solution. The economic here it depends on the border crossing. So here, the economics are very bad right now. So everybody's been in some way affected. So as soon as we help to solve these problems, Tijuana is gonna come back to the normal life.

PA: You say everyone is part of the solution. And yet, the mayor of Tijuana has said he does not want these migrants there. He’s called this an avalanche. What do you make of his stance?

CM: I can see the local authorities working in here in, trying to organize the sports facility here. They don't have the resources.

PA: The people working in the sports complex — in the shelter — don't have the resources?

CM: What I’m not agreeing with is send the problem to someone else. Everybody is part of the solution.

PA: But in terms of what happens now, where will these people go?

CM: I wish I could know. You know many persons have asked me today what is going to happen? We need a response. Who is going to give the response? Tijuana local people? local government? Trump? He want’s to get political benefit from this!

PA: Donald Trump, the U.S. president, is trying to get benefit from all this, that’s what your saying?

CM: Yes, sure. But a big solution is not coming in. You know they are proposing a lot of things, but there is not a big plan to take care of this person. We are not solving a solution for this.

PA: Mr. Martinez, I really want to thank you for the work you're doing, and for taking the time to speak with us today.

CM: My pleasure is mine.

PA: All right. Bye now.

JD: Cesar Martinez is a local volunteer at a Tijuana shelter for migrants. We reached him in Tijuana. Yesterday, a chaotic scene erupted at the border there. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers fired tear gas at hundreds of migrants who rushed towards the border. Here is "Fox & Friends" host Steve Doocy, speaking to Border Patrol Foundation President Ron Colburn today.

SOUNDCLIP

STEVE DOOCY: There was a small hole they were able to puncture through the border wall. And they hurled all sorts of rocks, etc., at the border patrol agents, and then they fired the tear gas. Is that warranted?

RON COLBURN: Absolutely, and to clarify the type of deterrent being used is OC pepper spray. It's literally water, pepper, with a small amount of alcohol for evaporation purposes. It's natural; you could actually put it on your nachos and eat it. So it's a good way of determining people without long term harm.

JD: Border Patrol Foundation President Ron Colburn, speaking to "Fox & Friends" host Steve Doocy today.

[Music: Sad piano]

Bernardo Bertolucci obit

Guest: Jeremy Thomas

JD: It's the year 1924, and the setting is the Forbidden City in China.

SOUNDCLIP

[Sound: A scene from The Last Emperor]

JD: That was a scene from the 1987 historical epic, "The Last Emperor" — directed Bernardo Bertolucci. Today it was announced that Mr. Bertolucci has died at the age of 77. He leaves behind a filmography that includes such classics as "The Conformist" and the controversial "Last Tango in Paris". Jeremy Thomas is the movie producer who worked with Bernardo Bertolucci to bring "The Last Emperor" to the screen, and went on to produce other Bertolucci films like "Stealing Beauty" and "The Dreamers". We reached Jeremy Thomas in London, England.

PA: Mr. Thomas, first of all, I'm very sorry for the loss of your friend. Before we discuss his enormous achievements, I wonder if you can tell us what living with illness had been like for Bernardo these past years?

JEREMY THOMAS: Well, he was optimistic man, and like all great film directors are always making films in their heads. But he'd had some mobility problems in the last 10 to 15 years. And I'm sure it was very, very difficult, although he was very proud and stoic, and he continued his life. But he was in a wheelchair.

PA: But he was working on something when he died. Was he still actively working?

JT: Yeah, he was actively thinking of making your film, as I said all film directors are thinking about movies. The people who live by thinking about cinema, they're always making a movie, whether they make it or they don't.

PA: How did you come to meet Bernardo Bertolucci?

JT: I got a call from him. I had just made a film called “Merry Christmas. Mr Lawrence” with Japanese filmmakers, and he said listen I'd like to meet you. And I met with him, and I said let's meet in the Chinese restaurant, and he happened to give me the project of “The Last Emperor”. And I was an enormous fan of his. And I didn’t need any persuading.

PA: And so in that first meeting in a Chinese restaurant, he pitched you on let's make “The Last Emperor”?

JT: Yeah. He gave me a two-volume autobiography of Puyi, then said this is what I want to do. And we started getting information and getting all the rights, going to China backwards and forwards, and getting the permission to film in the Forbidden City. And they love Bertolucci in China, and the cultural minister loved him, and we got the permission.

PA: Why do you think the Chinese liked him so?

JT: They like Italy. They had a lot of students there. There was a lot of interchange in business. And Bertolucci was a Marxist — he was a known Marxist — no censorship whatsoever. The script was written, they approved the script, and they gave us freedom to make the film.

PA: He had a well-deserved reputation for being a filmmaker who I mean to defy social norms barely even touches what he did, but for that, and for really testing and pushing boundaries when it came to everything depicting sexuality, expressing his politics through film. Was he equally subversive and mischievous in real life?

JT: No, no. All people are different to they’re art. But he was political. If you think it he started making films when he was 21, and it's something that is changed in the world today. But the areas of sexuality and the human condition was something very much on everybody's mind, especially if it's politically-orientated.

PA: You know it's a cliché, but you would expect a man with such a famous filmography to be difficult to work with on set. A lot of people that are as famous and successful as he is are. What was your experience of working with him?

JT: Well, I did many films with him over many long periods, so I had a fabulous relationship with him. And he was very collaborative. And even in the most difficult of films, he was always in sync with the filmmaking. And as he was in charge of the film in his brain, he could change the film. And he would, as he said, okay Jeremy, I’ll have sympathy. I'll shoot you out of trouble. And he’d shoot us out of trouble. He’d think of doing it in one shot. He could do it in one shot. I mean he was famous for doing it in one shot with a camera on the move, rather than ten setups. And he had that expertise. And when he was shooting the film, he knew what he wanted in terms of the completed scene.

PA: He was no stranger to controversy. He was never afraid of controversy. After “Last Tango in Paris” was released, he was hit with obscenity charges for the explicit sex scenes. About two years ago, Last Tango’s infamous rape scene came under renewed scrutiny, and raised a lot of questions about consent on set. How did Bernardo Bertolucci approach that kind of criticism of his work?

JT: I think that it goes with the territory. I think that he lost his vote at the time…

PA: because of the trial.

JT: The trial. And that must have been very hard because it was a magnificent film. That film will always be a controversial film. But it happened many decades ago. I wasn’t there, and a few people left who were on that set.

PA: He and Marlon Brando later admitted that they hadn't fully informed the actress, Maria Schneider, of what was going to happen in that scene. So some have said we should reconsider how he has been lauded as a director as a result. What do you make of that?

JT: I don’t have any comment on that. I look at his films; he left and incredible footprint on cinema. He was one of the major film artists of all time, and his legacy I think is without question. And I feel privileged to have called him my best friend and to have worked with him.

PA: You enjoyed decades of collaboration, and of great personal friendship with him. Is there is there a moment or a particular memory that you're thinking of today that stands out?

JT: Yeah, I always think so fondly of the night a colleague was confused when Bertolucci said I want to say if New York is the Big Apple; Hollywood is the big nipple. And there was a sort of confused and embarrassed laughter. And then afterwards, I was backstage, what, Mr. Bertolucci, we don’t understand your reference to Hollywood. What are you saying about Hollywood? He said because I was gratified tonight fully by the milk of Hollywood. That's poetic, and that's very visual, and truthful that we were gratified with that.

PA: Well, it's an incredible career to look back on. And I just I really want to thank you for letting us in and sharing all of this with us today.

JT: No, no. He was great. He was great. I miss him a lot. Everybody who knew him will miss him.

PA: Indeed. Thank you so much, sir.

JT: Okay. Bye bye.

JD: Jeremy Thomas is a film producer, and a collaborator and friend of the late Bernardo Bertolucci, whose death was announced today. He was 77 years old.

[Music: Horns]

‘Best Building’

Guest: Pedro Duschenes

JD: This has to be a morale building for a building dedicated to morale building. The title of “Best Building in the World” has just been conferred on a rural boarding school in Brazil. You might have figured it would go to a tree-covered apartment tower in Milan, or a concrete campus in Tokyo, both of which were also in the running. But the Royal Institute of British Architects instead selected the work of the young architects Pedro Duschenes and Gustavo Utrabo. Since the building itself offered no comment, we reached Pedro Duschenes in Sao Paulo Brazil.

PA: Mr. Duschenes, how does it feel to hold this title to be one of the architects behind the “Best Building in the World”?

PEDRO DUSCHENES: Well, it's an amazing feeling. First of all, because it's such a prestigious award, and so we were very, very happy to receive that. And also because it was such a surprise. We did not expect to receive the prize. I mean there were so many great buildings and huge architecture firms, and we are sort of far away from that reality.

PA: But part of what makes it great is that it's so unique. Can you describe the school for us? What does it look like?

PD: The first part that's very unique is that it is a boarding school, and it is very, very far away from the city. So the kids that go there they come from low-income families. There are about 700 students, and also lots of teachers and people that work there, and they all live in this kind of farm. It's more than just a building. It's a whole complex that was existing there. And our project was to make a better accommodation for the students. There is also lots of important things that we had to deal with to make the kids feel at home because they come from such different and difficult backgrounds. And the most maybe thing that you see at first is this huge roof — this very light roof that creates a big shadow. So I think the rich part. The first thing that comes to your mind when you see the beauty is about this free space that protects from the sun. And then from that all the other parts of the beauty start to relate to this shadow, to this space, to this kind of intermediate space between the outside and the inside.

PA: We'll put some pictures of it up on our website, so people can see it because it really is an interesting almost a movement as you move through the building itself. I read that the people in charge of the school they wanted to pick you and your partner as the architect behind this because you were young, and because they thought that you'd probably listen to the students. What did those students tell you?

PD: The children was a very rich experience too to talk to them because they come from families that have lived there in this place for a long time. And somehow they began to lose this relationship to the land and to their own history. So when we first got there, we went to visit their grandparents’ house to see what it was like. And it was more like smaller houses with mud walls and also a big veranda — a big shadow that would protect this inner space. And somewhat to our surprise, the inside space we're really, really comfortable in the temperature way. So it was cool, even though we had 40 degrees Celsius outside, the inside part of the house was very inviting. And we knew that there was some kind of very important knowledge there, and that it was important to bring that to the project. And somehow the students had already begun to look at the houses of their grandparents as something from the past, or something that it's backwards. And a big challenge after the whole process was to listen to them, listen to their stories, and then make them realize how important and how beautiful and also useful and technological were these traditions that they already had in place. But there was also more practical sense of working together with them. First of all, in them making part of the whole process, and feeling that this beauty is also somehow theirs. But also to listen a little bit of how could we fine-tune to their needs and also to the needs of the teachers and the whole school. And what kind of games did they like to play? All this kinds of information that we try to incorporate into the design process.

PA: I mean it's amazing to see what imbibing a student with a sense of responsibility but a sense of ownership as well can do? What effect do you think this can have on the quality of life for these students?

PD: Well, we have really high hopes, right? We hope that the space makes it a better place a better space to live. That the children have more calm, more room for themselves, and that they start to reflect upon their own individuality. And we’re seeing really good results right away from the point of view of then being happy with the school, and studying more, and having more time for themselves.

PA: I mean it's interesting because I think you could see this kind of design be replicated. But I guess in your mind to what extent is it almost more important to use this as an example to remember the fundamentals? That it is not just the mechanics and the building. It's about the artistry, and about the social aspect of meeting people and understanding what they need when you're trying to design something from an architectural standpoint?

PD: Yes, definitely. We could not see the same building being replicated exactly as it is. We think it's very important to look at all the complexities of the place, and all the complexities of the people. And maybe from there, we could arrive in a similar building in another situation. But we would also have to go all the way back to what is this place? What is the people? And then what is the climate? How can we transport the materials? All these kinds of needs and issues informed so much of the project.

PA: Well, Mr. Duschenes, congratulations and thank you. Thank you for doing this.

PD: Thank you very much.

JD: Pedro Duschenes is an architect with the firm Aleph Zero. We reached him in Sao Paulo. A school in rural Brazil he designed was recently given the award of 'Best Building in the World' by the Royal Institute of British Architects. You can see, as Peter mentioned, some photographs of that school on our website: www.cbc.ca/aih

[Music: Ambient]

NASA probe

JD: It took 204 days, 20 hours, and 49 minutes. And for the last seven of those minutes, everyone at NASA — and everyone watching their live feed around the world — held their breath. In May, NASA launched the InSight Robotic Lander. This afternoon, it was set to land on Mars — in a place called "Elysium Planitia". From my topographical standpoint, it's the most boring part of the planet: flat and smooth. Nothing happens there, which is the whole point. The 800-million-dollar-plus InSight lander was supposed to land and just sit in that relatively calm spot. Its mission to, quote, “seek to understand the evolutionary formation of rocky planets, including Earth, by investigating the interior structure and processes of Mars." Unquote, and so, an ambitious plan involving a very expensive lander. And today, it just had to do what its name suggests: land. But for everyone involved in the project, the period between entry and touchdown had an ominous name: "seven minutes of terror". InSight had to enter the Martian atmosphere, open its parachutes, fire its thrusters, and come to rest on a nice flat area that would allow its solar panels to be constantly recharged over the course of the mission. Any failure at any point and the whole thing was a wash. Here are the harrowing final seconds of the landing procedure today — the final, suspenseful pause slightly shortened so your head doesn't explode.

SOUNDCLIP

SPEAKER: Altitude 600 meters. Gravity turn altitude 400 meters, 300 meters, 200 meters, 80 meters, 60 meters, 50 meters. Constant velocity 37 meters, 30 meters, 20 meters, 17 meters, standing by for touchdown. Touchdown confirmed. InSight is on the surface of Mars.

JD: Relief and joy. The NASA InSight robotic lander successfully robotically landing on Mars today.

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November 26, 2018 episode transcript

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