The AIH Transcript for July 12, 2021

[host]Hosts: Duncan McCue and Chris Howden[/host]

DUNCAN MCCUE: Hello, I'm Duncan McCue, sitting in for Carol Off.

Ali HASSAN: Good evening, I'm Ali Hassan. This is "As It Happens".

[music: theme]

CH: Tonight:

DMC: Open investigation. The police in Haiti say they've arrested the mastermind behind the assassination of their president, but our guest says it's just one piece of a very big puzzle.

AH: Becoming part of the story. Journalists in the country of Georgia are mourning the violent death of a cameraman, who died days after being beaten by far-right groups at an anti-LGBTQ protest.

DMC: No Manatee's Land. In a milestone no one wanted to reach, a record-breaking number of manatees have died in Florida this year — and a local veterinarian tells us what's behind the grim statistic.

AH: Ego trip. Sir Richard Branson has claimed victory in the billionaire space race... but the competition claims he actually came up short. And our guest says anyone who thinks there's a set border between really high up in the air, and actual space is out to launch.

DMC: Not a potboiler. A UK chef discovers a sapphire blue lobster amid his regular seafood order -- and decides maybe its tail shouldn't end there.

AH: And she's blowing up... and kind of forward... out of her mouth -- because Molly Lewis is breathing new life into the lost art of whistling. And she's suddenly on everyone's lips.

AH: As It Happens, the Monday edition. Radio that figures any imitators shouldn't hold their breath.

[Music: Theme]

Guest: Jacqueline Charles

AH: Well, the plot thickens in Haiti. Police there have arrested a man who they say played a leading role in President Jovenel Moise's assassination last week -- and wanted to replace him in the Presidential palace. Police say Christian Emmanuel Sanon splits his time between Florida and Haiti and that he hired a team of mercenaries through a Miami security firm. Twenty of those alleged mercenaries have already been arrested. And police in Haiti are trying to understand more about why the President was shot 12 times in his bedroom early Wednesday morning and how a group of intruders got past security. Jacqueline Charles broke the story about Mr. Sanon's arrest for the Miami Herald this weekend. We reached her in Port-au-Prince.

DMC: Jacqueline, does the arrest of this man from Florida satisfy people's questions about the President's assassination or is it creating new ones?

JACQUELINE CHARLES: It definitely doesn't satisfy people. And I think even the police, they're still looking into this. There's still a lot of unanswered questions. Again, at The Miami Herald, you know, we broke the story before the police confirmed it. And when we were doing our own research and looking into this individual, we found that this was a man who has filed federal bankruptcy, who has 400,000 dollars in debt. So how does someone, you know, with that kind of debt load afford such an expensive operation? What we've been told is this is probably multimillion dollars. There's still a lot of things that are not being answered. They're still evasive. And that's what everybody is hoping for, that in the coming days, we will get the answers.

DMC: Based on the research you've done thus far, can you tell us who Cristian Emmanuel Sanon is?

JC: So Christian Emanuelson Sanon portrays himself as a pastor and also a doctor. Now, he may be a doctor in Haiti, but we have not found any medical licence for him in Florida. I saw a YouTube video where, ironically enough, it was titled "Who is Christian E Sanon?" And it was in Spanish. And it mentioned that he was born in Jacmel, which is in the southeast of Haiti. It says he studied biology in New York. He went to school in the Dominican Republic. I've talked to people around here. They know him as somebody who's basically had conversations with them in terms of politics, but that every Haitian, right? He's done some philanthropy or at least portrayed himself in terms of philanthropy. We're still looking to check out a lot of his story. One of the interesting things that the police mentioned on Sunday was that he came into Haiti in the month of June, and he came on private plane. Private plane to Haiti is not cheap. So if somebody, again, 400,000 dollars in debt, how are you able to afford 14,000 to 20,000 dollars for a private flight?

DMC: He has been living in Florida for a number of years now. So was he in any way a player in Haitian politics?

JC: I covered this community for over 20 years as well as while covering Haiti. This is not a name that I ran across as somebody who was on the front lines in talking about what's happening in Haiti. Again, when you look at things online, you see. But we know in terms of social media, anybody can present themselves in one way. I will tell you in one of the claims that made that I saw, we went directly to the source, and we asked this entity whether or not they knew this guy? They had a relationship with him? And they said to us that, no, they don't know who he is, and they have absolutely no relationship with him. Who was this guy? Was he a... Is he a con artist? Or, you know, is he somebody, you know, somebody... like most Haitians who concerned about the future of the country and the way things are going and basically came and told a story and set himself up? Now, officially from police, they're saying to us that Mr. Sanon is the one who contracted with this company in the Miami area called CTU Security. The job was to provide security to a VIP and to his business. And according to the interim director of the Haitian National Police, Leon Charles, that mission then changed. He mentioned that 22 additional individuals from Columbia came into Haiti. And then, you know, the rest is as we know it. To what extent is his involvement? Is he the mastermind, or is he fronting for somebody? There's so many questions. And honestly, we don't have the answers, and the police are still digging, and they're trying to get the answers.

DMC: One of the big questions you raised earlier there was, was he financially capable of footing the bill for... for such a massive operation?

JC: On paper, it doesn't appear that way. I mean, based on his court filings. But again, did he have money that we didn't know, funds that we didn't know of? You know, the other things that we found is that he had several organizations under his name, but they were all inactive.

DMC: The other question, which has puzzled people since the assassination, is how did these men get past security at the President's house? I mean, does Mr. Sanon's arrest give you any clues about that at all?

JC: It does not give us any clues at all. I mean, what we've known is that when the videos that you saw that these guys, oh, they're DADA well, we know that they were not DADA or any other U.S. entity was not involved at all in any of this operation. But that is an important question because people who have been to the President's house have said it is not easy to get past that guard gate.

DMC: It does... it seems like this has almost muddied the waters more. But... but how credible does it appear that Mr. Sanon may be at the centre of... of who killed the President?

JC: I will tell you that I heard his name days earlier, and these were people who are working, and you know themselves and looking into this and his name came up. Now, again, is there another layer to this plot? A lot of Haitians do believe that there's a layer to this plot. They don't believe this Sanon is the person or the only person. They... you know, they feel that there's so much more to this story. And it hits on the very question that you ask, which is how is it that individuals were able to get past the guard gate and the presidential guards that were there to not just enter the President's house but his bedroom and murder him?

DMC: You are on the ground in Port-Au-Prince reporting right now. Can you tell us what the mood is like there in the country?

JC: You know, every day there's been a little bit more traffic, a little bit more activity. But today, people are a little bit on edge. They're waiting to see if the gangs are going to take to the streets. We have to remember that prior to President Moise's assassination, this was a country dealing with an alarming surge of gangs, alarming number of kidnappings. Since June 1st, more than 16,000 people have been forcibly displaced from their homes, from poor and working-class neighbourhoods of Port-au-Prince. The southern region of this country, which consists of four departments, have been completely cut off, meaning you cannot get there by foot. A group attempted to fly there last week... a week ago, actually, and the plane crashed. So, you know, all of that is the reality. And I think that that's sort of getting lost in the mystery and sort of what's happening. But people are trying to get past the shock of the first couple of days, that there was still that shock and people still can't believe it. But even in trying to resume their daily lives, they're very much aware of the volatile nature of all of this. On top of a situation where you're dealing with increasing insecurity.

DMC: I understand you were urged not to go to the courthouse today. So are there fears of more violence, especially after one of the top gang leaders is urging his supporters to take to the streets?

JC: Yes, so I understand that they're starting to burn tires down there right now. But, yes, the courthouse is located not far from one of the kidnapping lairs. And so it was advised that, you know, we should not go down there. We should take some precaution. And so, yes, that's what we're trying to do.

DMC: What are the big questions that you want answered in all of this right now, Jacqueline?

JC: I think the question is, who did it and why and how? I mean, I'm a journalist, right? Who, what, where, when, why and how. I mean, those five questions, and to which we don't yet have answers. And so that's what I'm working on, as well as other colleagues who are here.

DMC: We'll keep following this. Thanks for filling us in.

JC: Thanks for having me.

AH: Jacqueline Charles is a journalist with the Miami Herald. We reached her in Port-au-Prince.

[music: glassy guitar riff]

Guest: Laura Forczyk

AH: It's late at night. The incense is burning. You just finished binge-watching the first season of Star Trek. You're so blissed out that you start to wonder if your body has become one with the bean bag chair you've sunken into. And then, finally, one of your roommates breaks the silence and asks the question everyone is thinking: what IS space? Typically, such profound questions don't go beyond the dormroom and enter the mainstream conversation. But thanks to two billionaires and their ridiculous race to take the first commercial flight to space -- suddenly, that question is on everyone's lips.

[sc]

SIR RICHARD BRANSON: To all you kids down there. I was once a child with a dream, looking up to the stars. Now I'm an adult in a spaceship with lots of other wonderful adults looking down to our beautiful, beautiful Earth. To the next generation of dreamers, if we can do this, just imagine what you can do.

[/sc]

AH: That's how it sounded yesterday when Sir Richard Branson became the first billionaire to fly to space -- beating fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos by a few days. That should have settled it and allowed us to get back to our dormroom debates. But some, including Mr. Bezos' Blue Origin spaceflight company, are now claiming Mr. Branson technically didn't fly high enough to make it to space. Laura Forczyk is a space analyst and the owner of Astralytical. We reached her in Atlanta, Georgia.

DMC: Laura, I know this is kind of a profound question, but... but what is space anyway?

LAURA FORCZYK: Space, the way we define it, is an area of vacuum that has very little or nothing in it. Now, that is a very simplified wave describing it because there are a lot of things in space. But the way we define it is that it is outside of Earth's atmosphere, although one can say that Earth itself is in space.

DMC: We just heard a clip of Sir Richard Branson aboard his flight yesterday sounding pretty pleased with himself. Did he actually make it to space?

LF: He did! So, according to the U.S. definition, and Virgin Galactic is a U.S. company, space is defined as about 50 miles or approximately 80 kilometres. And that is where they were yesterday. They reached something like 83 kilometres. And that is space as it's defined in the United States.

DMC: As it's defined in the United States. But... but there's been a lot of talk about this Kármán line as the official boundary line of space. Can you explain a little bit about that, about where this boundary came from and whether... whether that one holds up?

LF: Sure! So von Kármán was a researcher who decided to look into where the orbital mechanics of things orbiting Earth, you know, the speed at which they orbit in the gravitational pull of the Earth. We have that boundary, and the forces differ in the atmosphere and atmospheric pressures and in aerodynamic pressures. And he decided in his original research he actually decided it was actually closer to 80 kilometres. But he was doing an order of magnitude. That means he decided to round it up to 100 kilometres. We like round numbers. And so that number has stuck. And that is the official definition for an organization that is based in Switzerland that a few countries around the world have agreed to and a few organizations that have a lot of defining power. But here in the United States, traditionally the U.S. Air Force. And then following that, the Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA and NASA have defined it traditionally as 50 miles. And again, that is also a round... a round a number. We like round numbers. So there's really no clear answer here. And it really has to do with the time of day and the time of the season and the solar activity and the location around the Earth with different atmospheric conditions and also the object itself. So there really is no clear line.

DMC: So this discrepancy between where Earth ends and space itself begins, is this just a matter of discussion amongst scientists or is this just another example of two billionaires and their egos?

LF: I think it's a little bit of both in this case because we saw Blue Origin, a competitive company, say that they were going to go above 100 kilometres, so they were better than Virgin Galactic. But that is a bit of an ego trip because both of them are going to have their passengers experience about four or five minutes of microgravity floating around in the freefall. And both of the providers are going to have the... the curvature of Earth and the dark sky with the stars. And, of course, it's going to be different if you're in orbit. So you've got orbital space flight providers saying that they're better, and that is a bit of an ego trip. And so it really just depends on what the customer wants.

DMC: You mentioned Mr. Bezos and his Blue Origin team. I mean, as far as they're concerned, it's settled. I mean, they tweeted the other day, I'll quote them, None of our astronauts have an asterisks next to their name. For 96 per cent of the world's population, space begins 100 kilometres up at the internationally-recognized Kármán line. What would you say to their assertion?

LF: Well, Blue Origin is again based in the United States, which says it's actually 50 miles. So there is no asterisk here in the United States. Also, both Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic passengers and customers are going to be considered astronauts for marketing purposes. They're actually defined by the government as spaceflight participants unless they are crew. But also, that number, that 96 per cent of the world's population, that's not quite accurate either because most of the world does not care where space begins. There's very few countries around the world that have actually ruled on this. There is no legally recognized boundary for the rest of the world or here in the states either. And so it really just is a bit of semantics.

DMC: You mentioned, Lura, people caring about this. Many people have pointed out that the vast sums of money that have been spent to fund these two missions perhaps could have been spent on more pressing issues here down on Earth. What would you say to those people?

LF: Well, remember, none of this money is spent in space. A hundred per cent of the money is spent here on Earth for both, you know, people that are directly involved, but also indirect. You know, components and... and services and all the different type of things that go into this kind of space flight. And there's also really great science. So Virgin Galactic yesterday flew the very first human-tended suborbital research experiment. There had been research experiments on suborbital craft for decades, but this one that flew yesterday, the very first one that a human got involved, and it was a manipulating plant biology. So there's really great practical reasons to do this. It's not just a bunch of billionaires throwing money around. There's actually really great science and technology to be done.

DMC: How could that research on plant biology filter down to us?

LF: So it's really hard to answer that question of how does this fundamental research filter down to practical reasons. And I'm not a biologist, so I can't answer that particular question. However, I can say that all research benefits humans in some way or another eventually. Blue Origin recently flew technology for NASA on an uncrewed flight that will help NASA land humans on the moon. So that is a very real-time practical use for that kind of suborbital space flight. And so there's really good practical reasons as well as fundamental science, fluid dynamics and... and the way that microgravity just changes the science that we know that we take for granted here on Earth because we don't know of reality without microgravity, most of us.

DMC: Laura, how feasible do you think it is that we'll see more of these, quote, space flights in the foreseeable future?

LF: Very feasible. This is the beginnings of a brand new industry in its infancy. So this is just the very start of what could become very accessible spaceflight for the masses. And maybe in the next few decades. And we don't know how the view of the Earth from above is going to change the perspective of humanity and how we view our planet.

DMC: Thanks so much for telling us all about it.

LF: Thank you so much for having me.

DMC: Take care.

AH: Laura Forczyk is a space analyst and the owner of Astralytical. We reached her in Atlanta, Georgia.

[music: poppy beat]

Guest: Austin Hopley

AH: When you walk into a restaurant and order a lobster, the last thing you expect to be served is a blue one.... It's not that they don't exist. They do. And, in fact, they're actually edible. But thing is, they're just so rare. Chances of actually finding one are one in two-million. So when Chef Austin Hopley found one in a shipment destined for his boiling pot, he was shocked and puzzled. Austin Hopley is the head chef at Hare on the Hill Restaurant. We reached him in Littleborough, England.

DMC: Austin, what went through your mind when you first saw this blue lobster?

AUSTIN HOPLEY: Oh, let me tell you, it was absolutely unreal. [chuckling] And basically, you know, lobsters come in on our routine delivery. And they come all wrapped up in some moist newspaper to help keep them moist and alive. And I started unwrapping these lobsters. And lo and behold, the second one that I unwraped was like the most decadent sapphire blue. It was unreal. You know, whenever I saw it at first, I had to do like a double, triple glance. I was like are you sure this is right? You know? So I called my colleague over, Jenny. And Jenny was in disbelief also, you know, we was humming and hawing at the thing and just trying to decide, you know, what we should do with it. We've never seen anything like it before.

DMC: A sapphire blue. It sounds spectacular?

AH: Well, sapphires are expensive. [chuckling]

DMC: Did you have any idea beforehand how rare this blue lobster was?

AH: Honestly, I didn't have an idea at all. It kind of took some digging. It took us about 20, 25 minutes to get over the facts about how blue this thing was, and how it was moving around really slowly. And, you know, like they do, you know, I'm not the best person to be handling lobsters. In all honesty, I'm actually quite scared them. [DMC chuckles] Just... just because they... you know, they've got a good few legs and they remind me of a spider and I really don't like those. So after a little bit of Googling and a little bit of research, you know, it started to unfold that the rarity of this blue lobster was ridiculous. Whenever me and my friend were looking, looking and seeing all these articles. I mean, there was different articles from everywhere, just talking about how rare they were, whether it was worthy of your dinner plate. And we was just in complete disbelief about how rare this thing was that I'd rocked up on a routine delivery.

DMC: Were you tempted to cook it at all?

AH: Genuinely, no, I wasn't tempted to cook at all, especially after we took some time and did a little bit of research and realizing the rarity of the animal, you know, I really couldn't bring myself to cook. And my colleague, you know, we were both just in huge shock about it.

DMC: So you and your colleague decided not to cook it. What then happened to the lobster?

AH: Believe it or not, he never actually left the box. Wou know, we was looking at him. And, you know, we was trying to come into the realisation as to what we should do. And the best thing to do with the lobsters is to get them back to make sure that they are in a damp and cool environment. And we did that while we discussed what we thought we should do with it because, you know, our options are very limited. We're not very close to the coast. So it's quite a luxury to buy in live lobsters around where we are. And our intention was to try and get a hold of our bosses and see what the leeway was because obviously with him being such a rarity, he was still also considered stock for the restaurant. And it was a very fine line depending on what we should do with him. We wanted to instinctively just rehome him, re-house him, get him to the best place possible, but we had to run it by our boss first, and he was more than happy whenever he realized the reality of it. And that's whenever we started our hunt.

DMC: So you gave one of the local aquariums a call. What was their reaction?

AH: They was very interested in the story and they really wanted to help, but they couldn't. Basically, because he was a full-sized lobster, you know, you put em in a tank with anything else, he'll kind of eat it in the scale that the local aquarium deals with.

DMC: So it sounds like it was turning into a conundrum to deal with this fellow. What was your option if you couldn't find a home for him?

AH: The only option was to rehome him. We didn't really see any other option. So we just pursued out the hunt really.

DMC: And ended up giving him a name in the process. What was his name?

AH: Through a group vote, we decided to call him Larry just because it's alliterative and fun. [DMC chuckles] And, I mean, we went through some serious trouble that day. We... we spoke to not one, not two, not three, we spoke about 20 different places over 40, maybe even 50 phone calls.

DMC: Wow!

AH: You know, it was absolutely crazy.

AH: It has turned into quite an ordeal for you, Austin. So what ended up happening with Larry the Lobster?

AH: Well, after, you know, numerous phone calls and so forth, we decided that our best shot was going to be Sea Life in Manchester. We had a little bit of trouble there, too, because Sea Life's customer service phone number is currently down. And I believe that's partially to do with COVID and people working from home still. And so we was almost back at square one there. So what we had to do was almost start from the beginning and go straight to the top. So we went to the company that owns Sea Life and then got passed down the ranks back to the guy that actually deals with the aquatic centre at Sea Life. Now, the length of time that that took, all kinds of thoughts were going through our heads. You know, we're not going to be able to rehome him, which is why we decided to start the social media campaign later on in the afternoon. Luckily, a few hours after the social media campaign started on our Facebook page of the restaurant, Sea Life came to pick him up.

DMC: So Larry found a home.

AH: Yes, he did.

DMC: And what about the impact on you, Austin? If I walk into your restaurant today, what kind of lobster? What I find on your menu?

AH: none. [chuckling]

DMC: None!

AH: No, none. None at all.

DMC: Why is that?

AH: In all honesty with you, the blue one really put it into perspective to us as to what we was actually selling. And it wouldn't have felt morally right for us to continue buying in lobsters after we'd a special encounter with Larry.

DMC: Well, it's quite a journey. Thank you for telling us about Larry the Blue Lobster.

AH: Well, thank you very much for giving me the chance to tell you.

DMC: Take care.

AH: Good night. Thank you. Bye-bye.

AH: Austin Hopley is the head chef at Hare on the Hill Restaurant. We reached him in Littleborough, England. And for more on this story, you can visit our webpage at: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[music: jazz]

AH: If you pre-ordered a copy of Molly Lewis' debut EP you'll get a free mint-scented lip balm included with the record. That might sound like a gimmick. But there's nothing gimmicky about Ms. Lewis' merch or music. And you'll need plenty of lip balm if you plan to purse your lips and play along as you listen.

[music: "The Forgotten Edge" by Molly Lewis/whistling]

AH: This is the title-track off "The Forgotten Edge". It might be the Los Angeles-based whistler's first record but as you can hear -- Molly Lewis is no amateur. For years, the 31-year-old has been making a name for herself in the world of competitive whistling. But it's her popular lounge show, "Café Molly", that started introducing her sound to a new audience and helped her land a record contract. On any given night, anyone from actor John C. Reilly to Canadian musician Mac DeMarco is likely to show up, pucker up, and join Ms. Lewis on stage. The show even caught the ear of legendary producer Dr. Dre -- who recently asked Ms. Lewis to lend her talents to some new music. But it's with her debut record, where the whistling takes centre stage, that Ms. Lewis hopes to do her small part to revive the lost art. As she told the New York Times, quote: "I want to play beautiful music that makes people feel something. And it just so happens that whistling is the only thing I can do that allows me entry into the world of musicians." Unquote.

[music: elevator music]

Guest: Tornike Mandaria

AH: In the streets of Georgia's capital Tbilisi yesterday, people were both solemn and furious. Demonstrators held signs that read "For Lekso." Alexander Lashkarava -- or Lekso, as he was known -- was a cameraman for a local TV station. One week ago, he and dozens of other journalists planned on covering the city's Pride March -- but an anti-LGBTQ protest emerged instead, and far-right groups targeted more than 50 journalists with violence. Mr. Lashkarava suffered serious injuries -- and yesterday, he died. Tornike Mandaria was another journalist at that anti-LGBTQ protest last week. He, too, was badly injured. We reached him in Tbilisi.

DMC: Tornike, how dangerous is it to be a journalist in Georgia right now?

TORNIKE MANDARIA: Right now in Georgia, what we faced is... is unprecedented, really. Up to 50 journalists were injured during the protests. This hasn't happened even in the darkest... in the darkest times in Georgia's history. But even the thought that up to 50 journalists were injured makes me feel very uncertain about the safety of the environment that I'm working in.

DMC: To learn that a TV news cameraman, Alexander Lashkarava, was or was badly beaten while doing his job a week ago and then died yesterday. How are people reacting to that news?

TM: People were heartbroken. It was very terrible news for the Georgian society. What we saw was also very unprecedented reaction from the media outlets, the TV anchors, the people who we see everyday on TV, they actually became activists and they went out on the streets and they organized a demonstration and they... they demanded the resignation of the prime minister, the minister of internal affairs and whole government because of what happened. And the streets were full. The spots in front of the parliament was full of people showing solidarity towards the media and towards this person who died, the cameraman. And they demanded also the resignation of the prime minister.

DMC: He was known as Lekso. Did you know him?

TM: I didn't really know him. We've met a couple of times, but the last time I met him was actually right before he was beaten.

DMC: Can you just paint us a picture? What was it like being in the middle of what you describe as a mob?

TM: It was scary, and the tension was very high that day. Me and my colleague, we were doing a documentary on Tbilisi Pride, and we were shooting organizers. They had to change the locations, the offices a couple of times because of the threats from this mob. And we were actually changing the location when we went out the office, and we were heading towards the car, my... my colleague and one of the organizers of the Pride March and I was hit by a random man that I didn't previously see. And I was bleeding. I was... my teeth were broken. And my colleague, he jumped out of the car, and he tried to help me. But what happened was that even though this man who hit me, he... he got away on a... on a taxi, but some other 10 or 15 people started to come towards us. And I was kind of frozen. I didn't know what to do, but I didn't really fear for my life. But it was very hard to realize that this group of people could do something very bad to us. And so this 10 or 15 people started to beat my colleague. He was on the ground. They were beating him in the head. And I ran to the police who were very close to us. We were screaming on the top of our lungs for them to... and begging them to help us. But they didn't move. They didn't do anything. It was like I ran to them, and I screamed at their faces and begged them to help us. But it was like talking to a wall, you know, they didn't do anything to help us.

DMC: There were journalists who suffered concussions, chemical burns, broken bones, all at the hands of anti-LGBTQ protesters. What role do you think that... that the prime minister of the country and his government played in stoking all of this violence?

TM: Mm-hmm. So first, I think I have to say that Georgia's... Georgia aspires to join the EU and NATO. And it, you know, always says that human rights are the priority for the Georgian government. But what we saw on... on July 5th was a prime minister actually greenlighting these violent protesters to do what they wanted to do. He said that he didn't think that there was time and place to hold the Pride March. And so, with this statement, he definitely greenlighted these people to behave as they did.

DMC: Your prime minister has said that a Pride... Pride March would be, quote, unacceptable for a large segment of Georgian society.

TM: Yes.

DMC: So you also mentioned that there have been protests in solidarity with Lekso Lashkarava and what happened to him. Where do you see this conflict headed?

TM: Yes, the prime minister said that it was unacceptable for him to... for the Pride March to happen. But what we saw the next day after this violence was thousands of people gathering in front of parliament, the main spot for the protests in Georgia. And they... they gathered to show the solidarity towards the journalists, to... to the LGBT community in Georgia. And this was... this was, you know, the hope kind of for... for all the activists and all the Georgian society, that violence is not acceptable for most of the Georgians.

DMC: And just briefly, Tornike, a last question for you, really briefly. I mean, what does it say about the state of your country that journalists can be attacked in this way?

TM: It... it only says Georgia aspires to be a democratic country to join the

EU. For the country that aspires this, you know, it's a very bad incident that happened. If... if Georgia wants to be part of the free world, it should realize that media freedom is vital for its democratic path.

DMC: Thank you for telling us about it. And I'm sorry for the loss of your colleague.

TM: Thank you. Thank you.

DMC: Take care.

TM: Thanks for having me on. Thank you.

CH: Tornike Mandaria is a journalist with Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. We reached him in Tbilisi, Georgia.

[music: world music]

[sc]

ANDREW LETSON: It's weird. They're kind of sweet, but not really. I don't know. Yeah, beats. I don't know. They just... they're weird. I don't know. They weren't what I was expecting them to be.

[/sc]

AH: That is the sound of a 36-year-old New Brunswick man trying beets for the first time. It's just one of a long list pretty run-of-the-mill foods that Andrew Letson has spent his life avoiding as a self-professed picky eater. And here he is trying olives, which -- I'll warn you -- really did make him feel ill.

[sc]

AL: Awwww! The can smells terrible. Oh, it's so bad. [wretches and coughs] So bad. All right. Here we go. [wretches and chokes] Don't like olives.

[/sc]

AH: Andrew Letson eating olives for the first time...and probably the last time based on what we just heard. He began to challenge himself to try new food after he lost a bet on a game of mini-golf and was forced to eat an orange. That was just a few weeks ago, and Mr. Letson has been documenting his extraordinarily ordinary culinary journey ever since. And he recently told CBC Saint John all about it.

[sc]

AL: It was when we... my friends filmed me eating the orange. I realized kind of how ridiculous it was. But there is also some good comedy value to it because, like in that video, I had... I was just slicing into it with a butter knife. I didn't even know how to peel it. [JW laughs] And yeah, I just thought it was funny. And I was like, I can keep doing this. So on the trip home after mini-golf, we... my friends and I compiled a list of very basic foods that I probably should have eaten by now in my life. And I just decided to run with it. And it's... it's been an interesting journey. Texture was a big thing for me. Like when I was younger, I couldn't eat anything mashed, or like applesauce, mashed potatoes, squash, nothing like that. And my mom was a pretty good cook. So there was a lot of things that she made well, that I just enjoyed and she'd make like on a weekly basis type of idea. So I didn't really have to go out of my comfort zone a lot. And she wasn't as fussy as I was, but she was a bit of a fussy eater as well. So, like, part of the reason as a kid I didn't have cauliflower was my mom didn't like cauliflower, so. And being at a restaurant and having steak served to me when I'm about 20 years old and asking what it was to the waitress. [JW laughing] And she's like, it's cauliflower. And I'm like, is it good? And she's like, I don't know. I'm not, you. [laughing]

JULIA WRIGHT: It's like, who is this guy? Like, who's this guy who doesn't know what cauliflower is? I mean, hopefully, with all these new foods, you found at least one or two that you actually liked, right?

AL: Yeah, carrot cake was... that one, I was really anticipating that I wasn't going to like. And I really enjoyed it. Cherries were good. Cherry tomatoes were not good.

JW: No?

AL: I didn't like those at all. The orange, I really liked the orange. And cranberry sauce was another one. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get past the texture of cranberry sauce, but it wasn't bad.

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AH: That was Andrew Letson of the new YouTube channel 'Andy Eats New Food'. He spoke with the CBC's Julia Wright on Friday.

[music: acoustic guitar]

Guest: Martine de Wit

AH: 2021 has been grim for Florida's manatee population. In the first half of the year, the state's Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission recorded 841 manatee deaths. That's a record breaking number. In 2013, 830 manatee deaths were recorded in the year. Martine de Wit is a veterinarian at the state's Marine Mammal Pathobiology Lab. We reached her in St. Petersburg, Florida.

DMC: Ms. de Wit, what was it like for you to hear about this large number of manatee deaths so far this year?

MARTINE DE WIT: Yeah, so this year, we've been super busy with manatees, both live ones that needed to be rescued and response to carcases. So this high number of deaths that was reached last week was something that has been coming all year long, unfortunately, and it's caused by a unprecedented mass mortality event that we had on the Atlantic coast this winter and spring,

DMC: an unprecedented mass mortality event. What's killing all these manatees?

MDW: The primary cause for most of the mortalities is starvation.

DMC Starvation?! What would they typically be eating?

MDW: Manatees are herbivores. And their primary source of food is seagrass. However, they will turn to other types of vegetation as well.

DMC: And so are they having a hard time getting seagrass?

MDW: Yes, they are. The problem is, is that there's a central hub on the Atlantic coast for manatees, especially in wintertime, where they come to... for overwintering, for warm water. And this location, this lagoon, has been suffering from algal blooms actually since 2011. And these algal blooms, these brown tides on itself are not toxic to manatees. But what it does, and what it did over the past decade, is it led to poor water quality and clarity. So the sea grasses that need light to grow did not get enough light. And so that has slowly died off over all these years. And this year, we reached the tipping point where there was almost nothing for them to eat.

DMC: There are, of course, also been other threats to manatees over the years. Can you tell us a little bit about those?

MDW: Yeah. So the main threats to… to manatees long-term are watercraft-related injuries. So injuries from boat strikes, and the loss of warm water habitat.

DMC: You mentioned that the manatees are starving because they can't find enough seagrass. How much has human activity contributed to that?

MDW: It's a... you know, it's a problem in the ecosystem. There are lots of factors that influence that water quality. So, you know, it could be partially because of runoff from, you know, for example, fertilisers. So that... that plays a role in it. But, you know, it's such a complex problem. And then on top of that, the lagoon is more like a lake. So there's not a lot of flow through it as well. So if you have a problem, it doesn't easily flush out.

DMC: You're a veterinarian. What can you tell us about some of the manatees you've treated this year? What kind of shape are they in?

MDW: Yeah. So, what was really... what really stood out was that this mostly affected adult manatees. We normally see more problems in young manatees in the winter, but it was mostly adults. You know, some of them were up to 40 per cent underweight. So they were extremely emaciated. They did not... not have any food in their bellies. We performed necropsies, which is the animal version of an autopsy on them. And internally, they... they had atrophy of their organs, mostly the liver, their fat and their muscle. So it was... was pretty striking to find that in an adult manatee.

DMC: Have you ever seen anything like this, Ms. de Wit.

MDW: Not to this extent. Not at all.

DMC: What can you do to help them?

MDW: It needs a restoration of the ecosystem. So that... that's long-term. Well, we did in the meantime, to... to help them respond to manatees that were called into us, that were sick or injured. And we brought those into rehabilitation facilities. There are a couple of critical care facilities in Florida where they receive care and medication. But even for those animals, it took months for them to be back back into shape so they were able to be released again. Some are still there. So that shows you how poor shape these animals are in.

DMC: Even if you are able to rehabilitate a starving manatee. I mean, what hope is there that the seagrass is going to return. Or is this just going to... is this a problem that's going to get worse and worse?

MDW: Yeah, no, it's absolutely like the core problem is the lack of seagrass, and, yeah, we... we cannot rescue and rehabilitate them all. It's just a small fraction of the manatee population. So you're right that that's the main problem that... that needs to be addressed.

DMC: What percentage of the manatee population in Florida do the deaths this year represent?

MDW: Yeah, that's... that's a difficult question. We... we do not exactly know how many manatees there are, You know? we have, like, models that... that count it. We have minimal counts. But then on top of that, we also do not know how many manatees die. So the number that we have right now is... it's just a minimal count. And it could be that there were manatees that were not reported to us and were unaccounted for.

DMC: It must be heartbreaking for you to see a starving manatee. What do you fear or worry about the future for this animal?

MDW: It's... it is hard to see. You know, especially I've been working with manatees for a long time. And to start to see... witness starvation. You know, that that is, like you say, it is heartbreaking. So, you know, it's… it's we just got to go all out and, you know, work with our managers so they have the best information possible when they make their rules and their management actions to support the manatee population long term and this coming winter.

DMC: Ms. de Wit, thank you very much for telling us about it.

MDW OK, you're welcome. Thanks for having me.

DMC: Take care.

AH: Martine de Wit is a veterinarian with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission. We reached her in St. Petersburg.