On Monday, the Washington Post published a damning account of America’s war in Afghanistan. Titled “The Afghanistan Papers,” the report features dozens of interviews with people directly involved in the war, detailing the lies, deception, and misleading of the public that kept the war going. At once shocking and completely unsurprising, the papers are a secret history of America’s longest war.
We couldn't stop at the spotted lanternfly! (We covered that invasive species in an earlier episode.) We wanted to hear about the invasives where you live. You wrote us about cane toads in Australia, zebra mussels in Nevada; borers, beetles, adelgids, stinkbugs, and so many more. From your emails, we picked three invaders to talk about with NPR science correspondent Dan Charles. Follow host Maddie Sofia on Twitter @maddie_sofia. Email the show at shortwave@npr.org.
Taking a fresh look at the first two centuries of French colonialism in the Americas, Eloquence Embodied: Nonverbal Communication among French and Indigenous Peoples in the Americas(University of North Carolina Press and the Omohundro Institute, 2019), answers the long-standing question of how, and how well, Indigenous Americans and the Europeans who arrived on their shores communicated with each other. French explorers and colonists in the sixteenth century noticed that Indigenous peoples from Brazil to Canada used signs to communicate. The French, in response, quickly embraced the nonverbal as a means to overcome cultural and language barriers. Céline Carayon's close examination of their accounts enables her to recover these sophisticated Native practices of embodied expressions.
In a colonial world where communication and trust were essential but complicated by a multitude of languages, intimate and sensory expressions ensured that French colonists and Indigenous peoples understood each other well. Understanding, in turn, bred both genuine personal bonds and violent antagonisms. As Carayon demonstrates, nonverbal communication shaped Indigenous responses and resistance to colonial pressures across the Americas just as it fueled the imperial French imagination. Challenging the notion of colonial America as a site of misunderstandings and insurmountable cultural clashes, Carayon shows that Natives and newcomers used nonverbal means to build relationships before the rise of linguistic fluency--and, crucially, well afterward.
Ryan Tripp is part-time and full-time adjunct history faculty for Los Medanos Community College as well as the College of Online and Continuing Education at Southern New Hampshire University.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson defends his title today as the nation holds general elections. He’ll be facing threats from all sides, including UK Bernie Jeremy Corbyn.
Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers announced that they’ve come to a tentative agreement with his accusers. If we learned anything about rich men in power, we should've guessed that Weinstein’s offer wouldn't be good.
And in headlines: cocaine sweaters, Khalil Mack is on the nice list, and WAD’s Person Of The Year.
The news to know for Thursday, December 12th, 2019!
What a report found the FBI did (and didn't do) wrong, a possible deal that some say would let Harvey Weinstein off the hook, and British voters go to the polls.
Plus: the new Uber feature for skiers, the first all-electric commercial airplane test flight, and TIME's Person of the Year.
Those stories and many more in less than 10 minutes!
Then, hang out after the news for Thing to Know Thursday's bonus interview about the top tech stories of the year and decade (and what to expect next!). Our guest today is Brian McCullough from the Techmeme Ride Home podcast.
This week on the Patreon, Rivers and Carter sit down to discuss Jerry Springer's 1998 movie 'Ringmaster'. It's a movie so colossally terrible that it killed Gene Siskel! 'Ringmaster' is an absolutely awful movie and no one should ever watch it but, if you decide to, it's streaming now on Amazon Prime. The movie? Awful. This episode? TRANSCENDENT! Sign up for the Patreon now and get an extra episode every week and MORE! for only $5 a month! http://www.Patreon.com/TheGoodsPod
“One of the biggest questions I have back home in the 10th District of Georgia is, ‘When are heads going to roll over all this corruption?'” says Rep. Jody Hice, a Republican. “People want justice.” Hice joins the podcast to discuss the new report released by the Justice Department’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz. He also discusses government spending and the impeachment process.
We also cover the following stories:
Michael Horowitz testifies on the Hill.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell talks about impeachment.
Time names climate change activist Greta Thunberg as its person of the year.
In the interview, Benjamin Wittes of the Brookings Institution and Lawfare is on the phone with Mike today to talk about Devin Nunes’ memo from 2017 in light of the recent Inspector General’s report. What did Nunes get right and wrong? And was it enough to let us stop calling him a nincompoop?
Newly revealed interviews show the misrepresentations and frustrations over a U.S.-led war in Afghanistan that went badly awry. John Glaser argues that one clear lesson is to stay skeptical of government justifications for war.
