Emissions have plummeted as the pandemic slowed the world. It could be a mere blip—but it is an unprecedented opportunity for a greener, more sustainable economy. Serving in America’s armed forces is a long-established path to citizenship, but that path is narrowing. And we ask how sport will emerge from the pandemic, even if the stands stay empty. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/radiooffer
Kate and Leah recap the other big argument from the May sitting they didn’t get a chance to last time -- the faithless (or is it Hamiltonian? Or defecting? Or mavericky?) electors cases. They also discuss some findings about the Court’s telephonic arguments and the BIG (aka not so big) opinions the Court has recently released.
Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!
The classics have never been solely the preserve of the British intellectual elite, according to the classicist Edith Hall. In A People’s History of Classics, Hall and her co-writer Henry Stead examine the working class experience of classical culture from the Bill of Rights in 1689 to the outbreak of World War II. This history challenges assumptions about the elitism surrounding the study of ancient Greeks and Romans, and Hall hopes it will expand the debate around the future of classical education for all.
An understanding of the classics could also help people reinvigorate cynicism: from the jaded negativity of today, back to its initial idea of fearless speech. In his latest book, Ansgar Allen, returns to the Greek Cynics of the 4th century BCE, a small band of eccentrics who practised an improvised philosophy that challenged all social norms and scandalised their contemporaries. In the centuries that followed this exacting philosophy was hugely watered down. Today’s cynics, who lack social and political convictions, would be barely recognisable to their bold and shameless forefathers.
The classics have never been solely the preserve of the British intellectual elite, according to the classicist Edith Hall. In A People’s History of Classics, Hall and her co-writer Henry Stead examine the working class experience of classical culture from the Bill of Rights in 1689 to the outbreak of World War II. This history challenges assumptions about the elitism surrounding the study of ancient Greeks and Romans, and Hall hopes it will expand the debate around the future of classical education for all.
An understanding of the classics could also help people reinvigorate cynicism: from the jaded negativity of today, back to its initial idea of fearless speech. In his latest book, Ansgar Allen, returns to the Greek Cynics of the 4th century BCE, a small band of eccentrics who practised an improvised philosophy that challenged all social norms and scandalised their contemporaries. In the centuries that followed this exacting philosophy was hugely watered down. Today’s cynics, who lack social and political convictions, would be barely recognisable to their bold and shameless forefathers.
From NPR's Embedded: The workers who produce pork, chicken, and beef in plants around the country have been deemed "essential" by the government and their employers. Now, the factories where they work have become some of the largest clusters for the coronavirus in the country. The workers, many of whom are immigrants, say their bosses have not done enough to protect them.
Regular episodes return tomorrow.
This episode was recorded and published as part of this podcast's former 'Coronavirus Daily' format.
This Memorial Day, Andy speaks with veteran and politician, Jason Kander. Jason has long been candid about his experiences with PTSD but also how post-traumatic growth is possible. He and Andy talk about challenging assumptions about what’s appropriate to feel, accepting help, and how COVID-19 has been so traumatizing for people. They also discuss voter suppression and the importance of making sure everyone has a voice in American politics.
Keep up with Andy on Twitter @ASlavitt and Instagram @andyslavitt, and find Jason at @JasonKander on Twitter and @jasonkander on Instagram.
In the Bubble is supported in part by listeners like you. You can become a member, get exclusive bonus content, ask Andy questions, and get discounted merch at https://www.lemonadamedia.com/inthebubble/
Check out our fantastic show sponsor this week! Teladoc provides access to certified doctors from the comfort and safety of home. Register now at https://www.teladoc.com/
Here are some other important resources from today’s show:
Learn more about protecting voting rights and support the work of Let America Vote here: www.letamericavote.org
We hope you want to listen to In the Bubble with your family, or talk to them after you listen about what you’ve heard. We want families to be able to discuss this content across the generations, and we are producing it with that in mind. To that end, we’re going to start to offer a discussion prompt based on one central theme from each new episode, broken down with developmentally appropriate age bands to keep the conversation going.
Discussion Prompt: Be Open To Talking
Jason Kander says in today’s episode, “everybody's going through this right now together and it's difficult in a lot of different ways. But you’ve just got to be really open to talking to the people in your lives about it, because you can make a big difference in their life just by talking to them about it.”
For children under 5: What is the hardest thing about our new routines for you?
For children 5-12: It’s important to talk openly about things, especially when they are hard. What is the hardest thing for you about how things have changed since early March when schools closed?
For youth 12-18: Have you talked with any friends about the hardest parts of this new reality? What do your friends say is hardest? What is hardest for you? Sometimes talking openly with people about really hard things can help you and them process them better.
For the 18+ crowd: What’s a particularly challenging change for you over these last couple months, maybe even something you are working through that you are reluctant to talk about, because it’s naturally hard to talk about such things?
At the beginning of the 20th Century, a global public health crisis hit Chicago—a widespread outbreak of tuberculosis. The highly contagious respiratory disease spread easily from person to person and attacked the lungs. Without a vaccine or a cure, doctors attempted to treat positive cases with sunshine, fresh air and by quarantining the sick away from the general public. Chicagoans who couldn’t afford to go to a private facility were sent to the Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium in Peterson Park, which back then was at the edge of the city.
At the age of 12, Lillie Campbell was taken away from her family and quarantined at the MTS, where she remained for three years in the 1950s. She’s now 74, and she says that experience stayed with her and even inspired her to go into the medical field.
While some Chicagoans are showing signs of quarantine fatigue after just two months under the Illinois stay-at-home order, Campbell recounts what it was like to live through the TB outbreak and how it has prepared her for the pandemic the world is living through today.
What follows is an edited transcript of Campbell’s recent interview with Curious City.
How did you find out you had TB?
It was a very ‘hush hush’ disease—you didn't talk about it if you had it. You were considered very lowly, very unclean, like you were dirty. I think my teacher was one of the first people to begin to notice [I was sick] and they didn't let me go back to school. The thing I do remember most was the doctor who treated me, and he said to my mother, ‘I've seen this before.’
My mother was just heartbroken. She didn't cry, but she was very visibly shaken. [The doctor] let me spend one last night with my mother and my brothers and sisters. He explained to her that the whole family would have to be tested.
She had to bring me to [the sanitarium] that next morning. We didn't talk the whole way. There was really nothing much to say.
What was it like to be in quarantine at the MTS?
I was there from when I was 12 until I was 15. I was isolated. You couldn't go outside. Your nurses were afraid of you. They were very kind to me as long as my mother was standing there, but the moment she left, all hell broke loose. And we had to learn quickly—you're on your own. And I had to realize that it's either do or die.
You had to get cards that had certain color codes—like everybody strived to get a green one [because] that meant you could go outside. You could not socialize with other people, other children, so you grew up very fast.
What kept you going?
You know, I’ll never forget that my dad--he sent me a poem. It was called “If” by Ruyard Kipling. And he wrote it out by hand and I'll never forget it. And it stuck with me.
Lines like:
If you can meet with triumph and disasters and treat those imposters just the same.
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting...or in being hated don’t give way to hating.
The whole thing was just encouraging, just the fact that he said don't hate someone because they hate you, to take a disaster and make it the best that you can. The whole thing spoke to me because I needed encouragement. I needed to know that what I was going through wasn't the end of me and I had to faith in what my parents had given me and have faith in God and to hold on. And I got through. So that part to me was crucial.
Given your experience, what advice do you have for people?
We're acting like we're in a barbaric age. We're mad. We want to blame the mayors and the governors. We want to stand at city halls with guns.
You need to learn to sit quietly [and] just do what you need to do. This isn't gonna last forever. It's gonna get better. If you sit back and say, ‘OK. I'm in this. I don't like it, but it's gonna be okay. I just gotta hold on. I'm almost at the door ... And after a while, we'll be OK.’
This isn't just the United States’ problem—this is the world's problem. Wherever it came from, whoever started it ... it doesn't matter. What we have to do—and I firmly believe this—is to help each other ... But that's not what's happening. It's every man for himself. People saying, ‘well, I want to go outside. I'm tired of being cooped up. And then I want to go to work.’ So then when your child gets sick or your grandmother or your sister or brother, then, what are you going to do? There is no quick fix for this ... But the bottom line is, yes, we should quarantine. We should understand that this is not something [officials are] trying to take from you ... [they’re] trying to keep you from getting something. We’ve just got to be patient.
But we'll never be the same. You're never the same after a terrible illness or a problem or a hurt or loss. You're never the same and you're not supposed to be the same. That's the point ... But it's all in how you allow it to change you.
The question that inspired this interview:
Curious City question asker Laurie Nayder was strolling through Peterson Park on the Northwest Side with a friend when they ran into a park staffer. The staffer took them on a tour around the park fieldhouse and shared that the building and grounds had once been home to the state’s largest tuberculosis sanitarium. Nayder wanted to know more about what went on inside the buildings still standing in the park today, so she asked Curious City about the history of the Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium. We answered her question in this piece from 2018, based on the historical record and remembrances of several former patients, including Lillie Campbell.
Monica Eng is a WBEZ reporter. Contact her at meng@wbez.org.
-Kids' questions are answered by pediatric nurse practitioner Suzannah Stivison from the Capitol Medical Group in Washington, D.C., and Dr. Wanjiku Njoroge, medical director for the Young Child Clinic at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
On May 18, 2020, the Supreme Court held by a vote of 8-0 that Plaintiffs in a suit against a foreign state for personal injury or death caused by acts of terrorism under 28 U. S. C. § 1605A(c) may seek punitive damages for pre-enactment conduct. Following the 1998 al Qaeda bombing of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, victims and their families brought suit against the Republic of Sudan, alleging that it had assisted al Qaeda in carrying out the attacks. In doing so, plaintiffs invoked a terrorism exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA)--but there was uncertainty as to whether, even in the absence of an immunity bar, Congress had provided a federal cause of action for claimants such as plaintiffs. In 2008, however, Congress amended FSIA to provide an express cause of action and directed that claims such as plaintiffs’ be treated “as if ” they had been originally filed under the new cause of action. Congress also made punitive damages available under the new cause of action and authorized the filing of new claims that arose out of the same incident as earlier claims. Plaintiffs amended their complaint accordingly and, following a bench trial, obtained a multi-billion dollar damages award, including more than $4 billion in punitive damages. Sudan challenged the punitive damages award on appeal, arguing that Congress had not expressly authorized punitive damages based on conduct that predated its 2008 legislation. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit agreed, but the Supreme Court subsequently granted certiorari to consider whether, consistent with its decision in Republic of Austria v. Altmann, 541 U.S. 677 (2004), FSIA applies retroactively, thereby permitting recovery of punitive damages under 28 U.S.C. § 1605A(c) against foreign states for terrorist activities occurring prior to the passage of the current version of the statute. By a vote of 8-0, the case was vacated and remanded, in an opinion by Justice Gorsuch on May 18, 2020. Justice Kavanaugh took no part in the consideration or decision of this case. To discuss the case, we have Roger Alford, Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame
As always, the Federalist Society takes no particular legal or public policy positions. All opinions expressed are those of the speakers.
