Our final Snacks Daily pod before vacation — We return to the mics on Monday, August 17th (we’ll miss ya until then, Snackers). In the meantime, Disney’s earnings underline the pain COVID is inflicted on physical businesses. Take Two’s video games are benefiting from the elusive double sales wave. And Feather is trying to become the Rent The Runway of furniture.
$TTWO $DIS
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Schools in Oklahoma are preparing to reopen, but special education teacher Nancy Shively won’t be among the teachers going back to school. Shively, who has pre-existing medical conditions, has been forced to choose between her own health and the education of her students. She says President Trump’s response to the coronavirus has led her to question her support for him and the Republican Party.
Guest: Nancy Shively, a teacher from Skiatook, Oklahoma
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Gene therapy has helped a 9-year-old boy regain enough muscle strength to run. If successful in others, it could change the lives of thousands of children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. NPR's Jon Hamilton tells us about Conner and his family...and one of the scientists who helped develop the treatment, a pioneer in the field of gene therapy.
As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, American nuclear policy continues to be influenced by the legacies of the Cold War. Nuclear policies remain focused on easily identifiable threats, including China or Russia, and how the United States would respond in the event of a first strike against the homeland. In their new book, The Button: The New Nuclear Arms Race and Presidential Power from Truman to Trump (BenBella Books, 2020), Tom Z. Collina, Policy Director at Ploughshares Fund, and former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry argue that American nuclear policy overemphasizes the first-strike threat, while ignoring other, more likely nuclear scenarios. The Button outlines the hazards in current American nuclear policy and argues for realistic improvements in nuclear defense policy and processes.
Collina and Perry identify two main problems of American nuclear defense policy. First, American policy incorrectly focuses on a first strike by China or Russia as the major threat. The two authors refute this and describe such a scenario as unlikely because China and Russia know that any nuclear attack by them will be met with retaliation from the United States. A nuclear attack and response would undoubtedly cripple both sides and provide little if any benefit to anyone. The second problem defined in The Button is that in the United States, since the advent of nuclear weapons, has placed sole authority to use the weapons in this first-strike capacity in the hands of the president and the president alone. This process and structure continue to be based in a holdover of Cold War mentality and have always been at odds with the constitutional requirements around war declarations. Drawing on historical examples and Secretary Perry’s own experiences in a number of positions within the national security structure in the United States, The Button describes instances of false alarms, moments where presidents had faulty intelligence, and times when presidents were not necessarily thinking clearly. In each of these examples, the president could mistakenly or accidently launch a nuclear attack and set off World War III.
Recognizing these gaps in nuclear defense policy, Collina and Perry recommend a number of changes that start with changing the thrust of the policy itself and moving away from the first-strike capability. Instead, they advocate for policy that is more clearly focused on cyber attacks, noting that in the 21st century, cyber warfare is a more clear and present threat than is nuclear war. Additionally, Collina and Perry argue that the president should not have sole authority over the capacity to launch the U.S. nuclear arsenal. While there have been recent congressional hearings on this dimension of American national security, The Button sketches out how various approaches that will maintain national security while also minimizing the potential for accidental use of nuclear weapons. Collina and Perry advocate for a rethinking of the structure of nuclear defense policy in the United States and for installing greater protections against nuclear war.
The Minneapolis City Council voted to disband the Minneapolis Police Department over a month ago, but achieving that goal requires getting a ballot initiative in front of residents. We discuss that effort and more with Oluchi Omeoga, a co-creator of Black Visions Collective.
And in headlines: a deadly explosion in Beirut, the census is ending early, and a whole lot of new Miami Marlins.
Listen in as Andy and former Presidential candidate Andrew Yang have a candid conversation about how to support Americans in the short term with the pandemic and, in the long term, through the fall-out. With more societal changes than we’ve seen in our lifetime piling up every day, Andrew’s signature policy of a universal basic income has never been more relevant, nor has Andy’s signature commitment to universal health care. This is one of those conversations where you get to eavesdrop on how policies, movements, and political efforts are formulated.
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Three L.A. comedians are quarantined in a podcast studio during a global pandemic. There is literally nothing to be done EXCEPT make content. These are "The Corona Diaries" and this is Episode #64. Our guest today is comedian Stuart Thompson! Y'all should check out Stuart's new album on Radland Records, 'Dandyman'! Follow Stuart on all forms of social media @StuartBThompson. Music is "It's Goin' Down" by Yung Joc.
Climate activists continue to sound the alarm over carbon dioxide emissions and climate change. Caleb Rossiter, the executive director of CO2 Coalition, an organization of climate scientists and experts who research and report the facts of climate change, joins the show to explain just how worried we really should or should not be about the planet's warming.
Rossiter also explains “a long campaign to … cancel climate voices in the mainstream media,” including his own.
The New York City health commissioner has left her job, reportedly over New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s handling of the coronavirus.
The Trump administration announced Tuesday that the Justice Department is giving $35 million in grant money to help survivors of human trafficking.
Ariana Pekary resigned from her position as a producer at MSNBC and has released an open letter describing mainstream cable news networks as a "cancer.”
This week, we’re teaming up with the podcast Proof from America’s Test Kitchen to bring you an Oreo story with three delicious parts. First, the longstanding rivalry between two biscuit makers that gave birth to the world’s favorite cookie. Then, one little girl’s brave choice (risking divine punishment!) to taste the famous creme filling. And finally, a full-scale investigation into who really invented that creme filling — and how one “Mr. Oreo” got all the glory.
