We'll tell you about ongoing relief efforts in Turkey and Syria in the aftermath of what's become one of the deadliest earthquakes in a century.
Also, the problem at the southern border might be moving to the northern border.
Plus, what to know about the latest virus outbreaks, which late-night talk show is ending for good, and how much Americans are expected to wager this Super Bowl Sunday.
Those stories and more news to know in around 10 minutes!
U.S. officials revealed a week ago, on Feb. 2, that a Chinese surveillance balloon was flying over the country. Two days later, on Feb. 4, an American fighter jet shot down the spy balloon with a missile.
Chris Miller, acting defense secretary under President Donald Trump, weighs in on the Biden administration’s decision to shoot down China’s balloon and whether he would have handled the situation differently.
“That goes back to when was it identified and when did our sensors pick up that,” Miller says of the spy balloon on “The Daily Signal Podcast,” adding: “I was a bad map reader, and people that worked with me in the military will attest to that. But I did look at the track of the balloon, and when it came over the Aleutian Islands [off Alaska], there was a lot of blue space.”
“There was a lot of doggone ocean where something could have been done,” he says. “I’ve heard that whole [Biden administration] justification: ‘Well, we didn’t want to knock it down because it would’ve fallen on somebody. Could have injured somebody or killed somebody.’ I mean, that’s a valid request.”
Miller adds:
Let me give you this one, Samantha: You spent a trillion dollars, $850 billion, [on] defense and we did not have the capability to take control of that doggone balloon and bring it down on our own terms without having to send up a hundred-million-dollar fighter aircraft to shoot a $400,000 Sidewinder missile?
On the podcast, Miller discusses some of Biden’s comments on China during his State of the Union address Tuesday night, his thoughts on how the Biden administration responded to the Chinese spy balloon, and his new book “Soldier Secretary: Warnings from the Battlefield and the Pentagon About America’s Most Dangerous Enemies.”
Paris Marx is joined by Edward Niedermeyer to discuss the rollercoaster ride of Tesla’s share price, the escalating regulatory and legal scrutiny the company faces, and the challenges it faces in the electric car market.
Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.
The podcast for people tired of tuning into bad news is back with a fourth season and brand new ways to interpret the word “citizen” as a verb! This season we’re asking, how can the practice of “citizening,” in ways big and small, create a dope culture of democracy?
We’re getting practical, sharing things you can try in your community, in your workplace, in your home, and within yourself. To help us, we’ll hear from people like adrienne maree brown, Steve Kerr, Priya Parker, Nsé Ufot, and you! Our guests and live audience will help us find inspiration in everything from sports and birthday parties to climate action and web3.
Cause we need to prioritize the culture we create around our democracy as much as the systems that make it function!
SHOW NOTES
Find How To Citizen on Instagram or visit howtocitizen.com to join our mailing list and find ways to citizen besides listening to this podcast!
Please show your support for the show by reviewing and rating. It makes a huge difference with the algorithmic overlords and helps others like you find the show!
How To Citizen is hosted by Baratunde Thurston. He’s also host and executive producer of the PBS series, America Outdoors as well as a founding partner and writer at Puck. You can find him all over the internet.
CREDITS
How To Citizen with Baratunde is a production of iHeartRadio Podcasts and Rowhome Productions. Our Executive Producers are Baratunde Thurston and Elizabeth Stewart. Allie Graham is our Lead Producer and Danya AbdelHameid is our Associate Producer. Alex Lewis is our Managing Producer. John Myers is our Executive Editor. Original Music by Andrew Eapen and Blue Dot Sessions. Jasmine Lewis and Gabby Rodriguez are our Audience Engagement Fellows. Special thanks to Joelle Smith from iHeartRadio and Layla Bina.
Governor Ron DeSantis canceling the rollout of AP African-American Studies course in Florida is more than just another salvo in the culture war. It has implications across public education, across the country—and its chilling effect is already evident.
Guests: Jeremy Young, historian and Senior Manager of Free Expression and Education at PEN America.
Chyna-Lee Hunter, a 12th grade student at Robert Morgan Educational Center in Miami, Fla.
If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Amicus—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.
Make an impact this Black History Month by helping Macy’s on their mission to fund UNCF scholarships for HBCU students. Go to macys.com/purpose to learn more.
Today, Liz and Andrew have two stories for us, each touching on executive privilege.
We begin with a quick fun Liz story where what comes around, goes around, particularly in Georgia.
Then, for the first main story, Liz gives us a detailed update in the E. Jean Carroll litigation, where Trump has finally replaced Alina Habba with an actual lawyer. How's that going to go for him? Hint: probably still not great.
After that, Andrew picks up a story involving the January 6th Committee, the New York Times, Politico, Judge Beryl A. Howell, executive privilege, and the world's longest minute order. It's a deep dive and a breaking news story all in one!
One of the most important tools the federal government has for cracking down on greenhouse gas emissions is a single number: the social cost of carbon. It represents all the damage from carbon emissions — everything from the cost of lost crops and flooded homes to the lost wages when people can't safely work outside and the cost of climate-related deaths. Currently, the cost is $51 per ton of carbon, but the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed raising the cost to $190.
NPR climate correspondent Rebecca Hersher tells Aaron how the change could dramatically alter how the government confronts climate change, and why the new number is simultaneously more accurate and an ethics nightmare.
The World And All That It Holds starts off in Sarajevo, in 1914, when shots ring out and World War I begins. It changes the course of protagonist Rafael Pinto's life, as he goes on to travel across time and conflict to find a twin flame in another Bosnian soldier named Osman. In today's episode, author Aleksandar Hemon paints a poetic backdrop for his striking new novel. He tells NPR's Scott Simon about the concept of macaronic language, a bilingual mix of ways to communicate, and how Pinto and his partner build their own unique dialect to express their love for one another.
From riots against neo-Nazis in the rustbelt, to armed defense of mutual aid programs in post-Katrina New Orleans, to mass mobilizations of tens of thousands against the Alt-Right, on today's show, as the It's Going Down crew once again takes over It Could Happen Here, we look at how, far from being just confined to a small set of antifa-supersoldiers, mass community self-defense is part and parcel to the DNA of grassroots movements for liberation in the so-called US.
Featuring Interviews with Spencer Sunhine (@transform6789) and Suncere Ali Shakur.
Take a look in any supermarket ice cream freezer section and you may see a mystery. There are big containers of the typical ice cream brands: Breyers, Turkey Hill, and Edy's. And there are specialty brands that make gelato, low-fat and vegan ice creams. And then there are the fancy pints: which is mostly Ben & Jerry's and Häagen-Dazs.
Häagen-Dazs has flavors like vanilla, chocolate, pistachio—the sort of flavors that run smooth. And then Ben & Jerry's specializes in chunky flavors: Cherry Garcia, The Tonight Dough, Chunky Monkey, etc. The two hardly ever cross into the other's turf. Why?
It's possible they are experiencing something common to natural competition—they are specializing in what works best for them. But, as Christopher Sullivan of the University of Wisconsin-Madison suspects, the two companies may be engaging in what is known as "tacit collusion," where two parties silently agree to... stick to their own territory.
We try to get to the creamy core of what makes up a conspiracy, and how the consumer eventually loses out in this cold, cold war.
Today's episode was produced by Willa Rubin and Alyssa Jeong Perry. It was engineered by Josh Newell and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. It was edited by Jess Jiang.
