Month: May 2023

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NBN Book of the Day - Carol Graham, “The Power of Hope: How the Science of Well-Being Can Save Us from Despair” (Princeton UP, 2023)

In a society marked by extreme inequality of income and opportunity, why should economists care about how people feel? The truth is that feelings of well-being are critical metrics that predict future life outcomes. In The Power of Hope: How the Science of Well-Being Can Save Us from Despair (Princeton UP, 2023), economist Carol Graham argues for the importance of hope--little studied in economics at present--as an independent dimension of well-being. Given America's current mental health crisis, thrown into stark relief by COVID, hope may be the most important measure of well-being, and researchers are tracking trends in hope as a key factor in understanding the rising numbers of "deaths of despair" and premature mortality.

Graham, an authority on the study of well-being, points to empirical evidence demonstrating that hope can improve people's life outcomes and that despair can destroy them. These findings, she argues, merit deeper exploration. Graham discusses the potential of novel well-being metrics as tracking indicators of despair, reports on new surveys of hope among low-income adolescents, and considers the implications of the results for the futures of these young adults.

Graham asks how and why the wealthiest country in the world has such despair. What are we missing? She argues that public policy problems--from joblessness and labor force dropout to the lack of affordable health care and inadequate public education--can't be solved without hope. Drawing on research in well-being and other disciplines, Graham describes strategies for restoring hope in populations where it has been lost. The need to address despair, and to restore hope, is critical to America's future.

Joe Tasca is a host and a reporter for the NPR affiliate in Providence, Rhode Island.

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What A Day - Make Turkey Free Again

Turkey’s presidential election is likely heading to a runoff on May 28th. Neither incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan – who’s been in power for two decades – nor his rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, have cleared the 50% threshold to win. The results will determine if Turkey, a NATO ally, will continue its autocratic backslide, or take a more democratic path.

Nearly two weeks after putting Jordan Neely in a fatal chokehold on a New York City subway train, Daniel Penny surrendered to police on Friday to face second-degree manslaughter charges. His arraignment came nearly two weeks after Neely’s death, which sparked protests over the treatment of people struggling with homelessness and mental illness.

And in headlines: Israel and Palestinian militants agreed to a ceasefire on Saturday, North Carolina’s Governor Roy Cooper publicly vetoed a 12-week abortion ban, and Brittney Griner hit the court for the first time since her release from Russian custody last year.

Show Notes:

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The Daily Signal - INTERVIEW | Is My Money Safe? Financial Expert Explains Recent Bank Failures, Questions Activity of JPMorgan Chase

Americans needn’t worry about the safety of their money at the bank, financial and investment expert David Bahnsen says.

Three large American banks have collapsed since the beginning of the year, but “there’s almost nothing in common at all with these three banks closing, relative to all the 2008 closings,” says Bahnsen, founder and chief investment officer of the wealth management company The Bahnsen Group. 

When banks fail, as they did in 2008, it’s usually because of “people not paying back something they owe,” Bahnsen says, adding that’s not the case with the recent bank failures. 

Bahnsen, whose company manages more than $4 billion in client assets, says Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank were “totally ill-prepared for the idea of interest rates flying higher, as they have.” 

Bahnsen joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to explain the effect the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate hikes have had on America’s banks and what it means for the financial health of the country. 

Bahnsen also explains why he, as a JPMorgan Chase shareholder, has proposed a resolution calling on the bank to investigate whether it is discriminating against clients because of their religious or political views. 


Relevant Links


Colorado Wants to Force Her To Create LGBTQ Wedding Websites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfk1q-EXNDE


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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Trump Is Back. Is the Media Ready?

Much of the media world looked on with a sinking feeling as Donald Trump held forth in a primetime CNN event. More than most candidates, Trump seems to feed off media attention. Journalists have a responsibility to cover the leading Republican presidential candidate—so how can they do it responsibly?


Guest: David Folkenflik, NPR’s media correspondent.


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Strict Scrutiny - You Can Crime If You Want To

Melissa, Kate, and Leah cover the gift that keeps on giving-- a.k.a. billionaire Harlan Crow, who can't seem to stop giving undisclosed gifts to Justice Clarence Thomas. They continue the discussion on the deluge of stories about questionable ethics at the Supreme Court following a report that said Leonard Leo arranged for Ginni Thomas to be paid tens of thousands of dollars for "consulting work". The cherry on top? Two recent Supreme Court opinions about political corruption and fraud. Finally, they are joined by John Mills, an attorney for Richard Glossip, who was sentenced to death for a crime for which there is powerful evidence he did not commit.

  • Listen to an interview with Justin Elliott, one of the ProPublica reporters who broke the news about Harlan Crow and Justice Thomas.
  • The hosts covered the arguments of the opinions for Percoco v. US and Ciminelli v. US in this episode.
  • In this episode, the hosts discussed the arguments for Santos-Zacaria v. Garland, another one of the opinions discussed.
  • This past episode discusses the arguments for National Pork Producers Council v. Ross, an opinion the hosts talk about this week.
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Opening Arguments - OA742: Twitter Can’t Violate the First Amendment, But Fox Can Definitely Defame a Gov’t Official

In light of Linda Yaccarino being named CEO of Twitter, Liz and Andrew break down Trumpworld's never-ending lawsuits against social media, and yet another defamation suit against Fox News, this one by Nina Jankowicz.

Happy Mother's Day!

For the Patreon bonus, we discuss beer, the Superbowl, and Rule 62.1 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, because of course we do.

Notes OA 551 https://openargs.com/oa551-trump-may-out-of-office-but-his-federal-judges-are-not/

Donato dismissal Trump v. Twitter https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.387133/gov.uscourts.cand.387133.165.0_6.pdf

Trump v. Twitter, Motion for Indicative Ruling https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.387133/gov.uscourts.cand.387133.191.0.pdf

FRCP 62.1 https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_62.1

Jankowicz federal docket https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67365497/jankowicz-v-fox-news-network-llc/

Jankowicz complaint https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23809394-jankowicz-v-fox-complaint

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Short Wave - Long COVID Scientists Try To Unravel Blood Clot Mystery

The COVID-19 public health emergency has ended, but millions across the globe continue to deal with Long COVID. Researchers are still pursuing basic questions about Long COVID — its causes, how to test for it and how it progresses. Today, we look at a group of researchers studying the blood of some Long COVID patients in the hopes of finding a biomarker that could let physicians test for the disease.

Questions? Thread of scientific research you're loving? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we'd love to hear about it!

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NPR's Book of the Day - In ‘The Covenant of Water,’ Abraham Verghese traces an Indian family’s drowning curse

The Covenant of Water follows three generations of a family in the coastal state of Kerala, India, where they're haunted by a devastating event, over and over: In every generation, someone in the family drowns. In today's episode, Dr. Abraham Verghese tells NPR's Ari Shapiro about the medical themes in the novel, and how his daytime occupation as a physician and professor at Stanford University informs his writing.
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It Could Happen Here - Right Wing Conspiracies and the Allen Shooting

Robert, Gare, and Mia talk about the right's embrace of conspiracy theories about the Allen Texas mass shooting and how they've become unmoored from reality.

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