More or Less: Behind the Stats - HS2 and electric cars, UK vs China emissions & massive maths errors

Can you really buy an electric car for everybody in the UK for the cost of HS2? That claim was recently made on Radio 4's Broadcasting House programme. Also we look at a viral claim that 1 in 73 people who received the Covid vaccine in England was dead by May 2022. Plus we look at the size of the UK's carbon emissions when compared with China and talk about how a recent More or Less maths error pales in comparison to one in the Guardian.

Presenter: Tim Harford Series Producer: Jon Bithrey Reporters: Nathan Gower, Natasha Fernandes Production Co-ordinator: Janet Staples Editor: Richard Vadon

NBN Book of the Day - Mikkel Dack, “Everyday Denazification in Postwar Germany: The Fragebogen Questionnaire and Political Screening During the Allied Occupation” (Cambridge UP, 2023)

In the wake of the Second World War, the victorious Allied armies implemented a radical program to purge Nazism from Germany and preserve peace in Europe. Between 1945 and 1949, twenty million political questionnaires, or Fragebögen, were distributed by American, British, French, and Soviet armies to anxious Germans in positions of influence who had to prove their non-Nazi status to gain employment. Drafted by idealistic university professors and social scientists, these surveys came to define much of the denazification experience and were immensely consequential to the material and emotional recovery of Germans. In Everyday Denazification in Postwar Germany: The Fragebogen Questionnaire and Political Screening During the Allied Occupation (Cambridge University Press, 2023), Mikkel Dack draws the curtain to reveal what denazification looked like on the ground and in practice and how the highly criticized vetting program impacted the lives of individual Germans and their families as they recovered from dictatorship and war. Accessing recently declassified documents, this book challenges traditional interpretations by recounting a more comprehensive history of denazification, one of mid-level planners, civil affairs soldiers, and regular German citizens. The Fragebogen functions as a window into this everyday history.

Mikkel Dack is Assistant Professor of History at Rowan University and Director of Research at the Rowan Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights.

Caleb Zakarin is the Assistant Editor of the New Books Network.

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The NewsWorthy - Idalia Strengthens, Fake Online Accounts & Oscar-Worthy Debuts? – Wednesday, August 30, 2023

The news to know for Wednesday, August 30, 2023!

We're telling you about Hurricane Idalia's strength and potential impact on Florida's coast in what the National Weather Service has called an unprecedented event.

Also, we'll explain the new rules coming for Medicare that are expected to lower drug prices.

Plus, how the FBI helped bring down one of the most destructive cybercriminal tools in history, why blue-collar workers are seeing their paychecks grow faster than white-collar workers, and which sport just got a new professional league.

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What A Day - Only Fun Drugs Should Cost Money

The Biden administration on Tuesday shared the first ten prescription drugs that it has chosen for price negotiations through Medicare. The Biden administration will try to lower Medicare prices for the drugs by negotiating with their respective manufacturers to ease the burden of their otherwise exorbitant costs.

Former employees at Twitter – a.k.a. X – have filed thousands of arbitration complaints against the company in an effort to get the severance pay that they were promised. To date, more than 2,200 cases are backed up in the JAMS arbitration system, and the fees X is on the hook for could amount to about $3.5 million.

And in headlines: the Biden Administration weakened regulations protecting millions of acres of wetlands, Republican lawmakers in Tennessee voted to temporarily censure Representative Justin Jones, and Boston officially dropped gendered language from marriage certificates.

Show Notes:

The Daily Signal - Professor Explains Why Founding Fathers ‘Deliberately Made Congress Weak,’ Series Pt. 1

The Founding Fathers feared the power of the legislative branch from its inception in the late 1700s. They did not want to trade one tyrant for a group of tyrants, one professor tells "The Daily Signal Podcast," so they “deliberately made Congress weak by dividing it up into these two bodies,” the House and the Senate. 



According to Joseph Postell, Hillsdale College associate professor of politics and Heritage Foundation visiting fellow, the Founders wanted the House and Senate to “fight amongst each other” because this would create a check on power. And fight they did. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.)



“The early politicians were really committed to their principles and were willing to fight over them,” Postell said, adding that "Duels were very common.”



Postell joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" for Part One of a three-part series on how Congress really works. He discusses the history of Congress and what the Founding Fathers would say about what the legislative branch has become today. 



Enjoy the show!


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Slate Books - ICYMI: BookTok’s Horny Hockey Drama and the End of Internet Thirst

As an end of summer treat, Rachelle Hampton and Candice Lim dive deep into the drama that engulfed BookTok earlier this August. Over the spring and early summer, hockey-themed romance novels enjoyed a rise in the BookTok charts, a rise that led to an influx of new fans into the hockey community. One team in particular, the Seattle Krakens, became the unofficial team of BookTok, with Swedish player Alex Wennberg receiving special attention. Sexualized commentary by content creators like Kierra Lewis was both tacitly and overtly encouraged by the Kraken, who flew Lewis out to games.

All of this changed when Wennberg’s wife asked fans to stop posting sexualized content about her husband, a request that sent HockeyTok into a tailspin. So, what does this all mean in an era where loud and overt female desire is not only celebrated but monetized? Is there a difference between thirsting loudly for celebrities like Chris Evans and minor stars like Wennberg? And has internet thirst perhaps gone too far?

This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton.

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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Best of 2023 | What Texas’ Attacks on Trans Healthcare Did to One Family

As the What Next team catches its breath at the end of summer, we’re revisiting some of the biggest stories of the year. This story originally ran on Nov. 9, 2022. What Next will resume regular programming next week.


As Texas laws have become more discriminatory against trans individuals and their families, many wonder if they can even stay in the Lone Star State, especially when parents could be investigated as child abusers for providing healthcare to their children. This family made the difficult decision to move to Colorado. 


Guests:

Katie Laird, social justice blogger.

Noah Laird, high school student.


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Opening Arguments - OA800: Mark Meadows Forfeits The Fifth; Will He Soon Flip on Trump?? (feat. Mitchell Epner)

It's our 800th Episode!

Surprisingly, Mark Meadows testified at his removal hearing in Georgia, which means that he has likely waived his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. To understand what happened and why, Liz and Andrew welcome back friend of the show Mitchell Epner. Could this mean that Meadows will flip on Trump -- and if so, when?? Listen and find out!

Notes GA v. Meadows federal docket https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67694389/the-state-of-georgia-v-meadows/

Judge Jones order re: supplemental briefing in Meadows https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.gand.319225/

Meadows emergency motion for removal https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.gand.319225/gov.uscourts.gand.319225.17.0_1.pdf

Meadows motion to dismiss on supremacy clause grounds https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.gand.319225/gov.uscourts.gand.319225.16.1.pdf

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