An artificial-intelligence tool assisted in the making of this episode by creating summaries that were based on Wall Street Journal reporting and reviewed and adapted by an editor.
Plus: Tesla shares closed up 3% after reports that it might merge with SpaceX. And Charter Communications reports gains in mobile and video subscribers. Julie Chang hosts.
In the wake of the massive winter storm, the power is still out in some places, trees are down, and the death toll continues to rise. And where is FEMA? Don’t pester Trump about it because he is very busy going after political opponents like Don Lemon, re-litigating once again his 2020 loss in Georgia, and keeping up his terror campaign in Minnesota in hopes of invoking the Insurrection Act. Plus, he’s got a side hustle orchestrating the payment of $10 billion in taxpayer money to him and his family. Meanwhile, there’s a pretty stinky smell of corruption around the new Fed chair pick, Lindsey Graham wants in on the grift, and where are all the bros who just had to vote for Trump because of Biden’s supposed reign of cancel culture?
Michael Steele joins Tim Miller for the weekend pod.
CrowdScience listener Namrata and presenter Chhavi Sachdev have something in common. They both get more tanned in the summer in the United States than back home in India. Namrata wants to know why she came back from her run in Boston with such a deep tan and doesn’t have the same experience in India. She’s got quite a few theories herself and wonders if it’s to do with the angle of the sun, pollution or humidity.
Chhavi talks to dermatologist Neelam Vashi, who’s based in Boston, to find out how we tan and what protects us from the sun.
She meets Julian Groebner at the World Radiation Centre in Switzerland who compares the data in India and the United States for CrowdScience and comes up with a surprising answer.
She also talks to Indians in Mumbai who share their attitudes to tanning and what steps they take to protect themselves from the heat of the sun.
Presenter Chhavi Sachdev
Producer Jo Glanville
Editor Ben Motley
(Photo: Woman sunbathing on sun lounger by swimming pool - stock photo Credit: IndiaPix/IndiaPicture via Getty Images)
A man rushed towards Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar during an event in her home state on Tuesday, spraying the congresswoman with a liquid authorities later identified as vinegar. President Donald Trump told reporters later that evening he thought there was a chance that Omar had staged the attack herself as a stunt.
And more acts are pulling out of scheduled performances at the Kennedy Center. Composer Phillip Glass announced his decision to not debut a symphony he wrote in honor of Abraham Lincoln written for the Center’s 50th anniversary.
Chicago City Council advances plan to strengthen enforcement of the Welcoming City Ordinance. THC drinks have come to the United Center. A Congressional Budget Office report shows $21 million was spent on deploying the National Guard to Chicago for “Operation Midway Blitz”.In the Loop breaks down those stories and more with Fox 32’s Paris Schutz, WBEZ’s Dan Mihalopoulos and Carrie Shepherd of AXIOS Chicago.
For a full archive of In the Loop interviews, head over to wbez.org/intheloop.
Xenobe Purvis’s slim but powerful debut novel, “The Hounding,” opens with a jolt: “The girls, the infernal heat, a fresh-dead body. Marching up the river path, the villagers.”
How did we get here, with five young sisters living in 1700s England being hunted by an angry mob that suspects them not only of murder but also of the demonic ability to transform themselves into a pack of wild dogs? That is the tale “The Hounding” unfolds, in a gothic parable about male ego, cultural misogyny and the dangers of gossip run amok.
On this week’s episode, host MJ Franklin discusses “The Hounding” with his fellow Book Review editors Joumana Khatib, Emily Eakin and Gregory Cowles.
Other books and works mentioned in this podcast:
“The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson
“The Sound of Music,” directed by Robert Wise
“The Testament of Yves Gundron,” by Emily Barton
“The Scarlet Letter,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
“Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch,” by Rivka Galchen
“Delicate Edible Birds,” by Lauren Groff
“Paradise,” by Toni Morrison
The podcast “Normal Gossip”
“You Didn’t Hear This From Me,” by Kelsey McKinney
In the wake of the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti during Trump’s immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota, the closest thing to “accountability” we’ve seen is Border Patrol’s Gregory Bovino being sent back to California. It’s not enough but it’s something.
Guest: Rob Gunther, What Next senior producer.
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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.