Here And There With Dave Marash

Sofia Martinez of KUNM and The Nation, where she wrote about the plight of the Trinty Test downwinders of the Tularosa Basin and the attempts to renew and reform the Radiation Exposures Compensation Act to include them.

Mark Ludwig, violist emeritus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and author of the new book Our Will to Live, about the remarkable musical life in the Nazi concentration camp of Terezin (Theresienstadt.)

Megan Kate Nelson, historian and author of Saving Yellowstone, about the exploration of the Yellowstone Basin, its conversion into a National Park, and how this fits into the historical context of the Reconstruction era. 

Catherine Rhodes, Assistant Professor of Ethnology at UNM and co-author of the new book Migration Narratives -- talking about how 2 generations of Mexican immigrants have transformed a small city in the Mid-Atlantic states.

The coronavirus crisis produced the opportunity to create miracle vaccines. So much for the good news. The bad news is, the vaccine-makers are breaking the bank over-charging the world. Just one offense cited in John Nichols's new book Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic Profiteers. Politicians and corporate chiefs make villainy and greed a public-private partnership.

Vladimir Putin is threatening to use nuclear weapons because of "aggressive language" by opponents of his invasion of Ukraine. Sticks and stones may break his bones, but harsh words have Putin brandishing nuclear threats. He's done this before, but never during actual war-time. Nuclear weapons expert Joseph Cirincione of the Quincy Institute on what Putin's threat really means. Does the concept of nuclear arms control have a future now?

A big reason the Russian invasion of Ukraine is going so slowly is that almost all Ukrainians know exactly how bad life can be under Russian domination. They know this because of family and neighborly ties, and because of Ukraine's lively news ecosystem.  Gulnoza Said of The Committee to Protect Journalists on how reporters in Ukraine are working under siege and how reporters in Russia are under attack by their own government.

Something new under the sun...the American use of declassified intelligence to predict or pre-empt Russian aggression against Ukraine. The wide public release of when, where and how the Russians planned to attack didn't stop them, but it did help unify the Western response, rejecting President Putin's war. Shane Harris of the Washington Post says so far there's been no pushback from inside the US intel community, but the accuracy of the predictions has undoubtedly rebuilt some confidence in the global credibility of the United States. 

You might think the flat earth obsession was old hat, knocked into anachronism by a world in which so many people flown around the world in planes, but has more adherents today than ever before.  Kelly Weill's new book Off the Edge looks at the history of the Flat Earth movement and the other conspiracy theories it might have helped to flourish. In a world that rejects facts, every lost argument becomes confirmation for the believers, many of whom pray at the church of YouTube. 

 The recently-completed 30-day session of the New Mexico Legislature produced relatively few bills and more than a few surprises, but Andy Lyman of the NM Political Report and KSFR FM news says, the biggest impact may be what got in and what got left out of a record breaking $8.48 billion budget. Good news for teachers and police officers.

Kleptocracy, crime organized by a state to benefit its leaders and his or her friends and family, is a global phenomenon, but few kleptocracies can match the series of ripoffs of the citizens of the DRC, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. John Dell'Osso, senior investigator for The Sentinal, led a team probing how billions of dollars were misspent. Up to $15 billion had been stolen by President Mobuto Sese Seko before he was run out of the country. But what came next was more of the same.

When the lockdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic hit the supply chain for food, customers who wanted organic, home-grown vegetables in Los Angeles had a problem. Dean Kuipers of The Nation wrote about how he and his wife tried to create a solution.  It wasn't easy, but he says, it worked. And not just for the green-hungry customers, but for the farmers at the front end of the supply chain.  And when the lockdowns started to unlock..solutions had to be reconsidered.

The billions of dollars in Federal money from the bi-partisan infrastructure bill passed last November are about to be released.  The 3 guiding principles seem to be -- get it out fast, use it most effectively and distribute it most equitably. Worthy goals, but John C. Austin of the University of Michigan and the Brookings Institution says there are conflicts to solve first. Efficient use of the money may direct it to communities that need it least. 

When the Obama Administration offered incentives for states to expand their coverage of Medicaid. Both Louisiana and Mississippi were among the Republican-governed states that said no. Then Louisiana elected a Democratic governor and changed its mind. April Simpson of the Center for Public Integrity on the differences that made. To illustrate, Simpson went to a pair of rural, Black-majority counties on opposite banks of the Mississippi River. 

 Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin give each other figurative gold medals at the Winter Olympics and a big lump of coal to the United States and President Biden.  Are their beefs legit, or just cover for dreams of ever-expanding Chinese and Russian power and influence. Rajan Menon of the City University of New York has been thinking and writing about what Washington should do. Interesting answers about important questions.

Oil spills across the world, increasing global warming is it spreads, but Chris McGreal of The Guardian and The Nation reports, ExxonMobil says legal actions against the company should stop at the Texas State Line. If you can't gaslight the legal system, their strategy suggests, at least you can forestall the Day of Judgment. Petro-kings call on the tides to stop. Didn't work for Ireland's Cuchulain, but hey. 

A great untold story of nuclear espionage. Dave Lindorff of The Nation on how one brother -- America's top designer of ballistic missiles -- protected his younger sibling -- who gave the Russians huge secrets about the atomic bomb being built at Los Alamos. Imagine the frustration of FBI Director J Edgar Hoover as he watched both brothers keep their freedom. The spy left the country long after his damage had been done, the other brother's value to Americn kept paying off for decades. 

The MDC, the Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque is like most jails full of innocent people awaiting trial. Much too full, reports Austin Fisher of Source NM, for a shrinking staff of correction officers to handle. It's become something of a death trap, in part because of unfilled gaps in medical and mental health care.  Making the crises worse ... dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and a cyberattack that put everyone into lockdown. Inmates can't shower, get mail, meet with their lawyers or leave their cells for more than half an hour a day. 

A woman is jailed for littering a sidewalk. She's one of very many, She dies in detox at Albuquerque's Metropolitan Detention Center. She's one of several. Cecilia Nowell of The Nation on the policies that overfill a city/county lock-up with more prisoners than it can handle and the tragic consequences.

If it ain't broke," the old saying goes, "don't fix it."Unless your intent isn't fixing but shattering something that works, like America's system of free and fair elections. Matt Vasilogambros of the Stateline news service says in dozens of states, Republicans are changing the rules and terrorizing election officials in support of Donald Trump's Big lie, the so-called "Steal." They've even upgraded the old abuse of Gerrymandering.