So in 1996, there was something called the Dickey Amendment. And that resulted in federal funding being taken away for gun violence research. Even after Newtown and after President Obama had issued the executive order for the CDC to be able to study the cause of gun violence, there's still been a lot of hesitation to do that. You know, gun violence is responsible for about as many deaths as sepsis is. But funding for gun violence research is equivalent to 0. 7 percent of the funding that's allocated for sepsis. When you think about this in the big picture, we have such a public health crisis that we're dealing with yet not enough research and evidence that's being put into the system to figure out how we can develop solutions that are going to really make a difference.

You've actually experienced this from the other end. You were shot when you were 17. Tell me what happened.

After a high school football game one evening, I was nearly killed after being shot in the throat with a 38-caliber bullet. A lot of 17-year-olds don't appreciate the fact that they're mortal, don't realize, you know, kind of the importance of their family and other aspects like that. And when that injury happened to me, it really changed my life. It inspired me to want to be able to give other people the same second chance that I was given.

Dr.  Joseph Sakran is the director of Emergency General Surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Thank you so much.

turn 2 : Surviving a gunshot inspired me to help others

How did the PersonA's injury change his life?

Answer: throat


And obviously, Florida is a very important state. It's no coincidence he's kicking off his campaign there. Where else do you expect to see President Trump in the months ahead?

So he'll be back in Florida; we know that for sure. It's a key state in that he isn't president without winning Florida, and he needs it for re-election. But you can also expect to see him in those other states that he won very narrowly in the upper Midwest - Wisconsin, Michigan. And the campaign is stretching. They want insurance. And at this point, they have money. They've been fundraising since Inauguration Day. And they are stretching, trying to reach into states you wouldn't expect, like Minnesota or even New Mexico and New Hampshire, which Hillary Clinton won last time around.

That's NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith at President Trump's rally in Orlando, Fla. Thanks, Tam.

You're welcome.

turn 1 : President Trump's campaign is targeting swing states for re-election

Which states is President Trump's campaign targeting for re-election?

Answer: Swing


Most Americans agree Congress should do something to try to end gun violence. There is wide support for a range of ideas, including keeping tabs on or limiting who can get a gun and making it easier for police and family members to temporarily take guns away from people who may hurt themselves or others - what's known as red flag laws. There's more division on other proposals. We all - we know all of this because of a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.

NPR senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro has dug into the numbers. He joins us now. Hey, Domenico.

Hey, Ailsa.

OK. So I want to start where there is some agreement. Let's just start positive for now. What does this poll tell us?

turn 0 : There is a problem with gun violence in America.

How do most Americans feel about Congress taking action to end gun violence?

Answer: Problem


Yeah. Well, our house never got flooded. We never lost power. We have this lifted Jeep because we like to go off-roading. We have this kayak because we like to go kayaking. All these tools that we had, we were fortunate enough to have. So we thought, why not?You know, these people need help. Not many people here are able to help them, so we did what we could.

What's it look like now?The water is receding, we're told, but there must be an awful lot left.

Oh, yeah. There's just devastation to all the homes. Power lines are down, broken by trees. Just devastation everywhere. I mean, mold in the homes is already setting in. Just everything is destroyed.

Alison, do you worry about some of the chemicals and the detritus that's left behind?

turn 3 : The literal meaning of the phrase "detritus that's left behind" is physical debris that has been left behind after a disaster. However, the implied meaning of the phrase is the chemical pollutants and hazardous materials that have been left behind after the disaster.

Which type of debris is left behind after a disaster according to the implied meaning of the phrase mentioned in turn 3?

Answer: pollutants


Good morning.

Well, what was the reasoning by Judge T. S. Ellis?

Well, Ellis made clear in his sentencing that Manafort's crimes are serious. He wanted to spell that out clearly. We're talking about tax fraud, failing to disclose a foreign bank account and bank fraud. The tax fraud, in particular, Ellis said is basically stealing from every American who pays taxes. That's a serious crime.

But Ellis also said that, you know, you take all sorts of factors into consideration when coming up with a sentence - general deterrence, you look at the entirety of a defendant's life. And he said, in Manafort's case, he's a first-time offender. Otherwise, blameless life.

turn 3 : "Otherwise, blameless life." - The literal meaning of this turn is a statement about Manafort's past behavior, but its actual meaning is to mitigate his crimes and argue for a more lenient sentence.

What did Judge Ellis say about Manafort's past behavior?

Answer: First-time


I was like, yeah. She's like, what do you talk about?I say, my life, our life. And she's like, so you tell them about us and they pay you.

In fact, I wish you would shut up so - so she was - and my father is even worse. I mean, he's very dry. My mom has all the personality. My father is a - he's Swiss-German, so I mean he's just a combination of. . .

Known so much for their humor.

turn 1 :  A: "And she's like, I've never found you entertaining enough to pay you anything." - Once again, "she's like" does not convey the literal meaning of the speaker's words, and is used to mean "she said". Additionally, the phrase "pay you" is used figuratively, and does not refer to literal payment.

What does "pay you" refer to in the dialogue?

Answer: Entertainment


Yeah. So let's take Muslim China, you know, the western part of China - Uighur country. They use lamb, which they don't use in the rest of China, or very little. And their noodles are made from wheat. And they have bread. So that region has this food because of its religion and because of its proximity to Turkey.

The reason I called Anissa Helou is because of a dish I've been meaning to make for a long time. In her book, she has two versions - one from Egypt, one from Syria - a nutritious and simple meal made from beans that's perfect for Ramadan or for any time, really - ful medames, or simply ful.

Ful is a very filling dish. So if you ate ful at whatever hour, you could stay without eating anything or feeling very hungry for at least five, six hours.

Helou join me in my kitchen here in D. C.  via video chat to teach me how to make both the Egyptian and the Syrian recipes.

turn 1 : Ful medames is a very filling dish that can sustain you for several hours.

Which dish can provide sustained fullness for several hours?

Answer: Ful


This has been a longstanding feature of Libya. The United Arab Emirates and Egypt had been backing General Khalifa Haftar - giving him weapons, conducting airstrikes. And the Tripoli forces have turned to Turkey, who's now providing weapons as well. And so it's a very cynical game, and Libyans are just paying the price for it.

And meanwhile, back to the migrants who, of course - as we mentioned, there's at least 44 who died in this latest attack.

Right.

They're trying to get to Europe. What now?I mean, as you mentioned, the EU has this policy of turning them around, and they end up back in these detention centers and then presumably - what?- trying to make the trip again.

turn 0 : The involvement of foreign powers has created chaos in Libya

Answer: Chaos


Oh, absolutely not, Scott. That's not - that's the - kind of our problem. Remember that we went from basically a dead start over the last 15 years where we didn't have these capabilities to now having a remarkable capability to collect intelligence and information using these platforms and all these great people. And so we just - as an institution we have to get ahead of that. It's been hard to do as the demand grew so rapidly.

I know they're not in combat, which is its own category to acknowledge and respect, but is it possible for a drone pilot to develop what some people would call post-traumatic stress?

Oh, I think it's beyond possible. I think it's happened. This is one of the kind of second-order effects that we probably didn't anticipate when we first started this work. I don't think there's any question that it's a factor. I don't believe it's an overriding factor. We don't have a great number of people who have manifested these kind of symptoms and problems, but we certainly do have some.

Do drones offer the appearance of risk-free combat?

turn 1 : Implies that there is a possibility for a drone pilot to experience psychological trauma, even if they are not in combat.

Which type of personnel may experience psychological trauma, even though they are not in combat?

Answer: Drone-Pilot


So what's the difference between steganography and - I'm interested in the origin of the word steganography. Can you take that apart for us?

Well. . .

Stega-, sounds almost like a dinosaur.

Certainly. It goes back to the Greeks, and it basically means hidden writing. So - and what it often gets kind of mixed together with or lumped together with, is encryption, and it's kind of - they're like close cousins, and they're trying to do the same thing, but they have slightly different approaches.

And that was my next question. What is the difference between steganography and encryption?

turn 2 : the speaker is implying that the word "steganography" is strange or foreign-sounding rather than literally saying that it is like a dinosaur.

Which word did PersonB use to describe the sound of "steganography"?

Answer: Dinosaur


Oh, absolutely.

You know, like, what are some of the other barbecue don'ts that come up when all of you all get together?

I think hovering is a big one, people who want to jump on the grill before they've been invited to, people who think they're helping out by bringing a side of beef that they figure you have room on the grill to just add that into your menu, any kind of, you know, presumptuous guests.

What about some barbecue do's?Are there some do's that you wish people would do that they perhaps don't think to do?

turn 2 : A is criticizing guests who overstep their boundaries during barbecues

What is one thing PersonA mentioned that some guests do during barbecues that they shouldn't?

Answer: Beef


It was absolute - you're absolutely correct. Our time is out, but I'm going to ask you about this before I let you go. Talking about perfect performances, two people strolled in to New York's Madison Square Garden and lit up the Knicks back to back, Kobe Bryant 61 on one night and LeBron James, I think, it was 52 the next night and a triple double.

All I can say is thank god for the Knicks.

And, you know what?And the Knicks are even actually better than they were before and then they still let people come in there and just spank them like crazy.

That's what we do.

turn 2 : The Knicks come in and let people do better than they do at basketball.

What team consistently underperforms in basketball games?

Answer: Knicks


Well, Bill Kristol is also a friend of mine. And I think one of the things that is very difficult when you are - he very intensely support - committed McCain supporter. We all have things we would like the election to be about. And Bill, very understandably, would like the election to be about, thank you, Senator McCain, for being right about the surge, as indeed he was right about the surge.

Unfortunately, the voters get to decide what it's about. And from their point of view, it's about financial collapse. And John McCain has never had a consistent message about that. It's way too late now. I mean, that's kind of what you have to do a year before, but that was not a set of issues that interested him. His economic message has never been strong. It's shifted a lot, and so it has been difficult to convey.

I think, at this point, yeah, McCain can talk certainly about national security and how he was right about these issues. It's hard to imagine that when 401Ks are down by 40 percent, when house values in many places are down by 20 percent and more, what voters are going to say other than - well, we'll build a statue to you for the surge, but that doesn't make you entitled to be president.

David Frum is a conservative political writer, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, speaking with us again from Washington. David, thank you.

turn 1 : John McCain's economic message is weak and inconsistent.

What is difficult for John McCain to convey?

Answer: AB


Well, she isn't calling Israel evil, but she is still using language that is anti-Semitic. The impact that it has is devastating. It's inflammatory. And unfortunately, I think it just causes more conflict. It makes it harder to have the kinds of policy conversations that she claims she wants to have on these difficult and fraught topics.

I'm sorry if this sounds naive, but why is a phrase like it's all about the Benjamins, baby, offensive to many Jews?

Well, it feeds into the classic stereotype of Jews controlling the world with our money, working behind the scenes to buy control over politicians and government policies. Part of it was the way in which she communicated it, too. It was a provocative and glib way of doing it, and it would have been much, I think, far more acceptable to say we need to have a conversation about the influence generally of money in politics, the influence of lobbyists and politics. And let's have a conversation without using the inflammatory language about these things.

So when Representative Omar tweeted anti-Semitism is real and I'm grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes, how do you react to that?

turn 0 : A believes that the language used is anti-Semitic, but not the person.

Which stereotype is being fed by the phrase "it's all about the Benjamins, baby"?

Answer: Stereotype.


Yes. At the top of the mountains, we have cloud forests. These are forests composed of trees of low stature. They have the ability to withstand the strong wind conditions at the top of the mountain. They are very important in regulating the water cycling of the mountain and actually supplying the 20 percent of the water for Puerto Rico. These trees are completely covered by mosses and plants that sit on the tree trunks and collect water. And they can then kind of filter cloud water down the mountain. So many of these mosses and epiphytes were stripped from the tree trunks on the face where those winds were more intense.

I wonder, Dr.  Gonzalez, as you were walking through El Yunque looking at the destruction of this place that you've known so well for so long, what was going through your mind seeing it totally transformed?

Well, it's an amazing experience, but I think it's one of learning and regeneration. We already have seen the greening of the forest in some areas. We're already seeing that some species are lifting up. We know that some other species will come up and kind of make their way to more native or mature species of the forest to take over. So yes, it is a catastrophic event. But we know that there's going to be a recovery phase.

Dr.  Gonzalez, what about you and your family?How did you do?Do you have power?Do you have water?

turn 0 : The strong winds of the mountain top can strip the mosses and epiphytes from the tree trunks, making it difficult for these forests to survive.

Which forests are covered by mosses and epiphytes that collect water?

Answer: Cloud


And how does Syria's war spark violence in Iraq?

Yes, it's a bit of a long story, Neal. I won't go into too much detail, but what I will say is that, you know, what happened in Syria, we all know it started as an uprising. It was during the Arab Spring. There were people going to the streets to protest. It took awhile for this to kind of catch on in Iraq. But when it did, it was a wave of protests in mostly Sunni areas. That's because the government in Iraq is controlled now by Shiites, Shiite politicians, different Shiite political parties. And so you saw in many Sunni areas of Iraq people going to the streets to protest, demanding jobs, demanding better treatment, demanding an end to what they see as kind of a police state behavior with their people, they said, you know, unlawful detentions.

And so when you have protests in a country that's already very divided along sectarian lines, the protests are going to get sectarian pretty quickly. And they also got violent. You saw in tandem with these protests were the rise of some violent attacks, and a lot of people attribute these attacks to local insurgent groups like al-Qaida in Iraq. And then you saw sort of Shiite militias, you know, fighting back with their own attacks. And then it basically spiraled out of control.

You mentioned al-Qaida in Iraq. This was a group that was, well, largely defeated by the Sunnis themselves, in cooperation with American and some Iraqi forces as well. But the Sunnis themselves discredited these people.

turn 2 : the protests got worse and worse until there was no way to control them any longer.

Which turn describes the escalation of violence in Iraq due to sectarian protests?

Answer: Tandem


Thirty years ago today, a democracy movement was snuffed out in China's Tiananmen Square. Tanks opened fire on demonstrators, killing young protesters. This was a pivotal moment in modern Chinese history. And NPR's Deborah Amos covered the crackdown. She joins us to share some of her memories from that time 30 years ago.

Hi, Deb.

Hi there.

So you arrived in the country just after this massacre. Why did the Chinese government allow foreign journalists in?

turn 0 : Snuffed out has the implied meaning of stopping.

How was the democracy movement in Tiananmen Square stopped?

Answer: massacre


Today one major Palestinian businessman, Bashar Masri, wrote something really interesting on his Facebook page. He said he was invited to this U. S.  conference next month, but he said he's not going. He would not be willing to endorse something that's outside the Palestinian national consensus, he said.

It's pretty remarkable to hear that kind of criticism from him because he's a real estate developer. He's got a lot of press coverage in the U. S. He's kind of a celebrity. He's built a new Palestinian city with a fancy mall and condos. So he's been seen as admired by the Trump administration, and this is what he's saying.

In the meantime, have we heard from any other regional powers?

We have heard - interestingly, not heard from Israeli leaders yet. But the Trump administration said they've gotten a lot of very good feedback on their peace plan - on the economic side of the peace plan as they've discussed it with Middle East leaders in recent months.

turn 0 : Bashar Masri's criticism is significant due to his status and ties with Trump administration.

What makes Bashar Masri's criticism significant?

Answer: Status


So instead, we inquired more. Where did you hear this?Where did you see this?Can you show me that?And when they showed us, I - the first thing we tried to do was say, I get why this seems funny on the surface, and I totally get why it's confusing. And they were also younger at the time, so they were probably a little more open than a kid would be at 16 or 17.

Well, you anticipate one of my questions as you talk about as youngsters age. I mean, don't teens manage to find a way to evade the best parental advice in any case?

Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, what I hoped that we were able to build with our kids from when they were young is a foundation where they believe that when we say something is not great, maybe they disobey, but deep inside there's a little voice that's going to say to them, you know, I should question this. I should question why this seems so, you know, funny and, yet, I feel like I have to keep it a secret. But, you know, we have had parental filters on our computers and on our media. As the kids got older, we realized pretty much every kid can evade any filter.

What about the girls in your sons' classes?

turn 3 : The question is asking if the girls in the sons' classes can evade any filters.

What is the question related to the ability of teenage girls in the sons' classes?

Answer: evading


Well, in Vienna, people are extremely concerned. Although Vienna has a very long history as a Social Democratic city, it's known, in fact, as Red Vienna. But you know, the first poll since the scandal came out yesterday, and the Freedom Party lost 4% to 5%. But they're still polling at 18%. So their core supporters remain loyal and support their anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT agenda.

And is this all anybody's talking about?

Oh, my goodness, you can't avoid it. I mean, the cafe on the ground floor of my apartment building has painted up on its windows, we're going to Ibiza. Everyone's moved on from the shock to the speculation of the provenance of the video and the question of whether or not this vote of - motion of no confidence will go through.

Valerie Hopkins of the financial times speaking with us from Vienna, thanks so much.

turn 2 : The scandal involving the Freedom Party is the topic of discussion everywhere, and people are now speculating about the video's source and whether a no-confidence vote will be successful.

What are people speculating about regarding the scandal?

Answer: Video's-source


And I think right now what we're finding is that, I think this - the technology industry though, Tony, you can't - this country, businesses, the ecosystem cannot function without information technology. So you have companies like HP, Dell, Microsoft, Google, they're all being very creative now or I would say, more creative than I guess that they had to have been in the past to really understand how they can make the largest impact without it affecting their employee work force.

And I think today's times are making people more innovative and the mother - mother's the necessity of innovation and I think it's just making people be more creative now. I'm hoping that the stimulus package with having a chief technology officer in house, with $7. 2 billion going towards - from the stimulus, going towards broadband, with another $19 billion going towards health information records and technology, and health care.

I'm hoping that that is going to, when that money becomes available, make it so that the technology industry can still remain resilient, because largely we have been. I mean, we're not immune from the problems, but we've been pretty resilient throughout. If you look at what's going on throughout the country, technology sector has been doing fairly well.

You know, you mentioned that there was a new chief technology officer and our conversation is coming to a close, but briefly tell us who this person is, if you know, and what you know about his or her background?

turn 1 : The problems of today are the necessity for innovation to occur.

Answer: necessity


Treasury will decide whether the auto industry deserves this $17. 4 billion in bailout funds, whether or not that loan should be called in or extended. What will happen between now and then?

Two things have to happen. First, the Treasury and the Obama administration have to make some key decisions about what a viable automaker looks like and whether GM or Chrysler fit that profile. There's a lot of debate about in a market of 10 million vehicles a year in the United States whether there's enough room for both of these companies to survive. On the other side, the automakers have to show that they're making progress on their plans.

We know that they're probably going to announce some deep job cuts and plant closures tomorrow. They have to make some more progress with bond holders, with suppliers, and dealers. There's a lot of moving pieces that keep going in through March 31st. And by that time, it's possible we'll have to see some very key decisions made.

Justine Hyde covers the auto industry for the Detroit Free Press. Thank you, Justin.

turn 2 : 'Moving pieces' is not literal. They're not talking about game pieces, but about the situation being complex with a lot of factors involved.

Which term used by PersonA in turn 2 is used metaphorically?

Answer: Moving


(Laughing) You would think, but its this weird sort of a - the more I get to know them, the more they become different objects with such different ingredients that I love them more with each passing day.

(Laughing) So I have a burrito specimen here with me in the studio. And I'm going to unwrap. . .

Is it in wax paper or tinfoil?

It is in both tinfoil and wax paper.

turn 3 : The implied meaning is that B's special person is being given the utmost care and protection.

Answer: Tinfoil


So it does happen that, in fact, patients interpret these findings as immediately applicable to their condition.

And how do physicians handle that kind of request?

Well, at the risk of trying to be a naysayer and living in an ivory tower, I think you have to be honest with patients and say yes, this is very exciting. It may be important. It may prove efficacious down the road, but I think it's premature to take either an amyloid study or a test tube study and directly translate that to the human model.

There are safety issues. There are ethical issues, and we really don't know whether it's going to be efficacious.

Did some of these reviewers - do I have this right - caution that this drug particularly is a little - has bad side effects?

turn 2 : They are saying that at the risk of sounding like they are perfect and above others they think you have to be honest.

Which word describes how PersonA views physicians handling patient's requests?

Answer: Honest


I've gotten almost universally positive feedback. People were really encouraging me and just being much kinder than I would have expected or hoped for. The kinds of people who read it - I don't know. I guess a lot of lawyers, a lot of journalists who keep up with the court.

Yeah. I mean, the Supreme Court is definitely paying attention. You got to visit at the invitation of Justice Neil Gorsuch's clerk, and you shot some hoops on the famed Supreme Court basketball court. Is that true?

That was very nice of that clerk to do. He had seen my blog and then sent me an email asking if I'd ever had a Supreme Court tour before. And yes, I did get to shoot a basket in the highest court in the land. I kind of thought it was a joke. I'd heard about it before, but it's very real. And it took me many tries to make a layup.

So in your blog, you've interviewed - and here's an NPR plug - our own national justice correspondent Carrie Johnson. So what kind of articles are you hosting on your site?And who's writing them?

turn 0 : Not feedback from everyone in the universe but a wide variety of people on the planet giving feedback.

Which specific group of people provided feedback to PersonA's work?

Answer: A


This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Flora Lichtman, filling in for Ira Flatow, who's out today. This week, the FDA approved a new influenza vaccine for this year's flu season, and soon enough summer will be over and you'll be standing in line again at your pharmacy or doctor's office, participating in that yearly ritual - your annual vaccination allocation.

But what if that didn't have to happen?Imagine a world without the seasonal flu shot. What if one shot could protect you against flu forever and protect you against all flus, including avian flu and swine flu?

Well, you'll have to keep imagining for a while yet because there's no universal vaccine, but researchers are working on it. And joining me now to talk about the effort is Dr.  Gary Nabel. He's the head of the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases - that's part of the NIH - and he's co-author of a paper this week in the journal Science Translational Medicine on the topic. Welcome to the program, Dr.  Nabel.

Thank you.

So what's the difference between a universal vaccine and the one that I get every year?

turn 1 : It implies how important vaccination is against seasonal flu.

How does turn 1 suggest the PersonA's attitude towards vaccination?

Answer: Appreciation


You have tough words for President Obama in your Sun-Times column that's been posted now. Let me quote you, "The president doesn't hurry, not even when his city is bleeding. "

Those tough words are a function of - he's at the top of the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice - the feds seldom, if ever, hurry. And this - if they did engage in this - would be a civil rights case. While - when Laquan McDonald was shot and lay bleeding on the pavement after 16 bullets entered his body, the fact of the matter was that Ferguson, Mo. , had already jumped off. We were in the midst of other police situations in other major urban areas involving black youth and largely white officers. And so there was a real feeling of a cauldron boiling, and something - needed more largely than was being done to address it.

In Chicago, are there political implications here?

There are certainly political implications. When Laquan McDonald was shot, Rahm Emanuel was entering a tougher than normal mayoral re-election cycle. This would not have done well for him, so the city kept it quiet. But worse than that, Scott, worse than that is that the city and the union did not tell the truth about what happened. They both said hours after. . .

turn 1 :  Turn (2) implies that the Department of Justice was slow to act in response to a civil rights case, which is different from its literal meaning which is simply that it is a civil rights case

How was the Department of Justice described in the dialogue?

Answer: Slow


Mountain guerilla killings in Central Africa have reached an all-time high.

Current fighting among the Congolese military and rebels has caused park rangers and other locals to flee the area, ultimately leaving one of the world's most endangered animals seemingly unprotected. These killings reached deep into the economy, the local community and the environment.

For more, we are joined now by Craig Sholley. He is a senior director at the African Wildlife Foundation and former director of Rwanda's Mountain Gorilla Project. Craig, nice to have you on the show.

Very nice to be here, Tony. Thank you.

turn 1 :  "leaving one of the world's most endangered animals seemingly unprotected" is a turn whose actual meaning is different from its literal meaning. The phrase "seemingly unprotected" suggests that there may be some protection for the animal, but it is not clear or uncertain. The literal meaning would be that there is absolutely no protection for the animal.

How does the phrase "seemingly unprotected" suggest the level of protection for the endangered animal?

Answer: Uncertain


Yeah. It's the fastest and oldest field game in the world, as far as we're concerned, and the only sport that I can really compare to - and you've alluded to it yourself - would be lacrosse. And to American viewers or listeners, sometimes I try and explain it as ice hockey on grass except for the ball leaves the ground and travels at speeds of up to 140 kilometers an hour. It's extremely brave. They wear minimal padding. And it's a full-contact sport.

And tell us about the hurling stick because I've seen those. They're - if I may - to an American audience, they look a little bit like something you'd use to handle a pizza in a brick oven.

(Laughter) I've been told they look like a large spoon. It's a coral-shaped (ph) stick. And at the end of the - at the bottom, it's called a bas where you strike the ball. The ball is made of leather. And it's called a sliotar. The hurley's supposed to reach from your foot up to your hip and is generally about 33, 34 inches for a grown adult.

Do you think that hurling expresses some intrinsic aspect of the Irish spirit?

turn 0 : Comparing hurling to ice hockey on grass is a better way to explain it to American viewers than saying it's the fastest and oldest field game in the world

What sport does the speaker compare hurling to when explaining it to American viewers?

Answer: lacrosse


The fighting between Israel and the Palestinians reminds us that world events do not wait for changes of leadership in Washington. President-elect Barack Obama will not take office for another three weeks, which means he'll watch from the sidelines as the current administration responds to a crisis that Obama will inherit very soon. For some analysis of this moment, we're joined now by NPR's senior Washington editor Ron Elving, who's with us most Mondays. Hi Ron.

Good to be with you, Madeleine.

Well, so how much is President-elect Obama being consulted on the U. S.  response at this point?

Not so much consulted as kept informed. He gets regular security briefings, of course. He had one on Sunday. He has had conversations with Secretary of State Rice, and he is expected to talk today to his own incoming national security adviser, General James Jones, and also to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is his own nominee, of course, for Secretary of State. She's certainly sharing in a lot of the information. She's a senator; she's on Armed Services; she's been immersed in much of this for many years; she's had top clearances; and I'm sure the Obama folks are sharing with her.

And how much does his stated policy regarding the Middle East - how much does it differ from the Bush administration's?

turn 3 : Obama is not yet in power but is being kept informed of the situation

How is Obama involved in the U.S. response to the fighting between Israel and the Palestinians?

Answer: Informed


Hey, Mary Louise.

So how serious is this?What else do we know?

We don't really know a lot more. We learned of this in a brief statement from campaign senior adviser Jeff Weaver. He said, as you mentioned in the intro there, that Sanders had felt some chest discomfort last night at a campaign event. And what they also told us is that Sanders had a blockage in one artery. Two stents were inserted. His campaign has really not said a whole lot more than that except that events will be canceled until further notice but that the senator is, quote, "in good spirits. "He is resting up for a few days.

Now, I did talk to Steven Nissen today. He's a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic. He's not the doctor that worked on Sanders, but he just sort of told me what to expect in these cases, what the prognosis is. And pretty much what he told me is this. The way to look at it is that heart disease is, indeed, serious, but this is also a very routine procedure.

turn 2 : Sanders is feeling happy and hopeful after the procedure.

Which word describes Sanders' mood after the procedure?

Answer: Happy


The advice I'd give to others is, do your homework, and don't be afraid to do it. The one rule I gave myself was, it's OK if you fail. And coming from a type-A legal background, you don't make any mistakes. But in business, you have to be flexible. So, I allowed myself the freedom to make those mistakes and grow from them.

Have there been any moments when being an African-American entrepreneur has either hurt you or at least given some food for thought?

I'll take the food for thought. I'm a member of the International Spa Association. That's a pretty high-end spa group. And that market's OK, but other trade shows I would do, people would walk up and they'd say, oh, is this a black skin-care company?And I'm thinking, well, everybody has skin, irrespective of who you are - because they see me there. Even though the woman on the cover, model is - she's kind of every woman. She's actually Filipino and German, but people can't tell her background. But when they see my face there, they assume it's a company just for African-American skin, which is not the case.

When you think about that aspect of marketing, do you think that black companies that market directly to African-Americans, just very briefly, have an advantage or disadvantage over businesses like yours?

turn 2 : Assuming a product is only for African-American skin based on the founder's race is wrong and harmful.

How is assuming a product's target audience based on the founder's race perceived?

Answer: Wrong


The best story.

Just another story.

Really quickly, the New York Jets have announced their new head coach, Bill, and I know that that is a subject of your next wonderful column. Give us a sneak preview.

Well, yeah. Buddy Ryan's son, Rex Ryan, had his first conference yesterday, and you know, he was so enthusiastic I was ready to snap on the pass.

turn 2 : "and I know that that is the subject of your next wonderful column" implies that the next column written should be about that subject

Which team's new head coach has been announced in the dialogue?

Answer: Jets


What would be a - and forgive the pun - what would be the holy grail for an Indiana Jones like you?What would be the ultimate?

Well, that would be to go right back to the beginning, you know, to do like a dino brew, you know, sort of a Garden of Eden type of beverage, I guess. And unfortunately in the Paleolithic period, the containers get destroyed. They were probably made out of leather, wood or whatever. So we don't have remnants of any containers from the Paleolithic period.

And that's important because once you have a container like pottery, made of pottery, the liquids get absorbed into that, and it helps to retain the ancient organic materials until the biomolecular archeologists like us comes along thousands of years later.

Do you have any bets of where the cradle of civilization for wine and beer originates?

turn 0 : Holy Grail and Indiana Jones are not literal. The reference implies that A is searching for something incredibly important.

What does the reference to Holy Grail and Indiana Jones imply about PersonA's search?

Answer: Important


Yeah. They considered all kinds of things. And - but they were stuck on coming up with a design that was really a wow design. So John Graham hired as a consultant a professor from the University of Washington named Victor Steinbrueck. He's known locally in Seattle as architect-activist who saved the Pike Place Market. But he was a designer, and he worked on the Space Needle design.

He got stuck. And one day, he was sitting in his home office and he saw - he had a beautiful abstract sculpture by a California artist named David Lemon, and it was feminine figure in complete abstract, reaching up to the sky with this narrow waist and then this tripod legs. And it was called "The Feminine One. "And he went, aha, OK, there is a unique shape for a tower.

Wow. If you have a question you want to ask Knute, get up there on our microphones and you can ask it. Where there any engineering innovations that were required to get this to be built?Anything about the revolving restaurant, anything like that?

Well, it was interesting because at that time, there were no revolving restaurants.

turn 1 : He was having a hard time thinking of an idea and then saw something.

How did Victor Steinbrueck come up with the unique shape for the tower?

Answer: Feminine


Did you say oversized slingshots?

Yes, that's right. It's one of the more unusual things I've seen in the conflict. They are literally just giant slingshots that are being used to throw these pipe bombs further than they would be able to reach normally.

On the government side, I gather you've seen an escalation in the air war on that side too.

That's correct. Really when we first saw helicopters being used in April, they were being used very rarely. And later on in June, they started using large high-explosive fragmentation bombs that were being dropped quiet frequently. Moving into August, jets started appearing in the skies with larger quantities of bombs. Following that in mid-October is when we started seeing the cluster bombs being used to cross Syria.

turn 1 : In turn (2), the speaker is describing the use of oversized slingshots in a conflict to throw pipe bombs farther than they would normally be able to reach. The literal meaning is a description of the physical objects and their use, but the implied meaning is the unusual and desperate measures taken in a violent conflict.

Answer: N/A


Now, I understand South Dakota doesn't have an income tax. So is that why collecting sales tax is particularly important to your state?

That's right. The sales tax is about 63 percent of our state's general budget. So that's what we used to help on education and other important functions of government. We chose to use the sales tax rather than a state income tax.

So the better business has been for online retailers. The worst news, that's been for your state's budget.

That's exactly right. I mean, the United States Supreme Court has estimated that this is costing South Dakota between $48 and $58 million every year, which is a significant hit to our budget.

turn 1 : Sales tax is crucial to South Dakota's budget due to lack of income tax

Which tax is vital to South Dakota's budget?

Answer: Sales


Exactly. I mean, I have at least two publications on my resume that are no longer in existence. And I think a lot of reporters and journalists can say the same about theirs.

Yeah. You realize - I mean, maybe, I don't know - Gerard Baker, the editor of The Wall Street Journal, they won a Pulitzer this week too. He's hearing, maybe, this interview. He's certainly heard of you and your Pulitzer. What if he or another big-time newspaper editor found you and offered you a job?Do you hope for anything like that?

Well, I can't say that it wouldn't be a dream come true - it kind of would be. But, I don't know what I would do because that opportunity hasn't presented itself. And there's the other factor, which is, I like the job I'm at now. I work for USC Shoah Foundation, which isn't just some place to land. It's a pretty amazing place. It's, you know, really one of the world's leading institutions of Holocaust and genocide studies. Never thought I'd be there in a million years either, but it's turned out to be a very rich and rewarding experience. So the answer is, I - it's a very good question - I don't know what I would do if that happened.

Rob Kuznia, the Pulitzer Prize-winning PR man. He won the Pulitzer this week, along with Rebecca Kimitch, and Frank Suraci of The Daily Breeze in Southern California.

turn 1 : The implied meaning in this turn is that B is suggesting that Rob Kuznia should be hopeful of getting a job offer from a big-time newspaper editor.

Which prize did Rob Kuznia win along with Rebecca Kimitch and Frank Suraci?

Answer: DailyBreeze


Hi, Farai.

So what's the scene like now?

Well the scene right now is, people are still setting things up, they're testing the music system right now and - but it's a beautiful scene, it's a beautiful day here in Chicago. Grant Park, of course, it's on Chicago's lakefront with the skyline as a backdrop. It's a beautiful day weather-wise. I mean, this time of year in Chicago, you could get, you know, temperatures in the 20s or 30s, so our - you know, unusually like today, we have temperatures in the 70s. So it couldn't be better, that means probably we'll have a great big turnout. And some people are already lining up to try to get in. these are ticketed people who are trying to get in. They just wanted to be here so early so they could get the best possible location in front of the stage.

How are things working in terms of how many people are going to be let in, what the ticketing process has been, all of that?

turn 1 : the scene in this context means genre of music

Answer: Beautiful


No. But what about the misinformation campaign that we keep discovering more about, hacking, what seems to be just a lot of Russian involvement on a lot of different fronts?Why - what is the Russian interest in causing unrest or consternation in the United States or Western Europe?

Well, actually, I think that causing unrest and consternation is an end in itself. And part of it - part of the goa; is psychological. You know, all of us are interested in seeing our worldviews affirmed. And Russia's worldview - the Russian - the contemporary Russian ideology is that the whole world is rotten. Everybody is corrupt. Everything is for sale. Elections and the United States are just as rigged as they are in Russia. And so sowing the kind of disruption that Russia is sowing first and foremost pursues the goal of affirming that view.

Much of your book is devoted to the stories of four Russians who'd hoped that when the Soviet Union came undone, free speech and democracy would take hold. What happened instead?

Well, actually, those four Russians were much too young to hope for anything when the Soviet Union collapsed. They were preschoolers or kindergarteners when the Soviet Union collapsed. But what happened - and I was interested in them because they came of age - you know, they - or they became human beings in the 1990s, a period that is variously portrayed as a flowering of democracy or as a period of chaos and, you know, robber barons and that sort of thing.

turn 1 :  (2) the implied meaning of "sowing disruption" is that Russia is attempting to spread confusion and uncertainty

Which word describes Russia's goal in sowing disruption according to A?

Answer: Unrest


But also, at the moment, there is a decided sense of panic and loss of confidence in the financial system itself, which is actually exacerbating the situation. The scariest thing that's going on at the moment is, essentially, there's a run on the whole of the Western world's banking systems. It's a behind-the-scenes run, but it's a run nonetheless. And this is why you're seeing some extraordinary action by central banks, essentially because they are now the only people in the - around who are willing to fund or finance the banking sector.

If there's a loss of faith in leadership in the U. S.  and Europe, where do you look for world financial leadership now?

Well, I think the interesting thing is, the normal thing - place you would look would be to the finance ministers and the central bank governors of the world and seek to see whether they can come up with some sort of plan or some sort of coordinated action. Everyone is gathering together later this week in Washington on Friday and at the weekend.

And so this is a real test. I don't think they necessarily want it to be a test, but I'm sure it will be seen as a test to see whether the authorities can do more than look at how to stop this happening again in the long term, which is one of things, actually, they were intending the meeting to be about, but actually to try and stop the panic.

turn 3 : The authorities are trying to stop the panic and the meeting is a test to see if they can do more than just plan for the long term.

How is the meeting in Washington perceived?

Answer: test


Our reporters do OK because we report in English, but the people who reach everyday Venezuelans through radio and TV are under enormous pressure and censorship. And now, they're aiming - they're taking aim at the Internet as well. Earlier this week, there was a crackdown on Twitter. Twitter was shut down throughout Venezuela. Instagram was spotty. The state ISP wouldn't allow people access to these critical sources of news.

Tell us about Juan Guaido, head of the National Assembly. How did he become the main challenger to Maduro?

He is a smart, young guy. He's an industrial engineer. He's 35 years old. His grandparents were members of the military a couple of generations ago. So he has this kind of family understanding of what military codes and military conduct and sort of the military lifestyle it's like in Venezuela. And that really scares the regime because he knows how to speak to military officers. And we're all very clear that this will ultimately come down to whether the mid-ranking members in the military go to their generals and say, sorry, your time is up.

Francisco Toro, who's editor-in-chief of the news site Caracas Chronicles, thanks so much.

turn 2 : your time is up means that they have to talk about something else before the program ends

How does turn 2 relate to the content of the dialogue?

Answer: Relates


We don't presume when we cover the news. But we see estimates. For instance, FiveThirtyEight has her close to a 90-percent favorite in terms of their poll aggregation. If we're just projecting forward - and again, we don't know - this could be a very bitter aftermath.

Forget about honeymoons. You know, I was talking - I convened a roundtable of former campaign chiefs of staff yesterday - Republicans.

And two of them mentioned to me that they thought within the first year of her being in office, Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, would be under great pressure to bring articles of impeachment.

During that debate, Hillary Clinton kind of deftly avoided any real response on the Goldman Sachs speeches, on her husband's transgressions, if I might put it delicately, and accusations of pay-to-play relationship between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department. Do you think these are the kind of issues that might persist after November 8, whatever the result?

Absolutely. And, of course, the email issues, as well - we saw this report come out last week of a, quote, unquote, "potential quid pro quo" between the FBI and State Department investigators. This is something that I think Republicans are going to use to unite themselves.

turn 3 :  (4) "Delicately" - This word implies that the speaker is referring to a sensitive and delicate issue.

Which word suggests a sensitive issue in turn 3?

Answer: Delicate


So let's start with the broad lay of the land. How much money do big donors pour into races generally, and how influential are they?

Big donors can give hundreds of millions of dollars. They can really get into just huge sums of money. And so this year, when you're talking about a mid-term congressional election instead of a presidential election, that money is going to play out across 50 states. It's going to play out across hot Senate races. And it's going to play out in little, mini, pitched battles across House races. And so it has a very different impact than it does in the presidential.

How so?An outsize impact?

In some congressional districts, it can. You know, it takes a lot less money to saturate a House district with ads than it does to tip something in the presidential.

turn 1 : Big donors can influence elections across all levels of government.

What level of government can big donors influence?

Answer: All


In - yes, all of those things. There were royal guards lining a red carpet that extended from Air Force One all the way to the terminal, children with flowers, trumpets, jets flying over with red-white-and-blue smoke trails decorating the sky. And then that was actually only the first arrival ceremony. There was a second arrival ceremony at the royal court, where a band played "The Star-Spangled Banner. "There were bagpipes. The president was awarded a medal, one of the top honors in the country for for people who are not from Saudi Arabia. Now, President Obama. . .

I've seen that on the television images. It looks like the kind of thing a sommelier wears in a classy restaurant.

(Laughter) I don't think I go to those kind of restaurants, Scott.

(Laughter).

turn 3 : The literal meaning of (3) and (4) is that A and B are laughing, but their actual meaning is that A and B are joking with each other.

Which meaning of PersonA and PersonB's laughter is not literal?

Answer: Actual


I made up my own mind. I figured that at some point it would turn into a mandatory evacuation and I wanted to get ahead of the traffic.

You know, to have gone through this once is bad enough. To be going through it a second time, I can't even imagine what that must have been like. As you were getting closer to having to make the decision to get up and get out, what went through your mind?

I immediately remembered what it was like three years ago, and I think that I was in sort of disbelief. I couldn't believe that I was going through it again. And I - the first thing I thought of was OK, what do I need to take with me that I want to see again?Because I immediately thought of what happened during Katrina and how, you know, it just caught us all off guard, and I just wanted to be prepared.

What did you take?

turn 2 : I learned from my past experience and prepared accordingly.

What did the speaker do differently this time?

Answer: Differently


Let me ask you about what are called battleground states in this coming election. I'll rattle off Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Is there early voting there?Will people take advantage of it?

Absolutely. Florida - it'll be - approximately 40 percent of the ballots will come in early, perhaps a higher number. Half of those will come in early in person. Ohio also has a lot of early voting. Pennsylvania - no. Pennsylvania still only allows for excuse-required absentee balloting. So in Pennsylvania, they still wait until Election Day.

And, Scott, this is going to change the dynamics in those states so that you will expect to see early rallies timed when the early voting period opens up, likely in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina. The candidates' travel schedule will reflect this because they want to follow up that kind of enthusiasm and get people to the polls right away.

And are more people voting early now not because they have to but because they just want to?

turn 2 : "change the dynamics" means to alter the way things are done

Which state only allows excuse-required absentee balloting?

Answer: Pennsylvania


We're hosting an online viewing party of sorts. For all those people who couldn't be among the 75,000 at INVESCO, I guess the next best thing to do is have your computer at your desk and join us. So we'll be linking to a stream of the event, and we'll host a real-time conversation.

So give that address again.

nprnewsandviews. org.

All right. Geoffrey Bennett is the web producer for News and Notes, joining me from the studios at the NPR west. Geoff, thank you very much.

turn 2 : The website address to join the online viewing party is nprnewsandviews.org

What is the name of the website to join the online viewing party?

Answer: nprnewsandviews.org


All right. I want to take a quick detour. Staying with Secretary Rice, she spoke at a conference this week concerning HBCUs, or historically black colleges and universities. And she championed more diversity among diplomats, saying, I have lamented that I can go into a meeting at the Department of State, and as a matter of fact I can go into a whole day of meetings at the Department of State, and actually rarely see somebody who looks like me. And that is just not acceptable.

So Emira, do you think that having more black people in diplomatic positions will change, for example, Africa policy?

Well clearly, we have had Condoleezza Rice at the top of the ticket, right?She has been the lead in U. S. -Africa policy and broader U. S.  foreign policy. And that has not necessarily improved U. S.  relations with Africa. If anything, this administration has had a more militaristic approach to Africa under Condoleezza Rice. So it is important to make sure that there are a range of views represented in foreign policy, a range of views that will bring about a more responsible U. S.  engagement with the continent, and with the rest of the world.

And so, yes, it would be great to have more people from black and brown communities in those senior places, but it is important what their views are, what their foreign policy agenda is. I think we are now in the 21st century, where we have to push forward to say, we demand, really, that the U. S.  engages in a more responsible way with Africa and the rest of the evolving world.

turn 3 : Having people from diverse communities in senior positions is important, but their views and foreign policy agenda matter more

What is more important than having people from diverse communities in senior positions according to PersonA's viewpoint?

Answer: views


Inside of his house, family pictures decorate the walls and the fridge. Les has 15 great grandchildren. He grew up in an orphanage, and he couldn't wait to leave to join the military. And so in early 1944, he boarded a ship and crossed the Atlantic Ocean to go to the frontline.

I loved that sailing on, of course. It was so dramatic. You could see all these ships bobbing up and down on the ocean. And destroyers were weaving in and out of them to make sure they uncovered any mines or anything.

When he got to England for the first time, he met other paratroopers who'd already seen combat. Les was a rookie with something to prove.

It was hard to make friends.

turn 1 : Sailing across the ocean during wartime was a perilous experience.

How would you describe the sailing experience during wartime?

Answer: Dramatic


Well, I would imagine that if you can survive all that stuff, right, and you can be zapped with radiation, frozen to almost to almost absolute zero, you can dry up or you go into some sort of. . .

It's called the tun phase. They sort of shrivel up, became desiccated, and then they can just survive all of these things, and then be brought back to life.

And they just wait for the right moment to. . .

You just - a drop of water, I think, will do it.

turn 0 : It is not actually zapped. It has been exposed to radiation.

What is the term for the phase that the organism goes through?

Answer: tun


This report also looked at who could possibly pose this sort of threat, where they're based. What were the findings there?

Al-Qaeda is probably still the lead terrorist group. There are others, as we're seeing, or could be seeing, in India right now. Some of them are regional in nature, but the problem is that these terrorists all have organizationally the sophistication to get the technology to use one of these weapons. And we know that they have the desire to do it.

Now, we don't think they have the capability yet, but they have the sophistication to get it. And it terms of bio, if they recruit the right, you know, bio scientist or two, they get the technical capability.

Do the recent bombings last week in Mumbai add any weight to this report?

turn 1 : Al-Qaeda is the most likely terrorist group to use weapons

What terrorist group is the most probable to use weapons?

Answer: AlQaeda


You're welcome. What a pleasure.

What are the factors you had to take into consideration to do things like help create flags and currency for South Sudan?

What I learned was these state symbols are really marks of consensus. They're about design, but they're really about agreement. So South Sudan is comprised of 60 ethnic tribes, and for the one symbol that they were able to produce during the time of the referendum to the time of their independence, they produced a national seal. And they had to get the agreement of 28 cabinet ministers representing these tribes.

And what's the seal look like?How would you describe it?

turn 3 :  B: "And what's the seal look like? How would you describe it?"  The literal meaning of this turn is a request for a physical description of the national seal. However, the intended meaning is to ask for the significance or symbolism behind the design of the seal.

How did PersonB intend to interpret the symbolism behind the design of the seal?

Answer: Significance


Hi - so glad to have you with us. And let me start here. Just to recap this war of words, Iran says the U. S.  is lying about where the drone was shot down. The U. S.  says Iran is lying. How are we likely to know?How will this be resolved beyond a take one person's word over the other situation?How do they figure that out?

Well, first, there is, obviously, the release of the actual location data for where the BAMS or Broad Area Maritime Surveillance aircraft was flying. That - hopefully, it will be released shortly by Central Command. But part of it, too, Mary Louise, is the fact that there's absolutely no reason for this aircraft to have to fly over Iran to gather the data that the U. S.  military was interested in gathering.

You're saying there's circumstantial evidence that just - why would it have been there?- which tends to support the U. S.  position.

Well, right. And no U. S.  commander - speaking from experience - would put the aircraft in that kind of a situation. And for your audience, that reason is that, unlike aircraft - surveillance aircraft in the past, the kind of sensor systems that are onboard this drone are such that they can see dozens and dozens and dozens of miles away from the aircraft. So, you know, it's flying up above 50,000 feet over the Strait of Hormuz. It can monitor the entire strait plus see inside Iran without having to fly over it.

turn 3 : monitor implies to watch and detect presence of something, it's not the computer television-like device

How can the drone monitor the entire strait and see inside Iran without having to fly over it?

Answer: Sensor


Hi - so glad to have you with us. And let me start here. Just to recap this war of words, Iran says the U. S.  is lying about where the drone was shot down. The U. S.  says Iran is lying. How are we likely to know?How will this be resolved beyond a take one person's word over the other situation?How do they figure that out?

Well, first, there is, obviously, the release of the actual location data for where the BAMS or Broad Area Maritime Surveillance aircraft was flying. That - hopefully, it will be released shortly by Central Command. But part of it, too, Mary Louise, is the fact that there's absolutely no reason for this aircraft to have to fly over Iran to gather the data that the U. S.  military was interested in gathering.

You're saying there's circumstantial evidence that just - why would it have been there?- which tends to support the U. S.  position.

Well, right. And no U. S.  commander - speaking from experience - would put the aircraft in that kind of a situation. And for your audience, that reason is that, unlike aircraft - surveillance aircraft in the past, the kind of sensor systems that are onboard this drone are such that they can see dozens and dozens and dozens of miles away from the aircraft. So, you know, it's flying up above 50,000 feet over the Strait of Hormuz. It can monitor the entire strait plus see inside Iran without having to fly over it.

Answer: Sensor


They have been sheltered. And now, several of - because Salvini said, I won't accept them unless other countries take them. And several other European countries have agreed to divide them up.

And meanwhile, in general, migrants are continuing to come to Europe in big numbers.

Not really. There's been a huge drop in the first six months of this year - 2,100, compared to about 14,300 the year before. That's an 85% drop.

Yeah.

turn 1 : although there are still migrants coming to Europe, the number has significantly decreased.

What has been the percentage decrease in the number of migrants coming to Europe in the first six months of this year?

Answer: 85%


Oh, absolutely.

You know, like, what are some of the other barbecue don'ts that come up when all of you all get together?

I think hovering is a big one, people who want to jump on the grill before they've been invited to, people who think they're helping out by bringing a side of beef that they figure you have room on the grill to just add that into your menu, any kind of, you know, presumptuous guests.

What about some barbecue do's?Are there some do's that you wish people would do that they perhaps don't think to do?

turn 3 : do's refers to all acceptable behavior and activities

Answer: Acceptable


To be fair to President Trump, while tariffs, in my view, represent appalling economic policy, they are a reasonable political tactic in seizing the attention of a foreign government - in this case, China. And he succeeded on that. But in terms of the outcome that he produces, it'll be a classic case of the glass being either half-full or half-empty, depending on who looks at it.

Market access and a reduction in the U. S.  trade deficit with China over time - the glass will be more than half full. But on the others, the glass will get progressively empty. And I would be surprised, particularly on that question of state subsidy for China's high-technology industries, whether we'll see much substantive Chinese movement at all.

Do you think that Chinese leaders respect President Trump and his negotiating style?

I think the Chinese see in Trump two things. One is a preparedness to double down on these trade negotiations over a long period of time to extract maximum change in the Chinese position. So they see Trump as exercising American strength.

turn 3 : The outcome of President Trump's negotiations with China is likely to be uncertain, and it may be difficult to judge the success or failure of his policies.

What is the uncertainty surrounding President Trump's negotiations with China?

Answer: uncertainty


This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has had a rapid career rise. He was appointed Egypt's defense minister after the Arab Spring outpouring by Egypt's first freely elected president, the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi. But just a year later, General Sisi helped oust Mr.  Morsi and then he began to run the country. Now, his title is Field Marshal Sisi, the top military post. And just this past week, he took the next step to becoming Egypt's next president. The possible rise of a new military strongman raises questions about if the Arab Spring put Egypt on a path of democracy and civilian rule or more authoritarianism. Samer Shehata joins us. He's a political scientist at University of Oklahoma, and he joins us from the studios of KGOU in Norman, Oklahoma. Samer, thanks very much for being with us.

Pleasure to speak to you.

Why is a field marshal, according to various surveys, so popular in Egypt?

He's popular for a number of reasons. One, there were many people, of course, who were opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood and Mr.  Morsi before he became president. And of course it was a disastrous year in office. And there are many people who, as a result of all of that, are longing for stability and security. And the idea of a military general running the show is reassuring.

turn 2 : "various surveys" - Literal meaning: different types of research studies. Actual meaning: There have been different opinion polls or data gathering methods used to understand why Field Marshal Sisi is popular in Egypt.

Answer: Opinion


And how much do we know at this moment in time, this early in the day, about what the damage is up there?

You know, we saw reports. As we were doing live coverage, we saw reports of damage start to trickle in. But, really, right after an earthquake, it is, like, fog of war. No one knows what's going on. Emergency responders are just going out trying to survey the damage. We did hear reports of fires.

We got some calls into our - into KPCC of people telling us that they had fallen. One woman said that she thought maybe she broke her wrist. And there were a lot of people who were just afraid to go back into their houses, which is another big thing with big earthquakes - is that it disrupts people's lives not just for that one moment, but continuously, especially after aftershock after aftershock after aftershock keeps hitting.

All right. Well, we'll be getting updates throughout the morning. And thanks very much for joining us. KPCC's Jacob Margolis, science reporter and host of a podcast called "The Big One: Your Survival Guide. "Thank you, Jacob.

turn 1 : We saw reports of damage slowly come in to our studio. It is chaotic and confusing for everyone right after an earthquake and everyone is a bit stunned.

Answer: Survival


Yeah?

But that was one that you know, through all the red tape, it actually made it to the record.

So, from an audience standpoint, Miles Davis, it was crazy to see him in the '80s. You know, back to the audience, head down, blow a couple of notes, walk off stage for half hour and come back. What was it like working with him during that time?

Well, during the '80s I think he was passed that. I think it was more like that in the '60s. In the '80s, he was very open. I mean, he was a good friend to me. I spent a lot of personal time with him, you know, at his house and just chatting, and he would paint, you know, and we would just hang out, man. I spent a lot of quality time with him, you know.

You also are into blues, obviously. "The Good Girl Blues" that was the last CD. . .

turn 1 : Discussing the difficulties to get something done despite bureaucracy

How did Miles Davis act during the '80s?

Answer: a


Yeah, I believe there's a certainty of it. I started out my career as a journalist covering races in Mississippi, and every year people would try to give black people bad information, and we at the local black newspaper would find ourselves, you know, working with the NAACP, trying to get out good information. They would go through black neighborhoods and pass out flyers saying don't forget to vote on Wednesday, for instance. I'm sure that tactic, which is one of the tried and true, will be tried again somewhere in this country.

Well, Benjamin Jealous, thank you so much.

Thank you. It's a real pleasure.

Benjamin Jealous is the president of the NAACP.

turn 0 : People may try to give misleading information to black people during an election.

What was Benjamin Jealous' profession before becoming the president of the NAACP?

Answer: Career


Well, it is. It starts off in Pumalin Park, which is temperate rain forest - so think of the coast of British Columbia - all the way down into the grassland/steppe areas toward the tip of the country. It really encompasses almost every ecotone that one would find in the south of the country.

We should note this is now the largest private donation of land to a government ever. You and your husband ran this place as a park for a long time. I've been there. And it is indeed just one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Why hand it over to the government of Chile?

Well, you know, we grew up within the national parks here in the United States. And there is a sense of, I would even say, ownership by every American who goes through the front gates of Yellowstone or Yosemite, that those are public parks. They belong to everybody. And Chile is no different. We hope that somehow between the creation of national parks, the development of what we call economic development as a consequence of conservation that precious masterpieces of the country will be preserved forever.

Have you gotten guarantees, though, that the government of Chile will run it in a way that's sustainable?There have been concerns about the capacity of the government of Chile to really run these parks in the same way that you've run them.

turn 2 : In this turn, the speaker is using the phrase "ownership" in a figurative sense, meaning a sense of responsibility, connection, and stewardship towards national parks, rather than actual legal ownership.

How did the speaker use the word "ownership"?

Answer: Figurative


With us now, author and economist Julianne Malveaux, she is president of Bennett College. Welcome, Dr.  Malveaux.

Greetings, Farai. How are you?

I'm doing well, but some people aren't. And let's talk about these figures and really, what is shifting in our economy right now in terms of the different sectors where people are losing these tens of thousands of jobs?

Well, people are looking ahead and they're very uncertain, and that's what we see in markets. We see people laying people off. We also have some challenge in financial market. Certainly, the Bear Stearns' crisis raises all kinds of questions. The housing market, of course, we've talked about that on this program several times, but the fact is that we see a stagnancy. We don't see growth. We see houses that are overvalued. Lots of people in mortgage crisis. People who bought homes within the last five years finding that they overpaid for their homes and they couldn't sell them in what they paid for them, so they're stuck. That removes liquidity.

turn 3 : "Certainly, the Bear Stearns' crisis raises all kinds of questions." - The literal meaning is a statement about the impact of the Bear Stearns crisis on the financial market. The implied meaning is that the Bear Stearns' crisis has resulted in uncertainty and questions about the stability of the financial market.

Answer: Bear


Absolutely. Marine Le Pen did very well. That was expected. It wasn't a huge shock. She got about 24% of the vote. Macron avoided disaster. He personally invested in the campaign. He got about 22%, so came in, you know, second. But it was clearly a rebuke - a rebuke to him. And the - you know, the top person in Marine Le Pen's party lists said, the president - he turned this vote into a plebiscite, and he got his answer. The people are against him and his policies.

That is NPR's Eleanor Beardsley in Paris.

Eleanor, thanks so much.

Michel, good to be with you.

turn 0 : Macron did not do well in the election.

What was the percentage of votes obtained by Macron in the election?

Answer: Treasury


I had a very sobering experience last week. Michigan's Democratic governor was tapped to play the part of Sarah Palin in practice debates with Joe Biden. And while she was out of the state, I wrote a fantastic column whose premise was that Sarah Palin had arrived in Michigan, barged into the vacant governor's office, and decided to see what she could do to whip our mopey little state into shape.

Now, what I was not prepared for was the hundreds of readers who called the Free Press to ask, did the governor of Alaska really crash into the governor's office and take over the state for a day?And I spoke to one woman, and I said, ma'am, isn't this premise a little bit implausible?And she said, Mr.  Dickerson, a lot of what I see on the news doesn't make sense these days, but it all seems to be true.

And I think that's the level of confusion and shock and awe that's out there in our state these days. They really don't know which end is up.

Brian Dickerson is a political columnist for the Detroit Free Press, getting a lot of interesting phone calls and letters. Thank you very much.

turn 0 : The columnist's fictional premise was mistaken for a real event

Which state's governor was mistaken for Sarah Palin in the columnist's fictional premise?

Answer: Fictional


Well - and I think I'll compete by getting out there, by talking to folks like I always do. I think I've also done more on sort of the original sin of where we are in a post-Citizens United world, getting rid of dark money and the outside influences of dollars. When laws are literally written now to make donors happy, we've got a problem.

We do know that voters are very concerned about health care. We certainly saw that in the midterm elections. And you recently expanded Medicaid in your state - something that you've just mentioned.

We got it reauthorized, yeah.

But you haven't publicly supported single-payer health care. That seems to be a very popular position in the Democratic Party now, along with the Green New Deal. What is your position on single-payer and the Green New Deal?

You bet. You bet. First, starting, like, everyone should have access to health care. And it should be affordable. And that is what I've been working on in Montana, both through Medicaid expansion, through high-risk pools, through other things. And I think that you can get to universal accessibility and affordability in a way that isn't necessarily Medicare for all because you'd be disrupting - I don't know - 155 million people that have employer-sponsored health care. You do it by having a public option, no Medicare buy-in. It's about time when we can negotiate prescription drug prices with the biggest payer, which is Medicare. But it's that corrupting dollars that keep us out of that.

turn 4 : "You do it by having a public option, no Medicare buy-in." - The phrase "you do it" here means "the solution is to," and does not refer to a physical act of doing something.

How does the speaker propose achieving universal accessibility and affordability in healthcare?

Answer: Public


Wow. So that must have even surprised the researchers, I imagine.

Yeah, well the big thing is nobody really has any even guess about how the brain is able to do this. They did some similar experiments where they weren't turning somebody's world upside-down, they were - they had goggles that reversed right and left. So everything that was on your right is suddenly on your left.

And again, the first few days were just madness from the point of view of somebody doing this. The whole world is reversed. But after a few days, the brain adjusted to it.

Amazing. And so when they took the goggles of him and he had to go back to the normal life, how long did that take?

turn 1 : The brain is capable of adjusting to unusual situations quickly.

Answer: Adjusting


John, you've been explaining to us how the ripple effects of Wall Street are hitting the average American, and now we have some questions for you from a few of our listeners. You ready?

Great, Tony, yes.

Here's the first one. Renee Mack Jones(ph) of Atlanta, Georgia, asks this question. I keep hearing people say that this 700 billion dollars in government rescue money is absolutely necessary, and if the government didn't step in and do something, there would have been a global financial meltdown. But there must be some negative side effects to this historically expensive bailout. What are they, and where are the hundreds of billions of dollars coming from when there is such a large deficit already?

Sure. Well, there are two main drawbacks. One is basically the principle that if you bail these folks out, really you're just encouraging them, they need to be punished for their transgressions, and that some feel that what has happened so far really makes them feel that they haven't been spanked hard enough, that they need really some more pain to avoid such problems in the past.

turn 3 : The bailout is not punishment enough for the people responsible for the financial crisis.

Which principle is mentioned as the drawback of bailing out the people responsible for the financial crisis?

Answer: Principle


Hey, Geoff.

What's up, Farai?

Well, as you can tell, things are starting to crystallize and solidify in terms of this race. So you've got this endorsement of Barack Obama by Senator Ted Kennedy and his niece, Caroline Kennedy. How's that reverberating online?

Well, it's interesting. After Caroline Kennedy's op-ed appeared in The New York Times, searches of her name rose 179 percent, mainly by people over the age of 35 and across the two-thirds of the nation geographically. Now this is according to Yahoo Buzz Index. Now, for Ted Kennedy, his searches went up 248 percent. People were also searching for more about JFK, Maria Shriver and Jacqueline Kennedy.

turn 3 : This phrase means that the endorsement is having an impact or causing reactions online. It is not referring to actual sound reverberation.

Which word in turn 3 is being used metaphorically?

Answer: Reverberating


As soon as we saw it, there's no mistaking it, Mr.  Fernandez told the New York Post. It's basically a miniature version of the shark you see in the movie "Jaws. "And Mr.  Fernandez and his fishing buddies were in a boat not far off 116th Street. Close enough, as he said, that we could still see the colors of the bathing suits of the people on the beach.

The great white that Steve Fernandez snagged turned out to be an 80 pound baby shark. The shark's mother, who probably weighs about 600 pounds, was swimming only a little further away. Great white sharks are apparently protected by New York State regulations. The authorities consider sharks too big to fail so the fisher people snapped a few shark selfies and slipped their catch back into the see. A great white shark in far Rockaway, Queens - well, why not?They say you can find at least one of everything somewhere in New York. But wouldn't you think the sharks would swim closer to Wall Street?

(Singing) Baby there's a shark in the water. There's something underneath my bed. Oh, please believe, I said. Baby there's a shark in the water. I caught them barking at the moon. You better get here soon.

V.  V.  Brown. You're listening to NPR News.

turn 2 : The lyrics of the song in turn 3 are actually about a romantic relationship, not an actual shark in the water.

How are the lyrics of the song in turn 3 interpreted?

Answer: Romantic


Now, how does Ukraine come in?

It's very confusing, but let's see what I can do here. So on the Internet, things move really fast. It's like a huge game of telephone. So once this firm caught the attention of the far-right online, they discovered that it was owned by a Russian American man who had previously done some work for a think tank called the Atlantic Council. It's a D. C. -based think tank, sort of works alongside NATO. And it's a pretty innocuous place. It does research on misinformation and digital warfare, things like that.

And there's a Ukrainian oligarch who was on one of the advisory boards for the Atlantic Council. And it seems somewhere along the line, the Ukrainian oligarch became the owner of CrowdStrike. This is not true, of course. But when things are moving so fast online, facts start to combine together, and it becomes very confusing.

So the idea is people who are on the far-right, conspiracy theorists, went looking for a connection, went looking to say, who are these CrowdStrike guys?And once they do enough looking, they're able to find a Ukrainian oligarch who they say, aha, this is the connection. So what about this server that the president implied was somehow in Ukraine?I mean, he - on this call talked to Ukraine's leader and brought up CrowdStrike. What would he be looking for?

turn 1 : Information on the internet is passed from person to person quickly. The man did some work for an organization where people think of solutions to problems.

How would you describe the organization the man previously worked for?

Answer: Think


I would say that those who have sought to make a story of this initially focused on the decision by Hunter Biden to take this lucrative deal. But starting late last year and really kind of earlier this year in March timeframe, Giuliani and his allies have been pushing allegations that Joe Biden when he was vice president used his office to put pressure on the Ukrainian president at the time to fire a prosecutor who they allege was investigating Hunter Biden and the company that had him on the board.

I looked very closely at this and spoke to officials who were involved in that. And I understand the first example of the questions about whether or not he should have taken this job in the first place. I think that is a legitimate topic to be discussed and suggests questionable judgment that was made by Hunter. But in the case of his father using his office to fire this prosecutor, what I found was to the contrary. That prosecutor was not investigating his son or the company and is merely claiming that he did in retrospect.

Does Hunter Biden still hold this position?

He resigned the position on the board earlier this summer and basically decided that it just wasn't worth the heat for himself and for his father.

turn 3 : He resigned because the job was not worth all of the trouble that he and his father were going through.

How did Hunter Biden react to the heat he and his father were facing?

Answer: resigned


Scott Snyder is the senior fellow for Korea studies and the director of the program on U. S. -Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. You're listening to TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News.

And you mentioned that parade of prime ministers in Tokyo. Mr.  Abe himself was a short-term prime minister as he got himself into some trouble on nationalist, among other issues. Is he likely to trim his sails back towards the center this time?He ran a pretty nationalist campaign.

Well, those specialists who have had direct contact with him suggested he's really a realist and a pragmatist. And that, in fact, last time when he was prime minister, he did curb some of those rhetorical impulses and, in fact, opened up kind of a new page in the relationship between Japan and China. Certainly, that sort of statesmanship is in great demand at this stage given the increasing tensions in the regional environment.

And the - as his rule maybe ephemeral, we will have to see. China, the new leaders there can look forward to a decade, if history - recent history is any guide. I guess, we've seen two now transitions of power in China that were reasonably predictable. But as they look ahead, does that suggest caution?Does that suggest - what signs are you looking for, what indicators as to what they will do on the crucial issue, for example, of political reform?

turn 1 : sail back to the centre implies engaging in doing things right this time in order to build bridges and connection

What does Mr. Abe need to do in order to build bridges and connection?

Answer: Trim


That's absolutely the case. Turkey is the 16th or, by another measure, 17th largest economy in the world. Turks are wealthier than they've been in the past. And that is part of the secret to Erdogan's success. And that is why if there was an election today, I think there's no doubt that Prime Minister Erdogan would win. Perhaps he wouldn't get 49. 95 percent of the vote, but he would certainly get a very large number of votes. There is a growing middle class of people who vote on one issue and one issue only, and that's on their pocketbooks.

Add that to a core constituency and the fact that the opposition parties are extraordinarily weak, don't have much to offer Turks in the way a positive vision for Turkey's future, and Prime Minister Erdogan, despite this being the greatest political crisis of his decade at power, would still prevail.

Give us an idea of who is at these demonstrations, which groups. Are these the disaffected, the people who voted against him, the people who lost the last election, as he puts it?

It's certainly those people. There has been a contingent of secular urban but not all elite people who've come out who have felt hemmed in and marginalized over the course of the last decade. And they're - because their parties have been so ineffective in challenging the Justice and Development Party, they are now finding their voices in the street. Prime Minister Erdogan has wanted to finger the main opposition party, the Republican People's Party, for the demonstrations. That's certainly not the case.

turn 0 : People voting on their pocketbooks means they vote considering their money/profit.

Which issue do people in Turkey's growing middle class vote on?

Answer: economy


Well, yeah. That's the thing about everything in life, kind of, is that you kind of have to try certain things out to figure out what you want. So it's like you should always be able to have that moment of, like, figuring out who you are by using a bunch of different things that you've heard already. And then instead of still doing that for your whole career, which I think some people do, you have to take that and, like, digest it and then come out with something that's everything combined. And it's your own thing.

(Singing) Where did you go?I should know. But it's cold. And I don't want to be lonely. So show me the way home. I can't lose another life.

I get that sense of being real is something deeply important.

It's very important for me. I just feel uncomfortable having things be disingenuous. Like, I just have a big thing about honesty and, like, real. . .

turn 1 : The singer is not actually asking someone to show them the way home but rather expressing their loneliness and desperation due to feeling lost and without direction.

Which turn suggests that the singer's lyrics are not a literal request for help?

Answer: Turn1


Four. Four. We have two children.

You're a fam of four. And you are in the hospital, all four of you?

Were in the hospital, yes.

So what do you plan to do when the storm stops?

turn 2 : B is asking about A's plans after the storm, assuming that they are in the hospital for a reason.

Which assumption does PersonB make about PersonA's reason for being in the hospital?

Answer: Assuming


I don't think that realistically it means that they could crush them. Of course it would give Assad and his supporters more opportunity to attempt to crush them, but they haven't been able to crush them. And I don't think the balance of fighting over the last several years has been all that favorable to Assad. So I think more likely is an outcome in which there are more casualties, more destruction, more loss of life.

So what's the advantage in a six-month waiting period for a cease-fire?

I don't think they agreed to have a waiting period. I think this is a prognosis - a hopeful prognosis - and that might even entertain the notion that perhaps it could be sooner. I think if the United States and Russia, and Russia using its influence on Syria comes along also, then perhaps there might be more tangible progress in less time than six months.

And what are the common interests, as you see it, that the United States and Russia have in Syria?

turn 2 :  A's actual meaning in this turn is that the United States and Russia, along with Russia's influence on Syria, could potentially make progress on the cease-fire in less than the suggested six-month waiting period.

How does PersonA believe progress on the cease-fire could potentially be made sooner?

Answer: Russia


Say that you're 80. . .
OK.
What's Sommore going to be like?
I would probably be like Peg Bundy.

turn 0 : B is asking about your age, not your grade.

Answer: Peg


So, what do you make of all these pardons?

These pardons are a typical old practice in Russia and the Soviet Union. But, of course, President Vladimir Putin made a wonderful publicity show of pardoning Mikhail Khodorkovsky and this was totally unexpected. There had been talk about another trial against him. And instead, now he's already in Germany.

Let me ask you about what seemed to be, from Mr.  Putin's point of view, a productive week. Ukraine's government, after weeks of some wavering, decided not to sign an agreement with the European Union and instead threw in with the economic aid package from Moscow. How do you read that?

Well, I think it's quite a victory for President Putin and also for President Yanukovych. What President Putin got, it was some kind of alliance with Ukraine. And he also got support for his kind of economic and political system, rather authoritarian and not quite run by the rule of law. And President Yanukovych, he got $50 million in a probably quite expensive loan, which means that he can keep going for 15 months more, until he has presidential elections in Ukraine.

I'm curious as to why Ukraine seems to be teetering. Because when the USSR split up, a lot of people said this is going to be a country with a lot going for it - almost 50 million people; it was considered the breadbasket of the old Soviet Union; coal, steel. What's happened?

turn 4 : B: "Because when the USSR split up, a lot of people said this is going to be a country with a lot going for it" - The literal meaning of this statement is that people had high expectations for Ukraine after the Soviet Union dissolved. The actual meaning could be that despite Ukraine's potential and resources, its political and economic instability has hindered its progress.

What does the statement imply about Ukraine's current situation?

Answer: Instability


Chop, chop into smallish pieces.

OK.

Then you soften eight ounces of cream cheese, and you blend that with two-thirds of a cup of sour cream, get it all nice and smooth and then you spread that over the minced onion.

And you have the ambulance on speed dial, but yeah. . .

turn 2 : The implied meaning of turn (1) is to hurry up and finish the task quickly.

How does PersonA want PersonB to chop the ingredients?

Answer: chop


Well, you know, everything was coming from me, so it was a big more relaxed. The process was very organic because, you know, I didn't intend to write a book or to create these paintings for a book. I was just doing this out of the love for the subject.

But, you know, the more and more I became familiar with this story that, you know, I figured that I really wanted to tell this story in a book and share this story with others because it was so inspirational. It's a great story of perseverance and innovation and pride and excellence amidst adversity.

When African-Americans were confronted with a ban from playing Major League Baseball at the end of the 19th century, they loved baseball so much that they wanted to form their own league. They wanted to form their own grand stage which would allow them to play baseball for a living. And that grand stage became the Negro Leagues, one of the most profitable and successful African-American-owned businesses of all time.

Now you had a unique way of preparing for the book, especially the way you got ready to do the paintings. Tell me how you used the uniform as a way to psyche yourself up.

Well, what I wanted to do was to shed new light on this subject and show this - share this history in a very new way, and I wanted to show new images from the Negro Leagues that have never been seen before. and the only way I could do that really was through this medium, the painted medium.

turn 3 :  "shed new light on this subject" - This phrase is used figuratively to mean providing new and insightful information about a subject, rather than literally illuminating something.

What does the phrase "shed new light on this subject" mean?

Answer: provide


In the book, you describe what could be seen as a very mundane moment. Stax's owner, Jim Stewart, seated at a small desk in a small office. And across from him at the same desk is a man named Al Bell. I'd like you to read just a little bit for us.

(Reading) Jim was white. Al was black. Jim owns Stax Records. Al was joining the staff to promote the records - get them played, get them sold. It was 1965 in Memphis, Tennessee, the heart of the American South. Throughout this wide region, race mixing was nothing short of an assault on the social realm. Inside Stax Records, whites and blacks had worked side by side for half a decade. People who couldn't publicly dine together were making beautiful music that the public - black and white - loved to hear.

There was a core group that became kind of a house band.

Booker T and the MGs.

turn 1 : The second turn implies that Jim and Al working together at the same desk was an act of defiance against the racial norms of the time.

What was the name of the group mentioned in the third turn?

Answer: core


It's probably a combination of both. The sense that people have out there is that there is certainly a level of speculator buying by local investors, by local real-estate investors. But you know, there's quite a number of loans also being made to first-time buyers and others who are looking to move and so forth.

And meanwhile, there are various plans to try to get homeowners to hang on to their homes, to stay in their homes and avoid foreclosures, one coming out from the FDIC's Sheila Bair. Tell us about that.

Yeah. So, the plan that Ms.  Bair talked about yesterday at a hearing in Washington was that if servicers - these are mortgages companies that basically handle collections and billing on behalf of investors and banks - if they agree to modify some of these troubled loans in a way that the government says you should do, then the government would agree to shoulder any or shoulder a part of the future loss under this loan.

So, who would that help, the homeowners or the banks?

turn 2 : If mortgage companies agree to modify loans according to government standards, the government will help shoulder future losses.

How would the government assist in the future losses of those who modified their loans?

Answer: a


Has the United States done this before - taken back citizens who have some connection to ISIS fighters?

We know of one previous case. That's of Samantha El Hassani and her four children, who were repatriated to the U. S.  She's now standing trial in Indiana in a federal court, accused of providing material support to terrorism. Although, she's pleading not guilty, saying, you know, her husband dragged her to Syria. The U. S.  has said that they want to take back citizens. And President Trump has even urged in a tweet for other countries to take their citizens back. But it's not a blanket acceptance of people from Syria. The State Department says they're looking at the individuals on a case-by-case basis. And there is the ongoing controversial case of Hoda Muthana. She was born in New Jersey. She's been previously issued with U. S.  passports, but the U. S.  is challenging her citizenship status because her father is Yemeni.

As you point out, this is not just about U. S.  citizens. Tens of thousands of people went to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS. How are other countries handling this with their own citizens?

Well, as you say, it's a huge problem. So we're looking at about 46 other countries who are having to deal with this at the moment. And there's 13,000 women and children in the camps in Syria as well as the men in prisons. Some people have - some countries have taken their citizens back, like Kazakhstan and Sudan. But a lot of countries in Europe are saying, you know, we don't want these people back. The U. K.  has gone as far as stripping some people of citizenship.

turn 1 : Not all citizens from Syria will be accepted back.

What is the reason for the State Department's selective approach to accepting citizens from Syria?

Answer: Case-by-case


Yeah.

There is still that love. There still that. . .

There absolutely is.

. . . Acceptance.

turn 1 : B is trying to express that love still exists despite some setbacks

Answer: Exists