It was really expensive. It was the most expensive substance on Earth at the time. We're talking about equivalent of 2. 2 million dollars for a single gram.

Wow. And in 1917, of course, with World War I cranking up, there was huge military demand for watches that you could see in the dark and dials that you could see in the - in the dark.

That's right. And as you said, this is when the book opens, so shortly before America joined the First World War. And once they did, of course, join that global conflict, there was this huge boom to the radium industry. Soldiers needed watches, and people needed it for the planes and the trucks and so on. And so the dial painters, who were the radium girls - they were employed to paint all these dials with luminous radium paint. And they were taught to lip point, so to put their brushes between their lips to make a fine point for the detailed handiwork.

To actually put the brush with the radium paint into their mouth.

turn 3 :  the workers were instructed to put the brush with the radium paint into their mouth, not just place it between their lips.

How were the workers instructed to hold the brush with radium paint?

Answer: Mouth


As a matter of fact, I thought about conducting 10 years before I even started to practice it or to study it. But the interesting thing is that I didn't want to do it with just one community. I wanted to bring a lot of communities together. So of course it incubated in the jazz community and the free-music community, but I realized that if non-improvisers wanted to do this, I could incorporate all of them into an ensemble.

What do you think about jazz, some would say, it's lost a lot of its base African-American audience, but it started out with roots in the black experience. Do you think conduction relates to that continuation of the black experience?

Well certainly. I think - well, how can I phrase this?What I'd like to see is that more of the institutions that are dealing with black study, black-American music, get hip to everything that's not on the radio rather than what is on the radio. I don't know, this could be elaborated on for the next two hours.

turn 3 :  "We're going to have to catch up with you then, Butch."  The literal meaning is that the speaker will need to catch up with Butch at a later time. The implied meaning is that the speaker is acknowledging Butch's expertise or knowledge in the topic being discussed and may need to learn more from them in the future.

What is the implied meaning of the statement made by PersonB to Butch?

Answer: Expertise


Mr.  Mayor, in the half a minute we have left, there a lot of people listening to you. A lot of people will be becoming familiar with Beaufort today. They might be moved to help. How can they?

Well, that's a great question. Let us do the initial damage assessment first. And again, I think the biggest thing right now is for those that did evacuate, please standby, be patient with us as we kind of blaze a path for you to return - a safe path for your return.

Rett Newton is the mayor of Beaufort, N. C.  Mr.  Mayor, thanks so much for being with us.

Thank you, Scott.

turn 1 : The mayor cannot guarantee a quick return for those who evacuated.

Which path should evacuated people wait for?

Answer: safe


It does. He talks about it almost every day. He's preparing the ground for it. But a lot of conservatives - and I think this starts with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell - are deeply concerned about it. They see this border issue - whether they see the border issue as a national emergency or not, they do see such a declaration as a bad precedent, something that a future president could use to do things that conservatives regard as radical, such as higher taxes on the ultra-rich or "Medicare-for-all. "

Another week of Roger Stone's wardrobe. Might a judge put an end to his fashion parade?

And to his parade of TV appearances perhaps. There is a federal judge in the District of Columbia contemplating a gag order on this case. That could be a mercy for all concerned, not least Roger Stone's longtime buddy, who is now in the White House.

Thanks so much, Ron Elving, NPR senior political editor.

turn 2 : parade of tv appearances means the person did a lot of interviews

How might a judge end Roger Stone's fashion parade?

Answer: gag


I'm going to have to go to Food Lion, which is 15 miles away, or the Piggly Wiggly.

Which is how far away?

Fifteen miles, and there's also a Wal-Mart, a big Wal-Mart, but I'm not going to that.

Yeah, on principal, right?

turn 3 : Yeah, on principle, right?  The literal meaning of this statement is that B is confirming that A is not going to Wal-Mart based on a principle. However, the implied meaning here is that B is suggesting that A has a personal objection or strong dislike towards Wal-Mart, possibly due to ethical or moral reasons. The phrase "on principle" implies that A's decision is driven by their values or beliefs rather than a mere practical consideration.

How does the phrase "on principle" imply PersonA's decision-making process?

Answer: Values


We are made to meet a quota as well as deadlines. There are about eight different numerical measures that we have to meet during our rating period, which is generally two years. But this latest rating period is one year because they introduced this concept last October. So during our rating period, during this one year, we're expected to complete 700 cases. And we're expected to do a lot of these within specific timelines. It really is very, very dire circumstance for our judges.

And let's say that a judge does not meet his or her quota. What happens?You mentioned financial interests. Does the judge lose his or her job?

So the judge may lose his or her job because, at the end of the rating period, the judge would have to then justify why those numbers have not been met. And the agency will have to determine whether the judge's justification is appropriate or not. And for the agency to impose a singular quota on all of us, as if we are all interchangeable, is absolutely mind-boggling.

We are in El Paso, looking at how this is playing out. What are you hearing from immigration judges in El Paso in particular?

turn 3 : B statement here implies that they are looking out to how the Judges carryout their duties in El Paso in order not to lose their jobs.

How are PersonB and PersonA investigating the performance of judges in El Paso?

Answer: Investigating


Hello.

So, John, I've got my iPhone here. I downloaded this ap last night. Let's give it a little bit of a test run, and we should tell our listeners here, there's going to be a bit of an interference with the microphone.

But let's take the example that I just used and give it a shot. So, Thai food, Los Angeles. I say that into my phone. It does a little working and processing, and next thing you know, it's popped up a list of all of the closest Thai Restaurants to me with phone numbers. It's pretty cool. How does this work?

Usually pretty well. It's also one of my nightmare scenarios as a bicyclist that people like you will be driving all over the place looking at your iPhones.

turn 2 : when something "pops up" in this context it means it came up

Which word describes the function of the iPhone app mentioned in turn 2?

Answer: Display


Yeah. You know, it's a great question. I think that the core of the problem is that they say that they pursue these weapons out of insecurity. So the logical thing is can the world provide them some sort of security?And in past agreements that I have participated in, we provided them security guarantees and offered to negotiate a peace treaty with them. The problem is I think the security - insecurity that they feel is generated by the regime itself. You know, these sorts of totalitarian regimes never feel secure. And that's the core problem.

Because there's mass starvation. There's mass poverty. There's mass oppression.

Right. And that they - all those things, and that they don't rule by the consent of the legitimacy of the people. And that's the basic problem.

Yeah. China has a role in this?

turn 0 : "The problem is I think the security - insecurity that they feel is generated by the regime itself."  In this turn, the actual meaning goes beyond the literal meaning of the words. The speaker is implying that the regime intentionally creates an atmosphere of insecurity in order to maintain control over its population.

How is the atmosphere of insecurity generated?

Answer: Regime


Yes. You know, you will talk to Republicans and Democrats who will make very passionate cases that the other party will be to blame in this shutdown. I think shutdown politics are tricky. For one, we have a recent one in memory. The 2013 shutdown was largely driven by Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a member of the Republican Party. Republicans were seen as responsible for that shutdown. They went on to win big in the following midterm elections.

So the idea that being seen as the party that shuts down government will have electoral consequences, I'm not so sure Democrats view it that way.

Yeah. And the last shutdown lasted 16 days.

It lasted 16 days. If this one lasts as long as that, we will also be in a very interesting situation because President Trump's State of the Union address is 10 days from now. And I - my mind. . .

turn 1 : In (2), the speaker implies that Democrats may not be concerned with being seen as the party responsible for the shutdown, even though it may have electoral consequences.

Answer: 16


The Staples Singers, Booker T and the MGs, Isaac Hayes and more - but the Stax tale isn't just one of another record company that became an international sensation. It's a story of tragedy - business and personal. But most importantly, it's a tale that features racial harmony in a city with a troubled racial history. In the late '50s and early '60s, Memphis, Tennessee was a city divided.

It was a city that you might say had hate pulsing through its veins.

That's author Robert Gordon. He lives in Memphis. His new book is "Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion. "But Stax didn't start as an explosion of soul. The owners of Stax Records, Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton, set out to do something very different.

They were two white siblings. Jim was a white country fiddle player. You just wouldn't believe how far black music was from their minds at the time.

turn 2 :  "an explosion of soul" - The literal meaning of this turn is that there was a sudden and powerful growth of soul music. The figurative meaning is that Stax Records played a major role in popularizing soul music and creating a cultural movement around it.

Which music genre was popularized by Stax Records according to the figurative meaning of turn 2?

Answer: Soul


But I have to say, every time that I think, OK, now is the time I'm going to get in, this is a great buying opportunity, as everyone tells me, every time I look at the stock market, it's gone down again, and I think, phew, it's the end of the day. Thank goodness I didn't buy in today. But then the next day, it happens again.

Yeah, I know. It's depressing. Looking at this market, the market is a reflection of worldwide psychology. So clearly, people around the world are depressed right now, and they're not optimistic about the future, which is sad.

But in the long run, the things that will make the most money are not pieces of rock like gold or liquids like oil or cash, which is just pieces of paper, but real growing companies that are servicing strong demographic trends.

It's impossible to call a bottom. Yes, all these stocks that are cheap could get cheaper, but now is certainly one of the best times to buy stocks that we've seen in the past 70 years. I mean, it's incredible, which is why Warren Buffett is out there buying stocks right now.

turn 1 : The state of the stock market reflects the worldwide pessimism and depression

Which worldwide sentiment is reflected by the state of the stock market?

Answer: depression


And why were charter schools exempted from those stipulations in the first place?

It was never in the original law. You got to remember, this law was written in 1992. We were only the second in the country to have one. And there was a lot that was not anticipated. This is before online schools, virtual schools. . .

Yeah.

. . . Existed. It's before remote schools existed. There's just a lot it didn't consider.

turn 1 : A: "It was never in the original law." The literal meaning of this statement is that the stipulations about charter schools were not included in the original law. The implied meaning is that the original law did not anticipate the development of charter schools, so there were no stipulations about them in the law.

How was the original law regarding charter schools?

Answer: never


I am deeply skeptical of that.

It's true, it's true. It's the - the analysis depends on the content of the air and the water in the specific place where your mother - the area where your mother was living when she was pregnant with you because that's the first bone that forms in your body as a part of the skull bone, apparently. Just as we can take a section of your thigh bone and that will give us a longitudinal picture of where you've been living for the last seven years.

Wow.

It's magic, isn't it?It's exactly those wild moments that I love, and there's a case in the book from - we were talking about insects earlier. . .

turn 3 : The actual meaning behind (4) is not just an expression of admiration but also an invitation to explore and appreciate the wonders of the world.

How does (4) reflect PersonA's attitude towards the wonders of the world?

Answer: Admiration


Well, the president fires the attorney general. The new guy fires the special counsel. History repeats itself. No, the president - President Nixon understood the Constitution. He understood how to govern. He knew he was walking a tightrope. So when a lot of different people in Congress, the public, the courts stood up and showed their courage and they were outraged and started to push back, he backed down. He let the investigation continue. And 10 months later, he resigned. This time it looks like a circus where the clowns are walking a tightrope in slow motion and some people are cheering as if it's a joke. But it's not a joke.

Mr.  Doyle, I must say you sounded almost wistful speaking about Richard Nixon.

(Laughter) Well, yeah. You know, I've never compared Richard Nixon to Thomas Jefferson before. Never thought I should. But I told someone yesterday that compared to Donald Trump, Richard Nixon is Thomas Jefferson.

All right. I'll leave that as your opinion.

turn 0 : The current situation with the president and the special counsel is chaotic and lacks the same level of understanding and respect for the Constitution that Nixon had.

Which president understood how to govern?

Answer: Nixon


We are. . .

We are - yeah.

Oh, a little bit, I guess, you know?

turn 2 :  "There's something - does that bother you or that we're experimenting on ourselves?" The literal meaning is that the speaker is asking a direct question about whether the listener is bothered by the fact that they are experimenting on themselves. However, the actual meaning could be interpreted as the speaker expressing their own concerns or doubts about the experimentation.

What is the PersonA's actual concern about the experimentation?

Answer: Concerns


Well, we think that the individual insurance markets need to be stabilized. There needs to be certainty. Right now, the insurance companies are putting together their plans for rating the 2018 insurance products, and they have no certainty from Congress regarding the support for insurance premiums for lower income people. Without knowing those, they don't know how to price their policies, and they're going to price them very high. So the bit - that's the biggest thing that needs to be addressed right now.

Dr.  Gurman, I move to ask you a question, both as a physician with a practice and the head of the AMA, how much time do you have to spend on matters that have nothing to do with medicine?

Well, unfortunately, a lot. We know from doing detailed studies where we actually follow doctors and minute to minute with a stopwatch find out what they're doing. The doctors are spending less than half of their time actually taking care of patients. So it's a big problem.

And how would you reduce that bureaucracy, though?Because, you know, bureaucracies run on (laughter) run on a paper trail in a sense.

turn 0 : (1) A: The speaker implies that the lack of certainty from Congress regarding support for insurance premiums for lower income people is causing instability in the individual insurance markets, which is leading insurance companies to price their policies very high.

Which factor is causing instability in the individual insurance markets, according to the speaker in turn 0?

Answer: certainty


And in talking to Smith, he's really thought a lot about what - why we have such a strong reaction to looking at embryos, and he's found this firsthand. I mean, and he gets emails all the time and sort of unpacks these questions, like, you know, is it - when you look at these pictures, does it strike you as more human or less human than you would have imagined, he asks. This is what he asked audience when he shows them. What is your experience with seeing these pictures in the past?You know, he said imagine 300 or 400 years ago, would - how would people imagine what an embryo is?This is a technologically. . .

Yeah. Yeah.

. . .  mediated experience.

And not only that, he's taken the technology faster - further, as you show. He's done MRIs, right?

turn 1 : Although the literal meaning of this turn is simply an acknowledgement or agreement, the implied meaning behind it is that the speaker may not be fully engaged or interested in the conversation. It could be interpreted as a way of signaling disinterest or a desire to move on to a different topic.

Which turn in the dialogue could be interpreted as a way of signaling disinterest or a desire to move on to a different topic?

Answer: Impatience


Why the need for this guide?

We know that people are going to be asking themselves is the gift that I'm giving or asking for going to be secure and private?And as you said, most holiday shopping guides are focused on price and performance, and this guide is focused on privacy and security.

It's not just smart speakers, is it?It's a lot of devices that we've quite willingly and comfortably made part of our everyday lives.

That's absolutely right. And we're particularly looking at the area of connected-to gifts because more and more consumer products are connected to the Internet. So one interesting space that we've looked at is this new emerging toy category of drones. I have an 11-year-old who's pretty excited about drones, and it turns out that many of them connect to insecure wireless and therefore can be taken over, both the information they collect but also the device itself. So we think that consumers would want to know information like that when they're considering a drone gift.

turn 1 : smart speakers implies the electronic devices are incorporated or equipped with computer or digital technology

Which devices are the focus of the guide mentioned in the dialogue?

Answer: Privacy


Right. No, you hit it right on. The - no glass is unbreakable, certainly, and when you strengthen the glass this much, there's tremendous compressive stress put in the surface of the glass. So when you do actually manage to break it, that kind of force, the energy that's stored in the glass causes it to shatter, like you say, pretty impressively.

So you make the glass itself in upstate New York there at Corning. And then you have to ship it to China for them to put it in the phones.

We make the glass. We don't make it here in Corning, New York, we make it in plants around the world. We have a plant in Kentucky and Taiwan and Japan. And yes, we make large sheets of this glass, and then we put it into crates, and then we ship it to companies called finishers, most of them are in China, and those are the companies that actually cut the glass into the pieces, drill holes, polish, et cetera, into the shapes of the parts that go onto the devices.

Why can't you - I'm sorry, why can't you make it the shape itself beforehand?

turn 0 : The glass is not unbreakable despite being strengthened.

Answer: Shatter


Right.

Of course, the financial deregulation issue, whether or not - how much financial industry should be regulated is a big issue, but also, in California, you had a whole look and a proposition that passed that was about this kind of issue, about how densely animals should be kept together. But you mentioned reproductive freedom. What is the regulation change on that?

Sure. Well, the proposed rule would sort of - it has an effect on recipients of federal money and on, particularly, state-run hospitals and other institutions of that nature, and it gives a great degree of discretion to the folks that work in those facilities. And if they have a moral objection to administering contraceptives or birth control and performing abortions, then they are sort of allowed to cite their moral objection to that and not perform that work.

An interesting development on that rule that the Washington Post reported on earlier this week is that three officials from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have - that are actually appointed by President Bush have opposed that rule and have said that it would overturn civil rights law.

turn 2 : The rule would allow healthcare workers to refuse certain services based on moral beliefs

Which officials from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have opposed the rule?

Answer: Officials


Thanks for having me.

So why have all these Democrats decided just to go ahead and run for president and not even bother with trying to win a Senate seat?

(Laughter) I do think that there is quite a lot of enthusiasm in the party about the idea of taking on Donald Trump. But I do think that, you know, the Senate is always an appealing option. And as we've seen in past cycles that have hotly contested presidential races - 2016 being the most recent example - you know, you do have Senate candidates that get into the race, like Marco Rubio in 2016, right up until the last minute. I think you're going to see a lot of really smart, good candidates running up and down the ticket next year.

There were a number of Republican and Democratic senators over the past couple of years who've declined to run for reelection and on their way out the door said, look; it's just not the job it used to be. It's intensely partisan. And we haven't gotten a lot accomplished. Wouldn't that have the effect of also discouraging people for running for that job?

turn 1 : run for president means to campaign for presidency

What are some reasons why Senate seats are appealing options besides running for president?

Answer: Appealing


And it's most importantly for us, combined with great food, great food and dining experiences. And as more of our culture gets into more of the artsy and fine wine and fine dining experiences, wine is more of a part of that for all cultures.

Do you ever find people saying to you, OK, it's great that you do this, but your world is so on another planet. And what you do is so ridiculously specialized, I can't even talk to you because I don't know what you're talking about?

Definitely find less and less that. I think everybody in our - the mystique of wine and the exclusivity of wine, those barriers have been broken down, to a large degree, and people are less and less afraid to try wine and to have fun with it themselves.

They ask questions about some of the technical aspects of it. We're very fortunate as a family, and the other members of the African-American Association of Vintners are also from various backgrounds, and they get the same kind of questions that we do. . .

turn 1 : People feel intimidated by the specialized wine culture.

Which culture causes people to feel intimidated?

Answer: Wine


One morning in early December, 23-year-old Andrew Black of Vermont bought a gun. And a few hours later, he used that gun to kill himself. We first spoke to Andrew's mother, Alyssa Black, shortly after her son's death. She was calling for Vermont to pass legislation requiring a cooling-off period between when a person can walk into a gun store and walk out with a firearm.

A bill requiring a 24-hour waiting period moved to the top of the Vermont Senate's agenda earlier this year. It passed in both houses. And then last week, it was vetoed by Governor Phil Scott. Alyssa Black joins me now.

Welcome to WEEKEND EDITION.

Thank you for having me again.

Vermont would have been one of a handful of states to mandate time between buying a firearm and actually receiving the firearm. What was your reaction to Governor Scott's veto?

turn 0 : The cooling off means to wait until a person calms down if they are upset.

Which term does Alyssa Black want to be required before a person can walk out of a gun store with a firearm?

Answer: Cooling-off


I was broke, and I like my wine, and then I saw this woman buying wine, and I was like, no way. And she even had fancy shoes on. I looked at her. She's like, it's really good. And so, I was like, so that's when I bought a Sauvignon Blanc. And I was like, I got wine for the summer, thank God. And that was when I started thinking, maybe there's food here too.

Turns out there was lots of food. Most of it brands she hadn't heard of before or in boxes that were slightly misshapen or discolored, but what was inside tasted just fine, she says. And with a bit of creativity, Christiane realized 99-cent ingredients could turn into truly delicious dishes.

I'm really hoping that people are going to use this as an opportunity. I think the economy is going so downhill, and I think there's a way to just kind of keep a smile on your face and find cheap ways to still have fun. I hate it when people say, oh, I don't have money, so I can't do anything.

How much culinary expertise do you need?Is it good to have some basic cooking backgrounds before you take on the 99-cent cuisine?

turn 0 : I was broke implies being financially bankrupt and not implying having broken bones

How was the PersonA's financial situation described in turn 0?

Answer: broke


It's a common complaint about poetry. It's the oldest form of expression, but what can it do for us now in an age of social media, Twitter, Facebook and national urgency?Poet Claudia Rankine's new collection, her fifth, has an answer. Its cover shows a black hoodie against a white background, recalling Trayvon Martin. And it's a very personal meditation on race in America. The book is called "Citizen: An American Lyric. "It was a finalist for the National Book Award. Claudia Rankine joins us now. Thank you, welcome to the program.

Good morning, Eric. Thank you for having me.

Before we chat, I want to give listeners a sense of your book. It reads like a series of kind of diary entries, so to speak, and an anatomy of encounters with perceived racism. I'd like you to read, if you would. Could you start "You Are In The Dark"?

Sure. (Reading) You're in the dark, in the car, watching the black, tarred street being swallowed by speed. He tells you his dean is making him hire a person of color when there are so many great writers out there. You think maybe this is an experiment, and you're being tested or retroactively insulted or you have done something that communicates this is an OK conversation to be having. Why do you feel comfortable saying this to me?You wish the light would turn red or a police siren would go off so you could slam on the brakes, slam into the car ahead of you, fly forward so quickly both your faces would suddenly be exposed to the wind.

turn 3 : This statement from the passage implies the emotional impact of racism on the person of color and the discomfort and guilt experienced by the white person.

Which emotions are implied in the statement?

Answer: Discomfort


Alan Dershowitz is a fine legal scholar. He's welcome on this show any time. But in any event, one had to make note of that. Way before Steven Spielberg and "Jaws," did - what's still called the Chappaquiddick incident in which a young woman, Mary Jo Kopechne, died when she was in the back of a car driven by Senator Edward Kennedy, went off the bridge at Chappaquiddick. Did that bring the worst kind of attention to the vineyard?

I think that that was when people first started to think about - see, the vineyard entered the world stage because of Chappaquiddick. And this kind of remote island that was a secret in many ways became not a secret. It was about three or four years later, I think, in '73, that Spielberg decided he wanted to film "Jaws. "And the vineyard came up as a setting because it was so authentic, although that word's kind of annoying these days. But it was so authentically weather-beaten and New England-y (ph).

And Spielberg had looked at some places on the West Coast, but a lot of the beaches there in the background might have a high rise. They were developed in some ways. This was an extremely undeveloped part of the world. It's tried to remain undeveloped, though now it seems as if almost every house there has a swimming pool. A friend of mine once said, and I quoted this, that "pretty soon, the island will be a donut. "

Pretty soon the island will be a donut.

In other words, there'll be land surrounded by a hole filled with water.

turn 2 : "It's tried to remain undeveloped" - The island itself does not have the capacity to try to remain undeveloped. This is a personification of the island that means the people living on the island have tried to prevent it from being developed.

How did the people on the island contribute to it remaining undeveloped?

Answer: Damage


There were some in the immediate crowd, Scott, who were smiling. But the president chose to make his tour of the damage in a rather affluent area where the damage was not so severe. Elsewhere on the island, these remarks seemed surreal. Plus, there was his rather cavalier comment about Puerto Rico's debt crisis, which is quite severe and which he dismissed and said, well, that's gone. That's gone. That's gone. Well, the next day, the president's budget director had to walk that back and say we shouldn't take that word for word. And all of this gave the impression that the president wasn't taking Puerto Rico as seriously as he did the hurricane disasters in Texas and Florida.

Did he leave a different impression the next day in Las Vegas?

You know, he did, and very much so. Whether it was recompense or whether the Vegas shooting just got to him on another level, one of his most authentic moments, really, of apparent empathy since he took office.

We're getting a tweet from president - from President Trump. Or we're not getting it. But he's tweeted, I called Chuck Schumer yesterday to see if the Dems would do a great health care bill. Obamacare is badly broken, big premiums. Who knows?

turn 0 : The president may not have been as sympathetic to Puerto Rico's situation as he was to Texas and Florida.

Which area did the president tour where the damage was less severe?

Answer: Texas


Well, I think what I heard - and I heard it over the three days - is that the president is not going to let up pressure on Japan, on Prime Minister Abe on trade. Despite the close personal relationship, despite all the pageantry of this visit, it was just at the surface that the president was getting a little irritated with the arguments that Japan has been making on trade.

I think that this is not going to bode well for how this is going to end up. Mr.  Abe doesn't have a lot of latitude to give the president what he wants. But I think they're trying very hard to keep it from bursting the seams, so to speak, on the overall political strategic relationship.

What about on North Korea?As Anthony alluded to there, President Trump contradicted not only his host, the prime minister, but his own national security adviser, John Bolton, on the significance of these recent missile launches from North Korea and whether they violate U. N.  Security Council resolutions. How significant a disagreement is that between Tokyo and Washington?

I think that will be a disappointment for Prime Minister Abe for a couple of reasons. You know, again, President Trump said he was not personally concerned about the tests, still trying to lay out what I think he thinks is the base for a bargain with Kim Jong Un, and that is an economic development strategy by North Koreans that will then mitigate the military challenge.

turn 0 : Despite the friendly relations between the US and Japan, the President is unhappy with Japan's trade policies and is pressuring Prime Minister Abe to make changes.

What specifically is the President unhappy about with regards to Japan's policies?

Answer: Trade


Yes. The big topic, of course, is what he'll say about the president's unfounded claims that Barack Obama wiretapped his phones. He has also accused British intelligence of wiretapping his phones on behalf of Barack Obama. There's been no evidence produced for those claims. The British have pushed back against them strongly. People on the Hill say they have not seen any evidence of this, and Comey will be asked about that first and foremost.

OK.  And over at the Senate, the first hearings for President Trump's nomination for the Supreme Court - what kind of reception is he going to get?

Well, that's going to be the big event of the week. Neil Gorsuch, who has been nominated by Donald Trump, is going to be asked a lot of questions about his views on executive power, about Donald Trump's comments disparaging judges and the entire court system. This is one of Donald Trump's most important early initiatives. The Republicans have 52 votes in the Senate. They say if they have to change the rules so they won't need 60 to confirm him, they will do that. So it's going to be very, very hard for the Democrats to stop him. But this is just the first of many, many judicial vacancies that Donald Trump will have the opportunity to fill because of the age of judges on the bench right now and the number of vacancies.

And something else we're looking at, obviously, is what's happening on Thursday - a much anticipated vote in the House. They're voting on the repeal-and-replace legislation for Obamacare. Does Speaker Ryan have the votes?

turn 3 : This turn has a literal meaning of cancelling and substituting a law or policy with a new one. However, in this context, it refers to the highly anticipated vote in the House of Representatives on a bill that would repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

Which vote is being anticipated in the House?

Answer: Vote


And what's the story about how your parents met?

Well, they met in art school in Charlotte. . .

(Singing) In the '60s, black boots, mini skirt, blonde curls. Then when you went to art school. . .

And my mom would go and see him play. He was in a jazz funk band called Fungus Blues. And she would go. . .

turn 3 : A is sharing a personal anecdote about how their parents met, which involves the jazz funk band Fungus Blues

Answer: band


The speaker has suffered through days of public humiliation at the hands of his fractious troops. But sometimes what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And by surviving all of this, he has probably strengthened what's always been a rather tenuous grip on the speakership. In the end, he did the right thing - we talked about this in the past - and kept government and borrowing authority going forward. And probably he'll have a better weekend this weekend than he had last.

Certainly more free time. I think a lot of people are wondering this weekend: is Senator Ted Cruz a new national figure or a diminished one, after events of this past week?

You could say he's both. Certainly he is new hero of the Tea Party and others who wanted to stop the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, by any means necessary. At the Value Voters Summit, for example, here about a week ago, he absolutely dominated the presidential preference straw poll on social conservatives. But within the establishment of the Republican Party, in the financial community and among party fundraisers, he has come to be regarded as dangerous.

And a hard word and that raises this question. Against what's been the stereotype, the image for many years, Democrats appeared unified over these past few weeks, and the Republicans who looked like they were - what's the old joke they used to make about Democrats - a circular firing squad?What's happened to the two major parties?

turn 0 : "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" - This is an idiomatic expression that means that going through difficult experiences can make a person mentally and emotionally stronger, rather than referring to actual physical strength.

What expression is PersonA referring to when he says that going through difficult experiences can make a person mentally and emotionally stronger?

Answer: Idiomatic


I think we typically are having a totally misguided debate about racism in this country.

And in exactly the way you're saying, in that people get accused of racism. They become massively defensive because it's a word that should destroy you. And so you totally resist it, and we're not really discussing policies.

Exactly. And, I mean, obviously if you could express in one minute racist ideas and in the next minute anti-racist ideas, and what we're saying is stop expressing those racist ideas and start recognizing the equality of racial groups, then that's a completely different discussion.

Well, let's talk about the president's remark that set this off, in which he said that four women of color who are in Congress, who are Democrats, should go back where they came from and try to clean up their messed-up countries. We at NPR have been pretty explicit in labeling that as old racist language. Go back where you came from is a thing that's been said by a lot of people for a long time. But you're the scholar. Is that a racist statement?And if so, why is it a racist statement?

turn 0 : destroy you meaning your character for being labeled as such

What word describes the potential impact of being labeled as racist?

Answer: Destroy


Because presidents that are about to be removed from office see the writing on the wall. Richard Nixon had a very good sense of his waning support in the Senate. And when he saw it collapse, he realized that if he hung on, he would be removed, and he would lose his presidential pension.

Interesting. So one of the complaints that President Trump is making and that his supporters are making is that this is a purely partisan process. Has that complaint been made before?Is that what people normally say?Or is there something about this particular circumstance that's different?

The reason that impeachment was kept on the shelf for over a hundred years after the Johnson impeachment process was that it was viewed by all sides in the American political community as highly partisan. But it doesn't always have to be the case. And in the Nixon era - a period when I think we saw a model impeachment process - the democratic leadership bent over backwards to make the process as bipartisan as possible.

We keep hearing all kinds of comments from - particularly from former Republican members about what members of their caucus say privately. But there's no way to know how to evaluate that. We do know that publicly, the Republicans are insisting that this is partisan. The Democrats are insisting that no, it isn't. It's a constitutional matter. Do you see from where you sit a way to bridge this difference of perspective?

turn 2 : the democrats did everything they could to make it look bipartisan.

What was the reason for keeping impeachment on the shelf for over a hundred years?

Answer: Partisan


Well, because there are a number of reasons that a security clearance can be denied. Among them would be foreign contacts, foreign business interests, criminal activity, financial instability, drug and alcohol use. And some of these are very serious. If employees who had the history of these issues - and they weren't properly mitigated, they could be a risk to national security if they received security clearances.

You're saying hypothetically those could be reasons security clearances would be denied. Were they in these cases reasons that they were denied?

Is overriding 25 security clearance denials a large number?I have no idea what's normal in this situation.

turn 2 : "Some of them were applicable in different cases, yes." - The actual meaning is that some of the reasons that A mentioned earlier (foreign contacts, foreign business interests, criminal activity, financial instability, drug and alcohol use) were used to deny security clearances in different cases.

Which reasons were used to deny security clearances in different cases?

Answer: 25


The stakes are high and many citizens have concerns about voter intimidation and fraud. For more we've got Violet Gonda. She is a Zimbabwean journalist with SW Radio Africa, an independent station which broadcasts from London into Zimbabwe. She is currently on a night fellowship at Stamford University. Violet, welcome.

Hi, Farai, and thank you for having me on the program.

Let's back up a little bit into the history of Zimbabwe. In 1980 it became one of the last African nations to shed its colonial government, and when Robert Mugabe came to power he was among other things open to white farmers and other whites staying in Zimbabwe. Over the years he redistributed the land and a lot of people see the current economic collapse as a result of this land ownership change. But what other factors played into Zimbabwe going from where it was in 1980 to where it is today?

When Mugabe authorized the violent takeover of land, he basically directly affected millions of people. And then also the other issue were Mugabe's economic policies. For example, a bloated or rather large government means that not only did the economy suffer when he took over the farms but we also had a government that was living far, far, far beyond, you know, its means. Also the economic policies churned out by the regime were not in the best interest of the majority of the people but the best interest of the ruling party.

turn 1 : having me implies hosting someone or engaging with someone and not referring to owning someone

How did PersonA refer to their appearance on the program?

Answer: Thanks


Well, I think there's a growing consensus towards some form of certiship(ph), nationalization. I was very interested that Alan Greenspan, you know, noted as a conservative, has said that it looks like we will have no alternative for some of the banks but to nationalize them. And, this is what Sweden, Norway did, and it worked very well.

Why?What's the strength behind nationalizing banks?

First, you solve the problem of the misalignment between ownership and control. We provided to the banks now most of their capital, but we have no control, and they're going to be exercising using our money for their interest. And that's why we saw what we've seen in the last few months. We gave them a huge amount of money. We poured money into the banks, and they poured money out in the form of bonuses and in the form of dividends.

Now, if they were maximizing our interest, if they were maximizing the reason that the society gave them this money, they would have been using this money for lending or, the very least, for re-capitalizing the banks. That's why we gave them the money. But they were maximizing their own interest, and it was in their interest to pay this money out in bonuses and pay it out in dividends. That just illustrates the nature of the risk when there's a separation of ownership and control.

turn 2 : Pouring money is a metaphor, not literal. It just means the government gave a lot of money to the bank, who spent a lot on bonuses and dividends.

What is the nature of the risk when there is a separation of ownership and control?

Answer: Misalignment.


It was really expensive. It was the most expensive substance on Earth at the time. We're talking about equivalent of 2. 2 million dollars for a single gram.

Wow. And in 1917, of course, with World War I cranking up, there was huge military demand for watches that you could see in the dark and dials that you could see in the - in the dark.

That's right. And as you said, this is when the book opens, so shortly before America joined the First World War. And once they did, of course, join that global conflict, there was this huge boom to the radium industry. Soldiers needed watches, and people needed it for the planes and the trucks and so on. And so the dial painters, who were the radium girls - they were employed to paint all these dials with luminous radium paint. And they were taught to lip point, so to put their brushes between their lips to make a fine point for the detailed handiwork.

To actually put the brush with the radium paint into their mouth.

turn 3 : In (4), the speaker expands on the earlier point by explicitly stating that the workers put the brushes with radium paint into their mouths to make a fine point. The implied meaning here is that the workers were not aware of the dangers of radium and were not provided with proper safety equipment, leading to their exposure to dangerous levels of radiation.

How were the workers instructed to hold the brushes?

Answer: Mouth


One day, Africa appears as a mass of crinkly brown veins. Another, it's become vivid streaks of orange and gold. Crimson and violet squiggles around Australia could be an abstract painting. It seemed that Commander Kelly never got tired of what he could see out the window and what he could make us see in an entirely new way. When the capsule bearing Kelly and cosmonauts Kornienko and Volkov parachuted to a landing in Kazakhstan earlier this month, that fantastic journey came to a close. Back home in Houston, Scott Kelly will be poked and prodded, weighed and measured, all in the name of science. And his terrestrial tweets now bring their own delights. He posted video of his first plunge into a pool.

Man, that feels good.

A few days later, there was Scott Kelly with his arms stretched overhead and a big smile, looking up at a dark sky.

My first rain in more than a year. Awesome.

turn 1 : The actual meaning of (2) is that Scott Kelly is expressing his joy and relief at being able to experience something he has not felt in over a year,

How did Scott Kelly feel about experiencing something he hadn't felt in over a year?

Answer: Good


(Laughter).

And that's exactly what I did and never really looked back from there really.

Yeah. What did you like about it?What do you like about it?

Actually, I quite like the early morning work because I don't - I'm happy in my own skin. I quite like solitude. I don't mind spending time with myself. But I think what it was is it was going to work when there's no one on the road. So I could drive to work, no one on the road - very quiet - go to where - the team were there. We had a lot of work to do. I was very proud of what I did, and I picked it up very, very quickly. And it was lovely looking back on the bakery and looking at all the croissant, the afternoon tea, the breads - and looking at everything that you've made and thought, do you know what?I'm proud of that.

turn 0 : (1) "B: (Laughter)." This turn implies that B found something funny or amusing, but it does not provide any literal information or statement.

Answer: Bakery


You know, I would say those days coaching were some of the best days of my life. Internally, we were really solid, you know, from the players to the coaches. They were all very supportive. I think the skeptics came, a lot of the times as they do, from the outside looking in. They saw us as being very different, you know, men working with women. And what they didn't realize is that we were more alike than we were different. We were alike in the game and in what we had dedicated to be great. And those guys knew everything about me and my story before I got there, right?Like, they were literally like, coach, we watched your game film. Like, you are a beast off the edge, like - and they couldn't believe that I had played a season against guys, like, getting tackled by guys their size. And there was definitely an energy within the team that it was something very special, and those guys were proud to be a part of history.

There's been a lot of focus on the culture for women in the NFL. I'm thinking particularly of the Ray Rice scandal, and what can be perceived as a tolerance for abuse by male players. Does that make it harder for women, do you think?

Well, you know, I think in - let's like back out of that for a second, right?

OK.

turn 0 : The team faced challenges due to gender differences, but overcame them with unity and dedication.

How did the team overcome the challenges they faced?

Answer: Unity


I did want to ask about your take on U. S.  policy in northeast Syria because back in January, you wrote on your website that it's working. You said that the U. S.  has helped defeat ISIS and prevent its resurgence, and it's done so not solely through direct military engagement, but by assisting a partner force. And I wanted to ask if you think that this assistance is sufficient to keep the threat of an ISIS resurgence in check.

It is sufficient as a foundation because what you see now is local folks holding local towns and working their best to keep them safe. But it is an international problem that requires international investment to help people have water and power and schools that run. And they merit our investment.

That was writer Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, who just returned from a reporting trip in Syria. Gayle, thanks so much for talking to us once again.

Pleasure to join you.

turn 1 : International investment is necessary to maintain the success against ISIS

Which problem requires international investment according to A?

Answer: Problem


So what I did was incorporate the superhero, but have them have HIV in real life situations, if the person were to have it. So they would have the same illnesses, the same sicknesses, and even some of the characters may die from AIDS or something like that.

So, the book really shows you - I have in one scene where you see one of the characters is about to have sexual relations with a woman, and he - I show a condom. I talk about. . .

Robert, I'm sorry. We have to wrap it up here. There's so much to talk about. . .

I'm sorry for that.

turn 1 : Discussing the use of condoms during sexual relations in the book.

What is mentioned in one scene of the book?

Answer: Condom


Well, the thing that's on the drawing board right now is the economic stimulus plan, and I think we do need a very large plan that would include increases in government spending and tax cuts.

To add to this troubled economy, we now have the latest unemployment figures out this morning from major metropolitan areas. Here's how they look. In November 2007, 18 areas reported jobless rates of at least seven percent. In November 2008, that number jumped to 121. Which areas have seen the highest unemployment rate?

Well, the most significant problems are in the industrial Midwest. As we all know, the auto industry is having a great deal of difficulty, and layoffs have been very severe. Also, in parts of the country where the housing market has been hit hard - California, Florida, Arizona, Nevada - there, too, employment has fallen, unemployment has risen.

And which areas are seeing the lowest unemployment numbers?

turn 1 : The unemployment rate has dramatically increased in various metropolitan areas.

What is the topic of the economic plan discussed by A?

Answer: stimulusplan


People should not affiliate with parties by race or ethnicity; they should affiliate to parties based on the ideas and the proposals of each party. And the former is happening, and it's extremely toxic. It divides our country in a dangerous way, and it really diminishes our democracy.

So what direction would you like to see the party take?I mean, what would be your ideal vision?

Well, I think the party was on a good path after the 2012 election. When any organization or individual faces a setback, I think the important thing to do is to be honest with yourself and identify how you can get better. And if you're a political party, that means how you can appeal to more people.

And of course, there will always be people beyond the reach of either political party, but to be able to get big things done, whichever party is in power is going to have to be able to convince a good majority of the American people that their way is the right way, and the Republican party isn't doing that. They're trying to win by maximizing this base strategy. And again, that can result in election victories, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to be able to accomplish big things for the country.

turn 0 : when a country is divided it means that the people living in the country have very different opinions from one another

How does the affiliation of parties with race or ethnicity impact democracy?

Answer: Dangerous


What's the latest this morning, Jennifer?

Well, at the scene of the attack, they are cleaning up. The walls and the floor are covered in blood. The tables and chairs have been pushed aside to get to those dead and wounded. We didn't even get a death toll until this morning. That attack happened on Saturday night at a crowded wedding hall, more than a thousand guests there. Right now, we have families burying their dead, including 14 members of one family alone, so a pretty devastating attack here in Kabul.

And the Islamic State claimed that it carried out the attack, right?

It did claim that it carried out the attack, and it named the bomber as well. This is a group that has targeted the minority Hazara, mainly Shia Hazara, community again and again, and this was another instance of that. It claimed that it sent the suicide bomber into the wedding hall.

turn 1 : The walls and floors have a great deal of blood on them but are not covered.

Which word modifies the extent of the blood on the walls and floors?

Answer: great


It is - they take it as good news, but the reality is it's not because the only infrastructure that remains intact is the infrastructure of the former regime and the former ruling party. It's difficult to see how, in a situation where people are fearing for their lives, you can put together a cohesive electoral campaign. Even though the military council says that they will allow observers in, this is a military council that is blocking journalists - that has suspended Al Jazeera, that has suspended other journalists from doing their work. So there's a lot of disbelief that they will allow observers to carry out their job.

Meanwhile, they will just continue to sit-in, to protest, to demand democratic reforms even if they are unlikely.

To resist - that's what we're hearing - that so much blood has been spilled, so many lives have been lost that to turn back now is unthinkable to many of those people we're speaking to on the ground, Rachel.

CNN's Nima Elbagir. She is senior international correspondent with CNN covering Sudan. She joined us from London on Skype. Thank you so much.

turn 0 : The military council is not trustworthy and will not allow observers to carry out their job

How is the military council portrayed in turn 0?

Answer: Untrustworthy


Well, I was interested in medicine ever since I was a young child, but, you know, life kind of gets in the way. The neighborhood where I grew up wasn't really conducive to producing medical physicians.

Did - this is East Cleveland you're talking about, yeah?

Yeah. East Cleveland, yeah. It was a pretty impoverished neighborhood. And so just not many opportunities to go into medicine there, but I ended up in the automotive career just by happenstance.

Well, I've read that you just - you know, you loved tinkering with cars from the time you were a teenager.

turn 0 : Growing up in an impoverished neighborhood hindered A's path to become a medical doctor.

How did PersonA's childhood environment affect their career path?

Answer: Hindered


Eric, good morning.

Yeah. You know, I'm reminded, the Chipmunks did a version of that (laughter). . .

(Laughter). Did they really?

Maybe we'll get to hear that.

turn 3 : Implied meaning: The speaker may be using allusions to reference something indirectly, assuming that the listener will understand the reference based on shared knowledge or cultural context.

Which technique did the speaker use in turn 3?

Answer: Allusions


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.

Which party agrees to modify loans according to government standards?

Answer: a


Give us a call, our number 1-800-989-8255. You can also tweet us @scifri. Gerald Crabtree is the David Korn Professor of Pathology and Developmental Biology at Stanford School of Medicine. He's also an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY.

Good morning, Ira.

Good morning to you. What evidence do you cite?What evidence is there that human intelligence is slowly declining?

Well, you know, there are a few things I'd like to say I guess at the onset, and you referred to them in your introduction, and that is any genetically based decay in intelligence is extremely slow. And so we should never be able to detect it by comparisons to people within generations existing right now on the Earth.

turn 2 : "What evidence do you cite? What evidence is there that human intelligence is slowly declining?"

How does PersonB challenge PersonA's argument about human intelligence? (Answer: "What evidence")

Answer: Evidence


Yeah.

. . . Calmer feeling inside your kitchens. Why?

Right. That's part of what I learned not to do from Todd is to scream and to not pay them. And a lot of that was what I had to go through. I had to beg for my paycheck, or - I think I was making $6 an hour from him. So I felt I would succeed if I treat people with dignity and teach them the tools to succeed - not that I really knew right away when I had only one restaurant - but to be part of a team instead of a head chef and a screamer. I wanted it to feel like we're all in this together - from the reservationist, to the dishwasher, to the line cooks, to myself - that we are one chef, and we - I need them to succeed. So that's how I worked in my kitchens.

Why do you think it's still so hard for women to break into this business?

It isn't hard to break into it. It's up to women to want to do it. I think a lot of women look at the hours and the lifestyle, and then they think family or children. But I think it's fabulous to have your children involved in the restaurant industry. I mean, it's changed a lot. And - I mean, it's not - it's about what women want to do, and don't give up. I think that's really - I just put my head down, and I knew what I wanted, and I went for it. And yeah, there's struggle, but there's struggles in every job.

turn 2 : The literal meaning suggests that Todd taught A not to scream and not to pay the employees. However, the actual meaning is that A learned from Todd's mistakes and did not engage in those behaviors.

Which behavior did Todd teach PersonA not to engage in?

Answer: Pay


Well, I only recently arrived, so I haven't seen the whole city by any means. But when I got here, I went straight to a demonstration on the city's east side. This was one of those demonstrations that have been called by Juan Guaido for what he billed as the biggest-ever demonstration in the history of Venezuela.

There were a lot of people there - thousands, possibly in the tens of thousands. But I have seen much larger crowds turn out for Guaido before. And so this was a smaller turnout. And I think the most noticeable thing about it is that the mood has quite substantially changed. Whilst these demonstrations for the opposition leader, Guaido, were before quite very lively - there'd be a lot of chanting, a lot of singing - now there's a mood of wariness. I thought it was more subdued.

And not far away from where I was, there were violent clashes underway between the security forces and a small group of anti-government protesters in which, you know, they were exchanging. . .

Yeah.

turn 1 : This implies that the morale of the protesters' was weakened probably because of the low turnout.

How was the mood of the protesters during the demonstration?

Answer: Wariness


So ultimately, it ended up ruining my life in every capacity. It's affected my health, my family, my emotional and mental well-being and, ultimately, even jobs. You know, I've been offered all these amazing jobs of a lifetimes that I fought really hard to get and I beat out other candidates for. And each time the job would be offered to me, it would then be retracted because of my connection to Jeffrey Epstein.

So that's what led me to finally come forward because I had just reached a point where I was like, you know, this man was out buying second islands and second airplanes just to show off while I was struggling to feed myself and couldn't even get myself a good job because of him, you know?

Right. How did you feel when you found out about Epstein's death?

It was definitely not a good moment. And it's still not, you know?Even every single time I hear those words, there's a certain amount of anger that shoots through my blood that I can't explain.

turn 1 : Jeffrey Epstein was wealthy and showing off while I was struggling to feed myself

How was Jeffrey Epstein behaving while the speaker was struggling to feed themselves?

Answer: Showing


Well, this technology is fantastic. Basically, if you're about to rear-end someone, this technology will first warn you. And if you don't act, it will hit the brakes for you. And the data show that it could reduce rear-end crashes by 40 percent or more.

Now, I said it will be standard by 2022, but if I buy a new car today, am I likely to have this feature?

Honestly, it's 50-50. If we look at 2019 model year data, about half of the automakers sell vehicles where the technology comes standard. Toyota, for example, and Honda have been making a lot of this technology standard on their vehicles. With the others, you may have to pay thousands of dollars to get that technology.

Is there something troubling about offering a safety feature that can save lives that costs thousands of dollars extra?

turn 0 : "hit the brakes for you" - This phrase does not imply that the technology physically hits the brakes for the driver, but rather automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision.

How does the technology prevent collisions?

Answer: Brakes


Well, it's very difficult to verify independently because some of the information he claims to be from within the inner circle of those around President Mugabe, but certainly it creates a lot of interest and in some cases, some of his predictions have come to pass in ways that really points to credibility on the part of this character.

For example, he had warned that individuals within the ruling party were plotting to kill a former minister of parliament, Edward Chindori-Chininga, and indeed within a week this official died in a suspicious car accident.

Now, I mean, saying that almost any politician of any prominence other than President Mugabe is vulnerable to being killed mysteriously, wouldn't that be a truism in Zimbabwe?

Yes, it is, but particularly if you look at the tensions in the countries we approach elections that will be held on July 31. So, yes, that is true.

turn 2 : The information this mysterious character provides is likely to be accurate and can be trusted.

What creates credibility for the mysterious character?

Answer: Predictions


Now, while you are putting all of that together and getting ready to write it, you still have a - have to do your shift with the overnight with the cops, right?

Yeah. That's about once a month. And we actually get - I actually get a break when I'm covering the legislative session, which lasts two months. I actually get a break because the younger reporters - they have to pull a night cop shift at least once a week. So I consider myself lucky.

Well, you have worked there for 18 years.

Eighteen years. Yeah.

I gather that you were not planning to stick around that long, but then you did. Why?

turn 1 :  (2) Implied Meaning: I am fortunate because I don't have to do the night shift that often and I get a break when I am covering the legislative session.

How often does PersonA have to do the night cop shift?

Answer: Once


Well, you know, performance is really one of making sure you understand and document what's expected of you in your given role. One of the mistakes I see many professionals make, minority or otherwise, is they don't document and understand really what's expected of them.

And so they go throughout the whole year performing at what they may thing is the optimum level, only to get to the end of the year and find out that they've missed a mark. They're not doing one-on-ones or meetings quarterly or monthly with their manager, and so it's really important that if, you're going to track your performance that you understand what's expected, but more importantly that you follow up to make sure that you're on course.

Now, you have these performance evaluations in some cases, and is that a 100 percent of your success?How much are we talking about?

Yeah, I'm a big believer that success in corporate America, that performance really accounts for 50 percent of that. And what I mean by that is if you go back to childhood, most of what we were taught as children was you are rewarded based on how well you performed.

turn 0 : "performance is really one of making sure you understand and document what's expected of you in your given role" - The literal meaning would be that performance is about actually performing one's job duties, but the actual meaning is that it's about understanding and documenting what's expected in order to perform well.

Which aspect of performance is emphasized in turn 0?

Answer: Understanding


Thank you for having me on.

I think a lot of people don't want to hear anything you have to say until I've asked you this question. Are you being used by Vladimir Putin?

(Laughter) No, I don't think so. When people look at this, you know, particularly with Russia in the news as much as it is, there's always this cloud of suspicion that's leveled against anybody who can be, in the most stretched way, associated with Russia. It wasn't my choice to be in Russia.

Most stretched way - you're living there in Moscow. You have been for six years.

turn 3 : They mean that this is not a small way of being associated with Russia.

Which way of being associated with Russia is being referred to in turn 3?

Answer: Moscow


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.

How do people vote in Turkey according to turn 0?

Answer: pocketbooks


Then Brenda Gayle Beasley Forrest(ph) wrote to us from St.  Helena Island in South Carolina about our series on race. She said: I encourage you to continue the dialogue on being bi-racial in America or mixed race. I know Obama wasn't vocal on this issue, but as a white woman, I think Obama missed an opportunity to claim his bi-racialness and own up to it. Why not shout out, I represent all of America, all races, like the melting pot that is America?I take offense at a half-black, half-white person is shooing their whiteness and calling themselves just black.

And finally, Richard Reed(ph) in Grand Rapids, Michigan wrote us this about the race series. He said: In our family, there were people of black, American Indian, and white backgrounds. In the generations of our great grandparents, our grandparents and our parents, we were taught to love and respect all our family members. These lines of demarcation between people remain so arbitrary and so vague.

And that's it's for letters. Thanks for writing, and please keep your comments coming.

Now NPR has a new way to chime in on our stories. Go to our program page at nprnewandnotes. org and click on a segment. There you can click on the Comments link and write us your thoughts.

turn 0 : Obama missed the chance to claim his bi-racialness.

How did Brenda Gayle Beasley Forrest feel about Obama's stance on being bi-racial?

Answer: Offense


The president's reaction, they're happy with, I think. The alt-right - Lana actually - I asked her this specifically - I said, you know, what do you think about Donald Trump?And she said, let's be honest; he's not one of our guys. We've never thought that he was one of our guys.

But the more that he does not disavow the things that they believe in and either tacitly or directly supports them, the better.

Seyward Darby - her article "The Rise Of The Valkyries" is published in the September issue of Harper's Magazine. Thank you so much for speaking with us.

Thank you so much for having me.

turn 3 : Thank you so much for having me." - The literal meaning is the speaker thanking the host for having them, and the implied meaning is likely just gratitude and politeness.

How did the speaker respond to being interviewed?

Answer: Gratitude


We've seen the symbolism internationally too, haven't we?

We have. And perhaps the best-known example - in a small town in Thailand last month we saw three students who were arrested after protesting last spring's military coup by flashing the three-fingered salute - that's a symbol of District 12, Katniss' district in "The Hunger Games. "And you see things like that all over the world now. You see protesters in various parts of the world who not only wear T-shirts with "Hunger Games" slogans, but also have begun to use that three-finger salute as a symbol of protest not only in Thailand, but I'm told in Ukraine and other places as well.

What are we to make of the fact - I've wondered about this Stephen, the dystopian theme seems so popular as opposed to ethereal ones these days.

Dystopian novels always tend to feature a disaster followed by the good guys versus the bad guys in a very basic Manichaean sense. There's good and there's evil and there's no question about who the good and evil are. And we live in a political era of - where people on the left think everyone on the right is evil, everyone on the right thinks everyone on the left is evil. There's a tendency to paint our enemies as larger-than-life. And that fits perfectly with the general design of the dystopian story.

turn 3 : Why does the dystopian genre fit the current political climate?

How does the current political era contribute to the design of the dystopian story?

Answer: Larger-than-life


We recommend - we have a lot of recommendations. We think they're very practical. It can be done. Some of them are internal in the government themselves. There are internal changes Congress needs to make so that it can be more effective in this, and other commissions have recommended them. Now, let's do it. Let's get it done.

We want the life science community to work with the government about how to self-regulate. In other words, what kind of protocols can we use so that we can keep track of high containment labs better. And then, we say we need to emphasize Pakistan. Now, it's funny that this report is coming out now because we saw in the course of this that Pakistan is an epicenter for all of these risks that we're talking about.

Jim Talent, former senator from Missouri, thank you.

Thank you.

turn 0 : Let's get the job done by implementing the internal changes recommended by Congress and other commissions. (Line 1)

What kind of changes are recommended by Congress and other commissions?

Answer: Internal


The regulations and the oversight that was put in place was relatively minimal because this was going to be such a small endeavor. It was going to be a small-scale experiment for 100 schools. Well, guess what?We have 1,300 charter schools today. And we have a law that doesn't actually account for the scale of that.

That's LA Times reporter Anna Phillips. She's been investigating loopholes in California's charter school system. What she discovered is a fragmented and decentralized regulating system. In Los Angeles, Phillips encountered a case in which a wealthy Beverly Hills couple made millions of dollars by simply turning to a different school district whenever their charter schools came under scrutiny.

These charter schools had been set up as nonprofits that were publicly funded. But if you looked right kind of on the outskirts of them, the couple that had started them had essentially created a series of businesses or nonprofits that were doing business with their own schools. So for instance, this couple rented a lot of their own properties they owned. They were their own landlords.

They owned buildings that then they rented to the schools, so they were getting that income.

Exactly. And there were other ways they were getting income. The woman who ran these schools, her husband was hired on as a project manager for about $500,000 to oversee the construction of a new campus. When they wanted to bring in cafeteria meals for their students, they hired one of their own organizations. So this was public money that was coming into these schools, but the couple that ran them was financially benefiting from it.

turn 0 : "a small-scale experiment for 100 schools" - The literal meaning of this phrase is that the experiment was limited in scope to only 100 schools. However, the implied meaning is that the regulations and oversight were inadequate for the current scale of the charter school system, which has grown much larger than originally anticipated.

What was the original scope of the experiment?

Answer: 100


Fall color is peaking in New York's Adirondack Mountains. There's already been a first dusting of snow on the summits. North Country Public Radio's Brian Mann set out in his canoe to take in autumn's big show near Lake Placid, and he sent us back this audio postcard.

I'm paddling up the Chubb River, wildness all around me, tamaracks here by the shore and willows. This could easily be northern Canada. It's really crisp out here. You can really taste fall now in the air. And there is this kind of stained-glass look to the hillsides, like splashes of crimson red. I mean, just truly tropical red.

There's brilliant sun, and the maple and birch are lit up. As the river winds into the mountain valley, it narrows and narrows again, so I'm squeezing through a vein of water to get to the hiking trail, willow branches squeaking against the canoe. I pass a beaver lodge and turn. And suddenly, I'm right on top of a pair of indignant mallards that go whirring into the sky.

All right, guys, don't mean to scare you.

turn 2 : The maple and birch have yellow leaves due to the fall season. The river has turns in it as it flows through the mountainside. The person is paddling through a very narrow part of the river. The person passes a home of a beaver and birds fly quickly overhead.

How are the maple and birch trees described in turn 2?

Answer: Yellow


I think that teenagers - I mean, some were very passionately involved in this. And, you know, teachers do feel things very passionately. It's why they're such a great audience to write for. But others are getting a little bit fed up because these controversies within YA, especially, are dominated by adults, and they're led by adults. So the teens are starting to kind of push back a little bit and saying, you know, this community is supposed to be for us, and you guys are messing it up.

(Laughter) As adults often do mess up things, don't we?

It's true. We ruin everything.

Kat Rosenfield, her article "The Toxic Drama On YA Twitter" is on Vulture. com. Thanks so much for being with us.

Thank you for having me.

turn 2 :  "It's true. We ruin everything." Here, the speaker uses sarcasm to convey a sentiment of self-deprecation. The actual meaning is that the speaker doesn't believe that adults ruin everything, but rather they are making a sarcastic remark to emphasize the point made by B in the previous turn. It's a humorous way of acknowledging the flaws and mistakes made by adults.

How did the speaker convey their sentiment in turn 2?

Answer: Sarcasm


So Flame has - so far they've found about 20 modules that can be swapped in and out, and they do everything from turning on the internal microphone and webcam on your computer, this way that they could record conversations that you have over Skype or conversations that you have in the room, in the vicinity of the computer.

It takes screenshots of your communications. They seem particularly interested in any email communications or instant messaging communication that you do. It also turns your computer into a Bluetooth beacon. So if you have Bluetooth enabled on your computer, they will turn that on and do a discovery for other Bluetooth-enabled devices in the vicinity, such as a phone, and they will use your computer to then siphon the contact information that is in any phone in the area.

Wow. Wow.

Why all those things?I mean, what's the reason for that?

turn 3 :  "What's the reason for that?" is a literal question that means what is the motive or purpose behind the actions described in the previous turns, and its actual meaning is the same as its literal meaning.

What does Flame turn your computer into?

Answer: Bluetooth


Absolutely.

. . . Didn't prevent a lethal incident, like in the Laquan McDonald case in Chicago. I mean, even though an investigative journalist had to go and demand the footage, it did result in a conviction, didn't it?I mean, it didn't prevent. . .

Absolutely.

. . . A lethal incident, but it did bring accountability after the fact. So. . .

turn 1 : The speaker is expressing sarcasm or disbelief about the effectiveness of preventing lethal incidents despite investigative journalism in the Laquan McDonald case.

How did the speaker feel about the effectiveness of investigative journalism in preventing lethal incidents in the Laquan McDonald case? (Answer: sarcasm)

Answer: Sarcasm


My mother had a friend I called David in the essay. And he was a funny, charming man. And he always had clients around. He found them out of the state so they would live with him while they were going on auditions. And they seemed to have a lot of shirtless pictures of them around framed. That seemed to be the greatest bit of work that they did - were these shirtless pictures.

And each year, these boys would come and go, and they'd be between the ages of 12 and 16. And there was this feeling that my mother and I would sort of talk around. Is this weird?This is weird, right?No. No, it's David. It can't be weird. And I think there are a lot of people in Los Angeles dealing with that right now of people they have held in their heads where there's a little bit of a galvanic skin-crawly thing, but they also like this person.

Course, your article appeared as Anthony Rapp come forward with his charges against Kevin Spacey. Been a few more Kevin Spacey stories that have also come out since then. Without trying to judge the veracity of each and every story, what's the mix of ambition and vulnerability that makes child actors prey?

The same thing which puts women at risk in the business, which is economics. For children, there is a small window of opportunity in which a career is going to happen. You are not a child indefinitely. That makes people ripe for abuse.

turn 1 : (2) "Is this weird? This is weird, right?" - The speaker is not really asking if it is weird, but rather acknowledging that it is weird and trying to rationalize it by attributing it to their relationship with David.

Which story led to the appearance of the article mentioned in turn 2?

Answer: Anthony


Well, what he was accused of doing amid a custody battle with his wife, Mia Farrow, was of abusing his young daughter, Dylan, taking her into the attic and sexually molesting her. This had played out because of - there was a scandal that had happened just weeks, months before where Mia Farrow had discovered that Woody Allen had taken nude pictures of her daughter with her former husband, Andre Previn, Soon-Yi.

To whom Mr.  Allen's now married, yeah.

To whom Mr.  Allen has now been married for many years. And that tore the family apart. And so it was this sort of twin scandal, a Greek tragedy if you will, that played out at that time and has had these repercussions ever since.

How did The Hollywood Reporter - the features editor, Stephen Galloway, handle that part of the story?

turn 2 : A 'twin scandal' in this case doesn't speak of any genetic relationship, but two tightly connected situations, as twins are tightly connected familially.

What does the "twin scandal" in this case refer to?

Answer: Situations


Well, I want to understand it as my friend, Fanon, as my idol, Fanon. I want to understand it, and it is quite complicated, but in another way it's quite simple.

And when I say race, I should stipulate. I don't mean simply black and white. By race, I mean any idea or notion that divides human beings into more than one kind. And then the next step of race and racism and racialized thinking is to figure out a scheme through which or by which because of this difference, manufactured difference, one group or another can take advantage of other groups.

So it sits over our shoulder, and it's part of what's the motivation for our going into Iraq. It's keeping young black men in prison in a totally disproportionate way. It's the cause of abuse against women. Race is a villain, and I wish I could wave a magic wand, but I can't. It's too deeply embedded in our nature.

You mentioned how race is linked to, among many other things, the prison system. And you've had, I'm sure, much too much experience with it, more than you'd like with both your brother and your son incarcerated.

You have sections in your book where your brother is - you and your brother are talking about the nature of hope and whether hope can be debilitating in the context of being someone who's incarcerated.

turn 1 : Race refers to any idea that divides human beings into more than one kind

What does "race" mean in the context of the dialogue?

Answer: Divide


Look, I think the president's actually been very clear about the things that he wants. He wants to address border security, he wants to deal with chain migration, and he wants to deal with the lottery. And he's certainly willing to provide legal status for DREAMers. So if those are your four principle points and they've been known for months, there ought to be a way to reach an agreement.

Border security means a wall?

It means border security. The president's acknowledged he's not talking about a wall from sea to shining sea. But it does require physical structures in a lot of places. Back in 2006, Congress actually voted for about twice the amount of physical barriers that we have today - so finishing that off, rebuilding parts of it. But again, as both General Kelly and the president acknowledged, we're not talking about a wall across the entire length of the border. But we are calling for much more intense border security.

Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, thanks for joining us.

turn 2 : It means border security... But we are calling for much more intense border security.  Implication: A is clarifying that "border security" does not only mean building a wall, but also includes other measures, such as physical barriers in certain areas and intensified security measures overall.

Which term describes the intensified border security measures PersonA is calling for?

Answer: intense


So how did this all come about, and how did you get involved?

My partner, Josh Farahzad, just about this time last year, you know, he started thinking - well, what if I launched a rocket into outer space?You know, he didn't really know what he was doing. So he started sending emails to pretty much every university rocketry team in the country. And I was doing a launch with the Princeton University Rocketry Club. He saw our livestream, and he had reached out. I guess after that, I spent thousands of hours just working with Josh one-on-one and leading this very, very tremendous team.

And as the team grew to - what?- I guess about 40 people, you're communicating with one another via a Slack channel.

That's right. You know, at some point, we didn't pay for the Slack premium account. So, you know, I think within a month or two, our messages capped at 10,000. So we started losing our data.

Well, what's the big goal here, aside from actually getting a rocket into space?

turn 1 : Josh reached out to A after seeing their launch, and A spent a lot of time working with him

Which person spent thousands of hours working with Josh?

Answer: josh


Yeah, you and I are on the same page. I think that's craziness. I don't like temporary tax reductions. I don't like temporary legislative fixes, generally. I want to see permanent legislative fixes. So I am against the fact that they are temporary, but I'd rather have, as a person who pays these taxes, as a middle-income person - I'd rather have seven years of tax reduction than what the Democrats were proposing, which was a trillion dollars in increased taxes.

I'd like to talk about the political ramifications. By and large, polls show this isn't popular, and it pushes through some very substantial changes in the financial lives of Americans. Do you think that there will be a cost come 2018?

No, I think what we're going to see is if the economic effects of this are positive, then it will have positive political ramifications. For the most part - and again, I'm just talking regular people. Regular people vote with their wallets. If the economy continues to improve, and we're seeing robust growth - the last growth number was 3. 3 percent, which is extraordinary higher than anything we saw in the Obama era. If that kind of growth continues, if real job growth continues, if real wage growth continues, we're going to see a wave election for Republicans.

And how do you think the deficit problems will be resolved?How are you hoping that that will be addressed?

turn 1 : A implies that positive economic effects of the tax reductions will have positive political developments for the Republicans

How will positive economic effects of tax reductions impact the Republicans politically?

Answer: Positively


The economy is the number one issue. And one of the things that makes it very difficult for a candidate to campaign in Ohio is that when they come to Ohio to talk about the economy, they can't just talk about a single aspect. When you talk to folks in the northern part of the state, northeast Ohio which includes Cleveland, and northwest Ohio which includes Toledo, when you're talking about the economy there, oftentimes the discussion is about trade.

When you talk about the economy in southwest Ohio, which is the Cincinnati area, there's much less talk about trade, and more discussion about wages and the salaries that people are making. The southeast area of the state, which is also known in part because of the Appalachian history of that part of the state, has high unemployment. A number of counties in southeast Ohio have double-digit unemployment. Many people in that region are talking about and focused on unemployment, solely as their economic concern.

And what about social issues?We heard in Celeste's piece a woman who is concerned about abortion. We know at least in southern Ohio that there are big concerns about social issues. How do those play out?

When we were looking at this race last fall and in the early spring, we were seeing a lot of issues, economic, social, foreign policy issues. However, once we've gotten into the fall election period here, the economy is overwhelming everything else.

Eric Rademacher, co-director of the University of Cincinnati's Ohio poll. Thank you very much.

turn 2 : "How do those play out" implies that there is a lot to discuss about social issues, not actually physically playing.

How does turn 3 relate to turn 2? (Answer: Overwhelmingly)

Answer: Overwhelmingly


And 18-year-old?

Yeah, from the Internet.

Don't try this - well, he tried it at home, I guess.

He's - I mean, so he's, you know, he sent me like his amazing pictures of jet engines in what looks like a basement, you know, flaming out.

turn 3 : In this turn, the speaker is using sarcasm and irony. The literal meaning suggests that the person being discussed sent impressive pictures of jet engines in a basement, which are flaming out. However, the actual meaning implies that the person's actions or pictures were not impressive or desirable.

How would you describe the pictures sent by the person being discussed in turn 3?

Answer: Impressive


What did it mean to many Italian Americans to have Columbus Day established as a federal holiday back in the 1930s?

One has to remember that when Italians arrive here in the late 1880s in mass - we're talking about 4 1/2 millions who come - Italian immigrants who come between 1880s and 1924 - they encounter America that is xenophobic, that is engaging in acts of violence against immigrants. One has to remember the lynching in New Orleans of 11 Italian Americans in 1891 so that Columbus becomes this figure that Italians latch on to as a way to get a foothold in this incredibly hostile environment that they find themselves in.

So what has the reaction been among many Italian American groups and Italian American families to the emphasis in recent years on seeing the racism and brutality and violence in Columbus' personal history?

There's an emotional bond to Columbus. I've read poetry which has - says, you know, when I look at the figure of Columbus on a statue, I don't see Columbus. I see my grandfather. I see the sort of worker's hands in his hands. I see the visage, his visage. And I see that of my grandfather. So there's a really emotional bond there.

turn 1 : Italians depended on Columbus as a means to make themselves relevant in American society.

Which figure did Italian Americans latch on to as a way to get a foothold in the hostile environment they encountered in America?

Answer: Columbus


Right, right.

. . . these invisible energies, these kind of cosmic influences and attractions and repulsions. So the notion was that the seed contained - you know, was pulled by the sun to drive up a clock. The seed was embedded in a cork in a tub of water, and it was shown, in certain cases, you know, to, when he displayed it, to - no matter which way, whatever you did with the cork, it would go right back and display the accurate time.

Wow.

But it was really a parlor trick because there was also a magnet embedded in the cork. And so if he had enough time beforehand to set this parlor trick up, before people arrived to see it, he would figure out, relative to magnetic north, where the sun would be, and he would set it up so that it would always show the correct time.

turn 2 : The trick was not really performed in a parlour - it is simply a saying that means that there was more to what was happening than people could easily see

Answer: Wow


But your hands were cold?

Very cold.

That decision to try to turn around, you thought you could have summitted, but you might have endangered your hands?

I know I could have summitted. Yes, however - yes, I wasn't willing to lose my fingers or a tip of a finger, even, for the summit of K2.

turn 3 : The literal meaning of turn (4) is that the speaker could have reached the summit of K2 but chose not to risk losing their fingers or a tip of a finger. However, the implied meaning is that the speaker prioritizes their physical well-being over the achievement of reaching the summit of K2. This suggests that the speaker is sensible and cautious when it comes to decision-making, even in high-risk situations.

How did the speaker prioritize their well-being?

Answer: Damage


Right, well, the idea is that you just want somebody to come back to court. That is the point of bail. And so if somebody is low-risk to themselves, low-risk to society and they want themselves to be done and over with this, you know, incident, then you can just remind somebody to come and that will happen. So it could just be a text reminder - don't forget your court date. This is when it is. This is where you show up. And a lot of times that actually works quite well.

Is this part of a trend against bail in this country?

I think it is perhaps the tip of a trend against bail. Advocates have been arguing that we need bail reform for quite a long time.

Why reform?What has been wrong with the bail system up to this point?

turn 2 : Bail reform is a movement to change the way bail works in the criminal justice system. The goal of bail reform is to reduce the number of people who are held in jail before trial because they cannot afford bail

Answer: reform


Now, there are a handful of things we know about the narrator of your book, Alice Hare. She's a philosophy graduate. She's adopted. She has complicated relationships with her adoptive and her birth relations. And she is obsessed with a slightly older woman, a Japanese writer called Mizuko Himura. So could you sort of pick it up from there?

I think you're totally right in saying that she is completely obsessed with this older woman. And I think part of the reason why that happens is because her own story is very dim. And in place of any sort of certainty about who she is or where she comes from or what her own origin story might be, she starts to fixate on this woman who, for her, is this mixture of some parallels that she perceives between them, but equally quite a lot, I think, of wishful thinking and this sort of imaginary bond she assumes them to share.

Now, Alice's relationship to Mizuko in real life is a creation, right?I mean, she's done all this research. She's googled all over the place.

(Laughter).

turn 1 : implies that Alice's own story is uncertain and she is looking for a connection that she wishes to share with Mizuko.

How is Alice's relationship with Mizuko described?

Answer: Obsessed


And he has gotten some criticism, interestingly, from some of his previously most supportive conservative voices, like Ann Coulter and Alex Jones of InfoWars but also from Congress, who've been asking the same questions as your previous guest, which is, what is the overall strategy for solving the Syrian crisis?So far, the strategy seems to be defeat ISIS and get out. And, wherever possible, make it contrast with President Obama. But the strategy does seem to be very similar to President Obama's - do the bare minimum to save face when chemical weapons are used.

And it is possible that maybe you can't really solve the Syrian problem or even stop Assad from using chemical weapons if you're not willing to risk hitting some Russians because all of Syria's most valuable military assets now are intertwined with Russians in Syria.

So you say that some of his actions have been uncharacteristically un-Trumpian and that they're reminiscent of Obama. But what is Trumpian is that he's been conducting Syria policy over Twitter.

That's right, and he previewed the strikes. He said they were coming fast and smart. The missiles were coming. He then backtracked and said, maybe I haven't decided on a strike. And then, he tweeted something that really got everyone's attention. He said mission accomplished, which are two words that. . .

turn 0 : The strategy to solve the Syrian crisis is similar to Obama's

How does the strategy for solving the Syrian crisis compare to Obama's?

Answer: Similar