We don’t talk about German POWs

Aliceville, Alabama

Lies by omission.. Who knows about the 500,000 prisoners of war, most of whom were German? Answer: almost no one.

Reporter Karen Duffin and her father were talking one day when, just as an aside, he mentioned the Nazi prisoners of war that worked on his Idaho farm when he was a kid. Karen was shocked … and then immediately obsessed. So she spoke with historians, dug through the National Archives and oral histories, and uncovered the astonishing story of a small town in Alabama overwhelmed by thousands of German prisoners of war. Along the way, she discovered that a very fundamental question – one that w

* Duration: 32:05, Played: 2:39

* Published: 2015-05-22 6:51:33 PM

* Episode Download Link (29 MB): https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/audio.wnyc.org/radiolab_podcast/radiolab_podcast15nazicamp.mp3?awparams=morgan%3Afalse

* Show Notes: http://www.radiolab.org/story/nazi-summer-camp/

* Episode Feed: Radiolab – http://feeds.wnyc.org/radiolab

The power of the thick blue line

You will be crushed if you speak out against the police brotherhood – and are a policeman. The consequences are dire and may even be fatal.

For 17 months, New York police officer Adrian Schoolcraft recorded himself and his fellow officers on the job, including their supervisors ordering them to do all sorts of things that police aren’t supposed to do. For example, downgrading real crimes into lesser ones, so they wouldn’t show up in the crime statistics and make their precinct look bad. Adrian’s story first appeared as a five part series in the Village Voice, written by Graham Rayman. (41 minutes)

Source: Is That a Tape Recorder in Your Pocket, or Are You Just Unhappy to See Me?

Minister of Loneliness

Hard to believe, but not really.

We are living in a Victim’s World.

Today (Wednesday 17 January) the Prime Minister will set out how government is tackling loneliness and combating social isolation. She will announce that the government is accepting a series of recommendations from the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness.

Source: PM commits to government-wide drive to tackle loneliness – GOV.UK

The first minister will cheer us up?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minister_for_Loneliness

Official portrait of Tracey Crouch crop 2.jpg

Big bucks no whammies!

Fascinating tale as told on This American Life 412 about a man, Michael Larson, who figured out how to win at a TV game show that I used to watch.

Apparently it was the beginning of a long line of get rich quick schemes that he used, but ultimately failed at.

 

Here’s the anniversary edition:

I wonder now, with all the publicity, if the whole Michael Larson incident was staged.

How the money corruption in DC works

Lobbyists are at the heart of the system. Therefore they cannot be cut out.

For anyone who has ever heard the term “Washington insider” and felt outside — we are with you. So this week, we go inside the rooms where the deals get made, to the actual moment that the checks change hands — and we ask the people writing and receiving the checks what, exactly, is the money buying?

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/461/take-the-money-and-run-for-office