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The Republican fight against Trump, the weighty implications of medical errors and copyrighting the Klingon language

 Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) answers questions during his weekly news conference at the U.S. Capitol April 28, 2016 in Washington, DC.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) answers questions during his weekly news conference at the U.S. Capitol April 28, 2016 in Washington, DC.
(
Win McNamee/Getty Images
)
Listen 1:35:00
Discussing the GOP's plan to throw Trump off track and the #nevertrump movement; a new study identifies medical errors as the third leading cause of death in the U.S. and TGI-FilmWeek with a talk about the copyright battle for the Klingon language.
Discussing the GOP's plan to throw Trump off track and the #nevertrump movement; a new study identifies medical errors as the third leading cause of death in the U.S. and TGI-FilmWeek with a talk about the copyright battle for the Klingon language.

Discussing the GOP's plan to throw Trump off track and the #nevertrump movement; a new study identifies medical errors as the third leading cause of death in the U.S. and TGI-FilmWeek with a talk about the copyright battle for the Klingon language.

GOP split widens over future of the party

Listen 31:47
GOP split widens over future of the party

The Republican Party is dividing over presumptive nominee Donald Trump.

Senator Lindsay Graham is the latest. CNN quotes him saying he won't vote for either Trump or Hillary Clinton. Yesterday, House Speaker Paul Ryan said he’s not ready to support Trump as the Republican nominee.

Trump responded to Ryan's reluctance by saying he’s, "not ready to support Speaker Ryan's agenda. Perhaps in the future we can work together and come to an agreement about what is best for the American people."

The father and son former Presidents Bush say they won't attend the July convention. Past nominee Mitt Romney also says he'll skip it. Is this a preview of how GOP voters will split? What does that mean for the party's chances in down-ballot races? Could it cost Republicans the Senate?

Guests:

Paris Dennard, Republican political analyst and former staffer for President George W. Bush and the Republican National Committee; currently serving as the legislative director of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund

Shane Goldmacher, political reporter at POLITICO covering the 2016 presidential race; he tweets @ShaneGoldmacher

Lisa Mascaro, Congressional reporter, Los Angeles Times

What can be done to control what new study identified as third leading cause of death in country?

Listen 15:47
What can be done to control what new study identified as third leading cause of death in country?

We’ve all heard of horror stories about a doctor operating on the wrong patient, or a nurse giving someone medicine meant for another person . But what’s more troubling, according to a new study, is that many medical errors go unrecorded.

The study, which was published this week in the medical journal, BMJ, finds that over 250,000 deaths are due to medical errors in the US every year. That puts medical mistakes as the third leading cause of mortality in the country, behind heart disease and cancer.

It’s difficult to get an airtight number on deaths caused by medical mistakes, given the lack of available data. One study in 1999 from the Institute of Medicine pegged the number between 44,000 to 100,000. In 2008, the US Department of Health and Human Services put the number of deaths at 180,000.

The authors of the BMJ study--both doctors at Johns Hopkins--say the actual number is likely to be much higher than their own estimates, since nursing home deaths are not included.

Larry and our panel of medical experts look at what can be done to address the issue.

Guests:

Martin Makary, MD., MPH, an author of the new study published in the medical journal, BMJ, that has identified medical errors as the third leading cause of death. He is the author of the book “Unaccountable” (Bloomsbury Press, 2013) on the topic

Tejal Gandhi, MD, MPH, CPPS, President and Chief Executive Officer of the nonprofit advocacy organization, National Patient Safety Foundation based in Boston, MA

Missy Danforth, Vice President of Hospital Ratings at the Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit organization in DC that advocates for hospital transparency

FilmWeek: ‘Captain America’ sequel, ‘Family Fang,’ ‘Being Charlie’ and more

Listen 33:12
FilmWeek: ‘Captain America’ sequel, ‘Family Fang,’ ‘Being Charlie’ and more

Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Lael Loewenstein, Peter Rainer and Charles Solomon review this weekend’s new movie releases including “Captain America: Civil War” about a rift between our hero and his former ally, Iron Man; plus “The Family Fang” starring Nicole Kidman and Jason Bateman; a new Rob Reiner drama called “Being Charlie,” and more.

TGI-FilmWeek!

Lael's Hits

Peter's Hits

Mixed Reviews

Misses

Guests:

Lael Loewenstein, film critic for KPCC

Peter Rainer, film critic for KPCC and the Christian Science Monitor

Charles Solomon, film critic for KPCC and Animation Scoop and Animation Magazine

The question of Klingon copyright

Listen 14:13
The question of Klingon copyright

A copyright battle between “Star Trek” rights holders - CBS and Paramount - and a fan-fiction movie production have caused another rift in the federation: a third party is challenging CBS and Paramount's claim to ownership of the Klingon language.

The Language Creation Society submitted a friend-of-the-court brief to the presiding federal judge. They argue that the Klingon language took on a life of its own after its humble beginnings as mere guttural noises on the television show. While “Star Trek” producers indeed hired a linguist, Mark Okrand, to expand the language for “Star Trek III,” Trekkies have made it a real-world tongue with a bigger vocabulary.

What goes into creating a fictional language for television and movies? Are fictional languages “living languages” despite absence of a real community? How has Klingon been changed by Trekkies?

Guests:

David Peterson, Language Creator for “Game of Thrones;” the Dothraki language is copyright HBO. The show Game of Thrones and the Dothraki language were inspired by George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.

Jay Dougherty, Professor of Law & Director, Entertainment & Media Law Institute and Concentration Program at Loyola Law School in L.A.; Previously Dougherty worked as counsel for United Artists Pictures, MGM, Twentieth Century Fox and Turner Broadcasting System