Today, we discuss the latest happenings in the conflict between Iraq's new leadership and the Islamic State as well as examine US policy in the Middle East. Later on, we take another look at the life of Robin Williams. We also talk about how Ebola is transmitted, our weekly music selections and much more.
Iraq's Kurdistan region is focus of latest US military role
Secretary of State John Kerry urged Iraq's new leaders to work quickly to form an inclusive government, adding that the US is prepared to offer the country significant additional aid in the fight against a group of militants calling itself the Islamic State.
Much of the current conflict is focused in northern Iraq, where these militants have taken over much of the region.
That's also where we've reached reporter Hermione Gee. She's in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan and home to a US consulate, and she talked to Take Two on Tuesday.
U.S. foreign policy in the widening gyre of Iraq, Israel, Afghanistan and beyond
This summer has seen new conflicts with deadly consequences everywhere from Africa to the Middle East to Asia.
The scope of these challenges has led Stephen Walt, Professor of International Relations at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, to write that it's time for the U.S. to "walk away and not look back."
"Most of our interventions have actually gone the opposite of what we really wanted," Walt says. He's not proposing a new era of American isolationism. but says the U.S. should "stop trying to manage the politics of the region."
Our tribute to the work of Robin Williams
Comic genius Robin Williams died yesterday of an apparent suicide. He was 63 years old.
It's nearly impossible to do justice to his manic genius and his constant reinvention. From standup, to television sit-coms, to movies, both funny and dramatic, there was hardly a corner of the entertainment cosmos where Robin Williams didn't leave his mark.
Here's our tribute to some of his work.
The Laugh Factory celebrates Robin Williams
Robin Williams may be known best for his work on the small and silver screens, but he was also a staple in the stand up comedy scene. Comedians at The Laugh Factory, where Williams had been performing for more than three decades, paid tribute last night. Jamie Masada, the owner of the venue, talked to Take Two about Williams.
Paralympian shares memories of Robin Williams
Robin Williams will be remembered not only for his stellar sense of humor and his brilliant performances, but also for his big heart — and for being a real team player.
Williams became the face of the San Diego-based Challenged Athletes Foundation, participating in their triathlon in for 11 years and supporting them for even longer.
Much of that comes thanks to Rudy Garcia-Tolson, a two-time Paralympic Gold Medalist Swimmer for Team USA.
The two first met at the Malibu Triathlon, when Garcia-Tolson was only 8 years old.
"Not too many people know, but Mr. Robin was actually a really big cyclist," said Garcia-Tolson, who's now 25. "He used to actually go out to the Tour de France to watch the race, just because he loved the sport."
It was that passion for riding, Garcia-Tolson said, that helped spark his longtime friendship with the entertainer. They came together during the San Diego triathlon challenge as part of "Team Braveheart." Garcia-Tolson, at 9 years old, swam the 1.2-mile part of the journey. Williams handled the 56-mile bike ride, and Scott Findlay, an Ironman vet, took care of the running.
"It was just a very awesome day every year he came out, we got to share experiences, share stories. ... It was really cool getting to know Mr. Robin on a personal level," Garcia-Tolson said. "To me, people ask me, 'What is he like?' And I tell them, 'He won't think twice to go out of his way to make someone laugh.' He was just always funny. He was an awesome person to be around."
The Challenged Athletes Foundation carried this statement on its website:
"And as we consider Robin part of our family, we are deeply saddened by the recent news of his passing. Over the past 20 years, Robin has been an incredible supporter of the Challenged Athletes Foundation and our mission, participating in our San Diego Triathlon Challenge for 11 years and joining many of our cycling events. He truly found joy in participating side-by-side with our challenged athletes and we cannot thank him enough for the support and energy he brought to our organization. We will ensure his legacy lives on at the #BestDayinTri"
Virginia Tinley, the executive director of CAF, told Fox 5 in San Diego that Williams "really had a genuine respect for the challenged athletes that he met at the triathlon. He was a guy that liked sports and liked getting out there and participating. Robin is genuinely a very giving, warm person. Very humble. [He was] relatively quiet in normal situations, but a brilliant comic, and certainly when he needed to turn on that comic streak, he would be hilarious."
Garcia-Tolson also remembers how Williams carried himself around the challenged athletes in San Diego whenever he would show up to compete.
"He looked at me as an athlete, and I looked at him as an athlete as well," he said. "Every time we would do the relay, we would always expect more out of each other. So we'd always kind of smack talk each other, say, 'Hey, Mr. Robin, you better go five minutes faster this year.' He was a very good friend to everyone out there."
Groundwater regulation could be coming for California
As of now, California is the only western state which doesn't regulate the use of groundwater. But that could soon change. For more on this, Lester Snow of the California Water Foundation joined Take Two on Monday.
#IfTheyGunnedMeDown: Can hashtag activism have a lasting impact?
On Saturday, an unarmed eighteen year-old named Michael Brown was shot by the police outside of St. Louis. The incident caused a huge reaction nationwide and the media coverage of it prompted an interesting phenomenon on Twitter.
Slate Magazine's Jamelle Bouie joined Take Two on Tuesday to talk about
and whether hashtag activism can have a lasting impact.
How urbanization factored into Ebola's breakout
As health officials fight to contain the deadly Ebola virus, the picture of how the disease spread so rapidly, and how officials failed to respond effectively, is emerging.
One factor experts looking at is the changing lifestyle in West African countries, where increasing travel and urbanization is posing new risks to the spread of disease.
Dr. Jeffery Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, spoke with Take Two on the subject on Tuesday.
How drugs and vaccines get approved is often a business, not medical, process
The race to develop a vaccine for the Ebola virus might conjure up an image of doctors and drug makers rushing furiously out of good will to find a treatment.
But in reality, how drugs make it past research and development into the hands of aid workers is, well, much more of a business transaction.
Kenneth Kaitin, professor and director of the Tufts Center for Drug Development at the Tufts School of Medicine, joins Take Two to explain the economic motivations that bring many drugs to market.
Tuesday Reviewsday: Laura Mvula, Muhsinah, Ed Motta, The Underachievers and more
It's time for Tuesday Reviewsday, our weekly new music segment. Joining us this week are Oliver Wang from Soul-Sides.com and music supervisor Morgan Rhodes.
Oliver Wang
Artist: Laura Mvula and the Metropole Orkest
Album: Laura Mvula with Metropole Orkest
Songs: Morning Dew, Green Garden
Summary: Laura Mvula recently re-recorded her fantastic album - that Morgan put me up on - with the Metrpole Orkest, at Abbey Road Studios.
It’s pretty perfect considering how orchestral her “Sing to the Moon” was already but this adds depth and nuance and is so perfectly lovely.
Artist: The Underachievers
Album: Cellar Door: Terminus Ut Exordium
Songs: Metropolis, The Mahdi
Summary: Originally from Flatbush BK, the Underachievers release their debut full length on LA’s Brainfeeder records. There’s a contingent of NY rappers who are all about “bringing NY back” and I think when the Underachievers first started dropping mix tapes a couple of years back, people assumed they were on that tip too because they were remaking and reusing classic NY hip-hop beats but as it turns out, they’re far more worldly in their taste and mission.
I think this new album might surprise some of their fans if only because the production here is less melodic and more…ambient. But the lyricism is as forceful and playful as ever. If you want to hear what some of their older stuff is like, we can peep “Mahdi” which is from their 2013 mixtape, Indigoism
Album: Eccentric City Soul: Capital City Soul
Songs: Endlessly by Four Mints, Funky Disposition by Dean Francis and the Soul Rockers
Summary: Ten years ago, Chicago’s Numero Group released their first compilation, dedicated to the Capsoul label out of Columbus, Ohio. That began Numero’s quick rise to become the anthology producers for obscure and forgotten R&B and funk music.
For their 51st release, Numero went back to their roots by revisiting Capsoul-related recordings. If nothing else, it reenforces the idea that per capita, Ohio might have been the soul center of America, at least for a moment in the late 60s and early 70s. It’s just astounding how much great material was being created there, including that fantastic slow burner by the doo-wop group, the Four Mints. The new Capital City Soul also features a rare funk cut from Dean Francis, also of Columbus, who I had the honor to meet back in 2002 during a record shopping trip. He passed away a few years ago and it’s nicely to hear his music being made available to a wider audience now.
Morgan Rhodes
Artist: Muhsinah
Album: M
Song: Luv w Luv
Summary: After a three year hiatus, Grammy Nominated singer/songwriter releases this four track EP as a free download, the follow to her GONE EP. While not credited as one of the trailblazers of electronic soul, she has made her mark on the genre as a producer as well as an artist, having collaborated with the likes of Flying Lotus, The Foreign Exchange as well as appearing on tracks with Common.
Artist: Ed Motta
Album: AOR (English Version)
Song: 1978, SimpleGuy
Summary: This 13th studio album finds him returning and paying homage to his influences: 70's Adult Oriented Rock. Reminiscent of Steely Dan's AJA, it is soulful with elements of funk, jazz and world.
Artist: Cory Henry
Album: First Steps
Song: Miss Purty
Summary: Well known in gospel circles as a musician and producer, Cory Henry has become a viral sensation of late, in large part to his Youtube video of his tribute to late gospel organist Melvin Crispell in the spring of this year. This new album showcases his impressive jazz leanings, which blend fusion and gospel all courtesy of the Hammond organ. To call him a prodigy doesn't seem sufficient enough to describe this massive talent.
Smaller childcare providers struggle with inconsistent payments from state
California spent two-billion dollars last year providing preschool and childcare to over one-million low-income kids. Childcare's expensive, so without subsidies, these kids would miss out and their parents wouldn't be able to work.
California offering classes to prison lifers
Nearly 23-hundred lifers have been paroled in California over the past five years. That's more than three times the number in the previous 17 years combined.
Governor Brown claims it has nothing to do with overcrowded prisons. Rather, recent court rulings make it harder to deny parole if inmates are no longer considered a risk to public safety.
Now, for the first time, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, or CDCR, is offering classes aimed at lifers. Scott Shafer of the California Report has more.
Escape from the law just by crossing the county line
Commit a crime in America, and you'd expect that the police will hunt you down wherever you are like in the movie "The Fugitive."
But to escape the hand of justice, sometimes all you have to do is cross the county line.
Brad Heath, investigative reporter for USA Today, said it's very common for law enforcement not to pursue fugitives even if they're just a short drive away.
"It's typically a question of resources," he says. "They either don't have or don't want to expend the time and money to go picking these people up."
In many of these cases, he explains, officers aren't even conducting a manhunt. Often, the suspect will already be in custody or pulled over by traffic cops in another jurisdiction. However, the authorities from where that person is wanted will clearly lay out how far is too far for them.
"In a lot of cases, if the answer is, 'they're not willing to travel to where I happen to have you right now,' the police let you go," Heath said.
The crimes people are wanted for range from domestic violence, sexual abuse and felony rape.
"We saw in federal records 77 homicide warrants coming from Los Angeles county in which the police said, we'll chase the suspect only as far as the state line," he said.
Calls to reform the system from within, however, are met with sighs of resignation.
"Every police chief I've talked to and every prosecutor I've talked to says, we can't spend the money to go after these people," said Heath.
Are there benefits and drawbacks to complaining?
Going a day without complaining is hard. Today, there are plenty of social media experiments that challenge individuals to stop complaining.
One of these experiments is Joe Kirin's "No Complaints Day Challenge," a Facebook campaign asking people to refrain from complaining for a whole day. To weigh in as to whether or not that's a good thing, we've called up Joanna Wolfe, a professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University who focuses on communication styles.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
On the concept of complaining:
"Complaining is one way that we form bonds with other people. There's the type of complaining we call a solidarity complaint or troubles talk. It's a way to kind of bond over shared misfortune and show sympathy. A good example might be two strangers at a bus stop might start a conversation over how late the bus is, and this becomes an entryway to talk about other things, find out other things that we have in common. Complaints are also very important if there things that are legitimately wrong in the world and we can't fix them without identifying the problem."
On the drawbacks of complaining:
"It depends on the type of complaint. We did some research looking at what types of complaints are most annoying to others, and the most annoying complaint is a complaint that has an indirect request embedded in it. So, a good example would be instead of saying 'Close the window' I might just say, 'Oh, it's really cold in here' and leave it up to the person who's listening to make the inference that they should then close the window."
On how hard staying complaint-free actually can be:
"When he did our research and we were looking at student teams, we found that the students were complaining pretty close to about one complaint per minute in these groups. We had a broad definition of complaint, but I think there's lots of things that go on that you don't necessarily identify as a complaint because it's not particularly annoying. It might be the more positive, sympathy expressing type of conversation. But it's still, technically, a complaint."
Battery recycler Exide paying for lead dust cleanup
Workers are taking out soil from a home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights. The dirt is laced with potentially harmful lead dust, part of a cleanup ordered by state regulators.
Southern California Public Radio's Molly Peterson says the lead battery recycler, Exide Technologies, is picking up the tab.
Picture This: What a week's worth of garbage really looks like
For many, taking out the trash is a dreaded chore. It's smelly, it's wet and it's messy. You wouldn't dare to go through what's inside, let alone take it out and lay in a pile of your own trash.
But that's exactly what L.A.-based photographer Gregg Segal is doing in his new series called "7 Days of Garbage." In this edition of Picture This, we spoke with Segal, who has been documenting people's garbage footprints.
He joined Take Two on Monday to talk more about what prompted him to take on this project and what he hopes people take away from it.