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New Yorker magazine
Staff writer for the New Yorker magazine and writer of its Letter from China blog
PROFILE
Evan Osnos
Guest
FROM Evan Osnos
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
NRA and Another Spike in Gun Sales After Another Mass Shooting Just as happened after other mass shootings in the United States, gun sales spiked after 49 people were killed in a gay nightclub in Orlando this month. The reason most often given for the spike is that gun owners become worried that the government will take some action to restrict gun sales, and so they decide to stock up. Their worry has been unfounded, since Congress has repeatedly failed to enact gun control legislation. And after this latest mass shooting, it’s more of the same, thanks to the National Rifle Association. Evan Osnos has looked into the history of the NRA’s clout and he writes about how the group managed to shift the conversation from hunters’ rights to self - defense for the latest issue of the New Yorker.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Who Are Donald Trump's Supporters? Whatever you may think about Donald Trump - that he’s a genuine truth teller or a just political opportunist - this has definitely been his summer. He leads all other Republican candidates in the polls. And a following has coalesced around him. His supporters have embraced his attacks on political correctness, his inflammatory rhetoric about illegal immigration, and above all, his undeniable Trump-ness.
To the Point
China’s “Age of Ambition” with Evan Osnos In the past 25 years, Evan Osnos says China has transformed itself at “one hundred times the scale and ten times the speed of the first Industrial Revolution.” What has that been like for the people who live there? How have they had to change their behavior—and their thinking? How has the Communist Party survived and retained power? He speaks about this in his book Age of Ambition : Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China.
To the Point
Vice President Biden's Relationship With Maliki Is Ending In 2009, newly elected President Barack Obama gave Vice President Joe Biden responsibility for helping to wind down the war in Iraq. As is his habit, Biden struck up a telephone relationship with President Nouri al-Maliki. But this week, Biden put in a call to a different number. The man he called this week is Haider al-Abadi, chosen by Iraq’s President to become that country’s new Prime Minister. Evan Osnos wrote about Biden’s telephone habits as part of a lengthy profile for the New Yorker magazine.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
The Biden Agenda Joe Biden has had to balance his reputation as a gaffe machine with his tasked mission of constructing the administration's foreign policy footprint, especially in reignited hotspots in the Middle East and Ukraine.
To the Point
China's 'Age of Ambition' Fast-paced national/international news and issues program, from KCRW.
To the Point
After Copenhagen: What's Next for Climate Change? In Copenhagen today, President Obama met with other national leaders, then scolded convention delegates for their apparent failure to reach agreement on climate change. Faced with China's rejection of international oversight, he told the conference that if their effort fails, the "same stale arguments" may continue, "while the danger of climate change grows until it is irreversible." So if the conference collapses, what's next? Will the US Senate pass cap and trade ? Will China follow through on its commitment to curb emissions? Will international competition produce "the energy technology that nobody has yet imagined?" We look at the prospects.
Recommended
Left, Right & Center
President Trump: US to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord Trump says he was elected to serve Pittsburgh, not Paris.
To the Point
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
To the Point
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
To the Point
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.