Press Play with Madeleine Brand
'Zombie Blimps', 'Prophet's Prey' and L.A.'s Craft Beer Scene
The Pentagon has spent $2.7 billion on a fleet of big white blimps meant to detect missile or drone strikes. Today’s L.A. Times calls it a “zombie” program: Expensive, ineffective and impossible to kill. And a new documentary investigates the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints and finds that self-appointed prophet of the sect, Warren Jeffs, is still running the FLDS from prison.
By Madeleine Brand • • 50m ListenAfter more than 50 years of fighting, there may be peace between Colombia’s guerilla group, FARC, and the government. Talks have been taking place in Havana, Cuba, where Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced a breakthrough in negotiations yesterday. And over the past two decades, the Pentagon has spent $2.7 billion on a little-known air defense system. It’s a fleet of big white blimps meant to detect missile or drone strikes—and so far, it’s been a dud. Then, L.A.’s biggest craft brewery is about to get a whole lot bigger. Golden Road Brewing Company announced yesterday that it had sold out to Anheuser-Busch. What does this mean for the craft beer landscape in Los Angeles? Next, in 2008, authorities raided the compound of the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints - a polygamous, unsanctioned off-shoot of the Mormon Church. Since then, six FLDS members have been convicted of various crimes, including the self-appointed prophet of the sect, Warren Jeffs. Jeffs is serving life plus 20 years for two felony counts of child sexual assault. But according to a new documentary, he still runs the FLDS from prison—and the church still has 10,000 members. Finally, could Volkswagen’s massive software cheat have been avoided if its car software was open source? Copyright activists argue yes, and that more software transparency would make cars safer not just for the environment, but from malicious hackers as well.
