To the Point
Talking Points: About 2016
In this tumultuous year for American politics, that wasn't the only thing to talk about. Every day we bring you a Talking Point about an issue or an event that's helping define the national conversation even though it's not leading the news. Today, we bring you a collection of our favorites.
By Warren Olney • • 51m ListenPhoto: stevepb
In this episode
7 storiesPolice facial recognition databases may include you
When police need participants in lineups to help victims of crime identify suspects, they have to ask permission. Not anymore. This fall, the Georgetown Law School's Center on Privacy and Technology published findings that half of all American adults are in police facial recognition networks.
Read the story6 minUS aid is helping reduce gang violence in Honduras
If 2016 felt short of good news, you might have missed that Honduras – once the murder capital of the world – has seen a big drop in homicides. Pulitzer Prize winning author Sonia Nazario first reported this story for the New York Times and she joined us in studio.
Read the story7 minThe secret history of cyber war
When President Ronald Reagan was relaxing at Camp David in 1983, he happened to see the film War Games, starring the young Mathew Broderick as a "tech-whiz teenager" who thinks he's playing a computer game. It turns out that the kid has unwittingly hacked into America's real-world defense system, and he almost starts World War III.
Read the story9 minTerror in Europe
Now not all warfare was cyber warfare in 2016. With the battle on to retake Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria from the Islamic State, the so-called Caliphate is shrinking and intelligence officials warned that European extremists will be returning to their home countries.
Read the story5 minState Department hero reflects on the 'Mirror Test'
We spoke with a lot of authors this year, but our this guest stood out. For seven consecutive years, J. Kael Weston served in the combat zones of Iraq and Afghanistan -- not as a soldier, but as a civilian — a State Department advisor. He received the Secretary of State's Medal for Heroism.
Read the story10 minHow the Right went wrong
E.J. Dionne's recent book was prescient. Timed to appear during the presidential campaign, his latest is Why the Right Went Wrong: Conservatism from Goldwater to the Tea Party and Beyond . He joined us during the heat of the presidential primaries.
Read the story9 minSiddhartha Mukherjee talks about the history of the human genome
How much of identity, temperament and the risk of disease are determined before we're born — by our genes? We got some answers from Siddhartha Mukherjee, a doctor whose latest book traces the history — and possible future — of genetic science. He is author of The Gene: An Intimate History .
Read the story8 min