Less than 24 hours after 29-year-old Uzbek national, Sayfullo Saipov, drove a rented truck into a crowd on a bike path in lower Manhattan, killing eight people and injuring a dozen more, the political blame game began. By this morning, the President of the United States had taken to Twitter to place blame on Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and the Diversity Visa Lottery program, which Saipov used to immigrate to the United States. Peter Krause, a Boston College political scientist and terrorism expert, and senior advisor at MIT’s Security Studies Program, Carol Savietz, joined Jim Braude to discuss.
Today, President Trump’s opioid commission, on which Gov. Charlie Baker serves, made 56 recommendations to fight the nationwide epidemic. The commission’s suggestions —included in the group’s report — include the creation of a nationwide system of drug courts, more accessible opioid painkiller alternatives, additional training for prescribers and more access for emergency responders to the overdose treatment drug Naloxone. The report came less than a week after the President declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency, a step shy a national emergency, a step which would have devoted money to fight the crisis.
It takes most people around six months to hike the nearly 2,200 miles of the Appalachian Trail, but Brookline resident Joe McConaughy ran it in just 45 days, 12 hours and 15 minutes. At an average of 48 miles a day, he set a new speed record. He did it unassisted — without any outside help, just a 25 pound pack on his back — breaking the previous record set by a man who had a crew for support. Joe McConaughy joined Jim Braude to discuss the planning and strength that went what he calls the hardest thing he’s ever done.
Jim adds a new item to his list of things to ban: tackle football for high school age players and younger.