The Score: Kurds’ Way, Bursting Bubbles, Cold Snap, November 1963
This week on The Score – Who are the Kurds and what role do they play in the politics of the Middle East? What can we learn from a movie about the economic bubble that caused a recession earlier in this century? Does the recent cold snap mean the coming winter will be colder than normal?
Turkey and Kurdistan
News from overseas often mentions the Kurds and their conflict in the Middle East with the Islamic State and with Turkey. On the same day that Turkish President Erdogan visited the White House, an advocate for Kurdish political rights visited the University of Virginia at the invitation of Students for Individual Liberty.
After Kani Xulam, director of the American Kurdish Information Network, gave his presentation, I asked him about the Kurdish people and the political situation they are in. We spoke on Wednesday in Charlottesville.
Kani Xulam is on Twitter as @AKINinfo.
‘The Bubble’
Most of us remember the Great Recession that started about 2008. Economists say it was the result of an economic bubble, but only a few of them predicted it would happen.
Iowa-based documentary film maker Jimmy Morrison has produced a film called The Bubble that examines what happened twelve years ago and asks whether it can happen again. (A follow up documentary, The Bigger Bubble, is scheduled to be released in 2020.)
The Bubble includes interviews with former U.S. Representative Ron Paul, financial analysts Jim Grant and Doug Casey, former director of the Office of Management and Budget David Stockman, Peter Schiff, Thomas Woods, and others. You can watch a trailer of the film on YouTube.
I spoke to Jimmy Morrison by telephone on Wednesday evening. He is on Twitter as @jimmymorrisonfilm, where you can also follow @TheBubbleFilm.
Wintry Weather
Virginia state climatologist Jerry Stenger has been a guest on The Score several times in the past, talking about wildfires, hurricanes, and blizzards. With the cold snap that spread across the country this past week, I wanted to ask him about the coming winter. We talked by telephone on Thursday afternoon; he was in his office at the University of Virginia.
Assassination Anniversary
In anticipation of next week’s anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, I looked back at a special episode of The Score from last November 22. This is just an excerpt but you can hear the whole thing posted on November 22, 2018..
In this brief excerpt, you will hear two eyewitnesses of the Kennedy assassination, Wesley Buell Frazier and Tina Towner Pender. They spoke at the Virginia Film Festival in 2013, just before the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination in Dallas.
From the Archives
