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American Dreams: Then And Now
3:54 pm
Tue June 19, 2012

Hollywood Dreams Of Wealth, Youth And Beauty

Originally published on Tue June 19, 2012 6:59 pm

Tinseltown didn't invent the American dream, but it sure put it out there for the world to see — a dream lit by the perpetual sunshine of Southern California, steeped in the values of the immigrant filmmakers who moved there in the early 1900s and got enormously rich.

It was their own outsider experience these Italian, Irish, German and often Jewish moviemakers were putting on screen, each optimistic, escapist fantasy a virtual American dream checklist:

  • Hard work carries the day in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
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Shots - Health Blog
3:35 pm
Tue June 19, 2012

Shocker: Doctors Work When They're Sick

Credit iStockphoto.com
Take a sick day, doc.

How do doctors work around so many ill people without getting sick? Well, they don't.

Even if they scrub their hands like crazy, which certainly helps, they succumb to germs every once in a while, just like the rest of us. And also like lots of the rest of us, they'll go to work sick, a survey of medical residents finds.

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The Two-Way
3:19 pm
Tue June 19, 2012

Ecuador Says WikiLeaks' Julian Assange Has Asked President For Asylum

Credit Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Originally published on Tue June 19, 2012 4:27 pm

Ecuador's foreign minister says the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has requested political asylum.

Ricardo Patiño Aroca said on his twitter account that Assange had submitted his request at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

"The Ecuadorian government is analyzing his request," said Patiño.

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Middle East
3:06 pm
Tue June 19, 2012

Syria Creates Handwringing, But No Intervention

Originally published on Tue June 19, 2012 3:50 pm

The fighting in Syria has been escalating. The U.N. peace effort is in shambles. And there's no appetite right now for outside military intervention.

The Syrian crisis is prompting renewed calls for international action, and there have been plenty of dire warnings and lots of hand-wringing. But after a decade of fighting in the broader region, the United States and its Western allies have shown no interest in getting involved in another military adventure in a Muslim country.

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The Two-Way
2:57 pm
Tue June 19, 2012

Moon Shot From JPMorgan's Dimon Is Day's Money Quote

Credit Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon during testimony today before the House Financial Services Committee.
  • Rep. Sean Duffy and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon

The top news from Capitol Hill testimony today by JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is that he says "the bank did its best to fully inform investors about its risk strategy several weeks before it suffered a $2 billion-plus trading loss," The Associated Press reports.

But the quote from him that seems to be getting the most attention came in response to a question from Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., who wanted to know if the bank could ever lose "a half a trillion dollars or a trillion dollars?"

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The Two-Way
2:34 pm
Tue June 19, 2012

Frankel Runs Away At Ascot, Firms Up Standing As World's Top Horse

Credit Alan Crowhurst / Getty Images
Frankel, with jockey Tom Queally aboard, as he sped away with the win today at Royal Ascot.
The Two-Way
2:20 pm
Tue June 19, 2012

Floyd Mayweather Jr. Bumps Tiger Woods, Becoming Forbes' Top-Paid Athlete

Credit Julie Jacobson / AP
Floyd Mayweather Jr., left, punching Victor Ortiz during their WBC welterweight title fight in Las Vegas in September.

According to Forbes, the boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. is now the world's highest-paid athlete, dethroning Tiger Woods who had held the spot since 2001.

Two bouts during the past 12 months — beating Victor Ortiz and Miguel Cotto in less than an hour combined — netted Mayweather $85 million. That's more than LeBron James ($53 million), more than Roger Federer ($52.7 million), more than Kobe Bryant ($52.3 million).

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National Security
2:20 pm
Tue June 19, 2012

Secrecy Stifles Debate On Black Operations

Originally published on Sun June 24, 2012 8:38 am

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. For years, U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen remained an open secret. There are reasons why missile attacks on the territory of quasi-allies weren't acknowledged, but because of that secrecy, legal justification started to emerge only last year, and the process that the president and his advisors use to put individuals on the kill list only came into focus this month in Daniel Klaidman's book "Kill or Capture."

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The Salt
2:17 pm
Tue June 19, 2012

Why You Shouldn't Panic About Pesticide In Produce

Credit iStockphoto.com
Apples made the top of the list for produce containing pesticide residue, but how much is unsafe?

Originally published on Tue June 19, 2012 3:37 pm

The Environmental Working Group, a non-profit health advocacy organization, says you should be concerned about pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables, but not so concerned that you stop eating these foods.

That's the mixed message delivered in the eighth edition of EWG's annual Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce released today.

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Mental Health
2:12 pm
Tue June 19, 2012

Many Who Are Sexually Abused Keep Quiet

Originally published on Wed June 20, 2012 10:37 am

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. Last week on the first day of the sex abuse trial of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, a 28-year-old man referred to as Victim Four in court papers took the stand and offered graphic detail of years of abuse.

He also expressed regret for not coming forward earlier. He told the jury he had spent, quote, so many years burying this in the back of my head forever that when he heard there were other cases like his, he felt responsible.

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