The Two-Way
12:57 pm
Thu June 14, 2012

This Past May Was Second Warmest On Record

Credit NOAA
A map showing above and below average temperatures around the world in May.

Every month, NOAA puts out a report wrapping up big climate trends. Today, it reports that this past May was the second warmest on record.

"May 2012 also marks the 36th consecutive May and 327thconsecutive month with a global temperature above the 20th century average," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports.

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The Two-Way
12:56 pm
Thu June 14, 2012

Romney, Obama Squaring Off On Economy

Originally published on Fri June 15, 2012 11:18 am

President Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivered speeches that framed their visions for the United States moving forward.

While the appearences — both delivered in Ohio; Obama in Cleaveland, Romney in Cincinatti — were billed as dueling speeches scheduled for roughly the same time slot, the campaigns moved things around and the president delivered a much longer address right after Romney finished speaking.

In his address, Romney took shots at Obama for not delivering a recovery. He painted the president as being the "enemy" of business.

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The Two-Way
11:55 am
Thu June 14, 2012

Libya's High Court Strikes Down Law Banning Glorification Of Gadhafi

Credit Mahmud Turkia / AFP/Getty Images
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi attends the opening session of the Africa-EU summit in November 2010, before the current conflict. Now that the U.S. military has intervened in Libya, many wonder what the endgame is.

Libya's Supreme Court decided on Thursday that its citizens should have the right to glorify Moammar Gadhafi, who ruled the country for more than three decades until his ouster last year.

Law 37, which called for prison sentences for those who spoke well of Gadhafi and for those who published bad news about the February 17 revolution, was challenged by a lawyer who argued the law violated the freedom of speech.

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Ken Tucker reviews rock, country, hip-hop and pop music for Fresh Air. He is a cultural critic who has been the editor-at-large at Entertainment Weekly, and a film critic for New York Magazine. His work has won two National Magazine Awards and two ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards. He has written book reviews for The New York Times Book Review and other publications.

Tucker is the author of Scarface Nation: The Ultimate Gangster Movie and Kissing Bill O'Reilly, Roasting Miss Piggy: 100 Things to Love and Hate About Television.

Music Reviews
11:22 am
Thu June 14, 2012

On 'Banga,' Patti Smith Pays Homage To Friends

Originally published on Thu June 14, 2012 4:39 pm

Featuring Patti Smith's former New York punk-era colleague Tom Verlaine on solo guitar, "April Fool" is one of the prettiest songs on Smith's new album, Banga. Verlaine sends out long, thin, delicate tendrils of sound as Smith's voice suffuses the melody with full-throated urgency. Although Smith has said, with typical art-democratic directness, that "almost everybody in the world can sing," a few songs on Banga make you aware of what a good voice she has.

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Around the Nation
11:22 am
Thu June 14, 2012

Radio's Bryan Fischer Tries Pushing Romney Right

Credit Troy Maben / AP
Before hosting Focal Point, Bryan Fischer was the chaplain of the Idaho State Senate and the head of the Idaho chapter of the American Family Association.

Originally published on Thu June 14, 2012 1:56 pm

In April, Mitt Romney hired Richard Grenell, an openly gay man, to serve as his campaign's national security spokesman. Within hours, Grenell was being attacked by a Christian radio talk show host named Bryan Fischer, whose Focal Point call-in show reaches more than 1 million listeners a day.

Nine days after Fischer began his on-air attack, Grenell resigned. He had been the only openly gay member of Romney's campaign staff.

The Christian right and Fischer saw Grenell's resignation as a "tremendous victory," says New Yorker staff writer Jane Mayer.

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The Salt
11:17 am
Thu June 14, 2012

Report Urges Food Stamp Program To Clarify Purchases, Corporate Profits

Credit iStockphoto.com
The public really doesn't know much about what food stamp recipients are buying, and how much companies are profiting.

Originally published on Thu June 14, 2012 1:30 pm

Anthony Smukall's shopping list might look similar to that of many American's: Milk, eggs, whole grain bread, apples, assorted berries. But Smukall buys these products with his monthly SNAP allotment – money he receives from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps).

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The Two-Way
11:12 am
Thu June 14, 2012

20,000 Pages Of Boy Scouts' 'Perversion Files' Ordered Opened In Oregon

The state of Oregon's Supreme Court ruled today that "20,000 pages of so-called perversion files compiled by the Boy Scouts on suspected child abusers over a period of 20 years" must be opened to the public, The Associated Press reports.

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The Two-Way
11:10 am
Thu June 14, 2012

Spain's Borrowing Costs Skyrocket After Second Downgrade

Credit Paul White / AP
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is seen on a screen as a broker arrives at the stock exchange in Madrid on Thursday.

After Moody's became the second ratings agency to downgrade Spain's sovereign debt, the country's borrowing costs skyrocketed to record highs.

"The interest rate — or yield — on the country's benchmark 10-year bonds rose to a record 6.96 percent in early trading Thursday, its highest level since Spain joined the euro in 1999 and close to the level which many analysts believe is unsustainable in the long term," the AP reports.

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The Two-Way
10:34 am
Thu June 14, 2012

Your Shoes May Say A Lot About You

Originally published on Thu June 14, 2012 9:43 pm

Shoes can supposedly tell us more about a person than just whether they're sensible or stylish.

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