Roughly Speaking

"Nothing has left me feeling more aggrieved than the sudden realization that in much of America, I will never be more than a second-class citizen," writes Baltimore economist and consultant Anirban Basu in an op-ed for The Baltimore Sun. "All of a sudden, being of Indian descent and brown-skinned feels like a disadvantage. It never felt quite like this before." Today, on being dark-skinned in Trump's America. Our guest is racial justice activist and writer Deepa Iyer, the author of "We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future." Iyer, who was born in India and moved to the U.S. with her parents, served for a decade as the executive director of South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), focusing on community building in post-9/11 America. She teaches in the Asian American studies program at the University of Maryland. She will speak at the Maryland State Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped in Baltimore on April 18 as part of the Pratt Librar

Paul Francis Sullivan, host of the Sully Baseball podcast, talks about the 2017 Orioles and sizes up the top contenders in the American and National leagues. Sullivan, a California-based writer and TV producer who started his daily podcast in October 2012, ended that run on Sunday; he will continue to host a weekly podcast about baseball. Today, Sully’s take on Baltimore’s team and his predictions for the playoffs.Links:http://www.sullybaseball.com/

2:28: Paula Gallagher, Baltimore County librarian (and Sean’s wife), recommends a good book, “Truffle Boy: My Unexpected Journey Through the Exotic Food Underground,” by Ian Purkayastha, who comes to Towson next Sunday (April 9) for an appearance with Gertrude’s chef Doug Wetzel as part of the month-long BC Reads program.10:26: Are your documents safe in the cloud? Last week, a security researcher discovered a serious problem with Docs.com, Microsoft’s free document-sharing site tied to the company’s Office 365 service: Its homepage had a search bar. Not a big deal, except that hundreds of users of Office 2016 and Office 365 apparently were unaware that their documents could be shared publicly. Sean Gallagher, Baltimore-based IT editor of Ars Technica, nosed around and found a significant number of documents shared with sensitive information in them—some of them obtainable by just entering “passwords” or “SSN." Also on the show: What Congress and President Donald J. Trump are planning to do with our web surfi

Seventy days into his presidency, Donald J. Trump gets the nod of approval from only 35 percent of Americans, the all-time lowest approval rating of any president in his first year. The latest Gallup poll also shows his approval rating among men falling from 51 percent to 44 percent during the month of March. The traditional honeymoon enjoyed by most presidents during their first 100 days has not happened. In fact, says political analyst Herb Smith, Trump is having the presidential "honeymoon from hell." Smith, longtime professor of political science at McDaniel College in Westminster, talks about Trump’s struggles and how it could affect Republicans in the 2018 elections. And, fresh from a McDaniel roundtable on the subject, Smith talks about "fake news" and "alternative facts," and he compares the dystopian prophecies of Orwell's "1984" with Huxley’s "Brave New World."Links:http://www.gallup.com/poll/207518/trump-approval-rating-unusually-low-unusually-early.aspxhttp://www.gallup.com/poll/207497/gender-gap-

Dan comments on what happened over the past few days in Washington — the botched Republican attempt to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, the enduring domestic achievement of President Obama repeatedly dismissed as a disaster by President Trump and others who vowed to repeal and replace it. But the effort was doomed from the start: Obamacare can only be fixed by those who support it, not those who oppose government involvement in delivering health care for all, and certainly not by those who seek to wipe out President Obama’s legacy.Links: http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-201703-htmlstory.html

2:06: The Sun’s Washington correspondent, John Fritze, talks about the Republican splintering over the House GOP’s repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act. 16:42: Can a city that loses population and struggles with violent crime afford to require a $15 minimum wage? Luke Broadwater, who covers Baltimore government and politics, talks about that issue and offers perspective on the first 100 days of Mayor Catherine Pugh.36:26: Erin Cox, State House bureau chief of the Sun, catches us up on news from the General Assembly as it heads into the final two weeks of the 2017 legislative session. 48:28: Almost live from Florida: The Sun’s Orioles beat writer, Eduardo Encina, gives his views of the Orioles as they prepare to come north for Opening Day on April 3. 1:08:59: Book critic Paula Gallagher recommends a coming-of-age novel set in the 1970s, "Setting Free the Kites," by Alex George.

2:08: Book critic Paula Gallagher recommends a foodie book, this one called, "Eating Korea," by British writer Graham Holliday, a chip off the ole Bourdain. 7:15: With St. Patrick’s Day a week away, Dan welcomes Henry Hong and John Shields for a lesson in making corned beef from scratch. If you’re going to make your own corned beef in time for the Irish holiday, you’d better listen up and get started right away. While corned beef and cabbage is considered the traditional dish, John says it’s not so in Ireland, and he offers a recipe for what he had there on St. Patrick’s Day: Irish Bacon and Cabbage. John Shields is a cookbook author and proprietor of Gertrude’s restaurant in the Baltimore Museum of Art. Henry Hong, aka The Food Nerd, is food and beverage manager of the Baltimore Country Club.24:35: Laura Byrne, founder and director of the Baltimore Irish Arts Center, talks about Irish music in Baltimore on St. Patrick’s Day and the upcoming Baltimore Irish Trad Fest.30:38: Peter Brice, executive director of

6:31: Maryland’s Republican governor, Larry Hogan, faces re-election in 2018, but he remains highly popular in a predominantly blue state where President Donald J. Trump is deeply unpopular. Who among the state’s leading Democrats will emerge to take the Hogan challenge? Could Maryland voters, unhappy with Trump, turn against Hogan in the mid-term elections? With the Maryland primary election 13 months away, Dan talks politics with Erin Cox, the Baltimore Sun’s State House bureau chief.1:40: Paula Gallagher, Baltimore County librarian and Roughly Speaking critic, calls “Pachinko,” a family saga from novelist Min Jin Lee, a tour de force.Links:http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-jealous-governor-20170228-story.htmlhttps://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/min-jin-lee/pachinko/9781455563937/

4:46: Award-winning author Mohsin Hamid, whose new novel, “Exit West,” is a love story about refugees fleeing a war-torn country, talks about migrants, globalization, nationalism and America in the time of Trump. Hamid is scheduled to appear Saturday at the Church of the Redeemer in Baltimore for a fundraiser for the International Rescue Committee’s Baltimore area refugee rescue and resettlement efforts. Hamid is the author of three previous novels, including “The Reluctant Fundamentalist,” an international best-seller in 2007.23:12: With President Trump having revised and signed an executive order banning immigrants from six majority-Muslim nations, veteran journalist Arnold “Skip” Isaacs returns to Roughly Speaking to offer more perspective on American fears of terrorism and the roots of Islamophobia. Isaacs says those fears are overheated and in part driven by anti-Islamic extremists who push conspiracy theories about “civilization jihad,” sharia law and terrorist connections to Muslim-American organizatio

Will Englund (5:17), who won a Pulitzer Prize as a reporter for The Baltimore Sun, is the author of a new book about the American entrance into World War I. The book, "March 1917," is being released this week. It tells the story of the end of U.S. neutrality during the bloody conflict in Europe and the collapse of the Russian empire under the czars. Also with a new book is Gene Fax (24:26), author of "With Their Bare Hands: General Pershing, the 79th Division and the Battle for Montfaucon." On today's podcast, Fax tells how the U.S. — and Baltimore, in particular — mobilized for war.Links:http://books.wwnorton.com/books/March-1917/https://ospreypublishing.com/with-their-bare-hands

Should local governments or nonprofits establish “safe places” for heroin addicts to shoot up? Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan calls it “absolutely insane” and “idiotic,” but for a man who just declared a state of emergency because of a deadly drug epidemic, maybe he ought to read Susan Sherman’s report and recommendations before dismissing the idea. Sherman, a professor and researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, says “safe-drug consumption spaces” have reduced overdose deaths, linked addicts with treatment services, reduced crime and saved money. Such places are now in operation in 66 cities in 11 countries. On today’s show, Sherman talks about how these “safe places” work and how they might come to Baltimore, where deaths from opioid overdoses have been on the rise. Officials say Maryland had 2,000 such overdose deaths in 2016, prompting Hogan’s Wednesday announcement.Links:http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-drug-safe-20170225-story.htmlhttp://www.baltimoresun.com

As Donald Trump and his White House staffers continue to attack the news media, culture commentator Sheri Park opens a broader conversation about the press in 2017, the changes that have taken place in journalism since the advent of social media, and how Trump’s attacks might influence public opinion of the nation’s mainstream news organizations.

Our film critics, Linda Delibero (12:30) of Johns Hopkins University and Christopher Llewellyn Reed (5:08) of Stevenson University, react to the 2017 Academy Awards, and the most shocking snafu in Oscars history — the announcement of the wrong winner for best picture.

7:56: President Trump’s executive order on immigration cuts by more than half the maximum number of refugees the United States will take from troubled lands each year. Trump claims that refugees, particularly those from Syria, pose a threat to public safety and national security. But what are the facts? Veteran journalist Arnold “Skip” Isaacs takes a hard look at the data, and finds virtually no evidence to support the president’s claim.3:05: Book critic Paula Gallagher recommends a memoir of “addiction and ambition” by a young woman described as “New York’s enfant terrible,” Cat Marnell. The book: “How To Murder Your Life.”Links:https://consortiumnews.com/2017/02/17/jeff-sessionss-dubious-refugee-math/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/23/books/review/how-to-murder-your-life-cat-marnell.html?_r=0http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/How-to-Murder-Your-Life/Cat-Marnell/9781476752273

Sean Gallagher is the Baltimore-based IT editor and national security editor of Ars Technica, the Cond\u233\u Nast website covering technology news. In an earlier life, Sean was a naval officer whose computer skills landed him assignments as network administrator and computer security officer. He’s plugged into the world of national security, cybersecurity and intelligence. Today, Dan and Sean discuss the Russian connection to Donald Trump and the 2016 Trump campaign for president, the resignation of national security adviser Mike Flynn, the president’s frequent trips to Mar-A-Lago, and what people in security and intelligence think about Trump’s use of an Android device for his many Tweets. Sean just wrote a story about all that: Trump’s security faux-pas palooza.Links:https://arstechnica.com/author/sean-gallagher/https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/02/trumps-apparent-string-of-security-faux-pas-trigger-call-for-house-investigation/

More than a million African-American men served in segregated units of the U.S. military during World War II. While most were relegated to Army support units, the 333rd Field Artillery Battalion served in combat in France and took part in the Battle of the Bulge, the last major German offensive of the war, in December 1944. Eleven members of the battalion were captured by Nazi SS, tortured and massacred in the small Belgian village of Wereth. The Army covered up the atrocity; it did not become known until 50 years after it occurred. There is now a memorial in the village to the Wereth 11. Today’s guest is Denise George, co-author with Robert Child, of "The Lost Eleven: The Forgotten Story of Black American Soldiers Brutally Massacred in World War II."Links:http://www.wereth.org/en/historyhttp://www.historynet.com/the-wereth-11-a-little-known-massacre-during-the-battle-of-the-bulge.htmhttp://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/531793/the-lost-eleven-by-denise-george-and-robert-child/9781101987391/

Kelly Cross, a Baltimore community activist, has a crazy idea about preserving the old Maryland Penitentiary and possibly turning it a destination — with a museum, art gallery, shops and restaurants. It sounds farfetched, but some architects and philanthropists already have taken a look at the place. They see potential. Plus, Baltimore Heritage is on the case, calling for the state of Maryland to revise demolition plans and consider saving the 19th Century penitentiary and another building in the prison complex to the east of the Jones Falls Expressway — the Tudor Gothic warden’s house on Madison Street. Preservation is one motivation but, for Cross and others, the closing of the penitentiary’s west wing and the dilapidated Baltimore City Detention Center present an opportunity to reduce the concentration of prisons and jails in a high-profile part of the city and better connect East Baltimore to the city’s core.Links:https://strobophotostudio.pixieset.com/kellycross-baltimoresfuturegrowthanddevelopment/http:

2:46: Paula Gallagher, Baltimore County librarian and Roughly Speaking book critic, recommends a new work of science fiction, "All Our Wrong Todays," by Elan Mastai.6:28: Sarbanes is a widely recognized name in Maryland. Paul Sarbanes was a U.S. Senator for 30 years. John Sarbanes, the senator's son, is a member of the House of Representatives, serving Maryland’s 3rd Congressional District. The next Sarbanes you’ll hear about is the congressman's son, Nico Sarbanes, a 23-year-old jazz musician who’s just releasing his first recordings this month. A trumpet player and singer, and student of jazz, Nico Sarbanes joins us today, ahead of his performance at the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival, to talk about his ambition to capture "the Baltimore sound."Links:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FEY5EP2/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8----btkr=1http://www.midatlanticjazzfestival.org/artists/nico/http://www.midatlanticjazzfestival.org/

Dan speaks with Peter Schmuck, Sun sports columnist, about the Orioles’ pitchers and catchers, now at spring training in Sarasota. The Orioles’ ace Chris Tillman has a lingering shoulder problem and will likely miss his Opening Day start. Schmuck discusses the significance of that development, runs through the starters and relievers, and talks about the departure of Matt Wieters and the arrival of the team’s new catcher, Welington Castillo.Links:http://www.baltimoresun.com/balnews-peter-schmuck-20130507-staff.htmlhttp://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/schmuck-blog/bs-sp-schmuck-column-20170213-story.htmlhttp://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/bal-new-orioles-catcher-welington-castillo-believes-wbc-absence-won-t-hinder-his-adjustment-20170214-story.html

Maryland has made some progress in keeping ex-offenders from committing new crimes and going back to prison. Still, four out of 10 former inmates end up back behind the walls within three years of their release. Today, a talk about the challenges of re-entry and what it’s like for inmates coming home.Elizabeth Morse (3:28), a crime-prevention specialist assigned to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Baltimore, describes the services available to help ex-offenders adjust to life after prison. Morse compileda new list of government and private-sector agencies that assist adults recently released from state and federal prisons and local jails. The guide contains hundreds of resources with direct links to programs in Baltimore and all Maryland counties.While some inmates learn skills in prison, few are able to put them to use after they’ve been released. Chester France (31:50) and his volunteers are preparing to establish a job center for inmates who learned how to sew in prison. Their goal: Develop a line of apparel