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NPR's Peter Overby reports on the Congressional testimony of IRS officials in response to the scandal over special scrutiny of tea party groups. Underneath all the politics, there's a policy question that hasn't been addressed.
NPR's Ari Shapiro joins host Scott Simon to talk about the Obama administration's week. The president was buffeted by revelations that the IRS had targeted Tea Party groups seeking tax-exempt status and that the Justice Department had subpoenaed reporter phone records. On top of that, Republicans continue to allege that the White House engaged in a cover-up of talking points about the attack in Benghazi, Libya.
President Obama's commencement speeches often seem more about the big-picture state of the union than do his State of the Union addresses, which read like to-do lists. And his assessment of where the country stands and where it's going has changed over the past four years.
Jorge Rafael Videla was a former senior commander in the Argentine Army who was the de facto president of Argentina from 1976 to 1981. He came to power in a coup d'etat that deposed Isabel Martinez de Peron. After the return of a representative democratic government, he was prosecuted for large-scale human rights abuses and crimes against humanity that took place under his rule, including kidnappings or "forced disappearance," widespread torture and extrajudicial murder of activists and political opponents (either real, suspected or alleged) as well as their families, at secret concentration camps.
As America's Cup officials investigate the tragic drowning of Olympian Andrew Simpson last week in San Francisco, some in the sailing community are questioning the safety of the ultra-fast high tech catamarans featured in the upcoming race.
Bobby McFerrin's new album is titled Spirityouall....
On Spirityouall, McFerrin performs classic black spirituals with roots in enslaved communities, as well as songs he composed himself. Throughout the album, he says, he hears the influence of his father, Robert McFerrin Sr., a renowned operatic baritone.