Brexit, African Samurai, Nuclear Waste

British Voters Signal Frustration with Both Major Parties in UK Over Brexit Guest: Simon Usherwood, Deputy Director, The UK in a Changing Europe, Professor of Politics, University of Surrey Both of Britain’s main political parties lost seats in local elections across England last week. It seems British voters are fed-up with how the Conservative and Labour Parties are handling Brexit. Or rather, failing to handle it. The original deadline to leave the European Union has come and gone. The British Parliament is locked in a stalemate. At the end of May, British voters will go to the polls again –this time to elect people to represent them in the European Parliament. The plan was to have been long gone by now, so that’s awkward. The True Story of Yasuke, the African Samurai Guest: Thomas Lockley, Assistant Professor, Nihon University College of Law in Tokyo, Co-Author of “African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan” A story, now, of rising above the hand you’ve been dealt and making your way in a land far from home. Millions of refugees from the Middle East and Africa are attempting to do that today. They might draw some inspiration from an African boy, kidnapped and enslaved in the 1500s. This boy travelled throughout Asia, rising to become a samurai for Japan’s most powerful leader. The new book, “African Samurai” tells the “True story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan.” Nuclear Waste Is Piling Up and America Is Running Out Room for It Guest: Edwin Lyman, Acting Director of the Nuclear Safety Project at the Union of Concerned Scientists, Author of “Fukushima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster” About 20 percent of America’s energy comes from nuclear power plants. The waste that’s leftover from making that electricity radioactive for a long, long time. And right now, America still has no long-term plan for where to keep that waste permanently. So the power plants that create the waste have to store it onsite –either in pools of water or special storag