Most of the cargo cranes at U.S. ports are made in China, and they could be spying. The Biden administration announced a plan to spend billions of dollars to replace and manufacture the equipment domestically over national security concerns. We’ll explain. Plus, how an Alabama court ruling on embryos may affect fertility treatments in a post-Roe world. And, the story of a man, an astronaut and a homemade antenna.
Here’s everything we talked about today:
“U.S. to Invest Billions to Replace China-Made Cranes at Nation’s Ports” from The Wall Street Journal
“Alabama Supreme Court rules frozen embryos are children, imperiling IVF” from The Washington Post
“Alabama health system pauses IVF treatments after court embryo ruling” from The Hill
“Man in Backyard Talks to Orbiting Astronaut Using Homemade Antenna” from kottke.org
“Florida farmworkers created America’s strongest workplace heat rules” from The Washington Post
We love to hear from you. Send your questions and comments to makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.
Make Me Smart February 21, 2024 Transcript
Note: Marketplace podcasts are meant to be heard, with emphasis, tone and audio elements a transcript can’t capture. Transcripts are generated using a combination of automated software and human transcribers, and may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting it.
Kai Ryssdal
Let’s go.
Kimberly Adams
Okay.
Kai Ryssdal
That’s what you call it. Just in time hosting right there. Hey everybody, I’m Kai Ryssdal. Welcome back to Make Me Smart, today making it make sense. That’s what we do.
Kimberly Adams
Indeed. And I’m Kimberly Adams, thank you for joining us on this Wednesday. It is February the 21st. And we’re glad to have you along with us.
Kai Ryssdal
We are going to do always do on a Wednesday. News. Smiles. And then carry out the plan of the day. What do you got Ms. Adams, if you want to go first. I’m happy to go first if you want to go second. Up to you.
Kimberly Adams
Yeah, why don’t you go first.
Kai Ryssdal
All right. Crazy, crazy story in The Wall Street Journal today, which kind of makes you do a double take. I will read you the headline and then discuss briefly. You should read this article. “US to invest billions to replace China made cranes at nation’s ports.” We’re talking about these giant cranes that take containers off container ships and get them onto the trucks, and then send them out into this economy. The fear is basically that by using Chinese made cranes, which will have capacity, the United States fears to track what is coming in and out of this country. A not unreasonable fear it seems to me. We are placing ourselves at a strategic disadvantage. Now, should somebody have thought of this a while ago? Yes. Are we going to spend billions. Clearly yes, we are. Wild, wild, wild story. It’s infrastructure. It’s corporate espionage. It is national security. It’s wild. I don’t even know what to say. Isn’t that, isn’t that amazing? So, drive by a big port drive by like Oakland or LA or Baltimore or whatever. Look at those cranes. Most of them are Chinese made. And they’re spying on us. Actually, that’s not fair. The government fears they’re spying on us,
Kimberly Adams
Or that they have the capacity to.
Kai Ryssdal
Right, or that they could. Isn’t that crazy?
Kimberly Adams
That is a wild story. You know, DC is often like, for many years was like the city of cranes. And one interesting economic indicator has been to sort of look out at the skyline and the drastic reduction of cranes because for a while, it was like nothing but cranes. I remember at one point; I spotted 40 cranes that I could just see from my window. And now last time I looked I think there’s like two or three. But yeah, you’re right.
Kai Ryssdal
Totally wild.
Kimberly Adams
Never would of thought of it.
Kai Ryssdal
No, no, no, never would have and clearly nobody did until like recently and they went hmm.
Kimberly Adams
Like, oh, right? I remember all the drama when China wanted to buy some ports.
Kai Ryssdal
Dubai Ports World, remember that? Yeah.
Kimberly Adams
Yeah, that was a huge thing. But you know, I guess there’s a way regardless. All right. So, when I was hosting Tech, I guess like, two years a year or two ago. However long ago, that was when the Dobbs decision actually came down. And one of the potential fallouts that people brought up as a potential outcome of the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Roe v. Wade, was what it would mean for IVF and egg freezing, and a bunch of folks on the, you know, happy about the decision side, we’re like, oh no, people are exaggerating, no big deal not going to happen. So fast forward to today, or actually Friday, when I’m going to read here from the Washington Post, “the Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday that frozen embryos are people, and someone can be held liable for destroying them. Adecision that reproductive rights advocates say could imperil in vitro fertilization and affect the hundreds of thousands of patients who depend on treatments like it every year. The first of its kind ruling comes as 11 states have broadly defined personhood as beginning at fertilization in their state laws.” That, so this case is having to do with a patient who mistakenly dropped and destroyed other couples’ frozen embryos could be held liable in a wrongful death lawsuit. It’s a really tragic story, obviously, you know, involving people’s families and really difficult choices. But the court ruled that the patient could be held liable for wrongful death, meaning that those you know because it had long held that unborn children are children and that was also true for frozen embryos, affording the fertilized eggs, the same protection as babies under the wrongful death of a minor act. So, jump over to The Hill dot com with the story now that the University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System is pausing all in vitro fertilization treatments for fear of lawsuits and criminal prosecution following the recent ruling from the state’s court. The spokesperson said the Health System is evaluating the decision. And, you know, that’s going to have impacts on a lot of families who rely on this. And, you know, if you layer that on top of the flight of, you know, OBGYNs and other prenatal and, you know, health care workers from states where these laws are kicking in, it’s going to be a lot harder for people to have children safely in these places that ironically, are trying to protect children, or unborn children or all the different classifications.
Kai Ryssdal
Yeah. Right. Let’s get it down to the to the very micro, right? There is right now somewhere in Alabama, a woman who has been injecting ourselves with hormones for however long that cycle is, right? Who has spent many tens of thousands.
Kimberly Adams
Tens of thousands of dollars.
Kai Ryssdal
To get ready for egg harvesting, and then in vitro fertilization. And that’s not happening now. You know?
Kimberly Adams
And I think about all the women who delay pregnancy, or you know, they use egg freezing so they can focus on their careers, or if you’re undergoing cancer treatments, or any of the many reasons that people choose to, you know, freeze their eggs and delay pregnancy. And now we’ll have to, you know, or what happens if you harvest 10 eggs, and they all take and all of a sudden, you have 10 fertilized embryos, are you then obligated to have 10 children or you’re a murderer?
Kai Ryssdal
Totally, that’s a good point. I hadn’t thought about that. That’s a good point, right?
Kimberly Adams
Right. Because that’s what usually happens to those fertilized eggs. They usually get destroyed once the people have had whatever children they want. And, yeah, there’s a lot of repercussions of this that are coming down the pipeline. So. Wow.
Kai Ryssdal
Wow. So, let’s change gears, Jayk.
Kimberly Adams
What’s your smile, Kai?
Kai Ryssdal
So I, for a number of years, have followed a guy on. Well, God. It started back like when Google Reader was a thing. Guy by the name of Joel Kottke, who’s been around for 20-25 years just collecting random things from the internet, curates them. And here’s what he had on today, “Man in backyard talks to orbiting astronauts using a homemade antenna.” Apparently, this is actually a thing. Ham radio operators can talk to astronauts on the space station, like when they pass overhead. It’s like a known thing. And in the ham community. That’s crazy.
Kimberly Adams
This was a scene in Gravity. Did you see Gravity with Sandra Bullock?
Kai Ryssdal
I did see Gravity. I don’t remember this one because I was so concentrated on the whole, “Oh, my God, what a horrible story being stuck in space alone.” But anyway.
Kimberly Adams
I’m really surprised that movie did not win more awards because I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. So good. But there was a moment where, you know, she’s in there by herself. And she’s trying, you know, she’s already lost George Clooney, and all the things. And she’s trying to get one of the radios to work in, I guess, the new capsule that she got into, and she actually hears somebody speaking Chinese to her. And she realizes that it’s just some ham radio operator, who happened to pick up the signal, and she has kind of a chuckle. And so, that’s the only reason I know about this because I went and looked it up at the time. I’m like, no way.
Kai Ryssdal
Yeah. It’s really cool. It’s really cool.
Kimberly Adams
Yeah, it is really cool. All right. So, mine is a Make Me Smile in the face of climate change. There’s a lot of heat-related deaths. This is terrible. This is awful. But for as much as we talk about inaction in Congress and the things that you can’t do anything about. This is a really nice story in the Washington Post about people who organized themselves, who advocated, who protested, and actually made change happen. Because there is a group of people in Florida who got themselves together and pushed for the strongest, as they say in The Post, “the strongest set of workplace heat protections in the United States. They were not put in place by local state or federal regulators, but by the workers who spent years organizing to push companies to adopt them.” This was a set of standards put in place by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a nonprofit that represents farm workers, the Fair Food Program that certifies farms, and they pressured the big chains like McDonald’s Taco Bell’s Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods. And now these workers, when it’s hot, they can take a 10-minute break for every two hours. If they feel heat illness coming on, they can cool down in the shade. Their company that they work for have to provide clean water, shaded rest areas, and nearby bathrooms for all of its workers, which seems like the absolute bare minimum, but were rights that people had to fight for. And they got them. And you know, it’s a really beautiful story. It’s got amazing illustrations, lots of first-hand accounts from the people who are actually involved in this fight. And you know the story, it made me smile. So, I am very happy to hear about people taking their future into their own hands and doing something to change it, and it’s working.
Kai Ryssdal
That’s a great story.
Kimberly Adams
Yay. Yes. Yes, it is a good story. And that’s all the stories that we have for today. So, we are going to be back tomorrow with our special weekly audio show. So, if there’s a clip of something that you think we should hear and talk about, definitely send it our way. You can send audio clips, you can send voice memos, you can send thoughts, questions, comments, to makemesmart@marketplace.org. You can also leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.
Kai Ryssdal
Make Me Smart is produced by Courtney Bergsieker. Ellen Rolfes writes our newsletter. Today’s program was engineered by Jayk Cherry. Thalia Menchaca is our intern.
Kimberly Adams
Ben Tolliday and Daniel Ramirez composed our theme music. Our senior producer is Marissa Cabrera. Bridget Bodnar is the director of podcast, and Francesca Levy is the executive director of digital.
Kai Ryssdal
And there we go.
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