When the world's at stake,
go beyond the headlines.

This week, the Bombshell squad goes shoulder to shoulder into the fray of referenda for the Iraqi Kurds and the Catalans in Spain, alongside a recap of the German general election.  Like many women have before us, we ask “Why Chad?” and explore the merits of the new Trump travel ban. We wonder if it was painful for Secretary Tillerson to get cut off at the knees over North Korea, and contemplate the interagency fun of  the Puerto Rico relief efforts.  Finally, we spend some quality time pondering the existential crises brought on by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s Vietnam documentary on PBS – and also our love of Ross Poldark.

Episode Reading:

• Lauren Frayer, “Violence Breaks Out During Catalan Independence Referendum,” NPR
• Lauren Theisen, “Barcelona Play In An Empty Stadium After Attempted Independence Vote,” Deadspin
• Julie Smith, “Merkel Will Spend the Next Four Years Battle Forces at Home,” Foreign Policy
• Kevin Sieff, “Why did the U.S. travel ban add counterterrorism partner Chad? No one seems quite sure,” Washington Post
• Helene Cooper, Michael D. Shear and Dionne Searcey. “Chad’s Inclusion in Travel Ban Could Jeopardize American Interests, Officials Say,” New York Times
• Charlie Savage and Eric Schmidt, “Trump poised to drop some limits on drone strikes and commando raids,” New York Times
• Dana Milbank, “Donald Trump’s Dog,” Washington Post
• Malcolm Gladwell, “Saigon, 1965” (Episode 2), The Revisionist History Podcast
• Alyssa Rosenberg, “Ken Burns’s American War,” Washington Post
• Nicole Cliffe, ”Poldark Season-Premiere Recap: Sunrise, Sunset,” Vulture