Roughly Speaking

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 for churches — vestments for ministers, robes for choirs — and put ex-offenders to work making them. The project has been in the planning stages for a few years, and France expects “Lifting Labels” to open in September, under the auspices of a non-profit collaborative, Chill Station-Root of Jesse, and an apparel manufacturer, Fashion Unlimited, in southwest Baltimore.Links:http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-09-30/news/bs-md-recidivism-20130930_1_recidivism-prison-sentences-ex-offendershttps://www.justice.gov/usao-md/page/file/918571/downloadhttp://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/dan-rodricks-blog/bal-to-reduce-violence-more-effort-needed-on-offenders-while-in-prison-20161226-story.htmlhttp://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/dan-rodricks-blog/bs-md-rodricks-0129-20170128-column.htmlhttps://www.facebook.com/The-Chill-Station-Inc-Root-of-Jesse-Inc-412017988998191/?fref=tshttp://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-fashions-unlimited-adidas-20150912-story.html

3:33: The Sun’s State House bureau chief Erin Cox talks about Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s refusal to comment on President Donald J. Trump’s controversial — and now overturned — executive order on immigration. Plus, we get an update on the prospects for full marijuana legalization in Maryland.8:13: Book critic Paula Gallagher recommends "A Really Good Day," by Ayelet Waldman, a memoir of mood swings, marriage and microdosing LSD. Gallagher is a librarian at the Pikesville branch of the Baltimore County Public Library.21:13: In the spirit of international solidarity and adventurous cooking, Roughly Speaking foodies John Shields and Henry Hong join Dan to share recipes from the seven majority-Muslim countries targeted in President Trump’s executive order on immigration — Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Iraq and Iran. Shields, owner of Gertrude’s restaurant in the Baltimore Museum of Art, is an accomplished author of cookbooks, and he recommends two for anyone interested in the cuisine of the Middle East: “Jerusalem: A Cookbook,” and “Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen.” Look for the recipes discussed on the show in Dan’s Roughly Speaking blog post. Additional resources: The Sudanese Kitchen and chicken dishes from The Somali Kitchen, and a BBC program about the food of Syria. Henry Hong, “The Food Nerd,” is food and beverage manager at the Baltimore Country Club.Links:http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/dan-rodricks-blog/bal-what-s-cooking-this-weekend-food-of-syria-iran-sudan-iraq-somalia-yemen-and-libya-20170210-story.htmlhttp://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-erin-cox-20141007-staff.htmlhttp://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-hogan-facebook-20170208-story.htmlhttp://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-cannabis-vote-20170130-story.htmlhttp://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/545767/a-really-good-day-by-ayelet-waldman/9780451494092/http://www.bcpl.info/http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/225366/jerusalem-el-by-yotam-ottolenghi-sami-tamimi/9781607743941/https://www.amazon.com/Recipes-Remembrances-Eastern-Mediterranean-Kitchen/dp/0970971699http://www.sudanesekitchen.com/http://www.somalikitchen.com/category/chicken/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06d29bh

Can the country afford repeal of the Affordable Care Act, especially while we’re in the midst of a deadly opioid epidemic? What happens if the ground-breaking mental health provisions of the law, which include coverage for drug abuse treatment, are scrapped? Dr. Mark Komrad, a psychiatrist on the clinical and teaching staff of Sheppard Pratt Hospital and the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, provides perspective on mental health and insurance through the years, and what’s at stake if Congress and President Trump repeal the ACA. Komrad is the author of “You Need Help: A Step By Step Plan to Convince Your Loved One to Get Counseling.”Links:http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/12/14242086/obamacare-repeal-opioid-heroin-epidemichttp://www.komradmd.com/Mark_Komrad_MD/Biography.htmlhttp://www.youneedhelpbook.com/You_Need_Help/Overview.html

If upheld, one of the ramifications of President Trump’s restrictions on travel from seven nations could be fewer primary-care doctors for areas of the United States where they are badly needed. In criticizing Trump’s executive order, the Association of American Medical Colleges notes that the U.S. faces a serious shortage of physicians. International graduates represent roughly 25 percent of the medical workforce. In the last decade, says the association, one immigration program alone directed nearly 10,000 physicians into rural and urban underserved communities. “Impeding these U.S. immigration pathways,” the association says, “jeopardizes critical access to high-quality physician care for our nation’s most vulnerable populations.” On today’s show, Dr. John Cmar, director of the residency program in internal medicine at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, discusses the role foreign medical-school graduates play in the U.S. health-delivery system.Links:http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/ct-donald-trump-travel-ban-20170206-story.htmlhttps://news.aamc.org/press-releases/article/executive-order-immigration-013017/http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/sns-tns-bc-immigrants-medicalstudents-20170202-story,amp.htmlhttp://www.lifebridgehealth.org/Sinai/AMessagefromtheProgramDirector6.aspxhttp://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/sns-tns-bc-immigrants-medicalstudents-20170202-story,amp.html

1:40: Paula Gallagher, Baltimore County librarian and Roughly Speaking book critic, praises "Perfect Little World," a new novel from Kevin Wilson, best-selling author of "The Family Fang." If you liked the early works of John Irving, says Paula, you’ll like the characters in this new work by Wilson. With today’s podcast, Paula begins a series of weekly book recommendations.5:09: Lane Harlan, creator of Bar Clavel, the Mexican-inspired bar and restaurant in Remington, describes her establishment’s widely-hailed margarita and provides tequila drinkers with a primer on the world of mezcal. Joining us for some “mezcal enlightenment” is bartender Brendan Dorr of the B----0 American Brasserie. Hear Lane’s earlier interview on Quinn Kelley’s Female Trouble podcast.Links:https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062450326/perfect-little-worldhttp://www.barclavel.com/http://www.bandorestaurant.com/menus/food-drink.htmhttp://www.baltimoresun.com/features/female-trouble/bal-female-trouble-lane-harlan-20160712-story.html

Dan and David Zurawik have a spirited, wide-ranging and sometimes testy conversation about presidents (Trump and Obama) and the press, CNN being “iced out” by the White House, news reporting on Trump supporters, Obama administration pursuit of reporters’ sources, NAFTA and the Affordable Care Act. In this episode, Zurawik refers to two programs, a podcast from Al Jazeera English about the Obama administration and the press, and an upcoming Showtime program about the 2016 election.Links: http://www.sho.com/titles/3445564/trumped-inside-the-greatest-political-upset-of-all-timehttp://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2017/01/obama-media-freedom-unprecedented-intrusion-170122115158844.html

The Great Baltimore Fire started on Sunday Feb. 7, 1904, burned for 30 hours, devastated 80 blocks of downtown and destroyed 1,500 buildings and hundreds of businesses. The city had a young mayor — in fact, the youngest in its history, Robert McLane, 35 years old at his election in 1903 — and he oversaw the efforts to fight the fire, then took on the daunting challenge of rebuilding the central business district.Today, historian Wayne Schaumburg talks about the Great Baltimore Fire and the sudden, shocking demise of that young mayor — at the center of efforts to stop the fire in February, leader in the effort to rebuild the city immediately afterwards, but dead of a single gunshot wound in late May. Wayne Schaumburg conducts tours of areas affected by the Great Baltimore Fire, in association with the Fire Museum of Maryland.Links: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/history/bs-baltimorefire-slideshow-htmlstory.htmlhttp://articles.baltimoresun.com/2004-02-07/news/0402070176_1_mclane-committed-suicide-baltimorehttps://www.firemuseummd.org/eventshttp://darkroom.baltimoresun.com/2014/02/great-baltimore-fire-of-1904-110-years-later/#1http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/dan-rodricks-blog/bal-great-baltimore-fire-a1-feb-8-1904-photo.html

Leaders from two Baltimore-based relief agencies — the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and Catholic Relief Services — talk about President Trump’s order banning immigration from seven majority-Muslim nations and Trump’s indefinite ban on refugees from the Syrian civil war. Dan’s guests are Linda Hartke (1:28), president and CEO of LIRS, and Bill O’Keefe (13:14), vice-president for government relations for CRS. Offering commentary on the potential international ramifications of Trump’s controversial order: Arnold Isaacs (22:17), former Sun foreign correspondent and editor, and author of “From Troubled Lands: Listening to Pakistani Americans and Afghan Americans in post-9/11 America.”Links:http://lirs.org/http://www.fromtroubledlands.net/troubled lands about the author-1.htmhttp://www.fromtroubledlands.net/

Could voter fraud of the massive scale being asserted by President Donald J. Trump occur in the United States? Sean Gallagher, the Baltimore-based IT editor of Ars Technica and our favorite techsplainer, explains why getting 3 million to 5 million illegal votes cast in multiple states would be nearly impossible. Gallagher also talks about the Russian hack of the 2016 presidential campaign, but he believes Internet trolls likely had more of an influence on voters than did the Russian hackers and WikiLeaks.Links:http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/sns-bc-us--trump-20170124-story.htmlhttps://arstechnica.com/author/sean-gallagher/