Roughly Speaking

A recently published study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that news reports frequently link mental illness with acts of violence, giving the public the impression that people with mental illness are prone to violence when, in fact, only a small percentage of them are. We talk this over with Mark Komrad, Baltimore-based psychiatrist on the clinical and teaching staffs of both Sheppard Pratt and Johns Hopkins hospitals.Mark Komrad also serves as ethicist-in-residence at Sheppard Pratt and he is a member of the ethics committee of the American Psychiatric Association. He is the author of "You Need Help: A Step-by-Step Plan to Convince a Loved One to Get Counseling." We start the show with a chat about Section 7.3 of the APA's ethics principles — something known as the Goldwater Rule and dating to the 1964 presidential election, but with relevance to the present campaign for the White House.

HomeBrew Con 2016, the 38th annual National Homebrewers Conference, brings 3,000 beer lovers to Baltimore this week. Dan speaks with Gary Glass, director of the 46,000-member American Homebrewers Association, about the popularity of brewing beer, cider and mead at home. HomeBrew Con is being held at the Baltimore Convention Center June 9-11.

Driverless cars are being tested in the United States and in Europe. A British concern is set to roll out a commuter and shuttle-type vehicle called Pod Zero to get people around places like airports and resorts. The state of Michigan is pushing to allow the manufacture and sale of driverless cars in an effort to get ahead of the development curve in the United States. Are driverless cars really going to become part of our daily lives?We discuss a no-hands-on the-steering-wheel future with John Davis, host of MotorWeek, now in its 35th year on public television. The award-winning program, based at Maryland Public Television, that has been test-driving and reviewing motor vehicles since 1981. Other topics: Buick’s cool new convertible, why it’s hard to buy a bad new car today, and John Davis suggests a smart buy in the $25,000 range.

2:39: Baltimore Sun media critic David Zurawik discusses two things — TV coverage of the leading presidential candidates, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, and an Investigation Discovery special on the Adnan Syed murder case.35:18: Film critics Linda DeLibero and Christopher Reed reviews six films from the current cinema — "Weiner," "Me Before You, "Lobster," Nice Guys," "Bigger Splash," and "X-Men: Apocalypse" — and talk about what's ahead for the summer at the movies.1:09:04: Bartender Brendan Dorr gives a tutorial on gin and recommends some fine summer cocktails, including the French 75 (http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014443-french-75), which also uses Champagne.

“What’s the most gruesome thing you ever saw?” There’s a question you’ve always wanted to ask a doctor and probably never did. But a student in Leah Burchman’s 5th-grade class at Bollman Bridge Elementary School in Jessup, Maryland, didn’t hesitate to ask Dr. John Cmar for his ickiest memory. "My students are very curious individuals, and they love learning about all different types of subjects,” says Burchman, who teaches two English/language arts classes at the Howard County school.On today’s show, Dr. Cmar, who practices at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, answers health questions from Bollman Bridge 5th graders (1:45) while science educator and author John Monahan answers questions about dinosaurs, Earth and space posed by the 5th grade students of Rosemary Hazle, a teacher at Tunbridge Public Charter School in Baltimore (33:47). "My students are eager learners and a really fun group of kids. They will come up with great questions,” Hazle promised, and they did.We expect to do this again before school lets out later this month. In the next health/science episode of Roughly Speaking, Cmar and Monahan answer questions from 5th graders at Hillcrest Elementary School in Catonsville and Roland Park Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore.

Rob Weinhold, a former Baltimore police officer and one-time spokesman for the department, is a student of crisis management -- how leaders deal with tough times and threats to their reputations and careers. Now chief executive of the Fallston Group, a Baltimore-based crisis management and communications firm, Weinhold has a lot to say about Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's actions and statements during the unrest that hit Baltimore following the death in police custody of Freddie Gray last April. Weinhold also talks about the public relations problems experienced by Cafe Hon a few years ago, and how former Baltimore Police Commissioner Ed Norris and former Mayor Sheila Dixon handled their problems with the law. Weinhold is the author, along with former Sun columnist Kevin Cowherd, of "The Art of Crisis Management," published by Apprentice House Press at Loyola University Maryland.

1:42: The Trump reality show: The possibility of a Donald Trump presidency creates big buzz and more anxiety after the presumptive Republican nominee gets a poll bump showing him closing in on Hillary Clinton. Is the Trump candidacy a genuine political phenomenon or one rooted in reality television and the American desire to be entertained? Dan discusses that question with American culture commentator Sheri Parks.29:57: Reimagining "Roots": Baltimore Sun media critic David Zurawik reviews the History Channel's remake of the 1970s mini-series about the transatlantic slave trade.44:42: Dining out versus cooking in: Americans now spend more in restaurants than they do in grocery stores, according to a recent report from the U.S. Commerce Department. There is some dispute about what exactly that means — and whether it means that Americans (millennials, in particular) are spending less time in the kitchen. But it’s most definitely a trend, and Dan discusses it with John Shields, cookbook author and proprietor of Gertrude's restaurant in Baltimore.

In December 2013, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos appeared on "60 Minutes" and unveiled Amazon Prime Air, a drone-delivery system that he said could transport packages to customer doorsteps in 30 minutes. Bezos said more safety testing and federal approvals were needed, but he estimated that Prime Air would be available to customers in as soon as 4 to 5 years. What's up with that project and other civilian applications of unmanned vehicle technology? Sean Gallagher, Baltimore-based IT editor of Ars Technica, recently attended two drone conferences, including one in New Orleans that featured Amazon Prime Air vice-president Gur Kimchi. Sean joins Dan to talk about drones in work, play and warfare.Links mentioned in the podcast:• The Dronebuster (http://arstechnica.com/informationtechnology/2016/05/dronebuster-will-let-you-point-and-shoot-command-hacks-at-pesky-drones/)• Marines' autonomous robot-drone (http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/05/by-our-powers-combined-marines-test-teams-of-autonomous-robots-drones/)• FAA's progress (or lack thereof) on drone rules (http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/05/faa-chief-announces-advisory-panel-on-drones-as-industry-checks-its-watch/)• Air traffic control for drones (http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/05/by-mapping-the-skies-airmap-app-paves-the-way-to-a-drone-filled-future/)

The Toy Gun and the Black Son episode: A look back to the Dedric Colvin case in Baltimore. Dedric is the African-American 8th-grader who was wounded by a police officer on April 27 after he spotted the boy with what the officer thought was a handgun. It turned out to be a BB gun that resembles a real gun. Critics, including the American Civil Liberties Union, suggested that police would not have chased and fired on Dedric had he been white. Police Commissioner Kevin Davis, who is white, seemed to agree a few days later, conceding that his own sons, in the same situation, might have been treated differently. But what about parental responsibility and the questionable decision to allow a teenage boy to play with a replica handgun in a city known for gun violence? Heather Harris engages Dan on this subject. She is a professor of business communications at Stevenson University outside Baltimore. She is co-editor of "The Obama Effect," a collection of essays on the 2008 presidential election.

Donald Trump anxiety — people have been seeing their shrinks about it, and Mike Pesca on The Gist podcast introduced the Trump anxiety hotline, playing concern over the billionaire bully’s ascendance for comic and emotional relief. But, when Dan spoke to Kimberly Moffitt and asked her about Trump anxiety, she said it had made her consider buying a gun, something she had never considered before. Moffitt is associate professor in American Studies at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. She says she’s concerned that Trump’s candidacy — his statements about immigrants, about Muslims, the aggressive tone of his campaign, the zeal of his largely white supporters — could unleash a racial backlash. Also on the show: Republican political analyst Richard Cross III.