Kenyan Elections, History of Halloween, "Mormon Octopus"

Kenya's Election Do-Over Guest: Daniel Nielson, PhD, Professor of Political Science and African Studies, Brigham Young University The country’s elections have been plagued by disputes over vote rigging and stolen outcomes. So, when the country’s Supreme Court overturned a Presidential election in August and called for a do-over, there was hope the move would be an opportunity to strengthen Kenya’s democracy. It has not gone well. The rerun is supposed to happen tomorrow – Thursday – but may not go off. Concerns about violence at polling locations and in the streets.   The Tangled History of Halloween Guest: Lisa Morton, Screenwriter, Author, Halloween Expert Halloween is weird, isn’t it? It’s part harvest festival, with apple cider and pumpkin patches. And it’s part rowdy celebration, with trick-or-treaters running amok and adults dressing in costume. And it’s also part supernatural spookfest, with ghost stories and haunted houses. The strange nature of Halloween likely dates back to a peculiar Celtic holiday called Samhain. Halloween historian Lisa Morton has written about it extensively and joins me now.  America’s Soccer Problem Guest: Rick Eckstein, PhD, Professor of Sociology, Villanova University When the US men’s national team missed qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, Sports Illustrated called it “\[t]he most embarrassing failure in U.S. Soccer history.” The team’s coach resigned, and there are calls for more changes at the top of the U.S. Soccer organization. But Villanova sociologist Rick Eckstein thinks that many problems with soccer in America start with our kids' teams. Youth soccer is becoming exclusive and expensive, and that is ultimately hurting the men’s national team. Stories from The Apple Seed Guest: Sam Payne, Host, The Apple Seed, BYUradio Insecure, Outdated Computers Put Your Data at Risk Guest: Douglas Schmidt, PhD, Associate Chair of Computer Science and Engineering, Professor of Computer Science, Vanderbilt University Nearly 150 million people had their personal information stolen by hackers because Equifax – the credit monitoring company – failed to update some of the software it uses. In other words, the hack was completely avoidable. The software problem was known – there was even a fix for it that had been available for two months before Equifax was hacked. The Sinister "Mormon Octopus" and Modern Religious Intolerance Guest: Anthea Butler, PhD, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania A little more than 100 years ago, a Baptist missionary group published a pamphlet that featured an ominous map. On it, the Western United States are covered by an inky-black octopus centered over Utah. “Like a huge octopus, the Mormon hierarchy is fastening its tentacles throughout the Rocky Mountain States, and is sapping the very life-blood of American freedom,” read the pamphlet.  Who are these Mormons really loyal to – the United States, or their own church leaders?, the pamphlet asks. What will become of American democracy as Mormon settlers and missionaries fan out across the country?   Looking back, such alarm might seem silly. But if you replace the word “Mormon” with “Muslim,” or “immigrant” or “refugee,” this ominous octopus pamphlet could have appeared on your Facebook feed yesterday. Read The Mormon Octopus here.