By Frank James

We at NPR's The Two-Way blog have a lot to be thankful for this year.

Our news blog, born in May 2009, has gotten off to a very strong start, thanks to the efforts of numerous people at NPR, too many to mention individually and, most importantly, our readers and commenters. We appreciate each and every last one of you.

We plan on going dark until Monday unless, of course, major news breaks out, or we absolutely can't resist blogging about something, like the uninvited couple that crashed the Obama White House's first state dinner.

Mark and I would like to wish all of you a very happy and safe Thanksgiving. We'll be back at it soon.

By Frank James

When a president's rendezvous with destiny puts him in a position to save his nation's economy from ruin, he probably can be forgiven for thinking it's all right to use his power to move the Thanksgiving Day holiday.

Rescheduling Thanksgiving Day is exactly what President Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to do in 1939.

As NPR's Michelle Norris discussed on All Things Considered with Melanie Kirkpatrick who wrote a piece for Wednesday's Wall Street Journal, in 1939 FDR caused controversy by declaring that Thanksgiving would occur one week earlier.

In 1863, Abraham Lincoln had declared a national day of thanksgiving in November and by tradition it became customary for the presidents who followed him to annually declare that it would be observed on the last Thursday of the month.

In 1939 there were five Thursdays in November, however. That meant fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, which worried large retailers who lobbied FDR to move up Thanskgiving. He did.

Which caused an uproar among small retailers and many members of the public, including football coaches who had scheduled Thanksgiving games far in advance, only to have FDR make their well-laid plans awry.

The following YouTube video of a scene from the movie "Holiday Inn" featuring Bing Crosby starts with an animated turkey visually comedically demonstrating the confusion FDR caused.

Continue reading "How FDR Tried To Make Thanksgiving Arrive Earlier" >

By Frank James

Updated Nov. 26, 2009 at 8:12 AM ET -- What had looked like it was going to be a good news Thanksgiving story has turned into tragedy. John Jones has died. The 26-year old man had been trapped upside down in a tight spot in a Utah cave for more than two days.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, rescuers had "freed" him briefly Wednesday evening, nearly 24 hours after he became lodged between rocks.

But the system of ropes and pulleys they had used to lift him a few feet failed and the man was pulled by gravity back into the same position he was originally wedged in.

Jones was a medical student at the University of Virginia who had been exploring the Nutty Putty cave near Utah's Goshen Valley with family and friends Tuesday when he became trapped.

What was once a rescue effort has now become one of recovering his body.

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Updated at 8:05 PM ET -- Rescuers have freed the man who was trapped in a narrow seam in a cave for close to 24 hours. The Salt Lake Tribune reports:

Search and rescue crews have freed a man who has been stuck upside down in a crevice of Utah County's Nutty Putty cave since Tuesday night.

Now rescuers are working to get the 26-year-old John Jones out of the cave to a waiting medical helicopter. Now that Jones is free, he is being given food and water before rescuers try to escort him out of the rest of the cave.

He was able to speak with his wife over police radio, said his father, Leon Jones. "He was able to hear her," he said. "It really perked him up."

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If John Jones finds himself sitting at a dinner table on Thursday, he will have a lot more than most of us to be thankful about since, at last check, he was stuck in an upside down position in a Utah cave where he has been since Tuesday evening.

Jones, a 26-year old University of Virginia medical student, got lodged in a cave known as Nutty Putty while spelunking with a group in the Goshen Valley. The way he's wedged in is resulting in some circulation problems.

Rescue crews are using compressed-air powered tools in an attempt to break the rock around him to free him.

As the Salt Lake Tribune reports:

John Jones, a 26-year-old from Stansbury Park, is suffering from circulation problems after getting wedged in a narrow part of the cave called "Bob's Push" around 8:45 p.m., said Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon.

"He's just plain, flat stuck," Cannon said, but is doing "remarkably well given the circumstances." Jones, a medical student at the University of Virginia, was with a group of 11 people who shimmied into the narrow entrance to the cave, which is a hole on top of a hill about seven miles west of State Road 68. He got stuck about 700 feet into the cave and is now about 150 feet underground.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Continue reading "Man Stuck In Utah Cave Dies" >

By Frank James

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday his government was placing a 10-month freeze on Jewish West Bank settlements.

But he rejected any freeze on settlement construction in East Jerusalem an area Arabs long inhabited but which conservative Israelis claim as part of their national capital.

Netanyahu said he hoped the move would allow peace talks between Israel and Palestinians to be restarted. But Palestinians dismissed the Israeli action since East Jerusalem was excluded from the building moratorium.

An excerpt from reporting on the Israeli Haaretz.com news website:

"I hope that this decision will help launch meaningful negotiations to reach a historic peace agreement that would finally end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians," Netanyahu said at a special press conference he held shortly after the security cabinet approved the moratorium.

He added: "We have been told by many of our friends that once Israel takes the first meaningful steps toward peace, the Palestinians and Arab states would respond."

Continue reading "Israel Halts New West Bank Settlement Construction For 10 Months" >

By Frank James

A federal judge has ordered the city of New Haven to promote 14 white firefighters after the U.S. Supreme Court decided in June that their civil rights had been violated when the city threw out the results of promotion tests on which minority firefighters had done poorly.

U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton had dismissed the white firefighters' reverse-discrimination lawsuit in 2006. But she was reversed by the Supreme Court in Ricci v. DeStefano in a five-to-four vote with the case sent back to her to resolve along the lines of the high court's decision.

According to the New Haven Register:

The two-page, barebones order issued late Tuesday afternoon was the culmination of five years of litigation that wound all the way to the nation's highest court -- and has been the subject of a recent flurry of legal wrangling trying to prevent the promotions from happening.

Casting that aside, Judge Janet Bond Arterton, who in 2006 threw out the firefighters' lawsuit, laid out the city's road map. Her judgment stated the city's Civil Service Board "shall certify" the results of the contested 2003 promotional examinations for fire lieutenant and captain, "shall certify" promotional lists and then promote 14 members of the so-called "New Haven 20."

Karen Torre, the attorney for the firefighters, declined comment Tuesday night.

The order comes just weeks after seven black New Haven firefighters filed a motion seeking to intervene in the case and delay any order from Arterton, and days after Torre requested a status conference to find out the judge's intentions.

By Mark Memmott

"You shouldn't do their job for them. If they want to execute you, they should do it themselves."

That's one of several compelling moments in a conversation scheduled for Weekend Edition Sunday.

It's filmmaker and Newsweek reporter Maziar Bahari talking with NPR's Jacki Lyden about the times he contemplated suicide during the four months he spent in Iran's infamous Evin Prison -- where Bahari was tortured and threatened with execution for allegedly being part of a foreign conspiracy behind the protests that followed Iran's presidential elections last summer.

After repeated threats of execution, says Bahari, he considered the possibility of breaking his glasses and using the shards to slit his wrists. But he thought about his family. And he decided that killing himself would just make things easier for the authorities:

Frank wrote earlier this week, that Bahari has shared his tales in the pages of Newsweek and on CBS-TV's 60 Minutes -- where he discussed the false "confession" he gave while being held.

Bahari is scheduled to be on tonight's broadcast of TV's The Charlie Rose Show.

As we said, his conversation with Jacki will be on Weekend Edition Sunday. Click here to find an NPR station near you. The entire interview will also be posted on NPR.org this weekend.

By Frank James

Given the scale of the horrors that were Cambodia's killing fields, even a 40-year prison sentence for participating in the crimes against humanity that occurred during the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror will likely seem disproportionally lenient to many.

Nevertheless, that's what prosecutors in the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Comrade Duch (pronounced DOIK), have asked for.

Duch is the first high-ranking former Khmer Rouge official to be charged for crimes that resulted in the deaths of millions of Cambodians from 1975 to 1979 when a particularly vicious form of communism led by despot Pol Pot controlled that unfortunate nation.

As NPR's Michael Sullivan reported today on Morning Edition:

MICHAEL: Duch's trial has been going on for nine months now and during that time the court has heard grisly detail-from survivors and from the Khmer Rouge's own meticulous record keeping-about the horrors inflicted on prisoners at Toul Sleng, a list repeated by co-prosecutor William Smith today as the prosecution wrapped up it's case.

Savage beatings, fingernails and toenails pulled out with pliers, electrocution, all were part of the Toul Sleng experience, Smith said, which ended for almost all of the prisoners at the killing field of Choeung Ek

.

SMITH: Blindfolded and handcuffed, prisoners were forced to kneel in the dark next to their own burial pits. There they waited until the blow of a shovel or cart axle broke the back of their heads. And if that did not kill them, their throats were slit until they were kicked into their grave.

Continue reading "Prosecutors Seek 40 Years In Prison For Khmer Rouge Jailer" >

By Frank James

Lou Dobbs, who recently parted ways with CNN, was once among the most strident voices against amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Back in 2007 and 2008, he rode the wave of anti-amnesty fervor in the nation to relatively high ratings.

But that was then. Now Dobbs is evidently a supporter of amnesty under certain conditions. His dramatic conversion will likely leave a lot of his supporters scratching their heads and others wondering if expediency is behind his shift since he has openly mused about running for political office.

His change of heart is apparently part of an effort to remake his image with Latinos.

As The Wall Street Journal reports:

Mr. Dobbs, who left the network last week, has said in recent days that he is considering a third-party run for a New Jersey Senate seat in 2012, or possibly for president. Polls show voters unhappy with both parties, and strategists believe Mr. Dobbs could tap populist anger over economy issues just as Ross Perot did in the 1990s.

First, though, Mr. Dobbs is working to repair what a spokesman conceded is a glaring flaw: His reputation for antipathy toward Latino immigrants. In a little-noticed interview Friday, Mr. Dobbs told Spanish-language network Telemundo he now supports a plan to legalize millions of undocumented workers, a stance he long lambasted as an unfair "amnesty."

Continue reading "Lou Dobbs Flip Flops On Illegal-Immigrant Amnesty" >

By Mark Memmott

"I was planning to eat this sucker," President Barack Obama just joked, before issuing an "official" pardon for Courage the turkey. His girls convinced him to do otherwise, Obama said.

Cracking another one-liner, Obama also said that he and daughters Sasha and Malia today have "saved or created four turkeys" -- a second bird, named Carolina, has also been pardoned and the first family will be delivering two birds (for eating) to a D.C.-area charity.

That "saved or created" line, of course, refers to the oft-used phrase his administration keeps using about the jobs that it says have been "saved or created" by this year's economic stimulus package.

On a more serious note, the president urged all Americans to -- as we say thanks this week -- "also give back to those less fortunate" during this holiday season.

The Obama girls and the president all took the opportunity to pet Courage, by the way.

Earlier, we posted the amusing "preview" video that the White House produced.

Update at 12:30 p.m. ET. Here's the audio of the president's "proclamation":

By Mark Memmott

Another economic indicator to add to the mix:

Sales of new homes rose 6.2% in October from September, the Census Bureau says. According to the Associated Press, the 430,000 annual rate was "the highest level in more than a year."

Earlier today we heard that jobless claims have fallen (good news), personal spending has gone up (good news) and that orders for durable goods have declined (bad news).

Planet Money tries to make sense of what's happening with the economy here.

By Frank James

A Swiss court has granted director Roman Polanski's request that he be released on bail from his detention in Switzerland on a U.S. fugitive warrant related to his rape of a 13-year old girl in California 32 years ago and his flight from the U.S. to avoid completing a prison sentence.

Swiss jurists had earlier denied the 76-year old Polanski's request to be freed. But the court decided that he could be freed so long as special measures were taken to keep him from fleeing the country since he is a proven flight risk.

According to the Swiss news website "20 Minutes," besides electronic monitoring, Swiss officials have set bail at about $4.5 million, an amount they said constituted enough of his fortune to provide a strong disincentive to prevent his leaving Switzerland. In addition, Swiss officials have confiscated his passport.

Continue reading "Roman Polanski Granted $4.5 Million Bail By Swiss Court" >

By Mark Memmott

The U.S. Military Academy at West Point will serve as the backdrop for President Barack Obama's much-anticipated address to the nation next Tuesday about how many more U.S. troops he's decided to send to Afghanistan and what he wants them to accomplish.

The White House announced the location just a short time ago, and said the address is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.

As NPR's Don Gonyea has reported, it's expected the president will say he's adding about 34,000 more troops to the effort in Afghanistan.

By Frank James

Looks like we're still a few years away from being able to use a personal jet pack as reliable transport home for the Thanksgiving holiday. Or across the Straits of Gibraltar, for that matter.

Yves Rossy, the Swiss ex-fighter pilot known as "Jetman" had hoped to set a new first by flying the jet wing he straps onto his back over 23 miles of open ocean from Morocco to a beach on Spain's southern coast. He failed.

After some anxious moments when it was unclear what had happened to him, his team sighted him and was able to fish him out of the Atlantic Ocean after he ditched.

Rossy had good reason to believe he could make the 15 minute Morocco-Spain trip, having already crossed the English Channel which is 21 miles wide at its narrowest point.

By Mark Memmott

After ABC-TV canceled a scheduled Good Morning America appearance by American Idol runner-up, CBS' The Early Show was apparently more than happy to have him on to talk about the sexually charged performance he delivered during Sunday's American Music Awards.

Lambert claims he had "no clue" that the crotch-grabbing, guy-kissing, sexual-slavery-infused routine on network TV would be a problem:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

By Mark Memmott

"Rare, heavy rainstorms soaked pilgrims and flooded the road into Mecca" today as the hajj got underway, the Associated Press writes.

That's lead to scenes such as this, as three pilgrims tried to stay dry today while water poured down the street they were on:

Yesterday, before the deluge, crowds were able to circle the Kaaba inside the Grand Mosque in Mecca:

This being the Internet age, there is some blogging and tweeting being done from Mecca. Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow is tweeting here. In the space of an hour today, he reported that traffic congestion was "crippling," but that it "cleared up fast." The network's Omar Chatriwala is blogging here.

As the AP reminds us:

Continue reading "Rains Complicate Start Of Hajj" >