America Decides, Almanac, Sunday Best

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I'm Lee Cowan and this is Sunday Morning. If there's one thing you can count on this political season it's that you can't really count on anything. For the first time since Lyndon Johnson announced he wouldn't run for re-election back in 1968, President Biden appeared in the Oval Office Wednesday to explain why he wouldn't either. His Vice President Kamala Harris took to the starting line for the Democrats with barely three months before election day. And all that while Congress is still trying to find answers to how a would-be assassin nearly killed former President Donald Trump. These are earthquakes that have changed the political landscape.

So we asked our Robert Costa and Martha Teichner to help us sort it all out. The best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. Biden is out. Vice President Kamala Harris is in.

Are you ready to get to work? The only constant in this fraught presidential race, former President Donald Trump. Kamala, you're fired.

The target of his attacks has changed but not the tone. What just happened and what now? Coming up this Sunday morning the sprint to November 5th. Take two. Hiring is challenging especially when you're a business owner with a lot on your plate. Thankfully there's a place you can go for help. ZipRecruiter. ZipRecruiter does the work for you to make hiring fast and easy. Immediately after you post your job ZipRecruiter's powerful matching technology starts showing you qualified people for it. Experience faster, easier hiring with ZipRecruiter. Try it free at ziprecruiter.com slash zip daily.

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That's audible.com slash wondery pod or text wondery pod to 500 500. 40 years ago this summer a small film called The Karate Kid opened in theaters. It was an underdog tale but it punched far above its weight becoming an unlikely blockbuster turning its young star Ralph Macchio into a household name.

Wax on wax off. It's one of the most instantly recognizable movies in history. It's still at its core a very human story overcoming obstacles finding your place and mentors and balance you know it's all good life lessons.

And those themes continue today. Get your house in order LaRusso. Who the hell you think you're talking to? Let Karate Kid as an adult ahead on Sunday morning. With Raimi Inocencio we'll travel to Hong Kong to assess what a difference five years can really make.

JoLynn Kent is in conversation with John Chu the director behind the hit movie Crazy Rich Asians plus a story from Steve Hartman humor from author David Sedaris and more. It's the last Sunday morning of the month July 28 2024. We'll be right back. It's been another week that was for this ever-changing campaign of 2024 with Robert Costa we take stock.

But we are not going back. Vice President Harris strode into the spotlight this past week all but sewing up her party's nomination in a matter of days. Democrats cheers however were met by Republican jeers.

They were explaining to me you can say Kamala you can say Kamala I said don't worry about it doesn't matter what I say I couldn't care less if I mispronounce it or not I couldn't kill it. So many questions linger will former President Trump debate Harris and who will Harris choose as her running mate but this is also a deeply personal moment for the man no longer on the ticket. Nowhere else on earth could a kid with a stutter from modest beginnings in Scranton Pennsylvania Claymont Delaware one day sit behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office as President of the United States but here I am. What has been the impact of President Biden's decision on United as a Senator but as a friend?

It's been hard. It's been hard to have Joe Biden take a look at where we are and where he is. This was one of the most moving selfless acts I've ever seen by an elected leader. The power of the presidency the possibilities of the presidency are incredible and to step aside from that and say the work needs to continue but it's not mine to finish and to hand it off to a trusted Vice President it's very tough. Delaware Democratic Senator Chris Coons is one of President Biden's closest confidants in Washington.

He even sits at Biden's old desk but a missed call last Sunday meant Coons learned the news when the rest of us did. And I turned my phone over the President had just been calling me so I got up went outside called back he had wanted to talk to me before it became public we had talked over the course of the weekend and it was just a very heartfelt conversation. What stands out to you about what he had to say to you?

Just it was it was very personal. Some Democrats close to the President feel betrayed by how this played out. They feel betrayed on his behalf that he was pushed out. It was a very hard couple of weeks as folks who felt urgently about this decision increasingly spoke up first privately then publicly and in the last conversation we had of the co-chairs of the campaign and in some conversations with fellow senators who like me were deeply committed to continuing this campaign with Joe Biden as our nominee were quite angry and hurt. He said he wanted a second really wanted a second term he made that very clear and there are many of us who were very excited about the prospect of another term.

Are you disappointed in some Democrats for leaning in a bit too much? I think at this point my emotion is just gratitude to Joe Biden for his service and for the selfless way in which he made a decision that I think is in the best interest of the country. He sees clearly just how great the consequences are of this election. In his Oval Office address this past week Biden said Supreme Court reform remains a top item on his agenda. Coons will be with the President tomorrow in Austin, Texas to mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act at the LBJ Library. For Joe Biden it's another chance to remind Americans he came into office and will leave it arguing that democracy must be defended.

But all eyes now turn to Vice President Harris and later this Sunday morning Martha Teichner takes stock of her campaign. Hey I'm Ryan Reynolds. Recently I asked Mint Mobile's legal team if big wireless companies are allowed to raise prices due to inflation. They said yes and then when I asked if raising prices technically violates those onerous two-year contracts they said what the are you talking about you insane Hollywood. So to recap we're cutting the price of Mint Unlimited from thirty dollars a month to just fifteen dollars a month. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Forty five dollars up front for three months plus taxes and fees. Promoting for new customers for limited time.

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That's greenlight.com slash wondery. These people aren't just rich okay they're crazy rich. Look there's new money all over Asia. We got the Beijing billionaires the Taiwan tycoons but the young family they're old money rich. They had money when they left China in the 1800s. Since his movie Crazy Rich Asians became a smash director John Chu has become a pretty hot commodity in Hollywood. As Jo Lynn Kent tells us the story of his rise is truly an American tale. For more than 50 years The Kitchen at Chef Chu's in Los Altos California has produced one crowd pleaser after another.

So pot stickers I love. Including a certain Hollywood director. Garlic noodles with lobster is like delicious iconic and very iconic. Before he'd bring Crazy Rich Asians and In The Heights to the big screen. Hey good morning. John Chu was the kid folding napkins in the corner of his dad's Silicon Valley restaurant.

I would lay here and do my homework. His immigrant parents from China and Taiwan immersed him in American culture. Somewhere over the rainbow we used to sing that all the time. It's this idea of dreaming of some other place beyond the walls of my bedroom was was was instilled in us because that's what my parents thought when they came to America.

It's the promise of something more. My mom would call us the Asian Kennedys and she would dress us the same. So we have these like epic family photos. When John said he wanted to get into film and Hollywood what did you think?

Is that a good expression? Meet the parents Mom Ruth and Dad Lawrence better known as Chef Chu. He wanted to be a director. He wanted to be an actor. Yeah but then he realized he's not tall and not handsome enough. Could be true. That's a mommy talk.

That's how we talk in the family. Very straightforward. Less straightforward was the 44 year old's actual path to the red carpet as he details in his memoir Viewfinder. It all began with the June 1992 Sharper Image Catalog. It was an AV mixer, an audio video mixer where you connect VCRs together and your stereo together and you could make a movie. Would you like to see a cameraman?

Okay here I am. Home movies at first and later his own remake of Titanic. Don't do that Rose.

Don't you go say your goodbyes now Rose. Film school came next and Chu scored meetings with Steven Spielberg and two movie deals by 23. But this is Hollywood so when the deals fell through he was jobless.

His mom once again got straight to the point. I got a script for a sequel to a dance movie and I told the my agents oh I don't do direct to DVD. I got discovered by Spielberg so I told my mom that story and she's like when did you become a snob? What?

If you're a storyteller, a story can tell a story in any medium. The interesting thing though is Steven Spielberg was telling you be careful what your first movie is and you've got mom who's not exactly a movie industry veteran and you chose mom. I chose mom. Come on. I don't think there's another choice. Are you aware that you could be the next train wreck?

What followed was a decade of documentaries, dance projects and action sequels. Drive it like you stole it. The critics weren't always fans but you couldn't argue with the box office. But you're not satisfied. Why? I had pushed away talking about being Asian for so long because if I did then all of a sudden I'm the Asian director and I'd only be seen as that.

But it started to feel a little empty of like well what is the thing that I most want to say? We had not actually revisited my past where my family comes from. The result? Crazy rich Asians.

Oh damn Nick. It's a party though. A hit at the box office. Self-made woman. She must be so proud of you.

And with the critics. Well she knows that I'm passionate about what I do and she's always wanted that for me. Pursuing one's passion. How American.

Based on the best-selling novel it was the first American film with a mostly Asian cast in 25 years. For inspiration Chu knew where to go. I knew the things that I wanted to draw from here. I wanted Eleanor to be an environment like this because to me this is them like playing jazz with making food. I wanted that power to be shown as Eleanor walked around the island.

Translating struggle and ambition to the silver screen with sumptuous visuals and elaborate numbers seemed to be Chu's calling. You're green. He's now landed in Oz. I am. Directing the film adaptation of the Broadway mega hit Wicked.

There's nothing that can stop you from becoming popular. Then you look up. Then you look at each other for one short.

Part one is out this fall starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. Wicked has this line. It's time to trust my instincts. Close my eyes and leap. It's time to trust my instincts. Close my eyes and leap.

When I heard that it sounded a bit like you. It's the whole reason I did the movie. It's all about striving for that dream and being able to fight through the uncomfortable things to get there.

The son of immigrants with big dreams is a familiar story but John Chu knows the path to a Hollywood ending is not always what it seems. Just follow the yellow brick road. So now how has your view of the Wizard of Oz changed since you were a kid? I think that that yellow brick road is no longer the path that you just keep following because there is no wizard there that's going to give you your heart's desire. Life is a series of walking adventures and as you're walking smell the flowers and feel the air and maybe you'll realize you're actually flying. We get support from Dove.

Hey y'all it's your girl Keke Palmer, host of the Wondery podcast, Baby this is Keke Palmer. Let me cut to the chase. Did you know that in many states across the U.S. it's still not illegal to discriminate against people based on the way their hair grows out of their head? To deny black folks from jobs and opportunities because they have braids, locs, twists or bantu knots? That's messed up and today's sponsor Dove agrees. That's why Dove co-founded the Crown Coalition in 2019 to advocate for the passage of the Crown Act. Crown stands for creating a respectful and open world for natural hair and the Crown Act is legislation which prohibits race-based hair discrimination in workplaces and schools in the U.S. Dove is driving awareness by advocating for petition signatures and supporting the crown movement to create a society where black hair is not only accepted but respected and celebrated in all of its beauty. Join Dove in taking action to help end race-based hair discrimination by signing the Crown Act petition at dove.com slash crown.

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Feel more energized, alert, and balanced with high quality supplements. Head over to Symbiotica.com and use code CBS for 20% off plus free shipping on your subscription order. Vice President Kamala Harris has stepped out from behind Joe Biden's shadow to seek the presidency of the United States. Martha Teichner takes a closer look at just where Harris has been and where she hopes to be going. We are going to win this election. Call it the big reveal. Vice President Kamala Harris in the last seven days emerging. Are you ready to get to work? Blasting out from behind the curtain of the Biden presidency onto a stage of her own. Are you ready to make your voices heard?

It's been kind of a joyous explosion. Certainly you've seen that in the reaction in the country. Stuart Stevens is a longtime Republican political strategist and author. There is something about being vice president that diminishes you and there's something about being the nominee of a party that enhances you. So I think what we've seen since the president withdrew from the nomination, this process of vice president Harris becoming something larger than being a vice president.

Some won large enough in the eyes of voters to be president. Traditionally candidates have months, the entire primary season to do that. Harris has exactly 100 days between now and November 5th. She's in a big hurry. In a week she's locked the nomination, hauled in a mountain of cash, and racked up an impressive list of endorsements. Young people, volunteers, constituencies who had tuned out of the presidential race, are tuning back in by the thousands to support Harris, nudging her to a statistical tie with former president Donald Trump in a new poll.

We choose freedom. Harris has moved fast to define the narrative of her own campaign before Trump does it for her. If you don't mind, I'm not going to be nice.

Is that okay? The fact she's about to win the election, is that okay? The fact she's a black South Asian woman is the ever-present undercurrent in the turbulence of the now-redefined election cycle. Do you think that the fact that Kamala Harris is a woman will be a big factor in this election?

I think when it's said and done we're going to look back and say it was a determinative factor. Harris will be bumping up against that expectation that strong leaders, that presidents, look like men. And so she's going to have to look strong, look like a compelling leader, while acknowledging that she is different. And so trying to find that fine line between being assertive and being a strong leader while not being unlikable is going to be a challenge.

Lindsey Chervinsky is the executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library and a presidential historian. Any time there has been a female candidate, whether it's all the way back to the early 1900s up through Hillary Clinton, many of the attacks can be gender-based. Kamala Harris. As Trump has already proven.

Did you see her last night on television with the laugh? We have double standards for women in public life and the same for non-white candidates. Look, I think that they're going to use every kind of racial gender dog whistle that they can come up with.

How will she have to respond to that? The easy answer to that is I've never been in a courtroom with someone I was prosecuting who had a lot of nice things to say about me. Hear me when I say I know Donald Trump's type.

Prosecutor versus felon has a meme. Haven't we heard that line from Donald Trump? Looking back from the vantage point of history, sometimes a catch phrase or a moment can alter the perception of a candidate or a race. I of course disagree with Senator Kennedy. Example, a sweaty scowling of Richard Nixon.

Only you can decide. Versus a telegenic JFK in the 1960 debate. Another one that I would maybe point to is Bill Clinton's Arsenio Hall saxophone playing because it spoke to the moment and it confirmed what people liked about him.

Yes, we can. I don't think that there was a lot of polls out there in 2007 and early 2008 saying the American people, their number one issue was hope and change. But Barack Obama was able to make that the number one issue. And that's how you win campaigns. Stuart Stevens is an anti-Trumper, but he's been a top advisor to Republican presidential candidates since the mid-1990s. Listen to his prediction. You think Harris will win?

They sure win comfortably. The odds are not necessarily in Harris's favor though. Typically vice presidents have abysmal success running for presidents on their own. We've seen very few that are successful and typically they only serve one additional term. Of the 24 former VPs who have run before Harris, only 10 won, most recently Joe Biden. Now, Donald Trump is the old guy running for the Oval Office. So will this be Kamala Harris's moment to make history? I'm ready. Her honeymoon period won't last forever, but she's out of the gate, swinging.

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NetSuite.com slash CBSnet. We head to the beach, but for the family our Steve Hartman caught up with, being near the water is a different kind of escape. If you take a ferry to Isle de Haux, an island community way off the coast of Maine, you can visit the gift shop, the general store, and, well, that's it.

Just the general store and the gift shop. There are literally no other businesses on the island. So people who live out here are resilient, they're creative, and they're few.

Too few, according to Bob Olney, president of the Isle de Haux Community Development Corporation. And it's essential that we continue to attract families. So last year this community of about 50 year-round residents made a post, hoping to woo a new family. They were careful not to oversell the place.

Though it's not everyone's cup of tea, who knows, it may very well be yours. And they got a taker. A young family from central Massachusetts.

Dakota Waters, his son Flynn, wife Hannah, and their baby Amelia moved here a few months ago. Oh our whole family thought we were psychotic. They're like a remote island in the middle of the ocean. Had you been on an island before?

Nope, never even been in the ocean. And yet here they live, the newest members of a dying breed. At one point there were about 300 communities out here on Maine's most isolated islands. Now just over a dozen remain. And keeping those alive will require a new breed of frontiersmen, folks who value solitude over Starbucks and really don't mind a little adversity.

People have traded the good life for a convenient one and convenience isn't always the best. To that point, the Waters raise some of their own food and work multiple jobs. Dakota does plumbing, lawn maintenance, the old landlubber even works on a lobster boat. And as for the children, this year his son Flynn was one of just two kids in the K-8 schoolhouse.

And that was the other. The place is just that small. But Dakota says the tininess is more blessing than curse. There we go. We have so much more bonding time with the kids.

It's undescribably wholesome. You think you're here for good? Yeah. I'm not moving my stuff off this rock again.

It was too hard to get it here. Come for the beauty, stay because it's too hard to leave. Could be another soft sell ad. This podcast is supported by Progressive, a leader in boat insurance. Welcome aboard to Carefree Boating. Here we don't worry about the what ifs because we explore with Progressive Boat Insurance for as little as $100 per year for a basic liability policy. Progressive also offers a variety of other coverages that can help you cover repair costs when you need it.

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Discounts not available in all states or situations. Hey, hey, hey Mr. Miyagi, look, look. You begin a luck. It's Sunday morning on CBS and here again is Lee Cowan. That's Ralph Macchio in the classic movie The Karate Kid, a movie that spawned two sequels, video games and for the past five seasons, a smash streaming hit. There are few Hollywood filming locations where Tinseltown's glitter still hangs on the breeze. Those dolphins out there? Right there?

This beach, just north of Malibu, California. No, it's many dolphins. Oh, it's, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's cool. Is one of those magic places. You're taking me down memory lane, man.

This is amazing. If you remember the movie poster, then you know exactly where the Karate Kid is. Ralph Macchio and I met up.

And why? What was that you were doing on those stumps over there? All crane technique.

It is 41-ish years ago, but I remember being darn cold coming out of that water. Does it work? If you're right, you all can defense. Daniel LaRusso had just moved to Los Angeles, as the plot goes, when he quickly becomes the target of rival Johnny Lawrence. Daniel learns karate from Mr. Miyagi, played by the late Pat Morillo, and he goes on to learn about a lot more than just beating a bully. When The Karate Kid was released in 1984, it was competing with some big budget walkbusters.

But this tiny little movie found its footing and became one of the highest grossing films of the year. Sometimes you want your second chance to sort of taste it all again and really, you know, enjoy it. But you're getting that chance. I am getting that chance.

You're dead on point there. Four decades later, Ralph Macchio, now 62, and his co-star, William Zabka, now 58, have taken their young rivalry from the All-Valley Karate Championship into adulthood in the Netflix series Cobra Cop, which just released the first part of its sixth and final season. Was it kind of like riding a bike? Did you get right back into those characters? Yeah, but it needed a little WD-40. Yeah, a little squeaky.

It's built up a huge following, not just those who remember the original, but by younger audiences too. And both are being treated to a new Karate Kid narrative. You got any more dirty tricks up your sleeve? I'm not the one who fights dirty. What if Macchio's character, Daniel LaRusso, wasn't the real hero? What if it was Zabka's Johnny Lawrence who was the victim instead? Oh, there's a guy who's ass you kicked. Listen, it was a really close match, but if you want to get technical, I kicked his face.

I'm just busting your chops. It was an illegal kid. The whole series is like, I don't know what Johnny Lawrence's life was, and he doesn't know what Daniel LaRusso's life was, but then when they come back together, now you have this richness. That theory that Johnny was unfairly demonized.

The Karate Kid is the story of Daniel, a violent sociopath who moves to a California town and begins tormenting a local boy and his friends. Have been flustered by the internet for years. It even became a plot point in the CBS comedy, How I Met Your Mother. Barney, Ralph, listen, it's always flat. No! I hate Ralph Macchio.

I hate him, hate him, hate him. He is not the Karate Kid. The Karate Kid was William Zabka, star pupil of the Cobra Kai dojo. I never could imagine playing Johnny Lawrence again. In part, that's because for decades, Macchio had been fiercely protective of the Karate Kid franchise.

He had countless offers to appear in reboots, but he declined every time. I'm like, everybody's on board? And they're like, yeah, everybody but Ralph. I'm like, okay, good luck with that. At first, Cobra Kai looked to be facing the same fate, especially after Macchio learned that its creators were the trio of John Hurwitz, Josh Heald, and Hayden Schlossberg, who?

Who were the guys who wrote Harold and Kumar, Go to White Castle, and Hot Tub Time Machine. So I wasn't sold at the get-go that these were my guys. Let's rock. Good? Yeah.

All right, here we go, here we go. But those same three managed to convince him. Because one, they cared. Two, they are the super fans of the Karate Kid films. But you need that because the fans are super fans. That's exactly it.

They wanted to make what they knew the fans would want to see. Wax on, right hand. Wax off, left hand. Never doubt the power of nostalgia.

Wax off. I want to introduce you to one of my oldest and best friends. This is amazing. This is as nostalgic as it gets.

Yes, Mr. Miyagi's canary yellow 47 Ford is back in Cobra Kai. Something tells me there's a can of wax in my future. And the car washing lessons remain too. Show me wax on, wax off. I gotta go.

As are some familiar faces. Hey, you got a name? Ally with an I. We got Elizabeth Shue to come back and play Ally with an I. Oh my gosh. Ally, is it really you? I think so. Me, her and Billy, we were right back in it. Wow guys, this is a little West Valley reunion, huh? For Macchio, it's a return to a character that has both enriched his life and challenged it.

There's still lots of good in the world. Tell Dally, I don't think he knows. Your buddy, Johnny. He made a name for himself in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders. And he followed up his three-part Karate Kid franchise with crowd pleasers like My Cousin Vinny. That's a great idea.

You think he'll do it? We got an attorney in the family. Great, who?

My Cousin Vinny. But most casting directors saw Ralph Macchio only as what they knew. I mean, what were casting agents saying?

Oh, that's just the Karate Kid? Certainly. And I get it.

You know, I did not understand that line of thinking, but it was frustrating. I mean, you have the reputation to be one of the nicest guys in Hollywood. Do you ever wonder if you had a sharper elbows, maybe? Could be, you know, if I, if I, that's a good, that's a good question. I mean, my daughter was just born and that was the magic in my life, not necessarily movies, you know, and my son a few years after that.

So I kind of drew it up perfectly, even though at the time it didn't feel that way. He always had one foot in and one foot out of Hollywood. He was born and raised on Long Island and he never really left. He's still married to the girl he met at a birthday party when he was only 15 and their two kids were able to grow up away from the spotlight. My favorite story is my son when he found a box of old teen magazines, you know, Tiger Beat, Teen Beat 16. And he comes in, he called out to his sister, he goes, Joel, dad was huge and we missed it. We're all going to be remembered for just a handful of things we did in our lives. For Ralph Macchio, if one of them is influencing a generation with the Karate Kid, then somehow doing it again decades later for a whole new generation, well, somewhere Mr. Miyake must be smiling.

Little bit of movie magic, kind of sacred ground in the Karate Kid universe. Awesome. Best fitting diaper. Huggy's little movers.

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Fuel up at Shell. David Sedaris this morning has some thoughts on tourist attractions, large and small. I was on Cape Cod this past summer and made the short trip to see Plymouth Rock. Really, I said, looking down at it.

I mean, I have larger suitcases. It was like going to Mount Rushmore and discovering that the carved heads are life-sized, like going to the Grand Canyon and realizing you can touch the bottom of it with your hand. What made Plymouth Rock sadder was that it had 15 pennies on top of it.

Americans will throw pennies at anything. Leave a deceased president lying in state unsupervised, and I bet within an hour he'd be completely covered in small change. That was a case with an alligator I saw once, the world's largest, according to the sign outside of its trailer. This was by the side of some road in Florida. Paid a few dollars to go inside and saw what may well have been the world's largest alligator.

The thing was massive, maybe 15 feet long, half submerged in a tank that was not much bigger than he was. Atop him were pennies and nickels, perhaps $20 worth. Do you have any spare change?

I imagined a beggar asking. Yeah, but if you don't mind, we're going to throw it on top of an alligator, a person might answer, as if it might escape and need the coins for parking meters and gumball machines. Within 10 years, this likely won't be an issue, as fewer people are carrying money now. What will we be throwing in 2035? The only things most men have in their pockets now are phones.

Women, though, are generally more prepared for whatever might come up, so maybe in the future Plymouth Rock and really big alligators will have aspirin on top of them or tampons, hair ties and breath mints and chapstick, all of which will become a sort of shorthand for wow. We all have passions that drive us and since 1934, Fram's driving passion has been focused on protecting your vehicle. Fram's premium industry leading filters are designed to optimize your vehicle's performance and keep the air you breathe clean. Whether it's an oil, engine or cabin air filter, Fram keeps you moving forward with innovative filtration technology designed for what drives you.

So find your passion and we'll make sure you get there with confidence. Visit fram.com for more info and retailers near you. Hurry into Whole Foods Market for their best of season fruit. The Sweet Summer Days sales event is on through July 30th with juicy savings on organic blueberries, organic strawberries, red cherries and more. Like grill-ready, no-antibiotics-ever meat and sustainable, wild-cut seafood. Explore aisles of fruity finds you can't get anywhere else, including seasonal favorites like peach, mary and berry pie in the bakery.

Sweeten up your summer at Whole Foods Market. Five years ago, pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong made headlines all around the world. Well, that was then. This is now.

Ramey Inocencio has a Sunday Journal. On July 1st, celebrations for the city's 27th anniversary of its return to China felt barely celebratory. A once vibrant Hong Kong hollowed of its people and its soul. This is a Hong Kong that's fundamentally changed. Look at that.

You can't beat that that skyline. Gregory May is the U.S.'s top diplomat in Hong Kong. It is important, I think, that Americans who come here realize that you need to be careful what you say. People in Hong Kong are not free to criticize the government like they used to be able to. Five years after what's recognized as likely the city's biggest pro-democracy anti-China protest in history, this city is quelled after Beijing and Hong Kong rammed through controversial national security laws that make any action or word critical of the government potentially punishable by life in prison. And it's created a massive chilling effect over Hong Kong. Change has been at the heart of Hong Kong's story.

Once a Chinese backwater, it became a British colony in the mid-1800s, then evolved into a financial powerhouse. More than a century and a half of British administration will come to an end. On July 1st, 1997, we witnessed its return to Beijing's rule, with then Prince Charles presiding.

China agreed Hong Kong would stay in charge of its internal affairs for the next 50 years, a policy known as one country, two systems. Cracks appeared 17 years later with protests for universal suffrage to directly elect Hong Kong's leader, the chief executive, traditionally decided by Beijing. Then the system shattered five years later. We've just been tear-gassed by the police.

You can see those bullets hitting the people that we were in a group with just now. Protest organizers claim millions took to the streets over the next half-year. Then China decisively replied, decreeing a national security law for Hong Kong. The city's government said it arrested more than 10,000 people within the two years after the protests. This past March, Hong Kong bolstered the national security law with its own version.

Article 23. Some people say Hong Kong has become more like the mainland. Well, that's inevitable.

Regina Ip has been a pro-Beijing legislator for decades. Order has been restored. Are you happy? I think most of us are happy.

It's very safe, you know. We have 85,000 American citizens in Hong Kong. We still have 1,300 American enterprises. All the stability, safety have returned to Hong Kong and we are dealing with new challenges. The city's global rankings in rule of law and freedom of expression, assembly and press have nosedived. Hong Kong's stock market has lost about half its value and hundreds of thousands have left for Western countries. From a distance, Hong Kong looks like a city that's now stabilized, but like the currents running under Victoria Harbour, emotions run deep, strong and hidden.

I'm scared. Chan Poying is one of Hong Kong's last pro-democracy activists willing to show her face as she preps care packages for friends now in prison. Do you think actually that people still want to voice their anger, their frustration?

I still believe all of them still maintain their this value, but yeah, but they face a lot of obstacles. The face might be the impeachment. They face maybe lost their job. Chan's husband, one icon of Hong Kong's democracy movement for decades, is one of about 300 charged under the national security law. Leung Kwok-hung, known as Long Hair, was found guilty of subversion. Then there's Jimmy Lai.

We met him five years ago at his home, days before his arrest. I won't mince words. I suppose saying that Beijing hates you is an accurate statement.

Would you agree? Yes, it's an honor. It's an honor. It's a patch of honor.

Yeah, a patch of honor. Lai is the billionaire founder of Hong Kong's largest pro-democracy paper, Apple Daily, which the government forced to close. Lai's been detained for more than three years.

This is the entrance to Stanley Prison. Inside, Jimmy Lai spends 23 hours each day in solitary confinement. His son, Sebastian, fears his father, who's 76, will die here. It's a very blatant case of political persecution. Sebastian Lai flies around the world meeting governments to keep his father in the spotlight.

My father is being persecuted because he ran a newspaper that spoke truth to power. Hong Kong is no longer this free city. It's now essentially a police state. Now it's a new Hong Kong, arguably a much worse one.

Nathan Law has fled to London. One of the main protest leaders of 2014 and 2019, he's one of Hong Kong's most wanted fugitives overseas, with a bounty for his capture. The UK has become home to Hong Kong's biggest diaspora community. You've got hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong people that are bringing a piece of Hong Kong with them, and I can reconnect them here. What is the lesson that you have learned about change, democracy, rights, freedoms?

I see many free societies can collapse in just a matter of months if you allow an unchecked power to destroy it. And the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. I'm Lee Cowan. Thanks for listening, and please join us when our trumpet sounds again next Sunday morning. Paramount Podcasts. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at Wondery.com slash survey.

Hey everybody, Jon Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show. It's going to be coming out every Thursday. So exciting. You'll be saying to yourself, TGID.

Thank God it's Thursday. We're going to be talking about all the things that hopefully obsess you in the same way that they obsess me. The election, economics, earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. And I know that I listed that fourth, but in importance, it's probably second. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday?

I mean, talk about innovative. Listen to The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery's podcast, American History Tellers, which dives into the events and people who shaped our country with 70 remarkable seasons of in-depth storytelling. History buffs and novices alike will appreciate the unrivaled storytelling of well-known events like the Civil War and the Great Chicago Fire. But this podcast also offers entire seasons covering less known historical touchstones like the season titled Bleeding Kansas about radical abolitionist John Brown's crusade of terror against pro-slavery forces that brought us to the brink of civil war or our latest season where we shine a light on first ladies of the United States who've contributed to American history in their own unique way. Follow American History Tellers on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge the latest season American History Tellers First Ladies early and ad-free right now on Wondery Plus. And after listening to American History Tellers, go deeper and get more to the story with Wondery's other top history podcasts, including American Scandal, Legacy, and even the Royals.