Each year in Texas and around the United States, Juneteenth is celebrated with parades, picnics, and remembrances. Nearly 150 years after the first Juneteenth, we talk with two young Texans, both black, about what Juneteenth means to them. Morgan Bradley is a 20-year-old student at UT-Austin and Nneka Waturuocha, a 19-year-old student at UT-Austin,  join us on today's program.

Humorist, writer, and Daily Show "resident expert" John Hodgman has been thinking about the end of the world, and joking about it for the past year on stages across America. His new special documents the last night of his doomsaying tour. It’s called “Ragnarok” (as in the Norse mythology version of the end of the world). “Ragnarok” will be available exclusively on Netflix tomorrow, June 20.

We’re only a couple weeks away from Independence Day, and in anticipation of our nation’s birthday, we’re looking at the concept of freedom. What is it? How did it come to be an American value? And what does freedom mean to Americans today? We begin our conversation with a man who has a unique perspective on freedom: Avi Steinberg, author of the memoir “Running The Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian.”

In this week's Movie Date podcast, Rafer and Kristen talk about the dark side of Superman, the bright side of the apocalypse, and the inside of Paris Hilton's closet. It's all in honor of "Man of Steel," "This is the End," and "The Bling Ring."

Movie fans have two wide releases to choose from this weekend: "This is the End," an apocalyptic comedy directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg; and Christopher Nolan's “Man of Steel”, a reboot of DC Comics hero Superman.

The United Nations now estimates that nearly 100,000 people have died in the Syrian civil war. Weeks ago, the White House announced that chemical weapons were likely being used by the regime of Bashar Al Assad against Syrian rebels, but the Obama administration stated that they needed further confirmation. That confirmation came late yesterday afternoon from U.S. and European officials. Amr Al Azm, a member of the Syrian opposition and a professor at Shawnee State University, weighs in on the developments.

Earlier in the week, Mozart’s prized violin and viola made it to the U.S. for the first time. On Monday they were played at Jordon Hall in Boston. Tonight the violin will be played at the Austrian Cultural Form in New York. And today, for the first time ever, Mozart’s violin is going to be played in a U.S. radio studio: The Takeaway studio.

After months of working as an unpaid accounting intern on the film “Black Swan,” Eric Glatt came to believe something was terribly wrong with the whole internship system. And so he and fellow intern Alexander Footman sued Fox Searchlight, the production company behind the film, and late Tuesday afternoon, in a landmark decision, a federal judge ruled in their favor.

The persistent problem of sexual assault in the military has been a major issue on Capitol Hill this month. A compromise this week in the Senate Armed Services Committee would trigger an automatic review of cases when a commander overrules a military lawyer's advice to prosecute sexual assault cases. Susan Burke, an attorney who represents military personnel who have been sexually assaulted, weighs in on the decision and what it means for victims.

Since learning about the National Security Agency’s data collection plan, we’ve heard the word “Orwellian” thrown around twitter, television, and the blogosphere. But is the term “Orwellian” being over-used? Is it even being used correctly?

What would it be like if we could talk to the animals, and they could talk to us? For years, movies have played on this fantasy, often to comic effect. But Con Slobodchikoff isn’t just dreaming of talking to animals. He’s actually doing it. His big feat so far has been decoding the language of prairie dogs, which includes descriptive vocabulary words and sentence-like structures. If his work goes according to plan, we’ll all have the ability to understand what our pets are saying in the next decade, and to talk to them in return.

Last week, a team of scientists at the University of Minnesota demonstrated a new flying robot that can read human thoughts, and be navigated completely based on those thoughts. It’s the first robot of its kind. Bin He is professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Minnesota and led the team behind this new mind-operated robot.

In the days since Edward Snowden leaked details about the National Security Agency’s data collecting program, we’ve seen editorialists and average Americans expressing outrage over what’s been called a government breach of privacy. But entrepreneur and Silicon Valley insider Steve Blank says we shouldn’t be surprised.

Among the most popular diets in recent years has been the Paleolithic diet, also known as the caveman diet. Based on the premise that we’ll be healthier if we eat as our ancient ancestors did, it seems to have science on its side. But Marlene Zuk, evolutionary biologist at the University of Minnesota, says the science of the popular diet is wrong.

There are now concerns that the N.S.A. PRISM program could complicate talks for a free trade agreement between the E.U. and the U.S. Talks were expected to be launched next month. The news of the PRISM program has, for some European lawmakers, transformed troubling demands from American businesses for less restrictive data requirements into unacceptable data hoarding by the US government. Sophie in’t Veld, a Dutch member of the European Parliament explains why.

As the city of Sanford, Trayvon Martin’s family, and George Zimmerman’s supporters brace for the first day of Zimmerman's murder trial today, Valerie Houston, Pastor at Allen Chapel Church in Sanford, Florida shares her thoughts about what's transpired and what's ahead. Houston has been actively involved in town hall meetings and community outreach in the days and months since Trayvon Martin’s death.

In this week's Movie Date podcast, Rafer and Kristen review the new Owen Wilson - Vince Vaughn comedy, "The Internship," and look back at their own experiences as adult interns. They also review "The Purge" (which Kristen was surprised to discover, is not about bulimia) and Joss Whedon's take on the Shakespeare classic, "Much Ado About Nothing."

Movie fans have plenty of films to choose from this weekend. They include “The Internship,” a comedy reuniting Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as they take on an internship at Google; "The Purge," a thriller starring Ethan Hawke, where one day a year, all crime is legalized; and Joss Whedon’s “Much Ado About Nothing”, a modern take on the Shakespeare play.

There is growing outrage at the revelation this week that the Obama administration required Verizon to provide call data on their customers. The news yesterday that the NSA is also mining internet data via sites like Google, Facebook, and Apple only heightened public anger. What can the government do with our cell phone and internet data, anyway?

According to a report from the defense department that was made public on Wednesday, the C.I.A. disclosed the names of two special operations troops involved in the killing of Osama Bin Laden - specifically to “Zero Dark Thirty” screenwriter Mark Boal and director Kathryn Bigelow - and even arranged lunch with one of them.