How did President Trump make the decision to attack Iran?

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Today on AirTalk: President Trump's decision to attack Iran; A history of the U.S. in the Middle East; Robots! City charter; Conditions in ICE facilities; and AI in science.

How did President Trump make the decision to attack Iran?

Today on AirTalk: President Trump's decision to attack Iran; A history of the U.S. in the Middle East; Robots! City charter; Conditions in ICE facilities; and AI in science.

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How did President Trump make the decision to attack Iran?

Recent reporting by the New York Times looked into the situation that led the United States to strike with Iran, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu having played a significant role. Given Iran's civil unrest and a lack of support from allies China and Russia, the Middle East country was left in a difficult situation. This window of opportunity, along with Netanyahu’s interest in striking Iran, led to many dominoes falling over the last weekend, when the United States carried out the attack. Today on AirTalk, we’ll learn more about the lead-up to the strikes with Mark Mazzetti, Washington correspondent for the New York Times, who recently co-wrote the piece How Trump Decided to Go to War.

What can past U.S. relations with the Middle East tell us about the current war with Iran?

Airstrikes in the Middle East have only grown since U.S.-Israeli forces attacked Iran over the weekend. Iran struck the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia Tuesday morning, and in Lebanon, the Hezbollah, who supports Iran, sent missiles to Israel as retaliation. The attack on Iran is just the United States’ most recent interference in the region. Today on AirTalk, we take a look back on our previous interventions in the Middle East to see what we can glean about our future relations with Iran. Joining us to discuss is Aaron David Miller, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, focusing on U.S. foreign policy and the Middle East.

Robots are delivering our food. Just don’t expect them to arrive on time or in one piece.

The robots are having a hard time crossing the street. They have eye-like lights but no limbs. This makes it hard to press the crosswalk button. When finally the walk sign switches, they roll off the side walk and a hapless one will get stuck in a pothole, spinning its wheels until a passerby helps out. That passerby might even be employed by one of the robot companies as a “robot wrangler,” someone hired to help the bots in their food delivery mission. Joining us today on AirTalk is Nilesh Christopher, technology reporter for the LA Times and Ali Kashani, CEO of Serve Robotics, which operates 2,000 delivery robots in 20 cities. Have you used a robot food delivery service? How did you find the experience? Or if you’re a robot wrangler, call us at 866-893-5722 or email us at atcomments@laist.com.

The latest on the commission tasked with revamping the LA City charter

The Los Angeles City Charter Commission last week approved a set of recommendations aimed at improving how the city operates, including streamlining the City Attorney’s Office, creating an anti-corruption office and doubling the charter-mandated amount of funds set aside for the city parks. The commission was created in the wake of the 2022 City Hall tapes scandal, wherein members of the council were heard on audio discussing how to hold onto power. The conversation was laced with crude and racist remarks, triggering calls for resignation. Council President Nury Martinez resigned, but councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Leon remained. The commission’s recommendations will go to the City Council, which will decide whether to place the proposals on the June ballot. Any changes to the charter require voter approval. Joining AirTalk today to go over the latest on these proposed changes is civics and democracy correspondent at LAist Frank Stoltze and LA Charter Reform Commission Chair Raymond Meza.

What are conditions like for those detained in ICE’s largest holding facility?

Southern California News Group reporter Ryanne Mena recently reported the accounts of 10 individuals detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at its largest holding facility in Adelanto, CA. With three privately-owned facilities made available to federal agents, the area can hold up to more than 2,000 detainees. Today on AirTalk, guest host Jacob Margolis talks to SCNG crime and public safety reporter Ryanne Mena about what conditions are like at the facility, and the reported treatment of each detainee she spoke with. Also joining the conversation is Kim Luu-Ng, immigration lawyer at Reeves Immigration Law Group, and Alvaro Huerta, director of litigation & advocacy at Immigrant Defenders Law Center.

A check in on climatology and the use of AI in science 

At this point, for most consumers, the use of Artificial Intelligence is a no-brainer. The ability to produce quick results while minimizing labor has revolutionized workflow in every single sector, with the latest being climatology. AI tools like Claude are running real-time climate model simulations in a matter of minutes instead of days now. But these ambitious abilities do not come without their inherent flaws, as AI hallucinations continue to spit out wrong information. This poses the obvious challenge as it relates to the nuanced nature of scientific research and judgment. Today on AirTalk, we are joined by Zeke Hausfather, a climate research lead at Stripe, a financial technology company, and co-author of the Substack newsletter “The Climate Brink,” to talk about what being an AI-augmented scientist could look like.