AirTalk dives into the legal ramifications of President Trump’s airstrike against Syria on Friday. We also bring you the week’s news in politics; why are less U.S. college students enrolling in foreign language classes?; and more.
Week in politics: What to watch for as James Comey’s book releases, the political fallout from Friday’s Syria airstrikes and more
AirTalk’s weekly politics roundtable recaps the headlines you may have missed over the weekend and looks ahead to what to watch for this week in D.C.
Topics subject to change but may include:
“Comey Week” begins with an interview at ABC News, and Trump’s tweetstorm response
Syria strike on Friday night, and its impact on U.S.-Russia relationship; also, issues with Trump’s use of AUMF
Paul Ryan announces retirement and endorses Kevin McCarthy to replace him
Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen is in court today to try and keep prosecutors from seeing the documents seized in a raid last week
Internal report says McCabe misled FBI and DOJ officials
Is the U.S. back in TPP?
Garcetti goes to Iowa
Guests:
Jack Pitney, professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College; he tweets
John Iadarola, host of the YouTube show ThinkTank, part of The Young Turks Network; he also serves as a co-host for The Young Turks weekly live show; he tweets
Limited strike on Syria: Is it legal, or wise?
On Friday, the U.S. led an airstrike against Syria in retaliation for President Bashar Assad’s chemical gas attack against his civilians.
The attack was aimed at three locations and was chosen over a more expansive and aggressive strategy. According the Wall Street Journal, President Trump was presented with three options, ranging from conservative to aggressive. Ultimately, the U.S., British and French coalition strike was a fairly limited one that was a mix of the two more conservative options. Some are lauding the president’s restrained response but others caution that a passive-aggressive strategy will create more problems in the Middle East.
Plus, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is saying that Trump circumvented the law by conducting the strike without the approval of Congress – but is his decision different from those of other presidents?
We debate the strategy and potential repercussions of Trump’s limited strike on Damascus.
Guests:
Clare Lopez, former CIA operations officer for 20 years, working domestically as well as in the former Soviet Union and the Balkans; Vice President for Research and Analysis at the Center for Security Policy, a DC-based national security think tank; she tweets
Brian Katulis, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, he focuses on U.S. national security strategy and counterterrorism policy; he tweets
Initiative to split California into 3 states may be on November ballot
Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper introduced a ballot initiative that would split California into three states.
The plan proposes a central state made up of Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey and San Benito counties; a southern state consisting of Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Fresno, Tulare, Inyo, Madera and Mono counties; and the remaining 40 counties would be part of a northern state. Critics opposing the initiative argue that splitting California would triple the State’s challenges and not solve them.
The initiative, called “CAL 3” has more than 600,000 signatures, enough to qualify for the November ballot and will be submitted to election officials next week. Splitting California into three states would require congressional approval.
Guests:
John Myers, Sacramento bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times; he tweets
Joseph Rodota, co-chairman of OneCalifornia, a committee opposing “CAL 3,” a ballot initiative proposing to split California into three states; he served as former aide to California Governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger
Why young Angelenos increasingly feel the California Dream is out of reach
A new study from UCLA finds that Los Angeles’ rising cost of living is causing a lot of agitation among residents – particularly younger folks who feel squeezed by how expensive housing costs have become.
Larry speaks with Zev Yaroslavsky, former LA County supervisor and current UCLA professor who headed the study. We also want to hear from AirTalk listeners. If you're a transplant here in Southern California, would you still move to the area today if you knew when you moved what you know now about the challenges of, say, finding an affordable place to live or getting around the region?
Guest:
, led UCLA’s third annual “Los Angeles County Quality of Life Index” survey; he is the director of the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and a former Los Angeles County Supervisor; he tweets
Study finds fewer US college students enroll in foreign language classes
A study by the Modern Language Association (MLA) found the number of US college students studying foreign languages is on a steady decline.
Data shows fewer students are enrolling in language classes other than English. The most popular language among college students was Spanish, which has also seen a drop in student enrollment, according to research findings. Other languages with a popularity decline were German, Russian and Italian.
By contrast, the Korean language has seen an increase in interest with enrollment up 65 percent – that said the actual number of students studying Korean is just 14, 000 compared to 700,000 students studying Spanish. The study is based on the enrollments of undergraduate introductory courses as well as advanced-degree programs.
Guest:
Dennis Looney, director of programs and of the association of departments of foreign languages at the Modern Language Association (MLA); he co-authored the study that found a decline in student enrollment in foreign language classes