Coachella’s second weekend ended Sunday. And while music festival season has just begun, there have been longstanding questions about how to deal with drug use during these events; a state audit released last Tuesday found that the California Department of Motor Vehicles isn’t adequately preventing abuse of disabled parking permits; and more.
Week in politics: Budget and tax reform highlight busy to-do list for Trump administration, plus the ripples to expect from France’s election outcome
Today kicks off a busy week ahead for the Trump administration in Washington, D.C.
At the top of the list for the president, as he approaches the much talked-about 100 day-mark of his presidency, is keeping the government running beyond Friday, when funding officially runs out. How far is President Trump willing to go to get funding for his proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall? Democrats and even some Republicans have said they would not vote for a budget with funding for the border wall in it, and with control of both houses of Congress in Republican hands, it would be challenging if the government did shut down for Republicans to explain how that happened on their watch.
The president, in an interview with the Associated Press last week, said he’d be unveiling a tax reform package this week. It’s unclear exactly what would be in the package and White House officials have given conflicting reports. There was also talk of Republicans rolling out a new plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, but Speaker Paul Ryan told fellow Republicans this weekend that this week’s focus should remain passing a budget.
Finally, we’ll touch briefly on the results of France’s presidential election, which is headed for a run-off, and look at the populist movement there in comparison to the one we saw in the U.S. during the 2016 election. We’ll also nod to the 102nd anniversary of the Armenian genocide and what, if anything, President Trump’s administration has said about it.
Guests:
Zachary Courser, research director of the Dreier Roundtable and visiting assistant professor of Government at Claremont McKenna College; he tweets
Marisa Abrajano, professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego
AirTalk asks: For Coachella attendees, how do you approach drug use?
Coachella’s second weekend ended Sunday.
And while music festival season has just begun, there have been longstanding questions about how to deal with drug use during these events. As reported in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Bunk Police, a substance testing company, smuggled in and sold their kits to Coachella patrons. The kits determine what substances like cocaine and MDMA, or ecstacy have possibly been cut or replaced with.
But beyond substance testing, what strategies do people have who plan to take drugs at festivals? Larry asks listeners today, for recreational drug users, what do you do to stay safe?
Guests:
Randall Roberts, music writer at the Los Angeles Times, and pens the weekly California Sounds L.A. music column; he was at Coachella this weekend to cover the event
How the rise of elite philanthropists is shifting the power landscape in America
When the Forbes 400 list was first unveiled in 1982, there were only 13 billionaires; now, there are more billionaires in America than can fit on that 400-slot list.
And as the number of billionaires in the country grows, so too does the number of philanthropists who can invest hefty resources into any organization of their choosing. So what does this mean for the future of American politics, where lobbyists and interest groups already wield such influence?
That’s the question that David Callahan poses in his new book, “The Givers: Wealth, Power, and Philanthropy in a New Gilded Age.” As the founder and editor of the media site Inside Philanthropy, Callahan takes a nuanced look at today’s super-donors — how their financial donations allow them to influence a lot of policy in America, and how, due to rising income inequality, “big philanthropy” is here to stay.
You can find Callahan at Chevalier’s Books tonight at 7:30pm. For more info, click here.
Guest:
David Callahan, founder and editor of the media site Inside Philanthropy and co-founder of the national think tank Demos; he is the author of the book, “The Givers: Wealth, Power, and Philanthropy in a New Gilded Age” (Knopf, 2017)
Audit: The CA DMV isn’t adequately preventing abuse of disabled parking permits
A state audit released last Tuesday found that the California Department of Motor Vehicles isn’t adequately preventing abuse of disabled parking permits.
Currently, there are 2.9 million disabled license plates and placards which are meant to allow people with disabilities to park in reserved access spots.
The audit found that there are problems with the application process, such as unverified signatures and lack of required medical documentation, that the DMV frequently issues duplicates and doesn’t cancel the placards of people who’ve died. The DMV has concurred with the results of the audit and has already started implementing some of its recommendations.
We discuss the results of the audit, as well as the steps the DMV is taking to prevent future fraud.
Have you seen abuses of disabled parking permits? If you see potential abuse, what, if anything, do you do?
For more information, you can follow the DMV placard audit and others here.
Guest:
Margarita Fernández, chief of public affairs of the CA State Auditor, which undertook this audit