Today on AirTalk, we talk about President Biden's recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Also on the show, we get the latest COVID-19 headlines; analyze two major Supreme Court cases; and more.
COVID-19 AMA: New Study With Surprising Findings On 6 Foot Distancing, LA County Coronavirus Numbers Trend In Positive Direction And More
In our continuing series looking at the latest medical research and news on COVID-19, Larry Mantle speaks with Dr. Kimberly Shriner, infectious disease expert at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena.
Topics today include:
L.A. County continues to make progress fighting the coronavirus
U.S. to offer supplies, support to help combat COVID-19 outbreak in India
What is U.S. doing to contribute to worldwide vaccine supply?
MIT study: 6 foot rule does little to stop spread of COVID-19
EU official says fully vaccinated Americans may be able to travel to Europe by this summer
Michigan’s COVID wards are filling up with young people -- why?
Study: regular exercise may help protect against severe COVID-19
Guest:
Kimberly Shriner, M.D., infectious disease specialist at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena
SCOTUS: Should Gun Owners Be Able To Carry Weapon In Public? Plus, CA Wants Access To Non-Profit Donor Lists
The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear an appeal to expand gun rights in the United States in a New York case over the right to carry a firearm in public for self-defense.
The case marks the court’s first foray into gun rights since Justice Amy Coney Barrett came on board in October, making a 6-3 conservative majority. The justices said Monday they will review a lower-court ruling that upheld New York’s restrictive gun permit law. The court’s action follows mass shootings in recent weeks in Indiana, Georgia, Colorado and California. The case probably will be argued in the fall. The court had turned down review of the issue in June, before Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death. New York is among eight states that limit who has the right to carry a weapon in public. The others are: California, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island. In the rest of the country, gun owners have little trouble legally carrying their weapons when they go out. The high court heard arguments in another case today, where the state of California is attempting to gain access to non-profits’ major donor lists. The legal question at play: can California enact a blanket policy like this? Americans for Prosperity Foundation, the plaintiff in the case, argues that the regulation is unconstitutional. Today on AirTalk, we discuss a few of the major cases under consideration and the various legal arguments involved. Do you have thoughts or questions? Call 866-893-5722 to join the conversation.
With files from the Associated Press
Guests:
Greg Stohr, Supreme Court reporter for Bloomberg News; he tweets
Adam Winkler, professor of law at UCLA where he specializes in constitutional law, the Supreme Court and gun policy, author of “We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights,” (Liveright, 2018); he tweets
Local Reaction To US Officially Recognizing Armenian Genocide
Armenian Americans celebrated the news Saturday that President Joe Biden formally declared the systematic killing and deportation of hundreds of thousands of their ancestors by Ottoman Empire forces in the early 1900s to be “genocide,” saying the recognition was long overdue. His action came after decades of activism, most of which was centered in California, home of the largest Armenian community in the nation.
“He's the first American president to have the guts to talk about it. I never understood why the U.S. waited this long when they knew the truth about what happened. It's amazing and I'm very happy he did what he did,” said Varoujan Kioudjian, 74. He was among hundreds of people who streamed to a hilltop monument in Montebello, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of downtown Los Angeles, to mark Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.
The White House had avoided using using the term genocide for decades for fear of alienating Turkey, a NATO ally and important power in the Middle East. Biden followed through on a campaign promise to make human rights a central guidepost of his foreign policy. He argued last year that failing to call the atrocities against the Armenian people a genocide would pave the way for future mass atrocities.
Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat from Los Angeles, praised Biden for following through on his pledge.
“This is a momentous day for thousands upon thousands of my Armenian American constituents who have been working, advocating, and praying for recognition for their entire lives – and I am heartened that this announcement comes at a time when there are still some genocide survivors alive to witness it, though their numbers are very small," he said in a statement. The survivors, many of them orphans who were brought to the United States, were recognized by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who proclaimed Saturday a “day of remembrance of the Armenian genocide."
Today on AirTalk, we want to hear what the recognition of the Armenian Genocide means to you. Give us a call at 866-893-5722.
With files from the Associated Press
We received this statement from Consul General Of the Republic of Turkey in Los Angeles: “Turkey rejects statement by the President of the U.S. “Genocide” is a specific crime, not a generic term, defined by international law. None of the conditions defined by the international law have been met that would warrant the use of “genocide” concerning the events of 1915. Furthermore, there is no judgment of a competent international court, which classifies the events of 1915 as “genocide”. To the contrary, two judgements of the European Court of Human Rights (2015 and 2017) clearly confirm that the events of 1915 constitute a matter of legitimate debate. President Biden’s statement will hurt our bilateral relations and undermine dialogue efforts for peace and stability in the region.”
Guests:
Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), congressman representing California’s 28 Congressional District, which includes Burbank, parts of Pasadena, and Glendale; he tweets
Alex Galitsky, communications director for the Armenian National Committee of America’s Western Region; he tweets
How Colleges In California And Across The Country Are Approaching COVID-19 Vaccination Requirements This Fall
Leaders of California’s massive public university systems announced on Thursday that students and employees will need a COVID-19 vaccine to return to campus in the fall.
“Receiving a vaccine for the virus that causes COVID-19 is a key step people can take to protect themselves, their friends and family, and our campus communities while helping bring the pandemic to an end,” said UC President Michael Drake in a written statement sent out jointly with a statement by CSU chancellor Joseph Castro. The UC and Cal State vaccination policies have a big condition: the requirement will be enforced after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves at least one vaccine. None of the three vaccines have FDA approval yet, and there’s no set date for that to happen.
The university systems said students planning to return to campus in the fall should tell their universities whether they’ve received a COVID-19 vaccine. Additionally, campuses will help people who haven’t been vaccinated find a place to get the shot. Together, CSU and UC enroll and employ more than one million students and employees across 33 major university campuses. The universities said the announcement is a big deal. So far, Cal State universities had taken a by-campus approach to vaccinations, which did not sit well with all campus employees.
Today on AirTalk, we’ll look at what these new requirements mean for students returning to campus in the fall and get a broader picture of how other colleges around the country are approaching vaccination requirements this fall.
For more on this story, click here to read Adolfo’s story at LAist.
Guests:
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, KPCC/LAist reporter covering higher education; he tweets
Alex Kafka, senior editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education who has been following college vaccination requirements nationally; he tweets
Can Mathematical Models Predict Historical Events? One Academic Thinks So
Many humanities-minded historians think that human beings and the course of human history are too complex to analyze broadly or to examine using predictive models - but one evolutionary anthropologist believes that mathematical models could be used to understand the past, and to predict the future.
In his recent Atlantic piece “The Next Decade Could Be Even Worse”, Graeme Wood dives into the research of evolutionary biologist Peter Turchin who coined the term and discipline “cliodynamics” - statistical modeling and analysis of the rise and fall of human societies. He explores Professor Turchin’s methods, as well as his dire predictions for the next decade in American history.
We dive into the academic endeavor to use big data and mathematics to analyze and predict history, Turchin’s predictions for the next decade and the larger tensions between science and humanities-minded academics over the validity of this approach.
Guest:
Graeme Wood, staff writer at The Atlantic, where his recent piece is “The Next Decade Could Be Even Worse”; lecturer in political science at Yale; he tweets