Today on AirTalk, we recap night two of the second round of Democratic Presidential candidate debates with a panel of political analysts. We also discuss how a homeless shelter proposal first divided, and then brought together, LA's Koreatown; examine the LA Times' failure to meet their digital subscription goals; and more.
Ideological Divides: We Talk Round 2, Night 2 Of the Democratic Presidential Debates
The ideological divisions gripping the Democratic Party intensified on Wednesday as presidential candidates waged an acrimonious battle over health care, immigration and race that tested the strength of early front-runner Joe Biden’s candidacy.
The former vice president was repeatedly forced to defend his decades-old political record against pointed attacks from his younger, diverse rivals, who charged that Biden’s eight-year relationship with President Barack Obama was not reason enough to earn the Democratic nomination.
The attacks on Biden in the second presidential debate were most vivid coming from California Sen. Kamala Harris, who declared that his willingness to work with segregationists in the U.S. Senate during the 1970s could have had dramatic consequences on the surge of minority candidates in political office. And, she said, it could have prevented her and fellow presidential candidate Cory Booker, both of whom are black, from becoming senators.
With files from the Associated Press.
Guests:
Nomiki Konst, former member of the DNC Unity Reform Commission, which works to increase participation in the Democratic Party; former Bernie Sanders surrogate in 2016.
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist and founder and chief executive officer of Rodriguez Strategies. He is also a former senior Obama advisor in 2008; he tweets
Sean T. Walsh, Republican political analyst and partner at Wilson Walsh Consulting in San Francisco; he is a former adviser to California Governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger and a former White House staffer for Presidents Reagan and H.W. Bush
Is Golf Falling Into A Backswing? It Depends How You Spin It
There are a number of reasons why golf courses aren’t doing so hot across the country, including an aging population, an oversupply in courses and expensive upkeep. So are people just playing less golf? It’s unclear.
According to the National Golf Foundation, last year 2.6 million people played on a golf course for the first time, which is at an all time high. Regardless, the alleged struggle of courses could have larger implications.
Many cities have used municipal golf courses as a source of funds for other city things like parks. And people often think buying a home along a course could add value to their property, but some properties are losing value as courses either struggle to stay open or close all together.
Guests:
Candace Taylor, reporter covering residential real estate for The Wall Street Journal; her article “Golf-Home Owner Find Themselves in a Hole” was published earlier this year; she tweets at
Erik Matuszewski, editorial director for the National Golf Foundation, an organization that provides business research and consulting services to the U.S. golf industry; he tweets
Diane Baxter, associate broker and executive luxury director at Bennion Deville Homes, a real estate agency based in Indian Wells, California whose listings include homes on golf course communities
Brian Reed, golf manager and head golf professional for Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District in Simi Valley, which oversees the Simi Hills Golf Course and Sinaloa Golf Course
How A Homeless Shelter Proposal First Divided -- And Then Brought Together -- LA’s Koreatown
James An never pictured he’d be doing this: kneeling on a wet sidewalk to help a shivering homeless man after a cold night of hard rain in Koreatown.
Now he was pulling soggy socks off the 52-year-old man’s puffy, waterlogged feet. He grabbed him a new pair from his car.
“You can’t be sleeping under this tarp anymore, man,” An told Shawn Pleasants. “You’re going to die, dude. Seriously.”
An’s concern about his homeless neighbors didn’t build over a lifetime.
He’s part of an unprecedented wave of people in Koreatown who have started responding to the crisis just in the last year.
Some come to encampments bearing food and supplies.
Others push for reforms of homeless policies at City Hall. Still others are running for office — everything from the neighborhood council to county leadership — and stumping for homeless fixes.
It can all be traced back to a single point in time last year, when L.A. leaders declared they would build a shelter in a bustling section of Koreatown and unleashed a citywide controversy.
Read more of Josie Huang’s piece on LAist.com
Guest:
Josie Huang, Asian American communities correspondent for KPCC.
Despite Billionaire’s Backing, LA Times Far From Meeting Digital Subscription Goals
Digital subscriptions at the LA Times are far from meeting expectations, according to a memo sent out to staff and obtained by The Poynter Institute.
The newspaper’s goal was to double its 150,000 subscriptions in 2019 but the paper has only 13,000 subscriptions this year, a number far from the goal. Leaders say although the publication added subscriptions, significant cancellations at the same time have had a serious impact. According to the memo, digital conversations must now be the priority. Although the numbers seem to spell trouble for the paper, leaders say they’re optimistic they can reach their goals in the next few years.
Guests:
Tom Jones, author with The Poynter Institute, he acquired a memo sent out to LA Times staff which detailed the trouble with digital subscriptions; he tweets
Joshua Benton, director of the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard, he’s written about the LA Times digital subscription numbers; he tweets
Ken Doctor, media analyst who focuses on the transformation of consumer media in the digital age; author of “Newsonomics: Twelve New Trends That Will Shape the News You Get” (St. Martin’s Press, 2010); he tweets
The Fifth Domain: How The US Can Prevent A Potential Cyber War
The Fifth Domain is a term used by the Pentagon to describe cyberspace, in addition to the other domains of land, sea, air and space.
The authors of the book “The Fifth Domain: Defending Our Country, Our Companies, and Ourselves in the Age of Cyber Threats,” believe the next major war in the U.S. could likely result from a cyber attack. Think Russia and the 2020 elections. The authors say “when it comes to the next election, we can’t expect state-level bureaucrats to fend off military-grade attacks.”
This is something the authors, Richard A. Clarke and Robert K. Knake, brought to the forefront in their 2010 book, “Cyber War”, where they predicted all too real cyber-attacks on national security.
But there is good news here. Although Clarke and Knake believe the U.S. government as a whole has lacked strategy, laws and regulations, and proper leadership to defend against these types of threats, cyber security could be getting better, not worse. But they make it clear that cyber threats need must be an urgent national priority as we move forward.
Guest:
Robert Knake, coauthor of the new book, “The Fifth Domain: Defending Our Country, Our Companies, And Ourselves in the Age of Cyber Threats” (Penguin Press, 2019); former director for cybersecurity policy at the National Security Council (2011 to 2015) under President Obama