AirTalk’s weekly political roundtable recaps the headlines you might’ve missed this weekend and looks ahead to the week to come. We also discuss an investigation that found that many Google services store your location data; examine the jury's ruling against Monsanto in Roundup; and more.
Week in politics: FBI agent who insulted Trump in texts fire, the political fallout and security concerns after Omarosa releases tape of her firing and more
AirTalk’s weekly political roundtable recaps the headlines you might’ve missed this weekend and looks ahead to the week to come. Here’s what we’re watching through the weekend, topics may change on Monday.
Report: FBI agent Peter Strzok, who criticized President Trump in texts to colleague, fired
Omarosa Manigault Newman releases recording of White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly firing her in Situation Room
Update on Tuesday primaries, Kris Kobach recuses self from Kansas governor race vote count
Kavanaugh hearings set for September 4
Manafort trial latest
POTUS announces (on Twitter) doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminum from Turkey
Planned white nationalist rally over weekend turns out more counter-protesters than rally-goers
Guests:
Ange-Marie Hancock-Alfaro, professor of political science and chair of gender studies at USC; she 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
The white nationalist rally that really… wasn’t
Thousands of people wanting to send a message that racism isn't welcome in the United States gathered in a park outside the White House to protest a white nationalist rally on the anniversary of the deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.
In the end, less than two dozen white nationalists showed up.
The events held in both Charlottesville and Washington, largely peaceful though tense at times, were part of a day of speeches, vigils and marches marking a year since one of the largest gatherings of white nationalists and other far-right extremists in a decade. One person was arrested in Washington on Sunday, and four others were arrested in Charlottesville.
In Charlottesville, the mother of the woman killed at last summer's rally visited the site of the attack, saying the country's racial wounds still have not healed. In Washington, a phalanx of police and a maze of metal barriers separated the small group of white nationalists from shouting counterprotesters within view of the White House.
Despite the low participation, the media was out in full force to cover the event. The rally got us thinking: what is the best strategy to deal with a rally that espouses such a viewpoint? Is it to counterprotest, and possibly giving the event more attention that it deserves?
With files from the Associated Press
Every move you make, every step you take, Google’s tracking you
Google wants to know where you go so badly that it records your movements even when you explicitly tell it not to.
An Associated Press investigation found that many Google services on Android devices and iPhones store your location data even if you’ve used a privacy setting that says it will prevent Google from doing so.
For the most part, Google is upfront about asking permission to use your location information. An app like Google Maps will remind you to allow access to location if you use it for navigating. If you agree to let it record your location over time, Google Maps will display that history for you in a “timeline” that maps out your daily movements.
The company will let you “pause” a setting called Location History. Google says that will prevent the company from remembering where you’ve been. Google’s support page on the subject states: “You can turn off Location History at any time. With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored.” That isn’t true. Even with Location History paused, some Google apps automatically store time-stamped location data without asking.
We discuss the investigation, as well as the privacy and security concerns.
With files from the Associated Press.
We reached out to Google and their spokesperson sent us this statement:
"Location History is a Google product that is entirely opt in, and users have the controls to edit, delete, or turn it off at any time. As the story notes, we make sure Location History users know that when they disable the product, we continue to use location to improve the Google experience when they do things like perform a Google search or use Google for driving directions."
Guests:
K. Shankari, a graduate researcher at UC Berkeley in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department; she studies the commuting patterns of volunteers in order to help urban planners
Ryan Nakashima, technology writer for the Associated Press; he investigated and wrote the AP exclusive “Google watches your movements, like it or not;” he tweets
Sean O'Brien, a lecturer in Law and founder of Yale Privacy Lab at Yale Law School; his expertise includes cybersecurity, privacy, and mobile device forensics
After jury rules against Monsanto in Roundup lawsuit, a review of the evidence for and against a link between the pesticide and cancer
A jury's $289 million award to a former school groundskeeper who said Monsanto's Roundup left him dying of cancer will bolster thousands of pending cases and open the door for countless people who blame their suffering on the weed killer, the man's lawyers said.
"I'm glad to be here to be able to help in a cause that's way bigger than me," Dewayne Johnson said at a news conference Friday after the verdict was announced. Johnson, 46, alleges that heavy contact with the herbicide caused his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The state Superior Court jury agreed that Roundup contributed to Johnson's cancer and Monsanto should have provided a label warning of the potential health hazard.
Monsanto has denied a link between the active ingredient in Roundup - glyphosate - and cancer, saying hundreds of studies have established that glyphosate is safe. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says Roundup's active ingredient is safe for people when used in accordance with label directions.
However, the France-based International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization, classified it as a "probable human carcinogen" in 2015. California added glyphosate to its list of chemicals known to cause cancer. We debate the science.
With files from the Associated Press.
AirTalk reached out to Monsanto for comment and received this statement from Vice President Scott Partridge:
“We are sympathetic to Mr. Johnson and his family. Today’s decision does not change the fact that more than 800 scientific studies and reviews – and conclusions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. National Institutes of Health and regulatory authorities around the world – support the fact that glyphosate does not cause cancer, and did not cause Mr. Johnson’s cancer. We will appeal this decision and continue to vigorously defend this product, which has a 40-year history of safe use and continues to be a vital, effective, and safe tool for farmers and others.”
Guests:
Nathan Donley, senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental advocacy nonprofit, his focus includes the links between exposure to environmental toxicants and cancer; he tweets
David Eastmond, professor and toxicologist at the University of California, Riverside where he studies the toxicity and carcinogenesis of agricultural and environmental chemicals in humans and other mammals; he was a member of a World Health Organization panel in 2016 that looked at whether evidence supports a link between glyphosate (chemical in Roundup) and cancer in humans
Hunting — an American story of the beloved and berated sport
It’s estimated that only 4 to 6 percent of Americans are active hunters, and yet hunting dominates a whirlwind of debates — from gun control to wildlife preservation to divisions in class and more.
How did hunting become such a sacred yet fraught tradition? Is it in our DNA? Is it love of sport? Or perhaps a desire for independence and self-reliance?
Award-winning historian Philip Dray’s latest book, “The Fair Chase: The Epic Story of Hunting in America” provides a revelatory view into our country’s legendary hunters and evolving attitudes towards wildlife and conservation. The term “Fair Chase” itself refers to a code of hunting ethics inspired by advocates of conservation.
Dray joins host Larry Mantle to talk about the classic, rugged pastime and its indelible impact on American culture.
Guest:
Philip Dray, author of many books including his latest, “The Fair Chase: The Epic Story of Hunting in America” (Basic Books 2018); finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his 2002 book, “At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America” (Modern Library, 2002)