After accusations of impropriety in his work with pro-Russian politicians, Trump's former campaign chairman resigned this morning; a bill in Sacramento could require institutions to to collect data on more groups under the label “Asian American,” but not everybody's happy about it; plus, Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Andy Klein, Justin Chang, and Charles Solomon review this week’s new releases including “War Dogs” with Jonah Hill and Miles Teller. TGI-FilmWeek!
Manafort resigns, Trump regrets, Obama vacations -- what you need to know before the weekend
Larry and a political roundtable parse the latest flurry of news stories, from former Trump campaign director Paul Manafort’s total resignation from the campaign, to Donald Trump’s apparent tonal change on the campaign trail.
We’ll also look at the criticism from those on the right that President Obama should return from his vacation to visit the flooding victims in Louisiana and get the latest on the State Department’s new revelation that a $400 million payment to Iran wasn’t “ransom,” but “leverage” for the release of American hostages earlier this year.
Guests:
Molly Ball, staff writer at The Atlantic, where she covers U.S. politics; she tweets from
Noah Bierman, LA Times reporter who’s been following the Manafort story. He tweets from
Jay Solomon, foreign affairs correspondent who broke the original story for the Wall Street Journal. His new book, "The Iran Wars: Spy Games, Bank Battles and the Secret Deals That Reshaped the Middle East" (Random House, 2016) comes out next week. He tweets from
State bill to expand definition of ‘Asian American’ draws ire, praise
AB 1726, or the Accounting for Health and Education in API Demographics Act (AHEAD), would require higher education and public health institutions to collect data on more groups under the label, “Asian-American.”
There are currently only two categories to choose from: Asian-American, and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander. Under the proposal, Bangladeshi, Hmong, Indonesian, Pakistani, Taiwanese and other groups would be added.
Supporters of the bill say breaking these subgroups out highlight their respective needs and challenges, so that resources could be more easily directed at them.
Calvin Chang, Policy Director for Empowering Pacific Islander Community (EPIC), said that it’s impossible to know exactly how the data will be used until it is collected. However, he emphasized that it’s necessary to identify health problems endemic to certain communities.
He thinks it’s a civil rights issue.
Calvin Chang: It’s an issue that crosses all of our communities...That’s why it’s important to make sure that all of our communities are getting access to the resources that we should be getting. The only way to ensure that is to actually see whether or not Chinese-Americans, Koreans, Japanese, Tongans, Fijians are actually performing at a level that should be befitting of treatment by their character and not by the color of their skin. This data is how we measure whether or not progress is being made to meet those civil rights principles.
But opponents, including some Chinese-Americans, argue that the additional data would be used against more represented Asian-American groups, especially in college admission decisions.
Kai Zhu is an attorney from the Bay Area who is a vocal opponent of the bill. He worries that the bill will hurt Chinese-Americans’ access to higher education.
“We really think this bill is part of a bigger plan to bring back affirmative action, which has been banned [in California] by Proposition 209 back in 1996,” Zhu said. “The data here can be used for multiple purposes. Our community is in particular concerned about its use in the area of higher education and admissions.”
Not everyone in the Chinese-American community is convinced, even those who will soon be applying to college. AirTalk listener Jason will soon be a high school senior in Redondo Beach. He is Chinese- and Korean-American, two groups that are often “overrepresented” at colleges and universities. Still, he believes this bill is necessary to promote educational and health equity.
Jason in Redondo Beach: I’m 16 and a rising high school senior, who’s actually going to be applying to college soon. I really approve of AB 1726. I think that the bill is all about increasing educational equity and access. From the limited data we have, we’ve seen that Laosian-Americans and Vietnamese-Americans are struggling academically and especially in higher education. With more data, we can increase the amount of resources they’re given. The bill is not about hurting Chinese-Americans.
It’s not just an educational access issue. It’s also a health issue. The data can be used to help Chinese-Americans and Korean-Americans. For example, if it’s found that Chinese-Americans have higher rates of Hepatitis B, we can address that with this data.
Zhu thinks there are better ways to promote equality among California’s Asian-American groups.
“It’s true that certain ethnic groups may have less access to education and resources and so on. But we are talking about individuals here...You can always design good public policy that can achieve the goal without playing the race card.”
Unlike Zhu, Chang doesn’t see the bill as divisive.
“We don’t think it’s divisive to acknowledge the diversity that already exists in our community,” he said.
“We think that diversity is worth celebrating. As the US becomes a majority minority country, understanding what challenges we share across communities is the first step toward building bridges.”
The bill moved out of the California Assembly Committees on Higher Education and Health in April, and heads to the Appropriations Committee.
Guests:
Calvin Chang, Policy Director for Empowering Pacific Islander Community (EPIC) and is one of the co-sponsors of AB 1726
Kai Zhu, an attorney in the Bay Area who opposes AB 1726
What were they thinking? How the U.S. men's swimmers ended up in hot water
U.S. Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte, 32, issued an apology on Instagram this morning after lying about an armed robbery in Rio to cover his bad behavior and that of his teammates last weekend.
Lochte says he’s sorry for how he behaved and feels bad for taking attention away from other athletes at the games.
“It’s traumatic to be out late with your friends in a foreign country - with a language barrier - and have a stranger point a gun at you…” writes the swimmer. He maintains he and his teammates were held at gunpoint - but while the original reports stated they were pulled over in a Rio cab by fake cops and robbed - it now appears they were approached by armed security guards after vandalising a gas station bathroom and then paid them off.
Lochte and two other swimmers are back in the States now.
A fourth teammate, Jimmy Faegan will likely have to pay more than 10 thousand dollars before leaving Brazil this week. Are these athletes getting off with a slap on the wrist? How does a scandal like this make the U.S. look internationally?
Guest:
Aaron Bauer, Rio de Janeiro Correspondent for Around The Rings’ Olympic coverage; he tweets from
FilmWeek: ‘Kubo and the Two Strings,’ ‘War Dogs’ and more
Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Andy Klein, Justin Chang, and Charles Solomon review this week’s new releases including the highly anticipated animated feature, “Kubo and the Two Strings;” “War Dogs” with Jonah Hill and Miles Teller; a reboot of the biblical epic, “Ben-Hur” and more.
TGI-FilmWeek!
Charles' Hits
Justin's Hits
- "Kubo and the Two Strings"
- "Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World"
- "Morris from America"
- "Richard Linklater: Dream is Destiny"
Andy's Hits
Mixed Reviews
- Justin and Andy: "War Dogs"
- Justin: "Disorder"
- Andy: "A Tale of Love and Darkness"
- Justin and Andy: "No Asylum: The Untold Chapter of Anne Frank"
This Week's Misses
- Andy and Justin: "Ben-Hur"
Guests:
Charles Solomon, Film Critic for KPCC and Animation Scoop and Animation Magazine
Justin Chang, Film Critic for KPCC and the Los Angeles Times
Andy Klein, Film Critic for KPCC
Rape accusations haunt early Oscar favorite ‘The Birth of a Nation’
After garnering the highest price of any film in Sundance history, Nate Parker’s “The Birth of a Nation” became an early Oscar favorite.
However, a rape trial from more than 15 years ago could jeopardize that.
In 1999, Parker and a college wrestling teammate were charged with the rape of an unconscious woman, who years later committed suicide. Parker was acquitted, but his teammate, who received a writing credit on the film, was not (though that verdict was later overturned).
Parker’s case is one of several instances of past sex crimes vastly changing the perception of Hollywood stars -- most notably Roman Polanski and Woody Allen.
However, the resurfacing of Parker’s story comes at time of heightened awareness of sex-related crimes on college campuses, after Stanford swimmer Brock Turner was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman.
“The Birth of a Nation,” which follows Nat Turner’s 1831 slave rebellion, also comes at a time of increased racial awareness in America. #OscarsSoWhite called out the lack of diversity at this year’s Oscars, while protests this summer across the country have challenged the way police treat African-Americans.
This heightened awareness of race in America and sex crimes has put “The Birth of a Nation” in a difficult position, raising tough questions about race and sexual violence in Hollywood.
Should a director’s personal life affect the way a film is received? Will the controversy affect “Birth of a Nation’s” Oscar chances, and will you go to see it?
Guest:
Rebecca Keegan, entertainment reporter for the LA Times, she is the author of the recent article "A decades-old college rape case casts cloud over Oscar hopeful Nate Parker;" you can hear her here on KPCC every Monday on Take Two’s On the Lot
Justin Chang, Film Critic for KPCC and the LA Times
Andy Klein, Film Critic for KPCC