Do you think the US should offer amnesty for Edward Snowden to stem the leaks? Should the AP have published CIA agent expose after government objections? We take a look at the population increases in Los Angeles and the state of California. Later, we talk about office holiday parties.
Boehner takes aim at conservative action groups, helps push budget deal through
The bipartisan budget deal hammered out by Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) that easily passed the House last week, appears to have the votes necessary to clear the Senate. But it’s not there yet. Unlike in the House, significantly more Senate Republicans are likely to oppose the legislation than vote for it, highlighting the ongoing rift in the GOP.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) was instrumental in pushing the deal through the House, showing a new willingness to sacrifice party unity in the process. Boehner called out the big conservative action groups that have crippled earlier efforts and compromise. Was Boehner's rebuke of the conservative groups largely delivered to provide cover and draw fire away from other Republicans? How will the groups respond now? Will this stay an issue for many Republican voters, or fade by next year's elections?
Guests:
Doyle McManus, Washington Columnist, covering national and international politics, Los Angeles Times
Reed Galen, Republican Political Consultant
Should the US offer amnesty for Edward Snowden to stem the leaks?
Richard Ledgett, who runs a U.S. National Security Agency task force responding to information leaks, told 60 Minutes in an interview that he believes that the National Security Agency should consider whether it makes sense to offer former contractor Edward Snowden amnesty in exchange for the return of the vast amount of secret data he downloaded.
"My personal view is, yes, it's worth having a conversation about," Ledgett said. "I would need assurances that the remainder of the data could be secured and my bar for those assurances would be very high. It would be more than just an assertion on his part."
Ledgett went on to say that others at the NSA share a similar view. However, the agency’s director Gen. Keith Alexander rebuked the suggestion, likening a possible pardon to "a hostage taker taking 50 people hostage, shooting 10 and then say 'You give me full amnesty and I'll let the other 40 go.'"
Snowden is currently living in Russia under temporary asylum.
Guests:
Robert Turner, Law Professor and Associate Director of the Center for National Security Law at the University of Virginia.
Marc Thiessen, Fellow, American Enterprise Institute and former speechwriter for then President George W. Bush and then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
Saturday Night Live is about to get a new black comedienne
The pressure has been mounting on Saturday Night Live to diversify its mostly-white cast this season and it seems they've done something about it. SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels told The New York Times that the show is now holding mid-season auditions for a female black cast member to add to the show.
A special audition was held last Monday night and a new cast member or two will start on the show in January. The move is extremely unusual and speaks to the strength of the public outcry when the season premiered. Many fans and media critics were outraged after SNL announced their new season lineup over the summer and there was a stunning lack of diversity.
The show hasn't had a black female cast member since Maya Rudolph left in 2007. Cast member Kenan Thompson made headlines when he said he would no longer dress in drag to play black women on the show leaving the cast with few options. Should SNL be adding a new mid-season cast member? Is it important for the cast to always include a specific range of diversity? Should SNL consider cast members of other ethnicities?
Guests:
Eric Deggans, TV critic for NPR
Tracy “Twinkie” Byrd, casting director for films including “Black Nativity”, “Stomp the Yard” and “Notorious”.
Was AP right to publish CIA agent exposé despite government objections?
It's being described as the only secret kept hush in Washington for years. Last week, the Associated Press unveiled the alleged CIA connections of Robert Levinson, an American who disappeared in Iran several years ago.
The AP had held back the story, reportedly at the request of the Central Intelligence Agency - which argued Levinson's life would be endangered after an expose. Levinson's family, on the other hand, had lobbied privately to get the government to take ownership of the American.
Last week’s AP report identified Levinson not only as a CIA agent working covertly in Iran - but also part of an "unapproved intelligence-gathering mission that, when it came to light inside the government, produced one of the most serious scandals in the recent history of the CIA - but all in secret."
Guests:
Jeff Stein, Contributing Editor and writes SpyTalk for Newsweek - specializes in national security
Geneva Overholser, Former Director, USC Annenberg School of Journalism; independent journalist in
Los Angeles hits demographic milestone; California sees population increase
Ten million people call Los Angeles county home, according to new population figures released by California's Department of Finance. Population growth in the Southland has been slow since the recession, with annual increases of less than one percent. But demographers say reaching the 10 million mark is significant and reinforces the economic and political impact of the region.
Statewide, California's population has grown by over 300 thousand in the past year, to just over 38 million. Alameda and Santa Clara counties in the Bay Area expanded the most. Immigrants and an uptick in childbirths across the state account for much of the increase. 2012 marked the fastest rate of population growth in the states since 2003.
Why do you call California home? Have you moved to other parts of the country by moved back? If you live in L.A. County, are you concerned that public services will find it difficult in the long-run to support such a large number of people?
Guests:
Bill Schooling, Chief of the Demographic Research Unit at the California Department of Finance
Chris Thornberg, Founding Partner of Beacon Economics
Looking back on the legacies of Peter O’Toole, Joan Fontaine and Audrey Totter
Hollywood lost some bright stars over the weekend. Peter O’Toole, star of ‘Lawrence of Arabia,’ passed away on Saturday at the age of 81. Joan Fontaine, known for her Academy Award winning role in Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Suspicion,’ was 96 when she died on Sunday. Actress Audrey Totter well known for her roles in film noir titles such as ‘Lady in the Lake’ and ‘The Set Up” passed away last Thursday. O’Toole, Fontaine, and Totter take an important place in cinema history. Do you have any memories of O’Toole, Fontaine or Totter?
Guest:
Peter Rainer, film critic for KPCC and the Christian Science Monitoer; author of "Ranier on Film: Thirty Years of Film Writing in a Turbulent and Transformative Era"
The office holiday party: festive tradition or unnecessary hassle?
For businesses across the country the holiday season brings the time honored tradition of the office holiday party. While some embrace the tradition with open arms, the obligation of spending a night with co-workers is welcomed with a grimace. Not only can office holiday parties be uncomfortable, they are often costly.
Some companies are opting to eliminate the holiday party tradition for other rewards. LA based, Konnect Public Relations is rewarding its employees with a four day cruise to Mexico instead of a traditional holiday party. In previous years, the company has sent its employees to Lake Tahoe. Spouses must stay home from the trip, but are invited to a dinner. Is the office holiday party worth the money? Are there better alternatives to reward employees for a year of hard work? Would you rather go to an office holiday party or have an alternative reward? Do you have any office holiday party stories to share?
Guest:
Leslie Yerkes, President, Catalyst Consulting - which advises businesses on how to make their offices more fun and how to motivate employees; Author, “Beyond Kicks and Carrots;” based in Ohio
Who is Californian of the year?
It’s often been said that where California goes, the rest of the nation inevitably follows.
That’s certainly been the case for green policy, same-sex marriage rights and tech innovation. If the Golden State is the country’s spiritual leader, what does it say about us, the people, who live in the state?
As we approach the end of the year, AirTalk wants to know: Who do you think was the most influential Californian of the Year for the year 2013?
We're looking for the person — or group, organization or entity — who has not only made a mark in the state in 2013, but whose work and decisions have also reverberated across the country.
Here to talk about the candidates and what qualities he thinks that person should have is Kevin Starr, a noted historian.
Below is a list of candidates the show staff has come up with, but we want your vote for the Listeners' Choice for Californian of the Year.
Guest:
Kevin Starr, California State Librarian Emeritus and University Professor at USC
KPCC's online polls are not scientific surveys of local or national opinion. Rather, they are designed as a way for our audience members to engage with each other and share their views. Let us know what you think on our Facebook page, facebook.com/kpcc, or in the comments below.
Who's Who:
Janet Napolitano
President, University of California
She was the first woman to serve as the head of the Department of Homeland Security and her appointment as the first female president of the 10-campus University of California system in 2013 was as controversial as it was unexpected. Supporters say Napolitano would bring years of high-level diplomatic skills, as well as a gilded Rolodex, to a storied public higher education institution that has been hamstrung by state budget cuts and an exodus of top talents. Critics question her commitment to preserving an open and welcoming atmosphere on campuses for all students, particularly those from undocumented families, citing her work on deportations. As UC President, one of her first orders of business was ensuring affordability of a UC education; at her first Regents meeting in November, she pushed to freeze undergraduate tuition next year.
Prop 8 Plaintiffs
After being together for over 15 years, Kris Perry and Sandy Stier made history when they married in San Francisco on June 28, 2013. A few hours later in Los Angeles, Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, partners for over 12 years, also tied the knot. The thought of becoming the face of a movement was the furthest thing from the minds of these four people, but that's exactly happened when they – and a formidable legal team — filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court in 2009 to challenge Proposition 8 – the voter-approved ban on gay marriage. After a high-profile legal battle that culminated at the Supreme Court – Prop 8, along with the federal Defense of Marriage Act, were dismissed and struck down.
Covered California
If the botched launch of healthcare.gov is any indication, it’s not easy to build a reliable website to change an entire industry. Covered California, the Golden State’s health insurance exchange established under the Affordable Care Act, has done for Californians what the federal health insurance site couldn’t do for the rest of America: namely, put in place a marketplace for health insurance that works – at least so far. As of Dec. 7, nearly 160,000 Californians have signed up for coverage through Covered California.
Darrell Issa
The GOP Congressman who serves California’s 49th district
Issa made a name for himself this year as the anti-Obama, aggressively sniffing out scandals that touched the Oval Office. As Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Issa started his year off holding President’s feet to the fire on its handling of the deadly terror attack in Benghazi last September. Next came the probe into the Internal Revenue Service. Issa alleged the agency had given extra scrutiny to right-wing political organizations applying for tax-exempt status. The revelations caused uproar against the IRS and President Obama, before they turned out to be trumped up — as the IRS had similarly flagged liberal groups.
In light of the botched Healthcare.gov rollout, House watchdog Issa is at the helm of another investigation — holding hearings and filing subpoenas in attempt to get to the bottom of the big-time bungle. While some misfires have cost Issa credibility, his dogged pursuit of scandal have kept Obama in the hot seat — and kept alive 2013’s polarized political climate.
Elon Musk
CEO, SpaceX and co-founder, Tesla Motors
The 44-year-old serial entrepreneur has proven to have the Midas touch. He first made his mark in on-line money transactions – making them easy, fast and safe in the form of PayPal. The sale of the payment service to eBay made Musk $160 million richer. In 2003, he co-founded the Palo Alto-based Tesla Motors, which designs and manufactures all-electric vehicles that are essentially art pieces on wheels. As if making the world a cleaner place isn’t a lofty enough goal, Musk also set his sights far beyond our mere planet. Through SpaceX, yet another one of his ventures in California, Musk wants to colonize Mars by 2025.
Sheryl Sandberg
Facebook CEO
Facebook’s charismatic second-in-command launched the tech giant’s mobile advertising efforts this year and sent profits soaring. She also authored "Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead," a best-selling working woman’s manifesto that set off a worldwide movement to address gender inequality in the workplace — and formed the nonprofit Lean In to put her ideas into action.
The 44-year-old COO hasn’t just made a name for herself in male-dominated Silicon Valley: She’s also an international icon whose reach and influence extends into business, politics and pop culture. She’s become as public a face for Facebook as its hoodied head honcho, and her ideas about corporate feminism, while criticized by some, brought working women and the hurdles they face to the forefront of conversation in 2013.
Kendrick Lamar
Hip-hop artist
Hip-hop’s golden child spent much of 2013 on the road, performing tracks from his major-label-debut album — "good kid, m.A.A.d city" — released late last year. The 26-year-old Compton native covered more ground than any other rapper, performing 171 shows and traveling nearly 230,000 miles, according to data from Songkick, a live music tracking site. He’s currently accompanying Kanye West on his Yeezus tour.
He earned 7 Grammy nominations this year, proof that "good kid, m.A.A.d city" — a portrait of Lamar’s early life growing up in Compton — resonates with music fans far and wide.
In August, Lamar made waves with his verse on Big Sean’s track “Control,” in which he calls out a number of notable rappers by name and proclaims himself “the king of New York.” The verse spurred dozens of diss track responses and immense buzz from fans, cementing Lamar in place at the center of the hip-hop ecosystem.
Evan Spiegel
Snapchat CEO
The 23-year-old Snapchat CEO made headlines when he said no to a whopping $3 billion in Mark Zuckerberg bucks last month in a rebuff to Facebook’s offer to buy the photo and video-sending mobile app.
First developed as Spiegel and friends’ Stanford class project, Snapchat launched in 2011. The app allows users to send pictures and videos to one another that flash on the screen for several seconds and then disappear forever. The Venice, Los Angeles-based company now shares 400 million “snaps” each day. That’s twice the number of photos that were being sent through Snapchat six months ago, and it’s more than the number of photos shared on Facebook and Instagram.
Snapchat is certainly the star of Los Angeles’s "Silicon Beach" tech scene, but it’s more than that. In a social media landscape defined by a lack of privacy and the need to carefully craft an online image, Spiegel’s Snapchat stands out.
Marissa Mayer
Yahoo!, CEO
Sure, the former Google executive was named Yahoo’s CEO last year, but 2013 has unquestionably been the year of the turnaround for the struggling search engine. Under Mayer’s leadership, the company spent a boatload of money this year on acquisitions alone, including the purchase of popular microblogging site Tumblr for $1.1 billion (in cash), to better compete with rivals Google and Facebook. Talent-wise, it poached both The New York Times’ David Pogue and CBS’ Katie Couric to lead its tech and news coverage, respectively. The efforts are paying off: In July, Yahoo beat Google as the most visited site in the country.
Yasiel Puig
No. 66, Los Angeles Dodgers
The 23-year-old Cuban slugger made his MLB debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers in June and looks every bit like the real deal. He became the first player in major league history to record at least 34 hits and seven home runs in his first 20 games and won both the National League Rookie of the Month Award and the National League Player of the Month Award, becoming the first player to do so in the first month of their Majors debut. Puig finished 2013 with a batting average of .319 in 104 games, 19 home runs and 42 RBI. There's no question that the kid can hit. But he also has plenty of style — the signature bat flip, the impassioned fist pumps — making No. 66 an instant crowd favorite, whether you love or hate the Dodgers.
Jerry Brown
Governor of California
We once called him Governor Moonbeam, and the new and improved California Gov. Jerry Brown is making good on his nickname. Back in the '70s and early '80s, Brown led the state to economic prosperity, and he's getting credit for doing it again. In a nice respite from years of budget cuts and tax increases, state legislators are looking at ways to spend a healthy surplus that’s expected to grow to $10 billion by 2018. Brown also oversaw major changes to the prison system under realignment and signed sweeping changes to school funding. The 75-year-old governor has been so influential this year that he's reportedly seeking an unprecedented fourth term in office. And why wouldn't he, with approval ratings topping 58 percent and more than half of registered voters saying they'd pick him again? So watch this space to see if Brown makes it back on this list in 2014.
Andre Birotte Jr.
U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California
Appointed by President Obama in 2010 to lead the second largest U.S. Attorney's office in the country, Andre Birotte Jr. is a federal government crime buster. No stranger to the Southland, Birotte has had a career that includes a three-year stint as a deputy public defender in L.A. and time serving as the Los Angeles Police Department's Inspector General in 2003. In his current role, in which he oversees the work of more than 200 prosecutors, Birotte has investigated cyber crime, sex trafficking, tax fraud and claims of civil rights abuses in the L.A. County Sheriff's Department. Birotte is also the first African-American U.S. Attorney for the Central District.
Don't see your answer in the list above? Leave a comment with your choice and why so we can mention them on air.
This post has been updated.