AirTalk’s weekly political roundtable recaps the headlines you might have missed over the weekend and looks ahead to the biggest political stories in California and Washington D.C. for the week to come. We also examine the Texas ACA decision; discuss the controversy on a K-town school mural; and more.
The Texas ACA decision: The legal, practical & political implications
The Affordable Care Act faces a new legal challenge after U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas ruled the law unconstitutional on Friday.
The decision risks throwing the nation's health care system into turmoil should it be upheld on appeal. The timing of the judge’s decision was on the eve of the deadline to shop for Obamacare coverage in much of the country.
Democrats vowed to fight “tooth and nail” against the judge’s ruling, which said Congress’ decision to zero out the “individual mandate” penalty for shirking insurance in the Republican tax bill, which takes effect next year, invalided the rest of the sweeping health care law.
The Affordable Care Act will remain in place while the legal battle continues, possibly to the Supreme Court.
With files from the Associated Press
Guests:
Jill Horwitz, professor of law at UCLA where her areas of research include the Affordable Care Act
Ilya Somin, professor of law at George Mason University and contributor to “The Volokh Conspiracy” blog at Reason.com, where he has written legal analysis about the ruling; he tweets
Week in politics: How Congress and the president are approaching the looming government shutdown, impact of personnel changes at the White House and more
AirTalk’s weekly political roundtable recaps the headlines you might have missed over the weekend and looks ahead to the biggest political stories in California and Washington D.C. for the week to come.
Here are some of the topics we’re watching through the weekend, subject to change based on breaking news:
Shutdown latest
Contentious meeting in White House last week with Sen. Schumer, Rep. Pelosi & POTUS
Nancy Pelosi’s deal to become Speaker
Mick Mulvaney named White House Chief of Staff
Ryan Zinke will leave as Interior Secretary by end of year
Trump Inaugural Fund and Super PAC said to be scrutinized for illegal foreign donations, White House deflects
Maria Butina pleads guilty
Senate votes to end aid for Yemen fight over Khashoggi killing
Iowa Poll: First poll of likely caucus-goers finds Biden, Sanders, O'Rourke atop the field
L.A. Times column: Will the next president come from California? Don't count on it
Guests:
Pete Peterson, dean of the School of Public Policy and senior fellow at The Davenport Institute at Pepperdine University; he tweets
Bill Burton, Democratic political strategist with the firm SKD Knickerbocker and former deputy White House press secretary for Barack Obama; he tweets
Shepard Fairey, Korean Americans and LA’s art community weigh in on K-town school mural
A week after the LAUSD agreed to paint over a school mural after criticisms emerged over its insensitivity towards Korea Americans, street artist Shepard Fairey has weighed in on the discussion.
The mural in question, which is on campus of the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools, depicts an image of Ava Gardner with rays radiating behind her face. Critics say the motif resembles the war flag of the Imperial Japanese Army, which committed incalculable atrocities against Koreans and others during the war. The artist behind the Ava Gardner mural, Beau Stanton, said that mural was intended to celebrate the famous Cocoanut Grove bar in Hollywood and was not meant as a reference to the war.
Under pressure, the LAUSD said last week that it would repaint the mural.
The muralist and street artist Shepard Fairey weighed in on the controversy over the weekend, saying that if Stanton’s mural is erased, he would also remove his own mural — which features Robert F. Kennedy — on the same campus.
We reached out to LAUSD officials for comment. They did not get back to us in time for this segment.
Guests:
Shepard Fairey, contemporary street artist and creator of the large outdoor portrait of Robert F. Kennedy at the RFK Community Schools complex; he tweets
Beau Stanton, multi-disciplinary artist and creator of the “Lady of the Grove” mural at the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex
Chan Yong “Jake” Jeong, president of the Wilshire Community Coalition, a non-profit that aims to represent community issues
Going paperless: More Americans are eschewing cash for credit
A new study from the Pew Research Center reveals that credit card use is on the rise, with 29% of adults saying they don’t use cash during a typical week.
This is an increase from 24% in 2015, and the study also showed that those who claim to use cash most of the time has decreased from 24% in 2015 to 18% today. In terms of demographics, it appears that individuals who make $75,000 annually are more than twice as likely to use card than individuals making less than $30,000. The study also showed that African Americans are more likely to use cash than Caucasians or Latin Americans.
Larry discuss the findings with Aaron Smith, associate director of research at Pew, and analyzes why more people are making the shift to plastic.
Guests:
Aaron Smith, associate director of research at Pew Research Center; he tweets
Sucharita Kodali, e-commerce analyst at Forrester Research, a technology research and advisory firm based in Cambridge, MA; she tweets