As expected, Saturday's Democratic Debate revolved around national security, some worry that Disney is relying heavily on the popular franchise and California is enforcing a new strategy to improve civic behavior.
Sanders’ camp data breach looms large over Dem debate on national security
The Democratic presidential candidates took the stage for their third debate over the weekend.
The topic at hand was national security and other domestic issues, but what many tuned in to see how frontrunner Hillary Clinton and challenger Bernie Sanders would deal with the revelation that the Sanders’ campaign stole voter information from Clinton’s camp.
After the accusations surfaced, the Democratic National Committee punished the Sanders campaign by barring it from accessing accessing a trove of information on potential voters. In response, Sanders’ campaign filed a lawsuit against the Democratic Party.
How would the breach impact the race?
Guests:
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist; founder of Rodriguez Strategies; former senior Obama advisor in 2008
Neil Sroka, communications director for Democracy for America, a progressive grassroots political organization founded by Howard Dean
Jon Greenberg, staff writer for PolitiFact
How much is boffo Star Wars going to rub off on parent company Disney?
“The Force Awakens” broke all kinds of box office records this weekend, pulling in $238 million in its opening weekend.
The franchise’s parent company Disney plans to roll out a new Star War iteration every year until 2020, doubling down on the fervor of generations of fans to pack the theaters.
But how would the film's success play out for Disney? The Mouse House's stock price fell Friday after the film's extraordinary debut -- and again today.
Still, some industry insiders are expressing concerns that Disney might be over-relying on the franchise -- and the franchise alone -- to drive the company’s growth.
Guest:
Brooks Barnes, covers media for The New York Times, including the movie studios and movie theater chains; the Walt Disney Company and its many parts. One of his recent articles looks at the outsized role the new Star Wars franchise could play in Disney’s stock prices
As LA’s homeless population surges, how to handle panhandling
While L.A.’s homeless population grows, the question looms of how to handle giving to those in need, especially during the holiday season.
According to the Los Angeles Almanac, there are over 44,000 transients living in Los Angeles County.
Rabbi Marvin Gross, CEO of Union Station Homeless Services, offered a few best practices for donating during the holidays, and during every season.
His advice?
- Refrain from donating cash “Unfortunately when folks are out there asking for money, it’s hard to know what uses they are going to put it to,” Gross said.
- Buy food for the hungry. Gross suggested that in lieu of donating money, take a person in need to a restaurant, or bring them some food.
- Give your money to organizations. Another option Gross gave is to opt for donating to charitable organizations that work with the homeless population in Los Angeles, like Union Station Homeless Services.
- Volunteer your time. Eliminating money from the equation all together, another way to be charitable is to volunteer for organizations that help the homeless. Gross said that Union Station Homeless Services has volunteers every day, and there is information about getting involved on its website, unionstationhs.org. Other organizations to volunteer with include Los Angeles Mission and Union Rescue Mission.
Guest:
Rabbi Marvin Gross, CEO of Union Station Homeless Services
CA court weighs whether “baby parts” video creators can release more
Recordings secretly made by an anti-abortion group at meetings of abortion providers could put providers at risk and fail to show criminal wrongdoing, a federal judge said Friday, citing the recent shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco made the comments during a hearing over the National Abortion Federation's request for a preliminary injunction that would continue to block the release of the recordings.
Orrick did not immediately issue a ruling. He previously issued a temporary restraining order blocking the recordings pending the outcome of the preliminary injunction hearing.
Catherine Short, an attorney for the Center for Medical Progress, said there was no evidence the Colorado shooter was motivated by the group's videos or that doctors have been directly threatened. The release of the recordings is vital to furthering public discussion about topics such as whether the country's abortion laws are too loosely written, she said.
The center says in court documents its work is the equivalent of investigative journalism and protected by the First Amendment.
With files from the Associated Press.
Guests:
David Daleiden, Anti-abortion activist, Center for Medical Progress
David S. Cohen, Associate Professor of Law, Drexel University; Co-author, "Living in the Crosshairs: The Untold Stories of Anti-Abortion Terrorism" (Oxford University Press; 2015)
CA government using behavioral science to ‘nudge’ for better civic behavior
Forget public service announcements and giant freeway billboards, the government is now taking a page from the social sciences to influence our behavior.
It’s called “nudging” and uses tenets of the academic field of behavioral science to effect changes in how we act.
President Obama is a fan of the effort and has issued an executive order calling federal agencies to embrace the use of “behavioral science insights” to “better serve the American people.”
Locally, California’s Senate President pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) is also a believer. Earlier this month, he co-wrote an op-ed for the San Francisco Chronicle explaining how California can better use “nudging” to help Californians cut down on texting while driving, and to get us to go out and vote.
Here’s to explain the concept is Sacramento Bee’s Dan Walters, whose column this week looks at the phenomenon.
Guest:
Dan Walters, long-time columnist for the Sacramento Bee. His column this week is titled, “Politicians advocate ‘nuding’ to influence how we act’
Battle of the sexes: who's better at assembling IKEA furniture?
A recent study from the University of Tromso in Norway found that men are better than women when it comes to assembling IKEA furniture.
The study asked 40 men and 40 women, all around the same age, to put together an IKEA kitchen cart on their own. Some had the instruction manuals, some didn't; in both scenarios the women outperformed their male counterparts.
The researchers were quick to point out that while their study doesn't symbolize a shift in the idea of gendered brains, it does beg some questions: how did this trend occur? Does it indicate that men have been expected to build things and can thus build them better? Or does it suggest a more profound cognitive difference?
Guests:
Jorgen Edvin Westgren, co-author of the study and a psychology student from the Arctic University of Norway
Daphna Joel, lead author of the new study, “Sex beyond the genitalia: The human brain mosaic,” published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. She is a professor of psychological sciences at the University of Tel Aviv in Israel