Discussing the Iowa caucuses and what to look for in New Hampshire; a new report from UC San Francisco talks about the negative public health risks of pot; debating the side effects of mindfulness meditation and why we're more susceptible to scams than we think.
On to NH after Cruz cruises past Trump, Clinton edges Sanders in Iowa
Exuding his usual confidence and bravado, Ted Cruz thanked voters in Iowa for propelling him to victory in the Iowa caucuses.
Cruz finished with 28 percent of the vote, enough for a four point victory over Donald Trump. Marco Rubio came up third with 23 percent. Trump was congratulatory but confident as he addressed a crowd at his Iowa headquarters while Marco Rubio touted his third place finish as a victory for his campaign over all those who doubted its legitimacy.
Meanwhile, the Iowa Democratic Party announced Hillary Clinton has officially won the closest Democratic caucuses in the state’s history, beating Bernie Sanders by two-tenths of a percent. Sanders wasted no time moving on to his next challenge, jetting off to New Hampshire to speak with supporters before the sun even rose.
Now, the work begins in New Hampshire just a week away from the first-in-the-nation primary. Ted Cruz will have his work cut out for him there, where the latest polls have him trailing Trump by over 20 percent. Hailing from next door neighbor Vermont, Bernie Sanders is a household name in the Granite State, so Hillary Clinton will also have some ground to make up as she also trails by a sizeable margin.
What do last night’s caucus results tell us about the candidates? Do you think Iowa’s results are a sign of things to come? Who has the most work to do in New Hampshire?
Guests:
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist; founder of Rodriguez Strategies; former senior Obama advisor in 2008. He tweets
Reed Galen, Republican political strategist and owner of Jedburghs, LLC., a public affairs and campaign consultancy firm in Orange County
Weighing the negative effects of mindfulness meditation
Mindfulness has been lauded as an effective meditation practice to bring people into the present moment.
It’s used as a tool to beat chronic pain and anxiety, and can even promote better self-esteem.
As a popular choice for meditation, mindfulness has even been adopted by companies such as Google, Apple and Sony as part of employee packages and the app, Headspace, offers 10-minute practices to anyone with a smartphone.
But what happens when mindfulness goes wrong?
For some, the meditative practice could trigger unprocessed emotions, bringing on negative side-effects such as panic and depression.
Larry Mantle speaks with mindfulness researchers Miguel Farias and David Creswell to weigh in on the side-effects of mindfulness and how to avoid them.
Farias, a lecturer and director of studies in psychology at Oxford Universty, has researched and written extensively on the possible negative side-effects of mindfulness. He says more research should be done on the adverse reactions of both mindfulness and other forms of meditation.
As a proponent of the practice, associate professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, David Creswell, notes a benign disorientation or confusion that can arise when a person begins practicing mindfulness. But he also says these feelings could be viewed positively because of how it brings awareness to emotions that may have been hiding in our consciousness.
During the conversation, the biggest concern with Farias, Creswell and "AirTalk" callers is how mindfulness might trigger a depressive episode.
One caller, James in Echo Park, says he's been practicing mindfulness for three years and has had what he describes as "dark night" episodes, especially when he began meditating.
James: Luckily my teacher, who was well versed in how to navigate that. I found mindfulness, mixed in combination with other behavioral therapy. . . was very helpful, and I continue to use mindfulness to benefit me, but I do know that there are pitfalls, specifically to people who have a history of trauma and other mental illnesses or episodes."
Pablo in North Hollywood teaches mindfulness and says he exhausted or "blew out" his mindfulness experience during a retreat.
Pablo: I think that what happens with people that have a history of trauma, is that those dissociative experiences that you have in meditation are coupled with terror or anxiety or panic and then what has to happen is people have to actually get into the trauma work.
In response to the callers, Creswell stresses the importance of guidance through the practice of mindfulness meditation.
Creswell: We're giving a cautionary note about there being risks for those with pre-existing trauma . . . and there's a lot of really good evidence that the vast majority of people can really benefit from mindfulness based programs as a form of exposure therapy for working through these experiences, but . . . finding a good teacher and a structured program with which you can do this is really a key element.
Guests:
Miguel Farias, Lecturer and Director of Studies in Psychology at Oxford University and author of “The Buddha Pill” (Watkins Publishing, 2015)
J. David Creswell, Associate Professor of Psychology and Director, Health and Human Performance Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University
Pot legalization carries huge negative public health risks, new UCSF report finds
An analysis released today by UCSF researchers look at the public health effects of pot legalization in California.
They say that the public health disadvantages of legalization disproportionately outweigh advantages it might bring, including the potential in lowering crime.
Rachel Barry and Stanton Glantz, UCSF researchers and co-authors of the report, zero in on two proposed pot legalization ballot initiatives for California to look at the possible impact of each scenario. Using the tobacco industry as comparison, they found that the two ballot measures are more interested in establishing a business model that “only include minimal protections for the public that are unlikely to prevent public health harms.”
UC San Francisco's Public Health Analysis of Proposed Marijuana Legalization
Guests:
Rachel Barry, coauthor of the public health analysis released today looking at the two California upcoming ballot initiatives to legalize marijuana. She is a policy researcher at the UCSF’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education
Paul Armentano, Deputy Director at the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), a DC-based nonprofit that works to legalize the use of marijuana.
The psychology of con-artists and how to avoid a scam
We hear about scams all the time, from Ponzi-schemes to small-time fraud.
While most people feel are confident about how to avoid a con, it may be surprising how susceptible we all are to them.
So what makes a successful con and how do we avoid falling for their ploys? The answer may not have to do with the intelligence of a victim, it has to do with confidence.
Maria Konnikova digs into solutions on how to outwit con-artists in her new book, “The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It. . . Every Time.” She speaks with Larry Mantle today on who is the most vulnerable when it comes to falling for scams and how to protect ourselves against manipulation.
Guest:
Maria Konnikova, contributor for the New Yorker and author of “The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It. . . Every Time” (Penguin Random House, 2016)