We review yesterday's arguments at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals over President Trump's travel ban; roughly six years ago, revolutions erupted across the Middle East and became famously known as the Arab Spring - we take a look at what has changed over the years, and what hasn't; how "On the Origins of Species" reads differently in today's America; and more.
Reviewing yesterday’s 9th Circuit arguments
Yesterday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judges heard arguments over President Trump’s travel moratorium on seven predominantly Muslim countries.
The states of Washington and Minnesota challenged the U.S. government over the constitutionality of the moratorium, saying it was aimed to ban Muslims in particular. The Justice Department defends that the moratorium is not aimed at a particular religious group, but instead is meant to halt travel from nations associated with terrorism.
What were the arguments for and against the ban in yesterday’s hearing? How effective were both sides in arguing their points?
Guests:
Robert (Bobby) Charles, president and managing member of The Charles Group, a Washington D.C.-based law firm; he is a former Assistant Secretary of State under President George W. Bush and also clerked for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
Pratheepan (Deep) Gulasekaram, associate professor of law at Santa Clara Law, where he specializes in constitutional and immigration law
Warren vs McConnell: Analyzing the vote to rebuke Elizabeth Warren
As reported by The Washington Post, the Senate voted Tuesday night to rebuke Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) when she spoke in opposition to President Trump’s pick for attorney general Jeff Sessions.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) rebuked colleague Elizabeth Warren during last night's confirmation debate over Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions. Yet another example of the partisan volatility on capitol hill. Each side's using the incident to rile its base.
Who crossed the line - McConnell or Warren?
Guests:
Seung Min Kim, Congressional Reporter for POLITICO
John Pitney, professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College
Oscar-nominated 'Watani: My Homeland' follows Syrian family from conflict to refuge
While most images of the Syrian conflict show seemingly generic destruction and anonymous victims, the documentary "Watani: My Homeland" follows a singular family - with four striving children - at the heart of the war.
The filmmaker Marcel Mettelsiefen is a German war correspondent who started travelling to Aleppo at the beginning of the civil war, and met a resistance leader, Abu Ali, his wife Hala, and grade school children, Sara, Farah, Helen and Mohammed. After Abu Ali is reportedly captured by the self-declared Islamic State, Hala decides the family must leave their homeland in search of a new, safer life. Filmed over three years, the film chronicles the family's journey from the frontline in Aleppo, to a little town in Germany. After escaping the chaos and terror of their war-torn country, the children adapt remarkably to a new life and attempt to hold on to their past identity.
KPCC will have interviews with each of the Academy nominees in the category of Best Documentary Short Film.
"Watani: My Homeland" and all the Oscar-nominated shorts will be showing at theatres this weekend, including at Laemmle’s Royal, Playhouse 7, and Claremont 5, plus South Coast Village 3 in Santa Ana.
Guest:
Marcel Mettelsiefen, Co-Director, "Watani: My Homeland" - a short documentary nominated for an Academy Award; Mettelsiefen is a German war correspondent
Arab Spring six years later: progress and heartaches
Six years ago, the death of a fruit vendor in Tunisia set off a chain of events that became known as the "Arab Spring."
Citizens rose up and toppled their governments in countries like Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen. Civil unrest weakened the legitimacy of authoritarian regimes in Syria and Bahrain. Calls of revolution spread like rapid fire across the Middle East.
Fast forward to today, we look at how the region has evolved since that first protest? What’s the public opinion on the new leadership and coalition? How have people adapted to the new norms? A recent study, published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, showed that corruption was the region’s top problem. Titled “Arab Fractures: Citizens, States, and Social Contracts,” the survey revealed that, despite the years of effort, most Arab states are still "facing a crisis in governance.”
Host Larry Mantle sits down with Michele Dunne, one of the lead authors on the study and director of Carnegie’s Middle East Program, and Steve A. Cook, a Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, on the six year anniversary of the Arab Spring. What’s your experience with the revolutions? What has changed over the years? Why is it so challenging for democracy to take hold in the region?
Guests:
Bechir Blagui, Angeleno who co-founded Free Tunisia, an advocacy organization for human rights, political freedom and economic development in Tunisia; Blagui also organized a Los Angeles polling station for the Tunisian election
Michele Dunne, director of the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a foreign policy think tank based in Washington D.C.
Steven A. Cook, Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and author of The Struggle for Egypt: From Nasser to Tahrir Square; he tweets
On Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’
Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” is known today as the foundational text of the theory of evolution.
But it was read very different when the book first came out in 1960. In “The Book That Changed America: How Darwin’s Theory of Evolution Ignited a Nation,” writer Randall Fuller looks at the book’s historical context, and how it was first received.
Guest:
Randall Fuller, a professor of English at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma. He is the author of many books, including his latest, “The Book That Changed America” (Viking, 2017)