President Donald Trump announced Friday that he will declare a national emergency to fulfill his pledge to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. We discuss with a panel of guests. We also review this weekend’s new movie releases; rank and examine American remakes of foreign films; and more.
Trump declares National Emergency over immigration ‘crisis’
President Donald Trump announced Friday that he will declare a national emergency to fulfill his pledge to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trump said he will use executive powers to bypass Congress, which approved far less money for his proposed wall than he had sought. He plans to siphon billions of dollars from federal military construction and counterdrug efforts for the wall. The move is already drawing bipartisan criticism on Capitol Hill and expected to face rounds of legal challenges.
"I am going to be signing a national emergency," Trump said from the Rose Garden, as he claimed illegal immigration marked "an invasion of our country."
In a rare show of bipartisanship, lawmakers voted Thursday to fund large swaths of the government and avoid a repeat of this winter's debilitating five-week government shutdown. The money in the bill for border barriers, about $1.4 billion, is far below the $5.7 billion Trump insisted he needed and would finance just a quarter of the 200-plus miles (322 kilometers) he wanted this year.
To bridge the gap, Trump announced that he will be spending roughly $8 billion on border barriers - combining the money approved by Congress with funding he plans to repurpose through executive actions, including the national emergency. The money is expected to come from funds targeted for military construction and counterdrug efforts, but aides could not immediately specify which military projects would be affected.
Despite widespread opposition in Congress to proclaiming an emergency, including by some Republicans, Trump was responding to pressure to act unilaterally to soothe his conservative base and avoid appearing like he's lost his wall battle.
With files from the Associated Press.
Professor Gulasekaram wanted to clarify his on-air statement that relatively few drugs come through between ports of entry. "The majority of heroin and fentanyl entering the country comes through ports of entry. Only a small percentage enters in between ports of entry, and the great majority of that occurs in the San Diego border sector, which is already heavily fortified. The majority of cocaine seizures occur at ports of entry and border patrol checkpoints, and not at illicit border crossings. In addition, the majority of cocaine enters the country through the San Diego sector - which, again, is already fenced." This info can be found in the 2018 DEA Report.
Guests:
Molly O'Toole, DC-based immigration and security reporter at the Los Angeles Times; she tweets
Pratheepan Gulasekaram, professor of law at Santa Clara Law, where he specializes in constitutional and immigration law
Josh Blackman, associate professor of law at the South Texas College of Law Houston who specializes in constitutional law and the U.S. Supreme Court; author of "Unraveled: Obamacare, Religious Liberty, and Executive Power" (Cambridge University Press, 2016).
Sean T. Walsh, Republican political analyst and partner at Wilson Walsh Consulting in San Francisco; he is a former adviser to California Governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger and a former White House staffer for Presidents Reagan and H.W. Bush
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist and founder and chief executive officer of Rodriguez Strategies. He is also a former senior Obama advisor in 2008; he tweets
, reporter covering the U.S.-Mexico border for The Arizona Republic and the USA Today Network; he tweets
Julián Aguilar, immigration and border security reporter at the Texas Tribune; he tweets
FilmWeek: ‘Alita: Battle Angel,’ ‘Isn’t It Romantic,’ ‘Happy Death Day 2U’ and more
Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Amy Nicholson, Peter Rainer and Charles Solomon review this weekend’s new movie releases.
- "Alita: Battle Angel" in wide release
- "Isn't It Romantic" in wide release
- "Happy Death Day 2U" in wide release
- "Fighting with My Family" at the ArcLight Hollywood & AMC Century City
- "Lords of Chaos" at the Ahrya Fine Arts Theater
- "Birds of Passage" at Laemmle's Royal Theater
- The Frame's John Horn interviewed the directors of Birds of Passage earlier this week. You can listen to that interview here
- "Mirai" at Lemmle's Glendale & Laemmle's Monica Film Center (IN SELECT THEATERS STARTING MONDAY, MARCH 18)
- "The Image Book" at the American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre
- "The Breaker Uppers" streaming on Netflix
- "A Tuba to Cuba" at Laemmle's Glendale
CRITICS' HITS
Amy: 'Isn't It Romantic, 'Lords of Chaos' & 'The Breaker Upperers'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqJ-hfOb9Cc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7zrHiqoJ6k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKAjnXG3m4A
Peter: 'Fighting with My Family'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqF3VTv0cqU
Charles: 'Mirai' & 'A Tuba to Cuba'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d-lsJZgmJs&t=
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmUenpdDbNc
MIXED FEELINGS
Amy: 'Happy Death Day 2U' & 'Birds of Passage'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeXqWDFJZiw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV0uWf72ZQw
Peter: 'Alita: Battle Angel' & 'The Image Book'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3D2vmWD88w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAXMVkV3idE
Guests:
Amy Nicholson, film critic for KPCC, film writer for The Guardian and host of the podcasts ‘The Canon’ and ‘Unspooled’; she tweets
Peter Rainer, film critic for KPCC and the Christian Science Monitor
Charles Solomon, film critic for KPCC, Animation Scoop and Animation Magazine
American remakes of foreign films: the good, the bad and the ugly
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But when it comes Hollywood remakes of foreign films, this isn't always the case.
Whether it’s jokes lost in translation, a complete shift in genre, or cultural nuances changed in the writing process Hollywood doesn't have the best track record with remakes. Movies such as Scarlett Johansson’s Ghost in the Shell, Josh Brolin’s Oldboy, 2004’s Taxi with Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah, Roland Emmerich’s Godzilla, and last but not least Nicolas Cage’s The Wicker Man, come to mind as some of the worst offenders.
However, despite these films, Hollywood does manage to have a good remake from time to time. One of the earliest Hollywood films to set itself apart from the original foreign film is 1960’s The Magnificent Seven starring Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen (which itself was remade in 2016 starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt).Other notable examples include Clint Eastwood’s A Fistful of Dollars, Robin Williams’ The Birdcage, the horror remake The Ring and Martin Scorsese’s The Departed
Which are your favorite or least favorite American remakes of foreign films? What do you think makes a good one versus a bad one? Do you think Hollywood should leave foreign films alone? Are there any foreign films you’d like to see given an American remake? Give us a call at 866-893-5722.
Guests:
Amy Nicholson, film critic for KPCC, film writer for The Guardian and host of the podcasts ‘The Canon’ and ‘Unspooled’; she tweets
Peter Rainer, film critic for KPCC and the Christian Science Monitor
Charles Solomon, film critic for KPCC, Animation Scoop and Animation Magazine