AirTalk recaps the major headlines you might’ve missed over the weekend and looks ahead to the week to come in political news at the national, state and local level. We also discuss email answering etiquette; examine a recent trend of gig workers organizing; and more.
Week in politics: Analysis of legal challenges to Trump’s national emergency, what Bernie Sanders 2020 run means for an already crowded Dem field and more
AirTalk recaps the major headlines you might’ve missed over the weekend and looks ahead to the week to come in political news at the national, state and local level. Here’s what we’re following this week:
Bernie running in 2020 -- will Biden run too? Also, Former MA Gov Bill Weld to challenge Trump for 2020 Republican presidential nomination
Trump signs deal to avoid shutdown on Friday, declares national emergency at border, Democrats respond and lawsuits follow from CA & other states
Newsom blames media, not his own words, for confusion over high-speed rail’s future
Amazon cancels NYC HQ
SCOTUS to hear census citizenship question
Trade talks happening next week between China and U.S.
Guests:
Caroline Heldman, associate professor of politics at Occidental College and author of ‘Protest Politics in the Marketplace: Consumer Activism in the Corporate Age’ (Cornell University Press, 2017); she tweets
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
How and why the term 'socialism' has resurfaced in mainstream political rhetoric
The Green New Deal. Medicare for all.
These are just a couple of examples of how, with their young, new majority in the House of Representatives, Democrats continue to work to form a unified identify within their party as the nation inches closer to the 2020 presidential election. And while some view these ideas as politically groundbreaking and a refreshing departure from politics as usual, President Trump and other Republicans have been quick to cast these ideas as socialism in advance of 2020, as they hope to sway voters away from the opposition party.
The president alluded to this idea during his State of the Union address earlier in February and other Republicans in Congress have since taken up the mantle. Democrats say this is just the latest move by Republicans to paint the new Democratic majority, many of whom are women and people of color, as “radical” and dangerous. And even within their own party, Democrats are divided on what should be considered socialism vs. more mainstream, traditional progressivism.
How will Democrats handle the calls of socialism, whether it be from Republicans or people within their own party? Should Democratic voters be worried if the party is unable to unify itself behind a way to respond to calls of socialism? Can policy ideas that are viewed by some as socialist ever truly gain traction within the Democratic Party?
Guests:
Caroline Heldman, associate professor of politics at Occidental College and author of ‘Protest Politics in the Marketplace: Consumer Activism in the Corporate Age’ (Cornell University Press, 2017); she tweets
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
San Bernardino apple farm sues school district for pulling student tours for owner’s racially charged tweets
For years, Riley Farms in San Bernardino county hosted school tours featuring a colonial era, reenactment-style apple orchard.
That was until tweets from owner James Riley surfaced sparking a public backlash. Riley’s tweets, often of a conservative political nature took a racial tone when he disputed the existence of white supremacy in America saying, “... If there’s a problem in America today it’s BLACK supremacy. Farrakhan, Obama, Lebron James, etc. Typical brain dead feminist.”
Parents and school officials spoke out against the owner’s statements expressing concern for treatment of students of color who attend school tours. The Claremont Unified School district notified Riley Farms they would be discontinuing trips. Riley countered with a lawsuit alleging a violation of his first amendment right to free speech and 14th amendment right to equal treatment.
Guests:
Gustavo Arellano, features writer for the Los Angeles Times who wrote about the Riley Farms controversy; tweets at
Thomas J. Eastmond, attorney representing James Riley, owner of Riley farms
Barry McDonald, professor of law at Pepperdine University, his focus includes constitutional law and First Amendment law
Worker solidarity: can it change the way gig economy apps do business?
If you’re a gig worker, you might feel like you have no boss to complain to, only a faceless algorithm-powered app which doles out tasks.
But in her recent piece “Revolt of the gig workers: How delivery rage reached a tipping point,” Carolyn Said charts out a recent trend of gig workers organizing and leveraging bad publicity to change conditions within a company.
For example, the delivery company Instacart, which had been using tips to round out the paychecks of its workers. After a recent spate of online petitions and social media organization, the gig workers of Instacart got a win: Instacart will now add tips on top of base pay.
As more and more people take up Lyft, Postmates and other gig work to make ends meet, how will working conditions change? Can workers and consumers change the way these companies operate? If you do gig work, what’s been your personal experience?
Guest:
Carolyn Said, San Francisco Chronicle reporter covering business, tech and the on-demand economy, where her recent piece is “Revolt of the gig workers: How delivery rage reached a tipping point;” she tweets
You’ve got email: what’s your take on email answering etiquette?
Whether you’re a devout practitioner of “inbox-zero” or a functional email hoarder, you probably have some sort of professional philosophy on email. But is there an optimal approach?
In his recent Op-Ed “No, You Can’t Ignore Email. It’s Rude,” organizational psychologist Adam Grant argues that ignoring email is essentially “digital snubbery,” an act of “incivility,” inexcusable, regardless of the volume of letters sitting in your digital mailbox.
He’s not a complete zealot though. Exceptions can be made for strangers asking you to promote content on Facebook or requests to network with higher-powered co-workers.
On the flip side, there are plenty of folks in the professional world who think ignoring irrelevant email is the most productive use of their time. (Your friendly neighborhood producer writing this blurb has thousands of unread messages, but it’s okay, I read the subject line.)
How do you approach your email? Does it depend on your profession or status within a company? Whether you’re a hyper conscientious email answerer or the Marie Kondo of your inbox, we want to hear from you.
Call us at 866-893-5722.
Guest:
Adam Grant, organizational psychologist at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and author of the recent New York Times Op-Ed “No, You Can’t Ignore Email. It’s Rude.;” he is also the author of “Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World” (Viking, 2016) and host of the TED podcast WorkLife; he tweets