A top commander of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is claiming Ayman al-Zawahiri, the current leader of Al-Qaida, ordered last week's massacre at the "Charlie Hebdo" office in Paris. Also, as oil prices head down past $50 per barrel, OPEC announced that it would not decrease its output levels, creating speculation about how low the price could go. Then, AirTalk’s question for all transplants in Los Angeles: When did you realize you were an Angeleno?
Examining Yemen's challenges as Yemeni Al-Qaida leader trumpets Paris Attack
A top commander of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is claiming Ayman al-Zawahiri, the current leader of Al-Qaida, ordered last week's massacre at the "Charlie Hebdo" office in Paris. U.S. intelligence officials say they have no evidence to back up the claims that Nasr Al-Ansi made in a video posted online. However, Yemeni officials have said both Cherif Kouachi and Said Kouachi, the two brothers who allegedly carried out the Paris attack, were trained in camps run by AQAP.
The very same day as last week's attack, a suicide bomber in Yemen's capital of Sanaa killed 37 police recruits. It underscored the country's instability and tensions.
U.S. strategy for Yemen has focused on counterterrorism measures, primarily drone strikes and targeted killings. Analysis by the former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Barbara Bodine (co-authored by AirTalk guest Danya Greenfield) argues: "Any US strategy to counter jihadists needs to address the pervasive lack of economic opportunity, structural unemployment, cronyism, and the inequitable distribution of state resources [in Yemen]." Following the so-called Arab Spring, Washington aided the transition from discredited President Ali Abdullah Saleh to a working agreement for a power-sharing government led by President Abdrabo Mansour Hadi.
Current power struggles are not just domestic. Saudi Arabia and Iran each have their conflicting interests in Yemen. Will there by convincing proof that Al-Qaida coordinated the attack in Paris? What is the future of U.S. strategy in Yemen?
Guest:
Danya Greenfield, Deputy director of the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at the Atlantic Council, where she leads the Yemen Policy Initiative.
Proposed bill would extend California’s sales tax, boost yearly revenue by $10 billion
A State Senator from Los Angeles has introduced a bill to reform California’s sales tax structure and extend the state tax to include certain services, which could possibly include legal work, Internet usage, advertising, and even dry cleaning. While most people shudder at the idea of new taxes, Democrat Bob Hertzberg from Van Nuys says his bill would not only overhaul California’s tax structure, but also boost the state’s revenue by $10 billion a year.
Hertzberg is no stranger to the Capitol, having served in the Assembly from 1996 to 2002 and was speaker for the final two years of that span. While the bill is getting a surprisingly bipartisan reception from lawmakers who are open to the conversation, the bill’s path to becoming law is anything but clear. Any tax increase requires a bipartisan vote from two-thirds of the members of the Senate and the Assembly.
Opponents say the bill would create challenges for the industries that are covered by the new sales tax. They worry that businesses could suffer and work could even be pushed off shore as a result.
What do you think of this proposal? Are you open to extending the sales tax to certain services if it meant a huge boost in annual revenue? What are the challenges that should be considered when discussing tax reform like this?
Guests:
Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys), California State Senator serving the state’s 18th district, which covers the East San Fernando Valley.
Michael Belote, President of California Advocates, Inc., a lobbying firm in Sacramento representing clients in different areas of commerce, including many that would be covered by a sales tax on services.
The importance of spacing out: What happens to the brain when we’re never bored
Let’s face it: we love our smartphones. Maybe the only thing we love more than the smartphone itself is checking it when we get bored. In waiting rooms, on public transportation, even while we’re waiting in traffic, the minute we realize we’re not occupied, we start digging in our pockets and purses for our phone. A recent study done by a research group called Flurry found that Americans spend almost three hours a day on mobile devices. But does something get lost in translations when we don’t let our minds wander?
Boredom has been described as our brain’s “default mode.” When bored, the mind starts to wander, looking for stimulation. This is what causes us to daydream or zone out. But research suggests that this time spent being bored is actually valuable, because it allows our minds to make certain connections within our subconscious that we wouldn’t make if our brain was otherwise stimulated, say from browsing Twitter. Experiments have even shown that the brain comes up with its most creative ideas as a result of being bored.
Is there value in boredom? Have we lost track of what it means to be bored since the advent of smartphones? How are boredom and creativity related to one another, and can boredom beget creativity?
Guests:
Sandi Mann, Ph.D., Psychologist and boredom expert at the University of Central Lancashire in the U.K.
Robert Bilder, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He’s also a clinical neuropsychologist at UCLA’s Stewart & Lynda Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital.
OPEC’s decision, and what falling oil prices mean for the future
The price of oil has fallen by more than 50% in the last six months, an unexpected development that has rattled markets, industries, and geopolitics. And the prices head down past $50 per barrel, OPEC announced that it would not decrease its output levels, creating speculation about how low the price could go.
OPEC, formally known as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, consists of 12 member countries that collectively agree on their petroleum policies, and one of the most important policies is determining output. By maintaining the current level of output while global levels are increasing due to the rapid growth in shale oil, offshore drilling, and new exploration for oil using popular techniques such as fracking, OPEC is betting on maintaining market share in order to put their oil-producing competitors financially underwater.
As OPEC has decided to stay the course until at least the middle of the year, winners and losers are emerging. Countries such as Iran, Venezuela, and Russia that heavily depend on revenues derived from the petroleum industry are struggling; Iran and Venezuela, members of OPEC, have criticized the decision and are experiencing fiscal difficulties, while Russia, an independent oil-producing country, has seen the value of the rouble plummet.
Meanwhile, consumers in the U.S. and around the industrialized world cheer as gas prices and energy costs have decreased. But the drop in oil prices could spell trouble for alternative energies such as wind, solar, and natural gas, whose viability heavily depends on high prices to shift consumer and producer preferences.
How do falling oil prices affect you?
Guest:
Steve LeVine, Washington Correspondent for Quartz, where he writes about the geopolitics of energy and technology. He is also an adjunct professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University and author of the forthcoming book, "The Powerhouse: Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World,"to be published Feb. 5 by Viking.
The challenges to President Obama’s plan to speed up US broadband
President Obama is in Cedar Falls, Iowa on Wednesday to unveil a proposal to make broadband internet in the US faster and cheaper. The plan includes lifting laws in 19 states that forbid cities and towns from building their own broadband networks and a grants and loans program for carriers to bring broadband to rural areas. The President will announce the executive action in his State of the Union address next week.
The White House released a YouTube video on Tuesday previewing the President’s speech in Cedar Falls.
The broadband network in the Iowa city of 40,000 residents is being held up as an example of a successful municipal broadband system. It’s one of the fastest networks in the world and the fastest in the country.
But can the Cedar Falls system be replicated in other cities? What are the challenges?
Guests:
Craig Settles, broadband industry analyst and consultant who works with communities who work on broadband planning based in Northern California
Michael Santorelli, co-director, Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute at New York Law School, who co-authored a research study on the Cedar Falls system
What makes someone an Angeleno?
Los Angeles is a melting pot, a place where people from all over the country and the world come to pursue their dreams. So AirTalk’s question for all transplants in Los Angeles: When did you realize you were an Angeleno? When did Los Angeles become your home? For our born-and-raised L.A. brethen, what do you think makes someone an Angeleno?
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Guest:
Patt Morrison, KPCC contributor and LA Times columnist