Greece resoundingly rejected continued economic austerity in Sunday’s referendum.. Also, with the Confederate Flag falling from favor across the country, a question has come to the fore: where is the line when it comes to glorifying or castigating historical figures? Then, the West's perception of women's lives in Iran is incomplete at best.
Should it stay or should it go? Greece ponders future with the EU
Greece resoundingly rejected continued economic austerity in Sunday’s referendum. Over 61 percent of Greeks voted “no.”
The referendum asked the people of Greece to decide on whether the tough economic belt-tightening the country has been subjected to as a bailout condition should go on. Analysts are warning that the “no” vote could bring about Greece’s exit from the Eurozone.
Should Greece drop the Euro? What are the pros and cons.
Guests:
Desmond Lachman, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, the DC-based public policy research think tank. He was formerly a deputy director in the International Monetary Fund’s policy development.
Scheherazade Rehman, professor of International Finance and director of European Union Research Center at The George Washington University
Slave-owners, patronizers, and eugenicists: Where do we draw the line when it comes to glorifying historical figures?
With the Confederate Flag falling from favor across the country, a question has come to the fore: where is the line when it comes to glorifying or castigating historical figures?
For Southerners, this could mean reevaluating their relationship with heroes such as Confederate General Robert E. Lee (who even has schools named after him in Long Beach and San Diego). For Westerners, Father Junipero Serra has come under scrutiny as revisionist history calls into question his treatment of indigenous Americans. For Northerners, icons like Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. are now viewed with disdain for having supported eugenics.
Of course, all Americans have come to understand that the men commonly referred to as the Founding Fathers were deeply flawed by modern standards. Most of them owned slaves, a practice that is seen as morally reprehensible today. In addition, presidents such as Thomas Jefferson supported policies that displaced indigenous Americans from their ancestral lands.
How should the lives and accomplishments of historical figures be put into the context of their times? Is there a firm line between those we celebrate and others we denigrate? If so, where is it? If not, what standards should we embrace in delineating our heroes from our villains, and how will those standards change with time?
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Is there a vaping culture, and how are American kids interacting with it?
The future of smoking is here, and it comes in a variety of different flavors. ‘Vaping,’ as it’s often called, is the new way to smoke without the smell or taste of a regular cigarette.
It’s so pervasive in our culture that the Oxford English Dictionary named ‘vape’ its Word of the Year for 2014. But it’s also a big concern for parents and anti-smoking advocates, who say kids are jumping on board because e-cigarettes come in fruity, sweet flavors and colorful packaging.
The CDC says e-cigarette use among middle and high school students is up since 2011 and that regular cigarette smoking in the same groups is down. However, what stats show and what the conversations kids have at their lockers or in schoolyards are often drastically different
Is vaping really all the rage these days? How much do kids really know about vaping and e-cigarettes? What are they hearing from friends? From teachers? Parents, how do you talk to your kids about vaping? Is it part of the conversation about smoking or is it its own entity?
Guest:
Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, Ph.D., research professor of pediatrics (focusing on adolescent medicine) at Stanford University’s School of Medicine. Her research has focused on cognitive and psychosocial factors involved in adolescents’ and young adults’ health-related decision-making.
LA wrestles with future of digital billboards
Where should outdoor signs should be allowed and at what cost?
That’s the question that’s once again facing the Los Angeles City Council as it grapples with the future of digital billboards. The next vote won’t come until after summer, but a preliminary city panel last week was indication that more billboards may be on their way.
Proponents say they’re job creators but opponents say they’re a distracting eyesore.
Read the full story here.
Guests:
Stuart Waldman, president of VICA, the Valley Industry and Commerce Association
Dennis Hathaway, President, Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight
How the media fuel flames of speculation by drawing conclusions from news patterns
In the weeks following the shooting in Charleston, South Carolina that left nine members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church dead, there has been a spate of fires at black churches in states across the South.
Most recently, the Mount Zion AME Church in Greeleyville, SC burnt to the ground for the second time in its history. A fire in 1995 started by the Ku Klux Klan destroyed the church once already.
While no evidence exists to link the string of fires to arson or hate crimes, it hasn’t stopped the wave of speculation from news media that a connection exists between the churches burning down and the racial tension ignited by the shooting in Charleston.
What are some other patterns that the news media treat similarly? Is it fair to speculate on things like this or do you think it just fuels the rumor mill?
Guests:
Hub Brown, professor of broadcast and digital journalism and an associate dean at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse University.
Kenny Irby, senior faculty member for visual journalism and diversity at the Poynter Institute.
LA-based author on the untold story of women in Iran
The West's perception of women's lives in Iran is incomplete at best.
Narratives of oppression and discrimination dominate media coverage of the subject we see in the US, but that's certainly not the whole picture.
In "Jewels of Allah," Iranian writer Nina Ansary documents the birth of a feminist movement in the country following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, introducing readers to a number of female leaders and advocates throughout Iran's history.
Nina Ansary will be appearing with Iranian singer Sussan Deyhim and author Cyrus Copeland at the Last Bookstore in downtown L.A. this Friday, July 10th at 7pm for the event, "The Untold Story of Iran."
Guest:
Nina Ansary, author of "Jewels of Allah: The Untold Story of Women in Iran" (Revela Press, 2015). She currently serves on the Middle East Institute Advisory Board at Columbia University, as well as the Board of Trustees of the Iranian American Women's Foundation