Airstrikes and rocket launches in Israel and the Gaza strip continued Wednesday. The Health Ministry in Gaza reports that the death toll is rising. Also, is your child spending this summer at film camp, cooking camp, soccer camp, art camp, or some mish-mash of them all? Then the White House criticized marijuana legalization, arguing that it is leading more U.S. teens to smoke.
Confrontations between Israel and Hamas escalate
Airstrikes and rocket launches in Israel and the Gaza strip continued Wednesday. The Health Ministry in Gaza reports that the death toll is rising, to at least 78 at last report, and that women and children are among those killed in the intensified aerial attacks in the region.
Hamas’ rockets are firing deeper into Israel and have been gunned down, and about 20,000 Israeli reservists have been called up amidst talks of potential ground operations.
Israeli-Palestinian relations have collapsed in the wake of the deaths of three kidnapped Israeli teens, a retaliation from Israel, and continued airstrikes. With each side making a show of military strength, goals to quiet things down in the region remain unfulfilled.
How might tensions between Israel and Hamas resolve or escalate? What is the U.S.’s role in aiding discussions in the region?
Guest:
Robert Danin, Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations
Clash between trucker and cyclist in OC underscores mutual, sustained resentment
An altercation between a motorist and a cyclist in Orange County could potentially land both parties in court. The incident happened on May 31 on Pacific Coast Highway in Dana Point and it was captured on video by cyclist Bryan Larsen, who alleges that the driver of a pickup truck was trying to run him off the road. The video shows Larsen and a woman that was riding shotgun in the truck trading insults, ending with the woman throwing a full bottle of Gatorade at Larsen.
Larsen uploaded the video to YouTube, which has garnered thousands of views. He also took his complaints to the OC Sheriff’s Department, which says that the woman passenger could be charged with assault and battery. But Larsen isn’t being left off the hook. OC investigators are also saying that Larsen could be charged for allegedly using “offensive words in public, likely to provoke a violent reaction.”
The Sheriff’s Department will submit the case to the District Attorney’s Office once it concludes its investigation. It’s up to the DA’s office to decide whether to press charges.
Guest:
Salvador Hernandez, OC Register reporter who has been following the story
Throwback summer: Are kids today overprogrammed?
Is your child spending this summer at film camp, cooking camp, soccer camp, art camp or some mish-mash of them all?
Overprogrammed kids are no new concept — youth in the U.S. are frequently bouncing between school and extracurricular activities with hardly a moment to themselves.
Summers — in the past a time for kids to be bored, or at the very least, unstructured, seem more and more to include less free play and boredom and more programmed activities. We asked for your photos and memories of summers past and present -- days spent working a lemonade stand or playing alone in your neighborhood, coming home only for meals.
How are kids today spending their summers? How do you remember your childhood summers? What’s the best way for families to take advantage of their time off?
Share your photos with us on Instagram and Twitter using the hashtag #tbtsummer. Here's what others have to say about their childhood summers:
New Mexico Summers circa 1990 meant: Tang Popsicles, manmade mud rivers in the backyard, and seeing how long you could hang upside down from the swing set without passing out. #tbt #tbtsummer #monkeybars #childhood
Tbt 1960 - I seem to make faces in just about every picture I've found - still do! #sistertwins #indianasummer #inflatables #tbtsummer
Guest:
Darby Saxbe, assistant professor of psychology at USC, where she is focused on understanding health and well-being in the context of family and peer relationships
White House warns legalization may be increasing teen pot use
On Wednesday, following the beginning of legal retail marijuana sales in Washington state, the White House criticized marijuana legalization, arguing that it is leading more U.S. teens to smoke. In its report to Congress, the Obama administration pushed to allocate $25 billion in the next year to broader drug fighting programs.
Legal recreational marijuana has critics concerned that more teens may become heavy marijuana users due to a changed perception of risk. Others argue that reports of increased usage are overblown, and that regulared legal marijuana is sound policy.
Might legalized marijuana entice more young Americans into become regular or heavy users of the drug? Is there a balance to strike when it comes to recreational marijuana legalization? How will teenagers be affected?
Guests:
Mason Tvert, Director of Communications, Marijuana Policy Project, a marijuana policy reform group advocating non-punitive marijuana laws
Kevin Sabet, Ph.D, co-founder and director of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, an anti-marijuana legalization group with a health-first approach
Without action from Congress, highways and infrastructure to run out of money by August
The Highway Trust Fund -- the monies that go to fixing interstate highways, bridges and other critical infrastructure, is set to run out of money by the end of the month unless Congress can get its act together. That, among other feats of compromise, hasn’t been Congress’s strong suit lately, but today, the House Ways and Means Committee will begin to hash out a preliminary, bipartisan plan to grow the fund.
In the past, the fund was financed by a gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon, but that tax hasn’t increased since 1993, and the evolution of hybrids and more fuel-efficient cars has helped to further deplete the money going to it.
We’ll talk through some of the proposals on the table to pad the fund, but with taxes often proving a hard sell in D.C., is there a better way to raise money for some of the means of transportation on which so many of us still depend?
Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014 Camp Levin
Guests:
Marcia Hale, president of Building America’s Future, a Washington-based group that lobbies for infrastructure project funding
Norma Ortega, Chief Financial Officer for CalTrans
5 signs that you're a workplace narcissist
Ever wonder why the not-so-smart gal makes the sale? Or why the inexperienced guy has the killer pitch? The dark triad of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy are qualities known to usually have negative outcomes in life. But a recently published research paper challenges the notion.
The researchers set out to explore whether these generally agreed-upon dark personality traits could have a bright side at work. The answer is yes — and definitely in the short term.
A more manipulative person can leverage their skill to get “intelligence” — yet they might use it as gossip and spread ill-will. A narcissist can be great at making the sale, but terrible at maintaining the relationship. The anti-social personality likes to take risks. This can be terrific in a start-up environment. But while great risk can bring-on great success, it can also invite great failure.
Have you ever interacted with one of the described personality types? Did they see success in the workplace? Did you learn anything from them? Do you embody one of the characteristics? Is it working for you?
How to tell if you — or your colleagues — are a workplace narcissist
Two-Faced
"These are people who are nice to you but rude to the waiter. So if you think about it, at work these are people who are very deferential and respectful towards their bosses and other higher ups, but are very domineering and sometimes outright mean towards people who are below them — but often also peers. So they're deferential up, but awful across. If you can see the differences in their behaviors, you're probably dealing with someone who has this kind of strategy."
Using Gossip Strategically
"If you just sort of pay attention to the way people use gossip and if you notice that they consistently seem to be using it to drive wedges between people, they're probably a Machiavellian. If it's a particular person they might just have a grudge, but if they do it regularly this is probably something more deep-seated and you may be working with a narcissist or a Machiavellian."
Extreme Confidence
"Sometimes these can be somewhat self-deceptive, so narcissists may just think that they're extremely confident."
Awful Reputation? Who Cares!?
"Machiavellians are usually pretty aware of their own personality and, in fact, they're happy about it. They like that other people see them as awful and they really enjoy that."
Indifference
"The thing to notice is, if they get caught doing something bad, how do they respond. A psychopath, they don't feel guilt and shame or even anxiety that most people do. So if they get caught they'll admit to it, but they won't learn anything from it."
Guest:
Seth M. Spain, lead author of the 2014 research review, “The Dark Side of Personality at Work”, and an assistant professor of organizational behavior at Binghamton University, part of the State University of New York.