Trump joined world leaders at the G20 summit in Hamburg this past week - AirTalk dives into analysis of the events in our weekly politics round-up. We also take a look at a California bill that would mandate a minimum age for child marriage; news outlets pushing Congress for exemption to antitrust laws; the revival of vinyl; and more.
Week in Politics: Trump Jr.’s Russian meeting, G20 postmortem and more
President Trump is back from the G20 economic summit, and a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It was a chance for Trump to further establish the US going its own way, unbeholden to international interests. While many political observers criticize the President’s policies as leading to a more isolated US on the global stage, the White House is touting the summit as showing Trump as an effective international leader. Trump himself tweeted out this montage over the weekend to celebrate his performance at the gathering:
MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/NVDVRrWLs4
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2017
Larry and guests Matt Rodriguez and Pete Peterson discuss the President’s showing at the G20, as well as the latest political news.
Guests:
Pete Peterson, dean of the School of Public Policy and senior fellow at The Davenport Institute at Pepperdine University; he tweets
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist and founder and chief executive officer of Rodriguez Strategies; former senior Obama advisor in 2008; he tweets
The trouble with legislating juvenile marriage in California
There is currently no age limit for marriages in California.
Right now the requirements for minors who want to tie the knot are parental consent and a court order. State senator Jerry Hill proposed a bill that would bar marriage for anyone under 18. SB273 is still moving through legislative committees, but a number of amendments have removed the age limit completely – in it’s current form, the bill adds more oversight from family courts before marriage to a juvenile can be approved.
Proponents of a minimum age limit in the California say it will help protect children from coerced marriages. Opponents to a marriage age limit, including Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union, argue that marriage is a fundamental right and that the current safeguards are strong enough.
Should there be a minimum age requirement to get married in California? Are there situations in which minors should be allowed to get married? Or are there legal loopholes that allow for coercive marriages?
Guests:
Sarah Bradshaw, West Coast political director for the Feminist Majority, a non-profit which aims to advance non-violence and women’s equality
Anjali Tsui, Abrams journalism fellow at Frontline PBS; her recent article is “In Fight Over Child Marriage Laws, States Resist Calls for a Total Ban” and she tweets
Potential impact to media landscape if news outlets get bargaining rights with tech giants
In an effort to try and level the playing field against companies like Facebook and Google with massive online presence and influence, an organization of newspapers and digital media outlets called the News Media Alliance, which includes the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times’ parent company, Tronc, are banding together to request that Congress make an exemption to antitrust laws so that they can collectively negotiate advertising revenue with these large online platforms.
For the news organizations pushing for the exemption, it’s an issue of preserving good journalism as much as it is about fighting for eyeballs online. The stories and articles you see on the major online platforms require time, effort and money to produce, and yet their royalties are still peanuts compared to the more than 70 percent of the $73 billion digital advertising industry that just Google and Facebook alone control. But antitrust exemptions aren’t favored at the federal level, and it’s a long shot anyway in a Republican-controlled Congress that has struggled recently to complete any legislation at all.
What are the chances that Congress considers this exemption? What happens if this group of media outlets does get the right to bargain collectively? How could this change the digital media landscape as we see it today?
Guests:
Rick Edmonds, media business analyst and leader of news transformation at Poynter
Chris Sagers, professor of law at Cleveland State University
Should the registration of a military draft be mandatory for women?
The issue of women joining the military draft is being brought to the fore in a recent congressional argument.
As reported by the Sacramento Bee, the effort would make it mandatory for women to sign up for the draft when they turn 18. But some Republicans are fighting against this idea, warning that mothers would be taken away from their children in the time of a draft. Those in favor of women joining the registration say this would make things more equal, and there shouldn’t be any question of a women registering if men are required to.
But there are a lot of nuanced views on the possibility of women joining a draft, and the ongoing argument about whether a draft should be on the table at all. What do you think about women joining a mandatory draft registration?
Guests:
Nora Bensahel, Ph.D., military analyst at American University where her focus includes U.S. defense policy, military operations and force structure
Julie Mastrine, started a petition in 2016 against the mandatory military draft of women; she is also manager of brand public relations and marketing at Care2, an online petition site
Vinyl Revival: The enduring romance of LP records
These days, you can buy a turntable at Bed Bath and Beyond, an Ariana Grande LP at Urban Outfitters and even retro-looking record players equipped with bluetooth connections - impressive for a medium that was practically abandoned three decades ago.
In fact, the hype has gotten so big that Sony Music is getting back into the game, opening a vinyl press in Japan for the first time since they shut down LP production in 1989. Records aren’t just a collector’s hobby anymore.
So what gives? In a world where music is so easily shared and downloaded, why dust off and refresh this relic of music listening? And how do longtime, diehard vinyl fans feel about this uptick in popularity?
Guest:
Patrick McCarthy, project manager and reissue producer for Light In The Attic, an LA-based record label