President Obama passionately responded to Donald Trump's criticism that the President is half-hearted in fighting terrorism; we hear from the SoCal lawmaker who's trying to broaden the definition of rape after the Stanford incident; Oregon ruling in favor of 'non-binary' gender identity raises new questions; and author Mary Roach talks about her new book 'Grunt,' on the science of humans at war
President Obama goes after Trump over response to Orlando shootings
President Obama didn't need his anger translator "Luther" this morning.
The comedic character played by Keegan-Michael Key will have to wait for another day. Just over an hour ago, President Obama passionately responded to Donald Trump's criticism that the President is half-hearted in fighting terrorism.
After laying out military gains against ISIS, the President defended his refusal to use the term "radical Islam." He said it gives Islamic terrorists the us versus them narrative they want. He also said Trump's proposed Muslim immigration ban isn't the America we want. Obama never used Trump's name, but he left no doubt who he was criticizing.
Though there's always strategy in politics, it also seemed the President was genuinely offended by Trump's questioning of Obama's resolve to fight terrorism.
Guests:
Eli Stokols, national political reporter for POLITICO
William Wan, national reporter for the Washington Post who’s in Orlando on top of the story since Sunday
How ISIS uses lone wolf attackers like Omar Mateen to further its cause
Pulse club gunman Omar Mateen had pledged allegiance to ISIS in a 911 call during his deadly rampage, and investigators are looking into possible connections between the 29-year-old and the terrorist group.
But whether such ties existed might be beside the point. In the last couple years, ISIS has been calling for supporters and sympathizers to launch attacks in the name of the group, as part of its larger propaganda strategy. The case was similar with the couple in San Bernardino, who declared their loyalty to ISIS on Facebook before killing 14 people at the Inland Regional Center.
What ISIS gets are foot soldiers in other parts of the world to carry out their hate-filled mission. But what does someone like Omar Mateen get from aligning himself with ISIS?
Guests:
Charlie Winter, Senior Research Associate at Georgia State University’s Transcultural Conflict and Violence Initiative. He studies the Islamic State’s outreach strategy, and specializes in the analysis of Arabic-language documents circulated online by jihadists.
Clint Van Zandt, Founder and President of Van Zandt Associates Inc. He is a former FBI profiler and had worked at the renowned Behavioral Science Unit at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia
California lawmaker explains her efforts to legally change definition of rape after Stanford
In response to the Stanford University case that has drawn national attention, three California lawmakers are pushing for an expanded definition of rape under state law. California law now describes rape as "an act of sexual intercourse."
Under this definition, ex-Stanford swimmer Brock Turner was instead convicted of sexual assault. Many states have adopted the more inclusive FBI definition, which labels rape as penetration with any body part or object.
Democratic Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia of Bell Gardens calls this gap a "loophole" in the criminal code. She introduced legislation Monday to change the definition.
Guest:
Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, California Democratic Assemblymember for District 58, including Artesia, Bell Gardens, Norwalk and Montebello; She’s introduced AB701, which seeks to broaden the definition of rape
William Weinberg, criminal defense lawyer based in Irvine, California
Analyzing planned NATO battalion deployments to Poland, Baltic states
At a high-level NATO meeting in Brussels today, alliance defense ministers and military planners are working to deploy four battalions to Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland to boost their defenses against Russia.
Jens Stoltenberg, secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), told a news conference those Baltic states and Poland feel most threatened by Russia, ever since Russian aggression against Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
U.S. NATO Ambassador Douglas Lute said numerous details, including the exact number of troops involved as well as the national composition of the battalions and who will be in command, remained to be decided and will be announced at the July NATO summit in Warsaw. "By Warsaw, three weeks from now, we'll have answers to who's contributing where," Lute told a news conference in Brussels.
With some 800-1,000 troops in each unit, NATO officials estimate some 4,000 troops will be deployed in total.
Meanwhile in Russia today, President Vladimir Putin has ordered snap drills to check the Russian military's readiness to quickly mobilize its forces. Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the maneuvers that began Tuesday will last for a week.
The maneuvers are the latest in a steady series of drills intended to strengthen the military's readiness amid tensions with the West over Ukraine.
Finally, a story developing today from the Democratic National Committee is word that Russian government hackers infiltrated DNC files including opposition research on presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. What would Russian officials do with the information gathered?
With files from the Associated Press.
Guests:
Gregory Feifer, Author of “Russians and The Great Gamble,” former NPR Moscow correspondent
Derek Chollet, Senior Advisor at The German Marshall Fund of the United States (a nonpartisan think tank in D.C. focused on transatlantic cooperation); from 2012-2015, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs; Author "The Long Game: How Obama Defied Washington and Redefined America’s Role in the World (PublicAffairs, June 2016)
Nina Tumarkin, Professor of History and Director of Russian Area Studies, Wellesley College; author of “The Living and the Dead: The Rise and Fall of the Cult of World War II in Russia”
Oregon judge’s ruling quietly raises new questions in gender identity debate
In what appears to be a first-of-its-kind ruling, an Oregon judge has sided with a petitioner who wanted to be able to choose neither gender as a sex and be ‘non-binary.’
It didn’t get much attention when it came down, but the judge’s decision could have an impact on the national conversation on civil rights and gender identity.
Ex-Army sergeant Jamie Shupe, who was born with male anatomy and underwent hormone treatments to transition to a woman, says it turned out that neither gender really fit. Jamie, who uses the pronouns ‘they’ and ‘their’ says they wanted to challenge that. She went to court with two notes from doctors both attesting that Jamie was neither male nor female.
Legal experts have said that as far as they know, this is the first ruling of its kind and could potentially have a bigger ripple effect on the larger debate about gender identity.
What do you think of ‘non-binary’ as a way of defining one’s gender (or lack thereof)? What are the legal implications of a decision like this? How will this affect the larger national conversation on gender identity and civil rights?
Guests:
Hayley Gorenberg, deputy legal director at Lambda Legal
Matthew McReynolds, senior staff attorney at Pacific Justice Institute in Sacramento, which works to defend religious liberties and parental rights
Author Mary Roach on the science behind risks on the battlefield
IEDs, mechanical failure, ambushes: These are all things that members of the armed forces have to worry about on the battlefield.
There are also other dangers, like panic, heat, hearing loss — and even less obvious hazards, like zippers, and shrimp.
One science writer has taken it upon herself to run the gamut of risks that soldiers face, both big and small, and how these challenges are overcome through science. “Grunt” is the latest from Mary Roach. She’ll join host Larry Mantle to talk about what she’s learned.
Vroman’s is hosting an event with Mary Roach at All Saints Church in Pasadena on Friday, June 17. For more information, click here.
Guest:
Mary Roach, author of the new book, “Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War” (W. W. Norton & Company, 2016)