AirTalk's weekly political roundtable covers the headlines you might have missed over the weekend and previews what to watch for this week in national politics. We also look into LA County's plan to create a transportation boarding school; examine the role of AI in the world of sports; and more.
Week in politics: Trump’s ‘zero tolerance’ border policy sparks outrage, House might see immigration votes this week and more
AirTalk's weekly political roundtable covers the headlines you might have missed over the weekend and previews what to watch for this week in national politics.
Topics include:
Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy renews protests after the Department of Homeland Security said that some 2,000 children have been separated from their families at the US border
House Speaker Paul Ryan wants to call a vote on two immigration bills this week
IG report on FBI’s handling of Clinton email probe
The ongoing Russian probe: fromer Trump operative Roger Stone said he met with a Russian national in 2016
Paul Manafort goes to jail, awaits trial, as Giuliani suggests that a pardon could be in the future
The Trump administration slaps tariffs on $50 billion in imports from China
The Trump/Kim meeting in Singapore
South Carolina Republican Mark Sanford says he lost the primary race to challenger Katie Arrington because he wasn’t ‘Trump enough’
Ivanka Trump in town for two GOP fundraisers this week
With guest host Libby Denkmann.
Guests:
Matt Barreto, professor of political science and Chicano/a Studies at UCLA and co-founder of the research and polling firm Latino Decisions; he tweets
Pete Peterson, dean of the School of Public Policy and senior fellow at The Davenport Institute at Pepperdine University; he tweets
A look at LA County’s plans to create a transportation boarding school
Los Angeles County is looking at a plan to create a boarding school at a Vermont and Manchester avenues in South L.A.
As reported by the Los Angeles Times, the project wouldn’t mimic the preppy aesthetic we’re used to associating with boarding schools. Rather, it would be a combination of technical and vocational curriculums, free to the public. The county’s intention is to help fill jobs in a slew of massive transportation projects put forth in upcoming years. And the site of the school is a vacant lot where a swap meet was burned to the ground during the 1992 L.A. riots, which was acquired by the county in April.
The school could open as soon as 2020, and about 400 students from 9th to 12th grade would be able to attend. Yearly costs for the project would be about $10 million dollars, coming from the state, grants and donations. So how will this ambitious plan work? And what impact will it have on the surrounding community?
With guest host Libby Denkmann.
Guest:
Joanne Peterson, head of human resources at the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (L.A. Metro)
The harder they fall: How a heralded, medical industry billionaire was revealed a fraud
Federal prosecutors indicted Elizabeth Holmes on criminal fraud charges for allegedly defrauding investors, doctors and the public as the head of the once-heralded blood-testing startup Theranos.
Federal prosecutors also brought charges against the company's former second-in-command.
Holmes, who was once considered a wunderkind of Silicon Valley, and her former Chief Operating Officer Ramesh Balwani, are charged with two counts conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of wire fraud each, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California said late Friday. If convicted, they could face prison sentences that would keep them behind bars for the rest of their lives, and total fines of $2.75 million each.
Prosecutors allege that Holmes and Balwani deliberately misled investors, policymakers and the public about the accuracy of Theranos' blood-testing technologies going back to at least 2013. Holmes, 34, founded Theranos in Palo Alto, California, in 2003, pitching its technology as a cheaper way to run dozens of blood tests.
Holmes said Theranos had discovered a new way of doing blood testing, one able to do dozens of tests with just a prick of a finger and few droplets of blood. A notoriously secretive company, Theranos shared very little about its blood-testing machine, nicknamed Edison, with the public or medical community. Holmes said she was inspired to start the company in response to her fear of needles.
Guest host Libby Denkmann speaks with John Carreyrou, an investigative reporter for the Wall Street Journal who first reported on Theranos’ deceptions. His book, “Bad Blood” (Knopf, 2018) focuses specifically on the scandal.
With files from the Associated Press.
With guest host Libby Denkmann.
Guest:
John Carreyrou, author of the new book, “Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup” (Knopf, 2018); investigative reporter for the Wall Street Journal
How AI is being used to help identify the next sports star
Artificial intelligence is taking a significant role in the world of sports.
AI is using algorithms to analyze player performance statistics and identify talent for coaches and scouts. The argument is algorithms comb through data faster than humans. Now professional baseball, basketball and hockey are among the sports using AI in addition to coaching and scouting.
Teams are starting to use AI to analyze throwing speed and spin, how players move around the field, how effective they are, among other set of data. Proponents of this say this is a game changer.
So how does it work? We explain.
With guest host Libby Denkmann
Guest:
Tom Taylor, editor at SportTechie; an online publication that focuses on the impact of technology on sports; former reporter for Sports Illustrated who covered science and technology, and has written about the use of artificial intelligence in evaluating players
Smile, Russia! Foreigners are coming
In the U.S., smiles are everywhere, accompanying your coffee order, your pizza delivery, even an “excuse me” from a stranger pushing past you on a train. Smiles are considered pleasant, polite and expected.
But that’s not true of all countries. In Russia, smiling is so much not the norm, that some service industry employees are taking courses in how to smile at tourists flooding Russia for the World Cup.
Regardless of whether you find this American norm pleasant or disingenuous, it’s one of the many small cultural signifiers that immigrants have to contend with when they come to the U.S.
If you’re an immigrant or come from an immigrant family, we want to hear which norms you’ve had to adjust to – whether it’s hugging, smiling, blowing your nose in public or wearing shoes indoors.
What norms surprised you or your parents and family members? Which have you rejected? Embraced?
With guest host Libby Denkmann.
Guests:
Jenny Kaminer, associate professor of Russian at UC Davis
Lindsey Bier, assistant professor of Clinical Business Communication at USC