The World Wide Web turns 25! We're taking a look back the changes in technology and the impacts the internet has had on daily life. How will the internet change over the next 25 years? Later, is Lean In's "Ban Bossy" movement the right move for feminism?
President Obama set to expand overtime pay for 'executive' and 'managerial' workers
President Obama is set to issue an executive order that would expand overtime pay requirements for millions of workers, according to the New York Times.
On Thursday, the president will order the Labor Department to require businesses to include "executive" or "managerial" workers for overtime pay. That category of workers could include a fast-food restaurant manager to a loan officer to a computer technician.
Under current laws, workers belonging to that classification that make about $24,000 a year could be denied overtime pay. President Obama, according to the Times, intends to raise that threshold.
Guests:
Ross Eisenbrey, Vice President of the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit, non-partisan think tank focusing on low- and middle-income workers.
Daniel Mitchell, Senior Fellow at the CATO Institute, a libertarian think tank in DC. He served on the 1988 Bush/Quayle transition team and was an economist for the Senate Finance Committee
Happy Birthday WWW! The World Wide Web turns 25
It's nearly impossible to imagine life in 2014 without the internet but 25 years ago the web was just a twinkle in the eye of a computer scientist named Sir Tim Berners-Lee.
In March 1989, he wrote a paper proposing an "information management" system that grew into what we know today as the web. A quarter century of internet connectivity has brought us countless technical innovations (and cat videos) and has fundamentally changed our lives and the way we interact with each other.
But has it all been for the better? Most young adults can't remember life without the internet as our level of connectivity expanded from the desktop computer to smartphones to wearable technology.
We've come a long way in a short period of time so can we even imagine what the future will bring? Two internet visionaries give differing views of how the web has changed us and what the next 25 years will bring.
Guests:
Jaron Lanier, computer scientist and author of 'Who Owns the Future?'
Kevin Kelly, co-founded Wired magazine in 1993 and author of the book, What Technology Wants
UC students vote to mandate warnings for 'triggering' content in classrooms
Student leaders at the University of California Santa Barbara passed a resolution recently moving the school closer to including "trigger warnings" on class syllabi. Trigger warnings are disclaimers that alert you to material containing potentially traumatic subject matter.
The idea started on blogs, but it's now a growing academic trend in college classes that talk about war, rape, suicide, mental illness and the like that could provoke symptoms in victims of post-traumatic stress disorder.
At the UCSB students senate meeting, sponsoring student Bailey Loverin explained her reasoning: “Tonight I am coming to you…first as a student, second as a woman and third, as a survivor of sexual abuse,” Loverin said. “Two weeks ago, I sat in class watching a film screening and felt forced to watch two scenes in which the instance of sexual assault was insinuated and one in which an instance of rape was graphically depicted … there was no warning before this film screening ... and it was incredibly difficult to sit through.”
She says adding warnings is a simple fix that has nothing to do with censorship. Still, the concept has provoked strong reactions, summed up by this Guardian column and a round-up from The Nation.
How can professors handle tough topics gingerly for students who've endured trauma? What is the harm done if "trigger warnings" are included?
Guest:
Bailey Loverin, Literature major at UC Santa Barbara; Loverin sponsored the mandate at the UC Santa Barbara Associated Students Senate
Jill Filipovic, Writer on gender issues for The Guardian
General Motors faces investigation for faulty engine switch that killed 13
General Motors will have some explaining to do when the Justice Department investigates why it took the company years to recall 1.6 million vehicles after it knew that a faulty engine switch was responsible for the deaths of 13 people.
According to the Associated Press, the department will investigate whether GM broke any laws by taking so long to address the problem.
Compact GM cars including the Chevy Cobalt and the Pontiac G5 and the Saturn Ion from roughly 2003 - 2007 have been recalled after the company admitted that the ignition switch was faulty and could shut off the engine - disabling power-assisted brakes, the airbags and power steering.
Accidents related to the faulty switches have been traced to more than 30 accidents and a dozen deaths. Internal reports from GM show that company executives knew about the problem for years before taking any action.
Why did GM rely on internal investigations after it knew about the accidents? Is there any possibility of GM executives facing criminal charges related to the deaths? What sort of punishment could the Justice Department levy against GM?
Guest:
Keith Naughton, Bloomberg News Autos Reporter
Curtain call for Anne Sweeney - sudden exit for Disney/ABC boss
Anne Sweeney, one of television’s most powerful women, has announced that she will step down from her post as president of the Disney-ABC Television group. She began her career at Nickelodeon and FX and has been with Disney since 1996. Sweeney is leaving her position at Disney with plans to follow her creative aspirations by pursuing a career in television directing.
In a statement Sweeney said, “The past 18 years at Disney have been the highlight of my executive career. I’ve been part of an amazing evolution in our business and our industry, and have achieved far more than I ever thought possible.”
Both Sweeney and other Disney Executives have said in interviews that Sweeney made the decision to leave voluntarily. However, there has been some speculation that lack of opportunity for future promotion may have been a factor in Sweeney’s decision to leave Disney.
What does Sweeney’s departure mean for the future of Disney? Who will replace Sweeney?
Guest:
Meg James, Los Angeles Times reporter covering the business of television
Is Lean In’s Ban Bossy the right move for feminism?
The idea that the vocabulary used to describe women in leadership positions is different than that to describe men is not a new idea. Feminists and supporters have long argued that women should have a more positive set of adjectives ascribed to them to match those applied to men: assertive, strong, ambitious.
Lean In has partnered with Girl Scouts, Lifetime, and a slew of powerful celebrity spokeswomen to end what the group sees as the pervasive use of the word “bossy.” Young girls with “executive leadership potential” are often called “bossy,” while boys in the same position are innately seen as leaders.
Lean In’s Ban Bossy campaign calls for the end of the use of the word bossy, and was introduce with a new ad featuring Beyonce, who says, “I’m not bossy, I’m the boss.”
But can limiting use of a single word really impact the mindset of young girls and women? Should the focus really be on eliminating bossy, or should young female leaders focus on the best ways to move on and grow, regardless of what words someone else might use to describe them?
Can Lean In really ban bossy? And if they can, what effect will it have? What does it mean to be a feminist activist in an age of increasing equality?
Guest:
Rachel Thomas, co-founder and president of Lean In