Today on AirTalk, we update you on the latest COVID-19 news and answer your questions. Also on the show, we update you on the latest on California politics; breakdown what are NFTs; and more.
COVID-19 AMA: As Expanded Eligibility Looms For More Californians, Concerns Arise About Vaccine Supply, People Letting Their Guard Down
In our continuing series looking at the latest medical research and news on COVID-19, Larry Mantle speaks with Dr. Kimberly Shriner of Huntington Hospital in Pasadena.
Topics today include:
CA has second-lowest rate of COVID-19 spread compared to other states
As vaccine demand spikes, is there enough?
How long will the COVID vaccine really protect you?
Experts worry as crowds return in California, nationally
COVID-19 vaccination cards soon will be an essential
New high-tech masks coming soon?
NYT: One nursing home’s quest to vaccinate its hesitant staff
Guest:
Kimberly Shriner, M.D., infectious disease specialist at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena
March Madness 2021: USC And UCLA Both Headed Make It To Elite Eight
The Elite Eight marks the halfway point of the NCAA Tournament, but don’t blink. It has the shelf life of chicken nuggets.
By the time your head hits the pillow tomorrow night, we’ll be down to a Final Four and find out whether the selection committee is any better at seeding teams than the cooks at your local McDonalds.
Three of the four teams handed No. 1s — Gonzaga, Baylor and Michigan — are still in the field, which is average. But so are three Pac-12 Conference teams — No. 6 USC, No. 11 UCLA and No. 12 Oregon State — which definitely is not. Needless to say, the road would have been a lot smoother for the Pac-12 entries if their league got anywhere near the respect the Big Ten and Big 12 carried inside the room where it (seeding) happens.
USC and UCLA were the last two teams to claim their seats Sunday. The Trojans handily beat fellow Pac-12 member and seventh-seeded Oregon, while the Bruins needed overtime — after a last-second hiccup — to put away No. 2 Alabama 88-78.
“I’ll never live that one down,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said afterward. “The kids bailed me out.”
In the two other games, Gonzaga looked unbeatable one more time while steamrolling No. 5 Creighton 83-65, while Michigan had surprisingly little trouble shaking No. 4 Florida State 76-58, once again displaying the kind of balance and depth to upend the Zags’ (29-0) quest for a title and the first perfect season since the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers.
With files from the Associated Press
Guests:
Ryan Kartje, USC beat writer at the Los Angeles Times; he tweets
Ben Bolch, UCLA beat writer at the Los Angeles Times; he tweets
State Politics Roundup: CA To Receive $42 Million In Federal Stimulus, Latest In Newsom Recall Effort And More
Today on AirTalk, we recap the latest major headlines in California's political news and discuss what these stories mean for the weeks ahead.
CA to receive $42 billion from American Rescue Plan
CDC warns of fourth coronavirus wave, what this means for Newsom's reopening efforts
Potential Democratic challengers gauge whether or not to dip foot in gubernatorial race
Latest poll on Gov. Newsom’s approval rating
National GOP puts money behind recall effort
Rob Bonta appointed as the state’s new Attorney General
GOP’s misinformation leads to flipped California House seats
State lawmakers push to expand hate crime legislations
Guests:
Nicole Nixon, reporter covering politics and government for CapRadio; her recent story is "As Access Expands, California Is Set To Close 2 Mass Vaccination Sites In Oakland, LA"; she tweets
Raphael J. Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State Los Angeles; author of “Politics in Black and White: Race and Power in Los Angeles” (Princeton University Press, 1994); he tweets
What Are NFTs, And Why Are Some Worth Millions Of Dollars?
A digital art piece, tweaked using cryptocurrency technology to make it one-of-a-kind, sold at auction earlier this month for nearly $70 million. That transaction made global headlines and buoyed already-mushrooming interest in these kinds of digital objects — known as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs — that have captured the attention of artists and collectors alike.
In economics jargon, a fungible token is an asset that can be exchanged on a one-for-one basis. Think of dollars or bitcoins — each one has the exact same value and can be traded freely. A non-fungible object, by contrast, has its own distinct value, like an old house or a classic car.
Cross this notion with cryptocurrency technology known as the blockchain and you get NFTs. These are effectively digital certificates of authenticity that can be attached to digital art or, well, pretty much anything else that comes in digital form — audio files, video clips, animated stickers, this article you’re reading.
NFTs confirm an item’s ownership by recording the details on a digital ledger known as a blockchain, which is public and stored on computers across the internet, making it effectively impossible to lose or destroy.
At the moment, these tokens are white-hot in the collecting world, where they’re being used to solve a problem central to digital collectibles: how to claim ownership of something that can be easily and endlessly duplicated.
Today on AirTalk, we’re learning more about what NFTs are, why some are so valuable, and what it all means. Questions? Give us a call at 866-893-5722.
With files from the Associated Press
Guests:
Liz Lopatto, deputy editor at The Verge who has been covering the story; she tweets
Moish Peltz, digital intellectual property attorney at Falcon Rappaport & Berkman; he tweets
Law Professor On America’s Approach To Absolute Rights And How We Can Improve It
Has America’s culture surrounding absolute rights gone off the rails? That’s the argument Professor Jamal Greene makes in his new book “How Rights Went Wrong: Why Our Obsession with Rights is Tearing America Apart," (March 2021). But he also suggests in his argument that there are ways to fix what he sees as the problem.
Greene says that claiming one’s rights have been violated has become one of the best ways to seek out political interests and that courts should focus on context and justice over absolute rights. Today on AirTalk, Larry talks with Greene, a constitutional law scholar at Columbia, about his new book and what he sees as the problem and solution. Do you have questions or thoughts? Join the conversation by calling 866-893-5722.
Guest:
Jamal Greene, Dwight Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, author of the new book "How Rights Went Wrong: Why Our Obsession with Rights is Tearing America Apart," (March 2021); he tweets