The smoking ban is an expansion from the current ban in beaches and parks, now to include the vicinity of sidewalks, bike paths and parking structures - will the ban really reduce harmful environmental impacts and second-hand smoke, or is it a fringe on personal freedom? We debate the pros and cons. We'll also cover the latest leaks surrounding the White House; whether or not college campus tours give a false sense of experience; and more.
Following the fallout after Trump's reported disclosure to the Russians
Last hour, President Trump’s national security adviser defended the president’s reported sharing of sensitive intelligence with Russian officials.
H. R. McMaster wouldn’t say whether the information was classified. The Washington Post first broke the story on Monday afternoon and several other outlets have picked up on the reporting since.
General McMaster said sharing it was “wholly appropriate” and based on “open source” reporting. He added that the real issue was the fact that someone within the intelligence community had leaked the report to the press in the first place. McMaster also disclosed the president didn’t know the source of the intelligence as he was citing it. Why not?
Guests:
Mike Memoli, DC-based reporter covering the White House for the LA Times
Bryan Bender, defense editor for POLITICO Pro; he has been following the story
Hal Kempfer, retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel and CEO of KIPP knowledge and intelligence program professionals; he does terrorism and intelligence training; has worked in the intelligence community since 1987
Charles Kesler, professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and editor of the Claremont Review of Books
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist and founder and chief executive officer of Rodriguez Strategies; he is also a former senior Obama advisor in 2008; he tweets
Disney latest Hollywood studio hit with ransom demands by hackers
During a town hall meeting in New York yesterday, Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger said hackers are threatening to release one of the studio’s upcoming films unless they receive a hefty ransom in Bitcoin.
Though Iger didn’t reveal the film title, a source told the Los Angeles Times the hacked movie is the newest sequel in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
The Disney hack comes weeks after 10 episodes of the Netflix original series "Orange is the New Black" were uploaded to The Pirate Bay - six weeks before its new season was scheduled to be released - because Netflix refused to pay.
Iger is taking a similar approach, saying Disney will not pay the hackers - but according to The Hollywood Reporter, the FBI has told hacking victims in the industry they may be better off paying.
How much will this hack affect Disney’s revenue for their upcoming film? And how are Hollywood studios failing to protect their content?
Guest:
Tatiana Siegel, senior film writer for The Hollywood Reporter, whose recent piece looks at a wave of ransomware hacks in Hollywood; Siegel reported extensively on the Sony hack in 2014 tied to the film, “The Interview;” she tweets
AirTalk asks: Does Laguna Beach’s ban on public smoking go too far?
An ordinance to ban smoking throughout the resort city of Laguna Beach was passed last week by its City Council, and will go into effect in about 30 days.
As reported by the Orange County Register, the ban includes using cigarettes, e-cigarettes and vapes while on sidewalks, bike paths and inside parking structures. This is an expansion from a current ban on smoking in beaches and parks in the city. For the new ordinance, first-time violators would incur a $100 fine, and third time violators could climb up to $500. Supporters of the ban say it will curb environmental impacts of smoking and reduce second-hand smoke.
But does doing away with the right to smoke on a city street infringe on personal freedom? Let us know your thoughts by calling 866-893-5722
Former college tour guides debate the utility (or futility) of the college tour
When it comes to applying to colleges, the campus tour is a pretty standard step in the process of helping a high school grad decide where he or she plans to spend four years of their life, not to mention hundreds of thousands of dollars. But is the college tour really as important as many make it out to be?
A recent op-ed in the New York Times written by an Oakland, CA-based psychologist says the college tour may not be as accurate of a benchmark for determining what a student really wants from his or her college experience as we’ve been led to believe. Campus tours, she argues, often highlight features of the school that are external to education (new dorms with amenities, tricked-out dining halls, expensive athletic facilities, etc.) and give prospective students a false sense of what’s important. She also cites psychological research that shows the human imagination is a poor predictor of what will make us happy when compared to using actual experience, and that therefore a student who sees a gaggle of students laughing on the quad might think the whole campus feels the same way about their experience at the school.
As luck would have it, two members of AirTalk’s staff are former college tour guides who have differing views on the utility of the campus tour. We’ll talk to them about their experience as tour guides and what they think of the author’s arguments, plus take your calls at 866-893-5722 to hear what you think about just how useful the college campus tour is.
Guests:
Matt Dangelantonio, AirTalk associate producer and campus tour guide at Syracuse University from 2009-2011
Caitlin Plummer, AirTalk apprentice news clerk and campus tour guide at the University of Southern California from 2014-2017