What is the role of the United States in the Gaza conflict? Today we'll look at the disputes in the Middle east, consider union opposition to a proposed L.A. city sales tax, and discuss whether the Rose Bowl should become the temporary home for an L.A. football team. Later, we'll speak with Kamala Harris about her latest human trafficking report and talk about racism on social media. All that and more, on today's AirTalk.
As the Israeli-Palestinian conflict intensifies, what role should the U.S. play?
Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip intensified over the weekend, with the Palestinian death toll rising past 90 and drones hovering over the city. Israel’s targeting of Hamas has surged to a level not seen since four years ago. Civilians and leadership on both sides have expressed worry that the most recent conflict could turn into a ground war.
President Obama has expressed his support for Israel and its right to defend its citizens against Hamas, but warned that increased attacks in the Gaza Strip could be detrimental for both Israelis and Palestinians. Neighboring nations Egypt and Tunisia have spoken up against the Israeli attack in Gaza, and although the strike continues, rumors of truce talks are in the air. The UN dispatched Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to Cairo to aid in peace talks.
What role should the United States play in this conflict? How important is the relationship between the U.S. and Israel – does it warrant unqualified support? How might Egypt’s new leadership change negotiations in the Middle East?
Guest:
Edmund Sanders, Jerusalem Bureau Chief for the Los Angeles Times
Borzou Daragahi, Middle East and North Africa correspondent for the Financial Times based in Cairo
L.A. union opposes proposed half-cent sales tax
A union representing L.A. city workers has voiced their opposition to the proposed half-cent sales tax hike on the March 5 ballot. The tax hike is lauded by City Council President Herb Wesson as the only way to save 1,400 jobs, including 500 police officer positions. Union support can be crucial to bills like the sales tax hike, but the labor union and four of the city’s top mayoral candidates have all opposed the increase.
Union president Bob Schoonover said that the tax increase would hurt middle class families, and that his union, which supports 10,000 city workers, “couldn’t support it.” The half-cent sales tax hike is a response to opposition from real estate groups for a previously-proposed real estate tax intended to generate $150 million, when combined with a tax on parking lots.
The sales tax increase would generate $215 million. How would a half-cent sales tax hike impact Los Angeles? Would it have a larger impact on certain economic groups? Is it a better alternative to a real estate tax? How should the city council and the union proceed?
Guests:
Alice Walton, KPCC reporter
Frank Stoltze, KPCC reporter
Pasadena City Council to consider temporarily hosting NFL team at the Rose Bowl
Should the Rose Bowl host 25 events a year? That’s an ordinance the Pasadena City Council is considering in a public hearing tonight. If approved, the city would begin the formal process to consider temporarily hosting an NFL team while a permanent stadium is built at Farmers Field.
Many residents complain that a team would attract massive amounts of traffic and rowdy fans to the quiet Arroyo Seco neighborhood, but the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce says the prospect of millions of dollars in public revenue is well worth the inconveniences.
That NIMBY debate continues despite the facts that no NFL team has committed to Southern California despite years of talks, and the Coliseum remains another option as a temporary home. Joe Piasecki joins the show to preview tonight’s meeting.
Guest:
Joe Piasecki, writes for the Los Angeles Times and will be attending tonight’s city council hearing
Churches take City of Santa Monica to court over nativity scene ban
It wouldn’t be Christmas without a nativity scene… lawsuit. After the Santa Monica City Council voted to ban private displays in Palisades Park this year, the nonprofit Santa Monica Nativity Scene Committee, which has been producing elaborate nativity scenes in the park for decades, filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming their right to free speech was being violated.
The city banned nativity scenes and all private displays after atheists and other organizations began inundating the park with displays in recent years. A U.S. District Court judge heard the case today. The churches were hoping the judge would grant an injunction allowing them to mount their displays while the case is being reviewed, but this morning the judge ruled in favor of the city. The group’s attorney, William Becker, has indicated they will appeal the decision.
Who should have the right to set up opinionated or religious displays in public spaces? Is the City of Santa Monica obstructing free speech by banning all the displays?
Guest:
Robert A. Pugsley, professor of law, Southwestern University Law School
California AG Kamala Harris’s human trafficking report
Last Friday, California Attorney General Kamala Harris released her report “The State of Human Trafficking in California 2012.” As a result of California’s first anti-trafficking law (AB 22), Harris convened a Human Trafficking Work Group to update the state’s first report on the issue from 2007.
This year’s report compiles Work Group discussions which occurred over a three-day period in Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as additional research from the California Department of Justice. The report produced some notable data. For instance, from mid-2010 to mid-2012, California identified 1,277 trafficking victims, began 2,552 investigations and put 1,798 individuals under arrest.
Some of the numbers, however, seem to conflict with public perception or competing sources of information.The California task force on trafficking found that 72 percent of victims with an identifiable country of origin came from America, even though the common understanding is that victims predominantly come from foreign countries. Also, while sex trafficking amounted for 56% of victims identified by the task force, other sources cite labor trafficking as 3.5 times more prevalent than sex trafficking on the global level.
What could explain these numerical discrepancies? Is it a simple difference between California and the rest of the world? And what about critics who continually claim that human trafficking numbers are exaggerated or unfounded? Is there any weight to their arguments? Has Harris’s report received any pushback thus far?
Guest:
Kamala Harris, California Attorney General and author of the report “The State of Human Trafficking in California 2012”
POLL: Should people who post offensive material online be publicly shamed?
The Internet has made it increasingly easy for people to express themselves. Getting online has never been easier – users young and old can update statuses on social networking sites from their smartphones, publish a blog post on Wordpress and promote it all over the web, and get in touch quickly and easily with friends and strangers.
The Internet is also an incredibly public platform for expression – sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr have varying degrees of hard to navigate privacy settings, and users are often left more exposed than they assumed they were. During times when issues like race and sexuality are most discussed, like election season, social media reactions peak, and so does coverage of those reactions.
Sites like Buzzfeed and Jezebel have taken heat for going to elaborate lengths with their public exposure and shaming of homophobic and racist posts on Twitter and Facebook. Offensive posts have inspired their own blogs and spin-off social media accounts that aggregate inappropriate material.
"One of the things that Gawker is good at is they often push the boundaries of what's considered acceptable precisely to show how fragile those boundaries are," said Buzzfeed's Matt Buchanan. "How far is that away from highlighting tweets that are racist or ignorant?"
However, critics say setting these offensive commenters up for public ridicule and abuse is dangerous. "Out of all of the forms of justice that we can possibly engage in I think mob justice is probably the least desirable," said Fruzsina Eordogh. "I feel like setting up anyone on the internet to be harassed, especially for minors is dangerous and irresponsible."
Is there a line being crossed when it comes to drawing attention to users who post racist or homophobic things online? Should the age of the user determine whether they ought to be publicly shamed, or are all public posts fair game? Does being exposed and chastised online change the behavior of users who post offensive material? Or might the reposting of such comments actually give the authors the attention they’re seeking?
Guest:
Matt Buchanan, editor of BuzzFeed FWD
Fruzsina Eordogh, writer for ReadWrite and Slate’s tech blog Future Tense; formerly covered online communities and Internet culture at the Daily Dot
The bitter taste of success: the rise and fall of the Anheuser-Busch brewing empire
The saga of Budweiser and Anheuser-Busch is a classic parable of the rise, international domination and eventual disillusionment of the American industrial age. Like most classic American success stories, the chronicle of “The King of Beers” began with an immigrant, in this case, Adolphus Busch, who arrived in St. Louis, Missouri from Germany in 1859 and bought a struggling brewery.
Over ensuing generations, the Busch family built an empire by revolutionizing the mass production, distribution and marketing of beer – the world’s most popular beverage. Adolphus’ son August A. deftly guided Budweiser through Prohibition and established Budweiser as America’s first national beer brand. August Jr. bought the St. Louis Cardinals and forged an indelible link between sports and beer that exists to this very day. August III streamlined the company for a new business age and helped launch the profitable light beer craze.
But it was August IV’s lack of business acumen that led to America’s premier beer being bought by foreign investors in 2008, ending a legacy of American dominance in the brewing industry. Renowned journalist William Knoedelseder documents the 149-year saga of the business of Budweiser – as well as the trappings, tragedy and drama of a family blessed and cursed by untold wealth in his new book, “Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America’s Kings of Beer.”
How does unparalleled success change a business - and the family that runs it? What can American businesses do to compete in the world economy?
Guest:
William Knoedelseder, author of “Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America’s Kings of Beer” (Harper Collins 2012)