The Syrian and Iraqi refugee bill is en route to the Senate, the Washington Post exposes IS propaganda and the Affordable Care Act struggles to maintain health care provider membership.
Syrian refugee bill headed to the Senate, do Dems have enough votes to block it?
The House voted last week to tighten the screening process for Syrian refugees trying to enter the U.S.
If passed by the Senate the bill would suspend the program that allows Syrian and Iraqi refugees into the U.S. until national security agencies confirm that they don’t pose a security risk.
While it’s still unclear whether the Senate will take up the bill, Democrats have vowed to block the bill and the White House has said President Obama would veto the bill if it reached his desk. However, Republicans backing the bill are standing firm.
Guests:
Mike Lillis, senior reporter at The Hill who has been following the story
Jessica Vaughan, Director of Policy Studies, Center for Immigration Studies, a D.C.-based organization that studies the impact of immigration on American society
Eleanor Acer, Senior Director, Refugee Protection at Human Rights First, an advocacy organization based in DC
Washington Post’s look inside IS propaganda mill reveals 'medieval reality show'
Radical Islamic propaganda has undergone quite a revolution since the rise of the so-called Islamic State.
Gone are the days of grainy, single camera videos featuring high-ranking officials decrying Western values and promising swift retribution.
Today propaganda videos feature a much more modern touch with slick editing, high production value, and a focus on spreading the ISIS’ brand through logos, symbols, and mottos. Thanks to accounts from defectors from the so-called ‘Islamic State,’ we’re getting a clearer picture of exactly how the massive propaganda operation that the militant group has developed works.
“Camera crews fan out across the caliphate every day, their ubiquitous presence distorting the events they purportedly document. Battle scenes and public beheadings are so scripted and staged that fighters and executioners often perform multiple takes and read their lines from cue cards,” according to Washington Post reporters Greg Miller and Souad Mekhennet.
One defector even said ISIS’ media operatives are more important than soldiers, and that they have access to better equipment, living arrangements, and make seven times what a soldier makes in a month.
IS’ media division is said to be largely foreigners who have experience working in broadcast news or technology. Some of the videos feature the grisly scenes that have become synonymous with terrorist propaganda films - beheadings, immolations, firing squads, etc. Yet other videos attempt to paint the picture of an inviting, livable destination with a thriving economy and happy citizens.
With the U.S. and other world powers struggling to find a response to IS propaganda, what can be down to slow down the massive operation?
Guest:
Greg Miller, reporter with the Washington Post, based in D.C.; he co-wrote "Inside the surreal world of the Islamic State’s propaganda machine"
Sweet spot for sex frequency is once weekly, study says
Couples that hope to make each other happier with more sex might find out once a week is all they need, according to research published this month in the journal “Social Psychology and Personality Science.”
Social Psychologist Amy Muise with the University of Toronto led the data-crunching on 25,510 Americans, including more than 60% in established relationships. While having sex less frequently than once a week made for less happy couples, researchers found an upper limit to the amount of happiness sex can provide.
What's your experience been? And how much does libido factor in?
Guest:
Rachel Kramer Bussel, Writer on the subject of sexuality
As insurance companies threaten to leave the Affordable Care Act, a look at its viability
UnitedHealth, the largest health insurer in the United States, warned Thursday that it may pull out of Obamacare exchanges after 2016.
The company says that this would be due to the high usage costs and the low-enrollment numbers in the Affordable Care Act. Should the health insurance group leave, it would force more than a half-million people to find other coverage providers to satisfy their need for health care.
The company says that low growth projections for those enrolled in Obamacare is contributing to their doubts. In addition, they say that the Affordable Care Act allows too much flexibility when it comes to allowing people to change plans.
Despite these newly expressed doubts, UnitedHealth has confirmed that they will continue to support Obamacare exchange plans for 2016; however, the company did suspend marketing of those plans in order to limit any additional losses.
UnitedHealth attributes its stock dropping 5.7 percent to losses from the Affordable Care Act. Other health care companies have taken similar hits, including Tenet Healthcare, HCA Holding and Anthem. Despite the Obama administration arguing that the health care marketplace would stabilize after a few exchanges through the first years of the law’s implementation, there are new questions facing the Affordable Care Act.
How will other small insurers step in to fill the gap left by UnitedHealth? Does the Act need to change in order to stop insurers from leaving? Or do these complaints say more about the insurance companies, instead of Obamacare?
Guests:
Kavita K. Patel, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution; she’s also a practicing primary care physician at Johns Hopkins Medicine and was previously a Director of Policy for The White House under President Obama
Yevgeniy Feyman, fellow and deputy director of the Manhattan Institute’s Center for Medical Progress
Stephanie O’Neil, KPCC’s health care reporter
Dodgers name Dave Roberts new manager
The Dodgers have confirmed that Dave Roberts has been named the team's manager, succeeding Don Mattingly.
Roberts is currently a coach with the San Diego Padres and a former right fielder for the Dodgers, but he has no prior management experience. With an African American father and Japanese mother, Roberts will be the team's first minority manager.
What does he bring to the job? And what are the benefits and pitfalls of hiring a rookie into high level management?
Guest:
Pedro Moura, baseball reporter for the OC Register
The story behind the stars of the ‘Andy Griffith Show’
For many, the “Andy Griffith Show” was a loveable escape into the friendship between a small-town sheriff and his deputy.
In real life, Andy Griffith and Don Knotts continued their friendship long after the end of the series.
Both actors were from a world that was a far cry from the quaint town of Mayberry. Griffith and Knotts grew up in the South and struggled through the Great Depression before making their way to the Broadway stage, where they finally met in the 1950s. The two formed a relationship that lasted until Knotts passed away in 2006.
In Daniel de Visé ’s book, “Andy & Don: The Making of a Friendship and a Classic American TV Show,” de Visé explores what the duo’s on-screen friendship meant to viewers and what their bond off-screen was like, including how they dealt with fame and personal struggles.
As Knotts’ brother-in-law, de Visé gives readers an inside look into the world of Mayberry and previously unpublished interviews with those that were closest to Griffith and Knotts. Today de Visé talks with Larry Mantle about the men behind one of America’s favorite television duos.
Guest:
Daniel de Visé, journalist and author of “Andy & Don: The Making of a Friendship and a Classic American TV Show,” (Simon & Schuster, 2015)