Paul Ryan has just set conditions for House Speaker; Hillary Clinton is set to testify before the Benghazi committee; a JPL seismologist and a UCI scientist are using data from the 2014 La Habra tremor to put the occurrence of an earthquake along the same fault at greater than 5.0 at 99.9 percent before 2019.
Paul Ryan throws his hat in for a job he doesn’t really want
Paul Ryan has laid out his terms and conditions for serving as speaker of the House and now awaits the response from his Republican colleagues.
On Tuesday night he called for a greater emphasis on communicating the party's messages.
With Republicans set to announce their nominee for speaker next week, we'll take a look at whether or not these tactics will encourage his contemporaries to rally around him or if they will only serve to alienate him from the rest of the party.
Will Republicans unify behind him, or fail to meet Ryan's deadline of Friday to give him a free hand as Speaker?
Guests:
Lisa Mascaro, Congressional reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Read her latest piece on Paul Ryan here
Fawn Johnson, Congressional policy and politics reporter for Morning Consult - a digital media company covering the intersection of Washington and industry
What Democrats and Republicans are thinking ahead of HRC’s Benghazi testimony
In 2012, the infamous attack on Benghazi, Libya left four Americans dead, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.
On Thursday at 10 a.m. eastern, Hillary Clinton will testify before the Select Committee of Benghazi to defend her actions on September 11, 2012.
Chairman of the Committee, Republican Congressman Trey Gowdy, is said to be under pressure to provide evidence of a true scandal in relation to the attacks. On the other hand, Clinton will also be pressured to provide statements that will justify her actions so that her chance of being elected president is not compromised.
Do you think Clinton’s responses could harm her chances of being elected president? Will she take responsibility for her actions?
Guests:
Adam Schiff, (D-CA), a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee and member of the Select Committee on Benghazi
Jeff Addicott, professor of law at St. Mary’s school of law in San Antonio, where he is the director of the Center for Terrorism Law; he was an expert witness in yesterday’s administrative board hearing; he’s a 20 year JAG officer and was senior legal counsel to the Green Berets
Cal State professor speaks out about pricey textbook dispute
The pricey cost of college textbooks has sparked a dispute at Cal State Fullerton where a math professor is fighting disciplinary action against him for choosing different course materials than the $180 text written and mandated by his department chair.
Math professor Alain Bourget told KPCC he chose course material, including a textbook authored by an MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) professor, based on what could best serve his students. He was then threatened with discipline as serious as dismissal.
The case underscores the challenge of choosing quality course materials that are uniform and up-to-date - and balancing that with affordability.
Guest:
Alain Bourget, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, California State University, Fullerton; Bourget is facing disciplinary action over his choice of course materials
Doug Ward, Associate Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Kansas. Associate Professor, University of Kansas’ School of Journalism and Mass Communications
JPL, UCI scientists say a big earthquake is all but inevitable by 2019
An upcoming study by a JPL seismologist and a UCI scientist are using data from the 2014 La Habra tremor to put the occurrence of an earthquake along the same fault at greater than 5.0 at 99.9 percent before 2019.
Perhaps more importantly, researchers Andrea Donnellan and Lisa Grant Ludwig and their team also predict that there’s a 35 percent chance a quake of magnitude 6.0 and over would happen along the same fault lines during that same time frame.
The 5.1-magnitude La Habra quake struck in 2014.
Guests:
Andrea Donnellan, JPL seismologist and co-author of the upcoming study, titled “Potential for a large earthquake near Los Angeles inferred from the 2014 La Habra earthquake” She led the modeling and data interpretation part of the study
Lisa Grant Ludwig, professor at UC Irvine, and co-author of the study, titled “Potential for a large earthquake near Los Angeles inferred from the 2014 La Habra earthquake” She led the geological interpretation part of the study and participated in the fieldwork
Making the case for and against statutes of limitations on sex crimes
Statutes of limitations set limits on how long a person has after an event to take legal action pertaining to that event.
The idea is to protect the defendants from being accused for long periods of time and to encourage plaintiffs to be diligent about pursuing legal action. But where is the line between protecting defendants from being accused of a crime for years and protecting defendants from ever seeing the inside of a courtroom.
Joelle Casteix argues these laws are more likely to do the latter in a recent L.A. Times op-ed titled “Don’t let time shield sex predators.” Casteix was a victim of sexual abuse in her teens and says while she was able to prosecute the person who assaulted her, many other victims aren’t so fortunate. She says California’s sex crimes laws are “abysmally complicated” and that the deadlines for victims to come forward are “arbitrary -- and downright confusing.”
How do you feel about statutes of limitations as they pertain to sex crimes? Would you support a reform of state statutes of limitations on certain crimes? When is a statute of limitations appropriate and when is it not?
Guests:
Joelle Casteix, Volunteer, Western regional director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, and the author of the book "The Well-Armored Child: A Parent's Guide to Preventing Sexual Abuse."
Mark Hathaway, private defense attorney in Los Angeles who has represented students and others accused of sexual misconduct