AirTalk examines the anonymous New York Times op-ed from a White House senior official. We also discuss the third day of the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings; check in on the Justice Department's announcement about the North Korean hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment; and more.
Resistance from within: The anonymous op-ed that has rocked the White House
President Trump is reportedly enraged over an anonymous New York Times op-ed written by a senior member of his administration.
The piece describes the lengths to which senior members of the President’s team go to protect the country from Trump’s worst inclinations. The Times piece portrays the actions of the official as in service to the country – putting the nation before politics or loyalty to a leader the writer sees as amoral and unprincipled.
What do you think of what the official’s doing? Is he or she serving the country by undermining parts of the President’s agenda? Is it morally wrong for someone to serve then go against a President whose agenda has been approved by voters? Call in at 866-893-5722.
Guests:
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
Sean T. Walsh, Republican political analyst and partner at Wilson Walsh Consulting in San Francisco; he is a former adviser to California Governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger and a former White House staffer for Presidents Reagan and H.W. Bush
Legal and political analysis of Kavanaugh confirmation hearings as abortion documents snag spotlight on day 3
The confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh continue to be contentious as the third day of questions plays out on Thursday.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have peppered Judge Kavanaugh with questions about his stance on abortion and the Roe v. Wade decision after the New York Times obtained a set of confidential documents that a lawyer for former President George W. Bush gave to the Committee but were designated as “committee confidential, meaning that their content couldn’t be discussed during questioning dating back to Kavanaugh’s time in the second Bush White House as an aide, in particular an email response Kavanaugh wrote when he was considering a draft opinion piece in which he responded to a statement about Roe v. Wade and its progeny are “widely accepted by legal scholars across the board...the settled law of the land.”
Kavanaugh responded by saying he wasn’t sure that all legal scholars would agree with that, especially considering that the Supreme Court could overrule his precedent and that, at the time, there were three Justices on the Court who would.
We follow the latest in the confirmation hearings for Judge Kavanaugh with reporters covering the hearing and get political and legal analysis from our expert panel.
Guests:
Brent Kendall, legal affairs reporter in the Washington bureau of The Wall Street Journal who’s been following the case; he tweets
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
Sean T. Walsh, Republican political analyst and partner at Wilson Walsh Consulting in San Francisco; he is a former adviser to California Governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger and a former White House staffer for Presidents Reagan and H.W. Bush
Kimberly West-Faulcon, law professor at Loyola Law School, her focus includes constitutional law; she tweets
Richard Garnett, professor of law and concurrent professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, where he teaches constitutional law; he tweets
Ilya Somin, professor of law at George Mason University, where he specializes in constitutional law; he tweets
North Korea round-up: DOJ announces charges against North Korean spy for Sony hack, plus latest on denuclearization
The Justice Department is announcing criminal charges in connection with the hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2014, a U.S. government official familiar with the case said Thursday.
Authorities are charging a North Korean who is believed to have operated out of China, according to the official, who wasn’t authorized to publicly discuss the matter before the department’s announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Plus, North Korea President Kim Jong Un has set out a timeline for denuclearization, to which President Trump responded with thanks. Kim and South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in will also be meeting near the end of September to discuss the plan.
We get a recap of the DOJ’s announcement on the Sony hack, as well as the the latest on denuclearization talks.
With files from the Associated Press
Guests:
Aruna Viswanatha, reporter covering the Justice Department and white-collar crime for the Wall Street Journal; she tweets
David Sanger, national security correspondent for the New York Times; he is the author of "The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage and Fear in the Cyber Age” (June 2018, Crown); he tweets
Are you ready for some football? Chargers, Rams eyeing playoff runs as 2018 season kicks off
The 2018 NFL season kicks off on Thursday night as the Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles will raise their championship banner to the rafters at Lincoln Financial Field in Philly and welcome the 2016 NFC Champion Atlanta Falcons to town for the first regular season game of the year.
While there’s plenty of buzz about an Eagles repeat, here in Los Angeles the two hometown teams are making their own strong cases for postseason glory.
The Rams, who led the league in scoring with almost 30 points per game last year but came up short in the divisional round of the playoffs against the Falcons, begin their season on Monday night in the East Bay against the Oakland Raiders and will look to literally hit the ground running with their offense centered around star tailback Todd Gurley, who won the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year Award last year.
The Rams also made key additions to its wide receiving corps, defensive line, and secondary during the offseason, and now that All-Pro interior lineman and reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald is finally signed to a long-term deal after two years of back-and-forth, both the team and fans can focus on proving right those who believe the Rams are a Super Bowl-caliber team this year.
Meanwhile, Chargers fans are getting charged up for Sunday as the Bolts are home at the StubHub Center to take on their AFC West rival, the Kansas City Chiefs, who won that division last year. Many believe the Chargers were only a kicker away from being a playoff team last year, as they lost three out of their first four games by three points or less and all on last-minute plays. This year, the Chargers begin the season with a veteran kicker as well as a high-octane offense led by quarterback Phillip Rivers, running back Melvin Gordon, and wide receiver Keennan Allen. There’s also lots of talk around the Bolts’ first round draft pick, safety Derwin James from Florida State. They had a significantly quieter offseason, however, as their biggest signing three-time Pro Bowl center Mike Pouncey to a two year deal to help shore up an offensive line that has struggled with injuries.
Larry will chat with Take Two host and Charger fan A Martinez as well as L.A. Times Rams’ beat writer Gary Klein and highlight the big story lines and players to watch on each squad this year.
Guests:
Gary Klein, sports reporter for the Los Angeles Times, who covers the Rams
A Martinez, host of KPCC’s Take Two
Driverless cars: the future is now, but how did we get here?
It’s the Holy Grail of the automotive and tech industries: the driverless car.
Whether autonomous vehicles, electric vehicles or on-demand transportation, it’s not a matter of years before we see the first commercial autonomous ride-sharing service. It’s a matter of weeks.As Waymo prepares for its official launch in Phoenix, Arizona, more companies will follow suit and expand globally.
In what’s being called the “most disruptive change to our way of life since the smartphone,” the ambitious revolution of eliminating car crashes, reducing our carbon footprint, providing freedom of transportation for the elderly and disabled as well as saving our time and money edges closer to reality, and one of the first to predict and track that reality was Lawrence D. Burns.
The former General Motors executive and self-driving car expert joins Larry Mantle to talk about his new book, “Autonomy: The Quest to Build the Driverless Car — and How It Will Reshape Our World.” If you have questions about the past, present, or future of driverless technology, call in at 866-893-5722.
Guest:
Lawrence D. Burns, former General Motors executive and longtime advisor to the Google self-driving car project “Waymo”; author of “Autonomy: The Quest to Build the Driverless Car—And How It Will Reshape Our World” (HarperCollins 2018)