Clinton's health, Gary Johnson's Aleppo gaffe & a record-long voter guide in CA; The state medical board accuses prominent OC pediatrician Dr. Bob Sears of "gross negligence" for improperly excusing a 2-year-old from immunizations; Plus kids & grown-ups judge best age for first job, first kiss, and more.
AirTalk politics 2016: Clinton's health, should third party candidates be in the debates and more
A new poll shows 76 percent of voters want third party candidates like Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein represented in the upcoming televised presidential debates.
While a candidate must obtain 15 percent in the polls to make the debate stage, many voters are clamoring for better third party representation, given the divisiveness of the Democratic and Republican candidates. According to RealClearPolitics 4-way poll average, Gary Johnson is coming in around 9 percent and Jill Stein around 3. That said, Johnson’s gaffe on Thursday during an MSNBC interview in which he appeared to be unfamiliar with the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo, Syria (or even what Aleppo is, for that matter) will certainly not help his chances of getting the green light to debate Clinton and Trump.
We’ll also take a look at the latest from California’s Senate race and the debate over whether Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez will debate each other (it looks like they finally will) and try and make some sense of California’s 224-page voter guide.
And Hillary Clinton's stumble after a 9/11 memorial leads to questions about her health.
Guests:
Mary Plummer, KPCC senior politics reporter
Cenk Uygur, founder and CEO of The Young Turks Network; he tweets
Lanhee Chen, research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and former policy director for the Romney-Ryan 2012 presidential campaign; he tweets
Silicon Valley’s next target of disruption: election day results
A new tech company wants to do to reporting of election results what AirBnB has done to the hotel industry.
VoteCastr, an outfit founded by a group of big data advocates, journalists and startup entrepreneurs, is partnering up with the news site Slate to provide real-time projections and results on election day in presidential and Senate races in swing states like Colorado, Florida, and Nevada.
It’s a move that runs counter to what traditional media outlets have been doing. Broadcasters and news organizations have kept from releasing early projections in swing states until most of the polls there have closed.
Would VoteCastr impact voter turnouts in key states? Would traditional news media follow suit?
Guest:
Larry N. Gerston, a professor emeritus of political science at San Jose State University and author of many books, including “Reviving Citizen Engagement: Policies to Renew National Community” (CRC Press, 2012)
CA's battle over childhood immunization shifts to OC ‘anti-vaxx’ doc Bob Sears
The state medical board is accusing prominent Orange County pediatrician Dr. Bob Sears of "gross negligence" for improperly excusing a 2-year-old child from immunizations in 2014.
Meanwhile, experts say Sears has also been publicly peddling false medical reasons that supposedly would exempt children from vaccinations.
Statement from CA Medical Board:
The Board does not discuss investigations or complaints by law. Therefore the only information available to the public on the Dr. Sears case is in the posted Accusation itself. Please keep in mind the next step in this process is a settlement hearing to discuss the matter and I suggest you review our enforcement process on our website to assist you. Please look at “enforcement process.”
We reached out to Dr. Bob Sears, but have not heard from him before press time.
Guests:
Dr. Paul A Offit, M.D., Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and the authors of multiple books, including “Bad Faith: When Religious Belief Undermines Modern Medicine” (Basic Books, 2015)
Dr. Jay Gordon, MD., pediatrician based in Santa Monica. He is a teaching and attending staff at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center, St. John Hospital & Medical Center, and UCLA Medical Center
Does our current bail system discriminate against the poor?
The Obama Administration is intervening in a Georgia case which has put the constitutionality of fixed bail systems into question.
The argument? Under current bail systems, people who cannot afford to pay remain incarcerated. This could be proven as a way to “punish people for their poverty,” which is not permitted under the constitution.
As the Los Angeles Times reported, the Department of Justice’s intervention was sparked by a Georgia case which involved a disabled man who was arrested in 2015 for being under the influence as a pedestrian. He was kept in a Calhoun, Georgia jail for nearly a week because he could not pay the $160 bail.
Civil rights groups including Equal Justice Under Law have condemned the current bail system, calling it “wealth-based detention.”
But groups like the American Bail Coalition are opposed to the change, and argue that current system is about preserving community safety.
What do you think of the traditional bail system? Does it discriminate against the poor, or protect the public?
Guests:
Katherine Hubbard, staff attorney for Civil Rights Corp.; former fellow at Equal Justice Under Law, a civil rights group based in Washington D.C. which has been advocating for changing the current bail system.
Jeffrey J. Clayton, policy director for the American Bail Coalition
Kids and grown-ups judge best age for first job, first kiss, and more
September is a month of "firsts" for many school age kids, but there are some rights of passage - such as the first sleepover - that adults and kids can't agree on which age is most appropriate.
For instance, when it comes to wearing makeup, a survey conducted by The Harris poll found that Americans - on average - say a kid should be nearly 15 years old before venturing into Sephora. However, teens say they started wearing makeup at 13. The survey asked about first dates, first kisses, first jobs, and more.
What ages do you deem most appropriate?
Guest:
Betsy Brown Braun, child development and parenting expert; best selling author of "Just Tell Me What to Say: Sensible Tips and Scripts for Perplexed Parents" (HarperCollins)