We explore the flood of recent news leaks, from Powell’s emails to the medical records of U.S. Olympic athletes, and their role in media and public perception; a look at the tensions between baby boomers, Gen Xers and millennials and where they come from; plus, is Islam uniquely different from other major religions? And if so, what does that mean for geopolitics?
Leaks 2.0: how the deluge of hacked data is changing news and public sentiments
The leaks beat is busy with news from Guccifer 2.0, Fancy Bears, DCLeaks.com and the campaign to pardon Edward Snowden.
In the last 24 hours, various hackers have released medical records of U.S. Olympic athletes, personal Powell’s emails belonging to former US defense secretary Colin Powell in which he eviscerates Donald Trump, another batch of Democratic party emails, and reportedly the cellphone number of vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine.
The rise of websites such as WikiLeaks and the prominence of whistleblowers like Edward Snowden who leak classified information to the public have no doubt contributed to the ubiquity and proliferation of leaks in our daily news cycle. In some cases, like Snowden's, whistleblowers attain almost celebrity status. Granted, Snowden is wanted by the U.S. government and lives in exile, but he’s seen by many as sort of a modern day Robin Hood, stealing information from the powerful to share with the public. We’ve come a long way since the Pentagon Papers and Daniel Ellsberg who needed the aid of newspaper editors to publish secret documents about the Vietnam War (not to mention the help of photocopiers).
How are editors handling the deluge of data dumps? What is the impact on the public’s faith in institutions and leaders? Is the news outlets’ traditional role as gatekeepers an outdated concept?
Guest:
Hadas Gold, media reporter for POLITICO, where she also runs their blog ‘On Media’; she tweets
North Carolina journalists on reaction to NCAA pulling tournament events
North Carolina is synonymous with college basketball. Home to perennial powerhouse programs like Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill, the Tar Heel State has hosted more NCAA men’s basketball tournament games than any other state. But this year, North Carolina won’t be hosting any.
The NCAA announced Monday that all championship tournament events set to take place in North Carolina would be relocated. The decision is a direct response to HB2, a state law that lifted anti-discrimination protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. It will affect first and second round games of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament which were going to be played in Greensboro, as well as a number of other men’s and women’s sports including baseball, lacrosse, and soccer.
The NCAA is the second major sports organization to nix events in North Carolina because of HB2. The NBA said in July that Charlotte would no longer be hosting the league’s 2017 All-Star Game in response to the law’s passing. Both decisions will certainly mean a loss of revenue for the cities, which thrive on tourism from events like the NCAA basketball tournament, but it’s also a blow to the college basketball culture and tradition in which North Carolina is steeped.
What are the local and state economic impacts that can be expected? How are college basketball fans in North Carolina reacting to the news?
Guests:
Erik Spanberg, senior staff writer for the Charlotte Business Journal; he tweets
Luke DeCock, sports columnist at The Raleigh News and Observer; he tweets
How boomers, Gen Xers, and millennials see each other
Every generation has its own distinct personality, shaped by socioeconomic and other factors.
The Great Depression was a commonality for much of the Greatest Generation, and the experiences of deprivation had given rise to a strong sense of resilience and frugality. Those in the Baby Boomers generation came of age during the civil rights movement, and an anti-establishment ethos infused that segment’s personality. And Gen Xers, like the protagonists in Douglas Coupland’s novel, “Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture,” that gave it its name, are seen as cynical, self-reliant, cooler-than-school. That defining skepticism gave way to a kind of self-absorption in millennials, who grew up with social media and a culture of proud self-promotion. But technology has also contributed to their sense of optimism about the future, and sense of possibility.
How do these different generations see each other? What tension exists between these generations?
Guest:
Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University and a noted researcher on the millennial generation. Her books include “Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled--and More Miserable Than Ever Before” (Free Press, 2006)
U.S. signs $38 billion military aid agreement with Israel
The U.S. government and Israel are expected to sign an agreement pledging U.S. military aid for the country that adds up to $38-billion over ten years.
Official signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, is scheduled for Wednesday morning and comes after months of negotiations. It will be the largest sum of military assistance the U.S. has ever pledged to another country. The MOU’s amount of aid is an increase from the previous 10-year agreement, moving from $3.1-billion per year to $3.3-billion, beginning in 2018.
Details of the MOU include phasing out the ability to spend a portion of the package on Israeli military products. It will eventually require all MOU funds to contribute to American military industries. As reported in the Washington Post, the Israeli government has also agreed in a letter to give back any additional funds that Congress may appropriate. This would keep Congress from giving more money than President Obama intends in the deal. The MOU must still get formal congressional approval each year
Negotiations for the agreement were carefully timed by Israeli leadership, which was debating whether or not to strike the deal with Obama so close to the election. Ties between Obama and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been strained for years, and worsened because of the U.S.’s involvement in a nuclear deal with Iran. Pro-Palestinian groups have disagreed with the deal, arguing that Israel should not be rewarded by the U.S. because of its settlement building in the West Bank.
With files from the Associated Press
Guests:
Ilan Goldenberg, Senior Fellow and Director of the Middle East Security Program at the Center for a New American Security - a national security and defense policy think tank whose funders include Boeing and Northrup Grumman
Yousef Munayyer, Executive Director of U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, a nation-wide coalition advocating Palestinian rights
What is Islamic exceptionalism and what are the geopolitical implications
Many American defenders of Islam have argued it's much like other monotheistic faiths - subject to wide-ranging interpretations and with varying degrees of theology intertwined with politics.
That's not the perspective of senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Shadi Hamid. He's author of "Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam is Reshaping the World."
AirTalk’s Larry Mantle speaks to Hamid, and local Islamic scholar Jihad Turk, about the book’s thesis.
Guests:
Shadi Hamid, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and author of the book, “Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam Is Reshaping the World” (St Martin’s Press, 2016). His op-ed in the LA Times on a similar subject was published recently
Jihad Turk, founding president of Bayan Claremont, an Islamic graduate school at the Claremont School of Theology
Award-winning writer on the trials and tribulations of being a substitute teacher
Nicholson Baker knows a lot about writing. He is the author of multiple books of fiction and nonfiction, and has won many writing awards.
But what Baker didn’t know about was what it meant to be a substitute teacher. That changed in 2014, when he decided into that line of work. One of the results is his new book, “Substitute: Going to School With a Thousand Kids,” which documents his sometimes joyous, sometimes frustrating, experiences in the classroom.
Nicholson Baker will be talking about his book, “Substitute,” at the following events:
Wednesday, September 14
Los Angeles, CA (Claremont)
Scripps College Presents
Balch Auditorium
In conversation with Jonathan Lethem
Friday, September 16
Los Angeles, CA
Writers Bloc Presents
Goethe Institut
In conversation with Jeff Hobbs
Guest:
Nicholson Baker, author of ten novels and five works of nonfiction, including his latest, “Substitute” (Blue Rider Press, 2016). He is the recipient of many awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Hermann Hesse Prize