We host a roundtable to recap and analyze Monday's Clinton-Trump debate; more than a third of calls to the Veteran Affairs suicide hotline go unanswered - we dive into why and what can be done about it; plus, Snapchat unveils a pair of specs - will they go the way of google glass?
Analysis: What mattered most to voters in the Trump, Clinton face-off
Running into overtime, last night's presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump saw them duking it out over her long record in politics and his outsider views of how to run America.
Trump interrupted Clinton repeatedly - blaming her for the country's loss of manufacturing jobs after her husband ratified the North American Free Trade Agreement. Clinton hammered at Trump for not releasing his tax returns - claiming he is either hiding how much money he owes others, how little money he earns, or how little in taxes he pays. NBC's Lester Holt was largely absent as a moderator save for attempts to fact check Trump's record in 2002 supporting the Iraq War.
AirTalk will have multiplicity of voices to analyze the debate: political strategists from each camp, public policy analysts, and listeners who watched the two candidates.
Guests:
Angela T. Rye, a democratic analyst and CEO of IMPACT Strategies, a DC-based political consulting and government relations firm; she tweets
Jeffrey Lord, a republican analyst, contributing editor to The American Spectator and former aide to Ronald Reagan; he’s author of What America Needs: The Case for Trump; he tweets
Charles Moran, Republican political strategist and the Immediate Past Chairman of the California Log Cabin Republicans, an organization representing gay conservatives and their allies; he tweets
Nolan Cabrera, Ph.D., Associate professor of education in the Center for the Study of Higher Education, University of Arizona; he tweets
Tamara Draut, Vice President of Policy at Demos - a public policy organization focused on equity; Author of book, “Sleeping Giant: How the New Working Class Will Transform America” (Doubleday; April 2016); she tweets
Sean Walsh, Republican political analyst and partner at Wilson Walsh Consulting in San Francisco
Veterans suicide hotline failings: could volunteers be the answer?
More than one-third of calls to the Veterans Affairs (VA) suicide hotline goes unanswered, according to Greg Hughes, the former hotline director at the VA.
Speaking to members of Congress yesterday, Hughes explained that one reason for the large number of unanswered calls are the routine requests to leave early among the staffers. Compared to the U.S. population, both active soldiers and returned veterans have a notably higher risk of suicide. The hotline staffers working with this vulnerable group could be experiencing “compassion fatigue,” a symptom commonly seen in caretakers of trauma victims.
One solution dealing with “compassion fatigue” among crisis line staffers could be volunteers. With a different set of motivations and fewer working hours, volunteers could provide more attention and thus more effective counseling to the callers in need.
Larry Mantle speaks with Jason Roncoroni, executive director of Stop Soldier Suicide (a civilian non-profit dedicated to military and veteran suicide prevention) and Kita Curry, president of Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, about the best way to staff and manage suicide prevention hotlines.
Guests:
Jason Roncoroni, Executive Director at StopSoldierSuicide, a civilian not-for-profit organization dedicated to preventing active duty and Veteran suicide; Roncoroni retired after battalion command as a 21 year Veteran in Army Aviation - including three tours in Afghanistan
Kita Curry, President and CEO at Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, a Los Angeles-based non-profit mental health organization. The center provides a multilingual 24/7 crisis line
Will Snapchat’s Spectacles change the future of video taking?
Snapchat will release this fall it’s new camcorder sunglasses, giving the world of social media a new perspective on video taking.
Snapchat Spectacles let users tap the rim once for a 10 second video, and a maximum of 30 seconds of video can be recorded on the device which comes in coral, teal or black at a cost of $130.
But questions are being raised on the difference between Spectacles and Google Glass, which fizzled out after it’s release, even with more features than Snapchat’s new tech toy. The impact of Spectacles on social media could give the new gadget an edge over its Google predecessor. Celebrities and bloggers could use the device to get exclusive footage of red carpet events, music festivals and their fabulous everyday lives, setting a trend for the general public to follow.
What do you think about the new Snapchat Spectacles? Will they change the face of video taking, or will it be a short-lived social media trend?
Guest:
Josh Constine, editor-at-large for TechCrunch and author of the article, “The hopes and headaches of Snapchat’s glasses”
AirTalk asks: Which albums defined your youth?
Some of us may remember where we were when we first heard, “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” It marked the beginning of a movement away from hair bands like “Guns and Roses,” propelling a reluctant Kurt Kobain into music history and much of the nation’s youth into a flannel craze.
It’s been 25 years since Nirvana’s “Nevermind” was released. The seminal album didn’t just change the way people thought about rock or give new meaning to the word “grunge.” For many, it was the album that defined their youth, and their generation.
But one person’s “Nevermind” is another person’s “ Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band” or “Thriller,” depending on what spoke to you in your adolescence. And maybe Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” got into your head, even though you were born in the 90s. That works too.
What album defined your youth? Why did that particular artist speak to you, and how did it change the way you thought about music?
Guests:
Shirley Halperin, news director of Billboard; music editor of The Hollywood Reporter; she tweets from