One Syrian refugee now living in Southern California says U.S. strike on Syria "is complicated," gas taxes will get a bump to pay for road repair and screenwriters negotiate to avert a strike.
'I don't know if this strike will put an end to our suffering': A Syrian refugee's take on the airstrike
More than 1,000 Syrian refugees live in California, and Jay Abdo is one of them.
"I don't know what to say. It's so hard after these five years," he says.
He was a well-known actor back in Syria, but fled to Los Angeles a few years ago after making critical comments about the Assad government.
Abdo has conflicted feelings about yesterday's U.S. airstrike of a Syrian base.
"The question is, what is the outcome of this strike?" he ponders. "Is it going to save what is left of civilians, or will they have to suffer, afterwards, an Assad retaliation?"
He hemmed and hawed about the outcome, believing that human atrocities are taking place in Syria.
"But striking one airport," he says, "would not immobilize Assad's air force from targeting other civilians with other weapons."
"I don't know if this strike will put an end to our suffering, make the Syrian people go back again," says Abdo.
Listen to the whole interview by clicking the blue audio player above.
SoCal Trump supporter: US can intervene in Syria and still keep 'America First'
American ships lobbed missiles at the Al Shayrat airfield in Syria Thursday. The Trump administration says the launch comes in response to a chemical weapon attack earlier this week that killed 80 in the troubled nation.
The next morning, 7,000 miles away, Trump supporter Mike Simpfenderfer sat at his dining room table, on the phone with KPCC's Take Two.
Simpfenderfer is the CEO of the political advocacy group, "Make California Great Again," and he's pleased about the president's decision to intervene in Syria.
Highlights
What's your reaction to what happened last night?
I think it's very clear: the butchers and bullies of the world, they need to take notice. And they need to take a very clear view of the fact that this president will make tough decisions and not literally debate it to death.
The fact is, the U.S. has killed many civilians with drone strikes since the war on terror began. Can the U.S. really claim a moral high ground here or is this more of a PR move for the president?
It's clearly a moral high ground. You gotta take a look at how many times have a dictator and a butcher gassed their own people. That's a very small club that should not ever grow again. And a very small organization of dictators that should not be allowed to stay in power.
President Trump took action within days. Before, we debated it for months and years and got nothing except the butcher was empowered more and more. His friends, the Russians, did nothing to rein him in. The Russians are now on notice.
But Mike, Trump has tweeted that we should stay out of Syria. Yet, one of the first things he does is issue air strikes on Syria. How do you square the two sentiments?
It's actually very easy. A lot of our enemies thought President Trump would view the world through a rear-view mirror. They've now learned that's not his view of the world.
When people cross the line like these butchers did, and they gas children and women and men, I'm sorry, the line's crossed. It's not the time to do endless debate. It's time to take action, and now the Russian allies know we're not afraid to take action.
Some Trump supporters are pointing out this isn't in line with the "America First" message that the president ran on. They voted hoping he could improve their lives and bring back jobs. How does this help with that?
If you go about a worldview with blinders on, you're going to have the problem on your doorstep and back yard. That will do nothing to help the economy. What he's made clear is he's going to take care of America first. And when you have butchers and bullies? He's going to take action.
I think the more interesting part is what's going to go on as the Chinese leadership goes out to play golf with President Trump. They now have a very clear message to take back to China and give to the North Koreans: this man follows through. He's not to be messed with.
There are those who would point out that President Trump has been quick to do two things since he took office: ban Syrian refugees and bomb Syria. What's your response to someone who might say, "If Trump is really concerned about the safety of Syrians, why has he closed the door to them?"
The vetting process of bringing people in from Syria is nonexistent. You have no way to vet who is that person sitting in front of you. He made that clear on the campaign trail, and people concurred.
Fact Check: There is (in fact) a rigorous vetting process already in place for refugees, as The New York Times, CBS' 60 Minutes and others have documented.
Looking globally: Russia has significant ties to the Syrian government under Bashir Al Assad. Some of them financial. If this escalates, it will require more attention from the president. Again, are you concerned that this could get in the way of Trump keeping his promises to voters?
No, it's actually keeping those promises. Because he took the action that he did — and he took it swiftly, firmly and with the support of others in our government — Russians now know, "Hold it, we can't go on with America having blinders on. America does not have blinders on anymore and America will take action when necessary."
To protect the financial interests that they have going on in Syria, they're going to have to make sure that butcher behaves or their financial interests are at risk.
Press the blue play button above to hear the full interview.
(Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.)
State of Affairs: CA lawmakers react to Syria strike, Gov. Brown scores $54b tax victory
This week on State of Affairs:
- California's lawmakers respond to Thursday's missile launch on Syria
- Governor Jerry Brown scores a political victory after successfully convincing state legislators to pass his $52 billion dollar plan to fix roads
Guests:
- Carla Marinucci, senior writer for Politico's California Playbook
- Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, professor of public policy at USC
Press the blue play button above to hear the full interview.
The economic ripple effect of a writers strike
The economic ripple effect of a writers strike
In the fall of 2007, things went a little haywire on TV when the Writers Guild of America went on strike.
Without their scribes, a lot of studio production went dark. Eventually, late night tak show such as Late Night with Conan O'Brien came back on the air but without their writers as the walk out continued.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkj7heLZAsc
On April 10, Hollywood writers will resume negotiations for a new labor agreement. And if they can't reach one in the next couple of weeks, the union's member may vote to strike again.
The last time writers walked off the job, they were out for 100 days. When the entertainment industry takes a hit in a city like Los Angeles, a lot of people feel the impacts—beyond the TV industry.
Take Two's A Martinez spoke with Cynthia Littleton, managing editor at Variety. She's covering the union's current negotiations. And is the author of "TV on Strike: Why Hollywood Went to War over the Internet".
Littleton boiled down the crux of the 2007-2008 writers'strike to the introduction of digital media. "Digital distribution of content raised a whole host of issues for the major entertainment companies," she said. "And also for how Hollywood's creatives– writers, producers, and actors– how they would get paid in this new world order."
Writers and other industry professionals took a substantial economic hit as result of the 100-day strike. "The networks lost their pipeline of programming and writers lost their income, " explained Littleton. "Many writers had longstanding relationships with studios that ended because the strike initiated what's known as a ‘force majeure’ situation, so existing contracts could be wiped out."
A disruption in the entertainment industry has a ripple effect on the greater economy. Shari Stearns is the owner of Ultimate Cleaners in Studio City. Her studio-adjacent dry cleaning business not only accommodates wardrobe cleaning, but a big part of her clientele works in film and TV production. Here’s what Stearns said about the last writers' strike:
It impacted us I would say maybe 30 percent. It was pretty bad. It was definitely hard. I had to cut people and cut back wherever we could to survive. The writers' strike was definitely something that I won't forget.
With film and TV positions making up such a large percentage of the Los Angeles job market, Angelenos who usually contribute a lot to the local economy were operating on a much tighter budget. To boot, "a lot of smaller companies around the major studios provide them with bagels, and coffee, and newspapers everyday," said Littleton. "And if all that is curtailed, the ripple effect is really significant".
Today, the work life of a Hollywood writer looks different than it did 10 years ago. Audiences enjoy what is being referred to as a third "Golden Age" of television, much of it delivered through on demand streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon. And although this means more work for writers, some say that the evolving format of content and how it's produced, is causing many to work harder for less compensation.
The Writers Guild of America has issued letters to influential shareholders warning how a potential strike could impact their business. One such notice went out to Time Warner cautioning that a work stoppage may delay a merger in the works with AT&T. Littleton thought that while a strike could likely have an effect on their merger, the details were perhaps a bit "overstated".
If an agreement isn't reached by their deadline, writers could walk off the job on May 2. If they do, Littleton explained, "for the new fall season, things will be delayed. And then there are a lot of cable programs that go into production over the summer, so it'll have a pretty swift impact."
To hear the full interview with Cynthia Littleton, click on the blue Media Player above.
Marvel's metrics: Are superhero publishers super out of touch?
The dust is still settling after Marvel Vice President of Sales David Gabriel made some unsettling comments last weekend.
Here's part of what he said:
"What we heard was that people didn't want any more diversity. I don't know that that's really true, but that's what we saw in sales."
The backlash to Gabriel's comments was swift, with people across social media platforms taking apart his claim. Because L.A. is an epicenter of comic book culture, we hit one of the dozens of comic book stores near our station to hear what they had to say: Comics Factory in Pasadena. The shop's assistant manager, Stacy Hill, said Gabriel's comments that readers don't respond to diverse characters doesn't reflect her experience:
"I've never found that to be true, 'cause people are always excited when there's any sort of diversity in comics ... 'cause comics have been a mainstay for a long time. ... You have your characters that have always been there and when you get a spin on a new character and it appeals to so many different fan bases ... because you know they have issues and stuff that are being addressed in these comics, they have somebody to relate to."
That may be just one comic book retailer's perspective, but it was echoed online. So what about the hard numbers — those sales figures Gabriel referenced? Alex Abad-Santos wrote about this for Vox and he joined A Martinez for more.
Context is important
To understand where David Gabriel's comments come from, you have to step back and look at where they took place, according to Abad-Santos: a retailers summit.
"David Gabriel was actually repeating what retailers were saying. When I say 'retailers,' I mean the comic book shop owners that were invited to the summit. And so, they [Marvel] were saying that he was just simply reiterating what he heard, but it was taken in the context of, 'this is what Marvel believes, and this is Marvel formal policy.'"
To gain a better understanding of where these retailers were getting this from, Abad-Santos gave a general overview of where these sales numbers come from, and it comes back to the retailers themselves.
"Comic books have this, it's this weird esoteric market, where comic book retailers actually buy comic books three months in advance.
"What happens is that those comic book retailers, that's a final sale for them. They can't sell back the issues that they don't sell. So you can have a situation where the comic book retailers will put in an order and this comic book becomes a bestseller ... and no one's even bought it yet. It hasn't even gotten into someone's hands.
"And so I think what you have is a lot of retailers pre-ordering and ordering the big heroes like the Avengers, the crossovers, the X-Men, and I think you have that kind of conflict of what retailers want and what customers want."
Other metrics?
The comic book industry has some catching up to do. Music and television have adapted and now incorporate streaming into how they calculate ratings. Books take e-book sales into consideration. But comic books aren't quite there yet.
"The problem is that Marvel and a lot of comic book companies don't give out those numbers so freely. Like they'll say, 'Well this is a top seller,' but we don't really know what those numbers look like or exactly what the demographic is of who's buying them."
When it comes to the actual retailers, some are actually stuck with some of these titles and it doesn't look like they're going anywhere. But if that's the case, is it safe to say that a connection between low sales and diverse characters might be real for them?
"You could say that, but I'd be a little careful. There are a lot of reasons why comic books don't sell. It could be a price point, it could be a weird crossover, it could just be a bad writer that you don't like.
"There are a lot of comic books from A-list heroes like Iron Man that just completely plummet into mediocrity, and no one is ever like, 'Hey, well, maybe we should stop having white guy straight superheroes because they're not selling.'
"The problem is there's a lot of factors, and when you single out that one factor, I think you have to be very careful and just completely sure that you want to put this out there, because you're alienating a lot of your fans and a lot of work that you've been doing over the past few years."
Where does Marvel go from here?
These comments were a tough blow for Marvel fans that follow heroes like Miles Morales — the half-black, half-Latino Spider-Man — or Kamala Khan, a new iteration of Ms. Marvel who is a Pakistani-American teen from New Jersey.
"Their comments hurt the whole idea of it, because you expect Marvel who has been backing these heroes to just kind of support them, right? And I think when you blame your low sales numbers on heroes that are non-white and heroes that are women, you just kind of wonder, 'Why would you say that and try to alienate your fanbase that you're trying to build?'"
So where can Marvel and its fans go from here?
"For Marvel, it's definitely a wake-up call. To see, well, we're not reaching the people that we should be reaching, and it gives them this gut check that ... if they're marketing to the right people, what their marketing strategy is [and] how to get fans interested.
"And I think for fans there's also this question of ... if we really like a book, how can we support a book better? How can we go into a comic book store, tell people to go into a comic book store? If this is the way things are being counted, how can we figure out how to affect that kind of change and try to get more support for these good books?"
To listen to the full segment, click the blue play button above.