Last night's Trump rally in Costa Mesa, the 'pretty bland' speeches of the 2016 presidential race, this summer's Cinespia series at the Hollywood Forever cemetery.
Trump rally turns ugly in Costa Mesa
In Orange County GOP frontrunner Donald Trump gave a speech at the OC Fair and Event Center in Costa Mesa.
But things turned ugly when a crowd of mostly anti-Trump protesters clashed with Trump supporters.
Chris Haire is a reporter with the Orange County Register -- he was there last night and we talked to him about what he saw.
Presidential candidates have delivered some pretty ‘meh’ speeches this race. Here’s why.
A command of the English language is an essential qualification for any commander-in-chief.
The right words delivered in just the right way can secure them a place in history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amNpxQANk0M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzRg--jhO8g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtYdjbpBk6A
So, naturally, one might think that this election season there would also be some stirring oratory.
Sadly, this is not the case, argues writer Seth Stevenson. In a recent piece for Slate, Stevenson asks the question: what happened to elegantly crafted speeches?
Take Two put that question to Dylan Loewe. He's the former speechwriter for Vice President Joe Biden.
Press the blue play button above to hear the interview.
What Trump rally clashes say about OC politics
Why did things get so heated last night at the Donald Trump rally in Costa Mesa?
There probably is no one, clear-cut answer, but a lot might be explained by shifts in Orange County population and politics.
While it's long been known as a right-leaning enclave of California, political leanings within Orange County have shifted. Now during a polarizing national election, tensions are running high.
Louis DeSipio, professor of political science and Latino studies at UC Irvine, joined Take Two to discuss the current political climate in Orange County.
"We refer to Orange County as a single entity, and it is from a legal perspective, but people are much more focused on cities and I think what's interesting now is the three largest cities in the county are majority Democrat... So the county has a characteristic, but the cities I think are a little bit different. The coastal communities still lean largely Republican, but they're not necessarily the Trump kind of Republican."
To hear the full interview, click the player above.
El Niño did nothing to cut the intensity of SoCal's fire season
El Niño was supposed to bring a torrent, but most of the wettest storms ended up circling around Southern California.
Even if we were deluged, though, no amount of rain could have dampened the outlook for fire season which remains elevated.
Over 29 million trees have died, says CAL FIRE, and no amount of rain will bring them back.
Take Two talks with CAL FIRE director Chief Ken Pimlott for more.
Interview highlights:
When the initial El Nino predictions came out, did you think this would be an easier year for us?
I think everybody was hopeful that El Nino would bring rain, particularly to Southern California, but we always plan for the worst. We have a long history in California of devastating fire seasons, we have a mediterranean climate that is conducive, even in years that have plentiful rainfall, we had the potential. While we were hopeful , we were also preparing for the potential that it didn’t materialize to the extent that we wanted.
We did get some rain, but it didn’t quite materialize to the extent that would’ve been ideal. How big of a bummer is that?
Actually ... more than California probably experienced the best impact and beneficial results from it in that we were sort of in a season that we were looking at more normal trending season, right now in the spring months, which still means that we have potential for wildfire. South of Sacramento, as you indicated, rainfall is not what was anticipated so we have conditions, throughout the central Sierra, the central coast and Southern California that may receive rain but four years of drought produced vegetation that is significantly below normal. The vegetation is still very dry. It would take several seasons of El Nino-like rainfall to really turn around the status, if you will, of the vegetation to be more normal.
What is your outlook for how bad the summer might be?
We treat fire season in California as year round. There are just peak periods during the year that are of most concern and obviously the peak summer months are what we’re targeting. In terms of that, we’re trending above normal fire potential in the southern and central sierras and the areas of the Southern California mountains. This is not only because of the dry conditions and tree mortality, but also, there’s actually a significant lighter fuel component, a grass crop. The rain that we did get was very conducive to producing an annual grass crop, which is essentially the kindling. That’s where the fire starts, just like in a campfire and can draw it up into the larger vegetation. So, we’re prepared, just as we have been in the last several years. We have a significant augmentation of resources that we’re prepared to deploy around the state and that’s not only firefighters on the ground but additional aircrafts and other assets as needed.
To hear the full interview, click on the link above. This interview has been edited for clarity.
California's high speed rail project and the $64 billion dollar plan
When it is finally up and running, California's high speed rail project will be fast... very fast. Speeds of up to 220 miles per hour they say.
Getting to that point, however, has been a process that has been very slow-moving, to say the least.
But there was progress made yesterday as the board overseeing the project approved a revised $64 billion dollar plan.
Reporter Tim Sheehan of the Fresno Bee joins joined the show for more.
To hear the full segment, click the blue play button above.
Paddy Breathnach's 'Viva' puts Cuban drag culture in the spotlight
The new film "Viva" is about a young gay man named Jesus living in modern-day Cuba.
Jesus scrambles to make money as a hairdresser, mostly for drag performers who perform at a local club in Havana.
He dreams of one day taking the stage himself, and once he does, becomes the star of the show. But when his father is released from a 15-year stint in prison, his world is turned upside down.
Irish filmmaker Paddy Breathnach was inspired to make the film after seeing a drag show while on vacation in Cuba. He joined Take Two to discuss the film and what it was like to direct his Spanish-speaking actors, when he didn't speak much Spanish himself.
To hear the full interview, click the player above.
Teen birth rates dropped dramatically among blacks and Hispanics
Teen birth rates across the nation have fallen by more than 40 percent in the last decade.
A new study put out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that between 2006 and 2014, births to American teenagers ages 15 to 19 dropped significantly.
There was an even more dramatic drop among black and Hispanic teens, with birth rates falling by 44 percent and 51 percent, respectively. Bill Albert chief program officer for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy says he was not surprised by these findings.
"One of the nation's great success stories over the past two decades has been the historic decline in teen pregnancy and child bearing and the progress that the nation has made has been both very wide and very deep."
There are two reasons that could be contributing to this. The first is that teenagers in general are having less sex. The second is that teens today have better access to contraception and are taking advantage of long-acting contraception such as IUDs and other injectable implants.
"They're sort of set it and forget it kind of contraception," says Albert.
But despite the progress, blacks and Hispanics continue to have higher pregnancy rates than white teens.
"We have to recognize that teen pregnancy is both a cause and consequence of poverty. Economic disparities remain in the African American community and the Latino community and that is also playing a role."
But Albert remains optimistic that the decline will continue in the coming years.
What parents should know about teen genital cosmetic surgery
Warning: The contents of this interview may not be suitable for young people.
There's a long list of things teen girls agonize over: Size. Skin. Style.
Now there's a new concern — one that has doctors worried: Genital plastic surgery.
According to a report in the New York Times, there is an uptick in the number of teen girls seeking the procedure. The number of girls 18 and younger who actually went through with the surgery jumped from about 200 to 400 in one year. A group of gynecologists has issued guidelines to help doctors process these requests.
But why is this a concern for teen girls, and what do parents need to know?
New York Times reporter Roni Rabin and Dr. Julie Strickland, chair of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' committee on adolescent health care, joined host Deepa Fernandes.
Interview Highlights
On what genital cosmetic surgery is:
Dr. Strickland: "The kinds of procedures that teens are seeking out are really to modify the appearance of the external genitalia primarily... For some time we have known that adult women often seek modification of their external genitalia. Often that is a result of the normal aging process, or disruptions of their appearance during child birth. This is a little bit different in that, what we're seeing is more concern about teenagers who are unhappy with the native appearance of their genitalia or are concerned about the variation in size and shape."
Why this is something teenage girls are concerned about:
Dr. Strickland: "We certainly all have seen an uptick in concerns of, and much heightened awareness of, what the genitalia look like as far as teens. You know, many teens come in without really an accurate perception of the large variation of normal. So we often get more of a request to evaluate and to educate on what kind of procedures can be done to modify the appearance. A lot of them really don't realize the extensive surgical nature of what they're asking for, but they just come in with a general unhappiness and a need for reassurance that their genitalia is normal. We don't really know why that has happened, but certainly there's a cultural change that has occurred in that girls are much more aware of sort of an idealized image."
Roni Rabin: "What the doctors were telling me is this is a generation that is seeing a lot of imagery. And I have to say this because we got beaten up in the readers comments about this: They're seeing pornography. Soft, hard, I don't know. There's all the Instagramming, and the texting, and the social media, and there's a lot more exposure to imagery. And these images, as Dr. Strickland suggested, are usually idealized. They've been airbrushed. They're pretty, and symmetrical, and whatever colored in a way that's not reflective of the wide, human variation that's perfectly in the range of normal, and I think we have to be aware of that. And it also comes in the context of women doing a lot more to their bodies on a regular basis than may have been the case for older generations. Whether it's just polishing your nails and toe nails on a regular basis, and your eyebrows and waxing, and just a lot more grooming overall, and a lot more attention."
What parents can do before heading to a doctor's office:
Dr. Strickland: "I think just reassurance. There's certainly nothing wrong when a teen approaches their parents because they have concerns about their body or their body proportions. It's important for parents to have a good working knowledge — and they may also need that — about the normal growth and development, and the fact that puberty extends overtime and isn't a static episode in a young woman's life, and that actually growth and development occurs over many years."
It's back! This summer's Cinespia line up
What better way to watch movies than outdoors... with a picnic and thousands of other film fans?
That's what people have been doing at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery for nearly 15 summers now as part of the summer series known as Cinespia.
They recently released their line up for 2016.
For more on this summer's line up, John Wyatt joined the show. He's the founder behind the wildly successful Cinespia series.
To hear the full segment, click the blue play button.