How CA could be impacted by NAFTA, using the internet to expose attendees of the Charlottesville rallies, Santa Margarita plays in the Little League World Series.
Trump's Charlottesville remarks ruffle the rest of the GOP
The fallout from Charlottesville continues unabated following President Trump's press conference at Trump Tower Tuesday. The topic was supposed to be infrastructure, but the conversation soon turned to the violence in Charlottesville -- and Trump's response to it.
During the questioning, the president stuck to his initial remarks. The protesters and counter-protesters were both at fault.
"Yes, I think there's blame on both sides," said the president, addressing reporters. "I think there's blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it. And you don't have any doubt about it either."
Many Congressional Republicans have taken steps to distance themselves from the president, although the path forward for the GOP, and its troubled relationship with the president, remains uncertain.
To get a sense of where things stand, Take Two host A Martínez spoke with Mike Madrid, Republican strategist at the Grassroots Lab, and Jeremy Carl, a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford.
To listen to the interview, use the blue media player above.
Southern California watches as Trump Administration begins talks to retool NAFTA
Trade representatives from Canada and Mexico are in Washington D.C. for the re-negotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which kicked off Wednesday morning. President Trump has called NAFTA a "disaster" and "the worst trade deal" ever signed by the U.S.
Earlier this year, he threatened to pull the U.S. out of the deal altogether, but later switched gears and called for a retooling.
What's next for the rules governing trade with America's neighbors?
Michael Camuñez is CEO of the consulting firm Monarch Global Strategies. He's the former assistant secretary of commerce under President Obama. He spoke with KPCC business correspondent Andrea Bernstein about what Californians should watch for as NAFTA talks begin, and he joined A Martinez on Take Two on Wednesday.
First, if we're looking at substantial changes to this trade agreement, tell us what NAFTA has meant for California's economy?
Most people don't realize, but when we're talking about Mexico and Canada, we're talking about two of the most important economies in the world not just for California but for the United States.
[These countries are our] first and third largest export markets. We do a lot of trade over a trillion dollars of trade annually – with the NAFTA countries, and this sustains about 6 million jobs in this country. It's been a huge success in terms of the deepening of our manufacturing base, even though a lot of people have the perception that we lost a lot of jobs due to NAFTA.
The truth is, while we did lose some, we also gained depth in many areas, including the automotive and aerospace sectors, where we've deepened our integration with Canada and Mexico and have really been able to compete globally as a result of this regional platform.
So it's been a big success overall. There have been challenges with the agreement. In free trade there are always winners and losers, and I don't mean in any way to make light of those people in parts of the country that have lost jobs as a result of the agreement. But overall, it's been a big win for the United States.
I have Facebook friends from the Midwest, and they can't stand NAFTA. They think all the jobs left and went to Mexico. That's the perception.
That's a common criticism of the agreement, but if you actually drill down on the data and look at what's actually happened, and there have been some very good empirical studies, what you find is the United States has lost competitive advantage in some manufacturing sectors. But over 85 percent of the jobs corresponding with NAFTA that have been lost have been ... lost due to technology. So those jobs would have been lost regardless, whether we have a trade agreement or not. In fact, if you look at where we have lost the most jobs, we've lost more jobs in sectors where we don't have free trade agreements than where we do.
In fact, the Mexican government as part of its case for NAFTA has put out some interesting analysis showing that in those sectors where we trade with NAFTA in the manufacturing space, we've actually seen increases in manufacturing jobs in the NAFTA sectors... And the reason for that is that the United States, Canada, and Mexico form one regional economic block with integrated supply chains.
We talk about a car being made in South Carolina, or being made in Mexico. But the truth is a car today is made in North America.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. The conversation continues ... please click on the blue media player above to hear the full segment.
Social media users ID Charlottesville demonstrators on the Internet
Some are taking to Twitter and other social media platforms to out the identities of participants in the weekend's white-supremacy march in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The Twitter handle @YesYoureRacist has been posting photos, names and - in some cases - employer information about people who participated. One Bay Area man lost his job as a result.
It's all part of a larger trend called "doxxing," or posting documents and other information about someone's identity to publicly shame that person.
Whitney Phillips is an assistant professor of literary studies and writing at Mercer University and author of "This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture."
Take Two spoke to her about this history and the impacts of doxxing. Here's an excerpt from that interview:
"As online interactions have become more and more tethered to our persistent offline identities, doxxing has become increasingly prominent and is used as sort of a punitive tool, both for racists and anti-racists ... They both use it to shame and potentially harm people who are engaged in behaviors that they designate as unacceptable, or worthy of punishment."
To listen to the full segment, click on the blue play button above.
LA steps up its cybersecurity game
Whether it's holding a company's data for ransom or stealing bank information, cyber attacks are a growing safety issue.
According to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, there are 4 million cyber attacks on city computer networks every day. They've become such a threat that Los Angeles is launching a cyber security initiative to protect city residents and businesses.
Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Jeff Gorrell is part of the effort. He spoke to A Martinez about the city's new initiative.
To listen to the full segment, click the blue play button above.
Santa Margarita is on deck to represent SoCal in Little League World Series
It's Southern California versus the world in the Little League World Series. The annual youth baseball extravaganza starts this week in Pennsylvania, and Southern California's own Santa Margarita team qualified for the global tournament after winning Saturday's game.
"The last out is always the hardest one to get," CJ Ankrum, Santa Margarita head coach, told Take Two's A Martinez. "For it to be a routine little pop out in the left side in foul territory... I'd rather see that and hold my breath on that one than I would one that's driven deep into the gap."
Ankrum is now near Williamsport, Pennsylvania where his team will play their first game of the series on Saturday.
The coolest thing is we are the best team in California, which nobody can take away from us. We're the best in the West and now we're one of the best eight teams in our nation. And to be one of the final 16 in the world? That's an accomplishment in itself.