The ongoing court battle over the travel ban, a look at your March 7th election ballot, and we examine if California can survive without federal funding.
3 things to know about what's next for Trump's travel ban
Today, lawyers for the Trump Administration are presenting a brief challenging a federal judge's order that blocks its executive order affecting refugees and travel.
The president signed the plan late last month. The order temporarily bans travel from seven mostly Muslim nations and bars refugees from Syria indefinitely. As a result of the federal court's ruling, that ban has been lifted – temporarily. But the long-term picture is still not clear.
Jessica Levinson is a law professor at Loyola Law School. She highlights three key issues about the legal tussle over the ban:
What is the practical effect of this latest order from Federal District Judge James Robart of Seattle?
As long as the stay is still in place, the practical effect is that the executive order is not going to be enforced.
What are the key constitutional issues at the heart of the legal challenge?
The questions are: under the 14th Amendment, does this impermissibly treat people differently? Does it discriminate against them? And what we mean, specifically, is does this discriminate against Muslims because of the way the executive order is drafted and because of its effect? The other constitutional question has to do with the First Amendment and the "establishment" of religion.
Could this head to the Supreme Court?
This depends, but my sense is that something dealing with the power of the Executive Branch with respect to national security or this executive order specifically, may head to the Supreme Court. My guess is that the administration may try and wait to appeal to the Supreme Court until they have a full Supreme Court again, meaning until the nominee, Neil Gorsuch, is on the Supreme Court. At that point they have a court that leans conservative and I think the Trump administration would hope [it] would lean toward their perspective.
Click on the blue player button above to hear the full interview with A. Martínez and Jessica Levinson.
Is a 'Hugo Chavez wannabe' the early frontrunner in Mexico's 2018 presidential race?
Mexico will elect a new president in 2018, and the campaigns are already ramping up.
One early frontrunner in the race has been called a "Hugo Chavez wannabe" by a former State Department official, and his candidacy could spell trouble for the US.
The candidate's name is Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. He's run for office twice already, losing each time. But now, things are different. Political rhetoric north of the border has some Mexicans feeling that current president, Enrique Peña Nieto, isn't strong enough to go head-to-head with President Trump.
Trump's candidacy and subsequent presidency have further polarized politics in Mexico, giving rise to populist rhetoric like that of Lopez Obrador. Many hope to end the country's "subordinate" relationship with the US.
Nacha Cattan wrote about it for Bloomberg and joined Take Two to talk about it.
Press the blue play button above to hear the full interview.
After last storm's landslides, LA keeps a vigilant eye on rain conditions
The rain has returned to Southern California. Meteorologists say this storm could bring up to an inch this time around.
The last couple of storms brought some drama to the region so to see how Los Angeles is faring in today's downpour, we checked in with Jeff Reeb. He's Director of the L.A. County Office of Emergency Management.
So far it looks like a moderate amount of rain is coming down. We love long, prolonged, gentle rain. That's what we love. It charges our aquifers or fills up our watersheds. And that is what we have going on right now.
When the storm cells that come through that can exceed a half an inch of rain per hour up to an inch or more like we saw hit our coastal regions in the last storm, that very very heavy rain is what causes our urban flooding. It saturates our hillsides and can cause debris flows out of the burn scars. When we have this long-term, general to moderate rain, those problems don't occur and then it's really a positive event because it's helping with the California drought.
Quotes edited for clarity.
To hear the interview, click on the Media Player above.
Be a better friend online, despite your politics
Are you finding it hard to check social media, nowadays, because of the political bickering between your friends and family?
Us, too.
But it's also tough to avoid getting drawn into the fray when you feel like you can shut down that one person with a single reply.
Amy Alkon says to resist that urge.
"We have to pre-plan for the person we want to be on the internet rather than the person we're triggered to be," says Alkon, the author of, "Good Manner for Nice People Who Sometimes Say the F-Word."
There's a phenomenon called confirmation bias, where people – including you – will give greater weight to any information that confirms what you already believe.
"Because of confirmation bias, you are not going to change minds," she says. "This is a pointless battle."
That means you're not winning an argument because you start TYPING IN ALL CAPS or link to articles you think are bulletproof.
It's just instant gratification since the internet makes arguments easy and fast.
"But you don't want to let other people transform you into some sort of ugly person that you don't really want to be," say Alkon.
If the argument spawned on Facebook, she suggests you write to every person, individually, and ask them to bow out of the conversation.
"If you post, 'Let's keep it civil,' people ignore that and keep going on with what they've been saying," she says.
On Twitter, you can just mute the conversation with someone so you don't see follow-ups from them anymore.
"And I like to tell them that I'm muting them because that way they don't keep going," Alkon says. "Often, they'll just stop because they know you're not looking anymore."
In general, think of social media like Thanksgiving dinner: don't bring up politics.
You can take it a step further and spread some joy (which we all need, nowadays).
"One kind act a day, especially for a stranger, should be our cover charge for living in this world," she says.
And at least see everyone online as real people, not an argument.
For every dollar Californians give to DC, we get back...
California would be the sixth-largest world economy if it broke off into its own nation.
Could our state make it on its own if it didn't rely on money from D.C.?
It might have to if President Trump follows through on stripping federal funds from the whole state.
In a recent interview with Fox News, he complained about the dozens of California cities that are sanctuary cities, which means they don't work with federal officials to track down and prosecute undocumented immigrants.
"California in many ways is out of control, as you know," he said. "I don't want to defund anyone. I want to give them the money they need to properly operate as a city or state. If they're going to have sanctuary cities, we may have to do that. Certainly that would be a weapon."
Now, legally, he can only cut off funds to state programs connected to the issue at hand.
In this case, if local law enforcement doesn't cooperate with the feds on immigration, then the feds can only hold back money meant for local law enforcement.
But let's say we take Trump at his word – to completely pull federal funding from California.
Mathematically, it wouldn't be so bad if we had to pay our own bills.
In 2015, Californians sent the IRS a grand total of $405.8 billion.
That same year, Uncle Sam spent some money in the state to pay for things like upkeeping roads, keeping us healthy through Medi-Cal and Medicare, and maintaining national parks like Yosemite.
But the cash we got is short of what we gave.
The state's Legislative Analyst's Office says we took in $368 billion through federal spending.
That means 91 cents of every dollar you sent to the federal government circled back home.
So if California kept money that taxpayers normally send to Washington, it doesn't look bad on paper.
California Democratic leaders responded Monday to President Trump's threat of defunding the state, AP reported:
"If this is what Donald Trump thinks is 'out of control,' I'd suggest other states should be more like us," said Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount.
California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon said state residents contribute more to federal coffers than their state gets in return, and any sanctions against California would ripple nationwide.
"President Trump's threat to weaponize federal funding is not only unconstitutional but emblematic of the cruelty he seeks to impose on our most vulnerable communities," de Leon said.
Rendon, de Leon and other Democratic leaders in California have fiercely criticized Trump and vowed to fight his policies through the Legislature and in court.
On the Lot: La La Land rolls on, Disney's Iger walks a Trump tightrope
Some years it's clear that a single film is the front-runner to win the most Oscars. This year, there's a 900 pound gorilla.
La La Land got another big boost over the weekend, when its director, Damian Chazelle who the award for best director from the group that really matters, The Director's Guild. It's yet another indication that the movie will have a very good night at the Oscars. And it could make for a little history. If Chazelle wins, the 32-year-old will become the youngest director ever to win an Academy Award.
In other industry news, Vanity Fair's Rebecca Keegan tells us about Disney chief Bob Iger, and his attempt to thread a pretty tight needle. Iger is the only Hollywood CEO to serve on President Trump's business advisory council, and he's getting some heat for it. Keegan says Disney's situation is somewhat unique among studios, since it has massive theme park operations in sites across the globe. And she notes that few are as politically savvy as Iger, who some think may be preparing to run for Governor of California.
Click on the blue bar to listen to the full conversation with Rebecca Keegan.