San Diego Democrats use Tea Party manual, the Spitzer telescope behind discovery of Trappist-1 system, part 4 in our short film Oscar nominees: ‘Timecode’
A tea party 'playbook' could be helping Trump opponents turn the tables
"What has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." -Ecclesiastes 1:9
Ancient words again ring true, this time in the polarized arena of American politics.
The place: San Diego. Setting: present day. The activists: energized and organized. Their targets? Conservative lawmakers.
Using a playbook developed by former congressional staffers, groups are employing familiar tactics to get recognized at town halls, offices and "pretty much anywhere where you can find a lawmaker" in San Diego.
"They are taking moves directly from the tea party," says San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Joshua Stewart. He's followed activist groups like the San Diego chapter of Indivisible, the organization behind the playbook.
"They're quite open that they disagree with the tea party's politics, but they admire the objectives," Stewart says.
Activists opposed to the Trump agenda have latched onto hot-button issues like the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the President's travel ban, and the environment. And Stewart says they've got their sights set on the seats up for grabs in the 2018 midterm election.
The guide has been downloaded about 1.7 million times in recent weeks, says reporter Stewart. The document is easily accessible online for those hoping to learn from the successes of the far-right movement that bedeviled the Obama Administration.
"This has details on where to sit at a meeting — it says sit by yourself or in groups of two and spread out," Stewart says. "Always applaud when someone asks a question, ask pointed questions to the member of Congress to keep them in the hot seat, stick to a limited number of issues..."
The suggestion that stood out to Stewart?
"It said to hold microphones pretty tightly because then a staff member from the member of Congress won't be able to grab it from you," he says.
It's not clear whether these tactics have yielded meaningful dialogue, but they may have created a result; Republican representatives, possibly fearing public confrontation, have held few town hall meetings this week.
The collection of tea party-inspired tips will probably continue to inspire organizers in the months ahead. Stewart says that's because it's likely that more information will be added:
"I imagine as the midterm elections approach, it will contain more information about registering people on how to vote, how to get out the vote, how to convey a message, how to get the electorate fired-up," Stewart says.
Press the blue play button to hear the full interview.
What can and can't off-duty officers do?
Authorities are investigating a case in Anaheim that erupted between neighbors. But one of them is a police officer.
A scuffle broke out in front of an LAPD officer's home when that cop, who was off-duty at the time, confronted a group of teenagers allegedly walking across his lawn.
That officer pulled his gun from his waistband and fired a shot.
No one was hit.
You can see the full video below (Warning: Contains strong language):
It's unclear whether or not the teenagers knew the man was an off-duty cop.
Even if they did, how far do the powers of an off-duty officer go?
Peter Bibring, director of police practices at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, offers some advice.
Someone claims they are an off-duty police officer. Can you ask that person for their ID and badge number as proof?
You're certainly entitled to ask. ... But it's not clear that off-duty officer has to immediately identify themselves.
If an officer's uniformed and on-duty, they're required to carry a badge with a badge number. Obviously there are exceptions for that if they are in plain clothes.
But for an off-duty officer, it's really unclear.
Can an off-duty officer use all the authority and tools given to them by their department as if they were on duty?
Police officers, even while off-duty, have the authority to make arrests as if they were on-duty and the authority to carry a concealed weapon.
What are some examples of limits of things they can't dowhen off duty?
The department they work for can say, you can't carry a concealed weapon or you can't make arrests when you're off-duty.
But beyond that, the law is not particularly clear.
There are some circumstances where it's clear. For example, a lot of police officers work off-duty as security guards, and there's a pretty detailed body of law about what's okay and what's not when they're working for a private entity.
If an off-duty officer is a party to an altercation like this one in Anaheim, is their word and account of a situation treated differently in an investigation and in court?
In theory, no. The credibility of any witness should be assessed, but the other thing that we're seeing in this investigation is, of course, police officers are given deference by other police officers and investigating agencies.
Here we have what amounts to a dispute among neighbors about what was said. In that situation, the Anaheim police department arrested the two youths and let the officer go home.
That raises serious questions about whether that was the appropriate handling.
Even if an officer has the authority to, for example, make an arrest, is it a reasonable thing to do if an officer is escalating an incident about kids walking across their yard?
This isn't a situation where they were intervening to stop an armed robbery or a violent crime.
LA traffic by the numbers: congestion can cost Angelenos about $2,400 a year, study finds
Allow us to set a scene for you. It's 4:55 pm and you've wrapped up your day at work. You get in your car and flip through your radio dial, then you hear this:
"The typical driver in the Los Angeles urban area spent 104 hours in traffic congestion last year."
That's according to Bob Pishue he's a senior economist and co-author of the global traffic scorecard study by INRIX, a software and data service company.
Their 2016 global traffic scorecard puts L.A. at number one, top of the list!
YAY??
No. Number on in traffic congestion on a global scale. Okay so sure... L.A. traffic is a nightmare, but 104 hours out of the year means the average Angeleno spent 4 days plus eight hours stuck in traffic. How can that be?
"The 104 hours spent in congestion is based off of peak, both on highways and on city streets. But the full report looks at other things too, so congestion during the day, congestion at night. San Francisco for example has more congestion on city streets during the peak period than L.A. does, but New York has lower congestion on freeways than L.A. So it was really comparing some of the top cities and seeing how the transportation network functions in those areas."
Pishue explained the traffic scorecard comes together by sifting through terabytes of data...
"INRIX receives GPS data from over 300 million connected cars and devices. We cover over 500 million miles of road worldwide so, we're able to take a look at what's going on and see how the transportation network works in all of these cities."
So, once all of that information was gathered, Los Angeles came out on top in terms of gridlock, but what kinds of implications does that have economically?
"For L.A. it cost drivers a little bit more than $2,400 dollars last year in lost time, lost fuel from sitting in congestion as well as as the social cost of carbon emissions for direct costs. And indirect costs that are passed onto them in the form of higher prices for goods and services when freight trucks are stuck in traffic and can't get to the port, for example."
And while this study has been conducted annually for some time now, the methodology for 2016 was brand new.
""We wanted to take a look at the entire transportation network, so not just congested roads to get a more accurate and driver focused look at what's going on in L.A. to better represent the typical trip, whether its a business trip during the day or freight during the day or trips at night, for example."
While it all may sound like doom and gloom for those of us living in the L.A. area, that wasn't the intent of those who were behind the study.
"It's really to look at congestion in a new way, in an interesting way and be apart of the conversation when it comes to alleviating traffic congestion."
To listen to the segment, click the blue play button above.
NASA announces discovery of new planetary system
Yesterday NASA revealed the discovery of seven Earth-like planets circling a dwarf star about 40 light years from earth.. Three of them are considered LIKELY to have water, and in what scientists call the habitable zone.
Which means they could support life. Here's the full NASA press conference where they made the announcement.
The discovery comes courtesy of the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is managed by scientists at Caltech.
We spoke about the discovery and the new system with Gary Blackwood, NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program manager.
Auto makers set up collision with California regulators by lobbying for relaxed emissions standards
Scott Pruitt has only been head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency since Friday, but auto makers are wasting no time lobbying him. This week, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers wrote a letter to Pruitt asking him to withdraw passenger vehicle emissions rules put in place during the Obama administration.
The letter from Alliance CEO Mitch Bainwol said the EPA's vehicle emissions rules were "riddled with indefensible assumptions, inadequate analysis and a failure to engage with contrary evidence." Put in place in 2011 and finalized just last month, the rules require passenger vehicles to achieve an average fuel economy of 54.5 mpg by 2025.
General Motors, Toyota and Volkswagen are among the 12 auto makers represented by the Alliance, which contends the stricter fuel economy and emissions rules could result in the loss of 1 million jobs if consumers are unwilling to pay for more fuel efficient, and more expensive, vehicles.
Proponents of the emission curbs say they will, in fact, save billions of dollars, while improving air quality and limiting carbon emissions.
If the EPA does roll back the rules, it will set up a confrontation with California air quality regulators, who have put in place their own strict emissions standards and other plans to increase the number of zero-emissions vehicles.
Click on the blue bar above to hear the the entire conversation.
‘Timecode’ reminds its audience they're more than their monotonous job
Our series of interviews with Oscar nominated shorts continues.
In case you missed it, on Wednesday A Martinez spoke to writer, director and composer of "Ennemis Interieurs," Selim Azzazi. This short tackles anti-foreigner sentiment through a tense interrogation scene.
On Tuesday, we looked at the Hungarian short, "Sing," directed by Kristoff Deak. This short's major theme was about giving a voice to the oppressed and fighting injustice.
But we kicked off the whole series on Monday, with a look at "La Femme et le TGV." Director Timo Von Gunten discussed the film's theme's of loneliness and human connection.
On Thursday, we bring you a film called "Timecode."
A female parking lot security guard discovers that the person who works the shift before her loves to dance. That's because he dances as he walks through the lot while on his rounds right in front of the many cameras that record everything.
She then does the same and writes down the timecode for him so he can see her....which he does and then returns the favor.
Juanjo Gimenez Pena's is the film's director, and he says the idea for the film grew out of his own embarrassing experience.
"Twenty years ago I was working in a big company and I had some free time, some hours and I started using the company computers to write some ideas, scripts, writings. A colleague of mine discovered the writings but the use that she made of this writings was not polite. She used it not in a right way...
She showed the writings, without telling me, to the other colleagues and started laughing every week about my writings...I realized months later. So it was kind of a shock for me and I explained that little story to my co-writer and then we started working with that. I wanted to make a film about dance so we started changing dancing for writing and then that was the main idea behind Timecode."
One big takeaway from "Timecode," was how people can be so much more than what they appear, or what they do for a living...
"In some interviews I've told that for example...Kafka was working in an insurance company and Albert Einstein was working in a custom office. You are categorizing people by their uniform or their job but behind that uniform or behind that job maybe there is something special, there is beauty or a nobel prize behind that. Maybe that's the idea behind Timecode."
The other part of it too is that a lot of people work very routine monotonous jobs, just like the security guards in "Timecode." Would you say the film makes a case for finding something in your life that makes you happy, even if your job doesn't give you that?
"Of course, my main job is filmmaking since 20 years ago. But sometimes I collaborate with outside filmmaking or audio visual. At the time of the post production of "Timecode" I was working in a software program thing outside the filmmaking industry and at that time, nobody there in my office knew that I was a filmmaker...
I remember the day that we got selected for Cannes and I said to my colleagues, 'We got a selection for the Palme D'or!' And everybody was saying, 'Are you making films or what?' There are some things in common in my life or parts of my life with 'Timecode."
...I agree. I agree. These kinds of repetitive jobs that we have maybe prevent us to explore our creative...I think everybody has a creative way to explore."
Answers have been edited for length and clarity.