A cartoonist for the International New York Times discusses his reaction to the killings at Charlie Hebdo. Andrew Young, chair of the Andrew Young Foundation and friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., talks about the new film 'Selma.' Plus, wearable fitness trackers are popular these days. Tech writer Dave Pogue discusses what is done with the data that is collected, and if it's even accurate.
Deadly attack at Charlie Hebdo hits tight-knit community of political cartoonists
The killing in France of some of the country's most celebrated humorists and political cartoonists has sent a wave of shock and horror through the tight-knit global community of cartoonists - a group not known to shake easily.
French officials say one man sought in connection with the deadly shooting at the offices of a satirical magazine has surrendered. Two other suspects, a pair of brothers, remain at large.
Wednesday afternoon, they allegedly stormed into the offices of Charlie Hebdo and opened fire, killing 12 people.
People have rallied in France and across the world behind the magazine.
"We need to defend absolutely the freedom of speech," said Patrick Chappatte, editorial cartoonist for the International New York Times and currently a visiting scholar at USC. "Moderate people are able to be moderate and have free speech only because there are some people on the fringe."
Those provocateurs play a crucial role in society, said Chappatte, who added there is always a delicate balance between the protections of freedom and the need to maintain a respectful discourse.
Cartoonist contributed to this story.
Portland police and the mentally ill
This week the Portland Police Department announced a draft of guidelines intended to improve the way officers interact with people suffering from mental illness, and reduce unnecessary conflict.
The new policies give officers new options when dealing with the public. That includes not engaging with a mentally ill person, walking away from a call or waiting to take a person into custody for reasons of safety.
Sargent Peter Simpson is public information officer for the Portland Police Bureau and speaks with A Martinez.
Andrew Young reflects on 'Selma'
The film "Selma" looks back at the time Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spent in the Alabama town of Selma during the civil rights movement.
Former Atlanta mayor and U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young was a friend of Dr. King's, and is depicted in the film. He joined host Alex Cohen to reflect on that time, and how it measures up with his own experience.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:
Remind us about the role that you played in the Selma to Montgomery march.
"I was the vice president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in those days, and that meant that I was the one who carried out Dr. King's orders, and it meant that I accompanied him on most of his meetings, and several of them with President Johnson."
When you heard that a major motion film was being made about this chapter in history, what did you first feel about that?
"Well, I felt good about it until I read the first script. The first couple of scripts were written by British writers that had little to no understanding of the civil rights movement. They were more fiction than fact. When I finally got the script that Ava DuVernay did, I thought it was moving very much in the right direction."
Take us back to that moment when you first got to see 'Selma' on the big screen. What was that like for you to see history revisited in that way?
"It shocked me because I wasn't prepared for the opening scene with the four little girls [the 1963 bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham]. And that was the start of what made us say we had to go on in Alabama. It's a beautiful way to start and remind us that this was not just a political campaign, this has been a lifetime struggle…I've been to the church, and I was there around the bombing, and I've heard the story, but to actually see four little girls laughing, and then suddenly having their lives quenched out, that still gets to me."
Although so much has changed within this culture, I think one of the things that was most powerful and most sad to me in watching this film was seeing how little, in some ways, things have changed.
“Well that's not quite true. What we were talking about essentially was segregation rights, which did not cost the country any money. It really improved the economy for stores to be desegregated and black people to get more jobs. The issues I think in Ferguson are more economic than they are racial. We will function better when everybody is included not only in the political and social decision-making, but also [when] everybody is a participant in the economy…democracy and free enterprise can only work together if everybody has not only access to the vote, but access to capital. Now people are just beginning to realize this. And so the movement in Ferguson, and the police violence and things, I think are symptoms of the beginning of a new movement. But I think we've made real progress."
If there’s one thing that you would like viewers of 'Selma' to take away, especially those who were not alive during this time, what would that be?
"That by working together and being able to disagree without being disagreeable, and to confront people with whom you are opposed without violence, you have a power that Gandhi called truth force. That is more powerful than any name-calling, or any brick-throwing, or any kind of violence you can drum up."
To listen to the full interview, click the button under “Listen Now” above.
The Wheel Thing: Autonomous cars creep closer to reality
Look Ma, no hands.
Despite voracious skeptics and vast legal and liability issues, automakers seem determined to bring self-driving cars to market.
They made that clear at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where car manufacturers from Audi to Ford showed off ideas for the future, and futurist technology that's available now.
Looking out to 2030 and beyond, Mercedes-Benz showcased a concept for a limo-sized autonomous car-that-could-be, featuring an open pod and swiveling seats, so passengers can gab while the car takes car of the pesky driving matters.
Audi sent a tricked-out version of its A7 from the Bay Area to Vegas (a trip of almost 600 miles). The sedan, with a few journalists as passengers, drove itself - in what the company calls "piloted mode" - to Vegas without incident, at speeds of up to 70 mph. The Audi uses a system of long and mid-range radar sensors, laser scanners and cameras to react to the world around it.
BMW is taking a slightly more conservative approach. It demonstrated an "active collision avoidance system" on its i3 electric car, and invited journalists to try and crash into something. The firm behind The Ultimate Driving Machine is betting its customers want to keep their hands on the wheel. Moritz Werling, BMW's lead engineer told reporters, "we think people will still love to drive BMW's themselves."
American and Japanese carmakers are also pursuing autonomy for their vehicles, but the Germans seem to be the most taken by the concept. VW is investing the most effort in its popular Golf model, and demonstrated a system that allows a driver to use hand gestures to do things like open the sunroof or adjust the seat position.
Before cars are available that offer drivers the chance to snooze behind the wheel (or imbibe in a potent potable) they'll probably feature limited autonomous capabilities. A big one is self-parking. BMW envisions a smart watch. A user utters a phrase - BMW suggested the rather crude, "Go park yourself" - and the car spins away, looking for a nearby space to settle into.
While it's clear that automobiles will continue to employ more and more driver assist features, there's a lot of work to be done before they can fully drive themselves. Interestingly, some see the technological hurdles as far less daunting than the legal and social ones. Who's responsible when your autonomous car runs into mine? And how many drivers will simply refuse to turn over control to a machine?
Still, there's big money on the table, betting that consumers will release their grip on the wheel. And in a world where many drivers text, scarf down burritos and apply eye liner while driving, a non-distracted self-driving car might be just the thing.
Susan Carpenter is auto and motorcycle critic for the OC Register, and appears every Thursday on The Wheel Thing.
$5 million legal bill for the LA Sheriff's department in jail abuse suit
The LA County Sheriff's department is out more than $6.3 million.
That's because five inmates claimed they were brutally beaten by deputies while housed at the Men's Central Jail.
A jury agreed with them, but on top of the nearly $1 million they awarded, the judge ruled that the department will have to pay out an addition $5.4 to settle up the legal fees.
Sharon Dolovich, professor of law at UCLA and faculty director of its Prison Law and Policy Program, explains that the high sum isn't that unusual and that it could change the way the department handles abuse allegations in the future.
Fitness trackers track daily habits, heart rate, sleep patterns...but what good is all that data?
Gadgets galore are being shown this year at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Among them, many wearable fitness trackers -- wristbands that track the steps you take in a day, your sleep patterns, your heart rate, even your blood oxygen levels.
It's a huge industry at this point. There's the FitBit, the UP band, the Garmin, the Razer Nabu, and dozens more, and the industry has topped $1 billion dollars.
Of course, being able to gauge aspects of your physical health without entering a doctor's office is appealing. Sure, having your personal statistics conveniently sent to your phone can help you better monitor your physical well-being. And you can easily share your stats with friends and compare how many steps you took that day or how much sleep you got -- now that's motivation for self-improvement!
But there are still some unanswered questions about these gadgets. What happens to all that personal data being collected? Who owns it? And how accurate is it anyway?
David Pogue is the founder of Yahoo Tech, a monthly columnist for Scientific American and the host of science shows on PBS’s “NOVA.” He posed some of these questions in Scientific American recently and he joined Take Two to discuss this with our resident FitBit fanatic, host Alex Cohen.
DOJ reminds schools of their obligations to English learners
Almost 5 million students in the U.S. are English learners, more than a fifth of them here in California.
Under federal law, states and school districts are required to identify students with limited English skills and provide them with language assistance. But schools in some states, like California, have fallen behind.
That's why this week the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education jointly issued new guidance reminding schools of the obligations they have to English learner students.
Vanita Gupta, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, joins Take Two for more.
State of Affairs: Barbara Boxer won't run in 2016, Gov. Brown inaugurated to historic term
On this week's State of Affairs, we start with news today of Senator Barbara Boxer's announcement that she won't be running for re-election in 2016:
Senator Boxer has served in Congress for more than three decades. What legacy does she leave behind?
Another big political story this week, Governor Brown was sworn in for a historic fourth term. But another person was sworn in who may be his successor. State Attorney General Kamala Harris was inaugurated to her second term and had some interesting things to say about race and policing.
To Pasadena now and over the holidays, the District Attorney's office charged a Pasadena employee with embezzling more than 6 million dollars. How have Pasadena residents reacted to the news?
And the city of Long Beach is also looking at some money issues of a different kind. What's the story here?