California senators say no to Sessions, San Bernardino's police chief speaks out on President Trump's executive orders, why South L.A. is making its own rules
As Trump makes executive orders, where are California's Dems?
Life is moving pretty fast right for all of us right now, but especially if you're trying to follow everything coming out of the White House since Donald Trump took office.
He keeps churning out executive orders almost as fast as the Golden State Warriors put up three-point shots.
But are Capitol Hill's Democrats trying to block those shots? Although with Republicans controlling Congress, it's not as if the Dems can really do much to stop most of what the new President plans to do.
Marisa Lagos, political reporter for KQED, joins Take Two to walk us through what California's Democratic delegation has been saying and doing in the face of Trump's moves.
San Bernardino police chief: Trump's travel ban doesn't make city safer
A lot changed in San Bernardino on December 2, 2015.
Fourteen people died and dozens of others were injured when a married couple, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik opened fire during a party at the Inland Regional Center.
In the days that followed, we learned that Farook was a U.S. citizen. His wife was a native Pakistani living in Saudi Arabia. She'd obtained residency here after marrying Farook.
Six days after the attack, then-candidate Donald Trump called for a total ban on all Muslims entering the country.
https://youtu.be/-sz0KY-3PbQ?t=29s
That would become a major talking point in the discourse that would follow.
Although it falls short of a total ban, President Trump wasted no time signing an executive order barring travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days.
Will this help prevent attacks like the one in San Bernardino? Police Chief Jarrod Burguan isn't sure. But he says the speed at which Trump acted put him on his heels:
"I think it's fair to say that it surprised me a little bit at how quickly he did," Burguan says. "One would normally think that there would be a lot more debate about a move like that."
Burguan says he is in favor of a "strong" immigration policy, and believes a good vetting process could increase the safety of the country. He stopped short of saying whether he supported the ban.
The Chief noted the order does nothing to prevent homegrown terror and self-radicalized attackers. And he said the temporary travel ban would have likely done little to prevent the San Bernardino attackers from entering the country.
"The female suspect in our case had immigrated [to] the United States a year before with an immigration visa to essentially marry her fiance, who was the male suspect in this case," Burguan said. "He was a U.S. citizen. She was of Pakistani origin, and as people have asked me about this particular ban, of course, Pakistan is not on the list of these countries. So it doesn't have a direct impact."
Nor does Burguan think the executive order will reduce the risk for those living in San Bernardino.
"I don't think this particular immigration ban from certain countries does anything specifically to make San Bernardino safer," Burguan said.
Click on the blue bar above to listen to the full conversation with San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan.
A glimpse inside the inner workings of the South LA community
Let's set a scene for you:
It’s lunchtime in a high school cafeteria when suddenly a milk carton goes flying in the air. It hits one boy on the head, there’s yelling and then someone swings. As the fight progresses, the students begin to divide along the courtyard.
Sounds like something that can happen in any of the thousands of high schools across the country, but it's what takes place next that makes this particular incident unique to the people and the setting in which the incident took place:
"These two young boys, one African-American, one Latino start talking to each other, like they're working out a problem. And then when it's over, the relations between both groups kind of just settles down and things go back to normal."
That anecdote according to Cid Gregory Martinez, based an experience he had working in a high school in South L.A.
It’s a story he opens up his new book with, “The Neighborhood has its own rules: Latinos and African Americans in South Los Angeles.” The example is important to understanding how conflict in South L.A. is dealt with outside of traditional systems.
It's one of the many ideas Cid Gregory Martinez explored during the many years he lived in the South L.A. community. For this book, he conducted an ethnography, which is the method of study that observes society from the point of view of the subject:
"What I did in South L.A. is I wanted to look at different dimensions of the community. So, what I did is I volunteered and lived in parishioners of a local catholic church in the area and this was kind of in the south south part of South L.A. I volunteered and worked with kids who were on probation. A lot of them were kicked out because of their gang affiliation and that was kind of the in the central part of South LA in the west part of South L.A. And then I volunteered and spent a lot of time at the Los Angeles city neighborhood councils and that was all over South L.A, I kind of wanted to get a feel.
I spent a lot of time looking at religion, at gangs via schools and local politics. I did what's called a community study and I wanted to see how those different segments of the community intersected and shaped people's daily lives."
For more on his findings and the understandings he gained regarding the community and how it reduced violence and conflict outside of the system, Cid Gregory Martinez stopped by Take Two to speak with A Martinez.
To hear the full segment, click the blue play button above.
Trump's travel ban halts visas for Iraqis who helped US military
Among the people affected by President Trump's temporary ban on travel from seven predominantly Muslim nations are hundreds of Iraqis who helped the U.S. during wartime. Many served as interpreters and were on the front lines with the U.S. military.
In 2008, the U.S. allowed interpreters, and others who had worked with American forces, to apply for a Special Immigrant Visa. But the president's recent order banning travel from Iraq has halted their applications.
"It means the difference between life and death," said Mac McEachin, national security policy associate at the International Refugee Assistance Project. His group helps Iraqis and those from other countries apply for visas.
According to U.S. State Department data, the U.S. issued more than 1,500 visas in 2016 to Iraqis who worked with the U.S., and their family members. McEachin said an estimated 700-800 more are still awaiting approval.
"We leave these guys at extraordinary risk from the Taliban or Al Qaeda," McEachin said. "And not only them, but their wives and children."
Kelsey Campbell, an Air Force veteran who served in Iraq, said her experience working with local interpreters changed her own view of Iraqis and refugees. Often the interpreters' roles extended beyond translating to reading the cultural mood of a situation and providing advice to the military, she said.
"Many of them have been able to warn of impending dangers and have saved American lives," said Campbell, also an advocate with Veterans for American Ideals Initiative, a nonpartisan group.
Tuesday Reviewsday, it's all about the music
If you don't have the time to keep up with all the new music that's available - take heart, we've got the perfect solution.
Every week our music experts come in to talk about the best new tunes in one short segment. This week, Billboard's
and music journalist
join A Martinez with their top picks. To hear the full discussion click on the audio embedded above.
Leila's picks:
Manu Chao, the no-borders French singer/songwriter who became known as the harbinger of Spanish, world fusion in the 1990s. Manu Chao had massive global success with his 1998 album Clandestino, or Clandestine.
He hasn’t released an album since 2007’s Radiolina. But last week, he broke his musical silence offering fans three free songs that you can download on his website.
The song, “No solo en China hay future” (There’s Future Beyond China), is all about acting locally and doing good, all to set to feel-cool reggae beat and a kind of norteño accordion.
The second selection is a big departure for him - its the track “Moonlight Avenue,” - sung in English written with Greek actress Klelia Renesi.
Leila also suggested new music by Spanish singer-songwriter Melendi. You may not know his name but in Spain, Melendi is a big star, and at 38 years old has the top selling album in the country right now. He’s a pop star, plays a mix of singer/songwriter fare with touches of flamenco and Latin American beats.
This album is called “Quítate las gafas” (Take Off Your Glasses), and the track “Desde que estamos juntos,” is kind of mix of pop and Cuban trova.
Justino's picks:
The band, Jesse and Joy, are siblings born in Mexico, who began seriously writing songs in 2001, when they were 18 and 15. Their new album, Jesse and Joy, is sort of new territory for them - their first bilingual project.
But their late father is Mexican and their mother is American, so they grew up in a very bilingual setting and mastered both languages ... so its a natural step.
Justino's first selection is the single, More Than Amigos, here's an acoustic version:
And here's a live performance where they showcase both the Spanish and English versions of their song, Helpless/Dueles:
His next selection is from the band, Buscabulla and their new album, EP II. Raquel Berrios and Luis del Vall are Buscabulla. They were born and raised in Puerto Rico and eventually moved to New York City.
In 2014 they released their self-titled EP (produced by Dev Hynes of Blood Orange on Kitsuné). Their second EP II was self-released in January 2017 via Baby Making Records. Here's the song, Frio.