How Baton Rogue is coping with yet another tragedy, the measures LAPD is taking following Dallas and Baton Rouge, GOP opening comments and the lay of the land.
One of California's youngest delegates arrives at the Republican National Convention
It's day one of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio.
Delegates from the Golden State put their dedication to democracy on display early when, after lengthy flights, they were made to stay 60 miles outside of Cleveland in the town of Sandusky. GOP devotees were bussed to the Quicken Loans Arena.
On board one of those buses was 22-year-old Donald Trump delegate Claire Chiara, a senior at UC Berkeley. Chiara said that, initially, the sheltering arrangement left some delegates upset.
"I think that the initial reaction was a little bit of frustration, but when the delegation found out that we, as the largest delegation from the convention... were gonna be staying in an indoor water park... I think that people really warmed up to the idea."
Just moments off the bus, Chiara described the scene as "absolutely electric," with fellow delegates snapping photos nearby. "You can tell that everyone is feeling very patriotic and proud to be able to be a part of this," she said.
Chiara may be one of the state's youngest delegates, but she's no stranger to Republican politics. At Berkeley, she double majors in economics and political science. She's finance director for the California Young Republican Federation, and a candidate for State Assembly, District 15.
Chiara says Donald Trump wasn't her first choice at this time last year, but he was in the running.
"When you have a field with almost 20 different Republican candidates running about a year out, obviously when you get to June, your top choice is probably not going to be the top person on the ballot," Chiara said.
Chiara's shortlist included Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich.
"Early on, I decided that I wasn't gonna pick an early favorite, but I had four candidates that I was willing to support; one of them was Donald Trump. When he became our — essential — presumptive nominee in May, I decided I was already in favor of him, and now I'm going to stand behind him, and I do," she said.
Chiara says it was Trump's stance on gay rights that sealed the deal for her.
"Donald Trump has been cited by quite a few journalists now as being the most pro-LGBTQ Republican presidential nominee in history, and I think that's a great characterization of him. He is very moderate on those issues," she said.
When asked about running mate Mike Pence's past opposition to LGBTQ equality, Chiara was unperturbed.
"I don't think Donald Trump's gonna go back on 20 years of supporting the gay community because of his vice presidential pick."
Press the blue play button above to hear the full interview.
How to cope as tragic events seem to mount
The Bastille Day tragedy in Nice. Three officers killed in Baton Rouge, five in Dallas. The deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. The mass shooting Orlando.
From an attack on a restaurant in Bangladesh to the bombing of an airport in Turkey, at times it feels relentless.
How we can process such awful events, especially when they seem to come in such quick succession?
Psychologist Melissa Brymer, who specializes in trauma at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, spoke with Take Two to offer some advice.
What's the difference in how we deal with a personal tragedy and a more public one, the likes of which we've seen so many of lately?
Sometimes it depends on what our personal experiences have been. If we have grown up a member of a law enforcement family, the impact of Dallas and of Baton Rouge might hit home. You might have traveled to the south of France and walked those streets. And so sometimes we find connections with how we might have been close to those areas. Sometimes we've had our own experiences that help us understand what those people are experiencing.
What about the effect of having people all over the world connecting with a tragedy as opposed to a more personal tragic event that others might not know about?
There's a public mourning or a sense of wanting to come together to make a difference. We want to make a change, and that change— whether it's to stop terrorism, whether it's to change injustices that are happening in our community, or to stop violence— there's a collective response to try to honor the loved ones who were killed in this event, but also a question of what can we do about it and how can we stop these incidents from happening. And sometimes when there's more of a private tragedy, we don't get that outcry like you do with some of these public events, and so you're addressing it more privately and it can be sometimes isolating. At the same time, if you're in more of a public forum in your grief, that can also be a struggle.
What about just the sheer number of events? Can they have a sort of snowball effect?
Absolutely, and that's when I've been having to talk to people about how do you take care of yourself. You want to be making sure that these events aren't getting you to where you aren't able to function. So it's important to check in: How is this impacting you? Are you starting to have difficulty sleeping, not attending to wellness for yourself, such as taking care of how you're eating? And so sometimes its okay to step away from it all and give yourself a break and monitor what's happening in chunks rather than watching this all the time.
Having trouble sleeping or eating is one thing, but what about a general concern for what seems to be happening to humanity? A friend recently posted on Facebook: "I feel like something is happening, changing, darkening. Every day we're hit not just with awful news, but unspeakable soul-shattering horrors. It's chipping away at our humanity and reason." How do we not get off track with feelings like that?
I think we have to make sure we're not losing our hope. We each have a responsibility to make a difference and so how do we then ask that second question of 'What can I do about it? What kind of change can I make to make a difference? What part of humanity do I feel like is being chipped away, and what's the piece that I can do about it?' And that's the piece where we want to make sure that hope is still part of the equation. It may be volunteering, it may be participating in some of the questions about what injustices are happening. There's so many different ways that we can either participate or do something for each of our communities. Even if it's happening in a different community, that same change probably has to happen here too.
You mentioned earlier about stepping away from the news, is there something different about stepping away from the news on social media where there seems to be less of a filter?
It's the news of the events themselves, but also sometimes the reactions are less filtered on social media. And so it can also hurt us more. Sometimes we might have people in our feeds that have very strong opinions that are hard to read or hard to see, so I think we need to be careful of how much social media we intake. It's very easy to get hooked in, so I think we have to actively check out so that we're not becoming overwhelmed. And that includes even monitoring some of the conversations we're having with friends of ours. If there's folks that want to debate things it's okay to say, 'You know what, I'm done with this conversation.' Or 'Can we switch it for awhile?' I think setting limits for ourselves is critical to maintaining ourselves.
The questions and responses have been edited for clarity.
What does the iHeartRadio/NPR deal mean for public radio consumers?
Once upon a time, there was only one way you could hear a show like this one. You turned on a radio, in your car or in the kitchen and maybe you had one at work.
But the times, they are a-changing. These days there are all sorts of ways to listen to the "radio". Including of course streaming audio. The platform known as iHeartRadio recently announced that it's agreed to a deal which allows more than 260 NPR member stations to stream their live programming on its platform.
For more on what this means for audio producers like us and audio consumers like you, NPR's Chief Digital Officer, Tom Hjelm, joined the show to discuss.
To hear the full segment, click the blue play button above.
Will a camera on every police officer make everyone safer?
When 19-year-old Dylan Nobel was fatally shot by police in Fresno last month, the incident was caught by eyewitnesses using smartphones and a police body cam.
The lipstick-sized device, produced by Taser, has seen an upsurge in sales, after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri almost two years ago.
Activists calling for more transparency in law enforcement have welcomed the cameras and now an article in the latest edition of Bloomberg Businessweek asks– Will a camera on every cop make everyone safer?
Karen Weise wrote the piece and when A Martinez spoke with her, she started by asking how Taser, best known for stun guns, got into the body camera business.
To hear the full segment, click the blue play button above.
'I'm what most working actors are', a look at the lives of character actors
In spite of receiving some negative reviews at first, the new Ghostbusters is doing well and there's already talk of a sequel, which is great news for stars like Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy.
But career trajectories like theirs are far from typical. It's tough to be an aspiring actress these days, case and point: check out the new documentary on Netflix called "That Gal...who was in That Thing: That Guy 2".
That title refers to character actors, women who have might dozens credits on their IMDB resumes, and yet, you still might not recognize them on the street.
Eight of these performers are featured in "That Gal..." including Paget Brewster, you may have seen her in Criminal Minds, Community and Huff.
Paget and the documentary's director Ian Roumain, recently joined Take Two's Alex Cohen in studio. Ian began by explaining what inspired him to make the film.
To hear the full interview, click the blue play button above.