A look at hate crime laws in the United States, how having the Internet in your car can lead to hacking, what a 'computer' means to different people.
EU launches antitrust case against major Hollywood studios
The European Union today launched an antitrust case against six major Hollywood studios and British broadcaster, Sky UK for blocking consumers in most of Europe from watching U.S. movies and other content.
It could have big implications for American access to the lucrative pay-tv market in Europe. Jim Puzzanghera from the LA Times recently wrote about this and joined us to explain.
Hate crime charges await accused Charleston shooter
Accused Charleston church shooter Dylan Roof faces federal hate crime charges for allegedly targeting black parishioners during a shooting spree last month. The rampage left nine dead.
US Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced yesterday Roof will be charged with 33 counts, including federal hate crimes and weapons charges.
Priscilla Ocen is an associate professor of law at Loyola Marymount. She explained the charges to Take Two.
“A hate crime is defined as intentionally or willfully injuring someone or causing bodily injury, because of a protected characteristic like race, color, national origin, or religion. In 2009, that definition was expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity.”
When it comes to deciding what is and what isn't a hate crime, she says it's rarely black and white.
“A racially-motivated crime is quite difficult. When is someone intending to hurt someone because of their race or gender? When is that ancillary to the underlying murder or aggravated assault? These prosecutions can be quite difficult because the standard is so high.”
Ocen says hate crime charges are rarely brought because it’s so difficult to prove a suspect’s motives. In this case, however, she says there is plenty of evidence that race was a motivator.
“You have the defendant’s own statements to the victims themselves. He told them that he had to shoot them, he had to kill them because they were taking over … So I think that there is very clear evidence that the bodily injury, the killings here were racially motivated. I think there’s no question about that in my mind.”
Roof will already stand trial for murder in South Carolina. This prompts many to wonder whether the hate crime charges are largely symbolic. Ocen says, though there is some symbolism, the charges are still significant.
“South Carolina doesn’t have a hate crime statute … There would be no way of prosecuting him for that in the state, so the federal government coming in really allows for there to be some accountability through the criminal justice system imposed here, because of the racially-motivated character of these killings. ”
Press the play button above to hear more about the history of hate crimes in America.
What it's like to ride in a car that is hacked
Cars that are connected to the Internet could make driving easier, and they could make cars easier to hack.
Andy Greenberg knows from experience. He is a senior writer for Wired, and he rode in a test car as hackers messed with it. He made it out alive, and joined the show to tell all about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK0SrxBC1xs
The Wheel Thing: New tech may unlock driving for people with disabilities
Twenty-five years ago, President George H. W. Bush signed the Americans With Disabilities Act. It granted a wide range of civil rights to people with both physical and intellectual impairments. Things we now take for granted, such as wheel chair accessible buildings, are a result of the Act. But one expression of freedom often remains elusive for people with disabilities–driving a car.
New technology may be changing that. Advances in design have led to some breakthroughs that address a key problem for many people, accessibility. And a number of developments leading toward self-driving cars could make mobility much easier for people with disabilities.
The Wheel Thing, with OC Register auto critic Susan Carpenter, is our weekly discussion of personal transportation.
State of Affairs: Minimum wage, marijuana legalization, and immigration law
On this week's State of Affairs, what recreational marijuana legalization would mean for California, a killing in San Francisco sparks a national immigration debate, and L.A. County and the UC system increase the minimum wage.
Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, Professor of the Practice of Public Policy Communication at USC, and Carla Marinucci, Senior Political Writer for The San Francisco Chronicle, join Take Two.
Keeping the mentally ill out of LA County jails
L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey is trying to solve a very big problem: how to keep mentally ill people out of the county's jails.
Overcrowded jails and prisons are a big problem, locally and nationally. Lacey estimates that 20 percent of inmates in L.A.'s jails have a severe mental illness.
She released a report Wednesday which represents more than a year and half of research by her team.
Southern California Public Radio reporters Rina Palta and Stephanie O'Neill have been digging into it, and they joined the show to talk about what they've found.
American teens are having much less sex
Teenagers in the U.S. are less sexually active than they were in previous generations.
The Centers for Disease Control asked about 2,000 high schoolers about their close encounters; they found that less than half of them are having sex. In the 80s, about 60 percent of boys and 51 percent of girls reported being sexually active.
The survey also revealed that sexually active teens are more likely to use protection than ever before. Teen births have dropped nearly 60 percent over the past three decades.
Ahna Suleiman is the coordinating director at the Center on the Developing Adolescent at UC Berkeley, and she tells Take Two the numbers don’t surprise her.
“There’s a lot more access now through the media. Young people can access sexual health information on their smartphones ... While it seems a little counterintuitive, having more information [gives] them the resources to make informed sexual decisions and delay sex until they’re ready.”
She says the once popular ‘just say no’ method proved to be largely ineffective with young adults.
“I think that we have really clear evidence now that ‘just say no’ is not an effective message for young people.“
In fact, she says, young people who were only taught that message are more likely to make risky sexual decisions.
Though sexual education has come a long way in the past three decades, Suleiman says America still waits too long to teach kids about the birds and bees.
“If you look at us globally, we have some of the worse sexual outcomes, compared to other developed countries,” she explains.
Going forward, Suleiman hopes fewer parents and educators will rely on scare tactics to keep teens abstinent. If this happens, she says these numbers could drop even further.
“And the goal isn’t to scare them; it’s to provide them with enough information so that they feel powerful and informed, and make a choice that’s right for them.”
Press the play button above to hear more from Ahna Suleiman at the Center on the Developing Adolescent at UC Berkeley.
This anti-drug campaign is all emoji
Now, the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, the same group behind the 1987 egg ad about your brains on drugs, has released a new campaign... no poultry products involved. No words involved actually.
It's made up entirely of emojis.
It's the latest example of how much clout these little images have in our culture these days.
To better understand the evolution of these graphics and their role in how we communicate, we turn to analyst Sharon Ann Lee, founder of Culture Brain - a think tank which focuses on trends.
The campaign, which has already popped up on billboards, magazines and websites, directs viewers to the group's mobile-only site, wegotyou.life, to learn more about the ill effects of drinking and drugs, which aren't communicated in great detail on the ads themselves.
Click on the blue player to listen the interview.
'Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!' full of sharks and celebrity cameos
The cultural phenomenon that is "Sharknado" is back for the third time.
Yesterday, the Syfy channel aired “Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!” and you can expect more sharks and plenty more celebrity cameos.
Thunder Levin wrote all three Sharknado films and he joined the show to talk about his initial reaction to the project.
“It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” says Levin when he was first approached. But he agreed.
The film features various celebrity cameos ranging from Bo Derek, singer Ne-Yo and Ann Coulter. But bringing all these celebrities together was the biggest challenge, says Levin.
“They were bringing all these people in…and we had to invent some parts in there. Finding creative ways to do that was tricky.”
Many are probably wondering if there will be a “Sharknado 4”? So far, Levin says he has not been approached.