Congressional Democrats unveil an economic agenda and new slogan, USC fires Dr. Carmen Puliafito, reintroducing steelhead trout to local waters.
Will the Dems' 'Better Deal' help define what the party stands for?
The Democratic Party is attempting to redefine itself and its mission — and some would say it's about time.
The party's been having a bit of an identity crisis lately. While most of those identifying as Democrats know they stand against President Trump, less can say what exactly the party stands for.
That's likely the reason behind a new economic plan unveiled by the party Monday. It's called: "A Better Deal."
For early analysis, Take Two spoke to Raphael Sonenshein, executive director at Cal State L.A.'s Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs.
First, the name: "A Better Deal." Is it a better deal?
I think the name is going to be forgotten in about 48 hours, which I think would be a blessing. It makes no sense to me. My heart sank, as often happens when I hear new phrases in politics. The plan is probably better than the name.
What are the basic components of this plan?
The basic component is to have an economic focus, which the Democrats have really not had for years. They've been all over the place, all over the map on everything. It's about jobs and skills and incomes, and I think it's a good message.
It has a lot of ideas that show the impact of the Elizabeth Warren wing of the party and a bit of Bernie Sanders. They're trying to be a bit more visionary, a bit bolder, and I think that can only help the party if they can break it down so people can really absorb it.
When it comes to jobs, how will they make this happen?
They're talking about increasing worker training, apprenticeship programs, renegotiating trade agreements. That's a big step for Democrats, who have been pursuing trade agreements for many years.
They're trying to move all at once in a field that's hard to move in. I think this is the beginning of their process of unifying the party around this message. It's going to take time.
The second part of the plan has to do with the rising cost of prescription drugs. How are they going to do that one? We're talking about big, bold strokes with this plan.
It's big, and it's very popular. One of the things they're talking about is allowing Medicare to negotiate on drugs, which has been long overdue. The current law prevents Medicare from doing that. If Medicare could do that, I think they could drive the prices of drugs down to what it is in the rest of the world.
Politically, from their standpoint, it's a good sign.
Let's get to the last part: that's aimed at corporate mergers that the party says are decreasing competition.
This is the Elizabeth Warren impact, I think. They're going to argue that concentration of economic power is limiting our options in many areas, including telephone service, internet service, internet neutrality.
Will this help California Democrats flip some seats?
I can tell you this – 435 races are all going to be fought by candidates who are going to do their own agenda and will pick pieces from this that they might use or might not. There is no such thing as a national template. And don't forget that Republicans will immediately personalize this as Nancy Pelosi's plan. They're already running ads against her, which seems to be a popular thing for them to do.
You can't impose on these candidates from Washington, D.C., but maybe there are some ideas here that people might run on. That would be helpful.
They still have to boil this down to the basic argument made by the Democratic Party, which was made originally by Mr. Spock in Star Trek: "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."
You don't actually need a political consultant to bill you to tell you that that's what the Democratic party should be talking about.
Press the blue play button above to hear the full interview.
(Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.)
The Democrats' 'Better Deal' takes aim at corporate mergers — but does it have teeth?
The Democrat establishment makes a grand gesture to its populist sectors in the unveiling of their economic agenda, “The Better Deal” (Feel free to make associations with the “New Deal” and “Art of the Deal”—it’s practically invited).
One key component: the targeting of corporate mergers that “would harm consumers, workers, and competition,” and play a role in driving up the cost of our day-to-day necessities. While there are plenty of industries you’d expect such initiatives to target, like cable and internet services, there are some you might not—like the beer industry, for example, or eyewear.
Why these industries, and is there any real teeth to this agenda? Take Two host A Martinez talks to Phillip Berenbroick, senior policy counsel at Public Knowledge, a consumer watchdog group, to help separate the PR from the policy.
To listen to the interview, click the media player above.
USC fires Dr. Puliafito, launches external investigation
A week ago today, the Los Angeles Times published an investigative story about the former dean of USC's Keck School of Medicine.
It presented evidence that Carmen Puliafito had engaged in a pattern of illegal drug use and sometimes partied with a group of drug users in his USC offices.
The Times says it began sending questions about him USC officials more than a year ago - and says administrators never responded.
Then, this weekend, the University finally acted. It fired Puliafito and banned him from campus, and hired a law firm to investigate.
But there are questions about why USC took so long to act.
Take Two spoke with Robert Tranquada, who served as Dean of the Keck school from 1986 until 1991.
"I had no clue to any of this going on… I just was totally, totally surprised. I really cannot believe that something like this could happen."
Dr. Tranquada says he hopes the investigation results in more information.
"I think we really do need to know the details of what transpired during this time. And I must say from what i have read… I can’t tell with any precision as to who knew what when, and I really think we need to know that before any judgements [on other USC officials] can be considered."
To listen to the full segment, click the blue play button above.
LA Sheriff Baca's prosecutor reflects on corruption that 'shocked' him
After nearly 100 years, steelhead trout are planning a comeback
Steelhead trout, in the San Gabriel mountains?
A hundred years ago, streams in the San Gabriel were stuffed full of them.
But a century of development and a series of major flood control projects decimated the Steelhead population.
Now, there's an effort to return the fish to local waters.
Tim Brick is Managing Director of the Arroyo Seco Foundation. He's spearheading the effort to reintroduce the steelhead trout to the area. He spoke to A Martinez about the importance of the Steelhead Trout to the area and the efforts being made to bring it back.
To listen to the full segment, click the blue play button above.
On The Lot: Dunkirk proves summer can be more than popcorn movies
Got a high-brow historical movie?
Conventional wisdom says wait and release it in the fall, when the kids are back in school, and Oscar is just around the corner.
Not if your Chris Nolan.
The director's Dunkirk conquered the box office this weekend, and jumped to the front of the line in the race for Academy Awards.
It was big gamble for Chris Nolan and Warner Bros, releasing an ambitious film about the British effort to rescue hundreds of thousands of soldiers stranded in World War Two. A gamble, but it paid off. The film dominated the weekend box office, got scores of rave critical reviews and an all-important 'fresh' rating from the movie site Rotten Tomatoes.
Vanity Fair's Rebecca Keegan says it's exactly the kind of film studios would generally hold on to, and release in the fall, a traditional time for more hefty fare, and when the Academy Award races begin heating up. And, she notes, Warner Bros. isn't the only studio bucking the trend. Next weekend another 'serious' film, Kathryn Bigelow's Detroit opens in theaters, and so far early reviews are mostly positive.
While it's not likely that future summers will be filled with films of historical or social import, Keegan says Hollywood executives are surely getting the message that summer can be more than just fantasies and action flicks.
Click the blue bar above to listen to the entire interview with Vanity Fair's Rebecca Keegan.
'The Day of the Locust' shows a surreal and unhappy version of Hollywood
Back in the 1930s, people across the country were packing the bags and setting out for California.
From wanna-be starlets to retirees, the West Coast held the promised good health and lots of wealth from the silver screen. But in reality, it wasn't all hoorays for Hollywood.
Nathanael West's iconic novel, "The Day of the Locust" paints Tinsel Town as a surreal, nightmarish landscape of disillusionment and broken dreams.
It's dark. But fascinating. And that's why we've included it in our summer book series - The California Canon.
Editor and book critic David Kipen tells us how West writes of an American dream gone wrong.
The relationship between protagonist and author:
"'The Day of the Locust' is about a guy named Todd Hackett, who is an artist, and comes west to Southern California in the 1930s. He is hired by a studio to be a storyboard artist. He goes to live in a place called the San Bernardino Arms, it is a kind of shabby hotel in Hollywood, the kind of shabby hotel that West himself would have lived in. . . And in this hotel, there are a bunch of low-lifes. . . and all of these folks who are on the outside looking in, and wanting a break in Hollywood, which [Hackett's] got but he has terrible misgivings about the commercialism of Hollywood... There are all of these lurid nightmarish pictures of how Nathaniel West saw Southern California in the late 1930s. Nathaniel West came to Hollywood much like his protagonist, he came to Hollywood to make a buck, but what he finds is a kind of prostitution of his talent."
Hollywood's dark side:
"'The Day of the Locust' ends in a riot, and partly the book is about the violence that West sees at the heart of fandom. There's this apocalyptic premiere at the Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, where fans are pressing in to be next to these stars that they supposedly adore, but it was West's vision that this was not a benevolent desire, there is fury at the heart of it because these people are famous and the ones on the other side of the velvet rope were not. That suggests celebrity worship is not just empty, but it is dangerous. Well, you could look at a lot of things going on in society today and think that West was ahead of his time. . . That sort of desperation became to him emblematic of the desperation in the culture. He's not really talking about Los Angeles as this exception. His descriptions of Southern California are what he sees as cancerous in the country, but somehow the essence of it. It is boiled down to an extreme."
Describing Southern California's unique landscapes:
"There's a wonderful feel for landscape in the book, not just the landscape of Southern California as it was before we got here, but also the built landscape of Southern California. Some of the most hallucinogenic passages are the way he describes Beachwood Canyon, where a lot of the book is set, the way you would have a French chateau next to a Tudor mansion, miniaturized to fit on a major thoroughfare, and next to that is some sort of bizarre Tahiti fantasy house. This idea of the streets of Los Angeles, the streets of Hollywood, echoing the collision of architecture and style that one would find on a backlot, and nowhere else in the world, is to the narrator's mind, bizarre and uncanny and unwelcome and kind of hideous. West writes about it the way a great satirist would have to write about it something hideous, that is to say with great, unmistakable, frightening delight."
To listen to the full segment, click the blue play button above.