Jeff Sessions visits Sacramento after DOJ sues CA for sanctuary laws, a Silicon Valley billionaire hopes to get a Supreme Court hearing to limit public beach access, Black Lightning star talks about superheroes with a social conscience.
Public beach access could be limited if tech billionaire gets his way
Living in Southern California, we enjoy pretty much unlimited beach access. But one Silicon Valley billionaire could change that. Vinod Khosla, who owns a stretch of beach in Northern California, is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court to be able to shut out the public.
What started as a local dispute over a locked gate has escalated into a flurry of lawsuits, and one of them may be headed to the highest court in the land. It challenges the constitutionality of guaranteed public access to the coast when it's privately owned property.
Rosanna Xia has been covering this story for the Los Angeles Times. She joined Take Two to explain what's going on.
Who is Vinod Khosla
He is pretty well known in the Silicon Valley tech world, mostly for co-founding Sun Microsystems, and has been profiled as someone involved in green tech, so this is a very interesting case to see unfolding right now.
How Martins Beach operated before Khosla bought it in 2008
It was owned by a family, and they had charged maybe 25 cents at the beginning. That rate grew to $2 and then $10. They owned that beach for a century. It had a parking lot, even a general store. There’s been testimony of families using that beach for generations. It’s also a very popular surfing spot. Khosla, in his appeal to the Supreme Court, talked about how he tried to give the business a go, but like the family before him, he realized this was a business that wasn’t sustainable.
Khosla sometimes leaves the gate open and sometimes he locks it, but he’s been sued for that
Sued multiple times. I would say the lawsuit that got some legs and is being appealed before the Supreme Court was brought by the Surfrider Foundation for the people. Their main argument was the point that Khosla failed to apply for a permit, which is required by state law to shut that gate. Khosla argues back that he doesn’t need to as a property owner. Where it stands now, it’s been ruled at lower court in San Mateo County, is that he needs to keep the gate open while this legal battle is happening. The Supreme Court in California declined to hear the case, so he’s now taking it before the U.S. Supreme Court arguing the constitutionality of the Coastal Act and whether the state has the right.
Khosla's attorney, Paul Klement, has a long history with the Supreme Court
He served as solicitor general under President George W. Bush and clerked for Antonin Scalia. He has an interesting track record. He’s argued against same sex marriage and led legal battles against the Affordable Care Act. Khosla’s hired the one lawyer who might actually get it through.
How Khosla is challenging the Coastal Act
He’s challenging the actual Coastal Act. Khosla is saying, 'I don’t have to apply for a permit. Period.' That’s against my rights as a property owner. He's challenging the Coastal Act requirements, the authority of the state. It’s a very bold argument. If the Supreme Court does take up this case and decides in either direction, it has long-ranging implications on how we as a country handle permitting and land use.
How the Khosla case is different from David Geffen's battle over a Malibu beach
Geffen did end up handing over the keys to that one. We’ve seen this argument play out across California's coast. We do have s state law that the Coastal Act guarantees that every beach in the state is guaranteed for everyone. What’s interesting is if Vinod Khosla’s argument now going possibly before Supreme Court gets a definitive ruling on federal level, it will be interesting to see how that plays out in terms of our interpretation of the Coastal Act. That state law has been around for decades and is so a part of what it means to live in California.
When the Supreme Court will decide whether to take the case
The Supreme Court decides in 90 days whether to take the case.
What are its chances if the Supreme Court takes up Khosla's case
I’ve talked to a number of legal experts who aren’t ready to go there, but they’ve read the 151 pages of his petition. It’s artfully drafted. He’s made all the right arguments to try to capture the attention of four justices, and he only needs four votes to be granted review and five votes for it to win.
LA Police Commission wants fewer homeless arrests
Doxxers may hope online shaming leads to justice, but is that what they get?
A Long Beach college professor could lose her job after being identified in an online video in which she allegedly told an Asian American couple to "go back to their home country."
The video was posted on Facebook by the male half of the couple, Tony Kao. Kao said in his post that he was on a walk with his wife and daughter when a white woman made the comment. His wife then took out her phone and started filming.
Kao has since said he posted the video as a reminder to treat people respectfully, regardless of race or ethnicity. He also said he didn't intend to damage the offender's personal life or career. However, others online soon discovered who she was and revealed her identity as well as her workplace, a practice known as doxxing.
Now, Golden West College professor and counselor Tarin Olson has been placed on leave for the next two weeks.
Damon McCoy, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at New York University, joined Take Two to talk about people doxx others — and the ramifications.
McCoy said his research showed the main motivations for doxxing are revenge or justice. Doxxers who are seeking justice see exposing another person's perceived hateful behavior or affiliation with a hate group as a fair action.
"Normally, the end goal to encourage other people to harass the victim," McCoy explained.
Online harassment is the most common repercussion for those who are doxxed but we're seeing more cases where people have faced consequences at work or lost their jobs, McCoy said.
In some extreme instances, people will call 911 with a fake emergency, like a hostage situation, so police will arrive, a practice known as swatting.
Since doxxing happens online, McCoy said doxxers may not realize the harm they cause. Even if they think they are achieving justice, doxxers may be sinking to the level of hate they see in their victims.
"This [doxxing] just leads to this vicious cycle of attacks and hate," McCoy said.
As a society, we now have to deal with the ramifications of heavy surveillance and what can result from that. Cameras are readily available on smart phones and other devices, and it's easy to record something and post it online. Now, we have to figure out how to deal with that.
Will NFL kneeling still be a thing?
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said, "Never stand up when you can sit down, and never sit down when you can lie down." Which got us wondering where he would have stood, so to speak, on kneeling -- specifically NFL players who kneel during the national anthem.
The football season ended about a month ago and it will be another six months before it starts up again. But it isn't too early to talk about the protest against racial injustice and police brutality that Colin Kaepernick started two years ago. Will it stick around or go away?
Andy and Brian Kamenetzky joined Take Two's A Martinez to talk about it.
Will kneeling still be happening once the NFL starts up again in September?
"It's obviously still too early to know, but there are some concerns about less flexibility by certain owners. Texans aren't interested in bringing in free agents who have knelt or would kneel during the anthem," Andy Kamenetzky said.
"The NFL Players Assn. issued a statement Tuesday saying during this past season we received assurances from Commissioner Roger Goodell that the right of the players to demonstrate would be protected. The issue remains complicated and fluid."
What's the plan for players and teams?
"The players will do things as they have been, which is on a player-by-player and case-by-case basis. Stephen Ross, who has been as vocal as any owner in the league about supporting the players and the message about what they're doing, he talked more about the issue of efficacy than their right to do it," Brian Kamenetzky said. "The protest movement has been co-opted and become something that is about patriotism and respect for the flag rather than the issues that were being protested."
"The week before Trump went off on Twitter, there were only four players who knelt during the anthem, so it had started to die down, but then it became a thing again."
'He's kind of like the black Batman,' Black Lightning is a hero with a social conscience
A black superhero story on the screen. A cast and creative staff that's largely African American. Acclaim across the board from critics and fans alike.
Are you thinking "Black Panther?" Well, you'd be half right.
"Black Lightning" is the latest in The CW's lineup of superhero T.V. shows. And while it's got all the action and other stuff you'd expect, it also has a social conscience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LAUGA01mUc
Cress Williams plays the title role in "Black Lightning" -- Jefferson Pierce. When he spoke with Take Two, he told A Martinez the character's complexities are what drew him to the project.
His community is kind of forgotten and he's trying to keep his school safe, he's trying to keep his daughter safe in this community that he grew up in but that is ravaged by crime and corruption and drugs and violence...
He still has this complicated relationship with his ex-wife. He still wears his wedding ring...He's got a lot. And his daughters, they're like 22 and 16! So he's juggling quite a bit.
To play Pierce is to answer the question: "What would it be like in today's world? What would it be like if I had powers?"
From a superhero standpoint, what's it like to have powers but still have to exist in life? I love that Jefferson has bonds. He has daughters and family and community as opposed to the superhero who has a potential love interest that he can't just let her know and that's the only tie that he has.
Besides making "Black Lightning" the most relatable superhero, there's also the effort to shine a light on social issues and cultural identity. It's not something most shows or movies containing comic book heroes touch upon, in an effort to stay light, but "Black Lightning" dives in.
It's a genre now. Anytime you have something that's a legitimate genre, if it's going to sustain itself and maintain itself, it has to evolve. So it has to ask different questions, so I think this is just part of that evolution.
If we stayed in the realm of the Christopher Reeve "Superman," people would just tune out eventually because they've been there, done that, but we have to move forward with stories like "Black Panther," "Black Lightning." And that's like asking these other questions so that the genre survives.
In order to tell these stories and answer these different questions, a set of writers who can tell the story authentically are needed, and "Black Lightning" has them. The cast and crew are mostly African American, and Williams says, it has made all the difference.
For me as a person of color, it's just the safety. I don't even think about, 'Am I going to be represented properly?' I'm not worried about a script because I know it's coming from someone who knows and who knows me.
It comes down to also our set, our hair, makeup people. The crew, you look around and I know I'm going in and everything's groovy...I went into work one day and I thought, "This must be how white actors feel all the time!" This is their norm.
"Black Lightning" airs on the CW Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. PST.