The impact of a closed primary in a state that's mostly Democrat, Diane Guerrero's struggle after her family was deported back to Colombia, are the Raiders considering a move to Las Vegas?
California’s ‘modified’ primary system is kinda complicated
The deadline to register to vote in the California primary is just one week away.
Voters hoping to weigh in on the contest between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton might want to double-check their party affiliation. That’s because California has what’s called a “modified closed system.”
For more on what this means and how the system came to be, Take Two spoke to Thad Kousser, professor of political science at UC San Diego.
What is a ‘modified closed system?’
This is one of a plethora of ways of running a primary election that California’s had. We’ve had four different changes in the rules of our primary system in the last two decades. The semi-closed works like this: any party that wants to open up its primary to people who don’t have a party — no party preference voters, which are about a quarter of the electorate — any party can say yes to them. The Democrats have said yes, the Republicans have said no, but those voters need to know that they need to ask for that ballot … and if you want to vote by mail that way you need to ask for that in advance, so you don’t get a ballot with no president [on it].
How did this all come to be?
It came from California’s Donald Trump moment. In 1992, a Senate seat opened up. On the Republican side, you had this Stanford professor: a moderate congressman named Tom Campbell, who ran against a talk radio host, this guy named Bruce Herschensohn, so he narrowly beats Tom Campbell, but he ends up losing to Barbara Boxer.
A lot of moderate Republicans who backed Campbell said ‘we gotta have a different system that’s more inclusive, so we don’t have a polarized figure winning. Let’s go to a blanket primary so anyone can vote for anyone.’ So the state passed that as a ballot initiative in 1996, it was instituted in 1998, two years later Supreme Court throws it out and says ‘parties need to have the right to associate themselves with whoever they want to be, not any single voter who walks into the polling place.’
Press the blue play button to hear more.
(Responses have been edited for length.)
What the Senate race ads say about Harris, Sanchez
Ads are hitting the airwaves in California and top candidates in the Senate race are making their case as to why they should replace long-time incumbent, Barbara Boxer.
"This is basically a contest between two Democrats who are fairly similar when it comes to the issues," said Cathleen Decker, politics columnist at the LA Times. "So the framing is more [about] personality and life experience than proposals."
Also, both Attorney General Kamala Harris and Orange County Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez are making a big push to appeal to the Spanish-speaking voters. Here's Harris' ad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfsKxwwfa8Y
And here's the spot from Congresswoman Sanchez' campaign:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwVVZyD3yu0
Venezuelans lack basic necessities as economic crisis deepens
Venezuela is a big oil producer, but as the price has dropped, the country's economy has struggled.
Headlines out of the South American nation suggest the situation is now at a crisis point. Hospitals have run out of supplies, electricity is intermittent, and some local factories have shut down production.
Protestors are calling for President Nicolas Maduro to leave office. His supporters, however, argue a coup is in the making.
Virginia Lopez, Al Jazeera senior correspondent in Caracas, joined Take Two to explain the country's current economic and political crisis.
To listen to the full interview, click the blue player above.
On the Lot: Angry Birds, gender bias in Hollywood and Oscar reform
Every week Take Two gets the latest insight into the business of Hollywood with
, entertainment reporter for the LA Times.
On tap this week, a bunch of birds get angry and kill it overseas, some big news from Cannes and a veteran actor calls for a level playing field at the Oscars.
'Sometimes I wonder, did I make the wrong decision?' Diane Guerrero's journey and decision to stay in the country she loves
Diane Guerrero is best known for her roles on Netflix’s wildly popular series “Orange is the New Black” and the CW’s "Jane the Virgin."
But in 2014, she wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles times titled "My Parents were deported."
At just 14 years old, Diane was separated from her family and forced to make some life-changing decisions.
She’s written a book about her experiences titled “In the Country We Love: My family divided”
Diane spoke to host, A Martinez, about her new memoir, her decision to stay and life after she was separated from her family.
Interview Highlights:
On why she decided to stay in the U.S. after her family was deported:
"So I stayed, I mean, the States is the only place I knew and my plan was 'I'm going to go to college, I'm going to make something of myself and I'm going to bring my parents back and then we're going to be happy again' and then...obviously it wasn't so easy."
On feeling guilty for staying:
"Sometimes I wonder, did I make the wrong decision? Was I not smart? Was it really unreasonable for me to stay...of course, of course, I have so much guilt. I feel, maybe I was selfish to stay."
On living with the fear of deportation:
"My parents had strived so hard to become residents of this country. They tried to find a path for citizenship and could not find one. I mean, I write in the book how the many times that they tried so it was a daily subject of conversation in my household...My dad was just telling me 'Listen, if anything happens, you know this is a possibility.' So, that was engrained in my mind so anytime I wouldn't see them I would get this anxiety and would think that that was why and then of course, this day it actually did happen."
On why people should educate themselves:
"I just want to encourage those who are going through the same thing or are experiencing the same thing to just educate themselves as much as possible. I think that was what lacked in my family and for me is that we didn't really know the full details of what was going on in the country. It was like we were so scared so we just listened to a lot of hearsay and we got with bad lawyers. Now that I'm working with all these organizations, right now I'm working with ILRC, Immigration legal resource center and Mi Familia Vota...but that's why I'm out here doing what I'm doing because I want people to just--first you're scared but then you have to take action, you have to know what your rights are you have to know what your next steps are..."
Guerrero's memoir was released Tuesday, May 3. For a sneak peek, an excerpt of the first chapter is available below:
"In the Country We Love" excerpt
To hear Diane's full interview, click the blue play button above.
November may bring record number of initiatives for CA voters
This week is the deadline for backers of potential ballot measures to get their final list of voter signatures in.
By the looks of it so far, there may be many propositions for California voters to consider come November.
John Myers is the Sacramento Bureau Chief for the Los Angeles Times and he's been looking at the election records and joins us now.
To hear the full interview, click the blue play button above.
The problems that arise if remittances to Mexico are blocked
Every year Mexicans working in the US send around 20 BILLION dollars back home.
The funds help individuals and boost the economy.
But Donald Trump's plans to build a wall the length of the US-Mexico border has officials worried.
If the presumptive Republican presidential nominee makes it to the White House he says he'll make Mexico PAY for the wall, even if this means impounding remittance payments.
For more on the consequences of this, Take Two's Josie Huang is joined by Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda.
He's an associate professor in the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at UCLA and an expert on immigration.
Revisiting the Tijuana 'soccer field' that was a flashpoint in the immigration debate
For years an area known simply as 'the soccer-field' was one of the most notorious crossings between the US and Mexico. The patch of dirt in a canyon just southeast of San Diego became a flashpoint in immigration reform under then-President Ronald Reagan in 1986.
"Both sides would use [the field] depending on how they viewed that debate," said reporter John Wilkens who went back to the area to talk to local residents and see how much has changed today. He wrote about it for the San Diego Union Tribune.
The Raiders to Las Vegas? The idea has momentum.
Autumn Wind, the fight song of the NFL's Raiders, is one of A Martinez's favorite sports songs.
Much like the wind, the black and silver have blown up and down California .. from Oakland to LA and back again...
Over the years the team's been linked to moves to Texas and San Diego and even back to LA
Now there's talk of a new home in Las Vegas
Here with more is Rick Velotta -- he writes for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Full disclosure though, the group looking to kick start the stadium in Vegas owns the publication where Velotta works.
And if it goes through the 65,000-seat domed stadium will be ready for delivery in 2020.
The cost? A mere $1.4 billion.