Who are the people digging up political dirt? More millennials are living at home with their parents, can Kelly Slater's wave generator change the world of surfing?
Grab a spoon: Bitter political rivals end up eating their words at the party convention
As the primary contests wind down, and the presumptive nominees turn their sights to November, bitter foes on both sides of the political aisle have started dialing back their heated rhetoric.
But this is far from the first time former rivals have had to mend fences with the presidency on the line. So what makes a graceful about-face?
Take Two took a look back at some of the best presidential backtrackers in recent memory with Sam Popkin, who has advised for several presidential campaigns. He is also the author of the book, “The Candidate: What it Takes to Win -- and Hold -- The White House.”
Why do former presidential candidates dial it back?
“They want to be ready for the next time,” Popkin said. “They want to act loyal enough, so they don’t alienate the winner’s people while secretly praying that he loses, and they want to keep faith with their followers, so they’re ready for the next time when they hope to win.”
Bill Clinton vs. Jerry Brown
President Bill Clinton sat down with California Governor Jerry Brown at the governor’s mansion this Monday. It’s a scene that might have seemed impossible 24 years ago when they competed for the Democratic presidential nomination.
“1992 was Jerry’s third race, and he jumped in with angry attacks on Bill Clinton. Much harsher than even Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton,” Popkin said.
Here’s a clip from a particularly contentious primary debate in 1992:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5kUITklALQ
Popkin says Clinton and Brown buried the hatchet because the both have likely come to the conclusion that they’re just too old to be petty.
“I think now at this point they’re old warriors. Old enemies have more in common than almost anybody else because they remember how much fun they had when they were the stars,” Popkin said.
Gerald Ford vs. Ronald Reagan
It was a contentious and awkward political climate: a sitting president was challenged by a member of his party — and the challenger almost won.
“It was very acrimonious,” says Sam Popkin. “It was as bitter as I can remember many races and he (Reagan) was really rallying forces that had been in the party since the Goldwater defeat.”
Here’s Ronald Reagan’s concession speech:
https://youtu.be/_eSmfldz_bA?t=6m10s
Well-played, says Sam Popkin. “You want to act like you really want your party to win. You want to remind your party why we hate the other party; then you want to do just enough so nobody can say you didn’t try.”
He adds that Reagan didn’t really try to help Ford after that. It’s now clear why that was.
Barack Obama vs. Hillary Clinton
Sam Popkin says the tense primary race of 2008 led to a rift in the Democratic Party. That all culminated in Clinton’s concession speech.
“It was very touchy,” Popkin says. “A lot of African-American supporters of Hillary were angry at Obama, who wasn’t ‘black enough.’ There were generational splits in families, and it was very passionate."
Clinton’s concession:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mTpGpjIyHs
So, let’s talk about Sanders …
“He’s doing what he needs to [in order to] get to the convention and make as much of a footprint as he can for his legacy,” Popkin says. “Only at the end of June when people have calmed down will we really get a sense of whether he actually wants Hillary to win, or he really wants to change the party. Ronald Reagan acted like he wanted to work with Jerry Ford and then he didn’t.”
Press the blue play button above to hear the full story.
Unlawful assembly declared outside Trump rally in Anaheim, 8 arrested
Anaheim police declared an unlawful assembly following a campaign rally for Donald Trump that attracted protesters, with several people being arrested. Law enforcement corralled and pushed a crowd down Katella Avenue following the rally. There appeared to be around 200 to 300 people in that group.
Seven adults and one juvenile were arrested, Anaheim Police Department Sgt. Daron Wyatt told KPCC. Anaheim Police methodically dispersed the crowd, though about a dozen protesters remained after most of the crowd had been dispersed.
A heavy police presence was on hand at the Anaheim Convention Center to guard against the possibility of the kind of disorder that has followed other recent events for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, according to the Associated Press.
#Anaheim PD just declared an "unlawful assembly" order by helicopter, disperse or be arrested. (OCSD in video) pic.twitter.com/89zjFhgTen
— Erika A. Aguilar (@erikaaaguilar) May 25, 2016
Chad Towe of Sacramento, 46, is a Trump supporter who also follows him around, selling T-shirts and buttons.
"He's making America great for me," Towe said, referencing his business. “I am going to feel way more secure with Donald Trump being president."
Towe said he agrees with Trump's plan for Syrian refugees and voted for Mitt Romney in the last presidential campaign.
"You know, if you go to Donald Trump or you go to Bernie Sanders, there’s excitement, there’s electricity out there, you know? People are tired of the same-old, same-old in the establishment," Towe said.
Joshua Gonzalez, 17, was one of those arrested. The 17-year-old from Anaheim told KPCC he doesn't regret speaking his mind about Donald Trump.
"He's not a presidential candidate, he's more like a celebrity! And we don't need a celebrity in the White House," Gonzalez said.
He said that he will be old enough to vote in the California primary — his birthday is a couple days earlier. He plans to vote for Bernie Sanders.
“I feel like this is the election that’s gonna make a huge difference in the next 15 to 20 years," Gonzalez said.
Mitzy Amparan, 19, said that this election will be her first time voting. She said that what she described as the heat and violence that Trump has been creating prompted her to get involved and vote, and she thanked Trump for that.
Amparan said she's a supporter of Bernie Sanders and that she feels that this year, the election really matters.
"You know, there’s always those who say ‘Oh, my vote doesn’t matter,’ but it has to start somewhere. You can’t just have that mindset of ‘Oh, I don’t matter and what I have to say doesn’t matter,'" Amparan said.
The AP reports the demonstration made up of a small but vocal group of Trump opponents:
One group pummeled a Trump pinata, decapitating it, outside the Anaheim Convention Center where Trump was speaking.
Some demonstrators with faces covered by bandannas shouted expletives against the Republican presidential candidate, while others stood quietly with signs reading "migration is beautiful" and "we are not rapists."
Authorities were not informed of any plans for large-scale protests but boosted staffing for Trump's noon rally at the 7,500-seat arena as a precaution, said Anaheim police Sgt. Daron Wyatt.
Earlier, Anaheim police released a statement warning protesters that violence would not be tolerated at a political rally for Donald Trump.
“While we recognize and respect the First Amendment rights of all individuals to express their viewpoints and protest peacefully, we will not tolerate violence or disobedience of the law during the upcoming rally in Anaheim,” Chief Raul Quezada said in a statement.
In Trump's speech, he railed against "Crooked Hillary" Clinton and Republican leaders who have yet to endorse him, according to the AP:
Trump's rally was interrupted several times by protesters who were escorted out of the Anaheim Convention Center, which was packed with thousands of Trump supporters.
"Get 'em out!" he shouted at one point. "Out! Out! Out!" But Trump urged his supporters and security to handle his interrupters gently. "Don't hurt 'em," he told them. "I say that for the television cameras. Do not hurt him even though he's a bad person."
Later, a pair of protesters in the stands behind the candidate ripped a Trump sign in half and made a rude gesture toward the crowd.
As for Clinton, Trump noted Wednesday's report by the State Department inspector general that faulted her for her use of private email for official business when she was secretary of state.
"She had a little bad news today, as you know. Some reports came down, weren't so good,"Trump said. "The inspector general's report — not good."
Trump said that he was eager to run against Clinton, but wondered aloud, as he often does, whether she would actually be the Democratic Party's nominee.
"It could be we're going to run against Crazy Bernie," he said. "He's a crazy man, but that's OK. We like crazy people."
Trump appeared to be making a concerted effort on Wednesday to tout his support with women. He met with a group of female business leaders ahead of the rally and invited several onstage. "I'm telling you, women do like me," he said.
But later he went after Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has been vigorously criticizing him.
"She gets nothing done, nothing passed. She's got a big mouth, and that's about it," he said of Warren. "But they use her because Hillary's trying to be very presidential. She's stopping with the shouting, OK?"
"I'll be honest with you, I cannot listen to her," he added of Clinton.
Protests outside Trump rallies have broken out into violence before. On Tuesday, a rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico turned violent as anti-Trump protesters clashed with police, according to AP.
Last month, hundreds of protesters clashed with police outside the Pacific Amphitheater in Costa Mesa.
The Anaheim Police Department, meanwhile, has come under fire for its handling of protests. In February, an anti-immigration protest staged by a small group of Ku Klux Klan members turned violent after they were confronted by counter-protesters. Three people were stabbed, one critically.
In the aftermath, the department faced criticism for the lack of police presence at the demonstration.
On Wednesday, the department said that any blocking of sidewalks, interfering with traffic or advocating violence or criminal activity by protesters could lead to a declaration of unlawful assembly and lead to arrests.
This story has been updated.
Getting dirty: Who's digging up political dirt this election year?
Donald Trump released a scorching attack ad against Hillary Clinton on Instagram Tuesday.
The short video features a black and white image of Bill Clinton chomping a cigar. Then, a voice:
That’s the voice of Juanita Broaddrick. She accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault in 1999.
The video ends with a picture of the Clintons with the caption, "Here we go again?"
This particular brand of smear is likely the work of oppositional researchers. To many, they’re known by another, more colloquial name: dirt diggers.
Who are the people doing the digging, and what impact can their information have on a campaign?
For answers to that, Take Two spoke to Alan Huffman. He’s a veteran researcher and co-author of the book, “We're with Nobody: Two Insiders Reveal the Dark Side of American Politics.”
I'm sure this is not what you have printed on your business card, but you are basically a dirt digger, yes? How long have you been doing this?
About 25 years. Yeah, that is what we do. We dig for dirt.
How does a person wind up in a field like this? I can't imagine you as a little boy saying, 'when I grow up I want to find the worst things about people so others can use it to their political advantage,' right?
My research partner, Michael Rejebian and I were both investigative reporters originally. That’s how we were trained. We both sort of segued to politics. After we left, we both decided that we had specialized skills which were understanding how to find things out about people that were running for elected office. It was fascinating to us: just finding out who are these people and what makes them tick, and then turning it over to the voters and finding out what matters to them.
How do you go about looking for dirt?
We start out like anyone would just Googling and finding out what all the easy stuff is. Then we start building a portrait of the candidate and finding out where all the most interesting details are, where the gaps are, and then we go about filling those. There’s still an aspect of this that’s two guys in a rented Hyundai roaming around the country getting the goods on the politicians. It’s a mix of things: interviewing people, you may be talking to some guy that’s sitting on the porch of a trailer with a shotgun because he thinks someone’s going to kill them for talking to you. And then you may spend days just going through moldy records in some courthouse. You put all of this together and connect the dots, and you see the strong suits and the weaknesses of both your candidate and their opponent.
Press the blue play button above to hear the interview.
(Answers have been edited for brevity.)
Tim Heidecker wrote a whole album about living in Glendale
"If anyone’s out there wondering what I’ve been up to, this is it and it’s not too glamorous," explained Tim Heidecker when asked about his new album "In Glendale."
The comedian/musician was inspired by his change of life when he moved from the city to the suburbs, so he filled the album with songs like "Cleaning Up the Dog S---," "Good Looking Babies," "I Dare You to Watch Me Sleep," "Central Air," and, of course, "In Glendale."
Heidecker's better known as one-half of the comedy duo Tim & Eric, but this isn't his first foray into music.
He recently sat down with Take Two's Alex Cohen to talk about the album and suburban life, fatherhood and dog dirt.
To hear the entire interview click on the link embedded at the top of this post.
Correction: An earlier version of this story gave the wrong name for the song "Work From Home." KPCC regrets the error.
Millennials increasingly decide to stay with parents
According to a new study from the Pew Research Center, Millennials are now more likely to be living with their parents than with anyone else.
A whopping 32 percent of men and women between the ages of 18 to 34 are staying with mom and dad.
To learn more about why the nest remains full for so many parents, Take Two's A Martinez spoke to Richard Fry, Senior Researcher at Pew.
We also reached out to a number of our younger listeners on Twitter to find out why they've stayed with their parents rather than strike out on their own.
Audio coming soon.
Sports roundup: Warriors on brink of elimination, NFL player safety, endorsements and college athletes
The team with the NBA's best record, the Golden State Warriors, is facing elimination in the Western Conference finals: can they bounce back? And after an NFL owner talks candidly about the health risk in the sport, is momentum building to prioritize player safety?
We're joined by
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World Surf League sees a great future with the artificial wave
Aficianados of the sport of surfing carefully monitor the weather and tides.
They sense which waves work best for them and take advantage of whatever organic opportunity arises...
But the sport may soon be changing.
11 time world champion surfer Kelly Slater has been working on artifical wave generator... one that provides a perfect continuous shape, carefully regulated speed and power.
He unveiled a video of his project late last year...
Now comes the news that this sort of wave generator could soon be coming to a body of water near you...
Here to explain is Dave Prodan of the World Surf League.
Audio coming soon.
San Francisco reaches compromise on 'sanctuary' law
San Francisco leaders have reached a compromise on the city's so-called "Sanctuary Policy."
That policy determines how local law enforcement aid federal officials in efforts to detain and deport immigrants. The County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously last night on the ordinance.
The long-time policy came under strong criticism after a deadly shooting last year at the San Francisco Pier. A Mexican national has been charged with the crime.
For more, we're joined by Emily Green, reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. She covers City Hall and was at the meeting last night.
View a video of the Board of Supervisors meeting here.
A mom whose son died of an opioid overdose calls for greater access to antidote
There's been a lot of talk lately about the rise in opioid abuse and fatal overdoses in the U.S.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were nearly 28,000 fatalities due to opioids in 2014— more than any other year on record— and at least half involved prescription drugs.
Here in California, a new bill advancing through the legislature aims to prevent such deaths among kids by allowing schools to stock an antidote called naloxone that's considered a lifesaver by many.
The bill, from Republican Assemblyman Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley, was approved 68-2 in a vote by the state Assembly on Monday. It now moves on to the Senate. It wouldn't require schools to stock the antidote, but would make it legal for schools to keep the drug on hand and for schools nurses to administer it.
Aimee Dunkle, whose 20-year-old son died from a heroin overdose in 2012, is a supporter of the bill. Her son Ben had his first overdose at the age of 16 when some of his classmates brought in Xanax and Soma pills and shared them with him.
"He went up to the nurse's office," Dunkle says, "I don't think it was a nurse who was there, I think it was a volunteer. And they didn't recognize the signs of an overdose. They called me and I came to the school and he'd been discharged. I found him lying on a bench outside the school."
Under the proposed bill, school nurses and volunteers would be trained to recognize the signs of an overdose and to administer the antidote drug.
At the time of her son's death, Dunkle says, she wasn't even aware that a drug like naloxone existed. And when she looked into it, she found out that it was difficult to obtain.
That's what led her to co-found a non-profit called The Solace Foundation of Orange County with Margie Fleitman, another mother who also lost a child to an accidental opioid overdose. Together they established the county's first and only naloxone distribution program.
Apart from increasing access to naloxone, Dunkle says there needs to be more awareness about the overprescription of opioid-based medication and about how easy it is to obtain heroin.
She's also made it her mission to educate people about calling 911 and the Good Samaritan law that protects people from prosecution for alerting authorities about someone who's experiencing an overdose.
Dunkle says that when her son overdosed for the final time, he was with three people in a car.
"These three individuals were frightened and they failed to get my son help. And he was dragged out of the car basically and left in a parking lot," Dunkle says.
"I don't believe these were bad kids, they were just frightened kids, and had they been trained and had one of them carried naloxone, my son would have lived."
To listen to the full interview, click the blue player above.
Forgot your password? That might not be a problem anymore
Last week, Google announced plans to do away with passwords for good:
"We have a phone, and these phones have all these sensors in them. Why couldn't it just know who I was so I don't need a password, I should just be able to work."
That was Dan Kaufman, head of Google's Advanced Technologies and Projects division, announcing the future roll-out of the company's Trust API.
Now, I know what you're thinking. That's a lot of tech jargon that I don't understand.
But fear not, Dave Johnson, editorial director of eHow Tech and editor-in-chief of techwalla.com joined the show to help wade through all the tech jargon and break down just what these trust scores are.
Interview Highlights
What are trust scores and how do they work?
"What's different here, instead of relying on a single thing, like a password, the trust score is this thing that's running in the background all the time. Paying attention to how you behave with your phone. So, it notices your typing patterns, where you are which is known as geolocation, your voice pattern when you talk, maybe facial recognition, when you look at your phone and other things as well.
And all of these things are signals to the trust API that says, either this is or this isn't you. If you score high enough in each one of these signals then it says, okay you can use the program that you want to use but if you don't score high enough then it might fall back to asking you for the old fashioned password instead."
How is this safer and more secure than passwords and PINs?
"Google has already done a lot of work, they've been working on this for a year now. They first announced it at their Google I/O event which was a year ago...they've done a lot of on the ground testing...Similar in a way, solutions have already been out for awhile.
For example, if you have an iPhone there's a thing called touchID where all you have to do is put your fingerprint on the phone and it knows who you are...so these technologies are kind of established and are fairly trustworthy. And I think that the trust API is going to be significantly more so because it uses so many more signals to figure out whether...you are who you say you are."
Next month, Google is testing its trust API with several large financial institutions and if all goes well, the software will be available to Android app developers by the end of the year.
To hear the full interview, click the blue play button above.
The Styled Side: Fashion as a museum exhibit
There are many ways to spend this upcoming Memorial Day weekend, but several of them are inside.
"A number of museum exhibits here focus on fashion and what we wear as art," says Michelle Dalton Tyree from Fashion Trends Daily.
"Reigning Men," now at LACMA, explores the history of men’s fashionable dress from the 18th century to the present, for example.
And several months ago, the Bowers Museum dedicated an exhibit to the work of rising Chinese designer Guo Pei.
"We're really starting to see a cluster of high fashion exhibits," says Tyree and it really started about five to six years ago."
A showcase in Paris of work by Yves Saint Laurent was one of the first, along with a traveling exhibition of Alexander McQueen's designs.
"Social media has changed the landscape," adds Tyree. "The hunger for all things fashion and style has given birth to a ready-made audience that all but assures not only a healthy attendance but an 'organic' promotion of it."
Other exhibitions to put on your to-do list while traveling throughout the summer:
- There is an Oscar de la Renta retrospective in San Francisco, but that ends May 30th. It's a perfect time to head up before the exhibition closes.
- In NYC, check out Manus X Machina, the exhibit that kicked off by the Met Ball this year. It celebrates fashion in an age of technology, and explores how fashion designers are reconciling the handmade and the machine-made in the creation of haute couture and avant-garde ready-to-wear.