Faith leaders discuss how America can heal after the election, CA youth protected under DACA face an uncertain future, the big business of legal pot.
Reaction from Mexico to Trump's presidential win
The presidential race – and its result – was watched intently throughout the world, but perhaps nowhere more so than right next door, in Mexico.
People are eyeing closely issues of trade, migration and border security, which have featured prominently in a contentious election.
"Everybody has an opinion," said BBC reporter Nuala McGovern who spoke from Tijuana. "The border has been part of their lives."
SoCal's undocumented youth under Trump: 'It's difficult, not knowing what will happen'
Undocumented youth in Southern California are expressing a mix of concern, resolve and anxiety after the presidential election ushered in Donald Trump, a candidate who has vowed to speed up deportations, build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and end a popular program that enables youth to work and attend school without fear of deportation.
One of the most immediate and drastic changes the president-elect could make, say immigration lawyers, is to put an end to the federal program, known as DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. California is home to nearly 240,000 youth who benefit from the federal plan that offers them temporary immigration relief, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
The program was created in 2012 through an executive order signed by President Obama. And since it's a presidential order – and not a law passed by Congress – it can also be ended by the stroke of a pen. That's exactly what President-elect Donald Trump has promised to do, saying that he will "immediately terminate President Obama’s two illegal executive amnesties," according to his campaign's immigration plan.
That prospect has left many young people with questions about an uncertain future.
"It has really helped me," said Alma de Jesus, a DACA recipient who lives in L.A. "It has given me the opportunity to work in better jobs and be able to give my family a better lifestyle and to contribute to this economy."
She said her steady employment allowed her family to move to a larger and more secure home, and enables her to pay for things like clothes and school supplies for her two young children.
But that all could change.
"It's a very difficult time for us, not knowing what will happen," said de Jesus.
That's a fear that many DACA recipients are expressing, according to Annaluisa Padilla, the incoming president for the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
"If the DACA program is eliminated, all of these individuals are at risk of deportation," said Padilla.
That could also have an economic impact, as the region's businesses could be scrambling to replace workers who they hired through DACA, she added.
However, regardless of what happens to the federal DACA program, California still has laws on the books that offer benefits to undocumented residents, such as access to a driver's license and student aid for public universities.
Here's how one investor plans to take advantage of legal marijuana
California, the nation's most populous state, legalized recreational marijuana on Tuesday, creating a semi-legal market potentially worth billions of dollars.
Such a massive, undeveloped market is like chum for investors, some of whom have already positioned themselves to take advantage of the new marketplace.
"I think in California there are going to be more opportunities than anywhere else in the world," said Adam Bierman, CEO of MedMen, a cannabis management and investment firm based in Los Angeles.
Bierman's company runs dispensaries in West Hollywood and Sun Valley, and they've invested in the development of marijuana grow operations in Desert Hot Springs and in Nevada.
Bierman said that the implications of legalization for his company and for the entire industry are tremendous. Prior to legalization, investors were wary of putting their money into marijuana-focused funds and projects.
"I think that fear subsided to the extent that now you will see massive capital entering the space," he said.
Bierman said that he's focused on bigger-scale investments, including properties and large-scale grow operations, in marijuana-friendly markets within the state.
"Whether you're mom-and-pop and you're trying to open a small store and start a small grow, or whether you're ... investing in 10- and 15-million-dollar projects, I think California will have some room for everybody," Bierman said. "We're talking about a market that's newly been created that we project to be worth over $8 billion a year."
New Frontier & ArcView Market Research, a pro-marijuana research and investment firm, estimates that California's recreational market could total $1.3 billion in 2018 — the year California will likely start to see legal shops open up. By 2020, they estimate that it could be worth nearly $4 billion.
Those looking to start legal, recreational businesses of their own will likely have to wait until 2018, which is when California's licensing system is likely to be finished. Each business is going to require its own set of licenses that will need to be approved by localities, as well as by the state.
But dispensaries and grow operations aren't the only money-making opportunities. Entrepreneurs are also developing products to bring to market, including items like THC-infused soda.
We're here to answer any questions you might have about legal marijuana. Tweet at me @JacobMargolis or submit your question here.
To hear the entire conversation, click on the audio at the top of this post.
President-elect heads to court in Trump University lawsuit
President-elect, Donald trump is slated to face trial this month in a class-action lawsuit involving his now defunct Trump University.
At a hearing today in San Diego attorneys will argue pre-trial motions - like what evidence will and won't be allowed
Associated Press reporter Elliot Spagat is covering this case and joined Take Two with the details.
Audio to follow
Healing America: Faith leaders reflect on unity after the election
This election year exposed deep social and ideological rifts in the nation.
For many, the controversies drudged up during the presidential race remain unresolved; bruising rhetoric has pitted community against community.
President-elect Donald Trump addressed some of those disagreements in his acceptance speech late Tuesday night, telling a cheering room:
"Now it's time for America to bind the wounds of division; have to get together. To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people."
Practically speaking, how does the nation do that?
That's the question Take Two put to three local faith leaders:
- J Edgar Boyd, senior minister at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles
- Mustafa Umar, an Imam based in Orange County
- Sharon Brous, senior rabbi and founder of IKAR, an emerging Jewish community dedicated to social justice
Highlights
Pastor Boyd, your church has very deep roots in the black community here in Los Angeles. You preside over 19,000 members during a very turbulent time in this nation's history. How is your congregation feeling right now and what are you saying to them?
They outcome of what the election brought to us on Tuesday night is so different from what many people hoped to see on Wednesday morning. However, it is what it is, and our commitment to making the very best out of the reality that we've been given is really where we are. That's where we're going.
We're still concerned about those things that plagued the lives of the marginalized, the blacks, the communities who are marginalized by way of the economic realities.
We're looking now to make the very best out of what we can. We have to accept what it is as being what it is and move forward in that way, with a lot of the plans that we had last year still being on the forefront of this year, education being one of them — getting our young people educated. Getting them into jobs, getting them into businesses that they actually own and control, getting them to become really active members of the community, reaching out to young lives... all those things help to make a big difference in our community.
Rabbi Brous, for those who support Donald Trump and really do genuinely want to unite and unify with those who did not support their cabinet, what do you recommend?
It seems to me that part of what we all learned throughout this campaign is something that many of us weren't aware of before, which is that there's a tremendous population in this country that feels a great amount of fear that they cannot protect their families, that they cannot provide for their families, and that fear is so strong that they're willing to even forgive what seems to be blatant outright misogyny and bigotry toward other vulnerable minorities in order to get a candidate who actually seems to be listening to and responding to their fears and their needs.
I think we have to do two things: I think we have to learn each other — there's a vast disconnect in the country right now. We don't talk to each other, we don't listen to each other, we don't read the same newspapers, we don't see each other, we don't understand each other. We have to learn how to have conversations between populations that don't generally co-exist so that we can regain a kind of sensitivity and empathy for one another.
And we have to stand up for and stand with each other, because there are a number of populations right now that are absolutely terrified that they will be targeted by this new administration, so it's incumbent upon all of us to say to our Muslim neighbors and friends, to our immigrant neighbors and friends, to our LGBT neighbors and friends, we stand with you, and we will not allow your dignity, your safety, your freedom to be stripped away from you. Not on our watch.
Mustafa Umar, as you think about trying to find some way to heal some of these wounds, is there something from the Quran which informs you, that might be helpful for all listeners to hear at this point?
There's a verse in the Quran in chapter two: it says that it may be that something you dislike is actually good for you in the long run and something that you like may actually be bad for you in the long run and that God knows and you don't know.
What Muslims are being told is that sometimes we're being put in certain circumstances — a test for us. And although we never want to put ourselves in those circumstances when we're being tested, it may actually bring the best out in us. It makes us wake up. It makes us realize that we need to be part and parcel in this community.
We need to work hard, we need to educate people, we need to really understand that we cannot just go about living our daily lives and allow everyone else just to drift in a direction that is going to be harmful to that entire society. This is a lesson for us, this is a wake-up call for us, and we really need to become mobilized, we need to really get in gear; we've got a lot to do, and we rely on God for that.
Press the blue play button above to hear the conversation in its entirety.
(Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.)
State of Affairs: What a Trump win means for CA, and Antonio Villaraigosa's 2018 run
On this week's State of Affairs, what a Donald Trump presidency means for true-blue California, a round-up of ballot props, and former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announces a run for CA Governor in 2018.
Joining Take Two to discuss:
- Scott Shafer, politics editor for KQED
- Melanie Mason, politics reporter for the Los Angeles Times
Uncertainty in California as Trump targets the Affordable Care Act
'The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller' turns the documentary formula on its head
Documentaries tackle all sorts of different subjects, but most tend to follow a certain recipe:
- One part narration
- One part still images
- Throw in some interview clips and a stirring score
Voila! You're good to go.
A new documentary turns this formula on its head… which may be no surprise considering its subject. "The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller" is a live documentary by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Sam Greene.
It centers on the life and work of an extraordinary architect, designer and inventor, known for such creations as the geodesic domes.
Actors will perform the documentary LIVE on stage Thursday, November 10, at the Skirball Cultural Center here in Los Angeles with an original score by the band Yo La Tengo.
Since Buckminster Fuller's time, plenty of others have followed in his footsteps. Looking to invent products that would make our lives better and to extend the natural resources available on this planet.
Alex Cohen spoke with Greene and Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan earlier this week and they spoke about Buckminster Fuller's appeal, forward thinking and putting the live documentary together.
Interview Highlights
Why did this 87-year-old visionary held such a strong appeal for you?
Ira: "He created this thing called the Dymaxion map, which unlike a lot of our politics right now seems to be obsessed with building walls and keeping people out and walling ourselves in, demonstrates graphically how interconnected we all are and the seeming gulf that the pacific ocean separates us from Asia. The Dymaxion map shows that it's not like that at all."
And that word "Dymaxion" because it applies so much to what Buckminster Fuller did, can one of you break that down for us, what dymaxion meant.
Greene: "Dymaxion was sort of his word and he got it from an advertising guy. It was a combination of dynamic, maximum and tension. Somehow that seemed to encapsulate everything for him and he used that for sort of everything. The dymaxion map, the dymaxion house, the car...so it's a kind of cool word.
How do you honor the geodesic dome musically? What went into this?
Ira: "A lot of times in general...a lot of our work is just instinctual and we're not actually sitting around discussing what emotional notes we want to strike in the geodesic dome but it's just come up with a piece of music and just kind of trust that somehow there's something connecting it even if we can't articulate it..."
The first time that Sam approached you to do a live documentary, what was your reaction?
Ira: "We loved the idea, I mean we're always excited to try something that's new to us and that we don't necessarily understand how it's going to work, just get involved with people that interest us and count on the connection creating something unique so, we jumped at it."
Greene: "Also, I think in the beginning we thought we would do one show with this and weren't really thinking that several years we'd still be traveling around doing it."
To hear the full interview, click on the blue player above.