All the news you need to know for Thursday, April 26th, 2018!
Today, we're talking about the French President's speech to make the 'planet' great again and President Trump's personal lawyer says he'll plead the Fifth Amendment.
Plus: Facebook's profits, a new Gmail and Amazon Echo for kids.
All that and much more in less than 10 minutes!
Award-winning broadcast journalist and former TV news reporter Erica Mandy breaks it all down for you.
Then, hang out after the news for the bonus Three Question Thursday interview. In honor of last Sunday's Earth Day, we're talking this week with Australian wildlife biologist and filmmaker Chadden Hunter. He has a PhD in gelada baboons in Ethiopia and worked with National Geographic, Discovery Channel and the BBC's Planet Earth series.
Mika McKinnon is a geophysicist, science communicator, sci-fi science consultant, and all around badass! We talk about her awesome job as part Bond Villain, part MacGyver. AFter that, Mika gives us some very good disaster advice and teaches us all about tsunamis and volcanoes! Then we go on to discuss her work as a sci-fi consultant where we finally give the movie The Core the scientific thrashing it deserves. Mika also tells us about one of her scientific heroes, Vera Rubin, and how she never got the Nobel Prize she likely deserved. This is something of a common occurrence with women in science. You don't want to miss this incredibly educational and inspirational interview! Leave Thomas a voicemail! (916) 750-4746, remember short and to the point! Support the show at seriouspod.com/support! Follow us on Twitter: @seriouspod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seriouspod For comments, email thomas@seriouspod.comDirect Download
On Wednesday’s Gist, you didn’t think Trump’s latest political nominee was scandal-free, did you?
And as the Supreme Court weighs Trump’s travel ban on Muslim-majority countries, one of its most notorious decisions still stands. Korematsu v. United States upheld America’s wartime internment of thousands of Japanese Americans, and it’s still cited as legal precedent today. Harvard Law School’s Martha Minow recently wrote about the decision and its relevance in 2018.
In the Spiel, president Trump’s approval ratings are highest in West Virginia. Senate candidate (and former convict) Don Blankenship is rolling with it.
On April 16, 2018, the Supreme Court heard argument in WesternGeco, LLC v. ION Geophysical Corporation, a case that the Court again took up after having remanded it to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for reconsideration in light of the Supreme Court’s 2016 decision Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse Electronics, Inc. In 2015, WesternGeco sued ION for patent infringement. The jury found in favor of WesternGeco, awarding it $93.4 million in lost profits and a reasonable royalty of $12.5 million. Because the jury also found that ION was “subjectively reckless” in its infringement, WesternGeco petitioned the court for additional damages available under applicable law for “willful” infringement, invoking the then-applicable two-part test set out in the Federal Circuit’s In re Seagate decision, which has both a subjective and an objective component. ION countered by arguing that neither component could be satisfied, and the district court agreed as to the objective component, concluding that ION’s positions had been reasonable and not objectively baseless--and therefore would not support a finding of willful infringement under Seagate. On appeal the Federal Circuit reversed the award of lost profits, concluding that WesternGeco was not entitled to lost profits resulting from foreign uses of its patented invention. As to the issue of enhanced damages for willful infringement, however, the Federal Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court. WesternGeco then sought certiorari from the Supreme Court. After issuing its decision in Halo Electronics--which addressed the standard for enhanced damages--the Supreme Court granted the petition, vacated the Federal Circuit’s judgment, and remanded the case for reconsideration in light of the reasoning in Halo Electronics. The Federal Circuit in turn reinstated the part of its previous decision reversing the lost profits award, but otherwise remanded the case to the district court to consider whether the evidence at trial was sufficient to support the jury’s finding of subjective willfulness. If so, the Federal Circuit indicated, the district court must then exercise its discretion to determine whether enhanced damages were warranted. In the meantime, WesternGeco successfully petitioned the Supreme Court to grant certiorari on whether the Federal Circuit erred in holding that lost profits arising from prohibited combinations occurring outside of the United States are categorically unavailable in cases in which patent infringement is proven under 35 U.S.C. § 271(f). That provision makes it an act of patent infringement to supply “components of a patented invention,” “from the United States,” knowing or intending that the components be combined “outside of the United States,” in a manner that “would infringe the patent if such combination occurred within the United States.” To discuss the case, we have Stephen Yelderman, Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School.
As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speakers.
On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus talk about a somewhat surprising speech from the antitrust chief of Trump’s DOJ. They bring you up to date on a big new data privacy bill in Congress, and Mike Nuñez, a journalist for Mashable, joins the show to discuss how his reporting on alleged liberal bias at Facebook has sparked a somewhat bizarre Congressional inquiry.
The hosts are also joined by Dr. Mary Anne Franks, a professor of law at the University of Miami Law School, where she teaches criminal law, First Amendment law, and Technology policy. They speak about the massively important Communications Decency Act, which was just amended to allow victims of sex trafficking to sue websites that knowingly facilitate it.
And as always, “Don’t Close My Tabs,” the Sean Hannity/Jeff Bezos edition.
Timestamps:
1:40 DOJ Antitrust Speech
6:15 New data privacy bill
11:13 Diamond and Silk on Capitol Hill: phone call with Mashable’s Michael Nuñez
20:55 Zillow clarification regarding last week’s show
22:14 Interview: Professor Mary Anne Franks on amending the CDA to fight sex trafficking
You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.
Arcade Fire is a Grammy-winning six-piece band originally from Montreal. They’ve released five albums, and the last three have all debuted at number one on the charts. In this episode, singer Win Butler takes apart "Put Your Money On Me," from their 2017 album Everything Now. He breaks down how the influence of Marvin Gaye, Harry Nilsson, and ABBA all helped shape how the song eventually turned out. You’ll hear the original demo, and an alternate version of the song that was never finished. The story begins when Win and his wife and bandmate Régine Chassagne moved to New Orleans.
From imaginary friends to tulpas, the idea that that the human mind can create life through focused thought alone is as old as recorded civilization. But what does science have to say about imaginary friends? Are they pure hallucinations, part of a healthy psychological process, or something else? Join the gang as they delve into the fact and fiction surrounding the strange idea of a living thought.
