Month: July 2018

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The NewsWorthy - Scott Pruitt Out, World Cup Quarterfinals & Chick-Fil-A – Friday, July 6th, 2018

All the news to know for Friday, July 6th, 2018!

Today, we're talking about everything from a high-profile resignation and a trade war to what the next new iPhone may look like..

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. 

For links to all the stories referenced in today's episode, visit https://www.theNewsWorthy.com and click Episodes.

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Opening Arguments - OA189: Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh

Today's Rapid Response Friday gives you a sneak preview of what to expect from the person we predict will become Donald Trump's next nominee to the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. We discuss:
  • Why it's likely to be Kavanaugh and not any of the other rumored contenders, especially flavor-of-the-minute Amy Coney Barrett
  • Kavanaugh's view of the First Amendment's establishment clause and the future of Lemon v. Kurtzman
  • Kavanaugh's views on abortion
  • How Kavanaugh differs (and how he doesn't!) from Neil Gorsuch when it comes to Chevron deference
  • The weird conservative hit squad out to get Kavanaugh
  • And much, much more!
After all that, we end with an all new Thomas Takes The Bar Exam #83 involving assault with an unloaded gun.  If you'd like to play along, just retweet our episode on Twitter or share it on Facebook along with your guess and the #TTTBE hashtag.  We'll release the answer on next Tuesday's episode along with our favorite entry! Recent Appearances Thomas was just a guest on Episode 421 of the Cognitive Dissonance Podcast.  If you'd like to have either of us as a guest on your show, drop us an email at openarguments@gmail.com. Show Notes & Links
  1. If you want a head start on Tuesday's show, check out the just-released Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report.
  2. This is the Notre Dame speech/law review article in which Kavanaugh lays out his judicial philosophy and essentially auditions for the Supreme Court.
  3. We discussed the following cases:  Good News Club v. Milford Central School, 533 U.S. 98 (2001), Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, 530 U.S. 290 (2000), Priests for Life v. Department of Health & Human Services, 808 F.3d 1 (D.C. Cir. 2015) (en banc), Garza v. Hargan, 874 F.3d 735 (D.C. Cir. 2017) (en banc), United States Telecom Ass’n v. FCC (D.C. Cir., 2017) (en banc), PHH v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 881 F.3d 75 (2018) (en banc), Seven-Sky v. Holder, 661 F.3d 1 (D.C. Cir 2011), and Heller v. D.C., 670 F.3d 1244 (D.C. Cir. 2011)!
  4. Right-wing weirdo roundups:  Here's the National Review endorsement of Kavanaugh; this is the truly bizarre Jacobs piece in The Federalist; and here is the Federalist Society's own rebuttal.
  5. Finally, a preemptive Andrew Was Wrong:  Here's Raymond Kethledge's University of Michigan address on how bad Chevron deference is.
Support us on Patreon at:  patreon.com/law Follow us on Twitter:  @Openargs Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/openargs/ Don't forget the OA Facebook Community! And email us at openarguments@gmail.com  
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The Gist - How Quickly We Forget

On The Gist, Scott Pruitt is out as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency because it turns out someone really can be too corrupt for Trump.

Let us next turn to the Supreme Court—not in America, but Poland, where the rightwing government is forcing nearly 40 percent of judges into retirement. Eurasia Group president Ian Bremmer says the country’s latest swerve toward authoritarianism proves that democracy can erode just about anywhere.

In the Spiel, Michael Moore claims to know where the Democratic Party has gone wrong and what it needs to do to change direction, but how reliable is he?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Bay Curious - Cracking the Bizarre Urban Legend of Alameda’s Little People Houses

A small street inadvertently becomes ground zero for so-called "Hobbit Hunters," but is there truth in the legends?


Reported by Chloe Veltman and Ryan Levi. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Paul Lancour, Ryan Levi, Suzie Racho, and Julia McEvoy. Holly Kernan is Vice President for News. Theme music by Pat Mesiti-Miller. Ask us a question at BayCurious.org. Follow Olivia Allen-Price on Twitter @oallenprice.

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African Tech Roundup - Secha Capital’s Rushil Vallabh & Brendan Mullen on proving a hybrid SME investment model

South African Rushil Vallabh and American Brenden Mullen are the co-founders and co-managing directors of a Johannesburg-based, venture capital outfit called Secha Capital. Secha’s mission is to “provide patient capital to established African SMEs” - primarily within FMCG and agri-business industries - and to support them by providing access to best-in-breed, hands-on business consulting. In this conversation with Andile Masuku, Rushil and Brendan expound on Secha’s hybrid investment thesis and explain how they are channelling all the skills and competencies they acquired at Bain (where they both formerly worked) into promising businesses.
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The NewsWorthy - Affirmative Action, World Cup Privacy & Amazon Prime Day (+ CGI Influencers with Brian Fanzo) – Thursday, July 5th, 2018

All the news to know for Thursday, July 5th, 2018! 

Today, we're talking about everything from the new federal guidelines about affirmative action to the World Cup's privacy issues to Amazon's Prime Day.

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. This week we're talking about social media influencers that look human but are actually CGI. 

Our guest today is Brian Fanzo. He works with businesses on how to leverage emerging technologies and digital marketing to standout from the crowd and reach millennial and Generation Z consumers.

He's worked for the Department of Defense in cybersecurity and is now the founder of iSocialFanz, which has helped launch digital strategies with brands like Dell, Adobe, IBM and more.

For more info and links to all the stories referenced in today's episode, visit https://www.theNewsWorthy.com and click Episodes.