Category: 3-DailySometimeCommentary

With two weeks of public impeachment hearings in the books, how will the next phase of the inquiry take shape?

Guest: Jim Newell, senior politics writer at Slate. Dahlia Lithwick, writes about the courts and the law for Slate.

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TikTok now has over 1.5 billion downloads, putting it in the company of social media giants like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. While all of these companies have faced scrutiny from lawmakers in one form or another, TikTok is getting attention for its Chinese ownership as some fear that Beijing could use data uploaded to the platform for counterintelligence purposes. Is there a real reason to be concerned? Or is this just fearmongering about a geopolitical rival?

Guest: Drew Harwell, technology reporter for the Washington Post. 

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• Fiona Hill and David Holmes close out a week in testimonies and Schiff brings the gavel down with a fiery closing statement. Plus, Sondland’s famous “loves your ass” quote is officially confirmed.
• Out Magazine executive editor Raquel Willis joins us to discuss The Trans Obituaries Project and what can be done to end anti-trans violence. Find out more here: https://www.out.com/print/2019/11/20/trans-obituaries-project
• And we show how hard it is to distinguish campaign walk-up songs from electronics commercial jingles.

The Federal Election Commission was designed to prevent the parties from going rogue with overly punitive campaign finance regulations. But what’s paralyzed FEC is something less partisan, and more principled: Democrats think the government should enforce campaign spending laws. Republicans don’t.

Guest: Ellen Weintraub, Federal Election Commission chair.

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This episode originally aired in October 2019.

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• During his impeachment hearing, Gordon Sondland confirms the quid-pro-quo and says his orders came from the top dog: El Presidente. We discuss that and the testimony of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper.
• Ten democratic candidates faced off in a rapid-fire two-hour debate at Tyler Perry Studios in Georgia. We discuss highlights including some choice Booker-on-Biden weed slams.
• And in headlines: Zuck’s Trump dinner, Google’s union-busting, and BTS gets no noms (!!).