Protestors march through the streets of St. Paul, Minnesota after the death of Philando Castile on July 7, 2016. Castile was shot and killed by a police officer during a traffic stop on July 6, 2016 in Falcon Heights, MN.; Credit: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

The shooting deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling by police officers earlier this month renewed a nationwide dialogue about police use of force.

After five Dallas police officers were shot and killed during a protest following Castile and Sterling’s deaths, many called for a re-examination of the often emotionally-charged way we talk about police.

Heather Mac Donald is a fellow at conservative think-tank the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor at City Journal. In “The War on Cops,” she challenges many of the dominant narratives surrounding race and American policing.

Mac Donald is an advocate for the “Ferguson effect”: a hotly-contested idea that police have become less proactive after the shooting death of Michael Brown, causing an uptick in crime. She argues against a racial bias in policing, suggesting instead that race-based critiques of policing actually put minority communities at risk.

Interview highlights

Why do you think that the argument that African-American men are disproportionately stopped and disproportionately shot by police is incorrect?

Heather Mac Donald: Police statistics are invariably compared to population ratios and the benchmark. It is true that when you look at police activity regarding blacks — whether it is arrests or stops — there’s a disparity there. As Obama said right before the Dallas shootings, blacks are arrested at twice the rate of whites. Well, that looks live you’ve got racially biased policing, until you take crime rates into account. When you look at who is committing crime, and above all who is being victimized by crime, you see that policing is simply using data to go where people most need assistance — and that’s in minority communities.

In the United States as a whole, blacks are victimized by homicide at six times the rate of whites and Hispanics combined. They are not being killed by police officers, they are not being killed by whites, they are being killed by other blacks.

How does that relate to officers stopping African-Americans versus non-African-Americans?

Officers are being called to areas where there are gang shootings, whether it is in South Los Angeles or the South Bronx.That’s where people are being mowed down by these mindless retaliatory shootings. After a shooting, the police are going to be making stops. They are going to be stopping known gangbangers to let them know that they are being watched. ... We shouldn’t be surprised that the stop rate is higher in areas where there are high levels of street crime.

If I am an African-American man and I get stopped all the time by police — proportionate to violent crime committed by members of my community — how is that fair to me?

It’s a crime tax. It’s a tragedy that law-abiding innocent black males stand a greater chance of getting stopped by the police because they meet a suspect description than white men. I would say that is a disparity that pales in comparison to the fact that they stand a much higher chance of dying in homicide.

None of this is to say that there haven’t been bad shootings over the last two years. It is also not to deny that police have had a horrible history in this country of maintaining the major hypocrisy of American history, which is racial segregation and slavery. The memory of that understandably takes a long time to fade. I think today we’ve been having a conversation about what I think is phantom police racism in order not to talk about what the real problem is: policing is a function of crime today.

For a different perspective on policing, Larry interviews Prof. Malcolm Sparrow about his new book, "Handcuffed."

Guest:

Heather Mac Donald, Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and contributing editor at City Journal; she is the author of numerous books, including “The War on Cops” (Encounter Books, 2016)

Police recruits attend their graduation ceremony at LAPD Headquarters where rappers Snoop Dogg and The Game led a peaceful demonstration outside on July 8, 2016 in Los Angeles, California, in what they called an effort to promote unity in the aftermath of the deadly shootings of police officers in Dallas.; Credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images

In the United States, police kill three civilians each day.

After the recent shooting deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling by police — as well as the deaths of five Dallas officers during a protest that followed — many are re-examining the role of police use-of-force in our society.

As a follow-up to our discussion with Heather Mac Donald, Larry interviews Malcolm Sparrow, a former detective who is now a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

In his new book “Handcuffed,” Sparrow argues that vital flaws in the way we understand policing have led to current conflicts between police and the public. He outlines why community policing has failed, urging departments to see it as an end in itself rather than a means of reducing crime.

Instead of focusing on traditional crime statistics, Sparrow insists that police must collaborate with civilians to make reforms. He  sees police as fundamentally risk-controllers and harm-reducers, an idea that could have a profound impact on how cops interact with the people they serve.

Interview highlights

Malcolm Sparrow: [Community policing] is the simple notion that police and community will work together in two ways. First of all to set the priorities and agenda for police action, and secondly to achieve those purposes, whatever they are.

That’s not a complicated thing to say. But then you watch the development and implementation over the years, and there’s some very simple-minded substitutes that have been used, and then some rather serious and complex distractions from the idea. … Some police departments just used the language but didn’t change anything at all. [They] said, “We’re doing community policing,” but no one could tell that anything had changed. Other departments created tiny little dedicated units called the “community beat officer unit.” What they sometimes tended to do was insulate the rest of the department from any obligation to change.

To really do the kind of community policing you’re advocating for, it often takes more personnel. It’s tough to do.

No, I don’t agree. If your idea of community policing is that you’re going to cover the entire city with foot patrols, then yes, that would require an enormous number of people, and that’s obviously not going to happen in the current environment. Even given the current levels of resources, there’s an awful lot of choice available about style, posture, stance, the way that you treat people, the nature of the interactions, how you organize your attention, what you do on the proactive and preventive front rather than just answering calls.

What do you see as the more overarching, comprehensive police goal if it is not first and foremost taking people who are a threat to other people off the street?

You mustn’t misunderstand my position on crime control. I’m absolutely in favor of crime control. I’ve done it. It is an essential imperative for police. It is not as if community policing is somehow a soft, wishy-washy alternate to the notion of effective crime control. It is a style. It is an attitude. It is a relationship that you have with the community. The control of crime remains absolutely central to their purpose.

But there are some other views on how to do crime control. ... We have had some experience with aggressive, in-your-face, zero-tolerance style of policing, which some departments have substituted for the notion of community policing. We know that there is a vast gulf between actual victimization levels and reported crime rates. In some agencies there are quite a lot of integrity issues on crime reporting, so there is another gulf between what’s reported and what’s actually recorded.

Now, I do believe that the crime mission is on actual victimization rates, and therefore you need a degree of closeness and trust. If you have more closeness and trust with some communities, then — surprise surprise —  the reported crime rate would actually go up, because they’d be more inclined to tell you things and wouldn’t be so fearful of going to the police station.

So, there are different ideas about how to do crime control, not whether it is an important mandate. Of course it is. There are also quite different ideas about whether or not crime control is the principal overriding imperative, or whether that’s part of a much bigger, broader police role.

Guest:

Malcolm Sparrow Ph.D., Professor of the Practice of Public Management at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government; he served ten years with the British Police Service and is the author of “Handcuffed: What Holds Policing Back, and the Keys to Reform” (Brookings Institution, 2016)

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton acknowledges the crowd as she arrives on stage during the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 28, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.; Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The general election is officially underway.

On Thursday night, Hillary Clinton accepted the Democratic party's nomination for president and worked to consolidate a divided party. On the Republican side, many longtime conservatives are having a tough time supporting Donald Trump.

Did you watch the speeches? What did you think?

Guests:

Ron Elving, Senior Editor and Correspondent, NPR's Washington Desk

Lisa Garcia Bedolla, Chancellor's Professor of education and political science at the University of California, Berkeley

Sean T. Walsh, media and political strategist and member of the State Wide Leadership Council for the Public Policy Institute of California; he is a former adviser to California Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Pete Wilson

Lisa Camooso Miller, Republican strategist and partner at Blueprint Communications, public affairs firm based in D.C.; she tweets from @camoosomiller

Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist; founder of Rodriguez Strategies; former senior Obama advisor in 2008; he tweets from @RodStrategies

Lifeguards keep watch as big waves crash ashore near the pier at Seal Beach.; Credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images

With more and more teens turning to the on-demand economy for summer work, plus the increasing inviablilty of paying your way through school, the summer job’s changed a lot in the past few years.

As many students struggle to land their dream internship, Generation Z is under heightened pressure to spend time off from school building that perfect resume.

Still, summer jobs remain the source of some of the most outlandish, absurd, and unforgettable workplace stories. Airtalk wants to hear yours.

What was your first summer job? What was the most memorable moment, and what did you learn?

Guest:

Lori Shreve Blake, Senior Director of Alumni and Student Career Services at USC

Khizr Khan, father of deceased U.S. Army Capt. Humayun S. M. Khan, delivers remarks as he is joined by his wife Ghazala Khan on the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 28, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.; Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

With the political conventions in the books and the nominees official, it’s all eyes on the prize in the race for the White House.

With 100 days left until voters cast their ballots, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will make their final push in battleground states that could be the key to winning in November.

Coming off the Democratic National Convention last week, Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers got a jolt. A CBS News poll taken after the DNC shows 46 percent of voters nationwide say they would vote for Hillary Clinton while 39 percent say they’d vote for Donald Trump. In a poll taken after the Republican National Convention ended, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump had 42 percent support among voters nationwide.

Meanwhile, Arizona Senator John McCain has joined the chorus of voices chiding Donald Trump for his comments about the family of a Muslim-American Army captain who was killed in Iraq. After Khizr Khan gave a speech last week at the DNC which lambasted Trump on immigration and accused him of having “sacrificed nothing and no one,” Trump responded by criticizing the Khan’s in TV interviews and on Twitter, asking why Mrs. Khan didn’t say anything and suggesting that she wasn’t allowed to (she has said in an interview that it’s too difficult for her to speak about her dead son in public).

Guests:

John Iadarola, co-creator and co-host of the daily infotainment talk show ‘ThinkTank,’ which is part of The Young Turks Network; he’s also the main political fill in host for online news show The Young Turks

Bill Whalen, research fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University

Governor Jerry Brown speaks to reporters at the State Capitol in Sacramento.; Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The window is closing on California’s two-year legislative session this month, and that will have lawmakers bombarded with bills to push through to the finish line.

But with what could be 1,500 bills on the table, which ones will make the final cut? According to a recent Los Angeles Times piece, issues such as climate change, affordable housing and marijuana legalization may be the most consequential for the state.

In addition, the Stanford rape case has also incited bills such as AB 701, which would make it mandatory for courts treat more sex crimes as rape.

Patt Morrison speaks to LA Times Sacramento Bureau Chief John Myers on what bills are likely to come through at the end of this session.

Guest:

John Myers, L.A. Times Sacramento Bureau Chief; he tweets @johnmyers

People wait in line for ice cream in the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City. ; Credit: Andrew Burton/Getty Images

Even years into adulthood, the signature ice cream truck jingle can rekindle pleasant childhood memories.

"It’s all a matter of nostalgia, recognizing the tune, having the right tempo and having the right symmetry in the songs themselves. That is what’s familiar to us and that is what gets us running out into the streets to buy an ice cream cone," S.J. Velasquez, BBC.com producer, told Airtalk's Pat Morrison. 

One of the most recognizable ice cream truck tunes, "Turkey in the Straw," dates back to the 19th century and has become synonymous with buying frozen treats from neighborhood vendors.

Velasquez said the timeless tunes have evolved over time to lure customers to these moving dessert dispensaries. 

"It happened over time, it was a bit of an evolution," Velasquez said. "The first person to have been documented to have used any kind of a jingle is the Good Humor ice cream truck. They used sleigh bells, traditional sleigh bells right from the sled, and then that evolved. Eventually, a Good Humor salesman started using jingles, and over time, he started using different songs. The first jingle that we’re aware of, an actual tune that was cranked out in chimes, is an Eastern European song called “Stodola Pumpa.”

"Turkey in the Straw," "Pop Goes the Weasel" and "The Entertainer" are a few of the commonly recycled ice cream truck theme songs. Aside from their frequent usage, she said they do tend to share a universal formula that makes them ideal for ice cream vendors. 

"I spoke to a man by the name of Dan Neely, he is the go-to guy when it comes to learning about anything ice cream truck-jingle related, and he said yes, there are key elements to the songs. They’re generally older songs, kiddie tunes that you might remember from kindergarten, they’re usually upbeat, have a repetitive symmetry and can be chopped down to a very short jingle and can be recognized within a few seconds," Velasquez said.

Sometimes these infantile and simple harmonies sometimes have a darker past. Very few people might be aware that the familiar "Turkey in the Straw's" has some association to minstrel songs. 

"Yes, it does have some dark history to it. I asked a few of my sources for the story about the history of this particular tune, and they did defend the song — not the racist song that is referred to, but the older song. “Turkey in the Straw,” much like a lot of other minstrel songs, were not actually minstrel songs when they were first written. “Turkey in the Straw” is actually an updated version of an old Irish or English tune called, “The Old Rose Tree.” That was a very beautiful dance song that was co-opted," she said.  

Whether you have a favorite ice cream truck tune that wasn't mentioned, or a memorable exchange with your childhood neighborhood vendor, share your comments with us in the discussion thread below.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

This story has been updated.

Guest:

S.J. Velasquez, Homepage and Features Producer, BBC.com; she tweets from @sjvelasquez 

Dr. Jason Greenspan (L) and emergency room nurse Junizar Manansala care for a patient in the ER of Mission Community Hospital in Panorama City.; Credit: David McNew/Getty Images

When your loved ones end up in the hospital, it can be easy to expect the worst.

What if they get the wrong paperwork, medication, surgery -- the list goes on. And the “what ifs” can lead friends and family members to overstep their bounds with hospital staff.

Conversely, nurses may be more concerned with providing medical care than communicating with patients, a skill they may not have learned in nursing school.

But according to a Wall Street Journal article, that may be changing. Programs and workshops are cropping up to help nurses communicate with patients and their loved ones, and hospital staff have some recommendations on how to get the best care.

Guest host Patt Morrison spoke to Annette Sy about the ways you can get the best care from hospital staff without driving them (or yourself) crazy.

Interview highlights

What’s some basic advice for what people should do when dealing with nursing and hospital staff?

Annette Sy: We have many families that join patients at the Keck Medical Center, and they’re large families, all with good intentions. Many of those family members are calling and asking for updates for the patients. That could take the nurse away from focusing on other patients. So one suggestion I have, is always appoint one family member as your spokesperson. Then that family member communicates back to the rest of the family. I also see family members researching the internet a lot, then they get concerned and ask a lot of questions. Ask your questions early on in your loved one’s care. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Doctors and nurses are there to explain those answers.

What are some examples of patient or visitor behavior that’s too overbearing?

Challenging the medication or constantly asking questions about what the med is for, and then referring back to what they’ve researched on the internet [using “research”]. Patients spend five or 10 minutes Googling a certain medication and there’s a physician or pharmacist that’s spent years studying pharmacology. So just take that research in stride.

Patt also asked listeners to give tips or ask questions about their experiences staying with loved ones in the hospital.

Melinda in Brentwood had a tip about journal-keeping. She said a communal journal helped her family members keep track of questions and answers.

Melinda: With both my parents’ serious hospitalizations, we kept a notebook so that each of their children could write about what was going on, because you’re so overwhelmed and in shock, things can be said to you, but you don’t hear or remember it properly.

Linda in AirTalk's comments online asked about how to deal with rude nurses. She said her family wanted to complain about her father’s nurse when he was a patient, but they were concerned that saying something may make his father’s care worse, and wanted to know how she could have handled the situation better.

Sy: A family member should never fear retaliation for bringing up a concern. If you’re not feeling comfortable with a particular nurse, there’s always a charge nurse on duty that you can bring your concern to. Many times the charge nurse can simply change the assignment. If you feel that a charge nurse is not able to make that change on your request, a nurse manager is somebody else that’s a central party to take your concern to. Many hospitals also have a patient experience office that can also intervene.

A listener in Calabasas urged listeners to check the medical history of their loved ones as soon as they’re admitted:

The most important thing when entering the hospital, particularly if it’s through the emergency room, is to obtain medical records as quickly as possible. Either the patient, his next of kin or designated family member, should get a comprehensive medical history [and] review it right away. I was admitted to a hospital wrongly as a cardiac patient because a doctor had wrote that my nephew had died at a young age from a cardiac episode. ... I told him I have a family history of diabetes, not cardiac [problems]. $69,000 later, I can only say that patient history should be provided because your care is based upon the symptoms you present, your test results and family and personal medical history.

Guest:

Annette Sy, DNP, RN, Chief Nursing Officer, Keck Medical Center of USC

This story has been updated.

Immigrants wait to take the oath of citizenship during a naturalization ceremony in at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, June 20, 2016 in New York City.; Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

We all know that feeling a sense of national pride is full of complexity.

While American identity isn’t defined by one thing, there are moments that bring that feeling to light, like lighting sparklers on the Fourth of July or voting for the first time. For people who’ve emigrated to the U.S. or even first-generation Americans, feeling “American” is often a struggle, and pieced together by events that may seem small, but make a big personal impact.

In a recent “New York Times” article, Jana Prikryl, who came to the U.S. at age 9 as a Czechoslovakian refugee, recounted when getting her first pair of jeans helped ease her mind about fitting in--a feeling everyone craves no matter where they’re from.

Things like wearing jeans, celebrating national holidays or eating a PB&J may feel inconsequential to people who’ve always felt “American,” but for those willing to leave behind their culture for their American identity, these are things that may create a sense of belonging, in addition to big changes like making English their primary language.

But fitting in is a double-edged sword. Terms like “melting pot” can be deemed as offensive, alluding to the idea that people’s cultural backgrounds should be compromised to become more “American.”  

What is the thing that makes you feel “American”? Does being “American” mean you have to give something up or does it fill you with pride?

Guest:

Ilaf Esuf, senior staff, opinion columnist at The Daily Californian and author of the article, “Feeling American: Stale Off the Boat”

A saxophonist sits on a bench designed to deter sleeping in Washington Square Park in New York City.; Credit: Chris Hondros/Getty Images

Pink lights that emphasize blemishes, curvy benches that deter sleepers, classical music that annoys teenagers, these are not simply bad designs, they are intentionally hostile designs aimed to manipulate certain behaviors in public.

A bench, for example, offers a place to rest between bus stops, but it could also be used for sleeping. If an urban planner wishes to deter snoozing in public spaces, placing multiple arm rests can make laying down very uncomfortable. This “hostile” design thereby restricted the use of such public goods to its “designated” function.

According to a most up-to-date version of the book "Unpleasant Design," these intentional modifications can be powerful at altering our behavior, but in doing so, they may unfairly target certain social demographics. Diving deeper, these deterrents also send a demoralizing message – while tackling the symptom of problem such as homelessness, hostile designs offer nothing in solving societal issues at large.  

How do you evaluate the goals of these designs? Do you think they do a public service to the community? Or do they frustrate and upset users across the spectrum?

Guests:

Selena Savich, architect and designer and the co-editor of the book "Unpleasant Design;" she tweets at @jazoza

Damien Newton, founder and editor of Streetsblog LA; he tweets at @DamienTypes

Libyan prime minister Fayez Sarraj addresses a press conference on May 16, 2016 in Vienna, Austria.; Credit: LEONHARD FOEGER/AFP/Getty Images

In an effort to curtail the expansion of the Islamic State group in Libya, the United States bombed targets in the city of Sirte and caused “heavy losses” according to Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj.

The airstrikes mark the beginning of a longer campaign in Libya and were requested by Libya’s government, the U.N.-supported Government of National Accord (GNA).  President Obama addressed the airstrikes during a Tuesday morning press conference with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, saying that the bombings were focused on specific targets and were authorized only after GNA forces had pushed ISIS in Sirte into a confined space.

The White House has said that U.S. assistance to Libya only extends as far as airstrikes and information sharing.

All of this comes as civil war continues to pull the country in different directions, as government-backed and jihadist militias fight for government control. On AirTalk today, we’ll explore the players on the ground in Libya, what’s caused the U.S. to offer its assistance with airstrikes, and what the results of the airstrikes have been so far.

Guests:

Mohamed Eljarh, nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East; he tweets @eljarh

Omar Turbi, Libyan-American human-rights activist who lobbied the U.S. government to take part in NATO ops to save civilian lives during 2011 revolution; he was born in Benghazi and is the founder of Hillside Laguna, an alcohol and drug addiction treatment center here in Southern California

James Bernat and Michelle Albelo, City of Miami police officers, give out cans of insect repellent as they help people near the Miami Rescue Mission prevent mosquito bites that may infect them with the Zika virus on August 2, 2016 in Miami, Florida.; Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel warning Monday, advising pregnant women and their partners not to travel to a small neighborhood where four new cases of Zika were found in Miami, Florida.

The warning is a first of its kind in the U.S. and was sparked when 10 newly infected people were reported in Florida. The total number of people infected in that state is now 14.

The CDC’s travel recommendations concerning Zika are the first to be issued in the U.S., which brings up questions on how to keep the virus from spreading to the rest of the country.

Experts on the topic weigh in with Patt Morrison today on what you need to know.

Guests:

Dr. Anthony Fauci, MD, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Dr. Neil Silverman, MD, clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UCLA, perinatal consultant on Zika for the California Department of Public Health; Dr. Silverman is also a member of an ad hoc Zika Expert Group for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-CA) of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus delivers remarks on the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. She is profiled in the Washington Post's "Women in Power" series.; Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Hillary Clinton’s nomination by the Democratic Party for President of the United States was an historic moment, no doubt, for a country whose government has long been seen as an old-boys’ club.

While she’s not the only one who has helped pave the way for women to hold positions of power in politics, and while there is still a long way to go before men and women are equally represented in U.S. government, it’s undeniable that women have made huge strides in advancing visibility in Washington.

In its most recent series, “Women in Power,” Washington Post reporters tackle the topic from several angles, including why the GOP lacks high-ranking female representatives and where women are among top political donors. Today on AirTalk, we’ll chat with two of the reporters who worked on the series.

Guests:

Matea Gold, national political reporter for the Washington Post; her article in their recent “Women in Power” series is “Women are finally breaking into the top tier of political donors;” she tweets from @mateagold

Elise Viebeck, national enterprise reporter for the Washington Post who wrote several articles for their “Women in Power” series; she tweets from @eliseviebeck

A photo showing an official Twitter account on a smartphone.; Credit: DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/Getty Images

A new report out from the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue looks at three experiments backed by Twitter, Facebook and Google’s parent company Alphabet aimed at counter-messaging extremist propaganda online.

Researchers set out to explore what kinds of messages and targeting could reach nascent extremists before they become radicalized by internet propaganda.

Starting last fall, Facebook began targeting nearly half a million teenagers and young adults who posted the words “sharia” or “mujahideen” with animated pop-up videos in their news feeds.

AirTalk spoke with a co-author of the report, plus the founder of a non-profit organization that created some of the videos used in it, to find out how such counter-narrative campaigns find success.

“Extremist groups are targeting people who are vulnerable to radicalization with real precision and on scale," said Christopher J. Stewart, the co-author of the report. “Counter-narrative campaigns must match this efficacy and scale and remain innovative to all the changing online landscapes and the changing ways that extremist groups use the internet.”

Stewart stressed the importance of developing systematic ways to produce counter-narrative content, as the practice is still in its “infancy.”

What do you find to be the most psychologically effective means of reaching young people who may be caught up in the idea that extremism is a great, romantic and important cause?

It’s always really key to think about the audience when you are making a counter-narrative. Not every audience is going to have the same response to a certain piece of content as others.

Equally important is the credibility of the messenger. It might be that governments aren‘t always best placed to tell, for example, young Muslims in America to not join ISIS. It might be that there are more credible messengers in their community that should deliver that message. 

This is why we did the Google report: it’s figuring out what is impactful. It’s building an assessment framework. You have to try things before you know if they work or not.

Mohamed Ahmed, widely known as “Average Mohamed,” is the founder, chairman and executive director of an eponymous non-profit dedicated to creating a counter-dialogue to terrorism. He creates brief animated videos that challenge the ideals of Islamic extremists.

“We take that extremist value, and we shoot it down ... with values that are anti-extremist,” Ahmed said.  “In other words, a counter-narrative. We make our message, and we expose that message to kids from ages 8 to 16 on social media for them to think about it. ... Our goal is to go ahead and create that narrative that says ‘this has nothing to do with our faith, everything to do with extremism, and that is wrong.’”

Several of his videos were funded by the ISD and used in their studies. He collaborated with the institute, Google, Twitter and Facebook to create algorithms that show his videos to people who use terminology that may suggest sympathy to extremist organizations.

In practice, how does this work?

Basically, for anyone who puts in the word “jihad” or “mujahideen” or “Islamic State” [to Facebook, Twitter, or Google] it would pop up. What some of these kids are looking for is Islamic State videos. The goal is to go ahead and say, “Look, here is a competition. Here’s a different message. Compete. Let’s hear these values. Let’s think deeply about them, and then figure out which pathway you want to go.” That was the main purpose of this whole counter-narrative program. 

I do outreach ... and you won’t believe how many kids come up to me and say, “Look. We didn’t know. We just didn’t know that these values exist within our faith and these values exist within our consciousness. The fact that you are making [these videos] helps me out a lot.” Or, “It helps my friend out a lot.” Usually that’s what they say. ... Parents have come up to me and told me the same thing. So it does work.

[Parents] use [my videos] because they are trying to have this conversation with their kids, and they don’t know how. ... No parent in my community believes their child is going to be an ... extremist. So they don’t talk to their kids about it. Here’s an opportunity where they can actually talk about it, and talk about our values, which are the majority of values, in a way that is acceptable and the kid can understand.

Ahmed said he has received death threats from YouTube users whose profiles feature Islamic State insignias. He has about 25 videos, and he hopes to create at least as many new ones before the end of the year.

These interviews were edited for clarity.

Guests:

Christopher J. Stewart, co-author of the report and a Programme Associate at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue

Mohamed Ahmed, Founder, Chairman and Executive Director, Average Mohamed, a non-profit organization seeking to create a counter dialogue to terrorism

A visitor looks at the Anatomy of a Martian at an exhibition, presented as part of Melbourne Winter Masterpieces 2010, which explored the full career of artist and film maker Tim Burton.; Credit: WILLIAM WEST/AFP/Getty Images

Sorry, fans of The X-Files.

The search for little green men in outer space could be a futile one, according to an upcoming study in The Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.

The reason? Because human beings might be the oldest form of intelligent life in the universe, according to the researchers at Harvard and Oxford who are behind the new study. Basically it means that the universe is still waiting for space aliens to be born.

Guests:

Avi Loeb, a professor of science at Harvard University. He is the lead author of the study looking at how old intelligent life is in the universe, to be published in The Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer and Director of the Center for Study Research at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California

Brazilian soldiers stand on patrol during a security rehearsal of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games opening ceremony outside Maracana stadium on July 17, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ; Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Brazil has security out in full force today as the 2016 Summer Olympics get underway in the country’s capital, Rio de Janeiro.

Amid financial, public health, and political concerns surrounding the games, there is the threat of a terrorist attack or security breach. Officials in Rio are on even higher alert than usual after recent terrorist attacks, but many still worry that Rio doesn’t have the proper security and safety measures in place to handle the task of keeping the athletes, fans, and staff safe.

We’ll also take a look at some of the more memorable opening ceremonies in Olympic history as the Rio Games have their opening ceremonies this Friday.

Guests:

David Wallechinsky, president of the International Society of Olympic Historians and author of "The Complete Book of The Olympics"

Ray Mey (FBI, ret.), consulting security expert at the forensic consulting firm Park Dietz & Associates; he was the FBI Olympic Security Manager for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy

A man inspects new Toyota cars on display at Melody Toyota in San Bruno, California. ; Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

A bill has been passed requiring newly purchased vehicles to have temporary license plates.

The bill, AB 516, which was proposed by Democratic Assemblyman Kevin Mullin of South San Francisco, would be put into effect by 2019. The law currently requires the DMV to issue 2 license plates to car owners and dealer must attach a report of sale form to the vehicle.

This leaves room for untraceable tickets and other violations. But what does this mean for consumers? Dealers and lesser retailers will electronically report the sale to the DMV and give new car owners the temporary license plates.

Questions still remain about how people having problems with DMV registration would be able to drive off the lot with a new car.

Patt Morrison speaks to The Ride host Sue Carpenter today for everything you need to know about the bill.

Guests:

Susan Carpenter, Co-host for KPCC’s The Ride, and the former car critic for the Los Angeles Times and Orange County Register; she tweets from @CarpenterWheels

Brian Maas, President, California New Car Dealers Association

The Farnsworth House, located in Plano, Illinois, was designed by Mies van der Rohe in 1945.; Credit: Flickr/Timothy Brown

In a scathing piece in the New York Times magazine over the weekend, Kyle Chayka took aim at the notion that minimalism, or what he refers to as “an ostentatious ritual of consumerist self-sacrifice” reserved for elites of Silicon valley, who along with the likes of Marie Kondo espouse owning fewer things but more gadgets.

In it, he calls out James Altucher’s “How Minimalism Brought Me Freedom and Joy,” as emblematic of a budding genre for which “as with watching birds or going Paleo, talking about the material purge is just as important as actually doing it.”

Is there a happy medium?

Guests:

James Altucher, entrepreneur and author of several books; his blog post “How Minimalism Brought Me Freedom and Joy” is mentioned in the NY Times Magazine piece; he tweets from @jaltucher

A pair of white cargo shorts.; Credit: Flickr/ Designer Outlet Parndorf - Abdruck honorarfrei

Cargo shorts probably seem like a great idea if you’re someone who uses tools or carries a lot of stuff on a regular basis.

But guys, let’s face it, these days we don’t have much more to carry around than the big three: phone, wallet, keys. Why, then, have men gotten away with wearing cargo shorts for so long?

This is the topic of a recent Wall Street Journal Article that has touched off an internet-wide conversation on the utility (and fashion status) of cargo shorts. If you’ve never seen a pair, they’re those baggy, khaki shorts with big pockets cut into the sides. Trouble is, not everyone is as big a fan of the extra pocket space, and this is even evident in the recent decline in cargo shorts sales. Though their popularity traces back to the 90s and early 00s when Abercrombie & Fitch showed pictures in its catalogs of shirtless men in cargo shorts, they’ve since become more of a fashion eyesore than a useful clothing option as slimmer men’s shorts with an average number of pockets became more popular in the 2010s.

Today on AirTalk, we’ll chat with a law professor/fashionista about why people are still wearing cargo shorts and how they became popular in the first place.

Guest:

Susan Scafidi, Founder & Academic Director of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham Law School

California Republican gubernatorial candidate and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman waves at supporters during a campaign event on October 31, 2010 in Burbank. In a New York Times interview Tuesday, Whitman said she plans to fundraise and vote for Hillary Clinton.; Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Former eBay head honcho and prominent Republican Meg Whitman is throwing her weight behind Hillary Clinton, snubbing GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, whom she called “a dishonest demagogue.”

Whitman isn’t the latest in a line of right-leaning billionaires to defect from the Republican Party. Mogul Michael Bloomberg and the Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban have also jumped ship to pledge their support for Clinton.

They are overlooking ideological differences they have with the Democratic Party and Clinton to prevent Trump from reaching the country’s highest office, and reflects what many regular voters have to do in this presidential election.

What voting tradeoffs are your making?

Guests:

Daniel Lippman, reporter for POLITICO and a co-author of POLITICO's Playbook, a morning political newsletter

Arthur Lupia, a professor of political science at the University of Michigan, and author of the book, “Uninformed: Why People Seem to Know So Little about Politics and What We Can Do about it” (Oxford University Press, 2015)