Kavanaugh Confirmation, Drawn Together, Succulent Smuggling

Guest: Mona Charen, JD, Syndicated Columnist, Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center It’s back in session, but one justice short of the full nine until the Senate can confirm President Trump’s nominee Brett Kavanaugh. That confirmation is on hold for the week while the FBI looks into the allegation by Christine Blasey Ford that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were in high school.

Guest: Deirdre Clemente (PhD), Associate Professor, History, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Director of Public History at UNLV. Author, “Dress Casual: How College Students Redefined American Style” Sales of clothing in the US have been generally flat the last few years, but there’s one fashion category that’s booming. It’s called “athleisure” and it’s blurring the lines between the office and the gym. Men wearing slim-fitting joggers to work instead of slacks? That’s athleisure. Women dressing up a pair of yoga leggings with heels and a long sweater? Athleisure. Is this a passing fad or the new business casual?

Guest: Minh Le, Author, “Drawn Together” About 36 million Americans were born in the US to immigrant parents. By the time they have children of their own, those kids likely won’t speak the native language of their grandparents. Author Minh Le was in that exact situation. So he wrote a picture book to show how a boy and his grandfather overcome that barrier with love, creativity and lots of imagination. The book is called “Drawn Together.” It’s beautifully illustrated and written – magical, even.

Guest: Anita Kozyrskyj, PhD, Adjunct Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta Childhood obesity has tripled in the past generation – the CDC says one in five school age children are obese in the US now. The causes are complex, but one culprit may be lurking under the kitchen sink: household disinfectants. A new study finds that babies in households that use disinfectant cleaners have more of a certain kind of bacteria in their gut – and when those babies reach the age of 3, they’re more likely to overweight.

Guest: Patrick Foy, Captain of Regulations, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Law Enforcement Division There’s a lucrative black market in China and Korea for succulent plants that grow well in the American West. Smugglers in California have been caught with 10s of thousands of plants worth millions of dollars. This is not exactly how to fix the trade imbalance.

Guest: Timothy Calkins, Clinical Professor of Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Author, “How to Wash a Chicken: Mastering the Business Presentation” Electric car maker Tesla and its controversial CEO Elon Musk settled a lawsuit with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the weekend. Musk was accused of securities fraud for misleading tweets about Tesla’s finances that affected its stock price. Musk and Tesla will each pay $20 million in fines and Musk will relinquish his role as the company’s board chairman, but he gets to stay on as CEO. What would Tesla be without Musk anyway? For better or worse, carmaker’s brand is wrapped up in Musk’s outspoken, often outlandish, identity.