“Truth Decay,” the diminishing role of facts and analysis, is being studied by RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan global policy research institution based in Santa Monica. This livestream focuses on Truth Decay – is it a threat to evidence-based policymaking and America’s democracy? Has social media blurred the lines between facts and opinions? Listen now to hear from:
- Michael D. Rich, President & CEO, RAND Corporation
- Jennifer Kavanagh, Senior Political Scientist, RAND Corporation, and lead author of a RAND report on “Truth Decay”
- Steven Greenhut, Western region director for the R Street Institute and a member of the Southern California News Group editorial board
- Pete Peterson (moderator), Dean, School of Public Policy, Pepperdine University


Check out our upcoming livestreams at: https://www.lawac.org/
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“Truth Decay,” the diminishing role of facts and analysis, is being studied by RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan global policy research institution based in Santa Monica. This livestream focuses on Truth Decay – is it a threat to evidence-based policymaking and America’s democracy? Has social media blurred the lines between facts and opinions? Listen now to hear from:
- Michael D. Rich, President & CEO, RAND Corporation
- Jennifer Kavanagh, Senior Political Scientist, RAND Corporation, and lead author of a RAND report on “Truth Decay”
- Steven Greenhut, Western region director for the R Street Institute and a member of the Southern California News Group editorial board
- Pete Peterson (moderator), Dean, School of Public Policy, Pepperdine University


Check out our upcoming livestreams at: https://www.lawac.org/
And make sure to follow us on social:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lawacthevents
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawacthevents
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawacthevents

On this weekly livestream, Dan Schnur a politics professor at USC, UC Berkeley, and Pepperdine takes an analytical approach to the biggest headlines of the week and elevates the stories you may have missed. Dan connects the daily news to larger political trends and spends most of the time answering the live audiences' most pressing political questions. On this episode:
1) While Rome Burns…Congress and Coronavirus Relief
2) The Great Re-opening Experiment: Your Job or My Health?
3) The Future of Political Conventions: Milwaukee, Charlotte, or Zoom?

Join our weekly livestream every Thursday at 11 am PST to make sense of politics in the time of Coronavirus.

Check out our upcoming livestreams at: https://www.lawac.org/
And make sure to follow us on social:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lawacthevents
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawacthevents
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawacthevents

This livestream discussion features some of the most insightful scientists and engineers studying and responding to COVID-19 - Pamela Bjorkman, David Baltimore Professor of Biology and Bioengineering, Paul Wennberg, R. Stanton Avery Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Environmental Science and Engineering, and Dave Gallagher, Associate Director for Strategic Integration at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This discussion is led by Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum. Listen now to hear the answers to questions like:
- How has the lack of carbon emissions due to stay at home orders really effected our environment, and what do we do with this information going forward?
- Can rocket scientists build better ventilators, and how has JPL’s work to address hypoxia (low oxygen levels) for astronauts contributed to helping COVID-19 patients?
- What have the world’s leading biologists discovered about SARS CoV2, and how different immune systems react to it, which could impact treatment and vaccine options?

Check out our upcoming livestreams at: https://www.lawac.org/
And make sure to follow us on social:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lawacthevents
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawacthevents
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawacthevents

This livestream discussion features some of the most insightful scientists and engineers studying and responding to COVID-19 - Pamela Bjorkman, David Baltimore Professor of Biology and Bioengineering, Paul Wennberg, R. Stanton Avery Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Environmental Science and Engineering, and Dave Gallagher, Associate Director for Strategic Integration at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This discussion is led by Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum. Listen now to hear the answers to questions like:
- How has the lack of carbon emissions due to stay at home orders really effected our environment, and what do we do with this information going forward?
- Can rocket scientists build better ventilators, and how has JPL’s work to address hypoxia (low oxygen levels) for astronauts contributed to helping COVID-19 patients?
- What have the world’s leading biologists discovered about SARS CoV2, and how different immune systems react to it, which could impact treatment and vaccine options?

Check out our upcoming livestreams at: https://www.lawac.org/
And make sure to follow us on social:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lawacthevents
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawacthevents
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawacthevents

This livestream features Jeffrey Wasserstrom of UC Irvine's History Department, one of America’s leading China specialists, and Elaine Yu, a Pomona graduate from Hong Kong who is back in the city working as a freelance journalist and reporting for the New York Times. Prior to the outbreak of the Coronavirus, protests were erupting throughout Hong Kong, and gaining growing press and support from around the world. Now with lock-down orders in place, the protests have nearly stopped, yet the sentiments behind them haven't gone away. Wasserstrom and Yu discuss what's transpired in Hong Kong in the last two months in response to the pandemic, including the actions taken by Beijing and the recent arrests of prominent pro-Democracy activists in Hong Kong like Martin Lee. The discussion is moderated by Sewell Chan, Editorial Page Editor at the LA Times.

Check out our upcoming livestreams at: https://www.lawac.org/
And make sure to follow us on social:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lawacthevents
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawacthevents
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawacthevents

On this weekly livestream, Dan Schnur a politics professor at USC, UC Berkeley, and Pepperdine takes an analytical approach to the biggest headlines of the week and elevates the stories you may have missed. Dan connects the daily news to larger political trends and spends most of the time answering the live audiences' most pressing political questions. On this episode:
1) Why Trump Can Win Re-Election — And Why He Can’t
2) Ready or Not: The Re-Opening Is Here
3) How the Pandemic is Increasing Global Hunger and Poverty

Join our weekly livestream every Thursday at 11 am PST to make sense of politics in the time of Coronavirus.

Check out our upcoming livestreams at: https://www.lawac.org/
And make sure to follow us on social:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lawacthevents
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawacthevents
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawacthevents

This livestream features Jeffrey Wasserstrom of UC Irvine's History Department, one of America’s leading China specialists, and Elaine Yu, a Pomona graduate from Hong Kong who is back in the city working as a freelance journalist and reporting for the New York Times. Prior to the outbreak of the Coronavirus, protests were erupting throughout Hong Kong, and gaining growing press and support from around the world. Now with lock-down orders in place, the protests have nearly stopped, yet the sentiments behind them haven't gone away. Wasserstrom and Yu discuss what's transpired in Hong Kong in the last two months in response to the pandemic, including the actions taken by Beijing and the recent arrests of prominent pro-Democracy activists in Hong Kong like Martin Lee. The discussion is moderated by Sewell Chan, Editorial Page Editor at the LA Times.

Check out our upcoming livestreams at: https://www.lawac.org/
And make sure to follow us on social:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lawacthevents
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawacthevents
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawacthevents

On this livestream, Los Angeles County Supervisor (5th District) and Board Chair Kathryn Barger, and Dr. Barbara Ferrer Director, LA County Dept. of Public Health discuss the extension of LA County's "Safer at Home" order -- now set through July. Moderated by local journalist and Los Angeles magazine contributor, Jon Regardie the panel addresses:
- The plan for reopening economic and industrial sectors
- The status of testing, PPE, and the County's capacity to care for those who are infected
- What to expect in the future for LA County

Check out our upcoming livestreams at: https://www.lawacth.org/
And make sure to follow us on social:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lawacthevents
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawacthevents
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawacthevents/

For many of us, science-based critical analysis fuels our understanding of reality, but false stories reach the same number of people six times faster than those that are factual. Why do we believe what we believe? Where do those ideas come from? And how do we then act on them? Are all key questions in the (Dis)Information Age.

On this livestream, the Young Professionals of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council and Town Hall invite you to explore these questions with us and Christina Nemr, Director at Park Advisors, in our upcoming event looking at societal implications of conspiracy theories and disinformation.