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Slate.com
Business and economics reporter for Slate.com; former associate editor at The Atlantic, he has written for a number of publications, including the Washington Post and National Law Journal
PROFILE
Jordan Weissmann
Guest
FROM Jordan Weissmann
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
How effective can financial activism be against guns? At least 20 companies have cut ties with the National Rifle Association -- including Delta, United, Hertz, and Metlife. They’re not offering discounts to NRA members anymore. Separately, there’s pressure on investors to drop gun manufacturers from their stock portfolios. Aside from making activists feel good, can these boycotts lead to real change?
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Police shootings and racial bias According to a new study, if you’re stopped by police, you’re no more likely to get shot if you’re black than if you’re white. The study’s author, Harvard economist Roland Fryer, told the New York Times, “It is the most surprising result of my career.” But there have been criticisms of his findings.
To the Point
President Obama Announces New Rules on Overtime Pay President Obama first announced new overtime rules in an op-ed in the Huffington Post. Yesterday, he took the message to the University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse. Jordan Weissman is business and economics reporter for Slate .
To the Point
IPhone Turns 5 Today, as we mark the fifth anniversary of the day the first iPhone went on sale, it's hard to remember that there were people who actually laughed at the new device. Jordan Weissmann, Associate Editor of the Atlantic magazine, looks back at ‘the little gadget that could,' the device that became one of the biggest game changers ever in the world of technology.
Which Way, L.A.?
Protesters Pepper Sprayed at Santa Monica College Last night at Santa Monica College — where this radio station is located -- about 100 protesters crowded a hallway outside a meeting of the Board of Trustees. Video of the incident has been posted on YouTube by the Corsair, Santa Monica College's newspaper. College President Chui Tsang says that when bystanders overran the door "there was one discharge of pepper spray by a [college] police officer… [and] a number of bystanders were affected." He also said that the incident is being investigated, but that the college will pay the medical bills even of those it feels were breaking the law. No arrests were made, but the protest itself raises the broader issue of declining funds for public education in California. NOTE: Two days after this discussion, the Santa Monica College trustees agreed to postpone the two-tier fee plan .
Which Way, L.A.?
The Impact of Football on Grades and Graduation Rates Today's the day for the TicketCity Bowl, the Gator Bowl, the Capital One Bowl, the Outback Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl and the Rose Bowl. What does it all mean for the schools involved and for higher education? This has been a season of scandal in college football. At Ohio State, the University of Miami and, most nightmarish of all, at Penn State. So "it's hard not to wonder: is college football really good for college?" asks Jordan Weissmann in the current Atlantic magazine.
Recommended
To the Point
Janesville and the American Dream Janesville, Wisconsin is the hometown of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. But he couldn’t prevent the closing of the General Motors factory after 100 years. On this Memorial Day rebroadcast of To the Point, we hear what’s happened to what once was a model of American middle-class unity.
To the Point
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.
To the Point
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
To the Point
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.