Prodemocracy demonstrators clash with law enforcement in Hong Kong in August 2019. Photo by Studio Incendo.
On this show:
0:08 – Last Tuesday, China passed a national security law that applies to Hong Kong. It criminalizes secession, subversion, terrorist activities, and collusion with foreign powers — and today, Hong Kong is seeing its first prosecution under that law. We’re joined by Mary Hui (@maryhui), a journalist based in Hong Kong for Quartz covering business and geopolitics in Asia, as well as Hong Kong protests.
0:33 – John Swartzberg is clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. He discusses the latest COVID trends following the July 4th weekend and vaccine development, and takes listener calls.
1:08 – The Supreme Court began issuing another round of decisions this morning, including a First Amendment case regarding a federal ban on robocalls, as well as a case regarding whether states can enforce the voters’ will if electors they send to the Electoral College after a presidential election decide to vote against the winner of the race. Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional law scholar and dean of Berkeley Law, joins us for a conversation about these cases.
1:33 – San Quentin saw its first COVID-19 case at the beginning of June — and now, more than one third of those inside have tested positive for the disease. San Quentin prisoners are now on a hunger strike to protest conditions inside. For more, we speak with Phillip Melendez (@thephilmelendez). He was formerly incarcerated at San Quentin and is currently program manager at Re:Store Justice, a nonprofit organization that works in partnership with incarcerated people, survivors of crime, district attorneys, and the community to re-imagine the U.S. justice system. We also speak with Brooke, a member of Oakland Abolition and Solidarity (@OaklandAboSol), a prisoner solidarity group.