Podcasts about definers public affairs

Kevin spoke with Colin Reed, GOP Strategist & Managing Director at Definers Public Affairs, and Luis Miranda, Former DNC Communications Director. They discussed Facebook's Lira cryptocurrency, big tech, President Trump defending his attacks on Democratic Congresswomen and the topic of racism. Kevin also spoke with Congressman Denver Riggleman of Virginia's 5th district to preview crypto's House Financial Services hearing Wednesday.

Kevin spoke with Colin Reed, GOP Strategist & Managing Director at Definers Public Affairs, and Luis Miranda, Former DNC Communications Director. They discussed Facebook's Lira cryptocurrency, big tech, President Trump defending his attacks on Democratic Congresswomen and the topic of racism. Kevin also spoke with Congressman Denver Riggleman of Virginia's 5th district to preview crypto's House Financial Services hearing Wednesday.

How do Republicans get a word in edge-wise? We ask our special guest Antonia Ferrier of Definers Public Affairs. Antonia has served as a communications advisor over the last 15 years to U.S. Senators Bill Frist, John Boehner, Roy Blunt, Olympia Snowe, Orin Hatch, and Mitch McConnell.

Kevin discussed the House passed resolution that condemns antisemitism and anti-Muslim discrimination following a controversy over remarks by freshman Democrat Ilhan Omar, presidential pardons in the Manafort and Cohen cases and upcoming presidential debates for Democrats in 2020 with guests Adam Green, Co-Founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Colin Reed, GOP Strategist & Managing Director at Definers Public Affairs and Xochitl Hinojosa, Communications Director for the Democratic National Committee. 

Kevin discussed the House passed resolution that condemns antisemitism and anti-Muslim discrimination following a controversy over remarks by freshman Democrat Ilhan Omar, presidential pardons in the Manafort and Cohen cases and upcoming presidential debates for Democrats in 2020 with guests Adam Green, Co-Founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Colin Reed, GOP Strategist & Managing Director at Definers Public Affairs and Xochitl Hinojosa, Communications Director for the Democratic National Committee. 

Joseph Kane: The Impact of Automated Vehicles on Your White Collar Job (Ep. 165) Brookings' Joseph Kane joined Joe Miller to talk about how automated vehicles could impact your white collar job--not just those of drivers. Bio Joseph Kane (@jwkane) is a senior research associate and associate fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program. Kane’s work focuses on a wide array of built environment issues, including transportation and water infrastructure. Within these areas of research, he has explored infrastructure’s central economic role across different regions as well as its relationship to opportunity and resilience. Across several projects, he has concentrated on the use of innovative datasets, combining them with other qualitative measures to better assess current and future infrastructure needs. From the exploration of metropolitan freight trends to the first-ever analysis of infrastructure jobs at a metropolitan level, he has coordinated the production of new metrics and developed other interactive content to better inform decisions by policymakers and practitioners across the country. Prior to Brookings, Kane was an Economist at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. He holds a master’s degree in urban and environmental planning from the University of Virginia and a bachelor’s degree in economics and history from the College of William and Mary. Resources Metropolitan Policy Program @ Brookings How big could the AV industry be? 9.5 million workers and counting by Joseph Kane and Adie Tomer Why the Garden Club Couldn't Save Youngstown by Sean Stafford News Roundup Consequences Facebook’s poor engagement with people of color taking root The consequences of Facebook’s poor engagement over the years with people of color began to take hold last week. On Tuesday, USA Today’s Jessica Guynn reported on a former black Facebook employee – Mark Luckie – who says the company has a deep seated race problem both internally and on the platform. Luckie wrote an internal blog post on Facebook earlier this month—to management and employees—that later went public—saying the platform itself actively works against black people. He says that Facebook works against attempts by black users to create safe spaces on Facebook, amplifies some users over others using class-based criteria, which effectively dilutes black voices, and fails to hire a workforce that reflects the demographics of its user base. Color of Change CEO Rashad Robinson met with Sheryl Sandberg on Thursday. Politico reported that it was a victory, but then went on to talk about all of the ways in which it really wasn’t. For example, Facebook hasn’t committed to release records on its work with Definers Public Affairs to engage in promoting far right, anti-Semitic attacks against George Soros. It was a campaign that also targeted Color of Change. Robinson also told Politico that Sandberg defended Joel Kaplan. Apparently Sandberg, according to Politico’s account of the meeting, offered a sincere apology and Mark Zuckerberg popped his head in. But really, who cares. Sandberg did agree to a civil rights audit that Color of Change would conduct and agreed to have a public debate on the results of the audit. But that’s really non-negotiable since they have to do something to prevent a boycott. Also, a New York Times report out the same day Robinson met with Sandberg suggested that Sandberg directed the communications team in their research of George Soros’s financial interests and actually sent an email asking if Soros had  shorted Facebook’s stock. A lot of people are just sort of wondering why Sheryl Sandberg, Mark Zuckerberg and Joel Kaplan should keep their jobs. But would that solve Facebook’s race issues? Mattis says Russia interfered in midterms Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said over the weekend during an interview at the Ronald Reagan Public library that Russian operatives attempted to interfere with the U.S. election. He said the Trump administration’s relationship with Russia has deteriorated. Mattis’ remarks came a couple of days after Trump canceled his scheduled meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 summit amidst Michael Cohen’s guilty plea for making misstatements to Congress in the investigation into the Trump administration’s business dealings with Russia during the 2016 presidential election. Marriott hack affects 500 million guests Marriott reported a hack that apparently affected some 500 million of its Starwood guests, exposing personal information including home addresses, passport numbers, drivers’ license numbers, names, and other personal details. New York State Attorney General Barbara Underwood is investigating the breach. The company has known about the breach since early September. Nexstar to acquire Tribune Nextstar has announced plans to acquire Tribune Media for $4.1 billion, making it the largest tv station owner in the U.S. The merger would add 42 stations to Nexstar’s portfolio bringing its total number of stations to 216 in 118 markets, just under the FCC’s 39% ownership threshold. The deal comes after Sinclair failed in its bid for Tribune earlier this year. Delrahim for AG? CNN reports that President Trump may be considering Makan Delrahim to replace Jeff Sessions as US Attorney General.  Currently, Delrahim is the Assistant Attorney General who sued AT&T to stop its acquisition of Time Warner—he lost. That deal went through. Some are still debating whether the president directed Delrahim to stop the merger. Delrahim denies this. But if he did act at Trump’s behest, the Attorney General job would be a big reward—ya think? FBI Charges 8 in Ad-fraud scheme The FBI charged eight individuals last week in an ad fraud scheme. The men face 13 charges for allegedly scheming to infect 1.7 million computers and drive traffic to counterfeit websites serving up ads. Craig Silverman has a detailed report in BuzzFeed News. DOJ Indicts 2 Iranians for Ransomware Attacks The Department of justice indicted 2 men in connection with an alleged Iranian ransomware plot since 2015 that has caused some $30 million in financial damage to city universities, governments and hospitals, including the City of Atlanta. Officials say the scheme, known as SamSam, affected more than 200 victims and led to some $6 million in ransom payments. Brian Fung has the story in the Washington Post. Google employees pledge $200k to help striking employees Some Google employees have banded together to create a $200k fund to help striking engineers who are opposing Google’s work on a censored search engine in China. The project is known as Project Dragonfly and hundreds of engineers oppose the effort and signed a letter to that effect last week.  

  Sahra V. Nguyen: Public Policy as a Creative Spark (Ep. 163) Sahra Nguyen joined Joe Miller to chat about her new Brooklyn-based coffee venture—Nguyen Coffee Supply. Bi0 Sahra Nguyen is an award-winning filmmaker, entrepreneur, and founder/CEO of Nguyen Coffee Supply. Currently based in Brooklyn, NY, Nguyen is also the co-founder of podcast agency Listening Party and a member of the 2018 Google Next Gen Tech Policy Leaders. In 2018, Nguyen launched Nguyen Coffee Supply—the first-ever Vietnamese-American owned importer, supplier, and roaster of green coffee beans from Vietnam—as a way to showcase the diversity of single-origin arabica and robusta. She works directly with a fourth-generation Vietnamese coffee farmer from Da Lat in the Central Highlands, whose beans are certified clean and organic in Vietnam. As the daughter of Vietnamese refugees in Boston, MA, the company’s name is a nod to Nguyen’s Vietnamese heritage. Nguyen graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a double major in Asian American Studies and World Arts & Cultures, served as the Director of the Writing Success Program at UCLA, and published an e-book of poetry exploring themes of identity, race in America, and the Vietnamese-American experience. Building on her love of storytelling, in 2015 Nguyen started her own production company, One Ounce Gold. Her first self-produced documentary web series, “Maker's Lane," evolved into a brand new series for NBC News entitled "Self-Starters,” a show about Asian American entrepreneurs around the country. Helping launch the video channel for NBC Asian America, "Self-Starters" was nominated for the EPPY Awards and LA Press Club Awards. In mid-2016, Nguyen sold her second documentary series to NBC News, "Deported," which follows the grassroots fight to end deportation of Cambodian-Americans from the U.S. to Cambodia. "Deported" was nominated alongside CNN's Lisa Ling's "This is Life" and won the 2018 NAMIC Vision Award for Best Digital Media, Long Form. With a passion to constantly take on new challenges, Nguyen, along with three friends (all under the age of 30), opened up their first storefront business Lucy's Vietnamese Kitchen, in Bushwick, NY, in March of 2015. Within the first 9 months, Lucy's Vietnamese Kitchen won "Best Vietnamese Restaurant" by popular vote and has been featured in The New York Times, Time Out New York, Zagat, VICE, and more. Follow Sahra Nguyen on Facebook, Instagram, and Linkedin. Resources Sahra V. Nguyen Nguyen Coffee Supply ‘Deported’ on NBC News Roundup Bombshell New York Times report reveals Facebook’s political machinations A bombshell New York Times report last week cast new light on the extent to which Facebook sought to contain accusations that it was enabling Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Apparently, the company sought to promote the image that the company knew nothing about Russia’s interference while, at the same time, Mark Zuckerberg was kept in the dark. But internally, while Joel Kaplan and Cheryl Sandberg were doing their magic on the Hill working their Harvard connections, Facebook kept uncovering new evidence that Russians continued to use the platform to protect president Trump and spread propaganda in advance of the election and beyond. The New York Times also reports that the company apparently also hired lobbyists, such as Definers Public Affairs, to help the company oppose its critics. In a video-conferenced all-hands meeting on Friday, Zuckerberg defended the company saying the New York Times report was unfair and untrue, even as Cheryl Sandberg accepted responsibility for hiring Definers Public Affairs. And another report by the Wall Street Journal found that Zuckerberg himself pointed fingers at Sandberg, blaming her for the Cambridge Analytica fallout. Reuters: Russians impersonating State Department officials Reuters reports that Russian hackers have been impersonating at least one State Department official, Heather Nauert, over email trying to get other officials to download malicious code. Security firms CrowdStrike and FireEye uncovered the effort. But Russia denies involvement. Julian Assange back in spotlight Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who played a key role releasing hacked emails during the 2016 presidential election, is back in the spotlight. George Washington University Program on Extremism researcher Seamus Hughes uncovered a court filing which found that the Department of Justice appears to be pressing sealed charges against Assange. The Hill also reports that Ecuadorian officials have grown weary of granting Assange asylum at their embassy in London since 2012. If they evict Assange, Assange could be extradited back to the U.S. The American Civil Liberties Union opposes prosecuting Assange, claiming that doing so would be a First Amendment violation. Nation’s only African American network chief to step down ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey, who is African American, is stepping down from the company as Disney seeks to restructure the company in advance of closing on its acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets next year. Dungey is the only African American network head in the country, and she’s been with the company for 14 years. She’s been responsible for launching ‘Scandal’, “black-ish” and the “The Good Doctor”. But ABC has seen overall ratings decline 10%, with an 18% decline among adults 18-49 according to The Wall Street Journal. JD.com’s chief shifting focus China-based ecommerce giant JD.com’s chief has announced that he will delegate more responsibilities. It’s seen as a long-term move to groom his replacement. Richard Liu was arrested in Minnesota in September for alleged “criminal sexual misconduct” with a Chinese student at the University of Minnesota. The company’s share price has also dropped 55% since January amidst the U.S.-China trade war. Snap subpoenaed on IPO disclosures Reuters reports that the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission have subpoenaed Snap to uncover whether the company downplayed competition from Instagram during its initial public offering (IPO) in March of 2017. Snap’s share price has tumbled down to $6.71 per share from its offering price of $17 per share. TV station groups settle with DOJ over ad sales collusion allegations Six tv station groups the Department of Justice alleges colluded to fix ad sales prices have settled. Sinclair, Raycom, Tribune, Meredith, Griffin, and Dreamcatcher all settled. The settlement simply requires the station groups not to share nonpublic pricing data with each other for 7 years. There are no penalties, according to Meredith. A private class action by advertisers against the station groups is still in progress.    

Colin Reed, senior vice president at Definers Public Affairs, been a campaign adviser to some of the most successful blue-state Republicans, including Mitt Romney, Chris Christie, and John McCain.After a wild election night, he shares his midterm takeaways, thoughts on the possible 2020 Democratic presidential field, and how opposition research is evolving with the changing political times.