Hollywood

Without Kennedy as the Swing Vote, What's the Future of the Court?

On Wednesday, on the last day of the term, Justice Kennedy announced his retirement. We look at Kennedy’s departure through the focus of his role as the swing vote; we seek to better understand why people are continuing to cross the border; we have a dispatch from Saudi Arabia where a family of women drove for the first time on Sunday; a look at the police department in Pittsburgh in light of the news that the DA has charged the officer with criminal homicide; a look at the political turmoil roiling the state of West Virginia; and using the new Sicario sequel as a lens to understand how Hollywood depicts the border. 

You can connect with The Takeaway on TwitterFacebook, or on our show page at TheTakeaway.org.

Without Kennedy as the Swing Vote, What's the Future of the Court?

Who Will Live on the Islands of Trash?

October 11, 2017: In a special new series from The Takeaway, science fiction writers imagine what the world will look like in 2067. Today, we hear from author Kristen Simmons, who pictures an earth altered by climate change, with disappearing coastlines, droughts, and rampant disease. Plus, a look at the wildfires in California; how the Trump Administration is taking on science and environmental rules; the 1990s immigration fight that gave rise to the border wall; and the media self-censorship that protected Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. 

Who Will Live on the Islands of Trash?

Northern California Transforms Into 'Hellscape' Amid Wildfires

October 10, 2017: Deadly wildfires ripped across northern California on Sunday. More than 20,000 people have been evacuated, and at least 13 people have died as a result of the blazes. The Takeaway looks west as the Golden State burns, plus an analysis of President Trump's latest feud; recovering from a mass shooting; the allegations facing Harvey Weinstein; Joseph Stalin's deadly secret in Ukraine; and the hidden female codebreakers of World War II. 

Northern California Transforms Into 'Hellscape' Amid Wildfires

Hackers and Elections, Powerful Vocals, The Legacy of Michelle Obama

July 26, 2016:

1. Bernie Delegates Struggle Towards Unity at DNC (8 min)

2. The Legacy of First Lady Michelle Obama (7 min)

3. California Congresswomen See History and Hope in Clinton (7 min)

4. Trump: The American President Russia Wants (7 min)

5. Marni Nixon: Hollywood's Most Famous Hidden Voice (6 min)

Hackers and Elections, Powerful Vocals, The Legacy of Michelle Obama

Viola Davis: Diversity in Hollywood 'Not Just a Hashtag'

Click on the audio player above to hear this interview.

Actress Viola Davis grew up in Central Falls, Rhode Island by way of St. Matthews, South Carolina. She was born into a family with five siblings, and as a child, Davis says she often was just looking for a meal or a bar of soap. She has far exceeded those desires and achieved measures of success many of us couldn't even imagine.

Viola Davis is a star. She's won Tony Awards and has been nominated for an Oscar—twice. In 2015, she became the first African-American woman to win an Emmy for lead actress in a drama series for her role as Annalise Keating on ABC's "How to Get Away with Murder." You may remember that she made the most of her acceptance speech that year.

"The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity," Davis told the audience.

In life there are few universal truths, except this one: Just because everything is going right for you, doesn't mean it's going right for everyone else in the world. That fact has pushed Davis into charity work with the The Vaseline Healing Project, which provides skin care and medical supplies to people living on the frontlines of poverty and disaster.

“We all want to be successful—that's the goal in life—and then you reach it and there is a disillusionment that comes," Davis tells The Takeaway. "There's not one celebrity that I know who does not have that. I think people would be surprised by the lack of fulfillment that it brings you. Because I think the last step that we forget is significance, and that's something thats much greater. That is, when I pass, what do I want to leave behind?”

What Viola Davis has already left in her wake is a will to push the Hollywood and the country to see the value in providing opportunity to women and minorities. 

Viola Davis: Diversity in Hollywood 'Not Just a Hashtag'