KQED's Forum

Next week, California voters will decide whether to approve Proposition 50, which would temporarily redraw Congressional district maps to favor Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections. This comes after Republican lawmakers in Texas have redrawn districts to favor their party – with Republican leaders in Indiana, North Carolina and Missouri looking to follow suit. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court appears poised to further weaken the Voting Rights Act and further fuel a “redistricting arms race.” We look at how that case, and the escalating efforts to redistrict along partisan lines, could affect election outcomes in 2026 and beyond. Guests: Hansi Lo Wang, correspondent, NPR Erin Covey, editor, U.S. House of Representatives, The Cook Political Report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the federal government shutdown extends to its fifth week, its impacts have become more widespread. Over one million federal workers are either on furlough or working unpaid. Most federal parks remain closed. Head Start programs are at risk of closure. And the USDA has announced it would suspend funding for SNAP, a food program that serves over 40 million Americans, including 5.38 million Californians. We’ll talk about the impacts of this government impasse on the Bay Area, and hear from you: How have you been affected by the government shutdown? Guests: Luke Broadwater, White House reporter, New York Times - his recent article on the shutdown is titled "The Shutdown Is Stretching On. Trump Doesn’t Seem to Mind" Chris Lehnertz, president and CEO, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy Carly Severn, senior editor of audience news, KQED Tee Tran, founder and owner, Monster Pho, a restaurant located in Oakland Yasmeem Watson, case advocate, Treasury Department - Watson has been a federal employee for over 25 years, and serves as a steward and board member for the local affiliate of the National Treasury Employees Union Caitlin Sly, president and CEO, Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joyce Vance was a federal prosecutor for 25 years, resigning on the eve of Donald Trump’s first inauguration. Now, she’s a law professor, a legal analyst for NBC and MSNBC and author of the popular Substack “Civil Discourse,” signing off every post with the four words: “We’re in this together.” In a new book she encourages readers to not despair at the erosion of democratic norms, but to fight back. As she writes, “Progress may not be linear, but that doesn’t mean we can’t look forward beyond these difficult years we are living through and prepare to regain our America.” Vance joins us to talk about the latest legal challenges to the Trump administration and about her book, “Giving Up Is Unforgivable: A Manual for Keeping a Democracy.” Guests: Joyce Vance, Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Law, University of Alabama School of Law - legal analyst for NBC and MSNBC; writes the popular Substack "Civil Discourse"; author of the new book, "Giving Up Is Unforgivable: A Manual for Keeping a Democracy"; was a career federal prosecutor for 25 years Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the main drivers of homelessness in the Bay Area is simply a lack of affordable housing for people with the very lowest incomes. In Part 4 of our series “In Search of Home: Solutions for the Homelessness Crisis” we’ll take a look at some innovative strategies developers and cities are exploring to fund projects and lower the cost of construction. We bring together housing developers, housing experts and Bay Area residents to discuss what works to bring more permanent housing that formerly homeless people can actually afford. Guests: Patrick Kennedy, owner, Panoramic Interests - a development firm that has been building in the Bay Area since 1990 Carolina Reid, professor in affordable housing and urban policy, Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California at Berkeley Matt Franklin, president and CEO, MidPen Housing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you watched a movie review on YouTube or an album takedown on TikTok? Cultural criticism is available for free everywhere which might explain why publications like the New York Times and Vanity Fair are trimming their staffs of professional reviewers. We talk to pop culture critic Angelica Jade Bastién and music critic Kelefa Sanneh about why traditional criticism should endure, even when everyone has a platform. Where do you turn for reliable reviews? Guests: Kelefa Sanneh, staff writer, The New Yorker Angelica Jade Bastién, critic covering film and pop culture, New York Magazine's Vulture Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Pentagon announced Friday that the military is sending an aircraft carrier to South America. It’s the latest in the escalating show of force against Venezuela, including strikes on ten boats that the Trump administration says were involved in drug smuggling, which killed 43 people. We talk about the legality of the actions and what the administration hopes to achieve. Then, we turn to the mighty California condor. Once nearly extinct — with only 23 birds remaining in 1982 — the largest bird in North America is making a remarkable comeback. Biologists have recently tracked 30 condors soaring over Alameda and Contra Costa counties, areas where they haven’t been seen in a century. We’ll explore what’s driving their return and the threats they still face in the wild. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s the picture book you wanted your parent or caregiver to read to you over and over. There’s the one with musical rhymes you love performing for your kids. The editors at the Atlantic’s books desk chose 65 “essential” children’s books, spanning the 1936 classic “The Story of Ferdinand” to 2024’s “I’m Sorry You Got Mad.” The list includes bedtime stories, books that teach counting and tales that make big emotions comprehensible for little ones. We’ll talk with the book editors about how the Atlantic made its list. And we’ll hear what your favorite books mean to you and your children. Guests: Boris Kachka, senior editor, The Atlantic Emma Sarappo, senior associate editor, The Atlantic Maya Chung, senior associate editor, The Atlantic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While indulging in online retail therapy, you’ve probably seen an option at checkout to buy now, pay later. Companies like Afterpay, Affirm, and Klarna let consumers pay in four installments for nearly anything, including clothes, concert tickets, or even a burrito. For some consumers, it’s a tech-assisted layaway plan that helps when cash is tight. For others, it’s a chance to splurge on otherwise unattainable goods. On social media, it’s called “Klarnamaxxing” and it’s getting some consumers into a world of debt. Guests: Annie Joy Williams, assistant editor covering politics and culture, The Atlantic Julie Margetta Morgan, president, The Century Foundation, an independent think that that researches public policy; former associate director of research, monitoring and regulations at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Amy X. Wang, story editor, New York Times Magazine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Trump administration’s constant flouting of court orders, its conversion of ICE into a massive paramilitary organization, its extortion of universities and corporations. It’s all prompted political commentator David Brooks to pose what he calls the question of the decade: “why hasn’t a resistance movement materialized here?” A self-described moderate, Brooks says we’re naive to think Trumpism will end in three years; rather, if unopposed, “global populism of the sort Trumpism represents could dominate for a generation.” We talk to Brooks about how he assesses the No Kings protests and how he’d build on past social movements to counter the tide of populist authoritarianism. We also talk to him about why learning to see other people more deeply can help build meaningful alliances, a concept he develops in his book “How to Know a Person,” which was just released in paperback. Guests: David Brooks, opinion columnist, The New York Times; contributing writer, The Atlantic; commentator, PBS NewsHour Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Trump administration has fired dozens of immigration judges in California seemingly without cause and despite growing backlogs of cases. Judges who lost their jobs say these firings will impede due process for millions of immigrants facing deportation. This comes at a time when federal authorities want to deport millions of people as quickly as possible. We talk with two local immigration judges who have been terminated by the Trump administration about the changes they have seen in our immigration system and what it means for the rule of law in our country. Guests: Chloe Dillon, head of criminal immigration defense, San Mateo County Private Defender Program; former federal immigration judge terminated by the Trump administration Elisa Brasil, attorney, Landerholm Immigration; former federal immigration judge terminated by the Trump administration Tyche Hendricks, senior editor covering immigration, KQED Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman, reporter, KQED News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reports are rising of addiction, overdose and death tied to 7-OH, a potent new synthetic drug. The painkiller is a lab-made offshoot of the herbal drug kratom. 7-OH is more than 10 times stronger than morphine and has been dubbed “gas station heroin” because it’s sold openly in gas stations and vape shops, including here in California. At least six people in Los Angeles have died from overdoses related to the drug since this spring, and health officials warn it could cause an addiction crisis. We’ll talk about how the state is trying to curb its use. Guests: Lester Black, cannabis editor, SFGATE Dr. Brian Hurley, addiction physician; medical director of the Bureau of Substance Abuse Prevention and Control, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How exactly does the mind work? How do we learn and make decisions? And how does that compare to the way AI thinks? In their new book, “The Emergent Mind: How Intelligence Arises in People and Machines,” San Francisco State psychologist Gaurav Suri and Stanford’s Jay McClelland examine how neural networks work in our brains, and in AI. Guests: Gaurav Suri, computational neuroscientist and professor, San Francisco State University Jay McClelland, professor and director of the Center for Mind, Brain, Computation and Technology, Stanford University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl leads the largest synagogue in New York City. But she says she’s never been so afraid to talk about Israel. That’s because she thinks that compassion for people suffering on either side of the war in Gaza has come to be seen as disloyal and even threatening – a zero sum empathy calculus that also applies to ideological battles fought in our country every day. Buchdahl is the first Asian American to be ordained a rabbi, a journey she describes in her new memoir “Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi’s Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging.” We talk to her about why knowing what it feels like to be an outsider has helped her enable connection among people with disparate views and what happens when we become incapable of empathy. Guests: Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, senior rabbi, Central Synagogue in New York City - author, "Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi's Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The cost of healthcare insurance is at the core of the government shutdown. Democrats and Republicans are at a stalemate over the extension of subsidies that decrease the price of insurance purchased under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Without the extension, experts predict a sharp increase in premiums for the 44 million Americans who rely on this health insurance. And hundreds of thousands of Californians may be priced out of the market. With open enrollment beginning in two weeks, we’ll talk to experts including the director of Covered California, about what’s at stake. Guests: Larry Levitt, executive vice president, KFF Jessica Altman, executive director, Covered California, the state health insurance exchange Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unions for federal employees say the White House is planning thousands more layoffs, even though a federal judge in San Francisco has blocked it. This is taking place as the Trump administration has left the National Labor Relations Board paralyzed after firing Biden-appointed members upon taking office. We talk with William Gould IV, the former National Labor Relations Board Chairman, about the rights of workers during a shutdown, the ways California labor regulators could push back and the future of organized labor in the country. We also talk to Gould about his new memoir where he reflects on breaking barriers as Stanford Law’s first Black professor. The book is called “Those Who Travail and Are Heavy Laden.” Guests: William Gould IV, Professor Emeritus, Stanford Law School Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cory Doctorow coined a word to describe how what we once loved about the internet, and relied on, has become exploitative, corrosive, and anti-user. And now he’s written a book about it, “Enshittification: Why Everything Got Worse and What to Do About It.” He analyzes how TikTok, Google Search, email, music streaming and other services and platforms – technology that we expect to always improve – have declined so fast. But the tech activist and science fiction writer insists it can be fixed. “This era, the Enshittocene, is the result of specific policy decisions, made by named individuals,” he writes, and those policies can be reversed and the individuals can be held accountable. We talk to him about what’s gone wrong and how we can make a new, good internet. Guests: Cory Doctorow, science fiction writer, technology activist and journalist. Author, "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why do we leave our homelands? That is the central question which animates the newest work of San Francisco poet laureate Genny Lim and the Bay Area-based Del Sol Quartet. Together, Lim and the musicians explore the implications of migration and the search for a new home in their work, “Facing the Moon: Songs of the Diaspora.” They join us live in the studio for a performance and conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Glynn Washington, host of KQED and Snap Judgment’s “Spooked,” joins us to talk about the podcast’s new season called The Crossroads. It takes stories about encounters with the unknown to new levels by exploring what happens when desperation drives us to bargain with dark forces. As “Spooked” tours the West Coast — with shows on Oct. 23 in Los Angeles and Oct. 25 in Oakland – we’ll talk about why we crave frights, scares and ghosts this month, and what they can teach us about our world year-round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Millions of people are expected to take part in "No Kings" protests this Saturday in over 2000 cities across the country. The demonstrations are being coordinated as frustration mounts over the president’s military crackdown in cities and federal funding cuts. We talk about what to expect and how this movement compares to previous mass demonstrations in American history. Later in the hour, we talk about the value of having a best friend in adulthood. Vox correspondent Allie Volpe has taken a close look at how best friends stave off not just social alienation but also emotional loneliness and why ranking our friendships on a scale of acquaintance can help us conserve social energy. Guests: Omar Wasow, assistant professor of political science, UC Berkeley Allie Volpe, correspondent, Vox Jaimie Arona Krems, associate professor of psychology, UCLA; director, UCLA Center for Friendship Research Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a news conference Wednesday, President Trump said he will be “strongly recommending” his administration look into sending troops to the city, which he called “a mess.” The comments come after Elon Musk and Mark Benioff said they’d like to see the National Guard in San Francisco. We discuss what may come next, but first we talk with the new host of “Reading Rainbow.” Almost 20 years since it went off air, the beloved kids’ literacy show is back. The reboot is hosted by Mychal Threets who, until last year, was a librarian at the same Fairfield library he grew up frequenting. Guests: Mychal Threets, librarian and literacy advocate; new host of "Reading Rainbow" Marisa Lagos, politics correspondent, KQED; co-host, KQED's "Political Breakdown" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices