Kqeds Forum

From The Washington Post to CBS, mass layoffs, shifts in editorial direction and even direct interference in coverage are raising questions about whether the press can still hold power accountable, from their own bosses to the current administration. As reporters leave and subscribers drop, we look at the challenges the fourth estate is facing and the ways the right wing is expanding its influence over U.S. media. Guests: Matt Gertz, senior fellow, Media Matters Jeremy Barr, media and power reporter, The Guardian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elon Musk’s merger of SpaceX with his AI start-up xAI has created what the New York Times calls “the most valuable private company on earth,” allowing Musk to forge ahead with new plans to develop data centers in outer space and an IPO expected later this year. Musk’s companies hold billions in government contracts as his own net worth tops $800 billion, and his decisions affect not just his shareholders but global communications, national security and international politics. We talk about how so much power has aggregated in one person and the perils for the rest of us. Guests: Ryan Mac, tech reporter, The New York Times; co-author, "Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter" Nitasha TIku, tech culture reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite an explosion of dating apps and social media that seemingly make it easier to meet people, rates of marriage and couples living together have steadily decreased since 1990, according to the Pew Research Center. For singles looking for a relationship, dating is even harder than meeting potential partners. So, how do you go from the meet-cute to a lasting relationship? We’ll talk with coaches and experts about whether dating is becoming a lost art and how to improve your dating game. Guests: Myisha Battle, sex and dating coach, host of KCRW's "How's Your Sex Life" podcast; author of "This Is Supposed to Be Fun: Finding Joy In Hooking Up, Settling Down, and Everything In Between" and the upcoming "Sexual Pleasure For Dummies." Daniel Yi, co-host, "I Hate Dating Apps" podcast Lauren Josephine, dating coach; author, "Looking for Something Serious" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare workers are on strike across California over stalled contract talks, staffing levels and pay. But Kaiser, the state’s largest private employer, says it’s offered its strongest wage proposal yet, with increases to come. As negotiations falter, we’ll talk about the issues at stake and the impacts on patients. Are you a Kaiser worker or a patient affected by the strikes? Guests: Farida Jhabvala Romero, labor correspondent, KQED John Logan, director of labor studies, San Francisco State University Dr. Robert Pearl, former CEO, The Permanente Medical Group; lecturer, Stanford Graduate School of Business Truc Le, certified registered nurse anesthetist, Kaiser Permanente in Sacramento Carrie Esqueda, Kaiser patient Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the marquee lights of the Castro Theater dimmed two years ago, many worried that this grande dame of cinema would never be the same. Now after a $41 million renovation, the 104-year old SF icon is ready for its coming out party. The organ has been refurbished, the ceiling cleaned, and hidden gems, like a gold proscenium have been discovered. No longer just a movie house, the theater will host both films and musical acts, including a sold out 20-night stand by Sam Smith. As music venues and movie theaters continue to close post-pandemic, we talk about what the theater’s renewal and reopening means for nightlife and the arts in San Francisco. Guests: Gabe Meline, senior editor, KQED Arts and Culture Tom DeCaigny, program officer of performing arts, Hewlett Foundation; former director of cultural affairs for the City and County of San Francisco, where he led the San Francisco Arts Commission Mary Conde, senior vice president, Another Planet Entertainment Gabrielle Armand, CEO, SF Jazz Learn more about

“After the US Constitution, the tax code is the single most important document affecting Americans’ lives. But because it is a deeply opaque, seven-thousand-page document, few Americans have any idea what the code says.” So writes legal scholar Ray D. Madoff, who argues the tax code is one of the main drivers of our nation’s historic wealth inequality — allowing the ultra-wealthy to avoid taxation altogether while relying much more on workers’ payroll taxes than many realize. We unpack how the tax code works and what real reform would look like. Madoff’s book is “The Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy.” Guests: Ray D. Madoff, professor, Boston College Law School; author, "The Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1977, a fledgling magazine startup in San Francisco published a searing story about the Ford Pinto, a car model that executives put on the market knowing its design could cause deaths and serious injuries. That was one of many investigative scoops Mother Jones has published in its 50-year history that established its reputation for holding corporations and politicians accountable. Staying alive in the journalism industry has required some maneuvering, but Mother Jones has managed to set up a sustainable model to continue its mission. We talk with the magazine’s leaders about its audience, nonprofit structure, journalism in these times, and what other publications can learn from them. Guests: Clara Jeffery, editor-in-chief, Mother Jones and the Center for Investigative Reporting Adam Hochschild, journalist and co-founder, Mother Jones; author, "American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis" and other books; lecturer, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Learn

Since Donald Trump broke into the political scene in 2015, the United States has seen a surge in white supremacist hate groups. Investigative journalist Eric Lichtblau uses the 2018 murder of a gay, Jewish college student by a neo-Nazi in Orange County to explore the rise of white, Christian nationalism there – digging into how Trump’s attacks on immigrants, pardons of the January 6th rioters and use of racism memes have fueled and emboldened right wing extremism in California and across the country. We talk to him about his new book “American Reich.” Guests: Eric Lichtblau, investigative reporter; author, "American Reich: A Murder in Orange County, Neo-Nazis, and a New Age of Hate" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amid a ballooning rental housing market across the Bay Area, Oakland rents are mostly staying flat. Today, the median San Francisco rent for a one-bedroom home is about 70% higher than in Oakland. While Oakland often trails the city’s rental market, the gap is now far larger than in recent history. We’ll discuss whether Oakland has cracked the code on making housing more affordable, or whether other factors may be driving people away. Guests: J.K. Dineen, Bay Area housing reporter, San Francisco Chronicle Chris Salviati, senior housing economist, Apartment List Tim Thomas, director, Eviction Research Network at UC Berkeley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Prenuptial agreements are no longer just for the wealthy. They’re being pitched as smart financial planning for ordinary couples, and now more than 40% of married and engaged Millennials and Gen Z-ers say they’ve signed one. Younger generations are using prenups to negotiate everything from intellectual property rights, social media handles and who gets the sneaker collection. We’ll talk about what’s behind the shift and what it reveals about our modern anxieties about marriage and relationships.  Guests: Jennifer Wilson, staff writer, New Yorker. Her most recent piece is "Her recent article is "Why Millennials Love Prenups"" Juliana Yanez, law partner, Hanson Crawford Crum Family Law Group Kaiponanea Matsumura , law professor, Loyola Law School. Matsumura is an expert on the regulation of families. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The shortcomings and inequities of the American criminal justice system are painfully clear to those who have worked in it. Former public defender and legal activist Emily Galvin-Almanza will walk us through the many  points in our system where justice fails. We talk to her  about what reform should like and her new book, “The Price of Mercy: Unfair Trials, a Violent System, and a Public Defender’s Search for Justice in America.” Guests: Emily Galvin-Almanza, author of “The Price of Mercy: Unfair Trials, a Violent System, and a Public Defender’s Search for Justice in America. Co-founder and executive director of Partners for Justice, which aims to support and empower public defenders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chocolate is changing — and not just in flavor. As the planet warms, cacao is becoming harder to grow, reshaping how chocolate is made and who gets to make it. From commodity price volatility to farmers’ livelihoods to the price tag of your favorite bar, we’ll talk about what’s at stake for this decadent treat. We’ll speak with chocolate makers, sustainability experts and a cacao farmer about how they plan to adapt and innovate for years to come. Guests: Greg D'Alesandre, co-founder and cacao sourcer, Dandelion Chocolate Minni Forman, sustainability manager, Peet's Coffee; former cacao farmer John Kehoe, director of sustainability, Guittard Chocolate Company Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One week ahead of his much-anticipated Super Bowl performance, Bad Bunny made history when he won the first Grammy for album of the year for a Spanish-language record. He used his acceptance remarks to admonish cruel immigration enforcement, uplift immigrants and shout out his native Puerto Rico. As scholars Vanessa Díaz and Petra Rivera-Rideau, point out in their new book, “P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance,” the reggaetonero has never shied away from infusing politics into his musical career. Díaz and Rivera-Rideau, also creators of the “Bad Bunny Syllabus,” join us to break down Bad Bunny’s music and activism. Guests: Vanessa Díaz, associate professor of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies, Loyola Marymount University; co-founder, Bad Bunny Syllabus; co-author, "P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance" Petra Rivera-Rideau, associate professor and chair of the American Studies Department, Wellesley College; co-founder, Bad Bunny Syllabu

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Bob Wachter was one of the nation’s trusted voices, helping us better understand the disease that upended our world and healthcare system. Now he’s focused on what he sees as the next great disruption in medicine: Generative AI. Though we need to address its flaws and limitations, Dr. Wachter says AI is essential to a healthcare system buckling under the weight of clinician burnout, staff shortages and astronomical costs. We talk with Dr. Wachter about his new book, “A Giant Leap: How AI Is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future.” Guests: Dr. Robert "Bob" Wachter, professor and chair of the Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Against a backdrop of threats made by President Trump to attack Iran with “speed and violence,” talks between the two nations are set to resume this Friday. Since late December, Iran has been roiled by massive nationwide protests that have been met by a brutal response from the regime, resulting in the deaths of over 6,800 protestors with another 11,000 deaths under investigation  according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Will the U.S. use this moment to try to force regime change? We talk to a panel of experts. Guests: Jason Rezaian, director of Press Freedoms Initiatives, The Washington Post; author, "Prisoner: My 544 Days in an Iranian Prison – Solitary Confinement, a Sham Trial, High-Stakes Diplomacy, and the Extraordinary Efforts It Took to Get Me Out" Nate Swanson, director, Iran Strategy Project, Atlantic Council Sahar Razavi, associate professor, Department of Political Science and director of the Iranian and Middle Eastern Studies Center, California State University, Sacramento Learn

As protests against federal immigration agents’ use of deadly force in Minneapolis spread nationwide, privacy experts are raising alarms. Immigration agencies are using facial-recognition and other tools to identify immigrants – and to track American citizens who observe or protest ICE operations. The surveillance technology allows agents to scan people’s faces and link them to government databases. It’s a practice that those targeted say amounts to intimidation and retaliation. We talk about how the technologies work and what they mean for enforcement and civil liberties. Guests: Rachel Levinson-Waldman, director of Liberty and National Security Program, Brennan Center for Justice Sheera Frenkel, technology reporter, The New York Times; co-author, "An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the weekend, San Francisco’s public school teachers voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike. The dispute is centered on pay, health benefits, and support for special education, all at a time when the district has been facing financial headwinds so dire that the state has contemplated stepping in to run the district. We get the latest on the labor negotiations and talk about what a potential strike, which could begin as early as February 9, means for teachers, the district, students and their families. Guests: Maria Su, superintendent, San Francisco Unified School District Cassondra Curiel, president, United Educators of San Francisco Jill Tucker, K-12 education reporter, San Francisco Chronicle Katie DeBenedetti, reporter, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York Times cooking writer and columnist Yewande Komolafe has long loved the solitary, meditative act of crafting intricate meals and comfort foods in the kitchen. But after multiple amputations profoundly altered her body, Komolafe had to learn to cook in a new way: with adaptive tools, learning “how to whisk a bowl of cream to milky soft peaks with prosthetic hands,” and with other chefs’ assistance. That collaboration helped Komolafe better understand the curative effects of a good meal, both “physiologically and psychologically.” We talk with Komolafe about the restorative powers of cooking a hot dish of fried calamari or shrimp scampi and her journey of self-rediscovery. Her new article for the Times is “How Losing My Limbs Turned Me Into a Different Kind of Cook.” Guests: Yewande Komolafe, cooking writer and columnist, The New York Times Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

George Saunders is one of America’s most celebrated writers. His worlds and characters often live in a reality just beyond or behind our own, and his latest novel “Vigil,” is no exception. The novel opens with an angel falling to earth with the task of comforting an unrepentant oil tycoon in his final hours alive. What spills forth from this zany setup is a comic novel about climate change, personal responsibility, and the kind of honesty that matters most. Guests: George Saunders, author, "Vigil"; MacArthur Genius Grant Fellow; his previous books include "Lincoln in the Bardo," "Tenth of December" and "Liberation Day; English professor, Syracuse University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This February marks 100 years of celebrating Black History month, which began as just a week in 1926. Now, as political efforts to scrub Black history from American classrooms intensify, historian and California native Jarvis Givens joins us to talk about his new book, “I’ll Make Me a World: The 100-Year Journey of Black History Month.” Givens says the act of preserving Black stories has always been political, always been about power, and always been a tool for liberation. Has learning Black history shaped the way you see America? Guests: Jarvis Givens, professor of African and African American studies, Harvard University. His new book is "I’ll Make a World: The 100-Year Journey of Black History Month." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices