The United States National Institute of Health is the world’s largest funder of biomedical research, but it has cut about half of the more than 1,200 grants that its umbrella agency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — now led by long-time vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — said it has terminated. The cuts have hit researchers in Universities across the nation hard. Joining us to discuss their research, the impact and the implications are Dr Nisha Acharya, a UCSF ophthalmology professor, who has been researching the effects of a shingles vaccine on shingles of the eye. Dr Acharya’s research funding has been cut to the tune of $1.8 million. We’re also joined by Dr Diana Foster, an Oakland-based UCSF researcher, whose work explores effects of state-level abortion bans on women. Her research was funded by a $2.5 million five year grant, that was cut after just 6 months of work.

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The post DOGE’s NIH Cuts Hit Science Researchers w/ Dr Nisha Acharya & Dr Diana Foster appeared first on KPFA.

Today, we spend the hour walking through the first 100 days of the second Trump presidency. Kicking us off are Kira Lerner, an editor and reporter based in Washington, DC focused on voting rights, criminal justice, and civil rights issues. Kira is the Democracy Editor of the Guardian US, joining us along with Andrew Roth, a global affairs correspondent for the Guardian in Washington DC, whose writing on Trump’s first 100 days of foreign policy is titled, “From cornerstone of the west to unreliable ally.”

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The post Trump’s Second First 100 Days w/ Guardian’s Kira Lerner & Andrew Roth appeared first on KPFA.

Despite reform efforts that have grown in scope and intensity over the last two decades, the machine of American mass incarceration continues to flourish. In this hour, we’re joined by formerly incarcerated activist, essayist, and organizer Emile Suotonye DeWeaver, discussing his book Ghost in the Criminal Justice Machine, reflecting on his 21 years of incarceration, what it took for him to seek release, and what it means for him to challenge the white supremacy that shows up in parole boards, police unions, prison administrations, and more.

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The post Reform, White Supremacy, and an Abolitionist Future w/ Emile Suotonye DeWeaver appeared first on KPFA.

On this week’s Palestine Post, we speak with Rami Khouri, a Distinguished Public Policy Fellow at the American University of Beirut and a journalist and author with 50 years of experience covering the Middle East. He is also co-author of a brand new book called Understanding Hamas and why that Matters.

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The mission of law & disorder is to expose, agitate and build a new world where all of us can thrive. But how do we get there? How do we build a world many of us have only seen in our dreams? That’s where we believe the artists come in. So, each week we feature an artist, holding down a weekly residency with us, helping us to imagine a different, more liberated world.

Our Resistance in Residence Artist this week is Mexican-Palestinian-American filmmaker Colette Ghunim, whose upcoming film titled Traces of Home follows Colette’s journeys with her parents to find the ancestral houses they were forced to flee as children in Mexico and Palestine. What begins as a desire to connect to Colette’s cultural origins reveals an internal quest to heal her disconnect with her parents, and, ultimately, with herself. 

Check out Colette Ghunim’s website: https://www.coletteghunim.com/

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The post Resistance in Residence Artist: Colette Ghunim appeared first on KPFA.

The impact of the second Trump Administration on our most marginalized communities is significant. Today, we explore the Trump Administration’s impact on children. We are joined by Eli Hager, a journalist who focuses on threats to federal social safety net programs as well as systems that lower-income families interact with at the state and local levels. Eli’s latest article for Pro Prublica is titled, “The Trump Administration’s War on Children.”

Read that article here: https://www.propublica.org/article/how-trump-budget-cuts-harm-kids-child-care-education-abuse

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The post Trump’s ‘War on Children’ w/ Eli Fowler appeared first on KPFA.

Today we discuss violent attacks and threats on reproductive freedom rights and how that shows up as violence in our communities, at clinics, and in the lives of abortion providers. We are joined by Melissa Fowler, the Chief Program Officer with the National Abortion Federation. Melissa also oversees the organization’s security team, and was involved in the National Abortion Federation’s 2024 Violence & Disruption Report report published this week.

Read the report here: https://prochoice.org/our-work/provider-security/2024-naf-violence-disruption/

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The post Violence and Threats Against Abortion Providers w/ Melissa Fowler appeared first on KPFA.

The Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday, April 21st, in the case of Mahmoud v Taylor, a case in which a group of Maryland parents are using religious justifications to advocate that their children not be exposed to books that portray LGBTQ families in schools. We’ll speak with Sarah S. Brannen, the author and/or illustrator of two dozen children’s books, including “Uncle Bobby’s Wedding”, which is one of the books listed in the Supreme Court case Mahmoud v. Taylor. We also speak with Sarah & Ian Hoffman, authors of a series of childrens books about a character named Jacob. Their book “Jacob’s Room to Choose” is one of the books listed in the Supreme Court case Mahmoud v. Taylor.

Read Sarah S. Brannen’s op-ed in the Boston Globe: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/16/opinion/childrens-book-lgbtq-supreme-court/

Read Sarah & Ian Hoffman’s op-ed in TIME: https://time.com/7266486/lgbtq-books-scotus-case-jacobs-room-choose-essay/

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The post SCOTUS Poised to Rule Against LGBTQ Books in Elementary Schools w/ Sarah Brannen & Sarah & Ian Hoffman appeared first on KPFA.

The Trump Administration’s Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) has attacked the Vera Institute of Justice by cutting $5 million in federal funding and then to directly intervene in the work of that non-profit organization. We speak with Insha Rahman, the Vice President of Advocacy and Partnerships at the Vera Institute of Justice, which is an organization whose purpose is to research, test, and scale innovative solutions to end mass incarceration.

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The post DOGE Attacks Non-profits and Tries to Control Vera Institute w/ Insha Rahman appeared first on KPFA.

‘Copaganda’ is propaganda employed by police, prosecutors, and news media that stokes fear of police-recorded crime and distorts society’s responses to it. Every day, mass media manipulates our perception of what keeps us safe. The result is more and more authoritarian state repression, more inequality, and huge profits for the massive public and private punishment bureaucracy. Our guest today is Alec Karakatsanis, founder of Civil Rights Corps and author of the new book: Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News.

Check out the Civil Rights Corps’ website: https://civilrightscorps.org/

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The post ‘Copaganda’: Police & Media Manipulate Perceptions of Safety w/ Alec Karakatsanis appeared first on KPFA.