KPFA - UpFront

0:08 – Ukraine negotiations wrap up in Miami without a major announcement. John Feffer, Director of Foreign Policy in Focus, joins us.

0:34 – The Trump administration has fixed its eye on dismantling a major climate science research center in Colorado, called NCAR. We talk about the consequences with Eugene Cordero, professor of Meteorology and Climate Science at San Jose State University.

0:46 – Bay Area parents are organizing to protect gender-affirming healthcare for trans kids. Here in the East Bay, Rainbow Families Action is speaking out to defend gender-related healthcare at Sutter Health. Sutter Health announced it would end care for trans kids, but then reportedly backtracked. Parents say the struggle is not over — and the Trump administration has just issued two new proposed CMS rules to force hospitals which rely on federal funding to end gender-affirming care for trans young people. We speak with Nikki, a parent of a child who receives care at Sutter and a member of Rainbow Families Action.

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On today’s show:

UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors.

The post UpFront – December 19, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

0:10 – We start today’s coverage in Venezuela. President Trump has announced a blockade on “sanctioned” Venezuelan oil vessels. Miguel R. Tinker Salas is professor emeritus of History at Pomona College and joins us to talk about Venezuela’s oil industry and this development, and parse the “absurdity” of Trump’s comments. He is the author of The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture and Society in Venezuela. “This was not about drugs,” Tinker Salas says. “This was about oil, this was about Western Hemisphere control, this was about geopolitics, this was about an effort to control the Caribbean and Central America, and U.S. hegemony.”

0:35 – Reviewing President Trump’s Oval Office address and recent revelations in interviews by White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, we are joined by John Nichols, executive editor of The Nation.

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0:09 – Why do we fight for our Bay Area neighborhoods and advocate for change with our neighbors? And what local history informs our struggles? This fund drive special takes us on a journey from Oakland across the Bay Area with A People’s Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area by Rachel Brahinsky, professor at the University of San Francisco in Urban Studies, and Alexander Tarr, assistant professor of Geography at Worcester State University.

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UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors.

The post UpFront – December 16, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 — John Feffer is Director of Foreign Policy in Focus.

00:33 — Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health.

The post Russia’s War in Ukraine; Plus, Corona Call appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 — Julian Brave NoiseCat is a writer, filmmaker, champion powwow dancer and student of Salish art and history. His debut book is “We Survived the Night.” 

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00:08 — Sang Hea Kil is professor in the justice studies department at San Jose State University. Se was suspended from her tenured position at the university and is currently contesting her case.

00:33 — Peyrin Kao, is Lecturer in the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley, we previously spoke to him over a month into his hunger strike. He has now been suspended without pay for the Spring 2026 semester. Katie Rodger is a Lecturer at UC Davis and President of UC-AFT.

00:45 — Maya, is a Stanford alumni and defendant in the Stanford 11 case and one of 5 who have begun trial in Santa Clara County.

The post Campus Attack on Pro-Palestinian Staff and Students at Bay Area Universities appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 — Michael Willrich is a Professor of History at Brandeis University. His latest book is “American Anarchy: The Epic Struggle between Immigrant Radicals and the US Government at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century.”

The post Fund Drive Special: History of Anarchism in the US appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 — Victor Pickard is Professor of Media Policy and Political Economy at the University of Pennsylvania.

00:33 — David Dayen is the executive editor of The American Prospect. 

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