KQED's Forum

The fatal shooting of Alex Pretti on Saturday, the second U.S. citizen killed by federal agents in Minneapolis this month, is drawing bipartisan outrage. Many Americans are questioning the broader purpose of the deadly tactics and the Trump Administration’s defense of agents’ conduct. Meanwhile, Senate Democrats say they’ll block DHS funding, which could lead to a government shutdown, as calls for the impeachment of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem grow. We discuss the guardrails that could keep our democracy safe and we want to hear from you: What do you think is the administration’s endgame, and what could make the violence stop?

Guests:

Zack Beauchamp, senior correspondent, Vox - covering challenges to democracy and right-wing populism; author, "The Reactionary Spirit"

Claudia Grisales , congressional correspondent, NPR

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At Davos, Donald Trump claimed that China doesn’t use wind energy, or in his words, “windmills.” He could not be more wrong. In 2024, China accounted for 40% of the globe’s wind energy generation and in 2025, over a quarter of China’s energy came from wind and solar power. As the U.S. reverts to coal, gas and oil for its energy needs, China is emerging as the world leader in renewables. We talk about whether the U.S. will be left irrevocably behind by Trump’s energy policy and what it all means for California’s renewable energy industry.

Guests:

Jeremy Wallace, professor of China Studies, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS); author, "China Lab" newsletter; author of recent WIRED article, "China’s Renewable Energy Revolution Is a Huge Mess That Might Save the World"

Mark Jacobson, professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University; author, "Still No Miracles Needed: How Today's Technology Can Save Our Climate and Clean Our Air"

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The popular HBO drama “The Pitt,” set in a Pittsburgh emergency trauma center, is having an impact on real-world healthcare. Doctors across California say the show has brought heightened public awareness of their daily work and sparked conversations about the challenges that emergency healthcare workers face. We’ll talk to California ER physicians about the effect the TV show has had on their lives and work, and we want to hear from you: Has “The Pitt” changed how you think about emergency care?

Guests:

Dr. Christopher Colwell, vice chair and chief of Emergency Medicine, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital

Dr. Patil Armenian, professor of clinical emergency medicine and medical toxicology, UCSF Fresno

Dr. Sarah Medeiros, professor of emergency medicine, UC Davis; host, EM Pulse podcast

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After years of being known as a defunct mall, San Francisco Centre officially closed last weekend leaving 1.2 million square feet of vacant space. The mall was once a centerpiece of San Francisco’s shopping district, but it was hit hard by online shopping, the pandemic, and declining foot traffic downtown. Still, the building and 6-acre site pose what some are calling a major opportunity to help revitalize downtown. We’ll talk about what could be done with the vacant mall and the challenges facing San Francisco’s once-grand retail hub.

Guests:

Michael Covarrubias, chairman and CEO, TMG partners, a San Francisco-based development company

J.K. Dineen, Bay Area housing reporter, San Francisco Chronicle

Laura Crescimano, co-founder and leader, SITELAB urban studio

Lisa Huang, design director, Gensler

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It’s been nearly a year since Kash Patel took the helm of the FBI, a period New York Times reporter Emily Bazelon says has been “marred by vendettas, mismanagement and meltdowns.” The New York Times spoke to 45 current and former FBI officials, who describe a traditionally independent agency now captured and weaponized by the White House. The officials say the FBI’s new emphasis on immigration, over counterterrorism and cybersecurity, is making America less safe. We’ll talk to a former Los Angeles field officer and to Bazelon, whose new piece is “A Year Inside Kash Patel’s F.B.I.”

Guests:

Emily Bazelon, staff writer, The New York Times Magazine; Truman Capote Fellow for Creative Writing and Law, Yale Law School; co-host, Slate's “Political Gabfest”

Jill Fields, former supervisory intelligence analyst for violent crime in the Los Angeles field office, FBI

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Calling out ICE and the National Guard to police Los Angeles, Portland and Minneapolis. DOGE and the evisceration of government institutions. Invading Venezuela. The insults, the rambling, the grift. The Epstein files. It’s hard to keep up with how Trump 2.0 is impacting our country. But in her popular newsletter,  “Letters from an American” political historian Heather Cox Richardson helps readers keep their eyes on what matters. 

Guests:

Heather Cox Richardson, author of "Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America", Richardson is professor of political history at Boston College. Her previous books include "How the South Won the Civil War." Her newsletter, “Letters from an American” reaches over 5 million readers on Substack and Facebook. 

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Have you ever achieved a high GPA, crushed your Duolingo streak, or seen a surge of likes on social media… only to feel weirdly empty? Philosopher C. Thi Nguyen attributes that joylessness to what he calls “value capture,” where rankings and metrics can replace our own values and start dictating goals for us. We talk to Nguyen about the difference between playful score keeping… and soul-sucking metrics. And we want to hear from you: Have you ever found yourself playing a game you didn’t choose?

Guests:

C. Thi Nguyen, philosopher; author, “The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game”

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San Francisco-based, Ethiopian-born singer-songwriter Meklit Hadero and her band join us live in the studio to play from her new album, “A Piece of Infinity.” The album reimagines folk songs from across Ethiopia, blending her signature Ethio-jazz style with R&B, synth and other genres. We’ll talk about the stories the album tells and bask in her rich, expressive vocals.

Guests:

Meklit Hadero, Ethio-Jazz singer and composer

Sam Bevan, upright bass

Colin Douglas, drums

Howard Wiley, tenor saxophone

Kibrom Berhane, keyboard and krar

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Russia’s war in Ukraine has orphaned some 2000 Ukrainian children, leaving them with physical and psychological wounds and adult responsibilities beyond their years. Journalist Anna Nemtsova interviewed orphaned children across Ukraine, many of whom witnessed a parent being killed by Russian forces. She also looked at the impacts felt by Russian youth growing up surrounded by violence. We talk to Nemtsova about the harms she says could last a generation. We also talk about the trajectory of the nearly four-year war with former Ukraine ambassador Steve Pifer, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Trump prepare to meet Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Guests:

Anna Nemtsova, Eastern Europe correspondent, The Daily Beast; contributing writer, The Atlantic; her new piece for KQED is “A Generation Orphaned by War: Ukrainian Children Grow Up Amid Loss and Recovery"

Steven Pifer, affiliate, Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University; former ambassador to Ukraine and senior director at the National Security Council in the Clinton administration

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Donald Trump has made clear that he wants Greenland, and is willing to upset allies to get it. After escalating threats, on Tuesday, Trump said  on Truth Social that he and the head of NATO now have a “framework” on a future Greenland deal and Trump said he would no longer impose punitive  tariffs, but offered no other specifics. Why is the acquisition of this self-governing and autonomous territory of Denmark the focus of Trump’s expansionist appetites?  We talk about Trump’s attempt to acquire Greenland and the repercussions of his latest foreign policy pivot.

Guests:

Eliot Cohen, Arleigh Burke Chair in Strategy, Center for Strategic and International Studies; contributing writer, The Atlantic; professor emeritus, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)

Susan Glasser, staff writer, The New Yorker; co-author, "The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021"

Jeffrey Gettleman, global international correspondent, The New York Times

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