KQED's Forum

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

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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"

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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.

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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.

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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

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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"

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Why is it so hard to change the U.S. Constitution? Harvard historian Jill Lepore says the Constitution was intended to be amended but that we’ve all but abandoned the practice. That’s had profound consequences, leaving us with vestigial antidemocratic provisions like the Electoral College, a malapportioned Senate and life tenure for Supreme Court justices. We talk to Lepore about why amendments are so rare and whether the Constitution can survive without them. Her new book is “We the People.” We also hear from Southern California congressman Pete Aguilar about President Trump’s threats to cut “democrat” programs as the government shutdown continues, and how his caucus is responding.

Jill Lepore, professor of American history, Harvard University; staff writer, The New Yorker - her new book is "We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution"

Pete Aguilar, democratic representative for the 33rd Congressional District of California; chair of the U.S. House Democratic Caucus

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Julian Brave NoiseCat’s paternal family traces their origins to the Coyote, a trickster from native mythology who helped create the world. The story of Coyote weaves through NoiseCat’s memoir, “We Survived the Night,” which recounts his childhood in Oakland, growing up with a non-native mother, and an absent Indian father who was born, and nearly killed, in an infamous Canadian reservation school. NoiseCat’s book weaves together the personal, historical and mythological stories that “were nearly tossed in the dustbin of history.” NoiseCat, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker of “Sugarcane,” joins us.

Guests:

Julian Brave NoiseCat, author, "We Survived the Night" - NoiseCat is the co-director of the Oscar-nominated documentary "Sugarcane"

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At a summit in Egypt on Monday, President Trump and world leaders signed the first phase of a ceasefire agreement aimed at bringing to an end the brutal two-year war between Israel and Hamas. Under the terms of the deal, Hamas on Monday released all 20 of the remaining hostages it had held since its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel released nearly 2,000 Palestinians it held in jails. We’ll unpack what’s in the peace deal, what brought the parties to the table and what lies ahead for Palestinians returning to a devastated Gaza.

Guests:

Patrick Wintour, diplomatic editor, The Guardian

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

Gershon Baskin, negotiator and peace activist - was involved in back-channel discussions of the deal

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We continue our series, “In Search of Home: Solutions for the Homelessness Crisis” with an examination of what it takes to help a person experiencing homelessness find their way into permanent housing. We talk with providers operating transitional housing with wrap-around services and rapid rehousing programs, that help with leasing new apartments, about the most effective ways to move a formerly homeless person or family into a permanent home.

Guests:

Vivian Wan, chief executive officer, Abode, a nonprofit that provides services and housing in the Bay Area

Lydia Chriss, Hamilton Families client

Kyriell Noon, executive director, Hamilton Families

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