CNN’s Ron Brownstein says LA was so creative with music, movies, and TV in the 1970s that it’s still shaping American politics today. He writes about that in his new book “Rock Me on the Water.” KCRW also hears how California firefighters are updating an ancient Native American practice despite the risk of being sued.

LA’s 1970s pop culture affects today’s politics. Plus controlling wildfires with fire

A monthly reality-check on the issues Americans care about most. Host Warren Olney draws on his decades of experience to explore the people and issues shaping – and disrupting - our world. How did everything change so fast? Where are we headed? The conversations are informal, edgy and always informative. If Warren's asking, you want to know the answer.

News

Despite war and pandemic, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof finds good news in a “stunning” decline of worldwide poverty and “extraordinary” improvements in child mortality. Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez examines retirement options for an aging population as he finds himself getting older.

Nicholas Kristof on good news in a bad world; Steve Lopez on aging

Writer and author of The Great Revolution: Turmoil and Transformation in Iran , Robin Wright says that after weeks of protest on the streets of Iran, “for the first time in human history, you're beginning to see a counter revolution ignited by women. ” Later, despite the failure of the UN’s leadership conference on climate change, New York Times science reporter David Wallace-Wells says, “we're moving much faster than most analysts projected a few years ago,” and says the climate crisis is not as bad as he thought when he wrote,” The Uninhabitable Earth ” five years ago.

For the first time in history, women are leading a counter-revolution.

Former New York Times and Washington Post Media Critic Margaret Sullivan says America faces a threat to democracy. In her new book, “Newsroom Confidential: Lessons (and Worries) from an Ink-Stained Life,” she says it’s time to move on from “objectivity” and make reporting a form of activism. And, Scott Galloway says America is not yet lost, but it has gone adrift, and that’s the title of his latest book. In “Adrift,” he talks about income inequality, polarization, and failing young men. But he says, “I think they can be undone … the ills that plague us are fixable.”

Can the news media help save democracy?

Will Trump run for the presidency again? And in the aftermath of California’s deadly wildfires, can the state’s largest utility, PG&E, mend its ways?

Will Trump run for White House again, can PG&E keep lights on?

What are the risks of keeping the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant open? And an atheist and Muslim agree on what happens when people find religion through politics.

LA’s 1970s pop culture affects today’s politics. Plus controlling wildfires with fire

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