KQED's Forum

We often take our muscles for granted, rarely stopping to consider just how complex and essential they are. From the powerful beat of our hearts to the tiny fibers that raise goosebumps, our muscles do far more than we realize. They don’t just follow instructions from the brain — they send signals back and even hold their own kind of memory. In her new book “On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters,” journalist and author Bonnie Tsui offers a new way of looking at muscles, in terms of both their physicality and cultural significance. She joins us to discuss how reconsidering muscles can allow us to find deeper meaning in our understanding of strength, beauty and what it means to be human. Guests: Bonnie Tsui, author and journalist, her latest book is "On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many of President Trump’s first policies in office — including removing Temporary Protected Status for migrants, walking back climate protections and denying trans personhood — were laid out and published back in April 2023, in the Heritage Foundation’s playbook Project 2025. “Project 2025 envisions an America where abortion is strictly illegal, sex is closely policed, public schools don’t exist, and justice is harsh,” writes Atlantic staff writer David A. Graham in his new book, “The Project.” In it, he analyzes the nearly thousand-page blueprint to make sense of what we’ve seen from Trump – and what could be ahead. He joins us to share what it all could mean for our democracy. Guests: David Graham, staff writer, The Atlantic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As part of our series looking back on how the pandemic changed us, 5 years on, we examine the way we work. From working remotely to handling childcare needs to coping with being an essential worker, Covid forced innovations and exposed fault lines in the nation’s employment structure. We’ll talk about what we learned and we hear from you: How did the pandemic change how you do your job and think about work? Guests: Nicholas A Bloom, professor of economics, Stanford University — senior fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research Joan Williams, former professor of law, UC Law School San Francisco, and the founding director of the Center for WorkLife Law; UC Hastings College of the Law - author of White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America and the forthcoming title, "Outclassed: How the Left Lost the Working Class" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new documentary, “The Chaplain and the Doctor,” offers an intimate glimpse into the palliative care unit of an Oakland hospital, where two women — an 80-year-old African American chaplain and a white Jewish physician — navigate the complexities of end-of-life care from profoundly different perspectives. As their paths intertwine, what begins as a professional encounter deepens into a friendship grounded in empathy, spiritual reflection and shared commitment to healing. The film will soon make its world premiere at the San Francisco International Film Festival. We’re joined by the film’s subjects, chaplain Betty Clark and Dr. Jessica Zitter, who is also its director. Guests: Dr. Jessica Zitter, physician, Highland Hospital in Oakland - director, "The Chaplain and the Doctor" Betty Clark, chaplain, Highland Hospital in Oakland Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California and Florida have been the epicenter of the home insurance crisis, with insurers jacking up prices, refusing coverage or fleeing the states entirely because of the massive costs from wildfire and hurricane damage. We team up with Florida public radio station WLRN to examine how our two states, with different politics and similar problems, are approaching the crisis. Guests: Danielle Venton, science reporter, KQED News Tom Hudson, Vice President of News, WLRN, anchor of the Florida Roundup David Brancaccio, host and senior editor, Marketplace Morning Report, he lost his home to fire in Altadena Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Rivlin spent more than a year in the Bay Area shadowing the founders and venture capitalists vying to make big money off of generative AI. And in his new book “AI Valley,” Rivlin takes readers inside both the AI startups and the tech giants like Microsoft, Meta and Google trying to keep up. He chronicles the figures and breakthroughs of generative AI’s recent history – in order to better predict and understand its future. Rivlin’s new book is “AI Valley: Microsoft, Google, and the Trillion-Dollar Race to Cash In on Artificial Intelligence.” Guests: Gary Rivlin, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and author, “AI Valley: Microsoft, Google, and the Trillion-Dollar Race to Cash In on Artificial Intelligence" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Votes are still being tallied for Oakland’s Special Election that will determine who will finish out the term left vacant after former mayor Sheng Thao was recalled last fall. As of Wednesday, former Oakland City Councilmember Loren Taylor held a narrow lead over former U.S. representative Barbara Lee. Taylor campaigned as someone who knows the local issues and politics and can move the city forward. Lee represented Oakland in Congress for nearly 27 years and promised to bring more funding to address the city’s pressing needs. Final results could take several weeks using Oakland’s ranked-choice voting system. We’ll look at the latest results and talk about this unusual race and the future of Oakland. Guests: Darwin BondGraham, news editor, Oaklandside Alex Hall, enterprise and accountability reporter, KQED Shomik Mukherjee, Oakland reporter, Bay Area News Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs caused chaos in financial markets and left investors scrambling. But who’s profiting from the turmoil? Democrats are calling for investigations into whether the President, his family or members of Congress used insider information to benefit from the stock market’s swings. We delve into allegations that some lawmakers are making money off Trump’s trade war and discuss the calls for accountability. Guests: Representative Mike Levin, representing California's 49th district, including southern Orange County and north San Diego County Maria Aspan, finance correspondent, NPR Erin Mansfield, democracy reporter, USA Today Robert Faturechi, reporter, ProPublica Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a sweeping executive order, Donald Trump has taken aim at efforts by states, including California, to set their own environmental policies. At risk are key components of California’s fight against climate change including its cap and trade program to control carbon emissions and efforts to promote electrical vehicles. Trump’s order is just the latest in his moves to reverse climate change policies, including halting government research funding and gutting environmental agencies. As his head of the Environmental Protection Agency Lee Zeldin has said, the administration is “driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion.” We’ll talk about the impact of Trump’s approach to the environment and how California could respond. Guests: Ethan Elkind, director of the Climate Program at the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment, UC Berkeley School of Law; podcast host, Climate Break Sonia Aggarwal, CEO, Energy Innovation - a non partisan think tank based in San Francisco that provides research and analysis on energy and climate policy; special assistant, to the President for Climate Policy, Innovation, and Deployment in the Biden administration. Lisa Friedman, reporter on the climate desk, New York Times Abigail Dillen, president, Earthjustice - a public interest law group focused on the environment Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tens of thousands of immigrants received notices last week from the Department of Homeland Security that their temporary legal statuses would be terminated in seven days. But many immigration experts say the migrants have legal grounds to remain. This comes after a New York Times investigation found that the Social Security Administration listed more than 6,300 migrants as dead to effectively cancel their access to financial services. We’ll talk about the latest developments in the Trump administration’s approach to immigration — one that’s been more reliant on revoking legal statuses and encouraging self-deportation than on the mass deportations promised on the campaign trail. Guests: Hamed Aleaziz, covers the Department of Homeland Security and immigration policy, The New York Times Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When tech writer Vauhini Vara was struggling to process her sister’s death in 2021, she asked an early version of ChatGPT to write about it through an increasingly complex series of prompts. The essays in her collection, “Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age” build on her conversations with AI, enlisting its help to grapple with what it means to be human when our thoughts, our words — and with them, our very humanity — are filtered through machines. We talk to Vara about how technological capitalism is redefining what it means to be human. Guests: Vauhini Vara, tech journalist and novelist; her new collection of essays is “Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Off the coast of Sausalito lies one of the nation’s oldest unhoused communities. Known as “anchor-outs,” residents live aboard makeshift boats moored in the bay, carving out a precarious existence. For nearly a decade, author Joe Kloc immersed himself in their world, documenting their struggles and growing tensions with shoreline residents determined to push them out. We talk to Kloc about his new book “Lost At Sea: Poverty and Paradise Collide at the Edge of America.” Guests: Joe Kloc, senior editor, Harper's Magazine - author of “Lost At Sea: Poverty and Paradise Collide at the Edge of America” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The U.S. economy has been rattled by back-and-forth tariff policies, a seesawing stock market, and concerns about inflation continuing to rise. Americans are worried about their job security, retirement funds, and the rising costs of goods from groceries to SUVs. We talk with financial experts to help us make sense of the economic uncertainty and how it should affect our financial choices. Are you doing anything differently in response to tariffs, inflation or market fluctuations? Guests: Jessica Roy, personal finance and utility columnist, San Francisco Chronicle Ramit Sethi, personal finance expert; author, "I Will Teach You To Be Rich"; host, "I Will Teach You To Be Rich" podcast and the Netflix series "How to Get Rich" Susannah Snider, managing editor for money, U.S. News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

National Book Award-winning author Colum McCann says he chooses what to write about based on what he most wants to know. His latest novel “Twist” springs from his fascination with the underwater cables, no thicker than a garden hose, that carry some 95% of the world’s telecommunications. McCann’s protagonist is a journalist who goes asea to investigate a cable break off the coast of Africa after the Congo River floods. We talk to McCann about themes of sabotage and repair – both in the abyssal zone he writes about and in our lives. Guest: Colum McCann, author, “Twist”; His other novels include “Apeirogon,” “Transatlantic” and “Let the Great World Spin,” which won a National Book Award. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“An artist is an ordinary person who can take ordinary things and make them special,” said San Francisco artist Ruth Asawa. From her studio in her home in Noe Valley, Asawa created crocheted wire sculptures whose shadows are just as evocative as the art itself. But as the mother of six, Asawa was also passionate about arts education and teaching. As a new retrospective of her work and life opens at SF MOMA, we talk about Asawa’s legacy as an artist, teacher, and community member as part of our Bay Area Legends series. Guests: Janet Bishop, Thomas Weisel Family chief curator, SFMOMA; She co-curated the exhibition Ruth Asawa: Retrospective Terry Kochanski, executive director, SCRAP - a nonprofit education and creative reuse center based in the Bayview and founded in 1976 Andrea Jepson, close friend of Ruth Asawa; Jepson served as the model for the fountain "Andrea" in Ghiradelli Square, and also worked with Asawa on her public school education projects Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wall Street breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday when President Trump backtracked and announced a 90-day pause on the sweeping tariffs he unveiled last week, dropping the duty rate to 10% for most countries. But it’s little reprieve for California farmers who export crops like almonds and pistachios to China. Trump has raised the taxes on imports from China to 125%, and further retaliatory tariffs from China are expected to follow. The California almond industry alone lost nearly $900 million from the trade war with China in Trump’s first term. We’ll check in with farmers and an economist on the ongoing turmoil’s effects on the agriculture industry, nationwide and here in California. And we’ll hear what it all could mean for your grocery prices. Guests: Marcia Brown, food and agriculture reporter, POLITICO Colin Carter, distinguished professor of agricultural and resource economics, UC Davis Joe Del Bosque, CEO, Del Bosque family Farms in the San Joaquin Valley Zach Pelka, co-founder and COO, Une Femme wines based out of Sonoma Josh Harder, U.S. representative for California's 9th Congressional District, covering San Joaquin County as well as parts of Stanislaus and Contra Costa counties Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Viet Thanh Nguyen came to the United States as a 4-year-old refugee after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. His family eventually settled in San Jose. Nguyen went on to become a Pulitzer Prize-Winning novelist and memoirist whose books center the experience of Vietnamese people. As we approach the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, we’ll reflect on the war’s lasting impact and what we have – and have not – learned from it. And we’ll talk about his new book of essays, “To Save and to Destroy: Writing as an Other,” which explores the role of artists in political discourse. Guests: Viet Thanh Nguyen, author and professor at USC. His latest book is a collection of essays, "To Save and to Destroy: Writing as an Other." His previous books include the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Sympathizer," "The Committed," and the memoir, “A Man of Two Faces." Bryan Vo, Forum intern Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Four of California’s largest home insurers are knowingly using faulty data to set coverage limits, according to a new San Francisco Chronicle investigation. It means that wildfire survivors who thought they’d be made whole after losing their homes are discovering they can’t afford to rebuild. We talk to the reporters behind the investigation and hear how you can find out if your California home is underinsured. And we want to hear from you: Do you have a story about being underinsured? Guests: Megan Fan Munce, reporter covering California’s home insurance crisis, The San Francisco Chronicle Susie Neilson, investigative reporter, The San Francisco Chronicle Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie is scaling back a key part of the city’s harm reduction strategy: the free distribution of clean foil pipes and plastic straws in public settings. These supplies are typically used to smoke fentanyl or methamphetamines. We talk to addiction specialists about how this policy change might impact drug use in the city. Guests: Keith Humphreys, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Stanford School of Medicine Tyler TerMeer, CEO, San Francisco AIDS Foundation Sydney Johnson, reporter, KQED News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been two years this month since fighting broke out between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces, leading to a devastating civil war that’s so far killed more than 150,000 people and displaced 13 million while causing the world’s worst famine in decades. The New York Times was the first Western outlet to report from the center of the Sudanese capital since the war erupted. We talk to chief Africa correspondent Declan Walsh about where the war stands and the humanitarian impact. Guests: Declan Walsh, chief Africa correspondent, The New York Times - based in Nairobi, Kenya Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After six long years, The San Francisco Chronicle has revived its annual Top 100 Restaurants list. Critics MacKenzie Chung Fegan and Cesar Hernandez join us to share their picks, their process, and their personal food obsessions. We’ll take a tour of the restaurants that made this year’s list, and dish about what makes a restaurant truly “top” – from Michelin-worthy tasting menus to perfectly grilled fish tacos. What Bay Area restaurant would you rank #1? Guests: MacKenzie Chung Fegan, restaurant critic, The San Francisco Chronicle Cesar Hernandez, associate restaurant critic, The San Francisco Chronicle Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Clinicians and scientists are sounding alarms as the Trump administration slashes budgets at federal health agencies, including the NIH, which is the largest funder of cancer research in the world. We talk about the costs of the cuts, which researchers say could set back progress on treatments and cures by decades and jeopardize patients with advanced forms of cancer who rely on experimental clinical trials. Guests: Angus Chen, cancer reporter, STAT News Dr. Adil Daud, oncologist and melanoma specialist, UCSF Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The global economy and U.S. markets have been reeling since President Trump announced a sweeping package of tariffs on Wednesday. China retaliated late Friday with a matching tariff, further nosediving the stock market and escalating the trade war. Economists predict the expansive tariffs will raise prices and impact jobs, and potentially lead to a recession and upend the global economy. We’ll talk to experts about why markets are reacting the way they are, and what it might mean for the future of the global economy. Guests: Stephanie Flanders, senior executive editor, Bloomberg; head of Bloomberg Economics Lori Wallach, director, Rethink Trade program at American Economic Liberties Project; senior advisor; Citizens Trade Campaign Kyle Handley, associate professor of economics, School of Global Policy and Strategy, UC San Diego; director, Center for Commerce and Diplomacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Has someone you love ever been enmeshed in online conspiracy theories? Podcast host Zach Mack’s father fell deep into a rabbit hole and wagered Mack $10,000 that 10 of his far-fetched political and apocalyptic beliefs would come true within the year. Mack created a podcast about the experience called “Alternate Realities,” which New York Magazine has already named one of the best of the year. We talk to Mack about what he learned from the bet and what it was like trying to disentangle his father from the conspiracy theories he embraced. And we’ll hear from UCSF clinical psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Pierre about how to talk with loved ones in the grips of conspiratorial thinking. Guests: Zach Mack, producer of the podcast, "Alternate Realities" Dr. Joe Pierre, health sciences clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF; he is the author of “False: How Mistrust, Disinformation, and Motivated Reasoning Make Us Believe Things That Aren't True" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Oakland in ‘87 was hella wild.” So begins the new movie “Freaky Tales,” which establishes its bonafides by having rap legend Too $hort as its narrator. Told in four chapters, the film weaves together punks, rappers, Nazis, and the Warriors, with clutch cameos from local legends. We’ll talk to its director and some of the people whose wild stories inspired the movie. Prepare yourself, we’re popping in the cassette tape and readying the time machine. Guests: Gabe Meline, senior editor, KQED Arts and Culture Tamra Goins, talent agent, Innovative Artists; Goins performed as Entice in the rap duo Dangerzone, which is featured in the movie "Freaky Tales" Too $hort, Oakland-based West Coast rap legend, producer and founder of OG records; Too $hort is the narrator and executive producer of the movie "Freaky Tales," a love letter to late 1980s Oakland Ryan Fleck, filmmaker and co-director of the movie "Freaky Tales," Fleck and his co-director Anna Boden's credits include "Captain Marvel," "Half Nelson," "Sugar" and "It's Kind of a Funny Story," among other films; Fleck grew up in Berkeley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Three California poet laureates, Fresno’s Joseph Rios, El Cerrito’s Tess Taylor and San Francisco’s former poet laureate Tongo Eisen-Martin, received $50,000 from the Academy of American Poetry to fund literary projects in their cities. Their projects include new poetry curriculums, multi-generational workshops, and creating local anthologies. In addition to finding the next generation of poets, the laureates see their mission as creating spaces for people to reflect, connect and build empathy. We talk with them about why we need poetry now and how the artform serves civic life. Guests: Tongo Eisen-Martin, former San Francisco Poet Laureate Tess Taylor, El Cerrito Poet Laureate, edited the poetry anthology, "Leaning Toward Light: Poems for Gardens and; the Hands that Tend Them" Joseph Rios, Fresno Poet Laureate, author, "Shadowboxing: poems and impersonations" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Willkie Farr & Gallagher, the law firm that employs former second gentleman Doug Emhoff, is among the latest to cut a deal with the Trump administration, agreeing to provide $100 million in free legal services to causes the President supports. In executive orders Trump has targeted several high profile firms he considers hostile to him, and the capitulation by some firms has constitutional law experts alarmed. We talk about the implications for democracy and the First Amendment, and we’ll hear from one San Francisco firm that’s fighting back. Guests: Raymond Brescia, professor, Albany Law School; author, "Lawyer Nation: The Past, Present, and Future of the American Legal Profession" Laurie Carr Mims, managing partner, Keker Van Nest & Peters Jessica Silver-Greenberg, investigative reporter, The New York Times Rachel Cohen, former associate, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A group of Silicon Valley billionaires is causing chaos in the federal government by shuttering agencies, firing workers en masse and flouting legal and political norms. According to journalist Gil Duran, the chaos is carefully orchestrated, as figures like Elon Musk, David Sacks and Peter Thiel follow a playbook conceived by far right thinkers on how to take down institutions and seize power. We talk to Duran about what these tech elites – a group he calls “The Nerd Reich” – are reading, thinking and saying. Guests: Gil Duran, journalist, produces a newsletter covering the tech industry, "The Nerd Reich" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist and writer Omar El Akkad has won acclaim for his novels “American War” and “What Strange Paradise,” and he’s now published his first non-fiction book which takes a searing look at the war in Gaza. “One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This,” is a rebuke of Western institutions including governments, universities, and the media for failing to denounce Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza. El Akkad, born in Egypt, examines the political systems, beliefs, and prejudices that he says Americans have used to shield themselves from confronting atrocities. Guests: Omar El Akkad, journalist and author, His latest book is, "One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This." He is also author of the novels, "American War" and "What Strange Paradise." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Tufts University PhD student from Turkey remains in detention in Louisiana after masked, plainclothes ICE officers arrested her last week, as she was walking on the street. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that the State Department has revoked at least 300 foreign students’ visas, in an effort that appears to be targeting students who have criticized Israel’s war in Gaza. That’s after the Trump administration sent 261 Venezuelan migrants to an El Salvador prison, an action that’s being challenged in federal court. “Trump has enlisted nearly every federal law-enforcement agency to help with his mass-deportation campaign, a mobilization akin to a wartime effort,” writes Atlantic immigration reporter Nick Miroff. We’ll talk with Miroff about the latest legal battles and immigration news. Guests: Nick Miroff, staff writer covering immigration, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S.-Mexico border, The Atlantic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since taking office, President Trump has taken aim at the constitutional order. By conducting mass firings of civil servants, investigating and prosecuting rivals and critics and pardoning insurrectionists, Trump has plunged the country into what political scientist Steven Levitsky argues is an authoritarianism that, unlike a full dictatorship, allows for opposition but deploys “the machinery of government to punish, harass, co-opt, or sideline their opponents—disadvantaging them in every contest, and, in so doing, entrenching themselves in power.” And this playbook has been used in countries like Hungary, El Salvador, India, Turkey and others. We talk to Levitsky and historian Anne Applebaum about the lessons other countries can teach us about recognizing authoritarianism at home. Guests: Anne Applebaum, author, "Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World"; staff writer for The Atlantic and a Pulitzer-prize winning historian. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and the SNF Agora Institute. Steven Levitsky, professor of government, Harvard; co-author of "Why Democracies Die" and "Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Department of Justice announced Thursday it will investigate “illegal DEI” in admissions at UCLA, Berkeley, Stanford and UC Irvine. Meantime, the UC system is implementing a hiring freeze in response to President Trump’s threats to slash federal funding, while international students who participated in campus protests report heightened fears of deportation. We talk about the Trump administration’s threats against California universities and the impacts on faculty and students. Guests: Jaweed Kaleem, education reporter, Los Angeles Times Michael Chwe, professor of political science, UCLA; member, UCLA Faculty Association Aditi Hariharan, president, UC Student Association; official representative of all UC undergraduate students Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a special election on April 15, Oakland voters will choose a candidate to finish the term of recalled mayor Sheng Thao. In the second of our interviews with the two frontrunners in the race, longtime East Bay Congresswoman Barbara Lee joins us to share her vision for the city and take your questions. Lee says she’s the only candidate in the Oakland Mayor’s race with the relationships and track record to unite the city and solve its toughest challenges. Guests: Barbara Lee, candidate for mayor of Oakland; U.S. congressmember representing California's 13th district from 1998-2024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joan Didion famously chronicled California’s culture and mythology in works like “Slouching Towards Bethlehem” and “The White Album.” And it’s Didion’s relationship with Hollywood in particular that New York Times film critic Alissa Wilkinson explores in “We Tell Ourselves Stories,” her new analysis of the California writer. “The movies,” Wilkinson writes, “shaped us — shaped her — to believe life would follow a genre and an arc, with rising action, climax and resolution. It would make narrative sense. The reality is quite different.” We talk to Wilkinson about how Didion saw an American political landscape that was molding itself after the movies — and came to value story over substance. Guest: Alissa Wilkinson, movie critic, New York Times Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cooking is a basic survival skill and yet many kids reach adulthood without knowing how to prepare even a simple meal. Meanwhile, other Bay Area kids are producing professional-level dishes on shows like “Kids Baking Championship” and “Chopped Junior.” So how can children get started in the kitchen? Seasoned instructors suggest kicking off with essential skills such as chopping – and, yes kids can use knives without injuring themselves – and learning to read recipes. We’ll talk with culinary teachers, young chefs and you about the best ways to teach kids to cook. Guests: Neelam Patil, chef, educator and CEO, Bliss Belly Kitchen; science teacher at Berkeley Unified School District and founder of Green Pocket Forests founder and CEO, Culinary Artistas Aria Karayil, sixth grader at Diablo Vista Middle School and recent contestant on "Kids Baking Championship" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We take a deep look at the fallout from what national security experts are calling one of the most extraordinary intelligence lapses in U.S. history. On Monday Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported that he’d been mistakenly included on an unsecured group chat with senior national security officials as they disclosed plans to attack Yemen. The Atlantic published more of the exchange on Wednesday, while the Trump administration downplayed the blunder and top intelligence officials testified before the House lawmakers. We discuss the national security implications with reporters Eric Schmitt and Garrett Graff. Guests: Eric Schmitt, senior national security correspondent, New York Times Garrett Graff, journalist and historian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a special election on April 15, Oakland voters will choose a candidate to finish the term of recalled mayor Sheng Thao. In the first of our interviews with the two frontrunners in the race, former Oakland councilmember Loren Taylor joins us to share his vision for the city and take your questions. He says he’s the only candidate in the race with the local government expertise needed to turn the city’s economic and crime problems around. But he’s facing a tough challenger in former Congresswoman Barbara Lee. Guests: Loren Taylor, mayoral candidate, Oakland; served on Oakland City Council from 2019-2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How did MAGA come to control Congress? It’s the story New York Times reporters Annie Karni and Luke Broadwater chart in a new book exposing what they call the unparalleled dysfunction of the 118th congress, where Republicans ground federal legislation to a standstill and pushed moderates out, to the point that “the moments Congress worked felt like brief interruptions of a long fall down a rabbit hole.” We talk to Karni and Broadwater about how MAGA extremism became mainstream in Congress, along with the latest political news. Their book is “Mad House: How Donald Trump, MAGA Mean Girls, a Former Used Car Salesman, a Florida Nepo Baby, and a Man with Rats in His Walls Broke Congress.” Guests: Annie Karni, congressional correspondent, New York Times; co-author, "Mad House" Luke Broadwater, White House reporter, New York Times; previous congressional correspondent, The Times; co author,"Mad House" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ve heard the Thomas Edison quote over and over: “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” But how often does the American ideal that we can achieve anything with hard work, actually pan out? In his new book, “99% Perspiration: A New Working History of the American Way of Life” journalist Adam Chandler challenges our myths of meritocracy and self-reliance. As Americans put in grueling work and punishing hours, we’re also experiencing rising levels of income inequality and wages that don’t keep up with cost of living. Chandler joins us to talk about how the nature of work in America is deteriorating and where we can go from here. Guests: Adam Chandler, author, his books include "99% Perspiration: A New Working History of the American Way of Life" out now, and "Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey Through the Heart of America’s Fast-Food Kingdom"; journalist; former staff writer, The Atlantic; recurring guest, The History Channel’s "The Food That Built America." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

YouTube is the site for step-by-step how-to guides, unboxing and reaction videos, and children’s songs that get stuck in your head. It has also fundamentally changed how we produce and consume online content. As YouTube marks its 20th anniversary, we look at the cultural impact of the platform and how it evolved from a simple video-sharing site to the most visited website after Google’s own homepage. How do you use YouTube? Guests: Victor Xie, video creator, his YouTube channel is "Did You Eat Yet?" Mark Bergen, reporter, Bloomberg News; author of "Like, Comment, Subscribe: Inside YouTube's Chaotic Rise to World Domination" Johnny Cole Dickson, video creator and host, his YouTube channel is "No Lab Coat Required" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her new book, “The Instability of Truth: Brainwashing, Mind Control, and Hyperpersuasion,” Harvard historian of science Rebecca Lemov examines the many ways our minds can be controlled against our wills. Lemov chronicles the use of brainwashing techniques on a range of people from U.S. soldiers who were imprisoned in Korea in the 1950s – some of whom refused to come home after the conflict ended – to members of back-to-land cults that proliferated in the Bay Area in the 1960s. She joins us to talk about how brainwashing is used, the troubling implications, and how anyone can fall victim to mind control, even you. Guests: Rebecca Lemov, professor of the history of science, Harvard University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump’s unprovoked tariffs on Canadian goods, his threats to make the sovereign nation a 51st state, his belittling of Canada’s leaders: it’s all making Canadians just a bit miffed. Or as Vox’s Canada-based correspondent Zack Beauchamp puts it, “out-of-this-world angry about what the United States is doing to them.” We’ll talk about the unraveling of relations with our once closest ally, and how everyday Canadians and their government are responding. Guests: Zack Beauchamp, senior correspondent, Vox; author, "The Reactionary Spirit" Vjosa Isai, reporter based in Toronto, New York Times Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During the pandemic, former Atlantic writer Ed Yong became a trusted source for news about COVID and its impact. In 2021 he won a Pulitzer Prize for that work, which often was about “the massive gulf between what you want the world to be and what you see happening around you.” As part of our series looking at the legacy of the pandemic five years on, we talk to Yong about how COVID changed our relationship with health news, reporting and research. Guests: Ed Yong, science journalist and author, "An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us." Yong won the 2021 Pulitzer prize for his writing in the Atlantic about the Covid-19 pandemic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sequoia trees. Ojai tangerines. Jasmine. Ocean spray. Weed. “Our sense of smell is often overlooked, but it’s the one thing that can bring back memories of a place faster than anything else,” writes Los Angeles Times assistant editor and olfactory artist Maxwell Williams. LA Times readers shared with Williams their most memorable L.A. smells, including the La Brea tar pits, In-N-Out fries and —of course— the beach. And we want to hear from you, wherever you are in the state: What smell reminds you of California? We’ll talk about the unique scents that surround us in the Golden State. Guests: Maxwell Williams, assistant editor of West Coast Experiences, Los Angeles Times Aashish Manglik, associate professor of pharmaceutical chemistry, UCSF Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the Library of Congress’s new National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Bay Area children’s author Mac Barnett wants to reframe how we think about picture books. With his platform, “Behold the Picture Book,” he’s championing the vital role picture books play in engaging readers of all ages and why we love them. What’s the picture book you love reading over and over and over? Guests: Mac Barnett, author of the children's books "Circle," "Square" and "Triangle" which have been made into a new animated series "Shape Island" on AppleTV+. Barnett is also the author of the "Mac B. Kid Spy" and the "Jack" series. His books have won Caldecott honors and E.B. White Read Aloud Awards. Aida Salazar, children's book author. Her picture books include "Jovita Wore Pants" and "In the Spirit of a Dream." Laura G. Lee, children's book author and illustrator. Her picture books are "Soy Sauce!" and "Cat Eyes." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Edward Fishman, a former top sanctions official in the U.S. Department of State, says that “the world economy has become a battlefield,” with sanctions, tariffs, and embargoes as the U.S.’s primary tools for engagement. But after years of U.S. sanctions against Russia and a Ukraine truce still out of reach, are they effective? In his new book “Chokepoints,” Fishman examines the history of economic warfare and when it has helped the U.S. achieve its strategic goals and when it has fallen short. He joins us. Guests: Edward Fishman, senior research scholar, the Center on Global Energy Policy; adjunct professor of international and public affairs, Columbia University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How should we raise children in a world that is burning? This is the question that Berkeley poet Rachel Richardson contemplates in her new collection, “Smother.” As wildfires beset California, Richardson worried about the impact it would have on the land, communities and her own family. “The smoke is not cruel, only truthful,” she writes. And throughout the collection, fire, smoke and air flecked with ash become metaphors and characters as Richardson searches for resilience, defiance, and ultimately, hope. Guests: Rachel Richardson, poet, "Copperhead, Hundred-Year Wave," and, most recently, "Smother"; co-founder, Left Margin LIT in Berkeley; recipient of the Stegner and NEA Fellowships. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who is the Government? Dave Eggers and Sarah Vowell attempt to answer that question in essays about the scientists who discover new planets at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and the archivists who safeguard the nation’s historical record. They’re both featured in the new anthology, “Who is Government: The Untold Story of Public Service.” We talk to Vowell and Eggers about the civil servants who make up what their editor Michael Lewis calls “the vast, complex system Americans pay for, rebel against, rely upon, dismiss and celebrate.” And we’ll get an update on the legal challenges to the Trump administration’s efforts to slash the federal workforce. What public servant in your life would you like to celebrate? Guests: Dave Eggers, founder, McSweeney's; co-founder, 826 Valencia; author, many books including “The Eyes and the Impossible” and “The Circle” Sarah Vowell, author, seven nonfiction books including “Lafayette in the Somewhat United States”, “Unfamiliar Fishes" and “Assassination Vacation" Stephen Fowler, political reporter covering the restructuring of the federal government, NPR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump has called for the impeachment of the federal judge who ordered a halt on the administration’s deportation of hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members under a rarely used 18th-century wartime law. The administration went ahead with the deportations over the weekend despite the judge’s order. The clash comes a few weeks after the controversial arrest of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder who is facing possible deportation for his role in Gaza protests. We’ll get the latest on Trump’s recent immigration actions and the legal battles surrounding them. Guests: Ted Hasson, immigration reporter, Reuters Deep Gulasekaram, professor of law and director of Byron White Center for the Study of Constitutional Law, University of Colorado Boulder Law School; co author, the leading immigration law textbook used in U.S. law schools Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California in 2023 experienced a net loss of nearly 270,000 residents. The main reason given by those surveyed? The state’s cost of living is too high for working families. According to journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, much of the blame for that lies with Democrats, who they say have “failed at the work of governing” by pushing policies that make it too hard to build homes, mass transit and clean energy infrastructure. We talk to Klein and Thompson about how they think the left can govern better and smarter. Their new book is “Abundance.” Guests: Ezra Klein, columnist, The New York Times; co-author of "Abundance" and "Why We're Polarized;" his podcast is "The Ezra Klein Show" Derek Thompson, staff writer and author of the Work in Progress newsletter; The Atlantic; co-author of "Abundance" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices