KQED's Forum

Forced arbitration clauses are buried in everything from product warranties to bank loans to employment contracts, often requiring consumers and workers to give up their right to sue without realizing it. Brendan Ballou, a former federal prosecutor and co-founder of the Public Integrity Project, says arbitration has become an opaque, parallel legal system that favors corporations and undermines the rule of law. We talk to Ballou about new book, “When Companies Run the Courts,” which looks at why forced arbitration has become so widespread and what states like California are doing to restrict it. Guests: Brendan Ballou, former federal prosecutor; CEO, the Public Integrity Project; author, "When Companies Run the Courts: Forced Arbitration and America's Secret Justice System" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Both Democrats and Republicans have turned to redistricting to improve their chances in this fall’s midterm elections. But a recent court case striking down a Democrat-leaning redistricting map in Virginia and a Supreme Court decision rolling back the Voting Rights Act, have dimmed hopes for Democrats. All this while Republican state legislatures lock in maps that give their party an edge. We talk about what it all means for the midterm elections and beyond. Guests: Erin Covey, editor of the U.S. House of Representative, The Cook Political Report Kareem Crayton, vice president, Brennan Center for Justice's Washington, D.C. office; Crayton is an expert on redistricting Nick Corasaniti, reporter, the New York Times Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A 2025 study found political violence is shifting from a primarily right-wing phenomenon to one now more common on the left (fueled partly by a significant decrease in right-wing attacks during President Trump’s second term). And it’s increasingly accepted across the political spectrum, with about a fifth of Americans saying they’d support violence to achieve political goals. The Atlantic’s Adrienne LaFrance calls this dangerous attitude “blood populism,” and we’ll talk to her about why she believes people with these opinions should be seen not as partisans but extremists. Plus, a violence prevention researcher explains why political violence is a public health issue. Guests: Adrienne LaFrance, executive editor, the Atlantic Garen Wintemute M.D., M.P.H. , director, Centers for Violence Prevention at UC Davis; he also practices and teaches emergency medicine at the UC Davis School of Medicine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California launched Project Homekey after the pandemic to quickly create new housing and get homeless people off the streets. Over the last few years the state has spent $3.8 billion converting existing properties such as old hotels and apartment buildings into housing that could be built fast and at a lower cost than ground-up construction. But the program has had mixed results according to a CalMatters investigation that found that about half of the development projects in the program either came in late, went over budget or were never built. We’ll talk about how well Project Homekey is working, and what we can learn from its successes and failures. Guests: Marisa Kendall, homelessness reporter, CalMatters Ryan Finnigan, associate research director focused on homelessness in California, Terner Center for Housing Innovation, UC Berkeley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tensions remain high in the Persian Gulf as the U.S. and Iran exchanged fire late last week, calling into question whether an already fragile ceasefire still holds. Meanwhile, President Trump called Tehran’s response to an American proposal to end hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz “totally unacceptable.” We’ll talk about the latest diplomatic efforts, the risk of escalation and the impact of the war in the region and at home. Guests: Trita Parsi, co-founder and executive vice president, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft; author, "Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran and the Triumph of Diplomacy;" former president, National Iranian American Council Joshua Keating, senior correspondent, Vox Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mac Barnett is a bestselling children’s book author and, since last year, the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. He has a new small book out for adults, Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children, that is a rousing defense not just of children’s books but of children themselves, as people and as readers. “If you’ve read good books to kids, you’ve probably been surprised when they noticed a detail in the pictures that you didn’t see, or been humbled when they understood something about the story you couldn’t. That’s because children tend to be better readers — more open-minded, more diligent, and more passionate — than adults. (No offense.)” We’ll talk to Barnett about how kids make us better readers and the enduring power of children’s books. Guests: Mac Barnett, National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature; author, "Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children;" his children's books include "Circle," "Square" and "Triangle," "Extra Yarn", "Sam and Dave Dig a Hole" and the "Terrible Two" book series among others Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can we find and start our life’s work? That’s the question Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Jodi Kantor tried to answer for Columbia University’s seniors last spring in a graduation speech that went viral. She urged graduates facing a brutal job market to focus on two things: need and craft. Kantor encouraged graduates to use that lens to assess what services, products or information society will most need in their working lives and what expertise they can develop to bring them to fulfillment. We talk to Kantor about her new book “How to Start.” Guests: Jodi Kantor, investigative reporter, The New York Times; author, "How to Start: Discovering Your Life's Work" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When she was 16, journalist Tracy Clark-Flory found out that she had a long-lost sister. Her mother shared that as a teenager, she had given up a child for adoption, and the grief of that act had sent her to a mental institution. There was not much more that her mother shared, and Clark-Flory did not ask. But years after her mother’s death, Clark-Flory set out to find her sister and learn more about why her mother could not keep her child. She tells that story in her new book, “My Mother’s Daughter.” Guests: Tracy Clark-Flory, journalist and essayist; author, "My Mother's Daughter: Finding Myself in My Family's Fractured Past" and "Want Me: A Sex Writer's Journey into the Heart of Desire"; her newsletter can be found at tracyclarkflory.substack.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re spending too much time sitting behind screens. First we’re at our desks for eight, maybe ten hours. Then, all too often, we get home and plop onto the couch for a few more hours of screen time. But what is the actual harm, and what can we do to limit—and maybe even reverse—the damage? We get answers from TED Radio Hour host Manoush Zomorodi, author of the new book “Body Electric: The Hidden Health Costs of the Digital Age and New Science to Reclaim Your Well-Being.” Guests: Manoush Zomorodi, host, NPR's "TED Radio Hour"; author, "Body Electric: The Hidden Costs of the Digital Age and New Science to Reclaim Your Well-Being" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A proposed rule change for obtaining Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits could reduce or eliminate income for some 400,000 adults with Down syndrome, dementia and other disabilities who live with low-income relatives, according to a new analysis from ProPublica. It’s a change that advocates worry will further burden disabled people and their families — and could make it harder for disabled people to stay in their homes instead of institutions. We talk with disability rights advocates about the proposed changes and the shifting landscape for people with disabilities under the Trump Administration. Guests: Eli Hager, reporter, ProPublica; his recent article is, “The Trump Administration Aims to Penalize Disabled Adults Who Live With Their Families” Kristen Pedersen, executive director, The Arc San Francisco Eric Harris, associate executive director of external affairs, Disability Rights California Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new Netflix documentary “The Plastic Detox” follows six couples struggling with unexplained infertility, asking them to cut plastic from their lives to see if that could help them conceive. While not a scientific study, the film explores the intriguing possibility that reducing everyday plastic exposure can actually improve our health. But how likely is this? We talk with the fertility researcher and one of the couples in the documentary to hear what they think we should — and should not — take away from the experiment. Guests: Shanna Swan, professor of environmental medicine, Icahn School of Medicine; founder and director, Action Science Initiative Monique Tavares, owner, San Ramon construction company BL Pavers; participant, “The Plastic Detox” Jasmine McDonald, associate professor of epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pioneering geneticist J. Craig Venter, who revolutionized biology with his role in sequencing the human genome, died last week in San Diego. In this hour, we look back at Venter’s scientific contributions and consider whether our expectations for the medical and scientific transformations from DNA mapping have been realized. How has our knowledge of the human genome changed our understanding of how life works on a molecular level, and how much could it continue to change with the new powers of AI? Guests: Dr. Fyodor Urnov, professor of Molecular Therapeutics, University of California, Berkeley; scientific director, Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI) Philip Ball, science writer, his most recent book is How Life Works: A User’s Guide to the New Biology Michael Marshall, science writer, his most recent book is The Genesis Quest: The Geniuses and Eccentrics on a Journey to Uncover the Origin of Life on Earth Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Humans eat more than 550 metric tons of meat and seafood a year — a number that’s steadily climbing, and expected to do so until at least 2050. At the same time, scientists are working to develop plant-based and cultivated meats that deliver the same experience with more nutrition and at a lower cost. We talk to Good Food Institute founder and president Bruce Friedrich about his new book, “Meat: How the Next Agricultural Revolution Will Transform Humanity’s Favorite Food— and Our Future.” Is alternative meat in your future, or even a reality for you today? Guests: Bruce Friedrich, founder and president, The Good Food Institute; author, Meat: How the Next Agricultural Revolution Will Transform Humanity's Favorite Food--and Our Future" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a teenager Mary Cain was a running phenom. At 17, she ran the 800 in under two minutes, and broke numerous national high school records. She went pro that same year, to be coached by Alberto Salzar at Nike. But while Cain was winning accolades on the track, she was suffering deeply. In her new memoir, “This is Not About Running,” Cain, now a second year medical student at Stanford, recounts how Salazar and his team created a culture of abuse that ground down athletes like her. We talk to Cain about what lessons can be learned from her experience and her efforts to protect young athletes. Guests: Mary Cain, author, "This Is Not About Running;" former professional runner; second year medical student at Stanford Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A blue whale mother that fasts for months while her calf puts on close to 250 pounds a day. A male hamster who acts as a midwife while his partner gives birth. Healthy bird parents that lurch along the ground, feigning injury to keep predators away from their nest. These are some of the remarkable examples of animal caregiving that science journalist Elizabeth Preston says can hold up “uncanny mirrors to the human experience and the puzzle of why and how we’ve evolved to pour our resources into our children.” We talk to Preston about her new book, “The Creatures’ Guide to Caring.” What have you noticed about the animal caregivers around you? Guests: Elizabeth Preston, science journalist; author, "The Creatures' Guide to Caring: How Animal Parents Teach Us That Humans Were Born to Care" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a federal appeals court on Friday blocked mail-order access to the abortion pill mifepristone, the Supreme Court stepped in to pause the ruling, restoring access to one of the most common ways to end early pregnancies. Despite the administrative stay, it is not clear how the court will handle the case. We’ll talk about what the restrictions could mean for access both in states with abortion bans and in California and other states where abortion remains legal. Guests: Mary Ziegler, professor of law, UC Davis School of Law Shefali Luthra, reproductive health reporter, The 19th [an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all know the stinging pain of rejection: the exclusion from a high-school in-group or the all-too-common experience of applying for a job and receiving an email starting with “We regret to inform you…” But beyond the personal experience of rejection is a power dynamic worth interrogating, argues author Alison Kinney. Her new book, “United States of Rejection: A Story of Love, Hate, and Hope,” examines it as not only a personal force, but a political one. Guests: Alison Kinney, author; assistant professor of writing, Eugene Lang College at The New School Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When punk rock thrashed through the Bay Area in the 70s and 80s, there were some venues that became iconic hubs, like Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco and Berkeley’s Gilman street. But in rural Sonoma country, the scene was cobbled together in backyards, barns, and from fields with very long extension cords. Growing up in Santa Rosa, KQED’s arts and culture editor Gabe Meline was both a part of the punk scene and an obsessive collector of its flyers, zines, cassettes and ephemera. He’s now guest curated a new exhibit at the Museum of Sonoma County, Disturbing the Peace: Sonoma County’s Early Punk Underground. We talk to Meline — and check in those in punk scenes of other Bay Area towns — about the music and ethos of punk and why this young DIY movement against authority is so relevant now. Guests: Gabe Meline, senior editor, KQED Arts & Culture Mike Park, owner, Asian Man Records - an independent label based in San Jose; member of the ska-punk band Skankin' Pickle in the 1980s and 90s Matthew Kadi, photographer and drummer. His band Monster Squad started in Vacaville in 1997 and is still playing shows. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the last month, about a dozen authors wrote to Forum saying they’d been messaged by a fraudster claiming to be Mina Kim. In exchange for a “small fee,” they’d be invited to talk about their book on the show. This is a new kind of impersonation scam targeting the wider publishing industry, and like online dating schemes, they’re using flattery and promises of publicity to con the authors into sending money. We look at why authors are being targeted, just how deep this publishing scam goes, and how AI is superpowering online scams. Guests: Lauren Goode, senior correspondent covering Silicon Valley, Wired Dan Barry, senior writer, The New York Times Julian Sancton, senior features editor, The Hollywood Reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When President Trump sent troops into Iran, he did so without a green light from Congress. Now he faces a deadline on May 1 to either end the war in Iran or secure official approval from Congress. That timeline is laid out under the War Powers Resolution, a law that allows presidents to start wars without congressional approval. Democrats in Congress have tried and failed to pass multiple resolutions to halt the war. Meanwhile, the war is losing support from Republican lawmakers, who have not proposed a vote to approve it. We talk about the war in Iran, lawmakers’ efforts to stop it so far, and whether the Trump administration is feeling any pressure from the 60-day deadline. Guests: Harold Hongju Koh, professor of international law, Yale Law School; legal advisor to the U.S. Department of State from 2009-2013 Mark DeSaulnier, U.S. Congressman representing California's 10th district (the East Bay) Robert Jimison, congressional reporter covering foreign policy, defense and national security issues, The New York Times Elisa Ewers, senior fellow, Council on Foreign Relations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices