KQED's Forum

Last week, President Trump fired 6,700 IRS employees, while the chronically underfunded agency, is in the midst of tax season. In a New York Times guest essay, seven former IRS commissioners, who served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, decried the cuts, which constitute 7% of the agency’s work force, as bad policy that would make the agency less efficient and effective. We talk t...

Have you ever felt so creatively connected to someone that it’s like you share the same brain? That’s how acclaimed writers Tommy Orange and Kaveh Akbar describe their relationship. They’re best friends who wrote their recent novels “Wandering Stars” and “Martyr” by sending each other “cheernotes” in which they “waved [their] pom poms with genuine excitement at what the other’d just wrought from t...

Former San Francisco Chronicle reporter Kevin Fagan spent more than three decades reporting on everything from wildfires to serial killers but he has been especially dogged in his coverage of the city’s seemingly intractable homelessness problem. His new book, “The Lost and the Found,” draws on his extensive, immersive reporting to tell the stories of two homeless people – how they ended up on the...

You might know filmmaker, actor and comedian Robert Townsend for his roles in “The Meteor Man” and the Emmy award-winning TV show “The Bear.” Or for writing and directing classics like “Hollywood Shuffle” and “The Five Heartbeats.” Townsend has paved the way for generations of Black actors and filmmakers, and in his one-man stage show, “Living the Shuffle,” he opens up about personal challenges, t...

San Francisco author Brittany Newell’s novel “Soft Core” explores the city’s underbelly — while making its tech bros minor characters. With pinpoint descriptions of the sweat on a west-bound Muni in October, the ceiling of the sometimes-cool, sometimes-not Makeout Room and the vinyl seats of the now-shuttered Silver Crest Diner, Newell writes of the city as lived by her protagonist, a stripper and...

At the moment New York, Nashville, and Los Angeles are the cities where music making happens. But San Francisco hopes to add itself to that list. To that end, last month, Mayor Daniel Lurie announced San Francisco Music Week — which coincides with the Noise Pop Festival and includes live performances, workshops, and talks from industry insiders about how to reinvigorate the local music scene. We’l...

The United States has reached a preliminary deal with Ukraine to share in revenue from the country’s mineral assets, but so far it is not offering security guarantees against Russia in return. It’s a reflection of the Trump Administration’s Russia-first policy, according to retired army lieutenant colonel and Trump impeachment whistleblower Alexander Vindman. We talk to Vindman about his new book...

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has filed a host of lawsuits against the Trump administration, as Governor Gavin Newsom tries to stay in Trump’s good graces to safeguard federal disaster aid. It could be a good cop-bad cop strategy from the state, says KQED’s politics team, who join us to talk about how the Trump administration is shaping state politics. We’ll also look at who might be eyein...

Thousands of government employees have lost their jobs as part of the Trump’s Administration’s purge of the federal workforce, led by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Many workers have also been sent emails demanding they justify their jobs, or face termination. We’ll look at how federal workers in the Bay Area and beyond are coping with the chaos and uncertainty, how some are figh...

The Federal Aviation Administration recently began firing hundreds of workers, raising concerns over airline safety. The latest cuts come in the wake of several recent plane crashes, including a January 27 midair collision between an Army helicopter and American Airlines plane in Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people. The Trump administration says that nobody with a “critical safety” position ha...

On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to root out anti-Christian bias and embrace his “beautiful Christians.” A particular form of Christianity – Christian Nationalism – is informing the Trump coalition. Trump has appointed avowed Christian nationalists like head of OMB Russell Vought and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has said the country is in a “spiritual battle.” In a podcast, Hegseth said,...

President Trump shocked San Francisco Wednesday night with an executive order to “dramatically reduce” the Presidio Trust, which Congress formed in 1996 to manage and protect the historic 1,500-acre park that looks out on the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco Bay. The trust is one of four agencies named in the executive order, which calls for shrinking those the president deems “unnecessary.” W...

Linguist Michael Erard says that a child’s first words and a dying person’s last words exist on a Möbius-strip of beginnings and endings where “parallels emerge and then fade while asymmetries persist.” In his new book, “Bye Bye I Love You: The Story of Our First and Last Words,” Erard compiles stories from medical archives and ancient texts as well as first-hand accounts by doctors and doulas. He...

Far more than just a link between our heads and torsos, the neck is what biologist Kent Dunlap describes as “the ultimate multitasker.” The neck “flexes, senses, vibrates, transports, and secretes every second of our lives,” all while serving as a locus of beauty, grace and vulnerability. We talk to Dunlap about his new book “The Neck: A Natural and Cultural History.” Guest: Kent Dunlap, professor...

Bay Area Latin jazz legend John Santos joins us with a full band for a live in-studio performance. The San Francisco native is a Grammy nominated percussionist and composer influenced by classic rhythms and traditions of the Caribbean. He founded his own label, Machete Records, 40 years ago to avoid mainstream platforms and maintain his creative freedom. Santos joins us to talk about his San Franc...

Germany holds parliamentary elections this weekend, and political watchers there are expecting its nativist Alternative for Deutschland party to make gains, despite long being a political pariah. The pro-Putin, anti-immigrant AfD has neo-Nazi ties and has earned the praise of Elon Musk and a meeting with Vice President JD Vance. We look at Germany’s far right resurgence and what it means for the U...

Republicans are looking to cut as much as $880 billion from Medicaid, a federal program that provides healthcare for 72 million Americans. Distinct from Medicare, which covers seniors, Medicaid includes coverage for low income people, the disabled, substance abuse programs, nursing home care, and the Affordable Care Act, among other kinds of care. Nearly half of all births in the U.S. are covered...

Last week the U.S. Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a noted vaccine skeptic, as Health and Human Services Secretary. This comes as a measles outbreak in Texas widens to 58 people and as Louisiana’s top health official says the state will no longer promote mass vaccination. We talk to pediatrician and infectious disease specialist Adam Ratner about his concerns about the nation’s vaccination...

Black History Month has been officially celebrated in the U.S. since President Gerald Ford signed a proclamation nearly 50 years ago declaring the month of February as time to recognize the contributions Black people have made to the country. This year, though, the Trump administration’s attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion have put a chill on the celebrations. We talk about how we arrived a...

Since taking office, President Trump has issued executive orders rolling back trans Americans’ rights in schools, prisons and the military. The administration is also attempting to pull critical federal funding for transgender health programs and research. Many of these actions are being challenged in court, but they’re still impacting trans Americans’ day-to-day lives — even in California. We’ll...

Picking up stakes and moving somewhere new was once so common in America that cities had a designated “Moving Day” when thousands of tenants would move house on the same day. Often whole blocks of residents would change addresses, with moving boxes and bags littering the streets. But in the last 50 years, more Americans have stayed in place. Not by choice, but by a lack of social mobility, accordi...

After his California home burned in a wildfire, acclaimed author and travel writer Pico Iyer retreated to a remote monastery in Big Sur. There, he discovered the power of solitude and stillness to help process loss and cope with uncertainty. In his new book, “Aflame,” Iyer writes about his frequent visits to the monastery over the following three decades, always finding joy and renewal in the “sil...

A century ago, the United States designated its first wilderness area – a place to be forever preserved and protected from human impact. But what does “wilderness” mean in the era of smartphone technology that keeps us constantly connected and human-fueled climate change? And who gets to enjoy these “untrammeled” spaces? These are the questions posed by environmental journalist Marissa Ortega-Welc...

We pull back the curtain on the San Francisco Opera with Music Director Eun Sun Kim and General Director Matthew Shilvock, who joined us live on stage on Feb. 4 to talk about the artistry and passion that make this Bay Area institution beloved. On this rebroadcast, Kim shares behind-the-scenes footage of her recent production of Lohengrin from documentary filmmaker Elena Park and discusses how she...

New Yorker writer Rachel Syme loves letters — their content, the paper they are written on, the envelopes that enclose them. For Syme, “A letter is a vessel that can gently cradle family drama that would otherwise explode at Thanksgiving dinner; it is the ideal medium for giving voice to what is difficult to say out loud, and for reconciliation, forgiveness, and clarity.” In her new book, “Syme’s...