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Political and Legal Fallout Continues After Alabama IVF Ruling Feb 29, 2024

Show notes

Lawmakers in Alabama this week are scrambling to limit the effects of a Feb. 16 state Supreme Court decision holding that frozen embryos are human and that anyone who destroys them can be held liable for wrongful death. Since the decision, major IVF providers across the state have suspended their services, leaving an industry in chaos and families going through IVF in limbo. Meanwhile, Republicans in the U.S. Senate blocked a bill Wednesday that would have created national protections for fertility treatment. We’ll talk about the ongoing fallout in Alabama and where the broader movement for fetal personhood stands nationally.

Guests:

Mary Ziegler, professor of law, UC Davis

Amy Yurkanin, senior reporter, AL.com

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SF’s Prop F Would Cut Cash Aid for People Who Use Drugs and Refuse Treatment Feb 29, 2024

Show notes

San Francisco is in the midst of a devastating drug crisis with a record number of overdose deaths last year. In an attempt to address the problem, Mayor London Breed has put a measure on the March 5th ballot that would deny cash assistance benefits to people who use drugs and refuse treatment. Breed has said Proposition F would usher more people into getting help as well as stopping taxpayer dollars from contributing to overdose deaths. Opponents say the measure would do more harm than good by penalizing vulnerable residents who need public assistance to survive. We’ll examine Prop F and hear from voters.

Guests:

London Breed, mayor, City and County of San Francisco

Trent Rhorer, executive director, San Francisco Human Services Agency

Aaron Peskin, president, San Francisco Board of Supervisors

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The Explosion of Beirut’s Port Told Through the Lives of Women in “All She Lost” Feb 28, 2024

Show notes

In the summer of 2020, Lebanon was trying to contain both a global pandemic and an internal economic crisis when, on August 4th, a warehouse full of ammonium nitrate at the port of Beirut caught fire and exploded in one of the largest non-nuclear blasts in history. The blast killed at least 220 people, injured more than 6000 residents and caused $8 billion in damages. Journalist Dalal Mawad was living in Beirut at the time, and her new book “All She Lost,” examines the event, told through stories of women who lost children, husbands and family members in the explosion and struggled through the financial and political collapse in Lebanon that ensued. We talk to Mawad about what their stories reveal about the treatment of women in Lebanon and how the blast’s survivors are seeking justice for those they lost.

Guests:

Dalal Mawad, journalist

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Concerns about Joe Biden Focus Spotlight on Kamala Harris Feb 28, 2024

Show notes

As some Democrats become increasingly frantic about the chances of 81-year old President Joe Biden winning reelection, there have been high-profile calls for Biden to step down and allow another Democratic candidate to emerge in a brokered convention. Many names, including Governor Gavin Newsom, have been floated as possible alternatives. But the natural successor, Vice President Kamala Harris, is often dismissed due to her own low approval ratings. We’ll talk about Kamala Harris’ record as Vice President and why she struggles to be thought of as a viable option if Biden needs to step down during the campaign or his presidency.

Guests:

Aimee Allison, founder and president, She the People - a national organization dedicated to building the political power of women of color

Errin Haines, editor at large, The 19th - a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy

Shira Stein, Washington correspondent, San Francisco Chronicle

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Performance Reviews are Underperforming. What Should Replace Them? Feb 27, 2024

Show notes

For years, observers of workplace culture have predicted the death of the annual performance review, calling it ineffective, unpopular and often biased. But some companies are trying to make it better. Does more frequent, real-time feedback sound good to you… or the use of AI to monitor your productivity? We’ll talk with workplace experts about the future of performance reviews and hear from you. What do you think are the best ways to evaluate employees in today’s changing workplace?

Guests:

Lori Nishiura Mackenzie, co-founder, Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab

Josh Bersin, corporate talent, human resources and technology analyst; author, "Irresistible: The Seven Secrets of the World's Most Enduring, Employee-Focused Organizations"

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Tommy Orange’s ‘Wandering Stars’ Examines the Legacy and Consequences of Cultural Erasure Feb 27, 2024

Show notes

In his latest novel “Wandering Stars,” Oakland writer Tommy Orange traces the stories of the Native Americans who populated his celebrated debut, “There There.” The book, which is both prequel and sequel, begins with the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre and the opening of the first Native American residential school in the U.S whose mission, according to its founder, was to “Kill the Indian to save the man.” Orange examines how you can create identity and connection when your family inheritance embeds thick seams of generational trauma, cultural erasure, and violence. We’ll talk to Orange about his novel.

Guests:

Tommy Orange, author, "Wandering Stars," "There There," and "Normal Ain't Normal"

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UCSF’s Gretchen Sisson Spotlights Experiences of Birth Mothers in ‘Relinquished’ Feb 26, 2024

Show notes

We like to think of adoption as an unmitigated social good – a practice that UCSF sociologist Gretchen Sisson says “makes possible the maintenance of both the heteronormative family ideal beloved by the right and the nontraditional, chosen family ideals embraced by the left.” But Sisson says that framing ignores the experiences of birth mothers, who tend to have far less socioeconomic power than adoptive parents and who bear the complicated and even traumatic consequences of relinquishing an infant. Sisson conducted more than 100 interviews with birth mothers who relinquished their children to learn how they came to decide on adoption and the impact that decision has had on them and their families. Her new book is “Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood.”

Guests:

Gretchen Sisson, qualitative sociologist studying abortion and adoption at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, UCSF; author, "Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood” - her research was cited in the Supreme Court’s dissent in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Serina Chacon, birth mother based in Northern California

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Charles Duhigg's “Supercommunicators” Breaks Down How to Talk Better and Forge Connections Feb 26, 2024

Show notes

Have you ever encountered someone you felt like you could share your life story with, even if you just met? In his latest book, “Supercommunicators,” journalist Charles Duhigg details just how some people have come to master the art of conversation. To learn the secrets of effective communication, Duhigg interviewed a CIA agent tasked with recruiting spies, a NASA psychiatrist who screened astronauts for intense missions, and the creators of the hit sitcom “The Big Bang Theory,” who duke out ideas in the writer’s room. Duhigg joins us to talk about how to listen better, how to make yourself understood and how to connect on a much deeper level.

Guests:

Charles Duhigg, reporter, New York Times; author, "Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection" and "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business"

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U.S. to Impose Major New Sanctions on Russia After Death of Alexei Navalny Feb 23, 2024

Show notes

Global outrage persists after high-profile Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died last week in an Arctic penal colony. His death — and the two-year anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine — have prompted the Biden Administration to impose new sanctions against Russia that will be announced on Friday. We’ll talk about the deep rift between the Biden Administration and Russia and the ongoing congressional stalemate over aid for Ukraine and the national security issues it implicates.

Guests:

Kathryn Stoner, senior fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University; author, "Russia Resurrected: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order"

Max Boot, senior fellow for national security studies, Council on Foreign Relations; columnist, Washington

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When a Friendship, Not a Romantic Partner, is the Center of Your World Feb 23, 2024

Show notes

Oprah and Gayle. Bert and Ernie. All four of the Golden Girls. For many people (and puppets), their soulmate is often their friend. We don’t have a good word to describe that kind of friendship – one that involves intimacy without sex, constancy without marriage, and a belief that you cannot live without the other person. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t celebrate friendships that you build your life around, argues author Rhaina Cohen in her new book “The Other Significant Others.” We’ll talk to Cohen about the breadth and depth of these friendships and how we can center them in our lives. And we’ll hear from you: Tell us about that friend who is your person.

Guests:

Rhaina Cohen, author, "The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center" - Cohen is a producer and editor for the NPR documentary podcast "Embedded"

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