KQED's Forum - TopPodcast.com

Latest Episodes:

The Science (and Art) of Election Polling Oct 28, 2020

Show notes

Major recent polls suggest that former Vice President Joe Biden will defeat President Donald Trump by a decisive margin in next week's election. A simulation by FiveThirtyEight shows Biden winning 88 times in 100, and a model from The Economist puts Biden’s chances of winning the electoral college at 95%. But for the obsessive poll watchers who in 2016 were shocked by Trump's win, today's numbers are fraught. We'll talk about how election polls are constructed, how to interpret them and how methodologies have changed since 2016.

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How Lessons from the Past Can Help Repair Social Trust in the U.S. Oct 28, 2020

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Published two decades ago, political scientist Robert Putnam’s bestselling book “Bowling Alone” struck a nerve with its stark warning about loosening social and political cohesion in America. In their new book “The Upswing”, Putnam and co-author Shaylyn Romney Garrett offer solutions for improving civic life in a country beset by COVID-19 and a divisive election. Putnam and Garrett join Forum to talk about the book and share lessons from history about how the U.S. can recover solidarity and a collective national identity.

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Sociologist Zeynep Tufekci on the Key to this Pandemic Oct 27, 2020

Show notes

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told CNN Sunday that the U.S. is “not going to control the pandemic,” because “it is a contagious virus just like the flu.” But thinking of COVID-19 like the flu and employing a flu-pandemic playbook is not an effective response, according to sociologist Zeynep Tufekci. In her latest piece for The Atlantic, Tufekci highlights a factor she says is key to this pandemic: COVID-19 is an "overdispersed" virus, which means it tends to spread in clusters. When dealing with overdispersion, she writes "identifying transmission events (someone infected someone else) is more important than identifying infected individuals." Tufekci outlines how countries like South Korea and Japan have used aggressive contact-tracing approaches that include backwards tracing to the original contact, as well as clamping down on potential super-spreader events, to slow the spread. That's in stark contrast to the U.S., where the federal response has been the idea of creating "herd immunity" and where the White House itself became the source of a super-spreader event earlier this month. Tufekci, who the New York Times has called "perhaps the only good amateur epidemiologist,” joins us to talk about the rising cases across the country, prospects for getting the pandemic under control and feelings of "pandemic fatigue."

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California Watchdog Finds ‘Frequent Noncompliance’ With Mask Rules in State Prisons Oct 27, 2020

Show notes

California prison officials frequently fail to enforce mask requirements for prison staff and inmates to stop the spread of coronavirus. That's according to a report issued Monday by the California Office of the Inspector General, which noted that the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has reported that 69 incarcerated persons and 10 staff members have died of COVID-19 as of Oct. 7. We'll review the report and also discuss last week's state court order that San Quentin State Prison reduce its inmate population by half to combat the spread of the virus.

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San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo on the Economy, the Pandemic and Housing Homeless People Oct 27, 2020

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San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo joins us to discuss how his city is faring as the coronavirus pandemic wears on. Last week, the city unveiled the first of three emergency housing projects with 78 rooms to provide shelter for homeless people. Meanwhile, the city emerged as an economic bright spot in September by adding 9,000 jobs, but close to half of the city’s downtown storefronts remain shuttered. Coronavirus cases in Santa Clara County have steadily declined since peaking in late July. About 58 percent of confirmed cases are among Latinos even though that group only makes up 26 percent of the county’s residents. We talk with Liccardo about ongoing efforts to suppress coronavirus, tackle homelessness and rebuild the local economy.

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New Signs of Foreign Election Interference Concern National Security Experts Oct 26, 2020

Show notes

New reports of foreign election interference emerged this week when national security officials announced that Iran and Russia obtained voter registration data that could be used to threaten voters and sow discord ahead of the November election. In an advisory Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security further called out Iranian actors for spoofing legitimate media sites to spread misinformation about voter suppression and ballot fraud. But according to The New York Times, security experts say that Russia remains the more dangerous threat to the integrity of the 2020 election. We'll talk to New York Times national security correspondent David Sanger about foreign attempts to influence this November's vote.

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Journalist Farai Chideya Centers Women of Color’s Voices in ‘Our Body Politic’ Oct 26, 2020

Show notes

In her new podcast and radio show “Our Body Politic,” journalist Farai Chideya reports on how women of color experience the major political events of today and how they’re impacting those very issues. The show also explores how we might collectively rebuild America in ways that nourish women of color and their communities. Chideya, who has covered the past six presidential elections for outlets including CNN, NPR and FiveThirtyEight, joins us to talk about her new show.

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Fareed Zakaria Offers ‘Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World’ Oct 26, 2020

Show notes

While it may seem too early to draw conclusions from a global crisis still in process, journalist Fareed Zakaria is seizing the moment. In his latest book, “Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World,” the CNN host outlines how the coronavirus pandemic will have lasting impacts that could take years to unfold. He examines the prospective political, social, technological and economic consequences of actions governments are taking now. On his weekly show, “Fareed Zakaria GPS” for CNN Worldwide, Zakaria has focused on international and domestic affairs for 12 years running. He also writes columns for the Washington Post and serves as a contributing editor for The Atlantic. Zakaria joins us to discuss his new book as well as international news.

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Julian Castro On the Upcoming Election and Future of Politics Oct 23, 2020

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Julián Castro is one of just a few Latino politicians with a national presence. The former Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development was the only Latino to compete for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. Though his bid failed, Castro is still hitting the campaign trail. He’s working to increase voting rates and on turning Texas blue. Castro joins us to talk about housing policy, immigration reform and the latest political news including the final presidential debate.

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In Major Police Reform SFPD Will No Longer Handle Most Psychiatric and Behavioral Crisis Calls Oct 23, 2020

Show notes

Protesters around the country have demanded the defunding of police because of excessive force used all too often in situations that critics say could be dealt with nonviolently. Now San Francisco is launching the country’s largest experiment in reform by taking most psychiatric , behavioral and substance abuse crisis calls out of the hands of police. Instead, unarmed mobile teams -- made up of a paramedic, a mental health professional and a peer advocate -- will respond to the calls. We’ll talk about San Francisco’s program, which will be phased in next month, and similar efforts around the country.

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