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Zach Mack on Trying to Rescue His Father from ‘Alternate Realities’ Apr 04, 2025

Show notes

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"

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Movie “Freaky Tales” Is a Love Letter to 1980s Oakland Apr 04, 2025

Show notes

“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

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To Fold or Fight: Law Firms Weigh Risks of Trump Resistance Apr 03, 2025

Show notes

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

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How Poetry Serves Civic Life Apr 03, 2025

Show notes

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"

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Is ‘The Nerd Reich’ Taking Over the Government? Apr 02, 2025

Show notes

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"

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Omar El Akkad’s New Book Critiques American Hypocrisy On the Gaza War Apr 02, 2025

Show notes

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."

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Immigration Reporter Nick Miroff on Trump’s Mass Deportation Campaign Apr 01, 2025

Show notes

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

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How Countries Fall Into Autocracy Apr 01, 2025

Show notes

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."

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California Universities Grapple with Trump Threats, Investigations Mar 31, 2025

Show notes

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

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Oakland Mayor’s Race: Former Congresswoman Barbara Lee on Why Leadership Matters Mar 31, 2025

Show notes

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

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