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The Future of Dietary Supplements Under Trump’s FDA Feb 07, 2025

Show notes

Dietary supplements like those for weight loss and muscle building have become a multi-billiondollar industry, even as health experts say that in many cases their efficacy and safety is unproven. We take a close look at the rules governing the industry and what might change under the Trump Administration especially as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is poised to be confirmed as Health and Human services secretary. Do you have a vitamin or dietary supplement question?

Guests:

Dr. S Bryn Austin, social epidemiologist and professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health

Nicholas Florko, staff writer, The Atlantic

Marily Oppezzo, behavioral and learning scientist, registered dietician, Stanford Prevention Research Center

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Incarcerated Women Firefighters Spotlighted in “Fire Escape” Podcast Feb 07, 2025

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“Fire Escape,” a new podcast from Snap Judgment and KQED, follows the story of Amika Mota, who while serving a nine-year prison sentence, joins an all-women firefighting crew. They fight wildfires. And serve as the remote prison community’s primary emergency response team. Her experience offers her a path for redemption, but also raises troubling issues about how we use prison labor. We talk to Mota and other formerly incarcerated firefighters about their experience.

Guests:

Anna Sussman, senior producer and managing editor, Snap Judgment

Amika Mota, Executive Director and Founding Member, Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition

Laquisha Johnson, former member of wildland fire camp

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David Graham on Trump’s 'Strategy Behind the Chaos' Feb 06, 2025

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As Donald Trump makes provocative foreign policy statements and issues executive orders that are quickly walked back or challenged in court, and as Elon Musk creates upheaval in federal agencies, we look at the tactics the Trump Administration is using to consolidate power. Atlantic staff writer David Graham has been closely following Trump’s actions and argues that “chaos versus strategy is a misleading and unhelpful binary” to understand what’s happening. What have you noticed about Trump’s tactics this term, as compared to last?

Guests:

David Graham, staff writer, The Atlantic

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What Sonoma State’s Massive Budget Cuts Mean for the University’s Future Feb 06, 2025

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Facing a $24 million deficit, Sonoma State University has announced plans to eliminate six academic departments, lay off dozens of faculty and end intercollegiate athletics. Sonoma State officials say the university was forced to act due to a nearly 40 percent dip in enrollment and a decline in state funding, at a time when costs to run the university are on the rise. But many students and faculty members say they were blindsided by the cuts and are calling on officials to reconsider. We’ll check in with SSU’s interim president and others in the campus community.

Guests:

Emma Williams, sophomore, dance and history major, Sonoma State University

Marisa Endicott, reporter, Santa Rosa Press Democrat

Don Romesburg, chair of Department of Women's and Gender Studies, Sonoma State University; author, "Contested Curriculum: LGBTQ History Goes to School, out in April" from Rutgers University Press.

Emily Cutrer, interim president, Sonoma State University

Taylor Hodges, sophomore, communications major, Sonoma State University; member of SSU's soccer team

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Ukrainian Artists on Their Oscar-Nominated Documentary 'Porcelain War' Feb 05, 2025

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The 2025 Academy Award-nominated documentary “Porcelain War” tells the story of Ukrainian artists Slava Leontyev and Anya Stasenko as they defy the Russian invasion through their art and by aiding in the war effort. In the intricately painted porcelain figurines they create, the artists represent how their lives used to be — and their hopes for the future. Leontyev, Stasenko and producer Paula DuPré Pesmen join us to talk about the film and the power and fragility of art in the face of war. Later in the hour, we’ll speak with former Ukraine ambassador Steven Pifer about the future of U.S. aid to Ukraine under the Trump Administration.

Guests:

Steven Pifer, affiliate, Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University; former ambassador, to Ukraine; former senior director, National Security Council in the Clinton administration

Paula DuPré Pesmen, producer, “Porcelain War”

Slava Leontyev, artist and co-director, “Porcelain War”

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Trump Ignites Trade Wars with China, Backs Down on Canada, Mexico Feb 05, 2025

Show notes

A 10% tariff on Chinese goods went into effect on Tuesday as China retaliated with its own set of tariffs. Earlier Donald Trump put his threatened 25% tariffs against Canada and Mexico on hold for 30 days after discussions with the countries’ leaders. Trump says he brought the two neighboring countries to their knees, but the Wall Street Journal called Trump’s tariffs “the dumbest trade war in history.” We’ll talk to experts about tariffs, the international response to Trump’s actions, and the impact they may have on businesses and consumers.

Guests:

Shannon O'Neil, senior vice president, director of studies and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair, Council on Foreign Relations; author, "The Globalization Myth: Why Regions Matter" and "Two Nations Indivisible: Mexico, the United States, and the Road Ahead."

Kyle Handley, associate professor of economics, School of Global Policy and Strategy, UC San Diego; director, Center for Commerce and Diplomacy

Scott Horsley, chief economics correspondent, NPR News

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Key Trump Nominees Await Confirmation After Bruising Hearings Feb 04, 2025

Show notes

Three of President Trump’s most contested nominees — Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. — sat for confirmation hearings last week, facing scathing questions from Senate

Democrats about their qualifications, judgment and ability to lead critical federal departments. The Senate Finance Committee is set to vote Tuesday morning on whether to put Kennedy’s nomination to lead the Health and Human Services Department to a floor vote. We look at the status of all the nominations along with other breaking national political news.

Guests:

Domenico Montanaro, senior political editor and correspondent, NPR.

Javed Ali, associate professor of practice at the School of Public Policy, University of Michigan; served in the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Defense Intelligence Agency, and the Department of Homeland Security.

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Lauren Markham on Reckoning with Future Loss from Climate Change Feb 04, 2025

Show notes

With an unprecedented phenomenon like climate change, do we have the words or the ways to express the feelings that it creates? In her new book, “Immemorial,” Writer Lauren Markham attempts to find the language, rituals and memorials to reckon with the grief of climate change, and a future that seems to be vanishing. We’ll talk about psychologically processing the environmental realities that we face.

Editorial note: The number of people who died in the Tubbs fire was stated incorrectly during this show. 22 people died in the fire.

Guest:

Lauren Markham, writer; reporter; author, "Immemorial"

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Trump’s Embrace of Crypto Business Raises Ethics Alarms Feb 03, 2025

Show notes

Donald Trump was once a cryptocurrency skeptic, saying as recently as 2021 that bitcoin “seems like a scam.” Today, some critics are saying the same thing about the president’s now fervent embrace of crypto, both in his business investments and policy decisions. During the campaign, Trump promised to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet,” while taking tens of millions in donations from the industry. After the election, he and Melania Trump both touted the release of a crypto meme coin featuring their images. And last week, after making appointments and issuing executive orders aimed at boosting the industry, the president’s social media startup Truth Social announced plans to expand into crypto. Now some legal experts, and even industry leaders, are voicing serious ethics concerns. We’ll look at what Trump’s pro-crypto stance might mean for the future of digital assets, the economy, and national security.

Guests:

Andrew R. Chow, correspondent, Time; author, "Cryptomania: Hype, Hope, and the Fall of FTX's Billion-Dollar Fintech Empire"

Zeke Faux, investigative reporter, Bloomberg; author "Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall"

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How Fraud, Greed and Negligence Have Stymied Alzheimer’s Research and Progress Toward a Cure Feb 03, 2025

Show notes

Nearly seven million Americans, about one in nine people over the age of 65, live with Alzheimer’s. It’s a heartbreaking disease for those afflicted and the 11 million loved ones who are taking care of them. But despite decades of research and countless promises of a breakthrough, there are no significant treatments to stop the cognitive decline. While mortality rates for other leading causes of death like cancer and heart disease have gone down, Alzheimer’s death rates continue to rise. In his new book “Doctored”

investigative reporter Charles Piller makes the case that a wide web of fraud, greed and negligence – from individual scientists to the FDA – has derailed the search for a cure or treatment. And, he says the scientific establishment’s belief in one hypothesis of the disease, despite the lack of progress, has shut out other promising avenues. We’ll talk with Piller about his new book and what it reveals about Alzheimer’s research and the broader science landscape.

Guests:

Charles Piller, investigative journalist, Science magazine; author, "Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer's"

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