KQED's Forum

The Paralympic Games open in Paris next week, showcasing the talent of elite athletes in 22 adaptive sports. Some, like Boccia and Goalball, are unique to the Paralympics while others, like sitting volleyball and wheelchair fencing, parallel Olympic events – with a twist. We’ll check in with members of Team USA, learn more about the athletes and events to watch, and hear about efforts to expand adaptive sports in California as Los Angeles prepares to host the 2028 games. And we hear from you: Are you a para-athlete? Tell us what you love about your sport.Guests:David Wharton, sports reporter, Los Angeles Times - Covering 2024 Olympics and Paralympics in Paris for The Los Angeles TimesKelly Crowley, former Paralympic athlete and medalist, She won gold medals in the women's swimming freestyle and medley relays in Greece in 2004, and bronze medals in cycling in 2012. She has coached swimming for nearly two decades and has also worked for tech companies on digital accessibility projects.Michael Garafola, coordinator, UCLA Adaptive and Instructional Programs; Garafola is a competitive Wheelchair Athlete, and has competed with the LA Clippers wheelchair basketball, LA Rams wheelchair football and wheelchair tennis teams.Justin Phongsavanh, Paralympic javelin thrower competing in the Paris 2024 Games Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What can we learn from professional risk-takers—poker players, hedge fund managers, crypto true believers and blue-chip art collectors— about how to navigate the uncertainty of the twenty first century? Nate Silver, the founder of FiveThirtyEight, seeks to answer that question in his new book “On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything.” In Silver’s world view, risk takers are adept with details and planning, they are not motivated by money, they practice conscientious contrarianism, and they are all around us. We talk to Silver about his book, his poker playing and what the polls tell us about the November elections.Guests:Nate Silver, author, "On the Edge:" The Art of Risking Everything", Silver founded the website FiveThirtyEight, and is also the author of the bestselling book, "The Signal and the Noise." His newsletter is titled "Silver Bulletin" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stand-up comic and mathematician Matt Parker loves triangles, and he wants everyone to appreciate them. Triangles help us calculate distances, the angle of an NBA 3-pointer and a winning billiards shot. They help us plan cities, cut sandwiches optimally and tell us the angle of impact of the asteroid that wiped out Earth’s dinosaurs. “Triangles are everything,” writes Parker, “and everything is triangles.” We talk to Parker about the function –and beauty – of the triangle and his new book “Love Triangle: How Trigonometry Shapes the World.”Guests:Matt Parker, stand-up comedian, mathematician and YouTuber; author, "Love Triangle: How Trigonometry Shapes the World" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vice President Kamala Harris has released a set of proposals she says will make housing more affordable if she’s elected president in November. Her ideas include tax incentives to encourage more home construction, down payment assistance for homebuyers, and rules to make it harder for corporate investors to buy up single family houses. We’ll examine the plan and how much of a role the country’s housing crisis could play in this fall’s election.Guests:Mike Madrid, Republican strategist; co-founder, The Lincoln Project. His new book is "The Latino Century: How America's Largest Minority is Transforming Democracy."<br />Erin Baldassari, senior editor of housing affordability, KQEDYonah Freemark, principal research associate, Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2024 Democratic National Convention kicks off on Monday, capping a warp speed nomination process for Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz. We’ll preview the four-day event in Chicago, where democrats are expected to try to build on momentum that’s brought record contributions and favorable poll numbers. What do you want to hear from the democratic party?Guests:Marisa Lagos, politics correspondent, KQED; co-host of KQED's Political BreakdownDahlia Lithwick, senior editor and legal correspondent, Slate; host, Amicus podcast; author, "Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The US Department of Justice is considering breaking up tech giant Google, according to media reports. That news comes after a court ruling earlier this month that the company, which controls 90 percent of the search engine market, violated antitrust laws. “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta wrote in his decision. But some experts think a breakup is unlikely, and Google says it will appeal. We’ll talk about what the case could mean for consumers, the company, and the future of the internet.Guests:Rebecca Haw Allensworth, associate dean for research and professor of law, Vanderbilt Law SchoolLeah Nylen, antitrust reporter, Bloomberg NewsKamyl Bazbaz, senior vice president for public affairs, DuckDuckGo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You are walking down a dark dungeon hallway lit by torches and covered in cobwebs. You hear ominous squelching sounds. Wait! It’s the GIBBERING MOUTHER. Do you pull out a sword or cast a spell? If this is a scenario you have faced, it’s likely you have been playing Dungeons & Dragons, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The goal of the tabletop game is not to win, but for players to immerse themselves in a fantasy world and go on a heroic adventure. In a time when video games and screen time have proliferated, D&D offers the opportunity to gather with friends in real life to play an immersive and collaborative game that is always changing. We talk about D&D with expert dungeon masters and fans and hear from you: what draws you to D&D?Guests:Brennan Lee Mulligan, actor and writer; executive producer, writer and Game Master of the web-series "Dimension 20"Danielle Radford, standup comedian, Radford has appeared in "Dimension 20," a web-based Dungeons and Dragons series. She is also the co-host of "Tights n Fights," a wrestling podcast.Jon Peterson, author, "Playing at the World 2E: The Invention of Dungeons & Dragons," "The Elusive Shift" and "Game Wizards"; co-author, "Dungeons & Dragons: Art & Arcana"Gwendolyn Reza, co-owner, Games of Berkeley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In late June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that cities can dismantle homeless encampments on sidewalks and other public places and make people move without running afoul of the constitution. The ruling by the Republican-appointed majority was cheered by many Democrats, including Gov. Gavin Newsom who issued an executive order calling on cities to remove the tents and the people living in them quickly. Some have been eager to do so, including San Francisco Mayor London Breed – who is facing tough competition in her run for reelection. Other cities have taken a slower approach. We’ll discuss the impact the Supreme Court ruling is having in California, and why top Democrats disagree over the best course of action.Guests:Marisa Kendall, homelessness reporter, CalMattersFred Keely, Mayor, Santa CruzJohn Do, senior attorney for the Racial and Economic Justice Program, ACLU of Northern CaliforniaDarrell Steinberg, Mayor, Sacramento Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amid the Bay Area’s dire need for more housing, California Forever has set out a bold vision for a new city in east Solano County on 17,500 acres of mostly farmland. But the company, backed by various Silicon Valley billionaires, has so far struggled to garner enough local support. In July, California Forever scrapped plans to ask for voter approval for the project on this November’s ballot, but said it plans to try again in 2026. Many county officials and nearby residents oppose the project, while others want more information about how it would impact their communities. We’ll talk about the state of California Forever’s plans and what could happen next.Guests:Adhiti Bandlamud, housing reporter, KQEDJ.K. Dineen, Bay Area housing reporter, San Francisco ChronicleJan Sramek, founder and CEO, California ForeverMarc Weiss, chairman and CEO, Global Urban Development - a nonprofit organization focused on sustainable economic growth and urban development strategies. He is also a visiting professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Darién Gap, the perilous mountain region connecting Central and South America, was thought for centuries to be all but impossible to cross. But now, hundreds of thousands of migrants are doing just that to reach the U.S. Pulitzer Prize-winning immigration reporter Caitlin Dickerson took three trips to the Darién Gap over five months, following groups of migrants on their 70-mile trek from northern Colombia into southern Panama. They risked hunger, thirst, drowning, disease, violence, sexual assault and death. We talk to Dickerson about what she witnessed and what she calls the “flawed logic” of U.S. immigration policy – “that by making migration harder, we can limit the number of people who attempt it.” Her new article in the Atlantic is “Seventy Miles in the Darién Gap.”Guests:Caitlin Dickerson, staff writer, The Atlantic - won a 2023 Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on immigration; her new article is "“Seventy Miles in the Darién Gap.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices