KQED's Forum

Anthony Fauci was the face of the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic, guiding the public through the upheavals of school closures and stay-at-home orders and unprecedented loss of life. He implored people to get vaccinated and weathered near constant partisan attacks. The COVID-19 pandemic was one of a number of global public health crises – including AIDS, bird flu, Ebola and Zika – that Fauci handled during his nearly six-decade career. We’ll talk to Fauci about what we’ve learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, how we should prepare for the next infectious disease crisis and what he values most about his life in public service. His new autobiography is “On Call.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As part of our “Doing Democracy” series, we look at state courts and constitutions. Each state has its own constitution, and they generally offer more rights than the U.S. Constitution. For example, the California constitution guarantees the right to happiness, reproductive freedom, and the ability to fish on public land, among other enumerated rights. With a conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, activists are increasingly looking at states to protect – and even expand – rights. But will this strategy work? We’ll talk to legal experts about how state courts and constitutions are increasingly becoming battle grounds for preserving or expanding civil rights, and what the impact in California and neighboring states might be. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“If you make it trend, you make it true,” argues online propaganda expert Renée DiResta. Her new book examines what she calls the “invisible rulers” of today — influencers, algorithms and crowds. While some influencers have made good on social media’s promises of media democratization, others saturate our feeds with propaganda, disinformation and rumors that cause IRL harm. These influencers’ motivations, DiResta argues, are rooted in profit as much as — if not more than — ideology. We’ll talk to DiResta about how content moderation, systems design and policy can prevent and blunt the reach of online propaganda — and how we can strive for consensus in a fractured society. Her new book is “Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality.”Guests:Renée DiResta, former technical research manager, Stanford Internet Observatory Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hundreds of bicycles stolen in the Bay Area and other places have ended up for sale in a small town in Jalisco, Mexico. A recent article in Wired follows the efforts of a co-founder of Bike Index, a site where people can report bike thefts, to track down a reseller who set up a supply chain of stolen bikes resold via social media. Meanwhile, bike thieves in the Bay Area have become even more sophisticated in their methods leaving cyclists feeling hopeless and vulnerable. We’ll talk about the local and global black market for stolen bikes and what – if anything – can be done about it.Guests:Carlos Cabrera-Lomeli, community engagement reporter, KQEDBryan Hance, co-founder, Bike IndexChristopher Solomon, freelance journalist; author, the recent Wired article “The West Coast’s Fanciest Stolen Bikes Are Getting Trafficked by One Mastermind in Jalisco, Mexico"Nancy Hernandez, education program co-manager, Bike East Bay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite spending one third of our lives asleep, we know very little about why we dream. But in a new book brain surgeon and neuroscientist Dr. Rahul Jandial begins to peel back the mystery. He says that dreams may help us practice responding to threats, allow us to test different interpersonal scenarios, or serve as a sort of “nocturnal therapist, helping us digest and metabolize anxiety-provoking emotions.” We talk to Jandial about the neurobiology of dreams and what they contribute to our waking lives. Jandial’s new book is, “This Is Why You Dream.”Guests:Dr. Rahul Jandial, surgeon and neuroscientist, City of Hope Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a journalist and a science fiction writer, Annalee Newitz thinks a lot about the power of narrative and how it can change minds, “if a story can make you feel better or smarter, it can also make you feel worse and more confused. And if that story can change your behavior—­whether in the voting booth or on the street—­it becomes a weapon.” In their new book, "Stories Are Weapons," Newitz dives into the history and practice of psychological warfare and traces how the military tools of psyops – including propaganda and disinformation – have seeped into our lives. We’ll talk about how stories are used to manipulate our politics and drive the culture wars and how we might snap out of their sway.Guests:Annalee Newitz, science journalist; science fictions writer; author, "Stories are Weapons"; Newitz is also the author of the books "The Terraformers," "Autonomous" and "Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Squid Game.” “Crashing Landing on You.” “Winter Sonata.” Korean dramas have injected themselves into American pop culture thanks to their addictive story lines and the advent of streaming services. Grace Jung should know. She spent 10,000 hours watching Korean television for her UCLA PhD in cinema and media studies. A stand-up comedian, podcast host, and critic, Jung unpacks the cultural significance of Korean television in her new book “K-Drama School.” We’ll talk to Jung and hear from you: What’s your favorite Korean television show?Guest:Grace Jung, author, "K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television." Jung is also a standup comedian, critic and host of the podcast "K-Drama School." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Forty six years ago, California held its first statewide vote on gay rights. Prop 6, also known as the Briggs Initiative, sought to ban gay teachers from the classroom. The battle to stop that proposition is the subject of Slate’s current “Slow Burn” podcast season, chronicling an explosive moment in both Bay Area and gay liberation history. It follows the political trajectory of Harvey Milk, as well as a wave of anti-gay backlash from conservative politicians across the country. We speak with Slow Burn host Christina Cauterucci and early gay rights advocates Cleve Jones, Gwenn Craig and Ruth Mahaney, about lasting lessons from the Briggs Initiative and those who opposed it.Guests:Christina Cauterucci, host of Slate's "Slow Burn: Gays Against Briggs" podcastCleve Jones, author, "When We Rise," organizer with UNITE HERE, a hospitality workers' union. Also co-founder of the AIDS Foundation and founder of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial QuiltRuth Mahaney, former professor of gender and LGBTQ studiesGwenn Craig, queer elder who has worked on several electoral candidate and issues campaigns in San Francisco, including the supervisorial campaign of Harvey Milk and San Franciscans Against Proposition 6 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Ann Powers began to draft her expansive new biography of Laurel Canyon music legend Joni Mitchell, she says that “certain subjects emerged: childhood as an imaginary terrain where singer-songwriters could express their ideals and idiosyncrasies; sadness as a complicated form of women’s liberation; side roads and retreats as the secret sources of an artist’s strengths. And traveling, always traveling.” Powers’ book charts Mitchell’s influences, collaborators and milieu, weaving in reflections on the broader politics and trends of each decade during Mitchell’s career. It grapples with the sexism of Laurel Canyon’s heyday and Mitchell being labeled a “confessional” artist, as well as Mitchell’s own complicated relationship with feminism and with being the only woman at the table. We talk to Powers about Joni Mitchell’s life and art and hear how Mitchell has affected you. Powers’ new book is “Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell.”Guest:Ann Powers, music critic and correspondent, NPR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every historical era is marked by the fight for a commodity: spices, gold, oil, steel, to name a few. In the next decades as climate change deepens and resources become scarcer, security experts believe the commodities fueling conflict will be food and water. The global battle to control these two resources centers the documentary “The Grab,” which follows Center for Investigative Reporting journalist Nate Halverson’s quest to uncover state-sponsored efforts to snatch up land and water rights in other countries, including the U.S., at the expense of the people who live there.Guests:Nathan Halverson, reporter with the Investigative Reporting Program, UC Berkeley - Halverson is featured in the documentary "The Grab," which centers on his efforts to uncover the players behind state-sponsored land grabs around the world.Brigadier Siachitema, consultant, Women’s Lands & Property Rights at Southern Africa Litigation Centre Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices