Oakland’s District 3 is mostly West Oakland. That’s a historically Black neighborhood, an epicenter of the 2008 foreclosure crisis, now rapidly gentrifying. Last year, it was also the site of an action that drew national attention: “Moms 4 Housing.” A group of unhoused Black mothers took over an empty home owned by a private equity … Continued
First: Wayne Hsiung is mounting a left-flank challenge to incumbent Berkeley mayor Jesse Arreguin that is quite well-financed and -organized for someone who’s never held office. Hsiung’s also a hardcore animal rights activist, leading a group some ex-members describe as cult-like, who co-authored a strategy document calling for supporters to move to one city, take … Continued
First: Oakland’s at-large council election, where outside money from Lyft has piled on to the effort to oust incumbent councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, and her main challenger is … not the business owner his campaign lit claims. Then: a tour through the late flood of attack money into San Francisco’s local races. 1:06 Darwin BondGraham, news … Continued
By vampirism, you know I’m talking about that extractivism that’s destroying us & our precious planet. Mining our minds, as the Red Power legend John Trudell would call it. Enacting coups in Bolivia for lithium for electric car batteries and the like. That market fundamentalism that’ll take us all down if we don’t stop it … Continued
If Proposition 25 passes, it will end cash bail — no one will spend time incarcerated just because they couldn’t pay for a ticket out before trial. That’s why the bail bond industry’s poured millions into defeating it. But could the risk assessment tools it uses to replace cash bail be even more unfair? That … Continued
Proposition 24 in an overhaul of our California’s brand-spanking-new Consumer Privacy Act, which regulates what businesses can do with our data. The changes in prop 24 would change who that act applies to–it would wind up covering fewer businesses. It would add some restrictions, it would take some restrictions away, and it would fund a … Continued
Proposition 22 is a $188 million (and counting!) push by Uber, Lyft, Doordash, Instacart, and Postmates to permanently classify the workers who drive for them as independent contractors, and effectively bar the state legislature from passing a law to let them unionize. It’s already shattered all state records for spending on ballot initiatives in California, … Continued
In 2016, California Republican Devin Nunes won re-election in CA-22 by a 35-point margin. Then Nunes, as House Intelligence Chair, became a national symbol of House Republicans’ feverish defense of misconduct by Donald Trump, and his 2018 victory margin dropped to five percent. We talk to the person challenging Nunes–Phil Arballo–about why he thinks it’s … Continued
Gamal Abdel Chasten, the artistic director of “The Breath Project,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky. The Breath Project consists of twenty-four films of 8 minutes, 46 seconds in duration (the time it took George Flloyd to die) focusing on social issues and produced by people of color.
Tea Obreht, author of the magic realist western “Inland,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. The author of “The Tiger’s Wife” turns her attention to the American west in a tale that encompasses ghosts and camels, and the hardscrabble life of frontier families.
