KPFA - Law & Disorder w/ Cat Brooks

Oct 22, 2026 · 1h 6m

On today show – national protest police brutality day,  we discus a review of Vallejo police use of their FLOCK camera system as well as hiccups with the new Vallejo police station with guest Scott Morris of the Vallejo Sun. Then, why isn’t the DMV doing anything about big rigs that kill? We will speak with Lauren Hepler of Cal Matters about their new report “Licensed To Kill.”  And then, Dr Melina Abdullah will join to discuss an update in the Kohen Wiley case and plans for protesting pi/cops on october 22. Scott Morris is a journalist based in Oakland who covers policing, protest, civil rights and far-right extremism. His work has been published in ProPublica, the Appeal and Oaklandside. “License to Kill” Series by CalMatters Lauren Hepler is an investigative reporter at CalMatters. She has spent the past decade covering housing, labor and climate issues for the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Guardian, the LA Times and others. WATCH: The ‘License to Kill’ documentary HERE   National Day Against Police Brutality  Dr. Melina Abdullah is a professor of pan-African studies at Cal State Los Angeles, as well as the co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter and co-founder and director of Black Lives Matter Grassroots.   —- Subscribe to our podcast: https://plinkhq.com/i/1637968343?to=page Get in touch: lawanddisorder@kpfa.org Follow us on socials @LawAndDis: https://twitter.com/LawAndDis; https://www.instagram.com/lawanddis/ The post National Day Against Police Brutality: Review of Vallejo Police Use of Flock Cameras. Then, DMV & “License to Kill.” Plus, No Charges for the Cop who Killed Baby Kohen Wiley appeared first on KPFA.

Oct 21, 2026 · 1h 17m

On today’s show, the student protests in France that have grown to include multiple sectors of resistance from fuel prices to wages –  and the governmental crack down utilizing the brutality of police with guest Laura Wojcik joining us from Paris. Then  this month the Black Panther Party commemorates 60 years since its birth here in Oakland CA. Student Protests in France: Analysis  Laura Wojcik is a video journalist at Mediapart, an independent French digital newspaper. She regularly covers urban issues, working-class neighborhoods, gender-based and sexual violence.   The Legacy of the Black Panther Party – 60th Anniversary Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. is a Chicago-based community organizer, activist.  He is the president and chairman of the Prisoners of Conscience Committee and Black Panther Cubs.  He is the son of the Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton. Tur-Ha Ak is a prominent Oakland community activist, organizer, and co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project and the Community Ready Corps. —- Subscribe to our podcast: https://plinkhq.com/i/1637968343?to=page Get in touch: lawanddisorder@kpfa.org Follow us on socials @LawAndDis: https://twitter.com/LawAndDis; https://www.instagram.com/lawanddis/ The post The Student Protests in France. Plus, Legacy of the Black Panther Party -60th Anniversary appeared first on KPFA.

Oct 20, 2026 · 1h 6m

On today’s show, a conversation with Professor Elisabeth Semel about the botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee and what it should that say to us about the death penalty.  We also discuss the Los Angeles mayoral race with Sam Ribakoff. Death Penalty Professor Elisabeth Semel is Co-Director of the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.  Her research is related to the defense of capital cases, with an emphasis on the role that race plays in the administration of the death penalty, and, more broadly, in the selection of juries. Resources: Death penalty Information Center LA Mayor’s Race Sam Ribakoff is a reporter, journalism teacher, communicator for labor unions.  His latest article in LA Taco is  “The ‘G-Words’: Bass and Raman’s Opposing Views on Palestine May Decide the Mayoral Election.”   Image credit: Lady Justice on Wikimedia commons —- Subscribe to our podcast: https://plinkhq.com/i/1637968343?to=page Get in touch: lawanddisorder@kpfa.org Follow us on socials @LawAndDis: https://twitter.com/LawAndDis; https://www.instagram.com/lawanddis/ The post The State of the Death Penalty Laws in the US. Then, The L.A. Mayor’s Race appeared first on KPFA.

Oct 19, 2026 · 1h 3m

On today’s show, our guest Sarah Leah Whitson update us on the situation in Gaza and the wars in the Middle East. Sarah Leah Whitson is a Human Rights Lawyer and coauthor of the book “From Apartheid to Democracy: A Blueprint for Peace in Israel-Palestine.”  She previously served as executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) and also former executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa Division. —- Subscribe to our podcast: https://plinkhq.com/i/1637968343?to=page Get in touch: lawanddisorder@kpfa.org Follow us on socials @LawAndDis: https://twitter.com/LawAndDis; https://www.instagram.com/lawanddis/ The post Palestine Post w/ Sarah Leah Whitson appeared first on KPFA.

Oct 15, 2026 · 1h 8m

Host Cat Brooks in conversation with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi debunking the origins of authoritarianisms and the “great replacement theory” and how those ideas have become dominant political ideas in our time ushering in an antidemocratic age. Dr. Ibram X Kendi is a professor of history and the founding director of the Howard University Institute for Advanced Study, an interdisciplinary research enterprise examining global racism. He is the author of the National Book Award–winning Stamped from the Beginning and the international bestseller How to Be an Antiracist and his latest, Chain of Ideas: he Origins of Our Authoritarian Age. He has been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as the Genius Grant. —- Subscribe to our podcast: https://plinkhq.com/i/1637968343?to=page Get in touch: lawanddisorder@kpfa.org Follow us on socials @LawAndDis: https://twitter.com/LawAndDis; https://www.instagram.com/lawanddis/ The post Dr. Ibram X. Kendi on the Origins of Our Authoritarian Age appeared first on KPFA.

Oct 14, 2026 · 1h 17m

On today’s show Professor Richard Wolff join us to discuss the state of the economy, he explains how the so called “AI bubble” could burst. Richard Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  Currently, he is a Visiting Professor at the New School University in New York City.  Professor Wolff is the founder of Democracy at Work (democracyatwork.info) and host of the weekly national syndicated TV and radio program Economic Update that airs weekly on KPFA.  Professor Richard Wolff is the author of several books including Understanding Capitalism.   His website is: democracyatwork.info   —- Subscribe to our podcast: https://plinkhq.com/i/1637968343?to=page Get in touch: lawanddisorder@kpfa.org Follow us on socials @LawAndDis: https://twitter.com/LawAndDis; https://www.instagram.com/lawanddis/ The post Understanding the Economy w/Richard Wolff appeared first on KPFA.

Oct 13, 2026 · 1h 6m

On today’s show, Lebanese ethnobotanist, sovereignty steward, and cultural worker Layla K Feghali talks about a history of healing plants of Cana’an (the Levant) and the Crossroads (“Middle East”) and explores ways we become free from the wounds of colonization and displacement. Her latest book is The Land in Our Bones: Plantcestral Herbalism and Healing Cultures from Syria to the Sinai –Earth-based pathways to ancestral stewardship and belonging in diaspora.   —- Subscribe to our podcast: https://plinkhq.com/i/1637968343?to=page Get in touch: lawanddisorder@kpfa.org Follow us on socials @LawAndDis: https://twitter.com/LawAndDis; https://www.instagram.com/lawanddis/ The post Plantcestral Herbalism & Colonialism w/ Layla K Feghali. appeared first on KPFA.

Oct 12, 2026 · 1h 17m

Host Cat Brooks interviewed Mahmoud Khalil about his memoir No Land to Stand On: Notes from Detention.  Khalil talks about his life, his for exercising his right to free speech at Columbia University, his abduction, and his imprisonment in America’s deportation regime. This is a recording of Mahmoud Khalil in conversation with Cat Brooks at Book Passage in Corte Madera on Sunday, October 4, 2026.   —- Subscribe to our podcast: https://plinkhq.com/i/1637968343?to=page Get in touch: lawanddisorder@kpfa.org Follow us on socials @LawAndDis: https://twitter.com/LawAndDis; https://www.instagram.com/lawanddis/ The post Mahmoud Khalil on No Land to Stand On appeared first on KPFA.

Oct 7, 2026 · 50m

Three years ago, today, after decades of brutal occupation by Israel, Hamas launched an attack on Israel. During that attack over 1000 Israelis were killed. Israel responded with a level of force and brutality that has been unceasing and shocking to the globe eliciting the largest global movement for a free Palestine in history. Guests: Dr. Hatem Bazian is a professor of Islamic law and theology at Zaytuna College. He is also a lecturer in the departments of Near Eastern and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.  His latest book is Erasing The Human: Collapse of The Postcolonial World and Refugee Immigration Crisis. Samer Araabi is the Associate Director of Political Education and Research at the Center for Constitutional Rights.  He is also a member of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC) and co-founder of AROC Action. Zahra Billoo is the Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area (CAIR-SFBA).   Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons. —- Subscribe to our podcast: https://plinkhq.com/i/1637968343?to=page Get in touch: lawanddisorder@kpfa.org Follow us on socials @LawAndDis: https://twitter.com/LawAndDis; https://www.instagram.com/lawanddis/ The post Reflections and Analysis on the Third Anniversary of October 7th and the War on Gaza appeared first on KPFA.