Jose Antonio Vargas, #HateSpeech on Social Media, Week in Politics

KQED Newsroom
Friday, Nov. 2, 2018
7 p.m. on Channel 9

Jose Antonio Vargas, #HateSpeech on Social Media, Week in Politics

Week in Politics
In the final week before the midterm elections on Nov. 6, we look at the latest in key California congressional races. Also, we check in on two statewide propositions currently trailing among voters -- Proposition 6, the repeal of the state gas tax, and Proposition 10, which would give cities the ability to expand rent control. Plus, the status of San Francisco’s hotly debated Proposition C, a proposed business tax solution for the city’s pervasive homelessness problem.

Guests: KQED’s California Politics and Government Desk

•         Scott Shafer, Senior Editor
•         Marisa Lagos, Reporter
•         Guy Marzorati, Reporter and Producer

Policing #HateSpeech on Social Media
Following the deadly synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh last weekend and a series of pipe bombs mailed to prominent Democrats, there’s heightened scrutiny of the role social media plays in inciting violence. The accused Pittsburgh shooter posted anti-Semitic comments on Gab.com leading up to the shooting, while the man allegedly behind the pipe bombs reportedly posted threatening tweets about public officials. Despite efforts to police hate speech, many popular sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp remain fertile ground for hateful speech.

Guests:

•         Mike Isaac, New York Times Technology Reporter
•         Casey Newton, The Verge’s Silicon Valley Editor

Journalist Jose Antonio Vargas
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas joins us to talk about his new memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen. A prominent public voice representing the undocumented community, Vargas’ memoir steers away from the politics of immigration and speaks candidly to his experiences of hiding and lying to get by as an undocumented person. An alumnus of Mountain View High School and San Francisco State University, Vargas returns to the Bay Area for a poignant, personal conversation on what it means to not have a home.