Commonwealth Club of California Podcast (Commonwealth Club of California)

Rick Wilson built his career as a star Republican political strategist. But following Donald Trump’s ascendancy during the 2016 campaign, the lifelong conservative became a vocal critic of the new Republican Party. His Twitter feed and columns for The Daily Beast give his followers a hilarious and refreshing take on national politics. In his new book, Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America from Trump, Wilson gives Left-leaning and anti-Trump voters a guidebook to win again in 2020. As a conservative strategist against Trump, Wilson critiques what he sees as Democrats’ inability to run the campaign and candidate needed to beat Trump. Wilson analyzes the damage that Trump has done and predicts the prospective damage Trump could bring in the next four years. Drawing on his plethora of political experience, Wilson exposes the tactics that brought Trump to victory in 2016—and the tactics that he will use again in 2020. Throughout Running Against the Devil, Wilson gives Democrats the tools to avoid the impending catastrophe of Trump’s 2020 victory. In this way, Wilson provides essential and much-needed advice for progressives, conservatives and civic participants to change the course of America’s future. ** This Podcast Contains Explicit Language ** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Celebrate Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day with an intimate conversation with San Francisco Mayor London Breed. Following her election in 2018, Mayor Breed is the city’s first African-American female mayor and just the second woman to ever hold the office, elected during a historic year for women’s representation in local and national politics. The mayor has lived a life of public service. Prior to her election as District 5 supervisor in 2012 and her service as Board president from 2015–2018, she served as executive director of the African American Art and Culture Complex in the Western Addition for 10 years. She also served as a San Francisco Redevelopment Agency commissioner for five years and in 2010 was appointed by the then Mayor Gavin Newsom to be a San Francisco fire commissioner. Join INFORUM as we hear from Mayor Breed on the priorities for her administration, with a lens of economic justice, on the biggest issues of our day, including housing, criminal justice reform, education and public safety. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reza Aslan is a leading expert in world religions and his bestselling books have touched on a range of issues related to history, extremism and spirituality. His latest work, An American Martyr in Persia, challenges us to look at how seriously we take our ideals of constitutional democracy and whose freedom do we support. Aslan illuminates these issues by exploring the real-story of Howard Baskerville, a 22-year-old Christian missionary from South Dakota who traveled to Persia (modern-day Iran) in 1907 for a two-year stint teaching English and preaching the gospel. Baskerville arrived in the midst of a democratic revolution led by a group of brilliant young firebrands committed to transforming their country into a fully self-determining, constitutional monarchy, one with free elections and an independent parliament. In death, Baskerville became a martyr who spurred the revolutionaries to remove the shah from power, signing a new constitution and rebuilding parliament in Tehran. At this critical time when many people are questioning it, Aslan's new work offers a powerful parable about the universal ideals of democracy―and to what degree Americans are willing to support those ideals in a foreign land, Iran, a country frequently demonized and misunderstood in the West. Aslan along with Ray Suarez will explore how one person can still make a difference when freedom is at stake. NOTES In association with World Affairs. SPEAKERS Reza Aslan Author, An American Martyr in Persia: The Epic Life and Tragic Death of Howard Baskerville; Twitter @rezaaslan In Conversation with Ray Suarez Host, "World Affairs" on KQED In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 24th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

9/11 transformed American political and cultural life. Post-9/11 Americans were hyper-concerned with national security, public safety and the War on Terror. Now, looking back at the years of contention between the United States and terrorist organizations, journalists like Spencer Ackerman believe the military campaign set the stage for authoritarianism to rise in the United States. As a national security editor for The Guardian, Ackerman was part of the team that won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for public service journalism for their reporting on Edward Snowden's surveillance revelations. Now, he’s looking to understand the endless conflict known as the War on Terror in his new book, Reign of Terror. After 9/11, policies threatening the safety of Muslims and immigrants turned the War on Terror into a cultural and tribal struggle. It bolstered nativism and inspired bipartisanship. It paved the way for authoritarian leaders to rise to power and exploit sectors of political strength. By analyzing the decisions of Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, Ackerman sets an argument for how the war became a broader and bitter culture struggle allowing demagogues to emerge. Join us as Spencer Ackerman couples together journalism and history to transform how Americans understand national security policies and their detrimental impact on political life. SPEAKERS Spencer Ackerman Contributing Editor, The Daily Beast; Author, Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump In Conversation with Melissa Caen Attorney; Author; Political Analyst In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on August 17th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Politico's Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman offer a startling look at President Trump’s first two years in office and all the power struggles happening in Washington, D.C. Taking us behind the scenes to some of the most defining moments of our era, they highlight the gamesmanship, impulsiveness, fighting, backstabbing and dealmaking happening amongst our political leaders. More importantly, they share what’s really at stake for our country and the lasting impact it will have on the American people. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Acting like a responsible adult can be challenging at the best of times. Add dealing with climate chaos to the mix, and keeping it all together can feel like an outright miracle.  Let’s start by acknowledging that all does not feel fine in the world at the present moment. But living through extreme intensity isn’t a completely unique experience. Generations before us have endured existential crises of unimaginable magnitudes.  So how do we navigate this period of uncertainty — regardless of our age? And what tools can we use to build resilience in the midst of what feels like a lot? Guests:  Emily Raboteau, Author, “Lessons for Survival: Mothering Against ‘The Apocalypse’” Ana Alanis, Founder, Hungry for Climate Action Andrew Bryant, Co-Director, North Seattle Therapy & Counseling Join Climate One and Project Drawdown's Matt Scott live in San Francisco on June 25! Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today for just $5/month. For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his new book A Better Man: A (Mostly Serious) Letter to My Son, comedian and actor Michael Ian Black shares his personal reflections on what it means to be a man. Equal parts memoir and advice book, A Better Man is a tender letter to Black’s college-bound son, Elijah. In it, he hopes to teach him and other young men what a healthy relationship to masculinity looks like as they enter the many confusing chapters of adulthood. Black returns to INFORUM to discuss the complex nature of gender politics and how teaching men to be compassionate and vulnerable would benefit society as a whole. Tune in to hear Black dissect masculinity, its impact on the world and how men can become better people. Part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation Note: This program contains EXPLICIT language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's the 12th anniversary of the Week to Week political roundtable! Come celebrate with us. The courts are issuing rulings on presidential contenders and ballots; primaries and caucuses are underway, Congress just completed one of its least productive years in history, San Francisco is voting on mayors and propositions—how will we ever think of anything to talk about on this program? As usual with Week to Week, our panelists will discuss the latest political developments in an informed, civil (and fun) manner. Join us for a whole new year of lively political discussion at Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California. See other upcoming Week to Week political roundtables, as well as audio and video of past Week to Week programs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dave Iverson was a 59-year-old KQED broadcast journalist and filmmaker when he decided to do something he’d never imagined. He moved back into his childhood home when his 95-year-old mom could no longer care for herself. Dave’s new memoir Winter Stars: An Elderly Mother, An Aging Son and Life’s Final Journey is the story of their 10-year caregiving journey, lasting until his mother’s passing at the age of 105. It’s a book Michael J. Fox calls “A gift—a modern classic of frontier literature documenting the uncertain journey into the country of caregiving.” In this special Commonwealth Club presentation, KQED’s Scott Shafer will interview Dave about his new book and our growing eldercare crisis. Someone turns 65 every eight seconds in this country, and the pandemic’s ongoing toll on nursing home residents has prompted more people to consider caring for an aging parent at home. Yet what lies ahead when someone makes that choice? Join Scott Shafer and Dave Iverson for an intimate, unvarnished conversation about the challenges, choices and unexpected rewards of caring for someone during life’s final journey. Our moderator will be award-winning journalist Scott Shafer. Shafer is senior editor of the California Politics and Government Desk at KQED, where he leads the politics team’s coverage of the state. He is also co-host of the weekly radio program and podcast series "Political Breakdown." Shafer has covered stories for National Public Radio programs, including "All Things Considered," "Morning Edition," "Weekend Edition Saturday" and "Weekend Edition Sunday." He collaborated on and hosted "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown," an eight-part series about the life and political career of the former California governor. He previously hosted "The California Report." MLF ORGANIZER Denise Michaud NOTES MLF: Grownups This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. SPEAKERS Dave Iverson Writer; Documentary Film Producer and Director; Retired Broadcast Journalist; Author, Winter Stars: An Elderly Mother, An Aging Son and Life’s Final Journey In Conversation with Scott Shafer Senior Editor, Politics and Government Desk, KQED; Co-Host, "Political Breakdown" Podcast This program was recorded live in San Francisco on March 31st, 2022 at the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

George Bernard Shaw once said that there is no love more sincere than the love of food. Pipo, the main character in the new children's book Every Night Is Pizza Night, holds the sincerest love of all… for pizza. Pipo is determined to prove that pizza is, in every aspect, the best food out there. However, by cooking and tasting foods with six new friends, Pipo discovers that what makes a food “the best” transcends taste as only one ingredient in the melting pot of tradition, family and friendship. Written by the Food Lab’s J. Kenji López-Alt and illustrated by artist Gianna Ruggerio, the book highlights the importance of gastronomic diversity for children and adults alike. Join them both at INFORUM where they will discuss how, like Pipo, even the pickiest eaters can grow an expansive palette and grow to appreciate the various cuisines around them. This conversation will be moderated by SF Chronicle food critic Soleil Ho. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Best-selling author Mark Shaw, who has become a magnet for crowdsourced information about Marilyn Monroe, JFK and prominent journalist Dorothy Kilgallen ever since his lectures went viral on YouTube, returns to The Commonwealth Club to share new research about the cover-ups that followed those three celebrities’ deaths. Revealed for the first time in his latest book, Fighting for Justice, is evidence from a still-living legislative aide to a Warren Commission member never identified before that the inner workings of the commission involved “internal corruption,” and that commission members felt pressure from President Johnson, Chief Justice Earl Warren, and J. Edgar Hoover to support the “Oswald Alone” theory. Shaw also argues that that commission member was likely the one who surreptitiously passed Jack Ruby’s testimony to journalist Dorothy Kilgallen prior to its release date—triggering an FBI inquiry. Join us to hear Shaw describe what a “rat’s nest” Marilyn fell into when she fell in love with Frank Sinatra, and to hear how important the almost unknown 18-month investigation into JFK’s assassination by Kilgallen would have been had all her research papers not disappeared when she mysteriously died. Continuing his quest for the truth about the deaths of Dorothy and Marilyn, Shaw adds new evidence to the pile, using first-hand accounts that he says make it clearer than ever that the official explanations for those deaths are not credible. MLF ORGANIZER Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Globally, one-third of food produced every year is wasted. That’s enough to feed about 2 billion people — twice the number of people who are undernourished. The global food system also accounts for a whopping one-third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. These two problems — waste and emissions — are intricately linked: Climate disruption exacerbates food insecurity. And industrial food production contributes to the climate crisis. When food is wasted, it’s also a waste of land, water and energy. In this episode, we talk with experts about how to fix the broken system and hear from some of the people on the ground recovering food before it goes to waste. How can we address both climate and food insecurity at the same time?  Guests: Dawn King, Senior Lecturer, Brown University Lisa Moon, CEO, The Global FoodBanking Network Norma Alonso, ABACO, Cooperation Manager  James Leyson, Managing Director for Global Impact and Operations, Scholars of Sustenance This episode also features a news story produced by Harvest Public Media contributor Peter Medlin, a reporter with WNIJ Northern Public Radio. It's time for our annual spring appeal! At Climate One, we believe in the power of open conversations to drive positive change. Through our thought-provoking discussions and interviews, we strive not only to raise awareness of climate issues and solutions, but to also empower individuals — like each of our valued listeners — to take tangible steps toward a more sustainable future.  You can show your support for Climate One by contributing to our spring fundraising campaign. For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a conversation with the director and the stars of the new indie drama Take Out Girl. Writer, director, actor, cinematographer and creator Hisonni Mustafa Johnson is a rising star in the film world, garnering accolades and nominations for his television pilots (Fight Night Legacy, Olympia and Grayson: Earth One). Hedy Wong is an actress and writer known for Laff Mobb's Laff Tracks, Chinatown Squad, and the new Take Out Girl. And Alex Pham—better known by his stage name $tupid Young—is a Cambodian-American rapper, lyricist, entrepreneur and actor, who portrays an LAPD officer in Take Out Girl. His YouTube channel has garnered 34 million views; he also runs his own label, Afficials, which he founded in 2017. Johnson, Wong and Young will join us to discuss Asian-American experiences, diaspora, race relations, violence, and poverty. They will be in conversation with "Michelle Meow Show" co-hosts Michelle Meow and John Zipperer. NOTES: This program contains EXPLICIT language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs has received a lot of attention for his announcement of innovative approaches to dealing with the California city's problems—such as a universal basic income or the Stockton Scholars program. Has he delivered on his promises? Motecuzoma P. Sanchez (pictured) is an activist and journalist who says he works to hold accountable the leaders in Stockton, where he was born and raised. As the founder of the 209 Times media company, Sanchez has been a persistent critic of Mayor Tubbs. And Sanchez is not without critics of his own, who say he is obsessed with attacking Tubbs and other Stockton political leaders. Come hear a discussion about Sanchez's take on Tubbs's performance in office since he won a landslide victory over an incumbent mayor in 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a virtual conversation with Lisa Feldman Barrett to explore fundamental questions, like why we even have a brain and what that means for all of us. When we think about the larger issues in our own society, and for humanity as a species, we don't often focus on the role science plays in our understanding of these issues. But even when not explicitly involved in the discussion, the assumptions of scientific thought influence how we think about almost everything. Feldman Barrett takes us on a scientific journey, in 7-1/2 steps, full of intrigue and adventure, inviting you to think about important topics such as: Are we rational creatures? If rationality is not the absence of emotion, what is it? Why does loneliness make people physically sick? Why do we create societies that grant individual rights and freedoms in spite of the human nervous system having evolved to be biologically dependent on other humans? What does this mean for notions of hate speech or free speech? For democracy? And most essentially, what kind of person do you want to be? This program contains EXPLICIT language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Senator Jeff Merkley made headlines earlier this year when live video footage of his attempt to enter and inspect a detention center for child immigrants near the border of Texas and Mexico garnered over 1.1 million views in less than a day. An outspoken critic of the controversial treatment of migrant families across the southern border, Merkley is spearheading legislative efforts to establish nonnegotiable standards for the treatment of detained children and their families. In his new book, America Is Better Than This: Trump’s War Against Migrant Families, Merkley shares the story of how he, a senator with no background as an immigration activist, became a leading advocate for reform of the policies that have generated a humanitarian crisis along the border. His book embodies Merkley’s heartfelt and candid voice, and it includes his call for the American people to take a stand against what he considers calculated mistreatment of migrant families. Join us in welcoming Senator Jeff Merkley to The Commonwealth Club for an insightful conversation about the importance of approaching politics with compassion and reasonability. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Disasters caused by burning fossil fuels are becoming more frequent, and in the aftermath of hurricanes, floods and wildfires, federal and state responses are often slow or insufficient. There is a growing body of research showing that neighborhood ties can be the difference between life and death: Socially connected neighbors are less likely to die from excessive heat or other extreme weather events. Community-based action, like mutual aid, can bring resources to people overlooked by overburdened governments. What tools can a community use to prepare for fossil fueled disasters?  Guests: Tanya Gulliver Garcia, Director of learning and partnerships, Center for Disaster Philanthropy Chenier “Klie” Kliebert, Executive Director, Imagine Water Works Amee Raval, Research and Policy Director, Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) Justin Hollander, Professor, Urban and Environmental Policy Planning, Tufts University Reverend Vernon K. Walker, Climate Justice Program Director, Clean Water Action For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mary Roach is back again and witty as ever in the young readers adaption of her best-selling book Packing for Mars. From the awe-inspiring and curiously gross details, Roach unpacks the facts about space. A beloved authority on all things science, Mary Roach provides a humorous, accessible, exciting and perfect resource for students and curious minds alike. SPEAKERS Mary Roach Author, Packing for Mars for Kids In Conversation with Kara Platoni U.S. Science Editor, Wired.com; Twitter @KaraPlatoni In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 12th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Kennedy is one of America’s preeminent historians, having been awarded both the Pulitzer and Bancroft Prizes, among others. His scholarship is notable for its integration of economic and cultural analysis with social and political history, and for its attention to the concept of the American national character. Professor Kennedy is the inaugural speaker in the Club’s new series, The Future of Democracy. This series will explore challenges and threats to democracy in the United States, drawing on historical evidence and relating it to the current political and social landscape. Come for an engaging discussion of America’s past and current leaders and what they may portend for the direction of the country. NOTES This program is part of The Commonwealth Club’s Future of Democracy Series, supported by Betsy and Roy Eisenhardt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With a pandemic raging, an economy in trouble, racial justice galvanizing protestors nationwide, it's not a bad time to have a political roundtable, right? We'll discuss the latest political news with civility and good humor, and we invite you to be a part of this virtual experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before the Second World War, transparent government was a proud tradition in the United States. After the war, the power to decide what could be kept secret proved too tempting to give up. Since then, we have radically departed from that open tradition, allowing intelligence agencies, black sites, and secret laboratories to grow unchecked. Officials insist that only secrecy can keep us safe, but its true costs have gone unacknowledged for too long. Using the latest techniques in data science, Matthew Connelly analyzes a vast trove of state secrets to unearth not only what the government really does not want us to know, but why. Culling this research and carefully studying a series of pivotal moments in recent history from Pearl Harbor to drone warfare, Connelly sheds light on the drivers of state secrecy—especially incompetence and criminality—and how the relentless accumulation of secrets makes it impossible to protect truly vital information. Connelly elucidates the power of secrecy, the greed it enables, the negligence it protects, and the losses we sustain as citizens when our leaders cannot be held to account. His crucial examination of the self-defeating nature of secrecy and the dire state of our nation’s archives is a powerful reminder of the importance of preserving the past so that we may secure our future. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond SPEAKERS Matthew Connelly Professor of International and Global History, Columbia University; Author, The Declassification Engine: What History Reveals About America’s Top Secrets In Conversation with George Hammond Author, Conversations With Socrates In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on February 9th, 2023 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will 2024 be America's last free and fair election?  That ominous warning comes from Stuart Stevens, a former chief Republican strategist whose clients included President George W. Bush; Senators Chuck Grassley, Dick Lugar and Dan Coats; and Governors Haley Barbour, John Kyl, Bill Weld and many others. He says the GOP is dragging our country toward autocracy, and the party is no longer a "normal" political party in the American tradition. Rather, he says it is an autocratic movement masquerading as a political party. As the Republican party changed, Stevens exited his role in one of the country's most influential political strategy firms and joined the Lincoln Project, where he is currently an advisor. Stevens wrote about his fear for the country in his provocative new book, The Conspiracy to End America. In it, he reviews the elements that are necessary for democracies to slide into autocracy, and he examines each of these forces on the modern American right and how they are working together. Are these the last days of the old republic? Or can there be a renewed commitment to democratic governance? Don't miss this talk as Stevens flashes a blinking red distress alert as well as a rallying cry to beat back this threat. Note: This podcast contains explicit language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bestselling author and popular speaker Suneel Gupta knows what it's like to fail and to succeed. He's done both, and he says the key to creating a balanced, joyous life that integrates ambition, work and well-being is to find your dharma—your inner calling. He says we’ve been conditioned, from an early age, to believe that one day we’ll reach a moment of “arrival.” But no matter how much we achieve or acquire we still don’t feel as satisfied or as fulfilled as we thought we would be. Exhausted, we become burned out and cynical, questioning the purpose of it all. An expert on happiness and work, Gupta argues that for too long we have compartmentalized work and well-being and ignored the fact that both are essential for sustained success. We’ve assumed that outer success leads to inner well-being, despite history showing us otherwise. In his latest book, Everyday Dharma, Gupta weaves personal stories, history, science, Eastern philosophy, and Western modalities in this prescriptive book.  Gupta, a visiting scholar at Harvard Medical School, will share his ideas for empowering people to let go of anxiety, follow their ambitions, produce their life’s work, and experience true joy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith leads a team of more than 1,400 business, legal and corporate affairs professionals working in 56 countries. He plays a key role in spearheading the company’s work on critical issues involving the intersection of technology and society, including cybersecurity, privacy, artificial intelligence, human rights, immigration, philanthropy and environmental sustainability. The Australian Financial Review has described Smith as “one of the technology industry’s most respected figures,” and The New York Times has called him “a de facto ambassador for the technology industry at large.” Smith operates by a simple core belief: When your technology changes the world, you bear a responsibility to help address the world you have helped create. This might seem uncontroversial, but it flies in the face of a tech sector long obsessed with rapid growth and sometimes on disruption as an end in itself. While sweeping digital transformation holds great promise, Smith says we have reached an inflection point, and the world has turned information technology into both a powerful tool and a formidable weapon. Come hear his view that new approaches are needed to manage an era defined by even more powerful inventions like artificial intelligence. Companies that create technology must accept greater responsibility for the future, he says, and governments will need to regulate technology by moving faster and catching up with the pace of innovation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Milton Friedman and John Maynard Keynes were the most influential economists of the 20th century in capitalist countries. But it was Friedman’s work that was instrumental in the definitive turn toward free markets that defined the 1980s, as his defenses of freedom and capitalism resonated with audiences around the world. So it’s no wonder that the final decades of the last century have sometimes been called “the Age of Friedman”—or that some analysts have sought to hold him responsible for both the rising prosperity and the social ills of recent decades. Jennifer Burns, in Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative, the first full biography to employ archival sources, tells Friedman’s extraordinary story with the nuance it deserves. She provides lucid and lively context for his groundbreaking work on everything from why dentists earn less than doctors, to the vital importance of the money supply, to inflation and the limits of government planning and stimulus. She traces Friedman’s longstanding collaborations with women, including the economist Anna Schwartz, as well as his complex relationships with political and economic leaders, such as Federal Reserve Chair Arthur Burns and Treasury Secretary George Shultz. Burns also details Friedman’s direct interventions in policymaking at the highest levels. But most important, Burns explores his key role in creating a new economic vision and a modern American conservatism. Join us for an important discussion with Jennifer Burns about America’s first neoliberal—and perhaps its last big conservative. MLF ORGANIZER: George Hammond A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Keynoush, who earned her Ph.D. from Tufts University, has conducted research in the Near East for 2 decades. She has contributed to the Commonwealth Club's Member-led Middle East Forum, as has Jonathan Curiel, today's moderator, a journalist and author. They will talk about about her latest book, Iran's Interregional Dynamics in the Near East, about how Iran was less successful in expanding regional influence than assumed, why opportunities to engage with Iran have been squandered, Pope Francis' recent visit to Iraq and his meeting with Iranian-born cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and the complex relations between Iran and other states in the Near East, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and others. MLF ORGANIZER: Celia Menczel SPEAKERS Banafsheh Keynoush Ph.D., International Law and Diplomacy; Author, Saudi Arabia and Iran: Friends or Foes Jonathan Curiel Journalist; Author—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on May 6th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are few remaining frontiers on our planet. But perhaps the wildest, and least understood, are the world’s oceans: too big to police, and under no clear international authority, these immense regions of treacherous water play host to rampant criminality and exploitation. Join us for a conversation with Ian Urbana, director of The Outlaw Ocean Project, a nonprofit journalism organization based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on environmental and human rights concerns at sea globally. MLF ORGANIZER Andrew Dudley NOTES MLF: People & Nature SPEAKERS Ian Urbina Director, The Outlaw Ocean Project Andrew Dudley Co-Host and Producer, Earth Live; Chair, People & Nature Member-Led Forum, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on February 1st, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our first segment follows the powerful story of Congresswoman Jackie Speier finding her courage to get started in politics. Congressman Leo Ryan was killed on the airstrip tarmac in Jonestown, where he and a delegation had gone to learn firsthand about Jim Jones' Peoples Temple cult. As a member of the delegation, Jackie Speier was shot five times at point-blank range. Left for dead, the choice to survive against unfathomable odds eventually empowered her with a resolve to become a vocal proponent for human rights. Hers is a story of true resilience, one that will inspire other people to draw strength from adversity in order to do what is right—no matter the challenges ahead. In the second segment, we take a behind-the-scenes look at the unusual teamwork that took place in the gubernatorial mansion while Jerry Brown served as the state's 39th governor. Join us as we listen in on the first public appearance by the former governor and first lady since he left office. Here’s a rare opportunity to hear their views on issues impacting the state, the United States and the world, in addition to learning about their unique relationship. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a virtual conversation with Dennis Rasmussen to discuss the surprising story of how George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson each came to despair for the future of the nation they had created. Although Americans tend to venerate the Constitution and the republican government that the founders created, the founders themselves were far less confident in what they had wrought, particularly by the end of their lives. Many eventually concluded that America’s constitutional experiment was an utter failure that was unlikely to last beyond their own generation. Rasmussen argues that the founders’ pessimism had a variety of sources: Washington despaired because of the rise of partisanship, Hamilton because he felt that the federal government was too weak, Adams because he believed that the people lacked civic virtue, and Jefferson because of sectional divisions laid bare by the spread of slavery. The one major founder who retained his faith in America’s constitutional order to the end was James Madison, and Rasmussen explores why Madison remained relatively optimistic when so many of his compatriots did not. As much as Americans today may worry about their country’s future, the founders faced even graver problems and harbored even deeper misgivings. And yet we are still here, having recently survived yet another attempted assault on our political institutions. Join us to find out some of the reasons why. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities SPEAKERS Dennis Rasmussen Professor of Political Science, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University; Author, Fears of a Setting Sun: The Disillusionment of America's Founders In Conversation with George Hammond Author, Conversations With Socrates In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on March 3rd, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Barbara Rose Brooker, 83-year-old author, teacher and performer, will talk about her personal experiences with ageism in the Hollywood industry, our anti-age culture and how to promote a generation where age doesn’t count. She will sign copies of her new novel, Love, Sometimes. Join us for this fabulous evening. Brooker, a native San Francisco author of 13 books, is the founder of the first Age March in history. Her new best-selling novel, Love, Sometimes, is about risk, ageism in Hollywood and controversial love and is being made into a TV series, which will air in 2021. Brooker has been on “The Today Show,” Andy Cohen, Sharon Osbourne, and many other local and national shows. She teaches writing to adults over 50 and up at San Francisco State's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). She is at work on a new book about aging and love and staying on the path of your dreams at any age. MLF Organizer: Denise Michaud MLF: Grownups Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“That evening, I was given a glimpse inside a hidden world. . . . An entirely new kind of surveillance program—one designed to track everyone.” Hear a tale of strange bedfellows—the U.S. government, data brokers, tech companies and advertisers—involved in shaping the surveillance state and privacy. For the past five years—ever since a chance encounter at a dinner party—journalist Byron Tau has been piecing together a secret story: how the whole of the internet and every digital device in the world became a mechanism of intelligence, surveillance, and monitoring. Most people are somewhat aware that our modern world is awash in surveillance. But Tau says the true potential of our phones, computers, homes, credit cards, and even the tires underneath our cars to reveal our habits and behavior would astonish most citizens. All of this surveillance has produced an extraordinary amount of valuable data about every one of us. That data is for sale—and the biggest customer is the U.S. government. In the years after 9/11, the U.S. government, working with scores of anonymous companies, many scattered across bland Northern Virginia suburbs, built a foreign and domestic surveillance apparatus of breathtaking scope—one that can peer into the lives of nearly everyone on the planet. This cottage industry of data brokers and government bureaucrats has one directive—“get everything you can”—and the result is a world in which defense contractors have marketing subsidiaries and marketing companies have defense contractor subsidiaries. And the public knows virtually nothing about it. Reporter Byron Tau joins us for a special online-only talk to tell you—and probably the government—what he has learned. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Colorado River supplies water to more than 40 million people across seven states. Lake Mead has fallen to its lowest level since it was filled in the 1930s, which could trigger the first stage of real water cutbacks. For years, “much of the discussion in the Colorado River Basin has been who gets the next drop,” says journalist Luke Runyon. “The conversation very recently has shifted to who has to use less.” In the midst of long-term drought, warming temperatures and decreasing runoff, water managers are gearing up for the next round of negotiations to divvy up the Colorado River’s supply in the future. Tribal water users are hoping to have a bigger say in those basin-wide negotiations, and to finally correct an historic injustice by ensuring universal access to clean water for tribes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us to discuss with economist Oded Galor his grand unifying theory to explain human flourishing and economic inequality. In a captivating journey from the dawn of human existence to the present, Galor offers an intriguing solution to two of humanity’s great mysteries. Why are humans the only species to have escaped (quite recently) the subsistence trap, allowing us to enjoy a standard of living that vastly exceeds all others? And why have we progressed so unequally around the world, resulting in the great disparities between nations that exist today? Immense in scope and packed with interesting connections, Galor explains how technology, population size, and adaptation led to a stunning “phase change” in human history a mere 200 years ago. But by tracing that same journey back in time and peeling away the layers of influence—colonialism, political institutions, societal structure, culture—he also arrives at an explanation of inequality's ultimate cause: those ancestral populations that enjoyed fruitful geographical characteristics and rich diversity were set on the path to prosperity, while those that lacked it were disadvantaged in ways still influential today. As we face ecological crises across the globe, Galor concludes that gender equality, investment in education, and balancing diversity with social cohesion are the keys not only to our species’ thriving, but to its survival. NOTES MLF: Humanities SPEAKERS Oded Galor Herbert H. Goldberger Professor of Economics, Brown University; Founder, Unified Growth Theory; Author, The Journey of Humanity: The Origins of Wealth and Inequality In Conversation With George Hammond Author, Conversations With Socrates In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on March 24th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a journalist on the “sex beat,” Tracy Clark-Flory is intimate with the complexities of how sex is understood in societal discourse. At once a source of abashment, fascination and liberation, sex culture can send conflicting messages—sex and love are intensely personal topics yet dictated by societal rules, leaving people to struggle to understand their own needs within what they are told is “appropriate.” In her new book Want Me: A Sex Writer’s Journey into the Heart of Desire, Tracy contextualizes her own experiences reporting on sex with personal anecdotes and expert research. Join Clark-Flory at INFORUM for this special Valentine's Day program to learn more about life as a journalist, the ins and outs of writing about sex and the feminist revisions of society’s expectations for women. This conversation will be moderated by Peggy Orenstein, author of The New York Times bestsellers Girls & Sex, Cinderella Ate My Daughter and Waiting for Daisy, a memoir. Note: This program contains EXPLICIT language. SPEAKERS Tracy Clark-Flory Senior Staff Writer, Jezebel; Author, Want Me: A Sex Writer's Journey into the Heart of Desire Peggy Orenstein Author, Girls & Sex—Moderator  In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on February 16th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fraught relations between neighbors are not unique. But with the stakes elevated on the international stage, and separated by just 90 miles, the United States and Cuba showcase one of the most strained and enduring neighborhood disputes. In the region where the Cold War almost turned nuclear-hot, is there any way to contend with a complicated history and still make nice? Join Commonwealth Club World Affairs for an unprecedented evening as we welcome the Cuban ambassador to the United States on her first visit to the West Coast. In our exclusive public program, Ambassador Lianys Torres Rivera, will shed light on one of our closest yet most controversial and closed-off neighbors: the Republic of Cuba. Ambassador Lianys Torres Rivera will share a perspective from Havana: What is the story behind record-breaking recent Cuban migration to the United States? Is there any hope for moving beyond the U.S. embargo of Cuba—now in its seventh decade and controversially expanded in the 1990s to sanction worldwide companies trading with the island? More than 30 years on since the fall of the Soviet Union—but in an era of rising geopolitical tensions—what can a relationship between the leader of the free world and our closest Communist neighbor look like? As ambassador to the United States, and a key negotiator in the bilateral discussions on bolstering U.S. engagement with Cuba during the Obama administration, Ambassador Torres Rivera will share insight into the process of renewing relations, the backsliding that followed and where we stand now. Hear how the U.S.-Cuba relationship could evolve as we look ahead to this pivotal election year in the United States and explore if California-Cuba collaborations could ignite. Come prepared with your questions for this very rare opportunity to speak directly with Cuba’s highest official in the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Russia’s future lies outside of Russia. That’s the verdict offered by Paul Starobin, a veteran analyst of Russia. Since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, some 1 million Russians have fled the country and gone into exile. Motivated by opposition to the war, by guilt for their country’s deeds, by personal hatred for the czar-like Putin, and by a vision of a better Russia shorn of autocracy, the exiles have mounted an organized resistance to Putin’s rule. Starobin says that the resistance includes followers of the imprisoned Putin opponent Alexi Navalny, dissident Russian Orthodox priests, and journalists feeding Russians back home the kind of coverage that is censored by Kremlin-controlled media. Most aggressively, some exiles are actively aiding the Ukrainian fight against Russia’s armed forces in hopes of hastening Russia’s defeat and Putin’s demise. Starobin traveled to places like Armenia and Georgia to meet with exiles and had conversations with prominent figures throughout Europe and America, as he took measure of this rebellion—and its potential to fix a nation plagued by revanchist imperial dreams. He reported his findings in his new book Putin’s Exiles, and he’ll tell you what he found and what might be coming next for Russia. Join us for a special online-only program that goes beyond pro-Putin propaganda and the tightly controlled narrative inside the country, and looks outside its borders to the diaspora of Russian exiles, who are imagining and fighting for the future of their country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We constantly hear about cybercrime in the news, but do you have the knowledge to protect yourself from it?  In this talk, information security expert Dr. Carrie Gates will cover the clues that can alert you to something being a scam, along with some of the common types of attacks, such as phishing, smishing and vishing. Dr. Gates joined Bank of America in October 2018 as a senior vice president in global information security. She has established a research program, working in partnership with universities, to pursue longer-term, higher-risk research in the security space that has the potential to improve the bank’s security posture. Her current portfolio includes broad investigations into audio deep fakes, misinformation, smishing, and adversarial machine learning. Previously, Gates has worked at a start-up as a distinguished engineer for both Dell and CA Technologies, and with CERT at Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to starting her research career, she was the systems manager for the Faculty of Computer Science at Dalhousie University in Canada. She has more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and has been awarded more than 20 patents in the computer and network security field. MLF ORGANIZER Gerald Anthony Harris Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us as we discuss the biggest, most controversial and sometimes the surprising political issues with expert commentary by panelists who are smart, are civil and have a good sense of humor. Our panelists will provide informative and engaging commentary on political and other major news, and we'll have audience discussion of the week’s events and our live news quiz! And come early before the program to meet other smart and engaged individuals and discuss the news over snacks and wine at our members social (open to all attendees). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a virtual discussion, live-streamed direct from Berlin, Germany, with Heino Falcke, the German astrophysicist, about his research into the nature of black holes. His new book A Light in the Darkness is the story of how the first photographic evidence of black holes was achieved by Falcke in April 2019, and what its significance for humanity might be. Falcke wrestles with the ways in which black holes force us to confront the boundary where human life ends and the celestial begins. He also ponders why black holes are so difficult for most of us to understand, comparing that to our inability to envisage our own inevitable death. Black holes develop when a massive star dies, and its matter is condensed. That extreme amount of mass contained in a small space generates a gigantic amount of gravitational force, allowing the black hole to suck up everything that comes near, including light. These astronomical wonders are the subject of intense scientific and philosophical theorizing—the journey to a black hole might even be a journey to the end of time itself. Which is why Falcke regards black holes as exquisite representations of fear, death—and, surprisingly, the divine. Empirical and profound, Falcke examines both the physical nature and the spiritual meaning of black holes, which he calls “the epitome of merciless destruction.” MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities SPEAKERS Heino Falcke Professor, Radio Astronomy and Astroparticle Physics, Radboud University Nijmegen; Winner, 2011 Spinoza Prize; Author, A Light in the Darkness: Black Holes, the Universe, and Us In Conversation with George Hammond Author, Conversations With Socrates In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on May 27th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Celebrate April Fool's Day by joining us for a virtual discussion with Shankar Vendantam about how useful fooling ourselves can actually be. It is of course clear that self-deception does terrible harm to ourselves, to our communities and to the planet. But if it is so irretrievably bad for us, why is it so ubiquitous? Paradoxically, Vedantam argues that self-deception also plays a vital role in our successes and our well-being. Most of us are at least vaguely aware that the lies we tell ourselves lubricate our daily interactions with our friends, lovers and co-workers. But those lies can also explain why some people live longer than others, why some couples remain in love and others don’t, and why some nations hold together while others splinter. Drawing on new insights in psychology, neuroscience and philosophy, Vendantam comes to the fascinating conclusion that, if we were just honest about our lies, we might begin to understand ourselves, and our human lives, much better. NOTES MLF: Humanities SPEAKERS Shankar Vedantam Host, "Hidden Brain" Podcast and Public Radio Show; Co-Author, Useful Delusions In Conversation with Dacher Keltner Ph.D, Founding Director, Greater Good Science Center; Professor of Psychology, University of California Berkeley; Host, "The Science of Happiness" Podcast In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 1st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As one of the most prominent drag performers today, Alaska is no stranger to fame. But Alaska’s story is more than her success as both a runner-up and winner in two different seasons of "RuPaul’s Drag Race," as well as her high-profile relationship and the equally public breakup that ended it. In her new book—My Name’s Yours, What’s Alaska?—Alaska goes beneath her glamorous surface to reveal a never-before told account of her unique life story. From humble beginnings as a small-town kid studying at theater school to her larger-than-life vibrance as one of drag’s most influential stars, Alaska’s perseverance over her struggles regarding the expression and discovery of her queerness is an inspiring story for the LGBTQIA+ community and beyond. At INFORUM, Alaska will bring the journey detailed in her new visual memoir to life. In doing so, she will provide motivation and representation for those belonging to communities who are too often unheard and underrepresented in the media and in popular culture. Whether you’re a die-hard RuPaul fan or an ally of the LGBTQIA+ community looking to hear more of their important stories, Alaska’s discussion here at INFORUM is sure to leave you with new understandings of what it means to embrace your identity and let it thrive. NOTE: This program contains EXPLICIT language. SPEAKERS Alaska Season two winner, "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars"; Author, My Name’s Yours, What’s Alaska?: A Memoir In Conversation with Honey Mahogany Chair, San Francisco Democratic Party; Co-Founder, Compton's Transgender Cultural District; Season Five Contestant, “RuPaul's Drag Race” In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on February 13th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can we live forever? Science journalist, Chip Walter reveals the ground-breaking research and visionaries who are trying to answer that very question. Find out more from Walter and leading rejuvenation, stem cell research and genetic experts who are redefining our understanding of life, aging and mortality. ** This Podcast Contains Explicit Language ** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you gotten the feeling that this pandemic has also been spreading an epidemic of irrationality? From insisting that climate change is a hoax to believing that vaccinations cause autism, many are willing to reject outright even a solid scientific consensus. And though it may be somewhat amusing to hear COVID-19 being blamed on 5G networks, chemtrails or Bill Gates's insatiable greed, the amusement stops when bad thinking leads to bad acting, such as the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.  Nadler and Shapiro argue that the best antidotes for such bad thinking and acting are the insights and practical skills of philosophy. Their engaging tour through the basic principles of logic, argument, evidence and probability can make anyone a more reasonable and responsible citizen. They also demonstrate how you can spot and avoid flawed arguments and unreliable information; determine whether evidence supports or contradicts an idea; distinguish between merely believing something and knowing it; and much more. In doing so, they reveal how epistemology (which addresses the nature of belief and knowledge) and ethics (the study of moral principles for governing behavior) can reduce bad thinking and bad acting. Ironically, it turns out that the millennia-old advice to know thyself, to aim at leading a good, rational and examined life, remains just as relevant today—that is, if you personally desire to overcome the current version of our seemingly endless human predicament. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities SPEAKERS Steven Nadler William H. Hay II Professor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin–Madison; Director, Institute for Research in the Humanities; Co-Author, When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People Lawrence Shapiro Professor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin–Madison; Co-Author, When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People In Conversation with George Hammond Author, Conversations with Socrates In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on September 1st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By looking west to California, Jean Pfaelzer shifts our understanding of slavery as a North-South struggle and focuses on how those who were enslaved in California fought, fled, and resisted human bondage. In unyielding research and vivid interviews, Pfaelzer exposes how California's appetite for slavery persists today in the trafficking in human beings who are lured by promises of jobs but who instead are imprisoned in sweatshops or remote marijuana fields, or are sold as nannies or sex workers. Pfaelzer relates the history of slavery in California across its entire spectrum, from indentured Native American ranch hands in the Spanish missions, children sent to Indian boarding schools, Black miners, kidnapped Chinese prostitutes, and convict laborers to the victims of modern human trafficking, and she argues that California owes its origins and sunny prosperity to slavery. Spanish invaders captured Indigenous people to build and farm the chain of Catholic missions. Russian otter hunters shipped Alaskan Natives down to the California coast—the first slaves to be transported to California. The Russians also launched the Pacific slave trade with China. Southern plantation slaves were marched across the plains to help their owners mine during the Gold Rush. San Quentin Prison was the incubator for California’s carceral state. Kidnapped Chinese girls were sold to caged brothels in early San Francisco. And Indian boarding schools supplied farms and hotels with unfree child workers.  Pfaelzer's provocative history of slavery in California could rewrite people's understanding of the settling of the West, and redefine the actual paths to eventual freedom for many Americans. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the recent Global Training in July 2020, former Vice President Al Gore and the Climate Reality Project continued their call to prioritize and center the environmental justice work of communities of color and indigenous communities. In this spirit, we invite you to learn about and engage with Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice's "We Can't Breathe" campaign in San Francisco's Bayview and Hunters Point (BVHP) neighborhoods, a low-income community of color (33.7 percent African American, 30.7 percent Asian, and 24.9 percent Latinx per the 2010 Census) where residents suffer from high rates of asthma and cancer and where radioactive waste and toxic contamination at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard Superfund site and multiple other contaminated sites are located. As one of the lowest-lying points in San Francisco, BVHP will also be first impacted by rising oceans, which have already risen by almost 8 inches as of 2016 and which threaten to create flooding of hazardous and radioactive waste of neighborhoods, transportation infrastructure, and the entire San Francisco Bay, while several hundred new luxury homes have been built next to and possibly on top of radioactive contamination, and 10,000 more homes are planned at the contaminated Shipyard Superfund Site where critics complain that radioactive and toxic cleanup has been marred by fraud and lax standards. Speakers will also discuss the August 25 Car Caravan Protest to San Francisco City Hall for the Bayview Hunters Point Environmental Justice "We Can't Breathe" Campaign. NOTES Co-presented by The Climate Reality Project Bay Area Chapter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every year millions of tourists from around the world come to California to see our famous redwoods. Yet few understand how unlikely it is that these last groves of giant trees still stand at all. Activist Greg King examines how investors and a growing U.S. economy drove the timber industry to cut down the giant redwoods on all but four percent of the original 2-million-acre redwood ecosystem.  The land grab began in 1849, when a “green gold rush” of migrants came to exploit the legendary redwoods that grew along the Russian River. Several generations later, in 1987, Greg King discovered and named Headwaters Forest—at 3,000 acres the largest ancient redwood habitat remaining outside of parks—and then led the movement to save this grove. After a decade of one of the most dramatic and violent environmental campaigns in U.S. history, the state and federal governments finally protected Headwaters Forest in 1999.  The Ghost Forest explores the mystery of what it was about this unique Northern California forest that was both so spectacular and yet so enticing as fuel for economic growth that it inspired a life-and-death struggle. Few but loggers and surveyors ever saw such magnificent trees, ancient sentinels that, like ghosts, have informed Greg King’s understanding of the world, and have inspired him to tell the story of their discovery and their exploitation, and to protect them against those determined to cut them down.  MLF ORGANIZER Andrew Dudley NOTES A People & Nature Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. This program contains EXPLICIT content. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

July 1 marks 50 years since the ratification of the 26th Amendment. The lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18 had lasting impacts on the political and cultural landscapes of the 1970s, but even now youth organizing and social activism have a massive influence on American elections, policies and progress. In honor of this historic anniversary, join our panel of youth organizers leading the fight against youth voter suppression and to learn how the 26th Amendment might help provide contemporary solutions.   SPEAKERS Thandiwe Abdullah Co-Founder, Black Lives Matter Youth Vanguard Alex Edgar Voting Rights Activist; University of California, Berkeley, Freshman Class of 2025 Divyansh Kaushik Ph.D. student, Carnegie Mellon University; President, Carnegie Mellon University Graduate Student Assembly; Advisory Board Member, Students Learn Students Vote Rainesford Stauffer Freelance Writer; Author, An Ordinary Age—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on July 26th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us as we talk with high-profile gay parents about the joys and challenges of raising families. Our guests: James Loduca leads global inclusion and diversity efforts at Twitter. In this new role, he will lead a team responsible for ensuring the company reflects its service and that Twitter remains a place for people to freely express themselves. He has previously held leadership positions in the tech and nonprofit sectors, where his work has focused on advocating for underrepresented communities and driving a more diverse and inclusive future for everyone. He served as an advisor to the Obama White House and proudly serves as a Latinx member of the LGBTQ Advisory Committee to U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Jeff Titterton is chief marketing officer at Zendesk. Prior to Zendesk, Jeff led engagement marketing at Adobe for its flagship Creative Cloud business. He has also served as CMO at 99designs, VP of marketing at Zoosk, and SVP of consumer marketing and services at PlanetOut Inc, among others. Jeff holds a B.A. in English and economics from Cornell University. He lives in San Francisco with his husband and two children. Dr. Eldon Schriock has been at the forefront of assisted reproductive technology since 1981 and was a member of the medical team that performed the first IVF treatment in Northern California. In the past, as director of the UCSF IVF Program, he established its first egg donor program. At Pacific Fertility Clinic, he takes interest in and has expertise with couples whose IVF treatment has been unsuccessful at other clinics. Michelle Meow brings her long-running daily radio show to The Commonwealth Club one day each week. Meet fascinating—and often controversial—people discussing important issues of interest to the LGBTQ community, and have your questions ready. ** This Podcast Contains Explicit Language ** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s become common for homeowners to install solar panels to provide themselves with emission-free electricity. But increasingly more attention is being paid to decarbonizing things inside the home – the machines that heat and cool water and air, dry our clothes and cook our food. The Inflation Reduction Act includes many ways for homeowners and renters to start to electrify their lives. And in some places, builders are developing highly efficient, all electric homes from the get-go. What more is needed to make our buildings greener and get away from fossil fuels? Guests: Mark Chambers, Sr. Director Building Emissions & Community Resilience, White House Council on Environmental Quality Bruce Nilles, Executive Director, Climate Imperative Contributing Producer: Cody Short, WBHM For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Koret was an immigrant, businessman and philanthropist. He is credited with helping make San Francisco a center for the design and manufacture of popular style and fashion. Join us for a conversation about an innovative businessman and civic leader whose legacy is still very visible in the Bay Area. This was an audio-only program recorded at The Commonwealth Club. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On March 12, 1947, President Harry Truman delivered an address before Congress announcing a policy of Soviet containment that would later be known as the Truman Doctrine. This was just the beginning of a global movement against communist attempts at power that changed U.S. foreign procedure and policy. In his new book, Saving Freedom: Truman, the Cold War, and the Fight for Western Civilization, Scarborough documents the hard work of the U.S. government in containing the spread of communism around the world. The historical account focuses a particular spotlight on President Truman and his ability to rally Republicans and Democrats behind one of America’s most dramatic foreign policy shifts. Join us as Scarborough tells the story of a president’s ability to protect democracy not only in the United States, but around the world. Joe Scarborough is the co-host of “Morning Joe” on MSNBC. He is a former Republican congressman from Florida and also writes for The Washington Post. Part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

83% of people in the United States live in urban areas. And these days that’s where important climate progress is happening. Cities all over the country and globe are experimenting with climate resilience projects specific to their local environments and challenges. In many cases, these projects also look to address historic injustices and provide more equitable models for transportation, housing, green space, and more. This week, we feature stories from a few different cities around the country working to address climate challenges. Guests: Tamika L. Butler, Founder + Principal, Tamika L. Butler Consulting, LLC Donnel Baird, Founder, BlocPower J. Morgan Grove, Research Scientist and Team Leader, US Forest Service  Contributing Producer: Aubrey Calaway Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Passing the Torch” will unite two current California leaders with two students who are positioned to be future leaders, for a thought-provoking conversation about identity, age and citizenship in an ever-changing California. This event will feature the vice chair of the California Democratic Party, Betty Yee, and interim executive director of Emerge California, Libby Schaaf, plus two incredible UC Berkeley student activists, Issabella Romo, a Latina organizer fighting back against attempts to silence minority communities in Florida, and Owen Knapper Jr., an African American activist working to make higher education more accessible to BIPOC and nontraditional students. The speakers will dive into how their backgrounds shaped them into the leaders they are today and their thoughts on the future of California, and the discussion will provide space for advice to flow both ways from this intergenerational panel. This event is part of the Creating Citizens Speaker Series at UC Berkeley, a partnership between The Commonwealth Club, the Associated Students of the University of California Vote Coalition, and the University of California National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement. The series gives UC Berkeley students and community members opportunities to listen to and ask questions of leading minds in politics, media and education as they learn how to become better, more involved citizens. NOTES This program is part of The Commonwealth Club’s civics education initiative, Creating Citizens.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The coronavirus pandemic has forced communities to face issues of ethics and human value in the health-care system. The higher rates of hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 complications in communities of color draw focus once again on institutional inequities in access to health care and on hard questions confronting just paths forward. The Northern California Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Foundation’s (NorcalMLK) new Center for Social Impact, Development, and Global Engagement (SIDGE Center) focuses on linking ethics and value as data points to information architectures in health care and IT structures in order to improve equity. Leading ethicists and scholars Dwight Hopkins and Deborah Alvarez-Rodriguez will be in conversation with Norcal MLK’s Aaron Grizzell, as they explore thoughts on ethics and value that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused us all to confront. MLF ORGANIZER Robert Lee Kilpatrick NOTES MLF: Health & Medicine This program is generously supported by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and a collaborative of local funders and donors. We are grateful for their support and hope others will follow their example to support the Club during these uncertain times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everyone knows her name. Mary Trump grew up in a family divided by its patriarch’s relentless drive for money and power. The daughter of Freddy Trump—the highly accomplished, dashing eldest son of wealthy real estate developer Fred Trump—and Linda Clapp—a flight attendant from a working-class family—Mary lived in the shadow of Freddy’s humiliation at the hands of his father. Fred Trump embodied the ethos of the zero-sum game and among his five children: there could only be one winner. That was supposed to be Freddy, his namesake, but Fred found him wanting―too sensitive, too kind, too interested in pursuits beyond the realm of the real estate empire he was meant to inherit. In Donald, Fred found a kindred spirit, a “killer,” who would stop at nothing to get his own way. Even after Freddy’s short-lived career as a professional pilot for TWA came to an end, he never stopped trying to gain his father’s approval. Finally, at the age of 42, he succumbed to Fred’s lethal contempt and died alone in an emergency room, with no family by his side. Mary Trump returns to the Club for a special online-only talk about the issues raised in her new memoir Who Could Ever Love You, in which she pulls back the curtains on what she calls the twisted family whose patriarch ignored, froze out, and eventually destroyed his own. Freddy Trump’s decline into alcoholism and illness, along with Linda’s suffering after their divorce, left Mary dangerously vulnerable as a very young girl. Inadequately and only conditionally loved, there were no adults in her life except for the father she loved but lost before she could know him; and a mother abandoned by her ex-husband’s rich and powerful family who demanded her loyalty but left her with nothing. She says that cold, selfish cruelty has come to define the Trump family thanks in large part to her uncle, whose ambition has divided the nation and much of the world. This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People think they know what an autocratic state looks like: There is an all-powerful leader at the top; he controls the police; the police threaten the people with violence; there are evil collaborators, and maybe some brave dissidents. But in the 21st century, that bears little resemblance to reality. Nowadays, autocracies are underpinned not by one dictator, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, surveillance technologies, and professional propagandists, all of which operate across multiple regimes, from China to Russia to Iran. Corrupt companies in one country do business with corrupt companies in another. The police in one country can arm and train the police in another, and propagandists share resources and themes, pounding home the same messages about the weakness of democracy and the evil of America. So what can be done? Pulitzer-prize winning New York Times bestselling author Anne Applebaum says that international condemnation and economic sanctions cannot move the autocrats. Even popular opposition movements, from Venezuela to Hong Kong to Moscow, don't stand a chance. The members of “Autocracy, Inc.,” as she dubs the movement, aren't linked by a unifying ideology, like communism, but rather a common desire for power, wealth, and impunity. Applebaum joins us for a special online program to share her urgent call for the world’s democracies to fundamentally reorient their policies to fight a new kind of threat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In August 2022, Congress passed the biggest piece of climate legislation in our nation’s history: The Inflation Reduction Act, which put $400 billion into boosting the transition to a clean energy economy over the next ten years. The IRA has spurred companies to announce nearly $110 billion of investment in new factories to build EVs, batteries and renewable energy facilities. That’s driving investments, reshoring of manufacturing, and real change. This week we check in on the impact of the IRA in the last 18 months. What impact has the IRA really had on US emissions so far? Has the IRA distributed money to fulfill its climate justice initiatives? Guests: Trevor Houser, Partner, Rhodium Group Danny Kennedy, CEO, New Energy Nexus Bineshi Albert, Former Co-Executive Director, Climate Justice Alliance This piece also includes a reported feature from Emily Jones of WABE in Atlanta and Grist. Climate One will be celebrating SF Climate Week with a series of programs featuring California and the San Francisco Bay Area’s leading voices in policy, climate justice, and business. The week will showcase interviews with California Attorney General Rob Bonta, State Senators Nancy Skinner and Scott Wiener, and California Environmental Justice Association’s Energy Justice Director Mari Rose Taruc, among others, about the challenges and opportunities facing the nation’s innovation capital when it comes to addressing climate change. On Tuesday, Climate One will also be hosting an Action Lounge, where attendees will be able to join local climate and environmental organizations, apply for green jobs, and receive guidance from climate career coaches. See you there! Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord.  Join today for just $5/month. For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the last 16 years, as an esteemed anchor of "Good Morning America," Robin Roberts has helped millions of people across the country celebrate each new morning. She has sought to bring a bit of positivity into each day, even in the most trying of times. In doing so, she has enthralled the nation with her grace and humility. Now, in her new book Brighter by the Day: Waking Up to New Hopes and Dreams, Roberts provides a guide to instilling hope and optimism into people’s lives to infuse every day with positivity and encouragement. She shares with readers the guidance and profound insight she’s received, along with her own hard-won wisdom that has helped her find the good in the world and usher in light—even on the darkest days. Roberts shares a journey through her lived eye-opening experiences, drawing on the advice and knowledge she’s picked up along the way to teach readers how to feed the mind, spirit and soul and practice optimism—a skill that requires time and dedication. Join us as Robin Roberts shares her prescription for how to unlock a new mindset to live brighter by the day. SPEAKERS Robin Roberts Anchor, "Good Morning America"; Author, Brighter by the Day: Waking Up to New Hopes and Dreams Kumasi Aaron Anchor, ABC7 News Bay Area Morning; Twitter@KumasiABC7—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 15th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extreme heat kills more people per year than any other climate disaster. It preys on the poor, exacerbates racial inequalities, and there is a growing body of evidence that shows women and girls are increasingly susceptible to heat-health effects. Globally, women and girls represent 80% of climate refugees. They are more likely to be displaced, suffer violence and die in natural disasters. As temperatures rise, children’s test scores decrease, gender violence increases, and miscarriage rates go up. But preventing heat deaths is possible. From Europe to Africa, Chief Heat Officers throughout the world are implementing projects to make cities more climate-adaptive.  Guests: Kathy Baughman McLeod, Director, Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center; Senior VP, Atlantic Council  Eleni Myrivili, Global Chief Heat Officer, UN Habitat Eugenia Kargbo, Chief Heat Officer, Freetown, Sierra Leone  Freelance piece from Hellen Kabahukya on mud wattle construction in Uganda For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At 75, Norma Kamali looks—and acts—nearly half her age. Join us for a conversation with Kamali, who will share her lessons on authentic beauty, timeless style, career-building, fitness and health through personal stories, worldly insight, and actionable advice designed to help women of every age create their happiest, healthiest, most successful and fulfilling lives. The secret, she writes in her first book I Am Invincible, is learning to age with power: Embracing a healthy lifestyle and looking forward to every milestone and the changes they bring, with the realization that reaching one’s potential has no date. Manifesto, memoir and essential guide, her book is informed by 50 years of Kamali’s twists, turns, triumphs and failures experienced while finding the courage and conviction to race after her dreams and never look back. Kamali feels that we are empowered when we are our best selves. Sleep, a healthy diet and exercise are life’s universal solutions for a healthy life. The outcome is a great, authentic you. MLF ORGANIZER Denise M. Michaud NOTES MLF: Grownups SPEAKERS Norma Kamali Fashion Designer; Author, I Am Invincible Denise Michaud Chair, Grownups Member-Led Forum, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on February 10th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People from BIPOC communities face a myriad of challenges in the entertainment industry, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes. From on-screen talent and actors to production crews, publicity teams, talent management, writing and film criticism, marginalized groups often remain underrepresented in all aspects of an industry that has major influence on American culture. Despite evidence that shows addressing these racial inequities could reap an additional $10 billion in annual revenue, efforts by the industry to create parity continue to be inadequate. Join a panel of experts on race in Hollywood at INFORUM, where they will discuss the harsh realities that most people of color face in entertainment, as well as steps toward industry-wide changes meant to increase representation and provide space for a new and diverse generation of creatives. NOTES This program contains EXPLICIT language. This important community program is made free to the public thanks to McKinsey & Co. SPEAKERS Linda Yvette Chávez Filmmaker; Film and Television Writer; Co-creator, Co-showrunner, Executive Producer, Netflix’s "Gentefied" Franklin Leonard Founder, The Black List Sheldon Lyn Partner, McKinsey & Co.; Co-Author, Black Representation in Film and TV: The Challenges and Impact of Increasing Diversity Rebecca Sun Senior Editor, Diversity and Inclusion, The Hollywood Reporter—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on May 4th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since narrowly losing Georgia’s closest gubernatorial race in more than 50 years, Stacey Abrams has been on a crusade to ensure voting access to everyone in America. A recognized expert on fair voting and civic engagement, Abrams provides a chilling account of how the right to vote and the principle of democracy have been and continue to be under attack. In her new book, Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America, Abrams offers her blueprint to end voter suppression, empower citizens and ensure the most popular candidates win. The book also makes a compelling argument for the importance of robust voter protections, an elevation of identity politics, engagement in the census and a return to moral international leadership. Join us for a discussion with one of the Democratic Party’s most popular leaders as she discusses the path ahead and the work she believes needs to be done to ensure a better America for all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2022, India surpassed the United Kingdom as the fifth largest economy in the world. Since the 1990s, a series of U.S. presidents and secretaries of state have acclaimed India as a rising major power that deserves to be recognized as a lead actor in the international arena. T.V. Paul, an international relations professor at McGill University, explores in his new book The Unfinished Quest the key motivations driving Indian leaders to enhance India's global status and power, but also on the many constraints that have hindered its progress. Paul's analysis of India's quest for status also sheds important light for understanding the China-India rivalry, as well as India's relative position in the broader Indo-Pacific theater. Join us for a special online-only program to hear Paul’s sweeping account of India's uneven rise in the global system. Whether India can be a "swing power" able to mitigate China's aggressive rise depends on its relative power position in that theater and its own evolution as an inclusive, tolerant democracy that can develop and utilize its most priced asset, the demographic dividend, says Paul. MLF ORGANIZER Dr. Kalidip Choudhury, Ph.D.   An Asia-Pacific Affairs Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. This program contains EXPLICIT language.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hailed as the “first freedom,” free speech is one of the bedrocks of democracy. But it is a challenging principle, subject to erosion in times of fear and upheaval. Today, both in democracies and in authoritarian states around the world, it appears to be on the retreat. Jacob Mchangama traces the fascinating legal, political and cultural history of this idea by telling stories of free speech’s many defenders—from the ancient Athenian orator Demosthenes and the ninth-century freethinker al-Rāzī, to the anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells and modern-day digital activists. Mchangama describes how the free exchange of ideas underlies all intellectual achievement and has enabled the advancement of both freedom and equality worldwide. Yet the desire to restrict speech is also a constant, and he explores how even its champions can sometimes be led down an authoritarian, restrictive path when the rise of new and contrarian voices challenge power and privilege of all stripes. Mchangama's Free Speech demonstrates how much we have gained from this principle—and how much we stand to lose without it. NOTES MLF: Humanities SPEAKERS Jacob Mchangama Founder and Executive Director, Justitia (Danish think tank); Host, "Clear and Present Danger: A History of Free Speech" Podcast; Author, Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media In Conversation with George Hammond Author, Conversations With Socrates In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on February 16th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join The Bulwark for an evening of politics and laughs among friends. Tim Miller, Sarah Longwell, and Jonathan V. Last, founders of The Bulwark and hosts of “The Next Level” podcast, bring their signature style of banter to the stage for an evening of sharp political insights, lots of laughs . . . and maybe even a few tears. With the U.S. electorate hurtling toward a rematch of Biden v. Trump, the gang will react to the Iowa caucuses and the state of the GOP race, Biden’s State of the Union, the latest polling and other pressing events of the day. At An Evening with The Bulwark you can expect a fun night with a community built on good faith where we tell you what we really think. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m. Plan to stick around after the show to meet fellow attendees and the gang from The Bulwark. About the Speakers Tim Miller is The Bulwark’s writer-at-large, an MSNBC political analyst and the author of the New York Times best seller Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell. He was previously political director for Republican Voters Against Trump and communications director for Jeb Bush 2016. Sarah Longwell is the publisher of The Bulwark and host of “The Focus Group” podcast. She is president and CEO of Longwell Partners in Washington, D.C., and co-founder with Bill Kristol of the organizations Defending Democracy Together and the Republican Accountability Project. A long-time Republican strategist and former national board chair of the Log Cabin Republicans, her recent DDT projects are Republican Voters Against Trump and Republicans for the Rule of Law. Jonathan V. Last is the editor of The Bulwark, where he writes the daily “Triad” newsletters. He hosts “The Secret Podcast” with Sarah and “The Next Level” podcast. He is the author of What to Expect When No One Is Expecting and the editor of The Dadly Virtues: Adventures from the Worst Job You'll Ever Love. This program contains explicit content. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

from 2024 Economic Forecast: Inflation, Election Bonanza, and the Global Economy held on February 8, 2024 The Walter E. Hoadley Annual Economic Forecast, presented by Bank of America. The United States heads into 2024 with an economy that is strong but is widely believed to be underperforming. With inflation tamped down to normal rates, unemployment at record lows, and continued strong job growth and corporate profits, why aren’t American consumers and business leaders more bullish about the state of the economy? Join us for the economic talk of the year: our annual economic forecast. Our expert panel—including Lanhee Chen of the Hoover Institution, Mauro F. Guillén of the Wharton School, Nancy Wallace of Berkeley Haas, Jared Woodard of Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research, and The Washington Post's Adam Lashinsky—will give you the insight you need to better understand the trends, policies, dangers and opportunities that lie ahead for your business and your wallet in 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After the Cold War, America sought to protect as many democracies as possible and stamp out any threat of authoritarianism around the world. Now, 30 years after the breakup of the Soviet Union, political scientists have observed a global rise in authoritarian governments—even in America itself. After the 2016 election of President Donald Trump, Ben Rhodes, a former White House aide and close confidant to President Barack Obama, sought to discover why nations have been opting for populism and tyranny over democracy. In his new book After the Fall: Being American in the World We've Made, Rhodes documents his three years of world travel, speaking with politicians, activists, and dissidents confronting the same nationalism that has been tearing America apart. He says the acceptance of unrestricted capitalism after the Cold War, post-9/11 nationalism, mania for technology and media, and modern racism that Americans refuse to confront have all contributed to our nation’s faltering under authoritarian leadership. With experience managing international conflict, Rhodes is an exemplary scholar in considering the global condition of humanity and how we can once again turn to democracy and equity. Join us for a look at where America has gone wrong and how essential it is to fight for what America is supposed to be. NOTES This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. SPEAKERS Ben Rhodes Former Deputy National Security Advisor to President Obama; Author, After the Fall: Being American in the World We’ve Made; Twitter @brhodes In Conversation with Jennifer Palmieri Former White House Communications Director; Co-Host, "The Circus" on Showtime; Author, She Proclaims: Our Declaration of Independent from a Man’s World; Twitter @jmpalmieri In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on June 14th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As fossil fuels are phased out, shuttered coal plants, contaminated landfills, and abandoned mine lands across the U.S. are finding new life as renewable energy projects. More than 23 states have 100% clean energy goals, and in order to reach those goals, some states are starting to convert what was once considered “dirty” into “clean” energy generation. But what happens to the infrastructure, workers, and community after a coal plant shuts down? And as billions are dispersed through policies like the Inflation Reduction Act, what is being done to ensure that the same communities who have been historically left behind are included in the energy transition? Guests:  Mary Anne Hitt, Senior Director, Climate Imperative Thomas Ramey, Commercial Home Evaluator, Solar Holler Nick Mullins,  Energy Systems Technology Instructor, Tri-County Technical Center and Former Coal Miner Delmar Gillus, COO, Elevate This episode also features a reported piece by Jordan Gass-Pooré. Support Climate One by going ad-free! By joining Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and even periodic engagements with Climate One staff. Join today for just $5/month. For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for an inside look at The Adachi Project, a first-of-its-kind storytelling initiative that spotlights powerful stories and unseen perspectives of the U.S. criminal legal system via compelling documentary film, video and photojournalism. Following an introduction to The Adachi Project by Mano Raju and Santhosh Daniel, we'll view one of the films from the project and feature a discussion with the people involved. SPEAKERS Santhosh Daniel Founding Partner, The Adachi Project; Founder, Compound; Co-Founder, First Kitchen Media Mohammad Gorjestani Founding Partner, The Adachi Project; Filmmaker and Creative Director Carolyn Ji Jong Goossen San Francisco Policy Director, San Francisco Public Defender’s Office; Leading Member, The Adachi Project William M. Palmer II (Tariq) Criminal Justice Advocate; Committee Member, San Francisco Reentry Sentencing Commission, Direct Services; Co-Leader, Subcommittee on Legislation, Policy & Practices; Communications Fellow, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children; CEO, Life After Next Hadi Razzaq Managing Attorney, San Francisco Public Defender’s Office; Core Member, The Adachi Project Mano Raju Public Defender, City and County of San Francisco Michelle Meow Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW/KPIX and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Host In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 23rd, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Plastics are a ubiquitous, inescapable part of daily life. They have many seemingly irreplaceable, inexpensive and convenient uses. But there is a dark side to some of them that goes far beyond the painful photographs of albatross chick tummies stuffed with discarded cigarette lighters or turtle necks strangled by six pack rings. Some of them are exceedingly hazardous to life, even at what appear to be low doses. Much of the hazard arises because they contain chemicals that interfere with hormone signaling: endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). By hacking the hormone signaling systems that control fetal development, they can set in motion physiological processes that can lead to a wide array of diseases and disabilities. Intense study of EDCs began in the 1990s. Since then, millions of dollars have been invested in this scientific field, yielding thousands of research papers. Pete Myers will lay out the core central themes that have emerged in this field over the last two decades: low doses matter a lot; what begins in the womb does not stay in the womb; the tools we have used to test for safety of plastics have been based upon false assumptions and continue to use outdated methods; and exposure is ubiquitous. We now know enough about how EDCs cause damage, however, to help chemists design safer chemicals. This last point positions chemists to grab market share in rising consumer demand for inherently safer materials. As that effort grows, it should be possible to slow if not reverse today’s epidemics of endocrine-related diseases, such as prostate and breast cancer, type 2 diabetes, obesity, infertility and brain disorders. MLF Organizer: Patty James MLF: Health & Medicine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Following President Trump’s second summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, what does the future hold for relations between South and North Korea as well as between both Koreas and the United States? Here is a chance for a rare visit with the U.S. and South Korean Ambassadors who are closely involved with these issues. They will discuss the economic and political relationship between the United States and South Korea and the outlook for diplomacy with North Korea and the entire region. On August 30, 2017, Cho Yoon-je was nominated as the Republic of Korea’s ambassador to the United States by President Moon Jae-in. Cho was part of the emeritus faculty at Sogang University’s Graduate School of International Studies. He completed both a master’s and doctorate in economics at Stanford University. Harry B. Harris Jr. was sworn in as U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Korea on June 29, 2018. Prior to his nomination, Harris was an admiral in the U.S. Navy, serving as commander. U.S. Pacific Commander Harris graduated from the Naval Academy and went on to receive an MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and an MA from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. From January 2017 until April 2018, he was the U.S. Navy’s longest-serving Naval Academy graduate still on active duty. In association with the Korea Economic Institute of America Ambassadors’ Dialogue program Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whether it was the invention of the radio at the beginning of the 20th century or the advent of smartphones in the mid-to-late 2000s, technological revolutions have fundamentally shaped the era with which they are associated. Yet, according to Susan Hockfield, technological advances are only the half of it. It is instead the combination of technological innovation with biological research that are producing and will produce the most revolutionary products and technological advances of our time. Her new book, The Age of Living Machines: How Biology Will Build the Next Technology Revolution, describes some of the most exciting developments in this field, including mind-reading bionic limbs, cancer-detecting nanoparticles, virus-built batteries and protein-based water filters. What is even more impressive is the fact that many of these technologies were the result of Hockfield’s own foresight and tenacity. As the first female president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Hockfield was a key advocate for interdisciplinary research and breaking down borders between fields. Join us for an optimistic conversation about how these living machines may help us overcome some of the greatest humanitarian, medical and environmental challenges of our time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The accelerating transition to electric vehicles brings new urgency to discussions about how to replace fuel taxes with other broad-based, reliable sources of transportation revenue. From Wyoming to Delaware to California, more and more state legislatures are considering mileage fees, regions like the San Francisco Bay Area are considering expanded tolling, and New York City is within reach of adopting a congestion pricing proposal. Overlaying these discussions is a persistent call to consider the equity of any new charges on drivers. How will the charges impact low-income drivers? Does payment require access to banking tools that are not universally available? This event will explore proposals, including fee rates that vary by driver income, vehicle characteristics, or time and place, and equity-centered policies for responding to nonpayment of tolls or other fees. NOTES This program is supported by the Mineta Transportation Institute at San José State University. SPEAKERS Featured Speaker: U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio Member, U.S. House of Representatives (D-MA); Chair, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for the 117th Congress Fireside Chat with Karen Philbrick Ph.D., Executive Director, Mineta Transportation Institute Keynote Speaker: Polly Trottenberg Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation Q&A Moderator: Jeff Morales Managing Principal, InfraStrategies, LLC Asha Weinstein Agrawal Ph.D., Director, MTI National Transportation Finance Center James Corless Executive Director, Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) Reema Griffith Executive Director, Washington State Transportation Commission Hasan Ikhrata Executive Director, San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) Stephanie Wiggins Chief Executive Officer, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro)—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on June 3rd, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When a Silicon Valley entrepreneur developed a tax break intended as a way to incentivize the rich to invest in underserved communities, the idea was pushed into law with little scrutiny or fine-tuning and few safeguards against abuse. With an unbeatable pair of high-profile sponsors and deft political marketing, the Opportunity Zone became an unnoticed part of the 2017 Trump tax bill. In his new book Only the Rich Can Play: How Washington Works in the New Gilded Age, bestselling author David Wessel follows the money—starting from this Opportunity Zone initiative—to see who profited from the plan that was supposed to spur development of blighted areas and help people out of poverty. His findings? The Las Vegas Strip, the Portland (Oregon) Ritz-Carlton, and the Mall of America. In other words, lucrative areas where the wealthy can place their money profitably and avoid capital gains taxes. Wessel provides vivid portraits of the proselytizers, political influencers, consultants, real estate dealmakers and individual money-seekers looking to take advantage of this opportunity. He looks at the cities in which the Opportunity Zone initiatives have failed, as well as a few where they have succeeded, and offers a lesson on how a better-designed program might have helped more left-behind places. Join us as David Wessel, offers an in-depth analysis of the bill he faults with keeping the rich richer—revealing the gritty reality of a system tilted in favor of a few while leaving many out in the cold. SPEAKERS David Wessel Senior Fellow and Director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Brookings Institution; Author, Only the Rich Can Play: How Washington Works in the New Gilded Age; Twitter @davidmwessel In Conversation with Lenny Mendonca Former Chief Economic and Business Advisor, State of California; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 19th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2020, exploring the harsh complexities of racism and systemic injustice is still a painful task for most adults, but how do our children process these concepts? How should we have these difficult conversations with our children, and how can we make sure that they feel empowered to change society as they grow? Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and Dr. Allison Briscoe-Smith join INFORUM to teach us how. Kendi is a New York Times best-selling author, an acclaimed academic and a leading voice on racial justice in America. His newest work is a children’s book titled Antiracist Baby, and in it he uses playful images and straightforward language to introduce complicated topics like power, racial disparity and antiracism for readers of all ages. Briscoe-Smith is a child psychologist and the director of diversity, equity and inclusion with the Wright Institute Clinical Program. Much of her work focuses on trauma and how children understand race. This conversation will be moderated by Julie Lythcott-Haims, the author behind the critically-acclaimed and award-winning memoir Real American, a book about growing up Black and biracial in white spaces. Together, these experts will explain how we can help future generations understand the true meaning of equality and also give them the tools necessary to fight for it. NOTES Part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation This program is in partnership with Common Sense Media Common Sense The Commonwealth Club’s work continues to value equity, tolerance and the achievement of a prosperous, supportive and just society. In honor of this conversation, please consider donating to the Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The COVID-19 pandemic, which began in early 2019, has had significantly negative consequences for individuals, families and communities around the world, with huge economic and political effects. Short-term strategies have involved sheltering in place and social distancing, rigorous and frequent hand washing, and the disciplined use of masks. We now have reached a stage in the pandemic when vaccines are bring rolled out in the United States and globally, initially for “at risk” populations. There is much confusion arising from conflicting information about the new vaccines. There are questions related to what we know about the vaccines (and how we know it), and what we don’t know (and how and when we will know more). To address these questions, two leading virologists will be in conversation with the chair of the Health and Medicine Forum at The Commonwealth Club of California. Dr. Melanie Ott and Dr. Warner Greene from Gladstone Institutes talk with Dr. Robert Lee Kilpatrick, to help the public understand COVID-19 vaccine options better. Meet the Speakers Melanie Ott, M.D., Ph.D., has been the director of the Gladstone Institute of Virology since 2020, and a senior investigator at Gladstone Institutes. She is also a professor of medicine at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, she pivoted the focus of her team to work on SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Ott is a member of the Association of American Physicians, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. She is also an expert contributor to the COVID Collaborative, a bipartisan group of national experts and institutions that helps shape state and local efforts against the pandemic. Warner Greene, M.D., Ph.D., is the director of the The Michael Hulton—Gladstone Center for HIV Cure Research, senior investigator, and Nick and Sue Hellmann Distinguished Professor of Translational Medicine at Gladstone Institutes. He is the founding and emeritus director of Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology. Greene is also professor of medicine, microbiology and of immunology at UCSF. He is also a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and a fellow of the American Academy Arts and Sciences. He also serves as co-director of the UCSF-Gladstone Center for AIDS Research, and he has served as councilor and president of the Association of American Physicians. Robert Lee Kilpatrick, Ph.D., is the chair of the Health and Medicine Member-Led Forum at The Commonwealth Club of California, general advisor to Berkeley SkyDeck incubator and accelerator, advisor to the Columbia University Master of Science Program in Bioethics, and CEO of Health Innovation for People, Inc. (HIP). MLF ORGANIZER Robert Lee Kilpatrick NOTES MLF: Health & Medicine In association with Gladstone Institutes. SPEAKERS Warner Greene M.D., Ph.D., Director, Gladstone Center for HIV Cure Research; Senior Investigator and Nick and Sue Hellmann Distinguished Professor of Translational Medicine at Gladstone Institutes; Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and of Immunology, UCSF Melanie Ott M.D., Ph.D., Director, Gladstone Institute of Virology; Senior Investigator, Gladstone Institutes; Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco Robert Lee Kilpatrick Ph.D. Chair, Health and Medicine MLF; General Advisor, Berkeley SkyDeck incubator and Accelerator; Advisor, Columbia University Master of Science Program in Bioethics; CEO, Health Innovation for People, Inc. (HIP) In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on February 10th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What did “the pursuit of happiness” mean to our nation’s founders and how did that famous phrase become the foundation of our democracy? The Declaration of Independence identifies “the pursuit of happiness” as one of our unalienable rights, along with life and liberty. In a new book, National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen profiles six of the most influential founders—Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton—to show what pursuing happiness meant in their lives. By reading the classical Greek and Roman moral philosophers who inspired the Founders, Rosen uncovers how they understood the pursuit of happiness as a quest for being good, not feeling good—the pursuit of lifelong virtue, not short-term pleasure. Among those virtues were the habits of industry, temperance, moderation and sincerity, which the Founders viewed as part of a daily struggle for self-improvement, character development and calm self-mastery. They believed that political self-government required personal self-government. For all six Founders, the pursuit of virtue was incompatible with the enslavement of African Americans—though the Virginians betrayed their own principles on that issue. Join us as Rosen not only elucidates the meaning of the Declaration’s famous phrase, but also takes us on a revelatory journey into the minds of the Founders, providing a deep, rich and fresh understanding of the foundation of our democracy. MLF ORGANIZER: George Hammond A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In an era when America’s chief rival, China, has ordered that all commercial firms within its borders make their research and technology available for military exploitation, strengthening the relationship between Washington and Silicon Valley is an urgent necessity, argue Raj Shah and Christopher Kirchhoff. They come to Commonwealth Club World Affairs to offer an inside look at an elite unit within the Pentagon—the Defense Innovation Unit, also known as Unit X—whose mission is to bring Silicon Valley’s cutting-edge technology to America’s military. Shah is a technology entrepreneur, venture capitalist and former director of the Defense Innovation Unit; Kirchhoff is the former director of strategic planning for the National Security Council under President Obama and is the co-creator of the Defense Innovation Unit. Until recently, the Pentagon was known for its uncomfortable relationship with Silicon Valley and for slow-moving processes that acted as a brake on innovation. Unit X was specifically designed as a bridge to Valley technologists that would accelerate bringing state of the art software and hardware to the battle space. Given authority to cut through red tape and function almost as a venture capital firm, Shah, Kirchhoff, and others in the Unit who came after were tasked particularly with meeting immediate military needs with technology from Valley startups rather than from so-called “primes”—behemoth companies like Lockheed, Raytheon, and Boeing. A vast and largely unseen transformation of how war is fought as profound as the invention of gunpowder or advent of the nuclear age is occurring. Flying cars that can land like helicopters, artificial intelligence-powered drones that can fly into buildings and map their interiors, microsatellites that can see through clouds and monitor rogue missile sites—all these and more are becoming part of America’s DIU-fast-tracked arsenal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From his first day at West Point to his years of deployment in Afghanistan, retired four-star U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal is no stranger to the deadly risks of combat. Throughout his illustrious career and efforts helping business leaders navigate a global pandemic, General McChrystal has seen how individuals and organizations have failed to mitigate risk by focusing solely on the probability of something happening as opposed to the interface by which it can be managed. In his new book, Risk: A User’s Guide, McChrystal and co-author Anna Butrico offer a battle-tested system for detecting and responding to risk. This book offers an alternative way of maintaining a healthy "risk immune system" that involves monitoring 10 different dimensions of control the authors say can be adjusted at any time to effectively anticipate, identify, analyze and act upon the ever-present possibility that things will not go as planned. Join us as General McChrystal reveals an entirely new way to understand risk and master the unknown. SPEAKERS General Stanley McChrystal Retired Army General; Author, Risk: A User’s Guide; Twitter @StanMcChrystal In Conversation with Dan Ashley Co-Anchor, ABC 7 News; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors; Twitter @DanAshleyABC7 In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 24th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Big data, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and the internet of things: we have all heard of these innovations individually and their potential impacts. But Tom Siebel is working on how these technologies can work in conjunction with each other to have an even greater impact. In his new book, Digital Transformation: Survive and Thrive in an Era of Mass Extinction, Siebel explains how the power of these innovations can be harnessed to radically change and improve our world on a massive scale. He looks at how large enterprises such as Royal Dutch Shell, Enel, 3M, and even the U.S. Department of Defense are leveraging these technologies to predict functionality problems, decrease fuel usage and find vulnerabilities in these systems. How accurately can these systems predict electrical grid failings? What is the most efficient way to minimize fuel usage? How susceptible are these systems to cyberattacks, and how can we improve their security? What is the role of private enterprise as well as government in these pressing issues? Join us for a conversation with the leader of this field to find the answer to these, and many more, important questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Entrepreneur Suneel Gupta argues that it's more important than ever to be "backable," to get the support we need for re-entering the workforce, changing life direction after quarantine, and navigating a very different social scene. Gupta, who comes from a family of highly backable people—including his mother, Damyanti Hingorani, the first woman engineer for Ford Motor Company, and his brother Sanjay Gupta, chief medical correspondent for CNN—will also share advice for how we can all find support, based on his own backing of such companies as Impossible Foods, Airbnb, 23&Me and SpaceX. He will further reveal secrets of success from producers of Oscar-winning films, members of Congress, military leaders, culinary stars, venture capitalists, founders of unicorn-status startups, and executives at iconic companies such as Lego, Method and Pixar. Gupta says he went from being afraid to speak inside a room to running for public office. He went from being rejected by every major investor he pitched to raising millions of dollars of funding from the same investors that backed Google, Uber, and Airbnb. Come hear the advice and amazing personal story of a man who struggled to find his voice and now, among his other achievements, also serves as the emissary for Gross National Happiness between the United States and the Kingdom of Bhutan. SPEAKERS Suneel Gupta J.D. M.B.A., Lecture on Innovation, Harvard University; Author, Backable: The Surprising Truth Behind What Makes People Take a Chance on You DJ Patil Ph.D., Former U.S. Chief Technology Officer; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 6th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please join The Commonwealth Club of California and UC Berkeley’s Townsend Center for the Humanities for the second in a series of dialogues on catastrophe, storytelling and the present moment. In “Climate Change and Sacred Groves,” Townsend Center scholar Sugata Ray will meet with visual artist Ranu Mukherjee to investigate the relationship between the natural world and the sacred realm, especially as it has developed in India over the last several centuries of civilization and the rise of the Anthropocene era. In his most recent book, Climate Change and the Art of Devotion, Sugata shows how a site-specific and ecologically grounded theology emerged in northern India in the wake of the Little Ice Age (ca. 1550–1850), an epoch marked by climatic catastrophes across the globe. His interests dovetail in unexpected and compelling ways with Ranu’s visionary and captivating recent work, which positions the banyan tree as a meeting point between ecology and culture. Their conversation will be an opportunity for viewers to contemplate and rethink the role of art as it relates to contemporary concerns around climate, disease, human flourishing and the sacred. Sugata Ray is associate professor of South and Southeast Asian art in the History of Art Department at the University of California, Berkeley. His research and writing focus on climate change and the visual arts from the 1500s onward. Ray is the author of Climate Change and the Art of Devotion: Geoaesthetics in the Land of Krishna, 1550–1850 (2019); Water Histories of South Asia: The Materiality of Liquescence (2019; coedited); and Ecologies, Aesthetics, and Histories of Art (forthcoming; coedited). Ranu Mukherjee is a visual artist who makes paintings, animations and large-scale installations. Her current work focuses on shifting senses of ecology, non-human agency, diaspora, migration and transnational feminist experience. Her most recent installation was presented at the ecologically focused 2019 Karachi Biennale; she has exhibited solo at the San Jose Museum of Art, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Asian Art Museum, and the de Young Museum. She is an associate professor in graduate fine art at the California College of the Arts. Mukherjee is represented by Gallery Wendi Norris. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In March 1938, German soldiers, under Hitler's orders, crossed the border and absorbed Austria into the Third Reich. Anticipating these events, many Jews had fled Austria, but the most famous Austrian Jew remained in Vienna, where he had lived since early childhood. Sigmund Freud was 81 years old, ill with cancer, and still unconvinced that his life was in danger. But those close to Freud thought otherwise and began a coordinated effort to persuade Freud to leave Vienna before it was too late. The persuaders included Freud’s devoted youngest daughter Anna, his personal doctor, a Welsh physician, an American ambassador, and Napoleon’s great-grandniece. Join us as Andrew Nagorski shares how this remarkable collection of people succeeded in coaxing Freud out of his deep state of denial, allowing them both to extricate Freud and his family from Austria and to arrange for Freud to live out the remaining 16 months of his life in freedom in London. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond NOTES A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics.  This program is part of The Commonwealth Club's Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. SPEAKERS Andrew Nagorski Former Bureau Chief (Hong Kong, Moscow, Rome, Bonn, Warsaw, and Berlin), Newsweek; Author, Saving Freud: The Rescuers Who Brought Him to Freedom In Conversation with George Hammond Author, Conversations With Socrates We are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on February 7th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Talbot is a fifth-generation San Franciscan who began developing The Last Black Man in San Francisco with his childhood friend and star Jimmie Fails after leaving high school early to pursue film. Talbot, a Sundance Institute fellow, wrote and directed the acclaimed short American Paradise, which was shown at Sundance and SXSW. His feature-length debut was The Last Black Man in San Francisco, a movie that captures the past and present of this fast-changing city through the tale of Jimmie and his best friend Mont, who set out to reclaim the house Jimmie grew up in. And just added to our program: Star Jimmie Fails. Fails most recently starred in A24's The Last Black Man in San Francisco, which made its debut at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Joe Talbot, Fails' best friend and longtime collaborator, directed the film with Plan B producing. It is a fable-like story based on Fails' life and the gentrification of San Francisco. It is his feature-length acting debut. **This program contains some explicit language ** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Rob Mintz, chief curator at the Asian Art Museum, and Laura Allen, the museum's Senior Curator of Japanese Art for an engaging conversation about Murakami's blockbuster exhibition Unfamiliar People: The Swelling of Monsterized Human Ego. The show, four years in the making, takes anime and manga to new heights. This is Takashi Murakami's first solo exhibition in San Francisco. The exhibit is not only a commentary on our society, it's a nuanced examination of human behavior within an extraordinary artistic framework. Laura Allen has known Murakami since the Fall of 2019, when she visited the artist in his Tokyo studio. Together with Rob Mintz, she'll provide insight into Murakami's personality, both as an artist as well as a social scientist. She'll also talk about her collaboration with Murakami; discuss the many pitfalls she encountered along the way as well as what finally convinced him to create this extraordinary exhibit and display it at the Asian Art Museum. About the Speaker Dr. Laura W. Allen is senior curator of Japanese art at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. After receiving a doctorate in Japanese art history at UC Berkeley, Dr. Allen spent more than two decades teaching, consulting, and publishing on Japanese art before joining the Asian Art Museum staff in 2012. Since then, she has overseen an ambitious program of exhibitions, including two very different shows opening in the fall of 2023, Takashi Murakami: Unfamiliar People – Swelling of Monsterized Human Ego and The Heart of Zen.  Dr. Robert Mintz is the chief curator at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. He oversees the curatorial research program and guides the growth and preservation of the museum’s art collections. Mintz is a specialist in Japanese art history with a keen interest in painting. With degrees from the University of Michigan and the University of Washington, he has spent his career working in public art museums trying to make the arts of Asia accessible and inspirational to the widest possible range of audiences. Main image: Bacon: Scream, 2019, by Takashi Murakami (Japanese, b. 1962). Acrylic, gold leaf, and platinum leaf on canvas mounted on aluminum frame. Collection of D.K., courtesy of the artist and Perrotin. © 2019 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. MLF ORGANIZER: Jim Brown An Asia Pacific Affairs Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whether we like it or not, the AI revolution is coming to education. The founder of Khan Academy returns to Commonwealth Club World Affairs for a first look at how the artificial intelligence revolution will affect education, its implications for parenting, and how we can best harness its power for good. Khan will draw on his work in his new book Brave New Words to explore how artificial intelligence and GPT technology will transform learning, and he’ll offer a road map for teachers, parents, and students to navigate this exciting (and sometimes intimidating) new world. A pioneer in the field of education technology, Khan examines the ins and outs of these cutting-edge tools and how they will revolutionize the way we learn and teach. He says AI can personalize learning by adapting to each student’s individual pace and style, identifying strengths and areas for improvement, and offering tailored support and feedback to complement traditional classroom instruction. Khan emphasizes that embracing AI in education is not about replacing human interaction but enhancing it with customized and accessible learning tools that encourage creative problem-solving skills and prepare students for an increasingly digital world. But Khan’s message is not just about technology—it’s about what this technology means for our society, and the practical implications for administrators, guidance counselors, and hiring managers who can harness the power of AI in education and the workplace. Hear about the ethical and social implications of AI and GPT, with thoughtful insights into how we can use these tools to build a more accessible education system for students around the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This event is the latest in our member-led forums’ Art and Science of Well-Being series. Ben Hwang from Profusa will discuss the future of continuous, remote monitoring data using implantable biosensor technology and how it is poised to transform wellness, medical intervention, health care delivery and patient outcomes. Mary Lou Jepsen from Openwater has created a device that can enable us to see inside our brains or bodies in great detail. With this comes the promise of new abilities to diagnose and treat disease and well beyond—communicating with thought alone. MLF ORGANIZER NAME Patty James NOTES MLF: Health & Medicine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The U.S. president has the power to end the world in minutes. Right now, no one can stop him. Since the Truman administration, America has been one “push of a button” away from nuclear war—a decision that rests solely in the hands of the president. Without waiting for approval from Congress or even the secretary of defense, the president can unleash America’s entire nuclear arsenal. Almost every governmental process is subject to institutional checks and balances. Our guests ask, Why is potential nuclear annihilation the exception to the rule? They say that for decades, glitches and slip-ups have threatened to trigger nuclear winter: misinformation, false alarms, hacked warning systems, or even an unstable president. And a new nuclear arms race has begun, threatening us all. At the height of the Cold War, Russia and the United States each built up arsenals exceeding 30,000 nuclear weapons, armed and ready to destroy each other—despite the fact that just a few hundred are necessary to end life on earth. As we approach the anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, join an important discussion on the terrifying history of nuclear launch authority, from the faulty 46-cent microchip that nearly caused World War III to President Trump’s tweet about his “much bigger & more powerful” button. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ten years ago, a very different crisis was gripping the country as 500 million gallons of oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico, taking lives and threatening fishing, tourism and more. The nation’s worst oil disaster cost BP an estimated $145 billion in cleanup costs and penalties. Now the industry is experiencing another crisis within a pandemic, as oil prices collapsed to historic lows in April and are expected to remain volatile. What’s next in the industry’s uncertain future? How will the collapse of oil prices impact gradual efforts to shift away from fossil fuels? Join us for a conversation on the past, present and future of oil with Bill Reilly, former EPA administrator and co-chair of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Heather Richards, energy reporter at E&E News, and John Hofmeister, former president of Shell Oil Company. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his new book The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California, author Mark Arax reveals the tumultuous history behind the myth of abundance in the Golden State. LA Times reporter Diana Marcum and water expert Faith Kearns explore the complex intersections between drought, climate change, and life in rural California. Can a decades-old distribution system meet the water needs of the future? How will climate change affect the California Dream? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trauma can come at any time in the life span and have significant impact on one's life. Trauma comes early to those who have been abused or neglected as children or arrive in the world facing the challenges of poverty and discrimination. It may come later as people deal with the pain of broken relationships, overwhelming job stress, sexual harassment, the dangers of combat or a life-threatening or serious illness. For those who live long enough, contending with the loss of loved ones, physical frailty and impending death brings still more trauma. How does one heal from trauma whenever it comes? James S. Gordon, an authority on post-traumatic stress and an acclaimed mind–body medicine pioneer, has worked for decades with individuals and communities around the world to address the damage done by trauma. In his new book, The Transformation: Discovering Wholeness and Healing After Trauma, Gordon offers the first comprehensive, evidence-based program for reversing the biological and psychological damage from trauma and for discovering and growing through its challenges to become the people we’re meant to be. Offering eye-opening research, innovative prescriptive support and inspirational stories, The Transformation, for the first time, gives the reading public clear guidance in the methods that Gordon has developed and that he and his team at the Center for Mind-Body Medicine have used to relieve the suffering of hundreds of thousands of children and adults around the world. Come hear from one of world's leading experts on trauma and how to transform the lives of those suffering from it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Highly respected, frequently provocative, always challenging, Harvey Rose has survived the drama and intrigues of San Francisco City Hall politics for many years as San Francisco's most highly respected, independent budget and legislative analyst. As part of a valued San Francisco institution, no financial or legislative detail escaped Rose’s attention. In his straightforward talk, Rose will discuss work and the critical need for independent view of San Francisco's money, politics and the work of city hall, supervisors, commissioners, legislators and mayors. MLF Organizer:Ann Clark MLF: Environment & Natural Resources Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A prize-winning writer for the San Francisco Chronicle in the tumultuous 1970s, Duffy Jennings covered the Patty Hearst kidnapping, the Zodiac and Zebra serial murders, and the City Hall assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. Jennings also covered major fires, gangland crime, labor union strife, city government news and more. In Reporter’s Note Book, Jennings weaves the political, criminal, public and personal events of the 1970s into a masterful reflection on the heart of a turbulent Bay Area, all bolstered by his uncanny memory and tender wit. MLF Organizer: George Hammond MLF: Humanities ** This Podcast Contains Explicit Language ** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite having the top-selling luxury car in 2018, and a loyal if not rabid customer base, Tesla has been facing major challenges. In August, maverick CEO Elon Musk was slapped with SEC charges over some rather misleading tweets. That move cost him and the company millions in fines and forced Musk to step down as chairman. Other skid-marks for Tesla include production delays, shareholder skittishness and some well-publicized workplace complaints. Host Greg Dalton invites three journalists and Tesla-watchers to assess the health of Tesla, its overall impact on the auto industry and its future as a leader in the green economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on the Latino community in California and throughout the United States. Due to a range of factors, the Latino community has disproportionately high rates of infections from the coronavirus as well as hospitalizations and deaths. These impacts can be seen in the Latino community throughout California—north and south, urban and rural. What are the risk factors, particularly around employment and housing that have made the pandemic such a public health challenge for the Latino community, and what are key Latino-serving organizations in the state doing to address these problems? This program will feature leaders from organizations and experts on the frontlines serving California’s Latino community. Learn how they have been handling these critical issues over the past few months and what they expect now as confirmed coronavirus cases continue to surge locally and nationally. We’ll hear from the head of the Latino Community Foundation and the executive directors of two frontline nonprofits, Nuestra Casa (in East Palo Alto) and 99Rootz (in California’s Central Valley). The moderator for the conversation will be Teresa Alvarado, chief of local impact of SPUR. Alvarado formerly served as deputy administrative officer with the Santa Clara Valley Water District, where she led two departments. Prior to that she served as the first executive director of the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley. She is a member of the Silicon Valley Recovery & Resilience Committee, a group of Silicon Valley leaders working to set the path for economic recovery in the region, co-chairing its Inclusive Prosperity subcommittee. She is founder of the Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley and serves on its advisory board. Please join us for this important event. NOTES In association with the Latino Community Foundation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This event is the latest in the San Francisco Foundation’s series on People, Place and Power. Being a teenager is difficult in the best of times, but the universal work of figuring out your identity, your passions, and your path and place in the world can be even more daunting for some. Youth of color, immigrants, LGBTQ community members, and those with disabilities or in low-income households are just some of the populations who face unique challenges. Place those against the backdrop of a Bay Area where inequality is rising, long-time residents are being displaced and the tech sector (literally) towers above, and you’ve got a whole generation grappling with unprecedented questions. So how are young people surviving and thriving in a changing region? What happens when their identities are intersectional and don’t fit into a simple narrative? How are they raising awareness on critical issues to change perceptions, influence policy and spur civic engagement—and how can we better listen? Bay Area youth will take the stage to tell us just how they’re addressing questions of representation, activism and equity as they grow up in this beautiful region of contradictions. Join us to hear the next generation speak for themselves. NOTES Presented in association with KQED Program made possible by the foundation’s Bay Area Leads Fund Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is Silicon Valley at a breaking point? The power of technology has been called into question amid the growing number of data breaches, disinformation and lack of privacy. Kara Swisher reflects on what has brought Silicon Valley to this point, the ethical challenges facing tech companies and prognosis for the future. Notes: In association with the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At Week to Week, we're dedicated to the lively and informed discussion of politics—with a good sense of humor—as a platform for healthy involvement in the issues that drive our society. The Commonwealth Club's Week to Week Political Roundtable and social hour, now in its 12th year, will take a look at the politics of the day—the issues, the people, the trends affecting our political world. SPEAKERS Joe Garofoli Senior Political Writer, San Francisco Chronicle; Host, “It’s All Political on Fifth and Mission” Podcast; Twitter: @joegarofoli Marisa Lagos Politics Correspondent, KQED News John Zipperer Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club of California—Host In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on May 24th, 2023 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, discrimination, verbal assaults, and physical violence against members of the AAPI community have skyrocketed, disproportionately harming vulnerable members of the community, including women, youth and elders. This racism takes its toll. Please join us to learn what you can do to help combat anti-Asian racism in everyday living and support the AAPI community. Topics will include: understanding the problem of racism; practical, actionable steps to disrupt racism and overcome unconscious biases; and ways to create a safe space to speak up against racism. NOTES MLF: Psychology SPEAKERS Dr. Tam Nguyen Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist; Director of Ambulatory and Addiction Care, Sutter Health Dr. Sarah Nguyen M.D., Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles; Associate Director, Integrative Psychiatry Clinic Dr. Jennifer Tran D.O., Family Medicine Doctor, Palo Alto Medical Foundation Dr. Uyen-Khanh Quang-Dang M.D., Geriatric Psychiatrist, Palo Alto Medical Foundation; Member, APA Foundation Board of Directors Dr. Patrick O'Reilly Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist; Chair, Psychology Member-Led Forum, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on August 5th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Within the next two decades, Kai-Fu Lee says, artificial intelligence will become the defining development of the 21st century, making aspects of daily human life today virtually unrecognizable. AI will revolutionize medicine and education through human-machine symbioses. It will challenge the social and economic order by creating brand-new forms of communication and generating unprecedented wealth. AI is at its tipping point, and if our society doesn’t prepare for both the exciting and possibly perilous pathways ahead, we will lose the ability to control our collective future. In their new book AI 2041, Kai-Fu Lee, bestselling author and former president of Google China, teams up with Chen Qiufan to create an image of what a world with artificial intelligence will look like in 20 years. In 10 gripping short stories, the authors introduce readers to an array of eye-opening concepts, such as the rogue scientist in Munich who uses AI technologies in a revenge plot that endangers the world. Or the teenage girl in Mumbai who rebels when AI’s crunching of big data gets in the way of romance. Through these stories, Lee and Qiufan draw on the ominous possibilities of autonomous weapons and human bias in smart technology as well as the incredible liberating power of artificial intelligence and its unprecedented ability to strengthen societal connections. Kai-Fu Lee is the CEO of Beijing-based Sinovation Ventures and the co-chair of the Artificial Intelligence Council at the World Economic Forum. Formerly the president of Google China, Lee was also a senior executive at Microsoft, SGI and Apple. Join us as Kai-Fu Lee delves into the intriguing future of artificial intelligence. SPEAKERS Kai-Fu Lee Ph.D., CEO, Sinovation Ventures; Co-author, AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future In Conversation with Rumman Chowdhury Ph.D., CEO and Founder, Parity AI n response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on September 28th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices