Sinopsis
The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.
Episodios
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George Hammond: Who Are We?
12/03/2024 Duración: 01h12minWho are we? Good question. But difficult to answer definitively. Still, it is a question that is philosophically fruitful to ask, because the flip side of the question (who aren’t we?) has several clear answers that narrow the search for an answer to the main question. One example: It might be emotionally hard to accept, but it seems highly unlikely that we are the center of the universe, even though we all experience the totality of our lives through one perspective—our own—which has clearly made it very easy for almost all of us to fall for this illusion. That is one reason Monday Night Philosophy returns to the Commonwealth Club (this time on a Tuesday) to re-ask these age-old questions, to analyze the most popular of their age-old answers, and to present the logic that points to a different answer to the ancient question: Who are we? This rational perspective also makes it perfectly understandable why we experience the emotions we do, why we dream, why we’ve told ourselves these stories, how we try to egg
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Richard Schwartz: Berkeley 1900―Daily Life at the Turn of the Century
11/03/2024 Duración: 01h05minLocal historian Richard Schwartz returns to Commonwealth Club World Affairs to captivate you once again with his characteristic blend of serious history, fascinating images, and “telling details” stories. Schwartz shares eyewitness accounts and unique views of Berkeley from more than 120 years ago, which show how profoundly the landscape, culture, economy and social values of modern Berkeley have been shaped by what came before. Berkeley 1900 is his definitive account of a pivotal time in the life of one of America's most beloved cities. Join us to see how much has changed, and how much hasn’t, over almost 125 years. MLF ORGANIZER: George Hammond Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Barbara McQuade: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America
09/03/2024 Duración: 01h08minThe epidemic of disinformation and misinformation sweeping through our society is like the weather: Everyone complains about it, but no one does anything about it. Now Barbara McQuade is changing that, offering solutions for countering disinformation and maintaining the rule of law. MSNBC's legal expert breaks down the ways disinformation has become a tool to drive voters to extremes, disempower our legal structures, and consolidate power in the hands of the few. Americans are strategically being pushed apart by disinformation—the deliberate spreading of lies disguised as truth—and it comes at us from all sides: opportunists on the far right, Russian misinformed social media influencers, and others. It's endangering our democracy and causing havoc in our electoral system, schools, hospitals, workplaces, and in our Capitol. Advances in technology including rapid developments in artificial intelligence threaten to make the problems even worse by amplifying false claims and manufacturing credibility. Legal schol
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CLIMATE ONE: How Activism Can Win Bigger and Faster with Kumi Naidoo
08/03/2024 Duración: 59minKumi Naidoo is a world renowned activist and climate leader. Before going on to lead Greenpeace International then Amnesty International, Naidoo was a 15 year old anti-apartheid activist in South Africa. The boycotts he organized led to him being a target of the Security Police. He fled South Africa and lived in exile in the UK. As a climate activist, Naidoo has been arrested for scaling oil rigs, has negotiated with heads of state, and rubbed shoulders with the most powerful people at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Now he’s a visiting scholar at Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, where he’s focusing on how activism can win bigger and faster. Guests: Kumi Naidoo, Human Rights and Environmental Justice Activist Alex Ajose Nixon, Spoken Word Poet Mystic, Hip Hop Artist and Educator Dana R. Fisher, Professor of Sociology, University of Maryland Tamara Toles O’Laughlin, President and CEO, Environmental Grantmakers Association
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Michael Gerhardt: The Laws of Presidential Impeachment
08/03/2024 Duración: 01h01minPresident Joe Biden is being threatened with impeachment by the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives. His predecessor, Donald Trump, was twice impeached by a Democratic-led House. Three presidents earlier, Bill Clinton was impeached. No president has ever been removed from office as the result of an impeachment, but it continues to be a high-profile way to go after the president of the United States. But what exactly is impeachment? Why is it included in the U.S. Constitution? How does the process work? Constitutional scholar Michael Gerhardt offers a comprehensive, nonpartisan, and up-to-date explanation of the Constitution’s various mechanisms for holding presidents accountable for misdeeds real and imagined. He is the author of the new book The Law of Presidential Impeachment, which draws on a lifetime of scholarly research, as well as Gerhardt’s unique experience as a witness and consultant in the impeachment trials of Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. Join us as Gerhardt offers new perspectives on i
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Charles Duhigg: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection
07/03/2024 Duración: 48minCome inside a jury room as one juror leads a starkly divided room to consensus. Join a young CIA officer as he recruits a reluctant foreign agent. And sit with an accomplished surgeon as he tries, and fails, to convince yet another cancer patient to opt for the less risky course of treatment. In his new book Supercommunicators, Charles Duhigg blends deep research and storytelling skills to show how people can learn to identify and leverage the hidden layers that lurk beneath every conversation. Duhigg says communication is a superpower, and the best communicators understand that whenever we speak, we’re actually participating in one of three conversations: practical (What’s this really about?), emotional (How do we feel?), and social (Who are we?). If you don’t know what kind of conversation you’re having, you’re unlikely to connect. "Supercommunicators" know the importance of recognizing—and then matching—each kind of conversation, and how to hear the complex emotions, subtle negotiations, and deeply held be
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Mayor London Breed: The State of San Francisco
06/03/2024 Duración: 01h08minSan Francisco Mayor London Breed returns to The Commonwealth Club World Affairs for a state-of-the-city program, taking stock of the city’s present and looking forward to its future. What can the city do to spur downtown revival? How can it reduce the problems of fentanyl, homelessness, and crime? She’ll also share her thoughts on ballot measures facing voters in the March elections, including Proposition C (making it easier to convert office properties into housing), Proposition E (expanding the ability of police to pursue suspects), Proposition F (identifying and requiring treatment for drug abuse disorder among people receiving cash assistance). Breed, elected in 2018, is the city’s 45th mayor and its first Black woman mayor. She was born and raised in San Francisco. Before she became mayor, Breed served as a member and president of the city’s Board of Supervisors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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'Island in Between': Taiwan Film Screening and Discussion
05/03/2024 Duración: 49minThe rural Taiwanese outer islands of Kinmen sit merely 2 miles off the coast of China. Kinmen attracts tourists for its remains from the 1949 Chinese Civil War. It also marks the frontline for Taiwan in its escalating tension with China. Filmmaker S. Leo Chiang weaves lyrical vignettes of tourist visits and local life with his own narrative as someone negotiating ambivalent personal bonds to Taiwan, China, and the United States. Island in Between explores the uneasy peace in these islands, and contemplates Taiwan's uncertain future. The film was recently nominated for an Academy Award in the documentary short category. See more Michelle Meow Show programs at The Commonwealth Club of California. This program contains EXPLICIT CONTENT. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Oakland Forum: How Leaders Are Building Communities in Oakland
04/03/2024 Duración: 58minJoin us for a new Commonwealth Club experience as we launch the first of our new series of Oakland Forums, taking place at Fluid 510 in downtown Oakland. In our inaugural program, we're featuring Oakland leaders discussing building community in this time of serious challenges facing Oakland and other big cities. About the Speakers Darin Balaban is a self-taught visual artist with a focus on painting, multimedia pieces, and large-scale murals. He is considered to be part of the new-wave "post-vandalism" movement, which blurs the line between street art tropes and contemporary abstraction. Balaban's art practice has led him to exhibit in multiple galleries and lead large-scale projects domestically. Shirley Gee is a managing partner at Angel Plus, LLC, a trusted validation firm of later stage, start-up corporations in anticipation of capitalization. Gee is an active Accredited Investor; chair of the Life Science Committee; a member of Technology Transfer Committee; and team lead for due diligence specializing
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On the Road to Freedom: Through the Eyes of Young Leaders
03/03/2024 Duración: 01h06minJoin Club Travel and Cinnamongirl, Inc. to hear a fresh and vibrant conversation between three amazing young people—two scholars and their mentor—who traveled on the Club’s trip “On the Road to Freedom: Understanding the Civil Rights Movement” in October 2023. The group spent time in Jackson, Little Rock, Memphis, Birmingham, Selma, and Montgomery. Hear about key events and people involved in the movement, and what it means for these young women in terms of what is happening today, their vision for the future, and for themselves. In partnership with Cinnamongirl Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Paul Belonick: Restraint, Conflict, and the Fall of the Roman Republic
01/03/2024 Duración: 01h32minStrongly held values can stabilize a society. They can also splinter it. Paul Belonick explores the moral paradoxes of republican Rome and describes how aristocrats engaged in "performative politics," aggressively seeking self-advancement with a competitiveness that fueled the expansion of an empire. At the same time, Roman orators and authors emphasized the need for self-control, moderation and temperance. Scholars have long suggested that this moral obsession with self-control was merely a social marker of aristocratic status, but Belonick argues that the Roman focus on self-control was responsible for solidifying their peculiarly competitive, semi-formal government. As conflicts arose in Rome over how to apply these cultural values to novel circumstances, competitors saw each other as desecrating republican principles and therefore as targets to be eradicated. Belonick presents a fresh perspective on the republic’s collapse, by illustrating both sides of this Roman paradox: how values of self-control legit
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CLIMATE ONE: What More Can I Do?
01/03/2024 Duración: 56minIf you’re a climate-conscious person, you likely already know some of the main ways you can reduce your contribution to greenhouse gasses: buy less, eat less meat, ride your bike. But there are other, less obvious methods we don’t always think of: voting, having climate conversations, engaging with your local government, changing where your money is invested. And while our role as individuals does matter, we’re more powerful when we work together in collective action. Guests: Jon Foley, Executive Director, Project Drawdown Eliza Nemser, Executive Director, Climate Changemakers This episode also features excerpts from Cory Booker, Anna Lappé, Frances Moore Lappé, Saul Griffith, Monique Figueiredo, Jonathan Chapman, Jennifer Anderson, Tanya Gulliver Garcia, Vernon Walker, Abrar Anwar, Slater Jewell-Kemker, Kyle Gracey and Alec Loorz.
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Week to Week Political Roundtable: February 22
27/02/2024 Duración: 01h03minIt'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
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The Pursuit of Happiness: Jeffrey Rosen, President and CEO of the National Constitution Center
26/02/2024 Duración: 01h10minWhat 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 tha
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Future of SF: Town Hall + March Election Roundup
25/02/2024 Duración: 01h37minCome join WE SF and Commonwealth Club World Affairs for a one-of-a-kind, high-energy town hall presentation plus discussion, the likes of which San Francisco hasn’t recently seen! Not only will we present a nonpartisan multimedia breakdown of each of the ballot measures and candidates on the March 2024 election ballot, but we will have many of the city’s top elected officials, leaders, and key stakeholders on both sides of the aisle on hand to present the “pros” and “cons” of each issue. The event schedule is as follows:.The event combines WE San Francisco’s unique ability to inspire civic engagement and explain complex issues, with the “big ideas” thought leadership of Commonwealth Club World Affairs, the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum whose mission is to bring people together to connect, learn and act on issues that impact our community. Presenters include: Matt Dorsey, member, San Francisco Board of Supervisors (District 6) Joel Engardio, member, San Francisco Board of Supervisors (Di
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Gretchen Sisson with Sen. Laphonza Butler: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood
24/02/2024 Duración: 47minAbortion and adoption are twinned in the minds of many Americans who have endured the never-ending heated debates over abortion. Now, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, sociologist Dr. Gretchen Sisson releases the results of her decade-long study of adoption, revealing what she says is the grief of American mothers for whom the choice to parent was never real. Adoption has long been viewed as a beloved institution for building families, as well as mutually agreed common ground in the abortion debate. But little attention has been paid to the lives of mothers who relinquish infants for private adoption. For her book Relinquished, Sisson draws upon hundreds of interviews with mothers who placed their children for domestic adoption. She finds their voices to be powerful and heartrending, deserving to be heard. Join us for a timely and provocative look at the flip side of the fight over abortion, adoption, rights and the American family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg
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CLIMATE ONE: Geothermal: So Hot Right Now
23/02/2024 Duración: 56minWhen most people hear the phrase renewable energy, they imagine fields full of solar panels or giant spinning wind turbines. But another source may be heating up: geothermal. Twenty years ago it was thought that geothermal could provide at most 10% of any given area’s electricity, and only in very limited regions. There were also environmental concerns about depleting groundwater. But new technological advances may have unlocked the potential for scalable geothermal energy just about anywhere. And in a bit of irony, those technological advances came from the oil and gas industry. Guests: Amanda Kolker, Laboratory Program Manager for Geoscience and Geothermal Technologies, NREL Jamie Beard, founder of Project InnerSpace Lauren McLean, Mayor of Boise Contributing Producer: David Condos For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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"The Sugar ""Fix"": The Addiction and the Treatment
21/02/2024 Duración: 01h09minDr. Robert Lustig and Dr. Nicole Avena will have a conversation about sugar, based on many years of scientific and clinical experience. They will begin with a brief history of the evolution of sugar in our food environment and move on to where we are today regarding types of sugar and sweeteners, as well as the pervasiveness of these in our food supply. Questions explored will include: How do various types of sugar and sweeteners affect your brain and body systems? Is moderation possible when evidence suggests sugar may be "addictive"? What are the options if you want something sweet? You will have an opportunity to ask questions and will gain valuable insights to help you understand sugar and reduce your intake if need be. Dr. Nicole Avena is an associate professor of neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and a visiting professor of health psychology at Princeton University. She is a research neuroscientist and expert in the fields of nutrition, diet and addiction, with a special fo
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Paul Starobin: The Fight for a Better Russia
20/02/2024 Duración: 01h04minRussia’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
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'20 Days in Mariupol' Film Screening
19/02/2024 Duración: 35minJoin us for a special discussion with filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov. 20 Days in Mariupol, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film, presents a visceral, first-person view of the early days of Russia’s invasion of the city of Mariupol, Ukraine. An Associated Press team of Ukrainian journalists is trapped in the besieged city, where they struggle to continue their work documenting atrocities of the Russian invasion. As the only international reporters who remain in the city, they capture what later become defining images of the war: dying children, mass graves, the bombing of a maternity hospital, and more. This is the first feature film from Chernov, who spent nearly a decade covering international conflicts, including the Russia-Ukraine war, for The Associated Press. The film draws on Chernov’s daily news dispatches and personal footage of his own country at war. It offers a vivid, harrowing account of civilians caught in the siege, as well as a window into what it’s like to report from a