Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Josh Campbell: The War Against Intelligence Sep 28, 2019

Show notes

In Crossfire Hurricane: Inside Donald Trump’s War on the FBI, CNN analyst and former FBI agent Josh Campbell takes his readers behind the scenes of the FBI during the historic investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. Campbell argues that President Trump’s unprecedented attacks on the FBI undermine the democratic integrity of the bureau and the men and women who work to uphold the law. Compelled to take action, Campbell provides a narrative that urges readers to discover the truth of what happened in 2016. Campbell served as a career special agent and special assistant to former FBI Director James Comey for over a decade before resigning in February 2018. As a national security expert for CNN, he analyzed developments in Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. Campbell also regularly contributes to The Washington Post, USA Today and The New York Times. His Times piece, “Why I Am Leaving the F.B.I.,” went viral after publication in early 2018. Come join us for a conversation with Josh Campbell, who will discuss the dangers of President Trump’s relentless attacks on the FBI and what it means for the future of national security.

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'Chosen Fam': Behind the Scenes of Panda Dulce's New Web Series Sep 27, 2019

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Join us for a discussion of "Chosen Fam," a new web series telling stores of queer people of color in the Bay Area. Kyle Casey Chu (aka Panda Dulce) is a Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) core queen who writes about race, power and desire. Her work has appeared on NPR, Vice, HuffPost, Fusion, MTV, NBC, and them. She has spoken and performed at SFMOMA, RuPaul's Drag Con, and universities across the United States. Most recently, she is the co-writer, lead actress and songwriter of the forthcoming QTPOC web series "Chosen Fam." Come for a free midday program, as Michelle Meow brings her long-running 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.

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The Education of Brett Kavanaugh - Marin Conversations Sep 27, 2019

Show notes

Last year’s Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh were dominated by allegations of sexual misconduct during Kavanaugh’s past, including during his prep school and college years. While Kavanaugh was ultimately sworn in for a lifetime position on the Supreme Court, many questions about his past remained unanswered. In the new book, The Education of Brett Kavanaugh, New York Times reporters Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly—two journalists who broke many critical stories about Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing—take a deeper look at the formative years of the Supreme Court justice and his confirmation. Their research fills in some of the blanks and explores the essential question: Who is Brett Kavanaugh? By offering commentary from key players from his confirmation process who haven't yet spoken publicly and pursuing lines of inquiry that were left hanging, the new book will be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand our political system and Kavanaugh's unexpectedly emblematic role in it. The authors are the perfect people to tell this story: Kate Kelly was in the same Washington, D.C. high school circuit as Kavanaugh, while Robin Pogrebin was one of his former classmates at Yale.

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The Unspeakable Mind: Stories of Trauma and Healing from the Frontlines of PTSD Science Sep 27, 2019

Show notes

Shaili Jain will share nuanced cartography of PTSD, a widely misunderstood yet crushing condition that afflicts millions of Americans. Jain's new book, The Unspeakable Mind, is the definitive guide for a trauma-burdened age. With profound empathy and meticulous research, Jain—a practicing psychiatrist and PTSD specialist at one of America’s top VA hospitals; trauma scientist at the National Center for PTSD; and a Stanford professor—shines a long overdue light on the PTSD epidemic affecting today’s fractured world. Post-traumatic stress disorder goes far beyond the horrors of war, and it is an inescapable part of all our lives. At any given moment, more than six million Americans are suffering with PTSD. Jain’s groundbreaking work demonstrates the ways this disorder cuts to the heart of life, interfering with one’s capacity to love, create and work—incapacity brought on by a complex interplay between biology, genetics and environment. Beyond the struggles of individuals, PTSD has a tangible imprint on cultures and societies around the world. MLF Organizer: Patty James MLF: Health & Medicine

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An Evening with George Takei Sep 25, 2019

Show notes

With an acting career spanning six decades, George Takei is known around the world for his founding role in the acclaimed television series “Star Trek,” in which he played Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the Starship Enterprise. But Takei's story goes where few stories have gone before. From a childhood spent with his family wrongfully imprisoned in Japanese American internment camps during World War II to becoming one of the country's leading figures in the fight for social justice, LGBTQ rights and marriage equality, Takei remains a powerful voice on issues ranging from politics to pop culture. Mashable.com named him the no. 1 most influential person on Facebook, currently with 10.4 million likes and 2.8 million followers on Twitter. Takei hosts the AARP-produced YouTube series “Takei's Take,” and is the subject of To Be Takei, a Jennifer M. Kroot documentary on his life and career. "Takei's Take" explores the world of technology, trends, current events and pop culture. On his own YouTube channel, Takei and his husband Brad Takei bring viewers into their personal life in the heightened reality web series, “It Takeis Two.” Takei made his Broadway debut in the musical, Allegiance, inspired by his true-life experience in American internment camps. Allegiance ran in New York in 2015 and 2016 and had its Los Angeles premiere in 2018. In his new graphic memoir, They Called Us Enemy, Takei revisits his haunted childhood in American concentration camps as one of 120,000 Japanese Americans imprisoned by the U.S. government during World War II. He details the forces that shaped him—and America itself—in a tale of courage, country, loyalty and love. Come for a rare visit with an American icon about his life, his activism and his ongoing mission to ensure that, at least on Earth, very few frontiers are final. This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.

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Daniel Handler's Bottle Grove Sep 25, 2019

Show notes

This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. Daniel Handler, best-selling author known for his adult novels and children’s books under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket, returns with a new dark comedy about his hometown of San Francisco. As Handler knows, San Francisco is a one-of-a-kind place, but it's leaving its residents behind. The city is flooded with tech money and innovation, but skyrocketing rents, income inequality, homelessness and other issues in the city have never been more urgent. Handler’s new novel, Bottle Grove, addresses love, greed and the precipice of change as two couples living in San Francisco deal with the effects of the tech boom looming over its citizens. Join us in welcoming Daniel Handler back to INFORUM and San Francisco this fall! NOTES Handler photo by Meredith Heuer

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Sacheen Littlefeather and Sivan Alyra Rose: Native Americans in Film and Media Sep 25, 2019

Show notes

Come for an intergenerational conversation on Native American representation in film and media from experienced Apache actress Sacheen Littlefeather to breakout Apache actress Sivan Alyra Rose. Sacheen is known for the protest at the Oscars, in which she represented Marlon Brando and raised attention about the Wounded Knee standoff, and Sivan for her role as the first Native American actress to lead a TV series—"Chambers" on Netflix. Both are known for utilizing their platforms for tribal rights and issues. This conversation will be moderated by Sarah Eagle Heart and Michelle Meow. This program made possible by support from New York Life Greater San Francisco General Office and One Bowl Productions ** This Podcast Contains Explicit Language **

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Documentary Filmmakers Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein: College Behind Bars Sep 23, 2019

Show notes

For 30 years, Lynn Novick has been directing and producing landmark documentary films about American culture, history, politics, sports, art and music. With co-director Ken Burns, she has created more than 80 hours of acclaimed programming for PBS, including The Vietnam War, Baseball, Jazz, Frank Lloyd Wright, The War and Prohibition. This duPont–Columbia and Peabody-Award winning filmmaker’s new documentary series, College Behind Bars, reveals the transformative power of higher education through the experiences of men and women trying to earn college degrees while incarcerated. Executive produced by Ken Burns and produced by Sarah Botstein, College Behind Bars is Novick’s solo directorial debut and will air November 25 and 26 on PBS stations. The four-hour series, distilled from nearly 400 hours of cinéma vérité footage, explores the lives of a dozen incarcerated men and women as they struggle to earn degrees in the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI), one of the most rigorous and effective prison education programs in the country. In this era of mass incarceration, America is the world’s largest jailer, with more than 2 million men and women behind bars; 630,000 are released annually, and nearly 50 percent end up back in prison within five years, trapped in a cycle of imprisonment, release and reincarceration. Once commonplace in American prisons, higher education declined precipitously after 1994, when Congress ended federal Pell Grants for inmates as part of the Clinton crime bill. In the nearly 20 years since BPI began, more than 500 alumni have been released, and fewer than four percent have gone back. The program currently enrolls 300 men and women in six prisons and costs $6,000 per student per year, most of it privately funded. Here’s a chance to get a preview of the series and hear a discussion with the filmmakers and formerly incarcerated BPI students featured in the film about the power of education to transform lives and benefit society at large. NOTES In association with KQED For a sneak peak of the series, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8ec3QpnaiU

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The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care—and How to Fix It Sep 20, 2019

Show notes

In 2018, health care became the United States’ largest industry, but some would say that its success came at the expense of the American people. Coverage is unaffordable for many, 20 percent of Americans have faced debt collection for medical bills, and care increasingly feels rushed and impersonal. How did we get here, and how can we recover? Professor, surgeon, patient advocate and New York Times best-selling author Marty Makary reports on the root causes of the cost crisis—inappropriate care, middlemen and pricing failures—and highlights the innovators that are disrupting the bloated $3.5 trillion health care business. Makary breaks down a complex industry riddled with opaque pricing and clinical and administrative waste and untangles the medical bills that are so confusing most doctors can’t interpret them. In his role as executive director of Improving Wisely, a national physician collaboration to reduce unnecessary medical care and lower health care costs, Makary sees both the devastation medical bills can cause and the vast opportunity to improve the system. He argues that by working together, we can cut through the money games and restore medicine to its mission.

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S.F. Giants Manager Bruce Bochy: A Final Season Salute Sep 19, 2019

Show notes

This year, Bruce Bochy announced that he would retire at the end of the season. As the 38th San Francisco Giants’ manager, serving in the role since 2006, Bochy has accumulated three World Series championships (2010, 2012 and 2014) and served as manager of four All-Star teams. His 975 wins are the second-most by a Giants manager in team history. His 24 seasons as a major league manager also include 12 with the San Diego Padres. Prior to his managing career, Bochy spent nearly a decade as a catcher with the Houston Astros, New York Mets and the Padres. He is also the subject of the new book Bochy Ball! The Chemistry of Winning and Losing in Baseball, Business, and Life. Come for a special salute to Bochy and a rare conversation with one of baseball’s most beloved and respected figures.

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