Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Chris Wallace: The Hunt for Osama bin Laden Sep 20, 2021

Show notes

On August 27, 2010, three CIA officers met with then-CIA Director Leon Panetta. Their secret session revealed a courier with deep Al Qaeda ties who had been tracked to a three-story, heavily protected fortress at the end of a dead end street in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Without ever having to say the name bin Laden, there exists a mutual understanding that finally, after nearly a decade, they may have just found the world’s most wanted man.

In Countdown bin Laden, celebrated journalist and anchor of "Fox News Sunday" Chris Wallace delivers a thrilling account of the final 8 months of intelligence gathering, national security strategizing, and meticulous military planning that leads to the climactic mission when SEAL Team Six closes in on its target. Wallace reveals new information collected from in-depth interviews with more than a dozen central figures—including Leon Panetta, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and the special operator who killed bin Laden. Personal accounts from families who fell victim to 9/11 and relatives of SEAL Team Six are brought to life in Wallace’s narrative, published on the 20th anniversary of the most consequential terrorist attack in American history.

Join us as Chris Wallace brings us fresh reporting about the race to apprehend and bring to justice the architect of 9/11.

SPEAKERS

Chris Wallace

Anchor, "Fox News Sunday"; Author, Countdown bin Laden: The Untold Story of the 247-Day Hunt to Bring the Mastermind of 9/11 to Justice

In Conversation with Kirk Hanson

Senior Fellow and Former Executive Director, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University

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 14th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Thomas Wright: Pandemic Politics and the End of the Old International Order Sep 20, 2021

Show notes

The COVID-19 pandemic has killed millions, infected hundreds of millions, and laid bare the deep vulnerabilities and inequalities of our interconnected world. The ensuing economic collapse was the worst since the Great Depression, undoing more than two decades of progress in reducing extreme poverty. Tensions between the United States and China boiled over, and the worldwide contest between democracy and authoritarianism deepened. At a time when this global crisis required a truly collective response, international cooperation had almost entirely broken down, with key world leaders hardly on speaking terms.

In Thomas Wright and Colin Kahl’s Aftershocks: Pandemic Politics and the End of the Old International Order, the two national security experts offer a definitive account of the global impact of COVID-19, the political shock waves it will have on the United States, and myriad ways in which the crisis exposed the limitations of the old world order. This comprehensive account of the year 2020 draws on interviews with officials around the world and extensive research to tell the story of how nationalism and major power rivalries constrained the response to the worst pandemic in a century.

Co-author Thomas Wright is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a contributing writer at The Atlantic. He has written several extensively researched pieces analyzing Donald Trump’s foreign policy.

Join us as Thomas Wright delves into his latest analysis of one of the strangest and most consequential years on record.

SPEAKERS

Thomas Wright

Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution; Co-author, Aftershocks: Pandemic Politics and the End of the Old International Order

In Conversation with Edward Luce

Associate Editor, Financial Times

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 13th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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The Secret Body: How the New Science of the Human Body Is Changing the Way We Live Sep 20, 2021

Show notes

In a revolutionary new vision of human biology and the scientific breakthroughs that will transform our lives. Professor Daniel M. Davis shows how radical new possibilities are becoming realities thanks to the visionary efforts of scientists who are revealing the invisible and secret universe within each of us.

Focusing on six important frontiers, Davis describes what we are learning about cells, the development of the fetus, the body's immune system, the brain, the microbiome, and the genome — areas of human biology that are usually understood in isolation. Bringing them together, Davis offers a new vision of the human body as a biological wonder of dizzying complexity and possibility.

SPEAKERS

Daniel M. Davis

Ph.D., Professor of Immunology, University of Manchester (UK); Author, The Secret Body. How the New Science of The Human Body Is Changing the Way We Live; The Beautiful Cure and The Compatibility Gene

Robert Lee Kilpatrick

Ph.D., Chair, Health & Medicine Member-Led Forum, 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 September 17th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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CLIMATE ONE: Diet for a Threatened Planet Sep 17, 2021

Show notes

This September marks the 50th anniversary of the seminal work Diet for a Small Planet, in which Frances Moore Lappé argued that cattle constitute “a protein factory in reverse.” Lappé’s book inspired countless people to adopt vegetarian diets for environmental reasons.

But in the last 50 years the industrial food systems in America have only grown bigger and more concentrated, and – as the Lappés would argue – more powerful. Together with her daughter Anna Lappé, author of Diet for a Hot Planet, the two now focus on the intersections between democracy, environment, food, and justice.

“It's really important that we understand that in order to change our food environment, we need to really work to get money out of politics, and we really need to work on how to take on that kind of consolidated power in the industry,” Anna Lappé says.

Guests:

Frances Moore Lappé, author, Diet for a Small Planet

Anna Lappé, author, Diet for a Hot Planet

Analena Hope Hassberg, Associate Professor, Ethnic and Women's Studies Department, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Ruth Richardson, Executive Director, Global Alliance for the Future of Food

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Drug Use, the Pandemic, and LGBTQ People Sep 16, 2021

Show notes

COVID-19 has disrupted many of our lives, with impacts ranging from job loss to housing changes, physical health issues to mental health challenges. At the same time, drug use has increased since the pandemic first struck and has deeply affected many LGBTQ people.

Join us for an important discussion on the impact of drugs and the search for healthy ways of coping with the pandemic and life's other challenges.

SPEAKERS

Kristen Marshall

Associate Director of San Francisco Programs, National Harm Reduction Coalition

Wayne Rafus

Manager of Contingency Management, 6th Street Harm Reduction Center

Sister Roma

Member, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence; Entertainer; Activist

Juniper Yun

Artist, Director of Cultural Affairs, The Transgender District in San Francisco

Michelle Meow

Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors; Twitter @msmichellemeow—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 September 9th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Craig Whitlock: Inside the War in Afghanistan Sep 16, 2021

Show notes

Unlike the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan had near-unanimous public support at the time. Their goals were straightforward: defeat Al-Qaeda and prevent a repeat of 9/11. But after the Taliban was ousted from power, U.S. officials lost sight of their original objectives as the military became mired in an unwinnable guerrilla conflict in a country it did not understand.

Washington Post reporter Craig Whitlock brings us The Afghanistan Papers, which, similarly to the Pentagon Papers after Vietnam, contains startling revelations from people who played a direct role in the war, certain to change the public’s understanding of the conflict. From leaders in the White House and Pentagon to soldiers and aid workers on the front lines, many are candidly admitting that the U.S. government’s strategies were a mess, that the nation-building project was a colossal failure, and that drugs and corruption gained a stronghold over their allies in the Afghan government. Whitlock’s account is based on interviews with more than 1,000 people who knew that the U.S. government was presenting a distorted, and sometimes entirely fabricated, version of the facts on the ground—all upheld by three presidents unwilling to admit failure.

Join us for this timely event with Craig Whitlock as he reveals the alarming truth behind the longest war in American history, forcing us to reckon with what went so horribly wrong in Afghanistan.

SPEAKERS

Craig Whitlock

Investigative Reporter, The Washington Post; Author The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War

In Conversation with Mitch Jeserich

Host, "Letters and Politics," KPFA Radio

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 8th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Renewal: From Crisis to Transformation with Anne-Marie Slaughter Sep 15, 2021

Show notes

Americans today face a deeply divided nation beset with political dysfunction. It is here in the United States where identity is questioned, equality is fought for, and history is debated. How can we face the past and simultaneously envision a new future? In her new book Renewal, lawyer and foreign policy analyst Anne-Marie Slaughter encourages self-reflection and growth to change the way individuals and institutions lead and learn.

Slaughter’s years of government service, particularly as the former director of policy planning for the U.S. Department of State, has prepared her for understanding how identity and values shape the crisis America now faces. Through personal reflections and insights on the latest research in the social sciences, Slaughter will explain how to understand how our country must accept its past, renew, and face the future. Renewal highlights a story of crisis and change that can help us find renewed honesty and purpose in our personal and political lives.

Join us as Anne-Marie Slaughter offers honesty and hope in this essential reading for change makers of tomorrow.

SPEAKERS

Anne-Marie Slaughter

CEO, New America; Author, Renewal: From Crisis to Transformation in Our Lives, Work, and Politics

In Conversation with Lenny Mendonca

Former Chief Economic and Business Advisor, State of California; Director Emeritus, McKinsey & Company

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The 20th Anniversary of 9/11 and the Homeland Today: With Janet Napolitano, Anthony Romero and Amy Zegart Sep 15, 2021

Show notes

As the country reflects on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, join us for a special 90-minute conversation focused on the state of homeland security today and looking ahead. Homeland security is a term that has evolved over the past two decades since the deadly terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. At first, it was a subject primarily focused on protecting the country from international terrorism, including Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda, then ISIS, as well as affiliated terrorist organizations. Over the past several years and culminating on January 6 earlier this year, the phrase has also expanded to include domestic extremism and threats from within the United States.

A high-level panel featuring former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napoliano, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow and cybersecurity expert Dr. Amy Zegart will discuss a range of issues related to homeland security, including civil liberties and technology. The program will explore our changing understanding of homeland security, what we have learned about keeping the country safe over the past 20 years, and what the trade-offs have been for the country’s citizens and the country itself.

SPEAKERS

Janet Napolitano

Professor of Public Policy, Director of the Center for Security in Politics, and Former President, University of California; U.S Homeland Security Secretary Under President Obama; Former Governor, Arizona

Anthony Romero

Executive Director, American Civil Liberties Union

Amy Zegart

Sr. Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies; Morris Arnold & Nona Jean Cox Sr. Fellow, Hoover Institution; Professor, by courtesy, of Political Science, Stanford University; Author, Spies, Lies, and Algorithms (forthcoming)

Dina Temple-Raston

Senior Correspondent, The Record by Recorded Future; Former National Security & Investigations Correspondent, National Public Radio—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 September 10th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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The Future of California Tourism in Challenging Times Sep 15, 2021

Show notes

Travel and tourism make up one of California’s most important and powerful industries. Every day before the pandemic of 2020, travelers injected hundreds of millions of dollars into communities across the Golden State, infusing hundreds of billions of dollars into the state’s economy. In 2019, this spending generated $12.2 billion in local and state tax revenue and supported 1.2 million jobs for Californians.

That all changed when the pandemic spread in March 2020, and the tourism industry largely shut down, hitting cities like San Francisco particularly hard. The industry recovery began to take shape earlier in 2021. However, just as the pandemic was receding and the tourism economy was starting to recover, the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus has again negatively impacted the tourism economy, slowing chances of a full recovery any time soon and raising questions about the future of the industry and, most important, the workers who rely on it for employment. These issues are particularly challenging in the Bay Area, as it is significantly impacted by shifts in tourism to San Francisco.

As one of the most challenging periods in the state's tourism history continues, we are pleased to be joined by two of the state's top tourism leaders, as well as tourism workers directly impacted by the changes brought about by the pandemic, to discuss the future of the industry in the fifth-largest economy in the world, The discussion will touch upon why the tourism economy is so important to the California economy, why travel and tourism is so significant to all Californians, and what we all can do to support the industry and its workers during this challenging time.

NOTES

This program is funded by a grant from The California Wellness Foundation (Cal Wellness). The foundation’s mission is to improve the health of Californians. Cal Wellness is dedicated to promoting equity through advocacy and access.

SPEAKERS

Caroline Beteta

President & CEO, Visit California

Joe D'Alessandro

President and CEO, SF Travel

Daniela Puccinelli

Director of Event Management, The Westin St. Francis San Francisco on Union Square

Spud Hilton

Former Travel Editor, San Francisco Chronicle; Editor, Where Traveler Magazine, San Francisco Bay Area Edition

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CLIMATE ONE: Water and Civilization: Resilience and Collapse Sep 10, 2021

Show notes

Water is essential for life, and throughout history we have sought to control and make use of it. As Giulio Boccaletti explores in his new book, Water: A Biography, that relationship with water has underpinned human civilization, forming an integral part of society, government and land use systems. But despite its essential nature, access to water has never been equal or entirely fair.

Climate disruption will further destabilize the systems we’ve built to control water in our environment – even as it remains a public good without fair and equal public access. What can 10,000 years of history teach us about how we should handle water in our current and future climate?

Guests:

Giulio Boccaletti, Author, Water: A Biography

Sara Aminzadeh, Vice President of Partnerships, U.S. Water Alliance

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