Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Latest Episodes:

A Conversation with Congresswoman Liz Cheney Aug 18, 2021

Show notes

Liz Cheney serves as Wyoming’s lone member of Congress in the U.S. House of Representatives. She was first elected in 2016, on a platform of restoring America’s strength and power in the world, and pursuing conservative solutions to create jobs, cut taxes and regulation as well as expand America’s energy, mining and agriculture industries.

She made national headlines earlier this year when she voted to impeach President Trump, saying he "provoked" the January 6 Capitol attack. She has also vowed to fight to keep President Trump out of office if he runs again and has challenged all assertions by Trump and his supporters that the 2020 election was fraudulent and stolen. This led to her removal as chair of the House Republican Conference, the third-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives. She was also recently appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to serve on the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. In a Washington Postopinion column published this past May, Rep. Cheney wrote, “the Republican Party is at a turning point, and Republicans must decide whether we are going to choose truth and fidelity to the Constitution. . . .History is watching. Our children are watching. We must be brave enough to defend the basic principles that underpin and protect our freedom and our democratic process. I am committed to doing that, no matter what the short-term political consequences might be."

Join us for a rare in-person and online conversation with congresswoman Cheney about the outlook for American democracy.

This program is part of The Commonwealth Club’s Future of Democracy Series, supported by Betsy and Roy Eisenhardt.

SPEAKERS

Liz Cheney

U.S. Congressional Representative (R-Wyoming)

In Conversation with Dan Ashley

Anchor, ABC 7 News, San Francisco Bay Area; 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 August 17th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Anne Nelson: Inside the Radical Right's Shadow Network Aug 18, 2021

Show notes

Established in 1981, the Council for National Policy has been the leading organization for wealthy, conservative decision makers to consolidate their power. This little-known coalition of elites is the strategic nerve center for fundraising money and mobilizing voters behind the scenes. Critics say that with its membership private and meetings held at an undisclosed location, the Council for National Policy has successfully made game plans and decisions steering the Republican Party in a process virtually unknown to the public. Award-winning author and media analyst Anne Nelson, however, is looking to demystify the elaborate organization.

In her new book Shadow Network, Nelson uncovers the key fundamentalists, oligarchs and allies that comprise the powerhouse of the Council for National Policy. She reveals stories about the Koch brothers, radical right-wing organizations, the decline of local journalism, the race for digital engagement, and the fight over the information war. As a research scholar at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, Nelson has focused her work on the role of digital media in aiding underserved populations through health, education and culture. Now, in a time of stark and growing threats to our most valued institutions and democratic freedoms, Nelson looks to illuminate the clouded history behind the political coalition.

Join us as Anne Nelson uncovers the conservative process that plays a significant role in shaping political outcomes today.

SPEAKERS

Anne Nelson

Journalist, Author, Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right

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 May 26th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Jeffrey Kluger: Holdout Aug 18, 2021

Show notes

Join us for a conversation between Jeffrey Kluger and astronaut Nicole Stott about Kluger's new novel Holdout, which tells the story of a principled astronaut who has to make a spilt-second decision to try to seek justice in the only place she knows how—the International Space Station. Watch life meet art, as Stott brings her experience to bear on Kluger's imagination.

Kluger's plot centers around Walli Beckwith, a model astronaut who graduated at the top of her class from the Naval Academy, had a successful career flying fighter jets, and has spent more than 300 days in space. So when she refuses to leave her post aboard the International Space Station following an accident that forces her fellow astronauts to evacuate, her American and Russian colleagues are mystified. For Walli, her decision is all too clear and terrifying to worry about ruining her career. She is stuck in a race against time to save a part of the world that has been forgotten, plus the life of the person she loves most. She will go to any length necessary, using the only tool she has, to accomplish what she knows is right.

MLF ORGANIZER

George Hammond

NOTES

MLF: Humanities

SPEAKERS

Jeffrey Kluger

Editor at Large, Time Magazine; Emmy Award-Winner, "A Year in Space" Web Series; Film Consultant and Actor, Apollo 13; Author, Holdout

In Conversation with Nicole Stott

NASA Astronaut, Including more than 100 days Aboard the International Space Station; Aquanaut; Founder, Space for Art Foundation

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.

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Jeremy Lent: The Web of Meaning Aug 18, 2021

Show notes

Jeremy Lent returns to The Commonwealth Club to discuss the ideas in his new book, which weaves together the latest scientific findings with age-old philosophical insights to show how some of our most ingrained beliefs about human nature and the world are mistaken.

Who am I? Why am I? How should I live? These are some of the oldest questions humans have grappled with. Our modern, high-tech society, having grown up in Darwins' shadow, assumes that humans are hardwired for selfishness, that we are separate from nature and so can exploit it, that we do best when left alone to pursue our own individual goals.

Lent argues that the latest scientific research begs to differ, and that those ingrained but faulty beliefs—which got started in the 17th century and have since been updated with ideas like the “selfish gene”—underlie the environmental and social unraveling now threatening our very survival. Lent not only challenges outmoded beliefs, he also invites us to consider a new way of thinking about ourselves and the world that is both intellectually sound and spiritually vibrant. He weaves together the latest research in neuroscience and evolutionary biology with Buddhist, Taoist, and Indigenous wisdom, and shows how these seemingly disparate streams of thought are not only eminently compatible, but are the key to facing the existential problems of the 21st century.

SPEAKERS

Jeremy Lent

Founder and President, The Liology Institute; Author, The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe

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 July 14th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Adam Serwer: The Cruelty Is the Point Aug 18, 2021

Show notes

The Atlantic's Adam Serwer's unique approach to writing—combining political analysis of current events with a strong grasp of the historical antecedents that made those events possible—made him an indispensable writer during the Trump years, particularly for those who disagreed with the politics and approach to governance taken by the 45th president of the United States. Serwer coined the phase "the cruelty is the point" to describe how the Trump administration had made cruelty not merely an unfortunate byproduct of its efforts but the central theme of the MAGA approach toward governance and American civic life.

Serwer's new book—a collection of new and old essays—explores the the Trump presidency, the volatile powers it harnessed, and the continuing impact it has on the country's politics and the Republican Party. With his unique approach, Serwer chronicles the Trump administration not as an aberration but as an outgrowth of the inequalities the United States was founded on. He charts he ideological and structural currents behind Trump’s rise and why he remains so potent today.

The new essays and previously published works in this book explore white nationalism, myths about migration, the political power of police unions, and the many faces of anti-Semitism. For all the issues he examines, cruelty is the glue, the binding agent of a movement fueled by fear and exclusion. Serwer argues that rather than pretending these four years didn’t happen or dismissing them as a brief moment of madness, we must face what made them possible.

Please join us for an important conversation on the legacy of the Trump administration and why Serwer believes we must continue to understand its role in American political life.

SPEAKERS

Adam Serwer

Staff Writer, The Atlantic; Author, The Cruelty Is the Point: The Past, Present and Future of Trump's America

In Conversation with Errin Haines

Editor at Large, Founding Mother, The 19th; Contributor, MSNBC

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 20th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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CNN's Peter Bergen: The Rise, Fall, and Impact of Osama Bin Laden Aug 18, 2021

Show notes

As we approach the 20th anniversary of 9/11, what is the lasting influence of Osama bin Laden? CNN national security analyst and New America Vice President for Global Studies Peter Bergen has been called the world's leading expert on bin Laden. In his new book, The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden, Bergen provides the first reevaluation of the man responsible for precipitating America’s long wars with al-Qaeda and its descendants, capturing bin Laden in all the dimensions of his life: as a family man, as a zealot, as a battlefield commander, as a terrorist leader, and as a fugitive.

Thanks to exclusive interviews with family members and associates, and documents unearthed only recently, Bergen’s portrait of bin Laden reveals for the first time who he really was and why he continues to inspire a new generation of jihadists.

Join a fascinating conversation about the man who set the course of American foreign policy for the 21st century and whose ideological heirs the U.S. continues to battle today.

SPEAKERS

Peter Bergen

Journalist; Documentary Producer; CNN National Security Analyst; Vice president for Global studies & Fellow, New America; Author, The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden

In Conversation with Brian Fishman

Director, Counterterrorism and Dangerous Organizations, Facebook; Former Researcher, New America; Former Director of Research, Combatting Terrorism Center at West Point

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 9th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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India, COVID-19 and the Transgender Community Aug 17, 2021

Show notes

Worldwide attention turned to India recently following widespread reports about the devastating toll the COVID-19 pandemic was taking there. Join us for a discussion of India, COVID-19, and how the transgender community mobilized globally to save lives.

Our special guest are with Parivar: Celebrating 3 years of ParivarBayArea, the only trans-led South Asian queer trans organization in America. Learn of the struggles, erasure faced by South Asian Queer Trans intersectionality and in continuing to build critical programming, including COVID relief efforts globally.

SPEAKERS

Rachana Mudraboyina

Chair, #SITAL (SaveIndianTransALLINDIALives) Project; Director, Human Rights Law Network

Anjali Rimi

Founder and President, Parivar Bay Area

Devesh Radhakrishnan

Member, Parivar's Advisory Committee; Facilitator, Roobaroo

Michelle Meow

Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW/KPIX and Podcast; Member, The Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Co-host

John Zipperer

Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club of California—Co-host

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Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination Aug 17, 2021

Show notes

Flawed. Furtive. Facebook. In the nearly two decades of the social media platform’s existence, it has both soared into worldwide popularity and plummeted into the depths of conspiracy peddling and hate-mongering. Is this the fate of any globally devoured site, or is it due to miscalculations in programming, or is it the consequence of decisions made at the top by the site’s infamous leaders?

Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang, authors of the book An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination, argue that Facebook is doing exactly what it was created to do. From abusing user data and empowering political corruption to creating echo chambers of misinformation, they say Facebook is in the midst of a reckoning—and Frenkel and Kang are in front row seats. Their work, built on intimate connections to the industry and insiders, is a call for accountability from the site’s two mogul leaders who have time and time again shown their willingness to turn a blind eye.

At INFORUM Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang will disentangle the many narratives that shroud Facebook and its leaders in mystery. By unpacking the years of manipulation they say Facebook has baked into its platform, they argue that there’s no time like the present to understand the pitfalls the behemoth succumbed to and to prevent history from repeating itself.

SPEAKERS

Sheera Frenkel

Cybersecurity Correspondent, The New York Times; Co-author, An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination

Cecilia Kang

Technology and Regulatory Policy Correspondent, The New York Times; Co-author, An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination

Emily Chang

Anchor and Executive Producer, Bloomberg Technology; Author, Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley

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 4th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Pixar Co-Founder Alvy Ray Smith: The History of the Pixel Aug 15, 2021

Show notes

The pixel, the smallest element of a picture, has, with little fanfare, helped push forward the digital revolution to new heights over the past 2 decades. Today, nearly every picture in the world is composed of pixels—cell phone pictures, app interfaces, Mars Rover transmissions, book illustrations, video games—and these digital images drive our understanding of the world around us. But where did pixels come from, and why are they so important? Alvy Ray Smith, the co-founder of Pixar, has a some answers to these increasingly important questions.

In his his timely book A Biography of the Pixel, Ray Smith notes that the pixel is the organizing principle of most modern media. Smith's story of the pixel's development—which touches upon technology, entertainment, business and history—begins with Fourier waves, proceeds through Turing machines and ends with the first digital movies from Pixar.

For anyone who has watched a video on a cell phone, played a video game, or streamed a television show or movie at home, this important discussion with one of digital media's pioneers who made it all possible is not to be missed.

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House Select Committee Member Zoe Lofgren: A Conversation About the January 6th Attack Aug 13, 2021

Show notes

Join an important discussion with this veteran congresswoman about her role on the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack and its potential impact, as well as the state of the country and our democracy, the possibilities for bipartisan legislation, and how to handle such crucial issues as the pandemic variants, the economy, gun violence and immigration.

Zoe Lofgren has been a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 1995, representing the 19th District of California, encompassing San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley. She currently serves on the House Judiciary Committee, and the House Science, Space and Technology Committee and is a former law professor.

Representative Lofgren has most recently been appointed to the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol and has said her goal is to "uncover the truth, protect our democracy, and ensure that such an attack will never happen again.”

SPEAKERS

Zoe Lofgren

U.S. Representative, California's 19th Congressional District

Dr. Gloria Duffy

President and CEO, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderato

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