Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Latest Episodes:

George Hammond: Who Are We? Mar 12, 2024

Show notes

Who 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 ourselves on with them, why we have scared ourselves silly with them, and even how they explain away for us our otherwise embarrassing attraction to cruelty.

MLF ORGANIZER: George Hammond

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Richard Schwartz: Berkeley 1900―Daily Life at the Turn of the Century Mar 11, 2024

Show notes

Local 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

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Barbara McQuade: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America Mar 09, 2024

Show notes

The 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 scholar and analyst McQuade will join us to explain how to identify the ways disinformation is seeping into all facets of our society and how we can fight against it. She examines what she calls the "authoritarian playbook"—a history of disinformation from Mussolini and Hitler to Bolsonaro and Trump—and chronicles the ways in which authoritarians have used disinformation to seize and retain power. She reviews disinformation tactics, such as demonizing the other, seducing with nostalgia, silencing critics, muzzling the media, condemning the courts, and stoking violence, and she explains why they work.

Is America particularly vulnerable to disinformation? Does it exploit our First Amendment Freedoms? What can be done to fight it and its effects?

Don't miss this timely exploration of one of the most important forces in the world today.

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CLIMATE ONE: How Activism Can Win Bigger and Faster with Kumi Naidoo Mar 08, 2024

Show notes

Kumi 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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For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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Michael Gerhardt: The Laws of Presidential Impeachment Mar 08, 2024

Show notes

President 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 impeachment, arguing that it cannot be properly understood in a vacuum, but must instead be viewed in the context of its coordination with such other mechanisms as criminal prosecutions, censure, elections, congressional oversight, and the Fourteenth and Twenty-Fifth Amendments.

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Charles Duhigg: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection Mar 07, 2024

Show notes

Come 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 beliefs that color so much of what we say and how we listen. He says that our experiences, our values, our emotional lives—and how we see ourselves and others—shape every discussion, from who will pick up the kids to how we want to be treated at work. Learn why some people are able to make themselves heard, and to hear others, so clearly.

From the writers’ room of "The Big Bang Theory" to the couches of leading marriage counselors, Duhigg will show how to recognize these three conversations—and teach the tips and skills needed to navigate them more successfully.

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Mayor London Breed: The State of San Francisco Mar 06, 2024

Show notes

San 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.

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'Island in Between': Taiwan Film Screening and Discussion Mar 05, 2024

Show notes

The 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.

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Oakland Forum: How Leaders Are Building Communities in Oakland Mar 04, 2024

Show notes

Join 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 in life science, medical devices, IOT, clean technology and renewal and alternative energy.

Joe Hawkins is a noted Oakland-based community organizer, LGBTQ advocate, nonprofit executive, event producer, and social entrepreneur. Hawkins first came to national prominence as one of the first gay men to ever appear as a guest on the iconic Oprah Winfrey talk show during the early 90's, defending his right to parent his son as an out gay man. He is a co-founder and former co-chair of Oakland Pride and was voted Grand Marshall of both the San Francisco and Oakland Pride Parades. He worked as a founding program member and CEO of OpNet Community Ventures, one of America's first high-tech training programs, launched in 1995, for low income youth and youth of color in San Francisco. Hawkins was regional director for Innovative Housing, a shared housing nonprofit for low-income families and individuals in Marin County. He worked as the director of administration at AIDS Project of the East Bay (APEB), served on the Ryan White Planning Council and was a founding organizer of the East Bay AIDS Walk. In 2017, Joe co-founded and is the CEO of the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center.

See more Michelle Meow Show programs at The Commonwealth Club of California.

Produced in partnership with Fluid 510.

THIS PROGRAM CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT.

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On the Road to Freedom: Through the Eyes of Young Leaders Mar 03, 2024

Show notes

Join 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.

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