Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

In March 1938, German soldiers, under Hitler's orders, crossed the border and absorbed Austria into the Third Reich. Anticipating these events, many Jews had fled Austria, but the most famous Austrian Jew remained in Vienna, where he had lived since early childhood. Sigmund Freud was 81 years old, ill with cancer, and still unconvinced that his life was in danger.

But those close to Freud thought otherwise and began a coordinated effort to persuade Freud to leave Vienna before it was too late. The persuaders included Freud’s devoted youngest daughter Anna, his personal doctor, a Welsh physician, an American ambassador, and Napoleon’s great-grandniece.

Join us as Andrew Nagorski shares how this remarkable collection of people succeeded in coaxing Freud out of his deep state of denial, allowing them both to extricate Freud and his family from Austria and to arrange for Freud to live out the remaining 16 months of his life in freedom in London.

MLF ORGANIZER

George Hammond

NOTES

A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. 

This program is part of The Commonwealth Club's Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.

SPEAKERS

Andrew Nagorski

Former Bureau Chief (Hong Kong, Moscow, Rome, Bonn, Warsaw, and Berlin), Newsweek; Author, Saving Freud: The Rescuers Who Brought Him to Freedom

In Conversation with George Hammond

Author, Conversations With Socrates

We are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on February 7th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Over the past two years, Rhode Island congressman David N. Cicilline has become an outspoken voice on some of the most critical issues facing the country and the Bay Area, including regulating and reining in big social media companies, reducing gun violence, and promoting economic development. As chair of the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus, Rep. Cicilline is leading efforts to promote equality for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Thrust into the national spotlight during the second impeachment of President Trump, Cicilline is increasingly concerned about America's democracy and the threats to it from within the country and on Capitol Hill itself. He believes in an extensive response that spans both citizen opposition and potent political reforms, including an end to the Senate filibuster, discarding the Electoral College, expanding the Supreme Court, and requiring that justices adhere to a code of ethics. He outlines some of these thoughts in his new book, House on Fire: Fighting for Democracy in the Age of Political Arson. In it, Cicilline spares no one from criticism as he argues for a politics that produces results and warns that without it, America could slip into being a country we no longer recognize. 

Please join us to hear a rising force in Democratic politics on fighting for what matters.

SPEAKERS

Rep. David N. Cicilline

(D–RI 1st District), Member, U.S. House of Representatives; Author, House on Fire: Fighting for Democracy in the Age of Political Arson; Twitter @RepCicilline

In Conversation with Mark Follman

National Affairs Editor, Mother Jones; Twitter @markfollman

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded Live on September 7th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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In this second part of our series on conspiracy theories and other false narratives, we'll look at practical actions we can take and tools we can use to have fruitful discussions with friends and family who have been misled.

There are ways that we can help untangle the snare of a mind-gripping false narrative. They're usually not easy, and they're usually not fast, but they can work in most cases. To help us learn how, Dr. Lee McIntyre, author of How to Talk to a Science Denier, will provide detailed recommendations for countering science denial and other false narratives in one-on-one discussions with friends and family. And be sure to look for the next event in this series, which will discuss actions society can take to defend itself.

MLF ORGANIZER

Eric Siegel

SPEAKERS

Lee McIntyre

Ph.D., Research Fellow, Center for Philosophy and History of Science, Boston University, Former Executive Director, Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University; Author, How To Talk To A Science Denier and Post-Truth

Eric Siegel

Chair, Personal Growth Member-led Forum, The 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 6th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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In the tech world, there’s a common belief that once a new device hits 5% market penetration, it rapidly goes from a niche to mass adoption. According to Bloomberg, the US has just passed that critical 5% tipping point for new EV purchases. Norway, an oil-rich country, was first to hit that 5% mark in 2013 and today boasts a stunning 86% of new cars being fully electric. Now California is driving the US along a similar road away from gasoline and diesel by passing a new law that will only allow emission free vehicles to be sold by 2035. Even with that California law, how confident can we be that all new American cars will be running clean? What does the 5% tipping point mean for other clean tech adoption? 

Guests:

Albert Cheung, Head of Global Analysis, BloombergNEF

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Why does a lie travel around the world while the truth is still lacing up its boots? In all areas, not just politics, science, and medicine, outrageous or fascinating false information outpaces truth, which is often more nuanced. False narratives pose a real danger to democracy, to our health, and to society. This series will discuss the reasons for that destructive state of affairs and what we can do about it, as individuals and as a society.

In this first part of our series, Dr. Joe Pierre, health sciences clinical professor at UCLA and specialist in delusional thinking and conspiracy theories, will discuss the age-old psychological reasons that conspiracy theories and other false narratives have been successful throughout human history. He will also look at how false narratives have been noticeably empowered and accelerated during the past few years by COVID isolation and modern technologies, among other factors.

Also look for the next events in this series, which will use the insights from this event to discuss how we can reach out to a friend who has become ensnared in a conspiracy theory, and actions we can take as individuals and as a society.MLF ORGANIZER

Eric Siegel

Note: This program contains EXPLICIT language

SPEAKERS

Joe Pierre

M.D., Health Sciences Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA. Author; Expert Witness; Legal Consultant 

Eric Siegel

Chair, Personal Growth Member-led Forum, The 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 live on September 1st, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Most Americans support climate action, but you wouldn’t know it from Congress or the courts – or from most of the media. People on both the left and the right experience the same devastating floods, the same life-threatening heatwaves and the same catastrophic wildfires. Yet individuals tend to socialize within insulated political tribes, operate in completely different information bubbles and see the problems and solutions through different lenses. How can we learn to bridge ideological divides, develop trust, and find the common ground needed to rebuild respectful civil discourse?

Guests:

Chloe Maxmin, Maine State Senator

Joan Blades, Co-founder, LivingRoomConversations.org

John Gables, Co-founder, AllSides.com

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Join us online for a discussion and reading of Gods of Want: Stories, with author K-Ming Chang. Chang's new book features fictional short stories of a Taiwanese American family exploring displacement, queerness and more.

Chang is a Kundiman fellow, a Lambda Literary Award finalist, and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree. She is also the author of the novel Bestiary, which was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the PEN/Faulker Award, and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Chang has taught classes for Kundiman, Catapult, Lambda Literary Writers’ Retreat, Miami Book Fair, Pacific Northwest College of the Arts’ Low-Residency MFA Program, Kweli International Literary Festival, Literary Arts at Featherstone, Sevilla Writers House, Flash Fiction Festival (Literary Cleveland), Ellipses Writing, Vassar College Critical Ethnic Studies Conference, Youth Empowerment Program at MinKwon, and elsewhere.

NOTES

This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.

SPEAKERS

K-Ming Chang

Author, Gods of Want: Stories and Bestiary

Michelle Meow

Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, 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

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 25th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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With less than three months before the November election (and even less time before people start mailing in their ballots), come out to the Club for a lively political discussion of the big issues and key races in the fall contest for Congress.

Will Republicans capture both houses of Congress? Or will Democrats hold onto the Senate? What are the issues that will drive people to the polls, the candidates in key races, and the voter trends that will determine the outcome?

Find out with lively and informed commentary from our panelists. We'll also take a look at significant races in California and the Bay Area.

SPEAKERS

Mark Z. Barabak

Political Columnist, Los Angeles Times; Twitter @markzbarabak

Dr. Larry Gerston

Political Science Professor Emeritus, San Jose State University; NBC Bay Area Political Analyst; Author, California's Recall Election of Gavin Newsom: COVID-19 and the Test of Leadership; Twitter @lgerston

Carla Marinucci

Political Journalist; Twitter @cmarinucci

John Zipperer

Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club of California—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 August 24th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused horrific damage and casualties, in spite of Ukraine’s remarkable efforts to defend itself. The conflict has disrupted energy markets, grain shipments and is still destabilizing the global economy. All of this has shoved climate further down the list of international priorities, as has happened so many times before. 

Yet within conflict zones, many brave individuals and organizations work every day to stave off the even greater threat of climate catastrophe. We talk with climate activists in Ukraine and the Middle East about the realities of operating environmental organizations in conflict zones, and how to balance immediate needs with working toward a better future.

Guests:

Roman Zinchenko, Co-Founder, Greencubator

Nada Majdalani, Palestine Director, EcoPeace Middle East

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In the early 1970s, a 20-year-old Korean immigrant named Chol Soo Lee was convicted of a Chinatown gang murder. Sentenced to life, he spent years fighting to survive, until investigative journalist K.W. Lee took a special interest in his case, igniting an unprecedented social justice movement that would unite Asian Americans and inspire a new generation of activists.

Nearly five decades later, the new documentary Free Chol Soo Lee examines this largely unknown yet important history, presenting an intimate portrait of the complex man at its center and serving as an urgent reminder of his legacy.

Join us for a free online conversation with Julie Ha and Eugene Yi, the co-directors of Free Chol Soo Lee.

SPEAKERS

Julie Ha

Co-director, Free Chol Soo Lee

Eugene Yi

Co-director, Free Chol Soo Lee

Michelle Meow

Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, 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

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 18th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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