Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Over the past several years, the United States has seemingly become a country divided by facts, "alternative facts," fake news, conspiracy theories and a “cancel culture” fueled by information and disinformation circulating on various social media platforms. Yet while the debate over truth seems to have reached a fevered and dangerous pitch since the disputed presidential election, this battle of what constitutes a factual idea is nothing new, according to well-known political scholar and writer Jonathan Rauch.

In Rauch's new book The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth, a senior fellow in the Brookings Institution's Governance Studies program and a contributing writer to The Atlantic makes an impassioned defense of truth for a country often divided, and he notes that the war on reality has existed in the United States since its founding. Rauch's new book is an ambitious investigation into many of the country's biggest social disputes, from rampant lying, propaganda and disinformation; online outrage culture, and trolling, to cancel/callout culture, campus safe spaces, postmodernism and grievance studies; as well as attacks on science and expertise. Rauch weaves these many threads into a larger theory of what is being attacked and, importantly, how to defend it.

Anyone following today's most divisive political disputes won't want to miss this important conversation about the importance of reason in an age of illiberalism.

SPEAKERS

Jonathan Rauch

Senior Fellow, Governance Studies Program, Brookings Institution; Author, The Constitution of Knowledge: In Defense of Truth

Bruce E. Cain

Spence and Cleone Eccles Family Director, The Bill Lane Center for American West; Charles Louis Ducommun Professor in Humanities and Sciences, Professor of Political Science, Stanford 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 June 29th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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The United Nations is built on principles of peacekeeping and human rights, and where leaders work to create a sustainable, equitable world. UN leaders, however, are always meeting challenges in their work; as human problems become more complex, so does the work of the organization.

Ban Ki-moon knows these issues firsthand. He served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations from 2007–2016, and he took strong positions on global warming, peacekeeping and human rights. In his new book Resolved: Uniting Nations in a Divided World, Ban Ki-moon recounts his own experiences in a war-torn nation, the lifesaving generosity from the United Nations, and the challenges he faced as a diplomat in the intergovernmental institution.

Even when facing resistance, he bravely steered the United Nations through a volatile period that included the Arab Spring, nuclear pursuits in Iran and North Korea, the Ebola epidemic, and brutal new conflicts in Central Africa. He describes his role as “the most impossible job on Earth”—but with a strong belief in collective action and global transformation, he persevered.

Join us as Ban Ki-moon candidly assesses the integral parts of the United Nations and offers a bracing analysis of what lies ahead.

SPEAKERS

Ban Ki-moon

Secretary-General of the United Nations (2007-2016); Author, Resolved: Uniting Nations in a Divided World

In Conversation with Mina Kim

Host, “Forum” on KQED; Twitter @mkimreporter

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 June 22nd, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Health-care expert Andy Slavitt has spent his career advocating for the American people through affordable and accessible health care. In 2015, he was nominated by President Barack Obama to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In early 2020, when COVID-19 infections began to appear across the United States, Slavitt was one of the first critics of President Donald Trump’s lack of response to the oncoming pandemic. His new book, Preventable: The Inside Story of How Leadership Failures, Politics, and Selfishness Doomed the U.S. Coronavirus Response, provides a definitive inside account of the United States' failed response to the pandemic.

Slavitt describes the fateful decisions that were made in an attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus and the failures of political leaders to keep Americans healthy. The story he tells is one of a country where bad leadership, political and cultural fractures, and an unwillingness to sustain sacrifice created a complex problem that proved near-impossible to resolve.

Join us as leading health-care advisor Andy Slavitt describes what went wrong in America’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and puts forth the solutions that will prevent us from repeating the situation.

SPEAKERS

Andy Slavitt

Former White House Senior Advisor for COVID Response; Host, “In the Bubble” Podcast; Author, Preventable: The Inside Story of How Leadership Failures, Politics, and Selfishness Doomed the U.S. Coronavirus Response; Twitter @ASlavitt

In Conversation with Dr. Atul Gawande

Endocrine Surgeon, Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Professor, Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Twitter @Atul_Gawande

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 June 22nd, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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In light of President Joe Biden's controversial announcement of his intention to end America's "never ending war" on the 20th anniversary of the 9/ll attacks, our distinguished panel will discuss the past, present and possible promise and complications of ending our longest war in a most troubled region.

One of the most concerning results could be ending hard-won women's rights and opportunities. Atta Arghandiwal was an Afghan refugee , a U.S. banker. a consultant in Afghanistan and dedicated to helping refugees there and everywhere. Humaira Ghilzai, a writer, speaker and women’s advocate, co-founded the Afghan Friends Network and instituted the Sister City relationship between Hayward, CA and Ghazni, Afghanistan.

MLF ORGANIZER

Celia Menczel

NOTES

MLF: Middle East

Speakers

Atta Arghandiwal

Humanitarian; Author, The Self-Sufficient Global Citizen

Humaira Ghilzai

Writer; Speaker; Women’s Advocate; Co-Founder, Afghan Friends Network

Banafsheh Keynoush

Ph.D., Vice Chair, Commonwealth Club Middle East Member-Led Forum—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 June 22nd, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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For over two decades, carbon offset programs have promised individuals and businesses that they can reduce their overall carbon footprint by paying someone else to reduce their carbon emissions. Yet many programs have been plagued by scandal – like shady accounting and paying forest owners not to cut down trees they weren’t planning to log anyway. 

A new nonprofit called Climate Vault wants to buy emissions permits from regulated markets and lock them away so other polluters can’t buy and use them. Will this finally be an approach that works? Or are all carbon offset programs just smoke and mirrors?

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Join us for a discussion of LGBTQIA issues and the impacts on the mental health of our youth who navigated their ways through a global pandemic while fighting for civil rights at the same time.

Meet the Speakers

David W. Bond is a licensed clinical social worker and board-certified expert in traumatic stress. He is the director of behavioral health at Blue Shield of California, where he leads initiatives to restore, sustain and enhance the behavioral health and wellbeing of California’s Medi-Cal and Medicare beneficiaries. Before joining Blue Shield, he served as vice president of programs at The Trevor Project, the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for LGBTQ youth. He also previously served as manager of youth development programs at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego. For 12 years, David was a practicing psychotherapist specializing in children and trauma. He has taught and lectured widely on topics of physical and sexual abuse, domestic violence, suicide prevention, clinical and policy considerations for LGBTQ communities, access to care and program evaluation.

T. Drake-Smith, aka YSD, is an artist, activist and actor. By day, she is known as T. Drake-Smith—alias Shorty the Youth Coordinator at the Oakland LGBTQ Center. By night, she’s an entertainer you may have seen on "The Lipstick Series," "Sister Hood fo Hip Hop" on Oxygen and in a KTVU sports commercial. Her latest TV roles are on “13 Reasons Why” & "Lipstick Series." YSD is currently working on music and has been performing professionally since 2010. Young Shorty Doowop's song "Let Em Hate” featuring Slim 400 is currently playing on 106.1 KMEL. She has opened up for Big Freedia, Jadakiss, Young M.A, Dej Loaf, Soulja Boy, Iamsu!, Jennifer Holiday, Jim Jones, Trina, Remy Ma and others, and has performed at San Francisco Pride, Atlanta Pride, in Seattle, Sweetheat Miami, New York, LA and London. Her new album “Night & Day” is available on all digital platforms. You can catch her on the new reality show “Studs of LA” and as a host on Lipstick Television.

Juan Acosta is an award winning LGBTQ+ mental health advocate who serves on national committees, speaks at conferences and festivals, and is a New York Times bestselling author for a book co-authored with Lady Gaga, Channel Kindness. He drafted a historic LGBTQ+ proclamation for his hometown of Woodland, CA. He currently serves as one of the regional managers for the CalHOPE Warm Line. Acosta's awards include the Governor & First Lady Service Award, The Presidential Service Award, the NAMI Rising Star Award, and the Steinberg Institute Mental Health Champion 2021.

SPEAKERS

David W. Bond

Licensed Clinical Social Worker; Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Streass; Director of Behavioral Health, Blue Shield of California

T. Drake-Smith, aka YSD

Artist; Activist; Actor; Youth Coordinator, Oakland LGBTQ Center

Juan Acosta

LGBTQ+ Mental Health Advocate; Co-Author, Channel Kindness

Michelle Meow

Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show" on KBCW/KPIX 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 June 21st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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This July 4, the country will be emerging from the pandemic to celebrate the most patriotic of holidays with friends and family. At The Commonwealth Club, just days before the holiday, we'll be re-opening our doors and cracking open our grills in a special event that celebrates an iconic American food: barbecue! We’ll explore this rich and historic food, particularly the essential role that African Americans have played in the development of the cuisine. Audiences can watch either online or join us in-person!

Adrian Miller, author of, Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue, will kick off our event with stories of Black perseverance, culinary innovation, and entrepreneurship in the world of barbecue. His work illustrates that despite cultural marginalization, African Americans have enriched a now-embraced barbecue culture tied strongly to summer holidays and recounts how Black barbecuers, pitmasters and restaurateurs are coming into their own after having helped develop this American cuisine, incorporating techniques first pioneered by Native Americans. Miller is also featured in the new Netflix special "High on the Hog," about African-American food history.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Justin Phillips will interview Miller in the Taube Family Auditorium at our headquarters on the Embarcadero.

SPEAKERS

Adrian Miller

Writer; Certified Barbecue Judge; Attorney; Author, Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue

In Conversation with Justin Phillips

Columnist, San Francisco Chronicle

Welcome by Brenda Wright

Senior Vice President & Director of Community Relations (West Region), Wells Fargo & Co.; 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 June 28th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Gus Kenworthy writes about Adam Rippon. Graham Norton writes about Armistead Maupin. Tan France does the honors for "Queer Eye," as Mae Martin does for Tim Curry and Elton John does for Divine. Those contributions—and many more—are included in the new book The Queer Bible, an illustrated collection of essays featuring today's queer heroes writing about their queer heroes.

Jack Guinness, who edited and contributed an essay to the book, joins us for a look at the LGBTQ community and the individuals who shaped its history.

SPEAKERS

Jack Guinness

Editor, The Queer Bible; Contributing Editor, British GQ; Twitter @Jackguinness

Michelle Meow

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

John Zipperer

Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club—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 February 17th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Daisy Khan has devoted much of her life to fighting Islamophobia, increasing public understanding of Islam and breaking down barriers between Muslims and other faiths. Ms. Khan served for 18 years as executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, where she was hailed as a bridge builder for promoting cultural and religious harmony through intra-faith programs such as Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow and inter-faith arts programs. To combat anti-Muslim bias, she created the "Today, I am a Muslim Too" rally involving 100 interfaith organizations.

She has also worked to modernize the role of women within Islam. Khan founded The Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (WISE) with the express goal of peace building, gender equality and human dignity. She says that women's leadership is essential to solving societal issues, and that the WISE Shura Council is creating a crucial space for activism that contributes to Muslim women’s struggle for justice. The council issues informed and religiously grounded opinions on controversial issues of particular relevance to Muslim women in their personal, familial and societal lives. By advocating a constructive conception of women’s status, rights and responsibilities, Khan says these opinions function as legitimate alternatives to oppressive religious arguments.

Ms. Khan's awards and honors include: the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award, Edinburgh Peace Award, and the Interfaith Center’s Award for Promoting Peace. She's been listed among Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People and was ranked among the “Top Ten Women Faith leaders” by The Huffington Post. Khan plans to follow her 2018 memoir, Born with Wings, with two forthcoming books: 30 Rights of Muslim Women and WISE UP White Supremacy.

Come for an important conversation with Daisy Khan about Islam and the advancement of Muslim women.

SPEAKERS

Daisy Khan

Founder, Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (WISE); Co-Founder & Former Exec. Director, American Society of Muslim Advancement (ASMA) ; Author, Born With Wings

In Conversation with Sara Abbasi

Philanthropist; Provider of Endowment, Sohaib and Sara Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, Stanford 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 June 16th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Extreme heat causes more deaths than any other weather-related hazard in the U.S., wreaking quiet havoc on the health and economic well-being of billions of people across the world. But it’s rarely given the same billing or resources as other, more dramatic, natural disasters. Because of racist and discriminatory housing and development practices, extreme heat also disproportionately impacts poorer and minority communities.

Recognizing a growing need for local responses to a global problem, the mayors of Miami-Dade, Athens, Greece and Freetown, Sierra Leone recently announced they are appointing the world’s first Chief Heat Officers. How can we prepare for and address the impacts of extreme heat?

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