Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is the leader of Belarusian democratic forces, who numerous independent observers say beat the autocratic president Alexander Lukashenko in a presidential election on August 9, 2020. She stepped into the race after her husband was arrested for his presidential aspirations. Mr. Lukashenko has publicly dismissed her as a “housewife,” сlaiming that a woman can't become president.

After her forced exile, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya inspired unprecedented peaceful protests around Belarus, some of which numbered hundreds of thousands of people. She has visited more than 20 countries gathering support for a democratic Belarus and continues to advocate for the release of more than 500 political prisoners and peaceful changes through a free and fair election. In the past year, more than 35,000 people have been detained in Belarus, according to the United Nations. Tens of thousands of Belarusians have fled abroad.

Ms.Tsikhanouskaya has become a symbol of peaceful struggle for democracy and female leadership. On July 27, President Joe Biden met with Tsihanouskaya, and he issued a statement that "The United States stands with the people of Belarus in their quest for democracy and universal human rights." In 2020, Lithuanian President Nauseda and Norwegian MPs nominated her for the Nobel Peace Prize. She is included in Bloomberg's TOP-50 Most Influential People, Financial Times' Top 12 Most Influential Women, and Politico's Top 28 Most Influential Europeans.

In meetings with Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Emmanuel Macron, President Ursula von der Leyen, President Charles Michel, and other world leaders, she has emphasized the need for a braver response to the actions of the Belarusian dictatorship.This week, she has been in the United States, where she met with Secretary of State Tony Blinken as well as others in the U.S. government. Given the level of repressions against citizens and with Moscow supporting Lukashenko, Tsikhanouskaya is using the primary tool available to her in exile: Western support. She has sought more comprehensive sanctions on Belarus’s elites and businesses, to show them that it is “becoming more costly for them to support Lukashenko.”

Join a rare conversation with this outspoken advocate for democratic reforms and hear her thoughts on parallels between her struggles and challenges currently facing Americans.

SPEAKERS

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

Leader, Belarus Pro-Democracy Movement

In Conversation with Dr. Gloria Duffy

President and CEO, The Commonwealth Club; Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense under President Clinton

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 29th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Aging—not cancer or heart disease—is the world’s leading cause of death and suffering. In spite of this, we accept the aging process as inevitable. We come to terms with the fact that our bodies and minds will begin to deteriorate and our risk of disease will rise as we get older.

Aging is so deeply ingrained in the human experience that we never stop to ask: is it necessary?

Scientists, on the other hand, know that aging is not a biological inevitability. Dr. Andrew Steele's new book Ageless introduces us to the cutting-edge research that is paving the way for a revolution in medicine. It takes us inside the laboratories where scientists are studying every aspect of the body: DNA, mitochondria, stem cells, the immune system, even ‘aging genes’ that have helped animals enjoy a tenfold increase in lifespan—and which could, in the not too distant future, lead to treatments that could forestall our own bodies’ decline.

Steele will explain how understanding the scientific implications of aging could lead to the greatest revolution in the history of medicine—one that has the potential to improve billions of lives, save trillions of dollars, and transform the human condition.

MLF ORGANIZER: Robert Lee Kilpatrick

SPEAKERS

Dr. Andrew Steele

Ph.D.; Author, Ageless: The New Science of Getting Older Without Getting Old

Dr. Robert Lee Kilpatrick

Ph.D., Chair, Health & Medicine 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 July 15th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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In Washington State, voters defeated initiatives to put a price on carbon ― twice. Governor Jay Inslee himself then lost his personal bid for the White House. Yet his bold ideas have proven staying power. The state legislature recently passed a carbon cap and invest bill that will reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions 95 percent by 2050. 

“We’ve got to wake up every morning figuring out ‘how can I disrupt the status quo.’ Because the status quo is deadly, it’s fatal, it will destroy economies and the biology that we exist on,” Inlsee says. 

Even big oil, which spent tens of missions to defeat the 2018 carbon pricing proposal, seems to be changing its tune, with BP now supporting a price on carbon. 

How might Washington State be a bellwether for Washington DC?

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The year 2020 brought with it a nation riddled with grief as the United States descended into a raging pandemic, steep economic downfall, and unsettling political instability. As half a million perished and millions were left jobless from coronavirus, what was really going on inside the White House? And who was influencing Donald Trump as he refused to concede power after an election he had clearly lost?

Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker answer these questions for the American people in I Alone Can Fix It, a gripping exposé of an administration sabotaging its own country. Their sources were in the room as Trump and the key players around him—doctors, generals, senior advisors and family members—continued to prioritize the interests of the president over that of the country. These witnesses saw firsthand Trump’s desire to deploy military force against protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death. They saw his refusal to take coronavirus seriously, even to the point of allowing himself and those around him to be infected. They, along with the rest of the world, saw him spur on what would become the January 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol building.

With unparalleled access, Rucker and Leonnig delve into exactly who they say enabled—and who foiled—the president as he desperately held onto his fleeting presidency in his final year in office. Join us as Leonnig and Rucker reveal the inner workings of the 2020 Trump White House.

SPEAKERS

Carol Leonnig

Investigative Reporter, The Washington Post; Co-author, I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year; Twitter @CarolLeonnig (Participating Virtually)

Philip Rucker

White House Bureau Chief, The Washington Post; Co-author, I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year; Twitter @PhilipRucker (Participating Virtually)

In Conversation with Yamiche Alcindor

Host, "Washington Week," PBS; Twitter @Yamiche (Participating Virtually)

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 26th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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July 1 marks 50 years since the ratification of the 26th Amendment. The lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18 had lasting impacts on the political and cultural landscapes of the 1970s, but even now youth organizing and social activism have a massive influence on American elections, policies and progress.

In honor of this historic anniversary, join our panel of youth organizers leading the fight against youth voter suppression and to learn how the 26th Amendment might help provide contemporary solutions.

 

SPEAKERS

Thandiwe Abdullah

Co-Founder, Black Lives Matter Youth Vanguard

Alex Edgar

Voting Rights Activist; University of California, Berkeley, Freshman Class of 2025

Divyansh Kaushik

Ph.D. student, Carnegie Mellon University; President, Carnegie Mellon University Graduate Student Assembly; Advisory Board Member, Students Learn Students Vote

Rainesford Stauffer

Freelance Writer; Author, An Ordinary Age—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 July 26th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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School's out for the summer, but come fall, most students will be returning to in-person classrooms across the country. For some students, every day in school is another day of possible bullying by their peers. 

Join us for a discussion with a young award-winning filmmaker and actor on the impacts of peer bullying through the lens of LGBTQIA+ high school students. 

Kabir McNeely is an award-winning American actor who grew up in San Francisco. He has drawn international interest through his uniquely expressive and direct acting style. He began his acting career in 2015 when he played a supporting role in Ruth, a student short film. Since then, he has trained extensively with the American Conservatory Theater, where he also performed in their annual main stage production of A Christmas Carol in 2016 and in Urinetown: The Musical. In 2020, he wrote and directed the award-winning short film Blue Girl, in which he also appeared in. Throughout 2021, McNeely has had a steady stream of supporting roles in short films such as Family Story, Blue Girl 2025 and Pink Purple and Blue. He also gave an award-nominated lead performance in the short film Keith.

SPEAKERS

Kabir McNeely

Actor; Writer; Director; Twitter @kabirmcn

Michelle Meow

Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors; Twitter @msmichellemeow—Co-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 July 21st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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The Constitution clearly states that Americans have the right to keep and bear arms, an argument often used to dispute proposed gun control legislation. However, historian Carol Anderson says that deeper analysis of the formation of the Second Amendment reveals ulterior, racialized motives to keep Black people powerless and oppressed. In her new book The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America, Anderson uncovers the history behind the Second Amendment and argues that it was designed to keep African Americans vulnerable and subdued.

As a professor of African American Studies at Atlanta's Emory University, Anderson’s research primarily focuses on how racial inequality affects the processes and outcomes of policymaking. In early America, slaves were prohibited from owning, carrying or using a firearm. She says this sentiment remains today as measures to expand and curtail gun ownership are aimed to keep the Black community neutralized and punished. In an era when many are reexamining government policy through a racial lens, Anderson sheds new light on another mysterious dimension of anti-Blackness in the United States.

Join us in conversation with Carol Anderson to understand the connection between Blackness, gun ownership and racial equality.

SPEAKERS

Dr. Carol Anderson

Ph.D., Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies, Emory University; Author, The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America

In Conversation with Melissa Murray

Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law, NYU School of Law; Co-host, "Strict Scrutiny" Podcast

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 21st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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From clearing land for pasture to building dams, humans have long changed the face of the Earth. But Indian eco-feminist Vandana Shiva is highly critical of how we’ve changed our relationship with the land through industrial monocrop agriculture. She firmly opposes genetically modified crops, and has called seed patents “bio-piracy.” But it’s not just the technology she’s critical of. 

“I’m critical of the world view of arrogance. The worldview that came with colonialism, the mechanistic mindset of the conquering man being the creator of the earth and creator of the wealth,” Shiva says. 

Shiva argues for a renewed focus on biodiversity and regenerative agriculture to help solve the climate crisis.

Guests:

Vandana Shiva, director of the Foundation for Science, Technology & Ecology

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Frankly, We Did Win This Election, authored by The Wall Street Journal’s senior White House reporter Michael Bender, reveals a deeply reported account of Donald J. Trump’s final year as president of the United States—from his first impeachment in January 2020 to his second almost exactly a year later.

Bender chronicles Trump and his campaign team as they struggle through an epic convergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ensuing economic collapse, and the civil rights upheaval that unraveled their reelection strategy. Bender’s refined sourcing brings readers within the walls of the White House for the inside story of how Trump lost, drawing a straight line from his presidency to his defeat and ultimately to the deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol building.

Bender joined The Wall Street Journal in 2016 and has since published more than 1,100 stories about Trump. He has been recognized for his coverage, receiving both the Gerald R. Ford Foundation Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency in 2019 as well as the National Press Club award for political analysis in 2020.

Join Bender and moderator Maggie Haberman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist from The New York Times, as they go into the exclusive details of how Donald J. Trump lost the 2020 election.

Note: This Program contains EXPLICIT language

SPEAKERS

Michael Bender

Senior White House Reporter, The Wall Street Journal; Author, Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost; Twitter @MichaelCBender

In Conversation with Maggie Haberman

White House Correspondent, The New York Times; Twitter @maggieNYT

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 21st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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The depths of the Jeffrey Epstein story may never have been known without the work of Florida investigative reporter Julie K. Brown. A reporter for the Miami Herald, Brown and her explosive reporting for the Herald helped bring Epstein to justice (before his death) while exposing the powerful people and broken system that protected him.

For many years, billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's penchant for teenage girls was an open secret in the high society of Palm Beach, Florida and Manhattan. Charged in 2008 with soliciting prostitution from minors, Epstein was treated with what critics called unheard-of leniency at the time. The media virtually ignored the failures of the criminal justice system, and Epstein's friends and business partners brushed the allegations aside. But when in 2017 the U.S. attorney who approved Epstein's plea deal, Alexander Acosta, was chosen by President Trump as labor secretary, Brown was compelled to ask questions that other journalists weren't.

Despite her editor's skepticism that she could add a new dimension to a known story, Brown determined that her goal would be to track down the victims themselves. Poring over thousands of redacted court documents, traveling across the country and chasing down information in difficult and sometimes dangerous circumstances, Brown tracked down dozens of Epstein's victims, now young women struggling to reclaim their lives after the trauma and shame they had endured.

Brown's resulting three-part series in the Miami Herald was one of the most explosive news stories of the decade, revealing how Epstein ran a global sex trafficking pyramid scheme with impunity for years, targeting vulnerable teens, often from fractured homes, and then turning them into recruiters. The outrage led to Epstein's arrest, the disappearance and eventual arrest of his closest accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, and the resignation of Acosta. The financier's mysterious suicide in a New York City jail cell prompted wild speculation about the secrets he took to the grave—and whether his death was intentional or the result of foul play.

Brown's new book, Perversion of Justice, builds on her original award-winning series, showing the power of truth, the value of local journalism and the tenacity of one woman in the face of the deep-seated corruption of powerful men. Julie Brown joins us virtually to discuss her role in the Epstein story and what it means for the media and the country.

SPEAKERS

Julie K. Brown

Investigative Reporter, Miami Herald; Author, Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story; (Participating Virtually)

Robert Rosenthal

Board Member, Center for Investigative Reporting—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 July 22nd, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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