Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Humorist P.J. O’Rourke says Americans have worked ourselves into a state of anger and perplexity, and it’s no surprise, because perplexed and angry is what America has always been about. In his new book, A Cry from the Far Middle, O'Rourke touches on the frustrations of an internet-controlled world in which our refrigerators talk and our phones freeze. He debates the merits of sympathy versus empathy, and makes hilarious observations about the current political environment. Come hear this master satirist's perspective on the absurdity of life.

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“What are you?” That’s a question that has followed Sunny Hostin throughout her life as a half Puerto Rican and half African-American woman. "The View" co-host chronicles her journey from growing up in a South Bronx housing project to becoming an assistant U.S. attorney and Emmy Award-winning legal journalist. Hostin was one of the first national reporters to cover Trayvon Martin’s death. Hostin continues to use her platform to advocate for social justice and give a voice to the marginalized. Hear more on how we can address identity, intolerance and injustice during this pivotal time in our country.

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In a political system more divided than ever, people like Senator Jon Tester can be the bridge. Jon Tester is a U.S. senator from Montana, a farmer, and . . . a Democrat. Tester was born and raised in Montana and grew up on his grandfather’s homestead—the same land he and his wife farm today. As he grew up he learned the value of hard work, a connection to the place you live, and honesty. The values he learned growing up continue to guide him as he, a Democrat and former public school teacher, serves the red state of Montana as their senior senator. Tester has learned how to connect with his community, moving beyond divisive party titles to instead see his constituents as his neighbors, friends and community members in need of effective leadership. In his new book Grounded: A Senator's Lessons on Winning Back Rural America, Tester shares his early life, his rise in the Democratic party, his vision for helping rural America, and his strategies for reaching red state voters. Join us to hear from Jon Tester as we learn about the values he remains grounded in while governing, and how politics and politicians must adapt in order to heal a divided nation.

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Lynne Cheney knows the office of the presidency in a way very few do. As the wife of former Vice President Dick Cheney, she had a front row seat to the stresses, successes and sorrows shouldered by our nation’s top leaders. With her knowledge of the office and passion for American history, she has written a new book, The Virginia Dynasty, about the first four Virginian presidents and the legacy they left behind. She paints a vivid picture of the nation building efforts of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe both as individual leaders and as a team. Cheney writes about their strengths and valor but also explicates the many complexities and contradictions of their legacies as slave owners working to create a country built on ideals of “liberty and justice for all.” Join us to hear from bestselling author and former Second Lady of the United States Lynne Cheney about the history of how our nation came to be through presidential leadership and where she believes it is going now.

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Join us for a virtual conversation with award-winning author Adam Hochschild about Rebel Cinderella, his new book that draws on Rose Pastor Stokes’s diary, dueling memoirs, letters, newspaper accounts and government surveillance reports to unearth the rich, overlooked life of a social justice campaigner. Stokes played a dramatic role in the struggle for labor equality and women’s rights, but is now forgotten. Rose Pastor arrived in New York City in 1903, a Jewish refugee from Russia who had worked in cigar factories since she was 11. Just two years later she married James Graham Phelps Stokes, scion of a legendary New York high society family. Their union of rich and poor, native-born and immigrant, gentile and Jew, made them America’s most improbable couple, whose Socialist Party friends included Emma Goldman, Eugene V. Debs, John Reed, Margaret Sanger, Jack London, and W.E.B. Du Bois. Stokes became a renowned radical orator, advocating for the rights of labor and in favor of birth control, earning her notoriety as “one of the dangerous influences of the country” from President Woodrow Wilson. But in a way no one foresaw, her too-short life would end in the same abject poverty with which it began. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities

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Join us for the latest in the Lavender Talks series, presented with San Francisco Pride and exploring a wide range of topics of interest to the LGBTQ world. In this program, we explore the role the "kink" subculture plays in the larger LGBTQ community. Join us for a discussion with some local kink community leaders about body positivity, inclusion and exclusion, and different attitudes toward desire. How do issues of age discrimination, conforming and nonconforming presentation, racism and more get addressed by and within the kink subculture? There might be some surprising answers, as we look at the state of the kink in the age of pandemic, economic crisis, and racial justice. Note: This program contains EXPLICIT language. In association with San Francisco Pride Made possible by the generous support of Gilead and Comcast Gilead Pride Alliance and Comcast And thanks to San Francisco Pride Legacy Partners: Bud Light Hilton San Francisco Union Square KPIX 5 CBS Bay Area Kaiser Permanente Genentech Gilead GLBT Historical Society KBCW TV Parc 55 San Francisco Smirnoff Recology T–Mobile

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H.R. McMaster is one of the most celebrated modern military leaders in America. His achievements include serving as a captain during the Gulf War, being responsible for fighting the Iraqi insurgency during the war in Iraq, writing the widely-read book Dereliction of Duty, and most recently serving as national security advisor under President Donald Trump. In his new book, Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World, McMaster argues that American foreign policy has been misconceived, inconsistent and poorly implemented since the end of the Cold War. He describes efforts to reassess and fundamentally shift policies while he was national security advisor. And he provides a clear pathway forward to improve strategic competence and prevail in complex competitions against our adversaries. His book draws on McMaster’s long engagement with these issues, including 34 years of service in the U.S. Army with multiple tours of duty in battlegrounds overseas and his 13 months as national security advisor in the Trump White House. Join us for a conversation with Lt. General H.R. McMaster as he calls for Americans and citizens of the free world to transcend the vitriol of partisan political discourse, better educate themselves about the most significant challenges to national and international security and work together to secure peace and prosperity for future generations. Part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation Note: This program contains EXPLICIT language.

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In his new book A Better Man: A (Mostly Serious) Letter to My Son, comedian and actor Michael Ian Black shares his personal reflections on what it means to be a man. Equal parts memoir and advice book, A Better Man is a tender letter to Black’s college-bound son, Elijah. In it, he hopes to teach him and other young men what a healthy relationship to masculinity looks like as they enter the many confusing chapters of adulthood. Black returns to INFORUM to discuss the complex nature of gender politics and how teaching men to be compassionate and vulnerable would benefit society as a whole. Tune in to hear Black dissect masculinity, its impact on the world and how men can become better people. Part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation Note: This program contains EXPLICIT language.

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Erin Brockovich was vaulted into national recognition in 2000, after the eponymous movie starring Julia Roberts made her a water activism icon. Famous for her focus on contamination, Brockovich says there is a larger threat facing water’s very existence: climate change, and the impact it has on dwindling freshwater supplies, longer droughts and hotter weather. Superman isn’t coming to protect our water or environment, writes Brockovich in her latest book — and neither are corporations, politicians or the “gutted” EPA. How can individuals and communities take collective action to safeguard our environment and our resources? What are today’s leading activists doing to create change that lasts? Join us for a conversation on speaking truth to power with Erin Brockovich, author of Superman's Not Coming: Our National Water Crisis and What We the People Can Do About It.

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Discussions of immigration can feel not just deeply impersonal, particularly at the national level, but even negligent of the human cost of harsh immigration policies. In her new book, Once I Was You: A Memoir of Love and Hate in America, journalist Maria Hinojosa shares a personal account of America’s greater immigration crisis. Hinojosa discusses her perspective through her upbringing on Chicago’s South Side, her early reporting on immigration detention camps and her varied experiences as the host of NPR’s "Latino USA" radio program. An Emmy award-winning journalist and a leading voice in the Latinx community, Hinojosa brings her more than 30 years of experience in journalism to her crucial perspective on this urgent issue. Join Hinojosa at INFORUM, where she will discuss how the problems facing America’s immigration system are not accidental, but the result of years of broken governance. This conversation will be moderated by Jacqueline Martinez Garcel, CEO of the Latino Community Foundation. Note: This program contains explicit language.

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