The San Francisco Experience

Chesa Boudin, San Francisco's 29th District Attorney faces an historic recall election on June 7, 2022. It is a first for San Francisco in the 166 year history of the office and a very rare move in a major American city. Rampant crime, deteriorating public safety and failure to enforce the laws on the books prompted 83,000 San Francisco voters to sign a petition to get the recall on the ballot - 53,000 signatures were needed. 

Joe Rogan's recent statements about Covid 19 which the BBC fact checked and found to be false or at best misleading, prompted two 1960s pop singers Neil Young and Joni Mitchell to ask Spotify to remove their songs from the Spotify site. Spotify now requires an advisory warning on Covid  related podcasts. But is the Joe Rogan Spotify marriage heading for the rocks ?

At the heart of Colby's treatise on the rise of China is that the United States is no longer the undisputed, sole super power which has been the case since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. There is a new Superpower on the block - China - and it is seeking hegemony in East Asia where 40% of Global GDP is concentrated. Can the United States  work to prevent that hegemony becoming a fait accompli to assure our freedom and prosperity.

A Firsthand/FaceTime account of the eruption on January 15, 2022. Tonga native Sia Akauola, who was in San Francisco,  was on the phone to her sister in Tonga when the volcano erupted. Three loud explosions - heard 500 miles away in Fiji - then silence and no contact with her family for 5 agonizing days. Sia recounts what it was like for her family to live through the eruption and now to begin the recovery process. A very moving story. 

Vice President Kamal Harris' first year in office has been very rock. The two issues the White House assigned to her - Immigration and Voting Rights - proved to be too challenging for her and her staff. A recent poll shows that only 28% of Americans want President Biden to seek re-election. Can Kamala turn around her political fortunes ?

The World Economic Forum (WEF), stages an annual forum for global leaders in Davos, Switzerland every January. This year it has been postponed to May 22 - 26. Peter S. Goodman, Global Economics Correspondent for The New York Times, has published a book critical of Davos attendees "Davos Man: How the billionaires devoured the world." We will briefly discuss it in today's podcast.

As noted American novelist Joe Castleman and his wife Joan set out to Stockholm, we learn about their complex and secret filled marriage. Joe has won the Nobel Prize for Literature but his lifetime's work is not all that it seems. His wife Joan was not only his muse, but some say has written all of Joe's books. A fascinating study of a marriage and the bonds that hold a man and woman together.

Faith. Loss and the Twilight of Christianity in the Land of the Prophets. The ancient Christian communities of Iraq, Syria, Gaza and Egypt which date from the time of Jesus Christ and the Apostles,  are under threat through persecution, war, terrorism and emigration. Some observers fear they will be extinct in the next fifty years.  Janine is a war correspondent who brings 35 years of on site experience in the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. She has written nine books and her articles appear regularly in The Hew York Times and The Washington Post.

Chesa Boudin, San Francisco's 29th District Attorney is facing an unprecedented recall election on June 7, 2022, the first time in the 166 year history of the office. 83,000 San Franciscan voters signed a petition to put the recall on the ballot - 30,000 more signatures than required. Former Assistant DA Brooke Jenkins resigned from the office last October, in frustration with Boudin's leadership and the blurring of lines of the roles of District Attorney and Public Defender. She has volunteered for the recall campaign and walks us through the issues in the special election.

Phil, Andrew and Emily authored a wide ranging profile of Oath Keeper members in the San Francisco North Bay Region on January 9th. Many readers were surprised that the right wing, extremist organization had a membership base in the left leaning, liberal Bay Area. They revealed some surprising results with their report which they discuss in today's podcast.