The San Francisco Experience

Cuts to Universities' federally funded research budgets are impacting the top Scientific Research Universities in the United States. We have started to feel it here in Silicon Valley. Where will it lead ?

1925 marked a peak year in American Literature with the publication of The Great Gatsby, In our Time, The Harlem Renaissance. Tom has created a reference work marking the outstanding books and authors of the pivotal year for American Literature.

Ambassador Sullivan served as Deputy Secretary of State from 2017 to 2019. He then became Ambassador to the Russian Federation serving as Ambassador from 2019 to 2022. He served in both the Trump and Biden Administrations in the lead up to and early in the Ukraine War.

Ambassador Bill Luers was an advocate of promoting American interests overseas, by showcasing our leading writers, painters and artists through Cultural Exchange Programs. He remained committed to the persuasive soft power of Culture to further US foreign policy goals. "Uncommon Company" is a memoir of his work promoting the Arts overseas and at home.

A memoir which melds Frank's professional development and progress in the White House with personal impressions and anecdotes about President Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan from 1981 to 1989.

While US and Russian diplomatic relations remain frozen citizen diplomats continue to talk to each other despite limited official contacts.

The 2024 presidential campaign was especially momentous with an incumbent President leaving the race after a disastrous debate performance and the challenger being attacked by assassins two times. Unparalleled in modern times.

In January 1945 Art and Architecture magazine commissioned 8 nationally known architects to design contemporary, single family homes with a specific budget to meet the expected homebuilding boom in the post war era. 33 Case Study homes were built as models from 1945 to 1966. The Stahl House in Los Angeles is Case Study House #22 and is open to visit.

Bertrand Delhom was the first person with Parkinson's to sail around the world in the competitive Ocean Global Race (OGR). Building on that experience to raise public awareness of Parkinson's a fundraising regatta will be held on the SF Bay in April 2026 and the MJF Fdn will be involved with sponsoring the Neptune in the 2027 OGR.

Spark SF Public Schools is the official non profit partner of The San Francisco Unified School District. They mobilize philanthropic and community support for San Francisco's public school students ranging from mental health programs to reading at grade level literacy.

The United States has often used pressure tactics like sanctions, military threats and diplomatic isolation - Coercive Diplomacy - to achieve foreign policy goals. But from 1990 to 2020 the results of such actions has been mixed. Why ? Is Coercive Diplomacy still a statecraft tool for the US to use so frequently ?

Turner Classic Movies hosts a classic movie festival every year in Los Angeles. The theme this year was " Grand Illusions: Fantastic Worlds on Film ". Shaun Chang attended this year and shares his impressions.

Canada goes to the polls on Monday April 28, 2025 to choose a new government. Incumbent Prime Minister Mark Carney and Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre are the two main candidates for the top job. The election will be the first held against the backdrop of the Trump tariffs which have dominated the election campaign. The incumbent Liberals were likely to lose earlier this year but have surged back as President Trump taunted Justin Trudeau and suggested Canada should become the 51st state.

The Post War Consensus, based on the Open Society was crafted to dampen and eliminate passions that fueled nationalism, militarism, anti-semitism in WWI and WWII. The de-emphasis of traditional beliefs in family, flag, faith in favor of individualism, secularity and internationalism served to cool emotions and for 80 years in the Western Democracies peace prevailed. But that consensus is coming to an end as a wave of Populism has swept across the US, UK and other nations. What will replace it ?

The Ravensbruck concentration camp was a labor camp housing political dissidents from across the German occupied continent of Europe. The book tells the story of four French women who had a major impact for the good on the inmates, and their fellow countrymen. "Something must be done."

Joe Rogan interviewed the Telepathy Tapes producer Ky Dickens. Michael Marshall is the co-host of The Know Rogan Experience and critically analyses the claims made about telepathy in the interview. He is also editor of The Skeptic Magazine.

Mark Twain's novel features an enslaved man Jim who teams up with young Huck rafting down the Mississippi to freedom. But Jim has become one of the more controversial characters in American Literature. This book sheds new light on one of Mark Twain's most endearing albeit misunderstood characters.

San Francisco's venerable Ferry Building opened in 1898 but by 1938 with the opening of the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges, the need for commuter ferries vanished overnight. And with that, the grand transit hub fell on uncertain times. But through luck and civic activism the iconic former transportation hub has reinvented itself yet again, and is the centerpiece of a revived Embarcadero.

Veteran San Francisco Chronicle journalist Kevin Fagan wrote a 5 part series on homelessness in 2003 called "Shame of the City". Some of the characters profiled in that series became lifelong friends and were profiled in The Lost and The Found. Kevin had a 32 year career at The Chronicle.

Canada has a new Prime Minister, Mark Carney, and faces a General Election on April 28, 2025. The key - some would say existential - issues facing Canadian voters are the Economy and managing the US relationship with the Trump Administration. Marci Surkes served as advisor to Justin Trudeau, the former Prime Minister and witnessed historic policy debates and decisions.

Technology has reversed the information balance of power between the public and the elites .

Populist agendas of the Left and Right threaten to undermine fundamental principles that underpin liberal democracies. What can we do to reverse the trend ? Is it too late ?

San Francisco has over 4500 reports of child abuse annually. Safe and Sound for over 50 years has been working with at risk families to deal with the problem and prevent recurrences.

As an example of American True Crime stories, the Zodiac killings in the San Francisco Bay Area during the late 1960s and 1970s, continue to fascinate. In today's episode, we discuss the 2007 movie, Zodiac and the 2024 Netflix docuseries, This is the Zodiac speaking.

Paranormal phenomena are all around us: UFOs, Telepathy, alien abductions. But what is the psychology behind such beliefs ? Anomalistic Psychology seeks to explain the psychological bases of these beliefs.

The Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco is an independent biomedical research institution that empowers world class scientists to find new pathways to cure disease.

Men have a different relationship with their health and doctors than women have. And it continues to evolve for the better as men are more likely to seek care earlier than they would have done 30 plus years ago. But there is still a cultural bias against appearing to be weak: more change is warranted.

New tech has created many billionaires and with that, extreme wealth. With AI and other advanced technologies on the horizon, the prospect of even greater wealth creation is highly likely. But how is social policy evolving to address the social ills that accompany new technology and new wealth ?

President Trump has convened a meeting with Russia in Riyadh to discuss Peace in Ukraine. President Macron also convened a meeting of European leaders while President Zelensky of Ukraine is meeting with Turkish President Erdogan in Ankara. First steps to end the three year conflict.

The third Monday of February is a federal holiday established to honor our first President George Washington. But since 1970 when it was created, the holiday has evolved to acknowledge all of the 45 men who have served as President.

Violeta Parra was a renowned folksinger whose Chilean folk songs have been popularized around the world. She also ventured into painting and ceramics and was well received in Europe. Though the Chilean public was less excited about her art in the 1960s.

Google dominates the search market with an 89.6% share. With most Americans getting their news from the Internet, Google News is a major delivery system. Yet 63% of its stories lean Left, per All Sides Media, 16% Center and 6% Right. Tusk is working to level the playing field and to address that ideological skew.

The wildly popular podcast series Telepathy Tapes now in its' second season, argues that some non verbal autistic children can communicate via telepathy. But traditional psychologists are skeptical, arguing that the subjects in the series and communication methods used are not subject to rigorous scientific testing and scrutiny.

A library worker in Venice, California is transported back in time to the era of the Romantic Poets - Keats, Percy, Mary Shelly, Lord Byron - and shares their lives and intimacies. Can she change the course of their lives and history ?

Deep Seek, a Chinese AI model, shook up the stock market with its' launch on the Apple Store this week. The developers claim it only cost $5.6 million and 6 months to build. Meanwhile Sam Altman's Open AI is trying to raise $40 billion from investors. Will we see more of these low cost AI models proliferate at the expense of OpenAI, Anthropic etc ?

Adulthood used to be an aspirational destination as adolescents progressed through life. But increasingly, the markers of adulthood, marriage, career, home purchase, are being delayed if not eschewed. We are raising Kidults rather than adults and popular culture seemingly encourages it. What happened to adult agency ?

The Telepathy Tapes is a Spotify podcast which explores the profound abilities of non-speakers with Autism.

The Ceasefire came into effect on January 19th, 2025. Mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar, it is a temporary and fragile peace which shows signs of fraying at the edges. The Trump Administration will be scrutinizing the terms with a view to re-negotiating an agreement more favorable to Israel and the US.

Donald Trump's second inaugural address hewed closely to his campaign pledges. In that sense, it was more like a State of the Union Speech: This is what we have done, what we will do and how and when it will be accomplished. Almost 200 Executive Orders are due to be signed today.

Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark with a population of 57,000. Greenlanders depend on Denmark to the tune of an annual subsidy of $500million. But Greenland is rich in strategic minerals like rare earths, oil and natural gas. President -elect Trump has floated the idea of the US acquiring the dependency from Denmark.

As we enter the second week of the devastating fires in Los Angeles, containment is modest and the dry, easterly Santa Ana winds continue to menace the City. The political repercussions for the Mayor of LA and the Governor of California are growing. Recall petitions are circulating to vote them out of office because of their inept response to the conflagrations.

Veteran syndicated journalist for The Providence Journal, Mark Patinkin, stepped forward to cover the Gaza War first hand, on the ground. Sending daily dispatches back to Rhode Island, he was a traditional war correspondent, drawing on his own resources like Ernest Hemingway in the Spanish Civil War.

The prison for profit system was developed in the North, at Auburn, NY in 1816. Its' successor Auburn Correctional Facility exists to this day and manufactures all of the license plates for the state of New York.

George Bernard Shaw said that England and America are two countries separated by a common language. Over time Americanisms have infiltrated popular British culture. But increasingly, Britishisms are gaining traction in the US, in part with the rise of social media and instant communication.

Jimmy Lai, 77, successful newspaper publisher and entrepreneur, ran afoul of the CCP and has been imprisoned in Hong Kong on political charges for four years. President - elect Trump has said he will work to free him when he takes office.

Upwards of 45% of Latino males voted for Donald Trump for President, primarily based on economic issues like the cost of living, inflation and interest rates. Democrat cultural issues had little resonance for Latino voters.

Hereditary Cancer is a relatively recent discovery in the annals of medical science. The Li-Fraumeni Syndrome relating to a genetic mutation of the P-53 gene afflicts family members with multiple cancers for those who carry the gene. The Ingrassia family is one such case.

New Zealand has followed an independent foreign policy path since the mid 1980s. But as the globalization of trade faces headwinds, tariffs and protectionism, NZ is reassessing its' place in the world and stepping up its' security strategy.

San Francisco voters have elected Daniel Lurie Mayor, 56% to 44% defeating incumbent Mayor London Breed. She conceded the election November 7th.

David McCuan analyzes the 2024 Presidential Campaign and the November 5th election - historic in many respects.

The Left and Center Left needs to embrace love of country and patriotism when advocating legal or regular immigration. Up to this point they have ceded Nationalism and its' symbols to the Right on immigration.