Podcasts about free forum

Free Forum 03-16-2024 by Progressive Voices

Free Forum 01-06-2024 by Progressive Voices

Discussions about the child welfare system are plagued by two false narratives. The first is that cases where children are neglected are simply instances of poverty and can be solved just by providing more material resources to the family. The second is that racial disparities in the system mean that it is plagued by systemic bias and that authorities should stop intervening so frequently in the lives of black families. This episode features a conversation between Naomi and Ian that took place at FREE Forum Denver this past November, a conference hosted by Ian as part of the FREE (family, religion, education, entrepreneurship) Initiative. In the episode, Naomi shares an overview of the child welfare system, including misconceptions about child maltreatment, and analyzes different policy approaches. She and Ian then discuss the societal trends contributing to the problems, and what steps can be taken toward reform. ResourcesThe Relationship Between Child Maltreatment and Poverty | Naomi Schaefer RileyThe Relationship Between Substance Abuse and Child Welfare | Naomi Schaefer RileyFixing Our Child Welfare System to Help America's Most Vulnerable Kids | Naomi Schaefer RileyShow Notes0:01:50 | Naomi's remarks begin0:02:58 | Misconceptions around neglect0:07:22 | Misconceptions around racial disparities0:13:55 | Conversation with Ian begins0:14:13 | What were the roles of faith-based organizations before a public child welfare system was created?0:17:48 | What prevents people from acknowledging that substance abuse plays a major role in child maltreatment?0:19:12 | How does the fear of stigmatizing perversely create worse outcomes for children in unsafe situations?0:21:29 | What is the role of adoption in these situations?0:24:35 | What is the ideology behind those who oppose interracial adoption?0:28:25 | What are some examples of policies or strategies that are working successfully?

ZEV YAROSLAVSKY, who served on the Los Angeles City Council and LA County's Board of Supervisors for a total of 40 years, has written a political memoir, ZEV'S LOS ANGELES: From Boyle Heights to the Halls of Power. Our conversation deals more with the memoir than the politics. We talk about Zev's early years, his family and heritage, his college activism advocating for Russian Jews, and his surprise election to the City Council at the age of 26. This conversation was recorded before the October 7th attack on Israel by Hamas and the Israeli military response.

Free Forum 12-09-2023 by Progressive Voices

Free Forum 11-20-2023 by Progressive Voices

Responding to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and too many others, millions marched in 2020 to protest police brutality. Though Floyd's killers faced charges and were found guilty, we learned that it remains extremely difficult to hold police accountable. Decisions of the Supreme Court, state and local governments, and policy makers have made them all but untouchable. In SHIELDED, UCLA law professor JOANNA SCHWARTZ shares the stories of victims, exposes the ways in which our legal system protects police, reveals the weakness of their justifications, and calls for sustained citizen engagement to make change.

JONATHAN TAPLIN's new book THE END OF REALITY picks up where MOVE FAST & BREAK THINGS left off. It documents how - rather than confront and solve the critical challenges we face - some of our wealthiest and most powerful men are plotting their escape - from transparency and regulation with crypto, from real life with the metaverse, from earth with colonies on Mars, and from death with transhumanism and cyborgs. This fantasy/nightmare is being sold by four billionaires - Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Marc Andreeson, and Peter Thiel.

JONATHAN TAPLIN is former tour manager for Bob Dylan and The Band, producer of two Martin Scorsese films, MEAN STREETS and THE LAST WALTZ, and Director Emeritus of the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab. Next week I'll talk with him about his new book, THE END OF REALITY: How Four Billionaires Are Selling a Fantasy Future of the Metaverse, Mars, And Crypto. How better to warm up for that than by replaying our 2018 conversation about his earlier book MOVE FAST AND BREAK THINGS: How Facebook, Google and Amazon Cornered Culture and Undermined Democracy.

Learn more: jeffgoodellwriter.com July 2023 was the hottest month in recorded history, June ranks #2. Phoenix recorded at least 110F for 20 days in a row. I speak with JEFF GOODELL about THE HEAT WILL KILL YOU FIRST: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet. Biggest takeaway: “The assumption that we will do what we need to do in time and things will go back to normal is a profound misunderstanding of this moment.” CO2 is not like smog. Recent extremes and disasters are here to stay.

Free Forum 09-02-2023 Saez by Progressive Voices

There's little doubt we face critical challenges at this time, and serious doubt whether we have the vision, the culture, the systems, or the will to successfully deal with them. I've been asking lately, "How did we get here?" and focusing a lot on the generations, in particular the Boomers and the 1960's. I speak with PHILIP BUMP, a national columnist for The Washington Post, about his first book, THE AFTERMATH, an assessment of how the baby boom created modern America, and where power, wealth, and politics will shift as the boom ends.

Free Forum 08-19-2023 by Progressive Voices

Dan Barreiro hosts Minnesota Wild President of Hockey Operations Bill Guerin in the KFAN Press Box for the latest installment of the Fan Free Forum!

Dan Barreiro hosts Minnesota Wild President of Hockey Operations Bill Guerin in the KFAN Press Box for the latest installment of the Fan Free Forum!

In her new book THE FIGHT TO SAVE THE TOWN: Reimagining Discarded America, MICHELLE WILDE ANDERSON, Professor at Stanford Law School and Stanford School of Sustainability, explores vicious cycles in Stockton CA, Lawrence MA, Detroit MI, and Josephine County OR - four communities left behind by the modern economy. As local economies shrink, government is underfunded. As underfunded government delivers less to citizens, they lose faith in government and in each other. Coming back gets harder and harder, but it is not impossible. She tells the tough and inspirational stories of “People who” - in her words - “are working their asses off on some of the most important issues in the country.

Free Forum 08-05-2023 by Progressive Voices

I speak with ERWIN CHEMERINSKY, Dean of Berkeley Law School, about the Supreme Court's recent term. I see ethical challenges and radical rulings - the law of the land interpreted through their religious and moral lenses, overturning legislation and precedent - hardly conservative behavior, stretching and distorting the law in their decision defending arguments, imposing their agenda on the nation with little regard for real world consequences, the common good, or the future. We'll also talk about his latest book, WORSE THAN NOTHING: The Dangerous Fallacy of Original

I speak with talk show host, THOM HARTMANN, about the newest book in his “hidden history” series. THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY. I'd heard the Founders drew inspiration from political systems of Native Americans, to which Hartmann adds, so did Europe's Enlightenment thinkers. He quotes Thomas Paine: “To understand what the state of society ought to be, it is necessary to have some idea of the natural and primitive state of man; such as it is at this day among the Indians of North America. There is not any of those spectacles of human misery which poverty and want present to our eyes in all the towns and streets in Europe.” In addition to these revelations, Hartmann clarifies some myths of the Constitution and offers a 21-point agenda to restore US democracy.

I've long believed that to confront challenges like climate change, we need to move public opinion to the point where a majority favor policies that respond effectively and fairly. I'm afraid that's no longer true. I read with alarm STAN COX's article MAGA Legislators Increasingly Force Taxpayers to Support Fossil Fuel Industry by, among other things, outlawing ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investing. Here's my conversation with STAN COX of the Land Institute and JOHN FEFFER of the Institute for Policy Studies, about this anti-democratic and destructive strategy and other aspects of the politics of climate.

With this episode, I'm reminded of when I did my first show on the sub-prime crisis. BRENDAN BALLOU, a federal prosecutor, explains how private equity has reshaped American business - from nursing homes to prisons, emergency rooms to apartment buildings - by raising prices, reducing quality, cutting jobs, and shifting resources from productive to unproductive parts of the economy. What's worse, as of now PEs are legally shielded from liability for the consequences of their actions.

We lost an American hero last week with the death of DANIEL ELLSBERG, whose release of the Pentagon Papers in 1971 revealed the cynical realities of the Vietnam War. A president was ignoring the will of the people, Congress, and the courts, promising peace while planning war without end. Ellsberg, a military analyst at the Rand Corporation, risked life in prison to end a war he helped plan, for which Henry Kissinger called him, "the most dangerous man in America." His actions did not end the war – at least not as quickly as he had hoped – but they did change history.

HECTOR TOBAR was born in Los Angeles, shortly after his parents arrived from Guatemala. He's a Professor of English and Chicano/Latino Studies at the University of California, Irvine, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and the author of six books, including DEEP DOWN DARK: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine and The Miracle That Set Them Free, adapted into the film, The 33 starring Antonio Banderas. We talk about his newest, OUR MIGRANT SOULS: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of Latino.

Free Forum - TIFFANY SHLAIN - 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week by Progressive Voices

Here's my conversation with MICKEY HUFF & NOLAN HIGDON. Huff is Director of PROJECT CENSORED. Since 1976, its annual book reports the year's top-25 news stories ignored, misrepresented, or censored by mainstream media. Huff & Higdon co-authored LET'S AGREE TO DISAGREE. Its first lines: In an age defined by divisive discourse and disinformation, democracy hangs in the balance... [This book] seeks to foster constructive dialogue through critical thinking and media literacy.

Free Forum Frank 05-26-2023 by Progressive Voices

When I talk about the relentless push of Big Business, the Right, and the GOP toward our current crisis of inequality, injustice, minority rule, and an inability to solve problems, I usually start around 1970. Today's guests go back to the early 20th century when the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) opposed laws vs child labor. Deja vu? I talk with NAOMI ORESKES and ERIK CONWAY, authors of the best-selling MERCHANTS OF DOUBT: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming, about their new book, THE BIG MYTH.

Free Forum 05-12-2023 by Progressive Voices

I talk with three-time Pulitzer Prize winning NYTimes investigative reporter WALT BOGDANICH about his book, WHEN McKINSEY COMES TO TOWN. The company brands itself one of the good guys, but Bogdanich and co-author MIchael Forsythe point out that, shielded by NDAs, McKinsey has so far escaped scrutiny for advising tobacco companies, opioid manufacturers including Purdue, oil companies, and repressive governments. We pull back the curtain on its pursuit of the bottom line above all that has made this country less equal, less just, less healthy, less safe, and less democratic.

Free Forum 04-29-2023 by Progressive Voices

SHEILA KUEHL has long been one of my favorite elected officials. A true public servant, she served 8 years in CA's State Senate, 6 in the State Assembly, and 8 more on LA County's Board of Supervisors. Kuehl, the first openly gay or lesbian person elected to the Legislature, the first woman named Speaker pro-Tem of the Assembly, authored 171 bills signed into law. One of my go-to sages restate and local politics, now retired, we look back together at how she was so successful - not just at overcoming prejudice but also at achieving real-world results. Is it possible to succeed in today's political climate?

Free Forum 04-16-2023 Myers by Progressive Voices

In the most age-diverse society in human history, with almost equal numbers of people of every age, the US has become an age-segregated nation, with few opportunities for generations to connect. Here's my conversation with EUNICE LIN NICHOLS, Co-CEO of CoGenerate - recently chosen new name for what had been called Encore.org. The organization's focus grew from seniors' purposeful second & third acts to cogeneration - bringing older and younger people together to solve problems and bridge divides. In the words of Encore founder and Eunice's co-CEO, Marc Freedman: “in our new chapter – in Encore's encore – we are not just asking what older people can do for the next generation, but what older people can do with the next generation.”

Free Forum 04-01-2023 by Progressive Voices

Though most people now accept that genes influence our height, weight, heart health, etc., many get nervous when we apply that same perspective to things like our mental health, intelligence, or educational attainment. Here's my conversation with KATHRYN PAIGE HARDEN, Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas, about the ideas in her first book, THE GENETIC LOTTERY: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality, which attempts to reconcile the findings of behavior genetics with her commitment to social justice.

Free Forum Finamore 03-18-2023 by Progressive Voices

10K people a day pass the 60-year mark. There's no way to make the changes needed to protect our planet and society unless seniors bring their power into play. Here's my conversation with BOB FULKERSON, Lead National Organizer for THIRD ACT, the year-old organization founded by BILL McKIBBEN to mobilize Boomers and older to defend democracy and confront the Climate Crisis.

The countries, conflicts, and causes change, but has military action and defense spending become the one huge thing that unites both political tribes and parties? So that when one challenges leaders to be more more respectful of other ways of dealing with conflict and more realistic about our goals and how to achieve them - decision-makers and the media assign such common sense thinking to the fringe. We talk today with ANDREW BACEVICH, co-founder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, about Ukraine, defense spending, and the ideas in his newest book, ON SHEDDING AN OBSOLETE PAST: Bidding Farewell to the American Century.

Free Forum 02-18-2023 Glantz by Progressive Voices

I'm calling this conversation with economist ROBERT POLLIN, INFLATION 101: What's really going on? The current bout of inflation is real, but it is global, not domestic. It's higher in other economies than in the US. It's primarily due to the global pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And it may already be over - last two months at normal rate. Yet the Federal Reserve seems intent on risking a recession to fight it with tools that ignore its real causes.

In his new book, THE FIFTIES: An Underground History, JAMES GAINES asks who laid the groundwork for the '60s - and then celebrates a few solitary, brave, stubborn individuals who pioneered the radical gay rights, feminist, civil rights, and environmental movements. Their courage and genius changed what it was possible to imagine. As early as the mid-1940s, Harry Hay said “Gay is good.” Pauli Murray laid legal paths for Thurgood Marshall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Black vets of WWII and Korea said enough is enough. Silent Spring's Rachel Carson and MIT's Norbert Wiener warned of potential man-made environmental destruction.

Free Forum Milanovic 01-21-2023 by Progressive Voices

Since 1988, the GOP has won only one national popular vote but has named 11 of 15 Supreme Court justices. Today's 6-3 court is a uniquely powerful tool of minority rule, whose rulings last summer defied the majority of Americans on church & state, guns, environment, and women's rights. I talk with DAHLIA LITHWICK - senior legal correspondent at Slate and host of Slate's Amicus podcast - about that eventful term and some big cases of the current term. And we discuss her new book, LADY JUSTICE, about a number of courageous and principled women lawyers who held the line against the Trump administration.

Free Forum O'Hara 01-07-2023 by Progressive Voices

Why are medications essential to survival so outrageously expensive? Why are vaccines for a global pandemic a source of huge profits and limited availability? Why does the government allow private companies to patent and monopolize drugs resulting from tax funded research? Here's my conversation with ALEXANDER ZAITCHIK about the revelations in his book, OWNING THE SUN:A People's History of Monopoly Medicine from Aspirin to COVID-19 Vaccines.

Free Forum Chenoweth 12-11-2022 by Progressive Voices

Free Forum 11-24-2022 by Progressive Voices

I share election reflections with ROB JOHNSON, President of the Institute for New Economic Thinking (ineteconomics.org) and host of the podcast Economics and Beyond. What happened? Who made the difference? How could so many vote for the party of grievance and lies? Why does the “good news” feel so deeply disappointing? How will we turn things around? How will we deal with the critical challenges we face?

I can't get Plato's Paradox out of my head: Democracy inevitably leads to tyranny. The rich always want to get richer and the poor will follow demagogues who promise to overthrow the rich. I first learned of Plato's pessimistic prophesy In ASTRA TAYLOR'S documentary WHAT IS DEMOCRACY? and her companion book, Democracy May Not Exist, But We'll Miss It When It's Gone. In our 2020 conversation, we explore democracy's early roots as well as its current embattled state.

November 8th is the last day to vote. Our democracy is under threat, as are the availability, accuracy, and reliability of voting and vote-counting. Some states are going to great lengths to keep you from voting - closing poll sites, purging voter rolls, and putting obstacles in the way of voting by mail. I talk with DAVID DALEY, senior fellow at FairVote.org, author of RATF**KED (gerrymandering) and UNRIGGED (electoral reforms) about the impact on our upcoming midterms - as well as the stakes.