Talk Cocktail

When we stop thinking, we enable harm. In this reprise of my WhoWhatWhy podcast with Elizabeth Minnich, she warns us that systemic evils don’t need monsters — “it takes all of us” through everyday compliance. I talk with moral philosopher Elizabeth Minnich, who delivers a timely warning about collective thoughtlessness. Building directly on her experience as Hannah Arendt’s long-time teaching assi...

On my latest California Sun podcast , Jim Newton joins me to discuss “ Here Beside the Rising Tide ,” exploring how Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead emerged from 1960s California to become unlikely architects of America’s counterculture. Newton reveals Garcia as a reluctant icon who feared leadership yet created a multigenerational community that thrives decades after his death. We explore the D...

In a week when two Al Jazeera journalists were killed in Gaza, we’re reminded that foreign reporting isn’t just dangerous—it’s occasionally fatal. In this WhoWhatWhy podcast, I talk with three veteran correspondents— William Dowell, Greg Dobbs, and James Dorsey —they swap stories from Vietnam to Beirut, Iran to South Africa. They trade notes on the life-threatening scrapes they barely walked away...

Discover the hidden force shaping every aspect of your community—from housing costs to racial inequality to environmental sustainability. Architect and attorney Sara Bronin, author of Key to the City, reveals how zoning, one of the most powerful yet misunderstood tools in local government, dictates where we live, work, and play. Learn why this "invisible" regulation holds the key to building more...

My 2024 conversation with Rachel Bergstein explores the lasting political influence of Judy Blume, whose writing shaped a progressive worldview now under siege from conservative forces. As one of America's most frequently banned authors in the 1980s, Blume became an early champion against censorship—a fight that endures today. Discussing Bergstein’s new book, T he Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Re...

I’m joined by Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles. The port handles 20% of America’s incoming cargo. In this California Sun conversation, he reveals how the 7,500-acre complex serves as an economic bellwether, highlighting trends months before consumers feel them. From automation debates to tariff-induced cargo swings, Seroka explains how what happens at the port ripples thr...

In 1951, a 25-year-old oil heir with an unplaceable accent declared war on Yale University — and modern American conservatism was born. On this WhoWhatWhy podcast , Sam Tanenhaus, former editor of The New York Times Book Review and the author of Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America , talks to me about his monumental 1,000+ page biography of Buckley, a project 30 years in the m...

Now that funding has been cut off by Congress, the future of NPR and individual public radio stations remains uncertain. Back in May, on my WhoWhatWhy podcast, I talked with Steve Oney, who has written what may be the definitive history of NPR, On Air: The Triumph and Tumult of NPR . Some of his conclusions may surprise you. While Fox News and right-wing talk radio built empires of outrage, Nation...

What if everything we believe about changing minds is wrong? What if the foundation of democratic discourse — the belief that better arguments lead to better outcomes — is not just flawed but destructively naive? Sarah Lubrano , with her PhD from Oxford and years of writing about the intersection of psychology and politics, brings devastating news: Decades of research reveal that political debates...

On this California Sun podcast I talk with Christopher Beam , whose recent New York Times investigation , reveals how a group of brilliant minds from Google, NASA, and the rationalist movement in Berkeley became part of a murderous cult-like group known as the “Zizians.” Unlike Charles Manson’s dropouts, these tech elites weaponized artificial intelligence fears and rational thinking into deadly e...

That device you check 100 times a day? It exists because of the most consequential business partnership you've never heard of. Financial Times journalist Patrick McGee , author of Apple in China , talks to me about how Apple's quest for manufacturing perfection accidentally created China's technological superpower—while China's scale and ambition created the modern iPhone. Training 3 million worke...

University of Chicago economist Jens Ludwig challenges everything we think we know about gun violence. His groundbreaking research reveals that most shootings aren't about bad people or poverty—they're "garden variety arguments" that escalate tragically within fleeting 10-minute windows. Drawing from rigorous street-level evidence, Ludwig's new book "Unforgiving Places" offers a revolutionary beha...

Jennifer Pahlka , founder of Code for America and former Obama White House Deputy CTO, talks to me about why government fails in the digital age. Drawing from her groundbreaking work creating the U.S. Digital Service, Pahlka exposes how rigid bureaucratic culture—not lack of money or technology—creates dysfunction. From unemployment systems requiring 17 years to master to 911 calls going unanswere...

Former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren joins me on the WhoWhatWhy podcast to decode this historical inflection point. A historian, former Knesset member, and veteran of Israeli government service, Oren offers a unique perspective from someone who has spent his life at the intersection of scholarship and statecraft. Hours before Israel’s first strike, he published a prescient p...

Beverly Hills Mayor Sharona Nazarian fled Iran with her family during the revolution to escape religious persecution, learning English as her third language before building a career in clinical psychology. Now the first Iranian American woman to lead the city, she governs a diverse community where roughly 20% of the population trace its roots to Iran. As war unfolds in the Middle East, she’s tells...

$500 drones destroyed $100M Russian bombers. Last month (it seems so long ago) Ukrainian forces achieved what seemed impossible: Commercial drones costing less than a smartphone successfully struck Russian strategic bombers worth $100 million each, deep inside enemy territory. This isn’t tactical innovation—it’s the emergence of warfare where David doesn’t just defeat Goliath, but renders him obso...

Dr. Rachel Laryea, author of Black Capitalists: A Blueprint for What is Possible , challenges the assumption that capitalism and social justice are incompatible. Drawing from her journey from Goldman Sachs to Yale to entrepreneurship, she reveals how black capitalists operate as strategic insiders within financial systems—not to exploit, but to extract resources for community uplift. Her research...

Despite global chaos, America’s economy shows puzzling resilience in the face of emerging capital flight, dangerous policy uncertainty, and spiraling debt. As global chaos erupts — from Iran to immigration raids in Big Box parking lots — James Carville’s famous dictum echoes louder than ever: “It’s the economy, stupid.” On this week’s WhoWhatWhy podcast I talk with Noah Smith, author of the widely...

Gustavo Arellano is a longtime Los Angeles Times columnist and chronicler of the Latino community. In my recent California Sun podcast he brings his deeply personal perspective to the immigration crackdown unfolding in Los Angeles. He shares observations from the epicenter of protests. Born to a Mexican father who snuck across the border as a teenager, Arellano’s voice carries both the weight of h...

When the Soviet Union collapsed, it wasn't the end of history—it was the beginning of capitalism's most seductive experiment. Russia became a Wild East where Big Macs symbolized freedom and suitcases of cash ruled reality. Western corporations flooded Moscow with intoxicating chaos, chasing astronomical returns that seemed too good to be true. They were! Charles Hecker, talks to me about his provo...

On this week’s WhoWhatWhy podcast I talk with Jeffrey Wasserstrom, historian and author of The Milk Tea Alliance: Inside Asia’s Struggle Against Autocracy and Beijing . He explains how China tells three crucial stories: the story it tells itself to maintain legitimacy, the story it tells the world to project power, and the underground tales that threaten both narratives. Wasserstrom also takes us...

Matthew Specktor, joins me on this California Sun podcast to discuss his new memoir “ The Golden Hour. ” He offers us a unique perspective on Hollywood’s transformation — as both the son of legendary talent agent Fred Specktor and a thoughtful cultural observer, he explains how the movie industry shifted from a close-knit “family business,” where art and commerce balanced, to today’s corporate-dom...

My guest, journalist Jeanne Carstensen uses one devastating 2015 shipwreck to illuminate the global refugee crisis affecting over 100 million displaced people worldwide. In our conversation, she talks of refugees as a self-selecting population—educated professionals like Afghan bankers and Syrian artists who pay smugglers tens of thousands of dollars to escape violence. Their shared dream: reachin...

When we stop thinking, we enable harm. In this WhoWhatWhy podcast Elizabeth Minnich warns us that systemic evils don’t need monsters — “it takes all of us” through everyday compliance. I talk with moral philosopher Elizabeth Minnich, who delivers a timely warning about collective thoughtlessness. Building directly on her experience as Hannah Arendt’s long-time teaching assistant, Minnich reverses...

A former NATO ambassador shows how Trump has shattered 80 years of global trust in just 120 days, forcing allies to act without America for the first time. In just 120 days, President Donald Trump has accomplished what no foreign adversary could achieve in eight decades: the systematic destruction of America’s global leadership from within. On this WhoWhatWhy podcast , I’m joined by Ivo Daalder, f...