Talk Cocktail

On this recent WhoWhatWhy podcast I explore the tantalizing dream of an impenetrable missile defense and its sobering realities. In an age of hypersonic weapons and artificial intelligence, can any nation truly build an impenetrable shield against missile attacks? As President Donald Trump signs an executive order calling for an “Iron Dome for America,” I talk with Marion Messmer , senior research...

Renowned evolutionary biologist Neil Shubin joins me for an epic journey to Earth's most extreme polar frontiers. The author of the new book ' Ends of the Earth , explains why scientists are willing to brave bone-chilling environments where flesh freezes in seconds. Shubin shares with me stories of daring historical expeditions, cutting-edge climate research, and how these frozen landscapes hold t...

Is China’s unstoppable rise actually a carefully constructed illusion? In this recent WhoWhatWhy podcast , I talk with Timothy Heath , a senior international defense researcher at RAND Corporation who spent over 15 years in the US government analyzing military and political issues related to China. Heath peels back layers of propaganda to reveal a surprisingly fragile superpower wrestling with exi...

As the embers go cold, the smoke clears and the ashes are carted off in Los Angeles a stark reality emerges: not just winds but climate change played a significant role in this deadly and destructive event. A new World Weather Attribution study found that human-caused climate change increased the likelihood of extreme fire conditions by 35 percent and intensified their severity. In this recent Who...

Dr. Mara Einstein takes us beyond the shopping cart to explore how brands have become modern-day tribes, offering comfort and connection in a fragmented world. But are we shaping our brand choices, or are they shaping us—designed to appeal to our deepest needs? Drawing on insights from her book Hoodwinked: How Marketers Use the Same Tactics as Cults, reveals how cult-like marketing tactics, amplif...

On a recent WhoWhatWhy podcast , I spoke with Princeton historian Julian Zelizer who offers a provocative argument from his new book In Defense of Partisanship . At a time when nearly a third of Americans view both major parties with disgust and many blame partisan loyalty for our democratic decay, Zelizer says that strong, disciplined political parties — not feel-good Biden-style bipartisanship —...

From their Venice Beach studio, Charles and Ray Eames revolutionized design in post-war Los Angeles, shaping the modernist ethos of California and beyond. Known for their groundbreaking Case Study House No. 8 , furniture, and films, their work seamlessly blended art, science, and functionality. In my California Sun conversation, Daniel Ostroff, editor of “ An Eames Anthology ,” he shares fresh ins...

There has been a lot of talk this week about the futue of AI. But what if we’ve been asking the wrong question about AI and technology? Not “What can it do for us?” but “What is it doing to us?” In this recent WhoWhatWhy podcast I talk with Chris Colbert , former managing director of the Harvard Innovation Labs, to explore a provocative idea: that technology as we know it may be dead — and that’s...

David Ulin , one of Los Angeles’s most perceptive chroniclers and an editor of Joan Didion’s collected works, reflects on the city’s unprecedented urban wildfires through the lens of history, identity, and belonging. Ulin, in this California Sun podcast , talks to me about how disasters in Los Angeles paradoxically forge deeper connections between Angelenos and their landscape. Drawing parallels t...

When LA’s hydrants failed during massive fires, misinformation spread. What really happened – and the hard truths about our urban water systems. In my latest WhoWhatWhy podcast , I talk to one of California’s leading water experts who cuts through the noise to explain what really happened. Gregory Pierce — director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation and of the Human Rights to Water Solutions...

We begin the year by looking in the “Wayback Machine.” Brewster Kahle , founder of the Internet Archive, housed in a former San Francisco church with Greek columns that echo the ancient Library of Alexandria, discusses his three-decade mission to preserve humanity’s digital knowledge and culture. Now facing unprecedented challenges, including a major cyberattack and legal battles with publishers o...

Welcome back: There are brilliant new voices speaking to California's fires, climate change, and ecology - what this ongoing tragedy means for Californians. But one of the most resonant voices comes from the past. Mike Davis, author of " City of Quartz," "Ecology of Fear," and " Dead Cities, " seems to be quoted almost daily in discussions of the current fires. His understanding of Southern Califo...

The last thing we need this week is another expression of alarm about events in Washington, or anywhere else for that matter. How about something positive about our companions. In a recent California Sun podcast I talked with author Carol Mithers about her new book, “ Rethinking Rescue , ” which explores a groundbreaking approach to animal welfare pioneered by Lori Weise, the founder of L.A.’s Dow...

In this recent WhoWhatWhy podcast , I talk with veteran journalist Sasha Abramsky who reveals a striking paradox: Progressives, long suspicious of states’ rights — once a reactionary battle cry against civil rights and federal reforms — are now embracing state power as their best defense against growing authoritarianism. As the federal government tilts rightward, blue states are forming unpreceden...

In this California Sun podcast I talk with architectural critic Aaron Betsky. He challenges conventional thinking about our built environment in his new book “ Don’t Build, Rebuild ,” in which he makes the case for transforming existing structures rather than constructing new ones. From San Francisco’s empty offices to Los Angeles’s historic core, Betsky explores how this approach can not only add...

At a time when the Republican Party has shifted dramatically from its Reaganite roots, Washington Post columnist Max Boot' s definitive biography of Ronald Reagan arrives with particular resonance. Through a decade of research, Boot reveals a pragmatic leader who would likely be puzzled by today's GOP—a president who supported immigration reform, worked with Gorbachev to reduce nuclear weapons, an...

In a world drowning in misinformation, we keep pointing fingers at those who create and spread false narratives. But what if the real story isn’t about them — it’s about us? In this recent WhoWhatWhy podcast I talk with professor Dannagal Goldthwaite Young, author of Wrong: How Media, Politics, and Identity Drive Our Appetite for Misinformation, we discover a surprising truth: Humans are naturally...

The recent election has sparked new discussions about changing demographics across America. Austin, Texas is no exception. Long celebrated as a liberal bubble in the heart of red Texas, this once magical and creative city is transforming dramatically. From the controversial new University of Austin, featured this past Sunday on 60 Minutes, to Elon Musk's growing presence with SpaceX, to the influx...

While women have yet to shatter the ultimate glass ceiling of the White House, they've been steadily scaling the towering heights of Wall Street since the 1960s. The author of the groundbreaking book " She Wolves: The Untold History of Women on Wall Street," historian Paulina Bren talks to me about how these trailblazers navigated the male-dominated world of finance. From Muriel Siebert becoming t...

What happens when the new Trump administration’s transition to power includes explicit plans for its own demolition?  In this urgent WhoWhatWhy podcast f ollow-up to my recent pre-election conversation with Harvard professor emerita Nancy Rosenblum, we go deeper into how Trump’s drive for unchecked personal rule, combined with ideological extremists in his orbit, creates a uniquely dangerous form...

What happened to women voters as Harris drew fewer of them than Biden in 2020? Even in pro-choice strongholds, economic concerns trumped reproductive rights. To examine this I’m was joined the morning after the election on this WhoWhatWhy podcast by Amanda Becker , a 2023 Nieman Fellow and Washington correspondent for The 19th . She is the author of the book You Must Stand Up: The Fight for Aborti...

Journalist and presidential historian Jonathan Alter 's new book ' American Reckoning: Inside Trump's Trial—and My Own' offers unique insights from inside the Manhattan courtroom where he sat just 25 feet from Donald Trump. While the political landscape has shifted dramatically since those summer days, Alter finds hope in the long view of history. Drawing on his experience covering nine presidents...

About a year ago, on my WhoWhatWhy podcast , I spoke with Harvard professor Daniel Ziblatt , co-author of the book Tyranny of the Minority. Ziblatt takes a hard look at the institutional inertia and political extremism that is threatening the future of American democracy.  Ziblatt argues that the nation’s precarious condition is defined by two contrasting views of what George Washington called “th...

"Vigilantism” - it's a word that conjures images of lynch mobs and frontier justice. But today, both would be Presidents and state governments are not just turning a blind eye to vigilantes, they're actively encouraging them. From Virginia's tip line for parents to snitch on teachers, to Texas unleashing bounty hunters against abortion providers, to Florida encouraging drivers to run over proteste...

On this California Sun podcast I talk with Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano who dismantles the myth of a monolithic “Latino vote.” After 3,000 miles across the Southwest, Arellano finds Latino communities laser-focused on local issues & identity, not national politics The real power? It's in city halls, not DC. Get full access to Talk Cocktail Podcast at jeffschechtman.substack.com/sub...