The San Francisco Experience

Minneapolis and the nation as a whole are holding their collective breath as the George Floyd murder trial unfolds.  Just as the repercussions of his killing by police officer Derek Chauvin last year are still working their way through American society, could the verdict in the trial portend more civil unrest and calls to radically reform the nation's policing capability ? As goes the Minneap...

The Frida Kahlo Exhibit is a collection of the artist's most personal artifacts including clothing, photographs, prosthetics, paintings, and jewelry which was stored at her home in Mexico City from the time of her death, 1954, until 2004. The Exhibit also draws on her time in San Francisco and how it influenced her life and art. It is open through May 2, 2021.

Running Fence was a 24.5 mile massive art installation on the hills of Sonoma and Marin Counties, ending with a dive into the Pacific Ocean. Rated by the Smithsonian Institution as one of the most important artworks of the second half of the 20th Century, Christo and his wife Jeanne Claude donated the work to the Smithsonian about 10 years ago. But a significant collection of Running Fence artifac...

Canada's Pandemic management in 2020 was exemplary by any measure, lower infection rates and lower mortality rate belied the nation's sense of collective responsibility for all Canadians health. The US has much to learn from our Northern Neighbor.  Though the story on Covid vaccine rollout has been mixed. Trevin Stratton gives us a unique perspective on the Team Canada approach to the Covid Pandem...

Since the start of the Covid 19 pandemic one year ago, Asian Americans have faced racist violence at a much higher rate than in previous years. In New York City for instance, hate crimes against Asian Americans have jumped 1900% in 2020. And President Biden has signed an executive order as one of his first acts as President denouncing anti-Asian American discrimination. In today's episode we explo...

Spokane, Washington is the site of the Gonzaga University campus and the Institute of Hate Studies. Located not far from the Idaho panhandle where White Supremacist groups and ideology have flourished, the Institute is on the front lines in the battle against Hate. Kristine Hoover the Director outlines the Institute's mission in this episode.

It looks like the Recall organizers who want to oust California Governor Gavin Newsom have successfully gathered more than enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. Political Scientist Professor at Sonoma State University David McCuan explains the process which will be the national political story of 2021.

The Harvey Milk Terminal 1 at San Francisco International Airport is our newest and repurposed facility. Local artist Emily Fromm was selected by the SF Arts Commission to create four large mosaic murals in the departure hall depicting the colorful and diverse neighborhoods of the City. She discusses her art and the SFO installation which is likely to become one of the airport's signature artworks...

Two women Emanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna won the 2020 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for developing the gene editing technique known s CRISPR-CAS9.  But in 2018 the first humans were born with edited genes in China, twin girls Nana and Lulu. Their unique human status in the history of mankind came as a result of a rogue genetics researcher who defied all the bioethics standards of scien...

When Governor Cuomo of New York issued his lockdown orders March 20, 2020, he failed to designate fitness centers as essential services. Notwithstanding the health benefits of exercise and the fact that 73% of the 525,000 Covid deaths in America were among the obese and overweight who would have benefited from exercise, New York State kept gyms closed. But gym owner and entrepreneur Charlie Cassar...

The SF School Board is threatened with being recalled because after one year of Covid related lockdowns, the 127 public schools in the City are still closed to its' 59,000 students. The City is actually suing the School Board to compel them to re-open the schools in compliance with State Law. And their cancel culture antics of renaming 44 of our schools - Washington, Lincoln and Roosevelt were una...

Serial Entrepreneur and business coach Ed Rocha sets out a clear step by step strategy to take your gig, side hustle or past time from a concept to a profitable business. He practices what he preaches, having successfully launched three companies from concept to revenue generators. A silver lining of the Covid lockdowns is that many would be entrepreneurs have developed plans for a new business to...

The 2016 vote by 52% of the UK electorate to leave the European Union came at the end of a contentious campaign where Social Media dominated. Targeted micro marketing crafted by firms like Cambridge Analytica foreshadowed even greater success for such Social Media strategies in the 2016 Trump victory over Hillary Clinton. Josh Hamilton explains how it happened and why such internet driven  politic...

While most of corporate America has been telecommuting to work from their homes for the last 11 months, that's about to change if Goldman Sachs' CEO David Solomon has his way. He views working from home as an aberration "that we're going to correct as soon as possible." He is a high profile executive whose opinions are closely followed in the corporate world. Today's episode focuses on the pros an...

The Biden Administration is seeking to revive negotiations with Iran on the 2015 Obama Administration deal. The Trump Administration abrogated the agreement in 2018. And since then Iran's foes in the Persian Gulf - Dubai, Bahrain and Qatar - have established diplomatic relations with Israel. Israel has said it would do anything to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Iran has sped up its nuclea...

California voters are especially testy these days as we enter our 12 th month of Covid lockdown. Not only is the Governor threatened with Recall over his handling of the crisis, but the San Francisco District Attorney is too, for being soft on crime and hostile to police as well as  School Boards. San Francisco's failure to open public schools while private and parochial schools have been in...

February is Black History Month when we celebrate and acknowledge the many accomplishments of African Americans throughout the history of the United States. In today's episode, successful Venture Capitalist Jonathan Speed, and a US military historian by avocation, walks us through the sweeping experience of African American service men and women during World War II. The courage, perseverance and d...

The Medical profession has aggressively adopted the video call and the Zoom meeting during the Covid lockdown. Over 25 million video doctor visits have taken place in 2020. But as this digital health revolution got underway, seniors have often been left behind because of digital illiteracy, no access to broadband internet or not having a smartphone or computer. A recent TeleHealth Summit in San Fr...

Ambassador Ric Grenell served as US Ambassador to Germany from 2018 to 2020. Subsequently he served as Acting Director of National Intelligence in 2020, a cabinet level post. A favorite of Donald Trump for his blunt and forthright speaking style, Sean Hannity and Representative Matt Gaetz  were pushing him to declare for Governor in the likely California Recall Election. He was coy, intereste...

The first week of February 2021 was not very good to the Governor of California. First, the Recall signature campaign was closing in on 1.4 million signatures with six weeks left before the deadline. Then two Republican candidates announced they would run against him in the Recall and a third one, an Independent was considering a run.  Finally the Recall campaign has raised $2.5 million. All...

Labyrinth of the Wind is the critically acclaimed debut novel of Madhav Misra, our guest in the Meet the Author series.  Madhav takes us back in time to the late 1970s when Teheran, Iran was an international city, awash in petrodollars, governed by the autocratic Shah whose rule vacillated between westernization and brutal police state repression. Against this complex backdrop, Madhav weaves a lov...

Labyrinth of the Wind is the critically acclaimed debut novel of Madhav Misra. Set in Teheran, Iran in the late 1970s as the Shah's regime is coming to an end and the fundamentalist Islamic Revolution of Ayatollah Khomeini is unfolding it is a complex story of a young expat's struggle to serve several masters. A fascinating look back to a Westernizing Iran awash in petrodollars and fabulous wealth...

San Francisco has been picked on by the East Coast press for decades. Of late, they have criticized us for our homelessness mess, high cost of housing, City Hall Corruption - I agree with them on that score - and the recent tech exodus to Austin, Seattle and points East because of the high cost of living. They seem to think we live in a Film Noir Warp. But San Francisco always bounces back. In fac...

With the recall petition against Governor Gavin Newsom having reached 1,200,000 signatures and only 300,000 more valid signatures of California voters necessary to qualify it for the ballot could California be ready for another celebrity Governor ? After all Arnold Schwarzenegger swept in to the 2003 recall election to replace Gray Davis. And even Ronald Reagan was chosen by Californians to lead t...

Joseph R. Biden Jr. was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on January 20, 2021.  His predecessor Donald Trump did not attend the ceremony, but he left a letter of support for the incoming President in the Oval Office. Biden's 21 minute inaugural address spoke of unity and toning down political rhetoric. While new American Presidents enjoy a honeymoon with the voters, his chal...