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 ?...
Apr 23, 2025•54 min•Season 30Ep. 20
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."
Apr 19, 2025•1 hr•Season 30Ep. 19
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.
Apr 14, 2025•37 min•Season 30Ep. 18
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.
Apr 10, 2025•58 min•Season 30Ep. 17
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.
Apr 08, 2025•53 min•Season 30Ep. 16
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.
Apr 04, 2025•52 min•Season 30Ep. 15
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.
Apr 02, 2025•55 min•Season 30Ep. 14
Technology has reversed the information balance of power between the public and the elites .
Mar 20, 2025•43 min•Season 30Ep. 13
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 ?
Mar 17, 2025•52 min•Season 30Ep. 10
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.
Mar 13, 2025•26 min•Season 30Ep. 12
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.
Mar 12, 2025•40 min•Season 30Ep. 11
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.
Mar 05, 2025•48 min•Season 30Ep. 9
The Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco is an independent biomedical research institution that empowers world class scientists to find new pathways to cure disease.
Mar 03, 2025•37 min•Season 30Ep. 8
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.
Feb 27, 2025•36 min•Season 30Ep. 7
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 ?
Feb 24, 2025•37 min•Season 30Ep. 6
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.
Feb 17, 2025•38 min•Season 30Ep. 5
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.
Feb 17, 2025•29 min•Season 30Ep. 4
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.
Feb 12, 2025•36 min•Season 30Ep. 3
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.
Feb 10, 2025•32 min•Season 30Ep. 2
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.
Feb 08, 2025•35 min•Season 30Ep. 1
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 ?
Feb 03, 2025•31 min•Season 29Ep. 18
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 ?
Jan 30, 2025•28 min•Season 29Ep. 20
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 ?
Jan 29, 2025•50 min•Season 29Ep. 19
The Telepathy Tapes is a Spotify podcast which explores the profound abilities of non-speakers with Autism.
Jan 27, 2025•43 min•Season 29Ep. 16
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.
Jan 23, 2025•49 min•Season 29Ep. 17
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.
Jan 21, 2025•34 min•Season 29Ep. 15
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.
Jan 20, 2025•28 min•Season 29Ep. 14
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.
Jan 16, 2025•48 min•Season 29Ep. 13
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.
Jan 15, 2025•46 min•Season 29Ep. 12
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.
Jan 09, 2025•55 min•Season 29Ep. 11
