Free Forum with Terrence McNally

I turn to ERWIN CHEMERINSKY, Dean of Berkeley Law School, for commentary and analysis re justice, our legal system, and the courts – especially the Supreme Court. Here are two such conversations. In the first half hour, one newly recorded on current issues and his latest book PRESUMED GUILTY: How the Supreme Court Empowered the Police and Subverted Civil RIghts. In the second half, a 2018 conversation on the Trump White House and the book, WE THE PEOPLE:  A Progressive Reading of the Constitution for the Twenty-First Century. You can learn more at law.berkeley.edu.

This week’s conversation recorded in 2011 is both timely and untimely. Timely - as we exit from Afghanistan - because in her book When Johnny and Jane Come Marching Home, Paula Caplan asks why it’s a mental illness to be devastated by war and urges us to connect with veterans and listen to their stories, one-on-one. And untimely, because Paula died of cancer July 21st. She was both one of the warmest, most generous people I’ve known, and at the same time, a consistently fierce and passionate advocate for justice. Three words I believe often motivated Paula: “It’s not fair.” And those three words have seldom felt more true. 

Need some good news about climate? I’m excited to speak with economist ROBERT POLLIN and union leader DAVE CAMPBELL, Secretary-Treasurer of United Steelworkers Local 675 in Carson CA, about the California Climate Jobs Plan. Initiated and paid for by labor unions, written by Pollin and others, it pursues the state’s clean energy goals through 2030, by creating a million new jobs and offering a fair transition for those who will lose theirs. You can learn more at californiaclimatejobsplan.com

As the US deals with its exit from Afghanistan, at least some are questioning the role of our military in the world. Here’s my 2013 conversation with JEREMY SCAHILL about his book and Oscar-nominated documentary, DIRTY WARS:The World is a Battlefield. Scahill reveals lethal covert operations unknown to the public, being done on your dime and in your name. How much has our military presence changed since 2013? I found articles published in 2021 that count up to 700 US bases in up to 80 countries.

I’m excited to talk with JULIE BATTILANA, professor at Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School, and founder of its  Social Innovation and Change Initiative, about her new book POWER FOR ALL. It's nothing less than a call for individuals not only to understand and assert power in their own lives, but also to collectively use this power to remake society by rebalancing existing power relationships - including racial, gender, financial and political. To learn more, go to Powerforallbook.com

After 20 years, Biden’s pullout of US troops from Afghanistan is inevitably followed by the chaotic evacuations of our desperate Afghan allies and the self-serving blame games of our all-knowing US pundits. Here’s my 2017 conversation with MARK DANNER, a voice of conscience and reason concerning war and terrorism since at least 9/11, about his book, SPIRAL: Trapped in the Forever War.

In Last Best Hope, GEORGE PACKER explores four narratives that he says now dominate American (political) life: Free America, a nation of separate individuals that serves the interests of corporations and the wealthy; Smart America, the world view of Silicon Valley, the Clintons, and the professional elite; Real America, the white Christian nationalism of the heartland; and Just America, which sees citizens as members of identity groups who either inflict or suffer oppression. Though they may dominate, these narratives clearly do not speak for all, nor do any of them offer a viable path to restoring or sustaining a thriving democracy. What narrative might?

The UN’s latest report paints a frightening picture of the time we’ve wasted and the urgency with which we must act to avert the worst of climate change. The daily news tells us that the unvaccinated are welcome hosts for the deadly evolution of Covid19 - though they may not believe in either. Journalist and author CHRIS MOONEY has been tracking the costs of science denial for years - long before Trumps presidence. Here’s our 2011 conversation re his articles, THE SCIENCE OF WHY WE DON'T BELIEVE SCIENCE and THE REALITY GAP.

I talk with historian DAVID KAISER about two books. His own A LIFE IN HISTORY talks about how the study of history has changed. Fields like African-American History and Women’s History deal with evidence nobody had bothered to look at before. But as these focused areas have developed, Kaiser says we look less today at history’s broader sweep. Might this increase our tendency to repeat the past? THE FOURTH TURNING: An American Prophesy (Straus & Howe) holds that history is not linear, but cyclical, and that every 80 years or so, a crisis disrupts society, the old order crumbles, and a new order emerges. No surprise - we’re in the midst of such a crisis. Will we emerge broken or renewed?

The virus takes advantage of our divisions to infect and kill us. Fires and floods ravage Europe, China, and the US. Police tell of the blood thirsty mob that attacked them as they defended Congress. Anxious? Here’s my 2010 conversation with Jon Kabat Zinn and Trudy Goodman, leading lights in the teaching of mindfulness in America. Kabat Zinn has written many books including Wherever You Go, There You Are and is responsible for bringing mindfulness to many mainstream institutions. Goodman is the founder of the meditation community, Insight LA. Oh, and they’ve been friends since high school.