A country’s physical geography still largely determines its global power and either advantages or disadvantages the geopolitical decisions of its leader.
Covid 19 misinformation on the Joe Rogan Experience has triggered a boycott by 1960s pop singers wanting their music removed from the streaming site. Is freedom of expression at stake or should Rogan steer clear of controver…
Three recent arson cases in Northern California's forests, during our dangerous annual wildfire season, have raised the fear that deliberately set fires are on the rise and contributing to the megafires plaguing the Golden S…
Measure 2 is on the Minneapolis ballot November 2. It would remove the Police Department and Chief from the city charter. A new Department of Public Safety would be set up driven by public health considerations. Would police…
Covid 19 fueled a 2.2 year decrease in US white male life expectancy and over 3 years for black and latino men. That was the largest drop in 75 years. While other Western European countries saw a drop also, the US decline wa…
Male College enrolment in 2020 was 40.5% male and 59.5% female. Since the mid-1980s women have earned more bachelors degrees than men. The good news is that women have excelled in higher education. But men have become disill…
The Economist Intelligence Unit has recently published The Global Liveability Index which ranks the top cities in the world by five criteria, Stability, Healthcare, Culture and Environment, Education and Infrastructure. It …
Elon Musk is worth $152 billion, but he still finds time to read in his quest for knowledge. In today's episode we will discuss some of the books that have inspired him to reach for the stars and especially to caution us abo…
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 "tha…
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…
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 fort…
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 cand…
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 …
With the recall petition against Governor Gavin Newsom having reached 1,200,000 signatures and only 300,000 more valid signatures of California necessary to qualify it for the ballot could California be ready for another cel…
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 Ov…
As awful as 2020 has been been, 1968 was even more momentous with political assassinations, the Viet Nam War, the Prague Spring and Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia as well as major civil unrest throughout America. Amidst a…
The Siege of the US Capitol one week ago illustrated how US politics have become militarized under Donald Trump. Militias and their members were a visible presence at the infamous rally beforehand and at the storming of the …
Air India initiated a new nonstop flight from San Francisco to Bangalore - 17 hours nonstop - over the North Pole. The crew was all female, Captain, First Officer, Navigator. The new flight will link San Francisco's Silicon …
The 25th Amendment permits the Vice President and a majority of the cabinet to declare a President unable to discharge the duties and powers of his office and replace him. Should Vice President Pence and the cabinet remove P…
The Covid 19 Pandemic was a Black Swan event unleashed on the world in early 2020. A Black Swan event is an extreme outlier occurrence with a huge impact which is only explainable after the fact. Do any Black Swans lurk in …
DNA genealogical testing is dominated by Ancestry.com and 23 and Me. MIT's Technology Review estimates that 26 million such test kits have been sold by these two companies. While their growth has been explosive, privacy conc…
In 2019 87,00 Californians relocated to Texas. And in 2020 we lost several iconic Bay Area tech companies to the Lone Star state such as Oracle, Hewlett Packard and Palantir. Podcast celebrity Joe Rogan moved to Austin and T…
When Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on January 20, 2021 he will become the 23rd President in history to have Irish roots. 50% of our Presidents have an ancestral link to Ireland - that's qui…
Governor Gavin Newsom, California's 40th Governor could be facing a recall election in the Spring of 2021 in the midst of the Pandemic. Recall signature gatherers have 850,000 of the 1,500,000 qualified signatures they need …
Chesa Boudin, the 40 year old District Attorney of San Francisco was elected November 2019. He has spent his first 11 months in office radically transforming the criminal justice prosecution priorities for our City. But none…
As the 49 year old's net worth surged to $152 billion last week based on the success of his California companies, Tesla and SpaceEx, he announced he was decamping for Texas. Seriously ? Texas ? California has its' fair sh…
FaceBook will launch a new cryptocurrency the Diem and a financial wallet the Novi to complement it. Target date is early 2021. It will be backed by the US dollar so it will not be digital in the way that Bitcoin is digital…
With two new vaccines and their 94% effective rates against Covid 19 pending FDA approval, light is at the end of the tunnel for the Pandemic. But will Americans accept them enthusiastically ? Or will they protest like rejec…
Not even a once in a century global pandemic seems to be able to slow down the rise in California's robust residential real estate market. The median price for a home hit $712,000 and shows little sign of slowing down. Low …
Governor Gavin Newsom will get to name a new US Senator to fill the vacancy left when Kamala Harris becomes Vice President. The Governor appears to be in no rush to name a successor. While he wants to make an historic appoin…
Twitter, Facebook and the other big social media companies moved toward a curated speech, censorship model during the 2020 campaign. As a result an Alt Tech social media ecosystem has grown up emphasizing the importance of…
November 22, 2020 marks 57 years since the assassination of the 35th President, John F. Kennedy. Yet key documents remain hidden from the public including 300 pages of files on George Joannides, a CIA operative who managed …
A popular conspiracy theory in right wing circles is that Vice President elect Kamala Harris will soon take over from an incapacitated President elect Joe Biden. When you repeat such a theory you are giving it oxygen some ar…
Pfizer and its' German partner Biontech, announced on Monday November 9, 2020 that their vaccine has a 90% effectiveness rate in preventing Covid 19. This announcement is the first ray of hope that the Covid 19 pandemic whic…
President Trump, in his 16 minute electoral fraud diatribe from the White House Briefing Room, Thursday November 5 has launched a Conspiracy Theory of a stolen election, before the American people and a global audience. His …
72 years ago today, November 2, 1948, President Harry Truman defied all expectations and won re-election, when the national polls had him down 6.5% versus Governor Tom Dewey. His come from behind win was a shock to the natio…
The gray wolf, one of America's iconic symbols of the Old West, is to lose its' endangered species status. The Trump Administration argues that 45 years of protection has seen its numbers grow six fold to 6000. But conservat…
2020 has been marked by extreme political polarization in the United States, and civilian unrest in most American cities. 56% of Americans polled expect political violence to follow the November 3rd presidential election reg…
Gun sales in June surged to 3.9 million weapons, an 80% increase over the same month last year. More than 20 million new firearms have been purchased in 2020, fueled by national apprehension over the pandemic, unemployment, …
San Francisco is looking to re-name 44 of its' 114 schools. The move was prompted by a review of existing names for slavery links, genocide perpetrators, colonialists, white supremacists etc. 9 US Presidents' names would be…
JFK took on anti-Catholic bigotry upfront in the 1960 presidential campaign, speaking before a conference of Protestant Pastors in Houston, Texas, September 12 regarding his Catholic Faith. Kennedy went on to win the Presid…
The Wolverine Watchmen, a Michigan based militia group, plotted to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, try her for treason, storm the State Capitol in Lansing with 200 men and foment a civil war. The FBI arrested the 13 plott…
Wednesday night's VP debate was more anticipated than past vice presidential meet ups for a host of reasons. After last week's acrimonious shouting match that was disastrous for both Biden and Trump, Mike Pence had to stead…
The quickening pace of the destruction of California's forests by wildfire is staggering. In the last 3 months four million acres of our 33 million acres of forest have burned. That's 12%. From 2000 to 2019 4 million acres b…
Who are the Proud Boys and why did Joe Biden and Chris Wallace give them oxygen at the Presidential debate ? A right wing group the Anti-Defamation League calls Alt-Lite, with a Disney film inspired name wasn't deserving of …
Deceit and Dirty Money is Jim Herlihy's debut novel written in the late 1990's - a simpler and gentler time before 911, Global financial crises, cell phones, the internet and electric cars. Set in San Francisco, this financi…
California experienced its' smallest net population growth in 2019 - 87,000 or 0.2%, the smallest net increase since 1900. The 2020 net increase is likely to be even smaller. Are the unaffordable housing costs, high taxes a…
San Francisco's homeless population numbers approximately 24,000. It breaks down into three discrete segments, namely one third mentally ill, one third economic casualties and one third drug users and addicts. Today's podcas…
The 3700 California prison inmates who volunteer to be firefighters as we wage war on the Wildfires, will be eligible to have their records expunged as a result of their service. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the legislation…
San Francisco's skies turned the color of Irish Single Malt Whiskey, even down to that hint of smokiness on Wednesday morning. The deep orange/amber twilight persisted most of Wednesday forcing everyone to turn on their head…
Over the last 6 weeks, five major police departments have lost their Chiefs, in large measure because of a breakdown of trust between the Mayor and Chief. Most police chiefs serve at the pleasure of the Mayor and their ongo…
The recent murder of right wing Patriot Prayer member Jay Danielson by Antifa activist Michael Reinoehl on the streets of Portland, was a dangerous escalation in the street protests of this Summer. Reinoehl was subsequently …
Michael Reinoehl, the confessed murderer of Patriot Prayer member Aaorn Jay Danielson, in Portland Saturday, August 29, has died in a gunfight with a law enforcement Task Force led by US Marhalls, close to Olympia, Washingto…
Aaron Danielson a 39 year old Trump supporter and Patriot Prayer was shot and killed by Michael Reinoehl, 48, years old and a self described 100% Antifa follower. The killing brings into sharp contrast the ideological battl…
11,000 dry lightning strikes hit the Golden State overnight August 16 and 17, igniting 347 wildfires. Here in Wine Country, 50 miles North of San Francisco, the fires continue to burn two weeks later, sending massive columns…
Kamala Harris and Facebook. 4 conspiracy theories quickly emerged after her selection. In today’s episode we will look at each one, and while trying not to give them oxygen, debunk them --- Send in a voice message: https://a…
6 months into the pandemic,transmission rates are dropping and our changed behaviors wearing masks and socially distancing are making a difference. But the Fog of War on Covid 19 at least initially meant that many mistakes w…
An illegal alien felon shot and killed a father and his two sons in a working class residential neighborhood of San Francisco in June 2008. District Attorney charged Edwin Ramos with three counts of murder but declined to se…
Dementia and Alzheimer’s are brain diseases of older age. The former can be treated to an extent with lifestyle changes, but the latter is far from finding a cure. Cognition Testing became a presidential campaign issue when …
Science tells us that 95% of the population has implicit biases yet there is only a 16% correlation between the bias and behavior. So is racist, homophobic and misogynistic behavior not principally triggered by implicit bias…
Mass surveillance and totalitarianism are two prominent themes in Orwell's dystopian novel published in 1949. But there are two major mass surveillance systems at play in the world today. In the West, the data mining strateg…
California's Summer surge in C-19 cases has put the Golden State in the dubious first place position of 452,000 cases versus 412,000 for New York. What went wrong ? Back in March and April, California had an enviably low num…
California’s powerful teachers’ union the CTA and Governor Gavin Newsom seem to be taking a very slow and hesitant approach to reopening the state’s schools. He has announced that online learning rather than in person classr…
Tik Tok the popular lip syncing video app has exploded in popularity globally during the Covid 19 lockdowns. But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has threatened to ban it in the US. India and Australia have already done so. Is…
Over 20 European countries have re-opened their schools but the US lags far behind. Our decentralized and locally controlled as well as politicized schools - school boards are elected and funded with local property taxes - a…
The world's population stands at 7.8 billion today and has increased by 5.8 billion since 1950. But the British medical journal The Lancet and the University of Washington in Seattle have authored a study which posits that t…
With San Francisco"s gyms closed for four months, hiking the urban environment of one of America's most beautiful cities affords lots of opportunities for vigorous exercise. But how is urban hiking different from walking ? W…
The Social Media giant is weathering a month long boycott by some of its advertisers, a critical civil rights audit and controversy about political speech. Yet Mark Zuckerberg’s founding principles for Facebook remain: voice…
With the 2020 Presidential election less than 4 months away, Social Media and with it Fake News stories will loom large no doubt, much as they did in 2016. The BBC has a dedicated weekly program called BBC Trending which fo…
35 million Californians live within 50 miles of one of the 21 historic Franciscan Missions: They are a key part of the California identity. But the recent destruction of statues of Father Junipero Serra, have challenged the …
The mushrooming of 443 homeless tents on the sidewalks of the Tenderloin, one of San Francisco's poorest and most disadvantaged neighborhoods, caused a group of neighbors, including the well-connected UC Hastings Law School …
The destruction of statues of Junipero Serra in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park and in front of Los Angeles' founding church, Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles, was a wanton act of vandalism. Serra, a Franciscan Friar was canon…
Cutting edge research coming out of University of California San Francisco (UCSF) in the antiviral field. Are Kinase Inhibitors the magic bullet to kill the Coronavirus ? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/james-…
When Steven Carrillo scrawled BOOG in his own blood across the hood of his white van, the US Air Force Sergeant cast his fate with the extremist anti government movement, the Boogaloo Bois. Facing two death penalty charges f…
In the closing days of World War II, San Francisco hosted the organizing conference which created the UN. The conference took place at the War Memorial Opera House from April 25 to June 26, 1945. Why did San Francisco get th…
Many of our changed behaviors during the Covid 19 confinement are being translated into new policies and procedures by Employers, Healthcare Providers, Retailers and even Significant Others. The overriding theme of the chang…
As the statue removal movement sweeps across America and England, it has hit the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Artists, academics and art historians are demanding that a bust of its' founder, Avery Brundage be removed f…
The SFPD, LAPD and SJPD police unions announced a reform agenda to combat racist police officers. The plan lays the groundwork for new policies and procedures to be crafted for their departments and beyond. But is the proble…
San Francisco has seen a 47% drop in Use of Force Incidents involving the police and the public from 2016 through 2019. But racial disparities remain. Mayor Breed’s 4 point reform plan is reasonable. But her first attempt to…
Swedish prosecutors have named Stig Engstrom as Palme's assassin. It's taken 34 years of mystery, conspiracy and botched investigations in which 130 different people claimed to be the assassin since 1986 to reach a conclus…
Three issues are covered in this episode: 1) Abolition of the Minneapolis Police Force, 2) the Justice and Policing Bill of 2020, 3) political fallout of Police Reform on the 2020 Presidential Election. #Joerogan. #8cantwait…
The killing of George Floyd has unleashed a flood of police reforms.Minneapolis is considering abolishing its force while Los Angeles and San Francisco are planning to defund their police departments. And what impact will ab…
While the President and former President acknowledge that reform is necessary, they approach the issue from opposite ends of the political spectrum. What impact will the call for police reform have on the November Presidenti…
The proximate cause of the riots and looting is the heinous murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police office Derek Chauvin. But the ensuing civil unrest has been co-opted by a host of bad actors like Antifa who have ex…
The Covid 19 pandemic has spawned many conspiracy theories. Cutting through misinformation and getting to the facts is key. But what is fact and what is fiction ? --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to…
Does the Covid 19 pandemic represent an epochal inflection point in American history ? Will we look back on this time as one of those watershed moments of how things used to be so much better or worse ? Or will the confine…
The 80/20 Rule in business says that 20% of your sales team generates 80% of the company's revenue. In a sense something similar applies to Covid - 19. A small number of C-19 victims can infect a huge number of people. And…
Two news stories this past week included the piecemeal re-opening of the American Economy in the wake of Covid-19 and the acquisition of the internet’s most popular podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience. The two stories illustra…
The 119 episodes of the TV series were filmed on location in San Francisco. To retain San Francisco authenticity, a sound stage was built in the City to film non-location, indoor scenes. Early 1970s San Francisco comes alive…
Podcasting has become an important information medium in the last 15 years with Apple, Spotify, Google, Anchor, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio and iHeart Radio investing heavily in distribution. While barriers to entry are low, surv…
On September 22, 1975 would be assassin Sara Jane Moore waited outside the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco's Union Square to kill President Gerald Ford. The first shot missed the President's head by 5 inches. Our 38th Pre…
California began Phase 2 of the Shelter in Place orders which began eight weeks ago. Many of the state's 58 counties entered the early stages of re-opening the California economy - the 7th largest in the world if California …
Bullitt starring iconic 1960s King of Cool Steve McQueen is set in San Francisco. A Chicago mobster is being guarded by Lt. Frank Bullitt (McQueen) and his team pending his appearance as chief witness before a Senate subcomm…
California's total Covid-19 infections have been remarkably low as compared to New York State. There are a host of reasons for the fact California ranks 5th in the Covid-19 stakes, with New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Ma…
A wrap-up of reopening news in California and Western Europe. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/james-herlihy/m…
In 1847, at the height of the Irish Potato Famine, the Choctaw Nation donated $170 to Irish famine relief. Returning the favor, 173 years later, many Irish are donating to a GoFundMe page for Navajo, Hopi and Choctaw Covid-1…
The dedication ceremony of the worlds tallest high rise at 138 stories in San Francisco, is the setting for this 1974 disaster film. The film unintentionally provides an eerie foreshadowing of the events of 9/11 and the Twin…
San Francisco’s 8000 homeless people are crowding into the Tenderloin District, pitching tents on city streets. The neighbors have sued the City to compel City Hall to clean up the streets. The Mayor has committed to rent 82…
Silicon Valley is beginning to experience a wave of layoffs - a rarity as tech firms considered themselves immune from such cuts in the past. But the Gig Economy with its ride hailing apps and home stay apps will have the bi…
Work.com, a creation of Salesforce based in San Francisco, will provide managers the tools to keep employees safe from the Coronavirus in the workplace, as America goes back to work. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor…
As the US moves to the next phase of the pandemic with almost half the country re-opening for business, California is slower off the mark. Why ? And why has Ireland been able to craft such a winning Roadmap to Re-Opening wit…
Robin Williams was an accomplished comedian and dramatic actor who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in “Good Will Hunting.”. A comedic genius, he died in 2014 at the age of 63. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor…
Governor Newsom and Mayor Breed are products of San Francisco politics. Their early and effective Shelter in Place policies and practices have helped to keep Covid-19 cases and fatalities low. But their opponents criticize t…
Apple and Google roll out their Coronavirus tracking APP to public health authorities Tuesday April 28. Will it infringe our right to privacy ? Should we care ? --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to m…
New data shows that the Coronavirus was coursing through America’s cities much earlier than believed. Our system’s response initially was flat footed at best. But we are making progress. --- This episode is sponsored by · An…
Sean Penn’s Oscar winning portrayal of slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk is a powerful dramatization of the last 10 days of his life in November 1978. Milk continues to inspire both Americans and global citizens like Leo V…
Tony Bennett will lead a mass, civic singalong on Saturday April 25 at 12 noon. All 850,000 inhabitants of San Francisco are invited to join in as a thank you to the Covid-19 frontline workers who have taken care of us and k…
The Social Distancing and Lockdown practices of the last 5 weeks has seen a slowing in the rate of increase of C-19 infection rates and fatalities. But global and national numbers still increase. What is next and how does C-…
This film noir is set in 1941 San Francisco and stars Humphrey Bogart in the title role of private investigator Sam Spade, Mary Astor as the manipulative fortune seeker Brigid O’Shaugnessey, Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorr…
A new, massive C-19 testing program will be part of our return to normal. But all new C-19 victims will have to provide names and phone numbers for their contacts who may have been exposed. Those contacts also must self isol…
As California and France appear to have passed the peak of C-19 infection rates, when and how will society get back to normal, the economy start running again and shelter in place be lifted. --- This episode is sponsored by …
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is actively funding 8 entities working to develop a Covid 19 vaccine. Gates, the visionary who brought personal computing into our lives, is now focused on finding a new vaccine and prev…
Today’s podcast focuses on C-19 policies, practices and technologies in Germany, the U.K. and the US. Best practices, use of data and testing technology to defeat Covid-19. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easi…
Hitchcock’s thriller and horror film was filmed on location in San Francisco and Bodega Bay, Sonoma County in 1962. The themes of the film, a world out of joint, nature attacking humans, inhabitants seeking shelter from terr…
California with a population of 40 million has had 374 Covid-19 fatalities. During the same period through 4/7/20 New York State with 19 million people has had 5236 deaths - 14 times more than California. Why ? --- This epis…
Innovation Update is a weekly feature of The San Francisco Experience. In today’s installment we recount 7 innovations created in the San Francisco Bay Area to confront Covid-19 and stop it dead in its tracks. --- This episo…
In the fifth and final part of the Living on Lockdown series, I explore how and where we get our news on Covid 19 over the rest of the lockdown. With a historic perspective and quotes from Queen Elizabeth II and Henry Kissin…
Social isolation can lead to depression and loneliness. Today’s episode provides an alternative, to let you interact online through games, house parties and group movie watching at a distance. --- This episode is sponsored b…
In this episode we review 6 apps for takeout and delivery services from restaurants. Best practices for grocery shopping. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --…
Urban Hiking is the fastest growing trend in Hiking. It brings the same hiking energy to a CityScape and is a great way to accomplish your cardio fitness goals. Several hiking apps are reviewed. --- This episode is sponsored…
The first in our series of podcasts to help you get through your home confinement during Lockdown. We focus on retirement savings in your 401k account and introduce online resources you can access. --- This episode is sponso…
Sharing best Social Lockdown practices from San Francisco, the city that is pioneering how to socially isolate and distance, with a big assist from Social Media. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to …
Comparison of early flight bans from China on San Francisco’s low rate of Covid 19 versus New York’s open European flights. Social Distancing Policies and Europe’s varied approach to Social Lockdown and Distancing. --- This …
In this episode I discuss the greatest film of all time, Vertigo, as judged by the British Film Institute in 2012. Set in 1957 San Francisco, it is a technicolor travelog of the City by the Bay. It provides a magnificent phy…