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PODCAST

Talk Cocktail

Jeff Schechtman

Jeff Schechtman talks with authors, journalists, newsmakers and opinion shapers, and sheds light on the issues of the day, from local stories to national and international headlines and ideas. jeffschechtman.substack.com

news & politics

All Episodes

36:25

The Unexpected Role of Feminism in Mass Incarceration

Talk Cocktail ·

2020/07/16

We regularly go through paroxysms of demanding law and order. It's a form of political rhetoric that while it has roots all the way back in the 16th century, is with us once again today. In our contemporary history we watched Nixon in 1968, New York in the 70s and then were was 1994. A time when the law and order obsession seemed to reach some kind of peak Rudy Giuliani had become Mayor of New York, the Simpson case shined an arc-light on domestic violence, California passed “three strikes,” and

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27:20

Without Newt there is no Trump: How we Got Here.

Talk Cocktail ·

2020/07/12

Donald Trump’s presidency was not an immaculate conception. Rather, the result of 30 years of increased hyper-partisanship, the reshaping of the Republican party, the rise of Rush Limbaugh and talk radio, Robert Ailes and Fox Television, and Newt Gingrich. They all contributed to the pugilistic style of American politics. But perhaps Gingrich did the most damage. It’s arguable that if Gingrich hadn’t come along, others would have picked up the mantle of this style that lead us directly to where we

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22:20

Is It 1968 All Over Again?

Talk Cocktail ·

2020/07/10

Then, as now, there was pent-up frustration, which boiled over, particularly in many poor black neighborhoods setting off riots that rampaged out of control. At the time, many Americans blamed the riots on what they saw as misplaced black rage and often vague outside agitators. But in March 1968, the Kerner Commission Report turned those assumptions on their head. It declared that white racism, not black anger, was at the root of American turmoil. It talked about bad policing practices, a flawed

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24:47

The Microbiome is Revolutionizing Medicine and Yes,...

Talk Cocktail ·

2020/06/30

Beyond the virus we fear most, we are also surrounded by bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. But wait, no need to reach for the Purell every time. In fact, these things represent what is called our microbiome. It accounts for as much as 90% of our cells, and its positive impact on our health is immeasurable. However, as a result of antibiotics, the food we eat, urbanization and other wonders of modern world, we have done things in the name of “do no harm,” which just might be making us

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26:25

The Genetic Superiority of Women

Talk Cocktail ·

2020/06/29

In the current pandemic, we have seen men succumb to COVID 19 at far greater rates than women. A lot of theories have been expounded as to why. And many theories have to do with the disease itself and its inherent impact on the human body. In fact, the reasons may be much more fundamental. They may be reasons that transcend the disease and may be directly related to deeper biological differences between men and women. Differences that have applications in the treatment of virtually every disease,

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26:35

Lincoln Almost Never Made It To The White House

Talk Cocktail ·

2020/06/25

Early in his political career, before he ever became president, Lincoln said referring to America, that “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” Little did Lincoln know at the time that he would one day stand at the fulcrum of that division. And that he might become crushed by the weight of it. Not only metaphorically, or ultimately in Ford’s Theater, but before he ever became president. With Americans so angry today, with tempers, and temperatures so high we admirer the great job that the

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26:36

Maybe There Were Some Smart People in Oklahoma

Talk Cocktail ·

2020/06/21

Along with the ideological divisions that are part of our political and social life today there are also the geographical divisions that essentially, at least as far as conventional wisdom goes, mirror those same divisions. Those of us on the East and West coast, have a kind of bond that would make you think that the Atlantic and Pacific are one. That the sun rises on one coast and sets on the other and nothing much else seems to matter. After all, it’s just “flyover country.” It’s all the same,

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17:36

Accepting Science is Actually a Test of Character

Talk Cocktail ·

2020/06/15

It was George Orwell who said that “to see what is in front of one’s nose needs constant struggle.” Sometimes we are all trapped in our inability to see what is in front of us. However in the realm of science sometimes the facts should simply speak for themselves...and yet there have been those through history that have denied science. Mostly because it didn’t comport with their agenda. Sometimes they were blinded by the obvious and sometimes it was antithetical to the false gods of religion for

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17:55

It's Economic Dignity, Stupid

Talk Cocktail ·

2020/06/09

I’m sure you all remember when Bill Clinton ran for President in 1992, James Carville’s precinct slogan, “it’s the economy stupid” was a fundamental foundation of the campaign. It was effective because it captured, in perhaps a more innocent time, the essence of the economy that personally impacted every single American. Today, almost 30 years and a political chasm latter it seems there are many economies. The Wall Street economy, the economy of the one-percent, the middle class, those struggling to

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27:56

Not Your Father's CIA

Talk Cocktail ·

2020/06/04

When looking at the world of the CIA, spycraft, and espionage, it fair to say that the images of both WWII and particularly the Cold War, shape our vision. Unfortunately, it does not always allow us to understand the reinvented world of 21st-century coverts action and government secrecy. Joining me to explore this, as he has done in his nine previous books about the CIA, is Washington Post global affairs columnist David Ignatius. His new book The Paladin: he takes us inside today's very different

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18:58

It Is A Small World After All

Talk Cocktail ·

2020/05/27

Most of you have heard about the Butterfly Effect. The butterfly flapping its wings in New Mexico can cause a hurricane in China. It may take a very long time, but the connection is real. If the butterfly had not flapped its wings at just the right point in space/time, the hurricane would not have happened. It’s how the world works today. Except with modern communications, it happens at warp speed. Coronavirus and terrorism are just two of many examples Even for those that try and eschew

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17:51

A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History's First...

Talk Cocktail ·

2020/05/24

Who knew that 17th-century pirates were both the original terrorists and the original globalists. We mark seminal events that we are living through and decide which ones are important and which re not. Yet often time and history tell a different story. Sometimes it’s the small events, tiny inflection, or hinge points in history that seep into all the tentacles going out into the future. Steven Johnson, in his new book Enemy of All Mankind: A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History's First Global

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19:42

Where Did 24/7 News Come From?

Talk Cocktail ·

2020/05/20

When we say, almost without much thought today, that we live in an era of 24/7 news and information, we don’t often think about the attribution of this state of affairs. No, it didn’t come from Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, or Jack Dorsey and Twitter. In fact, it wasn’t the internet at all. It was Ted Turner, a guy who in the 1970s was hustling billboards and promoting a UHF TV station in Atlanta. Until he went ahead with the crazy idea of launching a 24/7 news channel in the form of CNN and that,

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28:26

The Truth About America's "Deep State"

Talk Cocktail ·

2020/05/12

Ever since the post-war years both fear and complexity have increased. Fear of the bomb, of communists, war, political assassination, and 9/11. Fear of technology, of the growth and concentration of business, and the growing increase in the size and power of government. Ideas that are often impossible to get one’s head around and to fully understand. Much of our division today is about how we have navigated those fears and traumas. What has emerged it seems is two central narratives that have their

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28:06

Religious Nationalism and the Reopening of America

Talk Cocktail ·

2020/05/08

Even in these troubled times, we are divided. At a time when we should all be pulling in the same direction, even issues of life and death are political. Politicians who have professed to be pro-life are suddenly more pro-money regardless of the body count. Many have asked recently, particularly in the push to prematurely open the economy, how we got here. The answer has nothing and everything to do with our current politics, but the roots go much deeper. The line is very straight between what’s

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20:39

China and Its Ongoing Industrial Espionage

Talk Cocktail ·

2020/05/06

There are so many stories today about the economic competition between China and the US. Competition in technology, in 5G in AI, and every other trendy high tech endeavor. However, the same competition exists in many other areas of industry, including the staid world of agriculture. In fact, it is this world of genetically modified agriculture that may, more than the trendy tech, shape the future of the peoples of both China and the US. It’s no wonder then that industrial espionage is rampant in

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29:57

"When Someone Tells You Who They Are, Believe Them"

Talk Cocktail ·

2020/04/28

People often talk about certain groups of immigrants that have come to America and wonder why some groups are so successful. One of the reasons is that it is a self-selecting population. To escape one’s country, whether it was fleeing Germany in the 1940s or Cambodia or Vietnam in the 1960s or Central America today, takes a remarkable degree of perseverance and courage. It’s often a high-wire act, that requires a do or die mentality. But it has a dark side. What happens when that same drive is

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15:46

Our Evolution Is A Graveyard of Ancient Viruses.

Talk Cocktail ·

2020/04/16

Perhaps at no single moment in modern time have we been more self-aware about the human body and human anatomy. I suspect that all of you have a new understanding of how viruses work, how RNA duplicates, how generic material plays a role in the evolution of disease. Therefore it becomes the perfect time to zoom out from that personal insight to look at the broad evolutionary perspective of how we got here to this time and palace. How did our vulnerable lungs and respiratory systems evolve and what

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25:14

When We Come Back, Every Business Could Be A Startup:...

Talk Cocktail ·

2020/04/07

When we do come back from the current crisis, in some ways every business will be a startup. Sadly, some business will not make it through. Others will struggle to come back. And in some cases innovation will prevail. That is, new problems will result in new business opportunities. Disruption, innovation, and the desire and the will to succeed will drive entrepreneurs to imagine whole new companies and whole new ways of relaunching old ones. And some will be wildly successful and maybe even become

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24:50

A Look At What Real Leadership Skills Might Look Like

Talk Cocktail ·

2020/03/27

If you go into any bookstore and go to the section with business books, you will find enough books on leadership to fill its own library. The problem with most of them is that they focus on how to get followers to follow the orders of the leader. To enact in real life, the old kids game of follow-the-leader. It’s often about trying to get inside the head of followers to understand what makes them tick and how to motivate them. But suppose, the real power of the leader was not to try and motivate

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1,369 results

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