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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

16:47

The Desert and the Cities Sing

Talk Cocktail ·

2016/10/28

Looking at the broad sweep of history and change in the 20th and 21st Century, it’s arguable that the dynamics of Israel, its relationship to its neighbors and the meaning of the Zionist project, remain one of the most complex, historic and creative endeavors of our time. But how did it all get this way and what can the world learn from all the good that’s come out of Israel? How did the desire for a homeland, a base for the Jewish diaspora, become so complex and lead to a statistically

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23:16

Inequality....the great American Divide

Talk Cocktail ·

2016/10/25

More than race and more than gender, class and wealth are the great divide in America today. There was a time when those with wealth represented a kind of noblesse oblige. They had sense of obligation to the larger society that had allowed them the opportunity to succeed. Today something is different. Something that goes far beyond reaction to the "greed is good" utterances of Gordon Gekko. There is, at the heart of today's class divide, an anger at the wealth pooling at the very top. It’s

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35:03

A Contrarian View of Inequality

Talk Cocktail ·

2016/10/24

If there is a central political principle that organizes what little policy debate there is in this election it seems to be centered around the idea of “income inequality.” From the embrace of Bernie Sanders by millennials, to boomers and traditional Democrats embracing of Clinton, right on through the angry, populist rage that makes up the core of the Trump supporters. So if this is the core idea embedded deep in the national psyche and we agree in a modern sense that crowdsourcing matters,

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24:00

Are the Mexican Drug Wars a Kind of Disneyland for...

Talk Cocktail ·

2016/10/18

Part mythology and part the result of the current Presidential campaign, we have this image of the US/Mexican border as divided territory. We hear folks talking about it as if at one time north was north and south was south and never the twain would meet. The truth is that this has never been the case. The border has almost always been a porous membrane through which people, drugs, money, and crime could easily pass. The border is the kind of place that for poor teenage boys, was a kind

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28:30

Greil Marcus explains Bob Dylan

Talk Cocktail ·

2016/10/14

For any music to be successful, there must be that special bond between performer and listener. Perhaps nowhere has that bond been stronger then in the unique relationship between Bob Dylan and music critic extraordinaire Greil Marcus. Marcus explasins how for over forty years Dylan has drawn upon and reinvented the landscape of traditional American music, its myths, heroes and villains. Throughout all of it, Greil Marcus has been there to be our ears, to be a unique listener of an unparalleled

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21:24

How Nice This Would Be Today!

Talk Cocktail ·

2016/10/13

Back in 1960, in Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, the world took note of the decadence of life in the Italian capital of Rome. Inspired by two major political/sex scandals of the era, the film, which would win the 1960 Palme d'or in Cannes, depicted a Rome that was ultra sophisticated, ultra modern, ultra decadent and ultra cool. This was a sensual world that was a far cry from the overt decadence and sexuality of America today. How have the tables switched so dramatically and what does it say about

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20:32

Why Presidential Staff Matter

Talk Cocktail ·

2016/10/12

Because we are in the midst of a heated presidential campaign, we know that much coverage goes to the people around the candidate. We want to know who will be the advisors. Who gets to whisper in the ear of the President and who might have the last word before important decisions are made. During the Presidency of FDR, one of the most influential of those closest to the President was Missy LeHand. A little known or understood figure, who functioned as FDR’s de facto Chief of Staff. While

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18:27

When Good People Get Caught Up in Racial Cleansing

Talk Cocktail ·

2016/10/04

It is the original sin of America. 240 years later the issue of race still animates a significant portion of political and social discourse in this country. A nation founded on the idea of all men being created equal, has at its corresponding co-founding principle slavery, racial violence and inequality. The symbols, even today, are everywhere; Birmingham, Selma, Ferguson and even Los Angeles. They’ve all become whistle stops on the road to more violence and inequality. Add to this Forsyth

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17:50

Why Acceleration Equals Anger

Talk Cocktail ·

2016/10/03

We throw around a lot of words and ideas about technology, about disruption, about progress and about the impact of technology in speeding up our lives. The fact is the speed up is more than just technology. As we move to cities at increasing rates, as the workplace demands greater productivity, as global competition abounds, the pressures to speed up are everywhere. But how fast is fast? How fast exceeds our evolutionary and biological ability to cope? And what happens to the the anger of

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26:21

I Wonder Who's Kissinger Now?

Talk Cocktail ·

2016/09/30

Few modern day political figures have had more written about them than Henry Kissinger. From his own three volume, almost 4000 page memoir, to scores of books and articles. So why another we might ask historian Niall Ferguson. Partly because beyond the policy and papers, in Ferguson's view Kissinger personified that George Bernard Shaw quote, “Some men see things as they are and say, why; I dream things that never were and say, why not.” That vision, that idealism, is hard to imagine in

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28:20

How Well Do We Really Know Our Parents?

Talk Cocktail ·

2016/09/27

No matter how close or estranged any of us may be for our parents, there always linger the questions of how well do we know them...that is really know who they are. Think about the questions kids wonder about, what their parents really do a work, their sex lives, the conversations that go on after they go to bed. And as kids become adults they often still wonder...and sometimes they even transfer those very same questions in trying t understand their partners, or their spouses and ultimately

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16:28

Where Is The Truth We Have Lost In Information?

Talk Cocktail ·

2016/09/23

We are awash in information. Estimates are that 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are produced every day. That’s everything from data from space probes to your photos on Facebook. Google alone process approximately 3.5 billion requests per day. But as TS Eliot so aptly said back in 1934, “where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” From the billions of items posted on Facebook, to the tens of thousands of so called news sites and bloggers around the world, how is it even possible to

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36:16

Religion, Politics and Culture...Oh My

Talk Cocktail ·

2016/09/20

It is the job of historians and journalists to take contemporary information and give context and connection to events far beyond the time in which they happened. This is true for wars, for politics and for religion. It’s true even in these highly polarized times, when we all hear the admonition, especially around get togethers of family and friends, to make sure you never discuss politics or religion. So what is it about both of these subjects that are so personal, so internal, so

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21:26

Race and Medicine

Talk Cocktail ·

2016/09/19

Nothing in the medical world is the way it used to be. Change is everywhere. The economic pressures, the political pressures and the very men and women who choose medicine as a career, has all being undergoing disruption. Add to this maelstrom the issue of race. The shocking lack of black physicians, diseases that overwhelming impact black communities and the inherent complexities of race in the doctor/patient relationship and you see some of the problem in medicine that have confronted Dr

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21:50

If You Want To Understand America, Look At Its Food

Talk Cocktail ·

2016/09/16

We’ve all seen the pushback to Michelle Obama as she has attempted to improve food quality and nutrition in our nation’s schools. In part, it reflects the degree to which everything is politicized these days. But it also reflects the degree to which food is and has been a political, cultural and historical touchstone It’s long been observed that if we want to understand the history of a nation or a city or a period in time, we can start by looking at its food. Jane Ziegelman and Andrew

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33:10

Strangers in Their Own Land

Talk Cocktail ·

2016/09/14

The very fact that an unqualified, demagogic, racist could be close to the Presidency tells us less about the candidates and more about the shape and mood of America in the 21st Century. The red/blue divide is after all, not about pure politics. It’s not about classical liberalism vs. Burkean or Randian conservatism. It’s not Disraeli vs. Gladstone. What we see in America today is a cultural divide. One in which our own personal experience breaks out and defines itself into a kind of

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25:47

A Stranger in a Strange Land

Talk Cocktail ·

2016/09/12

It’s a funny thing, all this talk about trade and globalization. On the one hand it’s used to divide us. To create walls and differences. But in fact, it has been one of the most powerful forces in shrinking the world. In allowing us to move personally, not unlike goods and dollars, freely between nations and cultures. But even with the cultural homogenization of globalization, it has allowed us to appreciate and to come to understand how other cultures operate, what they value and how they

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24:20

Rock's Darkest Day

Talk Cocktail ·

2016/09/08

We think that events move at a rapid pace today. But back in the late 1960’s, events spiraled out as if in a whirlwind. In 1967 San Francisco experienced the Summer of Love. Just two summers later, we would all experience men landing on the moon, Woodstock, the Manson killings and the concert at Altamont that would perhaps mark the end of the era of Peace Love and Music. It wasn’t long after Altamont that the racial tensions would escalate. People like George Jackson would dominate the news

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20:50

"What Does Home Mean To You?"

Talk Cocktail ·

2016/08/31

When the national conversation does turn to real economic issues, it’s usually about numbers. Growth, GDP, home ownership and of course, the ongoing and too slow recovery. What we often overlook is the impact of those number on real people. Not just those at the bottom, not those left behind. But those struggling to maintain a middle class life. The psychological impact that it has on their families, their marriages, their children and the way that it completely alters the trajectory of their

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26:13

Hillbilly Elegy

Talk Cocktail ·

2016/08/29

Amidst all the talk of the things that divide america, Race and Class always rise to the top. Over the years there have been many efforts to understand the social, cultural historical and policy underpinning of both of these divisions. And sometimes even efforts for solutions. Add to this list of efforts the work of J.D. Vance in his captivating work Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. Vance takes us deeply, from his own profound experience, into the heart of poor

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1,369 results

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