Independent Commentary Episodes

Qanon is a right wing conspiracy movement with a formidable Social Media presence on Twitter, Facebook and several bulletin board sites like 4Chan, 8Chan and 8kun . Its' theories have been embraced by many Republicans and 14 current Congressional candidates have prominently espoused their views. One, Marjorie Taylor Greene won the Republican primary in Georgia's 14th district, a safe Republican seat with the endorsement of President Trump and is likely to win in November. But Republican Minority...

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 ? That's what the science says according to Fast Company magazine, but politicians would have us believe otherwise. I attended a 5 hour Implicit Bias class sponsored by the San Francisco Police Department - the same one that all sworn and unsworn personnel must take. It w...

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 strategies of the FAANG internet giants with combined market capitalizations of $4.1 trillion dollars, exploit users' personal data for profit. The other system is the Social Credit Report program established by the Chinese Communist Party to reward conforming behaviors and sanction...

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 classroom instruction is the way to go. But Santa Clara County, Silicon Valley’s HQs is taking the lead asking for waivers to reopen its schools. The state’s Catholic bishops are also urging more clarity. After 4 months of lockdown, California is unprepared to open its’ schools. Wh...

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 the 21st Century will end with a net decline of 1 billion people. 23 countries will see their current populations cut in half and 90 countries will experience net declines. After an unbroken upward trajectory in population trends since 1800, what is the catalyst for such a rev...

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 legacy of the Missions. Urban legend versus a large, detailed historical record. Set the record straight ! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/james-herlihy/message

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 canonized a saint by Pope Francis in 2015. As well as being one of California's Founding Fathers, literally and figuratively, he is one of the most if not the most prominent Hispanic and Latino figures in American History. His statue graces the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washing...

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 from the Museum's foyer. He bequeathed his 8000 piece Asian Art Collection to the people of San Francisco and it is the cornerstone of the the 18,000 piece Asian collection. He served as President of the International Olympic Committee from 1952 to 1972. He died in 1975. Yet h...