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...

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://anchor.fm/james-herlihy/message

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 were made and lives lost unnecessarily. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/james-herlihy/message

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 seek the death penalty despite pleas from the widow and Senator Dianne Feinstein. The controversial case brings together three of Harris’ vulnerabilities - death penalty, sanctuary cities and referring to ICE agents as equivalent to KKK. --- Send in a voice message: https://anc...

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 President Trump challenged former VP Biden to take one and make the results public. We will focus on both illnesses and the test. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/james-herlihy/message

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 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 number of cases versus New York which was being ravaged by the Coronavirus. But a series of missteps in the last two months set California on its current downward track. Meanwhile, cases in New York are plummeting. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/james-herlihy/...

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...

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 Tik Tok a Trojan Horse for Chinese Communist Party espionage ? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/james-herlihy/message

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 - are slow off the mark to re-open. Meanwhile our kids suffer. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/james-herlihy/message

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...

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 ? We want some physical challenge which is demanding and satisfying at the same time. Listen to today's podcast for some tips on changing your city scape into an exciting outdoor adventure venue, --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/james-herlihy/message

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 and inclusion. How is the company faring ? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/james-herlihy/message

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 focuses on Disinformation stories. Why would the world's most respected broadcaster want to give any oxygen to conspiracy theories and disinformation stories ? It is a measure of how far the Internet and its' no holds barred culture has impacted how we get our news. In today's p...

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 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 to sue San Francisco on May 4, 2020. A settlement between the parties was announced on June 12, 2020 which provides for dismantling 300 of the tents and housing each homeless person in a hotel at $200 per night. The Board of Supervisors has legislated to rent 7000 hotel rooms...

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...

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-herlihy/message

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 for killing both a federal security officer and a Santa Cruz County Sheriff deputy, his murderous acts have skyrocketed Boogaloo to national prominence. But who are they ? Can their goal of provoking the downfall of the US government be taken seriously ? We explore the roots o...

San Francisco's Rainbow Honor Walk serves to acknowledge and memorialize Great men and women of the LGBTQ Community. 44 large bronze plaques have been laid along Castro Street and Market Street sidewalks to memorialize people like James Baldwin, Frida Kahlo, Tennessee Williams, Virginia Woolf to cite but a few. The plan is to eventually place 500 plaques to memorialize luminaries of the LGBTQ community. As the rest of the country witnesses statues being torn down and monuments being defaced, San...

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 this honor ? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/james-herlihy/message

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 changes is : Don’t be Dense. In other words, give me space. Avoid crowds to stay healthy. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/james-herlihy/message

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...