Shows / Free Forum with Terrence McNally
Free Forum with Terrence McNally
Features conversations with people who offer pieces of the puzzle of “a world that just might work” -- provocative approaches to business, environment, health, science, politics, media and culture. Guests have included Michael Lewis, Ken Burns, Arianna Huffington, Paul Krugman, Temple Grandin, Bill Maher, Cornel West, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and Norman Lear. [http://terrencemcnally.net]
Episodes
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 693: Why do humans thrive? What about AI?-LESLIE VALIANT-THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EDUCABLE
Today’s conversation with Turing Award-winning computer scientist LESLIE VALIANT explores a question I find myself returning to over and over again – What…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 692: Who was Jesus? ELAINE PAGELS - MIRACLES AND WONDER: The Historical Mystery of Jesus
With the recent death of Pope Francis and the election of Leo XIV, feels like a good time to talk with best-selling author ELAINE PAGELS about her new book…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 691: CHUCK COLLINS, Inequality.org, THE WEALTH HOARDERS: How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions
While Trump is in the Middle East making family business deals, House Republicans today proposed their tax cut bill, with a price tag of nearly $5T, paid for…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 690: PAUL HAWKEN-Step back, reframe, connect-CARBON: The Tree of Life
I don’t say I'm concerned about “the environment.” Rather I see our goal as a healthy relationship with the rest of nature. PAUL HAWKEN’s new book CARBON: The…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 689: THE SQUARE (2013)-Director & Producer of Oscar-nominated doc on Egyptian protests that overthrew Mubarak
When we the people are called to show up in the streets over and over in growing numbers till the powers that enable Trump withdraw support and authoritarian…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 688: JAMES THORNTON-ClientEarth-Crushing polluters in court around the globe
Wrapping up Earth Month, I speak with JAMES THORNTON, founder of ClientEarth, the preeminent environmental law group, with 300 lawyers holding governments and…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 687: PAUL HAWKEN (2021)-REGENERATION: Placing Life at the Center of All We Do
Trump sows cruel, careless, criminal, incompetent chaos - even in Earth Month. Here’s my 2021 conversation with PAUL HAWKEN about his book, REGENERATION…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 686: Fox’s Lone Liberal-JUAN WILLIAMS-The Rise of America's Second Civil Rights Movement
In 1987, 33-year-old JUAN WILLIAMS wrote the bestselling history Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years 1954–1965, which accompanied the PBS series of…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 685: WHY CIVIL RESISTANCE WORKS-ERICA CHENOWETH (2019) - When nonviolent mass protests involve 3.5%, regimes fall.
HANDS OFF - national mobilization opposing Trump & Musk SATURDAY APRIL 5. Sponsors include Indivisible, MoveOn, Third Act, Our Revolution, Common Cause, People…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 684: What About Climate? ALEXANDER KAUFMAN - natural & political disasters - supply & demand
The destructive pace and scale of Trump2.0 makes it hard to know what deserves and demands our attention. This week we step back from daily news to focus on…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 683: How Poor Immigrant Children Succeed in Inner City Philly-SISTERS CONSTANCE TOUEY & JEANNETTE LUCEY
The headlines are full of the cruel, unjust, illegal, unconstitutional, and costly treatment of immigrants by the Trump administration. Here’s my 2019…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 682: Can we the people join forces? DIANA McLAIN SMITH-REMAKING THE SPACE BETWEEN US
It’s up to us. Political parties, political players, and the media promote and profit from our division. We the people have ultimate responsibility for healing…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 681: JULIE BATTILANA-POWER FOR ALL-How do we get it and use it to change the world?
Feeling pissed, panicked, powerless? That’s what they want. How do we turn things around? Here’s my refreshing 2021 conversation with JULIE BATTILANA, Harvard…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 680: Rich walk. Poor go to jail. AMY BACH (2009)-ORDINARY INJUSTICE
When Trump sits in the White House dispensing pardons to other convicted felons - and an ambassadorship or two, when he was able to run out the clock on…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 679: JAMES STEELE-of investigative reporting team, Barlett & Steele-AMERICA: What Went Wrong? The Crisis Deepens
I’m honored to talk with JAMES STEELE, of the investigative reporting team, Barlett & Steele. He and DON BARLETT worked together for over 50 years, won…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 678: JEAN GUERRERO(2020)-HATEMONGER: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, & the White Nationalist Agenda
Ever the real estate guy, Trump unleashes a demo crew on the government, says US should develop Gaza’s beachfront. Elon Musk invades federal agencies, accesses…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 677: STEVE SCHMIDT-Straight talk from former GOP strategist, co-founder, Lincoln Project
A week into Trump 2.0, the cruelty and overreach are on full display, and the media and the Democrats are not up to the challenge. I turn to longtime…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 676: The time I was the guest. TERRENCE McNALLY(2014)-interviewed by SARA DAVIDSON
TERRENCE McNALLY is my guest this week. In February 2014, I took a hiatus from this show after 17 years. I thought it might be the end of the line, and before…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 675: A life in books & newspapers-editor & publisher-STEVE WASSERMAN, TELL ME SOMETHING. TELL ME ANYTHING. EVEN IF IT’S A LIE.
STEVE WASSERMAN has spent half a century in the world of books, newspapers, and ideas, as an opinion editor at the LA Times, editor of the LA Times Book…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 674: What were we thinking last time? NAOMI KLEIN (2017) NO IS NOT ENOUGH: Resisting Trump's Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need
With Trump acting as if he were already president - and madly so - a number of the wealthy and powerful are stepping over each other to obey in advance. A…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 673: SAM DALEY HARRIS-RECLAIMING OUR DEMOCRACY-Transformational Advocacy Between Elections
Happy New Year! Let’s work together locally & personally in 2025 as citizens and neighbors to overcome the political and media failures that brought us to this…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 672: DREW GILPIN FAUST-1st female Harvard president-NECESSARY TROUBLE: Growing Up Southern in Midcentury
What was it like for a girl to grow up in Virginia in the days of legal segregation and civil rights battles? What was it like to go to college in the days of…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 671: We were warned-DON BARLETT (RIP) & JIM STEELE-The BETRAYAL of the AMERICAN DREAM (2012)
I was saddened to learn of the recent passing of Donald Barlett. Here's my 2012 conversation with him & Jim Steele, about their book, Betrayal of the American…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 670: MARSHALL GANZ-PEOPLE, POWER, CHANGE: Organizing for Democratic Renewal-lessons of MLK, UFW, Obama ’08
MARSHALL GANZ worked on organizing campaigns with Mississippi Freedom Summer in 1964 and Cesar Chavez and UFW for 16 years, helped devise the grass-roots…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 669: Good News on the Menu-PAULA DANIELS (2019)-Transforming our food system one county, one school district at a time
I talk with PAULA DANIELS, Co-Founder, Chair of the Board of the Center for Good Food Purchasing, and recently announced initial director of the Los Angeles…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 668: THOM HARTMANN-HIDDEN HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN DREAM: The Demise of the Middle Class & the Roots of MAGA
In 2024, Republicans won the popular vote for only the second time since 1980. After the worst four years of his life, Trump, running against the best…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 667: ROB JOHNSON & I RESPOND TO ELECTION-Every election now a vote for change. Seeds sown for last 40 years.
As we have for the last few elections, ROB JOHNSON - Executive Director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) and host of podcast ECONOMICS &…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 666: She got Alito to confess his politics-LAUREN WINDSOR-new doc-GONZO FOR DEMOCRACY
LAUREN WINDSOR calls herself an “advocacy journalist”. Her biggest scoops usually come when she goes undercover among right-wing pols and donors to secretly…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 665: STEVE UJLAKI-Must See Doc-BAD FAITH: Christian Nationalism’s Unholy War on Democracy
STEPHEN UJLAKI’s documentary BAD FAITH opens with the following text: “Christian Nationalism is a political movement that believes America was founded as a…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 664: GREG PALAST-VIGILANTES INC-GOP takes voter suppression & election theft to next level
I’ve been talking about voter suppression with GREG PALAST since 2002. Known for his investigative reports for BBC, The Guardian, and Rolling Stone, his new…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 663: WENDELL POTTER-Health Insurance Whistle-Blower-Profits over patients and only getting worse
I get the dirt from WENDELL POTTER about our broken healthcare system, especially the role of insurance companies, who consistently put profit above the health…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 662: KEVIN BOYLE, THE SHATTERING: America in the 60s-Are the Silent Majority today’s undecided MidWest voters?
Here’s my 2022 conversation with National Book Award winner, KEVIN BOYLE, about his book, THE SHATTERING: AMERICA IN THE 1960s. He reminds us that, after the…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 661: ARLIE HOCHSCHILD-STOLEN PRIDE: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right
ARLIE HOCHSCHILD is the author of best-seller, STRANGERS IN THEIR OWN LAND: Anger & Mourning on the American Right. Five years talking with folks in Southern…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 660: How progressives win in rural America-CHLOE MAXMIN & CANYON WOODWARD, DIRT ROAD REVIVAL
The Democrats have for too long ceded rural voters to the GOP. When the solution to minority rule is voting, connecting with and winning over rural voters is…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 659: The Walls We Don’t See-RICHARD KAHLENBERG, EXCLUDED: Snob Zoning, NIMBYism, Class Bias
Blind spots. In his book, EXCLUDED: How Snob Zoning, NIMBYism, and Class Bias Build the Walls We Don't See, RICHARD KAHLENBERG points out not only how…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 658: 1) PHIL DONAHUE (2007), 2) MUHAMMAD YUNUS (2008) - Wise elders in the news
This episode, archived conversations with two wise elders recently in the news. First, my 2007 conversation with PHIL DONAHUE who died August 18th at the age…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 657: RANDY OLSON - HOUSTON, WE HAVE A NARRATIVE - a simple method to create compelling stories
RANDY OLSON earned a Harvard Ph.D. in Biology and was a tenured professor when he quit and moved to LA to attend USC film school. His goal: help scientists…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 656: JOSHUA DOUGLAS (2019) VOTE FOR US: How to Take Back Our Elections & Change the Future of Voting
80-some days till the polls close. The Harris-Walz campaign is riding a wave of momentum in the country to move past Trump that feels sustainable to me. I…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 655: BILLY WIMSATT, MOVEMENT VOTER PROJECT - a voice of both grassroots & donors in the Biden-Harris-Walz relaunch
BILLY WIMSATT is founder and executive director of Movement Voter Project and Movement Voter PAC. MVP helps progressive donors invest in the election efforts…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 654: ROB JOHNSON of INET* & I (11-05-2020) - first show following Biden’s election - *Institute for New Economic Thinking
Given Biden’s exit from the race, I thought it might be interesting to replay the first episode I recorded following his election. Here is my November 5th…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 653: GEORGE PACKER-WHAT WILL BECOME OF AMERICAN CIVILIZATION? Phoenix AZ: Drought, Delusion, and Division
I’ve talked with journalist and best-selling author, GEORGE PACKER, about 2013’s National Book Award-winning The UNWINDING and 2021’s LAST BEST HOPE, in which…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 652: 1) BUCKMINSTER FULLER-in the words of his daughter 2) STUART KAUFFMAN-Does life’s ceaseless creativity=God? REINVENTING THE SACRED
Two conversations about the big picture. First, 20 years ago USPS released a stamp honoring inventor and multi-hyphenate visionary Bucky Fuller. Here’s my 2004…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 651: ZOE SCHLANGER, THE LIGHT EATERS: How the World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life
This week, we step aside from today’s news to dig into a story millions of years in the making, as I speak with ZOE SCHLANGER about her best-selling THE LIGHT…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 650: MARK BITTMAN (2021)-ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, JUNK: A history of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal
As Congress negotiates a new “Farm Bill” – they do so every 5 years – will health, nutrition, poverty, and nature/climate get seats at the table or will Big Ag…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 649: ARI BERMAN, MINORITY RULE: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People & the Fight to Resist It.
The US holds one national popular vote and the Republican party has won that vote once since 1988, that’s 36 years. Yet they’ve held the presidency nearly 12…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 648: Biden awards FATHER GREGORY BOYLE the Medal of Freedom-Here’s 2010 conversation re Homeboy Industries and his book Tattoos on the Heart
In May, FATHER GREGORY BOYLE, founder of HOMEBOY INDUSTRIES in Los Angeles — the largest gang intervention and re-entry program in the world — was honored by…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 647: RICHARD CIZIK, Evangelicals for Democracy - after 28 years at National Association of Evangelicals
With an eye on the election, I speak with RICHARD CIZIK, founder of Evangelicals for Democracy, which aims to build a community of evangelicals across the…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 646: DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN(2013)-THE BULLY PULPIT-Teddy Roosevelt took on the Robber Barons and won
In response to the wonderful positive reaction to last week’s episode with DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN on her new best-seller An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 645: DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN-Best-seller: AN UNFINISHED LOVE STORY: A Personal History of the 1960s.
In this recording of a recent LiveTalksLA event, I speak with historian and best-selling author, DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN, about her latest book, AN UNFINISHED…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 644: Federal Judge JED RAKOFF(2021)-WHY THE INNOCENT PLEAD GUILTY AND THE GUILTY GO FREE
As perhaps too much public attention is focused these days on the Manhattan trial of one Donald J. Trump, here’s my 2021 conversation with Federal Judge JED…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 643: CHUCK COLLINS-Inequality Getting Worse-Corporations pay top brass more than they pay in taxes
I don’t know if my big question is “Why don’t the rich/super-rich and their corporations get the value of a society that works?” Or is it - “Why don’t they…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 642: JACK KORNFIELD & TRUDY GOODMAN (2015)-Sages, mentors, friends-Reflections on mindfulness in the US
Earlier this year my dear friend, meditation teacher, TRUDY GOODMAN, experienced a medical emergency that almost killed her. Another reminder of the…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 641: ASTRA TAYLOR-Digging into Democracy, Debt, Insecurity and Solidarity
In 2020, I talked about democracy with filmmaker/writer/organizer/activist, ASTRA TAYLOR. Four years later, following a pandemic, waves of protests, an…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 640: What would nature do? JANINE BENYUS, BIOMIMICRY: Innovation Inspired by Nature
Earth Day 2024 is April 22nd. Here’s my 2011 conversation with JANINE BENYUS, who coined a term and invented a field called Biomimicry. After 3.8 billion years…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 639: The Myths of Poverty & the Role of Luck-MARK RANK-The Random Factor
Why does our society produce more poverty than other wealthy countries? Why don’t we or why can’t we change our incentives? I speak with MARK RANK, about his…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 638: CHARLES EISENSTEIN (2019), Climate - A New Deeper, Fuller Story - People connect more with nature than policy
I describe the goal of my engagement with what we call the environment as “a healthy relationship with the rest of nature.” In this 2019 conversation, CHARLES…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 637: Can we build immunity to mis- & dis-information? ANDY NORMAN & MELANIE TRECEK-KING of the MENTAL IMMUNITY PROJECT
With social media and AI, bad actors weaponize information, stressing democracy. We have two options: stop the lies or stop people from believing them. The…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 636: Two for the Campaign Ahead: 1) DREW WESTEN (2007), The Political Brain 2) BERNIE HORN (2009), Framing the Future
As we fasten our seatbelts and plunge into the 2024 campaign, here are two conversations worth a re-listen. From 2007, I talk with DREW WESTEN about the ideas…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 635: ROB JOHNSON & I talk about the State of the Union - Biden’s speech plus our own take on things
ROB JOHNSON is a plain-speaking and passionate critic of an economic, financial, and political system that leaves too many behind. He and I do post-election…
Free Forum with Terrence McNallyEpisode 634: TIM DeCHRISTOPHER-Courage & Conviction-Tim served 21 months in prison for civil disobedience protecting public lands
We know Republicans exercise minority rule in the states, the House, and the Supreme Court. Now Biden is arming Israel without meaningful or effective demands…