Jeff Schechtman's "Talk Cocktail"

"To discover to the world something which deeply concerns it, and of which it was previously ignorant; to prove to it that it had been mistaken on some vital point of temporal or spiritual interest, is as important a service as a human being can render to his fellow creatures..." John Stuart Mill, "On Liberty"

Friday, March 31, 2017

The Battle over Gentrification and Future of Our Cities

Decades ago the young and the middle class abandoned cities for the soul deadening suburbs. The result was a long term weakening of the fab...

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Will Your Child Be Selected?

Millions of you are checking the mail every day waiting for that envelope that you think will determine the fate of your child. In almost a...

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

What We Can Learn From the Fall of an American Energy Oligarch

The price of oil, energy sources, and energy policy, always seem to be a part of our conversations. In part because the energy world is ...

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

A Lab Girl's Lesson for Us All

Back in the 60’s there was that expression that “the personal is political.” Today, it’s also possible to say that the personal is professi...

Monday, March 27, 2017

Sex and the Constitution

It’s always amazing to realize how many political debates that are supposed to be about other policy issues, are really about sex. And this...

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

We Don't Know What We Think We Know

Imbedded in the cultural DNA of America is the idea of the individual. Whether it’s the Horatio Alger story, or Gary Cooper taking on the...

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Can Democracy Survive Social Media?

There are many forces transforming our modern world. Some driven by technology and some by increased knowledge. On the one had we are rel...

Monday, March 20, 2017

Jimmy Breslin R.I.P

In this time when we are appreciating great journalism one again, we should celebrate one of our greatest and most original journalists Jimm...

Friday, March 17, 2017

Silicon Opioids

We check our phones hundreds of times a day. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram images fly by, as were always afraid we’ll miss something “imp...

Thursday, March 16, 2017

It's High Noon Once Again

We still care what does well at the box office. Yet Oscar ratings have hit a new low. We still go to the movies and gossip magazines sti...

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

A Brief History of Time

As you are reading this, time is going by. Perhaps the degree to which you are engaged, will determine how long that time feels. That is j...

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Did The Boomers Get Us Where We Are Today?

Taking to the streets and traveling to the deep south, the boomer generation once played a major role in advancing civil rights in America ...

Monday, March 13, 2017

A 2005 Conversation with Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Amy Krouse Rosenthal , the author of heartbreaking viral “ Modern Love” essay that appeared in The New York Times earlier this month, died...

A Real Life Spy Who Came In From The Cold

Every institution of government today is in chaos. Departments are unstaffed, the State Department is hollowed out, cabinet secretaries are ...

Friday, March 10, 2017

The First Amendment Is On Life Support

The tensions that exist in this country between government and the press are older than this republic itself. In creating our Constitution,...

Thursday, March 9, 2017

What If Crimes Were No Longer A Matter of Free Will?

Remember the 2002 movie, starring Tom Cruise, entitled Minority Report ? Based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, it was about a special...

Monday, March 6, 2017

How Well Can We Ever Really Know Our Children? A Conversation with Sue Klebold

In this era of helicopter parenting, when every playdate takes on significance, when our dreams for our children often take on the appearanc...

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Presidential Secrecy Doesn't Work In The Digital Age

One of the most oft used phrases when talking about Presidents or any leader that gets involved in scandal is “what did he know and when di...

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

How Many Times Has The Government Spied on You Today?

There is that famous quote from Scott McNealy, founder of Sun Microsystems that "we have no privacy get over it." Even those co...

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Are We About To Fight a Third American Revolution?

Some of you may be watching the Henry Lewis Gates' PBS series on Africa. It’s a story that is in many ways the start of the civil right...

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About

Jeff Schechtman: Napa, California, United States; I grew up during the Kennedy Presidency. It was a time when the best and the brightest sat center stage in the nation's psyche. I've always remembered the story, that at an arts gala at the White House, Kennedy looked around the room and proclaimed it "the greatest gathering of talent since Thomas Jefferson dined alone." Without the benefit of such trappings, I've had the opportunity, for the past nineteen years, to have a seat at an international banquet of ideas and history. My radio program provided me a unique opportunity to "travel" around the world and speak to thousands of the most imaginative thinkers and leaders in the arenas of politics, religion, journalism, business, popular culture, academics, science, economics, history, and medicine. During these years, I have taken many people with me on this journey. It has been a momentous time. The trauma of politics, the onslaught of technology, the insights of science, and the changes in the human condition make this a period almost unequaled in history. I'm excited that technology has now made it possible for me to take more of you along with me on this journey.

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