California College Students: Vote “No” on the Recall To Make Public College More Affordable and Be Sure to Ask Your Parents to Vote “No” on the recall, too! — Earlier this month, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation he personally sponsored that will save California college students thousands of dollars each while they earn their degrees and certificates. Students will get the cash because their textbooks will soon be free. …

Every Tuesday 11AM New York, 5PM Paris, 6PM Amman starting May 18, 2021, free, online, open to the global public. #IPEVLive — This article was co-authored by Michel Wieviorka and Hal Plotkin On May 18, 2021, the International Panel on Exiting Violence (IPEV) will begin a series of eight live weekly online public conversations reviewing the results of its four-year scholarly research project on violence and how it can be brought to…

President Joe Biden should create the digital equivalent of FDR’s Works Progress Administration to build durable continuously improving public digital assets, restore faith in government, and most importantly, to protect our democracy from the steady encroachment of fascist authoritarianism. President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. should create the U.S. Digital Progress…

If we don’t fix the circumstances that led to Trump’s rise to power the tyrant who comes after him will likely be much smarter and pose even more serious dangers. As we await official confirmation of the final, formal results of the 2020 presidential contest I want to share a…

Join our free online global dialogue featuring leaders from philanthropy, government, and the social sciences working to have an impact on the current crisis. I want to extend a special invitation to everyone who reads this, especially former colleagues. …

The Biden Campaign and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Must Make it Psychologically Safe for Trump Voters to Switch Sides: understanding the role that cognitive dissonance plays is key. Like many others, I’ve found it stunning that roughly 40 percent of American voters continue to support President Trump despite all his…

The tables are starting to turn and maybe, just maybe, the public is ready for my style of broadcasting again. — At age 63, I’ve had lots of different jobs in my life, starting at age 14 as a gas station bathroom cleaner, and moving on, to name just a few, to pizza maker, drug store clerk, office assistant, news reporter, columnist, college trustee, more recently, presidential appointee, to currently, senior…

When Governor George Deukmejian killed California’s Office of Appropriate Technology in 1983 it marked the end of government efforts to make sure new technologies improve our lives. It’s been all about the Benjamins ever since. — I’ve been thinking a lot lately about former California Governor Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown, Jr.’s Office of Appropriate Technology (OAT) and what might have been. Brown created the OAT, which was mothballed by his GOP successor, during his first term as California’s governor in the mid 1970's. It was the…

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act was supposed to be a temporary fix. Times up. — I have a confession to make. I was complicit in what may have been the biggest public policy mistake of the last century. I didn’t know it was a mistake at the time. Instead, I am embarrassed to say, like most other Silicon Valley-based tech reporters back then I thought…