Rule of Law, Investigations, Testing the New Supremes

The Common Good was proud to present a very important discussion with one of the leading legal experts in the nation, Laurence Tribe, co-hosted by Fern Hurst and moderated by John Heilemann, host of Showtime’s The Circus, and the National Affairs Analyst, NBC News. Dr. Tribe discussed the many critical legal issues facing the nation that could bring sweeping changes and surprises: the investigations related to Trump, from Mueller to the House; the new Supreme Court and the consequential cases it is likely to hear; and the importance of the legal efforts regarding immigration, asylum, voting rights, and presidential financial entanglements with the foreign powers, among other possible areas of interest.

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Laurence Tribe, The Carl M. Loeb University Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard, has taught at the Law School since 1968. Tribe helped write the constitutions of South Africa, the Czech Republic, and the Marshall Islands, and prevailed in three-fifths of the many appellate cases he has argued including 35 in the U.S. Supreme Court. Tribe was appointed in 2010 by President Obama and Attorney General Holder to serve as the first Senior Consular at the Dep’t of Justice for Access to Justice. He has written 115 books and articles, most recently, To End a Presidency: The Power of Impeachment. His treatise, “American Constitutional Law”, has been cited more than any other legal text since the 1950s.

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Economic Perils, Reeling Markets, Fed Action, Tariff Wars

The Common Good was proud to present a very important discussion with Byron Wien and Joseph Zidle of Blackstone’s Private Wealth Solutions. Two of Wall Street’s most respected investment advisors will sketch out the economic outlook for 2019 and projections regarding the volatile stock market amid rising risks stemming from tariffs, politics, Fed rates, and global turmoil. If you are concerned about your 401K, real estate or investment portfolio, or your business growth, listen up. They have some very strong and surprising predictions.

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Byron Wien is Vice Chairman of Private Wealth Solutions where he acts as a senior adviser to both the firm and its clients in analyzing economic, social and political trends to assess the direction of financial markets and thus help guide investment and strategic decisions. Wien is a distinguished advisor on investment decisions - named one of the most influential people on Wall Street by New York magazine, ranked the No. 1 strategist by SmartMoney.com, recognized on Smart Money Power 30 list of Wall Street’s most influential thinkers, and named by First Call as the most widely read analyst on Wall Street, Wien was Chief Investment Strategist for Pequot Capital and before that served for 21 years as Chief (later Senior) U.S. Investment Strategist at Morgan Stanley. In 1995, Wien co-authored a book with George Soros on the legendary investor’s life and philosophy, Soros on Soros — Staying Ahead of the Curve. The New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA) presented Wien with a lifetime achievement award in 2008. Wien received an AB with honors from Harvard College and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School

Joseph Zidle is a Managing Director and Chief Investment Strategist in the Private Wealth Solutions group. Previously, he worked at Richard Bernstein Advisors, an independent investment advisor, where he was responsible for portfolio strategy, asset allocation, investment management and marketing to major wirehouses and independent RIAs. Zidle previously spent nearly a decade at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, most recently serving as head of Investment Strategy for Global Wealth Management and Deputy Director of the Research Investment Committee, where he was responsible for creating and communicating global investment strategies to the firm’s private client division across all major investment disciplines. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and History from Emory University. From 1993-2001, he served as a specialist in military intelligence for the U.S. Army Reserves.

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Defending Democracy: John Avlon, Philip Bobbitt, Ian Kahn, Garry Kasparov, and Bret Stephens

The Common Good was proud to present a very important discussion with Garry Kasparov, Russian dissident and world chess champion, Bret Stephens, New York Times columnist, John Avlon, author of Washington’s Farewell and CNN anchor, Philip Bobbitt, constitutional law expert at Columbia University, and Ian Khan, who plays George Washington on AMC’s Turn. In our nation and across the globe, democracy is at risk. Leaders from left to right are increasingly alarmed as the central values and norms of liberal democracy are undermined or under outright attack. The US struggles with poisonous division and institutional sclerosis, far right parties are gaining traction in Europe, and Vladimir Putin tightens his authoritarian grip on Russia while subverting democracy abroad. These extraordinary thinkers will explore how we can defend and reinvigorate the best of our democratic values and culture, as the risks to democracy intensify across our nation.

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John Avlon is an author, columnist and commentator. He is a senior political analyst and fill-in anchor at CNN, appearing on New Day every morning. From 2013 to 2018, he was the editor-in-chief and managing director of The Daily Beast.He is the author of the books Independent Nation, Wingnuts, and Washington’s Farewell as well as co-editor of the acclaimed Deadline Artists journalism anthologies. Avlon served as chief speechwriter to New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and won the National Society of Newspaper Columnists award for best online column in 2012.

Philip C. Bobbitt is the Herbert Wechsler Professor of Federal Jurisprudence and director for the Center for National Security at Columbia Law School. He is one of the nation’s leading constitutional theorists. Bobbitt’s interests include not only constitutional law but also international security and the history of strategy. He has served as law clerk to the Honorable Henry J. Friendly; associate counsel to the president; the counselor on international law at the State Department; legal counsel to the Senate Iran-Contra Committee; and senior director for Critical Infrastructure and senior director for strategic planning at the National Security Council.

Ian Kahn recently starred as General George Washington in AMC’s critically acclaimed series Turn: Washington’s Spies, which recently completed its fourth and final season. Prior to landing the roe of the nation’s first president, Kahn appeared in numerous high-profile television series, including Sex and the City, Suits, Law & Order, Castle, The Unusuals and Shameless. Kahn has been speaking about his experience playing General Washington and how there is a direct connection to today, and our current political challenges, in venues around the country.

Garry Kasparov, one of the world’s greatest chess champions in history, fled Russia in 2013 after Putin’s crackdown on Kasparov’s and others’ reform efforts. Garry Kasparov joined The Common Good to discuss Russia and the dangers Vladimir Putin and his regime pose to the world. Kasparov serves as chairman of the Human Rights Foundation, and has authored numerous works on the Putin regime and artificial intelligence.

Bret Stephens is an op-ed columnist and associate editor for the New York Times. He previously worked for the Wall Street Journal, where he served concurrently as foreign-affairs columnist, deputy editorial page editor and member of the editorial board. Prior to that he was editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, a position he assumed in 2002 at the age of 28. Mr. Stephens has degrees from the University of Chicago and the London School of Economics, as well as three honorary doctorates.

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Facts and Fears: Hard Truths and Intelligence: James Clapper

The Common Good and the 92nd Street Y co-present a frank and important conversation with James Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence, moderated by John Berman, CNN.

One of the most important voices in the nation’s intelligence community, Jim Clapper decided to break his silence after living through Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and saw how the foundations of American democracy were — and continue to be — undermined by a foreign power.

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James Clapper will share his inside experience, honed through more than five decades in the intelligence profession, including nearly a decade as the nation’s top intelligence officer advising Presidents from both parties. Recently one of the 13 leaders around the nation who was targeted with a bomb, Clapper will discuss the escalation of cyber threats, disinformation campaigns through fake news, Russian or other foreign interference in U.S. election, and other national security challenges facing the United States.

The Honorable James R. Clapper served as the fourth U.S. Director of National Intelligence (DNI) from August 9, 2010 to January 20, 2017. In this position, Clapper led the United States Intelligence Community and served as the principal intelligence advisor to President Barack Obama.

Clapper retired in 1995 after a distinguished career in the U.S. Armed Forces. His career began in 1961 when he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and culminated as a lieutenant general in the U.S. Air Force and Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. His intelligence-related positions over his 32 years in uniform included Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence at Headquarters, U.S. Air Force during Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and Director of Intelligence for three combatant commands: U.S. Forces, Korea; Pacific Command; and Strategic Air Command. He served two combat tours during the Southeast Asia conflict, and flew 73 combat support missions in EC-47’s over Laos and Cambodia.

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"On the Fault Lines: Decision 2018" Midterm Elections Power Panel

The Common Good was proud to present an electrifying evening of predictions on the black swans and dark horses of this year’s election season - “On the Fault Lines: Decision 2018” Midterm Elections Power Panel, co-hosted by Hunter College. What are the ramifications of one of the most consequential elections in a generation?

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Haley Barbour, Founding Partner of BGR Group, returned to BGR in January 2012 after serving two consecutive terms as Governor of Mississippi, including two years as the Chairman of the Republican Governors Association. At BGR, he heads advocacy coalitions, lobbies on behalf of his clients and remains a major force in Republican party politics and elections. (1)

David Gergen served as a White House adviser to four U.S. presidents of both parties: Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton. He wrote about those experiences in his New York Times best-seller, Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton. He is currently a professor of public service and director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. Gergen has been a regular commentator on public affairs for some 30 years. He is a senior political analyst at CNN and was the former chief editor of the U.S. News & World Report

Ann Lewis is a Democratic political veteran, serving as the White House Director of Communications for President Bill Clinton from 1997-2000 and Senior Advisor to the campaigns of Hilary Rodham Clinton for Senate in 2000 and 2006, and for President in 2008. In 2016, she was Co-Chair of Jewish Women for Hillary. (3)

Gerald Seib is the Washington bureau chief for The Wall Street journal, responsible for the Journal’s news and analysis from the nation’s capitol. he writes a weekly column, “Capital Journal,” which brings an insightful, predictive and original understanding to politics, national affairs and foreign policy. Mr. Seib appears regularly on networks such as CNBC, Fox Business Network, CNN, and the BBC as a commentator on Washington affairs.

Nate Silver is the founder of the award-winning website FiveThirtyEight and a special correspondent for ABC News. Silver has established himself as today’s leading political statistician through his innovative analyses of political polling. He first gained national attention during the 2008 presidential election, when he correctly predicted the results of the presidential election in 49 of 50 states, along with all 35 U.S. Senate races. In 2012, FIveThirtyEight predicted the election outcome in all 50 states. In 2009, he was named one of Time’s 100 most influential people.

Gloria Borger is CNN's chief political analyst, appearing regularly on The Situation Room. Borger plays an instrumental role in the network's daily coverage while reporting on a variety of political and breaking news stories. Before joining CNN in September 2007, Borger was CBS News' national political correspondent and a contributor to CBS's Face the Nation, 60 Minutes II and the network's special events coverage. From 2002 to 2004, she was the co-anchor of CNBC's Capital Report. (6)

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(1) Material from the BGR Group website.

(3) Material from the Democratic Majority for Israel website.

(6) Material from the CNN website.

Trump & Global Trade (Dis)order

The Common Good was pleased to present a special conversation on new trade policies and likely impacts with impacts with the Honorable Paula Stern, former Chairwoman, US International Trade Commission; President, The Stern Group. Changes in our own hemisphere and in Europe, and potentially upend US economic growth and destabilize markets— or alternatively, grow American jobs and vastly improve US economic interests.

2018 signaled “the beginnings of a war of a different type: a trade war , an investment war and technology the two great powers of the 21st century, with an uncertain landing point”, warned Kevin Rudd, former Prime Mister of Australia.

Dr, Stern will discuss this very timely and important topic—current American trade policy in the Trump Era. Hosted by Jonathan Barnett.

The Hon. Paula Stern, founder of The Stern Group inc., has served under both Democratic and Republican administrations, as Chairwoman of the US International Trade Commission (ITC), from 1984-1986, and a Commissioner for a nine-year term. Dr, Stern analyzed and voted and voted out on over 1,000 trade cases involving a broad range of industries and issues. At the time, she was the second highest-ranking woman in the executive branches of the US government Dr.Stern is a member of the US Department of Commerce’s Advisory Committee on Renewable Energy and Efficiency. She has also served on the US President’s Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiation.

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The Assault on Intelligence: American National Security in an Age of Lies: General Michael Hayden

The only person ever to lead both the CIA and NSA, General (Ret.) Michael Hayden, warns that the American intelligence community is being threatened by a breach in trust and the politicization of their work. Hayden spoke about current US perils – from a nuclear North Korea, an emboldened Russia, a rising China, among others—and the effect of the assaults on the American intelligence agencies meant to defend us and on our democratic institutions.

In the face of a President who lobs accusations without facts, evidence, or logic, truth tellers are under attack. Meanwhile, the world order is teetering on the brink. North Korea is on the verge of having a nuclear weapon that could reach all of the United States, Russians have mastered a new form of information warfare that undercuts democracy, and the role of China in the global community remains unclear. There will always be value to experience and expertise, devotion to facts, humility in the face of complexity, and a respect for ideas, but in this moment they seem more important, and more endangered, than they've ever been. American Intelligence--the ultimate truth teller--has a responsibility in a post-truth world beyond merely warning of external dangers, and in The Assault on Intelligence, General Michael Hayden takes up that urgent work with profound passion, insight and authority.

General Michael Hayden is a retired four-star general who served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency. Hayden is currently a principal at the Chertoff Group and a distinguished visiting professor at the George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government. (1)

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(1) Material from The Chertoff Group website.

Special Meeting with Prof. Dr. Yusuf Ziya Irbec M.P.

Dr. Yusuf Ziya Irbec M.P. held a special meeting with The Common Good for a briefing on the Turkish Government. The meeting was hosted by Steven Buffone.

Dr. Yusuf Ziya Irbec was born in Kas, Antalya in 1959. He was an economist, foreign policy specialist and academic. He served as a Member of the Turkish Parliament for Antalya since 2007 and as an Executive Board Member of the Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) in which he was the Deputy Convener of Peace and Democracy Program.

He served in the Turkish Parliament as Member, Clerk Member and Vice-Chairman of the European Union Harmonization Commission. He also served as a Member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee of the European Union.

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Post-Election Panel 2016

This historic and wildly unpredictable election has left many in America stunned and divided. What happened? And more important, what is ahead? The Common Good hosted a ‘Post-Election Panel’ to discuss ‘The New Political Landscape–History in the Making’ for a candid discussion on the winners and losers, and what it means for our nation. 

Confirmed panelists included Trump Campaign Manager Kellyanne Conway, investigative journalist-author Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame, and Libertarian Party Vice Presidential candidate, former Governor William Weld.

Kellyanne Conway was tapped in the final months to serve as Campaign Manager for Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign of President and is greatly credited for helping Trump win the election. Conway has been a highly regarded pollster as former founder and President of the polling company, inc./ WomanTrend, which is a privately-held, woman-owned corporation founded in 1995. The firm is headquartered in Washington, DC and maintains an office in New York City. Conway is one of the most quoted and noted pollsters on the national scene, having provided commentary on over 1,200 television shows on ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, HBO, Comedy Central, MTV and the Fox News Channel, and numerous radio shows and print stories.

Carl Bernstein shared a Pulitzer Prize with Bob Woodward for his coverage of Watergate for The Washington Post. His most recent book is the acclaimed biography, A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton. He is the author, with Woodward, of All the President’s Men and The Final Days, and, with Marco Politi, of His Holiness: John Paul II and the History of Our Time. He is also the author of Loyalties, a memoir about his parents during McCarthy–era Washington. He has written for Vanity Fair (he is also a contributing editor), Time, USA Today, Rolling Stone, and The New Republic.

He was a Washington bureau chief and correspondent for ABC News. At The Washington Post, Bernstein also was a part-time rock critic, and he still occasionally writes about music. He lives with his wife, Christine, in New York.

William Floyd Weld is an American attorney, businessman, and Republican politician who served as the 68th Governor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997. A Harvard and Oxford graduate, Weld began his career as legal counsel to the United States House Committee on the Judiciary before becoming the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts and, later, the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division. He worked on a series of high-profile public corruption cases and later resigned in protest of an ethics scandal and associated investigations into Attorney General Edwin Meese.

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Empowering Half the World

There is no doubt that considerable progress has been made in the last decade to empower women and girls across the globe, but gender inequality is far from solved. Women perform 60% of the world’s work, yet their earnings fall below 5% of global income. The majority of children who do not attend school are girls and 75% of illiterate adults are women. Women in power are still rare; they hold only one-fifth of the positions in national governments.

Melanne Verveer, former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, is an inspiring and dedicated advocate for women and girls here and around the world.  Verveer shared her considerable experience and insights at The Common Good on the importance of empowering women and girls for improvements in economic growth, foreign policy, healthcare, and poverty alleviation and how educating a girl is the single best investment possible.

Ambassador Verveer is currently the Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, which seeks to enhance national and global security by documenting the crucial role women play in peace-building and security through research and scholarship, and by engaging global leaders from government, civil society and the private sector in conversations on the urgent issues of our times.

Ambassador Verveer most recently served as the first U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues, a position to which she was nominated by President Obama in 2009. She coordinated foreign policy issues and  activities relating to the political, economic and social advancement of women, traveling to nearly sixty countries. She worked to ensure that women’s participation and rights are fully integrated into U.S. foreign policy, and she played a leadership role in the Administration’s development of the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security.

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Meet & Greet: Representative Joseph P. Kennedy III

The Common Good was proud to host a rising star in U.S. politics, Congressman Joseph Kennedy III, representative for Massachusetts’s 4th congressional district since 2013.

Joseph Kennedy III represents the Fourth District of Massachusetts in Congress. Currently in his second term, he represents a diverse district that spans from the suburbs of Boston to the more industrial towns of Massachusetts’ South Coast.

As member of the influential House Energy & Commerce Committee, Joe has prioritized economic opportunity for working families. A vocal advocate for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education, vocational schools and community colleges, he has authored several pieces of legislation in Washington aimed at improving access to our modern economy, including the Perkins Modernization Act and STEM Gateways Act.

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Meet & Greet: Jason Kander

The Common Good hosted a meet and greet with Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, hosted by Richard Gordon.

Jason Kander was the Missouri Secretary of State and the youngest statewide elected official in America. Kander is a former Army Captain who served in Afghanistan as a military intelligence officer, a member of the Missouri House of Representatives, and an attorney from Kansas City, Missouri. During his career in the General Assembly, he represented the 44th district (which includes parts of Jackson County) from 2009 to 2013. He ran for the United States Senate against Republican incumbent Roy Blunt in the 2016 election. The Hill has ranked the race #10 of the most vulnerable this year out of two dozen the Republicans are defending.

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“The Campaign 2016: What the Numbers Reveal”

We were pleased to have highly respected pollster Mark Mellman join us to shed light on the current campaign race statistics of the 2016 presidential election. As part of his discussion, Mellman shared his views on the impact of the primary schedule, subgroup polling insights, and the key influencing factors.

Mark Mellman is one of the nation’s leading public opinion researchers and communication strategists. He is CEO of The Mellman Group, a polling and consulting firm whose clients include leading political figures, Fortune 500 companies, and some of the nation’s most important public interest groups. Mellman, who counts among his clients Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Whip Steny Hoyer, has helped guide the campaigns of twenty-six U.S. Senators, ten Governors, over two dozen Members of Congress, and numerous state and local officials.

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Ed Koch on the Reform of New York's Government

The Common Good held a conversation with Former Mayor of New York City, Honorable Ed Koch on reform of New York’s state government in Albany.

Mayor Ed Koch saved the City of New York from bankruptcy and in doing so restored the pride of New Yorkers. During his three terms as Mayor from 1978-1989, he restored fiscal stability to the City of New York, and he was responsible for placing the City on a GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Practices) balanced budget basis. He created a housing program which, over a ten-year period, provided more than 150,000 units of affordable housing financed by City funds in the amount of $5.1 billion. He created for the first time in New York City a merit judicial selection system and selected some of the most outstanding public servants to serve in his administration.

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The Changing of the Political Landscape

The Common good hosted a discussion with Governor John Lynch on “The Changing Political Landscape” and the ramifications of the toxic political environment in his race and around the nation. 

During his time serving as the 80th Governor of New Hampshire in 2005, Governor John Lynch focused on working across party lines to make New Hampshire a place of opportunity for all of its citizens. Lynch has worked with Democrats and Republicans to make kindergarten available to every child, to cut New Hampshire’s high school dropout rate in half, pass the toughest laws in the nation to protect children from sexual predators, to reduce spending by making government more efficient and build the economy by making it easier for companies to retain and hire new workers, increasing job training and providing tax credits for research and development.

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