Podcasting with John Metaxas

As Greece works to recover from the devastating financial crisis of the last decade, one of its most vital tasks is to bring talented individuals back into the country to work and create opportunity for others. In this podcast I speak with Dr. George Nounesis, the director and chairman of Demokritos, Greece’s National Centre for Scientific Research. Nounesis, who is an award winning scientist, says he is on a mission to create opportunities for Greek scientists who are living and working abroad to bring their world class research back to Greece. One of the young scientists who has heeded the call to return to Greece is Filippos Tourlomousis. Working with M.I.T.’s Center for Bits and Atoms — an interdisciplinary initiative exploring the boundary between computer science and physical science (where he had done his post-doctoral work) — Tourlomousis is setting up at Demokritos the first labs in Greece for digital manufacturing.  You can watch my video interview with Tourlomousis on my website at: https://www.wallstreetnorth.com/2023/03/reversing-greeces-brain-drain/

I am pleased to present, here, one of the highlights of my years at WCBS -- the 2021 Edward R. Murrow Award winning best regional newscast recognized by The Radio Television Digital News Association. I was privileged to co-anchor this newscast, which was a true team effort. Looking back on this broadcast from March 3, 2020, it’s clear that we’ve come a long way since then. That day we reported on New York’s second confirmed case of coronavirus, in a lawyer from New Rochelle, NY. We reported that his family was self-quarantining, a new concept to all of us at that time. The U.S. death toll from the virus stood at 9 people. Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that a coronavirus vaccine would be months away. The Dow would fall 786 points that day as the Fed cut interest rates 50 basis points to help the economy in the looming health crisis. More than 1,300 Democratic delegates were at stake on that Super Tuesday, which would be the day that Joe Biden scored dramatic primary victories on his way to the presidential nomination. You can read more about my time at WCBS at: https://www.wallstreetnorth.com/2022/11/my-last-day-at-wcbs/

Nearly six in ten Americans say the U.S. Supreme Court is out of touch with the country, according to the latest poll by Monmouth University. That opinion has crystallized in the months since the Court took away a woman's constitutional right to an abortion in its June decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. On the Friday that Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in as the newest justice and as the Court was preparing to start its new term on the first Monday in October, Monmouth University released its poll results. I interviewed Patrick Murray, Director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute on WCBS, about the poll.

WCBS asked me to cover first the Presidential Debate from the station's studios, where we maintain a severely limited in-person staff and a strict COVID protocol. I was tasked with reporting, writing and producing four 90-second reports for morning drive time. Each covers a different substantive slice of the debate and aired in a four-part rotation every half hour throughout the morning, in combination with CBS Network coverage and guests who gave their perspective on the debate. John Metaxas WallStreetNorth.com

WCBS asked me to cover first the Presidential Debate from the station's studios, where we maintain a severely limited in-person staff and a strict COVID protocol. I was tasked with reporting, writing and producing four 90-second reports for morning drive time. Each covers a different substantive slice of the debate and aired in a four-part rotation every half hour throughout the morning, in combination with CBS Network coverage and guests who gave their perspective on the debate. John Metaxas WallStreetNorth.com

WCBS asked me to cover first the Presidential Debate from the station's studios, where we maintain a severely limited in-person staff and a strict COVID protocol. I was tasked with reporting, writing and producing four 90-second reports for morning drive time. Each covers a different substantive slice of the debate and aired in a four-part rotation every half hour throughout the morning, in combination with CBS Network coverage and guests who gave their perspective on the debate. John Metaxas WallStreetNorth.com

WCBS asked me to cover first the Presidential Debate from the station's studios, where we maintain a severely limited in-person staff and a strict COVID protocol. I was tasked with reporting, writing and producing four 90-second reports for morning drive time. Each covers a different substantive slice of the debate and aired in a four-part rotation every half hour throughout the morning, in combination with CBS Network coverage and guests who gave their perspective on the debate. John Metaxas WallStreetNorth.com

My talk with U.S. Ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey Pyatt, June 18, 2020, regarding Greece's successful response to the COVID pandemic. Ambassador says response was guided by scientific advice. Such U.S. companies as Microsoft, Google and Cisco aided with technology. Silver lining of effort was the progress Greece made in digital governance. The interview is an excerpt from the NHSTalks presentation by the National Hellenic Society: CONTROLLING COVID-19 & TOBACCO CHALLENGES IN GREECE. The program also included Dr. Vasileios Kikilias, Minister, Greek Health Ministry, and noted Pulmonologist Dr. Panagiotis Behrakis.

My interview with Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal on WCBS, Sunday March 8, 2020.

▪ Harvard Law Prof Waffles on Scope of His Role ▪ Asserts ‘I’m not a full-fledged member’ of impeachment defense team ▪ Claims Sekulow is not conflicted by Parnas Allegations ▪ Dershowitz arguably should be considered an expert witness in this case and Dems should get a rebuttal witness. ▪ Sekulow should be called to testify on Parnas representation. When is a lawyer an advocate and when is he or she a witness? And if a lawyer is a witness, should he or she be allowed to represent their client in that case? More specifically, if Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and the Republican majority are not going to allow witnesses at the impeachment trial of President Trump, should two of the President’s lawyers, who arguably fall into the category of witnesses, be allowed to represent him? Those issues are central to the live on-air interview I conducted with Harvard Law Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz about his role on President Trump’s impeachment defense team in my 2pm hourly newscast on WCBS Newsradio 880 on Saturday.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis tells John Metaxas that Greece’s Brain Drain Can be Reversed. The prime minister answered the question during a public conversation he had at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, moderated by former Ambassador Nicholas Burns, on September 26, 2019.

Retired U.S. Ambassador Dr. Susan Elliott tells us that back channel diplomacy is currently going on in ways unimagined by most citizens, through her organization, the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. She became the organization’s President and CEO in August 2018. Officially known as Track II Diplomacy, these closed­-door and off­-the­-record conferences provide opportunities for senior U.S. and foreign officials, subject experts, and scholars to engage in discussions designed to defuse conflict, build confidence, and resolve problems, including recent talks on North Korea. Says Ambassador Elliott, “Our organization is playing a critical role at a time when perhaps governments don’t talk to each other, we can help promote dialogue.” Ambassador Elliott gives us an inside look into the world of U.S. foreign policy and the current hot spots in the world from the perspective of her 27-year career in the foreign service, where she rose to the rank of U.S. Ambassador to Tajikistan from 2012 to 2015. Dr Elliott also served as Civilian Deputy and Foreign Policy Advisor to the Commander of the United States European Command, as well as Director of the Executive Secretariat Staff of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Retired U.S. Ambassador Patrick Theros discusses the Israeli High Court decision in favor of an extremist group that seeks the removal of Christians from the Old City of Jerusalem and the existential risks for the Christian community that the ruling poses. At issue in the real estate case, brought by the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, are properties that straddle the Jaffa Gate into the Old City.

New Yorkers measure their lives by blackouts. I experienced my fourth* on Saturday July 13th, anchoring live coverage of the West Side Blackout on WCBS Newsradio 880. The evening brought me back to the 1965 blackout when I was 7 growing up in Manhattan, the 1977 blackout as a college student at Columbia during the Summer of Sam and the 2003 blackout covering at CNBC from Fort Lee, NJ. My live interview on the air with N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo the next evening was picked up by the New York Post with the memorable headline “Gov hints at Gone Edison.” Cuomo told me “Con Ed does not have a franchise granted by God” and “can be replaced,” adding Con Ed should not be allowed a self-evaluation of its performance in the blackout. Click below to listen. Notes: This year's blackout happened on the 42nd anniversary of the July 13, 1977 blackout. *Arguably, this was my 5th blackout if you count the massive outage in lower Manhattan after Superstorm Sandy in 2012, which I also covered live on the air on WCBS.

•Turkey Faces April Deadline to Respond in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia •Ankara Foreign Ministry Finally Served After Rebuffing Service Three Times ◊PODCAST COLD OPEN VERBATIM: You had a trained paramilitary force attack peaceful protesters. The people who were protecting President Erdogan came across police lines and beat up our clients, hit them on the head, kicked them, got them on the ground and bloodied them. This is not only an effort to gain compensation for people who were physically and psychologically injured, but also a way to make a statement that this kind of activity, of thugs beating up demonstrators, will not be something that we can allow in our country. Click the audio player below to listen. "Podcasting with John Metaxas" speaks with attorneys Douglas Bregman and Andreas Akaras of Bregman, Berbert, Schwartz & Gilday, LLC, at their offices in Bethesda, Maryland. They have filed a civil lawsuit against the Republic of Turkey seeking damages on behalf of their clients who were beaten by members of the security detail of Turkish President Erdogan while the plaintiffs were exercising their First Amendment rights to peaceably assemble and express freedom of speech at Washington, D.C.'s Sheridan Circle on May 16, 2017.

John Metaxas speaks with Paul Glastris, editor in chief of the Washington Monthly, along with two of the publication’s editors, Daniel Block and Eric Cortellessa, about their quest to elevate journalism in this stressful time. Labelling his point of view, “grumpily liberal,” Paul says the Washington Monthly, now celebrating its 50th anniversary, remains devoted to the ethos of its founder, Charles Peters — to report, uncover, explain and offer new ideas about government policy and politics in America, all while treating the reader and people with different points of view with respect. Recent stories have looked at what the editors see as an underreported but major development in society — that large numbers of Americans are not benefiting from America’s economic system. While Paul says his magazine is contributing to the broader effort by journalists to understand and in many ways fight against the nonsense and lying coming out of the White House, he is not obsessed with Trump coverage. Rather, he says, “We’re focused on the future. We’re focused on issues like antitrust, like reforming the higher education system, like Congress rebuilding its capacity to think and do oversight, reforms that aren’t getting enough attention and we think are the most important things the American people should be discussing.”

John Metaxas speaks with Michael Rosenblum, the self-proclaimed "Father of Videojournalism" who has trained more than 40,000 VJs and built VJ-driven networks worldwide. In a wide-ranging talk on the history of media, Michael recounts his career, from his time living with and covering a Palestinian family in Gaza during the First Intifada to his current quest to use modern media for the common good.

Podcaster John Metaxas interviews veteran civil rights attorney Robert Herbst about his journey from growing up in a liberal Jewish household to becoming an advocate for Palestinian rights. Bob says just as “Black Lives Matter in the U.S., Palestinian lives matter in Israel/Palestine.” He says his viewpoint changed significantly after what he calls Israel’s brutal 2014 Operation Protective Edge in Gaza. He became a member of the organization Jewish Voice for Peace. He describes the Israeli occupation of the West Bank as persistent and relentless oppression, which he likens to apartheid. He says he supports the Boycott Divest Sanction movement as a non-violent means to help Israel recover its Jewish values.

BREAKING NEWS: David Phillips, Director of the Program on Peace Building and Rights at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights speaks with John Metaxas on today’s latest threats by Turkish President Erdogan to invade eastern regions of Syria. The threat puts at risk U.S. forces who are maintaining bases in the region in alliance with Kurdish forces engaged in the fight against the Islamic State. Phillips calls for the U.S. to institute a no-fly zone over northern Syria to signal to Turkey that it will not tolerate efforts of genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Kurds, though he says he has doubts the Trump Administration is up to the task. Phillips, who has just returned from a visit to Kurdish inhabited regions of Syria, recounts compelling stories of Kurds trying to maintain their freedoms in the face of Turkish bombardment.

Professor John Coffee of Columbia Law School speaks with WallStreetNorth's John Metaxas (Columbia Law '84)about the state of insider trading law. Professor Coffee has been asked to join a task force to develop proposals to update this area of the law. The task force is to be chaired by former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara (Columbia Law '93). Professor Coffee explains that insider trading law is largely judicially created and has not been addressed by Congress. Recent Circuit Court decisions have created divergences among the Circuits that have not yet been addressed by the Supreme Court. Furthermore, new issues surrounding hacking and cybersecurity have emerged. The professor says the time is ripe for this blue-ribbon panel to create some standards that can be presented to Congress and/or the SEC for future adoption. Bharara has tapped former regulators, prosecutors, judges, academics and defense lawyers to serve on the panel, including The Hon. Jed S. Rakoff, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York, and adjunct professor at Columbia Law School. Coffee and Rakoff co-teach a popular class, Black Letter Law/White Collar Crime. John Metaxas is an award winning broadcast journalist with three decades of experience at CBS, CNN, Bloomberg and other networks. His podcasts on the law can be listened to at WallStreetNorth.com.

Award winning journalist John Metaxas speaks on "The Life of a Journalist and the Obligations of a Citizen in the Time of Trump." John touches on his time covering Trump at ABC News and CBS, the saga of Marvin Roffman, the importance of truth, his studies with Fred Friendly, the lessons he teaches his college students who ask about whether the news is fake and offers some thoughts on resistance. A lively Q&A follows. The talk was delivered at the Beacon Hebrew Alliance in Beacon, NY, on August 11, 2018, the weekend anniversary of the deadly march on Charlottesville. Slightly edited for clarity.

Attorney John Bandler wrote Cybersecurity for the Home and Office to help lawyers and in fact anyone take charge of their cybersecurity. The book provides a solid understanding of cybercrime, privacy threats, cybersecurity and computer technology. He speaks here with WallStreetNorth's John Metaxas as part of the series Podcasting for Lawyers.

Hughes Hubbard partner George Tsougarakis tells John Metaxas the fascinating story of his firm's recovery of a 9th Century handwritten copy of the New Testament that was looted from a monastery in northern Greece by Bulgarian soldiers during World War I and went missing for 99 years. But despite the Bible's return, the case is not over.

John Metaxas interviews author Tasoula Hadjitofi about her book, The Icon Hunter, and her quest as a refugee to reclaim her nation’s stolen heritage