Friday, September 26, 2025 at North Beach Restaurant: Sac Sem Roundtable
- tarmour2
- Sep 23
- 5 min read
This Friday, September 26 will be a Roundtable. Our chair Greg Ryken has chosen a bold topic that should get Seminarians into a vigorous conversation:
Kristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party’s SS paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth German civilians throughout Nazi German on 9–10 November 1938. The German authorities looked on without intervening. The euphemistic name Kristallnacht comes from the shards of broken glass that littered the streets after the windows of Jewish-owned stores, buildings, and synagogues were smashed. The pretext for the attacks was the assassination, on 9 November 1938, of the German diplomat Ernst von Rath by Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old German-born Polish Jew living in Paris.
Jewish homes, hospitals and schools were ransacked as attackers demolished buildings with sledgehammers. Rioters destroyed over 1,400 synagogues and prayer rooms throughout Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland. Over 7,000 Jewish businesses were damaged or destroyed, and 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and incarcerated in concentration camps. As von on Rath’s murder was a set up for Hitler to destroy the Jews in Germany, was Charlie Kirk’s killing a set up for Trump to attack his enemies? Is Charlie Kirk the Ernst von Rath of our day given Trump’s reaction to his death? How far might this spread? What can be done to blunt the force of Trump’s rage?
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RSVP TO ATTEND any upcoming seminar. To assist the North Beach Restaurant’s kitchen staff with planning for our Friday lunchtime meetings please notify dennis@triticum.com NO LATER THAN MID-DAY ON the WEDNESDAY BEFORE EVERY
SEMINAR if you plan to attend and indicate if you’ll be bringing a guest. Dennis DOES NOT need to know you are not attending. Valet Parking: If there are less than (10) ten sign-ups, there will be no valet. To Register for Valet Parking contact Chair Greg Ryken at (415) 215-3775 or email him on the Wednesday before seminars at Greg@rykenlaw.com
UPCOMING SEMINARS:
NOT THIS YEAR. Past Congressmember Jackie Speier was set to be our guest on Friday, September 26. The current member of San Mateo County’s Board of Supervisors must reschedule. The new date will likely be in early 2026.
Philip Yun, the Co-President and CEO of Commonwealth World Affairs (CCWA), is our speaker on Friday, October 3 at 12:15 p.m. https://worldaffairs.org/team/philip-yun-2/ Philip will be introduced by Seminarian Ron Boring. CCWA is the product of a merger between the World Affairs Council of Northern California, founded in 1947, and The Commonwealth Club of California, established in 1903. A graduate of Brown University and Columbia’s School of Law, Mr. Yun was a presidential appointee at the U.S. Department of State (1994-2001), serving as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
On Friday, October 10 Sac Sem’s guest will be Silicon Valley investor Chris Larsen who has bankrolled several high-profile San Francisco political campaigns. He will be introduced by the Seminar’s chair Greg Ryken. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Larsen
Sac Sem’s speaker on Friday, October 17 will be Professor Jack Citrin. His UC colleague, Seminarian Alan Unger will make the introduction. Professor Citrin teaches in the field of political behavior including political trust, direct democracy, national identity, and ethnic politics, including immigration and language politics. Professor Citrin received his B.A. and M.A. from McGill University in Montreal and his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley.
Among Professor Citrin’s books are American Identity & the Politics of Multiculturalism (2014), Public Opinion and Constitutional Controversy (2009), Tax Revolt, Something for Nothing in California (1982,1985), After the Tax Revolt: Proposition 13 Turns 30 (2009) and Nominating the President: Evolution and Revolution in 2008 and Beyond (2009).
San Mateo County District Attorney, Steve Wagstaffe, is our speaker on Friday, October 24. Read about DA Wagstaffe in The San Mateo Daily Journal:
The new Consul General for Italy, Hon. Massimo Carnelos, will be our featured speaker on Friday, October 31. https://informaconnect.com/bioeurope-spring/speakers/massimo-carnelos/ He’ll be introduced by Seminarian Dan Riley.
Da’Mayor, Willie Lewis Brown, Jr., will be Sac Sem’s guest on Friday, November 7. Chair Greg Ryken will have the honor of introducing “A man who needs no introduction.” Speakers Chair Mike Fitzgerald arranged this program which will be very well attended. Don’t miss out. Please reserve your place now.
California’s most prominent pollster as well as a Seminarian, Mark Dicamillo, https://igs.berkeley.edu/people/mark-dicamillo is our speaker on Friday, N0vember 14 at 12:15 p.m.
NEW DATE: Representative Ro Khanna (D-Santa Clara County) will be Sac Sem’s guest on Friday, November 21 starting at Noon “On-the-dot” as he must depart by 1:30 p.m. https://khanna.house.gov/about/about-rep-khanna The Philadelphia born congressmember’s commitment to public service was inspired by his grandfather who was active in Gandhi's independence movement. Prior to serving in Congress, he taught economics at Stanford University and served as deputy assistant secretary of commerce in the Obama administration.
There will be no Seminar on Friday, November 28, the day after Thanksgiving a.k.a. Black Friday.
Friday, December 5 will see Assemblymember Chris Rogers as our speaker at the North Beach Restaurant. The past Santa Rosa mayor, a Democrat, represents the counties of Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Sonoma, and Trinity in California's Assembly District 2. https://a02.asmdc.org/biography
SAVE THE (NEW) DATE: Annual Sac Sem Christmas-Hanukkah-Holiday Party is set for Friday, December 12 at the North Beach Restaurant starting at Noon. Details will soon follow.
Due to Christmas being on Thursday, December 25, there will be no seminar on Friday, December 26, the day after Christmas, St. Stephen’s Day in Ireland most of Europe aka Boxing Day in the UK.
Our first speaker of the new year will be Josh Fryday, Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor https://joshfryday.com/ The date is Friday, January 9, 2026. The time is 12:15 p.m. A past mayor of the City of Novato and chair of the Governor's Office of Service and Community Engagement is a member of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s cabinet. The U.S. Navy veteran will be introduced by Seminarian and past State Assemblymember Dion Aroner.
John Kabateck, California Director of the Natonal Federation of Independent Businesses https://www.nfib.com/california/ is January 16th speaker. NFIB’s philosophy is that “Small businesses are not smaller versions of bigger businesses. They often have different difficulties in remaining solvent and policies that lump all business together often do more harm than good.” The Glendale native and USC grad attributes part of his success in working with people to having grown up in a Hollywood family. His mother was musical director for the Ernie Kovacs Show, and his father produced the Criswell Predicts TV program.
U.C. Berkeley Professor Eric Schickler will be our featured speaker on Friday, January 23rd. Professor Schickler is considered one of the foremost scholars on Congress.
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OTHER THOUGHTS: “Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition.” David Dunning
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