Shaping Opinion

Patrick Wolf joins Tim to shed light on why school choice is exploding across the country. The list of states passing or pursuing legislation for more school choice is on the rise weekly. Patrick has long been at the forefront on the issue of school choice. He talks about the impact on the pandemic, which he says revealed a lot to parents about their kids' public school education. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Why_is_School_Choice_Gaining_Traction_auphonic.mp3 He is a Distinguished Professor of Education Policy. He is the 21st Century Endowed Chair, in School Choice in the Department of Education Reform, at the University of Arkansas, College of Education and Health Professions.  Before this, he taught at Columbia and at Georgetown University, and has been a Visiting Scholar at the Brookings Institution.  As principal investigator of the School Choice Demonstration Project, Patrick has led evaluations of school voucher programs in Washington, DC; Milwaukee, WI; and the state of Louisiana. He's conducted research and written several books on the topic. Check out this FULL EPISODE at YouTube: https://youtu.be/R4mdSHsKLGg Check out this FULL EPISODE at Rumble: https://rumble.com/v4wt412-why-is-school-choice-gaining-traction-with-patrick-wolf.html LIKE & SUBSCRIBE for new videos as soon as they are posted: https://www.youtube.com/@shapingopinion/videos Stay up to date by signing up for the Shaping Opinion Substack here:  https://shapingopinion.substack.co Find the full audio show wherever you get your podcasts: Apple — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shaping-opinion/id1371714253 Spotify — https://open.spotify.com/show/6yOg769bSm9hJn9zhwkunl For all episodes and to learn more about Shaping Opinion at: https://shapingopinion.com Follow the Shaping Opinion Podcast on all social platforms: Twitter/X - @Shaping Opinion, Instagram - @Shaping Opinion, on Facebook at Shaping Opinion and don't forget to join the “Shaping Opinion Podcast Listeners” Group on Facebook. Links from Our Conversation: The School Choice Journey: School vouchers and the empowerment of urban families -  https://www.amazon.com/School-Choice-Journey-Empowerment-Education-ebook/dp/B00NC4R2PC/ref=sr_1_3?crid=V8YLH6HF42KP&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.iThj9m-00wFy3kVNwYRhl0D0a8JbE3NW37S4XgKBZ9282Et9TGRuMFwTFmnBxDUOzrJ_QxkSg0m9HT_pfjHwJ5__iasBX8YusToQEBkH5gk.1sqNy9r2NnYjV5XWCDtBVtY3BQGW3UqKWNcOBv0i7l0&dib_tag=se&keywords=Patrick+Wolf+School+Choice&qid=1716403008&s=books&sprefix=patrick+wolf+school+choice%2Cstripbooks%2C116&sr=1-3 The Public Purposes of Private Education: a Civic-Outcomes Meta-Analysis - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10648-024-09874-1 School Choice in the States 2024 – EdChoice - https://www.edchoice.org/engage/school-choice-in-the-states-april-2024/ Denisha Allen, American Federation for Children - https://www.federationforchildren.org/staff/denisha-allen/

Patrick Wolf joins Tim to shed light on why school choice is exploding across the country. The list of states passing or pursuing legislation for more school choice is on the rise weekly. Patrick has long been at the forefront on the issue of school choice. He talks about the impact on the pandemic, which he says revealed a lot to parents about their kids' public school education. He is a Distinguished Professor of Education Policy. He is the 21st Century Endowed Chair, in School Choice in the Department of Education Reform, at the University of Arkansas, College of Education and Health Professions. Before this, he taught at Columbia and at Georgetown University, and has been a Visiting Scholar at the Brookings Institution. As principal investigator of the School Choice Demonstration Project, Patrick has led evaluations of school voucher programs in Washington, DC; Milwaukee, WI; and the state of Louisiana. He has conducted research and written several books on the topic.If you're not already, please make sure to subscribe to the Shaping Opinion podcast wherever you get your podcasts, now including YouTube and Rumble! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shapingopinion.substack.com

Marian Tupy joins Tim to burst the myth that the world is overpopulated. Through his work, he has demonstrated that as the world's population has grown, humankind has actually become more abundant. Marian is the founder and editor of HumanProgress.org, and a senior fellow at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity at the Cato Institute. He is the coauthor of: The Simon Abundance Index, Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know: And Many Others You Will Find Interesting, and Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet.#overpopulation #demographics #economy #economics This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shapingopinion.substack.com

Author and university professor Sanjai Bhagat joins Tim to talk about his research findings on ESG investing and what he calls “an inconvenient truth” about it. According to Sanjai, ESG investing is simply not living up to the hype, and he knows why. If your retirement finds are invested in ESG funds, or if your financial advisor wants you to invest in ESG funds, you need to listen to Sanjai. Sanjai Bhagat is Provost Professor of Finance at the University of Colorado, and he's the author of the book, “Financial Crisis, Corporate Governance, and Bank Capital.” But what caught my attention was something he wrote for the Harvard Business Review. In March of 2022, he wrote an article entitled, “An Inconvenient Truth About ESG Investing.”#ESG #ESGinvesting #Investing #stockmarket #WallStreet #CSR #DEI This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shapingopinion.substack.com

Catholic artist Eric Armusik joins Tim to talk about the current trend at the Vatican to embrace ugly art at the expense of so much beauty it could showcase. Eric paints classical figurative art. His work is reminiscent of the old masters. His works are inspired by grand and vivid murals that he first saw in Gothic cathedrals as a child. But what caught my attention was a social media post from Eric that highlighted something we all may have noticed but may not have thought much about, which is how the Vatican seems to have gotten away from this sort of beauty and realism in its own art.#art #thevatican #vatican #Catholic #CatholicChurch This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shapingopinion.substack.com

Author, writer and advocate Brooke Siem joins Tim to talk about her own experience with doctors prescribing anti-depressants to long-term negative effects. Brooke is an advocate for the practice of safe de-prescribing for psychiatric drugs. In 2022, she published a memoir on her own struggles with antidepressant withdrawal. The title of that book is called, “May Cause Side Effects.” Brooke is also a chef who co-founded New York City's Prohibition Bakery in 2011, and in 2017 she was crowned a Food Network “Chopped” Champion. She tells a behind-the-scenes story that illustrates her struggles with anti-depressant withdrawal.#addiction #overmedicating #antideppresants #pharma #medicine #mentalhealth #psychiatry #anxiety #psychology This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shapingopinion.substack.com

Author and crisis manager Evan Nierman joins Tim O'Brien to talk about cancel culture and its attacks on comedians and comedy in general. Will it kill comedy as we know it? And how can you defend yourself if the “cancel vultures” attack? Evan is the author of "The Cancel Culture Curse: From Rage to Redemption in a World Gone Mad."#cancelculture #comedy #entertainment #crisiscommunications #crisismanagement This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shapingopinion.substack.com

Attorney Mark Chutkow joins Tim O'Brien to talk about a rare case where the parents of a mass shooter are prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to prison. Is this a one-off or a sign of things to come? That's just one of the questions we discuss.#massshooter #schoolshooter #thelaw #crime This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shapingopinion.substack.com

Marian Tupy joins Tim to burst the myth that the world is overpopulated. Through his work, he has demonstrated that as the world's population has grown, humankind has actually become more abundant. Marian is the founder and editor of HumanProgress.org, and a senior fellow at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity at the Cato Institute. He is the coauthor of: The Simon Abundance Index, Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know: And Many Others You Will Find Interesting, and Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Marian_Tupy_Interview_auphonic.mp3 Check out this FULL EPISODE at YouTube: https://youtu.be/yyxWWDkbdck Check out this FULL EPISODE at Rumble:  https://rumble.com/v4u8jxw-bursting-the-overpopulation-myth-with-marian-tupy.html LIKE & SUBSCRIBE for new videos as soon as they are posted: https://www.youtube.com/@shapingopinion/videos Stay up to date by signing up for the Shaping Opinion Substack here:  https://shapingopinion.substack.co Find the full audio show wherever you get your podcasts: Apple — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shaping-opinion/id1371714253 Spotify — https://open.spotify.com/show/6yOg769bSm9hJn9zhwkunl For all episodes and to learn more about Shaping Opinion at: https://shapingopinion.com Follow the Shaping Opinion Podcast on all social platforms: Twitter/X - @Shaping Opinion, Instagram - @Shaping Opinion, on Facebook at Shaping Opinion and don't forget to join the “Shaping Opinion Podcast Listeners” Group on Facebook. Links from Our Conversation: HumanProgress.org – https://humanprogress.org Marian Tupy, Cato Institute – https://www.cato.org/people/marian-l-tupy Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet, Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/Superabundance-Population-Innovation-Flourishing-Infinitely/dp/1952223393/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1LA5I10BFSH2J&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.n2d_vjnwl9rz1t1YWR2Dv0i4zh5fWgUkXZSRVG8fX6JrMK6l8B-KNVfMFr8Nq6YVf-ko06gV6sqBhsUAvbp3d6WSyEsVbdVG_FDAlReTy0KC7npPru28e8xLW7qcpL1GKIratT2TM-k-vtAdwHomOJzZjzEAEqdb7JazmMP_djsPkz_gEO795XnSYu8Bx9ug12B4H4982n8CDJM73Z15eev-QqM0GKhT7QkYOj1vtzc.t_HJvrvGkySzcfhFB1ABmtN5rZWDLGHdRFw_5jijVwQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=superabundance&qid=1715299541&sprefix=superab%2Caps%2C102&sr=8-1 Julian Simon Was Right: A Half‐​Century of Population Growth, Increasing Prosperity, and Falling Commodity Prices, Cato Institute – https://www.cato.org/economic-development-bulletin/julian-simon-was-right-half-century-population-growth-increasing

Author and university professor Sanjai Bhagat joins Tim to talk about his research findings on ESG investing and what he calls “an inconvenient truth” about it. According to Sanjai, ESG investing is simply not living up to the hype, and he knows why. If your retirement funds are invested in ESG funds, or if your financial advisor wants you to invest in ESG funds, you need to listen to Sanjai. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/ESG_Audio_Podcast_auphonic.mp3 Sanjai Bhagat is Provost Professor of Finance at the University of Colorado, and he's the author of the book, “Financial Crisis, Corporate Governance, and Bank Capital.” But what caught my attention was something he wrote for the Harvard Business Review. In March of 2022, he wrote an article entitled, “An Inconvenient Truth About ESG Investing.” Check out this FULL EPISODE at YouTube: https://youtu.be/i5MZc569a98/ Check out this FULL EPISODE at Rumble: https://rumble.com/v4tuoor-why-isnt-esg-living-up-to-the-hype-with-sanjai-bhagat.html LIKE & SUBSCRIBE for new videos as soon as they are posted: https://www.youtube.com/@shapingopinion/videos Stay up to date by signing up for the Shaping Opinion Substack here:  https://shapingopinion.substack.co Find the full audio show wherever you get your podcasts: Apple — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shaping-opinion/id1371714253 Spotify — https://open.spotify.com/show/6yOg769bSm9hJn9zhwkunl For all episodes and to learn more about Shaping Opinion at: https://shapingopinion.com Follow the Shaping Opinion Podcast on all social platforms: Twitter/X - @Shaping Opinion, Instagram - @Shaping Opinion, on Facebook at Shaping Opinion and don't forget to join the “Shaping Opinion Podcast Listeners” Group on Facebook. Links from Our Conversation: An Inconvenient Truth About ESG Investing, Harvard Business Review, https://hbr.org/2022/03/an-inconvenient-truth-about-esg-investing/ Sanjai Bhagat, Ph.D., on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjaibhagat/ Why Do ESG Funds Underperform? https://ssrn.com/abstract=3725828 Companies that Issue Green Bonds Do Not Lower Their Carbon Emissions - https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4492883/ U.S. Carmakers EV Plans Hinge on Batteries, Wall Street Journal - https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-car-makers-ev-plans-hinge-on-made-in-america-batteries-11675640784?page=1 Should the U.S. Courts Allow the SEC to Enforce Mandates to Disclose Compliance with Climate Goals, Columbia Business School Paper - http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3800193

Catholic artist Eric Armusik joins Tim to talk about the current trend at the Vatican to embrace ugly art at the expense of so much beauty it could showcase. Eric paints classical figurative art. His work is reminiscent of the old masters. His works are inspired by grand and vivid murals that he first saw in Gothic cathedrals as a child. But what caught my attention was a social media post from Eric that highlighted something we all may have noticed but may not have thought much about, which is how the Vatican seems to have gotten away from this sort of beauty and realism in its own art. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Vatican_Art_II_auphonic.mp3 Check out this FULL EPISODE at YouTube:   https://youtu.be/St9f7UwZe3U Check out this FULL EPISODE on Rumble:  https://rumble.com/v4u5wll-whats-going-on-with-vatican-art-with-eric-armusik.html LIKE & SUBSCRIBE for new videos as soon as they are posted: https://www.youtube.com/@shapingopinion/videos Stay up to date by signing up for the Shaping Opinion Substack here:  https://shapingopinion.substack.co Find the full audio show wherever you get your podcasts: Apple — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shaping-opinion/id1371714253 Spotify — https://open.spotify.com/show/6yOg769bSm9hJn9zhwkunl For all episodes and to learn more about Shaping Opinion at: https://shapingopinion.com Follow the Shaping Opinion Podcast on all social platforms: Twitter/X - @Shaping Opinion, Instagram - @Shaping Opinion, on Facebook at Shaping Opinion and don't forget to join the “Shaping Opinion Podcast Listeners” Group on Facebook. Links from Our Conversation: Erik Armusik's Website - https://www.ericarmusik.com Vatican Proud of Ugly Sculpture in Audience Hall - https://www.oliverduerr.de/en/society/vatikan-zeigt-sich-stolz-auf-haessliche-skulptur-in-audienzhalle/ Contemporary Catholic Art Doesn't Have to be Ugly. Just look at this new cathedral, Catholic Herald - https://catholicherald.co.uk/contemporary-catholic-art-doesnt-have-to-be-ugly-just-look-at-this-new-cathedral/ The Vatican's Cosmic Nativity Scene, Tradition in Action - https://www.traditioninaction.org/RevolutionPhotos/A915-Pre.htm Pope Welcomes Artists, Including Andres Serrano, Artnet - https://news.artnet.com/art-world/pope-francis-artists-andres-serrano-vatican-2328251

Author, writer and advocate Brooke Siem joins Tim to talk about her own experience with doctors prescribing anti-depressants to long-term negative effects. Brooke is an advocate for the practice of safe de-prescribing for psychiatric drugs. In 2022, she published a memoir on her own struggles with antidepressant withdrawal. The title of that book is called, “May Cause Side Effects.” https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Are_Doctors_Overmedicating_Kids_with_Brooke_Siem_auphonic.mp3 Brooke is also a chef who co-founded New York City's Prohibition Bakery in 2011, and in 2017 she was crowned a Food Network “Chopped” Champion. She tells a behind-the-scenes story that illustrates her struggles with anti-depressant withdrawal. Check out this FULL EPISODE at YouTube: https://youtu.be/VWyBFtVnmDc Check out this FULL EPISODE at Rumble: https://rumble.com/v4t4il3-are-doctors-overmedicating-kids-with-brooke-siem.html LIKE & SUBSCRIBE for new videos as soon as they are posted: https://www.youtube.com/@shapingopinion/videos Stay up to date by signing up for the Shaping Opinion Substack here:  https://shapingopinion.substack.co Find the full audio show wherever you get your podcasts: Apple — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shaping-opinion/id1371714253 Spotify — https://open.spotify.com/show/6yOg769bSm9hJn9zhwkunl For all episodes and to learn more about Shaping Opinion at: https://shapingopinion.com Follow the Shaping Opinion Podcast on all social platforms: Twitter/X - @Shaping Opinion, Instagram - @Shaping Opinion, on Facebook at Shaping Opinion and don't forget to join the “Shaping Opinion Podcast Listeners” Group on Facebook. Links from Our Conversation: May Cause Side Effects: A Memoir: Siem, Brooke: 9781949481891: Amazon.com: Books Brooke Siem - Brooke Siem Brooke Siem Learn Happy Substack: www.brookesiem.substack.com Brooke Siem: What This Famous Chopped Winner Is Doing Now (mashed.com) What I wish I had known before I stopped taking antidepressants, and before I started - Washington Examiner Why we should stop casually prescribing antidepressants to teens (nypost.com)  

Author and crisis manager Evan Nierman joins Tim O'Brien to talk about cancel culture and its attacks on comedians and comedy in general. Will it kill comedy as we know it? And how can you defend yourself if the “cancel vultures” attack? https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Cancel_Culture_Raw_Audio.mp3 Check out this FULL EPISODE at YouTube: Is Cancel Culture Killing Comedy?, with Evan Nierman (youtube.com) Check out this FULL EPISODE at Rumble: https://rumble.com/v4sxg5i-is-cancel-culture-killing-comedy-with-evan-nierman.html LIKE & SUBSCRIBE for new videos as soon as they are posted: https://www.youtube.com/@shapingopinion/videos Stay up to date by signing up for the Shaping Opinion Substack here:  https://shapingopinion.substack.co Find the full audio show wherever you get your podcasts: Apple — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shaping-opinion/id1371714253 Spotify — https://open.spotify.com/show/6yOg769bSm9hJn9zhwkunl For all episodes and to learn more about Shaping Opinion at: https://shapingopinion.com Follow the Shaping Opinion Podcast on all social platforms: Twitter/X - @Shaping Opinion, Instagram - @Shaping Opinion, on Facebook at Shaping Opinion and don't forget to join the “Shaping Opinion Podcast Listeners” Group on Facebook. Links from Our Conversation: Amazon.com: The Cancel Culture Curse: From Rage to Redemption in a World Gone Mad: 9781510777194: Nierman, Evan, Sachs, Mark: Books Cancel culture is no laughing matter: Comedy on the edge | The Hill Jerry Seinfeld slams political correctness, extreme left for ruining comedy (smh.com.au) Bari Weiss and Her Resignation from the New York Times - Resignation Letter — Bari Weiss  

Attorney Mark Chutkow joins Tim O'Brien to talk about an unprecedented case where the parents of a mass shooter are prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to prison. Is this a one-off or a sign of things to come? That's just one of the questions we discuss. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/Parents_of_School_Shooter_Convicted_auphonic.mp3 Check out this FULL EPISODE at YouTube:     https://youtu.be/LIgv_NK9PL4 Check out this FULL EPISODE at Rumble: https://rumble.com/v4s33lo-unprecedented-parents-of-mass-shooter-convicted-with-attorney-mark-chutkow.html LIKE & SUBSCRIBE for new videos as soon as they are posted: https://www.youtube.com/@shapingopinion/videos Stay up to date by signing up for the Shaping Opinion Substack here:  https://shapingopinion.substack.co Find the full audio show wherever you get your podcasts: Apple — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shaping-opinion/id1371714253 Spotify — https://open.spotify.com/show/6yOg769bSm9hJn9zhwkunl Learn more about Shaping Opinion at: https://shapingopinion.com Follow the Shaping Opinion Podcast on all social platforms: Twitter/X - @Shaping Opinion, Instagram - @Shaping Opinion, on Facebook at Shaping Opinion and don't forget to join the “Shaping Opinion Podcast Listeners” Group on Facebook. Links from Our Conversation: Mark Chutkow - https://www.dykema.com/people/mark-chutkow.html Michigan School Shooter Sentenced to Life in Prison without Parole - https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/ethan-crumbley-sentencing-oxford-shooting-12-08-23/index.html Michigan School Shooter's Parents Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison - https://apnews.com/article/james-crumbley-jennifer-crumbley-oxford-school-shooting-e5888f615c76c3b26153c34dc36d5436

If you follow us on social media or have subscribed to our new Substack page you may already know we've been on hiatus in recent months. Most of the episodes you have heard since the start of the New Year have been encore episodes. Today, we have some good news. Starting next week, you will be seeing and hearing Shaping Opinion 2.0! https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/Preview_-_Shaping_Opinion_2.0.mp3 We've used the last few months to revisit every aspect of the podcast and make improvements. For background, we started the Shaping Opinion podcast in March 2018 when podcasting was just hitting its stride as a popular new sensation. The big commercial companies had started to pay attention, but at that time, independent podcast producers like us dominated. There were well less than 500,000 podcasts in the world, and almost all of them were audio in nature. In short, it wasn't as hard then to make a dent as it is now. As a result, we experienced some immediate interest in what we were offering, and steady audience growth over the years. In the process, we released roughly 300 original episodes that have won us awards, attracted listeners from all over the world, but mostly in the U.S., and a few listeners who you might even consider celebrities. My favorite feedback, though, has been from individual guests.  Almost every guest has been glad he or she participated. Consistently, they have told me they enjoyed the interview experience. They have appreciated that we do our homework and don't just ask the “typical” questions. It's a conversation that they themselves have tended to see as a break from the grind of doing the same-old media interviews. Tim O'Brien If you were to ask me, though, what was the focus of the Shaping Opinion podcast, my answer would have been much different in 2018 than it is now. Back then, I envisioned it being a true-crime type of podcast only focusing on big, historic PR events. I found out pretty quickly you can't do a weekly podcast on that. So, we expanded our focus. The tagline, which was fitting, was, “We talk about people, events and things that shape the way we think.” And we did, broadly speaking. In the process, we found ourselves talking about such a range of topics week after week, that our audience would come and go by topic. If we interviewed NFL Hall of Famer Larry Czonka one week, we may have gotten thousands and thousands of new listeners who are football fans. But they went away the next week when we interviewed someone else who had nothing to do with sports. This pattern has repeated itself throughout the life of the podcast. At the same time, the podcasting landscape has changed. Major commercial enterprises have entered the podcasting space and have dominated it while further growing it into a multi-billion-dollar industry.  Along with that, they made the video format almost a requirement. Ironically, independent podcasts have continued to drive the industry's growth as well. There are now well over one million podcasts available for free to the growing world of podcast listeners. Those listeners have so many options, they seek clarity. They want to know where your podcast fits, what it offers. Today's podcast listener, unlike the listener of 2018, wants to know up front where we fit in the larger mosaic of podcasts. And that is where we started as we conducted an analysis of what the Shaping Opinion Podcast must be, and what it will be going forward. And now here we are. Next Monday marks a new day for the Shaping Opinion Podcast. Here's what you'll notice first. We'll be on video! You will find the Shaping Opinion podcast on YouTube and Rumble, and you can get to it through our own episode pages at ShapingOpinion.com. We have changed the format. It's much tighter, and episodes will be shorter (30-45 minutes). Our interviews will still be one-on-one, deep dive conversations as you're used to.

Economist, professor and author Paul Rubin joins Tim to talk about the impact of socialism on the future, particularly among young people who tend to be the most supportive of it, but who stand to lose the most because of it. This is the focus of his new book called, “A Student's Guide to Socialism: How it will trash your lives.” This episode was first released January 4, 2021. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/157_-_What_They_Wont_Tell_You_About_Socialism.mp3 If you want to see where socialism has been tried and failed, you don't have to look far. Venezuela is one current-day example. The country sits on one of the world's largest deposits of oil, yet people in that country have to wait in long lines for gas, the prices for gas are high and the quality of life is among the lowest in the world. Or, you could look toward history, from the Soviet Union, to Cuba, to countries from Eastern Europe to South America and Africa. The examples of socialist failure are many.  But if you look for examples of where socialism has been successful, you can look, but you won't find many if any. The effects of socialism aren't just a poor standard of living, but massive human misery, that history has shown, has led to the establishment of dictators and small rich oligarchies who rule the masses under the thumb of socialism. At the same time, the concepts of socialism have long had a certain appeal to young people and oppressed peoples. Socialism has a certain seductive quality for some. Paul Rubin has spent decades teaching young generations about basic economic principles, and has spent no small amount of time educating young people on the risks of socialism. Links A Student's Guide to Socialism: How it will trash your lives, by Paul Rubin (Amazon) Paul Rubin, The Independent Institute How are socialism and communism different?, History.com Capitalism v. Socialism, PragerU.com About this Episode's Guest Paul Rubin Paul H. Rubin is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Economics Emeritus in the Economics Department of Emory University and a former Professor of Law and Economics at the School of Law. He served as editor-in-chief of Managerial and Decision Economics. In addition, he is associated with the Mont Peleron Society, the Independent Institute, and the American Enterprise Institute, and a Fellow of the Public Choice Society and former President of the Southern Economics Association. Professor Rubin was Senior Economist at the Council of Economic Advisers under President Reagan, Chief Economist at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Director of Advertising Economics at the Federal Trade Commission, and Vice-President of Glassman-Oliver Economic Consultants, Inc., a litigation consulting firm in Washington. He has taught economics at the University of Georgia, City University of New York, VPI, and law and economics at George Washington University Law School. Professor Rubin has written or edited several books, and has published over one hundred articles and chapters on economics, law, and regulation. Much of Professor Rubin's writing is in law and economics, with a focus on tort, crime and contract issues. His areas of research interest include law and economics, industrial organization, transaction cost economics, government and business, public choice, regulation and price theory, and evolution and economics. His work has been cited in the professional literature over 11,100 times. He has consulted widely on litigation related matters, and has addressed numerous business, professional, policy and academic audiences. He has testified three times before Congress, and has served as an advisor on tort issues to the Congressional Budget Office. Professor Rubin is the author of the well-known paper “Why Is the Common Law efficient?” Journal of Legal Studies, 1977, which has been reprinted eight times, in English, Spanish and French. B.A. 1963,

This is a Special Edition of the Shaping Opinion Podcast called “1979: City of Champions.” In this extended episode (90 minutes), we take you to when Pittsburgh became the “City of Champions,” and how its impact went well beyond the field, or just baseball or football fans. In the end, it's about what sports can do to bolster an entire people who are going through hard times. Guests include: Kent Tekulve, Joe Gordon, Lanny Frattare, Michael MacCambridge, John Steigerwald and Walter Iooss, Jr. This is the story of Pittsburgh, City of Champions, like you've never heard it before. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/Full_Episode_-_City_of_Champions_auphonic.mp3 In this episode, we start with a group of Pittsburgh steelworkers who are standing around waiting for the arrival of two Pittsburgh sports icons. They stand in the cold and drafty Jones and Laughlin steel mill along the banks of the Monongahela River. The smoke stack above their building belches out thick black smoke. The stack next to it literally belches out fire. The air around the mill is thick with the smell of burning sulfur. If you're one of the kids at the playground on the bluff above that mill in South Oakland, you're at eye level with the top of those stacks and you can see that fire. You can see that smoke pouring out, and the air smells like rotten eggs.  You can't avoid it. Down below, the guests of honor have arrived. They are both co-honorees - named Sports Illustrated's Sportsmen of the Year. Willie Stargell of the World Series Champion Pittsburgh Pirates and Terry Bradshaw, of the three-time Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers. About 15 steelworkers, clad in their green and gray mill uniforms, where hard hats and safety glasses, and they crowd around Stargell and Bradshaw, who are in their own work uniforms. Instantly, these tough and grizzled veterans of the mill become boyish football fans when the two baseball and football stars come in. Not much is getting done around the mill right now. With them is another legend. The photographer. But not just any photographer. He's a GOAT in his own right. Walter Iooss, Jr. is Sports Illustrated's best ever. Ever see that photo of Joe Namath predicting a Jets Super Bowl win at pool side? That was Walter. What about the shot of Joe Montana throwing to Dwight Clark in the 1981 NFC Championship game, the one they called, “The Catch?” That was Walter, too. From Tiger Woods to Michael Jordan, to the iconic Swimsuit editions. If you can conjure up an iconic sports or swimsuit image in your mind, there's a good chance Walter captured it for you. And here he is, lighting the floor of a steel mill to take a shot that would soon become iconic in its own right. Willie Stargell in his World Series champion uniform. Gold shirt with black pants. Next to him, Terry Bradshaw in his Super Bowl champion uniform, that classic black shirt with boxed numbers and gold pants. Surrounding them are those steelworkers. Walter told me there really wasn't much to setting up the shot, but what it stood for, well, that was something else. Welcome to 1979 and Pittsburgh, The City of Champions. In this episode we take you through, chronologically, the year Pittsburgh became the City of Champions, along with stories, insights, and what it all came to mean. Guests Lanny Frattare Joe Gordon Walter Iooss, Jr. John Steigerwald Kent Tekulve Michael MacCambridge Photo Credit: Sports Illustrated and Walter Iooss, Jr. Links Two Champs from the “City of Champions,” Sports Illustrated 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers, NFL.com 1979 World Series, MLB.com Kent Tekulve, MLB.com Steelers PR Maven Honored by Pro Football Hall of Fame, Jewish Chronicle Rise of the Steelers, American Football Database Lanny Frattare, Waynesburg University The John Steigerwald Show, AM1250 “The Answer” Walter Iooss, Jr., His Website Michael MacCambridge, His Author Website

Julia Parsons joins Tim to talk about her role as a code-breaker during World War II. Julia was part of a a team of Navy women stationed in Washington, D.C. during World War II who worked to decipher German submarine messages that were sent in secret code using the Enigma machine. Her work relied on the now legendary Bombe machine invented by Alan Turing. This episode was originally released on July 22, 2019. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/339_-_WWII_-_Cracking_the_Enigma_Code.mp3 If you've ever seen the motion picture The Imitation Game, you would be familiar with the story of Alan Turing and his highly secretive and revolutionary work during World War II. If you have seen that movie, it may give you a greater sense of what Julia Parsons, this episode's guest, did in her own way to help the Allies defeat the Nazis. Not long after the war started, German submarines were sinking more ships than the United States could replace. During 1942, German subs patrolled just off America's Atlantic coast. Under the cover of darkness, they would torpedo ships that were silhouetted against the city lights in the background. In the open water, German U-boats would operate in packs and sink entire convoys in coordinated attacks. If a U-boat spotted a convoy, the German skipper would communicate with other U-boats nearby using a complex machine that sent coded messages that only other U-boats could decipher using the same machine. Then they would converge like a pack of wolves and attack allied ships. The goal was to cut off England's supply line from the United States. The machine that the German military used to create that secret code was called the Enigma. Enigma was so sophisticated it was thought impossible to crack. The entire secret language the machine used changed completely every 24 hours. So, even if you were to crack the code of the machine today, you would have to start all over again tomorrow. Both the Americans and the British were working hard on both sides of the Atlantic to crack the German military's secret code. In England, British Intelligence put together a team of their greatest minds and set about trying to solve the Enigma code. Alan Turing, young a mathematical genius, ran his own group as part of that effort, which would somehow find a way to crack the Enigma code. In the process, he and his team created a new machine. Turing had realized that human beings alone could not analyze the vast amounts of data required every 24 hours to solve the Enigma problem each day. They needed a machine that was equally sophisticated at unlocking the Enigma code. The machine Turing's team invented was known as the Bombe, and not only would it crack the Enigma code, shortening World War II by two or three years and saving countless lives, but it would also launch the modern era of computing. Thanks to the Bombe machine, the Allies could read German communications and gain a strategic military advantage in the field. German U-boats were neutralized. Allied ships were steered away from U-boats and kept safe. In December 1942, Turing went to the United States to share what he knew about Enigma, along with his own solutions, with the U.S. military. Meanwhile, the U.S. had its own code-cracking team. Within that larger U.S. effort, Julia Parsons was on a team of Navy women who worked to decipher German U-boat messages sent by the Enigma machine. In the Naval Communications Annex on Nebraska Avenue, thousands of WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Services) worked in three shifts to break the codes the Germans used in Europe and on the Atlantic, and by the Japanese in the Pacific. Links How Alan Turing Cracked the Enigma Code, The Imperial War Museums Overlooked No More: Alan Turing, Condemned Code Breaker and Computer Visionary, New York Times Germans Unleash U-boats, History.com How Did the Enigma Machine Work? The Guardian

Former CNN lead news anchor Aaron Brown joins Tim to tell his story from September 11, 2001, where he brought the event to 1.4 billion viewers around the world, live as it happened. It was Aaron Brown on that day, standing on a rooftop in New York City, bringing us one of the most historic and tragic moments of our generation in real time. This episode is part of our special series, “9/11: A Generation Removed.” This episode was originally released on September 7, 2021. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/338_-_911_-_A_Network_Anchor_Story_at_20.mp3 If you remember September 11, 2001, you remember how you learned of the terrorist attacks of that day. If you weren't in New York City, or at the Pentagon, or in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, chances are you remember getting the news from a friend, or a coworker, or a family member, and then you turned on the TV. I'll tell you what I did. I was in a meeting in a building just next to the Pittsburgh airport. We could hear and feel the roar of jet engines nonstop as they came in, one after the other to land. This was not normal. I remember telling the person I was with that it reminded me of jets landing on an aircraft carrier. Minutes later, someone came into the room and told us that all flights were grounded, so if anyone had a plane to catch, they were out of luck. That a plane had hit the World Trade Center, and that was all they knew. My meeting was over, so I went out to my car, and that was my first chance to get the news. I heard it on the radio. Then I went home and spent the rest of that day glued to the television, flipping channels, just like most Americans and people around the world. While the Internet was extremely influential, television was the thing. Most everyone in America still got most of their breaking news from one of the three broadcast networks or CNN, or the radio. Newspapers would follow the next day with in-depth reporting. News websites sort of filled in where broadcast and print couldn't. It all worked together to give you the best picture of events as possible. On September 11th, most watched on television. Tragic, scary, puzzling, angering, confusing, and live. Live coverage removed the filter, it removed the buffer. Journalists were seeing events unfold with us. And so were decision-makers, from the White House to the Pentagon to air traffic controllers and first responders. If you weren't on site, you were watching a TV monitor. Yet still, it was the job of a few reporters to try to make sense of it all with us and for us. Aaron Brown was the face and the voice of CNN on that day. He was the cable network's lead anchor, newly minted, having just arrived from ABC. He was one of a handful of people, that the world relied on to try to understand what we were all seeing. To verify what we were all hearing. To know what was actually happening. Links Aaron Brown Joining Walter Cronkite School, Adweek On the 15th Anniversary, what it was like to anchor 9/11, CNN The Face of 9/11, HuffPost About 9/11: A Generation Removed On September 11, 2021, America will mark the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the country that happened on September 11, 2001. In remembrance of the event, the Shaping Opinion podcast will release a series of nine distinct episodes centered on the 9/11 attacks, starting on Friday, September 3rd and culminating on the 20th Anniversary, September 11, 2021.  The series, entitled, “9/11: A Generation Removed,” will feature six new and original episodes for 2021, and three encore episodes, all based on the personal experiences of guests and stories of people who were there in New York, in Washington, D.C., and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. About this Episode's Guest Aaron Brown Aaron Brown circa 2001 Aaron Brown is an American journalist most recognized for his coverage of the September 11 attacks on CNN. He was a longtime reporter for ABC,

Author and professor Eric Heinze joins Tim to talk about freedom of speech and expression at the most fundamental level. He recently wrote a book on free speech, but it's not exactly what you might expect. He explores free speech in a larger more fundamental context than America's First Amendment. He talks about it in the context of universal human rights. Eric tells us about the thinking behind his new book called, “The Most Human Right: Why Free Speech is Everything.” This episode was originally released May 9, 2022. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/337_-_Eric_Heinze_Free_Speech.mp3 One of the benefits of having a podcast is that you get the chance to talk to a diverse set of really smart and interesting people. Sometimes those people write books, and that's the case with our guest today. As mentioned, the book Eric Heinze wrote is about free speech and human rights. Eric is a professor of law and humanities at Queen Mary University of London. In his book, he asks questions like, “What are human rights?” “Are they laid out definitively in the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights or the U.S. Bill of Rights?” Or, are they just items on a checklist, like a good standard of living, housing, dignity? That's how Eric frames his new book. But what caught my attention when reading the book is how deep he really goes on this topic. He doesn't flinch when he takes the stance that when global human rights programs fail, it is often the result of people being denied one basic human right – freedom of speech. Links Eric Heinze: Queen Mary University of London “The Most Human Right: Why Free Speech is Everything,” by Eric Heinze (Amazon) About this Episode's Guest Eric Heinze After completing studies in Paris, Berlin, Boston, and Leiden, Eric Heinze worked with the International Commission of Jurists and UN Sub-Commission on Human Rights, in Geneva, and on private litigation before the United Nations Administrative Tribunal in New York. He conducts lectures and interviews internationally in English, French, German, and Dutch, and is a member of the Bars of New York and Massachusetts, and has also advised NGOs on human rights, including Liberty, Amnesty International and the Media Diversity Institute. He has recently served as Project Leader for the four nation EU (HERA) consortium Memory Laws in European and Comparative Perspective (MELA).  His prior awards and fellowships have included a Fulbright Fellowship, a French Government (Chateaubriand) Fellowship, a Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) fellowship, a Nuffield Foundation Grant, an Obermann Fellowship (Center for Advanced Studies, University of Iowa), and several Harvard University Fellowships, including a Sheldon grant, an Andres Public Interest grant, and a C. Clyde Ferguson Human Rights Fellowship. Heinze co-founded and currently directs Queen Mary's Centre for Law, Democracy, and Society (CLDS).  His opinion pieces  have appeared in The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Independent, Times Higher Education, Aeon, The Raw Story, openDemocracy, Speakers' Corner Trust, Quillette, The Conversation, Left Foot Forward, Eurozine, and other publications, and he has done television, radio and press interviews for media in Denmark, Brazil, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, the UK and the US.  He serves on the Advisory Board of the International Journal of Human Rights, the University of Bologna Law Review and the British Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. Heinze recently completed The Most Human Right for MIT Press.  His other books include Hate Speech and Democratic Citizenship (Oxford University Press, 2016), The Concept of Injustice (Routledge 2013), The Logic of Constitutional Rights (Ashgate 2005; Routledge 2017); The Logic of Liberal Rights (Ashgate 2003; Routledge 2017); The Logic of Equality (Ashgate 2003; Routledge 2019), Sexual Orientation: A Human Right (Nijhoff 1995),

Storyteller Margot Leitman joins Tim to talk about the art of storytelling, and how you can be a better storyteller.  Margot is an award-winning storyteller, best-selling author, speaker and teacher and a Moth Storytelling “GrandSlam” winner. This episode was originally released January 17, 2022. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/222_-_Margot_Leitman_Storyteller_auphonic.mp3 If you're a regular podcast listener, there is a good chance you heard about a group called The Moth. It's a nonprofit group based in New York City that's dedicated to the art and craft of live storytelling. The organization was founded in 1997 and now hosts storytelling events across the United States. Storytellers are from all walks of life, and each one takes the stage to tell a personal story, and each has a chance to have that story and the performance of telling it ranked. The Moth has branched out into more than simply live events. The Moth podcast is one of the most popular podcasts in the medium. Some Moth storytellers can become champion storytellers. Its published books on storytelling, and it hosts other events. If you have the chance to tell your story on a Moth stage, you could become a Champion. Some of the best storytelling performers are recognized as Moth Grandslam Champions. Our guest today is one of those champions. Margot Leitman is an author who has written books about storytelling. She's written for NBC, Dreamworks TV, the Hallmark Channel and others. She is a five-time winner of The Moth StorySLAM, and was the Moth GrandSLAM winner in New York City. Links Margot Leitman (website) The Moth Radio Hour (website) The Moth (official website) About this Episode's Guest Margot Leitman Margot Leitman is the author of the best-selling book LongStory Short: the Only Storytelling Guide You'll Ever Need, What's Your Story? & Gawky: Tales of an Extra Long Awkward Phase. She has written for DreamWorks TV, the Hallmark Channel, and the Pixl Network and worked for “This American Life” as the West Coast story scout. She is the founder of the storytelling program at the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theatre and is a five-time winner of the Moth Storyslam and a winner of the Moth Grandslam, receiving the first ever score of a perfect 10. She travels all over the world teaching people to tell their stories.

If you like baseball you'll love this interview. I you like Pittsburgh sports, you'll love this interview. Former Pittsburgh Pirate closer and World Series Champion Kent Tekulve joins Tim in this special extended episode. Kent talks baseball, Pittsburgh, how to teach kids about sports, and somewhat about life. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/Kent_Tekulve_-_The_Closer_auphonic.mp3 This is an extended conversation where I promise you that after you listen to this, you'll feel like you made a new best friend. With that in mind, we're going to get right to our interview. But before we do, I think I owe it to you to give you some of the basics. Kent Tekulve is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He was a tall, skinny reliever and a closer in his career, which included stops in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Cincinnati. You can learn a ton if all you do is search for his name online, and you'll get all his stats. But I have to say, there is one stat they got wrong. Kent is listed at 6'4” on all of the breakdowns. That is simply not true. Kent Tekulve pitched in more than 1,000 major league games during the 1970s and 80s. He recorded an unbelievable 184 saves. He was a closer, and if you know anything about baseball, closers are the coolest dudes on the roster. They come in when the pressure's on and they close out the game. He's most known as a Pittsburgh Pirate, but not just any Pirate. Kent was the pitcher on the mound to get the last out of the seventh game in the 9th inning of the 1979 World Series. This was the last time the Pirates made it to the World Series, and the last time they won a World Series. Kent was on the mound in Baltimore for that feat. He came up in the minors with the Pirates and played in his first major league game in 1974. If You Liked This Episode You'll Also Like Going Head to Head with the NFL - Guest: Ralph Cindrich Larry Czonka: A Football Story - Guest: Larry Czonka Links Kent Tekulve - Baseball Reference Kent Tekulve - Major League Baseball Kent Tekulve: The Bespectacled Submariner of the '79 World Series Remains a Man of the People in Pittsburgh - Sports Illustrated About this Episode's Guest Kent Tekulve Kent Tekulve is best known as "Teke." He's  was a relief pitcher in Major League Baseball for 16 years, playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds. He was best known as a side-arm pitcher who threw the final pitch to help the Pittsburgh Pirates win the 1979 World Series. Tekulve graduated from Marietta College in Ohio, and then signed as a free agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He played for them until 1985.  His most memorable seasons were 1978 and 1979 when he saved 31 games and posted ERAs of 2.33 ('78) and 2.75 ('79). In 1979, he was key to the Pirates World Series season and in Game 7 of the World Series that year in Baltimore. In 1985, the Pirates traded him to the Phillies. In 1989, he signed with the Cincinnati Reds, retiring from baseball at mid-season. Tekulve led the National League in games pitched four times, appearing in 90 or more games three times. He is one of two pitchers (also Mike Marshall) in baseball history to appear in 90 or more games more than once. They did it three times each. Tekulve had three saves in the 1979 World Series, which tied the single-Series mark set by Pittsburgh Pirate Elroy Face in the 1960 World Series. That record would stand until 1996. Tekulve holds the National League record for career innings pitched in relief (1,436+2⁄3). For a time, he held the major league record for career relief appearances - 1,050 career games, all in relief. Tekulve holds career records for most appearances and innings pitched without making a single start. He still resides in the Pittsburgh area.

FBI-trained hostage negotiator Scott Tillema joins Tim to talk about how to negotiate when the stakes are high, even when lives are on the line. Scott teaches organizations how to use the power of life-saving negotiation principles to get results. This episode was first released March 14, 2022. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/334_-_Scott_Tillema_Secrets_of_a_Hostage_Negotiator.mp3 Scott Tillema was trained by the FBI in hostage negotiating. He spent over seven years as a negotiator with the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System Emergency Services Team. This one of the largest municipal SWAT teams in the United States. Scott is known across the country as a speaker in the field of police negotiations. He's presented to audiences of all sizes, including a very popular TEDx Talk where he covered, “The Secrets of Hostage Negotiators.” That's what we talked about when we sat down with him recently. Links Scott Tillema Website Negotiations Collective, Scott Tillema Page How to Use the FBI's Behavioral Change Stairway Model to Influence Like a Pro, EMS1 Active Listening Skills, Psychology Today Kwame Christian: On Compassionate Curiosity, Behavioral Grooves Pre-Suasion: Channeling Attention for Change, by Robert Cialdini (Amazon) About this Episode's Guest Scott Tillema Scott Tillema is an FBI-trained hostage negotiator. He teaches police, law enforcement agencies and others how to use the power of life-saving techniques and principles to enhance their work. He is a nationally recognized leader in the field of crisis and hostage negotiations, passionately training thousands of police negotiators across the country in verbal influence. He has developed a powerful model for safely resolving crisis situations, which is now being recognized and adapted by the private sector for use in sales, communication, influence, and leadership.  

In this episode we hear from seven people who talked with Tim to answer the question, “What is the American Dream?”  Tim set out to get the answer to the question on the streets of his hometown, Pittsburgh.  You'll hear from Vidya, Dwayne, Chuck, Leah, Jack, Tamara and Charlie. Each person was selected randomly in “man on the street” interviews, and we had no idea what they would say, but all of their answers were moving, thought-provoking and inspiring. This episode was first released July 4, 2022. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/247_-_7_Voices_-_The_American_Dream_auphonic.mp3 For thousands of years, around the world, people weren't trusted to govern themselves. It was assumed you needed a king, a czar or a dictator to decide what's best for you. But in 1776, a group of brave revolutionaries came along with a different idea. They believed that common and civilized people could run their own country. That they didn't need a king, a monarchy or a dictatorship to run their lives. They believed in freedom, and they spelled it out in the Declaration of the Independence, and the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution. They created the greatest country in the history of the world based on the principles contained in these documents. The thinking is that all people want to be free to decide for themselves on everything from religion and work, to how they raise their families, what they could own, how they could own it and how they can craft their own lives for themselves. But it's more than just wanting to be free. They deserve to be free. The founders of the United States of America said it's not the government that should have the power to grant you your fundamental rights or take them from you. Instead, your rights come from a higher source of power, that your rights and freedoms already exist.  They believed that you are born a free person. You can only lose that freedom or certain freedoms when someone else takes them from you. These thoughts inspired a revolution. Time and again over America's history, it has had to struggle and sometimes fight over the very issue of freedom, and many of the freedoms we now cherish. There is always someone who wants to take some freedoms away from someone else, and so it's a struggle for a country like ours to preserve those freedoms. But freedom has survived and thrived, and it has made many things possible for our nation, our people and our future. In the process, our nation has changed the world and advanced all humanity. We have a term for the thing that sets America apart from all other countries. It's just two words. When we think of what makes America the exception in all of history…we think of the American Dream.  That is the subject of this episode. Links Declaration of Independence Constitution of the United States of America Revolutionary War, History Independence Day, National Parks Service

Historian and author Christopher R. Browning joins Tim to talk about his study of the Holocaust and the “Final Solution” in Poland. In this episode, Christopher discusses his book, “Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland” and how a group of otherwise average, everyday men turned into one of Hitler's most prolific killing squads in World War II. This episode was first released January 24, 2022. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/223_-_Ordinary_Men_Making_a_Kill_Squad.mp3 Long before the world heard the term “Holocaust” in connection with the Second World War, and even before the mass killing started, it all began with an atmosphere in Germany that supported the expelling of Jewish people from territories controlled by Hitler's Germany. At some point, instead of expulsion, the movement would turn into the mass executions of millions of Jews in places like Poland. Historian and author Christopher Browning wrote the landmark book on how such horrific events could take place. It's called “Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland.” To set the stage for the larger story of the book, Browning tells us how it began. This passage is part of the opening chapter that book: “Pale and nervous, with choking voice and tears in his eyes, (Major) Trapp visibly fought to control himself as he spoke. The battalion, he said plaintively, had to perform a frightfully unpleasant task. This assignment was not to his liking, indeed it was highly regrettable, but the orders came from the highest authorities. If it would make their task any easier, the men should remember that in Germany the bombs were falling on women and children. He then turned to the matter at hand. The Jews had instigated the American boycott that had damaged Germany, one policeman remembered Trapp saying. There were Jews in the village of Jozefow who were involved with the partisans, he explained according to two others. The battalion had now been ordered to round up these Jews. The male Jews of working age were to be separated and taken to a work camp. The remaining Jews – the women, children, and elderly – were to be shot on the spot by the battalion. Having explained what awaited his men, Trapp then made an extraordinary offer: if any of the older men among them did not feel up to the task that lay before him, he could step out.” These were the major's comments to the battalion of mostly middle-aged men on the morning of July 13, 1942. They weren't Nazis. They weren't even members of the German army. They made up a police battalion of working-class men too old to serve in the army. Those men would round up and shoot 1,500 Jews in that Polish village on that one day. That battalion would eventually kill upwards of 83,000 captives during the war, making it one of the most efficient German killing squads in the war. But as the title of Christopher Browning's book suggests, before the war, he says these were considered Ordinary Men. Links Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland, by Christopher R. Browning (Barnes & Noble) Christopher R. Browning, University of North Carolina (website) The Stanford Prison Experiment (website) About this Episode's Guest Christopher Browning Christopher R. Browning was the Frank Porter Graham Professor of History at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill until his retirement in May 2014.  Before taking up this position in the fall of 1999, he taught for 25 years at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. Browning received his B.A. degree from Oberlin College in 1967 and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1968 and 1975 respectively.  He is the author of eight books: The Final Solution and the German Foreign Office (1978), Fateful Months:  Essays on the Emergence of the Final Solution (1985),

Advocate, author and attorney Charles H. Rose, III, joins Tim to talk about the art of cross-examination in the court of law. Charles is a successful lawyer, a trial advocate, an author, and currently, he's the Dean of the Pettit College of Law at Ohio Northern University. In this episode, he talks about one of the most dramatic features of any courtroom, the cross-examination of a witness at trial. Cross-examination is often where cases are won or lost in the court of law. This episode was originally released on February 28, 2022. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/228_-_Charles_Rose_-_The_Art_of_Cross_Examination.mp3 Watch just about any movie or TV show where the drama revolves around a court case and sooner or later the climax of the plot will revolve around a particular witness or testimony. The trial lawyers question their own witnesses in litigation, and their opposing attorneys have the chance to cross-examine those same witnesses. They get to challenge claims and statements that were made. They go back over previous testimony and look for gaps or contradictions in statements, all to win the case. In many court cases, cross-examinations are usually tense. A case can be won or lost with every witness who takes the stand. Our guest today, Charles Rose is regarded as one of the better attorneys at cross-examination. While he's now law school dean at Ohio Northern University, and he's served on the faculty at other law schools, he's had a decorated career in the U.S. Army. He served as a judge advocate where he's focused on persuasion techniques. He teaches and researches in the areas of advocacy, criminal procedure, evidence and professional ethics. Links Charles H. Rose, III (Ohio Northen University) Charles H. Rose, III, The Trial Advocate (TrialAdvocate.com) Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman (Amazon.com) About this Episode's Guest Charles H. Rose, III Charles H. Rose III, dean of the Pettit College of Law, previously served as professor of law and director of the Center for Excellence in Advocacy at Stetson University's College of Law in Gulfport, Fla. Prior to joining the Stetson faculty in 2005, Rose spent 20 years on active duty in the Army. He served as a linguist, intelligence officer and judge advocate. His primary scholarly interest focuses on advocacy persuasion techniques, and he teaches and researches in the areas of advocacy, criminal procedure, military law, evidence and professional ethics. Rose earned his bachelor's degree from Indiana University at South Bend and his JD from Notre Dame Law School. He also earned an LLM from the Judge Advocate General's School, United States Army.

Cayce, South Carolina Police Chief Chris Cowan joins Tim to talk about something both of us wished we didn't have to talk about. He tells the story of the recent and tragic loss of one of his officers who was shot and killed while responding to a call. He tells the story of and pays tribute to Officer Drew Barr. In the process, he tells the story of the risks and sacrifices police officers take every day to ‘protect and serve.'  This episode was originally released May 16, 2022. https://traffic.libsyn.com/shapingopinion/Drew_Barr_End_of_Watch_auphonic.mp3 Cayce, South Carolina is a suburb to the City of Columbia. A few weeks ago, in the early morning hours of a Sunday in Cayce – 2:48 a.m., on April 24th to be exact – there was what police call a “domestic disturbance.” Police were called to the scene. Three officers responded. The second officer on the scene was Drew Barr.  We're going to tell you what happened, but before we do that, you need to know a little bit about the young officer. Partners Drew Barr and Molly He was 28 years old. He joined the Cayce Police Department in 2016.  In October 2020, he was promoted to the department's K-9 unit. His canine partner was Molly, a black Labrador retriever, who became his family. He had no wife or children, but he did love his community and he worked to keep it safe. In addition to being a police officer, he was also a volunteer firefighter, a captain in the Monetta Volunteer Fire Department. He was an emergency medical technician. He was a committed professional. These are the details that Cayce Police Chief Chris Cowan does not want to get lost when people talk about Officer Roy “Drew” Barr.   Links Cayce Police Department SC law enforcement community mourns slain Cayce police officer: ‘He was brave' | Columbia | postandcourier.com ‘Our Hearts Are Breaking in Cayce;' SC Fire Captain/Police Officer Killed in Shooting (firefighternation.com) Officer Drew Barr honored at funeral and graveside service (wistv.com) Chief: Man killed SC officer with calculated shot from rifle – ABC News (go.com) Gratitude Our gratitude to the Cayce Police Department for the photos used on this page, to Chief Cowan for telling the Drew Barr story, to Officer Drew Barr himself and to his family for the sacrifices they have made for others. About this Episode's Guest Chris Cowan Chris Cowan is recognized internationally for his vast network of private and public partnerships and his expansive policing knowledge, from 29 years in law enforcement.   Chris' extensive experience leading special operations, homeland security, crime suppression, professional development, community policing, media relations and business and community crime prevention units has given him a unique perspective on what it takes to be a guardian to our communities.   He has also served as a Chief Financial Officer, Chief Public Information Officer, Commander of Special Weapons and Tactics Units and Commander of Community Policing Units.  This experience has provided Chris with a unique perspective on mitigating challenges to corporate and community quality of life issues because it has been paralleled with 22 years in corporate security, risk management and professional development.   His passion is holistic policing strategies to provide stability to all citizens, and protect the vulnerable, through programs that create religious, business and neighborhood crime prevention. Commissioned a United States Naval Officer; he secured his Bachelor's degree in Political Science.  He has also earned a Masters Certificate from the Australian Institute of Police Management.  Chris is a graduate of the South Carolina Executive Institute, the FBI National Academy, the FBI Command College and the FBI Hazardous Devices School Executive Management Program.   He has over 19 years of leadership experience in the fields of administration, human capital, crisis management,

Groundhog Club Inner Circle member John Griffiths joins Tim to talk about Groundhog Day and why a little town called Punxsutawney becomes the epicenter of weather prognostication one day a year. John is the handler of Punxsutawney Phil, the Pennsylvania ground hog famous around the world for predicting whether or not we have another 6 weeks of winter. February 2nd is better known as Groundhog Day. This episode was first released January 21, 2019. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/329_-_Encore_-_Its_Groundhog_Day_Again.mp3 On February 2nd, 2019, it will be the 133rd year of Groundhog Day at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, which is a little drive north of Pittsburgh. This is when Punxsutawney Phil will reveal to the president of his Inner Circle his prediction for the end of winter. It all happens at the break of dawn, on a usually very cold morning in front of thousands of spectators and television and news media cameras. Whatever happens, Phil's prediction is transmitted to millions thanks to the media. History of Groundhog Day Groundhog Day has European roots. Started centuries ago and is rooted in certain animals in nature “awakening” from their winter hibernation on certain dates. Legend has it then that the groundhog come out of his winter hibernation on February 2nd to look for his shadow. If he sees it, this is seen as an omen of six more weeks of bad weather, and he then returns into his hole. If the day is cloudy, and there is no shadow to see, he takes it as a sign of spring and stays above ground. Some of Pennsylvania's earliest settlers were Germans and they noticed the abundance of groundhogs. They saw the animal as the most intelligent and sensible of the local animals, and decided that if the sun did appear on February 2nd, the groundhog would be the one to see its shadow or not. Phun Phacts Punxsutawney Phil is named after King Phillip. Crowds have gotten as high as 30,000 on Gobbler's Knob. The Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper printed the first news of the observance in 1886, one year before the first trip to Gobbler's Knob. During Prohibition, Phil threatened to imposed 60 weeks of winter on the community if he wasn't permitted a drink. In 1982 Phil wore a yellow ribbon in honor of the American hostages in Iran. In 1986, Phil went to Washington, D.C. to meet with President Reagan. 1993, Columbia Pictures released the movie Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray. Links The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Groundhog Day Movie via Amazon The First Groundhog Day, History.com Groundhog Day & Punxsutawney from The Encyclopedia Britannica About this Episode's Guest John Griffiths John Griffiths is a co-handler in the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club and a member of the Inner Circle.  He's been a member since 1999. His advice to people who plan on enjoying Groundhog Day in person, he advises “Put all rational thought out of your mind and let the day take you wherever it may.” His favorite Groundhog Day Memory was, “Meeting a couple from the state of Washington who told me Groundhog Day was their favorite holiday because it wasn't political or religious, its just ‘fun'.”

Television host and producer Marc Summers joins Tim to talk about the classic Nickelodeon show that put him and the Nickelodeon cable network on the map, Double Dare. Before Double Dare, kids didn't have their own game show and the Nickelodeon network was not as widely known as it would become after this crazy, messy, green slimy “party” that millions of millennials would rush home after school to watch. This episode was originally released on March 16, 2020. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/214_-_Encore_-_Marc_Summers_and_Nickelodeon.mp3 It was the first game show for kids on the Nickelodeon cable network. It premiered in 1986 with Marc Summers as its host. Double Dare. In the show, two teams would compete to win money and prizes by answering trivia questions and completing physical challenges that amounted to an organized mess. The original version of Double Dare ran from 1986 to 1993. Two subsequent versions relaunched in 2000, and then from 2018 to 2019. Double Dare had more than tripled viewership for Nickelodeon in the afternoon. It was the most popular original daily program on cable television. Because of that show, Nickelodeon was able to take its place as a major player in cable television, and game shows for kids a thing. The show remains Nickelodeon's longest-running game show. In January 2001, TV Guide, ranked the show number 29 on its list of 50 Greatest Game Shows. Links Marc Summers Double Dare, Nick Double Dare, Fandom Five Things to Know About the Green Slime on Double Dare, Newsday About this Episode's Guest Marc Summers Marc Summers is a veteran television host and producer, and a comedian. His long list of television credits include: host and producer of Double Dare on Nickelodeon, Unwrapped for the Food Network, and as executive producer of the Food Network's Dinner: Impossible and Restaurant: Impossible. Over the year's he's hosted other shows, such as the syndicated Couch Potatoes, Nickelodeon's What Would You Do?, and as a talk show host on the Lifetime network's Our Home program. He remains active in new projects across several networks and platforms.

Author Mark Seal joins Tim to talk with Mark about the subject of his popular new book about the making of The Godfather movie. The book is called, “Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli.” Mark has is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair where he's covered scandals, history makers and pop culture icons. This episode was originally released January 10, 2022. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/221_-_The_Making_of_The_Godfather_auphonic.mp3 The Godfather was the first of three motion pictures directed by Francis Ford Coppola about the fictional Corleone crime family. The box office hit was released in 1972, and was followed by sequels in 1974 and 1990. The original Godfather film was inspired by the novel of the same name that was written by Mario Puzo and published in 1969. All of the films were distributed by Paramount Pictures and generated roughly $512 million worldwide. The film franchise won nine Academy Awards. This coming March will mark the 50th anniversary of when the Godfather first hit the big screens. The movie centers on Don Vito Corleone and his family. Marlon Brando plays the Don. The Don declines an offer to get into the narcotics business with another crime family, which is led by Virgil Sollozzo. This creates problems. Don Corleone becomes a marked man. Don Corleone's oldest boy is Sonny Corleone. He's played by James Caan. Sonny takes over the crime family while his father recovers. Meanwhile, Sonny's little brother Michael – who is played by Al Pacino – is recruited to exact revenge on Sollozzo. As the gang wars heat up, Michael is sent to Sicily to lay low for a while. That's where he meets his first wife. The violence follows him there when his young bride is killed. Back in New York, Michael's older brother Sonny is killed in an ambush attack. By now, Don Vito Corleone has recovered from the assassination attempt on his life, but he decides to turn over the control of the family business to Michael. There are plots and sub-plots, but through it all, Michael emerges as a force to be reckoned with, and Al Pacino goes from a relative unknown to a Hollywood super star. Mark Seal first wrote about the making of The Godfather years ago in his work for Vanity Fair Magazine. Eventually, that work would lead to his new book entitled, “Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli.” Links Mark Seal (website) Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli, by Mark Seal (Barnes & Noble) About this Episode's Guest Mark Seal Veteran author and journalist Mark Seal joined Vanity Fair as a contributing editor in 2003, covering stories as varied as the Bernie Madoff scandal, Ghislaine Maxwell, Tiger Woods, the fall of Olympian Oscar Pistorius, the making of classic films such as Pulp Fiction, and many more. He has twice been a National Magazine Awards finalist. His 2016 Vanity Fair article “The Over the Hill Gang,” about a gang of retired thieves who pulled off the biggest jewel heist in British history, was the basis of the 2018 film, King of Thieves, starring Michael Caine. In addition to Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli. he is the author of the books Wildflower, about the incredible life and brutal murder of Kenyan naturalist and filmmaker Joan Root, and The Man in the Rockefeller Suit, about the serial con artist Clark Rockefeller.

Amy Herman joins Tim to talk about a one-of-a-kind career she made for herself, all centered on using art to help people see the world differently and better in order to do their jobs better.  Amy is the author of the books, “Visual Intelligence” and “Fixed: How to Perfect the Fine Art of Problem Solving.” In short, Amy helps people find information and solutions that are hiding in plain sight. This episode originally was released February 7, 2022. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Encore_-_Hiding_in_Plain_Sight.mp3 Amy Herman teaches visual intelligence. She gives lectures, she gives TED talks, she gives tours of art museums, she participates in podcasts like this one. And the common theme is that she helps others see things they may be missing. She helps them develop a skillset or an ability to see details or context that's right in front of them, but in the normal course of affairs, they just may not see. Some of her students are police detectives, federal agents, doctors, and many others. Amy works to help them improve their visual intelligence. Imagine what it would be like to be given a short period of time to investigate a crime scene – a murder scene. It's your job to look for patterns, to look for exceptions, to look for details and clues that might tell you when this was done, what the motive might have been, and perhaps who may have done it. How can you step back and look at the scene with a fresh eye. An unbiased eye. One that picks up things you might not have noticed before? That's one of the first questions we asked Amy. Links The Art of Perception (website) Visual Intelligence, by Amy Herman (Amazon) Fixed: How to Perfect the Fine Art of Problem Solving, by Amy Herman (Amazon) To Master the Art of Solving Crimes, Cops Study Vermeer, Wall Street Journal About this Episode's Guest Amy Herman Amy Herman Amy Herman is a lawyer and art historian who uses works of art to sharpen observation, analysis, and communication skills. By showing people how to look closely at painting, sculpture, and photography, she helps them hone their visual intelligence to recognize the most pertinent and useful information as well as recognize biases that impede decision making. She developed her Art of Perception seminar in 2000 to improve medical students' observation and communication skills with their patients when she was the Head of Education at The Frick Collection in New York City. She subsequently adapted the program for a wide range of professionals and leads sessions internationally for the New York City Police Department, the FBI, the French National Police, the Department of Defense, Interpol, the State Department, Fortune 500 companies, first responders, the military, and the intelligence community. In her highly participatory presentation, she demonstrates the relevance of visual literacy across the professional spectrum and how the analysis of works of art affords participants in her program an innovative way to refresh their sense of critical inquiry and reconsider the skills necessary for improved performance and effective leadership. The program has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The CBS Evening News, and Smithsonian Magazine, among others. Her TED talk, A Lesson in Looking, went live in December 2018. Ms. Herman holds an A.B., a J.D., and an M.A. in art history. Her book, Visual Intelligence, was published in May 2016 and was on both the New York Times and Washington Post best sellers' lists.

Alexis McCrossen, a professor at SMU and an expert on how cultures have marked time in history, Joins Tim to talk about our New Year's Eve traditions with a special focus on the story behind that Times Square Ball Drop. This episode was first released on December 24, 2018. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/325_-_Encore_New_Years.mp3 If you plan to watch the Times Square ball-drop at Midnight on New Year's Eve, you're not alone.  New York City expects to play host to over 2 million people for the festivities. Over 175 million across the United States will watch the ball drop on TV. And around the world, over 1 billion people will watch. 103 million said they will travel 30 miles or more to celebrate 93.6 million will drive When we think of New Year's Eve, we often think of Times Square and parties at organized events, bars and restaurants, but I have some interesting statistics, thanks to WalletHub from last year: 49% celebrate the holiday at home 9% at a bar, restaurant, or organized event 23% don't celebrate New Year's Eve 30% said they fall asleep before Midnight 61% said they say a prayer on New Year's Eve. Rankings Christmas 78% Thanksgiving 74% Independence Day 47% New Year's Eve 41% Most Popular New Year's Eve Destinations Las Vegas Orlando New York City More Times Square Stats 7,000 police officers in Times Square 1.5 tons of confetti dropped 280 sanitation workers will clean up 40-50 tons of trash. The ball itself – Waterford Crystal Triangles – 11,875 pounds That's today. Let's talk about the history: For 4,000 years people have marked a New Year Public bells would herald the New Year since the Middle Ages Theaters, taverns and other places would be very busy on the night Rituals meant to augur good fortune. 1900 or so, the moment of Midnight became the focus because cities were illuminated with gas and electric lights. (Times Square) Installation of public clocks and bells The Countdown 1907/08 was the first year to drop an illuminated time ball at the moment of the New Year's arrival. Uses a flag pole atop One Times Square. First one was made of iron and wood and had 25-watt light bulbs. 5 feet in diameter and weighed 700 pounds. When radio and television media emerged, New Year's Eve was a made for broadcast media event. Live coverage. Links Counting Down to a New Year: The History of Our Joyful Celebration, We're History For Better or Worse, The New Year is Time's Touchstone, Dallas Morning News A Ball of a Time: A History of the New Year's Eve Ball Drop, The New Yorker How Times Square Became the Home of New Year's Eve, History.com About this Episode's Guest Alexis McCrossen Alexis McCrossen is a professor of history at Southern Methodist University and has devoted her career as a cultural historian to studying how Americans observe the passage of time. She is the author of Holy Day, Holiday: The American Sunday; and Marking Modern Times: Clocks, Watches and Other Timekeepers in American Life.  

Today is Christmas. We're in the peak of the American holiday season, which started at Thanksgiving. So, it is with this in mind that I thought I'd take to the streets of Pittsburgh once again and talk to people about their holiday memories. That's what this special holiday edition of the Shaping Opinion podcast is about. This episode was originally released on December 19, 2022. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/324_-_Encore_7_Favorite_Holiday_Memories.mp3 In this episode, we talk about some favorite holiday memories. You'll hear from seven different people, each with their own holiday memories, and there's one thing I can tell you, not one of them will talk about a toy they found under that Christmas tree. Each person has his or her unique and special holiday memories. But as we've found in previous episodes like this, you may hear something of your own holidays in the stories our guests tell. In the end, there is a common thread across every story we hear. To prepare for this episode, I spent the afternoon before Thanksgiving on a bench in the Strip District of Pittsburgh. It was a nice November day in the city. Warm and sunny. People were in a good mood, getting ready for the holiday season once again. The voices you hear are of Elijah, Sara, Katie, Jeremy, Deborah, Gina, and Heather. Links ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas: The Story and Trivia Behind the Beloved Classic Holiday Tale, Parade How 25 Christmas Traditions Got Their Start, History.com 10 Must-see Attractions During the Holidays in Pittsburgh, DiscoverTheBurgh.com

Plan on watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation this holiday season? Listen to the film's director Jeremiah Chechik talk about the impact that movie has had on him and on our holiday entertainment traditions. He'll talk about the making of the film and why the Griswold Family have become a staple in holiday viewing. This episode was originally released on December 2, 2019. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/323_-_Encore_-_Christmas_Vacation_Movie.mp3 Are there any movies you just have to watch every year during the holiday season? Maybe you like to watch Frank Capra's classic called It's a Wonderful Life that featured Jimmy Stewart. Or, perhaps your favorite move is one of the Home Alone films, written of course by John Hughes. Or, just maybe your holiday season wouldn't be complete without inviting Clark Griswold and family into your home. It's been 30 years since John Hughes wrote the script for National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, which itself was the third sequel in a series of National Lampoon Vacation films, starring Chevy Chase. The film was based on a short story that John Hughes wrote for National Lampoon in December 1980. That story was called, “Christmas '59.” The movie was no small budget affair. And it featured an ensemble cast of already established actors, and a few who would become A-list Hollywood stars. In addition to Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo played Clark's wife Ellen. Juliette Lewis played their sarcastic teenage daughter. Johnny Galecki played their son, Russ. Randy Quaid delivered an unforgettable performance as Cousin Eddie, and he was joined by an all-star ensemble cast that included Miriam Flynn, who played his wife, and John Randolph, Diane Ladd, E.G. Marshall, Doris Roberts, who played the parents of Clark and Ellen. Other notable actors who made their mark on the film were William Hickey, Mae Questel, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Brian Doyle-Murray. Christmas Vacation debuted at number-2 at the box office, grossing nearly $12 million that opening weekend. It would top the box office charts three weeks later, eventually grossing over $71 million in the United States. And that was before it hit the home video market and landed its place on our list of holiday season traditions. For Jeremiah Chechik, it was his first chance to direct a full-length feature film, and a comedy. Links National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, IMDB Jeremiah Chechik An Oral History of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Rolling Stone Christmas Vacation Movie Facts, Good Housekeeping About this Episode's Guest Jeremiah Chechik Jeremiah Chechik was born in Montreal, Canada in the fifties and grew up surrounded by books, home made radios and every issue of Popular Mechanics and Popular Science. He got himself a scholarship to McGill University in physics but at the last moment shifted his major to the arts. He was active in the anti-war movement and filmed documentaries on the Black Panthers. He directed plays, studied with John Grierson, the father of the documentary film and later became his assistant. After graduating, he moved to Toronto, worked as a master printmaker for the rare books library at University of Toronto, experimented with coupling the photographic processes to stone lithography and helped start a gallery (A-Space). He received Canada Council Grants, had many solo shows and became one of the first artists to work in laser holography. His success as a fine artist brought him to the attention of advertising agencies and fashion magazines and before long he moved to Milan and began a career as a fashion photographer for Italian Vogue. Jeremiah photographed editorial for Vogue and Harpers Bazaar as well as fashion and beauty campaigns worldwide eventually bringing him back to Canada to begin his evolution into film as he continued to work in photography but without exhibiting. Soon he moved to New York and began a meteoric ris...

Author Gerry Bowler joins Tim to discuss the story of Santa Claus. Gerry is the author of the book entitled, “Santa Claus: A Biography.” He talks about everything from Santa Claus's birth and evolution over the centuries, to his role in modern day culture. Santa Claus the philanthropist, Santa Claus the gift giver, and Santa Claus the ad man. This episode was originally released on December 17, 2018. Parental warning: If your child believes in Santa Claus, you may not want him or her to listen. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/322_-_Encore_Santa_Claus.mp3 In his book Gerry details the birth of Santa Claus and his” character development.” Santa is described him as an advocate, an adman, a warrior, and of course his role in entertainment, from movies, television shows and in music, books and literature. St. Nicholas died in December 343 AD. By 1100, he was the most powerful saint on the Catholic Church's calendar. The St. Nicholas legend: One father who was down and out couldn't provide for his three daughters, so he decides to sell them into slavery. So, Nicholas would sneak bags of gold through the father's window, saving the girls from a live of oppression. By the Middle Ages, with gift-giving a part of the Christmas season, different customs emerged. One that grew in popularity was the legend of St. Nicholas coming through a window or down a chimney to leave gifts in stockings and shoes by the fire, by a window or by a bed. By the 16th century, protestant reformers depicted medieval cult of saints. They did not readily embrace St. Nicholas. There was tension between the Protestant and Catholic sects and St. Nicholas was at the center of it. The controversies usually centered over how the communities marked Christmas. St. Nicholas was venerated throughout Europe but debate on whether he ever made it across the Atlantic to North America with gusto. The Feast of St. Nicholas is December 6, most notably marked by the Dutch, which paves the way for the modern celebration of Christmas. The earliest mention of Santa Claus was 1773 in Rivington's Gazetteer, a New York Newspaper. On December 15, 1810, the New York Spectator published a poem about Sancte Claus – a good holy man who brings gifts to good children. The first picture of Santa Claus was published in 1821 when William Gilley of New York published a book of lithographed images with one of Santa Claus. “The Children's Friend: a New Year's Present, to Little Ones from Five to Twelve.” In 1822, Clement Clarke Moore was credited for authoring the classic poem, “The Night Before Christmas.” Other topics we discuss: Santa Claus in Books and Literature Santa Claus in Music Santa Claus in Advertising (We address the Coca-Cola Santa myth) Santa Claus in Motion Pictures and Television Links Santa Claus: A Biography, by Gerry Bowler (Amazon) A Visit from Saint Nicholas (Night Before Christmas), Clement Clarke Moore Saint Nicholas, Biography.com Coca-Cola and Santa Claus, Coca-Cola Company Saturday Evening Post and Santa Claus, Saturday Evening Post Miracle on 34th Street Motion Picture, IMDb St. Nicholas to Santa: The Surprising Origins of Mr. Claus, National Geographic About this Episode's Guest Gerry Bowler Gerry Bowler is a Canadian historian, specializing in the intersection of religion and popular culture. He is the author of The World Encyclopedia of Christmas, Santa Claus: A Biography and Christmas in the Crosshairs: Two Thousand Years of Denouncing and Defending the World's Most Celebrated Holiday.

Historian and author Terri Crocker joins Tim to talk about the still remarkable Christmas Truce of 1914 at the outset of the First World War. Terri wrote the book, “The Christmas Truce: Myth, memory and the First World War.” In this episode, we look at the Western Front where against all odds and their commanding officers, German and British troops, and others stepped out into no man's land on Christmas Day for a day of peace. This episode was originally released on December 23, 2019. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/321_-_Encore_Christmas_Truce.mp3 It was the first Christmas since the start of the First World War in 1914. The bloodshed had already been enormous. The front lines of the war along the Western Front were close enough to hear what was happening in the trenches on the other side. In between was known as no man's land, where nothing could survive the steady sniping and bombardment between the armies. The trenches were cold, muddy and wet, and sometimes, cold, frozen and wet. The troops on both sides thought the war would be over by Christmas, and here it was Christmas Eve. Silence, and then as Terri Crocker tells it, the sound of music would break the silence. A young farmer's son in the Queen's Westminster regiment by the name of Edgar Aplin starts to sing. He's apparently a good tenor, and he sings the song Tommy Lad. After a few verses, he hears a voice from the German trenches shout, “Sing it again Englander. Sing Tommy Lad again.” So, Edgar sings the song again, and then events started to unfold.  Private Aplin would send letters to his relatives and there is documentary evidence of this. “We had been out of the trenches for four days' rest, and returned on the 23rd of December, to relieve some regular troops. On Christmas Eve, the usual war methods went on all day, sniping, etc., until evening, when we started a few carols and the old home songs.” Immediately, our pals over the way began to cheer, and eventually we got shouting across to the Germans. Those opposite our front can mostly speak English. “Soon after dark, we suggested that if they would send one man halfway between the trenches (300 yards), we would do the same, and both agreed not to fire. “So, advancing towards each other, each carrying a torch, when they met, they exchanged cigarettes and lit up. Cheering on both sides was tremendous, and I shall never forget it. After a little while, several others went out, and a pal of mine met an officer who said that if we did not shoot for 48 hours, they wouldn't. And they were good as their word, too. On Christmas Day, we were nearly all out of the trenches. It was almost impossible to describe the day as it appeared to us here and I can tell you, we all enjoyed the peaceful time.” The family had said that Private Aplin would survive the war. He was sounded in the legs in March 1915 and went back to Britain where he recovered and would train new officers. After the war, he was a “milk man” and owned some “tea rooms.” The Cause of War World War I began in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and lasted until 1918. During the war, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) faced off against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers). Because of new military technologies and trench warfare, the First World War killed more than 16 million people. Before the Truce The sides had negotiated cease fires for body retrieval for burial. But during the day, soldiers were ordered “over the top” for charges. Their bodies were left stranded in “no-man's land.” In the dark, both sides would send other soldiers out to retrieve the fallen. Sometimes, soldiers would intentionally hold fire. After dark, food would be delivered to the troops on both sides and they would actually cease fire during meal times.

This is our special Children's Episode. It was written and produced for young listeners and was inspired by a movie that Tim recently saw. It is not designed to entertain, though it may. It is not designed to educate, though it will. It is designed to make the listener think, to question and to want to know more. As you listen, please know I can't know what you like or don't like, or more importantly, what your kids like or don't like, unless you tell me. Please use the contact form on this site. That will help me plan future episodes. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Childrens_Episode_Pilot_auphonic.mp3 We're doing something different today. Really different. So different that from what I can tell, there aren't any other podcasts out there doing this at all. So, let's call this an experiment, and I really need you to do a couple of things to see if this something worth doing again…or not. First, a little background. Not too long ago, I watched a movie called, “All the Light We Cannot See.” It's a movie based on a fictional novel of the same name. It's set in occupied France during World War II, but the story itself centers on human connections. A blind girl, a German boy, a French resistance fighter, and this voice over the radio the kids only know as, “The Professor.” When I watched the movie, I was captivated by the simplicity and the power of those connections. And it was all because of stories and information read over the radio to listeners that the reader could not see or even know were listening. The professor in the movie was actor Hugh Laurie. His Shakespearian delivery would put me to shame, so trust me, I'm not trying anything close to that here. But still, I thought it worth a shot to come up with my own variation of this, inspired by that story. So, I created this episode for your kids, or someone's child you may know. All I ask is that you listen first, and if you like what you hear, share it with a child. And then let me know how it went. I mean that. If it is indeed something kids may like, I won't know unless you tell me. Just log onto the contact form at ShapingOpinion.com to let me know. Or, send an email to Tim@ShapingOpinion.com. Thank you for listening to the Shaping Opinion Podcast.  You're our podcast family and the reason we do this. Links All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr (Amazon) All the Light We Cannot See (Movie), (Netflix) Aristotle (History Channel) Geography – The North Pole (National Geographic) Art – Norman Rockwell's "Freedom from Want" (Norman Rockwell Museum) Story – The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams Bianco (UPenn Digital Library) Science – Why does a ball bounce? (Highlights for Kids) Our Poem "Thinking" By Walter D. Wintle If you think you are beaten, you are. If you think you dare not, you don't. If you'd like to win but you think you can't, It's almost a cinch you won't. If you think you'll lose, you're lost, For out in the world we find, Success begins with a fellow's will; It's all in the state of mind. If you think you're outclassed, you are; You've got to think high to rise. You've got to be sure of yourself, before you can ever win a prize. Life's battle don't always go to the stronger or faster man. But soon or late, the man who wins is the one who thinks he can. Irish Blessing May love and laughter light your days, And warm your heart and home. May good and faithful friends be yours, Wherever you may roam. May peace and plenty bless your world With joy that long endures. May all life's passing seasons, Bring the best to you and yours! Listener Note I need for feedback on this. Please get in touch with me. I need to know if you liked this or if you didn't. I'd like to know what you liked and what you did not like. That will help me plan future episodes for you if you want. All they have to do is contact me on our website, called,

New York Times best-selling author Nathaniel Philbrick joins Tim to talk about the story behind those pilgrims and the Mayflower in a way that covers much more than that first Thanksgiving. Nathaniel has authored many best sellers, but the one we'll focus on in this episode is must-reading for anyone who wants to get the full story of Thanksgiving's origins in America. The book is called simply, “Mayflower.” This episode marks the 400th anniversary of that world-changing voyage. This episode was originally released on November 23, 2020. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Encore_-_The_Real_Story_of_The_Mayflower.mp3 It's been 400 years since the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in the New World. The world was a much different place then than as it is now, in many ways, but for the sake of this episode the place to start is the practice of religion. Keep in mind, this is long before 1776 and the Declaration of Independence. The Pilgrims lived under a king. King James, to be precise. And that king did not allow for freedom of religion. The Church was the state. The state was the Church. It was the Church of England. And for all intents and purposes, the king was god on earth. If you did not recognize his church's absolute authority over your life, you were persecuted, perhaps imprisoned and sometimes even executed, all because you did not believe in that church's doctrines and teachings. There were two groups who opposed this. The Puritans wanted to create change from within. And the separatists wanted to flee. They just wanted to leave England for a better place, where they could practice their religion according to their own conscience. So, they did. In 1608, 12 years before the Mayflower, a group of separatists sailed from England to a town in Holland called Leiden.  They went to Holland to worship their God the way they wanted. And while they did experience religious freedom in Holland, they also found the rules had changed from what they were used to. The Dutch craft guilds did not accept them because they were migrants.  They found themselves on the lowest rungs of the caste system. They worked the lowest jobs for the lowest pay. The separatists also felt that the secular culture of Holland provided too much temptation for their children and worried it would lure them away from their faith. That's when the separatists decided to uproot and sail to the New World, where they could live and practice their faith on their own terms. They returned to London to organize and get funding from a successful merchant. The separatists then hired a merchant ship called the Mayflower and 40 separatists boarded it in September 1620.  The 40 separatists were joined by others. A total of 102 passengers sailed on the Mayflower for the rugged shores of that New World. In November of that year, they arrived at a place where a huge rock dominated the shore line. A rock they would dub Plymouth Rock, and that is where life in the New World – for them – began. Nathaniel Philbrick's book about the Mayflower is about more than one voyage and eventually the Thanksgiving story, though that is our focus today. He followed the separatists – the Pilgrims – through a 50-plus year history in the New World. Links Nathaniel Philbrick, author page Mayflower: Voyage, Community, War, by Nathaniel Philbrick, Amazon The Mayflower, History.com The Mayflower Compact, Yale.edu Pilgrim Hall Museum See Plymouth (tourism), Plymouth, Massachusetts About this Episode's Guest Nathaniel Philbrick Nathaniel Philbrick was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he attended Linden Elementary School and Taylor Allderdice High School.  He earned a BA in English from Brown University and an MA in America Literature from Duke University, where he was a James B. Duke Fellow. He was Brown University's first Intercollegiate All-American sailor in 1978,

Robert Page, a professor in the Departments of Clinical Pharmacy and Physical Medicine at the University of Colorado, joins Tim to talk about some new developments in determining significant cardiovascular risks associated with marijuana use, regardless of the reason. He's the lead author on a new paper from the American Heart Association that exposes major risks. We talk about his paper, some of the myths surrounding medical marijuana usage, and what it all means. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Robert_Page_-_Weed_and_Heart_Health_auphonic.mp3 If I were to use a term with you, a propaganda term, do you think you'd fall for it?  Let's give it a shot. So, here's the term. What do you think of when I say, “medical marijuana?” Now, before we go any further, I need to give you a quick history lesson on the field where I work. I work in public relations. The founding fathers of this field actually called it the practice of propaganda back in those early days. And they weren't wrong. Some 100 years ago, propagandists sold everything from war bonds to cigarettes, from oil and gasoline to railroad travel. And when something went wrong, they became spin doctors. They played with the truth, and it wasn't always ethical. Since then, the field has done much to improve its own image by establishing ethical standards, but this doesn't mean that “spin” has just faded away. The battle over the truth is never-ending. If you can believe this, back in the 1930s and 40s, the advertising and public relations fields convinced Americans that smoking cigarettes was actually good for their health. At that time, the medical community had not yet discovered the link between smoking and lung cancer or lung disease. In fact, most doctors smoked cigarettes. Of course, there was evidence all around them that lung cancer was on the rise, but no one blamed cigarettes at first. Some tobacco companies even used doctors in their ads. American Tobacco was the maker of Lucky Strike cigarettes. In 1930, the company created an ad that said, “20,679 Physicians say ‘LUCKIES are less irritating'” to the throat of a smoker. To arrive at this conclusion, American Tobacco's advertising agency sent cartons of Lucky Strike cigarettes to doctors along with a letter. That letter asked those doctors whether they believed Lucky Strike cigarettes were “less irritating to sensitive and tender throats than other cigarettes.” To make sure they got the results they wanted, the letter that “a good many people” had already said Lucky Strikes were less irritating. In the end, millions of Americans came to believe that cigarettes have a medicinal effect. By 1937, the Philip Morris weighed in with an ad in the Saturday Evening Post. Keep in mind, that magazine was extremely dominant and powerful in influencing public opinion throughout the United States at the time. The Philip Morris ad said the company did a study that showed “when smokers changed to Philip Morris, every case of irritation cleared completely and definitely improved.”  The ad never mentioned the business relationship the company had with those doctors. For years, tobacco companies made claims in their advertising and marketing that smoking cigarettes are healthy, and if not good for you, the ads certainly never hinted that cigarettes could be bad for you. The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company even created a Medical Relations Division and promoted it through medical journals. That company paid for its own research to demonstrate the medicinal benefits of cigarette smoking. In 1946, R.J. Reynolds created a new ad campaign under the slogan, “More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.” We talk to someone who knows a lot more than I do on this. Robert Page is the lead author on a new scientific paper called: “Medical Marijuana, Recreational Cannabis, and Cardiovascular Health: A Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association.”

New York Times reporter and author Kashmir Hill joins Tim to talk about her new book called, “Your Face Belongs to Us: A secretive startups quest to end privacy as we know it.”  It's about facial recognition tech, how prevalent it already is, and how we are leaving the age where privacy could be expected. In 2019, Kashmir wrote a story that exposed a future where anyone who shows their face in public will lose all privacy. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Kashmir_Hill_-_Facial_Recognition_auphonic.mp3 Kashmir Hill is a tech reporter at the New York Times. She writes about such things as privacy and how technology us creeping into new frontiers in our lives, oftentimes invading out privacy. But that's just a start. What happens when you lose your privacy? What happens when government, police agencies, private citizens snoop…and they somehow find your face in connection with something they're investigating? What if they connect you to something bad, and the technology made a mistake? These questions aren't academic. There are a number of companies already in the business of scraping the internet for photos of you and millions of others. They can piece it all together in seconds to determine much more about you than you realize. But there is one company that caught the attention of our guest, Kashmir. A very secretive company that appeared to be more powerful and capable than all of the other companies out there. So, my first question was for Kashmir was, how did you find out about this company called Clearview AI? Links Your Face Belongs to Us: A secretive startups quest to end privacy as we know it, by Kashmir Hill (Amazon) Kashmir Hill Author Page, Penguin Random House Your Face Belongs to Us (Review), The Guardian The Secretive Company that May End Privacy as We Know It, New York Times Your Face is Not Your Own, New York Times Magazine About this Episode's Guest Kashmir Hill Kashmir Hill is a tech reporter at The New York Times, where her writing about the intersection of privacy and technology pioneered the genre. Hill has worked and written for a number of publications, including The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Gizmodo, Popular Science, Forbes, and many others.

Psychologist and author Kaleb Gorman joins Tim to talk about the way in which military psychological operations strategies have found their way into the mainstream. Kaleb is the author of an Amazon best-selling book called, “Psychwars: Self-Defence Against Psyops, Propaganda and Mind Control.” https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Kaleb_Gorman_-_Psychwars_auphonic.mp3 A few episodes back, we had a great conversation with a former CIA propaganda operative named Joe Goldberg. In the course of my research for that episode, I came across a book written by our guest today, Kaleb Gorman. It's called Psychwars. Here's how Kaleb summarized the book. He says there has always been a psychological element to warfare, but in the 21st Century, the tactics used by military geniuses to control the behavior of their adversaries have now been coopted by governments, corporations, ideologies, and the general public in order to wage psychological warfare against you. He says he wrote his book to help you recognize and defend against the mass and targeted psyops you encounter. Now, let's take a step back from that. If you're a regular listener to this podcast, you know I'm a communications professional and have been so for several decades. At no point have I ever seen explicit or direct proof that psychological warfare is being used by governments, corporations or the general public on me, you or anyone else. Does this mean it's not happening? No. I read Kaleb's book, and what he's saying is much more subtle, and possibly more pervasive than that. Once you learn about the strategies and tactics of psychological operations, it's actually impossible not to see the proof that yes, the competition for your mind is far-reaching and intense. And those same tactics that were honed in the military and around the world many years ago have indeed become a part of our public life. Kaleb approached this issue from the vantage point of a trained psychologist. He dug deep, and he breaks it all down in ways that will make you think twice the next time you click on a news story, read a social media post or watch that video online. So, when I sat down with Kaleb for this episode, I started at the very beginning. I asked him, “What are psyops?” Links Psychwars: Self-Defence Against Psyops, Propaganda and Mind Control, by Kaleb Gorman (Amazon) Psychological Warfare, RAND Corporation About this Episode's Guest Kaleb Gorman Kaleb is a psychologist and writer from Canada. Somewhat of a contrarian. Trying to make sense of the overload of information, culture wars, and mass formations with which we are constantly bombarded. No ideological home but partial to liberal, humanist values. Skepticism > certainty.

Dr. David Weill joins Tim to talk about those life-saving transplant surgeries, the patients, the system for care and the challenges it faces, and what it's like to be a doctor of second chances. Dr. Weill was the Director of the Center for Advanced Lung Disease, and the Lung Transplant Program at Stanford. Today he operates the Weill Consulting Group, where he focuses on improving the delivery of transplant care. This episode was first released December 13, 2021. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Encore_-_A_Transplant_Surgeon_Story.mp3 The first time doctors were able to transplant a human organ happened in 1954. That's when a kidney was transplanted successfully. In the decades to come, medical pioneers would master the medical art of transplanting livers, lungs, hearts, pancreases and other vital organs. While these surgeries are never described as routine, they are no longer uncommon. In the early years, individual hospitals and certain organizations managed everything from organ recovery, to transport, to transplantation. In between, they had to learn how to allocate valuable, life-saving organs for the most viable patients. In some respects, not much has changed, and that's a problem. Dr. David Weill has spent his career in organ transplantation with a focus on lungs helping those with severe lung disease. He ran the Lung Transplant Program at Stanford, and he wrote a book called “Exhale: Hope, Healing, and a Life in Transplant.” Links Weill Consulting Group (website) Dr. David Weill, Tulane Medicine website Supply Isn't the Problem with Organ Transplants, Wall Street Journal Exhale: Hope, Healing, and a Life in Transplant, by Dr. David Weill (Barnes & Noble) Opinion: Of course unvaccinated people should be barred from receiving transplant organs, Washington Post About this Episode's Guest Dr. David Weill Dr. David Weill has been in the forefront of developing and running some of the most successful lung transplant programs in the country. He served as Director of the Lung and Heart-Lung Transplant Program at Stanford University Medical Center from 2005-2016. He also developed the Stanford Center for Advanced Lung Disease which provides care for hundreds of patients with cystic fibrosis, interstitial fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension, and emphysema. During this period, he also directed a rebuilding effort of the lung transplant program, producing some of the best outcomes in the country, while increasing the transplant program volume more than three-fold. In addition to his medical practice, Dr. Weill has testified before the U.S. Congress regarding occupational lung diseases. He has also published extensively in the medical literature regarding lung transplantation, occupational lung disease and advanced lung disease. He and his wife Jackie recently moved to his hometown of New Orleans with their two daughters.

This is a Special Edition of the Shaping Opinion Podcast called “13Q: A Top 40 Radio Story.” In this extended episode (90 minutes), we take you back to when it was all about the music, when radio was everywhere. A time when it was all about the culture, but mostly it was about having fun. In this episode, we talk to the people who were behind the mic and in front of it, telling at least a part of the story of one generation. We do it by telling the story of the last big Top 40 radio station in the form of 13Q, Pittsburgh. It was around for only a short time, but its impact would be felt for decades. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/13Q_-_Top_40_Radios_Last_Dance_auphonic.mp3 Cecil Heftel was born in Chicago on September 30th, 1924. He died at the ripe old age of 85 in 2010. later. He did many things in that time, but our focus here is on just one of those things. Heftel is best remembered as a congressman from Hawaii, where he served from 1977 to 1986. But his story started long before that. Heftel made a name for himself as an innovator in Top 30 radio when he bought a Denver station called KIMN. That station became #1 in its market and then he sold it in 1960 before moving to Hawaii. 13Q music survey 1974 In 1973, he got back in the radio game when he bought a Fort Lauderdale radio station on the FM dial – WHYI-FM and he re-named it Y-100. That same year, he bought an AM news/talk station in Pittsburgh called WJAS. That's when things would change. Cecil Heftel was coming to Pittsburgh and winning was the only option. On March 12th 1973, Heftel rocked the Pittsburgh radio world when he introduced Pittsburghers to something they had never heard before. A Top-40 rock station that didn't go by call letters, but by a number and a letter. 13Q. And a kind of Top 40 sound…well…you just had to hear it. This wasn't your father's Top 40 radio.  Starting in 1973 and for just a short eight years, 1320 on the AM dial would be WKTQ – 13Q – and would leave its mark on the region's baby boom generation that was still in school or just coming of age. Heftel owned and operated his stations from Honolulu, Hawaii. At 13Q, he said he couldn't find the local people he wanted, so he turned to out-of-towners.  His initial line-up was: Sam Holman, who used to work for cross-town rival KQV. Holman came back to Pittsburgh from Chicago to man the mic for morning drive. Dennis Waters came to Pittsburgh from Washington, D.C., to handle mid-days. Mark Driscoll was recruited from LA to handle the afternoon and evening drive. Jackson Armstrong, brought his one-man wrecking ball of a show into the studio at 6 p.m. And two guys came to Pittsburgh via Phoenix. Batt Johnson took to the mic from 10 p.m. – 2:00 a.m., and Dave Brooks held the fort overnight from 2-6 a.m. The sound, the format, the call letters, the brand and the team were all the work of a radio legend who went by the name of Buzz Bennett. Cecil Heftel wanted a winner, so he hired a winner to put it all together. Buzz Bennett was born for a life in radio. He was a Baltimore kid who at 13 years old, finagled his way onto Baltimore's big TV dance show, The Buddy Deane Show. Before long, he was a dancer on the show and helping vet the show's music. 13Q Radio studios in the Kossman Building in Downtown Pittsburgh, circa 1973. He parlayed his success as a teenager to the point where he was a program director and a DJ at a radio station in Arkansas at the age of 16. The radio world took notice. After such early success, he made stops back in Baltimore and then around the country, learning the ins and outs of radio from Top 40 pioneers and legendary programmers, until one day, he became a legend himself. He was an innovator in his own right. Everywhere he went, his stations won, they won big, they dominated their markets. 13Q would take over the Pittsburgh Top 40 radio mark, knocking KQV Radio off of its perch.

In this special Columbus Day encore episode, Professor William J. Connell, who is an expert on Italian history, joins Tim to talk about the life of Christopher Columbus. Bill is an Andrew Carnegie Fellow and holder of the La Motta Endowed Chair in Italian History at Seton Hall University. He's also the co-editor of the Routledge History of Italian Americans.  In this episode, we'll learn about Christopher Columbus, and as cliché as it may sound, the man, the myth, the legend. This episode was initially published on July 20, 2020. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/133_-_Who_Was_Christopher_Columbus.mp3 Christopher Columbus was an explorer who made four trips across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain, but he was not Spanish. He was Italian. He made those trips in 1492, in 1493, again in 1498, and then in 1502. The purpose of his maiden voyage was to find a direct over sea route from the western part of Europe to Asia. In that sense, he failed. But as with many explorers, inventors and discoverers, what they find in the course of their failures sometimes leaves a legacy that they themselves never could have imagined. Christopher Columbus may not have actually been the first non-native person to step foot on what would become the Americas, but one thing is clear. It was Christopher Columbus who changed the course of history when he came upon the New World, already occupied by millions of people, but unknown to Western Civilization. Dr. William Connell of Seton Hall University has spent a good deal of his career studying and teaching the complexities and the nuances of the Christopher Columbus story.  As a historian, he has kept the first rule of the study of history in mind. You can't judge the past based on present-day perspectives. Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus, the son of a wool merchant, was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451. When he was still a teenager, he took a job on a merchant ship. He remained at sea until 1476, when pirates attacked his ship as it sailed north along the Portuguese coast. The boat sank, but the young Columbus floated to shore on a scrap of wood and made his way to Lisbon, where he eventually studied mathematics, astronomy, cartography and navigation. He also began to hatch the plan that would make him famous. The Attraction of a New Trading Route During the 15th and 16th (1400s and 1500s) centuries, Europeans led expeditions overseas in the hope that explorers would find riches and new lands. The Portuguese were the earliest participants in this age. Around 1420, small Portuguese ships went along the African coast, carrying spices, gold, slaves and other goods from Asia and Africa to Europe. Other European nations, including Spain, wanted to share in the exotic riches of the “Far East.” In the 15th century (1400s), Spain expelled Jews and Muslims from the kingdom after centuries of war. Set its sights elsewhere. Trade Routes At the end of the 15th century, you couldn't reach Asia from Europe by land.  The route was long and arduous, hostile armies. Portuguese explorers used the sea: They sailed south along the West African coast and around the Cape of Good Hope. Columbus had his own ideas: Sail out across the Atlantic to the West in the opposite direction. Instead of around the massive African continent. His point was that the circumference of the Earth was much smaller than his contemporaries believed it was. He thought the journey by boat from Europe to Asia should be not only possible, but comparatively easy via an as-yet undiscovered passage. He pitched his ideas to leaders in Portugal and England but no one took him up on his plan. In 1492 he found a likeminded resource -Spanish royalty Ferdinand and Isabella. Columbus's contract with the Spanish rulers promised that he could keep 10 percent of whatever riches he found, along with a noble title and the governorship of any lands he should encounter.

Catholic priest and exorcist Fr. Vincent Lampert joins Tim to talk about his work as an exorcist, and we separate myth and fiction from reality. In 2005, Fr. Lampert was assigned to serve as an exorcist from his base in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. At the time, there were only 12 priests in America who were exorcists. Now, there are over 100.  https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/American_Exorcist_auphonic.mp3 You may not need anyone to explain to you what an exorcist is supposed to do. If you've watched certain movies or documentaries or read articles and books on the topic, it is pretty self-evident. Exorcists work to drive demons out of people. Not figurative demons but real ones. Now, the very idea of what I just said will put people into two camps. Those who believe demons are real, and those who believe demons are the stuff of Hollywood and fiction. Campfire stories. Tall tales. As with other episodes we've done on sensitive topics, nothing we say here is designed to change how you feel about the subject at hand. But we will seek a greater understanding of the issue from someone who is on the front lines. Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel Buechlein appointed Fr. Lampert to his ministry as an exorcist 18 years ago. To fulfill his responsibilities, he trained at the North American College in Rome and assisted with more than 40 exorcisms with longtime Italian exorcist Father Carmine De Filippi. While Fr. Lampert is based in Indiana, he travels around the globe, waging war against the devil himself. Links Fr. Lampert Bio (parish website) Exorcism: The Battle Between Satan and his Demons, by Fr. Vincent Lampert (Amazon) The World of the Occult, by Fr. Vincent Lampert (St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology) For Halloween, We Spoke with a Real-life Exorcist, The Georgetowner About this Episode's Guest Fr. Vincent Lampert Fr. Vincent P. Lampert is the Pastor of St. Michael and St. Peter Parishes in Brookville, Indiana. In 2005 he was appointed the Exorcist for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. He received his training in Rome and is a member of the International Association of Exorcists. He is the author of Exorcism: The Battle Against Satan and His Demons.

Former CIA propaganda operative, author and college professor Joe Goldberg joins Tim to talk about his time in the CIA, and then a wide-ranging discussion on propaganda, the media, social media and ultimately about trust. Joe writes best-selling novels that are often based on his experiences in the CIA. But today, we'll focus on real life. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Joe_Golberg_CIA_II_auphonic.mp3 Joe Goldberg has been with the CIA in a variety of capacities. He's been a corporate intelligence director. And he's been an international political consultant. In that capacity, he has consulted on numerous international presidential, prime minister and legislative elections.  At the moment, he's a college professor and an author. As an author, in 2014, Joe published the novel Secret Wars: An Espionage Story. In 2021, he published an Amazon best-seller called The Spy Devils. While Joe's interests and activities are many and diverse, they all trace back to the time he decided to join up with the CIA. Links Joe Goldberg's Website The Social Dilemma (documentary) Website Who Was Walter Cronkite?, University of Oregon About this Episode's Guest Joe Goldberg Joe Goldberg has been a CIA covert action officer, corporate intelligence director, international political consultant, and currently is a college instructor and writer. His work at the CIA garnered three Exceptional Performance Awards. In the private sector, as leader of Corporate Intelligence at Motorola, Joe received the Meritorious Award recognizing a single individual who has made significant contributions to the intelligence profession. He had consulted on numerous international presidential, prime minister, and legislative elections. Joe Goldberg is the award-winning and Amazon best-selling author of Secret Wars: An Espionage Story and The Spy Devils thriller series. Devil's Own Day, the third book in the series, will be published on November 14, 2023. He has been a CIA covert action officer, corporate intelligence director, and an international political campaign consultant. He is currently a college instructor and writer. A native of Iowa, he loves cooking, the Iowa Hawkeyes, and his family. He resides in a suburb of Chicago, most likely listening to Jimmy Buffett music.  

Author Rick Porrello joins Tim to talk about his book that tells of story of the notorious and now legendary Danny Greene, who tried to take down the mafia in Cleveland in life, and may have done it in death. Rick was the chief of a suburban Cleveland police department, and over the years he has written a number of best-selling books about murder, the mafia and organized crime. The book we're going to talk about today was even turned into a major Hollywood motion picture. That book is, “To Kill the Irishman.” https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Rick_Porrello_-_Ballad_of_Danny_Greene_auphonic.mp3 When most people think of the mafia, organized crime, gangsters, they have a few eras and places in mind. First, it may be the Prohibition Era from 1920 to 1933, where gangs made millions off of bootleg whiskey and alcohol, illegally, of course. And they left in their wake a trail of death and blood in the streets of Chicago, New York and other cities. Mobsters like Al Capone and John Dillinger became larger than life celebrities for a time. And they became legends through newspaper and media coverage, books and film. When you think of the mafia, you may have in your mind the world of Don Corleone and his family at the center of the Godfather films, or all those Martin Scorsese movies about the underworld. Any number of books and documentaries documented the realities, the myths and the stories of La Cosa Nostra – the mafia – and organized crime figures. Hardly ever, however, do you hear about how some of these stories center on places like Pittsburgh, Detroit, Buffalo or Cleveland. But at its peak, it was everywhere there was money to be made, and these were some of the cities helping them make it. And yet, in the end, it may have been one story out of Cleveland that changed everything. Our guest today has an interesting perspective on all of this. He was in law enforcement for decades. He also had a unique family history. Links Rick Porrello's Website The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia, by Rick Porrello (Amazon) To Kill the Irishman, by Rick Porrello (Amazon) Rick Porrello on Facebook Dedication This episode is dedicated to Ray Stevenson, who played Danny Greene in the "Kill the Irishman" motion picture. Ray died suddenly and unexpectedly earlier in 2023. About this Episode's Guest Rick Porrello Author, drummer, and former police chief Rick Porrello has a knack for writing books that attract interest from filmmakers. Hollywood snapped up To Kill the Irishman—the War that Crippled the Mafia before it was even published, and turned it into the movie Kill the Irishman, starring Ray Stevenson, Vincent D'Onofrio, Christopher Walken, and Val Kilmer. A motion picture based on Superthief — A Master Burglar, the Mafia, and the Biggest Bank Burglary in U.S. History is in development. Both books have also generated documentaries. Rick's first career was as a jazz drummer. At the age of 18, he got his first big break when he started touring internationally with Sammy Davis, Jr. Despite a skyrocketing music career, Rick decided to trade his sticks for a badge, which had been his dream since childhood. What followed was a 33-year career as a police officer in Greater Cleveland, with the last ten of those years as chief of police. As an organized crime historian, Rick Porrello's perspective is an intriguing one. He began writing his first book during family research into the murders of his grandfather and three uncles, all of whom, he learned, were mob leaders killed in Prohibition-era violence. The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia quickly became a regional favorite and has endured as a backlist title. When he isn't hammering out his next book, co-authoring a screenplay, serving as a consulting or executive producer, or drumming with a number of bands, Porrello gives presentations on his books and on his writing and publishing journey.    

Journalist Megan Greenwell joins Tim to talk about her comprehensive reporting for Wired Magazine on the 1973 St. Louis Military Records Fire where in two days, the nation lost the only roughly 18 million records of U.S. military personnel from the first half of the 20th Century. Back when paper was the primary way we kept records, the archives contained the data on millions of military personnel from U.S. military personnel going back to 1912.  Megan talks about the fire, the people still working to preserve those documents, restore them and extract information from them, and through it all, her personal connection to this story. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/St._Louis_Fire_auphonic.mp3 Not long after World War II, in 1951, the Department of Defense decided to create the National Personnel Records Center to store personnel records for the military. The DOD joined with the St. Louis Federal Records Center and the General Services Administration to build a facility to house those records in St. Louis. The military records represented those who served in the American military or in federal civil service, starting in 1912. The National Archives and Records Administration would oversee the data. The DOD had similar facilities for the Navy and other records in New York, and in Alexandria, Virginia, respectively.  Here's the thing. In one of those facilities, they installed sprinkler systems for fire suppression. In the other, they did not install sprinkler systems for fear that if the sprinkler system went off due to a malfunction or false alarm, records could be damaged or destroyed. In the new facility in St. Louis, the DOD decided to go with a design that excluded sprinkler systems, and heat and smoke detectors. Each floor of the facility featured large open spaces for records storage without firewalls or other measures to contain a fire. The St. Louis records storage facility sat on 70 acres, and had six floors. It was built of concrete, and sat under a roof that was supported by concrete columns. Walls were of aluminum and glass. The building was completed in 1956 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. When it opened, the building contained roughly 38 million military personnel records. Technology didn't change much over the next 17 years, at least in how the DOD stored personnel records. Paper. So, fast forward to 1973. Starting on July 12th, 1973, a fire would erupt at the building and last for four days. By 1973, the building housed over 52 million records. 52 million individual pieces of American history. And as mentioned, almost 18 million of those records were lost. And that's where our story begins. Megan Greenwell is a journalist who likes a challenge. So, she decided to dig into the story as any old-time journalist would. Lots of shoe leather. Links Megan Greenwell (Website) Megan Greenwell (Wired Page) The Night 17 Million Precious Military Records Went Up in Smoke, Wired The 1973 Fire, National Personnel Records Center, The National Archives If you have a question about your own or a family member's records or want to explore the process of requesting military records, this is the U.S. Veterans Administration starting point: Reconstruct Military Records Destroyed In NPRC Fire | Veterans Affairs (va.gov) About this Episode's Guest Megan Greenwell Megan Greenwell a freelance editor and writer with extensive experience in all areas of print and digital media. Currently freelancing, she divides her time between writing, editing, consulting, and teaching. She is particularly passionate about narrative features, exploring new revenue models for journalism, leading teams working across platforms, collaborations between text-based and visual storytellers, and diversifying newsrooms. She also writes features about public policy, sports, and other topics. She is considered a leader within the media industry on recruiting and hiring a dive...

Dr. Mark Pickering joins Tim to talk about the disturbing spread of  and interest in human euthanasia throughout western cultures, particularly in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. Mark is a general practitioner of family medicine. He focuses his work on prisons and other similarly secure facilities. In addition, he is the head of the Christian Medical Fellowship in the United Kingdom. In this conversation, we talk about the myths and the realities of assisted suicide. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Human_Euthanasia_is_Here_auphonic.mp3 In 1997, the state of Oregon passed the Death with Dignity Act, which allowed the medically assisted suicide for people who were terminally ill. Since that time, over 3,280 people received prescriptions for legal doses of medications under the act's provisions. The state reports that of those who received prescriptions, 2,159 people actually took the medications and died from the lethal dosages. Since 1942, the nation of Switzerland has allowed assisted suicide. But according to the government, it only allows this form of euthanasia so long as, “the motives are not selfish.” Closer to home, in Canada in 2016, the Canadian government legalized medical assistance in dying. The acronym for this is MAID. The Canadian Supreme Court had decided that existing laws that prohibited assisted suicide were an afront to individual rights. Here's how the MAID program started. Medical professionals - doctors and nurses - would administer lethal injections or fatal medications to patients who met a specific criteria. The individual had to have a serious illness or disability; the individual had to be in what the government described as an “advanced state” of decline that could not be reversed; the individual had to be experiencing unbearable physical or mental suffering; or the individual had to be at the point where natural death had become “reasonably foreseeable.” Notice that nowhere in Canada's original requirements did the individual have to be terminally ill. But that was just the beginning.  Before long, anyone who wanted help with suicide was able to get it. Canadians who were depressed, stressed, or just economically poor or in a state of mental distress could get help with their own suicide. In 2021, the government relaxed the condition that that natural death must be “reasonably foreseeable.” After that, the stories of Canadians being presented with suicide as a medical option included some who were just temporarily homeless or in some kind of pain that otherwise could be treated. Consider the story of Alan Nichols. When he was a child, he lost his hearing. He had had a stroke. But overall, at 61 years old, he was able to live on his own. Then in 2019 he was admitted to the hospital over concerns that he might be at risk of committing suicide. He was mentally unstable. Not in his right mind. While he was in the hospital, he pleaded with his brother Gary to get him out of the Canadian hospital. Over the course of the next four weeks, he then was reported to have applied for medically assisted suicide under the MAID program. The only medical condition he listed as his reason for wanting to die was being hard of hearing. Instead of treating Nichols' obvious mental instability, the hospital supported his desire to kill himself and provided its own justification. It said Nichols had some vision loss, that he was frail, that he had a history of seizures and in their words, he had a “failure to thrive,” whatever that means. The hospital framed the process as Nichols requesting to die by lethal injection, and it saw that rationale as valid. The procedure was carried out expeditiously. When the Associated Press talked to Nichols' brother Gary, he said that his brother Alan, “was basically put to death.” Inmates on death row are forced to wait much longer. Mark Pickering is on the front lines of this issue.

Author, professor and crisis communicator Helio Fred Garcia joins Tim to talk about ethics and crisis communications. Fred has had a long career at the highest levels advising organizations of all sizes on crisis communications and crisis management matters. In this conversation, we Fred tells his story, and he talks candidly about the kinds of ethical issues and dilemmas those of us in the crisis communications field face every day. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Helio_Fred_Garcia_Ethics_auphonic.mp3 Before we meet our guest today, it may be worth setting the stage by giving you a little background on what exactly we mean when we talk about crisis communications or crisis management. Sometimes, people think a crisis is when something goes wrong at work, or when an organization's social media page gets bombarded with negative feedback. To be sure, these can certainly be indicators of a crisis, but they are not crises in themselves. In other words, a bad day for a company or an organization does not a crisis make. At the same time, no company or organization is immune from crises. A crisis is when something happens, could happen or may happen where the very operations of the organization are threatened.  Here are some examples: A bankruptcy filing; A labor strike; A train derailment; A chemical spill; A boycott of a famous brand; Sexual harassment allegations; Major litigation – you get sued; Or, a viral social media post that totally disrupts the organization. These are just some examples.  For the past 35 years, I've been one of those in the public relations fields who handles such crises.  In that time, I've handled hundreds of crises for clients. I've seen it done right, and I've seen crises handled horribly. Over the years, I've become aware of others in the crisis communications field who've built strong reputations for themselves in the process. Helio Fred Garcia is one of those people. When we sat down for this interview, I wanted to know his whole story, and he told me. But my first question could best be described as “inside baseball” from one crisis communicator to another. I wanted to know what Fred saw as the more common myths surrounding crisis communications and crisis management. Links Logos Consulting (Website) The Essential Crisis Communications Plan: A Crisis Management Process that Fits Your Culture, by Tim O'Brien (Amazon) About this Episode's Guest Helio Fred Garcia For more than 40 years Helio Fred Garcia has helped leaders build trust, inspire loyalty, and lead effectively. He is a coach, counselor, teacher, writer, and speaker whose clients include some of the largest and best-known companies and organizations in the world. He is the author, most recently, of Words on Fire: The Power of Incendiary Language and How to Confront It, published by Radius Book Group in 2020. He is also the author The Agony of Decision: Mental Readiness and Leadership in a Crisis, Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership Press, 2017. Prior to this, Fred wrote The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively, FT Press, 2012. Fred is president of the crisis management firm Logos Consulting Group and executive director of the Logos Institute for Crisis Management & Executive Leadership. He is based in New York and has worked with clients in dozens of countries on six continents. Fred has coached more than 400 CEOs of major corporations, plus thousands of other high-profile people in other complex fields, including doctors, scientists, lawyers, financial executives, military officers, and government officials. In the 1980s he worked at leading public relations firms and served as head of public relations for a global investment bank and for a large public accounting firm.  Through the 1990s Fred headed the crisis practice of a leading strategic communication consulting firm.

Seth Shostak joins Tim to talk about the serious scientific search for intelligent life beyond Earth.  Seth is the senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, which was created by NASA and is located in Silicon Valley. It is dedicated to the search for life beyond Earth. In this episode, Seth talks about what we're learning about the potential for finding intelligent life, not only within our solar system, but well beyond it. This episode was first released on November 21, 2021. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Encore_-_Life_in_Outer_Space.mp3 The SETI Institute was created on November 20th, 1984 as part of NASA. NASA located it close to its Ames Research Center in Northern California. Its mission has been as ominous as it has been ambitious, to look for intelligent life beyond our planet. Before the SETI Institute, NASA had funded a small project in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, but it quickly realized the job was bigger than it had anticipated. NASA wanted to find ways to put more money into research without too much overhead. That led to the idea of creating a nonprofit organization that would focus on research and education around the search for extra-terrestrial life beyond Earth. This vision was born in 1984 with the founding of the SETI Institute. Since then, the SETI Institute has spun out from NASA and has grown in many ways. Seth Shostak is the Institute's senior astronomer. In addition to his work on the Institute's research programs, he's also an author on books about astrobiology. He's published hundreds of articles, and he's a regular contributor to NBC News. He's also the host of the SETI Institute's weekly science radio show called, “Big Picture Science.” Please Thank Our Sponsors Please remember to thank our sponsors, without whom the Shaping Opinion podcast would not exist.  If you have the need, please support these organizations that have the same taste in podcasts that you do: BlueHost Premium Web Hosting Dell Outlet Overstock Computer Center Philips Hue Smart Home Lighting Links The SETI Institute (website) Seth Shostak (website) Big Picture Science Radio Show and Podcast Contact (motion picture), IMDb The Drake Equation, SETI Institute Allen Telescope Array, SETI Institute James Webb Space Telescope, NASA About this Episode's Guest Seth Shostak Seth Shostak directs the search for extraterrestrials at the SETI Institute in California – trying to find evidence of intelligent life in space. He is also committed to getting the public, especially young people, excited about astrobiology and science in general. Seth is the host of “Big Picture Science,” the SETI Institute's weekly radio show. The one-hour program uses interviews with leading researchers and lively and intelligent storytelling to tackle such big questions as: What came before the big bang? How does memory work? Will our descendants be human or machine? What's the origin of humor? Big Picture Science can be found in iTunes and other podcast sites.